"Unexpected Opportunities", January 19, 2020

I'm standing in your will father in the name of Jesus now when your word may have come alive for your people let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer amen we open your Bibles to the Acts of the Apostles chapter 8 there's an interesting word in verse 4 through 8 and then picking up in verse 26 those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went Philip went down to the city and Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there when the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed they all pay close attention to what he said for which shrieks impure spirits came out of them and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed so there was great joy in that city verse 26 now the ancient angel of the Lord said to Philip go south to the road the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza so he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch and him an important official in charge of all of the Treasury of the Kandak which he called queen of the Ethiopians this man had gone to Jerusalem to worship and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of the prophet Isaiah the spirit told Philip go to the chariot and stay near it then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah's plumpie reading Isaiah the prophet do you understand what you're reading Philip asked how can I he said unless someone explains it to me so he invited Philip to come up and sit with him as you take your seat just look at somebody and tell them unexpected opportunities that's what I want to preach about this Sunday and this series on questions I want to talk about unexpected opportunities Luke dates the start of the church the spread of the church rather how it began to move into the Western world from this one passage he dates it from the time of the death of Stephen and the persecution that arose in Jerusalem against the saints of God religious officials saw this as an opportunity to blot out this new faith Stephen a disciple a deacon in the church a man full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom had been stoned just days earlier stoned for the preaching of the gospel and now those in power felt this was their opportunity to go forward they had laid a case for the demise of this believer sect these folk who followed this Crucified Nazarene and they had told others that they were preaching some false gospel and they had caused people to believe their lives and now they saw this as ample opportunity to wreak havoc on the new community but what they didn't understand is that that which is often meant for evil turns out working for good for this would become the event that would lead to the truth of the statement Jesus had told his disciples you will become my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world in other words I will use you to take my gospel anywhere and everywhere and it was from this terrifying event this most destiny deed done by madmen I aku men that the Lord used that which was meant for evil and turned it for good just so you get the flavor of this message touch somebody and tell them look at God the story then reads that we read it straightly from the straight from the page and look at the narrative as strictly what's written the disciples stay in Jerusalem the Twelve Apostles do not leave when the persecution began but they become aware it is necessary to ship out many of the leaders so that the message can still get out the other six deacons are divvied up and told that they too must make their departure from this city the forces of evil are read against them Paul or Saul who stood there holding the garments when they kill Stephen has been given authority to drag folk out of their homes and take them to jail it is not a pretty picture in Jerusalem it is chaos in the new Christian community believers are being arrested put in jail and some are being killed having been told that these deacons spread out many of the believers in leadership spread out and go to different places numbered among them is a man named Philip one of the Deacons of the church he takes his route to Samaria and there I believe he hides out for a while but then the Bible says he comes forward preaching the gospel but not just preaching doing signs and wonders oh you'll miss that not just preaching but imagine having a life that is more powerful than just words he has signs and wonders following him and vanetti lays hands on the sick and they are healed he cast out demons he calls out demonic spirits he opens blinded eyes and stops deaf ears and the Bible describes the results of his efforts and there was great joy in the city in the next verse we had on the next verses we're told he has some confrontations the early church sends believers down to the city of Samaria the Holy Ghost falls on believers there and then in the twinkling of an eye an angel of the Lord in verse 26 speaks to him and tells him to go down on the road that leads to Gaza the dirt road that desert road that leads to Gaza and he immediately follows and goes down the desert road and they are on that road dairy as he sees a man traveling in a chariot a chariot in this case is really a wagon some of you saw Ben Hur so you know there's nobody sitting in that kind of chariot reading nothing he's on the back of a wagon a comfortable wagon because he is a man of official status here's an important man in Ethiopia not the Ethiopia that we now know but the Ethiopia of that day here's an important man he is a eunuch he is the treasurer for kick wink and they say he is a man of means and importance because he has bought a scroll in he is reading it he is somebody oh and there's one last thing to say about him and he is a black man well I'll just drop that and keep on moving he is a black man the spirit tells the angel tells Philip get close to the cherry the sherrod is moving so Philip has to catch up and he catches up Michael on the side of the chariot and he overhears the man reading the scripture he overhears him as it was in that day people we're allowed so he overhears him and he runs a little closer because he can detect in the man's tone a sense of searching and longing for understanding you know how you read something and it's clear you don't know what you reading you read it three full times with different emphases trying to make sense and he looks up at the man and say do you understand what you're reading and the man looks back at him and said how can I understand let somebody interpret it so that's how some of us are with the Bible but that's another sermon the man looks at him and says can you help me and pulls him up and Philip begins to tell him about Jesus and when they get a little further he sees some water and the man says what hinders me from being baptized I've heard enough in this little half-hour ride to know I want Jesus in my life I don't need five years and 15 sermons somebody better get this I don't need the interview with the pastor and five meetings with the Deaconess and then checking out a Bible class I've heard enough and a half-hour to know this is where I need to be the community I need to be a part of and I want Jesus in my life he baptizes him in the Bible says in a moment he's carried away to our zoast us and carried them when I read that I thought about how the church spread but the Lord said you miss something look at somebody say it's time to go deep I've been telling y'all I love preaching at 9:30 coz 9:30 9:30 has all the deep people Mike I'm glad you came to visit us today at 9:30 because 9:30 is when all the smart people come to church look at somebody and say he only said it cuz it's true but I think there is so much more in this story Doug than reading the glossy print glossing over the Bible and Bibles quick Bible story and leaving it at the words on the page no my brothers and sisters this one text is the heartbeat of where you and I live right now it describes who we are and what we are facing at the dawning day of new set of new decade and in the morning of a new year 20 20 years upon us and there's some questions that live in our spirit and I want to dig up one today from the pages of this passage we read it and I read it to you and I shared it with you in a glossy story but let me share it with you a little deeper there is a persecution going on fill up a sanctified brother one of the members of the congregation a deacon in the Lord's Church and Deacon doesn't just mark a title of somebody walking around with a badge Deacon means servant somebody who's there to help somebody else somebody better get this whole lot of folk want a title but don't want a job Phillip had a job to do he was out being a servant to the community that meant people knew him people loved him and chief among those with whom he fellowships were the other deacons and one of them was Phillip Phillip was like a brother to him the first one named in chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles is Stephen the second one named is Phillip they are close they are tight they converse they they share thoughts and ideas they minister together and on a dark day they arrested him tried him and Phillip got the report that Stephen had been stoned to death y'all didn't get it he wasn't shot on a Baltimore Street no one killed him in their living room or dining room they put him over a cliff and then dropped boulders on him not little rocks they didn't just total stone at him they picked up large rocks broke his legs broke his ribs shattered his arms rocks fell upon his head fractured his skull until he died that is the memory that lives in the mind of Phillip that is the thought that grips him in grabs and my friend died for serving God I wish I had somebody on my street we sang serving the Lord will pay off but 7 the Lord got him killed serving the Lord has cost him his life and now a persecution has broken out in the church and they are rounding up Christians and the disciples have brought in the Deacons and said you all must scatter because we must preserve this word we must make sure this word gets out you must carry in other places we are not told who Phillip has to leave we are not told how hastily he has the back we are told that he leaves we do not know if he has a wife and children if he has to gather his children's belongings we do not know if he's given a month to get out of town but the fence of the Texas is like the children of Israel of Israel leaving Egypt they have to leave in haste he has to pack up quickly he doesn't even have time to think about what's going on people are out to get him I wish I had some folk in here who know what is like to be scared to death I wish I had some folk in here who know what it's like to be traumatized by what happens in your space come on don't lie I want to see the hands the folk who know what it's like to have your world rocked from side to side to the point that you don't know what's gonna happen next and how you're gonna handle your next move come on if I'm on your street wave happy in fact you've heard me say it again but lean over to the principles I say raise your hand before I raise it for you you know you in here lion there have been moments when you've been overwhelmed by the thought that you do not understand what's coming your way and how you're the handle it he goes he flees the city I feel like preaching this morning runs down to the city of Samaria hides out in Samaria slept five with somebody and tell him I know about hiding out I know about being in the house not answering the telephone I know about not wanting to hang with my friends my homeboys and my sister girls I know what it's like to be at work and eat lunch by myself I know what it's like to sit in the room with the lights off and the television off and just wonder how am I gonna make it through the night I'm preaching to somebody in here I know it's bout what it's like to have a good sunrise and a bad son that I know what it's like to have your world happy in the morning and falling apart at night I know what it's like to go to bed singing how I got over and wake up saying can I make it through the day I know what it's like to have your world flip and switch all of a sudden and you don't know which way is up and so Phillip is in some Mary are having a but something happens Jada while he's there something happens something happens in the verse says we don't we are not privy to all of what I've just shared the Bible is just giving us the commentary of a man who serves God and so what happens there comes a point when all of a sudden Phillip comes back on the scene and starts casting out Devils God item I better hear this rebuking demons healing the sick open blinded eyes and unstopping deaf ears he not only comes with a message but he comes with power God somebody get that he not only comes forth with a message but he comes forth with power and when power and a message get loosed on a people the Bible says and there was great rejoicing but wait a minute that that he's living now things are going good he's got his feet pretty much settled again when all of a sudden Mike all of a sudden Trisha the ground starts shaking again the angel of the Lord tells him get up go down the road the desert will go down The Diplomat just got it together where I am go down the desert road down the desert road that leads to Gaza just go we'll where am I going just go what am I gonna do there just go just get up and go down the desert road get up and go down and he gets up and he goes down the desert road he's wondering why am I here when all of a sudden he sees a chariot going around the same way there's an African no there is a black man on the cherry [Applause] now that's the sermon for Black History Month there's a black man in the back of the cherry and he ain't Driving Miss Daisy he's sitting back then somebody's driving him slap five but some bad something that's what I'm gonna do when I retire but that's another sermon I preached that next month he's sitting back there and the angel says go close he goes close and he gets close and as he gets close he hears the man reading out loud and he signs the ask the manticore do you understand what you're eating man says no I don't understand how can i unless somebody explains it and he pulls up Philip and Philip sits in the chariot and explains that this man who Jesus is and what Jesus can do and why Jesus is the best thing that ever happens to you help me somebody and that man in a half-hour fares baptize me and he is baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus look at somebody in town that's what I'm talking about but wait a minute this is what blew my mind this is what blew my mind Diane the text says as soon as that happens the Spirit of the Lord picked him up and told him go somewhere else now here's the question and this is what you and I live with every day I want to see the hands the folk who know that your life gets flipped up and down so many times come on don't play how many of you know your life has been scaring you sometimes because it's been flipped around so many times but here is the question that I think jumps from this text how do you find meaning in what God is doing around you while you are struggling with what life is putting on you here he is trying to make sense out of the uncertainty in his life he can never fully get it together because as soon as he thinks he has it together here comes something to shake up his world am I talking to anybody here who knows about your world being shaken up come on don't lie don't play I need to dis sermon is not for those who think you're living in the lap of luxury where everything is fine and wonderful I'm preaching the folk who know that your world can turn upside down in the twinkling of an eye and your question is how is it how can you find meaning in who you are and what God wants you to do if you have to live with so much uncertainty you are not sure about your job not sure about your health not sure about your relationship not sure about your money not sure about your sanity not sure about the government not sure about what people tell you am I talking to anybody here who knows uncertainty people will make you promises and won't keep them folk will lie to your face they'll pull the rug from underneath of you you'll be happy in the world or be spinning right for you one day and the next day you're on your knees crying it's not in trying to figure out how you're gonna make it I want to talk to folk this morning who know about uncertainty God when are things gonna calm down when are things gonna level out God soon as I get ahead something comes to knock me back soon as I think I've got it together here comes something else when I'm living in Jerusalem I gotta get out and go to Samaria soon as I get comfortable in Samaria I gotta go to Gaza soon as I think I got it right in Gaza something else changes and I'm in as ustus when Godwin come on if I have anybody in here who's been on the wind kick with God come on don't play slap five with somebody and tell them I live with so much on I don't know what tomorrow gonna bring coz it changes how many of you said I've been waiting for my life to get back to normal I've got news for you normal resets at 12 o'clock every night look at somebody's I can take that to the bank whatever was normal today don't look for it tomorrow the wind can change tomorrow the Sun can shine different tomorrow you heard the weatherman scare everybody half near to death on Friday and yesterday I need somebody to understand uncertainty tears our lives a buck how can I be who God wants me to be when every time I think I got it together don't don't don't see Phillip just said see him struggling God is changing stuff and my question God my question cuz I'm like Phillip my question is with so much uncertainty stable something is changing every moment God says the answers right here in this story I said god I don't see it he said you ain't seen it because you didn't read it right he said take a look at all the stuff you missed I remember that movie 6 cents little boy say I see dead people and the man didn't realize the only thing he could see him cuz he was dead took you to the end of the movie to go back and retrace the clues to then realize why he could see the man to whom he said I see dead people he could see him cuz he was dead you got to go back and retrace and then you'll find accused Phillips life is uncertain his hardest question his best friend is dead the ministry has been disbanded in in the city of Jerusalem the work that they do has now been pasal out the people who aren't even trained he's running for his life escaping down into into Samaria hiding out laying low later he's on a road going to Gaza just trying to get somewhere and it doesn't even know where he's going but there's something that's consistent in both and that is this God says you need to understand when you are wrestling with uncertainty my answer to your uncertainty is unexpected opportunities my answer to your question about uncertainty how am I supposed to function amid so much that is uncertain in my world how am I gonna make these payments and I don't have money how am I gonna keep a roof over our head and the mortgage is so high I can barely pay it I wish I had company in here how are we going to keep these children in school when we're losing jobs and income how is a god says mass is unexpected opportunities because I March you when I saved you now this sermon is for those in the body of Christ and it is an invitation for those outside God said you don't understand when I saved you I mocked you in Genesis I created you and I walked with you in the cool of the day but you slipped and fell so what I did I had to send my son to redeem you to bring you back to me but after I brought you back to me I realized that I needed to be in you to help you and so I filled you with the person presence and power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit does something he mocks you help me somebody he mocks you and he opens a door that no amount of life can shut I need you to slap five with somebody and tell them I'm about to show the Holy Spirit does something for you that no amount of life can take away from you the Holy Spirit makes it possible so that no matter what you are dealing with you are still capable of hearing the voice of God speak to you no matter what you're going through god I don't know who I'm preaching to but I see five shouts in my spirit that are about to break this house out he says you don't understand the Holy Spirit does something inside of you he keeps he is like Atlas holding up the wall he is the world he is like Samson pushing down walls in other words the Holy Spirit no matter what light is trying to press and compress you into the Holy Spirit keeps a channel open so that you can always hear the voice of God you can hear God's voice can I get a no action by Philip is done by himself it is the voice of God that causes him to make every move he makes I need you to slap five with somebody and tell him I'm so glad I hear that voice I hear it in my sleep I hear it in the car I hear it when I walk on the street I hear it at my desk I hear it in the bathroom on the seat of the nation I hear it in the car I hear it at the gym everywhere I hear the voice of God that voice of God speaks to me I need somebody in here who knows that has kept you in some tough situations because when you hear God's voice God is always announcing to you and unexpected opportunity what do you mean preacher he'll start showing you stuff and saying stuff that you would not otherwise see he will not let life drown his voice out in your head that's why some of you have not lost your mind in the situation's you are in because the voice of God has been speaking to you I did not bring you this far to leave you now I am your guard and keep up I will serve your going out and your coming back in some of you've heard him say stand still and see the salvation of God because I will do this for you slap five with somebody and tell them there's something about that voice it's so sweet the birds hush their singing when I hear him speak to me I can run through valleys and jump over mountains that voice that voice that voice that voice I'm so glad I need you look at somebody tell him he marked me he marked me he marked me he marked me sometimes I'm trying to be down and I can't get down as low as I want to get low cuz he marked me sometimes I want to give up but I can't give up cuz he he mock me sometimes I want to throw in the towel and all I can do is cuz he he marked me I keep hearing him I can't get him out of my head but I'm so hallelujah happy and thank you Jesus glad that I can't get him out of my head how do I handle uncertainty have been mocked but wait a minute the angel sends him he goes down he goes down yesterday I made you scared me he goes down to Samaria he goes to Samaria he goes down to Samaria in the second instance in the second instance suspiro he goes down a desert road and the angel talks on but and I told you we missed it it's all in the text maybe I need to read it again when the crowds heard phillip and saw the signs perform they pay the close attention to what he's saying for which streaks impure spirits came out of many and many who were paralyzed the lame were healed so there was great joy in the city and then on the other he says fill a grin up and said do you understand what you're reading and he said how can i unless someone explains it to me so we invited Philip to come up and sit with him and explain it to him then Philip began with the very passage of Scripture and told him the good news of Jesus helped me somebody what I learned about God when God's voice starts talking to you God starts making you aware of unexpected opportunities that are existing right around you in the first instance see you didn't see it neither did I it just said he preached him with these signs and wonders what happened is Philip is walking on the streets and he sees folks suffering he sees folks struggling he sees folk under demon-possession he sees folk who cannot have a future or tomorrow because their present is stymied by the conditions in which they find himself when he ones on the road and he hears the man in the wagon he knows the man is searching for some understanding of the meaning of God but he cannot find it unless there's somebody who knows that and he begins to realize as he hears God boys talked to him no matter what you are going through no matter what Philip you are facing no matter what your particular issues are in your life in the midst of everything you are dealing with this is a need that you can meet no matter what's going on around you Philip don't forget this truth your difficulties don't stop your anointing look at somebody I'm about to go down in other words God's unexpected opportunities God will raise up opportunities and he says to Philip you gotta get this in your head Philip and get it down right yes you are wrestling with a lot of stuff your baby they left you your husband and walked out your wife is with somebody else the job has leaves you all your money is funny your health is crazy but the problems that you are looking at you have an anointing to work with you can help that man because you know who Jesus is you know he's a way make our hot fixer a burden bearer that man doesn't know that the Lord can be your light in your salvation you can tell him that though the wages of sin is death the gift of God is eternal life even though you are hiding out from other folk you know how to cast out devils and you know how to rebuke demons I wish I could talk to somebody in here don't you let your situation cause you to stop using your anointing use your anointing to speak things that are not as if they are so use your anointing to cast out Devils in the midst of a situation you say to God God thank you for my future now take care of my pass and watch God go to work what's God fight what you're dealing with watch God make your enemy stand still I need you to grab somebody and tell them I've got what the situation needs when God gives you an opportunity you are anointed to handle it I need about twenty anointed people in this church to just start praising him because he's giving you these unexpected opportunities so that you know you are fit for whatever life is putting on you I feel as show getting ready to break out because you have the anointing for the opportunity you are gift I got it I got it in y'all sit down my man I got her in I got a stand four times a day but I'm so excited I could run around this chair I might only get to the half and have to sit down and catch my breath but I'd get up and run on the hand because God gives you unexpected opportunities for which you are anointed to handle here you are upset about something and your children come to talk to you and in the midst of your upsetness you find yourself ministering to your babies am i want anybody straight in here look at somebody say look at God here you are worried about your money and worried about this and you go to the hospital and see somebody and when you leave there's a smile on their face look at God here you are worried how you gonna pay this and pay that and you find yourself in another situation where you lift burdens off somebody's shoulders where you make crooked way straight that's God's Way of saying you take care of my work rest assure I got yours that's why food still is on your table and a roof is still over your head your enemies and your foot crumble and fall every time they come up against I think somebody ought to shout thank you Lord for unexpected opportunities I wasn't looking for it but his shoulder two things and I'm done I got the end two things that I'm done the story is told that before that August speech of Martin gangs on the march on Washington he wrestled with what message to give we look on the backdrop of history and look back through the tunnel of time and we glorify and make a myth out of a moment but the reality of it was that we did not enjoy what we enjoy now we did not have the freedoms of opportunity we now share and those of you who are called by your full government name on your job would not have been in that job then somebody ought to say Amen you wouldn't have been a gs1 then and so it was he wondered what should I speak on on that day he had two topics in mind one he was going to talk about America's bad check that America had a bad debt it had not paid its debt to the people as it had promised and that we were not enjoying the full rights and privileges that we were to enjoy that was that was one thought the second one was the thought of a dream to talk about that but he only was given five minutes so y'all missed that some folks take 20-30 but he was only given five minutes so he knew going in this is a small message amid many messages of the day this is a small message and maybe I ought to keep it low-key I ought not tried to sort or affix monic heights and just keep it low-key and talk about the bad check that America has written but it has not fulfilled the promises to African American people to Negro people can you imagine in schools now people standing up to talk about the bad check on Martin Luther King birthday that's what he planned in purpose to talk about he wrote his manuscript had his message prepared and that's what he had planned to share he stood up the next day and at the same time do not get it twisted America was not ready for that many African Americans there anybody to be in Washington plans were afoot if something went wrong what to do with these rambunctious rowdy Negroes who were acting beyond themselves privileges we take for granted were not even offered then police were ready to ride in to Washington to handle this crowd of black folk who were acting as if they were somebody youngsters who had never seen lynching and grown folk who were afraid of it stood in that number outside that Lincoln Memorial and stood there listening to speech after speech talk about possibilities that were yet a distant thoughts in their mind and Martin King knew well that he should not add to the burden of their blackness so that if a riot broke out a movement would go backward and so he planned to talk about a bad check he stood that next day in his five-minute allotted time and began his oratory and began his speech knowing that so much Western on his shoulders so much uncertainty in that hour we did not have the rights we now take for granted and stay home and not exercise amen floor he did not know if they would ever come to pass or if perchance the whole movement would explode or implode he did not know so much uncertainty rustling in his spirit at that moment how will he handle it and how will he do it he who has been this voice he stands up with his manuscript prepared to talk about a bad check and begins to go through it he can feel it is not lifting but he only has five minutes he is going through it and he begins to make a shift in one little spot changing his language some and in the audience in fact one who is sung just before that little earlier there's a woman whose name is known by all of us whose voice was appreciated by him Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson was one of his favorite singers he carried her with him on many of his speeches mahalia was in the congregation not seated far from him and as he was eloquently speaking and falling like a third as he rounded the speech and began to just stand and talk and going through the normal prepared manuscript mahalia hollowed out at a strategic spot not known by him strategic but known by heaven Hallowed I'll tell him about the dream tell him about the dream here he is living in the cusp of uncertainty not knowing Frank what the next move in the nation will be and yet this voice rings almost with angelic refrain tell him about the dream this is the part when you get home go back and pull it up on YouTube or somewhere and you'll see him kind of take a new stance as he pushes his prepared papers to one place God has given him an unexpected opportunity and so instead of talking about a bad check he says I have a dream and since that 1963 moment little children have been standing up in teenagers and adults saying I have a dream Martin said I've got a lot of uncertainty in me god I feel a shock of it but I know this is one thing I can say the Lord will make a way somehow I have a dream that one day things are gonna change look at somebody and tell them he'll send you opportunity see God will speak to you but you have to seize the opportunity you gotta grab it and do something with it you gotta hear God talking to you and say if God be for me he is more than world against me let me close this thing let me close this thing I see a hill called Calvary I see a man who claims to be the son of God he has come with one mission to save a dying humanity he has come to open the eyes of the blind unstopped deaf ears and bring people back to the family of God he's got more power in his little finger than all the governments on the planet he's been preaching the gospel but where has it gotten him locked in jail they beat him all night long they fried him all morning long and as he marches up the hill called Calvary I'm sure going through his mind he's saying to himself I came to heal and all they're doing is killing me if they do this to me what will they do to those who come after me if this is what they do to a green tree what will they do to everybody else think about it if they kill Jesus who knew no sin look at the present besides and say baby you going down if they kill Jesus who was always righteous look at the prison on the other side say baby ain't much hope for you and so there's Jesus living in the uncertainty of what will happen next if they do this to me you know a whole lot of us moan and cry look at the prison beside you say crime time is over God y'all didn't saying like you mean it look at somebody on the other side say crying is over he's hanging on the cross Darius and somebody tries to add salt to the wound cuz people will kick you when you're down they look at him and say you saved others yourself you cannot save and I know Jesus would have been like us and say huh ain't got nothin to say to y'all I'm just gonna sit here and feel sorry for myself can I see the hands the folk who know how to feel sorry for yourself come on don't lie today if you know how to mope and feel sorry for yourself wave at me give yourself a good strong way I know how to cry in my suit and feel sad for myself but about that time when he would have felt bad for himself the man on the other side looked at that man and said shut your mouth we deserved what's happening to us but this man has done no wrong and then he looked at Jesus and gave him an unexpected opportunity and said Jesus when you come into your kingdom please remember me and I'm so glad today that Jesus didn't roll his ass or suck his teeth or say I ain't got time for this but he grabbed the opportunity God gave him and looked at the man and said this day you shall be with me in paradise and I just stopped by to tell somebody you are a shout that Jesus said that because he has saved some of us the very same way he saved us when we were two Andriy to be saved he snatched us when he couldn't look the other way I need you to look at somebody and tell them seize your opportunity let the Lord use you let the Lord bless you and when God finishes using you raise your hand and shout and praise His Holy Name because in the midst of your uncertainty God told you that he'd make a way out of no way for you if there's anybody in sense who can shout I made it if there's anybody in church who can declare I came through it if there's anybody in church who can say what the devil meant for evil God turned it for my good then I need you to jump up on your feet and find somebody and just tell them I'm grateful I can't speak for anybody else but I'm grateful I'm grateful he didn't let me stay the press I'm grateful he didn't let me stay in a funk I'm grateful he didn't let me cry myself to sleep but I'm grateful he picked me back up I'm grateful he put him missing on my life I'm grateful he gave me a charge to keep I'm grateful he put fire in my belly I'm grateful he gave me power I'm grateful I have an anointing is there anybody in church who can declare I'm still anointed I got a lot going on in my life but I'm still anointed I need you to praise God for the anointing on your life praise God for the anointing that works miracles praise God for the anointing that casts out Devils praise God for the anointing that saves souls praise God for the anointing that cries tears praise God for the anointing that delivers folk praise God for the anointing that's on your space praise from whom all blessings flow I'm grateful grace grace grace cuz in the midst of all my uncertainty God puts in my path stuff I can do my world is crash and burn I wanna have like ain't nothin right and in the midst of my uncertainty I don't even know how I'm gonna pay the bills God put stopped then I've got the anointing to be able to do I dare you tonight to sit on the side of the bed and just rock I need a witness in here I dare you to just I got a pack of pills I got a tape I got medicine I got a take but God still gives me what I have an anointing to be able to do I got bills I gotta pay I got decisions I gotta make I got hills and mountains I gotta clap but God still keeps giving me opportunities I can't say no cuz I have what I need to be able to do all I need to put a little smirk a smile on your face look at the person beside you just tell them I'm annoyed now look up the God just say thanks

Channel: New Psalmist Baptist Church

Views: 12,717

Rating: 4.8045602 out of 5

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Id: myjXZanXNsg

Length: 52min 10sec (3130 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 19 2020