Sunday Morning Worship Service
by Anthony McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Kings 22:4-8, Haggai 1:7-8, Mark 8, Mark 2, Luke 17:14

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/anthony-mccool--sunday-morning-worship-service-13
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 2 Kings chapter number 22, and we're going to read verses 4 uh through 8. I welcome everyone back home from the fall break uh season. And uh if you're traveling in and uh driving back home today in preparation for school or work, uh worship alongside of us, but when you pray, keep your eyes open. Amen. for those on the road. 2 Kings 22 verse4 go up to Hilkay the high priest that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers. Everybody sayd doers. doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And let them give it to the doers of the work. Say doers again. Which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches of the house. Unto carpenters and builders and masons and to buy timber and hoon stone to repair the house. somebody that was going to get to work. How be it, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand because they dealt faithfully. And Hilki the high priest said unto Shapan the scribe in the midst of this restoration, if I might add this context, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkaya gave the book to Shapan and he read it for a few moments this morning. I want to speak to you on the topic the revelation of restoration. And let me say one more time on our last verse in the midst of their restoration project is when they found the word of God. when they got to work is when they found the word of God. Does everybody get that before we pray? Okay, I just want to want to make sure there's a lot of names there and a lot of verses and coming back to your seats and just make sure that we hammered that home. The revelation of restoration. Let's pray right now. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you are doing on this Sunday. Lord, we thank you for the outpouring of your love and your grace and your mercy and your spirit that has already been with us this morning. And we ask you continue to move, continue to work, continuing to pour out your anointing on all people, Lord. Let our minds be open. Let our hearts be sensitive to what you would have for us this morning. That we may walk out of here renewed. That we may walk out of here refreshed. That we may walk out of here with a supernatural vision for the calling that you have on our life. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. The revelation of restoration. For centuries, millions of people have looked up at Michelangelo's magnificent ceiling in the Cyine Chapel. But over time, something happened. Centuries of accumulated grime, for lack of a better term, and other surface deposits had obscured the extraordinary colors of his original masterpiece. In 1980, a massive restoration project began. For years, specialists worked painstakingly to remove the layers that had accumulated over the centuries. And as the restoration progressed, something remarkable emerged. Colors that had been hidden for generations began to appear again. brilliant blues and vibrant greens and extraordinary detail that had it been obscured by time. The masterpiece had been there all along. And the problem wasn't that the artist had failed to create something beautiful. The problem was that the years had concealed what was already there. And here's the fascinating topic from my perspective is they did not discover those colors by standing beneath the ceiling and talking about what needed to change. They discovered them when they began the restoration. They discovered them when somebody decided that I'm going to get this years of grime and this surface deposit that this ceiling for all accounts being neglected. I'm going to start to clean things up is when its beauty begin to reveal itself once again. Sometimes what you're searching for isn't something new. Sometimes it's waiting beneath what you've allowed to accumulate in your life. And that brings us to our key text and our key story this morning. The young king Josiah who decided it was time to restore the house of God. He began repairing the temple. And in the middle of restoration, they discovered something extraordinary, something living, something breathing. And that was the word of God. And the point this morning is it not simply that they found the word, it's what they were doing when they found it. The word was discovered in the middle of a restoration project. And perhaps what you've been waiting for is waiting in the restoration that you have been postponing. Josiah became king of Judah at a young age, inheriting a nation devastated by generations of idolatry and spiritual compromise. The temple was still standing. The priesthood still existed. And the religious traditions continued from the surface, from the outside, from the exterior. It looked as if everything was perfect. It looked as if everything was going on as normal. But there was something vastly missing in the hearts and in the lives of the people in the priesthood. And mighty God speaking to us this morning. That's a dangerous place for us to be spiritually. maintaining the appearance of worship while losing the substance of your relationship with God. Spiritual decline rarely happens overnight. It's a prayer getting postponed, a conviction getting compromised. What once mattered deeply becomes increasingly unimportant. And eventually you learn to live without what you once couldn't live without. But Josiah the young king refused to accept the temple condition. He refused to accept the status quo. He refused to accept the overall notion of the majority and those that were the yesmen and the yes women in his life saying, "Hey, everything's good. Hey, you can do it like this and everything's going to be all right. He refused to accept the agreed upon principles of the day that all is okay. He determined that the house of God needed to be restored. And in the middle of those repairs, we read that he said, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." And don't miss the order this morning. They began repairing the house and then they discovered the book. Imagine all of this religious ceremony taking place. Imagine all of the priesthood and those in lofty places uh buttoning up their tie even though they didn't have ties then. looking the part and giving their worship and giving their praise and oh on the exterior it looked the part. But imagine they were doing this for all of those years without the very foundation for the reason for which they were supposed to be living in the first place. They had the church part down, if you will. They had the singing and the eloquent preaching down, if you will. They had all of the logistics down and all of the order down and they were doing all of this without the word of the Lord in their life. Oh, and if that happened to them, certainly that couldn't happen to us. That couldn't happen to me that's been serving God for so many years. That couldn't happen to me that if everything's better be right if you want me to lift my hands, the AC better be set on the exact temperature. And oh, if that decimal level gets too loud, I'm out of here. I'm too hot. I'm too cold. It's too loud. It's too soft. This one looked at me funny. I can't sit close to this one. Oh, her perfume kills me. Oh, the suffering in the last day. Oh, the persecution and the the oppression that besets us. Oh, there's too many cars in the parking lot. Oh, that that that color of light is blue instead of white. Oh, God, help us. This untored generation. Oh my goodness. Oh, how dare they? It couldn't happen to me. I wonder how many of us are waiting for God to speak before we take the next step. When God has already spoken and is waiting for us to respond, we'll come up with every excuse in the world. Oh, people look at me different or people perceive me different or I'm just an outsider. I'm not in this group or I haven't oh, all of these things and all of these things. And uh like I said at the beginning, David, the man after God's own heart, the giant killer, the chosen one, if you will, the king of Israel who united the Federation uh and the unity of the whole nation together. Everybody had turned against him. And it says he encouraged himself in the Lord. If your walk with God, if your relationship with God is dependent upon a family member encouraging you or another human being or anything of this world, guess what? It is going to let you down. Your relationship has to be solely with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords because uh humanity is going to make mistakes. Family's going to let you down. People's going to let you down. Institutions are going to let you down. Are those things bad? No. But people are people. Humanity inflicts all of us. But you've got to have a madeup mind. You've got to have a madeup mind that nothing's going to separate me. Yeah. I'm allowed to have opinions. Yeah, I'm allowed to have things I like or dislike, and that's fine. We all have those. But for goodness sake, for heaven's sake, don't let that be a deterrent in your worship, in your praise, in your perception towards somebody else, in your relationships. How petty. How petty. But God meets people in motion. God don't meet people with their hands folded, stepping back. God beats people in motion. There's a tension running through the miracle stories of scripture that deserves more than a convenient answer. And notice the theology this morning. If God is sovereign and if miracles belong entirely to his power, why does the Bible contain so much human movement around them? That's the question presented. Why are people leaving towns? Why are people gathering vessels? Why are they carrying mats? Why are they stepping into rivers? Why are they walking toward priests? Why are they pressing through crowds and waiting in upper rooms? God possesses the power. He's omnipotent. Yet scripture repeatedly pays attention to where people are standing when his power meets their need. Let the theology be clear from the beginning. You cannot earn a miracle. You cannot manipulate God with obedience. Faith is not currency. Prayer is not leverage. Fasting is not a down payment on divine intervention. Grace cannot be purchased. Sovereignty cannot be manipulated. And faith does not put God in our debt. Yet biblical faith is rarely passive. Faith believes something about God so deeply that eventually what it believes changes how it behaves. It leaves when God says leave. It prepares when God says prepare. It steps when God says step. And it waits where God says wait. Human movement does not produce divine power. Obedience is simply one of the languages through which genuine faith speaks. That is the distinction that I want us to hold on this morning in our theological or pragmatic theology. if you will, our our practical theology, the theology that we live with and walk with and put into practice in our daily life and our daily decisions and in our daily conversations. We do not position ourselves to deserve a miracle. We position ourselves because we believe God is able to perform one. The miracle belongs to God. The question is whether our faith is willing to move. And I said all that I said earlier because the enemy would like to distract you with something petty in your life or he would like to distract you with something very serious in your life to do whatever he can to restrict to prohibit to drown out the voice of God in your life to take the next step for him to perform a miracle. He will do whatever he can. Whether it's division interpersonally, whether it's a complaint or criticism, whether it's a perceived slight, oh, they looked at me the wrong way, or it might be a very serious doctor's report. It might be a notice that you've only got a week left of work before the layoffs kick in. It could be petty. It could be very serious. But regardless of what the obstacle is, you cannot allow anything to prohibit you from the hearing the voice of God in your life because he's wanting to direct you to take the next step to be in position for a miracle to take place. >> Does that make sense? >> I think that's good theology. But it doesn't matter what I think. It's what the word of God states. that the miracle belongs to God. The question is whether our faith is willing to move. If the sound's too loud, no offense, Brother Robbie, I didn't even know you were going to be on that this morning. Hey, we can get together and talk about it and we'll figure it out. If it's too soft, we can do that. If it's too hot, you can don't take off too many clothes, but if it's too cold, you can bring We'll figure we'll figure petty stuff. No, nothing's happened. I'm just talking generally. So don't walk up and get offended because you I'm not forgive me. But what I'm talking about is there's some very simple things in our life that we uh allow to be magnified and escalated when a conversation of resolution could take place. And I and I talk about very simple things here within just a group of people joining together. But the same thing is true in our interpersonal relationships as well. So many times if I'll get on the phone with a contrite heart and a spirit of resolution, I can work some things out and I can fix some things and we can walk hand in hand together and move forward. But often times what happens is the enemy, hey, why don't you recruit this person and that person and let's let's choose up sides and let's put an ambiguous social media post up that they know is directed at them. I hadn't posted in a month, but now it's directed at them. And uh all of these silly silly silly petty things. And and then the comments start and then and then somebody sees the two brothers or two sisters. And that's not just isolated to this church body. I'm not talking about anything personally, but I'm just talking about in general. And then people get online that aren't connected to God really in much of any way or connected to a church of any kind. And they see this stuff that's in confusing and ambiguous. And there it doesn't bring joy. Does it bring peace? And it just brings even more noise that prohibits individuals from serving and hearing and discerning the voice of God. Wow. Where did all that come from? Let's get back home point. You may not be able to recover 10 years of spiritual neglect in a single service. And I know that we identify ourselves as apostolic Pentecostal. I believe that we serve a God who can do a miraculous work in an instant and absolutely as we sang everything changes. I believe that. But he also works with your faithfulness as well. You may not be able to recover 10 years of spiritual neglect in a single service, but you can make a decision. Now this might not make everybody run around and all that but you can make a decision that those 10 years will not become a living. >> Is that okay? >> You can't change where you have been but you can change the next step that you take and what you do next. And sometimes the greatest breakthrough in your life begins in the smallest act of obedience. The word was beneath the neglect. And neglect is really not even the this has such a negative connotation. I I mean neglect in the sense that uh you can be a a a faithful mom, a faithful dad, a faithful husband, a a faithful wife, working all these hours and working and all this stuff, but in all of even the busyiness, we can neglect and lose perspective of the most important thing in our life and that's the word of God. And what astonishes me about the story of Josiah, it's where the book was found. It was found in the house of God. They still had a temple. They still had the priesthood. They still had the traditions. But they had lost contact with the very word that gave it all meaning. And I wonder if that describes myself here this morning. Or does it describe you this morning in a situation I still believe. I still were. I know how to worship. I know how to praise. I I know how to clap on beat and get with the music. I know how to knot up my tie. I know how to say the words. I know how to look the part. And I wonder if this could describe a portion in our lives this morning. You still believe. You still worship. You still remember what it felt like when God's presence was the priority of your life. But somewhere beneath the disappointments, somehow beneath the distractions and the demands of life, something has begun or has been buried. Yet I came to remind you what has been neglected does not have to remain lost. There is still a promise worth believing in. There is still an altar worth rebuilding. And we serve a God who restores the broken things. In Hegi 17:8, God commanded his people to consider their ways. Notice this. Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build his house. God didn't just say, "Hey, feel differently, and I'm going to meet you." He said, "Roll up your sleeves, pick this up, walk up the mountain, get to work." He told them to do something. And sometimes that's where myself and sometimes that's where we can miss it. We want the restoration without the responsibility. We want the spiritual home without establishing the altar. We wanted we want a deeper relationship with God without making room for him in our lives. But restoration requires a response. And at some point, you have to be the one to pick up the tools. You have to be the one that begins to rebuild what's been neglected. And here's what I love about Josiah's story. God didn't wait until the restoration had already been complete. He didn't say, "Hey, once you get this done, that's when I'm going to meet you." But he saw some faithful individuals who said, "I need to work on some things in my life. I need to begin to rebuild some things in my life. And they hadn't met the overall restoration point. But after two or three days of faithfulness, after two or three days of a madeup mind of sticking to a plan, God be to reveal his word to them. And I believe that there's somebody under the sound of my voice this morning. Maybe you're coming out of counseling. Maybe you're taking a new path in your marriage relationship. Maybe it's financially. God's going to meet you before you get to the end of your restoration process. He sees the faithfulness in your walk and your made up mind and your commitment right now. Give the Lord a hand clap of praise. He met them in the middle of their work. You still may have struggles. You still are going to have unanswered questions. There's still going to be broken places in your life, but don't wait until everything is repaired to start responding to God. The word you're looking for may be in the waiting in the work that you've been avoiding. You may know exactly what you need to do this morning to get back on the right path. Yeah, but I failed when I tried it last time. I failed when I tried it the last two times. It doesn't matter. Why can't this time be the time that God reveals himself to you? I can't change the last 10 years, but I can tell you what number 11's going to look like. It's going to be a year of jubilee. It's going to be a year of celebration. Yeah, I failed at the 5-year mark. Yeah, I failed at the 9-year mark. Oh, the enemy's in my ear saying, "You're never going to get through year 10, but the next decision is going to be a different one. And while this story is centered around Josiah, when he started repairing the temple, the word revealed that the nation needed restoring as well. What be started as a construction project for one individual became a spiritual awakening for the entire nation. When you start walking faithfully, God's going to meet you. And you know what God does? He uses you to preach his gospel through your life, through your testimony a and says, "Oh, look what God did to that person. Yeah, I'm friends with them and I've I've seen them give up and I've seen them fail several times, but now I look at them and it's like there is a glow about them. there's a a new way about them and it inspires me and it encourages me and it preaches a sermon to me that hey maybe I need to start digging around in my life. Maybe I need to start restoring things and God uses you to reveal himself to others. What began as a construction project became a spiritual awakening. You may start praying because your marriage needs help, only to discover that God wants to change something in your own heart. You may return to church because your children need direction, only to discover that God has something greater for your own life. You came looking for help with one broken place, but God started dealing with the whole house. God started dealing with the whole community. God started dealing with the whole city because one person made a declaration that I'm going to encourage myself in the Lord. I'm going to start a restoration project regardless of what all of the other voices in my life say. And I wonder what could happen this morning if there was an individual in this congregation who had the madeup mind that says as of yesterday I failed but today is not yesterday. If they decided and made a declaration today that today is a new day. His mercy and grace are new every morning. And my next right decision starts on this Sunday. And I'm going to look back to this Sunday when I started that restoration project when God met me in the middle of my work and in the middle of my faithfulness. And that's when everything changed. That's the time that I point to. That's the time that I look to. That's the time that I tell others about where God met me in my mess. What could happen if one person made up their mind? Could it influence all of us? What if one person made up their mind that this house and in my house, like Joshua said, this shall be the house of the Lord? I'm going to build an altar in my house. I put some other things in a higher perspective, in a higher place. Yes, we go to church. Yes, we worship. Yes, we praise. Yes, we give. Yes, we're faithful to his house. But I know down deep inside when I get home, there's a lot of other stuff. And there's a lot of other voices that are paramount to the word of God in my life. But all that's in the past cuz this day there's going to be a father go home and say, "Hey, we're going to have daily Bible reading. We're going to have daily prayer." There's going to be a mother that says, "Hey, this is more important than this practice. This is more important than this activity. This is more important than going here. We're setting aside time. We're making time. This is the time where our house is going to if there's just one person, what could happen? What could happen in your marriage if you took the first step and said, "Hey, our our marriage is going to get stronger." What would happen if your ministry if you answered the calling that you've been avoiding or God's been dealing with you? God's been talking to you and he's telling you you need to take that next that next step. You may think you're taking one small step toward restoration, but you have no idea what God can set in motion through one act of obedience. Yes, God cares about you, but when you do that, it's going to affect everyone else around you. And we say this often, the most powerful sermons, the word of God tells us in Revelation that uh we'll be saved by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Some of the most powerful sermons are not from behind a podium, but it's by the testimonies and the lives of his people who've come and gone through unimaginable circumstances, but they're still here and not survive. Not just surviving, they're thriving and they've got a mighty story to tell. Do you know what can break a service wide open? Is when somebody has trouble in their life. When somebody may have felt like a failure throughout the week. Oh, but when they step forward and says, "Hey, this is the day. This is You talk about getting encouraged. You talk about getting inspired. I can put a bunch of words together and and try to make you feel good, but it does not compare to when that saint of God steps forward and says, "This is the day." That's what makes me start shouting. That's what makes me start dancing. That's what gets me out of my feet, out of my seat and on my feet. All of the other things in my life that are noise and my preferences, they begin to drown out when I realize that somebody's been going through hell, but they made their way in to the house of God and they lifted up their hands and God met them. >> Do you believe that this morning? Do you believe that this morning? Oh, that's a powerful sermon. Oh, that's a powerful sermon. I'm thankful for those who find that word of God in their life when there's not even any music going or nobody's singing, but they get up and they say, "I just can't sit still. I got to get on the move. I don't even know where I'm going, but I got to run. I got to move. I got to shout. I got to dance >> as we enter into the New Testament. Jesus over and over and over and over and over and over again. If I if you were in a court of law and I was a an attorney standing before a judge or a jury and I was talking about the miracles of Jesus, I would state with confidence and state with scriptural precedent that oftent times miracles took place in the word of God to people who were on the move. Now, I'm not going to go through every miracle. Now, we don't have time for that, but just a just a few. In Mark 8, Jesus tells us about a blind man that he met at Bethada. And instead of immediately healing him where he stands, it says Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village he was in. Now Jesus, God manifest in flesh. He's omnipotent. He's omnisient. He's omnipresent. There's no doubt unequivocally that he could heal in the midst of that Bethesa community. Though as we go on and read in Mark 8, he calls that city an unrepentant city. He said, "Had the same miracles been done in Sodom that were done there, Sodom would have turned around." That's a pretty that's a pretty backhanded bash by Jesus. But he essentially tells the blind man, "Before I do a work in your life, I'm going to have to lead you out of this environment that you are in, and you're going to have to trust the hand that you're holding. He I'm going to have to put you on the move." He changed where this man would stand. Modern behavioral research demonstrates over and over and over how powerful environment can influence our behavior because Jesus doesn't want you to just have a one-time touch and then so he wants your miracle in your life sustainable for you to advance your calling, advance your ministry to impact those around you. Changing environments does not automatically produce freedom, but environments matter. Sometimes we pray for freedom while carefully preserving the environment of our bondage. We ask God for purity while maintaining effortless access to temptation. We pray for peace while continually feeding our minds outrage. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do, you ready for this? This is revelatory right here. This was an angel coming down and sprinkling some gold dust and writing this out so I could see. Just kidding. Don't get offended. Sometimes the most spiritual thing that we could do in our lives is change venues, change the room, change the environment, get the temptation out of my life, get those voices out of my life, and take a hold a hand of God. And as he leads you out of that environment, when you start that restoration project in your life of removing the things that are creating bondage in your life, he gives you forgiveness. He gives you mercy and grace. But then you go back to the same environment that's bringing about these actions in the first place. He's saying, "Hey, I've got something amazing for you. I've got a spiritual awakening for you. Oh, if you want this day to be the day, you're going to have to get a little bit more serious. You're going to have to roll up your sleeves a little bit more and get to work. And you're going to have to step out of those things that have been handcuffing you. Mark 2 tells us that some friends brought a man to Jesus, but the entrance was completely blocked off and full. And what did they do? They didn't say, "Well, it's too crowded. I I guess it's just not for me tonight. I guess it's just not fair." As Callaway says, somebody's going to get their healing, but not me. There's too many people there. The doors blocked off. I guess I'll just go home. It's not how it reads. It says, "I can't get in the front door. Why don't I just climb onto the building, cut a hole in the roof? I'm going to do whatever it takes to get to Jesus. I'm going to remove every complaint. Yeah, I would complain too if I couldn't get in the doors, but I'm not going to let my complaints or my bad attitude stop me. I'm not going to allow any of my preferences stop me. I'm going to get in the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Whatever it takes. It might be as dramatic as dropping yourself down from a roof this morning. It might be as dramatic a change in your life for Jesus to touch you. But you've got to have that mindset. Too m many of us walk away with our head down when God's saying, "Hey, just stay on the move. Do whatever it takes. Press forward just a little bit more. If I got to drop myself in from the roof, whatever it takes to get a touch of Jesus, stand with me." Luke 17 may summarize the entire sermon in three words. 10 lepers cry to Jesus for mercy. He tells them to show themselves to the priests and Luke says, and this is what I want us to go home with and live with this week. As they went, everybody say that. As they went. As they went, they were cleansed. As they went, they were made whole. As they went, God touched them. As they went, God performed a miracle in their lives. They began walking. Notice this. They began walking while still carrying visible evidence of the problem. They had not fully been restored. Anyone who has watched serious physical rehabilitation understands the frustration of movement before dramatic evidence. A patient recovering from neurological injury may be practice painfully small movements repeatedly before improvement becomes visible. Rehabilitation is not miraculous healing of course but the emotional challenge is similar. How do you keep moving when your present condition still looks discouraging? Maybe you're rebuilding a marriage. Maybe six honest conversations have not erased six years of hurt. Maybe you're finally practicing financial discipline and two responsible months have not repaired years of poor decisions. Maybe you're pursuing freedom from a destructive habit and discover that sincere repentance did not eliminate temptation. Do not despise obedience because you cannot yet see everything you hoped it would produce. The lepers did not cleanse themselves by walking. Jesus cleansed them, but it happened as they went. There are some things that we're never going to discover standing still. And I wonder how many of us have been waiting for God to speak while we are unwilling to move. But perhaps the word you've been praying for is waiting somewhere along the path of obedience. Josiah begin to restore the temple and they found the word. And I want to tell somebody this morning, yes, you have hopes of achieving that goal, whether it be financially or maybe it's a habit in a year or two years. But what you need to do on this day, if you've been free from addiction for one week, you need to say, "Praise God, I made it a week. Oh, I made it two days. I made it three days. Oh, but I failed. I failed before when I made this determination." 10 years doesn't have to turn into 11. 10 years doesn't have to turn into 11. And I believe there's a child of God this morning who's determined in your heart that today is going to be the day. And often times in our humanity and often times as we read the word of God or we look at others for encouragement and inspiration and rightfully so and that's good. Sometimes we can think once I get through this process then God's really going to bless me. Once I meet these this check mark, these ear marks of goals, then God's really going to do a work in my life. And God's saying, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to meet you on the first day. I'm going to meet you on the second day. I'm going to meet you on the third day. I'm going to be with you. And those goals that you ch that that you're chasing are going to turn into something much larger. And I'm going to use you in a much greater way than you even anticipated for yourself. Now, you won't come alone this morning, but I want to invite it. It's going to take some boldness. It's going to take you not caring. It's going to take you having that mindset that we talked about the man after God's own heart, David, that he encouraged himself in the Lord. I want to open this altar this morning to somebody that needs to do some restoration in their life, whatever it may be. Now, this is not a time for you to get the tissue box out and this is not a this is not a time to say, "Well, I'm coming forward, God." No, this is a time of celebration. You're in the house of God. You made it here this morning. You're taking the right next step. You're making the right next decision. Now, come forward this morning with boldness. Step forward this morning with boldness. And God's going to meet you on the walk. God's going to meet you in the process. God's going to meet you on the journey. And he's saying to you this morning, can you hear him? Raise your hand if you can hear God this morning. You know what he's saying to you? He's not saying shame or guilt. He's saying, "You're doing a good job. You're doing a good job. Yeah, that's the right next step. That's the right place to go." Oh, lift your hands up to me. I'm ready to meet you. I want to remove that noise in your life. Not so I can chastise you. Not so that I can damn you, but so you can hear my voice. So I can feed you. So I can heal you. So I can restore you. So I can provide for you. So I can break some chains for you. So I can begin to do a work in your life. That's why I want you to hear my voice. That's why. Celebrate. Celebrate. celebrate. >> You'll turn it around. You'll turn it around. Don't know when I know how. You always do it somehow. You'll turn it around. >> He's saying you've done a good job. >> He's leading you right now. >> He's healing you right now. always doing it somehow. It's >> working on you right now. Today's the day. >> You'll turn it around. >> Today's the day. As they will turn as they as they will. Don't know. How you do it somehow. Turn it around. You turn it around. Oh, the spirit of God in this spirit of God is in this. When I know that over my life and I think how good you have been my soul sing is your faithfulness when I get your love on my mind I be grateful all over again my soul singes your faithfulness and my soul sing great is great is your faithfulness. Now, when we hear the word waiting, there's a few different things that come to mind. And I'll say guilty. When I hear the word waiting, I think of sitting in a line or sitting in a seat waiting for somebody to call my name with my arms crossed, saying, "Oh, this place, they're never going to call me. Oh, I've been waiting here." Now, that's one form of waiting. There's also another type of waiting. That's when you put the towel over your arm and you go up to somebody and say, "Hey, what can I help you with? What can I do for you? Can I get you something to nourish your body? Can I get you something to fill the need that you currently have right now?" And that's the kind of waiting that God has called us to do. And if you're in that restoration phase right now, oh, know that it's not just about you. It's what you can do for somebody else. It's what you can do for those around you. So, with that in mind, why don't you find a brother or a sister this morning? And let nobody pray alone and say, "We're waiting. We're working. We're serving. We're providing. How can I pray for you? How can I serve you? How can I meet the needs in your spiritual life? I I'm going to have a word of encouragement. I'm going to have a word of blessing. God's got a call for you. Oh, and God's going to speak through your brothers and speak through your sisters this morning. The reason I got to say it again, the reason he wants you to hear his voice is cuz he wants you to know that he's talking to you saying, "I'm going to heal your body. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to break the chains. I'm going to make a way. I'm going to bring things together this morning." Oh, that's why he wants you to hear him. Not so he can chastise you. Not so that he can riddle for you, but because he loves you. Because he loves you. Would you pray this morning, God? Turn it around. Turn it around. Turn it around. Turn it around. You'll turn it around. Don't know how. You always do it somehow. You'll turn it around. You'll turn it around. Don't know where. Don't know how you do it. You'll turn it around. You'll turn it around. Don't know when. Don't know how you always do it so you can be how good you have been. My soul sings praise your faithful name. And I get your love on my heart. >> I get grateful. My soul sing your faithfulness. >> I want us to pray one more final focused prayer. In closing, I want you to get in your mind and maybe you're standing in the gap for somebody else, but I want you to get in mind and be specific about the restoration project and the need that should take place in your life. And we're going to lift all of these petitions up to heaven. We're going to lift all of these needs up to heaven. And we're going to walk arm in arm into the throne room of Jesus Christ. And we're going to lay them down at his feet, knowing that we do so at the master's feet. and he's going to speak to us. He's going to reveal his word to us in our situation. Would you lift your hands across this house? Let's all pray together in one unified voice. Heavenly Father, you see the needs of your people in this congregation. Lord, we lift up these needs to heaven right now, knowing knowing that when we do so, we're on the move and we're going to find a word. Lord, we know that there's a word for the marriage that seems beyond repair this morning. We know there's a word for the parent who doesn't know what to do in that situation with their child. We know there's a word for the person who needs healing. A word for the person who needs strength while they wait for their healing. There's a word for those that need direction. There's a word for those that need deliverance. There's a word for those that have lost their peace. There's a word for grief. There's a word for their uncertainty. There's a word for your future. There's a word that can confront the sin in your life. There's a word for the authority that you're needing to have. There's a word for you taking the next step. There's a word for your victory. There's a word for your blessing. There's a word that you serve a God who's going to conquer the enemies in your life. Oh, would you discover the word this morning? God, I know there's a word. Oh, I know you're going to do it. Oh, in the name of Jesus, we pray. Oh, and now I'm going to take that word that I that I've got in my life and I'm going to step out of this place and I'm going to walk in authority. And everywhere that my foot touches, I have dominion. I've got the name of Jesus on my life. I've got the authority of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in my life. And I know, Lord, my faith is built that this is the day. This is the day. If you believe that this is the day, why don't you give the Lord a mighty roar of a hand clap of praise? Is anybody Is anybody going to walk out of here different this morning? Is anyone going to walk out of here renewed this morning? Yeah, I failed before, but this is the day. Things didn't go my way, but this is the day. He's going to turn it around in your life. And as I dismiss you this morning, I want you to remember those words of of Luke on those lepers. As they went, as they went. So, as you restore this morning, stay on the go. Stay on the move. And God is going to continually bless. You are dismissed in the mighty name of Jesus this morning. Shake hands and speak to someone who you haven't spoken to before. And we know and believe God's going to turn it around.