Participants: Pr. E.C. Polite
Series Code: HG
Program Code: HG000006
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00:36 How many of you know that He's able, this morning?
00:37 Come on, you know He's able? All right. 00:42 I want you to put your hands together right there, come on. 00:57 Come on, we know you know it. Say He's able. 01:00 He's able 01:04 You believe that this morning? 01:05 God is able 01:06 He's able 01:08 Thank you, Jesus 01:10 Hallelujah, He's able 01:12 He's able 01:16 I know that He can 01:17 I know that He can do it 01:20 He said he'd help me through it 01:22 He's able 01:25 All right, come on 01:27 He's able 01:39 I know that He can 01:40 I know that He can do it 01:42 He said he'd help me through it 01:44 Verse 8 01:46 Hold on, my brother, for your change is gonna come 01:52 Be strong, my sister, for your work is not done, no 01:57 Keep on believing and hold on tight 02:02 He's able to bring you joy... 02:05 Come on... In the morning light 02:07 He's able He's able 02:09 Here we go, come on. 02:12 He's able 02:23 And I know that He can 02:24 I know that He can do it 02:27 He said he'd help me through it 02:29 Hold on, break down 02:31 How many of you all know that God is able, this morning? 02:33 Come on, don't fool me now, do you know He's able? 02:36 Just lean over and nudge your neighbor 02:37 and say, "You know He's able, right? 02:39 You know He's able, right?" Come on, ladies, say... 02:41 He's able 02:44 Oh, yes He is 02:47 He's able He's able 02:49 Oh, yes He is 02:52 He can do it 02:55 Oh, yes He can 02:57 He can do it 03:00 Oh, yes He can 03:03 He's able 03:06 Oh, yes He is 03:09 He's able 03:12 Oh, yes He is 03:14 He can do it 03:16 No matter the situation. 03:17 Oh, yes He can 03:20 He can do it 03:22 Oh, yes He can 03:25 He's able 03:28 Oh, yes He is 03:33 Oh, yes He is Oh, yes He is 03:35 Take it up. Oh, yeah 03:38 Oh, yes He is 03:39 Oh, yes He is Oh, yes He is 03:41 Come on here. Oh, yes He is 03:43 Oh, yeah, He is 03:45 Oh, yes He is 03:46 Oh, yeah, He is 03:47 He's able 03:53 To open up the door, come on 03:54 He's able 03:55 To make the ways free 03:57 He's able 03:58 To save your son 04:00 He's able 04:01 To save your daughter 04:02 He's able 04:04 To save your marriage 04:05 He's able 04:06 God is able 04:08 He's able 04:09 To save- 04:11 He's able 04:12 To keep your wind going 04:13 He's able 04:15 God is able 04:16 He's able 04:17 God is able 04:19 He's able 04:23 Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 04:26 Somebody believes He's able, this morning. 04:36 And since you know He's able... not just in every situation 04:40 but to do something specific, 04:42 to do what He said what He was gonna do. 04:45 Okay, he said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, 04:47 before my word will turn void" 04:49 So I know He'll keep His promises. 04:51 Hallelujah. 04:53 Come on, let me see your hands 04:54 if you know He'll keep His promises. 04:58 Hallelujah Exceedingly 05:04 Abundantly 05:08 Above all 05:13 you can ask or think 05:18 According to His power 05:27 Which liveth in you 05:31 Is in you 05:33 Oh, oh, oh, oh, come on. 05:35 God is able 05:36 God is able to do just what He said He would do 05:43 He's gonna fulfill 05:47 Every promise 05:48 Every promise that He made to you 05:51 Don't give up on God 05:56 'Cause He won't give up on you 05:59 He's able He's able 06:01 Here we go. 06:06 You believe He's able, say it again, He's able. 06:09 He's able 06:14 Come on, we're gonna say right there. 06:17 God is able 06:18 God is able to do just what He said He would do 06:25 He's gonna fulfill 06:29 Every promise 06:30 Every promise to you 06:34 Don't give up on God 06:37 'Cause He won't give up on you 06:41 He's able He's able 06:43 Come on. 06:48 If you believe it say it, He's able. 06:51 He's able 06:57 We got something for you to sing right here, 06:58 it goes like this, we say... 07:00 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, He's able 07:07 Can you say it, come on. 07:09 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:13 Sing past this rooftop. 07:15 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:22 He's able 07:24 Say... 07:26 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:28 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:29 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:31 Y'all now let's go... 07:32 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, He's able 07:34 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:39 He's able 07:41 He's the one to say it. 07:42 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 07:47 I don't know what you need God to do, 07:49 just want you to know that... 07:50 Yes, He's able 07:51 He's able 07:52 He's able He's able 07:56 Yes, He is He's able 07:58 God is able He's able 08:00 God sat with me, come on He's able 08:03 God is able He's able 08:05 Just wait and see He's able 08:07 God is able He's able 08:09 He's the healer, come on He's able 08:11 He heals the people He's able 08:13 Yes, he is He's able 08:15 With God, you're never down He's able 08:17 God will bring you up He's able 08:19 God is able He's able 08:23 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 08:29 He's able 08:31 Say it. 08:33 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 08:37 He's able 08:39 Oh, oh, oh, oh 08:41 Oh, don't give up on God 08:44 'cause He won't give up on you 08:47 I want you to say it again. 08:49 Oh, oh, oh, oh 08:50 Oh, don't give up on God 08:53 'cause He won't give up on you 08:56 Come on, sing another song. 08:58 Don't give up on God Don't give up on God 09:01 Why? 09:02 'Cause He won't give up on you 09:05 Come on, tell your neighbor. 09:06 Don't give up on God 09:08 No matter what it looks like, no matter the situation, 09:12 keep your faith, press on. 09:15 Don't give up on God, no 09:18 Don't give up on God 09:21 'Cause He won't give up on you 09:23 He's able, come on. 09:25 He is able, Hallelujah 09:30 Our God whom we serve is able this morning, 09:34 so if that's your desire would you join with me. 09:39 This morning, come on down to the altar, 09:42 so when you want to come for a brother or a sister, 09:44 intercessory prayer has power. 09:48 You want ask God to reach them 09:51 and the only way the divine 09:53 imagination can think off 09:57 as we bow and kneel and pray. 10:14 Gracious Father in heaven, 10:18 we commit this hour to You, Lord. 10:21 Thank you for the church 10:23 we've come together to pray. 10:26 We're lifting up our hearts to Jesus, 10:31 for You have been so wonderful to us. 10:35 You have been our God, You have been our light, 10:39 You have shown us the way, O Lord, we speak, 10:46 inside through our bones 10:48 and think what would we be without You. 10:55 We need You at every gathering. 10:58 We need You for shelter, 11:01 the clothes that we have on our backs, 11:04 You have blessed with that. 11:07 The food on our tables, the warmth in our homes, 11:12 the love between our families, the church that we worship at, 11:20 all things come of Thee, O Lord. 11:23 And of thy own have You given us. 11:29 And so it is with praise and adoration, 11:31 dear Lord, that we like the angel 11:33 who just could stand as we are amazed, 11:36 we cry out, Holy, Holy, Holy 11:41 Lord God Almighty. 11:43 We are amazed at what we see of Your goodness and Your love. 11:49 You cause your rain to shine- to rain 11:52 upon the just- 11:54 Your sun to shine upon the just as well as the unjust. 11:59 Our merciful God, a loving God, 12:02 but a God also justice, a God who would judge me, 12:09 a God who came down to this earth, 12:12 shed His blood for us on Calvary, 12:17 willingly He turned to die 12:22 that we might live. 12:24 Thank you, Jesus, 12:25 thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. 12:30 Dear Lord, this morning, we want to lift up 12:34 some of the sick and shut-in within our church. 12:38 We want to lift up James Brunt. 12:41 His mother had a heart attack this week. 12:45 Oh, God, many of us know 12:47 what it means to lose our mothers. 12:53 The one who has loved us so much, 12:57 the one we have loved so much, dear Lord. 13:00 That's why we pray for Brother James Brunt. 13:04 Touch him, dear Lord, 13:07 and only touch him, touch his mother, dear Lord. 13:11 Help her, dear Lord, 13:12 and if it be thy will breaks her up from that pain, 13:17 that our witness may continue to remain strong. 13:22 We pray for Dr. Yvonne Lewis's father, 13:26 - who suffered a stroke, 13:29 his second stroke this week. 13:32 O Lord, we know our God will take care of strokes. 13:36 We know our God who can open up our hearts, 13:40 we know our God who can make them whole again. 13:46 And so we pray, O God, 13:47 that you will perform this time for Brother- 13:52 Bless Michael Jones, 13:55 his brother has injured his back, 13:57 this week, O God. 14:00 And we know how nagging these back injuries can be 14:04 and how difficult they can be. 14:06 Sometimes they just seem to go on and on, 14:10 medicines and manipulations and heat 14:14 and all the treatments 14:16 sometimes just doesn't do any good. 14:18 Dear Lord, we're not depended upon 14:20 those things, this morning. 14:21 We're depended upon You. 14:24 And we pray, dear Lord, 14:25 that you will bless Brother Michael Jones. 14:29 O God, this morning we want to lift up our pastor, 14:32 our assistant youth pastor 14:34 who we bring in the words of life, 14:37 the wonderful words of life. 14:40 We pray that we will all be touched. 14:43 We pray that You will bring more faith to all 14:46 and then- 14:48 Let him show us the way to the kingdom 14:51 and help us, dear Lord, 14:53 they'll be willing to follow him as he follows Christ. 14:57 Bless each member of the church, O God, 15:00 you know their desires, 15:03 you know the problems that they are facing, 15:06 you know the daily things that each has to go through 15:09 and what they need, bless them 15:11 according to their need, dear Lord. 15:15 Give them and show them the love 15:17 that thou in heaven can show. 15:20 Dear Lord, we want to lift up our youth in the church, today. 15:25 Satan, we know is bombarding them 15:28 in this evil world. 15:30 We have young people, dear Lord, 15:33 who we see in church every week 15:36 who are here serving you, praising your name, 15:40 on the Sabbath day 15:42 and we thank you for all them, O God. 15:45 We thank you for faithful, young people 15:48 who are standing for Jesus in this troublesome world. 15:52 Bless the parents too, God, 15:55 bless those who are training young minds, 15:58 who are molding clay before hearts, 16:03 their way hardens, dear Lord, 16:05 they will be in your passion, like unto You. 16:09 And, O God, may we all in that great Kingdom, Lord, 16:16 may we all be standing 16:18 under the blood stained banner of Prince Immanuel. 16:21 When Jesus bursts through the clouds, 16:25 may our hands be lifted 16:27 and we cry out holy praise, God. 16:30 Thank you, Jesus, for saving us and giving us that faith 16:35 that we needed to bring through 16:38 all these blessings we pray in the name of Jesus, 16:43 in Jesus' name, amen, amen. 16:51 One of the things that 16:54 I despise is going to the doctor. 17:01 When I think about going to the doctor, 17:03 I realize that I am in fact a real man. 17:09 Men don't like to go to the doctor. 17:12 Even though things bother us, we have aches and pains, 17:17 we manage to ignore all of our symptoms 17:21 and keep right on going. 17:25 I happened to like my present doctor, 17:27 he is a member of our congregation 17:31 and, yes, I'm gonna put in a little plug for him, 17:33 his name is Dr. Cecil Bailey. 17:36 So if you got something ails you can go see 17:38 Dr. Bailey, he is a good doctor. 17:40 I will go to see him but I notice every time 17:43 I get to his office, there are several things 17:47 that he does or his assistants do 17:50 prior to his coming into the room. 17:53 They say that they're taking my vital signs. 17:57 My vital signs. 17:59 The vital signs include taking my temperature, 18:04 my pulse, my respirations and my blood pressure. 18:11 Now as often as that's been done, 18:13 I wonder why do they keep doing that. 18:17 It's because in order to see 18:19 how well I'm doing physiologically, health wise. 18:24 There are certain criterion that's in place 18:28 to determine whether or not I'm doing well. 18:31 Let me see how well you'd know how well you're doing. 18:35 What's the optimum temperature that one must have? 18:40 98.6, very good. How about pulse? 18:47 120/80 pulse, is that pulse or blood pressure? 18:52 That's blood pressure. Pulse 50-80 beats per minute. 18:58 How about respirations? 19:00 Respirations. 19:05 Are you alive? 19:07 Are you breathing, 12 to 20 respirations per minute 19:13 and of course we've already heard blood pressure 120/80. 19:17 These indicators let us know 19:21 how well we're doing on the inside 19:25 and so every time you go see the doctor 19:28 they're going to take these vital signs 19:31 as is so often the case whatever happens 19:33 in the natural realm 19:35 has a correspondence in the spiritual realm. 19:39 We've got spiritual vital signs and so for the next 4 weeks, 19:46 I'm going to begin a series of teachings 19:49 on spiritual vital signs, is that all right? 19:52 Spiritual vital signs, why did I choose to do 19:56 a series on spiritual vital signs? 19:58 Very simple. 20:02 There has probably been no church 20:05 I have pastored over the past 30 years 20:08 where at least one member has not come to me and say, 20:12 "Pastor, I don't seem to be able hold onto my faith. 20:19 There are highs and there are lows 20:24 and I love it when I'm on the high 20:26 but I get a little bit skittish because I know eventually 20:32 I'm going to experience that inevitable load." 20:36 And I said, why is that? 20:38 Why must you experience the load? 20:41 Probably because you don't know 20:43 how to maintain your spiritual wellness 20:47 and so I want to look at for the next 4 weeks, 20:51 4 spiritual vital signs. 20:55 The first one we talked about in the natural realm was what? 21:00 Temperature, isn't that right? 21:02 So let's look at temperature in the spiritual realm. 21:07 Turn with me to Revelation 4. Revelation 4. 21:12 Pardon me, Revelation 3 21:14 and I'm gonna look at verses 14 and 15, 21:17 Revelation 3:14, 15. 21:23 Here the Bible says, 21:24 "And unto the angel of the church 21:26 of the Laodiceans write, 21:29 these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, 21:34 the beginning of the creation of God. 21:37 I know thy works, that thou art..." 21:40 what? "Neither cold nor hot. 21:45 I would thou wert cold or hot." 21:50 Notice the temperature here. 21:54 Who are the Laodiceans? The church of today. 21:59 And God has somewhat of awe against them 22:02 because when He takes their spiritual temperature, 22:06 He discovers something about them. 22:09 That they're what? 22:11 They're neither cold nor hot. 22:16 Do you have a temperature at all? 22:20 Yes, we do but we need to find out 22:22 from the word of God 22:24 what has happened to the temperature. 22:26 Turn with me to Matthew 24, Matthew 24 22:32 and let's see if we can find out 22:34 from the word of God what has happened 22:37 to our spiritual temperature in these last days. 22:41 Matthew 24:12, notice what the Bible says. 22:49 "And because iniquity shall abound, 22:53 the love of many shall..." what? 22:56 "Wax cold" Wax cold. 23:03 Because something about the love of many gets cold, 23:09 what is that something? 23:11 Iniquity. 23:13 What is iniquity? 23:15 Sin, wickedness, because it runs rampant 23:21 then it causes individuals 23:23 who once loved God with great fervor 23:26 and great intensity to lose the love that 23:30 they once had for spiritual things 23:34 just being affected by the iniquity the wickedness 23:38 that is around us on every hand. 23:43 That's a terrible state of being. 23:46 Now I don't know about you 23:49 but the last time I touched someone 23:52 who had no temperature, they were dead. 23:59 They were deceased. 24:02 I'll never forget, I have kissed my father 24:06 several times growing up as a lad, 24:09 but when he died, I bent over his casket 24:14 and kissed him on his forehead 24:17 and I discovered he was as cold as ice. 24:22 Absolutely no temperature 24:24 and with no temperature where was no life. 24:30 Iniquity has a way of robbing us of our life. 24:37 Our vital forces 24:39 when we lose our love for God. 24:46 "Pastor, if that happens what can we do about it?" 24:54 I believe you can't do anything about it 24:57 and so that's why I want to spend the balance 25:03 of our message talking about what can happen 25:08 to get your spiritual temperature back. 25:10 In fact, did I tell you the name 25:12 of this first message? 25:15 I told you the name of the series, 25:16 what's the name of the series? 25:19 Spiritual vital signs, 25:21 but here is my first message in the series. 25:26 Turn with me to Mark, the book of Mark 3, Mark 3, 25:34 and you'll see where I'm going with this first message. 25:37 Mark 3, and we're going to look 25:41 at verses 28 and 29. 25:45 "Verily I say unto you, All sins..." 25:48 how many sins? 25:49 "All sins..." shall be what? 25:52 "Forgiven." 25:53 "All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, 25:56 and blasphemies wherewith so ever they shall blaspheme." 26:00 Verse 29 26:01 "But he that shall blaspheme" against who? 26:05 "The Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, 26:09 but is in danger" of what? 26:12 Eternal damnation. 26:13 "Eternal damnation." 26:16 Here's the topic of my message today, 26:19 do you have the Holy Ghost? 26:23 Do you have the Holy Ghost? 26:27 I still remember the look on his face 26:32 and I especially remember the fragrance around him. 26:37 I was conducting a Revelation seminar 26:41 and he staggered into the room, 26:45 sat down with the handbill that somebody had given him 26:49 and wanted to participate in the Revelation seminar. 26:54 One of my deacons came to me 26:56 because it was very clear to everyone in the place 27:00 that this man was under the influence of the spirit 27:04 and he wasn't holy. 27:10 "Pastor! What do you want us to do? 27:13 Shall we take him out of here?" 27:16 And I said, you know, 27:19 I understand what you're saying, 27:21 I want you to sit beside him 27:24 just in case the other spirit gets a hold of him 27:30 and you can restrain him. 27:32 But I'm just curious as to how an individual 27:37 who is under the influence of one spirit 27:41 will find his way into a place 27:43 where there's another spirit at work. 27:47 Let him stay here and so for the next 24 nights 27:54 that man sat at the table 27:58 and he went through the book of Revelation 28:01 with everybody else. 28:03 Now he still smelled like a distillery 28:08 and yet night after night after night 28:12 he showed up under the influence of one spirit 28:15 only to get onto the influence of another spirit. 28:19 Hello, somebody. 28:22 At the end of the series, 28:26 I went to him and I appealed to him 28:28 and I said, "Jessie, 28:31 what are you gonna do about the Lord?" 28:35 I'll never forget his answer he said, 28:36 "Pastor, I believe..." 28:40 listen to what he said, 28:42 "I believe I have committed 28:45 the unpardonable sin." 28:54 What do you mean you've committed the unpardonable sin? 28:57 He said, "I have been so bad 29:00 that God cannot forgive me." 29:05 I said, "Jessie, do you know what Mark 3:28 says?" 29:12 We turned right there on the spot 29:14 and I reread that verse again, "Verily I say unto you, 29:18 All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men." 29:23 There is only one sin that can't be forgiven. 29:27 Have you committed a sin 29:29 that is not covered by this phrase of sins? 29:35 He says, "But I'm an alcoholic." 29:38 I said, "I've heard about you." 29:40 He said, "They call me the town drunk." 29:43 I said, "I've heard about you." 29:46 He said, "God cannot forgive someone 29:50 who has sinned as often as I have." 29:54 And I said, "I've heard about Him." 29:59 And He says, 'There's no sin that I cannot forgive' 30:05 that includes you, Jessie. 30:08 Why don't you give your life to Jesus Christ 30:10 and start all over gain?" 30:14 There's one thing about people who walked the streets, 30:18 people sometimes overlook them, ignore them, 30:22 they impune their intelligence. 30:25 However, when I spoke with Jessie poignantly, 30:28 he spoke to me directly and said, "Preacher, 30:33 when I get myself ready, I'll give my heart to Jesus." 30:40 I said "When you'll get yourself," 30:41 he said, "I got to straighten up." 30:43 I said, "What do you mean you got to straighten up?" 30:44 He said, "Right now, preacher, I don't want to stop drinking." 30:49 Would that some of us would be so honest with God 30:53 and just admit to God we ain't ready to stop 30:57 some of the sinning that we do, 30:59 we hold on to those darling sins 31:02 and they take us lower and lower and lower 31:05 and yet Jessie said they were- 31:09 in his statement was some ray of hope 31:12 he says, "I'm not ready, but when I get ready, 31:17 I'm coming to this church 31:19 to give my heart to Jesus Christ." 31:23 I stood there a little befuddled 31:25 because first, he said he was too bad to be forgiven 31:30 but then he turns around and says, "When I'm ready. 31:36 When I'm ready, I'll give my heart 31:38 to Jesus Christ 31:40 right in this church." 31:47 A few months later, 31:48 I conducted an Evangelist meeting, 31:50 a tent meeting, and I told one of the deacons 31:57 I said, "Do you remember months ago 31:59 when I conducted the Revelation seminar 32:02 there was a gentleman there who was always very fragrant?" 32:10 He said, "Yeah, I remember." 32:11 I said, "Go find him 32:14 and bring him to my tent meeting." 32:19 That deacon didn't have any problem finding him 32:24 because everyone knew where Jessie hung out, 32:27 everyone knew his bar. 32:29 Everyone knew he would be there 32:31 and what time of the day he would be there. 32:34 But when my deacon asked him 32:37 to come to the meeting that evening, 32:39 guess what he did, he showed up. 32:43 And he kept coming 32:45 night after night after night for 5 weeks 32:52 and at the end of my meeting 32:55 when I invited meeting with the boys and girls to come 32:59 and give their heart to Jesus Christ, 33:01 guess who was the first person down the aisle, Jessie was! 33:06 I said, "Jessie, are you ready?" 33:09 He said, "Preacher, I'm ready now. 33:12 I've done all I can do, I can't get any worse, 33:16 I might as well try Jesus." 33:18 Amen. 33:19 Not only did Jessie come, but Jessie, up to that point, 33:25 he looked like a wino, he dressed like a wino, 33:30 and he talked like a wino, he walked like a wino, 33:34 but when he gave his heart to Jesus Christ 33:38 and he showed up at the church, Jessie had on a suit. 33:45 It weren't pressed, but it was a suit. 33:48 Jessie had a tie on his neck, 33:50 I don't know what kind of knot that was, 33:53 it wasn't a Windsor 33:54 and it wasn't a half Windsor knot, 33:56 but it was a knot nonetheless and he had a tie on 34:00 and he showed up there and Jessie kept coming 34:03 month after month, year after year, 34:06 until one day guess what happened, 34:09 the church forwarded 34:10 Jessie to become the first elder of the church. 34:17 Don't you tell me what God can't do, 34:21 you cannot tell me 34:23 that somebody has done so much wrong 34:26 that God cannot redeem and restore them. 34:33 The Holy Spirit 34:35 is a powerful individual. 34:41 The Bible says there's only one sin 34:45 that cannot be forgiven 34:47 and that's blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. 34:50 What- Who is the Holy Ghost? 34:56 That's question 101 isn't it? 34:59 Look at 1 John 5, 1 John 5:7 35:06 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, 35:10 the Father, the Word" 35:13 and we know from John 1:1 the word is the Son, 35:16 "And the Holy Ghost, 35:18 and these three..." are what? 35:21 "They are one." 35:24 "There are three that bear record in heaven, 35:26 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." 35:31 Now of course I'm aware that 35:33 they are those who don't necessarily 35:36 believe in the concept of the Trinity. 35:40 However, I believe in what the word of God says. 35:43 And if the word of God says there are three 35:45 that bear record in heaven then guess what, 35:48 there are three that bear record in heaven. 35:49 What did I say? 35:51 There are three that bear record in heaven, 35:53 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 35:56 Well, how can that be? 35:57 It says that the three of them are one. 36:00 Are they three Gods or they're three in one God? 36:05 The best way I can explain that 36:08 is simply if I were to give a bowl of water 36:15 and I heat that water up, what would happen, 36:20 what would you begin to see from the water? 36:23 Steam, ain't that right? 36:25 That steam is a form of water that occurred 36:29 because the water got hot. 36:31 But if I took that same bowl of water 36:33 and put it in the refrigerator 36:37 or I should say the freezer, what would it turn to? 36:41 Is that still water? 36:42 Yes, the cold now turned it into ice. 36:46 Heat made it steam, a cold made it hard as ice 36:52 and its nature state is just fluid, water. 36:56 It is still water. 36:59 I can put something in bowl 37:01 pour some in the pot get steamed, 37:03 pour some in a ice tray, get ice. 37:06 It all came from the same source it's still all water. 37:10 It's only taken all different forms. 37:12 There are three the bear record in heaven, 37:15 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 37:17 I believe that if we want to make analogy of it, 37:20 we could say that the Father might be the ice 37:23 'cause you- they were really people 37:26 who think that the father is hard 37:27 and all stare and he's rigid 37:29 and he's without mercy and grace. 37:31 We might look at him as ice 37:33 and then the Son would be the fluid form of water 37:37 and the Holy Ghost would be again 37:40 to that of a steam or the vapor. 37:44 It's still one entity. 37:49 So if you offend one, what have you done? 37:57 Offended all. 37:58 I can remember growing up as a boy, 38:03 my mom is here, by the way, 38:05 and she can tell you it was a little rough 38:08 at times growing up in Newark 38:11 but I remember that whenever one of us 38:16 got into a fight with somebody, 38:21 you got to fight who? 38:22 All of them. 38:24 All of us, all of us, 38:27 now some of my Hispanic friends, 38:30 I have to pray for them. 38:32 Because when their kids got in trouble 38:35 or got into a fight, 38:36 the brothers and sisters didn't show up, 38:38 mamma would come with her pot of beans, 38:40 hot pot of beans 38:42 and she was going to get into the fight too 38:45 and the father would get off, he tried to get off of work 38:48 and he wanted to get into the fight. 38:49 Grown folk want to get into fight with kids. 38:53 But the idea was if you mess with one member of the family, 38:58 if you offend one member of the family, 39:00 you offend all of us. 39:03 So all of us rise to the defense. 39:08 I can imagine the same is true with the Trinity. 39:12 Now how can offend, 39:14 how can you blaspheme the Holy Ghost? 39:20 To blaspheme the Holy Ghost is to offend the Holy Ghost 39:25 by disrespecting the Holy Ghost. 39:29 I want you to see something in Romans 2:4, 39:32 Romans 2:4, Romans. 39:38 Romans 2:4. 39:42 Look and see what the word of God says here, 39:44 "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness 39:48 and forbearance and longsuffering, 39:51 not knowing that the goodness of God..." 39:54 Does what? 39:56 "Leads to repentance." 39:59 What leads to repentance everyone? 40:02 The goodness of God, the goodness of God. 40:08 Now if you were to turn to Galatians 5:22, 40:11 you would find in Galatians 5 a listing, 40:15 an enumeration of what we call the fruit of the spirit 40:19 and in verse 22 of Galatians 5 40:21 we find that one of the fruit of the spirit is goodness. 40:27 So when the Bible says 40:29 that the goodness of God leads to repentance 40:35 and goodness is one of the fruit of the spirit, 40:38 guess who's actually leading us to repent. 40:43 It's the spirit. 40:46 You think that because you do something wrong, 40:49 that you're so holy, that is your idea, 40:53 it's your idea to go to the Lord about it. 40:58 You got absolutely nothing to do with it. 41:03 It is purely the Holy Spirit that's leading you to repent. 41:11 Now what happens then with that impression to repent 41:17 if it's the Holy Spirit that leads you to repentance? 41:23 Let's understand something, let's understand something. 41:26 There is, there is, well, let me just show it to you, 41:30 let me just show it to you in Genesis, 41:33 turn to Genesis with me. 41:38 The Book of Genesis 3:15 41:47 notice what the word of God says, 41:48 "And I will put..." what everyone 41:51 "enmity between..." who "thee and the woman, 41:55 and between thy seed and her seed, 41:57 it shall bruise thy head, 41:58 and thou shalt bruise his heel." 42:01 Who's talking here? This is God talking. 42:04 Who is He talking to? 42:06 The serpent or the devil, isn't that right? 42:10 And he says he's gonna put enmity 42:13 between the serpent or the devil 42:16 and the woman and her offspring. 42:19 Enmity translates from Hebrew an uncomfortable mess. 42:25 That means that whenever we sin, 42:29 it ought to be something 42:31 that's uncomfortable about what we're doing. 42:36 When you do some- Don't put your hand up. 42:39 When you commit a wrong act, 42:42 do you feel uncomfortable about it? 42:45 I said don't tell on yourself, God knows I don't want to know. 42:49 Don't say nothing. 42:53 If you are not feeling uncomfortable 42:57 something has happened 42:58 to the enmity budding in your mind. 43:04 I had an alarm clock, beside my bed, 43:09 and I used to work at night and I hated that alarm clock. 43:16 Now the alarm clock didn't tell me to set it. 43:22 I set it myself. 43:25 I set it and whenever it would go off, 43:29 it would go off on a show, a program, to this day 43:33 if it's on the air I'm not going to listen to it, 43:36 it would start off "Ahoy, shipmate" 43:40 and it would ring the bell ding-ding, 43:42 ding-ding, ding-ding. 43:43 It was a religious program. 43:44 Ahoy, shipmate and then this little male chorus would say, 43:48 "I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest." 43:56 A very fine program. 43:59 I just won't listen to it, 44:02 not because it doesn't have good substance 44:06 but because it reminded me every night 44:09 that I had to get up go into the cold night and go to work. 44:14 Sometimes when Ahoy, shipmate would come on, 44:18 I'd reach over and slap the clock. 44:23 What was I doing? Hitting the snooze button. 44:27 But guess what, 44:29 the snooze button didn't cut it off totally. 44:34 It turned it off or interrupted it for a moment 44:39 and guess what would happen a few minutes later. 44:43 It would turn right back on again 44:47 and I'd slap it one more time, two more times, 44:50 until I got tired of slapping it 44:52 and decided to get up and go to work. 44:56 Every time, we are faced with a sin, 45:01 the alarm clock called enmity goes off in our minds. 45:06 But what do we do? 45:09 We reach over sometimes and do what? 45:12 Hit the snooze button. 45:16 Turn it off, so I can keep on going. 45:19 Hit the snooze button. I'm parked in a car. 45:23 I know I got no business in that car 45:25 because it's only me and her. 45:29 And a low voice tells me 45:30 "You need to go and take her back home." 45:32 What do I do? 45:36 Then I just move on a little closer to her put my arm around 45:39 and the voice will go off again, what do I do? 45:45 Then I reach over and look her in the eye, 45:51 and that low voice really gets loud and say "Argh, no!" 45:56 But I hit the snooze button two times. 46:02 I can't finish this story. 46:08 Eventually, the snooze button won't cut- have to be hit 46:13 because the alarm won't come on anymore. 46:18 Something will happen. 46:20 Look at 1 Timothy 4, 46:22 1 Timothy 4:12, what happened? 46:26 1 Timothy 4:12, 46:32 1 Timothy 4:1-2, pardon me. 46:37 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 46:40 that in the latter day some shall depart from the faith, 46:43 giving heed to seducing spirits, 46:46 and doctrines of devils, 46:48 Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their..." what? 46:51 "Their conscience seared with a hot iron." 46:56 Eventually, beloved, what will happen is that 47:01 if you hit the snooze button too many times 47:05 you will be permitted to just go forward in your sin 47:14 because if you do that too often, 47:16 the Bible says "You will have your conscience..." what? 47:21 Or "cauterized" so that you won't have 47:26 any feeling responsiveness anymore to spiritual things. 47:36 That's a terrible, terrible place to be. 47:42 But I can't leave you right there 47:47 because remember what Jessie said 47:50 "I'm too bad to be forgiven" 47:58 and yet we have discovered that the Holy Spirit, 48:02 the Holy Spirit is God's means 48:07 of helping us to resist sin. 48:13 He hasn't left us on our own. 48:17 Remember now the Bible says "He's touched by..." what? 48:21 "The feelings of our infirmities." 48:25 He knows what it is to walk through this human journey. 48:29 He understands and so he would not leave us without hope. 48:36 Our hope is found in 1 John 1:9, 1 John 1:9. 48:42 I want us to repeat that verse together 48:45 because if you don't know it you need to learn it 48:48 and you need to commit it to memory. 48:49 It says, "If we..." what? "Confess our sins..." 48:54 He is what? Say that again. 48:56 Faithful. 48:57 "He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 49:01 and to..." do what? 49:02 "Cleanse us from..." some... All. 49:05 A little bit. All. 49:07 "All unrighteousness." 49:11 Somebody ought to say amen. 49:13 He's faithful and I notice it doesn't say we're faithful. 49:20 It says He's faithful and just but that is a condition 49:27 that is tied to this promise, that condition is what? 49:33 If we confess He's faithful and just to forgive. 49:41 Let me give you the simplest definition 49:43 I can give you for the unpardonable sin. 49:48 It is simply this. 49:51 There is no sin, we've already discovered that, 49:54 we found that in Mark 2, 49:56 there is no sin that God cannot forgive. 50:01 Amen. Amen. 50:03 No sin. 50:05 Secondly, he gives us what? 50:07 To convict us of our sin, the Holy Spirit, 50:11 he gives us the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin. 50:17 Now the Bible says if we confess, 50:22 He's faithful and just to forgive us. 50:25 Here's the definition. 50:27 The unpardonable sin is the sin 50:30 that cannot be pardoned unless it's confessed. 50:37 How does that sound? 50:39 Sound right? Yeah. 50:41 Do that one more time. 50:42 The unpardonable sin is a sin 50:46 that cannot be pardoned unless it's confessed. 50:52 That means that if a murderer confesses his sin, 50:55 can it be forgiven? 50:57 Can- If a prostitute confesses her sin, 50:59 can it be forgiven? 51:01 If a crack-head confesses a sin, 51:03 can it be forgiven? 51:06 If an alcoholic or a wino confesses a sin, 51:08 can it be forgiven? 51:10 If an adulterer confesses his sin, can it be forgiven? 51:14 If a thief confesses his sin, can it be forgiven? 51:18 All sin can be forgiven, if it's confessed. 51:26 And the only way it gets confessed is 51:29 if we open ourselves to the Spirit's pleading. 51:36 That's why I ask you, 51:38 do you have the Holy Ghost? 51:44 Or are you left to continue 51:49 sinning indiscriminately 51:53 without any sensitivity to the God 51:57 who died for every single one of your sins? 52:02 That's why we can never afford to write any- 52:06 I don't care, I don't care how bad your children are. 52:12 God can save your children. 52:16 I don't care how bad your husband is, 52:19 God can save your husband. 52:23 I don't care how bad those folk at work treat you, 52:28 God can still save each and everyone of them. 52:33 There is no one beyond the reach of grace. 52:39 Amen. 52:40 No one beyond the reach of God's love, 52:44 no one that the Holy Spirit cannot reach out to. 52:48 There is no person that he cannot inveigh, 52:52 he can get to each and every one of us 52:56 if we will but confess. 53:01 If we submit to the Spirit's pleading to confess our sins. 53:11 Let me share this story with you in closing. 53:17 I was in South Carolina 53:20 conducting a revival, 53:25 a one-week revival 53:29 and I met a young woman named, 53:34 Jackie, there. 53:37 Jackie was so moved by the messages 53:42 that were preached that week that Jackie came to me, 53:46 she was a hired musician for that week. 53:50 She was not even a member of that church, 53:53 she was just a musician in the city 53:55 who had been hired for the revival 53:59 and she came to me and said, 54:01 "Reverend, I don't care where you are, 54:08 whenever you run your next meeting, 54:12 I want to be your musician." 54:16 I said, "Do you know where I live?" 54:18 She said, "Yeah, you live in Texas." 54:22 She said, "I don't care, 54:23 I will come to wherever you are 54:28 and play for your meeting. 54:30 I just appreciate the ministry." 54:33 I said, "Okay." 54:36 Guess what meeting she came to play for, 54:39 the meeting that Jessie came to. 54:45 Two individuals who were sitting 54:48 under the teaching of the Holy Spirit 54:52 for 5 weeks night after night 54:55 and at the conclusion of the meeting, 54:59 here's one man that comes down and says, 55:02 "I'm ready to turn it all over to Jesus." 55:07 Here's another person who has been on the keyboard 55:10 playing the great hymns of faith, 55:14 the great gospel songs of hope, 55:17 and when I went to her personally and said, 55:22 "Jackie, don't you want to give your life to Jesus Christ?" 55:28 Jackie said, "I'm not ready. 55:35 I'm not ready." 55:37 I didn't get too discouraged because I remember, 55:40 essentially, that's what Jessie had said before 55:43 and Jessie came to the Lord later. 55:46 So I said, "Well, I'm gonna pray for you," 55:47 and I prayed for her. 55:50 A month later, I got word, after she left my meeting 55:55 that Jackie was found in her home 55:58 dead of a drug overdose. 56:02 That was the final opportunity 56:04 that she had to make her peace with God 56:10 while she was in the meeting. 56:14 Do you have the Holy Ghost? 56:18 If you can hear something in your spirit speaking to you, 56:24 urging you, and saying this is the way, walk in it. 56:29 If you can hear something inside you, 56:33 something within saying it's time to turn it over to Jesus, 56:39 you have not committed the unpardonable sin. 56:43 Amen, I don't care how dark the night is 56:47 or how stormy the day, 56:49 if you can still hear his voice above the din of noise 56:54 and the raging repultery of the crowd, 56:57 you have not escaped the grace of God. 57:03 And I appeal to you and I urge you. 57:07 Listen to the Holy Spirit, 57:11 allow him to revive you, 57:16 put that spiritual temperature back where it is 57:19 so you'll be on fire for the Lord. 57:23 I want that to be my experience. 57:24 How about you? |
Revised 2015-05-13