Gospel House Ministries

Pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: Sermon lesson today is Blinded by Your Feelings. Blinded by your feelings. For so long throughout our ministry, you have heard me say your feelings can fool you. Your feelings can fool you because your feelings are directly attached to your flesh, and your flesh is an enemy to your spirit. That's why you have war going on inside of you.

The flesh gets in the way to usurp your spirit. The flesh is always promoting itself as though it knows best when, in fact, it knows worst. Your flesh flows in the falsehood of things while your spirit specializes in the truth of things. Your flesh is the false you while your spirit is the true you.

Your flesh is always out to outdo your spirit because your flesh wants to be seen while your spirit wants to be known. Your flesh wants to be seen by man while your spirit wants to be known by God. To be seen by man is natural, but to be known by God is spiritual. Know this: natural is temporal while spiritual is eternal. Hallelujah.

To prove this out, sickness is spiritual, and sickness has been with us since Adam sinned. While looks, animals, and people who are born in the natural are temporary. We all know that looks are depleted, temporary, and people and animals are leaving, temporary. It is the will of God that those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Our feelings are derived from our emotions. Through our emotions, we taste, smell, see, hear, and touch. Through each of these, we communicate with the world. But by our spirit, we communicate to God. Our feelings deceive us because we are full of flaws. We are not perfect in nature, but we've been made perfect by the power of the Holy Spirit.

You will be best fitted for life if you live according to the spirit of God. His spirit gives you direction, wisdom, and understanding so that you make wise decisions in life that benefit you. God's spirit can keep you from error if you let him. That's why Proverbs 3:5-7 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. Do not be wise in your own eyes."

That's what's wrong with some people today. They're wise in their own eyes, and if they're wise in their own eyes, I guarantee you they're very selfish. That's what's killing the world right now: selfishness. The man in the White House is doing what he's doing because he is selfish. Hallelujah.

People are making decisions upon what they feel is best for them, not what's best for "we." People voted according to how they felt, not considering how other people might feel if this person was in power. We have selfish motives. People don't want you coming to their house no more. Why? Because they're selfish and full of pride. Being that they're selfish and full of pride, they don't want you to get close to them because they're happy with themselves. They don't need nobody to come see them. Do y'all get it?

This whole thing that we're going through in this country is about people who are selfish, not considering other people, not considering the downfall of other people if you remove these things. These things were put in place to keep people up so they wouldn't fall.

You had presidents like Franklin Delano Roosevelt who gave us Social Security. He wasn't selfish. He was thinking about people. You had people like Lyndon Baines Johnson, another president, who signed into law the Civil Rights Act. He wasn't thinking about himself. He wasn't thinking about white folks only. He was thinking about other people who white folks were beating up and hurting.

Then you had another president named Barack Obama who gave us the Affordable Healthcare. These were all things done to help somebody else. Those were unselfish acts. But now we have someone in there who wants to take from the poor, who wants to take from the poor people of Africa.

The USAid, all these places where we have been sowing seeds in other lands, he's drawing the seeds back. How many know you reap what you sow? If you sow nothing, you get nothing. Hallelujah. So we have been a nation who was selfless. Yes, we're selfish, don't get me wrong, but we were selfless in helping other nations and helping them to build. Do you not know that we helped China to become great as it is now through President Nixon?

What I'm saying to you is we cannot live according to our selfish feelings. Those selfish feelings blind us. We need each other. We need each other to hold, to embrace, and to communicate. If we didn't have each other, if you was living all by yourself—let me tell you something, if you lived cooped up in your house all the time, don't see nobody, don't want to be bothered by nobody, sooner or later your mind starts slipping.

Because you see things through your own lens and you're making decisions according to what you know, but you don't know everything. Now you've isolated yourself and now you're not in communication with other people, and even when you talk, your conversation sounds weird to them. Amen.

So this is what has robbed this nation: selfishness. These rich people are so selfish they don't care if they hurt the poor. They don't care about that at all. They're moving by their feelings. They're not listening to God. They feel like you don't need it. They feel like they can do something better with it. They feel like this could be a better nation if I rule, "I alone can fix it," which is a lie.

Trust me, I didn't plan on going this way, but God had me go that way for a moment. Don't you be one that's out there full of self. Going out to witness is not a selfish act. It's a selfless act because you want to help somebody. You want to see them have better. You see how God made it better for you, so now you want to see better on them.

You're one of those persons because you're of Christ. You remember when Christ came, he was grieving because he saw the people hurting? He saw he had to lay hands on them, he had to, because Satan was having a ball on people. So Jesus had compassion. He was selfless, and he went to aid people. That is the will of God: for you to be selfless and go out and aid people and help them in the way that they need help.

You got to get rid of your feelings. It ain't about what you feel because sometimes what you feel ain't real. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Amen. So we communicate with God by our spirit. Far too long, you and I and many others have lived our lives according to our own understanding or how we saw things according to our knowledge. Sooner or later, we found out that we didn't know as much as we thought we knew.

But when we found Jesus, he told and taught us things we would not have otherwise known. He's all-knowing, omniscient, all-seeing, omnipresent, and all-mighty, omnipotent. Who better to listen to than he who's got it all going on? Amen. Open your Bibles to Ephesians, the fourth chapter. Ephesians 4, beginning at the 17th verse.

Guest (Male): No, Brother Brown here, he beat y'all. I had it.

Pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: I know he here when you hear that "Amen" before y'all even get to get the turning pages, he's saying "Amen." This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds.

You're not like the world. You can't go out and do what the world do. I learned that at an early age. At an early age, we went on a roller skating trip. The building where we lived in, they had a tenant association and they drew up a roller skating trip for us to go to Empire. Anybody remember Empire?

So we go to the train station and everybody's going under the turnstile. I was about 13, 14. So I go, and I'm the last one. The police snatched me up. I can't do what everyone else do. The Lord taught me at an early age I can't do what everybody else do. I kid you not, that lesson, that's why I'm saying it to you, because it was a lesson to me. In my life, I don't care where I went, that was always the same. I can't do what everybody else does.

God always had a boundary for me in my life. I couldn't get away with what everybody else gets away with. My mother was like, "How come you didn't do it?" She said, "How come you always want to get caught though?" Because it wasn't the will of God for me to be doing what I was doing. That's why I got caught.

So we cannot walk this walk according to the ways of the world. We have to live according to the ways of God. So it says walk and do not walk as the rest of the world walk, in the futility of their mind, in the depravity of their mind. Their mind is not high in the Lord. They live according to what? Their feelings. And their feelings often fool them.

Verse 18: Having their understanding darkened. So if they had their understanding darkened, that's darkness. Darkness comes from the devil. God is the spirit of light. So if their understanding is darkened, they're not in Christ Jesus. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because why? God is light, he's not darkness. So you alienate yourself if your mind is stuck on stupid, silly, ugly things that does not pertain to the kingdom. Hallelujah.

Because of the ignorance that is in them. See, Satan wants you to be ignorant. That's how he can easily slap you upside the head, because you don't even see him coming, you're so ignorant. And because of the blindness of the heart, who being past feeling—you see that? Past feeling. Got to get rid of that feeling. Have given themselves over to lewdness. See, they move by their feelings. To work all uncleanness with greediness. Never satisfied, always want more.

See, when you're content, you're not greedy. When you're satisfied in Christ Jesus, you want to see other people blessed too. Now my pastor—she's my pastor too—Pastor, she's one thing about her, she's a miser with money and things. So she likes those Goodwill places. No, it ain't nothing wrong with it, it ain't nothing wrong with it. But I get tired of going in there.

And it's good, they have some good stuff in there, don't get me wrong. But there comes a time I feel like I don't need that. Let that be for them. They need that. God has blessed us. Let them get that because we can afford something better. You know what I'm saying? That's just me. That's just me.

Even sometimes where they're giving out free food, I say, "No, I ain't going over there." She says, "Why you don't want to go?" I say, "Because we got food. Let them people have that stuff. They need it." And that doesn't mean I'm better than anybody. I'm not doing that because I think I'm better than that. I realize that I don't really have a need for that. That's for people who are in need, and we have to understand that.

But you know us, we love free. If it's free, we could be a millionaire—"Oh, it's free, I'm going in this line." That's just black folks. Bank account six digits, you still going to get on that free line. Glory to God. Hallelujah. So I just thank God that he has put a hedge around me. And there is a limited space—not so limited where I can't go—but I can't go but so far because if I go too far, I find myself doing wrong. Amen.

So verse 19 again: Who being past feelings having given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conduct. That's right, don't pick it back up. The old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. That's the old man connected to your flesh. Because of that, you stunt your growth. You stunt your growth. Hallelujah. And be renewed by the spirit of your mind.

And that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. In true righteousness means you are truly right with God. Because you are truly right, that's why it says righteousness first. It don't say holy and righteousness. It says righteousness first. You got to be right with God in order to be holy from God. Amen. So when you are right with God, truly right with God, he sets you apart.

And since he set you apart, it says therefore—he done set you apart, therefore, that's why he set you apart, that's why therefore—putting away lying. Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. I need you, you need me. We all a part of God's happy family. Amen. As iron sharpens iron, so does the countenance of man. Don't ever be so begrudging with somebody that you don't want them around you. I'm talking about those in the church.

It says, "Be angry and do not sin." Amen. You see in the last verse, this is how deception grows when everybody is lying. That's how deception has grown in this country because everybody bought into the lie and everybody's promoting, helping to promote that lie.

You have people who are upset with companies that bought into this person's idea for this nation. They didn't have to capitulate to what he wants. All they had to do was disagree. But it's all full of lies and they're getting in bed with him. Why? Because they're afraid he's going to come after them and harm their business. But see, when you're in Christ Jesus, we're not fearing any man. We don't care what they do out there. We're in Christ Jesus, and if God gave me this business, I'm not worried about you trying to hurt my business because God is higher than you, stronger than you, wiser than you, and he's not going to tolerate you but so long.

And it's coming, church. He's just more patient than we are. Amen. You know he's a loving God because me and you would have been done put homeboy in a nook somewhere. Amen. Hallelujah. Again, verse 26, "Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath." If you're mad with somebody before the sun goes down, make sure you get it right with them.

I remember Joyce Meyer. she was saying that her and her husband got in an argument and she's saying it was close, it was like two hours, I think it was an hour, something like that. It was a short amount of time before the sun goes down and she was hot mad with him. Then she realized the time and she realized, "Oh no, the sun is going to go down. I got to get rid of this anger." So that's good that she even thought to do that. Amen. So you don't want the sun to go down on your wrath because I told you anger unchecked becomes hatred. Hallelujah.

It says nor give place to the devil. How do you give place to the devil? Having an idle mind, ain't got nothing going on, you're bored. Why are you bored? If you get into God, you won't be bored. So when Satan sees that you're bored, he comes knocking, trying to get into your heart, trying to get into your mind and disrupt your life. Amen. And because your idle is easy for him to get in. It's hard to get into someone's mind when they're preoccupied with something else.

You ever talk to somebody and they reading something and, "What you say? I didn't hear you," because their mind is on what they're doing. Amen. So if we stay busy with God and do what he says, if we stay in his word, we can't hear everything Satan says because the word of God blocks him out. Hallelujah.

"Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Amen. Are you seeking to give somebody something? Do you wake up seeking to bless somebody? Amen.

You know, I look in the store especially when I go to the gas station. Say the door to get in the gas station and the pumps is right about here. I look at the person before I get there and I say, "Let me see if I'm going to give him something." Because you can tell when someone's there just for the drugs, and then some who really in need. And I try to sift through. Sometimes I know the ones on drugs, I give them something that day because I'll be all right with that. No problem. But there's times that I want my seed to be placed in fertile ground. Hallelujah. So I can get a just reward. Amen.

Verse 29: "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good, what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." Don't be cursing a lot. Don't be talking out your mouth. Don't be gossiping out your mouth. Save your words to heal people. Save your words to help people. Save your words to mend those hearts that have been broken. Use your words for a constructive business of God and not for the destructive business of Satan. Amen. Hallelujah.

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." What's a seal mean? When you seal something, nothing can get in. You've been sealed by the Holy Spirit so you belong to God. Can no one move you, can no one take you from where you are in Christ unless you let them. So you've been sealed in.

Aren't you glad, aren't you excited to be sealed in? No weapon formed against you can prosper. You've been sealed in, so no weapon formed against you can prosper. Hallelujah. You're highly protected by God's spirit. Hallelujah. Amen.

"Let all bitterness"—and that's what robs people from getting better, they're too bitter. How can you get better when you're bitter? "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another." That's why we hug each other, to be kind to one another. Tenderhearted. Amen. Forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you.

When you came to Jesus, what did you expect to happen to you? Did you expect life to be a bowl of cherries? Did you expect all your troubles would just go away? Did you expect your life to be easy because it's in Jesus? Did you expect the devil would suddenly leave you alone now that you're saved? All these questions are based upon your feelings. And if you say yes to any of these questions, you are blinded by your feelings when it comes to that question.

When you came to Christ, there had to be a transformation so that you be fit to walk with Jesus. Jesus had to do something with your mind. He had to change it because the mind you had was far from the mind he has. Jesus came to show you that your feelings are sometimes false facts that you must not rely on continuously. Your feelings do not come from above, but they come from within a heart of flesh, which is an enmity to God because your flesh is corrupt. The corruption of your heart can blind the spirit of your soul and cause things to get out of control without you realizing what you have done in error.

The Apostle Paul is a prime candidate for someone who leaned upon his own understanding. When he was Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, he felt like those who were followers of Christ were wrong and he was right according to the law. So his feelings propelled him to bind up, lock up, shut up, and hold up the progress the disciples were making by carrying the gospel wherever they chose.

It was nothing but the power of God that turned that thing around and blinded Saul of Tarsus from continuing his assault on the gospel of the people of the way. That's what they called them, the people of the way. Aren't you the people of the way? Saul was blind from the truth until he submitted to the will of the truth so that he could find out what the truth was all about and in turn became a part of the truth to sow seeds of the truth to the Gentiles who were always blinded from the truth by nature.

Saul was blind from the truth until he submitted to the will of the truth. So that he could find out what the truth was all about and in turn became a part of the truth to sow seeds of the truth to the Gentiles who were always blinded from the truth by nature.

The spirit of the Lord was upon Paul, who was once Saul, to welcome and introduce them to Christ as dear children of God, whom he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which they once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. You find that in Ephesians 2:1-2.

You see, at first, Saul of Tarsus was moved by the letter of the law. But where did that lead him to? It led him to blindness of the truth. He hit a dead-end road, which caused him to bump into the truth so that he would understand that the truth of the matter is that the law does not lead to salvation. Jesus caused blindness to come upon Saul, and Jesus caused his eyesight to be restored so that Saul could become Paul. Amen.

God took a man who was spiritually blind and caused him to have spiritual insight. For when we were in the flesh like Saul, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Amen. You don't want to bear fruit to death, you want to bear fruit to Christ.

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. You find that in Romans 7:5-6. Like Paul, who was once Saul of Tarsus, Saul was motivated by the power of the law so he killed people according to his feelings, which was the fruit he bore to death. The law leadeth to death and grace leads to life.

Saul brought death to Christ's anointed when the scripture says, "Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm." And Christ brought death to his eyes all because Saul felt like—felt like, felt like—he needed to help God by killing folks who were not living according to the law. Imprisoning folks while Jesus came to set the captives free. That's why Jesus had to snatch him up.

To Saul, they were blasphemers, not knowing if God wanted to kill off people because they failed to obey the law. He could have done that by himself. He didn't need Saul to help him do that. As a matter of fact, that's what happened. That's what's happening already. That's why God sent the remedy, Jesus, to save us from our sins while Saul of Tarsus was killing people because of their sins.

Would that not be the work of the devil? Let me make this very clear to you that all of your feelings are attached to your flesh. Your flesh is an enmity to God, which means he can't stand your flesh. And he won't stand for the mess coming from your flesh. A fleshly man is an enemy to the son of man, Jesus Christ.

That's why it's wise to surrender your flesh to him and he'll give you rest from all the mess you created because of your feelings. Look what the blindness of his feelings did for Saul. For one, Saul gave God a bad name. Amen. Just like some give God a bad name with this person in the White House. You got some church folk all up under him and around him. Because they want notoriety. They want to be seen as they doing something. Not knowing they're really doing something by hurting themselves. Amen.

For one, Saul gave God a bad name. He presented God as the spirit of darkness and not as the light of the world. There was no light in the work of Saul of Tarsus. Where there is no light, there is no God, only a false God. He became a hindrance to the people of the Way movement. But God took what Satan meant for evil and instead of it hindering the movement, it motivated the movement. Won't he do it?

And the church grew daily. The church grew daily. God is speaking to someone in the room. So you lean over and tell them, "Don't be motivated by your feelings. Be inspired by God." You see, when you're inspired by God, you see clearly and you discern the presence of the wicked one in your affairs, in your business, on your family, and in your way. So you thirst for more of Jesus day by day. Every day until the day you die.

Our sermon lesson today is based upon the blindness of Isaac, the father of Esau and Jacob, and of course, the son of Abraham. We want to delve into why Isaac was blinded. I asked the Lord this years ago, he gave me the answer and I thank him.

The Bible does not say why, but I believe it's there as a hidden mystery. We just need to dig and find out. When you want to find something, you got to search, don't you? You can't expect it just to happen by osmosis and fall into your lap. Why was there disharmony in his marriage? Talking about Isaac. Now y'all, I'm saying something y'all ain't never know, did y'all? Why was there disharmony in his marriage and amongst his children? You know his children were in disharmony. If the parents are in disharmony, the children going to be in disharmony. Do you get it?

Why did we hear no more of Isaac after Jacob leaves home until his death? I believe there's an answer. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 26. You need to stay awake if you want to get it. Genesis 26 at the first verse.

There was a famine in the land, just like it is here, there's a moral famine in the land. Besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Now it is believed that Abimelech is a name like Pharaoh was a name. Pharaoh had a name, but they called him Pharaoh. So they say the same is here with Abimelech. Abimelech had a name. You know Abimelech was with Abraham, but now you still got Abimelech with Isaac. And I wonder is this the same Abimelech? I wonder like we was saying is this the same Pharaoh? You get it?

Then the Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land which I shall tell you." You need God to direct your life. Stop trying to do it on your own. You've been doing it a long time. Look where it got you. "Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father." So he had a relationship with God. God came to speak with Isaac. And guess what? God comes and speaks with you too. He's always speaking. And sometimes you don't hear because you're cluttered with stuff you shouldn't be cluttered with in your mind.

He says, "And I will make your descendants multiply." See, God is telling, "I'm going to take care of you. You ain't got nothing to worry about. You ain't got worry about nobody. I got you. All right?" "So your descendants will multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham, because of your daddy, not cause of you, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law."

I'll speak to any parent right now. If you want your children to be successful, you make sure you're obedient to God. God will take care of your children. You be obedient to him. You ain't got to worry about what's happening in the street. If you're in covenant with him, he will protect your children.

So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. And the men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister." For he was afraid to say "she is my wife" because he thought—see, where's a thought come from? Your feelings. Y'all better stay with me. Because he thought, "lest the men of the place kill me for Rebecca because she is beautiful to behold."

See, because you're blessed by God, people want what you got. When you claim it as yours, people can't take it. He's not claiming her as his. So you making her vulnerable, you making yourself vulnerable for her to be taken away from you because you leaning on your own understanding. You moving by your feelings. Y'all better watch them feelings. Hello somebody. You better watch them feelings.

Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked through a window and saw, and there was Isaac showing endearment to Rebecca his wife. Amen. He was trying to get it on. And then Abimelech called Isaac and said, "Quite obviously she is your wife." You know, let me pause here.

We grew up with shades on the window. We grew up with curtains. But we got some different folks moving in the neighborhood who don't put not one curtain, not one shade. You can see directly in the house. Now watch this. Listen. We think we're right for putting up the shades and the curtain. But you know where we got that from? Slavery. Slave houses didn't have no windows.

So when master was coming, you didn't know when he was coming. He didn't want you to see him coming. He wanted to surprise you. So we always lived in a house where there was no windows. And then when we were able to get windows, because we were brainwashed in slavery, we went and got curtains and things and covered so we could be like we was still slaves. Do y'all get that?

It's the truth, y'all. It's really the truth. But guess what? You've been conditioned to it for so long, you feel it's right. I feel it's right too. I still feel it's right to have that curtain, that shade up there. But I'm just telling y'all how we got there. I'm not going to open my window and use crazy people like this in the world now today, looking in my house.

I'm just trying to help y'all understand how we got there. See what happens with the mind? See how you can be guided into something, don't know how you got into it? Amen. Glory to God. So we found the same thing with David, Bathsheba taking a bath, and he looking down at her. But that's the way it was. Hello? That's the way it was.

So he said in verse 10, "And Abimelech said, 'What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might have soon lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us.'" They did—see, people of the world, they know right from wrong. Just because they're not in Christ, people know right from wrong.

So Abimelech charged all his people saying, "He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death." Amen. Your enemy can appear to be kind to you, but he's always up to something. You better watch him. Stay with me now. All right.

So then Isaac sowed in the land—oh, I got the clear, I got the clear way, I got the runway now—so Isaac sowed in the land and reaped in that same year a hundredfold, and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous. That's what God will do for you. It is not the will of God for you to be broke, busted, and disgusted. That brings shame to your God.

What parent who is affluent and rich leave their children to go in a shelter, leave their children out and walk around with bummy clothes on? Who does that? God is rich in houses and land. He's God of everything. And so if you are in Christ Jesus, God is not going to see you poor. Hello? And if you don't know how to hold on to money, if you're not a good steward, you're still a child of God, but he just going to teach you, he just going to teach you how to be rich in the spirit.

Because you don't know how to handle money, so he can't endow you with a lot of money because you don't know how to handle money. When you get used to handling money, then he will bestow money. See, Isaac, he knew how to make money, so he got cattle from his daddy. Of course, his daddy got it from Abimelech and along the way, and so he passed it to his son. "Now I got these riches, I got these things, now I've got to know how to make it work for me."

See, some of us don't know how to make our money work for us. And if you don't know how to make your money work for you, why do you spend it up? How can it work for you if you don't spend it up? Hello? I'm talking to you. So Isaac knew how to prosper in the things that God had given him. Do you know how to prosper in the things that God has given you?

Watch this. God give you children. Did you prosper in your children? Somebody say yes and they ain't got no child. See, even your children, God gave that to them, gave them to you. You're supposed to—you're supposed to prosper those children. See, look. Watch this. You are a child—a child of God. It is God's will to prosper you. All right. Now God gives you children. What you think you're supposed to do with children? It is God's will that you prosper your children. Not just with this here, with here. Teach them good manners. Teach them how to treat elderly people right. Teach them good ethics and morals. Make them rich in that way. Prosper them in that way. Hello somebody.

Verse 14: "For he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him." Your enemy envies you. Y'all better stay with me. Your enemy envies you. Amen. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. Amen.

Guess what? He was no longer welcome there. See, when people don't want you around, God got another place for you. Don't worry about them people. You got Jesus. What you worry about them people for? They don't got a heaven or hell to put you in. And I know rejection is hard. A lot of us have faced rejection, but rejection is a part of growing. Jesus came to his own and his own received him not. He got rejected, so why can't you be rejected?

All right. So they filled the earth with—they filled the wells with earth. Your enemy seeks to block your blessings. That's your enemy now. And Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we are." Your enemy can't stand you, so he don't even want you around him.

Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dwelt there. Now watch this. Satan always wants to demote you. Now go to the sixth verse. So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. When he dwelt there, he was up in the mount, he was up higher. But look when we get here. It says what? That he—he dwelt where? In the valley.

Then Isaac departed from there (verse 17) and pitched his tent in the valley. So Satan wants to take you to a lower place. God is always trying to take you to a higher place. So Isaac got reduced. He got kicked out of where the mainstream of people at, so he had to go in a low place in the valley. Hallelujah.

And the valley is mostly where the poor people live. So how—see, just in my imagination, I'm thinking that God allowed him to get down there. Since he got all the goods, he can help the poor people down in the valley. God is always up to something, church. And see, that's studying. When you study and the Holy Spirit will feed you more than just on paper.

So if that was a poor place, it was only right for God to send Isaac down there to the poor place because he was a prosperous man. God didn't prosper you to be prosperous to yourself. God prospered you so you can be prosperous to other people. Amen.

So now he goes. It says, "Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar and dug again the wells of water that they had dug in the days of Abraham." So he's going to get his blessing. He's fighting for his blessings. Are you fighting for your blessings? Those were blessings his father left him, and they put dirt in it. So he's going to get the dirt out. He's fighting for his blessings because with those wells, he can feed his animals, he can water his animals. And they are strategic places where he can stage some animals here, and stage some animals there, and stage some animals over here so that when the people come to buy, he's reaching all neighborhoods. All neighborhoods. Because he's what? A good steward. Oh, y'all better stay with me. Hallelujah.

He's a good steward. So he says that he dug wells—and that the days of Abraham's father for the Philistines stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by names which his father had called them. And also Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found a well of running water. Amen. And Abraham—I'm saying to you—this was also a part of Abraham what Abraham had dug. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled. Hallelujah.

The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name of the well Esek. Your enemy will take what's yours and claim it as his. This country has become an enemy to other countries, trying to go over and take Greenland. Take—this is an evil man. I don't care if I'm on YouTube, I don't—I'm not afraid of him. He's an evil man. Yes he is. And you're going to go mess with these people? They're not bothering nobody. You're going to go and bother these people and try to take from them.

You got hell to pay. Amen. And see, that's how the enemy is. The enemy wants to take what you have because it's good to them and they just want it. Didn't Jezebel do that for Ahab when he took a land from a man who told Ahab he couldn't have because he had all those beautiful grapes, he had all his vineyard, he had nice stuff? And so Jezebel—Ahab was sad cause he wouldn't give it to him. And he told Jezebel. Jezebel went and had the man killed so Ahab can get the man's land. Oh yes. That's the same thing happening with this one in the White House. There's nothing new under the sun, church. And you see the purpose that did that, God cursed them.

So don't worry. Curse won't last long. Hello somebody. Trouble don't last always. Amen. All right. So Isaac (verse 20) but the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsman saying, "The water is ours." So he called the name Esek. Verse 21, then they dug another well and they quarreled over that one also. So he called the name Sitnah. Now Sitnah means enmity, opposition. Amen.

Your enemy strives against you. That's what this is right here. So he's naming it what it is. He's calling it for what it is. This is what's going on in my life, in this period of my life. This what I'm going through, and the enemy is bothering me. I'm a child of God, but the enemy is trying to take what's mine. The enemy is trying to take my children's mind. The enemy is trying to take what little money I do get. You see that? But see, I'm a child of God. And because I'm a child of God, even though the enemy is trying to take what I got, I know God is going to help me to keep what I got. That's the attitude you got to have, church. Hallelujah.

I know he's going to help me. See, you past hope. Amen. You expect God to help you. Amen. So he moved from there and dug another well, so they did not quarrel. So he called the name of it Rehoboth. And that means "broad place," a room, room. God makes room for you. Because he said, "For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." And then he went up from there to Beersheba.

Somebody shout real loud, "We shall be fruitful in the land!"

Guest (Male): We shall be fruitful in the land!

Pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: Come on, do it again!

Guest (Male): We shall be fruitful in the land!

Pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: One more time!

Guest (Male): We shall be fruitful in the land!

Pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: Amen! And it is so. And it is so. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Yes. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not fear." You see that? When the enemy comes, he wants you to fear.

What this guy is doing, he got everybody jumping in the bed with him because he's giving them fear. And they're scared about what he's going to do. He's trying to scare the people of Greenland, and the people of Greenland said, "We ain't scared of you." He's trying to scare China, and China said, "We ain't scared of you. As a matter of fact, we going to put more on you than you putting on us." We got a fool in the White House, and I'm not afraid to say it.

You causing trouble. Everything is gone—you talking about a nation who had the best economy, the resilient economy, and the lowest unemployment rate. We were in a good place. And we voted this fool in. And we need to stop blaming the other party. We need to stop blaming the other party when we had the answer, and the people, "we the people," need to blame ourselves. Because the answer was there.

It's easy to point the finger, and when you ought to look at yourself. You voted for him, so you got him. And if you didn't vote for him, you still got him because you didn't vote at all. That's what I'm saying. Didn't vote. Hallelujah. So we need to see things for what they are, what's going on in our nation. Hallelujah.

And we cannot sit back silent. We must pray. We need to have a revival, Mother Anderson. We need to pray. We need to believe God for a fast! Hallelujah! We need a great fast, and I'm saying this across YouTube that we need a great fast. All you brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to go on a fast. We need to network together against this government! Hallelujah!

And we need to go on a fast. That's the call: the fast for three days this month. Hallelujah! And we need to call a fast for like a month so we can change the tide in Washington! God has given us the power! I dare you not to lay down and let the devil walk all over our town. I refuse to lay down! God has told me to stand! So I'm standing on the promises of God! Hallelujah! Glory to God!

Hallelujah! Standing on the promises of God. No weapon formed against me shall prosper! No weapon formed against us shall prosper! No weapon! No weapon! Hallelujah! You got enemies, enemies all around us. Now we got enemies in the church working with the ones that's against us! My God, bind it Lord! Hallelujah! Stop it! Stop it!

And the bad thing about this man is weaker than a worm on the ground! I'm telling you, yes he is. And we got all this strength and we can't beat that worm? Oh yes we can! Come on! Oh Lord! Hallelujah! We letting a worm—we letting a worm cause us to squirm. My God, I refuse to squirm by this worm! I'm reaping for joy! Hallelujah! Because I got Jesus on my mind! I got Jesus by my side! I serve a mighty big God! Hallelujah! Bigger than any man that goes in the White House! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Thank you, Father God. Hallelujah! It goes on and says in verse 23, then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father. Do not fear, for I am with you. Hallelujah. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake." So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there, and there Isaac's servants dug a well.

We said the other week that you got to keep on digging. Don't ever stop digging because you'll never know the whole word and all the word. We'll never understand God to the day we die. We need to increase in our learning. Learn while you can. Hallelujah! Yes. In the great fight, you all need to pick up the word so you can fight. If you don't hardly know the word, you can't fight this fight with me.

And I need more people. We need more people to help us fight. It's a spiritual fight! It's a spiritual fight! And those who worship him must worship him in what? Spirit and truth. So stop playing with yourself. Get in the word of God and be empowered by his spirit so we can wage this war against the devil. Hallelujah!

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar and from Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you?" Now watch this. Go back, go back to 25—no, 24. "And the Lord appeared to him that same night and said, 'I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not fear, for I am with you. I'll bless you and multiply your descendants.' So he built an altar there."

Now go to 26. See, as soon as God shows up—didn't you remember when Jesus got baptized and God said, "This is my son in whom I'm well pleased," and then the next thing you know, Satan appears? "Are you really the son of God?" All right, look at Satan appearing right here. Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with—right after God said that to him, here comes the devil. All right.

Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And I always wondered why the—the army, he brought the commander army. In my next verse of scriptures, I'll get to that. And Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me since you hate me?" Your enemy hates you, church. Yes he does. "And sent me away from you?"

But they said, "We have certainly seen the Lord is with you." So we said, "You knew he was with him with his daddy Abraham." So what you acting like, "Ah, we seen that the Lord—" You just full of it. "Let there now be an oath between us. Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm since we have not touched you." A lying wonder. How you know—how you know Satan is a liar? Yes he is. "And since we have done nothing to you." You lying again. You kicked me out of there.

"Done nothing to you but good." You are a liar! "And have sent you away in peace." Now he went in peace, but you didn't send him in peace. God sent him away in peace. "You are now the blessed of the Lord." You really? You think I didn't know that? So what they were doing was stroking his ego.

So he made them a feast and they ate and drank. And then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another, and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, "We have found water." So he called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. And Beersheba means seven. And we going to find out why. Seven. It was a oath. Amen. Glory to God.

Now watch this. Isaac was blinded by his feelings, I believe. All the way through this lesson, you just—you saw me show you how much these people was an enemy to them, to Isaac, right? Listen carefully. Listen carefully. All right, if this is your enemy and they did these things against you, why are you in covenant signing a covenant to get with them?

"I'm your God. I'm the Lord God that healeth you. I'm—I'm the maker." He even told him, he said, "And the Lord appeared to him and say now, 'I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not fear.' Why you signing a covenant for? 'For I am with you.' I'm with you. What you need with him? 'I will bless you.' Why you seeking to get blessed by him? As a matter of fact, he ain't bring you nothing but you giving him some food."

"And multiply through—" God told you that, Isaac. Why are you getting in covenant with Abimelech? You getting in covenant with the world. And I'm here to tell the Christians, some of you are in covenant with the world. You got one foot in the church and another foot in the world. You need to make up your mind. You can't be caught between two opinions. Either you're going to serve God or you're going to serve the devil. Hallelujah!

And this what God spoke to me. God says this is why Isaac became blind because he was blind to me. I told him what I'm going to do for him, but he went and signed this covenant with his enemy. And because he did that, he did it blindly, so I allowed him to become blind. My Lord. That's deep. Hallelujah.

See, it don't say it, but he says it. He shows it to you. All you got to do is study. He shows it to you. For years, I kept asking the Lord, "Why is he blind? Why is he blind?" He told me this year. Amen. Hallelujah. I kept wanting—come on, you explained to me—you in the Bible it shows you why everybody—you—and I'm going to talk about it, the angel. Remember the angels that they stricken blind that wanted to get in bed with Lot? And the—and the angels snatched them in there. Amen. And the angels stricken them, made them blind because they was full of sin.

Every time you see blindness in the Bible, it's most of the time it's because someone sinned. Hello? Now with the exception of the one boy who was born blind. And that God said, "No, that was for my glory." Hello somebody. And then he—then he got his eyesight, didn't he? That was for God's glory. So you know it's not the intention of God for you to be blind. Hello?

So here it is, he—he's in covenant with God. His daddy established the covenant. And you're going to walk over and get in covenant with the devil who kicked you out, who clogged up your father's well, and you're going to get in agreement with evil? Do y'all get it?

You don't ever get in the bed with the devil. I don't care how good it look. I don't care how much money he say he going to give you. I'm talking to one of young ladies now. I don't care how much money he say he going to give you. I don't care what kind of car he drive. Hello somebody. You don't get in the bed with him because you're walking into something blindly. You don't even know, he's blinding you from seeing who he really is by giving you all these gifts.

And now six months then passed and your—your smile turned into a frown. My Lord, help us because you got in the bed with your enemy. Hello. And your enemy shouldn't entice you to do something that wouldn't make God happy. That's right. Hello somebody. If you're in the bed with somebody or you getting—a friend with somebody, you ain't got to be in a sexual relationship, but if you're with them and they enticing you to do something against your God, you need to consider that friend and see if he's really a friend or your enemy. Yes, yes, yes. Hello somebody. Glory to God.

Go to Genesis 21. Amen. This is what studying the word about. Instead of getting a good feeling and shouting and jumping and sweating to death, you need to get your mind—yes, yes—you need to get the word in your mind so you can grow and know who your God is. That's right. Amen. You did a lot of jumping and shouting in the club. Amen. I told you. Now you need to just be still and let God feed you what he got to say. And then when he give you something good, now you can go dance. But you don't want to dance all the time and don't get the word. Amen. Teach us, Lord. Amen.

21:22: "And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham saying, 'God is with you in all that you do.'" You got to realize your enemy envies you. Amen. I—I have an enemy that's—that's close to me. Amen. And that means they in my family. And they always trying to keep up with me. Trying to keep up with what I'm doing. Always saying bad things about me behind my back and things and they think I don't know it. I play dumb with them. That's right. Amen.

Cause I know God got—I listen, I ain't coming down from this high place God got me at to come—step down to you and fuss and fight and cuss with you because you—you envious of me. No, I'm going to stay in this high place, and when you get up here where I'm at, then maybe we can talk. And that don't make me better than them. Oh, I want to make that clear because some people can just—no, I'm not being arrogant. I'm just confident. I'm just confident in my God. Hello somebody. Glory to God.

So he said, "God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore, swear to me—" Now he brings the—he did this with—with—with Isaac. He brought the commander of his army. And I'm wondering why, Lord, did he bring the commander? If he want to talk to Abraham, he want to talk to Isaac, why do he have to bring the commander of the army? And the Lord says because he wants to intimidate them.

He's seeking to intimidate them and get them to go along with what he wants. Isn't that what the one in the White House does now? He intimidate people to get them to agree. That's why a lot of these companies are capitulating and giving in to what he wants when they can tell him no. Right. Exactly. He's nothing but a bully who will be had. Oh yes. Amen. See, if you don't speak, it ain't going to happen. Words create. Yes it does. That's right.

So it says, "Now therefore swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, with my posterity, but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt." Now he's honest here. I don't know if this is a different Abimelech. But—but this Abimelech did do good by Abraham. He gave Abraham cattle. Remember when he came in there and lying that his wife was the sister? The man gave him cattle, gave him a lot of things.

But when we get to Isaac, that man ain't give Isaac nothing but a hard time. So—so I want to—I'm actually going to bring it in now, Lord. So what I'm trying to say to you, just because your daddy did something, that don't mean it's going to work for you. Amen. Abraham made agreement with him. Amen. But the man was in—the man wasn't Abraham's enemy. Right.

But now when you get to his offspring, his children, you know sometimes the devil think he can get your children but he can't get you. Yes. So now that you come to his child Isaac, now you—you—you want impose some things. Now you want to take away from him. You was kind to Abraham, but you're showing hatred towards Isaac. And to be honest with you, hatred was always there, but he kept it under the disguise. All right.

See, that's when you got some sneaky enemies. You better watch out. "Girl, your house looks so nice. Oh, how long y'all been living here? Oh, it's so nice." Then you go in the back room and they try to take something. My God. Jesus is trying. See, they soup you up and make you think they're your friend, but they're trying to take something from you. Yes. Because they're jealous of you.

So he says, "Now therefore swear—" that you help my offspring. And Abraham said, "I will swear." And Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of the well of water which Abimelech's servants had seized. And Abimelech said, "I do not know what has—who has done—" he's lying. I just don't believe that. "Who has done this thing? You did not tell me, nor had I heard of it until this day."

You know, we are like that. Sometimes people bother us and take things from us, we don't say nothing. We leave it in God's hand. And that's what Abraham did. Abraham left it in God's hand. I ain't had to tell you that your men stuck up my well because y'all can't stop me. You stop up that well, I got other wells. I leave you in God's hand. I ain't going to come and fight with you. I'm not coming down from this place where I'm at to meet you. Yes, yes, yes.

So Abraham took the sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech. See, he gave him something. Amen. He gave him something in return. So they had a friendship. So this is genuine. Amen. And the two of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven—that's why we saw Rehoboth where he—Isaac got at where he call it Beersheba. It's called Beersheba right here. All right. So that's why you got—we saw the definition was seven.

And seven ewe lambs of the flock seven by themselves. And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?" And he said, "You will take these seven ewe lambs from my—from my hand that they may be my witness that I have dug this well."

So Abraham already set it up for—for Isaac to be successful because see, with two you—you get a witness, right? So he's making sure that it's established in heaven that I did this with this man, Lord. You see what I did with him? So you see that I made an agreement with him. You, Lord, in my absence, make sure that he keeps this covenant.

So what happens down the line? He kicks Isaac out of Gerar. He's jealous of you like your daddy. "You come here, working up everything, making all the money. I'm not going to sit back a second time and watch you just make all this money here in my kingdom and I don't profit from it." I believe that's what happened. My goodness. Jealousy. Wow.

Smiling in your face. "They smiling in your face." All the backstabbers, right? So therefore he called that place what? Beersheba. Because the two of them swore an oath. Thus they made a covenant of Beersheba. So Abimelech rose from Phichol, the commander of the army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. And then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and there called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days. And I just want you to all know that the Philistines has always been Israel's enemies. Israel isn't formed yet. But you see they were the enemy way back here. And then when you get to David with Goliath, they really acting now. They showing their true colors. "We can't stand you."

Here they was trying to hide it, play nicey-nicey. But see, they was the devil all the time. The devil is cunning. He's sneaky, sneaking around and seeing who he can devour. Yes. You have to be prayed up and stayed up in God so you can see the enemy coming. You can't get distracted by the foolishness of this world. Yes. Hello somebody. You must overcome that.

I want to say to all of you, especially the young people, Isaac no doubt followed in the footsteps of his father Abraham. But I say to you all—all of you—what was good for your ancestors may not be good for you because their culture is far different from the culture you live in now. Do y'all hear what I'm saying?

The only things that's good and successful in all cultures which your ancestors used is the word of God, which is the way of God. Remember, David was told by King Saul to use his armor to fight Goliath. You see that armor was good for King Saul in his day, but it was not good for David in his day because the enemy which King Saul had—had—had fought was the—was not the enemy in which David fought. David's enemy was a larger, taller, and bigger problem than King Saul's enemy.

David's weapon was different and unconventional. I stopped by to tell the body of Christ we can no longer be blinded by our feelings and fight the conventional fight that our ancestors fought. We must be radical and move and move by the power of God's might. We must no longer do church as usual because Satan already has figured us out.

No, we must do something that throws him off our trail by confusing him. The greatest way to do that is to let go of our feelings so God can release his healing upon us who are the called. There are some churches that are blind to what God is doing in this hour because they make decisions according to their feelings and not according to the voice of the—or the word of God. Our fight is spiritual. For the weapons of our warfare, they are not carnal but they are mighty for what? Pulling down strongholds. Amen. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Turn to Isaiah. This the last one. Isaiah 42:14. Are you there? Amen. And it reads, "I have held my peace a long time." This is God talking. "I have been still and restrained myself." Don't you think God has—has kept quiet about America? Held his peace about America for a long time? Yes. And don't you think he still—he—he restrained himself from afflicting us? But now God is going to open the gates! Hallelujah!

And people better know how to get on their knees. Because he's not restrained anymore. Now he says, "Now I will cry like a woman in labor." My goodness. This is God talking. "Now I will cry like a woman in labor. I will pant and gasp at once. I will lay waste the mountains and hills." That's the high places in our government. You got hills and you got molehills. Amen. These are the high places. People who are rich, the billionaires.

"And dry up all their vegetation. I will make the rivers coastlands." In other words, if it's coastland, there's land there, no river. There's—the river may be smaller now. It could have shrunk. But if there's—because see, if there's—if you take away the coastland, it's nothing but all river. You just see water, water, water, water. But he says coastland, that means the rivers are going to start to dry up.

Because if the co—if land is shown, you know land appears what? Out of the water. Amen. Do you know when you look at mountains and you see the ridges, those are watermarks? You know how you get that—that ring in the tub after you get out the tub? Well, the earth had water levels very high, right? And every time when you look at the mountains and you see the ridges in the mountains, that's where the waterline had stopped for so many years. And then as time went on, the water stopped at this level. That's why you see in some of those mountains you can see the ring right on it. That's what?

So land appeared. So if land appears, that dries the water up, it makes the water less. If the land stayed down, there's more water. Amen. Do y'all understand me? "So he says and I will dry up the pool." See that? The pools. "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."

Those of you who are blind, God Jesus is said, "Yes, some of you are blind but I got a way for you. I'll make a way for you to get from being blind. I can do something in you if you let me. Thank you, Lord. I will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them and not—not forsake them. They shall be turned back. They shall be greatly ashamed who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, 'You are our gods.'"

"Hear you deaf and look you blind that you may see. Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf as my messenger whom I send?" So God used blind people. Amen, church. He used blind people but he knew he had to do something to get rid of their blindness. And see, he's talking about his people because they were always gullible. They didn't see their enemies coming. They kept—they kept—they kept waging their war on the mountains with these idols. They kept doing these things following these other nations.

And sooner or later, because they worship the idols of another nation, those nations came and took them over. You worship their gods and then they going to come take over you. Hello somebody. And so they—they didn't—they didn't—they didn't depend on God, they depended on the things that was happening around them.

And the Bible says if your—don't let your eye turn to the left nor to the right. If your right hand offends you, what? Cut it off. Straighten up. He said, "I will dry the pools, I will blind them. Amen. I'll make the crooked places straight." That's what he said.

17: "Then they will be turned back, and they shall surely be ashamed who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, 'You are gods.' Hear, you deaf," he says, "and look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind but my servant? Or deaf as my servant whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect and blind as the Lord's servant?"

See, in many things, but you do not observe. In other words, he's not complimenting them for being blind. He's like saying, "Look, y'all are my children. And you—you want to talk about blindness? You're the one blind. Look what the other things y'all fall for. Look at the okey-doke that you fall into. You get into trouble because you take your eye off of me. Who's blind but my people?"

If you keep your eye on me, you wouldn't be walking around blind. Because you're so blind, your enemy snuck up over you and captured you and imprisoned you and made you slave. Because you're blind. You're blind to the truth. You're blind to my word. I gave you my word. I gave it to your forefathers, but you didn't pay me no mind, so you continue to do what you want to do, and now you find your hand—yourself in the hand of the enemy, and you're crying out to me to help you out, when you should have listened to me before you got in trouble.

And that's how some people are today. Hello somebody. That's how some people are today. So he says in 20, "Seeing many things, but you do not observe. Opening the ears, but he does not hear. The Lord is well-pleased for his righteousness' sake. He will exalt the law and make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered."

Because what? The enemies came and robbed them and plundered them. They got robbed and plundered because they was blind. How many know you can take candy from a baby? The baby is just blind to what you—you put twenty dollars in his hand and you need, "Oh, here, take it." Baby don't know no better. So the baby in the sense, the baby got eyes, but the baby—the baby is blind to what you're doing. Do you get it?

So they was blind to what the enemy was doing to them. Look what he said: "But this people is robbed and plundered, all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses. They are—they are for prey and no one delivers. For plunder and no one says 'Restore.'"

"Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear the—the time to come? Who gave Jacob for plunder and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways." That's why they became blind!

So blindness is a sign of sin in your life. And when you're not aware of what God is saying, when you have a hard time reading the word of God, check yourself! You have a hard time understanding, check yourself! And don't stay without understanding. Call somebody so you can get to understand. But don't remain that way. That's ignorance. You know you don't understand it, and there's somebody that can show you what it means. Don't let your pride get in the way and don't want to call nobody acting like you don't know it, thinking you're stupid. It's not that you're stupid, you're just thirsty. You're thirsty for the word of God.

Glory to God! So it says again, he says, "For they would not walk in his ways, now nor were they obedient to his law." That's why they were blind! They were blinded by their what? Feelings. "Therefore he has poured on him the fury of his anger," and you don't want God's anger, "and the strength of battle."

You see that? And I kept reading that part, I say, "Lord, but you—you prepared them for battle, what do you mean here?" He says, "No, it's not that I prepared them for battle. I have caused many battles to come their way. And because many battles have come their way out of disobedience to me, they had to get strength in battle. The more you do it, the better you get at it." Do y'all see that? Do you get it? Hallelujah!

Glory to God. See, that registers with all y'all spirits so you know it's right. "And therefore he poured out his—on him his anger and the strength of the battle and it has set him on fire all around." You don't want to be on fire all around. I want to be on fire for Jesus. But see, when you're on fire, you being burnt up, you being tore up. That's what this means right here. "Yet he did not know, and it burned him, yet he did not take it to heart."

Do y'all see that? See, when you're blind you walk into your feelings. These things happen to you. You're—you're operating according to your feelings, you get burned! And you don't even know you're getting burned. Somebody in your pocket, pickpocket your pocket and you just a-getting doing what you doing in the world, they all in your pocket taking everything out your and you don't even know it! That means you're blind.

That's what that means, church. You're blind, and you don't want to be that person blind in the Lord claiming to know Jesus when in fact you really don't know him and sooner or later your slip is going to be hanging and people going to see you. When we are led by our feelings and not by the spirit, we fall into temptation and living according to the flesh, never giving God our best.

Jesus came because we can't make it on our own. That's why we need a savior. We need Jesus to think for us, to walk with us, fight for us so he can make our names great and go before us so that we become prosperous. Isaac should not have made a covenant with Abimelech. Isaac could want for nothing, he was very prosperous. So what did he need to get in covenant with Abimelech for? God protected him from Abimelech.

And you noticed Isaac did not confer with God before he did so. Why would Isaac get in covenant with Abimelech? What was—what—what was in Isaac? What was it in Isaac? What could he possibly gain? What was he going to get out of it? What could he possibly gain when God gave him everything? It was Abimelech who had much to gain, not Isaac.

Isaac owed him nothing, and maybe Isaac felt like that was nice, that was a nice thing to do. How many times I told y'all Jesus was never nice to anybody? He was kind but he was never nice. Maybe Isaac felt like his father made an oath with Abimelech, so—so I'll make an oath with Abimelech. See, you can't do what your parents did. Some of those things worked back then, but it may not work today.

Isaac was blinded by his feelings because God had provided with what—what could Abimelech possibly offer Isaac that would outdo God? Nothing. So it made no sense for Isaac to make a covenant with Abimelech. This was a compromise in disguise. We don't compromise with the devil. Isaac was blind to the wiles of the devil, the trickery of the devil. Abraham made a covenant of peace with Abimelech, but Isaac did not receive peace from Abimelech but strife. Are y'all with me?

This situation was not the same as Abraham's experience. Isaac was stronger than the Philistines. That's why he was sent away. That was the clue that those people were not for you, Isaac, so why did you get in bed with them? They were envious of Isaac and his accomplishments. Anybody got anybody envious of you? If not, keep on living.

So they kicked him out onto the streets and he had nothing, he—he—he had to find another home. Who—who would do this to you other than what? Your enemy. No one. But Isaac was too blind by his feelings to detect or discern exactly what Abimelech was up to. Satan is very envious of the saints. Why do you think he came after Adam and Eve and got them kicked out of the Garden of Eden? Satan got them kicked out just like he got Isaac kicked out. Do y'all get it?

Adam and Eve were cursed afterwards, and this is why I believe Isaac was cursed with blindness. He chose the wrong son to give his birthright. Do y'all remember that? To give his birthright blessing to. It was not the first son, but it was the one whom Rebecca born again. Do y'all get it? It was the one that—because they were twins, it was the one that Rebecca born again. Hallelujah.

That was Jacob. For they were what? Twins. Isaac was blind to what God was up to. So he favored the worldly son Esau, whom God hated. Jacob he loved, but Esau he hated. So Isaac was blind, y'all. He was blind spiritually, that's why he became blind naturally. He didn't know what God was up to. He was leaning on his own understanding.

Thank God that he gave him a wife. Amen. That knew better. Somehow she knew better. Jacob was her favorite. How many know sometimes women know best? You know they was that old movie, old sitcom, "Father Knows Best." Sometimes women know best. Amen.

I believe that Isaac did not teach godly principles to his sons like Jacob taught to Joseph. Why were they so at each other? Why was Jacob a trickster and the other one was worldly? You didn't teach your sons the things of God. Why—if you did teach them the things of God, why weren't they gentle like Joseph? They were both evil boys. They both were!

But guess what? I believe that Isaac did not teach godly principles right. But God sent me to tell somebody that you—when you make a covenant with the devil, get in the bed with the devil or serve the devil, you invite hatred, subtraction, and rejection. You invite them into your house, onto your children's lives. Amen.

More so because Isaac made a covenant with his enemy who happens to be the enemy of hatred. God sent me to tell somebody when you make a covenant with the devil, get in the bed with the devil or serve the devil, you invite hatred, subtraction, rejection into your house, into your posterity's lives. Jacob was a trickster and Esau was worldly. Jacob did not know the Lord when he encountered him in Bethel. That's why he wrestled with God all night. He was wrestling with his change.

Even though these grandsons of Abraham were not saintly, God was determined to get one of them to be his chosen people. They needed no requirements. It was God's choice. God does not call the equipped; he equips the called. He'll call anybody. He can call a murderer. If Paul was a murderer, Paul was a—a—a John Gotti. He was like the mafioso, killing people, but God used him mightily. So stop looking down on yourself when you mess up. Amen.

So just like he chose you, who was blind, a trickster who didn't know God. When God leaves home, when Jacob leaves home, you hear nothing about Isaac until his death. Isaac was a man who had made bad decisions because he was blind to the truth. Don't let that be you. Draw near to God. Study his word. Isaac dealt with a lot of strife from the enemy. It's hard for you to hear God when you deal with much strife. God can't bless a ministry full of strife.

In conclusion, anytime God has to use your wife instead of you because of your ignorance or blindness, you are not in right standing with God. Didn't God have to use Rebecca instead of Isaac? Look at your neighbor and tell them, "Don't be blinded by your feelings."

Isaac was so blind by his feelings that he did not know which one of his sons God had his hand on. Isaac lived with strife from his neighbors and in his household because he depended on his feelings to make decisions instead of depending on God.

Most people who were blind in the Bible, it was because of sin. The men who enticed Lot to labor with them were blinded by angels because of sin. Blindness does not come from God, it's of the devil. But God did use a man who was born blind to change the minds of Israel in Jesus' time. Amen.

So church, guess what? We cannot be blinded by our feelings. We have to live according to the principles, according to the power of God that worketh in us. Amen. Blinded by your feelings. Amen. And some of us, every time we get an ache or we get a pain, we let those ache and pains cause us to make decisions. Amen.

I've learned that through those aches and pains, if I would just hold on and just trust God, God'll take the pain away. And trust me, he's done it. And I'll share this with you. This past week—well, it was last week. Last week, I was watching Joseph Prince. And Joseph Prince said, "Raise your hand if you have a pain in your body. Raise your right hand." No, he said, "If you have a pain in this right side of your neck." And I've been having it for years. I kid you not.

I raised my hand up, right? And we prayed. It's really gone away. So I said, "I don't want to say nothing, y'all." I was going to tell Pastor, I said, "I ain't going to say nothing again. I'm going to keep letting these days go by because I don't want to be lying." So I kept on and I'm still doing it. I don't have no pain in my neck! And thank God. And I can do it for a long time. Over five years.

So I'm here to tell you, don't be blinded by your feelings. Don't think God won't answer your prayer. Don't think God won't hear you just because—see, I saw him on TV, but I didn't let the TV blind me from getting my healing. He was on TV talking, right? But I still got my healing! Don't be blinded by your feelings. See, your feelings say, "God ain't going to do nothing through that TV." See, I didn't go—I didn't listen to my feelings. I believed in my God.

Everyone stand. Amen, church. Come on, y'all! Come on, come on! Let's praise the Lord! Some of y'all shaking off sleep, but you need to praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Come on, give us a praise! Glory, hallelujah! Glory, hallelujah!

We bless you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We honor you, Lord. We thank you, Lord. Hallelujah! For your word that we hide in our hearts that we might not sin against you. I pray now, Father God, that you would cause a mighty, a mighty learning to get in the hearts of your people where they want to learn, they want to thirst for you. Hallelujah!

Help them, Father God, not to be desiring to be entertained by your word, but help them, Father God, to learn that you are imparting your word to them so that they can be stronger, so that they can be wiser, so that they can see the enemy coming, so they never fall into darkness, never fall to being blind, but they're always aware, discerning what's happening all around them.

I pray for each and every one under the sound of my voice, even those who are on YouTube. I pray you touch their hearts. Bless their hearts. Give them a new mind! Hallelujah! Father God, the mind that we had yesterday is not good for today. That's why we take our daily bread. Hallelujah! We need a new mind for today, Lord! So I just pray your hand upon your people, that you bless them, strengthen them, guide them, keep them.

And Lord, yes, we pray for this nation and all that this nation is going through. You know all about it. But Father, take the blindness off the people's eyes so they can really see who they're worshipping. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! But we worship you, God! Hallelujah! And we know everything is going to be all right.

We bless you, we praise you, we trust you, and we thank you for this word that we hide in our hearts that we might not sin against you. Yes, Lord, we thank you that we're not blinded by our feelings, but we're motivated by your spirit. We give you all the praise, we give you all the glory. Bless these your people continually. Help each and every one of us as we go through life, as we determine our journey.

Hallelujah! Help us to stay closer to you, never to drift away from you, but drawing ever nearer to you. We give you the praise, we give you all the glory. Anyone in here with any type of issue or problem that they want to be rid from them, Lord. I touch and agree with them right now that this issue, that this problem be rid from them, be removed from them, in the name of Jesus!

Your hand be with them, even as I listened to Joseph Prince and got my healing, even let them who are listening to me, Father, let them be healed. Oh Lord, I thank you! Oh Lord, I thank you for the healing! I thank you for the blessing in advance! Your will be done, Lord! Hallelujah!

Anybody going through problems in their mind, Lord, heal their mind, sooth their mind in the name of Jesus. Anybody full of stress because they're unsure about tomorrow, Lord, remove the stress in the blessed name of Jesus!

Anybody going through sickness in their stomach, seemingly can't—can't keep food down like they want. Their appetite has been short. I come against that right now, Father God, that now they shall have an energy to eat in the name of Jesus! You, Father God, work on that body. You, Father God, straighten up things in that stomach and help that mind and that mind be not deceived by what it's going through. So Lord, I praise you. I bless you. I give you all the praise and the glory in Jesus' name, Hallelujah. Amen.

Amen. We bless him, we bless him, we bless him. In intercessory prayer, we were praying for a mighty move of God on today. We were praying for a word that we can take in and—and go out and—and share with others. And that is a—a mighty good word that we received from our Pastor Herbert on today.

Don't be blinded by your feelings. Don't be blinded by your feelings. Amen. He let us know in—in Genesis about how Isaac was blessed, how Abraham was blessed, and how Isaac kind of lost—he didn't lose his blessing, but his blessing was subtracted from him because he made a—a pact with the enemy. He made a covenant with the enemy.

And we're not supposed to do that. We are God's children and we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. We are to study his word so that we'll know what the truth is, so that the enemy can't sneak up on us and fool us, not sneak up into our bodies and our minds and let our feelings fool us.

He says that we are not to be motivated by our feelings but to be inspired by God. And to be inspired by God, you need to know his word. Amen. He also let us know about Saul, how Saul was blinded from the truth because he thought he knew everything. He was—he was selfish and he thought his way was the right way.

But God used him. He blinded him physically and then turned him towards himself, and Saul became Paul, a mighty man of God, so that we don't have to look down on ourselves when—when we fall short. We don't have to look down on ourselves when we make the wrong choices. We know that God knows us and he knows what he has—provided through our lives.

So when we fall short, God will make up for those shortcomings. He will! Yes, he will! Yes, he will! Thank you, Lord. We—we are not perfect, we know we're not perfect, but if we stay in God's will and in his way, he can use us in a mighty way.

He also told us about previous leaders who were not selfish: Franklin Delano Roosevelt with Social Security, which I'm appreciating to this day; Lyndon Johnson who signed into law the Civil Rights Act; and of course Barack Obama who gave us the Affordable Healthcare Act, which I'm also benefiting from.

So glory to God for selfless leaders. Amen. And like our selfless leaders, we are to be selfless and not selfish because we know when we are selfish, that means we're in our flesh and that our flesh is natural and temporal. But we're supposed to be known by God, which is spiritual and eternal.

So we have to continue to communicate with God, study our word to show ourselves approved, rightly dividing the word of truth. Amen! Yes. And we are to also be mindful that what may have worked for our ancestors may not truly work for us. I know for myself that my—my grandmother was a mighty woman of God, and I thank her, I thank her for all her prayers.

But I have to have my own relationship with God! So I want to study to know God for myself. She prays for me and I bless her to this day, but I want to have a relationship of my own with God so that I can be a conduit for my children. Amen!

Because we know that the Pastor said that when we make a covenant with the enemy, that brings into our household hatred and subtraction. And if it's coming into your household, that means it's affecting your children. That's affecting your posterity's lives. So if you don't want subtraction and lack in your life, keep God in your life!

Amen! Don't turn to the left or to the right. Look to see what Sister Martha is doing and—and Brother Green is doing. You look to God to make sure you know what you doing. Amen! So we ought to keep our eye on God so that he can keep us in his will and in his way and keep us from being blinded by the enemy. Amen! Amen! Praise the Lord! Thank you, Lord Jesus! Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! Amen!