Charis Midweek Service 2-16-

2024
Worship TEam: [00:00:00] You never say just when I thought, just when I
thought you were good[00:00:30] [00:01:00] [00:01:30] [00:02:00] [00:02:30]
[00:03:00] [00:03:30] [00:04:00] [00:04:30] [00:05:00] [00:05:30] [00:06:00]

Preacher: evening, everybody. How's the family tonight? Ready to worship the
Lord tonight? We'll go ahead on your way to your seats. High five, three or four
people. Tell them it's a great night to be in the house of the Lord for our online
audience. Welcome. [00:06:30] Welcome. We hope you enjoy tonight. Alright,
let's kick this off with some prayer and then we'll go right into praise and
worship.

Dear heavenly father, we come to you right now. We just thank you and honor
you and praise you for this opportunity to come worship you. We just invite the
holy spirit into this house tonight to to move in each and every person's life. In
Jesus Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Guys, go ahead, [00:07:00] start the praise
and worship.

Worship TEam: You're so worthy

You spoke those words Let there be light And there was And

Preacher: in that same breath

Worship TEam: The stars fell in

Preacher: line [00:07:30] With one voice

Worship TEam: creation cries You do all things well Oh God, you do all
things well. So be praised, be praised.

Forever

Preacher: and always. Come on, lift those hands, open up your mouths,
wherever you
Worship TEam: are. [00:08:00] Father, you get the glory. You get the glory.
Lost in the

dark, up under ground. I heard your voice calling my name. The tumor came
alive and you knew all things well. [00:08:30] The tumor came alive. You do all
things well. Be praised. Be praised. Be praised. Oh, Jesus. Be praised. Ever.
Say, be praised. Be praised. You get the glory, Jesus. You can be me, you can
be me, you can be me, [00:09:00] you can be me

Yeah, Jesus. Keep praying. In the heart, see you move. Keep praying. So be
praised. Keep praying. The glory is yours. [00:09:30] Keep praying. Forever.
And once in the room, Father.

Good father. When I think of all you've done And all the battles you've brought
me over Hallelujah Think of all you've done And all [00:10:00] the battles
you've brought me over

Anybody got that testimony? How he never let me fall. Somebody say
Hallelujah. He's the God that keeps me from falling. Let [00:10:30] there never
be a day. That I don't rise to bring you pain. Hallelujah. You deserve the glory.
So when I think, when I think Hallelujah When I think of the goodness of Jesus
And all he's done for me

Preacher: How

Worship TEam: he never, how he never [00:11:00] let me fall Now I want to, I
want to

Thank God, thank God

So you be brave, be brave, be brave, be brave Cause that's how long [00:11:30]
you're worthy[00:12:00]

That's how long I praise. [00:12:30] That's how long you, that's how long I'll
bring. That's how you've been good for a long time. That's forever is a long,
that's

the glory. For God is [00:13:00] the kingdom It's us forever It's us forever The
beat has to bring you grace[00:13:30] [00:14:00]

When I think, [00:14:30] when I think of

Preacher: all you've done and all the

Worship TEam: battles you've brought me over. Hallelujah. You've been

doing it for a long time. Oh, he never. no, I went to him who was able to keep
me. I went to him who

Preacher: was able to keep me. I went to him who was able to keep me. Now
unto Him who is able to keep me, how He

Worship TEam: [00:15:00] never, how He never let me.

Now unto Him who is able, hallelujah. Mhm.

We're not things. No, from me. Hallelujah. Trans.

Preacher: I've seen him do it over and over again. When I think,

Worship TEam: when I think the [00:15:30] love you've done and all the
battles you've brought me. Your soul cries out hallelujah.

Preacher: Everything within me cries out last time so be free.

Worship TEam: Come on, church. Be brave. All of the glory is yours.

All of the honor is yours. Yeah. [00:16:00] He's way for forever. And no way.
That's how long you're worthy. That's how long I'll bring you pain. That's how
long you're worthy. It's[00:16:30]

yours, it's yours.

He deserves it.

Preacher: Praise you, Jesus. Glory. Hallelujah. Let's give him a hand clap of
praise. Thank you, Jesus. For that time of worship, you may be seated. You
[00:17:00] may be seated.

Just want to welcome everybody into the house tonight. Isn't it a great night? If
you're a first time guest tonight. We just want you to sit back, relax, and receive
from the Lord. And we're about to transition to a time of worship and giving.
How many of y'all like to give?
Worship TEam: As I

Preacher: was [00:17:30] preparing for the offering, right before service, my
wife recruited me to help finish packing out one of the sisters in our
congregation that needed some help.

And the Lord gave me during lunch, Luke 638, how many, how many people
love that scripture? Given it be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together,
and running over, it will be. Pour it out into your lap [00:18:00] for the measure
you use, it will be measured to you. And as I was helping here, put the last few
things, stuffing pillows into a bag.

I was thinking of that scripture press down. Shaken, you know, you shake the
boxes, you're walking down the stairs of the apartment, you hear all that stuff
settling in the bottom of the box. The Lord is going to do the same thing to you.
He is going to increase us, [00:18:30] press down, shaken together with a
measure we use.

He's going to measure it back to us. So if you want to stand with me tonight,
hold up your offering, let's pray over the offering.

Dear Heavenly Father, as we come to you all with our tithes and offerings, we
just ask right now that you'll bless this gift, bless this offering, that you'll make
it multiplied to the kingdom. Father, we just ask that you will stretch it to go
forth [00:19:00] around the world. We also ask that you will continue to meet
all of our needs according to your riches and glory in Jesus Christ's name.

We pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated ushers. If you come ahead. Got a
few. Uh, we got a few announcements. First off, Pastor Patrick, keep him lifted
up in prayer. He is ministering at a conference out in Oregon. He will be back
Sunday though. So just pray for. [00:19:30] Well, he's at a conference
somewhere. Did I get the state wrong?

My wife gave me the look. I got the state wrong.

Pastor Patrick's a busy man. It's hard to keep the states squared away. Um, so a
couple of things coming up. I want to make sure everybody knows about
February 12th. We have a young adult gathering. How many people in here are
young or young at heart? All right, [00:20:00] well, we got that coming up
February 12th at 6, 630.
We also have some equipped classes coming up grief share that starts the 15th.
There's still room for that if you got questions. You can ask the beautiful lady in
the blue shirt with the Sheila on it. She is the instructor. And then March 7th,
we have a class starting prayer effectively. So go ahead and sign up for them.

And then, uh, [00:20:30] Next Friday, worship night. If you haven't been, you
got to attend because if you haven't attend, you just don't know what you don't
know. It is the place to be. That's Friday, February 16th, seven o'clock right
here. And then, uh, the last thing, Super Bowl Sunday. We got any football fans
in the house.

We'll go ahead. It'll be a, make a full day of it. Go ahead, wear your favorite
jersey to [00:21:00] church, represent, and then at five o'clock, if you want to
watch the game in fellowship with us, uh, Pastor Nick is hosting the game over
in the Family Life Center on the big jumbos, jumbotron over there. Bring a
covered dish to share, bring the family, bring the wife, bring the kids, come on
out and watch some football.

That's going to kick off at 5 o'clock this Sunday in the Family Life Center. So
that's all the announcements. So tonight we are [00:21:30] privileged. If you
want to stand with me and, uh, and welcome Pastor Derek, a friend of the
house, as he comes and brings the

Worship TEam: word.

God bless you.

Preacher: Amen. You can be seated.

It is so wonderful to be [00:22:00] here with y'all. I'm starting to recognize y'all.

Y'all sit in the same seats.

What a wonderful treat it is to be here with you. I feel like I'm here with family.
Am I kinfolk yet? Yeah. Thank you for having me. And I tell you. I have been
praying for you [00:22:30] and I pray and believe that God has given me a word
that would minister to somebody that would lift up somebody's head. I mean,
just coming into the, into the room tonight, I feel the presence of God here
already.

You know, I don't know about you, but I, you know, it's not a day that goes by
that I don't, I don't need to. To have some sort of fellowship with Jesus. You
know what I'm talking about? The world is tough, isn't it? [00:23:00] There's
some things going on and I, I, I We, we need to stay close to the Lord. We need
to have our hearts and our ears open to His voice so He can lead us and guide
us.

You know, and if we do that, He'll bring us and allow us to experience peace.
Peace when it doesn't make sense. Peace when it's crazy all around. Amen. As a
part of his family, I'm so glad that we can experience, uh, the peace that God
brings. He is [00:23:30] the Prince of Peace. Have you ever seen somebody that
didn't have no peace?

Do you know that it's possible to live on this planet and to walk around and not
experience peace? That God brings a peace that we can experience every single
day. We can walk in. We can have it in our home. We can have it between uh in
in our spot with with our spouse. We can have it when we if we don't have a
spouse, we can have it with our kids.

We can have it uh at our job. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter where we

[00:24:00] are, where we're walking. What's going on? We can walk in God's
peace. That's what he brings. Isn't that just isn't that worth it? What? What? That
might have been enough. But he's giving us so much more. I want you to bow
your heads and pray with me.

Lord, we thank you for an opportunity to come and gather around you and
invite your Holy Spirit and really just believe and really [00:24:30] lean into
anything that you might have for us tonight. And we thank you, God, for your
word. Let it be clear. Let it land. Uh, and, uh, bless my, my heart. Bless my, my
mouth. Oh God, let me be in alignment with, with everything you have for me
to say tonight in Jesus name.

Amen. You know, as you know, Pastor Patrick communicated to me that

[00:25:00] you, the house has been on Wednesday nights in the, in the book of
Joshua. Um, and, and specifically Joshua 1 right now. And so, I went back and
listened, I've, I've heard a couple that Pastor Nick has preached, um, and I've
gone back and listened to the rest of them, so I could be caught up.

And, um, and, and, and really try to lean into what God wanted to show me in
this particular book, [00:25:30] you know, I, I, because I'm old, I'm older than
the, uh, the other two brothers. So I got, uh, you know, I got a different, a
different kind of spin on it. And, and so let's just start with Joshua one and I'm
gonna start with 10 and I'm going to read to 13.
And it says this, Joshua 1 10 through 13, then Joshua commanded the officers of
the people saying, pass through the camp and command the people saying,
prepare [00:26:00] provisions for yourself. Uh, for within three days, you will
cross over this Jordan and go and possess the land with the Lord has given you
to possess 12 goes on to say, and the Reubenites and the Gettites.

And half the tribe of Manassas, Joshua spoke saying, remember the word which
Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded you [00:26:30] saying, the Lord,
your God is giving you rest and he's giving you this land. Amen. Thank you,
Lord, for your word. I tell you what. The scripture that resonated to me and
really rang out to me and God has just been speaking to me about, uh, this, uh,
for the last several days is, uh, a verse 13, remember the word, which Moses,
the servant of [00:27:00] the Lord commanded you saying that the Lord, your
God is giving you rest and giving you this land.

Remember.

Remember,

you know, the first time I had an opportunity to go to Washington DC, uh,
anybody been to Washington DC? So several of you have been, I was
[00:27:30] 35 the first time I had an opportunity to go. So I was a grown man
and had was married and had children. And so I was shocked. And, and
surprised, you know, by maybe something that other people may not have been.

But, you know, I mean, you know, you hear about the, you know, these
monuments and you hear about the Lincoln Memorial your whole life, you see
it on the back of a penny. Nothing can describe how large it is compared to
what I, what you thought it was. Is that [00:28:00] right? I was shocked. And
how large, how immense the, this memorial, uh, was and all of the other
memorials.

I loved, uh, going to each of the memorial and, and reading. Each line on the
walls etched in stone. I, I love going to the Vietnam Memorial, the World War
II Memorial, the, uh, Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, the Martin Luther King
Memorial, and looking [00:28:30] at these things, you know, these memorials
and these monuments were, uh, established, were built painstakingly planned
out for years and years.

To build and communicate something that would memorialize an individual or

memorialize, uh, our military, memorialize, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, activist
[00:29:00] or a leader in this country that made an incredible difference so that
we would not forget. You know, God, God calls us to remember. He calls us to
remember the word remember is used 352 times in the Bible is remember is
referred to 550 times in the Bible.

It's actually the most used word in the Bible. [00:29:30] Remember, you'll find
it in every book, every leader, every patriarch, every man, woman of God.
Remember, remember what God has said. Remember what he has done. You
know, and it's not unusual and Washington, D. C. is not the first place that
monuments [00:30:00] and memorials have been erected.

They've been erected throughout the entire Bible. At 1 Samuel 7, 12 says that
Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mitzvah and Shin and named it
Ebenezer, saying, Let this represent God saying that thus far God has helped us.

Exodus 17, 14 says, after the [00:30:30] victory, the Lord instructed Moses to
write down on a scroll as a permanent reminder and to read it aloud. Another,
another translation says, read it in Joshua's ear of this to remind him of this
victory. And it goes on to say, I will erase the memory of Amalek under heaven.

But. So, this victory I want written [00:31:00] down forever. I want it
memorialized. Joshua 4 9 says that Joshua, uh, he had them set up 12 stones to
mark the place where they stepped in to the promised land with God's help.
Jesus in Luke 22 19, um, Broke the bread and, and, and gave wine to his
disciples and said, do this in [00:31:30] remembrance of me.

You know, there are things that God wants us to remember. There are moments
in history, moments in the Bible where something, where a monument was
erected and there was stones that were stacked and something was declared over
a moment when God did something. Even God sets a [00:32:00] memorial for
himself. Genesis 9, 15 says this, I will remember.

My covenant between me and you and all living things all of every kind never
again Will the waters become a flood to destroy all life? Whenever the rainbow
appears in the clouds I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant
between God and all living creatures of [00:32:30] every kind on the earth Even
God Sets memorials, establishes a, uh, a memorial so that we won't forget.

I began to wonder to myself, why are we asked so much, so often throughout

the Word of God to remember? And number one is this, that we, we, we tend to
[00:33:00] forget. I don't know about you, sometimes when the water get hot, all
I'm trying to do is swim. You know, you go through difficulty, you go through
trouble and it seems like you forget everything you've ever, ever learned.
You forget the times that you've gone through and, and, and persevered through
and, and you, you forget. We tend to forget it's human beings, it's people. And
number two, uh, [00:33:30] in the reason of why God so often asked us to
remember is that we can remember incorrectly.

We can come out of a situation and remember it, not in the actual way it
happened.

A good example of that is Numbers 15 when the, uh, Israelites are, [00:34:00]
uh, are going through the desert. And Numbers 11 is when they start
complaining.

They forgot about the ocean, I mean, the, the, the Red Sea opening up. They
forgot about, uh, the fact that the, uh, the armies that were chasing them were
swallowed up and that, that God brought them out of slavery. Somebody said,
y'all remember that fish we used to eat in Egypt?[00:34:30]

Anybody ever get a craving for catfish in the middle of the day for no reason at
all? Anybody remember the cucumbers and the melons we used to eat and the
onions and

Worship TEam: the

Preacher: garlic?

Through all of this, uh, that God is providing manna for them to eat bread
[00:35:00] every day and water for them to drink, uh, and a, uh, a pillar of light
so they can see in the dark.

And all of they can remember is boy, when the fish good

memory distorted and forgot that they was in slavery. They, they thinking about
the food, thinking about the fish. We can [00:35:30] come through a situation.
We can come through a season, uh, even with God and he can provide and
cause us to, uh, to move through. He can be faithful. He can break walls down.
He can open up doors and sometimes we forget.

It's amazing how some people were looking at the desert. [00:36:00] As a
hostile hot place with snakes. And this is the very place that God did incredible
work. Led them through. Caused them to be victorious. Caused them to make it
through.
It reminds me of the Feast of Tabernacles. I don't know if you know about the
Feast of Tabernacles. But the Feast of Tabernacles is a celebration. That the
Jews have every single year and it is, uh, uh, what they, uh, uh, orthodox Jews
do [00:36:30] is that they will build a little, a little shack that represents the little
shacks that, um, that the Israelites lived in as they were crossing through the
desert for 40 years.

And they will celebrate the fact that God brought them to as, as a remembrance
so that they could remember it correctly. So they could memorialize the thing
that God has done in their life correctly. You know what? [00:37:00] We lived
in Shacks and we could see the moon and the weather was intense and there
were snakes all around, but God brought us through

sometimes just not just remembering and thinking about the difficult thing that
you came through, but honoring God and magnifying God that he actually
brought you through. And even in a raggedy little hut. Y'all know what I'm
talking about? Sometimes you can look back. It's like, I don't [00:37:30] know
how we made it.

I have five kids, five boys. And there was a certain point in history where they
were eating the sheet

Worship TEam: rock. We had

Preacher: the, uh, we, we, we graduated from the buggy at Costco to the, to the
trailer, to the, to the cart. And I was like, I don't know how we did that. I
remember sometimes our, our food bill a month was 1, 500.[00:38:00]

Them brothers was drinking four or five gallons of milk a week. I don't know
how we did it. I know how we did it. It was God, God provided, but you know
what? I can look back on those times. I can look up and look at those difficult
moments. Those times when my wife and I were having a team together to
make it through, put our minds together and pray and rub our two pennies
together, trying to figure out how to make it.[00:38:30]

I can look at that as a negative time. I could celebrate and recognize that God
was the one that brought us through. He was the one that caused us to be
successful. He was the one that caused us to persevere.

So the question I want to ask you tonight. Is how do you remember? How do
you remember? How do I remember? [00:39:00] You know, along my journey,
there were some some memories. Some difficult memories in my life that I had
to work through. And even in my Christianity, even in my walk with the Lord,
there were some places that I got stuck.

Be even being in a congregation, even being in a church.

Praise and worship being lifted and I was [00:39:30] struggling in my own
spirit. I could barely lift my hands because there was some things, there were
some memories that I just couldn't shake that I, I was walking around with, I
had a hair trigger.

You say, if you say something to me a certain kind of way. I'm, I'm, I, what,

do y'all know what I'm talking about? There's a few things that I had to work
through, not just myself, but God had to, to, to work through, to heal in me
some [00:40:00] memories that I had, some memories of being abandoned, you
know, for so often. I would, I, I, I, I would, I would get rid of you if I thought
you were gonna get rid of me.

I'd get rid of you first. Do you know that that'll keep you from your blessing? If
you walking around and everything that somebody says that, that you perceive
as a little bit, uh, they raised their voice in me and they talked to me with a little
bit of some disrespect. You could, I mean, for me, I was so sensitive that
[00:40:30] I was read, I was reaching deeper than it was.

Do y'all know what I'm talking about?

God had to heal my memories. Heal some places in my life that, uh, that were
broken, some things that have happened to me as a young person, as a child that
I didn't even know where it was in. I just thought that was part of my
personality, but there was some memories that I had that were [00:41:00]
triggering. There were some things that, and if the, if the sun was a certain place
in the, uh, in the sky and the, the wind blew a certain way, I would tense up
because I had some memories.

Tonight, I want to ask you, how do you remember? Because I'm gonna tell you
this. I believe that God is a God that heals our memories. Amen. He can go back
and heal a place of his word. His word is very clear that[00:41:30]

we can be transformed. We can be transformed in our mind. What is our mind?

Our mind is our emotions. Our mind is our memories. And if we have bad
memories circling around in our mind, so often we can miss. We won't even be
able to grab hold to. It's hard for us to conceive of the promises that God
[00:42:00] talks about in his word.

Uh, and we so often can sabotage our own life, sabotage that thing that God
may even want to do in our life because we're walking around on a hair trigger.
Am I, am I just, am I just talking to me? There's been some road I've had to go
through. I, uh, you know, I, I, my children, they were raised under the
[00:42:30] pews, but I wouldn't.

I was saved from the darkness. I was sure enough lost. So, there was some
things that I had to work through. There was some, there was some healing that
I had to experience in God. So, that's my testimony. That's the, every time I
preach, it comes from there. God has brought me from a mighty long way. And
cause me to persevere some difficulty and some crazy [00:43:00] talk and some
crazy thinking that I've had along the way.

But I want to declare to you tonight that oh my goodness, God is good.

Amen. God is good. He's caused me to persevere. He's hung in there with me.
He's hung in there with me. I'm going to tell you something, I might not have
hung in there with me.

There's been some seasons in my life where I was just, [00:43:30] even as a
Christian, even as a, as a believer, I wasn't, I wasn't getting it. It wasn't, it wasn't
landing right. I, I, I wasn't carrying this joy that everybody was talking about
and singing about. Now I could clap and I could sing, but I knew that something
wasn't, uh, it was something was broken.

And it's been years and, of, of singing and years of allowing God to, [00:44:00]
uh, to tenderize my heart and cause me to remember who he is and know who
he is and him to reintroduce himself to me over and over again. I, for, for years,
I got saved every Sunday.

Y'all know what I'm talking about? I, I, I, I mean, I'd be dragging in on Sunday,
just let me make it through the door. But at some point I begin to believe,
[00:44:30] I begin to believe that he loved me. I begin, I begin to believe that he
had a plan and a purpose for me. And that even though I did, I felt inadequate to
walk and to, to come into the thing that God had for me and who he called me
to be, he was faithful to bring me there.
I haven't forgot. I haven't forgot. And I, I know for an absolute fact, but it had
not been for God on my side. If it [00:45:00] had not been for God in my ear, it
had not been for God, uh, speaking to me through my wife,

through pastors and, and in the, in the church, it's just taken, it's taken a while. I
want to talk to somebody that it's taken a while. I want to talk to somebody who,
who's got some memories that, that keep hanging on and it got some emotional,
uh, baggage and some broken [00:45:30] places. And it just seems like it keeps
hanging on.

I want to speak to and I want to prophesy over somebody who walks in here and
stumbles in here and, and you, and you smile and, and, but don't nobody really
know what's going on. I want to, I want to declare the word of the Lord over
you. I want to let you know and remind you tonight that God is not going to
leave you or forsake you ever.

He's going to, Let me tell you this, your [00:46:00] boat might feel raggedy, but
he's going to get you all the way to harbor. He's going to get you all the way to
harbor. He's going to allow his word to transform you. He's going to allow his
word to begin to do something in your mind to where you don't even think the
same.

He's going to begin to deal with the triggers that you might've had that make
you want to jump on somebody if they say something off to you. Y'all know
who I'm talking to. I thought I'm talking to somebody in here. I know I am.
[00:46:30]

How do you remember? I just believed it this day. I, I, I prayed. I've been
praying for several days. I prayed the whole way drive here. Lord is somebody
in this crowd that needs a breakthrough that needs a healing and their emotions
and I'm believing God that this is the night. I believe in God that this is the
beginning.

I want to speak a word of hope. I want to [00:47:00] speak a word of hope. I I

want to speak a word of hope to somebody who is struggling, to somebody who,
and you, let me tell you something. I've been around long enough to know that
you can look like you have it all together.

Look like everything's in line, might have some money in your pocket and a
nice car. But you're raggedy [00:47:30] inside. You, you, you, you, you feel like
you, you, you're out of you, you feel like you're running on, on, on, on flat tires.
You, you, you just don't have any joy when you wake up and every place you
go, it's just a, you, it feels like misery is hanging over you.

You feel like you're stuck. in a loop of thinking that you can't break free from
I'm going to let you know something that God will cause you to break through
that God's desire and plan for you is that you would walk free. I'm talking about
all the way free. I'm not talking [00:48:00] about just words on a page.

I'm talking about showing up joy when you wake up in the morning and joy and
peace when you lay your head down. I want to speak to somebody tonight.
Somebody Somebody. It's like, Lord, I need this to work. I, I, I, it's a pieces that
are loose here, God. And I just can't, I can't bring them together. You might be
struggling even in the area of your job and, and, and, and stress is going on
[00:48:30] there and you don't know how to, how you're going to make it.

You might be struggling in areas of finance. I want to let you know that we
serve a God that is on your side. And we're not just talking about words on a
page, we're talking about a living God that will come in and change the
situation, whether you have it all together or not. Uh, it has never been a time
that I've had a breakthrough where I had it all together.

I've always been raggedy when I got my breakthrough.[00:49:00]

Worship TEam: I

Preacher: used to think you had to get it all together. Perfect. Be walking on a
perfect line for God, for God to move on your behalf, for him to bring change to
you, for him to lift you up, for him to touch your family, for him to care and be
involved. But you don't have to walk on a perfect line. I've seen him break in on
me multiple, every single time it wasn't, I wasn't straight.

I was always raggedy. Do y'all know what [00:49:30] I'm talking

Worship TEam: about?

Preacher: But I want to let you know that we serve a living God. A God who's
in the midst. A God who's on the throne. A God who has peace for you. A God
who has joy. A God who's smiling at you. A God who's happy with you. A God
who loves you. A God who cares about where you live and what's going on with
you.
To the nth degree, that's who we serve. Not an absent God. Not an [00:50:00]
absent God sitting on a, in a, in a perfect place that is not acquainted with what
we deal with in this life. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank
you, Jesus.

Worship TEam: Thank you, Lord.

Preacher: That, that he's acquainted with the, the things of this world and the
pain and the struggle and the weakness and the, and the cold and the, and the,
and the stuckness and the, and the bad thinking and the, in the, in the healing.

In the, in the, [00:50:30] in the, in the bumpy path that we walk. He's familiar.
He knows us. He knows how to speak to us. He knows how to, he, and lemme
tell you something, there's been times where. I've been in a hole, not a hole
somebody put me in, but a hole I dug

and God sent down a rope to save me from a hole I dug. [00:51:00] Down to
what I'm talking about. I'm just, I'm trying to tell you about Jesus. Uh, uh, it
took me a while to figure out that, that he, that he's that type of God. You know,
I walked around for so long just thinking, uh, you know, I could never do
enough to please him.

I could never, I could not just, just let me be quiet. It seemed like everything
that comes out of my mouth is wrong,

but I, I've become acquainted with him. [00:51:30] I've become acquainted
with, with, uh, with the Jesus that y'all kicked me out of the church by now. But
Jesus hung, he hung tight. He, he continued to walk with me. He continued to,
to, to speak in my ear. He continued to, to cause me to wanna be a better
husband and wanted me to be a better father and want me to be a, a better, a
member of the church to, and to get involved and to, to cause a, a, the things
around me to [00:52:00] be healthy and good.

And he, he continued to breathe that in me and, and, and cause me to want and
desire those things. Y'all know what I'm talking about? I know I've been in the
church way too long to know. I'm not talking to myself. I've been away too
many counseling meetings. I've been I gotta let me say, you know, I tell you
what.

There was a[00:52:30]

I'm not even gonna share that story that that Pastor Patrick might get mad if I
say that.

God doesn't desire us to be wounded in our memories and stuck in a place

where we don't trust God and we don't trust people.[00:53:00]

I had some traumatic memories that affected every area, every aspect of my life.

We are transformed by the renewing of our mind. And I'm not a licensed
therapist, but I want to talk about three different ways that have helped me deal
with and become healed from traumatic [00:53:30] memory, from thinking
wrong about stuff. I don't know about you, but I, there, there've been some, you
know, when I, when I first got saving for many years after I had some, I had
some doors.

Where I put police tape on the door. Don't go in that door. Something bad
happened in there and God wasn't in it. I had many of those doors, many of
those things. But [00:54:00] as God and I've walked with God and to continue
to pursue God, he's he's allowed me to go into those doors.

And open them up.

And say, you know what, God, this was a bad thing that happened to me. But I
thank you that you brought me through. I, I thank you. You, you, you let me
have my right mind. Kinda. [00:54:30] I, I thank you that you put me in a
healthy church. I, I thank you that even in that I experienced that God, you, you,
and so God, I'm gonna give you praise in that room.

I'm a, I'm a thank you here. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God, that you
allowed me, uh, while that was difficult, God, you, you put something in me
that I know that's gonna help other people. [00:55:00] You, you allowed me to
persevere and you allowed me to see the, the healing of the Holy Spirit come
into my life from that room, oh God.

I, I, I know how powerful you are and I know how much you care, oh God,
even from out of that room, oh God. God has allowed me to, to walk around and
And and tear down the tape. Y'all got some of the yellow, yellow rooms I'm
talking about was like, don't go, don't look in there

and allow god to to bring healing [00:55:30] to those areas. Number one, and
dealing with traumatic memories. Dealing with bad memories, areas that have
wounds and hurt that you, you cannot, you can't go back and, and say, you
know what, God was, was here. And, and I, number one, is first you have to
acknowledge the pain.

[00:56:00] It's so often that rather than seek connection, we prioritize protection.
Protecting ourselves, putting up walls, putting up guards so that nobody can see
or nobody can ask questions about it. Instead of taking our pain to trusted
people, we push trusted people away so often. I'm going to let you know
something, [00:56:30] that we don't heal in isolation.

I'm going to say it again. We don't heal in isolation. Well, I'm just gonna pull up
my bootstraps and I'm just gonna deal with the pain, deal with the pain. I'm
talking to you men. Just let me suck it up. [00:57:00] I'm from, I'm from, I'm
generation X. We, you know, you've seen the thing. We drank out of water
hoses. I ran, I ran around barefoot for months during the summer, fished in a
hole, swam in dirty water, rode in the cars without no seatbelt, father smoked
Salem's one after the other in my face.[00:57:30]

Y'all know what I'm talking about? Generation X. Pull them up by the
bootstraps. You fall down on the ground, rub some dirt on it.

Worship TEam: Shake it off,

Preacher: boy. We don't cry. We don't, we just, we tough. I walked home with
a, with a piece of red yarn with my house key on it at kindergarten.[00:58:00]

I, I, I, I can cook anything my parents can cook.

We were raised. To shake it off, raised to deal with it on our own, raised to
choke it down, raised to not get help. That's a sign of weakness.

We don't heal in isolation. I want to let you know, [00:58:30] we heal in

community. That's why we have small groups, you know, so often, you know,
I've been, I've been in church and a pastor. I've been in church for almost 30
years and, and I, so I've talked about small groups. I've taught small, uh, taught
in small groups.

I've had small groups and it becomes this kind of moniker on the wall and, but I
definitely know that there's some people that [00:59:00] just walk by and never
get plugged into one in the small groups. I'm going to let you know something.
There's an awful lot of healing that happens in small groups.
You can get some, get somewhere in an environment and people get to know
you and y'all praying for each other and there's relationships that happen and
that's, there's, there's healing that happens there. When you're able to
communicate to somebody what's going on with you. And I want to talk to
[00:59:30] somebody real quick that's been burned.

There's somebody that's been burned, somebody that has, has been hurt along
the way. You, you told somebody something and they spread your business.
Don't, don't let that keep you. Uh, isolated. Don't let that, that, that incident
prevents you from stepping into a place where you are in and have an intimate
relationship with a small group type of environment because we don't heal in
isolation.

We heal in community[01:00:00]

plug in. You got to plug in somewhere. You gotta, and these are just the things
in 30 years that I've seen work. Now, I've tried lots of stuff, but it's a few things
that are solid. Number one is small group. You need to get into a place, uh,
where when you come to church, uh, they can, somebody can see you across the
room [01:00:30] and know something ain't right.

Be able to come to you and lay hands and pray over you. Did you know that the
prayers of a righteous person availeth much? You'll find breakthrough in small
group. And did you know that God's word said that we should confess our sins
one to another? That's not a suggestion. There's some things that and some
thinking and some healing that we yet to experience because we've yet
[01:01:00] plugged into the church in a way that really makes a difference.

I used to think that when I, when I first started walking with the Lord, that
fellowship was shaking a couple of hands as I walked in my car, Ooh, am I
stepping on toes? It got quiet all of a sudden. Is it just shaking a couple of hands
and patting a couple of people on the back? Is that fellowship? Is that the
fellowship that God talks?

Is that the coin in the ear that God talks about the Bible? I'm not just talking
about [01:01:30] when you eat lunch with somebody. I'm talking about when
you begin to pray in a small group environment. And all of a sudden you begin
to see breakthroughs in people's lives and you all of a sudden see healings in
people's marriage relationships and you start praying for one another's kids and
people's kids start coming home and you start seeing breakthrough in your
finances.
I'm talking about something happens when you get into and you get locked into
the way that God designed it. We're not supposed to walk [01:02:00] alone.
We're not supposed to walk isolated.

I'm talking about grabbing hold of the promises of God.

How do you remember?

How do you remember? Don't remember in a way that will prevent you from
getting plugged in for cause you to not trust people to the point where you stop
looking and you, you put up walls and you just, [01:02:30] you just in and out.
Don't look at me too close. I just came to get a little praise and worship. I'm not
really here to, to connect with nobody that like that,

but I, I, I'm going to, I'm going to bear my chest and show y'all somebody who,
who got prayed for in a small group and got healed along the way and, and me
and me and my little wife making it. And, and, you know, it's been the small
group environment that has kept strength in our home and it's made a [01:03:00]
difference for us.

Yeah. Not just a couple of words on a sign, a couple of handshakes on the way
out the door, but connection, the kind that God talks about, the kind that means
something. This is the kind that has some power to it. Number two, [01:03:30]
prayerfully press in to God. Dealing with traumatic memories. How do you
remember pressing into God?

Sometimes we need to, I tell people quite often, you might need to do
something different. You might need to try something new. If you feel stuck,
you feel like, God, I'm just, I just, I just [01:04:00] don't know what's going on
with me, Lord. I, I just can't get my, I can't catch my breath. It's just too many
things going on.

I, I don't know about, you know, there's so many things that we can get caught
up in life and get feeling heavy with the weight of the world. Try something
new. Get plugged, step, take a step into God like you haven't taken in a while. It
used to be on fire years and years ago and used to be part of the worship board
and used to be this and used to be that.

Sometimes you need to do something new. Sometimes you need to step in

deeper. [01:04:30] And sometimes you need to lift your hands a little higher.
Sometimes you need to praise a little bit louder. Sometimes you need to do
something new. Sometimes you need to step out of your box and your trend and
your groove that you've been doing.

You want to find a breakthrough? Breakthrough! You want to get into a new
lane? Breakthrough! Take a step! Press in to God in a greater measure. When
when I, when I, sometimes I get the feeling funky. I can't put my finger on why.
Maybe it's [01:05:00] just too much news. Maybe it's something going on. I
don't know, but I just, yeah.

You know, but I always remember, you know what, I take that as a sign. I need
to do something new. I need to invite something fresh. I need to, I need to step
in. I need to, I need to do something. I need to shake this up. Not continue on
how I've been doing, but add something new, something fresh, lean in, press in,
in a new way.

And God,[01:05:30]

you know, nothing can change your past, but God can, he can sure heal a broken
heart. Psalms 34, 18 says this, the Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves
those who are crushed in spirit.

Number three. And this is our, our last point [01:06:00] and that is this pursue
purpose in your trauma. If something happened to me, I'm gonna make it help
somebody. If God delivered me from something, I'm gonna tell somebody.
Now, I'm not gonna tell everybody everything, but if you need something,
you're gonna get it.

I'm not shame of what God has done for me. And I'll let you know, uh,
[01:06:30] pursue purpose. Know that if God calls you to come out that he's put
something in you know that if you've he's given you a breakthrough in your life
and calls you to experience what it is to be lifted in your spirit and it calls you to
know what it is to to feel low and you'd be lifted up out of and cause you to
know what it is to have a memory of Uh, change the healed in your life and,
and, and let that [01:07:00] power that God is allowed to, to take place in your
life be something to somebody else.

That's you know, that's your anointing. That's what your anointing is. That's
what a power of God lies in your life. It is nothing better than to take the oil
from the crushed place in your life, touch somebody else and watch them get
healed. [01:07:30] I can't preach about nothing I don't know. I'm built that way.
I gotta know it.
And I've seen multiple times, too many to count. Of times that God has used me
in a situation if, if I had my ear open listening and it will cause me somebody to
be attracted to me and come over to me and begin to ask me a question about
the very thing I have an answer to about a place and a wound that I've lived
through and been healed from in my own life.

[01:08:00] Let God cause your trauma to become purpose.

The memory that he healed, the, the difficulty that he brought you through, the
struggle that he lifted you from. Let it be, let it be a rope and down in
somebody's hole. Let let it be a ladder so that somebody else can get lifted up.
Pour out, pour out your life. I'm telling you ways to allow that trauma, memory
[01:08:30] traumas to be healed on your life.

And and I'm not going to exclude counseling. My wife and I have been to
counseling. We, we went to marriage counseling and we were the, we were the
pastors over the marriage counseling.

We were the pastors over the marriage counseling and fighting like cats and
dogs in that office. [01:09:00] And then come down in the service.

Worship TEam: Hallelujah. Oh, yeah.

Preacher: I'm going to tell you something that the counseling helped gave us
some fresh new tools, taught us how to walk in a greater way and everything I
learned in that counseling and everything I learned through that season, I've
been, I've ministered.

My wife and [01:09:30] I have ministered, we've, we've, we've, we've, we've
counseled many, many couples through that. Second Corinthians one three says
this. Praise be to the god of all comfort who comforts us in our troubles so that
we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have
received from god.[01:10:00]

I wanna, I wanna pray. I I have faith

and so anybody, let's have everybody stand up.

If anybody Has been stuck with some memories. You don't have to tell me what
the memory is. I'm not looking for that, but [01:10:30] you know that you need
a breakthrough and something that's been hanging on in your memory.
Something that's affected your emotions and has caused you to to be stuck in
your walk with God and to not really be able to grab hold of the promises
because your memories of life have been harsh and there are many [01:11:00]
things that you don't even, you don't see how God could have possibly been in
the room you.

and you're walking with the wound yet. You want to be free. I'd like you to
come up. I want to pray for you. Come, come to the altar area. I know for a fact,
I was not sent here to talk about all this and bear, bear all the hair on my chest
and nobody had this need.[01:11:30]

Worship TEam: Come on

Preacher: up. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. God, God knew you
were here tonight. He knew you was going to be here. He said that tonight is the
night. Tonight is the night. Tonight is the night for healing. And I wanna let you
know something. There there there have been some things that I it has taken me
years of coming before God to heal.

So, [01:12:00] if if you leave this place, even after we pray for you, with it, you
still like it's feel like it's there. I wanna let you know something. God, God will
work it through. He'll work it through. It'll be your testimony that God came and
he, he did a healing work. He caused me to persevere and break through in a
way that I didn't think I was going to be, but I [01:12:30] knew I couldn't do it
on my own.

It was, I was

Worship TEam: stuck.

Preacher: I needed healing in a place that I couldn't get to. I'm trying to do it on
my own, trying to handle it on my own, but it just seemed too deep. I didn't
know how to shake it loose. Thank you, Jesus. If I could have our prayer team
come and we're just going to begin to pray.

Worship TEam: Thank you, [01:13:00] Jesus. You're so worthy.[01:13:30]

[01:14:00] [01:14:30] [01:15:00]

You spoke those

Preacher: words. Let there

Worship TEam: be light. And there was. And in that same breath, the stars fell
in line, with one voice creation cries, you

Preacher: do

Worship TEam: all things well, you do all things well, [01:15:30] so be
praised, be praised, forever

and always. Come on, lift Father, you get the glow.

Lost in the dark, [01:16:00] Up under the dirt, Was there really left to die? I
heard your voice calling my name. From the tomb I came alive. And you do all
things well. From the tomb I came alive. You do all things well. Be brave. Ever,
forever. Say [01:16:30] be praised. You get the glory, Jesus. You get the honor,
Jesus. People love to see you move.

Be praised.[01:17:00] [01:17:30]

She brought me yoga. She blessed the morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I say,
honey, Keeps me from falling. And it's of the glory. It's of Jesus. And all he's
done for me. How he never, How he never let me fall. Now I do. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I wake [01:18:00] up in the morning. Can you be with me? Can you be
with me? How long?[01:18:30] [01:19:00] [01:19:30] [01:20:00]

Preacher: That's how long, that's how long. That's

Worship TEam: how long. That's how long. You've been good for a long time.
[01:20:30]

But you've been blessing me for a long time. Forever's after glory, forever. For a
long, long time. For finally. It's just forever. It's just forever. For a long, long
time. It's just for love. For a long, long time. It's just for love. For a long, long
time. And I think. When I think of. You brought me your time.

How he never was able to keep me.[01:21:00] [01:21:30] [01:22:00] [01:22:30]

Now I went to him who was

Preacher: able to keep me.

Worship TEam: Now I went to him who was able to keep me. Now
Preacher: I went to him who was able to keep me. How

Worship TEam: he Who is faithful? When I think, Say, When I think of all
you've done and all [01:23:00] for me. Till I've seen him do it over and over
again. When I think, Say, My soul

Preacher: cries out, Everything within me

Worship TEam: cries out, So be praise, be praise.[01:23:30]

You know,

Preacher: I just feel like the Holy Spirit is speaking to me that to pray for even
those who have experienced, um, bullying, being bullied in your life and
somewhere it's set up an emotion that set up a wound that, that you, that you've
been having to live under. I don't know if that's you, uh, but if that's you, I just
want to pray for you, Lord God, I thank [01:24:00] you.

That you are here breaking yokes tonight that you all God are are lifting your
lifting burdens. Oh God And even those things Oh God that we didn't know
how to get loose from Oh God your Holy Spirit Your Holy Spirit comes tonight.
Oh God to lift your Holy Spirit comes. Oh God to minister to bring life to bring
fresh new joy Because that's who you are That's who you are.

That's what you do. And I thank you I thank you [01:24:30] for completed work
in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Praise God. Is that a great word or what? Let's go ahead and. If you're able go
ahead and lift your hand and we'll pray a benediction over you dear heavenly
father We just thank you for the message [01:25:00] tonight. We just thank you
for pastor Derek and we just thank you for remembrance We just ask as we go
from this house tonight that you give us safe travels home, that you quicken the
word to our hearts and that you'll just make it applicable in our everyday lives.

We just pray for a great rest of the week in Jesus Christ name. We pray. Amen.
Be blessed as you go.[01:25:30]