Don’t be content to live half-way between where you are and where you are ought to be. Joyce teaches about the joy found in living “all the way” with God
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I think one of the most amazing things
about receiving Christ as your Saviour
is he comes to live in you you become
the home of God I think that we need to
be a lot more amazed about a lot of
things and I think if we would stay more
amazed we would never run out of hope
just think about that you’re the home of
God God lives in you I went to church
for many many many years and I didn’t
know that and to me that’s very sad I
went to church I served in the church my
husband was an elder in the church and I
never knew that Christ lived in me I
always felt like that I was reaching for
something and I remember one morning
after God touched my life back in 1976
and gave me a great hunger for the word
and I had begun to study the word and I
think was even maybe teaching a little
home Bible study by then I was praying
one morning standing the bathroom
combing my hair and I said god I always
feel like I’m reaching for you it like I
just can’t quite get there and I
remember the Lord speaking in my heart
and he said you’re reaching out you need
to reach in and see I didn’t really
understand that that that God was as
close to me as my breath them that that
he wanted to have close fellowship with
me and and that I didn’t have to go find
him that he was always there that he
says I’ll never leave you nor forsake
you when you receive Christ you receive
him as your Savior your friend your
father everything that you need comes
into you at the same time and as I said
before we talked to you a night about
giving your life to Christ and I think
this is so important I think so many
people think that Christianity is just
well I believe in Jesus and I go to
church I believe in Jesus and I go to
church and I try to be good so many
people try to be good they think it’s
all about trying to be good and you say
well Joyce aren’t we supposed to try to
be good well the point is is you can try
until you die
and you still can’t be good unless
goodness himself is living in you
we have no goodness without him only God
is good and until he comes and
transforms us inside and gives us a new
one too even if we could manage to do
something a little good it would be what
the Bible calls a work of the flesh and
it would still not be acceptable to God
because the only way that we are
acceptable to God is through Christ
everything must be through him God is
the center of the believers being he
needs to be our center he needs to be
the center of everything that we do now
let me tell you something God doesn’t
want you to just have him in a little
Sunday morning box where you go let him
out for 45 minutes or an hour on Sunday
morning he wants to have charge of the
whole house he wants to be involved in
every area of your life he wants to
become one with you you’re in him and
he’s in you jesus said some amazing
things he said I and my father are one
you might say well yeah but that was
Jesus but you must remember that he took
on humanity and came here and in essence
was a God filled man just like we can be
when we received Christ as our Savior he
didn’t have to do what he did he came
here and did it for us he took our sins
he paid our penalty he suffered in his
humanity he experienced temptation he
did he went through everything that we
go through except he did not sin
therefore he was qualified to die on the
cross and to condemn sin in the flesh so
it no longer has any power over us he
said I and my father are one and listen
to this I only say what I hear my father
say I don’t know about you but I got a
ways to go
did any of you say anything today that
God didn’t say and wouldn’t say I only
do what I see my father do he said yeah
you got it right sister my more now I
want you to take this serious tonight
you know it is humorous in a way when I
say well did anybody say anything today
that God wouldn’t say and of course we
all know that we probably all did but
I’d like us to even get a little bit
more serious about then saying well yeah
I did but you know I’d like to get to
the point where I don’t I want to become
one with God I want to be more like God
I want to communicate with him all the
time I want to know I want to have that
reality that he lives in me I want us to
become God inside minded where we just
immediately know God is in me I don’t
have to go find him he didn’t leave
because I made an oops or did something
wrong he’s right here all the time let’s
look at John 17 10 thank you Father for
the word tonight and we know that it’s
going to be life-changing
amen all things that are mine are yours
Jesus is praying is well-known prayer in
John chapter 17 and he said all things
that are mine are yours and all things
that are yours belong to me how far are
each one of us away from being able to
say all things that are mine are yours
we like the second half
I bet I could get you to confess that
pretty quick but Jesus started out by
saying all things that are mine are
yours my thoughts my attitudes my
possessions my heart my home my
entertainment all things that are mine
are yours I hope that you came tonight
with your heart open ready to grow
because to be honest there’s no point in
us even doing this if all we’re going to
do is just get together and shout and
clap and see the lady on TV and then go
home and not change I would be wasting
my time and I’d be better off to go home
at this point in my life and lock my
grandkids I don’t want to just be
halfway between where I used to be and
where I ought to be I want to go all the
way with God I believe there’s going to
be an anointing here tonight for people
to make a decision to go all the way
through with God all things that are
mine are yours well and all things that
are yours belong to me John 16:15 Jesus
that everything that the father has is
mine and that’s what I meant when I said
that he the Spirit will take the things
that are mined and will reveal declare
disclose and transmit them unto you now
our relationship with the Holy Spirit is
so so so so so important because jesus
said in another place to his disciples
you’re going to be better off when I go
away because if I don’t go away the Holy
Spirit can’t come now how could anybody
be better off if they didn’t have Jesus
right there with him well because he
could only be in one place at one time
but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere
all the time he can minister to every
one of us exactly the way we need him to
wherever we’re at anywhere in
world anytime of the day or night and he
takes what Jesus purchased with his
blood from the Father and he reveals it
to us he teaches us the word so we know
what’s ours he teaches us the word don’t
think that you can learn the word just
because you study the Holy Spirit has to
teach you the word he has to reveal the
word to you I have nothing to say to you
tonight that would be worth your trip
here if the Holy Spirit wasn’t anointing
the words that I speak and we always
need to ask God Holy Spirit teach me
before we go to any service before we
read the Bible before we read a book
let’s learn how to humble ourselves in a
deeper way and stop thinking that we are
going to get it by ourselves he said
you’re going to be better off if I go
away because then the Holy Spirit is
going to come and if we look at John
chapter 16 beginning in verse 7 jesus
said however I’m telling you nothing but
the truth when I say it is profitable
good expedient advantageous for you that
I go away because if I don’t go away the
comforter the counselor the helper the
Advocate the intercessor the
strengthener and the standby I love the
standby he’s just standing by do you
need me do you need me I think one of
the holiest prayers that we can pray is
help help me Lord help me help me help
me help you should say that 100 times a
day help me Lord help me help me get
through the day with joy help me clean
my house help me mow the grass help me
drive in traffic help me not to hurt my
kids
help me help me help me help me make it
through whatever it is I’m going through
right now help me learn to say help me
if you don’t say help me a lot then you
don’t yet know very much you still think
that you can be independent and do it on
your own help me help me Lord help me
help me help me and be sincere about it
and he will help you the intercessor he
will not come to you jesus said if I
don’t go away then the Holy Spirit can’t
come and I want him to come to be in
close fellowship with you but if I go
away I will send him to you
to be in close fellowship with you don’t
you love that close fellowship part
close fellowship you see all my years
that I was just religious I just went to
church and tried to be good and tried to
behave and tried to follow all the rules
and the regulations and I honestly
believe that I was saved because I
really believe that Jesus was my Savior
I really believe he died on the cross
for me I understood the message of
salvation through grace but I didn’t
understand this God inside thing I
didn’t understand that he lived in me I
didn’t understand all that God wanted to
be to me every single day I didn’t
understand that he wanted to be involved
in every area of my life I thought God
was for emergencies but I didn’t know I
was in emergency all the time I just
hadn’t realized it yet how many of you
know you live in the emergency room of
life that is you are in ICU all the time
hallelujah if you’ve never read some
really good books on the Holy Spirit the
Ministry of the Holy Spirit study the
Bible about the Holy Spirit and read
everything that you can get your hands
on about the Holy Spirit I’ve got a book
that I’ve written called intimacy with
God you can be as close to God as you
would like to be I don’t even know if we
have it with us we it’s been awhile ago
that I wrote it but you can get it from
us if you want it if you don’t want mine
and get somebody else’s I’ve read
numerous books on the Holy Spirit you
need to do that on a regular basis so
you understand this wonderful
power this anointing this the strength
the help the comfort the counsel that’s
with you all the time you don’t have to
go find him he’s with you all the time
God lives in you
what what is there to be doubt about God
lives in you yes we have problems but my
gosh we’ve got the answer living in us
now how many of you agree that if we
would keep that on our minds a little
bit more we might not get so disturbed
about all of our puny little problems
verse eight and when he comes he’ll
convict and convince the world and bring
demonstration to it about sin and about
righteousness uprightness of heart right
standing with God
you know don’t ever when the Holy Spirit
convicts you of sin always be grateful
for that my gosh I remember all the
years that I sinned and didn’t even know
I was I was so hard-hearted
I could be mean to people not even know
that I was being mean to people and now
I can’t do that it’s like if I’m even a
little bit harsh too rude with somebody
I mean I get convicted and then you know
I used to think Oh God another thing
that’s wrong with me and now I’m like oh
thank you God for not leaving me alone
be glad when you receive the conviction
of the Holy Spirit because you know what
that really means it means he loves you
and it means he loves you too much to
leave you alone he loves you too much to
leave you the way you are he’s committed
to helping you be one with God because
you can’t tell I’m going to like
preaching this message
honestly even when I studied for this I
got so excited I couldn’t hardly stay in
the room there’s powering the Word of
God okay verse nine about sin because
they don’t believe in me trust me lining
here to me he’ll teach you about
righteousness uprightness of heart and
right standing with God because I go to
the Father and you’ll see me no longer
he’ll teach you about judgment because
the ruler the evil genius the prince of
this world Satan is judge and condemned
and sentence is already passed on him I
still have many things to say to you but
you’re not able to bear them right now
or to take them upon you are to grasp
them now I love that Ministry of the
Holy Spirit he knows when to deal with
what and see when we run the people they
don’t know that sometimes people can
dive into your problems too fast and try
to take you through things that you’re
not even really ready spiritually yet to
deal with but the Holy Spirit doesn’t do
that he knows exactly when to deal with
what in your life other people may say
want I can’t believe you do that I can’t
believe you that you don’t even know
you’re doing it yet because the Holy
Spirit has not even revealed it to you
and sometimes people just need to leave
us alone
they need to not tell us everything that
we need to do to suit them to be able to
be a good little church member they need
to pray for us that we will let the Holy
Spirit deal with us now I don’t mean
that we never want to take correction
from people I don’t mean that at all but
I mean we need that we need to start
trusting God to do the work in us we
need to trust God for the answers in our
life and I know you’ve heard me say this
before but when you got a problem don’t
go to the phone go to the throne go ask
a bunch of people what you should do and
they don’t even know what they’re doing
you live long enough you’ll figure that
out even reading books is sometimes
interesting you know because you can
read one that says one thing and one
that says something else and then you’re
like book one says that’s all before the
other sides let’s all be rich once that
you know let’s do this let’s do that I’m
like here god why don’t you tell me what
you think
okay so then he goes and he says he will
teach you all truth he will bring you
lead you and guide you into all truth
and I pray the Holy Spirit will use my
mouth this weekend to guide you into
some more truth for your life to be in
union with God a word that we’re not
real familiar with it means to be warned
with him to be in agreement with to be
in unity and thought word motive actions
and desires Christ comes to dwell in you
the Holy Spirit lives in your spirit and
begins to lead you and direct you from
the center of your being when you’re
born again those of you who receive
Christ tonight I can tell you now that
you will you will not be able to be
comfortable sinning after tonight so in
some ways you may get more miserable be
what I mean it’s just the truth because
you may have been doing some things
before and it wasn’t a problem to you
because you didn’t have God in you
convicting you well now you’re going to
like
why not having fun anymore hanging out
this bar getting drunk hi why why don’t
I like that anymore
now and then your friends like what’s
wrong with you man why don’t you want to
go out party anymore wait what’s your
problem
oh yeah you think you’re better than us
now and then comes all the criticism and
the judgement but here when I want
please get this tonight anything that
God leads us into or out of and there’s
a lot of that in our life how many of
you know there’s a lot of that in your
life you get let out of a lot of things
and you get led into a lot of things you
get led away from some people and then
God will integrate you with some other
people that you might have never thought
you’d hang out with when he does that
he’s not trying to take anything away
from you or make you unhappy God is
trying to lead you to the best life
possible
you just don’t know yet that it’s going
to be the best thing for you because if
you know even though things are are
hurting us and destroying us we can
still get addicted to them how many of
you know you can get addicted to
absolutely sick relationships and keep
getting into the same ones over and over
and over again
and it’s like sometimes you think what
is my problem why do I keep doing this
well God will try to lead you out of
that but you’re going to experience some
discomfort while that addiction is being
broken off of your life and then all of
a sudden you’ll be free from that and
you can learn how to have a really good
great right relationship so a lot of
good things like that God will do for us
Christ has a magnetic attraction
he draws you more and more powerfully to
himself if you could just imagine for a
moment that you are first and foremost a
spirit that’s the part of you that you
can’t see and nobody’s been able to find
it but we know it’s in there and it’s
somewhere in here and up here your
spirit man then we have a soul and our
soul is like the second layer of our
being and then
this flesh this body which you see we’re
spirit soul and body now spirit is the
most important part of us spirit and
soul is the part of us that’s going to
live forever the Holy Spirit spends his
time with us helping bring our soul into
agreement with our spirit your bodies is
going to turn back to ashes and dust and
you’re going to get a new one a new
glorified body so take care of it
because it’s the house that God lives in
you can’t stay here in the earth without
one so you need to respect it you need
to take care of it your body is the
temple the Holy Spirit but we worry we
live upside down and inside out we worry
too much about this come on let me let
me just say a word I guess I’ll have to
talk to the ladies because probably a
lot of men aren’t like this but if you
spent equal time getting ready
spiritually every day as you do putting
on the makeup the earrings the jewelry
fixing the hair changing your clothes 12
times now I’m telling the truth I want
you to am I not telling the truth if you
spent let’s say it takes you an hour
everyone to get ready to wash your hair
do your hair put on the makeup put on
all the lotions the creams you know get
the clothes get everything matching no
those shoes don’t work on you know maybe
you’re not like that maybe you just get
up and throw something on and go but I’m
not like that and it takes me a while to
get this looking like this
trust me awhile now if I spent that hour
trying to look like this but I spent no
time our five minutes with God and
through a desperate prayer up to heaven
it wouldn’t be too hard to understand
why I’d feel empty and miserable and you
know unfulfilled and unhappy hmm I might
be cute but I wouldn’t be happy come on
yeah you have to understand that the
spiritual part of you is really more
important than the parts that you see
it’s much more important than the parts
that you see because this thing is going
to live 70 80 90 a lot of people are
living to be a hundred today and but
then gone back to ashes and dust now God
is like a huge magnet in your spirit and
he’s constantly drawing the rest of you
to come to him to let him be your lead
to let him be your guide now the soul is
usually a huge problem our spirit tells
us all about God it’s where we
communicate with God it’s where we
receive revelations where our conscience
is the soul doesn’t tell you anything
about God your soul you’re untrue Safed
soul tells you about you it’s you it’s
your personality tells you what you want
what you think what you feel you don’t
connect God with your soul you connect
yourself with your soul you meet with
yourself in the soul and you’re with
your body you contact the world so the
soul is part of ocean you might say is
the middle part and it’s extremely
important because God wants to occupy
the soul he wants the soul to be blended
into and become one with the spirit so
then the two of them can work through
your body and the world can see God
through you jesus said if you’ve seen me
you’ve seen the father
if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father
well that only happened because his so
he had no sin in his soul your soul
tells you what you want what you think
and what you feel so the title of this
message night is I want to think I feel
I want to think I feel because that’s
pretty much what goes on inside of us
all the time I want to think I feel I
want to think I feel a feel I think I
want I want I want to think I feel I
want I want I want I feel I feel I think
I think I want to think I feel and isn’t
that truth we tell God what we want what
we think and what we feel instead of
saying God show me what you want
teach me to think like you and help me
to feel what you feel but no we tell God
well I think I want I feel I want to
think I feel I want I think I feel we
tell anybody that won’t listen what we
think we tell anybody that will listen
how we feel