Embracing God's Ever-Present Love and Guidance

"Where can I go from your spirit? First, you would ask, why would you want to go from his spirit? That comes to my mind, but he's speaking to the human heart. He's speaking to humanity. You know, people run and hide from God. It started in the garden when Adam and Eve hid from God, and they covered their neck. Their shame caused them to hide. Their fear caused them to hide. People create their own belief system that gives them ability in their minds to hide from God. But it's crazy, because when you understand who God is, there's no hiding. Where can I flee from your presence?" [00:02:31] (43 seconds)



"Come Holy Spirit. Well, theological, bright people said that's wrong. You can't, you shouldn't pray that because God's already here. And let me explain a little bit what that prayer means. It's not stupidity that we think God's not here. We need to get him here. Okay. It's an awareness that there are, there are, there God's presence being somewhere and him turning up the volume or like the lighting if the lighting is low he's here but when you say come holy spirit you're inviting him to turn up the brightness of his presence if you will to intensify it it's not that he's not here it's help us be aware help us be open." [00:08:21] (42 seconds)



"Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have so the second big thing is greed covetousness now there's nothing wrong with desiring to make money being industrious and diligent and i never fault people over the years i've pastored some extremely wealthy people over the years i've pastored some extremely wealthy people over the years i've pastored some extremely wealthy people and so it doesn't intimidate me and i've known wealthy people that were kind selfless and generous i've known poor people that were greedy tight jealous. They want what others have, but in many ways won't work to try to get it. I get it. Life's not fair. Not everybody gets the same footing and blah, blah, blah. Point isn't how much you have. It's do you have contentment?" [00:17:46] (48 seconds)



"It's not up to whether they want to let go or not. The grip isn't about how strong they are. Grandpa's got a death grip, and you ain't getting out of it until we get through this dangerous situation. It's not love to say, I just want them to have their own way. Just do what they wanted. And I know parents that raise their kids, and it's okay to drop the F -bomb at mom or dad. I couldn't say what was the password in my home back then. What is it? I told you guys you couldn't. What was it? Stupid. No, stupid wasn't my thing. I couldn't say. It was, it's not fair. That was the F -bomb in my home. My dad would lose his mind on me if I said, it's not fair." [00:22:51] (49 seconds)



"When your feelings say he's dropped you and let you go, never. You got to bet, it's deeper than the most. feelings, circumstances, when you're at your lowest point, you can't feel God, see God, hear God. You just know that he's promised. It's not just a presence that he's kind of manifested to you. That's powerful. When he turns the volume up, this is deeper. This is a knowing without feeling. This is a knowing without evidence. This is a knowing based on one thing, our God promised." [00:27:56] (44 seconds)



"And when God makes a promise, his being stands behind it. But the second aspect, so I will never leave, is a let go, a drop. And I'll never forsake. This is a battle, war term. This is a term that if you're in the field of battle, and a soldier deserts you, that's what this means. Forsake. He left you in the middle of a battle. Can I tell you that over the years? As a pastor, that's been one of my hardest things. It's fine to move churches, because people do it all the time. We're people processors, not people possessors, our leader taught us years ago. I love to hang on to everybody, but people are here for a season, and God moves them. And hopefully when you move out, you're better than you came." [00:28:41] (50 seconds)



"He's standing right there with you. He's saying, come on, come on. We got this. We got this. Because the devil will do everything he can to make you feel alone. You're fighting for something. You're believing for something. You're standing for something. You're under attack. You're under attack. You're under attack. You're under attack. attack, and the enemy will say, you're all on your own here. Never. Never. Well, he abandoned you. The other sense is, it's a leaving of someone that's suffering. And I've heard people's testimony, you know, that when you've got cancer, and you're going through chemo, and you're hugging the toilet, and it's hard to feel spiritual when you're puking your brains out." [00:31:03] (44 seconds)



"He's not going to let you go because you failed. He's not. He's got a grip. You couldn't break free from it if you wanted. No man, Jesus said, can pluck you out of my father's hands. You can't let go hard enough. You can shake it. You could, you know, he just holds it. You know, they say that when my wife and I have been hawking and when you go hawking, you get this, these are Harris hawks in Scotland and you wrap the leather around your hand and you've got a big glove on and they say, be prepared to be tested because the hawk is going to flip upside down and lose his mind because he wants you to lose yours. And sure enough. He said, don't move. Don't blink. They go upside down, go insane for about five seconds. And then whoop. They're back on your arm." [00:40:54] (55 seconds)