Dealing With Deception -- Keion Henderson
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00:00:00God says I'm not moving until you get so upset with your circumstance that you're
00:00:08willing to cry out and when you call on me I will answer.
00:00:14Let's praise God for all of our campuses being open today. Lighthouse West,
00:00:20Lighthouse Southeast, Lighthouse South and here on the North Campus. Joshua
00:00:28chapter 9 I want to read I want to read verses 1 through 6 and I'm gonna read
00:00:38this in a new English translation then I'm going to read verse 24 25 and 26 and
00:00:42we'll begin what the Lord wants us to talk about if you're ready say go. When
00:00:48the news reached all the Kings on the west side of Jordan in the hill country
00:00:53the lowlands and all along the Mediterranean coast as far as Lebanon
00:00:59including the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites
00:01:04and the Jebusites they formed an alliance to fight against Joshua and
00:01:10Israel. The first thing I want you to see is look at how many people it took to
00:01:16fight one one people this is this is how powerful you are that the enemy is going
00:01:23to start to recruit and connect to destroy you and what you got to
00:01:28understand about the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites,
00:01:31the Hivites and the Jebusites they they don't like each other either but you're
00:01:36so powerful that people who don't like each other are going to have to
00:01:40temporarily like each other because the anointing on your life is so powerful
00:01:46it's gonna take all of hell to destroy you and that still won't work. Look at
00:01:51verse 3, when the residents of Gibeon heard what Joshua did to Jericho and Ai
00:01:56they did something clever. They collected some provisions, listen to this very
00:02:05carefully, and put on worn-out sacks on the donkeys along with worn-out wine
00:02:13skins that were ripped and patched. They had worn-out patched sandals on their
00:02:19feet and dressed in worn-out clothes. All their bread was dry and hard. Verse 6,
00:02:25they came to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel,
00:02:32we have come from a distant land, make a deal with us, make a treaty with us.
00:02:40All right, you got that part? Go to verse 24, the Bible says in verse 24 it says,
00:02:51they said to Joshua, it was carefully reported to your subjects how the Lord
00:02:58your God commanded Moses, his servant, to assign you the whole land and to destroy
00:03:03all who live in the land from before you. Because of you, we were terrified.
00:03:11We would lose our lives, so we did this thing. So now we are in your power.
00:03:20Do to us what you think is good and appropriate. Joshua did as they said and
00:03:26he kept the Israelites from killing them. I'm going to explain what just took place,
00:03:32but just in case you're asleep by the end of the sermon, what just took place is
00:03:38there are a group of people who were living in Canaan. God said that the land
00:03:45belonged to Israel. So anybody who stayed longer than they were allowed to stay had
00:03:50to die because what God has for you is for you. And whatever has to happen to
00:03:56anybody who tries to assume what God gave you, God will deal with them.
00:04:01And so the Bible says that the Israelites who had every right to kill them,
00:04:07and they said, do to us whatever you will do to us because whatever punishment you
00:04:10give us, we deserve. They didn't act out of anger. They acted out of the anointing
00:04:17and they spared their lives where death was deserved. And the Bible says that as a
00:04:24result of that, God made them their slaves. See, sometimes you have to leave
00:04:29your enemies alive so they can work for you. If you kill everybody who don't like
00:04:36you, you're going to have to do the work yourself. God is using the people who
00:04:39don't like you to do the work that you don't want to do. I want to talk to you
00:04:44on this subject. It's going to be a hard subject today. And a lot of you all have
00:04:48been through this, but the Lord told me to show you how to deal with deception.
00:04:54This is what we're going to talk about over the next few moments,
00:04:57dealing with deception, because you're coming into a season in your life where
00:05:02you don't know the rules on the level you're going to. You don't know the rules
00:05:09when you go through that portal and you get to the next dimension. You don't know
00:05:13what to do when you've got $10 million in the bank. You know how to file your taxes
00:05:19when you go to H&R Block, but you don't know how to file your taxes when you've
00:05:23got $10 million in 1099s. That's a different game. Talk to me, somebody.
00:05:28And I'm getting ready to show you that you can't... Listen, you got to get ready
00:05:34for the level you're going to, because if you get to that next level and you take
00:05:39these methods with you, they're going to kick you out. You don't go to a board
00:05:44table, a boardroom, talking like you're at a water cooler. Somebody shout,
00:05:50I'm going to the next level. If I am in the room and if you're online and you're
00:05:54watching me and you believe that God has assigned you to a different dimension,
00:05:58let me hear some noise. And how many of you all will agree that when you go to new
00:06:08rooms and new levels, you don't always know what to do when you get there?
00:06:15How many of you all ready for some new information? Give your neighbor a high
00:06:19five before you sit down and tell them, you're going to learn to deal with this.
00:06:24You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. How many of you all ready for a word
00:06:30today? So recently... Well, first of all, let me tell you all, I'm cheap.
00:06:44I'm just going to tell you right now. I mean, if I see a quarter, I'm picking it up.
00:06:50Listen, all you rich people that's passing up all these pennies and quarters on the
00:06:54ground, I got a jug of change because I ain't giving up nothing. Okay?
00:07:03And I know you rich and you, Lord, I have no sorrow and all that kind of stuff,
00:07:09but cents makes dollars. Right? So I count it all. I ain't never going to have enough.
00:07:17In fact, I got my credit card set on an alert. Anytime more than $25 gets spent,
00:07:22I get a text.
00:07:23$25. I've been thinking about lowering it to 10. See, because the enemy steals little
00:07:43by little. Y'all laughing, but if somebody steals $10 from you every day, you're going
00:07:47to be hit. So I got my little alerts on. The other day, I get this alert on my credit card,
00:07:57and it wasn't little. It was thousands of dollars that I know I thought I didn't spend.
00:08:04So I called Destiny on the phone. I said, Destiny, what you doing with my credit card?
00:08:09Because I just got a charge for all these thousands of dollars and I ain't spent no
00:08:14money today. So what's going on? She said, man, to God, I ain't did nothing either. I said,
00:08:19I'll tell you what, I'm going to call the people. I used that 1-800 number on the back of that car.
00:08:25Oh yes, they going to hear from me. So I called them and I said, hey, they said,
00:08:30hey, Mr. Henderson, how can we help you? I said, I see a charge on my card that I didn't make,
00:08:37and I don't recognize the amount, nor do I recognize the merchant. So y'all going to have
00:08:46to give me my money back because I ain't spending. I don't want no foolishness out of y'all. I want
00:08:50my money. I'm not going to be held responsible. She did some research and she said, Mr. Henderson,
00:08:55you've been with us for 15 years. Don't worry about it. We're going to find it out. She said,
00:08:59have you ever heard of such and such? I said, yeah. She said, and did you go to such and such
00:09:11and do this? I said, why are you asking? What I didn't realize is that the company came up
00:09:24under a different name on the merchant account, not the name that they do business as.
00:09:33See, the company was DBA. They did business as the company,
00:09:38but the parent company was different, and so the charges…
00:09:48They were mine. I said to the lady, I said, oh ma'am, I'm so sorry that
00:09:55I bothered you with this. I just didn't know. But then I traced it back and realized
00:10:01that because we live in such a distrustful world,
00:10:09that I was victimized by the way we all live every day. The truth is you can't trust nothing,
00:10:16and you rarely can trust anybody. I mean, with the way this world is going right now,
00:10:26you don't know what's real or fake. You can get an email right now that looks like it represents
00:10:34the company, the email, the social media account, and you go and put your password in and they got
00:10:44you. How many of y'all have been hit up by some page posing to be me, my dearest brother?
00:10:53I'm praying for you, and if you send me $1,000 right now because I'm stuck in Africa… Let me
00:10:56tell you something. If I get stuck in Africa, $1,000 is not going to get me home. I would
00:11:01never come to your direct message and ask you for anything, but we live in such a distrustful,
00:11:10deceptive world that you don't know what… I was looking at Instagram the other day,
00:11:18and a TikTok came up, and somebody put up a post and said,
00:11:22look at this new roller coaster in the Galleria. I know I had just been over there,
00:11:29and I thought to myself, dang, they put that thing up fast. Where did the skating rink go?
00:11:34Where did the ice rink go? Then I started reading the comments, and the comments said,
00:11:38this ain't Houston. Almost got me, because people are so deceptive. Our kids right now
00:11:44still hold to the fact that during COVID, the zoo in Chicago opened up and all the animals took
00:11:50over the streets of Chicago. Let me tell you something. There are a lot of cities that
00:11:54animals can take over, but Chicago ain't one of them. I'm from there. I'm going to tell you right
00:12:00now. A lion don't stand a chance against no gangster disciple. It just ain't going to happen.
00:12:05Not in Inglewood either. But we live in a deceptive world. You don't even know what
00:12:12to believe on the news. I was just watching some person online talking about the fact that
00:12:23this president didn't do this and that president didn't do that, and the truth is
00:12:28none of them do all what they say they're going to do. I'm going to say this, and it's going to
00:12:34be controversial, but I feel that it's very deceptive that we can live in a nation where
00:12:40a black man can have one felony and can't vote, but a white man can have 34 and run for president.
00:12:55Now, you can say whatever you want. It ain't about color. It's just about right.
00:13:01I know what they're going to say. It's trumped-up charges, and it might not be real,
00:13:05but let me tell you, there are a lot of black men in jail right now for trumped-up charges that ain't
00:13:10real. I think there are so many things that are deceptive. You don't even know what to
00:13:25eat no more. You don't know if it's real food. You don't know if it's fake, and the commercials
00:13:34are even deceptive. They'll tell you, oh, take this pill, and it's going to deal with the disease,
00:13:39and you're going to live 30 more years, and then here come a little fast talk,
00:13:43but you might die tomorrow, and your sister is going to get cancer. Just deceptive.
00:13:58Drink this organic drink so you can be healthy. Side note, it's got formaldehyde in it,
00:14:05which is used to preserve the dead. You can't trust nothing.
00:14:14Well, we're going to get rid of fossil fuels, and we're going to get electric cars,
00:14:18and it's going to be the wave of the future. Now they're telling you that electric cars are
00:14:22giving off radiations and waves, and you're catching cancer. You don't know what to believe.
00:14:27This week, we've got to sell. We're going to put these shoes and these purses and these shirts and
00:14:39these belts on sale, but what they didn't tell you is that they raised the price up
00:14:44and then discounted it to what they wanted to sell you.
00:14:50Oh, you're going to be in a line on Black Friday to get a television for $100, but what they didn't
00:14:55tell you is they took everything out the TV and just gave you a screen, and now you're watching
00:15:00an analog television. This water, this water, that water, it's all alkaline. Is it?
00:15:16What does that mean anyway? How do you alkaline water? I'm sure it's a way to do it,
00:15:23but what does that mean? Am I supposed to drink spring water, mineral water, alkaline water? I
00:15:28know I grew up drinking out of the water hose, and I'm still here. See, y'all young folk don't
00:15:34know nothing about that. Let me put you on game. We didn't get to run in and out of the house like
00:15:38y'all did. Once we went outside, we had to stay outside because if we came inside, we wasn't
00:15:45going to be able to go outside, and if you got thirsty, wasn't no Capri Sun. It was a water hose
00:15:50right on your...tastes like steel,
00:15:59and we're still here. These kids got bottled waters with their name on it, and they half drink
00:16:05it. Do you know how much of a whooper you deserve if you don't drink your whole bottle of water?
00:16:09I'll rebuke you if you leave a half open bottle of water in my house,
00:16:14and wasn't no mini cup. She got one cup. She wrote your name on it. If you're going to get
00:16:17something, you better use that cup. You don't know what to believe. You don't know what to
00:16:31believe. This whole world is full of deception. The storm came, and we got all these trees
00:16:42fly on our house, and we had roof damage and all kind of stuff, and called the insurance company
00:16:52to get...I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to talk about it, because you got this deductible,
00:16:56you know. You got this deductible, but what they don't tell you is when it's an act of God,
00:17:01then it's a percentage on the price of the house. So, they got it set where they don't
00:17:06ever have to pay you. Oh, and by the way, if they do have to pay you, they can drop you. Just
00:17:10deceptive. Listen, y'all better get you some citizenship somewhere else.
00:17:20And I ain't talking about another continent. I'm talking about another place, the kingdom of God,
00:17:25because when this old earthly tabernacle shall dissolve,
00:17:28I got another building not made by hand, eternal in the heavens.
00:17:32Amen. You don't know what to believe. They ain't tell you that when you got that bank loan
00:17:45that for the first 15 years you're going to be doing interest,
00:17:49and you're going to put all that money in the house, and you're going to be like,
00:17:52I've been paying for this house for 15 years. I got equity. And then you go check the statement,
00:17:56you got $12 in equity, and you're going to pay $12 million in interest,
00:18:00because the man with the money leaves with the experience, and the man with the experience leaves
00:18:04with the money. Listen, I hope I am scaring you, because this world has a principality that rules
00:18:18the air. And it is such a deceptive game. It's such a deceptive world.
00:18:29And the same thing is true in the realm of the Spirit. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4, verse 1,
00:18:35now the Spirit says that in latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves
00:18:40to deceitful spirits. Did you know that deceit is a spirit?
00:18:48There are people in this room and people online and people in your life and people
00:18:51you're in a relationship with. You can't put your finger on it. Let me help you identify it.
00:18:55It's a deceitful spirit. It's the kind of spirit that comes smiling, but it actually has a knife
00:19:01in its hand. It's the kind of spirit that comes and tells you, I got your back, but when you look
00:19:05back there'll be way back. It's the kind of spirit that tells you that they'll be praying for you,
00:19:10but they'll really be praying on you. How many of you know you can't put your finger on it,
00:19:13but you feel something uneasy? There are some deceitful spirits around.
00:19:20You've got to be careful who you call your friend. You've got to be careful who you tell
00:19:24your business to. You've got to be careful who you're vulnerable with. You've got to be careful
00:19:28who you share your secrets with because you could be in the presence of a deceitful spirit.
00:19:32Do me a favor and just ask your neighbor to your left and your right and say,
00:19:35what kind of spirit do you have? What kind of spirit do you have? If you've got a greedy spirit,
00:19:40I've got that too because I like to eat. If you've got a skeptical spirit, I've got that one
00:19:44too because I don't talk, but I can't sit next to nobody who's got a deceitful spirit. Ask them,
00:19:48what kind of spirit do you have? If somebody asked me the other day, when you die, what do
00:20:00you want to be remembered for? I want to be remembered as a man who can be trusted.
00:20:05If you never liked the way I preach, if you didn't like my boldness, if you didn't like
00:20:12the way I sung, all of that is fine, but you will never say I betrayed you.
00:20:18You will never say that you couldn't trust me. You can trust me to tell you the truth
00:20:22even if you don't want to hear it because you should be able to trust people you're in
00:20:26relationship with. Are y'all listening to me? I'm going to preach in a minute, but I'm trying
00:20:32to get you to understand that we are in the midst of a deceitful time, and deception is all around
00:20:39us. Revelation 12 says, and the great dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent who is called
00:20:45the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he has thrown down to earth, and his angels
00:20:50have gone down with him. Because when deceit starts to take place, you'll find deceitful
00:20:56people looking for deceitful people so that they can be deceptive, and you'll find yourself
00:21:00surrounded by a deceitful group, and everybody around you is trying to figure out what they can
00:21:05get from you, and everybody around you is trying to figure out how they can one-up you, and everybody
00:21:09around you is trying to figure out how they can run game on you. But I came today to show you how
00:21:13to deal with deception, because what God is getting ready to do in your life, you're going to have to
00:21:18learn to see the devil before he gets to your house. Oh, I want to talk. Somebody give yourself
00:21:25a high five and say, God, show me my enemies. Show me my deceptors. Show me my defectors. Show
00:21:31me the people who mean me no good. I don't have time to be fighting this enemy and that enemy.
00:21:36I've got to press toward the mark for the prize of the upper car.
00:21:39Lord, show me who's for me and who's against me.
00:21:42I hate when people pretend.
00:21:53I can't stand when people pretend to like me. I know you don't like me. Truth is,
00:21:57ain't no sense of you pretending to like me, because I don't like you either,
00:22:00and ain't no sense of us around here acting like we like each other. You go to your mama house,
00:22:05and I'm going to go to my house. You leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. I don't have
00:22:09time for the deception. Don't hug me and tell me you love me if you don't love me.
00:22:14Don't kiss me on my forehead and tell me you love me. Don't tell me you got my back,
00:22:18and then I look back, and you are not there. Shut your mouth. Go your way. I'll go mine.
00:22:23I can't stand deception. I'd rather have no friends than fake friends.
00:22:31Come here, Drake. No new friends. Y'all not listening here today. I would rather be by
00:22:39myself than with somebody who's pretending to like me. I like me enough that if you don't,
00:22:46I'm still liked. I don't know who I'm talking to, but I am praying the spirit of deception
00:22:52leaves your house, your family, and your circle. Somebody shout,
00:22:56no more deception. I'm going to preach in a minute. I'm just trying to find my crew.
00:23:02Who am I talking to in this place today?
00:23:12I got you. Now, let me tell you something, though. You can't avoid it.
00:23:18You're just going to have to learn to deal with it. In this life, you will have trouble.
00:23:24Listen, you ain't ever going to be so good that everybody's good to you.
00:23:29What did I deserve? This is all I can do is good to people. Well,
00:23:38there are some people who wake up to do bad.
00:23:45I give. Well, some people take.
00:23:54I gave them the truth. See, your problem is you expect everybody to do what you would do.
00:24:00You're always going to be disappointed when you get something from somebody,
00:24:04and you're mad because they didn't give you what you would have gave them. You
00:24:06got to learn to accept what people have. How many of y'all been deceived before?
00:24:17What did it make you want to do? What did you want to do?
00:24:23Oh, my gosh. She said, pow, pow, pow. There's some thugs up in this mud. What?
00:24:30She said, pow, pow, pow. I feel safe around people like that, though, you know?
00:24:40How many of y'all ever… I mean, you gave all of you.
00:24:47I mean, you borrowed pieces of somebody else to give somebody a whole person,
00:24:53and when it came time to get a withdrawal where you made a deposit,
00:24:59insufficient funds. They had nothing to give you.
00:25:07Anybody in the balcony ever been deceived?
00:25:11You know what the hardest part about deception is when it comes from people
00:25:17you did not expect it to come from?
00:25:29That makes you want to go back to your roots, and it makes you want to show people, I love Jesus,
00:25:36but I love him because he first loved me. Now, the truth is, in me do I do no good thing.
00:25:50See, some of y'all want to act like you're good. Just tell your neighbor, say, I just want to let
00:25:53you know you're sitting next to somebody who ain't worth a dime. I just want to let you know
00:25:57I ain't worth a dime because if I go off, I go all the way off. If I lose my mind, I lose all
00:26:02my mind. If I tell you where to go, I buy your bus fare to get there. If I kill you, I go to the
00:26:08funeral and ask God to forgive me. I ain't got it all. Am I talking to any crazy saints?
00:26:20And those things used to act like, oh, I love you, Jesus,
00:26:24but I will knock your teeth down your throat on Sunday.
00:26:32I know who I pastor. Y'all ain't fooling me.
00:26:39Y'all ain't fooling me. I'll see you in the parking lot. Vacation Bible School was here,
00:26:44and I want y'all to praise God. KDZ, we served over 400 kids
00:26:49for free, and that's what happens when you give at no cost to the kids. It was raining on one of
00:26:55them days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I was standing there, and they was bagging my car, but the people
00:27:01didn't know it was me. When I tell you, them folks was beeping. They was honking the horn,
00:27:06but they didn't know it was me. See, I love to see how people act when I ain't around.
00:27:11See, when I'm around, you treat my ushers right, but when I ain't around, I don't want to sit over
00:27:15there. I've been at this church too long to be sitting this far back. Get here early.
00:27:25It don't matter how long you've been in the church. It doesn't matter what time you showed
00:27:28up at church. Get here early. You don't deserve to be up front because you've been here a decade.
00:27:35You deserve to be up front because you got here at nine.
00:27:49I woke up with a spirit of discontentment today, I see.
00:28:13So, being deceived is a part of life.
00:28:15So, you cannot avoid it, but you do have to learn to deal with it.
00:28:29Joshua, in the history as a general, has fought over 13 wars that have been documented.
00:28:40His first and greatest battle was the battle at Jericho. You remember it. It's when they
00:28:52walked around the wall seven times, and seven times on the seventh day they shouted
00:29:00and played the sound of the horn, and the walls fell down.
00:29:08Joshua saw that victory and decided that every time he fought a war he would fight the same way.
00:29:14So, Joshua knew how to fight with swords, and he knew how to fight with shields, and he knew
00:29:19how to fight with horns, but he had finally been elevated to a level where he had a battle he had
00:29:27never fought before. New levels have new devils. You can't fight up here like you fought down
00:29:38there. Now he has an enemy who has no swords. They have no shields. They have no arrows.
00:29:48They have a new weapon, deception. I know what to do if you yell at me. I can yell back. I know
00:29:59what to do if you throw a punch. I throw one back. I know what to do if you curse me out. I curse you
00:30:05back out. I know what to do if you lie on me. I can lie on you, but what do you do when your enemy
00:30:13has a weapon and you have no experience? You are dealing with some devils that are so cunning and
00:30:23deceptive that you don't currently have the skill set to fight the devils on the level
00:30:31that you're fighting. Here is the problem. Whenever you stoop down
00:30:37to fight an ignorant person on their level,
00:30:44they end up bringing you down to their level and then beating you with experience.
00:30:51Talk to me. The truth is you're going to have to accept the fact that you are not evil enough to
00:30:58win there. You're going to have to realize that you're not ignorant enough to fight on that level.
00:31:09You don't have enough hatred in your heart to fight that consistent. You don't have enough
00:31:14vitriol in your mind to beat somebody that nasty, so you're going to have to leave them alone.
00:31:23I know that ain't something you want to hear because you think you can beat everybody at
00:31:26everything, but you can't beat ignorant at ignorant.
00:31:34Some people can stay mad for 30 years. You have the Holy Ghost in your heart. You can't win on
00:31:40that level. You're going to have to fight on another level. That's why the Bible says,
00:31:44Think on these things. Can I talk to somebody?
00:31:51You're not nasty enough to fight in the hog pen. I know you think you can beat everybody at
00:31:57everything, and I know you've got a slick tongue and you've got a slick mouth, but you can't out
00:32:01slick oil. There are some people who have been so deceptive and so evil and practiced witchcraft so
00:32:10long that if you go down in that level and try to fight them, they're going to drag you down
00:32:15and beat you with experience. Am I helping anybody? I said, Am I helping anybody?
00:32:30Joshua finally got to a level where he had a war and he didn't have experience in it.
00:32:39And let me tell you something about the devil. This joker is cunning.
00:32:48One minute he's a roaring lion. Then the next minute he's coming in the garden like a serpent.
00:32:57And see, most of you know what to do with a lion. You don't have any idea what to do
00:33:03with a snake. What do I mean? You know what to do with that boisterous personality. You know what
00:33:12to do because you can match them word for word. You can put a line of cuss words together that
00:33:16make somebody wish they were never born. You know what to do. You've got Twitter fingers. You know
00:33:21how to get back and clap back online. You know how to do all of that, but you don't know what to do
00:33:25when somebody creeps in your life and acts like a friend. You know what to do when it's an enemy
00:33:35that cuts you out in traffic. You don't know what to do when the devil sends them in the form of a
00:33:40spouse. And now he takes advantage of your loneliness, and here you are dating your devil,
00:33:50and you don't know that you're dating your devil. And you're walking around here and you have no
00:33:53idea that you are being deceived, and now they've got you isolated. You don't like your mama. Your
00:33:58mama don't like you. You don't talk to your sisters. Your sisters don't like you. You're
00:34:01not talking to your brothers, but you're in love for now. Deceived because you're so smart.
00:34:14And just because you can open a book don't mean you can read hearts.
00:34:18Just because you graduated, you think you're smart because you graduated with straight A's.
00:34:22Baby, let me tell you something. When you get out in this deceptive world,
00:34:25your degree don't mean nothing.
00:34:34You can graduate summa cum laude, all them laudes, whatever they is. And I'm going to tell
00:34:39you right now, I ain't getting no laudes. I graduated gladly. I graduated barely. In the
00:34:50name of Jesus. Anybody like me? Let's just clap for all these smart people that everything come
00:34:56easy for. Oh, we're so happy for you. Anybody struggle with math all of your life? Anybody,
00:35:02when they asked you what's four plus four, you said, I don't know.
00:35:12Round of applause for all you smart people. You ain't have to study. I can't stand y'all.
00:35:17You know them people, they ain't have to study. It's easy. It's easy. Well,
00:35:20do mine too then if it's so easy. How many of y'all know them smart people? Let me ask you,
00:35:26how many of y'all was one of them smart people? You just, everything came easy to you. Get out
00:35:29of my face. How many of them misspelled your own name on the test? Come on and praise God with me.
00:35:39Let's bless the Lord. Let's exalt his name together. I don't know my name. What is it?
00:35:53He knew how to overcome the walls. He just didn't know how to overcome deception.
00:35:57And you're getting ready to go to another level where you're going to be promoted,
00:36:00but you don't know the rules where you're going. Am I talking to anybody?
00:36:05Israel has finally come through 400 years of slavery. They have come through 40 years of
00:36:11wandering and they're getting ready to walk right into the promised land. And nobody told them that
00:36:16when they get what's theirs, somebody is going to try to deceive them out of it.
00:36:21If you don't shout today, I'm good with it.
00:36:29The devil is going to try to play games with your mind.
00:36:32Help me, Holy Spirit. They have finally received the keys to the front door of Canaan.
00:36:40They're bringing in the furniture and they're hanging the drapes.
00:36:45And then the victory that they won starts to spread.
00:36:51As much as people pretend to, they really don't like winners.
00:37:04Hear you all talking about, I'm getting married, and they're like,
00:37:07Congratulations. I'm way prettier than her.
00:37:17You'd be surprised how many people you're going to invite to the wedding.
00:37:21They're going to talk about your dress.
00:37:26I mean, she can do what she wants, but that ain't what I would have chose.
00:37:30The chicken dry. They had us waiting in line.
00:37:36They didn't have the accommodations right. Oh, those colors clashed. Oh, look at those
00:37:42bridesmaids' dresses. Those are too short. Oh, those are too tight. Is this your wedding or not?
00:37:51Oh, it's going to be good today. It's going to be good today. They finally get there,
00:38:01and when you finally get there, you think everybody's going to be happy for you, but they're
00:38:04not. I got a new car. I got a new house. That's why I say wait until it's old before you tell
00:38:13people you got it. I say go on a vacation and then post when you come back. I say date a few
00:38:23years and then tell everybody this is my boo because they're judging you the whole time anyway,
00:38:29but we live in a time right now where people think that you ain't in love unless they post.
00:38:34You ain't posting me so you can't love me because you ain't posting me. No,
00:38:44I didn't post you because I don't want everybody in my business. I'll post you when I'm sure you're
00:38:49going to be posted. I'll post you after we get through an argument and you ain't left yet. I'll
00:39:01post you. Do me a favor. Do me a favor. Can you help your boy? Tell your neighbor,
00:39:09unfold your arms. He don't care. What you mad at? I don't care.
00:39:16Unfold your arms. I'm telling the truth.
00:39:22The remaining kings, they form an alliance. They come together. They want to take Israel out.
00:39:29Time to preach, but there's one group called the Gibeonites. They said,
00:39:33we're not taking part in this. We're not going to take part in this. Hittites, Jebusites,
00:39:41Canaanites, y'all do what y'all want to do, but the Gibeonites, we will have no part in this. Why?
00:39:48Watch what they said, because we heard what God did to the Egyptians when they messed with you.
00:39:56What can I tell you? That the last battle God brought you through was his way of letting your
00:40:03next enemy know they better not mess with you. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but there is an
00:40:09enemy that was coming for war, but because of how God brought you out last time, they are not going
00:40:16to attack. Slap your neighbor and say, you about to get a break. Oh my God. Y'all missed what I
00:40:21just said. The devil had an attack planned, but God is about to block it, and your enemies are
00:40:28not going to attack because they see the favor of God on your… Tell your neighbor, you're going to
00:40:39survive this one. You're going to survive this one. You're going to survive this one. I promise
00:40:43you, you're going to survive this one. You will not die in this. The enemies you see today,
00:40:48you will see no more. The enemy is coming in like a flood,
00:40:52but God is about to raise up a standard, and he's going to put you on a level where they cannot reach
00:40:58you. Gibby and I said, no, we don't want no smoke. We don't want no smoke. We see what God
00:41:11does to your enemies. Do me a favor. Just tell your neighbor, say, you better be my friend,
00:41:15because the way God be handling my enemies, I'm just saying, you better talk nicely to me,
00:41:21because the way my life's set up, I got a God, and he just be taking care of stuff. I don't know
00:41:28about you, but I don't worry about my enemies, because God says, stand still and see the
00:41:33salvation of the Lord. I don't know if I got anybody who's got that kind of faith, but just
00:41:36tell somebody, you better be good to me, because the way God… My God, he be fighting my battles.
00:41:50My God be taking care of stuff. My God, come on, talk to me. My God be doing stuff. My God be
00:41:57making ways out of no ways. My God makes my enemies my footstools. My God will make a lie
00:42:05help me. My God. The way my God set up what you meant for evil.
00:42:16I'm preaching from experience. He'll turn it around for you.
00:42:28God will use your enemy's lie as an introduction to your next level.
00:42:32There will be people who know you after this that didn't know you before that,
00:42:36because all things work together. Let me stop.
00:42:44Because this wasn't no shouting sermon. I had no intention. I told myself… I said,
00:42:49self, myself said, huh. I said, go in here, and I want you to talk to the people,
00:42:52but when I start thinking about what God has done for me, when I start thinking about what
00:42:57my enemies wanted to happen, and God blocked it, slap three people and say, God blocked it.
00:43:02God blocked it. God blocked it. You ain't got the right neighbor. Find somebody and tell them,
00:43:07God blocked it. God blocked it. God blocked it. God blocked him. God blocked her. God blocked it.
00:43:14God blocked them. God…
00:43:32Somebody say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you that God is in the blocking business.
00:43:37Thank God that he's in the blocking business. You almost got married, but God blocked it.
00:43:41You almost had a child bound, but God blocked it. You almost gave him your life. God!
00:43:50And you know how you know God blocked it? Because when God blocks it, now you're good with it.
00:43:57I'm still your friend. I still love you. I still want the best for you.
00:44:02You ain't a bad person. You just weren't my person.
00:44:06I'm going to do what you've got to do.
00:44:17But you've got to be careful. You've got to be careful, because… What's the name of our
00:44:22subject today? Dealing with deception. You ready? All right, Lewis, this is what they do. They say,
00:44:27we don't want no trouble. We don't want no smoke, dawg. We good, because we don't want no problem.
00:44:39We straight. In fact, your God good, and we don't want none of him either.
00:44:48In fact, to make matters better, let us serve you.
00:44:57There they go. There they go. The Bible says that they will work wilily, not willingly.
00:45:06Read the King James Version. Wilily. It means that they will work for the purposes of deception.
00:45:13To make a truce, whatever you want us to do, we'll do it. What's your need? You need me to babysit?
00:45:37What's your need? You want me to house-sit while you're out of town?
00:45:40What's your need? I'll do it. Whatever you need from me,
00:45:44I got your back. I ain't got nothing but time. God assigned me to you.
00:46:03Watch what they do. These jokers ain't… Boy, I'm going to tell you, deception,
00:46:07you got to be careful on this level. This Bible says, Tyrone, the Bible says that they covered
00:46:11themselves in old sackcloths. Then they put old sackcloths on the donkeys, and then they emptied
00:46:22all the wine out of the bottles and brought empty bottles and then put on their old shoes. They got
00:46:29new shoes, but they put on old shoes so that when they showed up, they looked like they needed help.
00:46:37You've got to see this deception. The Bible says they showed up and they said,
00:46:47Our bread was warm when we got it out of the oven this morning,
00:46:52but now it's hard and dry. Look at these clothes we got on. They're all worn out.
00:46:58And then this one, I knew they was lying. They said, Look at our shoes. Our shoes are worn out
00:47:04from the journey. If you don't know how to read deception on this level, you'll feel sorry for
00:47:09them. But I did my research and found out that they only lived 10 miles away from Israel,
00:47:16which means the journey wasn't long enough for the shoes to wear out.
00:47:20So what they did is they put on old clothes and pretended to be from a place they were not
00:47:29and pretended to be in a condition they were not in so that Israel would lower their defenses.
00:47:39So you've got to be careful how people walk into your life.
00:47:46They come in talking about, All my friends just betrayed me. I hope you ain't going to do it
00:47:51either. No, your friends didn't betray you. What they did is they found out who you really were
00:47:57and they left. And now you want everybody to believe that everybody who leaves you
00:48:01leaves you because they betrayed you. Some folks finally found out who you were
00:48:05and now you mad at them because they wouldn't let you manipulate them.
00:48:14There's something about everybody left. You ain't got nobody in your life from five years ago.
00:48:21I don't like people who always got new people around them. I need somebody from the hood
00:48:28that knew you back then. Talk to me, somebody. Somebody who knows what your tattoo is.
00:48:39Don't act like you ain't got no tattoo.
00:48:42When you put it there, you say, Well, put it here because they ain't going to see it.
00:48:46You done changed it three times. It used to say something else last year. Now you done put a flower
00:48:49on top of it. It used to say, Tyrone. Now I say, Try God. I mean, you know.
00:49:15Oh, Tyrone, I'm so sorry. Erykah Badu did that to us, man. It ain't your fault, man.
00:49:26It's always Tyrone. I got to get a new name. Tyrese. No, I can't do that one either.
00:49:35My uncle… They put on all his old clothes so he could feel sorry for them.
00:49:47They changed outfits so they can change perceptions.
00:49:53Help me, Lord Jesus. They secured a peace treaty with him.
00:49:59Give him… I said they were from a place that they would not put on clothes that they shouldn't have
00:50:05on. When I read it originally, I wanted to blame… I really did want to blame the devil.
00:50:16I really did. I wanted to blame him for using the Gibeonites to do something illicit
00:50:20and immoral. I really wanted to blame the devil for making them choose them based on
00:50:27their appearance until I woke up and recognized that it ain't always the devil's fault.
00:50:32When I woke up and realized that the real problem is most of us make too many decisions with our
00:50:37eyes. I know y'all are not going to say, man, right up and through here, but this is the truth.
00:50:44You make a lot of decisions with your eyes. You like her because of how she look.
00:50:55Oh, he says, she's fine. Okay, I got it. I got it. She's fine. She's cute. I get it,
00:51:01dog. I get all that. He got money. He provides. Look at him. If I have a child with him,
00:51:07he's going to have good hair because the people on my side of the family…
00:51:16You'd be looking like a DNA specimen. All right, he got brown eyes and muscles and
00:51:21tall. My uncle's short, but if I had one with him, he'd be
00:51:24average height. You're making all of these decisions with your eyes.
00:51:29This is the same problem that the prophet Samuel had when he got to Jesse's house,
00:51:34and he was looking for the next king to replace Saul. The Bible says that he went to Eliab because
00:51:39Eliab was pleasing to the eyes, and he was taller than everybody else, and he almost chose him.
00:51:43And then God says, see, you go again. You're about to mess up the whole game because I look
00:51:47not on the countenance of a man, but I look at… Can we get to a place in our lives where we start
00:51:55with the heart before we start with the appearance? But here's what messes up a lot of us.
00:52:03See, you're so used to bad, good irritates you. I've heard it. I've heard it. He too nice. Okay.
00:52:14I need somebody to just rough me up every once in a while. Then when he do, you call the police.
00:52:23Come on. Don't get quiet. Look at your boy. Don't look down. Talk to me now. Don't get quiet.
00:52:29Tell that sister to look up. It's Father's Day. Nobody's scared of you.
00:52:32Too nice. He always happy. Glass always half-full. Well, there's an alternative.
00:52:46We're so used to being deceived, they will get apprehensive in the presence of clarity.
00:52:52They came dressed like they were poor. They came hungry. But it was all deception. We make so
00:53:02many decisions on an outward appearance, and it wasn't until this week that I saw a deeper
00:53:07revelation. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 and 12 that we should not glory in appearance.
00:53:13And it wasn't until this week that I saw a deeper revelation. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
00:53:175 and 12 that we should not glory in appearance. Listen to this. Samuel was rebuked by God because
00:53:26he got to Jesse's house and was getting ready to pick off appearance until God made him look
00:53:30upon the countenance of a man. The Bible says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
00:53:37So, anything that is deceptive is satanic.
00:53:47Here's what the Lord told me to pray for, and I asked him. I said,
00:53:52God, for the people online and the people who are in this room,
00:53:56can you please exchange our sight for vision?
00:54:07Then the Lord told me, Tony, this is what I'm going to do. If I exchange sight for vision,
00:54:12it's good for you, because sight will allow you to see what it is,
00:54:16but vision will allow you to see it for what it is.
00:54:21Do me a favor. High five everybody you can touch and say, Lord, show me what it really is.
00:54:28Show me what it is. Show me before we get to the altar. Show me before I change my last name.
00:54:34Show me before we procreate and have children together. Show me before we become roommates.
00:54:39Show me before we become business partners. Show me before we invest money together. Lord,
00:54:45show me. Exchange my sight for vision. I am tired of being deceived. Lord, open the eyes of my heart.
00:55:01Who am I preaching to? Somebody shout, Lord, give me vision. Is this my job or not?
00:55:12Is this my house or not? Is this my person or not? Is this my vision or not? I don't want to waste time.
00:55:23I don't got time to waste. I don't got time to waste. I can't go through another bad breakup.
00:55:30I ain't got time to give my heart to nobody else. Lord, is this it or not? If it ain't it,
00:55:35I'll stay single. I'll go to Burger King by myself. Lord, show me. I am tired of making the wrong decision.
00:55:43Listen to the language of the deceptive. He said,
00:56:06Make a treaty with us now. I didn't hear make. I didn't hear treaty. I didn't hear us. All I heard was now.
00:56:19What are we in a hurry for? Are you trying to get me before I see you?
00:56:27Why can't we take our time? He said, Let's do it now. You better be careful with that word now.
00:56:43Let's just get married now.
00:56:45I don't know.
00:56:57Joshua had no experience on this level. He didn't know what to do up here. He had
00:57:03no experience on this level, and verse 14 shows us that he does what most of us do.
00:57:09The Bible says that he accepted their offer without consulting the Lord.
00:57:20That's what verse 14 says. It says he did it, and he didn't even ask God,
00:57:25Can I just find about 13 people in here? I got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 of y'all standing already
00:57:31who will admit on this side of the Jordan River, I ain't asked God. Am I right?
00:57:39I ain't asked God about that. I asked me.
00:57:48So, he didn't ask God. Can we just make a deal that we ain't doing nothing else?
00:58:00If I'm dating you and me talking about Jesus irritates you, the date is over.
00:58:05Oh, y'all ain't saying nothing. If we can't drink wine and worship together?
00:58:13Oh, I know y'all so saved, but after you put the blunt down, can we pick the Bible up
00:58:20and can we just ask God to work on us until we put the blunt down completely?
00:58:26I don't want to have to pretend with you. I want to go through my process with you.
00:58:35Y'all tripping.
00:58:41Who am I preaching to? I know it ain't fair.
00:58:49He ain't asked God. Anybody dealing with the residual effects?
00:58:56I mean, right now, what's today's date? The 16th. What month is this? June. What year is this?
00:59:04Anybody dealing with something in June of 2024 because you didn't ask God about it in June of
00:59:092022? 2021. You were so tired of paying rent by yourself. You needed benefits.
00:59:26You didn't want your kids not having no daddy. So, you didn't ask God because you tried to
00:59:34get in. You don't want to ask God because you know God will say no.
00:59:42And you don't want to hear no. The only thing we ever want to ask God is for help.
00:59:49I never will forget when we bought this building. Some of y'all don't know this story. Some of y'all
00:59:57do. If you know it, act like you don't know it. I got some new people who ain't been here before.
01:00:04I remember when we bought this church. So, I've been an entrepreneur all my life.
01:00:10I've been on the business since I was 21 years old. I was driving. At that time,
01:00:16I don't remember what year it was, but I was driving a white 4S Carrera, red interior,
01:00:24two-door, poor cleaned in a month. It made me walk different when I got out of it.
01:00:31You could tell by the way I walk I wasn't from around here. I was so smooth in that mug.
01:00:38I remember when we got this church and we needed $6.2 million to buy the building.
01:00:45I already told you I'm an entrepreneur. Just so you know, there ain't no way I had that car based
01:00:51on the salary that the church was giving me. You just need to know that because the church
01:00:56couldn't even pay me. So, I got it off my business. Anyway, I'm driving, and I pick up my
01:01:02mentor at the hotel to take him to the Galleria because he was here preaching for us. I pull up.
01:01:09He got in my car, and he slammed the door. I know we're cool like that, but, bro,
01:01:26Carl, I let it roll. Went in the mall, went to shopping, got him what he wanted, got back in the
01:01:36car. The meek shall inherit the earth. Lastly, got him back to the hotel, pulled up. He might
01:01:58be watching. So, I pulled up, and I dropped you off at the hotel. Got out. Bro, why are you slamming
01:02:20my door? He looked me in the face and said,
01:02:30I think it's despicable that you are asking people to sacrifice, and it don't look like
01:02:37you're sacrificing. You're around here driving a $170,000 car, and you're asking people to give
01:02:47towards a building project who are going to have to give everything they have to help you,
01:02:51so it looks like you ought to humble yourself and be on the level of your supporters.
01:02:58That was at 2 o'clock. I drove directly to the car dealership from that conversation.
01:03:04This is the honest-to-God truth. I sold the car. It cost me $60,000 to get out of it,
01:03:10because I was upside down because it was new. I drove off the lot with a used Jeep Cherokee,
01:03:15and God knows, and everybody here who was here will tell you, I drove it for three years.
01:03:20You know why? Because when somebody has been on a level you have never been
01:03:30and you're getting up to that level, you better listen to the experience
01:03:35so you don't have to visit the level. You get to stay at the level.
01:03:40As a result of that decision, we are in the building.
01:03:55Are you listening to me?
01:04:00You have no experience at this level, but you'd better be willing to listen to somebody who does.
01:04:10You have to be willing to listen at the next level way before you learn to speak.
01:04:20Are you listening to me today?
01:04:26I listened to what God told him.
01:04:33It would have saved me money and time had I asked him first.
01:04:37Here's the point of the story. How expensive is it to take advice instead of asking questions?
01:04:50God, should I do this or not? Should I have this or not? Most of us choose with our eyes,
01:04:58so we buy things we can't afford to impress people we don't like
01:05:02and people who don't even notice you have it on.
01:05:08Anything you have to buy to get a compliment is too expensive.
01:05:22As you get ready to walk through these doors, you're going to have to test it before you walk
01:05:25through it. Before you go through a door and the house is on fire, you have to
01:05:36test that door, because it could be another fire on the other side of that door.
01:05:42Lord, is this my house, or am I trying to impress somebody? Is this the season for me to get a new
01:05:49car, or am I just tired of the one I have? Can I live in this apartment with the furniture just
01:05:56a couple more years, or am I trying to furnish it for people who only visit twice a year?
01:06:04I hear people all the time. I've got to get a house big enough so when my family comes
01:06:07and visits me… Why would you pay an overinflation amount of a mortgage for a visit? Save your money
01:06:14and send them to a hotel when they come. I know it's not popular, but it's true. You can send
01:06:25them to a hotel for $1,000 during Christmas instead of paying an extra $2,000 for them to visit.
01:06:32Lord, I've never fought on this level before. I need your help to discern this deception,
01:06:47because God, I don't want to date another loser.
01:06:52I don't want to have another baby with a person I can't trust to be there with me.
01:06:57God, I don't want to give my life to somebody else I can't trust with my heart.
01:07:02I don't want to cry on my pillow another night. I don't want to call my friends to
01:07:10come over and we film our own version of Waiting to Exhale. I don't want to do it.
01:07:20If I'm preaching, somebody help me.
01:07:22And, fellas, don't feel bad, because it ain't just you. It's women too.
01:07:32If I were helping you, I'd say,
01:07:34Lord, please don't send me anybody else who sees a baby as a career move.
01:07:40Oh, yeah, I got your back, brothers. Don't send me nobody else who has
01:07:44planned their financial future based on my child support. Lord,
01:07:47please don't send me anybody who just wants to trip me up.
01:07:51Watch this. Y'all ready to go? I ain't. So, watch this. The Bible says it took them
01:08:15three days to discover the deception. Three days.
01:08:25Here's what I asked the Lord to do when I saw that. I asked God to reveal to you
01:08:32in the next three days who you can trust and who you cannot.
01:08:37In the next 72 hours, I am asking God to give you clarity on who you need to walk with and
01:08:48who you need to walk away from. In the next 72 hours, I'm asking God to open the eyes of your
01:08:54heart and allow you to see who's deceiving you and who is there for you. Come on, somebody,
01:08:59give God praise in three days. God, show me who's genuine in three days.
01:09:08Show me who I can trust in three days. Let me finish.
01:09:23The Bible says that once Israel found out that they were being deceived,
01:09:27what would you have done if you found out that somebody had moved into your life and they were
01:09:35a fraud the whole time and they knew that they were playing games and they knew they had no
01:09:38intentions of doing what they said they were going to do and you could get away with it?
01:09:43I want to know what you would do. What would you do?
01:09:47Boy, see, look at all that Christianity leaving y'all right now. Look at you. I can see it in
01:09:52your face. What would you do? How would you get even?
01:10:00Well, not how would you. Let me ask this question. How did you get even?
01:10:08Cut them off. Walk away. Those are Christian answers, and I bless God for you.
01:10:15But I want to get something from the hood side of the church.
01:10:18But that's the save side over there. Let me get some.
01:10:27The Bible said… Y'all ready? He showed them mercy.
01:10:35Help, Father. They did all of that, and Israel's response was, we grant you mercy.
01:10:51Remember the name of the sermon? Dealing with deception. How do you deal with it? With mercy.
01:10:58They gave them life where death was deserved. Are you at the point in your life
01:11:12where you can let people live even though you have the power to take their life?
01:11:19That you could tell the whole story, and if you told the whole story…
01:11:32We know their version of the story, but if you got a chance to tell the whole story…
01:11:39I bless God for any person in this room who has the power to destroy somebody,
01:11:45but you used mercy. I pray a double portion of blessing on your life,
01:11:50that God will bless you because you gave mercy.
01:11:59Let me finish it. Listen. The Bible says that when they finally found out who they were,
01:12:06the Bible says that they gave them mercy, and the princes would not allow them to kill them.
01:12:15Why? He says, because we let you live, now you have to do us a favor. They said, we got it
01:12:24already. You can do whatever you want to do with us. The Bible says that they became their tree
01:12:34and water bearers. In other words, every tree that they had to cut down and make shelter out of
01:12:41and every ounce of water that they had to gather to feed themselves and their animals,
01:12:46the people they let live did the work for them.
01:12:52God says, if you leave them alive long enough, I'll use them to keep you alive.
01:12:58You must get to the place where getting even isn't the thing you want to do.
01:13:14Let me show you something. I want you to stand beside me. I want you to imagine that she
01:13:26is up front and I'm behind. Or let's reverse it. She did something to me,
01:13:34and I'm in front of her, and now I decide I want to get even with her.
01:13:40Look what I have to do to get even.
01:13:47Why would you get even with somebody who's a footstool?
01:13:56Why do you need to get even with an ex? They are already an ex.
01:14:09Why do I have to give my energy? It took all the energy I had to leave. Why would I come back
01:14:15and deposit more energy into something I walked away from? You get nothing else from me.
01:14:21You get no more energy. You get no more conversation. You get nothing. Cut my tree,
01:14:28bring me my water. Cut my tree down and bring me my water. If you go back and read chapter 10 verse
01:14:402, it says all of the men of Gibeon were strong, which means God didn't give them no weak men.
01:14:46Every person that God gave them was strong enough to do it for themselves,
01:14:50but God made them use their strength for Israel. You don't even realize that somebody is becoming
01:14:56wealthy and somebody is becoming strong and somebody is becoming affluent,
01:15:00and everything that they are becoming is for you. The wealth of the wicked
01:15:09is laid up for the righteous. If you learn to deal with deception the right way
01:15:14and don't be pulled in by social media tactics, don't be pulled in by girl code and dude code
01:15:22and bro code. Leave all of that. We are in another realm. We are in the kingdom. You're
01:15:27going to have to operate on another level. Now, I know this message wasn't for everybody,
01:15:35but I know I'm talking to some people.
01:15:42You are one incident away from just going crazy. Have you ever been there?
01:15:47Like, if they say one more thing to me, if I get that feeling one more time, I'm going to go off.
01:15:58If he's leaving, let him go.
01:15:59If she don't want you, help her pack.
01:16:10But don't you repay evil for evil.
01:16:20The Bible says in Luke chapter 6, if you're good to those who are good to you, what praise should
01:16:24you get? Even sinners do that. If you give bread to a man who gives you bread, what credit should
01:16:34you get? Even the unbeliever does that. Then Jesus says, but if you give bread to a person who gave
01:16:42you a stone… I live by this one. If you give good to somebody who gave you bad… The Bible says,
01:16:53The meek shall inherit the earth. Don't you forfeit what's yours to keep what's not.
01:17:10You're going to have to deal with it.
01:17:15You've got to. Look at me. Can't nobody do this for you?
01:17:23Can't nobody hurt for you? You've got to hurt for you.
01:17:30I saw the tears running down your eyes the whole sermon, but you've got to go through this one for
01:17:34yourself, daughter. Thank God you've got your mama next to you, but you've got to fight that devil
01:17:42yourself.
01:17:50Carl, I know you would love to fight it for Ed, but Ed has got to do it for himself. Ed,
01:17:53I know you would love to do it for Carla, but Carla has got to do it for herself.
01:17:56Lonnie, I know you would… He has to. She must. Y'all got… You've got to do it.
01:18:03You don't get to suffer in the group.
01:18:18So, how are you going to deal with it? Are you going to leave this church today?
01:18:25If you're going to click in on the stream and be mad like you were,
01:18:31are you going to grow up and show up and let go of any person, young lady? Megan, I believe.
01:18:41Any person who has broken your heart or perhaps hasn't told you the truth. Anybody who sold
01:18:48you a dream. Listen to me. If you come with your own dream, nobody can sell you one.
01:19:00Young lady, my wife and I sat in my office last Sunday, and we watched you all the way
01:19:06until you got to your car. We watched you. We didn't even know whether you were in an Uber.
01:19:12We didn't know whether you were driving your own car. We saw you put the kids in the car,
01:19:16and then we finally saw you walk around to the other side. It was a red car. We watched you.
01:19:20We watched you, and we prayed for you in that car. I didn't even know your name.
01:19:25I've only seen you one time in my entire life.
01:19:29But when God assigns somebody to you, you don't have to know them.
01:19:34You don't have to know them. I'm telling you right now, you have hurt your last day by yourself.
01:19:42God is about to bring you out. God is going to bring you out.
01:19:55He's going to bring you out on eagles' wings.
01:20:02All that deception you've dealt with, every lie you've ever had to endure,
01:20:09God says, I am the way. I am the truth, and I am the light. He's going to repay evil.
01:20:21He's going to give you everything the canker worm has stolen and what the rust
01:20:25has tried to take away. God is going to restore you. He's going to restore you.
01:20:50That's when things start happening.
01:20:59You know, I hear it in my spirit. I hear God telling me to say,
01:21:03y'all don't know what people have been through.
01:21:10You don't even know how bad that person next to you is struggling,
01:21:13because some people are good at holding tears back. Your heart is crushed. I have experience
01:21:23with deception, but I will have nothing to do with the demise of an enemy. Cut my tree.
01:21:35Bring me my water.
01:21:44You remember, in the Bible, the Bible talks about Mordecai and Haman.
01:21:51The Bible says that Haman had a house. He didn't know that Esther was related
01:21:57to Mordecai and that Vashti would refuse to show at the party,
01:22:01and God would replace her with Esther not knowing
01:22:07that Mordecai was going to be living in the house of Haman who tried to kill him.
01:22:12You have to leave your enemies alive long enough to build the house you're going to live in. You
01:22:18have to leave them alive long enough to build the reputation it would take you 10 years to do,
01:22:24and all they have to do is lie on you once. This is the season to let God fight your battles.
01:22:37It's been a long day. We've sung. We've prayed. We've praised.
01:22:41We've dedicated babies. We've had chameleon. It's been a long day, but I feel the Holy Spirit.
01:22:54I feel the Holy Spirit drawing you to this altar. Before you move…
01:23:04Last week I dismissed everybody who was ready to go, and we stayed at the altar for another hour.
01:23:14I'm not saying we're doing that right now, but I am saying
01:23:17to you that people were able to get deliverance last Sunday
01:23:21for staying an extra 15 minutes. Now, if you have to go, you go,
01:23:25but let me tell you something. Sometimes you are in a hurry to get back to nothing.
01:23:36I want to go home. What does that show home?
01:23:43I have to go eat. If that's your story, stick to it. But what's at the restaurant
01:23:50that will feed you more than… I'm at the place in my life where the only thing I want is joy,
01:24:00unspeakable joy. Anybody in the seat? I feel myself changing. Anybody? Feel yourself going
01:24:10through a metamorphosis and a change, and you have to have the courage to do it.
01:24:14So, if you've got to go, may the Lord watch between me and thee while you're absent one
01:24:24from another. I pray that you will get home and find everything and work in order.
01:24:30But if you're in this place today and you've got 10 minutes
01:24:32to come and lay it at the altar and to say, God, I lay the deception down.