The Pathway To Success Pt. 16

We're in part 16 of a series called The Pathways to Success and The Shoe of the Week. Is Fendi still a thing? All right. Well, we're going with Fendi today. All right. But even if it ain't a thing, it's the shoe of the week. Speaking of shoes, I'm going to ask you to stand if you can for the reading of the Word of God. If you can stand without pain, if it's painful, don't press it, you're good. Let me try to see what's going to happen in this service. Let's go to Joshua chapter one, verse eight, New King James Version. That's our focal verse for this series and it says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night. That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. You shall meditate in a day and night that you may observe. It's not meditation just to be knowledgeable. It's meditation for application. That you may observe to do according to all that is written in. Not that you may observe to know it, but you may ... Ooh, okay, this is a slow group. That you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. When? When you do it. When you do what he says. Good success requires the application and obedience to what he says. All right, before you sit down, if you agree with these words, repeat these with me, please use your outside voice, say it from your chest. Lord. Lord. Help me.

Help me. To do. To do. What you say. What you say. Amen. In a meeting last night, I didn't know what I was going to talk about today and I was reminded by some of our staff of a promise that I made during part 15 of this series to address more definitively the whole idea of driving out your enemy. In part 15 I talked about how I see this pattern in scripture, particularly with the Israelites, that before they were to take possession of a land or property or a blessing that God had for them, between them and that blessing was always an enemy. It was never just something they could just walk in. It was never just something they could just be given. It was also always something they had to take. It was always something they had to just take possession of the land, take possession of the land, but it was always somebody there who didn't want to give up the land. Those people were enemies like the Midianites and who, according to Numbers chapter 25 to 31, had a problem with prostitution. There were Canaanites who were heavy in the idolatry. There were Jebusites and Hittites and Perizzites and every enemy had to be defeated in order to occupy the blessing, the land. And then those enemies had to be driven out in order to have peace in the land, in order to enjoy it, because you can occupy a blessing and not have peace in it if you're still hanging with the enemy, if you're still befriending the enemy, if you're intermarrying with the enemy, if you're worshiping with the enemy, their own idols. And many times the Israelites did not do what God said. They didn't finish the job. Somebody say finish. They didn't finish the job by not only defeating the enemy, but driving them out.

I would say don't leave nothing behind, the kids, the animals, nothing. Their spirit's connected to them. Don't leave any of their artifacts that they used to worship idols and turn gods out of. Get rid of all that stuff because it's hard to have peace when you're experiencing your blessing with an enemy that I told you to drive out. Now to Israel, that meant physical warfare. That means they had to literally fight physical fights. With us, it's not always somebody physically or a person, but it is always, as I said last week, personal. So with us, sometimes the enemy is fear. Sometimes the enemy is lack of preparation. Sometimes the enemy is laziness. Sometimes the enemy is being unprofessional. Sometimes the enemy is being perverted or lust or an addiction. There is something that has gotten a hold of us that actually is standing in the way of the promise. Can't get to the promise because we won't overcome and defeat the enemy. And then even if we defeat the enemy that is in us, we don't drive it out so that we don't have to fight it anymore. We just defeat it, but continue to live with it. Keep his phone number and say let's be friends. I know we got to break up I know the relationship is wrong, but can we still just be friends? I mean we started off as friends Let's be there are some things and some people you cannot remain friends with and cannot remain connected to Ask your wife if you can still be friends I'm just gonna cut to the chase today. Ask your spouse if y'all can still be friends You ain't even gotta pray about that Who I don't got it, I don't got it upset on now so so so so there's a level of Suffering that must take place and a level of finalization that must take place in order to get to certain levels of success in life Many of which we're kept from because we're not willing to finish

So let me give you a couple examples in Joshua chapter 13 verse 13. We see this problem It says the Israelites failed to do what? They failed to drive out the people of Geshur and Maka So they continue to live among the Israelites to this day So the time of the writing when their people those those people should have been removed and gone they live with them So we we choose to live with something. We were supposed to get rid of Chapter 15 verse 63 says this about the tribe of Judah who were part of Israel The tribe of Judah could not drive all the Jebusites who lived in the city of Jerusalem So the Jebusites lived there among the people of Judah to this day And I like this the message version of that Bible says about the Jebusites right there in the middle of the verse It says the Jebusites stayed put The reason why they stayed put because nobody put them out There are some things in your life you got to put out I Say you're gonna have to put it out You got to burn it there's some things in your basement you got to throw out There's some things you used to do when you had family and friends come over that you keep Justifying keeping in your house that you need to get rid of because it doesn't represent who you're supposed to be now Yeah, y'all don't We we we want to keep it around just in case certain people who cause us to compromise come around and then they can't tell Whether or not we really change the night because we still do the same things and even if we don't do it We have it available for those who want to do it. Y'all ain't gonna help me here But either it's got to go it's got to go Drive it out Burn it destroy it. Well, I spent a lot of money on it. Some of you got a liquor collection I mean guys you got top shelf bottom shelf low shelf. You're proud of it. What you want what you wonder Well, if God tells you not to drink it, why are you serving it? Yeah I'm just saying to people who he told that I mean if you feel like it's oh see one thing about us We will find we will find ways to hold on to stuff that God is telling us to let go of Or we'll defeat it one day then we can't defeat it

So you're trying to be sober, but you got you're trying to be sober, but you still got some weed in the house You're trying to be sober, but you still got stuff around you that gives you access to it So you're gonna have to keep defeating it It means you you might win one you might lose one. You might win one. You might lose one. Why cuz it's still there Cuz you didn't you didn't drive it out. Are you understanding what I'm saying and driving out requires a level of suffering Why is it why is it gonna require suffering because it's gonna hurt you to let go of something that used to comfort you You Say what you want about that that used to comfort me that was my go-to He was my go-to She was my go-to He understood me Pick your head up So when God says you can't take that with you where I'm taking you that hurts Because even if it's not active you didn't block them Somebody said I did you didn't you didn't change your number You didn't create boundaries so that you could always there because you don't mind if at 130 at night when you lonely if that can be hooked back up because because one thing about it is whenever you're hurting It's amazing how the devil makes the same people available all over again What you doing What you doing Question is what you doing You gotta have I won't go back even if I have to suffer because you're gonna suffer if you go back And you're gonna suffer if you don't go back Watch that you're gonna suffer consequences if you go back into something and you're gonna suffer pain if you don't go back But you got to be willing to suffer the pain and saying my flesh. I'm not gonna let my flesh regulate me I'm not gonna let my flesh dominate me flesh. You're gonna get under the authority of the Holy Spirit and we're gonna live out God's witness in this life, and we're gonna do the right thing for the kingdom, for my family, for my testimony, for my ministry, for my business, for my reputation,

even if I have to hold myself and hold a pillow and go to sleep, I'm not gonna comfort myself with the wrong thing. You gotta have that kind of mindset. And then to make it harder, stop leaving so much easy access to it. Some of y'all are just too accessible. You're too accessible to something, and why would you wanna be friends with something that almost killed you? When you say it didn't almost kill me, it almost kills your reputation, it almost kills your family, it almost kills your marriage, it almost kills, it may have, it may almost kill your business. You still wanna be friends with something that almost destroyed you? Because we have euphoric recall about it, and we remember how fun it was, and how much fun, you could've been having fun, it don't matter if you're having fun if it was gonna kill you. God says, I need you to put it to death and to get it out of your life. Go to chapter 16, verse 10. Chapter 16, verse 10. And Joshua says, they did not drive out the Canaanites out of Gezer, however, so the people of Gezer lived as slaves among the people of Ephraim to this day.

So the Ephraimites, who were part of the Israelites, had to employ the Canaanites, because they couldn't, they didn't drive them out. So now, they got people working for them that are really enemies. Think about being an employer of somebody who's really a threat to you. That's probably for one person in here to think about, but it's something to think about. So what are you gonna do if you don't drive it out? You're gonna end up living with it. And you're gonna get comfortable with it. And that compromise will catch up with you eventually. It'll catch up with you eventually. I like this story. In 2 Kings chapter nine, there was a man named Jehu, and he was a courageous leader, and he was headed to where Jezebel was to kill her, because she should have been dead. That's how, she was just wild and crazy and destructive. And when she heard he was on the way, this wild chick actually did her hair and put eye makeup on and stood in front of the window when he pulled up and said, do you come in peace? Like, she was still trying to seduce him, but he was locked in and focused. Amen. Sometimes you gotta be on mission and not on your flesh. Is this too hard for y'all to, y'all tracking with this? So he looks up at her in the window, and he yells up.

He says, who's on my side? And three eunuchs looked out the window, and he says to them, throw her out the window. They threw her out the window, and her blood splattered all against the wall and against the horses. She was dead. Jehu went with his horse while she was dead and trampled over her with the horse to make sure she was dead, dead. See, some of y'all don't make sure stuff is dead, dead. You keep having, you give it a little pulse just in case circumstances show up. But if you give it a pulse, it might destroy your life. And what you tolerate could end up dominating you. We need some people that's gonna kill stuff dead, dead. Let me give you another example. There's a man in the Bible named Goliath. He was a giant from Gath. People were afraid of him, intimidated by him. Didn't wanna fight him. He had the whole army of Israel scared of him, and David said, I'll fight him. He ain't nothing. I can take him down. You see, he gave his resume. I beat a lion before. I beat a bear. He can go just like them. So David takes basically the stuff he plays with.

He ain't even had no military equipment. He had a slingshot. Ain't nobody, who come into a fight with a slingshot? That's what he played with. He played with slingshots. If God can use what you play with for a miracle, he takes a slingshot, hits Goliath in the forehead. The rock goes into his forehead, kills him. He drops on the ground. What David does next is what I'm trying to talk about. David goes up to a dead man and cuts his head off his body, and then he took his armor off of him, A.D., took his armor, and after he cut his head, that's dead, dead. That's another level right there, because watch this, because many kings would do this, Joshua would do this to many kings. When he'd take over a kingdom, he'd kill the king and cut the king's head off, because even if your body comes back, if your head's not dead, it can't give direction to the body. That's another level of execution. Now, so when David did that and brought the head back and the armor back, he's saying, not only is he dead, but he will never rise again. I'm driving this thing out. Now, there's a man named. Samson now watch the comparison Samson was feared to now He was a servant of the Lord, but he was wild at the same time He had talent and skills, but he also was impulsive and he had a woman problem

You follow the pattern of Samson. That was his main problem women He just but one of them women got him. No lady named Delilah It was something about Delilah and he liked her so much. He would live with they weren't married. He would be over a house though By the way Some of y'all have things you need to overcome and some of it is your philosophy and your Explanation of why you get to sin Now when the Bible says you're not supposed to have sex if you're not married you think that's okay for somebody that's 16 but you 46 and You got a boyfriend Because you've grown And you responsible and you 57 and you got a girlfriend And a wife Keep your head up so And and and and and you in but but you got it in the tent I'm gonna come back to Samson room to go back to say see see see see when God told when God told The Israelites in Joshua chapter 7 He says I want you to go in and I want you to destroy that nation and don't leave anything behind Don't leave anything. There was a man named Achan who decided in Joshua chapter 7. I'm gonna keep some of this This is good stuff right here, but he wasn't public about it saying look what I can he hid it in his tent Yeah, he hid it in his tent And when he hid it in the tent because he was being disobedient the whole nation was impacted because God says there's sin in your camp There's sin in the camp and the sin in the camp is making fights hard So Josh was out there fighting said man Why are we having such a hard time fighting these people and he said they said the sin in the camp When they found out it was aching aching says man, you know It's me It's in my tent and they brought his whole family out and killed his whole family And I wonder what some of y'all are keeping in your tent You ain't you ain't you ain't really public about what your thing is that you don't want to let go of but it's in your tent And when you got something in your tent, it might be holding back your company. It might be holding back your family

It might be holding back the thing you're trying to grow because you got something in your tent It ain't public, but you got something in your tent And when you got something in your tent, you have to live dupliciously you have to live two lives Just how much successful would you be if you weren't living two lives? What if you could just focus on the life God calls you to and not have a side life in your tent? Did you see y'all y'all go y'all know I'm talking the truth right in here right now But because you got two lives you got to manage this life. You got to hide this life You got to do but you got to nurture this life because they got feelings too and they got expectations, too But then you got to hide that and you got to have two phones and you got to have a backup plan And you got to have passwords and cold work. I'm coming down your street in a minute. Yeah Yeah, so so now so now that is that what's in your tent? Back to Samson Samson likes Delilah, but he won't let her go God has a call on his life, but he won't let Delilah go And here's the thing when you compromise and hold on to something that you need to drive out of your life It'll get you when it gets you One day she said how can we find out where your strength is? She was Philistine Philistine Philistine she doesn't where you from She said wait, tell me where you get your power from he should have known there she wasn't safe She wanted his power Some people don't really like you. They like your power Hmm I Would say more about that, but you know why you know, they like they ain't like you before you had that Elevation makes you attractive Anyway, she tried multiple times finally He just gave and she gave in and told him I'm positive my hair if you cut my hair, I'm done. She cut his hair He was done lost his power and his enemies guess what they did. They didn't cut his head off. They plucked his eyes out Shaved his head and put him in prison You know what? They did they defeated him, but they didn't drive him out And whatever you don't drive out you gonna have to live with and it's gonna come back and haunt you one day

Well, I wish I read the Bible because the Bible says why they failed to cut his head off Even though they took his vision the barber didn't keep cutting him. His hair grew back. Oh, y'all knew the Bible That's where his strength was his hair grew back and they call a meeting one day pastor Steph They call this they would use him. He was like a circus show. They would bring him out in front of people They would say entertain him I said, I don't know maybe he would do stuff strong man stuff or just stunts or whatever or I don't know gymnastics He would do something but they would bring him out there one day. They called him out there, but his hair grew back So he came out there and he couldn't see but he told the servant He said show me where to with a weight what they call that pole that holds He said show me what a weight-bearing poles are And with one more ounce of strength. He said God strengthened me. We just this one more time And the Bible says he pressed on that weight-bearing Pole those poles and the whole building came down and he killed 3,000 people in that one moment including losing his own life And the reason why all them people die is they should have drove him out But they just defeated him and I'm saying this as a prophetic word to some of y'all some of y'all playing around with something that If you don't kill it and drive it out that thing might grow back up and haunt you one day You gotta kill it and it's gonna require that you suffer to do it And here's the thing The temptation comes when you're in pain when you're in pain You're gonna want to go back to things that used to comfort you and God is saying put my purpose make my purpose greater than the pain Trust me that I got something better than what you're trying to get Now I know context see I understand context everybody does something for a reason we get on people for what they did But we don't know what they were what was happening in their life when they did it. So you did that What were you they caught me when I was grieving? And lost my mother I lost my loved ones I lost a child or something a lot of people hooked up with you because they caught you while you were hurting They wouldn't have got access if you were whole but that trauma bonding who understands what I'm talking about Y'all met each other in a broken place

And every time you feel broken again, you want to go back to who y'all know because you know They know how to meet you in that space It becomes a familiar spirit, but you have to understand and I don't care if it's a person or a habit You picked up in your trauma, whatever it is. You have to understand that could it not be that the devil put that together? And maybe it started with mommy pain, maybe it started with daddy pain, whatever the pain is you can acknowledge it But you can't excuse it and keep from driving it out of your life. You may have you got daddy pain Okay your daddy didn't Bounce you on his lap and tell you you're a pretty girl and I love you and take you in your first day and open The car door for you. He he fell short of what you wanted as a daughter So now you spend all your life looking for a daddy So you always dating older men and you'll get your body up if he buys you something and you're doing all this But but this is you can't keep expecting your husband to be your father Your father was your father your husband is your husband You won't have to get over it because you can't keep making these same mistakes because of your brokenness God understands the context and he said you still got to drive it out Maybe you got mommy pain and you grew up with a mother who didn't nurture you and you're a man and you she never held You and tell you my boy and caress you So now you spend all your life because your wife won't hug you and your wife don't show you affection So now you done found somebody else who will and she nurtures you and rubs your little head She's just like a mother to you But you can't keep that in your life if you're gonna go to the next me to the next level You gotta stop expecting your wife to be your mother. Your wife is your wife Your mother was your mother stop expecting your wife to be your mother and stop trying to get somebody else to be your mother You gotta move on with your life and say God if I'm gonna get everything you got in my life I'm gonna have to learn how to suffer and drive that out of my life so that I can get something They're not even a hockey, I don't know what I'm talking to today, but this is kind of fight you in Get some therapy get some deliverance get what you need, but don't do the wrong thing Stop using your dysfunction as an excuse to keep keeping something in your life. That's dangerous for you Stop

I Can't a D I can't okay. Okay. I forgot what I said I'm gonna stop here cuz we stop this one. I'm gonna stop here and I'm gonna say one thing stand up. Yeah This is the thing about y'all y'all like more information without the application to go with it You you you give us Morgan you're gonna do it I Would do what I say you I've said enough for you to do that We got enough to fight with I'm gonna close with this another example God in 1st Samuel chapter 15 told Saul clearly The Amalekites have got to go. Get them out of here. Everything. Kill everything. Destroy everything. Don't leave nothing. Saul and his army go in, and they did almost everything. He let the king live. His name was Agag. Thank you, Pastor Shimon. Let the king live. It's Agag. I think you told me about that. Maybe you told me about Achan. I got so much of this sermon in a meeting last night. I don't know who to thank. Amen. Thank you, everybody. So, let's King Agag live and keep some of this world and keep some of the good animals. Samuel the priest comes and confronts him and says, why didn't you obey the Lord? He said, I did do what the Lord said. He said, did you do what the Lord said? Yeah, I did what the Lord said. He says, why do I hear sheep out there? Why do I hear animals? He said, oh man, that's just, I got them for sacrifice. That was a sacrifice for the Lord for the victory. And you know what Samuel said, a verse we've all heard maybe before. He says, it's better to obey than to make sacrifices. Do what God told you. We said that at the beginning of the sermon. Listen, listen, in order to have good success, then when you have good success, then when you make your way prosperous, when? When you do what he says. Let King Agag live. So, Samuel goes, calls King Agag, guess who he is, in a tent. We all, what's in your tent? What's in your private history? What are you keeping in the tent? He brings Agag out of the tent and Samuel himself cuts Agag to pieces to do what God told Saul to do. He walked away and here's what God says in 1st Samuel chapter 15.

He says, I'm sorry that I ever made Saul the king. Boy, I'll tell you, it's a lot of things you want to hear God say. The last thing you want to hear God say, I'm sorry I ever made Saul the king. Not because he's not good enough. He's not good enough. I'm sorry I ever made Saul the king. Not because he's not gifted. Not because he didn't stay in head and shoulders above other people. Not because he didn't have the skills to do it. I'm sorry I made Saul the king because he won't do what I tell him. I can't trust him. He'll do what I tell him that's comfortable and then he'll do what he want to do. He'll do what's comfortable. He'll do that. But if it means he's gonna have to give up something he wants, he won't obey me. So you know, I wish I had never made Saul the king and I want to tell you something. One thing I never want to hear God say is, I wish I wouldn't have made Keith battle my servant. Because he won't do what I tell him. You want good success? Can't do just what you want. What does he want? You want to smoke weed and then you, you don't, whatever, whatever the thing is you say, God made tree. We got, we got a thing for everything that we want to keep in the tent. Everything we want to keep in the tent, we got a, we got a philosophy on it and we got people who will amen it. Well, I ain't amenning none of that. I ain't cosigning on none of it. Well, ain't this cool pastor? Ain't this, ain't this okay? What did God say do? It's your enemy. You know, you know, it's your enemy. You won't let it go. You won't let it go. It's more important than what he's calling you to take possession of. But you can't go in like that. All right. I know this is a hard term, but if you're here today and you want to join the church, you want to accept Christ, we gave one invitation earlier, but if you're still here, you want to do that. Your next step in Christ, it might be, I want to start serving at the church. Everybody should be serving in the church. Any home where the people don't work in the home is a problem. If you want to get baptized, you want to start taking classes. You want to get in a small group, whatever your next step is. We have ministers who are going to come now. I want our ministers councils to come now who are ready to serve you and give you guidance on those next steps. Come on to the front. You're at Fort Washington. You're at Landover. You're here in Greenbelt, and you're saying, Hey, I want to take my next spiritual step.

We're way past caring about what people think about us. You know what that is? That's an enemy. My enemy is I am more focused on what people think than what God thinks. I don't even know what that word is, but it's an enemy That's you if you're online just raise your hand somebody will respond to you in the chat Come on now if you're in the lobby, come on, let's celebrate them as they come Oh Hallelujah, amen. Amen Thank God for your decisions today Amen Thank God for you coming down from Zelo Europe We love you. We're we want to see you take this journey. We're excited about what God's doing in your heart Amen Thank you so much Lord More than you need prayer about what you need To drive out Prayer will help you but it ain't gonna fix it Prayer might energize you and inspire you But it's gonna be decision at the decision at the decision at the decision saying I'm willing to suffer To not go back to the wrong kind of comfort and I'm willing to live without what I've been living with To get me through Am I making sense I Mean I would it would easily be a crowd up here if I say if you want prayer for that everybody say prayer But it's that you'll fix that with a prayer. That's a daily decision to lay down your life Say God, I'll do it your way So Lord, I thank you today I thank you today for everybody who's deciding to follow you to serve you to grow in you to publicly identify with you And I pray that you would give us the courage and the guts and the obedience To overcome everything that's keeping us from whatever you have next for us

And I pray that you would give us the boldness to say goodbye to everything That doesn't fit your best plan for us in this season of our lives We thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen