Embracing Generosity, Family, and Spiritual Warfare

1. "How many of you believe, and I believe this, I believe that we have some of the most generous people on the planet that go to Abundant Life Church, believe it or not. I mean, we've had people just give over in abundant. Now, we've never, ever, nor will we ever stand up here and beg you for money. What we're going to tell you is this. Here's what the Bible says. This is right out of 2 Corinthians. This is right out of 2 Corinthians. This is right out of 2 Corinthians. This is the Apostle Paul speaking. He says these words, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap what? Bountifully. Now watch this next part. So let each one, each one, that means everybody, let each one give as he has purposed in his where? Heart. Not grudgingly or out of necessity. In other words, never give because somebody gets up here and tells you to give. Don't do that. Give what's in your heart. Do what you feel is obedient in your heart. For God loves a? Cheerful. That word cheerful there is hilarious. So you should be a hilarious giver. Praise God." [03:32] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Children, obey your parents in the Lord. I jokingly say this. Do not confuse this verse with the verse, with a few verses before it that says women or wives submit to your husbands. Do not confuse wives submitting with your husbands to wives obeying your husbands. There's a difference there. All right. But anyway, praise God. So children, obey your parents in the Lord. And let me just say this. The simple understanding of that is this. That children are to obey their parents. They're to be raised with the aspect of obedience. And yet at the same time, in the Lord. Now that tag of in the Lord means that we should never ask or train or teach or ask our children to disobey God in any way, shape or form. And I'm going to go one step further and say, no child, no child has the responsibility of obeying their parent to the point of disobeying God." [10:02] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Honor your father and your mother, honor your father and your mother. I was raised in a house where it was like, yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. You never called someone by their first name. If they were older than you, you was always last name. Now I know some of that is Southern culture and I get all that, but can I tell you from an early age, we were taught to honor your father and your mother. And that was the way it goes. Why you say, why is that so important to a child of God? Let me tell you why. Cause if you can't honor your father and your mother who live in your own house, who take care and supply everything that you need and take care of you, how are you going to respect people? Whenever you go into a workplace or go into a school, or go into another environment, can I get an amen? It all starts in the home. It starts in the home. Praise God. Amen." [12:28] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Do not provoke your children to wrath. Let me give you that in some other translations, just so you see crystal clear. We'll come back to the ending, but here's what it says. It says, do not be angry alongside your child. Or how about this? Do not exasperate your children. How about this? Never drive your children to resentment. Here's another one. Do not provoke your children to anger. Let me give you a couple more because I want to paint a clear picture of what it's saying. Don't keep on scolding and nagging your children. Conviction fell on the house of God right there. Bam. Got, got grown adults going. Listen to this one. Don't over-correct your children. Or make it difficult for them to obey the commandment. Why? Because there's something in this, everybody. If you live life in every day from the moment you got up to the moment you went to bed, somebody was busting your chops, you wouldn't do well. And can I tell you, a child who lives in that environment will not do well either." [15:15] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Training a child is different than telling them what to do. Training a child is here. Watch me do life. You walk beside me and I'm going to show you. And as you grow them, they will be trained in those ways. Can I get a big amen on that?" [19:23] (13 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Finally, brethren, my brethren, be strong in the? Notice what it doesn't say. Be strong in you. That's not what it says. Be strong in who? In the Lord and the power of his might. How many of you believe we serve an all-powerful, almighty God? So be strong in that, not you. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Watch this. Put on the whole armor. Now, there are two things I want you to understand about that. One thing I want you to understand is this. Put on the armor of God. Everybody say, it's God's. It's not your armor. It's his armor. Matter of fact, Isaiah 59, verses 15 and 16, which I mentioned right here, talks about how Jesus puts the armor on. All right? But in light of that, I want you to understand it's the armor of God. It's not yours. It's on loan to you. All right? Let's go a little bit further with it. It says put the whole armor on. Put it all on. Not just a portion. Put the whole thing on." [25:19] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "You cannot be a victim and a victor at the same time. It's your choice. You either become the victor or you're the victim. And I don't know about you, but Jesus didn't. Didn't. Heed his blood out to make you a victim. Praise God. You are not a victim. You are a victor." [34:57] (18 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "The belt of truth was used because they had garments. And they would take those garments and they would gather them. And they would tuck them into the belt. Also connected to the belt was the breastplate and the sword. So the belt was the first thing that Paul mentioned. Because he wants you to understand the importance of it. If you tried to fight and you did not have the belt of truth on, then what would happen is you would get all tangled up in all the mess of your garments. And you would actually become your own worst enemy. Y'all ain't hearing it like I'm saying it. But can I tell you? People that are deceived, people that don't know truth, people that don't understand the truth, will actually get all themselves all tied up in a knot. But let me just remind you of what Jesus said. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes unto the Father except by me. Jesus said, my word is truth. Praise God. Every other thing is a lie. When I tell you the Bible is the truth of God, I mean it. It is the truth of God. Anything you believe beyond the Bible, and I'm not talking about common sense things, I'm talking about spiritual things. When you understand anything contrary to the word of God, when it comes to men's philosophies and men's ideas and men's religions and men's ideas of how things should operate, if it's contrary to the word of God, you're believing a lie instead of the truth. And if you believe the lie, the enemy's got you. He's got you on the defense. And you should not be playing the defense to the enemy. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall fall. I'll set you free, praise God. People are supposed to be free because of the truth, praise God." [36:05] (99 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "The word works, y'all. The word works. The problem with a lot of Christians is they don't use their sword. They have all these weapons to defend themselves, but they never go on the offense. When's the last time you told the devil no? When's the last time you told the devil to back up? When's the last time you laid your hands on your grandkids and said, I don't give a rip what the devil says. God says they're blessed and favored. When's the last time you prayed for your kids that way? And when's the last time you did any of that? Can I tell you, it should be a common experience for the believer to rebuke the enemy, to stand against him, and push him back. That should be our constant, consistent prayer. Amen? Listen to this. The word will work. Listen, the word works because, number one, it's God's word. Here's the last part I want you to understand. God's word supersedes all authority of the church. You don't need Pastor Charlie to pray. If you've got the word, you've got more than enough authority. You can pray. You can command. You can say. Jesus said, Speak to the mountain, be thou removed and cast in the sea. And if you believe what you say, it will be done. Praise God. You've got to speak it." [46:26] (68 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "Now thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in, there's an old Clint Brown song. It says, no matter what the weapon is, I want you to know that I win. Boom, boom, boom, boom. It's church, full gospel. No matter what the weapon is, I want you to know that I win. Boom, boom, boom. Guess what the third verse is? No matter what the weapon is, I want you to know that I win. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All right? And really truthfully, you should have that mentality of, no matter what the weapon is, no matter what weapon is formed against me, nothing, nothing shall prosper against me. I will win in the end, praise God. That's the mentality of the believer. Not arrogant, not haughty. Your faith is in Christ. Your strength is in the Lord." [45:21] (47 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)