Green Grass In A Desert Place

Mark chapter 6 and John chapter 6, we can stand together as we read the word of the Lord. Mark chapter 6 and verse 34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw many people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. He began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, "This is a desert place, now the time is far past. Send them away that they go into the country round about and into the villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat." He answered and said unto them, "Give you them to eat." And they said unto him, "Shall we go and buy 200 pennyworth of bread and give them to eat?" He said unto them, "How many loaves have you? Go and see." And when they knew, they say, "Five and two fishes." And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. John chapter 6 and verse 8. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon brother's son unto him, "There is a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes. What are they among so many?" And Jesus said, "Make the men sit down." Now, there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number about 5,000. And for a few moments I'm going to preach on the topic of green grass in a desert place.

Say green grass in a desert place. Heavenly Father, we come to you one more time today. You visit us so beautifully today. Visit us again with your word. We could be changed to look like you through your word, we pray. Put your hands together one more time. You may be seated. 20% of the world is a desert. But I've never seen anybody really desire to go to the desert. My wife is here with me today. So glad to have her. And every once in a while she'll say, "We need to take a vacation." But it usually involves a beach somewhere. My wife never said to me, "Let's go to the desert to take a vacation." A desert is a dry place. It's a fight for survival cuz one thing you need to live as a human being is water. And where there is no water, you could lose your life. So no one likes to be in a desert place, a dry place with no water. Here were the disciples with a group of people, 5,000 men plus women and children in this desert, hot, lonely place. You ever notice in the Bible almost every time the disciples got in trouble, they were just following Jesus. They were sailors and fishermen. They knew when to go on the Sea of Galilee and when to not go on the Sea of Galilee. He would say, "Let's go to the other side." And halfway across, that storm would come that they knew was going to come.

LIKE, "JESUS, WHY DID YOU HAVE US COME OUT ON THE SEA TODAY? WE could have told you that we might lose our life." In this dry place they were at, they didn't wake up that morning saying, "Let's go in the desert with 5,000 people." They were simply following Jesus and found themselves in a dry place. I come to tell somebody today that sometimes just following Jesus, you find yourself in a storm. You say, "Jesus, why did you let me get in this storm?" He says, "Well, to me, it's not a storm cuz I control the wind. And it may be a storm to you, but it's not a storm to me cuz I can say, 'Peace, be still.'" To me, it's not a desert place cuz I control the rain. Anytime I get ready, I can make the rain fall where it wherever I need it to be. So I come to tell somebody today, just keep following Jesus. Even if you're in a storm, in a dry place, if he took you there, he can bring you through it. And sometimes God would take you places to build your faith because he took the fishermen in a boat in a storm, in the area they thought they did not need him. Cuz they know they need him to raise the dead, to feed 5,000, but they thought they could handle a boat. And sometimes God brings storms in your life where you think you don't need him.

The doctor has a medical problem. The accountant has financial problem. The lawyer has legal problem. Whatever you think you can handle, whatever you think you DON'T NEED GOD, GOD has a way to remind you you need him in every area of your life. So when the storms come, just trust God. And God has a plan. But bad enough, the 12 of them were in this dry place, this desert place. But they had over 5,000 people with them. There's one thing I know about church people. Don't let them get hangry. If I preach too long today and make you late for your lunch reservation, you don't care what I'm talking about. That man need to sit down. I'm hungry. Don't get in my way. And so it was a dangerous place to be with over 5,000 people there. And so they came to Jesus and said, "Lord, we know that you are not watching the clock, but we're in a dangerous, hot place with these thousands of people and we have no food. So let's dismiss the church service. Let them go out round about and find some bread." That was a legitimate, logistical question to ask of Jesus. But he came back with what looked like the most ridiculous question. He looked them in the eye and said, "Give you them to eat." They're like, "Jesus, if we had food, we'd have fed them already.

What kind of a question is that? We don't have food for ourselves." And they could have got mad at Jesus. I'm here to tell somebody today that sometimes you're in a storm. You're in a dry place. And you have nothing left. And God asks you to give more. God asks you to go again. God asks you to show up. God asks you to keep preaching. Keep witnessing. And you say, "But Lord, I'm going through so much. I can't do and I can't give anymore." Let me tell you something today. Anytime that God asks you to do something that's out of the realm of human possibility, you should be rejoicing because that's your invitation to THE SUPERNATURAL. GOD ASKS YOU to do stuff that you can't do so God can show YOU STUFF ONLY HE CAN DO. SO DON'T GET MAD WHEN he says, "Give." DON'T GET MAD WHEN HE SAYS, "GO." DON'T GET MAD WHEN he says, "Do." Cuz God wants you to know, "I've got a plan. You can't do it, but I can." So he looked back at them and say, "What do you have?" Cuz I believe when they left that morning, a lot of people had food. But they ate their sandwiches. They ate their burritos. They ate their There was all gone. Everything. They ate it all. They had no more food left. And Jesus asked that same question of you today.

Not what you used to have. Not what you're going to have. Not what you could have. Just what do you have today? All I need is what you have today. Those disciples could have said, "Well, this morning I had a whole loaf of bread. Yesterday I had 10 lb of meat." But Jesus I don't care what you used to have. I don't care what you're going to have. Just bring to me just as YOU ARE WHAT YOU GOT LEFT. IT MAY NOT look like much to someone else. But bring it to me. When Andrew found a little boy that had five loaves and two fishes. These were five little dinner rolls, two little sardines his mother packed for his lunch. Now, let me explain something to you. When that big, burly fisherman named Andrew came up on that little boy and said, "What you got there, boy?" And he gave him his lunch. He just thought Andrew was a big bully and going to eat it. He had no idea a miracle was about to happen. And see, that little boy had a choice. He could have said, "Well, this is enough to fill me. I could go around the corner and hide and eat it so at least I'm full. Who cares about the 5,000 people?" But he says, "You know what? I'm just going to give it up. It's all I got and I'm still hungry.

I'm just going to give it up." I come to tell you some of you are at a place where you have to make a decision to make a step of faith and let go of what you have and open your hands and see what God can do. And the Bible says he blessed that little boy's lunch, break it and shared it, everybody ate. And there were 12 baskets left over. But I read the scripture one day. What an amazing miracle. What a dramatic miracle that a little boy's lunch could do. This is the only miracle of Christ in all four gospels. And the miracle here is about the bread and the fish and the feeding. But when I read John, something stuck out to me. It said there was much grass in the place. Then I read Mark and Mark said there was green grass in the place. And there's nothing in the Bible by accident. So that bothered me. I went to bed thinking, in the middle of such an amazing story about the feeding of the 5,000, why did Mark have to tell us that there was green grass? And why did John have to say there was much grass? I believe that God began to speak to me and said, "You know what? The green grass that was there became a foundation of the greatest miracle that Christ would ever do." I'm here to tell you, nobody expected green grass to be in a dry place.

Nobody expected much grass to be in that desert place. I'm here to tell you that grass was not green by accident. That grass was not much by accident. That mean that somebody went out there and they planted some grass seed. And in a desert place, water is the most precious commodity. Someone in there took their scarce water and watered the grass. AND PEOPLE SAID, "WHY in the world, in a desert place, WOULD YOU CARE TO HAVE GREEN GRASS? IT'S DRY. IT'S DEAD. IT'S BROWN. IT'S HOPELESS. WHY DO YOU CARE?" I BELIEVE THAT somebody said, "You know what? I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. I don't know when it's going to change, but I got my faith and my trust in God. I want to plant my seed. I'M GOING TO WATER my seed, and I'm going to see." What God is about to do. I believe what happened was this. When they told those 5,000 men, plus women and children, to sit down, they were hungry, they were hot, they were discouraged, and ready to go home. They easily could have said, "Why should I sit down? I've been here all day. I'm hungry. I'm going home." But I believe they came around the corner, and they saw something that did not expect to see in the desert place. It was a valley that was full of grass, and it wasn't just a little bit of grass.

The Bible says it was much grass. It wasn't just barely there grass, brown grass. The Bible says it was green grass. And I believe they said, "Wait a minute. This must be a special place, cuz nobody thought in a desert place there's going to be some green grass." And he said, "Sit down on the green grass, and see what God is about to do." The hardest thing to do in a desert place is to plant grass, water grass, keep the faith, keep believing your miracle is going to come. When a dry place, grass does not grow by itself. In a dry marriage, grass does not grow by itself. In a dry ministry, grass does not grow by itself. With backsliding kids, grass doesn't grow by itself. Somebody has to say, "I'm going to build a foundation in my life. I'm going to build a place in my life. I may be in a desert place, but I believe God for a great miracle." Now, to understand why God's people found themselves in a desert place, you have to worry about the Genesis chapter 13. Because God told Abraham to leave Ur and go to the promised land, and promised it was going to be a place where your children would be like the stars in the sky. It's going to be a place where your children would be by the sand on the shore. This was going to be a special place.

But right when they got to the promised land, Lot and Abraham started having some family problems. And Abraham said, "Lot, there's too much strife. You have too much stuff, and I have too much stuff. Let's take a look to the left and to the right, and let's pick which way we would go. You go one way, I'll go the other way." And the Bible says that Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan that was well watered everywhere, even as a garden of the Lord. And Lot said, "Wait a minute, Uncle. If you let me pick, I'm going to go over here. There's a lot of water. There's a lot of grass. It's a well-watered valley. I'm going to pick that." Abraham said, "Okay, then I'll go here into the dry land, and that'll be my promised land." Now, you would think since Abraham was the one with the promise, he should have said, "Lot, tell you what. God spoke to me, and God said I'm going to be the father of many nations. And since I'm the father of many nations, I SHOULD GET TO PICK THE WELL-WATERED VALLEYS OF JORDAN FOR me and my family, and my future, and my generations." But you know what? Abraham understood it doesn't matter what dry place you're in. When God gets ready to do what God wants to do, it don't matter where you live.

It don't matter where you've been. It don't matter matter what put you there. You see, because the fact of the matter is generations later, God's people were in this desert place because Moses I mean Abraham had let Lot pick the other side. But Abraham knew something. When God has promised something to you, it doesn't matter how it looks to someone else. It don't matter if your family has been that way for generations. It don't matter what put you there. God is able to take anywhere you are and make something out of it. I talked about a little bit yesterday morning that God promised them the land would flow with milk and honey. And I talked about how the honey is the favor of God. It just dropped from the trees. It was a sweetness. They didn't work for it. But it's flowing with milk. That's just the opportunities God gives us in the promised land. He's saying you'll have a cow, and your car your cow will have water. It'll have grass. But that that milk requires work. It requires sacrifice. I'm going to tell somebody that when you're in a dry place, look for the favor of God. Look for the honey to drop undeserved the sweetness in your life. But also know sometimes God will open a door of opportunity that requires you to take a step of faith and walk through it.

God just doesn't drop it in your life just as favor. But sometimes you have to take a step in the dry place. And there's lessons that you learn in the dry place that shape you for future victories. Now, when I was growing up, my father was a missionary, nine kids in my family, and we never had money. And I didn't know we didn't have money because my dad was a preacher or because he had nine kids. So, I decided I'm not going to take a chance. I'm not going to be a preacher, and I'm going to have one child. That was my goal. No preacher, one child. I got accepted into law school. I was going to be a lawyer. I was going to be a rich lawyer. I was going to lie, cheat, steal. I was going to I was going to be rich. I I said, "I'm not going to be broke. I'm going to have money." But on my high school graduation night, God called me to the ministry. And I went to Bible college. But for years, every time the devil wanted to discourage me, he would touch my finances. And every time my finances were down, I was mad. God, this is why I didn't want to be a preacher. And I get mad at God. Wouldn't want to go to church. But I was pastoring. I had to I had to show up on Sundays, but I didn't want to be there.

And one day I got fired from my job through no fault of my own. God every day for 6 months searching for a job, and couldn't find a job. I tried to apply at fast food, and they said, "You You're just here for a stepping stone." I said, "Yeah, I am, but I need a job right now." And the lowest point for me, my daughter was about 3 years old, and we went to the grocery store to buy something. And all I had in my pocket was enough money to pay for what I came for. I had no money in the bank. I had no money on a card. And I I carefully counted what I had enough to buy what I came for and pay the tax. And my daughter asked for a $3 box of cereal. And for the first time in my life, I didn't have $3. And I'm in the grocery store crying like somebody just died. People probably thought this grown man must have got some I had tears dripping on the floor. SO, I SAID, "GOD, THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO BE A PREACHER. I CAN'T EVEN AFFORD A $3 BOX OF CEREAL." And I got I'm paying at the register, still crying. I can't stop. Tears are pouring. The cashier is like, "This poor guy must have lost his parents or something." I got in the parking lot, I was still crying.

And then God spoke to me. God said, "You've been out of work for 6 months." And I said, "Yes." He said, "Are your bills paid?" I said, "Wait a minute, God. My bills are paid. Is your mortgage paid?" I don't know how we even did it. My wife made a lot less. I've been living off my wife's salary those 6 months. I can't even tell you how, but every bill was paid. There everything was taken care of. And I said, "God, I repent in this grocery store parking lot, and I will never doubt you again in a dry place. I will never doubt that you could take care of me. I will never doubt that you can make a way." And since that time, the devil has tried many times to touch my finances and wait for me to get mad. But guess what I say? "Devil, I put some green grass down in a dry place." So, I may be in a dry place, BUT I'M NOT going to be discouraged. I'm not going to give up. We got a lot of young people here today, and I love to see them. But young people that are here, you're going to face some dry places in your life. You're going to have some issues and problems. Some of you are going through things right now your parents wouldn't even know about. Struggles, temptations, pressure from the world, and trying to figure out, amen, what you believe and why you believe it.

And he means to attack our young people through social media and things online and websites like we've never seen before. But I come to tell somebody today when you understand the God that we serve, when you understand that God is with you through it all, when you understand that what you have to do when you get to a dry place is say, "I'm just going to put down some green grass, and I'm just going to water it, and I'm just going TO TRUST GOD. I'M GOING TO BUILD A foundation for the miracle that God wants to do." I'm going to give you some steps today for how you can have green grass in a dry place. Look, Luke 8:11 says, "The seed is the word of God." James 1:21 says, "Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your soul." I come to tell you that every time you see grass somewhere, a seed had to be planted. And in your life, the seed that you must plant that's going to save your soul is the word of God. You have got to plant the word of God for yourself in your life. You got to plant the word of God in your marriage. Plant it in your kids. Plant it on your job. Plant it in your school. You got to understand that everything that's going to happen to you is going to come because you took the word of God.

And the Bible says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." And the way that you're going to have green grass in a desert place, your marriage, your life, your ministry, your children, your business, your finances must be founded upon the word of God and make up your mind. You know, God doesn't have any grandkids. You got to plan it for yourself. One of the most important things you could do after you plant the seed, the seed must be watered. If the seed is not watered, the seed will die. We say, "Preacher, once I plant the seed, how do I water the seed?" Look at Deuteronomy 32 and 2. The Bible says this, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the dew, as a small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass." What waters the seed of the word of God in your life is doctrine. We live in a world where doctrine is mocked and not respected. Cuz doctrine is talking about teaching by an authority. Doctrine is saying, "God's way is the only way." God's Doctrine is saying, "There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is the ways of death." If you want the seed of God's word to be planted in your life, understand the doctrines of the word of God need to drop in your life as the rain.

God's word and God's speech shall distill like you as a dew upon the earth. As a small rain upon the tender herb and as what? Showers upon the grass. That's why the devil fights our doctrine so much. That's why he doesn't want us to preach separation from the world. Preach what the word of God said. But every area of your life, it needs to be founded on the word of God. The Bible says, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." If you are a child of God and trying to walk with God, you've got no business talking to an unsaved person in their DMs, sending them pictures, CONNECTING WITH THEM. YOU GOT NO BUSINESS DOING THAT CUZ DOCTRINE NEEDS TO BE IN YOUR LIFE. AND the Bible says, "WHAT FELLOWSHIP DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS have with unrighteousness?" If you want your finances to be blessed, what does the Bible say? "Bring your all the tithes into the storehouse. There may be meat in my house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open you up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that shall not be room to receive it." You don't pay your tithes just because you want to give it to the church or for the pastor. You pay your TITHES CUZ THE DOCTRINE IS WATERING THE SEED OF YOUR FINANCE in your life. And you will never regret what you give to God.

But your finances will struggle when you try to plant a seed without watering it. Husbands that are here, how you water the seed of your marriage? The Bible says, "Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it." You say, "Preacher, I've loved my wife and I can't love her no more." Well, obviously not enough. You didn't die for her yet. That's the measure. As long as you're breathing, you got more loving to give her. You got to make up your mind. The only weapon you have as a husband is love. That's the only way you water your marriage. Amen. Not not a tone of authority, not saying I'm the head of the house. You love her and you love her and you love her as Christ loved the church. And that's how you water the seed of your marriage. Wives, the Bible says, "See that she reverence her husband." The way that you water the seed in your marriage is show respect to your husband. And some you say, "Well, preacher, my husband is not respectable. And you want me to respect him." Well, he has to love you when you're unlovable. So, turn about is fair play. Don't speak to that man like he's a child. Don't ever speak down. Don't embarrass him in front of people. Don't treat him like he doesn't know anything. You know, sometimes wives complain to me and say, "My husband does nothing around the house." I said, "When he dress the kids, do you redress them?" That's why he don't.

YOU DON'T LET HIM do nothing. He try to do something, you're going to redo it anyways. Well, I'll just let you do it. But you got to learn I'm going to give respect to him. Now, I don't let him look all crazy, you know. But, you know, give him some leeway, you know. Let him do something around the house every once in a while. Leave it alone. I'm talking about lining YOUR LIFE UP BY THE word of God. Not like you want to do it. Not like the world does it. But it's Lord, I've planted a seed in my life. I want to have green grass in a desert place. I want to water the seed. I'm going to live by the word of God. I'm going to guard my thoughts by the word of God. I'm going to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. But after the grass is watered, one of the most important things to have green grass is the grass has to be cut. You know, a blade of grass lives about 30 days. It's always growing from the bottom up. If you ever see anybody with a beautiful green lawn, you know, we overlook grass, you know. We don't talk about flowers, roses, lilies. We think grass isn't beautiful. But you you'll you'll be driving on the street. You'll be like, "Honey, look at that. Look at Look at this lawn.

I wish all your yards looked like that." It looked like a golf course. Something about a beautiful green lawn. It just catch your eye. You say, "Wow." But guess what? He's out there every other day cutting that grass. You don't want to cut yours. That's why yours don't look like that. But they know if a ball field or golf course wants green grass, they water it and they cut it continuously because they want that new blade that comes up every 30 days, that green to be showing. You say, "Well, well, preacher, how do I cut the grass?" Well, 1 Peter 1:24 tells us because it says, "For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of men as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower falleth, but I heard it tell you today, amen, that how you cut the grass is denying your flesh. And we don't like that word deny. We don't like the word discipline. In fact, the Bible says, talking about power, "This kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting." In America, we don't like fasting. We like to eat. And I don't eat breakfast almost any day, ever. And I skip lunch most days and never get hungry. But the day I say I'm going to fast, I got a headache by 10:00 a.m. Now, some of you you might have some physical reasons, you know, low blood sugar, you can't I'm talking about the rest of us no issues.

But let me tell you something. That's all in your mind. Cuz you can go 3 days without water, 7 days without food with no harm to your body for most of us. But I have that headache in my head that if I don't eat, I'm going to die. I can walk in a Chick-fil-A and smell the fries, and my headache goes away. I didn't even eat it. THAT'S ALL IT'S ALL IN YOUR MIND. You're not even that hungry. Cuz if you really were hungry, it's start when you have to eat. It's got to be digested. Got to be It was all a mind game cuz your body did not want to be subjected to the spirit. I'm here to tell you that if you want to have green grass in a dry place, you must learn to live a lifestyle of denying this flesh, saying no to this flesh. You can't give this flesh everything it wants. You'll never buy enough stuff for the flesh to be satisfied. You got to ask God to help you. Struggling with pornography and websites you have no business being on. You got to cut this grass. You got to cut it every day. YOU SAY, "MY FLESH is as grass, and I want to be green grass in a desert place. I got to deny myself. I got TO PUT MYSELF DOWN SO God can be lifted up." And that is one of the most important things that you could do.

I heard a story one time about a young man that got saved, and he came back the next week, and the pastor said, "How's your walk with God going?" He said, "It's hard. I feel like there's two horses in me fighting me. One pulling me to do bad, and one helping me to do good." He said, "Well, which horse is going to win?" He said, "The one I feed the most." And there's a lot of truth in that. If you spend all week listening to worldly music, watch all kind of worldly stuff online and on TV, and come to church for 2 hours a week, and expect your spirit to win that battle. I'm here to tell somebody, your deliverance is closer than you think. Some of you think you could never be set free. You could never stop doing some of the habits and addictions you have. I'm here to tell you, if you make a lifestyle of denying this flesh, and get up in the morning, and before you check social media, watch your news, spend time in the word of God, spend time in scripture and praying, have a regular habit of fasting, make the spirit stronger than the flesh. It don't matter what dry place you go through. The grass will stay green. There must be distinction. Genesis 1:11, and God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit shall yield its fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself." Let me explain something to you.

Every seed has a unique DNA to produce one thing. And the Bible says, "You cannot love God and man. Friendship with this world is enmity with God." You actually It's hard to plant two types of grass in the same lawn because one type is going to drink more water. One type is going to get taller and get all the light, and the other one's going to die. And that's why a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. So, when you decide to plant the seed of God's word in your life, and you deny your flesh, you got to be able to know I want to be distinct and belong to God. The way I dress, the places I go, the things I say, all I do, I want to be identified with him because I don't know what's going to happen in my life and what next dry place is going to come on. But I want to be the one that God wants me to be and live the life that God wants me to live. What's beautiful about this, like I said, we overlook the grass. But look at Matthew 6:30. The Bible says this, "If God so clothe the grass of the field, as big as God is in heaven, he wakes up, sticks his hand into the earth, takes a little seed and he dresses the blade of grass.

Love is that God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven. Shall he not much more clothe you, oh ye of little faith? You have been designed by God. Every part of your personality, every talent you have, every gift you have, God knows every weakness you have, every struggle you have, but guess what? God has designed you and God has a plan for your life. And when you submit your life to God's hand, God can begin to clothe you and prepare you and shape you for the person that God wants you to be. God can never show you what's around the corner. If God shows you where he wants to take you 10 steps from now, you would run cuz you'd be scared cuz you're not you'd be scared I can't do that, God. But God only shows you what to do one step at a time. Take that step, whatever it is. Take that step and let God show you the next step and THE NEXT STEP. GOD IS DESIGNING YOU. GOD IS preparing you for greatness. And the last thing we're going to look at, green grass in a dry place, sets you up for your destiny. Because Job 5 and 25, after Job had lost all seven of his kids, after Job had lost all of his wealth, and Job was in a very dry place, Job 5 and 25, he says, "Thou shalt know also that day that thy seed shall be great and thy offspring as the grass of the earth." When you decide to create green grass in a dry place, you're building your family for future generations.

My wife and I have two beautiful grandkids in Tampa, Florida. They really changed my life cuz when my kids were here, I was more focused on, you know, raising them, providing for them, disciplining them every once in a while. Those were really my wife's job. But focus but my grandkids have great parents, I get to just spoil them. That's my legacy. That's my future. And it's a beautiful thing. You start looking down the road, what's going to be here when I leave this earth? And when you make those decisions, you know, my dad was an alcoholic. My grandfather died cirrhosis of the liver. He was an alcoholic, died when my dad was 16. My dad's own family told him, "You're going to die like your dad died." When my dad went to Liberia, West Africa in the military, he went there to drink and get high. He heard there were a lot of drugs there that you could buy very cheap. But guess what happened? He came to a Pentecostal altar one night and God filled him with the Holy Ghost and baptized him in his name. He went home and threw all the alcohol away, got rid of the drugs. So, instead of me being raised by an alcoholic and a drug addict, I was raised by an apostolic preacher and A MINISTER. THAT'S WHAT YOUR LEGACY CAN do for you. I don't care what your life was like before.

I don't care what your parents did and your grandparents did. Stop making excuses and you can decide I'm going to plant some green grass in a dry place. And Job didn't even have any children, but he said, "My seed is going to be great and my offspring as the grass of the earth." The reason why the devil fights you so hard, he's not just trying to take you out. He's trying to take out future generations not yet born. But today, when you decide to walk with God faithfully, you decide when I'm in a dry place, but I'm not going to stop coming to church. I'm not going to stop doing what God called me to do. I'm going to keep paying my tithes. I'm going to keep loving my wife, respecting my husband. I'm going to raise my kids. I might have lost my job. I might be going through some health challenges. I'm in a dry place right now, but I'm preparing a foundation for my miracle, so I won't be identified by this dry place. I'm going to put some green grass down and I'm going to water it and God's going to show up and that will be the foundation for your miracle. As we stand, you put up the last slide I have there. Amen. I was raised in Liberia, West Africa. I was riding down the road one day and I saw a fire just like this.

And I said, "What horrible fire happened here?" Some of you your life 2025 look just like this. For some of you did you recognize this? Your year last year, what you'd be going through in your family. And I said, "What horrible fire happened here?" They said, "Oh, no, no. That was set on purpose." I said, "Why?" He said, "You know, we grow rice here. That's our cash crop." And the farmer goes out year after year and plants rice, but we don't have the best fertilizers and irrigation. And one year the farmer goes to plant rice and it doesn't grow, it's only half grown. There's no harvest that year. But they've learned that they will burn down that field with a half-grown harvest and come back the next year and plant seed in the ashes. They get the best crop of rice they've ever had from that field. All the years before when it gave harvest, the the soil is renewed and just like it was the day that God made it. So, I'm here to tell somebody today, your life may look like this right now, on fire, burnt, destroyed. And you're embarrassed by that. Look at the mess that you're going through in your life. But I'm here to tell you, even if that's your life right now, you can still grow green grass in a desert place. Because there's something that God put in the DNA of that soil that says, "Go ahead and plant the seed." It looks like it's destruction, devastation.

It looks like there's no hope. Burnt black ashes are all that remains of your life. But if YOU WOULD TRUST GOD AND SAY, "GOD, I'M I'M GOING TO PUT down some green grass in the desert place. I'm going to keep my faith and my trust in you. I'm going to plant the seed. I'm going to water the seed with doctrine. I'm going to deny my flesh and keep my flesh in subjection. I'm going to welcome the fact that I am designed by you and I'll be distinct from the world. I won't look like, talk like, or be like the world. And God, I'm building a destiny. I'm working on my future. I care about my children and grandchildren that are not yet born. And God, help me, Lord, not to get discouraged and not to give up, but keep green grass in the desert place. Let that become the foundation of your greatest miracle. Heavenly Father, right now we come to you. I'm going to invite you down to the front right now. Don't look around. Don't wait for others. But say, "Lord, I'm going to put some green grass down." You might not be in a dry place today, but you could be tomorrow. You got to make up your mind and say, "Lord, I'm putting my trust and faith in you." You can't wait for things to get better to plant the grass.

I don't care if it looks like that burnt field. I don't care what is going on. God has promised to not put more in you than what you could bear. Will you make up your mind today and say, "Lord, I'm living for you. I'm not going back to this world. I'm not going to be double-minded. I'm living for you. I'm committed. I'm going to put doctrine in my life. I'm going to deny my flesh. I'm going to do what you called me to do. God has a blessing. Let's put some green grass down in a dry place. Young people, put your faith and trust in God. In the name of Jesus, help us right now, Lord, to make up our mind to Lord, we're going to put down much green grass in the desert place and watch you do the biggest miracle you've done in my life. Build the foundation what only you can do. Lord, let your will be done in our lives as we commit ourselves to you today. Let us follow your word and the principles of your word to be who you would have us to be. Put our faith and trust in you in Jesus' name.