Sunday Evening Worship

turn in your Bibles to John chapter number 11 go to the Lord go to the word of the Lord tonight and just uh ask him to speak to us give honor to each and every one of you and so thankful to see such a great crowd on this Sunday night we have uh experienced a wonderful month of prayer and uh if God has has done anything in your life through prayer could could you just let me know just through the with a hand clap if God's done anything for you through the I know our students our students met here last night and we were here from around 8 to 8:45 or so and just listening to them and hearing their hearts and hearing them pray and how a lot of them have even grown through um this month is so encouraging and seeing um God t touch and change their lives I'm thankful for our students and what they mean uh to this great church I know that many of them represent families and uh you've got parents and grandparents and I know that you are extremely proud of our students our Strong Tower students our kids quest students but um just so thankful for uh the generation that is hungry for more of God a generation that wants to see God work in their midst and so I just want them to know tonight how how uh how extremely proud I am of each and every one of them Pastor is uh with the one and only Bishop Reverend Jimmy Dion Tony um he thinks I'm naming my third child after him and uh he is uh they're having a good time he text us this afternoon and said uh he said I quit he said I'm moving to marville to get a job he said every time I hear Pastor preach it just makes me want to quit so hopefully he's encouraging him um but uh but U they're having a good time and we're thankful that pastor's able to go down and Minister and be a part of that great assembly where God is doing God is doing wonderful things there in Gainesville and we honor Pastor sister Carpenter today and they'll be on their way back this week to uh be here for midweek Bible study um as you know every time Pastor out of town it is our responsibility to make sure that we have a full church service but nitzer you know um he's going to check and see on Wednesday nights if you don't get close to 9:00 you have not had Church you know and on on Sunday nights if we don't if we don't at least get to 7:30 you know we're uh We've not had church and so I see that it's 6:40 and I see what I have here and so um nobody tell Pastor all right just uh in fact here's my text John 11 verse number 35 Jesus wept you may be seated Jesus wept you may be seated tonight my wife has developed this statement recently that uh I don't really know how to take it and since she not back in here yet I will uh she says sister sharp that I'm never at a loss for words and I'm like what does that mean you know does that mean I talk too much do I need to shut up like um so I I really don't know how to take it and I'm not not sure um if I you know again I I if if tonight if I just uh and and I begin to think of this because when I read this text I thought man just the shortest scripture in all the Bible and I tonight I was I was prepping and I was I have a good bit of stuff here we'll go to obviously some other scripture text but I'm thinking could I preach a whole sermon off those two words and the more I thought about it I'm thinking you probably could you know although it's the shortest passage in the Bible two words Jesus wept two words obviously the shortest you know you've got those people that they're you know you you you I had some cousins that would use it you know they would get asked um to quote a scripture to get a lollipop Jesus wept everybody's going to go there right you know um they they're going to you utilize that wonderful passage but two words the shortest scripture in your Bible but yet Perhaps one of the most powerful scriptures in the text and also a very controversial scripture the God of all creation robed in flesh Jesus Christ the man Christ Jesus wept it's a a little bit of of if you really really get into it you could ask yourself why is the Healer crying why is the one who has the solution weeping he didn't cry when they spit on him he didn't cry that we know of when they mocked him and they did all that they did to him but we don't see it anywhere else but here they choose to put it in the writing form here in John's uh gospel that that he wept and it's just there's nothing I mean you obviously have the context of the story but he just puts one scripture two words Jesus wept his friends waited on on him with anger the Bible says with frustration in a moment when they deliberately needed him as Lazarus would Breathe his last breath I don't know if you've ever been there before but anybody ever desperately needed God anybody ever been in a moment where you just I don't need you tomorrow I I I don't know that I've Ever Needed You Like I need you right now and I need you to be here I need you to hurry up I I need an answer and if you don't show up then I might lose my job if you don't move on my behalf I might lose my marriage if I'm in the hospital and I've got a diagnosis and this thing's up in the air and that thing's messed with my mind and I don't know which way is up and which way's I need you to do something now desperate I I I don't know about you but I've been there if you don't move now Lord I don't know what I'll do death crept in the house at Beth in Bethany that Jesus would frequent death crept into the door and took Jesus's friend I I know how to act when Jesus answers my prayer but the struggle of all mankind the Christian is what do I do when everything he said to do doesn't work what do I do when everything I expected of him I had faith in him I know he could do it if he was here but he's not here what do I do when he's not who I expected him to be what do I do when Jesus seems to be dragging his feet he seems to be absent in my situation there is a struggle in our spirit because some of us are trying to serve a God that we're mad at we're trying to serve a God that we're frustrated with why did you do this I'm trying to see it I'm trying to understand it but all I can do is just be confused in this moment so tonight for just a few moments I want to preach to you this topic you can cry here but don't die here you can cry here but don't die here whatever you do no matter how much you question him his delay no matter how you you how how sealing to your prayers are no matter what cliche that they you're just in a dry a desert season no matter how late he is he still loves you Jesus shows up and Lazar is dead the family is angry is frustrated and the Bible simply says Jesus wept in verse 11 he would raise we we we see that that this this verse he knew in the previous text Jesus knew he let us know that he would raise him from the dead so why is he crying why is he weeping there there's so much controversy over these strange tears that flow from God Almighty robed in flesh why is he weeping he he knew he would raise him he that was not the issue of the tears our Lord's weeping reveals once again the greatest Revelation that we will ever understand Brother Martin and that is Jesus Is God but God is Man he became man and so we see that he knows if there's ever a scripture that you could just you could remember you don't have to it's not three or four verses it's not some long thing with a bunch of words in it that you don't understand that you've got to try to recite but if you could just simply remember that Jesus wept you can realize that no matter what you're going through that he felt your pain that he knows what you're going through he knows how you feel he can feel your frustrations he's been there he's been in your shoes he knows what that hurt feels like Isaiah said he was a Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief Jesus weeps for the tragedy of mankind but also from the glory of Heaven he weeps because he is man but he weeps also because he is God he weeps at this moment because God was weeping because he was going to bring Lazarus back from a place of Glory he was going to bring Lazarus his friend back from a place of paradise he's got a different perception than you and I he's bringing him back from a place that he knew he really wanted him to be so he's got a tear in his eye knowing that I'm about to bring my friend who is walking on streets of gold back to a place of wickedness and torment and he's going to ultimately have to die again is there anybody in this room that could lift their hands say you fear something more than death huh and Jesus says he's going to have to do it twice so the god that stands while Mary and Martha and everybody's having their commotion the god that stands there is weeping because he's about to bring his friend back to an earth it's a mess bring him back into a situation that's doubting him currently it's not a help the environment of all of all places I'm going to bring him out of a tomb to a bunch of people that don't have faith that I can do what they ought to know that I can do so he weeps as God that he's going to bring Lazarus back from heaven but the man Jesus wept because everyone around him had no faith even Martha who portrayed Faith at first would be the one who proclaims don't open that he stinks by now it's just what causes him to weep is that he is the man Christ Jesus and he tells us that one of the most powerful things I believe in this moment that there's nothing wrong with weeping there's nothing wrong with crying even when you know the end is a resurrection even when you know that you win we've read the back of the book we know that all things work together for the good if anybody knows that Jesus knows that and so we stand and we're the Christian that's supposed to be strong that's supposed to be upright that's supposed to be without doubt that's supposed to be more than a conqueror there supposed to be this and that there supposed to be the one that's present in the situation that's not supposed to Blink that's it's not supposed to Flinch at fear that's supposed to be that person but yet Jesus stands and the Bible says Jesus wept why to let us know that there's nothing wrong with allowing emotion to flow from you when something hurts in fact there's a lot of things that take place that we see that is it it all makes sense look at look at the we'll look at a few scriptures but then we'll look at our how our bodies are created this is not these are not the song lyrics abto Collective is probably not writing these James 1 4 and verse number 7 submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you C your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be afflicted and mourn that's not that's not the one we want to post on the refrigerator right you would be very surprised how many times the Bible says turn your laughter to mourning rather than turning your mourning into laughter because the Bible has a great emphasis on the fact that you need to be serious about your life's condition you need to be serious in times of Sorrow there's more times that you really ought to get on your face and there ought to be a tear that flows from your eye than all this joy and laughter in fact we know that the devil chooses a form of laughter to bring in certain types of sin when I was growing up home homosexuality and lesbianism was not something that was so accepted but it came in through the form of a comedy through Hollywood now we better be careful at times that we don't laugh ourselves into something that God never intended us but he we see this over over and over again humble yourselves he said be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned into mourning verse number nine James and your joy to heaviness that's not the lyrics to the song humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He Shall lift you up Ecclesiastes 7 verse number one a good name is better than precious ointment notice that we're reading scriptures here above and below these scriptures but we never reference these scriptures you see that we we we'll say all the time submit yourselves to God resist the devil and he'll flee from you and then below it it says humble yourself in the sight of God and he'll lift you up but in the middle of those two we don't ever reference those those are not going out on Twitter or X forgive me he says quit laughing be serious for a moment recognize what's around you deal with the pain that you feel learn from whatever season or situation that you're in he says a good name is better than precious arment and the day of thy death is better than the one and the one's birth and is better to go down the house of mourning than the house of feasting nobody ever and that I've ever seen even in some of those crazy parts of South Georgia navigating through you'll see some of the craziest church signs ever but nobody's ever called their Church the house of morning we skipped through some of these things but there there some of the most brilliant writers that we would reference for all the other aspects of our life seem to be very emphatic to say that you should go into the house of mour he says sorrow is better than than laughter look at verse number three for by the sadness of the countenance of the heart it is made better this is an interesting perception the heart of the wise is in the house of the morning but the heart of the fools is in the house of Mirth again to emphasize there are moments and seasons and times that we can cry that we can weep that we can mourn I want you to understand there are there are times that that some of us in fact have skipped over that if we really rewound back into our lives we would be further down the road if we had stopped and recognized that we needed to be sorrowful in this moment we needed a tear to flow from our Eye In This Moment why to mind us to build a memorial to let us see to let us learn that it's good for you to mourn if you don't mourn over certain things it will follow you and it will burden you and it will wake you up at night and that's why it's so important here that the wise man goes to the house of mourning because there's a season of mourning there's a season of weeping I can't stress that enough to you tonight for the the the Psalms 30 and5 says for his anger endureth but for a moment in his favor is life weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning so the concept within this is that we can cry here but you can't die here you can't stay in a season of mourning there is a time for everything a season for every activity under the heavens a Time time to weep A Time To Laugh A Time to mourn a time to dance in fact you want to get into the science behind it the the the the the physical idea of a tear flowing from your eye a tear has been proven to be good for the healing of eyesight it is to also protect if you get something in your eye what's the first thing's going to happen your ey is going to water up huh get around everybody been around a a a fire you you're out there in the in the fall and everybody's Building A Fire and roasting those s'mores all sudden you got that it it'll it'll show you sometimes in the atmosphere that that that is trying to protect you it's it begins to water so tears they it says they cleanse they protect they Clear Vision I I can't help but think that what happens in the physical is very much so in the spiritual that weeping can adjust your vision to see things the right way weeping can help you to endure and to maybe some things that had gotten in your eye and that had and clouded your vision that he says that that you shouldn't be trying to remove the speck out of your brother's eye until you get the M out of your own eye and sometimes God will put you through some things to help you recognize that there's a speck in your eye CU all you can see is the problem in everybody else's eye so there's sorrowful times there's times of weeping there's times where we have to endure James says blessed is the man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to them that love him everything you go through everything you face I want you to know tonight in somewhat of an unorthodox angle that we will look and take from the scripture that it's okay to cry but remember that transition is mandatory transition is mandatory I know so many people I I I I I had conversations even this week with people had conversation with a counselor this week and so many people don't realize that they're stuck in a stage of Sorrow they try to put on a facade they try to button it up they try to go in and clock in and clock they try to go about their business but they're stuck in a stage of Sorrow the cross is the most powerful ful example of God's love that he can take what looks like the worst thing ever and turn it into the greatest thing ever and we see that the cross represents the pain the blood all that it represents and it can bring you to tears I always say that if you ever see a a crucifixion depicted as best as they can and they throw that up and it's him on the cross and he's bleeding and he's got to if that doesn't emotionally move you then something's wrong right that it ought to move you to tears it ought to move you emotionally that he died for you but guess what he's not on the cross he didn't stay on the cross he didn't stop there that was a stage that was mandatory for our Redemption it was mandatory for us to get to where we needed to get to Beyond the Veil to for us to be able to live without sin but he didn't stay on the cross it's good for us to pick it up it's good for us to recognize it's good for us to experience pain and endure temptation but we're tried but we've got to keep moving forward I I I feel so compelled tonight to to help you realize that this thing with God the cross is the transportation it's not the destination we've got to get Beyond we there's so many people I've talked to some young people even this week and I've told them don't get stuck in this season don't get stuck here I know it hurts I know things didn't go the way you thought I know you thought you'd be here by now whatever the case but don't get stuck in sorrow you've got to transition out you've got to get into the next season you got to keep walking there's a process to everything and most of the time it starts with something we see it it's biblical you don't get to the labor of washing without the altar you don't get to any of the the the great things of God without experiencing some pain some some some real moments some tears fearful moments we see this over and over again but this process most of the time people don't get past that altar they can't forgive themselves God has something greater for every single person this year but many people won't see it statistically they will not see it because they've put up a mailbox in a season of pain just going to live here I choose to take up residence in this situation this painful it's okay to cry here but you can't die here weeping may be for a season but the leaves are changing around you people are moving on the sun is rising there's a new day and we need a breakthrough in our lives like never before see people who I just tried to relate to some scripture some text some famous stories if we could say it that way I see people if they were Daniel they'd be so offended that they wouldn't be able to acknowledge the fact that God had shut the mouth of the lion they're so offended that they've been thrown in here after praying that you couldn't even acknowledge the fact that God was still working because we get stuck in this stage of well why did this happen to me and why didn't I get that opportunity and why did this not happen there's they too angry at their brothers in the pit Joseph to grab the Rope of the midianites is trying to pull you out there's people that are trying to help people there's people that are trying to love people and they're saying I don't need you I don't want to open up myself I don't want to trust you I'm not going down that road again and you choose to just sit in a pit but who knew that those midianites would be the key factor that plays into you fulfilling the dream that you're pouting about too many of us if we put our eles in the role play of what happens in our Sunday School Stories We would never get to Pharaoh's house because we're too busy pouting because so and so did this and so and so did that I can't believe they even showed up to worship today after what they said about me and they're talking about this one and they're talking about and I'm just so messed up because of what I've been through that I can't acknowledge what God's doing at the very moment don't allow what's supposed to be a process to be become permanent some of us simply to ackn need to acknowledge tonight that we need a breakthrough you you you you reference you know we think it's you're you're preaching to everybody else you're you're singing to everybody else no we need a transition we all if you're still alive tonight everybody still alive huh I realize some of us it would be questionable still alive tonight okay then God still has more for you God still wants to he's got a new season for you no ain't no season for me no no I checked out a long time ago that the old the old Motors ran out there ain't no energizing this thing I'm done God's all he's got all he's going to get out of know if you're still breathing God has more for you and we need to acknowledge that he says that time and time and time again do you you know and let's let's just kind of try to get to where everybody's at you the the part of your brain that deals with physical pain is the same part of your brain that deals with emotional pain it's exact same thing happens neurologically when you break your arm as when somebody breaks your heart as when somebody hurts your feelings the same thing that happens when you stub your toe as when somebody tells a lie about you this emotional struggle this pain that hurts is you you telling me they said that about me it's no different then you getting up in the middle of the night in the dark and you didn't realize that that Lego was in the middle of the floor Beckham that pain that shoots from the soul of your foot to seemingly the top of your head that's excruciating same part of my brain that deals with physical pain deals with emotional pain but here's the difference you can break your arm and you can go see a position and you can put a cast on it but many of us will have broken hearts Broken Dreams bitterness messed up relationship things in our heart against people because somebody said something and this one said that and so and so said this at the nails salong and he said this on the golf course and she said this over here and you wouldn't believe they're confiding in me about this but I just wanted to bring this to you be careful if you're the person that everybody confides in about the negativity of somebody else in the church we call that a trash can but you before you know it you're just so shielded and guarded and before you know you if we looked at you physically the way you are spiritually you'd be one of those people in the hospital they got all every limb just hung up and you're just casted from head to toe look like you've been hit by a 18-wheeler but you know physically we can be having a heart attack and we're going to take you down to UT and we're going to do a triple Bible what do we got to do we're going to get you right physically but spiritually some of us have been living with a hardened heart for years some of us have been living but but your brain is trying to deal with this emotional issue and these emotional problems in the same sense as if you had a broken leg trying to make it through life you wonder why you're anxious you wonder why you're fearful and you wonder why you're tired it's because your brain's working overload to try to figure out everything that's happened to you and you're really just need to give it to God and it's probably going to happen through some honest tears a real honest moment with God where the great physici can come in and he can work and he can forgive and he can help you navigate the relationship issues and you can go talk to somebody and you can bear someone another one another person's burdens rather than than than looking at everybody through the lens that somebody else is going to hurt me today and somebody else is going to hurt me tomorrow this is always going to be an issue I'm just going to have to sit on the other side of the church from them I'm not going to have to go eat there and I definitely ain't going to do business with them and we all think we're going to go to heaven together seen people go through a breakthrough they experience this this powerful moment with God and they Retreat right back to where they were because they become accustomed to bondage they've become accustomed they God can open prison doors tonight but some of us have been here so long that we've decorated it this this I'm not I like this bed the picture's on the wall you become comfortable in your prison you become comfortable in your condition and it would be at this point this is the dad I've become at this point this is the this is the young person I've become at this point if I was to change there would be some people asking some questions if I was to change there would be some people that would be shocked and caught off guard well God forbid we live the life we claim God forbid we live in the freedom that we claim God forbid that we be able to share what God has done for us Isaiah said for we have made lies our refuge under the falsehood have we hid ourselves we can't get out doesn't matter what happens we're going to recluse back into what is comfortable I see it young people moms dads you won't believe anything anybody says I could preach the entire Bible tonight we could talk about prophecy we can talk about problems I could give you the solutions I could give you the exact word for your moment we could get some profet in here he could read your mail but if you choose just to be comfortable and go back I've seen it time and time you look so nice today I hope you have a good day yeah you don't believe it you could be free but you've got this mentality that everybody's against you you did such a great job tonight what do you want huh just can't you can't you can't even like tell them hello without them having to you know that's the person that chooses I'm going to stay in this season I am just going to be the poor old pitiful me doesn't matter I can get a promotion at work still don't matter it's a terrible hours they can do this you can give them a raise you can give them way they they can you can you can do whatever you're going to do for them God could just be pouring out the you open up the windows of Heaven pour out the BL it's just still not enough God could die for you still not enough he could take stripes on his back still not he he could rise again on the third day he could do all that he's done but but is is that is that not not enough for you could fulfill all the prophecies he could do all that he's done nobody can help you because your dysfunction has become normal Jesus says that a certain man fa and I'd like to speak to the church tonight as I'm quickly moving through this and I I want to make sure we have time in the altar tonight but he said a certain man he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho it's a parable that Jesus is telling and he's giving examples of how this man was treated and it says that he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho which is already symbolic that you you when you when you leave God when you leave the place of God when you deconstruct your relationship with God is our ter terms are in in more of a modern sense today they went through this deconstruction he says that when he fell brother Joel says that he fell among Thieves there's so much to talk about there because when you leave the place of God to go to a place that symbolizes Brokenness and you go down and you fall and you fall away from the people of God if you're going to fall don't fall among Thieves the church ought to be a place that people can go through through a season the church ought to be a place that somebody can come say hey I'm going through a mess right now the church ought to be a place that we can bear one another's burdens it ought to be a safe place that the church is called to do so let let's somebody else help you let somebody talk you through it they I guarantee you through a congregation this SI somebody has been through some sort of portion of what you're going through that's the body of Christ that's what we're supposed to do I'm reminded of of Cain and Abel Cain is a tiller of the ground but he killed his brother he kills his brother and he asked the famous question am I My Brother's Keeper many time people get stuck in stages of sorrow and they live in a season of weeping and frustration because we act as if they're not our responsibility would would it be so much on us that we were aware enough that we could acknowledge that somebody's going through something in there watch how this works Cain fights his brother because his brother pleased God the Bible it tells us in the story that Cain was a tiller of the ground and so his curse becomes that what he used to do will not work anymore it specifically says he was a tiller of the ground and his curse brother clayer says his curse says the ground will no more bring it won't bring forth what it used to for you so we see here that when you look at the narrative I don't want to go through the entire text there's so much more in it and if I start reading the whole thing we won't we won't get out of here when we need to get out of here but when when you get in conflict with your brother what used to work for you will no longer work anymore he was not just a vagabond he was not just cast out but he was not productive from the ground what does that tell me it never tells me there there's two there's two things people think that either either a Stone House fell on Cain which is interesting or that his I believe it's his nephew or gr somebody cousin somebody killed him while hunting for a wild beast Bible doesn't say it but all of and Jewish historian that's that's the two narratives they can come up with but we don't know how Cain died but we do know that he was a vagabond he was cast out the presence of God and that the ground would no longer bring forth fruit what does that mean Cain had to rely on everybody else to produce what he had to live off of there's so many people that if you going to make that statement am I My Brother's Keeper God will say I'll show you Brother's Keeper you won't eat without your brother you won't eat without somebody else tilling the ground you'll be you you you'll die of starvation if you don't link up and connect yourself with somebody that the ground works for them so what does that tell me when we break our connection and Covenant with one another God will put you in a place where you have to have somebody God will put you in a place of Sorrow God will put you in a place of Tears God will put you in a place where you ultimately die in the mess that was supposed to teach you it was just a season it was just a moment what if Cain had repented before God at that moment what if he fell on his face and said God forgive me I can I know you can hear the blood of my brother crying out from the ground he's he's speak he's in the presence of God this is a perfect moment Cain to fall on your knees and say God forgive me and go into the next season of life I want to challenge you tonight there shouldn't be anything that you've got in your heart against somebody else in this Auditorium that's TR it not it ought not be that you can just be nonchalantly going through the store and sitting down at lunch and talking over coffee and doing this and doing that and you've got an issue with somebody in the church I understand that if you got to pray to get things out of your heart that you see on TV or somebody treats you wrong or somebody cuts you off that you don't know and you got to ask for some forgiveness maybe later and whatever the case would be there's people but people in the church do we we understand how messed up that is we claim to be the bride of Christ but we yet in our action say am I My Brother's Keeper on well they weren't here this Sunday I I don't know where they're at I a I can't carry them into heaven that my responsibility that mentality will put you in a place where what used to be productive will no longer be productive let me help you diagnose that things might be going well you might be making money but you feel like you're not making a difference you might have things going for you but you feel an emptiness of purpose you feel like that there's everything that you try to do there's just never enough you've got to make sure that you care about everybody else as much as you car about because what used to work will no longer work and it will force you to be relying to rely on other people and I I I I I just want to stress to you tonight if there's ever been a time that we need to be in unity if there's ever been a time that we need to to to go to somebody and be honest and ask them to forgive us for the things that we've said or the things that we've done I'm just being honest with you there it doesn't matter what what you chalk it up to it doesn't matter how you justify it in your mind doesn't matter how bad they did to you it is not biblical for you to get online and make it an issue it is not biblical for you to go across the aisle and talk to somebody else about it you're not going to make it you're going to end up sitting in a room all alone just depending on somebody else to feed you what you should be able to produce yourself it can't happen it can't happen it doesn't matter you've got to understand it it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if it's if it's Pastor Carpenter if it's a daycare teacher if it's a department head if it's someone that's watching your kids while you're in here worshiping as a volunteer if it's somebody that's directing traffic outside if it's a police officer that pulls you over if it's the waitress at the restaurant tonight it doesn't matter who it is you cannot justify as a child of God that you could just dismiss them I'll just be rude to them I'll just going if you can lay your head down at night after you've been rude and you gossip and you backbit somebody in the king no that's a soul that's going to spend eternity in heaven or in hell and you'll get stuck in a stage because you'll become so callous because you cannot be productive if you're fighting your brother the very ground that's supposed to give forth that you were created from that you're supposed to have dominion over you now have to yield to someone else's productivity Seasons come and Seasons go but you must transition it is our responsibility as the church to yoke up with one another to try to help everyone move from season to season to season it's one thing that I'll stress with our young people hey don't miss these big events don't miss these opportunities why because it's not my goal that just me and five or six of the of you that just hungry for God transition to the next season no I want all hund and whatever of us to go to the next season together huh that's why we get all all our married couples together at marriage a treat it's important that we go there together why cuz we all take a step forward and move into a new season and whatever our marriage was struggling with last month we want to try to not be struggling with it this year that's why it's important that we come together on church church services and why we all are taking a step together in the unity that we all acknowledge a move of God a word word of God and experience with God in one Accord that it's not just me and I've got my own thing coming me and my family as long as we're getting what we know we all need a breakthrough tonight but we need each other I'm here to just just really push somebody tonight no please don't stay bitter If You're Going Through Hell as my great-grandfather would always say don't stop I I realize some of you I hear stories and I hear things I get it there's no other way to put it you're just going through hell but by all means don't stop don't set up residence don't make it comfortable the last thing you can do is blame everybody else as much as we need each other the only person that can make a decision to come out is you it doesn't matter if if this one's reaching for you or that one's reaching for you we've got to be able to step out God is able to take care of each and every one of us and I've never seen the righteous forsaken oh yes I've never seen one time there is a Pentecost there is a breakthrough there is an experience I can't help but think of Luke uh describes it in Luke chapter 22 and he he gives the most the the more uh clear picture of of Peter as he denies Jesus and and we know the story he says that that as as the rooster crows and he that rooster crows in the third time and he's denied him just as Jesus said and it says that he wept bitterly I can't help but think by reading EC Ecclesiastes and James and this one and that one that if Peter had not wept at that moment if Peter had not changed his vision at that moment if he had not acknowledged his wrongdoing he just as well could have died as Judas he just as well could have been another Cain he just as well could have been another story of that we don't really like the ending of in the Bible but Peter he wept and he was sorrowful and he the Bible says he wept bitterly and there's somebody tonight I want you to just acknowledge the fact that if you would just have a moment of weeping there is a resurrection coming there is a Pentecost that has your name on it there's an opportunity that weeping may endure for the night but joy somebody shout joy joy somebody shout joy joy we've been looking for it some of you been searching for it some of you your your wife would love to see Joy on your face some of you your husband would love to see Joy on your face some of you students I would love to see a little bit of Joy on your face we get stuck in a season of weeping I want everybody in here to be able to say I cried but ultimately I survived take you to Second Kings chapter number 7 powerful story and I'll read the entire text here so that we can fully understand it's a familiar story about four lepos men as they were entering the gate and they simply said the famous statement one to another why sit here until we die and I I want that just to ring out some of us it's like I'm just going to stay here why I'm just going to stay who I am why why sit here until you die why sit here and just take your chances why sit here and not be all that everybody around you needs you to be he says if if we say we will enter into the City and the famine is in the city then we shall die there and if we sit here we die also so that's the logic some of us are living by we can sit here and die or we can take a chance we're all going to die everybody realize that I mean I realize it's a few there's a couple people that just walked with God and were not I mean I can think of a few of you but me and the rest of you we're probably not going to you know just be transfigured or you know we're going to die but I could just tell each and every one of you I I don't think it's this is just terrible logic I get it and it's morbid but if you're still alive God don't want you to die here if you're still here God wants you to move on God wants you to move forward there's a soul that God wants you to win there's a song of Praise In Your Heart they simply said where where we're going to die either way we're lepers we're doomed why I sit here and that's so they go into the camp it's a cool story all these the noises of Chariots and the noises of horses and even the noise of great host and and and they basically go in they go running out and they say we're not going to sit at this gate we're going to give God a chance they hadn't even heard the word of the Lord and isn't that interesting the people that had the word of the Lord wouldn't go do it and four lepers who were so sick and tired of being sick and tired decided to go in and they didn't even have the word of the Lord and sometimes that's a situation it gets in we Christians you know we we we we know too much and we're too you know we're over here analyzing whether or not it's pre pre-trib or post-t or this or that and we're arguing over how many this and how many that and we're so caught up with so many things that really ain't going to matter because when it happens you're not going to get to say hey I was right don't matter right I'm just saying if he comes and you don't go I would say just go ahead right what I'm reading I don't want to stay all right probably ain't going to make it just be honest you can't live for God now you are fooling yourself everybody you made fun of is gone you know everybody else is in a famine but these lepos men decide I'm going to go in they haven't heard the word of the Lord they don't have the advantages they don't know the scripture they don't know the god that you know they don't haven't experienced everything you've experience this this lepos it's it it it describes a sinner that's that's what leprosy is it's a type of sin so you got a bunch of Sinners that's willing to take a chance more than oh and this is the Moder day church I've got to hurry people that's been in it for 40 years have more issues than the person that just came to this Altar and was freed from everything they've ever done because they've learned how to filter it for the community that they've been a part of for so long that they ought to know better that they shouldn't have thoughts they shouldn't feel that way and they shouldn't hurt like that because we're supposed to be perfect you know so they won't be open and honest and they won't allow that tear to fall down they won't allow an altar to change them so they just become this person who if they don't make up their minds going to just die in a terrible season it's like you there's nothing more frustrating to look at families and lives and people that are going on and they're in summertime and you're still in this winter where everything's just cold and dead nothing's transitioned for you The Season's not changed for you I'm just fine in this famine that was the king there in that story he said I'm just going to stay here but I wonder if we had the mentality of those lepers that you could cry you can break you could change I'm going to do everything I can to move forward but I'm not going to die where I'm at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse number 8 in closing tonight it's one of my favorite passages of scripture and it just reminds us that we're going to go through some things we're troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our body for we which live are all way delivered unto death for Jesus's sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh I hope that means something to you so then death worketh in us but life in you we have in the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak knowing that he that which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you for all things all things are for your sakes and the abundant grace might through the Thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God for which cause we faint not don't give up don't stop where you're at we do not faint though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day I know that there is sorrow I know there's mourning but joy is coming for our light Affliction everybody say light Affliction I know it don't feel light but he said it's a light Affliction which is but for a moment don't die there it's an Affliction it's painful but don't die there I know it's it's it's an issue and it's it's a struggle but that moment he said worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things which are seen But at the things which are not seen for these things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are Eternal Joy transition a new season is here for someone tonight just stand to your feet why sit we here till we die why stay in this season blessed are they which hunger now you shall be filled that's a popular scripture right blessed are those which hunger now you shall be filled right after that says blessed are ye that weep now for you shall laugh if you'll deal with what has to be dealt with in your life if you will deal with pain sorrow and grief and mistreatment I know every single one of us right now the only thing that would keep us from a moment with God tonight that's greater than any moment we've ever had with him is simply thinking that we're okay where we're at something somebody's done something somebody said the the steps that I've taken backward that condition you can take a step forward today his Mercy his grace his goodness it's here for each and every person tonight Rejoice ye in that day he says leap for Joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in the like manner did your fathers unto the prophets I can't help but tonight in my mind that the altar call tonight the altar call tonight Scott will you and Aiden come help me right here brother Jacob you here to help me it should look like this y'all come back here with me the altar called tonight should look like this you had four lepers that sat at a gate trying to decide hey what's the next move for us we're talking about lepers we're talking about Sinners we're not come out Saints my man my man over here he's missing a leg he's missing an arm he's missing a ear leprosy all over future is in question because they've got a disease CH out people with no hope so my first question for you tonight is what's your excuse you got it way better than they did you've got it way better than most people in the world tonight I know you can find you a pity party I know you can find you a pit that you could slum down but I'm telling somebody tonight we are without excuse as Paul would say to not be taking a step say I'm not going to stay here I'm not going to sit here and just die in my dilemma I'm not just going to sit here I'm going to go in here and see and guess what happened as those four leprous men dressed baged Limbs and mangled themselves into the city it says that all of a sudden there was an eruption it sounded like chariots and it sounded like an army coming it sounded like that wasn't four messed up people but what what that tells me is that when anybody makes a step towards God it gives a much bigger impact it gives a much bigger sound than what is I can't stress it to you enough God's got something for you tonight I know you might be on the brink of divorce you might be on the brink of giving up you might be in the middle of the greatest sin you might be in a mess that nobody knows about it don't matter don't sit there and die don't sit there and you say how do I get out of it let some tears flow from your eyes let there be a moment with God where you just get real and say God I know I shouldn't have God I know that I shouldn't be here and I'm there and I'm stuck I if I'm speaking to anybody body tonight I wonder if you'd find a place in this this house to pray it don't have to be on this altar it might be in your Pew but would you fall down on your face and I wonder how long's it been since you prayed a prayer that caused the tear to flow from your eye I said God I just want to be real with you for a moment God I just want to be real with you I've got doubt God I've got some questions God I just don't understand I feel like you're late Lord I feel like you should have already worked on my son I feel like you should have already delivered this me God you should have already brought him home you should have already touched this situation God I've just got so many questions give it to the Lord tonight don't carry that around don't carry that around don't carry around those hateful words don't carry around the problems don't carry around the situation you no you need to make it right between you and God and you need to make it right between you and your brother tonight come on you and your sister tonight come on there might be a moment in this service where you need to go to somebody else but oh God don't sit here and simply just die here come on before they sing could this place just become a House of Prayer a House of Mercy a House of Joy could we get God's attention simply a crying of our heart come on that's it pour your heart out to him right now come on young person God sees God sees but he wants you to give it to him right now God knows he knows he's going to raise him from the dead but he wants to see that tear your ey he wants to see You Weep he wants to see you repent he wants to see you give you give him your burdens cast all your cares on him for he cares for you give it all to him tonight come on I encourage you if you know somebody's going through something you you ought to go pray with them with passion right now you ought to pray with them that God God help us to be what you've called us to be as the church God help us to lift up one another God help us to encourage one another Church come on Church we're living in the last days the last thing God needs is a church a bride that's not in Unity come on get it make it right get out of that dilemma get out of that pit there's somebody trying to pull you out I know somebody pushed you in but somebody's trying to pull you out right now God's working God's working working right now in the name of Jesus let there be a break through tonight in the name of Jesus let there be Deliverance tonight I'm asking nobody be looking around I'm asking every person to engage with somebody else right now let the church be the church you don't know what that person next to you is going through come on pray come on pray come on pray Hal that's it I see some of you giving it to God I see some of you releasing it right now let it flow from your heart he wants to hear it from your heart tonight he wants to hear it from your prayer tonight God I give it to you God I release it to you God I don't want to carry this anymore God I don't want to deal with this anymore God I want to move to a new season God I want to transition let there be a breakthrough tonight God yeah that's it Mom that's it Mom pour your heart out right now I know you've been going through it I know you've been going through it but pour your heart out right now let God hear your prayer you cry here but don't die here come on let God work through this moment let God have it there's things happening all across this altar if you're an altar worker would you pray with somebody come on if you call yourself a Christian you got the Holy Ghost would you pray with somebody right now come on pray with somebody right now there's somebody's going through hell might be standing next to you would you pray with them right now come on there's no reason to die here there's no reason to stay here come on let there be a breakthrough in your life tonight bear one another's burdens oh God oh God oh God come on that's it don't get weary and welded doing don't get weary and wello come on I pressed toward the Mark I've got a new season I've got a new calling I've got a Reviving I've got a refreshing God I know that you're weeping may be tonight but joy is there's a Revival there's a renewing that's coming my way it's coming my way it's coming to my family it's coming to my lost son it's coming to my lost daughter I feel God there's a great Revival God we're all the come on walk in faith walk in faith tonight pray with faith tonight God I know you've got great things for us so God J oh Hallelujah I wish everybody in this place would stand to your feet I wish you'd grab the hand of your neighbor and wish you'd lift it up to heaven and we as a body of Believers we as a Church of the Living God right now as you lift your hand as you lift up your brother's hand your sister's hand right now we're transitioning it's a new season it's a new day I'm not going to stay here I'm not going to stay the same I'm going to be what you've called me to be I'm going to be the father I'm going to be the mother I'm going to be the young person I'm going to be what you've called me to be in this season God that you've challenged me that you've stirred me up oh God Lord I'm going to another level in the name of Jesus come on that say get the joy get your Joy back get your peace back get the goodness back lord I want to be God about my father's bus oh God hallelujah hallelujah you have turned I'm morning to dance say you turn you all my sorrow you all my morning today you have turned you all my sorrow oh this is how we overcome this is how we overcome this is how we overcome we are made Overcomers by the blood of the Lamb word of our testim this is how we overcome this is how we over this is how this is how we over this is how we overcome this is how we overcome this is this is how we overcome yeah this is how this is this is how we is worship through my trial you have turn all my morning today you have turned you have morning into again you have my srow this this is how we over this is how we over this is how we come t with your wor sing it out this is how we this is over you have my morning yes you you all my sorrow you have you come on if you received the word of the Lord could you just give him a praise right now whatever you see fit could you just praise him Lord we bless you God I thank you that I felt a shift oh God in certain lives tonight Lord that there's people in this room that made us step out of their situation Lord we believe and Lord we resemble your word