One day when God is through using us down here on this earth, he will call us into heaven and write in large letters on our tombstones “W. D.,” meaning “well done.”

The guard began to scan up and down the aisles, and there I saw my son playing with toys, but he was clearly in a state of panic. My son was all by himself among people he did not know. Our first child was feeling lost and alone, and I did not know what to do. I asked the guard, “Do you have an intercom?” He said, “Yes.”

I said, “Keep the camera on him.” Then I got on the intercom and said, “Ralph.” My son looked around because he recognized my voice. I continued, “Stay where you are.” He started looking around. “It’s Daddy,” I said. “Don’t move. I see you although you can’t see me. Stay where you are. I’m coming.”

In those moments, when you think that God cannot see you or that you cannot see God, always remember that God sees you. The invisible hand of God is active and is looking after your life.

In your times of storm, you have to keep your eye on Jesus, who is steady, so that when everything else is up and down and bouncing, you can maintain your footing.

Her son said, “Mom, I can tell you’re a bible student, but I noticed above certain verses, you wrote the letters T. P. What do these letters mean?” His mother responded, “Son, I don’t just read the bible, I believe and obey God’s word. “T. P.” stands for tried and proven. Son, God’s Word works!”

The Northbridge Earthquake, as it was called, was the most damaging earthquake to strike the United States since the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. As with most earthquakes, the Northbridge Earthquake happened along a fault. Faults are cracks in the earth’s crust where rocks on either side of the crack have moved. Most earthquakes are caused by a sudden jolt along geologic faults. The faults are jolted because of the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. The tremendous energy that is released creates shock waves, which result in violent shaking. Most faults are hard to detect because they are buried deep beneath the surface. While earthquakes appear to happen suddenly, the conditions that cause them typically take hundreds of years to develop.

Earthquakes are geological phenomena that cannot be predicted, controlled, or stopped. However, there is another kind of earthquake that can be predicted, and, most importantly, it can be prevented. I’m talking about a moral earthquake. Like natural earthquakes, moral earthquakes happen along fault lines. Faults are proclivities and propensities within the heart that, given the right stimulus and the right conditions, can cause an eruption of moral failure.

She began to crawl. As she crawled, she bumped into people who were trying to escape too. She told them to get behind her and follow her. They continued to crawl, and it seemed they would never get out. Just about when they were ready to give up all hope, she saw a pin-sized speck of light, which indicated that there was a window ahead. Initially, they shouted for joy! Then, they realized that the window was a bulletproof window. They threw a computer at it, a fax machine, and they beat on it, but they could not break it. Marilyn thought to herself, “God I cannot believe that you brought me this close to freedom to let me die.” The very next moment the window did not break, but the window frame did. They were able to pull out the pane and escape.

All I’m trying to say is even if you feel buried; be daring. Can’t see any light? Be daring; keep crawling. No way out? Throw everything you have at the problem; be daring. Is the world trying to hijack your life? Be daring; escape!

Every now and then we all should do something to let God know we know he’s present and that we want his attention.

The meanness we experience is actually carry-over from what we’ve been through. Hurting people end up hurting people.

It doesn’t matter how you start, it only matters how you finished. Is there anybody here that knows because Jesus finished strong we can finish strong?

Every since then I have read about the cross with deeper understanding. I had one nail in my knee for something as useless as stealing peaches. One nail for an act of no consequence whatsoever; I bore the pain and the suffering literally for nothing—for a peach. But Jesus! I had one nail caught in my knee. They drove nails into his feet, nails into his hand, and a sword into his side. I had one nail caught in my knee. I bled for a peach. But he bled so that we could have peace with God.

How many pins have you knocked down? If you’re not knocking down any pins, don’t tell me how good you look.

You need to plant your life in some soil that is good so that you can increase in knowledge. You ought to keep on growing. If you are today where you were last year, then you need to check your soil.

Often in life we fill our spiritual tank with bad gas—lies, gossip, and secular fads. We may start the journey okay, but after a while things stops running smoothly. When you hit this point you need to add a fuel treatment, which is the Word of God and you need to fill your tank with good gas such as fellowship, prayer, and godly deeds. You may continue to jerk and sputter for a while, but you will be able to finish the trip and make it home.

Had Mr. Churchill given up after the school officials kicked him out in his youth he would not have become Prime Minister of Great Britain.

The stains were there all the time but invisible until the right light exposed them. It would have been cruel to show customers the extent of their problem and then say, "Too bad for you" and walk away. The carpet cleaner brought the light so that they would desperately want the cleaning services. In the same way, God shines the light of His holiness on the blackness of our heart. Not just to make us feel guilty and then leave us that way, He also offers a cleaning solution.

The Corinthians were sickly and feeble because they suffered from spiritual cohesion. They rejected the life-giving truth. They were attempting to survive on a limited, local, traditional diet, but their souls were famished because their minds were closed. (II Corinthians 3:14)

Now, in case you know nothing about canoeing, it is a strictly two person operation. We managed to get into our canoe without falling into the lake. We pushed off from the dock, only to be told by the nature trip guide that we were in the canoe backwards and needed to go back to the dock to get ourselves turned around in the right direction. We managed this also, without falling into the lake.

Our next learning experience was our roles as partners in this adventure and how to use the paddles. Now the person in front has the responsibility to determine the direction of the canoe, and the person in the back provides the power.

In your relationship with God, you are in a two person canoe. God provides the direction and power, you just need to follow instructions.

The candidate missed a golden opportunity because of an unguarded moment. He traded a three-million dollar compensation package for a three-cent pat of butter. What a tradeoff! Have you stopped to calculate some of your losses lately?

It was distressing to me, for it was midnight, and I was scheduled to eulogize a minister in New York at 11 o’clock in the morning. I rushed to the nearest counter with my ticket in hand and a tone of panic in my voice. The agent was calm as I explained my predicament.

He said, "You are all right. The flight does terminate here, but you have continuing reservations. There is a plane at gate two bound for New York."

All human beings are on an earth-terminating flight, but followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have continuing reservations. Like the apostle Paul, they can shout: "If [or when] the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Grizzly Adams attempted to discourage this young woman and told her, “I admire that you are looking for your lost brother, but I want to tell you that wolves inhabit the part of the wilderness that you are talking about, and you don’t need to go into the wolf country! There are ravenous, blood-thirsty wolves there that have been known to tear people apart.” So he told her, “Please stay out of the wolf country.”

When I reread Matthew 10:16, I had to title a sermon, “The Wolf Country.”

The church congregation was invited to attend a worship service at a guest church. At the last moment, the guest host pastor had been able to secure the well-known sermon illustrator, since the original preacher had been unable to preach that day.

After the service and over a meal, a deacon said to the guest preacher, “You are really a good illustrator, but you should have given our pastor credit for some of those illustrations you used.” The guest preacher said, "Is that right?" To which the deacon responded, "Oh yes! I'll go out to my car and get a couple of his tapes so that you can hear him do some of those illustrations and you will hear how great of an illustrator he is.”

God showed me that we need to start teaching the world some “To the Rear, MARCH Theology!” Tell somebody that God will take those who are often the least among us, the most obscure among us, and the last amongst us from the back of the line to the front of the line. He will move you from last into leadership. To the Rear, MARCH!

When death arrives, it makes it seem as if we have lost the race of life. But if you accept Christ before death knocks, you have accumulated enough points to win. When you come to the end of the race, just cross the finish line and receive your reward.

Life is similar to watching a movie. We become so engrossed in living until we lose all track of time. We have laughed, cried and endured the pains, tensions, anxieties and frustration of all that comes through the years of one’s existence. Then suddenly our beloved is taken away from us. The good news is that there are three invisible words on the screen of life for all believers, “To be continued.”

I recently thought to myself this is what we should do during church: praise, worship and present. When we come together in church we should always praise God, first. Next we should worship him (the hug/kiss). Finally, we should use our knowledge of how great he is to present him to others.

There are times in life when the Word and tests of God may be painful, they may prick and pierce us but that’s just God trying to get through the dead places of our lives, trying to maneuver through the thick layers of our heart so the Word can ultimately get to the place where we begin to feel, the place where we are affected, where the soul is. And when Christ is in us, his medicine can begin its healing work.

Many of us are sitting on the nails of heartbreak, troubles, frustrations, worry, sickness, and misery. Jesus stands next to us and says, “Come unto me all you who are heavy laden and burdened down, and I’ll give you rest…” But we tune Jesus out and keep complaining, hollering and crying in our misery.

For a while he enjoyed being away from home. He had a well-paying job that enabled him to have money, friends, nice clothes, and a decent place to live. But a few months later a recession hit and he lost his job and everything else. Out of desperation, he sent an email to his mother that explained his situation. He told her he had no job, money, or food. He also said he was sorry and that he would jump on a train tomorrow that was headed towards home; the tracks ran behind the backyard of their house. If his mom forgave him and would allow him to come back home, he asked that she tie a white rag on the oak tree as a sign that she had forgiven him.

The next morning the young man jumped on a train. He was in a car with some other guys who snuck on. As the train approached his backyard he told the guy next to him his story and asked him to look out and see if a white rag was tied to a tree. As the train moved around the curve the man said, “I don’t see a rag on a tree, but I do see sheets, white sheets all over the yard.”

Does that not sound like God? We’ve messed up in a big way; we sinned. But God showed us he forgave us when he tied all of God to a tree.

As both of us struggled through the laps together, I didn't do anything special except to remind her of what she already knew. I told her how to breathe as I ran with her. That day, I learned two lessons. First, I learned that my daughter is a phenomenal actress. Second, I learned that my presence was precisely what my child needed to finish her race. We've all got a daddy sitting in the stands ready to make a "B line" to our situations, to calm us and remind us of what we already know.

In a matter of minutes, God moved me from last class to first class. Sometimes one feels as if they are in the last seat of life, last to be recognized, last to be considered, but in a moment God can change your seat. The Great Flight Attendant can move you no matter where you were booked to be.

I suppose it’s that way for many of us from time to time. We think we’re ready for independence in the marketplace of life, only to experience the unsettling feeling of being left alone in a mean, cruel world of strangers who could care less about us or our wellbeing. But isn’t it good to know that there is one watching over us, and just when it becomes too much to bear, he shows to up to rescue us.

Once there was a school function that I wanted to attend. As always, I asked my father if I could go. For some reason or another he said no. Me being the big man on campus who everyone knew because I drove the hottest car, I just had to be there. So, I took it upon myself and snuck out the house. Upon my return, my father and mother were waiting. They were mad! The first thing my dad said was, “Give me the keys to my car!” I said, “Your car! That’s my car! You bought that car for me. It has my name on the tag!” He replied, “Your name may be on the tag, but my name is on the title. I own it, not you.”

When ours tipped over, because our resources were not sufficient to go back in and re-purchase, we had to pick the ice cream up and kiss up it to the sky. Somewhere between earth and heaven, we believed God would cleanse it or at least remove its potential to harm us, and yes we would continue to eat our ice cream, or candy, or whatever had fallen accidentally.

Many of us are like that ice cream. We have fallen, often accidentally, and sometimes carelessly. Jesus, our redeemer and restorer, comes along and picks us up because he sees value in us. At Calvary, he was lifted up, and by his atoning sacrifice, picked us up and "kissed" us up to God.

Every now and then, the locomotive of life comes our way and we lose our grip, seized by problems we cannot control. But the God we serve has got us covered when the train comes.

I listened to God as I never have before. I could hear the Spirit of God saying, “I know what I gave you doesn’t seem like much but if you just take a little bit of faith, cover yourself with the gift of my holiness, what I gave you will grow and multiply. When you stir up the gifts God has given you, your faith will always produce a breakthrough that will surprise you.

Something so beautiful yet so painful! Now she has a choice. She can throw the roses to the ground and say, “Rose I reject you because you caused me to hurt.” Moreover, she could be angry with her husband and say, “Joker if you really loved me you would have taken the time to shave the thorns off the stems.” But she does neither. Instead, she continues to hold the roses by the stem despite the pain, because she know that the intent of the giver was not to hurt her but to show her how much he loved her. My question for you today is can God hold you by the stem?

I realize the only reason I have any success in life is because of my Elder Brother who didn't look good to some according to their standards. They pierced him in the side, he didn't look good. When they covered his body with his own blood, he didn't look good! The public tried him on trumped up charges, he didn't look good to them. But Jesus still went to Calvary for us, claimed the ultimate championship, and through him God gave us a second chance so that we can now be victorious!

We are often guilty of treating God the same way. God prepared a table of delight for us. When the cost of favor is too much to bear, God takes the burden of blessings upon himself or breaks it into smaller digestible pieces so that we are not overwhelmed. Yet, when God asks for a little of what he has given us, we scrape together the smallest gifts we have and offer that back to God. We forget “All things come of Thee, Oh Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee.”

He sent large contributions to the church anonymously in the form of postal money orders and cashier’s checks. We wondered where this big money came from, and we held it in an escrow account until we could find the source. After a few months, he showed up in person wearing fine jewelry, designer boots, and expensive jeans and driving a luxury European sedan. He made it clear that he was the one who had sent the money and described his visits to our services. Jewelry and boots to the contrary, he was clothed in guilt and shame.

This life has many soggy, marshy, muddy roads. Individuals get bogged down in many circumstances of life, but if we have faith in God, there will be help in the valley of despair.

One New Year’s Eve morning, my family was up and the house was quiet, and all of a sudden we heard the sound of screeching tires and a crying dog, and the family ran to the front door and looked out. There was Fluffy. She had been hit by a car, and she was dragging her broken, bloody, bruised leg down the driveway coming back into the house. We scooped her up and took her to the veterinarian. The vet examined her and said, “Your dog has been seriously injured and to repair her would require surgery. You have two choices. Pay us $5,000.00 and we can save her. Or, pay us $5.00 and we can put her to sleep. My husband looked at me and I looked at him. He said, “Five thousand dollars, baby?” And I said, “Or five.”

Church that was a tough decision, but you know we prayed right there in the vet’s office, and as we prayed, the Lord reminded us that a long time ago we, too, were like Fluffy. A long time ago we were doing some things that we know we ought not to have done, and we got caught up in sin and sin beat us up. And we found ourselves bloody and bruised, and we dragged our broken self back to God’s house. And God said, “I’ve a choice. I can give my Son on Calvary, or let you go.” I’m so glad that God paid the high price on Calvary.

Is there anybody here that knows more people will come to church when they see the Holy Ghost fire?

Although we cannot explain the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives, every now and then we can feel Him pulling and moving in our hearts and hear Him speaking to our lives.

As children of God, we too sometimes want to break from God and join the ungodly in their mischief and wayward lifestyles. But God has a “divine leash” on our hearts and consciousness that keeps on pulling us back in line.

One day jealousy overwhelmed Death. He had been watching Life for a long time. He waited for the opportunity to steal the box. He went into Life's room and took the box. When Life looked under the bed one day, to his surprise and shock, he discovered that the box was missing.

He hollered, "Father, father, my box is gone. It's missing. The precious gift you gave me is gone. I know my brother Death took my gift. He has been watching me." The father said, "Aw son, don't worry. While Death was watching you, I was watching Death. And I switched the boxes. So, Death has nothing but an empty box."

When Jesus came to earth that was God’s way of putting his hands in the common bowl.

Soon after, there was a country preacher in the audience who asked if he would be allowed to recite the same 23rd Psalm. He was granted his wish and then proceeded to recite this special psalm. After he finished, there was no applause, but most of the audience had their eyes filled with tears.

Someone asked the great orator how is it that when the country preacher recited the 23rd Psalm, people broke down and cried. The orator responded, “Sir, I know the 23rd Psalm, but that preacher knows the Shepherd.”

That’s how we should approach life. Too often we focus on what slows us down and weakens our life. But we should go to the “Rock” and ask him to strengthen our mouths so we can speak those things that are not as though they were. We should ask for strength to take off some bad habits, people, and circumstances that weigh us down. Rock of ages, cleft for me, please let me hide myself in thee! Why? Because I get tired, I get weak, and I get worn!

The true test of a child of God is not whether they suffer but whether they learn to keep the right perspective about whatever happens in life. Life is filled with many maybe and maybe not moments. However, of this one thing we can be certain, “He who has begun a good work in us will complete it.”

How many know that God chose [you] not because of the jays on your feet…the ice on your wrist, or the paper behind your name. You’re chosen because of God’s mercy.

Hardly is there any life without some redemptive qualities, and hardly is there any condition that does not have any promise present in it at all.

I know there are some people in some dark places right now, but we all need to put our hand on someone’s shoulder and tell them don’t worry because our daddy has the key.

As we tried to figure out our next move, a passing student saw our despair and came to the rescue. He started where I had started, pushing the green “on” button. I thought to myself, “Here we go again.” But then he did something that neither my colleague nor I had done. He looked on the floor and saw that the computer was plugged into a power strip; however, the strip’s red indicator light was not turned on, so the computer could not get power. The student bent down, turned on the power strip, and the computer came on–a simple solution to a complex problem.

I can imagine that the team of horses wondered why they were being slowed down on their journey by the slow moving ox. At the bottom of the hill, Papa Charles would stop the wagon and hitch Buck in front of the horses. What an insult this must have been to the proud, prancing horses. Up the hill they would go, but about half way up, the horses’ strength would begin to give out and the wagon and its load would begin to slip back down the hill. When Buck felt the pull on his harness, he would fall on his knees and hold the load. When the horses had had a chance to rest, they would begin again to pull the wagon up the hill.

When the strength of the horses failed, when the load was about to slip back down the hill, losing the ground that had been gained, Buck held the load. Surely if Buck could hold the load then God who holds the world in his hand won’t have a problem holding your loads.

The sister on the phone said that usually I could fly standby on any flight leaving that day, but the problem was all of the flights had been oversold. I then went to the airport and asked for a manager. The manager asked me why I was going to Chicago and I told her I was going to preach. She then put me on a direct flight when all the direct flights were supposed to be oversold. In fact, she put me in first class! I asked her how she was able to get me on a flight, much less in first class, when the sister on the phone said it couldn’t be done. She looked me in the eye, paused and said, "Young man, what you don’t understand is, I’m the manager and I can see things in the system that other people can’t see."

The jungle is our only route to the Promised Land. There will be fears and frustrations, handicaps and horrors, but God speaks loud and clear as we journey through the jungle, "Be not afraid, I am with thee."

If you are missing the point, look at it this way. If you take (at birth) a Clarence Thomas or a J.C. Watts away from their own people, feed them at the breast of Harvard and Yale, and let them get that DNA inside them, when their own people try to tell them what time it is, they will attack their own people, defending the very ones who are keeping them oppressed.

But instead of caving in, the community invited African American scientist, George Washington Caver, to come to the county. He told them in so many words, don't be upset because you lost your cotton crop. Your soil is still good for harvesting peanuts. And do you know what happened? They were able to harvest a peanut crop and rescue their community from economic disaster.

Eventually, they erected a statute in the middle of Coffee County, Alabama--to the boll weevil. Why? Because, even though the boll weevil had given them a bad break, that set the stage for their big break.

How many of us could make it to the top of our mountains if we didn’t expect the climb to be smooth?

Many that attend to the sheep (the people of God) may have shepherd’s tools, but they don’t have a shepherd’s heart.

After two weeks, Blue hadn’t returned. Three weeks passed and no Blue. Six weeks passed and no Blue. One of Blue’s girls got worried and went looking for him. “Where is Blue?” she asked everyone she saw. “Has anybody seen Blue?” Finally, a young brother said he had seen Blue walk down a nearby alley and turn the corner a few minutes earlier. The young woman decided to check out Blue’s trail. When she reached the end of the alley and turned the corner there was nothing but a church. She thought, “Surely Blue can’t be in there.” But she entered anyway. To her surprise, Blue was standing at the door as an usher with his hands behind his back, white gloves on, and a smile on his face.

She sat down and listened to the choir sing, heard people testify, and heard the sermon. When the pastor opened the doors of the church she went to the front. The pastor responded by saying, “Sister, we’re glad you accepted the invitation. Please tell us why you came. Did you come because of the testimonies of the saints?” She said, “Rev., the testimonies were touching, but that’s not why I came.” The pastor asked, “Did you come because of the choir’s singing?” She responded, “No, and God knows they can sing.” Then the pastor stuck out his chest and said, “Maybe you came because my sermon motivated you.” The woman then responded, “Rev., God knows you can preach, but that’s not why I’m here.” She then turned, looked at Blue, and said, “I came because I wanted to meet the man who could change Blue!”

Some members became so upset that they formed a special committee to meet with Sister Brown about her “out-burst” of praise in their quiet worship services. Two of the committee members were in a department store when they spotted Sister Brown shopping and decided to confront her there. As they approached her she began to shout, “Lord here comes two of my fellow church members.” They quickly responded, “Shush! Keep your voice down.” They then proceeded to tell her how they felt she was disruptive.

Sister Brown responded, “Hold on! You don’t know me, nor do you know how far the Lord has brought me. A long time ago, my husband died and left me alone with four children to rear. I wanted them to have an opportunity to make something of their lives. Sometimes the nights got dark, and I prayed and the Lord brought me through. I sometimes worked two jobs to send my children through school—washing, ironing, and doing other jobs. Let me give you the report card of my children: I got a lawyer, a doctor, a trained minister and a nurse. And every time I think about how good the Lord has been to me, I can’t help it. In fact, hold my bags. I’m gone shout right here in this store!”

"Who will cry for the little boy, lost and all alone?
Who will cry for the little boy, abandoned without his own?
Who will cry for the little boy, who cried himself to sleep?
Who will cry for the little boy, he never had for keeps?
Who will cry for the little boy, who walked the burning sand?
Who will cry for the little boy, the boy inside the man?
Who will cry for the little boy, who knows well hurt and pain?
Who will cry for the little boy, he died and died again?
Who will cry for the little boy, a good boy he tried to be?
Who will cry for the little boy, who cries inside of me?"

Sisters and brothers in Christ, if we are willing to be vulnerable and share our whole selves, our hopes, our hurts, and our hang-ups, we too have a mentor and counselor in Jesus. Moreover, in the movie Fisher testifies that he cries for himself; the counselor doesn’t cry, only Fisher. But our counselor Jesus is above Antoine's counselor. Jesus won't let us cry alone. He said He'd never leave us or forsake us. That means even in our crying and tears Jesus is there crying with us.

Even as I speak, some of us are stuck in the deep waters of life, struggling to breathe and struggling to live. But the good news is that our help is right there if we just stand still and look up, God is there as our life-line.

At the back of the auditorium, there was a voice that could barely be heard in the front crying out, “Nobody but Jesus!” it was a voice that got louder. The woman walked down the aisle just screaming, “Nobody but Jesus!” The ushers grabbed her so that she could not get up on the stage, and Pastor King walked down and spoke to her and discovered she had raised her granddaughter whose parents died when the girl was young. She had applied to many colleges, but they had turned her down because they didn’t have scholarship money which the child needed. But, Lane told her she could come for one semester, and they would see what they could do. Every semester for four years, they found just enough left in the scholarship fund for this girl to continue college. She graduated summa cum laude, and her grandmother told Dr. King, “I know I’m not supposed to do it, but when I think about what the Lord has done, I cannot help myself. All I can say is “Nobody but Jesus!”

That’s a word for somebody. I know the world has deemed you useless and tried to throw you away. But I hear God saying, “Just let me rub on you and get the dirt off. You’ll be fine when I finish.”

Suddenly, an onlooker dashed to the casket to remove the dog, but he found an attractive metal collar around the dog’s neck that read, “If found please return to the king.” Word quickly spread. The ugly dog was alright because he belonged to the king.

It doesn’t matter how ugly your past has been. If you have been redeemed by Jesus Christ, the word will go out, “That believer is all right because she belongs to the King!”

It’s the same with people. You must be careful when you see certain people together in certain combinations. Some folk are harmless when they’re by themselves, but when they mix with certain other folk what used to be harmless becomes deadly.

You know, that is what we have to do in order to get our lives to look like what our Creator had in mind. We have to look at the Word of God, and then work on ourselves. Work on ourselves, and then look back at the Word of God. Work; keep looking back at the Word. Work; look back. If we keep working, when he appears we shall be what our Creator had in mind when he first created us.

I thought about the plate. I thought about the sandbag. And I looked at Abeni with her rubber ball. And I thought, sometimes when we are thrown down, we break apart like the plate. Sometimes we're thrown down and stay down like the sandbag. But sometimes when we're thrown down we bounce back even higher like a rubber ball. What makes the difference?

The difference between the plate, the sandbag, and the ball is in what they're made of.

When Thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. (Isaiah 43:2, KJV)

When he read that Scripture, my friend decided to stay. And as a consequence of going through it he has come out a better man. He said to me, "Pastor Haynes, let me share something with you. First, I'm still here. God is good. And I discovered something. What I've lost I can replace, but what I found is what I really can't get along without."

That made me think about the church and how we like to have revivals. We should remember that a church is not revived when members come to a revival service. No, a church is revived when the revival fire gets into the members.

My brother and sisters I want to tell you that the good news in Jesus Christ is that while other people will staple labels to you and sew letters on your life of the things you have done, when you connect with Jesus he will wash away the shame of your past and make you a new creature.

A few years ago I was in an African hotel, and my room was on the top floor. The sister who was showing me how to get to my room said I had to use the service elevator because no other elevator was working. That's what Muhammad Yunus has done. He has recognized that in this life if you want to reach the top, you have to take the service elevator. That's what's going to take you up. You don't have to connive. You don't have to scheme. You don't have to stab anybody in the back. The way to reach the top is through the service elevator.

We get ourselves trapped in sin the same way. Jesus comes and says to us, “Let go of your sin and follow me.” However, many of us act just like those monkeys caught in the peanut jars. We don’t let go of our sin, which ultimately brings us captivity.

As one particular group followed Joe down a narrow trail, a rattle snake suddenly jumped out and latched on to Joe’s right leg. Joe quickly grabbed the snake by the head, killed it, and continued the tour. The tourists were amazed that their tour guide showed no sign of illness or weakness.

At the end of the tour, one of the tourists confronted Joe and asked, “Are you okay? We saw that rattler bite you, but you acted as if nothing had happened.” Joe then rolled up his pants leg and showed them the many snake bites he had received. He then said, “I’ve been bitten so many times by so many snakes that I have a built-in immunity to poisonous snake bites.”

I’m so glad that Jesus, our tour guide through life, has been bitten by all sins and is immune to sin and can take care of anything that may bite us.

“How much are you paying these men?” asked the surprised landowner.

“Forty-five cents apiece,” said the new employer and contractor. Astonished, the businessman said, “If I am paying you seventy-five cents and you are paying eighty cents, you are losing money.” “Ah,” said the other, “but I get to be the boss.”

Being the boss was more important to him than making a profit, even than breaking even. The same is true for God. God is not concerned about making a profit or breaking even, God has and continues to pay astronomical prices to be in charge.

Desperately, I attempted to continue because I felt even greater perils were likely if we waited on the side of the road. In the midst of this storm, my youngest daughter became hungry and cried out for food. My wife turned on the dome light located inside of the car to retrieve food from the baby bag. While she was searching, another blinding bolt of lightning came hurling from the sky. Much to my surprise, it had no effect on my eyes and I was able to continue driving. I discovered that my eyes had adjusted to the dome light that was in side of the car. As a result, the lightning on the outside was futile.

Make certain that the light on the inside is brighter than the light on the outside. If we will heed our charge of letting our spiritual “light shine” then we will avoid being blinded by anything that the world throws our way.

One day, a son who had a great relationship with his father, went to his dad and said, “Father, it’s time to go up to the mountain.” His father consented. As they started up the mountain and got half way, the father started crying. The son said, “Father, why are you crying? You know this is the tradition of our tribe.” The father replied, “Son, I’m not crying for myself. I am ready for my fate. I am crying for you, when the day comes and your son will be walking you up this same mountain to throw you into the volcano.” As they took a few more steps up the mountain, the son said, “Wait a minute, father. You have a major point. My time is coming. Father, let’s go back and meet with the tribe and change this tradition.

We must be agents of change against evil and not pass it on to another generation because what goes around comes around.

Somebody needs to stop complaining about their valley experiences and start looking for the gold nuggets of wisdom God has deposited in the valley.

When your enemies throw dirt on you have at least the sense of that goat, and shake it off. Use the dirt to rise above your enemies, and walk away victoriously.

When the lead goose has been beat up too much, has been beaten down too much, or gets too tired to stay on the point and be buffeted any longer, it gives a signal and whoosh–a teammate, an ally, another goose, shifts position with it to take the point and give the leader some rest. But they do not stop flying. They are all on the same team. They all have the same goal. They are all flying with the same purpose: to get from Point A to Point B.

If a goose gets sick, if a goose gets tired, if a goose gets hurt, or if a goose get wounded, they don’t let that goose go down to the ground all by itself. Two other geese at a minimum, sometimes three, sometimes four, go down with the tired goose or the wounded goose, and they stay with the one who had to drop out until that one is strong enough to get back up and resume flying again. Or they will stay with the goose until it dies so that it will not have to die alone. Geese got more sense than people!

Whenever you hear all of that infernal noise coming from a flock of geese, moreover, it is not just background noise. It is not just needless noise. The geese in the back of the “V” formation are honking their encouragement to the goose that is up on the point. They are saying, “Honk! Go ahead. Honk! You are doing a good job. Honk, honk! We got your back. Honk, honk! Let us know when you need some help or you need some rest.”

Don’t you wish church folk had as much sense as geese?

Maybe somebody is in a dark season because God is trying to show you your value; you’re a diamond if you shine in the dark seasons of your life.

Well, likewise you have to look at your walk with God. If God is moving north and you’re going east, it doesn’t look pretty. If God is moving left, you move left. He’s always the lead in the dance, step in fulfilling the worthy walk of God.

Long before.....the mysteries of DNA were discovered....and ancient Bedouin had the intuitive hunch that behind the rhythm of tides and seasons, planting and harvest, and the slow movement of the sun from one horizon to the other, there was a God somewhere. This intuition was not subject to empirical demonstration, but Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees and went looking for a city with foundations whose builder and maker was God.

All I’m trying to say is that when God cleans you up and places you on display, it doesn’t matter who tells you how bad your past was.

Jesus didn’t just come to save you. He’s going to ride along side you until you reach your intended destiny.

The commanding officer then shut the doors, told his fellow soldiers to put down their guns, and said to the remaining believers, “I wanted to purge this group so that only the true believers would be left. My comrades and I along with you are true believers in Christ Jesus. Now, let’s praise God like we know how!”