Get Ready

I'll be in the service Lord Jesus we praise you and we lift you up each and every individual in this place Lord let the Holy Ghost move as an unction Lord God into a faithful presence of your spirit Lord God as we lift up our hands and lift up our voices into your name in the name of Jesus church can we do that one more time can we rejoice in his name before we receded we thank you Jesus we love you Lord God we are blessed to be here Lord Jesus we are blessed to be walking in the service look out of where our minds are made up and our decisions are done in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus you can find your seat if you're not that's okay the Holy Ghost move let him move in the name of Jesus this week has been a little bit overwhelming when the enemy knows something's about to happen in the presence of God that's when doors start to open and your emotions and your actions in church and your home in your work life the decisions you make are troubled by the presence of God in your life by the enemy is a little bit upset for what's going to happen and I believe the Lord is going to move in tremendous ways in people's lives not just because of me or Pastor or Brother Sam or any leadership or anybody that has a position in the church or anybody that is here at the church in general is because God is God and we're not in the name of Jesus Pastor thank you so much thank you Lord for leading me and directing me right now I have a three-minute video if that's okay I'm going to start off if they could play that real quick that'd be amazing foreign where did your dreams go childhood Wishes the young and innocent heart the hopes to make the team more to make the winning play to make your family proud dreams to go somewhere to do something to become something to get out ahead of the world to leave behind your fears and worries to see how vast and beautiful the world can be to discover to dare to dive in to know and be known to love and be loved all of those dreams where did they go one day we wake up and we feel the weight of our decisions the consequences of what we've done what's been done to us the words the actions the lies the dictions the shame the Cycles anger the spiral there's an emptiness that sets in and all the years the days and the dreams that are gone we wake up and realize we're not as strong as we think we are and it may have taken a great sorrow for us to realize that but thankfully you're not the only one with a dream for your life there is one our maker our creator the dream Giver who before you were even born had a plan for your life a plan to prosper you and not to harm them the one who imagined you who Delights in you who gave up his own life for you he has a plan for you it's bigger than your mistakes bigger than your regrets bigger than all the hurts Hang-Ups and habits that have tried to steal your hope no matter where you've been and no matter what you've done you're not too far gone God is for you and his dreams for your future are good a future of Joy a future of purpose a future filled with Redemption and renewal promise and possibility don't stop now don't give up yet this is the part where the story gets good where the battles are one where the prodigals come home where the dead awake him to life your path fast there is a God who does the impossible there is more to come come Rejoice with us welcome Celebrate Recovery whole Ministries is not just a place of Sorrows and shame whole Ministry is just not for the homeless the hurting the neglected the divorce the uh the terrified that is broken that is manipulated the abused in any way or capacity we as a church have developed a a place of passion for those people to reach outside of the walls Pastor came to me last year as as a a burden unto him and conversations he's had with the Lord and a burden that I have in my life as well to reach those that are hurting to reach those that are broken reach those that are needing recovery and the Lord has presented this unto us as a place of Refuge but not a savior but a place to an altar that where God can create and renew amen as a small child I was homeless hunger neglected assaulted physically and mentally abused manipulated and terrified and broken while the rest of the world was being sucked away and being prayed for I was getting nothing to eat at night sleeping in a van because the drugs became the habit all I wanted was to be present and be shown Love by my parents as a teenager I was bitter cold angry lost lonely bullied and beaten I started working at 14 years old so I could bring a younger brother's of mine to food at home if it was just Little Caesars as long as I know they're getting fed as an adult I did everything I could to Barry and deny my past that I survived the hell on Earth that has been a brought upon me I made it out no longer had a power over me or the wrong the deeper I buried it the colder I became every slight inconvenience in my life just another way God has failed me and just Another Broken thing that I had left to fix I have already saved myself before look what I've already overcome myself gears into my marriage I have secured the kept a great job in a beautiful family served in Ministry and lived in comfortably and still single-handedly taking care of me and mine has anybody done that before has thought to well at least I can do it amen I am living comfortably still and no one was getting sympathy from me because of if I can overcome it you can as well you have never imagined the life I saved myself from life continues things go on I'm doing all that I things that I think I'm supposed to do right I am going to church I am paying my tithes I am preaching here and there working on and providing from my family I don't need people I don't need God I am my own savior in 2022 the trauma of the dark and painful past started resting in an ugly head in every ounce of insecurity that I have suppressed it became a rear into being a rear its ugly head before I knew it it has to consumed my unprocessed pain in my life the pressure of being a leader of my home and the leader of the church meant I could not let my weakness show it becomes You're vulnerable if you show weakness as a man I continue to pack it down because men can't admit when they are hurting they can't emit they are hurting we have an image an image to uphold I am a Christian I am a preacher I don't need recovery from my past we say I celebrate recovery hurt people when pain is ignored for too long it is Manifest in a way to treat those closest to you isn't ironic how we have pain and we are processed pain and we hurt the people around us rather than the people that have hurt us it happens so directly that you don't notice but they will you're conditioned by the environment you put yourself into the pain that is not processed no matter how hard I try to fight the pain of my past it catches a bump on me my pain was presenting into anger outburst it was made much easier to find someone else to blame and something else to fight my fear of being seen and weak and failing my family kept me admitting to anyone that I was in the fight of my life eternally inside I was wearing my press suits and carrying around my self-righteous attitude until I slowly recovered I'm packing my pain in our CR preparation period that was when a revelation happened why is this happening I am no addict I should not even be affected why because oh I have the Holy Ghost I don't need recovery but somewhere in the denial see our game and permission to feel and permission to heal I'm not saying CR is the Salvation what I'm saying it opens in diverse the categories that your life is presented to you to bring it to an altar of a christ-centered program for years I have lied underneath the misconception that I had saved myself I didn't have parents helping me I didn't have support God didn't know me and I didn't know him I was my own savior is anybody familiar with the saying that the first step is admitting you have a problem yeah when we have children and we look at our children we see what they're doing and they blatantly lie to your face you know like son I've seen everything we are children of God today God sees everything but it's when you still know that he knows but you're still going to keep your word saying the pen is blue but you know it's red no sir it's blue I'm gonna fight you until the end why because it is our self-preservation and a God complex hi I am a believer in Jesus Christ and I struggle with pride I'm a 30 year old a law-abiding sober Apostolic preacher who needs recovery from my hurts Hang-Ups and habits I have set on the pews beside you taught you taught your children in Sunday school and led you in prayer and served on the church leadership since 2017. I have just now been able to lay down my pride and admit the depths of the hurt to you all not because you aren't loving and kind people not because anyone in here has failed to minister or reached me our pastor has invested years of service into my Ministry and believed in me way before I have believed in myself thank you for that but I had walked this road with God so that I could stand here and tell you that you are not less because you hurt your habits and Hang-Ups bind you but you do not define you allow me to explain those that to identify with you uh hurt is a physical mental or an emotional pain has anybody been in pain anybody got a splinter the little sting in life but it hurts when you touch it a hang up the preoccupational fixation of a psychological block that makes it difficult to overcome one's situation or battle a habit a routine a behavior that is repeated regularly and a 10 to occurs subconsciously the American Journal of Psychology to find a habit from a standpoint of psychology as a more or less fixed way of thinking willing or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience my wife has told me when she's in Psychology class at these early ages of adolescence in two to three three to four four to five are the most impressionable years of your life what's daddy doing what's mommy doing they're very observant to see what you do those who drink or do drugs are self-medicated because they are either feel Unworthy of God's love or they have been introduced to our God they are desperately trying to numb the pain from the root but instead they are trying to kick off the branches we could all be in that situation if we were not for the grace of God the sermon that I am preaching today is get ready and Titus 2 11-14 for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying on godliness and worldly lust we must should live soberly righteously and godly and this present and this present world looking for the Blessed hope and the Glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all our iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people is zealous of good works who in here wants to be different but when you are introduced to a person or a stranger or a visitor you're like oh no I'm not that I'm I'm chill you put up a front another mask another hang up in 2020 y'all bear with me even through two even in 2020 there were 270 Hamilton County residents that have died of coven 160 are recorded of drug overdoses and the same year the police went to 570 recorded overdoses and in that 107 resulted in death get ready Hamilton County there were 201 homeless in 2021 they went up to 364 and 80 increase get ready receiving the Holy Ghost is 17 I didn't know that the battles that I fought had been through the toughness and the serving of God so when I fell I fell hard and when I was very stubborn it was very hard to recover I didn't even know how God's grace made room for my failures Ian can you come here brother you see when we're born and raised in church in a center like me at 17 18 years old take my hand brother we look at ourselves and we see ourselves what am I doing myself well when I fall I'm gonna fall hard if I'm a sinner don't know the grace of God but when I walked the path with someone that has brought hand in hand with me that has been through the battles that has been through the chaos that's been through the hurts the Hang-Ups and the habits and to be taught the foundation of God and the grace and the hope there is that person helps me up even though he is younger than me he probably has more prayer time than me even though the pain I went through doesn't mean he has not gone through that pain at a younger age but what I'm saying is it doesn't matter what age you are doesn't matter the experience you have been through it matters if you are here by a side by side and not putting the person that has been in your life in front of you but beside you why because the people besides you are going to lead you and direct you into a place that you need up why because if I let go of that hand and I fall what's going to happen I gotta have reach but if I keep on holding on is steadfast the grace of God is going to pick me up and put me back on the foundation of Praise thank you brother we gotta learn that there is praise and the prayer that God has given you we got to get ready it was when the pastor grabbed my hand and led me to a place where I could condition myself and learn how to pray and fast and to lean on the Lord and for those that have been in the same faith to help me lean as well get ready Church shagging Chattanooga is full of broken people just like me waiting for us to help the addicts the homeless up to teach them how to pray and lead them to an altar baptize them in Jesus name and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost I believe in this this very hour at this church you got to get ready because before you know it there's going to be drug dealers they're going to be addicts there's going to be prostitutions there's gonna be felons there's gonna be sexual identity people walking through those doors we gotta get ready and Exodus 14 13-14 and Moses said unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he shoots at the you today for the Egyptians whom he have seen today he shall see the image no more forever what I'm saying is when they were at the sea when God was about to split the river I don't the sea wide open and he's looking at it the people turn around and what the Lord is saying is those people you see your past that you see will be no more but because the wind blew the waves out he said On Solid Ground And when they got to the other side what happened the Lord washed it away in a physical matter the people seen that the grace of God says I could see my past but I don't understand what happened I can't see why this happened that way but I turned around to the grace of God back to where I was leading to the Valley and the Lord said unto me I do not have to see my past no more it does not define you yes it makes characteristics that the position and the condition but with those being said your life and your family depends on the grace of God and the water that you came from all right not only do I have my wife and my family fighting for me I have the Lord and my pastor get ready Lord Jesus Revival it's not coming it's not coming why Pastor because it's here it's in these pews right now it's in the places of your work it's in the places of the church and the places where you go to the grocery store it's the places where the Lord of Jesus Christ can set a fire and you and rekindle those stones that have been broken get ready it's here in Isaiah 6 1 through 1-7 the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed in me to preach the Good Tidings to the poor he has sent me a Healer of the Brokenhearted to Proclaim Liberties of the captives and the opening of the prisons for those who are bound you think it's crazy now wait till we get 20 inmates sin in the front you might be scared you might be a little bit discouraged you might have a little judgment idea of the mentality that you're going to face because trust me I had those same things and you're gonna face these things in life and you're going to say to yourself uh if you have not sinned you better cast the first stone but if not put it down because I'm telling you because those people that have come from prison it's the past but when the sea has came over and they've seen the others see they're like what can they be they might be the next pastor they might be the next satellite church they might be your next Sunday school teacher their son might be the best evangelist for the upci or for the church in general their dad or their mother might be the Evangelist that we need in verse 2 to Proclaim accepted the year the Lord and the day a virgin of vengeances of our God to comfort all who mourn to become so those who mourn in Zion to give them Beauty for Ashes the oil of joy for mourning the Garment of Praise of the spirit of heaviness they be called Trees of Righteousness they planting of the Lord that may be glorified verse 4 and they shall rebuild our old ruins they shall raise up from the former desolations and they shall repair their ruined cities the desolates of many generations who in here is tired of broken Generations yeah grandmother was in church but what happened to my father does that make me a first Pentecostal Church first Pentecostal generation to come but let me tell you something strangers in verse 5 shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the foreign shall be your plowmen and your behind dressers what this says is we're gonna have some strangers in the church but when you look at it they're going to be working together as one but we shall be named the priest of the Lord they shall call the Servants of our God and he shall eat Riches of the Gentiles and their Glory you shall boast instead of the shame you shall have doubled honor and his set of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion therefore in their land they shall possess double Everlasting Joy shall be theirs say goodbye to your past mistakes and hello to what the Lord is going to do in your life shake off those chains that bind you today freedom is here this is not your season of your past pain this is your season of healing Church get ready for the Lord is going to do as CAC for when we have and we understand the councils of this Lord Jesus Christ we understand that we can bring forth the fruits of the Lord you see when my father was not in church and when I was going hand in hand and there was alcohol drugs and everything in my life I'd never lived in a household that had Christmas I never knew who Jesus was until I had a Praying grandmother that had the anchor that pulled me that led me and direct me and that is one person in my life that I do love to till this day because with that person being loved they had brought me here not physically but prayer my wife told me these sometime ago my wife said I prayed for you I said I don't understand she said years ago my father my wife's father my her parents my wife and she told me her grandparents prayed for her future spouse little did I know that nights when it was below zero in Michigan sit in the car rusted floorboards maybe had a blanket maybe had some potted me to buy a new potomatous oh yeah 50 cents at Dollar General come on when we get that potted meat and we eat and we don't understand well I survive tonight will that will I be ever be found they're in multiple times when I cried I said if there's a God open do something because I don't understand but let me tell you something when your past is your past the Lord puts you through those things for a reason he strengthens you why because there's a Praying spouse in the future you might not know who Jesus is but your spouse does you might not know who Jesus is but your grandmother does you might not know who Jesus is but the person besides you says Lord bless them there's an unction there's a a diverse anointing on their lives that says Lord get them ready so church right now we got to Rejoice this we got to get ready for what the Lord is going to do here at CAC not only at CAC Hamilton County jails Silverdale we have Soddy Daisy we have the motor most parts of prisons and homeless shelters and uh Women in Need and home and orphans don't get me started on orphans but right now the increase is about to happen Revival is not common it's here salvation of the Lord is here so take your hand of your brother and sister and be ready I'm not saying to get ready for a the Rapture or anything to happen like what I'm saying is get ready because God is going to move and if you're not holding to on what the Lord is going to do in your life you're going to fall and fall hard but it's through that when the Lord lifts you up and tells you we got this so right now can we Rejoice can we Rejoice for what to do so get ready Church let's go