The Pathway To Success Pt. 17

Hey, what's up, everybody? I am so excited as I prepare for today's service. You know, in 1st Samuel chapter 3, verse 1, the Bible says that in those days, the messages that came from the Lord was rare. And I was like, wow, that is so hard to be in a time when it's rare to hear from God. We've been in this series for 17 weeks starting today, 17 parts of this series. And it is so much of a blessing to have God speak to us time after time after time about Joshua, Joshua chapter 1, verse 8. And today is no different. I'm so excited about what God's going to share with us. And ironically enough, we're going to be in Joshua chapter 17, talking about something very important, and that is how to deal with disgruntled people and how to manage your own times when you're disgruntled. It's going to be so good. I can't wait to share this message with you. Come on in the service. Let's have a good time. We've been talking about a man named Joshua. He is the center of this series. Primarily, our content has been around him. And the verse that is our foundation for this scripture for this series that I'm so glad God's still talking to us out of this. Amen. I ain't going to let it go till he lets it go. Amen. Y'all all right with it? There's a Bible. There's a scripture in the Bible. I got to look it up. I've been to look it up.

Maybe somebody, Autumn, see if you can find this scripture. It says, in those days, there was no word from the Lord. You know what I'm talking about, hun? In those days, there was no... Anybody know what I'm talking about? The word of God was precious, but they weren't getting words from God. Let me tell you something. I don't know what my life would be like if I wasn't hearing from God. Once you get a word, once God starts speaking to you, you know what I'm saying? You want to tap into that because it's precious. So I'm so grateful for it. And here we are today to receive his word. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in a day and night 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 what? Good success. Amen. Good success. I want to read the easy-to-read version of that same verse. It says, this is God talking to Joshua. He said, Joshua, always remember what is written in that book of law. How? How can you always remember? God's not going to tell you to do something they didn't give you the capacity to do. Here's how you do it. You always remember what's written in the book of the law by speaking about that book and studying it day and night. It frames your thinking. You just don't glance at it in the morning at six in the morning and say, I had my time

in the word. And then the whole world that you entered to erases everything you said. Like it doesn't matter what time of day it is. It's always time to go back to the word. What did that verse say to me today? What did that word say to me today? How it will show up in a conversation, a tough conversation with your child, that you go back to the words you read and it will form the way the conversation goes. Oh, you understand what I'm saying? That's how powerful the word is. It can make you nice to people you don't even like. Amen. Study it day and night. Know your book, Joshua. Then you can be sure to obey what is written there because you can't obey it if you don't know it. And if you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything you do. You have wisdom and success, wisdom and success. And what is it born out of? It's born out of the word, the book. And you're going to see today how important it was for him to know that book because he's going to face a problem today that it took his knowledge of the word of God, his knowledge of that book to handle it. All right. Now, we're about to go into this book before I, before you sit down, I want you to say some things. I want you to agree with these, uh, Lord, I thank you for this moment. I'm about to be spiritually fed. Thank you, Lord. I thank you for this food that I'm about to receive for the nourishment of my life, of

my mind, of my family, of my career, of my health, of my thinking, of my business, of my goals, of my purpose. Speak to me. You have my attention. Block out all distractions. Focus me. Make it personal. I receive it now in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. seated. On your pathway to success, there's something you're going to have to deal with that Joshua had to deal with, and that is you're going to have to be adept at dealing with disgruntled people. And when I use the term disgruntled, I'm not referring to people who gripe and complain and they're immature and it's never good enough for them. I'm using the word disgruntled in this most honorable sense that there are times when people who are disgruntled and they have a legitimate gripe. They are upset about something because they've genuinely been mishandled and mistreated. And in order for you to have, can y'all give up your, there you go. In order for you to have, I can see why seats are empty because y'all got your pocketbooks and your coat on, three seats. What you doing over there? That's your tribe? Man, I'm so ADD. If you're not adept at dealing with people who are disgruntled, it will put a lid on your expanse. It'll put a lid on the territory God can take you to. It'll put a lid on the places He can take you and the success He can give you because you can only work with people that stay happy around you. The moment somebody gets upset and starts questioning your decisions and your leadership and the way you handle things, they are suddenly just not a good fit anymore. Keep your head up. When people raise concerns around you, it's always disloyalty to you because you take everything personal when you don't understand that what they're raising could be something that you need to pay attention to and address. And it's not so much about you, but you're in a position to do something about it. And if you don't learn how to fix that, you will put a lid. You are telling God I can't handle promotion because I don't know how to deal with people who have the

confidence and the courage to even respectfully challenge me. I feel like I hit something. Maybe it's in Landover. I feel like I just, I don't hit something in here. So you got to be able to adapt to dealing with disgruntled people. Then if, I know I'm talking to some people in here who are disgruntled. And when you are disgruntled, you have to have the respect and the courage to speak up about what it is that has affected you and hurt you and upset you. You don't get to be silent when you're disgruntled. And most people are not silent when they're disgruntled. They just don't talk to the people they can do something about it. You like talking about the people to other people who can't do nothing about it. Well, that's also going to hold up your progress in life because God can't trust you because you don't have the courage to advocate. And some things you need to be an advocate for and you need to speak up. Everybody say speak up. And when I say speak up, that means don't speak around you to people who can't fix it unless they're going to go with you and fix it. But you need to take your, raise your voice up the chain of command and talk and bring to attention the people who can do something about what has disgruntled you, what has upset you. If God can't trust you to do that. See, there's some things you going to have to have courage in. There's things God wants you to take possession of. There's things he's trying to give you. But every time you are disgruntled, you act like a victim, but you don't speak up. You don't speak up. And that's going to hold you back if you can't advocate. Now, watch this. You just said, God speak to me. Now he's speaking to you right now. I need that same energy you had when you said that. Cause some of y'all right now to you, you really, Oh Lord, who is he talking about? Who is PB talking about? What happened? Don't waste mental energy on that. This ain't about me. God is speaking to everybody in here because you're going to deal with disgruntledness either your own or somebody else's. And it is pivotal to your success. How you manage your own, be your own self being disgruntled and how you manage disgruntled people. Are y'all, are we together? Joshua 17. Let me set this up and give you context before we go to the verse. Joshua has to deal with a disgruntled family, not just a person. He got disgruntled group of people coming to you, to him. And here's the context. They're coming to him with a complaint in the midst of a celebration. You know, complaints are never, ain't never a good time for a complaint. Cause we don't like complaints. We naturally do not like

complaints, but actually complaints are actually, they can actually be liked that we don't have. They can actually. reveals something that we need to understand. Now, the context of this complaint in Joshua chapter 17 is coming at a time when the best way I can describe it is Israel is in a celebration that lasted five to seven years. And it's not only a celebration, it's a manifestation of the promise of God. They have after centuries finally entered the promised land and not only have they entered the promised land, it is so vast that it takes five to seven years to distribute it to all the tribes. That's how much land it was. Now, you gotta go back to God made the promise to Abram in Genesis chapter 12, hundreds and hundreds of years earlier, that promise wasn't fulfilled through the book of Joshua chapter 13. And in between that time, they went through 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They went through 40 years in the wilderness. They went through war after war, after war, after war, after war, and finally they had it all. And now everybody's celebrating. God says, now it's time, Joshua, to divide the land. Each tribe gets their land. So the tribe of Levi, they get what they got coming to them. The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gam, Caleb gets his stuff.

And everybody from chapter 13 all the way up to chapter 16, people are like, thank you so much, Joshua, good brother, for you a jolly good fellow for which no one can deny. You need to come on by our crib because we got sand and beach where we are. We got some beautiful stuff and everybody's celebrating. Then you get to chapter 17 verse three and it says, however, here comes Joseph's family. Now Joseph's family is identified as his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. They are entitled to some of the tribal land, Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph's two sons. And when that family gets to chapter 17, I won't have time to go into both complaints today. They complained two different times about what was going on. Now, unless I missed something, there hadn't been a complaint yet, none but thanks. So here's what happens. Let me go to the verse, Joshua chapter 17, verse three. It says, however, Zelophehad, and because that name's so hard, I might have to call him Zelo. His first name's Zelo, his last name is what? You know, his name's Zelo, you know. He was a descendant of Hephaer, son of Gilead, son of Mechir, son of Manasseh, that's Joseph's son. This man, Zelo, had no sons. This is very important. He had only daughters.

He was a 100% girl dad, like Pastor Dondre and Pastor Sean Mason and Pastor Elwood. Anybody in here just, all you got is daughters, girl dad. You ain't even got a dog that's a boy in your house. You ain't even got a goldfish that's a boy. So this is his life. He's an old girl dad. And the Bible says their names are Mala, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Tirzah. So they come to Joshua, verse four, here we go. These women came to Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the Israelite leaders, and they said this, the Lord commanded Moses to give us a grant of land along with the men in our tribe. Now, what's happening right here is, is that while the land was being distributed, these five ladies were being overlooked. Because traditionally, only men received an inheritance of land. Whenever you see the inheritance of land, it would say, and the sons of Levi, and the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Judah. But this man, when you got to Zillow, he had no sons, and so they didn't get any land, and they came and said, hey, the Lord told Moses, commanded Moses to give us some land, which lets me know, first of all, bravo to these women for not being victims, they spoke up. And let's just say, you might be being picked on, and you're blaming everybody,

and you go home and you cry at night, but at some point, you're gonna have to speak up. Because if you don't say nothing, you ain't gonna get nothing. And you have, not what you're silent about, you have what you say, amen. So they spoke up, and the fact that they said, Moses has already addressed this issue, we'll find out in Numbers chapter 27, this ain't the first time they had to bring this up. And sometimes, you gotta be persistent in the thing you're fighting against, because it's systemic. There's a mindset, if you think women got it hard now, let's go back to 1400 BC, and think about how women were valued. They had already cleared this with Moses, but you gotta understand, at this point, Moses is dead. So they, why, pastor, why do we have to keep advocating? for ourselves because your inheritance is on the line and your success is gonna be limited to how much you're willing to know what your rights are and what you're willing to speak up about you don't have to be popular you just have to be right and you don't have to be crazy about it you can be respectful but you need to be clear now what is Joshua do well the verse is up there you see he gave him the land he made it right but let me tell you what he could have done and what some people would have done well you gotta understand the context all he's hearing is you're a great man Josh thanks Josh Josh my man hey we got a picture of you up on the mantle at the new crib and then he gets to them and they complain the whole family come on you know what he could have said these five ladies come to him you know he said women it's always the sisters he would

have texted his boys it's always the sisters and they would have been like facts double exclamation point emphasis he could have done that but he didn't he could have said man Joseph's family Wow that whole family is entitled if he would have done that he would have proven to God he can't handle an expanded territory because when God gives you an expanded territory you can't ignore the complaint by judging the complainer so now you want to say the family's selfish and the family's entitled but you're ignoring what the complaint is and the complaint might be legitimate and if God is giving you territory he's expecting you to put your judgments aside until you find out well let me see how factual this complaint is because they're saying watch this they're saying somebody that's dead said that we can have what we're not getting so how's Joshua gonna verify that Moses even said that because Moses is not around he could have said to these ladies well if Moses told y'all that I'm sorry he's not here anymore that was the previous administration how many know leaderships that will do that that was under the previous administration that was before I got here you know you know a weak leader when you hear one they say that was before I got here I don't know what to tell you about that we don't do things like that anymore no you're in charge now what are you gonna do about this situation because there's been a transfer of authority in your hands and you must make right what needs to be made right I'm so glad look at what he does Joshua gave them the grant of land along with their uncles watch this as the Lord had commanded whoa let me connect this dot for you the Bible says Joshua gave them and their uncles their land as the Lord had commanded they wouldn't have been complaining if they had got the land immediately they were overlooked and Joshua had to go to some source and find out what the right thing was to do and when he went to the source he says I'm giving y'all land and your uncles as the Lord commanded I didn't go to him in prayer you know what I went to I went back to the book oh I'm trying to connect these dots for you Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 this book of the law should not the part of your mouth you must meditate in a day and night that

you may observe to do according to all is written in then you will make your way prosperous you're gonna have good success you're gonna have wisdom and success and you won't know how to deal with disgruntled people because my answer is in my book so Joshua goes to the book he was not in the conversation with these five sisters and Moses but he was in the book and the book showed him what to do prove it pastor let's go back to number chapter 27 over a decade earlier this is when this first came up that these ladies first did in verse 1 a petition they saw they sent a petition and presented it presented by the daughters of Zalophahead, Bilah, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terth same ladies in Joshua chapter 17 over a decade later this is a decade earlier their father Zelo was a defendant of Hephriah I just don't wanna get tongue-tied son of Gilead son of Mecur son of Manasseh son of Joseph that's their father watch this verse two these women stood before Moses so guess what Moses has to deal with disgruntled people too you can't get away from this you're gonna have to be able to deal with disgruntled people without hanging up the phone and saying she always got something get over yourself what was presented what is more important than even who because even if it's a bad person God can hit a straight with a crooked stick I'm not saying don't consider your source but you better consider the substance too. These women stood before Moses, Eliezer the priest. So watch this, Eliezer is still there in chapter 17. He knows the tribal leaders and the entire community at the entrance of the temple, at Tabernacle. This is where these women originally came over a decade earlier. They said, our father died in the wilderness, they said. He was not among Korah's followers who rebelled against the Lord. He died of his own sin, but he had no sons. Now what they're saying here, we wanna be clear Moses.

Our father was not a rebel. He was not part of the insurrection. The Korahites were people who had an insurrection against spiritual leadership. They didn't respect the Lord or his leaders. They said, our father was not in that group. He should not be judged with them. He died in his, but he had his own stuff. He was not perfect, but he respected God and his leaders. So we wanna make a decision because we know who our father is. He had no sons, go to the next verse. But why should the name of our father disappear from his clan just because he had no sons? It's not our fault that we got these chromosomes. It's not our fault that we ended up being girls and that we're women. So guess what they said? Give us property along with the rest of our relatives. Now y'all missed that. She talking, they talking to Moses. Five women in 1400 BC. This that Fannie Lou Hamer sojourner truth, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Ida B. Ware. That's their name. We ain't standing for this. This ain't right. So this ain't even a request. They didn't say, can we please, sir? I sure would be kind of you.

If you would give us consider. No, they said, give us the property with the rest of our relatives. Give us what belongs to us. We know who our father is. And we came to make a demand on what's ours. Woo. They start out with our father. Oh my God. I said, they started out with our father. First thing they said was our father. Oh, I wish I had some people in here who were sons and daughters of a father you know has made stuff up. Some of y'all are missing out on stuff because you keep forgetting who your father is. Now I don't mean any disrespect because I'm not talking about the man whose name's on your birth certificate. You may have had and you may still have a great father but I'm talking about somebody that's greater than your father. I'm talking about our father who art in heaven. I'm talking about the one that made you. I'm talking about the one that made a way out of no way. I'm talking about the one that loves you so much that he calls you his own. In fact, you're so much of his that he shed his blood for you. You so much of his that he sent his son to die for you.

You so much of his that he loved you and covered you all your life. You gotta know what's yours because of who your father is. Somebody give your father a praise. Because let me tell you something, if you know who your father is, you can walk in rooms with your head up. You walk different, you move different, you pray different, you think different, you speak different. Because I know who my father is. I don't have to be a man. I don't have to be white. I don't have to be in any denomination. I know who my father is. He said, we came to get what's ours. Yeah, I don't want nothing that don't belong to me. I want what's, I want what belongs to me because of who I'm related to. Amen. They say, give us property. See, that's the problem with too many of us. We asking for stuff when we need to command it. You don't need to ask for something if it's yours. That's mine. I ain't asking for it, I claim it. I'm making a claim. You know what it is when you file a claim? You ever made a claim before? You usually make a claim

when something you own has been damaged. Ooh, that's good right there. And you call the claim adjuster and say something happened in my house. Something happened in my car and I'm submitting a claim to be reimbursed for the damages. I'm making a claim. And what you have to do is have proof of ownership. You have to show the damages and what you lost. But it's always making a claim because you own something. You got to know what your rights are. See, people that don't make claims don't know their rights. And you are living under your privileges because you don't know your rights. And while you're asking for something, I don't have to ask for it if it's mine. I said, I claim it. Go to verse six real quick. Go to verse six. No, verse seven. Verse seven says, verse seven says, he said, the claim of the daughters is legitimate. That's God's. He said this is a legitimate claim. I'm not saying you can claim whatever you want, but you can make a legitimate claim So so so when they made this they made this demand in verse 4 verse 5 says Moses had to go to God about this He says I had to bring this case before the Lord. I ain't never seen this I ain't never seen this before we usually give stuff to the men and everybody quiet these sisters I

Imagine the faith and the courage they got to go first of all meet with Moses and all them people and then Years later got to tell Joshua the same thing. Hello. No, hold up now. We not having that See them kind of people They got that kind of courage this what I believe the Bible doesn't say this I believe before they went to Moses and before they went to Joshua, they must have talked to themselves And they probably heard him say, you know what we better than this We were when our father deserves what he deserves his name deserves to be protected and we deserve his inheritance Ain't nothing ain't no problem just because we females we shouldn't get what we deserve and they had to speak faith to themselves It's always about what you say to yourself in private which gives you the boldness to say something in public You need some sisters and some brothers in your life who speak faith over your life You got to stop hanging around people who accept whatever the devil is doing the devil's wreaking havoc in your family He's trying to kill your children. He's trying to kill your grandchildren. He's coming to get your mind. He's coming to get your family He's coming to get your mouth You need some people to know how to plead the blood and say we ain't having that we rebuke that in the name of Jesus We come against that you ain't got no faith people in your life because what you can only be as bold as your environment You can only be as bold as your circle and some of us want a bold faith, but we got a weak circle So Moses Says God you gonna have to figure I ain't never did this for we never had this situation before ain't nobody had the courage to Speak up and this is what we learn from Moses When you are somebody that has to deal with somebody disgruntled Even if you don't know what to do, you need to take it to the Lord So God told Moses in verse 6 he responds to Moses and he says in verse 7 the claim is legitimate Moses Go to verse 7 the claim is legitimate. You must give them a grant of land watch this along with their father's relatives Assign them the property that would have been given to their father verse 8 I'm gonna speed this up and give the following instructions to the people of Israel what he's about to say This is not going just be for Ephraim's family and Manasseh's family. This is now law I'm about to change the whole system five women had the courage to come twice About a situation and here I am

I'm about to change to see some of y'all got to speak up because it ain't just about you It's about people coming behind you that ain't gonna have to face what you face And while I'm talking about freedom fighters I got some people I like to thank who fought for our freedom who made life better for us I want to thank Edward Jones and Latosha Ward and Whitney Parnell who have given their adult life for fighting for the freedoms of other Thank you for what you did if nobody else. Thank you. I thank you. It made us encourage you He says give the following instructions to the people If a man dies and has no son then give his inheritance to his daughters. This has never been done before Verse 9 now remember Joshua in Joshua chapter 17 Joshua said I'm giving you land and you're who? It was the uncle's y'all got to pay attention cuz you're gonna fail the class You had to fail the class you get to come back at 130 If he has no daughter either transfer his inheritance to his what? If he transferred her to his brothers and he's deceased his brothers are his daughters I like how you did that Watch this they never brought that up in Joshua chapter 17 They never said what about our uncles but Joshua wasn't in the conversation. He's in the book He says no, I don't just owe y'all. I owe your brothers cuz the what the book says I'm in the book You understand I'm saying he knew what numbers says he says give it to the brothers verse 10 If he has no brothers give his inheritance to his father's brothers and here it is in verse 11 But if the father has no brothers give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan This is a legal requirement for the people of Israel Just as the Lord commanded Moses So watch this not only did these ladies know who their father was they also knew what the Lord said They said the Lord commanded Moses the Lord. See if you know who your father is and you know what he said That's why you got to be in the book. You can't be a stranger to this book and it be strange to you and you have good success. Some of you are successful without it, but you have no idea what God's trying to do in your life, but you're bookless.

Now this is the thing, you read other books. You read books all the time. I found this new book on this, I heard this new book on that, and you're reading everything but this one. And I'm not saying not read anything else, but how can you be an expert at everything else that's written, but you don't have the wisdom of God? It's pertinent because you're going to need it when you have to deal with somebody disgruntled and you're going to need it when you're disgruntled to know how to speak up. So I'm so grateful that these women had the courage and I'm so grateful that Joshua knew what the book said and knew how to handle the situation. Now we're going to wrap this up. This is where we're going to stop. You can stand up because I've been standing. I was, when I was preparing this message, I remember seeing, I got this vision of lost and found and I didn't make the connection right away. Then I understood what a lost and found spot was. Lost and found is a place you go when you've lost something that belongs to you, right? Because some of you listening to me right now, you don't just need to learn how to claim stuff. You also need to reclaim stuff that got away from you. Because whenever you lose something, once you know it's not there, you go looking for it. And you know what the most, the easiest thing to lose? The thing that you take for granted. It's not always intentional, but it wasn't important enough. It wasn't important. You don't lose your car, but you might lose the keys because you can replace the keys, but you ain't losing that car. I walked this whole garage. I know I parked in this garage somewhere.

I know I look crazy. She's going, but I ain't losing this car. You wouldn't walk a parking lot over, over, over something else because, because it's not that it's, you know how you lose, you know how you lose a marriage. It's no longer precious to you. That gives the enemy entry to take it. You know how I know that? You'll never see a couple in a divorce court telling the judge how much they love each other and how much I value. I can't tell you judge how much she means to me and judge I can't tell you how much I appreciate and adore him. You don't go to court like that, but watch this. That's what they said when they got married. How can you, Oh, y'all ain't ready for this. How can you say that at the altar and then be in the courtroom and say, he's crazy. She's crazy. And all these terrible things about each other and fighting over stuff. Something happened to the value. Now you say, pastor, you don't know what I went through. I don't have to know. You ain't got to tell me nothing. I'm telling you something happened with the value. You ever had, you ever had a car and it served you well for years, but it got a little old and had a little problems with it. Do you get a new one? And he's like, you know, they don't need. And that old car sitting, you get the tags ain't even up to date. It's just sitting there. You don't even clean it. It's just sitting in the grass, in the yard, ties going flat.

You don't even care. Somebody take it. When you first got it, you just put on all on the ties. Do you understand what I'm saying? But this one, I'll tell you something. I'm gonna tell you something. And, and I don't know how God's going to clarify this for you, but this is what I'm praying. I'm praying that every altar in every home, there's a place in every home that becomes your lost and found. I don't have time to do it in here, but I pray it in your home. It'll be a place where you go to the lost and found. And you know what you do when you know you lost something, if it's in a place of business, what do you do? You go back to the place of business. maybe you look around where you were but what are you more than likely to do you go to the desk or the front desk or lost and found and you know when you get there you know what you say I lost my I lost my watch I lost my wallet I love notice the pronoun the possessive phenomenal pronoun my you know why you say it's my because it even when you lost it it was still yours devil you a lie I lost it but it's still mine and I came to reclaim it I came to reclaim it you a lie you gonna have to let it go yes I set it down and didn't pick it back up yes I may have taken it for granted but I'm wiser now I'm watch this God grew me up now I'm more responsible with it now and God I don't care it might be your health that can die that can go bad when you don't when you don't appreciate it and God's calling some of us to reclaim our joy and reclaim I speak it over this room to reclaim your peace to reclaim your love for God you used to have a love for God that was undeniable but somewhere it slipped away it slipped away you're not even the person you're not even the person you once were spiritually and it slipped away but you getting it back today God I reclaim my love for you I reclaim my commitment to your word I reclaim my

worship to you this is the first time in a long time that I cried in worship and I lifted up my hands because I'm pulling back everything that I lost it but it's still mine my health is mine my mental health is mine a sound mind is mine my prosperity is mine my health is mine my child is mine you have to fight you have to speak up amen you have to feed your faith so you know where to speak and even if you're online you make this your altar moment you don't have to be here God is there he is with you Pando my Pando people God is with you in a prison in a cell in the worst place you may have ever been in your life he's with you you turn that cell into a sanctuary and say God I reclaim everything that I've lost I reclaim it if it's your mind you reclaim that if it's your integrity you reclaim that if it's your honesty you who am I talking to here I want it back oh I gotta go if you sometimes people come to church and you already decided ain't got nothing to do with the message you knew when you came in I'm going up to join church today it's just been something you've been praying about I'm going to join the church today if that's you come on up to the front of the church that's your decision or maybe you decided why you were here I don't know all I know is that you're supposed to go to the church it's like if it fits this works for me there's never a perfect church but you know I get I hear from God that's precious I hear from God when I'm there if you have for Washington it land over you here come to the front if you're saying I want to rededicate my life because I'm backslidden and I want to restart you can come to the front I want our ministers and counselors to come up so that you can receive these people the second thing I want you to do is if you're saved you want to be saved or you want to start your relationship with God or you want to join the church or you want to restart rededicate your life or maybe you're even with us today and you know I'm not sure if I'm saved I'm not sure even what that means I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life but sometimes I don't feel like I'm saved you need somebody to counsel you through that if you're one of those four categories come on up to the front we

want to pray with you if you're out in the lobby we'll let you in amen there it is slow it down there you go that's churchy right there come on y'all clap for this man like it's your brother amen y'all don't know what he had to fight to get here appreciate you hallelujah and I if y'all know it sing it come on amen I got time come on come on look I'm available to you. Sing it at the fort. Sing it at Z-Lo. Y'all know it. My will. I'll do what you say, dude. How about that? Use me, Lord. I said that when I was 19 years old. I haven't gone back on it. I had to make some sacrifices, but I'm so glad. I have no regrets. My storage is empty. I don't have another agenda. I'm available. I got a word for you. That song, stay right there. That song just changed something. Somebody here, your response to God today, we ain't got but four minutes left. Your response today is, Lord, I'm available to you. It ain't about getting saved. It ain't about joining the church. You are where I was when I was 19. You need to surrender your life to God and say, I'm available to serve you. Some of y'all have been hiding and whatever it is, it may be you're a woman and maybe you ain't go to Bible college. I don't know what it is, but I feel like God is calling somebody in this service to call you into serving God. I'm talking about serving God with your life. I know you in here. I know you're in this service, but you've been running from God, but I'm calling you. You're under arrest. You're under arrest. The Holy Spirit has captured you. Come out with your hands up. Come out with your hands up. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Lord, I'm available to you. My will. Thank you, Lord. Yes, Lord. I don't know what he's going to do with you, but let him do it. Let him do it. Turn your plan over to him. The world will be better before it. Just show someone the way. That's all I do is try to show somebody. My story is my story. You got to come empty. You got to come empty. You're too full of yourself. You're too full of the world. If you're empty, this is the last time I'm going to call you.

If you're online, put your hand up and say, I'm available. I'm available. Messed up, but I'm available. I've fallen, but I'm available. Last time, last time. I gave y'all three different directions. I feel listen here. I don't know what you're going to do, but if you line up with God, he got you. The steps of a good person are ordered by the Lord. He's going to order your steps. All he needs is y'all. You're available. I promise you, I don't have the greatest ability as a preacher. I don't. There are much more people more, more able than me, but I tell you what, you can't beat me being available. I will lay out before God. I will give up what I got to give up. You understand what I'm saying? My availability is my ability. Now you got, you see, cause there's no limit on that. There's limit on skills. There's limit on talent. There's limited on abilities and gifts, but there's no limit on surrender. It's called consecration. We don't talk about that in church. It's called consecration. It hinders the anointing when you ain't consecrated. Now you can be gifted, but if you ain't consecrated, it's going to hinder the anointing. I don't care how good you sing, how good you play. If you ain't consecrated, it's going to block what God's trying to do in your life. The consecration breaks yolks. Oh God. I said the consecration breaks yolk because an anointing can destroy a yolk and it doesn't have to be just when you're on stage. It can be when you walk through the earth. Amen. Well, I got to let this go. I got to let this go. Let me turn this service over. You know what, y'all? It's not always that God moves in a mighty way, in a special way, and that just happened in our service. I am so blessed to have been able to experience that. Listen, if God touched your heart in that service and He's calling you to a greater commitment to Him, that He's calling you to make yourself available to Him, just do it. Just surrender. He's pulling on your heart. Just surrender to Him because here's what God's going to do. He's going to give you every tool

you need to get the job done. He's not going to send you on a job without the tools. And one of those tools you got to have is how to deal with disgruntled people the right way and how to handle your own frustrations and speak up and advocate for yourself. You're going to have to do that because there's far more territory He's going to take you to if you do it His way. And I'm so glad that with every calling of God, He gives you the enablement to do it. I love you so much and hope to see you here next time. Right here at Zion Church.