He says, the weapons of our warfare, now
I've said this to you before, and I'll
say it to you again.
If you're unaware of the spiritual warfare we're
in, that's unfortunate.
Because we're in battle, we're in war.
And every time I turn on the TV,
I kind of feel like I'm losing it.
So I thank God for, where'd my missionary
go?
Where is she?
Oh, she's right here.
He says, we're in a battle.
I said to you a year ago, I
said to you about a year ago, I
was under such darkness.
And under such a, see we don't think
Christians can be, you know, and, oh, now
the theologic is correct.
But to be honest with you, when you
have no control over your thoughts, when you
cannot focus on anything, I couldn't focus on
the word of God to save my soul.
And so, I said this to you, I'm
going to say it to you again, it's
important.
I would not have, it gave me a
whole, I could not, someone said, tell us
how you got out of that.
I didn't get out of it.
I did not get out of it.
It was, it was the part, do you
have any idea how important you are to
each other?
Satan does.
He has a vested interest in destroying the
body.
I came away from that with a whole
new appreciation for my sisters and brothers in
Christ, that actually are on praying ground.
You know how I'm talking about, I don't
believe that, that are on praying ground, that
actually pray, and that God actually hears.
So, you're on praying ground, I need you.
So, I haven't said that, he says the
weapons of our war for me.
Exhausted itself against the knowledge of God.
I said, well, who are these weapons?
It's to win.
I'm in this to win.
Period.
I hope you are.
So, I want to know, what are these
weapons that I, I'm going to win.
I can't stand losing.
It kills me.
I have given you this week, several things
that work every single time for me.
And I'm not going to go back over
them.
Prayers that God has answered every single time.
All based on scripture, all based on the
word of God.
Things that always worked for me, they'll work
for you.
So, having said that, what are these weapons
that bring us success, that are so powerful
that every preacher just, you know, he wants
everybody sitting on the edge of his seat,
just spellbound.
You know, just, I want to get you
on the edge of your seat.
I want you to be spellbound.
I want to bring into chapter, everyone your
thoughts.
That's how, I want that.
So, what is this stuff that, what, what?
Can you get on with it?
We're waiting.
To start with, what I just spoke was
the truth.
So, I'm going to give you two things
that I think, well, three things that I
think God's talking about there.
And he says, these are your weapons.
Number one, the obvious Holy Spirit.
We all got that.
But you shall receive power after the Holy
Ghost has come upon you.
And you should be with the seven people
who do, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and under
the other most parts of the earth.
You're all holy persons.
He says, you're going to need power.
You are going to need that.
Stay right where you're at.
Don't move until Stay right here.
Don't move until you have received power from
my spirit.
You're going to need it.
Trust me, in this battle, you ain't going
to win without it.
You need the filling and the fullness of
God's spirit in this battle.
You will not win this battle.
The flesh cannot win this battle.
And all of us preachers, at some point
in time, have tried that.
We're going to fake it until we make
it.
Right?
Boy, do you know how quick that gets
you in this business?
Guys, bring me back.
Would you guys bring me back?
This pulpit keeps me accountable.
I don't have enough discipline.
I hate to confess that.
I lack the discipline.
So I have deliberately put my in accountability
place.
It's this pulpit right here.
Ministry will put you in a place of
accountability.
You know, plastic won't cut this.
Plastic won't get it.
Put yourself someplace.
You don't have the discipline.
Stupid.
You make me a blasphemy.
I really don't care.
I don't have enough discipline.
So I put myself someplace where I have
to have discipline.
I know that sounds like the chicken's way
out.
But it works for me.
You do whatever you want with it.
I wish I was a more disciplined person.
I just am not.
So to compensate for that, here I am.
And guess what I had to do this
afternoon?
Study and pray and pray for you.
I had to do that because I have
to do that.
Never mind.
I got to move on.
That's not my message.
If you're having problems, put yourself someplace where
you're accountable.
Some people say, well, I joined a ministry
group where I'm accountable.
Hang on.
Go get ministry.
Go do something positive.
I'm going to sit around and be accountable.
Now, which one of these did you just
lie about?
My son went to that.
You want to go to that the rest
of your life?
Put yourself in a place where you're of
some positive use for God that makes you
accountable.
It works.
Trust me.
Did I say that?
It works for me.
Why not work for you?
It works for me.
I know self-righteousness has work for.
So I can't say this will work.
I'm just telling you what works for me.
Number two.
The weapons of our warfare are not carceral.
The first one is just Holy Spirit.
And when I came to you, I was
with you in weakness and fear and in
much trembling.
That doesn't sound like a powerful man.
Weakness and fear and much trembling.
I declare nothing on anything among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And my speech and my preaching were not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the spirit and the power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of men, get this, but in the power
of God.
That's all I care about.
I don't want you to get all huffed
up.
All of us preachers realize, revved-up preachers,
I can get these kids going.
It won't last long without the Holy Spirit.
I can sell ice to an Eskimo.
I can.
If I thought he needed ice, I can
get it to him.
That isn't what we're talking about.
Amen?
We're talking about something.
I want your life to be so full
of the Spirit that it touches somebody.
For eternity.
Amen?
Okay, having said that, I've got to move
on.
He says, okay, first of all, you're going
to need my spirit to do this.
Paul says, he acknowledges that your faith in
God's hand is in the power of God,
the Spirit of God.
You're not a flesh, but in the Spirit.
So be the Spirit of God.
Dwell in you, if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his.
Are you with me?
So, listen.
Okay.
Number two.
How does the Holy Spirit work?
He does not work in a vacuum.
I wish, I wish this was call down
fire from heaven kind of stuff.
Wouldn't that be nice?
That's what Satan's going to do.
He's going to say, you mock me and
fire is going to fall from heaven.
He has the power to call fire down
from heaven.
Read it.
I wish I had that.
Some kid steps out here and he smocks
him.
Yeah.
Oh, go up there, bonehead.
And here comes the lion skin.
Here comes the bear skin.
We're not doing this.
Put the bears on now.
I'll tell you what.
I was smart in the whole workshop.
I'll make believers out of all of them.
That ain't how this works.
That's not how it works.
We have something better now.
We have this little book right here.
I know I've hit this a couple times,
but I felt very first today to hit
it one more time.
How much of this book have you hidden
in your heart?
How much time have you spent in it?
Able to defend.
Can you defend this?
How much of this do you know?
How much of it have you hid in
your heart?
Now, stay with me.
Please just stay with me.
I'm going to try to communicate this to
you.
I said this to you this morning, and
I'll try to say it to you again.
You do not forget the things you've learned.
If you've forgotten them, you did not learn
them.
So, if you have forgotten them, you did
not learn them.
But the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit,
quote, shall come in my name.
So that He will teach you all things.
And one of the things, He will bring
to your remembrance what sort of things I
have taught you.
Amen.
Please put the Holy Spirit to work in
this.
He wants to help you with this.
And you say, well, this is just a
phrases reading.
How many times, how many times have you
said, man, I wish I knew what the...
I wish I had at my fingertips what
God has to say about that.
Never mind.
I just have to trust God with this.
I decided one day...
I walked into a parts store.
And this is a junkyard.
Oh, no, they call it auto recycling now.
I want a part.
And this 19, 20-year-old kid in
a junkyard, they have to go every part
for every vehicle.
It's not just Ford, it's not just Chevy,
it's a Jeep, it's everything.
And this kid, by heart, says, that's a
3708 standing back there on the left.
And I said, boy, this kid knows his
stuff.
I'll bet he just sold one of them.
I talked to his boss.
He used to be my board chairman.
He said, that kid knows every part in
this building.
He knows the number of every part in
this building.
And I don't know my Bible.
I can walk in there and that kid,
that kid, he knows the business he's in.
He doesn't have to go...
Now these kids don't have to go to
computers.
They ain't got the clues.
It ain't the computer they can't find before
it drives me nuts.
That young, that drives me nuts.
And if they're computers now, I can't help
you.
I've been to places you wouldn't even believe.
It's set right there, kid.
Sorry about the young folks, but it drives
me nuts.
That's the truth.
It does happen to all of you.
You've got the eyes in your hands.
I don't know how it works.
It's not in the computer, really.
This is wrong.
This should not be asked when it comes
to God.
Don't you know what he says about that?
Don't you know what he thinks about that?
You're supposed to know what he says.
You're supposed to know what he thinks.
You're supposed to...
No.
Doesn't know.
I said this to you.
I'll say it to you one more time.
What is wisdom?
Now somebody said the fear of the Lord.
Well, that's the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom...
See, the reason it's the beginning of wisdom
is because the man that fears God is
listening.
If you don't fear God, you won't listen.
I've had to take my kids to blackmail
a few times and say, Are you listening?
Did you hear me?
And if you don't, I'll help your hearing,
son.
If any man hath ears to hear, let
him hear, but let him take heed what
he hears.
For he that hath ears to hear...
I can't go so fast, my mouth goes
faster than my brain.
You know how important hearing is?
If any man hath ears to hear, let
him hear, but let him take heed what
he hears.
For what measure he measure is to be
measured on the end, and on the end
I'll hear him more.
I'll keep talking if you keep listening.
That's what God says.
And I'll shut up if you quit.
That's how important hearing is.
Why?
Bringing into captivity every thought to the means
of what?
The mind.
See, this has to do with our thinking.
This has to do with our mind.
God says, I want control of your thoughts.
Are you listening?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my words...
Heareth what?
My words.
And believeth in him as ever he hath
ever acted like, and shall not commit a
judgment but his past will death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour
is coming, and now is, in which the
dead shall hear the voice of God, and
they that hear shall live.
Do you have any idea how important it
is that you're hearing?
And what is it that you're hearing?
The voice of the Son of God.
Listen, I don't want just the mind of
Christ.
I don't want just the power of Christ.
I want the words of Christ.
Are you with me?
As it is written, The eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath the ear
been to the heart of man, as the
face of God is present and beloved.
But God has revealed them unto us by
His Spirit.
For the Spirit serves with all things in,
the deep things of God.
The natural man receiveth not the things in
the Spirit of God, for they are foolish
as others, neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually served.
For who hath known the mind of the
Lord, that he might instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
Is that right?
I can think.
I can see.
I can see you as God sees you.
I can see the world around me.
Now I'm wise.
Now I need one more thing.
I can see you as God sees you.
I can see the world around me as
God sees it.
I can see my own heart as God
sees it.
I need one more thing.
I need to be able to communicate with
these people.
The gospel is...
You know, I don't agree with Francis Schaefer.
I know he's...
Further holy walks on holy water.
First I think if Francis was here, he'd
say amen to this.
He's the one, and some of you guys
quoted him, you said, well, Francis Schaefer said
there's a lot of good sermons and some
of them are preached.
You know what the church has done with
that?
Something Francis Schaefer, I don't think he ever
attended a church, he was, well, I don't
really have to tell him, but I just
have to live it.
Really?
Yeah, I'm just going to live it.
Well, that's good.
Go and live it.
Yes.
But your neighbor ain't going to say why
you're just living it.
That's right.
There is power in the gospel, or this
book is not true.
He has to hear it.
Faith comes by hearing it, hearing my heart.
The word of God.
I'm not going to be late with this,
because this is going to be short.
I'm going to leave this with you.
I'm going to say it again.
See, see, see, I want to be able
to, I
want the world to know what God has
to say about this.
Now, what Gary has to say, it ain't
worth five cents, but what God has to
say, is eternal.
We are born again, not of corruptibles.
He could have been corruptible.
How?
By the word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever.
Put it in your heart so you can
share it with somebody.
Of His own will be God.
He hath put the word of truth, that
we should be a kinder person unto His
creatures.
Wherefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflowing worthiness,
and receive what becometh things, which is able
to save your soul.
Amen?
I got a shout out.
You ain't got the point, but now there's
no point for you, the rest of the
New Testament.
Because that's about 20 verses right there, all
in a row.
Spirit, hear me.
Okay, I said this, the weapons obviously are
His Holy Spirit.
You better be spirit filled.
You better have the fullness of the Spirit
of God in your heart, in your life.
It'd be kind of handy if you knew
what to say.
It'd just be kind of handy if you...
People are always saying, what would Jesus do?
I said, what would Jesus say?
It's good to know what Jesus would do.
It's really good to know what Jesus would
say.
Are we all on the same page?
Last of my three points.
Let's consider one another for both unto love
and good works, not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, but exhorting one another in so
much more that you see the day approaching.
Now the assemblies have figured out how to
assemble.
You all are real good at that.
Don't you guys ever see those parallels in
Scripture?
Take it off.
I...
I'm sorry, but I...
Anyway, you see...
Oh, I know something I forgot.
Thank you, Lord.
What did He tell us?
He said, These words which I command this
heart to read in a book somewhere, on
the wall of your desk somewhere, to read
in heart.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children and shall speak to them.
When you sit in the house and are
walking by when the light is down and
the light is up, He said, And put
them as a sign upon your hand and
as a promise between your eyes.
Write them upon your doors or your doorposts
and educate, He says, and if you look
at it, you go to Israel today, any
Orthodox Jew you see, they take that quite
literally.
They wrap their hands up, they put the
philosophy in.
Every hotel room in Israel has a little...
What is it called?
What's it called?
What is it called?
Where are you, they keep the scripture in.
And you know, here's what's sad, they think
that's what God meant.
Don't get me wrong here, I just think
God said, you know, I think He's trying
to say, Hey guys, I want this to
be everywhere you look.
I want to be everywhere you look.
I want to be a part of every
single solitary thing.
You can't teach your kids, wait a minute
kid, wait a minute kid, I got to
run home and get my Bible and open
this up.
these words which I have commanded to say
shall be in your heart.
Put them in your heart.
I'll leave that with you.
See, these are not just for preachers.
These are for everybody.
And you have a hard time learning, employ
the Holy Spirit.
He said, I'm going to help you with
this.
I'll leave that with you.
And as I said, I don't learn scripture.
I'm just reading.
I'm just looking out for things back here.
I know right where that line is.
If I put it in your mind, I
shouldn't become so familiar with it.
It's that, you just know where that's at.
Hey, don't tell me you can't do that.
I say to my wife, where's that?
And she says, she hollers, it's three rows
down and right on the corner and it's
on her too.
She knows right where it's at.
Three.
She walks out of my shop, she says,
where on earth are your Biscuits?
I said, they're right over there behind that
pile of junk on the street.
So, don't tell me you can't do that.
I'm going to go back to this love
thing because I want to close that.
Scripture says, you know what?
See, all that stuff I've been telling you
about, all that reconciliation stuff, all that going
out and sharing Jesus, everything, everything has got
to be based on love.
It will not work.
You know, the other day I had two
phone calls in the same day, which I
think, I said, I'm starting to hear you,
God.
You know, two phone calls the same day,
I'm getting.
A boy called me up and said, do
you remember me?
I said, you know, honestly, I don't.
What's your name again?
So, he told me his name again.
I said, why should I remember you?
He said, well, I said, I remember you,
I'll never forget you.
Well, I don't mean his dog or his
cat.
I don't know.
Break your leg off my road here either.
Why would you not forget me?
He said, you know, I was, at first,
when he started off, I started a couple
Christian schools and then I was a principal
and you come and
I started thinking, I'm going to tell you
you did last week.
Yeah, he told me that last week.
He says, you're the first person never told
me that.
He said, I don't remember anybody telling me
that since.
He said, I'm going to get married.
And the girl I'm going to marry, somebody
needs to tell her.
He said, I know in my heart.
He said, she doesn't.
She argues with me every day, but he
said, if you would tell her, Jesus loves
her, if you would tell her, she might
believe you.
And a couple of days later, a lady
called and she said, you know what I
love about your husband?
She said, he dominates me every week.
I mean, he just loves me.
And I started thinking about that.
And my wife said to me, she said,
you know, I don't know.
He's five minutes in my time.
And these are all adults now.
In fact, these are all people getting married
in their thirties.
This is all when they were in the
first, second grade.
Two people, two different places, two different times,
but they both said the same thing about,
oh, you're a good looking old preacher.
You know, man, you fire right up there.
You're a fired up preacher.
I remember you.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You love Jesus.
And you love me.
Sometimes we get this all wrong.
Sometimes we think that, you know, I'll tell
you what makes a difference.
I told you the other night, I'm getting
to be a real Calvinist.
I just think that irresistible love of God,
I know grace about that.
You know, I would say the irresistible love
of God.
Love each other, would you?
We can't fight.
Guys, we can't fight.
We can't do that.
Satan's got us fighting each other and hating
each other and not praying to each other
and not loving each other.
Let's not fight this.
Let's love each other.
Let's let it go.
Satan's going to lose if we love each
other.
He knows that.
He has a vested interest in that.
Everyone, everyone that loveth him that begot, loveth
him also that is begotten of God.
I'd like to say, John, this can't be
true.
Everyone that loveth him that begot, loveth him
also that is begotten of God.
John, that can't be true.
I know these people.
Let's do better than that.
My boss would say, if you love God,
you love me.
That might be kind of a stretch some
days.
But if I love God, I love you.
I'll love you because I love God.
Because His Spirit and His love is shed
upon my heart by His Spirit.
I'm going to leave that with you.