March Madness: A Cinderella Story | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Jackson, it's good to have you back on the worship team. Didn't we miss Jackson last few weeks? Um, he had surgery on his on his sinuses and the cavities and his and his I think you got an extra few notes on your reigns on that. I need to find out what surgery that is. Check into that a little bit. But glad to have him back with us on our team. We missed him so much. And thank God thank God for the anointed singing of our worship team, our choir, the band, and everybody that puts forth so much time and effort and in this church. Um, we're a little different around here because our production team puts in just as much time as our music team does. And that's not normal. Most most bands and choirs and singers, they'll get here early and then the production team, whether it's camera ops and uh media ops and different different uh tech people, they kind of trickle in in most churches, but not this church. in this church. I think our production team gets here even before our music team gets here. Put your hands together. Are you thankful for a great team of worshippers on both sides of the camera? Thank you to our production team, to our music team. You guys are the greatest. Give my wife honor for being our administrator over our music, our music minister. Thank God for her. Amen. Thank God for for Pastor Hammond, uh, who plays so many roles. one of his one of his roles that he he plays is that he helps us with our with our production team and he and brother Ace, brother Darren, I don't want to start naming names, but there's so many that that that work so hard to make our services happen. Um, you will notice that that uh the two in my opinion most important people um that that sit in this house, our our bishop and first lady are not in their seats this morning. Um just tell you the story what happened. Um and and this is interesting to me, but um Pastor Carpenter, he was supposed to be preaching out west this morning, uh but had to cancel uh the engagement, had to cancel the services, >> >> uh due to a a major flare up of shingles in his body. And um we're gonna we're going to pray for him in just a moment. But I find it interesting that shingles usually happens when you're under stress. and um he's been with our family all week and so I don't know. I don't know. Um he is starting to recover, thank God. Um cuz we're gone. Yeah, we're not with him. So they Sister Carpenter says he's doing much better now. Um and so I don't know who to blame other than Lauren. What I don't know who to blame. I don't know who to blame on that. Um but uh we we want to pray for him at this time. Uh before we get started with our message this morning, also want to pray for Mother Franklin. She had a bad fall if I heard correctly, sister uh uh sister Hannah. And I believe that that she is very sore in her body this morning. And we love her. Oh my word. We love Sister Franklin so much around here. And we want to pray. Um I told I told Brother Hammond, I said, "We have so many prayer requests. We're going to have to break up prayer service into two parts." Um, and so I'm taking the second part and we just want to pray uh equally for these needs. But can we pray one more time before we go to the word of the Lord. Come on, let's pray. Father, in Jesus name, we we believe, Lord God, that you're going to touch brother and sister Carpenter today. Touch Brother Carpenter's body. Lord, I pray that you give him rest in order, Lord God, for uh for this this pain in his nervous system, Lord God. this uh these sores that are that are these welps that are that are coming out of his skin and his body. God, I I just believe, Lord God, that you're going to take him and Lord God, you're going to heal him. And Lord God, you're going to just take every bit of sickness out of his body, every bit of infection, Lord God, out of his bloodstream, Lord God, and his nervous system. God, I pray in Jesus name that you'll heal his body, God. Give him comfort, give him rest, Lord. I believe, Lord God, that you're going to heal him in Jesus' name. God, I pray for safety as every turn home. God, I pray safety, Lord God, upon them. Touch Mother Franklin, Lord God, the fall she took, God, I pray that you would mend her bones, mend her, Lord God, the bruising on her body in Jesus' name. God, give her rest. Also, we ask all this in Jesus' name we pray. And somebody shout, "Amen." >> Amen. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'm not going to keep you standing very much longer. I've already started my my clock today and I'm going to try to move very quickly for this message. Um different kind of message today. It's going to fit real well with where uh we are today I guess as far as uh what's happening today in our time. Um but it's just a little different different kind of message. But 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God have chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And this word base right here which means lowly and lowly things of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen. And then one more scripture in your hearing Esther chapter 4 and 14. You probably don't have time to get there but you can you can see it on the screen. The Bible says, "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou in thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" for such a time as this. It's going to it's going to take me just a little while to get to my main theme uh of this message, but I'm going to tell you in advance what I'm going to be preaching on today. This is a message that's a call for disciplem, but like I said, it's a little unconventional. Um Easter Sunday's approach. Anybody looking forward to Easter Sunday coming up, the first Sunday of of April? We're looking forward to that. And I believe that the plea that I'm going to make a cry and cry out to our church today. I believe we're going to take this to heart. But I will say this. If you're not a big college basketball fan, this may not be one of your top 10 messages that I preach. But if you are, here it is. My title is this. March Madness, a Cinderella story. March Madness. Yeah. Anybody excited about March Madness? Okay. It's just cuz Tennessee got put out of the SEC tournament already. I think that's part of it. Oh, we're going to see what happens. But I believe there's a Cinderella story that's going to take place in this house today. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. Lord, I'm so grateful, Lord, that I'm in your house. I'm so grateful that I'm among your people, my brothers and my sisters. Lord, we're excited about what's going to take place in Easter services. And Lord, we're looking forward to, Lord, guests that are going to be coming into this house and lives are going to be touched. And we're looking forward to celebrating your resurrection from the grave. God, I just pray today, Lord God, that you would anoint this message, Lord God, that you've given me, Lord God, that as we as we begin to preach, Lord God, as we begin to preach in this place, Lord God, that your anointing will cover me. And Lord God, that your people will hear your word clearly. In Jesus' name I pray. And somebody shout, "Amen." >> Amen. >> Amen. You may be seated in the house today. The NCAA tournament is about to heat up and brackets are about to start uh being made. People are going to start filling out brackets. And listen, if if if if you're against sports, I'm sorry. You're just going to have to kind of ignore this part of my message. Um but we just we don't worship it around here, but we do enjoy it. It's just a form of entertainment. We enjoy it. Um but you know what? Brackets are going to start busting. upsets are going to start happening, taking place, and the bubble's going to burst. And we've already seen conference tournaments, we've already seen a lot of chaos and top seeds that are falling. And selection Sunday is tonight. Service is over. It's tonight. And the madness is about to begin. But why exactly do they call it March Madness? Well, it's simply because there's one word, Cinderella. There's going to be teams, there's going to be Cinderella stories of teams that nobody had confidence in, nobody wrote into their bracket, and they're going to upset much greater teams with much greater players. Pay players that are being paid to play. That's kind of a new thing. Uh being paid to play. Uh but I I just want to kind of remind you of a couple Cinderella stories that have happened in the past. Stories such as the 2022 St. Peter's Peacocks. I mean, with with a mascot like that, you're going for great great accomplishments already. It's a tiny school from from Jersey City with barely any tournament history. And as the number 15 seed, now this is in 2022, as the number 15 seed, they stunned number two Kentucky in overtime. Hallelujah. Then then they knocked out number seven Murray State and they went on to knock off number three Purdue to reach the Elite 8 and is the first 15 seed to ever do so. Or how about the 2008 Davidson Wildcats? A little bit better mascot. Small college that hadn't won a NCAA tournament game in nearly 40 years. 2008 as a number 10 seed they got in the tournament rolled a hot hand of young Stephen Curry. Anybody ever heard of him? Dropping 40 points on Gonzega, 30 points on Georgetown, 33 points on Wisconsin to reach the Elite 8 that that launched one of the greatest NBA legends to ever play basketball. But it all started with a team that nobody picked to even win their very first game. They seized the moment. These stories remind us of the greatness that often comes to the overlooked that catch an opportunity that God puts before them. Maybe not in basketball, but we can definitely turn to the Bible and find all kinds of Cinderella stories where God put people in position to do great things. Esther is probably one of the greatest Cinderella stories ever told. It's a it's a book of a of a of a young Jewish orphan who becomes a Persian queen and saves her people from annihilation. But here's the plot twist that that I want to build on today. Her story would not exist without her cousin Morayi, the faithful disciplemaker who raised and challenged her. And I know we don't usually think of disciplemakers in the Old Testament, but all throughout the Old Testament, there were disciplemakers of Jehovah God. Amen. The book of Esther is very interesting book because it's the only book of the Bible that does not mention God. Many scholars believe it's for two reasons. One reason is it was written in a pagan land and they feel that if they had uh the writer had put in the word Jehovah or God that they would have destroyed the manuscript. The author uh the second reason is the author wanted to emphasize the fact that God is always working behind the scenes. And so the book of Esther it's kind of like a it kind of reads like a movie script. You start off in chapter one and you can kind of look at it as scene one. You have you have the king as he he throws an epic 187 day party, King of Hazarus. He calls his queen Vashi to come and display her beauty. And and you may know the story already, but the queen refuses to come. She refuses to be put on display. And because of it, the king banishes her and begins a quest for a new queen. But God was already at work behind the scenes and using a a prideful feast to set up a stage for Jewish deliverance. Nobody saw coming. Scene two, when Esther is now on the scene, and she's being raised by her older cousin, guardian Moray. And here we have such a beautiful young lady, such a wellprepared young lady that even the king's staff notice her and they bring her in to prepare to go before the king because she is now in a beauty competition to see if she will be the next queen of probably the the greatest kingdom of its time. And so we find in Esther 2:17, I'm going to kind of fast forward a little bit because I don't have time to tell the whole story of Esther, but the Bible says, "And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashi." From an orphan to a queen. We we love the story of Esther. It gives it gives all of us hope. It gives all of us hope that we don't have to have some great apostolic Pentecostal pedigree to do something great for God. But God can use anybody who's willing and anybody who if he puts you in the right place at the right time and you respond to the call, he's willing to use you. Anybody thankful that God is willing to use anybody? Come on. If anybody Lord, if you can use anything, you can use me. Take my hands, take my feet, touch my heart, Lord. Speak through me. I I love the last line of that chorus. If you can use anything, Lord, then you can use me. I I love that. And even Paul addresses this in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 1:27. We read this earlier. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world and things which are like this right here which are despised. God has chosen those things. He uses base the overlooked people like Esther because God seldomly uses the strongest to do the most powerful things. If you think all throughout the word of God, the people that God likes to use are people that don't want to take credit for what God does through them. He loves to use people that look insignificant, but he could do mighty things through. You you think all through from from from David. You think about David. You think about Joseph. You you think you you can walk through every other story. It seems like in the Old Testament and God is using the youngest, the smallest, the people that everybody else overlooks to do the greatest things. And and it's very much like the story of Esther. And I got to keep bringing to the to the forefront that her cousin Mori is right in the midst of this with her. It's not just a story about this young woman, but it's a story about her cousin. Because according to rabbitical readings, Bordeauay continued to educate, disciple Esther even after she entered the palace. This is very interesting to me. I'll begin to read about what the rabbis would say about her and about Morayi. And it said that he would walk daily to the courtyard of the women's house where they were preparing these women to go before the king. Not just to check on the safety of Esther, but also to teach her the Torah and remind her of her Jewish identity and her Jewish faith. This man was a discipler. He was discipling this young woman. Not just in being a beautiful woman to go before the king, not just even remembering that she was a Jew, but making sure that she understood her faith and had faith in God because she was not a Persian. She was a young lady. She was a Jewish young lady that had been taken out of her country, out of her nation, and had become nothing more than a slave. But here she is now. She's stepping up. And this man Moraya, this cousin, this this guardian of this young woman has put it upon himself to make sure that she's going to be the best that she can be. But let me quickly continue. Scene number three. Moreay sits at the king's gate and he overhars two officers plotting to assassinate the king. This is very important because if it had not been for this exact moment and this exact time of him sitting in the gate, he would have never been before the king's eyes when the king began to read the chronicles and see great things that had taken place. But because God put Borneay in the right place at the right time to hear this plot of assassination against the king, now he tells Esther and else and Esther informs the king. The plotters are hung and it's written in the King's Chronicles and Moray although he does not get immediate reward. Thank God there's a perfect time and place for everything. There's a time coming when it's going to become an important time for for Morcay. So scene four brings us to the king promoting Hmon. Hmon who seemingly is a a good man under the king and he is promoted to the prime minister and everyone is commanded to bow before Hmon. But the story goes that Morcayi refuses and will only bow to God. And so as Hmon comes through in his chariots, there's Morayi standing straight and standing proud and refusing to bow. Furious Hmon plots to destroy not just Morayi, but he plots to destroy all of the Jewish people. And he tricks the king into signing a decree that says on the 13th day of the 12th month, every Jew, young and old, will be killed. And I I want to take just a quick commercial break right here and simply make this statement. I thank God for the United States of America. >> I thank God. I I don't want to get political here and I pray that you feel the same way, but I thank God for a country that backs the Jewish people and backs the country of Israel. You can go and clap your hands. I I heard some of you want to clap your hands right there. This will be a good opportunity to do that. I thank God for a Christian nation who understands their roots >> are in Judaism. that understand that our savior was a Jew. >> I thank God for a president of the United States who is willing to back up this country and to help this country survive in the Middle East. >> Just a few weeks ago, we had a representa representative from from KUFI, which is Christians United for Israel, that came and spoke to our student body, and he made this statement. He says, "If all the nations around Israel would lay down their weapons, there would be peace in the Middle East." He said, "But if Israel laid down their weapons, they would be annihilated." >> And the fact of the matter is that all throughout time, from the beginning of time, this has been an issue. The Jewish people have always fought to stay alive. And I apologize. You're going to hear me. Uh, you're going to hear me talking about this a lot. And if this bothers you, I'm sorry. What you need to do is you need to go to Israel. And you need to check this out for yourself. You need to stop listening to these people talking on these podcasts and and spreading all this hate against Israel and all these lies against Israel. You need to go for yourself. You need to meet the people for yourself and see these are good people just trying to live normal lives. They're not trying to hurt I I'm passionate about this subject because if we're not careful as a church, this is not my notes, but if we're not careful as a church, we're going to get into this mainstream ideology, this this thought process that sees Israel defending themselves and sees people getting killed. And I'm not I don't condone people getting killed in any way, but I promise you, Israel has not started one war that's taken place in the Middle East. Every war that started has been missiles that have been coming in there. It's either threats, it's being bombed, it's being missile, or it's people coming into their land and raping and killing their people. >> I'm passionate about this for a reason. You go over there, you're going to realize right away it's not what people think it is. I'm sorry. We have people that that that are that are here in America that are putting out podcasts talking all this hate. I listen, we are the Christians. We've got to be united for Israel. >> It's very important that the Christians are united for these are God's people. >> The word of God, it it clearly states we got to pray for Jerusalem. >> We got to pray for the people of Israel. We got to pray for the Jewish nation. >> Are we going to agree with everything they do politically? Oh, no. We're not going to agree with everything they do politically, but they're God's people and we got to back them and we got to support them. And I thank God one more time. Want to thank God for the United States of America in the military, the men and the women that are Jonathan Munoz. I'm thankful for you, young man who's going to go serve our nation and is going to go serve in our military. Thank God for all our veterans that sit in this house, >> for the Matt Martins and all the veterans that sit in this house. Thank you. Thank you. You defend Israel. You defend America because they're all we've got over there. Thank God for America. You may be seated. I pray that I don't I don't seem irritated or upset, but I am. God help misinformation, fake news. From the beginning of time in every century, the Jewish people, God's people, have had to fight to defend their right to simply exist. And it's taking place right here in the book of Esther. Hmon has made a decree that there will be a mass killing of all the Jewish people, the the Persian citizens. He he says, "You can go into your neighborhoods. If you find a Jew, kill them. Child, baby, adult, widow, kill them. He urges He urges them to kill all the Jews. Morcia hears of this and mourns in sackcloth and he urges Esther right here to act. She hesitates approaching the king uninvited because it means instant death unless he extends his golden scepter. Moreay's powerful response to Esther is is is this. He says, "Who knoweth whether thou are come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Who knows if God hasn't set you up, little orphan girl, to put you in the exact place to save your people from utter annihilation. And Esther was God's workmanship. She was pre-ordained for this exact moment of good works of saving her people. And I'll put this in right here, and you can dislike it if you if you'd like to. But I believe that God has ordained Donald Trump for such a time as this. I do. I believe it. You can like him. You can dislike him. I don't always like his character, but I believe that God has put him in this nation, in the most powerful nation in the world for such a time as this. And I believe because of it, oh my God, I believe because of it, we're going to be safe at least for the next 10 years, they say. But here it is. Esther has been put in this position for such a time as this. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Oh, Esther, you've been ordained for such a time as this. And I'm thankful that Esther chose courage. It wasn't some warrior. It wasn't some manu. It was a young, beautiful woman who chose courage. And she replied, "If I perish, I perish." She simply said, "If I die, I die. But the stakes are worth it." She fast. She prays. She risks everything. And she invites the king and Hmon to two banquetss. And it was at the second banquet, Esther 7 and3. And I'm just going to kind of move through this 3-6. It says, she says, "If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it pleased the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request. For we are sold, I and my people to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish." Then she says, "This adversary and enemy, is this wicked?" And she puts her finger right in his face. Is this wicked Hmon? The king shocked. Number one, at that point, I don't even think he even realized that she was a Jewish girl. Shocked, he looks at Hmon and he's so furious. And he hangs Hmon on the very gallow that he built for Moray. You talk about the will of God. Morcia is promoted and there's a new decree that the Jews can defend themselves and they triumph and the enemy is defe defeated and God's people are saved and purum is established which is the celebration of deliverance. Oh, I'm so thankful to be free. I'm so thankful to be delivered out of this worldly system that we've been raised in and we've been brought up this culture. >> Come on. Anybody thankful to be free today? Purum is a beautiful thing. It's it's something the Jewish people they they celebrate every year. Matter of fact, I don't know if we have any graduates from IBC or IBC graduates from from from FACA. They were with us on our junior senior graduation trip. We went on on our junior senior class trip to New York and and brother Kenny Johnson took us through the Jew the Jewish burrows and he just said, "I just want you to see this is awesome. you're going to see how they're dressed and and a lot of them are are still dressed uh in the Jewish with the with the curls and the tassels and and they have the the the robes and the garments that that that the Jewish people wear. And and as we begin to go through these neighborhoods, we saw these these it looked like like like dolls. They were hung by ropes from from front porches. And we thought, "This is the most unique thing we've ever seen." And then as we drove further into the burrows, we noticed that the kids were all dressed up and it almost looked like Halloween in in the American culture. They were all dressed up and we're they're going from door to door and and and they're getting treats. And I'm thinking, I'm like, "What what we're we're in the middle of April. Like, what what's the date today? What's going on?" And I had to look up and we figured out that they were celebrating Purum. They're celebrating Hmon hanging on the gallows. They're celebrating Esther, their savior in the Old Testament who got them delivered out of the hand of Hmon. I thought that is so awesome because even right here, this spirit of deliverance is still being celebrated today. this young woman who made a decision to do something when everything seemed hopeless. We're still celebrating her today. >> But here's Esther's story. As incredible, as incredible as it is, it's one of the most historical Cinderella stories that we've ever heard. But it's more than just a story. It's a blueprint of how God works in our lives today. Let me walk you through a few key truths in Esther's journey. Key truth number one, God positions ordinary people for his extraordinary purposes. Esther didn't choose to be an orphan in exile. She didn't apply to be a queen. Yet God orchestrated every single detail from Vashie's refusal to the beauty contest to Moray's replacement at the gate so that she would be exactly where she needed to be when the crisis hit. The New Testament confirms this truth in Romans 8 and 30 and 28. And it says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." But we can't stop reading there to them who are the called according to his purpose. All things. He works all things together for his good. Your setbacks, your ordinary job, your dormant season, God weaves all these together for the good. Oh my God. I think about people in this church today who have been through sickness and you've been through disease. Uh you've been through trial. You've lost jobs. Uh you've lost your career. You've lost so much. But God has weaved all those things for the good because I see you now. And I see what God's doing through your life now. And I see where your family is now. And I see where your marriage is now. I see where your children are now. And all I can say is thank God that all things work together for the good. It may not feel good when it's taking place, but God weaves all those things together for the good. According to his purpose. What's his purpose? You better figure that out. You better figure that out and get right in the middle of it. God is always at work and I want to be right in the middle of his purpose. Lesson number two, God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Esther was terrified. Approaching the king uninvited could mean instant death. But she fasted. She prayed. And she simply said, "If I die, I die." But in the moment of fear, invulnerability, God's power showed up. Listen to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9. He said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I gather glory in mine infirmities, in the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I watch this right here. I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. My God, I feel like preaching right here. I know we don't feel like we're enough. I know we don't feel like we're educated enough. We know enough. But God's simply saying, "I can use you because you don't think that you're any great thing. It's the person who thinks they're a great thing that God has to step back and say, if you think you can do it, you might as well go ahead and do it." Yeah. >> But if we'll just say, "God, I'm willing. I'll fast. I'll pray. I'll get in this thing with both feet. I'll do whatever I I'll be at church every day during prayer revival. I'll do whatever it takes, God. I'm in your servant. Use me, Lord God. I'll be your servant." I believe it's a spirit of Esther that when she was weakest, oh my God, she's trying to hide her identity. She's risking her life. But God's strength is made perfect through her. Oh my God, I know there's fear in us. Oh, I'm not qualified enough. I don't have a degree in theology. I can't teach a Bible study. Come on, somebody. God is willing to use you. God's willing to take what you have. If you're willing to give it, he's willing to use it. And God only knows the souls that can be won. The souls can be discipled if you're just a willing vessel for him to use. >> And then the third lesson I get out of this is God works uh in you to will and to do his good pleasure. Watch this right here. Esther didn't wake up one day and decide to risk her life. Oh no, she hesitated. She sent messages to Morayi back and forth. I don't know if I'm I don't know if I'm able. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know. But something shifted and God gave her the desire and the courage to act. Philippians 2:13 says it beautifully. For it is God which workketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God doesn't just give you a task and let you figure it out for yourself. He works inside of you, giving you the will, that's the desire and the do, which is the ability to carry it out. And this is huge for disciplem because we may not feel ready to be a gather, to be a connector, to be an educator, but I just believe today, oh my God, if he opens the door, he's going to make sure you have the skill to walk through that door. If he puts somebody on your heart at your workplace, he's going to give you the words to speak to that person. Come on. You got to step out. Sometimes we just got to step out. You You're saying, "Now, wait a minute. Wait, Pastor X, wait a minute. We're going from a woman who saved her whole nation from from from annihilation. Now you're just talking about teaching a Bible study. No, no, no. When I talk about teaching a Bible study, I'm talking about multiplication in discipling people. We want to see this church grow in a way that no man in Blunt County has to be lost. >> It's not the will of the father to see anybody lost. He wants to see every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl saved. And I want to be a part of that. And the only way I'm a part of that is I've got to be a disciplemaker. I've got to be an Esther that steps up and says, "God, I'm willing to take a chance." >> The call is for every believer, every believer to be a disciplemaker here. We have Easter coming and we have these cards that going to be ready for you to pick up on your way out of here. Matter of fact, I think we have some maybe 500 of these cards ready. We're going to have another I don't know, we have thousands more that we're going to have ready by Wednesday, but you can pick up at least a few as you're walking out today. But this is what we're doing this Easter. This Easter we're having three services similar to like we did last last Easter. But this Easter, of course, the Easter, the first Easter, April the 5th, this is going to be our Easter Sunday. We're going to do everything like we normally do on Easter Sunday. Invite, invite, invite everybody. If you call yourself a Christian, you feel compelled to go to church on Easter, Easter, and Christmas. It just it people if you if you call yourself now you might not go to church any other time of the year but if you consider yourself a Christian you're going to come to church on Easter which makes this the easiest gathering event of the entire year for the church. >> It doesn't take much. It just takes just takes just handing a co-orker handing a family member hand neighbor hand just just just giving them this. It doesn't take you don't have to explain the doctrine. You don't have to explain the difference of what they believe and what we believe. You don't have to do any of that. All you got to do is get them in the house. >> Because I'm convinced if we can get them in the house, woo, lives are going to be changed. Chains are going to be broken off people. If we can get them in the house, that's why it's it's it's amazing to be Pentecostal. It's so amazing to be apostolic because in the house there's power. >> Every every church we every church, every denomination, they they they can't claim that. They invite somebody to church, there's no power. There's no life-changing power. They, you know, they got to rely on programs or rely on kids ministries and rely on youth. They got to rely on on on the the the the eye candy, if you will. The We don't have to rely on any of this stuff. We got power in this place. >> This all this right here is extra. >> But when you start thinking about the power if we could just get them in the house, >> but then we talked about it last year. Statistics tell us that if we can get them here two weeks in a row, there's a whole lot larger percentage of a chance of them sticking. So, the next Sunday, April the 12th, both 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., we're going to have bring your family Sunday. So, what is this? This is going to be, man, we want to see pews filled with families, cousins, aunts, uncles, bring grandparents, bring unsaved kids, bring everybody you can any family member. Get them in the house. Tell them. say, "Hey, listen. You're a part of the Smith family. We need you here on Sunday. You're a part of the Bennett family. You're you're part of the Mayor family. You're a part of the Carpenter family. We need you here on this Sunday." But here but then we're going to go a step further because we know that if you can get them here three weeks in a row, then the percentage is even higher that they're going to stick. And so the following Sunday, April the 19th, 10:00 a.m. and 6 pm, we're going to have a bring your neighbor Sunday. Oh yeah. So now it's going to be what are we doing? We're trying to give you an opportunity to be an opportunist >> because that's all we are. We're we're all opportunists. We're trying to get people in the house. You say, "Well, there's a lot of good choirs out there. There's a lot of good church music programs." Oh, there is. There is. There is. But I'm talking about get them in the house where when the power falls, it's not about how well the choir is singing. It's not about how good the band is. There's a lot of good musicians out there. It's not about any of that. It's about if we can just get them in the presence of a God who can change their life and rearrange their life. Oh my God, who knows what could happen around here? Who knows what could happen in our county if we can just get them in the house? So, please pick these up. Be a gatherer. I I believe the whole church, even if gathering is not your primary if if it's not your primary calling, if if you're a little bit backward and you're like, "Ah, I'm I'm an introvert. I just don't like talking. I don't like I I can't invite." Come on. You can invite people to these three Sundays. Get a card. Get people here in Jesus name. And I promise you, great things will happen in our Easter services. Somebody said, "Amen." Amen. >> I I just want to I'm I'm I'm about I'm about through, but I just want to pull back this curtain on one of the last truths, one that changes how we view this whole story. And I've kind of already given it away. But although the story is in the book of Esther, Moraya, if it wasn't for Morayi, the Jewish rabbis, and I studied a lot of the rabbi, the rabbis and what they had to say about the story, but they describe this as as as Morayi having prophetic insight, guided by the spirit of God to recognize Esther's calling and challenge her precisely when the moment arrived. This is this is so awesome because Morciah, he he doesn't have the title of a of a king in the Bible. He doesn't have a title of a prophet in the Bible. He he really he doesn't really have any titles at all as far as the kingdom of God. However, if it wasn't for this man, if it wasn't for this disciple maker in the book of Esther, I don't know if there would be a Jewish nation today. There there there probably would not be a Jewish nation today. But for such a time as this, God created Oh my God. God created the perfect atmosphere and the perfect time for this man to raise his cousin, his younger cousin, to raise her up to be the queen over a land. And thank God because Morcia models the true disciplemaker who often stays in the background raising up others for the spotlight. >> Oh yeah. Oh, raising up others for the spotlight. Because here I'm going back and I I want to conclude by bringing full circle the story of this Cinderella basketball team, the 2008 Davidson Wildcats. This small school that shot the world who reached the elite elite 8 behind a skinny undersized guard named Stephen Curry. But Curry, let me tell you something, Curry didn't get there alone. His Morayi was his coach named Bob McKillb. Coach McKillb saw potential in Curry when almost no one else did. Big programs like Duke and North Carolina, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, they overlooked this small, skinny, not so athletic looking basketball player in high school. But this coach McKillb believed. He believed. He recruited Curry to Davidson, gave him the green light to shoot freely, and this is unheard of for a freshman. And he built a system around Curry's unique gifts. He he built a whole basketball offense offense around Curry's basketball skills. And he mentored him on the court and off the court. He taught him discipline and character and how to be a man of integrity. And I don't know the private life of Steph Curry, but what I see on the news, he looks like a pretty good young man. Without coach McKillb's faithful investment, spotting the talent, nurturing it, and challenging Curry to step up, there might be no NBA legend today. No four NBA championships, no recordbreaking shooting. Coach McKillb stayed in the background as Curry's star began to rise just like Morayi stayed behind the scenes when Esther saved a nation. But that's the power of disciplehip. We may never get the spotlight. Ah, I just I just so happened to glance up at my brother Elder Brother Johnstone. We may never get the spotlight, but brother Johnstone, thank you for all the people you disciple. I thank God for the people's lives that you reach your hand in and you get your hands dirty in the lives of people who are addicted to all forms of addictions. Thank God for those disciple makers who aren't afraid or ashamed to say, "I don't need a microphone in my hand. I don't need even need to be on the platform, but I could change and rearrange the future of people by bringing them to the house of God and to teach them the word of God. I thank God for every disciple maker who has invested in lives and seen people's lives changed after all." Someone discipled you. Someone discipled me far be from me to not reach for them and to see them worthy of discipling. I thank God. I thank God that we have a we have a Cinderella husband and wife team right here at First Apostolic. Brothers and sisters seat, I love you guys. I appreciate that a few weeks ago you wanted to have a meeting. You wanted to have a pastoral meeting. You you and your wife you called you called me and Sister Ericson in the office and you asked us and you said uh you told us if I'm if I say if I remember right you said this is going to be a different kind of meeting and I thought a different kind of meeting. I didn't know what to brother Ferris I didn't know what to expect and they said they came in they said now listen pastor they said normally when we come in the off office it's because we're having issues going on whether it's marital or families and and of course they have a blended family and they've they've adopted and got his kids and her kids and got a beautiful blended family but you know with blended families there there's there there's always going to be issues there's issues in every family and there's going to be marital issues Oh, you got got children unsaved. You got children coming back in the church. You got we we've had all kinds of meetings. You y'all have had addictions in your past that wanted to creep back up that you've stomped out and we've prayed with you about it and we've stood with you for it. But this thing, think about the scenes that they're a Cinderella team because where a lot of people may not have saw the purpose and they may not saw they might have looked and saw Steph Curry and saw scrawny player trying to make three-pointers. I'm thinking for elder brother John Stone who saw the scenes and said, "You know what? They they've been brought out of a whole lot of stuff." I believe that they can speak into the lives of people who are addicted to stuff. So here they here the scenes. Oh man. Lately they've been teaching class upstairs, a life and focus class on anger management and parenting drug and alcohol addiction and getting over all that. And and they said we want to meet with you. It's a different kind of meeting because we want to come and tell you of the great things that are taking place in our life right now. Because before we had always come and we'd always tell you about things going wrong and things we needed you to help us pray for. But now we want you to pray for us because we're starting to see people get the Holy Ghost >> that have been through our drug and rehab program. And we're starting to see people being baptized that have been through our parenting programs. We're starting to see people and now they're starting to see themselves not as oh my God not as thank God for Cinderella stories right here in the church where we have people that are saying hey God has not only brought our marriage back together and God has not only oh he's brought us out of so many addictions and things that have tried to bind us but now we're helping other people and where nobody else saw anything in us God has seen something in us and we see people like Elder brother John Stones who see things in us and here we are teaching the word of God and now they're in the jails. >> Oh yeah. Every Sunday at 4:00 they go into the jails and now brother seat he's in the men's pods and sister seat she's in the women's pods and they're sharing their testimony and they're telling people about God and how good God is. I'm thankful for Cinderella stories because what it is is it's brothers and sisters seat who say if God loved me enough to die for my sins then he's going to love that person in jail enough to die for their sins. I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. Matter of fact, if you'll stand to your feet, I feel the Holy Ghost in this place. I believe in somebody's heart right now, you're starting to think of somebody in your life that you can reach into. And maybe you've never had a lot of a lot of hope and a lot of trust for your ministry, but God has want to do great things through you. But you got to be able and willing to say, "God, I know there's a lot of baggage in my past. But God, you see me and you see that I've got a willing heart. And you see that I can be an Esther who can rise up in a nation where it looks impossible, like I'm the only one, and I can make a difference in my community. I can make a difference in my family." >> Come on. We got to see worth in people. >> We got to have enough compassion to see worth in people. >> Oh my God. Don't you know that Jesus saw enough worth in you that he said, "I'm willing to die for you. I'm 2,000 years before you're ever going to see the light of day, I'm willing to give my life for you on a cross. Far be it from me, church family. Far be it from me to sit in a pew in a hold and to keep this all to myself. Here we have the very thing that every person in this community needs. They wants to be set free from things that got them. People don't want to be addicted. Are you kidding me? Don't look down at somebody who's addicted to drugs as if they want to be addicted to drugs. Somebody who's incarcerated like they want to be incarcerated. Somebody that has to drink alcohol in order to to to drink their problems away like they want to do that. You don't think they go home and try to lay down and sleep at night and can't even sleep because of shame? >> But our God looked out and saw us, oh shoo, and said, "I feel like you're worth saving. I feel like you're worth reaching. I feel like you're worth changing and rearranging. I want to see your family put back together. I want to see your marriage put back together. I want to see your children return to your home. I want to see your workplace turned upside down. Oh, just lift your hands with me right now. I feel them in this place so strong. God, I pray compassion, oh God, right now. would absolutely overflow in this place. I pray that compassion right now, Lord God, we would think back to when when we were lost and when we were dying and somebody reached to us and said, "You're worth it. You are worth it. You thought I was worth saving. So, you came and changed my life. You thought I was worth keeping. So you clean me up inside. You thought I was to die for. So you sacrifice your life. So I could be free. So I could be whole. So I could tell everyone. >> Did you all hear the last line of that chorus right there? >> God, I want to tell everybody I know. I got to tell everybody about this is good news. >> Come on. >> We need disciple makers all over this place. >> So you sacrifice sacrifice your life. >> Come on. You breathe. If you're home, then you should tell everybody. So you came to change my life. >> You came to change my life. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Heat. Heat. >> >> You are praising this place right here. We'll praise you. I praise you. I worship you. I praise you. You worship the earth. Say hallelujah. >> >> will praise you. I praise you with all my heart. >> >> We say and I will praise you. I worship you. I give you glory. I give you honor. So worthy. So worthy. Because I am free. I am. >> You thought I was worth saving, so you came and changed my life. You thought I was worth keeping. Oh, so you clean me up inside. You thought I was the diamond. >> >> You thought I was to die. You thought I was more sacrificed so I could be free. Free. free. Yes. Oh, I want to I want to end this service. It's a little different. I want you to pack as close as you can to the front. Church family, I want everybody, if you consider yourself a part of this church, I want you up front. Just make your way, come on, make your way out of out of the pews. If you consider if you don't consider yourself a part of this church, that's okay. This is what I want to do as we prepare for our Easter services coming up. I want you just to get one name, one person in your mind of an unsafe family member that you feel you can get here during our during our our April services. I I just want just right now just come on. I want you to think of one person. It might be a second cousin. It might be a It might be a backsliding sister. Whoever it is in your family. Just get one person. I want you right now. Do you have one person in your mind? Come on now. Let's pray. I'm going to lead you in prayer. Let's pray. Name that person. Call that person's name out right here in Jesus name. God, I believe, Lord God, right here, our disciple makers, our Morayis. Lord, I I believe right in this place, Lord God. Lord God, they're looking, Lord, to disciple somebody. They're looking for somebody that's in need, somebody that they can reach into their life and they can better their life. They can add value to their life. They can bring that life into this house. Come on, call that name out right now. Call that cousin, call that uncle, that aunt, whoever it is. Come on, call that name out loud. You got to call it out right here. I believe in Jesus name. Lord God, we're going to see our family members. We're going to see prodals come into the house this year like we've never seen before. God, I believe last year and this year, Lord, these are our years of the prodal. These are our years where we're going to see lost family members, family members that Lord God, they've experienced the power, Lord, but they've gone cold in you. Lord, I'm believing in Jesus name. God, bring them here. God, help us to be instrumental in bringing them into the house. In Jesus name we pray. Now, I want you to get a co-orker. Get a co-orker in your mind. And some of you, if you work at the daycare, you work at the school, you may not have an unsaved coworker, but maybe get maybe it might be your husband. Maybe a co-orker of your husband or wife or somebody. Get that get that person in your mind. We're going to pray over them right here. As God, we want to see God the workplace turned upside down. God, I thank you for every Matt Martin in this place. God who goes to work and talks about you. I thank God for a Matt Martin God who who plays the YouTube video of the service on Monday so that his co-workers can watch the service with him on Mondays. God, I I pray Lord God that you would help us right here. Come on, call that name. I pray over that person right now. Come on, lift up your voices and lift up your Oh sh right now, God, you see God. All these co-workers, God, you see God. We're working out in the secular places, God. We're we're working the community, Lord God, of people that have needs, God. They they need your Holy Ghost. They need your presence. They need your power within them. Come on. Do it right here. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Come on. I want you to do the same thing. Think of a neighbor. Put a put one of your neighbors. I want you to get them in your in your mind. God, I pray right now for John. God, I'm believing for my neighbor John. God, I know he's hungry. God, I know he's hungry. God, I pray, Lord God, you put desire with him, within him when I invite him to church, Lord God, on Neighbor Sunday, God, I'm going to believe that he's going to not only show up, but God, you're going to change his life. Come on, pray for that neighbor. Name them. Come on, call out a name right here. Make us specific. Make it make it specific to your life. Oh, in Jesus name. Come on. Pray for an unchurched friend right now. Come on. Pray for somebody that's a friend you might golf with or you might hunt with and and they've never they've never darkened the doors of this church, but you know if you could just get them in the house that their life will be changed forever. Come on, pray for them. Come on. Maybe it's just a weekly acquaintance. Maybe it's just somebody you see at the store each week that you that you say hi to and you you ask them how their day is. Come on. Put somebody in your mind. My God, help us, Lord God, to look outside of ourselves. Help us, oh look outside of ourselves and see people with legitimate needs in their life. Oh God, they're dying. Oh God, they're tormented by the devil. God, they're addicted to stuff. Oh my God, they've got issues. They've got problems. They've got baggage, but God, you want to set them free. God, you want to give them liberty. God, you want to give them peace of mind. Oh God, you want to break every chain in their life. >> >> Come on, one more time. We're going to sing this song one more time. I want you to think about those people you've been praying for. Uh I want you to have their names in the front of your mind for the next few weeks. Uh and get them in the house. Uh you thought I was worth saving. So you came and changed my life. You thought I was worth. Yes, you did. >> >> So you me to be clean in this place so I can be free. I thought I was yeah >> >> your hand. So I will praise you. I praise you. I pray you and I will pray. I worship you forever. I set me free. I praise you because I am free. I am God. I pray over the great people of this church, God, believing, Lord God, that we're to