How To Cry Correctly | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

I wonder if you would clap your hands unto the Lord for me. Would you kind of do that just a little bit longer? Just so just if you would for me. About a month ago, I had uh some surgery done on my hand and uh had been some things some some pleasures of life that I've not been able to partake in such as one being playing golf. I've not been able to play golf in a month and probably more than that. Uh basically because my my trigger fingers would hurt so bad when I would try to grip the club. And as aggravating as that has been, there is one thing that I cannot do that bothers me so bad and that's I can't clap my hands. And I was uh you know the simple the simple things of life that you take for granted until you can't do it. I tried to you know it's healing now you can't even hardly tell. But I earlier in the service I tried to clap my hands and it hurt so bad. And you know what I thought to myself? I can I can push through the pain in order to clap. But the problem was I couldn't make any noise with my hands. And that's the whole idea of clapping is to make a joyful sound, make a noise. And so I thought, you know what? The first thing I'm going to do, now this is before pastor got me all emotional, but I thought the first thing I'm going to do is I'm just going to ask if you all would clap your hands for me because you can. Would you clap your hands for every shut in that's not able to be here tonight that we wish to say could be in your place? Can you lift your voice for every person that doesn't have a voice? For every mute person that can't speak, can you lift up a shout for every person who can't get their voice above a whisper? I love I love our senior pastor. I love You've heard me calling him a whole lot recently, bishop, because he's so much more than just a pastor. A bishop is a pastor's pastor. That's what a bishop is. There's a lot of people that throw the the term around and throw the title around of bishop. They'll walk up to you, hey, bishop. A lot of people retire out of pastoring and people call them bishop. And that's okay. But aren't you thankful we have a true bishop? He he's a pastor of pastors. He's a He's a leader of leaders. He will always be our pastor. We understand that. He'll always until he breathes his last breath will be our pastor. But oh, what a bishop he is. Oh my God. Give you honor. Give first lady honor. Equally do the honor. Amen. For over 40 years, 43 years going on 44 years. Amen. have have led and have guided this this great flock. Pastor Hammond, Pastor Carpenter. Oh God, we're so blessed. Thank you, man. I just feel the Holy Ghost in this place. And God has blessed us with the greatest leadership team this church. We have I don't know some 250 300 on our leadership staff. It's a team called a dream team. We could not be the church that we are. God would not have the church in Marville that he has without this team right here. I give you honor today. One more time, put your hands together. Love the Lord. Just just for the fun of it, turn in your Bibles to ch to John 11:35. And when you get there, you're going to know what I'm talking about. But give honor uh to our Chilean to our Chilean pastor and family that's here. God bless you. So good to have you. We love we love Central America. We love South America. We absolutely love our Latin brothers and sisters. And we're so glad they're in the house today. Was told that our Spanish church had a great service this morning. And don't we love our Spanish church? They they are us. may not speak the same language, but we're the same body. Amen. We love them so much. Well, John 11:35, and I guess it's befitting that I can't hardly hold myself together. It just simply says, "Jesus wept." One of the first verses I learned. Psalm 30 and5, you know this one too. simply says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 126 and5, they that sow in tears shall shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, beareth precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheav with him. Endurance leads to reward. That's what that verse means. He that endureth, there is a reward. On this first Sunday night of 2026, I want to preach a New Year's message. A message that's going to help us leave some things back in 225. 2025. We got some stuff we're just going to leave with some baggage we're going to leave with you. My title is simply this. How to cry correctly. It's going to make sense in just a moment. How to cry correctly. Before you're seated, I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, tell them, say, I can't wait to see you cry. Come on, turn turn to that turn to that guy beside you and say, "You're not too tough to cry." And then turn to the person that you haven't chosen to turn to yet and say, "Stop being a baby and cry." You may be seated in Jesus name. Shoo. I got to get a hold of myself. My wife and I went to a um went to a music conference about I don't know, it's probably been three or four years ago. Went to Nashville. uh uh CCM was putting on a Christian uh music conference uh for songwriters and for and for worship artists. And uh we uh we we went to the conference, great conference. Wasn't a lot to take away other than uh just a few a few notes that I took. And I was actually reading through my notes the other day and just trying to remember what all was said. and I came across a statement by my favorite vocal coach ever. Um, guy's name is Brett Manning and he is a he's a um he's a he's a Christian artist and he's also uh he's he's a vocal coach for Christian artists. As a matter of fact, probably a lot of the the the ones that you would that you would see uh uh I don't know if you go to Christian concerts, a lot of those people before they go on tour, they'll go to Nashville, they'll meet up with Brett, and Brett will help them will help them uh with with their concert, with their set, help them with their vocals. Um but Brett Manning um he's talking and he's teaching a session on how to take care of your vocal cords. And um as he's as he's talking uh he he he kind of said you know if you have a question you can raise your hand and people started asking questions and one of the questions and if you're a singer you understand this a question was asked they said with all the singing that you do on a consistent basis how do you keep from losing your voice? If you're a singer you you you've had that question you know how how in the world do you go on tour? H how do you go on tour and you have a concert every night of the week and you sing 2011 songs and somehow you don't lose your voice. When I'll sing a Sunday night and I lose my voice, right? I'll sing up with the choir and I I I'll lose my voice. And so the question was asked and this was the answer that Brett Manning answered this question with. He said, "Have you ever noticed that babies never lose their voice?" He said, "Babies don't lose their voices because they cry correctly." And so I I began to think, you know, and I'll be honest with you, I'm not coming here to give you any vocal lessons tonight, but I thought there's a lot of people that could be in this place tonight that are going through seasons of life and just don't know how to cry correctly. You know, if you're a parent, you we can relate to this. If you're a parent, you know, you remember each one of your children being born and that tiny newb born and their lungs for the very first time filled with air and their face turns red and they clench those little fists and with all their might they begin to whail which is a beautiful sound for the first 20 seconds. But then as the night goes on and that that whale turns to screaming and you're thinking to yourself, "Surely to God, they're getting louder." You try to sleep and you you call you you make a call into to the nursing station and say, "Can you can you give me some relief? This baby won't stop crying." And you think surely to God that this baby is going to lose their voice. But no, their voice gets stronger and gets clear because a baby in silence will reveal. Science will reveal that babies they breathe deeply from their diaphragm and they use their full lung support and they have no tension. They just create this powerful sustaining cry of pure release. And in life, we all face seasons when we got to cry. Seasons of loss, seasons of lost loved ones, seasons of of betrayal, that person that stood before you at the at the altar of your wedding and here you are getting married and they betrayed you. they didn't keep their vows or or maybe seasons of disappointment, seasons of raising a child that you've raised to live for God, but they refused to live for God and and you feel betrayed or or maybe seasons of unwanted change. You lose that job. You lose that career that you weren't planning on losing. And so often we cry wrong. We we swallow the sobs and and they begin to choke and we we push down the pain within and and the pain fermentss into bitterness and we fixate over what's gone wrong until resentment becomes our consistent companion and old wounds never heal and they turn into permanent trauma. And I I don't know, maybe I'm not preaching to everyone tonight, but I believe that some of us have been around the block enough times that you've you've lived life long enough to feel and to face what I'm about to preach. But on this first Sunday of 2026, I I just want to tell you something liberating. There's nothing wrong with crying. >> That might be the best thing that I say all night. There's nothing wrong with crying because God never once shames a single tear in scripture. >> Jesus himself, the sinless son of God, stood at a grave and wept. Tears streaming down his face with his chest heaving enough. His chest heaving. It doesn't say that he cried. It said Jesus >> wept. I don't know when the last time was that you saw somebody weep. Weeping is not just mere tear falling from someone's face. But weeping is a bodily emotion. Weeping is getting everything inside of you involved in the cry. He understood that resurrection was about to take place, but he still wept. Look, the the question isn't whether we should cry. The question is, will we cry correctly? >> Will we cry in a way that heals instead of hardens? >> Come on, I want to preach to somebody tonight. Will we cry in a way that draws us closer to God instead of driving us into some kind of an isolation? >> Will we cry in a way that ends in joy instead of leaving us broken? H come on. Even even science backs this up. Healthy emotional crying releases oxytocin and endorphins and feelgood chemicals that ease pain and reduce stress and bring soothing calm after the storm. >> I'm going to be honest with you. This isn't an easy topic for me because I'm not exactly what you would call emotional. My wife and I teach real colors personality training. And I want you to know that I I am majorly deficient in the color of blue. I am not by any means in touch with my emotions. I wish I was, but I'm not. My personality naturally causes me to suppress my emotions instead of forcing myself to openly deal with them. Life would be so much easier for me if I could just face my emotions. And God with his sense of humor gave me three daughters. And my home is powered by estrogen and emotions. That's all I know. Yet here I am, Mr. Gold, struggling to learn how to cry correctly. And so God gave me this message and if it bombs, there's going to be a good reason for it because it's something I cannot relate to. But oh church family, I need so bad. Because all throughout the Bible, the Bible is filled with stories soaked with tears. all throughout the Bible. If I had time tonight, matter of fact, I deleted about half my message uh before I went home to get ready and freshen up. I I went through by half my message and just pulled it all in and just deleted it because there's no way I had enough time to go through every time the Bible refers to tears. But I do want to preach about one of my very favorite Bible characters, and that's King David. Because man, King David, even in the quiet hours of the night, the psalmist from Israel lay alone in his bed, overwhelmed by grief and regret. And he writes in Psalm 6 verse 6, he says, "I am weary with my groaning all the night. Make my bed to swim. I water my couch or I water my pillow with tears. He says, "Night after night, my my pillow is drenched with tears. My sheets are soaked, if you will, as if swimming in saltwater sorrow." He says, "My heart pourth out in anguish. And perhaps it's because of sin or because of a loss of a child or maybe the weight of his failures. But he's crying out to God in raw unrelenting emotion until exhaustion causes him to sleep. Some of us manly men start to squirm when we start talking about other men crying. Our culture has painted crying as a form of weakness. We absolutely fear the thought of showing emotion. Yet here we read about a giant killer, a lion killer, a bear killer who cries himself to sleep at night. Listen, there's a lot of attributes. There's many attributes of David that I would love to emulate in my own life. What a worshipper he was. What a great musician he was. Oh, he was an incredible songwriter and psalmist. He was a he was a brave warrior. He was prudent in speech. He was wise. He was he had deep faith in God, courageous and fearless. He was humble, repentant, patient, loyal. He was compassionate. He was merciful. He was kind. Uh he was good-looking. He was a leader of leaders. Yet at the same time, he knew how to cry correctly. >> But I not only want to dance like David danced and we sing songs about it. And we'll always sing songs about dancing like David danced because he was known for his dance and he was known for his worship. But I also want to be able to cry like David cried. Woo. I'm going to come back and preach about David here in a moment or I'm actually going to wait till the end of my message. But I want to preach about people that understood how to cry correctly. People that just understood it's okay to cry. It's okay to cry unto God. Even ladies in the Bible, let me preach to the ladies for a moment. Just because you're naturally made up with more emotions, it doesn't mean you understand how to cry correctly. In ancient Israel, there lived a man named Aayana who had two wives. First problem had two wives. My God, how did they do that? Any man that wants more than one wife is insane. I love my wife. I got to finish that so it doesn't sound bad. My wife would kill the other woman. Panina and Hannah. Panina had children, but Hannah had none. The Bible says that the Lord had closed her womb. And year after year, as the family journeyed to Shiloh for worship and sacrifice, Panina would cruy provoke Hannah and taunt her about her childlessness until Hannah, the Bible says, wept bitterly and could not eat. Her husband loved her deeply, gave her a double portion, the Bible says, of the offerings, and asked her, said, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat?" He said, "Am I not better to you than 10 sons?" But his words, although kind, could not touch the deep wound in her soul. For years, Hannah carried this pain silently at home, suppressing her hurt amid constant mockery. The culture of shame and of barrenness, which was often seen as divine disfavor. The grief burrow deep inside of her like a worm, eating away at her appetite, eating away at peace, uh eating away at her joy. She became deeply depressed, her spirit crushed under the weight of unfulfilled longing, unrelenting mockery from this other wife, suppressing it only to intensify her anguish and affecting her physically, emotionally, and leaving her isolated in her sorrow. And one year while at Shiloh, Hannah could not bear it any longer. And she rose from the family meal and went to the temple and stood before the Lord in raw desperation. With tears streaming down her face and her shoulders quaking, uh, she poured out her soul in silent, fervent prayer. >> Her lips moved, but no sound came forth. Her heart was too broken. She vowed a vow in 1st Samuel 1:11. She said within her mind, she said, "Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life." Even the priest Eli saw her and mistook her her intense emotion for drunkenness. Thought she was drunk in the house of God. But Hannah explained and said, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled." She told the priest, "I was pouring out my soul to the Lord out of my great anguish and grief." Has anybody ever been there that you couldn't even speak? Could even form words in your mouth because you struggled. Your your body would shake violently. words could not form. Even the thoughts in your mind, you couldn't even get thoughts to form in your mind. All you could do was travail before the Lord and weep because of the season of barrenness in your life. Has anybody ever been there? Am I the only one that's ever been there? Can anybody just do me a favor and just wave your hand at me and say, "I've been there before. I've been in the altar. I didn't have words. of great authority and words of renown. I didn't come up with thus and thy and thou. And oh, but all I could do was just moan before God and say, God, you know my heart. God, you know what I've suppressed so long inside of me that it's created in me. God, it's creating me thoughts in my mind that I don't want to think. It's causing me to come up with scenarios that I don't want to come up with. >> Thoughts of giving up and giving in. I face mild depression in my life. I've never faced suicidal thoughts, but I face mild depression and I've thought to myself, why? What do I do? How do I do it? How do I go on? How do I make myself? How could I ever cause people to look on me in the sight that they ought to look on me? And I felt anguish and I felt this grief. But then Eli blessed her. Oh, this is where the story begins to turn. He said, "Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked him." And something began to shift in that moment in Hannah's life. Uh because she began to believe the words of a man of God. And she began to believe the promise of God. She returned to her family. She ate once again. Her family, oh my God. Uh her face was no longer downcast, the Bible says, but she began to lift up her head. She began to have hope because her God had given her a promise. I wish there was somebody in this place uh who would read through this book right here and realize that every promise that was ever given uh every promise that was given to a believer, every promise that was given to a child of God, we can step into this promise and claim it for ourselves. And we can know that we serve a promisekeeper. He is able. He's willing. Woo! It's yay and amen. That's what his promises are. But I love how the story ends because there's a correct way to cry. Here we go. Woo! We got to bring it honestly and vulnerably before God. We can't bottle it up. This woman found immediate relief and hope even before her circumstances began to change. I want you to see this because in due time the Lord, the Bible says, remembered him. Anybody want to be remembered tonight? Anybody just want to say, "God, I know there's a lot going on in this world. I know there's nations there. There's nations against nations. There's people against people. Oh God, I know there's wars. I know there's rumors of wars going on. But here, little of me is here. Here I am in little Marital, Tennessee. I wish you would remember the promises that you have promised me. >> He remembered his promise and he remembered Hannah and she conceived and bore a son and named him Samuel which means heard by God. >> You know the story when the boy was weaned, she fulfilled her vow. She brought him to the temple. She dedicated him to God. And there, woo, he found himself raised right there with the priest. Uh, right there with the ark of God. He found himself raised and she also fulfilled her promise to God. And in 1 Samuel chapter 2, the Bible says she began to rejoice. She says, "My heart rejoices in the Lord in the Lord and my horn is lifted high. There is no one holy like the My God, she began to worship. There's no one holy like the Lord. Uh there is no one beside you. Uh woo. I believe God deserves praise in advance for what he's going to do. And oh, I believe he deserves the praise when he begins to fulfill promises and make a way where there doesn't seem to be a way. You turn my mourning into dancing. You turn my sorrow into joy. You may be seated. But God, let me tell you what kind of God we serve. He didn't just bless her with a son. Oh, but he blessed her with three additional sons. He blessed her with two daughters. I want you to know my God is more than enough. >> My God is more than able. He's exceedingly abundantly uh above all that we can ask or think. Uh he's able to do it for you. He's able to do it for me. When we reach out and just say, "God, I'm ready for you to do the impossible in my marriage. Uh I'm ready for you to do the impossible in my workplace. Uh I'm ready for you to do the impossible in my family." But here what I want you to see right here. Each of us, we were born into this world. And the very first sound we made was a cry. It was a declaration of life and it was a plea for help. See, God wired tears into our souls. They're there. They they're a safety valve for a heart under pressure. I'm preaching on how to cry correctly. If I could get just a little bit more modern, brother man, if there's a if there's a white or right way to cry, there's also an incorrect way to cry that damages the mind. An offended individual cries alone in their car, cries at their pillow at night, cries behind a fake smile on a Sunday night service. They cry in bitterness, replaying the offense over and over and over again, nursing the grudge. See, science and medicine confirm what scripture warns about. Bottling up grief doesn't make it disappear. It buries it alive, allows it to fester, and it grows toxic. >> Oh yes. Suppressed tears build chronic stress in the body, flooding us with cortisol that over time leads to exhaustion and headaches, digestive problems, weakened immunity systems, and even heart issues. >> I just want to preach where we're living. >> Is this okay? >> I struggle with preaching it. I promise you, I struggle with it. But this right here is going to help somebody cuz mentally uh unprocessed sorrow turns into deep depression and it's heightened ana anxiety within people. Emotional numbness. >> Relationships suffer. We become distant, irritable, quick to anger because the pain has nowhere healthy to go. Over years, repressed emotions can contribute to addictions as we try to numb the ache. >> Come on. This is what we're facing. >> I'm not preaching to the world. I'm preaching to us. >> People in the church >> filled with the Holy Ghost >> find themselves getting offended. >> That's right. Now listen, I don't belittle offense. It happens. >> Jesus said it, everybody. >> Day's going to come you're going to get offended. >> You think you're just going to fly high and fancy free and just everything's going to go okay and everybody's just going to pat you on the back and tell you how awesome you are. just going to live this high life. Oh, I go to first apostolic church of Marville. Whoopde-doo. We face the same thing that everybody else faces. >> The accuser of the brethren accuses us just like he accuses all our brothers. >> Face struggles. Some of it's hereditary. You get genes passed down to you didn't ask for. I'm just preaching it real. >> There's mental health issues >> that that are really no different than physical heart issues. You got a brain. It's physical. Got chemicals in it that are messed up, imbalanced. And people instead of coming to grips with issues in their life and allowing things to pass, hold on. >> I preached about wounds, the difference between wounds and scars the other night. And it wasn't long after I preached it that I told you earlier I had some some hand surgery. I had I had a trigger finger that wouldn't unlock and it was painful. And the doctor said, he said, "The best thing he said, I can I can put shock and put give you a shot and it's going to help it for a little while." He said, "But it's going to come back. You have to come back here and give you another shot." And let me tell you something. The first first shot I had, I said, "I ain't never doing that again." Said, "We can cut it off. We ain't going to put another shot in it. Sister Brenda, he said, "This is going to sting a little." He forgot I had one good hand. My God, I put that in my Put that in my hand. Finger turned cold and felt like it was going to blow up like a balloon. I said, "I'm never doing this again." He said, "There's another option. There's I can I can do surgery." I said, "Let's do that." I remember the the first Sunday that I was actually it was a Wednesday and I I had surgery that Wednesday and I had the bright idea. I said I said, "Family, they said that I I'd recover quickly." I said, "You know what? we're learning a choir song for the for for the Christmas concert. I said, you know, Wednesday, I said, I could teach that song tonight. No big deal. I I didn't take into account that my hand would still be blue because I had dyed like half my arm in my hand with the disinfectant. I had a a wrapped and people were like, "Brother Erikson, I think that wrap is too tight." Said, "You've lost all circulation in your hand." And I said, "Well, that's what it feels like." But actually, it's just blue dye. But the next the next about two days later, I took that bandage off. And brother Fuller, it was ugly. I'm not I'm not going to lie. It was ugly. It made me a little nauseous just looking at it. I mean, they went in and he he cut into that hand and he opened up my hand and put that scalpel in there and put those little scissors in there and cut some things so my my tendon would go up through there. And I want you to know it was ugly. And I had a decision to make. Do I allow it to heal or do I keep messing with it? Do I do I keep do I keep trying to fix it myself or do I just allow my body to heal? Because that's what bodies do naturally is heal. If you have a wound that doesn't heal, that's not natural. If the cells in the >> the epidermis will reattach itself and scab up and over time the scab goes away and my hand looks really good right now. Matter of fact, it looks really I wish it felt as good as it looks. But if that doesn't happen naturally, something's wrong. You need to go back to the doctor. Something's wrong. But there's people that don't allow healing to take place in their life. >> People that get offended and you won't believe what I heard she said about me. Number one, who' you hear it from? >> How do you know if it's even true? >> Did you go and talk to the person? Did you confront the person and ask them if they said it? No, you didn't. You didn't confront them. Instead, you just let that wound fester. Yes. >> Kept on pulling it open to see if it was healing on the inside when the whole time it needed to shut on the outside in order to heal on the inside. >> Kept on letting it go over on over in your mind. I don't I don't know if I'll even get off this right here cuz I feel like I've tried something right here cuz I feel there's people in this place that that you've lost your worship and you've lost your praise. God has been so good to you. Look, look at yourself good in the mirror and look at yourself and can you look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that God hasn't been good to you? >> Look at the clothes you're wearing. Look who you're married to. Look at your family. >> Said, "Brother Ericen, you don't know my family. You Shame on you. God has been so good to us. Our worst days are better than this world's best days. You say, "You don't know who's died. You don't know who left me behind. You don't know the hurt that I'm feeling. You don't know that every day I wake up, my God, but God is still good. What did Job say? >> In the good, I'll praise him. In the bad, I'll praise him. He giveth and he taketh away. >> But blessed be the name of the Lord. >> He didn't say that after he was given everything back. He didn't say that after he was blessed twice as much. He didn't say that after the people of the community began to bring him offerings. He said it after his children had died. He said it after he had lost all his livestock. He said it after he had lost his barns and his fields. Yet he slay me. yet. >> Will I trust him? >> I just feel the Holy Ghost right now. Could we just right now just lift up hands? I pray that a convicting spirit would just I didn't say condemning spirit. I said a convicting spirit would just begin to rest upon us. I'm so sick and tired of feeling sorry for myself. Uh I'm so sick and tired of looking in the mirror and crying. Not tears of joy, but tears of pity. Come on, somebody. God has been so good to you. God has been so good to me. >> We cannot afford to cry incorrectly. But oh my God, help us to cry. >> Not out of bitterness. Oh my God. Not out of bitterness. >> Come on. Don't you know that's going to kill you? >> Come on. Can I speak plain? >> Bitterness is going to kill you. >> You are going to live such an unfulfilled life. >> You think that one day you can feel sorry for yourself long enough that you're going to start feeling good again? Bitterness destroys. It'll destroy you. It'll destroy your marriage. You'll get so discontented. This church won't be good enough. Your pastors won't be good enough. The Sunday school teachers won't be good enough for your kids. Uh the youth pastor won't be good enough for your youth. Bitterness will cause everything to be looked at in the negative. The glass will always be half empty. >> But oh God, if we can learn how to cry correctly, >> nothing wrong with crying. Nothing wrong with weeping. Oh, >> I want to return I want to return quickly back to David. I'm going to skip over oh so much. But I feel this in my heart because David, oh, David understood how to cry correctly. The the betrayal by King Saul who hunted him down like an animal. >> Have you ever been hunted down like an animal? David's own sin with Basheba. the death of his firstborn child with Basheba. The rebellion and treachery from his son Abselum, the public shame, failure, grief that would have broken the heart of most people to where they could have never recovered. Yet David became known as the man after God's own heart because David masterfully cried correctly. He poured out raw honest emotion to God. No filtering, no faking. He wrote the Psalm 42 and3. This is my tears have been my meat day and night. When his child died, he wept, he fasted openly. When Abselum, his son, his beautiful son, died, he cried unashamedly, "Oh my son Abselum, would to God that I had died for thee." He never ran from the pain, but he ran to God's presence with it. He confessed to sin boldly. He lamented injustice, loneliness, and fear without bitterness unto God. And what was the result? I'll tell you the result. David shows us what happens. Uh when we cry correctly, honest tears before our loving father become the pathway to healing and strength and restoration and joy. >> That's right. That's right. In God's story, tears never get the last word. Psalm 35 says, "For his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, but joy cometh in the morning. There's going to be weeping. There's going to be crying, but joy cometh in the morning. It was David that wrote in Psalm 126, uh, they sow in tears. They that sow in tears shall reaph in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing with she. Matthew 5:4, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." I want you to know that a place of mourning is a good place to be. Oh my God. Don't hate the season of mourning because when you're mourning, you're closest to the comforter >> like the newborn baby who cries with everything inside of them. But then they fall asleep. Uh peaceful and trusting. Oh my God, we do. I believe there's a new day. There's a new season. There's a new year. And if we will leave the morning back in 2025. I believe that there's going to be joy in 2026. Uh I believe we can leave those things. Uh we can weep. It's okay. We can cry. It's okay. I understand you're going to have to get over offense and get over some things. It's okay. But if we can just understand the comforter wants to bring us joy. I'm I'm almost finished. But I got to share I got to share a testimony with you. I got to share a powerful testimony with you. Brother Yansy Roberts, I got his permission. And I I told him, "I need you to summarize this testimony." He told me, "My God," he told me about I don't know about a few weeks ago, he told me this testimony, and I felt the Holy Ghost. We were out in the lobby. I felt the like I do right now, I felt the Holy Ghost so strong when he told me. But I said, "Tell me. Tell me again." I said, I said, "Email me. Give me an email and tell me this testimony." He said, "In January 2025, come on. I'm talking about leaving stuff in 2025. In January 2025, he said, "I was laid off due to reduction in force, but was blessed to walk directly into a new job without any interruption, making more money. >> Everything was good. But then in July, July 2025, leave everything in 2025. He said, "I was unexpectedly laid off." He said, "Initially just shocked and stunned. No job, no notice, just laid off." He said, "I went for three and a half months without a job." three and a half months without a job offer. I know he he was telling me he said he said every week I'm applying I'm applying I'm applying I'm trying to find a job. We're living off our savings. I'm trying to find a job. Savings is getting low. Trying to live off a job. Trying to find a job. Trying to find a job. But here, listen. He didn't tell me this, but his wife told me this. She said, "You know what?" She said, "The greatest testimony to the whole situation is the whole time that Yansy didn't have a job. He continued to pay tithe on the on the salary that he was making before he lost his job. >> That may not mean a lot to some of you, but he had a good job and he was making a big salary and he was still paying Tai. Oh, and not just paying time, Bishop. He was still giving his missions offering. >> Three and a half months, week after week, kept on putting the tithe envelope into the offering. You tell me there wasn't times of weeping. >> You tell me there weren't times of sorrow, I'm not telling you he didn't lose trust in God. That's evident. But you can't tell me there wasn't times where there might have been a little fear that began to grip him. Come on. I'm talking about he's got a wife and two daughters. He got got to make a living. They got to they got to eat. They got to live. But then in late October, he received a job offer. Now, it was for slightly less than the job that he was he was working before, but he said it was sufficient. And thank God it had good benefits. and he was thanking God for it. And he started the new job in November, 1 of November. And again, kept on paying those ties that he had previously made in his previous income. Just want to throw that out there for anybody that needs a breakthrough. The Roberts even felt an urgency. They said, "Even though we weren't making quite as much, that that Africa offering >> came up." He said, "We felt felt God wanted us to contribute to that. And so we made a special offering for the Africa offering." And here's what happens right here. Here's where faith and trust and crying correctly, this is what happens. He says, "9 days after starting this new job, he received an unexpected email from a new law firm that he hadn't even applied for. made arrangements after Thanksgiving because something inside of him said, "You know what? The least I can do is meet with him." He said, "We met for 45 minutes at 4:45 on December 3rd." That's an exact time right there. He said the next morning at 8:30 a.m. he said I had an offer an email with an offer. He said not an invite for another. He said in a job like this and interview like this you got to go about four or five times back to get interviewed. He said this was not just any kind of any kind of job. He said I had an offer. He said this is this is just a God thing. He said, "They offered more than I was making in the prior layoff." >> He said, "I they offered me, watch this right here, 17 12% more than the job I had settled for." >> He said, "I I have better pay. I have more holiday time. I have better bonuses. They contribute 9 and a half% to my 401k." I'm talking about a God who's able to do exceedingly abundantly above if you learn how to cry correctly. Listen, I don't know exactly who this message is for. I don't know who's here who's struggling. I don't know who's here trying to make New Year's resolutions. You might be trying to lose weight or trying to exercise more or trying to pray more, try to read your Bible more or study more or church, I wish you would just make a New Year's resolution that you would begin to cry more and lift your voice to God more and say, "God, you're able. God, I may not have enough words. I may not even be able to tell you what I need, but God, if you will just come through like I know you will. You've never been late. Uh you've always been on right on time. Come on, somebody begin to praise him in this place. Uh I open this altar to anybody who wants to make a New Year's resolution that says, "God, I refuse to live in pity." Uh God, I refuse to live in offense. But God, instead, uh I'm going to lift up my voice and cry. I'm going to lift Oh, I look unto the Lord, unto the holy hill, and I cry out to him. I say God deliver, God deliver. God restore. God, you're able to heal. Do whatever you got to do. Come on, somebody. There's a time to weep and a time to laugh. There's a time to mourn. There's a time to dance. And I believe in this new year, it's time to dance. It's time to shout. It's time to say, "God, do it again. God, I've seen you do it before. I need you to do it again. I'm going to be like David and I'm going to encourage myself in the Lord. I'm going to encourage my I wish somebody right now would begin to encourage themselves in the Lord. Come on, encourage yourself. Don't pray for your brother. Don't pray for your sister. Get yourself uh woo. You might have to lay hands on your own forehead and just begin to say uh I rebuke uh the spirit of infirmity. Uh I rebuke uh the spirit of offense. I rebuke the spirit of doubt. I rebuke the spirit of oppression. I rebuke the spirit of depression. It's a new season. Come on, somebody. It's a new season. It's a new day. It's a new season. It's a new day. Woo. Weeping may endure for the night, but the night is over with. I said we're entering into a season of blessings. Uh bishop said we're entering into a season of blessings. Come on now. Listen. We're going to sing a song of joy. We're going to sing a shouting song here in just a moment. But before we do, come on. We got to first get it into our hearts and get it into our minds. Uh, give me the spirit of David. Give me the spirit. I messed up, but I got the spirit of David. Woo! I failed you, Lord, but I still got the spirit of David. Ow. I've been attacked, but I still got the spirit of David. People are against me, but I still got the spirit of David. Come on. I feel victory starting. I feel victory beginning to rise. It's building in the househ. Come on. Oh yeah. Yeah. I feel victory. I feel joy. I feel joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Yeah. Let's sing for a little while. I like it. Go ahead. Go ahead. Let's sing for a little bit. I speak. >> You ought to get happier in the Lord. >> You ought to get happier in the Lord. >> Full of glory. >> Joy unspeakable. >> Joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. Come on, sing about. Sing with joy speak. Joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. Joy speak. Hold on one second. Hold on. Hold on. I got I got to read this. I got to read this. Hold on. I got to read this right here. It's a whole psalm. I'm sorry for the fairest. I'm sorry. I just got to read it because David wrote it after one of these times of weeping. He said in Psalm chapter 30, he said, "I will extol thee, oh Lord, for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me." Anybody thankful their foes don't rejoice over them. Oh Lord my God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me. Oh Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept me alive that I should go down to the pit. Sing oh sing unto the Lord, oh you saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. And I'm losing my microphone. Help me. Woo. For his anger endureth but a moment, his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, David said. But joy cometh in the morning, and in my prosperity, I said, uh, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favor, thou hast made my mountain to stand strong. Uh, thou diside thy face, and I was troubled. I cry to thee, oh Lord, and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood? When I go down to the pit, shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? He says, "Hear, oh Lord, and have mercy upon me, Lord, be thou my helper. Thou hast turned me my mourning into dancing. Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee and not be silent and not be silent and not be silent and not be on my Lord God. I will give thanks uh unto thee forever. I'll give thanks unto thee forever. Yeah. Come on, let's sing about it. Hey, so in tears you will in so in tears you will reap in joy. I wish you a dance of the Lord. I wish you would give him a dance of praise. I wish you would show the devil there's no sorrow here. I wish you would show the enemy there's no sorrow here. Thank God. >> Oh, God. I hear shouts of praise. I hear cries of praise. Some of you ain't never been through anything, so you can't praise them. But then others have been through some stuff. You've been through some stuff. Leave them behind. Heat. Heat. I believe going into two 2026, I believe it just causes us to do more than just leave stuff in the behind in 2025, but I believe it just causes us to forget about those things, forgetting what is behind, we press toward the mark. Come on, anybody want to press towards a mark tonight? Come on. As we enter into this new year, we don't celebrate because of America's economy. We don't celebrate because we live in the greatest nation. Although I believe we do, but we celebrate because we are children of the king. And that king loves us. And that king has thoughts toward us for an expectant end. He's thinking about you right now, child of God. Come on, let's just bless his name. Let's just bless the name of Jesus. Lift up your voice and bless his name. You turn it around. Yeah. Heat. I like this one. This one right here. This is kind of like a theme song for us right here. Come on. You thankfully turn it around. Place your feet on solid ground. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah. Oh, your light r through my life. The stor see. Your grace fell out the way and made me open my life. Oh my go you have my morning. You have to jo. You have morning with a voice of tri. I like this one right here says, "Your hand lifted me up. I stand on higher ground. Come on praises. Come on praises. Come on and make this your hand lifted me up. >> Praise the rose in my heart. >> Come on. Come on family sing. You have my morning. Thank you Lord. You have done sorrow. You have morning. Now I want to see if we can do something right here. I want you to lift your hands up as high as you can. And I want you to keep them there. Come on. Just keep them right there as high as you can cuz this is how we overcome right here. This is how we over. Come on. Lift them up as high as you can. As long as you can. This is how we >> For someone who has issues with their arms and you can't lift your hands, I'm raising my hands for you. This is how we overcome. >> I can't clap my hands, but I can lift my hands. >> This is how we overcome. This is how we Come on. You're doing good. You're doing good. Come on. In the Pentecostal church, we've been putting our hands down a little too soon. This is how we over. Yes. This is how Oh, here we go. Let's get our dance on right here. This is how we overcome. This is how we overcome. This is how we are. You have my morning and you have done you Yeah. Heat. Give him a hand of praise right now. Amen. Amen. Amen. I don't know why this memory keeps coming back to me tonight, but I remember the first time that FAC choir was invited to sing at IBC Music Fest in Indianapolis, Indiana. The first time they ever sang there. And uh I don't know if I don't know if they was ready for FAC because they absolutely rocked the house that night. When they got finished, Brother Pedigo just walked out. I mean, there's people hanging from the chandelier shouting. Brother Pedigo just walked out and he said, "Wow." And uh wow. Father, thank you tonight for this word from heaven. Thank you tonight, God, that you have injected us with your divine personality of joy. Thank you tonight. These are the people that you brought out of spiritual Egypt. These are the people that you brought out by your blood filled with your spirit. Baptize them in your name. Lord, we are the people of your name. Now, Father, seal this holy moment. Seal the joy that we have inside of our heart that is erupting like a volcano. Seal it, oh God. And may we take this through the year. And we'll give you the praise and the honor and the glory. In Jesus' name we all pray. And everybody said, >> "Amen." >> No, no, wait a minute. I said, everybody said, "Wow."