Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
hallelujah we thank you lord that you promised god where two or three are gathered together in your name that you're in the midst of them lord i believe that every time lord that you're faithful in your omnipresence but lord there's times you manifest your tangible felt uh presence lord and we we long for that god we hunger and thirst for that now we praise you that you've made a way for us to enter the holy of holies by the blood of jesus you've made a way for us to experience your powerful presence by sending your holy spirit to live and dwell in us lord there's so much we have to learn about this lord we are just your people we are hungry and thirsty for you and we long for the day that we will be with you forever in that place that is filled with your presence every minute every second for all eternity lord we worship you and we thank you and it's in jesus name we pray amen and amen well i hope you have your bibles this morning and if you don't or you need one there's some back there in the back i want everyone to take your bibles this morning and i want you to turn with me to the book of second chronicles chapter 36 is where we're going to start this morning for some time the lord's been laying this on my heart that i'm going to preach to you because it's such a serious issue i've alluded to it at times in messages but i don't think i've ever really done a message in the three and a half years of fire and grace church on this specifically by itself um but god knows what he's doing there's always a method to the madness um i'm going to talk to you this morning a little bit about the danger of not listening to counsel the dangers of not listening to wise counsel and people whom god has placed in spiritual authority or whom god has put callings on their lives and placed them in positions of authority this is something that is a principle of god throughout both the old and new testaments um right now i just want to say this before i get into this in any depth but right now in the church world and especially in america there is an epidemic of people who do not respect their elders and their pastors and prophets and apostles and evangelists and people that god's placed in authority now before i get into this in greater depth and show you what i'm talking about this morning um i want you to know that i know that there are false prophets out there there are false apostles false prophets there are deceivers and we're to beware and god
wants us to check people out and discern things and and check and make sure that they're preaching the word and check and make sure that they operate in the right spirit and all that but that's not what i'm talking about this morning once you determine that a man or woman is a true man or woman of god and the calling of god rests upon their lives it is very dangerous to come against that person it's very dangerous to not listen to their counsel even if they're giving it to you in a very casual way we have a serious problem with a lack of honor and a lack of respect now i'm not saying that for this church and per se but this is a huge problem okay and there is a danger that if you don't respect those whom god puts over you in authority god's delegated authority it's a danger that if you can't respect them and listen to them and even obey them at times that you are going to find yourself in some serious trouble and also i'm going to say this authority spiritual authority or god's covering god's leadership in a church is not really tested in your life until you don't agree this is the same it works at work or at school or with the government and the police you know i think it's fine sometimes as you know as long as we want to do the speed limit everything's okay right but there's a moment we don't want to do the speed limit and then what there are some consequences to pay if we get caught right well god takes the issue of rebellion to authority disrespect of authority putting our mouths also against people in authority he takes that very seriously because the bible clearly says and we'll look at romans 13 in a minute that all authority is from god i mean even if it's evil god doesn't let any man or woman get in a position of power or authority it doesn't happen by accident and if it happens if an evil one does get an authority guess whose responsibility is for the god for who for who it is to deal with them of course it's not ours it's god's god will deal with them one way or the other but i want to show you this principle in the bible but just the danger of not listening now let me let me preface one more thing i guess i should before we read this passage and get into the word um i know that in the new testament in the new covenant new testament believers all have the holy spirit in them i believe that and all can hear the voice of god and be led by the holy spirit all should okay but just because you can hear from god yourself does not negate the fact that god will speak to you through others that are
wiser older been in it longer than you no more than you or have been placed in an office that is above the office that you're in so it is important to know god will speak and if you start fighting the authorities that god has put in your life don't be looking to hear from god anytime soon there are people in marriages that wonder why women wonder why they're not hearing god or feeling god's presence sometimes well you know what it may be because they don't want to submit to their husband and we're going to talk about the difference about obeying and submitting here's the two different things there how many of you know that you can obey but you're not really don't really have a submissive heart i heard a preacher put it this way he said there was a little kid in a church service and he said he kept standing up in his pew and the mom kept telling him to sit down and he kept standing up and so finally she popped him real good on the leg said sit down or i'm going to take you outside and i'm going to really wear you out so the little boy sat down but then he started making this strange face while he was sitting there now he was obeying he was sitting down but he's making this strange face and she goes what are you doing he goes i may be sitting down on the outside but i'm standing up on the inside that's where a lot of people are they obey maybe but they're not truly submissive in their heart so we're going to talk about this but this issue of not listening to whom god sends and bring great hurt and pain into your life amen let's read this this is in second chronicles chapter 36 and of course this is where god had raised up jeremiah and ezekiel and others to be prophets to speak to the king of judah to the elders and the high priest and all of this and he had done so for many years and he had warned them that the king of babylon was coming to destroy them he had given them specific instructions to submit to the king of babylon and god would would make him go easy on them but the people wouldn't listen they rebelled the prophets certain prophets rebelled certain priests rebelled they wouldn't listen to jeremiah and god puts this and testifies this here at the end so let's read this chronicles chapter 36 starting verse 11. are you with me zedekiah was one and 20 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 11 years in jerusalem and he did that which was evil in the sight of the lord his god and humbled not himself before jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the lord and he also rebelled against king nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear by god but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the lord god of israel moreover all the chief of the priest and
the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the healing and polluted the house of the lord which he had hollowed in jerusalem and the lord uh god of their fathers sent unto them by his messengers rising up quickly or early in sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place but they mocked the messengers of god and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the lord arose against his people till there was no remedy see here is a picture even within the old testament of the mercy of god god said i kept sending you my messengers i kept sending you prophets i kept sending you warning you to turn from your iniquities to stop your rebelled rebellion to submit first to the lord then to submit to the prophet jeremiah submit to even the king nebuchadnezzar respect these authorities and these messengers that i've sent in your life humble yourself and change your ways before destruction comes to you that cannot be remedied you see this is the principle of the lord let me give you another one go to proverbs solomon said it in a much shorter verse of scripture proverbs 29 verse 1. you won't hear this one preached on too often proverbs 29 verse 1. are you with me i'll wait i want you to see it i like you to see scriptures because i don't want you to think it's just proverbs 29 verse 1. remember we just read that they hardened their hearts they stiffened their neck meaning their hearts weren't as sensitive anymore to god's conviction they stiffened their neck meaning they refused to turn okay here's what what uh god had solomon put it this way verse one he that being often reproved that word reproved means corrected rebuke instructed he that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy pretty strong in it let's go to the new testament and see if god feels the same way let's go to the book of hebrews chapter 13. book of hebrews 13 you know what saddens me i can't tell you how many times as a as a pastor as a prophet as a
minister as an elder in the church that god called me when i was 19 god ordained me he ordained me first called me i'm ordained now by two different internationally known ministries recognized in another country with a doctorate an honorary doctorate so i know what i'm talking about when i say you know that it's recognized by both god and man but all these years now it's been 25 years and all these years i can't tell you how many times that i've spoken to people about things warned them about things and not just strangers not just people who didn't know but people who knew that dean was close to god and heard the voice of god people that knew that god had called me to the office of a prophet and that of a pastor people who knew this and and many times said i i just i'm in awe how god speaks to you and how god uses you but it's funny how they do that until it doesn't agree with something they want to do [Music] but i can't tell you how many times i've warned people if you do this this is what's going to happen to you and they disregarded that council and they went and did what i told them not to do and they suffered great pain let's look at this we're going to read verse 7 first he says this remember them that have the rule over you now let's just stop right there for a second what does that imply that's right that implies that in the spirit spiritually there's somebody that should have the rule over you that you should be submitted to right you choose your spiritual leaders you choose who's going to be your pastor you choose who is going to be your elders but once you choose that guess what the bible says they have the rule now does that mean i'm supposed to tell people everything to do in their life no and i try very hard not to do that but there's certain times when i gotta say it's this way or it's that way you should listen if pastor d never butts in your life but finally one day says hey you know i think this is bad right here i think you might want to change it it looks like you know what you could say man he's never done that before i'm very you know i want to be very careful about the spiritual authority and influence god's given me i don't abuse it i don't try to abuse it but i just stand in awe people who say
wow man you're anointed wow you're full of the bible knowledge wow god really really works so you really speaks to wow the prophetic gifts really flow through you wow that was really from god man you really you you really heard from god on that one and not two or three weeks later well you're not hearing from god on this because this is what i want to do and trust me it's usually some sin or some compromise or something that's questionable behavior and i say something about it oh but i could hear from god before but now it's dealing with you so now i can't oh i see enjoy what's about to happen let's read he said [Music] boy and tell you this goes against americans they just think they're they're all islands unto themselves don't we he says remember them that have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of god whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation or their behavior so once you figure out these people spoken to me the word of god these people are called of god these people are placed by god i've watched their faith i've watched their behavior they're a man of god they're a woman of god he said remember that keep it in your mind why let's go over to verse 17. well let's read verse 8 9 verse he said remember the end of their conversation jesus christ the same yesterday today and forever he says be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines so that's one of the reasons he doesn't want you to reject authorities and people god puts in your life once you know they're for real and be very careful with these things and look what he says in verse 17 i love this verse don't preach on it enough because i know americans don't like it but it's tough right obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you obey that means to comply that means to recognize that there are people that have a higher rank in the kingdom of god than you do and you should listen something i i've noticed there's two books that have been written on the subject so this is not just pastor dean but i want to show you two of the best books you could possibly read on this subject outside of just reading the bible stories themselves this this book right here spiritual authority by watchmen knee
he was a chinese apostle man of god planted numerous churches suffered uh in prison for many years in chinese prison for christianity they finally cut his tongue out and he died in prison but this man had a walk with god and a revelation of god and this book is unmatched on the subject of spiritual authority he oversaw pastors and planted hundreds and hundreds of churches he was one of the most influential leaders of christianity in china back in the early 1900s night to 1920s and so powerful book here by watchmenis spiritual authority uh 2001 one of my favorite ministers contemporary ministers and writers a guy named john bevere he wrote a bestselling book called the bait of satan on forgiveness he the fear of the lord but he wrote this book in 2001 and it's called your undercover your secret place of freedom and he quotes a lot from watchmene and just gives a lot of his personal testimonies but a lot of good word in here so i want you to see that within this one within this book of john bevere and this book of watchmen knee they cover these same verses so that i'm talking to you about this more so there's nothing new in christianity rebellion has been around since satan rebelled against god all right since satan rebelled and the angels rebelled the third of the angels that rebelled with him rebellion see and this is what a lot of people you know they don't think about what made lucifer the wonderful beautiful anointed cherub the archangel who was before the throne of god whom god made chief of all angels what made him become satan the devil the unclean the perverted it wasn't drunkenness it wasn't sex it wasn't drugs [Music] yes but pride what how did the pride manifest itself he said i will exalt my throne above the throne of god he had a place of authority what he was saying was i'm going to put my authority above god's and god said no you will not i will put you down in the pit of hell for this [Music] the sin of rebellion against god's direct authority and against his delegated authority is serious so when the bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft
and stubbornness is the same as the sin of idolatry when you refuse to listen to god's messengers to god's voice through the bible and through those messengers you are committing the sin of both witchcraft and idolatry that's in first samuel 15 if you want to look it up he says for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry i can't tell you how many times i have heard pastor i know that's what the bible says but or how someone's tried to talk me into it me agreeing with them that it's okay for them to cheat on their wife or their husband or leave their wife or their husband when they don't have grounds to do so i can't tell you how many times i don't start trying to justify don't start trying to twist don't start trying to talk me into approving of your behavior ain't gonna happen now are there pastors out there that'll let people get away with everything sure are it's sad but sometimes it's because of a they're worried about losing a tithe check sometimes they know that if they put somebody in their place rebuke them correct them or even maybe put them out of the church because they won't repent they're going to lose some people or some people are going to turn against them and that's sad because what happens what happens if you if you don't deal with rebellion parents gets worse doesn't it and let let this be known people who don't respect god's delegated authority can say all day long they respect god's authority but they don't jesus said that if you were of god he and he told the pharisees he said if you are of god you would receive me because i came from god but because you don't receive me you don't have him either oh jesus said to his disciples he that hears you hears me paul said this in first corinthians 14 he said follow me as i follow christ you see god didn't put us out here as lone rangers that's why the church is important let's look at the authority within the church for a second go to
first corinthians chapter 12. everybody with me this morning i know i'm a little stirring this morning but this is for your protection because see whether you listen to me or not i'm gonna be all right whether you listen to me or not i'll be fine i'm not going to suffer for your disobedience especially if i warned you all right and i'm not in here you know look at look at look at look at our church i'm not out to win a popularity contest i'm out to do what god said to do amen i can't tell you how many times that i have in pastoring churches caused the biggest tither to walk out the door one in montgomery biggest tither made a racist comment to me after a church service and we were a multi-racial congregation and he made the comment in passing now the biggest tithers in our church made the comment in passing about a black family in our church well i know they'll go to heaven but i said but what well you know i said no i don't know but what i said i tell you what that racism and prejudice that's in your heart i said they will go to heaven you won't until that's removed they never came back to church you know what i wonder my issue was not whether they came to church or not my issue was did they ever deal with the racism and the prejudice in their heart that would keep them from heaven see as a pastor that's what i'm concerned about i'm more concerned about where they make it to heaven than whether they give their tithes in church so i'm willing to say what needs to be said hoping that they'll deal with their sin and their problem and won't end up in hell over it one another one that that gave thousands well usually when they wrote a check it was thousands of dollars wanted to teach a sunday school class i specifically told them there were certain things they were not going to teach [Music] guess what they did the first sunday school class that i let them teach taught the exact opposite of what i just told them guess what that was their last sunday school class and that was their last church service see i can tolerate somebody struggling with sin in their life i'm not going to tolerate somebody
rebelling go find a pastor that puts up with that myth and you'll go to hell sitting under him because he doesn't care for your soul he ain't bold enough to tell you what needs to be said say i love you all i love people that don't even go to our church i counsel all kinds of people constantly at work kevin will tell you we have all kinds of discussions it's important to listen where were we i said go to first corinthians 12 y'all okay this morning it's just me i'm a little warm i have to admit there is something going on that i'm going to have to deal with and it is irritating me a little bit this morning but god's been laying on this on my heart for a long time i want you to see something about the church in the church god didn't just say you know we're all equals when it comes to authority we're all equal in the sense that god looks at us as all in need of forgiveness all in need of the cross all in need of his spirit he looks at us all in that similar fashion no man or woman is better than the other in the sense of sin but god calls some and places some and delegates some to do certain things it's just like a marriage i'm not better than my wife we're equals when it comes to standing before god we will both give an account for our lives and our sins but within the home god has given me the position as the head of the family and we can discuss things peacefully and we can love each other and we can disagree but when the final decision comes down that is up to me and she won't give an account for the decisions that i make she'll give an account whether she obeyed them and was truly submissive in her heart as god wants her to be i give an account to god for the decisions i make and even if i make the wrong ones she's still to be submissive and obedient to me unless i tell her to do something that's clearly against the bible and then she doesn't have to if i told her not to go to church or to watch pornography or something like that she can say no sir see what i'm saying but otherwise and there's something i'm gonna i'll i'll share with wives later maybe not in this message but one day you need to hear something i read last night blew my mind it'll help you though first corinthians chapter 12. talking about order
in the church oh let's go down let's see verse 27. it says now ye are the body of christ and members in particular and god hath set some in the church and you need to listen here close god has set some in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles and then gifts of healing helps governments diversities of tongues then he asked are all apostles are all prophets are all teachers are all workers of miracles have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret he says but covet earnestly the bet's gifts yet i show you a more excellent way so here he says god has set some in the church first now this word first here means in the greek in order and rank okay and he spells out who is first who is second who is third and down the line why because god knew his kingdom was not to be a democracy see that's why i tell people that's why it's not biblical for a church to vote you understand that's hard for americans to get a hold of because we live in a democratic republic and everybody thinks that that you know voting is the way to go that's fine for our form of government but for the church the church is not a democracy it is a theocracy god is in charge god calls and delegates certain leaders to be in charge those leaders delegate and give and ordain other leaders to be in charge and we don't vote on the direction a church is supposed to go god tells those in charge and they go that way that's why i say around here we don't vote we you can vote with your feet right either vote to be here or you vote not to be here right and that's beautiful isn't it i know there was a there was a pastor in texas years ago that i love to listen to and he said you know i make a lot of you nervous he said you didn't hire me so you can't fire me right people didn't call me to be a pastor people didn't call me to be a prophet everybody could walk out the door and there could be no fire in grace church i would still be a prophet i'd still be a pastor amen that doesn't affect it so i want you to see god has set sob in the church there is order even among the apostles there was order i'm not going to get into all these scriptures right now but even within the apostles you go to acts 15 and when they brought the council together at
jerusalem and paul was there and peter was there and and james and john and all the apostles and they were discussing the issues about the gentiles and should the gentiles keep the law how much of the law should the gentiles keep and all of this debate going on and you had these jews who were christians but they were still trying to hang on to all the rituals and and things of judaism and then you had these gentiles that didn't know anything about judaism and you had all of this going on and so paul shares what he's been doing among the gentiles and what he's been preaching and then peter shares how god used him and did what what he was to do you know when he took the word to the gentiles to cornelius's house but then finally when the decision had to be made james stood up and said this is how it's going to be so even among the apostles there was order and that's why paul said i am the least of the apostles he even said i was born out of due time he submitted to them there was not this tug of war well i'm a bigger apostle than you are well i'm the one that was at the grave right you know it wasn't any of this no no god obviously had made it clear who was the chief apostle and they submitted to each other even within a group of apostles who are first in rank in the kingdom right see this would blow a lot of pastor's mind the prophets are ahead of them they just don't like to admit it i won't get on that one until later but obey those that have the rule over you hebrews 13 17 obey those that have the rule over you and submit yourselves what for they watch over your souls and do this so that they can do it with joy and not with grief you know what gives me great joy when i preach something or maybe i counsel you about something or i prophesy over you and i know it's a word from the lord and i see you diligently take hold of that and do it try to put it into practice try to live it out maybe you don't do it perfectly but you're trying that brings great joy to my heart but don't sit down with me and talk about how you love and respect me and then ask my advice and i give it to you and then you go do the opposite you don't respect what i just said you
don't respect me as a spiritual leader you are not listening because there's something you want more than you want to obey it's just that simple and sometimes you know what some of these things may be gray areas they may be you know we can't spell it all out in the word there's maybe it's not something clear but i'll tell you this much the bible says in the multitude of counselors there are safety but not just any counselor you can always find a bunch of yes men he says don't sit in the counsel of the ungodly if their advice is not godly don't sit in it he says those who attain proverbs truth those who attain to what wise counsels see the wise will dwell among the wise but fools despise wisdom does this sound familiar you know i'm just talking proverbs out of my mouth right i'll tell you this much you have a rebellious problem and a pride problem if you cannot be corrected by somebody about something if somebody rebukes you or reproves you or corrects you or says no that's not right or you're doing this wrong or whatever and immediately you get defensive and come out if you can't take it then you've got a pride and a rebellion problem it exposes see i mean there's people that i know i can't even speak to because if i dare say um that's i'm sorry but that's not right that's wrong it's gonna be world war three they're gonna fly off the handle go nuts because i guess i just met the the first perfect person right [Music] y'all know what i'm talking about let me share this with you something that we have to be careful about is putting our mouths against people that god's putting authority and not just and i'm not talking about just pastors i'm talking about at work you want to know one of the quickest ways to lose your job start talking bad about your boss it will get back to him or her you're supposed to honor them and respect them even if you don't agree with what they're doing you honor and respect them especially in front of others right kids with your teachers
as long as they're not asking you to do something evil or sinful you're supposed to obey them and respect them if they say listen to me if they say get this test in or this homework in by friday if you don't you're being rebellious right i'll tell you something else we all need to repent over is railing against our president is he wrong morally about a lot of positions that he takes absolutely it's not my job to fix him i can't fix him but he stands in an office of authority and we should pray for him and respect the office it's okay to disagree but there are people who rail and dishonor him and god's convicted me i'm not doing any more of it i think we get the leaders that we deserve think about it we're wicked rebellious compromised lukewarm watered down christianity in america and we expect to get a godly leader to lead us god will give us what what we are our nation wants to kill babies wants homosexuality wants all this stuff we got a president now that wants all that we get what we deserve we got the most anti-christ anti-biblical anti-morality president probably we've ever had but god gave him that spot and you know what god gave him that spot because no man comes into authority except by god god gave him that spot i believe to help bring about the very prophecies that god spoke in his bible that are going to happen somehow obama fulfills the purpose of god somehow clinton fulfilled a purpose somehow george w bush fulfilled the purpose god used pharaoh he said about pharaoh i raised up pharaoh for this very purpose god said i've raised him up to bring him down i raised pharaoh up to show my power to the whole earth god's going to let the antichrist come to power and rule over the whole world now why do we not have to obey him because he's going to order us to deny christ to worship him to take a mark god said not to take everything that he says we can say no we're not doing that
i think sometimes you know sometimes we uh we don't realize you know if i was standing in the oval office you know what i would address him as mr president or if i was talking to him if he walked up in the street right there mr president how are you today how what can i do for you now does that mean i wouldn't sit down if we were having a conversation and tell him that he's going to stand before god and give an account oh i would tell him but i wouldn't call him a buffoon an idiot a fool you see what i'm saying i respect we we gotta learn some things amen wives getting mouthy with your husbands is not a good thing god wants you to respect him his god's order for a man is to love his wife and he's not always going to be perfect in that i can assure you but his order to the wife is to respect and obey her husband a man needs that more than he needs love to a man listen to me to a man that is love like gentleness and kindness and and help is love showing love to a woman to a man it's respect and respect is not just saying honey i respect you it's when i say something you know okay my kids they show me they respect me when they do what i say because that means that they they care about what dad wants and what dad desires don't say i respect you and then don't listen to a thing i say it's a lie right i think we'll get more on some of this family issues maybe next week where'd i tell you to turn did i take a turn somewhere just corinthians yeah i think it was after a birthday oh yeah i know where i was gonna go go with me to numbers all the way back and i'm thinking this number is 12 and i'm gonna finish here that's right i was gonna talking about getting mouthy in the front it's uh exodus i mean uh genesis
exodus leviticus i'm sorry i'm getting it wrong leviticus and then numbers yeah and i think it's numbers 12 let me see i'm doing this just i hadn't turned to this in a long time ah yes here we go numbers chapter 12. look at a little story here now we know that god had called moses right to be the leader of the children of israel spiritual leader he was their spiritual leader he was their civil leader he was everything for them at this point but god also called aaron his brother aaron and miriam aaron to be the high priest and miriam was a prophetess and they were assisting called to assist moses and what god called him to do and they actually happened to be aaron and miriam were his older brother and older sister yet god had him in charge all right all right let's read see it's always not always about an age issue as much as it is a calling and miriam and aaron spake against moses because of the ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an ethiopian woman and they said hath the lord indeed spoken only by moses has he not spoken also by us and look what it says and the lord heard it oh now the man moses was very meek above all the men which were on the face of the earth and the lord spake suddenly unto moses and unto aaron and unto miriam he said come ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation and they three came out and the lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called aaron and miriam and they both came forth and he said hear now my words if there be a prophet among you i love that if there be a prophet among you if there be a prophet among you i the lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream my servant moses is not so who is faithful in all my house with him will i speak mouth to mouth even apparently and not in dark speeches and the similitude of the lord shall he behold wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant moses and the anger of the lord was kindled against them and he departed and the cloud departed from off the tabernacle and behold miriam became leprous white as snow and aaron looked upon miriam and behold she was leprous so immediately god's judgment came into this situation but what was their problem and this is a problem i'm telling you i have heard it
even this week well i hear from the lord really that's good i hope you do i hear from the lord we all need to just hear from the lord for ourselves we don't need to listen to any spiritual authorities really trouble coming to you it's as plain and simple as the sun's going to rise in the morning and it's going to set in the evening right aaron and miriam what did they let get away from them they started thinking you know look at moses ain't perfect he married you know israelites weren't supposed to marry outside of their race of people back then and so moses had married this ethiopian opening one but they forgot one little one little issue about this is he was married to her before god appeared to him in the burning bush and called him to go to egypt so god must have been okay right see people who start rebelling against authority don't think things through and so they start what first thing you do when you're going to rebel against authority is you got to start speaking against it because you got to tear it down a little to make yourself feel a little better and in this situation because they were leaders of over 3 million people who were in the desert and needed god's supernatural provision and protection every day god wasn't going to tolerate and can i say this just because you think you're getting away with it right now don't mean that judgment is not coming swiftly discipline will come how many of you all know that god's discipline thank god that it's not sometimes it's not as harsh as this old testament discipline but what happened to her leprosy do you know what leprosy was an incurable disease incurable to this day it's still incurable the only way you get healed from leprosy is a miracle of god that's it or you start losing limbs and you die it's a horrible disease it just eats you away boy i'm gonna tell you what this right here the moment you start fighting a man or woman of god
your troubles shall begin and then they say it's not going to be pretty boy have i watched this god has brought people through this church that he wanted to help i've had people come to this altar in tears they come up here i've given altar calls and they've come up here and cried their eyeballs out at one point every every spot in this room has been filled and people have come up here crying in tears but they wouldn't let go they wouldn't listen they wouldn't listen to the word i preached they wouldn't listen to the prophetic words i gave they wouldn't listen to the counsel given to them and now some of them are falling away from god been living in sin divorced destroyed and somehow got to pick up the pieces two are divorced now that had they listened they'd still be okay they'd still be married they'd be walking with god i'm going to stop right here because this is enough for today god takes this seriously now i know this is y'all's first service and i don't mean to freak you out i'm not some tyrant that everything's got to be my way am i but i just i i just don't understand people that can love you and say you hear from god one minute but the moment it conflicts with something they want to do oh we can't listen to him anymore [Music] so i have to go from being peaceful nice pastor dean to being stern and giving the stern warnings of what's going to happen so let's look at the moral of this real quick recognize those in authority over you to whom god has placed and don't take lightly their position or the things they say to you respect them honor them and listen listen closely to what they tell you and you'll be blessed and you'll prosper if you're obedient and submissive to god first the word of god and those leaders that you are godly that god has put in your life god will bless your path god will protect you god will prosper you god will move you
and you will prosper spiritually and emotionally and physically god will prosper but if you put your mouths on them if you resist if you rebel if you fight if you choose to not listen to instruction to the word of god to the warnings to the correction and you want to rebel then you're going to suffer you're going to suffer for it some people are in prison because they didn't listen i remember i used to go preach in prisons pretty regular when i was over in montgomery here i went to ventress i used to go to tuttweiler i'll never forget this i led a girl to the lord when she was like 19 years old she went off to college we even ended up at her college doing some ministry at her college she would come to the meeting she was on fire for god love god and i preached the same way back then as i preached now you've got to live obedient lives you've got to love god you've got to forsake drunkenness and partying and wickedness and lust and you've got to go all the way with jesus and i mean i preach the same way i hadn't changed i can change my my foundational doctrines or theology or the way i preach and that girl was saved and she was on fire for the lord and that was probably in about 1994 1990 yeah 1994. six years later i walk into ventress correctional facility for women the only full maximum security prison for women in the state of alabama i preached there once a month had usually had about 120 women in the chapel every sunday night that i went i walk in i'm getting ready to preach actually i would lead worship and then i'd preach and i had assistance with me from my church and this girl sitting on the front row and i'm like she looked a little familiar and she walked up to me with tears running down her face she said you don't remember me do you and i said you look familiar because she she her hair was different everything she goes i'm sandy she was in the white uniform and she tears running down her face and you know what she was saying the whole time while she was sobbing i should have listened to you i should have listened to you i should have listened to you as you know what she did she went back to partying and drinking with her friends and was drinking and driving one night and hit someone and killed them [Music] and she was in the hospital for months and when she woke up from her coma they took her to prison
this is not a game this is life god had me speak to a man at work one time this was in montgomery before i started the church at montgomery and god had me witness to this guy i remember he was a 60 59 60 year old guy black guy named barry and the lord spoke to me at work and i i just started this job and i was not going to talk a lot i was just going to let people see it first and see my you know see my christianity before i started running my mouth but god almost within a week the lord spoke to me and said i want you to talk to barry and the lord told me barry's lived his whole life away from me he's not saved but he goes to church i want you to speak to him about what it really means to be born again i got to started talking to barry found out that yeah he went to church every week he sang in the choir he did specials he sang specials but you know what barry did every weekend before he went to church and second he got off work he took his paycheck and he went and bought all the alcohol he could buy he stayed drunk all weekend he sobered up enough by sunday morning he'd go to church and sing in the choir and he thought he was going to heaven i explained to him that he was not that he needed to be born again he admitted to me after i explained it that he was not born again he knew according to the word you can't be a drunkard and go to heaven i showed him i made it clear i showed him the bible i told him i said god spoke to me specifically and told me to warn you he wouldn't listen i tried to get him to pray with me i tried to get him to pray with me he wouldn't listen he wouldn't listen he wouldn't listen three weeks went by and i tried finally my job took our crew and moved us we went we started working in memphis tennessee he was still working in alabama his son and i were sharing a hotel room in memphis tennessee working for the construction company we worked for when the phone call came that his daddy barry had gotten drunk that friday night [Music] and ran his truck into a tree and killed himself [Music] didn't listen didn't listen you know what he's going to remember for all eternity while he burns in hell and the torment and while the worms eat him and while his flesh burns off and comes back and burns off again while all that's going on the torment of hell the longing for one drop of water you know what he's going to remember me he's going to remember that young little white boy that kept trying to convince him to give jesus his life to get saved before it was too late but it's too late now
don't rebel against god don't rebel against god's word don't rebel against the messengers of god that he sends into your life it'll mean life and death for some in eternity let's pray father in heaven i ask you lord to help us lord to grasp these truths lord those of us sitting in this room those of us who lord those who will hear this by my podcast by cd or people all of the united states all over the world may hear this message those that hear i want to say this do not disregard what i say you need to listen to the word of god you need to listen to what god says is right and wrong you need to listen to those prophets pastors and men of god that god sends into your life you need to listen when they give you godly instruction and godly wisdom to do the right things you need to listen and you need to obey and you need to have submissive hearts and you need to change your ways before it's too late father i ask you in jesus name for your holy ghost power and conviction to set these truths deep down within everyone here and everyone who will hear this message to respect authorities that god has set up to respect spiritual leaders to respect those that god that you have anointed and called and who are warding them and who are looking out and watching out for their souls and want them to make it to heaven lord god speak to people's heart about this issue of rebellion and change before it's too late help them change everyone i want you to stand this morning before we go this morning is a morning to repent if you've been rebellious i don't want to leave here without giving an opportunity for y'all to say you know what pastor dean that was for me i hear you i've been doing that i need forgiveness and i want to pray with you so if that's you i want you to just step up here right now we're going to pray for you before we go anybody need prayer over this i want you to i want you to step up here and we're going to pray amen anybody else because we want to pray that it's rooted
out anybody else you