The Seasons of Our Lives | Senior Pastor Kenneth Carpenter by Kenneth Carpenter First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: 2 Kings 4:38-44, Numbers 15:27, Acts 3:17, Ephesians 4:18, Matthew 12:34, Matthew 9:3, Matthew 9:21 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kenneth-carpenter--the-seasons-of-our-lives Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ amen amen amen amen come on let's just continue what brother erickson has started right now let's just continue that right now let's just praise him together let's magnify him right now together let there be a sweet sweet sound oh yes how many loves the lord right now let's praise him let's just praise him wonderful jesus magnificent jesus oh jesus it's all about you this morning jesus we praise you jesus we exalt your lovely name today come on help me praise him right now come on help me praise him right now all of this building lift up your voice lift up your voice this morning before the word comes lord i love you jesus i praise you jesus you changed my life jesus you died for my sins jesus you rose again jesus you're coming back for me jesus by your stripes i'm healed jesus by your name i am saved today oh i give the name of jesus praise i give the name of jesus praise you have your bibles invite your attention to the second book of kings the second book of kings chapter number four and begin reading in verse number 38 the lord is going to move here in the next few moments and god is going to minister to hearts god is going to touch souls here in the next few moments and so if you need to if you need a word from the lord of course we all need a word from the lord but there may be someone here today that needs a particular direction from god today i believe that god i believe that god is going to give that to us here in just a few moments second kings chapter 4 and verse number 38 and elisha came again to gilgal and there was a dearth in the land and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him and he said unto his servants sit on the great pot and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets and one went into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full and came and shred them into the pot of pottage for they knew them not so they poured out for the men to eat and it came to pass as they were eating of the pottage that they cried out and said oh thou man of god there is death in the pot and they could not eat thereof but he said then bring meal and he cast it into the pot and he said pour out for the people that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot and there came a man from belle elisha and brought the man of god bread of the first fruits 20 loaves of barley full ears of corn in the hust thereof and he said given to the people that they may eat and his servitor said what should i set this before a hundred men he said again give the people that they may eat for thus saith the lord they shall eat and shall leave thereof so he said it before them and they did eat and left thereof according to the word of the lord god's going to speak to someone this morning i want to minister on this subject today this subject today the seasons of our lives the seasons of our lives now you understand with so many people here today we are not all in the same season we're not all in the same season today but i am glad that whatever season it is whether we're in season or out of season i'm glad that god has a word for us today would you just lift your voices and ask god to touch your heart this morning father i love you i praise you i adore you sweet jesus oh sweet lovely jesus today my comforter my midnight friend oh my all in all my savior my friend that sticketh closer than a brother lord i pray that you're ministered to this congregation today lord use my lips god to minister to someone in this place today god will give you the praise we'll give you the praise the glory and the honor in jesus name we pray everyone said amen you may be seated the seasons the seasons of our lives it's an interesting passage of scripture or passages i should say of scripture that i have read to you this morning because if there's ever a man that we can track and watch him go through season after season of his life for elisha one season he's got a young man in the house that is dead but in the next season of his life there is a resurrection there is there is a resurrection in the house in one season he calls for there to be no rain the next season the rain the next season the rains come seasons of life we really don't know when they come when they go we just simply know when we're in them amen we just know that we are in a a certain season now i want you to know this morning that god allows either directly god can either directly put you in a season he can either say it is time for this person to be in this season he can either directly or indirectly put us into seasons different seasons of our lives but now i want you to know that god has seasons for the purpose of you and i developing a much needed trait in our lives we can't make it without faith whatever season whatever season you're in you will not make it without faith whether you're in a season of poverty yes it's going to take faith to see you through or you're in a season of prosperity it's still going to take faith because you're going to have to be ever reminded every day that it was the god of prosperity that gave you the prosperity so seasons come to develop faith would you say that word with me faith they come to develop faith you see there are some times that our minds cannot understand why certain seasons come and for what purpose they are we don't understand why they're here and sometimes we fail to understand exactly what purpose that this season is going to serve but if we can just make every effort to trust in god if we can just make every effort to have faith in god there are some things there's some things that god does that you can't understand there's things that god will do in your life that you just have to stand back and grab the old red hymnal out and sing the song we shall understand it better yeah you're already ahead of me bye and bye the lord cursed the fig tree one day one evening god cursed the fig tree the next day peter james and john jesus was walking by that fig tree that one day before had luscious foliage green foliage upon it and now when they walk by that fig tree it is dried up from the roots it has toppled over the roots are exposed and the leaves have dried up and have blown away peter said lord behold the fig tree i don't understand behold the fig tree and the lord gave him one one verse and it went like this peter have faith in god that was it just have faith just have faith in god you see he spoke a parable one time about us continuing to have faith and one of the very reasons that we keep prayer to the forefront of your life church we gotta pray church we gotta keep on praying church prayer is not something we start and stop prayer is not something for the young people getting in the church prayer something for us older folks that are staying in the church you know why we have to keep on praying because it is prayer that develops our faith we are we we have when we pray it has a way of developing our faith jesus spoke he said i want to speak a parable to you and i'll go ahead and tell you the reason for this parable is that men ought to always pray they ought to always pray and not faint people ought to always be praying and then he told a parable of a a widow woman poor uh widow woman defenseless widow woman had no husband had no children but she had an unjust judge she had an adversary she had an enemy and so she would go to this what's referred to as the unjust judge he was unjust matter of fact it gives you his jaw it gives you his title that he wore across the bench when he sat down he feared not god and he feared not man i mean this man didn't respect god and he didn't even he didn't he had no compassion for humanity and this little defenseless widow woman came into his courtroom and said judge hear my calls and the judge said i won't hear you and the next day she came in the same courtroom judge hear my call my cause and the judge said i won't hear you day after day after day after day maybe week after week maybe month after month and who knows maybe years in the parable and finally the unjust judge got ready to come out one morning and he made a statement to himself he said although i don't fear god and i don't fear man this woman is wearing me i am getting tired of her continually coming into my courtroom and so that morning he got up and he said i don't fear god and i don't fear man but because you keep on showing up in my courtroom i will avenge you your adversary and then the lord used the example he said if an unjust judge would hear the continual request of a widow how much more will i speedily avenge my children that cry unto me day and night he's trying to get you to see how different he is from the unjust judge but then he ends the parable with this nevertheless when i come again to this earth shall i find faith on this earth church we've got to have faith today we've got to believe in god i don't know what season you're in some of us can mask our seasons some of us can hide our seasons i don't know what season you may be in but god knows and god has sent me here to preach this morning that whatever season you're in have faith in god are you sick believe in god are you well believe in god have faith well elisha was in a season of trouble the bible says that there was a dearth in the land it was a dearth in the land now what a dearth is a dearth is a famine there was a scarcity of food now whether this was caused by a drought we really don't know we just know that a dearth will result in there being a scarcity a scarcity of food so he comes to gilgal where the sons of the prophets are now the sons of the prophets represent our future these are young men that elisha is training it is the sons of the prophets it represents it represents the future which is another which is another note that i want to make this season that you're in is not going to always be here the season's not always going to be here but what you have to do you have to always protect your future in the season that you're in because every season is going to end and another one is going to begin and there's got to be a protecting of your future i one future i want to protect as a matter of fact it's the number one future i want to protect my future walking with god i don't want to join i don't want to join the long list of people that started out to live for god and somewhere along the way fell out i want to be serving god i want to be serving god this time next year i want to be serving god until he blows the trumpet and calls us all home i want to be serving god that's my main future i want to be serving god and i want to be serving god with a fervent heart i want to be serving god with enthusiasm that god has been good to me and there's no greater life to live than a life head over heels in love with jesus christ amen head over heels in love with him so he came and there was the sons of the prophet there was a drought in the land and so that's a season of trouble can we just can we just characterize this here as a season of trouble anyone in this place could you relate to that statement a season of trouble so he's in a season of trouble so now what do we do elisha in this season of trouble because we know this story is here to give us an example what do you do on in in the time of a season of trouble well number one you have to survive you have to survive see when trouble comes you have to get your mind on survival i don't know i don't know about you well i do know about you i'm i'm we don't like seasons of trouble i don't like seasons of trouble as a matter of fact i want to make sure that if god wants to put me in a season of trouble he brings it on i sure don't want to bring trouble on myself in fact i got a little saying that goes like this don't trouble trouble until trouble troubleshoot all right just don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you god if you know that i need to be in a season of trouble bring it on and when the season of trouble comes i get my mind on one thing i have got to survive this season i've got to make it through this season when i wake up in the morning and i dread the sight of a new day i have to say lord help me i got to get through this season i don't know when it's going to end but god would you just help me put one more foot in front of the other would you just help me god to get up and make it through one more week i think i got some folks that can relate to this this morning he said well you know what we need to do the sons of the prophets were looking at him it was a time of trouble and he said i'll tell you what we need to do boys we need to survive and in order to survive you boys need to go out to the grocery store and you boys need to go get some food to bring back now i said grocery store it was equivalent of a grocery store he said y'all need to go out and get busy getting something to cook we'll make a big pot of stew right here we're going to make a big pot of stew right here and the bible tells us that they went out and they begin to gather one of the worst things you can do women listen to me today don't send your husband to the grocery store it's one of the worst things you do instacart do something else because more than likely he says carpenter will be the first to jump up and say amen to this partner grammar we ain't going to bring home what you put on that list all right because when we want to save a nickel with sam's choice you're wondering why have you brought this in here all right so they sent they sent they sent these men out and like typical men they don't know food they don't know food they don't one of my most exciting times is christmas or thanksgiving when we want to make those rare things and and got to get all these spices down and chop pecans and or pecans and and all that stuff so here they go out in the field they'll go out in the field did i tell you it's a season of trouble they go out in the field they want to survive and they go out in the field and they start gathering they start gathering fruit and vegetables up and they came upon what was called a wild vine and had wild gourds on it well what they didn't understand were they were poisonous but they didn't know it all right they didn't know they were poisonous they're just typical men and we're getting fruit we're getting the buggy and we're getting out of here we're just going to get and they brought back and they started shredding the poisonous gourds into the stew and they made a big pot of stew and then they begin to pour out and the men begin to eat of this stew that was made with poisonous gourds which brings me to my next season the season of ignorance all right the season of ignorance now i know when i say ignorance that that's that don't really set good with your palate this morning but if all of us could say we've been in a season of trouble then all of us need to be able to say that we've also been in seasons of ignorance seasons of ignorance this word ignorance is simply a mistake an inadvertent transgression you didn't mean to it was an error you didn't really mean for this to turn out the way that it did see they didn't go out there they didn't go out there and say oh there's poisonous gourds let's pick up the poisonous gourds and let's put them in the pot and everybody's going to get sick when they eat these poisonous they didn't do that they were ignorant of the fact that they were poisonous now before you write me off god made provisions for the seasons of ignorance he says in numbers chapter 15 verse 27 numbers chapter 15 verse 27. listen to this and if any soul sin through ignorance then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering even in the old testament god said not only will my people go through seasons of trouble they're going to also go through seasons of ignorance they're just ignorant of what's going on around them they didn't mean to create this situation they didn't mean for this to turn out the way that it did if they could go back and retract retrace their steps and start the month all over or start the year all over they would do it but come on church we go through some seasons of ignorance but god said i need to plan on that i need to plan that my people will go through seasons of ignorance and it didn't stop with the old testament acts chapter 3 verse number 17 peter was preaching in acts 3 and 17 peter said these words and now brethren are what that through ignorance you did this as did also your rulers in other words he's preaching about the crucified christ and he says you're the ones that crucified him but guess what he says to them you did it in ignorance he was the lord of glory and you did it in your ignorance don't know about you maybe some of you can't say amen today but i'm glad that god made provisions for seasons of ignorance ephesians 4 and 18 really brings it to light that really bring it to light ephesians 4 18 having the understanding darkened it's talking about the way we lived before we came to god having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of god what would keep us from the life of god being alienated from the life of god through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart oh friend today please let him find you some of you may be in the season of ignorance right now you got in the season of trouble and you went out to gather things to help you out in the season of trouble you made decisions in the seasons of trouble you you made different plans in the seasons of trouble but but your plans you didn't really know when you reached down and picked that thing up what it was going to result in you really didn't realize when you made that decision about your spiritual life you really didn't realize when you made those decisions what it was going to put death into the pot but that seasons of ignorance i am glad today that god has not only made provisions for the seasons of trouble god has also made provisions for the seasons of ignorance you see when we we have to understand that ignorance can hinder us from our faith from our faith in god we have to understand when we begin to talk about we begin to talk about this season of ignorance some of us don't understand that we've actually we at times have spoken from our lips and caused our own discouragement our own conversations cause us to be depleted of spiritual energy we speak of negative things we speak of things that we don't like we focus and we talk about and we chatter about things until it depletes us of all of our emotion our joy the bible says i'm going to tell you how you can come out of ignorance the bible says in matthew 12 34 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh now that's interesting because most of us only know that one part of that verse but that that is part of the verse it fits in it fits into this jesus is talking to the pharisees and the full verse of 34 goes like this o generation of vipers how can ye being evil speak good things now how does a snake kill you with its mouth with its fangs with its venom jesus likens negative talk or talk that is not based on truth jesus likens negative or talk that is not based on truth to being bitten by a viper but then he turns it around and says the reason your bite is poisonous is because your heart is poisonous from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh this is why we need to work on faith today because faith begins inside of our hearts for with god all things are possible with god all things are possible and it starts inside of our hearts with god all things are possible your life is not a waste it's only a waste if you believe it's a waste you are not over you're only over if you consider yourself over but if you could let some of the word of god if you could come into a place where a choir will sing to you i've seen metal plates disappear i've seen prodigals come home you know what that's all about we don't sing sad songs about losing we don't sing sad songs about broken hearts like the world does we sing songs of joy songs of victory songs of overcoming whatever season you're in if you can begin to let your heart begin to stir it up i'm coming out of this this is not always going to be the way it is i'm not always going to feel like i'm feeling right now come on give him some praise in this house of the lord you see what you think about god or don't think about god is first expressed in your heart not your mouth you don't have one thing about god to say or not to say until it was first inside of your heart jesus was conversing with a sinner woman one day and in matthew chapter nine verse number three as he's conversing and healing matthew 9 33 the bible says and behold certain of the scribes said where where'd they say it before it ever came out of their mouth it was right here because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh but the world wants to start with your vocal cords up and correct it but the church says you'll never correct it until you go to the heart and cleanse the heart get something deep down inside of the heart they said now again where did they say it at within themselves this man blasphemeth before it ever came out of here it was right here this man blasphemous or what about the woman with the issue of blood you remember the woman with the story you can't be in the church very long without hearing about the woman that had the issue of blood 12 years that was hemorrhaging that had 12 years spent all she had i'm going to tell you she didn't live in today she live in a day you can spend all you got in 12 minutes at the er i don't take you long to spend everything you've got 12 long years many positions and grew none better but then it says she didn't grow any better they didn't even stabilize her she grew worse but she heard of jesus look at verse number chapter number nine of matthew verse number 21. for she said where within herself if i may touch but his garment i shall behold it doesn't just say she said i shall touch the hem of his garment it got right here in her heart and she began to say she begin to meditate if i can just touch the hem of his garment you see we work on jobs that we can't speak out loud and say if i can get just get to church tonight if i can just get to the prayer room tonight if i can just get a hold of the horns of the old we can't say that but you know if we can get it deep down inside of our heart we can get in the car at five o'clock and say i'm headed to the house of god do you know where your ignorance is going to be turned around begin to allow faith i don't know what you may need today in faith pray for wisdom god i keep making the wrong decisions and i know there's nobody here on that i keep making the wrong decisions god well i've got some something for you to pray about today start asking god to give you wisdom that is one prayer that god is going to answer the yes it is the will of god for you to have wisdom you don't have to say god if you're willing give me wisdom all you have to say is god would you please give me wisdom because i seem to keep making mistakes i seem to keep doing things that that are bringing me to a time of ignorance and a time of trouble you know if it's a promise of god if it's a promise of god for example if you're here this morning and you want to be filled with the holy ghost maybe you've come to the altar and you didn't receive it maybe you got baptized and you got you you got baptized come out of the water and you didn't receive the gift of the holy ghost can i tell you today that what you need to start working on is not necessarily moving your hands more or getting more loosed up you you you don't need to do that you need to start working on faith you need to start reading scriptures that says ye shall receive the gift of the holy ghost it's not good enough for me to tell you with my mouth you need to look at it with your eyes on the paper and then let it circulate let it get a siphon let it get a section going he said the promises of to you and unto your children and to those who are far off even as many as the lord our god shall call it's not getting loosened up that you need it's getting some faith right here believe it it's getting some faith inside of your heart you're praying for the holy ghost maybe it's finances maybe it's marital issues maybe it's your children maybe it's family life go get scriptures that talk about that and lay your claim to those scriptures they started eating the season of trouble the season of ignorance season of trouble the season of ignorance they started eating the soup that had the poison gourds and all of a sudden they begin to get sick and one of the young men cried out and one of the young men verse number chapter 4 of second kings 41 one of the young men cried out he said master there's death in the pot and then very quickly elisha said in verse 41 then bring meal then bring meal and cast it into the pot and he said pour out for the people that they may eat and there was no harm in the pot now i've studied it i have studied this anybody got anything you got grandma's old recipe you got anything to add to this but i've studied it i've searched every commentary i've even went so far as uh brother google and sister siri i i mean i have i have i have looked at all what would meal have done what would meal have done to the poisonous gourds and they all come up with the same thing they don't know even modern science today says they don't know but you've got to understand i think that's the next season we go in let's keep a track now season of trouble season of ignorance now here's the third one a season of obedience without understanding a season of obedience and you don't understand why bring me some meal what's that what elisha what is that gonna do to this pot of poison well just stand there and die you got one of two choices you can either go get me some meal or you can die right there one of two choices too many people die when god is just saying will you trust me will you just go into a season of obedience you don't have any understanding why i don't get anything out of lift in my hand just lift your hand i don't get anything out of going to church just go on to church can you give him praise this morning a season of obedience without understanding it's not the first time that elisha came up on poisonous stuff and asked for material to throw in they came to a well at jericho and the water was poisonous and he said bring me a new why does it have to be new bring me a new bowl full of salt you know what most of us would have done why does that be new where is that in the bible why does it have to be new you see you can do one or two things you can stand there and be thirsty or you can go get me a new bowl and put salt in it i'll pour it in the water we're able to drink this in order to get out of trouble and get out of get out of trouble and get out of ignorance how many will join with a season of just simply obedience without any understanding i don't understand why you want meal i don't understand why you want salt how about naaman brother nolan naaman would have died a leper unless he was willing to be obedient and dip seven times in jordan river he would have died a leper think about i'm talking to us today too many of us stay in our seasons of ignorance and trouble because we want to question everything god wants us to do well i just don't know why we got to do this i don't know why we got to do that i just don't know i just don't know you know there's some people going to get baptized here in a few minutes and to the world they can look and say why are you being baptized why is that and then when people receive the gift of the holy ghost they say why y'all gotta speak in tongues well see you've got to understand that when it comes to god we have obedience without understanding i'm just going to do what god says to do and god has never done us nothing but good has god ever mistreated anybody have any of us in this room ever done what god has asked and it's not turned out right no sir if you will faithfully live for god he will withhold no good thing from you if you will walk up rightly before god about running out of wine at a wedding and jesus says they're out of wine say you're out of wine yeah fill water pots with water maybe you didn't understand me lord i said they're out of wine not water maybe you didn't understand me i said to have obedience without understanding if you will just take care of what you can do don't worry i'll take care of only what i can do i want god to help us this morning to get out of a season of trouble get out of a season of ignorance and enter into a season of obedience without understanding they threw the meal in the the pot stirred it a little bit start eating they got better and they enjoyed the meal they enjoyed me i promise you if you'll have obedience without understanding in your life you're going to enjoy life much better things are going to go things are going to go a whole lot better for you but you know this story doesn't end this story doesn't end because we go right out of throwing the meal into the into the pot and the soup being cured to the next verse chapter 4 and verse 42 of second kings and it says and there came a man from belle shade elisha and brought the man of god bread of the first fruits 20 loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husks thereof and he said given to the people that they may eat now wait a minute did we not start this out in a dearth did we not start this out in a famine did we not start this out in scarcity of food but now here comes a man and it says he is he is from this this area a little track of land belch elisha a little track of land don't look like there's no famine in that land don't look like there's no dearth in that land don't look like they're barely surviving scarcity in that land why there is uh bread first fruits there's 20 loaves there's ears full of corn and the husks they're up i mean there's just bushel baskets full of a harvest now now listen to me now it may be the season of a dearth but god who is the same today yesterday and forevermore god is already dwelling in another season of my life he's already dwelling in a land of fruitfulness bell elisha is between a little track of land is a little track of land between ephraim and benjamin ephraim was named by joseph by saying i will call my son's name ephraim for i have been fruitful in the land of affliction benjamin means power with god can i tell you that god exists and lives in another season of my life that's a time of plenty it's a time of harvest it's a time of joy it's a time of peace it's a time of wholeness he already dwell lo and behold while they're stew stirring stew and putting meal in in a dra in a dearth god's got a man over here in belle shalisha god's got a man heading his way you see god you don't know what's heading your way next month i'm not trying to hype anybody up i'm trying to tell you the truth you don't know what god's got on the way most of the time if you're fighting a battle to stay in it's because the adversary knows there's a man from bel shalisha that's on his way there's a blessing on his way you just need to stay in your obedience without understanding you just need to keep on praising god keep on living for god keep on serving god come on give him some praise right now god's got a blessing heading your way right now right now i don't i don't i don't really preach on this much because i don't want to be characterized with those that preach on it all the time but it is the truth your obedience to god has already triggered things going on on your job there's your name's already floating around for a promotion and you know why it's floating you know why your name came up in that office your name didn't come up because you're just all that your name came up because a god who sees from an aerial view a god sees you and your obedience without understanding a god sees you coming to church when your your mind is so distaste from here god sees you in the prayer room god sees you believing it matter of fact sister k hannah god even saw you when you bent down to pray for your situation and somewhere in your mind you thought god this is not getting any better i don't even know why i'm praying but you're pushed on through and god says i'm the god that's got a man from belle say elisha i'm a god that's got it coming this way that's why you ought to be obedient that's why you're being fought the way you're being fought because the enemy knows look at the mountain like this look at the mountain like this this is one side of the mountain this is the other side of the mountain abraham and isaac's going up this side of the mountain you talk about obedience without understanding you talk about being obedient and not understanding abraham and isaac is coming up this side of the mountain but what abraham didn't know brother john that was this side of the mountain on this side of the mountain what he can't see on the other side of the mountain you see you might be coming up on the rough side of the mountain but always remember god's got another side of your mountain on the other side of your mountain there's a ram he don't know why he wants to go mountain climbing he don't know why this day he just wants to climb to the mountain god put it in that ram god put it in that rams mine to climb the mountain and then god put it in that ram's mind to get his horns locked up in the in the in the bushes there and he couldn't get loose but when abraham got up here and obeyed god obedience without understanding god said look around abraham there's the ram caught by the horns oh hallelujah church god has got if you'll endure trouble if you'll endure ignorance if you'll endure seasons of obedience without understanding well i prayed nothing happened keep on praying i went to church and nothing happened keep on going can i finish this this morning they brought all this food to him i'm gonna show you why we're blessed elisha cook he could have eat the he could have eat the stew but i'm going to show you why we're blessed this man from belle shalisha came and brought him more than enough brought him more than enough the meal was for elisha and it was more than enough do you know what happens to us or should happen to us when we find out we've got more than enough we need to get our mind on others we need to get our mind on others he brought it it was more than enough i can't eat 20 loaves i can't eat all that corn he said to his servant set it before the people and the servant looked at what was more than enough please stay with me now what was more than enough for release for elisha more than enough for him and he said set it before the people and the servant turned around and said it's not enough for them since should i set this before a hundred men this is not enough for all the people and he said thus saith the lord they're all going to eat and there'll be some left over now i'm going to tell you i think this is just a little prelude to a story in the bible where they need some food and the lunch was enough matter of fact if you really look at the five loaves and the few fish it was really more his mama packed him more than he could eat so the lunch was more for him it was more than he could eat but it was nowhere near what was needed for the crowd but put it in the hands of the master put you're going to go into seasons oh yes you're going to go into seasons of prosperity you're going to go into seasons of great blessings because god has never overlooked faithfulness god has never overlooked the faithfulness of his people and god is going to open up the windows for you and god is going to pour you out of blessing i'm not just talking about money i'm not just talking about money there's more important things in this world than money joy would be a real good thing i don't have much joy in my marriage right now while you just keep on serving god and god is going to give you the abundance he's going to give you the abundance of joy they put it in his hands and he fed a multitude he put it in his hands and he he he he he fed him he fed a multitude not about money please please everybody sometimes people can get real tight when it's money oh here we go listen when god has blessed us then more we wouldn't be here today let me tell you something this building right here is a testimony might put plaques all over this building they went through a season of trouble to get here stop asking us about a millionaire that drove by in a long limousine and handed a 20 20 million dollar check out the window it didn't happen you know how we got here somebody hang a plaque up around here we went through a season of trouble to get here and if you can't relate to that then you didn't help us get here and that's all i'm gonna say about that all right and i'm going to tell you hang another plaque around here season of ignorance matter of fact let's not only do the building let's do marriages around here let's do relationships around here there's not a marriage that is sizzling right now that hasn't went through a time of trouble don't believe them little poems you get when you get married and they get them little cards and then little poems that say oh husband man and woman come together is like two beautiful mountain streams merging and making one salah it's like two garbage trucks in a head-on collision and there's garbage everywhere her garbage my garbage we stay married for a little bit our garbage you all know this is the truth today y'all y'all y'all know this is the truth today stop believing the lie of the devil that a season of trouble is not the will of god a season of ignorance is not the will of god and a season a season of obedience without understanding hang that one up in this building because when are we going to get in that building when are we going to get in that building oh we took up a big offering when are we going to get in that building and we're going to get in it and we'd be we'd be less than honest today to say we didn't have those thoughts but how many is glad that we didn't go to the bank how many is glad today that a man in a long limousine didn't come by and hand a 20 million dollar check we wouldn't have testimonies that we've got today well you know what they tell around the country they wouldn't tell about the maryville miracle they would tell about a man that owned a cigarette factory that came down and gave us a 20 million dollar i tell you our miracle is much better than that i've got a bla it was just simply obedience without understanding why you're sitting on top of each other why you're coming to church two hours early to get a seat people are passing out because it's too hot somebody just kept saying give and give and give and give seasons of sowing he said i want you to take what you hate what what you've brought to me and i want to sow it i want to sow it into i want to sow it into these other men here i want to sow it into these other men and they said it's not enough for them he said thus saith the lord there will be enough for them to eat and enough left over for us can i tell you i would much rather have god's leftovers than my healed soup well god did pretty good with some leftovers here didn't he well aren't we enjoying god's leftovers look around here today this is god's leftovers this is this is god's leftovers you know why you know why because we give to the north and we gave to the south and we gave to the east and we gave to the west and we gave to missionaries and we gave to home missionaries and we gave to to to the work of god worldwide god said he'll be more than enough to be more than enough the season of sowing there's a season of sowing but sure enough as there's a season of sowing there'll be a season of reaping would you just lift your hands with me right now musicians would come and let's just have the presence of god what season are you in what season are you in right now what season are you in come on that that doesn't sound like a lot of praying to be honest with you come on that doesn't sound like a lot of prayer what season are you in right now what season what season are you in right now sir what season is what season's your life in right now what season what season the title of this article the title of this article grabbed my attention the title of this article is scrubbing the tombstone scrubbing the tombstone it happened in a split second a single explosive moment but that tackle at the ole miss football game would intertwine their lives forever when the defensive back hit the vanderbilt fullback a sickening pop could be heard throughout the stadium but it was the tackler who lay motionless the impact had broken four vertebraes in his spine paralyzing him for life chucky mullins courage would cut would captivate america president h.w bush visited him in the hospital encouraging him to fight on chucky got back to class in a in a wheelchair but tragically he died from a blood clot about a year later but his legend has only grown in the three decades since every year the ole miss player who earns the chucky mullins courage award gets to wear his hallowed number 38 and when the rebels charge onto the field the players touched the bronze head of chucky's statue amazingly brad gaines got up from that tackle and went back to the vanderbilt huddle until that moment the fullback had led the southeastern conference in past receptions and was being aggressively pursued by scouts but after that day he fell apart emotionally against his coach's advice he went to see chucky in the hospital he wanted to flee when he saw all the tubes and monitors but chucky mullins was down to 120 pounds unable to move or feed himself but he smiled at brad and whispered to him come closer when the fullback bent down chucky said these words it's not your fault it's not your fault brad appreciated chucky's forgiveness but brad never played another down after that season nor did he watch another football game listen to this for eight years yet the two men became inseparable friends when chucky died brad was invited to ride the ole miss team bus and sit with chucky's teammates at the funeral it's been 30 years since that saturday afternoon three times in a year brad gaines three times in a year brad gaines drives three hours both ways back to chucky's hometown three times in a year he goes on the day that chucky died he goes on chucky's birthday and he goes at christmas on chucky's birthday brad gaines can be found at chucky's tombstone he lays flowers on chucky's tombstone and trims the grass and washes chucky's tombstone down we really don't know if somewhere in the back a brad's mind he's just trying to do something to repay he didn't mean to hit him that hard brother nolan if brad gaines had it to do all over again he hit him in ignorance had he known that the man would be paralyzed and die a year later he would stop that day and let him score the touchdown because what's a touchdown or a game when a life is at stake but brad just simply cannot seem to come to grips it's not your fault just hasn't healed bread today there's some of you in this place you got in a season of life you got a tombstone there today it was your ignorance if you had it to do all over again you would go back but you've been making trips not three times a year you've been making trips every day and sometimes several times a day to that tombstone and you keep trying to get a grip i'm not asking you to come to the bedside of chucky mullins i'm asking you to come close to the cross of jesus christ today and he's not saying it's not your fault he's saying i paid for it i paid it in full i paid for your ignorance i paid for your sin i prayed for your i paid for all that you've done for your life is there somebody today that would like a season to be changed would you stand with me right now church family i i ask you today would you join me in intercessory prayer somebody today needs to come down around this altar and hear the words of the lord i forgive you i forgive you i forgive you i forgive you come on pray right now pray right now pray right now your season of agony needs to end right now your season of trouble needs to end right now sir would you slip out of that pew and make yourself a place in this altar ma'am would you like would you slip out of that pew today come on it's time for your season to change it's time for your season to change come on it's time for the trouble to change would you slip out of that pew this morning oh yes oh yes oh yes that's right brother cox god is gonna fill you with the holy ghost by the cops the promise is yours brother cox the promise is yours today brother cox brother randy cox believe me with all your heart this morning come on come on come on come on don't you want to see some of the change today come on would you don't you want your season to change today come on don't you want your season to change today oh don't you want your season to change come on let's gather up around the altar this morning oh hallelujah i'm tired of this season i'm tired of this season i'm tired of not wanting to live i'm tired of bathing in my mistakes of yesterday i'm tired of bathing in my mistakes i'm tired of the broken bones i want my season i want my season god god i'll come and lift my hands i want my season to change god i'll come again and pour my heart out god on my end it doesn't seem to be doing any good but god i want you to see me praising you come on church here i'm sick of trouble i'm tired of trouble i'm tired of polishing a tombstone i'm tired of living in regret i'm tired of living this way come on praise him yes yes yes yes yes yes come on church lift up your voice like a trumpet lift up your voice like a trumpet oh my season's gonna change my season's gonna change the flowers are gonna bloom the birds are gonna sing the joy is gonna return yeah hallelujah go ahead sister rubo yes i am gonna be delivered i am gonna be set free oh yes yes lord yes lord yes lord yes lord yes lord yes lord yes oh yes lord yes lord oh hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah lord hallelujah lord hallelujah lord lord in the name of jesus hallelujah lord oh hallelujah lord hallelujah lord hallelujah lord lord you're going to feel brother randy cox with the holy ghost this morning lord you're gonna fill him with the holy ghost this morning god lord for your word says the promise is unto you your promise is under brother randy today oh you're promising god unto him oh i believe in god today i believe your word to be real oh yes lord yes lord