Amen. God is good. Amen.
I want to do something real fast. We're going to do our commissioning portion after the announcements, but I want to go ahead and commission our missionaries now. I'm going to ask you guys to stay here. Once Minister Ruff blesses us, can we just go quickly back into that part?
I sought the Lord and He heard the answer. And so I'm going to ask the missionaries who are going to Africa today to come on up and let's receive our prayer. And I'm going to ask y'all if y'all don't mind. Can y'all pray for us? And with us. Yes. We're about to take a 17-hour flight literally around the world to go to another continent.
We sought the Lord on this trip and He answered that He has made a way. He has made sure all the resources that we need to make this trip a success come to pass. About 18 of us will be leaving today to head to Africa and we'll be meeting up with our team there. This makes about our seventh international mission trip.
So this group going to Africa with me, I went last year. This will truly be the first of many trips over to Africa. Hopefully, the stories that we'll share in the days ahead would encourage you to take that next journey with us. But this is going to be an absolutely amazing trip.
And I want to minister up in your own way, speak a word, you know, whatever the Lord leads you to do. If some of the ministers want to come up and lay hands as well, you're welcome to come up. But let's just take this moment, pray for us. And then we're going to go quickly back into that song one more time. And I'm going to come up and just lead us into the word of God after that. Is that OK? Amen.
The Bible says that. Thank you, Lord Jesus. The Great Commission, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord God. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Well, good morning again, Hope City. It is so good to be here today on a Sunday morning and just be able to teach the word.
So actually, I wasn't in the first service today, so y'all are special. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to preach in the first service. My goal was to preach the first service today, but I just decided last night. I was good impact and everything last night, but I just made that decision to not speak this morning in the first service.
I reached out to Jacob, Mr. Jacob, about nine o'clock last night. I said, "You ready?" I said, "You ready?" And he said, "If you're telling me to be ready, I'm ready." So he held down the fort for me in the first service today. Thank God for that.
So this is going to, I'm going to give y'all a full message today because before I get on that flight, I got a 17-hour flight. So I want to be worn out when I get on that flight so I can sleep. And so everybody keeps saying, "Well, rest, Pastor." No, I ain't trying to rest right now. I'm trying to wear myself out today. So when I get on that plane, I just sleep all the way through. So I'm going to give you all I got today.
Okay. Everything I can give y'all today, I'm going to give y'all today. Just a few quick announcements and then right into the word.
I hate that I wasn't here last weekend for our Father's Day weekend. I think that's the first Father's Day I missed here at Hope City in nine years, actually. Of course, I was in Jacksonville with my dad and my grandmother, who passed away. Thank y'all for your prayers. We felt them 100%. Thank you so much for your prayers. My dad is much better right now. If he just listened, if he's online right now listening at home, if he just listened to me and sat down and stopped moving around, he'll be 100% better, but he won't stop.
But he's a whole lot better right now. And again, thank you guys for your prayers, even for him. Just excited, even in the midst of pain. We just lost one of our faithful church members this past weekend, Tasha Rock. She passed away. So we're working on some things right now. Her family will be doing, her body has already been taken back to Hollywood, Florida. Her funeral will be there. They're trying to finalize the date. We will be doing something here in Savannah as well.
There are so many people in the education system, of course, right here at Hope City who loved her. So we will be doing some type of memorial here in Savannah and we'll give details in regard to that in the days to come.
A few other announcements as it relates to the men's event, we will be on the fourth Saturday in May for our annual big men's event. So I'm going to make up for what we didn't do on Father's Day. Amen, somebody. And so we're going to make sure the men get what they normally get every year. So we're going to be doing something real big for the guys on July the 17th. So looking forward to that.
Second thing is there will be no national serve day. We normally do a big national serve day with about a thousand other churches in July. We won't be doing that this year. We just made that decision about three days ago, not three years ago. I said three years. Three days ago, made that decision that we will not be doing that this year. But we are launching in August our new model of our serve day weekend. So more details on that will be coming in the days ahead.
And then last but not least, we're going to be launching in August. For those who don't know, we always used to use this language of first, first serve day. Every first Saturday was our serve day. First Saturday was our day of prayer. We have first Wednesday services. That first week was our day of prayer. We have first Wednesday services. That first week was our day of service. That first week was our way of dedicating our months to God. That first week is dedicated to God versus scattering a lot of events, you know, in the middle of the month. We try to focus on that first week.
And we're going to be going back into that starting in August. And for those who have been here long enough, you know, we normally do first Wednesday night services. So we will be going back to our first Wednesday night service to start in August.
And the beauty of our first Wednesday night August service being relaunched is we're going to take that service as well as our worship Wednesday night and make it a day of prayer. So we're going to be doing that. So we're going to take that service as well as our worship Wednesday night and make it one service. So for those who like worship Wednesday, it's going to be at one time on first Wednesday starting in August.
I heard y'all had a crazy time on worship night a few days ago. It's packed out in here. Y'all worship like crazy. And so we're going to do that same. And I heard y'all went way back. And so we're going to try to go way back some more. I hear y'all like that.
Okay. So definitely first Wednesday is what we call our believers night. Yes, non-believers can sneak up in here, but it's what we call our believers night where anything can happen. I'm talking about running, shouting, speaking in tongues. Come on, somebody. It's believers night is what that is intended to be.
So I want to encourage you as a body of Christ, as believers, let's make a commitment that once a month, every first Wednesday, not every Wednesday, but once a month, first Wednesday, dedicate that day in your calendar as that one day as a church family that we will come together once a month to worship God on a midweek service, giving God all that we have. Amen.
One last announcement. It is hot up in here, up in here. And that's the announcement right there. It is hot up in here, up in here. So I just want to acknowledge that as you're fanning away. We had the AC people out here a few days ago. It was supposedly fully fixed. I don't feel like it is. So we will be working on that tomorrow.
Again, folks saying, thank you for your tithes in the office. And we got no AC working up in here. Let's get this AC working. Come on, somebody. Before somebody decides to bring some funeral fans up in here and they all around the building here, okay. And so y'all are too faithful to Hope City Church for us to be fanning up in here. And so we will be working on that as expeditiously as possible.
Let the church say, Amen.
Now let me jump right into the word now. I want to talk today about how to have a purpose-filled summer. As we go into our summer, we literally just launched into summer. I think it was what? It's two to three days in summer right now. And I want to just share with you how you can have a purpose-filled summer.
Look what it says here in 1 Peter chapter 2. We go to beaches as we take our cruises and things of that nature. I want to encourage you, number one, to enjoy your summer, you know, and don't tell me you're leaving. I have folks that say, "Pastor, I won't be here next Sunday." Just go. Don't even tell me, you know, because I promise you, I'm not looking for you. I'm not looking and saying, "Where was Sally at today?" Go and enjoy your summer. Take a vacation.
1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people." Somebody say chosen. He says, "A royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Let me read one more here. Jeremiah 32:19. "Great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are all open to the ways of all mankind; you reward each person according to their conduct and as their deeds deserve."
Talking about having a purpose-filled summer. You know, when I first got married, it'll be 22 years come this August. And when we first got married, I don't care, even on our honeymoon, we went to church. I said, "We are going to church now." I've changed since then.
You know, but 22 years ago on our honeymoon, I said, "We are going to church." We can take God wherever we go. Some people go wherever they're going to go on their vacations, on their trips to the family and leave God at home. But how many of you know that when you go to a family reunion and see some family members you ain't seen in years, you better take God with you? Because some of them people could get on your last nerve and you need the peace of God that passes all your understanding. You need the patience of God with you on your vacation.
I remember we went on our cruise in that same year and some things actually happened on that boat that really, if we did not have the patience of Job, that could have been the end of the world. And I remember when I was on the boat, I remember one of the most frustrating cruises that we have ever been on.
So listen, in this life, you're going to have some issues and problems even on your summer vacation. But I am convinced as you're packing everything, you're putting your suitcases together, make sure you take God on that journey with you as well. You don't have to be all churchy and religious while you're on the beach. You don't have to wear a suit on the beach, but you still can take God with you on that beach.
You can take God everywhere. You know, it's some people just that deep. They so spiritual and they're going to bring that big old thick Christian Bible with them on their vacation because they want to prove that they love God. Listen, you can prove that you love God by the way you treat people, the way that you honor people, the way that you recognize Him and acknowledge Him in all your ways, not just on Sunday morning in a church service, but even acknowledge Him when you're away on your vacation.
Let's take God. Let's have a purpose-filled summer. As we travel around this world, what Job says here in Job 42:2, "I know that you can do all things. No purpose of yours can be thwarted." There are no purposes that God has placed in your life that death cannot separate you from. Disappointment should not separate you from the purposes that God has placed in your hand.
I don't know the specificity. I don't know exactly what God has called you to fulfill in the earth. I don't know your assignment. Whatever your assignment is, whatever battle you are experiencing right now, whatever dark experiences you may be in right now, Job reminds us that there's no darkness, there's no storm, there's no opposition in your life that can stop the purposes of God in your life. Can I get an Amen right there?
And so we want to make sure that no matter what you are going through, that you keep the purpose of God at the forefront of your mind. For when you wonder if life really counts, remember, one person can make a difference. One person can make a difference.
If you ever wonder if your life really counts, one person, and watch this here, that one person is you. And your assignment may not be my assignment. You may not be doing what I'm doing in the earth and in life, but whatever it is that God has placed in your hand to do, one person can make a difference. Whether you're in the spirit of religion, whether you're in the spirit of education, of business, entertainment, whatever, there's specificity of where God has placed you in the earth.
Whatever your assignment may be, you may be in real estate, whatever, wherever you may be. For when you wonder if your life really counts, remember, one person can make a difference. When you stop measuring your life against other people's life, when you stop measuring how you do things against somebody else's life, I'm telling you, you can live this life in such a way that you manifest everything that God has called you to do.
See, one thing to never do that I definitely don't do, but I would encourage you not to do as well, don't measure your life based on somebody else's life. Don't measure your race, your run based on somebody else's life. If you ever wonder why we do things here different at Hope City Church that seemingly may be different from a lot of churches around us, and then people ask me questions like, "Hey, why are we doing what so-and-so is doing?" That's the worst thing to ask me because I'm not running my race based on somebody else's race.
Now, yes, there should always be some core things that all churches should be doing, like teaching the Word of God, praying, and things like that, but when it comes to the way that God calls us to execute that thing, it's going to be different. You know, if some of you had your way, we would be still riding horse buggies right now because you remember how we always did it.
Some of you are not going, and I know this because some of you told me, some of you wanted to go to Africa desperately. You said it was in your heart to go to Africa. You said it was in your heart to go to Africa. You said it was in your heart to go to Africa, but the reason that some of them said, particularly two people said they cannot go is because they're afraid to fly.
What is it that you are afraid of? You know there's a purpose in your heart. There's a desire in your heart, something you want to do, but there's something standing in the way, holding you back from doing the very thing that you say you have purpose in your heart to do.
Listen, one person can make a difference. We cannot allow anything to throw out the purposes of God in our life. Look what it says here in Genesis 6:5. "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth and His heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth, men and animals and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air, for I am grieved that I have made them.'"
But somebody say, "But." It says, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." I don't care what nobody else is doing, but I want to find favor in the eyes of the Lord. Come on, somebody. I want my life. I want my household to find the favor of the Lord on us.
And listen, you don't have to measure your house, your life by someone else. You know, who was it that says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." You can become that one man, that one woman, that one house that makes a difference to those that are around you. You'll be surprised how many people need that one person to be the example.
And I'm convinced that many of you are that one example that your girlfriend needs to see, that your guy friend needs to see, that your church member needs to see. You are that one person that they need to see that you are the difference maker, that your marriage is making it so it gives them strength that their marriage can make it. You being a single man or a single woman and living after God and doing it the right way, by them watching you, it encourages them to do it the right way.
Listen, one person can make a difference this summer. Let me give you just a few things here on making a difference. You can make a difference for your family. Look what it says in Genesis 7:1 again. "The Lord then said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.'"
You can make a difference for your family this summer. Watch this here. You can make a difference for your generation. I like what it says in Acts 13:36, "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep." In other words, he died. Why? Because he fulfilled his purpose.
Listen, the clock doesn't wake me up every day. My purpose wakes me up. And that's something you got to get to. Your clock is waking you up, not your purpose. You're just living life, whatever it will be, will be. But when you figure out your purpose, when you figure out why you showed up, watch this, you can't die until you finish your purpose.
And so get past the clock waking you up until it's your purpose that wakes you up. What drives me and what motivates me every day is not the clock. It is my purpose. It is the people I'm called to serve. It's the people I need to influence and to impact and have that courageous conversation with, to stir them up, to do what it is that they say they are called to do.
I'm telling you, when you find a purpose that is bigger than a check, because some of y'all could admit right now, the check you're getting right now, it ain't meeting the needs you really want to meet. Come on, somebody. I mean, it may be paying the bills, but it's not what you really want.
You can make a difference for your family. You can make a difference for your generation. Watch this here. You can make a difference for God this summer. Look what Ezekiel 22:30 says. "I looked for a man among them who will build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one."
You can make a difference for God. Where is it that you say God has called you to serve in, but you are abandoning your post? You say, "God said do that." You say, "God said go there." You say, "God said write that book." You say, "God said start that business." You say, "God said get in there," and He's looking for you and you're not where you are supposed to be.
It says God sought for a man who could stand up and make up a hedge for that issue there, but He could not find. Let it not be said this summer. Let it not be said as you go into what you say God says that you are not where God told you to be.
I'm glad that the 18 people who said that they're supposed to go to Africa are going to Africa. I believe they're going to be where God told us to be. Come on, somebody. We're going to be where God has called us to be. Whatever your spirit, whatever that thing is, you need to make a difference.
So let me give you a few more things and then I'm done for today. Pastor Corey, how can I have a purpose-filled summer? Here's one. Number one, don't be afraid to stand out in the crowd. Some of you only make moves based on how the crowd responds. Some of you only go certain places and do certain things after you have done an assessment on everybody's opinions.
And some of you need to be very careful about needing everybody's opinion about what you need to do because sometimes people's opinions are toxic. And long after they have gone away, the toxicity of what they said stays in your soul. And it impacts what you know you are supposed to be doing.
Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to stand out in a crowd. Don't be afraid that when everybody says no, but you know God told you yes, or you know it's a witness in your spirit that you're supposed to do this now and start this now. You need to do it in the face of being looked at as crazy.
When we came to Savannah 10 years ago, an idea from God to move to Savannah, didn't know anyone here, go there and start a church. It was stupid in the ears of so many people. Why go to Savannah? Why not do it here in Jacksonville, where you know a whole lot of people? Why go to a city where you know no one? Because that's where we believe that God said go.
We had to be willing to stand out in a crowd to look crazy. Watch this here. Even for a moment, we had to look crazy to believe what God told us to do. And almost 800 people later in three services on a Sunday morning, I'm glad I obeyed what God said do.
For some of you, when you step out, it may look crazy. It may not seem like it's going to do what it needs to do, but it's going to do what it needs to do. But if you're willing to look crazy for a moment, if you're willing to look stupid for a moment, come on somebody, if you're willing to have mud on your face for a moment, I'm telling you the thing that God told you to do, it's going to manifest itself.
If you don't get weary in what you're doing, it's going to manifest itself. The dream, the vision, the thing that God has placed in your head, the things He placed in your heart, it is going to come to pass and you have to know it and you have to believe it. You cannot be afraid. You have to believe it. You have to believe it.
You've got to be moved by what you see. You've got to be moved by what you believe. Come on, somebody. Faith is powerful. Faith can open up doors. Faith can allow you to go further when you thought you could not go.
One thing that God is looking for in the earth when He comes back, He's looking for faith. Faith is the key. Faith has the power to open up doors that no man can shut. Look what it says here in Proverbs 29:25. "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe."
Fear of man will prove to be a snare. How many things did you want to do, but because your fear of what people would say stopped you from doing that very thing? I don't want to know. I really want to do A, B, and C, but I don't know what they're going to say. I don't know how they're going to feel.
You know, I'm a little, that the fear of man will prove to be a snare. Can any of you look back in your life and know there's a very thing you wanted to do, but you didn't do it because you were worried about what someone was going to say? And it hindered the manifestation of the thing that was in your heart to do and your dream, your vision was killed.
Here's the second thing. Don't be afraid to do something for the first time. See, most people don't mind doing something at the third, fourth, and fifth time because they got results. They got proof. It's sometimes that stepping out the boat for the first time.
Don't be afraid to do something for the first time. Remember the story with Peter, when Peter then was in the boat and they looked out and they saw Jesus and Jesus. And Peter said, "Lord, if that be you, bid me to come to you."
Now, we always talk about how Peter got out of the boat and how he sunk. But we got to also talk about for a moment that when Peter did step out, he did walk on water. See, nobody in that boat would be able to say that they walked on water but Peter. We talk about how Peter fell, he still got to give him credit for stepping out and walking. He did something that nobody has ever been able to do.
It was the first time he wasn't measuring if he was going to be able to do it based on what somebody else did and did not do. He was measuring what he was going to be able to do based on God saying, "Come." He said, "If it be you, bid me to come." And Jesus said, "Come." And Peter walked out on the...
See, most of y'all think Peter walked on water. Peter didn't walk on water. He walked on the word. Peter did not... Yes, he walked on water, but he was only able to walk on the word.
You're following trends. And when you follow trends, there's not always a necessary guarantee of results. But when you follow the cloud, when you follow God, when God has spoken it, when God has said it, you cannot drown. You cannot fail.
And watch this here. The only reason why Peter began to sink was not because the word was not sure. It wasn't because the word wasn't solid. It's because Peter took his eyes off of the word and put his eyes on the stuff that people are drowning in.
Come on, somebody. What people may be drowning in this summer, God is ready for you to walk on it. Why? Because you got a word from God. The word of God is quick. It's powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, rightly divided. God's word is powerful, you guys, if you learn how to stand on His word.
Can I get a praise for God right there? Don't be afraid to do something for the first time. We left our city, came to a city for the first time, about to launch another campus for the first time. Come on, somebody. And we're going to do it scared. Come on, somebody.
You get it piece by piece, brick by brick. But we want God to tell us the whole story as we know God gave it to us piece by piece and brick by brick. We got to walk by faith in the direction.
Don't be afraid this summer. Come what may this summer. Come what may to your marriage. Come what may to your children. Come what may to your business. Don't be afraid.
There's something. Don't be afraid to try again for the first time. Again, don't be afraid. I believe that God's going to do something amazing.
Hebrews 11:7 says, "By faith, Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."
I don't know about you, but I want to write something that the world will be talking about years from now. See, I want to leave a mark that the world cannot even see. I want to leave a mark that the world cannot even see.
I think about my grandmother when she passed away a couple weeks ago, 90 years old. I only don't have any sad tears to share about her life. How many people can say they lived for 90 years and she lived a full life? She did a lot of great things in the earth. She has left a mark that I am convinced as I'm working on our family genealogy right now that she's going to be remembered in many of our future generations.
I'm going to leave a mark that the world cannot even see. I want to leave a mark this summer. You know, you may be on a cruise this summer. You may be on a beach this summer. Wherever you may be going, ask God to have you to bump into somebody where you can leave a mark with their life.
Yes, enjoy your trip because the one thing about me on a plane, don't talk to me on a plane. I'm being quiet. It's quiet time.
So I put my headsets on, let them know. Don't you start. It's a quiet time now. We ain't talking about that right now. But every now and then I try to make sure I'm open to, maybe I'm supposed to be available right now. I don't know who this person is. I don't know why I'm near them, by them, but maybe this will be a five or 10 minutes. I'm supposed to leave a mark in their life.
I can't tell you the amount of times, not necessarily on an airplane, but I can't tell you the amount of times when I got out of by myself, made myself available, somebody I would never see again. I was able to leave a mark on their life in so many ways.
Ask God to give you moments on your trips and your vacation where you bump into people. I call them prophetic encounters, where you just bump into certain people. Remember when Jesus said He must needs go through Samaria?
Now, if y'all 18 who are going with me to Africa, get used to that because I'm going to always be saying we must needs go. God, I always pray, God, give us a must needs moment, something that was on the schedule, something that wasn't on the agenda.
And then Jesus said He must needs go through Samaria. When He went to Samaria, He on purpose bumped into a woman at a well who went that way almost every single day to get water, but it was different in this day because she was about to bump into Jesus.
He had a conversation with her. He was on mission. This lady had no clue. She was about to have a divine appointment. And I'm telling you, there's some people at their wells. They're going to withdraw water. They're going to get whatever it is they need, but they need an encounter from God.
They need a word from a woman that has a right now insight about the same thing she's going through. He needs to bump into another man who has been through the same thing he went through and your words will encourage him.
I'm telling you, God wants to use you to have a purpose-filled summer. And listen, I come to realize the more I make myself available for God, He meets all my needs. I'm telling you, God, when I get out of God's way and make myself available for Him.
See, some of y'all don't really fully understand when that scripture says, "I'm going to give you the keys to the kingdom and whatever you bind on the earth." He's actually saying, "I'm going to let you hold my authority until I get back."
It's like, God, let me hold His key. Now imagine somebody letting you hold their keys. And let's just say it's not, let's say it's like Oprah, Bill Gates said, "Hey, I'm going away for the summer. Here's my keys to my house. You have everything you need. I'm going to let you hold my authority until I get back. You have access to the whole house, whatever you want to do. It is yours, just take care of it for me. I won't be back until this next time next year."
I'm talking about they got like 10 different cars, like fancy cars. I'm talking about 40 bedrooms. I'm talking about left the debit card, left the credit card that God has given us the keys to the kingdom. And He said, "Hold my stuff until I get back."
And some of y'all are not taking advantage of the authority and the power of God. And so I'm going to let you hold my stuff until I get back. The access that we have, because you're not making room for God in your life. We have so much available through God and we take advantage of it.
Number three, and we're done. Don't be afraid of the future. Don't be afraid to stand out in the crowd. Don't be afraid to do something for the first time. And don't be afraid of the future.
I don't know where you are in life. I don't know if you just lost someone who you won't see in your future. Your future is still going to be great. Maybe you just lost a job and you're afraid of the future. Maybe you just got a foreclosure letter in the mail. Maybe they said they're going to repo the car and you're afraid of what the future holds.
Maybe you're about to relocate this fall to another city or a state and you are afraid. I'm telling you on purpose, don't be afraid of the future. God is Alpha and He's Omega. He's the beginning and He's the end. He's in your right now and He's in your future.
And if you allow Him to do that, He's in your future. And if you allow Him to do that, He's in your future. So order your steps and you stand in Him. He can show you your future without fears. Come on, somebody.
The scripture says that the steps of a good man, of a good woman are ordered by the Lord. Let God order your... The only reason why you should be afraid of the future is if you're not allowing God room in your life to order your life and to make sure He brings the right things together.
Don't be afraid of the future. I was at the hospital maybe Friday or Saturday. All my days are running together at the hospital with my dad. And there was a moment, matter of fact, going back a week before then, I was just looking at him. I was just physically just getting weak. He wasn't as vibrant as I've always known him over the years.
And it just got so bad. I'm like, man, dad really has to get his house in order, his affairs together, his things together. Because he was just... And not only was he not looking good in my eyes, he wasn't doing nothing in that same...
Y'all, this man left the hospital twice against the doctor's orders. Left twice, maybe three. He left the doctor's office. He left the doctor's or the hospital twice against the doctor's orders. One of them I understood because my grandmother's funeral was that Saturday. He wanted to be at the funeral.
Fortunately, he left out that Thursday, but he had to go back that Friday and he missed my grandmother's funeral, which is his mom. He missed his mom's funeral. And again, I wouldn't have been the one to tell him he couldn't go, you know, because you go five years from now, 10 from now, and say, "I ain't go to the funeral because Cora didn't let me go."
My son, no, no, no, no, no, no. You already in the process of what could happen. The doctor's told you don't do it. If you choose to go, I'm going to support you when your ex come on somebody.
But it will never be said in your future, "I did not go because y'all said I could not." Of course, he was glad he did not go, was leaving the hospital Friday or Saturday, and he came home Friday, Friday night. I saw him and I like that. He was looking at himself, said, "Man, I'm just so skinny right now."
I said, "Dad, it's going to be OK." I said, "Stop looking at yourself every single day and measuring your progress. I said, start your plans." He had his new plan. He goes start with some working out as a protein. I said, "Look at yourself every seven days to see the progress wise."
And I said, "To be honest, the way you're looking right now in comparison to five days ago, you're looking real good." And that wasn't just me just making up stuff to make him feel good. No, he really I saw a dramatic difference in his appearance.
Here's my point. Don't be afraid. No matter what the past looked like, no matter what Thursday looked like, no matter what Wednesday looked like, don't be afraid of the future. I know you heard some stuff. I know you saw some stuff that conflicts or contradicts the vision you had written out.
I know you see some stuff based on what your bank accounts look at. Man, the numbers ain't adding up. Come on. You ever been there for the numbers ain't adding up? By this time next month, I see a repo man coming because the numbers ain't, you know, by this time, these numbers, don't be afraid of the future.
When you place the thing in God's hand, I'm not talking about this play play religious putting in God's hand. I'm not talking about this play play. I go to church on Sunday mornings. I pray. See, some of y'all are playing too much.
Let me pastor you for a minute as your pastor right now. Not your preacher, but as your pastor right now, some of y'all are playing too much. You giving God just enough to say you showed up, but that ain't enough for God right now. God want all of you in order for you to see the results that you really want.
You got to give God the whole pie and you giving Him the parts of your life that you want to give Him. You ever hear folks say, "God, I put my all on the altar. God, I give you my all." And that is great. But oftentimes it's not we want. Most of that stuff is good. It's those two or three things that we are hiding under that all.
You ever got your house and you allow people in your house and they got access to almost every space in the house, but those four or five rooms, come on, make yourself at home. Don't mean go to everything gonna fall out. Come on, somebody don't open that drawer to the right because that works for...
But when you invite God in, He needs full access to every room in your life because the stuff that is getting you in trouble is not the rooms you're giving Him access to. The stuff that is getting you in trouble is the rooms you're not giving Him access to. Come on, somebody.
And those are the areas that God wants to work in your life because when He's able to work those in your life, the stuff that seemingly is not coming together is going to come together because He's able to work those in your life.
So you don't have to be afraid of the future when you give God all access. I'm done right here. Genesis 9:15. It says, "I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on earth."
There are some things in my life, not a rainbow, but there's some things in my life that God uses to remind me of some personal promises that He has made for me. And if you haven't figured out what those things that God uses in your life to remind you, I got you.
I will not fail you that it's not over. There is still hope. There's going to be joy after this. There's going to be peace after this. If you don't know those little glimmers that God's winks at you and say, "Ah, I got you."
See, until you had a wink from God, you really don't know how to trust Him. I done been in some situations and folk call them pickles. I done been in a pickle before. I done been in a pickle before, but when God winks at you and tells you that He got your back, that it's going to be OK, that I know you don't like what just happened for you, but somehow there's going to be some good going to come out of this here.
When God winks at you and gives you that peace that passes all understanding, you can rest assured you don't have to be afraid of your future. Amen.
The rainbow is still a reminder of God's faithfulness and that there is no storm that would take me out. And let that be a reminder to you today as well, that there's no... The storms may come. It may make me afraid. It may get five feet high. It may get six feet high. It may get up under my neck. The storm may come, but let me remind you that storm is not going to take you out.
Can we give God a praise right there? Because some of you, some of you are smack dead in a storm right now, and you don't see no way out. You see gross darkness. You see impossibility. You don't see no miracle, nowhere in sight, but I'm telling you, you serve a God that specializes in late midnight hour turnarounds.
Come on, somebody. The old folks say He may not come when you want Him, but He'll be there. Come on, somebody up in this church on a day. He'll be there just right when you need Him.
By these waters, 2 Peter 3:6. "Also, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
As we enjoy our summer, as we enjoy our summer, as we enjoy our summer, as we enjoy our life, and we have a purpose-filled life. Enjoy it. He said, "I come that you may have life until the full, until it overflows."
Some people wait and they have heaven or experience heaven when they die. Not me. I want to experience some of it right now. I want to experience this.
I'm going to do a teaching here real soon, not for sure today, but the more deaths I see, I'm compelled to do this here. It's something I've talked about for the past two years on doing a teaching on death. There's too many people I've noticed that when death comes, either they lose trust in God, they're confused, it don't make sense.
I think the church has done a poor job on teaching about death. I think we said a lot of stuff that's not true about death to help people navigate in this physical world that experience. I think the motivation was pure is to help people process the pain of what they lost. I get the reason, but at the end of the day, people who are still grieving 10 years later after someone had passed away, it just shows me that we got to really give people a biblical understanding, a God-centered understanding of not just life, but also death.
One of my favorite scriptures is when Moses said, "Teach us how to number our days." You really understand the weight of what he was saying? He really was telling us, teach us to understand that we're not going to be here forever. That we're all going to die.
And if we really embrace that at the degree that we embrace life, because we all like the idea of someone is born, but we weep over when something dies. We like the building, but we don't like the tearing down. We like the peace, but we don't like the war. We like the gathering, but we don't like the scattering part.
But when we get a biblical understanding, a spiritual understanding of who God is, how God is, we're going to die. You can really come to grips of what death means and watch us here. Some of the issues you have with people too long, you'll get over them much faster because you realize He's going to teach you how to number your days.
Grudges we hold on too long, arguments that we let go on too far. When we realize we don't know when that person's going to go. Lord, teach me how to enjoy this person while I live. Guide them. Teach me how to love this person the right way while I live.
Teach me how to love them so that when their time is gone, I can be like Paul that sat on the couch or sat on a chair and said, "Lord, I finished my race. I finished my course." He said, "Now that's the crown." Paul was so okay with death, y'all. He was just sitting back on. Paul was like, "Hey, I'm done. Finished my course. It's nothing else for me to do but just sit here and let time pass me by because death is imminent. It's going to come."
I don't have no sorrows. I have no sadness. I did everything I said I wanted to do. God teaches how to number our days. Death does not have to be ugly. Now, none of us are saying, "Okay, come on, death. I'm ready." No, we ain't saying that. Come on, somebody.
But what I am saying, we got to get an understanding of what it is so we can really live a purpose-filled life. Some of you, you're not going to find the joy and the peace you need this summer until you go have that conversation with that sister, with that brother, with that mother, with that auntie, with that cousin.
You want to talk about a purpose-filled Sunday? Summer? Go have a conversation with somebody that you cut off the wrong way. Ooh, that's hard, right? That's hard, but they're right. Yeah, go have that conversation because no man knows the day. No man knows the hour.
Can I share one more quick story? The night that my grandmother passed away, and I may share this already here already, but I'll just share it again. The night that my grandmother passed away, I remember me and my cousin was sitting in the living room about one o'clock in the morning, talking about my auntie who had passed away two years prior to that on Christmas Day.
And we were just talking about her death. And I asked her, give me the details on exactly how she... I knew how she died, but she was there. Give me the full details because it was just a sad way she passed away. And so we talked about that for an hour.
Then after that, we talked about my grandmother for about an hour. My grandmother who had Alzheimer's, she was going in a very progressive state of that. She forgot almost everything. She forgot about her family. She forgot everything to the point the last six months, she forgot how to eat. And we had to get a tube to feed her for the last X amount of months.
And we literally had said before we ended that conversation and we went to bed, we literally said, "Grams is going to die when she forgets how to breathe." Two and a half hours later, we got a phone call from Miami in Jacksonville. I'm in Jacksonville from my aunt saying that our grandmother had just passed away.
And all I could think of was Grams forgot how to breathe. What shall we say to this? And the thing that came to mind was the Lord gives, the Lord takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We don't mind the giveth part. We love that God gives us a new house, a new man, a new woman, a new job, new money. It's that taketh part that we struggle with.
But just like Job said, in the giving and in the taking, blessed be the name of the Lord. Come what may this summer in your life, make a decision to make it a purpose-filled summer. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh. You may have planned to be on that trip for five days, but for some reason you had to get cut short to three days because you only had $500 for that hotel and you needed about $900 for that hotel.
So don't get upset that you can't go for five days on a family vacation because you ain't got enough money to stay there for the five days. Enjoy the three days. Don't start a family problem. Don't get upset with the wife because you don't get upset with the husband. Enjoy the three-day vacation and just say the Lord gives, the Lord takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Let's give God a praise for His word. Stand to your feet. Let's pray so we can leave out of this hot sauna.
Father, we thank you. Thank you for speaking to our hearts. Thank you for speaking to our minds. Thank you for showing us how to have a purpose-filled summer. How that we can take you everywhere that we go. We don't have to hide you, but God, you will assure that even in the summer vacations that we're traveling and just going different places, that God, it could be purposeful, that we can enjoy, but we can also still serve and make a difference in the life of someone else.
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on Jun 23, 2024
