Pastor west: [00:00:00] Praise God. Well, we have a lot going on this year. Lots happened. We. Stirred up in prayer. This morning we got to hear Pastor Matt talk about just some of the details what happened on Mount Cusco. Thank God for that. We believe in God for those things and the greatest miracle of salvation in it. It's good to be healed, but you can actually get to heaven and and get healed. Yes, but what good would be to be healed and go to hell? Not at all. The good thing is, we don't have to choose. We can have both of it. We can have all of it, right? Amen. Amen. Praise God! Well. We're on. So what are you waiting on? I don't know. Praise God. Praise God. Well. Good morning. Welcome to those of you who joined us. Glad that you're part of the service here today. Dear in prayer this morning. I didn't say nothing to them. February the 3rd. The Lord spoke to me back in prayer. Theologically, you would say I would disagree with myself, but I knew what he was talking about when he said this. He said, if you prepare a place, I'll come. And, uh. As soon as we begin to pray. Um. In the spirit a while ago. Just real. You know, when you come to know the voice of God doesn't have to be booming, does it? This album is. It's a still small voice.
Pastor west: [00:01:47] As everybody was praying and praying in the spirit, he said, I'm not coming. He said, I'm here. Well, we know he's here. He was here before he said he was here. But in reference to what he knew was what I was. Understanding about that. He's here now. And so things will begin to shift and things will begin to change. I don't know what all that will encompass, but there will be a shift. There'll be a change. And so we just want to be ready. Flexible, expecting. Have you expected us ready to go being down there and and center or being up there in center which I've never been to center Alabama in my life. You know, just barely hover in the state. Really close to Georgia. If you like lakes, you like center, right? It's, uh. It's not. It's not Weiss. Weiss. Weiss Lake. It's really pretty. And so you see all the expense that people went to. Uh, people who Erik Jones have the the idea and the and the want to to do it. He's always been a soul winner. But how do you how do you put all that together? So, um. They had the radio station there every night for three hours. Different leaders come together to help. Uh, churches began to get involved. Uh, people begin to give. Businessmen began to write checks. Uh, interested in, uh, Eric said you said you remember Arlen. Yeah. And I said, yeah.
Pastor west: [00:03:31] He said, well, would you like to meet his nephew? I said, his nephew. He said, yeah, he's up there playing the drums. He's a little bit older than I am. And so I got talked to Alan's nephew a little bit. And, uh, so, uh, Eric, so once you get your picture with him. Okay. Whatever. So he has arm around me. I put my arm around him, and I took the picture and he told me, that'll be $5. And I said, well, I only had ten. Uh, I said, but I don't have change to give you, so I have to owe you. But anyway, um. You know, it was June's. They realized this next year they won't do it in June. Because if you're outside and, uh, I don't care if the sun has almost go down to when it goes down, it's still June and people can get saved in April as far as I'm concerned. But, uh, but people came and they heard and they came off the street and they came and they got born again. Ministers came, uh, different ones. I think tonight would be the last night. Um, Chris D'Amico will be there from New York. He's a Raymond graduate, but he had three degrees or not three. He had three offers to get NFL. And, uh, he was really something in high school to say. Uh, and so but he turned all of them down because the Lord told him to go to Rhema.
Pastor west: [00:04:48] And never looked back. So he travels. So tonight they're going to end the meeting there. But I watched people get saved and, uh, people get healed. Uh, we laid hands on a man that, uh, he came, uh, they asked me to teach on healing, um, one morning, and, uh, him and his wife came up. Both of them needed prayer, primarily him. Or they had taken out his appendix and taken out his, uh, gallbladder. So you could imagine it caused some stomach issues. And they're just really interesting. So I mean, you know, you don't have to forget anything when you do pray for someone because, you know, but I felt. And Marcus Whitman, which used to be a pastor of 23 years. He was standing behind him and he asked me, he said, did, did did you feel something when you laid hands on him? I said, yeah, just immediately I said, he went right into me. He said, yeah. But when he went through him, then went all the way through me and, and I said, well. And so he told us about ten minutes later he was praying for some other folks. And the guy said, uh, well, he said, you know, about when you pray for me. He says, he says something's something's hot on the inside, something jumping on the inside. And Marcus, which actually quit medical school a little, a little way through halfway through medical school, he says, you know, when I see things, I can't help it because my training the Lord shows me X-rays.
Pastor west: [00:06:06] So he was telling the young man what was happening with, you know, the Lord showed him so he would just walk. It was, uh, the, uh, islands, I think it was a islands. Nephew is the one in his organization that gave $15,000 worth of food. And they came that couple came to be healed, but they came because they needed help. And they needed food. And it was just wonderful to see how, you know, people were being blessed in every way that you need to. So, uh, Jesus was already famous, but he was made famous all over again. And the church, come and sit and listen to sermons is not the plan of God. That's that's the equipping and the training to go do the work of the ministry. This is not the ministry. This is the equipping the saints to go do the work of the ministry. And when, when we don't, when we don't get out to the people, then we're not even involved in the Great Commission at all. And, uh, I know we know this, but I think sometimes we must think it's called the great suggestion if you got time to think about it. But it's not. And so we're on a time. Look at Israel.
Pastor west: [00:07:13] Look what's happening with Israel. You know what time it is. So it's time to move quickly. So we want to we want to begin to get involved. And so the time clock is tick tick tick. So we got to go. So, um, this morning, uh, if you want a title, uh, I'm not really good on titles. I could have named it anything, but, uh, we're still talking about the wisdom of God, but, uh, I'm going to call this one wisdom. That makes you, uh, wisdom that makes or creates light. Right. And might light right and might and, uh. You won't have time to turn these scriptures. Uh, some of the people that I was when I was in teaching on healing that morning, there was a lot of ministers there. And, uh, I don't remember saying this, but apparently I did. So one of the pastors there told me when I was at at lunch, we ate there at the river, the way they call it right there. Uh, you know, you probably know that, uh, that little restaurant right there by the lake was where he said he said I wrote four pages of notes, and he said. He said, when you said this. And I said, okay, uh, I don't remember saying it, but that's fine. He said. And to his point was what? Apparently what I said was, I asked the Lord, I do know this part. About two years ago I said some things.
Pastor west: [00:08:43] Something's not right. Something's out of order. Something's not happening the way that it should happen. And I didn't have to go in a three day fast or ten day fast to get the answer. He told me. He said, check upon your preaching. Well, he said that I knew what he meant. And I was thinking, no, the problem couldn't be with me. I wasn't thinking that. So I began to check upon that. And then, uh, when I began to. To listen here and here and here, he said. You have more commentary than you, than you have Scripture. He said, reverse it and watch what happens. And, you know, you might think, well, well, it's commentary with Scripture. I think it's all going to be the same. But, you know, sometimes you can get in some personal things or save things that you think that your, your, your idea line, but they can have a lot of human humanism or just human thinking, or you might have an opinion in there. And the Lord didn't tell us to teach and preach opinion, did he? But teach the word. Jesus said that he says, my word will set people free. He didn't say your opinion of my word. He said, my word will do it. So we're going to quickly go. I don't know if we have the we won't be there right away, but if we have the MeV version or not modeling okay.
Pastor west: [00:09:59] It doesn't matter. I'm just going to quote the scriptures. You don't have to turn there. But in Ephesians one this is where we've been taking our text from. Paul said, I cease not to give thanks for you making mention you in my prayers. That's verse 16 that here's verse 17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding be enlightened. There it is. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened. So we'll talk about light. We're going to talk about wisdom. Light. In discernment. We talk a lot about discernment, but you won't have discernment without light, without wisdom, you won't have any of it. And these are vitally important for the time that which we're living in. Amplified says Paul prayed that. They would have a spirit of wisdom, revelation, knowledge of him that their eyes Dampfi see that your eyes will be flooded with light. Flooded with light. So we need to make wise choices because we live in a complex world today. And uh, understanding discernment is, uh, is is the ability to judge well, especially as it pertains to spiritual insight. Uh, biblical discernment involves distinguishing between truth and error, right and wrong. Or I said truth and error. But you could say there's truth and evil, right or wrong.
Pastor west: [00:11:31] Um. Uh, I'll call this one my foundational scriptures. We won't go there, but in first Kings three, verse nine talks about Solomon praying. Uh, a request to the Lord for discernment. In other words, a heart to be able to govern. Bars people in a writing way, right? Incorrect manner. He asks for wisdom and God said, because you didn't. He said, I'm going to give you wisdom like no man has ever had. He said, because you didn't ask for the hand of your enemy. You didn't ask for power. You didn't ask for riches. You asked for wisdom so that you may correctly judge and discern and have wisdom. And there was no one before. Him or in his day that ever had wisdom. Now, someone said that day, well, there's no one ever, ever in the world has ever had the wisdom more than Solomon. Well, that wouldn't be true. You ever heard Jesus? Yeah. You ever heard of you? Jesus has made unto us his wisdom. So. But in Solomon's time, Solomon's day and year, we won't. We won't read it from the scriptures. But I'll give you the reference if you want to look at it. But in first Kings three, uh, five through 12, you have kind of the the famous story of the two women coming up, you know, and they they had a baby once. It's my baby and the other one's baby.
Pastor west: [00:12:51] Well, there were two babies, but one mother just in her sleep laid over and you might say, suffocated the baby. And it died. And in her distress, she went and stole the other woman's baby and said, it's mine. So they go before the king, you know, to get a judgment on it, as you know. And and they said, this is my baby. She is not your baby. It's my baby. So here's here's where the discernment kicked in. Here's where the wisdom kingdom Solomon said, he said, bring me a sword. He said, oh, I can settle. This is half, half the baby. We'll give you half the other one half. And quickly, quickly, the real mother said. Don't. Please don't kill this child. Just give it to her. The king says I'm not going to give it to her. I'll give it to you because you're really the mother. You'd rather lose the baby to see the baby die. Only the true mother had that heart. And so that's available to us today in every walk of your life. I'm going to give you a. We won't turn to these because you just don't have time. And I'm going to read them. These are light scriptures. And I'm going to kind of go bum bum bum bum bum bum if I can. And just just listen for the light part. James 117 said, every good and perfect gift is from above. Comes down from the father of lights, of whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Pastor west: [00:14:13] First John one five said, this is the message that we heard from him, and now we declare it unto you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all light and no darkness. Ephesians five eight. In the Passion translation it says, once your life was full of sins, darkness, but now you have the very light of the Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation light. In the supernatural fruits of his life will be seen in you goodness, righteousness, and truth. Fully relight John 995. Jesus said, While I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. These aren't in any particular order. Uh, Psalms 1828 says, you keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light. That'd be a good confession to speak over your life, wouldn't it? That you keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light. And then here's one you're probably familiar with Psalms 119 105, which says the word is a lamp to my feet. And the word is a light unto my path. A lamp to the feet and a light to the path. In Matthew 516 says, in the same way, let your light shine. Matthew 516 in the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.
Pastor west: [00:15:48] Let your light shine. John one five. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 812 Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall never walk in darkness, but they will have the light of life. I love this scripture. In Psalms 27 one says, the Lord is my light, and he is my salvation. Whom shall I fear? He is your light and your salvation. John 1236 he says, believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light. Seemed like in that verse Jesus is trying to make a point. You used the word delight three times, believing delight that you may have the light so that you may become children of the light. Luke 1134 35 says, your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when they're unhealthy, your body is full of darkness. See to it then that your light within you is not darkness. First Peter two nine. Got two. Three more. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness, and he called you into his wonderful light. His kingdom is called the Kingdom of Light.
Pastor west: [00:17:16] Revelation 2123. This is the Heaven's Scripture. This is where you're headed one day. How many you plan on going to heaven? The city of heaven does not need the sun or the moon. In other words, when when we're in heaven, one day there will not be a sun or a moon. This is the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine. To shine on. For the glory of God gives it light in the lamp. Is this light? So heaven will be illuminated forever. Just because God's there. There won't be a sun and the moon. You might have heard of this one. I mean, this is probably this is the first chapter, but I'm. I guess I'm using this, the last scripture. Genesis one three it says, let there be light. I think, uh, more correct translation would be light be. Uh, the Kev says I command light to shine. That's Galatians one three. Light, light light light, light. So foundational truth would be God is. God is light. Well, God's word is the same. So that means His word is light. In the light of God's word keeps you from being deceived. There's a lot of deception in the world today. You don't have to turn on your TV to find it. You just walk out. Meet someone. A lot of people being deceived. Uh. Not, uh. I'm talking about Christians also. Now we know everyone lost is deceived.
Pastor west: [00:18:55] We don't even have to. They're all one group. Anyone lost is. Completely deceived. Right? But I'm talking among believers. Well, Paul's praying for believers, isn't he? I cease not to give thanks to you, making you mentioned in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you this. Whether or not he's saved, you got to back up and get him saved first. So Paul is praying that believers would have wisdom, a spirit of wisdom, and a spirit of understanding that they would come into the knowledge of him, that the eyes of their understanding would be a light, that they would know, the hope to which they're called, and the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working power which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and seated on the right hand, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion. Everything's named Steyerm. And you have the quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Well, see, now we've been quickened. We've been made alive by grace. You are saved. What? Through faith, when you were by nature children of wrath. But God, but God, but God, but God who's rich in mercy. So everyone lost is spiritually dead. So. Obviously they don't have discernment. Can't help not putting people down. They can't have their spiritually dead. Well, when you're born again, you become alive unto God.
Pastor west: [00:20:15] So Paul prayed that that we would come into the understanding of what God had already done for us. That would do for us. But what has already happened? What has already taken place? You okay? Yes. How many know Jesus is truth? Yes. And the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. Would that be some truth or all truth have to be all truth in Hebrews 618 says, and it's impossible for God to lie. Sometimes people say, well, all things, there's nothing impossible to God. I said, well, I know one thing. They can't lie. That's impossible. So God has at least one impossibility up his sleeve. He cannot. He can't lie. He just can't do it. So knowledge of the truth will keep you from being deceived. This will help you in life. This will help you in business. This will help you to know who to be involved with in business dealings. Sometimes some people have some. Ulterior motives that may not look. Or it may not come to surface. It may sound good. It may look good. It may sound like this is the thing to do. It may. It may look like in the natural. Let's go this way. But you may get a warning on the inside. Who's the warning from the mighty Holy Spirit? Who knows all things? Who knows all people? But because you're walking in him, that means you're walking in truth.
Pastor west: [00:21:48] If you're walking in truth, you're walking in light. You can't walk. You can't walk in truth and not be in light. Because the truth is light. Wisdom is light. The knowledge of him is light. God is light. You understand what I'm saying? You can't separate God from love and God from faith and God. You can't separate God from light. You can't separate wisdom from God. Hmm'hmm. So that means you can't separate you from that if you're in him, if you're in him, you live and move. Your have your being. Well, then you have Jesus's wisdom that I quoted just a moment ago. Who's made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. In your walk with God is the fullness of all that he has for your life. Yeah. In that walk is increase. Yeah, it's a greater increase than what you might swap an hour of your time for in the marketplace. Nothing wrong with that. You call that working for yourself or working for, you know, at a job? But God has more than swapping dollars for ours. He has things where he can recompense you that doesn't even require your effort. Well, Amen. Amen. You know those people in business who are sinners, who own franchises, they're not even there. You could own four subways and never be in either one of them. You know you may never slide Domantas across that sandwich. If you own it right.
Pastor west: [00:23:28] Yeah. Well can you be if it was subway can you, can you be in all four franchises at one time? No. But but could you see how you could quadruple your money because you have four places people can come to. True. Amen. That's just one example. Of course. So we should have expectation that God is the who is the God of all increase. I mean. Look how Abraham, who was already doing well, but when he come as a partner with God. Being a partner with God with Abraham caused Abraham a great problem. God. God blessed him too much. I mean, here you have. He's going. He's leaving his father's house at 75 years of age, going to a city he knows not where his God didn't even tell him where to go. Most critics say, well, I can't go there. I mean, I don't know if I won't go, do you tell me where I'm going to go? Well, he won't use you. But Abraham left the Hebrew said, not knowing where he's going, but he was just looking for a city, a place where God would send him to that that God had prepared for him. Now Abraham made mistakes. I don't know. Maybe you made us make mistake. I know of two. I made maybe three. Jokingly. He just told him to leave him and Sarah. Well, he. He and Sarah did leave. But he took Lolli's nephew.
Pastor west: [00:25:08] Remember that? And we jokingly say lot ended up being a lot of trouble. Well, the increase as soon as he partnered with God increase was on. Watch what happens the next nine days around here. Come in. Glory. You know why I said that? Because this train of thought hit me this morning when it seems he said that, he said, I'm not coming now. He asked. He asked something of us. We said yes. He said, I'm here now. When God moves in the house, everything changes. Amen. Sometimes more than what you know what to do with. So all all his, all of his herds. Abraham's herd begin to increase too much. Lot just because he was connected to Abraham. His herds began to increase his stocks, his investments, business ideas. Begin to flow. And then one day the herd's been taken care of, the flocks lost, and Abraham's they were in the they were in the argument they were fighting. Scripture called it strife. Your strife is every evil work. And Abraham wanted to stop. What was the problem? Here's the problem. They had more. They had more. Their flocks had multiplied so much. There wasn't enough. There wasn't enough ground for them. There wasn't enough acreage from for them to stay together. So lot says, he said, pray thee that I may go from you. Because he says, my flocks have increased so much. He says, we can't.
Pastor west: [00:26:50] I can't stay with you because there's not enough grass here to eat. So a lot was going to leave Abraham. Well, why was lot increased anyway? Because he was with Abraham. That's right. You know, I just another way to think about this, I think I think I'd have killed half of them off. Stay with Abraham. Come on. He was increased because he was with Abraham, right? It couldn't be because he had a lot of wisdom. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been in Sodom and Gomorrah, right? Yeah. Notice Abraham already found out that God was with him no matter where he was at. Mhm. He told lot we'll pick where you want to go. He said I have the first pick. Yeah. He said you won't get mad. Now I want the best land over there. So now we see his youth and immaturity. His uncle takes him with him. Shouldn't he be with him? His business has increased so much he don't even know what to do with it. And now he's going. He's going to take the best of the land. Looks like. So Abraham should. That'd be fine. You go ahead and go this way. I'm going to go that way. Where a lot had to be rescued, right? What lot is his wife? What was her name? Salty. Salty. Salty. Pillar. Would do you see? Do you see wisdom in light? In discernment. Working in lot. No. But you see it in Abraham, don't you? And so you have to you have to allow the word and the lie to the word and the wisdom that's in the word.
Pastor west: [00:28:24] And the Holy Ghost, who is the spirit of the word, begin to minister this word to you. People can read the same scriptures and one say, well, I read that chapter today and all the God of it is, I got a chapter behind me. Well, you don't need it behind you. You need it in you, behind you. Just a goal you might have had. That's not a good goal. I don't personally. If you do it, that's fine. I mean, I mean, maybe I should, but I've never carried a B on a Bible plan, you know, to read the Bible in a year. There's parts of the Bible I've never got to you. Should have. If I was doing the Bible plan, I could say I read the Bible all the way through the book of Matthew 14 times. Well, I'm sure this is a blessing in that, but sometimes I get bogged down in two verses. Sometimes I can't get off one. I was like, there is no way in the world I knew that much was in that verse or 2 or 3 verses. I'd be digging around there for weeks thinking, My God, that thing's packed full. I mean, it's like a juicer. I mean, you can squeeze like this and get all the oranges you can, but you put it in a juicer.
Pastor west: [00:29:28] It's got some old juice up in that seed, baby. It can. It can put the screws on it. The squeeze on it. Right. So when God says, I'm here. He likes to move his stuff in. How many of you going to go? You going to go move someone or you going to move? I mean, if he's going to go stay with someone 2 or 3 weeks or a week. I don't know about y'all. When we pack, I don't like to fly. If I don't have to, I like to drive because I ain't got to go through all that stuff at the airport. You know what you can take? What you can't take. I put it in the car. Because I probably wouldn't get through there with all. With all. Well, actually Michelle stuff. But y'all may be like, you take too much stuff. You take too much clothes. You take too much accessories because, you know, after you leave home, you don't have it. And so you end up taking too much stuff. But then you got when you get home, you got to unpack all that stuff. And you thought never wore that. Never wore that, never wore that, never wore that, never used that never used, never ate that. Never. But you felt good because you had it right. So y'all smart. I know y'all I can tell from your smile.
Pastor west: [00:30:41] Someone else has done that. Michelle. We're just like them. That makes us look good. Amen. So what is discernment? Well, it's the spiritual characteristic of sound judgment for perceiving the differences between right and wrong, good and evil, truth and error, and identifying by discerning God's will and direction for his people and for your own life. What would that be beneficial to have discernment. Well, you're going to need it for the day you're in. You got people keen to discern whether they're a male or a female. You know, they're not even sure which bathroom they ought to go in. They're looking for one baby in the middle. I'm not making fun of that. I'm thinking of how how sad that is. Absolutely sad. That is so discerning is learning to think God's thoughts after him practically, spiritually. It's having a sense of how God looks at things in God's eyes, seeing them that way in some measure, uncovered and bare. Let me give you the scripture for what I just said. Hebrews 413 says, no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom he. We must give an account. Amen. You don't have something covered that he doesn't know about. He knows every thought before you have it. You know, look, according to Psalms 139, another reference to the Bible, if God knew you before you was.
Pastor west: [00:32:17] You probably can't hide nothing now that you are. Amen. Even we pray that way, I do, I pray this way. And I always tell the Lord I said, no, Lord, I'm just going to. I said, it helps me. I know you don't need this. I mean, you know everything I'm about to say before I even say it, but I'm. But I'm told to say it. So it helps me to spread out the situation. If it was a problem I just laid out there, I put all the variables in it and he's like, give it to the point. But it helps me in my thinking to, you know, to lay the situation out. But when I tell him about something, it's not what he's informed. How do you think? He already knows? He already knows. So instead of racking your brain, say, I don't know what we're going to do or how we're going to do this. Just get the wisdom and the guidance that comes from the knowledge of him. In other words, don't. Don't go in your might, go in his might. Don't do it in your strength. Do it in his strength. Don't do it in your knowledge. Do it in his knowledge. Don't do it in what we think is wisdom. Do it in his wisdom. Then he'll you'll have the gift of discernment to know which half of the baby that to give who.
Pastor west: [00:33:38] It may not be. It may not look like common sense, because all common sense is not common, and not all people even have common sense. I've met some people through my life that have an IQ out the roof, but they can't get to the car by themself. You ever met people like that? I mean, they do. They have a lot of wisdom, paper wisdom and knowledge and they just like they're brilliant, but they don't seem to have a lot of common sense. Well, if I had to pick one, I would take the common. Then I'd give that over to God and say, now, now you make me uncommon. So God takes the, uh, God takes the ordinary person, he uses the ordinary person, then he takes that, and then you become super ordinary. Mhm. Mm. Yeah. You're doing okay. Can I go a little bit further? I got a bar back Wednesday night, a little bit. Sorry about that. I'll fix that though. It's always good to help people. Access is not permission. Discernment serves as a catalyst to your spiritual development. Proverbs 14 six is the mocker seeks wisdom and finds none. But knowledge comes easily to the discerning. Boy, isn't that powerful. The mocker seeks wisdom. See, he. He's seeking wisdom. He says. But he's mocking it the whole time. And he finds none. But knowledge comes easy to those, to the discerning. Psalms 119 125 in the NIV says, I am your servant.
Pastor west: [00:35:17] Give me discernment. The Word of God is light and gives light. And light ables you to discern between truth and lies and good and evil. You know, Satan doesn't want us to discern truth, does he? Look, I'm all. I'm just now getting into the. I'm. We're about to get to the middle of the watermelon right now. We've been on the outer edges, but now we're going to get down into the heart. Which red and juicy. He does not. He does not want you to discern the truth. He wants to stop you from seeing man. But Psalms 119 130 says, the entrance of the word gives light. The entrance of his words, the entrance of his words. The entrance of his words give light, amplifies the unfolding, gives understanding, discernment, and comprehension to the simple you don't have to be a genius. So he doesn't want you to discern the truth. He wants to stop us from seeing. Now, for sake of time. And I know you know this verse, but I always want to give you the reference to it. Second Corinthians four four says, Satan blinds the mind. All right. Satan blinds the minds. Lest they. Could see. He blinds their mind. Mm. That's why they're still lost. Amen. And when you just go talk to someone with no discernment and they're lost, the gospel just sounds like. Foolishness to see what the Scripture says.
Pastor west: [00:37:09] That's why it's right to to pray first. That the blinders would come off their eyes. That's one thing I've been praying. Uh, one thing I've been instructed to pray since I was attacked on October 7th last year. Not not not just safety and protection. Uh, I cover all that, too. And everyone you know who's still might be taken as hostage for them to be set free. But time is running out. Time is running out. You can tell the church don't believe enlarged because they're not doing anything to reach the lost. If you really thought time was running out, we'd have a 20 minute service and we'd get out there and we'd shake doors. And if they got offended, they'd just get offended. If you had an old buddy and you knew Tom Scott, do you want him to be lost left here? No, because we don't really think times are run out. We just business as usual. But you didn't know. One day Jesus will come and it'll be too late. So. He blinds the minds of those that believe not, lest they would believe. The light, the light, the light of the glorious gospel. See how light in the gospel is connected together? The gospel is light. Well, the kingdom is called the Kingdom of what? Darkness. It's not called the Kingdom of light. That's God's kingdom. So he said he blinds their minds so they can't see light. Because light says the oppressed free.
Pastor west: [00:38:43] Well, they're not free. I mean, that may have a bumper sticker said born free, but I'm born free. Born to be free. Well, you're as lost as a goose in a hailstorm. You're not free. I don't care what your bumper sticker says. You lost. But at any time, at any moment, they could be free. So I'm praying that Labour's be sent into the harvest in, because the Bible tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem and the people of Israel, they would have labour sent continuously more than ever before. I'm sure many are there, and God will send more and more and more that they would hear the gospel. And then then they have to go through all their life of being taught in Judaism that Jesus was a good man of Rabbi, but certainly the Messiah. But when they have light, all of a sudden they'll be able to see what no one could see in their family for generation after generation after generation. And they would have a they would have an awakening to truth before Jesus comes. All it takes is a believer. Who's willing to go to be a voice for God and speak the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. And then the light. Penetrate because the scales are off. You know, like, you can have binoculars and, you know, we get some at least knew they have the little caps on the end to protect the lens cover.
Pastor west: [00:40:12] You know, the lens, the glass. And you can pick them up and say, man, I this these are no they're worthless. Well, they're worthless until you take the cap off them. Because this is just dark, right? But see, you take the cap off. I was like, oh, well there it is. Well, that's what's walking around. You don't know Jesus. I don't know, man. I don't see what you're talking about. I think I'm all right right now. I mean, you know, I mean, I think I think I'm okay with God. You are? Well, what made you okay? Well, I'm a pretty good person. I gave blood twice a year down at the mobile. Granddaddy and grandma. They were. They were Christians. And Papa, he was a preacher. And my great uncle, he was a deacon. And that's my family. Well, you just got through telling me your family's probably in heaven while you're going to hell. Because no one, no one, no one, no one. The scripture says everyone fell short of the glory of God. Everyone, that's Brother Hagan. That's our Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Billy Graham. All of our works together is short. Amen. So without Jesus, without him justifying you. Amen. You're going to go to a devil's hell. Was never designed for you. Never made for you. It's because. Not because you have.
Pastor west: [00:41:32] I'm all right, man. No, you're not all right. You're a mess. Yeah. Amen. They need light. You can see there's no light. There's no discernment working there. But in Christians just you're born again of the spirit. Now, now begin to live in the spirit. When you walk in the spirit and you hear from the spirit, and you're taught by the Holy Ghost, see, I'm just a teacher. But you have the teacher. You have the teacher to break this down or break it up, whatever it's got to do. Amen. He could take something I'm saying and say and make it sound tailor. Make it for you. And it's like, oh. I've done this before by myself meditating. The word would be sitting in services and then begin to hear something, and all of a sudden I could, I can, I can hear the master speaking, but I but I'm hearing things on the inside. I know that's happened to all of you because he's talking to you about these situations in your life personally. I mean, he's the he's the fixer. Corporations have people called fixers. Well, that's that's a natural fixer. But I'm talking about the fixer. The anointed removes and destroys the yoke. That's a fix. All right. So can I ask you a question? Do people who don't believe the truth or question is this do people who don't believe? Do they believe the truth? Now. Why? Because they believe lies.
Pastor west: [00:43:15] That hard question. It's not true. Do people who don't believe they're not born again? They're not Christians? Do they actually believe the truth? The answer would have to be no. But what do they believe? They believe lies. Right. Do they know they're believing lies? No. They're even deceived in that. Why don't they know that they're believing lies? Because they don't have light. They can't discern lies from the truth. Right. The biggest issue in a person's life would be salvation, wouldn't it? But Satan has blinded their minds of them which believe not, lest they believe the glorious lie of the gospel. Who's the image of God who shine unto them? Christ hath blinded minds darkened their mind. Yes. What does that mean? Darkened the mind. The word. If you look it up, it means. It means to blunt the mental discernment. They're blunted. Satan doesn't want the light to shine unto them. Because when it does, they'll see now that they're believing wrong. They'll now know they're lost to destruction. How can they overcome destruction? How can they? Is it possible? Yeah. By the light of the truth of God's word. I wrote down this way. Light is your protection from deception and destruction. Light is your protection from deception and destruction. The knowledge of the truth will keep us from being deceived. I wrote this like give site. It keeps you from the trap of being snared by the enemy.
Pastor west: [00:44:46] Now, um, I'm going to be in Proverbs chapter one in the Passion translation. I want to go a little bit quicker because I want you to get this part. We don't have to do all today. But I want to get, uh, I want the cake can be good, but I want to make sure you get at least taste the icing before you leave, okay? I mean, the cakes more. It's just good. It's. It's wonderful. But it's a little bit better if you got some icing to go with it. All right. Proverbs chapter one. This is the passion translation. I'm gonna read one through seven. It says, here are the Kingdom revelations. We talking about Kingdom last week. Remember here are the here are the Kingdom revelations. Words to live by and words of wisdom given to empower you to reign in life. Written as proverbs by Israel's King Solomon, David's son within verse two. Within these sayings will be found the revelation of wisdom and the impartation of spiritual understanding. Use them as keys to unlock the treasures of true knowledge. Those who cling to these words will receive, uh, discipline to demonstrate wisdom in every relationship and to choose what is right, just and fair. These proverbs will give you great skill to teach the immature and make them wise, to give youth the understanding of their design and destiny. For the wise, these proverbs will make you even wiser. For those with discernment, you'll be able to acquire brilliant strategies for leadership.
Congregation: [00:46:21] Mhm.
Pastor west: [00:46:22] Mhm. Verse six these Kingdom revelations will break open your understanding to unveil the deeper meanings of parables, poetic riddles, Ephraim's and to unravel the words and enigmas of the wise. How then does the man gain the essence of wisdom? We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God. Stubborn know it alls will never stop to do this. So they scorned the true wisdom and knowledge. I could have just starved there a day and just never left for hours. All these. I'm going through weeks, but I'm not stopping to do weeks. I'm just. I know I'm putting too much in here. But we can put it in and unpack it. Now look at verse 17 of Proverbs one and the, uh, um. Let me see what it says here in the. In the passion and the passion it says to be aware of their snare is the best way of escape. Well, it's talking about. It's talking about a bird in the. I think, King James says, surely in vain. The net is spread in the sight of any bird. So we're talking about wisdom. We're talking about light. We're talking about might. We're talking about discernment. In him. The knowledge of him is the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding. Flooded with what? Flooded with light. When you got light, you got wisdom. When you got lights. You got discernment. When you got lights, you got truth.
Pastor west: [00:47:53] When you got light. You got might, light and might. So he said the bird. Who sees you spread out the net. He. He can see what you're doing. You're not. You're not going to trap that bird. Let me give you five different translations of Proverbs 117. The KJV says they are like a bird that sees the bait and ignores the trap. Because they got light. The IRB says you can't trap birds with a net if they see you're spreading it out. Can you imagine the notices if a bird sees you? If a bird sees a trap being set, it knows to stay away. The G and T said it does no good to spread a night out when the bird you want is watching. One more. Can I do one more? Oh, friend. Don't give them a second look. Don't listen to them for a minute. For a moment they are reaching the very bad end, hurrying to ruin everything they lay hands on. Nobody robs a bank when everybody's watching. Yet that's what these people are doing. They're doing themselves in. So I put down here. So when a bird sees you set the trap, then it sees the truth knows it's unsafe. He won't buy the light. He's not going to take your bait. My next note I put was oh my, let's be at least as smart as a bird. The bird overcomes the deception. With what? Sight and light?
Congregation: [00:49:36] Amen.
Pastor west: [00:49:40] I'll finish here this morning. Satan's power. Is not power. Satan's power. Is not power. It's deception.
Congregation: [00:49:59] Amen. Amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:02] If his weapon was power, then you could overcome him with power in Jesus name. By the authorities. In Jesus name.
Congregation: [00:50:09] Mm.
Pastor west: [00:50:09] Some of you gonna, go, go, "I see it!" In just a moment. But because his weapon of choice is deception and lies, then we overcome him with light. Because light gives sight and light gives might.
Congregation: [00:50:24] Amen. Amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:25] If Satan was as big and powerful as he made himself out to be, then he wouldn't have to trickery deceive you to trap his prey. He would just overpower you and take you.
Congregation: [00:50:34] Amen. Amen. Amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:37] Does that make common sense?
Congregation: [00:50:40] Amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:42] Why does he have to deceive if he has the power?
Congregation: [00:50:46] Amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:48] He deceives you into thinking these things.
Congregation: [00:50:50] Yes, amen.
Pastor west: [00:50:52] To believe a lie instead of the truth. To believe evil is okay. To believe grace is just a cover up. It don't really matter what you do because God's already forgiven you.
Pastor west: [00:51:02] Beerrrr *buzzer noise* Wrong!!
Pastor west: [00:51:04] Grace empowers you to bring you out of that, not cover you while you do it. He who knows to do right and doesn't do it is called sin, not grace. Thessalonians says, Grace will teach you how to resist sin. Amen. I know Grace has been having a bad rap for quite a while, but that's because the church is in so much bondage under law that when grace came out, they got liberated. But see, you can get on the other side of the pen and you get a ditch on the other side. But you can be legalistic and everything where you have to be a performer. Well, that's what the law was. But first, Timothy tells you, I mean, first Timothy tells you the law is never even the law is not even for a righteous person at all. The law. So what? It says a transgressor. Those who transgress. Why is there a law? What is the whole purpose of the law? The purpose of that was the law. Was a schoolmaster to teach you. What was his message? What was what would the what would the schoolmaster teach you about the law? That this is God's righteous, holy standard.
Pastor west: [00:52:17] And then they would say, class, now pay attention. Now this is this is God's righteous standard, his holiness. But here's the next thing you need to know, because they'll tell you this might be on the test Friday, but you'll not be able to keep it. You can know it, but you don't have the ability within yourself to keep it. But the one who could keep it did keep it. But what he had to do was he had to come take your place. The one who couldn't keep it. And then he kept it for you. Because you were dead, and now you're alive in him. And he kept it for you. Then he got 100 on your test paper and said. He said, take my name off. Put his name on there. In other words, you got the 100 like you actually did it. And that's called Grace. That was him. Empowered you not like. Well, you know God. Lord, I got this stuff. It's just things in my life. Well, get. Okay. Start there, start there. Start there.
Pastor west: [00:53:16] I have a..an old buddy, a friend of mine. I've told the story before. I didn't know anything. Well, I did know a few things, but I wish I had known more. Took him down to cane land. Try to get in some help. We got situation when he's 16 years old. Parents divorced, blamed it all on himself, hung out with the wrong people, became an alcoholic. And, uh, I wasn't where I needed to be, but I knew I didn't want to go where he was going, so I made him kind of split. And, uh um.
Pastor west: [00:53:56] He just got to where one day he couldn't work. If he didn't have a drink a few minutes. He was just in shakes. His liver's telling him bye bye and all that kind of stuff. He knew my life was going different way, and he talked to me, and I was going to take him down to Canaan Land see if I could get him enrolled and get him help. Now, now, now he's 30 something years old. He's on total disability. He was. He was North Alabama somewhere. I forget what city, but his parents lived in in Clanton. Came back, went to church on Sunday. Sat there and went to the..gave his life to God. Went to, you know, to the altar and wept and cried and wept and cried and wept and cried. Got saved. That was on Sunday.
Pastor west: [00:54:44] They put him on a bus because he couldn't drive and rode the bus back to his hometown. Tuesday, Wednesday temptation was still there, the flesh still there. He don't. He don't know nothing about it. He he's a new creature in Christ Jesus, but he don't know who he is in Christ. He don't know what to do with it. He's all by himself. No one to tell. Know what he does? Goes by a case of beer and drinks it. Here he gets slobbering drunk again. But now one case won't do it. Now it takes 2 or 3 cases. He felt so condemned. He felt so condemned that he would do this. So he called he called this pastor and he said, uh, he said whats...He told him what happened. He says, I mean, I mean, I but he says, but I can't believe I did this again. He says, what's wrong with me? He says, he says, so wait a minute. He says, so you got saved Sunday in my church. And by Tuesday or Wednesday he said, you're you're you're slobbering drunk. He said, yeah, yeah, he's just crying. He said, well, there ain't no way you got saved.
Congregation: [00:55:39] Mm mm mm mm.
Pastor west: [00:55:41] Hung the phone up. Now he's got so much condemnation, don't know what to do. Writes a letter to his dad. Writes a letter to his mom because they're divorced. Ask him to forgive and tells him to love me. He says I'm a failure on every side. Failure on every side. To you. As a son myself, he said, I can't live with myself. God himself, slobbering drunk, took a 12 inch steak knife and plunged it into his heart.
Pastor west: [00:56:08] You know, the pastor probably didn't know what he didn't know. But can you see? How that could have been turned around. So when the change is made, it may not all fall in place in the first two days, or the first ten days may not fall in place for the first six months, but they're born again. Amen. You know where he's at? He's in heaven. Yes. And hopefully that pastor and I'm not throwing stones at him. I had to do all kind of turnarounds. But sometimes we need to do a 180. And have proper wisdom and insight. Light might. Hmm?
Pastor west: [00:56:51] So we can actually set the captive free.
Congregation: [00:56:54] Amen. Amen.
Pastor west: [00:56:57] So, satan...He's not that powerful, otherwise he wouldn't have to. He would not have to trick and deceive you. The scriptures. Walk as children of light. In other words, he said, you're children of light. Now walk as children of light. Uh, last verse Daniel 2:21 and 22. He says he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. Nothing is ever a mystery to God. Other other Scripture says to God, it's just as light to him in the darkness as it is to the light. He knows he he has both. He knows that. You understand. There's dark and night. But he said, but to him, dark is not dark at all. Everything to him is light. So one day, you know, we won't get up, you know, and we won't have to get up. We're already be awake, aren't we? And we're just like, is the sun gonna rise? And he says, yes, it's risen. This has come up in the east and west. It comes from wherever God is. God's going to radiate the entire planet. With himself. With himself. With light. You have development. I mean, when you go get these little seeds and you plant a seed, you know, to. Or you can get these little bitty flowers, or you just get the seeds. You put them in these little plants. You know, we've done that with kids through the years and children's church to teach them the principle of the seed and the soil. You know that that many times through the years. But when you do that and you put the seed in the soil, good soil, and then you put water. Keith, I'm sure you all did that with Children's Church through the years. Do you keep the plant...in the basement?
Pastor west: [00:58:59] Do you put it in the closet? Do you put it in a shoe box? Do you put it in the trunk of your car? Some of y'all are laughing like you did that same thing. Yes, I see those hands. Yes, I see those hands. Can you expect. Can you expect any growth? But what if you water it? But it stays in the shoe box. Will it grow? What does it need to grow? It needs light. The first thing God said when he got down here because it was dark. The world was in chaos. And he said, oh my gosh, it's dark down here. No, he didn't say it. He said, what light be? Have you noticed that? He doesn't say that every day. He said at one time, and it's actually still doing what God told us to do.
Pastor west: [00:59:52] You are children of light!
Pastor west: [00:59:55] So the Scripture said, now that you are children of light. Now just walk in the light. We didn't get to the verse in Hebrews five. Where he talks about these things, and he's discerning the senses so that you know the difference between good and evil. And Paul said, you know, he said, by now he said, you ought to be teachers of righteousness. He said, you, you. He said, but you're not. He said, you are still babies. He said, and so we're having to feed you with a bottle, and we're having to burp you every Sunday. And you have to, you know, they're so I've been in the way of the Lord 35 years. But that's the key to being in the way. But they they've never got off the bottle. They never got off the nipple. They're still drinking. I never knew what it was Pastor Buzz used to say. He said they're still drinking more blue, John. I don't even know what that was. I still don't know what it was. He talked about it all the time. He said they're still drinking blues. Well, he said, by now you ought to be teachers of that.
Pastor west: [01:00:54] Which is right, he said, but because you stayed in a baby stage, he says, you're now you're never able to distinguish, discern good from evil, right or wrong. I don't know what to do. I have no idea what to do. Would y'all just pray for me that I would know what to do? Yes, we can pray for you, but there comes a time when you need to take the Bible yourself because you're a believer. He's your Lord. He's your Savior. He's right. Oh Lord, just have the pastor give me a word. And that way, if he gives me the word, I'll know this is you. Well, that's happened several times. People told me through the years, you know, I prayed that. Well, you get by without a time or two, but after a while he's going to say, grow up. John says, Jesus said, my sheep. Know my voice and the voice of a stranger they won't follow. We could hear. We should expect to hear. My time is up. God's always speaking. Are you always listening?
Pastor west: [01:01:59] In him was life and there was no darkness found in him. Amen. Amen. Well, we'll see you for prayer. Tuesday, 6:30. God bless.
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