Family Privileges - Part II | Dr. James Hughes

praise the Lord everyone you need to give that to Jesus he's the one who deserves it we bless you today Jesus there is none like you if you have your Bibles while you're standing let's go to the book of Colossians the second chapter technology is nice but it's also very irritating you don't cooperate all the time second chapter I told them began verse 10 but I'm going to back up to verse 1. sorry for I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them that are Leo to seal for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all Riches of the full Assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God the father and of Christ let me read that from a different translation my goal is that their hearts having been knit together and love may be encouraged and they may have all the riches that Assurance brings and their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God namely Christ when you understand who Jesus is you have uncovered the riches of God and there is nothing greater than that revelation in whom are him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and this I say lest any man should beguile you through enticing words for though I'll be absent in the flesh yet am I with you in spirit and joy and beholding your order in the steadfastness of your faith and Christ as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and build it up in him and establishing the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with Thanksgiving beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and fame to see after the traditions of men after rudiments of the world not after Christ for in him inhale inhale dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily and ye are complete in him say I don't need anything else when I receive the Holy Ghost I got it all it didn't come in pieces or parts or doses I'm complete in him which is the head of all principality and Power in whom also you're circumcised with a circumcision made without hands and putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism when also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh has he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us took it out of the way nailing it to his cost and having spoiled principalities and Powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it so I will preach to you tonight about family privileges part two it is an honor to be part of the family of God and there's no place you're going to be treated better than at his house by him Lord bless you may be seated before I begin tonight let me say what incredible honor it is to be here and I get real uncomfortable when people call me Dr Hughes because my family don't know that name one of the reasons I have the education is you wouldn't believe me if I didn't have it now that I have it it bothers you but the word of God is still the answer and it's just an honor to be here tonight and it's honored to be with brother and sister Carpenter and wonderful family I'm real uncomfortable this new word we've started Corning that we use so regularly on a regular basis and technically it's not the correct term but we use the term Bishop and actually if you're going to do the research find out in the Bible what that term meant he was just the CEO of the church boards all he was he was the chief among elders your pastor is the Apostle of this congregation and this movement and we're afraid of that term and I'm not sure why but there's nothing wrong with us using that there are at least 28 I can count in the New Testament the original 12 weren't the only apostles the word Apostle actually came from a a nautical term which Israel didn't use because they didn't have ships and they didn't fly the Seas like the other countries did but it's a term used to describe taking something from one place to another place saying knowing it's more like the Manifest of a ship knowing what's on it so it's used of an ambassador someone sent to represent Jesus Christ to the world that they're in and there's no one I know of that does that better than your pastor so it'd be okay for you to use that term when you talk to him because that's more biblical than Bishop but if you want to use the term Bishop go ahead but it's just such an honor to be with his family what what incredible people uh it's real if anybody that has just a little bit of Holy Ghost could preach in this place because the atmosphere is always prepared it's I travel places and and walk into a Pulpit and I'm wondering what am I going to do here what what am I going to say because nothing I've got to say fits anything's been going on so one of the first things I do is I pay attention to music and worship just to try to figure out if I'm in the right vein or or not and this is really a rare congregation and the fact is it's obvious everybody involved in your music department visits the prayer room because at least God's talked to them about the same thing he talks to me about so that what we do kind of flows together and we're not butting heads with each other at odds with each other so I commend your church tonight for for its leadership and and for all of you that make this what it is and it's just an honor to be here it's it's incredible honor it's a first for me to have my granddaughters with me this is the first time in our lives that they've been able to travel with me when I went somewhere simply to speak we've been lots of places together but to come listen to their papa preach this is the first and I'm delighted they could have them and my wife doesn't travel with me a lot she chooses and picks the places that she goes and so the fact she is here says she really likes this place so it's it's just an incredible honor to be here tonight and I pray that I can say something that would help you living for God I've made it my purpose over the last several years on my Ministry actually probably close to 20 years ago I was in the state of California and after service on a Sunday morning we went to the pastor's home for lunch and his wife had prepared lunch and I walked into the kitchen after eating lunch that day and I woke up and find this 80 year old man standing looking out the windows at the mountains and from his home weeping and I said brother price what's wrong this old preacher of the Gospel actually started churches all over the state of California standing there weeping he said brother Hughes I'm not sure I know who Jesus is I I think I do but I'm not really sure he said I understand what Paul said when he said I have not quite apprehended that which I'm apprehended of I don't know that I have a hold of what he said I want to spend the rest of my life knowing Jesus better than I know him now that's affected my Ministry over the last 20 years and my desire is to help you have a better relationship with your father because he's the greatest father in all the world there's just none like him nobody's ever walked out of his presence with their head down their face red because they've been shamed embarrassed or humiliated no no one walks away from God feeling like they have been made a public spectacle no one's ever had God stand them up in front of people and say look at this he's worthless he can't ever do anything right when you walk away from an altar even though you have offended him you never walk away feeling worthless when you walk away you walk away feeling like that burden has been removed off of your life and now you're that same brand new person that you were when you began because that's his desire see his desire is that we live life to its fullest Jesus declared to his disciples in John chapter 10. I am come that you might have life and life more abundantly Jesus didn't die on a cross for you to get by he didn't go to a cross and die for your sins for you just to barely exist or barely make it and and just barely get to heaven God created a relationship and he equipped us with all resources necessary so that we can live the greatest and most Victorious Life we could possibly live his desire is that all of us have the greatest possible life we could live when he said I've come to give you life and life more abundantly the word abundant means to exceed any number any need any measure or any rank I've come to give you life bigger than you can count my cup is bigger than your cup I will pour it out and it'll be overflowing I can outrank anything that comes up that tries to to say you're worthless I I outrank them all I exceed any number any need any measure any rank that's the kind of life I want you to have now I can't read minds and I don't want to and I have begged God don't give me a word of knowledge I don't want to know what's going on in their life I've heard too many stories I don't need any more I have to keep up with too much junk that I already know so I I can't read minds but I have been trained to read faces in our face betrays our thoughts if you live with someone long enough they can read it I can't tell you the hundreds of times I have heard this little lady sitting over here say to me what are you thinking now would you please share your thoughts with me why or I've heard things like what's that look for see unless you're a sociopath or a psychopath your emotions show up on your face so when things don't go the way they should then all of a sudden this changes and to be truthful from from where I stand watching Pentecostals on on a weekly basis and going from place to place it it peoples God's kids don't don't look happy actually they look like they eat lemons for breakfast limes for lunch and grapefruit for supper there's just this drawn sadness that showed up in our lives and and I want to introduce you to a life that you can get rid of all that junk because a lot of this sadness shows up because you live with so much guilt and shame that you can't get out of the guilt and shame and guilt and shame keeps you from becoming what God had designed you to be see God has never used guilt and shame to change anybody now us humans use it on a regular basis we love it we enjoy it matter of fact Ray Stevens wrote a song about it I'm giving guilt for Christmas because it's the gift that goes on and on and on and that's a fact and we use it to control people but God has never used guilt and shame to affect anybody and the reason he hasn't is guilt and shame has no Redemption guilt and shame will never cause you to to get rid of alcohol or drugs or or help you break your habit guilt and shame will only make it worse when you come here God never uses that to attack you or to get you to change God uses conviction and conviction always has Redemption when he convicts you of your sin he doesn't just want you to stand there and feel the conviction he has a remedy for your sin and that's repentance if you can find an altar to repent at and to re to to ask God forgive you then that sin can be removed from your life living for God has incredible privileges when my parents were alive everybody that was old enough to drive out of 47 people had keys to my mom and dad's front door and part of being part of the Hughes family is that when you showed up you didn't ever knock if you knocked on their front door to come in you would get a tongue lashing when you got inside when you get to their door matter of fact when I met my wife and took her home and introduced her to my parents and told her them this is who I'm going to marry they kind of had an idea because they already informed them when I got through with the introduction my dads took his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key and put it in her hand to the front door of her house and then he said looking over her shoulder at me if this guy gives you any problems you call me see there were privileges of being part of the Hughes family being part of God's family has incredible privileges God knows every need you have in life and God doesn't wait until you go through some trial to give you a blessing so that you can overcome the trial you've been through God prepares you before the trial God blesses you before you ever go in so you have the resources to get through the struggles of life that you've actually caused you know when we talk about God it's kind of hard for us humans to understand because God has never lived in time God doesn't live in time and he's never lived in time and he will never live in time how do you go from living in eternity to confined to time it's not impossible and it's easy to prove if you've ever studied physics you'll discover the time is defined by how long it takes to get from point A to point B and if you're at Point a and point B at the same time time don't exist God has never lived in time never he's not in time right now you and I live in time but he's not he's in your tomorrow before you get there he's still in your yesterday he's in your presence he is not controlled by time Jesus was God manifest in flesh he knew what was happening every moment of his life before it happened I can show you numerous occasions where he controlled the narrative to make sure it happened on his terms and not theirs John chapter 8 says that he went to the Garden of Gethsemane or he went to to the Mount of Olives he actually went The Garden of Gethsemane which he went to every time he went to Jerusalem because that was his prayer room so early in the morning or at the evening of the night before he went to the Mount of Olives to pray at the break of day he got up and went into the temple he knew they were going to bring a woman caught in the act of adultery so he control where the event took place he wasn't going to let them desecrate his prayer room but he had let him come into the their house of God and desecrate their own house of God and how do you know that was that that it was in such a state of of disrepair well it's real easy the Bible says John said he wrote on the ground as though he heard them not he's in the temple he's got a granite floor there's no ground there the dirt of that Temple was so thick he could ride in it see he he forced them to understand that you better never pass judgment on anybody else if your own house is not clean so he he controlled every narrative that took place he was never caught off globe and when he said I've come to give you life and life more abundantly he's not just given us life so we can exist he's given us life that if we start living it the way we used to your neighbors understand there's something different about you see I remember as a kid hearing people ask my dad there's something different about you what's so different about you I saw him shake hands with a with a a guy in a garage my dad had a machine to straighten frames on cars and he worked for several of the car dealerships and other people in town and I watched him walk into one of those places one day taking a vehicle back and he shook this guy's hand that guy kind of jumped he said whoa there's something different about you what what was that I felt when I shook your hand and dad said oh I'm not different yeah there's something different about you what's different about you he said oh I just have the Holy Ghost see we used to make a difference in our world because we understood who we were and what our relationship with him is and we weren't constantly walking through the house of God with our chin on the floor because we got so much guilt and shame we can't walk in here and get over the junk well folks that's not a new problem that's the exact problem the church at colossi was having they didn't know how to enter the house of God properly so Paul starts teaching him he said I want to lay out some things for you so you can understand that your relationship with God is not built upon increments or learning or are getting a little bit here and a little bit there and then you put it all together you are complete in him the holy ghost that you have is absolutely no different than the holy ghost that John had that Peter had that Paul had are any of the Apostles or any of the people in the New Testament what we have received is absolutely no different than what they received God doesn't have favors even though we think we are he treats us all just a lot all of our blessings are measured by the same cup I don't get more of God than you get you don't get more of God than I get I don't get more Holy Ghost than you give God's not given me some special privilege that you can't enjoy anything that Bible says you can enjoy in your life because if it changes God has changed and the Bible declares that he does not change he's the same yesterday today and forever so whatever the promises are there he is obligated to continue today what he's done in the past he must do in the present whatever he did for them he's got to do for us and he will do those things if we're willing to pay the price see everybody in this room can get called away the third heaven if you'll pay the price put the price to get there is to be stoned to death and Drug outside the city and throw it on the garbage dump and then the Saints gather around you and start praying you back to life and while dead because he had been stoned to death while dead on that trash pile he saw the third heaven and he was able to see things that he said I can't even talk about I saw things that that's beyond my ability to even comprehend in order to explain to you you just really want to go there you don't want to miss it whatever they experience you and I can experience don't act like you believe that if God is healed before then God will heal today to I I remember my family got in the church I told pastor about it today at the dinner table there were about 39 of my mom's family got the Holy Ghost all within six months after my uncle got in church and they this huge influx of my mom's family become part of the church all received the whole my great aunt Jesse developed cancer two years after getting Holy Ghost she died of it her identical twin develop the same cancer and died a year later that would be my grandmother I'm six years of age and my mother is diagnosed with that exact same cancer and they do not expect her to live I'm I'm this kid remembering how sick mom was she she couldn't walk across the floor she got down to about 80 pounds just skin and bones very very sick but she never got discouraged the ladies in our neighborhood would come and take care of us they made up this chart every day there was a different lady at our house Miss weldy was there on Bundy's Miss Wilson on Tuesdays Mr louder Miss Loudermilk on Thursday Wednesdays and every day of the week there was someone there helping Mom every day about one o'clock mom wouldn't slip off into the back bedroom and pray those ladies never said a word and when my mom prayed Heaven heard her everybody in the house hurt her and everybody on the street heard my mom pray and she'd start thanking God she never complained and she never begged she never said God why'd you let me get this she first started thanking him for giving her the Holy Ghost and filling her mom with the Holy Ghost and her aunt with the Holy Ghost and and the other 30 something members of her family with the Holy Ghost and God you've just been so good to us and and then towards the end of her prayer it always end like this Jesus you heal me when the doctor said I couldn't have any more children I have a brother 17 years older than me you heal me when they said I couldn't have any more children and you gave me four more children Jesus How Could It Be Your Will for some other woman to raise these kids she lived be 84. she raised her kids she raised her kids kids she raised neighbors kids she raised church kids she probably raised 30 something kids in her lifetime because God is still a Healer what he's done before he will do again why because that's who he is and he's promised us that no matter what he is always on our side but we let the philosophies of men and the rudiments of the world start eating at us and making us Wonder can he do it or will he do it and I'm here to tell you tonight there's only one reason why God won't heal you only one that is because you're harboring unforgiveness that is the only reason he won't forgive you and he won't as long as you have unforgiveness in your heart and if you will ask him to open the door of your mind and show you where you've got unforgiveness he will help you heal from that and then your body will be healed because he died he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquity the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed those stripes gave us healing not just of our bodies but of our minds because the word saves Zoe includes Body Soul and Spirit every part of my life God's provided healing for if I do my part it opens a door for him to do his part and he can't do my part for me he can't remove the junk in my life I've got to remove it and if I will remove it I open the door for healing to start happening happening in my life as a result of me simply doing what his word says so Paul's writing to this church that he has to talk to them about understanding whether or not they're going to heaven now I'm going to give you a guilt trip real quick okay I warned you I'm going to do it but I'm going to do it and and you're going to take it just instantly I can promise you you'll accept it the minute I say it because that's the way we're programmed here's how it works if the Lord was coming back in the next three seconds would you make it do you see what happened in this room do you feel that cold blanket just showed up see instantly we start wondering am I going to go to heaven see we should never live our life wondering whether I'm going to heaven or not you should know emphatically whether you're going to make it or not and it's real easy to figure it out you don't know how you know whether you're going to heaven or not when Israel crossed Jordan conquered Jericho went to AI got defeated and Joshua got on his face and complained and said God you made a laugh and stalk out of us Egypt's gonna laugh at us because we got here and and we've been defeated by this little bitty town of AI and God said shut up and get up you think I'm speaking harshly you know what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 after he had finished the greatest sermon he'd ever preached and he gave an article he said who's here as he sang some mind and doeth him I will liken unto a wise man whosoever hear these things the mind and doeth it not I will liken unto a foolish man the Greek word is moros we get our word from it you won't be a just don't listen just don't practice what you hear it's not hearing the changes your life it's doing that changes your life you don't just come here and soak it up you have to start participating and doing what you are hearing from the pulpit one thing about getting old is you lose your filter and you just say things you'd never say before okay I got a degree in Psychology so I think I have a right to say this God never ordained counseling God ordained preaching and it's through the foolishness of preaching that lives are saved and changed and if you won't respond to anointed preaching you'll never respond to a one-on-one conversation with somebody so God created this place for you to come and you don't need to have an individual session with somebody he's going to do it as a whole group if you'll just show up and listen and respond to what he's saying to you you'll walk away with your life healed and changed because he's going to tell the preacher what needs to be said so that your life can be affected God told Joshua shut up and get up you got sin to count you divide them by family and you make every member of the family come before the Elder and give glory to God Aiken got there and couldn't do it see you can't worship with sin in your life so if you don't know if you're going to heaven just get those hands up if you can worship without God tripping the memories then you're ready to go God made sure all of us knew we were equipped for the journey if you can just worship him without conviction because you can't worship him with sin in your life he's going to trip that memory and remind you of what you said to her or did to her see I I wrecked your Devil's story today I'm gonna wreck him some more tonight so you don't need a devil to go to hell you need a family to go to hell it's what you say to each other and do to each other it's going to wreck lines it's not what the devil says Hollywood's not destroying your home the world's not destroying your home what destroys your home is the people in the home I hate you I wish you weren't born you're stupid you're dumb so that old lie that was taught to us by every generation that sticks and stones may break my bone but words will never hurt me that's the biggest lie ever told you can beat me with a stick and I can recover you say words means car me for life I I have a real hard problem with singing I don't listen to music if you're getting my vehicle and started up and drive it somewhere and I'm not present and you turn ready on you're going to hear a news station or something a talk show because there won't be one music channel playing if you get in my vehicle and you start it up and music starts playing you know James didn't drive it because most time he rides in silence he don't even turn anything on as a six-year-old and Sunday School going to sing for a big church next Sunday I'm standing beside my friend and we're practicing a song and his sister who was leading it she was about 14 years older than him his sister that was leading it says somebody's off key and he says and she said James just move your lips don't sing just mouth the words and from that day to this I have promised singing because every time I start I hear those words just move your lips because words destroy lives life and death or in the power of the tongue you can deal life or you can destroy life by what you say if I can worship Him without conviction I know my heart's right and John said then we'll have we confidence with God whatsoever we ask in his name we shall receive why because I'm his kid but then he goes on to say we're not only complete with him but bye my favorite scripture in the whole Bible is found right here verse 14. if you don't mind put it on the screen leave it there blooding out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us taking it out of the way nail it to his cross blotting out the handwriting of ordinances biting out what what does blotting out mean do we know well we don't but in that world if you had made a contract with someone and you had finally over time paid the debt off and you are now ready to get rid of the debt when the last payment was made you had the privilege of going to whoever had the contract in your life and you could take that contract and you can take a stylus and you could just put a big X through it and that meant paid in full completed you no longer accountable see the record may have information that you might need at some other time in your life so you you really wouldn't want to be able to totally erase that record so you just put an X through it however if you hung that piece of paper up in your life anybody who walked by could read all the evidence but let's say there was something on that page you didn't want anybody else reading then you went by the marketplace and you bought you a sponge you brought a little bowl of half vinegar and half water and you dip that sponge in the vinegar and water and you'd squeeze it out then you'd dip it and squeeze it out and dip it and squeeze it out and dip it and squeeze it out finally you'd squeeze all the moisture out of it and when you laid that sponge on that Papyrus or skin and begin to rub it across the page the vinegar and water dissolve the ink sponge acted like a vacuum cleaner and when you got through you had a blank page that's called blotting out repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord see now when you have signed that confession blotting out the handwriting literally trends like the word is agrophone which means a sign confession you have to take your stylist out and write down your sin and sign your name to it but now that evidence can be entered into a court of law to convict you and send you a prison or even cause you be executed but when you put the sponge to the page the evidence now disappears now you get to hang that piece of paper up so that everybody walks by knows there's not one ounce of evidence to ever be used against you when you go down and water in his name in baptism it's for the remission of sin it's the circumcision of the heart that verse 12 talks about God takes a scalpel and he cuts off every sin in your life and when you come up out of that water in his name all that sin remains in that water and you will never be judged for what remains in the water so now there is not one ounce of evidence not one ounce of evidence against anything you've ever done in your life up to that point it's covered by Blood you will never be judged for one of them okay then where does Satan get evidence to drag your past up we talk about him reminding us and he's going to drag our past up well he didn't blout it out then all you did put an X through it if you put an X through it because you want to hold on to it then he can drag your past up everybody can read it if you take your sponge and dip in vinegar and water and apply it to the page it comes up blank now from the time you were buried in baptism don't raise your hands okay I this is a rhetorical question so please don't answer when you're buried in water and baptism until today did you ever mess up do you ever see him see I don't see one Halo in this house you you don't become a perfect person you don't become sinless and I remember as a kid that preachers they terrified me they'd say things that I could my brain wouldn't figure out because my brain's real black and white I I probably have a form of Asperger's I knowing what I know I got part of it okay that's just the way my brain works they change the right or wrong it's not somewhere in between and preachers would say things like there's no such thing as a sinning Christian I'm ready to go home for good deals I'm never gonna make that because there's no such thing as a sinning Christian and then that always add an addendum to it but nobody's perfect everybody makes mistakes so in this brain it computed that sins were wrong but mistakes are okay so but I got to figure out what's the difference between sin and mistake because sins never going to go to heaven but it's and that's a fact sin's not going to go to heaven if you don't make it to Heaven it's because you didn't repent of something that you did you should have repented if you've got the Holy Ghost you've been baptized if you don't make it to Heaven it's because you did something that you didn't repent of you didn't take advantage of the sponge you didn't apply that sponge to that page and erase it so that no one has evidence to bring your past up or bring your past into the present and remind you of your failures did I study degree claims and discovered that the word sin is hamartia and hamantia speaks of someone trying to shoot an arrow at a Target you put a Target on the wall you put an arrow in the bow you pull the bow back you let it go and you just miss it's not willful violations it's not deliberately doing something it's good in tissues that don't hit a mark that's sin everything is a sin issue folks he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is to not say to your wife honey thank you for that good lunch is a sin to not say to your husband honey thank you for working hard so that we can have everything we have oh I'm meddling in see you're you're looking for the Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not bear false witness when the fact is everything you do can wind up a sin issue if you're not careful but even if it winds up as a sin issue when you come the house of God and you get those hands up to worship and God just trips at me reopen and reminds you you said this your wife today you did this your husband today and you say oh Jesus forgive me now if you caused it to happen you've got a problem because Jesus said if you bring your gift to your alternator remembers our brother has ought against you leave your gift at the altar and first be reconciled Jesus said you're not welcome inside if you've hurt your family and you haven't done anything to fix it if you show up here and you wound them before you come inside you better go find them and ask them forgive you for what you did so you can come into the house of God and present your offering because if you don't when you get to the holy of holies to offer praise or worship you have no coals or fire so you're going to have to drag Strange Fire to that second altar because you didn't die at the first Altar and if you don't die at that first altar every day of your life you have no resources for true worship but if you'll die at that Altar and you'll let him remind you of your failures and your sin and you fix the problem you say thank you Jesus I'm I'm glad I'm part of this family because now all I've got to do is carry my sponge in my pocket I will never walk through life without my sponge and when I mess up I could say oh Jesus I'm sorry please forgive me and he says all right here's my blood and I dip that sponge in his blood then I and I race it and and here's the beauty there's no limit on the number of pages you get to hang up so he blotted out the handwriting award and it says that was against us which was contrary to us taking it out of the way nailing it to his cross that his cross is not Calvary it's a stake you nail or drive in the front yard of your home and drive a nail on it it's this piece of paper clip I stuck to this Podium and I've hung these pages off of you get to put one of those in your yard and hang every page on it now if it's covered by water and baptism and erased off of this page where can Satan get one ounce of evidence against you if your past is becoming your problem then go look at that devil I introduced you to this morning because it's the only one with the history of yesterday because the only history that exists is between your ears and it's you that has access to all of that stuff and you need to drag that flesh to that stake and say look here I want you to look at this there's not one bit of evidence that I will ever be judged for what I have repented of because he's provided his blood covering not just in baptism to begin the journey but every day of my life I get to apply that blood to my life on a regular basis and every day that I do I get to take that page home and I get to poke a hole in it and I get to keep hanging them up here and I can say to Satan on a regular basis come on Satan I don't want to show you something come here look at this state see this steak that me things I am forgiven I have confessed my sin I signed my name to it but he let me arrange every bit of it and I will never be judged for any of those things that's happened in my life why because he blotted out I'm complete I don't need anything else I'm complete in him some of you have been struggling with your past and you still think you're worthless because you can't seem to conquer certain things you're measuring success by the wrong standard in sports if you're a baseball player and you can bat 400. they'll give you 150 200 million dollar contract in a Split Second you know what that really means you got up to about 10 times six times you're out only four times you got on base and that's only 40 percent and they won't use the term 40 percent because it'll make you understand really they're not that good so they're going to call it 400 but if you look at it's got a point in front of it which means it's 40 percent if you go three days you have three good days and a bad one under three good days and a bad one and three good days and a bad one what kind of success rate are you having see God doesn't measure your success by the number of failures he measures your success by the distance between your failures God's not shocked at your flesh because his word declares so he remembered they were but flesh God's not shocked at the fact you make mistakes he's provided a way if you make one to get your piece of paper clean so that you can remind yourself and look Colossians third chapter this book's so full of so much incredible stuff he he talks about things you have to add to your life see the Holy Ghost don't fix you first of all he says there are things you take off that means you disrobe yourself that's the literal Trend you disrobe yourself of anger you disrove yourself from Breath You disrobe yourself a malice you disrolled yourself blasphemy you disrove yourself you disrobe yourself of lying why do you have to tell the church quit lying because the only people you lie to is people you say you love there's no reason why anybody else because you're not in trouble with him then he says put on robe yourself with bows and mercy humble is a mind you you add to yourself you put on you wrote yourself Holy Ghost don't roll you with with kindness or humility or long-suffering or gentleness but then he says forbearing one another tolerating allowing permitting forgiving one another that pronoun is not one another that pronoun is yourself so your biggest problem is forgiving you and you beat yourself up over the same mistakes over and over and over and over and over and over again scientists say that human beings say You have about 70 000 to 80 000 thoughts a day over 60 000 of those thoughts are negative you leave your house get halfway down the street remember you left something by the front door you're supposed to take to put your car in reverse and back up and all the way there you you tell yourself how stupid you are you can't ever remember anything you beat yourself up all the way the front door and then from there to wherever you're going you're in a bad attitude because you you messed so you you don't know how to Let Yourself Go you're trying to make yourself something God's not trying to make out of you God's not looking for perfection the Greek word perfect means full-grown mature or grown up all gods want you to do is act like an adult not a six-year-old that's it just simply grow up and become an adult if you're an adult if you're a kid then keep working on growing up till you become an adult but that day you do don't go back to childhood ain't it amazing that in the middle of the love chapter Paul got the ADD and just lost his train of thought and starts going off down some Rabbit Trail that he that wasn't even connected and and he says now we see through a glass dark whether it be tongues they shall see where the problem they shall cease and then he says when I was a it's amazing everybody knows that when I was a child I taught as a child as spoke as a child I acted as a child but when I become a I put away now by the faith hope and charity what in the world is that scripture doing in the middle of the love chapter see the only place you're going to act like a two-year-olds at home you won't do it at work they'll fire you so fast you won't know what to do you won't act like a six-year-old with your friends they won't be your friends no more but you can go home and go to your house and tear things up and break things and wreck things and Destroy things and and cause all kinds of chaos as a result of of just not being an adult and he gave some Apostles some prophets some of them some pastors some teachers faithful Ministry why for the working Ministry for edifying the body for perfecting of the Saints till we all grow up the whole purpose of preaching is just to get your act like an adult the whole purpose of coming here is to get the adults show up not the kid because it's the kid that keeps trashing his life or her life and beating herself up and won't ever allow herself to become the child of God or himself become the child of God God made them to be so you struggle with your past you struggle with your failures and and you keep belitting and he says wait a minute forget that I've provided a covering just figure out how to find a sponge go get you a sponge and stick it in your pocket and don't leave home without it and when you're walking through life if you do fail and you do mess up then stop immediately and say Jesus I did it again please for and you just write it out I confess sign my name and he says here's my blood and you rub it across that page and you take that page home and you poke a hole in it and you hang it on that that stake in your front yard because he had delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into because I'm his kid and I carry his name he gives me privileges of living at this house to The Greatest Story Jesus told almost didn't get recorded and we call it the story The Prodigal Son when it's actually the story the perfect father it's not about two boys it's about a dad that treated his boys with such incredible dignity and respect but yet neither one of them had a clue who he was one lost at home one lost away from home Luke said he came in out of the world that literally are out of the field that literally translated he came in out of the world he's lost your home you don't have a clue who he is and that's our problem we don't have the Assurance we don't have a clue who we actually are my father is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords he is the only potentate there's none beside him there's none greater than him there's none who's going to ever conquer him why because there's none like him he's from beginning he's the alpha beginning he's the Omega he's the N he's from time to time there's none like him and he's provided every resource you are complete in him none of you should have problems getting out of bed tomorrow because you're fighting depression or fighting some spirit that you say is attacking you if you have problems getting up tomorrow don't you blame it on him it's because you just haven't figured out who you are and who he is and I can promise you if you'll keep hanging around you'll discover who he is and you'll discover what he's provided for you he's provided every Avenue in your life for your life to be the life that you desire and want is it is it going to have mistakes absolutely because he lives in your future when he filled you with the Holy Ghost he knew every mess up you would make in your life till your death but it didn't keep him from giving you the Holy Ghost today you got it so once you start the journey it's not a journey that's impossible it's not a task you can't do it's not something you can't measure up to he's provided every resource you need to be as Victorious as you want to be you just got to learn how to use what he has given you you know why it appears please stand on through why it appears to you that that some people have more Holy Ghost than you have they've just learned to enjoy theirs and use it you haven't theirs is not one bit of difference matter of fact let me just blow your mind the Same by the way that word holy spirit's a bad translation it should be translated the spirit of the one and only holiness the spirit see the Greek word or the the article and the Greek language don't mean these it means the one and only there are wooden ten calves in the pen there was one and only one fatty calf that's one of the older brother got mad because calf was gone baptized in thee name that's the one in only name what's the one and only the father Jesus how come my father's name so if his name Jesus his father's name his speech what's the window named the Sun Jesus what's one the only name of the Holy Ghost I'll send the holy ghost in my name it's got to be Jesus so that one and only name is Jesus God has given me every resource you have every resource to become anything you want to be you just have to choose to do it and you got to let yourself off the hook because he did it a long time ago see he knew the day you got the Holy Ghost how many times you'd make the same mistake over and over and over and over and over and over and over again but he doesn't put a limit there's not a list up here that says you can't put another page on here that has this sin in it do you hear me don't you come back and confess over this one see Paul says when he wrote to the Hebrews that the high priest had to have compassion on the ignorant and he that's out of the way and that literally says that the high priest cannot let his emotions show his disgust at the Revelation he hears by the confession of somebody lays their hands on an animal and confesses the sin they're going to offer this animal farm because that's what they had to do and when he laid his hands and he confessed I have committed adultery again that priest couldn't look like he was angry or mad or disgusted he couldn't say can't you get your life right you're nothing he had to have his emotions and such check it wouldn't reveal any disgust that who was saying those saying and he said man couldn't do it but Jesus came and Jesus has the ability to listen to the horror of your life and the stories you have to tell him and the confessions you have to make and he's not going to blush at you he's not going to be embarrassed he's not going to duck his head and say mine you're you're just such a worthless person you you can't ever get it right he's never gonna use your past to beat you up over he offers you a sponge and blood see I get to carry it and when I walk by Satan he has to look and say ah can you believe I can't get that one either because it's covered he saw it happen and he was ready to use it but the answer I confessed and I repented he bought it it out now I am free from it so if this keeps coming up it's not Jesus dragging it up and it's not Satan dragging it up it resides between your ears so go look at that devil that keeps dragging it up and say you know what you caused me too many problems you are not going to drag my past up and use my past humiliate me you're not going to beat me up you're not make me feel worthless you're going to dictate my life foreign his blood is available tonight and there are sponges available if you need one so if you're here and you've been on that roller coaster of up down up and down up and down you want to straighten it out for a while in your life take advantage of the sponge getting blotted out no he don't blot it out you have to he gives you the blood so you have the ability to blot it out gracious father thank you for understanding your creation and knowing every struggle that I would have in my life and knowing every problem I would encounter on a daily basis in my life knowing the struggle that I would have with the flesh that I live in and providing me with every resource that I need to be a Victorious child of God not a perfect child of God without any kind of blemish you allow me to continually hang those blank pages on my life on a regular basis because you've given me an opportunity for your blood to cover my life again and again you don't expect me to become sinless from the day I come out of the water being buried in your name you just give me the ability to keep that life spotless all the way to your coming so that every day of my life I live a repented life because your word to carers that if I Repent which is simply of me turning about and heading in a different direction I never make it to the destination until the day I die I continue this journey of repentance every day of my life from the day I become your child to the day I end your portal so thank you for creating this ability in our lives that we can have our lives hold on a daily basis thank you for your blood that it gives me the ability to conquer my sin in my life so that I can become more Victorious and thus distance between those failures starts getting further and further and further and further apart because your blood gives me the courage to make it further than I went the last time and in your eyes that's success help us to see what success is through your eyes help us to have the full assurance that we're your child and that you love us unconditionally if there's a heart here tonight that's struggling with their past and their failures Jesus I pray somebody would take advantage of some blood tonight and somebody would find a stake a drive in the the yard of their life and put us put a spike on it so they could paying these pages that they would need on a regular basis to have those things covered in their lives thank you for providing every resource necessary tonight in Jesus name he's here I open these altars to you if you need an audience with your father he's waiting for you to make the step to an altar so that you can repent he's been convicting you now he's giving you an ability to get out of where you are and become what he desires for you to be the vessel of Honor not broken not effective not worthless but a vessel of Honor for his kingdom