Beggars

Would you pray with me right now? Jesus. We love you and we thank you Lord for the opportunity you give us one more time to come into your presence. Lord, we have sung songs today. We have testified of your goodness and glory. We have prayed, Lord. We have made our petitions known to you. But right now, Lord, we look to you for your word to change our lives. To make us, Lord, who we need to be in the name of Jesus, I make myself again available to you, Lord. Anoint us today, God. We are the church, Lord. Chattanooga, Lord, needs you. Our city needs you. Our nation needs you. Today in this room, Lord, hungry hearts look to you. You can answer, Lord, questions. Yes, you can. You can change hearts and lives, Lord. Yes, you can. We'll love you for it. We'll trust you. Come on, saints. Lift up your voice to the Lord. Come on, one more time before you sit down. Lift your voice to the Lord. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. Oh, that's right. Come on. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a God. What a wonderful God. A wonderful God. A wonderful God. A wonderful God. A wonderful God. I bless your name, Lord Jesus. Are you thankful for the presence of God? Aren't you thankful for the family of God? So glad that you've come to service today. If you've joined us online, we welcome you. Amen. We're thankful for the miracles, signs, and wonders that God does the church. Amen. If you're a miracle, wave your hand. Yeah, man. Yeah, that's right. What a joy it is to once again stand here. I apologize. My name's not Joel Austin. Brother Austin. Hopefully, he was supposed to be here today. Something came up. He will be with us next week in service and we are looking for that. I invite you to come and meet the elder. Brother Austin's the one who founded this church back in the day and so he's going to come be in service with us and I am excited about that. Thank you to all of our workers and volunteers. To all of you that labor at CAC, I thank you. music, singing, teaching, crowd control, bouncing, whatever it is you do. I I I appreciate those who set water out, those who've cleaned the bathrooms, those who have done the simplest of things. Thank you. If you're new to CAC and this is your this is your first service or your first time to be around or whatever and you'd like to get to know, we'd like for you to stick around after service in the cafe right across the hall. We will have a meet the pastor's session. Just we want to just get to know you. You get a little snack. Um want to meet you so that we can in introduce you to Cornerstone. Hey, this is a great church. This is a great church. It's a great church. We serve a great God. Oh, come on, somebody. We we serve an awesome God. So, we'd love to meet you over there. Don't take long, just a little bit to introduce ourselves and stay as long as you like. It's a so good to see all of you out today in the house of the Lord. I if you if you I'm watching the clock, so I'll make sure your restaurant reservation's still good. Um would you pray with me again? Lord, I stand here today in need of you. The words, Lord, of my mouth and the meditation of my heart. Let it be acceptable to you today. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Somebody say in Jesus name. You can be seated if you feel like you need to. Thank you so much, brother Don. Thank you.

As I uh as I approach this sacred desk today, I do so with humility and with no bragging notion. Over the last several weeks, through the holidays to the first of the year and even to now, I've had a a nostalgia, a notion of nostalgia that came over me. And you guys know that I talk often in my messages, in my teaching, and my personal conversations with you. I talk about my heritage and I'm thankful for that. But here of late, I have been reminiscing about somehow I've survived my failures and thought that I was hard-headed enough to do things and I didn't. I've thought the last several weeks about the miles and the roads that I've been able to travel in my life, both spiritually and emotionally and physically and mentally and all the other italies. Some of the roads I've been on, I walked alone. Some of them I walked with those who I love and who I know love me. So I present this today with all humility that I can with nothing to point to me. But I feel so compelled today to share this. I want to and I want you to tolerate it the best you can and somehow let the Lord speak to you. As a boy, I simply fell in love with the things of God. As kids, my brothers and my sister, we would spend untold hours in the work of the Lord. We didn't know that we were captive or slaves to the church. We just did everything with our parents and grandparents. We simply did church. Sunday, it was full of early prep for the service and what was to come. And then we would gather with others in classrooms and we'd study the word of the Lord together. As a kid, man, I I remember flannel graph and cookies and Kool-Aid. Anybody still remember Kool-Aid? The mustache that you'd get? Yeah. Good days. And then after the class, we would leave that classroom with the cookie crumbs on our shirts and with the Kool-Aid smile and we'd go out into the worship time. And as humble as it was and as unprepared as it was, there was some kind of excitement and expectancy that would overwhelm the body of believers that gathered in that small room. There wasn't a lot of us. And then I remember when we grew, things began to change. Again, I was a child. I was a child. I I didn't understand the politics of Pentecost. I didn't understand the legalities of being legality. I I just it was life. Came to the house of the Lord, served the Lord. Uh very interesting. Um Monday, Sunday was church in the morning, church in the afternoon at my grandparents and church in the evening. Monday was usually prayer meeting. Tuesday was usually going to be some kind of outreach or ladies meeting or men's meeting or meeting meeting to be meeting of the meetings. Wednesday, of course, was midweek. At that time, it wasn't called midweek Bible study, nor midweek university. It was simply referred to as Wednesday church. Thursday would usually be a time to catch up. Friday was youth service and all the other functions. Saturday was outreach and things that connected itself to that. And then, guess what? Sunday, start over again. It was interesting in my childhood again. Y'all hang on to me for a little while if you would. let me be a pastor for a few moments. My grandfather would stand at a podium and strum his guitar in some kind of fashion that I to this day can't imagine. Brother Don would be so blown out of the water by watching my grandpa. He had no he couldn't use a pick. He had no feel for a pick because his fingers had been so heuned by laying block most of his life. So he didn't have any feeling in him. But he could take that finger and strum a guitar to die for. And when he get in the spirit, he would do this. I'd watch my uncle Fred stand up there with his orange socks on and hunting socks cuz his feet were cold. And he would play and he is his thing was the pick. Well, my grandfather did that and they would sing. And as a boy, I didn't know that there were things different in other churches. But something would happen when the preaching would start. We would jump in head first into the bottomless pool of the wonderful blessings of God. We would swim in the words of Jesus or the words of the prophet. Miracles were often mentioned from the podium and the unseen would come to life as the words would begin to surround us in those small rooms that we met in. They were not ashamed to shout and to dance in the Holy Ghost. That was very common. You would also hear the amens FROM THE LOUD PEW. AND THAT'S RIGHT. AND OF COURSE, my favorite was my my my. As a child, I remember so many wonderful and blessed opportunities that I experienced. Those memories that I hold are simply priceless. I stand here today because I I am a product of church and all of the rememberings of late. I'm reminded that many times that I can't explain the details of what happened. I I can't even remember many of the names nor the places. But something that I do know is that when the people of God came together, God showed up. Listen carefully. This is no indictment to anyone. I throw no stones at anyone. But I will tell you this. In my childhood and in my youth, we were not entertained. We had no desire to see who could sing the loudest or play the hardest. Although I'm sure that was with some of them it was. But we love Jesus. We tried our best to figure him out. The operation of the gifts of the spirit were very, very common. Cancers were healed. Sicknesses were rebuked and removed. I saw with my own eyes cancers pulled off of people's bodies. I saw lumps go down under people's skin. This is my childhood. This is my childhood. I watched devils and spirits of the world demonstrate themselves. I saw vomiting and throwing up in the carpet as the preacher would rebuke the devil and they would flee, screaming and wondering what just happened. I watched as the word of God shook the heavens and shook the pews. And I sat there as a young person, Brother Nathan, trying to figure out what was going on. All the while, I was afraid to complain. I was didn't know any better, but I simply fell in love with church. As I grew, I grew up as a hungry and a craving young man that wanted the uncction of the Holy Ghost. As teenagers, listen carefully, young folk, please. This is again, no indictment nor stones to throw. But as teenagers, we would not spend all night out and about town trying to get in trouble, although we did do that some, but there was off times that the youth leader at the time would say, "Hey, we're going to gather Friday night at the church for an all night prayer meeting for us young." We called them lockins then. And now everybody's too afraid to do that because knuckleheads ruin everything. But at that time, we didn't know any better. And I remember the 3 and 4:00 in the mornings, uncctions of the Holy Ghost manifesting themselves in us. Moanings and groanings and weepings and tears and noises that I could not explain. Spiritual battles and connection with the things of God. And all the while, I I WANT YOU TO KNOW THE BATTLES THAT WERE FOUGHT. WE DIDN'T FIGHT THEM WITH WITH THINGS IN our hands, but we simply breathe the name Jesus and something would transpire in the atmosphere. I'm not making this up. This was my childhood. THIS IS HOW I WAS RAISED. AND AS AS I BEGAN TO GROW AND I got out of the high school days and I went into the military, listen to me carefully. I had been raised in this as a child from the time I was young. My mom would tell you stories that I never knew. I never understood. I my sister reminded ME AGAIN THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS. RAYMOND, YOU WERE THREE YEARS OLD WHEN A VOICE came and spoke to you on a playground and you WENT IN THE HOUSE AND SAID, "YES, MOM." And she said, "Baby, I didn't call you." AND YOU WENT BACK TO THE PLAYGROUND. AND THREE TIMES IT'S HAPPENED. AND MOM FINALLY SAID, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING, BABY, but I THINK THE LORD'S CALLING YOU TO SOMETHING." I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THAT AS A CHILD. I STILL DON'T TODAY, but this I do know. and all the things. Again, I am doing this with all humility and I want y'all to know this not this is not the Raymond show, but I feel so compelled to share as a pastor what God can do.

I went in the military and man, you know, anybody that's been in the military, you understand the struggles, the loneliness, the separation. And I would spend my days and my nights doing all the things that I could do to still stay true to God. And I would fail, Brother Rob, and I would stumble. And I didn't want to. It was a battle that was real. But I cannot count and I cannot tell you today the countless nights that I would lay in my bunk in my room and I would weep and the Holy Ghost would enter that room. And in the midst of all the junk going on around me, I'd lay in bed and speak in tongues with a pillow over my face saying, "God, they'll think I'm nuts." And all the while, I remember so vividly saying, "God, if you'll stay with me, if you'll just hang on to me, I'm going to get through this. It's a struggle right now." And victory would come. And people would even say, "Man, you're different." And I knew that I wasn't who I was supposed to be. But something was still moving in my life.

Got out of the military and I found the love of my life or she found me. baby. We married. The most cool thing about that is she had a walk with God as well. She had a walk with God. So, we tried together to do what we could do for the kingdom. We cleaned the church. We cleaned the pastor's car. We carried people to church services. We took people home. We went to hospital rooms. We prayed for sick folk. As you all know, there's so many things to do in the work of God because it's just what you do. It's just what you do. We loved church. And as you all know, the Lord called us to a foreign mission field. And with joy and expectancy, we embraced it, ran to it. In fact, I knew that's what God was calling us to. And all in the process of that, the Lord was changing us and making us what we needed to be. We answered that call and without hesitation, we began to sell things and move things in here and there and God began to work in our lives in ways that I cannot even express. I cannot remember to this day some of the things that I went through on the mission field. The devils that God held back. The times we should have fell off the mountain on the road that was 1900 ft from the road to the bottom of the valley in Bolivia. We should have rolled off of those hills. We saw buses lying down through there and that should have been us, but we saw the hand of the Lord that would stay the car that would pull it to the left or to the right. The time we drove through a crowd of hundreds of people that were partying in the streets and the missionary simply said, "Get down in the seat. I don't know how this will turn out." And he punched the gas and lo and behold, within seconds, we're on the other side of the crowd. And I what happened? I don't know, but let's get home. And then the Lord blessed us with children and they love God so much today. I love when my one-year-old grandson raises his hand in church. He don't know what he's doing. But one day I'm going to explain it to him. Listen carefully, please. I'm not bragging. I know that children can fail. I know that I can fail. I know that marriages separate. I know things get busted up all the time. Please know that with all humility, I'm simply trying to help this generation that we now face to understand the things of God come with a price. We have worked in many areas of ministry, my wife and I, youth workers, ladies, men's directors, missions coordinator, teachers, Bible make Bible study teachers, Bible study deliverers, drivers of the van. We knocked doors in communities. We baked cakes. We made peanut brittle. We did yard sales, car washes, we fed the homeless, we've been used in so many are on and on and on. And every time that I put my hand to the work of God, I didn't know any better. I would simply keep doing what God called me to do. Somehow I would figure out that in the midst of all the things going on around me that I didn't have to know everything as long as I knew him.

Allow me to share something with you. Psalm 37 and1 says this, "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb." It's a song written by David, a poem at the time, of course, and with his ability to write. The entirety of Psalm 37 is very powerful, though. David mentions the evildoers, those who try to stop the things of God. But notice what else he says. If you have time this week, go back and read Psalm 37. You'll discover some very cool things. Don't be envious of what they do. They'll be mowed down like the grass. Take no thought for what they are attempting to do. And David continues and he says, "Trust in the Lord. Delight in the Lord. Commit your ways. Rest in the Lord. Cease from anger." And on and on and on. But verse number 25 of Psalm 37 simply says this. I have been young and now I'm old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Amen. I've been young and I have had the strength of a young man, but now I'm old and the strength of a young man has faded from me. But there's one thing that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt is God has been faithful.

Can I can I now minister for a few moments to the church when things happened in life and when I didn't know at age 6 or 7 or 12 or 16 or 80 or whatever I was at the time when I didn't know what was going on and when life was dealing me a whole plethora of issues or situations that I went through. I simply want to come today and tell you standing at this podium when everything was falling apart in my life or when the mountain tops were great or when the valleys were low. Something that happened in me because of a desire to want to be with God. I just kept showing up when the days were long. I showed up when the enemy pounced up on me. I kept showing up when nobody came to prayer meeting. I kept showing up when the job was done. I just kept showing up when the hurts of and the things pressing down on me. I I just kept showing up when nobody else believed it. I just kept showing UP WHEN PROBLEMS CAME. I I JUST KEPT COMING. UH WHEN NOBODY WAS AT WORK DAY, I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. WHEN THINGS DIDN'T HAPPEN LIKE I THOUGHT THEY SHOULD, I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. I COME TODAY TO DECLARE TO SOMEBODY, YOU NEED TO MAKE UP IN YOUR SPIRIT, IN YOUR HEART, IN YOUR MAKEUP, AND IN YOUR MIND, I'M GOING TO SHOW UP. IF GOD'S GOING TO BE THERE, I'M GOING TO BE THERE. HEY, LISTEN. I KNOW. I PLEASE UNDERSTAND. I HAVE NO INDICTMENT. I'M NOT THROWING A ROCK IN ANYBODY. BUT THE PREACHER JUST SHOWED UP IN THIS PLACE. I COME TO TELL YOU, THERE'S A WHOLE LOT OF SENSITIVE FOLK TODAY TRYING TO LIVE FOR GOD. AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE SENSITIVE AND LIVE FOR GOD. FOLK ARE GOING TO NOT LIKE YOU UH FOR WHO YOU ARE. IN FACT, JESUS SAID THEY'RE GOING TO HATE YOU FOR MY NAME'S SAKE. BUT I COME TO TELL SOMEBODY TODAY, UH, I'M GOING TO KEEP SHOWING UP. UH, I'M GOING TO SHOW UP WHEN NOBODY ELSE IS THERE. I'M GOING TO SHOW UP WHEN THE AIR CONDITIONS ON OR WHEN THE HEAT'S NOT ON. I'M GOING TO SHOW UP. WHY? BECAUSE IF I MAKE UP IN MY MIND UH TO DO THE THINGS OF GOD, UH HE IS GOING TO BE WITH ME. AS I WAS YOUNG, HE'LL BE WITH ME WHEN I AM OLD. WHY? BECAUSE I'M DETERMINED TO KEEP SHOWING UP. I'VE HAD MY FEELINGS HURT. YES. I'VE HAD PEOPLE WALK OUT ON ME. YES. I'VE HAD INVESTMENTS THAT I PUT INTO FOLK THEM SIMPLY WASH THEIR HANDS AND WALK AWAY. YES. BUT I DECIDED A LONG TIME AGO, I'M ALL ABOUT JESUS AND HE'S ALL ABOUT ME. THEREFORE, I'M GOING TO KEEP ON SHOWING UP. I'LL BE THERE IF YOU'RE NOT HERE. I DON'T NEED YOU TO HAVE CHURCH. OH, SOMEBODY GOT TO MAKE UP IN YOUR MIND. THIS IS THE DAY. I'M NOT STOPPING LOVING JESUS. I'M NOT LETTING MY HURT FEELINGS GET IN THE WAY. I'M GOING TO LOVE THE LORD WITH EVERYTHING WITHIN ME. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP.

LET ME SHOW YOU THE POWER OF KEEP SHOWING UP. PETER, YOU'RE GOING TO DENY ME. YOU'RE GOING TO DENY ME. YOU'RE GOING TO DENY. NO, I WON'T. NO, I WON'T. NO, I WON'T. YES, HE DID. BUT BUT INSTEAD HE SHOWED UP AROUND THE FIRE THAT DAY AND THEY MADE FUN OF HIM. THEY CALLED HIM THIS AND THAT. HE WALKED AWAY BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED AT A PRAYER MEETING. SOMETHING HAPPENED WHEN HE WAS IN THE LONELY TIME. SOMETHING HAPPENED AND HE SAID, "YOU KNOW WHAT? TOMORROW I'M JUST GOING TO SHOW UP AGAIN. UH I'M JUST GOING TO SHOW UP AGAIN. UH WHY? BECAUSE JESUS HAS BEEN BETTER TO ME THAN ANYBODY ELSE." HEY, WHAT YOU GOING TO DO, PETER? BRING WHAT YOU'VE GOT AND WE'RE GOING TO PUT IT ON THE FIRE. WHY? CUZ I JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. I DON'T KNOW NO BETTER. I DON'T HAVE ANY SENSE. I'M GOING TO LOVE HIM IN SPITE OF ME. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. PETER SHOWS UP. LO AND BEHOLD, HE'S PREACHING A MESSAGE ON PENTECOST THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.

1 Corinthians 9 24. Know you not that they which run in a race, everybody say it, run all. Everybody's running, but one receiveth the prize. No, run, run that you get the prize. And every man that striveth for THE MASTERY IS TEMPERED IN ALL THINGS. NOW THEY DO it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run. Verse 26 says, "Not as uncertainly so fight I not as one that beatth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away." I STAND HERE TODAY AND I simply tell you THAT IF YOU'LL MAKE UP IN YOUR MIND THAT GOD'S GOING TO BE THE GOD OF YOUR LIFE AND REGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYBODY ELSE SAYS, I've come TO TELL THIS GENERATION AND THIS CULTURE, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SACHE YOURSELF INTO A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN AND JUST SHOW UP ONE DAY AND ACT LIKE YOU'RE ALL OF THAT IN A BOX OF CRACK. IT AIN'T GOING TO HAPPEN. BUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IS SHOW UP WHEN THERE'S PRAYER MEETING TIME. WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IS IN THE MORNING GET TO YOUR PRAYER CLOSET. WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO DO IS WHEN THERE'S SOMETHING GOING ON IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, YOU BE THERE. WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO DO IS WHEN SOMEBODY ON THE STREET NEEDS AN ANSWER FROM THE LORD, YOU GOT TO GIVE YOURSELF TO IT AND NOT BE A NOVICE ABOUT IT. LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY, PLEASE. THIS YEAR, I WILL CELEBRATE 50 YEARS BEING FILLED WITH THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST. I'VE COME TOO FAR RIGHT NOW TO TELL YOU UH THAT JESUS HAS NOT BEEN GOOD TO ME. UH BUT I'VE COME TO DECLARE TO YOU UH I'M JUST GOING TO KEEP ON SHOWING UP. I'M JUST GOING TO KEEP ON SHOWING UP. UH, I'LL BE HERE ON SUNDAY. I'LL BE HERE ON WEDNESDAY. I'LL BE HERE ON MONDAY. I'LL SHOW UP ON TUESDAY. I'LL BE HERE ON SATURDAY. I'LL BE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. WHY? BECAUSE HE DESERVES ME. OH, some of y'all need to get this. Otherwise, the cross of Calvary would have no value. I WANT you Raymond near me. But I can't touch you with your sin, with your transgressions, with your attitudes and your off-handedness. But what I can do is make a way. There's a mediator. I know he me. Yeah, you messed up. Can he come? Well, what are you gonna do about it? It's a mediator. I tell you what, I'll give my life for him. I'll shed my blood for him. Why? Because he's worth it. He's worth it. Come on. You going to want to know him. He's going to get up in prayer meeting and pray. He's going to intercede. HE'S GOING TO PRAY OVER HIS CITY. He's going to pray over his loved ones. He's going to rebuke the enemy. When all the devils of hell are trying to come and destroy the church, HE'S GOING TO STAND THERE AND SAY, "NOT ON MY WATCH. HEY, CAN YOU HELP HIM? CAN YOU DO SOMETHING WITH HIM?" AND THE LORD, GOD'S GOING TO SAY, "YES, I DON'T SEE YOUR PAST TRANSGRESSIONS. UH, BUT I LISTEN TO THIS. I SEE THROUGH MY BLOOD. UH, AND MY BLOOD SAYS YOU'RE WHOLE. UH, YOU'RE COMPLETE. YOU ARE COMPLETE. YOU ARE HEALED AND COMPLETE IN HIM." WHY? BECAUSE NOTHING CAN WASH AWAY MY SINS. NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS. I'm just GOING TO KEEP SHOWING UP. I'M JUST GOING TO KEEP SHOWING UP, MATT. I'M GOING TO BE THERE, SETH. I'M JUST GOING TO KEEP SHOWING UP. I'M GOING TO POUND THE GATE THE GATES OF HEAVEN. I WANT IN. I WANT IN. I WANT IN. SO, SAID, "LORD,

where am I going today?" He said, "I need you to go talk to a group of beggars. What? I need you to talk to my group of beggars. What do you mean? I I see it. I I saw it today in this service. God, please. Oh, please. There's nothing wrong with asking and pleading with God. Come on. A broken and contrite spirit. Yeah, come on. I I won't turn that away, the Lord said. But you know what the Lord wants to know today? Are you a beggar? Because according to what the psalmist wrote, I I' I've been young. That's right. But now I'm old. And there's something that I can declare. I have never seen the righteous forsaken. That's nor his seed begging. We feel like our goodness is what God's looking for. No, he's not. He's looking for you to be honest before him. Your goodness ain't enough to get you past that door right there. But if you'll get up under the name of Jesus, uh you can show up at the house of prayer and you can decide whatever's going on, I'm going to be a PART OF IT. WHATEVER'S HAPPENING, I'm going to be there. WHY? IT MIGHT NOT LISTEN TO ME. Y'ALL GOT TO HEAR THE PREACHER TODAY. I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU. IT MIGHT NOT BE MY SEASON, BUT IT MIGHT BE MY BROTHER'S SEASON. I'M NOT GOING TO LET HIM GO THROUGH THAT SEASON BY HIMSELF. IT MIGHT NOT BE MY TURN, BUT IT COULD BE HIS TURN. HE'S NOT GOING BY HIMSELF. If I've EVER COME TO ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS' FUNERALS, CUZ I HAVEN'T BEEN TO YOURS YET. Some of you have been so kind, pastor. Thank you for coming to my mom or my dad or my sister, whatever funeral. And this is the words that I every time try to say. I would not let you go through this by yourself. Thank you, Jesus. I may not have a word for you, but one thing I do have. I can stand here beside you in my presence, you can just feel and know that he's standing there. That's right. I may not hand you $1,000. I may not have all the answers for what you're doing. But I come to tell you, in my hurt, my suffering, and in my shame, and in my problems, Ethan, the Lord was always there. Y'all, y'all ready for it? again. I got 50 years of this. I'm I tell I'm still new. I got 50 years of this and this is what I've decided. Many times he doesn't have to say a word, but just knowing he's there. Amen. I cannot tell you the value of laying in my room in the military in Germany with the pillow over my face, speaking in tongues, knowing the mess that I got myself into. But God would show up. God would show up in that room and I'd lay there for a couple of hours say, "God, I don't know why. I don't I'm sorry. I want I would that I SHOULD AND I KNOW THAT I need to, but I don't. And that I don't want to do. I do. And I don't understand none of that, BUT I DO KNOW THIS." AND ALL OF THAT MESS, the Lord came into my room and say, "I got you. I got you. I don't want to be a beggar. I want to know that I know him enough to say, "Lord, I can't demand anything from you." Because grace didn't start with me. What I can say is this. When you hung on that cross that day, you said, "Forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing." I've often wondered, call me again. Y'all know my mind. Sometimes it works very strangely. What if Jesus not had Jesus had not spoken to John that day on the cross? John, behold your mom right there. You take care of her. What if instead of John, he would have said that to Judas? See, we know this story. We didn't know that story. Jesus was well aware. Why? Because who showed up? John. I'm here. I'm I'm here. I'm here. John, I'm gonna trust some things to you. I'm not going to give these to Peter. I'm not going to give these to James. I'm not going to give this to Andrew. I'm going to give this to you. John, my mother needs you now. Okay.

Here's my point. Musician, would you come? I stand here today again. I I could go through so many stories. I'm still young, just not as young. I still expect to see the glory of the Lord in so many ways. In fact, I am prepared, fully prepared to be incredibly amazed and awed at the hand of God. And no matter what all that I've been able to experience for it to blow my mind, I didn't even know he could do that. See, I know he's a healer cuz he's healed me. I know he's a provider because my motor home should have run out of fuel on deputation. But it didn't. The empty hand was on and the light was on, but I was nowhere near a gas station. And somehow someway, 40, 50 miles down the road, I pull in and we made it. Call that what you want. I I I watched the eyes grow into a man's eye sockets. I watched the feet of a baby turn facing one another. When the mom began to speak in tongues and she's holding that baby, she's receiving the Holy Ghost and she hands that baby to a pastor's wife. As soon as she hands that baby over, those feet on that baby straightened out. His mom received the Holy Ghost. Nobody knew the condition of the child. The pastor's wife was so excited she set the boy down. And at two and a half, almost three years old, he took off running through the crowd. Pastor's wife didn't know. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen. With finally a few minutes, this mom is just weeping. God's filled her with the Holy Ghost. She said, "Where's my baby?" I thought, "I don't see my baby." And oh, pastor's wife here. I don't know. There he is right there. And she just starts shaking under the Holy Ghost. And they said, "What's wrong?" And she said, "He was born with his feet facing and he hadn't walked a day in his life." But when somebody submitted to the things of God, they just showed up at a crusade. The Holy Ghost came in and changed that. I'm looking at the guy and I'm TRYING TO DO MY JOB AND HIS HANDS ARE UP AND HE'S SCREAMING TO THE TOP OF HIS TOP OF HIS LUNGS AS LOUD AS HE COULD SCREAM. HE'S SCREAMING JESUS. I MEAN, IT'S JUST RATTLING THIS ROOM OF 5,000 PEOPLE AND I'M LOOKING AT IT SAYING, "WHY DO I HEAR HIM ABOVE ALL THE REST?" And I LOOK UP THERE AND HIS EYES, THEY'RE BLACK RIGHT THERE. AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, AND IT'S WHITE AND HE'S SCREAMING. SO I I AND SOMEBODY SAID, "HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE EYEBALLS WHEN HE CAME IN." I SAID, "WHAT? YEAH, THAT'S WHAT GOD WHY WOULD I EXPECT ANYTHING DIFFERENT? WHY ALL I'VE GOT TO Y'ALL GOT TO HEAR ME TODAY. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS IN THIS ROOM. UH BUT I COME TO SPEAK AGAINST THIS GENERATION, CHURCH. GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOUR HEADACHE. HE'S BIGGER THAN THE LITTLE ACHE IN YOUR FINGER. HE'S A GOD THAT CAN RAISE THE DEAD. UH HE'S A GOD THAT CAN BRING BACK LIFE INTO SOMEBODY IN THE GRAVE. UH HE'S A GOD THAT CAN TAKE CANCER OUT OF YOUR BODY. HE'S A GOD THAT CAN HEAL YOU AND PUT YOU IN YOUR RIGHT MIND. HE'S A LISTEN TO ME. I'VE SEEN THEM WHEN THEY COME AND SMELLING LIKE ALCOHOL, BUT GOD WOULD CHANGE THEM AND THEY GET UP AND NOT EVEN SMELL ANYMORE AS GOD WOULD BEGIN. SOME OF Y'ALL THINK I'M PIE IN THE SKY AND I'M TALKING ABOUT A DREAM. NO, MY FRIEND, I SHOWED UP AND GOD WAS THERE. I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO. I'M NOT ABOUT TO BEG. WHY? BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN YOUNG AND NOW I AM OLD. BUT I HAVE NEVER NEVER SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN NOR HIS SEED OUT BEGGING FOR BREAD. GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOD. WHY DO WE CONTINUE TO MINIMIZE THE POWER OF GOD? Oh man, it's 126. Listen to me. I no indictment. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. But I watch on Sundays in our pre-ervice prayer. We got needs on the board. Let's pray. Lord, you know their need. You can come in and raise them up. Resto. You can provide. I I hear this. Y'all hear it? Because we say it. Do you ever think for a moment that God didn't want to heal them? Right. But God was allowing something to happen in them that you don't know anything about. And then he'll heal them.

There is no way that the lady with the issue of blood could ever have been touched unless she went to the bottom first. Unless you went to the bottom. I spent I SPENT EVERYTHING. I got I got nothing. I don't know what else to do. You know, IF I CAN JUST GET THROUGH THE DAY. IF I COULD JUST SURVIVE TODAY. JESUS SAYS THE WHOLE TIME HE'S SAYING, "YOU KNOW WHAT? I just need for you to get there so that when I come here, YOU CAN BE CHANGED. LAZARUS IS DEAD AND I'M GLAD. WHAT? That's right. I NEED HIM TO SMELL. I NEED HIM BY ALL RIGHTS IN YOUR MIND TO BE A IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION. BUT IF I SIMPLY GET TO THE TOMB RIGHT THERE AND I ASK YOU TO MOVE THE ROCK, I WANT TO KNOW, ARE YOU WILLING TO PULL BACK THE STONE AND SMELL THE DEATH ANGEL IN THERE SO THAT I COULD SIMPLY SPEAK HIS NAME? LAZARUS COME FORTH UH AND YOU WATCH THINGS HAPPEN. I COME TO DECLARE TO SOMEBODY TODAY, YOU ARE LIVING PROOF UH THAT YOU DON'T HAVE THE ANSWER. YOU DON'T HAVE IT. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. YOU GOT YOURSELF IN THIS MESS. UH BUT YOU'RE HERE TODAY. UH AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS HERE TODAY. UH AND HE CAN DO MIRACLES. YES, HE CAN. HE CAN DO SIGNS. YES, HE CAN. HE CAN DO THE MIRACULOUS THINGS IN YOUR LIFE. WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE NOT BEGGARS. WE ARE NOT BEGGARS. Just keep showing up. I WANT YOU TO TOUCH THREE PEOPLE. SAY, "MAN, JUST KEEP SHOWING UP." COME ON. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. JUST KEEP SHOWING UP. Come on. JUST JUST SHOW UP. I have none of that. OFFER. GOOD. GET IN HERE AND OFFER SOMETHING. OH, I GOT YOUR VOICE. GOOD. THAT'S WHAT HE WANTS TO HEAR. YOUR VOICE. I CAN'T PLAY AN INSTRUMENT. GOOD. I ONLY GOT FOUR OR FIVE UP HERE. I CAN'T SING GOOD. I ONLY GOT FOUR OR FIVE MICROPHONES. AMEN. I'm trying I'm trying to trying to bring us down. [panting] There was y'all. Okay. 129.

I go Gap Church. We shouldn't have built that building. I just kept showing up. Three years. Just kept showing up. Seth just kept showing up. I showed up the day the red tag was on the door and they said stop construction. I was there. Nobody told me there. Hey, red tag on. No, I saw. What is this about? I called the guy. We need to talk. Good. Let's talk. This is what you got to do. Okay, let's do it. You know what? I showed up and I did it. I stood this day, today, this day in that place right there near that flag. That's cuz that's my walking space. Y'all know that, right? And I looked out across this congregation and my heart exploded with joy to know that there was a time that Michelle and I with our two kids showed up at church and it was us four. And we just got there and we what we going to do? I don't know. Stephen said, "Dad, you want me to play?" "Yeah, buddy." That's the only instrument he had. He's no guitar and all that. Lawrence, you want me to sing? Yeah. Sh, you got to lead prayer. Week after week, this this next Sunday, our precious elder could be here if the Lord will let him. He told me recently again on the phone, Brother Deron, he said, "My first service had 63 in service when they started this church here in Chattanooga." 63. First service. I said, "Man, that's great." He said, "Yeah, the second service too, right? First service, all his friends and all the neighbors came around. Second service, crickets." So, what'd you do, brother Austin? He said, "I tell you what I did. I did what I came to Chattanooga to do. Let's sing. I'm going to preach, testify. Him and Sister Austin. Y'all can imagine if y'all knew her what it was about. Third week, fourth week, fifth week, sixth week, seventh week. When Michelle and I came and the kids came, there was about 15 or 16 in service. They've been here 10 years. Said, "Brother Austin, what's your vision?" He said, "Brother Sloan, my vision is that what I started will continue." I said, "How'd you do?" He said, "I just kept showing up. I showed up when the tornado took our building. You were there." I Geron stood there and looked at me and said, "I don't know whether to think that you're okay or not." I said, "Well, what else I'm going to do?" I showed up, didn't I? Justin, it was Justin Harper. Pastor building's gone. I said, "Yeah, but the church isn't. I showed up. He showed up. We showed up. We just show I don't know what TO DO. ME NEITHER. GET A HOLD OF SOMETHING. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? We're going to sweep. We're going to clean. We're going to do But it's a mess. I know. But we showed up. Tell you what, you want to go home? Well, no. If I go home, I got to do something there. Good. Let's stick with me. Come on. Some of y'all came brought boxes and totes and you started putting stuff. Man, we were so been out of shape. We had lost our building. Man, I was so Somebody, are you okay, pastor? I said, well, all I know is this. I got a lot of hours in that building, but I'm not done. I'm going to show up. And I kept showing up. And the hardest day for me, Brother Rob, was the day that the truck with the the machine was there to pick up all the debris and put it in dumpsters and haul it away. And the claw of that dump that machine went down and picked up my office. And my bookcases and my carpet was all in that bucket. And I'm standing there looking at this. And the contractor standing, he said, "You okay?" And I said, "Boy, that was my life. I don't even have a place to go pray. I would go to the church property on Igo Gap and I would stand where my office was, Josh, just so I could feel the Lord." And I said, "Lord, I don't have an office." I'd close the door and you and I would talk. And he said, "You didn't know the door was there last time you prayed." Said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You had your eyes closed. Blessed be the name of the Lord." He gives and he takes away. He gives and he takes away. There was a lady used to come over there Tuesday and I was scared to death this lady was coming on Tuesday. True story. Sarah would let her in and open the sanctuary so she could get in. She'd tap on my door said, "Gina's in the sanctuary praying." And I'd get up and say, "Well, it's going to be all right today." All right. The noise that would come out of those four walls, J HOLY L. BOOM. Brother Vandy, I would walk past the sanctuary. I wouldn't disturb her. I wouldn't do that for nothing. And I'd walk past the doors and I'd say, "Lord, she showed up. She showed up. She showed up. There ain't a soul watching her pray. There ain't a soul watching her. But she just showed up. Why? Cuz she had a burden for praying. Ask her right now, what's her ministry? Till she'll tell you, I have been praying for you. I've been praying for this church. I sit here and I pray. She wants more than anything to be able to shout again. But she got this walker. It looks good on her. It's got it all decorated up nice. She'd love to shout, but she can't because her body. I get that. But she showed up. She showed up. And I don't applaud her for that. I applaud the spirit that says, "Come on, devil. Kill me if you want to. If not, I'm going to be in the house of the Lord." Why? I'm going to be in my prayer altar in the morning. Yes, I'm going to sit in my chair. I'm going to be there. Why? Because I would not dare miss what God is doing in this hour. There are some of the greatest miracles yet to happen sitting on these pews and these chairs. I am thrilled to death to know that the revivals that some of these young men are going to preach in the future. Messages that I don't understand or don't I don't comprehend, God's going to use these young men and these young ladies to go into places that I haven't had opportunity to go. I'm not about to let these young people say, you know what, I don't know if this is right or wrong. All I know is I'm supposed to do something. No, I want the first thing in their mind to be, you know what, I had a pastor that would fight for me. Uh I had a mom and dad that would pray FOR ME. UH, I HAD YOUTH LEADERS THAT WOULD POUR INTO ME. UH, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING. I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT, BUT I KNOW THAT THE LORD GOD IS WITH ME. UH, I HAVE STOOD SO MANY TIMES BEHIND PODIUMS ACROSS THIS COUNTRY AND OTHER NATIONS OF THE WORLD. AND I KNEW THAT I HAD A LITTLE BITTY 4 FOOT N GRANDMA THAT WAS PRAYING FOR ME. UH, I HAD A 5'1 MAMA THAT WAS PRAYING FOR ME. IT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING FOR THEM. MAYBE NOT. BUT I COME TO DECLARE WHEN I STEP TO THAT PODIUM, THE DEVILS OF HELL SAY, "I'VE HEARD YOUR NAME BEFORE. I KNOW YOUR NAME NOW. UH IT IS NOT THIS. IT IS NOT THAT. BUT IT IS SOMEBODY WHO SAID, "I'M GOING TO SHOW UP AND I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU TO THE GROUND, DEVIL. YOU'VE GOT NOTHING IN THIS CHURCH BUT HEARTACHE AND SUFFERING AND PAIN. YOU MIGHT AS WELL LEAVE THESE DOORS, GO DOWN THE STREET, AND BOTHER SOMEBODY ELSE." WHY? BECAUSE WE SHOWED UP TODAY WITH A DETERMINATION THAT SAYS, "I AM NOT A BEGGAR. THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN FORSAKEN. I AM WHAT GOD HAS CALLING ME TO DO.

THIS ALTAR IS OPEN RIGHT NOW. DON'T SAY YOU DON'T HAVE ONE. WE MADE IT SPECIAL FOR YOU. I WANT YOU TO COME. Come on. It's 137 for us clock watchers. Come to this altar, please. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just keep showing up. I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER. I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. I I JUST KEPT SHOWING UP. UH-HUH. LISTEN. Listen to me careful. Come on. God's going to move in this place. Let me show you how this works. Please listen carefully. Brother Tim and I are friends. We've been friends for a long time. You know, he and I were in a youth group together. 30 35 young folk. All night prayer meetings, miracles would happen. Am I right, Tim? I mean, incredible moves of God amongst the young people. We'd show up and do Bible baseball. That's right. Sword drills. Remember fun days getting mad because you couldn't find the verse. Am I right, Tim? Out of that group of 30 or so, how many are still living for the Lord? May no maybe four, five. Why, brother Gibson, is that what makes the difference? I just kept showing up. My wife had a stroke. I didn't know what to do, but I showed up. showed up at the altar. My dad died when I was young. I didn't know what else to do, but I just showed up at church. My mother passed away. I don't know what else to do. I tell you what, I'm just going to show up. God, I was young and now I'm old. But I have never seen the righteous forsaken. I just showing up in your presence. I'm not a beggar. I don't have to beg. You provide. You are the bread of life. Is what I'd please.

The only reason I gave that example is because there's no guarantees. Amen. But if you'll show up, you already know the Lord's here. When you come through the doors of this church, are you already expecting God to move in your life? because you already know he's going to be here. And where the presence of the Lord is, anything is possible. In fact, if you ask in his name, he said, if you do that believing, guess what? I can do it. That's right. So, I wonder, does it does the church in Chattanooga, are we willing to step above what society and culture is trying to tell us that religion is? And are we willing to rise above that and say, you know what, it's more than just this and just that and just shaking a hand and just saying, "Amen." But it's going to be when I show up and I am hungry for God to move in my life. What happens when I fall? I get back up and I show up again. What happens when I sin and I make a mistake? I get back up and I show up again. Is that hypocritical? You better believe it cuz I don't deserve this, Josh. BUT THE LORD JESUS SAID, "I LOVE YOU ANYHOW, and I'm going to come to you anyhow, AND IF YOU'LL SIMPLY HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE ME, I WON'T DENY YOU. I WON'T WALK AWAY FROM YOU. IF YOU'LL PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE, I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND I WILL HEAL YOUR LAND. UH I'M DETERMINED TODAY. UH I'VE SHOWED UP, LORD. ARE YOU HERE? COME ON. IS THERE ANYBODY ELSE DETERMINED TODAY TO SAY, "GOD, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT IN MIND TODAY. UH BUT I CAME TODAY WITH AN EXPECTANCY." COME ON. EVERY VOICE HERE LIFTED HIGH. EVERY HAND LIFTED HIGHER. COME ON. TO FILL YOUR HEART WITH PRAISE RIGHT NOW AND GIVE IT TO THE LORD. GIVE IT TO THE LORD. JESUS, I'M BELIEVING YOU FOR GREAT THINGS. I'M NOT A BEGGAR. I'M NOT A BEGGAR. LORD, I'VE NOT BEEN FORSAKEN, BUT YOUR HAND IS ON MY LIFE. YOUR HAND IS ON MY LIFE. COME ON, SOMEBODY. COME ON, SOMEBODY. THAT'S RIGHT. CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD. CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD.