Running the Race Crippled
by Shawn Garnett
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: 2 Timothy 4:1-7, Hebrews 12:1-4, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Philippians 3:13-14, Isaiah 35:6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/shawn-garnett--running-the-race-crippled
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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It's so good to be back in the house of the Lord this evening. >> You may be seated for a moment. I'm so thankful thankful for the opportunity that I've been given this evening and the invitation to come and minister at movement. I want to say to pastor and sister Carpenter how much Beth and I and our family truly love them and appreciate them. They took a chance on a young evangelist nearly 30 years ago >> and um here we are tonight >> and we love them and we appreciate them. Brother and sister Ericson, brother and sister Hammond, this great pastorial family and Nolan and Flannry. We love and appreciate these families tonight. And the First Apostolic Church of Maraveville. >> Praise God. >> >> I love and appreciate you. I'm thankful for my family this evening. There's a a lot of individuals have different hobbies and things that they love, but I truly love my family and I appreciate them being and sacrificing to be here with me this evening. Beth, my wife, and Brianna and Nate, Nate Roberts. They're going to be blessing our family with a an addition to their family, our second grandchild in December. Luke, Luke, and Emily, and Balen, Olivia, our daughter Delilah, daughter Davin, and Mark. We are blessed with six children. And I don't have time to go into all the story tonight, but me and Sister Garnett knows what causes children to be born. We're aware of that. We're aware of that. What a word we heard from brother Zack Hammond and Pastor Jimmy Tony last night. What a great word. And um I'm just been been privileged to see Zach grow up and what a preacher of the gospel that he has become >> and I'm thankful to have met Pastor Tony a few years ago and the friendship that we now have today. And then again today all the sessions and the panels and brother Carney for preaching the word of the Lord. And >> what a great word we heard this afternoon. Amen. And then to be teamed up with none other than Pastor Matthew Tuttle. >> Amen. I had a dear friend of mine, Brother Batson, said last night, grabbed me. He said, "I'm going I'm going to tell Brother Tuttle something right in front of you, Brother Garnett." Said, "I'm I'm so glad I'm not you preaching." When you got friends like that, you don't need any more friends. Amen. But I'm honored, brother Tuttle, we teamed up with you tonight. If you have your Bibles, I do believe I've heard from the Lord for this portion of this great conference in 2 Timothy the 4th chapter. We'll begin reading at verse number four or verse number one rather. 2 Timothy 4 and verse number one. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry, for I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I want to minister for a few moments tonight on this topic. Running the race crippled. running the race crippled. God, we love you >> and we praise you, oh Lord, tonight. Thank you, Jesus, for your goodness and your mercy to us. Lord, we are so grateful, Lord, for the presence of the Lord that is in this room right now. And I ask you, Lord, that you would have your way in this house, God. That you would touch us, Lord. That you would speak strength and life and encouragement over this group of pastors and their families and church leaders and congregations tonight. We give you all the praise and all the glory and honor for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you clap your hands to the Lord before you're seated tonight? God bless you. You may be seated. Paul born in Tarsus, Jewish by heritage of the tribe of Benjamin. A Roman citizen, he was a strict Pharisee himself, zealous for the law. He approved the stoning of Steven. He actively imprisoned and persecuted Christians. Paul described himself as the worst of sinners due to his former persecution of the church. Paul had a dramatic encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Blinded by a bright light and heard Jesus say, "Saul, Saul, why persecuteth me?" After Ananas had laid hands on him, he received his eyesight and immediately began preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul ventured on three different missionary journeys. Paul is the clearest example of someone who literally described his life as a race. Paul endured beatings, prison, shipwrecks, persecution. Yet he remained faithful to the calling >> unto death. Life is like a race. The Bible calls it a race of faith. But unlike earthly races, this one is not about who is the fastest. >> It's not about who is the strongest >> or the best trained. >> It's about who finishes. >> Some of us run strong and some of us stumble and some of us have run with a crippling limp. We carry wounds, weaknesses or struggles that slow us down. But I want everybody to hear me this evening. God crowns the faithful, >> not the fastest. Hebrews the 12th chapter verse number one. Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay us let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Yet have not ye resisted under the blood, striving after or against sin. >> In scripture, to endure means to remain firm in the faith and committed to God despite suffering, opposition or temptation. >> Look at somebody and say, "You need to endure." >> Or to continue in the state of faithfulness without yielding or giving up. It involves patiently preserving through hardship, not by one's own strength, but through the active trust in the Almighty God. >> Imagine standing at the starting line of a race, surrounded by people who look stronger than you, faster, and more prepared than you. Your legs ache. You've got a visible crimping lip. You can't hide it. You can't deny yet. You feel the eyes on you. Maybe not in judgment, but you are still aware of the gap. When the race begins, others take off effortlessly. You stumble a bit. You're slower. You hear their footsteps fade in the distance. You feel the weight of your own body. Yet every step is a reminder of your limitation. You wonder these words, "Why am I even trying? What is the point? I'll never keep up." But you keep on going. >> Not because it's easy, not because you're strong, but because something inside of you refuses to quit. You refuse to give up. Then out of the corner of your eye, you see someone else not running ahead, but running with you, encouraging you. Maybe they slow their pace to match yours. Maybe they remind you it's not about being the fastest. It's about finishing the race. Eventually, you realize the race wasn't about speed. The prize isn't for the first, BUT THE PRIZE IS FOR THE FAITHFUL. And your struggle ISN'T A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. IT'S A MARK OF SURVIVAL. >> Y'all still with me? >> I'm 12 minutes in. I got about 30 minutes left. All right. >> 2 Corinthians 12:9. And he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee. >> For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I glory rather glory in my infirmities than the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, >> then am I strong. >> Paul prayed for for his thorn in the flesh to be taken away. But God reminded him that weakness is not a curse. It's a platform for God's power. Paul doesn't specifically name what the thorn was, but possibly it was a disease or a disability. Some believe it was eye trouble based on Galatians 4 and 15 and 6 and 11. Could have been lingering effects from beatings or stonings or other sufferings. And some believe it was spiritual or demonic attacks. Some uh lean toward the fact that it could have been persecutions or opponents, false teachers challenging Paul's authority at Corenth could represent constant opposition in his ministry. Some believe it was emotional or mental stress. Ongoing grief, anxiety, or oppression. Emotional or mental stress seems to be we're dealing with a lot in the day and age that we live in today. But can I tell you, if you are struggling emotionally or mentally, that is no reason for you to quit running the race. Could I shout to somebody tonight and tell you just because things are not going for you like they are your neighbor gives you no reason for you to throw in the towel and say, "I'm done." I heard the statistics. I hear it. 40ome percent of pastors AND THEIR WIVES THROW IN the tower and quit one year after another. IT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN IN THE APOSTOLIC RANKS BECAUSE WE ARE CARRYING SOMETHING THAT IF WE LAY DOWN Oh no, you're not hearing me. I don't care how ugly your run is. I don't CARE HOW UGLY YOUR SHOUT IS. I DON'T CARE HOW UGLY YOUR CRY IS. I DON'T CARE HOW UGLY YOUR RUN AROUND THE BUILDING IS. YOU GOT TO SHOUT AND YOU GOT TO RUN AND YOU GOT TO WORSHIP AND YOU GOT TO GIVE GOD WHAT HE'S WORTHY OF. >> There's different reasons that we deal with >> crippling situations in our life. >> Hannah dealt daily with a crippling case of shame, mental stress. Yet she found herself in the temple pouring her heart out to God. >> Hannah said, "Paniah has been blessed with children, and I just like to have a child. I'm tired of the shame of being barren, >> what it's brought me." AND THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THE Lord shut up her womb. Scripture tells us that the Lord shut the womb of Hannah, but we find her IN THE TEMPLE POURING HER HEART OUT to God, >> praying with everything that is within her. However, the only THING THE PRIEST COULD SEE WAS SOMETHING that was unusual. >> The unusual part of it was Eli COULD SEE HANNAH'S MOUTH MOVING, >> but couldn't hear a word that she was saying. AND SO THEN RATHER FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON, he publicly rebuked her. >> And said, "You're drunk." Could I somehow another say it where it would fall lightly in this congregation tonight? We've had them come through our church. I'm reminded of a gentleman that came through the church that I've been pastoring now 25 years. It's been quite a while ago now. Over 20 years he was there. he was preaching. Someone had called and said, "Would you have him?" He's coming through. We had him. At the time, I sat on the platform and the congregation was a lot smaller than what it is now. And I'd only been pastoring three or four years. And he got up and he preached. And I could tell that he was headed in a way that I wasn't sure how our congregation was going to respond. And out of nowhere, he got to talking about our facilities. He got to talking about the sanctuary that we were having service in and our outreach center and our Christian school and our Sunday school building that was being built and and different things that were going on. And for some reason, I guess it wasn't going the way he wanted it to go. And he wanted to make something happen himself. He looked at the congregation and he said these words. HE SAID, "GOD IS GOING TO SEND THE MONEY TO THIS CONGREGATION AND PAY OFF ALL THIS FACILITY in the next couple of months." That's the same response that he got the night that he said it. Me being a young pastor, I sat on the platform and I was like, "Okay, let's just kind of get through this." And so he said it again, Brother Tuttle. AND WHEN HE SAID IT AGAIN, THE CONGREGATION just kind of looked at him. WELL, THEN HE STARTED OPENLY REBUKING US. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS? I've prophesied. I'VE SPOKEN TO YOUR LIFE. I'VE TOLD YOU WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. AND THEN HE TURNS TO ME IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY AND HE SAYS, "WHY AREN'T THEY GETTING EXCITED?" WELL, I was done by now. I'd had enough. >> I WAS SICK AND TIRED OF HIM COMING IN trying to make something happen because we don't need to make something happen. We just need to run. He said, "WHY ISN'T THE CONGREGATION GETTING EXCITED?" I SAID BECAUSE THE BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR FOR 30 YEARS. >> COULD I HELP SOME MINISTRY TEAM OR A YOUNG EVANGELIST? DON'T TRY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN BECAUSE YOU MAY SOMEBODY. YOU MAY CAUSE MENTAL STRESS. OH, I see. Ooh. Ah. Ah, I see a mighty revival coming. >> Oh, it's coming >> on the backs of 12 donkeys. >> It's I mean I mean it's IT'S AMAZING. DON'T DON'T GO TRYING TO DO SOMETHING THAT GOD HASN'T SAID. I know it gets kind of tight when you start preaching like this, BUT A LOT OF PREACHERS HAVE TRY HAVE MESSED UP. >> A lot of good people. >> BUT HEAR ME OUT. He openly rebuked Hannah. He missed it. >> But God heard her prayer. >> Just because someone misses it, saints of God, ministry teams, pastors, does not give you a right to never walk back to the temple. Even though Eli missed it, she came back with that baby that God blessed her with and she laid it on the altar in the temple. Even though she had dealt with mental stress and even though SHE HAD WALKED THROUGH THINGS in her life, I well, I can't if I can't have this and and if I can't have that and if I can't have the lights and if I can't have the cameras and and if I can't have the screens, isn't this screen absolute? Look at that. And I feel like I'm at the movie theater and I've never been to one, but man, it's amazing. WE ARE SO BLESSED TO HAVE ALL OF THIS. BUT IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT, IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU don't run. I feel like preaching now. STOP COMPLAINING. STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE AND RUN WITH WHAT YOU GOT. MY GOD, IF YOU GOT A LIMP, RUN ANYHOW. STOP LOOKING AT YOUR NEIGHBOR AND SAID, "WELL, IF I COULD RUN, I'D RUN. IF YOU CAN'T RUN, WALK. IF YOU CAN'T WALK, SKIP. IF YOU GOT TO CRAWL, CRAWL. IF YOU GOT TO HAVE SOMEBODY PUSH YOU, PUSH YOU. BUT DON'T YOU GET OUT OF THE RACE. DON'T YOU QUIT. DON'T YOU THROW IN THE TOWEL. >> >> THIS REVIVAL IS NOT FOR A BUNCH OF SISSIES. THIS REVIVAL NEEDS MEN AND WOMEN THAT ARE GET UP. You may be see I get it. I get it. I get it. I get it. We're at movement. >> We got new ties that we bought. Not really. Matter of fact, I think mine stained a little bit. We've got shiny shoes. I mean, we got you ladies got your hair just right. This curl going this way and that curl going over here and you got high heels. And I don't know how some of you walk in some of your heels. And we're here and we're looking and, you know, we got to be prim and proper. I think sometimes that's what's wrong with a lot of us preachers >> and with a lot of our ministry teams. We think that, you know, we got to keep IT TOGETHER. WHO SAID YOU had to keep it together? Listen, YOU'RE HUMAN JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE IS. YOU HURT JUST LIKE ANYBODY ELSE HURTS. AND IF WE'RE GOING TO PREACH TO PEOPLE THAT THEY NEED TO RUN WHEN THEY'RE HURT, THEN WE NEED TO RUN WHEN WE'RE HURT. WE NEED TO PRAISE GOD WHEN WE DON'T FEEL LIKE PRAISING GOD. WE NEED TO WORSHIP GOD WHEN WE DON'T FEEL LIKE WORSHIPING GOD. OH MY GOD. WE NEED TO MAGNIFY GOD WHEN WE DON'T FEEL LIKE MAGNIFYING GOD. PRAISE GOD. Wouldn't hurt for some of us to get so lost in THE HOLY GHOST TONIGHT WHILE BROTHER TUTTLE IS PREACHING. IT WOULDN'T HURT FOR SOME OF US TO GET SO LOST IN THE HOLY GHOST THAT IT WOULDN'T MATTER WHICH WAY OUR TIE WENT, WHICH WAY OUR SHOES WENT, IF WE SHATTERED OUR HAIR DOWN, WHATEVER HAPPENED. IT WOULDN'T MATTER. IT WOULDN'T HURT FOR SOME OF US TO WORK TO WAVE THROUGH THE CRIPPLING PAIN OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT AND SAY, >> >> HALLELUJAH. It would HURT SOME OF YOU TO SHOUT TILL YOU LOST YOUR VOICE. IT WOULD HURT SOME OF YOU LADIES TO REJOICE UNTIL YOU DIDN'T HAVE NO MORE LEFT in you. Man, >> may be seated. >> Get upset over every little thing. >> Every little thing causes folks to become offended, >> going to leave the church, >> going to walk away. Preachers are just about as bad from time to time. I pastored long enough and I went through a season where everything nearly hurt my feelings. But I just got to the point that if you're stupid enough to say something stupid, >> then I'm dumb enough to approach you. >> I mean, if you're GOING TO WALK UP TO MY DAUGHTERS AND TELL THEM THAT long hair on a woman don't matter, >> THEN I'M COMING YOUR WAY. I'M NOT going to quit running just because I'm a little hurt. >> I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE IN JUST BECAUSE SOMEBODY PROPHESIED SOMETHING OVER ME THAT DIDN'T COME TO PASS. THAT'S BETWEEN THEM AND GOD. BUT I'M NOT GOING TO QUIT, PASTOR CARPENTER, JUST BECAUSE I'VE CRIPPLED A LITTLE BIT AND MY RUN IS NOT AS CLASSY AS YOUR RUN. It was nearly I don't know 15 16 years ago. This is not in my notes and we in trouble I'm sure. Let me get to my notes. As Sister Garnett walked out of a prayer room on a Sunday night. She walked to me and she said, "The Lord has spoke to me in the prayer room and given me a ministry." I said, "Well, praise God." I mean, that's absolutely wonderful. Incredible. She said, "I you just need to support me. We're going to work this together." I said, "Man, you've been with me. We travel when we didn't know how we were going to put gas in the DIY pickup truck. I'm going to be with you. I'm with you." She said, "Good." I said, 'What is the ministry?' She said, 'I feel like God has called us to foster children.' I said, 'Go back to that prayer room, talk to God again. I can't see that happening. I mean, we already got three kids. Well, we just going to help some children. I don't have time to go in all the details, but but through it all, God's blessed us that we've got three biological, and they're all six our children. I I I I don't I we we adopted three, but I don't want to hardly want to use the word. They're our children. They're our daughter and our sons. >> That's what they are. Amen. Okay. It's a little weird now. Delilah, her roots are from El Salvador and she's 12 years old and taller than I am. And few months ago, we were walking through Walmart where all her ancestors shop on Sunday. And I was holding her hand walking through the aisle and she said and she let go of my hand. She said, "Dad, this is weird. Everybody's looking at us." I said, "You're right. Praise God. God's called us." So, we went into it. We fostered. And I could go into stories. What a what a wonderful wonderful wonderful lady Sister Garnet it is. I even called Pastor Carpenter and said, "You need to help me pray." >> Didn't I do it? Brother Carpenter said, "We'll take care of this. We'll stop this before it gets too far ahead." And um I scheduled him to come preach for us. I said, "He's going." Sister Garnet said, "Who's coming?" I said, "Brother Cis Carper's coming." They're go, "Oh, that's wonderful." Yes. I was thinking, "Yes, he's going to stop this now." He said, 'I'll talk to her. I I'll talk to her. Well, Friday night, he didn't talk to her. And Saturday night, he didn't talk to her. And Sunday morning, he didn't talk to her. And Sunday night, he didn't talk to her. And he told the congregation, he said, "I had all intention of coming here and telling Sister Garnett, that's too much work. You got a church that you need to pastor." Said, "But the Lord spoke to him in prayer and said, take your hand off my handmaiden." >> And I wanted to tell him, "Go back and pray again. Praise God. We've had ups and downs. And could I tell you tonight that as I have tried my best, not as good as I should have, but to support her and I in this ministry, I feel like I felt like from time to time, it was more crippling to me because now I was in a season of my life that that, you know, our our our youngest has graduated and we would have been empty nesters and uh we're having grandchildren, but now we have a a whole another set or what some would call a litter. I don't know what you'd call them. Okay, we have a whole another set and we are we're so blessed and and and I and I dealt with it and I thought as I would go to church and I' I'd get to church and I had got through those times where there was spit up on my jacket but now I'm in my 50s and there's spit up on my jacket and I I'm walking up to the pool pit and it seems like at national youth convention for the last 29 years I've pushed a stroller for the n last 29 years at national youth convention and it's kind of been a little crippling for me and I and THERE'S BEEN TIMES SATAN HAS SAID YOU JUST need to give up. You don't have time. This is not what you need to be doing. Just throw in the towel. You don't need TO BE PASTORING. JUST SAY GOODBYE. JUST FORGET, YOU KNOW, ALL THIS STUFF YOU'RE BRINGING IN YOUR HOME. NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR YOU PREACH. NOBODY'S GOING TO HAVE YOU COME AND MINISTER. BUT COULD I TELL YOU, THERE'S ANOTHER VOICE THAT SAYS WHETHER IT LOOKS GOOD, WHETHER IT HURTS, WHETHER IT'S I WISH YOU'D RUN LIKE YOU NEVER RUN. I WISH YOU'D SHOUT LIKE YOU NEVER SHOUT. I WISH YOU'D PACE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER P. OH, GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY. IF YOU CAN RUN, WE OUGHT TO RUN IN IN PLACE. IF ALL YOU CAN DO IS RUN IN PLACE, THEN RUN IN PLACE. BUT DON'T YOU LET THE DEVIL TAKE YOUR RUN OUT OF YOUR SPIRIT. I don't You may be seated. I got about I got about 15 more minutes. I got to hurry. Brother Jennings, get ready. That man's bad to the bone, ain't he? Get ready. And so there there's miracles in all of them. Our two youngest boys are biological brothers. Davin's 11 years old. I was preaching a revival when they delivered Davin to our home. And when I drove through the night to get home from preaching that revival that weekend, I entered the house and there was a bassinet beside the bed. I've been used to them for 29 years. And that bassinet was a three three-day old baby boy. I laid down at 3:00 in the morning. I woke up at 3:30. Beth was up with that baby in her arms and she was pacing the floor. SHE WAS PRAYING this prayer. YOU ARE NOT your name in the name of Jesus Christ. You are not your name. >> I heard her pray and I laid back down and I woke up about 4, 4:15, 4:30 and there was Beth up. She got that baby again and she was praying THIS PRAYER. YOU ARE NOT YOUR NAME IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. YOU ARE NOT YOUR NAME. 5:00 I woke up. You you guessed it. She's praying the same prayer. By now, I'm pretty curious what the guy's name is. So, I get out of bed and I said, "Honey, what is the baby's name?" She said, "Honey, God has placed him here for a reason." I said, "What is his name?" "Oh, he's placed him God has led him to the right house." I said, "What is his name?" "Oh, God's got him in the right company. What is HIS NAME?" "HIS DADDY IS ONE OF THE MAJOR DRUG DEALERS in our town, and his mother runs the streets high and a prostitute." I SAID, "WHAT IS THE BABY'S NAME?" SHE SAID, "THEY THOUGHT IT'D BE CUTE. THE DEAD thought it'd be cute to name him Diablo >> the devil. >> My God. I LEFT FOR THREE DAYS. PREACH REVIVAL. COME HOME AND WE'RE sleeping with the devil. >> We called him baby D until we did the legal adoption. When the legal adoption was done, his name was changed to Davin Seth. 11 years later. Right here. Right here. Right here. Right here. Right here. Right on the road where brother Nathan Batson's at. Right there. June. June of this year. Right there. 11-year-old boy right there. 11-year-old boy. FDHD. Fetal alcohol baby. Born a crack baby. GOES TO FOUR or five THERAPISTS A WEEK. GOT ALL KIND OF MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS. WERE RIGHT ABOUT THERE. ABOUT 2 AND 1/2 MONTHS AGO, GOD FILLED GAVIN WITH A baptism of the Holy Ghost. YOU DON'T THINK THE DEVIL'S MAD? GOD TOOK HIS NAME SAKE AND CHANGED HIS NAME AND FILLED HIM WITH THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. DON'T CALL ME JACOB NO MORE. MY NAME IS NOW ISRAEL. >> DANIEL, what's wrong with you? My name's changed. >> Oh, yeah. HE'S TOUCHED ME IN THE HOLLOW my thigh. You may be seated, but my name's changed. >> I may have a limp, but my name's been changed. I MAY HAVE A STRUGGLE, BUT MY NAME'S BEEN CHANGED. >> I may NOT CAN RUN AS FAST AS YOU, AND I MAY NOT FINISH AS FAST AS YOU, BUT MY NAME'S BEEN CHANGED. AND THAT SAME FINISH LINE YOU'RE HEADED TOWARD, IT MAY TAKE ME A FEW DAYS BEHIND YOU, BUT YOU CAN BET ONE THING. WHEN THE LORD RETURNS, I'M GOING TO BE IN THE RACE. I'M NOT GOING TO QUIT. I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE UP. >> >> You may be seated. So now now his brother six years old. When he was born, he had some of the same problems, a little bit more severe. We noticed when he got about two years old, we noticed that his his ankles weren't turned correctly. He was pigeon towed. So, we took him to the doctor and they put these plastic braces on him and every so often they had to refit him and he'd cry and his mama put them on him and strap him in, put him in the car with me and I'd take him to daycare and he'd say, "Dad, I want them off." I'd say, "All right." cuz I'd rather see him walk pigeon toes than hear him cry. But the older he got, the more severe it got. It's like his legs were twisted all up. One day I I heard on the playground I heard his sisters his sisters teach in the Christian school. Brianna, Olivia, Delilah, some of his little peers in kindergarten. They were they WERE SCREAMING, "YOU CAN DO IT, MARK. YOU CAN DO IT, MARK. COME ON, MARK. YOU CAN DO IT." AND I THOUGHT, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HE DOING?" HE WAS LINING up on a race. Lining up the race with his peers. And when they say, "ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO." His peers were gone. What you laughing at, Brother Keith Ambrose? Come on up here. Help me. And laugh at me. I'll show you. Come here, Brother Roberts. Hey, man. Brother Zach, would you help me? I'm not going to embarrass you. Can y'all help me? I'm show y'all going to win in a real race. Y'all win. All right. On the count of three, we're just going to go back to that wall over there. Y'all ready? We're going to run the race. Y'all ready? Here we go. One, two, three. Let's go. >> That joker would hit the dirt and he get back up. >> >> AND HE FINALLY GET THERE AND HE'D BE STANDING WITH HIM LIKE HE WAS FIRST PLACE. Y'all ready? Let's go. Come on. Got it. I said, "Good God, >> are you cheering him on to kill himself, >> man?" He'd get up. HE'D HAD HAIR, DIRT IN HIS HAIR. HE HAD GRASS STAINS on his shirt. And he was like, "MAN, THIS IS FUN, DAD." >> I said, "Fine." >> Told his mom, I said, "He ain't going to never play football. He ain't never going to play basketball. We got to get him checked out. I mean, he don't want to I mean, it's it's like a normal for him. He may be seated." So, we took him to a specialist. I'm almost done. I'm I'm almost done. Where y'all going? Stay right here with me, please. Please. >> I'm sorry. I'm a mess. Y'all just got to get my point across. So, his wife, my wife scheduled an appointment with a specialist and she had to take one of the other kids to another specialist and I went to him to the bone specialist and they went in. They said, "Let us going, we're going to do X-rays." Did X-rays of his ankles, of his knees, of his left femur. We went in and sat and waited for the doctor and the doctor said, "Listen, I tell you what. Before I tell you what I think, I want to get some more X-rays." I said, "Okay." He said, "I'll call you back in." So, we went back in there and we did X-rays on the other leg. He calls me back in. He sits back in his chair and he says, "I'm going to tell you something." He said, "There's nothing wrong with this boy's ankles, but he's born with a condition that starts way up here in his femur. and both of his femurss are twisted. And the only way to fix it is when he gets about 12 or 13 years old to operate on the left one first. We're going to cut it in half, straighten the femur, and then once he recovers from that for nine weeks, we'll do the other one and straight. So the problem's not in his ankles and his knees, it's in his femurss. >> I said, "What are we doing then?" He said, "Just let him keep on doing what he's doing." And I'm going to tell you what, I was tired of seeing him fall. It was bothering me so bad. They'd run them races. They'd run them races and just it just didn't seem like it just didn't just didn't seem like it was even fair. God, God, God, God, shut up the womb. God, why do you have to let things like this happen? I'm 52 years old and I've I've I've witnessed funerals of close loved ones, of mom and dad at young age. I understand that death comes early and I and I'm just like, GOD, CAN WE JUST have a break right here? I mean, I mean, could you not have just made him where where he was not literally a I mean, the boy can't run a 10 yard dash without falling. And and YOU KNOW, AS IT GETS OLDER, FOLKS WILL MAKE FUN. IT'S JUST LIKE SOMETHING HIT ME AND SAID, "HEY, HOLD ON A SECOND. Sometimes there's a LOT OF FOLKS IN THE CHURCH. HE'S GOT THE SAME RUN THAT MARK'S GOT. >> But the only DIFFERENCE IS THE MENTALITY THAT MARK HAS AND WE HAVE. >> SOME OF US WON'T RUN IN OUR CRIPPLING CONDITION BECAUSE WE'RE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE THINKS ABOUT OUR MINISTRY. Y'all ready? Come on. Let's go. Y'all ready? Y'all ready? Ready. On your mark. Get set. Go. Come on. Come on. I can't do it. I'm sick of this. I keep up with you. Eastgate. I've been checking you out. I had to preach with you tonight. 102 baptized in Jesus name in 2025 already. Oh, but my church, WE AIN'T BAPTIZED, BUT TWO, STOP CRYING. GET YOUR HIRED IN up and run again. I mean, my god, I can't even get in a Sunday school building. And Jimmy Tony over here who's drinking liquor on the weekends has got a brand new facility. God, can't you help ME OUT HERE? WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP, SEAN, AND JUST GET YOUR HIGH end up? Come on. LISTEN, YOU'RE HERE FOR a reason. THERE'S A REASON YOU'RE RUNNING LIKE YOU'RE RUNNING. YOU AIN'T HELPING NOBODY. IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LAY DOWN THERE AND COMPLAIN ABOUT WHAT GOD HASN'T DONE IN YOUR LIFE, YOU GOT TO GET UP. I'M PREACHING TO A PREACHER RIGHT NOW. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GET UP. IT MAY BE CRIPPLING, BUT YOU GOT MORE IN YOU. IT MAY BE IT MAY HURT YOU, BUT YOU GOT MORE IN YOU. YOU MAY BE PERSECUTED, BUT YOU GOT MORE IN YOU. YOU MAY NOT FEEL LIKE YOU CAN MAKE IT, BUT YOU GOT MORE IN YOU. >> >> HEY, HEY, >> I promise you. I promise you. I promise you. I don't care if you're around 15 or 20 or 25. I promise you, Pastor Carpenter, this is a beautiful facility. I'm proud of it. I've always been proud of it. I'm thankful every time I get to come home and be a part of the of the services here at home. I thank God for it. I promise you, Pastor Carpenter, I promise you, Brother Brother to I promise you, Brother Tony, I promise you, other men in here that's got new buildings and about to build new buildings and got congregations of 6, 7, 8, 900, 1,000. I I PROMISE YOU, BROTHER YOUNG, I PROMISE YOU, THEY DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR RUN LOOKS LIKE. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU GOT 25 OR 30 IN YOUR CHURCH. THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE BAPTIZING A POOL LIKE THAT OR IF YOU'RE TAKING THEM DOWN TO A CREEK AND PUTTING THEM DOWN IN THE NAME OF JESUS. WHAT THEY DO CARE ABOUT IS IF YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT WHY YOU WON'T RUN. >> >> Philippians said, "Forgetting those things which are behind, straining toward which is ahead, >> I press toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus our Lord." The race is not about beating others. It's about pressing forward. Mark failed so much that his KINDERGARTEN PEERS FELT sorry for him >> THAT WHEN HE WOULD FALL, THEY WOULD ENCOURAGE HIM. Y'ALL READY? >> I got insurance. It's all right. >> >> I know it's ugly, but it's godly. I know it don't FIT THE PENTECOSTAL PROGRAM, BUT DO it anyhow. >> >> Isaiah 35 and 6. I close with this. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer. >> God may have put it there, but there's coming a day. >> IT MAY NOT HAPPEN HERE. GOD IS A HEALER. GOD can heal the mental stress right here. >> God can take away all the persecution RIGHT NOW. BUT IF HE DOES BUT IF HE DOESN'T, >> I'LL GET THE GRASS OUT OF MY NOSTRIL. I'LL PULL IT OUT OF MY EAR. I RAKE IT OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD AND I'LL GET UP AND RUN AGAIN. Hey Lord Jesus. Y'all ready? So the weekend we got the diagnosis of his seamers being crooked. We're in our outreach center by now cuz Lauren come home and told her daddy that there won't no room in the sanctuary for us to keep putting people in. So brother Carpenter said, "You need to get some more room." So we moved out in our outreach center. And we're out there having church and it's the big gymnasium. And folks start to running back home in the church I pastor. They're a bunch of crazy people like a bunch of beagle hangers running a rabbit. They run through everything to get to it. I mean, it's just wild. It's wild. I'm I'm telling you, it's wild. >> If you don't shout when you get altars, you're going to learn to shout quick cuz it it turns into self-defense right then. Folks are starting to run and people are running and going nuts that Sunday night. And I feel something come up beside me. I look at him, it's old Mark. He just stand there. And the KIDS START RUNNING. KIDS START running around the church. I was like, "Boy, it just we got a church where kids run." >> Some adults say, "Don't let them kids run. You go home. If you don't want to run with the kids, you go get your pocketbook, get on to the house. WE AIN'T GOT TIME FOR A DAD CHURCH. WE WANT EVERYBODY TO RUN. WHETHER YOU'RE LAME, CRIPPLED, and starts pulling my coat and I'm like, "Praise the Lord. I wish this boy quit." Hallelujah. God so good. Stop. Give God the praise. And I looked down at him. He says, he said something. I thought, "Sure, he didn't say that." So I looked down at him. He said, "Daddy," I said, "Yeah." He said, "Can I run? I mean, if that sister I mean, if you run one of them sisters, you liable to die. You know, if one of them falls on you, you will die. And I just I I'm just not sure. Just not sure if I need you running. And I'm going to be honest with you, brother Bass. And I stood there for a minute and I got carnal and I was like, it's going to be embar it's going to be real embarrassing if he runs and falls and busts his head on this concrete floor. And then we had to have special prayer because the father let a >> run. And then God SAID TO ME, "OH YE >> of little faith." And I said, "Go ahead and run." You know what he did? He ran. >> >> And he ran again. HE RAN THAT SANCTUARY FOR 30 MINUTES AND HE NEVER FELL. AS A MATTER OF FACT, I STARTED LOOKING AT HIS LEGS AND HIS LEGS THAT WERE PIGEON TOWED WHILE HE WAS RUNNING FOR THE LORD. THE LORD SHOWED UP I WANT TO TELL SOMEBODY TONIGHT, DON'T YOU LET YOUR HANDICAP KEEP YOU FROM THE RACE. I SAID, DON'T YOU LET YOUR HANDICAP. RUN WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT. DANCE WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT. But for THE SAKE OF GOD, DON'T YOU JUST SIT IN A PEW AND DO NOTHING. SOMEBODY THROW YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR AND SHOUT TO THE TOP OF YOUR LEGS. I'M GOING TO RUN. I'M GOING TO RUN. YEAH, I'm going to run. >> >> If you're here tonight and you're struggling, if you're here tonight and you're struggling, >> you going to do one of the hardest things you've ever done right now. You're going to have to admit it. >> If you're struggling, if you feel like you're not worthy, if you feel like folks are watching you and judging you, really, I care what you think about me. But when it comes to loving God and the work of God, I could care less what you think about me. But if you're struggling, if you throw your hands way up in the air, I know it hurts. I KNOW YOU'RE SICK OF THE LIMP. CAN I TELL YOU WHEN MARK GOT DONE RUNNING THAT NIGHT, HIS LEGS went right back like they were, but as long as he WAS RUNNING FOR THE LORD, he never failed. Could I tell you if you LIFT UP YOUR HANDS AND SAY, "GOD, I'M GETTING BACK IN the race. I'm getting back in the race.