Living in the Maybe | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson
by Chad Erickson
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6, 1 Samuel 14:6, 1 Samuel 14:4, Genesis 50:20, Matthew 19:26, Romans 5:3-4, 1 Samuel 14:15-16, Job 1:21, Job 42:10, Philippians 4:11, Philippians 4:6-7, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 8:28

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/chad-erickson--living-in-the-maybe
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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What a loving God we serve. Turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 3 and verse number six. I got to uh step into our welcome home class this morning and uh I was excited to see that there were no open chairs. There were people standing around. I think we have some 25 seats or so in there and people just standing across the wall filled seats. Thank you. Oh, we're going. Listen, we're growing and I believe God is going to do great things and every soul, every new member that's going to be part of this church, God is going to do something great through you. Looking forward to that. Uh couldn't help uh stayed long enough. Um they they play a video of the church which causes me uh causes me to cry every time I see it because it goes all the way back uh when brother Jim Arwood and his family started the church. uh brother Jeff all the way back in the early 80s and I believe maybe 1980 if it was somewhere in that area 81 1981 shows the house church it shows the first choir it it it goes all the way up through to uh 7023 William drive and just couldn't help uh every time I watch it just tears well up in my eyes when I think where the Lord has brought us where the Lord has brought us and not really where he's brought us from because we're we're sure not ashamed of where he brought us from. We're We're proud of where he brought us from as a church. Amen. But where he's brought us to, God has been so good. Amen. God has blessed us. Uh God has showed us revival. And that's what we're going to continue on. I believe in Jesus name. Couldn't help. Uh Sister Rickettts got up and and went through a slide presentation. And I give honor to our pastoral team. It goes through from uh the carpenters. Uh starts with them and goes through them. And of course, my wife and I, Pastor and Sister Hammond, Pastor and Sister Nolan Carpenter, and just God has blessed us. God, I I began to hear her read off the bios. I thought, my God, what a privilege it is just to go to church here, just to be a part of this team. Next week, come back. All y'all that were in that class, come back next week. Uh we're going to introduce all there's so many leadership teams and uh departments in this church. You're going to hear about what God is doing throughout this church. God is a good God and he's doing great things. Amen. Amen. Look with me quickly in Proverbs 3 verse 5. Very, very familiar verses. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Let me start over again. Trust. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. One more scripture you're hearing. 1st Samuel 14:6. Here's our key verse. says, "And Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor, come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised, it may be it may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." If I could be totally honest and transparent tonight, probably my greatest deficiency is trust. And my struggle is not that I I lack trust in others. If anything, I'm probably too trusting in others. I've been burned a few times because of that. But the deficiency of trust that I refer to is the trust in what I can't see coming. When the future feels like I'm in a fog, I'm just going to be honest with you. I start to unravel. I It's It's the gold green, the real color personality that I am that causes me to want to be in control. Now, I blame it on personality, but I can overcome that. I promise you. But that's where it all begins. And I get anxious and anxiety begins to knock at my door. I I feel discouraged. I'm just being transparent with you. Sometimes I get mildly depressed. Does anybody else feel that way? Anybody else feel like you before you leave the driveway, you got to know where you're going. You kind of just want God to spell it out, but instead he hands you a maybe. I'm going to preach about that tonight. The space where we don't have all the answers, but we serve a God who does. My title is simply this. Living in the maybe. Living in the maybe. Put your Bibles down. Come on, let's pray together. Father, I feel your presence. Woo. When Morgan, when Sister Morgan began to testify tonight, God, everything that I've studied, Lord, everything that you gave me for tonight, Lord, it just all made sense. Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost, church. Oh, still I will trust you. Still I will follow. Oh, God. I know there's some storms we're going to go through. There's some battles we're going to have to fight. But God, as long as you're on our side, God, as long as you, Lord God, control our future and as long as our world is in your hands, oh God, I'll trust you. I will trust you, God. I will trust you, God. I pray you'd help me, Lord God. Anoint me, speak through me, Lord God. Let your people hear what you have, Lord, you've given me. Let them hear your word tonight to understand Lord God to acknowledge to obey your word tonight in Jesus' name. Come on, clap your hands and give him praise tonight. Oh, praise the Lord all ye people. Lift up your voices and give God a shout. Oh, there's a victorious spirit in this house. There's a healing spirit. There's a deliverance spirit. I believe there's a spirit of restoration in this place. in Jesus name you may be seated in the house. Let me begin with a story that that's been challenging me. I heard this the other day. There was a farmer whose horse ran away and his neighbors came by and they said, "What a terrible loss." And the farm farmer simply shrugged and said, "Maybe." The very next day, that same horse showed back up with two wild horses following. Those same neighbors came by and said, "Well, it's your lucky day." The farmer looked at him and said, "Maybe." The next day, the farmer's son was trying to break one of those horses and got thrown off a horse and broke his arm. Those same neighbors came and said, "You got some bad luck." The farmer looked at him and said, "Maybe." It was the very next day that the military showed up recruiting young men into a hopeless war. They saw the young man's broken arm and they refused him. The neighbors came and said, "My my, you're a lucky man, farmer." And he said, Maybe maybe I began I began to think about that story. I thought, you know what? There's a life's ups and there's a life's downs. And sometimes the life's downs that you just assume are downs might really be ups. And those times that you think that you're on a high sometimes might really be life's downs. But this farmer was simply he lived in the maybe. He didn't cling to the highs and he didn't crumble with the lows. He just trusted that a bigger story was unfolding. And I believe that God is calling us to live in this same type of maybe. And it's to let go of our need for control and trust the one who's writing the story. Come on. He's the author and he's the finisher of our faith. He He knows how to change the script for us. But let's turn back to 1st Samuel chapter 14 where Jonathan I I love the story of Jonathan and I probably love it because he was best friends with David, which is probably my favorite Old Testament Bible character. And old Jonathan, the son of Saul, the the story goes that his father Saul was hiding and was cowering under a pomegranate tree. He was with 600 rag tag ruffians. They were going up against the Philistines who were who were much more uh their their weaponry uh they were dominating. They had iron chariots. They had advanced weaponry. They had swords and spears. And all the people of Israel, all they had were sticks and stones and farmer's tools and slingshots. Nothing wrong with a slingshot, but when you're going up against a a battle of swords and spears, I want you to know they were looking at really overwhelming odds because the Philistines had thousands thousands of armed men going up against just a bunch of Israelite farmers. and and King Saul, here he is. He's paralyzed with fear. But Jonathan, but Jonathan, his son, he he has a different spirit. Oh, the story is so good. He's not taking notice in the odds of the enemy. He was taking notice in the power of his God. He tells his armor bearer, he says, "Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised." And in 1st Samuel 14 and6, here it is. is our key versus and maybe it maybe that the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. This this phrase it may be is everything in this story because Jonathan doesn't have a detailed battle plan. He has he has no plan whatsoever. He just has a maybe. He's living in the maybe. And he's going to call heaven. He's going to pray to heaven. And he's going to simply say, "I need a sign. I'm going to put out a fleece before the Lord. Lord, I just need some sort of sign." You don't tell You don't have to tell me how you're going to do it. You don't got You don't have to tell me who you're going to do it through. All you got to do is give me a sign. Give me a sign. So, here we go. 1st Samuel 14:4 the Bible says in between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistine garrison there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side and the name of one was Moses and the name of the other was Sen. Moses means slippery s means thorny. I kind of often wonder if the great feat that happened here was him defeating 20 of the enemy or it was him getting to where the enemy was. You kind of wonder is that a sharp rock? I would look at that as a steep cliff and and one cliff is has has pebbles and rocks and and is slippery and the other one has thorns and he's getting all cut up his clothes, his skin as he's trying to make his way to the enemy. But here it is. He simply thought to himself and he began to pray to God. He said, "Hey, if they tell me to come on, if if they tell me to come toward them," he said, "God, I'll know it's your will for me to go on up and you're going to do a great thing if they say wait where you are and we're coming to you." He said, "I better get out of here and run." And so here he goes. He climbs this thorny way, this slippery way. And somehow he and his armor bearer get up to where the Philistines are and they begin to strike down 20 men. The Bible says in about a half acre circle they go up to where oh they were fort they had a fortress. They had a fortress that the Israelites could not conquer. But when you take God with you when you go when you when you live in the maybe when you seen your God do it before and you know he can do it again. You just know hey God you don't have to explain anything to me. I don't need logistics right now. All I need is for you to say go and I'll start. And now impossibility became the result of a victory. It reminds me of the story of Joseph. I I love the story of Joseph sold by his own brothers 20 shekels of silver. Come on. That's a low blow. But then he became potter's servant. That's a little glimmer of hope. But then he's thrown into the king's dungeon, the king's prison for a crime he didn't he didn't even commit. That that's a dive into despair. But finally, he's elevated to second in command over all of Egypt to save the nations. Starvation, 7 years of famine. But God absolutely flipped the script. And Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 50:20, "You thought evil against me, but God meant it for good." Come on. Can you see how Joseph was living in the may I don't know. I'm just going to go. Dad told me to go out and check on my brothers. It don't sound like a good idea to me, brother Ben, but I'm going to go check on them. I know they hate me, but I got to go see what they're doing. And he shows up. He gets thrown into a pit, gets sold into slavery. Everybody around probably thought it ain't very good. You got no good luck, son. You don't got any. If there was no luck at all, my God, at least you got some bad luck cuz that's the only luck you have and you've been sold into slavery. But then things start looking good because you're sold to the right person, but things look bad. He's living in the maybe. He just keeps on doing what he knows to do. And that's to live for God. That's to worship Jehovah God. That's to give his life to God. There's ups and there's downs, but he just keeps on giving. He keeps on working. And he keeps on letting God know, God, even in the maybe, I'm going to have faith and trust in you. Your maybe tonight might be a health scare. There might be some Linda Thompson's in this room where where doctors have given you an impossible diagnosis. Or maybe your maybe your maybe might be that the doctor's report says you've got a spot on an organ or you've got some kind of a lump or some kind of a mass has been found in your body. Or your maybe might be that your kidneys are failing and and you're waiting on a transplant. Brother Nash, woo, there might be people in this room maybe health is not a problem. Maybe your maybe is a financial strain and and bills are piling up and the creditors are calling or or maybe your maybe might be a your ministry is on hold and you don't have a clear next step. I want to try to cover everybody. Everybody in this room somewhere in your walk with God. you you're one of these mayshies. Uh it might be a help. It might be you need deliverance for something. Uh it might be that you're just looking for God to use you and you don't know how he's going to use you. Whatever it is, you got to learn to live in the maybe because Matthew, I love Matthew 19:26. It says, "With God all things are possible because your maybe is God's stage to show off his power." God said this. You got to trust me enough. If you can do it, then I don't need to show up. If you got all the answers, if you're in control, I don't even need to show up. But if you'll give me a platform, if you'll give me a stage to show you what I can do, the whole world, everybody will see of my greatness and my miraculous power, my supernatural power. With God, all things are possible. I I believe somebody here tonight needs to discover that your God is bigger than your maybe. It was John Maxwell in his law of the process. He says you have to go through it in order to get to it. You got to go through it to get to it. your maybe your health scare, your financial strain, your your stalled ministry is a part of God's process to shape you. Romans 5 and3 says, "Tribulation workketh patience and patience experience and experience hope." I got news for you. None of those look good to me except for hope. tribulation. Patience, no experience. That takes time. But experience, oh, if you just go through the time, if you walk the walk and talk the talk long enough and do the work long enough, hope is in your future. It was Joseph that endured the pit before the palace. God is using your struggles to prepare you for your purpose. Oh, let me minister to somebody tonight. You got to stop falling asleep uh crying on a pillow stained with tears. You just got to realize you're living in the maybe. This is just where Jonathan was. This is just where Joseph was. This is just where Abraham was when God said, "I want you to leave your riches and leave your land. I just want you to start walking and you're going to find what I want you to look for and what you Oh my God. You're going to find the promise uh that your people you're going to be the father of nation. You got you're going to have more children and more offspring than the sand of the seas and the stars that are in the sky. But Abraham, you just got to start walking. Joseph, you just got to keep on keeping on. You got a purpose, but God is going to put you through some struggles to find that per purpose. You see, growth compounds with consistency. Think about this. Let your faith build step by step. Just like Jonathan climbed up that cliffh every step, his faith was built. As he got another yard and another yard up that cliff, he began to think, "God, if you're going to get me to them, I believe we're to get through them. If you'll just help me here, here's where we're going to go a little bit deeper. Jonathan's maybe wasn't about controlling the result. It was about trusting in God's hand. It was about holding on and understanding that if the world is in the hand of your God, nothing is impossible. He dictates every victory that happens. All you got to do, Jonathan, is fight. The Bible doesn't say that Jonathan won the battle. The Bible says that God won the battle. All Jonathan did was he took the first step, but it was God. Woo. Look here in 1st Samuel 14:15. And there was a trembling in the host in the field among all the people, the garrison, and the spoilers. They also trembled. Here are the Philistines. And the Bible says the earth quaked. So it was a very trembling, great trembling. And the watchmen of Saul and Giba of Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another. That 600 that was there, they were hiding and whimpering behind their great leader, Saul. They just stayed right where they were. But it was the scouts. It was the watchmen who watched God deliver the people of Israel without one of them in the fight. It was just Jonathan and his armor bearer. And then God said, "Hey, Jonathan, since you're willing to work through the maybe, I'm going to show up. I'm going to cause there to be an earthquake. And I'm going to cause there to be a victory for the Israelites because my God is able to do exceedingly uh abundantly above all that we can ask and or think. Uh we can't even imagine if we'll just live in the maybe, if we'll have enough faith and enough trust and enough hope in God. He will come through. Come on. If he's ever come through to you, I wish you would testify by clapping your hands and just say, "God, I'll live right where you want me to live. I'll live in a place of trust. I'll live in a place of hope. I don't want to preach a long time, but I got to bring Job into the story because we all know the story of Job. Uh we can see it in his story. Oh, he's the wealthiest man around. He's maybe the wealthiest man alive and he's stripped of his wealth, his children, his health. He's faced a maybe that's tested his very soul. Yet he declares in Job 1:21, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, but blessed be the name of the Lord." You got to see this with me. He did not say the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Just leave, leave, leave that scripture up there because we sing a song and I want to keep on singing the song, but songwriters don't always get it right because a songwriter, he he wrote, "He gives and takes away. He gives and takes away. My heart will choose to say a blessed be." That's not what Job said. It wasn't like Job was just waiting and saying, "You know what? I gave a big offering and I'm just going to go out to the mailbox. I'm going to wait for the check to show up." Job simply said he gave. I was rich. I did have a family. I did have cattle. I did have barns and fields of plenty. But now he's taking it away. And there he stands in sackcloth and he says, "But blessed be the name of the Lord." Job said, "He came in riches, but I still choose to bless him when he takes them away." He didn't cling. He didn't cling to what he had lost or demand an explanation. He just surrendered to God and to his will. He lived in the maybe. Maybe one day I'll get my oxen back, but maybe I won't. But blessed be the name of the Lord. Maybe one day I'll get all my donkeys back, but maybe I won't. But blessed be the name of the Lord. Maybe one day I'll get my camels back, but maybe I won't. But blessed be the name of the Lord. Maybe one day my health will come back. But maybe it won't. But blessed be the name of the Lord. Maybe one day I'll have a family again. But maybe I won't. But he simply said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." His old wife said, "Curse God and die." He said, "Oh, I can't curse God and die." He gives. He takes away. It's okay. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Somebody bless the Lord in this place. I don't care what season you're living in. Bless it because he's still God and he's still good. Uh bless it because he died for your sins. Uh bless him because he rose from the grave. Blessed because the Holy Ghost is in the church today. Come on. We got to learn to live in the maybe. Job 42:10. We love how Job ends. Thank God he stuck with the maybe long enough. The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. But that's not why he praised him because he lived in the maybe. He didn't know he was going to get twice as much. Woo. You could just be content. If we could just be content. Come on. That's what it takes. We got to be be content where we're living today. And I'm not talking about not wanting something greater of God or for God or spiritually. I'm just simply saying sometimes we just live in a season that we're just going to have to be content until we get out of it. The Apostle Paul shipwrecked in prison wrote in Philippians 4:11, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am there, therewith to be content." Our maybe doesn't need our control. It needs our trust. I'll say it again. Or maybe it does not need our control. It needs our trust. God's plan is greater than our preferred ending. Come on, think about that. His plan is greater than what you think your ending ought to be, what I think my ending ought to be. So, the question is, how do we surrender in our maybe? How do we build up trust? I I've heard it said, trust comes when you let go of the need to appear invincible. Because that's what we do. We got to look like we got everything together. We got to appear invincible. But oh, trust comes when we let go of that feeling like we got to we got to put forth some kind of I'm invincible. I can do this on my own. It's when we admit our dependency upon God. We got to pray. God, I release this to you. I admit I am not in control, but you are in control of my life, of my destiny. Vulnerability builds trust. As we trust God, we find peace. Philippians 4:6, "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, watch this right here, will keep your hearts and your mind through Christ Jesus. Woo. It's time to release all anxieties. Uh, we got to give them to God in prayer. We got to watch his peace. Uh, woo. It guards our heart. The Bible says, uh, it calms our mind. Do you see that right there? If you're struggling and suffering with anxiety uh and depression and oppression uh we got to allow the peace of God uh to keep our hearts and our minds uh come on somebody request uh be made known unto God. God we got to pray. Oh Lord, help us Lord God to realize uh that prayer is our greatest weapon. Uh prayer is our best friend. Uh it's not just a time. It's not just a box that we check in the morning. But prayer is how we connect with God. Prayer is how we say God not my will but thy will be done. Prayer is how we commune with God and say God I'm not able to do this. Uh God I'm not able to carry this. Uh God I'm not able. I don't have Lord God the wisdom, the knowledge, the understanding. But God you you you do. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us, "For we walk by faith and not by sight." Oh, Jonathan scaling those cliffs. He had to walk by faith and not by sight. Job finding out that he and his wife are now all alone in their little world. They had to walk by faith and not by sight. We're all called to move forward without seeing the full plan. Your maybe is not a dead end. It's a divine intervention to trust the unseen hand of God. Come on, somebody. He's guiding our steps. Order my steps in your word, dear Lord. Uh oh. Lead me, guide me every day. I don't know. We we may not sing songs like that. Matter of fact, Sister Carl Banell is the very first song I ever heard the Marvel choir sing. I I came I came to Maraveville January. I don't know. It was probably about the January the 20th of 1999 to try out for the position. Six months. Six months. Yeah. For six months. That's all they wanted me. They said, "We only want your regggy self for six months." Pastor said, "I'm going to shake your hand. didn't say get out of here. He said I didn't say it like that. No, he did. They they they were very gracious. But he didn't say six months. I But I just remember Sister Hawkins. I remember the sanctuary choir. My God. I was sitting over here on the front row. Now, it wasn't this sanctuary. It was a sanctuary up the road. But I was sitting over here. It sounded like an angelic choir saying, "Hold my steps in your word, dear Lord. Guide me every day." And I know I thought to myself, "Woo, that's what I need because Kippy, that was me, man. I was I was struggling. I I had graduated from Indiana Bible College. Had nowhere to go. Had a degree. Had a great experience. Had nowhere to go. I had a youth pastor job for about little under a year. The pastor got voted out, which means I got voted out. I was working construction from about 5:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. every day of the week. We'd go to one job site from from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. And then the pastor that I was working for, he said, 'You know, we got to we got to pick up some extra jobs. I'm like, we like I ain't got no bills. We don't got to pick up no extra jobs. He said, "Come on, Chad. We're going to we're going to remodel this house." And so 5:00 till 9:00 every day, Monday through Friday. I'll just be honest with you. And I was living in the maybe. I was like, "God, I spent years in university and Bible college and this is what I got to show for it. I I'm so tired. I can't hardly wake up in the morning. 4:30 the alarm goes off. I'm falling in bed at 9:00, 9:30. By the time I get home every night, just trying to trying to survive as a young 20s, 21 year old just trying to survive. But here I come to a church and I hear order my steps in your word, dear Lord. Lead me and guide me every day. And it was those two lines right there, Brother Wley, that kept me going. And I thought, God, if you'll just help me through this, maybe if you'll just help me get and take another step, if they'll just hire me for 6 months, maybe they'll like me enough to keep me for 26 years, one of our elders, one of our elders said, said, "Pastor Carpenter, are we are we going to keep that boy? It's been a year. Thank God. Order my steps in your word, dear Lord. I I just feel the Holy Ghost because I believe tonight there's a difference between me trusting God and Jonathan trusting God. There's a difference between me living in the maybe and Joseph living in the maybe because I I don't just have a revelation of God. I don't just have a testimony of what God has done. I've got that God living inside of me. I've got the Holy Ghost. Do we really truly understand what the Holy Ghost is? And I didn't say who the Holy Ghost is. I said, "What the Holy Ghost is because we know he's not the third person in a trinity." The Holy Ghost is God at work. It's the creator of the universe at work. It's a savior of mankind at work. It's it's the deliverer at work. And we should have no problem living in the maybe if that God is working in us. Cuz see, I could take us to an upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost around 2,000 years ago, 120 believers were living in the maybe. They had become best friends with a miracle worker named Jesus. And everybody around them said, "Woo, they've made it." Maybe because that same miracle worker ended up on a cross dying, buried in a tomb, and those same friends came by and said, "You Christians got some bad luck." Maybe. But then three days later, that same Jesus that was on the cross, that was in the tomb came back to life again and hope. They had hope again. And those same people came by and said, "Oh, you Christians, you've got your hope back. You must be the luckiest people in all the world." Maybe. Maybe because 40 days later, that same best friend is now on the mountaintop and he's saying, "Boys, ladies and gentlemen, I'm about to leave you." And they thought, "Surely not. We already lost you for 3 days, and 3 days was too many days. What do you mean you're going to leave us?" And there they saw him as he ascended into heaven. And everybody around said, "Boy, they sure got bad luck." Maybe. But on the day of Pentecost, I said on the day of Pentecost, uh, when it was fully come, there were all in one accord in one place. Uh, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared clothing tongues uh like as a fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance. You ought to stand to your feet if you've got the Holy Ghost inside of you and you ought to be able to say, "God, I'm living in the maybe, but the maybe is living in me. I might be living in the maybe, but the maybe is living in me with God. All things are possible. Come on, somebody. You might be living in a difficult time. Uh you might be living in a difficult maybe. But may also be exciting. You can't just accept those doctor's reports. But by faith, you got to cry out maybe. You can't Oh, listen. You might be facing a closed door, but you can't just assume it's locked. You got to stand there and say maybe. Woo. When life is impossible, you can't agree with that. You got to say, uh, it might be in a whisper. Maybe there's still a possibility. Maybe you've been told it's over. Come on, somebody. You've been told, the devil told you, "It's over. You might as well give up. You might as well give in." But I believe we can stand here today and say, "It's not over. Maybe it's just the beginning. Maybe it's just the beginning. Maybe it's just the be. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. Uh in all thy ways acknowledge him. Uh he shall direct thy paths. I feel him moving in this room. Uh I feel faith building in this room. Uh I feel hope building in this room. I feel trust building in this room. Romans 8:28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. What we call good and what God calls good, are they the same? Maybe is what we consider our purpose and what he considers our purpose. Are they the same? We just got to be willing to take that first step and say, "God, you've given and you've taken away. I feel blessed by you. And sometimes I feel at the very lowest point of my life, but oh God, I will still bless your name. Come on, somebody. If you need healing in your body, it may be that God will heal you tonight. Uh why don't you just step out and find out if you're here tonight and you need the Holy Ghost. Uh it may be that God will fill you with his spirit. But you first got to step out and say, "I may not understand it fully and completely, but God, if you said you want your spirit living inside of me, God, if you'll do a great work through me, God, if you'll move through me, I'm willing to lift up my hands and repent of my sins. Uh, I'm willing to go to a baptistry and be washed in regeneration power." Come on. I wish was someone just throw their hands up right here. The people that are truly a needle are going to get here first. I believe just like the woman with the issue of blood, you're going to press through the crowd. You're going to get up as close as you can because you understand that your God is for you. You understand that your God loves you and you just understand if I just keep on doing what I've been taught to do. Uh pastor keeps on say pray. He keeps on preaching about prayer. pastor keeps on preaching about if I could just keep on praying if I could just keep on trusting if I could just keep on having hope and faith in my life something's going to happen. I know it's a maybe I know it's not promised. Jonathan was not promised a victory. Job was not promised twice as much. There was no promise with Joseph. Woo. We just got to sometimes do what we've been taught to do. We got to follow the word of God and obey what it says and just keep on living in the maybe. It may be that God will show up. It may be that you get your healing tonight. Come on. If you need healing in your body, I wish you would lift up your hands as high as you can. Uh I wish you would get your hands up and say, "God, oh, is this my night? Maybe. Is this my night? Oh, maybe." Oh, but you first got to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." Oh, blessed be the name. I once had health. I no longer have health, but blessed be the name of the Lord. I once had a bank account. Uh I once had a savings account. Uh I no longer have a savings account, but blessed be uh the name of the Lord. Come on, somebody. You got to pray. You got to pray and say, "God, help me. Help me to break through, push through. God, help me, Lord God, to break forth. uh into victory. I'm going to climb. I'm going to wrestle. I'm going to do whatever it takes. Oh God, because you you make it plain, oh God, if we'll just keep on living for you. If we'll keep on pressing forward, God, you'll make a way where there doesn't seem to be a way. Come on. I think I think it'd be an order for you to pray for somebody nearby. We got young people seeking for the Holy Ghost. Uh we got people in this place uh that have sickness and disease in their bodies. Uh they've got bad doctor's reports. Uh oh, but come on. Whose report will you believe? We shall believe the report of the Lord. I know it's not guaranteed. It's not promised. But I believe there's a maybe in this househ there's a maybe in this place. Uh it could happen. It could happen. If we had enough faith to fight for it, it could happen. Come on. I know there's 20 against one, but it could happen. Woo! Do it, oh God. Come on, do it, oh God. Hey, do it, oh God. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. yes. God, what a God. What a God. What a God. what a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. Yeah. come on. Mind, body, soul, and spirit be healed. Mind, body, soul, and spirit be healed. What kind of God is for? Come on. This might be a mental sickness you're trying to break through. They said it's over. Oh, yeah. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not. What a God. Come on, you ought to praise him if you got the Holy Ghost. If you're not sick in your body, if you're not in financial need or need of deliverance, you want to just praise him right here and say, "Thank God I'm not what I used to be. Thank God what he's brought me out of. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If the highest place I reaches are your feet, then I've done it all. And if the best thing that I've seen is your glory, glory, God, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life. Forever satisfied. God, you are my Come on, sing this right here. In the highest place I reach. the bless is your glory. Your love save my life forever. You are my highest. The best thing that I see is your glory. I see it all. Save my life forever. Satisfy God. You are way see your hand. Come on. We're living in the baby. Come on. We're living in the baby right here. Heat. Heat. Oh God, you are God. wonderful God. oh, the highest place. I've done it all. I've done it all. The best thing that I see is your love. I've seen it all. And I've seen it all. Your love forever. you are then I'll feel your heart and never see your I don't mind Heat. Heat. Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a God. What a God. God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. Angels bow before him. Heaven and earth adore him. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a bow. before heaven. Heaven adore. So, what a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Angels bow before you. Heaven and earth adore him. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Sing angels bow before you. Heaven and earth. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Angels bow before heaven. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. What a god. Singing the highest place. I got it all. I've done it all. The best thing I see is your glory. I see it all my life forever. You are the only Yeah. heat. Heat. heat. Heat. heat. Heat. Heat. The highest of your best forever satisfy God. You are my word is the only I you is the only ite you are my everything. If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life forever. You are my head. Oh, could we lift up our voices tonight and thank God for his word? Can we lift up our voices tonight and thank God for his word? Oh, thank God for his word. Thank God for his word. Thank God for his word. Living Living in the maybe. Living in the maybe. Anybody relate to that tonight? Living in the maybe. Living in the maybe. You know, we're going to do one last act of praise tonight. He said, "Living in the maybe." In the maybe. Do you know the Bible says weeping what? Does it say weeping shall endure? It says, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning." Well, does that mean I'm going to weep all night till the sun comes up? Maybe. if you choose, but you can have a maybe at midnight. Cuz I don't have to wait for the son of good news to arise. I don't have to wait for the morning to arise to begin to praise him. Cuz Paul and Silas at midnight begin to say, "Let's worship God for a moment. Let's magnify." Come on, Paul. Let's praise him. Come on, Silas. Let's praise him. Joy is going to come in the morning, but let's just praise him right now. Come on. Could you praise him right now? You don't have to weep all night long. You don't have to weep all night long. Oh Lord, I praise you. Lord, I magnify you. Lord, I don't know if next week will be any different than this week, but God, I praise you. Lord, I don't know if if if 20 if the rest of 2025 is going to be any different than 2024, but God, I'm going to praise you. Lord, I'm going to magnify you tonight for you're a good God. You're a great God. You're an awesome God. You're a loving God. You're a merciful God. You're a soulsearching God. You're a friend of the Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes. What a God. What a God. What a God.