Obey from the Heart
Source URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy-DqbgX_sg
Video ID: Gy-DqbgX_sg
YouTube upload date: 2024-06-23
Video duration: 01:37:46
Transcription: Faster-Whisper small.en (automatic; timestamped)
Note: Automatic transcription; review against the audio before quotation or publication.

[00:00:11] Lord, you have mine, and I will search for you.
[00:00:19] Jesus, take my life and lead.
[00:00:28] Lord, you have mine, and I will search for you.
[00:00:36] Let me be to you, a sacrificial.
[00:02:54] Praise your name, Lord.
[00:02:55] We sing these songs, Lord, that you have our heart.
[00:02:58] Lord, that question is, do you really?
[00:03:02] And Lord, help us always to examine our hearts
[00:03:06] that we may know where we really stand
[00:03:10] so that if we need to correct anything, we can correct it.
[00:03:15] Because Lord, we don't wanna go through this life
[00:03:17] and think we have you or have a version of Christianity
[00:03:22] and end up finding out that it was wrong all along.
[00:03:27] Or the devil is into deceiving people
[00:03:29] and he has deceived multitudes upon multitudes, Lord.
[00:03:35] And we don't wanna be deceived.
[00:03:36] So Lord, lead us and guide us into all truth, I pray.
[00:03:41] Help us learn what it means to obey from the heart.
[00:03:47] We thank you for that, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
[00:03:50] Amen, amen.
[00:03:51] You may be seated this morning.
[00:03:52] We'll welcome everyone.
[00:03:55] Fire and Grace Church, those watching and listening
[00:03:57] out there all over the place.
[00:04:01] Now, my wife does the music.
[00:04:04] She has no idea whatsoever what I'm gonna be talking
[00:04:08] to you about today, but that last song probably
[00:04:11] couldn't have been more perfect.
[00:04:13] Lord, you have my heart, really, really.
[00:04:20] So we sang these songs, but is it reality in our lives?
[00:04:26] Good songs now, good worship songs,
[00:04:31] but does the Lord really, really have our hearts?
[00:04:35] We're gonna find out this morning.
[00:04:37] Is that all right?
[00:04:39] This is kind of a continuation of last week.
[00:04:41] Not that I planned it really that way,
[00:04:43] but it's kinda how it's working out.
[00:04:45] And last week, if you've forgotten,
[00:04:46] and if you didn't hear last week, you'd need to.
[00:04:49] It's probably one of the most important messages
[00:04:52] for believers to understand is the motives of our heart.
[00:04:57] And last week, I talked to you about the motives
[00:04:59] of your heart toward sin.
[00:05:02] How that you should hate sin and love righteousness.
[00:05:05] And not that a Christian will never sin,
[00:05:08] but it should be the exception in your life
[00:05:11] and never the rule.
[00:05:12] As it says in Romans 6, Paul said,
[00:05:14] sin shall not have dominion over you
[00:05:16] if you're not under the law, but under grace.
[00:05:18] Meaning, grace doesn't mean
[00:05:19] God just overlooks what you do.
[00:05:21] Grace means God will give you the power
[00:05:24] and the help that you need to overcome
[00:05:27] habitual sin in your life.
[00:05:30] But there's really two things.
[00:05:32] There's sin, and we could say,
[00:05:34] well, anything that's not of God is sin,
[00:05:38] but there's really two kinds that I wanna talk about.
[00:05:42] Last week, I talked about primarily
[00:05:44] the sins of the lust of the flesh,
[00:05:46] the things that the flesh desires to do.
[00:05:49] As we talked about, Paul spoke about that in Romans 7.
[00:05:53] David in Psalm 19, how even as believers,
[00:05:58] God said of David, he's a man after my own heart.
[00:06:00] We know Paul said the Lord made me an example
[00:06:02] that you should follow.
[00:06:04] But they both admitted that they still
[00:06:06] had struggles with sin.
[00:06:08] But there is a difference.
[00:06:10] Everybody likes to point out David's sin of adultery.
[00:06:13] Yes, he committed adultery,
[00:06:14] but David did not live as an adulterer.
[00:06:17] He did not live in that lifestyle habitually.
[00:06:21] He truly repented of that sin.
[00:06:25] And so last week, that's mainly what I was focusing on,
[00:06:28] the struggle we have, even as born-again Christians,
[00:06:32] that we're still gonna struggle with the flesh nature,
[00:06:34] with temptation, with sin, and we may mess up,
[00:06:39] but we don't lay there.
[00:06:41] We don't wallow in it.
[00:06:42] We don't embrace it.
[00:06:43] We don't make it become a lifestyle.
[00:06:48] But there's another aspect where God wants us to,
[00:06:53] it can be, I guess some have called it sins of omission.
[00:06:57] I'm gonna call it where we don't obey God.
[00:07:01] And you're gonna hear some verses this morning
[00:07:04] that I've covered in the past,
[00:07:05] and maybe some that you haven't heard before.
[00:07:08] But this thing of obeying God from the heart,
[00:07:12] this is a New Testament phrase.
[00:07:15] And obedience, I'm just gonna put it to you this way.
[00:07:19] If I had a chalkboard up here, or a whiteboard,
[00:07:22] I would write these words.
[00:07:24] Faith, and I've said this many times,
[00:07:25] faith equals obedience.
[00:07:29] Unbelief equals disobedience.
[00:07:34] And here's the two things that as Christians,
[00:07:37] two aspects of God, we are supposed to obey.
[00:07:42] We are supposed to obey the written word
[00:07:45] under, now under the New Testament context.
[00:07:49] We're to obey the written word of God,
[00:07:51] and we're to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit.
[00:07:56] Now if we don't do those things,
[00:07:59] we can talk a big game, all we want to.
[00:08:02] We can talk all spiritual.
[00:08:05] We can act all, you know, pious and devout,
[00:08:09] and everyone around us can think that we're holy.
[00:08:13] But if you're not obeying the Lord from the heart,
[00:08:18] then number one, I'm just gonna say this,
[00:08:20] you can talk that game all you want to,
[00:08:21] but you really don't love God.
[00:08:24] It's real simple.
[00:08:25] Jesus said, if you love me, obey me.
[00:08:28] It's John 14, matter of fact,
[00:08:29] go ahead and put that verse up.
[00:08:31] He said, if you love me, obey me.
[00:08:36] I mean, it's real simple.
[00:08:38] He asked in another place in Luke,
[00:08:39] he said, why do you call me Lord, Lord?
[00:08:41] And you do not the things that I say.
[00:08:44] The whole thing about Jesus calling the disciples
[00:08:48] and even those afterwards, the entire thing was,
[00:08:52] will you deny yourself and take up your cross
[00:08:55] and follow the Lord?
[00:08:56] Will you obey the Lord with your life?
[00:09:01] That's it.
[00:09:02] And what I'm gonna talk about today is not just obedience,
[00:09:07] but obeying the Lord when he tells you
[00:09:09] to do very difficult things.
[00:09:12] Even things sometimes that will appear to those
[00:09:17] that don't understand what's going on,
[00:09:19] they will appear crazy or will appear mean
[00:09:21] or will appear that they don't make sense.
[00:09:25] I think about Genesis 21 where,
[00:09:31] Hagar, Abraham basically gets ahead of God
[00:09:34] and he goes in and takes Hagar kind of as a surrogate
[00:09:38] and has a child because him and Sarah can't have a child,
[00:09:42] but God had promised that Abraham and Sarah
[00:09:45] would have a child and so by the Egyptian Hagar,
[00:09:47] he has Ishmael and then as Ishmael gets older
[00:09:52] and Isaac is born and there begins to be a conflict there
[00:09:58] and it says, cast out the bond woman.
[00:10:01] Now think about this and Abraham was very grieved
[00:10:04] about this because he loved Ishmael,
[00:10:07] but the strife and the problems it was causing
[00:10:09] in the household, he finally had to,
[00:10:12] he had to cast her out into the desert
[00:10:14] and then the Lord comes and says,
[00:10:16] don't be afraid, do this, this is what you're to do.
[00:10:19] So the Holy Spirit, the Lord directed him
[00:10:22] to basically give Hagar some water and say go.
[00:10:26] Now anybody like in the church world and we go,
[00:10:29] that is just mean and nasty.
[00:10:32] What kind of pastor is Abraham?
[00:10:35] Take and give this woman with a child
[00:10:38] a little bit of water and send them out there,
[00:10:40] but the Lord sent that.
[00:10:42] The Lord told him to do that and that was a hard thing
[00:10:45] and that's chapter 21 of Genesis.
[00:10:47] Then you get chapter 22 and the Lord tells him
[00:10:50] to take his son to Mount Moriah
[00:10:53] to offer him as an offering, to test him it said.
[00:10:57] And what was the test?
[00:10:58] To see whether Abraham loved the Lord
[00:11:02] more than he loved his son.
[00:11:07] He's like, oh well God, God won't test us.
[00:11:10] Oh yes he will.
[00:11:11] He doesn't tempt us with evil,
[00:11:13] but he will test our hearts.
[00:11:16] A lot of people say well,
[00:11:16] the Lord told Abraham to go kill his son.
[00:11:19] That's not what it says.
[00:11:21] Said go offer him.
[00:11:23] Never said go kill it.
[00:11:26] But it was a test.
[00:11:28] And Abraham passed the test
[00:11:29] because he proved that he didn't love anything
[00:11:33] more than he loved the Lord.
[00:11:36] Now Abraham was interesting
[00:11:38] when you start looking at Abraham
[00:11:40] and we're gonna look at some scriptures
[00:11:41] about him this morning.
[00:11:43] But when you look at him you gotta remember
[00:11:44] the Bible says that we who are of faith,
[00:11:48] who walk in faith, who have this new covenant,
[00:11:50] new testament faith in Jesus
[00:11:52] and this born again experience that
[00:11:55] we are the children of Abraham as well.
[00:11:57] And then Jesus said in John eight
[00:12:00] he said Abraham saw my day and was glad.
[00:12:04] And when did that happen?
[00:12:06] Well we have the story of Melchizedek
[00:12:08] who was king of Salem, king of peace,
[00:12:11] king of righteousness.
[00:12:13] And this Melchizedek appeared to him,
[00:12:14] said who was without father and mother
[00:12:16] without beginning of days or end of life.
[00:12:18] Now who might that be?
[00:12:20] The king of peace and the king of righteousness
[00:12:23] who is eternal.
[00:12:25] And he says that Melchizedek brought what?
[00:12:28] Bread and wine and this is when
[00:12:33] Jesus sat down with Abraham
[00:12:35] like he showed the apostles with Elijah and Moses
[00:12:41] and he shared the gospel
[00:12:42] and what was gonna happen.
[00:12:43] And so Abraham knew what was going to take place.
[00:12:48] And so Abraham by pure revelation
[00:12:54] he understood the gospel
[00:12:55] and he actually walked in a measure of what
[00:12:58] I will call New Testament,
[00:13:00] New Covenant relationship with God.
[00:13:02] What was the key to Abraham's faith?
[00:13:06] What was the key to true faith?
[00:13:08] He heard what the Lord said by his spirit
[00:13:13] and then he would obey the Lord
[00:13:15] even if it was difficult.
[00:13:19] And I wanna tell you right now
[00:13:20] if you want the Holy Spirit in your life,
[00:13:23] you want the anointing and power of God upon your life,
[00:13:27] you're gonna have to learn how to become
[00:13:29] habitually obedient from the heart
[00:13:35] and you're gonna have to obey the Lord
[00:13:38] when it's difficult to do.
[00:13:41] I know some people right now
[00:13:43] that are like I'm gonna say some unmarried people
[00:13:45] who are in relationships that the Lord is saying,
[00:13:48] you're not supposed to be in that relationship.
[00:13:52] But, oh, but we got engaged.
[00:13:54] Oh, really?
[00:13:58] You're gonna compound the problem?
[00:14:03] And this is what I'm talking about.
[00:14:04] Sometimes the Lord is saying,
[00:14:05] you gotta walk away from this relationship.
[00:14:10] Sometimes it's a job you gotta walk away from.
[00:14:12] Sometimes it's a church or ministry
[00:14:15] you gotta walk away from.
[00:14:17] Sometimes it's a state you gotta walk away from
[00:14:20] or a city you gotta get out of.
[00:14:23] Sometimes it's just difficult things.
[00:14:25] Sometimes I know when the Lord has come to me
[00:14:28] and it's like, Lord, you know,
[00:14:30] when I was in the pastor in that church
[00:14:31] in Washington, D.C. in 2008,
[00:14:34] I'm like, Lord, if I speak up against this problem
[00:14:36] and in this church, they're gonna fire me.
[00:14:41] And I kinda really need the job right now,
[00:14:44] if you know what I mean.
[00:14:48] And the Lord was like, yeah, they're gonna fire you.
[00:14:54] But then you have to make up your mind.
[00:14:56] Am I gonna obey the Lord and do the right thing
[00:14:58] even if it cost me, even if it's difficult?
[00:15:05] And see, this is Christianity, y'all.
[00:15:08] I want you to turn with me.
[00:15:10] We're gonna start, we got, there's so much.
[00:15:12] We go, did they put, okay, you got that?
[00:15:14] Y'all see that?
[00:15:15] John 14, 15, if you love me, you keep my commandments.
[00:15:19] I want you to go with me.
[00:15:22] Oh goodness, let's go first to Acts chapter five.
[00:15:51] And let's just go down.
[00:15:54] Oh, this of course is when the apostles were arrested
[00:15:57] by the high priest, the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
[00:16:01] and they were commanded to not preach Jesus anymore
[00:16:06] and the gospel anymore.
[00:16:07] And of course, we know they were set free out of the prison
[00:16:11] and went back to teaching.
[00:16:13] And so let's go down to verse 28.
[00:16:16] And they're brought before the high priest again.
[00:16:20] And they saying, did we not,
[00:16:21] or did not we straightly command you
[00:16:24] that you should not teach in his name
[00:16:26] and behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine
[00:16:28] and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.
[00:16:32] And then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
[00:16:36] we ought to obey God rather than men.
[00:16:39] The God of our fathers raised up Jesus
[00:16:41] whom you slew and hanged on a tree.
[00:16:43] Him hath God exalted with his right hand
[00:16:46] to be a prince and a savior
[00:16:48] for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
[00:16:52] And we are his witnesses of these things.
[00:16:54] And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given
[00:16:59] to them that obey him.
[00:17:01] Don't underline that spirit.
[00:17:03] They're speaking to the religious leaders of their land.
[00:17:08] As Jesus said to those who set in Moses seat.
[00:17:12] And he says that we are witnesses of these things
[00:17:16] of Jesus being the Messiah,
[00:17:18] dying for our sins,
[00:17:19] being raised from the dead to bring repentance
[00:17:21] and forgiveness of sins to make that possible.
[00:17:24] And he says, and so also is the Holy Ghost
[00:17:26] whom God has given to them that obey him.
[00:17:30] And when they heard that they were cut to the heart
[00:17:32] and took counsel to slay them.
[00:17:36] Now, why were they cut to the heart?
[00:17:39] Because this anointed message from the apostles
[00:17:44] cut through all the religious crap,
[00:17:49] all of their deception,
[00:17:51] all of their self-righteousness,
[00:17:54] all of their own ideas,
[00:17:56] all of their good works,
[00:17:57] all of their tithing,
[00:17:59] all every little thing they tried to do,
[00:18:01] keeping the law,
[00:18:03] he cut through it all and said,
[00:18:05] you wanna know something?
[00:18:07] See, they had just healed somebody,
[00:18:08] the crippled man at the gate.
[00:18:10] And the power and the anointing of God
[00:18:12] was bringing thousands of people were coming
[00:18:14] and getting saved and giving their lives to Jesus.
[00:18:16] And it was shaking the whole nation.
[00:18:21] And they just flat out tell them,
[00:18:25] you guys don't have the Holy Spirit like we do
[00:18:28] because God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey him.
[00:18:33] Plain and simple, no crap.
[00:18:37] That's the way it is.
[00:18:40] And I go back and people tell me all the time,
[00:18:43] they say, Pastor Dean,
[00:18:44] you know, we just, when you preach,
[00:18:46] the anointing's on your preaching
[00:18:48] and I tell them all the time,
[00:18:50] it's one thing,
[00:18:51] it's not because I'm more holy than anybody else
[00:18:54] or better than anybody else,
[00:18:56] but I can tell you one thing
[00:18:57] that I've tried to do my entire life
[00:18:59] since I came back to Jesus in 1987
[00:19:02] is when the Holy Spirit tells me to do something,
[00:19:05] to do just that.
[00:19:09] And sometimes it's hard things,
[00:19:12] difficult things,
[00:19:15] things that other people don't understand why I'm doing it.
[00:19:18] People turn against me when I do obey the Lord
[00:19:21] and do certain things.
[00:19:23] They don't understand these things.
[00:19:25] I mean, it's wonderful when you obey the Lord,
[00:19:27] do something where everybody just,
[00:19:28] oh, we love that.
[00:19:33] It's a whole different thing when,
[00:19:34] why did he do that?
[00:19:36] That seems a little mean.
[00:19:37] Why did he throw Hagar out of here?
[00:19:41] Right?
[00:19:42] Maybe the Lord said to do it,
[00:19:43] but I want to back up to verse 32.
[00:19:46] When he says there that he is given the Holy Spirit,
[00:19:49] God has given to them that obey him.
[00:19:52] Guess what my Greek verb says here.
[00:19:57] It's a present participle,
[00:20:00] means a present tense Greek verb.
[00:20:02] What does that mean?
[00:20:05] Ongoing, continuous action,
[00:20:06] taking place in the present.
[00:20:08] Any somebody who is habitually obedient to the Holy Spirit,
[00:20:13] to God's word and to the leading of the Holy Spirit
[00:20:16] will be given the anointing and power
[00:20:18] and presence of the Holy Spirit.
[00:20:20] And that is the grace also,
[00:20:22] the Holy Spirit is the spirit of grace.
[00:20:24] That is the grace and power of the Spirit
[00:20:26] to live this life,
[00:20:27] not just do miracles or speaking tongues
[00:20:30] or operating the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
[00:20:32] Oh yeah, all that's true too.
[00:20:34] The first thing we need is the grace and power from God,
[00:20:38] the help from God to live the Christian life.
[00:20:43] And if we don't have that,
[00:20:45] then we're in trouble.
[00:20:47] And I'm going to tell you right now,
[00:20:48] this right here,
[00:20:49] we think that this was,
[00:20:52] all of this is about 2000 years ago.
[00:20:54] No, no, no, no.
[00:20:55] Right now today in Alabama,
[00:20:58] in the belt buckle at the Bible Belt,
[00:21:04] you've got this same thing going on.
[00:21:06] You've got a bunch of churches all over the place,
[00:21:10] big, small, make churches, everything else.
[00:21:13] You've got all these things
[00:21:15] and you've really come down to two groups of Christians.
[00:21:19] You've got a group of Christians
[00:21:20] that know how to act religious,
[00:21:24] but don't obey the word of God
[00:21:27] and they don't obey the Spirit of God.
[00:21:31] And then you've got a bunch of them
[00:21:32] that just play these games.
[00:21:33] So you've got these two different sets of people
[00:21:35] and it's real simple.
[00:21:36] True Christians who are doing
[00:21:41] what they're supposed to be doing
[00:21:42] will be seeking God,
[00:21:45] hearing His voice,
[00:21:46] obeying His Word,
[00:21:48] and obeying the leading of the Spirit.
[00:21:50] The ones who are not go to church,
[00:21:54] tithe, serve,
[00:21:57] you get what I'm saying?
[00:21:58] But disobey the word.
[00:22:02] Don't have no understanding
[00:22:04] of denying themselves and taking up the cross
[00:22:06] and following Jesus.
[00:22:11] This is the difference.
[00:22:12] Let me give you another passage.
[00:22:14] Let's go to Hebrews.
[00:22:22] Somebody say, I love the word of God.
[00:22:25] Hebrews chapter five.
[00:22:33] You know, some folks love it until it stings them,
[00:22:41] but it's got to sting you sometime.
[00:22:43] Now, I'm gonna read verses.
[00:22:49] I'm gonna tell you, I will get hate mail
[00:22:55] and I'll get people accusing me of all kind of stuff
[00:22:58] because there's such a misunderstanding
[00:23:00] of what it means,
[00:23:01] salvation by faith versus salvation by works.
[00:23:04] There's such confusion about that.
[00:23:08] But I'll show you the difference as we go through this,
[00:23:11] but I'm gonna just read this verse here.
[00:23:13] Now, this is Hebrews chapter five
[00:23:17] and we'll just start at verse six.
[00:23:21] Well, no, verse five.
[00:23:23] All right.
[00:23:24] He's talking about Jesus being the high priest.
[00:23:27] He's talking about Aaron.
[00:23:27] He says, so also Christ glorified not himself
[00:23:30] to be made a high priest,
[00:23:32] but he that sayeth unto him thou art my son,
[00:23:34] today I have begotten thee.
[00:23:35] And as he sayeth in another place,
[00:23:37] thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek,
[00:23:41] who in the days of his flesh,
[00:23:42] when he had offered up prayers and supplications
[00:23:44] with strong crying and tears unto him
[00:23:46] that was able to save him from death
[00:23:48] and was heard in that he feared.
[00:23:50] Now, listen to this.
[00:23:51] Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience
[00:23:55] by the things which he suffered
[00:23:58] and being made perfect,
[00:23:59] he became the author of eternal salvation
[00:24:02] unto all them that obey him.
[00:24:08] What?
[00:24:11] I thought all I had to do was believe
[00:24:13] and I'm eternally secure forever.
[00:24:15] I'm sorry, but your Baptist church taught you wrong
[00:24:20] and your Presbyterian church.
[00:24:24] That's not what the Bible teaches.
[00:24:27] You want to inherit eternal salvation?
[00:24:31] Do you obey the Lord from the heart?
[00:24:33] And guess what?
[00:24:34] This verb obey here, present tense Greek verb,
[00:24:39] ongoing, continuous action taking place in the present,
[00:24:43] habitually, a lifestyle of living in obedience to God.
[00:24:50] Shall we read it again?
[00:24:52] But wait a minute, Pastor Dean.
[00:24:54] Tony Evans told me, Pastor Tony Evans out in Texas told me
[00:24:59] that I was once saved, always saved, no matter how I live.
[00:25:02] Well, we find out, guess what?
[00:25:03] He's been preaching that for years
[00:25:04] and been living in sin.
[00:25:06] He just had to resign for sexual immorality.
[00:25:09] Oh, this Pastor Morris that got exposed
[00:25:12] for the big mega church pastor, gateway church,
[00:25:16] that just got exposed because he was molested
[00:25:18] a 12 year old for a number of years.
[00:25:22] When he started in the ministry, come to find out,
[00:25:25] I went to his church's website and they teach.
[00:25:27] Once you're saved, you're always saved,
[00:25:28] no matter how you, isn't it amazing
[00:25:30] that these places that teach this false doctrine of grace,
[00:25:35] you end up with so much sin, even in the leadership.
[00:25:39] You know why?
[00:25:40] Because it takes away the fear of the Lord.
[00:25:43] It takes away the understanding
[00:25:45] that if you live disobedient, ungodly, habitually
[00:25:48] in sins that are unto death,
[00:25:51] that you are going to go to hell.
[00:25:53] You will be separated from God.
[00:25:55] You will not be with him in heaven.
[00:25:58] And to me, it is the most damnable, dangerous doctrine
[00:26:03] ever been that Satan's ever put in the church world
[00:26:06] is that you're eternally secure no matter how you live.
[00:26:08] Just get saved, accept Jesus
[00:26:11] and you're in once and for all forever.
[00:26:14] And that there's no repentance required,
[00:26:17] no obedience, no relationship to be maintained.
[00:26:25] Now, what we forget is that this,
[00:26:29] a covenant is a contract.
[00:26:36] And guess what happens?
[00:26:38] When there's a contract, each side,
[00:26:40] each party of the contract has responsibilities.
[00:26:45] And if one side does not live up to the responsibilities
[00:26:49] that they agreed to in the contract,
[00:26:54] then guess what happens?
[00:26:56] Bad things, right?
[00:27:00] And you can lose what?
[00:27:01] The benefits of the contract,
[00:27:04] if you don't adhere to what?
[00:27:07] The requirements of the contract.
[00:27:09] But then we've got people out there,
[00:27:11] there's no requirements.
[00:27:13] They'd say, Jesus paid for it
[00:27:15] so therefore we don't have to do anything.
[00:27:18] Nowhere do I see that in the Bible
[00:27:22] that we can just live however we want,
[00:27:24] do whatever we want, choose our own path
[00:27:27] and our own plans and our own will
[00:27:31] and that we can just go that direction
[00:27:34] and think that we're right with God.
[00:27:37] It's a deception.
[00:27:40] But let's read that, I'm gonna read it one more time.
[00:27:41] Though he were a son, verse eight and nine,
[00:27:45] Hebrews five, eight, nine,
[00:27:46] though he were a son yet learned to obedience
[00:27:48] by the things which he suffered
[00:27:50] and being made perfect,
[00:27:51] he became the author of eternal salvation
[00:27:54] unto all them that obey him.
[00:27:57] Somebody say obey.
[00:28:00] Wait a minute, Pastor Dean,
[00:28:01] I thought it was just believe.
[00:28:04] I'm gonna pound this in your head.
[00:28:09] Well, I'll just believe, no.
[00:28:12] You better walk with us.
[00:28:14] Let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter one.
[00:28:20] And I'm already, it's already hot in here.
[00:28:22] It's supposed to be 100, 101 today.
[00:28:25] And that's not even the heat index.
[00:28:35] Now look at this.
[00:28:37] This is 2 Thessalonians chapter one.
[00:28:42] And we're gonna start at verse six here.
[00:28:46] And they were, you know,
[00:28:47] the Thessalonians wonder under a lot of persecution
[00:28:49] and the Lord says to them,
[00:28:50] seeing it as a righteous thing with God
[00:28:52] to recompense or pay back tribulation
[00:28:55] to them that trouble you.
[00:28:57] And to you who are troubled, rest with us
[00:29:00] when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
[00:29:02] with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
[00:29:06] taking vengeance on them that know not God
[00:29:08] and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
[00:29:13] who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
[00:29:15] from the presence of the Lord
[00:29:16] and from the glory of his power.
[00:29:18] Now let me stop right there.
[00:29:19] Do you see that?
[00:29:21] Jesus is coming to take vengeance upon
[00:29:24] and it's eternal vengeance on those who what,
[00:29:28] believe the gospel or obey the gospel
[00:29:32] or don't believe I should say.
[00:29:33] Don't obey.
[00:29:35] Which one is it?
[00:29:35] Don't believe or don't obey?
[00:29:39] Don't obey, right?
[00:29:40] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction?
[00:29:42] Now that right there is talking about hell
[00:29:45] and hell is eternal.
[00:29:46] You're not there.
[00:29:46] You don't cease to exist.
[00:29:48] You're not annihilated.
[00:29:49] It is eternal punishment.
[00:29:52] But look what he says.
[00:29:53] Let's back it.
[00:29:54] Let's back up again.
[00:29:55] He says he's coming in flaming fire,
[00:29:57] verse eight, taking vengeance on them
[00:29:59] that know not God
[00:30:01] and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:30:08] And guess what?
[00:30:09] Guess what's the word up in the Greek?
[00:30:10] Obey, guess what it means.
[00:30:12] Obey.
[00:30:17] King James got it right.
[00:30:19] Obey.
[00:30:22] Imagine that.
[00:30:23] Let's go to another one.
[00:30:24] Let's go to First Peter chapter four.
[00:30:33] Now let me tell you what we're seeing now
[00:30:35] is this passage I'm about to read to you.
[00:30:38] In First Peter four,
[00:30:42] we're seeing this because we're seeing these pastors
[00:30:46] who've been having adulterous affairs,
[00:30:49] who've been in sexual sin with minors, pedophiles.
[00:30:55] We're seeing all this get exposed.
[00:30:56] Mike Bickel, this guy Robert Morris, Tony Evans.
[00:31:03] I mean, it just keeps on.
[00:31:04] And what we're gonna see is more and more of these things.
[00:31:07] Ravi Zacharias, who else?
[00:31:09] Who else has been TD Jakes?
[00:31:13] Lord, I mean, you think we're seeing a lot now.
[00:31:17] There's gonna be an avalanche of these things.
[00:31:21] Why?
[00:31:23] Because this is what's happening.
[00:31:25] Verse 17.
[00:31:28] Verse Peter four, 17.
[00:31:29] For the time has come that judgment
[00:31:31] must begin at the house of God.
[00:31:32] And if it first began at us,
[00:31:34] what shall the end be of them
[00:31:36] that obey not the gospel of God?
[00:31:40] And if the righteous scarcely be saved,
[00:31:42] where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
[00:31:48] Say, Pastor Dean, that's scary.
[00:31:52] But does it say just believe or obey?
[00:32:02] Judgment begins at the house of God.
[00:32:04] That's the church, folks.
[00:32:06] What shall the end be of them
[00:32:08] that obey not the gospel?
[00:32:10] You say, well, what is the gospel?
[00:32:12] I'll tell you what the gospel is.
[00:32:13] You want a simple definition?
[00:32:15] It's everything Jesus did and everything Jesus said.
[00:32:22] I hate when people go, oh, it's just good news.
[00:32:24] No, it's not all good news.
[00:32:29] If you want to continue in sin,
[00:32:31] wickedness and disobedient, it's bad news for you.
[00:32:37] Some of these things that we just,
[00:32:38] the Christian needs, the Christian cliches
[00:32:44] that get us kind of cemented down into false doctrine.
[00:32:49] But notice again, it uses the term obey.
[00:32:51] And guess what?
[00:32:53] Those that obey not, that right there,
[00:32:55] that verb, guess what it is?
[00:32:59] Present tense, ongoing, continuous action
[00:33:02] taking place in the present, habitual obedience.
[00:33:06] Now, let me show you something about obedience.
[00:33:10] Now, a lot of people say, oh, Pastor Dean,
[00:33:12] you're preaching work salvation.
[00:33:14] You're preaching Lordship salvation.
[00:33:16] No, I'm not.
[00:33:18] I'm gonna tell you why.
[00:33:19] Let's go back to the Garden of Eden for a second, okay?
[00:33:22] Because this is, we go back to the beginning
[00:33:24] to get the foundation of everything, right?
[00:33:27] So Adam and Eve were created brand new.
[00:33:31] Hey, it was fresh as you get, right?
[00:33:36] Brand new, new creatures having never sinned.
[00:33:40] So they were created new creatures without sin, all right?
[00:33:47] They were placed in the Garden of Eden, a beautiful place.
[00:33:51] They were given dominion over the fish of the sea
[00:33:54] and the fowl of the air.
[00:33:56] And they could eat of every tree in the garden,
[00:33:59] but there was one tree that they were not to eat of it.
[00:34:05] They were not to touch it.
[00:34:06] They were to stay away from it.
[00:34:09] Now, let me explain to you how that works.
[00:34:13] Come here Sal, you can be my tree for a minute, all right?
[00:34:19] So Sal's the tree.
[00:34:21] You're the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
[00:34:23] right here, right?
[00:34:24] Put your hands up like a tree branch.
[00:34:25] There we go, all right.
[00:34:28] Now, if I'm sitting right here,
[00:34:32] now if I, God's told me don't eat of this tree.
[00:34:36] If I never get my butt up out of this chair
[00:34:38] and walk over to that tree and pick something off of it,
[00:34:42] I'm obeying God, but I'm not doing a thing.
[00:34:46] I'm not working.
[00:34:48] Unounce, am I?
[00:34:51] I have to actually, to go partake of this tree,
[00:34:54] I have to get up.
[00:34:55] I have to walk over there.
[00:34:57] I have to pick the fruit off.
[00:34:58] I have to eat it, chew it, swallow it.
[00:35:00] I'm working.
[00:35:01] That's why it says the wages of sin is death.
[00:35:03] When you're sinning, you're working.
[00:35:06] All right, you can see that, bro.
[00:35:09] When you're obeying, you're resting.
[00:35:14] You hear me?
[00:35:19] Now, let's go to this.
[00:35:24] Let's go to James.
[00:35:28] Oh yeah.
[00:35:31] James chapter two.
[00:35:36] Now, hopefully, you're gonna understand something here.
[00:35:38] All right, everybody in James two.
[00:35:49] We're gonna go down to, oh, let's go on down to verse 14.
[00:36:00] Now, this is as much inspired in your Bible,
[00:36:03] the book of James as the book of Romans, right?
[00:36:07] Now, let's just get this state.
[00:36:08] Though Paul emphasized faith,
[00:36:11] that we are saved and justified by faith,
[00:36:15] he was saying without the works of the law,
[00:36:17] meaning we don't go back into the old covenant, right?
[00:36:22] And he went on to say, Paul did in Romans six,
[00:36:26] that, what, shall we sin that grace may abound?
[00:36:30] God forbid.
[00:36:32] So he was not teaching, oh, just believe in your secure,
[00:36:34] nor was he teaching that you shouldn't overcome sin
[00:36:38] in your life and live a holy, obedient life.
[00:36:41] In fact, I always read Romans six
[00:36:44] when we do water baptisms,
[00:36:45] because I say that the bottom line on this,
[00:36:49] identifying with the death,
[00:36:50] barely resurrection of Jesus is also you saying,
[00:36:53] I'm gonna walk with him in newness of life.
[00:36:55] I'm not gonna live habitually in sin
[00:36:58] the way I did in my old life.
[00:37:00] That's why the baptism is just a symbol
[00:37:03] of what should have already happened in your life,
[00:37:05] true repentance and a decision to walk with Jesus
[00:37:08] and not live according to your old lifestyle.
[00:37:12] So a lot of people wanna get baptized
[00:37:14] and thinks baptism is what saves you.
[00:37:16] Baptism is not what saves you.
[00:37:18] Repentance is what saves you.
[00:37:20] Walking in an obedient relationship with Jesus,
[00:37:24] that keeps you in that relationship with him.
[00:37:28] Let's read this.
[00:37:29] He says, what does it profit my brethren?
[00:37:32] Though a man say he hath faith and have not works,
[00:37:36] can faith save him?
[00:37:38] If a brother or sister be naked
[00:37:39] in destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them,
[00:37:42] depart in peace, be you warmed and filled,
[00:37:45] notwithstanding you give them not those things
[00:37:47] which are needful for the body, what doth it profit?
[00:37:49] Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
[00:37:53] Now, he's not saying here that if you don't give to the poor,
[00:37:58] you're lost, you gotta do that work to be saved.
[00:38:00] What he's saying is, is that reveals.
[00:38:04] You see a brother or sister have a need
[00:38:06] and you could meet that need and you do nothing.
[00:38:10] What that is revealing is where your heart is.
[00:38:14] It's showing that your heart is not in a good place
[00:38:17] with the Lord.
[00:38:20] That's all it's revealing.
[00:38:22] And then he says, even so faith, if it has not works,
[00:38:25] is dead being alone.
[00:38:27] Verse 18, yeah, a man may say thou has faith
[00:38:30] and I have work, show me thy faith without thy works
[00:38:33] and I will show thee my faith by my works.
[00:38:35] Now we can say works here are corresponding actions.
[00:38:39] I will show you that I have faith.
[00:38:40] You will see it by what I do, by what I say,
[00:38:46] by how I live my life.
[00:38:48] This is why I say faith equals obedience
[00:38:53] and unbelief equals disobedience.
[00:38:55] Let's keep reading this though.
[00:38:59] He says, yeah, yay, a man may say thou has faith
[00:39:03] and I have work, show me thy faith without thy works
[00:39:06] and I will show thee my faith by my works.
[00:39:08] Thou believe us that there is one God, thou do us well.
[00:39:10] The devils also believe and tremble.
[00:39:13] So he's letting you know, just believing in God,
[00:39:15] just believing in Jesus, this is not where this stops.
[00:39:18] That's the beginning.
[00:39:19] He said, you believe there's one God,
[00:39:21] you're headed in the right direction.
[00:39:24] But that's not where this stops.
[00:39:25] And then he throws this in here.
[00:39:27] Was not Abraham our father justified by works
[00:39:31] when he had offered Isaac upon his son upon the altar?
[00:39:35] See as thou how faith wrought with his works
[00:39:37] and by works was faith made perfect.
[00:39:40] And the scripture was fulfilled which says
[00:39:42] Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him
[00:39:45] for righteousness and he was called the friend of God.
[00:39:48] You see then how that by works a man is justified
[00:39:52] and not by faith only.
[00:39:53] Now let me tell you right now, I'm just reading scriptures
[00:39:57] and there are people out there who say
[00:39:58] this teaching is heresy, that this is false doctrine.
[00:40:02] This is where you get from a lot of Baptist churches,
[00:40:04] a lot of Presbyterian churches, now Methodist churches.
[00:40:07] You get this idea, no, no, no, there's no,
[00:40:10] there's nothing else involved in walking with God.
[00:40:12] Just you believed when you were nine years old
[00:40:15] and got baptized, you're good.
[00:40:16] You're secure forever.
[00:40:21] Now men, think about telling your wife,
[00:40:22] look, I gave you a ring, I said the vows, but I'm gone.
[00:40:28] You'll see me maybe once a year
[00:40:31] and I'm gonna go have all kinds of, you know, girlfriends.
[00:40:39] Now what kind of woman is gonna go,
[00:40:41] yeah, let's stay in that.
[00:40:43] No godly woman for sure, all right.
[00:40:48] But this is what a lot of Christians think they can do.
[00:40:51] Oh, well, I got saved when I was nine.
[00:40:56] I got baptized in water.
[00:40:58] Some of us, oh, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit.
[00:41:00] They have this speaking out, I'm good.
[00:41:06] And this is why Jesus said, not everyone that sayeth to me,
[00:41:08] this is Matthew 7, he said,
[00:41:09] not everyone that sayeth to me, Lord, Lord,
[00:41:12] shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
[00:41:14] but only he that doeth the will of my Father.
[00:41:18] Now let's look at this real quick.
[00:41:19] What was, why, look, 1 Corinthians 13 says,
[00:41:25] you can do all kind of wonderful works.
[00:41:27] You can give your body to be burned.
[00:41:28] You can give everything you have to the poor
[00:41:30] and not be walking in love.
[00:41:32] So it's not talking about just good works.
[00:41:34] Let me explain it here.
[00:41:36] You see, when you don't have a relationship with God,
[00:41:40] yet you wanna be religious,
[00:41:42] and you don't really wanna obey God,
[00:41:44] you wanna do it your way,
[00:41:45] you will decide what good works you do.
[00:41:49] It will come from your own mind, your own reasoning.
[00:41:54] You will decide what you do.
[00:41:57] See, this was the difference between Cain and Abel.
[00:42:01] God had already revealed to them
[00:42:03] that they must offer a blood sacrifice,
[00:42:06] a lamb without spot or blemish.
[00:42:09] And Abel just accepted.
[00:42:12] This is what God's way said to do it,
[00:42:13] and we're gonna do it that way.
[00:42:16] Cain said, no, I don't like that
[00:42:17] because I gotta go to my brother and get a sheep
[00:42:19] and I'm a farmer, but I'm gonna give God what I did
[00:42:23] with my sweat, my blood, my tears,
[00:42:26] where I tilled the ground and brought this,
[00:42:27] I'm gonna go offer this fruit to the Lord.
[00:42:30] And the Lord rejected it.
[00:42:31] Why?
[00:42:32] Because you don't get to pick.
[00:42:35] You don't get to pick your righteous deeds,
[00:42:37] your good works.
[00:42:40] You see, Abraham heard from the Lord
[00:42:44] what to do with Isaac to go offer his side.
[00:42:47] He heard from the Lord, from the Holy Spirit,
[00:42:49] what to do about Hagar the bond woman.
[00:42:53] He heard from the Lord to leave his homeland
[00:42:56] and go into the land of Canaan.
[00:42:58] He heard from the Lord to separate lots company
[00:43:02] from his company.
[00:43:06] You see, Abraham's faith came from hearing
[00:43:10] the Lord's voice and walking with the Lord
[00:43:14] in a real relationship and obeying the Lord.
[00:43:19] And this is the difference.
[00:43:22] You see, I could sit down,
[00:43:23] y'all know the needs in the world are endless.
[00:43:27] Nobody can meet all the needs in the world.
[00:43:29] No church can, no pastor can meet all the needs
[00:43:32] in the world.
[00:43:33] Nobody can, no Christian can.
[00:43:35] So if I don't have the ability financially,
[00:43:39] physically, mentally, emotionally,
[00:43:42] there's only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week.
[00:43:44] If I don't have the ability to meet all those needs,
[00:43:47] but yet God has some things he wants me to do,
[00:43:49] what do I have to do?
[00:43:50] Go out and try to meet everybody's need?
[00:43:52] No, I will exhaust myself
[00:43:55] and I will actually be in sin and error
[00:43:57] trying to do all this stuff.
[00:44:00] What I should be doing is fasting, praying,
[00:44:03] studying, meditating on the word,
[00:44:06] drawing close to Jesus, getting the sin out of my life,
[00:44:09] getting the flesh under control,
[00:44:11] and getting to a place where I hear his voice
[00:44:14] and I am led by the spirit.
[00:44:16] And then what the Lord can do is then he tells me,
[00:44:19] here's the need I want you to meet.
[00:44:22] Here's what I want you to do.
[00:44:25] You see?
[00:44:27] And this is what it means to walk in faith,
[00:44:32] is to hear him and obey.
[00:44:35] And yes, God speaks to us primarily through the scriptures.
[00:44:39] He will bring the scriptures off the page.
[00:44:42] And yes, we're to obey the moral standards
[00:44:45] and commands of the new covenant.
[00:44:46] We're to walk in that holiness.
[00:44:48] We don't have to ask the Lord,
[00:44:50] should we stay out of fornication or adultery
[00:44:52] or drunkenness or idolatry?
[00:44:54] It's already written.
[00:44:56] But we don't know some things about like,
[00:44:59] maybe where the Lord wants us to live
[00:45:00] or where he wants us to go to church.
[00:45:06] And we need to hear from him.
[00:45:08] We need to know.
[00:45:10] You know, I confronted a pastor down in Miami one time,
[00:45:12] face to face, boy, this was fun conversation.
[00:45:18] Basically it was Baptist pastor,
[00:45:20] but now a lot of them, it's all community churches, right?
[00:45:24] They don't wanna tell you what they are.
[00:45:26] They wanna hide behind this nebulous whatever.
[00:45:32] But he was like, he had just come out in the conversation.
[00:45:35] He was against the gifts of the spirit.
[00:45:37] God doesn't speak anymore.
[00:45:38] The Holy Spirit doesn't talk to us anymore.
[00:45:41] You just go by the scriptures.
[00:45:43] Well, of course he had just become the pastor of this church
[00:45:46] in Miami that had been established for a long time.
[00:45:49] And I said, I asked him the question
[00:45:51] and I've shared this before.
[00:45:51] I said, how did you know the Holy Spirit wanted you
[00:45:55] to pastor this church in Miami, Florida?
[00:45:59] Got real quiet in that kitchen.
[00:46:03] I said, where does it say?
[00:46:05] You know, I can't even remember his name now.
[00:46:07] Let's just call him Boo Boo.
[00:46:14] Like Boo Boo, does it say anywhere in there,
[00:46:15] Boo Boo, pastor of this church in Miami, Florida?
[00:46:19] No, there's nowhere that's written in the Bible.
[00:46:21] So how do you know you're in the,
[00:46:22] I said, how do you know you're in the will of God?
[00:46:26] How do you know you're doing what God wants you to do?
[00:46:28] How do you know you're supposed to be here?
[00:46:31] No answer to that.
[00:46:33] And I thought to myself,
[00:46:36] with that kind of walk with God,
[00:46:39] which is not really a walk with God,
[00:46:40] with that kind of attitude, I sit and go,
[00:46:42] I'm like, you know,
[00:46:45] he may not even supposed to be the pastor.
[00:46:48] He may not even supposed to be
[00:46:50] in the fivefold ministry at all.
[00:46:52] He might supposed to be in California instead of Florida.
[00:46:55] How does he know?
[00:46:58] And then what's gonna happen is
[00:47:00] a lot of these Christians are gonna stand before God
[00:47:02] one day and go, here's my fruit
[00:47:05] and vegetables from my garden.
[00:47:09] And the Lord's gonna say,
[00:47:12] I didn't tell you to do any of that.
[00:47:15] In fact, you never obeyed me.
[00:47:19] You did your own works.
[00:47:22] You made your own choices.
[00:47:25] I was never Lord of your life.
[00:47:27] You were Lord of your life.
[00:47:30] Your own interests.
[00:47:33] You never did what was difficult.
[00:47:35] You never surrendered your life.
[00:47:38] You never took up your cross and denied yourself.
[00:47:46] See, Judgment Day, that's what it's gonna be.
[00:47:48] You know, the great Leonard Ravenhill used to say,
[00:47:51] it's not the things that I've done
[00:47:53] that scares me about Judgment Days,
[00:47:55] the things that I haven't done
[00:47:57] that I'm supposed to do.
[00:47:58] And he was talking about,
[00:48:01] if you want the scripture to back it up,
[00:48:03] the parable of the talents in Matthew 25,
[00:48:06] when the one that the Lord gave the one talent to
[00:48:10] and said, hey, all the Lord was looking for
[00:48:13] was obedience, faithfulness.
[00:48:16] He wasn't looking for how much fruit they bore,
[00:48:18] just that they obeyed him.
[00:48:20] And then when the wicked servant
[00:48:22] and the slothful servant went and took his Lord's money
[00:48:25] and hid it and buried it,
[00:48:26] because he was afraid.
[00:48:28] And when he brings that to the Lord,
[00:48:30] he says, take from him what he has.
[00:48:34] You wicked and slothful servant,
[00:48:36] you knew what you ought to have done,
[00:48:40] but you didn't do it.
[00:48:40] Says, bind him, take him,
[00:48:42] cast him in the outer darkness
[00:48:43] that should be weeping and gnashing your teeth.
[00:48:45] This is where most of your Western Christians
[00:48:48] are going to end up.
[00:48:52] They're going to hear, depart from me.
[00:48:55] I don't know you.
[00:48:58] Because they're trying to offer God
[00:48:59] the fruits and vegetables.
[00:49:02] You see, the blood of Jesus stays upon us,
[00:49:05] the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ stays upon us.
[00:49:08] When we walk with him,
[00:49:11] we walk in the light as he is in the light.
[00:49:15] This is what I try to tell people.
[00:49:17] Somebody, somebody give me a dollar bill, $1 bill.
[00:49:22] Anybody got a dollar bill?
[00:49:24] You got a $1?
[00:49:27] 20, I don't care.
[00:49:28] You're going to get it back.
[00:49:31] All right, here we go, right here.
[00:49:33] All right, now everybody, oh, so he's got a five.
[00:49:36] All right, so $5 bill in America is Abraham Lincoln.
[00:49:40] All right, now, the question here is,
[00:49:46] I'm going to ask this question.
[00:49:47] We all know, in America you should know
[00:49:50] who Abraham Lincoln was, right?
[00:49:52] Now there's some crazies out there,
[00:49:53] probably deny he ever existed,
[00:49:55] because that's where they go, the tutorial people.
[00:49:58] But, because all history's wrong, right?
[00:50:04] But we know about Abraham Lincoln.
[00:50:09] Historically, we know from reading history books,
[00:50:15] we know about him, but do we know Abraham Lincoln?
[00:50:20] And if somebody says yes,
[00:50:21] we're going to cast the demons out of you.
[00:50:27] Thank you, sir.
[00:50:29] See, there's a difference with knowing about Jesus
[00:50:32] and knowing Jesus.
[00:50:34] There's a difference in calling yourself a Christian
[00:50:36] and being a Christian, you understand?
[00:50:45] And on Judgment Day, all the religious garbage
[00:50:50] and all of your excuses
[00:50:51] and all of your little mental, theological,
[00:50:55] monkey gymnastics that you go through
[00:50:57] to justify yourself, to make yourself feel good,
[00:51:02] to make you think you got it.
[00:51:05] All that's going out the window.
[00:51:11] And all that the Lord's going to be judging you upon
[00:51:14] is did you deny yourself, take up your cross,
[00:51:19] and follow me, that's it.
[00:51:22] Did you obey my word?
[00:51:24] Did you live the way I wanted you to live?
[00:51:26] Did you do what I called you to do?
[00:51:29] And this is why this is so important.
[00:51:32] It's so important because if you don't do
[00:51:35] what the Lord tells you to do,
[00:51:38] there will be people will be lost because of it.
[00:51:42] And this is why it is a eternal crime.
[00:51:49] Think about in 37 years now,
[00:51:52] in fact, it was June of 1987
[00:51:56] when I was convicted by the Lord of my sin
[00:52:01] and decided to repent and truly surrender to God.
[00:52:07] And said, Lord, whatever you want from me, I will do.
[00:52:11] From this moment on, I will surrender.
[00:52:14] My life was over as I knew it.
[00:52:17] I will surrender to you.
[00:52:19] 37 years of this.
[00:52:23] And I remember very early on where he showed me
[00:52:26] and he spoke to me and I was in tears
[00:52:29] and the Holy Spirit's all over me and he said,
[00:52:32] if you don't do my will, if you don't follow me,
[00:52:37] if you don't hear my voice and follow me,
[00:52:39] people will be lost.
[00:52:43] People will go to hell because you chose
[00:52:47] to not do what I wanted you to do with your life.
[00:52:52] Say, I don't want that kind of responsibility.
[00:52:55] Sorry, Jesus said you're either gathering with me
[00:53:00] or you're scattering abroad.
[00:53:07] And if you obey the Lord and you do his will
[00:53:11] for your life, you are going to affect the people
[00:53:14] you're supposed to affect.
[00:53:16] You're gonna plant the seed you're supposed to plant.
[00:53:18] You're gonna be the example you're supposed to be.
[00:53:20] You're going to bring as many people,
[00:53:22] even if you're not aware of many of them.
[00:53:28] We found out the other day,
[00:53:29] they're watching aren't they, Kamari?
[00:53:32] And Kamari's a young man.
[00:53:33] Let me tell this story real quick.
[00:53:34] He shared this Wednesday night.
[00:53:35] Kamari's a young man, living for God,
[00:53:38] started his own business in this town.
[00:53:40] God's blessing him in his business.
[00:53:43] He goes into a place to buy some materials this week.
[00:53:46] And he said the woman behind the thing
[00:53:49] made some inappropriate comments,
[00:53:52] like, you know, trying to make the move.
[00:53:57] Well, you know, that's the only reason
[00:53:59] to make comments like that.
[00:54:01] Sowing the little seed.
[00:54:03] And I love what Kamari said to her.
[00:54:05] He said, I don't live that way.
[00:54:08] He didn't say I'm a Christian
[00:54:10] because there's a lot of Christians that live that way.
[00:54:14] He said, I don't live that way.
[00:54:15] And she said, she said, I know.
[00:54:18] We've heard about you that you're a godly man.
[00:54:23] Don't tell me they're not watching you.
[00:54:26] He's new to this town, this area.
[00:54:29] And they're watching, they're watching you.
[00:54:35] And if you're playing these little games,
[00:54:37] you're making people stumble.
[00:54:41] Or you just will never run into the people
[00:54:43] that you're supposed to run into.
[00:54:46] I think about all the people,
[00:54:47] just in the last, say, 10 years
[00:54:53] that sent me testimonies and emails.
[00:54:55] Thank you, Pastor Dean, for preaching the truth.
[00:54:57] Thank you for preaching the whole Bible.
[00:55:00] Thank you for preaching about creation,
[00:55:01] the true nature of creation.
[00:55:03] Thank you for teaching on repentance.
[00:55:05] Thank you for calling out my sin.
[00:55:06] Thank you for telling the truth.
[00:55:09] I hated you at first,
[00:55:14] but the Holy Spirit convicted me of my sin
[00:55:17] and made me miserable and brought me out of it.
[00:55:22] And I'd rather you hate me,
[00:55:23] hate my guts, and then eventually see the light
[00:55:26] and the truth and come to repentance
[00:55:28] and come to know Jesus for yourself.
[00:55:31] Because all I want is that anybody
[00:55:34] that's ever heard me preach or teach,
[00:55:36] all I want, all I long for and desire,
[00:55:38] is to see you in heaven when it's all over with.
[00:55:41] To see you in the kingdom of God
[00:55:44] when He rules and reigns over there.
[00:55:47] That's all I wanna do.
[00:55:49] I want you to make it.
[00:55:51] I want my enemies to make it.
[00:55:52] I want the witches and Satanists
[00:55:54] and false prophets and false teachers
[00:55:57] and full-blown enemies of the cross.
[00:55:59] I want them to make it.
[00:56:01] You know, Paul Saul of Tarsus,
[00:56:03] who became Paul the Apostle, was an enemy.
[00:56:07] He was an enemy.
[00:56:08] He was a persecutor, a murderer,
[00:56:12] and he came to repentance.
[00:56:17] So there's hope.
[00:56:19] There's hope.
[00:56:22] There's hope for, listen,
[00:56:23] there's hope for congressmen and senators
[00:56:26] and presidents.
[00:56:27] There's hope in a little bit.
[00:56:30] It's a sliver, but it's there.
[00:56:44] The will of God, folks,
[00:56:45] let me show you some of these here.
[00:56:47] We're gonna go through these kinda quick.
[00:56:49] It's only 11.55, so we're just getting warmed up.
[00:57:01] Let's go to Romans 6 real quick.
[00:57:18] Romans 6, we'll just start reading.
[00:57:31] Oh, goodness.
[00:57:34] I quoted some of this,
[00:57:35] but let's just read this here.
[00:57:39] Verse 8.
[00:57:43] So when he's talking about being dead with Christ,
[00:57:44] he's talking about dying to our flesh,
[00:57:47] dying to our own will.
[00:57:49] He says, now if we be dead with Christ,
[00:57:51] we believe that we shall also live with him,
[00:57:53] knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
[00:57:55] dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.
[00:57:58] For in that he died, he died unto sin once,
[00:58:00] but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
[00:58:02] Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves
[00:58:05] to be dead indeed unto sin,
[00:58:07] but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:58:10] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.
[00:58:13] So what is that saying?
[00:58:14] Don't let sin, the lust of the flesh
[00:58:20] or the disobedience of the flesh,
[00:58:23] don't let that, what?
[00:58:26] Reign, rule.
[00:58:27] Now guess what?
[00:58:28] When it says let not, that verb,
[00:58:32] guess what that is?
[00:58:33] Present tense, Greek verb, ongoing continuous action
[00:58:38] taking place in the present.
[00:58:39] So don't let sin be a habitual lifestyle.
[00:58:45] Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body
[00:58:47] that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
[00:58:50] Neither yield ye your members
[00:58:53] as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
[00:58:55] but yield yourselves unto God
[00:58:57] as those that are alive from the dead
[00:58:59] and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
[00:59:02] For sin shall not have dominion over you,
[00:59:05] for you are not under the law but under grace.
[00:59:07] What then shall we sin?
[00:59:09] Because we are not under the law but under grace,
[00:59:11] God forbid.
[00:59:12] He says, no ye not that to whom you yield
[00:59:15] yourself servants to obey,
[00:59:16] his servants ye are to whom ye obey.
[00:59:19] Whether of sin unto death,
[00:59:21] and that's eternal damnation, the second death,
[00:59:23] or obedience unto righteousness.
[00:59:25] Somebody say obedience unto righteousness.
[00:59:31] Is that what the Bible says?
[00:59:33] He says it's either practicing sin unto death
[00:59:38] or obedience unto righteousness.
[00:59:40] Again, the word obedience, obey.
[00:59:44] And then he says this, all right, verse 17.
[00:59:47] He says, but God be thanked that you were.
[00:59:52] Somebody say were.
[00:59:54] Not that you are, but that you were the servants of sin.
[01:00:00] Somebody say were again.
[01:00:02] What does that mean?
[01:00:04] Used to be, past tense, not anymore.
[01:00:07] See, I was a fornicator, I'm not anymore.
[01:00:09] I was a drunkard, I'm not anymore.
[01:00:13] I was a drug fiend, I'm not anymore.
[01:00:16] I was an idolater because I worshiped myself more than anything else.
[01:00:23] I'm not that anymore.
[01:00:26] Now let's read this, he says,
[01:00:27] but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin,
[01:00:31] but you have obeyed from the heart.
[01:00:33] Somebody say obeyed from the heart.
[01:00:38] Why does he say from the heart?
[01:00:40] He says, you've obeyed from the heart
[01:00:41] that form of doctrine that was delivered you,
[01:00:46] being then made free from sin,
[01:00:48] that you became the servants of righteousness,
[01:00:54] but you obeyed from the heart.
[01:00:59] You see, here's the thing,
[01:01:00] when you love God and you appreciate
[01:01:05] what he's done for you,
[01:01:06] dying on that cross,
[01:01:09] being beaten, whipped, mocked,
[01:01:14] the crown of thorns,
[01:01:16] nailed to a cross, hanging there,
[01:01:18] the sinless, sinless,
[01:01:21] son of God, hanging on the cross for your sins.
[01:01:24] When you understand the price that was paid,
[01:01:27] you will not play games with sin.
[01:01:29] You will not play games with disobedience and rebellion.
[01:01:32] You really, from the heart,
[01:01:34] you will be thankful and you will love him
[01:01:39] because he loved you and did that for you.
[01:01:42] And if you love him truly from the heart,
[01:01:45] you will want to obey him in everything.
[01:01:50] And if you don't, something is wrong with your heart.
[01:01:58] Uh-oh, I remember years ago,
[01:02:08] David Wilkerson's assistant pastor,
[01:02:11] I can't remember his name now, Bob, something.
[01:02:16] I can't remember his name.
[01:02:19] I remember though, I had his series, he did.
[01:02:21] He was a teacher.
[01:02:22] He actually went on to teach
[01:02:24] at the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry.
[01:02:25] He's one of the professors there later on.
[01:02:27] But for years, he was David Wilkerson's associate pastor.
[01:02:34] But I had a 14 tape series, teaching series.
[01:02:38] And this guy was an anointed teacher.
[01:02:42] 14 tape series on the heart.
[01:02:46] That was it, the heart.
[01:02:53] And I remember one of the scriptures.
[01:02:55] In fact, let's go to Psalm 36.
[01:03:04] I remember this from that series.
[01:03:06] Man, I listened to that, like cassette tape.
[01:03:09] Some of these young people
[01:03:10] don't even know what a cassette tape is.
[01:03:22] He says here, the transgression,
[01:03:24] this is verse one, he says,
[01:03:25] the transgression of the wicked sayeth within my heart
[01:03:28] that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
[01:03:31] For he flattereth himself in his own eyes
[01:03:34] and tell his iniquity be found to be hateful.
[01:03:43] He says the transgression of the wicked
[01:03:45] says to me in my heart,
[01:03:47] I know there's no fear of God in them.
[01:03:50] And we could put it this way in the new covenant,
[01:03:52] there is no love of God in them.
[01:03:56] Because if you wanna be a transgressor,
[01:03:57] that's a person constantly disobeying,
[01:04:00] violating God's words, his commands
[01:04:03] and not being obedient to his Holy Spirit.
[01:04:06] And if that's the way you're gonna be,
[01:04:07] it says there's no fear of God in your eyes.
[01:04:09] Yet, here's what many of these Christians do
[01:04:12] that they don't live in obedience,
[01:04:15] they flatter themselves in their own eyes.
[01:04:21] But I go to church, I sing in the choir.
[01:04:24] I've been baptized, not sprinkled.
[01:04:28] I don't pray to Mary like those Catholics do.
[01:04:36] When I ask somebody, do you know Jesus?
[01:04:38] Have you been born again?
[01:04:39] And they start, well, I go to church.
[01:04:43] That's not what I ask you.
[01:04:48] Do you know him?
[01:04:50] Do you hear him?
[01:04:52] Do you follow him?
[01:04:53] Do you obey him?
[01:04:54] Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?
[01:04:57] Not just a believer.
[01:05:02] Some scary stuff in it.
[01:05:06] It's nice to be scared straight though, right?
[01:05:10] Go to Ephesians chapter six.
[01:05:13] Yeah, we think of Ephesians six,
[01:05:15] we always think about it.
[01:05:16] It's all about the armor of God.
[01:05:19] Let me tell you what's before that,
[01:05:20] the armor of God in that.
[01:05:26] Ephesians six, we're gonna get this phrase again.
[01:05:30] You're gonna hear it.
[01:05:39] Now he's talking about here being obedient
[01:05:42] to bosses and those in authority.
[01:05:46] But let's just look at verse five.
[01:05:47] Let's read this here.
[01:05:50] He's a servant, be obedient to them
[01:05:52] that are your masters according to the flesh
[01:05:54] with fear and trembling in singleness
[01:05:57] of your heart as unto Christ,
[01:05:58] not with eye service as men pleasers,
[01:06:01] but as servants of Christ,
[01:06:03] doing the will of God from the heart.
[01:06:07] Y'all see that?
[01:06:10] Doing the will of God from the heart.
[01:06:14] Let's read a couple more verses here.
[01:06:16] Go to first John.
[01:06:23] You won't be able to say you didn't get
[01:06:24] some scriptures this morning, right?
[01:06:30] Go to first John chapter five.
[01:06:36] Now I read this verse a few weeks ago,
[01:06:38] which y'all probably need it again.
[01:06:41] Say, I need it again, Pastor Dean.
[01:06:44] Make me feel good, come on.
[01:06:52] He says here, the Apostle John says by this,
[01:06:56] somebody say by this.
[01:06:58] We know that we love the children of God
[01:07:02] when we love God and keep his commandments.
[01:07:07] What?
[01:07:08] By this we know.
[01:07:10] By this we know, I'm gonna back up.
[01:07:12] By this we know that we love the children of God.
[01:07:16] You know these people talk about love all the time.
[01:07:18] He's Dan, Molarite people.
[01:07:23] Love, it's just love.
[01:07:25] I'm gonna go out here and love people.
[01:07:28] Okay, that sounds nice.
[01:07:30] That sounds spiritual.
[01:07:32] It sounds pious.
[01:07:35] My question is though, do you love them enough
[01:07:38] to obey the Lord and be an example in front of them?
[01:07:41] Do you love them enough to tell them the truth
[01:07:42] even if it's gonna upset them?
[01:07:45] See, love is not going out
[01:07:46] and making everybody feel all mushy-gushy.
[01:07:51] See, a lot of this so-called love
[01:07:53] in the kingdom of God is emotional.
[01:07:56] It's soulish, it's not spiritual.
[01:07:59] But he says by this we know that we love the children of God
[01:08:02] when we love God.
[01:08:05] How do we love God?
[01:08:06] Keep his commandments.
[01:08:07] And then he says this, this is the love of God.
[01:08:14] He says this is the love,
[01:08:15] for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments
[01:08:18] and his commandments are not grievous.
[01:08:20] This is the love of God.
[01:08:21] All these people wanna talk about all this stuff.
[01:08:24] You wanna get all deep, right?
[01:08:26] You wanna understand love.
[01:08:28] Love is simply this.
[01:08:31] Keep his commandments.
[01:08:32] Do you obey him?
[01:08:34] Do you obey the Lord?
[01:08:36] Or are you a rebel?
[01:08:43] Listen, if I gave in to the rebel side of me,
[01:08:47] I'd be laying on the beach and Gulf Shores
[01:08:50] and somebody else would be preaching.
[01:08:52] You get what I'm saying?
[01:08:57] But I want to do what God wants me to do
[01:08:59] because I know as Paul said,
[01:09:01] it's more needful for you, right?
[01:09:04] And if I love you, then I'm gonna obey God
[01:09:07] because if I'm obeying God,
[01:09:09] that's what's gonna help you.
[01:09:11] If I disobey God, I'm being a bad example
[01:09:13] and I'm not helping you.
[01:09:15] So therefore I don't love you and I don't love God.
[01:09:20] It's not complicated.
[01:09:24] Children, you wanna prove you love your parents?
[01:09:25] Obey them.
[01:09:28] It's that simple.
[01:09:30] And yeah, even if you're grown,
[01:09:31] I see y'all looking at each other.
[01:09:36] You're supposed to still respect your parents
[01:09:38] even when they're old and you're grown up, right?
[01:09:41] Especially, look, God's giving you Christian parents
[01:09:44] that love the Lord and are trying to serve him
[01:09:46] and walk with him.
[01:09:46] You better respect them and obey them.
[01:09:49] They're looking out for you.
[01:09:58] Go to Titus right after the Timothy's.
[01:10:16] Go down to verse 10, all over the Bible today, right?
[01:10:25] Verse 10, what does it say here?
[01:10:27] For there are many unruly.
[01:10:28] Now this is, let me back up.
[01:10:30] He sends Titus to Crete.
[01:10:33] He says, look, verse five.
[01:10:34] For this cause left out of the in Crete
[01:10:36] that thou should have set in order the things
[01:10:39] that are lacking and ordained elders.
[01:10:42] And then he gives the qualifications for an elder.
[01:10:44] And then he says this, the problem,
[01:10:45] there was a problem there in Crete
[01:10:47] the Christians, he said, for there are many unruly.
[01:10:51] What's unruly mean?
[01:10:53] Rebellious, not submitted, not obedient.
[01:10:57] For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
[01:11:00] especially they are the circumcision
[01:11:02] whose mouths must be stopped,
[01:11:04] who subvert whole houses,
[01:11:06] teaching things which they ought not
[01:11:08] for filthy lucre sake or money.
[01:11:10] One of themselves, even a profit of their own,
[01:11:12] the crease say this,
[01:11:13] the creations are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
[01:11:17] I love this.
[01:11:18] This witness is true.
[01:11:20] Wherefore, rebuke them sharply
[01:11:22] that they may be sound in the faith,
[01:11:24] not giving heed to Jewish fables
[01:11:27] and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
[01:11:30] And he says, under the pure, all things are pure,
[01:11:32] but under them that are defiled
[01:11:34] and unbelieving is nothing pure,
[01:11:36] but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
[01:11:39] They profess that they know God,
[01:11:42] but in works they deny him,
[01:11:44] being abominable and disobedient
[01:11:46] unto every good work reprobate.
[01:11:49] They profess that they know God,
[01:11:52] but in works they deny him.
[01:11:59] See, you can say Jesus is my Lord
[01:12:01] and that your life, everything in your life
[01:12:05] can deny him, reject him.
[01:12:14] Is that you?
[01:12:19] See, this is why Paul go to 2 Corinthians.
[01:12:25] 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
[01:12:37] Y'all okay with going through the Bible a little bit?
[01:12:41] 2 Corinthians 13 verse one.
[01:12:48] He says, this is the third time that I am coming to you.
[01:12:51] In the mouth of two or three witnesses,
[01:12:52] shall every word be established?
[01:12:55] I told you before and foretell you
[01:12:56] as if I were present the second time
[01:12:59] and being absent now, I write to them
[01:13:01] which heretofore have sinned
[01:13:03] and to all other that if I come again,
[01:13:06] I will not spare.
[01:13:08] Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me,
[01:13:11] which to you word is not weak,
[01:13:13] but mighty in you,
[01:13:14] for though he was crucified through weakness,
[01:13:16] yet he liveth by the power of God,
[01:13:18] for we also are weak in him,
[01:13:21] but we shall live with him
[01:13:23] by the power of God toward you.
[01:13:24] Then he says this in verse five.
[01:13:26] Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
[01:13:29] Prove your own selves.
[01:13:32] Know you not your own selves,
[01:13:34] how that Jesus Christ is in you
[01:13:35] except you be reprobates.
[01:13:37] But I trust that you shall know
[01:13:39] that we are not reprobates.
[01:13:43] Now he's pretty clear here.
[01:13:46] Examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith.
[01:13:48] Now why would he say this to a Christian church?
[01:13:55] He wasn't writing to the unsaved.
[01:13:57] He wasn't writing to the men of Athens in the street.
[01:14:05] In fact, he said this is the third time
[01:14:07] I'm having to come to you and deal with this crap.
[01:14:12] And he said, I'm going to not spare.
[01:14:14] I'm not gonna hold back anything when I get there.
[01:14:20] And he says right here,
[01:14:21] examine your own selves whether you're in the faith.
[01:14:25] You know how easy that is?
[01:14:27] Oh, would I believe in Jesus?
[01:14:28] I got saved in that Baptist church.
[01:14:30] I got saved in the Baptist church right down here
[01:14:31] when I was 11 years old.
[01:14:32] But let me tell you what happened after that.
[01:14:34] By the time I was 13 and 14,
[01:14:36] I was back in the world completely.
[01:14:40] Panography, alcohol, sexual immorality.
[01:14:44] Yes, starting at 14,
[01:14:45] I was getting into all of those things.
[01:14:52] So guess what?
[01:14:56] If I examined myself,
[01:14:58] if I knew how at the time,
[01:15:00] because Satan comes in and blinds you,
[01:15:01] but if I knew how, if I heard a sermon like this,
[01:15:04] and I had to examine myself when I was 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
[01:15:13] I would have had to say,
[01:15:15] even though I got saved when I was 11,
[01:15:18] and I was truly born again
[01:15:19] and experienced the presence of Jesus,
[01:15:24] I would have to say that my works were now denying him.
[01:15:31] My works proved that I didn't love him.
[01:15:33] I loved myself.
[01:15:34] I loved the pleasures of sin.
[01:15:39] I didn't love God.
[01:15:40] I loved myself.
[01:15:41] And I wasn't helping anyone
[01:15:43] because I was an influence on so many people.
[01:15:50] I influenced people in the wrong direction, into sin.
[01:15:58] So when I came back to the Lord
[01:15:59] and really repented and understood
[01:16:01] what it meant to walk in an obedient,
[01:16:04] true repentant relationship with him
[01:16:08] and as a disciple of him,
[01:16:12] see, that's when people started getting saved.
[01:16:15] That's when I started helping people.
[01:16:19] That's when I led my two best friends,
[01:16:21] Billy and Craig, led them to Jesus.
[01:16:25] And they are ministers to this day.
[01:16:32] Billy's a youth pastor down in Ufala, Alabama.
[01:16:39] Changed their lives.
[01:16:42] Because you know why?
[01:16:44] They knew the old dean and then they met the new one
[01:16:50] and they were like, wow, you were like us.
[01:16:57] You're not that way anymore.
[01:16:59] My best friend Craig looked at me in the eyes.
[01:17:02] When I came back from being gone a year in Arkansas,
[01:17:04] when I rededicated my life, got filled with the Holy Spirit,
[01:17:07] started casting demons out of people,
[01:17:09] helping that girl out of Satanism and everything.
[01:17:11] When I came back, here's what he said to me.
[01:17:13] And this is a guy who knew me from fourth grade on up.
[01:17:17] He looked in my eyes and he said,
[01:17:19] and he didn't go to church.
[01:17:21] He didn't know Christianese.
[01:17:23] And he said, it looks like somebody
[01:17:28] cleaned you up on the inside.
[01:17:31] He said, your eyes look alive.
[01:17:34] They look different.
[01:17:34] They look like there's light in them.
[01:17:37] This is what an unsaved person is saying to me,
[01:17:41] who knew me before.
[01:17:44] You can look at pictures of me in those years
[01:17:47] I was not living for Jesus and see the death
[01:17:50] and the darkness in my eyes and the difference
[01:17:53] when after I came to Jesus fully and surrendered to him.
[01:18:01] Now, this is no joke, y'all.
[01:18:10] I hope, I hope this makes sense.
[01:18:16] Does it make sense to you?
[01:18:20] Obeying from the heart.
[01:18:24] If you really, really, really love God
[01:18:26] more than you love anything else, you will obey him.
[01:18:32] The pastor doesn't have to scare you to death.
[01:18:36] Shouldn't anyway.
[01:18:39] Doesn't have to try to push you.
[01:18:42] That's why, y'all don't hear from me.
[01:18:43] I don't hound y'all about coming to church, right?
[01:18:47] Y'all ever hear from me,
[01:18:48] why didn't you come to church today?
[01:18:51] I don't hound you about coming to church.
[01:18:53] I don't take up offerings and hound you about money, do I?
[01:18:58] I don't wanna try to make every decision in your life.
[01:19:00] I'm not a control freak.
[01:19:05] I, my hope and prayer is that you will love God
[01:19:09] and obey him, obey his word
[01:19:12] and obey what he's leading you to do
[01:19:15] and understand that sometimes those things are very,
[01:19:18] are going to be very difficult.
[01:19:21] And you need to understand too, for me,
[01:19:22] as some of you've already seen over the years,
[01:19:26] is that sometimes the Lord tells me to do things
[01:19:28] that are very difficult
[01:19:30] and that some people don't understand.
[01:19:35] I catch flack, you know,
[01:19:37] there are people that didn't understand me
[01:19:38] running for governor.
[01:19:39] Oh, he must be, he must be a free Mason.
[01:19:41] He must be working for the other side.
[01:19:42] He's going into politics.
[01:19:43] What's he doing as a pastor doing that?
[01:19:46] Guess what?
[01:19:47] I don't owe you an explanation of anything.
[01:19:50] Holy Spirit told me to do that.
[01:19:54] And the fruit of it is still coming forth to this day.
[01:20:06] There's people who's got their little panties in a wad
[01:20:09] because I've sent some people out the door.
[01:20:14] And sometimes you're going to know
[01:20:15] why I sent them out the door.
[01:20:17] And sometimes you're not going to know
[01:20:18] because I can't tell you.
[01:20:22] But I've had people get mad, get offended and leave
[01:20:24] because I had to send somebody out the door.
[01:20:30] And you know, it might just be a Hagar situation.
[01:20:32] I might, the Lord might've just told me
[01:20:33] you need to send them out the door.
[01:20:34] How about that one?
[01:20:37] I've sent some witches out the door.
[01:20:39] I've sent some disruptive Christians out the door.
[01:20:41] I've sent a CIA agent out the door.
[01:20:45] Some MK Ultra people that came here,
[01:20:47] sent them out the door.
[01:20:48] Some pedophiles I've sent out the door.
[01:20:58] And I give them opportunity to repent.
[01:21:02] We let a pedophile sit right here for what,
[01:21:05] a few months, not long.
[01:21:07] But we watched him, kept an eye on him.
[01:21:13] Gave him the opportunity to hear the gospel to repent.
[01:21:14] He did not.
[01:21:17] And then, you know, he basically resisted being saved
[01:21:23] and started trying to pay a little extra attention
[01:21:25] to the younger boys downstairs.
[01:21:28] And I said, nope, you're not doing that here.
[01:21:30] You're out of here.
[01:21:31] You had your chance.
[01:21:40] You gotta keep your eye on things, right?
[01:21:44] You can't let your children do whatever they want.
[01:21:47] I don't wanna upset the little tender hearted one.
[01:21:51] No, you need to upset them.
[01:21:55] Certain friends, you can't let them have.
[01:21:57] Certain places they can't go.
[01:22:00] It's that simple.
[01:22:10] You know, a lot of people are like,
[01:22:12] Pastor Dean, y'all don't let faith do anything.
[01:22:15] You're right.
[01:22:16] Very little.
[01:22:20] She can do all that stuff when she's grown
[01:22:21] and on her own and makes her own decisions,
[01:22:23] not living in my house.
[01:22:24] My job as a parent is to protect her
[01:22:27] from this evil world the best I can.
[01:22:34] And I know she doesn't like that sometimes,
[01:22:36] but it's okay.
[01:22:40] We don't even let her go outside in the front yard
[01:22:43] without one of us.
[01:22:51] You know, I've had my older daughter Bethany
[01:22:54] who lives in Montgomery, she's,
[01:22:55] there's been two attempts on to abduct her.
[01:23:01] Two attempts, one in Walmart and one
[01:23:03] when she went to a store, during the campaign,
[01:23:05] one of them happened.
[01:23:08] There was a miracle of God
[01:23:09] that she got away from that situation.
[01:23:13] She called me and said,
[01:23:14] Daddy, can I come do some shooting,
[01:23:16] some target practice that said, sure, come on.
[01:23:22] We live in a dangerous world.
[01:23:27] See, my job is to be the sheep dog.
[01:23:31] He's a shepherd.
[01:23:33] I'm just a sheep dog.
[01:23:37] You know what the sheep dog's job is, right?
[01:23:41] The sheep dog, he loves the shepherd
[01:23:44] and he hates the wolves, right?
[01:23:51] I got a sheep dog named Bear.
[01:23:54] He loves us, man.
[01:23:57] He loves me, he loves my wife more than me.
[01:23:59] He loves all 140, 50 pounds of him,
[01:24:04] wants to get in your lap and just love on you.
[01:24:07] But let me tell you, if a wolf came in our yard
[01:24:13] or a bad person with bad intentions,
[01:24:17] Bear will kill them.
[01:24:19] I mean, he's that dangerous.
[01:24:21] He will kill a predator.
[01:24:24] That's a sheep dog.
[01:24:28] In fact, somebody sent me, who was it?
[01:24:29] I think it was Soren from Denmark.
[01:24:31] Somebody gave me a little patch for my tactical vest.
[01:24:35] And yes, I have one.
[01:24:38] And it says sheep dog on it.
[01:24:42] Soren did it.
[01:24:42] Thank you, Soren.
[01:24:46] That Soren can shoot, man.
[01:24:47] He was in the Denmark military.
[01:24:50] He can still shoot.
[01:24:53] He had a ball
[01:24:54] because they don't get to shoot guns
[01:24:55] like we do here in Denmark.
[01:24:57] So they pass your name, right?
[01:25:02] What are you talking about having guns?
[01:25:03] Okay, that's another thing.
[01:25:06] You want to be an unarmed libtard?
[01:25:09] Go right ahead.
[01:25:10] That's your free choice.
[01:25:19] What are we supposed to do?
[01:25:22] Obey from the heart.
[01:25:23] That's it.
[01:25:25] I think y'all got it today, right?
[01:25:28] Obey from the heart.
[01:25:29] And don't get mad at Pastor Dean
[01:25:32] when he obeys what he feels like the Lord wants him to do
[01:25:37] even if you think I shouldn't do it, okay?
[01:25:45] Because there may be some changes
[01:25:47] to some things coming in the days ahead.
[01:25:53] And guess what?
[01:25:54] You say, well, Pastor Dean, you said,
[01:25:55] you said we're going to do this and then we don't.
[01:25:57] Well, guess what?
[01:25:58] I'm not in charge.
[01:25:59] If the Lord says, I think we're going to this direction,
[01:26:02] Lord said, don't go in that direction.
[01:26:03] I'm not going in that direction.
[01:26:04] I will change.
[01:26:05] I will stop and turn around and go the other direction,
[01:26:08] whatever he says to do.
[01:26:10] Because sometimes we just got to step out.
[01:26:11] Sometimes we got to step, start walking.
[01:26:13] That's fine.
[01:26:14] But if the Lord says, stop, you stop.
[01:26:16] If he says, turn this way, you turn that way.
[01:26:18] If he says, go back, you go back.
[01:26:20] Thank God Abraham stopped, right?
[01:26:24] When he had the knife in there, stop.
[01:26:30] Some people say, we rebuke the devil and kept on.
[01:26:36] But what did Jesus say?
[01:26:37] My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
[01:26:45] That's what we have to do.
[01:26:46] It won't always look pretty.
[01:26:50] People may not understand, you know,
[01:26:56] I know when my wife and I first about to get married
[01:27:02] I was in Washington, D.C.
[01:27:03] And I was about to take my little Georgia peach
[01:27:05] to Washington, D.C.
[01:27:07] Boy, her family was not happy about that at the time.
[01:27:12] But she knew, she knew that she was supposed
[01:27:16] to be married to me and she was supposed
[01:27:17] to go wherever we were supposed to go.
[01:27:19] And we were willing, I was already in D.C.
[01:27:22] And we were willing to go there and live there.
[01:27:23] And just, you know, as much as I hate big cities
[01:27:28] and especially Washington, D.C. with a passion.
[01:27:32] But we were willing to obey the Lord.
[01:27:34] And thank God because we're willing to obey the Lord.
[01:27:36] Again, not everybody thought that was a good idea.
[01:27:41] But we were, we were headed to obey the Lord.
[01:27:44] And he said, stop, right?
[01:27:47] Confront this problem.
[01:27:49] They're gonna fire you on November 30th, 2008.
[01:27:52] When they do, I want you to go home, start a church.
[01:27:55] None of that's written in the Bible.
[01:28:02] But I knew because I know the Lord.
[01:28:03] I've walked with him long enough to recognize
[01:28:06] when his Holy Spirit is moving on me
[01:28:08] and when he's speaking to me.
[01:28:11] And when I know it's him, when I'm positive, it's him.
[01:28:15] Sometimes I'm not sure, sometimes,
[01:28:17] and if you're not sure, it's okay if you think,
[01:28:19] well, I don't know if it's him or if it's me.
[01:28:21] It's okay, you wait, you pause,
[01:28:23] you pray some more, you fast some more.
[01:28:26] You ask him to confirm it some more.
[01:28:28] You wait a minute.
[01:28:30] But once you know the witness of the Holy Spirit's on it
[01:28:33] and you know he's leading you,
[01:28:35] you're absolutely certain of it,
[01:28:37] then it always takes faith to step out in no way.
[01:28:42] But see, that's where God moves, y'all.
[01:28:44] That's where good things happen.
[01:28:45] That's where the power of God happens.
[01:28:47] Yes, persecution comes,
[01:28:49] but that's where the power of God comes.
[01:28:51] That's where people get saved, people get healed,
[01:28:52] people get delivered.
[01:28:54] That's where people get convicted of their sins
[01:28:56] and repent, where prodigals come home,
[01:28:58] where unsaved people get saved.
[01:29:03] That's when David said, you know,
[01:29:04] the Psalm 51, where he repents of his adultery
[01:29:07] and his murder, and he repents,
[01:29:10] and he says, oh, Lord, created me a clean heart,
[01:29:12] renew a right spirit in me.
[01:29:14] And he's just like, Lord, don't take your Holy Spirit
[01:29:16] away from me.
[01:29:17] He's saying all that there in Psalm 51,
[01:29:19] and then he says,
[01:29:20] he says, then, after you forgive me,
[01:29:23] after you clean me, after you renew a right spirit in me,
[01:29:26] after you do this, he said,
[01:29:28] then I will teach transgressors your ways
[01:29:31] and sinners will be converted to you.
[01:29:33] Go read it in Psalm 51.
[01:29:37] See, we get ourselves in obedience,
[01:29:40] and then we can bring others
[01:29:43] to know Jesus is the Lord and Savior.
[01:29:46] Amen, let's stand.
[01:29:53] Thought I was gonna quit shortly after 12,
[01:29:56] but that didn't happen.
[01:29:58] Imagine that.
[01:30:00] I wanna do that last song again.
[01:30:02] It's only three minutes.
[01:30:03] I know it's hot.
[01:30:05] Three minutes.
[01:30:07] We're gonna sing this before we go.
[01:30:09] Now, let me say this.
[01:30:10] Some days I give altar calls,
[01:30:12] not all the time, rarely.
[01:30:15] I'm not gonna do it today because here's the deal.
[01:30:19] Choosing to repent and choosing to become
[01:30:22] an obedient Christian.
[01:30:26] You can pray up at an altar at a church 500 times,
[01:30:30] and you leave never intending.
[01:30:31] You walk out the door never intending on
[01:30:34] becoming obedient.
[01:30:35] It's a simple decision.
[01:30:37] Do I fear the Lord enough and love the Lord enough?
[01:30:42] Do I respect the Lord enough
[01:30:44] that from henceforth I am done with sin,
[01:30:48] I am done with rebellion,
[01:30:50] I am done with my own plans and my own will.
[01:30:53] I am going to follow him.
[01:30:57] And if you make, I made that decision in 1987,
[01:31:03] and it was a, how do I put it?
[01:31:08] It wasn't a flippant decision.
[01:31:10] It was, I'm gonna do this,
[01:31:13] and I'm gonna go all the way with you, Lord.
[01:31:14] I'm gonna do it right.
[01:31:15] I will not be a hypocrite, I told him.
[01:31:19] So you can make up your mind.
[01:31:20] It's your choice.
[01:31:23] But let it be known this day.
[01:31:25] Those of you watching and listening,
[01:31:27] those of you here today,
[01:31:28] you have been told, you have had it defined,
[01:31:33] taught, explained,
[01:31:36] that you either become an obedient Christian
[01:31:40] from the heart,
[01:31:43] or you stay a disobedient one and flatter yourself
[01:31:50] with your good deeds.
[01:31:56] Amen.
[01:31:59] Let's pray, I'm gonna pray first.
[01:32:00] Lord, I pray today
[01:32:05] that this word will sink down in the hearts
[01:32:07] of every lukewarm Christian,
[01:32:09] every prodigal that's walked away,
[01:32:11] fallen away back into the pig pen of their old life.
[01:32:15] Many that think they are Christians,
[01:32:19] they've never been truly born again.
[01:32:20] They've never truly ever surrendered.
[01:32:24] I pray today, Holy Spirit,
[01:32:25] you can evict them, draw them,
[01:32:27] reveal this truth to them,
[01:32:29] that they will finally fear the Lord enough,
[01:32:35] respect the Lord enough.
[01:32:36] They will finally do that enough
[01:32:39] to obey, to repent,
[01:32:41] to change the way they've been going,
[01:32:45] to come back out of the pig pen,
[01:32:46] come back to the Father's house,
[01:32:50] to receive the forgiveness,
[01:32:52] the cleansing of the blood of Jesus
[01:32:54] that comes when we choose to walk in the light.
[01:32:58] Lord, I pray this over your people here,
[01:33:00] those watching and listening,
[01:33:01] that they will obey you from the heart
[01:33:05] and walk with you and love you
[01:33:08] and deny themselves and take up the cross
[01:33:10] and follow you.
[01:33:12] I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.
[01:33:26] Lord, you have my heart.
[01:33:31] I will search to take mine.
[01:33:43] Lord, you have mine.
[01:33:47] And I will search for what lets me be to you.
[01:33:55] A sack and I'll sing for sure.
[01:36:08] Real quick, Fire and Grace School of Ministry,
[01:36:12] if you wanna be in the School of Ministry
[01:36:14] coming up this new semester,
[01:36:17] you gotta get your applications in by August 1st
[01:36:21] and that date is quickly approaching.
[01:36:23] So go to fgministrieschool.com
[01:36:26] and fill out the application and get it in ASAP.
[01:36:31] And then also prepare for Skyfall.
[01:36:35] And that's gonna be, I always have to look,
[01:36:37] October 25th through the 27th.
[01:36:43] I will say this, we may change the venue.
[01:36:47] We may not do it at the land.
[01:36:48] It may be too much to pull off at this point
[01:36:51] with the difficulties we are dealing with.
[01:36:53] But we will let you know.
[01:36:56] It will still be, those of you that have made
[01:36:59] hotel arrangements and planes already, it's okay.
[01:37:03] It's not gonna be anywhere far from here.
[01:37:05] So don't worry about that, wherever we find.
[01:37:08] So you'll still be fine.
[01:37:11] Anyway, just pray for that
[01:37:12] because we're just trying to find God's will on it.
[01:37:16] And just the Lord is like kind of checking us
[01:37:19] on some things.
[01:37:20] I think we just need to slow down
[01:37:23] and be willing to adjust.
[01:37:26] Amen.
[01:37:28] All right.
[01:37:29] All right.
[01:37:30] We all know the drill.
[01:37:31] Hugs him next before you leave.
[01:37:33] Yeah, hold on.
[01:37:34] Oh, bye.