The Power of An Overcomer

And you can make your way back to your seats. Remain standing when you get there. We're going to read some some scripture together. We'll echo pastor michael, and say that we do miss our senior pastor, brother alan, today, him and first family on a well deserved vacation. Miss them though. If you've got your Bibles, you can turn with me to Psalm chapter 1 24. We'll start with the first verse there, says this — and then I'm reading from the New King James Version. It says: if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men, our enemy, rose up against us. Now, the next few verses, I'm just going to kind of add a phrase here at the beginning. You're not going to see it on the screen. But verse 3, it says: if it had not been for the Lord, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us. If it had not been for the Lord, then the waters would have overwhelmed us. The stream would have gone over our soul. If it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul, because the Lord is on our side. Verse 6 says: blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as pray to their teeth. Blessed, because the Lord is on our side. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers, because the Lord is on our side. The snare is now broken, and we have now escaped, if it had not been for the Lord who was on our side.

I've come to preach today on the power of an overcomer. On the power of an overcomer. And I'm going to use pastor here a little bit, and use a subtitle: if it had not been for the Lord. If it had not been for the Lord. Let's do this. Let's lift our hands right now to heaven. Let's pray for this service today. God, we love you. Jesus, we're thankful for the presence that we have felt so rich in this place today. God, I pray that you have blessed this word. I pray that you would bless each hearer of the word, God. And I pray that you would encourage us today with your spirit. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen. You can be seated. Look at somebody beside you and say, the Lord is on your side. Amen. It's going to be a good day in the house of the Lord.

So, it was a few months ago — and I'm going to kind of start with a little bit of a personal story here. So, a few months ago, it was in the Christmas season. You know, Christmas time, people make bad choices, get excited about the holidays. I'm not suggesting that this was a bad, bad choice, but it was a choice that that I had made. My wife lindsey and I, we decided to get a puppy. His name is otis, and he is just a cute little golden doodle with extra gold and not so much doodle. He's a fur ball. We love him. He's a good dog, you know. I've learned a lot of patience with a puppy, maybe even so, more so than when I was — where I am — as a dad to kids. Puppies have a way of just letting you learn how to deal with frustrations, you know. He he likes to chew things. Anything. Doesn't matter. Chalk, my shoe. A few weeks ago I took them outside to go restroom right before we went to sleep, and it was around 10 or so. I took otis outside, and when I took him out there I noticed that there was a rabbit sitting in my garden bed. Now, we have a fence in our backyard, and I thought to myself, when I saw the rabbit and I let otis go out, that I was about to see something from like the National Geographic. I had envisioned in my mind's eye the chase of all chases, the cheetah chasing the antelope. I don't know. And I was so excited that when I let otis out, I I usually just go back in myself, but I actually stayed out there with him, as like a cheerleader, like I'm encouraging you. Go for it, bro. All your life you've been waiting for — all all four months you've been waiting for this moment. And I let him outside, and I watched as he went to the restroom and came right back in, 10 feet away from the rabbit. All he can think about is emptying his bladder and coming right back in. And at first I let him come in, and I said, you know, good. Gave him a treat. Good job, otis. Thank you. But the more I just was staring at him — I have to be honest with you, as his owner, I was a little disappointed. I was like, bro, otis, you are a golden retriever slash poodle. Like, it is in your nature that when you see a rabbit, you chase it. So what I did, I I got otis and I took him back outside. I took him right back to the place where he basically went to the restroom. And I have to be honest, this rabbit is losing its mind, because for the last three minutes it's just been trying to find a way out of the fence. And I put the dog down, and otis just looks at me like, what are we doing here? We've already done this. And I'll be honest, I was incredibly disappointed. I picked him up and I was like, let's just go to bed. Good thing you're not a hunting dog. You'd be like, I don't know.

Otis was designed by God to hunt, to retrieve. But in four months I've already domesticated him, where he doesn't know his nature. He doesn't know his purpose. He doesn't know that, you know what, there's a rabbit, and perhaps I should chase it. I say all that to say this: I sometimes wonder if the church really knows its purpose. If we've been domesticated so much by the world around us, that we have forgotten that which why God has placed us here in the first place. If we have become so domesticated, per se, that we have forgotten what it is to be the church of the living God. I sometimes wonder if we as individuals have lost our identity as an Apostolic. Paul said in Romans 12 2, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove that which is good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. I want to remind somebody today that you are not of this world, that you do not belong to this world, but that you are the bride of Christ. You are the church. And with the church there comes promises for you. In Matthew chapter 16 verse 17, Jesus answered and told Peter: blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I want to remind somebody that you're a part of the church. And I also want to tell — on this Pentecost Sunday, on the church's birthday, I'll be honest — I want Hollywood to hear it. I want Washington D.C. to hear. I want the so-called pundits of the world to hear it. I want the educational world to hear it. I want our universities to hear it. I want those in cancer culture to hear it, that the church will not be prevailed against. I've come to remind somebody, to lose somebody, to encourage somebody, that you're a part of something that is more prominent, that is more imperative, that is more powerful than anything, anything in this world. You're an overcomer. You're an overcomer.

It was in 1830 that a discovery of artifacts was made in what is now modern, modern-day Iraq. And in this discovery they found this thing called the taylor prism. And on this cylinder stone was written an account by an Assyrian king by the name of nakrim sinakram. And we're introduced to sinaikram in Second Kings chapter 18 verse 13, when it says: in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, senecaram, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. He took all of Judah, basically, and he took them easily. There was no contest. It was — it was over before it even started. The Israelites were totally overwhelmed and overpowered by the Assyrians. But in the taylor's prism, in this artifact, there is a a description written by king sinacrum. And according to what is taking place there in Jerusalem, it says: Hezekiah, king of the Jews, was not submitted to my yoke. 46 of his fortified cities I have taken from him. I took his plunder. Two hundred thousand of his people, both small and great, both male and female, along with a great number of animals. I then constructed a series of fortresses around him, and I did not allow anyone to come out of the city gates. He is overwhelmed by the greatness of my lordship. He's overwhelmed by me.

I wonder today, is there anybody in the house that's willing to be honest and say that this world has overwhelmed you? That the obstacles that you're facing right now are overwhelming? That you're dealing with weight that you've never experienced before? Your your dilemma is causing you more destruction than you could have ever imagined. You're feeling a weight like you've never felt before, because this world has overwhelmed you by its greatness. I want to tell you today, the devil cannot kill you. But I will also tell you, he will take great pleasure in knowing that he's overwhelmed you. He will take great pleasure in knowing that he's giving you anxiety. He will take great pleasure in knowing that you have sleepless night, night after night after night. He takes great pleasure in knowing that he's causing a destructive path for your life. sinacrum says, I've overwhelmed him by the greatness of my lordship. And as for Hezekiah, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem. That's where his account ends. That's where his writing stops. He says that, and he drops the pin. He walks away. He thinks he's put Hezekiah in his place. And that would be a terrible story, if that's where the story end. If that was it for Hezekiah, then what a miserable story it would have been. But it had didn't end there. You see, the Lord was on our side. And said erika, he he fittingly left out a huge portion of the story, because what happens next he never writes down. It's never accounted for.

As a kid, my dad listened to AM radio — thrown him under the bus here, maybe a little bit. I remember, a kid, a guy by the name of paul harvey. paul harvey would tell you a story, and then he'd stop the story, and he'd come back later, and he would say, and now for the rest of the story. You see, the Assyrian king, he never gave the rest of the story. But in Second Kings chapter 19 verse 32 through 36, we find the rest of the story. It says: therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into the city. He shall not shoot an arrow in Jerusalem, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come into the city, says the Lord. And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed, in the camp of the Assyrians, 185 000 people. Verse 36: so the king of Assyria departs, and he goes away, and returns home, and he remains in Nineveh. He told half the story, but he was not willing to tell the side where God stepped in and saved his people.

He came telling Hezekiah, I've taken away your people, I've taken away your possessions, I've taken away your pride, I've even taken away your escape route. But God stepped in and said, he's not taking any more. He's not going any further. He won't be able to attack you anymore. And where he thinks you're trapped, I'm going to make a way where there seems to be no way. There's two reports today, and I'm curious, and I'm going to question center point right now: which report will you believe? Will you believe your adversaries, or will you believe what thus saith the word of God? Because today in this place, you might feel cornered, but I want to guarantee you, you're not conquered. You may feel distressed, but you're not defeated. You may feel overwhelmed, but you're not overcome. You might be bound, but I want you to know that there is a breakthrough on the other side. For if God be for us, if God be for us, if God be for us, then who can be against us? The devil, he's only going to tell you half the story about you. He's not going to tell you the full picture. I've never had the devil encourage me by going back to Revelation and telling me, you know what, I lose at the end. Whose report will you believe today? Whose diagnosis will you believe today?

Second Kings chapter 19 verse 14 and 15 says: Hezekiah, he received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it, and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and he spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed. He gets this death threat, you know. His first response is not to call his friend and ask for advice. His first response is not to open facebook app and post about his frustrations to the world. He didn't even go do an interview with oprah. How dare him. The Bible says that when he got this discouraging letter, that he got up, he went to the house of the Lord, and he prayed. I got up, when I got that bad news, I went to the house of the Lord, and I prayed. Hezekiah — he's saying, I can attack them and lose, I can stay here and ignore it and lose, or I can take my matter to the Lord and see what he will do.

On this Pentecost Sunday, I — I'm so proud of our church. I believe center point is a blessed church. We do so many things well. We do so many things with excellence. We do so many things the right way. And it makes me, a person who's a small part of this, so godly proud to be a part of the church here in Murfreesboro. But of center point — and hear this today — if center point is going to be well known for anything in the Apostolic movement, if we're going to be known for anything specifically here in Murfreesboro, before we're ever known for our dynamic worship, before we're ever recognized for our passion to do systems well, before we're ever seen with a desire to be holy, I pray to God that we would be a church that would be known as a praying church. I'm not talking about a church that believes in the concept of prayer, but we're all in it. It's what we do most often. It's what we do best. It's what we do when we don't know what to do, that we would be a praying church before we're anything else. I'll go a step further here — if this ain't okay, pastor can correct me next Sunday. But if you can't be a musician and find time to pray, quit playing instruments. If you can't be a singer and pray, quit singing. If you can't teach Bible studies and find time to pray, quit teaching Bible studies. If you can't be a small group teacher and find time to pray, stop teaching small groups. If you can't preach and find time to pray, then you best stop preaching. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say this: if you're going to do anything, and do anything well in this world, let it be a life of prayer. Have a prayer life. Get all in when it comes to praying. We don't need more polished professional Pentecostals here at center point. We need prayer warriors who can intercede for a city. We need people who can get to the prayer room and stay there all night until something happens. If we're going to be known for anything, let it be known for prayer. Let it be prayer. Let it be that we know how to get on our knees and grab the throne room.

Let's face it today: there's not two ways. There's not three ways. There's not, you can have it your way. The Bible says that there is only one way. Jesus says that this kind can come forth by nothing but by praying and fasting. There are going to be things that you face — hear this today — there are going to be obstacles that you encounter that you're not going to overcome it any other way, by finding a time of prayer and fasting. Preaching won't get it out. Worship knights won't get it out. Shouting won't get it out. Dancing won't get it out. Singing won't get it out. Small groups, looking out, church fellowship — it's going to take you time in prayer. If you're going to be known for anything, be known as a person who can pray. For it said before: where there is much power, there is much prayer. Where there is little power, there is little prayer. And where there is no power, there is no prayer.

I ask you today, what's your prayer life look like? How much time are you spending, on a weekly basis, with the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Well, I'm not trying to get on the meddling poster today, that's reserved for pastor. But I wonder what your screen time looked like versus your prayer time. Are you more entertained by facebook and instagram, are in time of prayer in the presence of the Lord? I can think of no more powerful prepositional phrase in this entire world that I know, what's found in Second Chronicles chapter 7 verse 14, when it says: if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from the wicked ways. I can think of no bigger prepositional phrase than that. I can think of nothing more grand, more important, than knowing if my people are praying. Because here's what I know: God never fails. And if there's something going wrong in my life, I'm not going to blame God for it, because I know he doesn't make mistakes. What I'm going to assume is that I'm not spending enough time in prayer. Oh, if you and I would only tap into the power that's in prayer. I can think of nothing more Pentecostal than prayer. For there are promises in the word of God, promises one after another after another, where if we will pray, God will show up. God will — you know, that God still sends angels, and I'm not gonna get super deep right now, but I want you to know that angels are still active, and God's still sending them to fight on your behalf. All you've got to do is pray. Hezekiah, he realized that he was up against this kind of enemy, a kind of enemy that can only be described as a, as a devil, as a demon. And he realized that the only recourse, the only option, was for him to find a place in prayer. I can hear Hezekiah praying: Lord, he's already taken a hundred thousand plus people. He's already conquered the entire kingdom except for me in Jerusalem. He's already come after me from the east, and the west, to the north, and here he comes from the south. Everything that could be going wrong right now, Lord, is going wrong. And now, as you can see, I'm laying before you death threats that he is sending me. And he's telling me I'm like a bird in a cage. Like a bird in a cage. Second Kings 19 20 says this: because you have prayed to me against the king of Assyria, I have heard. The Lord still hears our prayers. We already know what happened, this story, I've already told you. God sends an angel. Hezekiah, you're telling me that you're trapped like a bird in a cage. Well, guess what, Hezekiah? I've got the key to the cage. I pray that somebody today would realize and understand that your biggest dilemma, your biggest obstacle, your biggest situation, Jesus Christ has the key for it. I wish somebody would understand today that, before you leave this place, God can open up your situation. He can turn your situation around. And where there seems to be no way, God can make a way. If it had not been the Lord who was on my side — if it — oh, I wish somebody would grasp that today. If it had not been the Lord who was on my side.

When did the Lord join your side, you may ask? I'm probably going to upset some people here with what I'm about to say next. But God didn't choose your side when you got right. God didn't choose your your side when you got saved. God didn't choose your side when you came to an altar. God didn't choose your side when you were baptized in Jesus name. All those things are great. We're for all those things. But can I tell you when God chose your side? He he chose your side while you were yet sinners, because Christ died for us. God was on your side when you were a drunk. God was on your side when you were addicted to drugs. God was on your side when you couldn't tell the truth to save your life. God was on your side when you were a thief, when you were a con artist, when you were immoral, when you're a gossip. He was on your side then. He was on your side when you didn't have life figured out, you — he was on your side when you didn't even know about him. He was on your side before you even had the Holy Ghost. That's why I don't judge people when they worship here at church, because I don't know what they've been through. I know the Lord's been on their side the whole way, but I don't know what they've been through. I don't look at people in, and question, why are they worshiping that way? Or why does that song mean more to them than it means to me? I just come to the the understanding that, you don't know like I know. I said, you do — you don't know like I know. You you don't know what the Lord has done for me. He he picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I'm sorry that there are a lot of professional Pentecostals in the house today, but I want you to know that I was heading toward a devil's hell. But he reached out, and he said, you're on my side. I'm going to get you. I'm going to pull you out, and I'm going to set your feet on rock to stay. I want somebody to know that I haven't always been this way. But he found me in the muck and the mire, and he brought me out. And now I have life, and I have it more abundantly. The Bible says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by his spirit. I am an overcover, overcomer, and you can be an overcomer, not because of our own marriage, but because of what Jesus has done for us.

I want somebody to know, the devil, he thought he had me. He thought that I was trapped. He thought that I was cornered. He thought that I was caged. But I found the one who had the key. I found the one who knew the way. I found the one that can make a way where there seemed to be no way. I found the waymaker. He said, wes, I can pick you up. I can lead you down a path that you've never been down before. Like a bird escaping the snare. I want someone to know, the snare is now broken. You and I can escape. You can escape today. You can escape whatever, whatever's got you down. You can escape. Jesus broke the snare. He broke the trap. He broke the cage. Whatever name it, depression, cancer — he's broken those cages before. He can do it again.

I get tired sometimes of people telling me, telling y'all, Pentecostals are just too emotional. They come to an altar, and they're just emotional up there. During worship service, they're just emotional during preaching. You don't have to do all those things. You don't have to lift your hands. You don't have to shout. You don't have to jump. You don't have to twirl and spin. You don't — you don't have to do those things. It's not necessary, just emotional. You know what I love about those people? They're the same people that will yell to umpire at a little league baseball game, because little giant didn't get a call. They're the same people that will paint their face orange, go up to rocky top, and start screaming for a bunch of college boys they've never met before. They'll lose their mind there. I'm sorry. I said, you know what, no, I'm not sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry. I do get emotional. God made me an emotional person. And when I think about Calvary, and when I think about all that he's done for me, when I think about the fact that he robed himself in flesh, and left his mansion, and came to a manger, and went to Calvary's hill, and shed every ounce of his blood for me, you can guarantee that I'm going to get a little emotional. I'm going to get a little excited, because he didn't have — you're going to have to pardon me for a second, but I've escaped. I've escaped. I've escaped. I'm no longer bound. I'm no longer caged. But Jesus, he brought me out. I said, I'm an overcomer today, if it had not been the Lord who was on my side, if it had been for Jesus who went to Calvary on my behalf.

Sit down, sit down. The Bible — the Bible says that Moses, he had felt a promise. He had felt a call to deliver his people from Egypt. You know, Moses had more and more unprobable stories in the Bible. Outside of Jesus, he may be my favorite unlikely. Think about it: he was born in a time when all the boys, the Israelite boys, were being killed, and he survives. His mom places him in a basket, puts him in a river. He floats to Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh's daughter picks him up. They go hire Moses's mom to to raise the child. That's pretty improbable. Moses has a call. He has a purpose. But he goes about it the wrong way. He goes out, and he does something he shouldn't do, and then he ends up in a wilderness for 40 years. He's there. He's discouraged. He's feeling unwanted. He feels like his purpose has died. And here comes God. Burning bush. Unprobable. I don't know. I don't know about you, but if I felt unwanted, the second the bush started speaking me, I'd be like, oh, God wants me. This just got real fast. That that that bush over there is burning, and it ain't being consumed by the flames, and it's talking to me. And man, maybe all y'all had those experiences. I'm thinking right now, if I felt unwanted, I'd be feeling really wanted real quick.

God says, Moses, I know it's been 40 years. I know that it's been even longer for the Israelites, since they've been enslaved there in Egypt. But I'm ready to get them out, and I want to send you to go do it. I'm going to send you, Moses. 40 years it's been. I'm going to send you. Don't tell me today your purpose is dead. Don't tell me today your dream is done. Don't tell me that you can't fulfill that call of God on your life. If after 40 years God can reach out to Moses in a wilderness, God can reach out to you today. If you're hearing that your dream is dead, that's the devil talking to you. If you're hearing that your calling isn't ever going to be fulfilled, that's the devil talking to you. God — God's not done with you.

So God choses Moses to conduct the largest jailbreak in human history, against the world's strongest civilization at that time. God sends Moses. Moses is a shepherd. Sweet. He's got a stutter. Not so sweet. He's got a stick. Oh my, let's go to war. God sends Moses, the shepherd, with a stutter, with a stick, to go rescue two million people from the most powerful regime known to mankind. And some of you all get concerned about who's in the White House. Let me tell you what God was showing us through Moses is, he wants you to know him. And you are the majority, that you — God sends Moses, and Moses is like, I don't have what it takes. God's like, I do have what it takes. People have been asking me, are you concerned about who's in the White House? I say no, because I know who's on the throne. I said, I know who's on the throne. You don't understand. Jesus, he doesn't get off the throne depending — I may get myself in trouble here — but the church has not, it's never been popular in culture. The church has really never been favored by the government. Let me tell you why the church is not favored by culture, and not really supported by government: because at the end of the day, we don't need it. The church don't need anybody outside of Jesus Christ. Government might be against this. Popular opinion might be against us. Culture may be against us. But that's okay, because there is a culture that supersedes their culture, and that is the culture of Jesus Christ. Somebody needs to realize today, you've got more power in your pinky than all the devils in hell. It don't matter who sits in the White House. You know who sits on the throne.

All right, back to — I'm sorry, I gotta get my notes here. Moses — God reaches out to me, says: I've seen the afflictions of my people. I hear their cry, by reason of their their taskmasters. I I know their sorrow. I've seen them. I've heard them. I know where they're at. He knows where you're at today. I said, he knows where you're at. He knows what you're facing. He sees it. He's not unaware. And so God says, Moses, I want you to go, and I want you to get them up. I want you to get them out. And I want you to bring them into. Get up, get out, get into. Let me tell you, I love the fact that God didn't want to just get them up and get them out, but he had something to get them into. God don't want to get you up out of your situation, and out of your situation — he wants to put you in something better than what you've got right now. I think that's why God wasn't satisfied with us just repenting of our sins and being baptized in Jesus name. That took care of the sin problem. But he said, I've got something even better for you. I'm going to send the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, and that Holy Ghost is going to give you power.

Some of y'all don't know about that power, but today you can know about that power. He said, I'm gonna get them up, get them out, and get them in, too. God sends the Israelites out of Egypt, and straight into the dead end, which is called the Red Sea. And I'm — I'm sitting there thinking, if I'm an Israelite, what, Lord, are you doing right now? The Egyptians, they wake up, and they realize, hey, we don't have our free labor no more. This ain't good, having to ask these union workers to go now. And it's not — I'm joking. We gotta go get those israel. So they start chasing the the the the Israelites. They get to the Red Sea, and the Israelites are there. They've got the enemy coming. They've got the Red Sea before them. They're like, what in the world do we do? God says, hey Moses, take your stick and just wave it over the the Red Sea, there be suffice, I'll do the rest. What happens? Red Sea parks. They walk across. The Bible says that they looked around, and the Egyptians were coming. And then God tells Moses, hey, get your stick again, wave it a little bit, rescue the thing that was trying to kill them. God says, sit back and watch me take care of them for you. The thing that was trying to kill you, I'm about to kill it. Y'all aren't hearing me today. I want somebody to know, the thing that's trying to conquer you, Jesus Christ is saying, watch me conquer it. The thing that's trying to devastate you, Jesus Christ is saying, watch me devastated. The thing that's overwhelming you, Jesus Christ is saying, I can overwhelm that, too.

They saw the Egyptians floating in the water, just bobbing out there. The thing that was trying to kill them, they were watching float in the Red Sea. I — I'm going to stop right here for a second. If nothing I've said today has made any sense, if I've just totally butchered this thing, I apologize. But I want you to get this, because this is how an overcomer acts. You see, when the Israelites, they get out of Egypt, and they get over the Red Sea, and they look back in the Egyptians that are coming after them are all perishing in the Red Sea — Exodus 15 tells us something so powerful. It's what the life of an overcomer does. Because it's not enough — hear me today — it's not enough just for God to rescue you. It's not God just to pull you out of a situation. There is a response that is mandated right afterwards.

In Exodus chapter 15, we see the first praise break in human history. In Exodus 15 verse 1, it says: then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him. My father's God, and I will exalt him. He said, hey, it's time to praise the Lord. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side — and this type of, uh, the attitude spilled over to the rest of the Israelites, because we see in Exodus 15 and 20: then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, she took the tremble of the timbrel — and in her hand — and all the women went out with her, with the the timbrel, and with dances. And Miriam answered, saying: sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the Red Sea. They got out. They looked back. They saw their enemy dying in the Red Sea. They said, we've just been delivered from something that we could not have gotten ourself out of. So the only thing there is left to do now is to get up on my feet, and to do a dance, and to do a praise. I'm going to have a prayer. I wonder today, is there anybody in this place that, if it had not been God who was on your side, you would not be here today? You would not be living the life that you have, but you would still be in darkness. You would still — here's what I want to do. I want everybody to stand under the feet for the next minute. For the next minute, if he's ever done anything for you, if he's ever brought you out, if he's ever made a way where there seemed to be no way, if he's ever healed your body, if he's ever restored your marriage, if he's ever blessed your finances, if he's ever given you hope, if he's ever given you peace, if he's ever given you the way, if he's ever done anything for you, ever, why don't you lift up your hands and worship him?

If he's ever done anything for you, why don't you just take a minute and act like it? Why don't you take a minute and exalt him? Why don't you take a minute and praise him? Oh, come on. If he picked you up, and he set you on the rock for you to stay there, if he took you out of that darkness and showed you his marvelous light, why don't you praise him? Why don't you exalt him? Oh, come on, center point, we can do a little bit more. Just another 30 seconds. Come on, let's get lost in praise right now. Greater is he that is in you. Greater sea that is in you. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. Nothing can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ.

Musicians can come. Oh, come on, come on. In Exodus 15, they got crazy. They got the tambourine out. They said, God's done so much for me, I cannot tell at all. I can sin here, sit here for the rest of day and try to say it, but he's done so much for me. I wonder today, is there anybody in here who's an escapee? I wonder today, is there anybody here today, you were lost, but now you're found. You're an overcomer today. You're more than a conqueror today. You're not who you used to be, but God has brought you out. And he's given you a life that's better than anything you've ever had before.

Hezekiah — he says, I'm like a bird stuck in a cage. But God says, I've got the key that i cage, and I'm coming, and I'm getting you out. I wonder today, has anybody been in a cage, and God brought you out? They're going to begin to worship. That's what I want us to do. I just want us to praise God. I just want us to worship him for a little bit. It doesn't have to be rehearsed. It has to be organized. I think he's done so much for us that we ought to give him our very best right now, on — begin to come to the front. Lift up your hands. Lift up your voices.