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Joyce Meyer - The Help Of The Holy Spirit


Joyce Meyer - The Help Of The Holy Spirit
TOPICS: Holy Spirit
Joyce Meyer - The Help Of The Holy Spirit

Father, we thank you for the word today. And I approach this subject with reverence. Your Holy Spirit is holy and awesome, and we would never want to misrepresent him in any way. So, thank you for helping me today, and for bringing out what needs to come out, and for helping people to understand it in Jesus' name, amen.


Today, we want to talk about the Holy Spirit, our helper. Now, we all need help, amen? Sometimes, though, there's a bit of prideful stubbornness that doesn't want to ask for it. And the first thing that we need to know about God is that we can't presume and assume that he's going to do something. The Bible says you have not because you ask not. Now, that doesn't mean that God will never help you if you don't ask, but asking God to do things for you can produce so many more blessings than what you would see if you just didn't ask God to do them. And I think a lot of times, we think that God's not interested in the little things in our life, but to be honest, he is interested in all the little things because, to be honest, everything is little to him.

See, there's no issue or problem that you have that is not little to God. So you can go ahead and talk to him about helping you fix your hair, helping you cook your dinner, help me keep a good attitude while I clean out this garage. You know, whatever the case might be. Now, I have people that help me, and I am grateful for the people that help me. Like, I have an administrative assistant that helps me. She'll make phone calls for me, she makes appointments for me. I have pastor Mike, who helps me up here in the pulpit, and that's been great for me because for most of the last 28 years, I did it all by myself. And so, maybe some of you, when you listen to that, you think, "Well, man, I'd like to have that kind of help". How many of you would like to have an assistant that just... Okay, now I've got you right where I want you. Because the truth of the matter is you do.

Now, obviously the Holy Spirit's not going to do your dishes. He's not going to clean out your closet for you. But he can give you the grace to do it with a good attitude. He can give you the energy, the physical energy, the zeal, the passion. He can give you whatever you need to do whatever you need to do in life, amen? And I don't know about you, but I lived a long time as a Christian, just really the only time I really prayed about anything other than my little set prayer that I prayed every day, which kind of went something like, "Forgive me for my sins. Help me be a good wife. Help me be a good mother. And above all, help me be a good Christian because I know if I can do that, then everything else is going to be okay".

And I prayed that same little prayer every night for I don't know how many years. But I've learned that I can pray about anything and everything. And boy, once I found out that God was willing to help me with anything I was willing to ask for, and that he's able to do greater things than what we can even ask for, I got over any fear that I had of asking because I always thought before that you only wanted to go to God with the big emergencies. See, that's one of the great things about being filled with the Holy Spirit, and understanding that the Holy Spirit is a person who is committed to you, who is in you and with you all the time. And that Jesus sent him, the Bible says, to be in close fellowship with you.

Let's put up John chapter 16, verse 7. Let me read it to you. "However, I'm telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away". Now, Jesus said, "You're going to be better off if I go away. Because if I do not go away, the comforter (the counselor, the helper, the advocate, the intercessor, the strengthener and the standby) will not come to you into close fellowship with you, but if I go away, I will send him to you to be in close fellowship with you".

Now, think about that. That was a thing that was so life-changing for me when I received the fullness of the Holy Spirit back in the 70's was that my relationship with God was greatly changed and altered because I felt a closeness and a nearness to God that I had never felt before. And I think that's one of the things that the Holy Spirit does for us. He brings us the reality of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and he brings us the reality of God the Father. He causes us to understand and know that we've been adopted by God as his own children. He's referred to as the spirit of adoption. And so, we need to get busy asking him for all the help that we need.

Help in the Webster's 1828 dictionary, which is a great dictionary because Webster was a great man of God, and this dictionary's old enough before everybody started fooling around with the definitions and changing them to their liking. So this is, and a lot of his definitions, and you can buy that dictionary, by the way, if you want to. A lot of these definitions are based on scripture. So, the word, "Help" in that 1828 version says, "To aid, to assist, to lend strength, to help a man in his work, to help another in raising a building, to help one by paying his debts, to help the memory of the understanding". I don't know about you, but I need the memory and the understanding. "To lend means a deliverance to help someone in distress, to help someone out of prison, to relieve, to cure, to mitigate pain or disaster, to remedy, to change for the better, to prevent, to hinder an attack, to help forward". And it just goes on and on and on and on.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting even more excited that I've got the help of God in my life. So, I think one of the greatest prayers that we can pray is, "God, help me". God help me, let's all say that, "God help me". You don't sound serious enough, c'mon. Psalm 10:14, "You have seen it, yes, you note trouble and grief, (vexation) to requite it with your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to you: you are the helper of the fatherless". Now, so that's good because if you never had a father, then you can just no longer think that that's a deficit in your life because you do a have a Father, the greatest Father of all, and he is the Father to the fatherless. I love Psalm 27:10, "Even though my mother and my father have forsaken me, the Lord will take me up and adopt me as his own child".

I didn't have good parents. I didn't have parents who knew how to love me. One of them abandoned me, the other one abused me. And so, I don't know what all that does to a person, but I know that whatever it did do, God has come in and made up for it, and he's given me a double recompense, a double reward for my former trouble. See, here's the thing, and maybe this will help somebody. With God on our side, there is never any real reason to feel sorry for yourself. I sometimes, 'cause you're like "well"...

Self-pity is the most useless thing in the whole world. It just does not do anything, nothing. Boy, I tell you what, mmm... When I was trying to overcome all my problems, I was addicted to self-pity, and I would get into these spells, and I would want Dave to feel sorry for me. And I remember him looking at me and saying, "I am not going to feel sorry for you because that is not what God wants me to do". And I thought, "You don't know anything about God at all. He is the father of pity, and sympathy, and mercy". Oh, I would get mad. But you know what? It really was true. And although I don't think I ever remember being any madder than when he would tell me that. It was true because self-pity just kind of keeps you in it, you know.

But the thing you got to come to is, okay, it wasn't fair that this happened to me, it wasn't right that this happened to me, but God is on my side. And if I will trust him and do things his way, he will be my vindicator, he will make it up to me, and he'll give me a reward. But now, please listen to what I'm going to say. We all get excited about getting a reward from God. But the way we get that reward is by doing things his way. You're not as excited about that as you were the reward part.

Psalm 12:1 says, "Help, Lord", I think this is possibly the most powerful prayer that we can pray.

Psalm 27:9 says, "You have been my help".

Psalm 38:22, "Make haste to help me, o Lord". I like that one. "Hurry up, help me and hurry up about it".

Mark 9:22, "Have pity on us and help us, o Lord".

Mark 9:24, "I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief".

Hebrews 4:16, "Come boldly to the throne and receive the help that you need in plenty of time to meet your need".

In Hebrews 13:6, "You are my helper".

Now, you know, I'm sure that we can all think of tons and tons of things that we can ask God to help us with, and that's great. Cut loose, ask him for all the help that you need in any area. "Help me get a job". "Help me get out of debt". "Help me get a nice new car". "Help me get a husband". "Help me not to have a husband". No, that one's not on here. "Help me get this job done". "Help me preach good this morning, Lord". I mean, help, help, help, help. But I want to talk to you today about one specific area of where I want all of us to start crying out to God for help. "Lord, help me do the right thing".

See, I think we probably don't pray that one quite often enough. It's very easy to ask God to help you get the things that you want. That's real easy for me. But when I ask God to help me do the right thing, I have to first want to do the right thing. And I have to be willing to do the right thing, even if it's not going to be easy. And can I tell you something? This is a good statement for you to remember, "Obedience almost always brings pain before it brings pleasure".

I think I need to say that one more time. Obedience almost always brings pain before it brings pleasure. And I'm talking about, like, pain in your soul, in your emotions. It's like, you know, even to go and maybe you've had an altercation with somebody, and they're not making a move to make things right, and so you happen to come across Matthew 5:9 that says, "Be a maker and a maintainer of peace". "Oh, I wish I wouldn't have read that". And right away when you read it, the Holy Spirit uses it, and you know that you need to humble yourself and go make peace with this person. Well, now that's going to hurt. Now, your flesh is gonna feel the pain. But after that, ah, 'cause there's nothing, nothing better than knowing that you have done the right thing.

Joyce: Well, the Holy Spirit is a tremendous blessing in our lives, not only as one who is there to help with our practical needs, but who also helps in our spiritual journey. Ginger joins me to discuss more about the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to, by the grace of God, answer some of the questions that you've sent in.

Ginger: I think we got some great questions today. Talking about the Holy Spirit, it is one of those supernatural things, that it's hard sometimes, to make sense of it in our brain. So, these are great questions. Sandra, from North Carolina, says, "How do you know the Holy Spirit is in you"?

Joyce: Well, first of all, you know, because God said it. So, we believe it even if we don't feel it. And I am always careful about using the word experience because not everybody experiences everything the same way. But you can also have an experience in your life of knowing that you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. And so, but mainly we should take everything by the Word of God. Jesus said, when he left the earth, he told his disciples, "I'm going away", and he actually said, "You're going to be better off when I leave". Which, I'm sure, made no sense to them, because he said, "I'm going to send you another comforter. He has been with you, but he will be in you". And so, he sent the Holy Spirit, Jesus was in a human body, and he was like us, he could only be with one person at one time. But the Holy Spirit is not captured in a physical body and he can be with everybody, meeting everybody's needs, strengthening everybody at the same time. And so, that's one of the things that's so wonderful about the Holy Spirit.

Ginger: So, is it automatic that the Holy Spirit is in everyone?

Joyce: Well, I believe that because, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one, when you receive Jesus, you also receive the Holy Spirit. But I believe there is a difference, I like to put it like this, in me having the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit having me, you know? You can be, the Bible talks about being filled with, or being baptized in the Holy Spirit. And when anything is baptized, that word means, "to submerge". So, if it's submerged, it's also filled. That can happen at the time that you're born-again, it can happen at baptism, but for some people it comes as a second experience. You're born-again, you have the Holy Spirit, but are you full of the Holy Spirit? I say it like this. Do you just have enough of the Holy Spirit to keep you out of hell? Or, have you released your entire life to him, and you're letting him be involved in everything from your entertainment, to how you dress, to who spend your time with. See, there's a big difference in just going to church on Sunday morning and worshiping Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and singing songs about them, that compared to doing life with him, is a whole different thing.

Ginger: Yeah, that's good. Alright, here's another question. "How do I develop a close relationship with the Holy Spirit that I can enjoy a continuous fellowship with him"? What's the best way to make that happen?

Joyce: Well, first of all, it is a habit that you form. But I think, the whole thing that I say all the time is, you know, are you doing life with Jesus or are you just going to church? So many people, "You say are you a Christian"? "Well, I go to church", and they'll tell you what church they go to. Jesus didn't die so we could just all have our own brand of religion and go to some church, and spend 45 minutes, to an hour, hour-and-a-half, depending on the length of your church service, and then just forget about him the whole rest of the week until you go back the next week. He's not just for emergencies. You know, he's not just, "Oh, you know, I have a problem I can't solve". We're in emergency mode all the time whether we know it or not. And without God, we are gonna be in big trouble every, single day. So, it's a matter of putting him first in your life. And I recommend, beginning to talk with the Lord from the moment that you wake up in the morning, you know? I was reading something by brother Lawrence this morning, and he's the man who, is said to have, you know, lived his life practicing the presence of God. And he talks so much about that closeness. And he said when he wakes up in the morning, he says, "Well, Holy Spirit shall we get up or not"? And so...

Ginger: Yeah, every aspect.

Joyce: You know, we need to have a reverential awe for God, but we also need to realize he wants to be our friend. And that doesn't mean to bring him down to your level, but it doesn't mean that he cares about every, single thing that you do.

Ginger: Yeah, that's good. Sandra would like to know, "I've been hearing the Holy Spirit since I was a little girl. Now, I can't tell if it's the Holy Spirit talking to me, or talking to myself, my own voice. How can I tell the difference"?

Joyce: Well, interestingly enough, I read a really great book on hearing from God, by Dallas Willard. And he said, "Very often when you hear from God, it sounds like your own voice". He speaks to you in a voice that you recognize. And I really liked another word that he used. He used, "Perceiving", the voice of God. So, not necessarily like, hearing with my ears, but we can perceive what God is saying. First of all, if it doesn't line up with his word or the nature of God, you know, there's things that just, "I know that they can't be God because it doesn't line up with his word. It can't possibly be him telling me what to do". And you know, sometimes we do hear from our self. We must admit that, you know, it's very easy if you really wanna do something to convince yourself that God's saying it's okay to do it. So, we obviously need to compare that all the time to the Word of God. And he was asked a question, "How do you learn how to hear from God"? And he said, "By making a lot of mistakes". And that's true. You have to be willing to be wrong to ever learn how to be right.

Ginger: But the really good thing is, we learn so much through those experiences.

Joyce: Right.

Ginger: God doesn't hold 'em over our heads. He knows we're learning all the time and those are the things that bring us closer and closer too.

Joyce: And we should never, ever, ever be afraid or embarrassed to say, "I thought God was speaking that to me, but it's obvious that he wasn't".

Ginger: Well, that's a message for someone out there, right now.

Joyce: I hate to hear people try to force everything to be God that they thought was God. We need to be mature enough to say, "You know, I'm learning. I'm growing. I thought that's what God was telling me to do, but it just didn't work out at all. So, it obviously wasn't what God was telling me to do".

Ginger: Well, and my favorite thing is that because God loves us so much that even when we're not hearing correctly, he knows our hearts, and he redirects us, and he takes some of those things and gives us good out of the bad that could have come. So, reassuring. Vivian, from Maryland, asked this: "I'm saved for many years now. Just when it seemed things were getting better in my life, I've been stripped of everything I once had. I lost my job, my apartment, and my health. I'm doing my best to hold on, but sometimes, my faith waivers. How do I hear the Holy Spirit while so much is going wrong in my life"?

Joyce: Well, sometimes, to be honest, it's difficult. Sometimes all you can do is stand or wait in silence, and that kind of raw faith, you know, that faith that makes no sense. It's like, "Well, nothing in my life makes sense right now, but I trust God. I believe he's good. I believe he loves me. And I believe what it says in Romans 8, that all things work together for my good". And I understand how she feels, I've had so many things happen to me, in my life, that I think, "Really"? You know? You have to be so careful about things, "Well, I'm serving God, and I've done this all my life, and I've done that on my life, and now, I've got these problems". You know, Jesus was perfect and he certainly, had some problems. But I understand, it's hard to hear when you're in pain. So, sometimes, you're hurting so bad you can't even pray. And God understands that. And he will help her because even beyond what she knows how to say to the Holy Spirit, he knows her heart.

Ginger: So, what do we do during those times where we feel like we can't do what we know we need to do? We reach out to someone else? Stand, you said, "Stand".

Joyce: I think, part of it depends on your temperament, your personality, and what you need. If it's very helpful to you to reach out and talk to someone else then I think that's a good thing to do. Sometimes, the last thing we need to do, is go hear from somebody else. We need to just, you know, that there's a lot to be said for just being still and just waiting and just, people write about the joy of acceptance, just you know, "I don't like this, but I'll accept it, trusting you to take it and work good out of it". And I think, one of the things that I say is, "This won't last forever" or, "This is going to turn out good. It's going to come to an end, and it's going to turn out good". And it will. You know, all these things that she's going through, you know, our faith is tested from time-to-time. And God allows that because he already knows what we're gonna do. But like, Jesus, when he was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, he was led into that wilderness by the Holy Spirit before he started his public ministry. So, it was almost like he had to face the enemy head-on, and hang onto his faith, and believe that every promise of God was true, no matter what he felt like or what it looked like. All I know, is that it will work out for her good in the end.


Now, we know that we live under a covenant of mercy, and we know that we live in the dispensation of grace. But you know, and I know you know this, but grace is not an excuse to do what's wrong and think you can get by with it. The grace of God is the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives enabling us to do what is right. But you have not because you ask not. If we seek God with our whole hearts, we will find him. And I really want to encourage you to make this prayer part of your everyday life, and possibly pray it on and off throughout the day, maybe ten times. "Lord, help me do what is right". Can we add that to our prayers? "Lord, help me do what is right". Come on, let's all practice, "Help me do what is right".

1 Peter 2:15. And you know what? Every one of you are probably smarter than you might think you are. Because you know what? You probably know when you're not doing something right. There's probably a little conviction there. That's another benefit of being filled with the spirit is he's our convictor and convincer. You see, I hope that I'm making myself plain in having this relationship that I'm talking about. It's like there has to be an exchange between you. And so, you talk to the Holy Spirit, he shows you things that God wants you to do. You don't just make an excuse and say, "Well, that's hard. It's just too hard". You say, "I want to do everything you want me to do. I want to have this closeness with you. Help me, I cannot do it without you. Help me do what's right. Help me forgive. Help me be kind to people. Help me not to shut people out of my life because they have done things that have hurt me. Help me".

I'll tell you something that God asked me to do that was very difficult for me, and I did not do it because I wanted to. The whole 10, 15 years I did it, I didn't do it because I wanted to. I didn't ever want to. I did it because it was the right thing to do, and that was to take care of my parents when they got older, the ones who never took care of me. And you know, it really doesn't matter what your parents have done to you, you still have a responsibility before God. I mean, my father sexually abused me for years, and years, and years, and years. I mean, over and over and over, it's a very nasty story. My mother didn't do anything about it 'cause she was afraid of my dad and even... Yeah. Look at what God's done.

But the thing is, you know, when they got older, and their health wasn't good, and it was obvious they needed help, I didn't want to help them. I didn't see any reason for me to help them. I didn't want to spend my money on them. I didn't want to do that. But I knew it was right. I knew that. And even now, I have a widowed aunt, they never had any children. And when my uncle was on his death bed, I promised him that I would take care of her, and that's been like a 25-year journey. And I still go to the nursing home and see her every week or 2 weeks, and both of my daughters go on a regular basis. And you know what? There's not even that close of a relationship. But it's just right. She's my relative, she doesn't have anybody, and it's just the right thing to do.

Come on, if you want to carry a strong anointing on your life, you just really start to do what's right because it's right, and forget about how you feel about it or what it's gonna cost you. Just, "God, if you say it's right, then I wanna do what's right". I'm telling you what, the anointing of God is going to increase on your life. You are going to have so much more peace. I think your health will be better, you'll be stronger. I don't think we have any idea how much all the little things that we try to ignore pick away at our conscience. And we have to quit using the excuse, "Well, I just can't. I just can't". Yes, you can. With God's help, I can do all things through Christ who is my strength.

Now remember, pain before pleasure. 1 Peter 2:15, just three scriptures here in Peter just to show you what he says about doing right. "For it is God's will and intention that by doing right your good and honest lives should silence, (muzzle, and gag) the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish persons". 1 Peter 3:17, "For it is better to suffer unjustly for doing right, if that should be God's will, than to suffer justly for doing what is wrong".

Now, you see, I'm not even going to stand here and promise you that if you do what's right, you're always going to get an immediate reward. There are actually times when you can do what's right and it can just seem like it just blows up in your face. And I'll even go so far as to tell you this. You may have to treat somebody else in your life right for a long time before they ever start treating you right. And there's even a possibility they might not ever start treating you right. But you know what? You belong to God, and you live before him, and you're doing what's right because it's right. And let me tell you something, your reward from God will outweigh anything that you could get from anybody else. I hope you're really getting this in your heart and it's going beyond your head. I'm talking about relationship. I'm talking about living before God.

How many have ever heard of brother Lawrence, who wrote, "Practicing the Presence of God"? Okay, well, if you've never read that book, it's just little tiny. I've got a copy from 1910. And just get it and read it. It's about a monk that just practiced the presence of God. And one of the things he said is he says, "I am well pleased to pick a piece of paper up off the ground just for the love of God". This morning, when we left the hotel room, I left and I thought Dave was coming, and he didn't come, and so I'm thinking, "What are you doing? Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on". When he finally came out, I said, "What were you doing"? He said, "I was turning off all the lights you left on". Cause see, that's something that we feel like is right to do. "Well, why should I turn off the lights in the hotel? I'm paying for the room". Well, it goes back to that do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I'm telling you what, the Holy Ghost is going to mess in your lives. I mean, I don't know if you knew what you were doing when you said, "I surrender all. Come and fill me with your spirit". I didn't want to tell you this part too early. But there's no getting out of it now, things are about to be really different. But aren't you excited about that? Won't it be worth it? Cause see, now you got somebody living on the inside of you that everything you do, he's going to have something to say about it. And a lot of it's going to be, "Good, good, proud of you". But when it's not that, "God, help me. Help me do what's right". 1 Peter 4:19, "Therefore, those who are ill-treated and suffer in accordance with God's will must do right", whoo, "And commit their souls in charge as a deposit to the one who created them and will never fail them".

Let's say that you wanted a promotion on your job, and somebody else at work that you don't like, got it. And you've been there longer than them, you actually work harder than them, but they got it, and man, you're mad at them, you're mad at the boss, you're mad at the company, you're mad at everybody. "Oh God, help me when I go to work tomorrow to do what's right. Help me, God, not to be bitter. Help me not to be resentful. Help me to put my trust in you, and to believe if that was what you wanted for me, you could've made it happen. And if you didn't make it happen, then you've got something better". And then you go in, and with your flesh screaming, you go to the person who got the promotion that you wanted and you say, "Congratulations on your promotion. I'm so happy for you". And then you walk away, "God, help me keep my mouth shut".

Jesus told his disciples in John 13 about washing feet, and he really just meant being a servant to other people even in little things. And he says, "Now blessed are you knowing these things if you do them". You know, there's a responsibility in coming to church, I don't know if you know that or not. But boy, I've thrown a lot of information at you this weekend, and so now you don't get to go back home and just live the way you always have. 1 Peter 4:1 and 2, "So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us and for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God".

How many of you see that? "For whoever has suffered in the flesh", and this is not talking about suffering disasters and, you know, horrible things happening to you, and all kinds of disease. Suffering in the flesh means that your flesh is going to resist doing many of the things that you know is right to do, and so your flesh may suffer. How many of you can feel it when your flesh is suffering? Alright, I mean, you just try losing five pounds and see if your flesh doesn't suffer. It will tell you, "You're starving, you're dying, you can't do it", so. "For whoever has suffered in the flesh having the mind of Christ is done with intentional sin and has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God".

I guess the essence of what I'm saying today is I think it's time for us as a church body to get the message that the time has come for us to stop living to please ourselves and to please other people, and let's make a clean break and say, "I choose to live to please God, but I am going to need a lot of help. Holy Spirit, fill me every moment of every day and help me, help me, help me, help me not just get the things I want, but help me live to please God. Help me do what is right". Verse 2, "So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by his human appetites and desires, but he now lives for what God wills".

You know, pain, this fleshly pain is the reason why more people don't do the word. Because doing the word stretches us. I can relieve the pain by disobeying, but I also relieve the blessing that would've come through the doing. I can know that I should humble myself in a situation, but I feel no pain until I actually do it. You know, listening to me preach this is not painful, you all agree. You've even clapped and cheered at some sections. But you got to go home. You got to go home.

It was funny last night, we were coming into the parking lot, and there were other cars, and so, I mean, our driver didn't necessarily just pull out in front of this lady, but he did cut into the line of traffic. And the lady in the car goes and Dave waved at her. But see, here's the sad thing. If she would've known it was me in the car, she wouldn't have done it, but the point is we shouldn't do it to anybody. Because then that makes us a respecter of persons, which is what Jesus tells us not to do. Boy, I'm having so much fun, I can't hardly stand it. So, you're not going to really feel the weight of this message until you get up out of your seat, and somebody steps on your toe, or you get out to the parking lot and somebody cuts you off or...

Let me tell you something, when you're waiting, when you've been waiting 5 minutes for a parking place, you've been waiting for somebody to back out of it who's been sitting there, and sitting there, and sitting there, sitting there with their backup lights on, don't you wonder, "Don't you see me? And why could you not just get out of the parking space and let me have it"? And what happens to you when just as they pull out, somebody over here goes whoosh? The flesh manifests. Let me tell you something. You know that you have arrived at some high levels of spiritual maturity when you can feel this rage, and instead just say, "Bless you".

Come on, I'm telling you, you better get ready. There's going to be some stuff that ain't going to work anymore. Okay, here's a good statement for you. The gap between desire and doing is determined by how much pain one is willing to endure in order to do God's will. One more time, right? The gap between desire and doing is determined by how much pain one is willing to endure in order to do God's will. So every one of you sitting here today, I can't imagine that there's one person in here or even anybody watching by TV that you don't really want to do what I'm talking about right now. How many of you really want to do what I'm talking about right now? All right. But you still have to go home and do it.

Well, you know what? I'm just reminded right now about the man that, I don't know if he cast demons out of him or if he was blind or crippled, but he had a huge problem, and Jesus healed him. And he said, "I want to go with you now wherever you go". And Jesus said, "Go home and show them how many great things I've done for you". Cause see, the idea is not for you to get on my travel team now. But the idea is for each one of you to go back into the realm that you live in at work, in school, in your homes, in your neighborhoods, and show them, not necessarily preach to them, but show them what changes God has made in you. Amen? Whoo, Jesus.

Luke 5:1, "Now it occurred that while the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the message of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee.) and he saw two boats drawn up by the lake, but the fishermen had gone down from them and were washing their nets. And getting into one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon (Peter), he requested him to draw away a little bit from the shore, and then he sat down and continued to teach the crowd of people from the boat. And when he stopped speaking, he said to Simon (Peter), 'put out into the deep water and lower your nets for a haul'".

Now, just quickly I want you to realize that these guys have been fishing all night, they hadn't caught anything. They had brought these boats back, cleaned them up, cleaned up their nets, and now Jesus comes along with this bright idea that they should start all over and go back out again. "And Simon (Peter) answered, 'Master, we toiled all night exhaustingly and we caught nothing in our nets. But on the ground of your word, I will lower the net again'". Now, I mean, I preached whole series out of this Luke chapter 5. It's one of my favorite places in the Bible because I see something there that I think is important. Peter is basically saying, "Look, I don't want to, I don't feel like it, and I don't think it's a good idea. We've already been out there, there's no fish. We're tired, we want to go to bed. This is not going to work. But because you said to do it, I'll do it".

Come on. When it comes to this kind of relationship with God, the truth is, is we don't get to vote. Now, watch what happens. Verse 6, this is so amazing, "And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish: and as their nets were at the point of breaking, because of all the fish they caught, they signaled their partners in the other boats to come and take hold with them, and they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink". Now, here's the message. If we will do what's right and do what God says by the help of the Holy Spirit, no matter what we think, or how we feel, or what we want, then God is going to fill our boats, and fill our nets, and they are going to be so full that we're going to have enough overflow to help everybody around us and fill up their nets. Come on, it's time for a new way to live. Thank you, Jesus!
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