Sunday Morning Worship & Word | Pastor Anthony “Consistent Communication”

thank you praise team thank you musicians thank you choir and you can be seated across this house thank you to the great congregation of first apostolic church and if you're tuning with us online or on television on the radio we welcome you as well and if you're a guest here in the house or by way of the internet or whatever mean or medium we want you to know what a great honor it is for us to have you worshiping alongside us as we lift up the name of jesus the king of king and the lord of lords and uh we love each and every one of you i want to say welcome home to the durango's this morning been in kenya over the summer i'm i'm working on my spirit though cause i i wanted to go with you all but maybe next time it's an honor to have you all back home and we had awesome kids quest uh revival this past week and many children were filled with the holy ghost and had a great move of god but also this past wednesday evening sister donna seymour received the gift of the holy ghost and got baptized in the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved right there at kids quest revival i was so encouraged i was standing beside my dad at the altar and they uh the kids were up worshiping with what they call an action song and they were going to the left and the right and singing and i think there was a batman on the stage and everything else and you know it'd been really easy to just sit back and oh this is this is real cute you know the kids are up here i'll just kind of i'll kind of watch idle by and i looked over and i saw sister pat garrett and sister brenda perry just to worship and out worshiping all of the children as well and i i looked at them and i just think what an absolute model what an absolute testimony it is for me and the examples i have in my life that right there in the midst of kids quest revival we've got great saints of god who are pouring in training into the next generation and i say that to say this i've so i've been enjoying when bishop gets up here and tells us about the tidbits from the past about those receiving the holy ghost and the miracles that took place because it builds my faith because we read that we serve that a god that is the same yesterday today and forever and if he did that for a generation 20 30 40 years ago brother robbie's like stop counting up he can do it today and it builds my faith and i i honor all of our uh saints and thank you bishop for uh informing us and keeping us reminded about how we got to where we are at which also shines the light on where we are going if you have your bibles this morning we're going to read one passage from the old testament one passage from the new and then we'll kind of build around those a little bit but first kings chapter 19 verse 12 says and after the earthquake of fire but the lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice the book of john chapter 10 verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and i know them i i suppose over the past few weeks there's been kind of a theme some might even call it a sermon series or uh and protestantism they would call it maybe on your liturgical calendar but ever since uh pentecost sunday we've every message that has been that has gone forth from bishop to pastor mccool to pastor whitley has just been about listening and hearing to the voice of god i i preached a few weeks ago about a voice in the storm and pastor mccool last sunday morning spoke about part of communication and and communing with having a relationship with god is also being able to listen and pastor whitley uh so mightily told us past this past sunday night uh about being careful and cautious the voices that and the the things that occupy our time that we allow in our life so i'm going to stay with that theme just a little bit and i want to give you my title which is consistent communication if i could minister to for a few moments this morning on the title consistent communication we have voices speaking all around us we have friends some might even say frenemies co-workers bosses parents news media sports media social media tweets posts stories blogs and we are bombarded with commercials and advertisements it's estimated that we hear around 30 000 words per day and somebody this morning said i work with somebody who says 30 000 look at your wife or your husband and say you speak i'm just kidding uh thirty thousand words per day we see and hear between four to ten thousand advertisements each and every day we even have those voices that speak inside of us fear regret shame guilt doubt weariness uncertainty insecurity that can rise up in us and it seems like at times all of these things come at us in an instant but there is a voice that we preach about this morning and a voice from heaven a voice from god and he speaks to us because he loves us and he wants to be close to us his nature and we see this imagery played out even in the last praise team song in psalms 23 all the way to god manifesting himself in flesh as the good shepherd and that is his nature the first time god's voice was ever recorded we see him as a loving creator who made the world in humanity a creator who cherished the first man and woman so much that he longed to visit with them and speak to them daily in the garden he could have created us like angels that were designed to worship and serve him but he didn't do that he created us with the desire to make our own choices and the most touching truth is that he wanted us to choose him and he wants that now we see the intimacy and foreshadowing of this shepherding as he provided for his first creation his first sheep with life shelter nourishment provision direction of where to go and where not to go we read in genesis chapter 3 verse 8 and they heard the voice of the lord god walking in the garden in the cool of the day and adam and his wife hid themselves though from the presence of the lord amongst the trees of the garden and the lord called unto adam and said unto him where art thou and he said i heard thy voice in the garden and i was afraid because i was naked and i hid myself again these voices of fear regret shame and doubt and he said who told thee that thou was naked who told you this has thou eaten of the tree whereof i commanded thee that they shouldn't eat adam had been listening to the wrong voice eve had been listening to the wrong voice but though they had sinned we see this loving creator who knew they had sinned still reaching out to them still communing with them and we know the words of satan will manipulate and distort the truth and bring about shame and confusion and indeed as we've heard preached about we must make sure that we hear and aspire to hear the voice of god cutting out distractions and we've heard it preached and i preach it as well caution ourselves with the media that we consume not placing any wicked thing before my eyes or into my ears our social media usage and keeping our priorities in check whether it be our hobbies or sports or our pursuit of life with our job and and trying to earn a higher wage because we know all of these things can get us off track from what we refer to as our passionate pursuit and we don't want to be the ones who we dropped the baton for this generation and we often times when myself when i preach about these things i i say we can't get distracted for one second because you know it's it's it's a voice of war we're at war and we're going in an aggressive manner just as fast as we can and we don't want anything to be in hindrance or anything to block us from what god is calling us to do and i believe that 100 and i agree with these things and it's imperative that we evaluate every aspect of our life running it through the filter of the word of god but this morning i want to tell you an additional reason that it is so important that we aspire to hear the voice of god that it's imperative for our lives that we're able to hear what the shepherd is telling us it's because we have a shepherd who wants to commune with us each and every day a shepherd that says come unto me all ye that are labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest a shepherd who in the midst of a monday or or even a thursday afternoon when the stresses of life seem to come at you from every angle who says fear not i am with thee be be not dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you i will help you i will uphold you with my righteous hand as a savior when it's not necessarily a sunday or a wednesday night when the praise team's not singing or the or the or the music's not playing and everyone around me is not rejoicing but to be able to hear a savior that says are not two sparrows sold for a penny yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your father's care and even the very hairs of your head are also numbered so don't be afraid you are worth more than the sparrows not a bully drill sergeant with a bullhorn in our face but a shepherd that doesn't want to be separated from his sheep by the destructive forces of sin a shepherd that doesn't want to be separated from his sheep not even just sin but in the busyness of our lives who doesn't want to be separated from us in the thirty thousand words that we hear a day or the four to ten thousand advertisements that we are bombarded with because he loves you he knew that sin and this world can distort our thinking he knew that sin can cause confusion and cause hurt and cause shame and doubt and we live in a time of busy we live in a time where we can be so busy we can multitask so much we can fill our days with the cares of life that we can incrementally distance ourselves from our shepherd not necessarily distance as i mentioned because of sin but through the voices of the busy that take residency of our time and yes we must cut out all the worldly meaningless devices that can take us off track from our spiritual calling and where god wants to lead us to but also we have to keep every single thing in our life in check because we have a shepherd that wants to commune with us every day and sometimes it's not sin but sometimes it's busy that we can drown out his voice when he's wanting to tell you that you're doing a good job and it's time to eat and i'm not i i'm here with you and what you are going through knowing that i'm going to provide provision for you on this day and i can bring you healing on this day and sometimes when we think about renewal and sometimes when we think about receiving a refreshing we can have a limited thinking we can we can place in our minds that if i can just make it to camp meeting then that's that's when god is surely going to show up in my life and deliver me and i can receive some answers in this situation or if i can just get to national youth convention that's where i turn my life over to him and if i can get to that conference then i know that i can receive an answer maybe it's a revival service or maybe we even think if i can just make it to sunday i i i can limp into the house of god and i'm going to get my answer there and please don't misinterpret what i'm saying for a second all of those things are absolutely fantastic and i'm for them 100 but i just believe that we serve a god who is so powerful who can commune with you on a monday morning and renew and refresh you on your way to work i believe we serve a god so powerful who can send a refreshing for you right there in your office on a thursday afternoon because of that consistent communication that you have with him if we will make it a priority to listen to his voice there might not be musicians playing the choir might not be singing and there might not be an okay preacher delivering his word but wherever you're at and whatever you're going to through if you have consistent communication with him he can show up any day or any night and right there in the cool of the garden he can show up for you in the cool of the day even after you've made a mistake after you've had a tough day he's not limited elijah learned this lesson mount horeb in the bible is another name from mount sinai the mountain where the hebrew people entered into covenant with god after escaping the bondage in egypt and mount horeb is also the place where moses received the ten commandments the rules the laws and instructions for the people continuing on their journey through their desert on the way to the promised land it's often referred to in scripture as the mountain of god the morning moses ascended upon that mount god descended in exodus tells us that there were thunders and lightning and a thick cloud up on the mountain the voice of the lord was like a trumpet and a trumpet that continued to get exceedingly loud and mount sinai mount horeb altogether was smoke like as of a furnace and the mountain quaked greatly and the voice of the trumpet sounded long and it waxed louder and louder and moses spake and god answered him by this mighty voice there's no more spectacular imagery in scripture no more magnificent display of god's power than when the lord gives moses the ten commandments on mount horeb the top of the mountain where only moses is able to go and god reveals his presence with these oh so powerful forces of nature fire earth shaking smoke a loud voice like as a trumpet not just a trumpet a trumpet that's getting exceedingly loud this visible response of god's almighty sovereignty and our omnipotence right at the peak of mount sinai also called mount horeb also called the mountain of god i point to you this morning it's not how god speaks to us in those victorious moments or in those times of jubilee when it's a war-like chant and it's a a praise of victory but it's how he communes with his followers each and every day amen sometimes when it's when we're not at our best sometimes it's when we feel brokenhearted sometimes it's i don't know if i could stand up and begin to leap and clap my hands sometimes it's when i'm in the depths of the despair and the pressures of life have just taken me as far down as i can go the choir's not there the praise team's not there the preaching's not going forth there's not a congregation behind me worshiping but we serve a god who's still there and our key text this morning highlights and it's packed in the midst of a roller coaster of emotions and events like we experience of the current worn out ringed out burned out lonely prophet elijah who is in such a depth of despair this prophet of god a prophet of god who is in such depths of despair that he is at the point in his life where he asked god to take his life first kings 19 7 and the angel of the lord came again to him the second time and touched him and said elijah arise and eat because you have a journey that you're going to go on and he arose and he did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meet 40 days and 40 nights unto horeb the mount of god god's calling him back to that mount and he came thither unto a cave and he lodged there and behold the word of the lord came to him and he said unto him what doest thou hear elijah i see your faithful elijah only a few verses earlier you asked for your life to be taken and i've called you back to where i communed with moses at mount sinai i called you back to mount horeb it was you had so much faith that it was a 40-day journey and you were at the end of your life so what are you doing here elijah and he said i've been very jealous for the lord god of hosts for the children of israel have forsaken thy covenant they've thrown down thine altars and they've slain thy prophets with the sword i even i am left and they seek my life to take it away everybody's participating in adulterous worship the altars that we repaired and rebuilt they've torn them back down and now they seek my life god said go forth and stand upon the mount before the lord and wait the same prophet elijah who only a chapter earlier had this showdown with the prophet's bell in the midst of a drought and the what word could we use not arrogance but the showmanship if you will and absolute faith to take water in the midst of a drought and use it as the ignition for god to pour down his fire from heaven elijah did this right in the face of those prophets and he even trash talked a little bit this is only a chapter earlier and immediately god sent down a response by fire right on the altar to prove elijah and to prove who the real god was and then we see only a chapter later those things that faded and we see elijah who's he was life was on the run verse 19 says now ahab told jezebel everything elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword so elijah was afraid and ran for his life and he became to bear sheba and judah he left his servant there and he stayed into the wilderness and he said i have done enough lord he said take my life i'm no better than my ancestors i tried lord i did everything that you told me to do then he laid down under the bush and fell asleep and all at once an angel touched him and said get up and eat he looked around and by his head with some bread over hot coals in a jar of water he ate and drank and the angel of the lord as we just read came to him a second time said get up and eat and go to mount horeb this is just a chapter later from when god sent down fire upon the altar that he rebuilt but we now find elijah at the mountain of god the same mountain where moses communed with god the same mountain where the ten commandments were received the same mountain where israel entered into covenant the same mountain if you go to any sunday school class or or watch any biblical depiction movie or documentary we'll talk about that mountain with the fire and the and the smoke and the the earth shaking and quaking because we in our flesh see this great imagery of the sovereign omnipotent god displaying his power and authority and we love that and rightfully so i don't speak against it don't misinterpret what i'm saying but it's the same mountain where god had so mightily displayed his power no doubt elijah thought you know i just said i'm no better than my ancestors but he's calling me back to the same place where he spoke with moses maybe i'm a modern day moses i'm feeling a little better now god has seen my despair he's seen that i'm the last one because nobody has been so righteous in this last day than i i'm the only one left his spirits were perhaps lifted a bit in his pride but only a few moments ago he wanted to take his life but now he begins to think that perhaps he's starting to be recognized you know i've been in the valley god hath brought me to the same spot where he met moses dennis bratcher the theologian said the very same name horrible sinai evoked images of a powerful and awesome god who strode boldly into history overthrowing kingdoms and working fantastic miracles for before the people's eyes elijah was on that very mountain of god where it all started no doubt as any of us would elijah would expect a new overwhelming revelation that would once again reconvince him of god's power elijah was burned out worn out running for his life such a valley that he asked for his life to be taken questioning his miracle feeling like a failure no better than his ancestors but his ears began to perk up as he went to mount war knowing what had taken place there before knowing the stories that had been passed down from generation to generation knowing the law of how god communed with moses in such a mighty way god said go up to that mountain elijah elijah i probably thought here we go just like moses i remember a chapter earlier yeah i was at a low point in my life but here we here we go again if i can just get to camp meeting if i if i can just get to youth convention if if i can just get in the midst of a mighty crowd of believers and all of those things are good so don't misinterpret what i'm saying please i'm going to see if that evangelist can just come through if that new book will just come out i'm going to see our mighty display and behold the lord passed by and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and it break the pieces of the rock before the lord but the lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the lord was not in the earthquake lord you've seen my despair you've seen the heartache i'm in what are you doing to me i'm the last prophet i've done everything you've said and now i'm on the run for my life and it's in jeopardy and you answered me a chapter ago by fire i trash talked i poured out water in the midst of the drought and you answered me by fire you burnt up the altar and you brought me back to mount horeb you brought me back to mount sinai where you communed with moses and you gave him the ten commandments and there was fire and there was smoke and the earth began to quake and your voice was like a trumpet you answered in a mighty demonstration but the wind just passed by and you weren't there the earth just quaked and you you weren't there after the earthquake of fire but the lord was not in the fire and after the fire still small voice god called him back to the same place but he's working in a different manner than he did before we see god displaying his glory and omnipotence because he's not limited just to working in fire he's not limited just to working in smoke he's not limited just to working in an earthquake he's not limited just to working with a loud voice like a trumpet but we see this intimate god this shepherd god communing with his creation in such a way with his prophet as we saw in his first creation god does not coerce us into submitting to his will he does not put us in a place where he forces us to be loyal it's our decision he will work and make pathway and take us on his journey and place us in a position where me we must respond to him it might be in an unusual and unexpected way we anticipate and expect an answer as he did for me once before we expect a display of power as he did for somebody else or we expect him to operate in the same manner that he did last time but he's a god who's not limited to the last time he's a god that can do things in a different way and we can tarry and cry out to hear the voice like a loud trumpet and we aspire to see a sign and a display of mighty fire and smoke but sometimes in the cool of the day if i'll stay consistent faithful in my communication i'll make an effort to hear his voice no matter what it might not be in fire it might not be in smoke it might not be in the earthquake but he'll speak to me right where i'm at and provide me with comfort he will give me provision and encourage me and it was so when elijah heard it we don't see him leaping for joy and clapping and running around and obviously i'm for all those things but it says that he wrapped his face in a mantle and went out and stood at the entrance and that voice came unto him again and said so elijah why are you here and elijah repeated his prayer once again and the lord said unto him i'm going to give you encouragement i'm going to give you direction of your next step go return thy way to the wilderness of damascus and when thou comest anoint hazel to be king over syria and jehu the son of nimshu shalt anoint king over israel and elisha the son of shaphat of albin allah shouted they anoint to be prophet nye room and it shall come to pass that him that escape with the sword of hazel shall jay who slay and him that escapeth from the sword of jehu shall elisha slay what does all of that mean he said elijah you still have a mighty work to do i need you to go back i need you to appoint an anoint i need you to invest in the next generation i'm giving you strength elijah i'm giving you comfort elijah it's not in the display of fire and smoke and an earthquake but i am commissioning commissioning you to go back yes this is the same mountain where i communed with moses and i gave him the ten commandments but this is also going to be the same mountain where i commune with you in a different way but give you marching orders to go back and set up an administrative structure in israel and train another generation because there's nothing more renewing in life if you want to seek renewal and we see this foreshadowing to the new testament then to serve someone else he said you feel and burn out elijah then you need to invest in others and you need to set up an organized structure however much you love me is how much you're going to love your neighbor verse 18 says yet i have left me seven thousand in israel there's seven thousand in israel elijah because of your ministry because of your faithfulness because of you repairing the altar there's seven thousand whose knees never touch the ground in the fake presence of bell there's seven thousands whose lips have never touched that idol and because of you elijah but i need you i've strengthened you physically and i've given you encouragement not by fire not by smoke not by a mighty display of power but i need you to go back home and i need you to get to work i need you to recognize the authority in your life i need you to go appoint another prophet i need you to go appoint another king and i need you to invest in the next generation charles spurgeon said remarkably it is neither the experience of god's dramatic nor quiet presence for which many so long in the midst of such feelings but in attending to the work at hand and needing to be done through which life is renewed god said i'm going to do oh i'm going to do a miraculous work i'm going to send fire i'm going to send smoke i'm going to make the earthquake yeah i still have that power but i'm going to use you to do it if we only seek and aspire for an experience it will wear off it's the consistent communication that god leads us god directs us you know me i preached pentecost sunday i preach in shouting and rejoicing and going to war no matter what the situation but there's going to be a time when your emotions and your feelings you don't feel so victorious there's going to be a time when you get a text message that ruins your day or you you or or you hear something that took place with a friend or a family member or you get a piece of news or a doctor's report or it's not like you are at the altar when everybody's rejoicing and singing and you're going to have to rely and you're going to have to be dependent upon that consistent communication because we serve a shepherd who wants to commune with you every single day oh i believe in praise i believe in worship you know that i believe in running the aisles i believe in doing whatever you have to do to rejoice and praise and we have to set an atmosphere of worship you know those things and i i don't even have to reiterate that but sometimes you got to wake up on monday morning and realize that you got to go back to work he strengthened me and he gave me orders for my next step and we serve a god who's not limited to just working and the fever pitch of emotions of our life if the musicians would come john chapter 10 and verse 27 says my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me and i give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand a shepherd's primary responsibility is for the safety and welfare of the flock the shepherd voice will guide the animals herding them to areas of good forage letting them know it's time to eat the shepherd's voice can deter them from separating from the flock and also prevent them from isolating themselves which it could expose them to potential dangers predators poisonous plants are simply becoming lost shepherds also provide medical treatment to their sheep from leading them away from disease carrying insects to potentially assisting the you and if birthing problems occur the shepherd's voice tells them that they can receive healing from their shepherd in their heart throughout scripture god compares us because what could happen to us if through the busyness of life we're just too far away from the shepherd's voice could we miss the call can we hear his voice in the midst of all of the competitive voices whether it be with the 30 000 words per day the four to ten thousand advertisements that we're bombarded with my hobbies my interests the busyness of life will we know how to respond well we know when it's time to gain nourishment will we know when it's time to gather together for protection will we know how to find our way back home or to know where to go when i'm injured the lord said my sheep hear my voice and they follow me it's so important to hear god's voice because he might just be on a tuesday afternoon wanting to say to you hey you're going to make it it's going to be okay it's not in the midst of a sunday night revival service but god wants to speak with you each and every day sometimes in our humanity and in our flesh yes indeed we serve a god who can answer by fire yes indeed we serve a sovereign god who can answer by smoke and an earthquake yes we believe in the day of pentecost when a rushing mighty wind came in and it filled all the house what they were sitting and we see this imagery again with cloven tongues like as a fire power sovereignty we believe all of those things we've seen the choir song his countenance was like lightning and his raiment was his widest and i remember learning that in the school choir my dad before he cut me on this cool choir to all the tenors he said when you sing that you got to sing it with authority his countenance was like lightning and his reign was and we absolutely 100 percent serve a god who can display his omnipotence and he can make such a mighty uh use of whatever element to show his power he can hang the constellations he created this world but we also serve the god who has the hairs on your head numbered and he can mute you in the very lowest points of your life and he can tell you it's going to be all right i know you don't feel like rejoicing right now i i know your hands aren't up clapping and lifting your hand and running around and i know your friends have betrayed you and you can't get a hold of your family and you're you're on your last mile the shepherd just wants to tell you that it's going to be all right stand with me we have to be so careful what we entertain in our life even if it's just the business because we have to be able to hear the shepherd he asked adam and eve after they had sinned who told you that you were naked who who told you that you were without you and i asked you today that same question god's speaking to you who told you you couldn't make it who told you that you weren't good enough who told you your son or daughter was never going to come back home who told you that your ministry was meaningless who told you that you've done too much in your past to ever be used by god who who told you that you couldn't be healed i know we're not a camp meeting i know we're not at national youth convention and i know there's not a famous evangelist here who told you those things i i i he's meeting you even though he knows that you've already made a mistake he's meeting you and communing with you in the cool of the day it's not in the atmosphere of a mighty outpouring uh revival but it might be when you're by yourself who told you those things and he's still aspiring to commune with you and if you're listening to me online or on television and you might be watching or viewing right there by yourself he's speaking to you today and he's still trying to commune with you because he loves you he knows that you've made a mistake he knows you're in the depths of despair but if you just listen to his voice he wants you to tell i i can i tell you where to go you need to come home you need to come to the altar you need to come there's there's provision here you can hear my voice here you can gather with others for protection here if you listen to his voice maybe we're like elijah where we've been seeking a specific answer to an issue or circumstance in our life and sometimes in our flesh if i can just get to conference x or if i can get to service x then i that's when god can really display his power can he do it at those things 100 can he do it for you right now even when you're by yourself or even on this day 100 because he communes with you every day and yes we we we seek signs and wonders and the miraculous ways of god absolutely but we also have a consistent daily walk where god communes with us each and every single day both things are true maybe you've been seeking the fire and the smoke and the earthquake but all the time god's just wanting you to cut out some of the distractions in your life for some of the busyness and he's wanting to speak to you to say hey i'm here with you right in this very moment and i know you've got a trial coming up at the end of this week i know you've got a trial coming up next month i'm going to be with you then as well i know when you turned your life over to me if there was a miraculous what we would determine to refer to move of god and the my voice was like a trumpet that got exceedingly louder and there was fire and smoke but i'm still the same oh god but i'm just working in a different way in this moment with every head bowed in this place [Music] as we pray this morning [Music] as the first verse that went forth the lord is my shepherd and i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures and he leadeth me beside still waters it's just the coolness of the day he restoreth my soul he's given me leaveth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake he's given me vision for the next day knowing he's going to be with me vision for the next month they yo yea though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death a trial a difficult circumstance in my life i will fear no evil because lord we know you're the good shepherd and you are with me i'm comforted by you anoint my head my cup my blessings runneth over and my surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i shall dwell in the house of the lord forever i want to open this altar up this morning whatever circumstance you might be dealing with whatever question that you might be seeking an answer to can god answer by fire and smoke for you today absolutely but he may also just want to have a moment of intimacy with you to say hey i'm here with you i hear your prayer i haven't forgotten what you're going through and i'm going to display my power for you on this day i'm going to be here for you on this day and i know you've got a trial coming up and i'm going to be with you there as well it's time to eat this is a place of healing you're doing a good job it's a time of encouragement you're going to make it you have a caller on your it's because of what you've done [Music] [Music] in your career in your marriage [Music] but elijah i'm meeting you in that same place [Music] because there is [Music] i told you about shame and doubt and guilt that wasn't from the ships he wants you to gather in he wants you to gather him for protection it's a time of healing it's a time [Music] and they want you to come home [Music] is [Music] is [Music] on a sunday night [Music] i think i can get through this tribulation [Music] because i know you're still moving and i know you're still alive [Music] see my victory [Music] oh [Music] [Music] always [Music] [Music] i guess it was approximately two weeks ago and it's it's such a blessing to have both of my grandparents in service with us because it's been i guess what three three and a half years but yeah give the lord a handcuff for that [Applause] but about two weeks ago as we know bishop was in the hospital my my dad was with him and my uncle mack 97 years old my grandmother's oldest brother lied in the bed at their house and it was i got a call about 7 a.m that we're gonna try to get my uncle matt to the hospital because he had just taken just a turn for the worse and there in the house was just me and my my grandmother and my uncle mac and i could see more arts more than anything i could see that i heard in my my grandmother's voice and as she had been this caregiver for him just through the years and it was her older brother even though he was 97 years old that that doesn't for one second take away from any of the pain or long suffering of losing a loved one but just having to experience and bishop wasn't there and having to call in it i was there with her and my goodness what what am i supposed to say to my faithful grandmother has been pastoring over 60 years and i wanted the choir wasn't there and the the music wasn't going and the congregation wasn't there it wasn't it wasn't a time of jubilee there it wasn't a time of oh you need to praise right there or in your circumstance where you had it it wasn't it wasn't like that but i just i heard my grandmother take him by the hand and said god god we love you and we need strength we need strength to to do whatever you're calling us to do i don't know what the night holds and i don't know what some tomorrow holds but god we need you right now and to have that example there wasn't fire there wasn't smoke and there wasn't an earthquake but the shepherd came right there in that room and i saw my grandmother just beginning to pray and it because it was only a month ago we brother richmond went on to be with the lord and in the final years we saw even through the pandemic sister betty richman would go out even outside of his of his hospital room to to be there beside him it wasn't a time of fire and it wasn't a time of smoke and there wasn't a camp meeting going forth and this mighty praise team wasn't seeing but there was some saints of god who knew that they had a shepherd and if you're listening to me today don't give up don't give up that shepherd wants to speak to you right where you're at you are not alone you are not alone this morning and i just believe no matter what you're going through if you lift your hands up to heaven and just ask for him to speak to you he's going to give you strength he's going to give you comfort it might not be how he did it in the past but he's going to work right in some of those toughest moments of your life and he's going to be there he's never going to leave you he's never going to forsake you rejoice not against me all my enemy because when i fall i shall arise no matter what i know he's with me and i gotta be able to ascertain his voice [Music] he's not going to leave you in jesus name [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] lift your hands and your hearts to jesus right now oh do you feel his presence here listen to his voice listen to that still smile voice that your comfort that's your peace that's your assurance today hallelujah hallelujah savior we praise your savior we praise you glory glory