As I said, last week's sermon was about putting things in its right place,
passing judgments, and giving your opinions in the correct way, right?
Knowing where you stand, where your position is.
And it's important because within each one of us,
you know, there is something within us that seeks to voice our opinions.
There's something within us that cause us to desire to judge matters
and to influence others.
And as I said, if you're not putting it in the right place,
it can be sinful, it can actually be very harmful.
If you're rising above your station or if you're rebelling against those
that have authority over you, of course that would be sinful, right?
But it also has its right place.
There's a reason why we want to pass judgment.
There's a reason why we want to give our opinions
and be an influence on other people.
You know, if we do it, if we set it in the right place,
it's good, it's proper.
But what we find here in Genesis chapter one,
there's a reason why we have this desire to influence,
to voice our opinions, to pass judgment.
And we find this in verse number 26.
Look at Genesis chapter one, verse number 26.
It says, and God said,
let us make man in our image after our likeness,
then notice the next words,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea
and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle
and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth.
And so when God decides to make man,
he says, look, I want man to have dominion
over all of my creation, over all the animal world.
And so within man, we want to have dominion.
Okay, the word dominion is like the word dominates.
We want to have authority.
We want to have power.
We want to have something under us.
And God has given all of creation
for mankind to have dominion over that.
So you can see that this is part of our instincts.
This is why it's so hard for us to keep our mouth shut
when we want to comment and make opinions
even in areas that do not belong to us.
But you notice when God created man,
he did give man dominion over all the earth.
And so this is why you have it within your brethren.
Okay, it's not sinful in of itself.
It's sinful when it's not in the right place,
but it's good and proper when it is
within the right place.
And so this idea of dominion, once again,
is the idea of power and authority.
And you may recall last week
and I said that if you put things in its proper place,
you learn this principle,
it's actually very empowering.
And this is what I'm going to build on today.
The title for the sermon this morning is
The Empowered Man.
I believe in order to become the perfect man
that God wants us to be,
he also wants us to be the empowered man, okay?
We want to understand where we have dominion
and why we desire that.
You know, where does it come from?
What does it mean for us to be empowered?
Now I'm going to quickly read to you.
It's not just within the instinct of man
to be empowered and to have dominion.
But it's also something that God has put within the new man,
the new creature.
The moment that you're saved, you believe in the Lord,
you've been born again with the spirit.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1.7,
for God has not given us the spirit of fear,
look at this, but of power and of love
and of a sound mind, all right?
So the Lord has given us his Holy Spirit, okay?
This is what, the Holy Spirit is what helps us
to be able to walk in the new man.
And this spirit is not a spirit of fear,
but it is a spirit of power.
You see, even the new man is empowered.
When you walk in the spirit,
when you walk in accordance to the new man,
you are being empowered by God to do his works,
to do his righteous acts.
And so it is, yes, within the natural instincts
within man to be empowered,
but it also within the new man.
And you know, the reason I'm saying this
is because last week I had basically said
that as a pastor, it's not my job to get involved
in all of your trials, all your difficulties.
It's not my job to pass judgment
of your family situation.
And you know, I basically said, look,
when it comes to families, it's the man,
it's the father, it's the husband
who has the headship of his wife
and of his family.
And I find in society, the idea of a man
being in charge is being diminished.
Instead of empowering men to have dominion
in the right areas, yes, men,
you have dominion over your family.
Yes, I have dominion over the house of God,
you know, but society is trying to weaken men.
You know, society is trying to not empower men,
but often you hear the catchphrase in the media,
the empowerment of women, okay?
And we're trying to weaken mankind
and making, you know, just, you know,
and I've mentioned before,
just even on television shows like the Simpsons,
you make the father like a Homer Simpson,
look like a complete buffoon, a complete idiot.
And it's like the mother is the one
that has it all together.
I mean, this is the propaganda that Hollywood
and, you know, entertainment is trying
to pump into our minds that men are stupid
and let the women take charge, okay?
And, you know, just yesterday was,
I think it was yesterday where we, you know,
I was watching, I was following the media
and they kept talking about how Kamala Harris,
Harris, you know, the, you know,
the vice president, yeah,
was given presidential powers.
Like the first time a woman in America
has presidential powers because Joe Biden's
going in for some operational,
something like that, okay?
Some examination.
And so this narrative has been constantly
pushed down our throats is, you know,
to weaken men and to empower women.
But really I'm talking about the empowered man.
You know, God has given man dominion
over all of creation.
Now, again, I said that I do not want
to get involved in your life.
It's, you know, and here's the thing.
Some people might think I'm being selfish.
Some people think, well, hold on.
You're my pastor.
You should be the guy that comes
and sorts out my problems.
I mean, that's what a lot of people think.
Honestly, even within the IFB world,
that's what a lot of people think, okay?
And when I'm saying, look,
I don't want to get involved.
I don't want to know all the sins.
I don't want to know all the situation.
Some people think, well,
you don't want to take on the responsibility
that God has given you in the office.
Well, God's not giving me that responsibility.
Read your Bibles.
There's nowhere where the past has given
that level of responsibility or authority
over a person's family, okay?
Or, you know, the idea is,
you just don't care.
You know, a pastor, I've come into you with a problem.
Well, brother, before you tell me all the issues,
just give me the general thought here.
Let me know what I can pray for.
And some people think, yeah, you know,
I don't want to make it my problem.
Maybe I don't care about other people.
That's not the case at all, okay?
The title for the sermon this morning,
as I said, is The Empowered Man.
The reason I don't want to get involved
in all the issues that deal with,
that you have within your life
is because I want you to be empowered.
If I start getting involved
or you start letting other people
who do not have authority in your situation
to get involved and to pass judgment
and to tell you what to do, brethren,
it's going to make you weak.
You're going to be weakened.
You're not going to be empowered, okay?
I want you to become more empowered
every day of your life.
You know, as a pastor,
I want to see every Christian, every man,
every woman, yes, and even every child
to be empowered so they know
what they are able to accomplish
and to keep it within the boundaries
that God has for them.
Let me just give you an idea.
Let me expand this to get a little bit further.
As I said many times,
I give illustrations from my own workplace,
the experiences that I've had,
you know, work in a job,
being an employee, being a manager.
And for those of you that work
in an office environment,
you're probably familiar with this term
for micromanager, micromanagement.
What is micromanagement?
Micromanagement is basically to manage
with excessive control or attention to details.
I don't know if you've,
maybe you've had a micromanager in the past,
basically, they give you a job, okay?
But instead of telling you just what to do,
they're telling you how to do it.
You know, literally every single detail,
they're on your back every single moment.
You know, they're making sure
you're doing things exactly,
they want it to be done, right?
Every little detail,
they're on your back
that they don't let you expand,
but you might have your thoughts,
you might share,
hey, you know, how about we do it this way?
No, we're not, we're doing it my way.
It's my way or the highway.
And that every little issue
of the workplace, you know,
they're looking down
and, you know, every little moment,
you've got to report back
and let people know what you're doing.
That's micromanagement.
And look, there's a place for micromanagement.
You know, if someone's new to a job
and they're being trained into a position,
hey, there's a good time
to be a micromanager in that area
because you're trying to decide
whether this is somebody
that I want to hold on to for a long time.
This is someone I want to see
or decide whether they're going to pass probation.
I want to see if this is somebody
that's going to be obedient to my instructions
as their supervisor or as their manager.
So there's a time and place for micromanagement.
It's not all bad in of itself,
but that is one way that managers
decide to control their staff
is by micromanagement.
And brethren, I don't want to be
the micromanager past thing you like.
I don't want to be involved
in every other, every little issue,
not because I'm not interested,
not because I don't care,
because I want you to be empowered.
That's why I want you to be the empowered man.
I want you to understand
where your dominion is
and exercise dominion as God allows you.
I just read an article to you
about micromanagement
and in this article that I was looking up,
it says micromanagement
is a form of leadership
that may produce results in the short term.
Yes, it produces results in the short term,
but it hurts employee
and company morale over time.
Usually micromanaging
has a negative connotation
because an employee may feel
that a micromanager
is being condescending toward them
due to a perceived lack of faith
in the employee's competency.
Also, a manager who implements
this management style
creates an environment
where their team develops,
look at this insecurity
and a lack of confidence in its work.
In the absence of the manager,
the team may find it difficult to function.
So notice micromanagement,
this is in the business world,
it creates insecurity
and a lack of confidence.
Does that sound like strength
and power to you
or that sound like weakness?
Weakness, micromanaging develops weakness.
Yes, short term results,
but long term failure.
The article continues by saying,
a micromanager will usually use up
most of their time
supervising the work of their direct reports
and exaggerating the importance
of minor details to subordinates,
time that could have been used
to get other important things done.
That's the problem with the micromanager.
They're so on top of their employees,
they don't get anything else done.
I mean, it's almost like,
why did you employ these people?
If you're going to be there
every single moment,
controlling every little decision they make,
then what's the point of them being there?
You might as well do it yourself
if you're going to be that micromanager.
You can see it reduces the morale of the team,
it weakens, or there's a lack of confidence
that it gives to the employees.
I've worked with a micromanager.
It's horrible, Brevin.
You feel like you can't breathe.
You feel like you can't use your skills
and your knowledge, your development
that you've learned over time.
It's always one person's view
all the time, every single time, right?
And it's harmful.
It's hurtful.
And sometimes people want a pastor
to be a micromanager.
Can you come into my life
and sort out this issue
and sort out this issue?
I don't want to do it
because I want you to be empowered.
I don't want you to lack confidence.
I want you to build your confidence.
The opposite with a micromanager,
of course, is a macromanager.
And the macromanager,
just in short term,
basically it's the opposite, okay?
But a macromanager highlights
what needs to be done
rather than how it needs to be done.
So yeah, management is important.
This needs to be done.
But they refrain from saying how to do it.
Why?
Because you've taken on that employee,
you've taken on that person
to do the job for them to work it out, okay?
So you can spend your time
doing other things at a higher level, yeah?
So macromanagement,
again, I've worked under both scenarios.
You know, I was once macromanaged.
First year, I was a little bit micromanaged
as I'm learning the ropes,
as I'm learning the department.
But then my manager felt at some point
that I could just basically do whatever I want,
you know, within the department.
Because I was supervising,
I'm wearing a small team,
I was supervising three other people under me.
And basically, I would just go to my manager
and say, look, I want to change this or that.
Every time my manager would say,
yep, go ahead, do it.
Yep, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, right?
And I'm like, man, this,
my manager just gives me all this freedom.
It's wonderful.
And that department that I'm thinking about,
I worked there for three years.
And I didn't want to be pulled out of that.
You know, even though I was offered
a position with more money,
I didn't want to be pulled out of that department
because it became my baby.
It was all my processes, right?
We worked exactly the way that I wanted us to work.
And for me, it was like the perfect environment for me
because it was exactly how I wanted it to be, right?
Because I wasn't micromanaged, I was macromanaged.
My manager was happy as long as the job is getting done.
And they were happy for me to decide how to run things.
Well, I went from that position
into another position, which was a higher position,
but now it's been micromanaged.
And I was so used to the macro management system
that I was doing things and my manager
would get upset with me
because they would have done their way.
So why would you, you know, and I'm like,
I'm sorry, I'm sorry manager, but I'm sorry boss,
but I'm used to this style of management.
I just, I've got to learn that you need
every little detail.
You need to sign off on every little decision that I make.
And to be honest with you,
I felt that I lacked confidence
once the micro management system happened.
I felt like I couldn't make decisions anymore.
I felt like I was suffocating.
I felt like, you know,
I wish I went back to my other role,
which paid less because I had the freedoms.
I had dominion is what God has given mankind.
And this is so important.
You know, I don't want, you know, as a pastor,
I don't want to see you become weakened.
I don't want to see you lack confidence.
Generally speaking, when I preach a sermon,
I preach what God wants from us.
I don't necessarily preach so much on the how to do it.
And sometimes I do.
In fact, this perfect man series
is a lot of how to do things.
It should be a very practical step-by-step approach,
but I avoid the how because I want you to be able to decide,
well, this is what God wants from me.
How am I going to do it?
How am I going to do this for my family?
You know, how am I going to lead?
Why? Because it empowers you.
It helps you make the right decisions.
You know, again, people come up to me many times.
Can you help us with this family situation?
Can you help me with my marriage?
Can you help me with my children?
Can you help me?
How do you raise your kids?
I often say, look, this is what God says.
This is the framework God wants us to work in,
but you've got to work out how to do it.
You know, your husband and the wife,
you guys need to come together and figure out your family.
I'm not here to tell you how.
You know, if I sit here and tell you how,
yeah, there'll be short-term results,
but over time, you're going to be weakened.
Over time, you're going to be more dependent upon the pastor
or upon some other family.
You're going to constantly go into other people.
And here's the thing.
When things don't work out,
instead of saying, yeah, it didn't work out my bad,
you're going to start blaming the people
that you took their opinions from.
Okay, instead of taking ownership
and taking dominion over what God has given you,
you're going to start blaming other people
when things don't work out the way you want.
Reverend, I want you to be empowered.
Okay, now here's the other thing
that we learn in the Bible.
Turn to Genesis chapter two, please.
Go to Genesis chapter two.
One thing that we learn is that God
is not a micromanager.
Okay, God is not here.
Every single moment telling us every little thing to do.
You know, even when I'm tempted to sin,
you know what?
God is not stepping in and putting a stop to it.
Okay, you know what?
God gives us free will.
Okay, yes, He's given us dominion.
He gives us free will.
Okay, and then when we do right, He blesses us.
When we do wrong, eventually He'll chastise us.
Okay, Reverend?
But God just, He tells us what to do,
but He leads us to how.
You know, if God was constantly telling us
how, how, how, how, how, you know,
the Christian life is going to feel like a prison cell.
It's like, well, I can't, can I do this?
Can I, you know, without attacking anybody,
I get those calls.
You know, can I go on holidays?
Can I work this job?
Can I, it's like, why are you asking me?
You know, you've got to work a job.
Just work any job.
That's why it's so sinful, right?
God gives us freedom.
God gives us free will.
All right, you need to be empowered.
You need to make the decisions, you know,
because God's giving you that ability, okay?
God's given you the God-given ability
to make judgment, pass judgment in the right areas
and make the right decisions.
Look at Genesis chapter two, verse number 16.
Genesis chapter two, verse number 16.
The Bible says,
and the Lord God commanded the man saying,
of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shall not eat of it.
For in the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die.
And that's it.
You know, God says, all right, Adam.
And I don't know how many trees there were.
I'm sure the fruit was beautiful.
I'm sure the berries were delicious.
You know, we enjoy our fruits today,
but I bet you it was even better
in the garden of Eden before the fall, okay?
And God tells Adam, you can eat of all of them,
except one.
Just don't eat of that tree, okay?
So God tells him what to do.
Eat of all these, a lot of freedom,
a lot of free will, okay?
Just don't eat that one, all right?
There's just one tree in the whole garden
that you can't eat of, all right?
And again, God does not sit there micromanaging.
You know, make sure you have your free meals a day,
your breakfast, lunch, and your dinner.
You know, make sure you eat a little bit more for lunch
and you eat a little bit less for dinner
because otherwise Adam, you might put on weight.
You know, God is not there micromanaging.
Adam's life, he's not saying,
hey, eat of these fruits this week
and eat of these fruits this other week.
God gives him complete freedom, okay?
And people are afraid of freedom.
People are afraid of making their own decisions
because they know that if they make the wrong decision,
it's on them.
And they would rather blame someone else.
And again, we see this in the story of Genesis
because when Adam sins, he blames his wife.
And when God approaches his wife, Eve blames the devil.
Again, within us, yes, we want the free will,
we want freedom, we want dominion,
but we don't want the accountability that comes with it, okay?
Let's blame someone else for our problems.
It's wrong, brethren, okay?
And here's the thing.
I want you to be empowered.
I want you to know I can make decisions.
I can pass judgment.
I can do what I need to do
as long as it's not sinful within the framework,
within the dominion that God has given me.
And as I said to you last week,
you know, maybe you don't have authority over anybody,
but hey, you can judge yourself.
You know, God has given you free will for yourself.
You can decide whether to sin or to serve the Lord.
It's your decisions.
You can decide what job you wanna work.
They're your calls, brethren, okay?
We can all pass judgment for ourselves,
but you see, God is not a micromanager, right?
Even when it comes to salvation, you know,
God has done every work necessary,
you know, every little detail, you know,
yes, God is aware of the details,
but he's taking care of the details.
He's given us salvation full and free,
completely paid for,
but he doesn't force us to accept it, you know?
We go door to door soul winning,
we offer salvation, we offer the gospel,
and we ask people if they wanna receive it,
whether they wanna believe it,
whether they wanna call upon the name of the Lord,
and if they say, no, I'm not interested, brethren,
that's it, we move on.
It's free will, okay?
We're not there to pass judgment
and have dominion over the people
that we speak to door to door, all right?
God has given us free will even with salvation.
Now, can you please turn to Psalm 86 for me?
Turn to Psalm 86, verse number 15.
Psalm 86, verse number 15.
God is definitely not a micromanager.
And, you know, normally the micromanager
is not so involved in the details.
The difference with God is he knows every detail, okay?
He knows every detail,
but yet he's still not a micromanager, all right?
Psalm 86, verse number 15 says,
but thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion
and gracious, long suffering,
and plenteous in mercy and truth.
You know, if God was a micromanager,
as soon as we sin,
God would just step down and pass judgment,
and we'd be chastised immediately, okay?
But what do we learn about God?
He's long suffering, okay?
He doesn't chastise us immediately.
There are some, yeah, some sins,
you know, even inbuilt within the sins,
there might be chastisement within it.
There could be, okay?
But generally speaking, God is long suffering with us.
We can go a long time against the Lord,
sinning against the Lord,
and feeling like, oh, we're just getting away with it.
You know why?
Because God's not a micromanager, that's why, okay?
He gives us time.
He gives us time to wake up to ourselves
and realize we've done wrong
and to humble ourselves and to go before God
and seek his mercy and seek his forgiveness, right?
Say sorry for the wrong things that we've done.
Go to another Psalm, please.
Go to Psalm 103, verse number eight.
Psalm 103, verse number eight.
Psalm 103 in verse number eight.
The Bible says the Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Slow to anger.
I can't say I'm always slow to anger,
especially when my kids do something wrong
and they disobey.
You know, I'm pretty quick to anger sometimes,
and I need to control my emotions.
But we see with God, he's slow to anger, okay?
Again, he gives us the time.
He gives us the space, all right?
You know, God does not want us to feel suffocated
in every little decision that we make.
Once again, he gives us space to seek forgiveness
and to learn from our mistakes.
You know, if you don't learn from your mistakes,
you don't learn from the sins you've committed in the past,
and you're prideful,
and you don't go before the Lord humbly,
confessing your sins before him,
eventually he will come to anger.
Eventually, he will bring down his hand of chastisement,
his hand of judgment upon you,
and you're just gonna have to deal
with the trials and tribulations
at that point in time, okay?
But again, God is not there micromanaging
every little aspect of your life.
He gives you space.
You know, a good macro manager in the workplace,
again, will tell you how,
sorry, to tell you what to do, but not how.
Then he'll give you a timeframe.
He says, look, I need you to get project A done,
all right?
And you've got till the end of the month, okay?
You know, I'm not going to be there
every single day checking how this project is going.
But what I, you know,
but the macro manager will say,
but every week, I'd like you to come
and just give me a five-minute update
with how that project is going, okay?
You come, you give your update,
we're up to this and that,
you know, we're ahead in this area.
Maybe we're falling a little bit behind this area,
but we'll catch up this week.
And so he's just informed, he's aware, all right?
And he's not there.
The macro manager is not there.
It's again, direct every little step in your life, okay?
But if the time comes at the end of the month
and you don't get the project done,
or you've been lying through the whole process,
then he's going to chastise you, isn't he?
I mean, your manager, right?
I mean, you might be facing
some kind of disciplinary action in the workforce.
That's how God is.
He gives us space, all right?
He lets us learn.
He lets us grow.
He gives us free will.
But when the time comes, if you don't sort things out,
yeah, your hand of chastisement will fall upon you, okay?
But that's just how a macro manager is, okay?
They're not there to dictate
every little aspect of your life.
God gives us great freedom.
And this is why every family is different.
This is why I hate it when people want my family
to be like their, like, yeah,
they want my family to be like their family,
or they want their family to be like my family.
It cannot be.
We're all different personalities.
We're all different family sizes, okay?
We all have different backgrounds.
We all work different hours.
We all do things differently, brethren.
Even when mothers are homeschooling, guess what?
Mothers homeschool differently.
We're all different.
You know, trying to put your opinions and your judgment,
you know, bringing dominion over another family situation,
it's wrong, okay?
This is why it's so important
that I preach the last few sermons,
knowing your station and putting things in its proper place.
And so the Lord is also seeking to empower his people
and micro management is just not gonna cut it.
Once again, it's just gonna make you less confident,
okay, micro management.
God wants to empower his people.
God has put it within man to desire dominion, okay?
And to pass judgment again, but in its proper place.
Let me just give you a story of a...
There was one situation where I became a supervisor for a department.
I think I've shared it before.
I'm not sure if I shared this story,
but I've shared this area before
where I became a supervisor in a call center, okay?
This call center, we had about...
Within the call center, we had about 30 staff
and I'm maybe...
I think I had about 10 staff under me.
Yeah, because we had three supervisors.
So about 10 staff under each supervisor.
We would take...
The call center would take about 600 calls a day, okay?
So just call after call after call and that's fine.
That's how the workplace was.
And I knew nothing about call centers.
I've never worked in customer service ever in my life,
but I was put into that position
because they felt I could do a good job there, okay?
And I walk in, I'm trying to be the supervisor.
I'm trying to be like this leader and I don't know the job.
I don't know the job.
But anyway, I was given this team that I never trained
and there was this one girl who would give me...
Would basically say, look, there's a customer.
He wants to talk to the manager
and so she'd pass the phone on to me.
And I would be taking like four or five calls a day like this.
And I look at my supervisors, they're not doing the same, okay?
And I'm trying to learn the job at the same time.
I'm trying to get...
Wrap my head around everything, right?
And every time like, oh, this guy's angry on the phone.
You know, this didn't work out.
This failed.
The living didn't come on time.
He wants to talk to the manager.
So, you know, she put me on the phone.
I talked to the guy.
I started to learn customer service skills just like that.
Dealing with complaints, basically.
Anyway, I realized over time, once I kind of got my,
you know, planted my feet in the area,
I realized this girl, she is weak, okay?
She is not familiar with her roles and responsibilities.
And as soon as something gets a little too difficult,
she runs to the manager, okay?
She runs to a supervisor, whatever it is, okay?
And I said, no, this is something not right.
Now, here's the thing.
There are some people that actually like this kind of situation.
They like to feel special.
Oh, this person has to come to me.
I'm important.
I know more than this person.
I'm never like that, brethren.
You know what?
Anything I know, I want other people to know, okay?
If I've got skills and experiences in any area,
I want other people to know.
You know, I feel like I know the Bible pretty well.
I don't charge you to come to Bible college
and learn what I have to teach.
It's all free.
You can come to church for free
and you can learn everything that I know
about the Bible, bro.
I'm not going to charge anybody, right?
Because I want people to be empowered.
And so when it came to this girl,
I decided to pull her aside.
You know, I sat down with her for about half an hour
for a conversation.
And I said, look, I feel like you're lacking confidence.
I feel that you're not empowered, okay?
You're not confident in your job.
This is why every time
something gets a little bit tricky on the phone,
you come and rush, you know, to the supervisor
and you say the manager wants to talk to you.
And so I sat down with this girl.
And again, this is not someone that I trained.
This is just somebody that I got, I received in position.
And we looked at the terms and conditions
of purchases and service within our company.
We went through all the terms and conditions
and said, look, this is when the customer's right
and this is when they're wrong.
Customer's not always right, amen?
And you need to understand this within a business
and you know, customers are going to ring up
for refunds and different situations.
And sometimes we'll know you can't get a refund.
So because if you look at the terms and conditions,
X, Y, and Z, whatever it is.
So we went through all the terms and conditions.
And then she said, look,
many customers ring because they need a refund
for this and that.
And you know, and I said, okay, look,
here's what I'm willing to do.
If you learn the terms and conditions of this company,
okay, and when people call you,
you just stand firm on what is right.
Yeah, if the customer's right, they're right.
If they're wrong, they're wrong.
Just let them know nicely that they're wrong, okay?
And if someone comes in and he's looking for a refund,
you know, I'm going to give you authority
to refund up to, I think it was $120,
something like that, okay?
You know, you've got authority.
If the customer wants a refund for $120,
you can decide whether they get the refund or not.
I'm going to leave you.
I don't want you to come to me, okay?
Anything over 120, you come to me, okay?
Anything under that, that's your responsibility.
I want you to make the decision, okay?
Again, in line of the terms and conditions.
And she said to me, what if I make a mistake, okay?
And I said, well, if you make a mistake,
I'll quickly have a look at whether, you know,
you look at the terms and conditions,
you try to follow the guidelines that are there.
And if you try to follow and still made the mistake,
I've got your back, okay?
I'll support you no matter what.
You know, if someone else tries to get you in trouble,
I'll say, no, it's my fault.
But you make the decision, you make the calls.
And you know what?
As soon as we had that meeting, she went back to work
and I'm expecting that I'm going to get
the escalated calls maybe once a week
or something like this.
I stopped getting them completely.
From going like four or five escalated calls a day,
she just stopped escalating any calls to me
and she started to manage every conversation.
And you know what?
Not only that, she became one of our star employees.
Say, why did that happen?
Because she was empowered.
She knew her place.
She knew her station.
She knew where she had dominion.
That's why, okay?
And she knew that I had it back, all right?
And I see someone that is very weak,
who's very unsure, who's very insecure,
become one of our star employees.
You know what?
That gives me a lot of satisfaction.
That gives me a lot of joy.
I don't need people coming up to me,
making me feel special.
Like you've got to come in.
I need my manager.
I need my boss in this situation.
I would rather you know where you have dominion.
You can become empowered.
You know what you need to accomplish
and you make the decisions.
I tell you brethren, you're going to be stronger.
You're going to be more confident, okay?
And you're going to be a lot more happier, okay?
You're going to be satisfied in life
when you know exactly where your dominion lies.
I want you to be empowered.
I believe the perfect man is an empowered man, okay?
And of course, now that my staff is empowered,
now that my staff is a star employee,
now I have more time to do other things, all right?
Than taking every little issue
because in that sense, I was almost micromanaging, all right?
So can I get you to turn to 1 Peter chapter five, please?
Turn to 1 Peter chapter five in verse number two.
As I said, there are some people
that have this strange satisfaction
of telling people what to do,
who are outside of their authority structure, okay?
Strange satisfaction.
Again, I know where it comes from.
I know that it comes from Genesis 1
because God has given man the ability
to have dominion over creation.
We have that within us, okay?
But I think it's strange when people
are lifting themselves above the station,
they're passing judgment in areas
that they've got nothing to do with, all right?
I think it's strange that people like it
because it gives them attention.
It makes them feel special.
It makes them feel important.
That never satisfied me.
What satisfied me is seeing an employee
become more empowered, okay?
I see an employee become a star employee,
even satisfied me to see an employee
that I worked hard with to become promoted
and even take on another position somewhere else.
Even though I spent the hours and the training
and getting this person where they needed to be,
it made me so happy to see them become promoted
and take on other positions, okay?
The reason it made me so happy
is because I know while they worked for me,
they worked hard and they worked well
and it made my life a lot easier.
You know, it's the same thing with pastoring.
You know what gives me the greatest joy as a pastor?
Is seeing my church members become more empowered, okay?
Become more godly to take on
what they learned from church applied into their lives
and you can see this growth in individuals.
That's what gives me enjoyment.
That's what gives me satisfaction.
People ringing me with their problems
gives me no satisfaction at all
because I want them taking biblical principles
and applying them and taking dominion
for the areas that God has given them.
Look at 1 Peter chapter five verse number two.
1 Peter chapter five and verse number two.
These are instructions for pastors which says,
feed the flock of God which is among you.
That's my job to feed you.
Feed you God's word.
Taking the oversight thereof.
Yeah, I'm a supervisor when it comes to church.
Not by constraint but willingly.
Not for fear for Luca but of a ready mind.
But look at verse number three.
Neither has been lords over God's heritage
but been and samples to the flock.
Brethren, I don't want to be a lord over you, okay?
Again, yes, I have authority in the house of God
but I want you to be empowered.
I don't need to be the lord of your family.
Fathers, husbands, you're the lord in your family.
You've got authority, okay?
Yes, that's how it ought to be.
When pastor starts getting involved
in everybody's family's issues
and they're passing judgment
and they burn all their problems,
they become lords over God's heritage.
But rather, we're commanded to be and samples to the flock.
You know, I hope my life sets a good example.
I hope my family sets a good example of a family
that is Christian, that loves the lord
so people can be motivated and encouraged
to also serve the lord with their families.
And there is a major reason why
I don't get involved in everybody's life.
There's a major reason why
I don't want to be a lord over your family
because in verse number four,
if I do things right, it says,
and when the chief shepherd shall appear,
you shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away.
Brethren, I want that crown, okay?
I'm just being honest with you.
I want that crown of glory, okay?
Every pastor has the ability
to receive this crown of glory
as long as they do that which is right.
What is it?
Feeding the flock of God,
taking the oversight thereof, right?
Not for filthiest Luca, okay?
Not being lords over God's heritage
but being an example to the flock.
If pastors do this,
God tells us when the chief shepherd,
Jesus Christ appears,
he's going to give these pastors
a crown of glory.
I want that one, okay?
I'm going to try really hard, all right,
to please the lord,
to do what God wants from me
because I want that crown.
They say, what is that crown in heaven?
I don't know, but it's going to be worth it.
That's what I know.
Once I get to heaven,
I know it's definitely going to be worth it.
Once again, this is why
most of my preaching is what we have to do
rather than the how
because the how can be so many different ways.
And my concern of being too much of a how preacher
is that people are going to think
they're going to have to pattern themselves
after the way I do things.
That's my biggest fear.
And then we become this cult
and we all become, you know, the Sepulvedites
and we all follow the Sepulvedors
and we raise our family like the Sepulvedors
and we do exactly the same like the Sepulvedors.
And if someone does something differently,
even though God has given them freedom to do so,
we laugh at them and mock at them
and, oh, you're not doing things right.
Let me show you how to do the Sepulveda way.
I would hate that, brethren.
You know, the how is unlimited
as long as it's not sinful.
You know, Adam and Eve,
they were allowed to eat of every tree,
unlimited choices, brethren.
Whenever they wanted to eat,
however they wanted to eat,
God left it in their hands.
God wanted them to be empowered
and have dominion over the creation that God gave them.
I'm going to read to you from 2 Corinthians 1, verse 23.
2 Corinthians 1, 23 says,
this is Paul writing to the Corinthian church.
Remember, the Corinthian church was a messed up church.
It says,
Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul,
that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
But look at verse number 24.
Not for that we have dominion over your faith,
but are helpers of your joy, for by faith ye stand.
What is Paul saying?
He says, yeah, I have authority.
I can call out the issues in the church.
We need to have a church that's run decently and in order.
But he says, I'm not coming to see you
because I'm trying to have dominion over your faith.
He goes, no, but are helpers of your joy,
because I just want to help you to be a happy
and complete person.
That's my job even as a pastor.
That was the job of Paul as an apostle,
to make sure people were happy.
They were satisfied.
They knew where they stood with God.
They knew where they had dominion.
They knew where they could make decisions.
They're doing that which is right.
It's wrong when a religious leader
seeks to have dominion over your faith.
It's wrong.
Okay.
It's completely wrong.
All right.
And neither should any brethren in the church designed
to have dominion over another brother in the church.
Okay.
Everything in its proper place.
So when someone, when you find someone is seeking
to interfere into your family, okay.
Interfere in your life.
You know, sometimes this happens with in-laws, right?
The mother-in-law might come over
and they start telling the wife how to fold clothes.
Even to something that small or how to wash the dishes, right?
It's not their place.
Okay.
What are they trying to do?
They're trying to have dominion over you.
Okay.
For some mothers, it's too hard that their baby boy
has left the house inside his own family
and they still want to have power over that person's life.
Okay.
This is why there's so many in-law problems in the world.
And I thank God I have a good mother-in-law, you know.
And you know.
But many people struggle with in-law problems.
Okay.
It's because people just, I don't know.
They want to have dominion over others.
Okay.
And it's wrong.
And so when someone is seeking to lord over you,
you remind yourself this.
It might look like they're helping me.
There might be short-term results.
It might look positive at the very beginning, right?
Because now I can offload my problems to this person.
This person's giving me confidence and advice.
Yeah, it's short-term.
But really, they're not looking to empower you.
Okay.
They're looking to weaken you.
They are going to weaken you.
Okay.
Because in the long term, you are going to be worse off.
The advantages of being macro-managed is that you learn how to make decisions.
You learn how to lead.
Okay.
You learn where you have dominion.
Will I make mistakes?
Yes, you will make mistakes.
But then you learn from your mistakes.
Okay.
And you, again, you can rejoice when you have success.
You can also own up to the mistakes when you make errors.
And then you learn from those errors.
And you do better next time.
And you become a more powerful person.
You know, a more complete person.
A more satisfied person.
But if you're always running to somebody else,
okay, then you're going to become weakened.
It may feel good for a short-term that I've got somebody that I can go to.
But if it's not their area, brethren, if they've got no authority over you,
you're weakening yourself.
Okay.
And let me just give you some other examples.
You know, homeschooling.
I went to a church where, in fact, our church,
we've got a lot of homeschooling mothers, don't we?
But I went to a church where there are a lot of homeschooling mothers.
And the pastor's wife was a homeschooler.
Praise God for homeschooling mothers.
Hi.
You know, it's wonderful.
All right.
But one thing that I found with a lot of young couples,
when they would make the decision to homeschool,
they would run to the pastor's wife and say,
can you teach me how you homeschool?
Can you teach me how to homeschool?
All right.
And when I looked at that,
I just said, this is going to be a problem.
This is an issue.
I can see it immediately.
Okay.
You say, why?
Because the wife and the husband should be coming together
and saying, how are we going to homeschool our family?
How are we going to homeschool our kids?
Yes.
What do we have to do?
Yes.
What is okay?
But when you start going to the house,
when you want to start being micromanaged by another man's wife,
okay, it's not going to end well.
Okay.
Why?
And I've sort of covered this last week
because people are seeking to upload someone else's family
and download it into their family.
They think it works for them.
It's going to work for me.
No, it's not going to work for you.
It's not going to work for you.
Okay.
And I'd see these young homeschooling moms
trying to do the same things as pastor's wife.
Okay.
Trying to homeschool like this other pastor's wife
and they would fail.
Okay.
And they'd struggle and then they give up
and then they send their kids to the public school system.
Okay.
Say, why did that happen?
Because they weren't empowered.
They did not make these decisions within their own family.
Okay.
You know, when my wife and I decided to homeschool,
we came together and we said, should we homeschool?
What are the advantages of homeschooling?
What are the disadvantages?
Okay.
What kind of work is this going to cause us?
How are we going to have to arrange our family
to be able to homeschool?
Because our family is different to another family.
And we started to look at all the pros and the cons.
And you know what?
The pros outweighed the cons by too much.
But you know, it became clear, yes, we're going to homeschool.
And you know what?
When it's hard and my wife is in tears
because it's been a difficult day, you know,
looking after the kids and homeschooling the kids,
we remind ourselves of the decision
that we made many years ago.
And we remind ourselves of all the pros that come with it.
And then we're able to push forward.
But when you delegate that responsibility
to the pastor's wife or someone else,
you're not the one that's made that decision.
They've made those decisions for you.
And now you're not empowered.
Now you're weakened.
And then when you have your tears
and you go through the struggles of your daily life,
you're going to feel like giving up.
You're going to feel like
handing these kids over to someone else.
You know, this is why so many families,
they take their children.
Oh, let's just dump it in the childcare.
Let's just dump our kids with the grandparents
because I can't handle it.
You can't handle it because you weren't empowered.
You didn't make those decisions.
You didn't pass judgment.
You're not taking charge of the dominion
that God has given you.
I want you to be empowered people, brethren.
You know, if you've got authority,
be an empowered leader.
If you have a leader over your head,
be an empowered follower.
Yes, children, you can be empowered as well.
Know what's right and wrong.
Know your parents' rules around the house
and then work within those rules, okay?
That will empower you.
If you don't know what the rules are around the house,
I'd encourage your children,
go talk to your parents.
Ask them, hey, give me some boundaries.
Let me know where I can expand.
Let me know where my freedoms are.
Because that's what children want.
Yes, little children,
they need to be micromanaged from a baby.
They need to be fed.
They need to have the diapers changed, nappies changed.
They need to be barfed.
Yeah, you're micromanaging a little baby.
But as that child grows,
you're starting to let go more and more and more.
Hey, once that child becomes a teenager,
they want a lot of freedom.
They don't want to be micromanaged anymore.
They want to be macromanaged.
And you've got to start giving them space as they grow, okay?
Why?
Because they're looking for their dominion.
They're trying to figure out life
and pass judgment for themselves.
And you've got to start opening up a little bit.
Hopefully you've done a good job early on
so they know much about life,
know much about the Bible,
know much about the world, okay?
And, you know, if you're a teenager right now,
you say, yeah, mom and dad, give me more freedom.
Yeah, but you got to earn it as well, okay?
You take care of the small things
your parents give you.
And you do a good job doing it with your chores
or whatever it is that your homework,
whatever it is that your parents give you.
I promise you, if you're doing a good job
and your parents are pleased with what you're doing,
they're going to give you more and more freedom
as you get older and older, okay?
You can develop to become the woman
or the man that you will become, okay?
Because this is part of growth, okay?
Part of growth is being empowered.
You know, you don't want to be an adult
and still be weak like a little baby, all right?
Can you please go to Matthew 28, please?
Go to Matthew 28, verse number 18.
I better hurry up in my sermon.
All right, Matthew 28, verse number 18.
I've talked a lot about being empowered
just in your daily life.
Now let's talk about the new man.
Let's talk, I talked to you too
how God has given us the spirit of power, okay?
The Holy Spirit that empowers that new man
to do great works for God.
And Matthew 28, verse number 18
is of course the great commission.
I just want to show you what Jesus Christ says here
in Matthew 28, 18.
It says, and Jesus came and spake unto them saying,
all power, hey, isn't that what we're looking for?
Empowerment, but look at this.
All power is given unto me, that says Jesus,
in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, therefore, okay?
So Jesus says, because I've been given all power
in heaven and earth, go ye therefore
and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you
and lo, I'm with you all the way
even unto the end of the world.
You know what's amazing about being saved?
Jesus Christ empowers you.
Jesus Christ has all power in heaven and in earth
and it's because I have all power,
therefore you can go and be a witness for me.
Because God, Jesus Christ is the one that empowers you.
You can go into the uttermost parts of the world
and lo, I'm with you all the way
even unto the end of the world.
No matter what country you go to,
Jesus Christ is going to be there empowering you
to be a witness for him, okay?
This is only done by the new man.
God wants you to be empowered by walking
in the new man that he's given you.
Please turn to Acts chapter one now.
Turn to Acts chapter one, verse number six.
We have the great commission in a different time as well
here in Acts chapter one,
just before Christ ascended up to heaven.
Acts chapter one, verse number six.
Acts chapter one and verse number six.
It says, when they therefore were come together,
they asked of him saying,
Lord, will thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel?
And he said unto them,
it is not for you to know the times of the seasons,
which the father have put in his own power.
He says, look, when it comes to the kingdoms
of this earth, he says, that's the father's power, okay?
This is why I don't get so caught up in politics
and trying to overthrow wicked governments.
It's the father's power.
It's up to the father, okay?
How things are running toward,
but look at verse number eight.
But you shall receive power, okay?
So Jesus Christ is telling us,
yes, you are going to be empowered anyway.
After that, the Holy Ghost has come upon you
and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and in Samaria
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Once again, I want to show you
that even though Christ has received all power,
God has given us the power once again
to be witnesses for him, okay?
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
unto the uttermost part of the earth.
You know, there are some people
that feel like I can never be a soul winner.
You know, I can never go to some stranger's door,
knock on that door and give them the gospel.
Well, that's because right now you're in your weakened state.
You know, the Bible says that the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak, okay?
The flesh is weak.
And you know what's interesting about the world?
When we talk about people,
you know, sometimes we say this person,
you know, this is a strong person.
And what they really mean by saying this person is strong,
they really mean this person is stubborn and rebellious.
That's not actually strength.
That's weakness, okay?
You know, sometimes I'm like,
my child has a strong mind, like almost like a positive,
you know, he has a strong personality.
What you're really saying is he's stubborn and rebellious.
Say, oh, that man, he's got a very strong wife.
What you're really saying is he's got a stubborn and rebellious wife.
Like the world turns everything upside down.
You know, when you're stubborn and rebellious
and you're rebelling against authority,
the Bible says it's weakness.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
You know, when you're being tempted to sin
and you give into that temptation, okay?
It's not that your flesh was stronger than the spirit.
The reason you gave into that temptation
is because your flesh was weak.
That's why you gave into that temptation, okay?
God's empowerment is different
to what the world considers empowerment, okay?
Once again, you know, empowerment for women.
Yeah, that's wrong.
Okay, you're weakening, you know, the ladies
because that's not their place
to take on the authorities and powers
that God has given men.
You know, empowerment.
We need to learn to tap into this power,
you know, that God has given us in his spirit.
You know, we can all be effective soul winners.
We can all give the gospel.
We can all see souls saved.
Jesus Christ has given us that power.
You need to tap into it though, okay?
And it's found within that new man.
Can you please turn to John chapter 19?
John chapter 19 and verse number 10.
Turn to John chapter 19 and verse number 10.
And while you're turning to John 19,
I'll try to show you
that there is another power in this world.
And I'm going to read to you in Luke 4 five,
which is the devil and Jesus Christ.
You know, when the devil started to tempt Jesus Christ,
the 40 days of fasting,
that Christ was in the wilderness.
It says in Luke 4 five,
and the devil taken him up into a high mountain,
showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world
in a moment of time.
And the devil said unto him,
all this power will I give thee
and the glory of them
for that is delivered unto me
and to whomsoever I will give it.
If thou therefore will worship me,
all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him,
get thee behind me Satan,
for it is written,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God
and him only,
shalt thou serve.
The devil's face says to Jesus,
you come and worship me.
I'm going to give you all the powers
of all the earth's kingdoms.
So we learned something about the devil,
you know?
And someone say, no, the devil's lying.
Well, if the devil's lying,
it's not a temptation, okay?
The devil obviously has power, okay?
You know, he's got some element,
he's known as the God of this world.
You know, the one reason why,
you know, many of the powerful people
in this world are so wicked
is because they do worship the devil.
Because the devil has given them
power and authority in this world,
riches and fame and whatever, okay?
I mean, so many stories of celebrities
and music musicians claim
they've sold their soul to the devil,
which is why they're so talented
and so popular.
I believe it.
I don't believe they sold their soul to the devil.
They can't sell their soul to the devil, okay?
But yeah, they've worshiped the devil
and the devil's given them power and authority
and influence in this world.
And so in order for us to combat this wicked power,
again, we must tap into the power
that is found within the new man.
Now, even though there are wicked powers
and the devil does have power in this world,
I want you to notice what Jesus Christ says
in John chapter 19, verse number 10.
John chapter 19.
Is that where I go to turn, Brevin?
Yeah.
John 19, 10.
It says, then say if Pilate,
and this is when Christ has been arrested by Pilate,
speakest thou not unto me?
Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee
and have power to release thee?
Yeah, you know, we see he pilots on this power trip, right?
He goes, I've got power of you,
oh son of God.
Don't you know?
Hey, speak to me.
Respond to me.
But what does Christ say in verse number 11?
Jesus answered,
Thou couldest have no power at all against me,
except it were given thee from above.
Therefore he that delivered me unto thee
hath the greatest sin.
So what is Christ saying?
The only reason, Pilate,
you have power over me on this earth right now
is because that power has been given to you from above.
The father has given you that power, okay?
And I want us to remember this
because I want us to have the spirit of power.
I want us to be empowered.
I don't want it to be,
it's not the spirit of fear.
You know, just because the devil has power
and influence in this world,
we shouldn't fear the devil.
We shouldn't fear this world, okay?
Because the only reason these wicked people
or the devil has any element of power in this earth
is because the father allowed them to have this power
for this time period.
For whatever purpose it is,
once again, brethren,
you know, Brother Callum preached a good sermon
about the devil being God's trash collector.
Yeah, you know why?
If God needs a trash collector
and you know that trash collector needs some power
to collect the wicked of this world,
then he will allow the devil to do that, okay?
And the devil thinks he has power.
Pilate thinks he has power.
Jesus Christ knows the only reason you have power
is because the father has given it to you.
And don't forget, we're talking about the inner man.
We're talking about the inner man
that is empowered by the Holy Ghost.
And in 1 John 4, it says,
ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them,
because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
Amazing.
The empowerment that God gives us
for the Holy Spirit living our lives
and directing us, brethren,
we have more power within us
than the wicked do in this world.
Do you believe that?
Yeah, I believe and you know why?
Because I have the power to preach the gospel
and see a soul that's headed to hell go to heaven.
There's no greater power than that.
To change someone's eternal destination forever,
that's much more power
than the Bill Gates of this world, okay?
What power do they have?
To inject you, to kill you, so what?
The body dies, everybody's gonna die, okay?
But we have the power to change the direction
of people's individual souls.
That's amazing, amazing power
that God has given us.
As I said in 1 Timothy,
2 Timothy 1.7,
for God have not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of sound mind.
You know, I talk a lot about this COVID world
that we live in.
I hope you guys aren't sick and tired of me
talking about it,
but I'm so happy once again,
I'm so happy, so blessed to live in this time,
you know, to assess my position before God,
to think about this world.
And as I've shared with you,
this COVID has helped me detach myself from this world
and become more attached to the world to come, okay?
That's how it should be.
You know, maybe God's allowed me to live in this time period,
maybe he knew Pastor Kevin's too attached to this world,
too carnal, and I needed to change that in my life, okay?
And we live in a world of fear,
you know, whether it's a pro-vax,
the fear of death of the COVID,
or whether it's an anti-vax, the fear of like a vaccine,
you know, people pressure you,
people seek to have dominion over you,
and the favorite instrument in this world is fear.
It comes from both sides.
Even though you might agree with one side more than the other,
or you might completely agree with one side over the other,
they still push the narrative with fear, okay?
They try to influence you with fear,
they try to have dominion over you, brethren,
but we've not been given the spirit of fear.
Once again, been given the spirit of power
and of love and of a sound mind.
You know what sound mind is?
A grounded, down-to-earth mind
that is able to differentiate between the lies and the truth.
There are too many lies.
I've said it before,
too many lies across both sides of the arguments
that come in this whole world.
But you know what?
I said, well, too many lies, too much fear,
then that's not the spirit that I need to tap into.
I need to tap into the spirit of power, okay?
God wants me to be empowered, you know,
to take authority for myself and my family, my churches.
This is where God has personally given me dominion.
Where has God given you dominion, brethren?
You know, this world wants you weakened.
This world wants you dependent on man.
But no, we should be dependent on the power
that comes from the Holy Ghost.
Can you please turn to Mark 12, please?
Turn to Mark 12 in verse number 24.
Mark 12 in verse number 24.
This is, of course, Jesus Christ
speaking with some Christ-rejecting Jews.
He says in Mark 12, 24,
Look at this.
These Christ-rejecting Jews,
they don't know the scriptures
and they don't know the power of God.
In what sense do we know the power of God here?
Verse number 25.
For when they shall rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels which are in heaven.
And as touching the dead that they rise,
have ye not read in the book of Moses,
how in the bush God spake unto him,
saying, I am the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
He is not the God of the dead,
but the God of the living, ye therefore do greatly err.
What is this power of God
that God says these Christ-rejecting Jews
just do not understand?
It's the power, brethren, to live forever
and to never die,
because God is a God of the living.
Brethren, we are never going to die.
This is why we should not have a spirit of fear.
Yeah, okay, this world might kill this body,
but then we'll be more alive
than we've ever been before,
not hindered by this sinful flesh.
And again, God promises us a resurrection
to rise from the dead.
That's amazing power, brethren, to live forever.
I mean, I'm sure that's the desire
of many rich, powerful people on this earth
that are not saved, that are Christ-rejectors, okay?
They want to freeze their brains, okay?
And hopefully in the future,
technology to insert that brain into some machine
and they can live forever.
No, it doesn't happen.
Once the spirit and soul have left the body,
they are dead.
And their soul and spirit are going to be in hell.
Even if they somehow get that brain functioning
to some extent, they're not going to know.
They're going to be burning in hell,
tormented day and night forever and ever.
You know, this world wants to live forever.
This unsaved world, they do.
They want to have dominion forever.
Brethren, that's going to be given to us.
Let me just show you another passage.
Actually, actually turn here, please.
Go to Genesis 32, verse 26.
Genesis 32, verse number 26.
You know, there's power in our prayer, great power.
It's such a powerful weapon, you know, prayer.
And we're turning to Genesis 36
when Jacob wrestled Jesus Christ.
And I've preached before how this is an illustration,
a very physical illustration of prayer life.
You know, prayer can be a wrestle sometimes.
Praying can be difficult.
People have a hard time just praying for an hour, okay?
Most of our prayers, let's face it,
are probably a few minutes long,
maybe even a few seconds long.
It's hard to pray all night,
yet Jacob wrestled with Jesus Christ all night
in this chapter.
Genesis 32, verse number 26 says,
and he said, this is what Jesus Christ says,
let me go for the day break,
and he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me.
Verse number 27, he said unto him,
what is thy name?
And he said, Jacob.
And he said, thy name shall be called
no more Jacob, but Israel.
Look at this, for as a prince has their power
with God and with men and has prevailed.
Say, what is this about?
Well, Jacob, basically, you know,
say, I'm not letting you go, Jesus, okay?
Until you bless me and Jesus blesses him
and says, look, you've got power with God and with men.
This is an illustration of our prayer life.
You know, we have power with God
because we can go to God in prayer
and we say, God, we have a need,
I have a request and God can change this world.
God can even change the hearts of men
and he can answer your prayer.
And God is, you know, you've tapped into God's power
by simply opening your mouth
and going to him humbly before his throne of grace.
Reverend, that's great power.
I'm sure we can all say,
we've seen answered prayer in our lives.
You know why there's answered prayer?
Because there's great power with God.
God has given us that power
as long as we go before him and seek his help, all right?
But not just power with God, but power with men.
Because you may recall in this situation,
Jacob was afraid because he was going to see his brother Esau,
his twin brother, who had basically vowed to kill him.
Remember, because Jacob had taken the birthright
and had vowed to kill Jacob and Jacob was afraid, okay?
And now he's got power over men, you know?
And when he sees Esau, Esau's no longer angry.
Esau's no longer trying to kill his brother, okay?
And they become reunited, you know, after a very long division.
And so Jacob even had power over men
because he was able to pray.
We can have power over so many men.
We can have power over this wicked government, Reverend,
if we just take this wicked government to pray before God
and ask God to change their hearts,
to give them a fear of God,
or to take down those that are wicked
and replace them with ones that at least fear God.
Let me just quickly read to you from Revelation 2 26.
And he that overcometh and keepeth my works into the end,
to him will I give power over the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers,
even as I received of my father.
You know, there's a coming power to come.
We're going to be empowered even more so
in the millennial reign of Christ.
But again, to him will I give power over the nations.
I don't care about power over the nations right now.
It's such a wicked nation.
It's such a wicked world.
I don't want power of this world right now.
Okay, it's probably going to corrupt my mind,
corrupt my heart.
You know what?
But when it comes to the reign of Christ,
God says, you know, that each of us
we're going to be empowered to rule over the nations.
What a wonderful promise to come.
The power to rule with Jesus Christ.
And so, brethren, in conclusion,
title for the sermon once again was The Empowered Men.
I want you to be empowered, you know,
but be empowered within the dominions
that you've received from God.
Again, don't, I know your station.
You know, don't rise yourself above your station.
Don't pass judgments on places that you're not
a judge or divider over people.
Okay, don't let yourself be weakened by those who
wrongly desire to have authority over you.
Okay, tap into the power of God that is found
within the new man to be a witness for him.
Be a witness for him and don't underestimate your importance.
You know, not only are you saved,
not only are you son of God,
but God wants you to have power over the nations.
So get ready for that.
You know, look forward to that time.
Understand your great importance in the plan of God.
You know, God wants each one of us to be empowered.
Okay, let's pray.