After the Noise | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson by Chad Erickson First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Isaiah 26:3, Luke 22:42, 1 Kings 19:11-13, 1 Kings 18:36-37, 1 Kings 19:2, 1 Kings 19:9, Psalm 34:18, 1 Kings 19:18, 1 Kings 19:15, James 4:10 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--after-the-noise Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ Just remain standing. If you're not standing, stand your feet. Amen. I want to say along uh with Pastor Hammond. We love the Grizzles. And be here at Strong Tower, you're about to get blessed. If you've not heard him preach, uh boy, they're both amazing speakers. And then musicians and singers. He's one of my these are my favorite singers and preachers. I'm just going to go and tell you. He's amazing. Uh and God has blessed them and God has used them mightily in North Carolina. And we're thankful to have them part of the assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ and what they do uh for for our organization. And Sister Ashley spoke of her parents, the Lokes, uh brother Lundy Lo. He and Sister Lo are doing such a great work in Cuba. We heard all about them a couple weeks ago during our mission service. And uh God is God is faithful, amen, to the service of such great people. If you're a guest in the house, thank you for making this your place of worship. I looked around and saw faces I didn't recognize. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Matter of fact, put your hands together first. Apostolic. Come on. Let's welcome all of our guests here today. Thank you. What an honor it is to have you in the evening service of this Palm Sunday. And I'm just going to touch on that just a little bit. pastor preached such an amazing word this morning, but I want to touch on that just a little bit this evening. Uh turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah 26 and3. I'm going to read a few passages in your hearing. Uh so good so good to see you. Give honor to to uh pastor and sister Carpenter and we also um are praying for the Thomas' and uh Thompsons and just believing that God is going to touch Thompson in Jesus name. Uh just believe we believe in miracles around here. If he's done it before, he can do it again. I got no problem believing because we've already seen it. We've already seen it. We've already witnessed uh miracles take place and we need a miracle right now. Bible says this in Isaiah 26 and 3, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind, everybody say, whose mind is stayed on thee. Watch this right here. because he trusteth in thee. Trusteth in thee. Then Luke 22:42, we're about to enter into what's known as passion week. Bible says, saying, "Father," this is Jesus speaking, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done." And then our main text for the evening, first Kings 19 and 111. Go back into the Old Testament. First Kings. I love the Kings. I love hearing about Israel when it was just forming as a nation. This is speaking uh to Elijah the prophet said, 'Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind the mountains and break in pieces the rocks before the Lord. Noise. For the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind came an earthquake, and once again noise. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake of fire, more noise. But the Lord was not in the fire. But then after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out. This is so important right here. Stood in the entering of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What do thou hear, Elijah? A voice said, "What are you doing here?" Tonight, I want to preach a message on surrender. All right, surrender. My message is entitled this After the Noise. After the noise. Put your Bibles down. Come on, let's just lift up both hands to heaven. Let's pray. Father, we love you. Father, we believe in you right now tonight. So many people that are here, so many needs represented in every pew in every section of this church. God, from guests that are here to saints of God that have been coming to church here, attending church here faithfully for years and maybe decades. God, I believe there's needs. There's legitimate needs in this house. Lord, I'm just believing, Lord, tonight. Lord God, tonight, I believe you're going to show yourself strong. You're going to show yourself mighty. I I believe there's going to be a Holy Ghost outpouring, Lord, that could take place here. Somebody who's never received the Holy Ghost is going to be filled with your spirit, whose life is going to be changed. Somebody is going to make a decision. One already has, but somebody else is going to make a decision, be baptized in your name for the remission of sin. Lord, I'm just going to believe tonight, Lord God, the repentance is going to take place. We're going to turn from ways, oh God, that don't please you. And we're going to make an about face, oh God. And we're going to allow you to change our life to rearrange things, oh God. You're going to open up minds and open up hearts. You're going to do things for our families and and for our households, for our homes, God, that nothing else could do except your power in your presence. It's all going to take place after the noise. In Jesus name we pray. Clap your hands up to the Lord. Come on, give him praise tonight. Oh, give him praise tonight, church. Come on, family. Give him praise. Lord, we bless you, Lord. You're exalted in this house. You're to be praised in this house to be glorified above all in this place tonight in Jesus name. You may be seated. You may be seated. Amen. In the house tonight on July the 16th, 1945 in the New Mexican desert at White Sands Missile Range. And I've been here. Matter of fact, I I've been to Whit Sands. I took my family not too long ago, about a couple years ago. Uh my grandmother was was celebrating her 99th birthday and uh took my took my family to to to see her in New Mexico. And my aunt uncle, they pastor, my uncle and aunt, they pastored in Los Cruus, which is about, I don't know, 30 miles or so, uh from White Sands, uh uh National Park there. and we got to experience it's like you're you're going over snow drifts as far as you can see. And um it's a great place, but what it's really known for is it's known for the military missile range there. And it's also known for the first atomic bomb that was detonated at Trinity test site way back in July 16th of 1945. At 5:29 a.m., a blinding flash in a roar louder than any sound imaginable shattered the pre-dawn stillness, echoing through barren landscape. The explosion shockwave rattled the earth in a fireball hotter than the sun, scorched the air. Scientists and military observers, even those prepared for the event, were stunned by the sheer power. Then, as the mushroom cloud rose and the thunder faded, there was a profound silence that enveloped the sight. No birds chirped, no wind stirred, just a heavy, deafening quiet. And as the onlookers grappled with the apocalyptic force they had just unleashed, they could not even imagine what was about to take place when that first atom was split and that bomb. They uh you saw it a little earlier. They had a 100 foot tower and they dropped it down the center of that tower. Could not believe what they experienced wearing protection guarding their hearing but still said it was so deafening. History tells us that some of them lost their hearing even wearing ear protection. profound is it was it was it was defined as a profound silence described as a deafening quiet. I just want to preach a little while after the noise. You see, life life tends to hit us with noise. And follow along with me here because we all experience this. Sometimes it's it's a roar of a wind. Sometimes it's a positive thing. It's it's what dreams are made of. It's where where dreams take flight and other times it's it's fire called pain. It's it's loss that's heavy and it burns uncontrollably. There's a noise we all face drawing us that makes us to think outside of ourselves. And and sometimes pride wants to whisper, "You're unstoppable." But then despair says, "Huh, you're finished. You're done. you're you're a loser. You'll never make it in society. But here's the truth. Isaiah 26 and3 promises peace when we fix our minds upon God. It's peace when we'll surrender our will to God. You see, today we we celebrate what is called Palm Sunday. Pastor preached so beautifully. It's it's when Jesus enters into Jerusalem when they when they call him hosana the prince of peace. They take uh the bowels of the palm and and they begin to wave them in exaltation to God. And as they throw them down in the path and throw their own cloaks down in the path as Jesus makes his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But just days later, just a few days later, we find him in the garden of Gethsemane when he's praying, "Not my will, but thy will be done." You see, it's after the noise of tears turns to overnight sorrow that Jesus hears the whisper. He He hears the whisper of his calling. And so for the for the next few minutes, and I don't want to preach very long tonight, but I I've come to preach about Elijah. I I've come to preach about the noise that he faced that rocked his very world. We're going to preach about Jesus as he surrendered in the loudest time, in the loudest moment of his earthly ministry. And then I also want to share even a personal testimony when my wife and I had heartbreaking noise because everybody everybody has noise in their life. It's either triumphs that inflate us or it's losses that crush us and the fight is to surrender to God's whisper even when we don't understand or even when we don't think we need to understand. But I guess my first question to you tonight before I move further is what is the loudest noise that you're facing right now. For some it's good, for some it's bad. For some it's positive, for some of you might have just got a raise at your job. You might have just got a promotion on the job. You you you might have just won some kind of an award. You might have been called in front of all your co-workers and might have been given some kind of an award. And then for some of you, you might be struggling with your marriage or you might be struggling with your children. You might be struggling in the home. You You might be struggling spiritually tonight. I don't know what it is, but you first got to figure out what is the loudest noise that's drawing you and keeping your attention tonight. Can you imagine Elijah? Come on, think with me. You know the story, but just in case there's some that don't, Mount Carmel. Remember the story of Mount Carmel because that takes place right before our text tonight. Mount Carmel. so so important because here we have 450 false prophets the uh the nation of Israel had turned their backs on God and all through all through the books of Kings all all through the books of Samuel you you'll see that that the people of God will will find and they'll trust in God they'll surrender to God and then they'll turn and they'll they'll start to follow false gods and worship false gods and have false idols and and and they'll set up groves uh uh to worship in and they'll they'll they'll make shrines to worship at. And it's a sad thing because I I don't know, I don't understand because God does so much for the people of Israel, but for whatever reason, they have really high highs and I've got really low lows. Anybody else can relate to that tonight? High highs. I'm telling you, when things are going good, they're going good. But when things are not going good, everybody, oh, everybody's going to hear about it on Facebook. Things aren't going well. Everybody's going to know about it. But you know, Mount Carmel, it was a high high for Elijah because it, if you'll remember, for three for three years, God had put God put uh God had put a a a time in in the the people in the time of of Israel where there was no water and there was everything was dry and dormant and desolate and there was famine in the land and and God was trying to punish the people so they would turn back to God. And it was Elijah, if you remember the story, the prophet who had come up to the king and said, "Hey, I want you to know you're not going to like this." But God's about to put punishment upon you. And so what do they do? I don't know why, but sometimes people just assume it's the man of God's fault when God decides to put punishment upon people. And so they thought it's Elijah's fault. It's the prophet's fault. So they hated the prophet. Matter of fact, they searched high and low through every country to find Elijah because the king said, "I'm going to kill you. If I find you, I'm going to kill you. Matter of fact, if I send you to look for the prophet and you don't find him, I'm going to kill you." So, here we have First Kings 18:36. We have the prophet. Oh, come on. The story is beautiful. The story 450 to1. The odds didn't look very good if you didn't know who was behind the one. If you didn't understand who was on the side of the one. 450 prophets of Baal. 450 prophets. Prophets of wicked queen Jezebel. These wicked prophets who have been telling the king and queen what they wanted to hear. False prophets. And God told Elijah said, "Hey, you're going to go and you're going to you're going to say, "Hey, listen. We're going to have a little We're going to have a little prayer battle, if you will. You're going to set up an altar. I'm going to set up an altar. You're going to cut up a bowl and put it on your altar. I'm going to cut up one and put it on my altar. You're going to put it upon wood upon stone. I'm going to put mine upon wood upon stone. And we're going to see which God will answer by fire. Great story. Woo. We like stories when we win, don't we? We We enjoy stories that have good outcomes. We we like stories where we read the back of the book and we win. And here it is. Here's Elijah. Oh, he not only listen, he's he's kind of a trash talker because he's not just going to put his bowl up on top of the wood on top of the of the altar, on top of the stone, but he's going to dig a trench around the altar. And then he's going to bring in 12 large vats of water, and he's going to pour that water on top of the sacrifice. So the whole sacrifice, the wood, the stone, everything is drenched in water. And not only drenched in water, he said, "But I am going to make sure that the trenches that I've dug around the altar are filled with water." Because when my God does a great thing, everybody's going to make sure they notice what my God has done. I sure don't want some be looking away and not take notice of what my God does. When my God answers by fire, everybody is going to take notice. Everybody's going to witness. Listen, my God is that kind of God. I serve a God when he does something big. I said when he does something big, everybody takes notice in it. And so I quickly move through the story because it's not even a part of my story, but you got to understand where Elijah's coming from in our text. Oh, all the prophets of Baal 450. They start cutting themselves and they start crying out to their God. Oh, come on, gods. Woo. You got to answer by five gods. You got to show yourselves strong and oh Elijah is over here and he is looking at him waiting. And the Bible says he came to the noon hour. Well, the noon hour is when it's time to pray to Jehovah God. And so he said, "Hey, hey guys, it's my turn now." And the Bible says, and we'll read it right here, he just simply said, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac," watch this right here, "and of Israel." We don't hear that very often. Usually it's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I like how Elijah, he says, "Oh, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that our God, woo, you are the God of Israel and that I am thy servant." There's only one of me, but make sure everybody knows who I am. And I have done all these things at thy word. He says, "Hear me, oh Lord." This is his prayer. "Hear me. This that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast turned their heart back again." And just like that, fire falls from heaven. And it consumes everything. The Bible says it consumed the wood. It consumed the stones. It even consumed the dust. I'm talking about a quenching fire. And then it lap, the Bible says it lapped up. You think of a dog laps up water. It lapped up the water that was in the trenches. That wood, that sacrifice that was wet. It was soaked with water. Everything was consumed. So there wasn't nothing but a black spot in the earth. And all the people, what did they do? Woo. Let me tell you something. That's noise right there. That's the kind of noise we like. That's the kind of noise we appreciate. Oh, but all the people, they began to say, "He is our God. Woo. We're going to we're going to worship him. That's our God. He is our the Lord is our God." And the story goes that now Elijah prays for rain. And sure enough, rain comes. Elijah races the king down the mountain. Kings on in a chariot. Elijah's running for his life because when the water, listen, when God does things, he does them big. When the rain falls, it's like a mudslide. He's getting down. He's getting down the mountain. But wouldn't you know it, here's water. The kingdom now has water. No more is it a desert, desolate place. Animals can now have water. Crops can now live. But here the king, he finds his wicked wife, Queen Jezebel. And she finds out that not only is there water, but all the 450 prophets have been slain. They've all been put to death. And now she's after poor Elijah. I'm talking about after the noise. First Kings 19:2 says, "So let the gods do to me." This is this is Queen Jezebel. She says, "Let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as a life of one of them by tomorrow by this time." She's saying, "If you're not dead, Elijah, by this time tomorrow," she says, "s I'm going to die." And he saw that he rose up and he went, he ran for his life. I want you to see this because we're talking about a man of very high highs and very low lows because we find him under a juniper tree. And under a juniper tree, what does he do? Is he Is he thanking God because God did miraculous things through his ministry? Is he thanking God because now there's water? Oh, no. No. He's saying, "I failed. I failed miserably. Oh, look at me, God. Poor pitiful me." He said, "I wish you would just take my life." We go from a prophet, listen, this battle is a battle of the mind. We go from this prophet who who who has done the unthinkable 450 to one. His God is has called fire down and sent fire from heaven and consumed a sacrifice. But here he is, he's so consumed with the noise in his life that he doesn't even realize who he is. He doesn't even realize what he is. He's the most powerful prophet in the land. He's a prophet of God. He's the only true prophet. But you got to be careful because when you begin to listen to the critic's words, uh the critic's words will begin to hit hard. If you live off of compliments, you'll die from the criticism. If you live your life off your compliments. If you got to get the likes and the shares, if you got to get the little hearts and you got to have the friends, if you care what the comments say about you, if that's what gives you joy, and if that's how that if that's what gives you your identity, then you better be you better be waiting and ready because the critics are coming later and the critics are going to be able to say, "Hey, what you did on Mount Carmel was no big deal. Matter of fact, we don't even know if it really happened. We don't even know if that really took place.Uh, we don't even know what kind of what kind of minister you really are. We question your ministry. And if you live for the highs, you're going to die from the lows. Because all of that is just noise. Whether people talk good about you or they talk bad about you, listen to me. It's all just noise. It's all about what you allow to get into your head. No, it's all about what you allow your mind to surrender to. That's what this message is all about. It's all about surrender. And too many people are surrendering to the wrong voices, uh, to the wrong noise. Woo! It's loud. It's obnoxious. And you're surrendering to the wrong noise. But I serve a God. Oh, he's about to show himself. And it's not what you're expecting. Oh, no. Matter of fact, look with me in First Kings 19:11 again. It said, "A great and strong wind ran the mountains." I tell you what happened. He goes from being under a juniper tree wishing he was dead till he goes and gets inside of a cave. Gets all by himself, gets all isolated, begins to cry and to whine and to weep and to mourn and to feel like he's all by himself because he is all by himself. But he put himself in that predicament. God didn't tell him to go to a cave here. God is able to defeat 450 false prophets, but he's not able to defeat a wicked queen. God said, "I I need you to step outside of the cave. Get in the mouth of the cave. I got something I want to show you. There's about to be some noise, and I'm going to show you something that's going to blow your mind. A great and strong wind rent the mountains. That simply said there was a lot of noise happening around Elijah. He's holding on for dear life. But the Lord was not in the wind. I guarantee you he thought the Lord was in the wind. He probably thought, "Man, listen to this noise. Woo! My God, listen how powerful my God is." And God said, "It ain't me." And it says after the wind then came an earthquake and once again he's holding on for dear life because his whole world is beginning to shake and quake. He said surely he he thought surely the Lord is in the earthquake. And God said no I'm not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire and he thought to himself surely he just answered by fire. Obviously my God is in the fire. And God said I am not in the fire. What I'm trying to show you, Elijah, is you are in the midst of noise. You're surrendered to the wrong stuff. You're listening to the wrong stuff. You're allowing the wrong stuff to affect you. You're getting your news from the wrong place. He said, "I'm not the author." He said, "I'm not the author of fear. I I didn't give the spirit of fear to you." Here you are. He spent half of his ministry hiding, brother Chase. He spent half of his ministry hiding, afraid of what other people were going to do to him, what other people were saying about him. He ends up in a cave all by himself. And he's allowing thoughts to to start circulating in his mind. The wind rips, the rocks, the ground shakes, the flames roar. And after all of that noise, it's just like that atomic bomb going off. After it was over, it was just silent, except for a still small. Why a still small voice? I I just got to believe it's because God was trying to draw him in. Draw him closer. Oh, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. God, don't Before you say anything else, I got to get closer. I can't hear what you're saying. And God was drawing him. He showed him the noise, but then he said, "Listen, you've got too much of this going on inside of your mind. You You got too much of this. This is turmoil you don't have to go through. This is turmoil. You've made a decision that you're going to participate in." Oh, and here's the key. Here's the key right here. We got to be careful. Our mental and spiritual condition is all relevant to our mind. It's how we think. Listen, we can have a high high in victory and think so well of ourselves but then crash and burn because the noise that we've allowed to come into our life. The battle is in our mind. Elijah's mount or a moment. It's a mirror for us. The wind, the earthquake, the fire, it's our life. We're looking into a mirror. Your greatest accomplishments, they're loud. Nothing wrong with being successful, but we got to be careful what we submit ourselves to and what we surrender to. Because it's also our worst mistakes that are allowed. They make you think it's all about me. It's all about me. After Mark Mount Carmel, Elijah thinks I'm untouchable. after Queen Jezebel. He thinks I'm worthless. Listen, the enemy uses noise. It's pride for our highs. It's despair for our lows. Woo! It traps us. And it's all a trap of the mind. God asks Elijah in First Kings 19:9. He says, "What doest thou hear, Elijah? What are you doing in this cave? What are you doing thinking the way you're thinking? Why are you all by yourself wallowing in selfpity? Oh, come on. I want to preach this for a few more minutes. Whatever you do, don't alienate yourself. Strong Tower students, don't get by yourself. I've seen this happen time and time again in a cave of selfpity. I've seen strong tower students. I I've seen young people. Come on. I know your parents may not be living for God. I know your brothers and sisters may not be living for God. I know you might be in this all by yourself. Uh but you cannot alienate yourself and think, "Well, I'm just going to go get a job somewhere. I'm just going to make I'm just going to make worldly friends. I'm just going to start hanging out with people that are going to listen to me talk and listen to me cry about things going on in my life and and try to help me. I'm going to try some self-help through some friends. Oh my God. Get in the youth group like you've never been in the youth group. Uh get here on a Friday night, on a Saturday night. Come on, adult students. Uh don't get by yourself. You're going to end up making friends with people God never meant for you to make friends with. You get all by yourself in a cage, you're going to start dating people you never thought you would date. People crazy lifestyles. You're going to get right in the middle of it because you found yourself in a cave. You found yourself all by yourself. Why don't you link up to a good apostolic young person, a good Holy Ghost fil? Do they make mistakes? Oh, you better believe they do. Do they fall? Oh, you better believe they do. But there's a difference when you hook up and link up with an apostolic young person. You're going to find yourself back in the altar with that young person. And although you might make mistakes, although you might fall, you're going to get back up again because you're in the right place. You're not in a cave. You're in the right place. You're in the house of God. Come on, somebody. You're around people that love you. Oh, I I don't want to I don't want to stay too long on a strong tower student. What about the middle age? What about the middle age? What about people people my age? I can't really call myself young anymore. My God, years won't Well, I guess there's one thing worse than having birthdays. But middle-aged, man, we alienate ourselves. Same type of thing happens, but just in a different way. Sometimes, listen, sometimes your cave can be your home. I've I've heard of I've heard of middle-aged women who don't work a secular job or don't work outside the house and they stay in the home long enough to where depression begins to set in. Sometimes we just got to get out and get busy. Not because your family needs your income, because you just got to get out of the cave. You got to get out of the place where you got to open up the blinds, get in the car, leave the driveway, just just go do something. Add value somewhere where values are needed. Get a part of a ministry. Get involved in just get involved somewhere. Go volunteer somewhere. Go to the hospital and volunteer. Come to the church and volunteer. Do something. go somewhere because the last thing you want to do is find yourself in a dark room in the home. On a computer screen, listen, there's there's so many chat room now chat rooms now and these everybody's been abused websites. I just want to stay here just one moment. I don't want to offend anybody because I know there's people that have been abused and nobody's saying you haven't been abused. Nobody's saying things that happened to you in your childhood. Nobody is saying things. But listen, you can either live one of two ways. You can be a victim or you can be a victor. You can choose to hang out in your cave and think about all the stuff that's been done wrong to you. My God. Spend all your hours of the day. You could be doing something productive on a keyboard. Come on, somebody. Crying about wallowing. Here. I'm doing a word for God. Queen Jezebel, that wicked, wicked woman, won't leave me alone. Won't stop talking bad about me. She sent in. She sent in all Oh, the Navy, the Army, the Marines. Everybody's coming looking for me. They're searching for me. And you can get on your computer and talk about all the bad things that happened to you. Come on. I've seen this happen. And I've seen people that God had such a calling on their life and they ended up feeling sorry for themselves and living in the middle of noise. God's calling them to do great things, but they can't hear the call cuz all they're doing is living in the midst of noise. All they're doing is they hear woo they hear the earthquake. They see the fire. They hear the wind. Everything's going on in their life and all they can do is talk about talk about talk about mistreated. Talk about abuse. Talk about talk about talk about. And the whole time God just say, "Listen, I brought you out of that for a purpose. I brought you out of there so I can do something with you. Why do you want to stay in a cave when I'm calling you out to do great things?" Come on. We can't live there. We can't live there. You'll end up thinking you're the only one living right. Come on. We've seen those people get off to themselves and next thing you know, hell, ain't nobody at the church living right. Ain't nobody doing right. It's a bunch of hypocrites back at that church. Elijah, God says, "What are you doing here?" Elijah says, "I even I only am left." Y'all see that? He says, "I" God says, "What are you doing? What are you crying about?" He says, "Well, what am I supposed to do? I'm the only one left. I'm the only one living for you. I'm the only one doing right. I'm the only one that cares about you. I'm the only one." We're going to find out later on. God said, "Oh, no, you're not. You just assume you're the only one because you found yourself in a cave." But here it is. When you're living in noise, sometimes you feel that way. You feel like you're all by yourself. My wife and I, we we faced we faced that noise. After our daughter Paris was born, a few years after she was born, we decided to have children. Said, "Hey man, we this first one, this first one's a good one. We're going to have another one." Brother Roger Clayurn, why you laughing? But after three children miscarried, let me tell you something. We were living in a cave. Now, now you probably couldn't tell it because we were putting on. We had to live the life as pastor. We had to live the life as music director. We We had to live the life as if everything's okay. Everything's going good. Everything's okay. Everything's all right. But let me tell you something. the doctor's visits, the pain my wife was facing through these miscarriages, the chemical imbalance, the heartache, the questions of why. Come on. Some of you all been there. Some of y'all know how this feels. Come on. You can step into my life right here. You can step into Fallon's life right here. It hurt. We were crushed because we had high highs. God had used us for great things, but for some reason we couldn't remember those high highs during those miscarriages. God, you start hearing that heartbeat going to the doctor and sending the family. Oh, the pictures. Oh, I know it doesn't look like it, but that's his head right there. You can kind of see where there's one of his legs right there. Oh, you going to listen. Oh, that that you you'd hear the heartbeat and then things would begin to go wrong. Come on. Some of y'all been there. F start saying, "Baby, ah, something just don't seem right. I felt movement now. I don't feel movement." And some of the pregnancies were months along. Oh my god. I remember those times. I remember, oh God, the heartbreak. Listen, I I know I I don't even have a clue what she was going through. I know it. But I was there and I was trying to be stable and I I was trying to be the strong one. I was trying to say, "Oh, baby, I want to help you. I want to be here for you." But it's in times of adversity and it's in the times of noise that a songwriter begins to write songs. And it was during this time that my wife wrote two songs. And I want to I want to tell you I want to read the lyrics that she pinned during these times when we were in this cave. We didn't want to be in the cave, but we found ourselves in this cave of despair and discouragement uh and hurt. Oh, we found oursel here. But my wife, my wife began to write. Uh her and Gina Vera began to talk on the phone and they began to write together. They wrote verse one says, "Confused, heartbreaking. My world is shaken. You should hear the conversations in my brain. It's complicated. It's it's so frustrating. I can hear you speaking through the pain." And the chorus said, "Your voice is bigger than my loneliness. It's bigger than this awful mess. It's louder than the words of doubt I hear. God, you speak right to me. You tell me that you love me. The enemy keeps talking in my ear, but that don't matter because your voice is bigger. Verse two says, "The storm is raging. The sun is fading." Come on. Come on. These are these are words. These are lyrics of desperation. Those clouds are getting darker by the day. The wind is blowing, but I'm safe and knowing. I can hear you speaking through the rain. Your voice is bigger than my loneliness, bigger than my awfulness. It's louder than the words of doubt I hear. God, you speak right to me. Woo! You tell me that you love me. That old enemy, he's talking in my ear. But that doesn't matter because your voice is bigger. And then the bridge says, "No doubt or fear. It's all so clear. You're the only one I hear because your voice is bigger." You got to get to that place. Uh where you got to drown out every one of those voices. Uh you got to drown out the noise. Uh you got to drown out the discouragement. Uh you got to take that spirit, that blanket of oppression off. Uh and just simply say, "God, uh I know your thoughts are toward me. Come on. We got people facing cancer. We got people facing all kinds of things right now. My heart goes out to the Thompsons. My heart goes out to them because they're a lot like Elijah. They've had high high high high highs and they're facing right now the lowest of lows. Uh with cancer on the brain. My God. Uh there can't be any lower low than that. Uh but I'm just praying right now, God. Uh your voice is bigger. Uh, I know there's a lot of noise. Oh, God. I know there's a lot of noise with the disease. Oh, God. I know what the doctors are saying. Uh, I know what the tests are revealing, but God, your voice is bigger. Hey. And then and then my wife wrote this next song. Oh my God. Right in the middle of this cave, right in the middle of losing these babies, she said in verse one, "If brokenness is what you love, here I am, Lord. Shattered dreams, a life undone. Here I am, Lord." And my favorite line of the song, the preoruses, I was never made to be complete without your voice guiding me. And the chorus just simply says, "I surrender. I surrender. I surrender all to you. Take my brokenness. Do what you can do. I surrender all to you." The bridge says, "Surrendering my hopes, surrendering my fears." It says, "My hands are in the air." Oh, I like this line right here because some people don't know what to do when they're in the midst of noise. But if you can get your hands up in the airuh and symbolize surrender. Come on. This is universal. Somebody in this place tonight, you just got to get your hands up in the air and say, "Jesus, I'm living in the noise. But I surrender to you right now. I surrender my will to your way. I surrender what I think is right. I surrender my dreams, oh God, and I say, have your way. take over. Come on, let's just worship him right now. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. I feel like somebody right now is being ministered to. Uh you're living right in this cave. Uh you're living right now in this storm. Uh all you can hear is wind. Uh all you feel is your world falling apart. Uh you feel the heat of the fire. Come on, somebody. Uh allow God to draw you to him. Uh listen for his voice. Uh it's a still small voice. But there's still small voices bigger than what the enemy is lying to you. I'm almost done. I promise you I'm almost done. You may be seated. Jesus faced the same noise. Here we go. Palm Sunday. The crowd is cheering. Oh, they're cheering. But oh, now we have the Garden of Gethsemane. Just a few days later in Luke 22:42 records, uh, Jesus, uh, he simply says, "Oh, oh, would it be okay for this cup to pass from me?" Come on. We're talking about Jesus, uh, as man. He had some high highs. But don't you think for a moment he wasn't 100% man, just like he was 100% God? He felt pain. He felt sorrow. People, come on. Sometimes we kind of we kind of push the stories of Jesus aside and say, "Well, that was God in flesh. He he just doesn't understand what I'm going through. He He was God. Well, he was God, but he was also man on purpose. He felt what he felt on purpose. He felt pain. And just like you and I, I don't want to feel pain. Something's wrong with somebody when they want to feel pain. I don't want to feel pain. I I don't want to go I don't want to go to a doctor. I I don't want a needle put in me. I don't want to go up under a scalpel. I don't want a surgeon to cut me open. And don't you know that the man Christ Jesus, he didn't want that crown of thorns upon his head. One thing about Jesus, unlike us, is he knew what was about to happen. And thank God we don't know what's about to happen. If I'm going to go, brother Jeter, if I'm going to go through some things in a year, thank God, I don't know about them. I would have worried myself to death. But here Jesus says, God, he knows what's about to happen. And he simply says, "Oh, he's praying." He says, "Would it be possible for this cup to pass from me?" Which simply means, "Is there any other plan?" The man, not God, the man was simply saying, "Can there come what other plan can we come up with?" But he quickly, I don't know how, I don't know if he he agonized for a few more moments. I don't know how long it took, but he came up with a conclusion. Not my will, but thy will be done. Which simply means I'm called to do this right here, and I'm going to fulfill my calling. It's not my will. It's not my will to be at a whipping post. It's not my will to have nails and spikes driven through my hands and my feet. That's not my will. But it is the will of it is the will of the father. It's the plan from before the foundation of the world. The plan was set in motion that there would be a manu who would die for our sins. Uh a spotless lamb would take on the sins of the world. would have to shed his own blood and give his own life. Uh he said not my will but thine be done. From the high highs of people shouting and chanting hosana to the low lows of people chanting crucify him. Give us Barabus. Crucify him. Give us the thief. Give us the cheat. Give us the despicable. Crucify him. Woo! Come on, somebody. High high highs to low lows. Uh, but he surrendered. Everybody say surrendered. He surrendered to the will of God, to the whisper of God. He didn't surrender to the will of his flesh. Oh, but he surrendered to the spirit inside of him. Let me tell you something. I go back to Elijah. Pride always lies. Pride always lies. Because success says that you don't need God. Oh, but when we surrender, that keeps us humble. Pain isolates. Failures say you're all alone. But Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart." The more alone you feel, I want you to know the more God is at your side. He's close to you. Woo! He's at the mention of his name. If you can just get the name of Jesus to form in your mouth. Amen. But here we go. It's the thoughts that distort Elijah. He says, "I holy." Ah, it was a lie. First Kings 19 and8, God corrects Elijah. He says, "Yet have I left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which have not kissed him." I want you to know, Elijah, you're in a cave. You're in the midst of noise, feeling like you're all by yourself. Oh, but there are 7,000 just like you who have not bowed down to Baal, nor kissed his feet. Come on. Sometimes humility has to kick in. Humility has got to kick in. It's not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking about yourself less. Being humble, submitting ourselves to God, surrendering ourselves to God is not about us being some meek, lowly, weak Christians. It's about being powerful enough to stop thinking about ourself. My God, what would this church look like? What would this community look like if people got offline and started thinking about other people and stopped thinking about themselves? Come on. I know. Listen, I'm not upset. I'm just here to preach to somebody tonight because I feel somebody's living in a dark place right now. And you think somehow by putting it out over the airways, somehow it's going to make you feel better or do better or somebody's going to feel sorry for you in a way that is somehow going to prop you up. It's not going to prop you up. The best thing for you would be humility. Live a life of humility and stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about other people. My God. Win a soul. Come on. The Schnitzers, they're with the Thompsons right now. But if he was here, I'd preach and I'll say I'd say, "Brother Schnitzer, keep on doing what you're doing. You're not using Facebook as a crutch to make people feel sorry for you and you to air out dirty laundry what's been done to you. You're using Facebook to preach the gospel to African bishops over in African countries. We're seeing whole churches, oh my God, we're seeing whole churches come to God. We're seeing whole churches get baptized in the name of Jesus. We're seeing entire churches filled with the Holy Ghost because on Facebook Messenger, there's a man who's not crying about what he's been through. We got a man that's winning souls and making disciples and teaching Bible studies. Oh, come on. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves. It's not putting ourselves down. It's thinking of ourselves less. Oh, stand to your feet. I'm I've already gone over. I'm sorry. But God, I pray right here, I pray because right here, First Kings 19 and 15, this is awesome. After the still small voice, when all the noise, after the noise, there's a whisper and God said, "Go return on thy way. Surrender moves us toward other people. Surrender moves us towards the need. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves and he shall lift you up." You want to get back on that high again? The only way to get back on that high is you got to humble yourself. Less of me and more of you. Less of my issues, my stinking thinking, my brain rot, and more just surrender to who you are and what you want me to be. When we surrender, when Fallon and I surrender to God, oh, she wrote these songs and it went to heart. I promise you it brought us peace. Joy broke through. Windsor Kate born on 1111. She's a little oneness baby. Show me that. I like that picture right there. Stay right there just for a moment. Before that baby girl was born, we went we went to the specialist every week. I know some of y'all done this every single week. They began to tell us. We're looking right here and what we see, we're not sure. Her arms don't It doesn't look like her arms are measuring up with her body. Do you want to keep her? You You've carried it for seven months now, but we we were not sure if we could promise you a a successful pregnancy. Are you sure this this could risk the mother? Are you sure you want to keep her? And we said, "Don't you ever ask us that question again." We said, "That offends us." My wife, the one at risk, she said that that offends me. Please don't say that. That See, you got to understand. But when you surrender to the voice of God, You say, "Devil, I don't care. I don't care in what condition she's born if she's deformed in some way. If her brain is not fully functional, that that's okay because you've given us a gift. You brought joy into our life and joy doesn't always look like perfection. But my gratitude is this one did. Show me the next picture because as because her personality started coming out and that girl's giving us joy all the days of her life. Show me the next picture. Well, the devil wanted to put us into a cave of depression and oppression. He wanted to steal from us. Oh, God. Listen, if you're here tonight, oh my God, and you're living in noise, I want you to know there's hope after the noise. There is joy after the noise. I promise you. But you got to get yourself into the place where you can hear that still small voice of God. You you got to get yourself into the place where you say, "God, no matter what happens, God, if you're for me, who could be against me, God, I if if you're going to help me, God, if your spirit is going to empower me, God, if if you're going to be at my side, God, I I know we might go through some hard times. We might go through some struggles, but God, I I want to thank you, God. I got a life of gratitude, God, because you've been so good." Come on. But if God's been good to you, why don't you just throw your head back and begin to thank him and say, "God, I I've been listening to the wrong noise, God. There's some things in my life, oh God, that I felt accomplished over, God, and those things felt made me feel like I was enough. Oh God, my prayer life was cut out, oh God. Uh I didn't read your word like I should have cuz I felt like I was more than enough. And then God, some things happened to me where everything fell apart. And then all of a sudden, Lord God, I I found myself in a cave and I was listening to the wrong noise. And God, it was so loud. It was it was like an Adam bomb going off and I couldn't hear anything else. God, there was so much wind and there was so much rain and there was so much shaking. But God, I just want to get as close to you as I can. I feel the Holy Ghost right here. He's wanting to minister so bad. But you've got to let him. You've got to come to the mouth of the cave and you got to be willing to say, "God, I feel all alone." But God, you tell me I'm not. You tell me that there's thousands just like me. You tell me there's thousands who have been through what I've been through. They've faced what I've faced. And oh God, help me, Lord God, to see them and to find them and to join up with them because together we can do it. I surrender to you. I surrender to you. Come on, somebody. Right here in this altar, you can cry out right now unashamedly. Take your mask off. Take your mask off and just allow God to minister to you. He's telling you, "I've got it all taken care of. I'm about to send you forth. Uh you're about to do great things. Uh I'm about to feed you. Uh I'm about to give you water to drink. Uh if you'll just surrender your life to me. I'll do great and mighty things. I wish somebody could look outside themselves right now and pray for somebody that's weeping next to you. I wish somebody could look outside of themselves right now and join up with somebody who's saying, "God, I feel what Brother Ericson is preaching. I'm living what brother Ericson is preaching. I don't want to be here anymore." Come on, somebody. Pray. Pray. Pray. Pray. We need one another. We are not alone. You're my brother. You're my sister. Uh, so take me by the hand. Uh, together we will work until he comes. Uh, there's no foe that can defeat us. Uh, if we're walking side by side, as long as there's love, we're going to stand together. Come on. Some of you have lost some of you lost loved ones. You've lost loved ones. Oh, you've lost them to death prematurely. They shouldn't be dead right now. They should be in this house right now.Uh, but come on. Come on. Come on. Uh, you can't live in that cave any longer. You can't stay there. I'm not telling you to forget. I'm not telling you to forget. I'm just simply saying you can't live in the noise any longer. You got to break out of the noise. You got to break out of the noise. Come on. There's joy beyond the noise. Woo. On the other side of the noise. Come on. Jesus is speaking to you right now. He's wanting to show hope. Come on. There's faith in the room. There's faith in the room. I believe there's a miracle in the room. I believe there's hope in the room. Come on. In a place this size with this many people, you can't tell me that faith is not rising in this place. Woo! The atmosphere is packed full of faith in this place. Come on, receive what you need. Receive what you need. God's whisper is stronger than the enemy's cry. I said God's whisper is stronger than the enemy's cry. Somebody put your arm around Brother Holland right there. Somebody put your arm around Brother Holland. Brother Brother Roger, put your arm around Brother Holland right there. Come on. Woo. My God. Come on. If somebody from the Holland family, if they're nearby you, come on. Just put your arm around them right here. Come on, brother Dale. Put your arm around. Brother Jonathan right here. Come on. Let's minister to one another. Come on. Elijah left the cage. Come on. The Dempsey family. Come on, put your arm around somebody in the Dempsey family. Brother Andy Holland, he went. He left us way, way, way too early. Far too early. Sister Jennifer, come on. She's been living in noise. Jacob and Jonathan, Mom and Dad, Holland, Damy. Come on. We've been living in noise, but come on. We don't have to stay there. Come on. Pray the prayer of faith right now. Somebody pray the prayer of faith and just say, "God, I believe, God, that you're able, oh, God, to turn their minds, God, you're able to clear minds and woo, you're able to steal hearts, oh God. Hallelujah. If brokenness is what you love, here I am, Lord. Shatter dreams of life undone. Here I am, Lord. For I was never made to be complete without your voice guiding me. I surrender. I surrender. I surrender all to you. Take my brokenness. Do what you can do. I surrender all to you. Yeah. Come on. Come on. Come on. Surrender to him right here. If holiness is what you are, here I am alone. Selfishness and pride are gone. Here I am, Lord. I was never made to be humble without your voice and guideing me. I surrender. I surrender. I surrender all to you. Take my brokenness. Do what you can do. I surrender all. Oh, surrendering my hopes. Surrendering my fears. My hands are in the air. Let your love take over. Surrendering my hopes. Surrendering my fears. My hands are in the air. Let your love take over. Like a rushing wind. Breathe on me again. Oh Lord, take control. I surrender. Come on, every hand lifted. I surrender. I surrender all to you. Take my brokenness. Do what you can do. I surrender all to you. Yeah. Come on. Just love him in this place. Come on. Your hands are in the air. The hands are in the air. Come on. This is the universal sign for surrender. Both hands in the air. No matter where you are, what nation you live in, when you surrender, your hands are straight up. I end with this. They say the best way out of inner turmoil. The best way out is to help somebody else. I I go to visit a a man in a home where he lives and he'll probably be the rest of his life. He's had a lot of sickness and he's had a lot of ups and a lot of downs. He's made a lot of money in his lifetime and he's been addicted to a lot of drugs in his lifetime and it just it's found him in a cave. But what I noticed about him is the last time I went to see him, I've never seen him in such good spirits. And I I tried to figure out what what Nothing's changed. you're you're you're in the same room and you're eating the same food and everything's the same. But I figured out without him really telling me what it was, I figured out what it was because they moved a man in to be his roommate that is paralyzed and he can't feed himself. And so this man that I go see quite often, he has found fulfillment He feeds every meal to his roommate. He helps his roommate with whatever his roommate needs. And he's found his way out of the cave by just getting outside of himself and saying, "God, I might be trapped here the rest of my life. This might be what my life is, but I refuse to live in a mental state that makes me feel sorry for myself. My God, let us look. Let us let us see people around us that need us. Come on. No matter where you are, no matter how low you think you are, there is somebody lower than you. What problems you have, I promise you, somebody is going to look to you and say, "You got what I need. Help me. I want to pray one last prayer and then Pastor Hammond's coming to dismiss us. Let's pray. Father God, I pray over this great congregation, Lord. God, I feel the need in the house, God. I felt you give me this message, Lord, cuz there's people living, Lord God, like Elijah did. There's there's people in the Garden of Gethsemane. There's people that are living life, Lord God, even where where Fallon and myself were living some 14, 15 years ago. God, they find themselves in a place, Lord God, where it's so loud they don't know how they're going to see their way through. But God, I just believe tonight. They've made a decision. They're getting out of the cave. God is going to do something with them, for them, and through them. God, I just believe in Jesus name. They're going to leave here. Lord, I believe I don't believe this is a negative message. This is the most positive message that any person could hear. Because God, if we will take hold of the thought of the theme of this message and surrender to you, God, you're going to do great and mighty things through each and every one of us. God, I believe next Sunday, Easter Sunday, this place is going to be packed full of people in need. And the people that stand here before me and praying with me, Lord God, we're not going to look to receive next weekend. We're going to look to give next weekend. We're going to every guest that's in the house, we're going to try to find a way to add value to their life. In Jesus name I pray. God, let us leave here differently than we came. We're going to leave here victors, oh God, because you're our God. You're our King. Come on, clap your hands. Worship him. Bless his name. He's a great God.