Just Breathe

turn to your neighbor and say are you here are you not all there some of y'all are trying to figure out what you just said aren't you that's what i want you to do to start this lesson this message this word today is what i want you to do everybody ready i want you to take a deep breath as deep as you can get it and let it out come on do it again do it again do it again suck it as hard as you can take all the way in now let it out one more time take it take a breath of a peaceful breath just that gentle it's kind of like when you're crawling out of bed brother jerry and the coffee pot's going you're like sorry i'm joking joke okay that's me right now everybody that can in here now that we've practiced i want you to take a breath as deep as you can i want you to hold it i want you to see how long that you can hold your breath without passing out if anybody passes out yell after you hit the floor we'll come get you ready go deep as you can now hold it some of you ain't holding it hold it hold the breath come on hold it if you need to let it out you can if you feel like you're about to pass out anybody still holding it hold it all right let it out because ain't none of us in here gonna give you mouth-to-mouth i'm saying by nature the human body has to have oxygen you got to breathe to live in order to live you got to breathe now i am not a medical doctor i'm not a pulmonologist i'm not a breather center-upper kind of guy only thing i know for sure is i like to live therefore i breathe anybody here today understand my voice not breathing we're all still good you may want to elbow the one that's asleep but anyway i realize that living is breathing therefore to the best of my ability i choose to allow my body to work and let it breathe as kids for an example as children when i was younger back in the olden days and the black and white days with no color pictures or nothing there there was a challenge we would challenge each other when we would find ourselves at the swimming hole or in a swimming pool or whatever is we would go under water and we could see how long we could hold our breath underwater anybody else do that anybody else pretty yeah yeah remember you remember back in the day when you had all of that in a box of cracker jacks man you go okay if you take the deep breath and you go under and you try to swim under water as far as you can you knew the pool was like 900 feet long right so you take out off out for the other end and about five feet into it you're that world record setting attempt you come up out of the water and you have gone an entire eight feet and you're standing there going dude hold on it's bad start it's bad i had water my god i got i know i can get this pool i know i can do this i i used to do it all the time my brother until he got mad just got out of the pool then i just won you know it's what it is right it's a game i know you try to hold your breath get under the water you may realize today you got to breathe the normal normal normal person can hold their breasts under water for about 30 to 45 seconds then you've got those who practice who are navy seals or divers that they expand their lung muscles and their tissues and they can hold their breath about two and a half to three minutes you've got free divers that makes no sense to me they'll go down and as far as they can they'll hold their breath and then they'll make their way up does anybody in this room today know the guinness book of world record time for the longest time somebody has held their breath underwater anybody want to just guess wait held their breath under water and survived what how long mccain how many four four minutes man you are so off anybody else yes 90 seconds 100 seconds y'all give her no anyone 24 minutes and three seconds a guy from spain guinness book a world record y'all go home now and you got all this knowledge see there aren't you glad you came to church i don't even know how that's possible 24 minutes man it takes i can eat a meal less than that i'm about five minutes i can i can imagine holding my breath for 24 minutes they claim now stay with me for a minute they claim that you have to medically adjust your body physically make adjustments to your lung capacity because the fact of the matter is this you have to have oxygen in order for your brain to function if your body does not get the proper oxygen and your system begins to starve there's a natural reflex in the brain that says you better move and get some oxygen flowing hey i've seen it in the baptismal tank i'm like you know what you ain't been there but just a moment though i'll just do it i've got to go to my psych myself i'm like this i could just pick you up it's not going to be bad but you got to psych yourself out after the oxygen in your body is screaming here your body's saying i gotta have it it'll start turning to carbon dioxide and it'll begin to infect your body and you'll begin to freak out and you'll begin to clamor about and well about why because you have to breathe it is one of the natural intuitions that the good god almighty put into every one of us so i'll ask you to practice with me one more time take in a deep breath and hold it let it out anybody feel like you just drowned anybody feel like you couldn't breathe somebody say it right now lord i thank you that i have breath in my body now what this little experiment talked to you about today basically is an example that every one of us want to live every single one of us want to live something in us says i must survive i have to clear my mind i have to get a few things out of the way but if everything's falling around me there is something inside of me that still says i want to live it doesn't matter if somebody's in a state of mind to want to end it all if you were to put them in a position to where they could think clearly they would say it to you very peacefully i want to live but everything's falling around me and i don't know what else to do i want my life to mean something i've come today to tell somebody that when you live when breath is going in and out of your lungs and the oxygen is making its way through all of the vessels and the arteries and all that it needs to you need to know something you are feeling life and that life in you gives you an ability to make decisions it gives you an ability to make choices it allows you to weep and cry when you're sad but it allows you to laugh and jump up and down when you're glad it allows you to feel the things that are going on around you i don't know about you friend but i enjoy life i i realize a lot of y'all know pastor doesn't like to laugh don't like to tell jokes much now i enjoy life i think life's got a whole lot of stuff thrown against me that could drag me down but i can look it in the face and say i still love a good joke now and again i i still love to watch the the cat videos online when they get no never mind or the little doggy no never mind or when somebody trips and falls that one makes me laugh every time well that could be me very quickly the guy fall off a ladder 700 feet off the ground he just stood up that's so funny i like to laugh why because i got air going in and air going out and i'm realizing within myself you know what somebody's got it worse than i do they just fell off a 700 foot ladder might not mean enough to you but it means a lot to me because if i fall off a 700-foot ladder how many older folks know what i'm talking about i may or may not get up as i stand here today i am reminding myself and i am reminding everybody listening today life is good there's a whole lot to be thankful for there's so much worth living for there are so many great people in my life there are so many things that i have seen so many places that i have been so many more places i want to go so many more people i want to meet why because i have chosen to live i've chosen to let oxygen come in and go out therefore i have established with my brain and whatever bit of life situation the devil knows it more than anything when things begin to fall apart when trials and tests come and the doom and gloom begins to overshadow me if i'll just breathe in and breathe out i will realize i'm alive therefore let everything that hath breath praise the lord and if i've got breath i'm going to praise him i realize we're all at different places different levels different positions different maturity levels different ages but everybody in this room is alive today elbow your neighbor say you're living so the possibilities of your life they are simply endless one day you'll breathe your last breath but until that moment i challenge you today live life i challenge you today to live life i'm telling somebody today look the devil in the eye and say it i refuse to die in this place i'm gonna live life come on i believe somebody is one decision away from an ex a place of worship that you haven't been to in a long time you just simply got to put it in your brain and in your spirit and decide if i'm alive there is hope take another breath go ahead feel the air in your lungs stretch your lungs feel that life moving inside of you life is inside of you now when my kids were young younger they get anybody ever have the hiccups that's the coolest thing because it just happens see this happens i'm gonna say there went okay that's enough the hiccups anybody here ever ever get choked on something like while you're eating or drinking huh anybody yeah yeah when my youngins were literally they take a little bit too much to drink or a little too big a bite to eat anybody this is what my lovely wife would say to my while they're choking gagging somebody explained one day what is the wrong pipe anyway that's where everything goes it just went in the wrong pipe no only had another pipe to choose anyway but in the middle of them choking trying to clear their airway hmm i'm about to get this my wife would come up next to him and she'd grab them by the hands and she'd go and they'd go my daughter 24 years old she'll stop so what are you doing we got choked up there why is your hand up cause that's what mom always did what you're trying to do trying to breathe somebody in this house today you're choking on stuff you need to get your hands in the air you need to realize the king of glory is breathing into you and you might have to clear something out the way the airway that's going to happen when you get your hands in the air it ain't gonna happen doubled over wondering what they'll get your hands in the air begin to love the lord begin to bless his name begin to worship his name devil could be chasing you beating you down can be trying to condemn you trying to convince you you're a nobody but i've come to tell somebody today i can praise god cause i got breath in my lungs i can lift up the name of the lord because i got breath in my i'm alive therefore i will worship him oh somebody's still choking get your hands in the air get your hands in the air the psalmist wrote this in 141 and one lord i cry unto thee make haste unto me give here give ear to my voice when i cry unto thee let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice the lifting of hands is a position of praise the lifting of hands causes you to breathe a little easier somebody gonna get this today hey that's how your body was made was to breathe in and to breathe out if you're breathing then you can lift your hands up and if you can get your hands in the air there is no telling what the enemy will turn loose of in your life the lifting of hands as the evening sacrifice it's going to keep me now and through the night into the next day there are times in our lives some of us are stuck right here stay with me that life gets hard and to breathe becomes a great chore but i've come today to tell somebody that's in that dilemma right now the alternative to breathing is simply dying i don't know about you but today i don't want to check out i ain't eat lunch yet priorities drawn i've come to tell you today life gets hard things get difficult you've got to learn the value of simply breathing you've got to learn the ability to let your lungs work let them function and as you clear your mind of all the things that's going wrong and all the problems and all the issues that coming against you or your family or the ones that you hold dear to you you need to know that every time it you see breathing kind of just it just doesn't just happen and i mean sneak up on you it's something you're doing right now and then a person in here said to yourself breathe go no it's just happening this is going on y'all hang on a pastor for a moment because as you're breathing your body's working so if you are able to breathe today i've come to tell you you might be going through a hard battle some of you your battles are spiritual no doubt some of you your battles are physical no doubt many of you you're having emotional battles it's true and some of you wonder when is joy ever going to come back into my life i rise to this podium today to tell somebody you need to keep fighting you need to keep breathing you will be an overcomer you could live and you can rise above the doubt you can rise above all the stuff that's why we've come to this place today everybody walked through that door the same way you were breathing but many of you have carried backpacks of worry fret what somebody's not doing or what somebody is doing what you wish somebody else was doing or you were hoping this one would do the fact of the matter is this you probably can't do anything about any of that but we serve a god who knows them by name who understands every situation therefore if you've got breath you want to be worshiping the lord regardless and let god come in and fight your battle but it all depends on your desire the way you condition yourself experience tells us that if we weep for a while joy will come in the morning you weep for a little while you kind of put things into perspective but then joy comes in the morning when you feel like in your life that you're about to drown and you don't want to die in all the stuff that's trying to over overwhelm you i want you to know you need to stop where you are get into your heart and in your mind life is worth living hear me it might be right now in this room somebody listening or somebody online is listening and your family is simply coming apart at the seams i ask you right now if you stop praying who will pray if you stop believing who else is going to believe for them if you give up praying and interceding for them who else is going to stand in the gap for them are you hoping somebody will simply come by or would you be like that one that's determined that says lord if they're going to come out of this it's going to be because i interceded it's going to be because i made up in my mind to praise and love and worship you in spite of everything there's an account that's given to us in the first book of the bible it's called genesis the book of beginnings the bible speaks specifically of a man his name was noah scripture reveals that noah found grace in the eyes of god now all the people on the earth to that date the sin the immorality the vile acts that man was doing the bible says that it caused god to repent to re revisit if you will the condition of man it wasn't as if god were thrown off it was simply that god had to institute now part of his plan it was at that point in the plan of god here the preacher today in that point of separation that god determined noah i'm going to give you a plan and i want you to follow this plan as best as you can putting all attention upon the smallest of details the bible tells us specifically god gave him a blueprint if you will how long how wide how tall what material put in and out how to put all the things into it how to make sure this window was there and that door was there all of it part of the plan the scripture tells us that noah worked for over a hundred years on the plan everybody say the plan and then god speaks to noah he says noah i want you to take certain types of animals this many of some this many of others and i want you to carry to make sure that they get into the ark now hollywood has painted this picture a hundred different ways i wasn't there were any of you so we have some idea only thing i know is that god had given noah a plan for the ark so surely god gave noah a plan for the animals stay with me god spoke to noah this is how you do it so the male and females they entered in everything that was sufficient to survive on that boat everything that was needed for the sacrifices after it stopped stay with me then god said noah take your family and go into the ark the bible tells us in the book of genesis that that actually happened and that god almighty closed the door behind them and noah and his family the animals they were gathered there waiting patiently perhaps waiting not knowing what to expect next the only thing that noah had was a plan and a purpose from god and after all of the hard work was done outside the boat they are now inside the boat listen to me carefully genesis chapter 7 verse 21 and all flesh died that moved upon the earth both a foul and of cattle and of beast and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth and every man all in whose nostrils was the breath of life of all that was on the dry land died and every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground both man and cattle creeping things foul of the heaven they were destroyed from the earth the bible says specifically here and noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark as the water began to ascend hear this as the rain began to descend anything and everything that was alive on planet earth at that moment was now in jeopardy the more that it rained the more that the waters opened up from underneath the scripture reveals to us everything outside of that ark was destroyed nothing was left alive i don't know about you but it's hard for me to understand that everything dead everything done away with the only one survived was noah the one who followed god and his family they remained alive something you must notice here very important friend what killed all things on earth was also what saved all things in the ark the water killed everything on the earth but the water lifted the ark so that those inside could stay alive the difference was the position of where they were god was moving and he was doing his purpose the difference was were they inside the plan of god or were they outside simply trying to make it on their own as much as we want to live as much as we want to breathe as much as life means to every single one of us you today my friend or at a place where you need to make a decision and you need to make a choice am i going to live or am i going to die because if i live i've got to make choices to get into the plan of god there ain't no other way but the plan of god i can't swim long enough i can't hold my breath long enough only thing i know is this god has a purpose therefore i will get into the purpose of god hebrews 11 says it like this by faith noah being warned of god of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith the writer of hebrews makes a reference to a fact that noah acted upon a word from god and because noah worked the plan of god his family too was saved today in this place right now some are at the point of decision life and death you can breathe and you can be alive in him you can have hope working in the middle of your pain salvation you can find it even when you don't understand everything or that same water can destroy you hear me where are you going to be when that trump does sound you're going to be looking for the rainbow that says god you're not going to destroy earth any longer with that the lord said i know that but this time it won't be water it will be fire peter preached a message generations ago the message caused a group of people standing on the street listening intently to simply say this when they heard it they were pricked in their heart said unto peter and the rest of the apostles men brethren what shall we do then peter said unto them repent be baptized every one of you in the name of jesus christ for the remission of sins you shall receive the gift of the holy ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as the lord our god shall call this is the way this story completes itself as he says with many other words he testified he exhorted saying save yourself from this untoward generation the crowd that day gathered and they heard they had seen those coming out of the upper room they had seen the experience were happening they were questioning they were wondering all of a sudden though breath began to breathe into the streets of jerusalem that day and as they begin to shake if you will and wonder and quake and look and say they're drunken they're doing things they should not do it was actually the infilling of the spirit of god into the heart and the spirit of man peter then told them there's a place a plan that you can come to and you can gather into the presence of the lord and in there you can breathe salvation today is the key to this message save yourself get into the boat get into the family allow the saving power of the word of god to become salvation to you and not to condemn you understand friend the very word that we all hold true the very scriptures that was given to us as the voice of god is alive and well but the same heaven that spoke of the same place of everlasting joy that's mentioned there's another place called hell i can't take away hell i can't simply grow heaven the one thing i can do is look into the word of the lord and i can say lord if i have to make a choice to live or die i choose life but while i'm living lord i have to choose to know you or walk away from you i ask you today are you weary are you tired is your mind overrun with fear and doubt questions have your circumstances become so grossly hard that you don't know up from down anymore are you wondering in the midnight hour while the tears hit your pillow is there any hope to get through this i'll tell you today friend there's a plan it's like noah had a plan there's a plan the plan is him knowing him repenting of your sins turning away from him being baptized buried in the name of jesus christ so those sins can be remitted washed away and then the infilling of the spirit of god in your life and you'll know it's happened because you will hear yourself speak as the spirit of god gives utterance and i don't know if anybody else can testify to this but i can i've seen multitudes receive the wonderful gift of the holy ghost and every single time breath came into them countenance turned anybody kind of uh a brilliance even i don't want to make it hollywood where a light comes on but you could see it you want to know why because up to that point brother daniel they were all hunkered over just trying to live and breathe i'm so weary and tired you can't breathe no you haven't you're choking on the things of the world yeah it's just it's just i don't know what to do i'll tell you what to do i need you lord i love you jesus i want to be in the plan i want to be in the family of god i want to be in heaven one day with you then i tell you today just breathe stand to your feet would you please life today is within reach abundant life is in jesus christ my question for you today is simply this do you want to live do you want to live life do you want to have a smile on your face and joy in your heart are you tired of all the other stuff come on this is not a battle that's worth losing but this is a gift that the lord god wants you to have this altar up here is open right now it's a great spot for you to come and pray turn around from all that stuff and get into the presence of the lord as you begin to lift him up pray with me church lord i breathe today because you give me life i have my being lord god because you're breathing into me full of the spirit of god the holy ghost and fire it's keeping me alive it's causing me to breathe today lord someone in here needs you someone in here lord needs a touch from your hand somebody lord is choking god they're being snuffed out by the things of the world god i pray right now in jesus name that they will find you lord they would find hope in you jesus as the plan that you have lord comes to life in them in the name of jesus come on this altar is open i want to invite everybody that'll come i want you to come down here come on it's prayer time you need to pray you need to spend some time with jesus come on you can get to know him you can have fellowship with him that's right come on this day can be a day of life giving power into your life jesus jesus i trust you come on it's as simple as just talking to him i love you lord i want to draw closer to you lord i want to hear you lord i want to be up near you jesus let your word lord god become alive in me let your word lord jesus come alive in me i breathe in you lord i love you jesus i trust in you jesus all right come on it's prayer time in the house of the lord find your place to pray you want to know where you're at go ahead come on don't you leave here if you don't pray you don't know what's going on out there but right now you can find your place in the family of god you can find your way into the presence of the lord in the name of jesus come on it's prayer time hallowed be your name holy is your name worthy is your name glorious is your name how excellent is your name in all the earth in all the earth how wonderful is your name jesus hallelujah come on pray come on pray will go so so oh come on pray come on pray come on get into his presence lord i need you jesus lord i trust in you holy god i praise you jesus i praise you jesus i praise your name come on let's try praise him worthy worthy worthy is the lamb worthy worthy worthy is the lamb of god wonderful is the name wonderful is the name the name of jesus brother dan would you help me please brother gibson come and help me the name of jesus okay in the name of jesus we believe in your lord for it right now honor faith honor faith honor faith lord to trust in you in your matchless name in the name of jesus in the name of jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah i love you jesus you alone have the power jesus you alone yes you are you god you can do anything jesus yes you can hallelujah all over this place thank you somebody you know personally that's struggling right now that's having battles that's fighting come on you know who they are i want you to stand in the gap for them right now and pray speak their name out to the lord come on speak their name out it could be a co-worker a family member somebody in the lord i'm gonna stand here today and love you and praise you for them and i pray god that somehow breath would go to them they would come lord to know you jesus give them a hunger lord god to fall in love in the name of jesus that's right come on believe in it believe in it in jesus name in jesus name just breathe let breath fill your lungs just breathe lift your hands and breathe lift your praise and breathe you're alive victory comes you're alive victory comes name of hallelujah is i swear i surrendered um you're my best there any prayer warriors in the house could you help us just a couple of moments right here please come help us pray come on bring your prayer with you come on prayer warriors bring your prayer with you yeah lord you're a mender of a broken heart you're a waymaker lord you're a healer come on gathering close to it pray with her right now hallelujah come on pray with it right now come on in close come on in bring faith with you right now jesus jesus jesus come on that's right in the name of jesus come on in the name of jesus breathe in the name of jesus hallelujah come on praise somebody come on open your mouth pray come on open your lungs pray jesus jesus i love you jesus come on church pray come on believe me in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus christ love the lord i believe in you jesus i believe i can have the holy ghost today lord i believe i can lord i believe the cross of calvary was for me i believe salvation is for me i believe i can oh i believe it today in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus that's right lord it's for me i want to receive it right now i want to receive it right now oh pray church pray hallelujah yes lord yes lord yes lord blessed be the name of jesus aren't you thankful for breath in your body today before you go home one more time lift your hand to him and love him for a moment i love you jesus and i thank you for the breath that you give me thank you for hope in the holy ghost oh god as we go our separate ways today let us go in faith believing and on every home every heart every family that's here let the word of the lord be real in each one of us god i pray you're coming as soon jesus you're coming as soon jesus we've got to be ready i don't want to go to hell lord i want to make heaven my home i believe you for it jesus i plead your blood over every one of us god love you lord i honor you and i trust you and in everything i give you thanks because that is your will that is your will i love you lord if you need to go you can go thank you so much for being in the house of the lord today i love all of you and i believe in you but god does something in your life amen greet somebody remember encourage someone in the holy ghost have a great week wednesday night bible study don't forget love y'all