Exodus 33

Thank you so much, guys. I’m gonna. I’m gonna do a little bit of tinkering with this thing right here. You know, I’m kind of. You know, my daughter thinks that we’re all the grand staffs are short, but I try to tell her we’re mid range.

All right. We’re mid range. All right. It does. It does get a little bit shorter.

All right. If you ever watch. You know, I think you guys said something about Matt Christmas, right? I’m taller than Matt Christmas. All right.

I’m taller than Matt Christmas. But it is awesome to be here and be in Virginia Beach. I really don’t know where to call home these days. Anybody kind of like that? I was born and raised Sarasota, Florida.

I spent about 12 years there, and then I moved up to right outside of Atlanta, Georgia, in a little town called Dublin, Georgia. Spent about 10, 11 years there. Met my beautiful wife Christine. Would you stand up and just give a little wave, a little howdy, y’. All.

Met my wife there and got saved. August 8th, 2006. Gave my life to Christ at 20 years old. And for some reason, I got married six months later. All right.

And I was 20. Christina was 19 years old. 18 years old. Wow. I can’t believe it.

Right? We’ve been married almost for 20 years. 19. All right. So we.

We’ve got a little. We got a little tread on the tire in marriage. Right. We’ve been doing it and it’s been awesome experience. My wife is my ministry partner.

Without her, I wouldn’t even be up here with a mic in my hand. I don’t know where I would be. She’s been my rock. And we have two beautiful daughters, Mercy. Mercy is 11 years old.

She is a gift from God. And Micah is my 4 year old. And they are a blessing to us just a little bit. Yeah, that’s that right there. All right.

Welcome to Virginia Beach. Right? It’s like roll with it. Just a little bit about myself. Can I give you two min about me?

And I’ll give you about 35 for about him. Okay. But me and my wife have been in ministry now for almost the entire time. We’ve gotten saved. We started right in ministry when I was 21 years old.

I jumped right into Exodus Prison Ministry and started ministering into the prisons in northeast North Carolina. Then we spent about seven years youth pastoring at Fountain of Life Church in Elizabeth City under Bishop Exodus Hess, who’s the parent ministry of Salt Church. Served him and his wonderful family and a growing Church. When we arrived at Fountain of Life, it was about 120 people. When we left, it was about 1200.

And it was a great experience, learning all that has to be learned in a growing church. And when you’re in a part of a growing church that’s in revival, you wear a lot of different hats. And I always told people, they said, what do you do here? I said, whatever Exodus doesn’t want to do. And that’s what I do.

And so we got to youth pastor. We got to launch Lifecraft. We got to preach on Sunday nights and Wednesdays, and we just had a ton of experience. And I was right on the cuffs. Of saying, I think I’m gonna go.

Plant a church in the beach in the Outer Banks. I had long hair, had a chopper, had a sports car. I was like, I was made for this. I was made for this moment. And we were praying about it.

We were starting to build a launch team out of Fountain of Life, and we’re gonna go down to the Outer Banks. And I was dreaming of what could be. And God spoke to my heart and said, you, heart is right for multiplication, but I’m about to send you to the nations. And. And me and my family got prepared.

And when Mercy was three years old, we went to Kathmandu, Nepal, as World Missions missionaries. And we spent about five years there living our life, reaching the unreached people groups of asia in the 1040 window, trekking the Himalayas and building Bible colleges and helping launch church plants and overseeing a network that when we arrived, was 16 churches. When we left, it was about 2,000. And so God had used us in apostolic grace was on our life, and we were partnered with an apostolic guy, and we watched the kingdom being built right there in the 10:40 window in a persecuted nation. And we would have given our life to that.

We would have given our life to it. It was something that was in our heart. We came home on a home assignment because that’s what good missionaries do, right? They come home and they’re supposed to just re up their support account and spend a little time in the States and make sure their brain’s still working right. And during that time, the Lord spoke to us when we were in Salt Lake City, Utah, and asked our family to relocate there.

And we released the ministry in Kathmandu, Nepal, and we went to Salt Lake City, Utah, to reach the Mormons. It’s harder to reach Mormons than it is Hindus and Buddhists, I’ll put it that way. I thought Kathmandu was hard, but little did I know. And so we did a church plant launch in Salt Lake City, and we ministered for about two and a half years there, ministering home to home with Mormon families and opening our home and. And we recently transitioned that ministry over to a family called the Gilliam family.

And we went to Pensacola, Florida. The Emerald Coast. Beautiful, beautiful place. If you’ve ever been down to Pensacola, there’s actually a statue of Pastor Exodus down there. All right.

He’s there, I promise, right down by the Pensacola pier. And so we got to spend about five months there in an internship in a growing church that’s expanding. They got about a $2 million project going on. They’re building a big, old massive sanctuary, and it’s awesome. And we just dove right back into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to build a local church.

And it was so good for our family, after the years of detachment on the mission field, to jump back in that. And then as we were kind of coming to the end of that internship, we just felt that the Lord’s saying it’s time to come back home. It’s time to move back to northeast North Carolina. And so I took a job out of Chesapeake, and here I am. I lived in Pensacola Thursday morning.

Just to give you guys an idea, I believe our brother Alex. Where’s Alex at? Alex, thank you so much for communicating back and forth. You got any PowerPoint slides? You got anything for ProPresenter?

And I said, no. Just one word. No, I have a word from the Lord. That’s it. All right?

No slides, no scripture. And so I know you guys are used to that. In the culture of this church and the culture of the American church now, it’s like, if you don’t have any PowerPoint, then you might not have any power. You know what I’m saying? But for me, I just got done putting together my kids bunk bed thing last night, right?

It’s like I just got done tightening the last screw. So that’s kind of been my life for the last couple days. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t have a fire in my bones and a word from the Lord. And I could have came here with a real polished scripture. I’ve been preaching now for 18 years.

I could have come here with one. I could have pulled back the old. The old. The old thumb drive and stuck it into the laptop and scrolled down and found the most polished scriptures and the most polished sermon that I’ve ever preached, that I could preach with my eyes closed. But I asked the Lord, I asked the Lord, what would you have me to say to salt church?

And I heard these words, lo, I am with you always, even to the ends of the age. And so it takes us to our passage this morning. Exodus chapter 33. And you can go there, flip there, turn there, however you read God’s word. I’m a digital guy these days.

I ain’t gonna lie. You know, I pick up the paper Bible every now and then. Just that way my kids can see that I actually read the Bible. Amen. If not, they’re like, dad, you’re always on your phone.

And I’m like, well, I do read the Bible on my phone. I’m kind of. That’s. That’s my Bible these days and my iPad. And I love audio Bible.

I don’t know about you guys, I love the new King James version. That guy, whoever he is, sounds like he’s from Ireland a little bit, right? I love that. I titled our time the distinguishing Living. A presence driven life this morning.

And the context is going to be in Exodus 33. But I did feel a little bit prophetic. Anybody understand what that means? I just kind of, I didn’t want. To stick straight to this context and.

Just preach all the way through it because I could have pointed out, hold the greatest three point sermon out of Exodus 33. But I will jump around a little bit. And I want to talk about three different distinctive seasons in our life where, lo, I am with you always, even. To the ends of the age that we tend to always think that as. Christians, God’s only with us on the.

Mountaintop seasons of our life, but in. The valleys and in the transitions, he’s. Not with us and he leaves us all to our lonesome to work it all out and to figure it all out. And seems that the heavens are brass. And God doesn’t hear us.

And where are you, God? Anybody with me? And so I want to talk about. Three distinctive seasons, but I want to pull from and start right here with the heart of Moses. That I believe he led us on to start to think of the significance.

Of what the presence of God is and was for his own life and for the children of Israel. Exodus 33. I’ll start in verse 7. Now, Moses used to take a tent. And pitch it outside the camp some distance away.

That was Moses. Startup plant. It was a tent, right? We’ve come a long way. Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go.

To the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the. Tent, all the people rose and they stood at the entrances to their tent, watching Moses until he had entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and. Stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses.

Whenever the people saw the pillar of. Cloud standing at the entrance to the. Tent, they all stood and they worshiped. The Lord each at the entrance to their tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face.

To face as one who speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But his young aide, Joshua, son of nun, did not leave the tent of meeting. That’s a whole other sermon in itself right there, guys. Moses said to the Lord, you have.

Been telling me, lead these people, but. You have not let me know whom. You will send with me. You have said, I know you by name, and I found favor with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may.

Know you and continue to find favor with you. Lord, remember that this nation is your people. I think a lot of pastors have quoted this to God. And during the time of pastoring. Exodus, I know you have, right?

Come on, just be honest. The Lord replied, my presence will go. With you, Moses, and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, if your. Presence does not go with us, do.

Not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and your people unless you go with us? God. What else will distinguish me and distinguish your people from all the other people. On the face of the earth?

Moses said, if your presence doesn’t goes with us, then how will they know that we’re any different? How will they know if there’s anything different about us, that is, we’re wandering through this wilderness. We’ll just be a wandering people. But your presence is the distinguishing factor on our life. Nations will know when they hear of.

The children of Israel cutting through the wilderness, that God Jehovah is with them. And the Lord said to Moses, I. Will do the very thing you’ve asked. I love it when you know you’ve. Tapped into the heart of God, like Solomon did with wisdom.

And Moses did right here, desperate for the presence of God. And the Lord immediately comes back, I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I’m gonna do it, Moses, because I. Am pleased with you and I know you by name.

Then Moses says, now show me your glory. I love Moses, right? I mean, if it’s not enough that he’s like God, I’m not going anywhere unless your presence goes with me and Moses, and he’s like God. I’m Pleased with you, Moses. I’ll do it.

Moses, like. It’s like a little kid, right? One more thing. One more thing before you go. Before I come out of this tent of meeting.

Would you show me your glory? Lord? The first time in Scripture we see such a request. The Lord said to him, I will. Cause all my goodness to pass in.

Front of you and I will proclaim my name. The Lord. I will proclaim it in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

But he said, you cannot see my. Face, for no one may see me and live. Then the Lord says, there is a place near you that you may stand on, a rock when my glory passes by. I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I pass by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my backside.

But my face you must not see. Can we pray before we really get into this? Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your presence. Your presence really is. It’s all that we ever want.

It’s all that we ever need. Everything is about you. Jesus, we love you. Today as a church here, right here in Virginia beach, as gatherers of the. Way, where two or three are gathered.

In your name, there you may be also. So I know that you’re present in this room. You’re present in our lives. You’ve spoken to many hearts this week. You’ve been active in our lives.

We’re partnering with you, Holy Spirit. So would you speak your word today? Not my word. You gave me this word walking the. Streets of Pensacola, Florida.

You spoke this to me. To bring all the way here to this people, your people. So would you do something in their hearts, God, for the effort they put. In this week to get here to this place? God, would you speak to them?

A rhema word, a word from heaven, Something that’s not even on these pages would. It would leap from the very rivers of life that’s flowing inside of me and come out of me and onto this place, onto this house. We ask, we earnestly seek the gifts. Of the Spirit of the Lord. To move and function and operate in this place only for the glory of Christ, not for the applause of man.

That you may be high and lifted up and draw all men unto yourself today. Would you be pleased with us as. We meet in this place, this holy place? Why? Because we are your bride.

The bride of Christ. We gather today to hear your word, to trust in you, in Jesus Mighty name, the church said. Amen. Pastor Carl, Could I have some water? Sir?

I’ve been inhaling peanut air in northeast North Carolina for two days. Is it okay if I have that little table right here? Sir, I’m sorry. I’m not really a drama queen, I promise. I just.

If you hadn’t got a good old dose of peanut air lately, you need one to just kind of wake you up. No, I don’t need a towel, thank you. I do normally have a little handkerchief, but my daughter Micah, she took it and hid it from me. She hasn’t told me where it’s at yet. That thing’s got 10 years of preaching sweat on it.

All right? Be like one of Paul’s handkerchiefs. I touch somebody right now with that thing, something will happen in the heart of the wilderness. As the Israelites journey toward the promised. Land, we find Moses in a profound moment of desperation.

And he was in a moment of. Desperation of trying to lead God’s people. After the golden calf incident had shattered. The people’s trust and invited God’s judgment. Moses starts to intercede, boldly crying out, if your presence doesn’t go with us, God, I’m done.

Moses was like, I’m done playing church. I’m done with emotions. God, if you are not with us, and I can’t tangibly sense and see and feel that you are with us, I’m not taking another step and I’m not going. Promised land or nothing, this is a bust for me. If your presence doesn’t saturate us and it doesn’t engulf us as a people.

Moses recognized that God’s presence isn’t just a comfort. It’s the distinguishing factor that sets his people apart. It’s the divine stamp of identity, the assurance aim at a world full of idols and uncertainties that they are marked. By the very nearness of God Almighty. This plea, it echoes throughout scripture, reminding us of the vital importance of dwelling in God’s presence.

Psalm 16:11, where David declares, you make me known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Do you know in the presence of the Lord is the fullness of joy? You know that we need more than ever today as the church to have some real joy back in our bones. To do what God’s called us to do.

If anything that I’ve learned over the last decade of living in America and in and out of the States and traveling during COVID and preaching is that I’ve seen a Joyless church and sapped of her joy. And can I tell you, the joy of the Lord is actually your strength. Out of all the things in scripture that God could have said is going to be your strength. He could have said, Matt Grandstaff, you’re good looks. And girl, you do look good.

Your good looks will be your strength. Kendall Gunther, he could have said, your family pedigreed all that. Your mom and dad have laid the foundation of faith before you. That’s going to be your strength in your life. He could have said, oh, Exodus, man, I see you out there ripping the surf, man.

You’re the best surfer, Exodus. That’s going to be your strength out there. But he said, the joy, the joy that I give you is actually the strength that’s going to be what you. Need in your life. I inject, I release.

I’m a joyful guy. I hope you can see that right now. But I live this way and I release joy over you today. Joy that the world can’t give, joy that the devil can’t take. Because it ain’t his to take, it’s his to give.

And I got it today. Joy unspeakable. Moses said, without your presence, we are indistinguishable from the crowd. But with it, we carry the glory of God. We carry Jesus Christ in us as the hope of glory.

Can I tell you today that you are God’s plan A for Virginia Beach? And God don’t have plan B’s. You’re it. The baton’s been passed. Jesus got off that cross.

He’s not hanging on it anymore. I know your grandma has it in her living room, but he came off of it out of a grave, off of a cross at the right hand of the Father making intercession for a church for you and I today. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus sits at the right hand of God and he’s crying out right now in heaven for. For Salt Church, for the laborers in the harvest fields of this area, in this region for revival. And he said, tag, you’re it.

The hope of Christ, the glory of God now resides in you and I. That you’re the answer to the solutions, the problems that are going on in the world. You’re it. You have it in you. Life’s journey isn’t always a straight path through fertile plains.

Often it plunges us into deep valleys of despair and trial. In these shadowed places where adversity looms and challenges threaten to overwhelm us, God’s promise rings true, that he is with Us unwavering, unfaithful and faithful. Lo, I am with you always. What a promise today he gave to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31. Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid, do not be terrified because of them. For the Lord God goes with you. He will never leave you, nor will he ever forsake you. This truth sustained David in Psalm 23 affirming, even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

So many of us stop walking through the valley of shadow of death, and we encamp there. And can I tell you, you’re never meant to encamp in the valley. You’re supposed to walk through that thing. But sometimes fear grips our heart and we just get numb and we get bitter and we grow our the love of many would grow cold in the old days, and it can happen to the best of us and we pitch our tents in the wrong season. Moses cry for God’s Presence in Exodus 33 teaches us that even in our lowest moments, when grief, loss or failure engulfs us, the distinguishing factor isn’t our strength, but it’s his companionship.

It’s the friendship of God. It’s the fact that he draws near to us when we draw near to him, that it turns valleys into seasons of victory. I know, I’ve come to understand that I refuse to encamp in the valley knowing that we’re called to walk through it. This thought, it helps us to understand how we have to learn to navigate the in between seasons of life, those transitional times of uncertainty and change, where confusion tries to reign and we feel utterly lost. God’s presence becomes our steadfast anchor in transitional moments.

These are the wilderness wanderings of our Life, much like Israel’s 40 years of testing, where the path ahead is uncertain and the familiar is left behind. But the Scripture reassures us in Hebrews 13, where he promises, never will I leave you, and never am I going to forsake you. Isaiah 43 when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.

Can I get a witness? The flames will not set you ablaze. We can draw something from Moses heartfelt plea. Here we see that God’s presence distinguishes us not by sparing us from transition. No, it can’t.

Because it’s a must that we must. Walk through transitional times in our life. We’re talking about seasons here, people. But by guiding us through them, transforming bewilderment into breakthroughs, forging our faith in the midst of uncertainty. And then there are these glorious mountaintop experiences.

Oh, how we love to summit the mountain, right. The heights of triumph and revelation, where joy overflows and victories are celebrated. In these peaks, these peak seasons, God’s presence elevates our praise and it deepens our awe and wonder of him, reminding us that even in our success we are distinguished by his glory and not ours. For it’s not by might, it’s nor by power, but it’s by a work of His Spirit that God gets you to the mountaintop experiences of this life. As Moses ascended Mount Sinai to commune with God face to face, we glimpse the intimacy that’s available to us today, echoed in Matthew 28 when Jesus himself.

Says, lo, I’m with you always, even to the ends of the age. Mountaintops aren’t endpoints though, but elevated views of his faithfulness in your life. Through it all, valleys, transitions and summits, Moses distinguishing factor becomes ours today. God’s unyielding presence carrying us through every high and low with the promise that. He will always be with us.

I want to talk to you this morning about three different areas that I see not only in my own life, but throughout Scripture and the life of. Those that followed Christ. Where Jesus presence is the distinguishing factor that sets us all apart and makes us a peculiar people to this day. Do you know you are a peculiar people? A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen generation set apart and consecrated from the world.

We are still called out from among. Thee. The salt and light of the earth, the city on a hill that cannot be hidden, A lamp that needs to be put on a lamp stand so that the world can see its way out of darkness. Your light is a lighthouse and a dark storm for many people in your community and your family. And if you don’t shine bright, they won’t find their way out of darkness.

Throughout this all I want you to keep in mind that the distinguishing factor is that we’re living a presence driven life. The first season that a lot of us will be really familiar with is the season of the Valley. I love Christianese. I don’t know about you guys, I had to stop my Christianese for a long time in Asia. Nobody got it in Asia, right?

Nobody got anything right. Nobody got my Southern slang. Nobody could understand my wife. You know, if you hear her talk in a little bit, maybe I should just give her the mic when it comes time to pray and. But she’s got a real beautiful Southern drawl.

And so, you know, I love Christianese. But when we speak of valleys and seasons of valleys, we often talk about storms, we talk about fires, we talk about the testing, we talk about the pressing. We talk about the molding times of our life. Has anybody ever walked through a valley? Two people.

Praise God. All right, I’m in the right room. All right. There’s a lot of people that are on mountains in here. Yes.

I’ll say it one more time just to give you another shot at it. Has anybody ever walked through the season. Of the valley of the shadow of death? The first one is what the season of the valley will produce. It’s a molding, a shaping of your life, your character, your integrity.

Jeremiah, chapter 18 is when we see this famous passage where God crawls out. He’s crawling out to Jeremiah. Come on down to the potter’s wheel. Come on down to the potter’s house. Can I tell you that if the clay pot could cry out, it would say, this hurts.

The molding, the shaping. I’m fine the way I am. But, you know, a good potter will take what we would think is a decent pot that a plant can grow in. But he knows that there’s imperfections. He knows water will leak.

And he’ll put that thing back on the potter’s wheel and he’ll start to smooth it out with a fresh layer of clay and water and start to spin that thing. And that’s a lot about the season of the valley that we go through in life, when God is always beckoning man to come on down to the potter’s house. And there’s something inside of us in the season of the valley that resists going to the potter’s house, resist getting on that wheel, resist being shaped and molded, resist the pruning of the Lord. Can I tell you I love. Anybody love gardening?

I know we’re in the concrete jungle of Virginia beach, but anybody just love to have a fresh tomato plant in a bucket outside? Can we get a little something like that? All right. Just making sure. Right.

I’m in the right place. It still is the South. Okay. But I love gardening, and I couldn’t really garden in Salt Lake City. There was a plague of grasshoppers, and they eat everything.

All right. And I came to find out that grasshoppers will wait to the opportune time. When you think your garden’s ready and. You’Re, like, excited that they’ve missed your garden. And you go out there and you.

Go to pick and they’re like, they’re on it, right? It break my heart. But when you prune something, if you would shear off a limb, you know, the next day that thing’s oozing out and it’s like the tree is crying out, right? It’s a painful wound. If you were to separate and you ever had anybody you’ve known in your life that’s had a amputation and it’s a part of you that has to go.

And they’ll talk about these shadow pains and these phantom pains that they always think that their leg is still there. They don’t have a foot, but their foot hurts. And that’s a lot. What pruning is. God will cut certain things off when he’s molding and he’s shaping you.

And it’s a painful season. It’s a painful season that you have to undertake as sons and daughters of God. But he calls you to it. And can I tell you, not only does he call you to it, but he’s with you in it. He doesn’t leave you in the molding, he doesn’t leave you in the shaping.

He doesn’t slam the door in the potter’s house and says, good luck, I hope you make it out of there. He doesn’t sheer off all the branches of the things that can’t go into the next season of your life, on the nasty fruit that’s hanging off our trees. And everybody’s got a little bit. Everybody’s got some rotten apples and some pears and some peaches that need to, you know, that low hanging fruit that we just need to cut it off because we need a better crop next year. Because there’s a lot of things in your life that may be functioning right now, but they can’t go with you tomorrow.

You can’t carry them into the next season of your life. It’s called spiritual maturity. It’s called spiritual growth. And we’re all called to rise to that occasion. And he calls Jeremiah down to the potter’s house for the molding and the shaping of his life.

But he’s with him. In Mark, chapter one, we see the testing after Jesus. Water baptism. The spirit of the Lord drove him into the wilderness. Anybody ever felt that in your own life where you felt like I was actually called into this season of testing?

I was actually. This is set up by God, you know, oftentimes in the season of the valley. I think the devil takes a lot of credit and I don’t think he’s. Involved in a lot of it. I think he’s a scapegoat for a lot of Christians because the last I checked, he’s under my feet, not above my head.

The last I cheat. Last I checked, he’s under my feet, not on my living room couch. The last I checked, he’s under my feet, not sitting at my kitchen table. The last I checked, he’s under my feet and he’s not laying in the bed beside me. And I think as far too many times, we have to understand, be rooted and grounded above all else in the theology that God is good and he works all things for the good, but he does call his children back into the wildernesses of life.

He does call us into the seasons where we go into the valley of the shadow of death. And we gotta walk through some things that are gonna mature us, grow us up in the faith, cause us to be the mighty warriors and more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. That’s what God has got on your life. And so many times we push back and we resist when we feel it, when we sense it. And we’re like, no, I rebuke the devil in Jesus name.

And. And God’s like, the devil ain’t nowhere near you. He’s somewhere in Syria right now. He’s not omnipresent. He ain’t worried about you right now.

He’s got bigger fish to fry. He’s got nations to ruin, wars to start. No, I called you into this to shape you, to mold you, and to test your faith. Can I tell you guys that everything in your life, every word spoken over you, every proclamation of the Gospel, every prophecy that someone shared, it will be tested by fire. It’ll be tested by fire.

And the spirit of the Lord drove Jesus into the wilderness where he was tested on all different levels. And that’s what the season, the valley, is like. But lo, I am with you always. Lo, I’m with you always. The pressing Daniel, chapter three.

The season of the valley is also about the pressing of our lives. The three Hebrew boys who chose not to bow their knee, although they were in a circumstance and in a situation that they knew this would cost them their life, they still would not bow their knee to the cultural norms and the cultural pressures to worship idols and to do something that wasn’t pleasing to Jehovah and do something that wasn’t pleasing to God. They stood the test of time. And though they were pressed and they were thrown into the fire, the seasons of the valley produce something where you realize that there is always a fourth man with you. You will come through times in your life where you will feel like God is turning up the furnace.

And the fires of this life are so hot. And you can’t. You can’t take it anymore. That’s what the season of the valley is like for me. I can’t take it.

God, I can’t take you to turn the knob not one more degree. I’ve had it as much as I can had it. I’m at my levels in of capacity. I can’t take any more testing. I can’t take any more molding.

I can’t tape anymore shaping. I can’t take any more pressing. And God will just click that fire one more degree because he knows that the purification process on your life. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows what he’s got to put a capacity in you for.

There’s a level of faith in you to reach people. There’s something inside of you that’s got to come out of you. It’s the welcoming and the beckoning to come into the forge and get on the anvil as God works something out of your life. It’s the season of the valley. But lo, I am with you always.

He’ll never leave you nor forsake you as you’re on that anvil. And he’s forging that sword and he’s pounding out those imperfections. Guys, that is such a painful time. We squirmish, we wiggle out of those seasons. We beg for mercy.

I’ve waved the white flag behind the prayer closet too many times, God. I’m done. I can’t take it. And just as soon as I hit those moments and I hit those second gear and third gear of I can’t take it, I realized that there’s just a little bit more capacity in me. There’s just a little bit further that I can go and in that little bit further that I can go, as I’m walking towards God, he’s still reducing certain things off of me and reducing me down.

Anybody ever like to render a good piece of fat? Come on now, I’m in the South. I told you, I’m southern like, you know, I may be from Sarasota, Florida, but I got my midsection in mid Georgia, all right, from my in laws. But my mother in law makes some good fat back. Anybody know anything about fat back?

Man, let me tell you, she made some good fat back. It’s what caused me to marry my wife. I ain’t gonna lie. It was the last time she made it too. She sucked Me in with her good cooking.

But you render that down, right? Why? Because of the flavor. You render that steak down. You render that chuck roast down.

You render it down. You want the flavor out of it. Can I tell you that that’s a lot like the season of the valley in our life. So God will reduce us down. Why?

Because he sees the image and the likeness of Christ on your life. He sees something in you that you can’t see in yourself. He sees something, the oil of heaven on your life as he presses you like an olive. And he’s going to get something out of you that if you would resist it, you would not see it. If you would push back and get out of the potter’s house and press back out of the forge, and you would say, you throw your hands up and I’ve seen it far too many times.

I know. Pastor Exodus, Pastor Carl have seen it where we resist and we run. And can I tell you, if you run, you will cycle back around to that situation, season of the valley in your life, and you will not be able to get an A on that test. God doesn’t give Cs or Bs. He’s looking for you.

To pass it, the children of Israel had to circle mountains multiple occasions because they could not get it. You will learn in the valley about the fourth man in the fire. Many are the afflictions of men, but God will deliver us all. I never liked that passage. I never liked that passage.

God, why do we have to walk through suffering? Why do we walk through afflictions? Why do we gotta go through the fire? Why do we have to walk through the waters when they’re turbulent? Why God?

And I realize that Jesus did. He subjected himself to it. If any man wants to follow me, he must deny himself and take up the cross. I know we’ve lost that kind of teaching in the American church, but we are cross bearers and cross carriers for the joy set before him. He endured the cross.

Can I tell you that some of you in here, in this room right now, you’ve lost your joy because you don’t really see what you’re carrying. Distractions of the world have broken your focus and you’ve forgotten that you serve a king whose kingdom there shall be no end. And you serve a Jesus that loves you and is dying for you every single day. His blood is still washing your sins away. And the Calvary’s cross is still the very aim of our lives.

And as we walk towards it and we carry it, lo, I am with you always. Even to the ends of the earth. Oh. Who can ascend the mountain of God? Only those with clean hands and a pure heart.

That’s what the valley does in your life. It purifies your heart and it cleans your hands. Why? Because no man may see the Lord without holiness in his life. The valley produces something in you.

It produces something in me. It produces something in a church. Churches go through valleys. Corporately, you will walk through valleys as families. You’ll walk through valleys as an individual.

You will step into the valley. But there will be a distinguishing factor on your life and on your church that his presence is with you. Are you okay? Sometimes I come across as angry, and I’m not. I already have a dad over here.

I’ll tell you what I want for Christmas. I would like an atv. Side by side. Matt Grandstaff. It can be used.

Okay. The valley produces clean hands and pure hearts. Prepared. Preparing you now to walk through the. Valley because you will not stay in it.

Towards your mountain, towards your moments, towards your peak seasons. And you do have peak seasons. I know as Americans, we’re coming into. Our peak season, right? The holiday season.

Anybody love the holiday season? Huh? I just love Thanksgiving, Christmas, right? And we’re coming into the holiday season. But God has spiritual holiday seasons for his children.

He has high moments for your life, moments that you’ll never forget that’ll mark you. It’s time for us in the church that had that same spirit that Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit. It was walking through the valley that caused Caleb to have that kind of faith that was produced in him. Said, give me my mountain. God.

I love that about Caleb. When it came his time, he’s like, I’ve been tested, I’ve been tried. I’ve walked through the fires. I want that mountain. That one’s mine.

I want to transition right now into. The in between seasons of our life. I call them the transitional times, the in betweeners, where faith, perseverance, patience and deep trust is produced. I found it to be true in my life that I pray and I fast a lot in the valley. And my heart is full of gratitude.

Thanksgiving is on my lips on the mountain. But in transition, I have no other option but to lean in and trust that everything that was produced in the valley will carry me through what God has for me. Can I tell you the valley is not the hardest season? No. Transition is because in transition, you have to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways.

Not some of your ways, in all of your ways, you have to acknowledge him and then he’ll make your path straight. One of the greatest spiritual mathematical equations in Scripture. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Then lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways. Acknowledge him, and then he’ll make your path straight.

I know we get in our Christianese and we get in our. We love to quote Scripture and so many times you have that on your refrigerator and you think your path is going to be straight. But can I tell you, that’s so conditional. There are so many spiritual lines that you have to be willing to walk past and cross in order for your path to be straight. It’s in the transitional places, the in betweeners, the hallways of life.

The old adage that God will open. Up one door and close the next, but it’s hell in the hallway. Only people in ministry just laughed right there. Okay? Discernment matters in transitional times.

Your experience matters in transitional times. Your depth matters in transitional times. Your history with God will show up in transitional moments. That’s why you gotta have it. That’s what the Valley produced in you.

It produced a depth. It produced transitional opportunity that you would rise to the occasion. Because you’ve been through the testing, you’ve been through the molding, you’ve walked through the fire. You’ve stood the pressing of time. There’s so much that happens in the Valley where God will give you a promise, God will give you a prophecy, God will give you a dream.

But the timelines between hearing, believing and seeing are unbearable. So many of us give up in the transitional moments. The mountain seems so far away. And the brokenness of your past seems like it’s going to cause you to be so fatigued that you won’t make it. But can I tell you if you will not grow weary and you will not faint in due season?

The due season is the transitional moment. It’s this gap that you have to lean in on God and trust him. That what you heard in the Valley and what you saw in that dream and what someone spoke of, your life, that it will come to pass. And I’m about to get happy in this church. I don’t know if this little stand right here can take it.

I don’t want to get too far out of that little camera vents. But I want to preach to you today that in the transitional moment, it is what was produced in the Valley that grounds your feet and it gives you your faces set like flint. And you know I can’t go back. And I don’t know how far I can go, but I will be like Galatians 5, 25, if I’m going to live in the Spirit, I’m going to stay in step with the Spirit. And so you take one step of faith and you take another step of faith.

And because you have but what you can see through a stained glass window, you’re peering through the dark glasses of your spiritual lens and you think you know where you’re going and you think you know what you’re heading towards. But it’s a deep trust to get there. And the first thing that it produces in your life when you’re in transitional moments, that it pulls from you believing that, lo, I am with you always, as you will have a deep faith and a deep perseverance in your life. John 21 is the wonderful story of the disciples. I say it’s wonderful because I look at it through a different lens.

In this moment, you see the apostle Peter. In a transitional moment. Jesus is gone. What they perceived to be the kingdom that he would set up on earth is no more. They had a lack of perception and limited revelation on what God was going to do.

And when Jesus went to that cross, all hope was lost in their eyes. It wasn’t what they perceived it to be. And can I tell you, can I tell you it’s never what you ultimately perceive it to be. His ways are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts.

God will always pull one over on you and you’ll have an aha moment. I call it signs, wonders and miracles for a reason. Because the way he will navigate in your life and the way that he will speak to you will always. It’s always no eye has seen, seen, nor ear is heard. Nor is it entered into the heart of man.

What God has prepared for him. It’s something that you can’t really fathom because it’s God. And Peter is there and he says this statement. It’s so prophetic and it’s so profound for so many of us in the church today. He said, I’m going back fishing.

I’m going back to what I know. I’m in this transitional moment. And all I know is back in the valley was me in a boat and I could catch fish for a living. And I guess I’ll go back to that. And he was such a leader.

But he was discouraged and he drug a couple with him. They said, we’ll go with you, Peter. And they fished all night, the Bible says, and they caught nothing. Can I tell you why they caught nothing? Because there’s nothing in your past worth going back for.

It’s unfulfilling. You won’t go back and make that money. You won’t go back and catch those fish. There’s nothing to go back to. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.

We are a forward movement, people that march and advance towards a cross, towards a kingdom that we’re establishing in the earth. My kingdom come, my will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We’re an army dressed for battle. Whether you believe it, whether you perceive it, whether you think it or not, we’re frontline workers. God’s at our rear guard, but he’s also gone before us.

And they’re fishing all night. I love God’s sense of humor. Jesus starts walking the shore, Hey, y’ all caught anything? He’s God, right? He knows that they didn’t catch anything.

But he’s like, let me just pull one over on him real quick. I know how Peter’s temper is. Hey, guys, have y’ all caught any fish? And they’re like, man, we ain’t caught nothing, dude. We’ve been fishing all night.

I mean, these are professional fishermen. Let’s not forget this, right? This isn’t you getting your tackle box. Just blowing off your old lure, going down to the beach and surf fishing, right? These guys know how to fish, all right?

They’ve caught nothing all night. They’re tired, dragging nets. And he says, throw your nets on the other side of the boat. And they’re like, oh, goodness, come on. Who’s this guy?

Who does the cat think he is, right? We’re a professional fisherman. And they throw their nets on the other side of the boat because at his word activates faith once again in their life. And it pulls back into remembrance that if I would just listen to the words of Jesus. And they throw their nets on the other side of the boat, and they start to bring in such a catch that the nets start to tear.

And in that provision and in that miracle, they recognize who’s on that seashore. And Peter, like Peter always will, jumps out of the boat, leaves the other guys to themselves, right? Swims with his little skirt on all the way back to the shoreline. I know it had to be heavy, but he was strong, all right? Soaking wet.

He gets back to the shoreline where. So many of you have been in your life. Staring at a Jesus that you’ve walked away from, staring at a savior in your transitional moment that you thought left you. You’ll think he left you in transitional moments. You’ll think you’re all alone in that.

Boat. Left with everything that was produced in you. But hope deferred makes a man’s heart sick. Can I tell you that Jesus didn’t rebuke him? He slapped Peter on the shoulder and said, what are you doing?

I called you to be a fisher of men. In those moments in life, in those transitional times when faith and perseverance being called upon in your life, he’s pulling that back out of you. He said, will you feed my sheep? I’ve realized in my life, in this transitional times where I feel like I’m all alone and I’m in my prayer closet. I’m crying out to God, where are you?

He’s closer than the air that I breathe. It’s always a whisper of a reminder of what he’s called on my life. It’s always that tenderness and it’s this kindness that leads us to repentance three different times. Peter, do you love me? He reminded him, I called you out of that boat.

You’re not in the valley anymore. You’re in transition. I know you don’t understand it. And I know that you gotta make a living for your family. And I know that you don’t fully grasp what I’m about to do in an upper room in just a couple more days.

But will you hold on, Peter, to everything that I’ve put into your life? And will you stand the test of perseverance in this moment? And I’m calling you to have great faith. And despite that, everything inside of you screams unbelief. For a double minded man, Peter is unstable in all of his ways.

Let not that man think he’ll receive anything from the Lord. And in these moments you gotta hold on like you never held on before. And I know you’re weary and I know you’re tired cause you just came out of the valley of the shadow of death. But you’re on your way to your mountain. Of course Peter was in that boat.

Discouraged. He was called the rock, the Petra. Upon this rock I’ll build my church. And the gates of hell would not prevail. He must have been bulletproof and nine feet tall in that moment.

He was one of the three that got caught up onto the Mount of Transfiguration and saw Jesus in all of his glory. He was a fisherman, but about to find himself to be a carpenter in that moment wanted to build a house. He seemed to be the more zealous one to protect Jesus Chopped off the ear of the guy that came to get Jesus. James 1:12 says, Blessed is the man who perseveres. Under trial for when he stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

In transitional moments, you’ll have to persevere. You’ll have to be an overcomer. You’ll have to get some grittiness and some kind of fighting spirit. Apostle Paul said, I fought the good fight. I’ve kept the faith, I’ll finish the race.

Where’s the grittiness in the American church that I’ll do it no matter what attitude coming back into us? Can I tell you that this comfortable, seeker sensitive church model that swept across our nation to where we got consumer Christianity, where I need to come in and get my latte and I need to have my sign at the front door and I need to be catered to. That’s gotta die. It’s gotta die. It looks nothing like the book of Acts.

Let’s look at Paul’s faith and his perseverance. Acts 27. He was shipwrecked on Malta. Paul’s journey of attempting to take the gospel to Rome. He was commissioned and literally handcuffed spiritually, but also in the natural to take this good news all the way to Caesar.

Can I tell you from what you will hear in the Spirit and where you think you’re going to go, there is always a shipwreck moment between you and that. There will always be a moment where you will have to look beyond your circumstance, beyond your situation. You’ll have to look at the bow of the boat that’s cracking, all the supplies being thrown off. Now you’re manless, you’re provisionless, there’s no resources. But you gotta press on.

And in those moments, the only thing Paul had to hang on was the word of God. An angel showed up to me at the midnight hour and told me that we and all those people on this ship shall be saved. In transitional moments, all you do is walk on word. A lot of people think that in scripture that Peter walked on water. He did not.

He walked on a word. Jesus said, come. If Jesus didn’t say that, the man would have sank the first time his. Foot hit the water. In transitional moments, you got to have a word from God.

The word gets produced in the valley, it gets something inside of you. Birthing takes place spiritually. You carry something in your spirit, spiritual womb in the valley. And you carry it. You carry it.

You’re pregnant, in transition and you’re walking through in the wilderness on your way to the mountain, and you got something inside of you that you’re nurturing and carrying. That’s why you can’t faint. That’s why you can’t grow weary. That’s why you can’t die in the wilderness, because you’re carrying something from God. Lo, I’m with you always.

Transitional moments and transitional seasons. They develop a patience and a deep trust in our lives. The Bible says that hope deferred makes a man’s heart sick. Have you ever had hope deferred in your life? Have you ever been holding on to something from God and you can’t fathom the timelines?

You can’t wrap your mind around how it’s going to happen. It’s beyond your understanding. And you think and you get a little bit encouraged. Something moves in that area of your life and you think this is the moment. And you get close to it and it’s not.

And it seems like in those moments it just shears a piece of your heart off. And you think to yourself, I thought this was it. And I thought this is what God was going to do. And I perceived in my heart and I saw it in my spiritual eye that it was going to happen this way. And it doesn’t.

Can I tell you that being impatient is one of the fastest ways to throw you out of the will of God, to not wait upon the Lord as he’ll renew your strength. The disciples were told to wait for a promise. Could you imagine? This is a part of Peter in the boat. It’s a part of their discouragedness.

They’re sitting around in the room. Thomas Doubt is growing by the day. Where did he go? And what are we gonna do? Can I tell you?

It was probably so strategic by God to say, you’re gonna wait. You’re gonna tarry for a promise that’s going to come. Some of you in this room this morning are holding on to something in your life. Some of you in this room have a word from God. It dates back 20 years.

Some of you in this word have had a dream that you’ve not been able to fully wrap your mind around. And you keep revisiting it and you put it on the spiritual bookshelf of your living room and you walk by it and you speak to it and you pray about it and you say, I remember when God spoke that to me. And you keep just marching around that mountain and you keep going back to that prayer closet and the hope inside of your life. It seems to be Fleeting and failing. And you seem like I can’t make it another day.

Can I tell you he’ll never leave you nor forsake you? Can I tell you, lo, I’m with you always, even to the ends of the age? Can I tell you that his presence will go with you and his presence will be with you? Can I tell you that hope deferred will make a man’s heart sick, but God will not leave you there? Can I tell you that even when you are faithless, he’s faithful for he won’t even disown himself?

I know I got real serious there. For a little while. Y’ all calm down. Y’ all looking at me like. Everybody.

Okay, give me a wave. I’m a preacher. I’m not much of a pastor. I’ll just say that. And so sometimes I feel like I need to apologize, but I won’t.

I’m just going to be who I am, be comfortable in my own skin. I always have a family to preach to. Mercy’s got to sit there and listen to me. The distinguishing factor, living for a presence driven life. Understanding the seasons of life, the valleys, the transitional times.

That he is with us, he never leaves us. That his presence is everything in our life. That if we can recognize that he’s always there, he’s always active. Can I tell you that transitional moments, they always are like, they draw you back to your middle school days, in your high school days, where the teacher doesn’t. When you shoot that hand up in.

The middle of the test and they don’t come to your desk and it’s like, no, no, no, we’re testing. I can’t help you right now. You’ve studied. I know you’re prepared. I know you’re ready.

Do your best. That’s what those moments feel like. They feel like moments where I don’t know if I’m hearing from God. What am I walking on? I’m walking on a word.

This is silly. What am I doing? I’m walking by faith. I must look like an idiot. I constantly have this inner voice and this inner critic in my life telling.

Me, what do you think they’re thinking? Chase, you’re moving again. This constant inner critic. In my transitional moments of, Chase, you’re starting to look really unstable. Following God.

Then we have the mountaintop experiences. Ah, the moment. Everybody take a deep breath, we’re there. I want to talk about what comes in these moments as I land this plane. Yes.

I’m a Pentecostal preacher. I have three landings. All right. I’ll do my best to land it on the first shot. That’s always the best landing anybody ever got pulled back up from the Runway.

And you hear like, oh, no, we’re circling the airport again. A lot of questions there, but I’m gonna land this thing right now. Clarity in a new perspective comes when. You hit that summit. Fresh air and the ability to breathe.

And then you have a whole new advantage point. Now, I’ve trekked the tallest peaks in the world, the Himalayas. I’ve been on the Long Tong Pass and could view Mount Everest 18,000ft. And. Smelt air that you’ve never smelt before.

Had wind hit me in the face that it was the first time it ever hit the face of a human. The only filter was the sky. Peter had this moment when he confessed, you’re the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one. Mountain top clarity and perspective. That God looked at him and said, flesh and bone has not revealed this to you, but you’ve had a revelation that only came from the Father, Peter.

You’ve had a moment of clarity and perspective that only comes from God. And it will change the very life that you live now that you see me this way. When you hit that mountaintop, clarity will come into your life where you’ll have, aha. Moments that the valley made sense and the transitional moments came together. And all of a sudden, every bit of pain had a purpose in that moment.

And all of a sudden, all the suffering made sense. And all of a sudden, every bit of the miscarriages and the moments of broken relationships and the abuse that you went through and the car wreck and the financial collapse of your home. All of a sudden, on that mountaintop, God will give you in a moment what will take 16 months in a program. Clarity, a vision, perspective, to see through a spiritual lens that only he could have gave you, that only the valley would have produced and the transitional moments would have developed. And can I tell you, in the transitional times, one of the ways that you think you’re going to give up is you feel like you’re going to suffocate.

You feel like you’re not going to get another grasp of. Of breath of fresh air. It’s the faint, not don’t grow weary season of life. And can I tell you, when you get to the mountaintop, one of the first thing that God gives you is he breathes on you. And all of a sudden, when you’re on that mountaintop, wind hits your sails from the back and gets out of your Face.

Some of you in this room, you’re right there. You’ve had wind in your face resistance on your life for far too long. Can I tell you? You’re almost there. You’re right there.

I remember so many times with £60 on my back of Spam and protein bars, trekking the Himalayas where I thought I was going to give up. And I just thought surely this next pass would be it and I’d give it the last big push and I would come across that pass only to know that we would go back down into another valley before we would summit the mountain. And in that moment was this give up mentality. Don’t give up. The view is worth it.

The advantage point here is Peter’s advantage point. John 20, verse 20 says, When Jesus appeared to them saying, peace be with you, their fear turned to joy. In that moment of suffocation in that room, hiding for their life, Jesus showed up and walked through a wall. And joy came into their life. And they felt the fresh breath of air of Holy Spirit, of God stepping into a room.

Acts Chapter three the advantage point. When you get to the mountain, you’re able to see your next. Some of you in here, you’re desperate for your next. You’re desperate for what God has for you. You’re desperate inside of you, there’s something that says, God, I’m looking for my next.

But will your presence go with me? Because if it won’t go with me, I don’t want that. If that’s not my next and you’re not there, then I don’t want to go. I’ll stay right here. But if you are with me.

I. Think I can see it. I think I have clarity. It looks like bread crumbs, but I think I have enough to go. It looks like it will acquire great faith, but I think I can take the leap.

And what it produces in you is what it produced in Peter and John in Acts chapter three, their aha moment in their first ministry endeavor where they’re walking to go pray at the temple, the gate called beautiful. And there every day his religious people walked by a man who was lame. Peter looked at him in his mountaintop moment of his life as he shook his cup, begging for alms, he said, silver and gold I don’t have. But what I do have is that I’ve lived in the valley. I came out of that boat.

I’ve walked through transitional moments of my life. And what I do have now I give to you. You have the presence of God in your life and Can I tell you, that changes everything. You have the hope of glory in you. His name is Christ Jesus.

It’s not I that live, but Christ now that lives in me. Can you stand to your feet as I pray for you? All across this room, there’s different seasons for different folks. Seasons of valleys, seasons of transition, seasons of mountaintops. I don’t know where you’re at, but God does.

This is our altar call. This is our moment, right where you’re standing. God can meet you right now. We don’t have to lift a hand. We don’t have to do anything but receive this word and not stand the chance to be a hearer, but not a doer.

To not stand a chance to walk out that door and it fall on me soil that it won’t produce something in your life. What’s the topic today, Chase? What will I carry out of here? Lo, I’m with you always. What can I chew on this week?

What will change my life? The distinguishing factor that his presence is everything. So maybe some of you want to lift your hands is an act to surrender to heaven to receive this word. Maybe some of you want to bow your heads in reverence to what God is doing, even in this moment. I want to pray for you, Father, in the name of Jesus.

I’m asking that the Holy Spirit do what only he can do. He’s the teacher. He’s the comforter. He’s the very present help in our time of need. He’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

He’s our guide. He’s the one that will convict the world of sin and guilt. Maybe you’re in this room and you’ve not served the Lord. Maybe you’ve walked away from him. Maybe you were looking for a fresh start and a new beginning.

Can I tell you? If you confess with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and rose from that grave, you shall be saved. You can say that prayer right where you’re standing right now. You can have a personal altar call right there in your seat. God can save your soul.

You don’t have to repeat a sinner’s prayer. You can cry out right now. God save me. God save me from my sins and my brokenness. God, I give you my life and I trust in you.

And I’m gonna choose to follow you and then ask the Holy Spirit to fill you. Come on. I. Terry, right now, for that soul right where you’re at. I don’t need your hand to be raised.

I don’t need to put you on the metrics of the church. I don’t need to put you in a statbook to the denomination. You can have a personal encounter with God right now. And I believe the Holy Spirit is doing a work. I sense it in my spirit.

I discern that there are some people in here that are saying yes to Jesus. And you’re coming back into this relationship with the Lord that you’ve strayed away from and that you felt the brokenness of this life come crushing down on you. And you’re saying, today’s a fresh start, a new beginning in my life. If that’s you, before I leave this service, make sure you come and talk to me. I’ll pray for you personally, I want to challenge you to be a disciple of Christ and to follow him and carry a cross.

Now, yes, salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you everything. So, Father, as I pray over these people, would you do a work in their lives, in their hearts and their families? Would you restore broken marriages? Would you heal? If you are in this church right now, you have a physical ailment in your body, and you want me to pray right where I’m standing.

Would you lift your hands? Got a couple of. Couple people. Couple people. Come on.

The Bible says that there is a gift of faith to pray for the sick. So, Father, right now, whatever’s going on in their body, I link with their faith. And I say, by the stripes of Jesus, be healed. In Jesus name, He sent his word to heal you. Backs, kidneys, livers, arthritis, diabetes.

Be brought low to the word of God and the blood of Jesus come upon your life and cleanse you from all infirmity. I bind a spirit of infirmity right now in this place, and I stand against it. And I speak. God’s word is the better word. In Jesus name.

Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Jesus. Well, guys, I love you.

I appreciate you. You can take a seat real quick. Pastor Carl, come here. In just a second. Thank you for your time this morning.

I’m trying to be sensitive to what the spirit of the Lord wants. I never want to step into my own strength in my own flesh and try to do too much because you just want to be sensitive to what he wants, what he wants to do in the room, what he wants to do amongst his people. I believe that word is deposited in your hearts. And it’s enough. I think it’s enough to chew on this week.

Really take home, contemplate. What season of life am I in? Do I recognize that God is with me in it. And what am I gonna do? Love you guys so much.

Appreciate this church. Maybe you’re new here. Maybe you’ve just been visiting the last. Couple weeks as churches in transition. And like many churches that will have to face seasons of transition, they all do.

They all do. I just encourage you to press in. Ask the Lord. Don’t transplant yourself. If you transplant yourself, you’ll seldom ever thrive in the next place.

If the Lord doesn’t call you to. Uproot yourself, that means he has a purpose for you right here. To build something that no eye has seen nor ear has heard. I believe God wants to do exceedingly great things here for this community. Amen.