Before You Fall Asleep | Jean Rebecca | 10.26.25

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Liz,

praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Amen. Amen. Amen. SJV setting me up,

pastor. He's setting me up.

Ah,

happy um

Reformation

Sunday.

This is the Sunday and uh in fact on the

31st of October where Martin Luther put

the 95 thesis on the Roman Catholic door

saying this is not the way it ought to

be done.

It is in Christ

in Christ alone

and it is

in scripture and scripture alone.

And if it's not in Christ, it ought not

to be done.

>> And so he said, "As for me and my faith,

I'm going to praise the Lord." And then

there you came the movement,

the Protestant movement. and in which

and today the Pentecostal movement in

which we're now pushing forward. Let us

thank God for the reformation and what

was done back then in order for us to be

able to see how we see and live how we

live today. Amen.

>> The scripture reading before prayer

today comes from the book of Acts chap

13 verse 32-

36.

And it reads, "We tell you the good

news.

What God promised our ancestors, he has

fulfilled for us their children. By

raising up Jesus, as it is written in

the second Psalms, you are my son. Today

I have become your father." 34 God

raised him from the dead so that he will

never be subject to decay.

As God has said, I will give you the

holy and sure blessings promised to

David. So it is also stated elsewhere,

you will not let your holy one see

decay.

In verse 36, now when David was had

served God's purpose in his own

generation, he fell asleep and he was

buried with his ancestors and his body

decayed. The title of this message is

before you fall asleep. And if I had a

subtitle, it would be the damage is

already done. Let's pray. Father, we

enter into your courts.

What a privilege it is to be able to

knock on your doors and you open

with a smiling face. He receive us

regardless of how dirty, how insecure,

how iffy about life,

how hazy we may feel. You open up the

door. You welcome us. And like kids in

kindergarten school sitting on a carpet,

you allow us to sit before you.

great teacher. You tell us your stories

and you motivate and you inspire and you

give us the prescription we need for

life at this moment. Once again, your

students, your kids, your babies

sit before you, great master, allow us

to hear your story and let your story

change us, renew us, build us, and take

us even higher. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. So, um

bear with me, guys. A couple uh months

ago, maybe at the beginning of the year,

Pastor Patricia, Apostle Patricia did an

altar call and it was a a unique altar

call where she had different groups of

ages come to the stage. And um she

started with the younger age and then

she started with then she moved on to

the mid age. And I was sitting there

waiting for my time, my age group. And

um I was I was the last of the age

groups to be up. And um I had not expect

to be the last of the age group. Uh bear

with me. But I was the last. And then as

I'm seeing the ones before me and I I

thought there were some individuals that

was maybe older than me that may not

should have been before me but yet they

were before me. And so I was like, God,

what's what's going on? Um and so I I

took it. I ate it. Um it was bitter and

bust sweet, but it is the reality. Life

is what it is. that I am getting older.

And and um it was I believe in June. I

could be wrong. It was um Apostle Alex,

our prophet's birthday. And we went to

his house and um a a group of us to

celebrate him and to just love on him

and to just have a grand time. And this

is a group that spends a lot of time

together. So we know each other to some

degree. And and so we're having cordial

conversations, you know, there's cake,

there's all kind of good food to eat,

and we we're just hanging having

conversation. And one one of the ladies

there um um we as we're talking, he's

she she's like, "Um, how old are you?"

I'm like, "Um, it's not my birthday.

It's we we're here to celebrate

Alex, you know. We we're here to like

lift him up, you know. It's his

birthday, not my birthday, you know."

And she and so I I said, "I'm I'm 46."

She she's like, "46?

Are you 46?

No way."

I said, "Uh, dramatic, but uh

yes, um I am 46.

You're almost 50." I said, "Wait, wait,

wait, wait. Um

uh you're expediting my process here. Uh

uh it's like like 12 months and then 12

more months and then several 12 more

months. So you you're adding too much

like years here. I'm not almost I'm not

almost, you know, no hating on anybody,

but don't do that to me, you know. And

so, um, so yeah, same day, same party,

same celebration. Maybe a few minutes

later, I'm in in a different group. I

wasn't feeling that group. I went to a

different group, you know,

and I'm having we're having

conversation, you know, just having

conversation. And then now this this

this gentleman of a man and he he asked

me, um, how old am I? I'm like, what is

this? It's not my birthday.

How we keep getting into how old I am.

And I and I tell him I'm I'm I'm 46. He

No, you're not for No way. I need to see

your driver's license.

I I I think I'm getting older. So I, you

know, I'm aging. So I think I pulled out

my driver's license to him. HE FOR

YOU'RE ALMOST 50. I can't believe it.

I'm like,

Um, and so

sometimes you do life with someone for

so long and you get used to them

in your eyes, it does not look as if

they're changing. It does not look as if

they're aging. When I look at Apostle

Patricia, I still see the Apostle

Patricia from when she was at her son's

basketball games, you know. And so to

me, as she's changing, she's not

changing to me. And you get into this

stage of life

where life is happening to you and and

your your body is changing and your your

mind is changing and life is changing

and maybe you were single and now you

married and and maybe you was married

and now you're divorced and maybe you

don't have kids and now you have kids.

Life is just happening to you or just or

maybe you hoped you had this and now you

don't have this and you're still waiting

for that and it's just happening. And

what sometimes happen is we so we're so

focused on the the changes and we're so

focused on um us that we forget that

there is a calling in which God has

pulled us to.

And if we're not careful, we're so we'll

be so overly focused on enhancing self

that we're not enhancing kingdom.

And as all of this stuff is happening,

I um want us to continue to have this

particular question in the forefront of

our minds.

What does this generation need from me?

What does this generation need from you?

We have

the story in the book of Acts, chapter

Acts 13 · chapter mention

13, where Saul, who's Paul, he's they're

in this setting of a a church. Um, and

there's a few of them and they're

praying. And as they're praying, the

scripture says, is they begin to worship

and they're worshiping and they're

fasting. It is in the mix of the

presence of worshiping, fasting, and

praying. The Holy Spirit shows up and

the Holy Spirit shows up and say, "Set

apart for me." Paul, who Saul, and

Barnabas, set them aside. I don't know

what's going on, what what plans you had

for them,

but I need you to set them apart. You

know, God will set you apart. And when

God sets you apart, he has a plan for

your life. It is it is

unnecessary for you to be care. It is

necessary for you to be careful that

you're not doing your will or too overly

focused on your will, too overly focused

on your boss's will, too overly focused

on somebody else's mission, that you're

not focused on the fact that hey, God

called me out of something to put me

into his something because he has a big

something awaiting me. Amen. Amen.

>> And so he sets them apart and then and

then he gives them he gives them the

plans in which they ought to be done.

Verse um um chapter 2 says while they

were worshiping the Lord in fasting the

Holy Spirit set apart says set apart for

me Barnabas and Saul for the work to

which I have called them to.

So then what does this generation need

from you to position yourself to hear

the Holy Spirit?

>> Um a few last Tuesday

my wife and the kids bedtime story and

then holding hands together and Malachi

who's 5 years old, Jeanluke who's two

two years old and um we we're we're

praying and they want daddy to pray

first. It's always daddy pray first. So

daddy prayed first and after daddy

prayed first then mommy prayed after

mommy prayed then Malachi prayed and

after um Malachi prayed then now two

year old Jean Luke is praying and Jean

Luc is saying that um God I I I thank

you and I I pray for Malachi I pray for

daddy and then I I I pray for Biscuit

our dog and I I know somewhere in there

mom was in there too but you know his

his words get jibbled up and I can you

can barely understand some stuff. I pray

for my crib. I pray for my room. I pray

for my toys. I pray for my my books. And

eventually all three of us opened our

eyes and and started smiling. And it

didn't matter to him. He just kept it

going. I pray I pray for pastor. I pray

for for Benji. I pray I I mean he just

was going. He just was going. I pray for

Asher. I pray for Jonathan. And he was

praying. Beloved, let's get lost in the

presence of God. So much so that praying

don't become a duty, it becomes an

honor.

An honor.

Malachi several um weeks or maybe months

ago, he was we was just in the car from

one activity to the next and out of

nowhere, he's like, "Daddy, I pray I

pray you don't get into an accident. I

pray that your car don't flip.

I pray that the ambulance don't come.

What do we got?

I want to amen it, but I'm like, what we

got going on?

And then a couple weeks later, out of

nowhere, he prays a prayer again.

Couple weeks ago, I'm driving on my way

to Colombia early in the morning and

here comes a a working van in front of

me. Axle just drops,

wheels flying all over the place. And I

just remember being on the phone with

Sylvia and dropping the phone. I said,

"Accident." And then all of a sudden,

my hands just maneuvered the car in such

a way that it was like the accident was

never there.

>> We cannot take prayer,

>> we cannot take this thing that we have

called the Holy Spirit for granted. All

right.

>> Cannot just put it in our pocket or our

purse or somewhere somewhere to collect

dust and when we need it, we bring it

out. Or it's just a ABC thing that we

just do called religion.

At some point,

God

in his work, the work of the Holy

Spirit, there's a work of the Holy

Spirit that's taking place on the inside

of you because it knows what you're

going to encounter. And if you let the

Holy Spirit work, my God,

>> if you let the Holy Spirit work,

the freedom that will come, the

deliverance, the protection, the hands

of God that will be over your life. And

after they after they are set apart and

they begin to go, Paul begins to go on

his first mission. And on his way to his

first mission, he encounters this um

this government official, a Roman

government official. And this Roman

government official, it says, the

scripture says that he he desires the

word of God. He desires to hear the word

of God. And so he's wanting Paul and

Barnabas to give him the word of God.

Beloved, there are government officials.

There are educators. There are business

owners that desire retirees that desire

to know the word of God.

>> They have a level of intelligence. They

have a level of of fortitude. They have

a level a a brain out of this world, BUT

THEY HAVE NO SPIRIT AND THEY DESIRE

GOD'S word

>> and they don't know where you are in

their faith. They just know if Jesus is

in you, they need your word.

>> And so this government official then

summons Paul and Barnabas and what did

God put inside of Paul and Barnabas? He

put his word and he put his spirit. So

in in in that Paul begins to preach his

word but there is a man next to this

government official and his name means

his name nickname is by Jesus.

He is a Jewish man. Listen to me

by Jesus meaning son of Jesus

or son of Joseph. He is a Jewish man

who's supposed to know the Torah. He's

supposed to know the ways of God. But

yet scripture says that he is a false

prophet

and his attempt is to distort whatever

the works Paul is trying to do.

So as Paul is giving the words, he's in

the ear of this Roman ro Roman governor

and we understand if this man is

intelligent. If he's a a a go in a

government official, that means if this

man is saved, do you know what happens?

There's a potential that his city is

changed. If this man is changed, do you

know what happens? there's a potential

that he can go in and kind of change the

laws and fight on behalf of the kingdom

movement.

>> And but this

this warlock,

this devil worshipper,

this son of the devil

who should be a son of God is standing

in opposition of the word of God.

What does this generation need from you?

To proclaim the word of God.

>> To proclaim the word of God.

There are seasons in your life

where you need to be a lamb.

But understand, there's also a lion on

the inside of you.

There are seasons of your life where you

need to be a dove, gentle, but

understand that there's a serpent on the

inside of you.

We can't just operate in lamb world. We

can't just simply operate in dove world

when there is a individual that's trying

to corrupt and disturb the word of God

from entering into somebody else's life.

When someone is in opposition of the

word of GOD THAT YOU'RE GIVING out

>> and you're FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AND

CALLED BY GOD, YOU ARE TO LOOK THEM AT

THE EYES and call them a son of the

devil.

>> Yeah. Well, let me let me go ahead. Let

me go ahead. Let me go ahead. Let me go

ahead. Um, let me read it to you. Acts

Acts 13:9

13:9. Then Saul, who was also called

Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,

looked straight

at Alamus and said, "You are a child of

the devil." Look at them and let them

know that you are a child of the devil

and the enemy of everything that is

right. You are full of all kinds of

deceit AND TRICKERY. CALL THEM OUT for

what it is.

>> CALL IT OUT FOR what it is.

>> WE CAN'T WALK IN TIMIDITY. We can't walk

in fear. We can't be overly kind when

the devil is trying to take us out.

>> And he says, "You are full of all kinds

of deceit and trickery. Will you never

stop perverting um perverting the right

ways of the Lord?" And down down to um

down to Acts 13:11.

Acts 13:11

Then he said, "Now the hand of the Lord

is against you. You are going to be

blind for a time." Not even able to see

the light of the sun. Immediately mis

mist and darkness came over him and he

groed about seeking someone to lead him

by the hand. That is what I want the

Lord to do in our day. Yes,

>> that is what the I I I need I need the

Lord to Lord I need you to strike them

with blindness and hopefully like Paul

they are able to return back to you. I

need you to be able to call them out God

and let us call them out. Let your

spirit on the inside of us fight against

THE WARS THAT'S ATTRACTING AND TRYING TO

BRING US DOWN.

Acts 13:12 is interesting because it

Acts 13:12

says um this Roman government leader

proconsel saw that what had happened and

he believed for he was amazed at the

teaching about the Lord.

So the word of God that was preached

amazed him.

We don't have to add any extras.

He was amazed by the word of God and the

man of God acting on the word of God.

You see how simple this thing is?

This guy believed. What is the

ingredients for believing? Speaking the

word, proclaiming the word and acting on

the word. When you proclaim the word and

act on the word, people believe.

and he believed.

And then now Paul leaves him and

Barnabas and gets on this boat and they

go to um a place I believe called

Antioch or maybe modern day Turkey and

minor Asia and they get off the boat and

then now they're continuing with their

mission and they go into this church um

this synagogue um where there is Jewish

leaders and also there is Gentiles among

them and they sit down as nice guests do

of a church, you know, they sit down to

um listen to the the message that is

being proclaimed um on the stage and at

at some point or towards the end then um

um they send the leader sends for Paul

and whispers in their ears just as me

making it up. I don't know if there was

a whisper or not, but I I could imagine

just went ahead and said, "Hey, our

leader wants to know if you have any

exhortation for our congregation." That

is like me saying, "Hey, if you a guest,

raise your hands. Raise your hands if

you a guest. And if you have any word of

encourage, go ahead and come to the

stage. I don't know how long you going

to be. I don't know what you going to

say and how you going to say, what you

going to do, what's your background

like? You just came out of a boat and

now I'm asking you to come on this stage

and preach the word.

But they asked Paul to come up. So Paul

came up and gave an exhortation

and he begins to speak

about the word of God and he begins to

recount the 450 years of history that

the Israelites went through and how God

preserved their life and how God blessed

their life and how God delivered them

from from from evil. And it he wasn't

done. He wasn't done. And then he he he

moved on and he began to talk about talk

about um the judges and and and Samuel

and how Samuel called out the first

king. And the Samuel called out the

first king, Saul. Then he he and Saul

rejected God. Here came David. And he

began to talk about David.

And as he began to talk about David, he

recalled a history of what David did for

God. and how David was called by God and

and the great works that David had done

and so much so that David's um genealogy

after genealogy here comes Jesus and

they begin to talk about he begin to

talk about Jesus

and he was just encouraging encouraging

encouraging but the problem is this

particular group some of them was in all

kind about hearing about Jesus

but then he gets to this point here.

Let me see. He gets to this point. It

says

verse 22,

"After removing Saul," this is this is

um Paul talking about um Saul and King

David. Says, "After removing Saul, he

made David their king. God testified

concerning him. I have found David, son

of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He

will do everything I want him to do.

From this man descendant, God has

brought to Israel the savior Jesus as he

promised. I want to um highlight

from this man

from this man descendants God has

brought Israel to Israel the savior

Jesus as he promised.

Some people will look at your life

and disqualify you.

Some people would look at your situation

and put their mouth on it.

Don't disqualify yourself when Jesus did

not disqualify you.

>> If you look at the text, it says God

testified concerning David.

I will do every He will do everything I

want him to do.

before before David stepped into the

scene, God already knew what he was

qualified to do.

>> It wasn't he was in position and now

he's trying to nah. God knew he was

going to fumble a little bit. God knew

HIS STRUGGLES, BUT GOD STILL called him

and said, God said, "This man will do

everything I have assigned him to do."

Amen.

>> Do everything God has called you to do.

And then he moves from um um from

talking about Saul and King David to

discussing the coming of Jesus and then

talking about John, the message of John

the Baptist

in reference to repentance

and baptism. Do you see what he's doing?

All he's doing is going and giving word.

He's going giving scripture. And after

he gives scripture, the people get so

excited that they want him to come back.

HE'S LIKE, "THE SERMON'S SO GOOD. COME

BACK NEXT SATURDAY."

He comes back next Saturday and there's

a city of people waiting for him.

Beloved, just preach the word and let

God do the rest.

>> Preach the word and let God do the rest.

And then

there is this point in the text where it

reads verse 30 34

God raised from the dead. God raised him

from the dead so that he will never be

subject to decay. Talking about Jesus.

And as God has said, I will give you the

holy and sure blessing promised to

David. 35. So it is also stated

elsewhere, you will not let your holy

one see decay.

Have you ever

went to sleep or before you you laid

your head down at night and you was

going to sleep and as you was going to

sleep, you begin to recall all your

activities of the day. And as you're

recalling your activities of the day,

you're realizing that there are some

things that um was left undone, but the

reality is you can't go back and get it

done.

Have you ever tossed and turned because

of the many oops you committed that day

and because of it your sleep was

disturbed?

Or have you ever had such a productive

day you could have slept on a rock and

still sleep at peace?

We go through those stages of our life,

right?

But there is a level of sleep that we

will never come back from.

My um uncle in Haiti long time ago told

me while I was in Haiti, he said it like

this. La

no um

l in other words sleep is a child of

death and death will eventually come.

But what you don't want to do is live

life sleeping your life away. And and in

this particular text, it reads it reads

that David

David committed all that God had in mind

for him to do and then he fell asleep.

Beloved, let you be one to commit all

that God had intended for you to commit.

But before you fall asleep, the

scripture said in his generation, he did

all that he was supposed to do. In your

generation, find out what your

generation needs from you.

>> Find out what's ticking in life

because there are stages in life where

you can be the one asking all the

questions, but there are stages in life

where you need to be the ones with the

answer.

be in this world and before you fall

asleep, do some damage.

>> Get some damage done. BY THE TIME PAUL

GOT DONE PREACHING his word and a

hundred of thousands of people was

coming, the whole city came to hear his

message. Now the Jewish leaders was

trying to kick him out of the city and

they was getting talking all kinds of

stuff about him and they wanted to do

all kinds of stuff to him and they

kicked him out and they wanted to kill

him. They wanted to do this. But guess

what? The Bible says that there were

DISCIPLES LEFT. THEY KICKED THEM out and

he left. He wiped THE DUST. WIPE THE

DUST OFF WHEN somebody want to get RID

OF YOU. GOOD. I'M BUT I ALREADY DID MY

DAMAGE. It doesn't matter anymore.

Souls already saved. The Holy Spirit's

in them. The Bible said that the

disciples that was left was filled with

joy and filled with the Holy Spirit.

>> Let them be said of you when you get

done. Those that are remain ARE FILLED

WITH JOY AND FILLED OF THE Holy Spirit.

DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH ME. SAY WHAT

YOU WANT TO SAY ABOUT ME. HUH? DO WHAT

YOU WANT TO DO. SAY WHAT YOU WANT TO

SAY. DO TO ME WHAT YOU WANT. BUT TOO

LATE, BABY BOY. THE DAMAGE IS ALREADY

DONE.

>> The damage is already done. The damage

is already done.

The damage is already done. Our

forefathers came and here comes Abraham.

And Abraham was were came and gone. And

here comes Moses. And Moses came and

gone. Here

comes Joshua.

Do to me what you may. Say to me what

you may. And here comes the prophets.

Here comes the kings. Here comes David.

Here comes the Jesus. DO TO HIM WHAT YOU

WANT. HERE COMES HERE COMES THE

DISCIPLES. HERE comes the apostles. HERE

COMES STEPHEN. HERE COMES PAUL. DO TO

HIM WHAT YOU WANT. THE DAMAGE IS DONE.

>> Here comes Martin Luther. The damage is

done.

The damage is done. HERE COMES CHARLES

FINNY. THE DAMAGE IS DONE. HERE COMES

CHARLES AND JOHN WESLEY. THE DAMAGE IS

DONE. HERE COMES WILLIAM SEYMOUR. The

damage is done.

>> The damage is done. Do to me what you

will. Do to me what you will. Talk bad

about me.

Crucify me. Bury me UPSIDE DOWN. THE

DAMAGE is already done. Here come

Katherine Kman.

>> Filled of the Holy Spirit. The damage is

done.

>> Ryan Abanki. The damage is done.

>> The damage is done. HERE COMES HERE

COMES THE APOSTLES. ESTUS. The damage is

done.

>> The damage is done.

Do to us what you will. Do to us what

you will. Here comes the rice. HERE

COMES THE DEBORAH. HERE COMES THE ANNAS.

DO TO US WHAT YOU WANT.

Do to us what you want. The damage is

done.

With the Holy Spirit by your side,

let it be said of you.

Let it be said of you.

Let God say this was God speaking

through Paul in reference to David and

said that this man regardless of what

everybody thinks about him around them.

Those who lived in his day, those who

read about him, those who know his past,

beginning, whatever, say what you want.

But God said he completed everything in

his generation and then fell asleep.

>> Beloved, let the same be said about you.

Hallelujah.

>> Please bow your head and close your

eyes.

Father, the damage is done.

Here comes the

Johnny's.

The damage is done. Lord, I get it. I

hear you.

I hear you.

Here comes the Malachi,

the Illinois.

Illinois, the John Luke.

We hear you, Jesus.