God is not surprised by your weaknesses.You may be, but He’s not.

I believe that one of the things that is

a huge problem for people is they don’t

know how to receive correction without

letting it condemn them and I really

want to Center on that quite a bit

because the only way that we can grow up

let me ask you a question do you have

children how many of you have children

all right have you ever had to correct

them but you just consider that part of

growing up don’t you

well we’re God’s children and when we

come into this walk with God

we’re baby Christians and we have to

grow up and part of the way that God

helps us grow up is through correction

through chastisement and the Bible says

very clearly that God only corrects

those whom he loves

we only correct our children because we

love them many times truth be told we’d

rather not mess with it who wants to

punish their kid and keep him in the

house all week when it’s just going to

make you miserable but you do it because

you love them we don’t love taking

things away from our children that we

know is going to really wound them

emotionally but we do it because we love

them and God corrects us because He

loves us but when God tries to correct

us if I response to that correction is

condemnation then we don’t receive what

God’s trying to do and we just have to

go around that mountain another time a

spiritually mature person can actually

be grateful when God shows them

something that’s wrong in their life or

in their attitude and they will be very

quick to repent and very grateful that

God cared enough about them to open

their eyes there’s no need if you know

who you are in Christ if you understand

righteousness through the blood of

Christ if you understand that you’re a

very loved child of God and that you

have been made right

God through the blood of Jesus he sees

you as justified made just as if you had

never sinned when God corrects you there

is no reason to come under condemnation

you need to be secure and say I know I’m

God’s child and I am NOT going to be

condemned I am none of the devil’s

business if God is correcting me about

this I’m going to receive this

correction I’m going to grow and get

beyond them not gonna have a bad

attitude about it

in the beginning years of my walk with

God I’d go to a meeting much like this

and back then we were have week-long

camp meetings three and four meetings a

day I’d go and sit in all those meetings

and man everything I heard I needed it

anything you preached on I had a problem

with it it doesn’t matter if it was the

mine mine was messed up if it was a

mouth mine was messed up if it was

selfishness that was me if it was

bitterness that was me but every time I

would just go home and be more and more

condemned who said another thing now

I’ve got to change another thing that’s

wrong with me well first of all I didn’t

yet have the understanding that I

couldn’t change anything that all God

wanted me to do was agree with him and

say you’re right god I do have a problem

and I’m sorry and I want you to change

me forgive me God and change me work

with me and don’t ever leave me alone

until I am what you want me to be

but it’s going to take absolutely

forever if you don’t get over being

condemned all the time Philippians 3:12

Paul said that he knew his faults he

knew he had not arrived at the place of

perfection but he kept pressing on I

know that Paul was not condemned you

know why because when you’re condemned

you can’t press on when you’re condemned

all you get is pressed down Paul didn’t

say I’m not perfect

and so I’m pressed down I’m depressed

I’m in a bad mood about this he said I

let go of what lies behind

I know I’ve not arrived but I’m going to

press toward that mark of perfection he

knew who he was

in Christ you don’t have to concentrate

on everything that’s wrong with you when

God shows you something that’s wrong

with you just agree with him I agree God

you’re right I can’t change myself but I

sure want you to the part you can do is

study the word in that area and trust

the Holy Spirit to work that change in

you it may not happen overnight but if

you keep agreeing with God little by

little from glory to glory

you will change sometimes the changes

are so minor that they’re almost

imperceptible but if you look back over

a year or two years or three or four or

five you change I am NOT even remoting

to like the same person that I used to

be I can’t believe how angry I used to

be and how I mean I never had any peace

I was always trying to figure everything

out my mind was a mess I could not keep

my mouth shut

and God has changed me and he brought

you here to change you and I’m not gonna

just pat you on the head and just tell

you every nice thing that you want to

hear I’m not just gonna call you out of

the congregation and give all of you

personal prophecies and tell you that

you’re gonna get everything you want

from God not that there’s anything wrong

with that

but my part in the body of Christ is to

help people grow up so they can have

what Jesus died to give them it’s one

thing to be an error a joint heir with

Christ it’s another thing to inherit and

we’re all joint heirs with Christ but

very few ever really inherit they spend

all their time heading toward the

promised land but never getting there

and a lot of it is because of what I’m

talking about this weekend they won’t

forgive people that hurt they get

offended the word offense comes with a

Greek word scandal on which meant the

part of the animal trap that the bait

hung on that lured the victim into the

traffic that’s what offense is it’s

Satan’s bait he baits people he tries to

get them offended so then they can get

bitter so then they can get resentful so

then they can get a full-blown case of

unforgiveness then love can’t flow and

where there’s no love there’s no power

your faith won’t work without love

Galatians says faith worketh and is

energized to love you’re not going to

get your prayers answered I don’t care

how much faith prayers you pray you’re

not going to get your prayers answered

if you’re mad at your spouse all the

time mad at your boss mad at your

neighbors mad mad man we got to get that

stuff out of our lives so we can have

power because there’s only

where people choose to live in agreement

come on now and I realize that we can’t

always help how we feel about people I

mean there are some people that make it

almost impossible to like them and I

realize that we can’t always do anything

about how we feel about people but we

can do something about how we behave and

how we act I don’t have to feel like

doing what’s right to do what’s right

amen I do not have to feel like doing

what’s right to do what’s right and

neither do you

and if we keep waiting to feel like it

we’re never going to get around to it we

have to want to do these things with all

of our hearts the thing I want to do I

don’t do the thing I don’t want to do I

do and Paul goes on lamenting his

situation in Romans seven well if I

don’t really want to do it but I do it

is it really me doing it you know you

know I’m like you can really get your

brain scrambled if you read that I had

to look at that a good number of years

before I finally got it and then he goes

toward the end of chapter seven he says

o wretched man that I am and I can feel

his pain can you feel his pain Oh

wretched man that I am who will deliver

me from this body of death and then he

answers it in the last verse in Romans

seven he says Oh exclamation mark thank

God he will through Jesus Christ

next verse there is therefore now no

condemnation to those who are in Christ

Jesus who walk not after the flesh but

after the spirit

come on you’ve got a big prey

aphasia 2-6 teaches those principles of

spiritual warfare fission six 11 through

18 put on the full armor of God it says

goes into individual pieces of the armor

if you want to defeat the enemy if you

want to block all of his fiery darts put

on the belt of truth that means when you

get in trouble that’s when you hang on

to the word actually it says tighten the

belt of truth

that means when you’re having trouble

you hang on to the word tighter than you

ever have before and then it says I’m

put on the breastplate of righteousness

but here’s what the Living Bible says it

says wear the breastplate of God’s

approval I love that you don’t go around

being condemned think about everything

that’s wrong with you all the time

that’s one issue God’s dealing with you

about that but he approves of you he

doesn’t approve of everything you do but

he approves of you you have to separate

your who from your do no matter what you

do you’re still children of God he still

loves you and you know the whole thing

your kids are your kids you can rail on

them but nobody else better come along

and say anything bad about them and the

truth is is you’re none of the devil’s

business and when he comes around and

tries to condemn you about your behavior

you need to just say devil God knew all

about me before I ever showed up on

planet Earth he loves me he has accepted

me when I was still yet in sin he sent

His only Son to die for me

now you get out of my face because I’m

none of your business I belong to God

we gotta talk back to the devil don’t

just sit around no good no good yes no

good that’s right I’m a man yes this is

the way we go to church this is the way

we go to church every Sunday morning

this is the way we go back home this is

the way we go back no we’re not gonna

live like that anymore

we are the righteousness of God in Jesus

Christ set apart and made holy by the

blood of the Lamb God is not surprised

by your weaknesses you may be but he’s

not I know sometimes we wonder how in

the world could God use me peace with

God peace with yourself and I’m gonna

say again if you can’t get along with

you you’re not going to get along with

anybody else I didn’t have anybody to

tell me what I’m telling you I had to

find it out the hard way I struggled for

years and years and years and years

trying to love people and get along with

people

I mean miserable I loved God and I

wanted to be kind I wanted to walk in

the fruit of the Spirit I wanted to be a

loving person and I just was not and

there’s a lot of Christians that aren’t

very nice and I used to be one of them

but I found out what the root of my

problem was I couldn’t love anybody else

because I didn’t really love me we all

have things about ourselves that we

don’t love but we can love ourselves the

us that God has created us to be now the

only way that we’re going to get along

with people now I want you to listen to

me

the only way we’re ever going to get

along with people is to give each

individual a right to be who they are

which is different than you

I’m telling you this is so important I

love what the Apostle Paul said I have

learned how to be all things to all

people whatever it takes to win them and

I think instead of learning how to be

all things to all people we’re trying to

change all people to make them like us

God’s the Potter we’re not and you

probably have somebody in your immediate

family that you need to go home and let

off the potter’s wheel because you’ve

been trying to remould them and

refashion them into what you’d like them

to be long enough and they are tired of

it and just to get real blunt if you

keep it up they’re gonna end up not

liking you at all people are created by

God for freedom and liberty and the

expression of that Liberty and this

whole pride thing comes into play here

because for some reason we all think

that we’re the ones that are right and

everybody who doesn’t think like to us

do it like us like what we like what

what we want has got something wrong

with them we need all of us for things

to go around properly all of us and

until we learn to have respect for all

people there’s going to be no unity and

it begins in our heart begins in our

private thought life and how we think

about people don’t think that you can

ever treat people right if you’re going

to think about them wrong

it’s not just about us trying to control

our behavior we have to start by

controlling our thoughts how do we think

about people now the minute I catch

myself with somebody who’s not doing it

the way I’m doing it and they’re kind of

irritating me and I start to think I

mean I’ll leave the salad stop it Joyce

just stop it

lose the attitude you got to talk to

yourself you know I’m a meat and

potatoes person just tell me absolutely

what I have to know and no more I don’t

want all the details that’s why I got

you just go take care of her but there

are some people who they cannot spend it

not to tell you every detail just can’t

stand it and I finally learned they just

don’t know how to talk without telling

all that and so it’s a great way to

learn patience

[Applause]

man

we all have a right to have our own

opinion without pressure from somebody

else to have it be their opinion now one

of the problems that I believe we have

is well we have a route of rejection in

our own life we can’t stand it when

other people disagree with us because we

feel rejected when they do and I used to

have a real problem with this didn’t

realize what was wrong with me and I

would always say today we can’t talk

about anything

sound familiar ladies you ever started

having a nice little conversation about

something simple like I don’t know

getting the groceries and all of a

sudden you’re way down the road

somewhere fighting about 20 other things

that have nothing to do with and you’re

like how did I get from there to here

and you’re just confused you don’t even

know what happened

you were just trying to talk about

something simple and they’ve used to

tell me we don’t talk you talk and you

want me to listen

now come on ladies some of you might

learn a lesson there why don’t you talk

to me because you the only one that

talks now well moving on past that

see I’m trying to get you to understand

that maintaining peace and unity and

respect in your homes he’s going to

affect your prosperity it’s going to

affect your promotion in life it’s going

to affect your blessings it’s going to

affect the anointing on your life living

the kind of life that God wants us to

live does not come to us just because we

do a bunch of outward religious things

it comes because we put them into action

in our daily lives at home behind closed

doors in the marketplace in the grocery

store at our place of business at our

schools at the only place we’re going to

behave is in church

so Dave and I we just have these

arguments and I’d get so confused and I

just didn’t understand and Dave would

say you don’t really want my opinion you

just want me to agree with you and if he

didn’t agree with me then I would keep

talking and talking and talking and

talking and talking and talking trying

to change his mind and he would say I

have a right to my opinion and I thought

well of course you did and then he’s

like well then why do you keep trying to

change it

long story short God finally really just

gave me a revelation and he said when

Dave doesn’t agree with you you feel

rejected and you have to understand that

just because he doesn’t agree with your

opinion that doesn’t mean he’s rejecting

you see that’s another place where we

get our who and our do mixed-up people

and have to agree with everything I

think to love me they don’t have to want

everything I want to love me they don’t

have to like everything I want to love

me Dave loved me but people have to have

the freedom to be who they are and just

because they don’t agree with you

doesn’t mean they don’t love you it just

simply means they don’t agree with your

opinion but you are much more than your

opinion your opinion is just what you

think and who knows if that’s right

am I getting through to anybody what do

you think would happen in your home the

next time that say your husband or your

wife doesn’t agree with you about

something and instead of starting a

fight you just say well I respect that

you have a right to your opinion after

they faint and finally wake up let me

give you a list of eight things that I

think will help you in relationships

first of all be courteous and respectful

toward others even if you don’t agree

with them when somebody has a different

opinion in yours don’t say what how

could you possibly like that you say

well you know I respect your right to

have your opinion and I don’t

particularly feel that way but I respect

your rights to feel the way you want to

feel I believe when we keep peace in

these situations and God can get in

there and work we need to let God be go

number two listen with an open mind if

somebody has a different opinion you

don’t just shut them out and stubbornly

refuse to be open minded even consider

that they might be right and you might

be wrong painful I know but helpful be

willing to pray about what they said the

Bible says that wisdom is willing to

yield to reason be willing to pray about

what they said number four don’t be

touchy and easily offended don’t be the

kind of person that’s so insecure that

if you don’t get 50 compliments of a

you’re falling apart

number five keep looking for a place

where you can agree rather than arguing

about what you don’t agree on you can

save a marriage that’s in trouble if you

will find one or two things to start

complimenting that person about instead

of 12 things to murmur and grumble about

a bless God nobody’s complimenting me

well then you start look for things that

are good about people look for the flesh

isn’t going to notice them

you got to do it on purpose spiritually

don’t find everything you can wrong with

your job be thankful you got one if you

really don’t like it that much then just

zip your lip don’t get another one but

don’t start a bunch of trouble while

you’re there

number six be very careful about voice

tones and body language as well as

ill-chosen words now I’ve had an issue

with the voice tones thing my father was

a very harsh hard man he just was mean

and everything he said sounded mean

everything he said sounded rough and

crude and harsh and sadly because I was

around that so many years in my

formative years I came out very much the

same way and I have begged and pleaded

for gentleness and kindness and

tenderness and it’s just something that

I have to stay after in my life because

I’m just very hard and I don’t have a

problem telling you that we’ve all got

things that we have to keep working with

God on voice tones body language

don’t you just hate it when you try to

correct a teenager in this

look they’re just like they’re just

gonna faint it in their brain

another thing we need to do is when we

need to have a confrontation with

somebody to keep it from being strife

phille we need to pick the right time

don’t go try to confront a problem with

somebody when they’re really tired about

half sick and I’ve already had a rotten

day at the office

pray and ask God to show you the right

timing and don’t just dive into

situations without praying first if you

already know it’s going to be a little

bit tedious it’s one of the ways you can

keep strife out of your life pray and

pick your timing ask God to anoint it to

open the door and then lastly if you

want to get along with people we got to

get over being selfish because it’s not

all about me it’s not all about you it’s

about all of us corporately together God

loves us all equally

the power of agreement is a wonderful

thing