It's Coming Together Alvin Daniels, Jr. Mountain View Church of Christ - 9/13/2021

rocky [Music] him every day [Music] [Music] [Music] calvary [Music] and i am walking with [Music] for god laborers [Music] [Music] joy [Music] [Music] god [Music] [Applause] brought us back into fellowship and changed our nature and got rid of our feelings let's do what we need to do [Music] i'm surrendering this time [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] and i'm going the way [Music] i am [Applause] good morning good morning everyone [Music] now it's time for us to begin our morning worship service we ask that everyone please please stand with us stand with us i heard i heard a grumbling over there come on now come on and stand with us this morning as we uh bring in our first song we're gonna sing it together in the name of jesus psalms 117 praise the lord praise the lord [Music] praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord [Music] praise the the lord praise the lord and the truth of the lord forever [Music] to praise the lord [Music] now listen praise the lord [Music] and the truth of the lord [Music] [Applause] we [Music] praise the [Music] praise the lord with my heart with my spirits with my spirit i will pray with my soul [Music] i will thank him with my soul i will say praise the lord [Music] [Applause] praise the lord [Music] praise the lord one more time praise the lord praise the lord oh everybody please remain standing remain standing i don't want y'all to up and down just remain standing good morning mountain view i stand before you at this time to uh cite the mission statement and the motivational statement if each one of you will follow along with me mission statement seeking the lost securing the saved strengthening the community serving the lord motivational statement i am here today because of the mercy of god today god still wants me here my yesterday is behind me yesterday's failures is behind me yesterday success is behind me today is a new day with new opportunities new challenges new blessings i accept this day as another chance because today is the day the lord has made and i will rejoice and i will rejoice and i will rejoice and be glad in it let us pray heavenly father we thank you for blessing us for another opportunity to assemble in your house of worship on this sunday morning we pray heavenly father first and foremost that you forgive us for any sins that we've committed that you will allow all of our hearts and our minds to be clear of any obstacles that are presented so that we're able to focus upon the message that will come before us today allow us heavenly father the opportunity to sing songs of praises in your name to be able to hear the word that will come before us and to be able to make application of it within our lives as well as being there for others heavenly father we pray that you be with each one of those that are traveling during this time but they're able to make it to their places of destination safely and we ask heavenly father for those that may be unable to make it at this time that you just continue to watch out for them and work with them in the ways that they need you and their life we love you heavenly father we know there's nothing we can do without you and it's in the name of jesus christ that we pray let us all say amen in order to pray our hearts and minds for communion i ask that you all sing with us oh come let us [Music] foreign foreign [Music] of god of god [Music] of god the precious lamb of god is he's the precious man thank you the precious lamb i can finish this race [Music] [Applause] we have seen how he works in our lives today [Music] i will lift up my hands i will lift up my hands and i'm going to praise [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] i made [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] amen amen good morning church it is time for communion it is time to eat of that bread and drink of that cup read to you from first corinthians 11 chapter beginning with the 23rd verse and we'll see set verse number 30. does everyone have a communion cup if not raise your hand please amen for i have received of the lord that which also i delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this dude in remembrance of me after the same manner also he took the cup when he had sup sand this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do show the lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup but for he that eat it and drink it unworthily eat it and drink it damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you let us pray heavenly father we thank you for this bread which is our sun broken body we pray that those who partake of it with taking clean hands and prayer heart father we also thank you for this cup which is your son's shedded blood we pray that we all will resemble himself and find ourselves worthy and your son jesus name we pray amen you are the most you are the most [Music] [Laughter] [Music] you are the most high [Music] well you are the most needed oh god [Applause] you are you are the most high [Music] [Music] the most high [Music] [Laughter] [Music] i father you're in this place you are the most high god you are the most high guys you are [Music] you don't need to say a lot you don't need to say a lot you are the most high god that's it that's it all right well y'all know good morning family you don't even have to do it twice amen amen this is i heard this was homecoming amen we are here today and we are so glad to be in the house of the lord thank you all welcome everybody let us continue to give god glory and honor and praise on this morning we're ready to continue to take it up another launch let's take it up by taking it back a little bit how many of y'all believe that god is real i mean not not the song not just the song but you actually believe that god is real i know he's real because it says that he does not treat us like our sins deserve so that means that i'm covered and i'm a blessed believer let's sing god is real there are some things yeah i [Music] [Music] i know my god is [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] lord just how you feel [Music] since that [Music] i can [Applause] he's so real in my soul [Music] [Applause] i know my god is real i can feel [Music] he's so real in my soul [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for me [Applause] lord my god is real [Applause] he's so real in my soul [Music] [Applause] his love for [Music] [Applause] i know my god is him in my soul yeah oh my god is real god he's so real in my soul [Music] i know my god is real for his lies [Applause] i know his [Music] [Applause] i know my god is real i feel [Applause] [Applause] you got to put god is real in them [Applause] [Music] now y'all know it don't take me much to shout and y'all don't set me up here singing that then we got to sing this next song y'all ain't gonna be satisfied till i hit the floor god is definitely real and you know when you think back over the years you don't even have to think far if you just think back through this one year all of us would be able to attest that god is real some of us had covet i was one of them i had covered i had double pneumonia my right lung had collapsed but i know it was nobody but god that brought me all the way and because god has brought us we can all attest to say that our souls should be anchored in the lord [Music] and y'all bear with me i haven't sung this song since my grandmother passed but i told them it's time for me to sing this again [Music] though the storms keep on raising in my life [Music] and sometimes it's hard to tell the night from the day still that hope that lies within israel's shore as i keep my eyes upon the distant shore if the wind my soul [Music] when my friends have gone and left me by my sin [Music] and the road seems to get longer day by the day is [Music] i keep my eyes upon the distant shore i know he'll lead me safely to that blessed if they don't [Music] is well i realize that sometimes in this life we're gonna be tossed by the waves and the currents that seem sofia's but in the word of god got this anchor and it keeps me steadfast keep me unmovable despite the tires [Music] what if they don't see [Music] [Applause] him [Music] my soul is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i should not sway because it holds me back so dark the days there are in the sky i know it's all right because jesus save my soul is your soul is your soul so let me tell y'all this stars may come stars may come but you gotta stay there [Applause] you may lose some loved ones along the way but you gotta keep your [Music] [Applause] no matter what you're faced with you gotta stay anger you gotta gotta stay up yeah yeah and my soul my my [Music] is [Applause] [Music] my soul [Music] the [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] return this one can be turned down what if the other mice will be turned up just a little bit test test [Applause] praise god y'all um this is my worship this is my worship power this is our worship this is all of our worship but as we sing this song i want you all to focus within focus within focus on the lord focus on these words because you lord you are worthy this is my worship you know [Music] you are worthy [Music] for all the things [Music] worship all of my words [Music] all of my worst oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] is [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i will [Music] always worship you lord as long as i i will always [Music] [Applause] [Music] long as i am breathing i will [Music] [Applause] [Applause] long as i am breathing [Applause] i will i will i will [Applause] [Applause] here is [Applause] is you lord you are give god some praise we have come into the presence of the lord and the bible says the psalmist that when we come into his presence we don't come into his presence with complaints we don't come into his presence with grievances but we come into his presence with thanksgiving amen can somebody express your thanksgiving to god thank you i might have had a challenge a week but lord it would have been worse without you so thank you i heard people get sick but lord you kept me so i say thank you and then i got sick but you brought me through the sickness and walked with me in the six minutes and got me out of the sickness and i got to say thank you that could have been you on the highway with your vehicle turned upside down but you ought to say thank you some of you been riding two weeks with a nail in your tire but you're still here coming to his presence with thanksgiving this is not for form or for fashion or for uh for anything else but coming into the presence of god thanking him for what he has done and more importantly thanking him for who he is because he is god alone so good to see you mountain view and friends of mountain view and guests and those who came back home this is homecoming sunday as it is every single year this time every single year it is homecoming sunday this second sunday of september last year we still had it but of course under those conditions and as we are adapting because covet has not gone anywhere watch this it's still here as a matter of fact it brought its cousins delta and lambda with it but we have adapted you see that and sometimes the pain never goes away but god gives you the strength to adapt to it can anybody say adapt to it adapt you gotta adapt because if god is not going to take it away then we trust him to give us the strength to adapt to it amen and that's what we have done and so this year as we have every year this sunday we are going to celebrate our homecoming just the little uh family business we want to announce and i'm sorry where did cj must have stepped out but i'm sorry cj but next week we the men's ministry has declared that next week brethren 100 men in red and we're going to be talking we're going to the theme is healthy hearts and covered souls and so we want to get 100 men in red so if you got red if you got a red tie if you want to wear a red handkerchief as long as you're not blood and be in the blood up in here don't bring gang violence but we want our men to wear red we're going to take photographs and we're going to look good and i know one of the praise leaders he's walking down in his red you'll have to wear that again cj you'll have to just wear to change the shirt and wear it again 100 men in red so what's the color brethren for next week red and that symbolizes healthy hearts and of course covered souls covered by the blood of jesus christ and that's on next week the other thing is uh bishop carr has launched a as launching a ministry and it is a very relevant ministry in matthew chapter 25 jesus uh talks and tells a parable about a man about and he's talking to his disciples and he says he goes through this litany of things he says when i was hungry you fed me when i was thirsty you gave me drink when i was naked you clothed me and when i was in prison you visited me and they said well when did we when did we do that and he says if you do it to the least in the kingdom you have done it unto me and so we do know that many of you have family or relatives or friends that may not have the rights of being out here in the general public maybe they are incarcerated we want to reach out to those who are incarcerated so amen that's ministry especially when you're getting it right out of the text it cannot be challenges irrefutably undeniably what we are supposed to be doing and so we're launching a pen pal ministry now if you have a family if you got a cousin that's that's that's incarcerated if you got a relative that's incarcerated that's we're going to ask you uh to uh in in in the next couple of weeks to be submitting that information uh if you'd like to be a part of the pen pal ministry where we're writing uh we're gonna we're gonna ask you to sign up on next week uh there is going to be training because there are so many guidelines that have to be followed and we want to make sure we're doing the right thing the right way amen and so uh again and you say well that's not me you know the the best thing to do is sow into ministry because you never know when you will need to be a recipient of that ministry i wish i had a witness there's some parent that never thought they'd have a child in jail or in prison you never thought it would be you so the best thing to do is to sow against harvest when i say sow against harvest i'm saying if there is going to be a negative harvest start sowing positive seed and it's not that you won't reap but it's the good seed and the good harvest can choke out some of the bad harvest amen so let's do it let's be a part of that on next week we will give you more details we need we need not just women brethren we need you to get in this thing too uh statistically there are more men in prison than there are women so we have if we have 50 women and five men that is a problem even for the judge let's be a part of this be a part of it like next year it may be your relative and somebody give some god some glory on that amen [Applause] so bishop carr has launched that and that's that's something he's very passionate about and we're gonna uh we're gonna get behind that ministry and uh and see what the lord does with it uh on this morning i am excited and we thank our praise leaders for doing such a wonderful job smiling and singing uh all of you thank god for you you look good you're singing good you're singing strong like you always do uh but i'm excited you if you don't know alvin daniels brother alvin daniels is a strong influence in our brotherhood right now which is really undefined right now i don't know what the brotherhood is right now i don't know where the parameters are but we do know that that god has been using uh brother alvin daniels in a tremendous way many of you receive may be receiving his monday devotionals especially during covet he was one of the voices that that spoke to encourage many people uh and he's still doing it he travels everywhere he's he's as a matter of fact he's here there and he's building his work there the hope church of christ in miami florida i do know from time to time i see some of you your facebook pages and you you chilling you turning up in miami few of you even in the pandemic forget this pandemic i'm turning up because if i don't turn up i'm going to turn loose you might as well say man don't try to don't don't do that don't be like that you know you know but if uh but uh one of the one of the benefits of bringing and having people to come in from different parts of the country is it gives you a frame of reference as to where you can go if you're ever in miami amen if you're vacationing in miami and your vacation is from friday to tuesday don't vacation from worship hello sometimes when we vacation we're like you know what this is a vacation from everything that might we can't afford for god to vacate so don't you vacate worshiping and if you're in miami you need to visit the hope church of christ where brother alvin daniels is the minister he's going to say a mighty word get your hearts ready for a mighty word i want to sing a song damani i gotta ask him because he's so much vertically superior to me he has vertical superiority everybody stand to your feet only you [Music] how many of you believe the lord is holy is he holy in your life only you are home holy only you are worthy [Music] lord is you lord thank you lord [Music] only you are wonderful jesus for there's no one else like you [Applause] [Music] faithful to me anybody got one of those a testimony [Music] close your eyes and sing to the lord only you except for the safety team [Music] only you are worthy lord worthy lord worthy lord [Music] worthy of our praises yes you are only you are wonderful true [Applause] [Music] i'm a testimony for there is no one ever you've been so good to me lord [Music] i don't have to say a word i'm a walking testimony i'm a walking testimony are you a walking testimony sometimes all you have to do is just walk up in the place yes don't have to say word don't have to say a word because you should have been dead a long time ago yes you should have been there [Music] but god reached down and saved you [Music] and now my resolve is there is no [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] bless the lord on my soul [Applause] and all that is within me bless his holy name if you got a testimony you ought to give god some glory right now give god some glory come on y'all can do better than that come on come on let's give god a standing ovation in here what about a standing ovation amen is he worthy i said is he worthy he's a praiseworthy god and he's worthy to be praised we're thankful we're grateful to all man god because he indeed has been better to us we've been to ourselves and we rise on this morning to give him the glory to honor that is through his name there is no god like our god because our god is the only god he has no competition there is no other there is no god like our god great is the lord and greatly to be praised and he is to be feared above all gods amen i was going to sing a song but i changed my mind amen i know now what the priest felt when the glory of god filled the temple text says that they could not enter the temple because of the glory of god they couldn't do anything i mean they became obsolete because there was so much glory in the house that's how i feel now i feel like it's it's hard to get in here because there's so much glory in the place amen i i feel like i don't even have anything to say because there's so much glory in the place amen amen certainly we are grateful we're glad to be in that lord's house on this morning we're thankful that god has allowed us to come together one more time and again to worship him in spirit and also in truth and i'm grateful to be here with the uh mountain view church of christ and i'm grateful to be here with my great friend jk hamilton one of the greatest preachers come on y'all instead one of the greatest preachers in our brotherhood thankful to god for him and to him for his uh friendship his fellowship for his camaraderie for his giftedness gifted expositor of the word of god one of the greatest teachers and preachers of the world y'all say amen come on now and [Applause] no preacher like jk and i'm thankful to god for him not on him but first lady sister hamilton god bless you good to see you first lady amen [Music] charismatic and just gifted loving kind thoughtful just a great woman of god and we thank god for you as well give it up for first lady this morning i um i feel validated now that i'm here at mountain view um we went to park yesterday when we get to get something to eat yesterday and um they said that if you bring your ticket to the restaurant to prove that you have eaten here you can kind of leave on the house because they'll validate your past i feel like when i leave here i'm gonna be a better preacher because i've been validated at the mountain view church of christ amen we're thankful we're grateful i bring you home of greetings from the hope uh church of christ in miami florida we are privileged to serve as minister and evangelist and when you come to miami our motto is you come on vacation but you leave on probation so you all of you turn up us all of the turn uppers be careful when you come to miami amen you come one way and you leave another amen uh but god bless you and we thank you we appreciate you so very much for allowing us to come this way to share our spirit our faith with your faith and our love for god with your love for god as well and we're thankful to god for homecoming at mountain view home coming in mountain view let's give god the glory for keeping blessing amen [Music] and i want to share this morning i ask you to pray for me i'm going to share in a very tight-lipped kind of way doctors took my wisdom out i have no wisdom this morning and so i'm going to through the discomfort i'm going to ask y'all to pray for me this morning amen that god's will will be done that he'll use me in a magnanimous way even on this morning amen it's good to see all of the people that we know and those who we do not know god bless you we love you with the love of the lord since the bank so good to see you is good see my good friend dr thomas thomas jackson with us this morning his wonderful wife great man of god love him i got a story to tell about uh he and myself we became street walkers in atlanta a little while ago amen but i i just keep that close to the best amen we didn't make any money we owe money when we got through street walking amen ain't that right brother jackson amen we owe money when we got done amen god bless you this morning let me let me let me share uh in a way this morning that might uh bless us and help us to put into context where it is that we are in this pandemic season that we're in many of us don't even know how to conceptualize what church is and what fellowship is and what worship is amen but this is not the first time that we've been asked the people of god in this position there's another time that i want to talk to you about but the hope the trust in the prayer that god might bring some clarity some illumination revelation to uh how it is that we pull it together how it is that we go forward by faith trusting that god is still in control y'all interested this morning ezekiel 37 has your eyes to your feet if you couldn't would ezekiel 37 on this morning you know is a singing church y'all is a singing church praise is high here i i've been to some places where they can sing but this is this is a whole nother level did y'all hear that oh whole another level hold another level on another level i think i'm enjoying this church i'm gonna join this church amen um i feel like my card i'm gonna give an offer in the day i'm joining this church baby great church renowned church bless church ezekiel 37 and i want to uh truncate a passage that um will offer us a predicate for what we want to share even on this morning ezekiel 37 i want to read 3 4 i'm going to 7 and then i'm going to 11 and verse number 12. ezekiel 37 3 4 7 11 and 12. amen y'all all right this morning and this is good for us peter said it is good for us to be here feel like feel like church feel like church amen been a while since we've had like church church it feel like church church amen amen for real for real church church amen amen ezekiel 37 3 have it say amen ready say bless the word and he said unto me son of man can these bones live i answer o lord god thou knoweth again he said unto me prophesy upon these bones and say unto them o ye dry bones here the word of the lord verse 7 so i prophesied as i was commanded and as i prophesied there was a noise and behold is shaking and the bones came together bone to his bone verse 11 amen then he said unto me son of man these bones are the whole house of israel behold they say our bones are dried and our hope is lost and we are cut off of our parts therefore prophesy and say unto them thus says the lord god behold o my people i will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and bring you into the land of israel let the people of god say amen pray for me if you would and could as i sermonized from the subject out of verse number seven is coming together come on y'all say it in your spirit it's coming together be seated in the presence of the lord brothers and sisters ladies and gentlemen um uh the text before us is a a classic text it is one that most of us are familiar and acquainted with it's the valley of uh dry bones it's one of those passages and texts that is oftentimes preached in the context of revival revival that is the coming back the raising up the renaissance the renewal the resurrection and such a text is preached because there is at least the sentiment that something is dead something is is dead and dying late something is not necessarily alive something has lost vitality and strength and vigor and vitality and so i want to leverage this text on this morning for a short while and when i say anything about short time and give me a few more minutes y'all say take your time preacher amen just just helping you out take your time i want to leverage this takes because it's a text that is relevant right now apropos it's a text that if we modernize the text we'll see the value and the power and the potency of the passage and as i talked to you today i'm really talking to me too talking to me because i too and we too must put in context where god has us right now as the people of god and most of us are somewhat familiar with the the graveside service men of the cloth clergy we know something about a graveside service and because of the advent of covet 19 most of us have become oriented or at least familiar with the graveside service and the graveside service is a service that's held graveside it is because there is the necessity of going uh directly to the point because maybe for some reason or another we were not able to have the standard service you see come come to the church we'll have a funeral a homegoing service and then we'll make our way to the cemetery and we'll make our final uh deposit sometimes it is the case that you can't come into the building for for for numerous reasons some of those reasons might be that that the church ain't even available just it's not available to anybody we can't assemble we can't congregate we can't come together in the church so we go directly to the graveside and then we'll have our service there sometimes it is the case that there is a scheduling conflict it didn't work out couldn't get the church it was available but but we didn't make the arrangements and because we didn't make the arrangements we'll show up at the graveside and we'll have the service we have the service there and sometimes it is the case that uh the deceased maybe had a wish or maybe had the desire i don't want to go to the church i don't want to have my services at the church maybe they fell out with church maybe they don't like you know the church and just take me to graveside family honor my wish i want to have a graveside service and the reasons are many sometimes we just don't want to we just don't want to do it all and sometimes we have made a request sometimes we can't afford it sometimes we go directly graveside to make our final deposit but this is the place where the man of god the servant of god will will give his committal give a word of encouragement consolation to the family pray a prayer benediction and offer some closure to the family make the final deposit and then walk away but brothers and sisters ladies and gentlemen god has called ezekiel in this text to do a graveside service oh it's a graveside service and and it's one of those services where he goes directly to the problem he goes directly to the graveside where the deceased is laid and he has to perform a duty on behalf of god in order to bring some context some closure to those who are deceased so ezekiel is not really familiar with this process but he's been called nonetheless maybe you don't know ezekiel this uh priest turned prophet is not even used to this process you see he's a priest he comes from a family of priests you see his dad and his dad before him and his father before him they were all priests and priests don't really deal with people like prophets do they kind of deal with them behind the curtain behind the wall there's a barrier we don't deal directly with people and they have this orientation that they go to god on behalf of uh they go to god on behalf of the people and prophets go to the people on behalf of god and that's a different paradigm y'all understand this is different uh when you go to the people on behalf of god you are a prophet but when you go to god on behalf of the people you are a priest and ezekiel has been called at a time where he's not even familiar with this process because his backdrop because his orientation everything that he knows is about the priesthood but god has called him to now become a prophet not a priest but a prophet and because of his orientation because of what he's been taught because of what he knows you know the ironic code of priesthood he uh he's not familiar with going next to dead things see because of the cold like the cdc of that day the aaronic code of priesthood you're not supposed to even go close to the dead because you could become corrupt and contaminated you don't even touch this stuff you don't even get close to it for fear that you yourself will become unholy so ezekiel has been called to be what he has not been to do what he has not done to say what he has not said and to do a thing that he has absolutely no familiarity with so he's out of place he's out of sorts this is new to him and because this is new to him he's having trouble even with the assignment because god told him in ezekiel chapter number three uh son of man i have called you to be a watchman over the house of israel and that is i need you to watch out for the souls of men you are responsible for the souls of men and not only that but you are a watchman over the house somebody say over the house but we have no house you're responsible in a way that you would normally be responsible if they were in the house but they ain't even in the house and son of man i know that they're in bondage i know that they're in captivity and i know that they're on lockdown i know that they're incarcerated but you are still responsible for the souls anybody seeing this and he is a he's a watchman and so so ezekiel has been called in the midst of babylonian captivity and if you want to know the sentiment of the people psalm 137 by the rivers of babylon there we sat and we wept when we remembered ziya for there they that led us away captive and those that uh took us into captivity required of us a song they said unto us saying us one of the songs of zion but we said how shall we sing the lord's song in a in a strange land y'all seeing this how do we praise god how do we worship god in a in a strange land this this we're not familiar right here we don't understand where we are we don't even know what this is and we don't know if this is going to how shall we sing the lord's song enough in a strange land y'all know what it means to be in a strange place it's a head space it's like i'm i'm in a place and i've never been here before and i'm forced to find some normalcy even in a situation where i'm not even normal there's nothing normal about where we are how do you praise god how do you give god what you've always given god in a in a strange place where sometimes you don't even feel it you know you're not with it it's not surviving and it's hard to kind of wrap your mind around how do you sing the lord's song in a in a strange lane but it's coming together this is an answer not to a question but to a sentiment with brother daniels what's the sentiment it's at verse number 11. look at verse number 11 of the text the sentiment is that uh then he said unto me son of man these bones are the whole house of israel what about the house of israel for they say that uh our bones are dry and i hope is lost and we are cut off did that hit just in what's the sentiment god we uh we feel like uh our bones are dry our hope is lost and our parts have been cut off bring that back and give it to us again we we're dead i i hope you know csi you know uh sometimes you have the cause of death so hamilton the cause of death right there's a cause of death and you get to the cause of there by looking at the evidence you look at the body you look at the corpse post-mortem and you make certain determination as to how a person died you see and when you look at the corpse and you see that the bones are dry they're saying really we die because our bones are dry the bones are dry is the evidence that our hope is lost we died because we lost hope and now we feel like we cut off i don't think y'all getting this morning uh we're dead we're we don't have the life that we used to have we don't have the fervor that we used to have we don't have the spunk the zest the power that we used to have why because our hope is lost well how do you know that your hope is lost because our bones are dry and bones being dry is a sign and a symbol that there's no life on the inside you see our hope is lost and because our hope is lost our bones are dry and because our bones are dry we are cut off of our parts you see metaphorical language that means we're over here and we're over there in the hip bone and ain't next to the thigh bone and the thigh bone and next to the leg bone and leg bone and next to the ankle bone ain't none of this stuff together we we we're not connected like y'all don't like my sermon we're not connected like we're all over the place we're fragmented we're in pieces we're in part we're not connected like we used to be connected we at one time we were a body at one time we were together at one time we were connected at one time we can feel each other now and i knew that the next memo was next to the next memo because we were there together but now i feel like we cut off in and i don't know where the other member is and i and i don't know what happened to the other extremity and i don't know what happened to the leg and i don't know what happened to the other body part because we are cut off and we are all over the place how do we get like this how do we become scattered and how did we end up in a graveside service and why is ezekiel coming to us telling us that it's time to come together why is ezekiel preaching the way he's preaching and why did god send him in the first place it is because god is saying to the church today it's time for us to bring it together because a body is supposed to be together you see the anatomy of who we are is supposed to be connected and whenever we lose connection uh somebody got to do something to bring us back uh uh together look at your text i'm almost done with you somebody say take your time y'all i said y'all ain't gonna help me today verse three [Music] son of man can the bones live can't son of man can can it be revived you see son of man can we can we pull it back together again and i know you saw the dead bones and i know you've had the opportunity of surveying the dead bones and i know you saw members who had become defunct you saw members who one time were in the game members who used to be on fire members who are gifted members and body parts that used to be in their place but now they're scattered son of man you saw the body before you knew that the body was together at another time but now the body seems dead do i have a walking mite uh the body is seen son of man my question is can we bring these members back together can can we bring the families back together uh doing doing this whole captivity many divorce they separated you see husband and wife they were together they were lovey-dovey at one point came to church together god is good all the time and all the time god is good but are the smiths okay are the jacksons all right you know is daniel's name okay because i hadn't heard from them what about the children i i hadn't seen the children in a while they are they okay in that house over there what about what about brother jones i hadn't seen brother jones he's a leader himself so he says he is is he okay and and what about the members that used to serve are they okay can they live what about mountain view good god almighty mountain view is is mountain view okay son of man is mountain view gonna live are they gonna get past this pandemic will the membership make it will the church come together with it would it be what it used to be and more son of man can these bones live ezekiel ezekiel is having a hard time with this he's struggling he's struggling because he's looking at it and it's not a good look you see he's been asked a question he's preached now turn profit if you ask the priest a direct question he'll say no because he's dead and god ain't even supposed to be in this position by the way and i'm not saying i'm not even supposed to get close to this dead stuff because even me when i get close to the dead stuff i feel like i'm i'm dying too this is tough god and you're asking me a question about dead folk i don't deal with the dead i kind of deal with the living you remember that's my backdrop that's my that's my orientation that's my and you're asking me a question about the dead can these bones live again well let me let me put it back on you god you know that's what to do when you don't know what to say you i want y'all to feel it now you know i'm i'm a mere man you see i'm caught up too this is tough for me too and i feel what the people feel because i said where the people say not to have my consternation and i do have my trepidation and i do too have my worries my concerns and i feel it too and i've experienced death myself and i'm going through some changes to it and this is a burden for me because i said where the people sit and i'm feeling it so god uh [Music] you know because i don't want to say no because you guys because you're god but i'm human too and when i look at it through human eyes no it's a goner it's melee around here there's a stench in the air and i see nets and flies and flies and nets and the flesh is now no longer on the bones and i don't even know where these things go in about and i don't know if that's a female i don't know if that's an unbone and i don't know if that's an anger bone i just don't know god i'm human and i don't know what the future is going to hold but i do know who holds the future in his hands [Applause] so he says prophesy preach y'all say it listen i'm not gonna go back and forth with you is it you here's the remedy preach see prophesy you know just just speak the word why because the power jk is in the word oh you you don't even know you don't even have to know anything about the body anatomy you don't have to take a class on this all you got to do is preach i didn't call you to put it together i called you to preach i didn't call you to make sense of the whole thing i just called you to preach one word preach just give them my word just just sound off tell them what thus says the lord but but but god how we gonna bring brothers so and so and so someone so back together preach how how we gonna pour members back together who ain't even thought about church preach how we gonna bring families back together that are fragmented and shattered and all over the place you ain't got to worry about all of that all you need to do is and sometimes jk it's just as simple as that because we worry we be concerned about is someone so going to be okay are they coming back to church and we're the members that they they sounding over and i ain't seen them and i don't even know if they praying over that preach it's overwhelming to try to take it all in because because why we're responsible for the people you see we care about the souls of men anybody in this house today we care about the souls of men god has given us a charge and he told us to be a watchman over the house of israel but we don't even know what's gonna happen we don't know if every member will realize their their true potential we don't know if they know that this is just a test of their faith in god because we now realize that folks were like coming some of them for the wrong reason good god almighty we now realize that their faith wasn't really in god it was in the building [Music] [Applause] that's why they said how can we sing the lord's song you know you you're trying to get me to serve god to praise the word we're in a strange place am i still obligated to give him glory in a strange land i don't have what i used to have i used to sit next to sister kirkwater and brother so-and-so i'm used to seeing him and shaking his hand and that was my validation it felt like i was right with god and i went to church and i put a couple of dollars in the plate and i and i took the lord's supper they call it union communion and and i and i shook a few hands and and i sung a few songs and we prayed the prayer and i felt safe but how [Music] do you give god your best when you find yourself in a strange land when you feel like your power is gone you feel the disconnect you feel like you're out there by yourself isolate it on your own and you must defend and thin for yourself you see and this is where we are can i talk to you for a moment can i for real talk to you for a moment you see when he says we are cut off of our parts we were living based on the life of the one that was next to us you see our relevance was the connection see i knew that i was an arm bone because i was next to the hand bone that was my identity that's how i knew my place but since we cut off who am i really what do i do i'm i'm just the peace i'm just the part but my true function was my connection but when i lost my connection i felt irrelevant come on church y'all got to help me right here y'all just got i felt irrelevant i felt like my signification had dried up and i didn't know the meaning of what it meant to be a child of god when i got cut off when i didn't have the familiarity when i didn't have those connects that i used to have and when when i didn't hear a certain thing when i got cut off from apart i felt like i died oh i was there but i wasn't really living i was around but there was no life can i keep it real right in here some some of us are here today but we don't lost our hope some are here today but we lost our joy and because we've been around the church for a long time we know how to fake it y'all ain't ready today we know how to fake it right because we just we just i'm going mobile we act like we got joy but we really don't y'all see me can i come on this side right here um but because we've been cut off uh the the peace that we used to have we really don't have it anymore because we're overwhelmed with with fear and doubt and faithlessness and hopelessness why because we feel like we're cut off anybody feel cut off like like like i'm disconnected with joy i'm not in it like i used to be i don't have the power that i used to have and i'm not connected with the body like i used to be connected with the body and i don't pray like i used to pray and i don't sing like i used to say and i don't even give like a like like like like cut off god tells the man of god preach and when he began to preach look at it the bible says that when he began to preach at verse number five thus says the lord god to these bones behold our cause breath to come upon you y'all don't see it dude you're gonna need some spirit now you're going to need some wind you're going to need you're going to need the breath but they say watch this hour calls it because you can't make this happen and i know you like to be in control and i know you like to be in charge but you can't make this happen he said son of man if you preach i make it happen if you give them the word of god i will make it happen if you tell them what thus says the lord i will put the breath in you because you got to have the breath of god and the breath of god is the life of god it is the very power of god it is the spirit of god when you preach the word i will cause life to come back into you and not only that the text says and i will lay some news upon you y'all don't see it i'm trying to tell you it's coming together somebody say it's coming together you see the surnoves is the stuff that connect the parts it's the joint you see not that joint these are the joints right [Applause] you got to be pacific around here i'll send the spirit and then i will watch this i will put the news together i'll connect them together because you don't know your power until you're connected with the next member because the joints hold the power the members don't hold the power it's the joints and without the joints that gives the connectedness to the members there is no power you see my hand my arm ain't lifting this water it's the joint and you will never see the power of a member until they're connected with a joint he said i know that they're scattered i know that they're all over the place but i will put the news together i'll connect the members and watch this watch this elder watch his elders because it's right up your alley right here um i'm gonna put the members back together again you ain't gonna do it i'll do it because sometimes there's elders and pastors and overseers sometimes we think it's our responsibility to pull them back together it's our responsibility to bring the youth together he said ah i'll put them together i'm gonna put real members together i'll connect them at the joint i will do it as long as you preach when you preach i bring them together when you preach i'll pull them together and when you see the preaching of god's word and the members coming together you know that it is the work of god good god of matter [Applause] he says bone to his bone so you've been next to somebody you shouldn't been next to them in the first place okay you're out of position because you should have been next to another member that compliments you and and and you are out of sorts in the first place but god is saying through ezekiel that i'm gonna put people where they supposed to go i'll put them where they really belong he says brother thomas bone to his bone you ever been in a marriage and you felt like oh okay got quiet just in let me let me leave that alone you felt like this this ain't okay you ever felt like something was missing okay it's real quiet in here now you're supposed to be soul mates but you feel like mismatched okay let me get out of this area all together let me let me let me do this alone he says bone to his bone he's going to connect us in a way that we were not connected before you see because there's a bone that belongs to your bone there's a part that belongs to your part now what you can do is put yourself in a position that god didn't put you in you got to wait on god to put you in a position that you're supposed to be in and he says i'm going to do it and you don't have to do a thing and all you have to do is preach the word and watch this below i should have been done by now somebody said take your time all right that's the test he said i'll cover i will put flesh on you y'all see the cover right here because only god can cover you see god has to put skin over the bones he's the covering you can manufacture skin just like you cannot cover yourself god has to be the cover i'll put the breath in there i'll bring this news back i'll put skin i'll cover it and then when ezekiel begin to preach the word the bible says behold there was a noise a shaking and a coming together y'all ain't ready whenever god is doing the work there there's a noise that there's some sounds that it makes and when members are coming together when when god is doing the great work there's a there's a noise there's a shaking and there's a coming together there's a noise there's a shaking and there's a coming together i said there's a noise there's a shaking and a coming together if if god don't make the noise then we can't come together there has to be some noise and sometimes it ain't even purty it ain't pretty and sometimes it's noisy and whenever god is doing the great work sometimes they get noisy and when ezekiel is preaching his word he's getting some feedback because the bones are talking back he preaches in the bone make some noise and when brother daniel's preached somebody don't say something back like amen and praise the lord something like that the bones are responding to the word of god behold there's a there's a shaking and there's some noise but there is a coming uh together anybody seeing this right now that there's the coming together and i know it don't look like or you wanted to look and sometimes it's it ain't the picture that you're used to seeing but god knows how to bring it together how do we bring marriages back you preach the word and it's coming together and sometimes when it gets noisy around here when there's a lot of shaking up around here and when people are moving around god is doing a great work why because it's coming together and when we pass by the building this morning and we saw some bricks and some other stuff it looked real messy over there but i say i like that picture because that says that's a sign that something is coming together and i know you want to see the finished product but sometimes it's good for you to see the coming together because god is in the coming together because god wants you to be a part of the process of coming together because you need to make some noise why god is preaching the word while he is pulling the church back now now this church would be a different church all right y'all don't like that let me let them put my bible up like i'm done this is going to be a different church why because when israel went into babylon captivity they were not an army they were just members and they were carted off in a babylonian captivity but they didn't see themselves as a as an army you see the mentality of an army is different from that of a church okay all right god is raising up something but it ain't church it's an army they didn't see themselves as an army because as an army they were defeated that's how they landed in captivity in the first place see people who are in the military army men army women they're not concerned about themselves they don't focus on their own life they fight battles that are not even theirs they stand in the paint they put their lives on the line they they sat anybody hear me today they sacrifice you see they they put themselves on the back burner they put the mission first it ain't about them they're willing to sacrifice they're willing to go without they're willing to put their own lives on the line and when they went into babylonian captivity they were just members and every man did what was good for himself and that's why they ended up in that place in the first place but the take says when ezekiel began to preach the bones came together and after god put skin on the flesh it stood up somebody said stood up it stood up as a mighty oh man y'all don't see it when we died we died to selfishness but when god raised it up again it was an army y'all see it right here it's an army why because god used captivity to help them to realize who they really were god used the captivity god used covey at 19 to show us a picture of ourselves okay because they thought they had it together before but they had so many niceties around them they had so much furnishings they had so many objects in the place that they thought they had it together but when they went into babylon in captivity they all died they said our bones are dry but wait a minute your bones didn't just dry because of kobe 19. kobe 19 revealed that your bones were already dropped so god had to show them that you were already dead that you didn't have it together in the first place that that fake joy that you had that wasn't real joy the fake peace that you had that wasn't real peace the fake love that you had that wasn't real love kobe 19 revealed that you were already dead and fellowship that you thought you had you really didn't have and life that you thought you had you really didn't have and love that you thought you had you really didn't have [Applause] so god gave a visual i'm done god gave him a visual he used ezekiel to report the visual they were already scattered when they were in the building they were already scattered but god had to dramatize he had to put them in a unique position they had not been in before he had to put preachers in a position that they hadn't been in before they've been used to going into the temple they were insulated and isolated from everything else and all of that going on i don't know about that all i know is when they come here i go before god on behalf of the people but god said ah i want you to see them like they really are i want you to see how broke they are i want you to see how hurt they are i want you to see how wounded they really are and i want you to see the fabric of their families that is already torn aside y'all see this and so can i have a moment of transparency i'm gonna turn the people loose right here so us preachers now uh us preachers we've been seeing some stuff we we've been seeing some stuff we've been seeing we've been seeing israel in another life doctor we've been seeing israel in another light we we we thought israel was like dressed up and israel was beautiful and she was pretty and she had herself together and she had on a nice dress with a matching bag and a red bottom shoes and a hair dead and a nail did and a foot sid [Applause] what we call that home [Applause] we caught it in our own environment we caught it in our own atmosphere she couldn't fake it she couldn't put herself together real quick we saw like she really was she didn't have it on her head [Applause] she didn't have time to put no mascara on she couldn't put no lipstick on it she couldn't get it did it wasn't on fleek the browns wasn't there the lashes [Applause] the lashes were on the nightstand [Applause] i'm trying to paint a picture the wig was hanging up in the bathroom [Applause] the waist the girdle it was hung up [Applause] israel is that you [Applause] i'm trying to preach my sermon baby is that you [Applause] [Applause] i'm messed up now [Applause] cause i thought presentation was the reality and what she stepped out in was so much different from what was in her it was scary [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] she didn't even imagine frightening cause what we thought we had you really didn't have it it was makeup it was mascara it was lipstick see what is cute [Applause] doing this as cute as we thought she would so what is we gonna do the word that we preached before calls her like to dress up to be what she was not [Applause] we helped her to become pretentious she said the right thing she had the right walk right talk right look but now that we see we got some work to do so when zika said i heard a noise it was a change that's being made it was shifts things that were over there shifted to where they needed to be and stuff that was way over under shift came back this way and while they were shifting they clashed oh jesus help me you can't make noise until there's another bone so there were there were clashes there were conflicts we're going somewhere but there will be conflicts will be noise gonna shake because we gotta get her together and in the stuff that we pretended to be has become a reality and the praise that we were given on sunday had to be like that at the house [Applause] because he came to church and gave what she didn't give at home oh good god of mine god can you help me with the rest of this her husband was telling them all the while she ain't what she appear to be he was saying y'all think y'all know her i'm telling y'all that ain't her she's different at home when she ain't around the rest of y'all she's different she don't sound like that she don't act like that that's not our spirit and god say i can show you better than i can tell you uh i'm done can i can i reach up can you look at first number verse number 10. can you stand on your feet we read 10 together i'm done i'm done y'all some good people here somebody say it's coming together look at look at look at 10. he says so i got the preacher i preached my heart out i gave him all i had [Music] i wasn't even used to preaching like this but i had to preach to the situation i was preaching in theory before but now i assess because god put me down there and he took me real close to the situation he took me down see i want to get up closer now preach preach to the reality preach for real don't sugarcoat it don't make her feel good if she don't need to feel good [Applause] you're making her happy she needs joy she been happy but when things hit happiness didn't help preach now a real preacher [Applause] preach to a hurt preach to the pain preach to the problem anybody in here preach to them children preach to the husbands preach to the wives preach to the church tell them get right church so i preached verse 10 [Music] and commanded me as he commanded me and the breath came back the breath came back the spirit came back it's coming together because the bones had to have spirit he had no spirit and the breath came back and they lived and then they they stood up [Music] as a church as an army [Music] it was after an army not a church because sometimes churches and church goals can't function in a war [Applause] he stood up and and this graveside service was reminiscent of john 11. they went this time not to make a with a deposit but it came to make a withdrawal [Applause] so what was dead came back to life marriages that were dead came back to life men that were walking dead man unaware of who they were where their call was what their sign ain't even have no sword in here when we left the graveside service they were ready and sisters and women and wives stood up because now they got life again what they took for granted before they can no longer take for granted again and i'm done but i got to tell you come on y'all i got to tell you that in john 12 which is a component of john 11. after lazarus was raised again people came but they didn't come for jesus only they want to see the dead man that was now [Music] living they all missed that when they came this time they said it's not just about jesus but it's jesus who's working in the people they don't want to see they can go anywhere to get jesus but we want to see the man that used to be dead come back to life because there's a new glory there's a new power there's a new testimony y'all ain't saying nothing here there's a new life there's a new spirit there's a new worship there's a new praise there's a new love there's a new forgiveness there's a new potential there is a brand new power and as long as lazarus is walking around people can say there goes the work of god why because it's coming together put your hands together if you believe it's coming together come on give god the glory give god the honor give god the praise is coming [Music] together here's my invitation if you're here this morning it's like what we call this the moment of truth right it's like when we like for real all pretenses go out the door it's homecoming and it's time to come home because some of your concern has been my concern where they had though and the bones have to make some noise because you got the shift anybody need a shift will you respond to the word that was preached will you make some noise will you prove that god is in a shift in your life that you wasn't where you needed to be you were way over here but when you heard something the spirit then one that was over here way over here on the outskirts shifted the one that was way back in the back shifted and people who are out of position and out of place and wasn't for real about their faith in god they shifted do you need a shift man do you need a i don't know the protocol is do you need a shift is there a marriage that needs a shift is there a heart that needs a shift is there a soul that needs a shift are you a bone somewhere are you a member out of sync out of source out of place are you one that need to shoot if you hear the day of this shift if you need to come down come on now you ain't gonna even need no sun we're gonna say anyone but you really need no song for this we want to see shifting like somebody over there across here and somebody back there shift over here why because that's my word i know i need to get together there's some stuff in me that needs to change if you're here today not a child of god come be one today have faith in god faith come by hearing and hearing by the what word of god if you heard a word a rainbow now not regular word that's me not a sermon it was me he was talking to me it hit rhema god spoke come believe with all your heart his son of god repent of your sins confess him to be the sweetest name on water tongue if you're not a member of the church be baptized today for the remission of your sin go down the center come up and say rise to walk in the newness of life be faithful unto death and he'll give you a crown of life that fadeth by the way is anybody hearing me today you ought to be saved save sanctified meet for the master's use and then there's this gravesite revival you ain't gonna stay dead not today [Applause] it's time to come on we're gonna make a withdrawal today no more deposits we're gonna live today it's coming together and if you're the one that needs to shift we want you to come right now right now while we sing a song is coming together your life need to come together and i need you your spirit needs to come together your attitudes need to come together [Music] it's coming together [Music] your house [Music] who you really are [Music] my family our finances emotionally [Music] [Music] god has on your life [Applause] [Music] i hope you're go lost nice and low nice and low can i can i just finish it right here for a moment just a moment jk the people said um i hope it's lost and will cut off [Music] hope is the cord it's a rope they said the reason that we feel so lost we lost our core our hope is lost we felt hopeless [Music] we're [Music] and somebody said we have this hope which is the anchor of the soul because when you don't hold on to what you need to hold on to your soul drift and then you drift so far away can i talk to somebody do you drift so far away you didn't even realize you were way over here [Music] you thought you were closer than you really were but that's how it happens when you lose your hope my hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness they're not trusts swedish fighting but but holy oh jesus name come on somebody holy lean on jesus here's what i want to see here's what the spirit want to see the one that's dressed up but on the inside messed up [Music] it ain't about looking pretty today ain't about pretending like you got it together it's a graveside revival we don't have time to pretend that we are as strong as we look on the outside now is the time to get real strength i heard paul said when i'm weak that's when i'm strong and i don't care nothing about coming down these aisles come down here give me some prayer because when i boast in my weaknesses that's when i get the power of god i know god can't help me until i make some noise can somebody come and get the hope today somebody feel lost disconnected confused depressed suppress oppressed is there a marriage here husband don't look at wife wipe don't look at don't do it come on if you need prayer if you need a covering if you need spirit if you need a joint to put your account are there children here are there young people here that feel disconnected like man my family ain't what my family i thought my family was we used to be a church-going family but when mama fell off and dead it fell off i feel bad [Music] because we used to do it together you see i had some structure we we went to the house of the lord together but but ever since this captivity it's like man y'all going today we what is we gonna do we are we together what and the young people they're confused too can i minister jk can i minister the young people they're confused too cause what they thought they had they didn't have it they was looking at other people who they thought had it together but they found out that it went together and they don't know where the bottom is [Music] because they need to see mommy and daddy stand up brother and sister stand up leadership stand up [Music] not leaders not leaders that wear the shirt in the tie in the shoes but real leaders who roll up their sleeves and get out there where the action [Music] is he's coming again let's sing the song if you need him if you need [Music] and i walk with you god and i walk with you god show me [Applause] down here raise your hand if you [Music] show me the ways [Applause] when i'm down here peace [Music] [Music] show me when that's not the right way to turn lord show me show me even when my friends tell me wrong lord just show me and i'ma listen you may be seated let's give god did anybody get their word brother alvin daniels the spirit of the lord came mightily upon you god always makes the word intersect with need even when we don't feel like we needed the word i needed that word that was just that was heavy you walked heavy walk mighty heavy and we thank god for you that's what one of the things that homecoming is about not only is it about those who have been gone coming physically but it's about coming home to god and we definitely appreciate that mighty word of the alvin daniels i'm going to go to god in prayer there are there are many that have come forward and uh we're going to ask that those who came forward if you would stand and uh we want to pray with you um in that number brother tim brother tim brown who's been coming he he will be uh he will be leaving us to go uh uh to do chaplaincy in the military and uh he's been a blessing since he's been here and we're gonna pray that god gives him not only traveling grace but that as he pursues this career that the lord will bless him to be impactful and effective in the military right now the military is is under pressure and i can't think of anything that the military needs better than the word from the lord right so we're praying for him let's let's go to god in prayer father god in the name of jesus we thank you for this day we thank you for this moment you did this lord we we we we we could have scheduled it but you did it and lord you spoke through brother alvin daniels and you gave us what we need and even lord if there's anyone who feel like that they did not need this word lord give them revelation so that they can see the need for this mighty word lord we come on the behalf of those who have come forward lord you know their business better than we do and lord we don't want to know their business because we can't do anything about most of what their business is but lord you can bring it all together and lord we ask that you make yourself obvious so obvious in their lives that they'll be able to track you and thank you and thank you and track you and see your hand in their life there are some in here who have lost loved ones have had to say goodbye by the graveside have mercy lord sometimes the death comes so fast before you finish grieving for one you have to start grieving for another lord if you don't have mercy on us we are not going to make it so we humble ourselves before you saying we need your mercy we need your grace because we can't do it by ourselves lord our bones are dry this covert season has not the wind out of many of us have displaced many of us but we thank you for the preaching of the word that can bring it all back together dear father we ask that you would be with our beloved tim brown as he leaves and embarks on this new career lord we know you'll keep him wherever he's going just like you kept him here and because we know you'll do it we're going to thank you now we don't have to see it to say thank you because we know you can do it now whatever it is dear father even those who are standing and those who are in the balcony and those who are young people and those who are old older saints and those with young families whatever it is lord we know that you can meet our need better than we can describe our need lord you can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask think or imagine so we're asking that you do what you do and we'll be careful to give you the praise and the honor and the glory thank you right now thank you right now we're not going to wait we're not going to wait to give a testimony our testimony is in the making so thank you right now in the mighty and precious and powerful name of jesus we pray let all who agree say amen let's give god some praise again for this mighty mighty word we're going to ask we're going to encourage you to stay for the bible hour uh brother alvin daniels will give another uh a class an encouraging word classes uh probably uh we're gonna go to about 12 30 12 40 uh with that so that'll be immediately after the service uh again we want to encourage you men what is next sunday 100 men in red all right no bloods no no no red bandanas hanging out the back pocket please uh so that that's coming and then of course uh we are going to also be talking more about the prison ministry on next week afternoon mountain view i'm here before you for the offering this morning i will be coming from hebrews chapter 13. now hebrews chapter 13 talks about how to live a positive christian lifestyle verse one talks about keep on loving each other verse two talks about don't forget to show hospitality to strangers verse three talks about remember those in prison remember those who who have been mistreated verse 4 talks about give honor to the marriage remain faithful to one another verse 5 talks about don't love money be satisfied with what you have verse 7 talks about remember your leaders so it talks about all this then we get down to verse 14 and it says for this world is not our permanent home we are looking forward to home yet to come to a home yet to come verse 15 therefore let us offer through jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to god proclaiming our allegiance to his name that's something we always talk about is praising god praising god praising god we always talk about that but then verse verse 16 says and along with praising god and don't forget to do good and to share with those in need these are the sacrifices that please god we talk about praising god all the time but it also says and do not forget to help others because this these things is what pleases god when you have and you can't do one without the other and still please god you can't praise god and not take care of everybody else and expect to please god so we have praised god in here already already we praise god now it's time is that a song for me to sit down like we're at the oscars or something i'll put a sit down but before i sit down y'all throwing me off now before i sit down there are many ways that we can help others as you know on the 5th sunday every month we have a not every month but on the fifth sunday we have a time when we give for benevolence and that has been great we have been able to help others this particular gift that we did on the last fifth sunday we're helping a school we're helping kids we have families that are in need that's how you share that's how you share so once again we praise today now it's time to give and you give you can give through paypal you can give through giblifly you can also give at this time at this time the brothers will come down and you can give i'm sorry singing oh lord oh lord i've come i've come to receive [Music] my face [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] everything [Applause] get in line is [Applause] is just a reminder uh sister mcdaniel's funeral will be here on wednesday at 11 a.m once again sister mcdaniel's funeral will be here at the building wednesday at 11 a.m also before we say our our prayer for dismissal if your grandparent asks you to i'm gonna go ahead and ask you to stand you're gonna stay if your grandparents stand up all grandparents paw paws mean moms nanas sona grandmothers have a lot of names when you when your grandfather you just have paw paw that's it y'all got me me nana big mama all right so today is grandparents day yeah grandparents day except for all you grandparents i hope this day is well i hope you don't have to cook at the house today hope somebody take care of you and thanks for all you do some of y'all okay now has everybody else to stand as we dismiss and before we do that i just want you guys to to as we pray each and every day every night keep our young kids in your prayers this world is it's different kids can't go to hurricane hard without getting shot kids can't go to six flags without hearing gunshots what are we doing what are we doing and where are we going very sensitive because i have babies out there some of you guys have babies out there this is not a video game so i grew up playing video games where you play these shooting games and you have about three or four lives and then in one of them games you do a cold you have unlimited lives this ain't no video game our kids get one life and the bad thing about it is kids out there don't realize that if i take his life they gone and you gone innocent kids are getting killed and it's very sad so we have to continue to pray for our kids pray for everybody everybody because we so let's pray the lord we thank you for this day thank you for allowing us to come out here and just have a wonderful worship service the field of glory in this house to hear your word we just thank you for the opportunity so we pray that this world will get better we pray that our children can be safe we pray they can do the simple things as just being kids going and just enjoying themselves we pray that they can be safe just doing the normal kid stuff we also pray for our parents our grandparents we have to raise these kids give them the wisdom to instill in the kids the morals and ethics that they need to be respectful law-abiding follow us we're missing that lord we're missing that just be with us as we as we try to be the the light in this world but this light just seemed like it just gets dimmer and dimmer with all the things that's going on give us the zeal and the energy to relight that candle so we can show them the way to you and somehow we can change this mindset though we pray for all the families who have lost loved ones due to the pandemic due to illnesses to whatever it may be give them the strength to keep carrying on give them the wisdom to understand that you are still in control no matter what happens but just give us the attitude to where we have to lean on you and depend on you because nobody else can do the things that you can do but we also pray at this time for this offering that we have taken up we pray that we will take it and use it in a way that people can benefit from from the things that we share because as you say we should take care of one another because this does please you so lord just be with us throughout this week when we get the wins in this hump day be with us be with us in jesus name we pray amen in about five minutes yeah it's done oh [Music] every day [Music] everybody should testify because god's been good to you [Music] your only son to die only [Music] way back in calvary [Music] i'm walking alone [Music] oh [Music] let's do what we need to [Music] [Music] testing testing testing testing one two three in about four minutes we're going to reconvene in here for the bible uh class portion four minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] one thing he had jesus [Music] [Music] let's show his love and stand up for what's mine lord i have made all my mind [Music] oh god [Music] god is good that was one of y'all testing god is good i need to get some sync right here god is good y'all say all i'm saying god's good y'all say all the time and i say all the time god's good god is good and all the time god is good grateful to be here even on this afternoon uh we won't be long psalm 137 psalm 137 psalm 137 thank you for staying back and stand around and uh bless uh you can't holly here testing testing testing can you hear me now testing testing testing blessings are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled psalm 137 and my lot is to talk to us for about 10 15 minutes as a component to what we preached on this morning and offer just some color and another angle at the self same scenario psalm 137 very familiar passage we alluded to it on our way through our preaching psalm 137 have it say amen ready say bless the world say bless the word bless the word by the rivers of babylon there we set we sat down yea we wept when we remembered zion we hanged our hops upon the willows in the midst thereof for there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirror saying sing us one of the songs of zion how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land look at verse number two if you would we hanged our harps in the willows in the midst thereof if there was a thought and a tag it would be don't hang it up don't don't hang it up somebody say don't hang it up don't hang it up it's really a metaphor an expression that really means don't don't give up to hang something up uh dr jackson means that i'm i'm tired i ain't doing it i'm i'm hanging it up i'm quitting i'm out i'm done um israel in this text under these circumstances are saying that i'm i'm hanging it up i didn't know that brother daniels because they're going into babylonian captivity and on their way there the root that they would take led them between two rivers that's why texas by the rivers of babylon that we set when we wept when we remembered zion so the route to babylon led them between two rivers and on these river banks there are these trees called willows we know them as weeping willows it's a tree that uh was a sad looking tree you know the the brush the the leaves just kind of slooped over anybody seen the wood willow before we did not not a living tree like you don't want these in your yard because it make your yard look bad like it's sad that's a sad house that's a sad tree so along the banks of these rivers where they were traveling at um are these weeping willows these sad looking trees and it's a sad time too because the trees kind of are indicative of the moon that they're going through so the banks they they're walking down here and they are going into captivity we're going to be over here for a long time 70 years and they walk into these rivers and they see these weeping willows and and the priests and the levites are the ones that were carried off like the talented tenth of israel priests those who worked in temple the administration king see these are the ones that are being taken off the first contingency so these are the praises people who conduct worship service like like your team right here like like these are the ones that got the the harps and when they're going uh down by these rivers the bible says that we sat down when we remember zion and we took the heart that we had like the thing that we our joy makers like the stuff that we use for worship and praising god and giving god glory they say we just took them and just kind of hung them in the tree we hung our harps in the willows in the midst thereof in other words we're not going to praise there's no cause for praise so we these are useless here obsolete irrelevant so they took the harps they hung them in trees and they sat down posture somebody say posture so when you serve god you stand right they said we ain't even standing we're gonna sit sit we're sitting down on god we're sitting down on god so you got the weeping willow you got the heart that's being hung up in the tree and you got people sitting down and not on that but the bible says they wept like like crying boo-hoo crying like you know i i miss home because they remember like zaya and it's that memory of what used to be that's got them sad sad and blue and blue and sad just just depressed you know uh despondent like i don't feel it it's a sad occasion and they sat down they wept when they remembered zion but the people like uh that were babylonians dr jackson they said um can we test y'all can we because we know y'all some praising people over there we heard about y'all y'all are praises and in the temple the church was the center of like the epicenter of life over there now you don't have a temple the walls of your city are broken down you're now in babylonian captivity can we test your faith can we get y'all to like like crank up a song like y'all saying one of the songs about because we know y'all some singing people full of the spirit of god you know zest figure vitality sing us one of the songs of zion and we say it uh we can't do it we don't know how to praise the lord in a strange man see it how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land here's what you don't see manola tree somebody say monolatry monology it's this idea that you know our god leads us into battle like the battle of the gods and back in this time jk the gods went to war against each other like you have their god like zeus mercury and then your god would be going up against my god when we went to war our army would fight your army and that was really a testament of the strength of our god because if my god be your god you come into babylonian captivity but if your god be that god you don't come and y'all win because you've got a greater god so there's this hierarchy of gods right and so when when israel went to babylonian captivity it was like your god lost your god ain't that good like you say he is he ain't almighty he ain't that powerful he don't have all that might because uh the evidence is that y'all in babylonian captivity we won y'all lost so israel feel defeated like man how god did lose because that's monolith it's the ranking of gods so evidently the babylonian god is greater than our god and they were taunting them saying sing us one of the songs that you're saying to your god and we say how can we sing the lord's song when we're defeated we feel like we're lost we're in this position because our god weren't strong enough to pull us out and our relatives died and mama died and we left people behind and church ain't what church used to be and we feel distance we remember [Music] sorry why are you remembering because it's lost we saw it go up in ash right and uh so my word to you today and i'm done somebody say take your time preacher ain't nothing change [Applause] don't hang it up i don't care where you at i don't care what you're going through i don't care what's surrounding you i don't care what's going on in the world don't hang it up you're gifted to praise and it's regardless of circumstance don't say well i praise him when things are going well no even when you feel like you're incarcerated even when you're being led through a sad time to a sad place with some sad people that saying some sad stuff he said don't hang it up get that a harp out of that willow because it don't belong up there because there's a conflict there's a joy maker and there's the willow so the joy maker surrendered to the willow not only are we in captivity but we surrendered the joy of the lord to the sad situation that we were in he said no hold on to your joy hold on to your praise hold on to your worship even in the midst of your weeping willows don't hang up somebody say it don't hang up don't give up don't give out and don't give in and i know we're in a tough time i know we're in perilous times i know and my brother that came up to pray he was moved y'all saw him he was like real sad like man what's going on right here the kids and the world he was overwhelmed because of these willows there's a lot of willows out here but don't hang it up because you're the only thing that can remind people of the power of god and what god is able to do even in the midst of a depressed situation don't hang it up that's our word may the lord watch between while we're after from the others always after accomplish [Applause] anybody's gas tank full you ready to go another week run on and see what the end's going to be amen amen i'm going to ask brother brother uh will you come and give us a prayer uh hooper yeah who i should know that because he does that hoop thing let us all stand please [Music] if you're near someone please grab his or her hand dear lord um we just want to say thank you um you're so good to us we come to you come to you right now as i'm lee and boldly as we know how privilege it's a privilege just to know you and to be in your presence and let us never take your presence for granted yes the lord um jesus who came and died for our sins let us be eternally grateful for that for the words that were preached today from your word every time we open your word the lord you're speaking to us um yeah you you always have something to say yeah and then you're always gonna bless us or chastise us which is a blessing within itself thank you for your holy spirit a comforter our utterance um yes um i tap on the shoulder when we get out of line um let us be mindful of him your angels michael and gabriel our protectors as we continue to battle this this this spiritual warfare with satan and his angels this is real it's real we can go on and on and on and on we're looking forward to seeing you eternally dead lord and worshiping you forever this will be enough for now it's in the darling matchless and marvelous name of your son jesus the christ our lord and our savior and our friend and with the utterance of your holy spirit we say amen you

Channel: Mountain View Church of Christ

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Length: 183min 22sec (11002 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021