We're continuing our study of course this morning
and the subject that I have titled getting
back to basics We are moving into chapter
8 last week.
We talked about becoming fishers of men and
that God expects us to Begin to walk
a path where we begin to win souls
and evangelize and do his work in the
earth And we talked about that last week
and this week.
We're going to look at a new Subject
that I hope that we can just cover
this week and possibly we will Extend on
beyond this next week, but I've entitled this
particular chapter the love that we had at
first The love that we had at first.
I remember some years ago God had given
me a series that was titled ten keys
to total victory I had sit out for
about a year from teaching God was doing
a work in my life and at the
end of those Twelve or so months maybe
eleven months.
It might have been God gave me that
series and the which he started to Show
me through that series that God can give
us the victory over sin and one of
the points in there And I'm going to
switch to the mobile their brain one of
the points there Is that we need to
get back to the love that we had
at first for God How many of you
remember when you first?
Turned to the Lord and the great zeal
and the love that you had for him
and the way that you walked with God
and the desire that you had to be
in the Word of God the desire that
you had to read the Word and to
even tell others about Jesus and you thought
about the Lord all the time and you
talked about the Lord all the time He
was always on your mind.
You didn't miss a prayer meeting.
You didn't miss a service.
You were eat Sleeping and breathing God and
a lot of people probably thought that you
had taken things just a little bit too
far Some people probably thought you'd taken things
a little bit too far But when we
have that first love as it were experience
in God God doesn't work in us and
I would dare say that there is more
Growth that takes place in those months Hopefully
years of our Christian walk than probably does
from there on after we move out of
that initial experience We grow very much during
that time Because of our great desire to
have and to know all of these things
that God would have us to know So
I want to look this morning at getting
back to the love that we had at
first for God Follow with me if you'd
like in your notes or you can just
listen These are just my hand notes that
I give out the reason for everything Okay,
the reason for everything Christianity in its purest
form boils down to just two requirements That
we love the Lord our God with all
of our heart soul mind and strength and
our neighbor as ourselves Upon these two commandments
hang all of the Word of God How
many of you know that All of the
Word of God boils down to those two
things Those are the two issues that it
really boils down to without these two basic
elements in our Christian life No matter how
much we give to God or no matter
how much we do for God.
It is all in vain It's all in
vain It is all in vain if we
do not have the love of God First
John 4 16 reads and we have known
and believed the love that God hath to
us God is love and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God in God in
him This love that we know and believe
then begins watch this to have a profound
effect on us verse 11 states Beloved if
God so loved us we ought also to
love one another You see this thing becomes
Progressive and it begins to spread when we
recognize the love that it God has for
us It begins to spread when we deeply
consider the genuine sacrificial love that God poured
upon us while we were yet Sinners the
natural outworking of that love is that we
love one another How many of you well,
you don't have to raise your hand, but
many of us saw the passion Amen, and
it had a very profound effect on me
the first time I seen it and then
the second time I've seen it It had
a more profound effect.
But the third time I saw that movie.
I'll tell you what it did to me
It didn't bring a tear to my eye.
I Got up out of the movie theater
and I said it would be a Travesty
for me to not win the loss and
to do what God has called me to
do after the suffering that he suffered for
my sins It would be an absolute Travesty
to step on the love that he showed
for us when he died on the cross
and it turned my life around in that
regard when we deeply consider the deep Genuine
sacrificial love that God poured upon us while
we were yet sinners The natural outworking of
that love is that we love one another
With the revelation of God's compassion for us
to be revealed and it is allowed when
we allow it to sink down It touch
every fiber of our being Scripture tells us
that it would be impossible to shut up
the bowels of our compassion when we see
others need The Bible said if you see
them in need how dwelleth the love of
God in you It is a contradiction church
when we could see someone in need and
shut our bowels of compassion up and still
proclaim That the love of God dwells in
us.
The Bible says how could this be?
Moreover it is the greatest evidence of all
that we are truly saved that our great
love for God is Translated to also include
one another as it is written a new
commandment I give unto you Jesus talking that
you love one another as I have loved
you That you also love one another By
this shall all men know that you are
my disciples if you have loved one to
another See there are a lot of things
that we use as an indicator to determine
whether or not somebody is really legit But
the question is do you have loved one
to another?
This is how Jesus said all men will
know that you are my disciples because listen
It's so unique to see people love one
another The world doesn't see that when you
genuinely love one another when you Open up
and you begin to share with people and
you give to people that is so rare
that if we would just do that The
world would say that's Jesus That's Christ I've
never seen such a thing as this when
we love one another as God intended The
one who searches the minds and the hearts
will give to everyone according to their works
and those works must have been motivated by
love They have to be motivated by love
church They have to be motivated by love.
We're going to bear that out to whom
much is forgiven To whom much is forgiven
there was a time in Jesus ministry that
a woman came and washed his feet with
her tears and Wiped them off with the
very hairs of her head Jesus said the
woman did not cease from kissing his feet
Have you ever seen such a thing church?
Have you ever seen that?
Can I share something with you?
last night We were in the nursing home
that beautiful Savior And I remember this woman
I walked up and I'll never forget it
in the years that we've been in this
nursing home ministry I'll never forget this woman
She extended her hand out to me like
this and she had such a skinny little
hand That you could tell that she probably
was only weeks probably from death There was
wasn't much left of her and she extended
her hand out because she wanted to be
touched She wanted somebody to touch her She
wanted somebody to touch her and I can
still remember seeing the little ligaments in her
hand moving under the skin that she just
Extended that hand out to me to touch
her There was another person this happens all
the time They will just take you by
the hand church and they'll just start kissing
your hand.
I'll just kiss your hand Let me tell
you something They've come to a place where
they appreciate and say it is good and
blessed are the feet of them To bring
the gospel.
They are so humbled in their condition that
when they see you they just want to
kiss your hand You know church.
I believe that's what this woman was doing
they came to Jesus the Pharisee who resented
this showed no such affection for Jesus and
Herein lies the great lesson about our love
for Christ Jesus answered this Pharisee and he
said wherefore I say unto you her Sins,
which are many are forgiven for she loved
much but to whom little is forgiven the
same loveth little You know that you know
what?
We've all sinned.
I didn't I knew I didn't probably wouldn't
get much of the name in there We've
all sinned church hmm We've all sinned the
Pharisee showed by his actions That in his
own view his sin was about $50 worth
Compared to this woman's 500 Hmm in his
view in his view not God's view church
It only takes about one cent of sin
to keep us out of heaven, okay, she
didn't know it hmm The greatest sin that
this man demonstrated was pride and arrogance and
God hates that it's number one and is
listed seven things He hates pride church, you
know what pride is Webster defines it as
excessive self-esteem We live in a world
that teaches self-esteem on every hand Teach
our kids feel good about yourself.
No matter how you live Want to know
how to feel good about yourself hmm Live
with a clear conscience before the Lord You'll
feel all the good and you'll be humble
before God You'll be humble, you know humility
does something for you You can go around
the world and I'm told that people have
they feel much better about themselves everywhere in
the world but in America And we teach
self-esteem so much why is that I
believe because their hearts are so much humble
more humble before God They're humble they're humble
they appreciate what they have They're thankful when
we get so proud as this Pharisee was
His pride and arrogance stripped the man of
any real and meaningful love for God You
hear what I said his pride and arrogance
stripped him of any real meaningful love for
God He should have known that one cent
of sin was enough to damn his soul
And that he ought to be thankful Because
he perceived his sin so little and the
woman knew her sin was so great.
We learn a great lesson about the human
condition See it wasn't that her sin Necessarily
was so much greater than his it was
that she was so much more conscious of
her sin than he was hmm She was
so much more Conscious of her sin than
he was When we cease to appreciate the
love that God showed us by sending his
son to die upon the cross for our
sins We neither kiss the Lord's feet as
it were with our love and nor do
we welcome others to do likewise We don't
welcome anyone.
It's a matter of fact.
What's what's she doing over there?
I'm trying to talk to him Hello There
she is over there kissing his feet crying
all over him I'm trying to talk to
this man See she didn't he didn't recognize
His sin like she did and had a
profound effect on the way She viewed Christ
as opposed to the way he did he
showed almost no love for Christ or his
neighbor in this passage and And it began
when he would not recognize his own great
need for forgiveness He did not stop to
consider listen.
He did not stop to consider himself You
know Galatians 6 and 1 tells us to
the spiritual will consider themselves Notice I didn't
say the sinners the spiritual consider themself Lest
they're also tempted.
That's what allows them to be able to
restore people when they fall they consider themselves
It doesn't mean that you necessarily fell and
you can relate to them and well, I
fell this week So, you know what brother,
you know birds of a feather flock together.
So I'll lift you up because you can
lift me up.
No Listen when you you can walk in
victory and still consider yourself and lift them
up That's what God wants us to do
That's what he wants he did not take
time to name his sins one by one
He conveniently cast his thankfulness as far as
the East is from the West where God
likewise had cast his sins That's what we
do church.
We don't even take time to reflect on
what we did and therefore we're not thankful
For what God did therefore we do not
love as we should You see the progression
when we just have this hurry up drive
-through mentality I'm gonna drive through and get
my sins forgiven.
You don't even stop to consider the magnitude
and the enormity of your sin Therefore you're
not thankful.
Therefore you do not love This woman hear
me church.
You have to get this.
This will change your life If you get
this point this woman this woman Considered her
sins and she realized how great it was
for her to be forgiven and she loved
much She loved much.
How could a person truly love?
When they never considered their self They don't
consider their own sins.
I buried it under the blood Yeah, you
did but you're still a sinner oh Oh
You're forgiven You're not perfect You're not perfect.
Let me tell you something church if we
get this fact, you'll get to have victory
in your life Because God resists the proud
He gives grace to the humble When you
look at your sin and you see him
for what they are and you say war
is me Even as the Prophet Isaiah for
I am undone I'm a man of unclean
lips.
This is the Prophet of God who foretold
the coming of Jesus Christ He said I
am a man of unclean lips and In
that humility God pours the grace on him
to be able to live, right?
God will resist you if you're proud Will
resist you will push you away Is it
his arrogance?
Expected God to forgive him as Expected him.
Listen, he expected God to forgive him.
You know what when you act like that,
you're not thankful.
Oh God owed it to me He died
on the cross he owes me forgiveness That
ain't even the right spirit church.
He's gonna forgive you.
Yeah, but why can't we just stop and
be thankful, huh?
Can't we just stop and be thankful long
enough that we would love That we'd love
the Lord So that if we would just
love the Lord we could then love our
neighbor Love people in need and be moved
with compassion to touch the lost The church
at Ephesus stage to the church at Ephesus
Had the greatest teaching available in the New
Testament and especially on the subject of love
Both Paul the Apostle and John the Revelator
worked diligently with this church Paul in the
book of Ephesians writes that we should be
holy and without blame before him and love
and Commends the church for their love for
the Saints in verse 15 of chapter 1
in chapter 2 verse 4 He reminds the
people of the great love wherewith God loved
us when he quickened us together with Christ
while we were dead in sins in chapter
3 verse 17 Paul tells us that we
should be rooted and grounded in love and
in verse 19 We read these words and
to know the love of Christ which passes
knowledge that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God in chapter 4 verse
2 We are admonished to bear with one
another in love and to speak the truth
in love Until the body is built up
in edified verse 16 He says a lot
about love done in church constantly telling them
about love Perhaps chapter 5 verse 1 and
2 are the most telling be there for
followers of God as dear children and walk
in love as Christ also hath loved us
and it's given himself to us For an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling savor Three times Paul tells the
husbands to love their wives as themselves Even
as Christ also loved the church and he
gave himself for it And then finally Paul
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Made
two final pleas in the book of Ephesians
concerning love closing with this Peace be to
the brethren and love with faith from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Grace
be with all of them that love our
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Amen in sincerity
Sincere love church Not loving in word and
in time But indeed in truth, you know
talk is cheap, isn't it?
Didn't talk cheap, you know, we can all
say I love you But wouldn't it be
great?
We just showed love Hmm, I prefer I
don't know about about you, but I prefer
Somebody show me love as to tell me
they love me.
I Might be a weirdo But I prefer
to be sure I prefer you show me
love and never tell me to tell me
and never show me This talk is cheap
I Know a lot of marriages where the
husband and wife told each other they loved
each other and kissed him every day and
ended in divorce But I've seen some that
maybe they told him right when it was
the right time honey, I love you And
they're still together today.
They didn't make the pretense It was sincere.
It was from the heart It can be
noted Church the first Corinthians was written by
Paul from Ephesus which contains the great love
chapter 1st Corinthians 13 John the Revelator If
you've ever read any of his writings that
seems to be all he talks about his
love Love love everywhere.
You look it's love with John the Revelator
He spent much time at Ephesus and it's
believed to have written the gospel of John
from there from Ephesus He penned these words
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him, you know The passage would not
perish but have everlasting life Ephesus was a
city inundated with teachings of love both in
word and an example Say man, they had
a lot of love being taught kind of
like our church We got brother and sister
Birch Who for the last 20 odd years
or more have done nothing but show love
nothing, but taught love The question is have
we caught it and emulated it Because the
Church of the Ephesus Church did not do
that We're going to follow it the departure
the departure John the Revelator writing from the
Isle of Patmos all visions of the great
and mighty majesty and glory of God I've
often wondered many times.
Why is it that new converts always seem
to head to the book of Revelation?
Huh?
And I used to almost be like why
is that?
Why is that?
Why is it that they would head to
the book of Revelation?
You know why that is Church?
You know, you might read a lot of
things and you might scratch your head But
you're going to walk out of the book
of Revelation with two things You're going to
have a vision of the majesty and glory
of God and you're going to have another
thing and that's the fear of God And
if you get those two stones in place
God can work with you from there Oh,
you may scratch your head at all the
typologies and symbologies in the book You may
not know one thing that's being said, but
you'll go out of there saying something like
this.
I guarantee you one thing He's God Hmm
Whoever heard of such stuff?
He's gone John the Revelator wrote the book
of Revelation As one of the first orders
of business Christ gives a report of the
condition of the seven churches at Asia he
begins with Ephesus The Living Bible captures the
great essence of what is happening here.
Jesus says I know how many good things
you were doing I have watched your hard
work and your patience I know you don't
tolerate sin among your members and you have
carefully examined the claims of those who say
they are Apostles but are not you have
found them to be liars You have patiently
suffered for me without quitting yet.
There is one thing wrong You don't love
me as you did at first think about
those times of your first love how different
things are now and Turn back to me
again and work as you did before Or
else I will come and remove your candlestick
from its place among the churches Why would
that happen?
Why would that happen Church It would happen
for this reason Without love we are not
qualified to minister before the Lord Without love
we're not even qualified to minister before the
Lord We have to have love we have
to have love what horror John must have
felt He had taught at Ephesus He had
written the book of John from Ephesus Here
was Paul the great apostle writing from Ephesus
1st Corinthians 13 Sending letters back to them
repeatedly telling them to love and here he
arrives And he said John They've left the
first love They've left the love they had
at first For me Well, you don't find
the love for God like you had at
first You will not find love for one
another either Hello You won't find it.
You won't find it Church This was no
different than the Pharisees There was a lot
of business going on They seem to be
doing everything right But their motivation was all
wrong They had become a sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal and all of these things
profited them nothing Their hearts were hard in
church We're going to get to that in
a minute praise the Lord There was a
lot of business, but there was no real
fruit They hated sin, but they did not
balance it with the love of Christ or
love for Christ They were no different from
the Pharisees that Jesus chastised in the ears
years that he walked the earth they had
abandoned their love for Christ that should have
been chief and foremost the Greek word is
protos and If there is no real love
for Christ, we need not look for love
for the Saints Or vice versa Listen church
in an atmosphere where there is no revival
and people do not live holy.
There is no love and there is an
extreme atmosphere of distrust among each other and
It erupts into all sorts of kinds of
schisms and fightings and everything That is why
it is so important to grab hold of
this atmosphere revival that we're in today Because
if you have lost faces at where you
can regain it in that humility at the
altar and trust can be restored Hear me
tonight this morning Trust can be restored when
people see brokenness church.
It changes their mind About you no matter
what you've done.
I don't care what you've done Brokenness causes
people to want to love you once again
when they see Christ in you There's a
lot of business But no real fruit they
hated sin they didn't balance it with love
they had abandoned abandoned their love For Christ
that should have been chief If there's no
love for Christ, we need not look for
it among the Saints After all that teaching
on love and all the example of what
love was they forsook the great love that
they once had For Christ and I dare
say when you forsake that love your spiritual
growth comes almost to a stop What is
there to drive your zeal hmm, I remember
Phineas date How much time do I have
I need to move?
I Remember Phineas date in his book.
He said he went an angel.
He's just telling this story.
I think it's hypothetical just by analogy Went
to this pastor this angel and said pastor.
Give me your zeal I Said what give
me your zeal he reached in the man
and pulled out a zeal Took the zeal
out put it on a Bunsen burner.
I mean, you know what those are Until
it started separating into various strata Then he
started breaking it down by percentage Starts at
the top.
Well, I Remember how it broke down went
something like this 25% pride for the
organization 15% wanted to be seen by
the congregational members 10% strife and envy
20% hmm Hello got down to the
bottom About 10% love for the Lord
They naturally in an atmosphere such as this
would have hated sin without having the heart
of God to love lost souls They would
have been moved by contention strife fear envy
resentment jealousy guilt vain glory everything but The
love of Christ to do his work.
They would have condemned the guilty without considering
their own sins Perchance they had so forgotten
their sins that they may have thanked God
listen that they were not like the sinners
like the wretched Publicans as to the Pharisee
did and prayed with himself Hmm that's how
you get Pretty soon you get so puffed
up.
You don't even have the love of Christ.
You start thanking God You're not like this
poor wretched sinner.
You didn't even realize it wasn't for the
hand of God there you went Amen, there
you to win There you to win With
them.
Yes, the gospel is preached and we can
rejoice But for the workers from their point
of view it is all in vain because
their motivation was not Compassion it was not
unmerited love the fire in the end Scripture
says we'll try every man's work of what
sort it is And if it is birthed
from a heart of great love that work
will not fail the test why because love
never fails It never fails church Love never
fails When is there ever a time when
showing love would be inappropriate There are not
many Not many to everything.
There's a purpose.
I understand They condemned sinners and argued theology
real good.
They were real good at it Book of
Ephesians is the most powerful theological book in
my opinion in all of Scripture other than
possibly the book of Hebrews Talks about more
doctrinal issues in the first chapter than we
could discuss in five years teaching probably But
they didn't have compassion they had left their
first love Retracing your footsteps and we got
to get cruising here.
I got ten minutes The church at Ephesus
like so many Christians once had a great
love for Christ, but they lost it little
by little the physics law of the conservation
preservation the conservation of matter guarantees that The
love didn't just disappear.
It was redistributed somewhere else See things don't
just disappear.
They might change form, but they don't disappear
This is a travesty in the body of
Christ The blood-bought saints of the Living
God begin to take the love listen That
once belonged to God and they give it
to someone or something else This is the
true definition of harlotry To take the love
that belongs to one and give it to
another You know what?
We distribute a lot of God's love and
affection in a lot of bad places No,
the Bible said love not the world and
the things of this world.
You know that word love there's a Greek
word agape You know why it's that you
can't just be a filet of the world
Hmm you drop the world like a bad
habit Mistreats you too much You got to
love the world unconditionally Hmm After beat you
up and leaves you for dead.
You got to keep loving it.
You got to exercise Unconditional love for the
world There would have been filet.
Oh you'd have left long ago How does
this happen?
It is simple Jesus has said that if
you love me keep my commandments in verse
16 Jesus said that the Comforter would come
in verse 17 He said he the Holy
Spirit the Spirit of truth is one that
sinners cannot receive Because it does not see
him or know him Why?
Listen, because they do not have a heart
to keep the commandments of Christ Say where
did my love for God though?
Let me help you because I'm not going
to get through this lesson What happens is
God wants us to do something and we
quench the spirit And when that happens, we
create a hard spot in our heart And
the more we do that the harder the
heart gets and pretty soon church We are
so hardened that we cannot love We don't
have a love for God like we should
We don't have a desire to win the
loss like we should trace your footsteps back.
Think of every time God told you I
want you to Do this and you said
nope quench quench quench quench quench the spirit
You're just hardening your heart pretty soon.
You know what you don't even have you
don't even have love for anyone You don't
even have love for Christ anymore you start
coming to church out of ritual It all
began when you started quenching the Holy Spirit
so we see then that the Holy Spirit
is sent to steer us and Empower us
to keep the commandments of Christ and in
so doing bring forth the fruit of the
Spirit Which above all things is love what
happens the Saints begin to quench the spirit
and they disobey the commandments Sins of omission
he that knoweth to do good and doeth
it not and sins of commission the more
the Spirit of God is Hardened or quenched
rather the heart of the soil gets The
heart of the heart gets the heart of
the heart gets the less impact the word
has when it's sung You know what?
My front yard is horrible.
Have you been by there?
It's a mud hole.
It is a mud hole right now But
you know what's really nuts over the last
10 years that I've lived there I have
sewn anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds of
grass seed in a in a space that
you know Probably isn't much more than this
And it's absolutely mud.
You know why that is.
I Talked to somebody who did grass Just
last week.
They say you know what you need to
stir the dirt up brother You need to
get the fallow ground stirred up Huh?
You get the fallow ground stirred up in
on your yard You need to get it
broken up real good and fine Then just
take this machine over that's full of seed
and then it just kind of pokes the
seeds down About an inch down in the
dirt by the thousands and thousands Hmm throw
some hay over it water it and come
back in a few weeks.
You'll have a real nice green yard I
thought wow, it's kind of contrary to what
I've been doing.
I just I just get the big old
spreader out I'll be honest with you put
about five pounds of seed in there I'm
just out there didn't till up the yard
didn't nothing.
I'm just out there.
What's out of work?
Did you do do do do do do
do so you can see seed literally just
laying on the dirt?
hmm Amen, I thought this out.
This is how you're supposed to sow it.
I didn't know any different I literally did
not know any different.
Sometimes I might rake the grass a little
bit.
Did you did you?
But you know what's worse than that church.
I've been teaching Sunday school like that for
10 years Without teaching the people to
cultivate their hearts And consider their sins And
stir up the fallow ground I've come in
here every morning on Sunday with my spreader
And I've just spread I've laid it down
so thick brother a lot of times thinking
while I'm really doing God a service But
you know what the problem was The people's
hearts were not ready to receive the seed
that word And it wasn't because we didn't
have worship before the service It's because we
don't stir up the fallow ground of our
heart in this way We never allow God
to bring us to a place of brokenness
Will we stop Galatians 6 and 1 and
so consider ourselves We begin to list all
the sins that we did that got our
heart hard in the first place and we
we begin to repent We say God, I
don't want to do that anymore.
We begin to see ourselves the way we
really are We don't do that and our
heart is as flat and hard as can
be We sow the seed on top The
rain washes it away.
Oh some of the seed goes down a
little bit when a hard rain comes Just
come by my house and look at the
grass Years of sowing seed without stirring up
the fallow ground years of it I Don't
have time to get in the bottom section.
I'll just tell you what I've done.
Can I just give you my testimony?
Oh Brother Tony don't mind The turn of
last year God begins stirring my heart We're
staring down the barrel of 2004.
That's what I felt It wasn't long after
that.
I received a call from brother Tony When
I looked into that man's eyes I saw
a brokenness I have never seen in a
human being in my life It's so stirred
and moved me that I will never be
the same I'll never be the same.
I will never be the same church I
Took a book that he had told me
go home and read this God began doing
a work and I began doing a tremendous
amount of soul-searching and The more soul
-searching that I did the more things I
looked and seen just how messed up I
was How many things I just prayed Lord
cover it in the blood and he's saying
no, I want you to turn that thing
over.
I want you to repent I Want you
to consider this because I've got to plant
a seed there So you'll bring forth fruit
in that area again.
Oh God, can it just say forgive me
and get up and act like nothing even
happened You see church I did that for
10 years I Never was humble before God.
I got so proud and arrogant that God
had to take the class from me in
1999 Just arrogant as can be Who's going
to teach this class It's gonna teach this
you tell you something church My life will
never be the same from that day I
said across from him at Burger King I
Saw brokenness.
I saw tears.
I saw somebody trembling at the thought of
their sins and I thought He ain't that
much more of a sinner than me Or
my tears Or my tears for my sins
Where are my tears Why do I see
the women like sister Sue and sister Dorothy
come up here every time Communion service come
in crying crying crying?
And I've looked at him and I said
Lord, why don't I feel that in my
heart?
Why don't I feel tears?
Why don't I feel like crying Because my
heart was hard And I needed to stir
up the fallow ground.
I needed a time of reflection To see
how wicked I really was How vile Church
If you would just allow your time self
a time of reflection.
I've got a notebook and I'll close with
this I've got a notebook at home.
I just bought last week.
I'm not playing games with God anymore.
I don't care I'm gonna have victory in
my life or else I Don't care what
you think.
I don't care what my neighbors think also.
I care about what God thinks I've been
worried about the what men think for so
long.
What are they gonna think?
Oh, he ain't quite got it together Well,
here's some good news.
I don't I Don't have it together.
I Don't always have it together church.
I Don't always have it together brother make
care.
I don't and to be frank.
I'm tired acting like it.
I Didn't fall last week either or last
month.
I didn't stumble two months ago I'm walking
in the greatest level of victory.
I ever had to God be the glory
and let me tell you why that is
Because once I reached a place to when
I begin to walk in victory, I didn't
say yeah, I'll tell you what Mm-hmm
Look what I am I'm holy wrong with
these sinners God said let me just withdraw
my grace a little bit there son Boom
down on the floor.
I'd go again.
Then I'd be like that man unable to
lift my head God have mercy on me
as sinner If we can walk in humility
in the times of victory we'll walk in
victory There's no other way to walk in
victory God resisted the proud But he will
give grace to the humble Everything that God
does for you.
You just keep getting more puffed up He's
got to keep sticking the pen in you
And I think God would prefer that that
we would be so exalted in pride.
We'd be like the devil himself As you
see what happens Before long you begin to
get prideful you begin to usurp the glory
of God Then it ain't long and then
you want the authority of God It's bad
progression church Get you a notebook you can
do what you want.
That's what I did.
Let God speak to you you be obedient
to God I'm not gonna tell you what
to do.
I've told you what to do for 10
years I'm like God deal with you.
I Understand you what I did and you
know what?
Sin is manageable When I'm in humility when
I'll stand up and say I don't have
it all together.
I Need your prayers Then I go up
and next week.
I walk in victory because God's grace keeps
propping me up and I keep giving him
the glory Woe is me.
I'm undone.
I'm a man of unclean and I don't
mean a false humility, but I mean I
really am Undone, I know who I am
Church I'm a wretched sinner When I came
to that realization God started breaking the strongholds
in my life and I believe I will
walk in victory I'm gonna ride out into
the sides of the north with clean hands
and a pure heart.
That's what I'm gonna do