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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Creflo Dollar » Creflo Dollar - How to Take Possession Through Grace - Part 2

Creflo Dollar - How to Take Possession Through Grace - Part 2


Creflo Dollar - How to Take Possession Through Grace - Part 2
TOPICS: Grace

Now, in order to understand a heart that's established in grace, let's look at the opposite of a heart that's not established in grace. See, the alternative to a heart established with grace is a restless and a fearful heart. It's a heart that can't find rest. Why? Because you're always worried about, "How am I going to get this, and how am I going to do this, and how am I going to do this"? But when your heart is established with grace, all that's been settled. Grace has already showed you all of what you need comes out of grace. So if your heart's not established in grace, your heart is going to be established in restlessness, and that's what we see today.

When your heart's not established in grace, your heart is going, "Well, how am I going to do this? And what if that happen? And what if that takes place? Oh, Lord Jesus, what if I lose my job? Oh, my... I started building this. My supply is stuck on the dock. Oh, Lord Jesus. Oh, they ain't doing that. Oh, they're talking about doing it. Oh, the war. Oh, oil is $100 a barrel". You ain't worried about no barrel. You're just trying to fill your tank up. What are you worrying about a barrel? But when your heart is established in grace, you know what your heart will say? "I'll have enough to fill my tank up every time I need to fill my tank up". Why? "'Cause Jehovah Jireh, glory to God. I'll always have enough. I have faith that the grace of God is my abounding provision for my life. So whatever provision I need".

My heart is established in grace. You see that now? My heart is established in grace. But when it's not established in grace and you don't think it's a big deal to establish your heart in grace, your heart is not only going to be restless 'cause you're concerned about everything, just everything that's going on and, "Oh, Lord have mercy. Lord, they're shooting missiles from ships. My God, World War III coming. Oh, what prophet said something is getting ready to happen. Gog and Magog". You don't even know what no Gog and Magog. If your heart's not established in grace, here's the second thing you're going to see. You're going to have a fearful heart. Look at this as vantage.

When I think about establishing my heart in grace, here's what that looks like. I am going to make confessions concerning it, what I have by the grace of God. I'm going to have some Scriptures to meditate on what I have by the grace of God. I'm going to 'cause myself to respond with the grace of God. And what happens over a period of time? What am I doing? The process is establishing my heart. I'm getting my heart established in this. And so when crazy stuff goes on, out of my heart flows what grace has made available. Now, there's no magic act so there's nothing magical. The Holy Ghost is not going to just pour on you an established heart.

You know, the Holy Ghost, "Oh, God, give me an established heart". No, no, no. I appreciate you asking God to give you an established heart, but here's how he's going to give you an established heart. You take the Word, you take the promises, you take everything you are, you take everything you're learning about grace and you get it in here. You give it attention. You give it attention. You give attention to the Word of grace. Your heart becomes established in that Word, and so it's a renewing of the mind in a sense. Until you renew the spirit of your mind, and so when things happen, automatically this is how you respond, automatically this is how you think, automatically there's courage instead of fear, automatically you sleeping. Why? 'Cause your heart is established in the peace that comes by grace and not the chaos that comes by the news media and all of the crazy things that are happening in the world.

"Oh, I can't go to this place. I can't go to, 'cause they shoot. They just had a shoot down and I can't go there". Or, "They just did that. Oh, I'm scared to let my kids go school there". It's crazy. The clutter is enough to just drive you in fear and you're just like a hermit in the corner somewhere like, "I better not go nowhere. It's a full moon tonight. Oh, summertime coming. You know crime go up when it's hot". That's not a heart established in grace. So it's a process. Are you willing to go through the process to get your heart established in grace? What you give your attention to the most, that's what you're going to have the potential to establishing your heart in. I'm establishing my heart in grace, or I've got a restless heart or I have a fearful, fear-filled heart.

A believer now says, "I'm going to strive in my own power. I don't need to establish my heart in grace. I'm going to do this on my own". Lots of people in the world who have, they think they're a little headstrong. They think they're more than what they really are, and they think, "Through my own power", And people preach that. They preach self-help and, "You can do this," and encourages you. And I'm telling you I don't care who you are, you're going to need Jesus one day. Work real hard with your own effort. Get the biggest house you can. Get all the money you can. Get all your nice car as you can. Get married. Get you a trophy wife or a trophy husband.

Do all of that stuff. Do it all, and one day you're going to wake up like, "You know what? I ain't happy". 'Cause that stuff doesn't bring the joy that comes from God. It brings a temporary satisfaction and then you put happiness around it and then you pretend like you happy, but you need Jesus. You need Jesus. See, Mammon and money can buy you a house, but only God can make it a home. Mammon and money can buy you medicine, but only Jesus can heal you. You're never satisfied. You're in a cosmetic mentality where you're just cosmetically thinking that, "If I can just change myself by myself then I'm going to be happy," and you find out that you're not, you find out that you're not. And until you find the real source of happiness, which is that established heart of grace, the established heart of Jesus, you're just fooling yourself.

And you can go to church after church after church, "Well, I'm offended. I don't like that Pastor Dollar gets on my nerves". I still love you, baby, 'cause I'm learning how to love my enemies. I'm learning that. It's not enough for me to love people that love me. That's easy to do. I'm learning how to love people who don't love me, who don't like me. And I have to keep that Collipark down 'cause that Collipark want to rise up and slit... All right, now listen to me carefully here. This is so important. So as you strive in your own power, you're being accompanied by your failures, you're being accompanied with the fears of possibly being lost, your heart is not being established in grace.

So what does that cause, when your heart's not established in grace? Distress, uncertainty, fainting, giving up, caving in, quitting. But when it's seen that God's work of grace cannot fail, when you see that, because of him it won't fail. The heart finds rest at that particular point. It becomes established at that particular point, and then you become rooted and grounded, watch this, in love. I get that now. Are rooted and grounded, the roots begin to grow out. Go to Ephesians 3, you remember that, baby? Ephesians 3:17 in the New Living Translation. Ephesians 3:17, "Then Christ will make his home in your hearts". That's the same thing as your heart being established with grace. "Then Christ will make his home in your heart as you trust in him".

Can you trust that out of grace you will be strong? Can you trust that you're righteous? Can you trust that you're redeemed? Can you trust all the things that Jesus said you are? He says Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Christ will make his home in your heart. That's the ultimate of Christianity; Christ living in you, making his home in your heart. It's not finding out all the principles so you can get God to work for you. Somehow this has got to become a personal relationship. Somehow you need to get to that place where you're loving him if it seems like he's not even answering no prayer. I can't really explain, I can't really explain how I got to this particular point, but nothing matters to me right now but him. I guess he just dropped something in my thinking. I guess when you go through enough trials you quit trying to do stuff on your own, you know.

The old people used to say it like that, when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired and then one day you just say, "I give up". And heaven has a parade that day. "Yay. Finally, we can get something done". And here's the joyful thing about it. It's when that day comes and you say, "I'm done," what you're saying is, "I'm going to stop trying to make stuff happen on my own". And God will do something so amazing, like in a day or two do something you've been trying to do for the last 10 years. And then when it happens, he says to you, he whispers this in your spirit: "That's favor". If you are doing something that you can later on boast about, that's you and not him 'cause when it's him there is no boasting. For I am saved by grace through faith, there is no boasting because it's a gift from God.

But some Christians are more satisfied in, "No, no, no. God helps them that helps themselves". No. God helps those who need help, and your problem is you don't think you need no help because you think you can help yourself all this time; and what happens sometimes is on your journey to try to be successful you don't pause to look around you to see all of the people you are stepping on, disregarding, being rude to, ignoring on your journey to success. I'm so blessed. I'm so blessed, but he's not done with me yet. I've come a long way, but I'm looking forward to the finished product that he promised that he will be finishing at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will be like him and I will see him like he is. But some folks too doggone religious for you to even talk to them like this. "Reverend, reverend, you have problems"?

Every godly person has issues. The Bible says that. They that live godly shall have persecutions, but the persecutions are designed to promote maturity. Don't pray to God, "Oh, no more trials. No more trials". Just pray to God, "Help me to do what I need to do so trials are not necessary". Because they are necessary part of life to mature you as a Christian. You can't be a baby Christian all your life. You can't be a baby Christian all your life, getting offended every time somebody didn't say nothing to you, getting offended 'cause your friend didn't call you back. You're just a little baby Christian. You're mad at somebody. Who are you mad at today? You upset with this person, upset with that person. That's a bunch of baby Christians. You're doing stuff 'cause you're a baby Christian and you're just baby, baby, baby because you don't understand the purpose of a trial.

When you have a trial at a church; don't run from the church, run through the trial and enjoy the maturity that is born out of the trial. Quit church hopping every time trouble knock on your door. If trouble is knocking on your door, you still need to mature some more. I need to be a rap singer. That's what... you do know that, right? You're never going to be void of trouble 'cause you're always going to be growing until you see Jesus. So quit gossiping. Quit being mad at everybody. Quit playing the blame game. Get out of the circle. Quit walking in guilt and shame. Quit getting upset with all your leaders. "Well, I don't know what qualified them, and I don't know why they let them do this and don't let me", that's baby talk. It sounds like this in heaven, goo-goo, gaga. And you think you intelligent. Just whine. "Why? Why"?

See, down here you're like, "Why"? But up there it's like, "Why? Why"? If I can't bring this into a practical position for your life so that you can understand what I'm saying, why go over the Scripture if I can't bring it to where you live? You follow what I'm saying? So now when I go home, you begin to think, "I need to get my heart established in grace. I need to let Jesus make a home in my heart, and I need to start trusting him". And then what he says? He says if you'll do that, your roots will grow down into God's love. "Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong". So what's the testimony I want heaven to be familiar with when I die and I go home to be with the Lord? Is it, "Lord, I fed 5 million people. Lord, I delivered 30 cities from homelessness".

Is that what I really want them to know? Am I going to be coming into heaven announcing my good works? No. Whatever you did down here is what you were supposed to do. That was expected of you because good works should be born out of love. Any works that you've done and it wasn't born out of love is not received. If you did good works 'cause it was good works, get your name in the paper or get somebody to talk about you or pat you on the back, you ain't going to hear nothing about that when you get to heaven except it wasn't born out of love, and you can tell when somebody do something not born out of love 'cause you get offended, you get upset.

If it was out of love, you just doing it out of love. You're not sitting up there talking about, "Church folks just get on my nerves talking about they're going to be there to help and they don't ever show up. I know now". You're not doing that out of love, you're doing that out of self. So what is the thing I want them talking about? I want them to say, "His roots grew, and he learned how to love people. He learned how to love enemies. He learned how to love friends. He learned how to love". Teach me how to love. Where's your failure? It's where love is.

I told the story this Wednesday me and Taffi were talking. I came in our office and I said, "I feel like we need to", and then I said, "I feel like from God that we need to change how we're framing love when we talk about it's not enough". 'Cause, you know, in some relationships they say, "Well, love's just not enough". You know, in the famous song, "What love got to do, got to do with it? What love", it's a second hand, and that's the problem. It's not an emotion. Love is not enough when in fact it's not love that's, he says, "I'm love". God is love. "Yeah. But you know the different kinds of love". That's what you say. He said God is love.

And so what's not enough is communication is not enough. Maybe sex in marriage is not enough. Maybe your commitment is not enough. Maybe all your works is not enough. But when everything becomes satisfying, it'll be called love. It's not that love's not enough, it's all that other stuff that's not enough. God is love, and that's how you need to be saying this. God is love, and he is enough. I wish we wouldn't even call the other stuff love. God is love, and he is enough; and God is enough to help you with your communication, to help you in your sex life, to help you in your commitment, to help you in all of those things that are not enough 'cause God is enough, which means love is enough. And he said to me, "Stop saying love is not enough".

Now, you know, people have their own opinions, but that's fine. But I'm going to work that out of my vocabulary to say, "Well, God is love. God is love. God is love. God is enough. God is love. God is love. God is enough". If I even get my heart established in that, that by itself will begin to help all of those other things that are not enough. Now, certainly there are lots of things that people do in their marriage that's not enough, but it's not God. "Well, I got saved and I went to church and she's still talking foolish". That never works. Somebody gets saved and you think they're supposed to change 'cause they got saved.

Now you got to renew your mind in all the stuff that was missing. You got to learn how to be committed. You got to learn how to communicate in your sex life. You got to learn how to do those things that are not selfishly motivated. God's enough. It's quiet in here. Can you see that? God's enough. He's enough. If you understand the true essence of who he is, he's enough. And if you spend time with him, he'll start talking to you about the stuff that's not enough. Love will help you to increase in those areas that's not enough.

Love will tell you, "Every time you come in the house, you got something negative to say about your wife. When are you going to start saying something positive about her"? "Well, I'm trying to communicate". That ain't how you communicate, being negative all the time. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 28 in the King James, Hebrews chapter 12 and 28 in King James. I always struggled, in traditional church I struggled with I'm serving God, but is he accepting it? Is it acceptable? And I'll cut the grass in the church, and I'll wash the vehicles in the church, and I'll play the piano in the church, and I'll preside in the church, and I'll do all the things I need to do and I still had questions.

"Is this acceptable?" He said, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and respect and with godly fear". What I didn't have was the grace established in my heart to know that he accepts it. It's born out of grace. It's born out of love. It's acceptable. What I was doing before was, you know, I didn't know that I could have grace, but I knew you're supposed to serve God but I didn't quite know how to do that. But motivated by love and out of love: all your things that you do on this earth, if it's not born out of love, that's the only way it's not acceptable. But he's given us grace so it can be.
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