Midweek Service

it is our honor to be here tonight at atlanta west pentecostal church for the annual missions conference honor to be here with your pastor daryl johns and his wife and family and congratulations to him amen as a new assistant general superintendent of the eastern zone for the united pentecostal church i think it's quite an honor and a testament to your pastor and how he's viewed as one of the greatest leaders in our movement and god has petitioned him to help bring revival not just here in atlanta to georgia and not just in the eastern zone but around the world by virtue of his position we thank the lord for him amen also glad to have my wife here with me tonight and appreciate brother john's allowing her to be here i think churches like me to bring my wife because i preach shorter you know and she keeps me in line so i think they'd like her to come along better than having a timepiece amen good to be here on this wednesday night with you and appreciate again this missions conference while you're standing judges chapter 16 and verse 20 acts chapter 16 and verse 24 and first corinthians chapter 10 will be our three key texts tonight appreciate brother ryan johns and this great worship king leading us and before the throne in worship tonight judges 16 and 20 in the scripture says and she said the philistines be upon these samson and he awoke out of his sleep and said i will go what is it other times before and shake myself and he was not that the lord was departed from him but the philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought down to gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house however yet the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven verse number 30 and samson said let me die with the philistines and he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein so the dead in which he flew at his death were more than which he slew in his life acts 16 and verse 24 talking about paul and silas who haven't received such a charge thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks and at midnight paul and silas prayed and sang praises unto god and the prisoners heard them and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken and immediately all the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed in our last portion of scripture first corinthians 10 and verse 13 and the bible says this there is no temptation taking you but such as is coming to man but god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above all that you're able but with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it and for a few moments tonight i'm going to preach on the topic of god's escape room heavenly father we come to you right now lord we come to you in the name of jesus i ask you lord to quicken our minds and hearts to receive a word for you uh let us be changed into your image from glory to glory and let us know that you made a wave escape for us in every situation and trial so we don't have to be afraid in the name of jesus uh put your hands together one more time as you are seated [Applause] i know tonight is a mission service and conference and some of you may have came expecting some sort of program but for a few moments tonight i want to ask you if you let me just preach to you for a few moments uh i believe that someone came in tonight that needs a word from the lord someone came in tonight a little bit dragging not even expecting to come into the house of the lord because of what that you are going through but i come to tell somebody that we serve a god who was promised to make a way of escape for you in spite of what you're going through you got to put your faith and your trust in god you see one day i was riding down the road and my favorite song came on by mary mary and it said take the shackles uh off my feet so i can dance and i turned the radio up and i was listening to my jam and sometimes god has a way of ruining my jam sometimes i'm riding down bouncing to the beater and the lord began to say to me you know what if you're going to be a child of god sometimes you have to learn to praise me with the shackles still on your feet oh it sure would be nice to say take the shackles off my feet so i can dance but if you're going to be a child of god sometimes you got to learn how to praise god before you get the doctor's report before you get the credit report before the judge comes back in the room sometimes you can't wait and say take the shackles off my feet so i can dance somehow you got to find a way to dance right now you see but the word of god says that god has made a way of escape for you and i begin to look into that scripture and i realize when the bible talks about a way to escape that is something that's in the very nature and the dna of god because all of god's creation was made good but god knew his creation would not stay good god knew it may get messed up so god put something inside his creation to always have a way of escape i was raised in liberia west africa and the primary crop there was rice and growing rice and right down the road one day i saw look like acres of land that was burned down to the ground and i said what horrible fire happened here they said oh no this was not a horrible fire we we go out and we plant rice every year and one year the farmer goes out there to plant rice and the grain and the harvest is not that good instead of harvesting the rice he intentionally burns that entire year's crop and you know why because they learned that in those ashes in that destruction when they come back the next year and they plant a new crop they get the best harvest they've ever received because god puts something in the ashes of a destructive fire that rejuvenates the soil and makes it brand new again you can go to a place that had a forest fire and there's nothing green and growing and come back a few years later and the grass is growing and the birds are singing and the trees have come back because god says even after the destructive force of a fire there's got to be a way to come back even when he made man the bible says in john 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god in verse 14 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us that greek word for word the logos is a mind or the thought of god but that lets me know as the hands of god were making adam from the dirt of the ground the mind of god was making a lamb that was foreordained before the foundation of the world because god knew that adam and eve were going to sin and so his mind said i must make a lamb i must come robed in flesh as a word made in flesh because there must be a way of escape for all of god's creation i've always been fascinated by the miracles in the bible of those that came to jesus and i'm here to tell you today if you like blind bartimaeus if you cry out tonight before you leave jesus uh thou son of david have mercy on me i come to tell you he is the waymaker and the miracle provider and if you cry for mercy he will respond so i'm not discouraging you from calling out to god tonight but for some reason i've always been fascinated by those a man that jesus went to who did not come to him because one day he told his disciples i must need to go through samaria and they said jesus why would you go through samaria people that look like us people that come from where we come from people that have what we have we do not go through places like samaria they call those people's dogs and outcasts and look down upon them but there was just one woman that was on her way to a well all alone her life was a mess she'd been married five times and divorced five times and the man she lived with now was not even her husband and guess what jesus said i gotta go to samaria because there's a lady there that does not know there is a way to escape there is a lady there that does not know about the living water if you're here tonight and your life is a mess you've been married and divorced five times now you live with somebody even your husband and don't see your way out in your life he says what she can't come to me so i must needs go to samaria because why there has to be a way to escape there was a man that laid by a pool for 38 long years had a certain season the water was troubled and the first one in the water would be healed i believe that christ came to the pool of mercedes that day ready to heal everybody he began to ask sir do you need help sir can i help you and they were like no i'm good my son is here next time the water's troubled we're right next to the pool we have our spreadsheet and algorithm plan and i'll get healed but one man said sir i have no man i have no one i've been here for 38 years all alone and there's nobody i can turn to nobody to help me i have no man and he said what rise take up your bed and walk because why i created you and you must know there must be a way to escape and there was anybody that the devil had in his wind column there was anybody the devil had a room in hell waiting for him with a nameplate on the door was a man named legion full of devils in a graveyard naked stripped down his own family took him out there and chained him i wonder how much food they left because he was going to starve to death in just a matter of time he broke the chains and he was naked bleeding and alone but christ those disciples let's go to the other side even though a storm was coming and they almost died in the storm because why there was a man full of devils that the devil had possessed and he was naked he was alone he was bleeding he was by himself but christ said i must go to the other side because legion needs to know there is a way to escape but i come to tell somebody today when you find yourself where you don't see a way out you don't know a way out you don't have a way out that's when jesus so i got to come to you i've got to meet the woman at the well i've got to meet the man at the pool for 38 years i've got to go to the gatherings and find the legions uh so they could be set free i come to propose you today i thank god for this beautiful building we're in tonight atlanta west pentecostal church and i propose to you tonight there's 4 147 churches in north america and all they exist for is to be god's escape rooms all they exist for is a place for the sick and the hurting and the dying and the laws to come into a building and know there is a way of escape god has a plan for my life but it's not over for me it's just a place where we can say i don't have the answer and you don't have the answer but we serve a god who does have the answer so glad to be here in your missions conference and this is not a church that just talks about missions this is a church that gives to mission uh just this year alone in the move the mission offering from youth ministry this church gave a mind-blowing uh 356 thousand dollars to move the mission forward around the church and what is that offering going to do it's going to let the church go all around the world and build more escape rooms it's going to let the church go around the world and build more places that people can't come to and find out there is a god that made them it don't matter what mess their life may be in but there is a way to escape right now around the world outside of north america united pentecostal church has 4.6 million members outside of north america we have 1 235 global missionaries under appointment in 232 countries in territory territories only 13 right now without a church and around the world we have 37 832 churches or escape rooms that are preaching this acts 238 message to reach the billions of people lost around the world over a hundred and eight thousand people baptized in the name of jesus in the last year that's what move the mission does it helps us to reach around the world but in this last year with the pandemic missionary travel was shut down global travel was shut down and global missions thought there's no way we're going to open a new worker and appoint a new missionary but youth ministries went to madagascar on an ayc trip you can put up the first picture for me and they found out there was a territory called mayota that has over 270 000 people in this little island of mayo that did not have an apostolic witness and youth ministries partnered with the nation of madagascar and they appointed tion and oni relison to go to mayota and to build an escape room for thousand people in the midst of covert in the midst of a pandemic move the mission was able to go to a brand new territory and establish an apostolic church last year you gave over 45 000 to christmas for christ that is the primary means that we use to support 387 north american missionaries around north america 45 one hundred dollars given by this church to the cause of christmas for christ you say where does that money go uh i will show you first a picture of the church that my wife and i founded in tampa florida you go to the next picture amen on the worst street corner that you can find in tampa we've had drive-by shootings we've had gang members fighting uh we've had stabbings in that parking lot every day we would come there and there will be drug deals and prostitutes working in that parking lot and you say why would you put a church on that street corner i will tell you why because everybody needs to know there is a way to escape but it don't matter what type of pound they live in it don't matter what lifestyle that they may have jesus said i must need go to samaria and every city in america has a samaria a place for the outcast a place where it's forgotten a place that's overlooked and every street corner like that needs to have a way of escape you'll put up the next picture up there this is one of our newest church in the days in colorado between denver and grand junction colorado as 250 miles over four hours of driving time and in between those two not only was there no united pentecostal church but to the best of our knowledge amen there was no apostolic church for that entire 250 mile stretch of i-70 and i've talked to pastors in colorado over the years and they would meet people that lived in vail and all these towns that are in that area and they had no church to send them to but the gonzalez family went to gypsum where you see that red dot there and they decided we are going to put a way to escape right here in gypsum colorado in between grand junction and denver so no longer do people have to drive four hours to find an apostolic church and they went in there to build a church in a day program and it usually costs about a hundred thousand dollars to build a church of the day but with the rises in price last year during covent and the cost of things in colorado that building there cost over three hundred thousand dollars to build but because of move the mission because of christmas for christ because of church in a day the united pentecostal church came together and they built that church and that little picture you see there that is the very first service in gypsum colorado they've been having meetings in their home but after building that building in the middle of nowhere in colorado what did people do they flock to the church to find out what there must be a way to escape that's what christmas for christ does that's what move the mission does that's where your money goes you go to the next picture my wife and i went to life center in fresno california a short while ago and this is a beautiful church you see the picture on the outside saints worship on the inside churches five years old had about 250 people there on that sunday morning what was unusual about this church i was talking to people after the church and shaking their hands and i couldn't find one person who had been shot or stabbed as a matter of fact i told the pastor you know to do like a game shadow stabbed eight times you know let's you know five times let's see who's been shot and stabbed the most most people in there have been shot or stabbed three times or more at least hearing their testimony of these former gang bangers and and what they've been living in on the street but right there in the middle of that shopping center you can go to the next picture we walked out of that beautiful church and to the left of that church the first thing i saw was a left man tie spa next to that was a tattoo studio on the end was jr smoke shop you come out the front doors of that church and go to the right you got a marisco's restaurant to feel nutrition in the last business and then go to the last picture was green lily massager and i told the pastor i said you know what right here in the midst of a massage parlor in the midst of a smoke shop in the middle of that two parlor people need to know don't come to this plaza for a tattoo don't come to this plaza for cigarettes come to this plaza and receive life at life center at fresno i come to tell somebody today that we serve a god that made a promise that says there must be a way to escape and the reason why you give to mission is that someone can go and someone can say [Applause] i'll go there i'll reach there i'll put a church there if no one else will go i won't make them drive 250 miles to find an apostolic church but i put an escape room that could reach the laws you know what part of our problem is we talk about a way to escape sometimes it's not that god is not working is that we don't understand how god works you see when i was younger my first daughter was about three or four years old you just have a big ass you know back they had those big kid and play afros on top of your head and every day i come home from work my daughter will say dad let me comb your hair it's gonna come as a surprise to you as tough as i look i have a very tender scalp and i would sit on the couch in front of her and she would take one hand and she would yank my hair as hard as she could she would yank my hair so hard that tears would come down my face take the other hand and take the brush mom used to comb her hair and she would hit me as hard as good on the side of her head so i'm sitting there she's yanking my hair beating me with the brush i'm crying and my wife will say why you let her do that to you makes her so happy you know first child you'll do anything but one day i was sitting there in pain and crying and i thought to myself why does my beautiful little princess want to beat up on me so much i feel like the lord spoke to me and said you know why she does this because that's how it feels to her when mom combs her mom says sit here let me comb your hair and all she feels is yank yank yank pull pull pull hit hit hit uh she don't even know there's a process going on there's a beautification taking place and some of you that's how you came into church you thought somebody just beaten up on you you thought the pastor didn't like you he was just hitting you and yanking you around i come to tell somebody there's a process that god does to make a way to escape for you and that's why some of y'all like to beat up on the new saints huh because you thought you got beat up on uh but there's a process that you must go through [Applause] you see look at acts chapter 16 paul and silas were arrested and they were put in prison and the plan was to kill them the next day and the plan was to put him in the prison and peter got out of prison after being put in the prison and so this time they wanted to make sure that paul and size were not going to get out of prison and they told the jailer put them in the inner prison it wasn't pretty jails like today this was a whole dirty nasty place wet snakes rats whatever crawling on them put their feet in stocks where they can't move a muscle and we're going to come back and we're going to kill them tomorrow let's look at acts 16 and 25 on the screen and the bible says what happened at midnight at the darkest time of the night at midnight what happened paul and silas prayed paul and silas prayed and what and saying praises unto god i come to tell somebody today that when you're looking for a way to escape her one key is to pray first it's so important to pray yeah because prayer is what builds a relationship with god but don't start with praying go on and praise god right there in the midst of your circumstance see the bible says that god inhabits the praises of his people and it's important to pray first because prayer builds a relationship with god and without a relationship praise is meaningless you see if you come up and tell me i love you i like how can you love me you just met me yeah but when my beautiful wife says i love you after what i've put it through for the last 30 years it means a lot to me there's a relationship to back it up so you're not going to smooth talk mac daddy god when you get into a problem with no relationship and think you're going to praise god and god's going to show up but let me tell you something first you have to pray but don't stop with praying you have to praise and why is that because the fact of the matter is if we had to choose between god inhabiting our prayers or god inhabiting our praise we would choose god to inhabit our prayers because our prayers are all about us and we much rather talk about what i need than what you need and so when you pray which is so important and you stop there it's all about you but you see what in prayer you tell god about your problems but in praise you bless him in spite of your problem in prayer you tell him what you need but in praise you give him what he needs [Applause] prayer is all about you but praise is all about him but look what happened when they started to praise this is where we miss sometimes how god works because what we would have thought god would have done when they started praising him he would have showed up with the angel like he did for peter and he said that he would unlock the keys and take him by the hand and walk them out of jail but look at acts 16 and 26 with me again because sometimes the worst thing you can do is say things are not going to get worse because just when you think things are not going to get worse they just get worse paul and silas are locked up and they can't move with muscle there's a death sentence over their head and look what happened in verse 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake wait a minute god i'm in prison and i'm going to be killed tomorrow morning my feet are in stocks and i can't move a muscle i'm singing praises to you and saying what a mighty god we serve and now i'm dodging bricks and i'm dodging two by fours and the roof is falling in and the floor is moving beneath me things just got worse i come to tell somebody today when you praise god in the midst of your situation god says you know what i am going to destroy the very foundations of what the devil has used to bind you because when the earthquake happened the foundations of the prison were shaken and this time when you come out of this you cannot go back and be what you used to be you can't go back and do what you used to do because i've shaken the foundation of the thing that used to bind you you see peter prayed and got out of prison but guess what the prison was still standing but this time when paul and silence praised god says what i will destroy the very foundations of what has bound you and some of you today you're in the earthquake phase god's making a wave escaper but right now everything in your life has fallen apart especially in new converse you go through a phase or everything you touch seems to fall apart you'll lose every friend you lose every dollar you lose your job you have nowhere to turn you know what god is saying i'm shaking the foundation of the things that have bound you and your family for generations and when i am done you will never go back to who and what you used to be because the foundations of what you survived you have been taken away look what happened next in verse 26. that suddenly all the doors were open all they wanted was one door all they wanted was a window all they wanted was one way out but there there's a door open here a door open here and a door open here and a door open here all around they look all they could see was open doors but guess what they're so tied in the stocks and can't move a muscle it's a frustrating place to be when you finally can see an open door you finally see a light at the end of the tunnel this time it don't look like to be a train for once you finally see a way out of your situation but you can't move a muscle you've been a day late and a dollar short your whole life and finally you say honey i i got a way out we're not going to lose the house you know we're going to be able to pay the bills uh they're not going to take the car uh i'm going to weigh out i'm going to find a way out of this medical situation i finally see a way out i see an open door but i can't move a muscle to get there it's a frustrating place to be where you have the faith to see an open door but you can't move a muscle because god has not released you yet i come to tell somebody god wants to make sure that you see a way out of your mess but sometimes he know you're not quite ready to walk through that open door and keep going in the right direction so sometimes you got to sit there for a while and you say pastor when am i going to get to preacher when am i going to get the teacher what am i going to get to leave he says it's not your time yet honey there's an open door in front of you but it's not yet time there's one thing about the scripture promises when god opens the door that no man can shut it you should be thanking god that you see an open door maybe you can't get there yet maybe you're still tied up and maybe you can't move a muscle but god is showing you there's a way out of your situation so don't be frustrated bumping doors that you can't get to but the funny thing about doors you know doors work two ways all of a sudden there was a door open and the prisoners could see outside to freedom but also the free people walking outside could look in and see prisoners and no one came to help them god forbid when people walk through the doors of this church that don't speak your language that don't smell like you do that don't vote like you do we look down on them and say look at you prisoner but when god puts an open door before you somebody put an arm around them somebody loved them somebody say such worth some of us but we are washed and we are sanctified and we are justified in the name of the lord jesus and by the spirit of our god [Applause] look at the universe 26 it was only after the earthquake came foundations were destroyed it was only after open doors stood there that no one could get through that finally happened that we thought should have been first everyone's bands were loose paul and silas were the only two praising god but when they began to praise god the murderers the thieves the rapists the crooks everybody was loser i come to tell somebody today when you learn to serve the god of escape the god that makes a wave escaper you learn to praise god with the shackles still on your feet god that's when i come to lose you i'm gonna lose your wife i'm gonna lose your husband i'm gonna lose your kid i'm gonna lose your friend because you praised me in the midst of the situation and believe me in the midst of what you're going through i'm here to tell you that weeping may endure for the night but joy is coming in the morning and when i show up [Applause] i'm letting everybody go i come to tell you today that we serve a guy who makes a way of escape you know we read the story of samson in the beginning and there's something always puzzled me about samson why did god put the strength of samson in his hair because the hair is the weakest part of your body look at me at the top of my head i got less hair than i used to have nobody look at pastor right now i said why did god put the strength of sept in his hair you read the story of samson and samson had to be the dumbest man alive he let delilah come and trick him delilah came and said tell me where your great strength lies you know what i think about samson i think we misunderstand is we think samson was eight foot tall and weighed 300 pounds samson was a big looking dude nobody would say where your great strip like i believe sampson was about four foot eight and weighed like 80 pounds skinny little run nobody knew where his strength lied and he said if you buy me with green whips amen then i'll be like other men samson the philistines are here second time you buy me with new ropes i'll be like other men sam said to philip says hampshire can't you see she's no good for you you're telling your secret and she's trying to set a trap for you then the more you play with the truth the more you give up he said if you weave my hair like seven locks a hair samson three times samson you told her your secret and she used it and called the phillips house into your bedroom can't you figure out that she's no good for you but the last time she said if you cut my hair off i'll be like other men and so she cut off his hair and call the philistines and when the saddest verse in the bible that we read in judges 16 and 20 is that samson once not that the lord had departed from him let's look at judges 16 and 21 again what did they do to him the first thing they took him and they blinded him because the first thing the enemy always does he blinds you and takes away your vision so you don't see what he's doing to you the second thing in verse 21 they took samson and they bound him with fetters of brass brass he used to break in his sleep but now they bound him the devil binds you so you have no hope but then they put him in the prison house to grind so here's samson every day blinded can't see nothing bound can't move grinding and that's how people live there some of you here tonight you live your life like this bound blind just grinding just trying to make you say after oh i want to be this when i grow up oh i want to do this for the kingdom of god now i just want to make it a friday make it a payday and that's why it's like we need more churches we need more missionaries because the enemy has people blinded he has people bound and all they do is just grinding you see a lot of people hanging on the street corners drug dealers other people in samaria but guess what they're just grinding that's all they do get up every day and like simpson they're blinded and they're grounding and that's how they live their life every day every just grinding bound them blind and grinding and don't even know there's a way of escape with them let's look at verse number 22 on the screen i read this verse one day and the lord said you know why i had to put samson strength in his hair that put it in his arm and they cut his arm off it'd be over for him his legs they cut his legs up look at verse 22 how be it the hair on his head began to grow again after he was shaving you know what that tells me was every day of samson was her grinding he would rub that bald head it was a symbol of his shame the head used to be full of the hair of the glory of god where his strength came from and he would rub that bald head and he would say samson how stupid are you delilah came to you three times your parents tried to tell you don't be with these women of the philistines how stupid are you samson you fell again you said you would never do it again and you fell again now it's over you simpson and he would rub that bald head and he would rub it day after day and the bald head remind him of his shame but one day the bible says what the hair began to grow again i believe one day santa went to rub that ball head and he felt a little tingle and he felt a little stubble it wasn't flowing like it used to flow with the full glory of god but he felt a little something and some of you are here tonight that strayed away from god and you don't feel god like your use of your god you should be up here singing in the choir you should be up here playing the part in the service and now you come to the house of god and all you feel is just a little tingle you don't feel the fullness of the glory of god like before but that is god's way of telling you there's a way back for you there's hope for you i want you to know i'm still here and i still love you and that's why samson's hair began to grow again and the longer his hair god i believe the stronger his faith god until one day he said little boy take me to the house of the philistines and when they thought it was over when they thought there was no way out for samson the bible says in his death he killed more philistines than his entire life his best days were still ahead of them i come to tell atlanta west pentecostal church that your best days are still ahead of you i thank god for 356 thousand dollars to move the mission but your biggest move the mission offering is still ahead of you i thank god for your 45 000 cfc offering but your biggest csc offering is still ahead of you because we want to go where jesus went we want to find the samaritan woman we want to find the legion we want to find the man at the pool we want to find the sampsons that are bound and that are grinding and saying god's got an escape room for you god's got a plan for your life your life will not end like it seems to be because of all of god's creation there must be a way to escape as we stand together right now everybody every eye closed if you're here today though what had you believing it was over for you you're on the verge of your greatest miracle because jesus went to those that could not come to him he went to the well you have my your relationships might be a mess but he'll meet you at the well you might be lonely for 38 years or he'll meet you at the pool you might be bound in a graveyard all alone he'll meet you in the graveyard and we are gathered tonight and this week to give to missions they can go to islands that don't have a church they can go to parts of america or 250 miles to the next apostolic church they can go to a community in the sumerian the worst part of town and say guess what we're going to build an escape room right here you're going to come and learn about acts 2 38 and god's going to set you free from all of your addiction but i come tonight to talk to some of you right now the enemy's got you believing there's no way out for you but god made you your life can't end the way it is you're god's hero you're the star in god show of your life and god's not going to let you be destroyed and if you're like simpson now amen and you messed up more times and you can counter you can still feel that little tingle when you rub your shame and that's god saying honey i still love you honey i'm making a way for you honey it's not over for you yet because there must be a way to escape and right now this altar is open i want you to come forward right now and lift your hands to the god of heavens that says i don't care if you're going through the earthquake phase i don't care if you can't get to an open door i don't care if you haven't been set free yet to walk through that open door come on and say lord i know there's a way out for me because your word promise there must be a way to escape