Five Requirements to be a Man of God

to the Texas district, all the ministers and brethren, superintendent, the prespits, brother McGee and his team that put this conference together. I give honor to all the speakers that are behind me. the Lord is going to meet with us this week. Amen. I asked brother Cisco, I said, I'm not a singer. What does a keynote speaker do? He said, "Don't sing the whole song." So, I'm just going to sing one verse and then let the man finish the song. I preached the ladies conference a few weeks ago. And I kept asking my wife, I said, "What do you preach at a women's conference?" And she said, "I don't know. I don't No. I said, "Well, just if if I was preaching to you, what would you want to hear?" She didn't want to hear me. And then she found out that I was coming to the men's conference and I was going to preach to the men and she had lots of suggestions. Hallelujah. Isn't the Lord good to us? Praise God. Let's give the Lord a hand clap praise. Hallelujah. Now I only have one key and I only have one note. Soulw winning. It's all I know. And I don't know what you're expecting out of me, but I've got a one track mind. So open your Bible to the book of 2 Kings chapter number five and we will begin. My subject tonight is five requirements to be a man of God. This is a man's comfort and we all desire to be men of God. Now, a man of God is not necessarily a prophet, not necessarily a bishop. All he has to be is a man and do God's will. That's what a man of God is. My goodness, the Holy Ghost is in this place. Now, non captain of the host of the king of Sy. Now, you're already preaching ahead of me. You You already know what I'm going to preach. Hallelujah. But I'm not going to preach what you think I'm going to preach. I'm gonna throw you a curve. Hallelujah. Now non captain of the host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master and honorable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor. But he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by company and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel. Everybody say by company. By company. Everybody say the Syrians. Syrian. You know what a Syrian is? They're real bad. It's all you need to know. They're just real bad. They went out by company and they brought away a captive out of the land if I say the land of Israel. If I say a little maid, she is not named. This little girl is going to teach us how to be men of God. I'm not going to do it. This little girl is going to teach you and I how to be a man of God. Can we receive a message from a little girl? Or do we need to have the pope here to do it tonight? Are you too high and lofty to listen to a little girl? Or do we need to bring brothers in here to tell you how to do it? I believe we can learn a lot from a little girl if we will listen to a little girl. Nothing can move dad's heart like a little girl. And she said unto her mistress, I want you to mark verse three because in verse three, she's going to tell us a lot. I feel like talking in tongues.

Turn to your neighbor and say, "I have faith. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I got more faith tonight than I did last night." Now, I'm going to give you a prophesying lesson. I'm going to teach you how to prophesy. This is not charismatic. So, don't look crosseyed at me, but I'm going to teach you how to prophesy. Turn to your neighbor and grab his hand, look him square in the eye, and say, "Listen, we're going to we're going to practice prophesying. say, "I'm going to have more faith when this service is over than I have right now." That's a good prophecy, wasn't it? So, let's try that again. Tell another neighbor, I'm going to have more faith when this service is over than I have right now. That that was a that was a nice prophecy, wasn't it? Let's expand our prophecy. Let's let's learn to prophesy a little bit better. A turn to a neighbor and say, "I'm going to have more faith when this meeting is over than I had last year. Let's just step out on a limb, turn to another name, and say, I just want to tell you right now that I'm going to get a blessing before this meeting's over. I think we ought to prophesy one more time. Turn to your neighbor. Say, "I'm not going to be the same man when this meeting is over. I'm prophesying that." Now, let's clap our hands because God going to bring the prophecy to pass. She said unto her mistress, mark this verse. This little girl is going to talk to every one of us men tonight. Would God, my lord, were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Circle that verse. and you may be seated. There are a lot of people that are mentioned in this particular setting. Let me give you the list of men and women that are involved in this passage. Number one, Non. He is a first class jerk. I don't even like him. When I get through, you're not going to like him. And if you do like him, you're probably not an American. You'll probably like Mallovvic when I get through. if you still like him. There is another character by the person of the king of Israel. There's another person by the name of Non's wife. There is a prophet that is by the name of Elisha. There's another person Non's servant that is involved. Elisha's servant is involved. A company of soldiers are involved. When you first read this passage of scripture, it appears at first glance that non is the center of the story. But non is only an element put there so that this little girl can teach us a thing or two. Can I have a witness? Let me give you just a little bit of background so that you'll have a better understanding of what I'm going to be dealing with. When when you understand the time, do you remember in the scripture when Samuel came to Saul and he told him to do something to the Amalachites? What did he say? Do to them? Utterly destroy the Amalachites. We call that ethnic cleansing. We call it genocide. God disliked them so much Samuel said, "You utterly destroy the Amalachites." And of course he did that to an extent but saved a gag alive. When you understand how wars are fought, how

battles are fought, how raids are done, you understand that when non sent these companies into the villages of Israel, he had a purpose for going into that city. My personal feeling is and having done a a little bit of research in this area, we find that they find a little maid and they bring her and present her to Non's wife. Someone said that non sent out these companies to find a birthday gift for his wife because she was the only one who was willing to touch him because he was a leper. He could come back from a mighty battle. They could put him on a white horse. They could have a ticker tape parade. They could have a banquet in his honor. And they would do all of those things for non. But the one thing they would not do is they would not touch him. But there was a woman that was willing to touch non and he wanted to do something special for the special woman in his life. And he gave her a gift of a little girl, a little child. When you understand the price that it took to give a birthday present to his wife, then you begin to understand what kind of man he was. When you read the first verse, he was the captain of the host of Syria. He was a great man with his master. He was honorable by him. He gave deliverance to Syria. He was a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. But that was written from the viewpoint of the Syrians. Someone said George Kuster was a mighty warrior and that he was a mighty man of valor. But you know, Sitting Bull didn't take the same view that we took of Kuster. Can I have an amen? You got to understand that this man sent a company of soldiers into a village. He did not sneak in, find the little girl, and sneak out, but he literally butchered every man, woman, and boy, and girl in that village and probably butchered many villages before he found what he was looking for. And when he brings this little girl back to Syria, presents her to his wife as a gift, as a birthday present. Now, I don't know much about women. For a fact, I don't know nothing about women. I know the same amount that you know about women. Nothing. But I do know this. If I would have been that little girl, they better lock up the butcher knives. They they better lock up the bows and arrows because if I was in the home of a man that killed my mother and a man that killed my daddy and a man that killed my brothers and my sisters, my aunts and my uncles, my friends and my neighbors, do you quite understand? We don't understand as Americans what happened here. We don't live in that kind of society. But I tell you what, I'm a bornag again child of God. But you break into my home and mess with one of my kids. It's protected not by the insurance company, but by a 357 Magnum, and you better have brains to spare because you're going to lose the ones you got. Amen. I'll repent after I do it. It's easier to to get forgiveness than it is permission. And when and and when this little girl was brought back to Syria, she left behind a ravaged city with everything that she ever had gone. She left behind smelling the burning stitch of a mother and a father and brothers and sisters and homes and everything. But one day she opened her mouth and she said, "I would to God that my master knew about the prophet of God that is in Israel.

He would recover him of his leprosy. Me, let him rot in his leprosy. Let him die in his leprosy. He is a butcher. He's nothing more than a heathen with no regard for human life. They would give a little girl as a slave to his wife for a birthday present. What in the world possibly had to happen in this little girl's life before she would be willing to even want non healed. And that's what I want to talk about. I'm talking to men. But we've got to be more than men. We've got to be men of God in this hour. Men are dime a dozen. They're on every street corner. They're in most every home. But what we need is not men, but we need men of God. Your home needs a man of God. Your family needs a man of God. I'm looking for somebody. I'm looking for somebody that you got any money? Loan me 20 bucks. Thank you. I'll pay you back Saturday. I'm leaving Friday. The first thing that this little girl had to do in order for her to want non to be healed was to forgive. You're not a Christian or a man of God by how much you repent. I hear people all the time say, "Well, we're in Pentecost. We don't hear near enough about repentance no more. Oh, I love repentance. I just I love to repent. I just There's some people that I just like a cold cop right between their eyes and then get down on my knees and say, "I'm so sorry. Would you please forgive me of my sin?" Would you please forgive me again? I love repentance. I preach about repentance all the time. Just hit the sucker right between the eyes and then repent. Repent. Repent. Repent. But you're not a Christian. You're not a man of God by how much you repent. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the country repents. Backsliders repent all the time. People that hate God repent all the time. But let me tell you what it takes to be a man of God. You got to learn how to forgive. Woo! I'm preaching to somebody. Lord, if I could just find you, I'd stand right in front of you. We need to learn how to We're going to be a man of God. We got to learn how to forgive. I said we need to learn how to forgive. Where are you? I'm looking for you. We need to learn how to forgive. Anybody can repent. Can you forgive? Hallelujah. Be seated. Some of Some of y'all going to go to hell over 10 bucks. You're going to go to hell for $20. I borrowed $20 from you. But I decided I'm not paying you back. Now, let's find out whether you're a Christian or not. Cuz you can't go to heaven till you forgive. I wish I'd have borrowed a hundred. Now I was preaching in a district north, south, east, and west of here. And I was preaching away and there was about 800 people there and it was a youth convention. And I walked out and there was this really sharp looking kid and I said, "You got any money?" He jerked out his bill fold and he had 10 bucks. They were having a pizza party after the service and it cost $5 to get in the pizza party. And I I the reason I picked him is because I noticed him always looking over to his right making Google eyes at this old gal. And I knew he had a hot date. I said, "Lo me that $10 for just a few minutes." And I just reached in his wallet, got his 10 bucks. And I was preaching along and man, everybody was shouting and talking in tongues and popping their neck and doing the whly bird. My god, they were just getting down.

And I stopped and I said, "You know, I'll decide I'm not paying your $10 back." Son, it got quiet. 800 people in that district backslid. We loan our lawnmower to our neighbor and he breaks a $3.75 blade. and we swear to God we're never going to loan him our lawnmower anymore. Well, it would be better to go down to Western Auto and buy another blade and put it on and and give it to him and give him a sharp knife instead of to begin with. But no, we backslide over it. There ain't no use preaching things you're not doing. I'm going to get down where the rubber meets the road here, okay? We are the world's worst about forgiving people. There's people in this audience that you got offended right after Noah got off the ark and you're still stewing about it. There's men here, you got hang-ups about how your mama beat you when you was a kid and you still remember it and you hate your mama so you got to go to a psychiatrist for it. You don't need a psychiatrist. You need to learn how to forgive. You need to learn how to let go of the hate and the bitterness. Oh my God. I'm going to get down. Really get down now. Praise God. Your neighboring pastor stole one of your sheep. One of your wonderful sheep. You don't even realize it was God helping you out. But you needed something to get mad about. And so you've been mad at your neighbor and pastor for years. I'm getting back down to where we need to talk about some of these things. Amen. If you'll come see me, I got some saints I'll let you steal. If your boys needs wives, send them to Witchah. I got some girls I need to get rid of. Want to hate somebody because of something that in eternity won't amount to a hill of beans, but you're going to die and go to hell because you've never learned how to forgive. What if I slapped you down and and killed your mama and your daddy and your brothers and your sister and your aunts and your uncles and everybody that meant anything to you? They were left bleeding and butchered in the street with the maggots and the blowflies on them while they hauled you off. Could you forgive that when you can't even forgive a broken lawnmower blade? I'm still on the first verse, brother Cisco. I'm not going to sing the whole song. I was in I was in the rapture center. I mean Walmart. The sound of the trumpet is going to say, "Attention Walmart shoppers." And there was this there was this old dude was trying to buy a battery, car battery. Now look, if you're 80 years old or 75 years old, you've got to know that batteries are more expensive now than it was 60 years ago. You just you got to learn something in 75 years. And Walmart had a sale on the the their best battery for 57.99 for their six or sevenyear battery. And somebody was pushing a a cart down the aisle. They had a 1995 price tag on the buggy and it fell off the buggy and landed on that $57 battery. You know, it's one thing to be old and ugly, but to be old and stupid. And this guy watched that ticket fall on that battery. And so he just reached up and pushed it down on the battery real tight so it looked like that's what the battery called. Picked up that $19 battery and took it to the counter, set it on the counter. And the guy looked at price tag 1995 and he said, "Uh, sir, that's a That's not the right price on that battery. And that guy pitched a hissy fit.

That's the kind women pitch because he was going to have to pay $57 instead of $19 for that battery. And the guy said, "But sir, this is a 72-month battery." And and see over here here's a sign of $57.95 for this battery. He said, "It's got a $19 price tag and I've run it for 19." He just blowed a fit right there. And I thought, "Now, Lord, when I get that old, God, don't let me have that attitude. How do you get a mean, arrogant attitude when you're that? Don't you learn something by just growing up? You do unless you're blinded by unforgiveness. Are you listening to me? This little girl had to forgive not a broken lawnmower blade. Not an offense by a retail clerk at the Walmart. Not by loaning somebody $10 or $20 and never getting paid back. I learned something a long time ago that when you are a pastor, when you are a man of God, you have to have feelings for other people. When somebody comes knocks on my office door, says, "Pastor, we don't have any food in our house." Well, if you hadn't blown your money, you'd have food on your table. That's a stupid answer. That's a two bit answer. And then you go get in your Lincoln Continental and drive down to the steakhouse. I'm preaching and I know I'm preaching. I may not get invited back to Texas, but I got an hour right now. Praise God. You know what I do? I feed them. And then we started a food bank in our church because just had to do it. Yeah. I know everybody's rich in Texas, but we ain't got nothing in Kansas. You know what? When that lady comes and she's got four kids and her husband ran off and and and she's trying to make ends meet and she works for $6.25 25 cents an hour and she's got house payment and she's got rent and utilities and and all that kind of stuff and she's got to buy tennis shoes for her kids and and when when her kids come in and they they're they're wearing $18 wore out Walmart tennis shoes, it bothers me and I just put them in my car and take them down to the sports center and buy them a $75 pair of Nikes. You ain't never done that. You ain't never really live till you done it. I said, "You ain't never really lived till you done it. Get your head out of the cloud. Put your eyeballs on the ground and realize there's a lot of needs out there." And one of the reason we don't see other people's needs is that we've never learned how to forgive offenses. And we're blinded by our own pride. We have communion about three to four times a year. And I am not taking communion with people owing me $10 or $20 or $50 or a rent payment or a utility bill that they owe me or they think they owe me. So before I take that communion in my hand, I stand and I first of all ask everybody to forgive me for all the stupid things I've done for the last three months. And then the second thing I do is I said, "There's a lot of people in this church owe me money." And I said, "It's obvious you don't have it to pay back or you'd have done done it." And I said, "I'm just going to take communion." And when I drink this communion glass, you are forgiven of your debt. because I don't want you to refrain from communion because you couldn't afford to pay me back when you told me you could pay me back. I said, I'm going to forgive and you do the repenting and we'll be even. I wonder what would happen in your spirit towards becoming a man of God if you would learn how to forgive. Now, if there's anybody here that doesn't have anything to forgive, see me at the church and I'll give you something to forgive.

Some of you better hope that you get your senses knocked out to find out if you know how to forgive because you're going to need a lot of practice before that day come when you have to forgive something very critical in your life. But if you've never learned how to forgive, you won't forgive in that great day of need. She had to forgive before she would want non to be healed. There's a second thing that had to happen in her life that I think is very crucial. I've forgiven, but I ain't forgetting. Oh, you know, we are always backing into the future, looking backwards. He done me wrong. That preacher done me wrong. She done me wrong. We're always talking about the past and we're backing into the future. When God wants us to turn around and put our past behind us, my God, somebody either turn the air conditioner up or these are holy ebies I'm feeling. Turn around. Don't back into the future. It's too great. Turn around and face the future. She be seated. She had to have a renewal of life. If you are going to be a man of God, you're going to have to learn how to get renewed in your spirit. I wrote a note that I want to read to you just briefly here that I thought was so very important. Stagnation is worse than sin. Stagnation will bring damnation to your home. It'll bring damnation to your future. You cannot be a man of God living in the past and living a stagnant life. My God, I feel the Holy Ghost. She could have forgiven non, but she could have pouted the rest of her life. She could have remembered her past the rest of her life. She could have pined the rest of her life. She could have been angry the rest of her life. But she said, "No, if I've got to live here, I'm going to live in victory. I'm going to live in power and I'm going to live in the glory. Hallelujah. Somebody need to shout amen. If we are going to be men of God, we need a renewing in our lives. Be seated. Men of God, listen to me carefully. We have too many stagnant churches because we have too many stagnant men. We wander into church, we fold our arms, we cross our legs, and we wait for something to happen because stagnant people cannot create the glory of God. God wants you to be filled with living water. Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. People who learn how to forgive must also learn that they need renewing on a regular basis. Not once a year. Not when the evangelist comes. Not when revival comes. Renewal on Monday morning. Renewal on Tuesday morning. Renewal on Wednesday morning. Renewal on Thursday morning. I'm not being critical. So help me God. I'm not trying to be critical. But you're killing preachers and pastors with stagnation.

You're killing your church with stagnation. You got offended and you had a problem overcoming it. and finally the preacher beat you down so bad you finally forgave. But it's not enough just to forgive. What good is forgiveness going to be if you're not going to renew your own personal life? I am not living in the past. I'm not going to live in yesterday's problem. Can I have an amen? The latter rain came through and we clammed up and it took years to overcome the latter rain. And then the charismatics came through and we're sitting around griping about the charismatics and we're trying to overcome that. I got used by you. I overcame the charismatics before they ever got here. Why? Because I made a decision to renew myself in the Holy Ghost on a regular basis. If you don't want to talk in tones, I'll do all your talking in tongues. If you mess with me tonight, I'll just talk in tonesues right here. Praise God. Elim. I don't know what it means, but I made it up. Be seated. I'm actually what I'm doing is imitating a preacher. He used to speak in tongues and his tongues was always the same. His interpretation was always different and then he would interpret and everybody doubted whether it was real or not. They asked me about it one day and I said, "Well, he doesn't have the gift of tongues and interpretation. He has the gift of prophecy." But in the church he grew up in, they didn't believe in prophesying because of the latter rain. You had to have a tongue and then you had to have interpretation. So he just used the same tongue and then he prophesied. And where he come from, they didn't know the difference. And kids learn when he jumped out and started talking in tongues, every kid in the church knew exactly what he was going to say. Elimo hasha. So when I can't talk in tongues, I know somebody used to talk in tongues. So I talk in tongues like they talked in tongues. But I'm not going to die on the vine. I'm not going to get stagnant. If if nobody else is going to run the aisle, I'm going to run the aisle. If nobody else is going to dance, I'm going to dance. If nobody else is going to shout, I'm going to shout. I'm not going to let my church be dead. I'm not going to let my church be stagnant. Somebody need to shout amen. It's easier to overcome sin than it is stagnation. I got just a I I got just a few more lines of this song here. Be seated. Do you think this girl would want a non to be healed just because she forgave? It's only when she renewed her life that she was willing for non to be healed. There are three more things that had to happen in her life that I think are very key. third. Oh Lord, she said, "I would to God that he knew about the prophet of God that is in Israel." Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Why is it that every time something goes wrong in somebody's life, they blame the preacher? That's right. I've never had anybody backslide and blame the devil. It's always a preacher's fault. Why is that? I'm looking for you. You're backsliding. I need to give you an excuse to backslide. So, let me find you. Let me offend you so you can backslide and get out of our way. If you want to backslide, backslide. If you had backslid, your pastor probably wouldn't have to build another building. Make room for somebody wants to live for God. If you got to be begged to go to heaven, you don't want to go very bad.

I said if you got to be begged to go to heaven, you don't want to go there very bad. The preacher let her daddy get killed. The preacher let her mama die. The preacher caused her house to be burned down. Preacher, preacher, preacher. I hate the preacher. He's always messing with me. Always on my case, always preaching on me. I I don't like the preacher. I love preachers. I love preachers. I love preachers when I was a saint. Then I got to be a preacher. I'm not through out here yet. Sit down where I can find you. always blaming the preacher for your problems. Walk in church like a stagnant tadpole pond and the preacher demands that you get your carcass up and dance a little bit and shout a little bit and pop your neck a little bit and shake your leg a little bit. I think you better leave me alone or I'll backslide. Backsline. I don't care whether you backslide or not. You're not paying me your ties to backslide. I've been paying my tithe. I've been going to church every Easter. Easter. Uhoh. Uhoh. I even got spiritual and went to church at Christmas one time. And here, look here. Preacher says if I'd pay my tithe, God bless me. And here my mama's dead. My daddy's dead. My brothers are dead. The preacher's fault. How do you maintain confidence in the man of God in the midst of tragedy? Amen. She refused to lose faith in the man of God. I'm not I'm not turning on the man of God. You you you can be ignorant if you want to be ignorant. You can be plumbed stupid if you want to be stupid. But I'm not turning my back on the man of God. If the preacher ain't no good, give him to God and see what the Lord will do to him. But I'm not losing confidence in the man of God. You can't survive hating the preacher. You can't survive when you get crossed up with the preacher. You got to love the man of God. If anybody had a right to hate the man of God, she had a right. But she didn't exercise that right. She said, "Hey, leper, I'm a little slain girl." Haha. But there's a man of God in Israel. And she refused. Have I ever been done wrong by a preacher? I had a preacher call me a queer and an adulterer the same day. But I I didn't put no I didn't bother me because the Bible says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. I'm not losing confidence in the ministry because some tetoed preacher does me wrong because someday I may have a sick baby and I may need a preacher to lay his hand on my sick baby. But if you broken your relationship with the man of God, there won't be nobody to call. I'm preaching right now, and I know I'm preaching right now. If you're going to be a man of God, don't lose confidence in men of God. There's a fourth thing. I'm not through this third one yet. I just something is just not right yet.

By the foolishness of the preaching, God has chosen to save men. Can I have an amen? You hear except there'd be a preacher. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Did you know? Did you know when a dog learns to bite people, he never enjoys dog food anymore? And once you get crossed up with one man of God, you'll get crossed up with every man of God that comes your way. And if you go back down the ladder is because you have lost renewal in your life and you and and you lo you lost forgiveness in your life. Can I share a this is not in my notes but I just feel led. Okay. Can I just follow the spirit for a moment? I was I was just a kid preacher. I wasn't raised in Pentecost. So when I came into the church, I was a heathen. And when I first went to church, I didn't know you had to dress up to go to church. Didn't have to dress up to go to bars or other places. So when I first went to church, it was in the summertime and it was during the hippie movement and I had one pair of blue Bermuda shorts and I sit on the front row in a holier than thou phariseical super holy church. And I sat on the front row with my belly button sticking out, barefooted with nothing on but a pair of Bermuda shorts. I drove the preacher crazy. Enjoyed doing it. He got so mad because I wouldn't dress up and and he didn't know how to get the shorts off of me that that he preached one night you had to wear neck ties to church. I didn't even have a pair of britches, much less a neck tie. My roommate in college loan me a necktie that he brought back from home from his grandfather's box of ties. And the tie was the first ones that Noah used when he got off the ark, about this wide. And I don't know whether it was it was green and it turned yellow or it was yellow and turned green, but it didn't match the blue Bermuda shorts. I understand now about the songs. There shall be showers of blessings. Showers of blessings we plead. Mercy drops round us fallen, but for the showers we plead. And the preacher preached right over me. And I got showers of blessings every night point that holy boldly finger at me. I don't know why he didn't have enough sense to say, "Uh, brother Cornwell, this is the house of God. Son, now you you got any other clothes besides them shorts? If you don't, I'll I'll go to Goodwill and get you a pair and I'll buy you a t-shirt or something. But God, quit wearing these shorts. No, he had no sense to do that. He just had to scream and spit on me every night. Yeah. And then I got called to preach. Now, it took God a long time to call me. I had the Holy Ghost 20 minutes before God called me. I don't know why it took God so long. I was preaching before I got out of my shorts. And then I got to be an assistant pastor. Oh man, I was on high cotton. Then my little boy, I got a little boy name, his name is Ruben and he's 10 years old and he weighs 130 lbs. He wants to play for the Dallas Cowboys. But I said, "No, son. You can't do that. You'll hurt them.

And we was going home the other night from from church and my wife said said, "Ruben, what are you going to be when you grow up?" He said, "Well," he's a Mexican, but he speaks southern. He said, "Well," he said, "I thought about being a doctor, but he said, "They got to go to work every day." He said, "I think I'll just be an assistant pastor." We was winning people right and left. God was moving in a powerful manner. And in five months time, we had won over 130 adults to God. We had went from averaging 35 in Sunday school to averaging over 215 in Sunday school in five months. One night we had a huge breakthrough and we had 40ome people, 40ome adults get the Holy Ghost in four nights. that community was being swept by revival. I, you know, I'm I'm young and naive and just a little bit on the stupid side and I just thought everybody would be be so glad about what we were doing. So after church one Sunday morning, I was walking out the back door and the pastor kind of got me by the neck tie and turned me around. He said, "Uh, sit on the front row, son over here on the right. Don't stand up. Don't be jumping and shouting. Don't be testifying. You are sit down on that front row and don't you move. Is that clear?" I said, "Yes, sir." And you know what I did? I went to the front row and I sat down on the front row. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't testify. I couldn't have a song book in my hand because if I did, I I'd just burst out singing. I obeyed. That's right. I couldn't help it because some people have raging jealousy. But I don't have to develop hate because somebody else has a problem. And I sat there and I said, "Lord, you got me in this fix and you can get me out, but don't let my spirit get ugly. Don't let me get bitter." And I sat there for several weeks and I did exactly. I not only paid my tithe, I increased my tithe. I not only continued knocking doors, I knocked more doors. Lots of people were coming to church, but I had to sit on the front row because I was the assistant pastor and I was sat down and didn't have the clue as to why I was sat down. About two months went by and the preacher called me aside. He was wanting me so bad to rise up so he'd have a good excuse to kick me out. But I obeyed every word. Oh yeah. And I did it without murmuring. And when people came to me want to know why I was sitting there and I said because I I just need to sit here. I didn't say because that dirty rotten preacher made me sit here. That's why I'm sitting here and I don't like him at all. This ain't fair and this ain't right. And I don't care what you think. I ought to be up there leading the songs. I ought to be working at the altar and I ought to be praising God and testifying. No, I didn't do that. And I never let anybody know why the preacher set me down. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. It wasn't any of their business. Yes. Besides, whatever I done wrong must have been pretty bad, and I I didn't want anybody to know how bad I was. He called me aside and he said, "I've been trying to make you mad for two months." And he said, "I don't think you can be made mad." I said, "I can. I can be made mad." That's where you're wrong there. I can get mad if I want to. And he said, "I have never pastored anybody like you in my life." He said, "I've been trying you just to

see what you're made out of." He was lying. He said, "What are you going to do about just sitting down?" I said, "Well, I'm just going to pray. I don't know what else to do." He said, "You think God's going to help you?" I said,"I hope so, but if he don't, I'll sit here till he does." And then the next week, I got two phone calls. I got elected into two churches sitting down. I took one of them and wished I would sit down again. I lasted two months before they kicked me out. It was lot it was a lot better to be sitting down than was kicked out. But there's one thing that I learned through all of that is that because somebody else has a problem. Do not lose your confidence in the man of God. David committed adultery of Basheba and was rebuked by the man of God and received it. Saul was rebuked by the man of God and despised it and he lost his throne. Amen. Judah, Judas is rebuked by the man of God and never recovered from it and betrayed the Lord and ended up hanging himself. Number four, he refused to lose faith. She refused to lose faith in God. Even though her family was dead, God can still heal. That's right. Did you hear what I said? I'm going to tell you something. If I'm in intensive care and I'm plugged up and tubed up and drugged up and doped up, don't you come in my room to give me last rights. If you don't have any confidence that God can still heal, you stay in a waiting room. If you don't have enough guts and enough faith to walk in and lay hands on me and say, "God, you are able to heal." You say, "But what if you die while I'm praying? Nothing, nothing ventured, nothing gained. If I die, I die. But if I live, then God will get the glory for it. I I don't care what happens to your church, what happens to my church, what happens to your family, or what happens to my family. We can not lose faith in God. The fact the book says have faith in God. Have faith in God. My God, the Holy Ghost is in this house. You cannot lose faith in God. You cannot lose faith in what God is doing. Don't look at me and say, "God has failed me." This little girl could have said, "God, fail me. God let my daddy die. God let my mama die. God let my village be destroyed." But no, she didn't say that. in the midst of her tragedy and crisis, she said, "There is still a man of God in Israel, and there is a God that will still heal you." Be seated. My time's running out. Give me just a couple of more minutes here. Do you realize that she said there was a prophet in Israel? There is a prophet in Israel. There is a prophet in Israel. Israel represented her future. If she leaves Syria, she is not going to any other country except back to Israel. If I backslide, I am not going charismatic. I'm just going to confess I'm backsliding because when I decide to go back, I'm going back to where the truth is. I'm

going back to where the power is. I'm going back to where the word is. She said, "I may be in Damascus. I may be in Syria, but if God ever delivers me, I'm going back to Israel. You know what she was saying? I have a future. I want you to hear me tonight. There's a lot of people losing confidence in their future. And we cannot lose confidence in our future. For fact, I got news for you. The greatest soul winners haven't been born yet. The greatest Bible study teachers are right here in this place tonight. You better hear me. We have the greatest future that God has ever given a church. Hang on because I'm just going to hering up the devil right now. Sit down. I'm going to her devil. Hide your head in the sand. Prepare for Y 2K. N poop. I'm not preparing for Y 2K. I'm preparing for the next wave of glory. He said, "I will never leave you and I will never forsake you." You better hear me. We don't need to prepare for just a couple of days. We have a future in the church of the living God. We got to get out of this doomsday prophet business and we got to be back the Lord's business. He's a healing God. He's a blessing God and he's a coming God. I'm sorry, but I am sick of this negativism. I am sick of this doomsday business. I don't care what you say. This church has a future. And this church is not going to be destroyed by Y2K. It's not going to be destroyed by the devil. Because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. If that offends you, I meant to offend you. Now learn how to forgive. Be seated. Got a couple more minutes. Be seated. Be seated. Be seated. I'm finishing. I'm finishing. Non believed the little girl. The little girl teaches us how to forgive. The little girl teaches us we got to be renewed. The little girl teaches us that in the crisis, have confidence in the man of God. She teaches us to have confidence in God. She teaches us though everything looks dark tonight, the sun's going to shine tomorrow. He goes to the king. The king writes a letter to the king of Israel and non delivers it to the king of Israel. He is shaken in his boots. He is so wrapped up in his problem that he doesn't even recognize his future, his prophet, or his God. Did you hear what I said? He was so wrapped up in his problem, he didn't know about Elisha. didn't you you know he didn't listen to the tape ministry that God was still healing around a country, right? Ain't that pathetic? But Elisha hears about it and he says, "Send him to me." Now, I want you to watch this very carefully. Watch this very carefully. He goes down to Elisha's house. his soldiers, his servants, his people. And Elisha knows he's out there and he sends a messenger and says to Non, "Go

dip seven times in the river Jordan." There is a specific reason why Elisha did not go out. He wasn't being arrogant contrary to that. He wasn't trying to show up non contrary to that. And the servant comes out and says, "The man of God says, dip seven times in the river Jordan and you'll be made whole." And non gets angry at Pew Pot. I wish he wouldn't have dipped. I wish it had went on back, served him right for what he done. I'd said, "You're right, Non. There's better waters in Damascus. Why don't you go dip an M and everything will be all right. Let's get out of this ugly country." But no, there's another servant steps out. Servants know more than kings know. Y'all missed that one. That was I I worked all week on that one statement. You missed it. I said servants, people who serve know more than kings know. They don't know the joy of the service. And he said, he said, "Look, master, if you' have told you to do some great thing, get done it. Why don't you try it? You ain't got nothing to lose. Got leprosy." And so he dips seven times and he's made whole and he lives happily ever after. But why did non excuse me, why did Elisha not go out? Non said he could have come out and waved his hand over me. He could have come out and call on the name of his God. You see, he heard about this group at the king's house. And the story drifted down of how there's a little girl that's a servant in his house that's an Israelite. And Elisha said, "You know, if I go out and wave my hand over him and he's healed, he will always remember the great man of God. and he will forget about the little maid in the corner. And he said, "I will not negate the sacrifice of the little girl." Why? Why did he not want to negate the sacrifice of that little girl? Because when non gets back, he's got to face the living witness. He will never be able to dream about the man of God, about the mighty and the powerful, but it's always the little girl in the corner that teaches us the most. We're always looking up at the throne when it's the little girl in the corner that'll teach you more than anything else. Would you stand? I want to ask you some questions and I'm closing. Does the little girl teach you how to forgive? You got anything you need to forgive? Has anybody done you wrong that you have vivid memories of it? Why not release it tonight? Let the little girl point her finger at you and say, "Forgive it." Don't demand repayment because you'll lose your reward. Just forgive it. Secondly, when's the last time you made a decision that you would never again let your church be dead? That you was going to be renewed regardless of what it took every time you needed it. Anybody can shout when everybody's shouting, but when's the last time you walked down the aisle and you danced and danced until you danced? When's the last time you opened your mouth and you praised God until the glory fell? When's the last time you went into a prayer room alone and said, "God, I'm not leaving here until I learn how to renew myself by myself in your presence."

When is the last time you said, "My preacher is the greatest preacher that's ever preached." When is the last time you said, "I'm so glad I serve a great God." And when is the last time you said this church has more to look forward to than it's ever had? Would you clap your hands to the Lord? God bless you.