Jesus is in the house

CCW.

Well, today on the dedication service, there was only one passage we could go to.

Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Oh, what a passage.

And I have actually preached that here before, but not the way you're going to hear it today.

When I went back, because there's something after last night, as I was going home, driving home, I uh and I was having a conversation with David, just reminiscing all that God had laid on our hearts to see accomplished here.

And as I saw those kids hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and over a thousand people just having the time of their life here, I thought to myself, this is exactly what God gave David and I the vision to do.

This is it.

This is it.

And so as I was just weeping and going home by myself and thanking God, I said, you know, many churches have many things said about them.

Some are good, some are bad.

But each church kind of has a saying.

And I thought to myself, what would we want people to say about CCW in our community?

What would we want them to say about CCW here in Westover and Chelsea?

And God took me to Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Now you've got to realize Jesus had been in chapter 1 beginning his public ministry.

This was the beginning of his public ministry.

And he had gone throughout the region preaching the kingdom of God.

He was demonstrating his great power by healing people.

And then when we get to chapter 1 in Mark, verse 32, we learn that Jesus really had almost healed everybody in the region.

So it had created a stir.

I mean a major stir.

And so Jesus then realized something was taking place, and he realized that his miracles were overshadowing his message and who he was.

People were getting excited about miracles, but they were not getting excited or really even who, hey, hey, had any concept of who the Messiah Jesus was.

So his miracles kind of eclipsed his message.

So he decided and he kept preaching, but then he decided, well, I it's time to take a break.

So let's go back to his closest friend's house, Peter, in Capernaum, and he was going back to rest.

And as soon as he got to Peter's house in Capernaum, the word got out that Jesus was in Capernaum.

That Jesus was in Peter's house.

And so we pick up the story in chapter 2, verse 1.

And again he entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was a noise that he was in the house.

And I thought, that's it.

We want this whole region.

When we started this church, we went to the intersection of 280 and 55, and we looked at a demographic study, and we saw, we saw all these houses in Chelsea Park and all these new subdivisions down 55.

We saw all that in the planning stage.

We knew that this would end up being one of the fastest growing counties in the whole state of Alabama, which it has been for the last five to eight years, and taking first or second place to Huntsville.

So we knew that this is where we, David knew, and we knew that we wanted to be right here.

So we knew that.

And then we decided we want this church to be a community church.

We want this church to be a blessing to this community.

And you saw that last night.

And every year that we've done our outreach with Harvest Jam and Trunk or Treat, they would say, Pastor Danny, thank you, thank you for doing this.

Because we don't charge them a dime.

So we knew what was going to happen here.

We saw it.

We saw it.

And we said, this is what we want people to say about CCW.

We want them to start a rumor that Jesus is in the house.

And that's the title of the message, When Jesus is in the house.

And when Jesus is in the house, hey, we see three things.

And we're going to look at it quickly this morning.

First of all, we're going to look at Jesus and his preaching.

Notice in verses 1 and 2, or verse 2, and straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word unto them.

Now let me tell you something I realize and what I believe with all my heart.

The people will come by the hundreds and the thousands if Jesus is in the house.

And last night we had over a thousand people on this campus, and I sat there and watched that juggler do a tremendous job, not juggling, but using the juggling act to present the gospel to hundreds of people three different times.

And I said, That's it.

Jesus is in the house.

Jesus is in the house.

Jesus is in this property and on this property.

And we see that.

And he, hey, they came to see Jesus.

Now they came to see him do extraordinary miracles, extraordinary things.

They were excited about what Jesus was going to do next.

They had to be amazed when they came to see him perform the extraordinary when he started preaching.

I can't imagine what they said.

Now wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We didn't come to hear that.

We came for the free food, we came for the rides, we came for the juggling act.

We didn't come to hear him present the gospel.

But you know what?

It didn't bother Jesus one bit.

Because he knew why they were there.

They were there to see him, but he was there to give them the message of, hey, of true life.

I've come to give you life and give it more abundantly, he says.

And it's not my miracles, it's me.

I'm the Messiah.

So we see this begin to take place.

I love it.

I love it.

In fact, he preached the total gospel.

And then notice in his preaching, and by the way, preaching was central to the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus.

It wasn't his miracles, it was his message.

Can I get an amen?

But he used the miracles that set the platform for the message.

And everything we do here, people asked me the other day, just say, you build a gym.

I said, Well, you ain't seen the gym.

I said, we didn't build a gym, we built a building.

We built a building that would be a functional building because we had a plan, not David and I from the very beginning, because he had been with me at Open Doors where we built a church of over a thousand in a metal building.

And it was not near as pretty as this one.

Oh, it was, I mean, we were.

That's all I'm gonna say.

We were really poor.

But we watched God save.

Are you ready for this?

Save people by the hundreds.

We baptize anywhere from 150 to 300 people every year, 10 years in a row.

At Open Door Baptist Church.

Carrie and Sonia are here.

They helped start that one, they helped start this one.

They were one of the first after David and Christie, they came.

Yep.

So what I'm saying is this, folks, we do all this for one purpose.

We have a lot of great things that are happening here.

We want it.

But our first, hey, and foremost purpose is to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The good news to all these kids.

There's gonna be hundreds of people playing basketball here, volleyball in here.

We're gonna have one of the greatest areas.

I had the whole, the mayor and the council and all in here thirsty at our luncheon, and they're gonna be able to use this for unbelievable things for the community.

But the foremost purpose is to get people in here so we can present the good news, the message of Jesus Christ.

That's the purpose.

And it must always, listen to me, when I'm, hey, dead and gone, and when some of us that started this, when we're off the scene, I've already told Benji and I've told Rick, you don't ever supplant the preaching of the Word of God.

If you do, gotta take his hand off this ministry so quick and make your head swim.

You gotta keep the main thing, the main thing.

And that's the preaching of the gospel.

And we see this.

In fact, it was the central.

I love what he says.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And then he goes on and he says, by the way, how can they hear without a preacher?

And how can the preacher preach if he's not sent?

And then he goes on and says, Blessed are the feet of those that preach the gospel of peace.

Romans 10, 13 through 15.

Mark 16, 15, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Last uh, this past uh Thursday, Friday night, we were in Raphael's a pizza place, and this young lad came up to me and he started waiting on us, and his name was was it KP?

KP, right?

I got it right.

And I said, KP, I said, boy, that's a that's a fitting name for you to bring me food.

And it was a young man and he had a big smile.

I said, let me show you something, KP.

I said, look, Jesus is awesome.

He smiled.

I said, KP, do you know why he's awesome?

He said, No, sir.

Very mannerly young man.

I said, letter A, he's all sufficient.

Letter W, he's a word.

Letter E, he's a.

And I took him through the gospel.

And I said, KP, do you know him?

He said, I sure do.

And you know what he said right after that?

I wish I had one of those bracelets.

I said, I'll tell you what, now by this time, everybody in the restaurant's listening.

I'm not a quiet person.

I don't mean to be quite when I'm sharing Jesus is awesome.

But I took it off immediately and gave it to him.

I said, now you gotta wear it.

He said, I'll wear it.

I'm not ashamed, put it on right there.

But that's why we're here, folks.

And we see Jesus started preaching.

Now watch what happens.

Let's look at the second thing.

We see he begins preaching everywhere when he preached.

By the way, he fed people for the purpose of preaching to them.

Amen.

He always ministered physically so he could what?

Ultimately minister spiritually every time.

And that's what we do here.

Everything we do here is for the community.

We go into the community with an ice cream truck so that we can share the good news.

When the truck drives up, we you say free ice cream.

You don't have to worry about people coming.

It's a whole new concept about door-to-door visitation.

You drive in with an ice cream truck, knock on the door, and say, Hey, free ice cream for your kids.

Here they come.

And then you what they did, then they holler, hey, to all their friends in the neighborhood, free ice cream.

And they come.

But guess what?

On that truck says Jesus is awesome.

And we give them literature of our church.

We invite them to church.

So this is what we see happens.

And then we see verses three through five, we see his power.

Right in the middle of Jesus' preaching.

This is what I pray for CCW.

That we'll have people that'll do what these next few verses explain takes place with four men that brought their friend to Jesus.

Four men carrying their friend, who's a paralyzed friend, to Jesus.

They're bringing him, they're carrying him.

We don't know how far they had to take him, but we know they probably had to take him a good ways.

So here they come.

They get to the house.

The house is packed.

They can't get in the house.

So they just say, Well, we can't get our friend to Jesus.

Let's just go back home.

Is that what they did?

Absolutely not.

They said, nothing's going to keep us from getting our friends to Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

That's why we have Friend Day, to bring people to Jesus, to bring people to church so we can they can hear the message of Jesus.

Listen, ladies and gentlemen, what we want CCW to be to this community, we want to do everything we can, every means we can to bring people to Jesus.

That's the sole purpose of David Wilson asking me to help him start a church.

That's all that mattered to him.

Surpro was a platform for him to present Jesus.

Everything he did.

Right, Carrie?

Right, Benji?

You grew up under that.

And that's why we're here, folks.

That's why we're here.

Now, watch this.

They can't get him to Jesus, so they all of a sudden one of the guys says, Hey, there's stairs up to the roof on the side of the house.

Now, back there, during that time, they built homes with flat roofs, kind of like our decks.

We use decks to go out on, relax, grill out, have a good well, that's kind of what their roof was.

They'd put uh logs and stuff on it, and then they would put brush and tiles, and then they'd put mud and make it as flat and as even as they could, so that they could go up on the top of the roof and enjoy themselves and relax and and see the, you know, people walking by, whatever.

I don't know, but it was a relaxing place.

So they said, look, we know there's stairs that'll get us up to the roof.

Let's go up top on the roof and let's do this.

They got up there.

Can you imagine once they got up there, what one whoever the leader was said?

He said, now here's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna dig a hole in the roof.

Now, let me ask something.

What would happen right now if we're here, I'm preaching, and all of a sudden you hear something on the roof going.

And then the next thing you know, all of a sudden stuff starts falling down.

I'm talking about a lot of stuff.

You realize they had to dig a hole large enough to lower, are you ready for this, a stretcher with a man down on it through the roof.

Can you imagine Peter sitting there and all that stuff starts falling?

I can imagine what he's thinking.

Oh no, I hope my homeowner insurance is paid up.

Next thing you know, here comes the gentleman being Lord on the stretcher.

Now, I don't know about you, but that would create a commotion in the service.

In fact, Jesus is preaching.

You know, it'd be one thing to interrupt me, but what about interrupting Jesus?

But you know what?

I think Jesus got so excited.

Because he knew.

See, the word in this passage says that he knew about their faith.

And he even goes on record saying, because of their faith, I'm gonna, hey, not only am I gonna heal the man, I'm gonna save him first and then heal him.

In fact, watch what happens.

Verse 3.

And they came unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four.

And when they could not come nigh unto him, for they pressed, in other words, they did everything that they could to get in the house, they uncovered the roof where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed within the sick of the palsy lay.

And when Jesus saw their, underline that, their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

Wow.

So their faith, that included the man on the stretcher, no doubt about it, because you can't be saved without faith.

But he saw it.

He saw their belief that they had done whatever it took to bring their friend to Jesus.

And their Jesus, hey, and their friend believes if you can get me to Jesus, he can save me, he can fix me.

So the first thing I want you to see, and it's very important, in your outline.

I'm getting so carried away, I just forgot my outline.

I'm preaching.

But number one, Jesus and his preaching, but then number two, Jesus and his power, and I want you to see about something about these four men.

This is powerful.

These four men did three things.

Number one, are you ready for this?

They dared to do what was difficult.

Now let me ask something.

Can I tell you something?

Building a church from scratch is not easy.

But I can tell you, with David by my side and me by his side, it was the most enjoyable, most exciting thing we ever did.

And it was a dream that we had talked about years prior.

But it wasn't, we just knew.

We just knew God was in it.

We just knew that God was gonna do it.

And we just knew if we could do what God told us to do from buying this land and the way we got the land, when we got it for half the price and raised the money, and it just miracle after miracle, we knew that God wanted this place so that he could be exalted.

Whoo! I'm about to have a spell.

And John 12, 32, when I be exalted, Jesus said, I'll draw all men unto himself, that he would draw the people.

The people would come.

We saw them by over a thousand last night come.

We see them this morning coming.

We see them every morning.

We've seen people saved almost every service, seen 21 people become covenant members in the last two or three weeks.

It's just amazing.

And you, and I keep telling people this, but Carrie's been with me a long time in Sonia.

Hey, you haven't seen anything yet.

Remember when he used to tell them that open door, too?

Preacher, you're right.

No, I'm not right.

I know what Jesus says.

It's not me, it's him.

I'm just a little nobody instrument.

But I tell you one thing, when he saved me and he put a Holy Spirit in me, and when he radically put me on the took took me from the wrong side of the track and put me on the right side of the track, and I came from a home, and and I I mean, I if you really knew my testimony, you wouldn't believe what God did in my life, but he miraculously saved me.

Got me, got me smart.

He even got me smart.

He made me work hard, but I got smart.

And went and ended up getting a doctorate.

All those things that I didn't want to do, God did, and he kept doing it, saying, I need you to do this so I can use you to do this.

And I said, well, I'm nobody.

And I sure don't.

You got to realize here's a guy that was the president of one of the largest seminaries.

God allowed us to build it online.

That was another vision God gave me while I was at Liberty Hall.

I mean, it wasn't me.

I didn't know anything.

Or improper grammar.

I didn't know nothing.

Everything God gave me.

And then you know what I'd do?

But I'll tell you what I wouldn't do.

I wouldn't quit.

I'd charge hell with a water pistol and say, look out, Satan, where you're coming.

I wouldn't quit.

I don't know what that word means.

I'd press.

Because I knew he was in it.

Hey, Falwell, Dr.

Falwell, my mentor, gets up one Sunday morning in the service and says, We found a new dean of our seminary.

And Susan's sitting there and she's saying, Who is it?

I said, I don't know.

I've recommended two or three people.

See, Falwell had asked me about three months prior, would you like to be the dean of the seminary?

I said, No.

I said, I don't even like school.

Must less run one.

So he gets up on national television, million people watching, said, We found our new dean.

And everybody said, Where?

Well, you know, they're looking all around.

I'm looking all around.

Dr.

Lovett, would you stand up here, stand up, and come up here?

I said, Me?

Susan said, Did you know that?

I said, No, I do now.

With millions of other people.

How do you say no?

And then for the next ten years, God built one of the largest seminaries online in the country.

Why?

Because I was willing to do what God told me to do.

That's it.

That's why I'm here right now.

I had not a clue where Chelsea was.

Didn't want to come to Chelsea.

Didn't want to come back to Alabama.

But that's not what I wanted.

It's what God wanted.

Amen.

You gotta catch that, folks, if you don't catch anything here.

Now watch.

It gets better.

Not only did they dare to do what was difficult, everything I've done that God's called me to do in my life has been difficult.

It really has, has it not, honey?

I've had to work at it.

When I went to go back to school, folks, listen to me.

In high school, I majored in athletics.

I was all-American in all three sports.

I could play some ball.

And by the way, I can still play some bad pickleball right now.

And Monday, when this floor goes down, look out.

I'm gonna whip everybody in the church in pickleball.

But I didn't, I all I did was want to play sports and chase the cheerleaders.

That's what I was good at.

So when I went back to school, God called me to go back to school because he knew I needed education.

I had to take dumb dumb English twice.

Now you said, what's dumb dumb English?

It teaches you how to talk.

I was South Georgia, I couldn't talk.

I would say, hey, we're gonna warse the car, we're gonna open the windows, we're gonna open the doors, we're gonna go call the chef.

I mean, I had to learn to talk.

I had to learn the right subject and verb agreement and proper and indirect and direct and all that stuff.

I had to watch it.

So I went through dumb dumbing English twice.

I wanted to quit and quit, but I didn't.

And then let me tell you why.

I knew what I needed, because then I get the liberty and I gotta take Greek.

Oh, and guess what?

Greek was like dumb dumbing English.

It was diagramming sentences, and I had to become a master.

I was one of the police department and I'd volunteer for the the 12 to 8 shift because I had to go to school in the daytime, work at night with the police department, and I'd look that 3200 English workbook.

I went through it twice.

And I'd work it and work it and work it.

So guess what?

I became the tutor for the Greek class.

Tell me, God doesn't have a sense of humor.

But I had to work at it, it was difficult.

Number two, they dared to do the unusual.

Watch this.

We're doing the unusual.

We are.

This whole thing's unusual.

This is not the norm.

Everybody says, and I we've been criticized.

We have.

You said, well, does it not bother you?

No.

Susan told me.

I was trying to be nicer.

No.

And here's why.

You're gonna see in a minute.

Guess what?

When Jesus performed the two greatest things he could do, one salvation, then the healing, he got criticized.

Majorly criticized.

By the guess who?

The religious crowd.

Hello?

Oh, who do you think you are?

You just claim, you just claim to be God.

That's what they said.

Read it.

You're blaspheming.

And you know what Jesus said?

He says right there, he says, first of all, I know your hearts.

Folks, let me tell you something right now.

If you've got some bad thoughts right now, you better change them real quick.

Because he knows them.

He says, I know what's in your heart right there in that passage.

He says, and I know your thoughts are evil.

And why are you evil?

You mean what I'm doing's bad?

No.

But what he was doing was proving that he was the Messiah.

And in the words that he says there, let me explain them to you.

Here's what he says.

He says, first of all, to the paralyzed man, he says, hey, I'm going to deal with your sin first.

Now watch this.

He had a sin problem.

That was one.

We only got two of us in here that have sins problems.

Quote it with me, for all have sinned, come short of the glory of God.

There's none righteous, no, not one.

There's none that understand it.

There's none that seeketh after God.

Amen.

You with me?

Do you realize new statistics are telling us that 50% of sickness now, with a lot of people, hey, is emotional.

That causes high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, and I could go on down the line.

And you know why?

Because of our sin.

And guess what?

Guess who it orchestrates that and produces that?

Satan's come to say it with me kill, steal, and destroy.

And it all starts with our thinking.

We talked about that in our Beatitudes.

So we see that.

So, first of all, he says, I know what's in your heart.

Is it wrong for me to heal this person?

You know what he was asking?

Is it wrong for God to save this person and heal this person?

They said, wait a minute.

What you're saying, only God can do.

They got that right.

That's the only thing they got right, but they got that right.

Only God can heal sin, and only God can heal people.

He said, You're right.

He said, anybody can say your sins be forgiven.

But how do you prove it?

How do you prove it?

If I was here and I said, hey, I'm I'm God, I'm gonna forgive Benji's sin.

Benji's paralyzed.

And then I'm gonna say, okay, Benji, stand up, take your stretcher and walk out of here.

And Benji just lays there.

I'm a false prophet.

I'm not who I said I was.

Well, see, Jesus was giving them a test.

In fact, he was about to prove that he himself was the Messiah, God Himself.

Wow.

Is that not exciting?

And that's what he said.

He said, You told, here's what he said.

I wish I could have been there.

I can't wait to ask the Lord how that must have felt.

He says, You're right.

Only God can forgive sin, and only God, are you ready, can heal?

And by the way, then he says, and guess what?

That's me.

I am a father of one.

John 14, 30.

Wow.

Wow.

They dared to do the unusual.

And I'm going to fill these in for you because they're so important.

They had compassion.

They had capabilities.

Number two, under they dared to be unusual.

Number three, they had cooperation together.

They were committed.

And they were creative.

Now that's what we have here.

We've got people here.

When I see what we're doing here, we've got some of the most dynamic, creative people I've ever been around.

We do.

We really do.

And they each have their giftiness and their ability.

Folks, do you realize people, pastors right now watching me in Africa?

They watch me every week.

We've got fabulous team here.

And team, and by the way, all the new members that have joined, they were out here working last night.

Can we give them all a hand?

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Nick, thank you.

All of you, Benji, uh, Adam, all of you.

Thank you, thank you for what you do.

I wouldn't have a clue.

Don't want to.

I do what I stay in my lane.

You know what my lane is?

Preaching the gospel.

That's who I am.

Getting people, I'm a cheerleader for Jesus.

That's who I am.

Always have been.

Now watch.

Last thing with that with this point.

They dared to do the costly.

Now listen to me.

It's gonna cost you something.

If you get radical for Jesus and you really want to do what God wants you to do, it's gonna cost you.

Who do you think paid for the roof?

Do you think those four men tore up a roof and didn't fix it and pay for it?

Absolutely not.

It cost them.

Let me tell you what it cost them.

Don't miss this.

It cost them their time.

They had to bring their friend to Jesus.

You know what I was thinking the other day, Jason?

After they healed him and he picked up his stretcher, you know those four guys, I bet you they said, thank God we don't have to carry him home.

I just happened to think about that.

But but just think about it.

In fact, verse 12 says, they all said, We've never seen it done this way before.

People are saying right now with bite seeds, he tapped you.

Man, we've never seen them do it that way before.

That's okay.

Hang in there, you alright?

Every generation has their own ways of doing it.

And you can either jump in with them or criticize them.

Don't do like the Pharisees, they criticize.

We don't need criticism.

Can I get an amen?

Let me put it this way: the church doesn't need to criticize the church because Satan's gonna do a good enough job without us helping him.

Can I get an amen?

Well, I don't like that music.

Well, just hang around.

We'll play some you do like.

Hello.

Don't don't get caught up there.

Hey, stay in the book.

But it's gonna cost your time.

Hey, it's gonna cost your talents.

Boy, I love this part.

You ready?

You ready?

Everybody here's got a ministry.

Everybody here's got a talent that God wants to use greatly.

How do I know that?

1 Peter 4.10, that when God calls you, he places in you a gift to you to use for ministry.

That's what 1 Peter 4.10 says.

Amen.

It's gonna cost you your time, your talents.

Uh-oh.

It's gonna cost you your treasures, your money.

Don't talk about my money.

I know that's all the preacher wants is money.

Yes.

We need this, it didn't happen by itself.

Let me ask something.

You go to the gas station, what they ask you for.

You go to Walmart, what they ask for?

Do you just walk?

Well, now they're trying to just limit$1,000 you can walk out with.

I wouldn't suggest you try that.

Listen, God blesses people financially so they can give back to God's work.

That's the way God designed it.

He doesn't need your money, by the way.

In fact, I've got news for you.

You give back to him, he'll give you more.

You'll become a conduit.

You give, he gives to you, you give, you become the conduit.

It's gonna cost you.

And then ready, fourth thing it's gonna cost you?

Your testimony.

Time, talents, treasures, testimony.

You gotta live up to what you claim to be.

Can I get a good amen?

Not perfect, but real.

I can promise you at this church, everything that we do, we're not perfect.

We make mistakes, but it's sincere and it's from our heart, and we thoroughly try to make sure we're doing the best we can do with the wisdom and the guidance of God.

And let me tell you what I can promise you.

1 Corinthians 6, 17, he that is joined unto the Lord's one spirit.

We do nothing if our leadership's not in total one accord.

Can I get an amen?

And then the last thing.

We see his preaching, we see his power.

Then number three, we see his proof of who he is.

Verses six and seven, he's criticized.

I told you, you're gonna be criticized.

Look at what they say.

But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.

Why does this man speak blasphemies?

And immediately Jesus read their hearts and says, Don't you understand?

And they said, No, we don't understand.

Only God can do that.

He confronts them with it.

He tells them he's God, and that's where you see verses 8 and 9, the confrontation.

His words are worth considering when he said, whether is it easier to say to the sick of palsy, the sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and take up my bed and walk.

In other words, he proved he was God.

And then verses 10 through 12, the confirmation.

Jesus proved that he was God by healing.

I love this.

By healing the paralyzed man.

A few mornings ago, God got a hold of my heart as I was studying this message and kind of doing the end of the message.

And I couldn't help but start writing.

When Jesus shows up, he turns the water to wine.

When Jesus shows up, he feeds the multitude.

Over 5,000 men, not counting women and children, 15,000 or more.

When Jesus shows up, the storm is calm.

He steps up in the back of the boat and he says to the waves and to the, hey, wind, peace be still, there's a calm.

When Jesus shows up, the sick are healed right here.

When the woman's passing through the crowd and Jesus is walking by, she reaches out and touches him and she's healed.

When Jesus shows up, hey, the centurion servant is healed.

When Jesus shows up, are you ready for this?

At a funeral service in Luke chapter 7, he stops the funeral service.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

He stops, hey, the hearse, and he goes over to the casket and he says to the dead man, young man, the scripture says in Luke 7, the laying there, he says to the young man, sit up.

And he sits up.

And the Bible says he begins to talk.

I know what he said.

What did he say?

Jesus is awesome.

When Jesus shows up, he raises Lazarus.

When Jesus shows up, hey, he rolls back the tomb.

When Jesus shows up, he radically changes your life.

Amen.

And listen, when he does, you're gonna go tell everybody you see.

You get the can't help it.

I can't help but speak the things that I've seen and heard.

Acts 420.

Folks, I didn't just witness to the whole Raphael's Pizza Hut the other night that showed out.

I I couldn't help it.

Because I'm an ambassador for Christ.

I'm an instrument for Christ.

We are co-laborers for Christ.

Let me ask you this morning.

Do you really know him?

Has he radically changed your life?

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

All things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

Oh, my friends.

Oh my friends.

Forty plus years, honey.

I love you so much.

Do you know?

Next week we will celebrate.

Two weeks, excuse me.

I can't wait.

Rick's preaching, and I'm taking her, we're gonna get away.

But you know what?

40 plus years.

We would have been married this two weeks from now.

40 wonderful years.

She's been every step of the way with me, ministering the whole time.

She's probably the best, and I know y'all are gonna say, well, she's your wife, you've got to say that.

No.

She's probably one of the best Bible teachers I've ever heard.

And I've heard the best of the best.

That came to liberty.

If you want to hear a Bible teacher, go on 8 o'clock on Sunday mornings.

She does it live.

Got about 60, 70 in her Bible study online.

Just listen to her.

Don't take my word for it.

Listen to her.

Unbelievable.

Ask Danny Hartford, where's Danny?

He said, she's a lot better than you, preacher.

I said, Yeah, I know that.

Why do you think a maritor?

Amen.

You think I'm a dummy?

Remember?

I told you everything God's called me to do.

It's been difficult.

But boy, did he.

You know what?

When he called ministers, he said, but I'm going to do something special.

I'm going to give you Susan.

So when I get stumped, I say, wait a minute, let me ask.

Come here, honey.

You want to debate anybody scripturally?

You debate her.

Don't debate me.

Y'all don't know what I'm feeling right now.

My heart is so full.

I told the Lord last night and I told him this morning, driving over here.

Okay, Lord.

Thank you for this fourth quarter.

Thank you for this fourth quarter of my life in ministry.

It's been so sweet.

Thank you for loving us.

I mean that.

Thank you.

Thank you for making it easy to minister.

And I just want you to know we love you so much.

And we always will.

Father, we thank you this morning.