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START OF FILE: 2025-08-03 - Copy of Repentance Is Awesome - Episode 152 - .txt
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SERMON DETAILS
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Date:     2025-08-03
Title:    Copy of Repentance Is Awesome - Episode 152
Speaker:  
Church:   What Do You Mean By
Type:     Church Service
Duration: 1h 27m
Language: English
URL:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmOJnqwO1po
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Description:
What Do You Mean By Podcast - Episode 152
Repentance Is Awesome
TRANSCRIPT
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Hello. God bless you. Welcome to the episode. [Music] What's up? There you go. What's up, Andorph Jenny? I figured out a way around it. So, it won't let me go live from my phone anymore once I have a thousand followers, but I figured out a way around that by just using the computer. So, praise the Lord for that. There we go. Praise the Lord. All right, we are now live. What's up, Ivan Wrestler? How's it going, Jenny? All right, so we got Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, all at the same time. Praise the Lord. We got it. Okay, we're actually I'm going set up my phone with a different Instagram account so that I can uh watch live with you on my phone and I can see all the the comments too. All right, God bless you guys. Thank you for being here. Um, isn't this fun and everything just doesn't work? But hey, we made it work anyway. And let me go ahead and uh move this over here as well for myself. Perfect. Very good. Okay, I'll go back over here. You guys are live. You can see me. Okay. Praise the Lord. Hello. How are you? Hope you're doing well. I'm going to talk about how repentance is awesome. And I'm going to try to add some music in here as well. So bear with me here as What's up, Emil Sister? Emily Smith. God bless you. Okay. Okay. I wonder if I can um wonder. Hold on. Let's see here. I wonder if I can add some some music here for you. That's all right. What's up, Stephen Miller? Okay, we'll just go through the episode anyway without the music. I'm going to pray I get right into it. Gracious Lord, thank you for this day and all that you've given me. Have your perfect will and how I do this live. Help it to be just the way you want it to be about all the work Lord as we try to get another 50 followers to reach thousands so it all works smoothly. Give it all to you, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay. So, hello. God bless you. Repentance is awesome. What do I mean by that? It seems almost strange. Well, the Hebrew word repentance is shub. I have no idea how to pronounce that, but repentance is awesome. And you guys can put in the comments if you have thoughts on what repentance is. But it's one of the key parts of our gospel of the gospel of Jesus Christ is repentance. It's very important that we get this that we know what it is, right? So it means to turn back, return, bring back, restore. Of course, we get it from Acts chapter 2. I don't need the I don't need notes for that, which is um you know, Acts 2 and Peter, you know, 10 days later after Jesus says, "Go you into Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." And they go there and they say, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter says to them, "You're already good. You're God's children." No, he doesn't quite say that. He says,"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." For the promises unto you and them that are far off, even as the many even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So the first thing when he's telling them and they're thinking, "What are we supposed to do?" For some reason, the first thing he tells them is repent. And you can call the number on the screen 4238365461 to join live. But why why is repentance so important? This is the what do you mean by channel the podcast? Because many times I believe we use terms not knowing what they mean thinking that we actually know oh repent means to apologize. Do you know repent does not mean to apologize? It's got nothing to do with an apology. Repent is just I'm sorry or or an apology is just well I'm sorry. But repentance, one of the meanings is an old military term which is referring to when they would uh when they would turn around and go another way and say, "Well, the way we're going right now is not good. We're going to turn around and go the other way." To turn back. Hebrew in the Hebrew it means to turn back, return, bring back, restore. In the Greek, it means a change of mind accompanied by regret, meaning you wish you wouldn't have done it in the first place, and resulting in a change of behavior. Some of the key scriptures for it are Romans 2 and 4. Or despise thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadth thee to repentance. In Acts 17 and30, in the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That was Jesus's gospel. Repent. And what repenting is is it's not you're doing something wrong and you need to stop, but rather it's God has a way for us to live that is better than what we're doing now. much better. From the beginning of time, God creates everything knowing what's going to happen and wants to express love to us. Satan wants worship. So does God. But God wants to have a relationship with us, a reciprocal relationship. So when Satan comes down, puts his life into the human race and they break that sin barrier, that was to put his own what he wanted. And through the suffering that that caused, Satan receives worship. Every time someone lies. Every time someone uh commits adultery or anything like that, Satan receives worship. He gets to go to God and say, "Hey, you created this world. You thought it was so great." But what they what your people like though is what I had more than I do or more than they like what I perverted from what you created more than what you actually created. Because when God created angels, he gave them power. You know, they got supernatural power. They they can uh they can do a lot of stuff. There was a reason why the angel said, "Why don't we just Lord, please let us go down and save you from dying on the cross?" And he said, "No, they're very powerful beings." But one thing they were not given, any of them, is the ability to create. So what Satan can do is he can take something God created and pervert it. Because this message, what we believe in is not a culture. It's not a you are doing bad things. And to be accepted by the tribe or by the culture, you have to do better things. That's not repentance. God wants us to have the best life possible. And Satan wants to convince people, I believe, that you are uh wrong or that you don't need God in order to be happy somehow. And that seems almost simple to think that uh that oh well of course I'll know if it's the devil. But the way that he comes in is he perverts the things of God so much to where if he can he's going to try to get us to not want to repent because repentance isn't Lord I feel bad for what I did. It's Lord I want to change because you recognize something else is better. Let me see if I can pin this comment that I made. Yes, I can. Praise the Lord. Very good. It's pinned. So Luke 13:3, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. 2 Corinthians 7:10 for godly sorrow. Godly sorrow. Why do we repent? Because the way that that uh Satan wants us to live actually causes more suffering. It actually hurts us more. Anyone with with that is actually listening to the things of God and is hearing the call from God will recognize what I'm in right now. Whether it be sin, smoking, drinking, gambling, or just going to church, going through the motions, wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, something in you recognizes this isn't enough. I don't like this. And because repentance is not, Lord, I did wrong things. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. And God's like, yes, I died for you. It's all good. And not only does I die for the things that you already did, I'm I died for the things that you're going to do. So, you can still go to church. You can go home. we can do whatever you want and it's all good. No, but not because God's waiting over us with a hammer saying, "Do wrong and I'll kill you." But no, it's actually God wants us to live the best possible life to experience the most joy and pleasure and meaning and uh responsibility. That's what God wants. And Satan wants to pervert that as much as he does as as much as he can. So a question would be, what does it mean for repentance to be commanded and not suggested? What does that mean? Does it mean that God's trying to force us to repent? Because we're not Calvinists. Cal Let me tell you what Calvinist Calvinists actually believe here. Hold on. Let me uh let me give you the rundown of what they believe. [Music] So Calvin is basically believed it it's best known by the acronym of tulip which is total depravity. Human beings are completely fallen due to Adam's sin. Every part of man will mind will emotions is affected by sin. So they believe that uh hold on. [Music] So they believe that God chose certain individuals to be saved no matter what. And they actually deny man's free will in responding to God. The truth is God's fornowledge includes man's free response. They say that Jesus only died for the elect and that when God calls the elect, they cannot resist. And once saved, always saved. God saved you no matter what. But what it causes is it causes people to think, I'm good. I'm saved. I'm wonderful. I'm mighty. I can't even if I do wrong, I'm already good. But hold on. Let me do it this other way. Let me You go to Google. [Music] It's pretty tough. What do you guys think? Could you guys Did you zoom in or is my phone glitching? Uh, so Instagram changed it to where I can't actually go live on my phone unless I have a thousand followers. And so I got around that by using uh my phone or using the uh the internet. And this is so the on Facebook and YouTube it's actually the uh regular video but with uh in but with Instagram it's forcing it to use a portrait video in uh landscape or or landscape video into portrait for uh Instagram. That's why it's doing that. That is why. But it's okay. That's just how it goes. So, I have a study I was doing on Calvinism. Actually, hold on. Let me find it because I was going through it last night. because this is what we don't believe. But it'll show you something. Okay, I'm I've got it. Here we go. Just give me a moment. All right, let me listen to you. Calvinism says God already decided before you were ever born whether you would be saved or lost. And there's nothing you can do to change that. Calvinism says if God picks you, he forces you to say yes eventually. You can't resist. You will believe even if you don't want to. Calvinism says Jesus only died for the people God already chose to save, not for the whole world. Calvinism says no matter how someone lives, if they were truly chosen, they can't ever lose their salvation. even if they fall into sin, stop believing or even reject God. That's tough, huh? That's weird. But I thought we were the chosen bride, right? How does that make sense? Just think about it for a moment. How does that make sense? Because we're not Calvinist. Please, you guys in the comments, how can we be chosen by God and yet have free will to reject him? Please put in the comments. Tell me. Calvinism says people are so dead in sin that even if God offers them mercy, they can't say yes unless he flips a switch inside them first. and they have zero capacity to respond unless God's forcing them to. Calvinism says when a preacher shares the gospel, it's not really to give people a chance. It's just to announce what's already been decided and that nobody's decision matters. Calvinism says people don't need to have a radical or emotional salvation experience, just a mental realization that they're already saved. God already chose them. It says that the Christian life is mostly about knowing you're saved and resting in that. Holiness and obedience matter, but they're not what prove your salvation. Calvinism says if someone lives wickedly or never repents, it might mean they weren't chosen, but it also might not. You can't know for sure. So then I could ask, what is even the why would you even want to serve God if you can't possibly be lost? Please in the comments tell me tell me if you're chosen and you can't possibly be lost, why would you even be motivated to serve God? It's not a trick question, but I want to open it up. Why would you even want to repent? God already chose you. You're predestinated seed. You're his bride. You didn't become predestinated seed by the rebirth. You already were. So why would you want to serve God? Why would you even need to change your behavior? Why would you even want to? [Music] I know this is heavy and I know I'm not just immediately giving you the answers, but this matters. There's a reason why the message was called. Is repentance optional for those that are already sealed? Is it no longer? Do you no longer need it just because you're in the right church doing the right standing and clapping when you're supposed to, praising God, yelling out. What am I missing here? Sister Emily says to go to heaven. Okay. All right. That's one that's one thing. Sister Emily, let's see. But Sister Emily, is going to heaven the only reward of the Christian walk? Because this message we believe in called us. It's God calling out his bride. So why would you want to repent? Von Eric on YouTube says, "Blessings all there with about a thousand L's." Thanks you. Thank you, Von Eric. Where's your faith? He says, "That's a loaded question, but a great one." Yes, thank you. I appreciate it. It's not a gotcha question, but it's meant This is the what do you mean by channel. It's where we ask, "What do you mean by that?" Cuz we're not Calvinists. I'll tell you that right now. But if we are the predestinated seed, we can be no more lost than God himself would be lost. And repentance, the definition of repentance is to turn back, to bring back, restore a change of mind accompanied by regret. Meaning, I wish I would not have done that. And changing your behavior. Why would you even want to do that if you're already sealed? And Sister Emily says to go to heaven, right? Sister Anna says, "It probably depends on the person probably." Well, yes. But Sister Anna, why would you ever want to repent? What would be the cause? So, let me go a little bit further. Is it possible for God to choose us and us still have a choice? Because one of the most famous questions of all time is how can we have free will if God already knows what we're going to do? It's a tough question to answer. How can we have free will if God already knows what we're going to do? If God already knows, then I didn't make then I didn't make the decision. But you but notice what if we can do something instead of answering a question on its merits of exactly what they're looking for because I can say why is this table yellow and you can you can say but why are you asking that or you can go deeper into it. So with my question of free will and predestination what we can go to instead is God is infinite in knowledge. Right? He knows all things. There's no limit to his intelligence. Is it possible that or is it possible that we have so many different that we have an infinite amount of decisions we can make? No. There's a limited there's a finite amount. So God knows every possible conclusion and every possible possibility of what we could do before we do it because his his knowledge is infinite. Even if it's in the quadrillions and septillions and millions and billions and trillions and all that of uh possibilities, God still knows because he's infinite in knowledge. But you know, as a preacher, often times when we're when we're putting thoughts together, we don't know where it's going to lead, but we just go as we feel led. And here's where it's going to climb in. Why would you want to repent? Why would you want to change your behavior? Let me give you a hint. It's not because what you're doing is wrong. That's not why we do not stop doing things that we deem as wrong because they're wrong. Just because they're wrong. We don't stop drinking and smoking and gambling because it's not socially acceptable or because we'd stop getting free rent. or because it's something we're supposed to do. Why do we stop smoking and drinking or whatever else that we do? And it's not because we decided that we wanted to stop. The world is wrong when they say, "Oh, just addiction recovery. Just stop." It's because we found something better. That's part of the answer. We found something better. Because repentance infers that there's something we are being delivered from and also not just being delivered from but going into something else. Uh Von Eric on YouTube says because it is the love of love of being chosen to serve God. Well, yes, but it's not just chosen to serve God because God has many offices, but we're not just his servants and we're not just his sons. There's something else God wants us to be, too. And I'm going slow and asking these questions on purpose. Repentance is turning away from something and going into something else instead, not because this is wrong and this is right. That's a dichotomy where you you'll just get in trouble. you just you'll start doing stuff because you want to be because just because you think it's wrong or you want to be accepted, but not because you've prayed about it and thought, "Hey, this isn't right. I want to do better or uh or something like that. God called us to be his bride." That's what the message is. called out of the denominations to be his bride. And we turn away from things not because they're wrong, but because what wrong actually is is it is us being in suffering. We're suffering doom scrolling. We're suffering addicted to drugs. We're suffering because cocaine is not some great thing. It hijacks your brain, gives you all the happy ju all the happy serotonin all at once and you can never get that back. It hijacks you because Satan wants to destroy you. Oh, if I had a billion dollars in the bank, I'd be able to get married and be and stay together forever. There the the people with the most amount of money get divorced about the most. Brad Pitt and Angel Jolie are not our examples for for being uh married. They're multi multi-millionaires, but they already got divorced and got married to other people. Why? Because no matter how much money you have, that's not value. No matter how much fame you have, that's not value. But God actually called us to be his bride, to be his best friend. Because going to heaven isn't the only reward. It's part of the reward, but also the Bible says that right now we are in heavenly places. And God, our reward is the Lord Jesus Christ as our as our husband, as our savior, as our best friend. But al also did you know this his reward is us. He created us to show love to us to show love. He loves us. And when we were in a fallen nature he created himself in a way where he could suffer and go through pain as we do just to prove his love and just to redeem us back to himself. And for the predestinated bride, something in you, you you know that you're predestinated bride or not because when you hear the word, something is quickened in you. You say, "Hey, I want that." And you know that you're not the predestinated bride. When you hear it and it fulfills something in your mind, you're like, "Hey, so this means I can just say,"Lord, please save me." And then I can do whatever I want. Or if as long as I clap and I get loud and I speak in tongues and I yell out and I scream at church, then I'm good. So I can watch whatever I want, do whatever I want, sleep with whoever I want. As long as I go to church and speak in tonesues, then I'm good. That's what Pentecostals believe. Except brother Brandham said that he's seen devils speak in tonesues. Satan can have someone speak in tonesues. And speaking in tongues is not is not the greatness of it has nothing to do with speaking in an unknown language. It's speaking in a known language that you don't already know and someone else interpreting and they didn't already know that. That's what it actually is. It's me who only speaks English, speaking in tongues in French and then someone who only knows Swuahili speaking in French or English and interpreting it and they don't even understand it because the miracle in Acts two, there's nowhere in the Bible that says they spoke in unknown tongues and it was interpreted in unknown tongues and no one knew what it was. But no, the actual miracle in Acts chapter 2 was that people spoke in unknown tongues and everyone understood what was being said. We have a lot of misappropriations and things that we don't even realize that just aren't truth. Along with repentance is godly sorrow. Let me ask this. Should you only repent? Do we believe that we only repent once to get salvation or do we keep on repenting? Well, let me show you 1 Corinthians 15. It says, "I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord." Because the situation here is that Paul's dealing with people that are trying to baptize dead people. They're trying to do things to uh save themselves. So, it's 1 Corinthians 15. Let me go in the ESV so that you can understand it better. What's up, Nathan? What's up, sister Molly? God bless you. So, this is 1 Corinthians 15 and 31. So, verse 31 or so Paul comes on the situation and in verse 29 he says, "Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people be baptized on their behalf? Why are we in danger every hour? Why? Because people were trying to save people that died by baptizing them or they're baptizing themselves for the dead or they're trying to save themselves. But that's some great thing. And Paul says, "Hey, I protest brothers by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day." What does that mean? Means we have a flesh. Because when you're born again, something dies. And the way that brother Brandham explained it is that we we're there's a seed in our hearts, a predestinated seed, right? And then that seed, the shuck goes away. So the outside layer goes away. But then you still have that sticky nature, but inside that stickiness away from the uh layer of the sticky is the life, the gene seed in that seed, but you still have that sticky nature. So you still have this. So even after you repent and you're born again and that old nature dies, you still have this sticky nature, this flesh that loves the things of the world. So when you are born again, you meet God, his conditions, you repent, and you're baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to them that are a far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. So we re receive the Holy Ghost. And then after that, cuz Paul here, he has the Holy Ghost, right? Definitely. He's already written multiple books of the Bible. He's saying he dies daily. So yes, we have an initial death and a decision and a repentance of, hey, I'm not going to go that way anymore. I'm not going to live that way anymore. It's not just, oh God, I'm sorry. Would you please forgive me? But it's God, I don't want to live that way anymore because it's only going to bring me suffering. And if I'm your wife instead and I pursue you in a relationship with you, it actually means so much more. Not in this message because we're right and all the denominations are wrong. No, it brought us back to Jesus Christ and away from all this denominational nonsense. Romans 8:13, for if you live, let me get these scriptures actually in uh in uh the ESV. The ESV is actually I've been doing studies on how they interpret and how they write the Bible and all that uh from where it came from. And the uh the ESV is actually um them taking the direct the direct text and uh interpreting it into modern English. So hello Thank you. So what I like to tell people is that your pastor and your elders, they do not serve God because they thought, "Oh, like brother brother Frank Prader, you know, the man that the man that has a really amazing sounding voice, you know, that I do my best." But anyway, he didn't do this because he he had a choice between being a radio host and making millions of dollars and doing this. He lives for Christ because it's the best thing he can do with his life. So this so things that the devil has is drugs which gives you a high with a crash. This thing of Christ is an eternal high with no crash. What is God saying when he's commanding us to repent? He's saying, "Hey, I want to have a relationship with you. You're my bride. I love you. But I'm not going to have a relationship with you when you're putting yourself through suffering." Repentance isn't, "That's wrong. Stop doing it." It's, hey, could you stop shooting yourself in the foot and calling it holy? And we have ongoing repentance because we have this flesh like that wants to kill us every day of our lives. Proverbs 28:13, "Whoever conceals his transgressions, whoever hides what he's doing wrong, he will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them and repents will obtain mercy. Let me tell you this. Oh, I'm in the message. I don't ever need to repent. I I'm chosen. All All I need to repent of is feeling bad. If the only thing you ever repent for is feeling bad, you're not you. I'm not going to say you're doing wrong because I'm not going to contradict myself. I'm going to say that you're missing out on the true joy that only comes from, hey, I don't want to do that anymore. Not because it's wrong, but because something else is better. Sister Emily says, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Exactly. Jesus says to his disciples, "Hey, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." That's why Paul says, "Hey, I die daily." Romans 8:13 in the ESV. What's up, brother Dorian Page? God bless you. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if you by the spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. I don't care how much you speak in tongues. I don't care how much you uh stand and clap and yell and shout. You will never completely kill your flesh. And you think, "Oh, it means I have to fight it." No, it means you get to fight it. When Jesus knew that Satan would do what he did and then we're stuck in this construct of time and we have to battle this stupid flesh every day, it's Satan said, "Oh, oh, it's a curse you guys have to do in these bodies." But God said he would turn it out to be a blessing anyway. For we I think it's Romans 8:1. For we know that all things work together for those that are called who are the called according to his purpose. No matter what happens, he'll work it out for the better of it. So actually, you can look at fighting this flesh. It's like, oh, I have to fight the flesh. Oh, it's so terrible. Or I get to. It's a blessing. It's an honor. It's a privilege. It's a great thing. God called us in this message to live the best life. It is not a culture. It's a life. What is the message? It's a life. Have people identified with the name of message and created little mini do mini denominations within the the constructs of it? Yeah. Just like every other system that has ever existed. Oh, but some people do. Yeah. Just like everything else. But the true message which is God bringing his bride back to himself. That's the message. Let me tell you this. If you or I want to say, "I know the message. I already know everything." and we've never even listened to more than 10 Brother Brandham sermons and we've never read our Bible. We don't know what we're talking about. But the reason why we can feel as if we do is because we're experts not of the message or of the Bible, but we're experts of the culture. What's up, Jericho? How's it going? The culture. What's up, Sister Megan? How's it going? God bless you. Congratulations on the marriage and the baby. So, the best definition of culture is the shared behaviors, beliefs, values, and material objects that characterize. Okay, thank you. Um, I need a simple I need a simple definition. There you go. uh it's the set of patterns of human activity within a society or social group. Culture is how we act, think and behave based on the shared values of our society. Let me give you some examples of culture versus the word of uh compared to the actually the word of God. This thought that in order to even speak to a girl, you must first contact her father. That's nowhere in the scripture. That's pure culture. This idea that you must have a chaperon otherwise you are wrong. Do I think it's a good idea? Sure. But is it scriptural? No. Did Brother Brandham ever talk about it? No. It's culture. It's a set of ideas agreed upon by a group of people saying, "Hey, we're going to accept this." And it's actually as unspoken rules. That's why you can go to a camp or you can go to a meeting or you can go to a room with people that believe even the same as you do, but you you feel like you're doing wrong and you don't know why. It's because there's a set of unspoken rules that you didn't even know about beforehand that you're violating. And some of those unspoken rules, what they look like is you must do what we're doing and celebrate like we're celebrating and rejoice like we're rejoicing, otherwise we won't accept you. Or don't say anything controversial. That's another unspoken rule. Or if you're a girl in the message and someone asks you, "What do you want out of life and you say you want to have children and be a wife, you in popular culture, which has nothing to do with with truth, but it's culture. It's a set of ideas by people. You will be looked down on. But if instead you say I want to have a career and I want to travel the world on average across culture, you will be more accepted. That's culture. And why am I talking about that? Because repentance is not a, "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't yelling loud enough. Oh, I'm sorry. I was feeling bad." No. If you come into church addicted to something and you leave feeling, "Oh, I shouldn't feel bad. I'm the bride." You're wrong. Why? Because we repent. The greatness of repentance is awesome. Not because of something where, oh well, I I feel bad and I don't want to feel bad. Nonsense. There's a better life. I'm about to go to TWWT this week. And when you're listening to our precious brothers, Brother Andrew Glover, Brother Josh Bennett, and you're listening to them, what are they doing? They're calling us higher. Sister Megan says, "Paul said to avoid the very appearance of evil." So, it is kind of is in the Bible as far as the uh the chaperones. Yes, that's the that's the that's the scripture they use. But how do we interpret that, Sister Megan? By what standard? Because then what it becomes is actually an argument from authority and a slippery slope fallacy. Do you guys know what the slippery slope fallacy is? I'll tell you what is the slippery slope fallacy. The slippery slope fallacy. There's different fallacies where things just don't work. It's like saying uh can God create a rock so big he can't even lift it? It's a fallacy. Why? Because God's strength is infinite. And in order to uh in order to lift something of infinite weight, you got to create something infinite. But you can't. A related says best to look it up to make sure. What I do know is that he did ask brother Brumach for his daughter. So I know sure it's a matter of respect. Yeah, of course. Ask him about that. But there's no record of brother Brandham ever saying you need to have a chaperone. And when he went on dates with Hope, he didn't have a chaperone. I'm not saying don't have one. I'm saying that it's culture and the argument in order to and uh available habitat. I have already looked it up and I have already studied it. Um, but you know, like with my girlfriend, when I do dates, you know, Jay and I decided we're going to have chefrons, so we decided together. Um, but if someone else doesn't want to, I don't have any scripture against it. That's up to them. The slippery slope fallacy is a claim that one action or event will inevitably lead to a series of increasingly negative consequences without providing sufficient evidence to support the claim. In other words, the slippery slope fallacy is if you don't have a chaperone, automatically you're going to do terrible things. and there's no stopping it. So, you're much safer if you always have one. That's interesting. And I agree that's good, but we can't keep it as scripture. So, why am I saying this? Wh why why did I go all the way over to that rabbit trail? Because I'm showing you culture. What we believe is not in a culture. It's in repentance. It's in a change of our mind. We're changing where we're going from one thing to another. The Bible says, "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Why? Because when we say you have a you must have a chaperone or not. Uh but my dad says on Facebook, "The Holy Ghost ought to be our chaperon on dates at work, at church, at play." Amen. Exactly right. I agree. Because we don't want to treat the way we live our life with do this or you're wrong because then it's a rule. And what do rules breed? What do rules produce? Sneaky behavior. When I have kids, I don't want them just when maybe when they're five, they'll respect me because they're afraid of me or because I'm their father, but ultimately I want a relationship with them. I want them to want to do what I say. because not because I said it, but because we both want the same thing. God doesn't want us to do what he says in his word because I said it and you do it. That's satanic. This belief that if I say it, you must do it. Why? Because it doesn't produce life. God wants us to do what's in his word because we want to. Colossians 3 and5 put to death therefore what is earthly in you sexual immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry. So if Paul says he dies daily and then he says put to death your sex your sexual immorality and your impurity and your passion and your evil desire and covetousness which is idolatry and he also says I die daily. That must mean that we've got to put to death our desires every single day. And why would we do that? It's not because it's the right thing to do simply because of that. That is laziness masquerading as righteousness. If someone says, "Well, we just ought to do the right things and that's all we need." That's a fancy way of saying, "I don't know how to explain this, so I'm going to be authoritative and say you must do what I say." That's what the Nazis did. It's authoritarianism. It's you will do what I say just because I say it. And God does not want an authoritarian relationship with his bride. He loves us. He wants us. And he wants a relationship because we love him, not because we're afraid of him. What am I saying? Repentance is awesome. Why? Because it doesn't just get you to stop doing what's wrong. It introduces you to something much better. It gives you a purpose. It gives you meaning. People that stop gambling and instead of gambling go out and have a wife and kids and have a better life. They didn't just stop gambling because it was wrong. They didn't forsake gambling because, oh, it's wrong and I shouldn't do it. They said, "Because I can't live my life with my family and be happy and be there for my wife and be there for my children if I'm gambling all the time." So, please do not approach repentance with, "I don't want to feel bad for what I do, and I'm the bride, so the only thing I ever did wrong was not know my position." You can know your position and still be wrong and need to say, "Hey, I was wrong, but I want to go and pursue something better. I'm not being angry with you here. Not at all. I'm being angry against the system of denominationalism that would try to creep its way into people identified with this message to say you must do this because I say so instead of I'm going to introduce you to Jesus Christ. I'm going to show you what his word says. And if you're not going to do what the word says, it's because you don't believe it's right. Oh, that's so good. Why did Why do people insist on leaving the message or on identifying it but not being born again? Why? Because they don't see the value. Why does Elon Musk run Tesla? Why Why does Donald Trump do what he does instead of living with his billions? because the value he sees in trying to manifest what he wants means more to him than living in luxury the rest of his life. I don't not smoke because God said don't do it. I don't smoke because what I have is so much better. So if you're tonight if you're thinking, "Oh, this this message is such a cage." Then you're looking at it the wrong way. It's freedom. It's not a set of rules. That's what makes repentance awesome, which is the way I was going is awful, but I want something better. And this message is something better. But it's the message is not a culture. It is not a church. It is not a set of beliefs to follow, but it's a person to fall in love with. Dad says on Facebook, "Exodus out of and entering into a better life." Yes. They were delivered out of Egypt. Then they had to go into the promised land. But we can be raised in the message and not even understand what repentance is because we dress the right way. We talk the right way. We stand and clap when we're supposed to. We shout. We even speak with tongues. And we got baptized. And then we're wondering, why do I still not want to live this life? Because it's not in you. Tell me this. Could you be the son of uh Michael Jordan and not uh play basketball or not want to play basketball? I don't think so. Why? Because the life that's in you is to be a basketball player. And if you don't want to play basketball, in fact, if you hate basketball and you're supposedly Michael Jordan's your father, then either you're not Michael Jordan's son or you're in open rebellion just to be in rebellion because the life that's in you wants to do that. Galatians 5:24, "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." This flesh hates you. It hates the things of God. But how does that balance out with being saved, though? I thought that he that is born of God cannot commit sin. And he that committh sin is of the devil. I'll show you. Because when we're saved, when we're sealed, it's in our soul. When you're sealed in your soul, you can't ever be lost again. But your flesh is lost. And your flesh still sins. Your flesh does not believe in God. It doesn't believe in anything. It wants to be fed. That's what it believes in. It worships itself. And that's why we must crucify it, not make friends with it. The only thing we do with our flesh where we don't fight it, is eating. Mom says on YouTube, "Repentance is awesome." Yes, it is. Because this message is not a set of rules, do this or else. It's we're introducing you to freedom to where you don't smoke, drink, or defile your body in any way. Not because it's wrong. It's wrong. If you do it, you're wrong and you won't be accepted and you're the bride, so you won't want to do it. No, it's because living for Jesus is the greatest thing you could possibly do with your life. Repentance is awesome. Luke 9:23. And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. So Paul or so Jesus here is saying this is a daily thing you I don't care how much speaking in tongues you do. I don't care how much you dance in the spirit. I don't care if you listen to tapes 24/7 every single day. I don't care if for if at a church meeting you stay there all night and you pray and you speak in tongues for 28 hours straight. When you get home on Monday from camp, you will still have the same flesh that hates you and wants the things of the world. And if you're still doing wrong and choosing wrong, oh, it's just a symptom of the flesh. Oh, Satan's just trying to point out what's wrong. No, repentance is awesome. Why? Because repentance is not optional. And repentance isn't just one time. Being a Christian at camp is the easiest thing you can do. Being a Christian in church is even easier than the easiest thing you can do. But when you're alone in your room, that's when you show who you really are. And that's heavy. Why? Because the flesh wants unlimited reward with no responsibility. The flesh wants spiritual abortion, which is give me all of the pleasure of sex, but I don't but I just want to kill the baby. meaning I want God to So there's a there's a scripture actually which I believe it's uh Isaiah 55. No, it's actually Isaiah 66. Isaiah seven women will take hold of one man. It is Isaiah Isaiah 4. There we go. Isaiah 4 in the ESV. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes. Only let us be called by your name and take away our reproach." Meaning, we're going to do whatever we want, as much as we want to do it. We'll wear our own clothes. We'll eat our own bread, but we want to be called and identify with the name of the message or Jesus Christ. and you take away the consequences of our own actions, but we still want to do it whatever we want. Which is the spirit of Leodysia, which is what we're in now, which is Revelations 5, I believe might be Revelations chapter Yeah, Revelation 3 and:14. and to the angel of the church in Leodysia, right? The words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. Let me add, let me put this in message terms so that you understand. I don't care how how much you're identified with with what what church you go to, what denomination or what lack of denomination. Until you're born again, you will not make a rapture. You are not automatically seed of God just because you're in a message church. But that's good news because why would you want to automatically have all the reward without earning a thing or without fighting for it? Because salvation is a gift. But character is a victory. I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot. I I wish that you were cold or hot because you because you're lukewarm, which means that you go to camps and you get on fire for God. come home and it and it wears off. Then you go to camps, got on fire for God, then it wears off. Why? Because you're in love with the feeling, not the person. Hold up. Sorry. Sorry. You're in love. If you go to camp, if before camp, if before camp you're a lustful, prideful, gossipfilled person, and after camp you're still a lustful, pridefilled, gospel, gossip, gossipfilled person. But the difference is that you keep repeating, "I'm healed. I'm healed. I'm healed." Nothing changed. Why? Because you didn't repent. If you have your behavior or your way of life or your ch because cancer is something you don't choose, but gossip you choose. If you go to camp one way doing things and you go home and you still do those same things, nothing changed. Unless there's a throughout the time of doing less and less and a uh a desire to change your life, a repentance, which is a turning away, which is a purpose. I'm not advocating for never doing wrong. I'm just saying if you choose if you have a problem with gambling and you go to camp and you're and or or you just or you go anywhere and you and you were told, "Oh, well, you stood and clapped. You went to the altar and you cried and then you got home and then so what you got to do next is confess it. Just say I'm healed. I'm healed because there was a man in brother Brandon's meeting who is meanings who was blind. And brother Brandham said thus sayith the Lord you're healed. And then when he went home he could still not see. And so he kept on saying I'm healed. I'm healed. And people thought he was nuts. They wanted to put him in an insane asylum. But one day they were making fun of him when he was getting a a haircut. And they said but you still can't see. He said, "But God healed me, so I" and then then immediately he could see. It's not the same thing with stuff you choose. Because if you gamble before camp or insert anything you do that you're not proud of, that you don't want to do anymore. If you do something that you don't want to do at camp, if you gamble at camp before camp, and then you go to camp and you get home and you go back to gambling, but you say, "Oh, I'm healed. I'm healed. It's just a symptom of the flesh. Satan can't stop me. But you keep on gambling. Nothing changed because you didn't repent of what you were doing. You just repented of feeling bad about it. I'm not saying if you go home and gamble again, nothing happened. I'm saying that what you repented of at camp is not feeling bad, but it's actually I gamble because I don't have a purpose. What is gambling? It's a highstakes thing where everything is on the line. I haven't gambled personally by by God's grace, but I've done other wrong things. But you do it. Why? Because when you're alone, when you don't know what to do, when you're without other people and you're by yourself, something comes up. Why? because you don't have purpose. And us kids being raised in the message, we can go to church camp, we can go to church, we can wear the right clothes, we can say the right things, but until that life is in our hearts and we want to serve God, we're not making no rapture. I don't care whose church you go to. If you don't want to serve God, you're not make you can't I can't see how you could. And that's not to threaten you, but that's to say, hey, if you go home and you still do those same things and you think, "Oh, it's just a symptom of the flesh. Satan's always the one pointing out the bad." Then I guess Jesus is Satan, when Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for you are an offense to me to Peter. Dad says on Facebook, "We count on the Holy Ghost to strengthen us during in times of testing and trials." That's exactly right. But he doesn't take away the testing and trials. But he does strengthen us. Dad says, "A purpose-driven life." Exactly. You do those things because you don't have purpose. Uh, Sister Emily says, "Question. I've never met a message believer who has spoken in tongues before. Is this spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit still present among us? Although most Pentecostal churches have people speaking tongues during their revival meetings. Well, sisters Emily, I would say as a quote of brother Brandham where brother Brandham says that he's seen devils speak in tongues. So, Satan can impersonate that gift. But of course, yes, there are still message churches where people are speaking in tonesues. Of course, um what the denomination with Pentecostals did that was wrong is they said unless you're speaking in tongues, you don't have anything. So, of course, it's still happening. Of course, it is. But if you're not careful, the only thing you repent if you if you go to camp and you get all excited and then you get home and you fall back into the same habits and instead of saying, "Oh, God, I'm so sorry. Oh, God, I got to repent. I got to turn to something else." But instead, you say, "Oh, it's just the devil trying to make me feel bad. Why would I feel bad for something Satan made me do? Did you see the deception? It's not even because it's wrong, but because you're you're you are uh robbing yourself of true repentance. Dad says on Facebook, "But if you speak in tongues and still live like a devil, then what good are the tongues of repentance and love for God is greater?" Amen. The Bible says gifts and callings are without repentance. So someone can speak in tongues and still go to hell. What did brother Brandham mean when he said you can have the Holy Ghost every day and every hour in your life and still go to hell? What does that mean? It means I believe that you can have the anointing on your flesh every moment of every day and still go to hell. Why? Because your flesh can't be saved. Your soul is what can only be saved. The Bible says in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." So if you fall back into your same habits and you don't actually think it's wrong and you actually associate any voice telling you, "Hey, that's wrong. You need to change with the devil." Then you repented of conviction, not condemnation. Conviction is, "Hey, stop gambling. That's wrong. You're ruining your life. You there's a better life waiting for you." Condemnation is, "Oh, you gambled way too much, man. You your wife hates you. Your kids hate you. And there's no way out." But there's a difference. So, it's wrong. And it is not according to the word of God to say that any voice telling you you're doing wrong is satanic. and that Satan is the only one that ever points out the bad in your life or points out the negative. I mean, I I want to be wrong here. If I'm wrong and somehow that God has never would point out anything bad in our lives to us, I'd love to then I I I I can't see it in scripture because God said, "Get thee behind me, Satan, for you are an offense to me." God doesn't tell us what we're doing wrong to condemn us, but to convict us. Why? Because he wants intimacy with us. He wants a deeper relationship with us. And he can't do that with those things in the way. So, if I'm in a relationship with Jenny and I marry her, but I like gambling and I insist on gambling anyway, but it's hurting our finances, or even if it's not hurting our finances, but it's hurting her, and I'm spending all my time gambling, even if I win every single bet, but I'm spending all my time away from it. And Jenny comes to me and says, "David, I want to spend time with you. I'll repent of that behavior." Why? because I love her and because she means more to me than gambling. But dad says on Facebook, "He chasens those that he loves." The Bible says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasen." See, the Bible says that God does it, not us. What is God's tool? The five-fold ministry. Not to say, "You're doing this wrong and you're doing this wrong." No, that's not our job. My office is to preach against sin. and point you to Jesus because pointing you to Jesus is pointing you away from sin. So you repent because hey, I want to change my life because I'm suffering. Not I feel bad. I Oh, it's just so terrible. I don't want to feel bad anymore. And then God heals you of that. That's that's not how that works. Because if the desire is still there, you're not born again. But I but David, I thought you said this. For the flesh hates you and will always and will always want the things of the world. I didn't mention a third part. Our spirit. Your flesh wants the things of the world. But your your soul is the nature of your spirit. And you have a choice, a consistent choice. Oh, it's so hard, but I want to do the gambling. My my flesh wants it so bad. I want to give in, but I it's so hard to fight. Yeah. fight the good fight of faith. It's a tough fight. It is. That's the whole point. Because you say to God, "God, I want a uh let's see which one of these things can I use here. I want a gold medal. God, let's use this cuff link is let's use something bigger. God, I want a gold medal." And God says, "Okay." And the gold medal is uh this this this tag right here, this tag. And God says, "Okay, here you go. God, I want character. Here you go. Why doesn't that make sense? See, because God gave us a blessing when he gave us repentance, which is a change of behavior, which is God, I I don't want to be fat, Lord. God, I don't want to be fat. Please, Lord, it's causing me suffering. I don't want to be fat. God does not. There you go. You have a six-pack now. No. Why? because he gives us the blessing of experiencing the consequences of our own actions. That's why I say repentance is awesome because the world the the the denominational idea is just say sorry and you're good which doesn't work because you keep on doing it and you're still suffering and then you go to an addiction synonymous place and you'll be addicted to to drinking and you'll find out what Dean Adelbeck quits quit drinking and he doesn't even believe in God but I said I was healed a thousand times. Why am I still drinking? because you didn't crucify the flesh. God has never erased fat from someone's stomach. He has created eyes and sockets. He has taken away cancer. But what is the fat in your stomach when you are like me and it's your fault? It's the consequences of your own actions. God saves us from the consequences of our own actions leading to sin and salvation but not from the consequences of our own actions. Bible says to mortify the deeds of your flesh. The world wants a narcissistic God because the very nature of Satan is to be a narcissist which is nothing is my fault. Everything was done to me. I'm not responsible for my own actions. Everything I do is because someone's mistreating me. I'm only addicted to gambling because they don't because of how they're they're smart at at getting us addicted to gambling. It is the very nature of Satan himself. And God wants us to have true victory with come which comes to true overcoming because it's this way. God does not want to to overcome for us or to give or to or to uh gain character for us. He also doesn't want us to overcome without him. He also doesn't want us to gain character without him. So, it's a team effort. It's both of you together. If I get married to Jenny, we're going to have a great marriage, Lord willing. But it's not going to be because I do everything or because she does everything. It's because both of us together are there. Building a better marriage together. So that's when I say repentance is awesome. When you go to camp, do not think, "Oh, I I felt so bad. Oh, I I was doing wrong, but now I know I shouldn't feel bad because I'm a son of God. I'm the bride. I was just being discouraged." It's the devil that's telling me I'm wrong to to drink alcohol and smoke. It's just a symptom of the flesh. Satan's always the one pointing out the bad. I just need to say I'm healed until something changes. There's a difference between something you actively choose with your will and something Oh, this is so good. And something you didn't choose. Why? Because when you choose smoking or drinking or these other things, whatever that it is, why are you choosing it? It's not because you have an incredible relationship with God and you have real meaning. You do those things because you don't have purpose. How can you expect to to to say, "Oh, yes, I believe in the message. Oh, yes, I know what I'm talking about." Let me tell you this. Have you mastered the culture or the message? Because if if you've only ever listened to 10 Brother Brandham sermons and you've and you and you've only and you've never read your Bible all the way through, do you even know what you believe? or have you mastered the culture? I'm working on it, too. Kevin Florian on Facebook says, "Drinking is not prohibited in the Bible. Drunkenness is thoughts." That's something to ask your pastor about, Brother Kevin. That's not a subject I have studied in length. So, that's something to ask your pastor about. That's not my specialty. I don't drink because I don't want to put myself in a position to uh I don't see how it would add it would add to what I to the life that I live in a way that would be wise. Um I'd have to do more study. Who knows? But you do those why? Because this is why repentance is awesome. Because if you think, oh, I'm going to go to camp and I got delivered of of smoking. I got delivered of gambling. I got delivered of this bad thing. And the only really I realized, David, that even though I'm still gambling, I just need to stop feeling bad about it because I'm his bride and it's Satan. And and the voice in my head telling me that what I'm doing is wrong is the devil. The voice in your head that tells you there's no hope is the devil or that you're or that you can't get out is the devil. The voice that is telling you that you're wrong and there's a way out is always God. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasen. That wasn't Satan talking. That was Jesus. Repentance is awesome. Why? Because it's not just I don't want bad bad things. It's literally the way in which I'm headed isn't isn't right. So when you go and get a six-pack and you change your your diet and you change all that, you're not just getting skinny. That's not it. You the reward isn't just the six-pack and the muscles. It's also the journey where going to the gym actually becomes a better life than what you were doing before. I don't serve God because it's right. I serve God because I want to. And if you only serve God out of out of fear of going to hell, then you don't even know what you believe. I'm not saying that in order to know what you believe, you have to listen to over,200 tapes. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is I would definitely say you don't know what you believe if you if you've never read the Bible all the way through or or or that you've never that you don't consistently read your Bible or listen to tapes because you want to. Repentance is awesome because it's not a this is wrong and I don't want to do it. It's I want to do something different because it's better and I want it. In my job, my the only KPIs I'm measured by in my job is is the associates because so I'm I'm an HP rep. I go to 17 different stores and I talk to them about HP. My job is to get them to sell more HP and the only measures in which they measure me buy is technically sales, but I'm never there at the stores. I'm only at the stores an hour and a half once a week or once every two weeks or maybe a couple hours just depending or at best buys, you know, once a week or whatever for three or four hours. And if the sales are down, they just want me to go and talk to the people. But like the main thing they measure me by is trainings and webinars. The people get gift cards for the trainings for the webinars. I have a I have a a corporate credit card that I can use to buy them things. So I can basically incentivize them to do webinars by paying them money. I can buy them gift cards. I can buy them lunch, whatever. And they tell me, "Oh, David, just buy them lunch and they'll do it for you." But what I have done at the job is I've listened to them. I've connected with them. I have listened to their problems. I I've hugged them when their friends when their friends committed suicide. I've walked with them. I've sang to them. I haven't sang to them yet, but I want to. I've told them I'm there for them. I've offered to clean bathrooms for them. I I I've done everything I can to show them that I love them. [Music] and that I care about them so that they will do those webinars and trainings not because they have to or because their managers for because I I had I had a manager one time tell me, "Oh, what you got to do to get them to do it is just talk to their manager so their managers will will make them do it." I'm like, "That won't make the relationship better." But when I when I uh when I go to them and I say, "Hey, hey, it's the end of the quarter. You guys haven't done any webinars. Could you please do a webinar, man? I I'll I'll grill you any stick you want if you do it, please." He's like, "Well, what do you get out of it?" I said, "I get to keep my job." He's like, "So, you mean if I don't do this, you'll probably lose your job?" And I said, "Yeah, they're going to write me up for it if I don't do it." He's like, "Oh, then I'll do it." Why? Because him doing the webinar or the training was not attached to being threatened of going to hell. But it actually was I don't want to lose David. He did it because he wanted to because he wanted a relationship with me because I'm there with them. I'm their friend. Emily Smith on on uh Instagram says, "I don't think we're allowed to drink." B uh Brother says, "Don't never smoke or drink or defile your body in any way." Well, sister, I wouldn't even approach you that way. I don't want to approach it as, oh, I'm not allowed to do this. If you don't sleep around just because you're not allowed to, and if you were allowed to, you would. Then you haven't repented. You're just following rules. And rules have value when you're growing up. But I'm 24 years old. If I want to go to a strip club or go to a bar or go smoking or drinking, I have the capacity to do so. I make more than enough money to live on my own, do whatever I want. But I don't want to. Not because it wouldn't give my flesh pleasure, not because it wouldn't feel good, but because I know it leads to death. And what I have is better. Repentance is awesome. And this message is not just a life to live on at at camps or at church, but it's an everyday life. Not because do the right you you better have a chaperone otherwise you're not live with God or um you're not standing and clapping. You're sitting down at the preacher. Or um well, if you're not listening to five tapes a day, you don't have no holy whatever it is. We don't serve God because we're threatened with hell. [Laughter] Why? What kind of relationship would that be? Jenny, don't cheat on me, otherwise I'll divorce you. What? That was be Oh, that would be a fun relationship. No, it wouldn't. Why? Because it's it's not a relationship. It's a dictatorship. That's what Hitler tried. No, it's a relationship. You serve God because you want to. So, if you're living a life and you're doing what's wrong, what I'm saying is, and to wrap this up, what am I saying to to connect everything I've said to an ending in your life, I'll ask you this question to ask yourself, what do you want? What do you have and what are you doing to get there? I love board games. Board games are awesome. You know, the way to win in a board game is to constantly be analyzing your position and the position of others to win. What do you want? What do you have? What are you doing to get there? Oh, God's got me. God does everything for me. Let me read you some some uh some quotes. from uh from nominational brethren or from uh Instagram quotes that sound nice but are theologically trash. Shout out to God for pulling me through day after day, night after night. Why would that be weird? That sounds nice. God pulls you through all the time, right? It's never you. All you do is yield. Sometimes maturing in Christ means letting people think things about you that aren't true, remaining quiet, and trusting God is more than able to defend you. Real deliverance is when you can sit in front of what used to tempt you and feel nothing. No pull, no ache, no desire, just peace. Because when God truly sets you free, he does not just change your habits, he removes the appetite, too. What What is these supposed doing? It's making you the victim of your own choices and blaming the devil and saying that God delivers you from your own habits and desires. For sin, sure, but for what you want. Why would you gamble when the choices between gambling and living for Christ and living for others? You wouldn't because you have purpose. God can give you the the will and the strength and the the guts and the courage to lose weight, but he doesn't take the weight from you. And he doesn't make it where you're not hungry anymore. He does the same thing with sexual desire. He doesn't make it where we never he doesn't just take the sexual desire away. He shows us how to manage it. Like brother Alistair Francis was saying, I know this is heavy or what what do people say? It's pretty intense, but it's the truth. My constant prayer, actually, hold on. Not that one. Let me grab a different one. Sister Emily says he can though. What do you mean, Sister Emily? What do you mean? I'm not sure what you're saying. Okay, tell me this, Erly. The Calvinists believe that God overrides our choices even if we want something. Could you show me an example of God overriding someone's choices and forcing them to live for him? Because that's what I'm saying. If you keep on choosing gambling, God doesn't just take away the gambling. There's no precedent for that. Why do you gamble? Because you don't have purpose. You choose to gamble. No one's putting a gun at your head and forcing you to gamble. No one. It's your choice. If tell me if God delivers us from things that we chose then did we overcome it or did we just let God do everything for it and for us and just say man it's so great being a Christian God does everything for me I don't have to overcome he already overcame I don't have to fight my battles he does it all for me I don't have to stop gambling he already defeated gambling at Calvary I can drink, smoke, do drugs, prostitute myself, and do everything I want to because God paid the price for everything I did wrong, and he overcame everything for me. Tell me, is that is that does that sound nice? No. Why? Because you didn't repent of the of of what was there. You just wanted to be uh you just wanted to not feel bad for something you know is wrong to have the cake and eat it too. Here's another one. Time and time again, we find ourselves falling back into old ways and patterns and be led by the emotions of things after God has done the hard work and removal to help us take a step in the right direction. What's wrong with that? God did all the hard work. Really? Really. So when Paul said, "I have fought the good fight of faith," he was lying because God fought it for him. Repentance is awesome. Why? Because it's not just that's wrong and I'll stop doing it. It's hey, I want to do better. I want I want to find a purpose. God wants to do it with us. But you have to know this. If you have a desire in your heart to serve God, even if your whole family leaves, you're all there, then hell is not a possibility for you. You can't be lost. If you've met God his conditions and you have a desire to serve God, then you can't be lost and you'll want to get closer to him. Does that make sense? Overcoming isn't accepting God's provision and letting God do everything for you. It's accepting God's help and you and him conquer it together. But he will not take away your choices. The same way God would allow me to go to the gym and choose to get a six-pack, he'll allow me to also choose to get fat by eating a bunch of food. The same way, let me put it in the spiritual now. this because I've used that analogy a lot. The same way God will allow me to believe in this message just because uh you know I believe part of because I've only listened to parts of the tapes. He'll allow me to have that and still save me. and he'll also allow me to uh to study this message to listen to every sermon ever made by brother Brandham and read my Bible and allow me to the same way he'll allow me to to go through the consequences of not knowing what I believe as much as I would if I if I listened to every sermon ever made because why would why do you know about the if I asked you why is LeBron James better than Michael Jordan or why is Michael Jordan better than LeBron James you would know about that because you would know about that because you've done the study, you've watched the games, you've watched over a thousand hours of it, you actually know what you're talking about. But if I asked you, why did we need brother Brandham in this day? Why don't we just do what the Bible says and leave it at that and you don't have an answer, it's because you don't know what you believe. But if I ask you, why did Brad Pitt and Angelie Jolie divorce? And you know why the Bible says for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So whatever is in the abundance of your heart is what comes out. So the same way God would allow you to go through the consequences of not studying his word and then suffering because of it, he'll also allow you to go to through the consequences of being a stronger Christian and a happier Christian by studying more of the message. Because if God overrides our choices that we keep on choosing to be addicted to something, then then uh why do we even have a choice at all? And it's not a bad thing for to to ask, Sister Emily. Not you're not a bad person or anything. I'm just taking what you said and and talking it out. But it's it's a good question. And we can think, "Oh, God is so great. He does everything for us." He doesn't want to do everything for us. He wants to have a relationship with us. That's what he wants every day. So anyway, guys, repentance is awesome. This could be part of I think there's more episodes to be done on this, but it's we're almost at an hour and a half. But hey, it's good questions. No one's a bad person for uh saying anything in uh disagreement or in opposite to what I'm saying. Praise the Lord. You know, this is not the podcast where I say you're wrong and I'm right. It's where we ask what do we mean by this? And uh we go through the questions and we answer them and we uh we figure out why. What do we believe? Why do we believe it? What's the standard? And then we go from there. So, it's not a bad question, Sister J. It's good stuff. You know, it's something to study. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're wrong. Who knows? But it's it's it's a this is a good thing to do with your Sunday night instead of scrolling through reals or Netflix or whatever else that we do. I believe with all my heart and soul. Let me pray. Gracious Lord, thank you for this night. Thank you for the power and the awesomeness of repentance in our lives. Please be with us as we go throughout this week. be with brother Nathan Ericson, brother Ronnie Long, Brother Wayne Lawson's church, brother and as they prepare the the natural parts of the the the camp, the mechanics, be with brother Andrew Glover and brother Josh Ben as they prepare their sermons for what to preach this weekend. May it be the greatest camp that's ever had done and may souls may lives be changed, people be healed, and so many people born again. I ask it all, Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, guys. Thank you for being here. Thank you very very much. I love you and I thank you for everything and I will see you guys in the next episode. Good heavens, that was fun. [Music]