The Danger of a “Just Like That” Gospel: A Review of ‘Sunday Sermon’

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I will sing until the end of days Cause in your presence there's no room for shame I'm holding back now I see your goodness, Jesus, everywhere I go You walk with me through desert and through rain
[00:00:48] The joy has been my strength, I'm in Your grace So everything inside of me will sing Cause You are worthy of my Father's praise So I will sing until the end of days Cause in Your presence there's a room
[00:01:29] Let us pray.
[00:01:47] Your burden is easy, your mercy is free.
[00:01:48] The weight that I carry, I lay at your feet.
[00:01:49] Cause you are worthy of all this praise.
[00:01:50] And I will sing until the end of days.
[00:01:51] Cause in your presence there's no room
[00:02:03] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I worship you Lord you deserve the praise
[00:03:14] Thank you for watching!
[00:05:23] Here we go!

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Put your hands together!
[00:05:44] I'll praise in the valley, praise on the mountain

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul
[00:06:29] My praise is a weapon It's more than a sound My praise is a shout
[00:06:57] As long as I'm breathing I've got a reason
[00:07:46] I'll praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true Praise cause there's nobody greater than you I'll praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All generations are falling down in worship to sing the song
[00:10:20] Your name is the highest Your name is the greatest

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Holy all creation cry
[00:12:48] Jesus, your name is the highest glory

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Holy forever Come on church if you love Jesus can you give Him a hand clap of praise.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Come on.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
He's worthy church.
[00:14:52] Man, it's good to be in the house of the Lord this morning.
[00:14:56] Amen.
[00:14:58] You know, as I was worshiping, I heard the Lord in my spirit say, I'm holy anyways.
[00:15:03] And that key word, anyways, what he's trying to tell me in that moment, personally, is that it doesn't matter really what you're going through in this moment, worship me anyway.
[00:15:15] It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things how you feel because you could be in a church service and not really be in the presence of God if you do not recognize that he's holy anyway.
[00:15:29] So can we just give the Lord our yes this morning?
[00:15:33] Can we just say, Lord, you're holy.
[00:15:35] Lord, you're worthy.
[00:15:36] Lord, you're matchless.
[00:15:37] Lord, we need you in this place today.
[00:15:41] We worship you.
[00:15:43] We love you.
[00:15:44] In Jesus' name, Lord, we worship you.
[00:15:46] Can you go ahead and turn to somebody next to you?
[00:15:48] Say good morning.
[00:15:50] Say good morning.
[00:15:51] You guys can be seated.
[00:15:54] Amen.
[00:15:56] Amen.
[00:15:57] Hey, well, good morning.
[00:15:58] My name is Trevor.
[00:15:59] I'm one of the pastors here at Multiply Church.
[00:16:01] And if I hadn't had a chance to meet you, I just want to say good morning and welcome a special group of people, and that's all of our first-time guests.
[00:16:10] So if this is your first time at Multiply Church or your first time in a long time, church family, can we just welcome all of our first-time guests in the room this morning?
[00:16:19] Amen.
[00:16:21] Hey, just a little bit of information for you.
[00:16:23] There's a card in the seat back pocket in front of you.
[00:16:26] We call it a U card.
[00:16:27] And we just want to get to know a little bit about you.
[00:16:30] So if you would be so kind to take that card, fill the information on it on the back.
[00:16:35] And then after service, you can go out these double doors into our courtyard and there'll be a white tent there.
[00:16:40] There'll be some leaders and volunteers there to meet you.
[00:16:42] Let's pray.
[00:16:58] but hey we're gonna go into our next segment and that's our tithes and offering and this is what I know and this is what I found true to be in my life is that I can never out give God and I'm gonna tell you a short short story so when I moved here me and my wife moved here back in February she wasn't working and I was a youth pastor okay
[00:17:19] So you can imagine that there was some tough times there, but the Lord kept telling us, be faithful.
[00:17:27] Be faithful in your tithes, be faithful in your giving.
[00:17:31] And the other day, the other day, we were doing our bills as we do every month, and we were looking in our bank account.
[00:17:39] And I'm getting a little bit personal, but I need you guys to know how faithful God is.
[00:17:43] The other day we were doing our bills and there was a random mysterious amount of money in our bank account that I could not know where the heck it came from.
[00:17:54] And I texted my wife, I'm like, what is this?
[00:17:58] What is this random amount of money?
[00:18:00] And we found out that from her previous job, 10 months prior, there was some money that was due.
[00:18:07] She was a teacher and the school did really well.
[00:18:09] So they do this thing called A school money.
[00:18:11] So if you get a good grade in your school overall, you get pretty much every teacher gets a pay bump.
[00:18:18] and they said that we're allocating this to the 2023-2024 year and i was like what the heck like god you're so good and that's what we get to do when we give unto the lord he says test me in this area he's talking about our giving
[00:18:33] He says test me in this area.
[00:18:35] And so I want to be found faithful.
[00:18:36] Amen?
[00:18:37] There's three ways to give.
[00:18:38] You can give by scanning the QR code on the screen behind me.
[00:18:43] You can text the word Multiply Lake Norman to the number 77977.
[00:18:48] Or as we go back into this next song and the ushers pass the buckets, you can give that way.
[00:18:54] Can I pray for us this morning?
[00:18:55] Lord, we love you.
[00:18:56] Lord, we thank you.
[00:18:58] Lord, we just commit this time to you, Lord, this moment to you.
[00:19:02] Lord, would we give with a cheerful heart?
[00:19:04] Would we give, Lord God, with our eyes on you, Lord God?
[00:19:07] Lord, with our tithes, Lord, with our offering, Lord, would you do more than we could ever do with it, Lord?
[00:19:12] Would it reach more people than we could ever reach, Lord God?
[00:19:14] Would it touch the greater Lake Norman area, Lord God, better than we can, Lord God?
[00:19:19] Because with you, Lord God, everything changes.
[00:19:22] Lord God, we love you.
[00:19:23] Bless the giver and bless the rest of this morning.
[00:19:25] In Jesus' name, amen.
[00:19:28] Church, would you stand with us as we go back into a time of worship?

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
We give you the glory, Jesus Be magnified How great the chasm that lay between us How high the mountain
[00:19:58] In desperation I turned to heaven And spoke Your name into the night Then through the darkness Your lovingkindness Tore through the shadows of my soul The work is finished
[00:20:31] Jesus Christ my living hope Who could imagine so great a mercy What heart could fathom such boundless grace

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I AM FORGIVEN I AM FORGIVEN

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I like this part, church.
[00:22:37] Then came the morning that sealed the promise
[00:22:43] Let's sing it again church.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Then came the morning that sealed the promise

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Jesus, so we say Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Hallelujah Death has lost its grip on me You have broken every chain There's salvation in Your name Jesus Christ
[00:25:19] Church, scripture says in Hebrews, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.
[00:25:31] We're gonna move into a time of communion in just a minute, but let me ask you this question.
[00:25:37] In what have you placed your hope?
[00:25:41] I'm not talking about if someone would you say you're a Christian.
[00:25:45] I'm asking you, do you have hope in Jesus?
[00:25:50] Does hope in Jesus
[00:25:53] Identify itself in every area of your life to where if someone looks at you, they can say, I don't know necessarily how this person has joy in every season of their life.
[00:26:03] I don't know how this person displays love in every season of their life.
[00:26:07] I don't know why this person has so much hope, but I know they do.
[00:26:11] That's what it looks like to be a Christian.
[00:26:15] If you could take the elements, if you don't have them, if you'll raise your hand, we'll make sure that you get some.
[00:26:21] It says,
[00:26:25] Scripture says the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he took the bread and when he had broken it, he gave thanks and he said, this is my body broken for you.
[00:26:40] Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:26:41] Can we take the bread this morning?
[00:26:48] In the same manner, after they had eaten,
[00:26:52] He took the cup and he said, this cup represents the new covenant of my blood.
[00:26:59] Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:27:02] Can we take the cup?
[00:27:07] Scripture goes on to say, as often as you eat or drink, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
[00:27:18] Why is that so important?
[00:27:21] It's important because that proclamation is how we display our hope.
[00:27:28] Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promise is faithful.
[00:27:35] The entirety of the scriptural narrative points to something.
[00:27:41] It points to the day where Jesus Christ will return to rule and reign with his church, his body.
[00:27:49] Are you ready for that moment?
[00:27:52] Let's be a people that lives every day in a manner that we are living ready at every moment.
[00:28:00] Let's leave no conversation unsaid, no prayer unprayed.
[00:28:08] Let's display Jesus to the world.
[00:28:12] so that we could say like Paul, follow me as I follow Jesus.
[00:28:20] If you never have another example of the gospel, but you see how I live, I want you to be able to say that's what it looks like to follow Jesus.
[00:28:33] Amen, church.

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Yes, the world will bow down and say You are God Every man will bow down and say You are God
[00:29:05] So let's start right now
[00:29:45] I just wanna be with you
[00:31:05] We'll sing, we'll sing, we'll sing
[00:31:33] Hey, if you've got something to sing Hallelujah for, raise your hands.
[00:32:57] Yeah, tell them this morning.
[00:33:02] I just want to be with you.
[00:33:10] Oh, key of glory.
[00:33:14] Fill this room.
[00:33:17] Just one.
[00:33:20] I just want to be
[00:33:51] Come on, let's declare that this morning you sing.
[00:35:27] Come on, let's declare that one more time.
[00:35:32] Tell them.

[00:35:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Yeah, just like that.

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Come on.

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Church, I wonder if we become so desperate for the presence of God that when we sing that last verse of I just want to be with you, I just want to be with you,
[00:36:33] When we can truly get to that state where we surrender every area of our life to Jesus, where we can confidently say, I just want to be with you, Lord.
[00:36:46] We were reading in the book of 2 Corinthians this morning during our all-volunteer rally.
[00:36:56] and I read just one verse but I was reminded of the following verse and it spoke so clearly to me as I was reading it and I think it's so pertinent for us to hear this morning because it's about the freedom that is found in Jesus Christ alone in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 starting in verse 17 it says for the Lord is the Spirit and for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom
[00:37:25] That's verse 17, but look at what verse 18 says.
[00:37:29] It says, So all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.
[00:37:36] And the Lord, who is Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.
[00:37:46] church some of us this morning need to have that veil removed so we can experience the freedom that is found in christ alone some of us need to come to the foot of the altar even in this moment and give it all to jesus i don't think we're done worshiping in this place because if we truly get to the place where we can say lord all i want is you
[00:38:10] There's freedom when you speak that.
[00:38:12] There's freedom when you say that.
[00:38:14] There's freedom when you can truly say, Lord, everything about me is yours.
[00:38:19] Everything that I have is yours.
[00:38:21] Everything that I own is because of you.
[00:38:24] You have blessed me.
[00:38:25] You have found me.
[00:38:26] You have saved me, Lord.
[00:38:28] So we can say in this place, thank you God for saving me.
[00:38:31] Thank you God for giving me the grace.
[00:38:33] Even though I'm so undeserving in this place today, you have called me by name.
[00:38:38] You know every hair on my head.
[00:38:41] You know every count that I can count.
[00:38:43] Father, you know me better than I know myself.
[00:38:46] And so when you can confidently say, Jesus, all I want is you, there's freedom in the name of Jesus.
[00:38:54] Let's step back into worship just for a second this morning.
[00:38:58] Let's pray.

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Let's pray.

[00:40:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
And we'll sing hallelujah until You come again And we'll dance in Your presence until You come again And we'll sing hallelujah until You come again

[00:41:09] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let's sing your praises

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
All across this room, would you just raise your hands as a sign of surrender to the King of Kings, as a sign of surrender to the Lord of Lords, our Savior Jesus Christ.
[00:42:10] Lord, You can have it all.
[00:42:15] Lord, You can have it all.
[00:42:18] Father be glorified in this place today.
[00:42:23] How awesome it is that we get to serve a great God.
[00:42:28] How awesome it is that we get to serve a personal God.
[00:42:35] Father we're so unworthy, but you have called us children.
[00:42:47] Lord we sit here in your presence Lord we believe that you have more for us this morning we believe that we're just getting started this morning so Lord I pray that your Holy Spirit rains down upon us we give you all the praise and the glory forever and ever and everyone said amen and amen
[00:43:13] Multiply Church, why don't you give someone a high five.
[00:43:16] Take your seats.
[00:43:21] Church family, I have the honor and the privilege to introduce
[00:43:27] Our speaker this morning, he goes by the name of Mr. Joe Phillips.
[00:43:31] And I had the opportunity to get to know Joe about three years ago.
[00:43:34] If you've been at Multiplied Church for about three years, he came to our volunteer appreciation night over back when we were at Liberty Prep Christian Academy.
[00:43:44] And he is a great man of God.
[00:43:46] He is the president
[00:43:48] of a nonprofit organization called JPM, stands for Jesus Production and Message.
[00:43:53] It is a nonprofit organization that has one message.
[00:43:56] It's about proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.
[00:44:00] He is an author.
[00:44:01] He's a public speaker.
[00:44:02] He is a filmmaker.
[00:44:04] He's a comedian.
[00:44:05] I get tired just saying all the things
[00:44:06] Man, what a great introduction.

[00:44:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Well, for the next two and a half hours, I'm going to take you on a journey, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:44:38] I'm kidding you.
[00:44:39] Driving over here today, I asked my beautiful wife, Cecilia.
[00:44:44] This is such a great church.
[00:44:45] What should I speak about?
[00:44:47] She said about 20 minutes.
[00:44:48] I'm kidding.
[00:44:50] I'm trying to break the ice here.
[00:44:51] She didn't say that.
[00:44:52] Wow.
[00:44:54] You know, I really appreciate about this church.
[00:44:56] It's the first time I've been here other than doing that stand-up stuff.
[00:45:01] Y'all worship the Lord, and the songs are God-centered.
[00:45:05] They were worshiping...
[00:45:07] I know that there's a lot of great courses about our position in Christ and what He makes us and all that, but we were singing to Him today.
[00:45:14] And you felt it.
[00:45:14] This great anointing.
[00:45:16] It's one thing to have talent.
[00:45:18] It's another thing to have anointing.
[00:45:20] on the Talent.
[00:45:21] And I go to all kind of church.
[00:45:23] I've been at 240 churches in 18 years.
[00:45:25] We go to mega churches and rural churches, urban churches, church plants.
[00:45:29] I go to churches that have dirt parking lots.
[00:45:31] I go to churches that have karaoke worship.
[00:45:34] They sing a song and then they say, all right, back there in the booth, hit that next button.
[00:45:37] You know, I love them all.
[00:45:39] So I know I'm not just flattering you.
[00:45:41] Flattery spreads a net.
[00:45:42] This is a great church.
[00:45:45] And you've got great momentum.
[00:45:46] Thank God for it.
[00:45:49] Thank God for my daughters here, too, somewhere.
[00:45:51] Where's my daughter, Lauren?
[00:45:52] She lives in the area.
[00:45:53] That's my daughter back there.
[00:45:54] You don't have to sit on the back of her, baby.
[00:45:55] God bless you.
[00:45:56] She is my oldest daughter, teaches at Multiply or Concord Academy, and we're proud of her.
[00:46:04] And my newest son, Barrett, she married him on January 22nd, and we're glad that they're here.
[00:46:11] I'm happy to have a jersey today, and I literally do have a jersey.
[00:46:15] Multiply.
[00:46:17] I'm happy to be here and be on the team for all of you.
[00:46:22] Tim Tebow put John 3.16 underneath his eyes in the 2007 championship.
[00:46:27] I don't know if you remember that, that heartbreaking game.
[00:46:30] You beat my Alabama Crimson Tide, I believe, to win the national championship.
[00:46:35] John 3.16, 94 million Google searches on John 3.16 within an hour.
[00:46:41] When I was growing up, even the town drunk knew what John 3.16 was, I'm telling you.
[00:46:46] Everybody knew John 3.16.
[00:46:48] Otis and Mayberry know John 3.16.
[00:46:52] But this generation is different.
[00:46:54] It's a different generation.
[00:46:56] Same thing in 2012 when he put it underneath his eye in the Denver playoff game.
[00:47:00] And then he threw for 316 yards, 31.6 yards per average, 31.6 Nielsen average.
[00:47:08] I think God was trying to tell the nation something.
[00:47:11] But I'm going to share a message at the end.
[00:47:15] Completely upfront with you, I'm going to ask you if you don't know the Lord, this will be a great day for you to know the Lord.
[00:47:23] I'm going to ask you to respond to the gospel.
[00:47:25] And the gospel is simply God lives, He exists, He's real, and He has a son named Jesus.
[00:47:31] And Jesus volunteered to come to this place called Earth and lived a perfect life for 33 years.
[00:47:37] At the age of 33, he volunteered to go to a cross.
[00:47:40] He could have called thousands of angels to come and save him, but he didn't.
[00:47:45] He did that for me and you.
[00:47:46] And the Bible says on the cross, God made him who had no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:47:53] So on the cross, he became all the junk.
[00:47:56] Anger, Malice, Wrath, Discord, Strife, Enmity, Unbelief, Pride, Prejudice, Lust, Sexual Immorality.
[00:48:01] Every kind of nasty thing, he became that.
[00:48:05] And then they beat him near about to death.
[00:48:07] They crucified him, put him in a borrowed tomb.
[00:48:09] Three days later, he was resurrected from the dead.
[00:48:13] When I was playing basketball at Columbus State University, my agnostic history professor said it's a historical fact that 500 people claim to have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead, and he ascended into heaven to purchase a place for us, and all we have to do is receive him.
[00:48:31] John 1, 12, to as many as received him, he gave the power to become the children of God.
[00:48:35] I may ask you to come right down here in front of everybody.
[00:48:39] And if it's a hard thing to do here where they turn the lights on for this very reason, it'd be hard out there.
[00:48:45] This is a place we'll celebrate you.
[00:48:47] You don't know what I've done, Joe.
[00:48:49] Can I ask you a question?
[00:48:50] Have you killed a Christian lately?
[00:48:52] I didn't say, have you thought about it?
[00:48:53] I'm asking you, have you actually done that?
[00:48:56] Well, Paul wrote a third of the New Testament and he was an accessory and accomplice to murder.
[00:49:01] And God knocked him off a horse and used that man to change the world.
[00:49:04] You haven't done anything that you cannot be forgiven of.
[00:49:09] It would be a good day to do that.
[00:49:11] My wife called me.
[00:49:12] I was in Macon, Georgia this past Thursday and it reminded me about seven years ago she called me.
[00:49:18] I was looking at the widow Thursday in a gathering that we had at the campground and I remembered that she called me when I was talking to that widow by the casket of Milford Addison, an old boss of mine, superintendent of Georgia.
[00:49:35] She said, and I said to Mrs. Addison, I said, my wife knows where I'm at.
[00:49:38] She's called me a few times.
[00:49:39] I've got to take this.
[00:49:41] I said, well, hey, babe.
[00:49:42] She said, pray for Danny.
[00:49:43] They can't find him.
[00:49:44] I said, what?
[00:49:45] My only brother-in-law is 55 years old.
[00:49:47] He said, they couldn't find him?
[00:49:49] I said, I will pray.
[00:49:49] I didn't have time to pray more than 30 seconds before I got a call from the pastor of our home church in Georgia that says,
[00:49:56] Danny died.
[00:49:57] Now my brother-in-law was two-time national champion, football, Georgia Southern University.
[00:50:02] Great athletic director, coach, very respected.
[00:50:07] He died, yeah.
[00:50:08] He could run 10 miles a day, and he was actually on a five-mile run when he had a weird heart anomaly that no physical ever picked up, and he was gone.
[00:50:16] The doctor said before his face hit the Georgia clay, he was gone.
[00:50:19] I preached this funeral.
[00:50:20] There were 2,000 people in that room.
[00:50:22] I'd never seen that many people in our home church.
[00:50:24] Even when the Gaithers came to town, people were sitting up on the stairs going up in the balcony.
[00:50:30] And I told the crowd, my brother-in-law's in heaven, not because he was a national champion or because he was a good coach or a decent guy or any of that stuff.
[00:50:38] He's in heaven because at some point in his life he opened up his heart and his hand and he received the free gift of God, Jesus Christ.
[00:50:48] So if the doctor's right and that book is right that says absent from the body, present with the Lord before Danny's face hit the Georgia clay, his feet were standing on streets that are paved in gold in heaven.
[00:51:00] And that's your promise.
[00:51:02] That's your promise.
[00:51:04] And there's no reason to go to bed tonight not knowing that.
[00:51:06] I'm an evangelist.
[00:51:07] That's my job.
[00:51:08] It's a great job.
[00:51:10] I love my job.
[00:51:11] But I can't go to bed because I have to give an account to God for this moment.
[00:51:15] So I'm just telling you in advance.
[00:51:16] And then we'll ask Pastor Manny to come back up after that invitation.
[00:51:22] And then he's going to formally dismiss, but I want to pray for anybody and everybody that needs a turnaround in your life.
[00:51:29] I'm going to pray for you.
[00:51:31] We'll put on some music.
[00:51:32] Go get the kids from Children's Church if they need a healing or a turnaround.
[00:51:36] You go get them and we'll pray.
[00:51:38] I won't be at the book table.
[00:51:40] I have a book table out there.
[00:51:41] We've written four books and I'm not going to bore you with a long commercial.
[00:51:44] There's a book on transformation and change called The Third Chair.
[00:51:47] It's the first book that I wrote.
[00:51:49] And it's been helpful to a lot of people.
[00:51:52] Large print devotional book, 30-day devotional book.
[00:51:57] Large print so I can see it and you can see it.
[00:51:59] Hallelujah.
[00:51:59] I also want to give you a movie.
[00:52:01] I made a film in Thailand.
[00:52:02] We were supposed to premiere it at the gym theater in Kannapolis in 2020, but that little thing called COVID shut us down, so I decided to give it to the whole world.
[00:52:09] There's a code out there.
[00:52:11] You can go to my website.
[00:52:12] It's free.
[00:52:13] No bait and switch.
[00:52:14] A book I wrote with a Global Teen Challenge director called Fundamentals in Family Life.
[00:52:18] He's a doctor of psychology.
[00:52:20] He's a brilliant guy.
[00:52:22] It's just funny stories and practical principles.
[00:52:24] And then a page-turning
[00:52:25] Novel, Susan Ross gave us an incredible endorsement.
[00:52:29] The assistant superintendent in Georgia, Paul Thomas, said it was one of the best books he's ever read.
[00:52:33] I hate, I'm not bragging.
[00:52:34] I'm just telling you what they said.
[00:52:36] And you can have it.
[00:52:37] There's a price sheet out there.
[00:52:38] But if you need to be encouraged and you only have a nickel or a cough drop, put that in the bucket.
[00:52:43] But not the one at the bottom of your purse.
[00:52:45] It's disgusting.
[00:52:46] It's got hair on it.
[00:52:47] It's sticky.
[00:52:48] It's a mess.
[00:52:50] Acts chapter 16, Acts chapter 16.
[00:52:53] I plow through this message that the Lord put on my heart for this moment.
[00:52:59] Lord, we bless you.
[00:53:00] We bless you.
[00:53:02] Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.
[00:53:06] Hallelujah.
[00:53:07] We sought the Lord and he heard us and delivered us from all of our fears.
[00:53:11] Taste and see that the Lord is good.
[00:53:14] That's what we've done this morning.
[00:53:16] And now I pray for spiritual gifts.
[00:53:18] You told us in 1 Corinthians 14, 1, earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy.
[00:53:23] So I want to prophesy.
[00:53:25] I want to say out of my mouth what's in your heart, God.
[00:53:29] In the context of my own personality and study and intelligence or lack thereof, just use me to speak prophetically to your people and encourage them by your Holy Spirit.
[00:53:42] I pray God that you give us whatever other gifts we need, faith, word of knowledge, gift of healing, even miracles, whatever it is that we need, we're asking you because you told us to ask for it.
[00:53:53] I pray that you'll help your people today through the transaction of the Holy Spirit, the word of God that's inspired by the Spirit, the gift of prophecy which is given by the Spirit, that somehow through all of that, that you're gonna help people, families, and you're gonna help the church.
[00:54:11] In the mighty, mighty name of Jesus Christ.
[00:54:13] Amen.
[00:54:14] Before I read the text, I want to show you this picture.
[00:54:16] Your bass player, Corey, and I were in this thing called the Ebenezer Experience.
[00:54:20] I play Ebenezer Scrooge.
[00:54:22] If you'll put that... Yeah, I put on a hat and a wig, spin around, look like one of the Golden Girls with a thyroid problem.
[00:54:31] We've done this 135 times in 51 cities and 12 states to over 50,000 people and 1,813 have given their hearts to the Lord Jesus.
[00:54:41] But there's one line that captured me, captured me a couple of years ago.
[00:54:47] I think you can put that picture of the lady if I emailed you.
[00:54:50] Yeah, that's Sheila.
[00:54:51] That's my wife and my good friend from Georgia.
[00:54:54] And she plays the ghost of Christmas present.
[00:54:57] And during the rehearsal, she looked at me, you know, Scrooge comes out, this feasting is not in my nature.
[00:55:05] She looked at me and she said, would you have me believe that one night's vision could melt such a hardened heart?
[00:55:15] Would you have me believe that one night's vision could melt such a hardened heart?
[00:55:21] And it struck me.
[00:55:22] You know, Ebenezer Scrooge, if you know Charles Dickens, he's changed overnight.
[00:55:27] He was an ogre, odious, insulting, rude, tightwad.
[00:55:35] And just like that, and I know it's fiction, just like that,
[00:55:40] Not only did he transform, but everybody around him elevated their lives.
[00:55:45] Acts chapter 16, this is not fiction.
[00:55:48] It is history and it is inspired.
[00:55:50] Acts chapter 16, verse 20, I'll read it with you from the screen.
[00:55:55] And they brought to the magistrates and said,
[00:55:56] These men being Jews exceedingly trouble our city, and they teach customs which are not lawful for us being Romans to receive or observe.
[00:56:05] Then the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.
[00:56:13] And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, and commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
[00:56:19] Having received such a charge, he put them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
[00:56:24] But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
[00:56:34] Next.
[00:56:35] Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prisons were shaken.
[00:56:40] And immediately all the doors were loosed, and the keeper of the prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
[00:56:54] But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm.
[00:56:59] We're all here.
[00:57:00] Then he called for a light, ran in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
[00:57:05] And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[00:57:10] So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved, you and your household.
[00:57:15] Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in the house.
[00:57:20] And I don't have this on the screen.
[00:57:22] They don't have it because I didn't give it to them.
[00:57:24] But at the end of that story, it says,
[00:57:29] It says that when he brought them into their house, when the jailer brought him into his home, he set food before them and they were filled with joy.
[00:57:44] Filled with joy.
[00:57:46] You and I know bad things can happen just like that.
[00:57:49] It's happened to a lot of us.
[00:57:51] One Friday night in Kannapolis, my wife and I were trying to figure out where we were going to go to dinner.
[00:57:57] She was suggesting things like Outback, and I was saying, you know, the hot dog at QT ain't bad.
[00:58:04] And we get a call.
[00:58:06] I'll never forget, it was a Friday, and it was kind of a chaotic scene on the other end.
[00:58:11] And the guy said, I'm calling for Joe Phillips.
[00:58:13] I said, this is he.
[00:58:14] Well, your son's gonna be all right, but the car ain't gonna be much.
[00:58:19] That's how the guy, I said, what?
[00:58:21] My son had flipped his car several times on his way to a youth retreat in Myrtle Beach.
[00:58:27] A little Honda Prelude or something.
[00:58:29] He had some racing stripes on his shoulder here, like three deep gashes.
[00:58:35] He was in a hospital in Charleston.
[00:58:38] He's doing well now, thank God.
[00:58:39] He's doing fine.
[00:58:41] But that could have changed our lives forever.
[00:58:43] And some of your lives have changed from a pink slip, or the certified mail, or the divorce paper, or the email from the IRS makes you flinch, right?
[00:58:55] Life changes just like that.
[00:58:57] It wasn't too long ago that America witnessed a woman become a widow just like that, and children become orphans just like that.
[00:59:06] We know these things, but I have a contention that I'd like to preach today, that just as fast as things can happen for the bad just like that, they can also happen for the good just like that.
[00:59:17] The Bible speaks of suddenly.
[00:59:20] Suddenly means quickly and without warning, unexpectedly.
[00:59:23] Quickly and without warning, unexpectedly.
[00:59:26] Give you a couple of verses.
[00:59:27] Isaiah talks about it.
[00:59:29] I foretold the former things long ago.
[00:59:31] My mouth announced them, and I made them known.
[00:59:34] Then suddenly, without warning, quickly, unexpectedly, I acted, and they come to pass, says the Lord.
[00:59:40] Here's another one, Malachi.
[00:59:41] Then suddenly, quickly, without warning, unexpectedly.
[00:59:44] Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.
[00:59:48] Joseph to the palace.
[00:59:49] So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly, suddenly, without warning and unexpectedly brought from the dungeon to the king.
[00:59:59] Pharaoh says to Joseph, I'll put you in charge of the whole country of Egypt, just like that.
[01:00:04] The angels appeared to the shepherds.
[01:00:05] Suddenly, suddenly, heavenly hosts appeared quickly, just like that.
[01:00:11] In preaching, you're supposed to have a proposition,
[01:00:14] There's a preposition, a proposition.
[01:00:16] You're supposed to have an objective.
[01:00:18] I call it a sermon in a sentence.
[01:00:20] My homiletics professor at Southeastern, Billy Wilson, old retired naval chaplain.
[01:00:25] He talked like this.
[01:00:26] He was a great teacher.
[01:00:27] He said, boys, I'm going to tell you something.
[01:00:29] It's the Word and the Holy Ghost.
[01:00:30] It's the Word and the Holy Ghost.
[01:00:31] And here's the mark of a good sermon.
[01:00:33] When that fellow's delivering bread on a Thursday, and he's pulling that tray of bread out, and he's taking it up into the Winn-Dixie, and he remembers, pastor said, I need to love my enemies.
[01:00:43] That's the mark of a good sermon.
[01:00:44] So if I could leave you with a sermon and a sentence,
[01:00:47] It is simply, just as fast as things happen bad and terrible, believe God that things can happen for good just like that.
[01:00:58] I just want to make a few points.
[01:01:00] The first one's the bad news.
[01:01:02] Number one, just like that bad things happen to good people.
[01:01:05] I thought you said that you wanted to give us some hope.
[01:01:08] Well, we do acknowledge that some things
[01:01:12] are kind of crummy.
[01:01:14] The Bible says, I consider everything compared to the excellency of Christ as dung.
[01:01:18] I don't know if you know what that is, but there are some dungy days in life.
[01:01:22] There's some bad things that happen in life.
[01:01:25] And just like that, Paul and Silas found themselves in prison.
[01:01:29] They were doing God's work.
[01:01:32] They were doing the right thing.
[01:01:34] Let me tell you why they were in prison.
[01:01:37] There was a demon-possessed girl following Paul and Silas for many days.
[01:01:43] Someone interviewed me two weeks ago and said, if you could interview anybody that's dead, who would you interview?
[01:01:50] I said, Paul, because of this story.
[01:01:53] Because the Bible says for many days, a demon-possessed girl followed him saying, these men are from the most high God telling you the way to be saved.
[01:02:01] Would that get on your nerves?
[01:02:03] Paul had a short fuse anyway.
[01:02:07] But he let it go on for many days.
[01:02:09] I don't know if you thought it was a demonic letter of reference, this woman saying, these men are from the Most High God, telling you how to get saved.
[01:02:15] She was filled with what the commentators call a spirit of pythona.
[01:02:19] She had a python spirit that was wrapped around this little girl.
[01:02:23] I made a film about sex trafficking in Thailand.
[01:02:25] Trafficking, I'm not an expert at it, I just am a storyteller, but trafficking is a pretty big deal.
[01:02:30] It's a pretty big deal, and this girl is being trafficked because the demon inside that girl
[01:02:35] would tell people something, and they would pay money for it.
[01:02:40] We don't believe the devil can read our minds.
[01:02:42] Jesus knows our thoughts, but he has a vast network that's been around for a long time, and they can predict human behavior, and they certainly hear our words.
[01:02:50] That's why words matter.
[01:02:52] And so they would come to this demon-possessed girl and say, should I marry Jacob or should I marry Reuben?
[01:02:57] And the demon inside this girl would say, Jacob doesn't have a job, marry Reuben.
[01:03:02] And he would tell, the girl would tell, and they would say, yes, and they would go pay a lot of money.
[01:03:08] And so when she's saying these things, these men are from the Most High God telling you the way to be saved, it was controversial.
[01:03:14] It is not a good thing that she was saying because when she would say Most High, that term meant something to the Jews.
[01:03:22] They had a, oh, they have a Most High God.
[01:03:24] But it meant something else to the pantheists and the polytheists.
[01:03:27] They had lots of most high gods, so they would start off, hey, we got a bunch of most high gods.
[01:03:32] Who's your most high god?
[01:03:34] And the Jews and the other religions would get into it.
[01:03:37] It'd be like saying something about politics and thinking that that was gonna enhance your conversation about the gospel.
[01:03:47] And that's what was happening.
[01:03:48] And so rather than enhancing the mission, Paul had to undo it and untie it and it slowed him down and he'd had enough.
[01:03:57] The Bible says he turned.
[01:03:59] To turn means to rotate your body on an axis from the center.
[01:04:02] He turns to the demon-possessed girl, and he says, in the name of Jesus, come out.
[01:04:08] And just like that, that girl was free.
[01:04:12] She was free.
[01:04:13] I'm talking about free.
[01:04:15] And they'd come to her and say, should I marry Reuben or should I marry Jacob?
[01:04:18] Marry a tree.
[01:04:19] I don't care, because I don't hear them voices anymore.
[01:04:23] She was free, just like that.
[01:04:25] But the traffickers
[01:04:27] Jesus got mad and they arrested them.
[01:04:32] They beat them.
[01:04:34] The Jews had a limit on how many stripes you could
[01:04:38] Not so with the Romans.
[01:04:40] They beat them and beat them and beat them and beat them, and they threw them into a toilet prison, a cistern, the inner cell, fastened their feet and their broken, beaten backs up against that wet and nasty wall just because they were doing God's will and God's work.
[01:05:02] Sometimes just like that, things can happen quickly.
[01:05:06] Unexpectedly and without warning.
[01:05:09] But number two is the good news.
[01:05:11] Just like that, the atmosphere can change.
[01:05:14] Just like that, the atmosphere can change.
[01:05:16] They were in this dungeon, one of the darkest places on earth, I'm sure.
[01:05:23] The demonized and the demon-possessed making all their and the innocent prisoners weeping softly.
[01:05:35] It stinks.
[01:05:37] Hurt.
[01:05:39] Some of those prisoners have been fastened to that wall for years.
[01:05:43] And old Paul, Silas, started praying.
[01:05:50] And the Bible says, I just saw this when I wrote this sermon recently.
[01:05:54] I took a class in Bible college called the Book of Acts.
[01:05:58] It never grabbed me like this.
[01:06:01] They started worshiping, and the prisoners listened.
[01:06:05] And you might think, well, what else were they gonna do?
[01:06:08] They're a captive audience.
[01:06:09] No, you know, there's some rough guys in there.
[01:06:13] Could you imagine Paul starts worshiping and they could just say, shut up!
[01:06:18] No, but they listened because the atmosphere changed.
[01:06:22] The groans, the whimpering.
[01:06:25] Hallelujah.
[01:06:33] Feel the atmosphere in the prison change and the prisoners listen.
[01:06:37] Hey, people are listening to us.
[01:06:39] People are watching us.
[01:06:41] You have the ability to change an atmosphere in an office or a classroom or a school or a workspace.
[01:06:46] They're listening to us.
[01:06:48] Just like that, the atmosphere can change.
[01:06:52] August the 12th, my wife got a telephone call.
[01:06:55] She was holding and I think maybe feeding one of our grandbabies and I took the call.
[01:07:00] It was a friend of mine named Marcus.
[01:07:02] It was August the 12th.
[01:07:04] His wife for four or five years has been battling terminal lymphoma and he calls and he says, he says, Joe, they've given us two weeks to live, given Jennifer two weeks to live.
[01:07:16] That was August the 12th.
[01:07:18] She probably woke up this morning in the mountains and she's not doing good.
[01:07:22] She's really not doing good.
[01:07:24] I put these two pictures up here because they really inspire me.
[01:07:27] This was like on the 14th of August.
[01:07:29] You know what she's doing right there?
[01:07:30] It's not a prayer position.
[01:07:33] They told her, you got two weeks to live.
[01:07:34] And you know what she did?
[01:07:35] She got up, said, I got to work out.
[01:07:37] I'm working out.
[01:07:40] And look at this next picture.
[01:07:41] This is a picture when she's battling lymphoma.
[01:07:43] Marcus took it from behind.
[01:07:45] She's worshiping.
[01:07:47] They told her she wouldn't live to see her son get married.
[01:07:52] He got married a year and a month ago.
[01:07:54] And I believe it's because of the wonderful, sovereign, merciful grace of God, but it's also about her attitude and how she changed the atmosphere with her worship just like Paul and Silas did.
[01:08:09] Change your atmosphere.
[01:08:11] Don't walk into the house and say, this place is a disaster!
[01:08:14] No, your kids have socks at the end of the couch that have been there so long squirrels have nested in them, but that's not really a disaster.
[01:08:23] Tsunamis are disasters.
[01:08:25] You just have to have a hallelujah disposition in your spirit.
[01:08:31] Number three, well, let me, don't go on three yet exactly.
[01:08:38] I'm going to preach this just because, well, because I can.
[01:08:45] For three years, I've done some physical challenge in October because I had finished during COVID our ministry.
[01:08:50] We're staff evangelists, but I'm not on staff with anybody.
[01:08:53] I'm supported by Multiply Concord like a missionary, like they support other missionaries.
[01:08:59] So I said, I'm going to finish in the black if it kills me.
[01:09:01] Well, it just about killed me.
[01:09:02] We did 100 miles on Appalachian Trail one year, 110 the next year.
[01:09:08] Do you have a picture of this mountain?
[01:09:10] That's my coach right there, both my coaches.
[01:09:12] One's an investment banker from Beckley, West Virginia, and the other owns a trucking company.
[01:09:16] That's what I did last year.
[01:09:17] I climbed Mount Adams in Washington State.
[01:09:19] That's on July 22nd.
[01:09:21] That's my idea of the perfect summer right there.
[01:09:24] I hate the heat.
[01:09:25] But I do not recommend that activity at the age of 60.
[01:09:28] I can tell you that.
[01:09:29] Is there another picture?
[01:09:30] That's Mount Rainier in the back.
[01:09:32] If there's another picture, put it up.
[01:09:34] If not, that's fine.
[01:09:35] So my coach, Steve, three years ago, walking on the Appalachian Trail, and that West Virginia bro, he said, Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:09:48] I said, well, my knees are clicking.
[01:09:50] That's new.
[01:09:50] They never clicked like this before.
[01:09:52] I don't know what that's all about.
[01:09:54] 20 minutes later, Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:09:57] You know, I got plantar fasciitis, so every step's like walking on glass.
[01:10:02] He said, 99 more miles to go.
[01:10:05] About 30 minutes later, Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:10:08] On my left foot, I just felt two of my toenails rip off in my sock.
[01:10:14] He said, I think you need to change the way you talk.
[01:10:17] I said, I think you need to shut up.
[01:10:21] You're the one that asked me, and I hate liars.
[01:10:25] But if you're gonna have a coach, you gotta be coachable.
[01:10:27] So he gave me a little lecture, this trucking company owner, on the importance of self-talk.
[01:10:32] Processed it.
[01:10:33] They went on ahead of me.
[01:10:34] I caught up in about an hour.
[01:10:37] Reluctantly, he said, Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:10:39] I said, every step I take is another soul for Jesus Christ.
[01:10:43] Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:10:44] About 30 minutes later, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me, Steve Croy.
[01:10:50] About 30 minutes later, Joe, how you doing, buddy?
[01:10:53] I'll tell you how I'm doing.
[01:10:54] I'm a whole lot tougher than I thought I was, and I'm telling you, it didn't change the pain, but it sure changed the experience.
[01:11:01] Made it a whole lot better.
[01:11:03] Changed the atmosphere.
[01:11:04] Now, three, just like that, freedom can come.
[01:11:06] Just like that, freedom can come.
[01:11:10] So,
[01:11:13] So they're worshiping in the earthquake.
[01:11:16] The earthquake comes.
[01:11:17] That can't be a coincidence.
[01:11:20] Hallelujah.
[01:11:21] The earth's plates start moving with worship.
[01:11:27] That's why what we did up here, what they did up here to lead all of us down there, that's not perfunctory or some kind of performance.
[01:11:34] It's something happens when we tell God how awesome He is.
[01:11:39] And the earth plates started shaking.
[01:11:42] Suddenly, the Bible says, suddenly, quickly, without warning, unexpectedly, there was a great earthquake.
[01:11:47] The foundations of the prison were shaken.
[01:11:50] And immediately, quickly, without warning, unexpectedly, all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
[01:11:59] People who had chains digging into their skin for years.
[01:12:04] Everybody's chains.
[01:12:06] Suddenly, quickly, just like that.
[01:12:08] I believe in Teen Challenge.
[01:12:10] I wrote a book with a Teen Challenge director.
[01:12:12] I love Teen Challenge.
[01:12:13] I love rehabilitation.
[01:12:14] I love discipleship stuff.
[01:12:16] I love even in the medicine world, chemotherapy and radiation and all those things that God gives brilliant men and women.
[01:12:23] But I'm telling you, there are times when just like that, a man can be delivered, a woman can be delivered.
[01:12:28] and Set Free, just like in the book of Acts.
[01:12:32] That woman is sitting on the front row, the bride of my, you'd be married 40 years next year.
[01:12:36] Her dad is one of my greatest heroes.
[01:12:39] Jimmy Griggs was a high functioning alcoholic.
[01:12:42] He kept alcohol under his seat all the time.
[01:12:45] And when her mama got a brain tumor in 1969 and Dr. Hazuri, a Lebanese brilliant physician said, there's no hope.
[01:12:56] He had been consulted when JFK got shot.
[01:12:58] That's how brilliant he was before they knew there was no hope for JFK.
[01:13:01] The doctor said, your wife won't make it through the night.
[01:13:05] We've got her head packed in ice.
[01:13:12] If she moves at all, she'll be dead.
[01:13:14] And that alcoholic man with an eight-year-old and a three-year-old daughter walked into a chapel and said, God, if you'll save my wife's life, I'll pour out my alcohol and I'll serve you because he knew as a little boy in the Assembly of God Church that Jesus was real.
[01:13:31] Well, he died in 2012.
[01:13:33] I think he was 83 or 85.
[01:13:36] But I'm happy to report that his wife is waking up in Georgia at the age of 97 this morning.
[01:13:43] And just like that, Jimmy was delivered.
[01:13:45] He never took another drink.
[01:13:47] God healed him.
[01:13:48] Just like that, freedom can come for him.
[01:13:50] Just like that.
[01:13:52] His testimony is a picture of your evangelist.
[01:13:55] I won't go into my story.
[01:13:57] You see your evangelist has a receding forehead.
[01:14:01] I was born with it.
[01:14:03] I didn't develop it.
[01:14:04] That's the receipt right there.
[01:14:07] My mother was mentally ill with two very severe mental illnesses, and she was borderline for a third mental illness.
[01:14:13] My grandmother looks like she's about to clock me with a pocketbook.
[01:14:18] I'm named after my grandfather.
[01:14:19] His name is Klessie Rowland Mills.
[01:14:21] I'm Rowland Joe Phillips, good name for a comedian and an evangelist and an Alabama fan.
[01:14:27] She gave me away at the age of three.
[01:14:30] And everything was good until I was about 15 and my dad got beat almost to death, changed his face, changed his personality, kicked my mom out.
[01:14:36] Next picture.
[01:14:37] This woman moved in.
[01:14:39] This woman moved in with her two kids in a 900 square foot duplex and hate moved into my heart.
[01:14:45] And a school teacher, a math teacher, a Baptist math teacher said God told him to go to the Pentecostal church up on the hill.
[01:14:53] And so he did.
[01:14:54] And he invited me to go with him.
[01:14:57] I said, I'm not religious.
[01:14:59] He cheated.
[01:15:00] He said, and I was starving.
[01:15:01] I was hungry.
[01:15:03] And he said, if you'll come, Patricia, we'll make you homemade fried chicken, butter beans, banana pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cornbread.
[01:15:10] I said, what kind of religion are you?
[01:15:12] Man, that all sounds good to me.
[01:15:14] I'd be Catholic for cornbread, Baptist for butter beans, Nazarene for nana pudding, whatever you got.
[01:15:19] Come on.
[01:15:21] Took me to a Pentecostal church.
[01:15:23] It was weird.
[01:15:24] There was a choir, but it looked like men and women had the same dress on to me.
[01:15:28] I didn't know.
[01:15:28] And they were friendly, waving at me with their eyes closed.
[01:15:31] I'd never seen anything like that.
[01:15:33] But I gave my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:15:35] When I was 18 years old, I walked out of darkness into the light.
[01:15:39] And the next picture, just like that, God can change the picture.
[01:15:42] These are all four of my kids, my son-in-law, my grandkids.
[01:15:48] I told my therapist and yeah I have a therapist I told her my story one time she said you have dissociative something something something disorder I've never met anybody with that disorder as an adult that had a normal adult relationship the fact that you have so many makes me think you're almost like a miracle I said he does make miracles just like that then finally number four just like that joy can replace depression joy can replace depression
[01:16:17] Now, my wife and I have had this discussion.
[01:16:19] We talk about what I preach.
[01:16:20] She gives me notes.
[01:16:21] She'll probably have a half a dozen notes about this.
[01:16:23] She tells me I tell too many stories, so I cut out a couple.
[01:16:27] If she wasn't here, I'd keep them back in.
[01:16:30] We're talking about this jailer.
[01:16:32] So, the jailer, the jailer feels the earthquake.
[01:16:38] He beat these people.
[01:16:40] He goes in and sees the chains are falling off these people, and he's gonna kill himself.
[01:16:47] One theory could be, and it's my wife's theory and it's a good theory, like on 9-11 when the planes crashed into the buildings and the people had a decision to either jump
[01:16:57] or be burned to death, they weren't per se suicidal.
[01:17:00] They just, it was a reaction.
[01:17:02] And that could have been a reaction.
[01:17:03] It could have been a reaction.
[01:17:05] Commentators say, well, it was known that if a jailer allowed the prisoner to escape, he would be severely executed post-haste.
[01:17:12] He would be killed.
[01:17:13] The man was just cutting out the middleman.
[01:17:15] I would have tried to talk myself out of that.
[01:17:17] Wouldn't you?
[01:17:17] I mean, come on, it was an earthquake, please.
[01:17:21] But there's another theory that maybe he was depressed.
[01:17:25] Maybe.
[01:17:26] Maybe he was depressed already.
[01:17:27] He beat people for a living.
[01:17:30] How was your day, dear?
[01:17:32] Beat 12 today.
[01:17:33] I got 14 to beat near about to death tomorrow.
[01:17:35] What's for dinner?
[01:17:36] That depressed me.
[01:17:38] Beat people.
[01:17:39] Maybe this was just his out.
[01:17:42] But there are 123 words in my Bible from the jailer about to kill himself to great joy.
[01:17:49] He's about to kill himself and Paul says in the Phillips translation, hang on homeboy, we all up in the crib, don't need to kill yourself.
[01:17:55] That's the Joe Phillips translation.
[01:17:57] It's awkward translation.
[01:17:58] We're all here!
[01:17:59] Don't kill yourself!
[01:18:00] And he runs in and falls at their feet.
[01:18:02] What must I do to be saved?
[01:18:04] Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved and your house.
[01:18:08] 123 words from raising his sword.
[01:18:11] He sits just a matter of minutes later, maybe an hour or two hours,
[01:18:16] and there is great joy as he's washing the prisoner's wounds that he probably administered.
[01:18:22] God is washing his sin from his life and his whole house becomes born again just like that.
[01:18:31] I have a video about it and show it because it's so painful.
[01:18:34] It's 20 seconds.
[01:18:36] My son is not an Auburn fan or an Alabama fan.
[01:18:40] That's where we're from.
[01:18:41] My wife's an Auburn fan.
[01:18:42] I'm an Alabama fan.
[01:18:43] It's awkward.
[01:18:45] One day a year.
[01:18:46] That day's coming.
[01:18:47] We'll probably be in separate states then.
[01:18:50] But my sons are both Ohio State fans.
[01:18:52] I can't get them off of that.
[01:18:53] I mean, I've had therapists and exorcists and all kind of things coming out.
[01:19:00] But my son, so cool, he said, Dad, I know you love Alabama.
[01:19:02] I got you a ticket to the national championship game.
[01:19:05] Yeah, it was good.
[01:19:06] It was in Indianapolis.
[01:19:07] Alabama's playing Georgia.
[01:19:08] I flew up there, sat with my son.
[01:19:10] At halftime, we moved down to the Georgia, we were in the Georgia section.
[01:19:14] We moved down behind the families in the mezzanines and stood there.
[01:19:17] Nobody ran us off.
[01:19:18] It was awesome.
[01:19:19] And when Bryce Young, our Panthers quarterback, was playing for Alabama, he threw that interception.
[01:19:24] It's that Georgia fella.
[01:19:26] And that fella runs it in and my heart is breaking.
[01:19:28] And I'm with a bunch of Georgia people and grown men who've never met each other embraced, wept, and invoked the memory of their dead grandparents.
[01:19:39] I caught myself
[01:19:41] and more.
[01:19:42] High-fiving.
[01:19:42] And I got to the fifth high-five.
[01:19:44] What am I doing?
[01:19:45] I'm an Alabama fan.
[01:19:46] But see, I found out joy's a contagious thing.
[01:19:50] If a church or a family or a person gets so full of joy, even people aren't on your team gonna try to figure out what you're joyful about.
[01:19:59] And it can happen in 123 words, just like that.
[01:20:04] The Bible's full of suddenlies.
[01:20:07] I wish I had time to talk to you about 2 Kings chapter 7.
[01:20:12] The man of God, Elisha, says, I looked it up in study this morning on ChatGPT.
[01:20:24] The people were starving to death, and it says that people were so hungry they were paying literally, today's money, $600 for a donkey's head and $40 for a handful of bird droppings.
[01:20:41] And the man of God says, tomorrow, about this time, the people are gonna pay a dollar for barley and a dollar and a half for wheat.
[01:20:53] And there was a guy there that said, he was an official, he said to the man of God, even if God opened up the windows of heaven, could that ever happen?
[01:21:01] And the man of God said to the fellow, your eyes are gonna see it, but you're not gonna taste it.
[01:21:07] Then God sent a sound of a war
[01:21:10] They were surrounded by enemies that were about to kill them.
[01:21:13] But God sent a sound of war and horses and chariots, and the enemy flees for their lives.
[01:21:20] And four lepers look at each other and say, what are we doing?
[01:21:23] If we stay in the city, we're going to die.
[01:21:24] If we go to the enemy, we're going to die.
[01:21:26] Maybe they'll take pity on us.
[01:21:27] We got to get out of here.
[01:21:28] And when they went to the enemy's camp, there was food in every tent, everywhere.
[01:21:32] There was clothing lying on the ground.
[01:21:34] There were weapons lying on the ground because the enemy had escaped.
[01:21:38] And they come back into the city and said, we're free.
[01:21:42] They didn't believe them at first, the lepers.
[01:21:45] Come and see.
[01:21:45] And they came and saw.
[01:21:47] And just like that, in 24 hours, from $624 for a donkey's head, it was a dollar and a dollar and a half for barley and wheat.
[01:21:59] And the guy who said it could never happen, his eyes saw it, but he never tasted it because he was trampled at the gate.
[01:22:06] I'm telling you, faith has an important role.
[01:22:10] There's another suddenly, Acts chapter 2, and suddenly there was a sound.
[01:22:13] And it changed the world when the Pentecostal revival hit the church in Acts chapter 2, just like that.
[01:22:23] Well, I'm gonna close with this story.
[01:22:25] This is a true story.
[01:22:26] This is a picture of my friend, Michael Allard.
[01:22:30] Michael Allard is an associate pastor at a great church like this in Houston, Texas, right on the Beltway, fantastic church.
[01:22:38] His dad, Mike Allard, is a senior pastor.
[01:22:41] Michael Allard, when he was 10 years old, was diagnosed with type 1 juvenile diabetes.
[01:22:48] He was a severe diabetic for 28 years.
[01:22:50] He was on stage 5 renal failure, 4% kidney function, and he was on the on-ramp of dialysis, which some of you know that's a hard thing, especially for a guy in his 30s.
[01:23:09] It's tough to do ministry when you're on dialysis.
[01:23:11] Not impossible, but tough.
[01:23:14] They just prayed and prayed and believed for his future.
[01:23:19] He gets a call one day, and the voice at the other end says, We have horrible news, and we have wonderful news.
[01:23:28] The horrible news is there's a family in the Houston area that is severely grieving right now.
[01:23:32] Later he would find out their 13-year-old daughter, Haven,
[01:23:36] had been hit by a car.
[01:23:37] She survived for eight days on life support before they made a decision to donate her organs, and six people received life-saving and life-enhancing value from that child.
[01:23:50] If you can get down here, stat!
[01:23:52] We've got your pancreas and we got your kidney.
[01:23:55] He got down there.
[01:23:56] He testified that within just a matter of literal hours, he went from stage five
[01:24:03] Renal Failure and 4% Kidney Function to sitting in the corner of his hospital room in a gown, drinking a Dr. Pepper and eating a snicker bar for the first time in 28 years.
[01:24:17] His mother, pastor's wife, found out that I tell the story sometimes, especially when I did the Ebenezer thing.
[01:24:25] She sent this, still smells like insulin.
[01:24:29] She sent it with a note and said,
[01:24:34] told me to send you his insulin pump so that when you tell the story of how fast things can change, it'll be a visual reminder that just like that, things can change for the good.
[01:24:48] Not only did Michael's life change and the five other people that received Haven's organs, Haven's family went to hear Michael preach and many of them gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[01:25:00] Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here today to tell you that things can change for you just like that.
[01:25:06] Would you bow your heads?
[01:25:09] Father, I bless you, praise you.
[01:25:12] It's the love of Jesus Christ that compels us.
[01:25:15] And it's the Spirit of God that convicts us.
[01:25:18] And all I can do is open my mouth and prophesy the gospel to these, your people.
[01:25:25] So, Lord, I trust the love of Jesus to compel.
[01:25:31] and the Spirit of God to convict.
[01:25:32] The devil accuses and condemns.
[01:25:34] He's a liar.
[01:25:36] The Spirit of God convicts us and tells us when we're wrong, where we're wrong, and how we can be right.
[01:25:42] So we glorify your name today in Jesus' name.
[01:25:45] Amen.
[01:25:46] Would everybody stand to your feet?
[01:25:52] It's going to take some courage.
[01:25:55] I didn't ask you to raise your hand or any of that stuff, but I'm going to ask you to do something courageous.
[01:26:01] Do you know that if your faith's hit the Georgia clay or the North Carolina sand, that to be absent from your body, you would be present with the Lord?
[01:26:11] Please don't tell me that nobody can know that because the Bible says these things are written that you might know you have eternal life.
[01:26:18] So this is what's going to happen.
[01:26:19] I'm going to count to three.
[01:26:24] And if you don't know that you're walking with God, you can put your head on the pillow and know it.
[01:26:31] To as many as received Jesus, He gave the power to become the children of God.
[01:26:37] So I'll count to three and ask you to come.
[01:26:39] When I say three, if you guys would just sing through a chorus once or twice until I point to you.
[01:26:46] And when they come,
[01:26:49] Hey, let me tell you something.
[01:26:50] I've never regretted walking out of the darkness into the light.
[01:26:53] I ain't perfect by any means, but I have never regretted it.
[01:26:59] We're going to celebrate you, so if you come, people that see you walking are going to applaud.
[01:27:05] Nobody at Multiply Lake Norman is going to raise an eyebrow and say, well, I wonder what they've done.
[01:27:09] You know what?
[01:27:10] Because the Bible says all we like sheep have gone astray, and each one of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.
[01:27:18] We're going to celebrate you.
[01:27:20] And after that, we're going to do another thing.
[01:27:24] One, Joe, I didn't need you to tell me that I have had bad thoughts, said bad words, and done wrong stuff.
[01:27:31] Woke up knowing it, walked in knowing it.
[01:27:35] Two, I don't want to go to bed tonight the way I did last night.
[01:27:40] I want to put my head on the pillow and know last breath here, next breath in heaven, last heartbeat here, next one in heaven.
[01:27:48] Are you ready?
[01:27:50] He's not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance.
[01:27:53] He's the Father on the porch waiting for you to come home covered in sloth.
[01:27:58] We're gonna celebrate over you.
[01:28:01] You be the first and others will come.
[01:28:04] You ready?
[01:28:05] When I say this number of you away from God, I want you to slip out.
[01:28:08] They'll let you slip out if you're in the middle of the room.
[01:28:10] They'll let you slip out.
[01:28:12] Are you ready?
[01:28:12] Here we go.
[01:28:14] Three.
[01:28:15] Come on right now.
[01:28:16] Come on.
[01:28:16] Come on.

[01:28:17] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let's sing.

[01:28:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Now listen, church, this kind of thing doesn't make me nervous.
[01:28:58] When I was young, it used to.
[01:29:01] God's working on people's hearts in here.
[01:29:04] Somebody started to come, but you thought in your mind, what exactly is he asking for?
[01:29:09] Hey, I'm not asking for anything.
[01:29:12] There's something about posture.
[01:29:14] Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I confess you before the Father.
[01:29:19] This is sort of a testimonial, and we come to God with a testimony, and the testimony is powerful.
[01:29:25] We overcome the devil by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony.
[01:29:29] We're not asking you to sign up for usher team or parking lot or security.
[01:29:34] We're not asking you to join anything.
[01:29:36] We are only saying, if you're not sure about your relationship with God, you can be sure tonight.
[01:29:43] Now I'm going to cheat for a little bit, if that's okay.
[01:29:46] I'm going to cheat just a little bit.
[01:29:48] I want everybody, including my wife, my daughter, my son-in-law, you look at the person next to you and you just simply say, do you need to go down there?
[01:29:58] I'll go with you.
[01:30:00] If they nod their head, escort them.
[01:30:02] Don't put them in a headlock.
[01:30:03] Don't try to twist their arm.
[01:30:05] All you're doing is saying like Operation Andrew.
[01:30:08] Andrew brought them to Jesus.
[01:30:09] Just look at the person on either side and say, Would you like to go?
[01:30:12] I'll go with you.
[01:30:13] If they say yeah, you be the escort, and we're going to applaud and celebrate over that.
[01:30:17] All right, do it right now.
[01:30:18] Do it right now on both sides.
[01:30:19] Do you need to go?
[01:30:21] I'll go with you.
[01:30:22] If they nod, come on.
[01:30:23] Don't wait for three.
[01:30:24] Just come on.
[01:30:25] Do you need to go?
[01:30:26] I'll go with you.
[01:30:30] Come on.
[01:30:30] Come on, somebody.
[01:30:32] Come on, somebody.

[01:30:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Somebody ought to praise the Lord today.
[01:30:45] Somebody else.
[01:30:46] Here we go.
[01:30:46] Come on, Jesus.
[01:30:46] Come on, Jesus.

[01:30:57] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Okay, I'm gonna pray for you.
[01:31:00] I'm proud of you.
[01:31:01] Somebody else, you thought I should have gone.
[01:31:05] It ain't too late.
[01:31:06] It's a Holy Ghost audible right now.
[01:31:08] Come on, come on.
[01:31:10] Come on, you still come?
[01:31:11] Come on, come on.
[01:31:14] Thank you, Jesus.
[01:31:14] Thank you, Jesus.
[01:31:15] Thank you, Jesus.
[01:31:17] I'm gonna pray for you.
[01:31:18] I'm gonna stutter through a prayer on purpose.
[01:31:22] Gonna stutter on purpose.
[01:31:24] I want you to fill in the blank and make it your prayer.
[01:31:27] Don't just repeat after me, but ask some words.
[01:31:30] There'll be a three-word public prayer that we'll all pray during that time, and then I'll pray for you at the end.
[01:31:35] It won't take long.
[01:31:36] It really won't.
[01:31:38] The love of Jesus and the Spirit of God have motivated these precious people to say, I want to know that my name is in the book.
[01:31:48] Not only that, they want the purity and preciousness of communion on the earth with you, companionship.
[01:31:57] I pray that they'll
[01:31:59] I pray that they'll make a U-turn spiritually, that they'll go the other way, won't grieve the Holy Spirit, but more than anything, that they'll trust and believe only in Jesus Christ for their eternal life as they pray a simple prayer.
[01:32:11] Here's our prayer.
[01:32:12] Make it yours.
[01:32:13] Something like this.
[01:32:14] Dear God, dear God, this is me.
[01:32:16] Dear God in heaven, here I stand, and I apologize to you for my bad words, wrong thoughts, wrong thoughts.
[01:32:27] Things I've done wrong, things I should have did, should have done, things I should have done, but I didn't do.
[01:32:33] And I've grieved you and I'm sorry.
[01:32:35] I confess my sin.
[01:32:36] Tell Him that.
[01:32:37] I confess my sin.
[01:32:40] But I'm gonna confess something else.
[01:32:43] Now I want everybody to say at the count of three, Jesus is Lord, from the stage to the back row.
[01:32:48] One, two, three.
[01:32:50] Jesus is Lord.
[01:32:51] Now back to our prayer, back to our prayer.
[01:32:54] I confess my sin to you but with my mouth I just confess Jesus is Lord and in my heart I believe God raised Jesus from the dead so I receive and accept the gift of Jesus telling that I receive and accept the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ
[01:33:18] I give you my life and I take yours in exchange.
[01:33:22] Come on in and have your way forever.
[01:33:26] Let's multiply.
[01:33:27] Let's pray for these.
[01:33:29] God, these people need you.
[01:33:31] We need you.
[01:33:32] We need them.
[01:33:33] They need us, but we all need you and we pray for them that the roots will go down deep and find that living water and the fruit of discipleship is going to go up high and no thing would steal the seed planted in their heart today.
[01:33:47] No cares of the earth, no difficult places, no challenges, but they are going to bear fruit that will remain and you're going to bless them
[01:33:55] Extraordinary ways in Jesus' name for the glory of God.
[01:34:00] Come on, let's worship Him one more time as Pastor Manny comes.

[01:34:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
If you received Christ today on behalf of this entire congregation we're so dang proud of you what amazing time that is

[01:34:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
that decision that decision changes the course of your life and we want to walk alongside of you through this journey as we exit today you'll see right outside before you go out into the courtyard there's a table there make sure you stop by that table make sure you get a resource in your hand we want to put a bible in your hand
[01:35:27] We want to show you what discipleship, what walking with Jesus looks like.
[01:35:33] So don't bypass that opportunity.
[01:35:35] If you need prayer, any sort of prayer right after service, Joe and his wife alongside of some of our prayer team will be up here.
[01:35:43] We would love to pray over you, to pray for you, whatever you have going on in and through your life, we would love to spend that time in prayer with you directly up here at the altar at the conclusion of service.
[01:35:57] Church, we hope that today that the Lord has spoken to you.
[01:36:01] We pray that as you go about your week that the Lord continues to speak to you as you read His Word, as you spend time with Him.
[01:36:09] Church, we hope you have a great rest of your Sunday, a great week ahead.
[01:36:14] We'll be back here next Sunday, 10.30, as we continue to love Jesus and change the world.
[01:36:20] God bless you.
[01:36:21] See you next Sunday.