Apostolic Lighthouse
The Battle Against Your Will - Bro Bradley McCormack
well praise the Lord everybody. I mean how He's happy to be a church on a Wednesday night. I am definitely thankful. I mean the God will allow us to be in His presence one more time. I don't ever want to take come to church like that. I didn't have to come. I got to come to church tonight. I mean I don't have to be blessed. I get to be blessed tonight. I don't have to love Him. I get to love Him tonight. Thankful and for what the Lord is doing in this revival and I'm gonna try my best to preach for a few minutes. I told with Zach, He's going to have to help me tonight. My voice is just about gone. It ain't cause I preach long. It's cause y'all just pray long. Man we've been having an awesome time in the Holy Ghost and I'm gonna tell you something. I believe God wants to do it again tonight. I'm sitting here today praying and I told God this. God why stop now? Just give us a double portion. Give us a double portion. Amen. So glad for Him and all of our visitors. Amen that are here tonight. I'm not a good friend. I'll call Him Skeeter. I don't know what y'all call Him. And man He has been a friend of mine for well ever since I guess we both could talk good. And I worked with Him, worked with His for His Father for some time and meant a lot of memories run in my mind when He's sitting and walked through the door. And a lot we can talk about and some we're not going to talk about. But Caleb said it, there's just some things we're not going to talk about. It's on the blood. It's gone. It's forgotten. Amen. But I appreciate them and them coming because I did send a pretty strong message home with them boys. I mean I'm this close and He don't come see me. Amen. Y'all might run me out of town here just when I get done. So amen. Jonah chapter 1 and verse number 1, I felt like the Lord is strongly dealt. Amen with me about this today. Man, just play something over soft. Make me sound good, you know. There you go. And you can't make me look good, but you make me sound good. And I prayed and sought the Lord today. And so if you're here today, don't think that I got this just because you're here. I've got this a long time before I knew who was going to be here. And I want to just be a help. Amen to somebody in this room tonight. Definitely miss, brother. Sister Samson pray that God would put his anointing upon them. And I know He has been seeking the Lord. Amen today. Actually I haven't spoke to Him or seen Him all day. I come in. They was getting ready. I got ready and left and and so amen. I just pray God's blessings upon them. Love this church family. Thank you for everything you've done. Amen for me. And I appreciate it. I definitely do. My wife sends her regrets tonight. She's blow my phone up for the last three or four days and want me to make sure I tell everybody. She misses you and she sure wish she could be here. And I do too. I don't like sleeping by myself. And I sure didn't last night. Man I'll tell you I didn't sleep much last night wrestling to get some spirits. And but you know what we're going to overcome that. The Bible says now the word the Lord came unto John of the Son. Rise and go into Nineveh that great city and cry against it. For the wickedness is to come before me. But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarsha from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Japa. And he found a ship going to Tarsha. So we pay the fair. And he went down into yet to go with the element of Tarsha from the presence of the Lord. I don't ever want to run from the presence of God. Oh I feel him in this house tonight. Now the Lord have prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. The Lord will help me tonight just for a little bit. I want to preach on this thought the battle against your will. The battle against your will. Can you lay your babbles down and ask God to help us right now. God thank you for every individual that's in this room. God I ask you for the next few minutes, God, that you would anoint me from the top of my head to the soul of my feet. God that I can be a mouthpiece of you. God that you can speak through the hearts of minds and souls. God I don't want to be long. I just want to be effective God in the hearts and the minds of people tonight. God I thank you for what we feel. Thank you for the great song leaders and musicians. But God we've come to the best part. There is God and that's your word. And God I'm asking you God she would take over. God that you would speak through me to your people. Come on clap your hands to the Lord and give him praise as you see it tonight. The greatest battle that there is is yourself. I say it often I'm not worried about anybody deceiving me. But sometimes I wear about myself deceiving myself. I don't believe there's anybody in this world that can deceive me from this truth that I believe and I cherish. And this gospel that I uphold and I stand for and I believe it with all of my heart. And I believe the Word of God in everything it says. But can I tell you there is a world out here that is doing everything they can to deceive the heart and the mind of people and they're doing everything they can to try to get your mind twisted and the thinking that truth is still not right. We sing that song what's wrong with living right. I don't know about you church but I don't want anything else. I'm not looking for anything else less than what God has for me. I'm not interested in the grammar of the light know the spotlight. I helped me hold it. But give me that old time religion. Give me that old time. Hold it. Come on. I'm telling you it still works. Living for God still works. Being faithful to church. It still works. Paying your ties. It still works. Living holy and separate from the world. It still works. It may not be popular to many but it is still right. Somebody praise the Lord right now. The greatest battle is within our own self. We read the story we understand and I know most of you learned about a lot of this in Sunday school class but let me preach here just for a few minutes. I probably won't be that long tonight. You know I said probably. But Jonah was running from the presence of God. Jonah was battling the will of his own self. He knew what God had told him to do. He knew the will of God for his life. But yet in the heart of Jonah is like a lot of us. We just don't want to do what's right sometimes. Now you know we said it the other night the saying is in our society feels good. Just do it. Let me tell you that's not right. If it's not pleasing to this word it's not right. And we still believe hero Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord. There is but one faith and one baptism. I want to tell you church and there's no separation and Jesus. He's God Almighty. I come to tell you tonight the battle is within your own wheel. The battle's within your own flesh. To do what you know is right. To be seated tonight we understand the flesh. Don't always want to do what's right. You can't expect even a hundred percent out of your children. Sometimes they're going to do things. That's not right. Hallelujah. Amen. I remember when my kids was little. I remember people my first child especially. They said you might as well put all this stuff up. Amen. I said I'm gonna put it up. I'm just gonna train them that you can't catch it. It's you. Hallelujah. But can I tell you through training the gym? Sometimes I would look and she would look at me as she was reaching for the object. Knowing in her heart I'm not supposed to touch it. But just trying the boundary line. I just want to preach for a few minutes what God get me land on this floor here today. Like it has been every day I've been here all day long. Sinking the mind in the direction of God. But can I tell you tonight heaven you're not here by accident. God brought you here for a purpose. For a preacher to preach to you. That you gotta fight against the will of your flesh. Your flesh don't want to do right. It's easier to do it some of the way. But it's still not right. If it's not God's way. You hear me Jonah. You're gonna have to suffer some pain. You're gonna have to battle some pain. You're gonna have to go through something. And all Jonah had to do was do what he knew was right. Well somebody praise him right. Why was the head of a voice to preach? Like I really feel like preaching right now. It is in the hearts and the minds of people to push the limit of what's right. Hallelujah. John you gotta realize the will of God was a whole lot closer than the will of Jonah. But Jonah did not want to do what was right and what God had told him to do. I just want to tell you tonight I don't want to have to suffer the curses of God because I want to do what pleases me. Well I feel the Holy Ghost coming on me right now. I don't want to have to let my children suffer because I want to please this flesh. Oh yeah I'm gonna tell you things could have been different from Jonah. Jonah even said it like this. He said it's like the belly of hell. He went through teleport and he tore me up in the belly of that well. I want to tell you it didn't have to be that way but it was fighting. It is the will of his flesh to do what's right. Let me see it so we understand that the greatest battle the man will ever face is his own self. Hallelujah. The greatest battle. I'm talk to a man just not too many days ago was raised around this man. He lived in our home for some period of time running from the presence of God. He back-sleeved. Aping his children. Aping came to code one scripture to you. He took him out of the house of dawn but he sent across the table not many days ago and he said preacher if I only would have done what was right and not what I wanted to do. He said now I've got to suffer that my children don't know anything about truth. Come on moms and dads you gotta rise up against that flesh and say hey I'm going to do what's right. What was put in my heart. What was put in my spirit. Separation from the world. It's still right. Holiness is still right. Living for God is still right. There's nothing in this world that I'm inside and I just want to be right. I want to say something right here because it's conflicts with some what some might think. If you're lost it's not the devil's fault. I know it's going to blow some of yours mind. If you go to hell it's not going to be the devil's fault. My God I feel like preaching a few minutes. It's not going to be your neighbor's fault. It's not going to be your wife's fault or your husband's fault or your tune. It's going to be your fault. When you stand in eternity you've got to look God and say God I can't blame anybody but myself. I let my flesh take me to hell. It was because the flesh was stronger than the will inside of me to do what's right. We see what happened in Jonah. The will of Jonah was stronger in his life than the will of God to do what was right. Man sat there tears weiled up in his eyes. He said the hardest thing for me to imagine. In hell is when I hear my kids scream my name and it's going to be my fault. I want you to thank him. I didn't come to preach to you tonight to make us run and shout and jump. We're having Holy Ghost revival. I'm trying to preach people out of sin. I'm not trying to make you feel good. I don't want you to leave and say oh what a powerful preacher he is. But I want to see somebody get the Holy Ghost. I want to see somebody begin to fight against the will of the flesh that says oh I'll be alright. I'll get it right one day. I'll change one but what about your babies? What about your children? What about your family? What about those that look up to you? What about those that's following you? You hear me? You got to fight against the will of the flesh. It don't want to leave right. It don't want to do right. I got to have the presence of God. You see that we are in a battle against the flesh. If some of us could be honest, not in a bad way but you had to make yourself push yourself to come to church tonight. I know you're tired. We ain't had easy church. For the Caleb said it, we've been having church to 10, 10, 30 every night. People get in the Holy Ghost. People sleet out baptizing. That's old-time church. Hey, I'm gonna tell you. I remember a million, many a night. Every the clock strike midnight. And we just believe in the church. I'll tell you what the difference is. They had a desire. It don't matter about the time. It don't matter what I got to do tomorrow. I just want to be right. I just want to be in the presence of the Lord. I can be the priest of somebody. Don't leave. Badly within your own ability. But hey, Jesus Christ, he's here to help you. He's here to pick you up. He's here to turn your life around. Come on, somebody thank him and praise him right now. Getting out of the will of God is a hard thing. Y'all, let me preach a few more minutes. Getting out of the will of God is a dangerous thing. Used to sing that song, saying it, take your father. Then you ever wanted to go. In a keep your longer than you've ever wanted to stay. Can I tell you tonight? I was preaching just about a month or so ago in a place. There was a young lady there. She was 16 years old. God, give me a strong burden. I can tell you I was preaching to that young lady. A large crowd that was there. I wasn't preaching to everybody. I was preaching to that girl. She said in her period she cried and wept. I prophesied and went forth. I got a phone call less than two weeks later. The phone I answered and said hello. Oh, the other hand was the pastor. He said, Brother McCormick, you remember that 16 year old girl that you reached for and you begged and pleaded and you prophesied to. He said, she passed away. She lost her life today. I want to tell you it was a battle against her own will. She wanted to run to the altar. Conviction was all over. Hey, but she told somebody a day or two later. I'm young. I want to live life to the fullest. But I want it to not in hell. If it really matters to her. I want it to not ignore me. If it really matters. I promise you, you hear me. She'd run to this altar. Hey, the will of the flesh. It's not worth it to live the flesh. It's not worth it. You hear me? You're not too young or too old to battle against the flesh. I've come to preach a burden tonight. You got to fight against the will of the flesh. You don't want to do what right. Let me see you. Preacher, you shouldn't tell stories like that. I don't think she'd have a problem with it. If she could come back and have one more service. You hear me, moms and dads? Go ahead and please yourself. It's not going to be worth it in eternity when you got to listen to them screams. I'm closer to being done in what you think. But I came with a strong burden in this house tonight. I don't know tonight. Made me the last night. I don't like to end it this way. But you know what it is, what it is. I'm going to preach what God give me to preach. The battle against the wheel. And the stories could go on and on and on. I can tell you one that just happened when just a few days ago, right before I came here to preach. As a matter of fact, it was when we could go yesterday. The Lord spoke a message. I was sitting on the platform. I just got done preaching. We had good church. I walked out the poop and started walking back to my chair. And the Lord spoke a message to my heart and said, you're going to preach it here. I never said anything. We after church, I went to eat with the pastor, me and him. We talked. He said, I want to get you back as soon as possible. I still never said what God spoke to me. I got in my car and I was driving home at several hours to drive the phone run. I looked down. It was that pastor. He said, I don't know what it is. He said, I just can't let it go. We come back and preach one more night. I said, yes, sir. And then I told him what God spoke to me. I walked in at sanctuary. I walked to that pulpit. I preached my heart. I prophesied to a man. And then God pulled in tongue. He got up and walked down, talking about a week ago yesterday. He walked down the presence of God. I just want to do what's right in my own self. But you know what today? He lost his wife and children. He's batsling on God. He's a miserable case. It didn't have to be that way. But anyway, I just don't want to get right preacher. I'm satisfied. Do what pleases me. I come to preach to you tonight. It didn't have to end this way. It don't have to be this way. Hey, you don't have to go to the belly of the well. You separate things. You battle things. You know what's right with the inside of yourself. Hey, why don't you get it right tonight? Don't run from God, but run to God. At least I'm hurt in 23 minutes. I almost died. Flash. You hear me young people. Don't take peer pressure from nobody. I was 15 years old right there in Joplin. I went by there today. I drove by there going down memory lane. All the young people was going somewhere they weren't supposed to go. Look, Cliff, I was fighting this flesh. I didn't want to hurt nobody's feelings. But I knew what was right. And I knew I didn't want to be lost. I can name your names, not a one of them in church. Everyone of y'all would know everyone of them's name. We're driving down the road. I looked over and looked at one and said, "Man, I'm not going." I can't repeat the things he called me. He said, "What are you going to do, little perfect boy?" I said, "I'll tell you what, you let me out right here. I'm talking about right in the middle of Joplin." I said, "You let me out right here and I'll wait on you." I ain't going to tell nobody what you're doing. You just promise you'll come back and pick me up when you're done. Peer pressure. Several cars we pulled over. I became a laughingstock. They laughed. They got in their cars. They laughed. Several hours later they came back and picked me up. And the laughing kept going. Years have come and years have gone. I'm in church and not a one of them's in church. You hear me? Peer pressure. I can raise this. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. Somebody needs to hear this preacher. You can't stand against peer pressure of this world. You know what? Every laugh and mockery. It was worth it. Was I perfect? No. I never told us so. I was married head kids before that conversation was ever talked about. I held to my words, but I also held to my convictions. Hey, you know why? I want to be saved. It's not because I'm perfect. I just don't want to go to the belly of hell. I don't want to have to spend a night in the belly of the whale. I don't want to have to wrestle with slaves of hell. I just want to be saved. I just want to be right. Oh, let's lift our hands and let the Lord right now. Isn't really going to be worth it. Jonah, I promise you them three days and three nights was the worst time of his life. And all he had to do was do I was right. All God asked him to do. But oh, no, God, I'm going to please myself. You hear me tonight. It's going to cost you family. It's going to cost you loved ones just because you want to do what please is the flash. Let me see the case and come back and play something softly. I'm not stopping just quite yet, but I'm fixing to you. You got to start listening to the flash. I was in another state. It was preaching. It was a man sitting there. God was dealing with very strongly. He had been coming for several nights of the revival. I've been told it a heavy, heavy, heavy burden for this man. It was that night. The server is kind of like tonight with a clear for heaven. Can we just lift our hands and love the Lord after? I just want to follow the direction of what I feel. Come on, let's lift our hands. Let's lift our voice. God. It was a service kind of like we're having tonight. Man, the presence of God was so strict. It was so strong. It was young man sitting on the very back pew. Everybody came up front. Everybody was praying. I eased down. I eased back there. That pew or that boy said. And I said, "Son, within one week, if you don't get things right tonight, one week, they're going to have your funeral." But I said, "If you'll get right, God's going to spare you life." That young man laid his head back and he started laughing to the top of his voice. He pointed his finger. He said, "You're a fool, preacher. I stood their tears streaming down my face. I can take you to the little church where it was at." He started mocking me and laughing and carrying on and everybody but then didn't realize what was going on. I pleaded with that young man. He called me everything you could be called. I just stood their tears streaming down my face. He started out the door. He turned around and said, "Preacher, you're a fool." I said, "I prophesied one week, one week." Church was over. I went home. One week to the day, I got a phone call from the pastor. He said, "Brother McCormick, you remember that boy?" He said, "He was riding a motorcycle. Me and that church worked with him. He went to work and he was talking about the preacher. That preacher is crazy. He don't know what he's talking. I'm a young boy. I've got plenty of time to live." One week to the day. You know what the screams and the cries is that young man draw his last breath was? Would somebody get that preacher? Somebody called the preacher. He's not a fool no more, you know. He didn't have to him that way. But when he walked out of that door, it was the battle against his own will. The presence of God was there. God was pulling. "I was the saint to begin to talk to the Lord right now." He didn't have to him that way. But it was simply in the heart of a foolish child. Preacher, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to tell you years have come and years have gone. I can tell you story after story. I just come to preach to some Jonas in here. Hey, God brought you in this room tonight. He's preaching to you tonight. It ain't going to have to end the way you want it to. Or the way you think it's going to end. All you got to do is get out of that seat and say, "I've ran long enough. I've lived with this fish long enough. I've fought the belly of hell long enough. Hey, he's your baby's worth it. Is your children worth it? Hey, are you satisfied with hearing the screams of your babies? Hey, you can shout with them. You can dance with them. You can take your back down memory lane. Hear the preacher. All you got to do is go to Nineveh. But the flash said, "Oh no, somebody better hear this preacher right now. This could be the last time you ever set his presence." You do what you want to with it. But I'm here preaching to you right now. These authors are open. Come on. Is it going to be worth it? Is it really going to be worth it? Come on. Why don't you run out of this altar? It's saying, "Hey, I don't want to be lost. I don't want to go to hell. I don't want my children to be miserable in hell." Come on, the Lord's calling. Come on, the Lord's calling in this house tonight. Cheers you this day. Cheers you this day. You're going to serve. Come on. God's pulling and God's reaching. Hey, come on. There ain't nothing worth going to hell over. There ain't nothing be worth being lost over. God's in a preacher. God's in a preacher in this house. He's preaching. He's reaching. There's nothing worth being lost over. Bye! (upbeat music)