Pastor West: [00:00:01] Amen. Well, good morning to everyone here at Gracelife Church. And and to our broadcast audience and those who are listening by different ways and different times. We're glad that we have you here with us this morning. Before we begin the service, I want to read some scriptures from the book of Isaiah. And if you're watching this morning or you're listening at another time I want to include you. I just want to say a quick prayer and. But out of Isaiah 53, verse one, the Scripture says, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire of him. In other words, who are we talking about? We're talking about Jesus. Who's talking about in Isaiah? Is Jesus here? No, but he's talking like he already is here, right? So he asked the question, who's going to believe this report? And tells us, you know where he comes from and said that he's he doesn't stand out in the crowd in the sense of I'm not saying he wasn't a good looking person, but I'm just saying. But he didn't stand out or he just fit in with everybody in the crowd. No forum columnist, and there's no beauty that we should desire him.
Pastor West: [00:01:26] In other words, he's not going to enter some type of man male, you know, model thing. Verse three, he is despised and rejected of men. He is a man of sorrows. He's acquainted with grief. And as we hid it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely. He hath borne our griefs. Surely he hath carried your sorrows. Now those two words that's in the King James griefs and sorrows. But actually, when you translate it into Hebrew, that's the word sickness and pains. Notice he was despised and rejected of men. He's a man who knows sorrow. He's acquainted with grief. But we hid it, as it were, our faces from him. But he was despised, and we esteemed him not so surely. Surely he hath borne your sickness and carried your pain. Now if he did, there was no need both of us doing this. I mean, do you see that? He was wounded for your transgressions. He was bruised for your iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. When you go to first Peter 224, we won't go there. But when first Peter, Peter is looking back after Jesus has already come, lived and died, he's looking back to the cross when he says, by his stripes you were healed. Past tense. Heal. Okay? Verse six says, and we like sheep, have gone astray and have turned everyone astray to his own way.
Pastor West: [00:03:09] And the Lord hath, he hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who's going to declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken? He has made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had not he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth. Listen to this. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities. Amen. Wow! One more verse. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. And he bore the sin of many, and he made intercession of the transgressors.
Pastor West: [00:04:46] This is the finished work. Amen. It's over. Amen. Whatever your situation this morning, if you need healing, you by this morning, I'm going to pray. I got a prayer request from Jamie. Michelle and Jamie has some issues and been in the hospital since Friday. And some of them are pretty serious. So she's asking for prayer and for help. Chest pain, tightness in the back. They're going to do all kind of tests on that where the heart is concerned. Kidneys are in bad shape, bladder is in bad shape. Prostate's in bad shape. Blood doesn't look good. Needs a miracle. And she called out. Well, she called out. You know, James says if you have a situation, it's too big for you to handle. Call for the call for the elders of the church. And PC Nelson said, you know, when he's talking about if you're dealing with situation and you're in a situation that's too big for you to. I mean, you're saying I'm paraphrasing too big for you to handle on your own. Then be smart and get some help. Call out. So call out for the elders. Who's that? Well, someone who sits on the board and has a position and a title. No, no. And the elder could be 12 years old. Yeah. Spiritually mature and spiritual things. Could pray the prayer of faith. Not. Oh, God, I hope so. Not pray. Lord, if it's your will.
Pastor West: [00:06:22] You can't pray the prayer of faith. If you're saying, Lord, if it's your will. I mean, I mean, I mean, that just should make some common sense. Now, I grew up in that church. Lord, if it be your will. Most of them died when they were serious, as if it was never his will. But how do you prayer. The prayer of faith. Believing if you don't even know the will? Do you ever wake up in the morning, get on the interstate and wonder if it's the will of the state of Alabama for you to keep the the laws on the interstate and the speed limit. Maybe it's the will that you go 80 today instead of 70. Maybe the next day you can go 100. Does that ever change in natural law? No. Spiritual law supersedes all natural laws. So in the name of Jesus father, I speak over Jamie's body right now. And Psalms 107 said he sent his word and it the word healed him. So we're not there to lay hands on him. But that's not necessary. So by faith together. And where? 2 or 3 together. There he is in the midst of us. So this morning we corporately, as a church family and as a body, we send forth our our words by faith over his life, over every situation in his body, the kidneys, the bladder, the prostate, the heart, the arteries, the blood, the high blood pressure.
Pastor West: [00:08:04] And we rebuke which we know that word means judge from a higher level. We judge these. We judge these symptoms in the diagnosis and the things that's been said. And we take those words and we we pull them words down. We place those words, although they are natural words and may be true naturally, we judge it from a higher level, from the spiritual level, and we command healing in his body, and we command the blood pressure to be normal right now. We we command the the heart to function properly. The arteries, the veins, the blood, the flow with no obstruction in Jesus name would command the kidneys and the liver and the prostate and the bladder to pay attention. Pay attention to organs, and I command you work properly, be restored. Now, in Jesus name we command strength into his body. We speak peace to his heart, to Michelle's heart. In Jesus name. You are the giver of life. Satan is the giver of death. But we give the giver of death. We give him no place. We give him a notice to get out. We put Satan on notice. Right now for everyone who has sickness in their body, their body is the very temple of the Holy Spirit. Satan. You have no place there. Go in the name of Jesus be removed in Jesus name, be cast out now and forever. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. I think you ought to belong to a church family.
Pastor West: [00:10:01] Amen. Everyone needs to. Sometime in your life, you're going to need some help. I would have said amen if I was you. So if you're a pastor, I know you would have. But anyway. But anyway, I know things can look different from my side. We never did get through with last week, and. But my inspiration kind of moved forward anyway. So I will go back and quote, you know, we was talking out of Deuteronomy where God says, I give you the power to choose life or death. Then he kind of he says, I'll give you free will, but I'm going to kind of nudge you and say, choose life. Can't make you but choose life. How are y'all going to choose life? Amen. You ought to choose life because sometimes you can get a bad report. Did you know that? These. Y'all. You probably heard this before, but these are the say these are the actual true You know, mistakes happen. People make mistakes. Busy seasons. I've had this happen. Stuff like this happen. You know, me visiting people in the hospital for years, and they said, these are things that I actually got on hospital charts. They were a mistake. They were bloopers. And so they just recorded them and said, this is some things that actually happened. So the chart a few things here said the chart said the patient refused autopsy. I can understand that.
Pastor West: [00:11:16] Why can't you said the patient has no previous history of suicides. The patient has left white blood cells at another hospital. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states that she was very hot in bed last night. Chart kind of got messed up there. Patient has chest pain if she lies on the left side for over a year. On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared. I'm sure they meant to say something differently. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993. Discharge status. Alive but without permission. Healthy. Appearing decrepit 69 year old male. Mentally alert but forgetful. Patient. Had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch. Patient is numb from her toes down. While in the E.R., she was examined, x rated and sent home. X-rayed him. The skin was moist and dry. They have occasional constant and frequent headaches. Occasional constant. Frequent headaches. Patient was alert and unresponsive. Rectal examination revealed a normal sized thyroid. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until she got a divorce. Got to watch. He's writing your stuff down. I saw your patient today who's still under our. Oh, let me back up. I saw your patient today who's still under our car for physical therapy. Make sure I can read this one.
Pastor West: [00:13:26] Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation. Examination of genital reveals that he is circumcised. The lab test indicated abnormal liver function, said liver. Skin somewhat pale, but present. Two more. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor. Last one patient has teenage children, but no other abnormalities. Amen. Some of y'all been there before. Matthew chapter six. If you go there, you can pick up a little bit from last week. Then we'll go forward. What if the Bible was true? Wouldn't that be awesome? What if the Bible was true and God is a man? That he should not lie? Wouldn't that be awesome? Wouldn't it be awesome if the Bible was actually true and the promise of it? And if we believed it, we could actually have what the Bible promises. Wouldn't that be awesome? Is the Bible true? Yes. Is God a liar? Is the word his word? Yes. Is it truth? Yes. Then why don't we engage? Why do we stand on the outside sometimes looking in. Today we're going to call born again to reign. Because access has been granted. Amen. Born to reign. Because access has been granted. A few quotes here, and then we'll get right to it. Some people think being born again is just getting your ticket punched to get out of hell. I remember being a teenager and got saved. That's what I was most concerned about. I didn't know how much I loved God, but I was sure I wouldn't want.
Pastor West: [00:15:34] Hell, I was scared of that. I'm just admitting where I was when I was a kid. I was like, I don't think I could endure that. I'm a coward. I'm a sucker. I'm not going to do that. Get me out of here. So I saw being born again as a, you know, get my ticket punched. But it's actually it's actually when we understand the word and who we are, it's much more than that. It's a passport to reign on earth. Amen. See, he saved you to sit in heavenly places. That's more than getting your ticket punched. Imagine buying a first class ticket and then riding in the cargo bin. Imagine God's giving you the keys to the house and all the estate, and you only use him to check the mailbox. See, your crown isn't for show. You know he's crowned you, made you King of kings. But your crown isn't for show. It's for service. If you're walking around with a crown and you're supposed to be with no fruit, you really just have a fancy hat rack. Okay, I'm trying to get a few more listeners today. Amen. Amen. You know, I have to answer for this. I read that. I take that very seriously. He said the one who he says, don't. Don't be too out there to teach, inspired or inspired to teach because teacher teachers will have a more severe if you want to do it that way.
Pastor West: [00:17:13] The process of giving a reckoning for that type of ministry will be more severe. So if I'm going to have to give a reckoning for what I do teach and the things that I minister to you, I hope that you can see that this is not just for me, the hour of power. This can't be just the December 8th fill in. If I were to pass from this life today after this service, for whatever reason, example and go to heaven, I would want this service. All of them. But this service to count. Could you see that? Why is it important? Well, it's that it's that important because you're that important. It took the blood of Jesus to redeem you. That's why the scripture is talking about you. In Hebrews it says, take heed as an overseer to the people that I give you charge over. He says, because it took my blood to do that. If it took the life of Jesus to redeem you and to save you. And I don't take my responsibilities, you know, personal, and I don't see them as valuable, and I don't see them as Jesus sees them. Then anybody can go online and print off a sermon and it be scriptural. A.i. Artificial Intelligence can be your pastor. And in some ways could probably do a much better job if you're just grading it from structure, because it can pull information from all over the world and put it in an order.
Pastor West: [00:19:18] And it may be great, but you see, our AI is not one of the five fold ministry. No. Hey, I might be your friend today. I don't know if it will be tomorrow. Anyway, I'll get off that. Matthew six. Did you find it? Verse 24 says, no man can serve two masters. That's why you're only supposed to be married to one person. Man. That's good. Okay, I don't think that's what that meant. But anyway. Yeah, the honeydew list is far too reaching for he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he'll hold on to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Mammon? That means partially money. But it means more than money. We'll get into that maybe a little bit later on. Therefore Jesus said, I say unto you, take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not your life more than meat, and the body more than raiment? I'm going to skip down to verse 32, for after all these things do the Gentiles seek not. And he's answering the questions that Gentiles ask are like, what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to pay the light bill? How do we go? And Jesus says, after all those things that you're talking about, all those physical needs that the father knows that you have, he said, that's what Gentiles do.
Pastor West: [00:20:48] They seek. They seek for stuff. He said, but your father already knows that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first. Verse 32, seek ye first what the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Many translations say it this way his righteousness, which is his way of being right. I mean, God has a way of being right. Wow. God has a way of being right. I mean, don't you just go to church? Apparently not. Apparently he has a he has a system. Apparently he has a laws called spiritual laws. Apparently they require the decision from Deuteronomy to choose life or death. You could say choose righteousness, or you could say choose his way of doing right, or not doing or not choosing that way to do in your way. So the world is seeking and making a very weak and social, you know, vulnerable. They go to the socialistic systems and studying socialistic systems. Have you ever seen one anywhere in the world that ever prevailed and turned out to be a good thing? Does history give us a winner when it comes to any nation becoming a socialistic nation, which is to meet the needs they say? In other words, the government is going to meet the needs of all of its Citizens.
Pastor West: [00:22:27] Those of you who have any experience with that know that that's a farce. Even though it may be well intended, there's no way they could do it. I must say, even if they're well-intended, they can't do it. I mean, think about it. You're going to meet all your needs. So ponder that just for a moment. Think about where does the government get its money? They get it from who? The government gets its money from you, and then the government is going to take care of you and it gets its money from you. That's like me telling Trey over here, don't worry about any bills this month. I'll take care of all of them. How much do you need to finish out the month? You say I want 2000 more dollars. I said, don't worry about it. Gotcha. Then I say, Trey, I'm going to need $2,000 from you to borrow from, you know, actually from the government. Only 3000 to give you your 2000. And then you'll owe me interest on top of that. But we're going to take care of you, buddy. You're one of ours. But you know, it's never enough. So they. So they increase your taxes. And when that's not enough, they create new ones. They're going to tax your dog if they can. Well, they do everything that you buy for it. So don't use your time seeking and planning how to get your needs met.
Pastor West: [00:23:52] Because no man can serve these two masters. No man can serve these two systems. You have to choose. Choose life or death. You have to choose. No man can serve two masters. And he was talking concerning your life and financial things here. So we know he's talking about the subject of money also not just money, but their life. How are we going to do this? And he says, your father already knows that you have need of all these things. So don't. So don't put your thinking and choosing between how am I going to get my needs met? He says, put your faith, put your focus, put your attention on the kingdom of God, which already knows that you have need of all these things. Remember I started off with, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Bible was true? Well, but you see, we're in covenant with him, aren't we? See, you get your mind on him. And off the world system. Is he a provider? Then he's a provider. Then we can't go to the word. We can't go to the Babylonian system. We can't. Can't do that. What is the Babylonian system? Well, in short, it's a system. In a very short. It endeavors as a man through your intellect and your wisdom to meet your own need. We see that in Genesis chapter 11, where they were Babylonians was building a tower that was going to reach into the heavens.
Pastor West: [00:25:24] And the Lord had to come down and confound their language so that they could communicate with each other, he said, because nothing will be restrained from them which they imagined to do. But what they do is wrong. What they do is evil. So in other words, you can use your mental ability, your intellect, your imagination. Good. But many times mankind uses it for evil. So God had to come down and confound their language to stop this. The Babylonians was going to find another way to get into heaven. There's religions, as it were, that have different ways. They say to get into heaven. There's people in other countries that would kill you because they think taking your life because of who you are and what you represent would be a service to their God. And if they do a service to their God one day they have the promise of heaven in Paradise. All these things that they think will be Paradise. So they would, they would, they would put airplanes into buildings and they would bomb. They would change your life, your lifestyle. They would, they would they would kill your children if necessary because they have to please Allah or whoever they're going to please. They've been taught this from birth. Well, we don't serve a Babylonian God. We serve God. See, they call it the Babylonian God. God knows where Babylon is.
Pastor West: [00:26:58] He owns the whole earth. So we don't restrict him to a country or a nation or a creed or a race or a people. He's the God of all his kingdom. Ruleth. The Bible says over. What? Oh, it perhaps could include Shelby County and Chilton County, Jefferson County, and maybe even down into Autauga County. I know it's a wide stretch, but maybe the Lord could do that. You heard me say one time I took my mother to a place maybe a year or so before she passed. We was in Smokey Mountains and I had found this place, I'm going to say, by accident, but it was a it was and still is very beautiful. I just took a road and I was doing some sightseeing, and I pulled into a place. And, you know, we had these meetings with pastor Randy and Mary called the summit and, and that came out of just me going down the, the road and we'll call it the right road now, the wrong road. And it was breathtaking. And they were building homes in there and they will build homes in there. But if you're going to build a home in there, you're going to need some change, not just for the house. I mean, you can't just put any kind of house there, but one. Can you afford the land? Why do you want the land? Because you want the view. You want to drink your coffee every morning or whatever you have on your on your deck outside because you get to see that anytime you want to.
Pastor West: [00:28:23] So you're going to need some change to live there. Well, they've developed several homes in there now since the last time I was there, but first time I was in there was only like three homes and it's quite elevated. And you can see Pigeon Forge and you can see Gatlinburg, you can see Sevierville, you can see quite a view. And we were there during the fall time. So it was in full array of color. And there was a place in the mountain where, you know, the trees were completely gone and it was a wide view as far as you could see, and it was absolutely breathtaking. And I pulled over and I heard something, and it was my mother, and she was weeping and she said, wow. She said, can we stay here for a few minutes? I said, sure. They don't, you know unless they move us along. We'll just stay right here. And she said, you know, the Lord made all this in one day. I should never have corrected her. I take it back a thousand times as I could. I said, no, mother. He couldn't have spent one day in Tennessee. He had. He had a lot to do. Well, but you would think, how could anyone do that? How could anyone create such beauty under an earth that's cursed looking like that? But how many of the Lord didn't spend a whole day in Tennessee? He had other places to do so.
Pastor West: [00:29:48] The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. So the Lord wants to be your provider. He doesn't want the government to be your provider. That may be a source that comes to you. Thank God for that. There's nothing wrong with that coming to you. People who have worked and paid into the system are supposed to be able to receive from it when they have to that age, but the Lord has more for you than that. Can you believe that? Wouldn't it be great if the Bible was true? I said. So it's not your job. It's not your salary. It's your covenant with God, and it's your covenant with his his righteousness. I would ask you this morning, what is your assignment? And if you don't know, you got some homework to do. What's your assignment? Because if you're in. If you're in covenant with him, then you're connected with him. Then you have a supply. And if you're in covenant with him, then you're you're well connected. Oh, what about inflation? Well, what about it? What about these high gas prices for the last 2 or 3 years? I remember I was thinking about this. I had this down in my notes last week. We didn't get to it. Seemed like it was in the mid 1990s when church was south of here.
Pastor West: [00:31:12] And we had bought a up in Pelham. We had bought a used. Dry. Dry where dry. We bought a used suburban four wheel drive. And it was big. And we were going a few places, and we I didn't really have to have. A four wheel drive, but I wanted the four wheel drive. It didn't need it for anything, but. I wanted to have it there in case I wanted it wouldn't have bought it for that, but, you know. It was just what we were going to buy. We need something big because my wife has a bunch of children. It turns out they had some. Amen. And so. Gassed at that time would go anywhere from $1 9 to $1.19. If it spiked up to $1.19. And Rumors came out Because it had really spiked up. I forgot what had happened in the world, but it spiked up gas went up to $1.59 a gallon per gallon. And I remember coming to church with $1.59 and I walked in the door. I hadn't had the car a week. And Brother Bill's not here with us this morning. Of course we're going to run him down and find out what's going on. But let's get we'll begin enforcing your tithes. That's a bad joke. People do that. I heard, I heard I don't know how they do that, but he gave me a Pentecostal handshake.
Pastor West: [00:32:49] You know, y'all know what a Pentecostal handshake is. You reach out and shake someone's hand, and you feel something in your hand. And what it is, it's money. He's. He's pretty famous with that act all those years. He still does that. And it was enough money, I guess, to fill the car. It was like 80 or $100. He surpassed. I thought about you buying that suburban and gas going up to $1.59, he says. Man, you got all these kids to feed. And he says, here, I want to buy some gas. So I thanked him and, and and then I heard someone say one day, I mean, it could happen one day. Gas could even reach $2 a gallon. It did, it did. I remember in 2005, it went to 4.99 a gallon. I remember having the church van one time, you know, the 15 passenger van that we had, they were going to go somewhere. And I went to go fill it up, and it was $120 to fill it up at 4.99 a gallon. And and I said, wow, let me tell you. I said, Lord, what are we going to do about all this? He said, well, if you're smart, you'll do nothing. If you want to be free from stress and and worry. I said, oh, because, see, we're not called to that. See, we're not. We're not charged by him. Now, think about it. If the Bible is true, we're not charged by him with seeking ways to buy gas or groceries.
Pastor West: [00:34:20] Did you read Matthew six? He wants to know why you're thinking about that. And you're not putting your focus on the kingdom. So he's never charged you to do that. So what you're doing is you're minding his business instead of yours. Oh oh. Y'all hear? Amen. Selah. Maybe you're just thinking about it. What? You should. What you should say. Since I have a choice, then I choose the blessing. The blessing? Not the blessings. The blessing. Because the Bible says the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow to it. That word sorrow comes from is also the word toil t o I l. And when someone toils, then they work and they sweat and they're exerting physical and mental energy. Peter and his partners fished all night. It said they toiled all night. They worked hard all night. And what happened? They caught nothing. The blessing of the Lord. Don't go there. We'll be there in a minute. Maybe the blessing of the Lord maketh rich. And he adds none of that toil to it. So he says, I'm working all day. Remember the old song? Working my fingers to a bone. And what did I get? Bony fingers. How many remember that song? Working my fingers to the bone. Well, you get bony fingers. A time came many years ago. Many years ago. And I was I think it was a recession that we were dealing with.
Pastor West: [00:36:07] The time came in when the crisis and I was seeking ways to get money to come in. And the Lord said to me, don't seek ways. Don't seek the ways to get the money in. I said, what am I going to do? He said, seek ways to get the word out. I said, but Lord, he says, he says, no. I told you what to do. He said, quit seeking ways to get the money in. Seek ways to get the word out. He said if you'll seek ways to get the word out, the money will come in, you know. Well, that changed my direction my whole life. But you know why it made him responsible instead of me? Ooh! Glory to God. Go to Romans chapter five. Now we can start today's message. Praise the Lord. Y'all doing all right? We've been reading this scripture, which is one of my most favorite, favorite, favorite scriptures in the Bible. And I love the book of Romans. Y'all like the book of Romans. Amen. Amen. That and Leviticus. All the begetting goes on. You can find out how you got here through Leviticus. We'll sit down with y'all. Here we go. Romans five I'm just going to read one verse for sake of time. Verse 17 for by one man's offense. What happened? Death reigned. Now by one man's offense. We're talking about Adam, right? But much more.
Pastor West: [00:37:46] They which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. One man got you in trouble, Adam. One man. Jesus got you out. Notice he said, if you shall receive. What? What? Two things. The abundance of what? Grace and the what. And the gift of righteous. You shall reign. Well, what if you don't receive them? I suppose you don't reign. But you know, you could say, I receive that. And go back to the quotes I was making to begin the service. I mean, you could have your ticket punched and go get and lay in the cargo bin right where you're supposed to be having first class treatment. You could be a king and have a crown, but never access that place. And all you have is a fancy hat rack. We talked about choosing life or death. Well, here you could say it this way. Those which will receive those or those which will what? Choose. Choose what? The abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. I don't know what you do, but I read that verse every week. Sometimes almost every day. You do? Yeah. Why? Because I found total success in one verse, if I receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, I reign on heaven or earth, earth, earth. You say, well, why would you just have that one verse? Well, I don't just have that one verse, but see, that verse includes everything.
Pastor West: [00:39:17] That includes healing, peace, sanctification, righteousness, redemption, everything. Victory over the devil. Everything is in that one verse. Amen. Notice that since it's December, almost Christmas. Notice righteousness is a gift. How did you become so righteous? Well, I've been a do gooder for a long time, Pastor West. Well, then we need to question your your brand of righteousness because it stinketh. No. If you're righteous, it's because he is. And you received him? Yeah. Right. If you're married and you took on your husband's last name, how did you get it? Did you become a male? Did you have an operation? No. You married in that. Marriage is called a union. And the union of two becomes one. Amen. Well, you got married to Jesus. You could say it's a union. And the two have become one. So if you want to know what condition your condition is in, check on your union. Check on the one that you are joined up with. He that is joined to the Lord is. How many spirits? Just one. How are you? Well, the question is, how is he? Because as he is, so are you. Isn't that simple? Yes, that is so simple. I mean, you could take this to people who just barely got saved, and they'll. They'll run excitedly on to rule the world with it. You can talk. Speaking to Christians. You've been listening for a long time, and it's just another verse a bit closer to getting out the door.
Pastor West: [00:41:02] Wow. But that isn't your though. I know that. Amen. So your crown isn't for show, is it? For service? We don't want a fancy hat rack. Now. I've heard this, and probably you've heard it some. I've heard ministers say this, and some people are destined to be rich and others not. And there's nothing that you can do to change that. God has reasons. And you say, well, do you believe that? No, I don't believe nothing about that because I can't I can't find any scriptures to support it. You're making a doctrine out of your experience, right? Prosperity is the choice. It's your choice to have poverty or prosperity. Do you believe that? But wouldn't it be awesome if the Bible was true? That God actually wasn't a liar. Here's just three reasons why I believe that that is a destructive lie. That some are called to be rich. Some are called to be poor. You say, but there are the rich and the poor. Yes, we understand that. I understand you can just look it up. Google will tell you that 10% of the population of this world controls 90% of the Earth's wealth. 10% control 90% of the world, and 1% of the population of the world controls half of the world's wealth. What do they have in common? Well, they got a lot of money. Well, how did they get there? Well, they were born into it.
Pastor West: [00:42:35] Perhaps that's true with some of them, but it's not true with all of them. I would, I would if I was a betting man. I would say they think differently than most people. And I would tell you, most of them don't think about money. Wealthy people aren't thinking about money. People say, well, you know, those rich people, you know, they just. They're just, you know, they're just snobs. I've met a lot of rich people, and they're not snobs at all. They're very kind people. A lot of them are very generous people. Not all of them. A lot of them are generous people. All they ever think about is money. No, actually, poor people think about money all the time. The wealthy aren't thinking about it. You know, small minded people think about themselves and they think about. They talk about themselves and they talk about other people. The wealthy people think about large and big ideas. Poor people try to hoard money to get money so they can spend. Wealthy people don't do that. They're investors. They invest in corporations. They invest in people. Well, see, so there's a mindset difference of how you think. Well, maybe we can venture in that. But here's the reason I believe that's a destructive lie. Acts 1034 Peter said of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. Well, then, if everyone is supposed to be rich or poor by your birthright, then Peter said that God is no respecter of persons.
Pastor West: [00:44:09] Number two, it's a lie because God's desire is that you prosper. It's plainly stated in many scriptures and I'll just give you one for sake of time. Third John two beloved, I wish above all things that you ought prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. I wish I pray above all things. I wish and pray above all things. Wow. Of all things, think about it. I wish and pray above all things that you would prosper and be in health. But it's connected. To what? As your soul proper. Even as your soul has prospered. So why doesn't people prosper and be in health? Well, what's the condition of their soul even as your soul prospers? Your mind, your will, your emotions, your choices, your decisions. Where you get your information from how you. How you renew your mind to the truth and then live according to truth. Because only truth can set you free. Prosperity and not poverty, is God's intention for your life. Number three, the reason I believe it's alive is because God. And I want you to see this. Go to Deuteronomy, if you will. Chapter eight. It's on page 285 for sake of time. Maybe next time we'll read most of the chapter or all the chapter. But verse 18 is where we're trying to get to. Number three reason I believe this is a lie, because Deuteronomy 818 says this.
Pastor West: [00:45:44] But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth you the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant. That he. That he swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Amen. Amen. Slow it down. But you shall remember the Lord your God. For it is he that giveth thee what the power to get. Some translations say create wealth. Why? Why does God want you to be wealthy? So that he may establish his covenant, which he swore he swore to to the fathers, as it is this day. You say, well, that's the Old Testament. I'm glad you brought that up, because your covenant is better than that. It includes that. But yours is far better than anything that's good in the Old Covenant. You take all that, it's yours. But your covenant is better. Scripture said Amen. Amen. Well, so he's giving us the what? The word. The word power or create. I looked it up in the in the Hebrew. And I wanted you to hear this this morning. I wanted you to get this. How many of you are interested? Amen. How many of you wouldn't mind being wealthy for the kingdom? Amen. Two of you raise your hands. Okay. All right. Amen. I have about 12 hours in this today. That's good. I hope it will mean something to you.
Pastor West: [00:47:33] I spent 12 hours doing this, making sure every verse is what it said it was and not what some preached and plugged it in. I looked up all the Hebrew and the Greek words to make sure, even though I knew, I went back to make sure that I knew that I knew that I knew. Now listen to this. The word power means ability, vigor, capacity. And I like this one force. So can I use the word force for a moment? Yes. Thank you. Keith. God has given you the the force. To get or create wealth. Notice what he didn't say is. I've given you the wealth. He didn't put it just in your hands, did he? That's obvious. I mean, Israel had had to possess the land. He put. He put the fruit and the grapes within their reach. But he didn't put the grapes in their mouth. He put it within their reach. So God doesn't just hand the money over. He gives you the force, the ability, the might, the vigor. According to the Hebrew language, to create wealth. Jewish people really understand this verse much more than us. You know, we talk about how rich they are. Well, why they think differently. It's not because God likes them so much more. They think differently, even though they don't even have the understanding that Jesus is the Messiah. Not just a rabbi, a good man, or a teacher. They understand that they are a blessed people, so they just think blessed.
Pastor West: [00:49:16] They just know you know their God or Elohim wants to bless them. So they cooperate in ways that cause the blessing to come on them. Even though they're working in an old covenant system, it still works. How much more would it work in you and your covenant if you would get rid of? If we would get rid of poverty thinking and and not the ways of the kingdom, and get away from the Babylonian system and thinking of man trying to meet his own need. How do you know? I'm trying to meet my own need. Because most of you work way too much. If if if it's taken over 50 hours a week. I'm trying to be generous. I want to say 40. Then we're. Maybe we're doing something wrong. If Jesus came to your. If Jesus came to your business. And he. If you say, well, Jesus owns my life, well, that means he owns your job. He owns your business. So would he agree with how you're running it? Something to think about, isn't it? Well, I can't get to church, and when I do there, I'm tired. I'm worn out. I can't come to prayer because, my gosh, that'd be another night of the week. I can't do all that. I can't do this. And I can't do that because I have this business. So. So why are you working for the kingdom instead of being a citizen of the kingdom? You say, well, I have to work.
Pastor West: [00:50:39] No one said don't work. Matter of fact, we can find scriptures that you that you do put your hand to things, but we're talking about wealth. If you don't mind, I'm not talking about a paycheck. I'm talking about wealth. I'm not talking about swapping hours for dollars. You can't. You can't be a Ephesians 320 man or woman in the kingdom. If you have a clock in, clock out mentality. You don't even know about it other than me just telling you a few things about it. But, but we're endeavoring to to build and finish a school in Liberia that's already up and going and had 30 something students the first time from kids who've never been taught, and there's no school for them to go to. And if they were going to school anyone, it would be just the boys through fourth grade. But the school has girls and boys, and this year there's 76 students. The land has been purchased to put the school on. To get it out of the church. The land was purchased out of this church. The blocks have gone up as pretty good sized facility. The foundation. And of course, it'll be a block building. And everything there is the blocks and the walls have went up, and now there's no more financing to finish anything with. And everything that has happened to bring it to that place has come out of this church.
Pastor West: [00:52:20] And I haven't mentioned a thing to you. Most of it. And I had a conversation this morning because we're six hours difference. And I said, I want clear communication with you. I mean, how did that get to that point? Well, he's he's not using as much food money for his family to save it, to put it into the debt. And that's commendable that he would do that. But it's not eat or this. But if all you've known is abject poverty all your life, it's hard to break that train of thought from me talking to you from messenger, Facebook Messenger. But you have to you have to take your hats off to someone would take half their food money for three years, save it, and then build a foundation for a school for kids so that the children there, the little boys and girls can be taught. We have a we have a couple in Michigan that we, she and I, correspond. Her and her husband are retired pastors, and they're really great people. And they're helping with the school, with the teachers. And she and I talked about this. They're funding three teachers a month. We're funding two teachers a month. There's no one else qualified to teach the kids. So these are five teachers with college educations degrees they put on the wall. But these teachers have to have $40 a month.
[00:54:00] Wow. That's crazy.
Pastor West: [00:54:06] Where do I get the money? Well, it has to come out of the general fund or the revenue of the church. Which could be more or less, couldn't it? Than what it is. Or maybe it was. Gee, I don't always take time to say, you know, we're involved doing this. So what we're doing is things beyond our four walls. If I looked at numbers and figures, I'd say, well, we can't do nothing like that. We have to take care of us. Then everything I'm telling you means nothing from the one ministry in this word. You see? Listen to this. In the spirit of what I'm saying. Don't. Don't take this as me talking derogatory. I can't let you be my source, I can't. I mean, yes, when you give. Yes, it helps you. Yes, it's a blessing. Yes, we pay bills just like you do and money comes in. You write out bills. You know, we're paying rent. That's doubled now. Completely doubled. You know, and we have all the things that you have every month. But outside of that, there's other things that we're involved in to missionaries and ministries that we're involved in And I cannot allow you to be my source. I can't. You don't want a pastor who looks to the people to be his source. You're talking about falling short of the glory of God. Because all my focusing would be in human endeavors and kindness and generosity. And even though all that's in the house that won't get this job done.
Pastor West: [00:56:02] So there's nothing else to finish this building with, and there's no one else helping from nowhere. The pastors of Michigan are sweet people. They're retired pastors, and they have friends that are still doing things and helping in churches. Because you may not be a pastor anymore, but that pastoral call never leaves you all your life. And so they have three, 4 or 5. I can't remember how many couple friends that are also retired. And they're giving they're giving $600 a month, the same as we have been giving a month. That's for food money for the pastor and his wife. And the utilities cost $20 a month. The church has 80 to 100 people, and the income of the church is anywhere from 100 to $140 a month. That comes into Liberia. So what's that going to do? No one has a vehicle, including the pastor, so they have to transport the elderly to get to church and back because they can't walk there. Knowing the church has a car and all we would need is to purchase a vehicle and we solve that problem. But there ongoing is what I'm saying. So they take all the money the church takes in just to get the elderly, those who can't get to church. So there's nothing to take from the church to do anything. The church can't even pay the pastor. So Gracelife church is feeding and funding the pastor in Liberia to be full time to these people who have all these needs, right? And he's listening to these kind of messages and decides he he he can have a church.
Pastor West: [00:57:49] And then he hears more messages and then he we build a home. Then he hears more messages and says, but what about our kids? Yeah. And Pastor Ruth, you know, she's the they're not in charge of the church anymore. They can't direct money from the church anymore. So their friends are giving their Social Security part of that to 5 or 6 couples, I think, to make $600 a month to send it to Liberia. They're doing, in one sense, more than we are. They're doing it out of senior citizens. Now, why did you mention all that? I don't know really what in my notes, I guess I was thinking I was talking with you this morning back and forth on messenger and he says, you know, what am I going to do? I mean, we're through. I says, just, just leave it there. Just leave it there. In other words, it needs a roof. It needs walls. Would you want your child educated? Yes, yes. Would you? Would you love to live in a country that that if you had a female, it wasn't worth the investment to put her into school? We would be irate. Wouldn't we? Think about that. If you had a female that your boy child may, may or may not go.
Pastor West: [00:59:21] But if he does go, he might go 3 or 4 years and that would be it. But if you have a girl, we're not going there. She'll just be domestic because, you know, she doesn't have the capacity. And you know what we could do with a male? Really? I thought God's no respecter of persons. There's some brilliant female minds on the planet. I do believe before we leave the United States, this is the belief I have. It's not scriptural that there will be a female president of United States who will break the, quote, glass ceiling. Thank God it won't be hillbilly. I mean, Hillary, Hillary hillbilly, Clinton, the Clintons hillbilly. So God has given you the force to create wealth. And even if you're a pastor in Liberia or a third world country, that verse still belongs to you. And the worst thing that Pastor Sondergaard could do was, would be put his attention on us, Because that may have worked. You found a connection and money did come. So the channel looks like that's the way to go. And maybe that's how God will do it. But it would be a terrible thing for anyone, person or pastor anywhere in the world to put their attention upon people because people are not our answers. That's the same thing as the Babylonian system. We're going to find a way. We're going to show pictures of how bad things are and try to collect the money.
Pastor West: [01:00:55] We're going to try to tie into the heart of people. But you see, wealthy people don't have to have their emotions all stirred up. You don't have to hand wealthy people Kleenex boxes, right? You can just trust God to speak to their hearts. But can I can I be totally honest with you in my in my experience of 30 years of pastoring, do you know who funded most of the projects? It wasn't the wealthy people. It was widows. It was people who went to work and punched him, and there were people who gave that. I was even shocked that they could even possess that much money anywhere. Shoeboxed bank anywhere. I mean, I was literally shocked. And quite honestly, if I'm going to be honest, I had a hard time taking him. If I didn't know the scriptures, I'd say, oh no. And I did a few times. And the Lord, you know, he slapped me in the spirit. And in other words, I didn't want to take it because I knew where it was coming from. And I knew this was out of like the woman who gave the two mites. She wasn't the woman who had a surplus. She was just like, well, I mean, I mean, I mean, could I live without this $10,000? Well, sure I could, but, you know, I'd rather have 10,000 more. Keep it and it'll add to my interest.
Pastor West: [01:02:07] This woman threw two bits in and she had nothing left. And Jesus talked about nobody who gave that day other than that woman. That woman so impressed him. She's in the Bible. And I suppose we're going to meet her in heaven. How would you like to be the pastor? How would you like to go live in a library for a month? Would you like to live in a library for a month? Would you like that to be your home? Would you like to be the pastor believing God? How you're actually going to finish a building? And you have no other partners that you know of other than Gracelife Church and Jamieson, and a sweet retired pastor couple who doesn't even pastor a church anymore. And you got a half a dozen retired people together. That's around 1000 to $1200 a month, which you have to live out of and eat out of, so you can serve the people and build a church and build a home and build a school, and you have no vehicle to go anywhere with. And the next day is going to look just like that one. But I wonder and I just wonder, I just wonder if God would allow us. See, I think you will, because I don't know how many people ask me about this. And only God knows our hearts. I wonder, I wonder if he would allow us to be a distributing warehouse to the families in the earth, which he promised to Abraham.
Pastor West: [01:03:41] If he knew, he could get it through us. Some people say that. Then they get it, and they don't all go. They don't get through to it gets stuck. I wonder if God would allow us to get involved. To do something that would change the life of people in children for an entire generation by putting, I mean, because you see, what's happened is he started school and there's children of different ages because some of them never been taught. So you may have a child who is now going to school, who's five years old, but they're sitting there with a 16 year old who doesn't know how to spell. But because of your increased life generosity, you're going to educate children who's going to impact their entire life and and then their family. In other words, you can break the cycle. That the devil's had on these people for years. Sometimes just the gift of giving when you put it to work, and with the education and with the word being the most important thing, you can break the cycle. You can break the what's been going on in a generation, for years, after years, after years, because Liberia has never has really been completely restored by any stretch of the imagination from 14 years of civil war. I mean, they don't even have a proper grid system. He has current, what you call electricity, but it comes or it goes.
Pastor West: [01:05:19] It mostly goes. His windows and his house would be another project one day, but that's $1,500. He has wire mesh. I mean, he has wire. Nothing keeps the flies in and out. $1,400. Do that. I mean, the projects are somewhat endless. You understand what I'm saying? Because of where they are. But. Yes. Are they accustomed to it? Yes. Do they? Is the church that way? No. He said, don't. Don't do my windows. If you're going to do anything, please help me with the church. My my family can wait. So they live in a very modest block home in the church's block, which altogether we we built. We have put in $60,000 into Liberia to build a church in a home, and for the ongoing of a of a ministry which that ministry is changing the landscape in the thinking of the Liberian people. See, when people when people go, it seems to me when you know because Africa is so huge, but you don't you don't hardly hear about Americans much going to Liberia. I mean, they all want to go to Cape Town. They want to go to South Africa. You know, they want to go to something that's, you know, much more 21st century. They don't want to step back that far. I mean, I mean, they'll go to Kenya, they'll go to Nigeria. And a lot of, you know, Rodney Howard-browne came out of the Cape Town area and but you don't hardly hear about hardly anyone going to Liberia.
Pastor West: [01:07:00] So these people are there. They know struggle. They've endured struggle. When Sondergaard's mother in law passed, I guess it it may have been Covid. She was sick and he was texting me and she was in a waiting room trying to get help, but they were not enough doctors to see her, and they and they had no rooms to put her in. And she died sitting in the chair in the waiting room. Then when his father died, I mean, they got these pig trails of a road to get where they're going to go to. There's no interstate system. When his father died, he was six hours away to get to him, which, if he had probably proper transit, would have taken less than half that time. But he had no vehicle and he couldn't. He couldn't get to his father before he passed because he had no way to see him, no way to talk to him. He couldn't go lay hands upon him. He couldn't go tell his father goodbye. So we would we would jump in the car and say, gotta go. Well, he's not going to jump into anything. And that morning, I probably shouldn't do this, but maybe he won't be too mad at me. That morning I said, you know, now there's a funeral, and he has really no way to go to the funeral.
Pastor West: [01:08:22] He could rent a car. He has a license, but he has no car. I just happened to look up and I said, I asked him, I said, what would it cost to rent a car? And he said he was going to gas and I was $200 and I didn't raise an offer. And I just said, I'm just sitting here trying to wrap my mind, wrap my mind around like my parent has died and I have no way to get to him, not even for the funeral. There was a year or so ago I tried to come up to me after the service and he said, I want to, I want to get him to that funeral. And he handed me 200 bucks and I wired it to him. He had it in ten minutes. What did that mean to him? You see, we we need to put this force to work. We need to be wealth distributors. Does God want to meet your needs? Yes. Does he want you to bless? Absolutely. You know, the water that goes, you know, in Alabama, they call it. They don't call it a water hose. They call it a hose pipe. When I was a small kid moving from Michigan, you know, I didn't know what that was for a little while. I mean, you can tell all the Yankees gone out of me. Y'all never. I never left my dad. He got here at 40 years old and never left him.
Pastor West: [01:09:35] But, I mean, it's kind of it's kind of hard to hang on to the the nuances of that. You know, you're in Alabama since you're 5 or 6 years old, you know, so the water that goes through the hose pipe, it gets wet to, to get where it's going. In other words, God will take care of you and fine manner. Look at Abraham's life. Look at Isaac, look at Jacob. Would you like to be a wealth distributor if it wasn't up to you to determine how it would get to you? But if you would cooperate with him, would you be willing to cooperate with him? What if it changed your whole life? What if it changed what you even did for a living? Would you be willing to get off a system of 10%, which I'm telling you, you're actually you're actually obeying an Old Testament. You actually, that's not even that's not even a New Testament. We're still doing the Old Testament to him. But if he was wealthy and you had all your needs met and plenty left over, would you mind if it got over ten? Maybe the Lord tell you. Give you 3%, I don't know. See, most pastors don't want to say that because they're scared to tell people like that. Well, they might quit giving. Well they might. Then we'll find out where your source really is. All right, we got to go that way.
Pastor West: [01:10:59] Okay. Let me give you these few verses, and we'll go. About 25, 27 years ago. I heard this being preached, and when I did, I wasn't sure about it. I mean, I wasn't anti this, but I just wasn't sure of it and so I didn't. I stayed neutral and then you hear it from time to time. In other words, what I'm saying was I was a big I was just a bit skeptical for myself. There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, don't don't take anything I say or anyone says and just say, well, that's it because he said it. Well, you know turns out they could be wrong. I'm so thankful that I didn't put out books or write books, you know, years ago, because I'd be out there trying to retrieve some of them. There's things that I preached that I don't even agree with myself on today. Why? I have more light. But in the day I believed it to be truth. Isn't that true with you? Yes, sir. That's why I said years ago. When you lay down at night. Do you say now I lay me down to sleep? Thank you Lord. And I did wash my feet. I praise the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die, you know it. How do you remember that prayer? Do you pray it today? No. Your kid might. You might teach it to a kid.
Pastor West: [01:12:28] But you don't. Because you've what? You've abounded, you've increased, you've matured. So you can say it a different way. So I heard this term the the the end of days wealth transfer. Have you ever heard that? Yes, I know I've preached it myself, but I heard it about 27 or 8 years ago. And I was like, I don't I don't know about that. So. So I needed scriptures. And here's a few of them. Proverbs. We won't go there. I'll do this really quick. Proverbs 1322 says, A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up. Some translations say stored up for the just. I don't know. It would depend on whether the Bible is true or not. I suppose that's what we'd have to really think about. It's a good a good person. A good man or woman would leave an inheritance to the children and even to the children's children. And the wealth of the sinner whom he stores up, the wealth of the sinner for the just. You see all these people, these famous people, these sinners, they got all this wealth. They're actually working for you. They just don't know it. The wealth of the sinner is stored up. For who? We're talking about the righteous people. Listen to this one. I found this one years ago. I was like, wow. Ecclesiastes 226. The be part of that in the NIV says to the sinner.
Pastor West: [01:14:16] He gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who actually pleases God. He gives the sinner a job. What do they do? They are storing up treasures and wealth to hand it over to you. Yeah. Remember the thing that the robbers went through years ago and all the bad press of the city of Faith, and they took this word and twist it and said, if he doesn't raise $10 million by so and so time, God's going to kill him. Well, taking your words out of context completely. But one man came and gave him $10 million, and he was the owner of a dog track. People go and bet. He had. He had reoccurring dreams that he was supposed to do this over. And he couldn't get any sleep. And Oral Roberts said, why are you going to do this? He said, well, it ain't because I like you, because I don't like you at all. I don't believe. I don't believe in you at all. He said, But I'm a wealthy man, but I can't buy sleep. So he came and handed Oral Roberts $10 million to finish the city of Faith from the dog track of people betting. God built the city of faith. Kind of sounds like that verse that. That there's a system out there, even in the Babylonian system, that God is going to give you means and methods of ways to connect with it, to siphon off for holy, just, righteous purposes.
Pastor West: [01:15:58] And it can come to you many different ways, but you have to have eyes to see it. See, God doesn't need you working 80 hours a week. Why? Because you're wearing your body out and you're not doing what you're called to do. You are actually self-employed, but you're working two times harder for yourself than you would for someone else. And you divide your pay by your hours. You're not doing that great. And you're you're dwindling your life down to nothing, and you'll leave before your time. And all you could say was, Lord, I was over here busting up rocks or what I was doing. Sounds good and noble, but I'm just saying it's not. It's not in the scripture. God has a better way than that. He can appreciate your heart to want to do good and take care of your family. But he just has a better way. And if we're not stubborn, then we can just take the better way. Because he's given you the power. The force. The force. A force to create wealth. Just a few more. We'll be through. You know this from Matthew five five. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit Clinton. Actually, it says the earth. Listen to this one and understand what this means. James 5123 and NIV. I only have this one. This is the last one I have.
Pastor West: [01:17:28] I'll stop here. Wow. Man, I'm going to stop without reading that. Oh, gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh, I got to keep my word. James 5123 NIV. Go to now, you rich man, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered. And the rest of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh, as it were fire. For you have heaped up treasures for the last days. In other words, these people's focus is not on God. It's not kingdom. They're not. They're not godly people. Everything's about this life. Get all I can, can all I get. Sit on the can. And the Lord is not admonishing them for doing this. He's chastising him, but he says, but you have heaped up treasures for the last days. And then that verse or James in the in the passage says, can't you hear the cries of the laborers over the wages you fraudulently have held back from those who work for you? The cries for justice of those you've cheated have reached the ears of the Lord, the Lord of armies, Or the reaper of the fields. Now listen to this will be through verse five through seven. In the passion you have indulged yourself with every luxury and pleasure this world offers. But you're only stuffing your heart full for a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered good and innocent people who have no power to defend themselves.
Pastor West: [01:19:19] Meanwhile, brothers and sisters finishing here, we must be patient and filled with expectation as we wait for the appearing of the Lord. Think about the farmer who has patiently waited for the earth's harvest as it ripens, because of the early and the latter rain. You see, in the end, time transfer is going to take a lot of finances, and what you and I are called to is stewardship. Wealth always is accompanied with proper stewardship. So wealth has a mission. And the mission is not just to say that you have a lot of money or wealth or resources. The Babylonian system is rooted in you meeting the need. But the kingdom is not about you meeting your need. I know you know that. I mean, if you were an ambassador from the United States to any nation, they're not saying we're going to let you be the ambassador to whatever country, but you're going to need. We're going to have to use all your money. Well, that's that's not a good job if you're an ambassador of any country from the United States. Are they spending your money? Are you on a mission from yourself or for your country? Are you speaking from. For the. Are you speaking for we the people? Supposedly. Isn't that what it's supposed to be? If you're an ambassador from this nation to, say, India or China or Liberia or whatever.
Pastor West: [01:20:54] Aren't you sent to that country to speak on behalf of that country and its citizens and whatever you're called to go do there, and you're assigned to do you're you're supposedly equipped to do it based on who's resources. My God shall supply all your need according to who's who, who's who's riches, his riches. So this morning we're going to receive the offering this morning. If you need an offering envelope, if you raise your hand. These gentlemen here are kind and generous. I've never. Side note I've never had ushers on purpose who participate in an offering, who don't believe in giving. I've never had an usher receive an offering who's not a tither. They may not have known that. I've had people who said, if you'd like to, I'll usher. They'd be in church for six years. Never gave a dime. I'm thinking there's no way you're going to receive this offering. And you're not. You're not a participant. Why? I want faith involved. Because the guy who's going to receive the offering, he might be looking for you to write a check and say, man, if you really need that, just keep it the same way I did when I had widows through the years who would give me 1000 or 2 or $3,000 for a project, and I'm like, oh God. Everything in me wanted to recoil. It's like, oh, thank you, but how about just $50? And then, like I told you, Lord, in the spirit, he slapped me like four times and I said, thanks, I need I needed that.
Pastor West: [01:22:46] Because you know why they did it? Because they had the same compassion that Jesus had. It. But you know why they did it? They had more faith than the people who had the ability to do lot. So I asked him, I said, would you ever get them windows in his house? He said, yes, my wife would love to have windows in the house, but that is not the most important thing. We can deal with that one day. I said, well, how do you keep flies in that? He said, you don't keep them out of the house. He said, but the school now is the most important thing. So we're going to hook up our faith together. I don't even know what this project. See, what's easy for me about this is I got to find out what it cost to finish this school because God got me involved with him years ago. Now I know that. So there's no me. There's no me running from it. I could just say, you know, I'm through. So you pass it on. But the Lord. But the Lord won't let me do that. Okay, but here's what's easy about it. I don't have any way to do this. So there's nothing for me to think about. You see what I'm saying? I know Faith's going to be involved because I have no way of doing it.
Pastor West: [01:24:09] I mean, you understand why that's easy for me. I'm not sitting there thinking, well, can we afford to do that this month? I already have that answer. No. So I don't even go there. So I know it's going to be by faith, or it's just not going to be. Or God's going to have to use someone else. One day I'll I believe I'll fly over there. And if you want to go, you can come with me and then you can go walk. The grounds of Grace life International Church and school and academy, and you can see the lives that you've changed through your generosity. Wow. You never asked for this. Never signed up for it. Never thought about it. A day in my life doing this. But. But here it is. Here we are. Someone told me a few years ago. They were mad about something, and I said, I believe you're a racist. I said, yeah, I am. And they said, well, at least he admits it. I said, yeah, I am. I said, I love all the races, I'm in a race. I'm in a love race. I pulled up my phone. All these pictures. I said, these are all my spiritual kids. And you know, that's what they want to call me, their spiritual father. In Liberia. I said, do I look like them? Does the racist look like them? You all have given to this many times over.
Pastor West: [01:25:31] Are y'all racist? Only two races. What? Saved and unsaved. So this morning father, we just bless you. We thank you father. Wow. Lord, there's people here. There's people watching. Some of these things that's been said and spoken sparked in the hearts of people, especially when we said some things about, would you like to be a distributor of the wealth with the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow, no toil to it, that they, as Abraham and seeds of Abraham, would want to take that place in position, not for their own means, not for mammon, the spirit of mammon, the spirit of the Babylonian system. But they they want to be they want to be involved in the kingdom in a higher order than they have been. They want to qualify or be qualified to handle wealth. They're not just like they're not just what's 10% of this and 10% of that. And okay, here's a $5 offering on top of that. That's employee mentality of the kingdom. That's not who I'm talking about this morning. Lord. Enlarge us. Enlarge our capacity to see, to hear, to function, to live like, to act like. To think like you with a kingdom ruleth over all. The offering being given today. I had no idea what it'll be. Good small, big, whatever. But my source can't be in this or people. But I bless them.
Pastor West: [01:27:23] And you told me here men, natural men, natural men that will one day will live and die and leave this planet. Receive the tithe. I'm wanted those men. If time goes on, I will come and I will go. But you said men, natural men receive the tithe. But there he received. But there he, Jesus, receiveth him. So we give this morning as an act of worship unto you. Wow. We worship you with our tithe and our giving this morning. We pray that our offering would come as a worship, as a sweet smelling savor. That it would fill the throne room Lord. That it would fill the throne room with sweet aroma. For you have given everything. And everything that we have is yours. We bless you. And I bless those who help us. That see something greater than ourselves. Thank you, Lord Jesus. The head of the church for allowing us to be a part. For caring about what you care about. For caring about what you care about. Wow. Thank you Lord. I pray this seed, this giving this morning, it multiplies. It increases into the lives of your people. For those who may be watching, who can and will participate, I promise you that seed will get to the right place to do the right thing. Lord, if you choose to use us for this project. I thank you for that. And I will make sure it goes for the right purposes. Thank you for trusting us. Jesus name. Amen. You may receive the offering.
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