Silent Saturday | Reggie Dabbs | Sunday Service

Church, I am so very excited about today.

Earlier in the year, I uh was talking with a friend of mine and invited him to come and be a part of our church, and this Sunday worked out to be the perfect Sunday for that.

We have a guest in the house this morning that has literally touched millions of young people's lives, not only in America, but around the world.

And his message is simple but powerful.

You may not be able to change your past, but you can change your future.

How many of you are glad this morning that we serve a God that changes the future?

And with that message, my friend Reggie Dabbs has gone the world over since 1987.

Millions of young people's lives have been changed through his ministry.

I'm excited today that he's in the house, but I'm also excited about why he's in the state because tomorrow he starts a state tour with Youth Alive, which is a mission outreach of the assemblies of God to high schools, students all across the country.

Starting tomorrow for four days, he's gonna be in 28 schools in the state of Alabama.

His life, his testimony, his impact has been transformational the world over.

And today we get to host him here at Christian Life Church.

So, church family, would you get on your feet and give my friend Reggie Dabbs a COC welcome as he comes to the stage?

Well, well, do me a favor before you sit down, look at your neighbor, stare him in the eye, and say, All right, all right, all right.

While you're sitting down, turn to somebody else and say it again.

Say, all right, all right, all right.

Y'all good?

How you doing today?

I just want to just start out by making sure everybody understands.

They made me come to Alabama.

I hate Alabama.

I despise Alabama.

I am a missionary in Alabama this week.

Go balls.

I'm a Tennessee volunteer.

Graduated in '87, played football there.

Forget all y'all.

I don't care.

You're just mad because you ain't even got a real mascot.

All right, so I feel good now.

Hey, roll tide.

Pastor, you cannot curse in church.

It's Sunday.

Okay, I just had to get that out of the way.

Now we can begin.

How are you doing?

It's so lovely to be in your presence today.

No, I'm just joking.

Okay.

Uh, today, before I get started, um, I have to let you know that um my job is real simple.

I do speak in public schools, I do assembly programs where I'm not able to say the name of Jesus.

So in 28 sessions in the next four days, it's about hope, it's about love, but they I cannot say his name.

But that's okay.

Because God don't need me to say his name because he created the school that he's putting me in.

And he does what he does.

I need to let you know that your young people, I don't know if they get it, they get a lot of bad press.

But let me tell you, in the last week, I started schools last week.

Last week I was in Arkansas, I was in Tennessee, and I was in Illinois.

And in every school last week, whether it was high school or middle school, I had at least one young person come up to me after I was done, shake my hand, and say, Have you ever heard of Jesus?

And witness to me after I did an assembly program.

That in look, 42 years has never happened.

So guess what?

Our kids got it.

They get it and they're gonna live it.

Amen.

Clap for your young people, that's good.

Well, they told me I had to do something, so I might as well do it now.

So before we get started, uh, just so you know, I don't know if you're used to Southern Black preachers, which is that's what I am.

We title our sermons, and so before I give you the title, I promised that I would bring my saxophone to a church full of saxophone people.

And so I I've I figured I might as well.

I'm gonna go old school.

Can I go old school on you?

I'm gonna go, let's go old school.

So if you know it, you gotta help me.

But I'm gonna go old school today.

Old school.

Here we go.

Is he your savior this morning?

Can you just take five seconds and give him praise because of who he is?

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

This morning, I need you to know my claim to fame is I am your pastor's personal Uber driver in Dallas, Texas.

I take care of them.

I got them, I'll get them to the airport.

This is what we do, and it's so good to be with you this morning.

Good to be here.

Uh, many of you would know my lead pastor, Jim Hennessy, has been here many times, preach for you.

I am there at Trinity and Cedar Hill, Texas.

Today they're celebrating 50 years of ministry in that community, and that's cool, but I'd rather be here.

Too much celebration last week.

I just had to go.

But today I am here to speak to you on something.

Now, first of all, let me explain who's talking to you today.

I'm just a brother from another mother.

I'm just a beggar trying to tell another beggar where the bread is.

Y'all hear what I'm saying?

It ain't gonna get more black than that right there, all right?

But it's just it don't think just because you're behind the podium and you get to be the guest speaker that you're something special.

I ain't nothing.

I would say I'm nothing, but if you got nothing, you still got ing.

But if you got nothing, you pole with no R.

Y'all hear what I'm saying?

I'm teaching you Tennessee English right there, alright?

So here's the deal.

I tell people the truth.

Tomorrow when I start in public schools, I'll start by saying this.

I just came to here today talk to you about life.

Everybody say life.

Oh, come on, help me out.

Say life.

Life is a roller coaster.

I love roller coasters.

Go so fast, makes my fat go backwards, I'm skinny again, alright?

It's not a joke.

Years ago, I rode the fastest roller coaster in the world, 120 miles an hour.

Bruh, it went so fast I went blind.

My cheeks flew over my head.

I couldn't see nothing the whole ride.

I kept hearing this noise.

I'm like, what is that?

And then I realized we're going so fast, my fat was suffocating the girl sitting behind me.

In reality, she was yelling, help, but with my fat hitting her in the face, it came out not good.

When I was in the ninth grade, everybody say, Ninth grade?

My friends talk men to get on the roller coaster, went upside down.

Little girl, I don't belong upside down.

I go upside down, people get hurt.

You hear what I'm saying?

All my friends are like, Brad Gee, Rag Gee.

So you know what I did?

I did it.

Don't let other people talk you into stuff you know you shouldn't do.

So I got on the ride.

We went down the hill around the curve, halfway through the loop, upside down, the ride broke.

The brakes grabbed, we stopped upside down.

I'm hanging upside down.

All my fat is rolling toward my head.

I'm trying to push it down.

I could hear it on the news.

Fat man died on roller coaster.

Then it got worse.

The girl in front of me, she threw up and the wind was blowing in my direction.

I can't duck, and if I could duck, my belly button would give me a hickey on my forehead.

Dang, right?

Some of you are going, what does that have to do with life?

Everything.

Some days you're on top of the hill, everything's great.

Some days you're going downhill so fast you want to quit.

But listen to me, my brother.

Never give up on the ride of life because they will fix the ride.

The only question is, my sister, is will you be on the ride when they fix it?

So the phrase is simply never give up.

Everybody say, never give up.

Touch your neighbor and say, never give up.

Answer your neighbor and say, All right, all right, all right.

Clap your hands because I took you from a joke to the truth.

Let's go, all right?

So that's what I do.

I help young people.

Look at you, kids.

Look at me, kids.

You know what I found out?

Boys and girls are different.

No, seriously.

If one girl gotta go to the bathroom, two girls get to go with her.

You'll never see a brother go, ooh, I gotta go.

Hey, Steve, let's go pee pee.

Ain't gonna happen.

They can't argue with that.

Let me just say it.

I'm gonna say it.

Women can drive cars better than men.

Clap your hands.

Women can drive better than men.

They can.

A woman will wreck her car to save a cat running across the road.

A man in Alabama will wreck his car trying to kill that sucker running across the road.

You Alabama people with your trucks, I'm just saying.

It's true.

You ever get up in the morning, get your toothbrush, and toothpaste, go to brush your teeth, and a toothpaste falls off your toothbrush.

Girls, what do you do?

Wash it out, get more toothpaste, start over.

Boys, what do we do?

Scoop it up, that's what we do.

You and you are hearing stuff at the church at Birmingham and this campus.

You will never hear at another church on a Sunday morning.

I'm pretty sure you won't hear that one.

So here's the deal.

Everybody say life.

So if we're gonna talk about life this morning, I decided to break it down to one day.

One day.

So the title today is simply Silent Saturday.

The title is Silent Saturday.

Now let me help you out.

Let me just start from the beginning.

On the weekend where Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day, it's that perfect Easter weekend.

And on Friday to Sunday, something took place.

On Friday, Jesus spoke.

On Sunday, he spoke with his actions.

On Friday, God spoke.

On Sunday, he spoke with his actions.

But on Saturday, nothing.

Silent.

Jesus is silent.

The women have anointed his body and placed him in Joseph's tomb.

You know what I love about this?

The Bible says they borrowed Joseph's tomb.

You don't Airbnb a coffin.

Are y'all listening to me?

That should have been the first clue.

Something was up.

Hey, I need to rent a grave.

Only for the weekend, okay?

I see.

It's funny because when we look at it normal, this is like you read that and go, whoa, wait a minute.

Well, how can you borrow a grave?

That means he ain't sin.

You gotta love that.

You know what I love about history too?

They can't find his body.

I'm gonna go ahead and do my sermon now, okay?

So, all of you who are skeptics, if you are here and you're like an atheist, you hate there's no God, it ain't real.

You need to get as far away from me as you possibly can.

Because I will laugh you into heaven, all right?

Because the bottom line is simply this.

You do I love that you look at the Bible.

Have you ever looked at the Bible?

Have you thought about that?

I had a 14-year-old kid this summer ask me three questions that made me go through and look through the Bible.

Do you know that the Bible is 66 different books that points to one thing?

63,000 times the Bible from Old Testament to New Testament points to one person, and his name's Jesus.

Now, how could the Old Testament do that when 250 years before Jesus was born they translated Isaiah?

So Isaiah said that Jesus would be born.

They named him 250 years before he was even born.

How do you do that?

How could they say that?

How could they say that he would be crucified when there was no crucifixion back then?

How can you know something that doesn't even exist yet?

Because it's the word of God.

Clap your hands if you know I'm dumb.

I'm just saying.

I'm just saying, why?

Friday.

God said, I'm gonna let this happen.

Jesus said, I'm going to do this.

So literally, what did Jesus do on Friday?

He said, I'll take the sin of the world on my shoulders.

I will die for the sin of the world.

I will.

I did nothing wrong, but I will take their punishment upon me.

What did God do?

God chose to punish sin and save the sinner.

It's crazy.

Pastor talked about it this morning, and it's crazy how Friday Jesus took the cross.

Jesus was crucified.

Jesus hung his head and died.

On Friday, God spoke.

You know what God did?

God made the sun disappear when his son died.

God put an earthquake in that town.

Do you know what it says in the Bible?

All the dead people in the cemetery came back to life.

What?

Could you imagine the dude who married his best friend's wife?

Lifetime channel ain't got nothing on this stuff right here.

Now I know some of you are looking up here going, Who is this guy?

I know I'm a little different.

I'm old too, y'all.

I'm 63, but I look good because black don't crack, all right?

But I'm just saying.

I just came here today to let you know who this is, who do you sang to this morning, who this building is built for.

While you're expanding, why you're doing all this, so that the world may know him.

Alabama needs Jesus.

Alabama, Birmingham needs Jesus.

They need to know who he is.

So on Friday, God spoke.

He ripped the curtain that separated God from men.

On Sunday, God spoke when he said to his son, get up, and his son got up.

But on Saturday, nothing.

Silent Saturday.

I gotta explain silent Saturday.

So I need everybody to help me out.

Could you just go like you just got to lunch and you took the first bite of that burrito?

That's what I need right there.

Okay, perfect.

So when I raise my hand, give me a hum.

Here we go.

Okay, that's pretty good.

That's pretty good.

Young people, that was a grunt, bro.

He's like, uh, one more time.

So here's what silent Saturday is.

And whenever I raise my hand, you give me a hum, it's this.

It's the day after the struggle and the day before the solution.

It's the day after the question and the day before the answer.

It's the day after the prayer and the day before the miracle.

It's the day after you get lost and the day before you get found.

Clap your hands if you're with me on that.

There you go.

Silent Saturdays torment us.

Is God angry with me?

Did I disappoint him?

God knew Jesus was in the tomb.

Why doesn't he do something?

Or in our case, he knows my job is messed up.

He knows my family is in a hole.

He knows my marriage is in trouble.

Why doesn't he do something?

Why doesn't he act?

And what am I supposed to do until God does?

Well, WWJ D.

What would Jesus do?

What did Jesus do?

Acts chapter 2, verse 27 says this you will not abandon me in the grave, nor will you let the Holy One see decay.

Acts 2:27

So what did he do?

He trusted God.

So you gotta do three things.

If you're in silence Saturday and you don't know what to do, number one, lie still.

Number two, stay silent.

Number three, trust God.

Somebody gotta help me.

Here we go.

Number one, lie still.

Number two.

Number three?

That's pretty good.

One more time.

Number one, lie still.

Number two, stay silent.

Number three, trust God.

It's hard to stay silent though.

But you have to.

Jesus knew that God would not leave him alone in the grave, and you need to know God will not leave you alone in your struggles.

His silence is not his absence.

Inactivity is not apathy when it comes to Jesus.

Saturdays have their purpose and they serve a huge purpose for us.

They let us know the full force of God's strength in our life when we let him lead us.

Had God raised Jesus 15 minutes after his death, we would not appreciate that act.

And were God to take care of our problems seconds after they appear, we wouldn't appreciate his strength.

That's why he put Saturday after Friday and before Saturday.

Sunday.

I know on the calendar it may be Sunday, but you may be living in Saturday.

I don't know what put you there.

I don't know what stuff you there, but I am nothing but the biggest, blackest Hallmark greeting card from heaven you ever seen in your life to tell you God can get you out if you let him.

You gotta let him.

Somebody touch your neighbor and say, You gotta let him.

Touch your other neighbor and say you gotta let him.

Matthew 11, 28 and 29 says, Come to me, all ye who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you.

Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

You know what that means?

Even in the middle of it all, you can still have peace.

I do have a secret.

Her name's Michelle.

That's my wife.

Now me and Michelle have been married for 37 years.

And in 37 years, the only time in the hospitals that give birth to our kid until the summer.

On April the 15th, Michelle was on a 14-foot ladder changing a light bulb in our kitchen.

I was in New York speaking in public schools, and somehow the ladder fell from underneath her.

She fell 14 steps down, landed between the stove and the kitchen counter.

Thank God she didn't hit the counter because there was no one there.

She doesn't remember how long she was on the floor.

But she could not feel anything from the waist down.

So she crawled across the entire length of our home to get her cell phone to call for help.

They had to make the swelling go down.

I got to the hospital about 3 a.m.

the next morning.

The surgeon looked at me and he goes, I need you to be ready.

You might have to fit your house for a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

He says, I don't know.

I gotta get in and see.

The x-rays don't show nothing.

Well, no problem.

And I said to him, How good are you?

He said, Excuse me.

I said, No, no, no.

I think you heard me, but I'm gonna ask again because my wife's life depends on it.

How good are you?

He goes, Well, I said, I don't need to know where you went to school.

I don't need to know who taught you.

I need to know that you're good at what you do.

And he goes, I'm the best.

I'm the best.

And I went, you do your part, I'll do mine.

He goes, What's your part?

I said, I ain't eating until she walks.

I went on a 21-day fast.

20 of the 21 days, I drank water, but then I had to keep speaking.

So I started getting dizzy in the middle of my speeches, which is kind of fun.

But it's not safe for the little kids on the front row.

My wife walks today.

No more physical therapy.

Fasting and prayer works.

It works.

It works.

I don't know what you may be looking for, but if you're willing to put in the work, God's willing to put in the miracle.

And even if he doesn't, I'm still gonna praise him.

So the other day, um I was home and my wife goes, Let's go to lunch.

I said, Oh, I love lunch.

I appreciate it eating again.

So I'm getting ready and I hear music, and we have music all over our house.

We're just music family.

And my wife always has literally, I have an English bulldog who's five.

His name is Duke.

And when we leave the house, he listens to praise and worship music till we come home.

No, my wife will literally, he goes, He needs music.

He needs us praise and worship.

I'm like, he's saved.

Look at what he leaves me in the front yard.

No Christian dog would leave that in the front yard.

So I couldn't, I couldn't find her.

And I go in the kitchen and there's a song on, and I let her finish.

She's singing the song.

When it's done, she goes, Hey, just so you know, here's what I've decided.

Whenever I'm in real hard, horrible pain, I will stop what I'm doing, go to the point of my pain, and sing Jesus over.

So she was standing at the spot where she fell, singing worship because her back was hurting so bad.

And I said, Does it work?

She went, Every time.

Sing over your pain.

I don't know who I'm talking to this morning, but whoever you are, hear me out.

Because it doesn't matter if you've fallen.

Because look what Micah, Micah 7, 8 says, This do not gloat over me, my enemy.

Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

You can get back up again.

Touch your neighbor and say, You can get back up again.

You can get back up again.

Now, what I'm trying to figure out is this, though.

I mean, this silent Saturday thing works, but I'm trying to figure out where in the Bible I gotta have a scripture, I gotta have something that happened in the Bible that can help you understand this whole silent Saturday.

And I found it.

So if you turn to your Bible to Luke chapter 7, I must read a simple story from verse 11 to 15.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

But before I do that, let me explain who's talking to you today.

Now, when it comes to Reggie, we gotta go way back.

It was the day before the first day of school.

And my parents lied to me.

They sit me down after dinner that night and they said, Tomorrow starts the greatest journey of your life.

They lied to me.

The next day I went to school, and when I got to my classroom, my teacher was at the classroom door.

When everybody walked in, she said, Find a desk with your name.

When the bell rings, we'll take attendance, we'll start our school year.

So I saw a desk said Reggie, so I sit down.

When the bell rang, she started to take attendance.

Y'all know this.

When teachers take attendance, they say your first name and your except me.

Because I did not have a last name until I was 13.

Which is why I'm telling you this.

You see, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, she took attendance.

On Friday after she took attendance, I raised my hand.

She said, if you have a question, walk up front.

When I got up front, I said, Excuse me, everybody has two names on their desk except me.

When you take attendance, everybody's got two names except me.

What's up with that?

Where's my name?

And she said, the teacher said, Your parents didn't tell you.

They were supposed to tell you.

Why didn't they tell you?

It's not my job to tell you.

I said, Tell me what?

She goes, Reggie, I'm sorry.

You don't have a last name.

Just go sit down.

It'll be okay.

So I went and sit down.

Didn't say nothing.

The next week, we had this thing called Parent Teacher Conference.

I hate that day.

If you hate that day, clap your hands.

I hate that day.

Everybody look around.

See all the people clapping?

They were bad at school.

All right.

My name was the first one.

First one.

Both mom and dad showed up.

Teacher talked for five minutes.

When it was over, walked outside.

All my friends are with their parents.

All my friends' parents were young.

But my parents are like, old.

And I'm thinking to myself, why are they old?

Now, brother got to know, but I waited until we got in the car.

I'm in the back seat, they're in the front seat.

So I yelled to the front seat.

Hey, why y'all old?

Don't ever do that.

Little brother, look at me.

If you think your people are old, keep it to yourself.

Take it to the grave, all right?

When we got home, my dad said, we gotta talk.

So they put me at the kitchen table to have a talk.

Anybody ever been to the kitchen table to have a talk?

If you haven't, don't go.

Little girl, look at me.

If you don't smell food, run, baby, run, okay?

I'm just helping the kids, all right?

My dad started.

My dad said, son, there's a plan for your life.

I said, Yes, sir.

My mom looked at me and she said, Baby, I'm sorry.

And my mama started crying.

My mom cried so hard that my dad moved chairs, held my mom for 10 minutes.

Finally, my dad said, Tell him, tell him, tell him.

You gotta tell him now.

And my mom said, Baby, I'm sorry.

I'm old because I'm not your mom.

And my dad whispered, I'm not your dad.

My mom said, You have a brother.

His name is Keith.

You have two sisters, Annette and Jeanette.

Your mom kept your brother.

Your mom kept your sisters, but your mama said that you were a mistake and she hated the day that you were born.

So she gave you away.

But it's okay.

I was your mom's favorite teacher at school.

I'm gonna take care of you until somebody comes.

Nobody came.

Do you know the Bible says that God is closer to the brokenhearted and he saves those who are crushed in spirit?

Do you know what else the Bible says?

Even when your mother and father forsake you, I will have you, says the Lord.

You never would have known, would you?

But since there's so many young people here, oh by the way, young people, just so you know, uh, next year's calendar is done for me.

And the week after the 4th of July, I am doing youth camp in Alabama for I've never done an Alabama youth camp for young people.

I'm doing you camp, and your pastor said you guys are going to camp with me.

So everybody clap your hands because you're going to camp with me.

We're going to camp.

And the week after, like of the 11th of July, I'm going to be back here.

And we're going to have a picnic.

I'm making all this up now.

I like picnics though.

I do.

Pastor's like, who said that?

Pastor's like, we're going to Reggie's camp.

He just found out.

That's great.

We got you, bro.

We got you, man.

It's all good.

Okay, watch, watch, watch, watch me.

Okay, look, I gotta be honest.

I gotta be totally honest with you.

Totally honest with you.

By the time I was 13, I didn't like people.

I didn't want to know any people.

I played football.

I could hit people, and I didn't have to go to the principal's office, all right?

I didn't go to no birthday parties.

I didn't care, none of that.

Uh-uh.

I was fine.

I was fine.

Except I had a problem.

Number one, I could not sleep.

I could not sleep.

I'd wake up at three o'clock in the morning staring at the ceiling.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Hey, anybody, anybody ever have a voice in your head that goes crazy at some time?

Mine did.

It was a Thursday morning.

Here's why I'm so specific.

It was three o'clock in the morning.

I woke up.

I had a clock with red numbers.

You know what I'm talking about?

And all of a sudden a voice in my head said, Reggie, nobody loves you.

Nobody cares about you.

Reggie, if you were to disappear, no one would look for you.

Reggie, you should give up.

You don't belong on this planet.

Just give up, just give up.

And I started crying in my bed because I wanted to give up on the gift of life.

And that's when it happened.

Y'all gonna think I'm crazy.

I'm not crazy.

But when I started crying in my bed that morning, my bedroom door opened.

Look at me.

If your bedroom door opens at three o'clock in the morning, run.

Forget scary movies.

I don't like scary movies.

Black people die first in scary movies, I ain't going out like that.

It wasn't the it clown.

Stranger Things didn't visit my bedroom.

When the door opened, it was my foster care dad.

He's a high school janitor till the day he died.

He walked in my bedroom and he said, Are you okay?

I heard you crying.

And I said, How?

His room's on the other end of the house.

It ain't like I was doing that ugly boy cry.

You know the ugly boy cry.

I didn't do that.

Hey, little brother, quit laughing.

I didn't do that.

He got a red shirt.

Quit laughing at me, boy.

My dad said, Every day you hug your mom, but for the past two days you haven't.

Every day you talked to me for two days, not one word.

So last night and tonight, after your mom fell asleep, I grabbed a pillow.

And you were so sad.

So the past two nights I slept by your door.

And this morning I heard you cry, what's wrong?

All I said was, I don't know what to do.

And he said, I'll never call you Reggie.

I'll always call you son.

And I'll love you to the day I die.

And he did.

Somebody love me.

When I got done crying, he said, I gotta show you something.

He reached in his back pocket.

It looked like a wallet.

No, it was a Gideon Bible.

He carried it all the time.

He said, This is a sword.

It's two edges.

It can teach you salvation and it can keep you from doing wrong.

He said, So every time I get tempted, I go to John chapter 1, verse 1, and I start reading.

John 1:1

And by the time I get to verse 4 or 5, whatever thought I had that was wrong is gone.

Because the word's that sharp.

So I just taught everybody in this room who's addicted to something how to fight.

You fight on your knees.

You fight with the word of God.

You hide it in your heart that you might not sin against him.

Teach your kids how to fight.

And he went to John 3 16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

He said, Reggie, it doesn't matter what happens on earth.

It's the choice that you make on earth that'll change your life in heaven.

Choose Jesus.

Romans 10 9.

If you declare with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Doesn't even say you might, you could.

No, you will be saved.

You will be saved.

It's a choice.

And oh, just so you know, there's two things I will pray for today.

Number one, I'm here to pray for people who are stuck in silence Saturday.

And number two, I'm here to pray for people who are ready to give their life to Jesus Christ.

And I don't like surprises, and so you won't have one either.

There's somebody in this room when I ask if you're ready to give your life to Jesus, I will say, Come to me.

And you will get up out of your seat, climb over your family, friends, loved ones, and you'll walk up here and I'm gonna lead you in a center's prayer.

Because I believe in moving.

Because when you move, it's physical.

When you pray, it's spiritual.

And in a church like this, moving and praying opens supernatural in your life and in your situation.

It could shift you from Saturday to Sunday, and it's all your choice.

That choice is coming.

Are you ready?

But watch this.

Luke chapter 7, verse 11 through 15.

Luke 7:11–15

I'm gonna read it all, explain it, and then we'll pray.

And I'm going to get some chicken because I love chicken.

Soon afterwards, Jesus went to the town called Nain, N-A-I-N, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.

As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from the town was with her.

When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her, and he said, Don't cry.

Then he went over and he touched the coffin.

Those carrying it stood still.

He said, Young man, I say to you, get up.

The dead man sit up and began to talk.

And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

What a story.

Now, if you don't see why this story is perfect, let me explain.

See, in the middle of this whole verse, verse 12, it explains the characters.

Some people call them characters, I call them people because they had to live it for somebody to write about it so it could be recorded.

A character you can make up.

It says, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.

Have you ever thought about that?

Let's break that down.

The only son of his mother, only child, and she was a widow.

Her husband's dead.

Do you know what that means?

She has walked from the temple behind a coffin to the cemetery before.

She had buried the man of her life before.

She had done this once already.

But something's different.

You see, the first time as she walked behind the coffin, she had a son.

And he would squeeze her hand.

It's okay, mama, we're gonna make it.

Don't cry, mama.

I got you, mama.

I'm gonna take care of you.

We're gonna be okay.

We're gonna be okay.

But this time, as she walked behind the coffin, she's looking to lean on something, but there's nothing there.

That's silent Saturday.

Everything that she had gone.

Now she's about to bury her second man by her first one.

How can I get through this?

How can I make it another day?

How can I keep on breathing?

How can I, how can I, how can I that's you today?

And you're thinking I just gonna go to church and do my thing, and then here comes Reggie with his little silent Saturday sermon, and now you gotta be faced with this.

You don't have to leave the way you came in Jesus' name.

He can touch you if you let him.

She had no idea that Jesus and a crowd would meet her at the gate.

You know what I love?

And I read over it quick.

It says, When Jesus saw her, there's two crowds, two massive groups of people, but in the middle of those two massive groups of people, he saw you.

He sees you, he sees you.

You think you just slid in after the third song.

You think you could slide out, but somehow you're still in the room this morning.

You think I'll just tune in and then tune out, but you're still on the same channel this morning.

He sees you and he loves you, and he needs to get you to Sunday.

If you let him.

So if you're in this room and you're going through a silent Saturday, I don't need to know.

I'm not Dr.

Phil, but I know who created Dr.

Phil.

If you're going through something difficult, let me pray for you.

Moving physical, prayer, spiritual, supernatural happens.

You don't have to come forward, but when I count to the number three, everyone who says, I'm stuck in Saturday, I'm stuck in a situation, and you want God to take care of it.

All I need you to do is stand up when I get to the number three.

I ain't going through no whole ordeal.

You just gotta do it.

So we're gonna pray about it and we're gonna walk in faith, not by sight.

Amen.

Here we go.

You're living inside on Saturday, you need God to touch you.

One, two, three, stand, stand.

Even if you're at home, just stand in front of your TV, in front of your computer.

Look at them, they're standing everywhere.

It's a good anybody else, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.

We're gonna pray, hurry, hurry.

Awesome, awesome.

Hey, do me a favor, Church.

Hey, listen.

If you're able to sit today, you may be standing next week.

And if I have to stand next week, I want somebody standing with me.

So on the next three, everybody get up and go find somebody, put your arm on their shoulder.

You don't even have to know them.

I'll do the prayer.

Ready?

One, two, three.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

Thank you, Jesus.

Jesus, I pray.

You know, God, what they've been carrying, you know the heaviness, you know the weight, you know the sorrow, you know the shame, you know the pain.

God, I pray that you would answer the cry of the heart today.

Jesus, I pray, God, that you would make a way out of no way.

Turn someone's darkness in the day, be the joy in someone's hurt today.

God, turn it around before it even becomes a reality.

Turn it around.

Turn it around in Jesus' name.

In Jesus' name.

God, we cannot change our past, but you can change our future.

I pray right now, God, that you would answer the cry of their heart.

It's in your name we pray, and everybody said, Amen.

Somebody in the group, look at the person that you prayed for and say, everything's gonna be alright.

And give them a hug.

Give them a hug.

You can sit down, you can sit down.

Awesome, awesome.

Before Pastor comes, I got one more thing I have to do.

It's gonna be alright.

Thank you, Jesus.

Can I ask you today, do you know him?

Do you know my Jesus?

Have you given him an opportunity to turn your darkness in the day, to be your joy in a time of sorrow, to be your hope for your tomorrow?

I don't know who I'm talking to today, but somebody was able to get in this room carrying the sin of the world on your shoulders.

And at the beginning, when Pastor did his opening, he literally told you what you need to do.

You need to get right.

For the way Jesus said is death, but to get to God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

And look at me, everybody, look at me.

My foster care mom, my foster care dad.

They told me this story.

Once upon a time in the kingdom, far, far away was a king.

He was loving and he was just.

But they come to find out.

That someone was stealing from the king's treasury.

So he set out a decree, ten lashes for whoever gets caught stealing from the treasury.

What's a lash?

They had a man, he was called the executioner.

He had a leather belt on the end.

They had taken bone and sharpened it.

They had taken bear claws and lion's claws and they put them in there, sharp glass, so that when this leather belt hit you on the back and pulled, it clinged to your skin and ripped it off.

No one ever lived past 30 lashes.

But when the king put out the decree, they couldn't find them.

And they were still stealing from the treasury.

20 lashes, 30 lashes.

It got to 40.

When it got to 40, not soon after 40 lashes, they found out who was stealing.

It was the king's only daughter.

Now everybody in the kingdom was thinking, now wait a minute, is he loving or is he just?

It can't be both in this case.

He put the decree that's just, but will he fulfill his demand?

The king summoned the whole kingdom to come because he made his decision that the decree would stand, even though it was his daughter.

So the day came, the executioner came out.

They brought the daughter, they tied her over a podium, they ripped her shirt on the back.

The executioner looked at the king, and the king gave him a thumbs up.

The executioner went back with the first swing of this leather belt.

And right when he started the swing, the king yelled, Stop! And people started mumbling, Oh.

I knew he was more loving than just.

But it will remain with you what the king did next.

He stood up and said, Wait.

And with every step he took toward his daughter, he unbuttoned a button on his shirt.

He let his shirt hit the floor.

And he laid on top of his daughter, looked back at the executioner, and said, Okay, now go.

And the executioner said, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it.

He goes, No, no, no, no, no.

A payment has to be paid for the crime.

First.

At 15, the king moaned.

His daughter under him could feel his blood whipping her.

She's just weeping and weeping.

The executioner stopped at 31 and announced that the king was dead.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

Today is real simple.

Pastor, come and help me, would you?

You got 15 seconds.

I'm going to treat you like I do young people.

This is not one of those bow your head, close your eyes moment.

Hey, everyone, think about your life.

Nah, you need to get right with God and you need to do it right now.

You got 15 seconds to get out of your seat and to be standing right here.

And everybody who's standing here, we're going to lead you in a sinner's prayer.

But it's time to go public for Jesus the way he went public for you.

15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7.

Hey, look at your husband, look at your wife, look at your grandson, look at your granddaughter.

Ask them if they want to come, you'd walk with them.

Come on.

Seven.

Six.

Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes, sir.

Four.

In Jesus' name.

This is the church.

Three.

Two.

One.

Everybody look at Reggie, look at me.

Number one, you're not alone.

Number two, thanks for trusting me.

I'm gonna have Pastor lead you in a prayer.

Somebody's like, why Pastor?

Because he's here all the time.

And I want you to remember the man that led you in the sinner's prayer, Romans 10 9.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That's what we're doing right now.

Are you ready?

Pastor?

Gods are you just ready?