Youth Week Sunday Service - Celebrate (Part 1)

What a beautiful, beautiful, tangible visitation of the presence of God in this room. I'm so grateful for it. I'm so grateful that the one who spoke the earth into existence, who tells the sea how far to go, who hangs the stars and the heavens, chose to put on flesh and be with me, to care about what concerns me to order the steps that I take. I don't deserve it, but I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful. There is victory in this house today and it is for you.

I'm going to dispense with anything cute. We're going to get right to it. There is victory in this house today. And it is for you. It's for you. We have um this tradition at Christmas time at my house.

You guys can sit. Thank you. We have this tradition at Christmas time at my house that we pass out the gifts in an orderly fashion because my father is an orderly man. And um a funny thing started happening as soon as they were grandchildren. It's like they'll pull a gift out from under the tree and it'll be like, "Oh, that one's for [name redacted]." And then the second gift is for [name redacted]. The third gift is for [name redacted].

The fourth gift is for [name redacted]. And by gift 15, I am like, "Is there anything for Melinda under this tree?" And I know that's a silly example maybe, but victory is in this house and it is available for you. The gifts of God are all over this sanctuary and they do have your name on them. They do have your name on them. I don't care how it feels. I don't care how long it's been.

I don't care how many times you have asked before. The gifts of God are available to you today and they have your name on them. And before we leave this house, it is my prayer and it is my belief that we are not just going to hear that, but we're going to know it. And when we know it, we're going to walk in it. In June 15, 1904, many of the people of Little Germany and New York were taking a voyage. They had decided to board the steam ship, the General Slokum, and ferry along the East River to a beautiful park for a picnic.

Because it was during the workday, most families decided just to send the mothers and children on this voyage. There were only a few dozen fathers on board and counted among the 1300 people waiting to go on the excursion. An hour into the voyage, a little boy smelled smoke and whirled on his heels to go and find a deck hand. He decided to tell the nearest one, who followed the trail of the smoke to a lower deck, where he discovered a small fire in one of the lower rooms. A stray spark had fallen on some straw. Rather than calling for help immediately, the deck hand decided to open the door.

Fires, you see, I learned this in fifth grade science, need oxygen. And while there hadn't been any in that little room, there was plenty everywhere else. In addition, they had decided recently that the boat needed to be painted and they had painted it beautifully and it looked brand new. But paint, as I learned in fifth grade science, is flammable. What used to be small started to rage. This still shouldn't have been too much of a problem as the ship was equipped with many fire hoses.

The deck hand called for help and they decided to use the hoses to put out the fire. The thing of it was someone had decided to forego hose inspections. So when they tried to run water through them, they all split in half. Too old, nearly useless. Meanwhile, on the deck, people were scrambling to grab life jackets. Those who decided to do that regretted it later because they had also decided not to inspect the life jackets either, and they were useless dead weight.

The captain could have easily steered the vessel toward any of the many docks lining the shoreline, but he decided that the fire was smaller than it was and attempted to save the ship by barreling full steam ahead. The problem with this, to add to the long list of problems that I've just read, is that women in the Victorian era at that time did not know how to swim. It was considered immoral. So, they had a decision to make on board the ship that day. They could stay on board the ship and burn or throw themselves and their children off the edge and drown. It's just that they actually had one more option because hundreds drowned within yards of the beach, some in water so shallow, had they only thought to stand, they would have survived.

And the ship's captain was incredulous at the carnage. He said, "I do not understand how so many were lost." And while approximately a 100 passengers survived, a total of 1,021 victims were eventually recovered from the boat itself, trapped under collapsing decks and from the waters of the East River. Many of the drowned were found still clutching one another. The disaster was the biggest single loss of life in the history of New York City at the time and remained so until the terrorist attacks of September 11th. It all came down to a collection of decisions and everything would have been different if some of those people had decided to stand. Why am I telling you that?

It's not really an uplifting story. It's because first of all what you decide can change your ending and secondly all of life comes down to a collection of decisions and you will find that everything can be different if you decide to stand. Circumstances affect you that have nothing to do with you sometimes. You might be aboard a ship that you aren't the captain of. It's not your job to check the hoses. It's not your job to carry out procedure.

You are just a passenger and you still might find that everything has burst into flames around you. Or sometimes you might grab onto a life jacket and you think it's going to preserve you and be your help and be your salvation, but actually it makes everything absolutely worse. Sometimes maybe it was you. You might have been careless and something small catches hold of something else that's small and a fire is starting to build and it's small and it's contained and it's providing warmth and how harmful could it be? It's not like you said it on purpose. Sometimes you open the door to something that you shouldn't, that shouldn't be as powerful as it is and didn't seem as harmful as it turned out to be.

And then all of a sudden, you find yourself in big trouble. You might have the option to call out for help and go to a safe harbor immediately, but unsure if you want to do that. You may handle things on your own or try to handle things on your own. Try to contain it. feel like you've got it worked out yourself only to find out that you really didn't. You may end up on the deck of a ship of flame thinking that your only option is to burn to death or drown.

And I don't want to give him a lot of compliments today, but the enemy is good at what he does and he for sure knows how to target you. So I dare say you will at some point end up on the deck of a ship of flame thinking your only option is to burn to death or to drown. But I am telling you, you have a third option. Just stand up. I am telling you, you may not see it. You may not feel it.

You may be crippled. You may be weary. You may think that you are physically unable to stand in your body, but you always have the third option to stand up. Always. Ephesians 6:10-17 is a common passage. It says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Every day at New Life Academy, we pray on the armor of God. Why? because I am a human being and they are also human beings and I know what it's like to have my devotions and my coffee. Hallelujah. And then get in the car and somebody cuts me off. And then get into the school and I was going to be on time but the door is blocked because we're doing construction that nobody tolds told me about.

It's a recent example. I'm not bitter. Okay. or get into the building and I'm trying to impart truth and knowledge to the young minds of this city and they do not care, you know, and all of a sudden all that power that I thought I had in the morning um doesn't feel that powerful anymore. But guess what? I have it when I feel like it and when I don't.

His power is with me all the time. He is faithful all the time. His word is a weapon to wield all the time. It is my fault if I close it in the morning and I leave it on my nightstand. We get dressed up to stand up and then we stand. Your decisions matter.

Decide to stand. Decide to stand. You guys remember the lame man who had the four friends who lowered him through the roof to see Jesus and be healed? You know, people use that text to preach the sermon about having good friends, and it's so nice for them if they do have good friends. Let's read it. Let's read it.

Luke 5:17-26. On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, some proud religious lawkeepers and teachers of the law were sitting by him. They had come from every town in the countries of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was there to heal them. The power of the Lord is here to heal you. The power of the Lord that was there is here today.

Some men took a man who was not able to move his body to Jesus. He was carried on a bed. They looked for a way to take the man into the house where Jesus was. But they could not find a way to take him in because of so many people. They made a hole in the roof over where Jesus stood. Then they let the bed with the sick man on it down before Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, the faith of that man's friends, he said to the man, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." And the teachers of the law and proud religious lawkeepers thought to themselves, "Who is this man who speaks as if he is God? Who can forgive sins but God only?" And Jesus knew what they were thinking. And he said to them, "Why do you think this way in your hearts? Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or get up and walk? And so that you may know the Son of Man has the right and the power on earth to forgive sins, he said to the man who could not move his body, I say to you, get up, take your bed, and go to your home. At once the sick man got up in front of them.

He took his bed and went to his home thanking God. All those who were there were surprised and gave thanks to God saying, "We have seen very special things today." There are three things that I think about this. Number one, I've already said it, that the power of the Lord that was there is here to heal you. Number two, that your faith for your friends matters. Your faith for your friends matters. When you choose not to give up, when you choose to not let up, when you choose to keep bringing them before the Lord and bringing them before the Lord and bringing them before the Lord, that matters.

That matters. Sometimes they don't have the strength to stand on their own, but he sees your faith and your faith is enough for him to heal them. And I'm so thankful for it. And the third thing I third thing that I think is, wow, that's so special. I love that he had friends. I love that they had great faith.

Um, during the time that I was first working on this thought, I was going through quite a health crisis that nobody really knew about. And I was just so weak and tired and woozy all the time. We were going to multiple doctors. They were looking at everything. They thought maybe I don't I had blood cancer. I don't.

Thank you, Jesus. But it was a really serious time. I could not make it through the workday. I was having to have a sub all the time. Um my family tried to go to the pumpkin patch because it's [name redacted]'s favorite thing. I don't know if you know notice a thing about my family.

Okay. And um I was trying to go to the pumpkin patch because I was like I thought that I could do this because it was like here's the car. These were the pumpkins. All right. So I was thinking, you know, probably in my own physical capacity that I could do that. And I could not even I couldn't even go look at pumpkins with my nephew.

I was just laying in the van. And um I was really discouraged because we kept trying to figure out what was wrong and kept trying to figure out what was wrong and we just were not finding any answers. And it turned out that my blood pressure was really drastically low, but we didn't know it because every time that I was in the doctor's office, my clinical anxiety spiked it so horrifically high that they were over medicating me to get it down. But when I left and was calm, it was plummeting. And I'll never forget the day that I had to leave work um being sick again and I had to be driven to the urgent care and the doctor took forever to get in there. And she finally came in there with her chart and she said, "I know what is wrong with you." And I was like, "We have been asking for years, but specifically about this issue.

It would be great if you really did." And uh she said, "Have you been trouble? Have you been having I have been trouble. have you been having trouble standing up? And um I said yes. It was like she saw me, you know, and so she put the little pulse monitor on my finger and she had me try to stand up slowly and it was like beep beep. And she said, "Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit." And she said, "I don't know how you've not just been passing out." And I was like, "Thank you." I felt like it would be more dramatic and I could only almost pass out.

So, thank you for taking this seriously. But when this is, you know, coming to me and I'm working through this with the Lord, this material, I'm talking about standing up and I physically could not stand. And um I love that that man had friends to carry him to Jesus and his friends cared enough to lower him through the roof. But when I had a health crisis, mine were off playing pickle ball. And that's why I've mentioned pickle ball so many times because I do have a personal vendetta against pickle ball because it swept my church like the glorious glittery plague at the time when I could not stand up and there was no one to drive me to the doctor because everyone was playing pickle ball and um what do you do? What do you do when you are sick and you are lame and you are tired and you are so good at carrying everyone else?

You get the group together. You cut the hole in the roof. You write the blog post about it after it's done so that everybody knows about the miracle. you are so good at carrying everyone else and there isn't anyone to carry you when you don't have a squad that's going to get you to the healing that you need. And it was during that time that I read this passage in John 5 with new eyes. John 5 1-6.

Sometime later, there was a religious gathering of the Jews. Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, there is a pool with five porches called Bethesda near the sheepgate. Inside these porches lay many sick people. Some were blind. Some could not walk.

Some could not move their bodies. An angel of the Lord came at certain times and made the water move. All of them were waiting for it to move. Whoever got in the water first after it was moving was healed of whatever sickness he had. A man was there who had been sick for 38 years. Don't tell me it's too late.

Don't tell me it's been too long. Don't tell me he can't do it. Just because he didn't do it yesterday or last year does not mean that he can't do it. It certainly doesn't mean that he can't do it. It doesn't mean that he won't. He can do it today.

He is present and he is here and he is willing and able to do it today. In fact, it has your name on it. Jesus saw him lying there and knew the man had been sick a long time. And Jesus said to him, "Would you like to be healed?" I would like to take some time to say that if someone in the fifth grade asked me a question like that, they would have to put some money in a jar because that is a terribly ridiculous obvious question. Yes, I would like to be healed. If someone showed up and asked me that after I had been trying to get to healing for 38 years, I would probably be like, "Could you maybe be playing pickle ball right now?

Like, what are you what are you doing here?" John 5:7-8 said, "The sick man said, sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving." Jesus already knows. He already knows everything about you, what's going on inside of you, what happened yesterday, what's going to happen tomorrow. He knows. He wants you to open your mouth and for you to open your heart and for you to let him in. Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving. While I'm coming, while I'm trying to get there, another one gets in first.

And Jesus said to him, "Get up. Pick up your bed and walk." Jesus tells him, "Stand up. Stand up." He didn't have a squad to care for him. He didn't have anybody to carry him. But he had Jesus. He had Jesus.

And that is what he needed. That is what he needed. You can stand up today because you have what they had in the Old Testament, what they had in the New Testament, what your bishop has, what your pastor has. You have it. You can stand up because the power of God is alive and working and active and available for you to access today. One of the greatest gifts, I have never said this before.

I put it in these notes this morning and I was shocked. But one of the greatest gifts that the Lord ever gave me is that when I was growing up, I did not have friends. We were in Africa and um we were alone. We loved the people. I loved the people there. I loved the food they made.

Um but we Dad was in charge of like 250 churches and preaching points. So we were somewhere different every single Sunday. So there were people that I loved, but that connection that stick with you through the flames of life and we're going to play pickle ball every Wednesday, you know, that type of thing. I didn't have that at all. And um they thought that they were going to fix that, my parents. And so in hopes of allowing me to integrate into some siblance of American culture, because they thought it would be good if I knew what American culture was.

And honestly, I should have been studying it. And um they let us go to this group of other missionary kids from America, this non-denominational youth group, this expatriate youth group. And for years, I was determined to make these people love me. Okay? like they were going to accept me. They did not like me even a little bit.

All right, it's just the truth. And I would get dressed up and I would get ready and I would not miss a youth gathering. I would not miss one day and they just tortured me the whole time that I was there. But I was resilient. I was like, they are going to love me. These are the only options for friends I even have.

The Bible says if you want to have friends, show yourself friendly. And that's what my mother would say. She'd be like, "What did you do?" And I was like, "I was nice." She has regrets now. We love her. Anyway, but I was just showing up and showing myself friendly. And there was one particular week where I thought that we had had a breakthrough.

Okay? I was like, I have prayed. I have fasted. I have listened to the music they listen to. I got the sneakers they got and it's paid off. Like, we have had a breakthrough because everyone was being so nice to me.

And it turns out that they were just holding a competition to see who could be the nicest to me for the longest. And love I love that you think this is funny. It was devastating, but please laugh. She picks on who she loves. Anyway, so the competition ends and um the boy whose name no longer lives rentree in my head, so I will not speak it into he who shall not be named stood up in front of everyone across the ping ping pong table and he said, "What Melinda? Did you think that we miraculously liked you all of a sudden or something?" And I went home crying, but I did anyway.

You know, I did every week anyway. But the thing of it is the Lord was with me. And I think that we're tempted to sell that a little short and we shouldn't because he is the God of the universe and he has everything at his disposal and he made you on purpose for purpose and he wants to spend time with you. And that's when I learned that even though my Ghanaian friends, they called me in penny sim um and that basically means that I had a lot of sass and I was mouthy. I don't know where they got that from. That's crazy.

That the Lord was madam fo and that means my friend. And I would get alone in my bedroom and I would cry my eyes out. And when I was done crying my eyes out, he was always there. And it was just me and him. And I would just sing to him. which is a song about Jesus being your absolute best friend.

And he was and he is and he's going to be. And I would pray every day. I would say, "God, I love you, but help me to love you more." And he used those moments of darkness and he taught me to stand by myself. And when those people who used to torture me need the Lord and they need his hand on their life and they need to know that he is hearing them, who do they call? It's me because they know what I know, what was true of me and can be true of you. That the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

That he is close as the mention of his name. That he is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And he used those moments to teach me to stand on my own. But that's the thing. We are never