Rending and Mending

Turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter three. We're gonna begin reading at verse number one. Read through verse number eight and then we're gonna read verse number 11. I feel like God has a deep work to do in this house tonight. I pray that you would just stick with me for a little bit. Ecclesiastes three and one. Very popular passage of scripture. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, time to pluck up that which is planted or it's a time to kill, time to heal. Time to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep, time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance. Time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together. Time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.

Time to get, a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to cast away. Focus in with me on verse number seven here. There's a time to rend, everybody say rend. And a time to sow, everybody say sow. There's a time to rend and a time to sow. Time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love, a time to hate, time of war, a time of peace. Verse number 11, we talked about this this morning. He has made everything beautiful in his time. Also he has set the world into their heart. Another word there is eternity into their heart that no man can find out the work of God that he maketh from beginning to the end. I wanna take my thought from verse number seven and I wanna preach to you on this subject tonight, rending and mending. Would you lift your hands all over this house?

Would you lift your voices and ask that God would uniquely speak to us tonight and have his will and his way and that God would be with pastor as he goes to help over in Ohio. Lord, I love you. I thank you for your goodness and your mercy. Thank you, God, for the deep, deep presence that we feel in this place. Feel tonight, God, that you're just gonna put some things back together. Feel tonight, God, that you're gonna put some pieces back together. You're gonna bring some understanding to some situations. Lord, I pray that you give me wisdom to declare your word, God, the whole council of heaven declared in this house tonight and confirm this word with signs following. If you believe God's gonna do that tonight, would you just lift him up one more time? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen, you may be seated in Jesus' name.

If I could have a little more monitor if you don't mind, thank you. Taking a little bit of a deeper look, Ecclesiastes three in one. The writer says to every thing there is a season. That word thing there is a noun referencing a person, place, or a thing. And he says that objects, people, and places have seasons. Earlier this week, I was in the state of Maine and it was a warm one degree and the sun seemed to not work there at all. And I put a warm coat on and I dressed myself as warm as I could because the place and the season was cold. But if I took that very same jacket that I had on in Maine that has much insulation and I were to wear that outside here in Florida in August, you would look at me like I had lost my ever -loving mind

because I'm doing the wrong thing in the wrong season. As a matter of fact, this pulpit while this object is popular now, it was just a few years ago that the bigger the pulpit, the more anointed you were. And the reality was we had big pulpit so that we could hide from you and we said things that were a little bit offensive. But those went out of style and although we like this, apparently Chris Green doesn't, he broke the first one. Although we like this pulpit, eventually it will go out of season and this thing will no longer be in its place in this time. And then when you look at that word time, we often think of chronological time. We think of seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, days, whatever we think of the calendar, the moving of time. However, when you look at that, when you look at it in the original,

it's not one of the many Hebrew words for chronological time. In fact, it is referring to an action. It is saying that there are specific actions that we are to do. And when we do the right thing in the right time, in the right season, that's when he says, everything becomes beautiful in its time. It was the very same word for beautiful that God used when on each day of creation, he would look at something that he had created in its time and he would say, that is beautiful because God puts things into time when they are supposed to be there. And you and I must have the revelation of the time that we are in. We must realize the season that we are in and do the right thing at the right time. Obviously that tent revival was the right thing at the right time.

Look at how God blessed it. Obviously this church is in a season of revival as we celebrate over the last eight days, 131 people baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're doing the right thing at the right time. And that is what made the sons of Issachar so great and so powerful. We learned in 1st Chronicles chapter 12 that these children of Issachar were men that had understandings of the times. But they didn't just know what time it was. The Bible says they knew what Israel ought to do in that time. I believe that when you look at that you are looking at the role of a shepherd because although my body, the body or my body might be able to feel that the season is changing externally it is the head that makes the cognitive decision and declares to the body.

This is the season that we are in and this is what we ought to do. That's why we need to thank God every day of our lives that we have a shepherd that hears from the Lord that ascends up to this wonderful podium and he says, I know you're feeling what I'm feeling but let me tell you what this church ought to do in this time. We have to trust the voice of our men of God and the men of God that he puts behind this pulpit because the Bible says he allows the five fold ministry to come for the edification of the body. We need to thank God that God sends us men with a word for the time that we're living in and it is that role of a shepherd that Ezekiel got instruction in Ezekiel 3 and 17. The Lord told him, son of man

I have made thee a watchman under the house of Israel therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning for me. This is what our pastor does when he stands behind this pulpit as the watchman over this house. He ascends up as the head and he declares to the body this is what God is wanting to do in this time and I thank God for a shepherd that is sensitive to the voice of the Lord. I thank God for the riches and I thank God for everybody that's in ministry in this church. We are blessed people that have men and women that declare what thus says the word of the Lord in the right time. And so Solomon in his wisdom he goes into this eight verse dissertation about things that we ought to do in time and he gives us this generality of the span of life

and he says these are things that are going to take place while your season on this earth is happening but I find it so interesting that in verse number seven he says there is a time to rent and there is a time to sow or mend. He begins to teach us a principle that in life you're gonna have moments where you are rending and where you are mending. The Bible has a lot of weird things that are in it and I read this post from this hermeneutics class that I like to follow the page on and it said if it's weird in the Bible it's important. And so as I looked at this weird text about there's a time to rent and a time to mend I began to study it and I found that there is a Jewish tradition called Kyra. Kyra is the tradition

where a Jew would take the garment of which they are wearing and if they had lost a loved one if something had happened to them that was of great offense if they had made a mistake whatever might have happened as a sign of great mourning or great hurt or great pain or great remorse it was the tradition of Kyra that they would take a hold of their garment and they would rend their garment. This is what Solomon is talking about. I cannot help but begin to look throughout the scripture at all of the different men and women that rend their garment. You begin in Job and Job teaches us about a rending that took place. He lost his animals. He lost his children. He lost his barns. He lost his family. He lost his wealth and he lost his health and then you find in Job 1 and 20

that the Bible says Job arose and he rend his garment. He was testifying to everybody around him. I am hurting because of what has come against my life. I am mourning at the loss of my children at the loss of everything that has come against me. This rending of his garment testified to his friends. It testified to all of his peers. Look at me. I'm hurting right now. Then I continued on in this journey of rending and I found Mordecai the uncle of Esther. It was this uncle that when he heard the plot of Haman to cause the genocide of all of the Jews under the rule of Hashuares that as he heard the plot of this wicked man he grabbed a hold of his garment and the Bible says he rent his clothes. Put on sackcloth and ashes and declared a solemn fast throughout all the land

because of the plot of the enemy that was coming against him and all of his loved ones. It was also Ezra who heard about the backslidden state of his people. The Bible teaches us that when he heard the condition of all of the people in the land that he grabbed a hold of his garment and he rend his garment when he saw everybody and how they had backslid. I also remind you of Reuben the oldest of Jacob's 12 sons. He was the one that was supposed to watch over his brothers as they were away from their father. It was the role of the eldest son that whenever they were away from the father he was supposed to assume the responsibility of the brethren and while he stepped away for a moment the Bible does not tell us what he was doing. Maybe he was just tending to the sheep

as he comes back he finds that his brothers had sold Joseph to slavery. When he saw his mistake when he realized what had taken place the Bible says he grabbed a hold of his garment and he rend his garment in mourning and in repentance of not being a good older brother. It was also I say the greatest of all the rendings that took place that the Bible says when Jesus was upon the cross and he gave up the ghost at the last breath that he let out that it was the veil in the temple that the Bible declares was rend from bottom to top thus releasing the Holy Ghost for all of us here tonight. It is in this chyra that we learn that these rendings are to show everybody I'm hurting and I'm broken and it was Solomon in his wisdom the preacher king

in his understanding of all that men and women were to do in their time of life he says there will be seasons where you have to rend your garment. I'm here tonight to pause for just a moment and I am to preach maybe not tall but to some I'm here to preach to some of you that are hurting I'm here to preach to some of you of which things have happened to that you do not understand I'm here today to tell you it's okay that you're not okay I'm here to tell you it's all right that you're hurting it's all right that you're broken for was it not Joel who wrote to us and said do not rend your garment but rend your heart and I think if I were to look into the eyes of the spirit tonight and were to look at the hearts of the men and women

that so greatly sit before me tonight I would see some rend hearts some hurting vessels some people that are broken some people that don't understand why you got the diagnosis that you got some people that don't understand why they had to pass away like they had to pass away some people that don't understand why they walked out on you why they said the things they said why they did the things they did can I tell you tonight you need to grab a hold of your garment rend it and let everybody know I'm hurting and I'm broken and let me tell you something that is okay see we don't like that I know I know we like to have the image of perfection we like to act like everything's okay and nothing's ever wrong and were always perfect and were never going through anything I'm tired of that hypocrisy

I'm here tonight to tell you it's all right that you're hurting it's all right that you're broken it's all right that you're wounded I know it's not fair I know it's not always easy I know it's not always what you wish it was grab a hold of your garment and let your heart be rend in the presence of God some of you need to be like Ezra he was astonished he was literally appalled he was aghast at the things that had taken place I know I know you don't understand why your family backslid I know you don't understand why that happened to you the way it happened to you when you were young and you're broken and you're hurting and cannot tell you tonight you have a time to rend and weep there's a time for that there's a time to let the tears stream down your face

there's a time for you to crawl into your prayer closet because sometimes if we're honest we don't even have the strength to walk into our prayer closet and to let the tears stream down your face and for you to ask the inevitable question that if you live for God long enough you're gonna ask this question why God? why me? why did that happen? why did it happen this way? why did it happen like that? why did I have to get that diagnosis? why did that have to come upon my family? why did that have to happen to my kid? why? why? why? God said there's a time for you to rend there's a time for you to ask why there's a time for you to be broken but friend I'm not here to just preach about rending because Solomon does not end with us having a time for rending

Solomon says there's also a time for you to mend that which was rent can I tell you there is a revelation that you must understand you may not be perfect but you're here you may not even be whole but you're standing you may not even be healed but you've got a little bit of strength left in the tank to worship God anyhow I love in the study of Kyra in this tradition it is said as we mend our garments we realize that our wounds are not yet healed we're still in pain we remain vulnerable as we have removed our Kyra garments and begin to repair the tear we know now that we must work even harder to mend our hearts can I testify to you tonight that in these moments this is when you learn that in my weakness not in my perfection not in my wholeness

not in my completeness not in my strength not in my weakness he is made strong you've got to quit trying to be so strong in the presence of God you've got to get the revelation that in the middle of the heartache in the middle of the pain in the middle of the betrayal in the middle of the wound that's when God says I'm about to show you how strong I really am was it not in Revelation chapter 12 in verse number 11 that we get this wonderful wonderful understanding that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony you know we need to get a fresh revelation of the power of the blood I said we need to get a fresh revelation of the power of the blood one of the things that they would rend their garments for in Cairo

is when they had made a mistake when they had fallen and done things they wish they hadn't have done can I tell you the blood is still greater I don't care what you've done I don't care how hard you fell I don't care how far you went I don't care what you said I don't care what you did I don't care what mistake you made the blood is still greater I said the blood is still yes we wish you wouldn't have done it but you're here and the blood wants to make you whole again but this is the part that really grabbed me but Jeff he doesn't stop at saying that they overcame him by the blood it says they overcame him by the word of their testimony now brother black man here's what grabs ahold of me I thought a testimony is what you did

after the storm I thought a testimony is what you did after the trial now we quit having testimony services thank God because a few of the crazies ruined it for all the good folk but I can remember testimony services growing up when somebody would get up and they would say I was sick but last Sunday the elders of the church were called they grabbed the anointing oil they laid hands on me and they said I'm healed now and we would have those testimonies come on like we heard this morning of the person who had the eye that was healed the person who had the arm that couldn't be moved and was healed come on we heard that's a great testimony am I right but they didn't testify after the fact they learned that the true power of a testimony is not when you testify after God brings you out

it's when you're in the middle of hell it's when you're in the middle of the doctor's bad diagnosis it's when you're in the middle of everything going wrong that can go wrong that's how they overcame in the middle of the fight in the middle of it all they started testifying God brought me out can I tell you you've got to change your vocabulary I know you're hurting but you ought to testify the pain is gone I know you're broken but you ought to testify I'm whole in the name of Jesus you've got to learn how to testify in the middle of the fight God's been good anyhow if I remember reading about Paul and Silas they testified after they got out of the prison they sang praises after they got out of the fight they sang after they got the chains off no, while they were in

the inner prison that's the prison within the prison that's the prison they put the real back so they've got their back turned over they've got their hands and feet in fetters they have been persecuted left and abandoned it would seem there is no reason to begin to praise and testify of the goodness of God but with their hands bound and their feet bound stuck up in the darkest prison they could be put in they said in the middle of my mess God's been good to me in the middle of my trial I may not be out of the prison but I'm gonna praise like I'm out of the prison I may not be out of hell but I'm gonna praise like I'm out of the fight that's the power of a testimony friend I said that's the power of a testimony friend when you learn how to testify

when everything's still going wrong when you haven't been healed some of you right now that are battling a sickness I challenge you you ought to start testifying even though you may not be healed you ought to start saying tonight I'm healed in Jesus name some of you that are in the hardest fight of your life you ought to start testifying tonight I'm coming out my my my somebody needs to praise God for just a moment somebody needs to praise God in the middle of it for just a moment when you leave here tonight you need to change your vocabulary I said when you leave here tonight you need to change your vocabulary I don't care how bad it is you need to change I know it's not always fair and it's not always easy but better is one day in the house of the Lord

than a thousand elsewhere better is one day as a blood pot born again believer than my worst changeable listen I know the doctor gives you bad news I know you opened that bill and it wasn't what you thought it was gonna be I know things happen and we wish they wouldn't happen like they happen but when they do friend you've got to learn how to change your vocabulary because you get what you speak I said you get what you speak speak life where there is death speak hope where there is hopelessness speak joy where there is doubt speak speak peace where there is depression my my my you've got to learn how to change it by how you speak the next thing I learned in this study of Kyra in the study of rending and mending was that when they get together to mend their garments

after after they've decided we've mourned long enough man I just want to say this your victim mentality is what's keeping you a victim listen I know I know it's not fair I know it's not fun I know sometimes sometimes it's just it's just like you can't catch a break but you've got to quit being a victim and you've got to quit speaking such negativity and such doubt there are some people God could give you a million dollars and you would still find something negative to talk about you need to change the way you speak about things I'm hurting but God's still good I'm broken but God's still good I'm fighting but God's never lost a battle he's been good so good he's been good so good you ought to try that when you leave here tonight you ought to wake up tomorrow and just start speaking life

and watch what happens over the next 30 days man I feel a little vain in here I said you ought to wake up tomorrow and everywhere there is death and destruction and hopelessness on your way to work you start speaking God's been good God's been good and watch what God does over the next 30 days blessings and curses cannot spew out of the same fountain change the flow turn off the faucet of doubt turn off the faucet of doubt turn off the faucet of doubt and turn on the flow of life and not much more abundantly now back to what I was preaching in this study of Kyra when they begin to mend things it is in this tradition that they do not mend their garment as to where when people look at it that it looks like it had never been rent but they are to mend it in such a manner

that when people look at that garment they can tell they have been through something but they are still standing when people look at this garment it may look good from a distance but if you get up close you will find a few knife wounds come on you will find a few hard times you will find a few things I wished would have never happened but you are also going to find somebody that is still standing I said you are still standing you need to quit it is the testimony of what God has brought you out of that will do more for somebody else than the false image of perfection that you want to portray like you have never been through something let them see the jagged edges let them see the tore up garment let them see you have been through some hell but you are standing

by the grace Brother Richie I hope when they look at me they can see a thread of grace and a thread of mercy and a thread of love and a thread of strength and a thread of joy and a thread of peace and a thread of hope because had it not been for the Lord this young man would not be standing here God have mercy I wish I could tell you you are not going to go through anything in the next 10 years but I can't I wish I could tell you that trouble doesn't come to us all but I know what I can tell you I have never seen the righteous forsaken I have never seen a garment that was rendered by the mercy and the grace and the strength and the love of God I have never seen one of those gather some jagged edges to some of

I said you have got to be honest some of us got some messed up garments we kind of look like the apostle Paul he goes guess what ship wrecked three times yep that's me beating my Jews guess how many times a lot 39 stripes five different times look at that back messed up I'm on I was out in the middle of the ocean multiple times one time I just floated on to an island hanging on to a piece of wood I know we got this pretty little image of the apostle Paul and all these paintings where he's sitting there like Paul was jacked he was as we would say tore up from the floor up but was it not Paul who wrote him said height nor depth principalities nor powers nothing can separate me from the love of God was it not Paul that said

I know now I have been persecuted but I'm standing Paul wasn't it you that went to God three different times that he would remove the thorn from your life sounds like some of us huh God healed me tonight and you get up and the sickness is still there come on God bring my family back ten years they're still not home come on God touch my life and you'll wake up and it seems like nothing's changed God I have approached you three different times to remove this thorn thrice I came to you God I love the king James thrice and all three times you sent me back home with the same thorn I asked you to remove and Paul could have got bitter at the thorn Paul could have become a victim at the thorn Paul could have been telling everybody on Facebook about the thorn

but you know what Paul said in my weakness I've got it figured out now he's keeping me weak because if he took it away I quit coming to the throne and so he left it there so that I could come out saying I'm standing but not by my might and not by my power I'm standing by the grace of God some of you need to go back to work tomorrow turn that frown upside down and when people ask you did you get healed nope but God's still good did you get healed nope but God's still good dare I say it is the testimony of the wounded that can speak just as powerful as the testimony of the healed quit trying to be perfect and just testify just testify just testify Kando Lobo Shataya Laba Iando Lobo Shataya Laba Iando Lobo Shataya Laba I'm telling you in the Holy Ghost

strength is coming to you tonight I'm telling you prophetically strength is coming to you tonight because you're getting the revelation of consistency even when it ain't easy of joy even when there ain't no joy of hope let's lift our hands and worship the Lord right now hear me I'm gonna get just blood but it wasn't fair that you were molested it wasn't fair that they had that affair it wasn't fair that they walked out on you God I'm pulling for somebody it wasn't fair but you know what I don't know why he hadn't healed him yet I got a little brother that's been battling a spinal tumor for 14 years I don't know why God hasn't healed that young man but I'll tell you what I do there is a revelation of a testimony of I've served him when it wasn't easy I've come on Job

naked I came into this world and naked I'll leave but I will not raise a tongue against the Almighty because God one day I'm gonna be on streets of gold and this broken body won't be broken and this hurting soul won't be you may never see the healing here but if you'll stay faithful you'll be whole there you may never see what you're looking for here but if you stay consistent you'll see it when you get there when that nail scarred hand reaches out and wipes those tears from your eyes God's gonna remind you it was this very scar that testified to Thomas you can believe in me your scar has a testimony your hurt is a testimony the last thing that I'm gonna tell you about Kyra rending and mending is this Brother Richie I thought this was the most beautiful thing and I pray after tonight

I pray that this will become a principle of East Wind there's this thing in Kyra if I was I'm gonna be exact I'd walk back up to the pulpit but I'm tired and that's a long walk where they get these boxes sister Amy they sit on these boxes because in Kyra if you rend your garment those that are closest rend their garments with you because in Kyra in rending and mending nobody mourns alone nobody hurts alone nobody seeks alone I want this to become a principle of this church moving forward if somebody's weeping alone I don't care if you're doing nothing but having rainbows and sunshine if you see a brother weeping you weep with them and if you see a brother shouting even if you're in the depths of despair I'm gonna shout with you if you don't need a healing but you know they do

you're gonna pray like you need the healing for yourself because in the law of rending and mending nobody rends alone maybe that's why Paul said bear ye one another's burdens if you're burdened if you're happy I'm happy because last I checked we might be many members I'm gonna be in this with you until the end until you and I both are doing the old gospel two step on streets of gold we're gonna hurt together we're gonna shout together we're gonna weep together we're gonna laugh together I don't care what you're going through we're gonna go it through together this is what they do they sit in a circle and they have something called a rending I mean a mending party and they take a thread and they start mending together because if anybody's gonna be mended if you're shouting I'm shouting if you're rejoicing I'm rejoicing

and so tonight this is what I felt in the Holy Ghost this is how we're gonna end this I want you to stand with me Bishop I try to take your advice and keep it short tonight I hope I didn't preach too long if you're here this won't be for everybody and I'm aware of that if you're here you are sincerely in a dark place I don't care what it is I don't care how bad it is and there's such a sweet presence of the Lord I don't care what happens if you're here you'll be honest not with me but with God and know that in this place we're not judging your brokenness we're not judging your honesty but we're gonna join with you tonight we're gonna have a mending party on Sunday night at east wind if you're here and you're hurting you're broken

there may only be one would you come to this altar right now if you'd be honest and say I'm rent to my core I'm rent come on it may not be everybody but I know there's some somebody's here come on that's it I don't want you to come just because I'm asking you I want you to come because you're ready for God to begin the mending process I'm telling you in the Holy Ghost a thread of grace is about to wrap around you a thread of mercy is about to wrap around you come on there's about to be a thread of hope that comes around your rendered heart and shows you I'm there I'm gonna help you we're gonna get through this together if you're in this altar and you're honestly you're honestly hurting you're honestly going through something would you raise your hand right now

would you raise it up high raise it high raise it high as high as you can raise it please don't don't be ashamed keep it up high if you see somebody with their hand raised would you join with them right now we're about to have a mending party at east wind join with them join with them join with them join with them that's it that's it that's it lift their hands we need some more sisters right here come on we need some sisters right here come on right here come on come on come on bear you on another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ come on join with them join with them join with them if they're weeping you're weeping if they're crying you're crying if they're hurting you're hurting ask God to let you feel what they're going through come on ask him say God

let me feel their pain right now let me feel what they're going through right now God minister to your brother minister to your sister come on if they're weeping you're weeping come on yes ask God say God I'm asking you to give me the gift of discernment and a word of knowledge for them right now asking covet that gift I'm telling you he'll give it to you God let me know what they feel and give me the right word give me the right word to deliver them right now in due time pray pray with sincerity that's it I feel healing in this house I feel healing in this house I feel strength in this house I can do flow in the Holy Ghost flow in the Holy Ghost come on if you'll let God he'll open up the gifts so that you can minister to one another

right now if you'll let God he's opening up the gifts for you to minister to your brother to minister to your sister I can do bear you want another's burdens bear you want another's burdens bear you want another's burdens bear you want another's burdens I feel a dispersion of weight I feel a dispersion of burden right now feel the weight of your brother come on we're not done we're not done yeah we're not done press here press press the gifts of the spirit are in operation in this altar right now discernment word of knowledge is in operation right now let the Holy Ghost lead you let the Holy Ghost direct you let the Holy Ghost work through you right now now now this is what I want us to do this is what I want us to do I want you to look at me

for just a moment we're not done we're almost there now you have mourned you have wept I want you to lift your hands with the same people I want you to lift your hands join with them and now I want you to start speaking life I said I want you to start speaking life I want you to proclaim prophetically what God's going to start doing start proclaiming prophetically right now open your mouth and with faith declare it declare it I can't know yeah yeah yeah yeah speak life speak life come on now you who have wept speak life with them you who have mourned speak life with them if you wept with them sound with them if you mourned with them prophesy with them that's it that's it that's it come on come on something's happening life life come on let that go let that go in Jesus name

I can't know the whole sataya do what you feel in the holy ghost this is a mending party