THE GOOD LIFE

The speaker discusses the concept of the "good life" and how it relates to doing good in one's beliefs. They mention that a good walk involves turning away from evil and pursuing peace. They also talk about Adam and Eve's original sin and argue that the forbidden fruit they ate was not a physical fruit, but rather the sin of disobedience. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being harmonious and accepting of others in one's walk. They also touch on the idea that there is room for growth and learning in one's spiritual journey, but also mention that some mistakes can be costly. The consequences of Adam and Eve's actions are discussed, including their expulsion from paradise. First Peter the third chapter verses 8 through 12. I want to talk about what we call the good life When we talk about the good life we talk about doing good in our Believers walk All right. I'm gonna skip the Preliminary go straight into my point um the good walk means turning away from evil and pursuing peace Doing good in our walk means turning away from evil and pursuing peace in the third chapter verse 11 we find the truth that we are all in a Naturally bent toward evil the word evil is You five times in the in that particular paragraph and it refers to living for ourselves in disregard of God and others except as they Conserve us So Adam and Eve's original sin Which plunged the entire human race into sin was an act of self-will that sought out self-fulfillment in disobedience to the command of God All right, the new birth does not a Yesterday that evil bit for itself as honest Christians will Readily admit it. So let's talk about Adam and Eve for a moment When you look at the picture of Adam and Eve and what they did concerning the fruit Let's talk about the fruit Typically when we have seen the picture of Adam and Eve we see a man or woman The woman holding the apple that she bit off and the snake off on the side That's normally the picture when you think about Adam and Eve Am I correct that you they come to you the first thing they come to your mind because they say she ate the forbidden fruit But in the paintings they have an apple. You never see her with orange. You never see her with a banana She always has an apple Well, I'm gonna give you a revelation to that what God told me a night that I don't think it was a natural fruit That Eve and Adam partook in If you look at the fruits of the spirit, they are loved the fruit of the spirit excuse me loved your peace happiness that Galatians 5 and 22 Talks about the fruit of the spirit so if Adam and Eve Partook in a forbidden fruit and the Lord say you can have everything else, but don't touch that tree I don't think the tree was a Physical tree. I don't think that you can eat something natural and it affects you Spiritually, then the only thing that can affect us spiritually is something that we partake in Spiritually does that make sense to you? So I don't think the fruit was a apple or a fruit per se as To what we know to be fruit in the natural but I think the fruit that they partook in was the sin of disobedience Disobedience was the fruit Okay that they partook in that took them to another level all right, um so Because now when they disobeyed God they disobeyed the word so deception From the enemy as what got them to their point because remember what I told y'all a long time ago Y'all gotta remember stuff. I tell you deception is improper thinking about the The the wrong thinking about the right thing So in order for you to be deceived you got to first know what truth is Everybody does deceive or trick know what truth is But there's something that draws you away from truth That causes you to be blinded by a lie All right, so what Satan did was he took God's truth and he twisted it and I noticed I'm a person that is deceitful knows the truth They say all what you do this and do that, but that out of that so what he did was they say well he say well, huh take this eat this and So he was like well You know, we can't eat that cuz God say we eat of that if we partake in this if we participate in this say Will be you know, you know, so I'm gonna happen to us. So then here comes the lie. Oh, well God Told you that because he knows that if you eat of this fruit, you're gonna be just like him All right. That's what the twist came in there. All right So he took the truth and he just slightly Curbed it Just a little bit and in it any curve of the truth slightly gently halfway almost a whole lot Anything that's presented to you as half truth is a whole lot You can't have truth and have a little bit of a line now Well, he said this but only this much if it wasn't true Then the whole thing is a lie Bible declares eat a little leaven leavens the whole loaf. All right other words If you're gonna eat unleavened bread, which is bread without yeast if you put just a little bit in them It's gonna take that whole loaf of that bread Okay you might as well just if you believe in unleavened bread you throw it away because a Little bit of that yeast is gonna cause that whole loaf to be leavened a little bit of a line It's gonna cause the whole truth. That's why I said that to become a lot. So he used deception to get them into the fruit of disobedience All right And when they partook of that now Let me go back and say this because he told them say what God told you this because he was afraid That you was gonna look like him or be like him now What the crazy folk didn't realize was what? They were already like God See see how he took this rule and twisted it God wasn't afraid that he was gonna be like him because Genesis 1a let us make man in our image and after all likeness Other words, they were already like God But sometimes some folks who smooth you up so good with a liar Until you don't even realize you've been lied to the art of deception is the one that's being deceived Never know they're being deceived That's the art of deception so the enemy Use a lie Or Slightly curve the truth which makes it an entire line To get them to this fruit all right of disobedience and they partook in Because he came to them with something they had never heard before Well, you ought to be careful with stuff. You had never heard before all right So also Doing good in our walk is defined by five attitudes and actions number one You have to be her enormous Do what Her enormous h a r m o n i o u s S That is a person that seeks to get along with other persons That person is not self-willed That person is not demanding their own way That person didn't judge those who don't go along with them. That person is a team player It considers the other person's Perspective and give others room to be different That's what that word means he accept people as Christ accepted it All right. He knows the difference between biblical absolutes Which must be which must not be compromised and he knows the gray areas What the latitude where there is latitude for difference he gives people time to grow realizing that there's a process in Order for them to grow But yet and still able to deal with that person on their level Giving them time to grow. I Think one of the things that we're missing in the church is this exact attribute? Because some people feel like because it happened for me like this You've got to do it like this or you're doing it wrong and I believe that's why a lot of our ministries fail and then I'm gonna go ahead and say this and if I'm wrong Y'all correct me, but I believe that's why a lot of believers fail We hold them to a standard that they cannot keep If you want your believers walk to be successful You can't make people hold you to a standard you can't keep right because for some They're able to grasp it. They're able to pick it up. They're able to run with it and they're able to Make it happen the next person may be just a bit slower than Person a person B Maybe a little bit slower person C May be slower than them both, but then D probably just still lagging at the start line You know, he's barely making it All right But there's room and there's time to grow now now let me It may seem like a contradiction But I gotta throw a curve there so where they're still time to grow in one instinct and Another instinct there's not time to grow because it's like getting on the job training You got to come on you got to grasp it. You got to bring your Ability up to the point where you got to learn in the hurry. You got to grasp it. Let's run with it because Time ain't on our side anymore and Certainly, not the enemy is not on our side any longer. So where there is room to grow That's true. But then if you look at the rat race that we're running Ain't time to grow. I'm talking about a spiritual rat race. Well The enemy is throwing tactics and he's throwing tricks in there until sometimes your mistakes of be detrimental to your spiritual life and or your physical life so mistakes Though they will be made Some mistakes are costly mistakes Okay, and you can't afford to make a mistake. That's gonna cause your life to be Caused your life to end and then once that happens You don't have an opportunity to continue to work to get it right because at that point it's done All right, not saying that to scare anybody but just being truthful about it. Some mistakes are costly mistakes and Every mistake ain't meant to be made So it's sort of like you got to pick your battle. Okay some stuff That we should shun away from All right, and there are some things that just dealing with life That we're just That we're just gonna we're just gonna go through. All right, but Yeah, and as you're learning you'll learn it. Okay. Now I can't you know, I stay away from that Because just as Adam and Eve made the mistake Even though it was a choice if there was a mistake they made it and it caused Every man born after them to be born into sin because when God dealt with it, he dealt with everybody Told the man you're gonna work the rest of your days told the woman you're gonna bear children Told the serpent you're gonna crawl on your belly the rest of your days. I wonder why he would tell him that Did he have legs Could he talk could he walk? Why would you tell him he's gonna crawl on his belly the rest of the days, but these were the punishment These were the punishments That God issued out All right So even though he forgave them and I know ultimately he kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden All right, so this place that they were born into paradise he threw him out of there and Told Adam the place that I'm sending you to you're gonna work the ground Eve you're gonna bear children serpent I'm cursing you. You're gonna crawl on your belly the rest of your days and Then he put the ultimate curse on all men Every man that's born through a woman's womb is going to be born with a stain on them of sin And the only way that we can Get that stain off of us is if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and our Savior, so we must be enormous The next thing is we must be Sympathetic my tongue in time Sympathetic that means affected by like feelings I'll say that Jesus Christ is one who sympathizes with our weaknesses That's in Hebrews 4 and 15 So we are to enter into what others are feeling we are to rejoice with those who rejoice Weep with those who weep that's Romans 12 and 15. We are to allow the sufferings of others to touch our emotions We are to be sensitive to how they feel or how We ought to be sensitive to how we would feel if we were in that person's place If we become that person it'll be a little bit more easier for us to deal with people Because you put yourself in their place You'll been in a place where everybody around you showing you where everybody around you Made you feel like you were the scum of the earth put yourself in that person's place Now, how am I going to minister to them? well That's how you learn how to minister Whatever listen, you don't have to be that way. You don't have to feel That way because God that's how you develop ministry. So don't emphasize on it right quick I'll be right back I think I'm sorry. Yeah, people are math now when Yeah, cuz I Like talking to my sister and how can you talk to somebody if you know you've never really been through what they been through but One particular time I give an example. I was working in school and The child told me she wanted to kill herself and you know, I'm like what She was in the fourth grade trying to you know, I was just Upset about it But I just kind of blew it out Well, then the kids put a note on my desk and told me that she was, you know, really serious about it I you know, I talked to her I tried to come down on her level talk to her and let her know baby You don't have to be like this or the next person even with an adult. I've been in that situation You don't have to be like that. What is it that I can do to help you? You know, Jesus is here for you Do you know about Jesus and a lot of times they don't know about Jesus and that's when you get that opportunity To talk to them you try to help them you come down to their situation So what it is because you may not have been there, but the Holy Spirit will help you You're back Apostle Right So we have to be Sympathetic towards one another needs never making a person feel like They're missing something They're missing what's in our mind call a mark All right Because there are two standards that people try to live up to they try to live up to God's way and For some that's a fight because you got the struggle of your flesh your desires that I then you got God's way But then the worst standard to try to look up is the one is man's Criteria for you being a believer or a Christian That's the worst one to try to keep because you'll never be good enough to keep that one Nobody want somebody sits the standard in their mind for you You'll never be good enough to meet that standard. Thank God for grace. Thank God for Jesus Thank God for God That God didn't look at you and I that way God is just the opposite Yeah And this is for everyone Someone asked me why are we gonna have service in jeans and hoodies? Why not? We're going into a new place Where we don't know about the people, you know And my reply was that and that we don't want to go in there Dressed dress down to the nine and hats on and all this kind of stuff You know, we ain't going to have but I'm just saying, you know, you go in there and and you're being comfortable Comfortable because you don't know how the people are going to come they make some jeans and hoodies and they'll feel comfortable that way Yeah, we want them we want to be able to reach Everybody There will be times that we'll drip. We'll have our dress-up time But just this time and and it'd be a whole lot of other times. Let's just be casual Then we're going to reach white folk. They don't go to church sanctimony addressed up with dresses down to the ankles and the ties all look Choking them in the in the folk and looking all Dignified that ain't how they go to church. We want to reach them. We got to come to their level and Make them feel like because you don't have a 12-piece suit on and a big old head. You're still welcome All right, so we don't want to put again a standard there that people Cannot meet because number one as long as your clothing is appropriate, you know, you ain't got too much showing Whatever you're wearing is respectful Anywhere I pass you you're welcome to come as long as those criteria is met I believe a woman can wear a pantsuit as Long as we can't see your underwear line and all the stuff that God gave you in between Same way with a man. I Don't believe a man ought to be wearing tight pants Well, you could see the curves in your back in or what God gave you in between that's inappropriate All right, as long as we'll dress in moderate and in Respect to one another our brothers and our sisters I don't believe it's about your dress attire if you want to wear jeans wear jeans Just don't come in there with no shorts on but you want to wear jeans want to wear your pants Ooh, you want to wear your three-piece suit? You want to wear your dress? just come Comfortable. All right, because the biggest part about that is God can move whether you win hoodies Or robe. He's the same God And so that was the image that we want to put out that God can still heal folk in hoodies and jeans He can still heal folks in a robe or whatever that you your attire Seems to be that's another thing. So we got to be careful not to let people hold us to what their Standard is in their mind always be sympathetic toward Non-believers and believers in Christ Because that's the only way a person can come out of what they in When you put yourself in their shoes, you'll think how they think you will see it the way they see it And then you'll be like, well, you know God give me what to say in order to help them out of their situation Out of their situation again I think a lot of ministers fail Because leaders and the folk that worked altars the folk that's in charge of helping people Become better believers the people that's in charge of helping them to grow miss that mark because they try to hold people to a standard by which they Became delivered and it just doesn't work that way When my eyes became open and I'm moving on to my notes when my eyes became open with the Church of God in Christ That denomination was based upon Bishop CH Mason traveling on to California to the Azusa revival a Baptist preacher received a Holy Ghost. He spoke in tongues. He came back preached it spoke in tongues started a whole Pentecostal movement and Everybody that's in that movement got that same way that they received the Lord They carry the foam at the mouth They shout and run over the place and you got to receive the Holy Ghost right then my eyes became open Because I didn't I received the Holy Ghost that way, but I didn't receive the fullness of the Holy Ghost Only got a measure because I believed as I was taught it can only be done this way When I met my apostle he told me he says, you know a powerful, you know, he talks away you know, yeah, I was in the shower and I was seeking for the praying for the Holy Ghost and I went to take a shot when I just start speaking in tongues I'm like, wait a minute. So you mean to tell me? That you can speak in tongues in the shower It's like yeah, that's where it came at. So mine came the fullness came. I was sleep It woke me up out of my sleep I was feeding Tom so fluently and it was just like the tongue overtook me to the point I woke up and when I woke up, I woke up speaking in tongues So it let me know that Being held to a certain standard if it just because he got it that way Don't mean that I'm gonna get it that way because it's a gift from God He gives him when he wants to whom ever he wants to give it to. All right Next thing was we must be brotherly Must exemplify Brotherly love it points to the fact that we as believers But we must also show brotherly love to those that are outside of the family of God Since we're all members of the human family at 1728 Often an opportunity to be brotherly toward another person opens the door for us to witness About Jesus Christ. He going there You know, I'm not saying that you can't be brotherly towards another person He going there, you know being all tight-chested When all in your jaws and looking meaner than a junkyard dog Would you receive a person if if you were not a believer and a person came you looking? Like dad and screaming and hollering about you need to be saved or you going to hell What would be your thoughts my thoughts would be Your family need to commit you somewhere because you've got something going on in your mind up there. You need to go somewhere That would be my thought. I don't know what your thought would be But that would be my thought but if you receive a person with love and You give love to that person That Person will open up to you and You'll be able to gain your brother or your sister to the kingdom of God Oftentimes you hear me say that if a person is hungry Don't worry about trying to preach to him off the bat Lot of times you don't even need to preach to him go get him a sandwich Get him a soda bottle of water and Then as they even and the stomach has Gotten some nutrition. Hey, can I pray for you before I go and There'll be more receptive to what you're saying about this Jesus that they can't see There'll be more apt to receive what you have to say because you've taken care of a need That's in their life All right So we must always Remain brotherly not just brotherly mean be a fool. No Everybody come to you you got a baby, you know have discernment some folks gonna come to you just to use you up Because they know you got a heart of gold and you got to guard your heart against schemers and scammers now If a person is hungry what we used to do is I'll remember very easily that somebody came this family came to our church and The pastor gave my dad the money to take them to it was County Market with County Market and The Pastor's instruction to my mom and daddy was let them get whatever they need this day was throwing steaks and Just all kinds of stuff That you know a person that needs grocery is going to get survival food beans in a bag rice At that time the whole chickens was popular. You can take a whole chicken And split that down and make you know pretty good meals my mom would take the chicken Cut everything good take the back the neck the gizzards and the liver and put them in a separate bag She had a whole Wholesome bread bag full of chicken bags and and chicken necks and gizzards and liver and when times got hard Well, we couldn't eat the chicken legs the chicken wings and the breast and the thighs When times got hard daddy couldn't make grocery mama ease up in the top of the Refrigerator pull down that bag of chicken back cram up smothered missing gravy cook some rice and some cornbread And some type of vegetable and guess what we had a meal Anyway to my story the purse they were putting stuff in there that didn't really look like On people that needed groceries and so my daddy made the comment like, you know, if you need grocery You know look like you would be getting the family packs of chicken or get you a whole chicken But you couldn't pork chops and steaks and all this in the book and not stuff that that that can last you Until you're able to get some means of making groceries I said that to say that some folks are trying to take advantage of you if they think you're green or they think you're blind So being brotherly means yes, I'm going to treat you with love But I'm gonna have a limit to that if you need food. I'm not giving you money I'm gonna take you to get you something to eat Okay You need gas You know some people you can't give money to you. You have to pick your choice. You got to pick your own battles I can't dictate to you how to do it. But let me take you to the gas station. You pull up to the pump I'm gonna go in here and pay for it and you pump your gas Now to know whether or not they're telling you. Oh, no, just just give me the money, you know Then you know then somebody's being untruthful. All right, sometimes you have to test your limits. All right, we got to be kind hearted Got to be tender hearted and compassionate and the New Testament is used only in Ephesians 4 and 32 The root means bowels. The idea is to have a deep inward feeling and a genuine concern for the other person All right. I Don't know the distinction between I don't know if there's a distinction between being sympathetic and kind hearted Both of the words both of these words have an emotional Element that shows us that our believers behavior must go beyond cold duty All right so Kind-hearted and being sympathetic can run hand-in-hand, but I think there is a slight distinction Between the two Next thing is we got to be humble in spirit. That means lowly in mind Jesus described himself as being humble in heart Matthew 11 29 other words when we're dealing with people or we're just dealing in life period remain humble You may be able to go and conquer the world get the moon put on the silver platter and have the Sun on the golden That may be how God uses you in the same token remain humble always be Approachable as a believer because somebody's watching you that looks up to you that you will never even realize What people think about you everybody don't think the worst about you There's somebody that thinks the world of you And if you are all puffed up in your jaw puffed up in your pride Can't nobody approach you you may lose your brother or your sister what's always Good to be humble in spirit Even if you're trying to tell somebody something about the Lord and they not receiving it be humble just say well You know my brother my sister This ain't my word to argue over. I pray God give you the understanding now Can we move on from this conversation? I just had to do this a little while ago Somebody asked me a crazy question. I tried to answer the question. I was getting irritated Because they tried to be deep and didn't know what they were talking about Of course, I told him I said, well, you know, you try to be deep and you don't even know what you're talking about You're not making sense. You sound like a fool. I said all of that and then as they continue to go on I said listen this conversation is not for you and I to have and I just rather not continue in this conversation because I see Well, you can't be talked to and you're just asking questions to be asked of them You're not asking questions to get an understanding Don't ask me no question to try to test to see what I know You don't you don't cause a problem now if you generally won't understanding You can ask me a question. I'm going to give you something that's going to give you some understanding Don't try to test my limits don't do that. All right, so that person I we had to just move up move away from The the quote-unquote Bible talk because I'm not gonna argue and I'm not going to You know, we're gonna do that we gotta always remain humble in Spirit That's at home in the church at work everywhere. We go remain humble in Spirit and believe you me. There's somebody watching you way off That admires how you handle situations. All right I'm sorry to get some water my throat dry The good gift resulted from healthy relationships That means number one we can't we can't retaliate When we are being verbally abused Oh Now that probably knocked half of that box right there But we can't retaliate But we can't retaliate When we are being verbally abused Um, there's a scripture Luke 6 and 28 says bless those who curse you pray for those that mistreat you All right Um peter Says in his book say do not respond to such abuse with more abuse Don't talk his put down of you With a better put down of him Don't counter his name calling by calling him names Don't retort to his sarcasm with more sarcasm Don't react to his attack by attacking him instead Respond with kind words. No, it takes a fool to argue with a fool And a fool ain't gonna argue with himself You know, so it's easy When someone is attacking us and bringing up our dirt that is easy to bring up their dirt But instead we gotta learn to respond with kind words It took me a long time y'all to get to this point Because I was a whipper snapper Well, you know, um, I and I still get you together. I just ain't got a little bit better I'm a little bit more tolerant now Than what I used to be. Thank the lord for growth. I don't know you are growing but um you know travis growing too, but uh I I used to be Sharp-tongued and and and it had a whip on it. It was quick Um, but i'm learning um that uh you have to You can't rebuttal Um evil for evil And when somebody talks evil with you or against you You just return with kind words kindly end the conversation Walk off hang up, whatever it takes But don't speak evil on their name because they're speaking evil on your name. I'm gonna say this. Um, a lot a lot of um lies used to Be told on myself and i'm sure lies they told on you as well But I was the type of person that I would chase a lie down to the root I'm gonna call everybody that's involved and i'm gonna get you right on together I had to discover one thing And mama used to tell me this as a child That you'll never chase a lie down Because The only thing that you're going to discover In a lie Is that that lie came from a lie and that lie came from a lie and that lie came from a lie and it never Be no ending to it. You've been enrooted yourself to a stroke and a heart attack trying to chase down one life Because that one life is embedded into a group of lies Another thing mama always told me say be careful of a dog that burns your bones somebody They always come to brother wheeler saying travis said this about him you need to question the person that's coming Saying what did travis say? Well, then you asked him brother wheeler. Well, you told me what travis said, but what did you say? Because he did you know because you bringing this to me for a reason And travis didn't sit there and hold no conversation with himself. You sat there you listened to it In order to be able to tell me everything travis said you listened to it So what did you say and you'll kill all of that from the root? Let me move on from that That's just that's just a little nugget for you um we have to Um doing good in our talk and we're talking about Um the good work, but we're talking about doing good in our talk It means that we are that we are to refrain from deception We can't take the bait we can't take the snare um of deception, um, the the old folks had Sayings that really didn't make sense as a child. But now as a maturing believer It makes sense to me everything they glitter ain't gold You think the grass green on the other side Now that stuff we hear growing up, I don't know but we'll heard that but I came up in the air Where this these are the terminologies that people made you think the grass green on the other side of the fence? Well, I understand what they're saying now As a maturing adult and a maturing believer I'm now understanding that what they're trying to tell you is don't be deceived by what something look like by what something sound like and by how something feels Because it may feel like it may look like it may sound like the right thing But there's a way to send right to a man But the end thereof is destruction. Well, you gotta ask god to guide your steps um as it relates to Anything pertaining to Your life as a believer because the enemy has traps set To try to snare you into things a snare is something can be looked at like a bear trap You know the bear goes snooping around and he ain't watching where he's going and he get his leg caught in the trap you know and once you get caught in those snares they Uh Primarily don't come out of them. There's a reason why they're set because The one that said is trying to trap them so they can kill them It's the same way with the enemy He tried to get you into these traps and into these snares by enticing you with things that look good to your eyes things that appeal to your flesh So he can kill you that's bottom line his job still kill destroy. That's it And and there he has no other gender and he makes it look like it's the same as love But how you know that it's not love is become is because it comes with the price If you do this, look at all these people in our music industry. Let me see how many notes I got y'all I'm going over my time. Oh, no, where that's I got one more One more note, let me say this look at all those folk that's in the music industry that want to make it to the top They go and they actually make real deals with the devil There's no lie They go and they make deals with the devil And he tell them well if you do this I do this And to be honest they rise up to the top folk buy their albums and they sing their songs And you hear them bumpity bump at the party and they really become temporary stars But the moment They decide I don't want to do it no more a lot of them Don't make it out alive But some of the ones that say that I want to give my life over to christ Their life are spared But the ones that just simply say I don't want to do it no more I don't really have no regard to turn to christ Those are the ones that you read about With all of these low demises with their death most of them end up in homicide Most of them end up in something to defamate their character All right something to make them look bad when they die um cocaine overdose or Something of that nature All right, the devil plays for keeps all right, and so we can't be deceived Um by Um his trickery Um with his traps or his snares. This is my last note So doing good in our talk means blessing others with words that build up You always want to be a believer That will build Somebody up now. The truth is if you don't stop doing this you're going to hell Well, that may be true, but there's another truth You don't have to do it that way because god loves you and god sees the best in you You know what i'm saying, I just said two truths now, what truth would you accept a or b B Now the average one would accept b Because if you're building me up You know, you know and and and i'm done the average person that comes to a church setting They coming because they already got an issue. They're coming because they already got a problem I want to come here and be beat down being was pointed at them Making them feel like they're just an another scum of the earth People want to come to be rejuvenated revived built up Understood forgiven All of these things is why people come to worship So I I want to come and I want to be just like everybody else. I want to be built up. I want to be Rejuvenated refreshed revived Forgiven Put back in right standing with god righteous forgiven. I want to come and be like everybody else The way to help our ministry grow Is we have that same? kind of heart toward the people of god When a person feel like they're coming to be loved despite what their issues are Then they'll come and they'll be changed and god can really deal with them. I've never seen