Joyce Meyer: Trusting God's Plan When It Doesn't Make Sense | Women of Faith on TBN

Live your life on purpose for a purpose and don't waste your time and one of the ways that we can waste our lives is doing things that really are not important to God just to try to impress people I was misunderstood I was judged I was criticized and I'll tell you something that I have learned it's like I'm writing right after Paul I have learned that what people think of me is Really not nearly as important as I used to think it [Applause] was your reputation and my reputation here on this Earth doesn't matter all

that much it's our reputation in heaven that we've got to be concerned about how many of you have ever put together a jigsaw puzzle anybody has anybody ever done a real big one okay well God gave me this as an example a few years ago and I just love it you Know when God speaks something to your heart gives you a dream or a vision to do something whether it's business or or Ministry or whether you need a complete overhaul and you've got a vision of being the person God wants you to be you usually

buy into what God shows you based on the picture you see it's kind of like when you go out And buy a puzzle nobody looks in the Box to to see what the pieces look like you just get one that's got a good picture on the front of it so I have another one at home that I forgot to bring it's 5,000 pieces so we bought this one it's 2,000 pieces and if you notice most of this thing is green and blue which means when you get into it there's a lot of sameness in the

pieces however if you don't give up and You keep at it long enough you'll eventually get the puzzle put together then usually after you do it's not too long and you want to start something all over again so whatever vision and dream you have right now let me just tell you when you finally get to your destination it won't keep you satisfied too long and you'll be wanting to do some other thing because God has created us to want to reach and to grow and to do new things so the first thing I want To

tell you and I want you to remember this make sure that you enjoy your journey because life is more about the journey than it is the destination now I want you to think about that when you get to wherever it is you think you want to be that's going to be a thrill and you're going to be thrilled for a while maybe a few days maybe a few weeks and it won't be long and you'll be reaching for something Else and so if we don't learn how to enjoy the journey we can literally spend most

of our Lives being frustrated trying to get to where we think we want to be and it's really tragic when we don't enjoy the journey now admittedly some of it is a little more enjoyable than other things but everything is for a purpose and one of the things that's happening is we're getting experience and just like you out and Apply for a job they want to know what kind of experience you've got God wants us to come with a little bit of experience too we get different kinds of experiences we pray to love everybody but

we don't want to have to love anybody that's not lovely amen and it's easy to tell people how they need to forgive until somebody just gutwrench you and then you have to try to do it yourself have you ever Noticed how much easier it is to tell other people what to do than it is to do it yourself one time I was in some kind of a situation and I was praying oh God show me what to do show me what to do God what do you want me to do he said just do what

you would tell somebody else to do and you'll be perfectly fine but anyway if you get the idea I'm trying to point out God's giving you a picture of Something that he wants you to do like 40 years ago when God called me to teach the word all I really heard in my heart was you're going to go all over the world and teach my word and have a very large Ministry well that was really kind of ridiculous I don't even know why it is we believe the things that God says to us except when

he when he says something to you he also gives you a gift of faith to believe it now that's why a lot of times You can believe things for your life that nobody else can believe you get a gift of faith with it and so it seems very reasonable to you but other people are like you you got to be kidding there's no way that you could do that and they just so it ends up being discouraging and so what happens then is when you open up this box oh my what have I gotten myself

into oh Lord have Mercy do I really want to do this you know there's so many pieces to getting from where you are to where you want to be and I want to see every one of you be somebody who doesn't just start but you make it to the Finish John 17:4 Jesus said glorify me for I have completed the work that you have given me to do one day years ago I read that and I just started to weep and I thought God I Want to be a finisher I want to be a finisher

and so so I just want to encourage you it's good to be excited about starting and I don't mean this to be discouraging but you will get over being excited and there may be a few people now that are excited for you they'll get over it too and the day will come when it's going to be you and God and the enemy trying to aggravate You and you're going to have to decide if you really want to go all the way with God and do everything that he's asked you to do or if you want

to take the easy Road and park somewhere and just stay there amen am we're going to go all the way through with God I think there's probably compared to the number of people that God gives a dream in a vision to I think there's probably very few who actually Finish and go all the way through I think the greatest testimony I have it's not surviving abused it's not this that something else I think the greatest testimony I have is I'm still here amen and when you can say that after 40 years you know when I

started this there there were not Arenas full of women that wanted to serve God there was me and maybe two other ladies and it was not a popular thing to do and so I went through a lot of things That you guys won't have to go through and let me tell you something by the time you get from where you start to where you end up there's a lot of things that you don't even really fully know how to explain to people that have happened between you and God but you will be turned into a

totally different person and God can use you in a great way if you just won't quit and give up amen let's all have a big praise for sticking with it Now you know normally normally we and God even lets us do that he'll let us do the easy stuff first and so we usually put together the pieces that have got flat edges first and we get an outline and then you start and see if you were up here you'd see everything here looks blue and green now I don't know you know sometimes you ever get

one of those pieces where you you just it just doesn't seem to fit anywhere has anybody In this room got a piece going on in your life right now that just doesn't seem to fit anywhere or maybe somebody's here you're trying to make a piece fits somewhere and it just won't go is anybody here so fed up with putting together blue sky that you could just scream you know I worked at a church for 5 years and that was pretty good because the crowd came for the pastor and I got to preach and he believed

for The money to pay the paychecks and I didn't have to do that and it was just a lot of fun and then God called me to leave there and go northsouth east and west except nobody knew me northsouth east or west and so trying to be childlike I went to North St Louis East St Louis West St Louis and South St Louis and I did and I started one one teaching meeting once a month in each side of town well for years and years and years and years I Did meetings of nine people and

12 people and 50 people and 60 people and 70 people and man if we got to 100 I thought I had died and gone to heaven I got so tired of putting together blue sky that I could have screamed at the top of my voice does anybody here feel like you've been stuck in the same place doing the same thing so long that if God doesn't give you another piece pretty soon you're going to feel like throwing the whole puzzle Away amen all right now having said that I want to read you something I've kept

journals for most of the 40 years that I've been in Ministry and usually one of the first things I do every day is write in my journal and you know you'll tell your Journal things that you don't want to tell anybody else and then sometimes you go back and read them 20 30 years later they're actually pretty hysterical and so I found this about a Year ago and I just decided that I would share it with a few people because it's it it's just interesting so on December the 26 6 1987 so that's been 29

years ago I said Christmas is over God is Good from a spiritual standpoint I've been having a very rough time a lot of things for a while that I've been saying oh well cast your careage joce everything's going to be okay but today everything just blew up in my face Dave and I had a discussion that wasn't good he feels I Have to control everything or I'm not satisfied I feel he's wrong and being unfair anybody got an entry like that anywhere we have a hard time communicating when we differ in our opinions but this

was the last straw and everything I've been feeling but casting my care about has now come tumbling in on top of me so here it is I've been having a hard time getting my messages at leasts much harder than usual I've Been having a hard time hearing from God I've been feeling very little anointing it seems that The more I've pressed in in the spirit the more God hides and requires me to go strictly on faith I've just had a breast remove because I had cancer now I have two more surgeries to go for plastic

surgery our meetings at least the attendance have fallen off because of the holiday season I've had a lot of weird feelings lazy mind bored Discontent Etc all of this has come at once I also feel that I just don't know how to pray anymore I've really had a hard time praying how many of you could tell I was having a bad day well today it just all seems to be too much God help me I feel like I'm going to go under but I guess I won't I trust he's doing something and that's in big

letters but I don't know what it is he's probably I guess wanting a Greater degree of Abandonment out of me I'm not sure I can do it but I'm willing to let God do it if he can Dave always feels I'm at fault and it's never him and to be honest that's just really hard on my flesh but I don't suppose it matters much it's all Pride anyway now here this is where it gets really funny I am really sorry to have to report that that I have had to tell the Lord tonight that I

have gone as far as I can go I have been telling him for 2 years take me deeper if you want to I'm willing to do whatever you need me to do but I really don't want to go on like this I feel I've gone as far as I can go I want the pressure to let up and I would also like a few feelings come on anybody with me out there I don't I don't know for sure if God's going to let me out of this he may not let me out but I never

really Thought I would back down so now on top of everything else I now find out that I'm a spiritual coward you know it's good sometimes to just be led into the real things that are going on in people's lives sometimes because if all people ever tell you who have Victory is about their Victory right and never tell you what it took to get there and how many times they wanted to give up and Quit then you begin to think that there's something wrong with you but let me tell you something everybody that's going to

do anything amazing with their life is going to have to go through some of the similar things everybody there's nothing wrong with you you're just in training now 11 years later I saw this entry somebody say 11 years 11 years and this was December the 20th 1998 and I said while I was reading this old notebook and thought I would give You an update on how my life is now see this is this is what you got to look at things have changed drastically I'm now on 375 television stations 250 radio stations our ministry is

very successful I've changed drastically I enjoy peace almost almost continually I've continued all these years to have some health struggles but in the midst of it all God has given me Grace to do all he's called me to do it's been hard at times but I can report that God is Faithful I now have four grandchildren which now have become 11 plus one on the way my youngest son was getting married in six weeks he now has three sons of his own Dave and I love each other very much and we get along really good

almost all the time and in January Dave and I will be married 50 years now that's been 19 years ago and I won't bother to give you another update but things are just really good now what Happened during those years it's good to get a report here and then another one 11 years later but what happened in those 11 years and then what happened during the next 19 years one main thing I grew my ministry didn't grow all that much but I grew see God is much more interested in changing Us than he is in

giving us what we want I must repeat that God is much more interested in in changing us than he is giving us what we want now you will eventually get what you want if what you want is what God wants and you'll even come to the point where if what you want is not what God wants you won't even want it at least you'll tell God I want this but if it's not what you want then I don't want you to give it to me I beg God please don't ever give me anything that I

ask you for if it's not your will because I've been in in the will of God and I've been out and I can tell you in is much better than out we all want to have a lot of fruit but however much fruit you have you got to have roots that go just that deep and some of the stuff that goes on behind closed doors that nobody else knows about and nobody else would even understand that's you getting Rooted and grounded in the things that God wants you to be rooted and grounded in like his

love confidence knowing who you are as an individual not needing to compare yourself with somebody else not being a people pleaser come on now I hope to get around to it later if time permits but if not I just want to say this now if you don't learn how to say no when you know that God is saying No you will kill yourself trying to keep other people happy all the time amen we need to live deeper lives and what I mean by that is we have this carnal level your soul is your mind your

will and your emotions and it doesn't tell you anything about God it only tells you about you my mind tells me what I think my will tells me what I want and my Emotions tell me how I feel but God wants us to live much deeper than that he wants us to learn to live in the spirit and to always be willing to go with God no matter what we want what we think are how we feel I want to go to Luke Chapter 5 and show you a great scripture verse one now it occurred

that while the people pressed Upon Jesus to hear the message of God he was standing by the lake of janeret the Sea of Galilee and he saw two boats drawn up by the lake but the Fisher had gone down from them and were washing their Nets and getting into one of the boats the one that belonged to Peter he said to him draw draw a little bit away from the shore and then he sat down and he continued to teach the crowd of people when he stopped speaking he said to Peter put out into the

deep everybody say deep deep put out into the deep and lower your nets for a Hall how many of you would like a hall in your life of whatever it is whether it's a hall of peace or Joy or success or whatever it is we all would love to have a giant spiritual dump truck back up to our house and just dump out everything on the driveway that we want come on out into the deep and get ready for a haul and in verse 5 Peter Said Master we toiled all night exal inly and we

caught nothing in our Nets so what's he basically saying he's saying you don't get it Jesus we've already been out there we didn't catch anything we don't really feel like doing this we don't think it's such a good idea and we don't believe it's going to work but on the ground of your word I will lower the Nets again now right there's The turning point I don't want to do this I don't feel like doing it I don't think it's a good idea I don't think it's fair I don't think it's right but if you

say to do it come on are you there if you say to do it if you say to do it then it doesn't matter what I want what I think or what I feel your will be done and not mine no matter how hard it is no matter how much it hurts has God ever asked you to do Anything that just seems so totally unfair fair I mean like so totally unreasonable most of you if you're married you know that men men are not very good at saying I was wrong matter of fact some of

them really stink at saying I was wrong and they're not too quick to come and apologize and every time Dave and I would get into to a tiff God would tell me now go make peace go make peace and I Finally said to the Lord one day this is just not fair it is not my turn he I apologized the last time you need to talk to him and but you know I could not find any scripture in the Bible that said make peace if it's your turn and it just seemed to me like God

was constantly dealing with me about something and Dave was just happy and you know just going along and I remember one day I actually I still remember Where we were standing in the house and I said to him I thought well maybe God's dealing with me with him and he's just not saying anything so I said is God dealing with you about anything cuz I really wanted God to be dealing with him about something do you know anybody in your life you really are hoping God's dealing with them and he looked kind of puzzled and

he said well I don't think so and I would think God how can you not Be dealing with him he's got all these problems that you need to fix and by the way he is over there he lets me pick on him all the [Applause] time and uh let me tell you something Dave is just the best guy I mean he you know real love is letting somebody be all that they can be and Dave has definitely done that in my life and he loves me just the way I am including all my spice and

so I like that Too but anyway man I wanted God to deal with him and not just me and it seems so unfair I mean I wanted him to come and say you know God's really been dealing with me that I need to treat you better and God's really been dealing with me that you know I'm a little stubborn sometimes and God's been dealing with me that I've got a problem with pride but I never heard any of that never never I would just be getting my flesh crucified and he'd be out playing golf Having

a good time and I remember murmuring to God one time because it seemed like I knew all kinds of people that did all kinds of things that I didn't feel like God would let me do and I thought I mean really I mean God are you really not dealing with them why do they why do they get to see movies like that and you won't let me see them why do they get to do this and you won't let me Do it and you know what he said to me and somebody here today needs to

hear this he said listen Joyce you've asked me for a lot do you want it or not that's right so here's the thing and if you don't remember anything El I say today please remember this if you've asked God for a lot if you've asked God to do a great work through you then guess what you don't get to compare yourself with what God is doing in anybody else's life This is between you and him and there's probably going to be a lot of things that you're going to see other people get to do that

you're not going to get to do if you've asked God for a lot do you want it or not amen am so he said come on out in the deep and get ready for a haul well Master we don't think it's going to work we're exhausted but on the ground of your word I will lower the Nets again and verse six is so beautiful and when they had done this they caught a great number of fish so many their Nets with the point of breaking and they signaled to their Partners in the other boats to

come and take hold with them and they came and filled all the boat boats so that they all began to sink so what's the message there if we do what God wants us to do and we live a Deeper Life and we don't live according to what We want what we think and what we feel then we will have a hall of blessings in our life not only for ourselves but so much that we'll be able to help all the people around us that are needy is that what you want all right well what happens

when we begin to grow well we learn to live deeper we learn to seek God for who he is and not just what he can do for us man was that ever a big transition in my life one morning when I was praying the Lord challenged me to take a real good look at my at how I was praying and compare how I was praying to the way the Apostle Paul prayed and the way Jesus prayed and by the time I got done I was quite embarrassed because all I did was ask for stuff for

the flesh and I don't know if you know it or not but in all the prayers that Paul prayed for the church you can't find one where he asked God to give them a thing or to relieve them From any of the things they were going through he prayed that they would be able to endure whatever came with a good temper I've never yet had anybody come and say Joyce would you pray for me that I can go through whatever I need to go through and still stay sweet and happy never once in 40 years

has anybody asked me to pray that but we need to be able to pray God I want your will in my life and if it's not comfortable then keep me sweet and Keep me happy because I just want to do this the way you would do it if you were here anybody know what I'm talking about all right so we have to stop seeking God for just what he can do for us and seek him for who he is during those years my motives were purified and you know I don't know about you but I

think most of us if we were really gut level honest we would have to say that when we first start first start wanting to be Used by God our motives are not all that Stellar I had been abused by my dad and so I was very insecure and to be honest although I had a call on my life part of me wanted to do it because I felt like I was being called to do it but part of it wanted me to do it because I just wanted to be successful at something so I could

feel good about myself I can't stand here and tell you that day one all I wanted to do was help Other people I wanted to be successful I wanted to be in leadership I wanted to be one of the important people at my church I wanted to have my name on a seat I wanted to have an office with my name on the door and I wanted all of those things for the wrong reasons now that didn't mean I wasn't called but it did mean that God had to do a work of purification in my

life to get Me to the point for every where everything I was doing was being done number one in obedience to him and number two to help people and that takes a while how many of you know what I'm mean when I'm talking about motives let me let me just give you a homework assignment I'll never know if you did it or not but just pretend like you're going to sometime when this is over and you have some quiet time at home Write down everything that you spend your time doing and then go back and

ask yourself why you're doing it everybody gets quiet at this point I mean it is amazing how quiet people get when you start talking about motives you know why our motives are not what we're doing it's why we're doing what we're doing and guess what that's the only part God cares About he's not impressed by our big Ministries or our friends on Facebook or this or that or anything else the only thing he's concerned about is why are you doing what you're doing and you know 1 Corinthians 3:13 says that the work of each one

of us will become plainly and openly known shown for what it is for the day of Christ will disclose and declare it because it will be revealed with fire And the fire will test and critically appro praise the character and the worth of the work that each person has done and it goes on to say that if what we've done is a pure work will'll get our reward and if not all the works will be burned up even though we ourselves will still be saved I don't know about you but I don't want to waste

my time I don't want to spend my life with some misconceived deceptive idea that I'm doing everything I'm doing for God when Really a lot of it is just for myself I read this the other day and I thought this was a great statement the biggest thing to be afraid of is not failure the biggest thing to be afraid of is that we will succeed at something that's useless I think we could say that again right the biggest thing to be afraid of is not failure the biggest thing to be afraid Of is that we

might succeed at something you useless I just wrote a book released at last fall called sees the day and in that book I tried to share with people how important it is to live your life on purpose for a purpose I don't think any of us can realize how valuable time is until you get old enough in life to where you're not having too much of it left you think totally differently when You're 20 and 30 and 40 and even 50 and 60 and I can tell you when I was in my 60s I realized

one day 2third of my life was over even if I lived to be in my mid 90s 23ds of it was over and I only had about a third left and I tell you I really have a passion to tell people don't waste your life and don't waste your time and one of the ways that we can waste our lives is doing things that really are not important to God just to Try to impress people amen now I know that talking about motives gets people kind of somber so we'll go on and talk about something

else now thank you during that period of time we also have the privilege of having a lot of humility worked into our lives the Bible says humble yourself into the mighty hand of God but I can tell you that if you don't humble yourself God will do it for You and it's much more painful when he does it then if we go ahead and do it I don't know if you're willing to admit it or not but I think most of us when we start are pretty full of ourselves anybody come on don't look so

innocent I'm here I've only been a month since I had my hip sawed in half I'm here to help you so look like you're being [Applause] Helped see I like to get into the deeper stuff because I just don't think we've got a lot of time to mess around amen Nebuchadnezzar the King Daniel 41 through four this is such a good story Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the people Nations and languages that dwell on all the Earth may peace be multiplied to you verse two it seemed good to me to Show the signs and wonders

that the most high God has performed toward me now I want you to notice that in the beginning of this chapter he's given God all the credit look what God's done how great are his signs and how Mighty are his wonders his kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion is from generation to generation and I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house and prospering in my Palace you see as long as we're giv God The credit we have rest and we have peace now I don't know what happened to poor Nebuchadnezzar but somehow in

26 verses he fell completely apart and I don't really know how long 26 verses takes in the Bible but it didn't take me very long to read it and by the time we get around to verse 30 the king said is not this the great Babylon that I have built as the Royal residence in the seat of government by the might of my power and for the honor and the glory of my Majesty wow you see success can be dangerous yes I said success can be dangerous because there's always a danger that we might begin

to think that we actually had something to do with It or even worse than that and I think God hates this the most we might begin to think that we're actually better than other people and then if we're not very careful we'll begin to mistreat other people that we don't think are quite as important as we are we're not very useful to God if we don't beg him to work in our lives to keep us humble no matter and nothing hurts worse Than having God deal with your pride I used to have a series on

my table called pride and humility I finally realized that nobody was going to buy that so I have gotten very good at hiding my messages under other titles how to succeed with God five ways to find promotion and I do that I really do while the words were still in the king's Mouth there fell a voice from Heaven said oh King Nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken the kingdom has departed from you let me tell you something it takes a lot longer to build something up than it does for God to tear it down we

all beg God for big things I did and I love to share this with the people that are in leadership I remember when the Lord spoke to my heart and he said I just want you to remember that however many people you can help that's Exactly how many you can hurt that's why leadership is such a huge responsibility not just a privilege but a responsibility because people watch everything you do amen I went to a story the other day and of course being on television I get recognized a lot and not that I have any

desire to do this but I absolutely cannot afford to get out in public and not live what I Preach and I was actually pretty tired the other day because of the hip thing and I was out doing a little bit of shopping I just wanted to get out for a while and it happened to be a heavy everybody knows Joyce day and so and I mean and probably the thing I like the least happened a man ran up and oh can I call my sister will you talk to my sister I'm like I I really

don't like to do the phone call thing oh well and he wasn't Going to take no for an answer so he got his sister on the phone I remember one person who did that and when I told the person on the phone hi this is Joyce SM they're like who's that please don't make me call people that don't even know me and so so here but here's what I said to somebody that was with me I said you know what I just need to go Home I said here's why this is obviously going to be

a busy day and I don't feel good and I'm likely to be cranky and I cannot afford to do that so it's best if I just go amen see when you're leading other people if it's a if it's a church if it's a Bible study what whatever it is if you're the president of some Club At school whatever it is the minute that you're in a place of leadership people look up to you and they expect and need you to be the real deal now that doesn't mean we don't make mistakes but it does mean

that we must press in and continue growing and not just make excuses for bad behavior because we can get by with it am amen however many people you can help that's exactly how many you can hurt anyway I went to the store the other day and guy working behind the Little Deli counter he's probably waited on me at least seven times and never said one word I mean that you know that he knew me and that day he said my wife watches you all the time you think you could sign something for her so I

had somebody bring a couple of books back to him but I thought now what about in those seven times if I would have been cranky if I would have been rude if I would have Said anything that would have not made him believe that I was the real deal there's a lot of responsibility to leadership we were in a restaurant one time after I taught a whole seminar I'd done four or five different sessions by myself and we made a plan to go to this certain restaurant and eat we had a bunch of people with

us and we called and made a reservation I only to find out when we got there they didn't take reservations I'm like well why didn't you tell us that when we made the reservation and well you must have just talked to somebody that didn't know and we're sorry that made a mistake and so you're going to have to wait about 45 minutes to an hour and I was like God I have worked all weekend I don't want to wait 45 minutes to an hour but praise the Lord so we finally get seated and it's very

crowded in the restaurant that day And we've got about 12 people at our table and the waitress is balancing this thing of drinks that we had ordered coffee tea all kinds of stuff and she tripped on something and dumped the whole thing on my husband well Dave you know he's he doesn't have the challenges that I do in personality and he just said that's okay don't worry about it he even called the manager over and said now I don't Want her to get in trouble it wasn't her fault and so she comes back about 20

minutes later with another tray of drinks and she sets them on the table and she leans across the table and she looks at me and she said I was just so nervous because I know who you are and I thought oh thank you Jesus thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you that I didn't act like an idiot come on somebody is always Watching and if it's not a person it's God and we need to learn to live under that one allseeing eye and realize that we are not hiding anything from him we

may hide from other people but we're not hiding anything from him amen now something else that happens to us is we have what I find l call silent years you know what those years are those are the years when you've got this thing in your Heart not much is happening nobody's really far you nobody really believes you it's just kind of a thing between you and God and somehow or another in these silent years when nothing's happening you're supposed to hang on to this dream anybody in those times right now maybe in your life it's

good to know I don't have the wrong crowd well let me just tell you that everybody has them there years when God Hides you and all he does is work on you amen all he does is work on you Moses spent 40 years in the desert he went in running ahead of God and came out with reverential fear Joseph spent 13 years from the time he was sold as a slave until he became the Prime Minister he was 17 years old when he was sold and 30 when he became prime minister during that time he

was Repeatedly repeatedly tested you talk about somebody that had some unfair things happen to him see God never told us that life is fair he just said that he is a God of Justice and that means eventually God will will make all wrong things right amen David spent 20 years after he was anointed to be king before he wore the crown and the whole time he was tormented by Saul who kept trying to kill Him John the Baptist was in the wilderness 12 to 15 years and I don't have time to read all this but

it goes all through it starting in vers vers 76 and at the end it says he grew really he grew but you know what if you've been there and done that then you get it it's like I can feel the pain in those two words he grew all those years out there matter of Fact I've got the statistics 30 years of preparation for a Ministry that lasted a few months John the Baptist 30 years of preparation for a Ministry that lasted a few months and then Jesus was born at 8 days old he was brought

to the temple for dedication he wasn't heard from again until he was 12 years old kind of sounds like my journal You don't hear don't hear anything again from the age of 12 to 30 and all the Bible says is he grew he grew H then suddenly after that he was baptized the Holy Spirit came on him and he started his public Ministry with power let me tell you something if you will let God do what he wants to do in your life your day will come and you won't be promoting yourself God will be

promoting you and what God lifts up no man can bring down amen don't ever try to put yourself in a position wait and let God put you something the Lord spoke to my heart many years ago he said whatever you start in the flesh you will maintain in the flesh flesh so we don't want to be trying to start stuff just because we can we want to make sure that what's Going on in our life is God I want to encourage you that everything everything that I've been through which is a lot has been so

worth it and even though I tell you these difficult things that you're going to have to make it through it's not meant at all to be discouraging it's meant to encourage you not to quit and not to give up because God needs you and he's preparing you for something amazing and I compliment you for being hungry for the word of God and for being willing to step up and live a sacrificial life don't you dare quit don't you give up when you don't understand just remember that God's always got a purpose in everything and I

don't mean this just to be glib but all things do work together for good to those who love God and Really want his will in their lives come on you're going to make it and you're going to do great things for [Applause] god let's pray father we thank you for what you are doing what you have done and what you will do and Lord we are excited about Revival but we don't want it to be over when these 10 days are Over it's exciting to come and be part of this but we all have to

go home and so I want a Revival in me and I want to help put a Revival in them so everywhere they go and every day of their life they're in Revival and we thank you for it in jesus' name amen all right thank you you can be seated you guys are just amazing we've got all kinds of beautiful wonderful anointed powerful awesome people here Tonight and uh I want to start by giving you some really good news I know that the ladies are going to be really excited and the guys will probably be excited

too thought somebody was behind me whoops ladies a new store has opened up in New York City and it is the husband store and if you want a husband you can go there and shop for [Applause] One now there are some guidelines to shopping at the store there are six floors in the store once you visit a floor and leave that floor and go to the next floor you can't go back down so there's none of this like looking at all the merchandise and then deciding what you want so a woman went to the husband's

store and on the first floor the sign Read these men have jobs she thought wow a man with a job that would be really good she thought about it but she thought well I have to see what's on the second floor so she went to the second floor these men have jobs and they love kids she thought wow this is this is getting sweeter by the minute but she had to see what was on the third floor these men have jobs love kids and are extremely good goodl Looking well I don't know maybe I just

better find somebody on this floor cuz that sounds good but still she felt compelled to keep looking she went to the fourth floor where the sign read these men have jobs love kids and are drop dead goodlook and they help with the housework come on ladies now this I mean I mean I tell you I've been married to my guy 50 [Applause] years 50 and he does dishes he does [Applause] laundry he gets the bed ready at night and he plays all the golf he wants to she thought Wow Jobs loves kids goodlooking help with

the housework oh mercy me she thought I can hardly stand it and yet she had to go see what was on the fifth Floor these men have jobs love kids are drop dead gorgeous and they have a strong romantic [Music] streak come on housework and romance but she thought well it keeps getting better better so I just have to find out what is on the top floor the top floor the sign read you are visitor 31,44 6,012 to this floor there are no men on This floor this floor exists solely as proof that women are

impossible to please however to avoid gender bias the owner thought he best put a new wi store across the street so once again there were six floors and same rules you can only visit one floor one time floor number one man went in this floor has wives that love sex floor number Two this floor has wives that love sex and they have money floors 3 through six have never been [Applause] visited now Steven is going to want my joke aren't you you're going to say could you leave me a copy of that all right now

you know every Bible teacher I think is kind of bent in some direction and Uh mine I guess is always going to gear a little bit more toward spiritual maturity and just growing up in God and being what he wants us to be and uh I love meetings like this I've attended many of them in my life but I meant what I said in the prayer it's more important that you have a Revival in you than that you just go to one now wonderful things can happen in a Time like this that can actually change

you permanently so when God touches you you know you been touched and you never are the same again but at the same time having lived quite a while and been in Ministry now 40 years this is my 40th year of teaching the Bible and I have been to I've been to multitudes of meetings like this especially back in the 70s and 80s and I saw lots of people that got extremely excited along with everybody else's excitement but then nothing ever changed and to me that's tragic and not in any way shape or Farm to put

a damper on your enthusiasm because I love it but I want to make sure that I can deposit something in you I'm sure as well as all the other speakers wanting to do that that when you leave the atmosphere in the lights and a different speaker every night and and the wonderful music and Everything that's happening here when these 10 days are over I want you to go home and still have a revival going on in you so if some of your circumstances at home don't change you can still be happy and still be joyful

and still be stable and still be peaceful amen cuz see the world is in a desperate condition really really really really bad and they're looking for some Hope just any glimmer of hope that something might change for them and they can't there's nothing worse than being a speaker and having your throat a stupid I think it was your oil Stephen he made me smell the oil and now it all went from here down to [Applause] here there's nothing worse than a phony Christian and if there's any one thing That's important to me in my life

I want to be the real deal I don't want to be one way up here and then another way when I go to mcdonals or another way when I'm out shopping and somebody crosses me the wrong way I want to really represent Jesus in a way that can make a big difference in somebody else's life Matthew 21:18 in the early Dawn the next morning as he Was coming back to the city he was hungry Jesus was hungry can I tell you the world is full of hungry people there's hungry people where you work and I'm

not talking about physical hunger I'm talking about they're hungry for Joy they're hungry for peace they're hungry for hope they're hungry many of them for for some reason to even want to stay alive by the way a special hello to all the people at all the other locations we Don't want to forget you we're glad you're there amen and all the people watching online so in the early Dawn the next morning as he was coming back to the city he was hungry and as he saw one single leafy fig tree above the roadside he went

to it but he found nothing but leaves on it seeing that in the Fig Tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves and he said to it never again Shall fruit grow on you and the Fig Tree rered withered up at once and died now I used to feel sorry for that fig tree I thought well that's kind of bad to get cursed just because it wasn't the season for fruit I I kind of felt like well it it wasn't the Fig Tre 's fault but it didn't have you know what Jesus

wanted but God has given me one of the best lessons out of those messages and Something that I love to share on you see that fig tree was like a lot of Christians it had leaves but no [Applause] fruit you know even Adam tried to start out with leaves and it didn't work for him either and uh what I mean by leaves are actually on the Fig Tree when you see when the leaf comes there's supposed to be fruit under the leaf so you see when we have any kind of advertisement about Our Christianity whether

it's a bumper sticker or you wear a cross around your neck or you carry a Bible to work or you you know whatever the case might be back in the days when when I first started women wore these big Jesus rhinestone pins anybody ever remember one of those dudes see now that's telling your age right there but I mean they were dudes were big and they Jesus and rhinestones and we all thought that was the coolest thing so we Wore our Jesus rhinestone pin and had our Bibles and our bumper stickers and we're Christians and

we go to church four times a week and I underline in my Bible that looks like a coloring book and so you know you you can you can have half the Bible underlined in four colors and that doesn't mean you know a thing I mean it just doesn't mean that we know anything and um so it's very important to me that I Don't just have leaves but I have fruit and so I want I want to talk to you tonight about the value of experience yes you see the longer you live the more experience you

have and so that means the longer you live the wiser you should get now that doesn't work with everybody some people are still dumb at 85 but um we live life forward but we understand it backward yeah I don't want you to ever forget That because many of the things that some of you are going through right now that you think are just the most awful thing in the whole world you give it 20 years and you'll look back and say man did that ever change me boy did that bring me closer to God man

I learned a big lesson out of that amen and at my stage in my journey of life Now which I'm in the last third of it I would not take anything for the experiences that I've had they are some of the most precious most Treasured Memories and some of the hardest most good butw wrenching things yes that I have ever gone through but they have helped make me who I am and to be honest if you don't have those you don't really have very much to say you just don't have very much to say Because

you can it's one thing to preach it's another thing to preach with God's anointing on it and let me tell you something don't forget this noise is not anointing [Applause] just because somebody comes in and makes a lot of noise and can shout and yell that doesn't mean that your life is going to be changed this time next week and that's what the anointing does it changes us it breaks bondages off of us And it leaves a deposit in our [Applause] lives amen I'm sorry about the throat thing you'll just have to bear with me

you'll listen to me in between the throat clearing so Proverbs 3:13 says blessed happy fortunate enviable is the man who finds skillful and godly wisdom and the man who gets understanding drawing it forth from God's word and life's experiences that's the Amplified we have that one up yeah yes and life's and life's experiences so I want to just say to you how much experience do you have right well you know we have people here tonight that are teenagers we have people that are younger than teenagers we have people that are in their 30s 40s 50s

60s 70 I don't know I maybe the oldest person in the building I have no idea and if I am then I'm supposed to know more than the rest of of you now that doesn't always work but chances are if you're 20 and I'm 73 I might know a few things that you don't know that's right and one of the things that we need today desperately is we need the younger generation and the older generation to work [Applause] Together because here's here's what we have I have never seen a time when young people are so

talented as they are today I mean it is almost scary what you guys can do with all this Media stuff I mean it is amazing I mean my grandson my little tiny grandson can do more with his phone than I can do with mine that's right and so you you have gifts you have talent you have Zeal you have Enthusiasm but now don't get mad at me when I say this you don't have as much experience as some people that are older than you and there's nothing that I hate worse than to see somebody who's

young act like somebody has no sense just because they're older and don't get all the technology today amen I'll tell you the thing that impressed Me about your pastor the first time I met him and I don't even know if you remember this Stephen but we were in Australia at Hillsong and from the minute I came into the Green Room he and I were in there and he started talking to me and I mean he asked me every kind of question that you could ask me he hung on to every word that I said he

would have sat there and talked to me for a week if I would have talked to him But you know what that said to me this is a young man that's not full of [Applause] himself he did not one time TR to try to tell me what he knew come on now most of us are so busy trying to tell everybody else what we know that we don't even listen to anybody not one time did he try to tell me anything he knew he only wanted to know what I knew from my years of experience

amen and so I would recommend That anytime you get around anybody that's maybe let's just say 30 years older than you are that the first question you ask them is what can you tell me can you tell me one thing about life that will help me live mine better all right just one thing and then if they if they are a Believer and a Christian just say to them can you tell me one thing that you've learned in minut Ministry one spiritual principle that will help me live better for Jesus Amen I tell you what

if we can get together if we can get the wisdom together with the gifts whoa watch out devil because the Revival will be on Amen there was actually a time in history and it still is this way in some cultures where when an older man woman I'm talking about what they would call an elderly man or woman walked into the room everybody stood up I kind of wish sometimes we had some of that respect back and you know what They were respecting their wisdom their years of experience and their wisdom what all does somebody go

through by the time they're yeah you get it don't you honey yeah what all does somebody go through by the time they're 50 60 you're going to have lots of fun in your life but you're going to go through some stuff too amen and if you got personal Revival in you you'll make it through you know the Apostle Paul Said I've learned how to be content I've learned there's pain in that word I've learned I've learned how to be content it wasn't something that just got downloaded into him from a new program he learned how

to be content you know when the apost Paul said in Galatians 2:20 it's no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me that's right that's such a great statement do you know that that was 20 years after his conversion wow it's very difficult to Say that a week after you're born again oh yeah you might be able to quote the scripture but to mean to mean it is another thing entirely now I have way more message than I've got night and I pray that God will really help me bring across to you some

of the most important things because one of the things that I want to share with you is how what I thought was important when I was 30 and how Utterly unimportant it really is now amen just how ridiculously unimportant it is now in Deuteronomy 1113 Moses couldn't handle everything by himself and he was about to anoint some helpers and he said choose wise understanding experienced and respected men according to your tribes and I I Will make them head over you you notice that he did not mention talented he didn't even mention talented or gifted he

said wise understanding experienced and respected you know why I think a lot of times we just ruin somebody because they've got talent and we put them on a platform and they have no spiritual maturity and they can't hand the they Cannot handle the attention and it just absolutely destroys them and they end up making a fool out of themselves and doing damage to the name of Christ no wonder the Bible says do not promote a new convert let's trust God with the timing of when he selects to use us is anybody in for that tonight

maybe just maybe and I don't know this may not be the case at all but just maybe if you're out there tonight and maybe you wanted to get Picked for something in the church and you didn't get picked what do you do when God doesn't pick you you trust God you trust God that it's not time yet it's not right yet and you might even be willing to think maybe I'm not ready cuz see when we think we're ready is not necessarily oh let me tell you when God spoke to me about the ministry that

I was going to have I thought for Sure I would fall out of bed the next morning and be traveling around the world you know yay I say unto you that can sound really exciting oh yes in in due time at the appointed time what is that nobody knows what that is it's like until God's good and ready and so for six years I taught a home Bible study that had 20 25 people and maybe if we got blessed 30 and I did that for five years not five days not five weeks not five months

Five years did not get paid for it had desperate financial needs people would come and en enjoy the party and leave I'd have to clean the mess up and in the midst of all that God was teaching me or trying to teach me a little something about attitude and servanthood come on now and uh I remember just a couple of things that that happened and I'm just going to try be really practical with You I was just learning about faith back then and boy we just all thought we were going to believe God and get

everything we wanted cuz we were part of the word and Faith movement and you know whatever you believe far you'll get and so I didn't I didn't have the slightest idea what to really use my faith for and so I was always trying to use it for things stuff that I wanted or promotion that I wanted or I believed God for Dave to change and that didn't Work I believe God to change my kids and that didn't work and you know we're all were always believing for something it never occurred to me I ask God

to change me cuz of course I didn't think I had anything wrong with me I was like you know the perfect specimen of everything you know and you we really don't know anything until we know that we don't know anything and then we have learned the first thing that might help us towards Someday learning something amen so just a couple little stories want to kind of show you how you'll stay at a place and God will test you in that place and then when you finally pass those tests then you'll move up here and then

you'll go through tests on that level and then when you finally pass those tests now sometimes we're not real smart about this test passing thing and so we just get to take them over and over and over and over and Over come on so of all the most I'm almost embarrassed to tell you this but I was believing God big time for a fur coat cuz I went to one of those big word and Faith churches and I'm telling you what we would have camp meetings and all the speakers would come in and all the

wives of the Reverend and the this and that and something else they had on their fur coat and man I just thought if you had a Fur coat you were the in with the In Crowd you were it and so I was believing for a fur coat and uh one day my neighbor came over she was a a Christian girl that went to my church Liv right next door to me and attended my Bible study and I loved her with the love of the Lord but I didn't like her how many of you know about

that well I love you with the love of the Lord whatever that is I don't know what That is but I've decided I can do without a lot of it and um so I really just didn't like her she just downright annoyed me and uh the minute that I opened the door I mean I could tell without her saying a word that she was extremely excited and I'm already thinking you know and she had this big box in her hand and she said you are not going to believe what God gave me you are not

going to believe it and So she came in and she opened this box and it was my fur coat my fur coat and I tell you what I honestly thought the angel brought that to the wrong house I mean I'm telling you I thought there is no way that God gave her that coat because she's not nearly as spiritual as I [Applause] am well I did did what I was supposed to do oh praise the Lord I'm so happy for you thank you Jesus and I'm inside now inside come on because what's important is inside

come on there's a message here inside I mean God don't care about I love you with the love of the Lord what he cares about is do I really love you am I going to be there for you when you have a need and he didn't care about my oh praise the Lord you know what was coming out of me was jealousy and gra rage and greed And judgment I thought she doesn't give nearly as much money to the church as I do I fast and pray all the time she eats all the time do

not tell me do not even begin to tell me that God gave you that coat [Applause] so a couple more years go by and I get to take a test again now I'm still at my house you know with my 20 people still got my big Vision see you're going to stay right Where you're at until you learn the lesson that God wants you to learn on this level you might as well preach cuz it's good clap cuz it's good anyway and I think my throat is finally okay so now you're in for [Applause] trouble

so then my pastor came by one day and he was 26 I was 36 we both Thought we knew everything neither one of us knew anything and uh he was believing for a big Ministry I'm believing for a big Ministry and you know we're all believing and um he'd been off to some big camp meeting in Texas and and while he was there they gave him a $2,500 honorarium and he was so excited and a couple of people had said they wanted to partner with him in his ministry and he was so excited so he

came to my house to Tell me the good news how many of you know sometimes you just don't want to hear somebody's [Applause] testimony I'm we're just talking real stuff here okay and so but I've had a couple of years since the fur coat and so we've moved along a little bit and uh so he's telling me Oh I can't believe it they gave me this honorarium and Couple of people wanted to partner with me it was so awesome it was amazing and then all of a sudden it was like he kind of realized what

he how this might be hitting me and he said is it okay that I'm telling you this and I said oh yeah praise the Lord I'm so happy for you well I wasn't as unhappy as I was two years ago but I still wasn't totally thrilled and so when he left I went and threw myself across my daughter's bed I remember and I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried and I said to God I am going to tithe and give offerings from now until the time Jesus comes back

if I never see one penny from [Applause] it and after that day our finances started to turn around and change [Applause] you see it's not it's not just about giving it's about the attitude that we Live with in the rest of our lives and you see sometimes God's going to run some test by you he's going to run some people by you that aren't as spiritual are you as you that are getting what you want come on [Applause] now and you're going to have to learn to be happy for them and the only way you

can be happy for them is if you trust God so Much that you absolutely do not want anything that he doesn't want you to have not now not ever amen I don't pray anymore for God to give me what I want I pray that God will give me what I can handle and I pray God please don't give me anything that's going to make me think I'm more important than what I am please don't give me anything that's going to Ever take me away from you right and please don't get and if I try to

get anything that's not your will slam the door in my face [Applause] amen [Applause] now the Bible says that although he was a son talking about Jesus in Hebrews 58 and9 he learned active special obedience through what he suffered now listen to this verse n and his completed Experience Hebrews 58 and9 making him perfectly equipped he became the author and the source of Eternal salvation wow in other words you might have a calling but you need to be equipped with some experience a lot of people have a gift that can take them somewhere but they

don't have enough character to keep them there once they get There and so I want to say something to you and I want you to remember it don't be in such a hurry about getting what you want and going where you're going don't don't be in such a hurry take time to learn the things you need to learn so when you get where you're going you'll be able to stay there and not just get somewhere and then lose that place you Know the first years of my Ministry were so stinking heart oh my gosh they

were so hard there were so many things that I had to go through and I had cancer 25 years ago I was betrayed by friends I was attacked by the media I was so stinking lonely when I got out on the road and started traveling because you just your life is just different when you're gone from home all the time it's just totally Different I was misunderstood I was judged I was criticized and I'll tell you something that I have learned it's like I'm writing right after Paul I have learned that what people think of

me is really not nearly as important as I used to think it was I mean it just really doesn't make all that much difference cuz you know what haters are going to Hate and judgers are going to judge and criticizers are going to criticize and I guess we can think well at least if they're bugging me they're leaving somebody else alone [Applause] amen and I you know I really don't care all that much what people think anymore that's why I can get up here and just have fun now if it's somebody in my close family

and I think they're thinking bad Of me about something that will still bother me but honestly I've learned the world out there wants to have an opinion about all kinds of stuff that they don't know anything at all about they don't know nothing about it they don't know me they don't know what I've been through they don't know anything about me they don't know what a price I've paid to do what I'm doing they don't know and it's none of their [Applause] Business and I want to encourage you don't let what somebody thinks about you

ruin one more day of your life now one more day of your life because I'll tell you what's important your reputation and my reputation here on this Earth doesn't matter all that much it's our reputation in heaven that we've got to be concerned about and God has told me that he likes me and so that's all that matters Amen I want to make a deposit in you so you can stay in Revival when these 10 days are over amen you know I I've actually really learned learned by experience that if we love God and we

trust him that there is no painful unjust thing that can happen to us that God won't some way somehow work it out for our good [Applause] and I mean I'm not I'm not just I'm telling you I know that I know that by experience I know it because I've been through it but it is important how we go through these things that happened to us that's the important thing you can go through things and go through things and go through things and go through things but the thing that's important is what is our attitude while

we go through it How do we go through it amen I I just story comes up in me we were on a big television station one time once a week and I was just getting started in television and the station was doing really really really good and uh they called and said they were canceling our time well we've got a contract well that didn't matter they decided they were going to do some kind of program change so they were canceling our time well it was Devastating to us because it was a good station it was

bringing in some income which we desperately needed and so man you know you you you have a Temptation when somebody does something that's unfair to you oh man it's just so hard and I was upset about it I was in church one night and they were receiving an offering and I felt like the Lord said put that station in the basket as Is an offering Wow Wow in other words I mean I couldn't physically put it in there but he wanted me to like give that to him give it to him okay well long story

short now I'm on that station every day and have been for a long time and they came back to us and wanted me to come on every day I'm telling you what you keep a good Attitude and the devil cannot steal from you did you hear me if you keep a good attitude I said the devil cannot steal from you amen now most of you know if you know much at all about my Ministry you know I'm a little mixed up about that clock it started saying I had 20 minutes now it says I have

41 what is that telling me huh well I mean I don't want to stand up Here and preach for five hours how much [Applause] time no you would not put up with that anyway I uh now I forgot what I was going to tell you it's almost there I'm having a atude I'm having a senior moment on that station every day yeah every day I was on that station but there was something else I was going to tell you and I forgot anyway I got I got Plenty of other things I can tell you so

it doesn't matter oh I know what I was going to tell you see there it is I still got it it just a little slower so and so uh you all know that most of you know that I was abused when I was a child and uh I mean it's tough when you go through something like that I mean my dad sexually abused me for years and years and years repeatedly repeatedly and I I'm not going to get into the nastiness of the story but it just was very very very bad and uh my mother

was afraid of my dad and she was afraid of the Scandal and she knew what he was doing but she didn't didn't help me and I had uh uh a relative an aunt and and uncle that I went to for help and they didn't want to get involved and you know so somewhere along the line I just decided I was going to survive well I was born again when I was 9 years old I snuck off to Church with some relatives and was received Christ and um I never knew anything after that I actually cheated

in a game of hide and go seek the next day and I thought I lost my salvation I I remember had my head leaned against the building and I peaked and yeah devil told me I lost my salvation so but few years back I started saying you know I don't know what it was but When I was about 9 years old this determination came into me that I was going to overcome well then all of a sudden I realized well that was when I was saved yeah and so see when you receive the spirit of

Christ you don't receive a give up Spirit you receive a go through spirit you receive something that's going to bring you through things and now I want to share this with you I Prayed for God to get me out of that situation I prayed prayers I probably shouldn't have prayed I prayed for my dad to die I prayed for my mother to leave in anything to get me out of that situation and he did not get me out of the situation but he did get he did take me through it he did take me through

it and uh you know it's kind of up to God whether we get out or we go Through and I had no idea what God was going to do with my life but I'll be honest with you what I went through is helping millions of people around the globe and now listen to me sometimes God will allow you to go through something he doesn't do those things but sometimes he will allow you to to go through something just for the sole purpose of equipping you to be able to help somebody Else later on in life

so if I said tonight how many of you want to be used by God every hand would go up but then I have to say do you really amen cuz see Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered and his completed experience equipped him to become the author of our Salvation every any place that you go to look for a job today one of the first Things they're going to ask you is do you have any experience and I'm going to tell you the truth this is my opinion and I don't disrespect education I'm

grateful for what I have which is not probably as much as most of you have but experience is much more valuable even than education I mean it really is and so I went through a lot of things and um left home as soon as I was 18 married the first guy that came along because I thought nobody would ever want me that was another 5year nightmare and I thought because I left home that I left the that I no longer had the problem that's right but I took it with me it was in my soul

and see some of you are still walking around with things from your past it's in your soul you may be physically away from it but you might still have it in your soul and that's where Jesus wants to heal us he wants to Get down in our souls and he wants to heal us amen and so there's way too many stories to tell you but I can tell you this and I don't know how I know this does not even make any sense to me but I will tell you this and I mean it with

all my heart I cannot say to you that I that I'm sorry that I was abused and that I wish it wouldn't have happened I cannot say that anymore because some way somehow I know that God has worked that out for my good and he has used it in my Life to help us the people I know that I know that I know that I know that and I want to tell you something he will use everything that you're going through too everything now along the way I had to learn to stop blaming I had

to learn to stop feeling sorry for myself I had to learn to stop being bitter I had to learn to truly forgive and boy the biggest test of that came the biggest test of that came when my mom and dad were elderly and not Well and God began to put on my heart I want you to take care of them the first time I heard that I was praying I rebuked the devil I thought it was a devil I did I said I rebuke you Satan I mean I thought there is no way that God

would ask me to do that let me tell you something God will ask you to do things come on I mean look at what he asked his only son to [Applause] do so here again long story short after much wrestling with God we brought him to our city we put them in a nice little house got him a car had somebody mow the grass got the groceries did everything when they got older and older we put them nursing home care and so my mom my dad and my aunt who happens to be part of the

aunt and uncle that didn't help me I'm on I now have to take care of her And so between my my mom and my dad and my aunt we've now been paying nursing home bills for 15 years for people that all Hur me but now let me tell you something my dad received Christ as a result of us reaching out to him you see I thought I thought when God told me to put them in a nice little house and take care of them I thought I was buying a house and I wasn't happy about

it Because I took what little bit of money we had and I didn't realize he was in that house 3 years and he called me over one morning my mother said your dad wants to see and he was crying and I went over and after he's now 80 years old and first time ever he apologized to me for what he did to me first time ever 80 years old and he said I'm I just want you to know that I'm sorry for what I did to you when you were a little girl And I said

Daddy would you like to be saved come on and he's crying he's on a walker and he says yes and I prayed the Prayer of Salvation with him and he asked us to baptize him 10 days later we baptized him I thought I was buying a house and I was buying a soul come on that's why that's why God wants us to be generous with what we have let let me give you an example example let's just say that you work at a place and a lady There maybe a supervisor just treats you like dirt

and it is really hard for you to be there but you feel like that's where God has told you to be okay now let's say that you've finally grown past gossiping about her and you've even gotten to the point where you can pray for her and you know do all those things Christians are supposed to do and uh now let's say that you happen to hear that her car is in the shop and it's going to be in there for a month and that she has No proper Transportation now let's just suppose that maybe God

put it on your heart to go by and pick her up every morning and take her home every night even though it's way out of your way now all of a sudden you got fruit under your leaves come on cuz see she's been making fun of your leaves she's been making fun of your Christianity but now you show up with The fruit you see you can't argue with fruit and what we need in the church is more fruit we don't need to just get together in our buildings see this is an awesome time in your

life but take it with you you got to take it out of here and take it with you that's right it's no good if you don't take it with you that's right 10 Psalm 10518 I have to show you this scripture maybe you have to have gone Through a few things to get this scripture but I love it I wish I knew what was going on with that clock but I just don't know what I'm doing and you guys won't tell me and that's not fair [Applause] what are you doing with the is that how

long I've been preaching or how long I have to Go is that how long I've been preaching thank you all right my gosh so okay how many of you know the story of Joseph and what all he went through his feet they hurt with feets we got this up because I want you to see it he was laid in Chains of iron and his soul entered into the iron now you know what that really means he hurt so Bad that those chains that were on him became like part of his soul let me tell you

something I've been through hell but I am one strong lady amen and that's what we need we need that strength we need courage we need confidence we need to personally know who God is because we've been in some situations and know that he never left us nor forsaked us Amen you can't know God through your preacher you can't know God through listening to somebody's CDs you can't know God through having somebody's books or CD you got to you got to T on to God in your Midnight Hour when it's nobody but you and him amen

that's that's when you got to get with God and get your Victory amen you know more than anything I want to see people glorify God I could tell you a million more stories but let me just end this up tonight by saying God knows right where you're at you may feel invisible but he knows right where you're at and he knows what needs to be done in your life God never does Bad Things To Us amen but sometimes he takes a little Longer to get us out of them than what we'd like and he's got

a purpose in it so instead of just get me out of this get me out of this get me out of this you got to get me out of this how about praying a new way God I know that you'll bring me out of this at the right time but while I'm in it let me get what you want me to have let me get something out of this that you want me to have the situation May stink but God is still good amen and I tell you what when you get a little more iron

in your soul yes devil better watch out because then he can't mess up your day because somebody talked about you at work and then he can't destroy your joy because somebody gossiped about you listen I had one of those big media blast attacks like Steven and this church did a few years ago and I felt for you when you were going through That but I'll tell you something you're a better man now you may not think you are but you are cuz I'll tell you one one thing the next time it happens if it does

you won't care nearly as much amen and then you'll get to like me I I wouldn't I would not even take my time to read that junk I don't read it I don't look at it you know why they don't know me and I feel a little bit like the Apostle Paul Did when he said from now on let no man bother me because I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ amen come on give God a PR Lord we love you so much we worship you and we praise you let

me pray for all of you father I don't know what each person's going through but I know we do go through things and we don't have to be afraid of them we don't even have to run from Them what we can do is say God I know you'll get me out of this at the right time I know you will because I know you love me and if there's something I need to learn while I'm in this situation then I want to embrace it and I want to learn it and I want to pass this

test because I don't want to take it over and over and over help me be the person that you want me to be I only want to be what you want me to Be in Jesus name amen thank you for having me tonight [Applause]