YOU CANNOT HAVE IT YOUR WAY

The transcription is a prayer followed by a sermon about following God's way rather than our own. It emphasizes the importance of obedience and trust in God. The speaker urges listeners to not test God and to surrender to His will. The sermon also warns about the consequences of rejecting Jesus and choosing darkness over light. It ends with a reminder to be grateful for the guidance and discipline of parents and to appreciate their efforts to raise children in accordance with God's word. Dear Lord God Almighty, our strength and our Redeemer, thank you for not holding our sins against us and for granting us a second chance. Help us today to forgive others just as you have so freely forgiven us. Father, we thank you for our salvation. Thank you for the blood of the Lamb of God. Thank you for the cross where he died for us, Heavenly Father. Thank you, dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for Jesus. Father, thank you for his death, his resurrection, oh Father God, his life, for without him we would be nothing. Thanks be in praise to you, Father God Almighty, for all things in praise. We thank you. Thank you so, so much. Hey folks, this is Reverend Mary coming to you once again in the holy name of Jesus our Lord and Savior from Along The Way Ministries. This ministry was given to me by our Heavenly Father August 14, 2006, and as a disciple of Christ, I am bound in the spirit of love and obedience to the will of God. And he said, to go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Praise God. Thank you, Father. Thank you for such a mighty privilege. The scripture can be found in Matthew from chapter 28, verse 19. Thank God. Thank God we have so much, have so much to be thankful for. Let's stop right now and say glory to God. Thank you, Father. Thank you, the Heavenly Father for Jesus, and thank you for the Holy Ghost. I call him my constant companion. He's with me. He's with you, and we have to be thankful because we are not alone. We are not alone. Thank you, Jesus. Mercyful, kindness, Holy Father. Thank you for Jesus. Just so thrilled to know that I am called by his name. That I'm a part of this everlasting kingdom that is going to allow me the privilege to live with Jesus forever. Just stay in the race. Just hang in there. And folks, I am not much for small talk when it comes to what God has led me to do. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to get right to what the Spirit has given me to bless you with today. Be patient with me. I might stumble a little bit. I might stutter a little bit, but I'll get it. And God took me to that slogan, that Burger King slogan, that fast food slogan, have it your way. Well, that has been blown out of proportion and misconstrued in the hearts of people. And it has nothing to do with Burger King. It just happens to be a slogan. But people have that attitude that they're going to have it their way. Well, the kingdom of God is not like Burger King. You cannot have it your way. The kingdom belongs to Jesus. Praise God. Hallelujah. Thank you that we belong to Jesus. Because if we did not, we would be fatherless. We would be orphans. We would be lost for eternity. Thank you, Jesus, that we are no longer lost but found. Thank you, Jesus. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. The scripture right before that scripture, before that verse says, It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Praise the Lord. This is from the 100th Psalm. People, the God you say you know and love has made all things possible. He has given Christ authority over the church. That's us. I ain't talking about the buildings. I ain't talking about these places where we go and fellowship and gather together. They're just buildings. We're the true temple. We're the true buildings. Remember that. You are the one who counts. This stuff is material things. This stuff is earthly things. This stuff is made by men's hands. And it is going back to dust. Lay your treasures up in heaven where moth, rust, dust, decay can't touch it. Glory to God. Thank you. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Let me say this again. The God you say you know and love has made all things possible. He has given Christ authority over the church. And if you love God, fear him and respect him. Love him. Reverence him. And adore him. Trust him. You know, much like you would your eternal dad. But so much more to the power of God, which is above all powers. From everlasting to everlasting. He is omnipotent. His authority cannot be denied. It cannot be denied, people. The mighty power of God can be seen, heard, felt, experienced in insurmountable ways. What we have is overwhelming, you know. What we can witness to is impactful to the point that we cannot tell. We can't tell it all. Hallelujah. Glory to God. There's no way in the world we can tell it all. But we need to tell something. We need to witness to somebody about what this mighty God has done for us. Amen. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9. But as it is written, eyes have not seen, nor ear has not heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. You know, he's just saying in a roundabout way. We ain't seen nothing yet. The best is yet to come for the people of God. And we know about the other side. Lord, have mercy. People, please, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Do not stand in the place of condemnation. Because you want to do what you want to do. You cannot have it your way. Don't do that to yourself. Proverbs 3, 5 through 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. Yes, indeed, he will show us what to do, where to go, who to see. Whatever we need, God has it. And, you know, we don't have the right to test God. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I to test God? People, don't gamble with your salvation. Sweetest gifts in Christ that you'll ever receive. Hallelujah. If and when, and it will sometimes come, trouble when it should find you, God is able to bail you out. He is a righteous, holy, loving, compassionate God. It is evil to make trouble, to run to excessive writing. God's word says to run from trouble. The word that in the ancient text is flee. Flee means to run. Trouble is foolishness. It is foolishness to think that causing someone to stumble or fall, causing hardship or threat to someone's life in any way will find you in favor with God. You're sadly mistaken. You're totally wrong. You don't test God. Don't test God. You can't do that. See where he'll lead you to see where you're going. Don't test God. That is the wrong way to find out who God is, if his word is true, and if what he say he'll do will do. You will find that out, but you got to find that out through righteousness. Do not tempt the Lord thy God. Only by faith, obedience, can you please God. Hallelujah. Lord, if you decide to surrender, if you decide to surrender, let go. Let go. Just let go. Give God the benefit of the doubt. Try him. You can try him. He don't mind. His way, his way. Do it his way. Your way is call on him by faith, by faith. Call on him. He will answer. He said to seek him while he can still be found. Don't take him for granted. He's with us, but he is worthy. He is worthy to be respected, not only to be lifted up, but to be respected, to be feared. Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. But do not dishonor God with evil actions, deliberate evil actions. If you make a mistake, see that's one thing. God knows how to correct mistakes. Have faith. He is the creator of all things. That includes you and me. People, there's good and there's evil. There is darkness. There is light. Darkness that can be felt. It makes me cringe just thinking about darkness that can be felt. On the other side of darkness, there is light that will fill you up. Who wants to experience darkness that you can feel? Jesus, my Lord, who in the world, in the right mind, wants to experience darkness that you can feel? And, you know, we're not suffering here on this earth. But let me tell you something, people. Let me tell you something. My sisters, my brothers and sisters in Christ, my friends, my family, even the strangers that soldier in this land, let me tell you, but you have not seen anything on the earth that will match everlasting hell and damnation. Only because you feel God by turning your back on his son, on Jesus Christ, because you decided to have it your way. God forbid. Rejecting him, the eternal, everlasting living word of God. Do not do that to yourself, people. Oh, he is wonderful. I love him so. He is wonderful. The best thing that's ever happened to me. I can testify to that. I am not ashamed of him. I might be. I am most definitely ashamed of the sin that I committed, of the darkness I walked through. I'm ashamed of that. But I'm on the other side of that. Because I serve almighty God, who sent me a savior, who brought me out of darkness, did not let the enemy destroy me. The eternal, everlasting living word of God. He is God to some of us. He is Father, praise the Lord. We cry Abba Father. Oh, I love him so. We cry Abba Father. Means Papa. He's our Papa. Why would you want to miss out on Jesus? Okay, okay. Look what he endured for us. He did not stop breathing. Hallelujah. Until it was finished. Until he won for us the victory over sin and death. For us he did this. It is God's way or no way. You hear me? Church, do you hear what the spirit is saying to you? It is God's way or no way. When you find parents who are truly parents, you know, raising their children according to the word of God, you will find that even then your siblings and, you know, excuse me, offsprings, you will not have it your way. God forbid. And remember how they bent over backwards in front of your parents. How they bent over backwards to try to do what is best for you. Even people in my generation, you can remember. Look back. You can remember. They tried to teach you right from wrong how to live right. Took you to the house of God so that you would know Jesus. Praise the Lord. Whipped your butt when you were out of line. Pushed you. Pushed you forward. Punished you for bad behavior but pushed you forward. Remember, when you were a little child, you wanted to be that runaway child, you know, rebellious. And now, right now, today, you can't thank them enough for holding on to you, for not letting you go. That's love. Hallelujah. That's love. That's the love of God. You know, you get no reward when you do wrong. You pay for it. The Bible said we reap what we sow. But when you were good, when you were trying to do your best, being obedient, not running your mouth as if you knew more than the people who brought you into this world knew. Good manners are essential people. Praise God. Good manners are essential. Your folks love you. Right or wrong. But good parents will not uphold you. When you are undisciplined and unruly, you will be dealt with, you know. You will be dealt accordingly. That's what good parents do. This generation should be raised the same way. Shouldn't need to be raised no differently. You know, you hug and kiss your children. You do. That's wonderful. Got to have a relationship with them. Got to let them know you love them. Love is not just a word. Love is felt. Teach them that they can do anything. You know, when you apply yourself. You know, when you give it your best. Teach boys to be gentlemen. Girls to be ladies. And, you know, love and care and support family. 100%. Go all the way with you. You know. Reward you when you are awesome. Lift you up. Tell everybody how wonderful you are. You know, and I will say to this. Integrity and honor are spiritual attributes. Excuse that slip up there, folks. Spiritual attributes. That God loves. Be filled with it. Be filled with honor and integrity. Be filled with it. It is God's way to count people. Not our way. Our way gets in trouble every time. Think about it. When you try to do something without consulting God. First, without asking God to show you the way. Ask you God to open your heart. Ask you God to open your heart. Ask you God to show you the way. Ask you God to open up the path to light the way so you can see. Remember, the spirit always glorifies the Lord Jesus. Know that God is not interested in yesterday. What are you going to do today? That is the question. And the key word is change. The only reason why yesterday would be relevant today, but only for reflection, is if today you are still committing the same offenses that you did yesterday. Change, my friend, is inevitable. When we repented. When we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. When we received the Holy Ghost. You know, change came over us. If you truly repent, if you truly accept Christ, change came over you. You died on the cross with Christ. And you live now in Christ. Living human beings with spiritual, deep-seated spiritual attributes. Because the Bible teaches us that we have God's attributes. We are created in His spiritual image. That's the part you can't see. But it's from everlasting to everlasting. Because God sends them. That's the part that you really are. That's who you really are. It's just a covering. The flesh is just a covering. There's somebody, there's somebody in there that's awesome, more awesome than you know right now. The Spirit always glorifies the Lord Jesus. Know that God is not interested in yesterday. What are you going to do about it today? The key word, folks, is change. The only reason why yesterday would be relevant today, but only for reflection, is if today you are still committing the same offenses that you did yesterday. Change is inevitable. Change, don't be afraid to change. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Absorb this into your spirit. Nobody is better than anybody else. Get up. Repent. Go and sin no more. Does not matter what you did yesterday, but rather what are you going to do now? Now, Jesus loves you. He will wipe your sins away. He will take all your sins away. And in the midst of things, He never stops loving us. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Praise be unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Loving, kind, and merciful Savior. Thank you. It's good to be bound in the Spirit, in Christ. It's awesome. Come in from the storms of life, people. Come on in. He will cover you. That's how good He is. Leave your worries, your troubles at the foot of the cross. Leave them there because there's nothing we can do. We are powerless without Christ. But in Christ we can do all things. And He is able. He is able. Leave your worries. Can't change anything. But He will. He will take care of you. My last scripture. Matthew 11, 28, 29, 30. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Thank you, Jesus. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. Praise the Lord. I believe in that. I know that. He's done that for me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. People of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ. Those who are seeking to find the truth. Be blessed until our hearts meet right here. And along the way ministries again. Loving you in Christ. Thank you so much for listening.