This sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding that while we have the right Jesus, there is a timing and process to victory that involves trials, suffering, and perseverance. It encourages believers not to spike the ball too soon but to endure through difficulties, knowing that ultimate victory is assured through Christ. The message highlights the need for compassion, patience, and unity within the body of Christ, especially towards those who may have misunderstood the journey of faith.

I want to talk to you this morning about the right Jesus at the wrong time, the right Jesus at the wrong time. John chapter 16, I'd like to just speak to you from my heart if you'd allow me to do that today. Because you and I are going to need to understand these things. Sometimes the deepest truths are just so simple we can't, we miss it. Father, I thank you Lord for this gathering today. I thank you God that you have all things in your hand. You know our tomorrow. And as you said through the apostle Paul that everything we place in your hand, you're able to bring it through. And to that day, Lord, we stand before your throne and you will be faithful to us. You will not fail any of us. I thank you for the touch of heaven today to convey this, the ability to hear it. And I bless you for it. Lord God, with all my heart today, cause us to grow in grace today. Cause us, Lord, deepen our understanding. And Father, I thank you for it in Jesus' name. One verse, John chapter 16, verse 33, Jesus said, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. There's a good promise for everybody who's wanting promises from the scripture. In the world you will have tribulation. I know I just heard somebody say, I already got that. I got that one down. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. But you will have tribulation, trial, and difficulty, opposition, hardship, sometimes depression, sometimes sorrow. You will be falsely accused. You will be slandered. There will be times that you'll be so pressed down as the Apostle Paul was that you're not going to know how you can go through tomorrow. You will have these things Jesus said. But there is a victory inside of you. There's a victory that he has already won. There's a promise of God that no matter how deep, down, or dark the days individually or collectively could be in the future, there's a promise that we're all going to make it to the goal line. We're all going to get there. We're all going to cross. Thank God. Nobody will have the power to hinder us in this race that God has set before us. A few weeks ago I was speaking a message called Running Through the Paper Wall, and I gave an illustration of a football team coming out of the locker room and running down the tunnel and going through a paper wall. And before they really are into the game. And that paper wall, of course, I gave the illustration of the devil. We'll write all the reasons why you can't get into the game. Because your father said you were this, or your friend said you were this, or you don't have a degree, a diploma, you can't speak, whatever the situation is. Sometimes the devil will draw bricks and make a paper wall look like a brick wall. And convince you that you should stop, no matter how much training you've had, how many seminars you've attended, how assured you are of the victory, that you can't pass through that paper wall, that there's a barrier you can't cross. Now he succeeded in doing that with the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt and were heading into that place called the Promised Land. They stopped at the border of that Promised Land, and the devil, through people who really didn't understand the ways of God, wrote things on this paper wall and convinced them that they couldn't go through and claim what was lawfully theirs. And so they ended up dying in the wilderness, tragically. But let's assume that you and I have, we've all part of the same team and we're all going into the same game. And there's a cloud of witnesses in the stadium, in heaven's balcony, that are encouraging us to go forward because they have discovered and walked in the faithfulness of God. And so we break through the paper wall, we go onto the field, we line up, it's the opening kickoff, and somebody backs into the end zone and catches the ball, I'll call him John number 316, for lack of a better way of saying it. And John number 316 catches the ball and begins to run towards the opposing goal, and then suddenly stops and spikes the ball on his own ten yard line, and begins to do a victory dance. Now for those who don't know football, like I don't know football, usually players don't spike the ball, it means sort of just driving into the ground until they cross into the opposing end zone. And that's a celebration of having won the victory of that moment as it is. But can you imagine how incredulous it would be to see a player come running out of his own end zone, stop, spike the ball on his own ten yard line, and then just begin to dance and wonder why his team is looking at him so, with such a puzzled look on their faces that the audience is not cheering, and the opposing team is still coming at him. I thought I won the victory, he would say, what's the problem? When I was in the locker room, before I get into this game, I was told that we were more than conquerors. I was told that someone from our team was already in the end zone. We'd already won the victory. So why does everybody have a problem with me claiming the full victory on my own ten yard line? I just don't get it. And so this confused player, you can see him or her just turning around, leaving the field, heading back through the tunnel, back to the locker room, filled with sorrow. And that's what did happen. In Luke chapter 24, there were some men who were followers of Jesus. And they would have been told the same words. You're going to become partakers of an incredible victory. Whatever you pray for, you're going to receive. You're going to be kings and priests, you're going to rule and reign with the Son of God at the right hand of God for all of eternity. And then suddenly, so in their heart, basically they're spiking the ball at their own ten yard line. They had the right Jesus, just the wrong time. They forgot that in between where they were and where the ultimate victory is, like the fulfillment of that victory, the true celebration, when we get to the throne, there's still 90 more yards to go. There's still an opposing team that's going to try to take your head off along that journey. You're still going to have to fight. You're still going to have to pray. The victory is assured, yes, but it doesn't exempt us from fighting. It doesn't exempt us from the battle that's before us, from standing for the truth that we know. The scripture says two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from, away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place of victory. Jerusalem was the place where they were going to be told to tarry, to wait until the power of God had come upon them to do what they were called to do in the world. But they were discouraged. They were disillusioned. They had the right Jesus. They had walked with the right Jesus. They knew him. They heard his voice. But they had the wrong time. It says, as they talked together of all these things which had happened, and so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so they could not know him. And he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad? Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, are you only a stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened here in these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. And we were hoping, and the King James original says, we had hoped that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things have happened. They had the right Jesus, just the wrong time. They had gravitated, you know it's strange, we can all hear the same thing, but we can all form different opinions. If I were to ask about what does the victory of God really look like, I would assume I'm going to get a hundred different opinions from this auditorium today. They were all walked with him, they all heard him, he made no secret of the fact he was going to a cross, he made no secret of the fact that there was going to be a church left in the world. It was all visible, it was all clear. It was actually there right through the Old Testament, right into the New at that point where he's walking among them. But yet they had somehow formed an opinion in their hearts that the victory was going to be immediate. The ruling and reigning was going to be now. Rome was going to be overthrown in just a moment of time. When they say, we trusted that, or hoped that it was him who was going to redeem us. The redemption they're talking about is out from under the dominion of a godless society that was dominating them. And they thought, well surely it's going to be now. We're going to have this victory, we're going to rule, we're going to reign. And Jesus, it says in verse 25, he said to them, O foolish ones in slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Then they drew near to a village where they were going and he indicated he would have gone farther, but they constrained him. And they said, abide with us, it's toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass as he sat at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together. Beginning at Moses, here's what he showed them. He showed them that suffering can be part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Suffering can be part of the victory and because you and I come to Christ, it doesn't mean that we're going to be exempt from suffering. It doesn't mean that trials and difficulties won't come our way and death won't knock at our door. It doesn't mean that everybody's going to have a job, you're never going to get fired, your company's never going to go bankrupt, you'll never find yourself wondering, what am I going to do now? There's no guarantee of these things because you come to Christ. We are guaranteed a victory because Christ crossed that finish line into eternity. We are guaranteed that at the end of this life, that we're going to sit with him, we're going to rule with him, we're going to reign with him, we're guaranteed there's going to be a mansion in glory. Behold, he said, I go to prepare, in my father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be. So you're going to have a mansion in glory. You will one day walk on streets of gold, you'll one day stand before the throne of God and God will say, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in a few things, I'll make you ruler over many things, enter now into the joy of the Lord. That is coming. As surely as I'm speaking, as surely as we're sitting here, that day is coming. Now that's in the end zone. We have a player in our team that's already crossed the finish line that makes you and I more than conquerors. But you and I must not forget that there's still a walk to be walked on this earth. There's still a battle to be fought. It's not for our own salvation. We already have that in Christ. We are fighting now for the testimony and the honor of God in the earth. We are fighting so that Christ may become known to those who are living outside of who he is and outside of his victory and outside of his kingdom and outside of heaven. Eventually, we're living here on the earth as a living testimony for him. In this world, we will have tribulation, trial and difficulty will come because that's sometimes the only way the people around you are ever going to know that God is real. You're going to have to walk through the same fire, the same flood, the same trial, the same difficulty that they are. The difference is you have an inner source of strength and victory that they don't, that will carry you, that will give you a song. That's why the Psalmist David says, the Lord took me out of a horrible place and set my feet upon a rock and put a new song in my mouth. It didn't mean there weren't going to be other battles. It didn't mean he wasn't going to have to get in his chariot and go fight and take some of the ground back that the enemy was trying to take from the people of God. But no, he had a song now inside his heart that couldn't be taken away by circumstance. And he said, many will see it and fear and begin to trust in the Lord. In other words, when they see the strength of God in me, as I have to walk through what they do, they will stand back with this reverence, this awe in their heart saying, surely there must be a God for we're both walking through the same waters and yet what's drowning me seems to be replenishing him. The same water is life to him and it's death to me. And so there must be a strength inside this person's life that I don't have. In Exodus 17, he showed no doubt the men on the road to Emmaus that God spoke to Moses and said, I'll stand before you on a rock in Horeb and you'll strike the rock and water will come out of it that my people may drink. And in first Corinthians chapter 10 and verse four, the scripture says, Paul said, they all drank that same spiritual drink. They drank that spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. In other words, there was going to be a victory. Christ was going to win it, but there was going to be suffering involved in it, but he would be victorious over all this world, death, hell, and the devil could throw at him. He would make it into the end zone and he would invite us to join him there in his victory. Now we rejoice in our heart, but folks don't spike the ball at your own 10 yard line. Don't declare the victory too soon. That's what one of the, Paul had to speak to the Corinthian church. And here's what he said to the Corinthian Christians. He said, you're already full in chapter four, first Corinthians four, verse eight. You're already full. You are already rich. You're already reigning as Kings without us. And indeed, I wish you did reign that we might also reign with you. Paul said the Corinthians fell under this illusion while the victories won. We're already full. We're already rich. We'll never get sick again. Any of this stuff sound familiar? We're going to be our best us from this day forward. There'll be no more trial. There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more heartache. Isn't that what the scripture says? True, that's what the scripture says. There will be no more sorrow. There'll be no more trial. There'll be no more difficulty. There'll be no more tears and sighing. But folks, it doesn't say that we won't have to go through that here. It's when we cross that finish line, that's when we will never sorrow. We will never sigh again. We will never be hungry. Thanks be to God. Between here and there is a 90-yard journey that you and I have to make. And we're going to have to make it as a team. We're going to have to encourage each other along this journey. It's not going to be easy. People are going to get discouraged. But we must remember the words of our own Savior who said, I've spoken these things to you that in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. You will be tried. It is going to be dark. It is going to be difficult. There's going to be heartache in the days ahead for many. Listen to what Paul the Apostle said to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, chapter 1 rather, verse 8 says, we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver in whom we trust that he will also deliver us. And then prior to these verses, he says, blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God. Paul is saying we're going to go through trial. It's going to be difficult at times, but God is going to comfort us. And with the comfort that we receive in our difficult moments, we are going to be able to comfort others who find themselves in sorrow and in confusion. In some cases, because they had a wrong image of where and when the victory of God was to be celebrated. For as the sufferings of Christ abounded us, so also our consolation abounds through Christ. Now, if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Paul is saying, we are struggling. We are going through the difficulty that we're in for your sake. So that you can know that if you too will trust in God, God will give you the strength to get through whatever you have to face. So I'm trying to say this to your heart today, my brother and my sister, it's going to be hard in the days ahead. I don't know exactly what it's going to look like, but the writing is now on the wall for this society. This country has been found in the wanting. It's been weighed in the balance. It's been found wanting. And we've gotten away with a lot over a great length of time. But we're coming now to the point where God is going to do what God has to do to get the attention of the people in this nation. I believe that with all my heart. I don't think it's going to be easy. I think it's going to be a very hard time for very many people. Remember in the days of Elijah, in order to get the people of God to the top of Mount Carmel, there had to be a three and a half year famine. There had to be a time of hardship for the people to consider their ways and turn from the worshiping of prosperity back to the worshiping of the real and living God. And without the famine, there would have been no confrontation and no opportunity to see the power of God. In the book of Acts chapter 27, everyone on this journey, on the ship that Paul was on, were quite content with the direction they were taking. They had forsaken the warnings of God. Everything that he had tried to tell them, everything that God's word said about this journey, they had written it off. And they supposed that because sailing seemed smooth, that they were going to reach their desired end. But God's mercy sent a storm. God's judgment would have drowned them all. God's mercy sent a storm. You must remember that. The storm comes because of mercy. The storm comes so that the 276 people on that ship would find themselves on the deck, finally listening to the words of God through the apostle Paul who said, I told you, you shouldn't have taken this journey, but now be of good cheer. I've been with God and I have a word from the Lord for you. We're going to lose this ship, but if you'll listen to the words that I speak to you, none of you are going to perish. You're all going to make it to land. Some of you are going to swim and some of you are going to hang on to some wood, but whatever you have to do, we're going to make it to land. And God's mercy allowed these men and women to see the apostle Paul break bread on the deck of that ship and give thanks and give glory to God that he had been permitted to suffer and go through hardship, not for his own sake, but for the sakes of the 276 men and women that were on that ship and for the glory of the name of Jesus Christ, he could give God praise, even in the midst of his battle. Can you imagine if the apostle Paul had fallen into the theological error of thinking that he should rule and reign now, there should be no trouble in his life, that coming to Christ meant everyone's going to be rich, every pot's going to be full, every family will have no trouble, we're all going to have the best jobs in society, we'll all be the CEOs of every corporation left standing. But he could have fallen into that trap, but Paul knew something that the Corinthian people didn't know, even in that generation, there were going to come in voices that were going to try to tell the people, spike the ball at the 10 yard line, celebrate now, the full victory is yours now, no more trial, no more hardship, no more trouble. Jesus has gone into the end zone for you and he's already won the victory, it's true, it is true folks, it's the right Jesus at just the wrong time, we still have to walk through trial, we still have to go through flood, we still have to walk through fire, it's still going to be dark in the days ahead, the family is breaking down at an increasingly alarming pace in this nation, trouble and trial is arising on every border throughout this world, we're living way beyond our means and the debt is about to be called in for how we have lived as a nation, yes my friend, difficult days are coming, but I thank God with all my heart that as the writer of Hebrew says, we are surrounded by a great crowd of witnesses, we can lay aside every weight and the sin would so easily ensnares us and we can run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls, consider him, it's only really an American concept that developed in a time of prosperity, that somehow the gospel does not involve suffering and it isn't true, it's true yes, over there, but not here, right Jesus, wrong time, all these theologians did is they just took an eternal truth and they fast forwarded it and they spiked the ball on their own 10 yard line and started dancing, but what happens is a trial comes into people's lives and difficulty comes, it happens individually and one day soon, it's going to happen on a large scale, and we're going to find people on the Emmaus road all around us, people who sat in churches, people who listened to preachers telling them there should be no trouble, no trial, no difficulty, everything's on the up and up, give God a hundred dollars, he owes you a hundred thousand back and then suddenly the money doesn't come back and suddenly jobs are lost and suddenly sorrow comes, suddenly, maybe chaos breaks out in many of our cities and a lot of people who had the right Jesus, but at the wrong time and what I'm trying to get through is that they're not enemies of the cross, they're people who just sat under a gospel and they kind of fast forwarded a little too soon, now the men on the road to Emmaus, they had a viewpoint of Jesus that didn't really correspond with truth at that moment, they saw a Jesus that was going to put them all on thrones ruling and reigning immediately, they saw Jesus that was going to defeat Rome instantaneously and there are a lot of promises in scripture and they would have seen that and they assumed that this was all coming right now, so that when Jesus was taken captive and when he was beaten beyond recognition and put on a cross and crucified, they came to the conclusion wrongly that the Jesus we're following can't really be the Messiah, a lot of people will come to that conclusion who are sitting in places where they're being told this other Jesus, the right Jesus at the wrong time, they've skipped the whole really of the Christian life and gone right in to the kingdom of God and as Paul said to the Corinthians, you're all kings now, you're all priests, you're all rich, you're all full, you're all ruling, you're all reigning, he said, I wish to God you were, we'd reign with you, we are cast out as the off scouring of the earth, we struggle, we go hungry, we get beaten, we get rained on, we end up drifting in the sea from time to time, we're stabbed in the back by false believers, but you are full and what Paul was saying to the Corinthians, you've fallen into theological error and if you don't get this right, it's going to leave you discouraged in the days ahead. Now, I'm speaking this not just for some here who might be holding to this, but people who will be listening to this perhaps in the days ahead and you'll be wondering, did I get the short end of the stick or something? All these promises were made to me of what I was going to have a mansion, I've sat there folks, I've listened to it, I listened to a preacher one time, I was at a conference, I heard him say it, let's come to God, let's come to the altar and let's all ask for a mansion, let's all ask for a Rolls Royce and let's all ask for hundreds of thousands of dollars, I asked for it and God gave it to me and so all these people are flooding to this altar, what's going to happen to these folks when the mansion's got no heat, the Rolls Royce got no gas and the money's not in the bank, they've all spiked the ball at the 10 yard line, they're all dancing and suddenly realize, wow, I mean the opposing team is still running at me, they haven't stopped and when somebody blow the whistle around this place and then find out, no, when you spike the ball too soon in football, it's considered a fumble and it's open game for the enemy and people who have not really understood the truth of what the Christian walk is about, you become open game for the enemy to come after you and really just accuse the faithfulness of God is what he will do, try to take you down, drive you into the turf and say what you heard in the locker room is not right, your coach can't be trusted and the whole thing is a farce and you really don't belong to the team and I can just see that person getting up and heading back down the tunnel to the locker room, discouraged but thank God, Jesus didn't give up on those men on the road to Emmaus, he went to them, they're walking away from him but he went to them because they really did love him, they really did want to walk with him, they just had the right Jesus at the wrong time and they failed to understand that there's gonna be a lot of people in the days ahead, they're gonna be confused, they're gonna be sad, they're gonna be coming down the road or walking away from church and folks, I plead with you with all my heart, don't abandon these brothers and sisters in Christ, don't point the finger at them or wave goodbye to them, say you believe that stupidity, God has abandoned you but that's not the case, let's do what Jesus did, Jesus went after them and he opened the text of scripture and said look, I'm gonna prove to you that suffering is part of the walk that God has, called salvation in the earth, without suffering in Christ's case, there is no redemption, we have our redemption because of his suffering but it doesn't mean we won't suffer, we can't redeem ourselves through suffering but it doesn't mean that suffering won't be our portion but I thank God that I know today, I do have somebody across the finish line, I am promised in him that I'm gonna make it, I'm promised it, I have no doubt that I'm going to be hit from all sides, just like you, I've no doubt there's going to be dark nights sometimes, I've no doubt there's going to be questions in my heart but nevertheless, I have a savior and he sits at the right hand of almighty God and we wear the same sweater, our sweater is red, I am covered in his blood, I'm on the same team as he's on, and he crossed over that finish line, I still got 90 yards to go, in my case might only be 30 but I got a few yards left to go before I cross that finish line and the devil's gonna throw everything he's got at me to try to make me believe that I can't cross it but I know I'm going to because the victory is already won, in this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world, I have overcome it Jesus said, I triumphed over it, there's already a celebration going on in the end zone, so it's going to take you a little while to get there but don't be discouraged and don't let your teammates get discouraged when you find somebody that didn't have a right view of what this walk really was like, don't abandon them, do what Jesus did, open the scriptures and say, my friend you had the right Jesus just the wrong time, you were following Jesus but let me show you that trial and difficulty is not eradicated because of the cross, it's just destroyed, its potential to destroy us is destroyed, we have an inner power now in God, we can get through these things, we will get through and we will do it in a manner that glorifies God and then when we get in the end zone then we're going to celebrate that full celebration one day, hallelujah to the Lamb of God, there will be a dance there of joy, unspeakable and full of glory like you've never seen in your lifetime, I can celebrate in my heart, I will celebrate in church, I will celebrate in the prayer closet, I will celebrate in my mind when I read the word of God but there's a day coming that I'm going to cross that line and this life is going to be over and this battle is going to be finished and then you're going to see a celebration like you've never seen in your lifetime, glory to the name of Jesus. Until then don't lose heart and don't fall into the trap of thinking that this life is without trial because it isn't and don't think you got the short end of the stick here this morning because sorrow, difficulty, unemployment, whatever it is, sickness has come into your life, you don't have it, you're still on the winning team, you're still going forward, we're still going to cross the line, we're still going to defeat the powers of hell and we're going to take a multitude with us in the days ahead, thank God. Thank you Lord Jesus, don't be discouraged my friend, don't be discouraged, I've had times in my life when I didn't know if I could take another step, I've had times when the Lord asked me can you just do it one more day, doing it one more month was not even an option, just one more day and at the end of the next day he'd say to me can you walk with me another day and the end of that day he'd say can you walk with me another day and there's some days like that, some seasons like that then there's other times I get the ball and I'm just running so fast that I hear the coach saying slow down, slow down, slow down, you're part of a team, you get out there alone, you're going to get slaughtered, take your time, there's no rush, you're going to make it, you're going to get over the line, don't forget that you have others that are running this race with you. Thank you God, Father I thank you with all my heart Lord, God help us to understand these things as simple as they might be, the men on the road to Emmaus missed it and many in our generation have missed it and many in the Corinthian church missed it, and they forgot, but Lord God I'm asking you Father to comfort those who need comfort today, I know there's some people in this sanctuary that are in North Jersey that have been beaten up in the last while and some have even kept it secret, they don't even tell anybody but they're being battered from every side but Father I thank you Lord that we are part of a team, your church, your body and we don't leave anybody behind everybody goes with us, I pray for grace to be given to us, to be kind to people who've sat in places where the right Jesus at the wrong time has been preached, I ask you Lord God for words to help them to understand the difficult days that they're going to be in soon, I pray God with all my heart that you would lift us up and make us a victorious people, a unified body, truly Lord God, truly bringing glory to your name in the earth, give us the compassion of your heart Lord that you would walk beside these men and even in their ignorance after all you had said for three years, you could have been rightfully angry but you were patient, you went in with them, you sat down and you broke bread and then their eyes were opened, would you give us that patience Lord with people who will come this way, or we may meet on the street in some days who just have given up on you Lord because they just don't understand what it really means to walk with you, would you help us to know the scripture so that we can open the word of God and help them to see, would you help us to be broken for them that their eyes might be opened that we're all part of the body of Christ and we need each other, no one of us is an island, I pray Lord in this church that you give us a servant's heart to the body of Christ, protect us from being judges, protect us from pride and help us Lord just to be there for every person Lord, you will sort them out at the end but help us Lord especially to be there for those who do love you but yet they found themselves celebrating at the wrong time in the wrong place, help us to understand these things Lord, thank you for it God with all my heart in Jesus name. I want to give an altar call this morning here in the church and in the annex and in North Jersey for people who are just discouraged and everything I've said, you said pastor it's like you've been, it's like you've been in my, I don't even have a prayer closet, I just have a groan closet now but you've been in my groan closet where I've just said God did I miss something do I have the wrong end of the victory? I'm just so discouraged and if you are just would you just as we rise in just a moment just come down to the front same thing in the annex, same thing in North Jersey or in your home and in just a moment we're going to worship for about 10 minutes or so and in just a moment we're going to pray together just come, let the Lord encourage you, let's stand please up in the balcony you could either exit main sanctuary, just come and we'll pray together for those that are here in the church would you stretch your hands up please towards these that have gathered at the altar as you can see there's always brothers and sisters that are in need of encouragement and it's so important now that we learn to encourage each other walk with each other open the scriptures to each other just a word of explanation sometimes is what will, what will free somebody's mind from an oppression the enemy is trying to put there trying to convince them that that somehow God's not faithful or their redemption isn't real now father we stretch our hands out towards these men and women who have had the courage to come to this altar and also in the annex in North Jersey and at home even God we ask you to comfort them today we are the comforters but tomorrow we may need the comfort you'll give us through them would you help us Lord to all recognize that we are part of a body and we're going into some very very rough waters I pray God for comfort comfort Lord you're the one in the storm that stood up and said peace be still and you brought the waters to a place of stillness and you showed us that you are master of even nature itself and so God don't let any storm overwhelm anybody who's here at this altar today give them the courage to believe that even if they feel like they're sinking you'll still take them by the hand and lift them up father I thank you God there's a divine plan for each life at this altar and nobody is cast away everyone has a divine part in the kingdom of God give them courage give them comfort father and we thank you for it with all of our heart today in Jesus name amen and amen praise God