WHAT WOULD JUDE PREACH?

II

Pastor Lawrence Bradford

Jude 1:11

   Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

So he said Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain.  Cain didn’t want to do it Gods way.  He didn’t want to do it Gods way, so he wanted to do it his own way.  God wanted a blood sacrifice, he wanted to bring vegetables.  You know God wants you to preach this message…. You say I don’t know anything about that God, I’m preaching this one.  I’m going to show the people I know the Word of God.  You have got to do it God’s way.

And ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.  Oh, my goodness, I guess some people needs to hear that.  It seems to me that there is a bunch of ministers just saying give $100 and God will bless you 10 fold.  Listen, if everyone of you give me $100 and God will bless you 10 fold, I’m going to come out pretty good.  You know, I’ve done got my return.  And here we have Balaam, he’s going after gain and God had told him deliberately not to prophesy or curse Israel.  Told him not to do it but the king kept tempting him and enticing him, and so God finally gave into him and said to him “Go with him”. 

And then even the donkey talked to him and still the stubborn prophet went.  I mean if God has to use an animal to talk to you, pay attention.  And if you’re a prophet of God and you get in a shape where God has to speak to you through an animal you are in trouble. I mean that’s the first recorded of tongues in the Bible.  That donkey spoke, that was not his natural tongue.  Amen. that’s true, whether you like it or not.  God spoke to Peter through a rooster, and so understand preachers, if you don’t want to do your job, God might speak to you through a donkey.  He might speak to a backslidden minister through a rooster. 

You can listen to the Word, you can listen to the Holy Spirit, or you can listen to other ministers that sometimes God will send your way. But dear Lord, don’t be reduced to have to listen to an animal.  God will use whatever he can. 

And if we don’t praise him, amen God will use whatever… so don’t let anyone replace you…what was one of the worship songs they sung a longtime ago at the church.. ain’t no rock gonna cry out in my place, ain’t no tree and things and such and such… I don’t want nobody doing my praising.  I want to praise him, I want to worship him, I want to glorify him.  I don’t want somebody doing my praising for me.  I certainly don’t want to be replaced by a dumb rock.  Surely I’m smarter than a rock.  Surely I know to praise him, he’s worthy of praise.  He’s God almighty, hallelujah, he’s God all powerful.. anybody forget those names of God?  He’s  called almighty, why is he called almighty?  Cause he has all might and power. 

Satan only has so much power.  You need to understand this ministers of God.  You need to understand that he only has so much power and he only has as much power as you let him have. Because the bible says he is subject to you, all spirits are subject to you.  You have, power over all the power of the enemy, and he’s subject to you, the only thing he can use against you is what you will allow him to.  And believe me, he don’t need no help.  Amen, in the name of Jesus, back Satan down.  We need to be like Wigglesworth.  Wakes up in his house and hears some noise going on and wakes up and he says it was Satan,  so he says it’s only you Satan and rolls over and goes back to sleep.  God’s on your side. 

Anybody know what  rereward means?  Gods taking care of your backside, he’s watching your back.  In Isaiah, God talked about he will be the guard of your rereward. And so he’s guarding your back.  Don’t be looking over your shoulder seeing what the devils going to do, Gods got your back.  Get in the glory of God, get in the presence of God and watch God move hallelujah.  Praise God, hallelujah.  Glory to God. Oh I love you Lord.  Okay, so here we see they are going after their reward.  They go after Cain, nothing wrong with being blessed, God does not want you to be filthy rich.  Most of us in here are not filthy rich because we can’t handle it.  If I had a million dollars, I would pay tithes you say, no you wouldn’t, you would backslide and buy a yacht and be out on the ocean someplace.  Why do you think God hasn’t given it to you?  If he can’t trust you with $10 to pay $1 worth of tithes, how is he going to trust you with the other? If you’ll rob him in the small things, you’ll rob him in the big things and that’s free. That wasn’t even in my message. 

Ministers do you pay tithes.  Amen, you don’t need to be preaching to your people to pay tithes if you don’t pay tithes.  Amen. Oh, but the tithes are for me.. no they are not, they are for the work of God.  Amen. Minister if you are able to, cause a lot of us are not able to because of the tithes and offerings that people don’t pay, we don’t get, but as a minister if you can, you should be paying as much tithes and offerings or more than anybody in the church .  He should be backing the work that God gave him to do, he should be believing in that work.

Now they’re going after and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Here they come and you know what they did, we are also God’s people and God’s priest, why does Aaron have to be over this and why does Moses have to be over this, we all have Gods calling, you better pay attention minister.  I don’t care who you are, you better pay attention.  When you walk into another mans house or another woman’s house, that’s the pastor over that church that is ordained of God.  There have been many people that have come into my church and they wanted to be pastor.  This is the spirit right here.  This is it right here.  You know what God did to them?  Understand when you walk into somebody else’s place and God has called them and placed them there,  you be a help. 

Do you remember, has anybody even forgot that ministers used to be called servants.  Jesus himself didn’t come to be waited on, he came to serve. Ministry is a service, ministry calls for you to be praying, for you to be fasting for you to have something to feed the people with.  Be able to heal the sick, to be able to cast out the devils, you’re supposed to be a servant. 

A ministers on tv, they was showing his house his wife, showing the servants they have waiting on her.  It’s pretty hard to be a servant when you have servants waiting on you.  Amen. praise the Lord, that didn’t cost you anything.  If you didn’t like it, keep it when they pass the offering plate.  Matter of fact, if your not paying tithes, take some out.  You’re a thief anyway. 

My wife shaking her head, they are never going to have you back here.  Maybe that’s why I don’t get out much, I don’t know.  Had a guy come to our church, said man I love the ministry, I love the singing, I love the worship, I love the preaching, this is the place everybody should be.  I said, ah, we’ll see. He approach me a few month later and said, I see why people don’t stay here.  I said why?  He said, they got to get in or get out.  We don’t need to play church.  We don’t need a church full of demons, they need to get out. We need to have the power of God.  When Jesus went in, he stopped his Disciples and took some of them with him, two of them, but he stopped some of them.  And then those that was weeping and crying in unbelief, hoping that he would move, he put them out.  Praise God, give me people that can believe we can change this world amen. 

Jude 1:12

   These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water.  We have, Jude in his time is preaching about ministers, they are clouds you can see them, but they got no water.  They don’t have anything.  We have too many dead preachers, preaching to too many dead congregations.  Amen. 

Dead hands laying on Dead heads.  Receiving dead results.  Clouds, we need to be full of water.  We need to understand Jesus had a hunger. The bible says on the last day of the feast he stood and cried and said if any man thirst,  are you thirsty?  Do you really want to see a move of God.  You know what I don’t want to be?  I don’t want to be the generation that, how old are you? 30.. he’s young.  Dear Lord what it would be like to be 30 again.  But I don’t want to be the generation that passes the torch that has gone out.  Ministers, I don’t know about you, but I know my days are getting numbered.  I’m closer now to being with Jesus than I’ve ever been in my life.  My time is running out, and I don’t want to be the one to pass on a torch that I let go out.  I don’t want to be the one, I don’t want to be the generation as Paul preached the other night, he preached that here was this generation, and all these people that was with Joshua  that served the Lord, then they rose up a generation that knew not Joshua’s God.  

Its time hallelujah, that we make sure that this generation know that there is a God.  We need to let the generation behind us know that God heals, and answers prayer.  We need to let the generation behind us know that God still saves people, he still heals the sick, he still raises the dead.  Oh I want to tell you we need to let people know that God is alive, God is looking for a man or a woman that will stand up and say, like Paul on the Boat, I believe God.

And what we need in the house today is people standing up and saying I believe God, God said this is going to come to pass and this is going to happen and this is the way it’s going to be hallelujah.  Is there anybody in the house that believes God anymore?  Hallelujah.  And we need to pass on the torch and let people see there are still gifts of the spirit. There are still people speaking truth, and there are still people prophesying, and I’m like sister Woods here, I’ve seen people come in and prophesy and then you got a bunch of junk but we’ve still got a bunch of people that are prophesying truth.  We’re still having people that are telling the truth.  People that are preaching, why because God is still alive and well hallelujah, and he is able hallelujah, if you will listen and listen carefully. 

Understand this, God won’t minister the gifts of the Spirit to everybody in the house, but the Word will.  He ministers to a few though the gifts, and listen, when God quits, shut up.  Oh I was in ministry one time with a preacher he just wanted to minister to everybody.  He said, oh I got a name, it’s clear as a bell.   John, Jack, oh if they’re not here go tell them they’re missing a blessing.  150 people came back the next night to hear him again. 

A preacher, he’s preaching and as he’s taking up an offering, and he’s saying God has told me you have a twenty dollar bill folded up in your pocket your supposed to give it, and if you don’t have it, borrow it.  How gullible are people?  You know?  Yes, I cry out against this stuff. Don’t you know your not supposed to touch Gods anointed?  The Word is anointed, there are thieves an liars and cheats.  Amen , you know them by their fruits.  They want money.  Call a big time preacher and see if they will come preach for you for nothing.  I don’t want a big time preacher praying for me, I want somebody I know. 

Most of the time, I don’t need nobody praying for me, I believe God.  I ran in to a situation a few years ago and it just devastated me, I’m devastated.   I go to my brother Joel.  Bro. Joel, I want you to pray over this situation.  I want you to take care of it right now, I can’t believe God. Right now, I’m going to be praying, but right now, I’m not believing God. I am not going to call no big time evangelist that’s going to take my money out of my prayer request and throw my prayer request away and keep the money. Oh, they don’t do that.  Maybe some of them don’t.  Most of them do. 

Oh, God is going to get you for that…we’ll see.   Amen. A church I was at one time and my pastor I was with for 15 years a lady came to church one time and she’s prophesying  and she’s missing God, she’s messing up the service. The pastor told her to sit down.  God’s going to kill you for stopping the prophetess.  You will die in two days from now.  My pastor said we will see.  He’s still alive.  Amen. Amen. Praise God. 

See you get a good laugh and a good message.  This serious stuff is God, the funny stuff is me, but there is a message in the funny stuff though isn’t there.  Sometimes, some of this stuff, if were not careful, we might be caught up in it and we have to laugh at ourselves and get out of it.  That’s the thing, some of the dumb things we can do.

One preacher said I haven’t had to change, I’m still preaching the same way as when I got saved.  Dear Lord, when I got saved I knew nothing.  I read that book of Job, which I call it Job.  Have you ever read Job? It’s a job to read it.  I mean, I’m lost and under conviction and I read about this man and God’s killing his kids and taking his family, his money and his wealth and things that is the way a lost mind thinks… man, that didn’t help my conviction, I closed that book up quick.  Understand, you will be led by two spirits when you get under conviction.  You will be led by Gods Spirit or Satan’s spirit.  Satan’s spirit is going to take you to Job.  God’s Spirit is going to take you to the book of John.  Okay, understand that, amen. 

Oh, I’ve never listened to that devil, you lying preacher.  You say Satan has never talked to me, well your not doing anything for God. Cloud without water amen.  Cloud without water, I don’t want to be a cloud without water. My brother here, he’s a cloud, he has plenty of water.  Listen to his message, listen to the anointing, listen to how the Spirit flows through him.  He is full of water. A sister couldn’t be here tonight, been here the past two nights and was telling Paul last night how he ministered to her, tears flowing down her eyes.  Why was that, why was she telling him that?  Cause he is a cloud with water.  Amen.  praise the Lord, hallelujah. 

There are clouds without water carrying about of winds, and I don’t know about you ministers, if any of you are pastors, I don’t know if you have had any people that when the wind blows it blows them over here to this other church. I don’t know if that has happened to you, you know my church, if people that had been with me for months or years, if they had stayed, I’d be running 1,000.  But, no, that wind blows and Jude knew this.   They carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withered. And you know when they are blowing around like this, usually they don’t amount to a whole bunch.  They don’t have roots… they’re fruit withered, without fruit.  Twice dead, plucked up by the roots.  Understand, I believe with all my heart, God plants you some place.  And if God moves you, he will take care of the roots, he will transplant you and you will be fruitful.  There are so many people that Gods plant them, and the place that God plants you the devil will try to move you, I don’t care what kind of minister you are, or what kind of Christian you are, if you are in the will of God, you will be tested and tried to leave from the place God has planted you at. 

Cause Satan doesn’t want you to stay.  He don’t want you to stay, he don’t want you to help build a ministry.  So here we see they’re twice dead, plucked up, without fruit and without water and man, they are in a mess.  I have the Holy Ghost.  Oh, come on you can do better than that.  Your supposed to say, I got the Holy Ghost too.  I have the Holy Ghost.  Holy Ghost living on the inside of me.   Sometimes he makes me shout.  Sometimes he makes me dance. Sometimes he makes me cry.  Sometimes he makes me talk in tongues. But oh, sometimes he has me worship.  Sometimes he lays me out in the floor. But I see the manifestation of the spirit of God, hallelujah.  Will anybody stand up?  There you go 3 or 4 of you, there you go.  Okay. Understand, the bible talked about some people walking with Jesus and he said you’re slow of heart, slow in speech and slow in understanding.   Amen

I mean, listen people.  Listen to what the preachers is saying.  A prophet one time when to the king and said smite the ground.  He smote it three times and the prophet got mad and said, why did you just do it 3 times? Why didn’t you smote it 6 or 7 and you would have completely destroy the enemy?  Now, your going to win a few battles. You know.  One of the things you have to do.. oh, its going to humble me to have to stand up.  Yeah, it probably is.  How do you know that when God’s ministering to you, he’s humbling your flesh. God is not going to glorify your flesh, he’s not going to tickle your flesh. 

If Gods talking to you, sometimes the minister is going to make you mad.  If a minister never makes you mad, he’s not preaching the word of God.  The greatest guy that I know, that loved more than anybody, they hung him on a cross and crucified him. Amen. the message will do that.  But make sure you preach the message in love. Make sure that it is the message they hate and not you, amen.   amen. Okay

Jude 1:13

   Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Wandering stars.  We have a lot of anointed people.   A lot of gifted people that have been wandering stars.  They can shine so bright, if they would only find their place in the body of Christ. They are their own worst enemies.

Jude 1:14

   And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

And Enoch, or Enoch, how ever you want to pronounce it, I’ve heard it pronounced both ways, I’ve said it both ways.  I never would have got Nebuchadnezzer if somebody hadn’t said it. amen. I mean you know there are some tough words in the bible.  You be reading and you go glory to God and go back on the other side of that big word. Amen.  or just like I do, I tell the people I’m ignorant and don’t know what that word is, if it’s a name I might say something like this brother John and sister Sue’s boy.  Amen. and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam.  So we see here now that he’s the seventh from Adam. 

Listen to what he says. Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, now I don’t know, I don’t really think that Enoch is numbering how many is coming back with Jesus.  He could be, I won’t debate that either way.  But I’m thinking the 7th from Adam, the ten thousand saints, he’s thinking that’s a lot of people.  You know, amen.  and he’s prophesying the Lord is coming back with his saints. Amen.  Are you going to come back with him?  Are you? 

The Lord is going to take us either by the way of the rapture or the way of the grave, but you know we’re coming back.  Amen, hallelujah. Praise God.  Oh, I can tell you, I’ll just got to tell on this person, he’s not here. He will never know.  I haven’t seen him in years.  I’ve done this before, and somehow they wind up with a tape. You think I would learn.  But a brother at Rock Ten, I worked at rock ten for 19 years and a brother at rock ten said, you believe people are going to heaven.  I said yeah.  But the bible doesn’t say were going to heaven. The Bible says were going to be saved, but doesn’t say were going to heaven. And I said, well okay.  I understand but can I read you this scripture?  Jesus said right here, John 14:1-3

   Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. [2] In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. I said Jesus said, in my fathers house are many mansions, now where is that? He said it is in heaven.  So you said, this is in heaven? He said you always get me with those scriptures.  What are we supposed to believe preachers?

If your going to be a minister of God, understand the Word of God is your compass.  Understand the Spirit of God will never let you down if it’s the Spirit of God. But sometimes there is a spirit that speaks to people that is not the Spirit of God and you have to use the Word of God to judge it.  amen.  praise God.

I’m telling you, it was much better when I preached it today.  It was.  Oh, man I was so excited, I was so excited.  I said God you gave me good message I should have taped it and I could preach it back to my self. 

Jude 1:15

   To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Jesus is coming back with his saints and he’s going to take care of this.  Understand, we need to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified. We need to preach forgiveness to sinners.  We need to reach out and love sinners, we need to, listen, I want to tell you something. One of the things we need to do, we’re Pentecostal people, the Pentecostal church is supposed to have the power. We should be winning souls, we should be setting people free, we should be having the message. 

You can believe what you want to believe.  You know what I believe? I believe God is baptizing Baptist and Presbyterians in the Holy Ghost because the Pentecostal group for the majority of the part is failing in the job. I want to tell you a Baptist isn’t afraid to witness. If they are baptized in the Holy Ghost I know they won’t be afraid.  And so God, I don’t want to be replaced. Have you ever been replaced? 

Oh, I want to tell you, I was young Christian and I not even called to preach yet, I’m a young Christian, and Bro. Paul back here, his daddy when I got saved saw I was full of  fire, you know and he’s seen this and  he’s an  aged minister and wise,  this guy will work.  He said, and I’m reading this passage,  and it said go out to the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in and I go to my pastor and say Bro. Massey look here,  we’re supposed to go out into the highways and hedges and he said, that’s right. Yes, I got me one that’s going to go work for the Lord and for His Church. He said I’ve got a 55 passenger bus that the church has had, it’s been setting here, now get it. So we started a visitation team. Me and Paul, Pauls sister, my wife and a few more others, 6,7,8 of us, we started visitation, we start driving down the road in that 55 passenger bus.  Knocking on doors, showing the bus we’ve got. That might not have been a good idea.  That wasn’t one of the newer buses, first Sunday, we had 18 on the bus.  We wouldn’t had 18 on the bus if we hadn’t got out.  Amen.  glory to God.

So God blessed us and we were knocking on one door and my wife and bro. Paul’s sister, sister Penny, knocked on a door and they were introducing themselves.  The people say oh, we go to with Signal Mountain Church of God. And Penny says, I think they leave before she says anything but, she might have said something to them but she said, I’m his daughter, we’ve been there for years but I’ve never seen them. Do you show up?

Our sister said the organ wasn’t plugged up this reminded of a time we had been wounded and hurt.  Have you ever been wounded and hurt?  And so sometimes you just go to a place and you don’t want nobody to know you’re a minister.  You don’t want anybody to know you play the organ. All you want to do is to listen to a message, let somebody minister to you so that you can get better. Have you ever been there?  So we walk in this little church and the pastor, he’s so friendly.  I don’t know if any of you know him, he’s dead.  Died a few months ago, Pastor Terrell Stevens at Wallaceville Church of God.  He looked at my wife and says, that organ hadn’t been played in forever and I plugged it up tonight because I prayed for an organ player.  Do you play the organ?  Yeah, amen.  He exercised his faith and believed God to send him an organ player. 

It is so great to watch God move.  So you have people you minister with and I called Paul today to get his daddy’s number, and many times in my life, his daddy put a foundation under me.  Many times in my life, I had to call his daddy. I respect his daddy.  His mother I consider walks closer to God than anybody I know. And that is my opinion and I’m keeping it and you can never ever get it away from me.  Okay, now Paul might disagree when she probably spanking his behind.  Any spankings going on?  Glory to God, that is one that left the pages didn’t it.  Amen, hallelujah,  

Jude 1:16

   These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

These are murmurers, complainers, they murmur and complain.  I want to tell you something, as a pastor sometimes your going to have murmurers.  Do you have somebody that murmur and complain?  You know what I did to stop a lot of that.  I told them this.  If you talk about anybody, we’re going to him or her to talk about this or I’m going to them and tell them you told me. Nobody talks to me anymore.  They say there is a whole bunch of talking going on in the church but I’m not hearing it.  Amen, that solved that problem at lease for me, amen. Hallelujah.  Glory to God. 

It isn’t right for a man to have this much fun preaching. Walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.  A lot of  people tickle your ears because they want an advantage.  I don’t want your money, I don’t want your church.  God called me to pastor James Street Church of God.  He called me there and I was so excited cause I know God has sent me and called me there and a pastor friend of mine introduced me to this other pastor and said, oh, he’s the pastor of James Street.  Back then, we had about 20 people when we got there.  He said there isn’t anything going on over there.  Yeah, there was something going on over there. God has sent somebody he called over there.  Don’t want your church. Had a church of God minister tell me, oh this is a place to start Bro. Bradford. 

You get in this church then you can transfer up.  What’s wrong with staying and building a place?  Why not be something and be a light in the community.  Why not be an outreach?  Why not stay where God has put you?  Plucked up and…Amen.  I’m never leaving James Street unless God tells me and he has to speak real loud.  I don’t have the time to tell you.  Oh, I wished ministers I had time to tell you how God placed me there at James Street and things He show and he told me.  I tell my church a few times and they are probably tired of it.  And I would tell you and I will tell you if I ever get an opportunity.  I mean if I ever get to preach out again, and you’ll come back and hear me again, I’ll tell you. 

We’re moving on man, we’re almost done.  Can I get a glory, hallelujah?  If you can’t dance for the message, at least dance that we’re finishing up.  Amen.

Jude 1:17

   But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Jude 1:18

   How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last times.  I want you to know that we’re living in the last times. People can mock the word of God, they stand up in Church and say things. And they leave the church and go out to their own wordly lust.

Jude 1:19

   These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

When people are mockers of the word of God, they don’t have the Spirit.  I don’t have to pay any attention to anybody that don’t have the Spirit of God or anybody that is in the media that don’t have the Spirit of God. 

The only people that I need to pay attention to is the people that are proclaiming God’s Word, and the people that have the Word of God in them. Those are the people I’m going to pay attention to.  Not somebody that’s walking after their own ungodly lust, and oh, I’ll tell you, one time I heard a preacher say, I’m praying my daughter will be an actress.  And I thought to myself, that is the dumbest thing.  Has anybody seen what Hollywood actress do?  And hopefully church we don’t know everything they are doing.  But we do know they are messing up their lives, they are getting on drugs and all kind of other things.  We know way too much.  Why would any man want his daughter to be an actress?  Why would anybody want to throw them in that kind of lifestyle?

No, I want my daughters to be in church and if God calls them fine… listen, I’ve never been one to want to call my kids into ministry.  God wants to call them that is fine.  I don’t want to be praying that God calls my son to the ministry, but he did, and he told me he did, and I watched the boy run.  Then I watched the boy, after years of running, accept his call.  And I just sit back in amazement at the understanding he has since he has accept his call.  You won’t understand a whole bunch when your running from God. Oh, if you’ll let him catch you.  And so, I don’t pray for that. Why, because I know the downfalls and the heart aches of ministry.

And I know if your momma called or daddy called, or grandpappy called and grandmammy called, when hard times come your not going to stand.  If your going to be called into the ministry you better be called of God.  Cause there is going to be times that people won’t understand you.  There will be times that you are going to loose best friends.  There are going to be times when people desert you. There will be times when you have nobody to go to, even times when the people closest to you that haven’t left you, won’t understand you.  And the only thing you can do is go to God and cry it out and pray it out. 

Do you know that God said he gave one group of people their request and sent leanness to their soul.  Don’t you understand that you are ministers of the Lord God, he should call you.  He will lead you. You will never have to ask for leadership.  If your asking God where does he want you to go and what doors to open, this or that, are you trying to tell him your ready?  Your going to get in trouble. 

A minister came to me and said people don’t think I’m called to preach and I said well I know your called to preach cause God told me.  And God told me your called to be a pastor.  But let me tell you something brother, your not ready.  You do everything opposite of what a called minister does, you do everything opposite.  And I watched him go and pushed and pushed and pushed and the state overseer and they gave him a church.  I watched him backslide, I watched him loose his family, I watched him become a drunk. 

All because he went before his time, and I want to tell you this something ministers need to understand. Yes, God has a plan for you if he’s called you.  But there is something as important as truth and that is God’s timing.  In Gods time, if God has called you, God will make it happen.   Hallelujah, and listen, if God has called us into a ministry, don’t you know that Gods big enough to make it happen.  We will never have to ask for a place to preach,  If God called  us to preach at a certain place, we will preach there because God will make sure.  Don’t we understand who were talking about?  Well, I can’t be pastor in the Church of God because of Politics.  They have politics and I’ve got to jump through the loops and the channels and it’s going to be a while some have said to me.  I had people tell me that.

I came into the Church of God, I was in independent church for 15 years, came into the church of God. And they said, oh, Bro. Bradford you have to do this.  No, you don’t have to do that, they said you have got to fill out a resume.  In the state of Georgia, there was 850 resumes for pastors.  The State Overseer had 850 resumes, the state overseer had them on his desk and you have to fill one out and send it to him.  No you don’t, you just have to be called of God.  Sent of God, I got up one morning, and I know its time, I know it’s time.  How many of you know sometimes it’s times.  Sometimes you know its time but you still don’t know how or even where.

I get up one morning and I drive to Lafayette. I’m looking for a building , I’m going to plant me a church, I’m going to start it,  me and my family, amen, we’re going to start a church and I’m going to pay all the bills, and I’m going to struggle.  So I go down there and I ride around all day long.  And on the way back I said God, your going to have to give me more than this cause right now, I don’t feel like you want me here. 

And so, the next morning, the telephone rings it was state overseer  he says Bro. Bradford, James Street is coming open, would you like to take the church?  But the funny thing about it folks, let me tell you…he called the day before but you know I was off trying to figure things out myself.  No resume, never met the state overseer in my life, never shook his hand, never knew the man, never spoke to him.  Don’t you know that if Gods called you, you got a call upon your life; he will bring it to pass.  And if he doesn’t bring it to pass, don’t you know that we don’t need to be doing it. Does any minister in the house of God believe that God is able to open the door that no man can shut or shut the door that no man can open? 

Doesn’t anybody believe that there is a God anymore?  That God will make a way if he’s called you.  Your only part is to stay in love with him.

Jude 1:20

   But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

Here is a word of encouragement Jude’s telling them.. But ye, beloved, we’ve been warned of all these things people are doing, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Its time that the church returns back to building, its time you build yourself up. 

Why do I need to be built up?  Because if I’m built up, I can build someone else up. If I’m not built up, if I’m beat down and depressed.  Come to my church, we’re just barely hanging on.  Oh, God it was so rough last week, devil hit me on the head and knocked me on the canvas. Started to pin me but one of the brothers in the church pulled me from under the ropes and I was able to catch my breath and go fight again. Oh, I want to be apart of that church. No, let me tell you something, Jesus Christ is alive and well.  He’s alive and well and he’s powerful and he defeated hell.  And he kicked in the doors of hell. And he took the key from death and hell and it’s time that the church starts realizing that again that he is still almighty God, he is still more powerful than Satan, hallelujah, we need to build ourselves up and we need to let people know that we do live in victory. 

There will be times that we fail; there will be times that we mess up.  But we should have more victory than defeat.  I’m tired of people telling me they prayed for hours and hours and have no faith when they come out of their prayer closet.  Don’t you know if you pray, you’ve been in the presence of God, and in the presence of Jehovah things happen.  If anything, you should have faith.  Praise God, what you been praying about?  Been self-fulfilling?  If you ask amiss, you won’t be fulfill, but this one thing the bible tells us, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will…If preachers will get back to abiding in the word and abiding in Jesus and then they ask what they will hallelujah, things will happen.  Glory to God hallelujah,

I’m about finished.  Keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 

Jude 1:21

   Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Keep yourself in the love of God.  Keep yourself there.  Yes, it’s hard sometimes.  But one simple thing, always learn, you always got Jesus.  Always, Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Jude 1:22

   And of some have compassion, making a difference:

And of some have compassion, making a difference:  we need to have compassion on some.  Jesus hung on the cross, Steven was stoned, and both of them were praying for the people that did that to them.  Oh, so and so did this to me many years ago.  I can’t believe they done that, I can’t believe you still hanging on to it. Get a life.  Get a fresh revelation.  Renew your mind.  Amen, don’t you remember what so and so did to you?  No, I remember choosing to forget it. Amen,

Jude 1:23

   And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Praise God, now Jude preached a good message here didn’t he?  Jude did a good job here.  Do you think that when God gave me this he knew that we  ministers need edto hear this? Hallelujah, Praise God.  Most ministers can’t sit this long, they can if they are doing the preaching so I praise you for that. Amen, Hallelujah. Praise God, I love you, I hope you love me.  But, if you don’t I am a called minister of God and I love you regardless.  I love people.  I love Gods ministers.  I love the big people, or they think they’re big people.  I don’t see them that way. 

I’ve never been jealous of anybody cause I want to be like Jesus and I haven’t seen nobody like that. Amen

Jude 1:24

   Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

  

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, praise God.  I want you to know that he is able to make your ministry go.  Don’t you know he’s able to keep you from falling? You that are not ministers don’t you know that he’ll keep you from falling.  Praise God, he’s able to keep you from falling. 

And to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, oh, glory to God there is going to be two kind of people that come before the Lord, there are going to be those that have joy, and those that don’t.  Those that have joy, he’s going to say, you’ve been faithful over a few things, enter into the joys of the Lord.  To the other group he is going to say depart, I don’t know you, you workers of iniquity.  It’s going to be joy or sadness.

Jude 1:25

   To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Ministers, heartaches come.  Little over 11 years ago, my daughter had a miscarriage.  These things don’t happen in my family.  We always get a miracle.  God always intervenes.  We’re in unfamiliar territory.  Have you ever been in unfamiliar places?  God hasn’t changed. There’s sometime that things  happened.  It was on a Wednesday, I had a lady minister coming, never heard her before, I get the message about my daughter and I still got to go to church. I can’t go be with my daughter, my wife goes to be with my daughter and I go on to church. 

On the way to church, ministers, I want you to learn this…this is a revelation God gave me, I want you to learn this.  And on the way to church I said, God, I trust you and I love you and I will never question you about it.

My wife would go to the Church after this happen and pray every day on her lunch break. As she is praying one day the Lord said to her, daughter don’t forget in the darkness what I have taught you in the Light. A few years later I am reading someone‘s book, I don’t remember the name of the book but I remember the brother said in his darkness hour God told son don’t forget in the darkness what I have taught you in the light. I was reading a new book a few months back and in this brother book God had told the same thing. In closing brothers and sisters, remember dark times will come. But also remember the words of God, don’t forget in the darkness what I taught you in the light.

Message

              from the Pastor's Desk

You may mail

questions or comments

to Bro. Lawrence Bradford

by clicking above

You have permission to use the above sermon outline however you wish in order to help spread God's word.

March 2008