Summer Mixtape Part 4 I Pastor Joshua Gay

[SPEAKER_00]: High Praise Podcasts.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey everybody, this is Pastor Josh.

[SPEAKER_00]: We'll leave Pastor here at High Praise and I want to thank you for downloading today's podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that this message is going to encourage and bless you.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to open up your heart and receive with the Lord as for you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grab your Bible, go to Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to preach fast this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be continuing this series, summer, mixed tape.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're on track four, which is today, we're going to be ministering something called the song at midnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: And today, I'm not looking so much at a song that we have the contents of the song, but rather a time that a song was sung and things shifted and moved and changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: The idea of this series is really simple.

[SPEAKER_00]: That every season has a sound.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hannah told us that breakthrough has a sound.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last week on Father's Day, we talked about Zechariah and how fathers have a sound and a song to release over sons and daughters to call them into purpose and in destiny.

[SPEAKER_00]: But today, Paul and Silas are going to teach us as if midnight has a sound.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because anybody can sing when the chains are gone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody can sprays when the doors are open.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anybody can rejoice when the answer is already in their hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a different kind of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: A praise that goes forth anyways, even when chains are still on your hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: A praise that shouts through even when the doors are still locked.

[SPEAKER_00]: A praise that prevails even when you still have fresh stripes on your back, that the song of the redeemed is not the song for the perfect situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: The song of the redeemed and the song in midnight is what brings you through and causes change to fall and doors to swing open for foundations to shake.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not waiting for victory to celebrate.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're celebrating to bring us into victory.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not waiting for chains to fall to shout.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're shouting and chains are falling as a result.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to reframe the way that we're thinking about our song.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are worshiping because things are perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are worshiping because he is perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he makes all things new.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, with me, there's a praise that happens before the earthquake.

[SPEAKER_00]: Midnight, I'm going to read this description in a second.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Midnight represents the place where you can't see clearly yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Midnight is where yesterday is over, but tomorrow is not fully arrived.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's that in between season, you don't have to talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what I'm saying, well, it's technically tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: I ain't gone to sleep yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's still dark out, but it's technically tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pastor Miranda and I were just ministering in Virginia this weekend at a church up there and the services would end at 9.930, but the pastors there who are wonderful people would always be like, y'all come over to our house.

[SPEAKER_00]: a couple minutes from the church because the church has 250 acres and it's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we went to their house and we would stay, they would just talk and ask questions and we would just build a relationship with fellowship with other people and leaders who are there.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times, I think, the last night, we were there to, like, two in the morning, which my 40-year-old body.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not built for two in the morning nights anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, my normal talking about, right, 20 years ago, this was the norm.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was like 10 o'clock.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are a party in hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you what.

[SPEAKER_00]: But two o'clock was like, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Midnight came, was like, it's tomorrow.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's still dark.

[SPEAKER_00]: And some of you were in that moment right now where I believe God is bringing you into tomorrow, but it's still dark outside.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, the clock has rolled over and it's a new day and it's a new season, but you don't see it yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what are you gonna do in that moment?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to wait for the light or are you going to pray still in the middle of the dark?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to wait for change to break or are you going to shout anyways?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to wait for everything to be perfect or are you going to give him the sacrifice of praise and praise him anyways even when you don't feel like it?

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Silas weren't singing because everything was easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were singing because God was still worthy.

[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't praising because prison was comfortable.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were praising because the prison was not going to be sovereign in their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, he can lock the door, but he can't lock God out.

[SPEAKER_00]: He might can chain your feet, but he can't chain your faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Go to Acts 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's how you do that already.

[SPEAKER_00]: If not, it'll be on the screen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Acts 16 verse 22, it says this.

Acts 16:22

[SPEAKER_00]: Then the multitude rose up together against them, them being Paul and Silas.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when they had laid many stripes,

[SPEAKER_00]: Many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

[SPEAKER_00]: Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And fastened their feet with stocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like he is putting them as deep into bondage and chains as he possibly can.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at midnight, somebody say,

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on somebody say, but, but at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing him to God and the prisoners were listening to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I want you to think about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Scriptures tell us that he didn't just put them in the prison, they put them in the inner prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: They put them in a more sequester place from the rest of the prisoners.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet, whenever Paul and Silas are worshiping and praying and praising, the other prisoners hear them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I tell you what that means?

[SPEAKER_00]: That means that Paul and Silas weren't giving him a whisper praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't giving him a ear so good Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Kind of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the other prisoners heard them, which means that there was some volume to their worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: While y'all got to be so loud.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why the Paul and Silas have to be so loud.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, verse 26.

[SPEAKER_00]: Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.

[SPEAKER_00]: And immediately get this all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loose.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I wanna give you some context here for what happens here in Acts 16.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul and Silas are not in prison because they did something wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are not in prison because they disobeyed God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, it sees that opposite.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are in prison because of their obedience to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were obedience to God and that ended up in prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the message we all want to hear this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be obedient to God, go to jail.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their obedience to God leads them to a place where they are uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I just say this, if being obedient to God always leads you to comfort, ability and life, you're probably not being fully obedient to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I found this often times God will tell us to do things that make us uncomfortable.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes he will tell us to do things that put us in situations that we feel like we are hurt or wounded.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we still have to be faithful to what God said when we're faithful to what God said, he's faithful to us on the other side.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're imprisoned because they obeyed God.

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens is they go to a city, you see Lydia gets saved and then the very next story, they cast a spirit out of a slave girl

[SPEAKER_00]: What happens is the slave girl's masters get mad because they're not gonna make money any more off the girl.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people are up, and by the way, the day before everybody was fine with what they were doing, but the moment it touched their money, they had a problem, that's a whole another message.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people are okay with Jesus and following Jesus to let cause them something.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then I don't mean the prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: The moment deliverance interrupted somebody's money, Paul and Silas were attacked, they're beaten, they're wounded, they're thrown into the inner prison, they're put in stocks.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a comfortable situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is also not just some light inconvenience.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've joked about it periodically, but the apostles were thrown in prison for preaching.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's tribulation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We feel like we're in tribulation because our Facebook posts that had fake information got deleted.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm in the tribulation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like Paul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Know you're not.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and what you were doing was not glorifying that image Jesus to begin with.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were glorifying that image Jesus and they got thrown in prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: You got put in Facebook jail.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you probably deserved it.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a light inconvenience.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is injustice.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is warfare, but verse 25 says this, but at midnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that phrase because it means this, prison didn't get the final word in their situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, I don't care what your prison situation feels like in your life right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what's going on in your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what's going on in your health.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't care what's going on if the enemies attacking you with fear and anxiety.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: What gets the final word is, but at midnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: What gets the final word is whenever the Lord shows up on the sea and he buss open the doors and causes the change to fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: We oftentimes think our situations get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our circumstances get the final word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your circumstance is lie, but he is the way he is the truth and he is the life, which means this.

[SPEAKER_00]: If what I'm in right now doesn't line up with his plan for me, it doesn't get the final word because he is the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're saying, they prayed, not after the earthquake, not after the doors open, not after the chains fell off, not after they got on apology at midnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: This tells us is, their praise is not circumstantial.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have way too many believers that we live in circumstantial praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a circumstantial song.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And our culture kind of tells us to be this way, just naturally.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've joked about this kind of, at the beginning of the series, but, you know, if you go on Spotify, you go on Apple Music or wherever you listen to, there is a playlist curated for every emotion you could ever have.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's true.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they'll send them to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm an Apple Music guy, I'm sorry.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know, I know.

[SPEAKER_00]: All the other Spotify people, you're like, okay, Boomer, it may be an Apple Music person,

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Apple music has a get-up mix, which is just hype music for the morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything is like 140 BPM.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, something like, I don't know what that means, story about it, it's real fast, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's got a chill mix, it's got the party mix, it's got this, and this is what we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We let our songs be dictated by our mood, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We let our songs be dictated by the way

[SPEAKER_00]: And if I don't imagine Paul and Silas felt very good, whenever they were in the prison, it says here in Acts 16, it says that they tore off their clothes and commanded it to be beaten with the rods.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then it says this, when they had laid many stripes on them, not when they hit them once, not when they gave them a couple of licks,

[SPEAKER_00]: But when they had laid many stripes on them, and then they throw them in a prison, and this is not a federal white collar prison with a golf course and cable TV and a Michelin star chef.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is an ancient prison that's dark and damp and dirty.

[SPEAKER_00]: probably rats running all over the place.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a fun place to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if Paul and Silas would have let their feelings dictate their song, they probably wouldn't have walked in freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can I say, there are too many believers that are allowing their situation and their emotions and their feelings to dictate their song, and then we wonder why we're still in chains.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying you can't be hurt.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've all been hurt.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying you can't have a moment.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that there are moments that we feel like we're beat up, beat down discouraged.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't imagine it was necessarily easy, even though we don't necessarily have this in the scriptures here.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do have to think whenever Paul and Silas are beaten throwing the prison, all these things, there's probably a lot of questions, God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thought we were doing what you told us to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that led me here.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not what I thought this was going to look like.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, they are obviously physically in pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Deep pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're beaten, thrown in prison, put in uncomfortable positions and situations.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't let the way that they felt, dictate the way that they praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't let their emotions dictate the song

[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, I don't want to get him as a button.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually reminded, I was thinking about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm reminded frequently about this about a lot of black Americans in the 1800s, whenever they were still in slavery, but sing songs about freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're in change, they're being killed, they're being whipped, they're being grave injustices being done to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: but they're singing songs about freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there is something about the power of your song.

[SPEAKER_00]: To turn your situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just personally believe, and obviously a lot of those songs did actually install the name of Jesus as their liberator.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there is something prophetic in your song.

[SPEAKER_00]: that we don't sing about our situation, we sing to turn our situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't sing about what we're living in, we sing about where he's called us to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their song is not depended upon their comfort, their worship was not controlled by what they could see.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me midnight will always reveal what your faith is built on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever things are at their darkest, we find out what you really believe.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, Dad's put it this way for years.

[SPEAKER_00]: When the pressure is on, what's on the inside of you comes out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't find out what people are made of in seasons of ease.

[SPEAKER_00]: You find out what people are made of whenever things are uncomfortable and difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when there's pressure on, what comes out of you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't tell me who you are, I'm going to see who you are when there's some pressure applied.

[SPEAKER_00]: You with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to praise when everything is working.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to praise when you see your kids down front worshiping and dancing and singing and shouting.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to praise whenever you just got the raise.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to praise when your marriage is better than it's ever been.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we're believing for for all of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know one of the ways you get there, you praise when you don't see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You worship when you're not living in it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You stand firm even when everything is shouting completely contrary.

[SPEAKER_00]: The question is not, can you praise when everything is going, well, the question is, can you praise when the door is still locked?

[SPEAKER_00]: The question is, can you praise when the chain is still tight?

[SPEAKER_00]: The question is, can you rejoice when you're still waiting?

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you bless the Lord by your back still has stripes?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's where prophetic breakthrough.

[SPEAKER_00]: happens.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not when I deny the pain, but when I declare God is greater than the pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise is not pretending the prison is not real, but praise is saying this prison is not final and not sovereign in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise says this is hard, but God is still good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise says I'm under pressure, but I know that God is still faithful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise says I don't see the door open yet, but I know that my God is still able to do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, some people only have a Sunday morning

[SPEAKER_00]: That's true, some of them don't even have that, but I believe God is raising people who don't just have a Sunday morning song, they've got a midnight song.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me, some of you getting your midnight song back today, some of you're in situations where it feels like midnight, but God's putting a midnight song in your mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you feel like everything's closing in around you, but he's going to put a song in your mouth that pushes back against what the enemy is trying to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: The enemy thought that pain could mute you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He thought that this appointment could silence you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He thought that pressure would steal your praise, but I wanted to create over you today that God is restoring your sound.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna praise before the door's open.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna rejoice before the chains fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna bless him before the morning comes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I don't know if I can do that pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you're probably not gonna see the chains fall.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I have it in me.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to find it in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to, this is why,

[SPEAKER_00]: this is one of the reasons it's called the sacrifice of praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it was always easy, it wouldn't be a sacrifice.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it didn't cost you something, it wouldn't be a sacrifice.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the biggest thing it cost you is your flesh.

[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest thing it cost you is your pride.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest thing it can cost you is what other

[SPEAKER_00]: that suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so I say suddenly, go on, say suddenly.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love that word suddenly, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They were wounded and then, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: They were chained and they were in the inner prison and they were seeing it midnight and, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Your midnight can become a, y'all are being too quiet this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to try to get your midnight can become a,

[SPEAKER_00]: Your prison can become a, your waiting can become a suddenly God can change things.

[SPEAKER_00]: They went from in chains in the inner prison to free suddenly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because they didn't let their situation dictate their praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't let their situation dictate their song.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not just the door, not just the lock, not just the surface, the very foundation of the place, shook.

[SPEAKER_00]: God shook the very thing that was holding the prison together.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what God does.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever he shows up, he doesn't use a deal with symptoms.

[SPEAKER_00]: He deals with routes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: He shakes the very foundations.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe today, he can still shake the foundation of addiction.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe today, he can still shake the foundation of depression.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe today, he can still shake the foundation of fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe today, he can still shake the foundation of generational cycles.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe today, he can still shake the foundation of bondage in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some things, I want you to, I believe in counseling, we do counseling all of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there's some things, I believe you can't counsel your way out of.

[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta let God come shake some things, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's not anti-countling.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do counseling.

[SPEAKER_00]: We counsel.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a counseling ministry.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not anti-countling in any way.

[SPEAKER_00]: But whenever you've gotten all the counseling, you can get and things still aren't changing.

[SPEAKER_00]: You gotta let God come in and shake some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Shake it, shake it, shake it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's right.

[SPEAKER_00]: Better be careful.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ha ha.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some things you can't reason your way out of.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some things you can't work hard enough to break, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a thing wrong with any of these.

[SPEAKER_00]: Another one with reason, God gave you reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a thing wrong with counseling.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's, but sometimes we need to use reasoning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why I keep getting in trouble.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why do you keep going to those places.

[SPEAKER_00]: Reason here says, I go there, I get in trouble.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't go there.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why I keep getting in trouble with that person.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but maybe you should not be around them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Reason is a good thing, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Counseling is a good thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you keep coming up and getting something, you need to get counseling.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing wrong with any of these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: These things are good.

[SPEAKER_00]: These things are God gave us, but there are times and by the way, so they're wrong with working hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: We should work hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of problems could get fixed with just discipline.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know that's not a popular word anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially in the church, we have this like anti-discipline perspective, like, you know, Jesus just did it all and he's just gonna give me the ability, like it's gonna hit me one day and I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna do these things anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: What you also should just discipline yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, being a disciple is being a disciplined one.

[SPEAKER_00]: But whenever you've been disciplined, then whenever you've sought counsel, and whenever you've done all these things, and you still keep coming up against the same problem and the same issue, and you're doing everything that you know to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know what you have to do sometimes?

[SPEAKER_00]: You have to let God come in and shake some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because he still shakes the foundations of what has been trying to hold you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I came to declare to you today that God can shake which you can't move.

[SPEAKER_00]: that God can open what you cannot open, that God can break, but you cannot break.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 26 says this, that all the doors were open, not just some of the doors, all the doors, not just Paul's or not just Silas's door, all the doors, and everyone's chains were loose.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't want to, I don't want to, I could be on this for a while, I don't want to say it too long.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that means this, their praise didn't just affect them.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me, your praise doesn't, and I especially want moms and dads to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want parents to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your praise doesn't just affect you, it affects your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, it doesn't just affect you, it affects your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't just worship for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You worship because you want to release something in the lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: One, you want to set an example.

[SPEAKER_00]: But two, you want to release something in your children's life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is they are still under your covering and under your care.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I believe, I still believe that some things

[SPEAKER_00]: You want your kids to walk in freedom, you walk in freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want your kids to worship, you worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: You want your kids to be free, you worship, and you let chains be broken off of their lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about that, Pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it, so you can't convince me to the contrary.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I've seen people praise in their kids or still messed up.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's okay, we're in midnight, but I'm telling you that morning is coming.

[SPEAKER_00]: The weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I haven't seen victory yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yet is the operative hard there, but you're gonna see victory.

[SPEAKER_00]: where I have a come out of the prison yet, but you are gonna come out as long as you don't quit and you don't stop and you keep pressing and you keep praising and you keep letting worship be a weapon in your mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm telling you, God can turn the situation and you can come out of the prison door, but not just you, he's gonna cause the doors that have held your kids to fling open too.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna cause the chains that have bound your spouse to drop to what he does and you isn't just for you, it's her other people around you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Think about this, think about this thing by this.

[SPEAKER_00]: People who didn't deserve freedom got freedom because of the worship of Paul and Silas.

[SPEAKER_00]: People who doors should have been locked became unlocked because of the worship of these two men.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your breakthrough might start in your life, but it can unlock somebody else.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your freedom may start with you, but it can touch your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: The prisoners were listening.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means that wounded me and heard these guys worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Chained me and hurt, chained me and rejoicing.

[SPEAKER_00]: They heard men in the dark singing to God and then the whole prison started shaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't start shaking, and then they praised, it praised, and then it shook, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of times we think when it starts shaking, we're gonna shout, maybe if you would shout now, it would shake.

[SPEAKER_00]: I declare over your life today, the foundations are shaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: The chains are breaking today, that doors are opening today, that God is shaking what held you, and God is breaking what bound you, that God is opening up, what no man could open.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me, you're not gonna be stuck forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your kids aren't gonna be stuck forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe this morning, the sound of praise is becoming a sound of freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go quick, because I want to do something this morning, but I believe this Paul and Silas in this account, they're not just in prison, they are in the middle of spiritual warfare, because they are locked up, they are put in prison as warfare against them for what they've done in installing and being faithful to the name of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: This isn't just some, well, let's just lock them in prison because this is warfare against them, but notice how they fight in response, they don't fight with bitterness.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't fight with fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't fight by rehearsing what happened to them over and over again.

[SPEAKER_00]: They don't fight by letting the wound write the lyrics.

[SPEAKER_00]: They fight with prayer and with praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their song was more than just emotional comfort.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a weapon in their mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their song was warfare.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their song was not just background music.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their praise was a weapon.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their worship was not passive.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their worship was pushing back darkness.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me really well.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise is not denial.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise is defiant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise is not denial, praise is defiance.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's defiance of what the enemy is trying to do in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's defiance of what he's trying to put on your family.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's defiance of what he's trying to put on your kids.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's saying to the enemy, I know that you tried to shut me up, but then ain't gonna work.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna shout all the more.

[SPEAKER_00]: The darker things get, the louder I'm gonna get.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, the more you push back against me, you better believe I'm gonna push back against you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Somewhere along the line, and I don't have time, I just literally just don't have time to go into this in depth this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you need to understand that worship, and dad preached this for years, we'll do a series on at some point.

[SPEAKER_00]: But worship is not because God has an ego problem and needs to hear you praise Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: God's not gonna fall off the throne if you don't worship Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's God.

[SPEAKER_00]: If everybody on the planet Earth decided today, we're not gonna worship anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't become less God.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's still God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Could we believe that?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's still God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Regardless of what you do, he's God.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not adding anything to his authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not adding anything to His dominion.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are not adding anything to His power in Your worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what you are doing is you are coming into agreement with who He is.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there is a mobilization for Him and the angels of heaven to move in Your life whenever you begin to come in agreement with who He is.

[SPEAKER_00]: We worship Him because we need to worship Him, not because He needs it from us.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is a weapon of worship that God wants to put back in your mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Paul and Silas are doing here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul looks at the prison and says, you don't get to find a word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise looks at the chains as you're not stronger than my God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise looks at midnight as says, morning is still coming in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Praise looks at hell and says, Jesus is still Lord and you are not victorious.

[SPEAKER_00]: So of us have thought that praise is something we do when we feel good.

[SPEAKER_00]: The praise is also something we do whenever we're where it gets the enemy of our soul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Worship is how we enthrone Jesus over the very thing that's trying to intimidate us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Worship says fear does not rain here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Depression does not rain here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Addiction doesn't rain here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Shame doesn't rain here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Anxiety doesn't rain here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus rains here.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why the enemy fights your song because he knows your song is agreement with the plan of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your song is alignment.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your song is authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your song is faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants you quiet in the prison, but we're not going to be quiet in the prison.

[SPEAKER_00]: He wants you quiet while you're changing, while changing, while changing, but we're not going to be quiet while changing our own.

[SPEAKER_00]: The enemy wants you silent because a silent church is not a threat.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Paul and Sias, silence, teach us that the prison is not a place to lose your song.

[SPEAKER_00]: The prison is a place to weaponize your song.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the time to go silent, it's the time to open your mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the time to declare who got it, it's the time to rejoice your way into victory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Famously, in second Chronicles 20, y'all still with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: In second Chronicles 20, tells us that your house is surrounded by enemies and God tells them the battle's not theirs, but it's his.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then God says, and this is how it's gonna be my battle.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you go out, you put the singers in the front of the army.

[SPEAKER_00]: You put the worshipers out front.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is stupid.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Most people who are musicians are not known for their combat skills, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Love or not a fighter, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Could you imagine if the church was surrounded by now by some threat and I went, who are we going to put out there?

[SPEAKER_00]: who are we going to put out there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, where's, where, we're getting cleave, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to get Robert Stewart, and we're going to get Tyler Gingrich, and we're going to get all the guys with guns.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come, can we, can we be real?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to put them out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to get Garrett.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's expendable.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm playing, I'm just joking.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm joking, y'all know that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just playing.

[SPEAKER_00]: But you know what we're not going to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's Enoch?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's Steve?

[SPEAKER_00]: Somebody's ready to throw down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's Lil Sweab at?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's put him out there on the front line.

[SPEAKER_00]: That Steve's new gangster name, by the way, Lil Sweab.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got a picture while I was gone during movement of Steve with an orange hat on backwards.

[SPEAKER_00]: little sweat, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we're going to put in a tan now there.

[SPEAKER_00]: That might work.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might run away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get wet and put him out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Our instinct is not to grab the musicians, but that's exactly, is that some of them are offended, that's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to grab me and put me out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not my scene, let's give Marcus.

[SPEAKER_00]: He can beat them with the drumsticks.

[SPEAKER_00]: Triple it's on their head, praise God.

[SPEAKER_00]: I still don't understand, but that's exactly what God tells you, how's the fact to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And whenever the musicians begin to sing when they begin to blow the horns, what happens to the Lord's sense and bushments against their enemies.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is more than just a historical account.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's telling us something.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's communicating something to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just going to look at this crazy thing that happened.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's telling us something.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's saying when enemy surrounds you, your weapon is not your strength.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your weapon is your song.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your weapon is your worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as you begin to worship the Lord when you're surrounded, he's going to fight the battle for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not going to have to do anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to stand and see the salvation of the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the enemy will be defeated, not by your strength, but by his.

[SPEAKER_00]: They began to sing and praise the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord said, and Bushments against them.

[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 149 says this, with the high praises of God be in their mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: and a two-edged sword in their head, praise in their mouth, a sword in their hand, that is warfare language.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not weak, this is not cute, this is not religious system or routine, this is kingdom authority.

[SPEAKER_00]: The high praise of God in your mouth is a weapon against starting, this is the way we believe and preach and sit on for years, and dad preached this all over America for years.

[SPEAKER_00]: Legitimately, I could sit on the front row and quote his message.

[SPEAKER_00]: because I heard it 437,000 times.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's what people wanted him to preach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, when we were just in Virginia, that's actually a church.

[SPEAKER_00]: It dad preached that in the late 90s, the early 2000s kind of window, and I found out that that's a celebrity there, essentially.

[SPEAKER_00]: I knew he had ministered there, but I walked in and they're like, oh my gosh, it's Robert Gaysson.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I'm also my own individual.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just kidding.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm kidding.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I am, but I'm not kidding about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am kidding about that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll get it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You all know what I mean?

[SPEAKER_00]: Here, my heart, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We were leaving the last day, and we're downtown at a coffee shop, just a coffee shop.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not by inner church, just a coffee shop.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm ordering coffee, and I'm saying it there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the person who's doing the coffee is just staring at me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get up there to check out and they go, I've got a really weird question to ask you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, okay, they said, are you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do you happen to know a man by the name Robert Gay?

[SPEAKER_00]: And I said, that's my dad.

[SPEAKER_00]: And she was like, oh my gosh, I love him.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've got his signed CD in my house still.

[SPEAKER_00]: I went to all of the praise and worship conferences and seminars he did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And oh my gosh, I just love him so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've been having random conversations with pastors and leaders there and they've just bust out in the song lyrics.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was wow.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Dad preached this for years that your praise is a weapon of spiritual warfare.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not just a warm-up before the message and the good stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is not something we do because we need to get some calisthenics in before the word and we don't move during the weeks.

[SPEAKER_00]: We better move at church because if not we're all gonna die.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is a weapon of spiritual warfare in your hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever you sing, whenever you shout, we are not just singing and shouting in vain, but we are pushing back against the enemy of our souls.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are believing that prison doors are gonna fly open and that chains are gonna fall off as we worship and as we praise come on with.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe this today that God is putting a weapon back in your mouth today.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now weapon is praise that weapon is worship that worship that weapon is rejoicing the weapon is declaring the goodness of God before the situation changes The weapon is saying I will bless the Lord at all times the weapon is saying no weapon for him to get me shall prosper the weapon is saying I'm still gonna sing at midnight I but I declare today God's putting a weapon back in your mouth

[SPEAKER_00]: that your praise is coming back.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your roar is coming back.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not gonna fight this next season muted.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna fight it with praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not gonna fight it silent.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna fight it with worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not gonna fight it flat-footed.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna fight it with a dancing your feet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I wanna end this a little bit differently.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna end this a little bit differently today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cause a lot of times,

[SPEAKER_00]: And the end of message is we have an altar call or something to push you into what God is saying.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if we're preaching about Paul and Silas at midnight, we can't just talk about praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: We gotta praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you for that overwhelming response.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to try that one more time.

[SPEAKER_00]: I said, if we're preaching about Paul and Silas at midnight, we can't just talk about praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: We gotta praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hear me, it doesn't say they analyze the presented midnight.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says they prayed and sang hymns to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when they sang, the foundation started shaking.

[SPEAKER_00]: And today we're gonna allow the Lord to shake some foundations.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna praise, we're gonna shout, and I still believe what Isaiah said that he gives the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means praise is not just an expression.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's something you put on yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to say as I'm putting on praise today.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know what time it is, y'all just hang, God's doing something, we're just gonna hang.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm putting on praise today and we're gonna allow God to shake some things today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 149, let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: That means this, that their praise is warfare, it's not cute, it's not religious filler, it's a sword and I want you to hear me really well, some of y'all got two

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you got too cute and you lost your sword.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you got too sophisticated and you lost your shell.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us got too dignified and we lost our dance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us got too familiar and we lost our fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of us got too quiet in the very season that we needed to open up our mouths and shell.

[SPEAKER_00]: But today God is putting a weapon back in your hand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you to hear me rejoicing in praise, isn't just for the 13-14-18-22-year-old of front.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's for you and your situation, and some of you today, you need to get your praise back in your situation, and let God shift and move some things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for downloading this podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: We trust that this message has blessed and encouraged and identified you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you subscribe so you never miss a message here from High Braise.

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[SPEAKER_00]: We'll be back soon with another incredible message.

[SPEAKER_00]: God bless you and have a great week.