Pastor Terrell Scott Your Hour of Power Episode 4

The host, Pastor Terrell Scott, talks about the importance of having a thankful heart and a positive outlook on life. He shares his personal experience of surrendering his life to Jesus Christ, which transformed his life. He emphasizes the need to lay down one's self-life and serve God, despite the challenges and sacrifices that come with it. He believes that serving Jesus Christ is the best decision he has ever made, and it has brought him fulfillment and joy. Hey guys, I hope you're doing well today. This is your host Pastor Terrell Scott with your Hour of Power where your deliverance is at hand. God is moving mightily in the earth and we're seeing people's lives transformed, healed, and delivered. I'm so excited to just talk with you and encourage you in the Lord this week. You know, God has been so good to me. One of the things we do in our home every week is we encourage our children to share thankfuls. We sit at our dinner table and we talk about what we're thankful for. You know, a thankful heart, a merry heart, is like medicine to the bones. And so when we're negative, when we're derogatory, when we have an attitude, when we're always struggling and viewing things through a broken lens and we see life is down, we can never get a step up, and things will never get better. We're always going to be in this condition. Listen, it's a drainer. Nobody wants to be around a person, an individual, that's always negative, always chanting and talking about their problems. There's a passage in the Old Testament that says, because you complained, the thing you complained about, now you're going to get. So it's real important for us as believers, and even if you're not a believer, even if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can change your attitude and start to have a positive, better outlook on life. I'm telling you, it does wonders for your emotions. It does wonders for your chemical makeup. You've got to understand, God created and designed you to have a thankful heart, to have joy, to have peace, to have a fulfillment in relationship and in life. And so my fulfillment came when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. My true satisfaction and true thankfulness hit my heart in my life is when I gave my life to God. It's when I surrendered in a prison cell 18 years ago. I was in prison and I found and experienced the love and the grace and the mercy of God. And when that happened, my life did a 180. I started being thankful for being in prison. I started being thankful for what I was going through. I said, God, I thank you that you changed me, transformed me, you set me free. And you know, without gratitude, the scripture says we can't even enter into the city of God. It says through thankfulness we come through the gates and with praise we enter in his courts into the presence of God. In the presence of God is fullness of joy and at his right hand pleasures forevermore. And you know, here's what I was looking for when I was a drug dealer, a kingpin, when I was chasing money and women and controlling money and power, all those things, even my career in sports and athletics. And if you haven't heard my story, go back to the first episode, Your Hour of Power and Deliverance, with Pastor Charles Scott. Go back to that first episode and listen to my testimony. Listen to what the Lord has done. Hallelujah, there's a song about that, but I'm not gonna sing right now. But with that, I'm telling you, when God touched me, my life did a 180 in depression, anger, frustration, rage, murder, domination, control. God shifted that. But all that was my self-life. All that was a life living under the power of my own will, building my own kingdom, doing my own thing. But when I surrendered to God and I experienced God's type of peace, God's type of joy, listen, it turned my world upside down. What I mean by that is things that I thought I would never do, all of a sudden I loved church. All of a sudden I loved the Word of God. All of a sudden I loved people. And in that, I found true life when I started serving the Lord. And here's one of the things I was about to say a minute ago, and I want to come back to this. When I was chasing women, drug, street, all those things, I was looking for contentment and I didn't realize it. I was looking for fulfillment and I didn't realize it. I was looking for purpose and I didn't realize it. I was covering up pain in my life, chasing the Scripture talks about chasing the wind. I was chasing things that would never fulfill me. It's like chasing the wind. I was chasing these things that would never fulfill me and they always left me empty. When you're under the power of sin, when you're living under the power of the enemy, when you're building your own kingdom with your own power by your own might, you're chasing the wind. And I don't know anybody yet that's caught the wind. You know, the Scripture says when we're in pride, God resists the proud but gives grace unto the humble. So when we humble ourselves on the side of God, God will grant grace and he'll help us in our life. And all of us need God's help. It's not weak. That old lie, you know, Christianity is for weak people. I'm telling you, listen, I come from a well-to-do family. I come from people that succeeded doctors, lawyers, attorneys. I chose to get in the streets heavily and I come from getting deep in the streets, in the Atlanta, in the inner city areas. You know, one thing about my family, even though they did well themselves, they were all fighters. They were strong-willed people. They were power. So, you know, I carried my own in the streets. I was never pushed around, bullied around. But listen, I did all that right and the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm a collegiate athlete. I was a four-year starter in varsity football. I'm not bragging. I'm just talking about I did well in the streets. I conquered territory, money in prison. I ran a gang and ran drugs and breached security multiple different ways in the prison cells. So anywhere I went, I was a leader and I found my way, right? And I experienced some hard things and tough things to do in life. But I'm telling you, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life is serve Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. As I surrendered, I've had to give up things. I've had to yield things. I had to turn my back on certain people and certain relationships to serve God. And it's been a hard thing. But let me tell you what's been the most rewarding. Come on, somebody listen to me. Because I get it, right? I was addicted at one time and I couldn't put the dope down. I couldn't put the pornography down. I couldn't put the women down. I couldn't put the drugs down. I couldn't put the cigarettes down. I've been addicted and bound, right? And I'm telling you, when I came to Jesus, the hardest, I know what it's like to be in a hard situation to lay something down. Like I'm trying to change. I'm trying to do what's right. I'm trying to be different, right? And God is sending me through a process changing me moment by moment and I want that radical change now. But when I came to God, God started delivering me by His power. But the hardest thing is I had to lay down my self-life. I had to lay down what I wanted, what I thought, and what I felt. The soul realm. The soul is your mind, what I think. The will, what I want. The feel, the emotions, what I feel, right? I had to lay the self-life down so I could live the power of His life. And when I yielded myself to the gospel and to Christ, those things started getting easier and easier. But I'm going to be honest with you, even now sometimes serving the Lord, I hit hard places. When you're treating people right, you're loving people, you're serving people, then one day they love you and they honor you. The next day they're persecuting you, cursing you, and calling you everything except the child of God. You got, listen, it takes maturity to serve God. It takes a courage to serve God. It takes strength to serve God. Serving God is not a weak thing. John G Lake was a healing evangelist in the early 1900s. He said this is a strong man's gospel. He went, he lost his wife, his wife died, his children turned their back on him. He was a healing evangelist. He's seen miracle after miracle after miracle. And so I'm contending as a leader, as a pastor, as a minister for nations. I'm going this year to other nations to preach in Crusades and go in other areas and reaching hard areas, dark areas where demonic powers reside. And so I'm telling you, serving God has not been the easiest thing I've done. It's been the hardest thing I've done, but the beauty of it, it's been the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. Serving Jesus Christ has been the best decision of my life, even though it's been painful, even though there's been sacrifice, even though there's been tears, even though I had to overcome myself and addiction and problems and mindsets and learn how to serve others instead. All these things you walk through when you start serving God, right? I've went through those things, but it's been the best decision of my life. Because listen, when God blesses you, nobody can take that away from you. My testimony, what Jesus Christ has done in me, no one can take from me. Come hell or high water, no matter the cost, no matter the price, I'm going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ until I stand before him one day and hear, well done good and faithful servant. I have given my life to the gospel, the best decision of my life. Now listen, I married a woman, I had robbed a gunpoint. Now the second best decision of my life is my wife. Come on, the second best decision of my life is my wife, but my first decision, the best decision I've ever made was Jesus Christ. But I had to see that I needed a Savior, that I was sin sick, that I was broken and I could not remedy my sin condition and my issue without a great physician. That I needed a Savior, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, who took my place in Calvary and died for me to wash away every sin I've ever committed. The break between me and God, listen, that connection came back through Jesus Christ. When I yielded my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, it changed everything. It doesn't mean I didn't have hard places. It doesn't mean I haven't suffered. It doesn't mean I have not been through trials. It doesn't mean I've not lost relationships and had to make some hard decisions along the way, but I'm telling you those decisions have been the best thing I've ever done. When I was early out of prison, my first years, I was still in my 20s and I was mentored by a prophetess of the Lord, she was 92 when I got home from prison, and she mentored me for eight years until she was a hundred, and she would always quote scriptures like this. She would say, this is momentary affliction compared to the weight of glory. She would say, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. She would say, we enter into the kingdom through much affliction. You know, many times in life and when we're up under our own sin nature, we don't want to hear about affliction. We don't want to hear about trials. We don't want to hear about warfare. We don't want to hear about problems, but it's when I started to face my problems, my problems became an area where I found purpose. I say this all the time, pain turned into purpose. Tragedy turned into triumph. Mess turned into a message, and so then the reward is I get to go and tell everybody about the pain, the brokenness, and how Jesus Christ redeemed it. I was lost. I was away from God, and He rescued me. He ransomed me. He paid the price of my sin debt. He paid the penalty I owed. I deserve death, hell, and the grave, but Jesus Christ died for me to save me and rescue me from death, from hell, and from the grave. The scripture says, O death, where is thy thing? O grave, where is thy victory? Jesus Christ conquered Satan. He took the keys from him. He conquered hell, and He conquered death for me and you. So listen, the beauty of that, me and you don't have to go to the devil's hell one day. We don't have to live up under the power of sin anymore. We don't have to, listen, Satan ain't my daddy. Jesus Christ died for me and rescued me so that I could now be a son of God, Abba Father. God is my father now. I'm no longer a slave to sin. I'm a slave to righteousness. I'm no longer being pimped by the enemy, because listen, I'm an ex-gangster, and I know what it's like to move into that realm, pimping and controlling and dominating all those things, right. I was, in all reality, I was being pimped by the enemy. I was being used in the enemy's camp. I was being controlled by the enemy's camp, and while I was a garbage heap in the enemy's camp, guess what? Jesus Christ died for me, took my place, and came after me. He came and rescued me while I was working for the enemy. He said, I choose that one. Well listen, no matter, listen, if you got a needle in your arm right now, if you're throwing back a 40, right, if you're banging and you got your colors on, I'm telling you Jesus died for you. No matter what kind of crime you're in, white, color, blue, it doesn't matter, right, where you're at, what you're doing, Jesus died for you. Maybe you haven't even touched some of the things I did, right? I had my wife robbed at gunpoint, and you know, the same neighborhood I run drugs, I mean, I used to run drugs, and now I run a ministry, and so look, I deserve prison. I deserve to go to hell. I deserve, like, I lived wrong, but the Scripture says if you sinned in one thing, you failed at all, and so there's none, no, none not righteous, no not one. Maybe you're a good law-abiding citizen that never committed the kind of crimes I did, but you've never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. Do you realize if you've ever lied, you've ever cheated, you've ever stole, you've ever rebelled, that you deserve hell. Because of sin, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. When you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He washes away your sin debt, your past, your present, and your future. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. You need to receive that. Listen, I ain't saying you got to go up to the altar, and if God leads you and is nudging you and convicting you to be saved, or even attend a church. I believe that we're called to attend churches. I believe that you're called to serve in your local community, but let me tell you where I really got saved. I got saved on my knees on a concrete floor in a prison cell. To be born again, that's when your spirit is recreated in the likeness of Christ. You receive the Holy Spirit, and then you have this new unction and new desire to serve God and to please God. To be born again and experience the born-again lifestyle, all you got to do is ask God's forgiveness, cry out, and surrender to God, and ask God to change you with a genuine sincere heart. Confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. Make Jesus Lord of your life. I guarantee if you make Him Lord of your life, He's gonna lead you to a local church. He's gonna lead you somewhere to serve and be a part. He's gonna lead you somewhere to get involved, but you don't have to go do all that right now, right where you're at. You can say, God forgive me. If you're bound, if you've been building your own kingdom, you've been doing your own thing, you're caught in only your career and not what God wants. If you're doing your own thing, all you got to do is say, God I surrender. Lord I turn from my sins. I lay my life down. I commit to you. And when you pray that out loud with a sincere heart, and you allow the presence of God to come in your room, come in your car, right where you're at, God will change you. And He'll start a process in your life where He'll change you moment by moment, step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little. You'll go through a process where God is changing you. Then you can tell your story and your testimony of what God has done in your life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I about hit a praise break because I believe God is good and He's a merciful God. He loves you. And if you're hearing this, it's not by coincidence. If you're hearing this, it's because God loves you and has a plan for you. And He's calling you to Himself right now. He's calling you to change. He's calling you to surrender. He's calling you to give up your life so you can experience His life. He's calling you to that initial step of salvation, being born again. And when you're born again, guess what? Your name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Hallelujah. You have eternity with God. Thank you, God. Again, this is your host, Pastor Terrell Scott on Conviction Radio with your Hour of Power where your deliverance is at hand. We'll be right back in just one moment after this short break. Awesome. I'm glad to be back with you. This is your Hour of Power with your host, Pastor Terrell Scott on Conviction Radio. And I'm talking about the born again experience, the initial experience where we're delivered from darkness into God's marvelous light. And that's, listen, that is the basics, the beginning of true deliverance. True freedom comes when you surrender your life to God. And I was just sharing how, you know, this has been the hardest but best thing I've ever done. I had a mentor when I first got out of prison. His name is Scott Mormon. And he had did prison time in Texas and was, I guess, 18, 20 years older than me. And he invested in me. And one of the things he talked about, if it doesn't cost you anything, it's not worth anything. You think about it in life, right? Those things you work hard for, those things you give your life to, are the most rewarding. Those things you pour into, you invest in, you give blood, sweat, tears, you invest who you are in. Those are the things you receive reward on. Those things are satisfying to us. Now, I'm at a point in my life, I'm 18 years into serving God. We're building a new building. We're traveling the world. I'm preaching and have all these opportunities to share my story, right? I'm in a sweet season, a sweet part of my relationship with God and what He's doing. I testify and tell of God's goodness. The Scripture says in Revelations, it says, we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and love not our life unto death. But it doesn't mean I don't still have hard places. I have things I have to overcome daily. I was there praying on my knees before I got on this broadcast, just crying out for my wife, my children, our ministry, our church, the finances to build this building, all the demand that's on my life. Now, I love what I do. I enjoy what I do. It's not work to me no more, right? I love pursuing and serving and doing those things that God has called me to do. But there's a price, it costs, it requires. You know, it talks about that in the Bible. It says, you know, don't go and try to build a house without considering the price. Don't try and go build and do something without considering the price. The Scripture says, you must lay down your life, pick up your cross, and follow after me. So after you're born again, there's a price to pay. You've got to give up some things. You've got to continue to surrender. You've got to continue to pray. You've got to continue to renew your mind. You know, the Word of God says in Romans 12, 1 and 2, it talks about, don't be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind. You've got to get in God's Word so that it can change you, transform you, and set you free. The power of God, you know, it comes through being led by the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Christ from the dead now lives in you. That's the power of God in you. When you're born again, you've got that dynamite power, dunamis, dynamite power. It's that creative power that gives you the strength and the ability to live holy and pure, but we cannot live holy and pure without God. We cannot live holy and pure without a relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. So you've got to understand that you need God. You need His Spirit. You need His presence. You need His Word, and you need His leadership to live a holy life. The Scripture says, be ye holy, for I am holy, and gird up the loins of your mind. Listen, my mind was jacked up when I got saved. I still had rage. I still had images of hurting people. I still had lust and perversion and pornography and all these images of my past, and I had to renew my mind. The Scripture said, be ye holy. I said, well, this ain't holy, God. You got to change me, and I would get down on my knees and pray and say, Jesus, change me, deliver me, heal me, set me free. You know, true deliverance starts with you humbling yourself. True deliverance starts with you saying, God, I need to change. I want something different in my life. I tell people all the time, you have a hundred percent success rate if you do it God's way. If you will yield yourself to God and do it His way, you will succeed every time, but if you do it your way, you're setting yourself up for failure, and I don't know about you, but I don't like failing. I don't like continuing dropping the ball and making the same old mistakes over and over and over and over again, but I want to do it God's way so I can experience His type of success, His type of victory. Luke talks about this. It says that Jesus came to save that which was lost. That word sozo deals with a tri-part meaning spirit, soul, and body. God wants to deliver us in every area of our life. He wants us to prosper as our soul prospers so that we can be a light to the people of this world, so we can be a blessing everywhere we go, no matter your sphere of influence. Everybody has a level and a sphere of influence. That may be at work. That may be with your family. That may be through media. That may be through your financial well-being. You have a sphere of influence with somebody, and you're called to be the light of the world, but see if you don't allow Jesus to change you and transform you, you're not going to bring the presence of God. You're not going to bring the light into the situation. You're not going to bring hope into that situation. You're not going to bring love into that situation. See, you need God to change and transform you so you can be a good example to others. So when people see your life, they say, man, there's something about that person. There's something different about them. When I talk to them, when I'm around them, I feel like I can share my life story. I feel like I can be honest. I feel like I can deal with my pain. I feel like, you know, they have something that they can offer me. I just made that decision many years ago that I would not be a destroyer anymore. That I'd be a restorer. That I would not be a destroyer anymore. I'd be a restorer. And that I wouldn't pray off the weakness of people, but no, I would pray for them. I would love them. I would care for them. I would serve them. And I had to make those decisions in my own marriage. Listen, I married a woman I robbed at gunpoint, so obviously, you know, anyone that's willing to put someone's life at risk like that, I lived like a predator my early years when I was in the streets and in prison. You know, I was hurting people, taking advantage of people, controlling and dominating people, but when I got saved, God turned that around. But I still had some residue from the past. I still had some junk from the past that I had to repent of. I had to ask God's forgiveness of. And I had to let conviction come in. Conviction will change you. True conviction is not condemnation. When I'm saying this, it's not to condemn you. It's not to beat you up. It's not to just point out your sin just to point out. No, it's to say, no, Lord Jesus, forgive me. I thank you. You died for my sins. I repent and turn away. I do a 180. I change my mind. I'm going the other way now, God, and I see my need for you. And this brings me to a powerful story from Luke chapter 18 verse 10 through 14. It talks about two different men. I'm going to read it to you. This is out of the amplified version, but listen to what it says. Two men went up into the temple enclosure to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and began praying to himself in a self-righteous way saying, God, I thank you that I'm not like the rest of these men. Swindlers, unjust, dishonest, adulterers. I filled in the list. Or even like the tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of that I get. But the tax collector standing at the distance would not even raise his eyes towards heaven, but was striking his chest in humility and repentance saying, God, be merciful and gracious to me, especially how wicked I am, a sinner. I tell you, this man went to his home justified, forgiven of his guilt of sin, and placed in right standing with God rather than the other man. So you have two opposites. One is talking about how good he is. Your goodness will not get you into the kingdom of God. One is talking about all the things he does for God. He's self-righteous. He's religious. He's a church goer that does not have intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Come on. He knows the law. He knows you're not supposed to steal, kill, destroy. You're not supposed to drink and party. You know, you're not supposed to be a part of the the clubbing crew. You're not supposed to be a part of that the thugging crew, right? You're not supposed to be a part of any of that. He knows like the rules, but he doesn't know relationship. The other man, not the Pharisee, the other man realizes he's a tax collector. He beats his chest and he cries out, God forgive me for I'm a sinner. I'm a mess. I need help. Change me. I'm all, look, everything the Pharisee was saying he was not, I am. And I need your help because I can't. He says, one went home justified. You know what justified means? Justified means just as if I never sinned. That's what Jesus Christ does for us. That's when we receive that, the blood of Jesus washes away every sin, and then that gives access for the presence of God to come into our hearts, into our lives, and change everything about us. See, in his presence is fullness of joy. When I experience the presence of God, I'm telling you the presence of God, the power of God can change everything. There's nothing like the presence of God, right? I'm just gonna start praying because some of you need a touch from heaven. Some of you need to be delivered. You need to beat your chest the way this tax collector did and say, God, I'm a publican. I'm a sinner. I'm a rebel. I'm a gangster. I'm a thug. Look, I'm a self-righteous man. If you're that self-righteous Pharisee, you're just as sinful as I was. You're just as sinful as the guy that was thugging and doing all kinds of crazy immoral stuff, right? You're just as sinful as anybody else because you've judged everybody else, and it says when you judge someone else, you become the very thing you judge. So, like, right now is a good time just to start beating your chest and saying, God, forgive me. I'm a sinner. Forgive me, God, for the sin and the judgment. Forgive me, God, for the attitudes against you. Forgive me, God, for the rebellion against you. God, I'm sorry. Forgive me, right? So, let me just pray for you that are crying out right now. Those that are saying, you know, forgive me, God. Forgive me, God. Change me, God. Heal me, God. Deliver me, God. God, do a new work in me, God. Transform me. I humble myself in the sight of God. When you humble yourself in the sight of God, God will surely lift you up. God, I ask right now that the power of God would start to come upon the people listening to this. If you would change things that they cannot change, you would deliver them from things they cannot deliver themselves from, God, that you would touch them. Right now, I bind the hand in the work of the enemy. Every wall, every blockade in their life that keeps them from experiencing the power of God. I command that wall to come down right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus over them. I break demonic assignments off of their life right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I release the fire and the power of the Holy Ghost to come and burn out the adversary and every evil work and wicked desire right now in the name of Jesus. God, I thank you for saving them, healing them, delivering them, and setting them free by the power of God. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen, amen. Glory to God. Look, if God is touching you and delivering you, reach out. Let us know. Start to thank God for what he's doing in your life. Honor God with your life and your lifestyle, and God will honor you. It says if we'll seek him in the secret place, he'll honor us openly. If you allow God to change you from the inside out, and you'll get your secret place right, that's the areas of your life that no one else sees. That's the areas of your life. That's the parts of your heart, your mind, your thinking patterns. There's secret things in life, those things you hide. If you clean that up, you'll repent of those things. God will honor you openly. So it's important for us to keep our life pure before God. It says that we will see God if we live a pure life, and I want to see God. I want to stand before God and hear, well done, good and faithful servant. And so, you know, I'm just talking to you out of some things that that will help you in the process of walking with God, and that process of experience and deliverance. Let me read to you another passage. This one's out of Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6. It says we are, but we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. You know, thank God for mercy. You know, if you want to experience the power of God, if you want to experience God's freedom in your life, then you have to humble yourself in the sight of Lord. Luke 14 11 says, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 5 through 8 says, likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Here's something we teach people over the years. If you have things you're struggling with, and you're in relationship with God, and you're just, you're trying to make it, you're trying to overcome, and it's been hard, and you have some difficult areas, write down your difficulties. Write down the areas you're struggling with. The scripture says, be anxious for nothing, but by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God. So write down your worries, your struggles, your anxieties, the areas you need God to change in, and start to pray them out loud. Okay, so you're fearful, or you have a financial issue, or you need healing in your body, or you're struggling with pornography. Say, God, I thank you for delivering me from pornography. I thank you, God, for setting me free. I thank you for setting my finances in order to be anxious for nothing, but by prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving. God, I thank you for delivering me from the power of this sin, this lust, this perversion, this anger, this frustration. Lord, forgive me, God, and I thank you, God, for touching my life. So write those things down, and start to pray them out loud, and trust God to deliver you. It says, cast all your care upon him, because he cares for you, because he cares for you. So why are you casting your cares on God? Because he cares for you, and he'll change those things that concern you. He will do a work in you, and change those things. And so it also goes on to say, in verse 8, in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, be sober, be vigilant for your adversary, the devil, goes around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may want to devour. Who he may devour. The devil wants to devour you. He wants to destroy you, but thank God you have power in Christ. You know, what the enemy intends for evil, God intends for good. Go back and hear my story on episode 1, because you'll hear a real-life story, what everything the enemy meant for evil in my life, God has turned it around, and now he's working it for my good. Romans 8 28 says, all things work together for the good, for those that love God, and are called according to his purpose. What do you got to do for everything to work for your good? Fall in love with God. That's all I did 18 years ago in prison. I wasn't better than anyone else. I was at the lowest point in my life. I'd lost everything. I'd hurt everybody. I lost my full scholarship. I had my, I was in a home and vehicle, all those things, right? I lost everything, and in my darkest moment, God said, I love you. God says, I want you. God says, I'll take you. Everybody else may throw you away, but I'll take you. I desire to be with you and have a relationship with you. Again, this is your hour of power. We're going to take a short break here on Conviction Radio, and we'll be right back with you after these commercials. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. I believe God is touching you and doing a work in your life, and as you're hearing the Word of God, the scripture says, the word will not come back void. This is your host, Pastor Terrell Scott, and your hour of power and deliverance on Conviction Radio, where God is convicting you, changing you, delivering you, and setting you free, where you have an outlet to listen to good quality teaching and ministry so your life can be changed. You know, one of the things I had to change early on when I got saved in prison, I had to stop listening and watching junk. If you want to change, you got to change what you watch and what you listen to. If you want to change, you got to look at who you're hanging out with. I had to quit running with thugs and gangsters. You know, I had to quit running. You know, listen, I'm a married man. What do I look like out hanging out with some other woman? I don't do that. I don't do that. Listen, don't make no provision for your flesh. If God has been dealing with you on this hour of power, and you've surrendered your life, and you're starting this new relationship with God, you're growing in your relationship with God, be wise. Be wise. Be wise. Make good decisions. Get yourself around quality people, because what you put yourself around, listen, will affect you, and you'll become who you hang out with. And you got to make good decisions so that you can become everything God wants you to be. God has a good plan for you. So, as I was thinking during the commercial break, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about what does God want from you? What does God want for me? You know, He wants us to be humble. He wants us to be willing. He wants us to be obedient. He wants us to have a good attitude. He doesn't want us to be perfect or have it all together. He wants us to be open to Him when we're struggling. He wants us to be open to Him when we're in need. He wants us to come to Him. Well, what does God want from you? He wants you to come to Him. He'll change you. He'll transform you. That's a work of grace. That's a work of Christ. The work Jesus starts in you, He will complete it as you surrender to Him. He wants you to discover who you really are. As you discover who God is, and you grow in your relationship with God, you'll start to discover things about you, and about who God created you to be, and about your future, and about the plan God has for you. Right? God wants you to know who you really are. Why you were created. Why you're walking this earth. With all these billions of people, why did He create you? Why does He have a desire to have a relationship with you? Why does He have a plan for you? He wants you to discover those things. I'm telling you, it's a beautiful thing to walk with God and discover what He wants from you, and what He desires for you, and understand the plan He has for your life. Listen, He has plans that are good, and not of people to give you an expected end. He has a plan for your future. He has a plan for the situation you're in right now. The things you're going through that you don't understand in life. Right? I didn't know I was going to marry a woman I had robbed at gunpoint. I didn't know I was going to run a ministry in the same hood I used to sell crack cocaine in. I didn't know. Listen, I didn't know any of those things back in the day when I was doing it, but God had a plan. And I'm telling you, God's plan trumped the enemy's plan. I'm telling you, God's plan succeeded, and God is having His way. I'm so grateful that we serve a good God that is merciful to us when we humble ourselves, and when we cry out to Him. That we serve a good God that when we cry out, He's not going to leave us empty-handed. He's not going to leave us as a beggar, defeated, beat down by life, depressed, and anxious, and desperate, but under the power of the enemy. No, He comes for His children. He loves you and cares about you. And He, listen, I believe even as you're listening to this, God's Spirit is drawing you. God's Spirit is moving upon your life. God's Spirit is changing things and drawing you to Him so that you can experience the God type of life. That Zoe life. That life of God right now while you're living. You know, there's an old song that talks about, I'll fly away, oh glory. You know, when I die by and by, I'll fly away, oh glory. Now, I look forward to that day when I stand before Jesus in eternity, but the Scripture says rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. Rejoice why? Because today is the day of the Lord. Don't live a life defeated and beat down only looking for heaven. Jesus can heavenize your earth right now. The Scripture says, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, where you're living right now, where your feet are at right now, as it is in heaven. Let God start to change and transform your life so you can experience heaven on earth. I love those moments. We call them Kairos moments, when God's presence comes and time stands still, and Jesus touches those areas of our life, and he makes things brand new. The Scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 5 17, it says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. God, we thank you for a new life and new opportunity, and God, as long as there's breath in our lungs, God, there's hope. God, there's hope. There's opportunity. There's purpose. So, Lord, we put our faith in you, and we trust you, God, that you're going to teach us your ways. The Scripture says in Isaiah, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so is God's ways higher than our ways. And it says, wherever he sends forth his word, it shall prosper. So, God is sending forth his word through an earthen vessel right now into your situation, and if you'll grab a hold of this word by faith, the Scripture says, faith come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If you'll grab a hold of this word by faith, your life will start to prosper. He'll start to turn things around and start to change things, but you got to listen. You got to add to your belief, and you got to add to your convictions. You got to add strong faith. Believe in God as who he says he is, and God will do what he says he will do. God is who he says he is, and God will do what he says he'll do. And I'm going to add one more thing for you, and he'll do it for you. He'll do it for you. God is who he says he is. He will do what he says he'll do, and he will do it for you, because he's a good God who loves you and cares about you, and he knows your address. He knows what's going on, and he cares about the things in your life, and he wants to continue to heal you, deliver you, transform you, and God's will is to prosper you. God does not want you beat down by the enemy, broken in a poverty mindset, living out a life impoverished and beat down. No, he wants to prosper you as your soul prospers. So I'm just encouraging you right now. Continue. Be encouraged. Get back up and keep going with God. Get back up and keep serving God. Get back up. Listen, some of you had a relationship with God, and you walked away. Quit letting the enemy beat you up. Right now, just hit the restart button. There's mercy fresh every morning. It says his mercies are new every morning. It says mercy triumphs over judgment. So just receive his mercy. Mercy is the power of his forgiveness. Listen, there is power in the name of Jesus. Apply that name. Apply faith in that blood. Apply what God has said to your life, and you'll experience his mercy, and when you experience his mercy and forgiveness, then his love can wrap around you and change you forever. Hallelujah. Well listen, I'm going to continue and share another passage with you, because I think this is so important to understand. The Scripture talks about faith without works is dead, and so once you're saved, once you've rededicated yourself, you're in that process of understanding who you are and how much you need God, and you're walking with the Lord. You've got to understand, listen, to have faith without works, you're not going to do anything. There has to be faith with action. In James chapter 4, I mean, I'm sorry, James chapter 2 verse 14, James chapter 2 verse 14, it says this, What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no good works as evidence? Can that kind of faith save him? No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient. Genuine faith produces good works. If a brother or sister is without adequate clothing and lacks enough food for each day, and one of you says to them, go in peace with my blessing, keep warm and feed yourselves, but he does not give them the necessities for the body, what good does that do? So too, faith, if it does not have works to back it up, is by itself dead, inoperative, and ineffective. But someone may say, you claim to have faith and I have good works, show me your alleged faith without the works if you can, and I will show you my faith by my works. That is by what I do. Verse 19, listen to this part, it's so powerful, you believe that God is one and you do well to believe that. The demons also believe that in Shudder and Bristle, in all Philteria, they have seen his wrath. Even the demons believe and they're in fear. The difference between us and a demon is we can have faith-filled actions. I don't want to look like a devil. Verse 20, listen to this, but you are willing to recognize, you foolish, spiritually shallow person, that faith without good works is useless. Was our father Abraham not shown, justified by his works, obedience, which is expressed as faith, when he offered Isaac his son at the altar? You see that his faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed, reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience, and the scripture was fulfilled, saying Abraham believed God, and this faith was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. I want to be God's friend. You know, when you serve the Lord wholeheartedly and do what he says, but faith without works is dead, it says even the demons believe. They believe there's a God. You know, back when I was in the streets, I had a cross on my back, I had a cross around my neck, you know, you got the tat on, you say you believe God, but it doesn't change you. You say you believe God, but you do nothing different. You say you believe God, but there's no works to back it. You know, faith without works is dead. The demons believe. They know who he is, right, but they can't change. They could never do a good action. They can never love. They can never care. We have a free will. We have a choice whether we surrender to God or not, and I don't want to look like a devil in my life. I don't want to live like a devil. I want to live in a posture, in an attitude that honors and represents Christ well, but we have to back our faith, our belief with works. We have to be about our Father's business and do that which the Father tells us to do and say what that that which the Father tells us to say. Jesus was our model. He showed us how to live a faith-filled life. You know, hearing from the Father and obeying the Father, seeing and experiencing the Father and doing that which the Father has asked him and required him to do, it's imperative for you to put your faith in Christ but also have action. Faith without action is dead. Faith without obedience is dead. You're called to be an obedient believer of the Lord Jesus Christ and serve him wholeheartedly. I want to share a cool story that God was dealing with me when I first got out of prison. You know, I'm in my mid-20s at this time. I just pulled, I did five years and I helped start a ministry for drug and alcohol recovery called Mighty Man Ministry down in South Georgia. I'm down there and one of the leaders told me on this dump truck how to dump it the proper way. He told me exactly what to do and what not to do. I went around to the side and I did exactly what he told me not to do. He told me to dump it a certain way and release and open up the back end and I left it closed and tried to dump it the way he told me not to. He looked at me after my bad decision, after my rebellious decision, after me trying to do it my way, the limbs, the stumps, everything got stuck on the dump truck and when he had to come around and fix it and help me, he said rebellion never works. Rebellion never works. The scripture says rebellion is like witchcraft. You know, I rode my bike that next day over to the prison. I was running a ministry right beside the prison I was released from. I rode my bike over there to that prison. I looked at those chains. I looked at the fences. I looked at the guards going in and out. I looked at the buildings and I said that's where rebellion will take you. You know, it's not the big things in life that take us out. It's when we start making small compromises. It's the small foxes that spoil the vine. It's the little compromise, the little living living up the whole lump. It's the small things that we don't get right in our life. The lack of discipline, the temptations that we don't deal with, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, the internal battles that we don't overcome, that opens the door for the enemy. You know, nobody just goes off and starts cheating on his wife. Nobody just goes off and, you know, you got delivered from alcohol and drugs and you just go back all of a sudden. It just happens. That's not true. You know, it's little decisions one by one. The enemy works subtly. He works slowly to try to disguise himself and try to hide and try to pull us off course. So guard your heart. Protect your heart. The scripture says guard your heart with all diligence for out it flows the issues of life. And so protect your heart. Guard your decision making. Make sure you're making wise decisions and clean your life up. Clean your life up. When I went over there to that prison, I rode my bike some miles away to the where the prison was at. And I repented right there. I said, God forgive me for rebellion. And I look back over my life. I didn't start off a drug dealer and a kingpin. All that stuff progressively happened. It started from getting, you know, if you sell weight with drugs, you don't normally start with kilos. You start with an ounce. You start with an eight ball. You start and you break stuff out and then you grow, right? And there may be some cases where people start much bigger. But for the most part, anything you do in life with sexual sin, you know, I started looking at pornography. I started messing around with my girlfriend. Then I started messing with multiple women. It just didn't start messing with multiple women. Yeah, so anything you do, you start, you know, you drink a beer. You drink two beers. Then all of a sudden, man, you're drinking cases of beer. It always progressively happens, right? So go ahead and slay the dragon while it's a baby. Go ahead and slay the dragon while it's a baby. Don't give room for the enemy to breathe. Go ahead and crucify that thing. Repent of it. Call it what it is. Crush that compromise. Crush the head of the enemy. Get the compromise out of your life so you can live a holistic, wholesome life and experience all the goodness God has for you. Hey guys, we're coming to an end today. I hope this has blessed you, encouraged you, and taught you. This is your host, Pastor Terrell Scott on Conviction Radio, your hour of power and deliverance where God is convicting you, setting you free, healing you, and delivering you, and moving in your life in a mighty way. Y'all have a blessed weekend. God bless you. I'm praying for you, and I believe God's best for you.