Creflo Dollar - Change is Waiting on you
We've been talking about the grace-given power to change, the grace-given power to change, grace that has been given to all of us. It is what we need to be able to see change in our lives. And one of the things that I began to see is that as we began to realize what Jesus has done for us, how he's made a way for us, how he's already done things for us and I kind of wonder, "Well, why is it that some people just won't allow grace to change them"? And the answer is 'cause they didn't want to change. And I began to hear things a little contrary to what Paul taught, and that is, you know, using grace as a cover up for your sin or as an excuse for your sin. Basically, a person would live a life of sin and say, "Well, after all, I'm under grace". And I dispute that. I mean, how can you? Paul says, "How can you continue in sin that grace may abound or increase in your life"?
And so one of the things that I've realized is that grace doesn't cover sin. It changes you and delivers you from it. It changes you. Titus chapter 2 begins to talk about how grace will teach you how to live a sound and a godly life. But this message is not for us to say, "Well, now that I know about Jesus". Because that's what grace is about. "Now that I know about Jesus, hey, you know, I don't have to feel bad anymore". And he don't want you to feel bad. "I don't have to feel condemned anymore". His grace will deliver you from that condemnation. But if you're still the same, I don't think you've discovered what this grace is because if grace will do anything, first, it'll start impacting your life first. And what grace will do, it won't lead you to this place of perfection where you say, "Well, I don't need God anymore".
Grace will bring you to a place where you will realize everyday how much you do need God, amen? 'Cause it's all about what he's done. It's not about what you could do, it's about what he's already done, and then you deciding to have faith in that. But change isn't change until it's changed. You can talk about how much you want to change, you can say, "I've been praying about change", but change isn't change until it's changed. And so grace is that God-given power. You've always had the power to change after you got born again. You've always had the power. But "I meet people sometime and they just don't want to. They're just not... I am what I am, and I ain't going to", Whatever. But you always you, since you've been saved, he has given you, it's like God-given power to see change in your life.
And so we've been talking about that. I think it would, probably since we had been together for a minute. The first step in this change process we talked about is, number one, out of John chapter 5 and 5 through 6. You got to have a desire to change. You got to want to change. And like I said before, your job is not to change people. My job is not to change people. Our job is to love people. God's job is to change people, amen? You love them and then you trust in God, and when they ready to change and when they want to change, they have to have that desire to change and then they'll begin to see it. And so we talked about three reasons why people don't desire to change.
And so we went to the second area, number two, stop making excuses. In other words, a lot of people don't change 'cause they keep making excuses. And I said to you I think that excuses are nothing but nails used to build houses of failure. 'Cause wherever you find excuses, you're going to find failure. And so no more excuses. No more making excuses for not changing.
Number three, we talked about actions; learning how to take immediate action and stop procrastinating where your change is concerned. We keep putting it off, putting it off, putting it off, putting it off. And we've got to be careful because, you know, there are consequences for what we do. God still loves you and you still love him in the vertical but in the horizontal, then there are consequences for sin. Sin has consequences in a person's life.
And then number four, we began to talk about perception. It's how you see yourself. And so we challenge you in that teaching, in order for you to change, you got to change the way you see yourself, you got to change your perception of yourself. You got to stop replaying your mistakes. You got to stop seeing yourself as a failure. You got to renew your mind to the new creation that you have as a result of making Jesus the Lord of your life. You got to deal with inferiority, all of those things.
And then I think, number five, we talked about never go back; learning how important it is not to keep going back to the very thing that God delivered you out of. We studied that from a Scripture that God says, "Listen, I delivered you and healed you while you had sin in your life". He says, "So, you know, don't tell me that you had to be perfect for me to deliver you. You had issues when I healed you". He said, "But don't keep going back lest you make matters worst", you know. I don't know if you know anybody like that. They just keep going back and making matters worse. God delivers them, they go back to it. God sets them free, they go back to it. And that can mean some toxic relationships. He delivers you out of it, you go back to it. He delivers you out of some substance abuse, you go back to it. And in that lesson, we talked about never going back. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Never go back". And so tonight we're going to pick up with number six, the grace-given power to change.
What do we need to do in number six? Number six involves stop waiting for someone else to do it. In other words, when change is involved, somehow we get into this thing where we're kind of waiting for somebody else to do it. We're waiting on someone else to arrive. I mean, we've got to stop that. We've got to stop waiting for someone to change before you change. You got to stop waiting for somebody to help you change. This principle is particularly relevant to people that are married and are constantly using their marriage as an excuse as to why they haven't changed. "Well, as soon as my husband changes, I'll change. As soon as my wife changes, then I'll change. And as soon as my wife begins to do what she's supposed to do, then I'll do what I'm supposed to do". You got to get away from that. You got to quit putting that on other people.
People often say, you know, "Well, if I'm going to change, who will help me"? You're waiting on somebody else. You're putting it on somebody else where you'll change. What do you mean who will help you? "Well, I need somebody to help me". You remember the guy who kept complaining about, "I don't have nobody to help me in the water". I mean, if Jesus came and said, "Your healing is there. Dude, you can roll. Roll yourself in the water". You know, 'cause you're going to be able to get out. You can't wait for someone to do it for you. God is your source and he will help you. Say out loud, "God is my source and he is my help".
You must take the first step. It begins, ladies and gentlemen, with something so powerful that we're going to talk about here. I'm really going to show you something about your mouth and I'm going to show you where that derives from. I'm going to show you about your mouth. I'm going to show you about your reactions. We do a lot of contradicting in our lives. We say, "Oh yeah, I believe", but we react like we don't. And we got to be careful not to use our mouth as like a magic stick. So we got to understand this whole deal where confession fits in and where it comes out of.
I want to start in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 13, and I want to show you how the heart and the mouth goes together. And if you are ready to see change in your life, I'm going to show you how you can stop waiting for someone else in order for you to do it. But change is really waiting on you. Change is waiting on you. You have to be the change. It's waiting on you. You can no longer wait on somebody else. Change is waiting on you. Now, here's what I'd like to start with here. He says, "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore we speak".
Now, according to this Scripture, notice what comes first. He says believe first, and notice that speaking comes as a result of what you believe. In other words, what you say is going to be based on what you believe. So likewise, when you say something that's in unbelief, you've told me what you don't believe because I believe and therefore I speak. So we have to spend more time when it comes to change evaluating what is it that we believe. Do we believe in the blood of Jesus? Do we believe that grace has given us the power to change? Do we believe? Because if you don't believe that, it's a sounding board. All we have to do is listen to you and that becomes authentic evidence of what you believe.
I preach that to myself sometimes. When something happens in my life and it moves me emotionally, I preach that. I say to myself, "If you really believed, then why are you reacting like this"? Y'all understand what I'm saying? your reaction doesn't indicate that you really believe. And before I hold anybody else responsible for it, I want to hold myself responsible for it. You're lying up in bed and you can't go to sleep and you call yourself a believer. And I'm like, "Creflo Dollar, if you really believe, you would be snoring right now. What's up, what's the problem"?
So when I find that I have a belief issue, I'm going to do one or two things. Number one, I'm going to call a fast, if it is that bad; or number two, I'm going to spend more time in the Word on whatever I'm having problems believing. Though a Word deficit will allow you to be ruled by your emotions instead of being led by the Spirit of God. And so I'm always challenging myself with that. It appears like it's getting a lot better. There's things that are happening and I say, "Okay, just a small adjustment needed. Praise God we're all right". That's indicating my heart now is in the right place. I believe in the finished works of Jesus Christ. I believe it's done. I believe he's perfecting everything that concerneth me.
And so my responses will become evidence of what I believe. Well, because I'm a human, sometimes something happen that completely blows my mind. And I'm just blown away because something like that happened, but then I have to still train myself and say, "You know what? Even though that happened, it's cool. No problem". I used to freak out when I was raising my girls. I forgot which one it was, but we had just moved and she decided to take a black ink pen and just start drawing on the walls. I couldn't believe it. I thought, "What in the world"? And then I'm like, "Well, she's a kid. She don't know". "You didn't get me paper so I used the wall". And she drew on the walls and she drew on the door and all that, and I'm treating it like it is permanent damage. It's not permanent damage. Paint. It's no big deal. Paint. There's nothing in the house.
I'm sure you guys had folks over for Christmas and stuff like that. They were running everywhere, and I had to tell myself... now, if I didn't want them somewhere, I had to lock the door. My little man cave, I locked the door on that one, so: "can we please get in"? "No". My mama would tell us no, "That ain't going to open today, baby, it ain't going to open today". And I just had to tell myself, "There is nothing that can happen that cannot be taken care of". You know, the same thing is true about our lives. Whatever happens in your life, there's nothing that can ever happen in your life that Jesus hadn't already taken care of. And you know what that does? That brings you peace, but it does more. It reaffirms the confidence that you say you have in the finished work of Jesus.
So pay attention to your reactions. Pay attention to what comes out of your mouth. Pay attention to what keeps you up at night. Praise God because I'm telling you all is well, and it will be evidence in how you choose to react. So we're no longer just talking about a bunch of church folks saying, you know, religious sayings. "Oh yes, brother, I believe". And just let something happen. Then all of a sudden, it's gone. "Oh, I have the joy of the Lord". Go outside and see a flat tire and you'll lose your joy in a moment, amen? These things are not being said to you to bring about condemnation or make you feel bad, these things are being said to you so you can constantly remind yourself of your greater need for Jesus every day.
I don't want to ever stand up here in perfection where I have no need for him. If I could ever stand up here with perfection where I have no need for him, I'm in a bad place. I always want to be in a place where I can look at my life and say, "I need you here, I need you here. I need you, I need you, I need you". I want to need him all the time. That's powerful right there. That's a powerful place to be in, where you need him. So notice he says believe first, and then speaking comes as a fruit of what you believe in a sense. Speaking comes as an offspring of what you believe. I'm trying to challenge you versus, "Well, I'm going to say it 50 times and then I'm going to make something happen".
And you're saying something 50 times that ain't even in your heart one time. You follow what I'm saying? You're saying it 50 times, but it ain't in your heart one time. You're praying, "If I can say it enough, it'll get in my heart". And there's a way where speaking is called a form of meditating the Word. Meditating the Word day and night, when you speak the Word, you meditate the Word. So that has a place. But I want you to understand your heart condition will determine your confession harvest because all confession is, is bringing what's in your heart out. So if it's not in the heart when you say it, you just transfer the reality of what's really in your heart. Because the heart is kind of like the fishing line that you throw in the pond, you relay it back up, you only going to catch what's in the pond. I said you only going to catch what's in the pond. And so that's a form of admitting something.
So I want to look at that tonight. Look at Matthew chapter 12, verse 34. This issue of it being in my heart because I believe with all my heart that we don't need to wait on somebody else to do it for us. We have the ability. Grace has given us the ability to change. This is very interesting here in verse 34. He says, "O generation of vipers". Boy, that's hard. Called you snakes. "How can you being evil"? This is a very interesting question. "How can you, being evil, speak good things"? Listen to what he's saying. He's saying, "How can you be evil and speak good things"? He says, "For out of the abundance of the heart". What works out of the abundance of the heart? The mouth. The mouth is only speaking out of the abundance of the heart.
So the abundance of your heart really generates the honest confession of your mouth. You know, I told you that speaking can be a form of meditation to get it in your heart, but you can't confuse the two. Out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth is going to speak the truth of your heart. Your mouth is going to speak the truth of your heart. And somebody says, "Well, how will I know"? When the pressure is applied, what's in you is going to flow out. You want to get juice out of an orange? Put pressure on it. Whatever's in the orange is what's going to come out, and that's where we got to be successful. It's when the pressure comes on, the right kind of juice has got to come out. But look what he says in the next verse. He says, "Out of the abundance, the mouth speak". Verse 35, he says, "A good man out of the good treasures of the", what? Heart. What does he bring forth? "Bring forth good things".
Your confession is what brings it forth. You bring forth good things. "And a evil man out of the evil treasures of his heart bringeth forth", what? "Evil things". Verse 36, "But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment". And, you know, we'll talk about, the main ones is I wanted you to see the mechanics of heart-mouth connection. That evil heart, good heart, the mouth speaks out of the heart. I like the way I just said that. The mouth speaks out of the heart. The mouth speaks out of the heart. You need to write that down. That's a really, you know, I told you before, most of the time I'm teaching, I'm searching for the right way to articulate something that I'm seeing. And the mouth speaks out of the heart. Out of the things of the heart, the mouth speaks.
So it's simply saying to us if we want to change, and I've been trying to say this a lot of different ways, we've got to see change inwardly. It's got to be genuine change. It's got to be authentic change. It's got to be the change that comes as a result of your one-on-one relationship with God, your genuine relationship with God, not you're going to church. That's cool. That's helpful. That can be a part of the itinerary, but it's really that everyday relationship that you have with God for no benefits at all.
You're not having the relationship so you can show out. You're not having the relationship so you can prove you're this great Christian. You're not having a relationship where you got to do everything in the opens to be seen. You can do things in the closet because you have a personal relationship with him and you ain't got to try to prove that to nobody. Then that which is in your heart never has the need for any validation. 'Cause anytime you do something out of your heart, validation is not needed. It's only when you are mechanically doing something that's not in your heart in the first place that you need validation to try to help you prove that you kind of believe what you really don't.
And we're living in a society and a generation that people are doing all kinds of things just to buy validation. Do you know how you going to feel one day when you wake up and you don't care about nobody's validation except the Father's? You are going to walk in a level of freedom that is going to freak people out. They're going to be doing and saying stupid stuff about you and you're just going to be smiling and saying, "How are you doing there, what, what? Yeah, okay", ain't going to bother you a bit, man. It's a freedom, it's a freedom. It's taken me time to get to that place of freedom. I just didn't know people were so mean. I didn't know Christians were so mean, and I didn't know church folks were meaner than the unsaved folks. There were folks that were full of the devil that treated me nicer than some Christian folks did. And I was shocked, but I tell you what, man.
Now I see what Jesus was saying. That one of the greatest deliverance we can have is deliverance from people so that you're never changing for anybody. You're changing because of the relationship you have with Jesus is what's giving you the desire to want to be more like him. Amen? Let's look at this Scripture. Proverbs chapter 4:23. And, man, I tell you I'm just so excited about my relationship with God. Change is near you. Say that out loud. "Change is near me". Now, verse 23, he says, "Keep thy heart". In another translation it says to guard your heart. Wow. To guard it as if you place guards in front of a gate to guard your property from intruders.
That was the intent here. To guard your heart or to keep your heart with all diligence for out of your heart are the what? The issues of... everybody got issues, right? He is saying that those issues come out your heart. I heard somebody say no. No, everybody got issues. I can prove it to you. Everybody got a issue. And it might not be one of them big issues you think, but it ain't no big or little issues. You got issues. You might be sweet as you want to, but you just talk too much. Everybody have issues. That's why we all, see, this is the thing. We need a Savior to help us with all our issues. Now think about it. If nobody had issues and we were flawless and perfect, we wouldn't need a Savior and Jesus completely wasted his time shedding his blood and going through the whole deal.
And I am learning how to unashamedly go before God and share my issues, whichever one I have that day, to say, "Lord, I thank you that you've already finished the work for my issue. Now I reach out with faith and I receive it. Now let me examine my heart". See, what we do sometimes, we kind of get up, and you have a conversation or a situation. It's all about relationships, right? And out of those relationships, you walk out, and you talkin' about, "I feel some kind of way". Well, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's somethin' goin' on with the person you just had an encounter with.
A lot of times, you'll be shocked that, when you're feelin' some kind of way, it's some unresolved heart issue. It's somethin' that maybe happened to you, and like I said Sunday, we'll talking about it more. A lot of brokenness that's unresolved and covered up only allows a false identity to come through that, and you're dealin' with your self, that might not be the real yourself. It might be the false identity that showed up as a result of you covering up the brokenness that you've never dealt with since you were eight, and so you got a eight-year-old tryin' to rule and guide your life. You 57, and got an 8-year-old, makin' decisions for you because you haven't grown past the trauma of the 8-year-old that says, "I've got to produce through this cover an identity that's not mine". Why? "Because now I'm dealin' with people, and I gotta act this way because, you know, the society is demanding, and I've gotta act this way so people can't see that I'm really hurt and I'm really broken", and all that other kind of stuff.
And I don't think that's a cool way to live. I don't wanna live like that, and so I wanna make it all right with you by tellin' you that I do this. I want to examine my heart. I wanna look at my heart, and before I ever point a finger at somebody else bein' the problem in my emotion, I wanna point the finger at me. If I'm feelin' some kind of way, maybe I need to ask myself, "Are you insecure? Is that insecurity comin' up again? Why are you feeling this way"? So don't put the finger here. What are you insecure about? And it doesn't feel good. It doesn't ever feel good for you to recognize somethin' about ya, recognize truth about you. That don't feel good. A lot of men I know, they don't wanna hear nobody, they don't wanna hear their wife tellin' them the truth. "I don't hear the truth". "Hey, I know that, but I don't wanna hear it from you right now". And your wife say, "Well, see, you need to hear it from somebody. You ain't hearin' from yourself".
And I'm tellin' you, hearin' it from yourself is probably the best place to go because all you gotta do is have a talk with Jesus, and he'll confirm it. You go to Lord and say, "Lord, this person ain't did nothin' to me, but every time I get around them, I'm feelin' some kind of way. Show me what's goin' on with me". He'll do it. I find that's the quickest prayer to be answered ever is when you're goin' and asking God about revelation about you. "Lord, I'm prayin' for them. Somethin' ain't right. Somethin' ain't holy". No, no, finger got to start here. That's freedom. Don't you understand? That's freedom for you to be able to examine your own heart, which means nobody else have to do it. And then you hold your mouth, you hold your peace, and you say, "Lord, keep workin' on me. I got this issue".
And it'll be cool when you sittin' there, see, because remember when I said your mouth is speakin' what's in your heart? I'll show you Scripture in a moment where it says, "They say it within themselves". So the mouth wasn't workin', but they were still saying within themselves. You know what I'm talkin' about? When you're saying within yourself. And there are lots of things you need to deal with, within yourself. Guard your heart. Don't let deception enter into your heart. Don't be so hurt and so broken that you would rather choose to be deceived rather than to allow the light of the truth to shine so you can get better. Who gets better without nobody givin' them feedback? Everybody needs some constructive feedback or you'll be walkin' around here in deception. Walk around here, got some silly little somethin' on, and you done convinced yourself it's awesome 'cause, one, nobody tell you about yourself. Don't come around me 'cause I love to speak truth.
The Bible says, "Speak in truth in love", amen. Who are you to decide not to obey God and not to speak truth in love? Everything, just... who are you? God said to speak truth in love. "Well, I don't wanna do that. I wanna"... who are you? He's tryin' to get you to speak truth in love, maybe just to get their attention so he can speak, but you holdin' back, and you could be a part of somebody's great deliverance and great arrival at the call of God in their life if you just do what he told you to do. Amen. Now, remember, I'm listenin'. I'm not up here talkin' about you, but I'm talkin' about us, and I'm tellin' you, it seems like my relationship with God gets thicker when I'm willing to go and judge myself and judge my heart 'cause he's there, talkin' to me. He won't let me beat myself up like I used to. I used to beat myself up real bad. He won't let me do that no more. He loves me. He say, "Now, don't go that deep. It's just this simple. Make the adjustment".
See, that's the deal I find about Christians. Sometimes you just need to make a little adjustment, but what we do, we go all the way over here. Now, like, don't go over there. You didn't need that much. Just a small adjustment. And most of the time, the adjustment is with our thinking and what we have in our heart. "Keep the Word with all diligence. Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of your heart", there's that issue. That's where that issue came from. Where'd this come from? From your heart. Where'd that attitude come from? From your heart. "Man, why you actin' like that"? It's from your heart. Now, I don't even want you to get deep, but that's... I wanna get a little bit more practical. Read on down because I'm thinkin' about, all right, so how did it get in the heart in order for it to come out the heart? And how do I get it out of my heart?
Well, look at the next verse here. He says, "Put away from thee a froward mouth", a disobedient mouth, "and perverse lips put far from thee". So now he's saying, "You know what? You gotta change what you're talkin' because that's also puttin' some stuff in your heart". It's a form of meditation, and if you're gonna speak things, speak the Word of God so those things can enter into your heart, but if you can't speak in line with what Jesus has done for you, get a revelation or shut up. You know, sometimes we just itchin', "I just got to say it. No, I know I ain't got to say it. I got to say it. I got to say it". And you said, "Dang, I said it now". Well, you not only said it, but you made a deposit.
See, every issue comes from your heart. Oh, every issue. What a revelation in my life. Every issue comes from your heart. Every time you go around and say, "I ain't gon' never be able to do that", and that comes from your heart. Like, why don't I have confidence? You were a part of that deposit. So you speak the right things, it gets in the heart. Speak the right thing, it gets in the heart. Speak the right thing, gets in the heart. Speak the right thing, gets in the heart. You know, eventually, you got enough in your heart to believe it, and then one of those times you speak it now, it's not speakin' to get it in the heart. It is speaking out of the heart. Y'all hear what I said? It's speaking out of the heart. Let me do it again. You're speakin' in the heart. Speaking is a form of meditatin' the Word. You're speakin' into the heart. You're speakin' it into the heart. You're speakin' into the heart. You speak it, it gets in the heart. You speak it, it gets in heart. You speak, it gets in the heart. Heart is full of it.
Now you're speaking it, but this time, it's coming out of the heart. Man, I wish somebody would've explained that to me. It's comin' out of the heart. Examining yourself at the end of the day, I think is important. You know, I take some time yesterday, and I had to really examine myself and said, "I responded the wrong way, God. That was in my heart, and, Lord, I said some stuff that I need to do a replacement with. I don't want that in my heart. So let me meditate in the Word. Let me cancel out what I said". If you don't examine yourself... there's somethin' about examinin' yourself at the end of the day. Look at your life. Look at what happened. Look at the deposits you made. You're not goin' to hell for makin' mistakes, but your life can be enhanced by at least examining what you did throughout the day so that you can get full of the right thing and begin to speak those things that will benefit your life. Does that make sense to everybody?
So he says, "Put away from you a froward mouth. Perverse lips", he said, "put far from thee". Look at verse 25. He says, "Let your eye look right on", turn to your neighbor and say, "right on". So now he's talkin' about "What are you lookin' at"? And this is so interesting. I never saw it like this before. He says, "So what's you look at with your eyes, it's gonna also be somethin' you see when your eyelids are closed". Whatever you're meditating on with your eyes, "Let your eyelids look straight before thee". All right, so what am I doin' all day so that, when I do close my eyes, what do I see? And you gotta be honest with that. What have you been seeing? You can correct that. Just change what you're lookin'. You can't look at things all day long and not expect to see it when your eye is closed. And then don't let it... somebody said, "I had a dream". That thing was deep, that thing in there, but it doesn't have to be like that.
I remember when my wife was tellin' me about her story of fear, and that didn't have to be, you know, a script in her life of fear. We got to change and put stuff in to get the stuff that was there. We gotta go all the way back to that first thing that you could remember, and we just gotta feed the Word, and feed the Word, and feed the Word, and feed the Word, and I'll never forget. She was preachin' a sermon one day, and she walked out onto the pulpit, and she said, "The scary lady is gone". But we knew what to do. We knew how to attack it. This is serious, this heart, the inside of a person. And look at this, verse 26: "Ponder", there it is. That's how you handle it. Ponder. That's the definition of "meditating", ponder, rolling it over again. "Ponder the path of thy feet. Let all thy ways be established". 27: "Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil". 28: "My son, attend unto my wisdom", and the Word of God is the wisdom of God, "and bow thine ear to my understanding", or to clarity.
So look at the change that takes place when you look at this heart-mouth relationship. Look at why you don't have to wait on somebody to come do it for you. You don't have to wait for somebody to change before you change. The Bible says, "Be changed how", how? "By the renewing of your mind". You can change, but you got to exchange your way of thinking, your opinions, your ideas for God's way of thinking, and God's opinions, and God's ideas, and you do that by attending to his Word and renewing your mind in God's Word. That is the most important thing you can do as a Christian. If anybody asks you, what does a, "As a Christian, I don't know why we gotta get in the Word, and, well, why's it necessary for us go to Bible study and keep hearin' the Word. I mean, you know, God saved us, and we under grace. I mean, why we gotta do all that"? Because the most important thing for you to do as a Christian is renew your mind. Why?
So you can prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Even findin' the will of God for your life is gonna be based on your renewing the mind. And I think what happens to some Christians, they start growing, they've been saved for a while, and they don't see the importance of renewing their mind with the Word of God, so they don't get in the Word. I've had two millennials to tell me over the last month, "Pastor, I'm in the Word. I'm studyin' the Word. I'm reading this book. Every break I have on my job, I get in the Word". I said, "What's the result"? He says, "Stuff is happening. My life is changing. I've been saved for a while, but I've never seen this kind of stuff happen before".
There's another guy. There's a bunch of folks, you know, "Well, I was dealin' with this situation in my life. All my life, I did everything I could to try to get delivered from it, and just by worshiping God and gettin' in his Word", he's described, "like, as if somethin' in me has turned and changed, and a desire has grown, and I don't even want what I used to want". Spendin' time in that Word, a renewed mind. The most important thing a human being can do is to get born again. The most important thing a born-again person do is renew your mind. Why? So you can see Jesus. Every study time, I see him more. Every prayer time, I see him more. Every time I understand the Scriptures, I see it more, and you know what's gonna happen? You're being transformed every time you see it more.
And one day, you're gonna look at him, and you're gon' look just like him, and that's the goal until we become his image. That's the goal. I wanna become his image. I'm so glad that I need him. Somethin' is so wrong with a man who brags about how long he's been saved, the wonderful things he's done, and, yet he doesn't need Jesus. That's just a lie. I need him. So ain't no need me comin' here with no robe on and no white collar like I'm crystal clean. I'm cleaner than what I used to be, but I just don't never not wanna need him. I mean, the life, what kind of relationship? I wanna need him. I think I spoke on Sunday and told you I began praying this very interesting prayer: Lord, show me how to live.
You can start lookin' at "Been there, did that, did that, did that over again. That was great. That was exciting. Did that", and all of a sudden, you're an empty-nester, and you did this, and you did that, and you gotta be careful now because you're thinkin', "Oh my God, I did all that and did all of that, and I'm not 70 yet, and I'm not 80 yet", and you start thinkin', "Oh, my God, what am I gonna do with the rest of", and you start panicking, you start doin' kind of stupid stuff and thinkin' stupid. I didn't wanna do that. I don't wanna get in this place and say, "Well, I guess I'll go fishin' twice a week".
You realize the biggest mistake David made was to come off the battlefield, resigned off the battlefield? He was supposed to have been on the battlefield, and you know where he was? He was on the balcony, turned into a peepin' Tom. Then he got hooked up with some lady he wasn't supposed to be hooked up with. Then he had her husband killed, and then he had his first kid, then he lost his kid, and then he tried to lie to the prophet. The prophet showed up and say, "You're the man". And then David fell on his face, like, now, with a broken heart and contrite spirit, "I need you, God. I need you". And God used him. God used him.
I'm so cool and so fine, not being the best in people's eyes. I'm so cool. I'm so good with that 'cause my focus, as I renew my mind, I'm being focused in on what really matters, the clarity of knowing Jesus, yes, yes. Rejoice because you have a free pastor. That's not often. There are lots of pastors that are not free. There are lots of pastors that are still workin' on their image, worryin' about what folks sayin', and all that other kind of stuff, and they can't even hear God 'cause they're so concerned about they're in people-bondage, and you can't deliver people from their bondage until you get delivered from people-bondage.
So who you gon' help while you in bondage? Of people. I tell you want, that social media thing, boy, I tell ya, don't let the devil use it. It can be used for good, but it can be used to really mess with you if you let it. You put on your nice little shirt, and you wanna take a picture of yourself and post it, then all of a sudden, you get these little feedback: "That's the ugliest thing I ever seen in all my life". "Girl, where you get that from? The trash can"? Now you all mad and cussin' folks out: "Yo mama got an ugly blouse on". "Who asked you"? "I ain't asked you about my blouse in the first place". And then you forgot who followin' you. I'm followin' you, and now you done cussed them out, "You blankety-blank, blank-blank-blank-blank", and it'll pop on my, "Ooh, sister havin' a day, ain't she"? Are y'all followin' me in what I'm tryin' to show you here tonight?
Let's look at the Scripture, Psalms 14:1. Yeah, Psalms 14:1. He says, "The fool has said in his heart", now, this is important. Even though it's talkin' about the fool, notice he is still speakin' from his heart. So what he says, this fool, fool says that there is no God. You might not hear him say it with his mouth, but in his heart, he's saying it. He says, "There is no God". And he talked about him there. "They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good". All this is in their heart.
So what's religion? It's when you can open your mouth and say somethin' that's not in your heart. You know, "Oh, I believe in God", but in your heart, you're saying somethin' different. And, by the way, God weighs the hearts of men. That's what he operates, he weighs the hearts of men, so what I'm sayin' is, stop lyin' to yourself. God already know true. So the best thing you could do is be naked-honest with God 'cause it ain't like you foolin' him, like, foolin' him like you're foolin' everybody else. "Well, I got a secret, and he'll never know". God knew the secret before it became a secret, amen?
Now, so words change the world. Words change the weather. Words will change your circumstances. Words will change your life. But they have to be spoken from a right place. As long as you're looking for someone to do something for you, you will minimize the power and the effectiveness of your own words. I'm not gon' do that, and I'm not waiting for somebody to do somethin' for me in order for me to make the necessary changes. God is only requiring for you to be responsible for you. I don't need to be responsible for you. "Oh, you to pastor. You ought to", no, God told me to feed you with simplicity, with the Word of God. "Feed my sheep with the Word".
My job is to love you, and to feed you, but I can't change you unless you wanna be changed. I can't do it. And when that time comes for you to change, you got to know God. He's the one that's gon' change you from the inside out. I can take you to the prayer room and lead you in a couple of confessions, but I've seen over the years, that didn't take. I took people up in the prayer room, seemed like they got worse 'cause most of the people did it, like I did it. My first confession to make Jesus Lord of my life was because I was scared I was gon' go to hell 'cause I just finished watchin' a movie, "The Burning Hell". I wasn't goin' 'cause I wanted to know Jesus. I just didn't wanna know Satan.
And then I realized that the relationship was more than stayin' out of hell. It's about a real person who wanted to live life with me, and then I found out that I can be in him, and he can be in me, and he wants to be there, and he wants to talk to you, and he wants to share with you, and he wants to share those deep, most intimate questions, and that's where the relationship starts, when you come out with a answer, and you know it didn't come from your brain. You're just not that smart. God will say somethin' to me, and I'm like, "I know that's God 'cause I don't know how to use them words like that". He'll say somethin' so profound, and I'm like, "Oh, what that"? And I'm thinkin', "Ooh", like, I'm Shakespeare or somethin', like, "Where'd that come from"? That's what he wants. That's what he wants more than anything. He wants you.