Continuing In The Apostolic Journey

I don't take for granted at all being able to stand in front of you. I know that this represents so many people, and the influence that's in this room — the long-reaching influence that's in this room — is worldwide, and we thank you so much for coming. I'd like to say how great the message was last night, and how great the message was this morning. Those are world-changing, life-changing messages. I thank God for that. Thank God for that.

About the only way I can explain the message I'm fixing to preach is: I've either really heard from God, or I've lost my ever-loving mind. That's about the only way I can go into this one.

Acts 2:42. Acts 2:42: "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." And I want to preach to you today: Continuing in the Apostolic Journey. Continuing in the Apostolic Journey. Now I know that probably we would think, "Why don't you say continuing on?" "In" is just a lot deeper than "on." There's just some things that we're going to have to get in. There's things that we've been riding on that we need to quit riding on, that we need to get in. We need to get in. We need to continue in the apostolic journey.

God, You've been so good to us. Your presence has been here all day; it was here last night. There's lives that have already been changed. I pray, God, that You will speak. I pray, God, that You will anoint me to say what I should say; anoint us to hear. Let the power of Your Spirit do the work, in Jesus' name. And everybody said amen. Look at somebody as you're seated and say, "Continue in. Continue in."

The second chapter of Acts provides enough subject matter for us to preach and teach for days. I've preached it many times, and I'm sure that you have. I'm not going to be focusing today in this message on the obvious, powerful topics of what I just read. I'm going to be focusing on a word that I have never focused on before, and that word is "continued." Continued — because "continued" speaks of journey. The bottom line is: we must continue, for it's not enough just to start. It's continuing in the apostolic journey. It's not just any journey; it's an apostolic journey. When you add the word "apostolic" to anything, it changes everything. And so we must continue in the apostolic journey.

Now, if you're here today and you're satisfied with where you are and how you're traveling — if you're satisfied with what everyone is telling you about where you are on your journey — then this message will be a waste of your time, because this message is more about continuing the journey than arriving at a destination. For if we continue, we will arrive.

This message is personally dedicated to all those whose motto today is this: "We're not there yet, but if we continue with purpose and determination, someday we will be." We absolutely will be. But we must understand that "continuing" is a verb. It speaks of action. It's uninterrupted. It's unbroken. It's constant. It's nonstop. It's incessant. And this is how we must approach the apostolic journey, because God's Spirit is a moving Spirit, and if we're going to continue, we must move with God's Spirit.

So how do we continue, year after year? How do we continue without burning out? How do we continue without crashing into the wall? How do we keep joy? How do we stay infused? All right — how do we stay focused? How do I continue steadfast in my continuing? How can I be unwavering and unfaltering and resolute and persistent and committed and dedicated and unswerving? How do I continue steadfastly?

I don't want to just start this journey. No, no — I believe I've started well, but I don't want to just start the journey. Neither do I want to stumble across the finish line in pieces. I want to finish complete. I don't want to travel the last few laps of this life [track: 'fied'] with regret. Neither do I want to journey angry, frustrated, bitter, and hateful. I want to continue this apostolic journey steadfastly, in the apostolic way.

Continuing in the journey — the journey is a process. And apostolics so many times struggle with that word, because of our belief in the supernatural we sometimes are prone to focus totally on what we expect God to do for us, while we ignore what God wants to first do in us, to then work for us. When you look at the vessel, and you think about the Potter and the clay: as long as the Potter keeps His hand outside the clay, then you can take two vessels and you can put those vessels on a shelf, and from a distance you will think that they are both functional vessels. And so many times what happens is we allow the Spirit of God to work on the outside of us, but we have the lid pretty tight to keep the Potter's hand from going inside and taking out the junk — taking out everything inside of us that is blocking us from being useful. Two vessels on the shelf: you can't tell what will hold something. You can't tell what's useful for transporting the good to somebody — not from a look. It's just from when the Potter is allowed to do something in us, not just for us. We love the "for" business: "Do this for me. Holy Ghost, be a genie in the bottle — I'll shake you up and let you out when I need you to do something. Holy Ghost, be Santa Claus. Holy Ghost, be the Easter Bunny. Holy Ghost, do something to make us happy." The Holy Ghost is not necessarily wanting to just come and make us happy, but it is wanting to complete us and fulfill us in a way that we can continue on the apostolic journey.

We are no doubt at a very unique juncture on the journey. Pastor talked last night about 2007, and the word does lend itself to perfection and fullness and abundance and rest and completion, and much more. We have left '06, and I'm with him: I'm glad that '06 is gone. I hope it never comes again. '06 is man's number, and seven is God's number, and I'm happy to see man's year gone. And this reprieve — and get into God's — man messes up. You know what I hope happens in this year? I hope that this is the year that I make the trip to quit looking at what I can do, and what I can accomplish, and what I have the ability to accomplish, and change the focus to: "God, what can You do? What do You want to do?" What would You be saying now, instead of what I can do and what I can get done?

As we talk about this journey, we must realize that we're not traveling on this journey alone. Our families are traveling with us, our churches, our communities, our world — we're all on this journey. And it's very important that we decide emphatically to continue, and we know how to continue steadfastly.

Continuing in the Apostolic Journey. Now, this is an incredibly simple message. You can turn your Hebrew and Greek off; you're not going to need it. This is going to be a real practical "let's talk about how we're going to make it on this journey." Because the Spirit has prompted me this year — that's the nice version; the Spirit has really worked me over this year, that's the true version. And there are some things that I feel are very vital if we are going to continue in the journey.

I don't know about you, but it bugs me when we lose people in the apostolic faith. It bugs me when we lose preachers. It bugs me when we lose leaders. It bugs me. It matters. It matters when we lose saints, when we lose — it bothers me when we lose. We don't have too many people that we can just — "Four or five leave here, ten leave here" — that's not my opinion. My opinion is: everybody that's in this building, we need to make it. Every one of us need to make it. We need to continue. We need to move on. We don't need to be lost.

We need to not lose anybody. Not anybody, because everybody matters. But we're not going to continue if we walk in the old way. All of us can blow it. Within every human being is enough ability to self-destruct. This flesh can get every one of us. Every one of us.

I still have that letter that you wrote me in 2001. It's on the back of my door in my office, and there's one line I'll never forget: "I pray that you never do anything that ruins your ministry." I pray that I never do anything that disqualifies me from what God has said for me to do. I pray that none of us — and you're my elders, and I say this respectfully — we don't need to lose anybody on this platform. And as long as we're alive, we can be lost. As long as we're alive, we can be lost. None of us have a corner on it. It can happen to any of us. I'm not godlier than David. I'm not wiser than Solomon. And I'm not stronger than Samson — and you're a fool if you think you are. Every one of us. Every one of us.

One thing that we must have if we're going to continue in the apostolic journey is we must have vision. We must be people of vision. Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." It says: where there is no mental sight, where there is no dream, where there is no revelation, where there is no oracle, people perish. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but let me ask this question: What is God showing me? All right — what is God showing me about me? Because the hard work — many, many would rather do almost anything than look seriously in the mirror. People would rather do anything than take a good look at themselves. Many live a lifetime, and at the end of it know more about other people than they do themselves. Most of us go through life as complete strangers to ourselves.

But a personal vision will play a major role in stopping many on this journey, because what happens is they lose personal vision, and personal growth ceases, and then leaders wander in circles. If we don't know where we're going, there's no way we can lead our families. If we don't know where we're going, there's no way we can lead our churches. If we don't have a vision of — what is God showing me about me? What is God showing me about the church that I lead? What is God showing me about my family? What is my vision? What is God showing me about me? If it's been a long time since you've gone to God and said, "Okay — lay it open, put it on me. I'm not going to draw boxes. I'm not going to shut doors. It doesn't matter how long I've been in this — what do You want to change in my life?" I've got to have a vision for myself. Not a vision that can be inherited. Not a vision that can be passed down. We all have to have vision statements for our churches. We all have to have a direction that, as leaders, we say, "This is what we're doing at this time." But beyond all of that — before I have that — I've got to have God showing me, "Terry, this is what needs to be changed in your life." We've got to have vision.

There are people that have sight but they see not. I don't want to be a person that can see you right but can't see me. I don't want to be a person that's so prone to look at you and your problems that I won't replace that window with a mirror and say, "Now — now it's me." There are a lot of people that would be continuing today in the journey, but they lost their vision.

The second thing we need is we need a plan. I realize that this is not a leadership seminar today, but I do have to tell you that you better get a plan. You better get a plan. It doesn't have to be a complicated one, but you better get a plan. You say, "Well, we'll plan God out of it." Well, here's my view: my view is God can take over anytime He wants to take over, and when He does, He's going to interrupt a very good plan that I've been working on. He can have it. He can have it anytime He wants it. But if He doesn't want it, we're going to be leading in a right direction, and we're going to have a plan. There's going to be a plan for what we feel that God is saying. Because when you don't have a plan, you're reduced to a life of reaction. Our days are filled with reaction, and no one progresses forward when direction is being dominated by reaction. Nobody moves forward when you're just doing whatever the day throws at you. There's got to be a plan for that day.

So: do we have a plan? A plan of action is important. And this journey demands that we have a vision, and it demands that we have a plan. But it comes down to action, because I can dream all I want to dream, I can plan all I want to plan, but until I take action, then my vision will do nothing but frustrate me and everybody around me. There's got to be a time — if God's speaking — at some point you've got to do it. And what are we doing with the nudges of the Spirit that we receive? Why pray if it's just going to be: nudge, forget it; nudge, forget it; "Deal with this." "I won't deal with this." It's action. We've got to move into action, because this apostolic journey is not about sterile mission statements framed on a wall. It's not about ignored core values. It's about maintaining a big-picture view of eternity while incarnating those beliefs in a pair of overalls. Action is the word. And if we're going to continue in the apostolic journey, then we're going to have to understand that we've got to have a vision, and we've got to have a plan.

But something else that we've got to do is we've got to learn to pack light. Overpacking is hindering the journey. First Peter 2:1 says, "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." And may I throw something in with hypocrisies: if you're man enough [track: 'manad'], do a study on hypocrisy, because Jesus threw that word around a lot. And I've got bad news for all of us spiritual leaders: it was at spiritual leaders. It's twenty-something times in the Bible that hypocrisy is talked about, but unless I missed it, about eighteen of those were scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. It wasn't beating the people up with it; it was dealing with us — us. And so overpacking is going to hinder that journey. And Peter's saying: lay that aside.

But in Hebrews 12:1 it really gets down to where the rubber meets the road, because it says: "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses" — let who? — "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Us, us — we have to do some things. There are some things that the Holy Ghost is only going to help us do, and not do for us. We have in our mind sometimes — I think — that the Holy Ghost is going to do a whole lot more than what it's going to do, because there are some things that we have to do. We have to lay it aside. We have to get it out of the way. We have to move it to where it's not allowed to cause disruption. It's the weight. It's those hindrances. It's the sin — those offenses — which so easily beset us. I'm not talking about the surprise torpedoes of life. I'm not talking about the things that we didn't see coming. I'm talking about the things that we have a say in. This is talking about us.

It's not about us stopping and ceasing to carry those things in our journey that God never intended us to carry. There are things that you'd better unload, and there are things that we had better unload, or our journey is going to grind to a halt if we don't. There are some things that there is absolutely no way that we can continue as long as we're carrying them. There are things that happened to us, and we allowed it to get in us, and now it's affecting our journey.

The best thing we can do — and I read this in the emotionally healthy book that Sharon Turner recommended, and it's one of our recommended books this year — one of the best things you can do is: there are some things you're just going to have to grieve it and leave it. That's right. There are some things you're not going to be able to go back and change. I'm not trying to take a ten-cent answer for a million-dollar problem, but I am saying there are some things that we're going to have to grieve and leave.

We must not allow pride to cause us to carry what must be eliminated. We must deal with our issues. We preachers, leaders — we must deal with our issues. It is imperative that we as leaders deal with our personal issues, for how in the name of God are we going to be able to help lead people through their junk if we won't be led through our own? How? How will it be? How will it be? I got issues. You got issues. All God's people got issues. You know why? Because we're living in an issue-producing world. We are living in a world that is one more world [track: 'one more world'], and we have issues in this world. Paul tells us to lay aside some things. He talks about the common, besetting — it's one thing for us to suffer defeat; it's another thing to forfeit. It's one thing for us to just be defeated, but it's another thing for us to just say, "I won't deal with it. Forget it."

Have you ever dealt with something in your life — have you ever handled something some way — and then one time you just got to thinking, and you just thought, "Boy, that was stupid. That was stupid"? I'm not calling Jeff Harpole stupid today, but is he here? Jeff? Jeff — no. Harpole, Harpole — Jeff, are you here? Yes. Jeff, where — everybody — years ago, I didn't like Jeff Harpole. I didn't — this is no surprise to him; we've talked about this. I didn't like him. Now, I know I've got to move on, and I want to be very careful about it, because everybody's wondering, "Well, why? What did he do to you? We don't like him either." It's that kind of thing. Here's what he did to me: nothing. We had never even had a conversation. I was in youth ministry in this district. He was traveling around doing his thing, and I just didn't like him. The Louisiana District brought him — I'm standing in a youth meeting, leading my youth min— the youth ministry, not my youth ministry, the youth ministry of the church. In walks Jeff Harpole. I see him over there. I still didn't like it. Service gets going. Altar call. I'm down praying with the teenagers to help them. The Spirit says, "Take him to lunch." I say, "I don't want to take him to lunch. I don't like him." The Spirit says, "Take him to lunch." And that was the day that a phenomenal friendship started. Because I was dead — I don't — I guess it was because he was better looking. I guess it's because he's talented. I don't know why. You've got to unload that junk. You've got to unload that junk. You've got to get that junk off. Off.

There was a time in my ministry — and I won't keep going with all this confession, but since I have an audience that needs to hear it — there was a time in my ministry when I hated a preacher. Now, some of you may gasp and say, "How could you?" And some of you may say, "Only one?" So — I don't know where you fall in between all of that, but I did. I hated a preacher. He was an apostolic preacher. He was Acts 2:38-believing. He was a UPCI card-carrying preacher. And I hated him, because I allowed hurt and misunderstanding to take me from wounded to hateful. That's right. That's exactly what happened to me. When his name was mentioned, I devoured him. That's a very good sign to know that you've got a problem in your life.

Talking about continuing in — that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about laying aside. I'm talking about some things we've got to unpack. I'm talking about: we're carrying a bunch of junk, and there's no way that we're going to be the church that God has intended for this day when we're about that mature and that deep. We think God's going to use us, and we can handle about that much? No.

So I hated. And with the help of God, and the help of my wife, and some close friends that were truly my friends — you know how I know that they were truly my friends? Because they were friend enough to confront my ill will. They were friend enough to not agree with me. They were friend enough to point out my wrongs. And through that I was able to find a true place of repentance and forgiveness. And that man loves me today and knows I love him, and that relationship was restored. And it wasn't his problem. It was my problem.

It is absolutely impossible to continue in an apostolic journey, and doctrine, and fellowship, and breaking of bread, and in prayer — it's impossible — with unforgiveness, anger, and hate. There is no way to do it. God didn't wire us to ingest such poison and still journey well.

Some are willingly dragging the ugliness of the past on their journey, and there is much we need to leave in our past, because until we do, it is not our past. Our past is not truly our past as long as it is dominating our present. And there are things that we've got to get in our past. So "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us."

And let us gain a greater understanding of how Satan gains access into our life. First Thessalonians 5:23 is so powerful. It says: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly" — w-h-o-l-l-y — "and I pray God your whole spirit" — lowercase-s spirit — "and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Apostolics, one-dimensional thinking is crippling us. One-dimensional thinking is crippling us. What we have to understand is: Paul clearly reveals those three avenues the enemy can gain a foothold in our lives. And in order for our destiny and purpose in the kingdom to be compromised or eliminated — that's what he seeks to do. He comes after our spirits. And many of us, our spirit is sick. How many times have we seen people that were talented, and had potential and ability, but they continually hit the glass ceiling of their uncontrolled spirit? How many times have we seen it? It's just like there's just something there. There's just something there. It's in our spirit. And our spirits must be under the control of His Spirit, or Satan will gain a foothold in our lives.

It's our spirits. It's our soul. It's our emotions. It's the seat of the different affections and passions, such as love and hate and all these things. We must not allow ourselves to become emotional wrecks on the apostolic journey. John 10:10 says this: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: but I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it" — how? — "more abundantly." I could take us all to the hospital. We could go to the intensive care ward. I ask a simple question: are the people alive? Yes. But are they alive abundantly? No.

I do not believe that in this day and time, with the people that God is raising up to lead His end-time apostolic church, I do not believe that we have to be an emotional ICU [track: 'I seeu']. I will not accept that. I will not accept that. I also know that we've got to do more than just say "In the name of Jesus" and forget it, because there are some things that have got to be dealt with. But while we're dealing — God's Spirit is so great that while He's helping me deal with my issues, I can still be useful in the kingdom of God. But it can't be the same speed, the same way. Emotional — our souls must be under the control of the Spirit, or Satan will gain a foothold.

And then there's our body — and I'll get on now, where angels fear to tread. I have three brothers. I was the only Shock boy that battled two particular issues: overweight and stuttering. Very happy to tell you today that I have conquered stuttering. Stuttering — I've checked that one off. One thing at a time. Me and God, working on one thing at a time. I'm slow, I'll admit it.

How many of our physical issues have we tried to spiritualize? Come on. How many times have we felt badly, and become restless and moody, due to our diet? How many times have we disciplined our children to get them to settle down from the sugar we fed them? How many times have we had highs and lows because of the wrong thing before we went to bed? "But then that's the devil. That's the devil." I want to tell you something: a lot of us are giving the devil a major vacation. A major vacation. And I'm saying us — I'm saying us. It matters. There are some people that are in need of more than a prayer meeting; they're in need of praying on the way to the doctor for a physical. There are real issues that are wrong in bodies. We can jump up and just go off on some medications, but we don't ever say anything about blood pressure and all that business. Now, I'm not getting on that, because if my blood pressure goes high and he says "here" — I'm going to pray while I take blood pressure pills. That's okay. Does that make sense? And I'm going to get back on with this message, but I'm talking my heart now. I'm talking my heart, because this one-dimensional thinking — that I'm going to talk in tongues one time, and I'm going to win a spiritual lottery, and I'm going to have it all together — it's junk. Absolute, one hundred percent junk. Junk, junk. Absolutely, Satan will use our bodies to get to our minds. He definitely will.

There's a very interesting story in the Word of God, when Elijah had just prayed fire down from heaven and he had turned the kingdom upside down. Now he's under a juniper tree, wanting to die. And do you know what happened? Put him to sleep. Woke him up. Fed him good. Put him back to sleep. That's right. That's what he needed at that point. Yes, he had to have a word, but that body was about shot. I mean, how can you call fire down from heaven, and then in no time — "Kill me, God. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me." Come on, how can that happen? How many of you have walked out of your pulpits on a Sunday night — you've seen fire — and Monday morning: "Kill me, God. Kill me, God. Kill me, God." There's something to all of this.

We've got to have vision. We've got to have a plan. We've got to pack light. And we need to never travel alone. Never travel alone. Never. We are people who need people, and God often keeps us on path by guiding us through the counsel of friends and spiritual advisors. Teams of two or more are mentioned all through the New Testament. You have John the Baptist and the disciples. Jesus and the twelve. Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Mark. Paul and Silas. Paul and Timothy. Paul and Philemon. Paul and Aquila. Paul and Judas. And we could go on and on and on and on.

Ecclesiastes says this: two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. If one fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe — but woe — to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up. Companionship and camaraderie is important enough to diligently pursue. To diligently pursue. And we need each other, because God working through man, to man, for man has always been a part of His master plan since the beginning of time. I've received a lot of direction from His Word. I've received a lot of direction from His Spirit. And I have received a lot of direction from His people. For I am not an island. I will never be an island. I refuse to even think — I refuse to even have island thinking. I have to have people.

Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Hebrews 10:24 says this: "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." There are two very key words that come into play on this "never travel alone," and that is the words "iron" and "provoke." When iron sharpens iron, there will be sparks. And "provoking" does mean just that: to incite, to aggravate, to agitate, to spur. That's exactly what it is saying. But this is only possible in the arena of effective, heartfelt, kingdom-minded, risky communication. This moves us up close and personal.

Allow me to ask a major question. Question: Who can speak into your life? But really, now, that's become a buzz phrase, and that's really not even the question that's good enough, because that's like taking the journey with an inflatable person in your passenger seat. The real question is this: Who can disagree with me and challenge me? That's the question. I'm speaking of iron. I'm speaking of provoking to good works. I'm not speaking of this endless string of mutual compliments that we trade back and forth as we scratch the same backs we've been scratching for nine hundred years. I'm not speaking of continuing to eliminate effective voices out of our lives. It's dangerous when we eliminate some voices from our lives. We must not get into the habit of forcing people to meet our expectation before we will hear what they have to say. "Agree with me before you can speak to me" is not apostolic. I can't be dominated by my style, I can't be dominated by my personality and my preference, and hear what God wants to say to me. I know that every voice — we can't open ourselves up to every voice; I understand that. I know there are people that you listen to, and people that you act like you are listening to. I know there are people that you trust, and there are people that you tolerate. I understand that. But I also know that if I will be open, God will bring a John the Baptist into my life if I need it. I do know that, if I will listen.

I've been very blessed in my life to have iron, provoking voices in my life. The voices in my family are very, very strong. The POA voices are very, very strong. I've got people here — I was thinking about it this morning, whenever Sister Mangun was preaching. I was thinking about the many times, Pastor, that you're in the pulpit telling us what God's going to do — yeah, Bishop is sitting here talking in my ear about what God is doing, and Sister Mangun is behind me saying what God should be doing. I've got the voices, I'm telling you, and I love every one of them. Strong voices. Provoking voices. I've got to move on. I've got to move on, and move fast.

But like, some Sundays ago I was speaking, and a lot of people — so many people in our church — went on extended fast. I mean, so many people. And Pastor had said something—

—about me being on one. And I knew it was coming, because — buddy, this is an iron, provoking voice right here. He's sitting right here. And he looks at me — and I was just fixing to finish up a fast — and he looks at me and he says, "I went seven days without bread or water, without anything to eat or drink." And I said, "Bishop, I'll never do it." Yeah — "I'll never do it." Yeah, that wasn't enough. Then he said, "We're building that church down there — seven-day fast, preaching." That — iron voices, continual. You know, I just — it won't happen in my lifetime. I don't know what they got that I didn't get. But you know what? Hey — I've come to grips, and I'm not trying to get everybody to go for a lower level, but I've just realized that I just didn't get it. I mean, I'm trying, I'm working hard, I'm trying, I'm praying and fasting. But I'm talking about voices of iron. That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about voices of iron.

There have been those voices all of my life, and I thank God for that. But God did something this year to me that's never been done in my life. He brought some different people in to travel with me — little parts of the journey. And I won't name — I may name just a couple of names. Royce Wilson is an evangelist that was moved here, and there's absolutely no way [to measure] the hours of word that he has spoken to me, the times that he's been awakened at 2:00 in the morning and prayed for me, and the words. And the time he came over to our — we were at a restaurant not long ago and got to talk, and the Spirit got moving in the restaurant, and we knew there was more to it than what was happening. And so his wife took his kids and went home to bed. He came over to our house — and me and Melanie and Royce, until 2:00 in the morning. And he just sat there, just pouring, just speaking, just pinpointing.

A few months ago I was privileged to go out with the Willoughbys to eat, and we got talking about worship. And I was talking to them about worship and all that business. And so we were talking about worship and pride and all that business. And I said, you know, "I don't know if it's a pride issue or not." And Barbara, just as nice and sweet and kind, just looked right at me and she says, "Yeah, it is a pride issue." Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah, it's a pride issue. And I still love them. You want me to tell you why I love them? Because if you think that I'm going to get to this point in my life and decide that all of a sudden I don't need something — no way. No way. I will not live on the lowest level of life that is dictated by me. That's the lowest level you can live on: it's what's just dictated by you and your personality and your— I have to move, and move quickly.

But I would just be so wrong if I — and I cannot mention his name, because he forbade me to. I'd never met the man in my life. A man that God put me on his heart months and months ago — been praying a few months for me, would wake up early in the morning, pray. Never met the man. A man that just walked in the Spirit. And I was able to get with him, and it was miraculous how we even ended up at the same table. It was like God was just showing: "I'm just going to — Terry, I'm going to lay this thing out so much that you're not even going to be able to even think that this is not Me." And so He just laid it all out, and we're sitting there at the table, and we're talking. Never — wouldn't have known the man. Didn't know his name, nothing about him. He is a younger man than I am. And we were sitting there, and we could tell — I could tell at the table — that he had a word. And I finally looked at him, I said, "Look, you don't know me, but look — just tell me, I don't care." Because I could just feel that there was a word right there. "Just tell me. Don't hold anything back. Just tell me."

And so he told me. He reached over — and you could just feel the Spirit come down — and he reached over and he grabbed the salt shaker, and he grabbed the pepper shaker, and he started arranging [track: 'rating'] about this in my life and that in my life and all this business. And he told me this. He said, "Your administration gift has taken you as far as it can go." Never had talked to this man. He said — he said, "What you've got to understand is that you're like a plane in the air, and the refuel plane has pulled up beside it, and you're having a hard time hooking up to that, and you better get it figured out." I said, "So what? So what do you think?" He said, "You change your schedule." And so do you know what I did? I don't have early-morning meetings now like I used to have. I changed my schedule. I don't — I'm not going about life the way — Is it weird? Yeah, it's weird. People are not getting emails answered as fast. It's just because I don't turn it on, because until I've talked to God, until I've spent — I'm not going to say how much time, because I'm just saying: until I have spent a considerable amount of time early in the morning, I don't care about phone calls. I don't care. I will not power up my computer. I won't power it up.

Because what could be accomplished in our lives if we would open up and let godly, kingdom-minded people speak unhindered into our lives? I know, I know, I know — I know we can't open up to everybody. But it's very, very dangerous to stay closed up, because limited information flows naturally to leaders who are hard to talk to. That is right. When we as leaders are hard to approach, when we make it hard for people to share needed negative facts with us, then what happens is we build a false sense of security around us. And it's the false sense of security that is the natural by-product of making decisions based on false information. And so I ask: who can really speak openly and boldly into our lives?

There's a lot of Ahabs that have 400 prophets around them. They don't need 400 prophets saying, "Go up, go up, go up, go up." Why were they saying "go up"? Because it was politically advantageous for them to be saying that. But did he need to go up? Thank God David didn't kill Nathan. That's right. He could have — he was the king. The bottom line is: we must never travel alone.

I love the story of Moses and Aaron and Hur on the mountain. I've taught that all over this nation, trying to get people to lift up their senior pastor. But about six weeks ago there was new revelation that came to me on this, and it's simply this: it's impossible to—

—hold someone's arms up if they won't allow themselves to be touched. You can't hold somebody's arms up if they won't let you touch them. Moses not only needed help; Moses not only admitted he needed help; Moses modeled his need for help in front of God and everybody. And so I simply ask you: don't travel alone.

Let me tell you something about Jesus, and I'll move on, because I'm running out of time. But Jesus was connected. Because I don't believe Jesus walked twenty feet in front of His disciples, and I don't believe that they built a separate campfire for Him. I do not. I do not. Jesus was connected. Don't travel alone.

And then the last point today that I'd like to bring to you about being able to continue in this journey is: we've got to rest. We've got to rest. Periodically — that's in the Word of God. But we don't understand rest. First of all, we've got to come to grips with the incredibly tough issue of how many of us are boldly breaking a commandment and feeling spiritual about it. We feel spiritual about it because we're breaking it in the name of Jesus, and we're breaking it for the furtherance of His kingdom.

I don't know all there is to know about the Sabbath, because quite frankly I've ignored it all my life. I don't know how it should be observed right now, because I've always just — you know, as long as I'm not killing and envying and committing adultery and all that, I'm okay; those other ones we can skip by. This is what I do know. I do know that it was not done away with after Acts 2, because I checked it out, and they actually observed some Sabbath issues after the Holy Ghost was poured out. The bottom line is: God Almighty calibrated us in a certain way, and just because we ignored it does not mean He's going to change the calibration. It does not mean that at all. But don't let your mind go too far, because there's some understanding here. We're destroyed through a lack of knowledge. This is one area that I believe that we lack knowledge, and I'm on a quest to figure this stuff out, because I want to be everything that God intended for me to be.

So what would it be like — what could we accomplish for the kingdom of God if we'd do it God's way? What would it be like if we really believed that God was powerful enough to run the world and His church for one day a week without me, or a half a day without me? Sabbath is about trust and renewal. Sabbath is not about a day set aside to be carnal. We don't understand the Sabbath. We don't understand this rest business. We wouldn't be so fried if we'd just rest weekly, and that's the kind of rest that God intended — a guiltless rest. We wouldn't need as many sabbaticals if we understood and obeyed modern-day Sabbath. And I'm as guilty as anybody in this building.

I had someone tell me not long ago, "Terry, you need to be more of a human being instead of a human doing." But it's very hard for me to be a human being, and a human becoming, when I gain my worth from what all I can check off of a list, while others say, "Wow — how do you get it all done?" Because that has a good ring to it, and that is a good ego-stroker. The problem is: what strokes my ego may not glorify God.

I had one fine young man who worked alongside of me for years in youth ministry tell me this: "I want to be used of God, and I want to be in full-time ministry, but watching the way you run your life makes me think twice about it." That was a young man that I called in and said, "You're fixing to hit the wall. How many ministries are you involved in?" And he listed — sitting at my desk, he listed eleven ministries that he was involved in. I said, "You've got to work this down to three. You've got to work it down to three." And he left my office refusing to take it any lower than six. So I'm not talking about somebody who's not doing anything. What we have to do is we have to understand that He won't put more on us than we can bear — but I can put more on me than I can bear. But I can.

Isaiah 28:11 and 12 says this: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear." It's a different dispensation; it's the same problem.

Hebrews 4:9 and 10: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us" — what? Here it is: "labour. Let us labour, let us work — to what? — to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."

The fullness of the Holy Ghost brings rest for the journey. But notice I said fullness — and I'm not talking about just talking in tongues, because the fullness of the Holy Ghost is what it is: peace. But the Holy Ghost wants to be what in our lives? It wants to be a comforter, right? A teacher, and a guide. We love the comforter. We love the teacher. The guide gets us. You know why the guide gets us? I don't need a guide from my house to this church. I'm just comfortable with that. Who needs a guide? I have a GPS in my vehicle. I don't need a GPS to get from my house to church. But when I'm going somewhere I've never been, I need a guide. Now, apostolics, if we're going to continue in this apostolic journey, the Holy Ghost is going to have to be more than just a comforter. It will comfort us as it moves us out of our comfort zone. There's a lot of change that we're going to have to do in our personal life, and it's going to take the Spirit of God — the rest of God — to guide us in those areas. To guide us in those areas.

It is not the will of God for us to be familiar strangers in our homes. It's not. It's not the will of God. God wants to give us rest, not just an experience. He wants to give us rest that involves, that encompasses, the comforting power of God, the teaching power of God, and the guiding power of God. And that's the rest that is available in this conference. It is a rest. It is a word. It will be a word that will lead to another word, that will lead us into all the word that we need on this journey. The Holy Ghost is that rest. But we've got to allow the Holy Ghost to do its — what? — its perfect work, its full work, in us. And it'll be amazing what'll happen on this journey if we can understand that we've got to let the power of God not just move on us and in us, but continually in us, to go through us, through us, through us.

If you want that rest — if you want to continue on that journey — won't you just stand right now? Lift your hands and say, "God, I'm continuing. I'm continuing."