Fear Not, I Will Help You

And welcome to Old Guy Sunday. Us old guys are needed. You know, I hang around with young people at the Bible school all week, so it was a shock for me one week when I went to get my picture taken for my driver's license and they gave me the picture and I looked at this old guy in the picture thinking there's been a terrible mistake here. The camera caught somebody over my shoulder in line. You forget when you're hanging out with people in their teens and twenties how old you really are. It's an awesome thing. For the young people that are here today, it's important to have those of us who have walked this journey stand before you because then you learn that God will be faithful. As David the king once said, I've been young and I'm old, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed-baking bread. And I've been all over the world and I've been in some of the poorest places in the world and yet I've still seen the people of God provided for. Shelter, food. It's been absolutely amazing to see the faithfulness of God. I can't think of one instance, and I've been in almost every country in the world, not quite all, but almost. I can't think of an instance where I've ever seen somebody who's turned to Christ who's not provided for by the hand of God. It's absolutely amazing. It's wonderful to walk with God. When I was young, I determined in my heart that I want the real thing. I was a police officer and I was 24 years old when I came to Christ, and it was another Christian police officer that led me to Christ. I went to church with my wife, Pastor Teresa, and we're sitting in the balcony. And I've always been an extremist in a sense, like it's all or nothing for me. That's just the way I live. That's the way I am. That's the way I think. And I remember thinking, I'm not interested in Sunday church. If this thing is real, I want the whole package. I don't want to just put my toe in the pool. I want to go off the high diving board. I want the whole thing. And if it's not real, I don't want any of that. I'm not interested in hypocrisy. I'm not interested in being one thing on Sunday and something else on Monday. I want the whole journey. And we were sitting in the balcony in the church, and I looked at the platform, and I had this question in my heart. I'm 24 years of age. You've still got a lot of life in you at that point. And I'm thinking, if I go all in, what will I look like when I get to be 65? And I looked on the platform. I'm just going to tell you the way it was. And I leaned over to Pastor Teresa, and I said, Whatever road they took, I'm not taking. Because I don't want to look like that when I'm 65. I want to be alive. Jesus said, I came to give you life, an abundant life on this world. I don't want that. I don't want that sour-pussed religion. I don't know how they get it, but they got it somewhere along the line. Just critical of everything, joyless, can't worship God. People you really don't want to be around when you're young. And I thank God, Pastor, you've got so many young people here. Because that's a sign that you've got life. The ministry has life here. Don't ever let that slip from your fingers. You hang on to that. Stay alive. There's a song, Staying Alive, Staying Alive. It's my theme song now, you know. When you get to be 70 years old, that's your theme song. Every day is a victory now, by God's grace. They asked me, they were throwing some kind of party for me, and they asked me, What would you like us to sing at your 70th birthday? I think it was, I said, Staying Alive, Staying Alive. That would be a good song for me for my birthday. I can tell you one thing, and it's the title of this message that God's given me for you as a church. God will help you. He doesn't turn from us when we struggle. He's not a fair weather friend that we start fighting with thoughts in our minds and behaviors that we can't get through or get rid of, or we go through woundings that leave us reeling and questioning even the reality of God's presence. It happens to everybody that walks with God. When the enemy's bombarding us with all kinds of thoughts, like we'll never amount to anything, we'll never get free, we'll never be the person that God wants us to be, and there's no shortage of people that add to those voices as well. But he's not like that. He didn't die for us to go back to heaven, fold his arms and watch us try to get through this on our own. As a matter of fact, he came by his Holy Spirit and then dwelt our physical bodies. Do you understand that today, that you don't have just a theory about God going on in your life, you have the third person of the Trinity abiding in your physical body? So therefore all things are possible now to him who believes. I can do, Paul said, all things through Christ who strengthens me, and that's really been my life. It's been the story of my life. Never qualified to do anything that I'm doing, but it's wonderful when God sets before you an open door and you just choose to go through that door, and then he does through us what only he can do to bring his own name to glory, because we know we couldn't have done this in our own strength. That's been the story of my whole life, and it's been an amazing life. And so my challenge to you is don't settle for mediocrity when we're supposed to have a supernatural life. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we were birthed supernaturally in an upper room, cleansed with the blood of Christ, empowered by the Spirit of God. Don't let that become a natural thing. Don't let it just become religious routine and rote or boring or just beginning to do things because you just feel that you have to. Don't let that happen. Fear not, God says, I will help you. Isaiah chapter 41, please, if you go there in your Bibles, and I shared this morning, if you got your Bible on your phone, take out your phony Bible, and you can follow along with me. Isaiah chapter 41. Father, I just thank you, God. Lord Jesus Christ, I am so grateful for the life that you have given me. I'm so grateful for the floods, the fires, the trials, the difficulties, the seasons where I had nobody left but you. But God, you have never failed nor forsaken me. And now, at 70 years of age, I still have your joy in my heart. I still have light in my eyes. I still have a future and a vision for something that you're about to do in the not-too-distant future. Thank you, God, for living long enough to see all these young people at this altar this morning. How that must gladden your heart. Oh, God, don't let even one of them turn back. Lord, you have such a life, Lord, for your people. Don't let us turn back because of struggles and trials, because you said, don't be afraid, I will help you. Help me today, Lord Jesus Christ. My voice is powerless, but yours can create a universe. So speak through me, and God, multiply the words that you've given to me and go into every heart, every situation, every place in everyone's mind. And visit the dark areas of the heart today, places where the enemy thinks he's got a stronghold that can never be broken. You showed us, Lord, in the Scriptures that you can send somebody into those places and you can break those strongholds. So do that today, I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Fear not, I will help you. Isaiah chapter 41, beginning at verse 8. But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, you are my servant. I've chosen you and not cast you away. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced. They shall be as nothing. And those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them. Those who contended with you, those who were against you, shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, fear not, I will help you. Fear not, I will help you. The Bible tells us that in Christ we become a new creation. The old things in our lives pass away, and behold, all things become new. We're given this clarion call of God into this life that's impossible in the natural, but it's only possible through the Spirit of God. We enter through the door by the blood of Jesus Christ, trusting Him for our salvation. We begin to walk in this newness of life, but there will be opposition. When you walk in, you might be the first one in your family here. I was the first in my family to come to Christ. As far back as the cavemen, I don't think there was ever a conman that walked with God. A lot of horse thieves and saloon keepers, but nobody ever preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I've faced tremendous opposition from my own household, my own family. I had a sister that didn't speak with me for almost 20 years. Hardly at all. I didn't say hello when I'd come on vacation and goodbye when I'd leave. It's difficult, and you will be opposed, but God says, I'm not going to put you into the hands of those who oppose your forward journey. There's a day coming when you will look, and the opposition is gone. As a matter of fact, you'll have a hard time even to remember it. They will be powerless. Their words can't stop you from doing what I've called you to do and becoming what I've called you to become. God says, I'll help you when the battle before you seems overwhelming. In the book of Joshua, chapter 1, the Lord spoke these words to Joshua. It says, After the death of Moses in Joshua 1, 1, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore, arise and go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving them, the children of Israel. You see, there are people who choose not to go into the fullness of God. They come to the cross, they come to Christ, they see the promises of God and the word of God, but they themselves do not go into these promises. The Lord took Moses, and I actually was in Jordan, and stood on the mountain where God placed Moses, and looked at, you can see the promised land from there, at least a good portion of it. He saw it, but he didn't go into it, nor did much of that original generation go into the promised land. But there's a new generation, we're here now, and we've got a choice to make. And the Lord's saying, I'm giving you something, I'm giving you something that I promised to others before you who chose not to go in. There's so many people who just settle for religion. They settle for going to church, they memorize even scripture, but it never becomes part of them. It never takes them out of the natural and into the supernatural. They never become a partaker of this new and abundant life that God promises through Jesus Christ. Fifty years in the church, and at the end they're the same as they were in the beginning, except they know a lot of scripture. But nothing is really... They've wandered into wilderness. Yes, they are children of God. Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting they're in hell. They are children of God. But what a tragedy to get to the throne of God one day, and see what your life could have been. Had you fully surrendered, had you and I actually believed that God was able to do something through us, that is way beyond our natural ability, way beyond us, but not beyond the ability that God places within us. He said to Joshua in verse 3, Every place the sole of your foot will tread upon, I've given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness in this Lebanon, as the great river, the river Euphrates, and all the land of the Hittites, to the great sea towards the going down of the sun shall be your territory. In other words, I'm taking you into a place of promise. Now for them, at that time, it was a physical land. For us, it's a spiritual place that is ours through Jesus Christ. If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a what? A new creation. The old things have passed away. They've lost their power. The old thoughts, the old ways, the old bondages, the old limitations of what your life could become have all passed away. And all things have now become new. And there's this incredible place called the land of promise, which is ours through Jesus Christ. It's not a physical nation anymore. It's a spiritual place in Christ. And God says, I told Moses about it, but he didn't go in. He didn't see it. But I'm calling now another generation to go into this place of incredible blessing and promise and supernatural life in Jesus Christ. No one, he says in verse 5, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. There will be people trying to stop this journey. If I had the time, I'd have you crying here. I've been lied about. I've been slandered. I've been betrayed. I've been threatened. I can just tell you all the stuff that came my way over the years to try to stop this forward journey. But I would not be denied what Jesus Christ said would be mine, what he would do through my life. We're called into a supernatural life. And when you start moving in that direction, you will be opposed. I promise you, you'll be opposed. But no one will be able to stand before you. No one can stop you if God is with you. As I was with Moses, he said, I'll be with you. I will not leave nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to this people you'll divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. And in verse 9, he says, have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, pass through the camp and commend the people, saying, prepare provisions for yourselves. Within three days you'll cross over this Jordan to go in and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You have an incredible potential in this church. You're a young church. I saw that even to a greater extent with all the young people. You have an amazing possibility that God is setting before you as a congregation. As your pastor stands in this pulpit and begins to tell you to prepare for this journey. We're going in to possess these places that God told us we're going to possess. Now you're going to face opposition as soon as they went across the river they faced Jericho, which was a fortified city. They say about, I think, about 8 acres square. And there was no way to penetrate those walls. They were so thick that people had apartments in them. They could live in them. But yet, God gave them a battle plan. Have you ever noticed that God's battle plans are always ridiculous? No, for real. Imagine you get your 400 years in captivity and in comes an old man, his 83 year old brother. Don't be afraid. God's going to take us out of here. He's an old guy with a stick and he stutters and he's got a one line sermon to deliver and he needs his brother to deliver it for him. This is the victory plan of God. Now I could take you all the way through the Bible and you'll see God's battle plans never really make sense to the natural mind. So you are God's ridiculous battle plan for this generation. That's the reality. Turn to the person beside you and say, you're God's ridiculous battle plan for the generation that we're now living in. I will not fail you, God says. I will not forsake you. I'm saying this from a position of authority. I've lived this. I've stood before crowds in countries that are in civil war and I've seen civil war come to an end. I've been in Burundi. I've seen genocide broken. I've seen things throughout the world. I've seen the power of God. I've watched God do what only God can do and he says, I'm not going to fail you. That which I have assigned for your life to do will be done. Every person in this sanctuary today, you have an assignment given you by God. Something he's destined your life to do or may I put it this way, he's destined to do through your life that will bring his name to glory because you will know you couldn't have done this in your own strength. He will take you where you can't go in your natural strength and when you get there he'll give you what you never could have possessed with your own ability and he will do through you what you never could have done. That the glory goes to him when you get to the end of your journey you just say, only God could have done this. How else could this have happened? I wish I had time to tell you about the disadvantagedness in my own life. Where God took me from and what he has done and where he's placed me throughout the world, the places that I've spoken, the people that I've had the opportunity to speak to, knowing that I could never have done this in my own strength. Only through the strength of God. I will hold your hand, he said. I will help you. I will walk with you and if God be for us who can be against us? Who can stand against the plan of God? If you are completely yielded to the plan of God in your life and you're beginning to walk with him into that plan tell me who has the strength to stand against God? Who has the strength to say, oh you've come this far but no farther? No the God who created the universe by the word of his mouth is able to take you into the fullness of whatever it is that he's assigned for your life to be. You and I don't know what that is. We have no idea what it is he's asking us to do but I do know this one thing, that if we go through the open doors he sets before us miracles happen on the other side and I tell you that, I can tell you that with authority this day. I remember my first pastorate, I ran out of gas at a certain point, I just I pushed a little too hard, pushed my body a little too hard and I just lost heart, I lost hope, I lost energy and one day I was, on Sunday morning I'm in the church and we're sitting in the, standing in the front row worshiping, I was so exhausted I couldn't sing I tried to sing and nothing, only air would come out of my mouth I couldn't form the words so that's how tired I was and I remember standing there saying in my heart God I can't do this, I can't preach today, I can't go on, I'm out of gas I have no strength left It's the only time in my life I heard an audible voice now many times through my life I've had strong impressions in my heart that have led me to the things that God would have us to do, but this particular morning I heard it only once in my life an actual voice, over my from behind my right shoulder into my right ear, somebody said, I've come to help you and it was as clear as that and I actually jumped and looked because I heard the voice and nobody was there on the strength of that voice I got back in the pulpit that morning and I've never stepped out of the pulpit in 46 years, it never turned away from what God called me to do Don't be afraid Joshua, don't be dismayed fear comes when we see the size of what's before us and what we're called to do and dismay comes when we look at ourselves and see how little resource we have to accomplish the task but it's not about us it's about Christ in us that's where the strength is that's where the grace is to do what God's called us to do is by this indwelling strength of the Holy Spirit now God will lead us to places we have to say God help me not to be afraid when you lead me to places where I wouldn't have gone before Acts chapter 10 verses 19 and 20 it says Peter thought about the vision the spirit said to him behold three men are seeking you arise and go down with them doubting nothing for I've sent them and we know the end of that story is that Peter was led to a Gentiles house called Cornelius where they were waiting to hear something from God and going through a door which his own culture forbade him to do it wasn't lawful for a Jewish man to assemble himself with Gentiles it was against everything that he'd ever been brought up to believe but stepping through that open door brought the gospel to the rest of the known world not just to the Jewish people that was the moment the gospel came to the Gentiles which of course unless you're Jewish here today that's what we are when a man decided to go through a door and into an unfamiliar place that he would never have gone to before I shared this morning that when I was a police officer for about the first two years of my walk with God I struggled I had a lot of stuff in my life and I was ashamed in a sense of my own inability to speak to other people about Jesus Christ and one day I was driving my patrol car and I actually punched the wheel and I said these words God I'll serve you if it kills me I'm just so fed up with mediocrity I didn't want to be a mediocre Christian I was reading the Bible and I saw there's so much more for me and I want more than just a Sunday hymn sing you understand what I'm saying I really want this life that you've got for me and so I went back to work that week and another police officer his name was Bob he said Carter he said we're going to the prison here next Wednesday I think it is I think it was and he said we have permission from the chief to go there in uniform I said Bob there was a riot there a month ago they set the place on fire they're burning mattresses and I said you're talking about going in there in uniform I said if there's another riot we'll never get out of there alive and he said I know are you coming or not and I remember thinking God you didn't have to take me up on it so soon you know so he that week came that week night came and he said we're going to I'd like to stop at a halfway house on the way to the prison he said there's a friend of mine he's an ex outlaw biker which is similar to hell's angels I guess and he's celebrating his one year spiritual birthday and I looked at him I said Bob that's not possible he said you know the initiation rites these guys have to go through to get into these clubs I said there's no way there's no way this guy's a believer in Jesus Christ he said well come see for yourself so we ended up in this halfway house in uniform on our way to the prison and these guys this was not a light thing these were heavy duty guys these guys had heavy duty criminals this is not like you know I jaywalked and did two days in jail kind of thing it was like I killed a jaywalker you know so there's about fourteen to eighteen of them around there some of that number in the house and these guys really seem to really love the Lord they'd all found Christ in prison and this is a halfway they're being reintegrated into society so this is kind of like a halfway place between prison and getting back into it and many of them have been away for a long time and so Bob says to me he says they're having a testimony night tonight a song and testimony night would you like to stay here instead of going to the prison and I thought well I looked around I said I could probably get out of here easier than I can get out of there so let's stay so then these guys were worshipping like you were today and they were crying like some of the worship leaders were on the platform today the tears were coming down their faces they're singing about Jesus and they started testifying about how he had saved them and then when it was over they all gathered around me and a couple of the guys said hey are you baptizing the Holy Spirit now I was saved in the Baptist church so please don't take offense I'm just telling you a story okay and so I gave them my theology that I learned you know I got the whole package you know and you know when I got saved you know you guys need that you're out of jail you're trying to make your way you need a little bit of emotion I don't need that and this voice in the back of my head is saying who are you kidding aren't you the guy that just punched the steering wheel a couple of days ago fed up with the way you are and they said can we lay hands on you and pray for you I'm in uniform I'm carrying a gun you understand and these guys are all big time so after a while I said okay alright you guys can pray for me and so they gathered around there was a guy he stood behind me I said don't stand behind me he says I think I should I said well I think you shouldn't don't stand there you know so he said okay so they gathered around they said would you lift your hands up while we pray for you and I'm thinking this is like weird like I'm raising my hands and these are all ex criminals and isn't it them supposed to be raising their hands like this is all backwards something is really wrong with this whole and then in my mind I'm thinking what if the chief ever finds out about this I'm in a halfway house with ex bikers and ex cons and I've got my hands raised and they're all putting their hands on me and there's a guy wanting to stand behind me and I've got a loaded gun on my hip and it's just like wow this is so I said okay so I raised my hands and they started praying and the next thing you know I was flat out on a hardwood floor speaking in a language I'd never learned before nobody told me that was going to happen to me it just happened but to find the fullness of God in your life means to be led to places you wouldn't normally go to remember when Peter was speaking to Carlelius's house before it even got to point to the Holy Spirit came down imagine what we would do today pass away just don't talk in tongues yet I'm not done my message I got two more points to go he's as he's speaking the Holy Spirit comes down they all start speaking with other tongues and he realizes that God has done something phenomenal in my case it was the other way around and a lot of these guys became good friends over the years and Brian Bloomfield the guy who was the biker you know what he became a cake decorator making roses on wedding cakes and stuff like that the guy who would have killed me a year or two years before that or I would have killed him first is making roses on cakes in a bakery shop and it was only a few years ago I had the privilege of going back to the city that I used to be a police officer in and I was speaking in a Pentecostal church there and this guy comes up to me and he's now you know probably in the 60s says do you remember me I said do I ever remember you I said you're still walking with God he says yeah he said I'm a deacon in this church only God only God only God if you want to know the fullness of God you have to be willing to go to places you normally would not have gone I've spoken now in Hindu Muslim prisons in different countries I was locked in Sullivan prison one time with 60 lifers are never going to get out 60 prisoners are never ever going to get out of jail the worship leader that day was David Berkowitz I don't know if you've ever heard of him son of Sam New York City terrorized the city for quite some time wonderful wonderful Christian man don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise wept through the whole worship session and I was in there locked in a room with 60 guys are never going to get out two guards who are not armed and I had a trumpet player who was an ex-con with me named Angelo and when I told them I'm an ex-cop Angelo goes uh oh behind me because a lot of these guys live to kill a cop you understand that and they have nothing to lose because there's no death penalty there they're in jail anyway for the rest of their lives but I told them I said I'm not here because I have nothing else to do and I'm not here because I'm a do-gooder I'm here with you today because I want to tell you as Jesus Christ has saved me and set me free so he can set you free though you're never going to get out of jail you can still be free and at the end of speaking I gave an altar call you know in those environments you live by being tough you live by being tougher than the next guy and about eight or nine guys or maybe a little more came forward to give their lives to Jesus Christ physically came forward to the front of that hallway and I got off the wherever I would the little platform I was on and I hugged each one of them and as I hugged them they broke down crying each one of them broke down in tears here's an ex-cop hugging these guys when normally we would have killed each other in seasons before the willingness to be led to places that we would not normally have gone it's an amazing thing you know on the day of Pentecost that's exactly what happened the Holy Spirit came into that upper room there's a hundred and twenty failures really have gathered Peter has boasted and bragged and denied and cursed with an oath and saying I don't know the man John who told Jesus how much he loved him and at the last supper took off out of the garden when he was needed there's nobody there that's standing in their own strength no bolsters there nobody bragging about their faithfulness the Holy Spirit comes when they stepped out of the upper room they were given of God the ability to speak to people of other cultures in their own languages about the wonderful things that God can do and I found that my own life traveling throughout the world speaking to people all over Africa speaking to people in India being in places where I don't really know the culture but given the ability by God to speak words that mean something to the people and draws them closer to Christ that gifting of God to speak to people in ways that they can understand the words that we're speaking to them and lastly the Lord asks us to take the journey with people and take with us people in circumstances which we would have previously rejected as I said earlier we it was difficult in a sense to go to some of the places I had to go to and then to embrace the people it's one thing to go there it's another thing to embrace the people Pastor Therese and I started having a lot of these guys from the halfway house out to our farm we had a farm at the time and we'd have dinner together we'd play ball we'd do stuff and you know there were always people around that will scorn that say what exactly do you think you're doing don't you know who these guys are you understand what I'm saying you know there's always that tendency in all of us to gravitate to people that can build our resume put it that way and make us comfortable the one thing I found about Jesus Christ is that he takes you out of your comfort zone to bring you into his comfort zone which is really just loving people that's what it's all about that's how this world he said will know that you are my disciples that you have a loved one for another I look around and I see people of different demographics different cultures different ages in this sanctuary different races but as one body as the world starts to fragment and you start coming together what an opportunity to be a testimony of the power and the grace of almighty God in New York City at Times Square Church we had 104 different nationalities in one congregation now people would walk in I saw unsaved people walk in and start weeping before they got to their seat and people would look around and they're not sitting in pockets according to culture or race or class and everybody's all mixed like a blender together and people would walk in and say this must be what heaven is going to be like this is amazing we have people there worshipping together whose countries are at war together but yet they're side by side worshipping God in this sanctuary there's a unity in Christ that you can't find anywhere else but in him and through him and as this world as Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 there's going to be culture rise against culture and it's happening now it's happening in this country right now culture is rising against culture race against race there's horrid division happening all throughout the world but I happen to believe that as that division is increasing there's going to be a coming together of the body of Christ we're going to be a testimony to this world that there is a love there is a power that comes from God to heal wounds and divisions to forgive where forgiveness is necessary to be kind where kindness is warranted thank God thank God thank God thank God for the body of Christ thank God for the presence of the Holy Spirit thank you Lord Jesus Christ thank you God I remember when I took over Times Square Church I would not allow division in the church body I remember we had a Jewish prayer group and a Muslim prayer group they were all ex-Palestinians and Jewish and they wouldn't pray together so I kicked them both out of the church both groups if you won't pray together I told them you don't belong in this church and when you're ready to pray together then you're more than welcome to come back here but we're not allowing that kind of division in the body of Jesus Christ we are one body we are one blood we are one new man in Christ Jesus now the last thing is taking people with us that we would have rejected or pushed to the side there's none of this white glove on a ten foot pole thing anymore in the body of Jesus Christ love you brother love you sister where we don't have to get close we don't have to get soiled by somebody else's struggle and I think the textbook example of that is Joseph in the book of Matthew it says now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows Matthew 1 18 after his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit then Joseph her husband being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example was minded to put her away secretly put yourself in Joseph's position now under the law the Jewish law in Deuteronomy this Mary should have been stoned to death the only reason she wasn't is because Roman law forbid Jewish law to enact its death sentences it was only the Romans who could put somebody to death and they would not stone somebody for a situation like this but it was still a hugely shameful thing to the Jewish people and so now Joseph is being asked he's engaged to this girl it's found out she's going to have a child and he's being asked of God to take her to wife now there'd be no shortage of people around him doing the math saying hey you guys got married six months ago you know how is it that you have a child already and there'd be no shortage of people wanting to make an illustration of that and would have been much cleaner may I put it this way for Joseph just say hey it's been nice knowing you Mary but I'm moving on from here no he took her to himself because he was given a promise that there's something of God in this that's going to make a huge difference in this world and there's something of God in this when we are willing to embrace people and take them with us on the journey and we take the misunderstanding of the circumstance the misunderstanding of them whatever they did or didn't do in this case of course we know it was it was God giving her this child through the Holy Spirit imagine when people would talk to Joseph about that later on how is it that Mary had a baby six months after you got married he said well it was God did it I mean put yourself in a position I mean it's easy to read that you know I mean yeah he had to walk through that and it's almost like you see that pattern in the scriptures it wasn't like God saying to Joseph you take this woman and then I will give her a child no God gave her the child first and then later told Joseph when she's found with a child to take her as your wife and there's a type there's a picture in that of you and I having a willingness to embrace people who are maybe dealing with issues that others would not understand to embrace them and take them with us on the journey no matter what they've done in the past or what kind of a struggle they're in in the present or how many wagging tongues would be raised against them we take them with us we should be better than the Marines who say we leave no man behind there's no soldiers left behind we should not leave in the body of Christ anybody behind no matter what situation they've gone through no matter what struggle they're in we need to learn to take the people of God with us every last one we don't write people off because they struggle we put our arm around people each other and we say I'll help you as best as I can I'll help you and if you have some shame to be born I'll bear it as well that's what Joseph did with Mary and so if we want to know the power of God we're going to have to take people with us which we would have previously rejected I know all about this I know how hard it was in the beginning but it's not hard now there's a love that comes into your heart that only God could put there and you begin to realize over the years that I stand by grace mercy David the Psalmist said it this way God if you marked iniquities who would stand if you judged me the way I'm prone to judging others how many of us would be left standing God how about if all of our secret thoughts were put on the screen right now wouldn't that be awesome wouldn't you love that or everything you've done in the last month that's not been honoring to God how about if we just put it on the screen right now oh there's Jim Johnson that's what he's been doing wouldn't it be just grand every thought we've thought everything we've done everything that we've spoken we're all displayed if God marked iniquity who would stand but there was mercy with you David says that you may be feared there's mercy with God and Jesus said a new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you you love one another I've covered your iniquities I've covered your struggles I've promised to hold your hand and walk with you why would we do anything different than what he's done for us and I'm just so thankful for how he'll tenderize our hearts we start out so hard almost all of us do we're so rigid in our ways at least I was and then he tenderizes your heart and you start to see the potential in every person you no longer see what you're looking at Times Square Church for example a homeless man one Sunday morning leaning at the back and he had the thing he'd been living on the street for three years and he said God if you show me one man one person that takes this thing seriously I'll give my life to you after three years of sleeping in the subway and such like and that morning David Wilkerson was preaching and William Carroll looked at him and said that man believes what he's saying came down the aisle gave his life to Jesus Christ now you and I looking at him would see a homeless man that we let in on Sunday morning to wash up downstairs in the sinks but David Wilkerson having the eyes of the spirit saw one of the most powerful Bible teachers I've ever known in my life and sent him off to college to get his master's degree in theology and he became a powerful powerful powerful preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ I've often thought you know God would meet in the garden with Adam and he would bring him animals and say Adam what are we going to call this as if he didn't know what it was you know but he's bringing Adam these animals and the scripture says whatever name Adam gave that's what they're called today and so I see as a pastor for example for years I would see people coming to the altar and the Lord would say what are we going to call this and your natural tendency is to call it what you see and God says no look deeper than what you see look deeper and I'll show you my plan for this woman I'll show you my plan for this man I'll show you what I intend to do through this life look deeper look with the eyes of the spirit and be willing to hold that person's hand until they can walk I love when James and John come into the temple and they look and Peter and John rather and Peter says look upon us and they lift the man up and they walk into the temple and the scripture says he was leaping and dancing and praising God but he was also hanging on to Peter and John because he had never walked before be like standing on stilts for this man but they were willing to let him hang on to them until he could walk on his own that's the reality of it people are out there just looking for somebody that they can hang on to somebody maybe if you lead somebody to Christ it's not good enough to say hey go to church on Sunday see you there be great they've got to be able to call you maybe be invited to your house for a Bible study until they can walk until they can walk on their own there's a little more required the willingness to take people with us that we would previously not have been comfortable with or rejected because it would sully our name you know they said that of Jesus he hangs out with prostitutes and tax collectors and thieves what makes us think we're better than him than Jesus God help me, God help us in the end you just start loving people you know I've written a book and one of the publishers is looking at it now and it's called finishing the race and I did a study I have an undergraduate degree in law and sociology so I used to think what a waste of time this is you know I had to study people in elevators and stuff like that human behavior when I was in college I just thought this is just stupid but you had to do it to get your degree so I did it but it did create a curiosity in me and well I would just study and I thought God I've seen such train wrecks in my life usually around the age of 60 there's a split, there's a why in the road and I'm talking about people in the ministry you know one side goes on and they become very tender and kind and loving and the other side goes on they become critical and harsh and hard they rock in their rocking chairs and watch football for the rest of their lives and castigate everything unlike themselves and I think God what causes that split and I came to this conclusion and I put it in the book that let me tell you what happens to people who don't finish well in the Christian walk number one they love God no doubt about it they love God number two they love the word of God number three they love the ministry number four they don't love people and when you take the other three when you take away the ministry there's nothing left because they've missed it the greatest commandment Jesus said you love God with all your heart soul mind and strength and the second is like unto it you love your neighbor as yourself it's awesome for me to stand here today and say I love you and mean it I'm not just saying it because I'm in a pulpit you know and of course if I was my wife would just tear me apart later on after the service is over I'm saying it because it's true I really do love you now you're looking at a guy that was so hard as a cop I'd go to an accident scene I'd draw chalk lines around dead bodies and go eat my lunch I didn't care I didn't care about anybody but God has done a miracle it's part of the journey learning to love people willing to go where you've not gone before willing to take people you know under your arm as it is that need somebody think of all the young people today that don't have fathers and mothers to guide them so many young people just need a guiding hand and a guiding voice now I want to finish by just inviting people to come forward that are afraid to take this journey this is the first barrier to breaking that fear is just stepping out and saying I want to go with God I want to go where God wants me to go I want to be the man, I want to be the woman that God wants me to be young people just say I just want the full life that God has for me don't settle for less don't settle for just boring religion when this is supposed to be a life that's abundant and it's supposed to it's supposed to be supernatural we're going to stand in just a moment I just want to invite you and your pastor is going to come and pray for you for people to just say God I hear what this man is saying and I want this journey in my life are the lights getting dim or am I dying, what's going on here hey, goodbye it's been great we're going to stand and if you can see your way down to the altar let's stand up together just come on, just come on down you want the journey, slip out of your seat wherever you are, young people, old people you just want the journey so I've heard what this man's speaking about just come on now, don't wait, just come now I want the journey he's speaking about I want to go all the way with God I want God to use my life I want to reach out to people that I'm uncomfortable with I want to go to places that I've never gone before I just want the full journey God, that you have for my life I want to be able to forgive I don't want to be among the bitter crowd that can't forgive one another God, I don't want to live my life like that I want to go with you come on down, come on down wherever you are young and old and we're going to pray together and we're going to believe because Jesus said ask, you shall receive seek, you shall find knock, it shall be opened everyone who asks receives he who seeks will find to him who knocks, it shall be opened if you know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask just come on down just come on down there's no condemnation here whatsoever you're just saying, God, I just I want more than I have, I want to go farther than I've gone I want to love more than I have loved I want to have more of an influence than I have had I need you to cover my failures and my mistakes I need your strength to go into the future I want to be a part of a church that's coming together, not coming apart I want to be a person who's a contrast to this divided bitter world that we're now living in God, I want your truth to be so abounding in me that it's as natural as breathing to pray for somebody or to speak about you it's not a program with me it's just there I want the giftings of the Holy Spirit, I want words of wisdom and knowledge the abilities that God gives to speak into somebody's heart things that they they would know only God only the Holy Spirit would know that in their life, I want the courage to reach out and pray for people that nobody else wants to pray for nobody else seems to care about God, help me to get out of my own sphere of living my own way, doing my own thing I want to make a difference and that's what this church is all about, that's why God's going to use you in the way he's going to use you that's why you're going to make a huge difference in the days ahead praise be to God praise be to God, Father, you see the people who are gathered here you know the cry of every heart and this day you've spoken and said, don't be afraid, I will hold your hand, I'll walk with you God, you are so faithful you can't be anything other than what you are so I'm asking you for a supernatural touch of heaven to come on every life, every person that's here, God, make each of us into what we could never be take us where we could never go give us what we could never naturally possess so that our lives might become something that glorifies you that we might stay alive all of our days, God, we might just be a people who have life in us, God we don't want religion, we want life we want a relationship with you, God come against I come against every false thought, every imprisonment, every wound of the past every lie of hell that tries to stop any man, woman, or young person from going into the fullness of God I take authority over this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ God, you said you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free so Lord, we accept our freedom in Christ we accept our prison doors opening, we accept our blinded eyes seeing, the riches of heaven being revealed to our hearts God, that you will give us the strength we need to become the very people you've called us to be and I pray, God, at the end of the journey we can dance in the street and say only God could have done this, I pray for a song that comes from heaven that can't be taken away by circumstance, trial, by illness anything we have to face God Almighty God Almighty, be God Almighty in us and through us and to us every last one of us, God oh Jesus, Son of God Jesus, Son of God would you just do me a favor, would you lift your hands and thank him, just thank him for being faithful to you, let him take your hand let him take your hands now God, thank you, you're going to go with me you're going to walk with me, you're going to guide me, you're going to be my strength you're going to vanquish my enemies, everyone who hates the person I'm becoming you will cause them to step aside and one day it will be like they were never there before, as your word says you will give me the strength I need to become the person you've called me to be oh hallelujah hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah let's take a moment to worship, can we do that, take a moment to worship, thank you Lord, thank you God, thank you God thank you Jesus thank you