Open your Bibles this morning to Matthew chapter 19 and meet me at verse 16, Matthew chapter 19, and we'll look at verse 16. Are you ready to get into the Word of God today? We're going to conclude our series today. We've been talking about prosperity and God's will for prosperity. And I may not be a prosperity preacher, but I'm definitely an anti-poverty preacher. Amen. Amen. I am an anti-poverty preacher. Okay.
Let's look at verse 16. Now behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness.
He goes on there and says honor your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself verse 20 the young man said to him all these things i have kept from my youth listen to this question what do i still lack jesus said to him if you want to be perfect That word perfect means spiritually mature. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Verse 23, then Jesus said to his disciples, Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, who then can be saved?
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Verse 27, then Peter answered and said to him, see, we have left all and followed you. Therefore, what shall we have?
Jesus said to them, or surely I say to you that in this regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on the 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel, verse 29, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. May the Lord have a blessing.
In the reading of his word. They used to say that back in my old Baptist church. Amen. Many of you know my story, but I'm going to share it again. Back in 2005 to 2009, I worked for a major bank. I was promoted at that bank two times. Started out making $28,000, ended up leaving, making over $120,000 in a four-year period of time. And as I was at that bank, the Lord's favor was on my life, promoting me. I was really just getting started. I felt that way.
I mean, I was doing well in 2008. I was the number one sales rep in that industry, in a certain area of the bank, and number one in the entire bank. All right, you're looking at it right here, okay? And so that was in 2009 or 2008, I'm sorry. And so the ascension was there. The trajectory was there. The path was there to do well. They were talking about even promotion and having my own book of business and so on and so forth. I mean, it was laid out and I was really excited about it.
But I always had in my heart that I was supposed to pastor since I was an 11-year-old boy. I had a vision that I was going to pastor. I never actually really wanted to do that, but I wanted to be obedient to the plan of God. And how many of you know the best place of peace is right smack dab in the middle of the will of God. And I didn't get saved and give my life to Jesus to do what I want to do.
I gave my life to Jesus to do what he tells me to do. And so during that period of time, the Lord began to deal with me about leaving and going into full-time ministry. Now, that seemed kind of countercultural to what I was doing. I was doing well. I was appreciated. I was light there. I enjoyed the people I worked with. I didn't want to leave, but the Lord was saying, it's time to leave. I've got some things in you to go into full-time ministry. So I went to my bosses
there, and I told them that it's time for me to leave. They pulled me into the office, and they said, what are you leaving for? I said, I'm going into the ministry. And they were like, what in the world? Now, I had some experience teaching Bible studies there, so they knew that I was actually encouraging people while I was there. But leaving this glamorous position and going into the full-time ministry did not seem like something that they agreed with.
I didn't want them to ask a lot of questions because I was still kind of struggling with them myself. Can I be transparent with you today? And so he said, why don't you do both? And I said, well, I thought about that too, you know. Why don't I start the church and stay here? But the Lord told me to leave. And I knew that he had told me that. I'm not telling anybody here to leave their job. I'm telling you what the Lord told me.
Somebody say amen to that. Well, Pastor Leffitt, I'm going to leave my job too. Listen, the Lord told me to leave, okay? No man told me to leave. He said, listen, I want you to depend on me. And so I put my notice in. I wanted to do both as well. I did not do both. I stepped out into full-time ministry, didn't have a job, and God began to provide. I remember the first time I told someone they came over the house with $1,200 cash.
Like we want to be the first ones to invest in your new ministry. Praise God. I told another friend and he said, I'm going to send $1,000 a month until the Lord tells me to stop because I want to be one of the first investors in your ministry. Amen. God was showing me that I'm going to take care. And at the outreach yesterday, I was talking to Ron and right after COVID, I got a call from a friend and he's still in the financial industry.
He oversees an area of a particular financial, big sort of, not a bank, but just like a retirement industry. And he hires people and he called me up. He goes, there's a job that we have. And they were asking me who would be a good fit. And he said, I just want to do my due diligence. He said, I want to ask you about taking this job. And he said, I think you're perfect for this. I know how you've worked. I've seen your experience. I know your personality.
And I want you to consider this job. I know you're pastoring, but you can do both. Everybody loves to say that. You can do both. And he said, I also want you to consider because this job pays $300,000 a year. And I said, oh, Lord. I said, okay. And I, hey, listen, I'm just being transparent. I said, man, maybe I could do both. He goes, you can. You could do both. I said, let me call you back. Let me call you back. As soon as I got off the phone, I said, I called him right back.
I said, man, I said, I can't. Just take my name out of the running. He's like, are you sure? I said, here's what's going to happen. I said, you're going to want 100% of me. You ain't going to pay me that kind of money and be happy that I'm doing something else. I said, the ministry demands a lot of me. And my family needs a lot of me. And if I take this job, something's going to slip. And it's not going to be you because y'all are going to make sure it doesn't slip.
It's either going to be my family or the ministry. and I'm gonna decline, just take my name out. And I declined it, and, you know, and I'm pastoring you today, and I love it. I'm fulfilled. I'm not making $300,000, but you couldn't tell, praise God. God's been good to me. Amen. Amen. He's been good to me. And so we see this man in Scripture, young man. He's rich. The Scriptures say he's a rich young ruler, and he comes running to Jesus.
I mean, he's afraid because he begins to ask the question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So he's got the afterlife on his mind. He's thinking about life after death. And the scriptures say that he is rich, which means he has a house. He owns a house or he lives in a house. Maybe he lives in an apartment. Maybe he's leasing something, but he has consistent shelter. That's what rich means. He also has consistent clothing. He doesn't have to wear the same thing every single day.
He has a variety of clothing, and that's what rich means. You've got consistent clothing. He also has consistent water. He can turn the water on, and consistently the water will come out, and he can do whatever he needs. That's what being rich means. You have consistent water. He also has consistent food Anytime he wants to eat he can eat their food in the pantry. There's food in the fridge He can get food wherever you can go out there fishing.
He can run by show marks He can get some food wherever he wants. That's what that's what being rich means. He has the Opportunity and the accessibility to get food. Is there anyone in here like that? I. Is there anyone in here like that? Just want to put that question out there. And so this rich man comes up to Jesus. He's running. He's scared. Mark's gospel said he kneels down and worships Jesus. He says, what must I do that I shall inherit eternal life? And he calls him good teacher.
Somebody say good teacher. Now, that would be what we think would just be an opening title. But there was something deeper in calling him good teacher because Jesus kept telling the people that he's God. I am God. I am the son of God. I am God in the flesh. And the people were persecuting him. It's inevitably what got him on the cross. Not any healing, not any provision, not any good thing. Simply saying, I am God. They crucified him for saying that. He's saying, I'm God on the earth.
And this man says, good teacher. Jesus says, whoa, whoa, whoa, why do you call me good? Are you saying that I'm God? So he's trying to see what does this man see in him? And he says, okay, all right, there's only one good, it's God. Are you calling me God? The man says, well, I need to inherit eternal life. He's concerned about life after death. You know, only in first world countries like the country we live in do people not consider that there is life after death?
You go to second world and third world countries, people believe in life after death. But because we're so comfortable, we just don't believe there's anything after death. And because we're so rich, we can believe that we're atheists. Nobody in a third world country is atheist. It's only first world countries because we got so much stuff. And so he's concerned about life after death. Jesus said, well, hey, have you obeyed the commandments?
And he says, well, which ones? And Jesus rattled off about five of them that have to deal with association with other people. You know, honor your father and mother. Do not steal, do not kill. You know, he rattles off five of them. The man says, I've been doing this all my life. Jesus said, there's one thing that you lack. He says, if you want to be mature, I want you to go. I want you to sell everything you have. I want you to give to the poor and I want you to follow me.
Notice what Jesus was addressing was a commandment he did not share with this rich young ruler, which was the first commandment. The first commandment is thou shall not have no other God before me. And so he's telling him, if you want to be mature, then you have some things that are before me. There's some things that you are idolizing. There's some things that you're clinging to. There's some things that you're finding your security in and your dependence in.
If you want to inherit eternal life, you're going to have to follow me. Now, this rich young man went away very sad because he had great possessions. But notice, he did not get sad because he lacked. He's sad because he had too much. But he didn't have too much money or possessions. He had too much attachment to the money and possessions. Are you listening to me today? So the problem is his attachment to the possessions caused him to be great sorrow and he left.
And we tend to forget the invitation that Jesus presented to this man. The invitation is to come and follow me.
And we don't even consider that we consider well shoot he had to give up all his stuff no for the sake of following Jesus, we got to give it all up do you remember in Matthew 13 we talked about a man went and hid in the field a jewelry and something precious and he bought the entire field just to get that jewel, something precious for the sake of following Jesus, he could not give up his attachment to the things of this life. I'm talking to you this morning because you might be thinking about,
well, he's talking about Bill Gates. I ain't talking about Bill Gates. I'm talking about you. He might be talking about Elon Musk. I'm not talking about Elon Musk. I'm talking about you. What are you clinging to? What are you attached to? What possession can you not give away? See, this is how you know what is controlling you by your your. Your, how can I say it this way, your attachment, your emotional desire for the thing that becomes greater than your relationship with Jesus.
And it's possible that sleeping too much is your God and your idol. Well, you don't want to spend time with Jesus because I can't get out the bed. Don't shout me down when I'm preaching good. And I want you to know, I'm not scared. It ain't not one of y'all. What are you attached to? Is it your job? You're more attached to your job than you are to your relationship with Jesus. I remember there was a man that was coming to our church, and he was believing
for a car. He didn't have a car, and we were believing with him. Bless God, we're going to believe with you, going to help you get a car. And glory to God, he got a car one day. Hallelujah! Never saw him again. He never came back to church. Never came back. The attachment to the thing. Are you after him, or are you after the thing? Are you attached to the thing, or are you clinging to him? And so the man went away very sorrowful. Jesus turns to his disciples and he says to them, it is hard.
Somebody say hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. The kingdom is the way God does things. The kingdom is the way he views things, the way he sees things. Ultimately, it's heaven. but the kingdom is here on the earth as well because the kingdom is in us. And so he's saying it is hard to enter. You remember Jesus told Nicodemus, if you're not born again, you can't even see.
You can't even see the kingdom. It is hard for a person with money and possessions, like you and I to enter into the kingdom. He says it is actually easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. I believe Jesus was using hyperbole there saying the impossibility of a camel going through an eye of a needle, that is an easier illustration than it is for a rich man to get his dependence off of his possessions and on to him.
Now here's the key. The disciples asked him and said, well, then who then can be saved? Only another rich person would ask that question. Poor people went, oh, yeah, the poor people that we're talking, yeah, well, I'm glad I'm not rich because I can be saved. No, they said, who can be saved? Because they were business owners as well, taking care of those families. And Jesus said, with men, it's impossible. But with God, all things are possible.
And I want to camp out here for a second, but I want to finish the story. But we're going to camp out in that statement. And then Peter turns to Jesus and says, we have left all. What do we get? I love that question. You told this man he couldn't leave his stuff. We actually left our stuff. What did we get? Jesus said, in this season, you will receive a hundredfold. Somebody say amen.
Amen. And inherit eternal life. If the rich young ruler would have just hung out for a few more minutes, he would have heard Jesus say that. Think about that. He'd have heard him say, but he couldn't do it because his attachment was to the possessions. If I could just hold on to a little more money, if I could just hold on to what I got, if I could just hold on. I don't want to let it go. I just want to hold on.
And one of the things I try to do frequently is I try to give stuff away because I don't want to be too attached to things. I'll start cleaning the house. Oh, Lord, everything is gone. I'm going to hurt somebody's feelings when I say this, but if you've got a storage unit just full of stuff, and it's just sitting in there, you are attached to things. And I'm not scared of not one of y'all. You paying money for stuff to just sit? Give that stuff away.
I knew I wouldn't get a lot of amens on that, but it's the truth. I need to get in the storage industry and just take advantage of all you greedy folks that's holding on to all the stuff. Now, if it's temporary, you know, you're moving or something, that's one thing. We've been paying on that thing for years and years. Get rid of the stuff. Say amen to that. Jesus said, with men, put it on the screen, guys. I believe it's verse 26. Matthew 19, 26. With men, that's 29. Let's try 26.
With men, that's 29. This is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. He looked at his disciples and said, it's impossible, it's possible. It's impossible, it's possible. Well, which one is it, Jesus? Is it impossible or is it possible? I mean, the same sentence you're saying, it's impossible, and now you're saying, it's possible. Which one is it? Well, it determines or we can decide by who you are with. If you're with men, it's going to be impossible.
But if you're with God, all things are possible. If you're with men or if you see it the way men see it, your situation is hopeless. But if you're with God and you see it the way God sees it, your situation is hopeful. If you're with men and you're hanging with men and you're vibing with men and you see things the way men see it, it can't be done. But if you're with God and you're vibing with God and you're hanging with God, you see things in this earth realm, you say it can be done.
So the question is, who are you with? And being with someone means that you are connected and you are committed when you're with them. Several years ago, I got a call. This was before COVID. And I know a guy, he's a fighter. His name is Daniel Cormier. He's a UFC fighter and had the opportunity to go to a bunch of fights with him right before COVID. Got connected with him. He called me one day. He lives in California. He says, meet me in New York.
And I was like, well, let me make sure I can get out of town. I go talk to Stacey and Stacey's like, yeah, that's fine. And he's like, just a one day trip. I'm gonna be in New York. I said, okay. And I went to bed because he called that night. I went to bed. I wake up the next morning. I'm leaving that day. He had bought a ticket overnight. I don't know how he got my birthday and all that stuff. He bought a ticket, and I'm leaving. I said, oh, babe, I'm leaving today.
And she was like, well, you better get ready to go, right? And so I fly to New York. He had to go to Good Morning America for an interview. He was promoting a fight, and then he had to go to Madison Square Garden. So I am with him. Somebody say, I'm with him. I'm with him, Right. We got the the cars picking us up and we're going to to Good Morning America set. And I was in the set behind the scenes. And then a car took us to lunch. Then this car took us to Madison Square Garden.
Thousands of people were there and he's promoting his fight. I'm backstage. I'm with him. Right. I am with him. Well, after it's over at Madison Square Garden, we get ushered out and I'm using the word loosely we. The real question is he, okay, we get ushered out, and as soon as we get out of Madison Square Garden, it is thousands of people out there, and they're chanting his name. D.C., D.C., that's what they call him. D.C., oh, thousands.
I am intimidated, and I never get intimidated. I am literally like, oh, my gosh. And so the officers are ushering us, I say us loosely, him, because I get disconnected from him. And they're pushing him through the crowd, and there I am way back there, I'm part of the crowd now. And they're pushing through, and they're pushing through, and they get him to his car, and I'm like, at least I got a cell phone and some money in my pocket. I mean, I'll catch up, I guess I'll catch up with him later.
I don't know what I'm going to do, right? And we get through, and he stops. He says, Devon! And I'm like 15, 20 feet away. I'm like, over here! And he turns, and I'm like, he's like, and he turns to the officers that are with him, the New York officers. He says, go get him because he's with me. Are y'all getting this? He's with me. So they left. One of them left, came through the crowd, grabbed me and I got through the crowd and they pushed us in the car and we drove off and then we moved on.
And the Lord spoke something to me. He said, it's good to be with me. He said, but it's better than I'm with you. Come on, somebody. See, when we're when we're together, that means we're connected.
That means we have one heart and one mind and he wasn't going to leave without me and the Lord said I ain't going to leave without you if you're with me then I'm with you I'm never going to leave you I'm never going to forsake you I'm always there with you but we got to stay with him we got to stay connected with him because if we stick with him then it's possible whatever it is that you believe in God for? It's possible if you stick with him.
But if you are not sticking with him and you're getting with other people, things become impossible. Then it becomes less likely to take place and to happen and improbable to happen because you're seeing things the way men see it I can tell who you are with by what you're talking about I can tell see you are not what you say you are who you listen to. I'm preaching better than you're saying amen in here. You are who is influencing you.
So when we're talking about who you're with, is men influencing you? Or is God influencing you? See, there'll be times that people will start changing what they believe or changing how they were raised or changing how, I'm talking about if they were raised in a good environment, and they begin changing. I can tell right away who you've been with when you start changing. Well, who's been talking to you? Where did you hear that nonsense?
Who have you been with? Who are you with that's telling you these things that are contrary to how you were raised, how you grew up? I know a guy, his four-year-old daughter started cussing. And he said, man, my four-year-old's been cussing. And I said, now, I'm going to ask you a question. Are you cussing? Because the four-year-old is going to cuss because you've been cussing. Who you with? Now, as they get a little older, they'll start having their own
thing. And I got asked, now, who you hanging with at school? Because now that is not how we raised you. Who have you been with? What are you reading? Who are you listening to that's contrary to how you were raised? It's the same way in your life. If you feel like something's impossible, listen to me now. It's because of how you are perceiving it and who you're listening to. If you believe it's possible, then it's because of how you perceive it and who you have been listening to.
You are not what you say. You are what you listen to. If we can get this and you wonder, well, how is this happening for this person? Because the title of this message is this makes the difference. How does this happen to this person or what makes the difference? Or how does that happen for this person? Somebody is seeing something differently than someone else. In college, I used to play a lot of dominoes and spades. I mean, I have a PhD in dominology, okay?
And so I played a lot of spades, and I played too much. Too much. I couldn't wait to get out of class and go play spades or dominoes. And there was always a room, big room that was ready. The table was hot. And me and a friend, his name is Dwayne, we used to call ourselves the church house because we were on the same team. And if you come to the church house, you might get dealt with, okay? You was going to lose that Domino's spade game, okay?
The church house, and we'd get to preaching. I got five on them and I'd hit them for 15. We had a lot of fun. And we was 99-0 in the church house. We never lost. I got to send this message to him. But I had gotten so good at playing that I could look at someone new in their hand. And I could determine, you know, you got actually a pretty good hand. And they think they have a terrible hand.
You actually got a pretty good hand. Or vice versa. So they think they have a good hand, but it's actually a pretty terrible hand. Why? Because I was with the spades a lot. I was with the dominoes a lot. So I can look at someone's hand and I could determine, I'm saying if I wasn't playing, right? If I wasn't part of the game, I wasn't cheating. If I wasn't part of the game, I can look at their hand and say, okay, you know, you got a good hand.
You don't have a good hand, whatever the case may be, because I spent a lot of time playing the game. And so then instruction and teaching must take place. If that individual wants to get better, then they have to be taught. Listen to me now. They have to be taught. And then I have to, if they ask me to teach them, I've got to help them see what I already see. And there comes experience that takes place. See, when you are with God, he's going to teach you some things.
But we don't only learn through instruction. We also learn through observation and experience. And so he's going to take you places to teach you that you may not want to go. He's going to show you some things that you may not want to see yet. But he's teaching you to see it the way he sees it. So then you can see that this situation is possible. And this situation is likely to happen and hopeful and doable because I'm seeing
it the way God sees it and not the way man sees it. Are you listening to me today? When you begin to see the way God sees it, you'll begin to look at situations as likely to happen. Well, you know, the jobs in their land, they're laying us off. We only got six more weeks. Everybody getting laid off. If you start thinking, I'm going to go broke and I'm going to I'm going to lose my house, I'm going to lose my. than you've been associating with men.
You're probably talking to Pookie and Ray Ray because they're saying the same thing, and y'all at the job talking about how broke, busting discussion you're going to be in six weeks. But if you look at the way God sees it, this is an opportunity for promotion. God knew this was going to happen. He's got something better for me. He said that he's going to supply all my need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, and he's never seen the righteous forsake him or seed begging
bread, and I'll tell you what, God's going to take care of this situation. Amen. You got to begin to see it the way he sees it. Or if the Lord's telling you to expand your business, oh Lord, I don't know how we're going to pay folks. You got to step out first and see it the way God sees it. I remember when we first got into this building that we're in now, it was a half a building when we first got in, and both sides were being leased, and we were only going to lease one side of the building.
And I ended up talking to this man. His father is loaded. Okay, this man I was talking to. Father's loaded. And I began to ask him, I'm like, man, this one side is not big enough. He said, get both sides. Well, I was like, well, wait a minute now. You ain't got, you ain't the one got to pay for it, right? He said, he said, how much is getting both? And I said, well, it's double.
It's double than what it is. And he said, well, the way I see it, if God I could provide that, he could provide the next. And I said, well, you know, you're right. I mean, I didn't have either one. Right? And so I prayed on August 11th, 2.45 in the morning. I was praying. The Lord said, tear down the wall and get both sides. Well, that doubled our rent to be in this facility. Right?
But I remember his name was Trey. I remember Trey telling me if God could provide half of him, he could provide all of it. So I began to see it the way he saw it. Are you listening to me? And so I said, okay. I told Stacey, I said, well, I heard the Lord say get both sides. And Trey's saying, well, I just believe that God can take care of one side. He can take care of both sides. I said, I'm going to believe God.
And I said, tear down the wall, get both sides. And we've been in this building for several years now. And I'll tell you what, God has made all the payments that's necessary in this facility. Amen. Now we're getting ready to get our own facility. Amen. Ownership. Hallelujah. I begin to see things the way God sees things. We did an Exodus project. I remember our Exodus project. We got a new one coming up here. I'm praying about it and I've got some direction that I'll announce here soon.
We did an Exodus project. We believe God for $300,000 just so we can have and be able to either put down a facility or bless God, buy a facility cash. Whatever comes up. We got some cash. And we believe in God. Were we not believing God together? And for over a year and a half we believe in God. And that $300,000 looked like a whole lot of money. A church our size, we're not a mega church. A church our size to get $300,000 cash? Oh my gosh. How could that possible?
I stopped looking at it the way men looked at it. I started looking at God can get anything to us from anyone, anywhere, at any time. And so I started believing God. God's going to bring this money in, praise God. And God's going to bless us to do it. And we're going to increase and grow. And he's going to do it. And every week I had to get up here and say, all right, we're making progress. And sometimes only $50 will come in.
But we kept going, did we not? We kept going. And then one day the Lord said, I'm done with this project. And a lump sum check came in, covered the entire project. That come on say amen to that now amen it's on the screen there it is paid in full glory to god.
Hallelujah what what am i saying i want to see things the way god sees it if you're thinking it can't be done it's because you're listening to someone that's telling you it can't be done, But when you start thinking it can be done, it's because you've connected with God. Matter of fact, Matthew 6, 19 and 26 in the Weist translation. Watch this in the Weist.
Jesus, having turned his eyes upon them and having considered them, said to them, in the presence of men, as men look at this, it is impossible. But in the presence of God, as he looks at this, all things are possible. So who are you with? And how are you viewing it? What are you seeing? Because if you're with men, you're going to see it the way men see it. I love talking to people that's doing a whole lot better than me. They stretch me.
One of my friends, he sends me magazines of nice vacation spots. Beautiful vacation. I mean, here I am thinking, let's go down to Charleston. Now, maybe I need to get to Tahiti or something. You know what I'm saying? I'm being, are you listening to me? I'm being stretched. Oh, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And then he'll shoot out a number. It only costs, bloop, bloop, bloop, to get it. I'm like, oh, Lord, that's a lot of money.
But I thought, well, wait a minute. And the way he's looking at it is different than the way I'm looking at it. Why can I look at it the way he's looking at it? God didn't ask me to pay for it. He just asked me to see it the way he sees it. Are you listening to me today? Some of y'all trying to make impossible things possible. He ain't never asked you to do that. He said, just stick with me and it's possible. Just see it the way I see it and it's likely to happen.
Just view it the way I view it and it's probably going to happen. Just see it the way I see it and it shall come to pass. It shall be done. But we got to see it the way he sees it. So then we got to spend time with him so that we can begin to see things the way he sees things. It matters who you're listening to. It matters what you're listening to. I want to say it one more time. You are not who you say you are. You are who you listen to the most.
I states and I were talking about this. And when Jeannie, when we're out and Jeannie preaches for us, she does a wonderful job. We say this all the time. Jeannie sounds like the house. When she speaks, she sounds like she sounds like me. She sounds like the house. Why? She's with me. So she's with me. She's going to sound. They're going to sound like me there when we hear. She sounds like the house. Jeannie sounds like because she's with.
Well, if you're with someone, you're going to begin to sound like them. You're going to say what they say. You're not trying to mimic. She has her own delivery style and she's a great communicator and her own experience. And I'm not trying to change anything about her, but she sounds like me. That's because she's with me. The Burgess family are with me. They sound like me. That's a good thing. That's an indicator. Amen. It's an indicator when you are with someone, you begin to say what they say.
And so instead of saying, I'm broke, busting, and disgusting, if you're with the Lord, you say, my God shall supply all my needs. Why? Because we're together. Right? I'm saying what he says. So I'm connected. My heart is aligned with his heart. My attitude is like his attitude. And so I don't say things like, oh, it's flu season, and I'm about to catch the flu. I don't see that in Scripture. I see that I'm healed by his stripes. I'm healed. So I just say what he said. And if I start feeling bad,
I don't say, oh, I'm so sick. Look how sick I am. I'm healed. Let the weak say what? So stop saying you're so tired all the time. Like I told you, I'm not scared of y'all. I'm just so tired. I'm so tired. The scriptures say, let the weak say I'm strong. I'm strong. Stacey will catch me sometime and walk around the house and say, I'm strong. I'm strong. She already knows something. He must be going through something. I'm strong. I'm not trying to trick nobody.
I'm with the Bible. I'm with the God of the Bible. I'm with the Holy Spirit. I'm going to say what he says to say. Because when you're with someone, you begin to sound like them. You sound like God because I'm with him amen you should be accused of sounding like God who do you think you are who do you think you are sounding like that don't you know who you are who do you think you are no no no no no no.
I'm with him. I was on a phone call one time, and please nobody get offended by this illustration, but I want you to hear it. I was on a phone call one time, and it was this black minister, and he was telling me how black people in Charlotte can't buy land, can't buy land or buildings. You know, you black, man. You can't, you know, I know you believe in God and buy some land, but you black. I got off the phone with him as quickly as I could because I'm not with him. I'm with the word.
I'm with the word. And he said that there is no black, white, male, female, Jew, Greek in the scriptures. Amen. God is going to do it because I'm with him. I'm not, see, if I'd have listened to that, then I'd be like, well, y'all, you know, ain't no hope for us because we black and your pastor black and just ain't no, if I listen to that mess and he's stuck in that messy end because he believed that.
He listens to that I like what I like what God told Joshua He said everywhere you step I'm going to give it to you I started walking around I said Lord that's mine And that's mine I went to our school I was praying over the school of our children I said listen my feet are on here No weapon formed against this school shall prosper Amen You got to know who you are and who you with You got to know who you walking around with You don't
have a little Holy Spirit with you Or a piece of the Holy Spirit You got all of the Holy Spirit And you walk around and say no no no If God says it that settles it And I'm going to agree with him So I go to that school when I drop my kids off I pray at that school every time I'm here Devil I'm here And my kids are here too, Amen and no weapon formed Against this school shall prosper Every child will be submissive and obedient And every teacher will be patient and kind Amen I
release that And then I drive off And go back and listen to my podcast Amen. When you teachers in here Go into your school and say Can't nothing happen in here Because I'm here Not because you're so beautiful and cute But because the Holy Ghost Is on the inside of you Who you with? Who are you with? That's that. That's the question. What's going to make the difference? Who are you with? Who are you listening to? Who are you connected with?
It's important what you listen to. There was a time in and I'll say that I'll let y'all know this, too. I told a congregation a few years ago because people were listening to the wrong people in their spare time coming back with some craziness, telling me some stuff that wasn't even Bible. Well, who you been? Who have you been listening to? I've been listening to prophet so-and-so and, you know, bishop so-and-so.
And I said, listen, and I told everybody in the church, and I'll tell you too, I'm your pastor. I don't care if you listen to somebody else, but if you trust me, come ask me, should I be listening to that person? And I only had one family, which was the Burgess family, that came to me and said, here are the people we've been listening to. Should I listen to them? And all of them you can listen to. I said, amen, they're good. Why is that the case? Because I'm supposed to shepherd your soul.
I'm not trying to control you. And there's only about three people I would tell you not to listen to, to be honest with you. I ain't going to tell you what three they are. But you got to come to me. And if he's on your list, then I'll tell you that person, no. But they they want. They they wanted to know, are these people OK to listen to? Yeah, all those people are fine to listen to.
Praise God. There's some good teaching out there. but it's important what you listen to because this particular guy in our church he was listening to someone and that person told him that he needed to change his name the reason why God wasn't blessing him because you got the wrong name and I said that ain't even that ain't it brother that ain't it, and so I said no who you been listening to man, I said nah bro I said the reason why you ain't receiving what you have because
you ain't believing the word.
That's the reason you want to hear that you want to hear let's change your name let's get a new shirt see it's that color shirt you're wearing see if you wear a blue shirt everything will be alright no you're going to have to believe the word amen, and so who are you listening to you need to take inventory who are you listening to it may be an old I had to cut some friends off old friends back in high school I started thinking the only thing we have in common is we went to high school,
we ain't got nothing else in common Amen. Click, don't take his call no more. I don't even talk to him no more. Why are we talking? There ain't nothing to talk about, right? I don't have time to listen to that because I need to be with people that's got some vision in their life. I need to be with people that's going somewhere in their life. I need to be with some people that God has got a calling on their life. I want to help them get there. They want to help me get there.
It matters who you're listening to and who you're with. So you need to make some inventory. Pookie and Ray Ray. Now, Pookie, we're not going to hang out no more because you ain't talking about nothing. Amen. I don't have time. Time is the most valuable thing that we have. Now, Pookie, I may give you a little money because I can get some money back, but I can't give you my time. Are you listening to me? Who are you with? And I had to do some inventory over the years.
I always have to do inventory. When I first got in the ministry, I felt like I needed to meet with all these pastors. and I was reaching out to all these pastors and can we go to lunch? And we did. Certainly, you know what I'm talking about? We went to lunch and I started, I'm wasting time and money because I was paying everything. Money. One guy told me one time, listen to me, y'all. Are y'all all right? Y'all all right?
He said, young preacher, young preacher. He said, now when you receive the offering, you know, he did all this too. Like, you know, when you receive the offering, you need to count it right after it's received. because it may not be enough. And you need to get back up and you need to receive, he said, an again offering. I said what? He said an again, he called it an again offering. I said, and I started laughing like you got something. Let me come close myself.
I said, how do you know how much the offering is so fast? He said, during the song, you know how we get up and sing? He said, I have them go back there and count it. And they come, they whisper in my ear. I said, that ain't enough. So I get up and he said, we need to do it again. And then he was chastising me. He was, you know, he said, don't be afraid to do that. It's in the calling again because the people need to know that we need to do this again. I said, brother, we'll never do that.
He said, he said, he said, he said, I know it's fear. It's fear. You got to get over that fear. I said, no, it ain't no fear. It's ridiculous. My my hope is not in y'all. I'm trusting that y'all going to do what God's telling you to do with that concern. And if you don't want to do it, if God got to rain down a dove in the front of the church that drop off the money, I believe he can do it.
I believe somebody can drive by and say, I don't know what to do with all this cash, but I want to sow it into the house of the Lord. I believe he can do it. I believe he can do it. I'm not looking at y'all. What if I hung out with him? I'll be up here three, four times. Come on, guys. Let's do it again. We got to do it again. Won't you help me? We about to close the doors.
I can't do that I can't do that because I'm with him and he said he's going to supply, you got to know who you're with and during that season of my life I'm hanging out with all these pastors and I told Stacy I'm like not only is it wasting my time, I'm wasting money and I'm not getting anything except some terrible advice, as to how to pastor the church. And the Lord told me one year, he said, stop it. So guess what? I stopped it. And I got a whole lot more money now because I stopped it.
And I got more time because I just stopped that mess. Now, there are people that reach out to me and there are people that God connects and that sort of thing. But I was calling folks, getting with folks. And now there's divine connections and those things that have taken place. But they happen organically. And God is saying, these are the people that I want you with. And it's important. Take inventory of who you're talking to.
What are you reading? What are you listening? Is that contrary to the word of God? Can you find a verse that supports what someone's telling you or you're reading? Are you wasting your time? Because whatever they're telling you, it's going to get on the inside of you. And you'll begin to think like they think. Really, my goal as a minister is to draw you closer to the Lord, to feed you with the word of God that draws you closer so that you can begin to think differently.
The battle is for the mind. And when you begin to think differently, you begin to see things differently. And when you begin to see things differently, the invisible realm and the visible realm, there are two dimensions, the invisible realm and the visible realm. Actually, there's more dimensions than that, but let's talk about the invisible and invisible realm. They're both very, very powerful, and the invisible realm is more real than the invisible realm.
When you begin to see, you remember when he told Elijah, you remember Elijah, they were surrounded by the army, and he was the assistant, assistant Gehazi was nervous. Look at all these people. And Elijah said, Lord, open his eyes. So he began to see. And what he saw was thousands of hosts of angels, more than the army. There were more in the invisible realm than in the visible realm. If you begin to see differently, you'll understand that different things can take place in your life.
And this is what Jesus was telling his disciples. With man, yeah, the way they see it, the way they perceive it, it's impossible. That's why a lot of times when I'm getting ready to do something, I don't even talk to a lot of folks about it. I have a handful of folks I talk to about it. And I don't even talk. I don't get on Facebook and ask everybody's opinion of what we should be doing. Because everybody got their own opinion and they're going to see things differently.
And so I begin to talk to a handful of people that I trust that are a little further than I am. And they begin to see things. I'm like, yeah, I didn't see that before. And challenge me and stretch me. and then I get in the word and I begin to see things the way God says it and it challenges me and stretches me and now I can perceive the way he says it, it can be done. If I could see it the way he sees it, it can be done. But if I see it the way other people see it, it cannot be done.
Whatever you're going through. And so this is how you ask yourself this question. For me, I've been asking myself this question a lot. if I'm worried about it, then I'm seeing it the way men see it. If I'm anxious about it, then I'm seeing it the way men see it. If I'm concerned about it, then I'm seeing it the way men see it. But if I'm at peace, then I'm seeing it the way God sees it. If I'm at rest, I'm seeing it the way God sees it.
One particular guy, and I'll wrap up with this, unsaved guy. I talk to unsaved people on purpose. I talk to them on purpose because I want to hear how they think. You know, I want to hear what's going on in their life. And I talk to them. I stay in touch with them. Some of them I used to work with or whatever, I stay in touch with them just to kind of know what y'all think about this. And when it comes to politics and when it comes to the society, they are scared to death.
I mean, they are freaking out. And one time he asked me, he goes, how are you not freaking out about what's going on? I said, because I don't see things the way you see things. First and foremost, I gave my life to Jesus. And the worst thing that happened to me is I go to heaven. That's the worst thing that happened to me. For you, it's a little different. But for me, I'm going to heaven. But I start seeing it the way he sees it. And if I see it the way he sees it, I'm not blind.
I see things going on, but I'm not connected with it. My heart's not aligned with it. My heart's aligned with his precious promises in the word of God. And he holds me and my family and my church family. I pray for you all, too, in the palm of his hand. He's watching over us. He's got the whole world in his hand. And he's got us specifically. Our names, Isaiah says, are written in the palm of his hand.
So when he looks at his hand, he sees Adrian and he sees Rachel and he sees Sterling and Gloria. He sees names in his hand. And he knows us. He knows all the hairs that are numbered on our head. Amen. He's thinking about us. He's considering us. We're on his mind. He's been mindful of us. He will bless us. I'm seeing it the way he sees it. And when I begin to see it the way he sees it, I'm at rest. I'm at peace. But I know when I'm not, when I start freaking out, biting my nails.
How many of you know what I'm talking about? Here's another sign for me. Somebody must be pulling today because I didn't plan on saying all this stuff. If the back of my neck start hurting, that means I'm stressed out about something. And that's an indicator for me. If I get, oh, shoot, what am I doing? Oh, let me get my eyes on the Lord. Let me get it back. And I'll take a moment. Let me pray. Let me, hallelujah, spend some time because I'm stressed out over something.
And sometimes I don't even know what it is. You know what I'm talking about? I know, but I know the pain, that's an indicator that I'm carrying something I'm not supposed to carry. And after, seriously, after a few minutes of that, man, that pain goes away and I've got my eyes back on him. Amen? Real quick, one more time. Matthew 19, 26 in the West.
I want to read it in the West and I'll end with this. And Jesus, having turned his eyes upon them and having considered them, said to them in the presence of men, as men look at this, it is impossible. But in the presence of God, as he looks at this, say it, all things are possible. One last verse that I saw, and I didn't give it to you guys, the team, but I saw it right coming to church this morning. Let me read it to you. It's Matthew 13, 20 in the Passion Translation.
Matthew 13, 20 in the Passion Translation. If you want to grow in wisdom, spend time with the wise. There's that word with again. If you want to grow in wisdom, how do I grow in wisdom? Spend time with the wise. Walk with the wicked and you'll eventually become just like them. So the question is, who are you with? If you're with the wise, you'll eventually be wise. But if you're with the wicked, you'll start conforming like them. And your ideas will become wicked.
And you don't even know it, but it's because you've been with them. And you start thinking like them and acting like them. But if you're with him, you're going to think like God and you're going to act like him as well. This is how you experience true life.