David's Dilemma

If you have your Bibles this morning, 1st Samuel chapter 30 is where I'll read my text. 1st Samuel chapter 30. Sister brand, I give you honor today. I see you and Joanne out there. And Alice is what I call her. We had an office next to each other for 5 years. Her real name's Alice. You all call her Sue, but her real name is Alice. Sub bran. And so I called her Alice. But it's good to see you, and I love you. Am men. How many you love the Lord? Amen.

1 Samuel 30, verse number one: "And it came to pass when David and his men were come to ziklag on the third day, that the amalekites had invaded the South and ziklag, and smitten ziklag, and burned it with fire, and had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives: a henm the jezus, and Abigail the wife of nabal the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

Anybody ever had to encourage yourself? I see a few hands. And I understand the text, and I get that frequently we preach from the text that, in the absence of the affirming voice of others, that we encourage ourselves. Sometimes you don't have anybody else to affirm you, and so we look to this scripture as a source of encouragement, that in the heat of the battle we can encourage ourselves in the Lord. I really don't believe that's why David encouraged himself. I don't believe that David encouraged himself just because there was no one else there to affirm him.

David Avid said to abathar the priest, a himc son, "I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod." And abathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord, saying, "Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And he answered him, "Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all."

What a great word from the Lord. You're going to recover everything you lost. Jesus, you're not going to fail here. There's so many directions I could go this morning with that text, but I want to point out that when David encouraged himself in the Lord, he didn't have the word that he wasn't going to fail. He didn't have the encouraging word from the Lord and the directive word, that he could pursue. David still under the gun. He's still in the heat of the battle. His houses are still burning in the smoldering smoke of ziklag, and his children and wives are still taken captive. He's in the worst case scenario, and he looks around at all that is going wrong, and he encourages himself in the Lord.

Why, I wonder, did David encourages him encourage himself in the Lord? Glad you asked. He encouraged himself in the Lord cuz he knew who his enemy was. And sometimes it's as important to know what you're fighting as it is to know that you're fighting. And the truth is that when David recognized who his enemy was, he started to celebrate, because he knew victory was inevitable.

I want to preach to somebody in this room: that the battle that you're in is the foretelling of your victory. We get frustrated. We get down and out. We want to throw in the towel. We see all the circumstances of the battle, and we get discouraged. But the truth is this morning, that sometimes when you feel the heat and the press of the battle, it's merely the indicator of what's going to happen next. I'm going to tell you, it's not time to throw in the towel. It's not time to walk away. It's not time to put your head down and be discouraged. It's time to celebrate. Yes, I'm in the heat of the B battle, but the battle is a mere indicator that the best days are in front of me.

Lift your hands and open your heart all over this room. Holy Ghost, Lord, I pray that you would speak to us with clarity here this morning. God, I pray that the Holy Ghost would walk in this room and do what no other power can do. We give you glory and praise and honor and thanksgiving, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Why don't you clap your hands to the Lord? God bless you. You can be seated.

It seems to be the culmination of a long season of David's life. The time elapsed while on the run from Saul is debated by biblical scholars, but most theologians estimate it to be somewhere between 8 to 15 years. 8 to 15 years he has lived in caves, run for his life, lived at odds with both family and foe. 8 to 15 years in this season of uncertainty. And as a last resort, he takes refuge in ziklag, after appearing to be a lunatic to the Philistine people. It's during this season of distress that David and his mighty men have returned from a mission to find that their city is burned, their goods are looted, and their families are taken captive. The men are mourning, and there is even talk of stoning David. And he inquires of the Lord, and God gives him the promise of full recovery. And David, the Bible said, encourages himself in the Lord.

I believe that David's encourag m is the realization of who his enemy is, because if you look historically at the context of our text this morning, what you will find is that amalekites always show up to signal a transition of seasons.

Exodus chapter 17: the children of Israel, after 430 years of bondage, experience the first taste of deliverance. They are shouting and singing songs of hope about a new season, when the children of amalec show up and begin fighting Moses and his men. The Bible records that Aaron on one side and her on the other lift up his hands in the heat of the battle, and they smite the amalekites. Notice where the children of Israel are. They are fresh off of the prophetic word of Moses, who said, "The Lord is going to bring you out of bondage, and he's going to take you into a land that flows with milk and honey. I'll give you houses that you did not build, and vineyards you did not plant, and I will drive out from before you your enemies, little by little." They're about to cross into the promised land. But just right before they step across the threshold of promise — wouldn't you know it — that the amalekites show up, because the amalekites always come in the season before promise.

Judges chapter 6: the amalekites show up at harvest time when the crops are plentiful and the work is complete, in the time of the reward of the toil of the season is about to be rewarded. That's when the children of amalec show up. They show up at harvest time.

I'm going to tell you, the enemy don't show up while you're working. He don't show up in the toil of the season. He don't show up to help you plant. But he does show up when you're about to reap the reward of your season, when it seems like that things are about to take a turn for you, to step into a new mention of harvest. That's when the enemy shows up.

I got a little word for somebody who has been toiling, and you have been fretting, and you have been working, and you have been planting by the sweat of your brow: you can always be guaranteed that there will be a source of discouragement right before the season that you're about to harvest what you planted.

1 Samuel 30 is our text this morning, and David is only hours from being anointed the king of Judah. Wouldn't you know it, that right before that, he's about to shift seasons, the amalekite show up. No doubt fresh in the mind of this king, he remembers when the old prophet came to his town. The Bible said that when the prophet came to his town — Brother Wesley — that the prophet said, "For the Lord hath anointed you to be the king of his inheritance."

Now I want to stop right here and just make this little statement about your anointing: is that he didn't tell him, "He's going to make you the king of Judah." And if David had walked into Judah and he had settled for those couple of tribes, he would have been settling for less than what God told him he could possess. And if there's anything that the apostolic church needs to be warned about — and I feel a little word for this church today — don't you dare settle for what you got. That's right. I appreciate 10 years of apostolic leadership, and I appreciate all the wonderful years of Bishop's leadership, but the greatest days of what God is going to do in Murphy's Borough and Rutherford County, you have not experienced yet. I remember Sunday night when the Holy Ghost would course across his sanctuary, and we'd have revival, and people had get the Holy Ghost, and there was miracles, signs and wonders. But that was the beginning. We couldn't even see this building then. But tonight — today — we're sitting in houses we did not build and vineyards we did not plant, and enemies that God has driven out from before us, little by little. But we're just beginning. The greatest days of harvest are in front of you and not behind you. Stop and celebrate and clap and enjoy partial progress, but that's exactly what it is. It's just the beginning.

David, don't you dare walk into Judah and settle for a couple of tribes, when the old prophet walked into your town and he said you're going to be the king of a unified kingdom. I don't care what the enemy says, and I don't care how hard he fights, and I don't care what kind of discouragement that he SS. The greatest victories are in front of you and not behind you. The great — this season of harvest is in front of this church, not behind itoo. This isn't the only building. This is the only piece of land. This isn't the only harvest you're ever going to experience. I feel a little word in this room. I'm prophesy to this church, that God's going to give you a regional revival that's going to not only impact this city, but it'll impact the landscape of this entire Middle Tennessee community.

Malachi show up at harvest time. They've looted his goods. Theyve taken his family.

If I could kind of deviate, I wonder what kind of scars they had to manage as a result, or after effect, of Zig lag. We don't talk about what she went through. We don't talk about what a henm had to battle. We don't talk about every time somebody knocked on the palace door, that she flinched.

I'm going tell you a little secret: my wife likes to tell me how to drive, and I hate it. I hate it. One day we're driving down the road — she can see stuff that ain't there. It's there. It ain't there. Devil is a lie. She see stuff that ain't there. Pastor Kevin, come on. She can see stop signs that need to be stopped at, that does not exist. Not even — she thinks you're supposed to stop at a yellow. No, go — f — nobody ever taught her that means speed up. Nobody. She needed my voice in her life. Yes, she don't listen as good as she should, cuz she still stops at yellows. I feel my help now. I feel right at home, right at home, babe.

"Hit the brakes. Stop. You're going too fast." No, ain't. One time, we're driving back from — I'm preaching somewhere, she went with me, and I just pulled over on the side of the road. Wesley, I just pulled over, put it up Park. I just got out and walked around to her side. I said, "Sis, you know how to drive so good, you drive. I'm a ride shotgun." She said, "No, no, babe, I didn't want to drive." I said, "Well, then let me drive." 18-wheeler can drive by 40 ft away, she flinches. She's like beating the door. She's hovered over. She's over here saying, "Move on. Get to your point. Get to your point. Get to your point." This is fun though. You know why? Cuz when she was 18, she had a wreck. And all these years later, she still deals with the angst of getting sideswiped at that point. And now she'll start to encourage me in certain directions, because of what she went through in her accident. And it can control her emotions and her fears if she's not careful, because of what she went through.

Can I help somebody in this room? I wonder how a henm felt after someone walked into their city, ransacked it, burned it to the ground, and took her captive, and led her off in an amalekite slave train. I wonder how long it took her to work through the emotion of that moment. Every time somebody knocked on the door of the palace — they're 5 years past the issue, but she's still dealing with the emotional trauma of David not being at home when he should have been at home, and defending the house when he should have defended the house. And now she's left with the fear of his absence. She's navigating the struggle. She's dealing with her in Abigail's conversation of the battle. And she's frustrated, and she's filled with angst. It's taken her years to process some of the things that she's been through, because the trauma of the moment of being stolen and taken away in a slave train with her children. And she's living all of these years. I feel a little word for somebody still being held hostage by an event that is going to dictate the next steps of her life, if she doesn't let go of what happened on that formidable night in ziklag. But I've come to tell somebody, that night and that emotion and what you're processing is not an indicator that you're going to have to live with that issue the rest of your life. It's merely an indicator that Judah's coming. It's an indicator that the harvest is coming. It's an indicator that that night, when the old prophet walked in into your town and uncored a vial of oil and poured it over David's head and said, "You shall be the king of a unified nation," that what she's feeling is nothing more than an indicator of the fulfillment of a prophecy that God's going to give their family.

You know, I'm off my notes now. Bro Wesley, let me tell you: what the Lord does is — what the enemy does is merely — and I know we've heard this preach, but I'm going to give you the example — he mimics what God does, except God does it better. That's right. That's good. Let me tell you, if anybody knows what is about to happen in your life, the enemy does, right? Sometimes better than you do. In fact, sometimes it'd be good for you to just hear what the enemy is saying about you.

Let me give you the example: Israel crosses the Red Sea. They come through the Red Sea, and they're walking on the other side. You remember, now they die 40 years. They walked around in the land between, and they crossed the Jordan, and they get to Rahab's house. They get to Rahab's house. And when the spies walk into Rahab's house, she says, "Where you been? Where you been?" "What do you mean, where we been? We've been waiting on you." "Our city walls are shut up, because they knew: if your God could cause the Red Sea to open up and roll back and conquer Egypt's Army, then we were just sitting ducks for what God was about to do." And while you've been walking around in a circle, faithless, faithless one, wondering what God was going to do, or if he could bring you over — the enemy's been sitting over here, and the Bible said their hearts had melted with fear, and they had closed up the gates to the city, because they knew the miracle God was going to do.

Some of you need to hear what the enemy's saying about you. He's saying, "I know that they're anointed. I know what God's about to do in their city. I know the victories they're about to possess. I know the wonders that he is about to do among them, because I recognize the anointing of on them that I have seen in generations past." Woo, there's something on you that ain't on everybody else. There's an anointing on you that a't on everybody else. I don't know what they're doing in the rest of Christianity in this city, but they don't have signs, and they don't have wonders, and they don't have miracles, and they don't have the Holy Ghost that's putting marriages back together and taking people off of addiction treatments.

Some of you need to hear what the enemy is saying about you. I'm going to tell you that the anointing attracts the enemy. You think, "I'm anointed," and it dispels the enemy. You have power over him, but the anointing attracts him. He's attracted to it. When they heard that David was anointed, they went out against him. They didn't go out against him till they heard he was anointed. They didn't fear what he had. They didn't fear his abilities. They didn't fear his gifts. They feared his anointing, because they knew the anointing can destroy the Yol. Everything else doesn't destroy what it is you're in a battle with. And so the enemy will look for the anointing in a generation.

Watch what he did. He followed the same game plan. The Bible said that Herod killed every child under three, because he heard there was a deliverer. Yeah, there was one anointed in the generation. Pastor Mike, there was one that was anointed in that generation. And so the enemy took out an entire generation to get the one that was anointed. The Bible said that Pharaoh killed every child under three, because he heard there was one that was anointed, that was a deliverer. And so he destroyed an entire generation to get to the anointing. The enemy is looking for the anointing.

But in our text, how we get there: the Bible said that the prophet shows up, and he said, "You know what, I got to go anoint David to be the next king of Israel. And if I anoint him the king, the king's going to kill me, the current king." And the Bible say the Lord said, "That's all right. Here's what I want you to do: I want you to take a sacrifice, and I want you to bless the entire city, because David lives there." Yeah. While the enemy will kill an entire generation to get to one that's anointed, God will bless an entire generation because there's one that's anointed.

Let me tell you, Centerpoint Apostolic Church, you're blessed today because you have your man of God. And what you don't know is, when you show up to this house, the reason that you're blessed is because God has an anointed man in our generation that occupies this pulpit and this pastoral office. And when you show up — while the enemy may be trying to take out a generation because of the annointing — the Lord saying, "Every time Pastor Kevin walk through the pulpit, I'm going to do something in this congregation like I'm not doing in any other congregation in this city. And when you walk in under the anointed covering of your pastor, I'm going to bless you because of his anointing." You're going to be blessed.

Hear me now, you better have pastoral authority every time and in every situation that the amalekites show up. You know why they show up in every single situation? The anointing was under attack. The people said of Moses, "Stone him." "Bring out Gideon, for he must die." And the Bible said the men spake of stoning David. You can't defeat the spirit that shows up to destroy you before the greatest season of your life if you kill your spiritual authority.

Now I'm going to challenge you: who has veto power in your life? I got one, and that was a pastor. Who has veto power in your life? You know, Bible says — this, this ain't my notes either. I'm goingon to get us there. Do you know the Bible said — Pastor Allan — the Bible said that they began moving the ark from OED edom's house, and they pull right up to the door, and they start unloading the ark. This is what I don't understand — somebody can explain this to me, if you theologically understand it — but if usza stadies the ark outside, that's not the first time that it needed steadying. And when they pull that Ark out of OED edom's house, I guarantee you that somewhere on the inside of that house somebody touch that AR. You know? So how did they avoid dying? And yet when they get out in front of the nation — when they get out in front of the rest of the nation and usza steadies the ark, the Bible said there he died, for he — the Lord smok him there for his error. Why did he die in front of the nation, and whoever touched it in the house in private didn't die? Glad you asked. Because God's sending a message to the nation. God's telling the rest of the nation, "You don't need a God like everybody else."

The reason that they were bringing the ark — here's the problem — is that they wanted to do what the rest of the nations did around them. They wanted to handle the anointing like everybody else handled the anointing. The reason that they want a king is because all the other neighboring nations wanted a king, and they want to look and act and sound like everybody else in the rest of the nations. And there God smote usza for his error, because God's sending a message to the rest of the world: "I don't want you to look and act and sound like the rest of the world."

I feel a little word: you're not like every church in town. You're not like every other witness in this community. God wants you to handle his treasures a little differently than everybody else in this community, because he's going to do something here that he hasn't done anywhere else. And he smoted him. Why does God smite usn't there? And why is David in error? The reason is because we can't find anywhere previous to that text that d David goes to the high priest and says, "How do I handle the Ark of God? How do I do it?" Yeah. "What do I do?" Yeah. "What's the word say about how I handle your treasures? What's the word of God say about how I conduct my life? What does the word say about how we ought to take his tangible glory and navigate it through our city streets, and celebrate it, and take it into the newly built Tabernacle? How do we handle your glory?" Not one time do we see. But the Bible said that after Aza died, that David goes to the high priest. And the Bible said that David comes out of that meeting saying, "Never shall anyone handle the Ark of God except for the called priest of Israel."

Here's my question: why do people have to die before we ask the right questions? Oh, we ask them. We ask the right question Chans. "Pastor, what do I do now? She's pregnant." "Pastor, what do I do now? I have an addiction issue." "Pastor, what do I do now? My marriage is falling apart." Oh, we know how to schedule a meeting and show up to the pastor's office and ask him. But why do we have to have a death before we ever start asking the questions that we should have act to prevent the issue that we're dealing with?

I want to help somebody: you need a man of God in your life. You can't figure it out on your own. You don't know how to navigate this season without spiritual authority. And if you kill your man of God and relegate his voice to nothing more than a peer, then you're going to live the rest of your life uncovered. And you're going to always be asking the questions after the fact, that if you had allowed his voice into your life prior to the crisis, you could have avoided what you're trying to get counsel through now. You need your man of God.

Thank God for Kevin and chassid Allen, that walk to this pulpit and without fear or reservation preach holiness and apostolic identity, and navigate you through life choices. And if you will allow their voice in the right season, it will keep you from crisis moments.

Thank you, Bishop, for the nose. Yeah, I'm here. Told him this week, and I want to say it publicly, I said, "Bishop, I love you, and I'm thankful for your voice. I didn't always appreciate it when I got it." But a't that right, John? He said 100%, in his kind way. He said, "Oh, Huck, I wish — how wish you had have been better." I said, "You couldn't have been any better, cuz you were exactly what I needed for the season I was in. And if you would have been anything else, I'd have never made the journey. I needed your voice to be as strong as it was in, as direct as it was in, and as boundary drawing as it was then. And I'm where I am today because somebody said no. They didn't say yes to every little idea I had about behavior, identity. He drew some boundaries and said, 'We don't go there, and we don't do that.' And he had some ideas about my direction, really, that had better insight than the direction had for myself."

You need a man of God in your life. I said, you need a man of God in your life. Your children need a man of God in your life. Your children need a man of God in their life. Boy, I don't — my God. I don't even know what I'm feeling in this room. I'm going to tell you right now: don't show up and ask him after the fact.

I'm going tell you this — I don't say this everywhere — but I got called one day about a church. And I was pastoring in Blue Springs, and i' preached in this district. And I got called about this church, that the pastor — he called me. He said, "Brother HBY, I want you to be the next pastor in my church." And they had a lot of money, and my church didn't have any money. And I wasn't preaching out because I could preach out; I was preaching out to pay the bills, because my church couldn't afford to pay my bills. And they called me at just the right time, when I was broke, good and broke. And he started telling me all the money they were going to pay me. And then he started telling me how big the church was. And I started seeing the boat I have now and the boat I could have. I don't have a boat now, but I knew the one I could get. Yeah. And I stopped on the phone, and I said, "I appreciate all that you're saying, and I'm honored by the invitation, but I want to ask you a question: have you heard from the Lord?" He said, "Well, Brother H, I can't say that I have." I said, "Well, I hadn't either." And I said, "I love you, and I'm honored by this call, but I want to tell you this, is that I know the Lord spoke to me and called me to Kansas City. The Lord never spoke to me and called me there." That's right. And I'm going to tell you what: I could go over there for those hundreds of thousands of dollars that they were going to pay me in a salary, and a new house, and a new boat, and all the things that they were saying. I could have gone and lived in that. But I want to help somebody in this room: I didn't have a word from the Lord. That's right. And I'm going to tell you right now, it's not worth losing my children over a better job. That's right.

I'm preaching to somebody in this room: you be careful when you start packing your house up to go somewhere, because the wages look a little different in a different city, and the career is calling you to something better. But God's called you and planted you in this little acre of land to be a witness for him. I don't care how much they pay you. If they give you a million dollars, it's not going to be worth a rehabilit ation that your family's going to require, because you took them out of the spot where they were planted, under the man of God that was praying in the altar every morning at 5:00 for their salvation. Don't you dare lose your family over your desire to be eager to find something better and more pleasurable for your personal life. You can't defeat the spirit that's trying to defeat you without spiritual authority.

The Bible said — tulian, in fact, historian, wrote that when John was boiled in oil in the Coliseum, it was the greatest revival of their time. 100,000 converts that day. So dominan exiled John to patmas, because he knew that he couldn't kill the anointed. So the next best thing is to control the anointing. When he couldn't kill it, he tried to control it. Let me help you: a controlled preacher isn't any better than a dead preacher. You're — controlled preacher isn't any better than a dead preacher, because neither one of them have a voice in your life, and neither one of them can make a difference in your life. And the battle that you're in, that's letting you know that there is a greater season ahead of you — whatever battle is, you cannot defeat it unless you have an anointed man of God in your life.

Number two: if you're going to defeat the amalekites, it requires consecration and confrontation. You got to have an altar. Now, I'm almost done. I'm going to preach you happy. We going to have good church, and we're going to go back here and eat. I smell it. You can't win the battle you're in without an altar. Got have. But the altar ain't what you think it is.

We always quote this scripture — I don't want to mess up anybody's theology, but we always quote this scripture: "My house shall be called a House of Prayer, but you've made it a den of Thieves." He's not — he is talking about prayer, and I think all the things that we preach about prayer that we get from that text, I think it's okay to use it there. But that's really not the point of the text. Go read it in context. He's talking about sacrifice. He said this: what you've done to my house is, you made this house a place where you give an offering. Because there — go watch. You don't think God — you don't think God cares about what you give to the church? Let me tell you what: you'll be at Roy's church tomorrow. Y'all be like leaving Brother Allen. You'd be like knocking on the door at Roy's Church. You'd be like, "Hey, Roy, can I come to your church?" If Kevin did what the Lord did — cuz you know what he did, Sister Sloan? Bible said the Lord went over there, and he watched what they put in the offering box. And he's like, "You ain't giving much. Uh, open up your envelope, like that. That ain't much. Uh, you're giving a lot, but it ain't nothing in comparison to what you make. Like, you're giving really ain't much." And then the lady walks by, and she throws in the two mits, and he's like, "Hold on, sis. I want you turn around. Show them those couple of pennies you got to rub together. And I want you to show everybody what you're giving. And what she's giving is way more than all of you all are giving, because all you're doing is bringing an offering. But what she brought — she brought out a sacrifice."

God's not dealing with the issue of whether you give or not. He's giving with the issue of sacrifice. "My house shall be called a House of Prayer." You know why? Because prayer requires sacrifice. You go look at what it took to put a lamb on the altar. And a lamb had to have less than four discolored hairs in its wall before it qualified to be used as a sacrifice. And what they were doing, that Jesus called out when he went into a rage and whipped them out of the temple, is that they're coming by and they're buying somebody else's sacrifice for a shekele, in their taking it to the priest and putting it on the altar. And somebody else has raised it, and somebody else has given birth to it, and somebody else has waited it by the waters, and they've taken it to green grass, and they've taken care of it. But you just walk in, pick it up, and carry it to the altar, and you have eliminated sacrifice from offering. And he said, "My house shall not — shall be called a House of Prayer, but you've made it aen," because you've stolen the act of sacrifice out of your giving.

Let me tell you what it takes to defeat your enemy: it takes an altar, where you — he said — are a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Let me tell you the problem with living sacrifices, is that we keep crawling off the altar when the fire is built. But somebody needs to get on there and say, "God, I'm going to give you the sacrifice. There is an enemy that I'm battling today, that I cannot be victorious over until I die out to my flesh."

I'm done. Stand to your feet all over the room. You must confront the enemy that shows up at harvest time. Let me tell you what: we're too good at — Brother Mike — we've become far too good at cohabitating with the enemy. And we let him live inside our walls, and we let him take what he wants. And I'm going to tell you what the enemy will do: he'll walk right in your house, and he'll take your joy, and he'll take your peace, and he'll take your strength, and he'll take your children, and he'll take your wife, and he'll take your family, and he'll take your mind, and he'll take everything that you will allow him to take.

I'm going to introduce this generation to a new word that we're not good at using in our diplomatic strategies: "No." No, dad, let me add a word to your vocabulary. Yeah, a word to your children, a word to your family, a word about your prayer time, a word about your sacrifice, a word about your Godly living. "No." Yeah. And some of you need to use it with your family. And most importantly, you need to use it with the enemy.

I got a guy in my church one time. He told me — he said, "Pastor," he said, "I don't believe all that stuff." I said, "You don't —" He said, "No, I don't believe it." He said, "Here's what I've decided to do. I've decided to let my children make the decisions that they want to make." I said, "I don't believe that." He said, "Why not?" I said, "Let your daughter tell you that she's going to go down on the street corner and sell her body to the highest bidder. Are you going to say, 'That's okay, babe, you just make whatever decision you want'? I said, let your boy go down and say, 'I'm going to go to a party and run a needle in my arm,' and you're just going to say, 'Yeah, it's okay, I'm going to let you make decisions you want to make'? I said, you don't let your kids make the decisions you want to make. You make your kids — you let your kids make the decision about the things you don't feel convictions about." Yeah. Help us, Lord.

I said, "How's that going?" It's about a year later, and he said, "It ain't going good. I'm losing my family." I said, "You know why? Cuz you don't negotiate with terrorist, right? Here's only one thing you say: 'No. You can't have my kids. You can't have my family. You can't have my church.'"

Let me tell you what: when the enemy shows up and tries to sew discord at Center Point Apostolic Church, you need to know one word: "No." That's my man of God. That's my pastor's wife. That's my youth pastor. That's my Bishop. The enemy can't have our church. You know why? Because we're about to enter the greatest season of anointing and harvest and promise, and there's no amalaki that's going to show up in our city and rob us of the next dimension that God is ushering us into. I'm done.

There's only one way — this what I preached all morning for: do you know how to know that you are about to enter the greatest season of anointing, harvest? I feel a little word. Do you know how you can predict that you're about to enter the greatest season of anointing and harvest and promise? Every time it's a problem you don't have the answer for. That's it.

Bishop Morgan called me. He said, "Huck, I hear you're preaching a message about the amalekites." I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "Well, I'm in a battle with one. What do you know about him?" I said, "Almost nothing." "Well, that's encouraging." I said, "But I do know one thing." He said, "What's that?" I said, "You can't defeat it. You got to confront it. You got to build an altar. You got to have an anointed man of God. But you can't defeat it. You can't win the battle." In every single example where an AM malachite showed up to signal the change in the season, there was no answer for the problem that was in front of them, except he showed up.

I want to tell somebody in this room: you don't have to have the answer to that battle. He's going to show up. He's going to show up. For ye who are the sons of God are led by the spirit of God. And you're not going to know how to defeat it. Yes, promise is coming, and the battle is great, and the heat is raging. But you know what? He's going to show up in the middle of the night, and he's going to have the answer that you don't have the answer for. For ye who are the sons of God are led by the spirit of God.

Let me tell you, what's the difference between your church and every other church? You're a spirit Le church. And when the Holy Ghost gets to moveing — Brother Wesley — it's just him telling you, "I'm about to defeat this battle for you." Moses said, "I don't know how we're going to defeat all these amalik sites that we're raging war against. All I know is, I've been called to a promised land, and he said that he's going to give me houses I didn't build, and vineyards I didn't plan. And Aaron and her, why don't you just get on each side and let's lift our hands? Because tomorrow's victory is going to come because the Holy Ghost showed up in the battlefield. You stay at your altar. You live in your prayer room. You navigate the struggle. And the answer is, when the supernatural shows up, it'll do something you can't do on your own."

Woo, if you in this room and you got a problem, lift your hands all over this room. He's going to do what you can't do. I said, he's going to do what you can't do. Your greatest harvest is in front of you, not behind you. That there's going to be a battle that shows up to th your progress toward the dimension he's called you into, and the only answer is the supernatural.

Queen Esther. Queen Esther's in the palace. Queen Esther's in the palace. And the Bible said — Sister Kennedy — that Mori said, "You've come to the kingdom for such a time as this." That's right. Anybody know who she's fighting? This nation stepping into the greatest degree of prominence they have lived in in years. They have existed in bondage, and now they have a queen in the palace that has the king's ear. And you know who shows up right before they step into their Promised Land? Hmon. Anybody guess what hmon was? He was an amalekite. And he shows up to take out the promise before the people could walk in it.

And the Bible said, just out of nowhere one night, that the king can't sleep. You know why? Cuz the heart of the king's in the hand of the Lord. And the king can't sleep. And the king wakes up. He said, "Somebody call for the Chronicles." And they come in and start reading the Chronicles. And you know where they just happen to flip to? The right page. And it's about the old assassination plot that's been forwarded by Mori the Jew, who told the king's Palace what was about to happen, and he survived. And he arouses out of his sleep and said, "Well, what's been done? We need do something good for this Jew who stands in the court." It just so happens that hmon is standing in the court, while the king's being awakened out of his sleep, and the reader has turned a page to just the right part of the story in the Chronicles of the king. I'm going to tell you, you can't make it up. It just so happened that while all of this was raging to take out the entire nation, the Holy Ghost was working on their behalf right then.

I feel a word for somebody in this room: you just rely on the spirit. You don't have to have the answer to the problem that you're standing in the altar with. The supernatural is going to show up because of your prayer, because of your devotion, because you have confronted your enemy, because of your sacrifice, because of your honoring the Manel of the leadership that God's put over you. Because of all of those things, the Holy Ghost is about to do what you can't do. Put your hands all over the house. It didn't time throw in the towel; it's just time to be encouraged. And he encouraged himself in the Lord. He encouraged himself in the Lord. Yeah. Why don't somebody who is discouraged in this room go ahead and encourage yourself in the Lord? It's not time to throw in the towel. It's time to encourage yourself. Why? Because I know what the enemy I'm fighting is, and it is a predictor of the next dimension of anointing and harvest in front of me.

Lift your hands and open your hearts all over the room. Holy Ghost is in this room. If you need a miracle, would you step out in the aisle right now? If you need a miracle, step out in the aisle. If you're in a battle, step out in the aisle. If you need the Holy Ghost this morning, step out in the aisle. If you're a son of God or a daughter of God, and you need to be led by the spirit into this new dimension of the supernatural, step out in the