The Present Day Ministry Of Jesus 4

This message offers a compelling and devotional reflection on the current, active ministry of Jesus Christ—a theme often overlooked in modern faith discussions. It centers on five key roles that Jesus fulfills right now on behalf of believers: High Priest, Mediator, Intercessor, Advocate, and Lord. Each of these roles is deeply rooted in Scripture and theological tradition, but the way you’ve framed them makes their relevance immediate and personal.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make
Jesus glad, the devil mad.
Let's say this together SayHeavenly Father, I'm so glad to
be here today.
I celebrate your righteousness,I celebrate your lordship.
Jesus, you're my Lord, father.
We thank you for Jesus, wethank you for the Holy Ghost.

(00:21):
You provided everything we needfor success down here on the
earth.
As it is in heaven, so it shallbe on earth.
In Jesus' name, amen, amen.
Let's turn in our Bibles toHebrews, chapter 8.
And I want to share with youthe last and final part of a

(00:43):
message that we started severalweeks ago the present day
ministry of Jesus.
This is fourth, the fourthmessage, and we'll start reading
in Hebrews, eight, verse oneNow, of the things which we have
spoken, this is the sum.
What has he been speaking about?

(01:04):
Well, you know, as I've saidmany times, hebrews theme is
Jesus is better, and so Ibelieve Hebrews, written by the
apostle Paul, doesn't say so,but I believe that it's the same
kind of language.
He uses same type of revelation.
So, if I'm wrong, well, I'llrepent after I get to heaven and
find out different.
But anyway, regardless, it saysthat Jesus is better than the

(01:29):
angels.
It starts by saying that Jesusis better than Moses.
Moses was so revered by Israelthat God had to hide his body.
He died on Mount Pisgah and Godhid his body so that the Jews
wouldn't find his body and turnit into an idol.
I mean, they had knowledge ofembalming from the Egyptians and

(01:54):
they knew how to preserve abody for a long time.
You know, they've got thosetombs in Egypt where they have
the kings and the pharaohs, andtheir bodies are preserved out
of thousands of years.
It's amazing what they can doback then.
And so God said to hid his body.
He was so highly revered.
Jesus is better than Moses.

(02:14):
Jesus is better than Aaron, thehigh priest, and so the things
which we have spoken this is thesum he says, for every high
priest is ordained to offergifts and sacrifices, wherefore

(02:46):
it is of necessity that this man, jesus, have somewhat also to
offer.
Verse six but now hath heobtained a more excellent
ministry.
By how much?
Also he is the mediator of abetter covenant founded upon
better or established uponbetter promises.

(03:09):
So the present day ministry ofJesus is vital for the believer
to have a revelation of whatJesus is doing at the right hand
of the Father.
Right now he has a ministry,he's not sitting in a recliner,
he's not retired Amen.
He's got a very specific jobdescription that he is faithful

(03:29):
to execute, and so his greatsubstitutionary work would be
largely wasted on us, on the newcreation, if that new creation
didn't understand what he'sdoing right now.
We would be picked off one byone, we would be subject to this
world's temptations and withoutany real revelation of what

(03:50):
he's doing right now.
I mean, you know, we just kindof just all by ourself.
Well, we're not all by ourself.
Praise God, he was set on theright hand of the majesty, on
high, fixed and abode appointed,settled down.
First of all, there's fivethings that he's.
He's the high priest, and ahigh priest was, you know, we

(04:11):
talked about that in week one.
He's one who is authorized toadminister, execute, uh,
implement and carry into effectour profession or our confession
of faith.
And I just appreciate Mark andTrenta Hankins last week.
I mean, brother Mark gets backto the confession.

(04:32):
He's so strong on the power ofour words.
You know, I got saved.
I was just like everybody else.
I'm a little baby.
I don't know how to talk.
I don't know how to think.
I'm a baby, I don't know how totalk, I don't know how to think
.
I'm a baby.
I'm still in this body thatwanted to do all the things that

(04:53):
it did before I got saved.
I mean, my body kind of stillwanted to make beers.
14.7% alcohol or one beer wouldsend me on my way.
7% alcohol or one beer wouldsend me on my way.
And you know, I wanted the eye,but the eye had been replaced
with a new creature.
But the new creature was a baby.

(05:13):
Got to learn how to talk.
I'll never forget reading.
You know there's a miracle inyour mouth Little old mini book.
I'd go to Lakewood.
You know I started going toLakewood and I'd go in the
bookstore and I had all thesemini books.
I started with the mini booksand they had these mini books
miracle in your mouth.
That book has gone all the wayaround the world and back and I

(05:39):
was amazed when I read that bookI got on fire.
I started learning how to talk.
I had to retrain myself, learnhow to talk.
So he is the high priest overour confession.
He administers it.
See, he administered it righthere.
People died for us to have thisword right here.
Blood has been shed all overthe world for us to have this

(06:02):
Bible.
We ought to revere the Bible,but we ought to revere the words
in it, to make it part of us.
And then it was written so itcould be spoken.
It was spoken so it could bewritten.
It was written so it could bespoken.
And so he's the high priest headministers it, executes,
implements, carries into effectour profession of faith.

(06:23):
We have to believe it in ourheart, speak with our mouth.
Secondly, he's the mediator.
A mediator is one whointervenes between two and
essentially the mediator isnecessary for the lost, because
they're lost.
And without a mediator at theright hand of the Father who's
pointing to his blood, see tothink about you know, just think

(06:46):
about Cornelius.
Cornelius was on the wrongtrack.
He was a Jewish proselyte buthe was not saved.
But his prayers and his almscame up before the mediator.
The mediator looked at thefather and said look at this
blood.
I shed my blood for Cornelius.
He doesn't know about it.
Let's send somebody down thereto tell him that's a mediator at

(07:09):
work.
Your unsaved loved ones, whenyou're praying for them.
They've got a mediator up therethat's going to do his part in
that.
Are you with me.
Now We've got strong, we've gotsuch strong assurance for our
loved ones.
Well, my kids, they just don'tdo what I well, keep praying,

(07:30):
thanking.
Well, pray, but then startthanking God for their salvation
.
You don't have to beg God, callit done.
And so, mediator, everybody saymediator.
And then the last time, weekbefore last, intercessor and
advocate, which are very closetogether, he ever liveth to make

(07:52):
intercession for us.
We need someone praying for us,why?
Well, especially when I was ababy Christian, I didn't know
what I didn't know.
So I've got an intercessor upthere.
Jesus is praying for me.
No, so I've got an intercessorup there.
Jesus is praying for me.
Others are praying for me, buthe's praying for me.
He has a vested interest.
He's got a dog in the hut.

(08:14):
Huh, I mean, was his blood shedor not?
That blood is right there inthe mercy seat and he's having
to come.
See, john doesn't know what hedoesn't know.
Now, father, let's not hold thatagainst him, bumbling,
stumbling around, making allkind of mistakes.
But you know, thank God, I havesomebody praying for me and I

(08:35):
have an advocate.
See, the advocate is kind of mylawyer.
Wouldn't you love to have alawyer like Jesus man, oh you do
.
I have an attorney, amen.
That's another story altogether, but anyway, all right.
So, um, he's our today.
We're going to get into the uh,you know all these, these, these

(08:57):
things, these ministries worktogether.
They overlap one another andthey just they, they, they
amount to.
When you get a revelation ofthat, you're not easily
buffaloed by the mistakes youmake.
You don't just let them takeyou down.
I've, I've lived long enough tosee people.
They, you know, christian sinand they, they lie.

(09:18):
Well, if you were a Christian,you wouldn't have done that.
Well, that's a lie.
We're capable of almostanything, just like the world is
.
But the difference is we don'twant to do that and we feel bad
about it.
The world never feels bad aboutwhat they do.
They double down.
Look at the Democrats.
They're doubling down on theirignorance.

(09:39):
I mean, it's amazing.
How do you go for these weirdoscompeting against our girls?
I mean dressing in the dressingroom.
I was reading about a girl whowon't even go in the locker room
.
She changed her clothes in hercar.
This is idiocy.
10 years ago, if we'd everheard about such a thing, the

(10:00):
entire nation would have risenup and put that off.
But no, we just little bylittle, by little by little.
It started with gay marriage2014.
That was the beginning of theend.
Well, now it's the beginning ofthe beginning.
I'm going to get rid of thisgarbage, all right.
So today we're going to starttalking about, and wind up

(10:24):
talking about, jesus, the Lordand head of the church.
That's his fifth present dayministry.
He is the Lord and he's head ofthe church.
So let's look at Philippians,chapter two.
Got a couple of verses hereAgain.
I want you to know these thingsbecause it'll help you stay
strong when you're under attack.
These things because it'll helpyou stay strong when you're

(10:47):
under attack.
It'll keep you from beinglonely when you have loss in
your life, when relationships gosouth, when people turn against
you.
I mean, if you live long enough, you're going to have friends
that differ and go the other wayand might even talk bad about
you.
You know all these kinds ofthings, these temptations.
Jesus was touched in all points,like as we are, yet without sin

(11:10):
.
He's.
He's for you.
Philippians, chapter two, verseeight.
And being found in fashion as aman talking about Jesus.
He humbled himself and becameobedient under death, even the
death of the cross, whereforeGod also hath highly exalted him

(11:31):
and given him a name aboveevery name, that at the name of
Jesus, every knee, everybodyshout.
Every knee, every knee shallbow of things.
Now, the word things there isitalicized.
It's not in the Greek, but itimplies every being, every word,

(11:58):
every condition, every sicknesshas to bow its knee.
Every tongue should confess.
See, every knee and everytongue, everybody say.
Every knee and every tongue,Every tongue should confess that

(12:19):
Jesus Christ is Lord To theglory of God the Father.
Well, you know, it just doesn'tlook like he's Lord over this
country.
Well, he's Lord anyway.
It's not about this countryacknowledging, it's about the.
It's a fact.
And so every time we stand upand say Jesus is Lord over
Houston, jesus is Lord overHarris County, jesus, it doesn't

(12:43):
matter what the condition is.
The fact is the Bible.
Fact is that Jesus is the Lordand master in head.
Fact is the Bible.
Fact is that Jesus is the Lordand master in head.
He's been exalted.
Until we start saying that withconfidence and voting like it
and spreading the word Amen,alright, so he's Lord, alright.

(13:05):
And then Colossians, just a fewpages to the right, 1, 18.
And he, jesus, is the head ofthe body, the church, who is the
beginning, the firstborn fromthe dead, that in all things he

(13:27):
might have the preeminence thathe might have.
When you see the word might inthe epistles, it's always
indicative of a choice we haveto make.
It's not on God.
It's not on God.
He is the head, but he mightnot be the head of you.
He might not have thepreeminence in your life and in

(13:49):
your decisions.
See, it's up to us to see to itthat he has the preeminence.
He is the head.
So Jesus is Lord and he's headof the church.
You know the word Lord is used700 times in the New Testament.
It must be pretty important.
700 times it talks about Lord.

(14:19):
In our society Lord is justkind of not a word that's.
We talk about the Lord, youknow, but I mean as far as usage
.
We don't really have anunderstanding of what Lord means
.
What does Lord mean?
Well, it means master, it meansboss man.

(14:41):
I used to have Ray Williams.
He planted all my yard back inthe back of the day when I built
houses we did not sod the yard,we we sprigged the yard on
16-inch centers.
We had these grass sprigs aboutthis long and he had this sack
around him, you know, and he hadfull of sprigs.
He'd go over to a piece of sod.

(15:03):
He would take maybe a couple ofpieces of sod and do an entire
yard, whereas when we sod a yardwe got to have a big old stack.
I just got through having toredo my whole front yard, thank
God.
I mean it was only $3,300, butthank God I had $3,300.
There were times in my lifewhen I didn't have $33, much
less $3,300.

(15:23):
But something got in my yardand it just destroyed my front
yard.
It looked horrible so I had tosod it.
It looks great.
It looks better now than it'sever looked.
But back then, you know, raywould go out there and he would
water the yard and get it muddy.
I mean, it looked horrible.
It was mud running down thegutter, down the driveway, over

(15:46):
the curb, and he'd get out therebarefooted I called him the
barefoot Contessa and he wouldhit it with his heel, throw the
sprig down and cover it overwith his foot and he'd go down
the yard like that, you know,throwing it down there.
I'd get a phone call.
Oh, he's making a mess, are youkidding?
You said you'd plant grass.
I said I'm planting it rightnow.

(16:07):
I you said you'd plant grass.
I said I'm planting it rightnow.
I said go through thesubdivision.
Every yard you see that's niceand green started just like
yours.
Now, when he finishes, you'regoing to have to keep that yard
as wet as it is Right now.
You're going to have to keep itas wet like that for at least
30 days.
Do you know how hard that is?
That means you need to go buythere's three hose bibs on the
outside of your house.

(16:27):
You need to go buy three longhoses that's a lot of money for
hoses and you need to buy threewater sprinklers and put them
all on at the same time.
Otherwise you'll be all day andall night watering, but you can
get all three of them workingat the same time and you can
keep your yard really wet.
And after 30 days they'll root.
And if you'll keep it prettywet for another 30 days, you'll

(16:51):
have your yard started and it'lllook green no time at all.
By the end of the summer you'llhave a yard.
But I had to sell them on it.
You know they wanted to pay theprice for a sod, but they
didn't pay the price for the sodthey paid the price for a sprig
Down the street.
Some yo-ho down the street,some yo-ho this dumb that

(17:13):
doesn't know how to make aprofit on a house.
I had one guy that I had tocompete with and he was a pilot.
He was a second officer in theConcord, co-pilot in the Concord
for Braniff Air.
How many of you ever heard ofBraniff Airlines?
See, they've been bankrupt for40 years.
You never heard of them becausethey went away.
But they originally had the.

(17:33):
They had.
There was only three airlinesin the whole world that had the
Concorde British OverseasAirways and Air France and
Braniff.
I went out to the back then itwas Jotaro, went out to Jotaro
before it was IntercontinentalBush and I saw that thing coming
in for a land looked like aduck.
You know it'd come in like thatthe whole front of the bird,

(17:57):
the plane would be slanted andthe nose would be this way.
It'd come in like thisBeautiful, beautiful plane.
I got to fly on one withBrother Osteen, mach 2.
I sat by the window and it'shot, it's so fast.
You're at about 60,000 feetabove the Atlantic going to

(18:18):
Paris from New York, and it's sohot.
The skin is just hot.
I mean I'm sweating the wholetime.
Little old tiny plane, tinylittle seats, and there's no
telling how much money it costsfor that, for that ticket.
But he got them free because heflew all the time on Air France
.
It was a bonus for him.

(18:40):
But anyway, getting back to youknow we've, we've got to, we've
got to grow in the things of God.
God starts as a seed.
He starts in your mind and inyour heart and in your body.
Your mind begins to get renewedwith the truth and now your
mind and your spirit start tovote on each decision and make

(19:05):
your flesh do what it most ofthe time doesn't want to do.
In my flesh dwelleth no goodthing.
Your flesh never wants to makea good decision.
Your flesh always wants to seekto take the easy way out.
It wants to be selfish, itwants to do its own thing.
Just because you're saveddoesn't mean that you make Jesus

(19:29):
as Lord over these decisions.
It doesn't happen automatic.
You grow in these things.
So when we were saved, what didwe do?
Romans 10, 9 and 10 that if youshall confess with your mouth
Jesus is Lord and believe inyour heart God raised him from

(19:50):
the dead, you shall be saved,for with a heart man believeth
unto righteousness, but with amouth confession is made unto
salvation.
And so the Bible says also in 1Corinthians 6, 17, that he that
is joined to the Lord hasbecome one spirit with the Lord.
The moment you got saved, youbecame Lord, has become one

(20:14):
spirit with the Lord.
The moment you got saved, youbecame hooked up one spirit with
God.
You were united.
The Bible talks about thebaptism.
We teach this in foundationclass, where there are three
baptisms the baptism of water,the baptism of the Holy Ghost
and the baptism into Christ.
As soon as you get saved, theHoly Spirit baptizes you,
submerges you and makes you onewith Christ.

(20:35):
You're one with him.
He is joined unto the Lord.
See, when people get saved,it's not that they join Glorious
Way Church, they join Jesus Now.
You ought to get hooked up withthe local church More about
that later but you're joiningJesus Now.
You ought to get hooked up withthe local church More about
that later but you're joiningJesus and so you become one with

(20:57):
him.
Let's look at Ephesians Talkingabout the present day ministry
of Jesus.
We've got to know what he'sdoing right now, because the
devil will try to move you offof this, he'll try to put you
into condemnation.
He'll try to get you sinconscious instead of
righteousness conscious.
He'll start making you.
Now you know you mean Ishouldn't pay any attention.

(21:18):
No, you pay attention, but onceyou confess that sin you don't
ever think about it again.
That's gone.
But my experience as a pastorfor a lot of years now, 30 full
time, and you know eight beforethat, at Lakewood I was one of
the pastors.
Brother Osteen said you're oneof the pastors.
I said OK, he saw something inme.

(21:38):
He sent me on pastoral missionsand assignments.
And so what I've noticed isthat people make a mistake and
they let that one sin just sinktheir ship and they can't get
over it and they keep bringingit up and they keep thinking
about it and see that'sunskillful in the word of

(22:00):
righteousness.
You're a baby when you do that.
Let's grow up, let's be matureenough to know the blood of
Jesus is greater than anythingyou've ever done wrong.
Just apply it All right.
Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 4.
There is one body and onespirit, even as you're called,

(22:20):
and one hope of your calling.
One Lord, one faith, onebaptism, one God and Father of
all, who is above all andthrough all and in you all.
So he is that now there's justone Lord and he is.

(22:41):
He's it.
You're not Lord, he's Lord.
You're a Lord Because he's theLord of Lords.
He's the king of kings and Lordof Lords because he's the Lord
of Lords.
He's the King of Kings and Lordof Lords.
In Revelation, jesus said thatyou're all kings and priests
unto God, but he's the King ofKings, he's the Lord.

(23:01):
There's only one head.
You're not it, but we have akingly ministry, we have a
headship ministry.
We have a headship ministry.
We have a lordship over our ownbodies, over our domain, which
is our house, our marriage, ourchildren, our work, our

(23:23):
neighborhood, and really itextends all the way into the
voting booth.
When we vote, then we aredelegating our lordship to
someone else to do our bidding,and when they don't do it, we
have an obligation to find outand begin to try to call that
office and try to let them knowthat they're drifting off of a

(23:45):
reservation, and when they don'treply, then we start praying
them out and get somebody elsein.
We need a lot of replacements,both locally.
We need to get rid of LenaHidalgo.
What a diva.
I mean, for God's sake, woman,get a brain.

(24:05):
She is so immature, walks outof a meeting because she's all
huffy, because she wasn'ttreated with the proper respect
Nuts and she admits that she'snuts.
She goes to a shrink every week.
We need her like we need them.
Anyway, let's get rid of her,all right?

(24:29):
So let's keep reading here inEphesians See, he's it, he's the
Lord, he's the master, he's andthe devil is not the master.
He was your master before youwere saved.
He was my master, but he's notmy master anymore.
He has no jurisdiction over mylife.
I will not listen to him.

(24:50):
All right, all right, all right, verse seven.
But unto every one of us isgiven grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ,wherefore he saith, when he sent
it up on high.
And what is that talking about?
That's talking about hisascension, when he left the
earth and was seated and sat atthe right hand of the majesty on

(25:13):
high.
And when that happened, whathappened?
He led captivity, captive andgave gifts unto men.
In other words, at the sametime that he led a train of
vanquished foes, defeated thedevil and demon powers, went
down into the bosom of Abrahamand freed the Old Testament
saints, where they were all able.

(25:33):
They were saved on credit andthen they were able to go to
heaven then, and bosom ofAbraham is empty.
And then they went to heavenand then he took his place up
there.
He gave gifts unto men, doma.

(25:58):
The word gifts is the Greekword doma.
It means a present.
What is he talking about?
Gifts unto men, verse 11.
And he gave some apostles.
Now the King James has got acomma there after some, but
there's no punctuation in theGreek, so let's just read it
without the punctuation.
He gave some apostles, someprophets, some evangelists, some

(26:19):
pastors and teachers.
For what purpose?
For the perfecting of thesaints, maturing of the saints.
See, we need to mature.
How can we mature without thegifts, without the domas, the
presents?
God gave you a present to helpyou grow.
You're not going to stay amuddy, mess front yard with

(26:42):
sprigs.
I'd go buy a house, you know,and they didn't follow my
directions and it'd just be allyellow and caked over and the
only thing they grew was weedsthat had these spiny looking
things sticking up, and theyjust never would do anything
like that.
They wouldn't follow thedirections.

(27:03):
No, we need to follow thedirections, don't we.
He needs to be what Preeminencehe needs to have, the
preeminence in our lives.
So he gave gifts, he gave domasunto men, the apostles,
prophets, pat, some evangelists,pastors and teachers for the
maturing of the saints, which isfor the work of the ministry,

(27:23):
for the edifying of the body ofchrist, till we all come in the
unity of the faith and of theknowledge of the son of god unto
a perfect or mature man underthe measure of the faith and of
the knowledge of the son of Godunto a perfect or mature man,
under the measure of the statureof the fullness of Christ.
God is looking to build thechurch.
He said I will build my churchand the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.
But the church has been kind ofin a been hit with a wrecking

(27:45):
ball in the last number of years.
We've had a shortage ofteaching.
God told me back in 2006,there's a dearth of the word.
I said how?
So there's more churches thanever?
He said your children don'tknow what you know.
The next generation is woefully, and it's been proven out,
hasn't it?
I mean, we're finding out.
Just look on your TV screen andlook at these crazy people that

(28:08):
are hollering for thePalestinians.
They're stupid people, theydon't know history.
They just fall into the biggestpit you ever saw.
No, they need leadership, theyneed guidance.
The church has been lacking,but that's changing very rapidly

(28:28):
.
There's a revival coming up, andso that we henceforth be no
more children tossed to and fro,carried about with every wind
of doctrine, by the flight ofmen cunning craftiness whereby
they lie and wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in lovemay grow up.

(28:50):
Everybody say I'm growing upInto him in all things.
Which is the head there it isagain, even Christ, and so you
need the fivefold ministry.
That's why we bring people likethe Hankins to the church.
I learned this at Lakewood yearsand years ago.
Brother Osteen used to say iton a regular basis you cannot be
perfected on my ministry alone.

(29:12):
You cannot be perfected on myministry alone.
You'll never have maturity onmy ministry alone.
You love my ministry.
I made sure he was my favorite.
I didn't allow my affection tomove off of my pastor, because
he's the primary gift, he's theprimary doma present to my life.

(29:32):
Without him I don't haveanything much.
A lot of people sit under allthese different ministries but
they don't have a preference andthey just kind of float to
whatever their ears.
They have itching ears and theywant to hear a certain thing.
Well, you know what.
That's not good for you.
Do you get to sit down and justeat all your favorite food, or
does your mama make you eatbroccoli?
I still can't eat broccoliunless it's put in a blender and

(30:00):
turned into green mush and thendisguise it.
So anyway, children, you're notlistening to me, you're not
being so.
He wants us to grow up andwithout the five-fold ministry
you can't grow up.
Think about the pays.
Well, you know these.
These are folks that that bringsomething to the pulpit and

(30:25):
bring an impartation into yourlives, that begin to you, begin
to feed in a certain.
But I'm in charge of who Ibring in.
If I just bring in you knowfoghorn leghorn, you know Mr

(30:46):
Cock-a-doodle-doo struts aroundup here it's not going to do you
very much good.
No, we're going to bring.
So when I decide who I'm goingto bring, I find out about them,
I investigate, I read theirmaterial.
If I can, I go and sit in aservice or two and find out

(31:07):
about them and what it is thatthey're teaching.
Are you with me now and findout about them and what it is
that they're teaching.
Are you with me now?
Amen.
So if Jesus is Lord, lord meansmaster, head means chief, he
means chief.
You know, the Bible talks aboutJesus being the great shepherd,
talks about him being the goodshepherd.

(31:28):
Peter called him the chiefshepherd.
He's the chief shepherd, whichindicates that has under
shepherds.
That's the pastor and teacher,and so you need the fivefold.
The pastor is the one that'smarried to the church.
All the others are travelingministers.

(31:48):
They come and go to the church.
All the others are travelingministers.
They come and go.
There's an apostolic measure tomy office that I stand in.
There's an apostolic officethat I stand in and that's what
it took for this church to beginfrom scratch.
Some churches begin becausesomebody decided they need to

(32:09):
plant a church and they just puttheir finger on a map and this
place needs to have a church andwe're going to put a pastor
there, and most of the timethey're just weak.
There's really not an anointing, there's not an apostolic
anointing that established it,and it's just weak, weak, weak
and you're not going to get.
A lot of times they fail Like arestaurant.

(32:31):
Most of them fail.
You know they don't last, butjust a little while, especially
out here in 1960.
Here, I mean, you'll see a newthing spring up and about a year
later it's gone.
Poof.
And the churches are that waychurches open and then they fail
.
They open and they fail.
But this church is 30 years old.
Why?
Because there is an anointing,that a gift, a doma In fact,

(32:53):
really.
That when he's called regionalcenter was just him telling me,
without saying it, this is anapostolic work, not just a local
church.
When he told me it was aregional center in 96, I didn't
connect the dots.
I didn't connect the dots tillafter Brother Osteen passed and
I had a visitation and I beganto see that God had called me

(33:14):
into an apostolic type thing.
I'm a pastor mainly, but thatapostolic is what it takes to do
.
Global aid partnership, houstonKids Against Hunger.
My God Votes.
It takes an apostolic anointing.
Are you with me now?
Paul was an apostle, but he wasa prophet first.

(33:35):
He was a prophet first beforehe was released into the
apostolic.
That happened in Acts, chapter13.
There was in the church atAntioch certain prophets and
teachers, and it names them, andPaul and Barnabas were two of

(33:57):
them and they laid hands on themand they spake over them and
they sent them into the officesto which they had been called.
They had an apostolic call, buthe was not an apostle yet until
he was sent.
Well, brother Osteen sent meand gave his blessing.
I wouldn't leave there until Igot sent.
Are you with me now?

(34:17):
I'm talking about gifts, but mealone, and, of course, my well,
it's just.
You know, your kids, my kids,all travel.
They've all paid their price,they've all been developed and
they all stand in an office ofpastor and other things, as the
spirit wills.
I mean, we're doing apostolicwork.

(34:38):
Are y'all with me now?
What is that to you?
It's a gift.
It will help you mature, itwill help you grow in the areas
that you are.
You know, this is my church, mymission, when God called us to
go and establish capital in all50 states.
Guess what?
That's part of you, that's partof what he's looking at you to
help do, like the man that wasout there at NASA when President

(35:02):
Kennedy came and spoke to himand he was leaning on a broom
and he said sir, what is it thatyou do around here?
He said I'm here to put a manon the moon.
See, he didn't say I'm sweepingthe floors, that's what he was
doing.
But what was he doing reallydoing?
He was helping, he was helping,he was helping, you're helping.
And so, since he's the good,great shepherd, the good

(35:28):
shepherd, the chief shepherd,since he's Lord and you're Lord,
not the devil, then he's gotsomething to say about your life
, he's got something to sayabout the decisions that you
make.
And so these gifts are sent toyou so that you can grow and
mature into the full stature ofChrist, so you can be someone he

(35:50):
can depend on, not stuck inbabyhood.
I started, we all start the sameplace babyhood.
But we don't get stuck inbabyhood.
We don't get stuck as a toddler, we don't get stuck as just a
little old.
Nothing, burger.
No, you know we're growing andwe're increasing.
We're growing and we'reincreasing and able to be used,

(36:14):
uh, in so many ways that wehaven't even.
You know, this is a year, amilestone year, and one of the
things that God told us about.
He said I've exalted your hornlike the horn of a unicorn and
you shall be anointed with freshoil.
You know, god gave me that word, psalm 92, 10.
And he said you know we'regoing to get into an anointing
we're not familiar with.
We're going to have a giftingon our life and it's going to

(36:37):
push us into places and promoteus and exalt us into places that
we have not had before.
And you know it's God.
God's doing it.
God is thrusting this churchinto a higher place and you're
part of it.
Are you with me?
I mentioned, you know, brotherOsteen, but he saw something in

(36:59):
me and when I started opening,first of all, I opened services
in prayer.
I won't go into that long thing, but God promoted me and I'm
standing there in front ofthousands of people and it's
nerve-wracking One of the mostnerve-wracking things to do is
to speak to a bunch of peoplebut I spent my time in prayer.

(37:25):
I mean, sunday morning startedreal early for me because I was
prayed up and I had my Bible.
I mean I came to church readyand I'd open that service in
prayer and and and he and Dodieinvited Gladys and I out to eat
one Sunday to get to know usbetter, and and then one thing

(37:48):
led to another and he just kept.
You know, I, I just I'd be realcareful what I'd say to him.
I'd make sure that when I'mtalking to him.
I don't just talk a bunch ofyou know junk.
If I had something to say, if Ihad a word I have a scripture
or something I might say it.
And one time I mean I gave hima scripture that I'd gotten that

(38:09):
morning and he preached on itand I'm sitting there almost
fainted.
I mean I thought, my goodness,if I'd known that that was that
serious, I'd be a lot morecareful.
You know, it was the fear ofGod hit me, because I mean, you
know, I'm in a place ofinfluence and I can't just say
just anything.
I need to be sure when I'mtalking to him that God is

(38:32):
offering my.
Are y'all with me?
Now?
You sound like you know he's,it's a responsibility.
So he called me one time andsays John, I want you to go to
so and so's house.
He said they're fighting likecats and dogs and I don't have
time to deal with that.
Just go get their address fromthe office and go and talk to

(38:57):
them.
Okay, sent me on a pastoralmission.
Neither one of them wanted tohear what I had to say.
They kept fighting like catsand dogs in front of me.
It didn't matter, I couldn'tget on.
It was like herding cats and soI had to give them a bad report

(39:19):
.
I said you know, I tried, butthey divorced.
Yeah, they divorced.
I mean, you know, they justcouldn't get along.
They wouldn't get along, theywouldn't.
It wasn't that they couldn't,they wouldn't get it, they
wouldn't.
It wasn't that they couldn't,they wouldn't.
Now these are saved, filledwith the Holy Ghost, but they
just wouldn't get on the samepage.
Another time you know a guy thatI knew pretty well and his wife
.
I knew him from full gospel andI also knew him from Lakewood.

(39:42):
They went to both places.
I knew him very well.
I've been known him for didn'tknow him well, but I knew him.
And brother says I need you togo talk to him.
He's having an affair and youneed to sit down with him.
And his wife is calling theoffice and she found out.
And God, these are people thatare prayer partners, these are

(40:05):
people that are laying hands onpeople at the front of the
church.
And he's having an affair.
And she called him andevidently it's been a long time,
like six years, and I'mthinking why did I get that
assignment?
Is there anybody behind this?
Is somebody else he's talkingto?
That was pretty awkward, but hewept, but I think it was more

(40:32):
that he was caught than he wasreally repented and I said you
know, it sounds to me likeyou're sorry because you got
caught and you're really sorry.
He said, well, I just can't lether go Talking about the woman,
the second woman I said youhave to.
There's no, I mean, you havesinned.
This is going to send you toheaven early.
You're giving the devil a shotat you and what I know about you

(40:54):
, you can't afford this.
Your health is not going tostand up under this kind of sin.
Men never make it through thiskind of thing.
You're going to have to stopnow and see if you can patch
things up with your wife.
I don't know.
She does not have anyobligation to stay married to
you.
Do you know what that's goingto cost you?
I said it's going to cost youhalf of everything, all of your

(41:17):
401k and all of your this andyour house, and it's half hers
and she's got the right to allof it, half of it.
In this state it's a communityproblem.
I'll just put it to you ondollars and cents if that's what
it takes for you to make a gooddecision.
But I'm going to tell yousomething you can't afford to
have this woman in your life.

(41:38):
You're going to live way downbelow, plus the fact you've
sinned.
And they finally, you know theynever really were the same.
They didn't divorce, but theyweren't the same and he did die.
Are you with me now?
Well, you know, these arethings that I learned before I

(41:58):
ever got here, see, so God willprepare you for whatever.
You may not be one of thefivefold, but you may be one of
the other.
Vital helps in the ministrythat that God will.
If you will be willing andobedient, you know he'll bless
you and he'll use you.
Praise God.

(42:19):
Jesus is King of Kings.
We're the Kings.
He's King of.
He's the Lord of Lords.
We're the Lords he's Lord of.
We've all got, we've all gotauthority, but your authority
only works if you're underauthority.
When the Roman centurion came toJesus and he said Jesus, my, my

(42:42):
servant, lies at home sick ofsick of the policy, and Jesus
said okay, I'll come and healhim, he said oh, no, jesus, I'm
not worthy of this.
You should come under my roof,but speak the word only, and my
servant shall be healed BecauseI'm a man under authority.
He said that first.
He said I'm a man underauthority, a Roman centurion.

(43:03):
He's got a hundred men underhim, train killers, the Roman
army, the most fierce army onthe planet, and he's got a
hundred of those guys under him.
So he's no milk toast.
He said I'm a man underauthority and I say to this man,
go.
And he goes.

(43:24):
Does this other man come?
And he comes.
And does this other man do this?
And he does it.
So in other words, he's tellingJesus I recognize that you're
under God's authority.
All you've got to do is givethe command.
And Jesus marveled.
He said I have not found sogreat a faith.
No, not in Israel.

(43:45):
All over the this is going tobe told from all over the place,
and yet my people will come andthey'll be thrown out with
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
They don't get it.
Here's a Gentile, here's aGentile, and he gets it.
So what that tells me is thatyour authority is only as good

(44:05):
as how you're keeping underauthority.
You need to be under theauthority of someone besides
yourself, and there's sinceCOVID, we've got lots and lots
of people used to go to churchall the time and there's still
people that watch my live stream, because that's just how
they're, that they have acircumstance in their life where
they can't go to church.
They may be homebound, they mayhave some health reason, and

(44:28):
that I'm not talking about them,but I'm talking about
able-bodied Christian peoplethat just got offended and got
used to not going to church andnow they don't go to church and
they, they get on there and well, I'm just as saved as you are.
Well, yeah, you might just be asay, but you're no use, you're
not extra, your, your authorityis not going to work and sooner
or later you're going to have awhole lot of trouble because

(44:50):
you're opening the door to thedevil.
But no, if you, if you find alocal church thank God, you
found a local church be underthe authority of a pastor and
then, that way you're, you'vegot a covering, you've got a
safety over your head and overyour, over the words that you
speak.
Jesus is the high priest, butyet he's the chief shepherd, but

(45:13):
he's got under shepherds.
So I've got a rod.
My children have rods.
I mean, when you speak to them,you're speaking to me.
We speak to Joseph, you'respeaking to me.
See, we've set these in herebecause they are anointed to do
it, are y'all with me now?
So be accountable and let Jesushave the preeminence.

(45:42):
What does that mean exactly?
It means let the Word and theSpirit have preeminence in every
decision.
I'll be as brief as I can.
I want to wrap this up, but backin the 80s we had a depression
in my industry I was a homebuilder in those days and

(46:02):
everything was shifting.
And now today I can look backand I can see the governmental
things that were happening theglobal influence, where this
country became ruled byglobalists who wanted other
countries to be.
They exported our jobs.

(46:25):
They exported our manufacturing.
They exported everythingoffshore.
It ruined my business.
Now see, I didn't understandwhy.
I thought I was a failure.
No, the way that this countrywas built was shaken and the
church went asleep and electedpeople that were scum, let's

(46:46):
face it.
They got in a nation buildingand wars and our men go over
there and die for nothing.
Vietnam horrible, that's ahorrible war.
People in my generation guys,you know they were spit on when
they came home, called babykillers.
You had all the hippies anddope fiends out there, you know,

(47:07):
protesting and got no honor.
And I just think about thethousands of young men and women
that died in Iraq andAfghanistan.
Or if they didn't die, theycame back so hurt and PTSD

(47:27):
that'd be the best thing.
A lot of them don't even havetheir legs, they don't have arms
, they don't have a brain.
Their brain is damaged andthey're still alive because of
modern technology, but theycan't function.
It's horrible what we've donein the name of nothing.
It's just globalism.
It's a devil.
Thank God we're changing that.

(47:47):
I said we're changing that, butanyway, those days so I
couldn't I had houses thatwouldn't sell.
I had about a million and a halfdollars worth of inventory that
wouldn't sell Back then.
For me that was a lot ofinventory that I couldn't pay

(48:10):
the interest on.
I borrowed the money to buildthe houses and they weren't
selling.
So I wound up.
I prayed God, just if I belongsomewhere else, if there's some
other way that I can get moneyto pay my bills.
My company can't pay me and thehouses haven't sold and since
they haven't sold I've exhaustedmy personal finances.
There's nothing left.

(48:31):
So I got a job offer in Corpus.
So we picked up and moved toCorpus Christi, left Lakewood
Church and went to CorpusChristi, got involved in church
down there and I signed aone-year contract.
I was blessed.
I had a six-figure contract,head of a residential
development company, and had tolearn a whole new career.

(48:52):
I was a home builder, now I'm adeveloper.
I used to build houses, now I'mbuilding lots.
It's just a whole differentbusiness and I had to learn on
the fly.
And I just remember every daywas and I just had to go.
I'd get up early and I'd go.
We had a park, catty corneracross from my house and
overlooking New Asus Bay inPortland, texas, and I'd go out

(49:16):
my front door and walk down tothat in the dark.
It'd still be dark outside andI'd lay up on top of the
concrete picnic table and lookup at the stars and the sun's
about to come up and I'm justseeking God, I'm praying.
I had to pray like that so hardevery day just to have enough
strength to go through the day.

(49:38):
Looking back on it, after I gotback here, I looked back on
that day and I laughed becauseBrother Hagin said you know,
when you're out of the will ofGod, it's like taking a bath
with your socks on.
Well, I wasn't totally out ofthe will of God, I was in His
permissive will?
How?

(49:58):
So?
I didn't know that at the time.
See, god doesn't tell youeverything that you go through.
You go through things and youdon't know why, and everything
is coming apart at the seams andsomehow, some way, you keep
going.
You don't quit, you just keepgoing.
We kept on going.
I had money to pay the bills,but in the meantime I had those
houses in Houston and theystarted selling as soon as I got

(50:19):
out of town.
The first one sold, and thenthe second one sold, and then
the third one sold.
Within a year all of them hadsold, you know, and I thought,
wow, praise, god got that off ofme.
Well, almost all of it.
It was 50K left and they wantedthat 50K.
They could have gotten it outof five houses.

(50:39):
They could have gotten the 50Kthat they wanted from me, but
they didn't.
They just sold the houses.
And then they left a 50K andwanted me to sign a 20-year note
.
I said no way, jose, I'm done.
I've done all I'm doing.
You can do what you need to do.
They took my cars.
Let me off on the street cornerat Corpus.
I had to go walk to adealership and lease a car, and

(51:05):
so all those things werehappening here.
I'm a tither, I'm a giver,gladys, and I, man, I mean tell
you we're active in church,we're?
I mean, you know, we know howto pray, we know how to confess
the word, we know some thingsyou know, and yet all this is
happening.
So, years later, I had torealize, you know, like taking a
bath with your socks on when I,when I missed God and got out
of his perfect will was when Ibuilt those houses and I didn't
obey the witness.

(51:26):
See, you don't know what youdon't know.
I didn't know how to follow thewitness in my business and it
cost me 10 years.
Well, why did God?
Well, I wouldn't trade it foranything because if I hadn't
learned that, we wouldn't besitting right where we are right
now.
It's not God's best way toteach you, but he will teach you

(51:47):
from your mistakes.
You just go ahead, come on,just praise God.
Anyhow, I mean you're going tocome out on top if you don't
quit, and we never would quit.
I said we never would quit.
I said we would never quit.
We're not going to quit on himbecause he hadn't quit on us.
He's up there, he's our highpriest, he's our mediator, he's

(52:09):
our intercessor, he's ouradvocate, he's Lord, he's head
of all.
Come on, lift your hands andreceive today.
Glory to God, hallelujah, thankyou, jesus.
Well, when did all that troublego away?
The day we started this church,because that was what God
wanted all along.
He wanted to prepare me for theministry, and he did.

(52:31):
Hallelujah, glory to God.
Thank you, lord.
We just give ourselves to himand we're so honored that he
gave us to you as a present.
Hallelujah, come on, let's liftour hands, father.
We thank you that we're notstuck, that we are moving up and
we're moving into the fullnessof the stature of the body of

(52:55):
Christ.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.