Participants: Deborah Harris
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000702
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01:01 I am blessed. Amen.
01:04 I am richly blessed to be here 01:08 especially when you consider, 01:11 that I didn't major in theology. 01:14 I am not an ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister. 01:19 I don't know or there is to know about the Bible. 01:24 But what I do know is that I am a sinner saved by Grace. 01:31 And what I do know is that I am God's chosen vessel 01:36 for such a time as this. 01:39 I am just a willing servant that has been broken, 01:46 so that I can spread the news of a Risen Savior, 01:50 who through grace has brought me here today. 01:55 Now, well I am excited about the word 02:00 God has prepared for today. 02:02 He gave me a ministry some seven years ago, 02:06 that He told me before I speak a word, 02:10 that I engage the audience in this ministry. 02:14 What's more amazing to me is that He has taken this ministry 02:18 to an entire another level, a level I didn't expect. 02:24 In fact six months ago, He told me 02:26 if I didn't do something with it, 02:27 He was going to give it somebody else. 02:29 I woke up I'm telling you, 02:30 because I want to tell you what it is and well, 02:33 how God has worked in my life. 02:34 For about seven years ago, 02:36 and many of you would be able to identify with this, 02:39 about seven years ago my son became an individual 02:42 I did not know. 02:45 He was in college and I was stunned to make matters worse 02:52 my daughter then became a young lady 02:54 I did not know, and I was double stunned. 03:00 And in an effort as most controlling mothers try to do, 03:07 I desperately tried to get them back in my control 03:13 and when I was planning my attack to recapture them, 03:20 the Lord came to me and said, 03:22 "Pray for your children. Just pray for them." 03:25 What was so amazing about it is that all my life, 03:28 I've heard the older people in church say, 03:31 "I pray for my children all the time." 03:34 And I used to wonder, how in the world 03:36 can you pray for your children all the time. 03:39 And now I want you to know, 03:41 I pray for my children all the time. 03:45 As I proceeded on this, I get before audiences 03:48 and God would say to me 03:50 as the audience to pray for your children. 03:52 So I put it out to the audience 03:54 and the changes that were happening I was just amazed. 03:58 And then God said, "Okay, enough about you. 04:00 Now turn it to the audiences. 04:02 Ask the audience to pray for their children." 04:06 So here's the ministry, simple but powerful. 04:10 In a moment I am going to ask you to literally 04:12 call your children's names aloud in a minute. 04:17 Afterwards we are going to go into an individual 04:21 but audible prayer for our children. 04:25 Now if you don't have any children, 04:27 pray for somebody else's children. 04:29 If you don't know children that you can pray for, 04:31 I'll give you mine, Eugene and Tanya, all right. 04:35 So it's important for us to understand 04:37 that every one of us is here, because somebody prayed for us. 04:44 So let's go ahead and watch God work. 04:47 Call your children's names out loud. 04:49 Eugene, Tanya, Rihanna, Trey. 04:53 Now pray, pray aloud for your children. 05:40 Kind Father, thank you so much for the opportunity of prayer. 05:46 Lord, we want to start by thanking you 05:48 for the children that You've given us. 05:51 We thank You for the blessings 05:53 that they have brought in our lives. 05:55 And Father, even though it's difficult, 05:58 we thank You for the challenges, 06:00 because we know that means that You are shaping them, 06:04 readying them for the kingdom. 06:06 And right now some of our children 06:10 are out of the ark of safety. 06:12 Right now, Lord, some of our children 06:14 are doing things they have no business in doing. 06:18 Right now, Lord, some of our children 06:21 have moved far from you. 06:24 And even some, Father, have decided 06:28 they would never walk with You again. 06:31 Some of them are behind bars. 06:34 Some of them are in places and doing things 06:38 that just run counter to Your, 06:41 the life that you would have us to live 06:44 and still they are those 06:45 who are doing everything according to their will. 06:49 But, Lord, we know that the devil is out to attack them. 06:52 We know the devil is out to get them and, Lord, 06:55 we ask you right now to come down, 06:59 be with our children Jesus. 07:02 Put Your arms of protection around them. 07:06 Block out the devil. Don't let him hit home. 07:12 Keep their hearts close to You. 07:16 Lord, we know that You will save our children, 07:20 if we would but ask. 07:23 Lord, help us to understand, that we have the biggest web, 07:27 the best weapon available to us. 07:29 Pray if we would but use it. 07:34 I thank you, Father. 07:36 And now, let the words of my mouth 07:38 and the meditation of my heart 07:41 be acceptable in thy sight, 07:44 as we consider thy word for the day, amen. 07:49 By the way it is so powerful 07:52 what God is doing with this ministry. 07:55 If you don't feel the difference of praying with your children, 07:57 just keep doing it. 08:00 He has turned it into a ministry 08:02 now where it's going worldwide, 08:04 a prayer ribbon reminding people to pray. 08:08 The first--are out of every month reminding people 08:11 to come together and pray for their children, 08:14 but even more powerfully call to ministers 08:17 and speakers across the world, 08:18 that before they break the word, 08:21 pray for our children. And now the word. 08:27 If you would turn with me in your Bibles, 08:29 and by the way if you haven't heard me speak before. 08:32 I am a very, very enthusiastic speaker. Why? 08:36 Because I get excited about what God is doing 08:40 and what He's going to do. 08:41 I know where the end is, because He has given it to me. 08:45 So I need for you to just help me be excited for a moment. 08:48 But let's go to the word. 08:50 We are going to base our message of this evening on John 8:2-12. 08:57 Then I will read and you're hearing. 09:00 And once again John 8:2-12. 09:06 "And early in the morning he came again into the temple, 09:12 and all the people came unto him, 09:14 and He sat down, and taught them." 09:18 I want you to hang on to that word, that's important. 09:21 "And the scribes and Pharisees 09:23 brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, 09:28 and when they had set her in the midst. 09:30 They said unto him, Master, 09:33 this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 09:37 Now Moses in the law commanded us, 09:41 that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? 09:47 This they said, tempting him, 09:50 that they might have to accuse him." 09:52 Oh, listen listen. 09:54 "That they may have to accuse him. 09:56 But Jesus stooped down, 09:59 and with his finger wrote on the ground, 10:03 as though he heard them not." 10:06 Now, I want you to hang on to it, 10:07 it's good. Listen here. 10:09 "As though he heard them not. 10:11 So when they continued asking him, 10:15 He lifted himself, and said unto them, 10:18 He that is without sin among you, 10:24 let him cast the first stone at her. 10:29 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 10:33 And they which heard it, 10:35 being convicted by their own conscience, 10:40 being convicted by their own conscience, 10:44 went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, 10:49 even unto the last 10:51 and Jesus was left alone, 10:54 and the woman standing in the midst. 10:58 When Jesus had lifted up himself, 11:00 and saw none but the woman, 11:02 he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? 11:09 hath no man condemned thee? 11:13 She said, No man, Lord. 11:16 And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee 11:21 go, and sin no more." 11:24 But wait, wait, it gets good verse 12. 11:26 Here he says, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 11:30 I am the light of the world 11:34 he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness." 11:39 You ought to hear that 11:40 "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 11:45 but shall have the light of life.'' 11:49 Now that is a story that many of us have heard for years. 11:54 And we have heard many variations on it. 11:56 But as I was struggling to pull together this topic 12:00 that Cynthia gave me, 12:02 "What's So Amazing About Grace." 12:06 God led me to this chapter. 12:08 He led me there because He wanted us to understand 12:12 that grace is a system of instruction. 12:17 It's a system of love, mercy, fear, goodwill, 12:21 restoration, direction and forgive. 12:26 Well, somebody ought to shout out, 12:27 because I'm telling you, I'm telling you saints, 12:29 just hearing that just gets me exciting. 12:32 Mere words cannot capture grace. 12:37 And why it's so amazing, you know I studied, 12:41 I did a total study on grace trying to understand it, 12:46 trying to bring meaning and definition to it 12:49 and I just couldn't do it. 12:51 The more I read, the more confusing I got. 12:54 And I said, I just said, you know, 12:56 what Lord just minister to me. 12:58 Tell me what it is 13:00 and so He let me know through this that grace, 13:06 grace cannot be discovered with your typical explanation. 13:13 Grace cannot be explained by words 13:16 that just fill your emotion. 13:19 The hundreds of scriptures that are available 13:22 to prove grace is in existence just won't do. 13:28 It's just grace. 13:30 Can you say, it's just grace, this thing is good. 13:33 It's mission, it's fullness, 13:37 it's salvation, it's power in our lives. 13:40 He wanted us to understand the progression of grace. 13:44 Now I am going to tell you. 13:46 I'm going through this and I'm like okay. 13:48 Okay, this sounds, this really makes sense, Lord, 13:51 but I wonder if the theologians out there would agree with it. 13:57 And I wonder if the Bible scholars out there 14:00 would think that it's strange twist on the story 14:05 that they've been preaching on for years 14:07 and the Lord reminded me. 14:09 I am the theologian. He reminded me-- 14:16 He reminded me that He wrote the Holy Scriptures. 14:21 And He reminded me that He made me, you see. 14:25 And He reminded me that He has used me over and over again 14:30 and today would be no different. 14:32 All I needed to do is open my mouth and let Him speak. 14:36 Oh, God is good saints. 14:37 I'm getting ready to shout up in the air, 14:39 but anyway, let's go over, let's go over, and see. 14:41 Let me tell you what he said 14:43 and I want you to follow with me, 14:44 because this is powerful. 14:46 We gonna start with verse 2. 14:49 "First of all grace initiates through instruction. 14:56 He initiates through instruction. 14:59 I want you to think about this. 15:01 Christ comes, 15:05 sits among us and teaches us. 15:11 Do you hear that? 15:13 That alone is grace. 15:16 Can you imagine the omnipotent God Himself, 15:21 teaching us, that's grace says, 15:26 that's absolute grace. 15:28 And if you don't understand 15:29 then I want you just to reflect on your life. 15:32 When has God come to you, 15:34 to teach you something that you needed to learn. 15:38 Why is He wasting His time trying to teach us anything? 15:43 That's grace. 15:44 Oh, that's good, that's good, that's good, 15:46 but let's go further. 15:47 In verse 3 and 4, grace is tolerant. 15:53 First of all, let's look at this. 15:55 The Scribes and Pharisee had the nerve 15:59 to bring a woman taken in adultery. 16:02 Now, first I am glad that I am not God, 16:08 because if I would have known the background 16:11 of the Scribes and Pharisees as did Jesus. 16:15 If I see them have the nerve to bring somebody before me, 16:19 I go blink out of here. 16:22 How dare you, but that's grace. 16:26 Do you understand what I am saying? 16:27 That's grace, that's good, that's good. 16:29 Grace is tolerant. Tolerant of our foolishness. 16:35 God is so good. 16:36 But He goes on and He says in verse 5 and 6, 16:41 or He doesn't say, He demonstrates, 16:43 that grace goes beyond insult, beyond insult. 16:49 I want you all to get that, that's deep, 16:51 that's deep, because here it is. 16:53 The Scribe and Pharisee 16:55 first of all had the audacity to say, 16:58 Moses in the law commanded us. 17:03 You all get that. Yeah. 17:05 Moses in the law commanded us, 17:09 and if Moses says it... 17:16 and who are you? 17:18 They were seeking to tempt him. 17:21 Do you all get that? 17:23 Just going flat stand up and insult Jesus in His face 17:30 and He...the yawn won't get me start. 17:32 It's extremely, extremely important 17:34 to understand that this great insult 17:38 was tolerated through grace. 17:44 This great insult was tolerated through grace. 17:49 I'm trying so hard not to go to the end of this message, 17:52 because I know where the Lord is going 17:54 to leak us this proverb, but let's look at this. 17:56 I love verse 6. They--sorry, yes, verse 6. 18:00 "When they said 'But Jesus stooped down 18:03 with his finger and wrote on the ground, 18:05 as though he heard them not." 18:07 You know what that was? 18:09 Grace at work. Grace is not loud. 18:13 Grace does not tell you what it is. 18:18 Do you understand what I am saying? 18:21 Grace is a quiet spirit. 18:24 It works on you and you don't even know it's working. 18:27 So He stooped down as if, as if He did not hear them. 18:31 And as He was stooped, grace was at work. 18:35 All grace you bear. I love it. 18:37 Grace was at work. 18:42 But on to verse 7, 18:45 The Pharisees ignored grace at work. 18:49 Do you know why? 18:50 It says, they continued asking Him. 18:55 When you don't understand that God is working in your life, 18:58 you continue to ask Him. 19:00 Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. 19:05 you all know where I'm going, don't you? 19:07 I'm just trying to get through the instruction, 19:09 so we can get to the shouting, 19:10 but anyway here we go, 19:11 God, was working. 19:15 Grace was working, but the Pharisees ignored grace. 19:22 So grace is something that is often ignored, 19:26 because we don't understand, 19:28 but then here comes verse 8, 19:30 He stooped down, again, do you love it, 19:33 he stooped again and he wrote in the sand, 19:38 he was becoming or grace was becoming a persistent surgery. 19:44 What do I mean? 19:46 See some of us have to be cut open. 19:49 Some of us, it takes a little more time for God to get to us. 19:53 Some of us just don't get it until God starts 19:57 really slicing us and helping us to understand 20:00 that it's important for us to realize 20:02 that when grace is at work, shut up. 20:06 Be still, and know that I am God. 20:09 Oh, that's powerful. 20:11 That's powerful, because you see 20:12 if you don't get it the first time, 20:15 He'll keep working with you, 20:17 but here's the powerful thing, He's the powerful-- 20:19 In verse 9, grace convicts their own conscience, 20:26 convicted them, their own conscience. 20:29 He didn't have to say a word, that's grace, that's grace. 20:33 Because I'm gonna tell you something. 20:34 If he had to say something, 20:35 can you imagine this, yeah, Johnny, yeah. 20:40 No, I won't call you out, okay. 20:43 And the young people you'd say, 20:44 you know, don't put me on the blast you know. 20:46 If I had to tell you, what you're problem is, 20:50 I'm making you, I'm exposing you to everybody else. 20:55 Grace even protected you, sinner, you accuser. 21:02 Grace just convicted you with a quite spirit 21:07 and so they left one by one. 21:12 Then grace went into his work of restoration. 21:14 I love it, I love it. 21:16 First of all he changed the circumstances, 21:18 he changed the surroundings. 21:20 She was in the midst, you heard it. 21:24 But guess what? 21:26 In verse 10, it says, 21:28 "She was left alone with Jesus." 21:32 Ever been alone with Jesus. 21:34 I'm telling you saints. 21:36 Sometimes it takes moving all of the barriers, 21:41 so that you can be alone with God. 21:45 And that's when God through the grace 21:48 begins to comfort you and privilege you. 21:53 Here this woman, a sinner brought as a result of her sin, 22:01 to be stoned and God takes this, 22:04 Jesus takes this woman and He lifts her up, 22:09 puts her in His presence alone. This thing is good. 22:13 But then what He does is, 22:15 He begins to talk with her, a sinner. 22:21 Talk with her and then when He, 22:25 as He is talking to her, He begins to do something, 22:28 that many of us don't realize. 22:30 Verse 11 says, "He forgives her, He condemns her not." 22:36 Have you ever been condemned about something? 22:39 And when Christ freeze you, 22:41 is there something that comes over you. 22:43 And you just want to shout, 22:44 you just want to just tell somebody 22:46 how good God has been. 22:48 Well, that's what happened with this lady, 22:49 I can just see her now. 22:51 Full of praise, looking to Jesus in absolute amazement. 22:57 The Son of God set her free and condemned her not. 23:03 That's the freedom and the forgiveness of grace. 23:08 Absolutely nothing, nothing can do that, but grace. 23:13 I love it, I love it. Last but not least. 23:17 Verse 11, grace redirects. 23:22 He told her to go and sin no more. 23:26 Go and sin no more. 23:29 He did all of this to pick her up and restore her. 23:32 If He had not given her a redirection, 23:35 where would she know to go and He said to her, 23:39 "Go and sin no more." 23:42 And then with that going and sin no more, 23:45 He gives her a promise. 23:47 He said, you will not walk in darkness. 23:52 You will not walk in, that's grace. 23:55 What's so amazing about grace? 23:59 It's just amazing. 24:01 I'm telling you, it's absolutely amazing, 24:04 complete restoration system. 24:08 Now I want to bring it home. 24:12 That's the instruction. 24:15 Now let's expound on the instruction. 24:18 Because it's going to bring it home 24:19 to each and every one of us. 24:22 God taught me the way I should go, 24:27 experiences shaped me, experiences lead me 24:33 to do what God would want me to do. 24:37 He taught me about the power of grace and mercy. 24:42 You know, how He taught me? 24:43 Because He had to apply some of it in my life. 24:47 I've heard people talk about this intellectual debates 24:51 between the difference between grace and mercy. 24:55 And I always chuckle and say, if you got to have that debate, 24:58 obviously grace and mercy 25:00 has not been applied in your life. 25:03 I'm telling you saints. 25:05 When you know that God has had to do something. Yeah. 25:09 To change your life. Yeah. 25:10 When you know how God has worked in your life. 25:14 You don't worry whether or not it's grace or mercy. 25:18 You're just thankful. 25:19 Amen. Thankful. 25:24 But here is what's so fun, so amazing about it to me. 25:28 Even in His working with me, 25:30 He's had to tolerate my foolishness. 25:33 Yes. My doubts, my questions. 25:37 I have been in places where God has literally 25:40 had to bring food to my table. 25:43 And I still questioned whether or not 25:45 He can bring me through this. 25:47 And whether or not He can bring me through that. 25:50 You see, God told me a longtime ago 25:52 that my big problem is control. 25:55 And He's trying to work with me on that control 25:58 and I was laughing with one of my sisters earlier, 26:01 because that's the serious thing for a lot of women. 26:04 We're so used to managing everything. 26:07 Trying to make sure these needs and that needs and these needs. 26:10 And we don't realize in that process, 26:13 we become controlled freaks. 26:16 And you know what happens? 26:17 It boils over into our relationship with God. 26:20 Yeah. You know why? 26:21 God tells us to do something. 26:23 And we go, well, I think we have to do it 26:24 this way and this way and this way. 26:26 God says go. 26:30 But yet through His grace He tolerates us, 26:34 I love Him, He tolerates us. 26:37 He's patient with us. 26:39 What if, what if Lord, what if, what if, what if. 26:43 He's continuing to work with me by not answering my prayer. 26:48 Are you dealing with anything right now in your life 26:52 that you don't understand why God hasn't answered? 26:59 Is that surgery, is that surgery, 27:02 he's not answering because grace is at work. 27:06 He isn't answering because grace is at work. 27:09 When grace is at work be still, close your mouth, 27:15 listen to God almighty 27:16 because He's trying to tell you something. 27:19 He's trying to prepare you for a special work. 27:22 He's trying to take you to a special place 27:25 and the more you talk, the more you get in the way. 27:31 A lot of us ignore grace at work. 27:35 We continue to plead Lord, fix this. 27:38 Lord, fix that I'm listening to you Lord, fix this. 27:42 You see right now in my life, I'm not happy with something 27:45 the Lord isn't working out for me. 27:48 I want Him to work it out yesterday. 27:51 He's telling me, there's still something 27:53 I'm trying to work out in you. 27:55 And I can't work out what you want to work out 27:57 till I work out what's in you. 27:59 Yeah. But I'm not alone. 28:03 I'm not alone and the one thing I want us to understand here. 28:06 When grace is at work, when grace is at work 28:11 and we're not getting the answers 28:13 that we think we should have. 28:15 It could be because we are ignoring grace 28:18 and we're continuing to plead with God for things 28:21 that He's trying to work through just be quite. 28:24 And let grace work. 28:26 I love it, I love it, let me tell you what He says. 28:28 He persist in spite of me. 28:33 He persist, isn't that beautiful? Yes. 28:35 Isn't that beautiful, He insist, in spite of me, 28:38 in spite of me, in fact I'm so moved 28:44 that God in His process of grace in my life, 28:48 convicts me daily of my mess. 28:52 Now I know, I know, I know 28:54 most of us are ready to sprout wings. 28:56 I understand that. I really do understand that. 29:04 Well, the only reason we have not sprout wings yet 29:07 is because we're not ready. 29:10 He's trying to convict us. 29:12 He wants us to understand where He's taking us. 29:15 What He wants us to do? 29:17 God called me years ago into a ministry. 29:23 And I'm not talking about praying for children ministry. 29:25 I am just talking about a speaking ministry. 29:28 First I had to bargain with Christ. 29:31 Then I had to give Him a timeframe. 29:33 Then I had to tell Him, what if this and what if this. 29:36 And then I said, let me get my kids out of school. 29:38 Then I said let me do this, you know, what God told me. 29:40 After while He says, 29:42 "Okay, I have done everything you've asked. 29:43 Everything you've asked, 29:44 its time to show up, come on, show up. 29:47 And I'll, "Okay, Lord, well if you would just--" No. 29:51 And I'm going to tell you what happened to me. 29:53 Every morning when I would open my Bible. 29:57 It would flip open to Isaiah 61. 30:01 And it would say to me, 30:03 and I get full every time I do it, 30:04 because it's nobody but the Lord continuing to work with me. 30:07 He says "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, 30:12 because He has anointed me 30:13 to preach good tidings unto the meek. 30:16 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 30:19 to proclaim liberty to the captives 30:22 and opening of the prison to them that are bound, 30:24 and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, 30:27 and the day of vengeance unto our God, 30:30 to comfort all that mourn, 30:33 to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, 30:35 to give unto them beauty for ashes, 30:38 the oil of joy for mourning." 30:41 That's what God was telling me day in and day out 30:46 and I did not want to respond to His call. 30:51 For years I thought He was calling me to pulpit ministry 30:54 and I'd say, "Lord, I don't want to be a minister." 30:58 I don't want to be a pulpit-- 31:01 a minister in the Seventh-day Adventist church. 31:04 I'm telling you the truth. But God kept working with me. 31:08 And grace kept being applied in my life. 31:11 And He kept saying to me, 31:12 this is what I'm designing you to do. 31:16 And I'm like, okay Lord, okay Lord, okay Lord. 31:19 But then when He revealed the whole story. 31:22 He says, "It's not pulpit, 31:24 it's just speaking to people all over the world. 31:27 Letting them know how good I'm, 31:28 but more importantly letting them understand 31:31 that grace, grace is sufficient. 31:35 Yeah. Yeah. 31:37 It doesn't matter from when you come. 31:39 It doesn't matter what you bring to the table. 31:41 It doesn't matter how bad you've been. 31:43 It doesn't matter if you've been caught in adultery. 31:45 It doesn't matter if you lie. 31:47 It doesn't matter if you steal, 31:49 if you would just give your heart to me-- Amen. 31:53 Grace will take care of all the rest. Amen. 31:56 And everything will be all right. 32:00 The one thing I've learned in my life 32:01 if I haven't learned anything else. 32:03 Then I am not the only one whose door God is knocking on. 32:07 I'm not the only one that God says, 32:09 I have a work for you to do. 32:10 You see, if we would really answer to His call, 32:14 we would be home now. 32:15 Amen Yeah that's right. 32:17 But we're all about well, uh, if uh, uh, uh uh. 32:29 So you know what He did. 32:31 He started changing my surroundings. 32:34 He started making me spend time by myself. 32:37 Now I grew up in a family of nine children. 32:39 Nine children, I was the third oldest. 32:41 So I'm always used to being around people. 32:44 And I need people. I'll be honest. I need people. 32:47 I like the interaction of people. 32:50 And I like talking to people 32:51 and doing all these things with people. 32:53 And God started taking me away 32:56 from the surroundings of people. 32:58 Putting me in the mist by myself. 33:01 So he could talk to me. 33:03 I'm going somewhere and I want you to get it, 33:05 because God is preaching to me right now. 33:07 Here it is. 33:08 Sometimes we are such in the midst of people 33:12 that we cannot hear God. Amen. 33:16 Sometimes we are running our mouths so much 33:19 that we cannot hear God. Amen. 33:23 When we cannot hear God, it is difficult for us 33:28 to understand what it is He wants us to do. 33:31 Grace, grace, gives us that time. 33:37 I'm going to tell you what He did to me. 33:38 He's being doing to me. 33:39 Every year since I turned 50, 33:41 I have been going to the mountains 33:44 by myself whole week and all I do is hike mountains. 33:50 That's all I do. 33:51 I feel like Moses going up the mountains 33:53 with my staff in hand, 33:55 waiting for what Lord would have me to do. 33:58 And as I'm climbing those mountains He is talking to me. 34:01 He's trying to tell me what He wants me to do 34:03 and where He wants me to go next. 34:05 And He's trying to explain to me that 34:06 when this happened in my life 34:08 I was trying to shape you for this. 34:10 And when this happened in your life, 34:11 I was trying to shape you for that. 34:13 Now last year I didn't get to go to the mountains, 34:14 because we were in the process of moving. 34:16 And I'm telling you I've missed it. 34:18 This year I'm going to the mountains. 34:21 I am going because I need that alone time with God. 34:25 And every one us in here needs that alone time with God. 34:30 He is a jealous God. 34:32 He is a God that wants our attention. 34:34 He doesn't want us to split it or share it with anybody else. 34:38 We're so consumed with our children. 34:40 We're so consumed with our jobs. 34:42 We're so consumed with our spouses. 34:44 That we don't give God the time that He needs. 34:49 Now many people, when I say that they'll go, 34:52 "Well, you know, I read the word 34:54 and in it every time in the heart. 35:02 Some times and Lord help me, help me Lord. 35:06 Sometimes we need to take all we've read and just sit. Amen. 35:13 And be quite just to hear God talk to us. 35:18 Have you ever awakened in the middle of the night, 35:21 2, 3 o' clock in the morning? 35:23 And you can't go to sleep. Yes. 35:25 And God starts talking to you. 35:27 And He said, "Did you understand why I did that?" 35:31 I know people might think I'm staying 35:33 in this lady's home and I said to myself, 35:35 boy, she must think I'm crazy. 35:37 Because sometimes I'll just get up and I'll just talk, 35:39 just talk to Him. 35:41 That's when God is working, that's when grace is at its best 35:46 because He's allowing us to be in His presence. 35:49 Oh, isn't that good? 35:50 He's allowing us to be in His presence 35:53 and there is nothing, absolutely nothing more powerful 35:57 then being in the presence of God. Amen. 36:00 But then the thing that's most important. 36:02 He freeze me. He offers me salvation. 36:08 He forgives me of my sin. 36:12 And what's so beautiful about it. 36:14 He not only works with me, He works with my children. 36:18 He works with my spouse. 36:20 He works with my grandchildren. Why? 36:23 Because through me, through me, 36:28 He seeks to bless them as well. Amen. 36:30 Do you understand what I'm saying and vice versa. 36:34 My children have been through a lot in the last few years. 36:39 But if you could see what God has done in their lives. 36:43 If you could see how they're raising their children 36:46 to be in the admonition of Lord. 36:47 If you could here my little granddaughter 36:49 give me a consort about how good God is. 36:52 She is three old. Oh, she is a feisty something. 36:55 But I want you to know 36:57 that she is on fire for God at such a little age. Amen. 37:03 Does my daughter deserve 37:05 to have that kind of majesty in her home? 37:11 Do I deserve to have such a blessed grandchild? 37:17 Do I deserve to even have the love 37:21 and the hug of these grandchildren? 37:22 No, but that's grace. Amen. 37:26 And I'm telling you it freeze me. 37:28 It freeze me every time I see them. 37:31 I just-- thank you Jesus. Thank You, Jesus. 37:35 Jesus could take a mess and turn it into a miracle. 37:39 Yes. Nothing like it. 37:44 Absolutely, nothing like it. 37:48 And I look at God and I say, 37:50 "How Jesus, do you take these things in my life 37:55 and turn them into good?" 37:56 How do you do it, Jesus? 37:58 And you know what His answer is? Grace. 38:02 Grace, He says. Grace. 38:04 What is so amazing about grace? 38:09 It's just amazing. It's just amazing. 38:12 The words don't-- there aren't words to explain. 38:20 It's just what God has done for you. 38:26 God take you out of sin, clean you up, 38:32 say you are mine, you are mine, 38:35 turns you around sends you on your way, 38:38 tells you to go and sin no more. 38:41 And before you can get to your car in the parking lot 38:44 or walk down the street you're messed up again. 38:48 And I'm going to share something with you 38:50 that I have shared with people many many times before. 38:53 But I want you to understand 38:55 that it's a message straight from God. 38:58 That is a story that I heard sometime ago. 39:05 A young man lived way out, kind of like out here. 39:11 And he'd a particularly difficult day. 39:14 And this day he wasn't paying attention. 39:17 So as he was driving home, 39:19 he hit the neighbor's dog and killed it. 39:24 He was devastated 39:26 because this little old lady that was her best friend. 39:32 So she takes the dog and she goes, 39:35 he goes to his neighbor and he says, I'm so sorry. 39:40 I didn't mean to do it. 39:42 I wasn't paying attention and I'm just so sorry. 39:45 And his neighbor says, oh don't worry about it. 39:48 I told that dog to stay out of the street. 39:51 Just keeps running cars and its okay 39:54 but will you help me bury it? 39:57 So he says, "Sure." 39:59 So they go out to the edge of the property 40:03 and they dig a hole and they bury the dog. 40:06 And they go to their separate homes. 40:08 When the gentleman gets home, he's sitting in his easy chair 40:11 and he goes, for some reason I really don't think 40:15 she understands what has happened. 40:17 I think she's stunned, I think she is delirious. 40:20 I need to make her understand what I have done. 40:23 Is this horrible thing I have done? 40:25 So he goes out to the edge of the property 40:27 and he digs up the dog. 40:30 And he takes the dog to his neighbor and he says, 40:32 do you understand what I have done? 40:35 And the neighbor says to him, "Yes, yes, it's okay, 40:38 I mean it's all right, don't worry about it." 40:40 So they go and they put the dog in the hole. 40:42 So he goes to sleep. 40:44 The next morning he wakes up he says, she doesn't get it. 40:49 So what I'm going to do is make sure 40:52 she understands what I'm talking about. 40:54 So you know what he does. 40:56 He goes out and he digs up the dead dog. 40:59 And he takes the dead dog to the neighbor again 41:01 and he says, do you understand what I have done? 41:06 And the neighbor says, "Oh, sure I do, 41:09 I told you it was okay, please." so they bury the dog again. 41:17 This went on for about two weeks. 41:22 Now that sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? 41:24 But it's exactly what we do to God every single day. 41:28 He tells us if we confess our sins, 41:31 He would bury them in the ocean and remember them no more. 41:35 No more and what will we do? 41:37 We'll go out and we'll dig it up and we'll say, 41:39 "Lord but do you understand what I have done?" 41:41 And He says, "I understand, I don't even remember it." 41:47 Let the dead dogs stay buried. 41:52 There is absolutely nothing. 41:54 Absolutely nothing that you have done 42:00 that God can't forgive you for, 42:04 other than blaspheming and you understand that. 42:07 But there's absolutely nothing. 42:09 And the beauty of it is, we're coming back to grace. 42:12 The beauty of it is, He buries it 42:15 and remembers it no more. Amen. 42:19 Now see, I struggle with that for years. 42:23 How is Jesus who knows everything 42:25 going to not remember my sins? 42:28 See, that's the analytical mind going. Okay. 42:29 Now that doesn't make sense Lord, 42:32 so maybe You need to define it better for me, all right. 42:36 He says, "I don't remember it." 42:40 You all didn't get it. 42:41 He says, "I don't remember it." 42:47 He says, "I don't remember it." 42:50 What is that? That's grace. 42:53 Now you got it. That's grace, amazing grace. 42:59 But then He redirects us. 43:01 After He sets us free, He redirects us. 43:04 He tells us to go and sin no more. 43:09 Even if we fall, He takes us back. 43:13 He tells us to go and with that He gives us strength. 43:19 He tells us, He's going to be with us always. 43:22 I want you to turn with me if you have your Bible 43:24 to chapter 43 of Isaiah, 43:28 because I want to share with you, 43:30 how He gives you the strength. 43:32 And I was telling a young lady in one of the sessions 43:35 who gave a testimony that her testimony inspired 43:38 this particular scripture at this point in the message. 43:41 Here it is, "But now, though, thus--" 43:45 Isaiah 43:1 and through that. 43:48 "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, 43:53 and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, 43:58 for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name 44:03 thou art mine." Amen. 44:07 That's deep, that is deep. 44:11 He knows us by our name. He calls us by our name. 44:18 He knows the very hairs on our head. 44:21 Does this excite anybody but me? 44:24 We're talking about Jesus. 44:27 I'm amazed, I'm amazed, 44:30 but look at what He promises us as He sets us free. 44:33 This is so good. 44:34 He says in verse 2, "When thy passes through the waters, 44:40 I will be with thee and through the rivers, 44:45 they shall not overflow thee." 44:48 Oh, they shall not overflow thee. 44:52 You all don't know what that did for me. 44:54 Because sometimes in my life 44:56 and I'm brining that to you as well. 44:58 I'm so consumed with all that seemingly going wrong. 45:03 And I feel so overwhelmed 45:06 and I feel though I can't move forward. 45:09 But he tells me right there in Isaiah 43. 45:11 The rivers will not overflow thee. 45:14 I often hear leaders who put on meetings like this 45:18 and then something in particular, 45:20 so you be so concerned about all that "goes arrive." 45:25 And I have learned that when it's a mess 45:28 or when it's the lot of things going wrong, 45:31 that's because God is trying to do something 45:33 and Satan is not going to let it go. 45:35 And so we have to learn how to stand, strong in grace, 45:39 because He is saying, "I'm with you and you will not. 45:44 The rivers will not overflow thee." 45:46 Now look at this, He says, 45:47 "When thou walk us through the fire, 45:50 thou shall not be burned, 45:52 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." 45:55 One of the most powerful messages I ever heard 45:57 was from a little short man from New York City, R.C. Connor. 46:01 And I was a young lady about 20, in my 20, 46:05 I don't remember the exact date, 46:06 but I had been going through so much. 46:10 And he stood up there and he said, 46:12 "God will be with you Just like Jesus was in the fire 46:19 with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 46:23 He will be in the fire with you. 46:25 He'll be in the fire with you. 46:26 Now let me tell you what it did to me. 46:28 All of my life there was this little lady, 46:31 Sister Lomack, I love her to death. 46:33 She is no longer living, but let me tell you something. 46:35 This little lady was full of the spirit 46:37 and every Sabbath my friends and I would sit on the back pew 46:40 waiting for Sister Lomack to get up 46:42 and run around the church. 46:44 We were so excited just to see her run around the church. 46:46 But we didn't understand 46:48 what was going on in Sister Lomack's life. 46:49 But let me tell you something. 46:51 When God came to my life 46:53 and he had to stand in the fire with me. 46:56 I'm telling you something. 46:58 When that man starting talking about being in the fire. 47:00 When I came to myself I had run around the church saying, 47:02 in the fire, in the fire, in the fire. 47:06 Do you understand what I'm saying? 47:07 You cannot contain yourself, 47:12 when God has done something for you. Amen. 47:15 Now I'm a wall bouncer. 47:16 I'll jump down the whole flight 47:17 of bleachers at a basketball game. 47:19 So in church it would be absolutely out of character 47:23 for me to sit like, totally out of character. 47:31 Now I have sister-in-law who I love to death. 47:35 She is not a wall bouncer. 47:36 But when the spirit is moving on her, 47:39 you can see it all in her face. 47:41 You might see a trickle come down. 47:43 She may not say anything, but you know she is full. 47:45 But what concerns me 47:47 our people who come to church Sabbath after Sabbath 47:50 and they look like a bunch of dried up prunes, 47:54 waiting for the next harvest. 48:02 And what I'm saying is until we learn how to praise the Lord. 48:07 Amen. Praise Him for His goodness. 48:10 We're going to move slow on this journey. 48:13 It is praise that makes the difference in our life. 48:16 This is a conference about praise, spiritual praise. 48:20 We have to understand that praise pleases God. 48:26 It pleases Him and if we but-- 48:29 if we would but stretch our arms in praise to Him. 48:33 What a difference it would make. 48:34 I don't know who came up with the idea 48:38 that in our churches we cannot be expressive. 48:44 Well, if that's the case 48:45 I'm certainly in the wrong church. 48:50 But what I have learned is this God is working with His people. 48:55 It's coming saints, it's coming out more and more 48:57 when I go at churches, I see people they're trying 49:01 and before, thank you Lord. 49:07 I'm telling you its like fire shut up in your bones. 49:10 And you have to say something. 49:13 Your have to--your burn-- your burst wide open. 49:15 let me go on, anyway. 49:17 But let me finish what he says here in verse 3. 49:19 He says, "For I'm the Lord thy God, 49:24 the holy one of Israel, thy Savior, 49:28 I gave Egypt for thy ransom. 49:31 Listen to that, I gave Egypt for thy ransom. 49:34 Ethiopia and Seba for thee. 49:37 Since thou was precious in my sight. 49:41 Thou has been honorable, and I have loved thee." 49:48 Amen. Oh, man. 49:52 Doesn't that do something to you? 49:54 Did you hear what He said? 49:56 Since he says, "since you were precious in my sight, 50:02 you have been honorable." 50:07 Me, you all are missing it. 50:11 You're missing it you know why you're missing it, 50:13 because, honorable, 50:18 Me, honorable, that's grace. 50:23 That's grace, you can't explain it. 50:26 Oh, honorable, oh, that's grace saints, 50:30 that's grace and it's good because God has promised us. 50:34 That He is going to be with us no matter what. 50:39 No matter what. What's so amazing about grace? 50:45 Me. Amen. 50:48 That's what so amazing about grace. 50:50 What so amazing about grace? 50:52 You. Amen. 50:54 That's what so amazing about grace. 50:59 What's so amazing about grace? It convicts and it restores. 51:06 It tears down. Yes. 51:08 And it builds you up. Yes. 51:11 It cleans up the mess. Yes. 51:14 And tosses out your mess. It's just amazing. 51:22 It's just absolutely amazing. What God will do? 51:27 What He can do in our lives? I have a question for you. 51:33 When is the last time God has done something for you? 51:38 We take for granted that we wake up every morning 51:42 We take for granted that we walk daily. 51:48 We take for granted that. 51:51 We take for granted that we breathe. 51:54 But I got to tell you this little story. 51:57 That will bring us into our music for this evening, 52:00 but let me just share it with you. 52:02 It's a powerful story, it take a bit. 52:04 So but my mother is a woman of faith. 52:11 She is strong. 52:13 She was the wife of a military man. 52:15 So she had to raise nine children 52:18 a lot times by herself, excuse me. 52:22 But at 52 years old, my mother had her first heart attack. 52:27 It took out two-thirds of her heart. 52:32 They told us that she wasn't going to make it. 52:36 And I can still see the day where she was lying in the bed, 52:43 we gathered around her bed, tearful. 52:47 And she looked up at us and said, "Why are you crying?" 52:50 And we said to her, "Mom, well, we're sad. 52:56 It doesn't look good." 52:58 She said, "Well you better dry up your tears, 53:00 I'm not going anywhere yet." She is still here. 53:08 Three years ago surely we thought this was it. 53:13 She ended up back in the hospital 53:15 where her already damaged heart 53:17 went into congestive heart failure, fluid building up. 53:23 What she did was she tried-- I mean, sorry, 53:27 she went to the doctor and they kept trying 53:29 to get fluid off her and get fluid off of her. 53:32 And they were not being successful. 53:35 They finally had to intubate her-- 53:37 put a tube down her to help her breath. 53:41 They called us to her bedside 53:44 six times to tell us that was it. 53:51 From October to May she was in the hospital. 53:56 She at times barely knew what was going on. 54:01 But I'm telling something about this woman. 54:03 Through grace she fought death with faith. 54:09 She coded on us two times. 54:12 The last time she coded was on a Thursday. 54:15 I was sitting in her room 54:17 and by the way there are eight of us still living. 54:19 So we took shifts every week. 54:21 Somebody had a new shift 54:23 and I'm considered the emotional one of the family, 54:25 so why she would have to code on me, I don't know. 54:28 But anyway, let me tell you. 54:30 That Thursday she was sitting, 54:33 I mean, sorry, she was lying in the bed 54:34 and I was sitting there next to here. 54:37 The next thing I knew there was a crash card in there. 54:40 Things were flying, people were moving 54:42 and I'm just thinking what, what? 54:43 And momma had coded and I didn't know it. 54:47 So I'm just standing back stunned, completely stunned 54:53 after they brought her back and everything was okay. 54:55 I looked at the doctor and I said, "What do I do?" 54:59 He said to me, "I think you need to call the family in. 55:03 Your mother is not going to pull through." I said, okay. 55:07 I went to the hall and I called 55:10 every one of my brothers and sisters 55:11 just as calmly as I'm talking to you now. 55:14 And every one of them said to me. 55:16 You know what, you were calm 55:19 that lets us know something is really wrong. 55:24 The doctor said he wanted to talk to us on that Saturday. 55:26 So by Saturday everybody was there. 55:28 He pulled us into the room 55:30 and we are a big family when we all get together 55:33 and he said to us that your mother's quality of life 55:37 is going to be so poor 55:39 that she really isn't going to do very well. 55:41 And I don't think she's going to want to live 55:43 with this tube or breathing assist for the rest of her life. 55:47 And we want to know what we should do 55:50 if she should code again. 55:53 Do you want us to resuscitate her? 55:54 And we said to them, "Well, you know what, 55:57 she is still-- go in and ask her." 56:01 So they thought they were ahead of the game, right? 56:03 So they said, "Well, we already asked her 56:05 and she said she just doesn't want to go back on the tube." 56:10 And we were like, "okay." Now here is the point. 56:14 When they talk to us, momma could only stay off 56:19 the breathing machine for eight minute 56:22 before she would get into trouble. 56:24 Eight minutes, so after it was over, 56:28 we went, or I and my sister went to the room. 56:31 And mom, she is about 4 ft 11 inch, 56:33 she is kind of small and she's crunched in the bed. 56:36 And we said-- she said to us, 56:38 "What did that doctor say to you?" 56:40 Because her throat was raspy from the tube. 56:42 What did that doctor say to you? 56:44 And we said, "Well he was just talking 56:46 with us about things and where you are." 56:48 And she looked over and she said, 56:50 "Is that doctor given up on me? 56:53 And I said, "Mom, It's not important 56:56 that the doctor is giving up on you. 56:59 Are you giving up on yourself that's what we want to know? 57:02 She flipped her head over and she said, "No." 57:07 God didn't told me its time to go yet. 57:10 I still have a lot of kick in me. 57:13 That's what she said. That's what she said. 57:16 We went, okay. 57:17 That afternoon, they tried to take the tube out again. 57:22 They asked us to stay in the back, 57:24 because they wanted to make sure 57:25 that she would not panic when she start to go in-- 57:28 And when we go in and check on her. 57:31 And mom would be in the middle of the bed like this, rocking. 57:33 and just talking, just talking, 57:35 she stayed off of the tube for-- 57:36 the breathing machine for four hours. 57:39 Eight minutes to four hours. 57:41 By Tuesday she was completely off of the breathing machine. 57:46 And every time we would go in there she would be walking. 57:48 She would be rocking. She would be rocking. 57:50 And she would be telling just saying these words. 57:52 And we didn't know what she was saying. 57:53 So finally I said to her, "Momma, what are you saying?" 57:58 You know what she said? 58:00 She said, "Work Jesus, work Jesus, work Jesus, 58:05 that's all she was saying." 58:07 Let me tell you how powerful that is. 58:08 And how that brings us to the point where we need to be. 58:11 Here is the power behind it. 58:12 That women fought death, 58:15 with faith. 58:18 And God's grace was applied in her life. 58:23 She is up about on her own 58:25 out of the hospital without breathing machines. 58:29 Does she have challenges? Yes, she has challenges. 58:31 But she is a walking miracle. 58:33 But more importantly she is an example of the grace of God. 58:38 God says when you lean on Me, I will take care of you. 58:44 You don't have to worry about what anybody else says. 58:47 Grace is sufficient, God loves us. 58:52 He wants to save each and every one of us. 58:55 And all He's asking you today is to give your life to Him. 58:59 His grace will take you from instruction to restoration. 59:06 Grace, so amazing. |
Revised 2015-10-15