The Silence of the Lambs | Rev Michael Maupin

it's my honor to be back in home in maryville and give tremendous honor to your leadership team the carpenters the ericksons the hammonds i love and appreciate every one of them so dearly so thankful that brother carpenter many years ago brother sis carpenter gave my mom a bible study and the rest is history thankful for that tonight and it never ceases to amaze me when i think back at the mcginley street as a young boy giddy on my way to church excited not so much for church but i think they gave snacks out in sunday school back then well that was when brother barry dawson didn't kick me out of class but but i but when i think of mcginley street to where i where we are in this place tonight and i walk in this building it's amazing the journey from mcginley to the miracle what god has done in maryville tennessee this is a beautiful beautiful place god has blessed maryville tennessee with this great church and i'm thankful for that i love and appreciate these great families they're dear friends of mine thankful for their leadership thankful for what they're doing in the body of christ i give honor also to my friends and fellow evangelist brother sister wilson if i could play and sing like him you wouldn't have to hear me preach tonight i just play and sing all night but so thankful so many friends people that are like family to me if i start calling names i'd get in trouble but thank you for being here tonight if you have your bibles turn with me to the book of psalms the 100th chapter very familiar book of the bible it says a psalm of praise psalms 100 a psalm of praise make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands serve the lord with gladness come before his presence with singing know ye that the lord he is god it is he who hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter into his gates with thanksgiving into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless his name for the lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations it says in the middle of that chapter we are his people and the sheep of his pasture notice the prerequisite for being one of his sheep or one of his lambs it says you've got to do some things you got to make a joyful noise you got to come before his presence with singing you have to enter his gates with thanksgiving and to his courts with praise and you have to bless his name all things that we do with our mouth so if we're going to be his sheep or his lambs we've got to do some things and i'm going to borrow my title from a novel from the 1980s that was made into a movie don't i don't suggest you watching or reading the book or read but i'm going to borrow the title a movie that was in the 90s is very popular i'm going to preach to you tonight on the silence of the lambs the silence of the lands did you set your bibles down and lift your hands and hearts to god and let's talk call on his name lord we love you and we thank you for your power and your majesty and your glory thank you god for what we've already experienced in this place but god i know you're not through that you want to touch our lives you want to change us in this place god anoint me to preach your word anoint your people to hear your word receive your word but most importantly god to respond to your word and we'll give you praise for what you're going to do in the mighty matchless name of jesus christ we pray amen let's give him a handclap of praise tonight hallelujah hallelujah thank you jesus you can be seated we are currently in the year 2020 of the gregorian calendar but according to the jewish biblical calendar we are in the year 5780. every letter and every number in the hebrew language is represented by a symbol and picture the jewish symbol tonight connected with the number 80 is the symbol called pay p-e-y and the picture of that number is an open mouth pay is the 17th letter of the hebrew alphabet and it symbolizes victory and as we enter into this new decade of the mouth we will realize more than ever that victory is actually generated from what comes from our mouths the prophetic meaning of the hebrew year 5780 is that it's time for god's people to open their mouths and be victorious also notice about this word pay the keystroke in this letter there is a little dot that is called a dagash it's a small dot that is played inside placed inside the symbol the soul and the tip of the divine spark the presence of the dagash is very important in its absence the letter p takes on a new sound and becomes faye f-e-y pronounced with a sauce f sound the jewish sages recall a story from the talmud regarding moses and pharaoh to help alliterate the importance of the distinction between pay and faith pharaoh used refused to profess the glory of god with his mouth as moses had done so the lord removed the tooth the dagash from pharaoh's mouth and he was only able to speak evil because he did not know who god was the hard p of passover thus became the soft f that we hear pronounced in pharaoh the symbol is the same except for the day gash or tooth that has been removed by the hand of god tooth is often associated with wisdom in the hebrew teachings there will be some people i believe in this next decade that will have their tooth removed for not speaking boldly of the glory of god according to the wisdom that he has given us they will become known among the righteous as men and women who do not know god because they do not speak in their voice does not glorify god in exodus 4 god is talking to moses about how he wants him to lead his people out of captivity and it's amazing moses is 80 years old which is symbolic of the the letter of the word pay and the entire chapter is talking about the mouth moses is saying they won't believe what i'm going to say they won't believe me when i tell them what you want me to tell them and notice what god says god says now therefore go and i will be with thy mouth and i will teach thee what thou shalt say i'm come tonight to let somebody know in this year pay this year of the open mouth it's time for god's people to rise up and speak what god wants us to speak it's not a time for us to be silent it's not a time for us to be afraid or fearful it's not a time for our mouths to close but it's a time for us to speak the goodness of god isaiah 51 and 16 says and i have put my words in thy mouth psalms 81 and 10 i am the lord thy god which brought thee out of the land of egypt open thy mouth wide and i will feel it romans 4 and 17 says this even god who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were that's the power of the voice of god in our life he can call things that don't exist as if they did and they have to obey that's why god was able to call abraham the father of many nations when sarah was still barren that's why he called gideon a mighty man of valor when he was hiding from the enemy that's why he called paul a chosen vessel even when he was still saul the persecutor that's why jesus is known as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world because god in his creative voice in his creative power has the unique ability to speak things that are not as if they were and what we need to understand tonight is that god has placed that same creative power by which he moves into our mouths tonight it's that same power that he used to create the world as he spoke everything into existence in the beginning of time that now he has put into our tongues and our mouths do you realize the power and the authority that you have in your mouth tonight do you realize the power and the authority that you have in your tongue and in your words you can speak things that don't that haven't existed yet as if they were there ought to be a husband here today there ought to be a wife here that your spouse isn't sitting on the pew beside you and you ought to start claiming they're going to be right here you ought to start claiming that your children are already in the baptistry getting baptized you ought to start claiming that your babies are already in the altar being filled with the holy ghost it's time for us to open our mouth it's time for us to declare what god is going to do in this year hebrews 11 says this about his word through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of god so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear we need to start framing our future by the words we speak we need to understand just how important and just how powerful our words are proverbs 18 21 says this death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof see some of us tonight we're we're suffering from not so holy halitosis our spiritual breath stings because death stinks and some of us don't do anything but walk around when we open our mouth matter of fact that's one of the main reasons for halitosis is a closed mouth but what's when we do speak it's not life it's not hope it's not encouragement but when i open my mouth it's death and no wonder nobody wants to be around me my spiritual breath stinks tonight whenever all i do is speak death and i speak discouragement and i tell people they're not going to make it and we're not going to have revival and my family's not gonna be saved but i've come to rise up against that spirit in this place and it's time for god's people it's time for the lambs it's time for the sheep to open their mouth and speak life one thing we do when we open our mouth is this john 15 and 7 if you abide in me and my words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you jesus said in matthew 21 22 and all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing you shall receive matthew 7 7 he says ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you pastor carpenter already talked about it there's times for meditation there's times where i pray silently in my mind and i meditate and talk to him in my mind but then there's times that i need to open my mouth and i need to begin asking god what i need him to do in my life i'm thankful i'm in a church tonight that's in the middle of every day 22 days i believe you said of people coming early people coming throughout the day and praying we're opening our mouth we're asking if you don't ask you won't receive but jesus said if you'll open your mouth and you'll ask god is going to do it in this place another thing we do when we open our mouth it's found in psalms 51 15. oh lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise psalms 149 and 6 let the high praises of god be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand psalms 150 praise ye the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the sultry in heart praise him with a timber and dance praise him with the string instruments and organs praise him with the loud sounding symbols and the high sounding symbols god loves when we play music when we play with our hands when we play with our fingers but here's his favorite kind of praise let everything that had breath praise the lord praise ye the lord he didn't give you a mouth to come to church and be silent he gave you a mouth he gave you a tongue he gave you a voice for you to return back praise unto him somebody ought to open their mouth and praise him somebody ought to open their mouth and ask somebody ought to open their mouth and give him praise tonight i'm reminded by the step i'm reminded of blind bartimaeus he hears jesus is walking by his eyes didn't work but his ears still did and his mouth still did he hears jesus is coming by and he begins to cry out jesus thou son of david have mercy on me notice what he did he didn't say jesus thou son of joseph he said son of david because the the the old testament prophecy was that the messiah would be the son of david so what this blonde bartimaeus blonde beggar was doing he was declaring who jesus was jesus thou son of david have mercy and all those that were gathered there that day said hold your peace don't you know that jesus is popular don't you know jesus is important don't you know that he has better things to do than to mess with some blind beggar by the name of bart bartimaeus you just sit there and keep your mouth closed and you know what i think happened probably for just a split second i think bartimaeus thought to himself you know they're right i am just a blind beggar i am just an eyesore i am just a handicap i am just a nobody on this road begging for money jesus has other things to do he's got more important people to go see i just need to hold my peace and i think he thought that for a second and then it was like david when david came back from bringing the ark and his self-righteous wife looked down from the window and saw him dancing his royal robe off and he comes home that night and she says honey you made a fool out of yourself you embarrassed me you embarrassed our family you embarrassed the kingdom and you know what david didn't look at her and say i don't want to sleep on the couch tonight so honey you're right instead david said if you thought i'd dance today if you thought i shouted today if you thought i praised him today you just wait until next time and see what i'm gonna do it's kind of like when jeremiah said i'll never speak his name again and then jeremiah said i tried that but it was like fire shut up in my bones and blind bartimaeus said i cannot hold my peace i know my body's telling me to be quiet i know my situation it's telling me to be quiet but i can't keep my mouth closed i wish somebody tonight your body's telling you to hold your peace your situation is telling you to hold your peace your finances are telling you to hold your peace i wish you would open your mouth and begin to praise him like you've never praised him i wish you would shout like you've never shouted they were praising jesus one time and they said you need to tell these people to be quiet and jesus said if they be quiet the rocks will cry out well that's gonna take you know the attitude we ought to have tonight is that there's not a rod big enough and miracle that take my place there's not a rock loud enough and miracle to take my place i'm gonna open my mouth i'm not going to be silent anymore i'm going to cry out tonight be seated for just another minute isn't it ironic that in the year of the pay the year the year of the open mouth that we have mass mandates i don't believe that's by accident or coincidence that all this has happened with cancel culture ramped up this year and the big tech and media giants trying to censorship everything that doesn't go along with their their their thought process satan is working overtime to silence god's people and to take away our voice in the in the early 60s they took prayer out of school and the lambs were silent in the 70s when free the free love movement ushered in unprecedented fornication adultery divorce shacking up and out of wedlock pregnancy homosexuality stds and the legalization of murder disguised as a woman's right and called it abortion the lambs were silent in the 80s when mtv began to babysit the youth and made ungodly music and videos accessible to every home the lambs were silent in the 90s when school shootings and act of terror began to increase the lambs were silent in the 2000s when our government legalized same-sex marriage the lambs were silent the silence of the lambs is deafening tonight but i hear a cry from heaven the silence of the lambs is over it's time for us to let our voice be heard it's time for the sight the lambs to be silent no more the world the world cannot afford for the church to be silent sheep any longer this world has gone mad it's time for our voices to be heard when parents are murdering their children it's time for our voices to be heard when children are murdering children it's time for our voices to be heard when suicide rape murder and crime are on all-time highs it's time for our voices to be heard when adultery divorce and addictions are decimating lives and families it's time for our voices to be heard when people are trying to make heeds in the sheets and hers into hymns it's time for our voices to be heard when the world is trying to constantly shove their immoral ungodly and unbiblical agendas down our throats and make us accept them or be labeled as bigots and racists it's time for our voices to be heard it seems like the church is sleeping to the silence swayed to sleep by a solid silent lullaby but it's not time to snore it's time to roar it's time for god's people to open their mouth and not only do we need to open our mouth and pray not only do we need to open our mouth and praise but ezekiel the 37th chapter they already sing a song about it and y'all liked it apparently ezekiel said the hand of the lord was upon me he carried me away in the spirit of the lord he set me down in the midst of valley which was full of bones and he caused me to pass about around about and behold they were very many in the open valley and lo they were very dry research shows that it takes 40 to 50 years for bones to become dry and ezekiel declared that these bones were very dry so they had probably been dead longer than 50 years no wonder ezekiel answers god's question in verse 3 like he did he said son of man can these bones live and ezekiel said oh god they'll know us i'm not really sure god they're they're not just dead but they're dry and they're not just dry they're very dry and god said prophesy unto these bones and say oh here you dry bones the word of the lord thus saith the lord unto these bones behold i will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live and i will lay sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that i am the lord now it's one thing to hear what we need to do but it's another thing to do what we're supposed to do because then ezekiel said so i prophesied in other words i'm not just going to hear the word i'm going to prophesy i'm going to speak the word and as i prophesied as i was commanded and as i prophesy notice it didn't happen later it didn't happen the next day it didn't happen a year from now but as i prophesied there was a noise and a shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone i wish somebody in this house tonight would open their mouth and not just pray and not just praise but somebody ought to open their mouth and prophesy and see what god will do you need to prophesy to the dead dry bones in your life you need to prophesy to your marriage you need to prophesy to your ministry you need to prophesy to your finances you need to prophesy to your family and say hear the word of the lord you're going to live again and after they put bone to bone in the flesh and sinews came on them but there was no breath in them and he said unto me prophesy unto the wind prophesy son of man and say to the wind thus saith the lord come from the four winds o breath and breathe upon these slain that they may live so i prophesied so i opened my mouth as he commanded me and the breath came unto them and they lived and stood up on their feet an exceeding great army we need to prophesy to the wind tonight we need to prophesy to the spirit of god there's no reason in an atmosphere like this is tonight that somebody should leave here without the holy ghost there's no reason that somebody should leave here without a miracle in their life let's open our mouth and prophesy to the dead dry bones and prophesy to the spirit of god god breathe on these slain breathe on my family breathe on my sickness breathe you know how powerful your words are not only is there life and death in them but revelations 12 and 11 says this and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony not only do we need to pray praise and prophesy but we need to profess tonight i need to let somebody know my testimony i need to let somebody know what god has done for me because it's my testimony and the blood of the lamb that's going to get me out of this place one day it's the blood of the lamb and the words of my mouth that caused me to live victorious but you know what the enemy wants to do with your testimony john 12 9 much people the jews therefore knew that he was there and they came not only for jesus sake only but that they might see lazarus also because they heard his testimony whom he had raised from the dead but notice verse number 10 this is what the enemy wants to do tonight but the chief priest consulted not that they should kill jesus only but that they might put lazarus also to death the enemy doesn't just hate you the enemy hates your testimony that's why he fights us he wishes we would get spiritual what's it called when you lose your voice he wants us to have spiritual laryngitis tonight because he doesn't want you to go out and tell somebody what jesus has done he doesn't want you to leave this place tonight and tell somebody what god did in this place he didn't just want to kill jesus he wanted to kill lazarus he wants to kill the testimony tonight in mark the first chapter notice this jesus heals you know the story jesus heals a leperous man and notice what jesus tells him in verse 43 and he straightly charged him and fought therefore sent him away and said see thou say nothing to any man but go thy way show thyself to the priest and offer the cleansing those stains which moses commanded for a testimony under them jesus told him specifically don't open your mouth keep your mouth closed don't testify about what i did for you and the bible says but as he went out i could see that leprous man as he's looking at his hands and he feels that life returning to his body and he looks at his hands and the sores are dissipating and he feels something inside of him he's not felt in a long time and he and he walks by somebody and says hey do you know who i am i'm a leprous man but look jesus oh i'm not supposed to tell anybody and he walks by somebody else and he says look what g oh i'm not supposed to tell anybody but then all of a sudden the bible says he went out and he began to publish it much he opened his mouth and and they began to blaze abroad the matter in so much that jesus could no more openly enter into the city but was without in desert places and they came to him from every quarter jesus said don't tell anybody and the leprous man went out and told everybody psalms 107 2 says let the redeemed of the lord say so so he told the leprous man not to tell anybody but he instructs every one of us tonight to tell everybody now i want to ask you which one's worse being told not to tell anyone and you tell everyone or being told to tell everyone and not telling anyone if the leprous man was told not to tell anybody but he got so excited that he said i'm sorry jesus i can't keep my testimony silent i've got to tell somebody then you know what we need to do tonight we need to let everybody know what jesus has done if he ever healed your body shame on you if you don't go find somebody that's dying of cancer and tell them jesus can heal you if he's ever delivered you from alcohol if he's ever drilled you from drugs shame on us if we don't go find somebody and tell them what jesus can do for their life tonight look at the power of his testimony the the last scripture of mark 1 says that he began to publish it and blaze it abroad the matter and the next verse is mark the second chapter and it says this and again he entered in calpernium after some days and it was noise that he was in the house and straightway many gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them know not so much about the door and he preached the word unto them one man's testimony when jesus told him not to tell anybody made it to where jesus the next time we see jesus he's in a packed out house and he's preaching the word of god you know what i believe can happen in maryvale if we would leave this place and open our mouth i believe this place could be put to capacity tonight where we'd have to start knocking walls out to put more pews in why because we need to open our mouth and tell somebody what jesus can do that's what happened in matthew also five chapters after the woman with the issue of blood touched the hymn of his garment matthew 14 36 says and and they besought him that he might they might only touch the hem of his garment her testimony caused an uproar in the city they began reaching for jesus saying i don't have to have a show i can just touch the hymn of his garment and he shall heal me acts one and eight says but you shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you the holy ghost takes control of your tongue in your mouth for a reason you shall receive power after the holy ghost has come upon you and you shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem in all judea and samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth i know you've heard it preach you know what it means but that word power in the greek is dunamis that's where we get words like dynamite dynamic and dynamo from the power we receive from the holy ghost is as explosive as dynamite tonight so when we receive the holy ghost we receive a dunamis dynamic dynamite dynamo power to do what to be witnesses for him not just with our actions but with our mouths and notice where we're supposed to be witnesses first to jerusalem jerusalem represents our homes and our church that's where we got to be a witness first there's a young person in here tonight you're the only apostolic in your family and you need to open your mouth at home and be a light and be a witness for god and then he said judea judea represents the community mayor of blount county alcoa greenback friendsville our neighborhood our workplace our school that's what judea represents and then samaria jesus said i must need to go to samaria i got to go where nobody else wants to go i got to go down to the samaritans where nobody else wants to go and jesus said you better go not just to your family and friends and your co-workers but you need to find somebody that's not like you find somebody that doesn't look like you it doesn't have the same color skin as you doesn't dress like you doesn't act like you don't you stick your self-righteous nose up at them you need to not just go to jerusalem and not just to judea but you better go down to samaria and tell somebody about jesus and then he said the uttermost part of the earth i'm thankful i'm in a church that believes in foreign missions i believe i'm in a church tonight that believes in not just staying in jerusalem not just staying in judea not just going down to samaria but into the uttermost parts of the earth it's time for us to open our mouths the silence of the lambs cannot happen any longer god needs his people to be a voice crying out in this world's wilderness a voice crying out in the darkness of this world a voice crying out in the confusion and the hurt and the diversity and the racism and the hatred that's going on in the world tonight as we all stand i want us tonight i'm not joe osteen i'm not into these repeat after me prayers but i want us to repeat a prayer tonight a 2020 and beyond because this isn't just a year of the mouth this is the decade of the mouth the entire decade is the decade of the mouth because we just have a few more days left in this year but we still have several more years left in the decade and it is time for god's people to open their mouth so i want you to i want you to repeat this 2020 and beyond decree tonight can you do that i am a dynamic dynamo i am a dynamite powerhouse for god's power and his glory full of his spirit and his explosive power the holy ghost is in me generating light to light up this dark world i will no longer be silent but i will be bold and courageous to fulfill my purpose on this planet i am a nation changer and i will stand my ground under pressure my prayers will get heaven's attention my praise will bring victory into my life i will prophesy to the dead dry bones and they will live again my testimony will release revival and bring in a harvest of souls my words will change my world because of the dunamis power of god's holy spirit is in my tongue and in my mouth begin to worship him right now would you come on if you believe that right now if you believe that we are nearing the destiny of the church to open our mouths and begin to pray then begin to pray right now if you believe it's time for us to open our mouth and praise begin to praise right now if you believe it's time for us to open our mouth and prophesy begin to prophesy right now if you believe it's time for us to open our mouth and profess begin to profess and testify in this place hold on hold on hold on what you got just a second i just had this thought come to me i talked about blind bartimaeus earlier do you know from what i've studied that was the last time jesus ever went to jericho if blind bartimaeus would have listened to those that told him to keep his mouth closed he would have never got jesus attention and jesus would have never healed him because jesus never came by jericho again if he'd have said all right i'll be quiet this time i'll catch him next time when the crowd's not as big but jesus never came by again and you know what the enemy's trying to tell some of you tonight you don't have to shout tonight you don't have to pray tonight you don't have to praise you don't have to prophesy you don't have to profess we got wednesday night we got next sunday we've got next week we've got we've got plenty of time but you never know this might be our last time to ever open our mouth up wide and begin to pray and begin to praise and begin to prophesy and to begin to profess come on so god's people this the lambs in this place don't be a silent sheep don't let the silence of the lamb ruin your life begin to open your mouth don't be masked spiritually open your mouth and begin to praise him open your mouth and begin to pray open your mouth and begin to prophesy unto god for the victory