Also

thank you praise the lord everyone i'm glad for the presence of god not just the presence of god ecclesiastes 8 4 says where the word of the king is there's power often times we we come into the presence of god and we put people in the presence of god but we don't get as far as experiencing the power of god there's a difference because the power of god has the ability to change change circumstances change hearts change thinking we need the power of the king today praise god i feel his presence i thank you lord for your presence i thank you that you grace us once again oh god that you visit us hallelujah i have a message today not just a sermon but a message and it may not be for everybody if you're that person here today who's never had your sandcastles kicked over if you're that person that the clouds never dim your skies if you or that person where life is just great this is probably not going to affect you a whole lot but i think that i'm talking to people who know that life is more than that isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 and then

first corinthians chapter 10 one of my very favorite scriptures in the bible isaiah 6 1 says in the year that king uzziah died i saw everybody say also also i saw also the lord sitting up on a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple first corinthians chapter 10 verse 13 such a great encouragement there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but god is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it also simple conjunctive i want to talk about that today just simply also god bless you i want to preach to apostolics today any apostolics in the house i'm talking about hardcore apostolics that nothing matters more than being in the presence of god and enjoying the presence of god that's the one that i want to talk to today you may be seated in jesus name

it was the best of times it was the worst of times it was the age of wisdom it was the age of foolishness it was the epic of belief it was the epic of incredulity it was the season of light it was the season of darkness it was a spring of hope it was the winter of despair we had everything before us we had nothing before us anybody remember that that's what we learned anyway a novel published in 1859 by probably one of the best loved authors english authors at least of all times started this way talking about the french revolution in two cities london and paris that was before you know the days when i i didn't learn about tommy has two mommies my books weren't about patty has two daddies it was before all of that mess when we actually learn things the classics a tale of two cities by charles dickens and when that book was published in 1859 i'm sure there were thousands of authors who opened it up and read that opening salvo and said i wish i had said that i wish i had written that because in that statement that opening rapid-fire

statement about the contrasts and contradictions that exist was a truth and i know from experience and from the perspective of age now that if it is true you can find it in the book because this book contains the truth and so this was not just from the pen of uh or the mind of charles dickens but it was a universal truth that he was presenting that resonated with the readers that picked up his novel that life for most of us is not either good or bad it's not a choice of one or the other but it is the contradiction that both can coexist simultaneously at the same time however i can say it we have learned that good things and bad things go on in our lives at the same time it's the two tracks of the train of life you can't run on one track or the other brother brad but you find this contradiction and it's the contradictions is it not that begin to trip us up in life the things that we cannot reconcile in our minds

mary had a child growing in her that was conceived of the holy ghost she had something great she was about to give a savior to the world but before that she would endure the taunts she would endure the disparaging remarks she would endure the judgmental looks of the people around her even her espoused husband wanted to put her away how can these things be because what i'm carrying is the son of the living god and we as christians sometimes think that it grants us an exemption the thing that we have inside of us why does it also produce the hatred and the venom and the vilification of a world that is against us how can that be in me that i have to endure such things in this world as jesus was on the cross and the bible says he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself we wonder i've got the holy ghost i'm trying to do that which is right and good and yet the world haste me for it listen to me i am glad still to be a part of a church a called out assembly the body of jesus christ in the world of whom he said if they hated me

they're going to hate you i don't want to look like them i don't want to talk like them i don't want to live like them i want to i don't want to go where they go i don't want to do what they do i am proud to be a part of that body of jesus christ hallelujah and so we have in all of our lives i think we sometimes forget who's sitting on the pew next to us this is not perfection see you see the the building project you don't see the ashes of the life upon which it was built we see the facade but we don't see the background and what it took to get us here because sitting on church pews are people who have been victims of life who have come from terrible situations spousal abuse rape incest victims drug abuse victims victims of spousal abuse victims of parental abuse brother wilford they sit in church buildings today they are as paul would say that was us before something happened to us traumatic events that have turned some people hard and bitter and and so as christians we are not here hallelujah we are not here because we somehow were

able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get out of that situation we are not here because as psychology tells us to look within yourself for the answer we are not here because of those reasons and if you think that you need to make a two-day journey back mary and joseph and find out where you left jesus because the only reason that you are here and the only reason that i am here today is because of the grace of god that reached into a traumatic life and pulled us out of the pit of sin it's not because of me it's because of him

so i'm preaching to people today who have been traumatized by life and you feel like there is nothing left for you i'm here today to give you a divine also that in the middle of your mess in the middle of your situation there is and also for you for some and i've counseled him i've said in the office sometimes with with people who have been so traumatized by life they could not get past an event a debilitating event and they could not let it go except for the grace of god there is you and there is me because for some these traumatic trials of the past just seem insurmountable formidable and time stops for them there are people here i'm not here to give you the doom and gloom i want to present to you a hope in jesus christ that even in the midst of that there is an also for you hallelujah

when god chose to bring israel to the borders of canaan they sent 10 spies into the land and i know we sometimes look at them and we think of how bad they were but they were us folks they had been slaves in egypt they had a history of 430 years of slavery and when god brought them to the borders of canaan they were presented with this divine also but they could not break the mindset of egypt they couldn't get out of the slavery that had been bound in their minds and and when the when the spies came back bearing clusters of grapes that were too big almost for one man to carry telling them of a land that flowed with milk and honey this is what they said in numbers chapter 13 and verse 33 all they saw were the giants the sons of anac which come of the giants and here's the telling part of the story we were in our own sight prisoners of our own mind and in prisons of our own making we still in our minds were slaves to egypt and we could not make the crossing into the promises of god i want to encourage somebody today to tell you that god

has brought you to the borders of promise the confluence of where the past and the future lies and says make the right choice today make the right choice today there are giants there are giants but there are also giant blessings to be had if you'll just make the crossing a simple statement but if we allow the past to dominate our present we have no future let me say it again if we allow the past to dominate the present we have no future they were stuck in slavery they held their history rather than embracing their destiny they held on to their heritage tightly and would not could not let it go and they were willing look at numbers 14 10 they were willing to kill the messengers of hope they were willing to put them to death just so they could stay in their minds slaves to egypt god had not gotten out of them egypt yet they didn't appear to be ready for it and listen don't kill the messenger today don't disregard the message of god today hear what the word of god is saying to you there is a place for you you're living in this world but

you can be not of this world there is and also that god is extending to you today hallelujah they were still egyptian slaves in their thinking in their appetites and they were even thinking about the graves in egypt of all things liberate us today so for 40 years their landscape didn't change much sand and palm trees brother brad that's all they saw for the next 38 years i'm going to tell you you can live in that past you can get stuck on that event that's traumatized you and your landscape is not going to change much today looks a lot like yesterday and tomorrow will look a lot like today but there is a divine also that is extended to you even after 40 years of wondering

joshua had to confront a mindset that was reluctant to make the crossing after 40 years i have watched people give up their lives for a little bit of bitterness that they hung onto i've watched people give up their lives for a little bit of hatred and a grudge that they could not turn loose of because they could not forgive what was done to them in the past joshua had to confront 40 years after the fact he was still confronting a mindset of egypt how do you know this joshua 24 says it like this as he addressed the congregation of israel brother mike he says to them now therefore fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and truth and put away the gods listen to this which your father served there are some of you that are carrying generational sins around with you passed on from your fathers there are some that are locked into a mentality that you weren't even a pertain participant in but you are bound by it because of your fathers he said listen most of these people were 60 years of age because nobody under over the age of 20 survived

that 40 years in the wilderness except joshua and caleb he was talking to a generation that was bound by the sins of their fathers they had never been slaves but they were bound by the sins of their fathers a majority of people who had never actually lived it but they had the mentality and joshua is about to break the mold and he says to them if it seems evil to you to serve the lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether it be the gods which your father served which were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the amorites in whose lands you dwell but get this but as for me i can't answer i told god one day i'm tired of carrying your burden for you i can't help what anybody else does i cannot save my own family i can't save a single soul but i can say as for me and my house i'm gonna leave it behind i'm not gonna be enslaved by the mindset of egypt ask for are there any apostolics in the house today that are willing to stand and say ask for me and my house we will serve the lord oh come on you can do better than that

make up in your mind i refuse to be held hostage to my heritage i am going to serve the lord hallelujah you can be seated but i wonder what we could accomplish if we would actually embrace the also if we were able to reach out to the promise and leave the past what would we be able to accomplish listen i hear reports of great things going on in the religious world but i'm saying to god what about us we are not unbelievers we are believers in the power of jesus christ and so what would actually happen if instead of sitting and having a pity party sometimes we would embrace the promise that says also i've got something for you

isaiah 54 17 has this promise he said watch this no weapon that is formed watch no weapon that is formed past tense no weapon that is formed whatever the devil's prepared for us god says embrace this also no weapon that is formed against the shell future present and future no past weapon that satan has formed against you listen to me i do care what's happened in your past it's traumatized you it's victimized you but god is saying if you will embrace the also in the middle of all of that that that weapon will never reach its target because i give you my divine also can i preach for a while the divine also

isaiah in six one watch what he says it's been a long year in the year that king uzziah died ironically he didn't say in the year that king jotham took the throne the positive element was left out this year for isaiah was marked by a traumatic event an event that really affected his life king uzziah was the longest or second longest reigning monarch in israel's history 52 years he reigned as the king and so you can imagine peace and prosperity isaiah was a court prophet his cousin was the king uzziah he knew what it was like to have the best of times going on in his life but suddenly confluent with that was the worst of times hit the thing that he dreaded and so now there was a future before him that was uncertain he didn't know what was going to happen and this year was marked as the year that king uzziah died i saw also i saw also in the middle of the mess in the middle of the biggest mess that i have faced i came to the house of god in spy listen you can't check your troubles at the door sometimes you just gotta wade through them

to get into the presence of god but when you get here don't be satisfied until you have encountered the divine also that says in the middle of my mess that's going on in my life i saw also the lord high and lifted up ah we cannot we will not and we do not deny the tsunami we don't deny that there is a storm that is raging there is a created chaos and it seems like all of hell has broken out but there is a divine also oh i'm in the mess down here i know what's going on down here but let me tell you something there is also up here a divine also if we can lift our heads up and we can lift our hearts up we can see him who's never abdicated the throne he's never given up the power he's never given anything over in defeated there is a divine also in this place today

ahab and jezebel had a daughter by the name of athaliah she was jezebel 2.0 she was jezebel on steroids she hated david's lineage and this woman has the notorious reputation of being the only queen who whoever reigned in israel the only one queen athaliah she reveled in her position and so the bible says when her husband died she had all of the royal seed the sons that were of the lineage of david she had them all killed evil tyrannical but there was a sister of hers named jehoshaba who picked up a baby who was about one year old by the name of joash she scoops up joash who was of the lineage of david and she took him to the house of god reigned for about six or seven years she was spewing her venom for six or seven years the people were living in the storm and the mess for six or seven years but in the temple what she did not know was that there was a promise growing in the house of god in the mess that she was creating there was also a king that was going to rule and drive her out of power and when the day came second kings 11. and

the guard stood every man with his weapons in his hand i need some guards up here come on brother mike i need some guards up here every man with his weapons in his hands what are you protecting you're not just protecting a boy of seven years old you are protecting a promise that god made to david way back years ago that said there will not fail for you a man to sit upon the throne of israel listen the storm is out there it's raging but there is a promise that god has given in the house of god that's growing brother micah the the tyranny can't stop it trouble can't stop it politics can't stop it a pandemic can't stop it humans can't stop it hell can't stop it there's a promise that's growing in the house of god and verse 12 and he brought forth the king's son and put three things happen here he crowns him he puts the book in his hand and he's anointed god bless you you can sit down three things that assured the promise was going to come to pass was that he had the crown the authority upon his head he had the book of promises the law

in his hand and he had an anointing of god upon his life may i tell you that this cannot be stopped we're in the middle of this political mess and tyrannical mess up in the mess of the pandemic in the midst of financial chaos and the mess of governments collapsing around us but i'm going to tell you that there is a promise that exists in the house of god where jesus said upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it on give him some praise today

how do i know this brother williford we are living at the confluence of time and eternity we are living on the brink where grace and wrath are about to show with the difference in distinction we are living at that time i wonder listen the religious world is not sloughing toward laodicea they are running headlong and embracing it but in all of that mess that goes on there is a promise that there is going to be a blood bought redeemed sin free wrinkle-free spotless bride that's going to be presented for the lord himself shall descend with a shout with the voice of the archangel with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first and this is what makes me to know there's going to be a church in spite of everything then we everybody say we we which are alive and remain are going to be caught up i know there's going to be a church because i have a promise that we are going to be caught up together with them we even if i'm not part of it and god help me i want to be but there's going to be a church even if you're not a part of it

there's going to be a church even if satan prevails in some of our lives there's going to be a church that's the promise that's growing in the house of god this says satan you can't pluck them out of my hands i have secured them i've asked the question of many people what is the appeal of the gospel how do we reach people that's that's a challenge how do we reach people what is the appeal of the gospel and as i was preparing for this the lord said this is it

this is it because if life is good you still need an also to save you it can be better and all you got to do is add jesus christ in if life is terrible if you're in the pit and in the mire there's an also for you that says i can lift you up i can pick you up i can clean you up i can turn your life around and i can hey any old drug addicts here any old alcoholics here anybody who's been abused here anybody who's been picked up out of sin here we ought to be on our feet thanking god because the divine also was extended into our lives give him some praise right now hallelujah well if you're glad that he picks you up if you're glad that he found you why don't you give him a praise right now that he's worthy of hallelujah amen it's the appeal of the gospel both the saints and sinners there's an also if you've got a good life i'll make it better if you've got a terrible life i'll make it good hallelujah also in the middle of everything there was a a woman who was brought to jesus in luke 13 chapter verse 10 starts her story he was teaching

in one of the synagogues on the sabbath and behold there was a woman watch this she had a spirit of infirmity she was listen can i can i make this statement it's possible to be saved and be oppressed it's possible to have demons just clinging on you trying to get at you this woman had a spirit and the bible says for 18 years she was bowed down and she could in no wise lift herself up i'm glad that we don't have to there is a divine also that came her way and he just speaks these words he said woman what'd he say woman thou art loosed some of us have come in with burdens too heavy to bear some of us have come in and you have been harassed by the forces of darkness for a long time some of us have come in today with the cares of life that have pressed us down and if we're not careful we only see what is beneath our feet we can only see the mess that we're mired in but there is a divine also i want to proclaim today listen there are four aspects of healing there is healing the bible says that jesus heals simon peter's mother-in-law she

got up and went about our business that's all needed to take place there were 10 lepers that came to jesus he says go show yourself to the priest nine of them went their way and they were healed the tenth one came back and jesus said thy faith has made thee whole and there was a restoration toes that were missing digits that were missing he said there is a restoration for you another aspect of healing is saving when it's beyond hope and it's beyond the reach of medical science or anything else of a human agency lazarus was dead for three days three days in the tomb and jesus came along and cried out with a loud voice saying lazarus come forth watch he saved him from death he was saved but he wasn't loosed the fourth aspect of healing is being loosed what some of us need here today we've been saved but we're being bound and oppressed by powers that seem to be beyond our control may i proclaim to you by the authority of the word of god woman thou art loosed man you are loose if you can just shake off the bondage that has you held there

is a divine also that would lift you up and free you when is the last time you got filled with the holy ghost when is the last time that you broke free and you began to speak with other tongues as the spirit of god gave the utterance let's stand together there is a loosing even for people who have been saved that will free you a divine also and what the lord has come today to do is to loose you some of us need to shake it off and get free when's the last time that you just broke out in the presence of god and with reckless abandon you forgot about everything else going on the mess in your life and you say in spite of that i'm going to see also the lord high and lifted up when's the last time that you had that breakthrough and that loosing that would free you from the bondage this and this altar is open if you need a loosing if you need to just break through if you just need to see the lord high and lifted up i want you to begin to find a place and begin to praise him for the victory praise him for the victory there's healing there's

restoration there's salvation and there's losing come on folks make your way to this altar you need what i'm selling today you need the word of god to come into your life and penetrate and break you free of the bondage praise god