Bro. D.J. Hill - "Ascend - Ascend Again"

welcome to the second night of youth week ascend at apc who's excited to be here today i'm excited for dinner tonight at culver's come on now some cheese curds i love covers excited for what god's going to do i want to once again echo really it's not a formality uh it's an honor to be here in tobago i honor you you all your ministry team this incredible incredible church thank you so much for your friendship so much encouragement there's so many times throughout my life each of you and your families have played a vital role in encouraging me and kind

of getting me to that next step and next season and next part of my journey and my walk with god so thank you so much for your friendship i love each and every one of you and brother peter thank you so much for your kind words um i love you i believe in you we've we've known each other for years and it's a it's cool to see you grow and god's gonna do incredible things in your life keep that sensitive spirit you're so smart bro you're brilliant and you're gonna do incredible things for god i believe in you i'm a

fan of the right family and then to this youth group the outlet i'm so excited to be here thank you so much for allowing me to come back another night we're gonna go to first kings chapter 18 first kings chapter 18 and then to all the parents that decided to show up and not just let it be a youth service but a a church service where the youth are going to be revived and become on fire for god and receive callings thank you so much for supporting the youth group reality the youth group is nothing without the family and the

support of the church you all financially fund this group to exist you you help in your prayers and in your support and cleaning and dropping off so many hours spent on behalf of these students and i am so thankful for each and every parent that does the hard work and also to the people who aren't parents but they're just supporters or friends or you know just adults that are here just helping support thank you so very much why don't you give yourselves a hand right now for being here look to your neighbor and say you're called look to someone and

say you're called look someone else and say you're called to ascend i'm going to talk a little bit about that ascension and a call to a sin tonight in first kings 18 41 and elijah said unto ahab get the up eat and drink for there is a sound someone say a sound someone say it a little bit louder say a sound there is a sound of an abundance of rain there is a promise we've been in a drought but i hear a sound i hear the word of the lord go for forth that something incredible was gonna happen verse 42

so ahab went up he ate and he drank and elijah went up to the top of carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and he put his face between his knees elijah goes down to pray this incredible man who called fire down from heaven this incredible man who saw so many different miracles god was blessing elijah and once again elijah seeks the face of god and he says god i need you in this moment so elijah goes down to his knees in verse 43 and he said to his servant someone say his servant look to your neighbor and

say that's you he told his servant go up now ascend now not later not next week not when you're older but ascend tonight right now i want you to ascend go up now and look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said there is nothing and so elijah said well ascend again ascend again go up again and he said this seven times and then in verse 44 and it came to pass at the seventh time he said the servant behold there arises a little cloud of the sea like a man's hand and he told ahab he said

go up prepare your chariot get thee down before the rain stops you because it's been a famine it's been hard but i hear a sound of an abundance of rain and so elijah the man of god is telling the servants of god to ascend again i know you've gone up before i know you've prayed before i know you've lived faithfully before but tonight i want to preach from that subject ascend again look to your neighbor and say ascend again amen you can descend for now physically but we're gonna we're gonna send in the spirit tonight amen i love music this

why don't we give it up for this music team y'all did an incredible job i love seeing students up there the guy on the base and guitar i love it y'all did an incredible job i love music i love all kind of music i really do i sing i sing everywhere i go in the car on the way here i'm singing roll tide i love that shirt by the way i was singing i was singing in the car on the way here i sing in the office when i first get in they know they just know when dj's there because

i'm singing loud like all three floors can hear me i love singing i sing all day i love singing however there's a problem i just can't sing you laughing for that's mean no i really can't like i i wish i could i really do i i've prayed before god give me the gift of singing and he just hasn't done that and that's okay and my singing really is so bad i i went to gateway college of evangelism my freshman year before it turned to ocean and it was the thing to do for everyone to try out for the corral because

you get to go on a bus for two weeks with like 49 other people you get to travel and have church every night you get to get all this food and hang out it would just be a great time so i wanted to be on the corral and so i got up there and i got on about this part of the platform there's a video somewhere out in the world and as soon as i started to sing the the music director at the time we won't say his name still praying against bitterness and yesterday we worked on my road rage

or wednesday and tonight i'm going to work on my bitterness towards this and he was sitting right up front kind of where you were and i started to sing and he started laughing and so i stopped and i said what and he said oh you were serious because he thought i was trying to be funny and i was like oh okay so needless to say i didn't make corral i know peter can preach and sing it's just not me but everybody can make choir so even though i didn't make corel i could make choir i wouldn't be able to travel

as much but i could just at least be a part of it and blend in and so it's pre-service prayer before the live recorder we're going to produce a cd the first one all written by our students alone nobody else's songs our songs and so we're in the pre-service prayer when we're praying and that's not running down and we're going to expect great things tonight and god's gonna be moving wow we're excited we're geared up and then that guy comes in the music director the one that sat here remember he comes in and he he comes and he puts his

arm around me and he says dj you're a worshiper i said i appreciate it he said your passion i said i appreciate it he said you're the most passionate worshiper we got i was like i appreciate it he said i need one thing from you about that time i was like oh he's gonna ask me to close i'm about to bring the shekinah glory down it's about to go down and i was so excited i was like what is he going to ask me to do i'm about to make it i'm about to sing a solo someone got sick before

the coronavirus and i'm about to sing it's going to be my chance to shine and he said dj i want you to give it your all and i said oh i definitely will i'm gonna be out there come on bye-bye he said but i don't want you to let any noise come out he could tell by my face i was a little bit confused and i said what he said i don't want you to fake worship but just lip-sync because your voice carries very good and so if if you let noise come out it's going to be on the cd

and there's no way to try to hide it or take it away so just just worship for real move your mouth but just don't let any noise come out because i love music but i just can't sing cody i just i just can't god hasn't gifted me with that however i know that that's not my talents and so i don't try to waste my time investing trying to be in the choir when i know that i can be connecting with people and teaching bible studies and doing other things that god has given me and gifted me with and the same

is true for you look at your neighbor and say stay in your lane your calling might look different than my calling your calling is going to look different than her calling and his calling emily your calling looks different than my calling and you know what that's okay because when we stay in our lane when we all try to do our best to fulfill the call of god in our lives that's when revival can happen if you can sing then you sing if you can preach then you preach if you can run multimedia and do graphics and run the sound then

you do that if you can be an usher or hostess then you do that whatever you're called to do do it with all your might it reminds me of some of my students back in atlanta west dylan robinson he plays the drums and he started a project 7 bible club and he's teaching bible studies at his local school he's right under 10 people coming every week but that's his calling and he's staying in his lane because of that he's seeing his friends come to church in his project seven bible club i think of jamaica her parents didn't grow up in

the church they all got into the church at the same time and she feels a call to sing it so now she's on the youth team and she's singing and youth services and god is using her powerfully i think of a olivia jury who's a minister's kid and she's a little bit introvert but you know what she stays in her lane and she's starting to expand a little bit and reach out to people because all of us have a calling look your neighbors say you have a calling look at someone else and say you have a calling you are called

to do great great things acts 1 verse 8 says you shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses you are called to tell the great things that god has done we talked about it wednesday night you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation you're his own special people you're called out of darkness to proclaim his praises you're called to do incredible incredible things john 14 12 says and greater things will you do than even the disciples why because you're called to ascend to greatness someone say ascend to greatness

philippians 1 verse 6 being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of jesus christ you are called to a sin someone say a sin there are people in this room that are going to be church planters they're going to go to a city that doesn't have a church or maybe that has a lot of churches and you're going to go to a metro city and you're going to start a church there's young ladies that are going to preach the gospel there's young men that are going to

preach the gospel there's a student in here that could write the next apostolic song that's going to be sung at this church in churches all over north america but what you have to make up your mind tonight is that i'm going to sin there are sunday school teachers that are creative and the kids in this church are depending on you to be creative to dress up to decorate the classroom to invest in children's ministry why because you are called to greatness you're called to a sin don't be settled don't just be average don't be like the rest of the world

but a sin to the greatness that god has called you to ascend to you're not an average student you're not an average church you're not an average girl or an average guy you are called to ascend to greatness you're called to ascend to greatness and that's exactly what elisha was called to do he was called to be great however we see in our passage even after miracles even after fire coming down from heaven even after seeing the incredible supernatural moves of god elijah said unto ahab get up eat and drink because there is a sound of an abundance of rain

i know it's been hard but i have a word from god for what's going to happen so ahab went up he ate and drank and elijah went to the top of the mountain caramel and he cast himself down and he started to pray and he said to his servant in verse 43 go up now ascend now and look toward the sea he went up and looked and said there is nothing there's nothing i know you have a word from god pastor i know i feel the call of god on my life brother peter brother brad i know i feel a

call to a sin to greatness but i don't see anything so what happens in the child of god's life when there's a word of god but you don't see anything happening i try to make this real and so i went to a very incredible place called chick-fil-a how many y'all like chick-fil-a in the place come on now these three girls back here they love it i feel a witness over here chick-fil-a these are there's your daughters come on i'm gonna give your dad a chick-fil-a gift card next week okay and y'all can get milkshakes and all that stuff right before

bed okay i got you next week i'm gonna visit your dad in the office chick-fil-a and so i called i'm from atlanta and so we have the headquarters there we have truitt's we have the dwarf house we have chick-fil-a luau which is like hawaiian themed they got like sweet and sour nuggets and uh fish tacos and pineapple frosties that just chick-fil-a is like king and georgia and so i called missing that the manager one of the managers that work at headquarters and i just asked her i said hey i'm going to preach a message and i kind of want some

information about chick-fil-a because i my go-to thing is a spicy chicken sandwich meal extra pickles mmm pepper jack cheese i got an organ in here pepper jack cheese and chick-fil-a sauce with the waffle fries and the sweet tea that's always sweet and always consistent it's not like some of that other places that say they have chicken sandwiches but half the time their clothes are half the time there's a fight to get to the chicken sandwich this place is godly chick-fil-a is so good that even when they get your order wrong it's really what god wanted you to have in the

first place before you even pay sometimes they hand you a tray with manna on it i love chick-fil-a i wish chick-fil-a ran our country they making two three drive-throughs they're figuring it out they're in a parking lot smaller than this platform and they have 100 cars up here and they're just circling around and everyone's eating everyone's happy chick-fil-a and so i asked chick-fil-a because i've never walked in chick-fil-a and got mad that that sweet tea didn't come in a gold chalice that the sweet tea didn't come in a golden cup 24 carats i never got upset that those waffle fries

perfectly golden just maybe one or two that has the potato skin on all of it come on now my wife loves those i always switch them and just give her those and i take the good ones i never get mad that it's not on a silver platter have you ever went to a restaurant and then you're upset in the container nobody thinks about that i never expect that that chicken sandwich should come in like a golden box that has led lights shining out of it and when you open it this melody comes out i never think of that because i

don't go to chick-fil-a for the container i go to chick-fil-a for the contents and so i asked miss annette i said how much does a fry box cost she said three cents i said how much does the sandwich bag that aluminum bag cost she said three cents i said how much does a 20 ounce cup cost she said four cents so i said wow for 10 cents we can go to walmart right now it's like a mile down the street we can go forage in the parking lot and find 10 pennies and you and i can get a fry box

a sandwich bag and an empty cup for 10 cents we don't get mad at how cheap that stuff is because we don't go to chick-fil-a for the container we don't get upset at the package why because we know the promise we know the contents inside and so why isn't any different with the promises of god don't let what you see allow you to forget what god said don't let what you see in the cheap container or the package make you forget the contents of what god already said because when he's given you a word that you're called to do great

things that you are going to experience revival that god is going to bless you regardless of your past regardless of your family regardless of where you're at right now you're called to ascend to greatness so don't get caught up in what you see and allow it to make you forget what god already said we don't ever yell at chick-fil-a employees and say where's my gold cup because we're there for the sweet tea and so why is it any different with the promises of god and so the servant ascends his the man of god says ascend up the mountain because there's

a word from god and he goes up he says okay i'll look out there i don't see anything there's nothing out there so what do you do when you need a miracle and you've prayed and we've brought it to the church as a prayer request and they aren't healed what do you do when that marriage or that relationship is broken in your collateral damage why are we called to ascend to greatness but then in reality when we see nothing we come down because of what we saw even though the man of god said don't let what you see make you

forget what god said i hear the sound of an abundance of rain i hear a calling going forth but because we can't see anything as children of god what we often do is we stay down but tonight my message is clear ascend again pray again be faithful again why because we've seen him move he's moved mountains and he can do it again today in your life no matter where you are so what happens on a thursday when i'm working at the church my wife drives over we're building something for sunday for the service we're launching a revival service and pastor

has asked me to preach it i feel like i have a word from god and my wife comes and she says she's not feeling right so we called the doctor and they told us to watch out for certain things and then saturday night before the big sunday of the year the launch of the theme for the year all of a sudden we have a miscarriage what do i do then do i get down from the mountain because of what i see but do i remember what god said what happens when my parents fight they don't get along there's no peace

in the home but i feel a call of god on my life what do i do do i descend to the low place or do i sinned again what happens when i don't feel good enough when i've made mistakes time and time again do i descend to the low places or will i ascend again because the calling is up god is calling me to ascend but too many times we descend what happens when i go to school and i see everybody else sinning everybody else partying and there's no judgment what god said would happen when sin is committed hasn't happened

yet and so i just want to come down from living for god and compromise because maybe it won't happen to me maybe i can partake in that sin and that lifestyle and maybe it won't happen to me because when i'm up here and i hear the word of god it's not comfortable because i hear the word of god that there's a sound of an abundance of rain but when i look out i don't see anything what happens in the recording if that's okay what happens when i pray for my mom when i pray for my mom to get into the

church and i preach my guts out while she's there she doesn't move she cries because she knows something's wrong and i hear a word from god but when i look out there's nothing so the young ladies you're living a godly life you're living a godly life and it's hard it's hard and you look at other young ladies in the world and it looks like they're having so much fun and you just don't see the benefit of living for god there's not a cloud in the sky but yet you have a word are you going to ascend again even when there's

nothing speaking to young men as the piano player comes only the piano player for now speaking to young men you're ready to just give in you're gonna just throw in the towel because when you're on mountaintop sometimes you don't see anything you feel the call of god and at camps and at congresses and wednesday night outlet services and sunday morning services you feel the call of god you feel the pull of god but yet when you go to the altar you see nothing your prayer request is unanswered why is there evil in the world why would i ascend again when

there's evil in the world when my baby girl starts to learn how to walk she's more than likely going to fall does that mean i don't love her does that mean i don't care about her no she's growing through all the stumbling through all the tripping while trying to figure it out but if she stays down because it's hard some days she's never going to reach her potential she's never going to experience life if she only stays on the ground so one day i'm going to have to look at my baby girl after she falls and she's crying i'm gonna

have to tell her a syndicate and the same is true for you you're broken and we can put on a mask more than just the covet 19 kind of mask and we can wear a smile we can dress the part we can worship we can serve we can be involved even as adults but what happens when our prayers aren't answered are you going to stay in a low place because you don't see anything don't let what you see make you forget what god said jeremiah 29 11.

i know the thoughts that i think towards you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you john 10 10 i have come that you might have a life and that you might have it more abundantly so ascend again i know life has been hard i know there's sickness i know there's financial stress i know there's arguing i know relationships have failed in the past i know prayers have gone unanswered and there's fear and doubt

and guilt and shame hurt and pain there's all this frustration but ascend again why because romans 8 28 says all things work together for the good to them that love god to those who are called according to his purpose verse 31 if god before us who can be against us verse 35 what shall we say to these things god loves you what shall separate us from the love of god romans 8 38 and 39 for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels no principalities nor powers nor things present nor things that come nor height nor death nor

anything else can separate you from the love of god so ascend again ascend again what happens when you tried to be used in a spiritual gift and you stumbled and messed up ascend again what happens when you invited that person to church and they didn't come ascend again what happens when you live a different lifestyle and it seems like you're you're missing out on something don't be like eve and give in you're not missing out on anything nothing is worth having if it costs us our relationship with jesus so ascend again into parents to saints who have been in church

for years can we show the students how to ascend again so easy been in church for 13 14 years now i can blend in really good but i'm not helping anybody else by blending in i'm not showing these students that when you're hurting when you're broken the best thing you can do is not cover it up the best thing you can do is ascend again to the altar because i have a word from god that even when i don't see it he's working even when i don't feel it he's working he'll make a way where there seems to be no

way and so i'm gonna ascend again life has been hard i'm gonna ascend to give close your eyes and pray with me for a moment right now let there be such a depth in your good spirit is it god's moving right now go ahead and start to pray okay no it's hard okay i said god is doing heart surgery right now this is the altar call go ahead and pray right now at your seat god sees every tear come on you've been holding it in for months you've been struggling mentally come on just like you can be sick in your

body you can be sick in your mind and you you've been trying to just fight it in your own strength why don't you ascend again there's help here today there's a ministry team that can talk to you and listen to you and help you to get out of that situation you're in you don't have to stay in that struggle or that low place you can ascend again that's it your mistakes are haunting you what you've given up what you've done what you said is haunting you it's stopping you from the call of god in your life a sinned again a

sinned again i wonder right now as a church can we make our way to this altar and and not just pray for each other let the ministry pray for people but can we just be honest and say i've i've prayed before and i've seen nothing i've served god before and i've seen nothing but a sinned again caleb you've prayed before ascend again it doesn't make sense but don't let what you see make you forget what god said ascend again that's it maybe get on your knees somewhere maybe go in a corner and get a hold of god right now come

on are you gonna sin again and talk to your heavenly father you haven't talked to him in months and been real you've been going through the motions but in reality you're so broken that death still doesn't make any sense to you that sickness still doesn't make any sense to you while your family ended up the way they ended up doesn't make any sense to you but ascend again just go up one more time because there's a word from the lord that he loves you that he cares about you that he has joy for you and hope and peace that passes

all understanding so ascend again come on don't stay in that low place but ascend again ascend back into the presence of god and hear the word of the lord come forth tonight even if you don't see it don't allow it to make you forget what god already said come on the container might be cheap and broken and battered and bruised and disgusting but the contents is still there the package might not be that pleasurable but the promise is still there so ascend again that's it can you be honest with god tonight can you really be broken with god tonight you

haven't slept good in months you hate what you see in the mirror because of what they said and done to you when you were younger can you ascend again today and be healed mentally can your let your emotions be reconciled today that's it come on elders let there be such a depth and intercession today for broken people come on ascend again i know there's nothing but elijah saying to send a kid go up again because i hear the word of the lord come on it's not time to worry about anybody else next to you right now it's time to get

the word of the lord again come on you've forgotten about it because of all the dirt on top of it why don't you dust it off and say god i'm gonna hold you to your word you're still awaymaker you're still a miracle worker god i'm gonna send again god help us to forgive we've been carrying that weight for so long help us to forgive we don't feel good enough we don't feel pretty enough we're smart enough but god help us to a syndicate come on all of us have scars all of us have been broken but let's ascend as a

youth group let's ascend as a church i put my faith god i want to do those great things that people have told me time and time again they said i'm going to do great things that i have a calling but where i'm at right now doesn't seem to make sense but i'm going to ascend again why don't you find somewhere and get close with god right now maybe go to a pew and just turn around and kneel down and bury your face in that pew and get a hold of god come on god is trying to speak to you in

you let the word of the lord reach to your heart right now i put my faith i put my trust in you i put my hope in you i put my faith in you for your glory i put my trust in you i put my hope in you i put my that's it be honest with god right now be honest with god right now don't go through the motions we put our faith in you god always always we put our trust in you god we put our hope in you god we put our faith in you god always always we

put our trust in you god we put our hope in you god we put our faith in you god always we put our trust in you god we put our hope in you god we put our faith in you god always we put our trust in you god we put our hope in you god past put your sin again get back up get back up right now we put our faith in you come on husbands and wives always fear is my bigger than god fear is not bigger than god no way is not bigger than god fear is not bigger

than god no way why don't we all go find someone and pray with right now as a church body as a youth group why don't we just pray together there's a lot of brokenness in the room right now and god is really trying to reach the people let the word of god go through you right now and encourage each other in the spirit that's it find someone and pray with them pray passionately right now we make miracle work promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is that's it this is a safe place this is a safe place to

be broken this is a safe place to have all that garbage and all the mistakes this is a safe place to lay down your burden to be vulnerable right now darkness my god jesus loves you he loves you you gotta believe it he loves you we resentment and bitterness god i need to give it to you it's eating me alive god i don't have any happiness ray maker miracle worker promise keeper hide in the darkness my god come on i that you've been abused and you've hit it from everybody else but give it to god right now work promise my

god that is who you are we make miracle work promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is you never stop you never stop working you never stop working miracle work promise keeper light in the darkness my god that is who you are we make a miracle worker promise keeper light in the darkness my god hide in the darkness my god that in the is my god that is who you are even when i don't see it you're working even even when i don't see it you're working i said if you feel the word of the lord for somebody

why don't you go and give it to him why don't you go encourage someone in the spirit right now come on god's not done yet find someone and pray with them right pray healing on their life and on their minds not just physical healing but mental healing and hope never stop working you never stop you never stop that's it we we've all battled there's no condemnation there's no condemnation there's no judgment this is a safe place we may hold today be healed