Transcript of a published sermon by Raymond Sloan, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
Opening Prayer and a Snow-Day Welcome
- He opens in prayer, making himself available to the Lord — take coals from the altar, touch lips of clay — and thanks everyone who made the effort to come on a snow day: the singers, the musicians, and those who cleared the parking lot and slung the salt.
- Guests are honored, and he jokes that other churches did not have church while CAC did, because the date was printed on the journal page — you can't argue with the page.
- He urges everyone to take notes in their journals and to grow together this year, trusting that the Lord will help them as they grow.
Life Can Change in a Moment: We Live by Our Choices
- In a moment, a flash, a split second, something can happen and life as you once knew it can turn and take a different direction — the best-laid plans can be moving along in harmony, and then something happens and everything changes; it is not something you can plan for, because then it would be part of the plan.
- Every story is different, none of us has walked the same exact path, and every day the mind is affected by the choices and decisions we make — over 35,000 choices in one 24-hour period: what you wear, the food you eat, the greetings you give or don't, what makes you happy or sad.
- We are all here today because of a series of choices; you cannot slide things around on a calendar and push them back — the moment comes, you make a choice, and things happen.
- He assigns the journals: write three things that happened in your life, note how God made a way through it, and give thanks to God for making a way through it.
Come Unto Me: Jesus Gives Rest
- People came for different reasons — some just to see their friends, some searching for something bigger than themselves, some hungry and thirsty for the presence of God, and some who don't even know why they are here.
- He asks what you will do today to make this day different than yesterday: just ride the wave of life and hope for the best, or see your situation and decide today to choose joy — to sit at the feet of Jesus, or to receive an intense washing and renewing of the inward man.
- To the one sick and tired of what they have been going through, ready to let the hurts, habits, and hang-ups go and say, give me Jesus, he reads the words of Jesus: come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest — take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
- When Jesus spoke to the multitude, some pondered, some wanted nothing to do with it, and others said, where have you been my whole life; when you truly understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, the best thing you can do is give him your attention, because by his hand you will find purpose in your rest.
Scriptures: Matthew 11:28-30
The Landowner's Garden: Every Law of God Has Equal Value
- He tells an old story of a landowner who went out and hired a group of men to work in his garden without settling first on the compensation they would receive, and without telling them that one plant in his garden was more valuable than another.
- If the owner had placed more value on one plant, by the nature of humanity the men would have sought out only the plant with the biggest reward and negated all the others; the moral is that when the laws of God are applied to your life, all of them have equal purpose, equal principle, and equal meaning.
- What we have to decide today is whether we are going to follow what God says or pick and choose the better plants; Jesus did not offer rest from this trouble or that one — wherever you are on life's highway, come and see him, and he will demonstrate to you the value of rest.
- He notes the task he has been given for January: to talk about the discipling of people, and how the Tabernacle that the Lord God gave Moses to build was for a reason for us even today.
Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy
- He has the church write it down — Exodus 20 verse 8: remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy — and asks them to think this week on what a good night's sleep does to your attitude and your behavior.
- The Sabbath is in your life on purpose: God knew that we would need a time to reflect and to remember, and a holy day was designed by God to give every one of us the ability to look back at what the Lord has done.
- The last seven days have had their ups and their downs, their good days and bad; if you are not reflecting and taking time to look back and remember the goodness of the Lord, you will forget it, and when the negative stuff starts happening you will be distracted by what God has not done in your life.
- Anybody the Lord has healed ought to rejoice at every chance: gotten up off a gurney after a heart attack, a baby born that shouldn't have, a headache healed, cancer taken out of a body, a mind put back right after drugs — look what the Lord has done; he healed my body, he touched my mind, he saved me just in time.
Scriptures: Exodus 20:8
The Seriousness of the Sabbath Command
- According to the Torah, on the Sabbath you could not plow the earth, sow, reap, thresh, winnow, grind, knead, bake, shear or wash or dye wool, spin or weave, tie or untie, sew, tear, trap, slaughter, work a hide, write or erase two or more letters, build or demolish, kindle or extinguish a fire, put the finishing touch on an object, or transport it anywhere.
- If you transgressed the law in that day, they had the right to excommunicate you, possibly kill you; and in that same list of commandments where we stand in righteous indignation on thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not kill stands remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy — that is how serious God was about it.
- It is too easy to forget, but if you start looking back at the goodness of the Lord you will recognize that the job you got came from his hand, the food on your table came from him, and the blessing in your child's life came from him — without you, Lord, I am nothing.
- God does not change; what changes is you and I and our ability to reflect and remember — in the good times, when you make good choices, he is on the throne, and when you are dragging bottom he is still on the throne; and if you say there is no way you could do this the right way, he challenges you to simply try his way.
Call on the Lord Before You Call Anybody Else
- There is a reason you pray for your children before you call a doctor: your child is listening to you, and if the first words out of your mouth are not calling on the name of the Lord, your baby will grow up thinking the only answer comes from a pill or from sitting in a doctor's waiting room — it is not wrong to call a doctor, but you had better call on the name of the Lord first.
- When his daughter says, dad, I need you to pray for the baby today, he puts his hand over and prays believing, and within a couple of hours she texts that the baby is going crazy — he does not call that a coincidence; he knows the God in whom he trusts, who has raised the dead, changed lives, and taken cancer, drugs, alcohol, and leukemia out of bodies.
- He testifies that he has come into this very sanctuary sick in his body and tired, determined to get to the house of the Lord, felt worse than when he was on his way, and was healed as the word of God began to work in his life — when he left, he was 100% healed; God's word is forever settled in heaven, and there is no other word to build on.
- A word of negativity can wipe out all the positive God has done in your life: we get a diagnosis, take what we are given, get better because the medicine works, and then forget on a Sabbath to turn and say, look what the Lord did for me — and it zaps our witness and our testimony because we put all our faith in what they said instead of what God has done.
- Children are watching: his wife taught their children that if you are going to die or whatever, we are going to pray for you, but we are going to the house of the Lord, and afterwards we will go to the clinic — when his daughter insisted she had appendicitis and was told she did not even know what that is and to go lay down, she did have it and had to have surgery, and still holds it against her mother, who was testing a spirit of it.
A Baby Given to God: Walking in the Light
- Brother Seth and his wife had a baby in the hospital for weeks and weeks, through a bunch of surgeries, and the baby was released; the picture the preacher received on his phone at work was not of him or the doctor, but of the car seat sitting on the altar at the church — on their way home from the hospital they stopped at the altar, because they gave this baby to God.
- That baby will never remember it, but that daddy will; and when the little boy struggles, his father will remember that God came through. A little boy brought to the preacher who could not breathe was prayed for — God did not heal him instantaneously, but over a process of time God healed him and touched him.
- So many people today have a testimony but have silenced it, because they lost their Sabbath — they lost the ability to back up, sit, and reflect.
- Brother Don reads from 1 John 1: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all; if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin; if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- The question is put to every hearer: will you choose him or will you choose lies, will you choose his love or choose not to love him, will you choose to rest and remember and let the word of God have its way in your life and family, or will you simply go through the struggles and wonder if there is any way for it to change?
Scriptures: 1 John 1
He Has Never Failed Us Yet: Rest, Remember, Reflect
- From serving on a mission field he learned to submit and simply do what the Lord was telling them to do; in churches with one light and only a drum or a tambourine for an instrument, he watched a lady worship the Lord with tears running down her face, playing the only thing she had, and had to repent and apologize to the Lord for trying to stifle her testimony because he did not like the sound.
- Young men around a drum — thirteen to seventeen years old — beat it as hard and fast as they could, soaking wet with sweat, weeping and speaking in tongues, and when one would rise to worship another would step in and take the stick; they were remembering the goodness of the Lord, and he had to repent again for trying to stop their witness.
- He remembers a time when he had a part-time job making $3 an hour and his wife had a part-time job making $4 an hour, and somehow they were able to pay their tithe and offering and never did without a meal; when he lost his job and stood in the parking lot with his hands in his pockets, identified by a job that was gone, his wife asked what they were going to do, and his answer was that He has never failed us yet — that night they ate at his mother's house, and she packed up the food and sent it home with them.
- If you've got God on your side, you are the majority; he calls every person to a place of prayer: Lord, today let me remember you, let me reflect on your goodness, let me remember my mistakes and how you came through, and breathe into me life one more time — because there is no way I could do it, but you've already done it.
- You can have a Sabbath on a Tuesday, or on any day of the week, simply by pausing to reflect: drag your journal open, see how it really turned out, settle it that He is right and His word is settled, and build there — just as God, at the end of each day of creation, reflected and called it good, and on the sixth day very good.
- He closes by praying the blessing over the church — the Lord bless thee and keep thee, make His face shine upon thee, lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace — and dismisses them to have a great week in the Lord.
Scripture index: Matthew 11:28-30; Exodus 20:8; 1 John 1.
pray with me now would you Lord we we love you Jesus You Are Holy Holy One You Are Holy we come today Lord with hungry hearts and thirsty Hearts to see you Lord to spend time with you you are Are Holy today Lord we call upon your name there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved just your name Jesus bless today Lord in this house people online watching bless in their homes those gathered here Lord Our Guest each one of us God I pray the glory
of the Lord would speak into our lives today Lord I make myself once again available to you Jesus Take coals from the altar touch lips of play today Lord we love you and we honor you and we thank you Jesus you are a good God and we love you can you just thank him before you sit down come on lift your voice just thank him Lord I Thank you for being here today I thank you Jesus Hallelujah so good to see all of you out on a snow day Sunday you
can be seated if you feel like you need to thank you to all those who made the effort singers musicians those who helped clear the parking lot those who slung the salt and whatever else thank you all so much if you're guest with us today we honor you and thankful that you've joined with us amen it's another Sunday it's a great day to serve the Lord can you just say that name Jesus come on Jesus if you're a CAC member I'm glad you're here I'm ask yeah I got one here
did anybody remember the journals yeah okay so make sure you take notes today I'm going to help you with it all righty in fact the date is printed on the page it's Pastor how come other churches didn't have church and you are today because we had it on the page you can't argue with the page I mean so I I challenge you today to grow with us this year thank you so much brother donon feel free during the message to take all the notes you want I do trust that the
Lord will help you as you grow as I grow the Lord will help us to grow together a moment a flash Split Second something can happen life can change things can alter your state of being life as you once knew it can turn and things take different direction I am certain that this has happened to all of us I know it's happened to me multiple times in my life you can have the best laid plans they're moving along everybody's working in harmony things are going but something happens and everything changes
it's not something you can plan for otherwise it would be part of the plan nothing really in your control perhaps but as I mention often here is that life happens things transpire problems arise situations unfold and as you sit here today in this room as you're watching online think that we can all testify to the reality that in a moment something in our life altered certainly every story in fact is different in some way none of us today have the same exact path that we've walked there are details perhaps in
your mind and your spirit that stick out to you about some things that happened in your life some things happened and you would just as soon forget them every day though your mind is affected by what you face because of the choices and the decisions that you make I did just a little bit of homework to try to figure this thing out it's a phenomenon and what scientists call that every single human in one 24-hour period makes over 35,000 choices 35,000 decisions just now when you heard me say that you
made a decision to listen to it or not now there are some things that you don't have to decide coffee drinkers say Amen what you wear the food you eat the greetings that you give to somebody or don't what makes you happy what makes you sad choices ideas thoughts dreams pressures of Life everyone making their way into our lives and into our minds so that the moments the seconds the minutes the hours that we live we are all here today because of a series of choices somebody say I made a
choice it might not be the perfect plan but somehow it was the right plan because it happening in your life there's no real data to choose from you can't go to your calendar and slide this one this way expand it that way add to it and then push it back this is not Mr Stark's lab some of you're like what but moments of choices boom it's there it happens and you make a choice and things happen in your Journal make a note right now please write three things that happened in
your life note how God made a way through it and then give thanks to God for making a way through it somebody say he did make a way as We Gather in this place there should be one singular purpose but we know that that would be honestly an impossibility why because some of us came here today just to see our friends it's okay others made the journey because they're searching for something bigger than themselves still some others came with a hunger and a thirst for the presence of God because you
want something more in your life as it currently is maybe today you're here and you don't even know why you're here you don't know how it came to be but every step you have taken to this point every twist and every turn in Life's Highway in your life people that you came in contact with folk that made you who you are you are now faced with a simple reality that life is smelly and challenging at best you have struggles you have chaos it seems to be no end and maybe something
happens to have a a ray of light or Sunshine come in but then you go right back to the struggle I I've come to say today that some of you there might be one or two maybe in this crowd there may be a half a person that life has been Pleasant everything's been perfect it's been hunky dory you sleep this way and you've got a snow globe that's always shaking but the fact remains is that there are roads there are good roads there are roads really traveled and Roads Less Traveled
there's stuff that happens there's fruit because of your labors I've come today to tell you that while we are here together same place the same music we've enjoyed equal opportunities possibilities that surround every single one of us today I will ask you this what will you do today to make this day different than yesterday will you just ride the wave of life and hope for the best or will you see your situation and decide that it is time today to choose Joy you make choices every day milliseconds happen and you
make a choice I want to know today is there a full meter on your fed up with life situation that you're finally willing to say Lord I'm coming to church today because I need the body of Christ to minister to me if that's you today I welcome you into this worship service I want you to know that I am glad that you chose to be in the house of the Lord today whatever place you are whatever juncture at this moment I want you to know that you're in a place for
more of God to work in your life and to change your circumstance it might be today you're under the sound of my voice and you you simply need can I say it the oldfashioned way you just need to sit at the feet of Jesus and bask in his presence that might be you today or it could be that you're in need of an intense washing and renewing uh of the inward man because you've been dragging this dead body around too long I don't know it very likely uh somebody came here
today willing to take a chance on a fresh start to say I'm sick and tired of what I've been going through and I'm ready for Jesus to come in and to change my life uh it might be you're searching for answers and you've built up this wall of separation between you and the rest of the world but today you're willing to say uh let all of the Hurts Habits and Hang-Ups let all the plagues in my mind let all the joy that's been Zapped let all the junk that's been taken
let the smile on my face be a smile that says give me Jesus I want him I Look to Him I'm hungry for him I don't care what my family's telling me it don't matter what my coworkers saying hey I don't care what America thinks I don't care what politicians are saying as for me I want to know Jesus Matthew 11:28 listen to the words of Jesus it says simply come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest hear it 29 says take
my yoke upon you and learn of me I am meek and lowly in heart ye shall find rest under your souls listen for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Jesus talking to the multitude that day uh when he was speaking to them every place that he went uh he was making mention of a place uh that there was going to have to be a change uh in their lives uh he was is attempting to save people from their sins thus fulfilling the purpose for him to be born
into this world but I come today to present to you Jesus is standing in front of them and they're still making choices the Bible declares in the New Testament in Matthew Mark Luke and John the story the gospels of Jesus that some would hear him and go hm others would Ponder nah some would even say I want nothing to do with this others would look and say where have you been my whole life the circumstance was simple when you get to a place listen to this preacher today and you understand
that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and you understand that in him is the hope of all glory when you truly realize that in all of your life's choices and messes the best thing that you can do uh is give Jesus your attention why because he will give you Rest by his hand you will find purpose in your rest notice this is this to me again y'all you go to you got to get a hold of what trying to say in in this year I've been given the
task for January to talk about the the the discipling of people and to talk about how the Tabernacle that the Lord God gave to to Moses to build that it was for a reason for us even today in 2025 somebody say Amen so I'm going to reference that is that okay is that all right if we do old testy new testy stuff you may takeing notes the command here notice something that happens there's an old story that is in the talet you can read in various talet that's that's the Ora
that's that that's that word that that's that understanding there's a story of a landowner he went out and he hired a group of men to work in his garden he didn't settle first on the compensation that they would receive he didn't tell them that one plant in his garden was more valuable than another plant but what he simply did was he hired them to tend to his garden listen if he would have placed more value on one plant and not on another then by the nature of humanity the men working
in that Garden would have simply sought out the plants with the biggest reward and look for that plant only they would have negated all of the other plants they would not have tended to them and they would have simply looked for the one that the owner said had more value the moral of the story is simple when you have the laws of God applied to your life listen to me all of them have equal purpose equal principle and equal meaning what we have to decide today is are we going to
follow what God says or are we going to pick and choose the better plants Jesus he said if you come to me I'll give you rest what he didn't say is I'll give you rest from a I'll give you rest from G I'll give you rest from C I'll give you rest from Q what he said was wherever you are On Life's Highway you come and see me and I will demonstrate to you the value of rest why you're preaching this today because I'm glad you ask and your Journal write
this down Exodus 20 verse 8 ready for it remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy T now we live in a very influential and very information driven Society do we not so write this down question what is a good night's sleep do to your attitude and your behavior think on that this week would you the Sabbath is in your life on purpose listen carefully God knew that we would need a time to reflect and to remember a holy day was designed by God from God to give every single one
of us the ability to look back at What the Lord Has Done here the preacher today I have no doubt that the last seven days in your life that you have had your ups and you have had your Downs you have had your uppity ups and your down Downs you've had good days and you've had bad days you've turned right and you've turned left you ran out of bread or you got extra milk I don't know what life has brought you this week but hear the preacher right now if you're
not reflecting and taking time to look back and remember the goodness of the Lord listen you'll forget about the goodness of the Lord in the future and when all the negative stuff starts happening you'll begin to look around you and instead of looking to him you'll be distracted by what God has not done in your life or you'll forget about the good let me say it this way anybody here ever had a sickness and the Hand of the Lord came in and healed you right there one thing one thing healing
uh the Lord God has moved you ought to Rejoice over that every chance you get every opportunity that is part of your testimony whether he got you up off a gurnie after a heart attack or he established you or he let your baby be born and it shouldn't have or he healed you from a headache or he took cancer out of your body listen to the preacher or you were strung out on drugs but he put you back in your right mind it don't matter what you've been through uh you
can always pause uh and look back and say h I'm glad that he's been good to me H I can tell anybody and everybody Look What the Lord Has Done can let me get the old timer going in here today he healed my body he touched my mind he saved me uh just in time amen the Sabbath now I'm not here today to talk about Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Sabbath a time to rest and remember I'm gonna fill you in on y'all probably know this but allow me some time for
those who don't in the Old Testament law listen to this according to the Torah according to the first according to the pent to the first five books of the Bible this is what listen on the Sabbath the day of rest the day of remembering you could not plow the Earth you could not sew you could not reap you could not buy sheep you could not thresh in the floor you could not winnow which means throw away trash you could not select you couldn't grind sifting kneading baking shearing wool washing wool
beating wool dying wool you couldn't caught be caught spinning or weaving making two Loops weaving two threads separating two threads you couldn't be tying or untying you couldn't be sewing stitches you couldn't be tearing or trapping or slaughtering or flaying which means skinning animals you couldn't be tanning or scraping a hide or marking a hide you couldn't be cutting a hide into a shape you couldn't write two or more letters you couldn't erase two or more letters you better not be caught building or demolishing or extinguishing a fire or kindling
a fire or putting the finishing touch on an object that you've been working on all week uh you couldn't transport that object anywhere I come to tell somebody when God gave a law God asked that this is what you got to do why because don't be caught halfway in the middle of it and caused me to come in there and say if you'd have been thankful on this day I would have blessed it this week uh but instead you've taken it upon yourself listen to me I know every one of
those none of has anybody here ever been tanning on a hide okay okay okay has anybody here ever plowed a field oh brother Rob yeah yeah I figur somebody okay okay okay ready for this has anybody ever made a loop with thread vcro 101 listen to me listen to me if you transgress the law in that day they had the right to excommunicate you from them kill you possibly because you disobeyed the law of God listen to me how serious God was about it as much as you and I want
to stand here in a righteous indignation and simply say to somebody Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not kill and we want to stand upon that in that same list of Commandments remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy why because you and I have to know that God knew exactly what he was doing when he created Humanity why why did God make us that way I'll tell you why because it's too easy to forget some of you sitting right now in this place some of you online listening to this
preacher right now you know the healing and the miraculous power of God but for whatever reason you have made a choice and it has brought you to a junction in life and you can't believe him for this one as if God changed positions I know of what I speak some of us want God to move but we can't turn loose of it because we want to control the scenario if you start looking back at the goodness of the Lord you'll recognize something it didn't come from your hand anyway you'll recognize
the fact the job you got came from his hand the food on your table came from him the blessing in your child's life came from him come on you'll recognize the understanding that without you lord I am nothing uh there is nothing Within Myself Lord worthy but if I give you honor and glory and I remember and I recognize the blessings of the Lord then I know beyond the shadow of a doubt in the good times when I make good choices he's going to be on the throne but when I'm
dragging bottom and I'm picking low cotton he's still going to be on the throne what's the difference my ability to rest in him you might be listening right now to me and you might be saying you know what there is no way that I could do this the right way allow me a few moments if you will with all the decisions that you make every day the right ones the wrong ones the good ones the bad ones the ugly ones with all of that the needs that you have and you've
got to decide do I like it this way do or not do I put that on do I not do I go there do I go do I say this do I all those choices if you are ready for something in your life to change and to get better then you've got to make a decision that says Lord I will pause and I will think on you I feel like today that in the word of the lord we have all the things we need agreed we have everything we need in
the holy word of God we have the directions that we need in our lives hey we have dietary things in there we have exercising things in there we have non-exercising things in there for those who like that we have all kind of things in there that you can look to in the word of God and you know what that with the word of God he will direct you and Lead You In the possibilities in the impossibilities God can be God because God does not change but what does change is you
and I and our ability to reflect and to remember the good things of the Lord if you don't reflect you forget and if you forget what is the next Generation going to consider there's a reason there is a reason that you pray for your children before you call a doctor I'm not saying it's wrong to call a doctor the first words out of your mouth better be Lord Jesus I bring my baby to you in the name of Jesus you can work a work why because your child is listening to
you and if you do not use the power of the word of God and the power in the name of Jesus your baby is going to grow up and think that the only answer comes from a pill or from a doctor's office sitting in a waiting room for hours I'm not saying it's wrong I'm telling you this you better call on the name of the Lord before you call on the name of any medicine or doctor come on I know what it's like to pray over my Tylenol listen to me
but I also know what it's like when nothing else comes through uh I can reach over and pray uh and I can declare the name of the Lord and I can plead the blood of Jesus you can call it silly if you want to uh but when my daughter says to me dad I need you to pray for the baby today I'm some I don't feel and I put my hand over and pray I want you to know I'm believing and within a couple of hours she texts and said this
baby's going crazy I don't call that a coincidence I don't call that something bad she ate I call that saying and we call called upon the name of the Lord listen to the preacher and she knew who to ask to pray it's not that my prayers are bigger than yours or better than yours but what I do know is this I know the god in whom I trust I know that he has raised the dead he has changed lives he has pulled cancer out of bodies he has taken drugs out
of bodies he's taken alcohol out of bodies he's taken leukemia out of bodies he's changed things he's given people their sights he's lowered blood pressure he's raised things I know that my God knows you better than anybody else can ever know you remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy take time to recall God look what you've done in my life oh but Pastor there's no way that I could do that then I challenge you today if you say there's no way why don't you to simply try his way you
can have sin in your life and be so sick of sin I've come to tell you the answer is still in Jesus how many know today that he heals anybody how many you know today that he delivers come on we got a whole bunch of of Witnesses in this house or so how many you know that he could put you on the right path come on anybody come on it's going to be the word of your testimony that changes your situation that's why you have it a testimony says hey I
declare this is what I was this is what I saw but this is who I'm going to be that's a testimony I saw them yeah I'm telling the truth whole truth nothing but the truth yeah you know why because he's been good to me you come too late to tell me God can't make a way he's done that so many times it didn't make no sense but God Made A Way you come too late to tell me he can't heal why cuz he's healed me so many times I didn't even
know I was sick and God came in and touched my life come on I've come to the church house y'all ready for transparency I've come into this church this Sanctuary this very one sick in my body tired feeling a fe but I was determined to get to the house of the Lord I know some of y'all would even go online and say if you're sick stay home I couldn't stay home why because God put a word in my life and in my mind and in my spirit and when I came
into the house of the Lord I wasn't feeling good I know some of y'all say well Pastor you should have stay at home no I got here and when I got here I felt worse than when on my way here but when I stepped into the pull Pit and the word of God began to work in my life I got to tell you there was a healing that happened with the words that came out of my mouth and I declare when I left here I was 100% healed and hold I've
come to tell somebody that if you'll give God a chance God will come through his words forever settled in heaven his word is forever documented there's no other word to build on it is the word word of God are you saying I should come to church sick yes that's where you need to be is in an altar you're the Healer you're the way maker I'm not feeling well but I can feel better in you why because when I think of the goodness of Jesus God help us in this hour to
be delivered from the co mentality it was a real deal yes it was I had it anybody else enjoy CO as much as I didn't man it was the worst day worst dreams I've ever had I've dreamed that I had to learn how to live underwater that's the dream I had yeah I had to learn how to breathe under water and live I dreamed that for three days and I did it some of y'all today today I still got Co behind I is so hard to get past it it's I
know I get it I know I understand I'm not making fun of anybody I'm simply telling you this it's amazing that a word of negativity can wipe out all of the positive that God has done in your life I'm using that one simple explanation to tell you this pastor if I'm hacking and whacking and all that should I come to the house of the Lord I tell you what if you don't come here you better be praying all the way to the doctor and when you get there and that doctor
gives you a diagnosis and ask what you've been given that child you better tell him first I've been praying really how far did that get you I'll tell you how far it got me got me here ready for ready for but here in lies the Calamity is we'll have an issue y'all stay with me we you we have an issue we go let somebody with a degree tell us what's going on and then we do what they tell us to do and the we get we get better because the meds
are working but then we forget on a Sabbath to turn and say look what the Lord did for me and it zaps our witness and our testimony because we put all of our faith in what they said instead of what God has done done all the years prior I I've heard I've heard testimonies in this room not maybe not from the pull pit it's a pastor y'all know how Pastor feels about testimony Services I used to love them come on brother Rob hold on to me don't let me go I'm
going be lost out here huh but I've heard folk come through the door I went to the doctor they gave me a shot I feel better today and the whole conversation's wrapped around that and I'm sitting there going but you got through the door today and that doctor have nothing to do with that it was the grace of God and the decision you made to get out of bed and put on your clothes and come to the house of the Lord mom and dad you better know something your children are
watching you your children are watching you man some of some of y'all will will accuse my wife of being too hard and string I tell you what she taught our children she taught our children this you know what if you're if you're going to die or whatever we're going to pray for you but we're going to the house of the Lord why because it's a right thing to do tell you what we'll do after church we'll go to the clinic ask my daughter she mom I have an appendicitis you don't
even know what that is go lay down she still holds that against mom cuz guess what she had pentis she had have surgery and all that and she said Mom you were too mean no what mom was doing was what testing a spirit of it come on Mom and Dad come on Mom and Dad I don't want I don't want I don't want to I want to make sure you understand where I'm coming from remember the Sabbath day keep it holy there's a reason for that because you when you remember
the blessings and the goodness and the provision of God when you remember the blessings and the goodness and the provisions of God it will help you through the next trial and the next test and the next difficult time brother Seth stand up for me please they had a baby in nicku for weeks and weeks and weeks all right how many surgeries bunch of surgeries a little guy y'all remember that little one where's he at today oh yeah see he's homesick watch oh they're gonna be mad now that's why I picked
on you no it's not and I get a picture on my phone from this man pastor released him today from the hospital on my phone I'm working on a job and I get this picture on my phone do you know what this picture was the picture was not him the doctor none of that you know what the picture was is the picture was that car seat sitting on the altar at the church in the warehouse on our way home from the hospital we stopped at the altar am I right and
Pastor I want you to know that we gave this baby to God today why is that important that baby will never remember that but that Daddy will and when that little boy struggles today come on you know the little guy he's a terror running around here every see every time I see him running I'm like God you came through you came through you came through that could be a silent voice today but it's not it's a little boy that's going to grow up and be something powerful for God it's a
little boy that's going to grow up and be able to do the things of God uh what am I telling you I'm telling you God can do things when the little Roman guy was brought to me he's doing all he can't breathe or whatever what am I I right and pastor we don't know what to well let's pray let's pray let's pray he didn't heal him God didn't heal him instantaneously but over a process of time God healed him God touched him come on there's so many of you today you've
got a testimony but you have silenced it because you lost your Sabbath you lost the ability to back up and sit and to reflect listen how first John says it brother Don would you come please 1 John 1 and5 then this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light you hear it in him is no Darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in
the light he's in the light we have Fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin verse eight if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness we say we have not sinned and we make him a liar and his word is not in Us in all of the choices that you make in life
just to get here today just to get here today the multitude of decisions you made to get here I will ask you this if you declare the goodness of the Lord and you understand you're walking in the light then you got to know something that he is with you there's no fellowship with the question and the the wishy-washy the back and the forth I don't know if God did it I'm not sure what happened but if you'll make a declaration and you'll choose you know what everything good and perfect comes
from him and you start there Lord you're faithful you're holy you're righteous you're good I'm going to take time every week every day every I'm going to remember the good things of the Lord my question to you today is simply this will you choose him or will you choose lie will you choose his love he loves you or will you choose not to love him will you choose to rest and remember will you choose to allow the word of God to have its way in your life and in your family
or will you simply go through the struggles and the trials and wonder if there's any way for it to change as I come to a close I don't I don't you guys know my testimony I share it all the time but I learned some very very important lessons while serving on a mission field call of God was definitely there on our lives and we we learned how to submit to the Lord and how to Simply do what he was telling us to do was not easy all the time but I
I remember vividly when we made that step to make that declaration and we stepped out doors begin to open things begin to happen and there's no way that we could have ever said it was us but it was him but then what I learned while working with people that are have one light in the church or the only instrument is a drum or heaven forbid Brother Don a tambourine yeah it's an inside joke you have to ask him he loves it when I bring tambourine listen that's the only instrument anybody
know what a Guida is it's an instrument made out of metal and they have bicycle spokes on a handle that was the alra time musical instrument of choice brother Dr would you just just play something ain't that Pleasant I'd preach and these churches on the mission field and y'all need to come and pray and I'm standing go I can't praying this it get on your nerves wouldn't it it did mine until brother Rob one service I forgot about me and I turned and I looked at the lady playing that Guida
and with tears running down her face she was worshiping the Lord with the only thing she had and I had to stop there at that moment and say Lord she must be remembering something I so sorry that I tried to stifle her testimony because I didn't like it a drum on the floor with a a big stick and a big leather thing on the end and that's why it was as hard and as fast and as Furious as could go come on they didn't do all this stuff they did 30
40 minutes of it I'm stead just trying to worship and keep up and I'm standing there saying Lord that's oh Lord Jesus send a piano send a keyboard Lord ain't got to be no big old piano and I'd look around there's no electricity I said never mind Lord that won't work here and I began to remember the goodness of the Lord and I'm standing this is true story and I watched these young men listen to me 16 17 15 13 years old around that drum beating The Bookies out of it
soaking wet with sweat literally weeping and speaking in tongues as they're playing and I'd W I'd watch one of them just church is worshiping church is blowing up they drop the stick and they boom and hit it and one of the other young men would step in and that when we get up and just worship and love the Lord and worship and love the Lord he was remembering the goodness of the Lord and I had to repent again and say God I'm so sorry that I tried to stop their witness
their testimony listen to me carefully and I'm done when the children of Israel come on we're studying this right we're looking at this in our Journal all year long when the children of Israel were giving given direct laws don't covet don't have any Idols don't bear false witness don't steal don't kill in those important ones was one that said you remember the Sabbath you take time to remember to reflect why because there's going to come a time and that's what you're going to have that's what God did and if you're
laying on deathbed or you're laying sick in a hospital room or you're wondering what's going to happen on this job or you're wondering where the finances went or any other of thousands of things that's happened you can look back and say Lord I remember a time when I had a part-time job making $3 an hour my wife had a part-time job making $4 an hour and somehow someway God we were able to pay our tithe and offering and you came through and we never did without a meal God only thing
I know is if you can provide then you can provide now I'll never forget the time I lost a job I was fired and I had to stand there out in the parking lot and put my hands in my pocket say what am I going to do now CU for men their job is what identifies them now I'm identified as unemployed and I got in a truck and I drove home and my wife comes home from work and I'm said baby I lost my job today and she looks at me
and she says well what are we going to do and I said BBE I don't know but I do know this he has never failed us yet you want to know how this unfolded I'm going to call mom and see if we can come eat at her house tonight and we did listen to me and her without knowing the details at the end of the meal packages up the food and says well y'all take this home with you I won't eat it but y'all can take it right well yeah guess
what the Lord just did how do I remember that because I've had a plenty bunch of sabbaths where I could look back and say Lord when I was weak and I didn't know what to do I called on you and you came through when my hands Lord were lifted to you and I didn't have really anything to offer you I remember that A Hallelujah is sufficient for a king and I could simply love you and in the middle of it Lord there is no way that it should work but it
works there is no way it makes sense but it does why because if you've got God on your side you are the majority would you stand with me right now it's 1:30 for us clock Watchers listen to me I want to invite every single one of you to a place of prayer today come on a place of prayer today it might be right where you are you may want to come to this carpet in the Altar and pray but this is what I want you to pray Lord today let me
remember you today let me reflect on your goodness your L come on today come on this might be appropriate for some of you Lord let me remember my mistakes and remember how you came through and then as I begin to lift the praise unto Your Name Lord Breathe Into Me life one more time that I could get past this Lord why cuz there's no way that I could do it but you've already done it come on this altar is open find you a place of prayer find you a place to
reflect come on right now it's a Sunday it's 1:30 in the afternoon surely you can take time on this Sunday and you can look back at what God has done in your life if you're a guest here today I invite you to the front to come and pray with us come on if you're here with your family get them close to you bring them down here and say come on we're going to reflect and remember the goodness of the Lord we're going to remember the blessings of the Lord oh come
on on somebody remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy remember the time of rest oh come on somebody believe on him believe on him believe on him right now come on begin to think about the goodness of God remember the blessings of the Lord come on remember the goodness of the Lord God you've been good to me God you've always made a way God you've always made a way Jesus you've always made a way I don't know how Lord but you made a way I don't know how or why
but you made a way Jesus oh come on somebody it's prayer time hey yeah y yeah yeah yeah that's right come on I thank you Lord you've always made a way you've always made a way you've been faithful yes oh come on y'all it's prayer time in the house of the Lord it's a day of reflection and remembering Hallelujah I know it's not much I've nothing else Fit For A keing come on now I love you Jesus oh come on Joy ought to be coming into your heart right now the
goodness of the Lord the blessings of the Lord the benefits of the Lord yeah yeah come on Joy ought to be overshadowing your heart right now somehow Lord you made a way you've been so faithful Jesus oh come on Joy ought to be swelling up within you right now come on God's been good to you again come on lift your voice God you've been good to me I'm sorry Lord if I've neglected you you've been good to me hallelu I know it's not much I have nothing else fit for come
on prayer warriors where you at huj come on somebody throw up my head thank you Jesus again thank you Jesus God you've been good to us God you've been good to us we remember that Lord we reflect on it Jesus we remember Lord your grace to us your provision to us thank you for that Lord thank you Jesus thank you Jesus love you Lord Jesus oh come on Joy ought to be in your heart right now God has been good to you God has blessed you God's made a way for
you time and again time and again God came through hey yeah yeah come on now yeah on yes sh yes Jesus I love you Lord come on let try get up and praise the Lord oh yeah try bless the Lord thank you Jesus oh come on Joy ought to be overtaking you right now God you've been good to me oh God you made a way Lord yes you did I give you thanks I reflect right now on this day Hallelujah we praise your name we praise your name yes come on
God's been good to you lift up your voice yeah inside of those lungs get up praise the Lord hallelujah Hallelujah Jesus oh I love you Lord come on it's a day to reflect it's a day to remember it's a day to remember hey God you've been good you've been good yes you're a good God there's no way it could be any other but it's him Hallelujah earlier in my message I ask you to write down three things God came through this is what I I want you to do this week
drag your Journal open it up and Lord I was told this but look at the reality Lord I felt this way but look how it really turned out Lord I wasn't sure but look what you did you can have a Sabbath on a Tuesday you can have a Sabbath on any day of the week by simply pausing to reflect Lord Lord I really believe church that if we're thankful for what we have God will trust us with other things huh so the challenge is simple we're going to go home settle
it that he's right settle it that he's perfect yeah settle it that you're going to build on the word because it's settled and then build there and watch how God works and moves in your life now please Thou shalt not kill still there Thou shalt not steal it's still there will we good I want y'all to forget those right right don't covet your neighbors possessions why those are still there don't build Idols graving images those are in there but the one for this week is Lord I will pause and remember
and reflect I will rest I will now I know there's at least one person either in this room or online that's going to say to their spouse or whatever today's my Sabbath and I'm not working and that will become your mantra for Monday Tuesday Wednesday third Pastor said I can't work no I did not God was also very kind to say oh I'm trying so bad to stop this in the beginning God created did he not at the end of the first day what did he say he reflected wo second
day he did all this and then what didd he do it's good he reflected third day he reflected he looked back it's good fourth fifth day what'd he do he did all he did and he went it's good sixth day he looks at it and he says what it's what very good tomorrow I'm done listen to me the lord loves you I'm so glad you came today I love you and I believe God's got good things in store for you I believe his hand is upon you if you've been a
guest with us today please come back we're so honored you came if you've been online with us today we're so thankful you joined us can you put our prayer up please oh our machine operators left their post they were just getting so blessed are you ready this is for the church the Lord bless thee and keep Thee the Lord make his facei shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace and they shall put my name upon the children of
Israel and I will bless them the Lord bless you this week as you go I love you guys don't forget all the announcements let's have a great week in the Lord shake hands be friendly introduce yourself to the guest amen we're so glad you came today
Scripture references as spoken: Matthew 11:28-30; Exodus 20:8; 1 John 1.