Pastor Tolan Morgan - STRANGE THINGS Are Happening (POWERFUL SERMON) | 2017

i want to summon your senses and invite your intellect to the gospel as recorded by saint luke chapter number five if you can give me just a little bit more in the monitors i appreciate it luke chapter five and it is there that the holy spirit has highlighted for us this familiar context of scripture beginning with verse number 17 the bible should read and it came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching that there were pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by which were come out of every town of galilee and judea and jerusalem and the power of the lord was present to heal them and behold men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him and when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch in the midst before jesus and when he saw their faith he said unto him man your sins are forgiven you the scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying who is this which speaks blasphemies who can forgive sins but god alone but when jesus perceived their thoughts he answering said unto them what reason you in your hearts whether it is easier to say your sins be forgiven you or to say rise up and walk that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins he said to the sick of the palsy i say unto you arise and take up your couch and go into your house and immediately he arose up before them and took up that whereon he lay and departed to his own house glorifying god and they were all amazed and they glorified god and were filled with fear saying we have seen strange things today i want to snatch our subject out of verse 26 and tag this text strange things are happening you may be seated in the lord's church in august of 2013 our nation paused to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march on washington 50 years then which would be now 54 years ago dr martin luther king along with other religious and civic leaders led a march to the steps of washington to lead the charge in bringing change in america with regard to job equality with regard to educational inequality and with regard to the end of jim crow laws 50 years ago now 54 years ago that march happened in our nation paul's to give celebration to give reflection to give commemoration to that event on that day history records anywhere from a million to two million people converged on washington dc at the steps of government to call for change as related to social equality job equality and the end of jim crow laws on that particular day the charge was led by religious and civic leaders in which they became the voice for the voiceless and the representatives of those that have been victimized by such inequality in america on that day a million to two million people were led by civic and religious leaders to the steps of washington d.c to plead the case of those who would not speak for themselves such is found in luke chapter 5 in which four men picked up a man who could not move who could not speak for himself they picked him up and brought him to the steps of government was not earthly government but it was the feat of heaven's government in the person and personality of jesus the christ they brought him to this undisclosed place where jesus was teaching the bible says there in verse 17 that the power of the lord was there to heal as well as to hear the word of god that undisclosed place had now become christ's personal custom-made sanctuary in which the word was going for the power of god was present people were present there was a crowd there it was crowded at that place where jesus was teaching and preaching and demonstrating his power that undisclosed place had now become jesus custom-made sanctuary there were some friends who knew that they had one friend who was suffering from something that could not allow him to get to jesus on his own so they went and picked up their friend and brought him to the steps of government that they might inquire change on his behalf they got to this place they could not get in they placed him in his bed because he suffered from palsy they positioned him went on top of this place tore the tiling out of the place put a hole there picked the man back up lowered him down in that hole and placed him in the steps of government that's the story let me back up and share some things out this text that are pertinent to our walk with god then we'll all go get some chicken together if you can read the bible and you like it a little bit this text shouts at us that the only reason and the initial reason why this man's life was changed because of intercessory evangelism [Applause] the agents of change ladies and gentlemen were four men whose names were not known all we know is they love their friend enough that they would bring him to the steps of god's government that change might happen in their lives i believe it ought to shout at many of us who have been saved for a while that there are some people who are suffering with things that will not allow them to come to jesus on their own [Applause] and they need some intercessory faith some intercessory prayer some intercessory evangelism who loves them enough to go pick up their paralyzed friend and bring them to the lord's house and we will observe that at the onset of this event jesus qualifies their actions as faith the text says when he saw their faith not his faith their faith it shouts at us ladies and gentlemen that there are some people in your life whose lives are going to change because god has given you enough faith for you and them both i can't get no help here do you understand that your parents faith is the reason why you got faith right now yo your grandmama name faith and and your pastor's faith and deacon sowing so faith is the reason why you got faith right now god has given you enough faith for you and your children and your children's children until they get to the place where they can love the lord on their own somebody ought to take a minute to thank god that when you could not bring yourself to jesus somebody loved you enough to bring you to jesus on credit all right you're still not feeling me we we need to investigate what did jesus see that that made him qualify their actions and not the man's sick let me try it again what did jesus see that made him qualify their actions on behalf of an inactive man what did jesus see that made him qualify their actions on behalf of an inactive man i i won't suggest that first thing jesus saw was the weight of helplessness w-e-i-g-h-t the weight of helplessness if you like the bible a little bit you'll discover that it took more than one man to pick up this paralyzed man it took four men to pick up one man which suggests that he was not only helpless he was heavy and what he suffered from made him heavy you're going to get this in a minute he he wasn't just sick he was heavy and he was so heavy it made four men have to pick up a living man as though he was dead you're gonna get this in a minute he he was so sick that it made him look like the living dead and jesus says it was their faith that was important because they loved him enough they made him their dead weight let me talk to this side here they loved him enough they made him their dead wait still didn't get it they loved him enough that they were willing to make him their dead weight nobody's saying amen on this side of the church because they're upset that there's some people in your life who have been nothing but dead weight in your life but might i suggest jesus is going to give you credit for caring around people who are weighing you down and mean absolutely nothing to your progress because you love them enough because they are in your life and they're only weighing you down god is crediting your love for them as an act of faith okay maybe you ain't saying amen cause you are the dead weight but let me talk to the real people in here who testify you ain't just carrying yourself around you can round your sister's children and your brother's nephew and somebody else who's only been dead wait [Applause] in your life i got some grandmothers in here who are taking care of your grandchildren against your will i've got some aunts and uncles in here who are carrying around other folks children against your will i've got some pastors or preachers around here who are toting around people who don't want to act in their own faith they want to be a parasite to the pastor's faith i'm trying to tell you that god is about to bless you and credit your caring around somebody else as an act of faith [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he not only saw their weight of helplessness the text says he saw how they handled the wall of heartlessness if you like the bible a little bit you will look back at luke 5 and discover that they when they got to this undisclosed place of which jesus has made his custom church he got there and they were carrying a man that was heavy but the people that were following jesus were not nice enough to get out the way and let them in the church let me try it again they got to where jesus was preaching and ran into some mean ushers at the front door who wasn't nice enough to let them act i know y'all see me carrying this man it ain't just one of us carrying them it's four of us carrying them and sometimes some of the meanest people in the world are in the lord's church ladies and gentlemen let me mess with your theology and tell you you can't have the joy of the lord and be mean as hell at the same time that's theologically impossible get me away from a church where people ain't even nice i i don't care how much you shout i don't care how many tongs you speak in if you can speak to god and can't speak to me i will not be back to your church [Applause] tell your neighbor i thank god i go to a nice church every time i show up at my church they speak to me at the church as a matter of fact if y'all been in here for 30 minutes and you've been sitting on the same road with people and you haven't spoke to one another since you've been in the church one of y'all got a rattlesnake men talented but might i suggest that when there is a nice atmosphere the special things of god can happen as a matter of fact take a few minutes and speak to everybody you haven't spoken to yet because it's one place that we ought to have the joy of the lord and it ought to be the lord's house if there's ever a place where we ought to have some hospitality and some love and some kindness it ought to be the place where jesus dwells [Applause] you see me carrying this man you won't even be nicer though [Applause] to move out the way [Applause] hey what did jesus see he saw the weight of helplessness and the wall of heartlessness and guess what since you throw in the weight of helplessness at me and the wall of heartlessness i'm going to take the weight of hazard you don't want to let me in the front door this what we're going to do we're going to position him down right here i'ma go up on the roof tear a hole in the roof lift up my friend and lift him beyond you who won't move you still missed it i'm a position my friend go on top of the rooftail hole in the roof pick my friend up lift them through the hole and get beyond you who won't move since y'all missed it let me give it to you this way jesus says it's an act of faith if you will still get resistance from church people and still press towards jesus [Applause] because what this text is tailored to teach us pastor sharp is that there are some people who are only going to get to jesus once somebody bust up the establishment still missed it some people ain't coming to jesus the traditional way they gonna have to go the untraditional way and bust up the establishment and come a whole nother way [Applause] the truth be told some of y'all didn't get saved on sunday that's just the day y'all came to church some of y'all got saved in the club when the bullets was going and the lord kept you some of you got saved driving down the street when you had an accident and you finally realized god is trying to talk to me so you found your way to the lord's house can i tell you ladies and gentlemen everybody ain't coming to church in your black suit and tie everybody's not coming to church with your long or short dress some people got to come in the untraditional way and then we'll change them later tell your neighbor we got to bust up the establishment [Applause] i know you used to structure but we got to bust up the establishment i know you used to order but sometimes there's got to be some things that are not done in order for jesus to get some people saved [Applause] and i'll take the way of hazard if it means getting to jesus over folk who won't move now here's the crux to the text here's the crux to the text i want to make sure i get this right the text is silent on how long it took them to get the man ready to go the text is silent on how long it took them to get him up from his house to where jesus was so we don't know how long it took them to get him ready and how long it took them to get him to the place he gets to the place gets to the church the ushers won't make way for him they sit him down go up on top of the roof go back down pick him up lift him up put him through the hole put him down in front of jesus for jesus to only tell him your sins are forgiven [Applause] let me talk to these people over here let me try one more time let me get this right jesus you made me go pick this dude up i walked him a long way you'll have to sit him down in front of this crib they wouldn't let me in you made me go up on top of the church tell a hole in the church come back down pick him back up put him up through the hole for you to just tell him his sins i'll forgive him [Applause] you mean to tell me i went through all that for you to just tell him his sin [Music] [Applause] is forgiven [Music] man you could have just come on outside if that's all you got to say you're being a little insensitive all you have to do is come on outside tell them to move out the way you're just telling the man his sins are forgiven then we head back to the crib but i went through all this for you to just tell him he's been forgiven ladies and gentlemen that's all jesus had to say to me [Applause] jesus never addressed his palsy jesus gave him pardon for his sin because there's no need of addressing the fruit when i've addressed the root the only reason why he's sick with palsy is because sin paralyzes that's why some of y'all ain't moved in this church since you've been in here cause you got last night's sin on you and it won't let you lift your hand it won't let you open your mouth it won't let you tell god thank you because you've been paralyzed by sin well maybe what which one should be like if we stop having praise and worship and start service with lord forgive me maybe your mouth will open maybe your hands will open up maybe you're giving glory [Applause] because unforgiving sin produces paralysis preach toll and margin [Applause] that's why praise and worship is such a tuggle cause you're trying to you're trying to get people who are paralyzed to move that's why preaching sometimes is such a struggle because you're trying to preach your hospital full of paralyzed people who need to ask the lord to forgive me because forgiving people know how to move lord i wish i had some help in here do i got about 50 of y'all in here that would testify the only reason why you in here and woke up this morning because he forgave you [Applause] sin paralyzes so if i address the sin i don't have to address the sickness [Applause] if i speak to the cause i don't have to address the effect because i've already set you free when i forgave you of your sins where are the forgiving people that i'm i'm not talking about i'm not talking about those of y'all that just go to church i want to talk to the forgiving people who every time somebody say jesus you go crazy because you know that's the forgiving power that's in his name every time we have communion you're something in your spirit is quicker because you start thinking about how good he been in relationship to how bad you've been whether people like that will testify i'm gonna give god praise not for my car not for my house not for my job because i've been forgotten see they used to shout about being forgiven so you're not now you need a prophet and a prophecy but somebody tell you god gonna do something in seven days listen if he never does anything else he's already done enough anybody here grateful that you've been forgiven [Applause] all right [Applause] here's the tension of the text here's the tension of the text jesus tells the man that he'd been forgiven hey man your sins have been forgiven i don't need to speak to your sickness i need to speak to your sin which caused the sickness [Applause] and at that point church the defenders of religion aka the pharisees and the doctors of the law who feel they've been called to religion but ain't been called by god of religion rise up in the congregation who does this man think he is he can't forgive only god can forgive uh it's it it clearly shouts at us that they didn't know who they were talking to yeah because because if what they were questioning had already been answered only god can forgive and he who you looking at is god they didn't have a problem with divine forgiveness they had a problem with human forgiveness [Applause] jesus was in the human body and he was an untraditional preacher because he did not fit the mold of the traditional rabbi and priest so they had a problem with him because he didn't carry around what they typically look like so they considered his declaration blasphemous what they did not know is is that jesus could forgive and so can we forgive when god is in us the only reason why jesus forgave him because god was in jesus and the only reason why you can forgive is because god is in you ladies and gentlemen forgiveness doesn't make sense because forgiveness says to let somebody off the hook who hurt me forgiveness says forgive and do not retaliate do not have revenge just let them go so forgiveness doesn't make sense to the human mind it's going to take a god to be able to forgive people who scandalize my name who hurt my feelings who violated my space if god ain't in me i can't forgive but because god is in me i got the power to forgive you [Applause] and jesus forgave the man not to set him free jesus forgave the man so jesus could be free [Applause] because sins offend jesus who is god and when he forgives us he is setting himself free from his own wrath ladies and gentlemen when you forgive somebody you ain't setting them [Applause] free you setting yourself free all right grab your neighbor by the hand and tell your neighbor neighbor your blood pressure will go down if you forgive your hair will stop falling out if you forgive your stress levels will come down if you forgive your stank attitude will change if you forgive you'll stop being so evil if you forgive you might keep a relationship if you forgive [Applause] tell your neighbor i'm not going to spend the rest of 2017 bitter at nobody i'm going to set myself free from my own anger [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] um i forgave him not so he can be free so that i don't have to kill him the wages of sin come on help me preach it is death the gift of god is eternal life i'm forgiving him so i don't have to kill him see i knew y'all ain't been forgiven because if i say that right there you should not wait and save your sunday praise for sunday if you've been forgiven it means god has made the decision not to kill you and since you alive you ought to give him prize [Applause] cause he made the decision [Applause] not to kill [Applause] um this is where the text becomes tense somebody before we go on somebody thank the holy ghost it just set you he just set you free from your own anger now you walked in here mad you leaving out of here glad because you know it's somebody you need to call text hit up on social media and just tell them listen i forgive you this ain't even about you this about me [Applause] here's where the text becomes tense if y'all like the bible a little bit you'll discover that when jesus forgave the man the the defenders of religion rose up pharisees and doctors of the law who are trying to resolve this whole forgiveness issue and jesus in his spirit of discernment and in his divine omniscience questions their internal monologue they wasn't bold enough to say out loud what they felt they said it in their spirit who do you think he is [Applause] what is he doing it's kind of like how some of y'all thinking towards me right now who he think he is and jesus asked them a question that further complicates their questioning his question to them was why do you all reason in your heart which one of these things to do is easier watch what it says they trying to figure out uh is it easier to forgive him or is it easier to lift it come on let's go swimming and watch how jesus handles their question y'all ready he said y'all trying to figure out which one is easier he turns to the man and says rise take up your bed and walk y'all missed it y'all trying to figure out which one is easier watch what jesus said i'm not gonna answer your question i'm just gonna do both of them and let you figure it out on you gonna get this in a minute which one is easier i'm not gonna answer your question i'm just gonna go and do both of them in your face and let you figure it out okay since this center section don't want to talk back to me let me help you take note of how jesus handled the situation jesus never responded to his critics because your critics can never be satisfied whatever answer you give them ain't gonna be enough they gonna dog you if you do something they gonna dog you if you don't do something so you may as well do something and let them figure out the rest tell your neighbor i ain't got time to be responding to folk who can't stand me as a matter of fact to hell with them i'm going to do what god called me to do and let them figure out the rest talk to somebody and tell them i ain't got time to be responding to critics [Applause] would you touch your neighbor tell them you got too much going on to be wasting time responding to folk who ain't got enough [Applause] god to address you themselves do y'all know cowards need crowds they can't come to you by themselves they got to get in a crowd and you ain't got time to be dealing with cowards [Applause] [Music] i'm about that [Music] [Applause] jesus didn't even respond to none of them he just did what they questioned and let them figure out the rest here's the problem with the text hey sister this your point right here watch this [Music] pasta's sharp the story should have been over at verse 20. get your bible so you won't think i'm lying verse 20 says he spoke to the man and said rise take up your bed and walk should have been over should have been the end of the story should have went on to something else the whole rest of the story was a context for haters [Applause] i got rewind in my mind the whole rest of the story was a context for haters he should have got up in verse 20 because when jesus said your sins are forgiven in verse 20 that should have been it because if he's addressing the sin [Music] and it set him free he should have just got up in verse 20. that should be the end of the story but he didn't get up until verse 25. look at verse 25 in verse 20 he said your sins are forgiven in verse 25 he says i'll speak to the man rise up take up your bed and walk he didn't really get up until verse 25 but he should have got up at verse 20 but he didn't really get up to verse 25 he should have got up at verse 20 but he really didn't get up to verse 25 anybody interested in why the reason why he didn't get up till verse 25 because his critics hadn't started talking yet and god await right good till folks start talking to raise you up in their face [Applause] that's why you ain't up yet cause you ain't getting dogs yet that's why you ain't rising yet because folk ain't lying on you yet but when they start lying expect a rise to start happening cause god await right good until you get folk talking about you and raise you up right in their face that's why your critics ain't going nowhere because they're the context for your elevation preach toll and morgan the minute they start talking you ought to start thinking jesus because that's when you getting ready to lift up and he ain't gonna do it in the absence of your enemy he gonna do it in the presence of your [Applause] enemy [Applause] [Music] [Music] i'm trying to tell you that you need critics [Applause] so you can elevate right in the face [Applause] that's why you can't pray them away mary and rogers god used them to be the context for your elevation and he'll wait right good [Applause] until they start talking to lift you up right in their face here's the joke of the text this is it that's the second line i'm told in this sermon i'm almost there here's the joke of the text he tells the man to rise pick up his couch and go home y'all don't know what that means so stick your face in the text one more again if he tells the man to rise pick up his bed and go to the crib it means the people who blocked him at the beginning of the text got to get out his way [Applause] y'all missed it if he told him to pick up his bed go to the crib it means the folks who wouldn't move at the beginning got to move out the way before it's all over see what y'all don't understand is you ain't got to fight people who block you just get blessed by jesus and eventually they're going to move out the way [Applause] okay we've had enough thank y'all man yeah thank y'all i apologize i apologize for being alone let's let's end this text together he went out glorifying god uh and they said we've seen strange things [Music] today what strange things did they see y'all because you have a scholarly pastor you already understand uh that that that the english doesn't do the original text much justice as a matter of fact there are some passages in the bible that the english language purely disrespects the integrity of jesus so we have to investigate the original text in order to try to get some knowledge of what's really going on so if we investigate the greek text this this word strange is the word paradox sauce where we get our word paradoxes you've heard of the word paradoxes paradoxes is when two opposite thoughts get married in one sentence and they still don't defy the truth it means two opposite ideas are getting married in one sentence and they still don't defy the truth even though the opposite it's a paradox so your question to this brother minister is what paradoxes what strange things what opposite things did they see that day the first paradox they saw that they've never seen before is that they saw a door on a roof [Applause] there is no history of a door being on a roof but when jesus is involved he makes the impossible possible what else did they see they saw a full church at somebody's house jesus was there the word was being taught the power of the holy ghost was there healing was happening forgiveness was happening they saw a full worship at somebody's house maybe if y'all start having worship at the crib it won't be so hard to have worship in the hotel [Applause] tell your neighbor start having church at the house that it don't matter where we gather we can still give god glory because his power is there the word is there healing is there forgiveness is there and jesus is in the room [Applause] they saw a man paralyzed by palsy and then they saw another man paralyze [Applause] palsy said they saw a man paralyzed by palsy then they saw another man paralyzed pulse [Applause] so the paradox is another word for the miraculous that which is unbelievable but yet undeniable i thought i had some miracle people in here whom god has done some stuff in your life that is actually unbelievable [Applause] but yet undeniable here's the close y'all and the text says and they all glorified god and said we've seen strange things today wait a minute what do you mean they glorified god they glorified god [Music] they glorified god you're trying to tell me that the people who were inconsiderate to me at the beginning of this story got to hang around and celebrate me before it's all over [Applause] and they glorified god you wouldn't even let me in the building but before it's all over you shouting over my miracle [Applause] would you do me a favor and just grab somebody by the hand and tell them neighbor you look like i ought to be praising god for you right now [Applause] i'm not just gonna glorify god for myself but i'mma give him glory for you if you don't mind grab your neighbor by the hand and tell them neighbor i'mma give god glory for you because i believe that strange things are happening in your life anybody here can testify are seeing strange things lord is it anybody that can give him glory for the strange things that you're seeing in your life anybody in here a miracle all by yourself have i got myself in this place if it had not been you would have died a long time ago but since you came in here you came in stretched out but since you met jesus he put power back in your voice he put power back in your mind he put power back in your body now if he's touched you and forgiven you you ought not to ever come to church like you laying in a casket but you ought to come to church with your mouth open anybody here ever been forgiven then grab somebody by the hand i said grab somebody by the hand and tell them you don't need to know my business but touch me and i've been forgiven you don't need to know what i've been through but i've been forgiven you don't need to know what it brought me out of but i've been forgiven and since i've been forgiven i will let nothing [Applause] separate me lord from the love of god which is in christ jesus anybody can testify you be forgiven let the forgiving people give god to praise let the forgiven shout to victory let the forgiving people take one second and thank the lord because his blood wash your sins away ask your neighbor [Music] nothing nothing but the blood of jesus anybody here been washed in his blood anybody here he's done some strange things in your life and you had to say if it had not been for the lord who was on your side you would have been gone a long time ago but then grab somebody and tell a neighbor let's praise god for the blood that's washed our sins away let's praise god for the miracle of salvation let's praise god we came in one way but we're leaving out another way now let everything happen i said let everything that god breathed praise the lord i said let everything that god prep praise it [Music] you ain't giving god let all the forgiving people give him a [Music] [Applause] praise [Music] [Music] foreign

Channel: Inspiration Station

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Keywords: tolan morgan, tolan morgan fellowship, tolan morgan baptist convention, national baptist convention, td jakes, serita jakes, maranda curtis, tasha cobbs, cogic, steven furtick, michael todd, bishop noel jones, city of refuge la, frank e ray, jasper williams, timothy flemming, fellowship warner robins, john p kee, i made it out, jamal bryant, newbirth, kim burrell, potters house dallas, cogic shout, cogic praise break, holy convocation shout

Id: N4KziYhmE2w

Length: 54min 53sec (3293 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 19 2021