Keion Henderson - The Purpose of Perception

I’m going to start with verse one, then I’m going to skip all the way down to verse 11 of First Samuel 16. Here 's what the Bible says: «And the Lord said unto Samuel .» This is a question I’m asking some of you today: How long are you going to cry about it? I have rejected the thing you’re crying about. Go to verse 11, and Samuel said unto Jesse, «These are all your kids?» And he said, «For the most part, there is one that remains in the field, and he is the youngest; he keeps the sheep.» He’s not important. Jesse says, «Don 't worry about him.» Samuel said, «Go get him because I would like to talk to him.» I want to talk about the purpose of perception. The purpose of perception. You may be seated. One of my favorite scriptures in all of the Bible is Jeremiah 31 and 3. He says, «I have loved you with an everlasting love,» and he says, «because of that,» it’s God saying, «it’s the reason that I have remained faithful to you.» I want to talk to you about this. They are getting ready to show you a clip on the screen. There is no sound, but I need you to see it because it gives the idea that sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you. As you look at this graphic, I want to step to the side and get out of the way because that’s what we call the «What- so-you-thought.» It’s actually a sheet of paper. If positioned at the right angle, you could have sworn you were looking at a Rubik’s Cube. This is the difficulty of life because we believe our eyes more than we believe our faith, and the Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. I wonder how many images the enemy has put in front of you that have caused anamorphic illusion, or what we would call an optical illusion, which would be used to throw you off and make you see what is not really there. God says, «I’ve loved you with what? An everlasting love .» Two things: I loved you, the past tense, everlasting-that’s all time, never-ending. So, I loved you before you started. Listen, I also loved you before starting, okay? I am He who is and was and is to come. He is omnipotent, which means He knows everything. He’s omniscient, and he’s omnipresent, which means he’s everywhere at the same time. Now, when you hear great authors like Arthur Pink in the attributes of God suggest that God is omnipresent, it doesn’t mean that God is just everywhere at the same time, although that’s true. But right now, God is in California and He is in Afghanistan. Right now, God is in Iraq and He is in Third Ward. He’s everywhere at the same time, but when the Bible says that He’s omnipresent, it doesn’t mean locale; it actually means that whatever time there ever has been, that’s where God is. This means that if this stage is a continuum and right where I stand represents 2018, it means that God is in 2018. And since you are not omnipresent, the only place you could ever be is where you are. But since God is omnipresent and He never begins, God is still in 1725. God is still in 625. God is still in year one because He is everywhere at the same time. What 's good is He’s in year 3050 waiting on whoever will be here to catch up because He’s everywhere. «I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I have remained faithful to you, knowing you.» Now let me tell you, thank God for people who love you that don’t know you, and thank God for people who love you that know you a little bit. But when somebody knows you, knows you, and knows your thoughts afar off, and can hold yourself accountable for what you’re thinking right now while still loving you, He deserves the praise. Ain 't that the truth? Like, for real, for real. Like, do you know anybody? Go holla at your boy. I’m talking about like the one- the one, one- that dude, like the one who makes your journal and hides it, and he knows that person and gives gifts without taking them back. Because since He’s loved us with an everlasting love, He did not give the gift on the merit: even while we were yet sinners, He loved us. He didn’t love you because you loved Him; He loved you in spite of you. That 's an everlasting love. I thought of this: I’ve never heard it. I wrote it down, and maybe it will make sense to you. But I thought that love expressed in the present but not felt in the past is sometimes difficult to accept. Love expressed today in the present is a little difficult when I needed it and didn’t feel it. Yeah, it’s easier to love you now because you can help somebody pay their bills. It’s easy to love you now because you have enough spiritual discernment to speak into people’s lives. It’s easy to love you now because you don’t have the attitude that you used to have. It’s easy to love you now because you don’t cuss folk out like you used to. It’s easy to love you now because you don’t cut folk off like you used to. It’s easy to love you now. But, man, don’t you wish people would have loved you when you didn’t have all your stuff together? Don 't you wish that they would have loved you while you were making mistakes? Come on, ha! Let me ask you, don’t you wish that they would have loved you while you were not living up to your expectations and you weren't acting all Christian?