Don't Forget Jesus

Praise be to God. Church, I want to remind you, in case you don't know, that next

Sunday we are beginning our 21 days of prayer and fasting. So would you unite

together with me starting next Sunday for 21 days of prayer and fasting? And I'm

believing that during that period of consecration that God is going to visit

us, God's going to move in a mighty way. Can someone say amen for that? Amen. God's

going to work in a powerful way. We're going to start this year off right,

Seek ye the face of God. Amen. Remember what Jesus said, to seek first the kingdom

of God. Amen. Seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness. He said,

and all these things will be added unto you. So everything that you're expecting

God, believing God to do for this coming year, amen, we got to seek His kingdom

first. Someone say first. And in that spirit, I'm going to invite you, if you

can join me in the gospel, according to Luke chapter two, gospel, a court gospel

of Luke chapter two, verse 42. And as you're preparing there, as you'll see it

on the screen or going there in your Bible, amen. I want to preface this by

saying that every few years the Holy Ghost leads me to this passage. I have

preached from this passage before and it's one of my favorite sermons to

preach. It's, you know, there are sermons and there are messages and then

there are like these lifetime messages that God, that once he speaks to me, he

kind of brings me back to these places like a landmark every once in a while

and as I was seeking the Lord in preparation for this service, he brought

me back to this landmark in scripture and maybe you've heard me preach it

before, but I pray today that you will hear it with new ears because there's

always something new and fresh that God wants to speak. But the word says this

and when he was 12 years old, he went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of

the fees. When they had finished the days as they return, the boy Jesus

lingered behind in Jerusalem and Joseph and his mother did not know it. My

message today is this, don't forget Jesus. Someone say don't forget Jesus. Don't

forget Jesus. Church, as we enter into a new year, we better make sure that Jesus

is with us. We better make sure that Jesus is with us. Why don't we pray? Father, I

thank you for your spirit, your presence that fills this place today, God, for this

is the day that you have made. We have gathered today not in vain, but to lift

up your name, to meet with you God for this occasion and we know that you have a

word for us, God. I pray God that you would anoint the ears, the hearts of

every hearer in this place, that they could receive this word, that this seed

would fall on good ground. And I pray also that you would anoint my lips of

clay, God. Feel me Lord, with a fresh word in my mouth, with fresh revelation, God,

with a new anointing. I pray God in the name of Jesus, have your way. We take

dominion, God, over every contrary spirit to the spirit of God and we take

authority. We cast it out now in the name of Jesus. There has no place here, God.

We cast out unbelieved doubt, confusion and we release clarity, wisdom and

understanding in this place right now. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Everyone

say amen. Amen. You may be seated in God's presence. Allow me to set the backdrop

to the story at the time of this incident. Mary and Joseph have taken their

12 year old son Jesus to Jerusalem for the Passover. Every male Jew living

within a reasonable distance was expected, required even so, to come to

Jerusalem for this holy holiday. Mary and Joseph being devout Jews as they were,

gathered their family together, friends, their caravan and they went from Nazareth,

making that long upward journey to Jerusalem to participate and partake of

the Passover festivities. And as they were going, I would imagine that there was

much anticipation, much excitement and much reverence to this holy affair that

they were about to embark upon. When the Passover had ended and everything had

come to a conclusion, people were saying their goodbyes. This was like one

grand major event, the most important event throughout the year where all the

believers came together. It was like, if I could put it this way, one big

gathering, one big convention if you want to look at it like that, where all

the saints had come and descended upon the city of Jerusalem. So you can

imagine there was a lot of hustle and bustle and people just crossing

paths and hugging each other. There's no social media back then, so they

hadn't seen each other for a long time and there's greeting, there's

tears, there's fellowship, there's breaking of bread and it's all spiritual

and it's all great. And after this time of had come to an end, Mary and Joseph,

they began to gather their things and started to head home. They start to pack

their bags and begin to gather with their caravan, their company and

started to make that journey back to Nazareth. And that's exactly what they

did and they began to walk this many road, this many miles back to Nazareth.

And they were traveling for hours and hours and as they were traveling, as they

were walking along this caravan of people, at some point in the journey, I

don't know how much distance had passed, how much time it passed, but at

some point in their journey they had gone some time and something

didn't quite feel right and possibly Mary looked over to Joseph and said,

you know, honey, have you seen Jesus anywhere? And I imagine at that time

Joseph looked over to her and kind of raised his eyebrow and like, well, you

know, what do you mean? Have I seen him? You know, have you seen him? I don't know

where he's at and at that moment, you know, husband and wife, mother and father

looked at each other and probably they felt like the bottom fell out from

under them and something, you know, a sinking feeling came upon them as they

realized that neither one of them knew where Jesus was. Now, every parent in

this place today believes and loves our children and they're all important,

right? All of our children are important. Can the parents say amen? Amen. All of our

children are important. I think my children are important, but can I just

tell you that this child here was just a little more important? If there's one

child you don't want to lose sight of, if there's one kid, you know, you don't

want to take your eyes off of, it's Jesus. How many of you would agree with that?

Amen. You know, it's got to be Jesus, you know, and so, but somehow, somehow in

the process and the hustle and bustle of life, they thought that he was with them,

but they realized that they had lost Jesus and a sense of panic began to grow

over a three-day period as they started to retrace their steps to find where

Jesus might be and they searched high and low and they started asking around and

what this story does for me, it reminds me and it should remind all of us today

of how easy it is to lose sight of Jesus. And the question before us today is this,

if Mary the mother of Jesus, no one was closer to Jesus than Mary both then and

now. There's nobody here today that can ever say you're closer to Jesus than

Mary was because she was close to him both spiritually and physically. She was

his mother after all and if Mary could lose sight of Jesus, then the question

before us today is who am I? Nobody was closer. I'm sorry, you're not closer to

Jesus than Mary was and if Mary could lose sight of Jesus, how much more us?

Mary lost sight of him and Joseph, by the way, and in the process of them going

through life, I mean, they were at this great spirit. You could be even at a

spiritual high in your life. You could be in a moment where you're all wrapped up

into the things of God. You're all wrapped up into the church world and

still because when you look at the story, what's fascinating to me is that Mary

lost Jesus in the very last place you'd expect her to lose him. She lost him at

the temple. She lost him at the temple. She had Jesus inside the church. She had

Jesus there within the temple and she lost him on the way home. She had Jesus

there in the temple, in the tabernacle, and she lost him on the way home and

likewise, many people know and feel Jesus in the temple, but they lose him on the

way home. And this ought to be a cautionary tale for us. This ought to be a

wake-up call for us as we think about every place that we want to go in

2024, as we think about every blessing, every promise that we

hope to experience, as we think about all of the paths that we are hoping to

take and the prosperity and the blessings and the goodness of God and the land of

the living, all of the things that we are hoping to experience into the future

should the Lord tarry it. All the places that we want to go and the things that we

want to do and the experiences that we want to have and the adventures that we

want to go on and the exploits that we want to accomplish. I'm talking about

every good thing that we are hoping to experience and hoping to take with us

into the future and to hope to apprehend in this coming new year. We just

better make sure that all of our getting that we don't forget to have Jesus with

us and that we don't lose sight of what it's really all about. Can I tell

somebody today, it's all about Jesus. Turn to somebody tell them it's all about

Jesus. It's all about Jesus. If we do everything but we lose sight of Jesus,

what progress are we really making? So what if we accomplish a great career? So

what if we build a house on the hill? So what if we have this and we do that? If

we don't have Jesus, what's the point of it all? What's the point of it all? What's

the point of growing? What's the point of doing and going here and there if we

don't have? What's the point of having a rock and church and having this thing and

that thing? If Jesus is not in the midst of everything that we are doing, we cannot

afford to take one step in this life and not have Jesus with us. And Jesus

somehow was lost sight of and somehow I have seen throughout our life that if we

are not careful, if we're not vigilant, if we're not, if we don't fix our eyes on

the author and the finisher of our faith, if we don't stay concentrated on him, we

can lose him in the most unexpected places. We can lose him

right here. You know you can lose him right here. People think that you have

to go out into the world to backslide. No, people can backslide right on the

pew. You don't want to believe it. But you can backslide right on the

pew and you can lose out with God right on the pew. You can be right in the midst

of a service like we're having today where the Spirit of God is moving and

the presence of God is moving and God is healing and God is... You know the Spirit

of Jesus is literally in this place but we've got our eyes over here and we're

looking at what that person's wearing and we're looking at what time it is and

we're looking at what the score is and we're looking at you know everything

else and we're looking at this and we're looking and you can miss Jesus. I have

made up in my mind. I don't want to have one service where I miss Jesus. I don't

want to have one opportunity where I miss Jesus. I want every moment that I have

with him to matter. Would you clap your hands and give the Lord Jesus Christ a

round of applause today. Hallelujah. But here's the point of it all is that you

can lose him and not know it. Mary went a whole day before she realized that

Jesus wasn't there. It's possible to lose sight of Jesus and not even know it.

Just kind of go through life and just sort of assume that he's with you. It's

possible to lose sight of Jesus in all fairness. Let's treat Mary with

fairness. She's not a villain. I'm not here to make Mary a bad person at all. She

wasn't trying to lose him. She wasn't playing hide and seek you know. This

wasn't a game but verse 44 reveals the nature of her problem. It says but

supposing him to have been in the company she went a day's journey. The problem

that Mary had was one that many have today is that she supposed Jesus to be

there. She just assumed that he would be there. Mary and Joseph simply let their

guards down and they took the presence of Jesus for granted. They just assumed

because watch this because I've been in this all my life I got this thing on

lockdown. There's some people they can't learn nothing new because they've heard

it all already. You don't know anybody like that. You can't tell them nothing

they haven't heard. They can't be in a service they've never been in

before. They seem to have it all figured out and those are the ones who are in

most danger of losing Jesus. Because we can get to a place where we

assume that we have it all figured out. We assume what we know what this is

gonna happen at this point. This is gonna happen. We have the whole service all

figured out. We know when the pastor... This is when Pastor Jacob is gonna say

there's some of you got me figured out. Maybe I'll throw you a curveball today.

Huh? And we have everything figured out and I've come to realize that that is

when we are at most danger. It's not the new ones. The new ones that the new

converts they're the ones that have got their eyes on Jesus. They're just

they're just they're fixated on him. It's those of us that have been in this for a

little while. We are the ones that can get comfortable. We are the ones that can

just start to coast. We start to coast and we don't have the Holy Ghost. We have

the Holy Coast. We're coasting. We're coasting and we're singing the songs

because we know the lyrics. And we're going through the motions and we know

when to clap and we know when to shout and we know and those are the ones and

I'm putting myself in that same group that if we're not careful we can lose

sight of where Jesus is and think we know what he's about to do and God said

no you don't know what I'm about to do. I might do something that you're not

expecting so you better be in prayer and you better be seeking me and you better

be hearing me and you better be worshiping me because I might do

something that you have never seen before. Is there somebody come on I wish

somebody is there anybody here today that is going to preach with me is there

somebody here today that says God I want to see what I've never seen before. I

don't know about you but I don't want to see a repeat of 2023 or 2024. How many

of you want new blessings huh? How many of you want to see new victories? I don't

want to just hit a repeat of what God did last year. I'm believing God for

greater things but if I'm gonna see greater things then I've got to be

right there with Jesus. I need Jesus to be with me every step of the way

lest I just do things on memory. You know what happens you can lose

him and not know it like Samson. Samson thought he had the anointing just like a

lot of people just because God used you last year big deal. What about this year?

Samson rose up and he said I'm gonna beat these fools up like I did. Sorry

that's just you gotta watch my language here. I'm gonna beat these bad guys up

like I did last year because I did it before and you know what he found out

his power was gone because he got too comfortable and he let Delilah cut his

hair. Hey you better make sure your head is not in Delilah's lap brother and you

gotta get into the spirit of God and make sure that when you go I come on

somebody better come on now and make sure that the spirit of Jesus is with

you. Come on give God's praise today.

Oh hallelujah I can't live off yesterday's power. I can't live off

yesterday's anointing. I can't live off yesterday's experience. I need a new

touch from God. Oh my God behold I'm about to do a new thing the Lord says.

Is there somebody today that can give God a praise if you're believing for a

new thing? Come on give him about 30 seconds of praise right now.

Oh my God I believe him for something new. Come on and worship him. Come on and

praise him today. Hallelujah hallelujah.

And you know what happens is we get so predictable. We get so predictable. It's

like we do the most predictable things and I'm not against routine. Routines are

good. Discipline is good. I'm for all of that but sometimes we can get so

routine and so we just get predictable and then God can't move and you what

starts to happen is that you know what we start doing? We start moving where God

isn't. I wonder see that's when we get into trouble. We start moving into places

where God isn't and we start moving without. We start making decisions

without Jesus. We start getting into relationships without Jesus. We start

oh we just we start taking jobs without Jesus and like Mary and Joseph they just

are moving through their life and Jesus is not with them but they're supposing

that he's there. Suppose that I just suppose he's with me. I just suppose that

we get comfortable. We get comfortable around around the people of God. We just

could just like you know there's this kind of safety that we feel like well

as long as I'm going to church and as long as I've got good friends around me

then then he must be with me but is he with you and there are three prevalent

attitudes that can take our focus off Jesus and I'm going to try to breeze

through these because because every one of them is like a message in of

themselves but but there are three basic attitudes and the first is

entitlement. The second is self-righteousness and third is just

plain old neglect. These are attitudes that can take our focus off Jesus. The

attitude of entitlement is one I think I've kind of been preaching about

already where we just assume that because you know we know the right things

or we we believe the right things are we been in this for so long that you know

we got this thing figured out that God's just gonna show up just because

because we have the right beliefs we have the right doctrine and those things

are true but you know what I've been to a lot of places that have the and I say

this with all due respect but you know they look the part that you know they

got apostolic on the church sign but but there's there's no life inside the

church. Just because we're apostolic and just because we may have a

dark doctrine and we believe the right things praise be to God but you know

that there are also dead apostolic churches. Maybe you haven't been to one

in a while huh? I'll tell you where they're at and I'm just kidding. I would never do that

but I've been I've been to a lot of churches I have preached it throughout

the throughout the country I think I've been in almost every district I'm not

saying this to boast just in the last 10 years I have probably preaching almost

every district throughout this throughout this country and I can tell

you that just because a church says they're apostolic doesn't mean that

Jesus is there because there's no miracles there's no power there's no

manifestation I mean it's just dead. God forbid that ever happened here and if

we're not careful it can happen here if we take our eyes off of Jesus. Hallelujah

somebody I don't want that to happen here not on my watch not on my watch that's

not gonna happen here hallelujah but we need the anointing of God we need the

power of God we need the love of God in this place and it's gonna happen when we

keep our eyes on Jesus the second attitude is self-righteousness self-righteousness

and this is a this is a big one because or spiritual pride disguised as

holiness there's a big difference between holiness and self-righteousness and

and when you when you when you have a relationship with God and you're

discerning you can you can tell the difference between the two you could tell

the difference because one is self-glorifying and another is God glorifying.

One one seeks to build himself up and other seeks to build up God and and some

people think that for instance that let's just say because they speak in tongues

or they speak in a lot of tongues that that their tongues is a sign of Christ

like character you can speak in tongues like a motorboat and G hateful and have

no fruit of the spirit in your life I'm not impressed with tongues that we all

need to speak in tongues but tongues is not an automatic sign that Jesus is with

you you know what the sign is everyone say fruit that's the sign that Jesus is

actually that you're walking with Jesus hey man somebody yeah kind of hot in

here hallelujah you can speak in tongues and be arrogant and the Bible says that

God reason how could God be with you if you're

proudful and arrogant he resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble

that's self-righteousness or unkind people have a form of godliness but they

deny the power thereof I'm reminding of what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1st

Corinthians 13 verse 1 if I speak in the tongues of men and or of angels but

do not have love everyone say love I am only a resounding gong or a clanging

symbol if I if I do all these spiritual things but I don't have love in

other words if I don't have God if the spirit of Jesus is not with me then

what's the point of it all I can speak in tongues I can prophesy I kid I can

interpret I can do all of these things God can even use me in a mighty way but

if that doesn't guarantee that Jesus is with me we can have spiritual activity

we can drop a great plan we can say this is what we're gonna do but if Jesus is

not with me then I'm not really making any progress at all but if Jesus is

with me then one inch one inch with Jesus is further than one mile without

him let me say that again one inch with Jesus is further than a mile in the flesh

I'd rather go one inch with the spirit than a mile in my carnality because then

I know that I'm making progress with God come on and put your hands together I

feel something in my spirit today number three is neglect you could put up the

three that I mentioned the third is neglect and this happens just just as

we get too comfortable we start taking our focus off Jesus and and and we just

get preoccupied we get too busy with life and oh I'm gonna get to it when I

get some time and you know as soon as I get this in order and then I'll do it

and then I'll go like one of those disciples that Jesus called and said

you know you know well first let me go take care of this and let me go bury my

family members and there's always something we just get preoccupied we get

too busy and we just start to neglect the altars in our life we start to

neglect our prayer life we start to neglect the things of God and we start

to borrow from yesterday's fire borrow from the past borrow from what God did

and we're just we're just living we're living in the past but God wants to do

something new and so we can't be neglectful of the things of God Paul told

Timothy I remind you to stir up the gift of God that is within you don't neglect

your spiritual gift my friend don't neglect tend to it and re if the fire

has gone out then rekindle the flame of the spirit rekindle the spirit of

Jesus in your life get back to the heart of worship get back to the altar get

back to consecration come on somebody get back to your gift get back to your

ministry if you took 2023 offer it's time to get back on it in 2024 and say

I'm gonna give double of what I gave last year I'm gonna do more for God is

there anybody here today that wants to do more for God in this coming year than

you did last year

amen somebody I said is there anybody that wants to do more for God this coming

year the last year can you say man I want to go further than where I went last

year but it's only gonna happen if Jesus is with me and we cannot sit back in

neglect and we cannot sit back and say well you know I do a lot of things so

that that counts no lest we be like the Church of Ephesus you read in the opening

chapters of Revelation where the Spirit writes to the seven churches and one of

them was a church of Ephesus and they had it all together they were he

said I know your works your works are great man you you're well organized you're

well executed you everything with excellence but the problem is with all

of your excellence with all your execution operate you are well finely

tuned machine while oiled machine the problem is there's no love and so he

said go back to your first nevertheless I have this against you that you have

left your first love you forgot about Jesus you got so caught up in the in the

work of God that you forgot about the God of the work

you got so caught up in the things of God that you forgot the God of the things

you got so caught up in the gifts of God that you forgot the God of the gifts I'm

not seeking the gifts I'm seeking the giver of the gifts

who i'm not seeking blessings brother don't get me wrong I feel the

anointing I'm almost I feel the anointing too never i'm not seeking

I'm seeking bless over you.

You're just a blessing preacher.

No, I'm not seeking bless.

I'm seeking the blesser.

Oh, I'm seeking the giver.

I'm seeking Jesus.

I want more of God.

Hallelujah.

Somebody just worship him right now for a few moments.

Rabababaya Shandalabakanda.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

I want more of God.

I want more of his spirit.

I don't want to forget about him.

I don't want to get so caught up in life

because this coming year, with this year,

is going to be a lot of opportunities.

Some of you, there's going to be so many.

Not every door is a God door.

Not every good opportunity is a God opportunity.

Come on now.

Not every good thing is a God thing.

And you've got to make sure that Jesus is in it.

Because if Jesus ain't in it, I don't want it.

Hallelujah, God.

I'm saying this to myself.

I'm saying, I don't want to preach if Jesus ain't in it.

Every message I preach, I dedicate this pulpit to God.

Every time I step out, Jesus has got to be about Jesus.

Can't be about me.

Can't be about what I've done.

Can't be about who I am.

It's got to be about Jesus.

And you know, if you're struggling to find him,

you say, well, I realize that maybe I've been going on memory.

I've been going supposing that he's with me.

Here's what I'll tell you.

If you're trying to find him, you'll find him right

where you left him.

Right where you left him.

Moses, or not Moses, but Noah.

No, not Noah.

I'm all over the place today.

Hallelujah.

That's all right.

Hallelujah.

Once Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was missing,

they began to search for him.

And they began to realize that they, you know how much

humble pie they had to eat?

Like how do you explain to your friends that?

How do you tell them?

How do you even tell the story again that you lost him?

You did what?

What kind of parent are you?

I mean, they probably wanted to call CPS on them.

Come and take your child from you.

You did what?

Imagine?

And so there's some humility.

And there's some steps of humility that they had to take.

And this is a humble journey as you're going back to finding

Jesus.

And their search reveals what we tend to do.

And they started looking all, they

started looking among their friends and their family,

among their relatives.

And then they realized that Jesus isn't there.

Jesus is not there.

He's not there.

And sometimes that's, you know, we're

trying to feel around.

Where is he?

Where'd I leave him?

Where's the fire?

And they started looking around their friends and family.

And he wasn't there.

And then they kept searching.

And then they kept going until the Bible says in 1st 45.

So when they didn't find him among friends and family,

they went to Jerusalem, seeking him.

And still they couldn't find him.

Can you imagine the sense of panic that came over them?

Man, he's not with a family and friends.

He's not in Jerusalem.

We've knocked on every door.

We went to the marketplace.

We thought maybe he might be there.

The public square.

Where is he?

The last place they thought to look

was the place where he was.

The keyboardist in Kimono.

The last place they thought he would be.

You know why?

Because I think that somewhere in the back of their mind,

they didn't want to believe that they actually left him there.

I think in the back of their minds,

they didn't even want to go there.

Like there's no way we left him at church.

There's no way we left him at church.

That happened to me one time, by the way.

My dad's a good storyteller.

He'll never tell the story about the time they actually

forgot me.

And the lights were off and everything.

It was a terrifying experience.

But they didn't actually go all the way home.

They were just making their way out.

And they realized they went back in.

Now I was there.

I was asleep in the pew, you know?

And there I was.

They got me.

You know?

They left him there in the house.

And oftentimes, that's where we leave him.

He said, well, I left him at church.

I left him at 1425.

Without swinging a road and mountain.

I don't mean you left him in this physical place.

I mean you left him in a place of his business.

Because when they got there, this is what happened.

Verse 46, so it was.

And after three days, they found him in the temple,

sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them

and asking questions.

He's doing what he's supposed to do.

He's right there.

And they were upset.

They're saying, Jesus, why did you do this to us?

Actually tried to blame him.

Why'd you leave us like this?

We were worried.

We were worrying ourselves sick about where you were, Jesus.

We were worried.

We were anxious.

We were distraught.

We were crying.

We didn't know where you were.

And that's how it feels when you can't find that thing

that you're looking for.

You're worried.

That's when anxiety shows up.

That's when depression shows up.

That's when fear shows up.

And they were afraid.

And they were worried.

And finally, they see that Jesus was right where they left him.

And his response to them was this.

Why did you seek me?

In verse 49, did you not know that I must be about my father's

business?

If you want to find him today, I'll tell you where he is.

It's not that he is in this physical place, though he is.

If you really want to find where Jesus is,

you'll find him when you get back to seeking his business.

Seek first the kingdom.

When you get back to seeking the kingdom with all of your heart,

when you get back to seeking his purpose and his will,

and you get back to his business, I'm not

talking about just doing religious things.

I'm not talking about just going through the motion.

I'm not talking about just going to church,

because you can go to church and still lose him.

I'm talking about making the presence of God

and the purpose of God the number one priority of your life

again.

And saying, God, I want you more than anything else.

And if you make that commitment today,

you will find him where you left him.

Let me give you some examples.

If you're not exactly sure what I'm talking about,

you'll find him when you repent of your sins.

You'll find him when you let go of that anger.

You'll find him when you come back to obedience,

back to submission, back, oh, hallelujah, to prayer,

back to believing again, back to forgiveness.

Would you stand with me here today at this hour?

Thank you, God.

So the Lord began to speak to me.

And he brought me back to this passage.

He brought me back to this point,

because there's somebody here today

under the sound of my voice.

There's somebody here today that needs this reminder.

You need this wake-up call.

You need to know that as we move forward,

we cannot forget Jesus.

Cannot forget Him.

And some are in danger today of stepping into a new year,

and Jesus is not with you.

You're on the verge of repeating some mistakes

that you've made in the past.

You're on the verge of recycling the same things again.

You're on the verge of going without Him.

So if that's here, you need to get Him back.

And there might be somebody today supposing that He's with you,

because you believe the right things.

You attend the right church, baptize in the right name,

and all those things are essential.

And yet, you could still lose Him.

Because if you are not affected by the presence of God

in a service, it doesn't do something.

If it doesn't do something to Him,

if it doesn't cause your hands to go up,

if it doesn't cause a worship to come out,

then you need to get Him back today.

If you've got ministries that you've been putting on hold,

hallelujah, I feel the Holy Ghost right now.

If you've got things that God, if you're calling,

if you put your calling on hold, if you put your ministry

on hold, if you put things that God, if you put obedience

on hold, then this is your moment.

This is your opportunity.

This is the last service you're going to have this year

to say, God, I want it back.

Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost.

Could you close your eyes just for a moment right now?

As I continue to minister in the Spirit,

hallelujah, I feel God.

I feel the Holy Ghost ministering to somebody right now.

I feel the Spirit of God touching and tugging on somebody

today.

Oh, hallelujah, Jesus.

And let us not, oh, hallelujah, let us not think more highly

of ourselves than we ought to just assume that He's with us.

Just to say, well, this message wasn't for me,

because Jesus, is He really?

Oh, what would it hurt you today?

What would it really hurt you today to just look over

your heart and your life?

What would it hurt you to draw close to Him?

They say, even if I've got Him, I'm

going to hold Him tighter today than I did yesterday.

Oh, my God, even if God is with me,

I'm going to draw closer.

God said, if you draw close to me,

I'll draw close to you.

Draw nigh unto me, and I'll draw nigh unto you.

Oh, I don't ever want to get to a place where I'm satisfied.

I don't ever want to get to a place where I'm content with

where I've been.

I don't ever want to get to a place where I said I've had

enough of God.

No, I want more of Him.

Is there somebody in this place right now that says I want

more of God?

Is there somebody in this place today that says,

I'm going to this new year, as I go into this new season,

as I go into this next step?

I've got to make sure that God is with me right there

where you are.

I wonder if there's somebody right now that can begin to call

on Jesus.

If there's somebody here in this place that can begin to call

on God.

Oh, my God.

I think about Mary and Joseph as they were walking through

the city of Jerusalem.

I guarantee they weren't just whispering, Jesus, are you there?

Jesus, Jesus, oh, Jesus.

Oh, God, I bet that they were calling out, Jesus.

Oh, where are you, God?

I need you.

And so if you really want Him, you're going to have to let

Him know today.

God, I want you, Lord.

Lord!

Come on, is there anybody hungry today?

Is there anybody thirsty today?

Is there somebody that just wants to get all of God right

now?

Come on, hallelujah.