Overcoming The Storms of Life

You're listening to the Cross Kingdom Sermon of the week.

We hope you enjoyed this message from Justin Carpenter wherever

he went. Sorry I was refueling. Mm hmm oh, I

might hope. Have I actually had something up here too?

Huh the wind blowing off me, that's just the spiritual life.

Don't strike me, Lord a real quick And in the

line of appreciation, Nancy Good, where's Nancy Hood? Nancy, You're

so amazing. You are literally being a testimony of what

the sage season looks like. And I just bless you

for that. Yeah. Teresa Whitfield. Teresa has literally organized those

shipping containers with ferocity and keeping the shelves intact and

like a guardian of the containers. We are so thankful

for all that you and your husband have done. Bless

you all so much. Uh, Corey Simpson, let me tell

you something, Corey, Corey. Corey has no quit. Corey doesn't

have any quit in him. And then and then, and

this guy has served in the Youth Ministries department faithfully

and and I mean I don't care if you asked

him to go unplug a commode, he would do it.

Would not complain, wouldn't give you any crap back. You

know what I'm saying. So sorry, bad joke. Anyways, we

love you, buddy, Thank you so much for your servant's

heart and servant leadership. I'm blessed you, bless you. Christy Vic.

Are you in the house, Yeah, oh, there you are.

You know, there's there's a saying especially about this family.

Dynamite comes in small packages, and we're so thank thankful

for who y'all are. Amazing two. You could have so

easily asked everyone to just leave you alone and give

you time as a family to grieve, and yet here

you are, in the midst of your grief serving the

body of Christ, and we acknowledge that we don't take

that for granted. And we love you all so much.

Bless you. Oh my eyesight's bad without tears. Oh okay, tests, tests,

Art and tests, y'all are amazing. Art's always ready to

protect me. Anybody charge the stage better watch out going

down in Jesus' name. And Tess, literally, I don't know

how many times I'm like, do you need to go home?

Like are you okay? Like you have just from literally

like the day after the you know, July fifth. I

think y'all have just been faithfully here in way above

the call of duty, and we're very thankful for that.

I think I'm ringing a little, but bless you so much.

Thank you for serving. Gianna come home again, someone who's

been navigating turbulent times, and here you are serving the

body of Christ in our community. We honor you, We

thank you, We love you of your family, So thankful

for you, and thank you for being a part of

our tribe. Quinnette, come on girl, whoo. The good men's

have started running with us in the last few months,

and and and again just have shown up and served.

And you were a part of the clothing saga, and

you got to watch my wife and I argue over

what clothes we should take when we should stop bringing clothes.

Have I heard the word clothes one more time? I'm

gonna twitch? And yet and yet you just smiled while

we bickered back and forth. But y'all are amazing and

we're so thankful for you. Thank you for your hearts,

thank you that you're running with us, and we just

honor you this morning. Bless you, Cammy, are you, Cammy?

Are you here? I'm sorry Carrie, would you read this? Yeah,

where's Carrie? Yes, Carrie, Sorry, that was not my handwriting.

I apologize. She has been one of the troopers here

day in and day out for two weeks, and I

always saw you over here organizing food, and y'all has

just been an amazing uh in the midst of crisis.

It's been amazing to see you and so many others serving,

and we love you and we thank you. Thank you

for being a part of of all of this. Now

I have two more, and apparently they say thank you.

So I need help with these last two because I

don't want to I don't want to miss anybody. So

and of course the silent, awkward silence comes. Yeah, Laurie's

not here, and Julie is not here. Who am I missing?

If you been helping yet? Well, Heid, he's not here either,

I can Sylvia, they're out. We have a few folks

out right now. Andrea, Yes, where is Andrea? She? Oh,

she's in the youth. I'll put this aside for her,

and then charity charity. Oh, come on, and also a

huge shout out for there you are. That man's got

mad skills when it comes to a Blackstone. But We're

so thankful for y'all. We're thank you for your charity,

charity Glass, y'all. Thank you Eric. Eric. Eric showed up

in the very beginning and goes, hey, can can I

just cook? And and he showed up and he started

cooking and and giving burgers. And I do gotta say

this because he is rocking and rolling flipping all these hamburgers.

And then Joe from Bill's Barbecue shows up with briskets

and Eric's like yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah awesome. So absolutely,

thank you y'all. This this is a marathon and I

wish it would. Oh and Carrie, heflin, hello, get up here.

Don't look at me like I was gonna do a

dad joke, but I'm gonna be really, you know, pastoral

in this moment, Carrie is another trooper who does not

like to be in front of people. But we love

you and we're so thankful for you. She's looking at

me like I'm going to get you later, but we're

thanking you've been running with us for for eight years,

nine years, like you're one of the originals, one of

the what was it the o G Yeah, thank you

for your heart. We love you, Thank you so much.

Bless you. Anybody I forgot, please forgive me. We have

interhealing afterwards, we'll both be in there. But just to

give you all a little update. As of yesterday, they

said that people in Kerk County that are missing or

down to three people. I hope and pray that's accurate.

And it was from the Sheriff's department, Like all the

official departments, I have been in contact with Johnny Grimes

daily and I know that they they're The number of

recovered bodies is one hundred and nine right now, and y'all,

I mean, we're going to be shifting gears into relief

and rebuilding and we'll we'll have a better idea this

week where they as things kind of begin to settle

and people that have come out of town go and

will will begin to see a clearer picture of where

we're gonna need help. And so we'll continue to do

daily updates as well as supply updates and so on

and so forth, and give you all opportunities to be

able to serve, but pace yourselves. You'll take time. I

know it's difficult in times like this to want to rest.

I get it. I had one day off in a

month up until I left for the worship school. And uh,

but it's important that you take care of yourself because

if you don't take care of yourself, you're you're not

going to be any good to anybody else. And if

you get so burned out that you're chopping everybody's heads off,

that's not good either. So I want to do a

public announcement and encourage everyone to expand your capacity of

tolerance in this time because people everyone handles trauma and

grief differently, and so our processes are going to bump

into each other, I promise you. But I'm asking y'all

to be patient with each other. Love is patient Christians thirteen. Right. So,

but they've estimated that the total losses with everything included,

is between eighteen and twenty two billion dollars from this disaster.

You know, that includes relief efforts, power outages like that hole,

the whole deal. You know, we can rebuild buildings fairly quickly,

going through loss, trauma and grief takes time. We're also

in the process of finding which ministries we want to

connect and network with, and so then we're also going

to be a distribution outlet for people getting healthy because

we're not just here to meet physical needs, We're also

here to meet spiritual needs. And our heart ultimately is

that no one in this region ends up on the

other side of this not knowing the Lord Jesus. And

it's so important that we understand our eternal purpose that

we're advancing the kingdom. Right. So I want to talk

to you for a little bit here this morning on

overcoming the storms of life. I know, same theme, but

this is where we're at. This is what we're walking

through right now, and I'm gonna give you some perspectives

this morning on some scripture that is going to challenge

you significantly. And when I mean challenge you, it it's

gonna trigger strongholds, and it's you're gonna have every excuse

to argue with his word. But I just want to

remind you it's his word, not mine, and so please

send all complaints to Sean at Cross Kingdom dot org. So, Father,

I just asked, at this moment, Lord, this this teaching moment,

that your word, Lord Jeremiah said, your word is like

a hammer and it's like a fire. So Lord, bring

the power of your word to transform our lives through

your glory. This morning and Jesus Mighty name. Psalms one

twenty six five says those who sow in tears shall

reap shouts of joy. Though weeping endures for a night,

joy will come in the morning. You know, I was.

I was scrambling through three of my dream books this

morning because roughly about eleven years ago, I had a

dream and I thought it was a dream and not

a night vision. And I was driving from hunt Ingram area,

and as I'm driving down Junction Highway coming towards this way,

I'm yelling to everyone to get to higher ground, that

a flood is coming. And eleven years ago, literally when

I had that, when I woke up from that dream,

I thought, man, there's no way that's literal. There's no

way our area could flood like that. And I know

there was some dreams shared last week. You know, you're like, Okay, well,

what's the point it still happened. Well, I can tell

you that I don't always know why. And again you've

heard this, but it's so true that we set in

the tension of mystery at times. And if we're going

to stay abiding in the Lord Jesus and advancing his kingdom,

we're going to have to be okay not understanding the

why at times in our life, and my heart is

that we don't get trapped. Are stuck in that place

of asking why many whether we like it or not,

most of the time, we don't have the answer to why.

I remember my own healing journey from being molested as

a child. When I started that journey, I asked the

Lord many times, why why did you let this happen? Lord?

Do you send an angel strike a king? Why don't

you kill his butt? Being honest, yeah, you're like, I

don't know if I like you as our pastor anymore.

But it's the truth and all of this stuff that's

in our heart right now. Wherever you're at with grief,

whether you're numb, whether you're angry, whether you're confused. I mean,

we go through this process of emotions. I want to

encourage you process, get with somebody, to process with them.

Don't keep it all clammed up and buried because it

will absolutely affect you. It will damn you up if

you don't process. And whether you recognize or not, even

if you weren't really directly affected, this has absolutely been

traumatic to our entire community. Isaiah fifty nine nineteen says,

so shall they fear the name of the Lord from

the west and his glory from the rising of the sun.

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit

of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

Right now, we are a part of that standard being

rised up against against the enemy. Right now. Every one

of you plays a significant role. Each of you are

a part of the body of Christ. Every single one

of you. Do not diminish what you're doing. Don't diminish

this week. When you walk out of here in a

little bit and we reset as a distribution center again,

do not diminish your role in this community. Don't diminish

your role in the body of Christ and his kingdom.

The enemy would love nothing more than to get you

to think that what you're doing, and how you're loving,

and just the simple acts of kindness, that they don't

mean anything. Why I have news for you. Jesus said

that not even a cup of water, if it's given

and his name will be forgotten. That means when nobody's

around and you're looking, and your heart goes out to

somebody and you love on them, and you minister to

them this week and no one knows. All the media

is gone. You can check out all mainstream media now.

There's almost nothing being said about the flood. Just here

and there, a little pop up. But he sees what

we do to the least of them, We've done unto him.

That is a very powerful, powerful scripture. Don't let the

enemy lie to you and get you to believe that

what you're doing is insignificant, because it is significant. There

is a compounding kingdom factor. That is when we come

together as the body of Christ in unity, which I'll

be honest with you. As a shepherd in this region,

trying to work with some other shepherds, sometimes it feels

like herding cats. But overall it's been an amazing, amazing

thing to watch everybody come together. I mean, last week,

the independent photographer from the Washington Post, she was here

and she said, I have never seen a community rally

together the way your community has. Y'all. What we're doing

right now by being the hands and feet of Jesus,

we are literally affecting this country people from all over

the country. I did an interview with NPR Radio and

they eat somebody who listens to NPR was flap or

just shocked that they didn't edit my interview about Jesus.

I don't listen to NPR so but apparently they have

a tendency to edit stuff out like that. They did.

They played the whole interview. Somebody sent a twenty five

hundred dollars check to the relief fund because of that interview.

It's it's so important that we are leading well in

this moment right now. Whether you think of yourselves as

a leader or not, you are and the world is looking. Literally,

this country has been watching Curville and I am so

proud of our community. But we are a part of

that standard. We are a part of that new swarm

of cross pollination. You know, James is clear, faith without

works is dead, and we're in that moments. Like I

said two weeks ago, y'all, this is go time. This

is what we've been equipped to do, and it's time

that we keep our armor on and keep going forward.

But recognizing this is a marathon, and so I want

to encourage each of you to take care of yourselves.

Philippians four to seven says, and the peace of God,

which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts in your minds.

In Christ Jesus, if you'll give up your right to

understand the fruit of that is his peace. If you

allow his peace, it says, let his peace rule and

reign right now, in the midst of these storms, in

the midst of all this loss and death and devastation.

If will give up our right to know why and

trust him, the result is this covering of shalom. And

that shalom is what removes the chaos that causes anxiety.

That peace is the weapon that you carry when you

go into homes and you say peace. It's the shalom

that devastates the storms of the enemy coming at you.

I love the Psalms. There's so many like little hidden

Messianic nuggets. And here's a scripture that you may never

realized was actually fulfilled in the Gospels Psalms. When I

was seven twenty nine to thirty, he made the storm

be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and

he brought them to their desired haven. It was talking

of his disciples Matthew eight twenty three to twenty seven.

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him,

and behold there arose a great storm on the sea,

so that the boat was being swamped by the waves,

but he was asleep, and they went and woke him, saying,

save us, Lord, we are perishing. And he said to them,

why are you afraid, oh you of little faith. Now

let's paint a picture here, y'all. You have professional fishermen,

professional they've been through storms, they've been fishing through craziness. Literally,

they're crying out for their lives to be spared. And

Jesus is asleep now. And mark It says that on

that day, when evening had come, he said to them,

let us go across to the other side, and leaving

the crowd, they took him with them in the boat

just as he was, and other boats were with him,

and a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking

into the boat, so that the boat was already filling,

But he was asleep in the stern on a cushion.

So reality check, massive windstorm boats are filled, literally filling

up with water. Jesus is probably about to blow bubbles

on his cushion. The disciples wake up, I mean they're awake, Sorry,

they're wide awake, and they wake him up like hey,

there's a storm. Hello, Jesus, will you do something? We're

gonna die here. And he has the audacity to say,

why are you afraid? Lord? You realize the water is

like right here on you right, we're about to go

under All the other boats they've already peed their pants.

They're scared to death. They're losing it. Lord, it's all

we're about to lose it. And he says, why are

you afraid, oh, you of little faith? The audacity of

the King of Glory to talk to them about a

level of faith when their boat's about to go underwater literally,

and he is not pretending to be asleep, but he

is asleep. But in that Second Gospel and Mark he

already told them what was gonna happen. He said, let

us go across to the other side. See other moments

where we don't have clarity. There are moments where his

word is a lamp unto our feet, like what she's

doing there, and then a light unto our path, and

those prophetic seasons like right now, it's like we have

just enough light to take the next step. Hit he

is a lamp onto our path, right now, onto our feet.

And then there's moments where we can prophetically see off

into the future. It's like John sixteen where he says

he'll show us things to come, and all of a

sudden we have vision way out. But our testing, our

growth comes when we're in those valley seasons. Like what

Kylie talked about. There's something forged inside of us in

the midst of suffering, the sufferings of Christ. There's something

forged inside of us, of eternal purpose that literally produces

fruit that you would never get any other way. So

they're losing their stuff, and he rebukes the storm, and

I might remind you, we know that storm didn't come

from the Lord, because if Jesus rebuked the storm, he

was just guilty of rebelling against his father. So not

every storm that comes. Sometimes people theologically have a perception that,

you know, because of God's sovereignty, everything comes from him,

and that's just thinking thinking, that's not the mind of Christ.

John ten ten. The enemy came to steal, kill, and destroy,

but Jesus came to give us life and give it

more abundantly. And so when the storms of life, when

the enemy comes in like a flood, he raises a

standard and in that moment we have a choice to make.

Are we going to be a part of the standard?

Are we going to be washed away in the storm?

Now I understand that that's some of that context with

what we just went through is not literal. But for

us we have to grab a hold of God's logic.

It says, as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so his ways are above our ways. Another way of

saying that is, his logic is so much higher than

our logic, it seems illogical. Are you with me and

our spiritual capacity to praise Him in the midst of

loss when seemingly the enemy had his way for a

moment is no easy task. And just like the disciples

in the boat that's filling up with water and the

other boats are around, we can get mad at God

for being at peace. Lord, do you not see Kerville? Lord?

Why do you not see what's happening? Y'all? Like, let's

get real here. We're going through a turbulent, turbulent time

that's difficult, and there's no way we're not wrestling with

these different emotions and in the midst of us living

in this tow and not understanding why in the world

our community has been hit so flipping hard living in

that tension. There's a gift of peace in the midst

of it. And one day, as believers, we know that

He's gonna wipe every tier away. There'll be no more loss,

There'll be no more death. It says, death, where is

your sting? All of this will pass away, y'all. One

thing we do as a family every day is my

family is we're consistent and focused on telling each other

that we love each other, because you never know. I mean,

when I got that text Thursday night that Doug Guard

had passed away, I was just like, are you kidding me?

I was studying in a Bethel session at the worship school.

He was just with us Christmas Eve at my house,

And in that moment, words can't fix the pain. The

only way that immediate pain goes away is if you

had them back. And yet in the midst of this

life dealing with these trials and tribulations and the enemy

coming in and overplaying his hand and doing these things,

and then us not always being able to connect all

these divine dots because we don't even have the capacity

to process like that, we can be like, Lord, are

you serious? Are you? Yeah? I'm afraid. See, if he

didn't call us to live in the impossible, he says,

With man, nothing's possible, but with God, all things are possible.

If he didn't put his spirit inside of us, we

would not have the capacity or the ability to even

rise up to where he's calling us. Are you all

with me? Like you have the hope of glory living

inside of you? The God of the universe, who created everything,

literally dwells inside of each and every one of you.

And it's in moments like this that seem Lord, are

you kidding me? Doubt? Are you the boats filled with water?

We begin to wrestle with him. We begin to wrestle

with the Lord like Jacob, And I promise you if

you don't quit, you don't give up. You keep wrestling

until you land into that place with Him where you

need to be. You might walk with a limp on

the other side of this thing, but you're going to

be forged with Jesus inside of you. You're going to

look so much more like him, and you're going to

walk into a place with this crazy level of peace

that makes no sense when chaos is all around. We

are being called up right now, in this moment we're

being challenged, we're being invited to a maturation process. We're

being invited to step into Him to such a degree

that even if the boat fills up, we can stay

at peace. And when we see a storm that's not

coming from him, we step into a realm of authority

that commands peace to come and remove the chaos. Now

that may be you later this week going into a

home and then because you responded to a need where

somebody needs a refrigerator or a microwave, but you're bringing

much more than an appliance. You're bringing the good news.

You're bringing the hope of glory. You're letting a family

know that one day, if they know the Lord, that

they'll be able to be reunited with their loved ones.

On the other side of this thing, the enemy is

gonna wish he never touched us. And I'm not saying

that lightly. On the other side of this thing, because

the justice of God is coming and the outpouring of

His spirit for a harvest is on its way happening,

and He is going to turn this thing around. It's

not going to remove our grieving, it's not going to

remove question marks. But one day we're all going to

be with him, and every tear will be wiped away.

There'll be no more grieving, there'll be no more loss.

And I know that's not easy to like. I'm not

expecting those words to make everything, you know, like a

sitting on a cloud playing a harp, because we're going

through a really difficult time. But it's his word, he said.

He put his word above his name, y'all. It's his

word that we hold onto in this moment. It's the

promises of God that we hold on to to bring comfort.

One more scripture and I'll begin to land. This is

Matthew fourteen. Immediately he made the disciples get into the

boat and go before him to the other side. Well,

he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds,

he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat

by this time was a long way from the land,

beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

I don't know about y'all, but if I was the disciples,

I think I'd just start taking the long way around,

like a nice hike for fifteen miles around that water like,

all right, Lord, I'm good. Had enough of these encounters now.

And the fourth watch of the night he came to them.

But it says that but the boat by this time

was long away from the land, beaten by the waves,

for the wind was against them. And then the fourth

watch of the night he came to them walking on

the sea. The reason why the Lord can put such

a crazy demand on us is because he is the

creator of the universe, and he's not telling us to

go do something on our own. He's saying, the very

spirit that rose Jesus from the dead dwells inside of you,

and you pull on his strength and his strength alone,

and that's why I can put a demand on your

life for the impossible. And in the fourth watch of

the night he came to them walking on the sea.

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,

they were terrified and said, it is a ghost, and

they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying,

take heart his eye, do not be afraid. And Peter

answered him, Lord, if it's you, command me to come

to you on the water. And he said come. So

Peter got out of the boat and walked on the

water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind,

he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord,

save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took

hold of him, saying to him, oh, you of little faith,

why did you doubt? And when they got I guarantee

the other disciples weren't trash talking because they didn't get

out of that boat walking on water. He did. I

love Peter. He gives me so much hope. The guy

that chopped an ear off is also the same guy

that walked on water. He says, save me. Jesus reached

out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, oh,

you of little faith, why did you doubt? And when

they got in the boat, the wind ceased, and those

in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the

son of God. So here we go reality check. Another

crazy storm, not from the Lord. They're they're just ah,

just rowing getting after it and can't make any can't

get there, can't get across. Jesus is up on the

mountain praying is like man, those boys only made it

about two miles in the last six hours. I bet,

I bet you their arms are tired. Let me go

check on them walking that walking on the water, because

remember it says that the waves were contrary, so you

had wave and then between the waves, wave and then

between the waves. And Jesus said, Lord, if it's really you,

command me to come out. And I've shared this before.

But he gets out of the boat, and Jesus is

walking on top of the water, which means he's walking

on tip the waves and then between the waves. Peter's

walking on top of the waves and between the waves,

and he's watching Jesus and he sees him as he

crests the top of the waves. But when Jesus goes

between the waves and Peter goes between the waves, now

all he can see is the wave. The only thing

he can see in that moment is the storm, and

fear rises up in sight of him because his eyes

are no longer on Jesus, it's on the storm because

the waves were contrary. So here's Jesus, here's Peter, here's Jesus,

here's Peter. Maybe they were together and sink sorry and

uh that's a band for you young us old people,

and up and down and up and down, and he's like,

why'd you doubt you were doing so good? Y'all, keep

your eyes on Jesus as we go through this storm,

because if you take your eye off of Him, the grief,

the death, and the loss has the capability of taking

you out. This is not a joke. Keep your eyes

on the author and finisher of your faith. Give up

your right to understand in this moment and allow his

peace to be a weapon over your heart and your mind.

Are you with me? And then ask the Lord for

strength to step into the impossible and say, Lord, I

want justice. I want to see your justice, because your

throne is built on righteousness and justice according to his word,

and I want to see justice come to our area. Lord,

I want to see you pour out your spirit and

such a measure that this entire county comes to know

Jesus and that that big ol' seventy seven foot cross

that we're all under the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And as we choose right now in this season to

live our life for him to take up our cross daily,

give up our right to understand and pursue him, we

will be a part of that standard that he is

raising up from the flood that the enemy brought in,

because make no mistake, that flood did not come from

the Lord. But the enemy is going to pay and

the and the Lord will see to it. I promise

you he will make all things together for the good.

Is it all gonna be coming back? Are we gonna

get everybody back? No? And And that is a that

that is that part we don't have the answer to.

That is the part that we grieve and we mourn.

And in the midst of that, he draws near. It

says that he's close to the broken heart. And it

says that he takes every one of our tears and

puts it in a bottle. So we weep with those

who weep, We mourn with those who mourn, and we

lock arms as his bride, as his dread champions, as

David's mighty men, Gideon's three hundred. We lock arms together,

and we be a part of the standard that he

is raising in our community to be the answer so

that people can have hope. He's still the God of hope.

He's still the hope of glory that we carry inside

of us. And I just want to encourage y'all that

says that those that wait for the Lord will renew

their strength. They will mount up with wings like an eagle.

They will run and not grow weary, and they will

walk and not faint. And it says that in Isaiah

that he is actively working on the behalf of those

that wait for him. So even in the silence, even

in the grief, he is actively working everything together for

our good. And there's so many areas right now we're like, Lord,

I don't even get this. I don't even understand how

in the world could this be worked out for our good.

But he's doing it. He's doing it. And one day,

one day, we're all going to join that massive table

of the Lord in eternity, and there'll be no more pain,

no more sorrow, no more death. It says Jesus himself

will literally be the light. We won't even need the

sun or moon, because the Lamb is the light. Y'all.

This is reality. The lamb is inside of you. The

light of the world is inside of you. You're carrying

this light for such a time as this, this this

is Acts seventeen says that he preordained the very time

and history that we would live, and even our exact

dwelling places are boundaries of our life. So none of

you are here by mistake, none of you are here

by accident. There is destiny over your life, and there

is an invitation in this moment for us to continue

to lock arms and be the hands and feet of

Jesus in the midst of mystery. Let me read this

last scripture, and I'd ask the prayer teams to come

up in Micah, my son, wherever you are, would you

come on the oh, would you get on the keys

for me? Please? Yeah, I know you're right there. I

should give you hope. You don't have to be super sharp.

Isaiah sixty one one to four says this, The spirit

of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord

has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captain, and the opening of

the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the

year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance

of our God. To comfort all those who mourn, To

grant to those who mourn in Kurville in Zion, to

give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil

of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise, instead

of a faint spirit. Anybody felt like that a faint

spirit lately, that they would be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise

up from the former devastations. They shall repaired. They shall

repair the ruined cities and the devastation of many generations.

Y'all say this with me, not on my watch. I

will not quit, I will not give up. I will

pursue him with every breath I take until he brings

me home for his kingdom, his glory, and his honor. So, Father,

I ask, oh, it's okay, sorry, you're all right. Command

he keeps going. So, Father, I just ask right now,

in the mighty name of Jesus, Lord, do what only

you can do. We can do nothing apart from you, Lord.

We lift up all of those people that have gone

through this loss, that don't know you. In this moment,

the loss up to you in this region, and we

asked that you would save them. Father, we lift up

all of the families that have lost loved one's. Lord,

I lift up my friend Brooke who had to do

a double funeral for her sister and brother in law. Lord,

we lift up the guard family, his kids, his loved one's. Lord,

we continue to pray for peace and comfort and strength

over our beautiful ciphered family. Jesus, you're the only one

and bring beauty for hashes. You're the only one that

can turn our mourning into joy. You're the only one

that can heal the trauma and the grief. Lord Jesus,

I ask that you would show yourself strong on our behalf,

that we would continue to be a beacon of light,

carrying the eternal Gospel of the Kingdom, which is the

power unto salvation. Lord, I asked that you would strengthen

the gifts that you've placed in each inside of each

person here this morning, That you would cause your oil

to increase in their lives. Lord, that you knock the

callouses off our souls and expand our spirits for yours.

Or that you would give us that warrior mindset in

the season, Lord, where we have our swords drawn. We

have a We're like Nea Mayah in this our Lord.

We've got a hammer in one hand, building and we

have a sword in the other to cut the enemy's throat.

So Lord, solidify the mind of Christ and your heart

and each and every one of us in the mighty

name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for listening. For more

messages and other resources, please subscribe to this podcast. We'll

go to our website at www. A Cross Kingdom dot org.