Sunday Morning Worship Service
by Anthony McCool
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Isaiah 38:1-5, Numbers 23:19, Jeremiah 18, James 5:16, Psalm 56, John 11:35

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/anthony-mccool--sunday-morning-worship-service-14
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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whatever you witness in the house, uh, illuminate that life by giving a voice of praise or maybe by putting your hands together or even by lifting them. Would you pour out that praise for just a moment? If you're a witness in the house, WOULD YOU POUR OUT THAT PRAISE for just a moment? Maybe turn that into a Jesus, I thank you. Jesus, I love you. You've showed up so many times in my life, and I praise you. Now, would you put your hands together for one more hand clap offering? And you can be seated across this house. And I welcome each and every one of you to First Apostolic Church here on Sunday morning. All of our first time guests, I welcome you. And all of those tuning in online, we welcome you the same. What a tremendous Sunday God has given us. And I am grateful to be in the house of the Lord. And as the praise team just so beautifully sang, I am a witness. And I'm grateful for a place that we can gather and celebrate what God has done in our lives. As we saw last night, uh people celebrate in a lot of different ways. I'm grateful the aroma of cigar smoke is not in the house this morning as well after the after the football game. And um I I read a story the other day in terms of celebration uh that a a man and woman who had been married for a good number of years uh went and visited her hometown and they were driving down the street and there was a a gentleman on the sidewalk and he was quite inebriated. He was drunk. And she said, "Honey, oh my word, that man right there, he is who I broke up with so I could be you." And the man just kind of shook his head and smiled and said, "Well, honey, it looks like he's still celebrating." So, people celebrate in a lot of different ways. That was quite the tie in. So, thank you. Thank you. I've been working on that and saving it for the right opportunity. If you have your Bibles and I think that invokes that we need to get to the word of God quickly, quickly. Isaiah 38:es 1-5. I give this entire congregation, Bishop, Pastor Pastor Whitley, our my highest, highest honor. And there's truly no greater privilege than speaking to the great saints of God. First Apostolic Church of Knoxville. Isaiah 38:1-5. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos came unto him and said unto him, "Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." Let me reiterate, give some context to this passage again. The voice of God through the mouthpiece of God, his prophet came to this great king Hezekiah and said, "The word of the Lord says, "You are going to die. Get your house in order." Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord and said,"Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thine sight." And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, "Go and say to Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days 15 years." I would like to preach from this simple topic this morning. It's not over yet. It's not over yet. Let's pray over this word. Heavenly Father, we thank you today for the opportunity to assemble together, to lift up your name, to study your word. Lord, let your word uh sink deep down into our hearts and grafted upon our minds that we know and our first line of refuge is to turn to you and to pray to you knowing that you hear our prayers. You see our tears and you can make a way when there is no way. In Jesus name we pray. In 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft was traveling toward the moon when an oxygen tank approximately 200,000 miles from Earth. Within moments, one of the most ambitious journeys in human history became a desperate struggle for survival. The mission had been carefully calculated. The trajectory had been established and the astronauts had trained for nearly every imaginable contingency. But suddenly the systems upon which their survival depended began to fail. I won't ask for a hand raised of all those who remember this happening. The lunar landing was abandoned. Electrical power was severely limited. Oxygen was escaping into space and three astronauts were suspended in the unforgiving emptiness between the Earth and the Moon. From a purely practical standpoint, the situation appeared almost impossible. Yet something remarkable happened at mission control in Houston, where we derive the statement, "Houston, we have a problem. Rather than surrendering to the apparent inevitability of the disaster, engineers began searching for possibilities that had not previously been considered. They recalculated trajectories. They improved solutions. They developed a way to make incompatible equipment work together. They searched for a path home where none seemed immediately available. Flight director Jean Cray would later become associated with the famous declaration, "In this moment, failure is not an option." The circumstances were real, the danger was real, the calculations were real, but the reality of the crisis did not mean the outcome had already been settled. And on April 17th, 1970, against extraordinary odds, those three astronauts returned safely to Earth. There's a profound distinction between recognizing the seriousness of your circumstance and surrendering to the assumption that those circumstances have already determined your future. Because sometimes the evidence is overwhelming. And without question, the diagnosis is frightening. The financial situation is undeniable. The relationship is fractured. The opportunity has vanished. And every reasonable calculation suggests that the story is approaching its conclusion. And those things are true. But I've come to preach to somebody who has mistaken the seriousness of their situation for the certainty of their ending. Just because the circumstances are real does not mean that all possibilities have been exhausted. And if human ingenuity can discover another possibility in the darkness of the abyss of space, how much more can the eternal God who created the heavens and the earth make a way when there appears to be no way? So my public proclamation to you this morning is this simple statement for whatever circumstance you face in the present that it is not over yet. >> Isaiah 38 introduces us to one of the most unsettling moments in the life of King Hezekiah. Notice Hezekiah was not an obscure individual. He was the king of Judah. He was a good king. He was a reformer who had worked to restore worship. It makes sense in our practical application of justice or in theology or in God's divine sovereignty that someone evil or someone who is not good can undergo difficult and painful circumstances. But it begins to twist and manipulate. And I'm talking to myself questions our faith at times when someone who is good like King Hezekiah has to undergo such a pronouncement from God. A reformer who had worked to restore worship. He removed idolatry and he He encouraged and inspired the people to turn their hearts back toward the Lord. Scripture describes him as a man who trusted God. What a way to be described. Yet, despite his faithfulness, Hezekiah found himself confronting a crisis that neither political authority nor personal devotion could prevent. The Bible says he became sick unto death. And then Isaiah the prophet of God enters his chamber with a message that offered no apparent optimism. Thus saith the Lord, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." Notice the authority of that announcement. It was not a physician offering a prognosis. It was not an anxious friend imagining the worst. It was a prophet declaring the word of the Lord to a man who trusted the word of the Lord. And there was not a lot of ambiguity with the statement with the declaration. There was not a lot of room for interpretation. Even in the King James version, this version of eloquence, thou shalt die. I mean, he could have worded it a little better than that, you know. Get your affairs in order. Prepare your household. Your life is approaching its conclusion. There are moments in life when we encounter realities that cannot be dismissed by mere optimism. Faith does not require us to pretend that the diagnosis is imaginary. Faith does not require us to deny the existence of suffering. Faith does not demand that we close our eyes to the seriousness of the circumstances present. The Christian faith is not sustained by denying reality. It is sustained by believing that God is greater than the reality we presently see. And here's what makes Hezekiah's response so extraordinary. He does not accuse Isaiah of being a false prophet. He does not dismiss the message. He does not to attempt to negotiate with the messenger because I would have been like, "Hey, uh, Isaiah sounds like you got a pretty good end with God. could you maybe talk to him and reverse this just a little bit? Instead, the Bible says that this King Hezekiah who over would oversee militaries going to fight on behalf of the kingdom. This this king who would wear a crown. This king who had every resource in the palms of his hands. It says he turned his face to the wall behind him and he be to pray unto the Lord. The announcement was genuine. The danger was genuine. The instruction to prepare genuine. But Hezekiah did not interpret the announcement as a prohibition against prayer. He understood that the God who had spoken through the prophet was still the God who could hear him in the palace. And I wonder how many of us have stopped praying because we assumed that what we had heard, what we had experienced, or what we had been told represented the final chapter of our story. We received the report, and it was a true report. and we stopped praying. We encountered opposition. We stopped believing. We experienced disappointment. And somewhere along the way, we begin treating the present condition as a permanent conclusion. But Hezekiah teaches us that you can acknowledge the reality of the moment without surrendering your your right to approach the throne of grace. You can receive the report and still pray. You can acknowledge the severity of the circumstance and still believe. YOU CAN CONFRONT THE POSSIBILITY OF AN ending yet appeal to God for new beginnings. The second verse says something remarkably specific. Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall. Why the wall? Scripture does not precisely tell us what motivated him to do this physical movement. Or perhaps he desired privacy. Perhaps he wanted to remove every distraction. Perhaps he uh simply could not bear to look at the people surrounding his bed. But whatever the immediate reason, the image is profoundly instructive. A king, as I mentioned earlier, accustomed to looking outward over his kingdom now turns to a wall. The man who commanded great armies, governed a nation, occupied a throne, finds himself in a place where not one of those resources can deliver him. His crown cannot heal him. His soldiers cannot protect him. His wealth cannot purchase one more breath. and his position cannot exempt him from mortality. But when every earthly resource has reached its limit, Hezekiah discovers one avenue of excess that still remains open. He can still pray. Maybe you've reached a wall this morning. A wall in your marriage, a wall in your finances, a wall in your ministry, a wall in your physical strength, a wall in your health, a wall in your understanding of what God is doing. You've exhausted the explanations. You've rehearsed the possibilities. You have calculated every conceivable outcome as you should. They're true. God's word, just as he said, you're going to die, he also went on to say, "Hey, get your affairs in order." But hear me carefully. The wall that limits your vision does not limit God's ability. Hezekiah could not see beyond the wall, but God could see Hezekiah in his present condition. The wall was not evidence that heaven had abandoned him. It became the place where his dependence upon heaven was most clearly expressed. There are seasons when God allows the insufficiency of our resources to expose the sufficiency of his presence. AND SOMETIMES THE MOST POWERFUL prayer you will ever pray is not offered from a platform or in a sanctuary filled with people. It's whispered through tears in a room where nobody else can see or hear you. Sometimes it's prayed beside a hospital bed. Sometimes it's prayed in the darkness of an ordinary Tuesday night when the future FEELS UNCERTAIN. BUT NEVER underestimate what can happen when a desperate heart when their back is against the wall and every other resource has been exhausted. The prognosis is true. The letter is accurate. The situation is real and everything is true. When your back is against the wall, there's only one action available, and that's to turn to it and pray to a God who sees you. >> Now, let me add this addendum note. How do we reconcile this theology in our lives? Because it would be convenient for myself to step up, get a little louder in my voice. It's not over yet. And that would be motivating. That would be good. And there's nothing wrong with that. And give you a sense of hope. And that's why we gather together. iron sharpening iron. But God through his prophet and God through his king Hezekiah wants us to further extrapolate on the story and show how it fits into the divine narrative from Genesis to Revelation to the pointing forward of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and our relationship with him. If God had already spoken, why did Hezekiah pray? And if the Lord subsequently granted him 15 additional years, does that mean God changed his mind? Is God not the same yesterday, today, and forever? Is he not immutable? However, we must not we must be careful not to diminish the sovereignty of God in our effort to celebrate the power of prayer. God is not a finite being who discovers new information. HE IS NOT SURPRISED BY CIRCUMSTANCES. He does not revise his eternal purposes because someone has persuaded him of something he previously failed to consider. Numbers 23:19 reminds us that God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. And yet, scripture also reveals a God who genuinely responds to human prayer. Jeremiah 18 describes how God may announce judgment upon a nation yet relent from an announced disaster when the nation turns from evil. This does not suggest divine instability. God's does does not suggest divine instability. It reveals the relational, notice this, the relational character of God's dealings with his creation, with humanity. It's intimacy. God's eternal knowledge does not render human prayer meaningless. Rather, in his wisdom, God has ordained that prayer should be one of the means through which his purposes unfold. Does that make sense? Divine sovereignty does not eliminate the significance of prayer. Divine sovereignty does not eliminate the power of prayer. It establishes the confidence with which we pray. We do not pray because God has lost control. We pray because God is in control. We do not pray because his authority is insufficient. We pray because his authority is absolute. >> And that means our prayers are not empty religious performances offered in an indifferent universe. They are genuine appeals to the living God who has invited his people into communion with himself. James 5:16 declares, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avaleth much, not because human sincerity possesses superpower, supernatural power in and of itself, but because the God who hears prayer is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He possesses unlimited power. Submission and expectation are not enemies. They belong together in the life of faith. We can surrender to God's ultimate wisdom while boldly asking him to intervene in our present circumstances. To reiterate our key text, then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, "Go say to King Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add to thee 15 years." God had a pronouncement on King Hezekiah's life. A good king, a righteous king, a king that encouraged his people to turn towards God, a king over armies, a king with a crown, a king in a palace, a king with unlimited resources. None of those things could do anything for him in that moment. He received a true word from God in a God that he trusted truly. Yet in that moment, he still believed that he served a God who would hear his prayers. He turned back toward the wall and we read one of the most beautiful one of the most beautiful scriptural precedents of one's relationship with God. It says, "I have seen thy tears." Hezekiah prayed and God turned the situation around. The same prophet who entered the chamber with an announcement of death now returns with a declaration of extended life. The first message said, "Thou shalt die and not live." The second message said, "I will add into thine day 15 years." And between those two announcements stands a praying man. There's a beautiful theology of divine attentiveness contained in these two declarations. We know how to speak eloquently when life is in order. We know how to construct prayers when circumstances are manageable. But there are moments when grief reduces our vocabulary to almost nothing. And in those moments, the God of scripture is not limited by the poverty of our language. Psalms 56 presents the moving image of God, keeping account of our wonderings and our tears. Romans 8:26 remind us that the spirit helps our infirmities when we do not even know what we should pray for. And to say it simply is you don't have to COME BEFORE GOD WITH SOME ELOQUENT words or some rehearsed prayer or HAVE TO SHAKE A PREACHER'S HAND OR TO BE IN GOOD STANDING WITH THIS GROUP OF PEOPLE. IT SAYS THE KING TURNED TOWARD THE WALL AWAY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE. IT WAS HIS LAST LIFELINE. IT WAS HIS LAST HOPE. HE PROBABLY DIDN'T HAVE A BEAUTIFUL, ELOQUENT SPEECH OF A KING THAT HE WOULD PRESENT BEFORE HIS CITIZENS, BUT HE WAS WEEPING AND HE WAS SORROWFUL AND HE SAID, "GOD, COULD YOU COULD YOU DO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW? COULD YOU EXTEND MY LIFE A LITTLE LONGER?" And it doesn't say God heard his beautiful prayer. It said, "God saw his tears." >> And God sees your tears. God sees those moments when you say, "Hey, it's time to pray." And you're like, "Did I even pray?" Or, "What even happened?" Or, "I'm just hugging one of my loved ones." And we're we we DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY. WE'RE JUST SAYING, "GOD, WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU SERVE A GOD WHO SEES YOU, WHO HEARS YOU, and who is able >> to reverse the circumstances. So, back to our theology, I want you to understand that your tears are not evidence of deficient faith. Hezekiah was a faithful king and he wept bitterly. I'm grateful that we serve a God who does not merely hear polished prayers delivered in public. He hears the broken prayer. He hears the trembling prayer. He hears the prayer that can barely make it beyond our lips. And he sees the tears that nobody else may have known even fail. uh musicians, you can begin to make your way. I I wrote this out here, so it might take me a second, so kind of keep that in mind as well. But I wrote out some thoughts that I had, and I want to be transparent with you for just a moment, if you will. One of the most challenging aspects of ministry, preaching to this congregation, particularly this congregation that I do not consider as just a church, but genuinely regard as my family. We got to take the the uh youth group out to a baseball game the other night and I got to thinking of some of the people that were wear there with me. Sister Joy and Sister Caitlyn and brother Jeremy and brother Preston and brother Al Spencer, brother Nathan and Vim, Sister Angela, Sister Emanuela, Skyler, all these people. If I miss somebody, please for forgive me. But all of all of us together and the and then the students and to see those students they to see what they end up doing and it's just man I am a just a it's a blessing. It's a blessing. It's it's family. It's it's not the it's not the preparation of a sermon y'all. That's that's not that's not difficult. It's easy for me to go to another church, a camp or conference. And frankly, I step forward with a lot with hopefully not a uh pride or arrogant, but I I got a lot of confidence when I go somewhere that I can speak with a an authoritative boom of faith, if you will. I I can I don't know what to say. I've studied for there's nothing wrong with that. you can do it in the wrong way. And I'm not saying that, but I that's I'm just telling you that's not the struggle. It's not the careful examination of scripture that's challenging or the theological interpretation of a passage, the construction of an argument, the arrangement of a message according to all of these accepted principles of what they call in a theology homalytics. all of this theological jargon, original language and commentaries and illustrations and um that can make a sermon come across as hopefully intellectually impressive or that you glean something from it. And there's nothing wrong with those things, but I I'm just being transparent with you that that's kind of the fun part, you know, of preaching. And I believe in the power of words. I believe words are powerful. I I believe words can temper emotions. I I believe words can encourage. I I believe words can be bring peace to the extent to bring peace between kingdoms and individuals. I I believe words are important and I can do every bit of that faithfully, accurately, sincerely, hopefully, and still find myself standing here feeling profoundly inadequate. Because there are moments when even the most carefully constructed sermon seems terribly insufficient in the presence of what people are actually enduring. Growing up I got to I spent a lot of times at my grandparents house and in college I remember one particular instance. I believe it was a philosophy class. Nothing centered around religion per se, but they were talking about death and the reconciliation of us as human beings with one who has passed away and stuff like stuff like that. And they the the professor asked the class, "Has uh anyone in here ever gone to a funeral before?" something I had never even really thought about too much. And but to my surprise and naivity in the moment myself and about three others raised their hand in a class of about 25 to 30 people. I was like these what? These people have never attended a funeral service before. And the professor went on with the question and began to ask each individual how many funerals they had been to. And I got to thinking, Brother Jones, the first one said two and the next one said four. And everybody was like, "Wow." And then it was my turn and I got to thinking. I was probably 19 at the time and I'm like at least 10 a year, you know, but if I tell these people the truth, they're going to think uh I won't I won't say anything there, but they're going to think something's the professor got to me and I said, you know, probably at this point in my life, probably at least 200 250. I mean, when I was with my grandparents during the week, it was not uncommon that you just you're going to a a viewing service or a or it's just it was part of life. I didn't think, you know, much of it. I was taught the the reverence of it and the sacredness of it. I don't mean that that some way it was somehow desensitized, but no, it was just it was part of everyday weekly life. And as I didn't always know what I was viewing in the moment, but I can now that I'm in ministry, I can I can begin to relate to what I was seeing. I remember my grandfather just and he you all know him in these clips. I mean, he's preached at because of the times, every conference, every camp you can think of. And I don't ever really remember him agonizing over those times, but I remember him in the days before a memorial service of a faithful saint of God, especially one where the circumstances surrounding it. There wasn't really an explanation for why it happened. And there were families needing hope. And there were families needing help. And I remember him oftentimes early in the morning throughout the day. God, give me the right words to say, Lord, give me the right words to help a hurting heart. And I remember some of the greatest sermons I have ever heard in my life. We're not at a conference or a camp or in a book, but at a memorial service where a man of God spent hours in prayer, hours in study. And sometimes those memorial services would just be filled with 25, 30 people, but hearing the voice of God prepared for them from a faithful bishop. And it brings how how do I stand here and preach about hope when I know someone sitting before me has spent another sleepless night wondering whether their loved one's going to survive? How do I speak about the faithfulness of God to a mother who's prayed until she has no words left and whose circumstances seem to have only grown more and more difficult? prayer chains starting and the illness get worse. How do I preach that God is able when I know there are people in this congregation and musicians and singers? I'm sorry. Y'all can come on out or whatever. But when there are people in this congregation who have believed with every fiber of their being and yet the healing has not come. The relationship has not been restored. The financial burden has not been lifted. THE ANSWERS THAT THEY SO desperately sought has not arrived. And the thing is, I know most of your stories. And I have been in moments, my wife has been in moments, our family's been in moments where we've seen your tears, stood beside you in hospital rooms and homes. And I've prayed with you through circumstances that deny defy explanation. I've watched some of you carry burdens that would have crushed others. And somehow you've continued to walk through those doors. You've continued to lift your hands. And you've continued to worship a God whose ways you did not understand. And I want you to know something that on this faith journey, I say again, sometimes the greatest sermon ever preached in this sanctuary is not coming from behind this podium, but it's lived out by you. your perseverance, your faithfulness, your willing to worship while wounded, your determination to keep believing when life has given you every conceivable reason to surrender. There are moments when I look across this congregation and think, Lord, what could I possibly say? I'm just being real with you. and preparation and prayer and being around. What in the world could I possibly say that would be sufficient for what they are facing? I'M SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN ANSWER. I'm supposed to have a word of encouragement. I'm supposed to stand here with some measure of spiritual confidence and declare what the scripture says. IT'S NOT OVER YET. YOU KNOW, and I believe that. But there are times when the weight of what I know you are carrying makes me, and it's not about me, but I'm trying to preach to you. It makes me feel painfully aware of my own limitations. And it's in those moments when my eloquence or perceived eloquence or ignorance, they sound a lot alike, feels inadequate and my understanding reaches its end. But that's when through you all the Lord reminds me, it's not my word, it's his. >> Don't have to manufacture an answer. You simply have to be faithful enough to deliver what I said. And that is what that's why I want you to understand my heart this morning when I stand here today and preach a message entitled it's not over yet. I'm not interested in offering you some shallow sentimental version of Christianity that suggests IF YOU'LL JUST SMILE A LITTLE BIGGER, if you'll JUST SING A LITTLE LOUDER, AND IF YOU'LL PRETEND EVERYTHING'S WONDERFUL, YOUR PROBLEMS will somehow disappear. Oh, golly G. I do not believe in a theology that requires people to deny their pain in order to demonstrate their faith. I do not believe that every tear is evidence of unbelief, that every question is a sign of SPIRITUAL WEAKNESS OR THAT EVERY SEASON OF SORROW CAN BE RESOLVED WITH A convenient religious cliche. And I would never want to diminish the magnitude of what you are facing by OFFERING A FEW POLISHED PHRASES AS THOUGH THEY COULD SOMEHOW EXPLAIN AWAY the agony of your circumstances. Some of you are FACING THINGS THIS MORNING that are genuinely frightening, THAT ARE GENUINELY JUST LIKE THE REPORT HEZEKIAH RECEIVED. The doctor's REPORT IS REAL. THE DIAGNOSIS is real. The empty chair at your table is real. The financial pressure is real. The disappointment is real. AND THE GRIEF YOU CARRY WHEN SOME EVERYONE ELSE HAS GONE HOME AND THE HOUSE has gone quiet. is real. But please hear the word of God this morning and overlook me. The reality of your circumstances does not diminish the reality of your God. And I DO WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING THAT I believe with all my heart. You do not have TO PRETEND THE DOCTOR'S REPORT IS WRONG TO STILL BELIEVE THAT GOD STILL HAS THE POWER to change it. >> YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE OR DENY THE SERIOUSNESS OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES to believe that they are BEYOND HIS AUTHORITY. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRETEND. YOU ARE NOT HURTING TO PRO TO PROVE THAT YOU STILL HAVE FAITH. STAND WITH ME. SOMETIMES FAITH IS NOT A TRIUMPHANT SHOUT. SOMETIMES FAITH IS A TREMBLING PRAYER THAT SAYS, "GOD, MY BACK IS AGAINST THE WALL. THE REPORT IS IN FRONT OF ME. I PREPARED. ALL THESE THINGS ARE TRUE, but I still got breath in my lungs and I can still turn to the wall and pray just one more time." Y'all, the Mool family used to sing a song that said, "God, let me feel your spirit one more time. One more time. One more time. One more time. Sometimes faith is nothing more than looking toward heaven through tears AND A CLOUDY VISION AND SAYING, "JESUS, I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE DOING, but I know who you are. I KNOW THAT YOU LOVE ME. I KNOW YOU CAN MAKE A WAY WHEN THERE seems to be a way. And I BELIEVE WE SERVE A GOD WHO'S WILLING TO STEP INTO every single circumstance. I'm about to open this altar this morning. I want you to notice when Jesus stepped on to the scene before Lazarus was raised from the dead in John 11. It says he stepped onto the scene knowing that a miracle was going to take place, knowing there was going to be a great celebration, knowing life was going to be lifted from the ashes of this earth. But it says Jesus in John 11:35, don't let its brevity be an indication of its profoundness. Jesus gathered around Mary and Martha. And what does it say he did? He wept. He wept. And that same Jesus who wept would be the same Jesus who said, "Lazarus, come forth." So this morning, if life has you backed up against the wall, you've got a doctor's reporter in front of you and you've been praying, it's true. The broken relationship, there's no doubt about it. It's true. The dire circumstances in front of you, it's true. You can't buy your way out of it. You can't manage your way out of it. You can't use your resources to resolve it. There's only one thing left. Can you pray one more prayer? >> Can you pray one more prayer? Remove my silliness from the equation and trust God's word this morning. Could you step back up to the wall just inviting you to pray just just one more time? just one more time trusting that you serve a God who can turn everything around. And I believe God told me to tell you this morning, it's not over yet. It's not over yet. If you can pray, if you can pray, IT'S NOT OVER YET. IF YOUR BACK'S AGAINST THE WALL THIS MORNING, WHY DON'T YOU STEP UP HERE AND PRAY ONE MORE TIME? One more time. I open this altar TO YOU FOR ONE MORE TIME OF PRAYER. GOD, add more years. God, restore the relationship. God, bring resolution. Bring peace. Lord, bring bring provision. Lord, yes, Jesus. Oh, don't let somebody pray alone this morning. Oh, God sees it through your tears. God sees your tears. I witness it. You heal and I witness it. You say that I witnessed it and I'm confident. I'll see it again. You're good and I witness it. >> Would you pray just one more time? >> You're strong and I witness it. >> Would you pray just one more time? >> You're constant. I'm witnessing. >> Don't give up. >> I'm confident. >> Don't give up. Would you pray just right where you're at? One more time. >> Coming out. you witness it. >> Would you lift your eyes up and I witness it and I'm again I witnessed your faithfulness. I'll see you realize it. So I'll pour out my praise in your worthy God. You're worthy of all of your promises never fail. I've got stories I'll live to tell. So I pour out my praise again. You're worthy. How you're worthy of all to the broken. I witnesses to the hurting. I witnesses to the lost. I will witness it and I'll tell them this. I'll tell them what I witness to my family. I witness it to my city. I witness to the nations. I witness. It's impossible to gather everyone to this altar. Brother Osborne prophesied that there'll be never be an altar big enough for the need. But I want to invite this entire congregation. I know this is also having a four-year-old and a sevenyear-old to time when you pick up your children as well. And on Sunday mornings, we're going to here and there and everywhere else. Just for a moment, I want to invite every single individual right where you're at to turn this entire house into a a prayer room and all in one place and in one accord. Maybe your back's not against the wall this morning, but you could stand in the gap for somebody else. Maybe you're kind of managing things right now, but you see a storm on the horizon. I would invite us, every single individual, to lift up our hands and lift up our voices by faith. Let's pray right now. Almighty God, we know the grave was real this morning, but so was the resurrection. Lord, THE TEARS ARE REAL THIS MORNING, but so is your compassion. Lord, the stone was real, but Lord, we know that there is nothing there is nothing beyond your authority. Lord, we serve a God who when you revealed yourself to us was ABLE TO STEP OUT ONTO the sea and say, "Peace be still." GOD, OUR BACKS are against the wall. We've exhausted every other resource, but we look up to you right now. If this is our last prayer, let it be one that's asking you to intervene. Let it be one where we're trusting in you and saying, "God, YOU'RE A GOOD GOD. I HAVE FAITH that you're able to restore. I have faith that you're able to heal. I have faith that you're able to resolve. God, can you hear my prayer? Oh God, you hear just the trembling words coming out right now. Lord, you see the tears that are falling right now. And Lord, we praise you. We praise you. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Oh, we praise you before you do the work. We praise you before you heal. We praise you before you provide. And we seal this prayer in the name of Jesus. Would you worship us now? >> I witness your faithfulness. I've seen you real. You're worthy. God, you're worthy of all the praise. Your promise is never there. I got stories I live to. So I pour on my praise and you're worthy. God, you're worthy of all. To the broken I to the hurry. I witness it. To the lost I will witness it and I'll tell you this. I'll tell them what I witness to my family. I'll witness it to my city. I'll witness it to the nations. I'll witness it. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you what. I witness your faithfulness. I see you. So I pour out my praise again. You're worthy. God, you're worthy of all this. Your promise is never. I've got stories I'll live to tell. So I pour out my praise again. You're worthy. You're worthy of all of this. >> As we're dismissed this morning, will you walk away with an Isaiah 38 to know that God still hears prayers? God still sees tears. And he can still speak life into situations. where hope has been disappeared. Do you believe that this morning? I know it's not always easy, but do you believe? If you believe that, why don't you give him a confirmation of a hand clap of praise? You are dismissed in the mighty name of Jesus. Shake hands with someone you've never spoken to before. And we're coming back tonight expecting God to continue to show up, show out, perform miracles. You're dismissed.