Summary

Bishop Hugh Daniel Smith teaching Loins Girded With Truth at Embassy Metro Detroit. Full sermon with transcript.

Transcript

Transcript begins at the message. The video above includes the full service — welcome, worship, and announcements. Auto-processed from the live-stream captions; the video is the source of truth.

Now, you know what the verse means? That means he was going to write to talk about one thing, but then he changed his mind and he says, “Now I got to tell you that you should contend for the faith.” The word contend means to struggle. It means to wrestle.

So, God can give you something and you have to wrestle to keep it. God can give you something and you have to wrestle or contend with opposition in order to cause it to proliferate. If you think that God can give you something and give you uh a job to do in the kingdom or an assignment or some precious gift and you not be attacked by the enemy, then we are naive to the context of our environment. There is no thing that God could ever do for you or give you that will not I would say be the um cause of a demonic assault on your life.

And so many of us are gifted and called and chosen and anointed and under attack right now. And believe that is these are natural circumstances. And so some have not committed to wrestling. They say, “Well, if it’s to be, it is to be.” If I had of adopt this erroneous idea in my life, there are things that God has given to me to do that would have never come to pass. The truth be told, everything that I’ve attempted to do for the Lord over the past 45 years of walking with him has come with struggle.

Not one thing in 45 years of walking with the king has been easy. Yes, he decreed it. Yes, he ordained it.

But it required tremendous exertion, sacrifice, and and determination like a wrestler. A wrestler’s job is to struggle with the opposition in order to overcome using skills and tactics and maneuvers to try to advance your cause against that which is fighting against you. It’s like this very word struggle here means an athletic contest.

So, do you know that when you trying to do God’s will, you are in a contest? It turns from your life to a contest because the enemy assigns stuff to you to try to prevent the will of God from coming to pass. Your job is to say, “Okay, it’s on. You going to try to stop me from doing what God has declared before the world was. And I got the Lord and his angels on my side.

So, we in the beef right now, and we going to stay in this contest until God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And it’s going to be a struggle, and you may walk away with a cut and a wound and some pain in your life. But, if you struggle long enough, you got to struggle for your kids to come into the will of the Lord. You got to struggle for you to get off that substance that’s trying to take your life. You have to struggle to get that goal, that degree, whatever God has promised you.

The devil’s going to try to block you every step of the way. You have to struggle to keep that marriage together. You have to struggle to make the money that you supposed to make so you can do God’s will. You’ve got to struggle to raise up the will of God in your life. It’s not going to come easy, but you got to know that he that has called you is faithful, and he will help you overcome and do whatever he has called you to do.

All you need to do is stay in the ring, stay in the arena, and be willing to fight with everything that’s on the inside of you. Do we have any fighters in the room right now? You better not let your life go down the drain because the devil has said something to you. You got to protect that which belongs to you, and the will of God is resting on your shoulders.

So, I I in struggling. Stuff don’t happen easy. I just decided I’m not going to quit. I’ll never quit. The The um vision for human dignity and the vision to to care for the home insecure and all of that stuff has been with us for about 30 years.

We we we were talking about that back at Emanuel where I was pastoring there. We called it Emanuel Mom’s House. 30 years struggle. We just hitting it right now and today. Are you hearing me? Had we quit along the way, there would be no Hope Shelters.

But God is faithful. He just need us to be faithful. That’s the issue. We need to stick and stay. Somebody say stick and stay.

We got to learn to stick with something for a period of time and be able to endure hardness as a good soldier. I know today people don’t have that kind of gravitons and that kind of moxie uh because people are a little softer today, but I’m grateful I came up the old school church old school way where I’m going to praise him with tears in my eyes if I’m have to. I’ll praise him with no money in my pocket. I’ll praise him if I don’t have nothing. As long as the word is in my heart, I’m going to believe my God.

Somebody say amen. And so striving is what this is all about. To learn to strive. The elite athletes can be separated from the others because they know how to compete. And that’s what it means.

It means to compete. To to earnestly contend means you have to compete. And anybody who knows sports know that there’s a lot of people in the arena, there are a lot of people on the court, but everybody’s not competing. Competing means to bring your best every day. That’s That’s what it really means.

When you’re ready to compete, you bring your best every time you show up. And if you’re not willing to bring your best every day, that means you’re not wrestling every day. Take a few days off.

But I believe in order to be successful in the things of God, you have to bring your best every day. Every Sunday when I grace this pulpit, regardless of how things go out, I’m giving you my best that Sunday. Are you I’m coming to compete with whatever is trying to stop God’s will. And you got to get up every day ready to compete with what’s trying to hinder the will of God from coming to pass. You can’t take any days off.

That’s what separates elite athletes from average. It’s not the talent, because everybody’s talented. It’s not the calling, everybody’s called, but it’s our will to compete every time we step on the stage.

So, he tells them to compete, contend for the faith. That’s what he’s saying. Compete. It’s why we lost the game yesterday. I’m serious.

They weren’t competing. They competed maybe two or three came back at the end. First couple of quarters, they wasn’t even competing, just out there. If I was the coach, I would have sent you on the bench, but I wasn’t the coach. I’m just playing.

I’m just You need people who compete. Don’t give me half your heart today. Don’t give God half a praise. Did you come here to win or did you just come here to occupy space? If you’re trying to win, you have to give it your all every time.

You got to compete in your marriage to make it happen. And you’re not competing with people. You’re competing against the opposition that’s trying to stop you from moving forward. I don’t know what you’re competing against. I ain’t fighting against none of you all.

Competing with nobody. But that which is trying to prevent His will from coming to pass. Everybody say compete. Get it in your spirit. Say it again, compete.

Learning to compete and wrestle is a master key. This is why so many people’s lives have not gone a certain direction and why some people’s lives have. The only difference is they competed more consistent than the other. And it takes discipline to do that. Let me give you an example of it.

That’s my first point, compete, by the way. Compete. Compete. It’s a point. It’s It’s It’s the key one of the keys to success in spiritual wrestling is to show up ready to go every time.

It really is. Ephesians 6 and 12. So, I want to give you an example of this and uh we’re going to move. 6 and 12. We’re not wrestling against people, are we?

So, you’re not competing. This is not rivalry stuff. That’s when someone has lost their way when they start competing against each other and they forget who the real opponent is. What does it say? Read everybody.

For we So, we’re wrestling. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but who are we wrestling against? He gives us four things. Principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. I want you to see this.

I want you to see this. How this works. I did this before to a certain degree, but I’m going to show it to you again. I will wrestle against four fallen angels. Principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places.

These are fallen angels who defected from God’s kingdom to go with Satan. And these principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places have an assignment. And we’re we’re we’re competing not just against them, but their agenda. Their assignment. Let me give you an example.

Uh in the in Michigan where we live, uh in the 1930s in Michigan, marijuana usage was prohibited. It was criminalized. It was looked at as something that was immoral to smoke weed in 1930. They would look at you as if you were uncouth if you rolled a joint. 1930s.

But by the time we got to 208, 1930 to 208, society shifted. The opinions of the world changed here in Michigan and other places. And in 208, uh marijuana was legalized for medical reasons. And it had some with this and with that, but just no values. It did have some.

And and so, glaucoma and things like that. It was legalized. 208. And so, the the the attitudes start changing.

Now, by the time we get to 218, 2018, it is decriminalized all the way now, and it is legalized for recreational use, as long as you’re 21 and up, supposedly. Uh And so, the attitude shifted from criminal to recreational use. And the question is, what happened to the people? How could we change so drastically on the same issue? Was it more information?

It was a principality. Everybody say principality. The job of a principality is to put a thought in the community. A principle, a principal thought in the community for a reason.

So, Satan and his team, they have meetings. Get the thought in the community. So, they put the thought. It took a while for it to germinate, just like God has to get his thought in the community. And the thought started germinating for a while.

Then, once a few people pick it up, then he sends the second one, which is principalities, powers. Their job is to get it legalized, or to make it legitimate. So, they start working with politicians. Spirits working with politicians and lawmakers. You better know those lawmakers need prayer.

They got They got powers seeking them, trying to influence their vote. You think humans only lobby them? Spirits lobby them, as well.

And so, they’re dealing with all kinds of spiritual activity to legalize it. Then, watch it. After the powers have done their work, then it says rulers of the darkness. Once it becomes law, the job of the ruler of the darkness is to take that law and kill people with it. Rule the darkness, destroy with it.

And when you look at marijuana usage right now, the data has come in, ladies and gentlemen, since it’s been legalized, and they are very concerned about some of the things that have happened because of the the THC oils and all that stuff that’s in it. They said it reduces attention, it causes memory impairment in the young adults. They’re they’re the they’re one of the highest uses, they say, uh of the drug itself now, and they’re noticing among them there’s reduced attention span. There there’s memory impairment. This is the data.

Uh lower academic performance, difficulty with learning and decision-making, greater risk of developing what they call cannabis use disorder. You go check it out. What is cannabis use disorder? We got a weed smoking disorder now. They’re they’re concerned about mental health increasing because of people using this substance freely.

Depression, researchers found associations between adolescent cannabis use and higher risk of depression, anxiety, psychotic disorder, and genetically vulnerable in genetically vulnerable individuals, and also a reduced emotional functioning later in adulthood. So, it’s affecting them. It’s affecting them. Uh states are reporting that in the emergency places, they’re seeing all kind of people coming in with what they call cannabis intoxication. Uh accidental ingestion of of edibles.

A cannabis-induced vomiting syndrome. Uh severe anxiety and pandemic or panic uh reactions. Poisoning among children who accidentally consume edible products. This is happening. This is the research since 2018.

So the rulers of the darkness says kill with this stuff. Steal with this stuff. Destroy with this stuff. And then the Bible says spiritual wickedness in high places. These are demonic or or fallen angels who seek to make it culture.

To where people just accept it as the way it is and anyone who speaks against it is looked upon as weird or tone-deaf. So my point is, ladies and gentlemen, we are not just wrestling against evil spirits, but we’re wrestling against the agenda that they have set in this earth. And if we don’t push back, then it’s going to be hard to get your grandchild. If we don’t push back and address the issue, it’s going to be hard to get the mind of the next generation. They say what’s wrong with the young kids today?

Some Some of their minds have been blinded by the enemy and and if this gospel be uh lost or hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost. The The devil has blinded their minds. But And it’s because some of them are are smoking weed and and and one nation under a groove.

But But But I believe there’s a gospel that’s stronger than the power of the devil. If you’ll get up and say I’m ready to wrestle, I’m going to push back. I’m going to challenge this system. I’m not going to let my child go to hell. I’m not going to let a generation die.

I’M GOING TO Fight Back. THEN WE WILL BE ABLE TO make a difference. I wish I had a church here today that says I’m ready to wrestle. Somebody shout, “I’m ready to rumble. I’m ready to wrestle.

I’m ready to get involved. I’m not going to be neutral on this subject.” You can’t be neutral if we’re going to win. You were born to challenge evil. You were born to make a difference.

And so I want to thank God for the grace to produce his will in our lives. Now, you might have to wrestle for a long time. So, don’t get tired. You wrestle with that knucklehead for 10 years if you have to. Just as long as you win, it don’t matter how long you had to wrestle.

Come on, somebody. You wrestle with that issue as long as you have that. That don’t mean you ain’t spiritual. That means you’re not going to quit. You’re going to stand fast in what God has called you to do.

We need people with stick-to-itiveness, people that won’t fall out because of the pressure and because how long it’s been. And the devil won’t get into their heads thinking God doesn’t know what’s going on. There are several people in here who can testify that their child finally came back to God. That the miracle finally took place. Did you know change is real?

Change can take place any given moment. You might have to wrestle, but suddenly there’s going to be a breakthrough. If you If you hold on, the devil can only hold on so long. He said, “I hope they give up. I hope they give up.

I hope they give up.” You say, “Oh, you might as well hope till hell freezes over because I ain’t about to give up, devil, on anything God has promised me. I’m going to stand fast. That’s the mentality that we must have. Somebody say stand fast. Stand fast.

Stand firm. That’s what wrestling is really all about. Get a grip on something and don’t let it go.

And so, God, I thank you for the grace to produce God’s will in my life. You say that, too. I thank you for the grace to produce God’s will in my life. I thank you for the grace to wrestle until it comes to pass. I thank you for the grace never to quit never to surrender until all comes to pass.

Now, clap those hands and give the Lord a shout right there. Hallelujah. Oh, if you believe that, that put you on the right side. If you believe that, that put you right in The Line OF FIRE. It does.

So, I got two more points before we go. If you look at the text, uh we’re going to talk about spiritual wrestling, but specifically, I want to address the um some call it the belt of truth, but it’s girding up our loins with truth in the Apostle Paul’s words. So, we’ve got to gird our loins up.

And so, my first point my second point is is is the loins. I want to talk about the loins. And then thirdly, we’re going to end with just simply standing.

But the Apostle Paul is using the image of the Roman soldier to depict what he perceives as God’s panoply as we called it or God’s armor. And so he’s drawing parallels between the Roman soldier. And I want you to see it. It’s in verse number 11. Let’s go back there again.

Verse 11, what does he say? Read everybody. He says, He says, put on the whole armor of God. Can you just put on some of it, right? You got to get it all on.

That’s why we’re doing this week after week. Whole armor of God that you may be able to against the wiles of the devil. The word wiles there means the stratagems and all the schemes, all the witches and warlocks that are plotting. All of those who practice necromancy and those who who who who do all that goofy stuff on the other side, people burning sage, and people playing with crystals and Ouija boards, all those weird-looking people walking around trying to put a hex on you. I ain’t worried about nobody trying to put no hex on me.

I got The Armor OF GOD on and I can stand against the wiles of the devil. Amen. You got to get to the place where you see he shows the superiority of the armor versus the stratagems. Don’t be afraid of the devil. I don’t care if you’re from New Orleans or from from wherever you’re from, it doesn’t matter to me.

Africa, I don’t Wherever you’re from, it doesn’t matter where you’re from. The devil is under our feet. We have been raised far above principalities and powers and mights and dominions and every name that is named because at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. So why why would you be afraid of some little skinny witch who needs to get a new hair do? Speaking over your child’s life, the devil is a liar.

I got my armor on. I got my armor on. Yes. Be not afraid of these things. Don’t try to watch the things that’s fearful.

Casting out of devils and things like that. You know, you got to get out of here. People casting out of devils. Do you know what a devil is? A demon is nothing I’m all off the message but a demon is nothing is nothing but the spirit of the Nephilim.

Do you remember in Genesis 6 when when when when there were giants in the land and the sons of God came into the daughters of man? Were those giants mixed with and that’s why God had to destroy the earth. So when God destroyed the earth because they were hybrid creatures they were neither human or angel or human. They were Nephilim. Their spirits had to go somewhere.

God didn’t put them in hell neither did he let them go to heaven. So they’re roaming the earth as demons and they don’t have a body. That’s why they’re trying to get into some of y’all and some other stuff.

But when they hear the name Jesus they got to go. They’re uh-oh. Uh-oh, they have to go. They’re not that tough. They They They are homeless people and I’m sympathizing over the home insecurity except them.

You got to stay homeless because we will not give you a house to live in because this is the temple of the Holy Ghost which WE HAVE OF GOD And WE Are Not Our Own. I don’t give no demon no house. You don’t have nowhere to stay. No room, no vacancies. I’m all filled up.

Sold out. Glory to His name. Hallelujah. I need to hurry up. Can y’all have a seat, please?

Thank you. So So Paul Paul is is saying put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the strategies or strategems of Satan. And then verse 14, put it up there. Verse 14 really quick. Verse 14 says, what did he say?

Stand therefore having your loins girded about with truth. Stop there. That’s what I want us to see. So we going to gird up our loins today. So we’re here today.

We’re going to gird them up. I’m going to get a shirt that say gird them up. No, not that, but we got to come up with something else, all right? No, but we have to gird up our loins. Now Now listen to me.

The loin uh is the part of the body where the pelvic is, the back, you know, what we call our core. Because at our core and the loins represent a couple of things. Number one, it represents your strength. It’s just like when you go to the gym and then and then your your uh uh weight person or your your athletic your trainer, that’s a good word. Your trainer Your trainer says you have a weak core.

And when your core is weak, then you can’t stand. It’s hard to wrestle. It’s hard to do anything if you have a weak core.

So, they have you doing exercises to strengthen your core. That’s the loin area. The loin also reps So, so if your loins are weak, that means you’re probably not going to wrestle well. Girding them up is making them strong is what he’s saying. Girding up the loins means to make your spiritual core strong.

And I’m going to show you what that spiritual core is um cuz loins also represent your in your heritage. It represents your destiny not your destiny, your your your prosperity. Your descendants and your ancestry are all represented in your loins because it is your reproductive is where the reproductive organs are. They’re in the loins.

So, strength and reproduction has to do with the loins, spiritually speaking. And so, here it is uh what strengthens the core spiritually of a person or the loins is when a person has proper relationship, good relationship with their ancestry and their prosperity. When they are able to bring past family history with future family history. When I can hold the bloodline together. The past and the future held together by the present.

If a person has proper honor for their history and they know their history they know their past and they honor what God was doing yesterday and they have responsibility for what God’s going to do tomorrow then they’ll be strong in the present. That’s a strong core. But if I have no knowledge of my past and no respect for what God did in the past and I have no responsibility for the future I’ll be weak in the present. Are you listening to me? Because what God started is family day, right?

What God started in your family he started long before you got here. And what God is doing in your family is going to last long after you’re gone. All we have is our moment in time to hold the past together with the future which causes the bloodline to fulfill his purpose. This is what it means to create a strong core because if I dishonor my history and I have no responsibility for my posterity or the future then I’ll be a crazy man in the present. Because I won’t have responsibility to yesterday or responsibility to tomorrow, I’ll be unstable in the present.

And one of the reasons that some people are barbaric in the present is because they’ve disconnected themselves from their history and they have no responsibility for their future. They see themselves as an individual disconnected from their bloodline. Therefore, they have no root or no core. And they’re vulnerable for whatever might happen. And that’s the condition of many people in this generation because they have no regard for what God did yesterday.

They’re only concerned about what God’s doing in them, and they have no regard for what’s going to happen after them, and they will be selfish, and they will be barbaric, and they will be weak in the present because they’re disconnected from the bloodline of what God is doing. But God told me to tell you to strengthen your core. We came here today to gird up our loins.

So, we going to connect to what God did yesterday and what God’s about to do on tomorrow, and we going to hold it together in the present. And if I can hold it together in the present, then God will strengthen me to do that, and that’s What Make You Strong IN Your Spiritual Core. God told me to tell somebody gird up your loins. Is anybody hearing what I’m saying today? I’m going to give you an example then.

My uh grandfather, Leo Perry Sr. prayed a prayer before he died. He was my mother and my aunt Vel’s father. Prayed a prayer before he died that he wanted all of his children to be saved. He was brought, in my understanding, into the Pentecostalism through his oldest daughter, Ann Florine Davis, who had come into the Pentecostal experience. She shared it with her dad, obviously, and others in the family.

And God started a work. Now, it work might have been going before that, but I’m going to give you this start that I know about. He started a work long before I knew anything. God’s up to something. Before my grandfather dies or transitions, he prays the prayer.

Now then, uh his other siblings, his other daughters and sons have to get saved. And so my mother, my aunt Val, who’s here today, they all came into Pentecostalism. And uh when my mother came in before me, she introduced me and my siblings to the gospel. God was working on something. My aunt Val was there in the church before me, and when I came in, I didn’t know anything about the faith.

And so she nurtured us, introduced us to the world of Pentecost. So God had her there for that purpose. Say he was working on something. And then eventually, he starts doing something in my life. And it’s not only my responsibility to honor what he started back there, and to respect, because if I connect to it, if I can connect to it and discern what God was doing, we won’t just get saved, but God was up to something.

The spirit of what God was doing will travel from generation to generation. So the spirit that was moving two, three generations ago are now converging upon us today. But they can’t just stop with me. I got to turn to my children. And we ain’t just getting started.

This thing been going long before y’all knew about it, and we got to put it on them. And if they can hold it, then their core will be strong. But then if they have responsibility to their children, if they don’t, they’ll lose it right there. Their core get weak, they’ll drop the ball, they’ll drop what God is doing.

But if their core is strong, they’ll pass it to their children. Then the grands, my grandchildren will pick that ball up, and God is still amplifying what he’s doing that he started a long ago. He is a generational God. He’s not just doing something in your life. If he’s talking to you, he’s talking to your kids and your grandkids and your great grandkids and he probably talked to your daddy and your mama and your granddaddy, too.

He’s moving in your bloodline. And the only way you can have a strong core is to hold on to what he did yesterday and hold on to what he’s going to do Tomorrow And Stay Right There IN The Middle And HE’LL Strengthen You And Gird You UP. Somebody Say strengthen your core. Strengthen your core. Say it again, strengthen your core.

Do you see that? But how many have no desire to learn about what God was doing? And how many have no responsibility for what’s going to happen when you die? You are weak in the present if that is you. You’re selfish and you’re fighting against the flow of your own bloodline.

And you need to repent today. You can I brought you here on a family day to tell you to repent and get back in the flow. Repent and get Because when you’re in the flow, you’re strong. Are you hearing me? The promise is for your bloodline, not for you.

And if you stay in the bloodline, you’ll get the promise. One of the reason that this generation is struggling so much because they want to live outside of what God is doing in their flow. And they want God to come to them as an individual. Please. He’s not coming to you as an individual.

He’s coming to you in the flow. Somebody say in the flow. In the flow. Look at your neighbor and say get back in the flow. Get in the flow.

Now, Now of you already in it, I know. And that’s the reason that some of you are so strong. You say, “Well, Bishop, my my my my ancestry wouldn’t wouldn’t wouldn’t be in the flow.” Matter of fact, they was crazy. Okay. Okay.

The Lord’s got a plan for crazy. You think he don’t think he don’t know nothing about crazy? He’s got a plan for anything you can throw. Because the truth is, and this is not crazy, but I learned that what God starts in your family, everybody don’t participate.

And sometimes they even twist it and pervert it. Or sometimes because of their flesh, they just can’t do it. Now that that mean I know my biological dad, Hugh Smith Sr., was a humanitarian in heart. I said in heart. He was a humanitarian in heart.

He probably He would say all the time, “Son, when I get my Lear jet, I’m going to fly to Africa, and we going to meet up with Bismark, and we going to help all those people. Then we going to go over there to India, and the people with the the cleft lip situation, whatever that’s called.” He says, “We going to We going to fix all We going to get them all fixed up when I get my Lear jet.” Well, he didn’t get his Lear jet. So, but I knew that was the original So ain’t no sense in me saying I don’t want to flow with my dad, what God was doing in my dad. I’m Hugh Smith 2.0. Are you hearing me?

What he couldn’t do, I got to fulfill in the next generation. You got to redeem your bloodline. Quit talking about what your ancestors didn’t do, and you you do it. You perfect it, cuz God will do it in the next generation. Quit complaining about what didn’t happen yesterday, and you get in that flow and perfect your father’s and your mother’s bloodline.

Say redeem the bloodline. My Pastor Leatha and I after that we decided to work with Operation Smile. And we give we gave several a hundred dollars to them uh uh consistently to help the kids. Cuz I had to do what my dad wanted to do. That’s how you redeem your bloodline.

And my whole ministry a lot of it is focused on some of this humanitarian work. So it’s still the plan for the bloodline. God has a plan for your bloodline. Say it. God has a plan for your bloodline.

And if you hold yesterday’s move to tomorrow’s move together, you have a strong core. That’s what it means to gird up your loins. And it’s not just natural family, it’s spiritual family. Apostolic succession is something that those that are theological understand theologians understand. They said no bishop should be made a bishop outside of apostolic succession.

No apostle should be made an apostle outside of apostolic succession. What does that mean? That means you inherit you got to be in a line of these things. Uh the the episcopal uh uh succession means that there was a Bishop Norman Wagner in my life who was a mentor of mine. And what God started in him we’re still doing some of that today.

I was in alignment. Are you hearing me? And I inherited what the pastor and if I honor that, it’ll flow my direction. If I value that, that’s what honor is. Honor is showing open value.

If I honor it, it’ll flow. If I dishonor it, it’ll stop. If you don’t honor your parents and honor your ancestry, what God started will stop, and it won’t flow to you. It The flow doesn’t move toward dishonor. The flow only move towards honor.

It’ll move right around you and go to your kid. It’ll move right around them and go to the next kid. Wherever there is dishonor, God doesn’t flow in the family with you. And dishonor is is not putting the right price tag on what God did in a person. Some of us are upset over uh what President Trump has done because people understand that if you separate a people from their history, if you separate a people from their memory, that if they if they don’t have memory of yesterday, they’ll lose their identity today.

Then they’ll become vulnerable for any suggestive identities. And the reason why we’re in an identity crisis today is because many people have no knowledge of who they were, what God was doing yesterday in their world. And so, oppressors have historically tried to cut people off from their memories. Transatlantic slave trade, cut them off from the name, cut them off from images and artifacts and all of that stuff. And 51 artifacts and images have been removed from the United States uh at the at the National Park uh since President Trump has been in office.

And you think that’s just something aimlessly? That is intentional. If you cut a people off from their memory, then they have no way of honoring the past, and they will behave like savages in the present without a responsibility for the future. And that’s warfare on a people. Anyway, you try to cut ME Off From Honor, Then You’RE hurting me in my bloodline flow.

But there was Bishop James Tyson was also in the Episcopal succession. And then there was Bishop Tudor Bismarck. Then there was Clara Smith Gordon and and and they were and then R. P. Paddock.

They were all a part of the line that helped from this level produce what what we do today. The apostolic succession. And if I show honor, it keeps flowing. Even in their absence on the earth, I must find ways to honor. You you you We honor Martin Luther King’s birthday, but you need to have some birthdays some heroes in your family who did something for you directly.

You you need to celebrate your auntie’s birthday. You need to celebrate your mother’s birthday once a year. Your father’s birthday once a year and call it a holiday for the family and tell the story to the next generation. We have people who have done great things to make our family work and their memories are almost lost. And when the memory is lost, then we lose identity and we cannot honor the past, neither can we hold on to the future and we lose our core in the present.

But if I Honor What GOD did yesterday and I respect what he’s doing tomorrow, I’ll be strong in my present. I need a birthday celebration for my Aunt Florine and for my grandfather. A birthday celebration for people once a year to Tell The Story TO the new ones coming. Gird up your loins. Tell the story of spiritual legacy.

If you are a part of this ministry, then I’m a part of your spiritual covering. But if you’re not trying to connect with myself, then you have nothing to honor. And what’s on me won’t flow to you.

But if you decide that this is a part of what God has put in your life, and you choose to honor openly, not that I need your honor cuz I don’t, but you need to honor so something can flow to you. It’s for your advantage. Are you hearing me? He says, “Children, honor your parents that it may be well with you.” Your parents are going to be fine. This is about you.

It’s not about your parents. I don’t need your honor, but you need something to flow TO You That GOD Started in my ancestry. And I believe that God WANTS TO Put Something ON Your Life. All You Got to do is know your history and thank God for what he did before you got here. Lift those hands to him.

Where’s the mayor? Tell him to come on. It’s time to wrap this up.

Come on, worship him for a moment. As opposed to grieving every year over your parents’ transition, grieving every year over something, make it a holiday. And tell their story. The devil will cause you to grieve over it annually. No, you celebrate it annually because of what God has done.

I break the spirit of grief right now in the name of the Lord. Sex cycle cycle or cyclical grief is being broken in this house right now. Grief cycles are being broken. Annual grief cycles will turn into annual celebration and sharing of history of what God has been doing. Glory to his name.

Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost trying to move in the house now. I said I feel the Holy Ghost trying to move in the house now. It’s up to you where you fit in at this thing. If you think you’re a one-hit wonder or you want to be by yourself and disconnect, you’ll be weak in your core. And it won’t be well with you.

You’ll get disappointment after disappointment after disappointment because you refuse to connect to your ancestors and your future. What strengthens the core is connection. What strengthens the core is connection. Gird up your loins. You can’t fight the devil with a weak core.

Everybody stand right there. Glory to his name. Glory to his name.

Come on, people. Somebody swallow, swallow, swallow. If it’s tough, swallow, swallow. Take that one in. Don’t you be spitting up on me.

Don’t be spitting that word back out on me. Swallow. I don’t want to hear nobody vomiting this word up. Vomit up the evil. Don’t vomit up the good.

Come on, somebody. Listen. So, the last point was stand. Stand. Stand.

There are three ways to stand. You can either stand for something, you can stand against something, or you can stand neutral. And when somebody’s standing for you, you can feel that they’re for you. Is somebody standing against you? You can feel that they’re against you.

If they’re neutral, you don’t feel nothing. I hear the Holy Ghost saying some of you got too many neutral people in your corner. That’s why nothing’s happening. Even an organization needs a core. Jesus had a core.

He had the 12 11 disciples, then he had Peter, James, and John. They were his core. And in your core, you have to have 100% commitment. The core can’t be wishy-washy. There are some that need to be removed from your core because they’re too neutral.

They’re too neutral. We can be in relationship, you just can’t be in the core. I need to feel the support of my core. I need to feel the support of the core. We still love you.

We still connected. And we going to heaven, and we so glad. But get out of this core. Some people resist. That’s their role.

Some are for, but too many are neutral. You know when things happen in your world when people are for it cuz that strengthens you. And you move differently when your core is strong. You know why some churches don’t blossom? They have too many neutral people.

How many of these people for Embassy? Only God knows. Peter said, “Jesus, I’ll die for you.” Jesus said, “Please. Before the rooster crows, Pete, you’re going to deny me three times that you ever even knew me.” He thought he was for. All he needed was a test to prove that he was neutral and then against.

He went backwards. The test will reveal where you are. For where we got to go next as a church, 22nd anniversary, we need more people that are really for this grace that’s on this ministry. Not for me, for the grace, for what God is doing in this house. We need people that are really for it, not just hanging out in the crowd.

Those are neutral people. People that said, “No, this is where I I position myself.” When you’re for something, other people know what you’re for. If I interviewed all your friends and and and I and they will let me know what you’re really for. Because what you’re for, you’re loud about it. What you’re against, you’re loud about it.

What you’re neutral, we can’t tell. We can’t tell. In order for us to do what we got to do, we need it.

So, I’m I’m calling for greater commitment after 22 years. From you, for you, from you. I’m committed to you. I’m calling for a greater commitment to what God is doing in this house. Don’t be here just for the the the the fish and the loaves to get a miracle here and there when you’re in trouble.

That’s the crowd. You start out in the crowd, but take a step forward. And say, “I want to be in the number.” If we strengthen our core as a church, we’re going to shoot for it. And if you take this principle and use it in your business, use it in your family, identify the core of everything you do.

So, and so don’t get mad at other people, just put them in their right places. Sometimes you got people in the crowd we trying to make them act like they’re in the core. They’re not in the core. Let them be in the crowd. You just have to know where people are.

Some people only got ride or die friends. No, no, no, you got a core friendship group, but then you got to have a lot of other associates way out there. Just don’t expect from them what you expect from your core. Go ahead and talk about me out there. I know you are.

No sweat off my back. You’ve been in the core a long time in my mind. Are you listening to me? Use the principle. Too many of us getting upset where people are not producing.

They’re not doing this. They’re treating me this way. Well, you organize it then. Organize it. Stand.

We got to stand. That’s the message. Everybody say stand. After you’ve done all you can, you’ve wrestled, you’ve prayed, you’ve cried. Then stand for what’s right.

Stand for what’s right. Who has it? Come on, heads.