What Sign?
by Raymond Sloan
August 1, 2021 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church
Kind: sermon
Scripture: John 3:16-17, John 1, John 2:15-17, John 2:19-22, John 3

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/raymond-sloan--what-sign
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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we are simply thrilled to be in your presence today lord speak to our hearts let your word get into our lives one more time lord i make myself available to you without you lord i am filthy you lord but your blood is applied to my life your spirit lord abides therefore i can come with clean hands before you in worship come on somebody go into his presence right now lift your voice lift your hands to him right now jesus jesus jesus jesus oh you're worthy you're worthy your great lord somebody say in jesus name thank you singers musicians thank you teachers security greeters everybody involved in ministry in one way or another i thank you from the bottom of my heart thank you for your connection to the church amen for your connection to the church how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity together amen you may be seated thank you so much oh lord i need you today we are we are very fortunate in our day that we have the bible we have commentaries we have books we have computer programs we have all kind of tools if you will at our fingertips in which we can draw daily from those things we have also both the old testament and the new testament in which you and i can can study and we can apply the principles and the the precepts and the concepts there and we can apply them to our lives is there anybody here today thankful for the word of god come on say it lord i thank you for your word yeah we're thankful for the word now every generation has those documents if you will at their disposal now many generations passed of course history would tell us that they didn't have access to the holy bible or to the king james version or any of those others they simply had to take somebody's word for it in hopes that it was the right thing to do but you and i in in our generation in the generations close to us you and i we can study the pentateuch for an example that's a it's probably one of my favorite studies to go into those five books and to figure out why and how and what four did god establish his covenant with humanity somebody say the bible we can see in the writings of of genesis and exodus and leviticus and numbers and deuteronomy we can find in those bible verses how that god put together revealed a plan for humanity god is the creator of all things aren't you glad you know him god put everything into existence we can see that there's a whole lot though that has happened from that first day to where we are today somebody understand there's been more than 2021 years we okay with that but we can see through cultures and societies and kingdoms that used to be and no longer are found we can find that there were lots and lots of things that happened throughout history and revealing generation to generation the plan of god and the purpose of god now we all know through history that not every generation followed jehovah we know that right not every culture has given itself completely to serving and loving the one true living god amen but we do know that understanding and realizing that there have always been smart folk that would come on the scene that would things would be revealed to them something that i've always listened to me carefully had to put my feet upon even in our generation is this there has always been a remnant of believers for whatever reason and how come maybe we don't know but the bible would specifically say one generation did not follow the things of god and god turned them over they did this and that and then two generations later but this one followed god something triggered there was a a connection there because it was god who put the plan into motion and hear me if it comes from the voice of god it cannot be thwarted by anything god's word is forever settled aren't you glad his word settled now as we look at the word of god as we live our lives 2021 from the palaces to the poor houses there are things that we desire to know we want to know things it's called science if you will the ability to to know to study to apply we want to know how it works is there any anybody have an inquisitive mind in here you just want to know how it works my first thing that i remember is as a kid growing up i was probably brantley's age or or i don't know i don't know seven eight nine years old and and i got this wild idea i had a tonka truck anybody ever have a tonka truck okay no uh a video game that had a tonka truck on it it's this big metal truck i decided i was gonna make it remote control well the only motor that i had access to was my mother's electric can opener so i took it apart one afternoon and i took the motor out of it and with a big roll of tape i taped it to the back side of that tonka truck and i put the little gear on it that opens and spins the can onto that tire and i just plugged it in and brother daniel i had the first remote car don't let anybody think that the first remote control car the limit to that is a six foot cable so i went to the garage and got my dad's 25-footer and i said watch this man i'm out of cable if i just had hundreds of feet of cable i could make this essay with me the contest began brother duron when mom came home oh that's a neat invention that's very cool and i put it back together love to mom but i don't know how because all the screws that i had went in that trash can anyway i wanted to know how it worked i wanted to understand how it functioned where does it come from hey an example knowledge the ability to understand things you guys we all know that there are chemicals there are gases there are things in the environment there are connections and combinations of those things that make other things and so on and we we as are as humans our minds rotate around the ability to understand things the basic ingredients how they interact and how they process one with another the recipes if you will to make this or to make that because we want to understand as one generation comes there's another generation that is soon to pass and there is what is known as the cycle of transference that connects that generation to this one and there has to be a transference of knowledge from this one to that one i'm thankful today for knowledge and what i received from my parents and my grandparents that way i did not have to reinvent things understand i'm saying i learned it from those that came before me and i figured out they were probably really good for me to know for an example we are living today on what our parents learned the books that they published can i ask has anybody ever seen an encyclopedia britannica when was the last one printed like way yonder now you can go to britannica.com and there it is but we had a set in 1970 whatever boy it was a thousand dollar set of books but it was full chuck full of knowledge and stuff and that was my punishment go read a book which one jay i hate jay anyway we are living off what our parents did the books the experiments the methods every generation comes and there's a foundational point in which that generation builds and then the next one comes on the top of it every generation looks at what they've done and where they are headed i'm here now 2021 and some of the weirdest things are happening this generation that we're in now they they believe in aliens the only thing alien to me when i was growing up was extra french fries in the bottom of the bag oh see church just broke out come on this generation 2021 they have an and they have just an infatuation with spaceships and the way out yonder mars for an example that stuff i never even thought of but this generation they're looking at spaceships and things hey it seems that that it's way out there but listen to me carefully this this blue one and this right here might just seem very normal to some of you but this is very strange to me this is strange to me just a few weeks ago this guy named jeff bezos he he built a rocket ship and you know how much he spent on this program 5.5 b i l billions of dollars now what could y'all do with 5.5 billion dollars what could you do yeah buy that thing it don't matter what you fill in the blank with we could do something with it am i right interestingly enough the week prior richard branson said i got it first and he spent almost the same so within a couple of weeks time you and i watched very carefully and with intent desire a 10-minute flight twice that cost 12 billion dollars that's what this generation's interested in now i will tell you that there's probably no way in this world that i'll ever be on one of those spaceships and ain't because of lack of desire it's because my knee give out yeah i can't climb the steps to get up to it i just can't get there y'all go i had wheelchair now ain't gonna happen right all of this the elon musk man this is these guys they got their minds are just out here and i'm saying what is this generation building on so the next generation is going to have something to stay with pastor for just a moment it's all in an effort to go beyond doesn't matter the cost does it matter that people are living on the street in homelessness does it matter that there are starving people in all types of the world doesn't matter that cancer's still out there doesn't matter that all these sicknesses the common cold we can't fix but yet they'll spend bajillions of dollars on the effort and energy to try to go beyond we are living in 2021 in very interesting times stay with me now the data and the information that these men are gathering we're going to be able to use that because of the test equipment the things that they've done we're going to be able to use that to become smarter and more wise in the future it may be that they they will discover the the the the way to beat cancer it could very well be that these billions of dollars might find the cure for the common headache or cold but something has happened though in our world that the transference of the importance of family and god and the things that we need to hold dear that's almost seemed to be kind of minimized in our environment i wonder today on this sunday afternoon what are you and i going to hand to the next generation i wonder what we have received within ourselves although it hasn't been a 5.5 billion dollar emphasis if you will but what have you and i found discovered what do we have knowledge of that we'll be able to look our children and our grandchildren in the eye and tell them this you can take to the bank what have we received that we consider to be so important that we want to make sure that the little ones that are coming behind us they will have access to the information and they will be able to understand what dad or grandpa or great grandpa was talking about what are you and i in our generation what are we doing for the next one now listen to me i know that knowledge is a good thing you understand i know that science and technology adds so much to the system in which we live i'm reading off of technology today perhaps you are as well some of you even on your watch my watch keeps buzzing on me because i keep going too far without breathing it's telling me that i need to breathe so there i fixed to see now my watch works better right we are learning we are discovering we are finding ways we are allowing our generation to come to a place that we have to decide hear me what is important where is the emphasis who do we believe and who do we not believe i believe that there are always possibilities of losing the basic skills and simple abilities to believe in something although you can't see it to believe in something my friend means that you've got to receive what you have heard or seen and then you have to turn to determine within yourself do i accept the information and do i build on it or do i allow it simply to become something that i ponder or i consider hang on to me believe by definition to have confidence in the truth the existence or the reliability of something although without absolute proof that one is right in doing so having the ability to say i accept it although i may not have all of the t's crossed in all of the eyes dotted i will believe it it may not have absolute proof but it's very challenging for me as a human to simply just let it all come in but there has to come a point in my life where i simply believe the things of god are right and real from this day forward come on when the settlers went out west they established our great nation you got to know that that they really weren't certain what was going on out there but yet they believed if we can just turn loose to this and go there hey when those people came and they boarded ships and they crossed over the oceans wide they really weren't sure what was about to happen but one thing they decided we believe that it's worth trying i've come today on this sunday afternoon to tell somebody to re-emphasize with someone that this earth is no longer flat because somebody decided to believe they could go beyond the horizon and they determined beyond the shadow of a doubt the earth is indeed round huh wow you ought to know that pastor it's in every book and i know but in that generation they're like you can't go past that line stay with me as you are sitting here today in this building we all come from very different settings and walks of life i know that we have different careers different career paths different lifestyles different things that we have been exposed to different places that we have experienced as examples of how different we can be but how that we can come to a point to where we begin to confide in something even though we may not have all of the known parameters of that something that my friend is the place where you begin to simply believe the writer john in his gospel says it in verse 16 of chapter 3 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for god sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved there is something about the understanding and the comprehension to say i believe in god now to you and i as apostolics uh we all y'all hang on to me a moment we're headed out here somebody in this place you've already got doubt yeah but that's what the trinitarians say or that's what so-and-so says you just got to believe well that is the true statement and the fact remains the same you first have to believe even though they don't under it's the same thing happened to you when you were invited to an old rugged altar back in the day or last week or whenever it was there had to come something within your mind heart and soul that said my life is a mess i'm full of sin and things that are bringing me strife and worry but there's a preacher up there preaching his lungs out and he's telling me that if i believe something can happen in me therefore that first step you took out of that chair you were sitting in to come to an altar it's something that began to unwrap inside of you and begin to connect one with another that says i might not understand it all i may not have all the knowledge of what it is but there's something pulling me into the place where if i can believe it can happen has anyone in this room ever been healed throw a hand up wait a minute you were healed how did that happen surely science or technology would have put all the pieces in place and you could say it's because i took this and i'd swallowed that and i did that and i followed this recipe and i did it this way no friend of mine if you've ever been healed you finally got so tired of the sickness or you finally got to a place where you simply with child-like faith begin to simply believe come on some of us understand fully what i'm talking about some people can get so sick that they wrap their arms around their infirmity and they embrace it and they wear it as a badge but finally one day and in one moment time or however it takes a you begin to open your arms and lay it on the altar and begin to say lord i can't carry it anymore i put it on an altar don't know how things are going to turn out but in spite of that i now stand in awe and i'd simply worship you what had me bound and wrapped up tight i finally chose to believe in the old rugged cross and the blood of jesus christ he is a healer but you got to believe that he can heal before he'll ever heal he is a waymaker friend but you've got to believe that he can make a way before you ever turn loose or where you are he will open the door but you got to believe he's the door maker and you're going to go through him when he opens the door why because you believe you believe but again we're we're now in a very scientific and technologically driven society it's hard to believe things when you have to reboot them i get so frustrated at my technical phone i'll just be first to tell you that phone don't know nothing nothing what's wrong with you so then i call call technical support i challenge you you know what they'll tell you that poor little guy on tech support he'll say you need to restart it uh why well because you got to let this and that and that and this and this and this and that and that and though that could happen if you don't then it's your fault so i can believe in this phone or this ipad that it's going to work for me until it no longer works i challenge you call tech support oh wait wait wait hold on let me put you on hold a minute background music in 32.7 seconds or 32 and a half minutes later or whatever i don't know i'm probably wrong with this brother daniel i'm probably wrong at this but if i call tech support on something they put me on hold i watch my clock i do and when they come back on the line i'm sorry for your weight yes sir that was 17 minutes and 32 seconds i waited how do you know that because i watched the clock you told me you'd be right back the 17 minutes sound like you're right back oh well sir now i'm sorry but i'm getting on you but listen to me if you're going to say that you better be right back come on am i am i'm wrong i made a mistake oh lord help me not to digress i made a mistake one time when i was in your way to go to the immigration trying to get my documents and i've been fighting this for over a year every other month i was back every other month every other week every other month everyone's in there trying to get my documents and they wouldn't give it to wouldn't give it to me well i was there finally my final time i said this is i'm gonna go one more time and i went and the young lady she got my name and all she said let me go see where it's standing she got up and she walked away she made a mistake she left her computer up and on the computer the screensaver was what a clock so i went got it and like 48 minutes later she walks in and she sits down she says i couldn't find and i said stop right there look at your screen this is what it said when you got up walked away this is what it says now in 48 minutes time this is only information you have for me she went um um i said don don't tell me you're gonna go help me and then get up walk away and come back by the way you smell like smoke now i'm wrong for that listen to me carefully that's what i'm saying there's a certain expectancy there's a certain certain thing that you expect because you want to believe that's going to work and see that attitude and that understanding i just painted you a picture and somebody else said well that same thing can happen in the church house come on i can let faith grow and grow and grow to a point but then i don't mind telling you i'm with some of y'all listen to them i'm with some of you on the same boat i'm trying to understand god why are these things happening why are there sick folk god in the church why are there folk dying and i still to this day cannot explain to you why brother tremble would have to pass away at such a young age i don't get that surely the guy had faith to believe and yet i'm standing here today and my heart's broken i look at that and say but he left children and a wife and all in my mind i'm like some of you sitting in here you've been carrying sicknesses and diseases you've been carrying things around we have prayed for you we have prayed for you have prayed your name has been on the prayer list why can't it happen why won't it happen why is there not a breakthrough come on some of you been praying for lost loved ones why can't they come to an altar and pray through some of us have been praying for baptism things happen why why are we facing this wall could it be friend that we're expecting the end result before we make it from the journey through it come on it's going to come by faith to believe come on whether it happens today or not god i still love you it hasn't changed anything about you it hasn't pushed you back it hasn't pushed you off the throne your word god is bigger than my mind can ever wrap around it very well could be that god does know what he's doing uh pardon me but i'll use an example brother duran he went up to see his dad had a heart attack duran's worried he's concerned they prayed the whole church is praying everybody's praying only thing i could get out of this man on the phone how's your dad well doctors are in no hurry i don't know what's going on things are changed numbers are this and now of course i'm not there i don't know this whole conversation only thing i know is this week he sends out another one says please pray for dad he's having surgery one day does that mean that we didn't believe god healed him or does that mean that this is the process of what god is doing because the truth of the matter is very simple god is not one way working on him nor on his dad but god sees all things from always and what god might be trying to do is simply get us to believe so that this wayward one way out here in left field who's not even in the equation of this will finally come to understand through that and through that connecting with that that this is how they find their way back to god see you and i wouldn't paint it that way we would simply say god you heal him and it's done but god's saying no hold on a minute i've got a nurse finn to be in that hospital room that's going to be standing there on his bedside and she's a backslider and when they open here and you don't know what could happen god begins to show himself some of us need to get off of our plan and connect to god's plan and simply believe if god is for us who can be against us and whatever the trial whatever the test whatever is going on god will receive the glory how can we believe how far should we believe at what point will that belief turn to a fact when does faith become something that you build on to hand to your next generation john for an example again we're back here in in his gospel john chapter 2. this is so incredibly knows john 1 right you know was the word with god and okay with it this is john's writing there was nothing made without god right god did that this is this is fact he's producing fact and then chapter two same book same book chapter two the bible says that jesus comes to the house of worship he traveled from one city to the other to the other to the other okay he comes to this place and notice what transpires john 2 and 15 when he had made a scourge of small cords notice this he drove them all out of the temple the sheep oxen poured out the changers money over through the tables and said to them that soul doves take these things hence make not my father's house a house of merchandise verse 17 his disciples remember that it was written the zeal of thine house had eaten me up that's a psalms phrase from the psalmist hang on to me how is it that john would begin he's the word everything is bi everything is about him everything is from him they didn't understand they didn't comprehend but this is god this is who god is and then it goes down and begins here in chapter number one then when it gets to chapter number two the bible says now jesus is upset and he's going into the temple that should be a place of prayer and a place of of giving but instead there are sheep oxen turtle there are things happening here do you realize what he's talking about here the action here that john is speaking of is sacrificial giving that's what those animals were used for but because not everyone was a farmer and not everyone had turtle doves and not ever they they they couldn't afford it they would then bring the funds from selling this or selling that or the money they'd save they would come to the temple and they would say my sacrifice due this point this time is a goat or a sheep or a turtle dove or whatever it was and they could buy it there that's the system of law that they set in place stay with me jesus walks in and says you have made this place a place of merchandise and one writer in the account in luke says it's a den of faith or something has happened here you have made this a place that can't be believed in it can't be trusted and it was through there something began to happen he sat in order the temple he sat in order he got rid of the the things that they had made it into and now he begins to establish its true purpose this guy has to be a place of prayer has to be a place to to where people fall in love with god has to be although the law was there and how they followed the law was established at this point jesus comes on the scene he first says on the word of the word with god the word was god and now jesus walks in here and he's setting things in motion here and what i'm noticing here is something is transpiring because the zeal of thine health has hath eaten me up now that according to the psalmist was the desire of the lord god was to establish his plan with humanity just as it had been done in the old testament how they established how they would give sacrifice and according to one sin it would require this according to another sin it would require that another transgression will require that and then there were times of feasts and things when they come together y'all here with me a moment jesus was setting in order the things of god and what he came to do was this if we are going to move from this generation to this one something has to change something must be noticed here no longer will there be turtle doves and sheep and rams and bullocks given in the temple but now there will be a sacrifice made and you've got to believe in that sacrifice in order to receive salvation for your sins listen to it before you could transpire you could do what you did you could have a sin in your life but if you would follow the law you would drag the animal they would kill it blood would go and it was off your hands but now the lord jesus is saying no more the zeal of my house i am putting this in order you have got to understand that the house of god is not a place to buy and sell and to have merchandise and that business mindset of simply trying to buy your way into what you need to be doing but rather it needs to be a development of a relationship that says if you don't bless me god i still believe if you don't heal my cancer i still believe if you don't save my loved one i still believe i don't come in this house and worship god because of what he's done for me i've come in this place every chance i get because of who he is that's why i want to sing the songs of zion that's why i want to lift my hands in the house of the lord i'll tell you hear me church i don't have a chair on this platform ever since i've been pastoring i never had one why because i will not declare myself to have arrived but rather you'll find me every service in the altar of the lord loving and praising him why because it is in this altar where sacrifice is made and where we understand if god be god then let god be god in every situation in your life but you got to believe in it there are some sitting here under the sound of my voice you have doubted you have questioned and you have wondered what did i do to make god mad at me how is it that god isn't answering me and why can't god just show up i'll tell you a very simple phrase it's because you probably could not handle it i know beyond a shadow of a doubt that some of y'all have been praying prayers and if it were so that god would step in front of you it would blow you so far out of your socks you wouldn't know what to do you would and then you wake up and say oh i thought it was the lord but i must have doubt i don't know i was that peace i had i just you can't see him unless you're ready to see him anybody ever felt the brush of god yeah i've been in that prayer closet of me lord i'm sweaty i don't know what else to do but i i'm gonna forget everything i'm asking you for i'm just gonna love you for who you are and not for what you oh god has just come by me he has just put me in my place see we want to believe that it's all of that in a box of cracker jacks and the fact of the matter is we can't believe come on you want your lost loved one saved believe it pray it pray the belief pray it believe it worship as if it's so because the facts are this nothing else you can do will turn their heart towards home but the voice of god in their life john 2 19 jesus answered said unto them destroy this temple and in three days i will raise it up then said to jews how 46 years was this temple in building and will thou rear it up in three days but he spake of the temple of his body when therefore he was risen from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them and they believed the scripture the word of jesus had said destroy it in three days it's coming back jesus was emphasizing to them that the plan was simply this it would not come through works of hands it would come through a work of the spirit it's the same thing that happens when you are looking for your answer it is going to be because the spirit of god wills it so does that mean preacher that that i just simply gotta wait on god yeah you do that you do that but in your waiting what are you doing what did the prodigal father do he waited sister kathy and he looked every day oh i can almost promise you he didn't have a cell phone out worried about social media and what the next something was hey hey ain't that him oh i could smell him from here but it's him somebody you need to understand something only god has the answer to all of your situations what he wants to know is will you believe stay with me this guy in chapter 3 comes to jesus notice this this guy comes and the bible refers to him as a ruler of the jews this guy had some clout and he comes upon jesus and the bible says that nicodemus came to him he was at nighttime he wasn't didn't want to really wasn't sure how things were going to appear so he comes and says you're a rabbi and it's just there's only one way that you could do and say and sound like what you're doing you've got to be a voice from god that's what he says right but then jesus just takes in verily verily i say unto you except the man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of god now that's not what i was i was simply coming to you to just kind of get to to know you and all and he says you if you're not born of water in the spirit you can't finally he says how can this be you're telling me something that i have a hard time believing jesus knew and understood that the the born-again experience of water and spirit would not happen unless you first believe it that's why when we read verse 16 which we've read that that he came his only begotten son that whoever believes won't perish but have everlasting life it's because something began to unfold and if you can believe in jesus believe in his plan believe in his word believe in his purpose believe in his way believe in his truth believe in his life believe in what he's done believe in what he's doing believe in all that he has done up to this point believe in what generations past have said and what you're planning on passing to the next generation this though was what the question that simply came to them after jesus established this is they said this what sign are we to look for they were worried about a sign because they had to have their tractor cranked they had to get to a place within their mind and their heart where they could say you know what i'll begin to believe it when a sign begins to happen when i see this transference when i see this generation to that one to that one to that hey i come to tell you now again i may be far off and i'm watching the clock i know i'm waxing long today but they had more songs than they were supposed to okay stick with me when my grandparents figured out jesus name baptism there was no one there period to tell them about it no one she simply read it in the word she wanted to pay her tithe because she read it in the word and she didn't have a church to connect to she'd been every church in town trying to find a place that baptized in jesus name and they all look at her and say no no no no no so she just kept reading the word she kept praying she would put her tie from her check in a mason jar in the cabinet and that's where it's at she didn't have a place to worship finally she decided i'm not going to wait any longer she had my grandfather build her a room a 16 by 16 out behind the house that she called her prayer room and as a young man that's where i would spend my days was sitting on the couch outside the prayer room waiting on my mom to come out of the prayer room they wouldn't let me go in there unless i was ready to play church because that's where we used to play church anybody remember playing church i was always the preacher my brother was a song leader and then i had to serve as the offering taker upper and so i got to do them both i miss being you know i don't know nothing i'm just simply in there because that's the room you have church in but it was in that room where god began to reveal himself and finally one day she's at work and somebody walks by her workstation and says hey one of them crazy guys is down on the corner down there on battle avenue she said okay and after work she walks down there with a bible tucked under her arm and the guy's pounding tent stakes in the ground putting up a tent for tent revival and she simply walks up and she says excuse me come on duron and she says i'm sorry i got to ask you a question she shows him in her word where she had underlined and said do you baptize this way he said yes ma'am i do she said baptize me i have been waiting for you i have believed that this was going to happen i didn't know how i didn't know how long it would take but this is what i believed in she was baptized my grandfather baptized my mom and her brothers and sisters baptized it don't mean that everything was settled and that was the end of it now came the hard work when it came time to build you know what they did they built when it came time to build a building you know what they did they rolled up their sleeves and they built there wasn't no question there wasn't no social media there wasn't no text going out they just simply said i'm off work and now instead of going home i'm going to the building site of the church and one man two men 20 men would show up 15 ladies whatever and they'd begin to build and it took them a matter of months to build this building it's just what they did they understood the value of believing in a church in that community knowing full well come on we have that we're in busier times now no we have chosen busier lifestyles now there's still 24 hours in a day elbow your neighbors say that's right it's what we choose to do with it that makes the difference come on i don't mind telling you i know i've relayed these stories before but i think that's why god gave them to me riding on a church bus to a revival miles from town and at midnight getting back on that bus after three and four hour church service riding that bus home my brother and i sleep on the pew or on the church bench the banjo starts and the accordion starts and the guitar starts playing some glamour it is happy for it's a midnight they've been singing for hours at church now we got to go home and then round in those corners and curves and i wake up i can see this as if it were yesterday thank you lord for allowing that to be planted in me watching them shout on that bus that i'll eat that wide and my brother and i look up and the driver of the bus comes by us more going that dude got a lot of faith bus never stopped bus never swerved y'all think i'm y'all think i'm lying i was on that bus i am so thankful sister renee for my heritage for the damn thankful for my heritage standing in old tent meetings sawdust just blowing up in the air that's the only way they can settle the grass where they go to the sawmill and bring the sawdust and spread it and put seeds out i can't tell you how many gallons and gallons of sweat i've sweated in those tents and the dust in my lungs you know i just thought it just ain't comfortable we don't have enough air conditioning and watching the miraculous i asked my mom just for grins mom a few weeks ago tell me one more time about the neighbor mom said sure we was praying this and that god was okay we're going to go pray for so-and-so walked out of the prayer room up the road when they walk up the sidewalk the lady of the house is standing there she says i knew y'all's coming we're coming here to pray for he had cancer crosses it was melanoma and it grown on his head right here he couldn't work he would barely open his eyes couldn't sleep because of this big sore on his head and mom said i watched them as they walked over in the name of jesus be healed and when they pulled the cloth off the cancer was in the rag i've seen with these eyes eyes grow in the sockets of babies i watched it happen a man standing there screaming like this and what is wrong with that guy and he's got nothing here and something begins to happen i lean over and say what's wrong with that guy and says he's looking you can see see and i said yeah he came into service tonight with no eyeballs and god put them there you believe it or not i don't care what you believe i was there i know what i i was i've heard testimonies of god doing these things i wasn't there but i believe them pastor you're talking a lot today about belief and all well here's my question for you what sign are you looking for you think god could love you one step more before you believe do you think he could answer one more prayer before you would finally believe is there anything else god can do to convince you before you'll simply believe it jesus we have come into this place today lord to praise you and to lift up your name we have sung the songs of zion we have felt your presence we have cried we have wept we have lifted our hands in this house but lord as the shepherd of this assembly i am asking that our spiritual eyes will be open today so that we can believe you for this next generation so that we can believe you for the battles and trials and things going on in front of us lord we we don't really need to see any other sign we just simply have to believe you for what you've said somebody in this room today needs delivered from a past lord that's haunting them god i believe you can deliver them somebody in this room today lord is walking in sin and they are following a path that's going to destroy them i pray today god they can believe you for forgiveness and you can fill them with the wonderful gift of your spirit as they speak in tongues someone in this room today lord has physical problems mental problems and they have carried them they have wrestled with them they have looked for answers for a long time i pray today lord that their faith would say enough is enough i believe i speak against the workers of darkness in jesus name i rebuke you i rebuke you in jesus name get your hands off the people of god the battle is the lord's we simply must believe him for the victory all over this room today this altar is open some of you need to be down here right now and bring every bit of faith you've got whatever it's going to take that you're holding right now you need to bring that sickness you need to bring that doubt and that fear you need to get up from your chair and walk out of that chair of unbelief and wonderment and question and you need to come to an altar with a heavy heart and with empty hands and lay it down and say now lord i put it on the altar i am now going to trust you and through worship through adoring your name and magnify i am going to believe you i am going to believe you for what is next in my life come on bring bring it with you come on lay all the fear down lay all the doubt down lord i don't know how it's gonna turn i'm not sure what road i'm gonna have to fall i don't know what's gonna happen but i believe in you and i believe you're gonna make a way i believe i am convinced lord even though i may not have all of it put into place i'm gonna believe you for answers come on it's gonna come through your praise you lift up the name of jesus it's gonna come through the name of jesus it's gonna come through the name of jesus you lift up the name you lift up the name come on put your problem put your circumstance in the hands of god you lift up the name that's right you lift up the name yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah come on what sign are you waiting on what are you waiting on could he love you anymore could god pay any greater sacrifice come on you gotta believe jesus that's right let faith grow right now presence of the lord hands lifted out of the journey i'm just gonna believe you lord this guy i'm just gonna believe you lord i'm just gonna trust you you can save us you can bring them home yes you can you can restore the broken you can make a way come on it's all right let tears fall lord i don't know what else to do but i choose to believe lord i don't know how it's gonna come but i choose to believe in you come on that's right believe families believe for your situation individuals believe for your situation come on there's no greater sign there's nothing more you gotta believe in him come on believe in it yeah yeah yeah yeah come on would you come up with somebody buying together with somebody in the family come on in the church family get a hold of somebody lord i'm gonna believe you for it jesus i'm gonna join with them god and believe i'm gonna believe jesus come on that's right i don't believe you come on let the holy ghost move in your life right now pray for somebody close to you i choose to believe you i choose to believe i choose is come on if you've got the holy ghost speaking tongue come on go into his presence come on let it work in your life come on come on let the spirit of god make intercession come on oh you may not know what to pray for but let it work in you come on jesus you can lord i believe you will i believe the answer lord is still in you i believe the answer is still in you jesus come on that's right find somebody else pray with them come on our faith is growing right now that's right our faith is growing right now that's right young men pray that's right young ladies pray come on in the name of jesus i'm believing you for it lord i'm trusting you for it lord i'm not sure how trust i'm not sure how i win but i choose to believe that's right come on go pray for somebody else come on go pray with someone else lord jesus that's right if you need the holy ghost he's here today come on that's right you can receive the holy ghost today you can receive the holy ghost today press through it lord let the doubt go let the fear go let the unknown lord let it pass what sign are you looking for the name of jesus there is healing in the name there is healing in the name there's deliverance in the name there's salvation in the name there's hope in the name there is peace in the day there is joy in the name he is the way he is the truth he is the one that's right come on pray lord i'm not certain i don't know but i choose to believe if you need healed in your body or your mind right now lift your hand to the lord come on that's right we're going to pray a prayer of faith and believe lord you see every infirmity and every sickness in this place i believe lord your will is for us to be complete and whole i pray right now that faith would grow and that we would trust you in the name of jesus you are the healer you can make us completely whole yes you can walking in health in our right minds lord i pray for that right now young and old alike i pray healing in this room i pray that someone would simply believe believe lord that they are healed and that they are completely whole in you in the name of jesus come on if you've got that need you need to be worshipping the lord right now claiming the victory in the name of jesus i believe i choose to believe in you hallelujah come on now with one voice would you simply just thank him come on thank him i thank you lord for allowing me to be in the family i thank you for letting me be in church today i thank you for your provision and protection come on thank you come on let there be an attitude a heartfelt thankfulness right now i am truly thankful lord i am truly thankful lord god i love you and i believe in you jesus oh for the faith to believe jesus yes jesus oh that's right come on jesus yes jesus last come on the lord's trying to use somebody right now jesus voice of god speaks jesus there's somebody that'll run to the lord today come on run to the lord today lord i'm coming to you jesus i'm coming to you come on come on don't suffer by yourself but let the power of god work jesus come on the altar is a place you run to jesus come on that's right jesus jesus jesus i believe you jesus i believe you hallelujah hallelujah oh thank you lord for truth today thank you for truth today somebody say thank you lord come on i believe you lord now i realize for some there are questions and i realize that these two young ladies have more questions you hear the verse the verses that god gives you and you hear the words that god speaks willingness is the key and what you do with what god gives you will be determined by your outcome see what what could be preached for 45 minutes may not take a hold but when the voice of god speaks is what you need to do to get us to understand if the spirit of god gives message and gives interpretation it's for us to understand lord you're here and it's a specific don't run with your pain away don't suffer what you do and run away but come to him some of y'all need some alter time in your house tonight you're home some of you need to put babies to bed and go close your closet and get in it because god's trying to help you it may not come out in a big room but it'll come out in your prayer room some of y'all need to learn how to set the phone down and get the ipad laid down and go get with god god i need you i'm coming to you heaven is so close heaven is so near take somebody's hand right now as we pray lord go with us this week we are binding together lord god in faith we're believing lord you are with the church we are not forgotten we have not been deceived we have not been lied to by our heavenly father but the church is still the church and victory comes to the church we're following you lord trusting you let your word be evident in us help us lord our faith to grow and connect with you daily i plead your blood over us go with us and bring us back god i pray let each one of us lord this week have a testimony to share with someone of your love and your goodness to us in the name of jesus in the name of jesus somebody say in jesus name amen