Father I Stretch My Hand | Luke 6:6-10 NIV | Pastor Chris Lyles Sr.

I just want to say that I love you more than anything.

I just want to say that I love you more than anything.

Oh, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Can y'all do this for me?

I just want to show, I just want to show that I love you more than anything.

Lift your voice all over the building.

I just want to show, I just want to show.

The Bible says be ye doers of the word as much as you are hearers of the word Hallelujah.

I want to show, I just want to show.

Come on y'all, I ain't singing this morning Last time, I just want to say love you more than anything.

Come on, why don't you slip your hands in the air in this atmosphere and just begin to worship Father?

We love you more than anything, father.

We love you more than anything.

I challenge the 8 am crowd.

I don't know what your anything is, but how many of you have come to a place in life where you realize that things don't even matter no more the cash, the clothes, the cribs, they don't even matter no more?

Because some of you have been down to your last.

Some of you have felt like the bottom has dropped completely out of life, and what you felt, what you heard in the moments of your despair, sounded a lot like love.

It sounded a lot like I still got my hands on you.

It sounded a lot like I still got my hands on you.

It sounded a lot like I'm with you, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.

It sounded a lot like love.

So in these moments, these are the opportunities we give back unto him a portion of what he's given to us and demonstrating that love back to him, because somebody said he didn't have to do it, but I'm so glad he did.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Come on last time.

I just want to say, I just want to say it, I just want to say it.

Come on, clap your hands and give God some praise.

Come on, you can do better than that.

We serve a great God that deserves a great praise.

That'll be all right if you was clapping for your boss man.

That might even be all right if you was clapping for your boss man.

That might even be all right if you was clapping for your boo thing.

But we serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Boss man didn't wake you up this morning.

It wasn't boo thing that told you to get up, but that blood that was running through your body.

That was him.

That was love.

That air that flowed through your body, allowing you to put your legs over to the side of the bed and get up in your right mind.

That was love, hallelujah.

So why don't we give love a praise this morning?

Hallelujah, glory to your name, god, for loving me even when I couldn't, for loving me when I didn't know how to love myself.

Thank you, oh God, for your love.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Glory to God, glory to God.

You may take your seats in the presence of God.

Pastor Jamal, you messed me up with that.

Can we give a hand praise for the greatest choir on this side of Zion, hallelujah.

I am grateful to each and every one of you that, as we continue to labor in love and in the kingdom, that God continues to stretch us, pull us and bring us to new exposures.

So I'm grateful to labor among you in honor of our pastor, who isn't here today.

Can we show him some love?

Come on, we can do better than that.

Come on, we can do better than that, hallelujah, hallelujah.

The Bible says give honor where honor is due.

We are grateful for the man that stands on the wall for us.

Amen, amen.

We are grateful for the man that stands on the wall for us.

Amen, amen.

We are grateful.

I share with AJ Young, even as he gave his pastoral observations from the car with his sons in the back.

I'm grateful that not only is he a great pastor, but he's also a great dad.

Amen.

And even as he said Happy Father's Day to you all.

We are grateful.

We are grateful to all of my fellow clergy, those that are praying with me today.

I'm grateful for your prayers and your support.

One of the things that you may never understand is how difficult it is to preach a singular message multiple times and for them to act like they ain't never heard it before, and they got to get the same amen.

So I'm grateful to you.

You already know what the punchline is, and y'all still got to be rocking with your boy.

I appreciate it, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Still got to be rocking with your boy, I appreciate it, thank you, thank you, thank you.

They got to act like they ain't never heard that before.

Oh, ain't God good Amen.

So I'm grateful for each and every one of you.

Amen To my parents that are here Amen, god bless you.

God bless you.

My mom and two dads.

Y'all wave at them.

Amen, amen.

I am grateful he has two dads.

For all of my life I've had two fathers and I don't know if that was because I was that bad or if God loved me that much.

I think it was probably a little bit of both, but I'm grateful.

I'm grateful for their presence, their unwavering support and love.

Grateful, grateful grateful and last but certainly not least, to the apple of my eye, to the rooter in my tutor, to the rooty tooty, to my fresh and fruity.

I probably overshared a little bit at eight, but I'm going to share with y'all, since you know we could, and I boasted on y'all 10 o'clock.

I told eight that you know, and I boasted on y'all 10, 10 o'clock.

I told 8 that you know they're a little more reserved.

We got the holy hood folk in here at 10.

So y'all going to rock with me today.

We're going to get through this thing.

But I am grateful for my bride, amen.

On last night, as I was trying to wrestle and drift off to sleep, I felt her put some oil on her hands and she went over and started anointing my feet.

I said Lord Jesus, listen, I know some of y'all got feet that look like this and anybody that will touch your feet you got to know it's from the Lord.

So I am grateful for that Holy Ghost anointing Amen, amen.

So did I miss anything?

Again we have.

Are you proud to be in a church that's on the move, like we got a lot of things going on?

Are y'all excited?

Amen, we are excited.

There's so many things happening.

Our women's conference are coming up and we are asking come on, y'all, excited.

Amen.

We are excited.

There's so many things happening.

Our women's conference are coming up and we are asking come on, y'all, make some noise because this is about to be, this is about to be unprecedented, phenomenal experience.

So if you have not registered, please, please, please, go out and register for the women's conference.

Amen.

And then on this week we got a few things coming up we have our Welcome Home Party and we have our Mission Blitz.

Amen, and listen.

As Pastor Mark said, if you have not been a part of this Mission Blitz, you do not want to miss this opportunity.

It is literally our chance to be the hands and feet of God throughout this entire city.

Many of us think of mission and we think little kids in Africa with flies flying off the eyeball.

But God, god allows us to not only be global and international, but regional, local Amen.

Sometimes we got to remember what it means to serve home before we go abroad or as we go abroad.

So this is our opportunity.

And what I love about our extension and mission blitz is sometimes it's really about helping the helper.

I'm going to say that again Sometimes it's about helping the helper.

See, some of us come in and we check the box on Sunday morning and we go on about our business.

But there are others that are every day, monday through Sunday.

They are.

They are giving their lives to supporting the community, those that are in need.

So this is our opportunity, as a fellowship, to partner with them, to support them in those efforts as well.

Amen, amen.

Come on, why don't you stand to your feet as we are preparing to hear what the Lord said?

And I saw some of y'all expression when Pastor Walt came on the screen and you realized that he wasn't here today.

I saw it.

I saw it, oh God, and I picked the wrong Sunday to be here.

But, as I shared with the 8 am, we ain't here for a long time.

We here for a good time.

But if you be quiet, if you won't, the more you quiet, the longer I'm a preach, so you can sit on your amen and sit on your hands as much as you want.

I'm gonna stay up here with my little, with my little self and uh, until until y'all start clapping your hands and smile.

Some of y'all ain't smile at me yet.

Come on, show me your teeth, jesus.

Come on.

You're happy to be in the house of the lord, in the land of the living.

Amen.

Turn in your Bibles to Luke, the sixth chapter.

Luke, chapter six, beginning at the sixth verse.

We're going to highlight five verses of scripture here in your reading and I pray that this blesses someone's heart today.

Luke, chapter six, verse six.

Let us and it is our custom if you are fellowshipping with us for the first time we like to read the word of God together.

Amen, ready, set read.

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand get up and stand in front of everyone.

So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them I ask you which is lawful on the Sabbath?

To do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?

He looked around at them all and said to the man stretch out your hand.

He did so and his hand was completely restored.

I want to use this as a very brief thought and I'd like for you to share this prayer with me this morning.

Father, I stretch my hand.

Father, I stretch my hand.

Come on, let us pray, father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you.

Oh God, we pray right now that you would give us revelation of understanding, according to your word.

Demonstration of power, oh Father, that your will be done in this moment.

In Jesus' name, we pray and count it done.

Amen.

Can you clap your hands as you take your seats?

Father, I stretch my hand.

Isn't it amazing that we live in a time where some things play out right before our very eyes and we have, in some cases, no background.

We have no inside information or understanding as to why things happen, the way that they happen, but the fact that they happen in such a way that oftentimes we can point back and say that it was only God.

Anybody in here ever had a moment like that where you look back over some things that's happened in and through your life, only to find that it wasn't your money, it wasn't your friends, it wasn't your connection, it wasn't your degree, it wasn't even what you thought you knew, because in those moments of tough times, you trying what you thought you knew didn't even work.

But when you look back and you're able to add things up, the math just wasn't math and on the natural side, so it had to be God.

It had to be God that was putting puzzles, of pieces of puzzles together that you didn't even know existed.

I want for us to be mindful, because it's in those moments that I don't want you to look back at those times.

I don't want you to look back at those moments and believe that it was something that coincidentally worked out.

Many of us put too much time and put too much effort or emphasis on circumstance.

But the Bible is clear when it says this that all things work together for the good of them that love him and are called according to his purpose.

The amazing thing, when we begin to unpack what his purpose is, is oftentimes his purpose.

You don't even realize is being fulfilled as you go through life's journey, even realize is being fulfilled as you go through life's journey.

All God is asking you oftentimes is just to be committed to the process.

I know we don't want to feel pain.

I know we don't want to go through what we go through, but sometimes God says I need you to go through what looks and feels like suffering, so that you can understand that even when you try to work it out, when you try to figure it out, when you try to manipulate it to work out in your favor, it's not because of your doing, not by might, not by power, but by your spirit.

It's working things together for our good.

I pray that, even in this introduction, that some of us would relieve ourselves of the pressure of trying to control things that we simply cannot control.

Sometimes we just dealt a hand that we didn't expect.

Sometimes things happen that we didn't anticipate.

Sometimes things happen that we didn't anticipate, sometimes even as a result of either our decisions or somebody else's decisions.

Life had a way of life, and here we are now, in the midst of trying to hold what's left of our peace of mind together, even enough just to get out of the bed in the morning.

I know I'm talking to somebody in here.

If not to you, I'm talking to myself.

I know what it's like to have those moments when your eyes open and your alarm go off.

You're just looking like not another day, not another day of this, god, please.

Just I know what Jesus felt like I would think in that garden, god, if, if, any other, if there's any other way, let this cup pass before me.

Some of us dealing with things in our homes, on our jobs, in our own bodies, that have taken and feels like it's taking the very life out of us, and it's in these moments that, even as a kid, when I began to recite this hymnal, I didn't understand it as much.

Until I began to grow and got a little older, what started to make sense.

You see, uh, I'm one of those kids that's literally been in church all my life and it was one of those moments when, I think I was at the age of 10 or 12 in old Baptist church, the deacons would have what was called devotional service.

Anybody y'all talk back to.

I told you I'm gonna be up here long deacons used to have devotional services and they would give out or they would have these little black books, uh, that they would have.

They would call them short meter and long meter hymns.

Y'all remember them common meter, that's it.

But there was one of these hymns in particular that was my favorite and I can't tell you why I memorized this particular hymn, but it was one of these hymns in particular.

That was my favorite and I can't tell you why I memorized this particular hymn, but it was one that at the age of 10 to 12 that it resonated, it stuck and what I would like to do they would have youth day every third Sunday, but youth day was just the kids come up for about 15 minutes.

They talk to the youth about you know Jesus and he's a good shepherd, and then they'll give him a piece of candy and go back to the seat.

This is before y'all done.

Got fancy with children's church and all of that and y'all send them away and y'all don't see them for a good two hours.

Y'all listen.

Y'all better talk back to me.

You better enjoy the time while you got it.

You better enjoy it while you're in here.

I feel a praise beginning to loose right now.

But there was something about this particular hymn that just stuck with me and the words of the hymn went something like this Father, I stretch my hands to thee, no other help.

I know.

If thou withdraw thyself from me, ah, whether shall I go?

Has anybody ever heard that one before?

It didn't dawn on me, at the tender age of 11 and 12, as I'm reciting this, what the words and the content of that hymn really meant, until I began to understand what it means to adult.

I began to understand what it means to adult, what it meant to walk into the footsteps of an adult and you got bills.

And not only do you have bills, but you also have to contend with people.

It's not one of those things that we want to isolate ourselves from, but the truth of the matter is, the older we get, the harder sometimes it feels.

And if you don't have some of those old things to pull back into your memory, to help you to connect and to reconnect with the things that you've been taught, the things that you've been trained to understand about the mercy and the love of God, you find yourself in this drifting moments of life or trying to pull at everything you can to help at least make sense of the things that you're going through.

So now, as an adult, I understand it resonates, it hits a little different when I say Father, I stretch my hands to thee.

I've gone through some things now, god, and these things have caused a measure of desperation.

These things have now caused a measure of issue and weight in my life.

So now, when I say Father, I stretch my hands to thee.

It simply means, god, I've gone as far in my humanness that I can go.

I need you to give me a boost to help me get reconnected.

Father, I stretch my hands to thee.

What I find is that even when I've said what I thought was needed to say, I've done what I thought was needed to do, it still didn't always fix things.

I was always seemingly back to the place.

I hear Pastor Young tell me last year when we were on our man strip and this thing stuck with me for since that time.

He said oftentimes in life when we struggle, we don't realize that, as much as we want to move on from it.

Deliverance really only happens when you're bold and brave enough to go back to the point to where it broke.

You got to be willing to go back to the point where it broke, where it broke.

What I'm finding here is that as we journey through life, we are met with challenge after challenge after challenge and our wherewithal.

What we need to be able to be okay with moving forward often rests in our ability to go back in us to deal with some things that we thought we didn't have to deal with.

You're gonna catch up in just a minute.

What we find here in our scripture, the eight clause of that sixth verse, the bible uh, starts this particular journey with these words on another Sabbath.

I had to stop right there when I read it because I realized that, like, what was happening in this scripture verse was actually things that were unfolding in my life every day on another Sabbath.

See, to understand the detail of what another means, you have to also go back to how it all began.

See, some of us, you feel like you've been dropped right in the middle of some drama and you don't understand even how it even started to some degree.

So sometimes God has to take you back to the beginning so that you understand what the, what the relevance is of what another Sunday means.

And what we find here is that there's something that's happened as we open this sixth verse that took place a chapter earlier and in real time.

It took place some months and for us today, possibly some years earlier, where now Jesus is having some beef with religious leaders.

Until you understand what it means to kind of find yourself in the middle of some stuff that you're trying to understand that just really don't make no sense.

It's kind of like trying to watch season four of Love and Hip Hop, atlanta, and you don't really know who Stevie and Jocelyn are.

But you know something don't look or sound right and you're trying to catch up.

Some of y'all don't know who that is.

It's kind of like watching the story of Bobby Brown, but you don't know who New Edition is.

Some of y'all ain't connect with that.

It's kind of like turning on your TV and you see this dude with some glasses on, with some white stuff on his face, and you look at this man and go.

Ain't nobody come to see you?

Otis, now, if you missed that one, I ain't got no more examples for you now.

You just made up in your mind not to connect with nothing I say today, but we find ourselves right in the middle of some drama.

In order to understand this discord that Jesus is having with these religious rulers, I had to go back and flip back a little bit to see where the breakdown happened, and very quickly it happened the moment that Jesus comes out of the wilderness and he's anointed now to go and do the work that his father had commissioned him to do.

So he sets out and he begins to go from city to city and he's healing and he's touching people and he's changing lives.

And it started.

This was long before social media.

This was before they had Instagram people putting cameras in your face every time something happened.

So this literally began to spread by word of mouth, rumors of things that he had began to do.

And it start to spread like wildfire because, like human beings, we all go through things and the only thing that we need when we go through things is to see where the relief is.

So, as these people are going through life, they're hearing that this man can do something about the things that they're going through.

So, one by one, jesus is touching lives and, as a part of their custom and their culture, every Sunday he would go to the temple and he would begin to teach and preach.

And this particular Sunday, as he's coming out of the wilderness, he goes and he gets the scroll of Isaiah where he talks about the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he's anointed me to do X, y and Z.

So then he begins to go further in his mission and his ministry, touching more and more lives.

But here's where the breakdown happened, Because oftentimes folk are with you until you cross a line.

The Bible says that he was in church one Sunday or in a gathering one weekend.

There was a man that had been lowered down by his friends.

He was crippled in order for Jesus to bless him.

Y'all remember this.

The Bible says that as he healed the man, he said something that set off something that would now start this beef between him and the religious leaders.

The Bible says that he said to the man your sins are forgiven.

Now, the religious leaders now looking at him cross-eyed, like who are you to forgive sin?

Now looking at him cross-eyed, like who are you to forgive sin?

So now, just simply, uh, in him making this one statement, he now becomes their public enemy number one.

He now is is fixed on their radar that everywhere he goes now they begin to show up in order to now, uh, create not only their case against him, but now trying to create chaos.

I need for you to understand in here that sometimes You've got to realize wherever there is opposition, there is also opportunity.

So the Bible, y'all like that.

I'm going to say it over again Wherever there is that's what I'm talking about they trying to hurry me up Wherever there is opposition, there is also opportunity.

The Bible says.

He shows up now at church on a Sunday morning and they now have this issue with him because he's allowing his disciples to get grains from the field and eat.

Now this is a violation according to the law.

How you gonna, jesus, how you gonna let your boys violate?

You should know, since you all deep in everything, you know how they come at you, since you all deep in everything.

You should know, since you all deep in everything you know how they come at you, since you all deep in everything, you should know not to let your boys do this.

Y'all violate.

Jesus then responds in a way that was so unlike Chris Lyle's, as I shared with our vacation Bible school folks.

There have been times in my life where I've been known and y'all, please forgive me, keep praying for me.

Although I got the mic, I'm not perfect, but there have been times where Chris Lyles would show up and he would handle it the way Chris Lyles think is necessary to handle it, and I might not use the words that some of y'all would approve of for a man up here with the microphone, but nonetheless, jesus, as our example, responded to them with the word.

So, because he responded to them, what I love in his response was he found a way to G-check them.

Y'all know what G-check is.

I know I'm talking.

I told you I'm talking to the hood holy crowd up in here today now.

So if I'm using terms, nod at me, even if you want to say amen that you get it.

But he G-checks them and he says not only am I the Lord of of everything, but I'm also the Lord over the Sabbath.

See, sometimes y'all get it twisted and you think that God is only the God that you worship and serve on Sunday morning.

But he's also the same God that you got to answer to on Monday night.

He's also the same God that's going to help you out your situations when Wednesday come.

He's also the same God that's going to pull you through when Thursday Thursdays show up.

He's also the same God that's going to pull you through when Thursday Thursdays show up.

He's also the same God over every day of the week.

So we find here that he responds.

That infuriates them.

So now, when you flip over one book, one chapter into now, chapter six, in verse six it says on another Sunday.

I need to encourage somebody in here where you feel like you've just been dealing with the same people in the same situations over and over and over again.

I need to encourage the media, put this one again.

I need to encourage you, media, put this one up.

I need to encourage you to keep coming back.

Yeah, I, I need you, I, I need you to keep coming back, and and I'll explain what that means here in just a second, because the eight clause of that verse says that on another Sunday watch this A man was there that had an issue.

What I find exegetically preachers is that the story of this man was really not even the point of the story, because he was somewhat of a bystander in the whole thing that was panning out.

He wasn't even the reason that Jesus was even having the issue with the men in the first place.

And I know for some of us that might be hard to grasp or understand.

But I'm trying to encourage you that as you come back, I need you to realize that sometimes, sometimes somebody say, sometimes back.

I need you to realize that sometimes, sometimes somebody say, sometimes, sometimes your miracle might be a byproduct of somebody else's moment, your miracle might be a byproduct of somebody else's moment.

Many of us have been in church and realized that, as people are coming up and they're going through and they're finding God or they're hearing a situation, they're getting breakthrough.

You kind of sometimes find yourself in the back and you got your arms folded, but not to realize that God has been trying to touch you on the shoulder the whole time.

God's been trying to bring you out the whole time, but you've been so fixed on what somebody else has been going through.

You've been a bystander this whole time of something that you felt like didn't even apply to you.

But listen to me, bystander, I need you to stand by, because the same God that's blessing them, the same God that's dealing with them, the same God that's helping them, the same God that's healing them, is the same God that has you in mind.

I need you to keep coming back, though.

Keep coming back, because it is the enemy's design to keep you isolated.

Yeah, yeah, it is the enemy's design and desire to keep you so unmotivated that you just refuse to stop showing up.

It's the enemy's design to have you get up, and I know I ain't talking to to to just the lights in here.

There's some Sunday mornings where you wake up and you go.

Man, I ain't going in there today, no, I'm alright, some of y'all probably thought about it this morning.

No, it's father's day.

It's father's day, I'm gonna put my tube socks on and my sandals.

I'm going to go get on the grill.

Let me take a station.

Pause real quick.

Listen, happy Father's Day, brothers.

And, as Pastor Walt mentioned, whether you're a father biologically or not, you don't realize, as a man, the importance that your presence has for just showing up.

Some of you are fathers in spirit, some of you are fathers in presence.

There's a ministry of presence just showing up and being a comfort to others.

You don't understand how far and how much that means, but you got to keep coming back, even when it's uncomfortable.

You got to keep coming back.

Even when it don't make sense, you got to keep coming back.

Some of us have created these conditional contracts with God that we say God, I'm only going to bless you if you bless me.

I know I ain't lying, uh, cause some of us have subscribed to the.

When praises go up, blessings come down, and some of us have said well, god, I've been praising you this whole time and I ain't been blessed yet.

So what, what, what, what are we doing this for God, if I'm giving you what you want, but you ain't helping me where I need.

But I need you to keep coming back.

Won't you tell somebody keep coming back, keep coming back.

Your miracle, your miracle, your miracle is the byproduct of somebody else's moment.

Here's what's amazing In the B clause of that sixth verse.

Can you put that sixth verse back up?

For me, b clause, and that's just preacher talk.

What that means is, whenever you see a comma in scripture, they just break it up in sections.

That's ain't being deep, all right.

So on another Sunday he went into the church and was teaching and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.

The second thing I need for you to do, as you keep coming back, I need for you to be bold enough to show up unashamed.

Show up unashamed.

There's some things that you've been dealing with in life.

There's some situations that have overcome you and overtake you and you've made up in your mind that you won't stay home.

But you've come in and you've been okay to just kind of blend in.

But I need you to understand that each and every opportunity you have to come and connect and connect and I'm talking to the introverts right now and connect, I'm talking to the folk that don't come in, don't really want to talk about and connect.

I'm talking to the people that that's OK, just you know coming in, sitting in, so I can't wait for you to say, hey'll write it down and connect.

I need you to show up.

Whatever that thing is that's been troubling.

You show up unashamed.

Here's why, again, not being deep, but the reality is oftentimes we try to fake the funk.

For people that's going through just like you.

They got problems just like you.

They got troubles just like you.

But when you show up unashamed, what you're really saying is that I won't let my problem define my praise.

I won't let my issue keep me from giving God what he's due.

I won't let my situation keep me bound anymore.

I won't let what you're saying about me, or what I thought I heard you say, keep me from getting into the presence of God.

God, I'm going to show up with my problem getting into the presence of God, god, I'm going to show up with my problem.

I'm going to show up with my issue and give God the very best praise I can.

I show up unashamed.

I need you to get this picture before we go to verse 8.

This man, the Bible says, is unknown.

The Bible doesn't give him a name.

He's unidentified, but he's known by his affliction.

He's known by his issue.

The Bible says on another Sunday there happened to be a man there whose hand was shriveled.

Now, what I found when I dug into this a little deeper that his condition was possibly a result of a motor issue that created a palsy type condition and where the signal between his brain and functions of his body were damaged.

And what you got to understand is not only was it just a hand, but it was his right hand.

Luke gives the description that Matthew and Mark didn't give, that this man showed up and had an issue with his right hand.

That's significant because without the ability to use both extremities limited his ability to take care of himself.

So this was a condition that affected his livelihood.

This was a condition that affected his livelihood.

It affected his social connection, his ability to interact with other folks, because in the culture of the time, many of them would signify not only their greetings, but many of them would signify their contracts and the things that they would do in behalf of business and just life with a handshake, which he was unable to do.

The Bible says he was there.

He showed up, despite what he was dealing with.

Can you pull up verse 8?

What I love about this?

As I mentioned when we started this, there were five verses of scripture, but only three of them are pertaining to this man, because the reality was he wasn't even the emphasis of this encounter that Jesus was having with the church folk.

This is why it's important for you to continue to show up, and to show up unashamed, because often times you try to personalize some things that ain't even about you, but God's going to bless you anyway, yeah, yeah.

So the Bible says in verse 8, as Jesus is now having this discourse with the religious leaders about what can and should not be done on the Sabbath, it says verse 8,.

But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man get up and stand in front of everyone.

This wasn't even about me, jesus.

What the Bible says, knowing what all the naysayers had to say to this person that's now showing up unashamed, I need for you to get up and stand in the front.

Some of you ain't got it yet.

There's some things that God is trying to deliver you from, but he needs for you to first be willing to get up.

Get up from where you are.

Get up from what's been holding you down.

Get up from what's been discouraging you.

Get up from what's been keeping you uh, uh held back.

Keep up from what.

Get up from what's been keeping you in the place of struggle.

The Bible says he told him to get up and stand in the front.

Put it back up there.

Here's what I like about that last part.

It says so he got up and stood there.

I need for you my third point after you keep coming back, after you show up unashamed, I need for you to be willing to stand where they all can see you.

Yeah, yeah, we ain't standing in the back, no more.

You need to be in the front, where they all can see you.

Yeah, the same ones that talked about you, the same ones that didn't think you needed to be there in the first place, the same ones that didn't know if you had what it took to get through.

Stand so they all can see you.

You don't understand how embarrassing that must have felt, how hard of a task that was, but I'm encouraged by the last clause of that scripture.

It says so he got up and he stood there.

Some of you are in the midst of your breakthrough, but it all hinges on your obedience to God's word.

It all hinges on your obedience to do what you heard him say.

Do Don't try to rationalize it, don't try to figure it out, don't try to make it make sense for everybody else when God says move stand so they can see you.

Stand in the midst of your embarrassment.

Stand in the midst of your inadequacies.

Stand in the midst of your weaknesses.

Stand in the midst of your failures.

Stand in the midst of your failures.

Stand so they can see you.

The Bible says that he didn't say one word.

Oh, my God.

The Bible didn't say that he had this deliberation with Jesus.

The Bible didn't say that he asked Jesus are you sure why you want me to stand in front of him?

You know all they're going to do is talk about me.

The Bible says that when he heard, he obeyed.

I need to encourage somebody in here to get the strength in this season of your life that when God says you move, I move, just like that.

When God says I need you to stand, I need you to be willing and able to stand in the midst of whatever it is that you face, no matter what it is that you're up against.

Stand, watch this, so they all can see you.

I know it's hard because they're looking at me.

I know it's hard because they all got something to say.

No matter what it is that I try to do, good, somebody always got something to say about it.

But I need you to stand where every eyeball can see you.

You ain't standing to show out.

You ain't standing to try to make a name for yourself.

I ain't standing because I got my own agenda.

I'm simply standing here because he told me to stand.

Stand where you can see me.

God trying to encourage somebody here.

You've been hiding from standing in the front.

You've been running from standing in the front.

There's some gifts he's put inside of you.

There's some things that he's trying to get out of you.

But you're trying to work it from the back to the front.

But he's telling you I need you to come to the front so everybody in the back can see you.

Stand where they can see you.

I know it's embarrassing, I know it hurts, but when you stand where everybody can see you, you make room for what he's getting ready to do.

I hope y'all get this.

Y'all getting excited.

Oh my God, come on, keep clapping, keep clapping, keep clapping.

Somebody got to keep coming back.

You've given up far too too early.

You threw in the towel way too soon.

I need you to keep coming back if you're online.

I know you're the guy used to sitting at home with uh, what they call it uh, best I see.

See, some of y'all done been there, some of y'all been at this church.

We're trying to deliver.

You.

Come on back to a house, because there's a blessing in being reconnected.

There's a blessing in being reconnected, there's a blessing in being in the house.

Forget what they saying, forget what you heard, them gossiping gals and them whispering witches.

Don't forget.

Forget about everything that's going on in the church.

You need to keep coming back and when you come back, I need you to show up unashamed.

Yeah, you got problems.

We got problems.

All God's children got problems, but we're grateful for the blood that cleanses us each and every day.

Be willing to show up unashamed.

When you show up unashamed, here's the thing you got to be willing to hear his voice, because for some of you, especially under the sound of my voice today, he's been calling you and calling you for a long time.

But you've been trying to rationalize it in your mind and because you tried to rationalize it, that's what's kept you frozen, that's what's kept you stuck and and and from the place of obedience and standing where everybody can see you, because you weren't about folk and what they got to say.

As a the older folk used to say when they don't have a heaven or hell.

Here's my last point.

We're getting ready to go home.

Y'all been a great audience today.

Y'all been with your boy.

Y'all keep coming back, showing up on a shame when you stand in the front where everybody can see you.

Pull up verse 10 for me.

The Bible says after he has another exchange with the rulers.

In verse 9, the Bible says he looked around.

Jesus looked around at all of the naysayers.

He looked around at everybody that had something to say about something Some of you in here weren't, about battles and struggles that are not yours.

The Bible says the battle is the Lord's.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I need that to connect in your spirit so that you can release yourself from other people's opinions.

You need to be released and freed and delivered from what other folk got to say.

You need to be released and freed from even the bondage of your own mind.

The Bible says that as he stood there, jesus looked across the crowd of the naysayers Look at this.

And then he said to the man stretch out your hand.

Hey, the Bible says and he did so and his hand was completely restored.

I don't know who I'm talking into to somebody in here right now, but there's about 15 of you in here right now that can testify that.

This is the moment, this is the time where God's about to give you your grip back.

He's about to re-establish your grip.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You've been stuck in this place, but now God's about to free you.

He's about to give you your grip back.

You got to understand the significance because this was his right hand, this was the method and the measure of his livelihood.

But it also had a spiritual connotation as well, because you see, as God loosed his hand to be stretched, what that meant in the spirit was that God had also given him his authority back.

Hey, somebody needs to get your authority back, somebody needs to get your power back.

Somebody needs to get your spirit back.

I need about 15 of y'all who I'm talking to right now to get that in your spirit.

Hold up your right hand, hold your right hand up and say I'm getting my strength back, I'm getting my grip back, father, I stretch my hand.

I wish about 25 more y'all.

We get excited to know that God is doing it Right before your very eyes.

Clap your hands and give God some praise, hallelujah.

See, you'll get your grip back right now.

I feel it and I sense it in the spirit.

You've been locked up.

You've been stuck.

You've been stuck in this place for far too long, but God says today is the day that you're getting your grip back.

You're going to get your grip back on your life.

You're going to get the grip back on your finances.

You're going to get the grip back on what's been happening and falling apart in your life.

You're going to get the grip back on what's been happening and falling apart in your life.

You're about to get that authority back.

You're about to get that power and that peace back, but you've got to be willing to grip it.

You've got to be willing to exercise the authority now that God has put in your hand.

The Bible says that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, and it's not by coincidence that God is trying to whisper to somebody in here right now.

Get your grip back.

Everybody standing on your feet, get your grip back.

I need for everybody to slip your right hand in the air.

There's a spiritual impartation that's about to take place in here right now.

We don't go through this for motion or emotion.

We believe that God is about to do something wonderful in your life.

You've been coming back.

And coming back.

You've been showing up unashamed, but now is your opportunity to stand in the front, where they all can see you, to see what God has done, not by power, nor by might, but by his spirit.

There's a demonstration of his power that's about to take place in here, right now, in your right hand, that's being restored.

Some of you can feel it right now.

Some of you can feel your peace coming back.

Some of you can feel your authority and your strength coming back.

Feel your, your authority and your strength coming back where you were once weak.

Now you're able to stand affirmed on the thing that you've heard god say concerning you your grip is coming back.

Your grip is coming back.

Your grip is coming back.

And if you're here and even this gesture and even this gesture seems hard to do, brother Preacher, I hear you saying that my grip is coming back, but the truth of the matter is, you don't know what I'm facing when I walk out of these doors.

It sounds good.

It sounds good for Sunday morning, but I'm dealing with some things that are bigger than me.

I need for you to understand this, if you don't hear nothing else that I said, if God was able to do it in someone else's life, he can do it for you.

And if it's hard for you to lift your hands, what I need you at least to do is to look at every hand, every right hand that that's lifted, that can testify that god has given strength back where you were once wounded and weak, that god has given authority back, that god has replenished and and refavored life all over again.

I need you to see the testimonies that are around you right now.

This is why you came back.

This is why you're here, so that you can see and have the testimony that if God was able to do it in somebody else's life, god can do it in my life, so as my right hand, as my hands, are extended before heaven.

God, I thank you for restoring me.

I thank you for healing me.

I thank you for healing me.

I thank you for bringing me out.

Thank you for giving me my grip back.

Father, I stretch my hand If you're here today, under the sound of my voice, and that stretch is difficult.

I want you to know that today is the last day for you to struggle with this and, if you're in agreement with that, if you are struggling with getting your grip back.

I want you to meet me here at this altar, and we're going to pray.

We're going to pray and we're going to do this right again.

This is not about emotion.

We ain't trying to take anybody through emotional roller coasters, but we are about to extend our faith.

Meet us here at this altar.

If you need to get your grip back, meet us here and if you know God has done something for you, if you know that God has restored your grip, I want for you, I'm asking you, to also come to this altar as well, because sometimes we need to know that others that have gone through what we've gone through got our backs and we're not out here on our own.

Hallelujah, worshippers, I need you to worship Intercessors, I need you to intercede.

Hallelujah, god is about to do something phenomenal right before our very eyes right now.

Come on, they're still coming.

They're still coming.

They're still coming.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

If God has restored your right hand, if God has restored you back, I need you here at the altar to pray with those that need a breakthrough.

Hallelujah, glory to God, glory to God, glory to God, hallelujah.

Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God, hallelujah.

God is able to do just what he said he would do.

He's going to fulfill every promise to you.

Promise to you.

Don't give up on God, because he won't give up on you.

He's able.

Now, when he sings this again for those of you up here, when he sings this again for those of you that are here struggling with getting your grip back, I want you, if you know the words, to sing the words, because this impartation will only connect if you know that the one that is able to do it watch this not only can do it, but he's to do it.

Watch this Not only can do it, but he's already done it, because you've been willing to come up and stand in the front Because you've been willing to lay it all down.

God has already done it.

He's already done it.

So, as this song is lifted up again, if you know it, sing along.

If you don't know it, listen carefully to the words.

It says God is able to do just what he said he would do.

He's going to fulfill every promise to you.

Watch this.

Don't give up on God, because he won't give up on you.

He's able, and when you hear that he's able, I want for you up here that's struggling to get your grip back, when you hear he's able, I want that to refrain in your spirit he's able, he's able, he's able, he's able.

You got it.

He's able, and as you feel that strength now being put into your body, I want you to begin to lift your right hand.

He's able not now, not now, not yet, not yet, not yet, cause there's about to be, there's about to be an overflow in here, right now, of God's power.

Now, when you hear it, when you experience it, allow him to feel, allow you to feel what you're feeling.

Amen, amen, come on, god is able.

God is able to do just what he said he will do.

He's gonna fulfill he has.

He's gonna fulfill Just what he said he will do.

He's gonna fulfill yes, he's gonna fulfill Every promise to you.

So don't give up on God.

Don't give up on God, cause he won't give up on you.

Shout it out, he is able.

Come on, lift it out.

He's able.

Come on, lift your hands.

That's it.

That's it, hallelujah.

That's it.

That's it.

He's able, he's able.

Come on, that's it.

Lift your hands, come on in agreement, in agreement with what he's doing right now.

Lift your hands, he's able, he's able.

Come on, you got it, come on, he's able, he's able, he's able.

Whatever he says, he's going to do it.

I tried him.

I know he's able, he is able, he's able.

God is not amazed that he should lie, but the Son of man that he should repent.

He is able, he is able, he is able, he is able, he is able, he is able, he is able, he, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, he is evil.

Oh, oh.

He is evil.

Listen as your hand is lifted right now.

It is a sign to heaven, not only of what God is giving back to you, but it's also a sign of what you're letting go.

It's also a sign of what you're letting go.

Your open palm, extended to heaven, indicates that you can't hold.

You can't hold it anymore.

You can't keep it anymore.

You can't keep it anymore.

God is trying to bring you through it right now, and it all starts with you letting it go.

This is a sign of you letting it go.

Let it go.

Let it go for the last time.

I hear God say let it go for the last time.

I hear God say let it go for the last time.

I hear God say let it go for the last time Because the problem for some of us has been we've let it go, but because we got our grip, we grip it right back again.

But God said let it go for the last time.

That torment ends now, that destruction in your life ends now, those disappointments that have been chasing you ends now that destruction in your life ends now, those disappointments that have been chasing you ends now.

Let it go.

Come on, let us pray.

Father, we thank you right now for reminding us how much you love us, that you love us enough, dear God, to heal us, to deliver us, to set us free.

We thank you right now for the activity of our limbs.

That now is a pronouncement that we've let it go.

Let this God be an indicator that we no longer will try.

Let this God be an indicator that we no longer will try to be bound or hold on to things, dear God, that you've meant for us to let go.

God, we thank you right now for the strength.

Some of us, dear God, need strength just to stretch our hands to let it go, dear God.

We've tried to fix it time and time again, but thank you for the strength to let it go.

Let it go so that you, dear God, will be glorified.

We realize that we can't worry and worship at the same time.

So, as our hand is lifted as a sign of our worship, we let it go.

We let go of the worry.

We let go of the discontent.

We let go of the things that's keeping us up at night, god.

Some of us aren't even able to sleep at night because we've been trying to wrestle with things that are outside of our control.

We let it go right now.

We let it go right now to receive your touch, to receive your healing, to receive your word.

Just as you spoke a word to that man with that condition of his hand, you've spoken a word over us right now, and we receive it.

Thank you for giving us our grip back.

Thank you for giving us authority and strength back.

Thank you for giving us our mind back.

Thank you for giving us victory.

Thank you, dear God, for delivering us.

Thank you, dear God, for helping us to overcome.

Give us the strength, as we leave this place, that, as we face tomorrow, that we will have the wherewithal to remember that you've given us our grip back.

It's in the matchless, mighty name of Jesus that we pray and count it done.

Let every heart say amen, amen, amen.

Come on, can we celebrate for those that have come up?

Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen.

Come on, can we celebrate for those that have come up, hallelujah, hallelujah.

And before you return to your seat, before you return to your seat, there was something so incredible about that scripture.

I know that we've been conditioned to want and to feel.

We're human beings, so we want and feel, or have the need to want to feel a physical touch, but what was amazing about this man's deliverance was that Jesus never touched him.

So, as you are obedient to what he has spoken to you, as you are obedient to what he has spoken to you, as you are in faith, stepping day by day in what he has spoken to you, receive your grip back.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, come, let's bless God for them once again.

You may return If you are here at this altar, or if you are here and you do not know or do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

I want you to meet us here at the altar.

We have some clergy that will pray with you.

Have some clergy that will pray with you Amen.

If you are here, if there's anyone that needs to receive this touch and this miracle by way of a relationship with Jesus Christ, this is now that opportunity.

We can't rush this moment because for somebody in here, your life is depending on you.

So if you are here under the sound of my voice and you've not yet made that declaration, I pray that you have the boldness to stand up and step out.

No, you don't have to necessarily come down in order to receive him, but what better way to be connected than to show your faith and your resolve in what God can do in your life?

And maybe you're here and you have accepted the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.

But somewhere on this road you've had a disconnect.

You feel like you fell back.

I need you to know that God is still here with open arms, waiting for you to come back.

So if you need to be recommitted, this is your opportunity as well.

If you don't have a relationship or need to be recommitted, this is your opportunity now.

Hallelujah, and then, finally, if you've been coming back, you've been coming back, but you've not yet connected with this fellowship of believers.

This is now your opportunity to connect.

This is your opportunity to connect.

This is your opportunity to know that you're not out here by yourself.

We hold one another up, so if you have not yet partnered with us, this is now your opportunity to come and connect.

Amen, amen.

I don't see anybody moving, so that means that we're all saved we all committed and we all connected.

Hallelujah.

Can we give God a praise for all he has done?

Come on, we can do better than that.

Somebody got delivered today.

Somebody got their breakthrough today.

Can we give God a praise for all he has done?

Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

As everyone is standing all over your feet, we're about to dismiss for the day.

We are grateful for the opportunity to stand and do what the Savior said.

As we leave today, fathers again, we say happy Father's Day.

Opportunity to stand and do what the Savior said.

As we leave today, fathers again, we say happy Father's Day to all of the men.

All of the men happy Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day Again.

As I said to the 8 am crowd, brothers, if they try to put you on that grill today, tell them you got your grip back and I will not be gripping.

No tongs for no grill.

That is not the grip we're getting back today.

Your grip today is for you to grip that more control, Grip the more control, Amen.

Don't let them do that to you.

Don't let them do it to you.

And listen.

I shared this with the 8am.

We finna go, but if they listen to me, hold on.

Hold on, because this is important.

I can't let this go.

If they bought you a lawnmower, if they bought you a weed blower, if they bought you

anything for you to use outside.

Ask them for the receipt Because, like I told, 8 am mothers.

That would be just like you getting a vacuum cleaner for Mother's Day.

Y'all might smile and say thank you, but you go back in that back room.

You cussing.

I know good and wet ain't give me no vacuum cleaner.

He feel the same way, so don't put him on the grill today and take that yard equipment back.

Alright, brothers, I would think that y'all be like yeah, some of y'all want to be outside.

Ooh Lord, let me get out of here.

Woo Lord, let me get out of here.

Some of y'all want to be outside no, brother, I'll be outside.

No, alright, I'm going to stop where I can.

Alright, they told me to stop.

Alright, hallelujah, glory to God all hearts and minds are clear.

Come on, let us look unto the Lord to be dismissed.

Father, we thank you for this time, thank you for all that you have deposited and shared within us.

Oh God, we thank you for this day of celebration, this day of acknowledgement.

We pray that, even as we are preparing to leave this place, but never your presence, that you continue to watch over and keep over each and every one of us.

Dear God, that we may be joyful when we're meeting back together to give your name all the glory, honor and praise Now unto him, who's able to keep us from falling, present us faultless before his throne and majesty.

Be it in Jesus' name.

We pray and count it all down.

Let us all together say amen, amen, amen.

God bless you.

Hug somebody before you leave.