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