Eagle Heights Cathedral

Bishop James E. Collins: Turn with me in your Bibles to John 18. I often think how God so often has chased our enemies away. Sometimes when we didn't even know they had arrayed against us, He chased them away. John 18, verse 28. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment. And it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.

Pilate then went out unto them and said, "What accusation bring ye against this man?" They answered and said unto him, "If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto you." Then said Pilate unto them, "Take ye him and judge him according to your law." The Jews therefore said unto him, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake, signifying the death He should die.

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus and said unto him, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?" Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?" And Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from here."

Pilate therefore said unto him, "Art thou a king then?" And Jesus answered, "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice."

Father, I pray that this very moment, this very hour, that you would help me to deliver the truth to your people. And then help us all to receive the truth. Your word says that let everyone that has ears hear what thus saith the Lord. Help us to hear what the Lord would say to us today. Holy Spirit, enable us to have supernatural hearing and then to walk in obedience to what we learn this hour. And I thank you for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen.

You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. There's a little story that I want to tell to begin this message today. It's been told by many different people in many different versions, but it will get us to where we want to go. The story is told that there was one day a man who was on his way to spend the day with a good friend who lived on a farm. When the man reached the farm, he turned along a long, winding road that led to the farmhouse.

On the way to the house, he had to pass a barn, but as he drove by the barn, he stopped. He got out because he saw something that amazed him and stupefied him. Drawn on the side of the barn were 20 targets, and each one had a hole right through the center of its bullseye. There were no other holes anywhere on the barn. Whoever had been using the barn for target practice was definitely a crack shot.

The visitor couldn't believe it. He got back into his car. He drove up to his friend's farmhouse and he said, "John, before we do anything else, I've got to ask you, who in the world did the shooting on the side of your barn?" John said, "Oh, that was me." His friend replied, "I can't believe anybody can shoot that well. We're talking about 20 targets with 20 dead center bullseye shots. You mean to tell me you did that?" John said, "Made every shot." "Where in the world did you learn to shoot like that?" John's friend asked. It was easy. I shot first, then I drew a target around the bullet hole.

I tell you that story to tell you today that that story makes me think about our world and also about the church and the kingdom of God. And I see very clearly in many ways that we are doing the same thing in the body of Christ. We give off the impression that as children of the kingdom, we are on target when, in matter of fact, is that we are probably more today than any other time in the history of Christianity, our lives as a whole are not on target.

We've really learned in the body of Christ today just how to paint the target really well. We've learned how to camouflage our emptiness for a while in the acts of Christianity with a performance of praise and worship, with the posture of something that resembles a life of holiness and righteousness and spiritual maturity until something happens and it comes along and it begins to challenge the depth of our spiritual roots.

It's very interesting that lately I've been having a lot of people, Christian and non-Christian, come up to me and they throw out the word religion. It's being shot out of people's mouths as though if I say religion long enough, it means that I have a deep-rooted relationship with God. And so many in the body of Christ, we have learned to look, talk, and perform actions like a Christian. But when the rubber hits the road, we find that all of those things are merely paint jobs, that we circle around different areas of our lives seeking to hide the reality that actually, the body of Christ, we have become cultural Christians in the kingdom whose lives are tragically off-target.

Look across the landscape of the body of Christ with an honest evaluation, and you will begin to see that many things are not what they appear to be in the immediacy. Individuals and families and churches of every echelon are missing the mark. And the result of that sad condition of the church is being shown to be no different than the world.

The world is in such bad shape mentally and emotionally that if I did not know my calling, I would stop preaching and become a psychologist. Because I could make more money charging people $100 to $200 a week to lay in a leather chair and tell them pretty much nothing but convince them, "Come back and see me for 10 weeks and you'll be all right."

But here is the problem that is not only true of the world, but it is true of the church folk as a whole. The Bible tells us that we are not only to be the effectors of the world but also the infectors. We are to change, be change agents through which Christ heals the lives of crying, sighing, dying humanity. I told you a couple of weeks ago that we are not supposed to be affected by the worldly culture. We are to affect the worldly culture.

In 1 John 4:17, it says, "Love has been perfected among us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so we are in the world." 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul says, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us." What Paul is trying to tell us is that we are those who are meant to bring light in the middle of darkness, meant to bring order in the midst of chaos, hope in the midst of hopelessness, healing to the hurt and the broken, clarity to the lost and confused, help to the helpless, pointing them to the one who can bring peace to their troubled minds.

I'm trying to establish among us in this coming year that we who are born again are born into the kingdom of God in order that we might be the effectors of humanity's destiny by being the infectors of humanity. But we cannot do that because too many of us have learned to paint the wall well. And it's not just you that I'm talking about, church. I'm not just talking about the people that we preach to, but I'm talking about us preachers. We have learned to paint the target well.

My heart keeps breaking week after week as hardly a week goes by that a story does not come out about some minister of the gospel who had a current affair or whose sins were kept hidden in the past but now have been revealed though they were years gone by. More and more, though pastors, I believe most of us are trying to live right and live holy lives, yet if you really look around you, we are seeing more and more stories coming out of leaders whose lives are mirroring the Jeffrey Epsteins and the Harvey Weinsteins of the world rather than Jesus.

It is tragic that most Christians today, we need as much pandering and as much petting as the unsaved. So many are emotionally unstable that discipling them does not work because without the soul man being healthy, there is not enough teaching to help us get our lives in order. It does not work. And there is this denial in the body of Christ that we need emotional healing.

Here is the thing I want to say to you that I am not against those who really have mental health issues. But can I suggest that most of the body of Christ is hiding behind that worldly culture mindset that we are emotionally unhealthy so we need all kinds of medications? We need all of these things. But I want us to accept a painful truth, that if we will ever get off of our worldly agenda and get on God's kingdom agenda, many of us will be healed.

Dr. Tony Evans, he says it so well in his book "The Kingdom Agenda." Listen very closely to what he says. Here's the real deal. The fact is that if you are a messed up person and you have a messed up family, you're going to contribute to a messed up family, and if your family goes to a church, then your family will contribute to a messed up church.

If you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up family, contributing to a messed up church, and your church is in a neighborhood, then your messed up church will lead to a messed up neighborhood. And if you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up church leading to a messed up neighborhood, and your neighborhood resides in a city, then your messed up neighborhood will result in a messed up city.

Now, if you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up family, contributing to a messed up church leading to a messed up neighborhood, resulting in a messed up city, and your city resides in a county, then your messed up city will cause a messed up county. And if you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up family, contributing to a messed up church leading to a messed up neighborhood, resulting in a messed up city, residing in a messed up county, and your county is in part of a state, then your county will help create a messed up state.

But that's not all. If you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up family, contributing to a messed up church leading to a messed up neighborhood, resulting in a messed up city, residing in a messed up county, helping to create a messed up state, and your state is part of a country, then your messed up state helps produce a messed up nation.

Now, if you're a messed up person contributing to a messed up family, contributing to a messed up church leading to a messed up neighborhood, resulting in a messed up city, helping to create a messed up state that helps produce a messed up nation, and our nation is part of the world, your messed up country will leave us with a messed up world.

So if we want a better world composed of better countries, inhabited by better states, made up of better counties, composed of better cities, inhabited by better neighborhoods, illuminated by better churches, made up of better families, we need to become better people. It all starts with personal responsibility. And the way to become better people I'm talking about, the kind of people that God desires us to become and the world needs now, is that the church must come to understand that when we gave our lives to Christ, when Jesus poured His saving grace into our lives, the kingdom of God came into us.

But our greatest need, our goals and God's desire, is that we become the people who live and act as people who are of the kingdom of God and not merely in the kingdom. I remind us of the words of Jesus in John 18:36. He said, "My kingdom is not of this world." 1 John 4:4, he tells us that even as Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, neither are His kids. He says, "You are of God, little children, and you have overcome them because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

Church, I've come to interest you in something very powerful. The only hope for turning the world around, and I believe that God wants to turn this world around, and I have hope for this nation, and I believe that God's going to turn this nation around, but I believe that the only hope is when the church begins to operate and live as those who are of another kingdom. And it will happen when the body of Christ, when we get on God's agenda.

And I believe that so many of God's children struggle to live as those who have overcome the world because we don't know what it means to live as those who are in the world but not of it. Again, every kingdom has its culture. And it is in learning what God's culture is in His kingdom and it's all about and then taking it to our hearts and then deciding to live out God's kingdom agenda as long as we are on this planet that will change this nation.

Let me say some things as pertains to the kingdom that is not of this world and then we're going to get into your notes. The first thing I want to say today is this. If we are to operate as those who are in the world but not of this world, church, listen to my heart. We must stop placing our trust in a certain political party, which has become a cultural thing in the body of Christ. Hear me. We don't pray and ask God who we should vote for anymore. We latch on to a political party, and we refuse to let go of that party even if that party stands against everything that God is for.

Now listen to my heart, there is nothing wrong with Christians entering the political arena. The problem is that we have come subconsciously or unconsciously to believe that God favors a certain political party. We've also come to believe subconsciously that if you're a Democrat, that God is a Democrat. If you're a Republican, that God is a Republican. I want to say it again. God is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Therefore, God's kingdom is not political.

I heard someone say this: Neither Republicans nor Democrats stand with Christ. They both use His name when it benefits them and ignore His words when it costs them. The kingdom of God does not fit on a ballot. Jesus didn't come to take sides; He came to take over. One side claims morality but bows to power and money. The other claims compassion but rejects truth, repentance, and God's desire. Both promise salvation through policy, both demand loyalty, both crucify truth when it threatens their control.

Church, listen to the Holy Spirit this morning. Revelation 11:15 says the day is coming when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. But that hasn't happened yet. And so He says what I want you to do is I want you to keep praying for my kingdom to come and my will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So what we have got to learn today is that instead of doing the cultural thing, church, and getting hooked into a certain party, but rather praying for His kingdom to come and His will to be done, so that when you even go to vote the next time there's a vote that comes up, you don't go in there because you're connected to a party. You go in because you're connected to the spirit of the living God. And if He tells you to vote against the party of your culture, of your family, you vote against that because listen, church, if you vote for someone and you have prayed and God puts somebody in other than you have voted for, let me promise you this. God will take that person and He will use them for His glory.

And look at me, God will cause them to do things that your finite mind does not understand. And He will take it and it will look like a mess on the surface, but underneath, God is using it to perform His will. See, we're more concerned about our will than we are about God's will. Watch now. What God wants to do in the earth, church, is not limited by parties nor by the men who run them. What God wants to do in the earth is not run by who's in the White House. What God wants to do in the earth is not run by a voting booth, though we should vote.

And so let me touch on something else before I get into this, because this is very touching in our nation right now. There has been and is still much talk and concern about what is known as Christian nationalism. There is an article that I got five years ago, and it's interesting that it popped up when I was looking for something else. It is written by Joseph Matera, and in it, he makes this statement: "There is a fine line and almost indiscernible line between Christian nationalism and patriotism."

Everybody look at me. We have been labeled. If we are for the things of God and for holiness, we have been labeled as being nationalist. I want you to understand that there is a big difference between the two. Now stay with me. Listen to me, church. Some of y'all looking at me like you've been sucking on a lemon all night. I'm trying to help us here.

He makes this statement: "I am willing to die for my nation. I believe the United States of America is the greatest nation on earth despite all of its flaws and sins. Hence, I am a patriot." Now let me stop and say this. You need to understand something. If you are in America, what it means to be a patriot means that you support the nation. It doesn't mean that you support everything that the nation does. It means that you are proud to be an American, you are proud to be in this nation. Watch now.

He says, "I support our right to have a strong military, and I believe that God has a special plan for the nation from its very inception. I would love to see the United States build laws upon the scripture standard of morality and justice. I am strongly pro-life and pro-biblical marriage. I also advance a biblical view in many of my teachings. These beliefs do not make me a Christian nationalist. I am more committed to advancing the gospel of the kingdom of God than a set of policies of a particular party. While being a patriot is a noble thing, it is more important for a person to be born from above and be part of the kingdom of God. I am first a Christian, secondarily an American. As a Christ-follower, my concern is global. I desire for God's kingdom to have influence on every nation, not just the United States."

Now everybody look at me, lest you misinterpret what I believe. I want you to understand that my major concern is not who is in the White House. My major concern is that the church house begin to rise up so that we might have influence in all of the nations. Listen, church. He wrote this article in the context of concerns about the rise of Christian nationalism, that they are coming from the left. Let me show you something. Anything that exists, there will always be somebody who rises up and takes it to an extreme and perverts it.

So what we have is that there are really Christians who really want God's kingdom to come and His will to be done, who really want the Bible to be done. There are some who have latched on and started calling themselves Christians, and they put the nation in front of the word Christian to make it look like they are for the things of God. Let me tell you something that is very important. Please understand that not every Christian is a nationalist, and nationalism is a total different thing than being a child of the king.

So let me show you how it works. In this article, he attempts to give clarity by contrasting the kingdom of God from Christian nationalism. Number one, the kingdom of God focuses on the advancement of the gospel. Nationalism focuses on the advancement of the policies of the nation. The kingdom of God, number two, produces loyalty to Christ above all else. Nationalism produces loyalty to the nation above all else.

Thirdly, the kingdom of God produces martyrs for the cause of Christ. Nationalism produces citizens who are willing to die for their nation. Fourthly, the kingdom of God raises the banner of Jesus above all else. Nationalism raises the national flag above all else. Five, the kingdom of God promotes the interest of God above the world. Nationalism promotes the interest of the nation above the kingdom.

And I'm going to add number six, because some of us think that we can be Christians and be a part and be called nationalist Christians. Understand this: Nationalism is often driven by racial and ethnic superiority more than love for our country, which is why now the attack on Jewish people has risen to the highest level in this state right now. Because listen to me, church. We need to understand one more time. The kingdom of God does not fit on a ballot. The kingdom of God is above all other kingdoms, rule, and authority, because if we seek to live by anything else, our Christianity has become perverted.

So the second thing I want to say before I get into the outline: If we are to operate as those who are in the world but not of this world, it is time that the church quit dancing and drew a line in the sand as to which kingdom you're going to abide in. Let me talk to you, saints, concerning something that we don't talk about much in church. Having Jesus in your heart will get you into heaven, but it will not do what God wants to do in the earth. Having Jesus in your heart, it will not allow His kingdom to come and His will to be done in the earth unless we decide that as we're in the kingdom, we are now going to submit to the king of the kingdom and get on His agenda.

The third thing I want to say. Whenever a person begins to operate as one who is a citizen of the kingdom of God and not just merely one who is in the kingdom of God, they will have evidence that backs that up. Watch this. When we operate as those who are of the kingdom of God, we get on God's agenda, there will be telltale signs that we are really submitted to the kingdom and the king. I want to give you this morning seven what I call seven norms that should be evident when we are really submitted to the king and his kingdom.

Number one. When we are submitted to the king and his kingdom, it will become a norm that we will have love for the king and the things of the kingdom that exceed worldly desires and pursuits. Psalm 42:1, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul for you, O God, pants." Church, when a person operates their life with a kingdom agenda mindset, there is a great paradox of pursuing God. The paradox is Christians knowing the joy of finding God simultaneously while at the same time they are blessedly pursuing God. It is that great joy of having God while we always want more of Him. There is not enough of Him.

And let me tell you what happens. When we begin to want God more than anything and we can never get enough of Him, the Bible says that something interesting will happen. All of a sudden, my desires, they become secondary to God's desires. A young man sent Jessica an email, and let me illustrate it this way. He noticed that we needed help on our website. He took note that June and Pastor Justin have not been added to the website. He wrote Jessica and he said, "If it would be welcomed, I can help with this. I saw your Facebook's post, your story about volunteering when you see something that needs doing in the church. I have website experience and would be more than happy to coordinate with the two of them to populate their pictures or blurbs, whatever is the standard."

Now here's why I tell you this. Number one, this young man has no idea that recently I had a conversation with our staff and I've been talking to God about this. I said, "God, we need some help. The staff can't do everything. We need some help. We need some help on this website." And I said, "God, we need it because what you don't know, church, is God has exponentially increased our national influence." You're going to hear about some of the things that God did while we were in Guatemala to increase our influence in the earth. I will tell you about that later.

But let me tell you the second reason I use this illustration. So many times we see a need in our church and we criticize what it doesn't have, but we never offer to help be the solution to the problem. Let me say something. Whenever our love for the king truly exceeds our worldly desires, so will our desire to serve the king where He needs us. The more truly you listen, the more you truly have of Jesus, the less you have of your own will and your desires. Your desire for Jesus, if it's genuine, it will cause you to desire to say, "Lord, use me."

I was making a statement one day and I walked by a new Christian who was sitting over in this section and I made this statement and she heard it come out of my mouth. And she looked at me and she said, "Lord, use me." Then she made the step for God to use her. Listen, church. Sometimes serving God is inconvenient. Matter of fact, it usually is inconvenient. That's why it's called a sacrifice.

But I want us today to start comparing the sacrifices of Jesus to our sacrifices, and if you will really align them with our sacrifices, you will come to the place where you will say like King David in 2 Samuel 24:24, "I will not offer to my God anything that does not cost me something." Oh, John 3:30, it's a great quotation. "He must increase, I must decrease." Let me tell you what I know. The more you decrease, the more you will give to God. The more you decrease, the more you will desire to please the Father. The more you decrease, you will say, "Father, if there's a need over there, Lord, use me." But see, we think that decrease means I get more stuff from God. When we decrease, He gets all of us.

Number two. Forgiveness is a natural response that dominates the hearts of God's kids. Forgiveness is a natural response that dominates the heart of the king's kids. Matthew 18:21 through 22. Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Now that's a pretty big number. How many of you going to forgive the same person seven times? Let me tell you something. Somebody said turn the other cheek, well I only got two. When you slap the second one, the other five go out the window.

Watch this now. Jesus said, "I do not say to you up to seven times, but 70 times seven." Church, listen to me. The most difficult of all Christian attributes is forgiveness. While we were in Guatemala, we visited one of the great cathedrals in Guatemala City. As I stood there, I was looking up and I saw these giant colossal bells in the bell tower. And I stood there hoping that they would ring the bells, but they didn't.

But here's what I want you to understand. I saw those colossal bells, and as they do, these hung high and they had a rope attached to them. To ring the bell, the rope must be pulled several times. There's a constant pulling and a constant ringing. After the pulling is over, something interesting happens. The person pulling the rope lets go, and the bell will keep swinging. It will swing for a while before it slows down and eventually stops.

Church, listen to me. Forgiveness is the act of letting go of the bell rope. It means you choose to no longer hold on to the rope. Each ring of the bell reminds us each of a wrong inflicted on us, sometimes by one another. Our constant pulling of the rope keeps wrongdoings in our minds. Now listen, church. If we choose to let go by a decision of our will, our emotions will still hear the bell for a little while. But if you let go of the rope and you leave it alone, after a while the bell will slow down until it stops.

Watch now. Some of you need to stop letting your feelings of pain get in the way of forgiveness. Let me talk to you. You are responsible for not constantly ringing the bell. If you don't pick up the rope, the sound will die down. Church, listen to me. Sometimes forgiveness is hard because we keep ringing the bell. We've been ringing it for so long that we don't know how sweet life can be if we would let it go. Sometimes we leave the bell alone for a while, but then we pick up the rope and we start all over again.

And I want to say this again. You are sitting next to somebody, every last person under the sound of my voice. We are not without a scar on our soul. Watch what I'm about to say. God's solution for a hurt heart is forgiveness. Now stay with me because I'm going to teach this next Sunday. The church has allowed another worldly culture to run amok in the body of Christ, and it hinders God's kids from walking in authority as those who are of the kingdom. Let me tell you what that culture is. It is therapy culture.

I want us to understand that therapy is good in its place, but God's solution for a hurt heart is not 10 months of therapy. It is forgiveness. And of the norms, those who are driven by kingdom culture and agenda, it is that forgiveness becomes a natural response and it dominates our hearts. Listen now. It's so amazing and wonderful and a blessing that God has granted you a new year. But until you forgive those who have wounded you, you can never go forward.

If you don't stop ringing the bell, 2027 will be like 26, and 26 was like 25, and 25 was like 24. Remember, repositioning your disposition leads to a new mind, which produces a new life. And you got to let the Holy Spirit change your mind even when it comes to those who have caused you pain. Thank you. I'm glad somebody understands that because listen to me. It is an eternal truth. Same thinking continually produces the same life.

And some of you have been ringing year after year after year. You keep ringing the same bell. And what you need to know again is that forgiveness is not about the other person. It's about you, because when you do it, some powerful things happen. Let me tell you two powerful things that happen when you forgive people. Number one, and is most important, forgiveness reflects the character of Christ. Forgiveness reflects... you can sing, "I want to be Jesus all day long, I want to be like Jesus, surround me, O Lord, I want to be more like you." Let me tell you something, you will not be more like Jesus until the day comes where forgiveness is your norm.

Matthew 5:46, "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others?" The second powerful thing that happens when we forgive is this: Forgiveness thwarts Satan's schemes. Forgiveness thwarts Satan's schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul said, "In order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes."

The word "schemes" speaks of a military strategy. It has the idea of an enemy force of commandos that under the cover of darkness, they slip behind the lines and they set up a camp in the far rear. Listen to me, because we were sleeping, we never saw it coming. And that is what has happened to very many Christians. Our unforgiveness has allowed Satan to set up a base camp in our hearts.

But we don't even know what's going on. But Satan, the ultimate spiritual terrorist, attacks us when we least expect it. Listen to me now. Watch now. We get angry without cause. We are too quick to criticize. We avoid certain people, don't want to talk to them. We nurse a victim mentality, we slander others who have hurt us, we rip into innocent people, we say unkind things and then we try to laugh them off, we think about those people day and night, we are consumed with bitterness.

We know that something is wrong, but we can't put our finger on it. It's painful. And we sit in church and we praise and we shout and we dance, and then we go home and about midweek, all of a sudden we're hurting again. It's like having a low-grade fever where you feel rotten all the time but not sick enough to go to the doctor. You're miserable, but because you can still function, you shrug it off. Your bad attitude and your quick temper and your sharp tongue. It's because you have allowed Satan to win and don't even realize it because how... listen to me.

Forgiveness is serious business, church. Because he now has you where he wants you, filled with unforgiveness and bitterness and wrath. And Acts 8:23, Peter said this to Simon the sorcerer. He says, "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and bound by iniquity." The word "gall" translates "poisoned by bitterness." Peter uses it here to speak of a severe moral defect that was in Simon's heart. Church, look at me because we blow it off. Hear the Holy Spirit. Unforgiveness is a moral and spiritual defect which poisons the heart. But the great norm of those who are of the kingdom and not just in it is a natural response of forgiveness that dominates our lives.

There was a man by the name of Dr. Everett Washington. He was a clinical psychologist who spent decades researching forgiveness. He wrote many books, developed models, and led studies on multiple continents. But his story didn't begin in a lab; it began in a moment of unimaginable pain. In 1996, Everett's mother was brutally murdered in a home invasion. The news shattered him. This wasn't a theory anymore; this was real. The very thing that he had spent years teaching other people, he had to ask himself, "Now can I live what I've been teaching?"

In the days that followed, he wrestled, he cried, he yelled at God. But ultimately, Everett chose to do what he had taught others to do. He forgave. He forgave his mother's killer, and out of that crucible of suffering, something powerful was born. Everett refined a process that is known as REACH. It is a five-step path to real, lasting forgiveness. Those five steps, I'm just going to give them to you, you can't write them down as fast as I'm going to say them.

Number one is recall the hurt honestly. Number two, empathize with the offender. Thirdly, altruistically forgive, offering grace as a gift. Four, commit to forgiveness, that's choose. Number five, hold on when the pain returns. Now here's what I want you to understand. True psychology is built on the word of God. Let me say it again. True psychology, I didn't say psychology, I said true psychology is built on the word of God. Now watch this.

All of a sudden, he puts these out and they are soaked in biblical truth. He begins to show us how God forgave us. Number one, God sees our sin clearly, that's called recall. Number two, He understands our weakness, He empathizes. Number three, He gives grace that we don't deserve, an altruistic gift. He makes a covenant not to remember our sins that He commits. He remains faithful even when we struggle again; He holds on to us.

See, Everett didn't just study forgiveness; he lived it. I don't want to just preach forgiveness; I want to be able to live it. His story is the proof that forgiveness isn't a feeling. It isn't a feeling; it's a choice. A choice that must also be empowered by God, because the kind of forgiveness that changes life, it starts with the kind of forgiveness that we recognize was given to us at Calvary.

Number three. Submission is embraced as a blessing rather than control. When we are really of the kingdom, Hebrews 13:17, "Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." Let's get real just for a moment. Human beings don't like the word submission. You start talking about submission in the church, we get just like the world. You know what we say? "Ain't no man going to tell me what to do. I'm not submitting to a man. I'm a grown man, ain't nobody going to tell me what to do."

Let me talk to you. Here's a great illustration. When you get on the highway, what are you supposed to do? Merge right. Watch now. You're riding on a side road called the on-ramp, coming on toward the freeway, and you are going to merge into major traffic. Let me tell you what should happen but does not happen on the highways in this state because traffic laws are a suggestion.

But hear me. It would be to your betterment to slow down and look before entering the highway because cars are coming. Church, listen. You are the one who is going to need to adjust. They have the right of way. This is the only state I know you can live in where people will break the law, cut you off, honk their horn and give you the finger. Now you know I'm right.

Let me tell you something. Sometimes in the spirit, we give God the finger. God has the right of way. He is moving with His plan for your life without your help. What you've got to learn to do is to blend with what He is already doing. Your actions must merge with His will for your life to go ahead, even above your own will.

I told you last week about how many people we saw get killed in Guatemala City and almost every one of them was on a motorcycle. If you could see the way people drive their motorcycles in Guatemala City, you would see I would think more people should be dead. They just weave in and out, they cut in front of cars, they're all over the place. And let me tell you something. Some of you live your life that way. God is trying to lead you down a path. He says, "Merge with me," but you weave in and out, you're all over the place, and so many of us have been killed in the spirit realm.

So listen to me. One of the ways that God uses to help us merge with His will and His plans for our lives is by placing us under spiritual authority and He says submit to them because I've assigned that man to watch out for your souls. But listen to me now, church. There is a big-time problem in the kingdom of God today. 1 Corinthians 4:15 through 16. "For though you might have 10,000 instructors, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ I have begotten you through the gospel, therefore I urge you, imitate me."

1 Corinthians 11:1, he expands it and he says, "Don't just imitate me, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ." From those two passages, I want you to understand that we have a problem in the modern-day church. We've got novices running out and starting churches and messing up people's lives. We've got people wanting to be spiritual fathers who have never been sons.

Come on, somebody. We are all over the place. Lady Brenda and I, I spoke at a church in Hartford, Connecticut and we drove down one street and counted over 40 churches. There ain't nothing wrong with God, but there's something wrong going on there. I said to the Bishop, "What's the problem?" He says, "Because every time somebody gets mad, they go off and start a church."

And we sit in church sometimes and we run from church to church, listening to this voice and this voice and that voice. And then after a new voice, we get tired of listening to it, we find another voice. And eventually they run out of voices and so they seek to become the voice. So they start a church and wonder why nobody if a few people won't submit to them. Let me tell you why. Because God is a God of order and God is the kind of God who says, "I'm not going to let you act like a father when you've never learned how to behave like a son."

Now watch. And Paul says, "You may go through life with 10,000 instructors." See, that's why some of us aren't growing, because we're letting everybody put instruction in our head. He said, "Fine and dandy. If you're so emotionally anemic that you need all those voices." But he said, "Listen to me, don't confuse speaking instruction in your ear with the voice of a father who speaks life into your spirit."

And when we are people of the kingdom and not simply in the kingdom, we embrace submission because we understand that a man's not trying to run our life. Everybody look at me. I don't want to run your life; I can hardly run mine. When Bishop Wilds said to me, "Would you take over and do the credentialing ministry for me?" let me tell you something, I turned to somebody who said something to me, I said, "Let me tell you, I didn't ask for this. God gave it to me." It's not like I don't have enough to do.

But here's what I want you to understand. People who understand submission, they understand that man's not trying to run my life, but he is watching out for my soul because the day will come... watch what this Bible says. It says that this preacher will give an accounting for your soul. And watch what it says, it says, "Let him do it with joy and not with grief because why? That would not be good for you." And so we must understand that when we're really of the kingdom, submission doesn't bother us.

Number four. Generosity becomes a privilege and opportunity rather than a drudgery. Generosity becomes a privilege and opportunity rather than a drudgery. Galatians 6:10. Galatians 6:10. "Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those of the household of faith." The story is told about a circus strongman who had a particularly strong hand. One of the things that he would do is he would take an orange into his hand and before the crowd, and he would squeeze it with his bare hands until every drop of juice came out.

Then he would dare the audience to find another drop because of how strong he was. He'd have other strong men come up and try and squeeze more out, but to no avail. No one could get more juice. On one occasion, a little skinny man came up and he said, "I'd like to try." Everybody laughed, but they gave him the orange. He took it into one hand and with all the strength he could muster, he squeezed it. To the shock of the strongman and the crowd, there was a drop of orange juice that dripped out. They could not believe it. When asked how in the world he was able to squeeze out another drop of juice and where his power came from, the man replied, "Oh, it's easy. I'm the treasurer for the church down the street. I know how to squeeze stuff out of folks."

Let me tell you something. When a person begins to understand that they are of another kingdom, they begin to operate on God's kingdom agenda, then giving, generosity is a privilege and nobody has to squeeze anything out of us. The desire to be generous, it flows.

Let me tell you something, there are three kinds of givers in the body of Christ: the flint, the sponge, and the honeycomb. To get something out of the flint, you have got to hammer it. Then you only get chips and sparks. To get water out of the sponge, you got to squeeze it. The more you squeeze, the more you get. Ah, but the honeycomb. It simply just flows with sweetness.

Here is what we are missing. We fight giving and generous being generous because we really don't grasp what God has done for us. Listen, church. When a person understands what God has done for them, you don't have to prime the pump. You don't need 10 collections. You don't have to march around the church singing, "God..." never mind, let me not even start.

Let me tell you something. People who are generous, they understand that God is great and He is greatly to be praised. The fact of the matter, watch me now, watch me now. The fact of the matter is that in offering time, we ought to jump on our feet and we ought to applaud that we are here to give and that we have something to give and have been blessed to have the strength to work that we might be able to give. We ought to clap our hands when Pastor Lopez stands up here and says, "It's offering time," quit squirming in your seat, jump up on your feet, clap your hands and say, "Thank God I've got something to give," because it's a privilege.

Now watch this. Let me give you a definition of a privilege. It means special advantage. It's a right, a benefit granted or enjoyed by an individual class or caste. These advantages are not earned but are typically unearned and can manifest in various forms. Church, listen to me. Generosity comes in many, many forms. It is not only about money, but it includes money. And since we have such trouble when the preacher talks about money, I'm going to talk about money.

Because let me tell you what we think. We think this thing called money, this advantage that we have, it's ours because we earned it. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. It is an advantage that we don't truly earn or deserve. Deuteronomy 8:18. "And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power, the advantage to get wealth."

And let me say something that some people don't want you to understand. You got the prosperity teachers who think that all the money belongs to you for your indulgence. You got this other group on the other side that preachers should never have anything. I was talking to a young man in Staples who was trying to talk to me. He wanted to know about God. And he made the statement to me. He said, "While I don't believe that preachers should indulge in money, I do believe that preachers need to be blessed like everybody else."

Now he didn't even know who God is. And he said they need to be blessed like everybody else. Here's the point that I want to make. God wants you to be blessed, God wants me to be blessed, God wants you to enjoy from the money that you make, but it is not simply so that you might indulge in what you want. He said it is but that I may establish my covenant which I swore to your fathers this day in the earth.

And this is about Deuteronomy 15:7. "If there is among you a poor man of your brethren within any of the gates in your land, which the Lord is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from the poor brother, but you shall open wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs." And Jesus made this promise in Luke 6:38, "Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will men put into your bosom." Don't miss the rest of the verse: "For with the same measure that you use it, your advantage, it will be measured back to you."

Now look over here. Some of us think the way to get ahead is to hoard. I know they both start with H, but they are diametrically opposed. Here's what I've learned, and I learned it before I had a little bit of money. You really do reap what you sow. So Lady Brenda and I walk around with $50 or $100 bills and we don't just throw money at people. But we say, "Lord, who shall we bless today?"

And we're in the airport in Atlanta Friday waiting to board to get back to Boston. There's a young lady who was assigned to push Jessica's wheelchair. And so I'm with Jessica and we're talking to this young lady. When I first came up to her, she looked like she was ready to snap somebody's neck. We start talking to her. Eventually she starts to lighten up. And I said, "What are you doing with your life?" And she said, "I'm in college and my mother told me to stay in college." And Jessica said, "Listen to your mother." And then Jessica said something very interesting. She said, "I wish I had listened more closely, more often to my parents." I didn't hear that. So I think that was a parent who did that.

But listen. As we get over, God says to me, "Bless this young lady." I turn to Lady Brenda because I never do it unless we agree. And I said, "What do you think? Is this our moment of generosity and blessing?" She said yes. We put this money in the girl's hand and said, "Stay in college." She started to draw... she fought back the tears and said, "I'm going to stay in college." Listen to me, church. When God gives you advantage, use it for the glory of God and it'll come back to you.

Number five. Discipline is desirable rather than repulsive. When you are truly of the kingdom, the norm is that discipline is desirable rather than repulsive. I'm going to say it again. If I had a dime for everybody who told me, "Bishop, when I get out of line, you correct me, I ain't leaving church," I'd be rich.

Hebrews 12:10. "For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit that we may be partakers of holiness, of His holiness." Verse 11. "Now no chastening seems joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

I want to say something that is very important, but let me say this with this story. There was a little boy who was out there on a pond, he had this little boat and it was floating out there. And that boat began to drift away and he couldn't get to it, and a man came by and he saw that the boat was drifting out on the pond and so he did something very interesting. He picked up some stones and he threw them on the other side of the boat, and he threw them beyond where the boat was. The boy didn't understand what the man was trying to do. All of a sudden, the stones were causing quite a disturbance in the water, and something very interesting began to happen. As the man threw the stones on the pond, they created a ripple of water that moved backward toward where he and the boy were standing. Those ripples actually pushed the boat back to the shore.

I want you to see something, church. That's how God disciplines us. When we wander away from Him in the sea or the pond of sin and of unrighteousness, He throws disturbing actions of His loving discipline in order to get us back to where we never should have left in the first place. Now look at me for a moment, cause some of y'all keep saying, "The devil's attacking me." Sometimes it ain't the devil, it's God afflicting you. David said in Psalm 119:71, "It is good for me that I was afflicted because then I began to learn what your statutes really mean."

Sometimes we think the devil is after us. It is God; He is disturbing us to get us back in alignment. Now watch what I'm about to say. When God disciplines us, we have a choice. Let me illustrate it this way. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden in the beginning, He started with Adam. Eve had not come on the scene. He started his life and then her life with the power of choice.

Everybody look at me. Man has always had choice since the very foundation of his creation. Genesis 2:9. "And out of the ground the Lord made every tree grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." Verse 15. "Then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in that day that you eat, you shall surely die.'"

Now I want you to see something that interested me. The Bible says there were trees all over that garden. But it's interesting that God takes the tree of life and He takes the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and He puts them in proximity to one another. The implication is that they are side by side. Then God said, "You can eat of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

Now here's the question. If He puts these two trees together, why doesn't He say, "You cannot eat of these two trees"? Watch this now. Verse 22. "Now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever." So He drove out the man and He placed a cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life.

Now let me back up and say this again. I sat there and I never wondered about this till yesterday. Why did God put these two trees in proximity of one another and why didn't He tell him, "You cannot eat of the tree of life either"? Think about what might have happened had he eaten of the tree of life and then of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I don't understand that mystery, but here's what I do know about this mystery. When God said, "Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," what was He doing? He was giving man the privilege to exercise his right to choice.

Now see this. He could have eaten of the tree of life and left the tree of the knowledge of good and evil alone. Why did he eat of that tree instead? Let me tell you why. Because sin's nature is to always want to go after that which is forbidden. Now watch. Every decision when temptation comes, it either breathes life or death. And so when God allows temptation to come to our lives, He begins to discipline us because He doesn't want us to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But listen to me very closely. Whenever you and I choose our thoughts above God's thoughts, our desires above God's desires, we have chosen to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And if you eat of that tree, you will die. Or you can make the decision, "God, I don't like this discipline, I don't like what you're doing to me, it hurts, but I'm going to eat of the tree of life, I'm going to eat its fruit and I'm going to live."

Let me tell you something. Many of us have ruined our destinies because we would not accept that discipline is part of eating from the tree of life. You've heard me tell the story. When I worked for Bishop Wilds and he corrected me and it hurt so bad, I mean it hurt. My wife has never seen me cry and she hasn't seen me cry since, but she saw me cry that day. She said, "What's wrong, honey?" and I told her what was wrong. And then she had the nerve to say, "He was right, you know."

In that moment, I decided I can eat from the tree of life or I can rebel and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil of my own thoughts. And because I ate of the tree of life, God has protected me even when people try to destroy my life, my family, our church. Let me tell you something. If you will submit to discipline, God will protect you.

Number six. Sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit is enhanced when we are those that live of the kingdom and not just in it. Isaiah 30:21. "Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left." There's a supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit that comes when we begin to live as those that are of the kingdom. At 18 years of age, I was in bed on a midweek night, I think it was a Wednesday night. And as I was sleeping, I began to dream. In my dream, I caught a vision. I saw my oldest brother; he was lying on a bed with white sheets covering him from here on down. In the middle of his head were scars and they were oozing with blood.

One week later, I hear my mother in the midnight hour. She's in her bedroom; she is crying out to God, I mean she is praying. It's so loud I can hear her in my bedroom. I get up, I walk into the room and she starts praying and I said, "Mama, what's wrong?" She says, "I'm praying for your brother because something is happening to him, the devil is trying to take his life."

What she didn't know was at the moment she was weeping for her son, he was driving home late from work one night, he fell asleep behind the wheel, ran into a telephone pole at 70 miles an hour. The pole snaps in half, snaps into the car, breaks the steering wheel which was unheard of in that day. The steering wheel pops off, hits him in the chest, and the state trooper told us when we went to the hospital, this had to be an act of God because normally when this happens, the steering wheel crushes the chest and kills the person. But see, my mama and daddy were people that didn't just hang out in the kingdom of God. They were of the kingdom of God.

Lastly. Vision for life is augmented through spirit eyes when you become a member of the kingdom of God. Isaiah 42:16. "I will bring the blind by a way they did not know. I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them and not forsake them."

I'm going to close by telling you this, and I get to the conclusion of the matter. If you submit your dreams and your visions to God and it's really Him, He'll bring it to pass. When I was in Erie, Pennsylvania, I had a friend who was a multi-millionaire. You know how he became a multi-millionaire? He knew how to seek the face of God, and one day God says to him, "I want you to invest in plastics." He just kind of chuckled. God said, "No, go invest in plastics." Here's the short of the story. He invested in plastics at the right time and almost overnight he became a multi-millionaire at 18 years of age. God will augment your vision if you will just get in the kingdom and become of it.

Here's the conclusion of the matter. Number one, kingdom culture over culture concerns desiring a real relationship with the Father. We got to get real with God today. Psalm 84:2. "My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh cry out for the living God." Secondly, the proof of desire is in the pursuit. I gave you Luke 8:43 and 48 a couple of weeks ago about the woman with the issue of blood. But my favorite one is Luke 19:1 through 10. A little man named Zacchaeus could not see Jesus, he wanted to get to Him. The Bible says the crowd was so massive he couldn't see Him. You know what he did? He ran and he climbed up a sycamore tree because he knew Jesus was passing by.

Mark 10:46 through 52, blind Bartimaeus. They said, "Shut up, blind Bartimaeus." He just got louder. Luke 7:1 through 10. We learned about the Centurion whose daughter was dying. Jesus said, "Your faith has gone to your house before I get there."

And lastly, kingdom alignment brings transformational healing to the entire man. So many people are not getting healed because they're just hanging out in the kingdom, refusing to become of the kingdom. Next Sunday, I'm going to talk about this therapy culture that has invaded the church of Jesus Christ and you're going to understand how important it is that we realize that it's become cultural.

But you've also heard me tell the story about a young man who showed up at my church in Erie on a snow-driven day, brought a gun with him, didn't want to hurt the people but he wanted to hurt me. The deacons shoved him out the door. He stood across the street through two services in the snow waiting for me to come out. The short of the story is that the following Wednesday he said, "Can I come to church?"

The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said something ridiculous. He said, "Let him come." I said, "God, you do know what he wants to do, don't you?" God said, "Let him come." My one deacon yelled through the phone, "Have you lost your mind?" So I obeyed the Holy Spirit. He came to church that night. Sat in the back of the church all service long while I was preaching with his arms folded and staring at me.

End of the service, the Holy Spirit says, "I want you to end the service not by making an altar call. I want you to just invite the people to worship the Lord." People began to worship the Lord. He still sat back there with his arms folded. Slowly, one by one, people began to leave. As they left the sanctuary, I see him stand up, unfolds his arms, he puts them on the chairs in front of him. Then he starts walking toward me.

Some of the men jumped up and they were going to stop him. And the Holy Spirit said, "Tell them no, let him come." He came. I'm standing about right here, he's standing on the altar. He folds his arms again and he says, "I got a bone to pick with you." And I said, "Okay." He says, "My bone is this. I wanted to give my heart to Jesus and you didn't do an altar call."

Watch this now. That night he wept like a baby as he gave his heart to Jesus. But here's the most important part. God healed him of the scars and the wounds of an adopted father who lied to him all his life and would beat him as if he were his own, his real son. And when he found out, anger swelled up inside of him. But that night he didn't just come into the kingdom. He became a citizen of the kingdom of God and God healed him. And to the day we left Erie, Pennsylvania, he was my great protector. He said, "Anywhere you go, I'm going with you. Anybody who comes toward you, they're going to have to come through me first." And to that day, how did he get that way? He can heal if we'll quit hanging out outside the kingdom and become members of the kingdom.

I want to thank you for joining us today and for watching this message on our stream. We are flowing now from the worship of hearing and receiving God's word into the worship aspect of giving into the kingdom of God. And as God has spoken to your heart, I pray that you're able to join us in giving and bringing Him His tithe and our offering.

I want to share a little piece that's very interesting that you might even find interesting. People were asked how much money would it take for us to have enough money. Remarkably, every person said, "If I could have a 10 percent increase, it would be enough for me to live and have a comfortable lifestyle." I share that with you because it's interesting that God says, "But if you will give me 10 percent." In Malachi 3 in verse 8 and verses all the way to verse 11, He talks about if you give me that 10 percent, He says you will have more than enough, there will be an overflow.

So why is that number significant in your giving today? The number is significant in that in your desire to live and have a healthy life, you want 10 percent. God says if you give me 10 percent, I'll make your 10 percent multiply in your life. And so as God leads your heart today, I ask you to first be obedient to the Lord and bring that 10 percent, that tithe, and then let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart as you give an offering above that, that will open the windows of heaven. I thank you in advance for your faithfulness in giving to the work of the kingdom so that we might expand God's kingdom. Let me pray for you now.

Father, I thank you for these that have committed this day to be obedient to your word because, Lord, they understand that sometimes thanksgiving is merely an act of obedience. And since we are thankful people, we obey you this day to bring you your tithe and to give our offering. We thank you in advance that you will open the windows of heaven, pour out blessing we will not have room to receive. We will be blessed spirit, soul, and body. And this we pray and believe for in Jesus' name. Amen.

Just lift your hands where you are. Though you may not be in the sanctuary, you become aware that we have words on this wall that are not just words. They are the biblical words from the very throne room of heaven. Let me speak them over your life.

May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace. God bless you as you receive it. Amen.