 Hello everyone and welcome to the Prophecy File Briefing. I'm glad that you've joined me today. I want to share with you just a little clip from my very special guest who was with us for the Prophecy Files Bible Prophecy Conference, Pastor Shane Warren. Even while he was speaking, the subject that he was taking up was unfolding right in the service. And I want you to make sure that you hear what he has to say. So here's a short clip of Pastor Shane Warren from the Prophecy Files Bible Prophecy Conference. One of my favorite groups of people in history are the Moravian Christians. They were persecuted Protestants before there even was Protestants. They were a minority in Central Europe. No such thing as Protestantism, but they were Protestants nonetheless. 100 years before Martin Luther, the Moravians rejected, now this is before Martin Luther, the Moravians rejected many of the abuses in the eras of Rome and pursued a simple faith of worship and charity for their generation. As a result, the Moravians were severely persecuted and they suffered great hardship. Nevertheless, they are marked by history for their extraordinary compassion, their service and above all their passion for souls. In the early 1700s, Moravians began coming into the new world. Some came because they were trying to escape the persecution and because they were being forced from their homes. Others were compelled by powerful missionary impulse. For example, some saw a swelling population of slaves being transported to the colonies in the Americas and they wondered how these poor black souls would be reached for Christ. They noticed that the treatments of the slaves everywhere in the new world was appalling, but in the West Indies in particular it was especially so. The seemingly endless supply of fresh slaves available from Africa convinced Caribbean implantation owners that they didn't need to provide any care for their slaves at all. So they literally worked their slaves to death and then they would just go out and order or buy replacements. It was this group of shackled and shamed humanity that broke the heart of white Moravian Christians and they had this desire to reach them. The problem is, watch now, how does one culture infiltrate another culture? They started praying, burdened about the fact that these black African slaves were going to die and go to hell because they didn't know anything more than pantheism at the very least serving idol gods and they didn't know Jesus Christ. They began to pray, God, how can we take the gospel to them? Their solution was this, they would sell themselves into slavery because the only way to reach these slaves was to become one of them. On October the 8th, 1732, a Dutch ship left Copenhagen Harbor bound for the Danish West Indies and on board there were two white Moravian missionaries, John Leonard Doeper, who was a potter, and David Nitschman, who was a carpenter. Both were on their way for one reason, to sell themselves into slavery so that they could reach the slaves of the West Indies. As the ship slipped away from the belly of the ship with the slaves, they looked to their friends and their loved ones who were on the dock. They stretched out their hands out of the windows of the ship and they cried a cry that would ring in the ears of future generation and Moravian missionaries. They knew that they would never ever see their family again. They would never hug their kids, they would never embrace their grandkids, but they were so burdened that there was a culture that was lost and without God, they were willing to give it all up to take Jesus into that culture. So as the slaves' ship slipped out of the harbor, they had been bought on the auction block, put in the shame shackles. They stood at the window and they released a cry that is forever recorded in history, and here it is. May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering. They sold themselves. Let me quote the scripture again. A seed shall serve Him and it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. What did these two white men going into a black culture, a slave culture, accomplish? Well, some historians estimate that 80,000 slaves came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through the effort of these two men who decided to give up their life. What worthy? They were the seeds willing to die, fall into the ground, and their king would receive the harvest of a generation. They understood what you and I have got to get in our spirit once again in the body of Christ. We are placed on this earth for a fleeting whisper time. Not to be comfortable, but to comfort. Not to be served, but to serve. Not to bring glory to ourselves, but to give God the glory that He deserves. May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering. You've been hearing an excerpt from Pastor Shane Warren, who was one of my special guests right here at the Prophecy Files Conference. And I know that it will be a blessing to you as you watch the entirety of his message. Even while he was teaching on a subject, that particular subject was unfolding right in the service in the news. And I want to encourage you to hear the entirety of his message. I believe it will be insightful and help you to understand just how close we are to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to make sure you're with me for more of these Prophecy Files briefings as we bring you excerpts from our special guest from the recent Prophecy Files Bible Prophecy Conference. Till then, remember Jesus Christ is coming soon. Good evening Pace family, how's everyone doing? Come on, the Bible says we enter into His presence with praise and thanksgiving. Amen. Come on, has he been good? I don't know about you, but I'm still reeling from that Prophecy Conference. That was amazing, wasn't it? Let's give Pastor a hand for that. That's awesome. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah. If you'll stand with me and take out your prayer and praise, and we want to keep the Cooper family, Walden family, and the Hoyt family with the Southern passing, with Eloise and prayer tonight, I don't know about you, but I'm just glad to be here. Amen. I know I have needs in my life, and I know that you have needs in yours. And this is how we fight our battles, right? We go to the Lord in prayer because He hears and He answers our prayers. Amen. So let's cry out tonight, Jesus, we thank you that you're an ever-present help in time of need. Father, we thank you that it's not your will, God, that we be sick, that we be hurting, that we be depressed, God, but it's your heart that every need be supplied. So Lord, in Jesus' name, we cry out for salvation, Lord, for lost loved ones. God, we cry out for healing right now in Jesus' name, even going through the airwaves. People in your house right now are in the hospital. We speak Jesus. We speak healing over your situation. We cry out on behalf of God of Lord, all of us, we need a touch from heaven. God, encourage the downcast, Lord. We made it, came in one way, Lord, but let us leave encourage another way, Lord Jesus. God, open the eyes of our hearts, Lord. We want to see you tonight, Lord. God, we want to experience your presence, Lord. Have your way in our hearts and lives. We pray tonight in Jesus' name, and everyone said, amen. We'll reach out, shake a hand, hug a neck, hallelujah, high-five a neighbor. Online guests, we're so honored that you would be with us tonight on this Wednesday. We count it an honor and a joy. Let us know where you're watching and how we can pray for you. There's also someone online that would love to chat with you and get to know you more. And again, we count it a great honor that you would be here with us at Pace Assembly on Wednesday night. God bless you this evening, amen. Now look at your neighbor and say, you're looking good this evening. Now turn to your second choice. Give them a high-five. Thank you, Jesus. One announcement I want to make you aware of. This Sunday night, say this Sunday night at 5 p.m., we are going to have a volunteer meeting for the Pace Family Fest. Amen, give yourselves a hand. That was beautiful. No, but seriously, this is an opportunity. You know, it's not just about fairs, wills, and rodeoing, and carnival, and having a good time. No, this is an opportunity for us to reach out to our community with the love of Jesus Christ. Amen. If we've learned anything this past weekend at Prophecy Conference, time is short. Amen. And let's make the most of it. Let's take a step of faith, invite that relative, invite that neighbor, that friend, to the Pace Family Fest, and trust Jesus, and let's see what he'll do this year. Amen. Well, the Lord loves a glad, joyful, cheerful giver whose heart is in their giving. Amen. We have offering buckets in the back. You can also go online. There's a QR code, and you can mail it in as well. Amen. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for your presence, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is a spirit of generosity. And God, we thank you for that right now. We thank you for the privilege that we have to give into your kingdom to see salvation come in our generation, Lord. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen. Praise God. It's a blessing to be here on Wednesday night. I'm glad you're here. I don't want to repeat teaching to empty seats during COVID. I want some warm bodies in here, even if you do fall asleep on me after a while. Amen. So get your hand out, your Bible ready, and let's get into the Word of God tonight. You heard the announcement concerning the upcoming Pace Family Fest, and we need you pleased to make plans to be here Sunday night. We need all the volunteers that we can get to make it a success. And last year was a great success, I believe, and we're going to see it even better this year. There's a lot of things that are going on, but we're praying that God will just give us an opportunity to touch the community, amen, and we need your help to do that. So make sure you're here Sunday night. We need you. Father, I pray that right now you would quicken our minds and hearts from all of the activities of the day, Lord, the work and all that has taken place. I pray that you would open up our eyes to see and hear what the Spirit would say. Lord, that's the most important, and Lord, I lean upon you tonight for your strength to be able to bring this message, and I pray that your people would receive and apply what your Word has to say for their deliverance and for their discipleship, and we give you praise for it tonight in Jesus' name. Everybody said a good amen. Please go with me to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter number 10, and let's get some base Scripture in our spirit here this evening. 2 Corinthians, chapter number 10, and looking down in verse number 3 is where I want to focus here this evening, and I will focus as soon as I wipe off these glasses. I don't know what little mongrel gets in there and smudges them, but I want to also thank all of you that were participating, and you were able to attend. Many of you I know were working other things that were going on, and I hope and trust that you'll go back and hear from our guest speakers from Pace Family Fest. I can promise you it was a weekend worth absorbing and receiving the information and the anointing of God when Bill Federer got through with his second session. I can just tell you it was such a wealth of knowledge that came towards us, but it was more than that. There's been very few times that I have seen what took place, and as I was sitting there on the front row, and he obviously had gotten through with his portion of his talk and message, suddenly he broke out into a man from another world. You could see the Spirit of God just sit down on the top of him as he began to speak what the Lord wanted us to hear, and that's the good part about it. You can go back and see what took place and hear what was said, and I believe it's going to be eye-opening for you. All of the sessions, all of the ministry that came this past weekend, I'm so grateful for it, and I'm grateful for you for being a church that receives and supports and prays and is open to hear the Word of God, especially concerning Bible prophecy. I remind you that you are the 1% church. That's a very exclusive grouping of churches I can assure you, and I'm thankful to God for it, aren't you? Amen. It didn't start with me, but I pray it doesn't end with me. So I'm going to do my best to do my part, and you doing the same. In the Word of God, in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter number 10, verse number 3, the Apostle Paul writes to us and says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, would you admit that there's a warfare going on? For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in the readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. It's a powerful passage of Scripture there that I want to take up tonight, also on your paper, and you can look it up if you want to there on your paper. In Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15 is where we left off last week talking to you about mind management and how important that it is that you deal, all of us deal with the possibility of a seed of bitterness getting down on the inside of us. We're talking to you about renewing your mind. The Bible admonishes us in Romans chapter 12 that we are to be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. That struggle and that battle goes on every day for the mind of the believer. It doesn't go on for the person who is not saved because they think they're right and pride is told them their thinking is exclusive and everything's great. You see what that mind can do for you. There is mayhem in the streets, violence. There's all kinds of mess that's happening in our world. That is the mindset of evil and it pushes. Let me say this to you, according to Solomon's writings, he tells us that there are several things that will never be satisfied. You can never meet the level and one of them is the flesh. The flesh will never be satisfied. That's the reason why whatever that it may be, it always, evil always and sin always pushes it further than what any of us ever thought. That battle is going on in your mind all the time, the mind as well. That's the reason why that he speaks to us in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 saying, look diligently, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. That's a very powerful statement. I'm not teaching on it there tonight but apparently there is the possibility of failing the grace of God or he would have never put it there. But look what it says next, lest any root of bitterness spring up, springing up, trouble you and thereby many are defiled. This is a powerful passage of Scripture that some people don't want to look at because it deals really begins to dig down in the heart of an individual and expose what we don't even know is in there. Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitfully wicked, deceitfully wicked. Who can know it? The possibilities of something getting inside of our heart and doing what I spoke to you a little bit about last week, building a stronghold, which is what Satan wants to do, is a real possibility. In fact, there are people in this building no doubt and watching as well that have misconceptions, wrong ideas in their minds about what God had to say. And for that reason, they're operating with a stronghold in their mind, a stronghold. So we're going to talk a little bit about that before I give you what you're going to write. How's that? Good. I'm glad you're with me. I'm glad you're with me because this is the one thing that the enemy does not want you to get a hold of because once you begin to do battle, the Bible says we are to know the wiles, the tactics, the means, all of it, the methods that Satan comes at us. If you don't understand how he attacks, you'll never be able to combat that because you're always trying, always behind the ball, so to speak. So I want to talk to you about this tonight concerning a stronghold, and please don't make fun of my graphics here. Pastor, you got a gigantic LED wall behind you. Is this the best that you can do? Well, it is for right now. Behold the stronghold. No, don't clap. I know better. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, please don't ag me on when you see my stick, man, you're really going to be upset. So the book of Luke chapter 17 and verse one is a scripture that you need to have underlined and you need to mark it down because the Bible says there that offenses will come. Say that with me, offenses will come. They going to come? Yeah. Yeah. Everyday. There's going to be something that's going to offend you, whether it be somebody pulling over in your lane, sitting in your seat, some word that was spoken that you walk away from and suddenly you pick up an offense. There is any number of ways and the enemy, Satan, is doing everything he can to try to offend you because it is the entry level of a seed of bitterness that if left there eventually will have a stronghold built and from that stronghold you become dysfunction in your mind and even some confuse to the point where they think they're doing God's service but it's based out of a bitter stronghold that has got inside of their mind. Something offenses will come. In fact, the literal term there is scandal. How many of you know scandals will come? Scandals are on every day. In fact, they're so bold, the devil is, to have a show called scandal and we wonder why there's scandal around us when we participate but it is something that causes you to trip up or stumble or you lose your footing offenses, scandal. And we have to refuse to let that get inside of our minds. Now there is the possibility here according to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15 that the root of bitterness, the root of bitterness which starts with a seed by the way, somewhere, was allowed to be conceived in your mind to the degree that now there is this stronghold, this activity that's going on that now I am basing my life on, I'm basing my thoughts on, I'm basing how I deal with people on it. I even base that out of how I deal with God, I'm bitter at God and now everything I do is coming through the filter of this stronghold that's in my mind. So imagine the grid is the stronghold there. And just to give you a little background because out of all the things that God is speaking to us about to not allow to get in our mind, apparently based on the Scripture, because bitterness is a sinful activity and you can call it sin but when you begin to identify what it is, you can start targeting what's going on. And so he speaks to us about bitterness and in certain places it is described as a hidden thing but it's even deeper than that and some of you are going to have an eye-opening experience right here. The hidden roots of bitterness actually starts with resentment and it graduates itself to things like disappointment, you know someone who is disappointed about something that took place, I didn't get the job, I didn't get the promotion, I didn't get whatever that it may be, somehow a disappointment that has come, somebody hurt my feelings, some expectation that I had that I was looking forward to that did not come. I'm saying this to you because these are the places that you have to be careful to not allow that seed of an unmet expectation, an offense of some sort, some disappointment in your life to allow it to stay there long enough in order for a root of bitterness to spring up or you follow what I'm saying. So bitterness, bitterness can come from those things, it can come from, I think I shared it with you a little bit last week, misperceptions, misunderstandings, have you ever had a misunderstanding before, been involved in a misunderstanding, how many of you ever took action on something only to find out later that that wasn't true, misunderstanding? You acted on what someone said to start with and then you found out that that wasn't true or that portions of it was true but not all of it, you were misled, there was a misunderstanding or a misinterpretation and let me just say emails have a real, they are a non-emotional effect but those words can have an effect in the lives of people how it's presented and what you say, text messages and so forth because we don't talk to one another and I'm going to just tell you in all of my years of ministry I don't, I could probably count it on one hand how many people that have used the Matthew 18 method on how to deal with conflict with one another, I'm just going to let that slide in and some of you may not know what Matthew 18, go home and read it, it's Jesus method, Jesus method, not a disciple, not an archangel, not any, it's Jesus teaching the disciples the method of conflict resolution and if more Christians would use that in the conflict or misunderstanding or whatever that it may be you would find out that people could be healed, people could be restored, all of this but how many people have been offended and left the church? I ran into somebody today that was just like that trying to, an individual was trying to speak to him about the Lord and all and they had had such a horrible experience as a younger person in church that now at probably 50 years old or more they were still bitter and offended, I want to make sure you understand something right here, none of that is going to matter when the rapture takes place, for me, you or anybody else that's watching right now, none of that, when the rapture takes place you're going to want to say bitter or what, that's the reason why he says be sure and be careful to deal with the person while you're in the way with them, because if you don't and you allow yourself to muse upon it, how many of you have had something and you didn't think anything about it until you got home and then you started thinking about it, now you don't have to raise your hand because there's not a person in here who hasn't had that and it wasn't about somebody being a blessing to you, it was magnified, amplified, all of that by the enemy playing it over and over and over in your head, now the person who may have offended, whatever, it may have been just their ugly method of doing it, but my friends, it's not about what they do, that's what Jesus is teaching us in Matthew 18, it's about how we handle it because Luke 17, offenses will come, in other words, this may sound like a Debbie Downer right here for you, but let me just say this to you, you should expect to be offended, when I teach leaders or leadership, I've always tried to bring this understanding, good leaders already have an answer for whatever the problem is going to be, if the problem never comes, fine and dandy, but a horrible leader is someone who leads someone only to get out in the middle of the weeds themselves and then they find out, whoops, and everybody is looking at them saying, how do we get out of this, what are we going to do, I don't know, you follow me, good leadership has answers for every possible solution or every possible problem, and then if those problems never arrive, you're going to be all right, move on down the road, but the worst thing in the world is, let's just say you're driving your family in Atlanta, Georgia, and you see this stripe on the road and you go, this is the way to get out, and you start driving down that road only to find out that it takes you right down deep in the middle of places that you shouldn't be, but then you turn to your wife and say, I'll get her, I'll get us out of this, now I'm not talking about anybody else, I'm talking about moi, after the Olympics they painted this great big stripe down the road and I thought, this one leads us to the interstate, no it did not, I've had a unique, unique experience every time that I've gone to other different cities I've flown into Tampa one time, there we are, you know I can find the hood like that, no GPS just I'm there, I came right out of Atlanta Airport straight down in there and the worst thing you can do, here's a little advice for you, do not put the map up on the steering wheel while you're trying to find your way out of the hood, you're a surefire giveaway at that point, good leaders have answers before the problem the question ever comes, good leaders in houses, homes have answers before the problem comes because it's not a matter of the problem not coming, Luke is saying to us the problem the offense is going to come, how are you going to respond when the offense comes which is the problem, it is what's creating anxiety in your heart tonight, stress pressure depression what is that, well it started with a seed that got down in your mind this is your mind right here this grid and the seed started and you started thinking about it instead of casting it out pulling it down you allowed it to stay there and the longer it stayed the bigger it got right now they haven't just offended you with their words now you start going online investigating who they really are you are now the Christian Secret Service praise the Lord come on somebody because you know people hang all their laundry out there on social media these days you can find out who they are like that four out of five lawyers use Facebook as a defense mechanism for their client so if you don't want it known now I think it's also funny when people do that kind of stuff and then they go how did you know that really you posted it 18 times with pictures come on I wish you would why am I saying this because that seed if not if it's not cast out of your mind you can justify yourself with that the way you're thinking I know I'm in the right spot now it's quite as a church mouse up in here that seed begins to grow the more you think on it the more you muse on it the bigger it gets now this is what he means in Hebrews 11 15 when he says if you don't deal with that then then the enemy is going to build a stronghold there you are doing what Ephesians 4 says giving place to the devil so you've now given him a place in your mind stronghold stronghold is a wrong perception a wrong idea about God we think they did this to me and they're gonna get away with it and the enemy says you better do something you better confront that you better say something push push push push and the more that happens the bigger it gets and we give place in our mind to the enemy to build a stronghold of wrong ideas I know the Bible says vengeance is mine say if the Lord I will repay but right we start putting a but at the end of all of these scriptures that we know there's a way that seems right in a man at the end of that way is death destruction I know but all right so what happens out of this this is where people are at tonight so out of the stronghold you may not even know why this is a reason why you can't put your thumb on a on a an attack of the enemy because it comes from multiple directions and then it produces out of this is not just sitting there he'd been waiting to do this a long time so out of this now we don't know why we are so fearful we don't know why we are depressed we don't know why there is lust driven in our heart we don't know why there is a stress and pressure that is seems to be constantly let's call it what some people say a cloud over our mind can't get rid of this cloud can't get rid of this the reason why is because there's a stronghold that's been built up by some action that took place that you started believing things about God that weren't true this happens on a regular basis and the problem is we start operating in this cubicle from what this is and we start trying to treat this or treat this or this or this or any number of other things that manifests itself in fact let me say this to you the Bible says in Proverbs let me give you this scripture right here Proverbs 1722 that bitterness bitterness causes rot to the bones another place it says it dries the bones ladies and gentlemen this is the Old Testament terminology for cancer now my mom is going on to be with the Lord now for 30 some odd years but I am convinced that there was not and she was the most godly woman that I would know I don't believe that there was a stronghold that was there but I do believe the stress and the pressure internalized caused her bones to be filled with cancer now this my humble opinion pastor you saying I've got cancer because of this right here I know I am not what I am saying is is that if we allow this stuff to get in here all kinds of physical illnesses will come as a result of stress pressure and we've got any number of medical science people that will tell you well this is going on this is going on this is going on I'm not trying to be a medical scientist I'm a spiritual guy I'm saying inside of our mind if we don't get rid of it and let it go and forgive and turn it loose while we can the enemy will build a stronghold in our mind and affect us mentally spiritually and physically did that help anybody right there so the only way you can get over the offense is to walk free none of this is on your paper so if you want to take notes to walk free from the emotional prison and accept responsibility for your own heart how do I get out of this bitterness path how am I so fearful how am I going to get this stronghold broke down because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians that we are to we are to pull down the stronghold pull down the false idea that has been elevated above God in his word now let me let me throw this on you because this is the reason why people don't want to pray this prayer our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done all right let's get to this part forgive as that's the hurdle in the whole prayer isn't it forgive us as so the Lord knows that there's a stronghold going on and you're holding on offense to get someone else and they don't even know it but God does I'm not slamming you here tonight I'm trying to help you pulled stronghold down now God doesn't pull the stronghold down the stronghold stays until you get ready to pull the stronghold down now why am I teaching this because I've already been there done that in ministry they hurt me said things all this kind of stuff going on years and years ago this is not recent years and years ago and I remember the owner of a business that was there in in in my church and he said some awful things and I remember driving past his business I know none of you do this I am currently pastoring at this time and I'm driving past his business and every time I see that name over that business drive a dagger in your heart and actually I was ready to drive a dagger myself in your toe in your ear whatever now I know that's hard for you to understand that your pastor could have those kind of feelings but I just want to let you know I am not an angel I'm not Jesus I am a human being with feelings okay so what's the point it got bad I would drive past I didn't even want to drive past I would avoid it and there came a day that I had to drive down that road and the Spirit of God punched me in the chest and said pray for him I preached out of that before pray for those who despitefully use you that's not for me not for me for somebody else so whatever I preached from up here I can tell you over the past years and years and years it's already come through me I've experienced it ain't nothing that I'm saying to you that I haven't already dealt with boxed it out with God and I can tell you already right now who won so when they call me last this past weekend while we're teaching on here while they're saying all manner of evil against me online you're a false prophet you're a false teacher I mean they were punching this stuff in while the prophecy conference is going in you know what I've learned to do and keep on going why because offenses will come what the enemy wants to do is get you to stop long enough to meditate on it until he can find a place in your head I know you you're waiting for the rest of the story aren't you here's the rest of the story pray for them he said I sped up I was in the car and then I went back down there because it was compelling me now because nothing works until you get this dealt with come on somebody you do all kind of lay hands on me no you don't feel nothing you're a dead man walking till you get it right and I started driving past praying for his business Lord bless his business wait a minute not with my mouth and head it wasn't easy he didn't even know I was doing it to this day it wasn't about him I said it wasn't about him God said if you want me to use you from this point forward you're gonna have to deal with you I'll deal with that you deal with you let me try that on again I'll deal with that you deal with you God will hold others responsible and deal with them you've got to hold your own self-responsible and deal with you God will hold us responsible for what we allow to go on inside of our hearts and minds we cannot answer for the actions of other people I don't know why they did it I've you know I've come to find out that there is any number of things that happens in the life of an individual during 24-hour period of time they may have had a death they may have had a tragedy it may have been fired whatever it may all these kind of things going on and they all react out of that many times okay God's not gonna hold you responsible for what somebody else did we will all answer however for our inward response to what others have done to us so what am I gonna do I'm gonna forgive and let it go or hang on to that grievance and let it grow the choice is yours right it's all of ours now let me just say to you as it as a caveat to that packet that little story after I prayed that prayer was then that I met my friend pastor Jose who came into my life changed my life changed the church in one Sunday morning we had never given more than fifty thousand dollars a year in missions from our church at the time we had never taken up more than fourteen thousand dollars I think it might have been at a time so I drew it out on a graph inside of the little bulletin you know little bar graph and every week I'd show all the folks what came in there's the same crowd kept they weren't even taking up offerings on Wednesday night when I got there I said wait a minute we got to do this in fact I feel like taking up another one right now while I'm telling this story I promise you this is worth a hundred dollar bill out of every one of y'all right now I'm just kidding so I drew it this was the Sunday after he had come on that Sunday morning I was preaching about Ruth y'all all right out there can I tell you this this is a real life deal right here I was teaching about Ruth and how that God was calling us out of the corner at our church to be able to own the whole field after the service my head usher had run up to me we had sowed a seed into Guatemala for thirty six thousand dollars to build that building you saw on the screen just the metal over the top the red iron and the concrete thirty six thousand dollars we had sowed that the week prior that was the most money we'd ever given it in fact that was the whole year's mission budget that we were going to have that year that's what I told them on the first Sunday this is our mission budget for the year thirty six thousand dollars we're going to raise this over and above it we're not even getting hardly enough to do anything inside the regular tithing offering that Sunday morning after we had sowed that seed my head usher came running in fact my head usher at the time was here this past Sunday night he came running down the altar at right running down to the altar to the platform after the services away then he had to bullet in his hand he showed he shoved it into my face and he had drawn that bar graph off the top of the page for that Sunday I said what is this what do you mean pastor you're not gonna believe this we just received ninety six thousand dollars in ties and offerings this morning and every bit of that I am persuaded was hanging on whether or not I was gonna let it go and see God do something greater down the road man if you don't get anything else I say tonight whatever may be going on in your life it is not worth holding on it's not worth allowing the enemy to have a place in your mind it's not worth the stress it's not worth the depression it's not worth the fear let it go live your life and watch God multiply your life somebody will receive that word right now can I go a little deeper right here I'm gonna give you something right here's what happens and you find this passage of Scripture and I shared it a little bit with you last night or last week where where the man comes into the judge and the judge forgives him this gigantic amount and he goes out you know and grabs a guy by the neck and puts him in jail and then the judge calls him back says forget it you're going to jail too and and the Bible says he turned him over to the tormentors right okay so this is what this is what this is these are the tormentors and the only way you get out of jail of your mind that is you're not behind bars but you might as well be the only way you're gonna get out according to that very very clear parable is to forgive and release it are you hearing what I'm saying I'm trying to help you pull the stronghold down I know it's hard I'm not saying it's easy I'm not saying it's something easy but you must do it Jesus said if you don't forgive me in their trespasses neither will your father forgive you your trespasses that's a hard pill to swallow when you feel justified in all of the things you feel except for the fact that every night I can't sleep because I'm having these dreams and nightmares and the tormentors the tormentors you know why people are go around and go shoot up something and whatever it may be is because they're being tormented in mind by something that took place taking someone else's life and they're never there's never a some you know I'm glad about it mentality because whenever that takes place it leaves an empty hole in the life of the individual who offends or hurts are you hearing what I'm saying I know that's the reason why God said vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord I will repay well wait a minute let's break that down vengeance is mine is that what he said three mumblers did God not say vengeance is mine so in other words God said I'm gonna get the payback but I'm gonna do it my way now watch this vengeance is mine sayeth God stop watch the rest of that scripture I will repay who's he gonna repay you're gonna be paid back what the enemy stole seven times if you can release it don't worry about God he's gonna get here he's gonna take care of the situation I've watched that happen too many times but when the payment God where what I'm gonna really and I'm not looking for anything God said I know you're not but I got something for you waiting on you on the other side of your forgiveness when you let it go I got some if you'll just let it go you have no idea what I have waiting on you on the other side of your obedience I wonder what blessings are hanging over your head and mine tonight if we would just release whatever that it may be and not let it destroy us any longer the Bible says we have to pull these strongholds down strongholds are wrong thoughts wrong ideas lies that are perpetuated in our mind over a period of weeks months and even years and at the core of it is the terminology you find in the scripture called iniquity some I say iniquity iniquity what he said be careful about about your sin and then he calls some sin he'll call it sin and then he'll call it iniquity what is iniquity iniquity is the inner act of a willfulness against God and his word in other words I know what you said but I'm justifying the way I feel because I found some scripture in the song that says break off their teeth and I put their name in it what is it it's an attitude of the heart scripture will identify for us specifically these iniquities and they're not this is not an exhaustive list but he speaks of bitterness he speaks of greed he speaks of lust he speaks of stubbornness being iniquity iniquity is doing our own will instead of God's will even if our own will appears to be doing good I know you've never done this so you don't have to say anything but have you ever had an ill will in your heart towards someone and you said I'll just do this and make them feel like I'll I'll act like I'll bake you a cake come on somebody it now what you need to know is is that there's five things that we're going to be judged for and one of those five things is every motive so you can talk about I'm doing this in the name of the Lord but if your motive stinks the only reason I'm doing is to show them that I'm a bigger y'all want to come and pray let's pray now as I said I know you have never done anything with an ill motive because that's your payback I'm just saying God sees that it's too heavy for you on the Wednesday night iniquity iniquity here's here's what he links it to this is none of this on your paper because I wanted you to look straight at me iniquity he also calls it in the book of 2nd Thessalonians the mystery of iniquity Paul said the mystery of iniquity death already work what is this mystery of iniquity it's actually linked to the antichrist spirit and to the apostasy the falling away so what happens and this is going on right now and I've seen it it's happened right here in this church and every other church where people get offended and they don't deal with it like they should and the next thing you know you find them out there in the world or somewhere else because the mystery of iniquity is causing them to fall away just like this lady today years that she's been in this condition years y'all isn't it amazing how long that people can hold bitterness I believe that's the reason why David said search me oh Lord do we dare pray that search me oh Lord wait a man pastor I've been saved for a hundred and fifty thousand years no search me oh Lord and when I wake up in the morning search me oh Lord and when I lay down at night search me oh Lord and see look at this see man I'm feeling my strength coming right here from the Holy Ghost see if there be any any wicked way in me and then created me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me and I love what David said he said after I have after you have dealt with me and disciplined me then I will teach transgressors your ways oh oh oh man oh man I wish you'd left that off don't you I wish you to left that off because now I have a responsibility since I've gone through it I'm not talking about telling you a whole story I'm talking about teaching others what bitterness can do to the heart of an individual because you know it firsthand and so do I see I confess mine tonight y'all all sitting out there quiet like you haven't ever had anything some of y'all drove past them today mm-hmm I'm going to church where you going hell right come on now come on now you'd be shocked to know how many good-spirited believers so what happens is the entrenchment of this stronghold brings wrong beliefs and puts people into a place of bondage to fear and anxiety and depression all that kind of stuff so he admonishes us and second Corinthians to pull these strongholds down well I'm saying God pull it down no he said you got to pull it down God doesn't do the pulling down with a stronghold well what's the only way that the guy could get out of jail in the parable was to forgive the other guy mm-hmm I'll just sit here in jail and rot yes you will yes you will you'll just rot right on down and how many people have you seen that kept it and then later in their elder years all of it started coming out now now they got commercials for it's on TV come on somebody pastor this this is this a little tight for Wednesday night I'm trying to help you ladies and gentlemen and myself too because if there is any root of bitterness that's trying to spring up it will block what God wants to do inside of your life and I see greater things going on for you and for this church and so the last thing what we need to do is just do a little spring cleaning before the fall come on somebody oh I think that was a tweetable line do some spring cleaning before the fall before we fall down because the root of all of this and I'm moving on because you got something that you need to write down because I need to get to some Psalm 23 or something I need to get something Jesus wept or something else the root of all sin has its base in pride self-preservation whatever that it may be they offended me so I'm gonna defend myself ain't nobody gonna defend me right y'all don't shout me down I'm gonna give you three strongholds right here that are the basic three that everything else comes out of number one is pride pride the greatest stronghold of all of them why because pride is self-serving self-deserving self-exalting second from pride comes prejudice this is a stronghold prejudice you only think about it as racist but listen to me it's where you're having your mind made up before you heard the facts it's a negative arrogant attitude prejudice I've already made up my mind about you before I even met you man we were building our house or over there 13 14 years ago and the guy around the corner came around and the guy was putting a yard pump in there at our house and he walked up beside him I wasn't there he walked up beside him he said hey do you know this preacher is coming in here I never met the man to this day he live right around the corner he said you know this preacher is coming here building his house he said well I'm just doing work here sir I'm just working you know with the plumbing company on blah blah blah he said now the plumber told me this after I got here he said I don't like him I got my first enemy before I even moved to my own house I don't like him I think if I remember correctly the plumber turned around to him said well do you know him yet leave the reason why these prejudice come in our mind that we already have some preconceived idea is because of whatever it was that was getting hold of our head right here you don't even know them have you met him have you talked to him I don't like him you don't know I don't like that church they're not friendly I was I was talking with Pastor Hagee a little bit because this past Sunday he was telling everybody on his broadcast that that he was coming to to Pensacola do a Bible prophecy conference here at Pace Assembly and so forth and in the course of the conversation with him and his and Matt that was on the platform he Matt brought up the fact that there was a woman that had just come that had that had he had just found out just met and that she'd been coming there for five years and she didn't have any friend she had no friend she'd been coming to Cornerstone Cornerstone's 20,000 members okay hadn't had no friends but she's been there for five years and I'm watching the TV when Matt is saying this Pastor Matt and I'm looking at Pastor Hagee's face now if you know anything about him watch this program he is like a no-nonsense preacher y'all understand what I'm talking about there ain't no air in there no gaps if you want to know how you feel he'll tell you don't ask him and I watched his face as he's thinking and I said oh no he's about to tell that woman if you want to be a friend if you want to have a friend you gotta be a friend he's you mean to tell me this national tell you mean to tell me that she's been coming to this church for five years and she has no friends he said if you are been coming here for that long it's time you stick your hand out to someone and say hello my name is John Doe now you're gonna have a friend that was as mild as it gets why because we have some concept we've been there for two days and the next thing you know we don't even you live across the street from whatever it may be some people you connect with some people you may not I'm just saying man it's tied in here I better get my little flipper and then security is gonna need to come and get me first is pride then is prejudice and then the third stronghold that everything comes out of is a precon preconception you ever have preconceptions it's what I'm talking to you about thinking you know something that you don't presuming to have a clear picture of something that you haven't now I'm about to do a little check here this is the next moment is a test y'all right out there breathe in breathe out some of y'all are dead right now you're dead I shot you killed you right there if you find yourself agitated by any of the three that I have just mentioned there is a stronghold here's what the Bible says in Psalm 119 y'all need some word for this the entrance of your word gives light it gives understanding to the simple what are you saying pastor I'm saying as long as there's a stronghold people can't receive the word but when the word comes it turns the light on let's see if I ever heard that preached before turn the light on look at somebody tell him turn the light on I won't dig around anymore in that at that place it's sore right now so I'm you know I think I've got all the pimples off of your face I can get tonight so here is the basic steps to renewing your mind I made friends and enemies here tonight and maybe y'all could get together and be my friend of me number one we must believe that we are in control of our mind pastor I didn't I wasn't even thinking what I said that well you had to because it went to your head came out of your mouth and then you got that scripture don't you just hate that scripture from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks don't you just despise that passage of scripture I do you must you need to talk as much as I do and have as many opportunities to offend somebody as I do we are in control of our minds you must grab hold of that right there the devil is not in control and not even God is what you put in is what will come out come on now look what he says from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so in other words it's not just what's in the bucket of your heart it's what's overflowing the bucket of your heart so if what's overflowing is coming out of your mouth then what's in there deeper is a reflection of the same thing because you can't have bitter and sweet in the same place will you all forgive me for this lesson here tonight I would just like to know number two we must believe that we need to change it's them pastor in that what Adam said to God about Eve in that what Jonah said about those people down there not going to preach to them God said you better go down there and preach to them oh no I'm going to get on this boat and go the opposite direction because it's not it's not me it's them friends this is what I need you to know this world is full of sinners people that are going to go to hell and all they're waiting on the individual that talked to me today about them witnessing to this lady it was three sentences into the conversation before the tears he told me started running down her face because he had touched a place with the love of God on the inside of the heart and you know what she was waiting she was waiting for someone to come along and let her know that the Jesus of her denomination is not the Jesus of the Bible come on somebody your list of rules and God's list of rules are two different list of rules and I can assure you God's not gonna take yours and we will be shocked who enters into heaven the person that you didn't like very much they're gonna be sitting there waiting on you at the front gate with their hand open come on in it's a great place we must believe that we need to change do you believe that because if we blame others for things that happen to us we will never see the need to change ourselves no blame-shifting manage yourself manage your own mind how many of you change the oil in your car regularly why do you do that why do you do that because you wanted to run don't you maybe we need an oil change just say it number three we must realize that change involves an act of our will remember that's in that soulless realm an act of our will in other words nothing's gonna move until your mind changes listen before you got saved your mind had to believe you didn't get saved before your mind kicked in and said I need Jesus right come on somebody well I felt some warm fuzzy you didn't move it to warm fuzzy but whenever your mind started understanding if I don't come to Christ I am eternally lost and then an active will took place from your mind you put a step out just like people did around this altar this past Sunday that's the greatest thing that could ever happen is the day that we surrender when when did we stop surrendering after we got saved go back to that point and pull down whatever that it is and whatever you do keep coming back to the well all the time come on somebody keep coming back to the place that you first found Jesus and say Lord do those first works over again that was a problem with the church at emphasis it wasn't that they didn't have good works it wasn't that they weren't necessarily good people he said the problem is you're running this church mechanically you know when to sing you know when to say amen you know how to go through all the calisthenics of church but you have left not lost left your first love go back and do your first works over again an act of your will you remember how you felt when you got saved I remember my dad telling me the testimony when he got saved he said when I got saved I loved everybody and there were some people around me at the time that he didn't like very much but he said when I got up I started hugging everybody because at that moment the love of God had come in so deep and so strong that I fell in love with everybody and he wasn't no little manby pamby guy either he worked out there at gulf power with those big strong guys climbing poles and doing all that kind of stuff out there on the job he's hugging necks and shaking hands and they're asking him what in the world is going on with you I've got his little new testament that he wore out every day at lunch to get up in the climb up in the cab of the truck and while everybody else was eating he's devouring the word of God your life is changed oh God by an act of your will in faith towards Jesus Christ and then watch people change around you mind management is not based upon how I feel if I wait for a feeling to forgive it will never come number four we must put the truth of God's Word in place of wrong ideas this is a critical thing a lot of times parents want to take things away from their kids and then they leave them in a vacuum you're not listening to that music get it out of there okay I'm not saying that was wrong what are you going to replace it with because in that vacuum whatever is out there will flow right back down in there and fill it up again and let me just say that's not about just kids that's about all of us too if we leave a hole there it's going to be filled with whatever may be overflowing and coming into our life so what do we got to do once you pull the stronghold down there's a void there's a void what am I gonna do I've gotten I've asked for forgiveness I've gotten everything straight this stress is gone this all this is gone pride's gone fears gone I have no alright so what do we got to do I got to put I got to reach down and I got to grab the truth of God's Word and I've got to fill my heart with the Word of God so that I know what truth is because when you know the truth the truth shall amen once we recognize the thought is a wrong thought repent of it and move forward let me say this to you you don't have to camp out right there and have a Christ session over it here's a question when you ask the Lord to forgive you how fast did he do it are you sure you sure there wasn't like a delay a second or two maybe a day maybe he's waiting on you to see how you really no no the moment you place your faith in Christ and him crucified and you say Lord forgive me here's what the Bible says first on 1 9 if we confess our confess and believe in our heart there's no in between thou shall be saved you'll be cleansed you'll be washed cleanse not covered the Old Testament had the covering the New Testament has the cleansing come on somebody don't let the enemy beat you up over what you may have done or the unforgiveness or the bitterness all that because when you come into the forgiveness of Christ it's at that moment in fact he died a long time ago it's done right now and if I need it in the next five seconds all I got to do is ask and it's already there it's already come on somebody you ought to thank God for that right there that God has not put you on hold like people will well we're gonna see whether or not they're genuinely okay you see whether or not but between me and the Lord I'm cleaning clear how many of you are cleaning clear tonight amen so number five we must practice the truth until it becomes a way of life we must practice the truth until it becomes a way of life now I've been forgiven right did I feel forgiven maybe you did maybe you didn't I dare say most of the time you didn't there were no feeling I just said Lord forgive me and but now what have I got to do I can't wait for a feeling to come to feel forgiven and I certainly can't wait for them to come and apologize or whatever needs to happen what I've got to do is go ahead and do what I need to do and then walk forgiven because there may be some people that you encounter that don't release you and don't don't don't forgive you I've had that happen you ever had that happen you put you you put your stuff out there and then they didn't they treated you like you know whatever that may happen but at that moment there's a release that comes into my life and it's time for me to start living I like the song that the crab family has I'm tired of living unforgiven it's time that we live forgiven and free in the anointing of the Holy Spirit and whether you release me or not heaven released me come on somebody whether you forgave me or not heaven forgave me Jesus has taken my sin my wrong because the propensity of my life is to default to a sinful nature and there could be a time now I hate to break this to you because I've been breaking you down all night long there may be a time between now and the coming of the Lord that you and me might just mess up and sin again what do you think the odds are of that well let me let me take a little further maybe maybe not just sin maybe just say something that was misunderstood or maybe hateful or harmful or hurtful or whatever right come on say amen for your neighbor they're all locked up right now I might find myself back there what am I gonna do well I'm certainly not gonna search out another savior I got too much time invested in this one I wish somebody would say amen but I'll say amen for myself I'm just gonna tell you there's nowhere else to go Jesus is asking are you gonna lead me to you better be like Peter and turn around and say you kidding me I'm not going anywhere you have the words of life I'm staying with you that's the reason why I told my wife if she ever leaves me I'm going with her right Jesus where you leave me I'll follow right all these songs we sing past me not old gentle say he had a word about passing me not wherever you are I'm holding on to your road because because there may be a time and probably will be a time that I'll mess up again but thank God thank God thank God that I'm all ready forgiven before I ever get there and if I'm not and you're not then we are hopeless so how do I know that I'm properly managing my mind renewing my mind here I'm gonna give it to you right here here's what Isaiah that if you're gonna find out you got to read it in the word Isaiah 26 3 thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee why because he trusted in thee whoo somebody's getting free right now how do I know I'm renewing my mind because I've got peace even while the storm is raging I've got peace way down in my soul way down in my mind whoo you can let the devil steal your car your house and your money but don't let him touch the peace of God that passes all understanding because once you get peace it's not something you can get easy you hear what I'm talking about I'm talking about you had to walk through a lot of thorns and thistles to get to the place where you could say though he slayed me yeah well I trust him come on now here's what Colossians 3 says I love the NIV version right here therefore as God's chosen people holy and dearly loved clothe yourself with compassion with kindness with humility with gentleness and patience come on somebody bear with each other bear with each other tolerate with each other put up with some stuff people don't put up with nothing I know cuz I'm right there on the edge well boys on the phone driving the car you know what God did I'm on a three lane highway he made a car pull up right here this guy's in front of me and then he made another car pull up right here so I couldn't go nowhere y'all don't get that yeah I know I know try it all next time watch God do something like that I don't believe God does that oh I do oh yes I do cuz he's gonna get my attention and I'm glad he did bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another forgive as the Lord forgave you and over all these virtues we all need a baptism of love that binds us together in perfect unity are you there how many of you know you could use a little bit more of that right there I can't see I'm the only one in this room that keeps confessing everything I don't know why in the world I don't know if y'all the Pope out there or what but I just confess it all and here's what the Bible says in verse 15 let the peace of Christ let the peace of God rule that word rule there means umpire let the piece of God rule umpire in your heart since as members of one body you're called to peace and be thankful be thankful be thankful you want to get over your bitterness be thankful that if it had not been for the Lord who was on your side you wouldn't be able to breathe right now be thankful now I'm just gonna tell you read and I were watching a ballgame the other night we watch the umpire behind the plate and as far as I'm concerned from my perspective that Joker made a bad call should have been a strike I saw the instant replay come on somebody come on all you armchair quarterbacks and armchair sports fans that's a strike while you're arguing with the umpire let the peace of God umpire your hearts let the peace of God call the strikes and the balls in your heart wait a minute that was a strike no I see it better than you do and do you know that the Lord may just call it one way knowing that if we have our way here we'll lose our peace of mind you know how many people are losing their minds today losing their minds he said let the peace of God rule it let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach it and punish one another uh-oh what do you want me to do now now you told me to forgive now what do you want me to do he said I want you to sing some psalms I want you to break out the hymns there's a lot of worship leaders that need to be reminded of this because they don't know anything else to sing that the trees are clapping their hands and so forth but I'm just gonna tell you there is power in the blood would you be free from your burden of sin there's power in the blood why is it so and that's another lesson hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts towards God you know what he's saying he's saying turn the thing around and start praising me and you're gonna praise your way right out of a stronghold the enemy's gonna keep bombarding your mind you're justified you this you that you say you know what if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side mercy rewrote my life come on somebody there's a new name written down in glory thank you Lord for saving my soul how great thou are how great thou come on somebody you know why he's saying that because you got to get your spirit out of that otherwise it's gonna take you down and the problem is remember Hebrews 12 15 the problem is if you allow that bitterness to stay the Bible says many will be defiled people in your own house you'll wonder why I always get mad at one another in the church can't get along with one another what look at it on a national scale right now people bitter and mad and angry with one another fear and all this kind of stuff going on why because there's a stronghold in their minds they've got an offense against God and offense against other people and so I'm gonna do what I need to do and by my way I'm gonna pay my are you here when I'm saying and you're saying oh we're gonna sue them what you're gonna take down the United States of America because you want to sue everybody come on church see some of you get where does that prejudice come in I'm a Democrat I don't care if you are a bull weevil stop acting like your party political party is greater than the peace of God that rules inside of your heart if Christians don't start acting like Christians the nation is gonna go down come on somebody we got to be salt we got to be alive and we got to be free in our heart toward one another you vote for whoever you want to but you better vote that Bible if you're a Christian come on somebody well I'm a Democrat my daddy was a Democrat my daddy's daddy was a Democrat I've always voted Democrat well your dumb you know why because the whole platform of the party says let's kill some babies come on somebody it may be shocking to you but I was my daddy was a Democrat I was raised a Democrat and I had a Democratic card when I first voted but then I figured out my party left me they were conservative when I was growing up as a kid now it's all messed up and before you want to beat your chest about Republicans how much peace are they bringing you I'm gonna tell you where it starts it starts in our own heart don't blame anybody else it starts right here and then you start changing your world by the peace of God ruling in your heart can you say a man because I'm gonna just tell you right here and then we're gonna close this church is salt and light and there are more people watching tonight right now and people in this community that need Jesus Christ and the best thing we could do is keep our focus on what God's called us to do keep our hearts clean and clear before God and let's see God build the kingdom of God and bring people to Christ can you say amen to that is that good for mission statement and vision statement right there come on let's get on our feet and clap our hands and say something to the Lord in praise and gratitude because God's kept you alive for such a time as this father I thank you tonight I give you glory I pray that you take these feeble words and and Lord let it just be a food into the hearts and lives of your people that all of us would examine our own self and be available for the hand of God to work through us because Lord we stand before you as David cried clean cleansed whole in the name of Jesus Christ we give you glory for it right now everybody believes it say a good amen I want you to turn around and shake hands with somebody and encourage them in the Lord and don't miss this weekend it's family Sunday you'll not want to miss it everybody gonna be in the building we're gonna worship and have a great time in the Lord God bless you