Foundation of Our Faith

The Diminished Chord

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Dinzey (Host), Jamie Kowlessar

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Series Code: FDOF

Program Code: FDOF000005A


00:17 Welcome to Foundation of Our Faith.
00:20 My name is John Dinzey,
00:21 for me it's the privilege to come before you
00:24 to present this powerful program,
00:27 and we hope you'd join us during this hour
00:29 and study God's word together.
00:32 We have a four part series with Pastor Jaime Kowlessar
00:38 and we encourage you to watch and listen
00:40 to every single one of these powerful messages
00:44 because we are depending on the Holy Spirit.
00:46 Amen?
00:47 Amen.
00:49 Today it is the first topic, The Diminished Chord,
00:54 next will be Access Granted,
00:57 number three, Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game
01:01 and number four,
01:02 A Little Prayer That Made a Big Difference.
01:06 I'd like to share a little bit with you
01:08 about Pastor Kowlessar.
01:10 He graduated from Atlantic Union Collage,
01:14 and completed his Master of Divinity at Andrews University.
01:19 And he is currently pursuing a doctoral degree
01:23 in social justice and political activism.
01:27 He is a happily married man with his wife, Carlene,
01:30 has two daughters, Katelynn and Amber.
01:34 And he loves his family and he loves the Lord.
01:38 God has used him in many ways.
01:40 He began his ministry in New York City
01:44 where he is a native of,
01:46 and the Lord called him eventually
01:50 to the Bethany SDA Church,
01:54 where the attendance was 27,
01:58 but the pastor depended upon the Lord,
02:02 and the Lord blessed with a mighty harvest,
02:04 300 people eventually filled that church
02:09 through the ministry of Pastor Kowlessar.
02:11 And so we are depending upon the Lord to use him again,
02:15 and we're going to pray in a moment,
02:17 but we want to encourage you to gather a pen, your Bible
02:20 and study God's word together.
02:23 Before he preaches we are also blessed to have
02:26 the music of Sister Sherice Tomlin.
02:28 And Sister Sherice Tomlin...
02:31 the Lord had blessed her with a talent
02:33 and she has a melodious voice
02:36 and the Lord has also blessed her so far
02:38 to produce three albums,
02:41 Without, You Lord, One Day and Just Like Heaven.
02:47 And she believes in ministry,
02:50 she is one of those that has found a ministry
02:53 in opening her home to foster children,
02:57 and this has been a great blessing to her and her family.
03:01 She will be coming in a moment
03:03 to share music with you,
03:05 and the song is entitled Lord I Believe in You.
03:12 Amen?
03:13 This is a message in song that will prepare our hearts,
03:16 lift our hearts towards heaven,
03:18 to hear the message for this evening.
03:20 Right now I'd like to invite you to join me in prayer,
03:23 so if it's possible for you to stand,
03:25 we like to approach God's throne of grace.
03:31 Let us pray together.
03:34 "Our loving Heavenly Father,
03:36 we paused this moment to ask for Your blessing
03:41 upon Pastor Kowlessar and Sister Sherice.
03:45 We pray that You will bless them with Your Holy Spirit.
03:47 We pray that as they lift their voice
03:51 in song and to preach Your word,
03:55 Your Holy Spirit will accompany them.
03:57 And we pray for a blessing upon everyone here
04:00 and everyone that is joining us wherever they may be,
04:03 whether it be in the hospital, in their homes, in prison,
04:07 we pray that wherever they are you will reach them,
04:10 reach them with Your message of hope and salvation.
04:14 And we thank You for listening to our prayer
04:17 for we bring it to You in Jesus name, Amen.
04:21 Amen.
04:22 You may be seated.
04:23 I like to invite Sister Sherice to come forward
04:27 and bring us to God's throne of grace in music.
04:30 God bless you.
04:56 Though I can't see
05:01 Your holy face
05:07 And Your throne in Heaven above
05:12 It seems so far away
05:20 Though I can't touch
05:24 Can't touch Your nail pierced hands
05:30 I have a deep and unspeakable joy
05:36 That makes my faith to stand
05:42 Lord, I believe in You
05:47 I'll always believe in You
05:54 Though I can't see You with my eyes
06:00 Deep in my heart, Your presence I find
06:06 Lord, I believe in You
06:11 And I place my trust in You
06:18 Let the whole world say what they may
06:24 No one can take this joy away
06:30 Lord, I believe
06:45 Born from above
06:49 You are God's only chosen one
06:55 You're the way and only true way
07:00 Way to the Father's heart
07:08 You died for all sin
07:12 And then You rose and now live again
07:19 Conquering death and the grave
07:24 So that I might live
07:30 Lord, I believe in You
07:35 I'll always believe in You
07:42 Though I can't see You with my eyes
07:48 Deep in my heart, Your presence I find
07:54 Lord, I believe in You
07:59 And I'll put my trust in You
08:06 Let the whole world say what they may
08:12 Nobody can take this joy away
08:18 Lord, I believe
08:29 Oh, Lord, I believe in You
08:35 I'll always believe in You
08:42 Though I can't see You with my eyes
08:48 Deep in my heart, Your presence I find
08:54 Lord, I believe in You
08:59 And I'll place my trust in You
09:05 Let the whole world say what they may
09:12 No one can take this joy away
09:23 Lord, I believe
09:32 I believe always
09:57 Good evening, brothers and sisters.
10:01 Thank the Lord for this opportunity to be here,
10:03 on this evening and to speak His words.
10:06 And to speak it His way
10:07 and what He would like for you to receive.
10:11 And so on this evening
10:12 we're gonna look at the passage found in 2 Kings 4:18-37.
10:18 2 Kings 4:18-37,
10:22 and I'm reading you'll be hearing.
10:24 Word of God says, "And the child grew.
10:26 Now it happened one day
10:28 that he went out to his father, to the reapers.
10:31 And he said to his father, 'My head, my head!'
10:34 And so he said to a servant, 'Carry him to his mother.'
10:38 And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother,
10:41 he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.
10:45 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God,
10:48 shut the door upon him, and went out.
10:50 Then she called to her husband,
10:52 and said, 'Please send me one of the young men
10:55 and one of the donkeys
10:56 that I may run to the man of God and come back.'
10:59 So he said, 'Why are you going to him today?
11:03 It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.'
11:05 And she said, 'It is well.'
11:08 Then she saddled a donkey,
11:09 and said to her servant, 'Drive, and go forward,
11:12 do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.'
11:16 And so she departed,
11:17 and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
11:20 And so it was, when the man of God saw her afar off,
11:23 that he said to his servant Gehazi,
11:25 'Look, the Shunammite woman!
11:28 Please run now to meet her, and say to her,
11:30 'Is it well with you?
11:32 Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?''
11:35 And she answered, 'It is well.'
11:38 Now when she came to the man of God at the hill,
11:41 she caught him by the feet,
11:43 but Gehazi came near to push her away.
11:46 But the man of God said,
11:47 'Let her alone, for her soul is in deep distress,
11:50 and the Lord has hidden it from me,
11:52 and has not told me.'
11:53 So she said, 'Did I ask a son of my lord?
11:58 Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me?''
12:01 Then he said to Gehazi, 'Get yourself ready,
12:03 and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way.
12:07 If you meet anyone, do not greet him,
12:10 and if anyone greets you, do not answer him,
12:12 but lay my staff on the face of the child.'
12:16 And the mother of the child said,
12:18 'As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives,
12:21 I will not leave you.'
12:23 So he arose and followed her.
12:25 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them,
12:28 and laid the staff on the face of the child,
12:30 but there was neither voice nor hearing.
12:32 Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying,
12:35 'The child has not awakened.'
12:38 When Elisha came into the house,
12:40 there was the child, lying dead on his bed.
12:43 And he went in therefore,
12:45 shut the door behind the two of them,
12:47 and prayed to the Lord.
12:48 And he went up and lay on the child,
12:50 and put his mouth on his mouth,
12:52 and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands,
12:55 and he stretched himself out on the child,
12:56 and the flesh of the child became warm.
12:59 He returned and walked back and forth in the house,
13:01 and again went up and stretched himself out on him,
13:04 then the child sneezed seven times,
13:08 and the child opened his eyes.
13:09 And he called Gehazi and said,
13:11 'Call this Shunammite woman.'
13:13 So he called her.
13:14 And when she came in to him, he said,
13:16 'Pick up your son.'
13:17 So she went in, fell at his feet,
13:20 and bowed to the ground,
13:22 then she picked up her son and went out."
13:25 Which our prayers this evening,
13:27 I want to speak to you on the topic
13:29 entitled The Diminished Chord.
13:31 Let us pray.
13:33 "Lord, God Almighty,
13:35 now I thank You so much for this opportunity
13:37 to speak Your words,
13:39 and I pray God that You would touch my tongue with a hot coal
13:41 from Your altar,
13:43 and now I also ask Lord that I may not be seen,
13:45 but that You may be seen, and that You'll be lifted up,
13:48 and that by the end of this sermon Lord,
13:51 that we'd know and understand
13:52 that You are in control of all things.
13:55 And that You run all things
13:56 and that You are the master of our lives,
13:59 so bless us Lord, we pray once again,
14:01 we ask this in Your name Jesus Christ.
14:03 Amen.
14:05 There is a need within all of us
14:07 to have control over our lives
14:10 and the pattern by which these events happen,
14:13 and after all because of our limitations as human beings,
14:17 we can't afford to have things
14:19 go other than the way we planned it.
14:23 Psychology calls it the need for synchronicity.
14:26 That everything we do and possess
14:29 should fall into place
14:31 and culminate to the conclusion
14:33 and provide a meaningful experience.
14:36 But such as the case with life
14:39 there is ever hardly synchronicity.
14:42 I guess it's safe to say
14:43 that you can compare life to the game of baseball,
14:47 that as you stand in the batter's box
14:49 every now and then,
14:50 the pitcher may throw you a curve ball
14:53 and throw you one that you did not see
14:55 and it can mess up everything that you've been trying to do.
14:59 You see, I could never forget as I was a young budding,
15:03 theology major at AUC in Atlantic Union Collage.
15:07 And I entertain the idea of taking the preaching engagement
15:10 in Natick, Massachusetts.
15:12 I remember taking the engagement
15:14 four weeks in advance,
15:15 and I remember a study
15:17 and I remember practicing before the mirror,
15:20 how I would speak in,
15:22 how I would deliver this message?
15:24 It was my first sermon as a theology major.
15:28 And so excited to take the engagement,
15:30 I accepted,
15:32 you see there is nothing better than for a young theology major
15:35 to get an opportunity to put into practice
15:37 what you've been studying,
15:39 to make it meaningful, to make it--
15:41 make it seem like you're actually doing something
15:43 and that what you've studied is gonna be good
15:46 for what other people need to hear.
15:48 And I knew that God had ordained this moment
15:53 and this invitation,
15:54 I was confident that God was calling me to do this
15:58 because He wanted to use me.
16:00 And so I used my time in between classes
16:02 to prepare the sermon
16:04 and since I didn't have a car,
16:05 I made sure that I secured my ride
16:09 in advance to the church early.
16:11 And so my friend obliged to do favor for me.
16:14 And as weeks went on it was finally time to preach,
16:17 and unfortunately in my excitement
16:20 I failed to write down the address of the church.
16:24 But no need to worry, there was a handbook
16:27 which had the locations of all the churches
16:29 in the Southern New England Conference.
16:32 And so as the day came 8:30 in the morning,
16:36 we ensure that we'd get there for Sabbath School
16:38 because I wanted to sit in the congregation
16:40 and get a feel for the church
16:43 and who I would be speaking to.
16:45 I needed that morning to be perfect,
16:47 I needed the car to be filled with gas,
16:49 I needed directions to be printed out,
16:51 I needed to make sure that my sermon was written well,
16:54 and it was ready to be preached.
16:56 And we located the church in the handbook
16:58 and made our journey
17:00 and I shared with my friends the point of my sermon
17:03 and all the things I was gonna say in
17:05 through good conversation
17:06 and talking about the Lord,
17:08 it was to our surprise that we had the wrong address.
17:14 And when we pulled up to the church,
17:16 it was only to discover an abandoned building.
17:20 Perplexed and confused,
17:22 I wondered why in the world
17:24 would God allow something like this to happen.
17:28 I mean why would God allow me to write a sermon,
17:32 excite me about an opportunity to preach at a church,
17:35 why would God allow me
17:37 to miss the opportunity to call somebody to repent this.
17:40 Why would God allow things to go so smoothly
17:44 and then all of a sudden and unexcited,
17:47 uninvited event presents itself
17:49 and we are left to deal with it by ourselves,
17:53 I was livid.
17:56 Because I needed synchronicity,
17:59 I needed everything to fall in place,
18:00 I needed that day to be exactly and perfectly right
18:04 because after all
18:05 I had planed the day out four weeks in advance
18:07 and I needed this thing to go the way that it did.
18:10 And so as I thought about that day
18:12 and I thought about this text,
18:14 I said, 'that's what this woman is having in this text.
18:18 Here is a woman, a Shunammite woman
18:21 that's what the Bible refers to her.
18:22 Scholars suggest
18:24 that the word of her name means peaceable or pacified.
18:28 So she is a wealthy peaceable and pacified woman.
18:33 Everything is going perfect for her.
18:35 Everything is fine for her. Everything is wonderful.
18:38 She enjoys her synchronicity.
18:40 Things just work out well for this Shunammite woman.
18:43 It's amazing that the Bible goes out of the way
18:45 to call her Shunammite woman
18:47 because they want us to identify with who she is.
18:51 Sometimes in scripture
18:52 it just refers to individuals as a certain woman
18:55 or a certain man.
18:56 But this one names her as a Shunammite woman
18:58 it's where she from.
18:59 And the chapter tells us
19:01 that because God has shown favor towards her,
19:04 and that she would reciprocate
19:06 some of those same blessings on to this prophet.
19:09 She realizes that it is a privilege
19:12 to show kindness toward true servant of God,
19:14 that there was something that impressed her about Elisha.
19:17 Perhaps it was because he was a no nonsense preacher.
19:20 Perhaps she knew that he was trained by Elijah
19:24 and that he had been cut from the same fabric.
19:27 Perhaps she had just admired the way he did things
19:30 that he didn't bend his back
19:32 and that he had a backbone of steel
19:34 and that he would stand for righteousness.
19:37 I mean we may not know exactly, what it was,
19:41 but the story tell us that she observes
19:44 Elisha's commitment drive passion for the living God.
19:48 She suggest that he should come inside
19:51 and have some food with our family,
19:53 with my husband and I,
19:54 and I don't know what was on the menu,
19:56 and I don't know what they were serving,
19:59 but obviously it had to be good.
20:01 They often say that,
20:02 ''The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.''
20:04 And so she went to Elisha
20:06 thought if she cook some wonderful food for him,
20:09 and not know that it was wonderful
20:11 because the Bible tells us
20:12 that he would frequent their house from time to time,
20:15 in so much that she says to her husband,
20:19 let's make a small room for him upstairs,
20:22 and a bed with desk,
20:23 so that when he passes by, he can have somewhere to rest
20:26 because ministry is hard work
20:28 and doing the work of God is not easy
20:30 and we want to make sure that this man of God
20:33 has a place to study the word,
20:35 and a place to prepare for what he is doing.
20:37 And because he works so hard,
20:39 we should be a blessing to the man of God.
20:41 And it's obvious from the text that her husband obliged
20:44 and that they began to get the saw
20:46 and the hammer and the nails
20:47 and they built a one bedroom for Elisha.
20:51 And the word tells us that the next time Elisha came by,
20:54 he would take a nap and he looked at his servant
20:57 and tells him to call the Shunammite woman in.
20:59 She comes into the room
21:01 and he begins to have a conversation with the woman,
21:03 and he says, "Since you've gone beyond the call of duty
21:06 in taking good care of us,
21:08 what can we do for you?
21:10 How in the world can we return the favor?"
21:13 Elisha says, you know, I have a hook upon earth,
21:15 I know a Heavenly Father,
21:17 I can ask Him for things
21:18 and we can get something working out for you,
21:21 I know the king, the commander of the army,
21:23 but her answer is amazing,
21:26 she says, "I dwell amongst my own people."
21:29 In other words the question and the answer suggest
21:33 that Elisha is asking her
21:35 if she wants some sort of reward or relocation.
21:38 The text suggest that Elisha is asking her,
21:41 if she wants to move out of this neighborhood
21:43 and probably into a much better neighborhood
21:45 with a better zip code,
21:47 gated community, high rise with the door men, central airing,
21:51 all the amenities that she could dream of,
21:54 but her answer of course is, "I dwell among my own people."
21:58 In other words
21:59 she wants no recompense for the good she has done.
22:02 She wants nothing to do with the court of the king.
22:04 She wants nothing to do with the great ones of this world.
22:07 She has no desire for higher things
22:09 because she is a peaceful and passable woman.
22:12 And I'm gonna park here parenthetically for a moment
22:15 because you have some folk out there
22:17 that will only do things for people
22:19 because deep down inside,
22:21 they are doing it for their own personal gain and promotion.
22:24 They only do it for a photo walk as to say,
22:27 'Hey, look at me, I did something good for somebody,
22:30 look at me I want to cover other gleaner,
22:32 look at me, I got a article in a magazine
22:35 and they are not doing it to help those
22:37 that can't help themselves,
22:38 they are doing it just to help themselves by using people,
22:42 and you got to watch out for folk like that.
22:44 You got to watch out for people
22:45 that will attach themselves to you
22:47 because they're only doing it to make themselves feel good.
22:51 And you got to pray that God surrounds you with people
22:54 that will be the kind of people
22:56 that want to help those that can't help themselves.
23:00 You got to pray that God chooses your friends for you.
23:02 You got to pray that God puts a spirit,
23:05 a heart within you,
23:06 to want to serve people
23:08 not because of what you can get from people,
23:10 but to serve people
23:11 because that's what Jesus Christ
23:14 would have done for everybody on this earth.
23:17 And so you got to understand it,
23:19 this woman wants to just help Elisha.
23:21 And you got to love those people
23:23 that do God's work in the background,
23:25 that those folks they don't look for their name
23:27 on a program or on the screen.
23:29 But those people who make things work,
23:31 because you have some people that once they get a title,
23:33 they feel like they are entitled.
23:35 Once you give them a set of keys,
23:37 they think that they are large and in charge.
23:39 But you got to thank God for the people
23:41 that do things behind the scenes
23:43 to make sure that things operate properly,
23:45 to make sure that the cameras are on,
23:47 to make sure that the lights are on,
23:49 to make sure that the program is running well,
23:51 even though you may never see their face,
23:54 those are the people that make things work
23:57 and those are the kinds of people
23:58 that I love to be around.
24:00 And so all in this text,
24:02 and although she says,
24:03 she does not want anything or need anything,
24:06 Gehazi notices that she has no son.
24:08 And that her husband is old.
24:10 And with no hesitation Elisha says,
24:12 a year from now you will be nursing an infant.
24:16 And although she lacked a son
24:18 that which was essential
24:19 to the honor and happiness of a Israeli wife,
24:22 yet still she was okay.
24:24 And no word of complaint passed her lips
24:26 which was a sign of great contentment,
24:28 but the Lord according to His grace and truth
24:31 He remembers even the wishes that we cherish in silence
24:34 and that we do not express before men.
24:37 And He often gives to those who yield to His Holy will
24:40 without murmurs or complaints
24:42 that just which they have long endeared to hope for.
24:45 Because I love it,
24:47 God wanted to give you your heart's desire,
24:49 but you got to keep on doing
24:50 what the Lord commands you to do.
24:52 And I promise you,
24:53 if the desires of your heart
24:55 are in accordance with His will,
24:57 then my God will and shall provide whatever it is
25:01 and it shall come to pass.
25:02 It is clear that she had stop hoping for a son.
25:05 She had given up on the idea
25:07 because all the odds were against her.
25:08 She is old now, her husband is old and now--
25:12 look Elisha comes and says,
25:13 "I'm going to say that in a year
25:16 you'll have the son."
25:17 And I love the text because she says,
25:19 "No, my lord.
25:20 Don't lie to me, don't play me,
25:22 don't come here around here, handing out blesses."
25:25 And you know God ain't gonna give me
25:26 and I could imagine
25:27 she probably had the neck motion going on and the finger,
25:30 don't come around here doing all this and that
25:33 because my husband is old, don't give me no false dreams.
25:36 But isn't that like the God we serve
25:38 that He blesses you
25:39 when everything around you is working against you.
25:42 That God has a way of taking a loss
25:45 and turning that into a profit.
25:47 He has a way of taking things that are down and out
25:51 and raising them up
25:52 and showing them out in a way that's amazing.
25:55 Because isn't that like the God we serves,
25:57 He will wait until it seems like you are finished
26:00 and He will open up a unexpected door
26:03 that will bless you at a unexpected time
26:05 with an unexpected gift to bless you unexpectedly.
26:08 I have discovered that it is those unexpected,
26:11 unwarranted gratitude to his gifts
26:14 that finds the most meaning in our lives.
26:16 It is those times when you ask God,
26:18 let me pass this grass,
26:19 just give me a seed so I can pass the grass,
26:22 and then God turns around and gives you an aim.
26:25 I have seen it those times when you ask God to give me a job
26:28 and then He blesses you with another one
26:30 that you were making more money in the first place.
26:33 It is those times when you ask God
26:35 to give me strength to deal with this sickness,
26:37 but God not only gives you strength
26:38 to deal with the sickness,
26:40 God cures you off the sickness.
26:42 Because God blesses us
26:44 in unexpected ways with unexpected gifts
26:47 so that we could give Him unexpected praise.
26:49 And I love the God that we serve.
26:51 And I'm sure I have a witness in here
26:53 that there's somebody in here or somebody in TV lens
26:56 that understands that God is blessing them in a way
27:00 that they would have never imagined.
27:02 And so picture this woman's synchronicity.
27:05 Let them examine the events of her life.
27:08 The series of unrelated events,
27:09 that resulted in a meaningful experience.
27:12 She feeds Elisha,
27:13 then she makes the room for him,
27:15 he asks her what can I do for you?
27:17 She response by saying nothing,
27:19 then Gehazi says, she has no son
27:21 and then in a year she will have a son
27:24 that she will be nursing.
27:25 So the Bible says that she has a son, a year passes by.
27:29 And he is out one day working with his father,
27:32 and he cries out "My head, my head is hurting me."
27:36 The father probably too old to do anything,
27:38 tells the servant to take his boy to his momma.
27:41 And then in verse 18 it says,
27:44 "When he had taken him and brought him to his mother,
27:47 he sat on her knees till noon, and then he died."
27:53 Her synchronicity had come to a certain halt.
27:55 Her wonderful wealthy life had just become
27:58 morally poor and destitute.
28:00 Her only son that she had long for,
28:01 yet still that she did not even ask for in the place for
28:04 had died on her lap.
28:06 In my minds that tells me
28:08 that she sat on the chair holding her son
28:11 and as she laid her head back on her chest
28:14 she fell a sleep and never woke up again.
28:21 So may be some of you listening to me today,
28:25 you don't have children
28:27 and you probably can't really understand
28:28 what this mother is feeling,
28:30 but I'm sure that there are parents in here today,
28:33 our parents listening to me on TV who have lost the child,
28:37 that it's a pain that I would not wish on any person,
28:41 that here a beautiful beginning
28:43 has appeared to have ended in a terrible and sad way.
28:47 But isn't this like life?
28:49 And I'm sure this woman must have felt
28:51 the same way I would--
28:52 I felt when I could not make it to that preaching engagement.
28:55 It may not be to the same degree,
28:57 but you may ask yourself the question
28:59 every now and then,
29:00 why would God set me up to fail?
29:02 Why would God give me this gift
29:05 only to have him snatch it away from me?
29:07 There are some of us that are listening to me today
29:11 that may not have an ordeal like this,
29:13 but you've had some interruptions in your life.
29:16 That can you press the reset button
29:19 and stop this nightmare and start it all over,
29:21 I don't know what it is, may be it was a death,
29:24 may be it was a heart break,
29:25 may be or may be you just lost your job
29:28 that you so desperately needed.
29:29 You've been audited by the IRIS
29:32 and now you got more bills
29:34 than you could have ever thought about in your life
29:36 and everything has hit you at the same time
29:40 because bad news has a way
29:42 of hitting you like a ton of bricks.
29:44 It was like somebody said, "Life is like--
29:46 life is like being on in the waters
29:48 and problems are like waves
29:50 and wave after wave keeps coming and coming
29:54 and the more waves that come,
29:55 the larger the waves are that crashes on you
29:58 and that's how life is sometimes.
29:59 After you get through one wave,
30:01 it seems like there is another wave that is crashing over you.
30:05 And as I thought about this text throughout the week,
30:08 and I was arrested
30:09 when I was reminded of a conversation I had
30:11 with some of my musicians.
30:13 And in that conversation they brought up
30:15 what is called The Diminished Chord,
30:17 and I did my research
30:18 and I learned that a skilled composer
30:20 would intentionally
30:22 insert a Diminished Chord into a musical piece,
30:25 it's called consonance and dissonance,
30:27 and a skill composer would intentionally insert
30:30 a discordant note
30:32 that does not sound harmonious
30:34 to the other notes in the score.
30:35 You see the goal of course is to accentuate
30:39 the purity and flawlessness of the music
30:42 surrounding the diminished chord.
30:44 In other words, to make the good notes stand out,
30:47 a composer would insert a bad note
30:50 that draws your attention to how pure the sound was
30:54 before the diminished note,
30:55 and to how flawless the music is
30:58 after the diminished note.
30:59 You see why in the world would a composer do that
31:02 is because the temptation
31:04 is that the listener would become so adjusted
31:07 to hearing good music
31:09 that they will take for granted
31:11 the notes that they are hearing,
31:12 that the listener would begin to believe
31:14 that every note that follows
31:16 is supposed to be as perfect as the ones that preceded it.
31:20 so the composer doesn't want the air to fall asleep
31:23 and become so acclimated to the things sounding so well,
31:27 they insert a diminished chord somewhere in the musical score,
31:32 it does not fit,
31:33 it clashes against the notes before and after
31:35 so that when they hear that diminished chord
31:38 it shakes the confidence of the leader,
31:41 it moves the mind to wake up and realize
31:44 that there are transitions
31:45 and moves that I need to appreciate.
31:48 And can I suggest for a second
31:51 that this diminished chord is here to remind us
31:55 that things will not always be smooth for us.
31:58 It is done to shake us off our seats,
32:01 and to break us from the place of comfort and expectancy
32:04 that everything from now on is supposed to be easy sailing.
32:09 We all know that God is the composer of our lives,
32:12 and we all know that God is the one
32:14 who write in the musical score of our human experience.
32:17 And may I suggest to you every now and then
32:20 that God inserts diminished chords in our lives.
32:25 See, wouldn't it be great if the musical score
32:28 that described our lives had no diminished chords in it.
32:31 Wouldn't it be great if God didn't insert any
32:34 hard clashing notes in our daily walk with Him.
32:38 But the God that we serve,
32:39 the creative composer of our journey
32:42 includes diminished chords in our lives to tell us
32:45 that life isn't always gonna go the way you planned it to go.
32:49 Life isn't always going to be how you expected it to be.
32:53 Now He inserts diminished chords in our lives
32:55 because God does not want you to fall asleep.
32:58 God does not want you to think
32:59 that just because you love Jesus
33:01 and Jesus loves you
33:03 that you will not have difficult days ahead.
33:05 Now God allows these diminished chords to enter our lives,
33:09 because God wants you to appreciate the musical score.
33:12 God allows some things to die,
33:15 some things to live, some things to walk away,
33:17 some things you have to lose
33:19 in order to hear the wonderful music that God has planned.
33:23 Yes, God will allow some bad news in your life,
33:27 God will allow some people to get sick,
33:29 God will allow some people to die,
33:31 God will allow diminished chords to play
33:34 in the existence of our lives
33:36 because you already know
33:37 that not everything you lose is a lost,
33:40 but sometimes you have to lose some things
33:43 before you can gain something better.
33:45 So my question today is, I want to know,
33:49 are you having a diminished chord experience
33:51 in life right now?
33:52 I want to know who is having that clashing chord experience
33:55 in their walk with God.
33:57 I need to know, you probably think that just because
33:59 you are going through something tough and rough
34:01 that in some way you imagine
34:03 that God does not love you any more,
34:04 that you are not special
34:06 and that God has no use for you that unpleasant note,
34:10 that inconsistent clashing chord
34:12 that bang against what was perfect,
34:15 pleasant and pleasing in your life
34:17 and could it be that God send these diminished chords
34:20 and His notes to wake us up
34:23 that God is calling us not to sleep
34:25 but could it be that these diminished chords
34:27 that we have to learn to appreciate them
34:30 and thank God
34:31 that you have some diminished chords in your life.
34:34 Because you got to thank God,
34:35 that God brought you out of some relationships
34:37 that you had no business being in the first place.
34:40 You got to thank God
34:41 that God allowed you to leave a job
34:43 or to get fired from a job
34:45 because that probably wasn't the job that you wanted
34:47 that God wanted you to have in the first place.
34:49 You got to thank God,
34:51 that God delivered you from some things
34:53 that if you did not fail
34:55 test after test after test after test,
34:58 then you probably wouldn't have appreciate the victory
35:01 when you finally pass the test.
35:03 Yeah, you got to thank God
35:04 for those diminished chords sometimes.
35:06 You got to thank God sometimes that
35:08 when there is trouble in your life,
35:10 that peace will come out at the other end.
35:12 You got to thank God sometimes that even if it--
35:14 because you had told me that I was ugly
35:17 and that I'll never amount to being anything,
35:19 but it was the force that drove me to go closer to God
35:22 and to be the person that I'm today
35:24 because that's what diminished chords do.
35:27 They wake you up so that you can stay on the track with God
35:30 that you can stay moving with God
35:32 and so that you can have a good outcome at the end.
35:35 And so here is this woman as we begin to wrap this thing up.
35:39 She loses the one thing that is dear to her,
35:41 and her diminished note was the death of her son,
35:44 but it wasn't--
35:45 but is what she does with her diminished chord
35:48 that makes the difference.
35:49 She saddled up the donkey,
35:51 got up and went to the man of God.
35:53 She was determined not to give up.
35:55 She knew in her heart
35:57 that although it had appeared to be over,
35:59 she had to hear it from the man of God.
36:02 You see, although problematic destitutes are inevitable
36:07 and although diminished chords are a part of our life,
36:09 you have to make up in your mind
36:11 that I will not allow myself to become a victim.
36:14 Problems are a part of my life,
36:16 but becoming and acting like a victim is a choice,
36:19 but I choose to be a conqueror.
36:21 As a matter of fact, God says,
36:22 "I'm more than a conqueror through Him that loves us."
36:25 And so the question is,
36:26 what will you do with your diminished chord?
36:28 Do you turn the music off or do you keep on listening
36:32 because you know God's got something better.
36:34 You see the thing about diminished chords
36:35 is not as this
36:37 that not everybody hears them
36:39 and knows what to do with them.
36:42 You see often times some people hear diminished chords
36:45 and they certainly turn off the song,
36:48 because when they hear the diminished chord,
36:50 they say that does not sound too good to my ear
36:53 and so they turn the song off
36:54 and they try to listen to something else.
36:56 But most people don't understand
36:58 that when you hear a diminished chord
37:00 is to bless you
37:01 because something good is coming next.
37:04 So you got to realize that God inserts diminished chords
37:07 because He uses spaces and places to help us grow.
37:10 You see, you got to understand
37:11 that God puts us in some situations
37:14 because it is strengthening us
37:16 to become stronger for the situation.
37:18 You see, I've never been a person that goes to the gym,
37:21 but often times I do try to take myself there.
37:24 And when I force myself to go to the gym,
37:26 I'm what you call the pretty boy.
37:28 And so I come into the gym with a head band, wrist bands,
37:31 you know, all sorts of bands that don't need to be on me,
37:34 that's gonna help me push weights.
37:35 And so I get on the treadmill
37:37 and I start running for about 10 minutes
37:40 and then after I finish running for 10 minutes,
37:42 I wipe the sweat off of my brow
37:44 and I start hunching over
37:45 and I feel like I have just done
37:47 a meaningful and healthy workout.
37:49 And I feel like I have done what I need to do
37:52 in order to make me stronger,
37:53 but the sad reality
37:55 is that a lot of us come to church like that.
37:57 We come all dressed up for the part.
37:59 We look better than the part,
38:01 but we're not really exercising and working our faith in God
38:05 to make us stronger when trials come.
38:07 And so that's what happens,
38:08 that's why sometimes we fall by the wayside so easily,
38:12 that's why we end up turning off the music
38:15 in our life so easily
38:17 because we are not training in the word of God
38:20 and training in prayer
38:21 so that we can make it through tough situations.
38:24 And so I love this woman,
38:25 because this woman trains in the word of God.
38:28 This woman is committed to God
38:29 and she goes and she seeks out the man of God.
38:33 and as she is going to seek out the man of God,
38:35 and she is getting closer to her,
38:37 her husband tries to discourage her.
38:39 He says it's not the New Moon or a Sabbath,
38:42 why are going to the man of God?
38:44 You need to stay home and let's deal with this situation.
38:47 But she said, this is one of those days
38:48 when the wife has made an executive decision,
38:51 and say, honey, I'm not going to listen to you,
38:53 I'm going to see the man of God.
38:55 I know wives have done that a few times.
38:56 My wife has done it to me a few times
38:58 in the case of other where she says I'm gonna make a decision.
39:02 And so she goes and she goes to see the man of God.
39:04 And as she is getting closer to the mountain,
39:06 she sees Gehazi and Elisha sees,
39:09 and Gehazi goes to see her,
39:10 and Gehazi ask her is it okay with your husband?
39:13 Is it okay with your son?
39:14 And she simply says "It is well."
39:18 You see the text tells me that there are moments
39:21 when everybody doesn't need to be all up in your business.
39:24 Folk don't need to know what you're going through,
39:27 and what has happened to you, that's none of their business.
39:30 Maybe the Shunammite woman knew something about Gehazi
39:33 that could not have been trusted
39:35 and that probably would have discouraged her
39:37 just like her husband did.
39:38 May be she perceived that Gehazi would have told her
39:41 that there is nothing we could do for you, go back home.
39:43 But she said, I'm not focused on you,
39:46 I'm focused on seeing the man of God.
39:48 Because that's the goal ahead of me,
39:50 to see the man of God,
39:51 and I'm going to do everything in my power
39:53 not to accept victim status
39:55 unless I know what the man of God has to say.
39:58 Because at the end of the day, let me tell you this,
40:00 that no doctor has the final word,
40:03 no man on earth has the final word,
40:05 only God has the final word.
40:07 As the matter of fact my favorite preacher says this,
40:09 he says "Don't ever put periods where God puts commas.
40:13 Where you think there is a period,
40:15 God's always got a comma
40:16 because "Weeping may endure for a night,
40:19 but joy cometh in the morning."
40:21 He says, know--
40:22 hear what does he say, there is another text that says,
40:25 "Satan desires to sift you like wheat,
40:27 but I have prayed for you."
40:29 You got to always thank God for the commas in your life.
40:32 Because what, there was a old cartoon
40:34 that some of you might remember,
40:36 if you grew up like me, you remember, it's called
40:38 "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?"
40:41 And in that cartoon it explained
40:43 what conjunctions were.
40:45 And so and would mean that is connected
40:47 what comes prior to it to what is gonna come after it
40:51 or says that I'm gonna give you an option,
40:54 you can have this or you can have that.
40:56 But when the conjunction but is in a sentence,
40:59 the but often nullifies what comes before it
41:02 and it helps you look forward to what comes after it.
41:06 And so I thank God because God puts buts in our lives,
41:09 God inserts buts in our lives.
41:11 And so even when you think
41:13 the beginning part of your life was bad,
41:15 God says, but I'm gonna turn this thing around.
41:18 God says, but I'm gonna bless you in a way,
41:20 and so she is focused on God,
41:22 she is focused to make it to Him.
41:24 She is focused to find out what the answer is
41:27 and what I'm telling you this evening is stay focused on God
41:31 and let God give you the final benediction.
41:34 Let God tell you what He has to say,
41:36 just make sure that even as life
41:38 shakes and bounces before you,
41:40 that your stay focus on the God that you serve.
41:43 I'll tell you another story.
41:45 As we went over to Honduras, a group of young adults,
41:48 we were going over there
41:49 with Maranatha Missions to build the school.
41:51 We had to take a boat over to a smaller island,
41:54 just so that we can do the work
41:56 and as we got on the boat,
41:58 the young man, there was a small narrow boat,
42:00 the young man that was leading the ship,
42:02 leading the boat, was not a ship,
42:03 it was a little boat, leading the boat,
42:05 told us that the waters will rock from left to right.
42:08 As a matter of fact it was a windy and cloudy day,
42:11 and I was scared out of mind
42:12 because I didn't want to die in Honduras,
42:14 I wanted to live to come back home, to tell the story.
42:17 And so I'm holding on to the boat,
42:19 but the young man said something
42:20 that blessed my heart.
42:22 He said that if you--
42:23 if you feel like you're getting sick
42:25 or you feel worried?
42:26 Just focus on those rocks that are ahead of you.
42:29 Once you focus on something steady,
42:31 it will keep your mind steady
42:33 and you won't even realize that
42:35 but you'll be at your destination
42:37 sooner than you thought you would.
42:38 And I said to myself that's a blessing right there,
42:41 that's a wonderful thing.
42:42 Because I understand that in this life that we live
42:45 that it will rock us from left to right
42:47 from time to time,
42:48 but if I focused on the rock which is Jesus Christ
42:52 that I will make it to my destination
42:54 and I'll make it there in one piece.
42:56 And so I love this woman because she was focused
42:59 and she was determined to go and see the man of God.
43:02 Don't ever seek advice from men
43:04 before you seek the advice of God.
43:07 But ask God to lead you to the right people to talk to.
43:10 Don't let an elder, don't let a deacon,
43:12 no usher, no singer, no preacher,
43:15 no member keep you from petitioning the throne of God,
43:18 just say, nothing in my hands I bring,
43:20 but simply to the cross I cling.
43:23 Nobody on earth has the final word,
43:25 but only God has the final word
43:27 and when you feel like you can't make it no more,
43:30 just know that God has something for you.
43:32 As a matter of fact one of my favorite preacher says,
43:35 "I have found God's address, it's at the end of my road."
43:39 Have you ever been to the end of your road
43:41 because that's where God
43:42 is ready and willing to meet you right there."
43:44 And so she says to Elisha,
43:46 "I didn't ask for no son,
43:47 I believe the attitudes started coming out again,
43:49 I ain't ask you for no son, I didn't want none,
43:52 but you spoke one into my life,
43:53 now he is dead and you got to do something."
43:56 She didn't want anyone else's hand so but from God.
43:59 And so Elisha sends Gehazi to go a head of them.
44:04 And as it with the staff, but it is powerless
44:06 and Elisha goes and he saw the boy motionless on the bed,
44:10 and so he locked the door
44:11 with only him and the boy in the room,
44:13 and he proceeds to do a strange miracle
44:16 of divine intervention on his behalf.
44:19 Elisha decides to move into the danger zone,
44:22 Elisha knows that Levitical law
44:25 that is forbidden to touch the body of a dead person,
44:29 it is if you will become ceremonial unclean.
44:32 But he understands that it is his will to restore life.
44:36 Elisha understands that if it is our job to heal
44:40 spiritually dead boys and girls,
44:43 then we cannot just speak to them from afar,
44:45 but we got to get close to them.
44:47 As the matter of fact,
44:48 we have to be willing to put ourselves into danger zone
44:52 and risk the ridicule of being called out,
44:54 but to God be the glory,
44:56 at least the child will be brought back to life,
44:59 that calls for us sometimes to leave our humble abodes
45:02 and walk into some of the most destitute places on this earth
45:07 to find those boys that are dead,
45:09 that are sleeping in the alley.
45:10 To find those girls that are dead,
45:12 that are sleeping on a street corner,
45:14 to find these young men and women
45:16 who need to be healed
45:18 and not just talk to them from behind the microphone,
45:21 not just talk to them from inside the church,
45:23 but bring the church to them, lay on them,
45:26 touch their hands and pick them up.
45:28 And so Elisha goes to the house of the young man,
45:31 he could have spoke a blessing from the mountain,
45:33 but Elisha said, no I'm going to the danger zone,
45:36 I'm going where it's called ceremonial unclean,
45:40 I'm gonna touch something
45:41 that other people ordinarily would not touch,
45:44 I'm gonna look at the drug addict,
45:46 I'm gonna talk to the alcoholic,
45:48 I'm gonna hug the person that is down and out.
45:51 And I'm going to heal them.
45:52 And so Elisha goes to this little boy,
45:55 twice he puts his eyes to his eyes,
45:57 his mouth to his mouth
45:58 and his hands on his hands,
46:00 see what I see, hear what I hear,
46:03 feel what I feel,
46:04 and as he did it, the boy began to sneeze,
46:07 his mother came back in the room,
46:09 she picked up the boy and bowed in reverent awe because why?
46:13 A dead young man has been brought to life.
46:16 And that's my word to somebody in here today.
46:19 You may have a son or a daughter who is dead.
46:22 You may have a son or a daughter
46:24 who is out there walking around
46:26 as if life means nothing to them.
46:28 But I serve a God, who sits high and looks low.
46:32 I serve a God who looks beyond our faults
46:34 and He sees our needs.
46:35 I serve a God that realizes that people are not dead,
46:39 they are simply asleep, and He can pick you up,
46:42 turn you around and plant your feet on solid ground.
46:46 And so as we begin to wrap this thing up,
46:48 I left this part for the last
46:50 because I thought that this thing really blessed me
46:53 and I hope that it blesses you as well.
46:55 As I was having a conversation with my musicians,
46:58 my keyboarder has told me two things,
47:00 he said that in the Apostolic and Baptist churches
47:03 when they hear a diminished chord,
47:05 they know that something good is about to come,
47:08 so when you see them dancing and shouting,
47:11 you probably don't realize
47:13 that before there was a shout and dancing
47:16 there was a diminished chord,
47:17 and so they start praising after the diminish--
47:20 they don't start praising after the diminished chord,
47:23 they start praising during the diminished chord.
47:26 And that's what I want to know this evening.
47:28 Can you praise God in the midst of your diminished chord?
47:31 Can you still dance?
47:32 Can you still raise your hands?
47:34 Can you still call out text and say
47:36 my God is a very present in help in a time of trouble.
47:39 Because you got to understand
47:40 it is important to give God praise in the ups
47:43 and to give God praise in the downs.
47:45 When I was younger, we would go to great adventure,
47:48 my group of friends and I.
47:50 And as we have great adventure,
47:52 we would line up to go
47:53 on the front of the rollercoaster.
47:55 Now, the agreement about
47:56 going on to front of a rollercoaster was this,
47:59 that when you get on the front,
48:01 you have to put your hands up in the air.
48:04 You cannot get on the front and do not put your hands up
48:07 because if we get off this rollercoaster and we realized,
48:10 you didn't put your hands up,
48:11 you were gonna hear it for the rest of the time
48:13 at great adventure.
48:14 But the beautiful thing about putting your hands up
48:17 when you're on the rollercoaster
48:19 is suggested that the bar that's in front of me
48:21 is gonna hold me down
48:23 even when the rollercoaster is going up and down,
48:26 that I'm gonna put trust in this little thing called a bar,
48:30 I'm gonna put faith in it
48:31 saying that you gonna hold me down
48:33 and you gonna keep me even while it's going up and down.
48:37 And so sometimes we got to understand
48:39 that when we raise our hands, we are surrendering to God
48:42 and we are surrendering and saying,
48:44 God, I got faith in you,
48:46 that You gonna hold me down even as life goes up and down.
48:49 I got faith in you and I trust that in Your word You said,
48:53 that You will keep me,
48:54 that You will never cause me to fall.
48:56 But the beautiful thing about raising your hands
48:59 is that you don't raise your hands
49:01 when you are going up the rollercoaster,
49:03 you always raise your hand when you're going down.
49:05 And all I'm saying this evening is can you raise your hands
49:09 when you feel like you are going down.
49:11 Can you raise your hands and give God praise,
49:14 even when the bank account is low,
49:16 even when there is no food in the cupboard,
49:18 even when you lose your job,
49:20 even when you're faced with divorce papers,
49:23 even when you get a eviction notice,
49:25 even when everything around you is against you,
49:28 can you still praise God for what you are going through.
49:32 I'm reminded of the story of the lady as we begin to close,
49:36 and she said,
49:37 every morning she would come out on her front step
49:40 and she would raise her hands and say,
49:42 hallelujah, thank You, Jesus,
49:43 thank You for waking me up this morning.
49:45 Where everybody in the neighborhood knew
49:47 that she didn't have a job,
49:49 she didn't have money to pay her rent
49:51 and that she had no food inside of her house,
49:54 but every morning she would come out
49:56 and raise her hands and say,
49:57 hallelujah, thank You, Jesus,
49:59 for all You've done for me.
50:01 Well, it turns out
50:02 that her neighbor didn't appreciate the fact
50:04 that she was always praising God,
50:06 even though she was having the bad situation.
50:08 And so that neighbor said,
50:09 I'm gonna go and buy that lady groceries
50:12 and I'm going to put it on her front step,
50:14 and so the next morning came he went a hour before,
50:18 he brought groceries
50:19 and he put those two bags of groceries on her--
50:22 on her front step.
50:23 And the women came out
50:24 and she started praising God the same chant,
50:27 she said, hallelujah, thank You, Jesus,
50:29 I have groceries in front of me praising God,
50:31 and the man jumped out from behind the bush,
50:34 and he said, God didn't buy you those groceries,
50:37 I brought you those groceries,
50:38 why are you praising God for?
50:40 And she said, I'm still praising God
50:42 because the devil used--
50:44 because God used the devil to buy me some groceries.
50:47 And so why I love that story
50:49 is because often times God will use things
50:52 that are unexpected to you
50:53 to bless you in a way that's unimaginable.
50:56 So when you think it's over, God still write a music,
50:59 just make sure
51:00 you sing the songs that brought you out before,
51:02 because they're gonna bring you out again,
51:04 because your redemption draweth nigh.
51:06 Just remember, don't let a diminished chord change,
51:09 cause you to change your pitch or to stay--
51:12 or stay unfocused, just focus on God,
51:15 you don't need to quote a rap star,
51:17 you don't need to quote an entertainer,
51:19 you just stay on pitch and you say,
51:21 "Pass me not, oh, gentle Savior,
51:23 hear my humble cry,
51:25 while on others thou art calling,
51:28 Do not pass me by."
51:29 Sing "I am Thine, O Lord,
51:32 and I have heard Thy voice,
51:33 And I hold Thy love to me,
51:35 But I long to rise in the arms of faith
51:38 And be drawn closer to Thee.
51:41 Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
51:44 To the cross where Thou hast died,
51:46 Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
51:49 To Thy precious, bleeding side."
51:51 Here is another good old song,
51:53 "At the cross, at the cross when I first saw the light,
51:56 And the burden of my soul washed away,
51:59 it was there by faith I received my sight,
52:04 and now I am happy all the day.
52:07 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
52:10 When sorrows like sea billows keep on rolling,
52:14 Whatever, whatever my lot,
52:16 That was taught me to say,
52:18 it is well, it is well, it is well with my soul.
52:22 This is my story and this is my song,
52:25 I'm praising my Savior all the day long."
52:29 Friends, don't give up on God,
52:31 because He won't give up on you.
52:33 You stay with God and hold on because I believe one day
52:38 He will make everything all right.
52:40 And just no one believe that for some of us
52:43 our diminished chord might last longer than others,
52:46 but if you just stay in the will of God,
52:49 trust Him and believe,
52:51 it will end into a beautiful harmonious note.
52:54 And the final note will be our blessed Savior and Lord,
52:57 and Jesus Christ,
52:59 who will descend in the clouds of heaven
53:02 with a host of angels,
53:03 and He will hear those words.
53:05 Say those words and we will hear.
53:07 Enter now that good and faithful servant
53:10 into the joy of the Lord.
53:12 I don't know about you,
53:13 but that's the note that I want to hear,
53:15 that's the song that I want to hear.
53:17 And I want to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb,
53:20 standing on the sea of glass
53:22 because I know that this diminished chord call earth
53:27 one day will come to pass
53:28 and we will be with our Lord and Savior.
53:31 And so mothers, fathers, young men, young women,
53:35 if you feel like you are dead,
53:37 if you feel like you can't make it anymore,
53:39 just hold on to God's unchanging hand.
53:42 And I promise you'll see the end.
53:45 Let's pray.
53:46 "God, Almighty,
53:48 we do thank You so much
53:50 for being in control of our lives,
53:54 for taking all things
53:56 and for making them into a meaningful experience,
54:00 and as much as Lord that we want to know
54:03 what's gonna happen the next day
54:05 and the next moment or next hour,
54:07 we have to learn to put our faith in You,
54:09 and to trust and believe
54:10 that in Your word you said
54:12 that "Don't worry for tomorrow,
54:15 for tomorrow will worry about itself."
54:17 So God, Almighty,
54:18 I pray right now a word into the lives of those parents,
54:22 Lord, that may have lost a child,
54:25 they may have lost someone that was dear to them,
54:28 enter the lives of those that,
54:30 Lord, that have lost something that they thought
54:32 that they were gonna have forever.
54:34 Who is having a diminished chord experience as we speak,
54:38 God, Almighty, may You play the music louder
54:42 that they will know and understand
54:43 that You're still writing,
54:45 that You have not put your pen down
54:47 that the story will come to end,
54:49 but if we are committed to hold on to You,
54:52 that the final chapter, the final verse
54:55 would be the right lyrics for all of our experience.
54:58 We thank You so much for everything.
55:00 We thank You for being in control
55:02 and we thank You for Your saving grace.
55:04 Bless us and keep us Lord,
55:05 we ask this in your name Jesus Christ.
55:08 Amen and Amen.
55:13 Amen and amen. Praise the Lord.
55:15 Pastor, what a blessing it has been.
55:18 I praise the Lord for this message
55:20 The Diminished Chord.
55:21 I didn't know about the diminished chord,
55:23 but I learned through this message,
55:26 beautiful illustration, helps us to understand
55:30 that even when things look bad,
55:34 there's a blessing on the other side,
55:36 blessing on the other side.
55:37 Praise the Lord.
55:39 I'm looking forward already
55:40 to the next message in this series.
55:42 Four messages,
55:43 four messages in this series with Pastor Kowlessar.
55:47 Pastor Kowlessar, the next message is entitled
55:50 Access Granted.
55:52 Yes.
55:53 Can you give us a little taste
55:54 or what we're gonna be looking at in this next message
55:57 and we want to make sure
55:59 that the people are ready for this message.
56:01 Give us a little taste of what this topic is about?
56:03 Oh, yeah, absolutely.
56:04 In the next sermon
56:05 we'll be looking at the story of blind Bartimaeus,
56:08 about a man who they pushed and ostracized
56:12 to the corners of society.
56:14 But still had the faith and determination
56:16 to call out to Jesus Christ
56:18 and say, Son of Naz--
56:20 Jesus, Son of David, please bless me and open my eyes.
56:24 And so we'll look at how God gave him access,
56:26 granted him access to a blessing
56:29 that he'd never thought or imagined would have come--
56:31 come his way,
56:32 even in the midst of other people telling them
56:35 close your mouth,
56:36 Jesus has nothing to do with you.
56:38 And so we're gonna be looking at that tomorrow.
56:40 So I'm looking forward to sharing that with all of you
56:42 and to our viewers.
56:44 And I pray that it will be a blessing.
56:46 Amen. Amen.
56:47 Well, we want to thank you
56:48 for being with us during this hour
56:50 and we want to invite you to continue to tune in
56:53 to the Foundation Of Our Faith program,
56:56 Pastor Kowlessar will be with us in the next program
56:59 Access Granted.
57:01 And God has a message for you
57:03 in God's holy word there are many inspiring stories
57:09 that communicate to us
57:10 something that we need to hang on to
57:13 because through Jesus Christ we have Access Granted.
57:18 And so we want to invite you to tune in next time
57:20 to the Foundation Of Our Faith on the Dare to Dream Network.
57:25 God bless you.


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Revised 2015-04-30