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in me [Music] Let Us Praise [Music] Jesus now we are standing in his presence [Music] this is Holy Ground we're standing on Holy Ground for the Lord is here [Music] is Holy [Music] this is Holy Ground we're standing on Holy Ground for the Lord is here [Music] we are standing [Music] soon and I know that there are angels oh all around [Music] Jesus now Let Us Praise let us pray s Jesus now let us
pray Jesus [Music] for we are standing we are standing in his presence the ground Hallelujah Hallelujah Lord we just bless you and praise you and thank you in this place today Laura thank you for every song that was played and even as I was praying before we got started with worship Lord I pray that every word that we just sang To You Lord God it is true to our hearts and father as I stand in this place today Lord God I thank you that your name be glorified your name be lifted High Lord God and that your will is done in me and through me father I release myself from the burden of impressing man I will not fear the faces of man today and I thank you Lord God that you're going to use Me For Your Glory and All Hearts will be changed by Your Word Lord and even Lord that we would make it the The Cry of our hearts even to obey that is what this is about being obedient to your will not not saying but obeying and I thank you Lord God at that will be the message that is related to your people today in Jesus name hallelujah amen all right y'all may be seated so hello fire and Grace Church I'm here bless the Lord for those of you out there who don't know me I'm going to give my give a short introduction my name is Dee that's about the extent of it because what's important is what God wants me to say today uh yes I do co-pastor in Montgomery Alabama next level of Ministries with my husband uh Pastor Troy who's sitting here on the front row today I do want to give honor to my husband who's sitting here before me and also Pastor Dean and Nancy who are away and only by the grace of God am I standing here today and I won't let the Lord do what he does so that's that's the only thing I know to do so um you guys I was praying and asking the Lord what is it God that you want me to say to your people I don't want this message to be what I want to say I don't want it to be about me I could go in the archives and pull out this message or that message and say this thing or that thing but
I wanted to be obedient to the Lord of course and um asking you shall receive um before I even get into the word that God said I want to just address one thing I heard someone say to me earlier this week that I've got some big shoes to fill because I'm standing in Pastor Dean's uh spot but I will say this I I really I'm not standing here trying to fill Pastor Dean's shoes but to fulfill the will of God that is it so I would be foolish to try to stand here and try to fill Pastor these shoes so uh I know better and I'm gonna I'm just gonna do what the Lord said so on Monday of this week I was praying and asking the Lord what to say and you guys I went I sat at my computer and I was about to work on the message that was on my heart to do and the Lord began to speak and I wrote down what he said that was Monday so come Wednesday of this week before um prayer I really felt an urging in my spirit to contact Pastor Nancy and Dean and to make sure that the prophetic word that I heard from the Lord that it was okay for me to release that word because I need to be obedient to this house and not come in and go Rogue and release prophetic words without getting the permission of the overseers of this house so I contacted them told them what I believe the Lord had said to me and they gave me permission Pastor Dean expressly gave me permission to say to you what the Lord said he was in agreement with it so I am going to proceed with the word of the Lord you guys so fasten your seat belts verbatim this is what the Lord said he said tell my people he said tell my people it's time to take me off autocorrect he says I am not autocorrect I am Christ as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent you are zealous for many things but where is your Zeal for me and my word I need my people who are called by my name to Humble themselves before me and to pray and to seek my face and to turn from their Wicked Ways I do not need a reminder of my part I have longed for and waited for my people to do my will before I come yet you have settled for hearing my word when I have told you to be doers you have replaced studying with Googling and meditating with paraphrasing you then pray to me with a forked tongue
I am not impressed with the amount of scriptures you know neither with your stats and facts I am not impressed with your memorization when you sidestep the demonstration I am returning for church without spot blemish or wrinkle not a church that can spot a blemish or Wrinkle In Those whom I am neither called nor chosen to whom much is given and I have given much I require much yet ye have given little and expect much of me that is the word prophetic word from the Lord with that being said I asked the Lord how do I follow that Lord what is there what do I do now you know with this with this message and the Lord said just take what I said online at a time so that's what I'm gonna do he said tell my people it's time to take me off autocorrect what is autocorrect we all have our our devices you guys and and you all know just I don't have to tell you what autocorrect is but I'm just a couple of examples when you type something into your phone or your device your computer or whatever if you misspell something you get something wrong you don't even have to think real hard anymore you don't have to study anymore it fixes it for you it even gives you choices is this what you want it to say the AI technology you guys this that computer program those algorithms those are in there to assist us with being what lazy we don't take God's word seriously anymore we don't really do what second Timothy 2 15 tells us to do which is study to show ourselves approved unto God right a Workman that needeth not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth we don't do that we phone it in and we expect God to be okay with that and just accept it because we don't feel like doing what he told us to do and we know that because of his grace or we feel that because of his grace we can get away with it we can just phone it in put our feet up look spend about 30 minutes in prayer spend three hours before the TV and God is supposed to say you did a good job because you did you gave me 30. that's what we do that's the first line he says I am not autocorrect I am Christ what does that mean show some respect do what I said because you guys if our children did what we do we would punish them we would take some privileges away from them we will make sure some of us would go so
far as to spank our children but we know that whom the Lord loves he chastens right that's what he said in this word he said as many as I love that's that's Revelation 3 19. as many as I love I rebuke and chasten he said be zealous therefore and repent that's what God Said to do that's not that's not me standing here telling y'all that that's what his word says and he's not just talking to the people out there driving their cars past the church he's talking about us in the church because I said God what do you want me to say to your people and that's what he told me he said you are zealous for many things but where is your Zeal for me what is what is zeal it's enthusiasm right it's passion it's Earnest it's a it's a burning we don't burn for the things of God you know y'all know what we burn for the things we can get away with that's really what we burn for we we say we love God but if we love him we'll do what will keep his Commandments we'll do what he says when he says that how he says it it doesn't matter we don't get to decide What God Says whether it's right or wrong or they want to whether it's look it's about obedience just do what he said if they had done that in the garden we wouldn't be in this fixed as we're in right now but they took what God Said and it got Twisted it got turned did God really say and the enemy that said that then is still saying that to us now in a lot of areas of Our Lives if we will be honest with ourselves be honest with God be honest with each other that's what we're still doing we're making provision for the flesh God said I need my people who are called by my y'all we know second chronicles 7 14 when most of us can recite it in our sleep right If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways I will hear from Heaven forgive their sin and heal their land right well what do we do we beg God to heal the land we beg God to forgive us but what did he say precedes that he said humble yourself he said pray he said seek my face and he said turn then it's an if then principle if you do then I will don't you don't have to tell me my part I got that do what I told you to do and the rest is up to me right but what do we do oh God help me oh God do do for me oh God oh God look at the mess we're in Lord look at what's happening in the world Lord have you left us are you have you
forsaken us no I said I'm waiting on y'all do what I said right he says you settle for hearing my word when I told you to be doers that's self-explanatory right hmm you have replaced studying with Googling meditating with paraphrasing let me tell y'all what I'm standing here right now as a witness to this very thing right here because even when the lord gave me this when I was sitting at that computer and he was he told me what to write down I wrote it down and when things started coming to mind to enhance this or to to go ahead and how am I going to put this into words how am I going to go ahead and Minister this things started coming to mind scriptures that I knew some of it I didn't know some of it I had I was paraphrasing in my own mind y'all guess what I got ready to do I'm sitting in front of the computer I got ready to Google have my Bible sitting right there wide open but it was easier for me to Google it and just as I was about to do it God said stop he said dig it out find it for yourself stop relying on Google to fix what you don't know because bottom line is you ain't spend enough time with me and you have not meditated enough on my word to know it for yourself so you're gonna trust an algorithm trust a computer program the very people that we talk about look we hear Pastor Dean Sunday after Sunday Pastor Troy's teaches Saturday after Saturday you guys talk about these very people who are what Wicked making these algorithms even the things that are going to begin to change our own thoughts and we trust them with algorithms we trust them to make an app because it's called a Bible app and you think that it's going to be exactly what this word really says all they got to do is change one word and it can change the whole perspective the truth if you change one word you've just changed the truth but we put we put that in the hands of those who we don't even trust but we trust them to upload this word and we rely on that more than just open it up for ourselves and say no this is exactly what God Said he didn't say shall not he said should not y'all know what I'm talking about there's a difference between a shall not and a should not but we won't know that
because we expect Google to be honest really he said after that and think about meditating he said you replace meditating with paraphrasing who's guilty of that you only got to raise your hands except for Courtney no but if we're being honest people and we should be how many times do you paraphrase a scripture because you don't really have it in your heart and you think that you know it enough that you can put it in your own words that's dangerous because somebody is watching you somebody is listening to you and they really need to know what the word actually says not what you figure it should say or how what you think it says I have been in the middle of my sentence before and be like you know what and spitting something out that I'm familiar with hearing and later on when I'm I'm like oh wow I need to call that person but y'all it shouldn't be that way and and what's really sad is because we have Pastor Dean standing here in his Pulpit because he's done his due diligence and study the word to show himself approve them to God we think that we can just get it from Dean some of us come in this church every Sunday because we want to just hear what Pastor Dean has to say some of us show up for prayer on Wednesday nights because Pastor Dean gonna be here I don't know who that is but that's what I just heard so it is what it is and I'm just saying God is saying it's time for us to deal with these things are we idolizing man are we idolizing the man in this house he said you didn't pray to me with a forked tongue a forked tongue means to tell lies to otherwise verbally deceive someone to make empty promises or to say one thing but to do another anybody fit that description in this place a lot of us do I'll be the first one to raise my hand because I've done this empty promise thing because I'm making empty promises to the one that matters the most I don't do everything I say I'm gonna do I don't study all the time I don't pray all the time oh I got things to do we all got things to do you guys but we can make time we can find time for the recreational things we want to do we can't find time to get in this
word we can't find time to study to take our our tests we can't find time to do the needful thing but we got all the time in the world y'all let me tell you what and part of this message message as I go forward I'm gonna step on some toes but it's not me doing it we have got to start facing some things because in order to turn from something you got to be facing it first right you've got to face what it is that is not pleasing to God in order to be able to turn away from it but we don't want to face it we want to we want to hide behind this forked tongue this this these lies we we say we're going to do it then we don't we mean well but we just oh we just ran out of time but if I tell you that you need to be at the theater at 6 pm to watch that movie not only are you going to be there so you're gonna be there early because you got to get your popcorn you got to get your drink you got to make sure you see those those previews you're gonna sit through that movie as long as it is sometimes it's an hour and 45 minutes sometimes it's two and a half hours sometimes you're even gonna stay through the the closing credits you make all the time in the world for that but when God says oh Lord I I just went to bed 11 o'clock it's 2 A.M I need to get I need more sleep why didn't you why weren't you sleeping during that three hour time friend that you sitting at that movie that would have been the opportunity since you had all that time to rest but when I'm calling you in the wee hours or the middle of the night then I get all the excuses now you're too tired oh I got to go to work in the morning why didn't you think about that when you were having your recreational time right God says I'm not impressed with the amount of scriptures you know neither with your stats and facts some of us pride ourselves on how many scriptures we we know or even when Pastor Dean or Pastor Troy anybody is teaching and preaching we are we're proud of ourselves if we know what they're saying and we can finish it oh yeah I know that one oh I know that one I know that one yeah but are you obeying it are you doing it it's not about how much you know is how much you obey remember y'all I didn't say this I make no apology for speaking what I know the Lord told me to say I make no apology for it God said amen he said I'm not impressed with your memorization when you sidestep the demonstration that's what I just said you don't you sidestep and you do other than but you you memorized it you got your memory verses down some some kids some kids you know when they're in school and they doing their our kids used to go to a private school some years ago and they had their memory verses and they would
memorize whatever and they get good grades if they got the scriptures right and we were proud of them ask me how they're living right now but they memorize those verses what did what good did it do them they're not obeying it and guess what if I'm being honest we did not demonstrate it well enough before them also that's the truth we have a part to play in this thing you guys now the last thing I'm returning for a church without spot blemish or wrinkle not one that can spot a blemish or Wrinkle In Those whom I have neither called nor chosen we put more emphasis on everybody else but we're the ones who are called we're the ones who are chosen right but we will look at the sinners in the world doing what Sinners do and we will we will critique them and and talk about them and talk about how much they need Jesus and we need him just as bad as they do look at least they're proud of being Sinners and they're not trying to hide it but what are we doing faking it fake it till you make it right to whom much is given God said I and I have given much he said I've given much what else can I give you what else was every drop of my blood not enough was discouraging that I took not enough what more look I had a friend who contacted me a few weeks ago I would I listened to her for a whole hour up here my Wanda and I are on our way to prayer and she needed counsel as I'm listening to this person the words that began to come out of her mouth if God really loved me he's gonna have to oh no no baby hold on now we ain't got to do nothing he's done he's Paid It All there's nothing left for him to pay out or pour out because you're too selfish and you still want some more stuff you still want him to do some more stuff for you because you're not satisfied in your flesh and you're going to lay it on him to do some more more than what what is what else can God do for us y'all he died is there more he left us his word he expects us to obey it in the story but we're about to spoil little brats and we look at things from a fleshly perspective it's about me me me me me me
oh I didn't get what I wanted yesterday oh I wanted that car oh I wanted that job oh I wanted that whatever and I didn't get it so Lord can you do some more for me and Lord okay can you just read my word can you study my word can you turn from your Wicked Ways can you do that how let's start there God says to whom much is given much is required he says I require much yet ye have given little and expect much of me that's the condition of most of us in the church from there Matthew 7 21 he said to remind my people most of y'all know this most of us know this but we don't feel it we don't fear it that's a better choice of words verse 21. not everyone that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven he said many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many marvelous or wonderful works verse 23 and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity nobody wants to hear that y'all already want to hear it sitting here but imagine hearing it when it's over it's gonna be too late you know Linda Raven Hill said five minutes after we die we're gonna know how we should have lived let that sink in for a minute Revelation 3 14. he said and unto the angel of the Church of the laodiceans write these things saith the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God he says I Know Thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou were cold or hot so then because thou are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth and I've already said even in the prophetic word verse 19 as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent but verse 20 . he says behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and will
sup with him and he with me 21 to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my father in his throne 22 he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the heathens it doesn't say healing up there doesn't he's talking to who the churches overcome what does it mean to overcome that means to be triumphant that means to get the victory over when you can't overcome something if you if you never go to a place where you have to fight through it how do you overcome something if you don't fight for it fight against it get the victory over it these things that does so easily percent of these besetting sins these little small facts that spoil the vine we read about those things but then we don't want to face them and see wait a minute does that Define me is that me Lord you're talking about well apparently it is but do we want to really know what it is that Grieves the holy spirit of God he said If my people will turn from their Wicked Ways what is wickedness y'all know we we think when we think of the word Wicked we think of those occult people those people who are doing those uh sorceries and different nations and drinking blood and their their murderers and and fornic haters and we think about that kind of stuff when y'all know wickedness is just synonymous with wrong with ungodliness wickedness is synonymous with unholiness every Christian's favorite word what does it mean to be Wicked it's just being Unholy unrighteous look it doesn't have to be the the grand things it doesn't have to be on the grand scale of things on the on the on the uh man's scale of what's real bad and what's not so bad and the little stuff in between that's how we look at we look at we try to put it on a grade at scale what is wicked and what's not God kept it real simple for us it's just unholiness and it's according to what he says unholiness is not what we want it to be right because we can make ourselves feel good we can make ourselves feel holy we can make ourselves feel righteous we can't help somebody cross the street without running Tails so I just helped this lady across the street we can run and tell everything because we trying to get that Pat on their back
Hebrews 4 12. I missed that one earlier I know y'all gonna have it up there quicker than I can turn for the word of God and what does it say you guys it's sharper than any two-edged sword right for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joints and Marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart that's what the word of God is God knows your thoughts your intents what do you intend to do see we we pride ourselves on not committing the sin but God said wait a minute I'm judging even your intents y'all see that right I'm not I'm not making that up neither is there well I'm gonna skip that I'm verse 15 is where I want to go for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin there's no excuse there's no excuse Jesus knows everything that we're tempted with you guys he knows he knows what it feels like he knows how difficult it may be to say no to that thing but guess what he did it without sin he set the example for us but we come back at him and we're like oh but it's too hard for me to stop fornicating it's too hard for me to stop cussing it's too hard for me to stop drinking it's too hard for me to stop it's too hard for me to start now he's wait a minute now you can do this but what we love about this particular passage description is verse 16. let us therefore come boli unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help but guess what this doesn't say in time of want what does this say time of need after you have at least tried not to put forth some effort and he says what but when you need it my grace is there for you we want to park our car over in Graceland and just live there because somebody told us that that's what it's there for somebody lied what does the word say let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need wow how does that feel
that doesn't feel good y'all I don't like I don't like reading this anymore y'all like hearing this I don't like knowing this I don't like studying this but guess what it's going to make me Dear God stop taking him for granted stop treating him like he's our auto correct put in a little bit of effort and get a whole lot of blessing mishandle the scriptures and expect him to be okay with it because well at least we got a little bit right no that's not what God is saying to us y'all Matthew 26 41 watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak quickly I'm gonna go to James 4 7. submit yourselves therefore to God we love this scripture resist the devil and he will flee from you and most of us usually start there resist the devil he will flee he said first submit yourselves to God that's what he said first but we just want to oh I've been resisting the devil I've been resisting I'm expecting him to flee wait a minute you ain't even submitted to God yet you can't take some and and omit the other you guys you got to do your part and stop reminding god of what he said he will do but that's what we do but Ephesians 4 27 neither give place to the devil what does that mean do not give him an opportunity a license that's what it says that's what it means right what is a license permission to act I'm going to read a little uh extended definition here says a permission granted by competent authority to engage in a business or occupation or in an activity otherwise unlawful right and otherwise unlawful activity so we give we get license we're able to do something that was otherwise forbidden for us to do okay that's what a license is just like when you drive a car you can't just go you shouldn't just go jump in the car and drive it you're supposed to pass a test first you're supposed to get a license first before you actually drive a car alone on the road okay so that's the same thing I'm saying we get a license to do certain things but let's go to Genesis 3. also very familiar scripture right we all know this and some of us can can recite it I'm going to read it now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden verse 2 the woman says and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden verse 3 but of the tree of the fruits excuse me of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said he shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die verse 4 and the serpent said unto the woman you shall not surely die verse 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God's knowing good and evil and verse six and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat what happened in that passage of scripture they knew what was forbidden God had told them what was forbidden but the perspective got Twisted got changed because they let this ex this other voice come in and tell them other than what God had said right so the license they were permitted to do something that was unlawful not look the devil didn't permit them to do it they chose they made a choice to do it the serpent beguiled Eve yes he did but Eve made the choice to disobey God and Adam followed suit right they made a choice to disobey God they knew what God said not to do and they chose to do it anyway that's called disobedience is that right okay so let's go to um I'm just going to read this Jeremiah 17 now y'all know this the hardest deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it right well the Lord says I the Lord search the heart I try the range even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings so you know the God has already warned us the condition of our heart this this thing right here is desperately wicked so we should not be following our hearts and and following after what we want to do but being obedient God made it easy for us he said he said don't but we want to say well well wait a minute did he say he said don't but but he said don't he made it easy he said don't eat from that tree you know why he said look I know what it's going to lead to if you do see God is protecting us he's trying to spare us from some things but we got to go when lord said don't touch the tree I'm just gonna see if I can smell it we get close enough to it let me oh let me see what it smelled like how'd that work for David hmm
he wasn't supposed to touch right but what it lead to taking this man's wife getting her pregnant having her husband killed what God said don't touch because he knew what it was going to lead you to look at what it led to see sometimes we are we are so greedy for what is on going on on the inside of us we don't realize that God is not trying to uh what people say about Christian oh it's boring Christianity is boring oh you don't get to do nothing you don't get to no no no no no it's not about what you can't do you guys it's about being obedient it's about obeying God that's all that's really all that's what this is all about being oh how much will you obey me so that you can listen I've made I've got a plan for you you can spend eternity with me this we just got to take care of this business here first but we don't want to wait we don't want we don't want to be obedient we want to try out everything we'll test out everything we're gonna the the devil said that's boring no it's not Christianity you guys it's a beautiful thing beautiful thing that died of this flesh and not give in to temptation but we let the cares of this world trick us and stuff out what we know what we the god that we love we let the cares of this world entice us who would take a just like just like Eve it says she saw that the the the the tree was good for food it was pleasant to the eyes and it was going to make me wise too really I need some of that when God said no God said don't touch it the day that you eat thereof that you shall surely die but she was like but it's pretty God but I but I just want to taste it you know what God never told them don't eat too much of the tree he said don't eat just gotta read verse verse one and two what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that Grace May abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein right let's go to verse 12. let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lust thereof neither yield ye your members this is verse 13 as instruments of unrighteousness Unto sin but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God verse 14 for sin shall not have dominion
over you for ye are not under the law but under grace 15 what then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace God forbid 16 know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness y'all but God be thanked that ye were the Servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered you being then made free verse 18 from sin ye became the service of righteousness verse 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto Holiness for when ye were the Servants of sin you were free from righteousness what fruit had ye verse 21 then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things as death verse 22 but now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting life verse 23 ouch for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ Our Lord why did I read all of that because you guys wickedness is is not forced upon us it is a choice you choose where you're going to yield to you get to choose what you yield to are you going to yield to righteousness or are you going to yield to unrighteousness that's what this means you have a choice it's not God's fault if you fall you don't have to choose to peel that or to pull that fruit off the tree and take a bite up you don't have to do that but a lot of times there's a whole lot easier than saying no it's a whole lot easier and even look we used to on October 31st what do we do we make provision for our children so that they don't feel left out of things they're not going to the Halloween party we're just going to take them to the church and call it a Hallelujah party what's the difference what's the difference just make sure you dress up as the three as the wise men Mary Joseph don't don't do the wick stuff wicked stuff what's the difference y'all instead of teaching our children about unholiness and teaching our children about what that day represents and the sacrifices that are
being made the people that are being being killed whose faces are being peeled off and who have back then they were peeling off their faces and putting people the dead people's faces on y'all know that right so are you wearing that Halloween mask is representing what they used to do when they were sacrificing people that's what those Halloween masks are but no we're not going to let our kids do that we're just gonna repackage it put it in a put make it holy make a sound holy take them to the church dress up like Mary it's okay just don't dress up like the demons show some respect y'all see how the devil twists and turns and changes things and what do we do we approve of it oh that sounds better I don't want my kids to when they go back to school and say well what what did you do for Halloween oh I just went to church you didn't have any fun did you get any candy come on y'all how about having your children like I know some of these children on this back row right here their parents tell them look they go the kids are standing up in in these environments and I said wait a minute that's not right I've heard some of Courtney's stories her babies stand up wait a minute that ain't right why do they know it ain't right y'all they may not get everything right but come on these babies willing to stand up and to say That's Not Right But the parents are making provision for the flesh something is wrong something is very wrong we put more emphasis on or more pressure even on our children that we do ourselves sad world that we live in but shouldn't be named in the church shouldn't be happening in the church y'all wickedness is not forced upon us it's a choice wickedness is synonymous with immoral right immoral I'm just going to stop on this one word licentious licensed to sin that's immoral that's wickedness that's immorality that's evil sinful immoral wrong corrupt ungodly Unholy all of those things are synonymous with wickedness all of those things not just one all of them so if God calls it Unholy how do we call it anything other than that First Peter 1 15 and 16. what
but as he which hath called you is Holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation that's your conduct all manner of conversation everything look everything you guys is going to be what cross-examined it's going to be examined by the cross team verse 16 because it is written be ye holy for I am Holy God said be holy stop making excuses and provision for the flesh he said be holy period I'm not going to put up first Peter 2 11 but it tells us to abstain from fleshly lust which war against the soul right there's all kinds of warnings all throughout the scriptures y'all I can stand here for hours and tell you about all the warnings in the scriptures that tells us not to make provision for this flesh but we do it over and over and over again Pastor Dean Testo Romans 12 1-2 last week he said I beseech you there for a Brethren by the mercies of God right that you present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service it's reasonable to present your body as a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God it's a reasonable service you guys and look he said and be not conformed to this world stop trying to fit into the world's mold how they want to shape you and how they want to present opportunity to sin don't be don't conform to that be not conformed to this world be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God you know what we want to do we want to prove something by all of our all the research that we're doing so we can we can prove it nobody wants to prove it by our lifestyle because we're supposed to look different than everybody else that's how we prove it it's not about all the research that you're doing it's not about all the scriptures that you're spitting out of your mouth it's not about all this extra all the fluff the Puffin the the all this puff and fluff is what I what I call it Pomp and Circumstance it's not about that it's a you prove that this word is true you prove your loyalty to the lawyer you prove these things by the way you live it in front of those who are watching that's what that's what it means to prove it by your lifestyle I should not look like everybody else out there so I don't want to look like some of y'all in here be truth look if we was if we was comparing notes
we were comparing bones in the closet so we could either prove it by demonstration we could approve of the sin you guys when you approve of something that means you officially agree to accept it as satisfactory that's what that's what it means to approve of something but you can also reprove you can rebuke you can you can you can reprimand when you know something is not of God you rebuke it you don't go after it you know I get you get that off of you you don't follow the leading of the enemy right so here's where I'm gonna step on some toes y'all ready you might want to pull your feet back I'm gonna throw out some letters and numbers y'all ready G PG PG-13 the letter r NC-17 the letter x y'all know what those are y'all know what that is just categories for sin I know that's that's what it is they're called movie ratings what is y'all know what G stands for it's General audiences that makes it that means everybody should be permitted right it's nothing offensive in there nothing that's going to make the parents you know freak out because they don't want their kids to see this stuff if that's that's General audiences y'all know what y'all know what's rated G this right here from from Genesis to the index this is rated G and nothing should be left out nothing should be kept from the children those of you who love children's church and all that so when they water down the word so kids are not armed like the Charles children to tell it like it really is because most kids don't even really know how it is because they just listen to the watered-down version of the word they don't know how to stand but this right here this is rated G you guys matter of fact let's go to um yeah Matthew 28. what does Matthew 28 verse 19 say it says go ye therefore and teach All Nations y'all know what that is General audiences
teach All Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Ghost verse 20 teaching them to what observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I Am With You Always even until the end of the world Amen teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you go in to he says he tells us go out there you guys teach the Nations that's everybody the people you like the people you don't like the cultures you don't appreciate the idol worshipers the atheists it's everybody G-rated that's this word but somebody told us there's some stuff in here that we should keep from certain people PG parental guides y'all know what a God is a God does not point the way a God shows the way a God is out front um Jordan that article if you can put the article up there for me cause I'm gonna tell y'all something this is what the devil has tricked us I'm guilty just like the rest of you but the devil has tricked us and either we can remain silent or we can look at what the enemy is saying or this or this uh provision that the enemy has made for us can we make that any bigger okay um or we can hear what the Lord is saying it's up to Eli it's up to us wickedness is not forced upon us it's choices that we make this is where the movie rating system where it came from and I've got it I can read it off my phone if y'all can't make it any bigger than that because I want to make sure I don't waste too much time there we go Okay so we don't have to re okay yeah I'll tell you what let me just I'm gonna I got it on my phone I'm gonna read it from my phone y'all if y'all can follow along up there that's fine we're not gonna read that first paragraph I'm just going to go ahead and um yeah here we go it says here there was a time when movies didn't have ratings so how did we get from there to the current system Thomas Edison is is credited for building the first Film Production Studio nearby his home and lab in West
Orange New Jersey in 1893. that's a long time ago 1893 it was called black it's either Maria or Maria or the dog house by Edison himself that is where he shot the short film The Edison kinetoscopic record of a sneeze Okay so it says otherwise known as Fred Ott sneeze in January 1894 which became the first film to be registered for a copyright two months later Edison's employee William K L Dixon film carmencita a Spanish dancer and maybe the first woman to appear on film in some places her projection was not allowed to be shown due to what if revealing her legs and undergarments as she twirled something just look back then this was this was a big deal that it showed her legs and her undergarments when she twirled around right perhaps the earliest case of film censorship in March 1897 James Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons boxed one another in Carson City Nevada it was watched live by thousands of fans but it was soon going to be seen by many more inco Rector had filmed it on 11 000 feet of film and two months later the film premiered in New York with a run time of over 100 minutes the Corbett Fitzsimmons fight was the first documentary and feature film ever it would eventually be shown in 10 different cities over an 11-month period now listen prize fighting was illegal in every state it was forbidden there's a forbidden fruit here it was illegal in every state in the country besides Nevada at the time but it wasn't necessarily illegal to show prize fighting so we can we can there's a little gray area we can cross some lines here right hence the popularity of the film in response to this new technology circumventing the rules Seven States including New York all passed a law finding those who showed the film While most of the fines were ignored this one uh this was one of the first instances of governing bodies monitoring what people watched on film Ten Years Later Chicago became the first city to regulate and censor movies with over 115 Nickelodeons across the city and the Chicago Tribune announcing that they had an influence that is wholly vicious censorship rules were enacted in 1907 all the way back then 1907. did y'all know it went back that far the city council gave the chief of police the power of issue or not issue of the power two issue rather or not issue permits for the exhibition of moving pictures if a movie didn't meet his standards or someone he delegated the task to a permit would be denied the U.S Supreme Court upheld Chicago's right to do this additionally Chicago created a separate pink permit to Mark those movies that were adult only but unfortunately this backfired it says when the pink permits acted as more of
advertisement than just than deterrence so people knew that hey I want to go that that's the one I want to go see they it was more of an advertisement for what was forbidden instead of a deterrent 1909 New York City by order of Mayor George B McClellan closed 550 theaters because the police chief claimed that most movie Material was reprehensible 550 theaters y'all in response to this the nation the national board of censorship was formed as the first formal attempt by the film industry to ward off legal film censorship through quasi self-regulation for a small fee the board would recommend cuts now I'm going to read some more of this y'all just hanging there with me I'm gonna go down and says with movies not being protected under the First Amendment the industry had to protect itself from government censorship in 1922 the motion picture producers and Distributors of America or the mppda was formed they hired former Postmaster General and head of the Republican National Committee William Hayes as the head while his job was simply to Lobby in Washington on behalf of the movie industry he also helped form a list of listen y'all commonly rejected themes subjects occurrences that he asked movie studios to heed called the don't and be careful list does that not sound ridiculous the don't and be careful is some of the adults included the illegal traffic of drugs white slavery and ridicule of the clergy now the be careful in that good taste may be emphasized lists included methods of smuggling the use of the American flag and men and women in bed together how far have we Fallen this was back then now in 1930 the mppda set up the motion picture production code also known as the haze code it didn't wield any real power until it joined forces with a legion of decency an organization created by the Catholic Church as well as other religious organizations dedicated to combating objectionable material from that point forward the mppda would only approve films that had the Catholic churches sealed of approval thank God for that right hmm the Legion of decency would also assign ratings to the approved films for instance the original 1947 Miracle on 34th Street was given the dreaded B rating by the Catholic Legion due to what the mother in the film being divorced yeah wow exactly if you're not familiar a B rating announced that the legion found it morally objectionable in part later the B and C condemned by the Legion of decency were merged to be one
ready oh for morally offensive y'all see that how this is just changing and changing and changing first it was forbidden and whoa let's make some exceptions sounds a lot like the forbidden fruit God said no oh but let's make some exceptions right a few notable cases threatened this status called the mppda will not approve Howard Hughes filmed the outlaw because it was deemed that there were too many shots that emphasized Jane Russell's bosom Hughes was insisted that the film in Russell's chest needed to be seen so in 1946 five years after the film was shot he signed a distribution deal with a non-mpaa signatory right so that was like because he went outside the box and got somebody else to agree to it he kind of got a little sidebar permission to do what he wanted to do and show what he wanted to show right so that began to erode the mpaa's power the next paragraph says further the Hollywood Anti-Trust case of 1948 declared it was illegal for Studios to own the theaters as well prying the door open even more for exhibitors to pick and choose what movies they wanted to show the I'm gonna skip down a little bit because it says here this Haze code from 1968 to 1970 the ratings were G for General audiences M for Mature audiences R was restricted or under 17 admitted if accompanied X was not admitted if under 17 in 1970 M was changed to PG parental control Parental Guidance due to the confusing nature of the term mature audiences as for the X rating it wasn't synonymous with pornography until the 1970s and I'm going to skip all the x-rated stuff because we do have some children in here that I don't want to read that to them as for PG-13 it was Steven Spielberg who helped Usher in that rating when Jaws was released in 1977 it was rated PG despite the violence being too much for young kids but of course deemed not enough that it needed an R rating in 1984 he directed Indiana Jones remember y'all remember that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and was the executive producer on Gremlins and both received a PG rating he felt the PG rating was too broad and suggested a PG-14 rating the next year the MPAA taking Spielberg suggested instituted the PG-13 rating in Red Dawn was the first film with that rating and the rest as they say is history what did we just read there you guys PG General audiences PG I'm sorry G General audience PG parental guide has suggested PG-13 material not suitable for those under 13 which is objectionable material rated R is restricted that means it's going to have violence profanity some nudity some
explicit things right NC-17 no children under 17 okay so the forked tongue does that y'all remember what I said about the fork tongue say one thing doing another uh talked about the serpent in the garden he deceived Eve and Eve made the choice and all that all these ratings y'all know what that is just categorize sin conveniently graded for us to make our wise choices before we go and sit down let me tell you something I've been guilty as a parent I'm the parental guide I'm supposed to show the way for my children but what did I do when I saw these rate oh I'm gonna choose from this list let me choose from this approved this list of approved categories for me to go and indulge in sin with my children because I'm the parental guide so I'm gonna go in it there look I bought the ticket bought the popcorn and sat right there next to them so I could guide them through the rough stuff I'm a great parent aren't I that's what these ratings are y'all parental God I'm a God my child into the sin box and watch it with them because that's the only way they can go do it yay me and what's worse if you were a good parent like I was sometimes we would have movies at home that we would watch that were already oh let's wait till the kids go to bed and we're gonna watch well Mommy I want to stay up no no no no you're not old enough no you can't watch this this is for adults adults only really because I'm gonna ask y'all something y'all ready you're not ready you ready Sean when is the forbidden fruit age appropriate can anybody answer that when is the forbidden fruit age-appropriate at what age if it's sin it's sin Adam and Eve were never infants or toddlers or adolescents were they they were adults and God said don't do it but we want to get as close to it as we possibly can without going over that's what this is that's what all these ratings are that we just we just looked at and read about all that it's fun it's funny but no y'all let me tell you something
what did God say he said take me off autocorrect I am not autocorrect I am Christ I expect more of you that's just conveniently packaged sin and if I had the colorful version up there I mean they got the the G is in the blue the PG I think is orange the PG-13 is purple the r is red oh that's restricted but it's all sin all of it because if I got to sit there and watch something with my child in order for them to be able to sit there and see it because they can't watch it by themselves and what in the world do they have any business sitting there watching it for and why am I permitting them to do it because somebody put it in a convenient little package and called it okay parents do your homework you know where your homework starts right here back in this book for General audiences if it's in here and it says don't do it then don't do it stop making provision for it and look mature audiences what in the world is that what what is a material are we all mature audiences in here well because I'm over 17. I'm sorry that's that's the NC-17 that I'm that took the place of X they took the x away and put it made an NC-17 so no children under 17. so you gotta be 18 and up to watch this scene this is the real bad Sin the PG is just a Parental Guidance in local gym parent is sitting next to you you and your parent can watch this hidden together in PG-13 as long as you're above the age of 13 your parents y'all do y'all hear what I'm saying at what age is the forbidden fruit appropriate when somebody help me say that again it's not appropriate y'all it's forbidden fruit just like in the garden nothing's changed nothing has changed God did not change his word did not change but we've decided that's what we've decided you guys so let me just say this proverbs
22 6. trading up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he would not depart from it but here's the one that really gets me Psalm 101 verse 3. I will set no Wicked thing what before my children's eyes is that what it said is that what it says before my I'm gonna set no Wicked thing for my children's eyes is that what it says no it says I will set no Wicked thing before my eyes because if I've not said that before my eyes is not likely that I'm gonna set it before anybody else's right so it's it's me first if I get it right first then I can then somebody can observe observe me because I'm getting it right first I'm not putting more pressure on people other than me my children I'm not putting pressure on everybody else sitting out here in the pews to get it right no if I don't set any wicked thing before my eyes I'm setting the example just like Christ set the example for us right he said I will set no Wicked thing before my uh I hate the work of them that turn aside it shall not cleave to me you know what I mean to turn aside that's that side stepping that's that's that's evading your responsibility to do what's right you go you're just gonna sidestep this thing and somebody said if I will Pastor D you saw some movies this this year yeah y'all know I sure did and I stand corrected I stand correct because when God gave me this word when I was sitting in my computer I said Lord I'm guilty before you so if anybody's out there saying oh well she she oh that's legalistic no no it's not no legally I'm not telling you that that this legalism legalism is based on Works salvation you try to work your way and I'm not telling you you gotta work your way into heaven just be holy and that's it today legalism it's called Holiness and when it's time for us to stop being afraid of what Holiness is we're afraid to be set apart we're afraid to look different we're afraid of what the world might say oh you don't go to the movies what's but it's it's PG that's what they look that's what the world does y'all we cave in every single time it's just you don't let your kid that's what the world does and then we start doing it to each other but I'ma tell you what we should not and I'm talking to everybody in this room myself included
if I'm going to my job and I'm trying to witness to somebody who I know has a stronghold of lust and whether it's fornication drunkenness you know it could be smoking whatever drug addiction it don't even matter y'all but they say hey Pastor D did you see that movie sudden such and such what do you think of it and that movie was laced with sexual sin and drinking drunkenness and drug addiction and fornication or adultery and all those things that God says these shall not inherit the Kingdom it's all over that film but when I go to work and somebody asked me did I see the my answer but no of course I didn't but you know what happens a lot of times we say yes I I did but you know what for the most part it was good but there's a little bit of this in there a little bit of that in there but yeah otherwise it was good what does that mean compromise be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that's compromise Church if I'm coming out of the theater from that R-rated movie and somebody I know is going in they looking at me like that Pastor d and then they come out of that theater knowing that that was about four five six seven explicit scenes in there and then but we're past that was Dan Troy that just oh but I'm it's for mature audiences I can see I'm not gonna go and do that I'm just watching it really is that okay Church but it but it's in the rectangular box it's not really happening they put it in the box so we can see it if it's in the box y'all right if it's in a box it's okay because it's not y'all that ain't simulated it's real those people are lit to lip and skin to skin for real but we sit there and say well it was just one well how many is too many where do we draw where do we draw the line God did not say don't eat too much of the fruit he said don't eat don't touch
that's what he said y'all cause somebody's watching the main somebody's watching us is what we should be worried about right I will set no Wicked thing before my eyes so I'm not gonna read Ephesians 5 that's gonna be y'all's homework because I'm gonna say this to y'all before I before I finish here um I'm gonna I I just I gotta go here this whole movie thing anybody ever laughed at a movie cried felt anger disgust ever wanted to see that villain get killed because they did that they played their role so well you did all of that soulish stuff all those emotions that we got on it even but y'all y'all feel stuff when you go to the movies right so what do you feel when you see those people lip to lit when you see them skin to skin even if it's just you know they fade to black they they didn't they didn't we didn't see the whole act they faded to Black just before the but they woke up the next day with the lights on and they was they was in bed together they weren't married though oh but they didn't show the scene so we're okay but I started out that for a reason because we don't want to admit that when we do go home with our legal companions that sometimes the things that we do got stirred up because of the forbidden fruit that we partook of in that sandbox y'all follow what I'm saying what's the difference between that and the p word what's the difference I don't think there is if y'all if y'all can find a difference y'all please please see me after because we say we don't do those things we say oh I don't watch them oh but did you watch the sandbox did you did you did you watch that already movie after the kids went to bed and y'all we we have our kids memorize scriptures and expect them to live by then then we y'all do y'all know what we do when we tell our kids go to bed because we Mom and Daddy get ready to watch something y'all know what that does to them it's like makes them curious you mean when I get your age I can I can't have it now but I can do y'all
hear what I'm that is what we're doing we're setting them up for failure we are setting them up not just our kids but there's people who are not our children but y'all We Are The World is watching us and they're looking for they don't need another definition of Christianity they just need an example you get to find Christianity all you want to but if you're not gonna walk it out shut your mouth amen so I think I titled this message I stand corrected but y'all do y'all hear this is this is not me this is what the Lord said when I started out with this this thing now let me tell y'all one thing Leonard Raven he'll say if you want to be popular preach happiness if you want to be unpopular preach holiness but he also said most Christians pray to be blessed few pray to be broken and the last thing I want to say is this he said how can you pull down strongholds if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV ouch so I'm Gonna Leave y'all with that y'all still love me do we all stand corrected I pray that we do so I'm gonna pray real quick and Jordan I hope you got a song Ready Pastor Troy said a happy song So Hallelujah father in the name of Jesus I just bless you and praise you and thank you Lord God hallelujah is over thank you Jesus I survived glory to God father I pray that you were glorified in everything that I said today Lord in not my will but yours be done Lord I Thank you that every heart that has ah Lord every person that's been here every person that's out there that their hearts have been changed Lord and we all stand corrected by Your Word your all scripture is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness Lord God you you want us to to be thoroughly thoroughly furnished oh god with your your word and everything that we need God everything that we need to walk this walk Lord you want us to be perfected by your word I thank you Lord God that's some some perfecting took place on today Lord and that it will continue for the rest of the time that you allow us to be here Lord God let us stand corrected Lord God by your word and not filled with excuses Lord but with the responsibility of modeling Christ representing you to this world
representing showing them who Jesus is again and again and again every single day of Our Lives Lord God I just bless you and praise you and thank you Lord in Jesus name hallelujah and amen foreign [Music] [Music] I just wanna sit here at your feet I'm caught up in this holy woman [Music] oh I'm not here for blessings [Music] Jesus you don't owe me anything [Music] more than anything that you can do I just want you [Music] I'm sorry when I've just gone through the motions I'm sorry when I just sang another song take me back to where we start I open up my heart to you please I'm sorry when I've come with my agenda I'm sorry when I forgot the urinal take me back to where we started I open up my heart I'm caught up in your presence I just wanna sit here on your feet [Music]
oh I'm not here for blessings Jesus you don't owe me anything and more than anything that you can do I just want you please I just want you and nothing else [Music] nothing else will do I just want you and nothing else [Music] will do I just want you [Music] nothing else [Music] ain't nothing else [Music] will do [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] coming back to where we started coming back to where we start [Music] but I first felt your love you're all that matters Jesus [Music] coming back to what really matter just your heart just wanna bless your heart Jesus Jesus caught up in your presence [Music] I just wanna sit here at your feet caught up in this [Music]
never wanna leave foreign [Music] Jesus you don't owe me anything and more than anything that you you I just want you hallelujah amen amen Lord we just want you we just want you I pray that that is true in every heart every mind Lord even every every soul in our mind will and emotions I thank you Lord God that you are above everything that we can ask think want or whatever we think we want I think they thank you that we want you more and that we're willing to give up the Comforts of our flesh Lord if that's what it takes if that's what you require of us Lord let it be so in Jesus name Hallelujah Hallelujah listen I don't want to get crucified for not saying hug some necks before you leave right so y'all get your hugging on Hallelujah Pastor Dean Pastor Nancy can't wait to see you