Because of Midnight | Pastor Daniel Taylor

Hallelujah. Come on, look at your neighbor.

Tell him, oh how I love Jesus. Hey man, it's good to see you in

the House of the Lord. This morning I realized that you

could be anywhere, but you chose to get up and come to the House

of the Lord. Man, it's cold outside.

You may not be excited about it, but my wife is.

So I would like to apologize in advance to all of you that wish

that you had Florida weather. I'm so sorry, but my wife is

excited. And all I could think of when I

was driving over here the very long distance from Indiana to

Illinois and I drove, I drove across and all I could think of

is, man, that looks like a great place to go shoot a deer.

So hey man, I cool a church come alive right there.

Somebody else thinking, well, you know, if pastor wouldn't get

me, I might be in the woods this morning.

I promise you they're moving today.

Or at least that one guy that was parked on the side of the

road thought so. Amen.

Give great honor to your pastor and sister McGee and Mariah and

Trevor. And you know, I, I made the

remark that you have to have a ladder to climb up and say hello

to Trevor. So I'm fresh out of step stools.

So just want to say hi from up here at this distance, we're

almost the same, the curvature of the earth and such.

But anyway, so thankful for them, for their wonderful

family. And we have just become great

friends. And, and long before I really

met the Mcgee's, met them, met them, I knew that they were

powerful, powerful, powerful ministry family.

And I said that those are people that I want to know.

And it just so happened that all the places that we've been,

they've all been, you know, she's been a little bit sick

here from time to time. And I was, I was just thinking,

Sister McGee, that when we met you guys in Texas, I think you

had the flu or something. So whatever that it was.

What? There you go.

Look at that. I remember that you had the flu.

And in Louisiana, there was COVID in my cup, OK, because I

pretty much was dead. And so anyway, we're thankful

for them and thankful for their friendship.

And the next time we schedule them to Oklahoma, it won't be a

cancellation. So we're gonna, you know,

fireproof it or whatever. It's good to good to see you

haven't got to meet yet. But Bishop and Sister McGee, we

thank God for you. So glad that you were here

today. And Doctor, Doctor Jerry and

Sister Mason, I like to call him doctor because I know he's

worked hard on that. Not only that, but with someone

with that type of humility and love for people, I like it when

people like that get doctorate degrees because they're not

going to rub it in your face, which gives us all of the access

that we need to say it's good to see you, Doctor Mason.

Good to see you, Doctor Mason. Amen.

Good to see our youth pastor Alex and Sister Mason and their

family man. And how exciting are we going to

be to dedicate a baby today? My goodness, we just had a bunch

of baby dedications at home. Thankful for that.

Love babies. There's more than one way to

grow a church. Amen.

So thankful for my family. Liam is here today kind of

fighting through a sinus infection.

So thankful that he's, I don't know if he's fighting or giving

up, but we're glad that he's here and doing better.

Amen. Courtney gave up and took a nap.

Thankful for Link and sharing his talent today.

And my lovely, beautiful wife. Thankful for them.

And he's right. I'm married into the tribe.

We got some genuine Choctaw Chickasaws in the house today,

and they remind me regularly that I'm just white.

If you wouldn't mind standing for the word of reading of the

word of the Lord this morning. So honored to be here.

My goodness, I can't even convey to you how honored that we are.

It's just such a that you would even want us to come.

Just blows our mind. We love the Indiana district.

I know that you guys are in Illinois.

So it's like I. You're preaching in the Indiana

District. I was like, have you seen where

Mount Carmel is? I have been looking for the

mountain and I haven't found it yet.

Where I live in Oklahoma, there are mountains and but I, I

haven't, I haven't found it here.

But certainly there's a great beautiful lighthouse standing in

this community. A man we're excited about what

the Lord is going to do. Philippians chapter 1 and verse

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

3. Philippians chapter 1 in verse

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

3, I'm just going to preach to you what the Lord has laid on my

heart. It's been on my mind ever since

I left Oklahoma for you. I don't know who this is for

today, but if it's not for you, it'll be for me.

And if it's not for you or me, maybe someone who's joining us

online today, a man will get in their car next week and make the

drive up the mountain. Philippians 1 and.

Verse three, if you dare say. Amen, He said.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

What a great way to start this out.

Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with

joy in Oklahoma that would be condensed to y'all for your

fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

Verse number six familiar to us being confident of this very

thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it

until the day of Jesus Christ. Verse 7 says even as it is meat

for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart

in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and

confirmation of the gospel. You are all partakers of my

grace for God is my record. How greatly I long after you all

in the bowels of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We're so thankful, Amen, for the word of God today, he said.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.

I want to preach to you for a few moments a title that I hope

will make sense by the time that I'm get done.

Because of midnight. Because of midnight.

Will you help me pray? Come on, just one more time,

Jesus, we love you. God, I'm so thankful for how

you're going to move in this place this morning.

God, we're thankful for those that have gathered here in the

house. God, we know that you have a

word for us today. God, I pray that we would be

strengthened and that we would be encouraged this morning, God,

and that you would do a great work in US Florida, that you

would take us through every trial and every tribulation.

God, I pray that we would be empowered this morning for a

great season of harvest. And everybody said in Jesus

name. Amen, you can be seated.

Thank you so much for standing for the reading of the word this

morning. Now, I have always heard, I

think this should be the same in Illinois.

I have always heard that nothing good ever happens after

midnight. More specifically, back home

they would say nothing good ever happens after 11:00.

I've certainly been to some places in my life that this is

very true. Nothing good happens after

midnight. I remember one time whenever I

was on a school trip in New York City, they had told us the tour

guide, because when you're from Oklahoma, you need a tour guide.

In New York City. The tour guide said you don't.

Whatever that you do, it's a great way to start.

Some advice, you don't want to be out in the streets after

11:00 at night. You definitely don't want to be

caught out there at midnight. And as, as my story goes, it

just so happens that the principal and a couple of other

students and I were separated from the larger group for who

knows why. And we were lost without our

tour guide and stranded in New York City at like 11:00 at

night. And all of the hustle and the

bustle that you see in the city was gone.

But what there was was there was gangs walking around.

And if I could just be honest with you, man, I'm just country.

And I think I'm talking to some folks who live close enough to

the country that you can appreciate this.

Why are you walking around being a gang at 11 or 12 at night when

everybody else went home? Like who was there to rob?

Who is there to beat up? You just going to run into the

other rival gang that comes out about 11:30?

You know, I just don't, I don't know.

It's to me it doesn't seem practical and a good use of our

time. Maybe you got a great drug deal

that's coming. Maybe like this is the moment

the cop, the cops are getting some extra doughnuts at that

time or something. I don't know.

But I just feel like there's a better way to be an effective

gang than walking around at 11:00 at night.

But I remember walking down the street and my heart just went up

into my throat and I thought to myself, oh, my gosh, we are

going to be murdered in, in in New York.

But to their credit, it was not Doctor Mason a good use of their

time to murder us. They had other places to go and

people to see. Nothing good ever happens after

midnight. I remember one of the trips,

also in New York City, our group was coming back.

Our airlines, our, excuse me, our airports had been split

between the group. And so they had to get on the

subway in the middle of the night.

And they sent me pictures of the largest rats that I've ever seen

in my life. And they said this is what

happens after midnight. And so I agree that nothing good

happens after midnight when you're from my neck of the

woods, it's not always good to be out and about doing all sorts

of crazy things after midnight because that is when the crazy

people come out, truth be told. And and I realized that COVID

really set them on a different trajectory.

But Walmart is another place that you don't want to go to at

midnight back in the day. And maybe you like going to

Walmart at midnight. I certainly am a people watcher.

So if I was going to do a study, about 11:30 is a great time to

roll up in the parking lot because everybody who has waited

for all the normal people to go away are driving in at that

time. And they are making their way

into the store. And they said, this is our store

now you need to get out. If you're normal, this is not

your time to be here. You know, you can see a lot of

crazy things at Walmart, but it gets really crazy after

midnight. There's something about the

midnight hour. And I realized that this is

something that's universal all across the place.

But in our area, in Native America, if you would, I

realized that we live in Oklahoma, but there's a lot that

happens there. You know, the stories, the Trail

of Tears and all the tribes that were put there.

And there are, along with those tribal entities, also come with

a lot of doctrines and thoughts and things from the past that

they have their own special blend of.

Hoodoo even is what I call it, where they mix ancient cultural

things with spiritual things. And so we have what is

understood and known as the witching hour that sometimes

happens between midnight and 4:00 AM.

Many scholars that study this sort of thing believe that the

true witching hour happens at around about the 3:00 to 4:00,

the 4:00 AM hour. But we know where we live that

it starts at about midnight and sometime from about midnight to

4:00 AM. All of the people who really

truly believe that the between the spirit world is at its

thinnest and that things come and they go and they they will

go and they will do their chants and they will do their prayers

and they will they go and they will make their sacrifices and

they will do all the things that they do in the witching hour.

And I think I think the best reason for that is because I

believe that they think that all of the Holy Ghost filled people

that could pray against them are probably asleep.

Amen. Because I don't know about you,

but I get a little bit tired at about 11:30.

I think it's because I don't want to go to Walmart.

And I think it's because I don't want to be in the New York City

gang working the night shift. I, I don't know what it is, but

I, I feel a little sleepy. And I, I feel like the best

thing for me to do at midnight is to not be in any kind of

trouble. And it's to not be any kind of

place I shouldn't be. And it's not to do any types of

things I shouldn't do. But it's to get a little rest

and get up in the morning and get my day started.

And I know that I sound like somebody who's already ready for

a Sunday, but can I tell you right now that the the enemy

does not mind staying up late when God's people are asleep?

Amen. The Word tells us that while men

slept, the enemy came in unawares and so tears into the

weed. The enemy doesn't mind getting

up in the wee hours of the night.

The enemy doesn't mind going the extra mile and taking the extra

effort to try to be sure that God's people are stunted in

their growth, to try to be sure that God's people are having a

hard time with revival. This is not in my notes.

So this is free, but not too far from where we used to live.

We moved like a mile. But anyway, there was a witch

that moved just down the road from us.

Amen. And I'm not talking about some

type of Harry Potter thing. I'm talking about somebody's

husband built them a pond. And built an island in the

middle of it with a Grove, a Grove with trees that point to

the north, the South and the east and the West.

And you might think, man, that's a beautiful little spot.

I'd love to go out there and son on that.

No, you wouldn't because we have lots of snakes that could kill

you in Oklahoma. And all of them are going to

love that island. I hope she likes sacrifice of

snakes. She posted on there her little

island that she had and revealed to the world in broad daylight

in southeastern Oklahoma that she was a practicing Wiccan and

that her husband had built her this island so that she could

build an altar in this space. And she even had pictures of a

pre sacrifice that was on this deal.

And there are so many people, even Christian people that will

look at a situation like that and they'll say, man, that's

that's cute. Well, that person just kind of

odd. They're just a little bit

strange. But here's the thing.

We are spiritual people. We don't have to over

spiritualize things, but we understand and know, Hey, man,

that there is power in what they do.

But greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

We found out and realized that she was making sacrifices and

that she was cursing people. I remember when she drove by our

house, I was standing out in the front yard and I looked her in

the eyeballs. If you could do that while

somebody's driving. And she was looking at me and

turn all the way around. And I thought to myself, that's

also not an effective way to drive.

You must be a powerful witch because there's a little hill

right there. So I hope that that truck flies

like a broom or something. But you know you're going to be

in trouble. This is just is how I think

abstractly, because you know what?

I'm not worried about those types of things.

I know that nothing good happens after midnight, but I could tell

you right now that I can sleep soundly at night.

Because it doesn't matter what the enemy does.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper.

It doesn't matter what they do. It doesn't matter how they do

it. Hey, man, they could get all up

in your mind. The enemy could get all up in

your mind and convince you that you're sick, and convince you

that you're not going to be well, and convince you that

you've lost your mind and that you can't get it back to.

Together, but I've come to tell somebody hey man, you got to

rise up and say I'm filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost

greater is he that is in me. No web performed against me

shall prosper. It doesn't mean that it won't be

formed, but it's not going to win now though we.

Read a letter that was written to an organized church.

In our opening passage, we should remember that Paul was in

a tight spot back in that area. In Acts chapter 16, we read

Acts 16 · chapter mention

where Paul and Silas ran into some folks who loved God, but

also those who hated the work of God as well.

While Paul and Silas ministered the Word of God and worked

according to the Spirit of God, the people there rejected the

Word of God and then they jailed the men of God.

You remember the story that they were walking through there and

May God was doing great things. They were preaching the gospel,

but this, this lady with the spirit of the soothsayer, spirit

of divination was walking behind them and mocking them all the

day long. I'm going to be honest that

they've lasted longer than I could have lasted.

Paul was Paul was well tested. But as they begin to walk

through the place, hey, man, she was mocking them and, and, and

trying to make issue with them. And the Bible says that Paul

finally had enough of it and turned around and pointed his

finger at her. I guess that's what he did.

I don't maybe he kicked her in the stomach.

I don't know. But he said, get out of there.

And that spirit came out. And of course, then the real

trouble came because the men who had that woman in slavery came

out of the wings and they said, hold up just a minute.

You know what, you could preach, you guys can even have good

church. But the moment that you start

turning around and rebuking spirits and causing these things

to come out and causing this person to be free, not only is

this woman that we have enslaved free, but now we can't make

money off of her anymore because she can't do the things we need

for her to do. Could you imagine what might

have been going on in the mind of that woman that was right

there? Hey, man, I don't, I'm not going

to speculate. It's not, it's not Bible.

I can't necessarily say that we're going to make it a heaven

or hell issue. But I think I've spent life just

long enough to know that the moment that that spirit came out

of her, there was probably a lot of fear because who am I going

to be? There was probably a lot of

confusion because what in the world just happened?

But don't you know? There was a sense of elation

that rose up inside of her that said, I have been torn.

By the Spirit, I have been led. By the Spirit I have been abused

by these men. And now, my goodness, what this?

What is this? It's freedom.

That's what it was. I don't ever find in the

Scripture. Amen.

Where they put that devil back in her, I don't know.

Whatever happened to her, I hope that she ran as fast as she.

Could. But we know what happened to the

men of God. They jailed those guys.

They put them in the innermost parts of the prison.

Can I tell you this, this morning that God put Paul and

Silas right where they needed to be in the perfect midnight hour

so that he could perform a miraculous jailbreak?

God put them right where they needed to be.

And I've thought a lot about this story, Pastor McGee.

I've tried to figure out what kind of a Hannibal Lecter that

they had to evict to put Paul and Silas in the innermost parts

of the prison could. Could you imagine?

They grabbed these preachers and they said, these guys are so

dangerous. These guys are so dangerous.

We got to move that guy. They probably sent, who knows

who they sent down there. Like, all right, we don't want

any trouble, but you got to pack up your bags.

The guy's probably thinking, My Lord.

Who is about to walk up in this room that's worse than me?

I don't know what he did, but he did something real bad to be in

there. So he thought, man, this is like

boss level. This guy must be one of those

guys that roams the New York streets at midnight

ineffectively harassing people. Maybe it's his boss.

As a man, this guy must have murdered 10,000 Bunny rabbits to

Get Me Out of his. Like, I listen, I don't know,

but you got to pack your bags. We got to put you in a different

part of the prison. Could you imagine his thought

process when somebody said it's just a couple of preachers?

He's like, do what? A couple of preachers?

Man, you don't even know these preachers are bad news.

They are the worst we got. Matter of fact, not only are we

going to put them in your cell and in the innermost part of the

prison, but we're going to, we're going to chain their hands

and we're going to chain their feet and we're going to fasten

them to the wall. And that guy's probably

thinking, my goodness, I'm not even fastened to the wall.

I don't know. His hands might not have been

bound, his his feet might not have been bound.

He was certainly bound to whatever sin that he had

committed. But when?

But when they came in and said, no, you don't understand.

We've got the worst of the worst of the worst of these guys.

You can't even get worse than that.

They're preachers. You don't want to mess with

them. And so they brought them in and

they put them in the innermost part of the prison, Amen.

And they, they had their hands fastened and that wasn't enough.

So they had their feet fastened and that wasn't enough.

So they chained them to the wall.

And that really wasn't enough because they probably should

have gagged them. But whenever they got in and

they moved into the worst neighborhood of the supermax

prison of Philippi, Amen, They, they, something happened at the

midnight hour. And Acts 16 to 25 tells since

that at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and saying praises unto

God, and the prisoners hurt them.

Could you imagine this with me, just for another moment, this

morning, I've got my clock running.

We're going to get out of here. It's 5th Sunday, Amen.

Dinner's going, lunch is going to be hot.

But I, I just want you to get with me for just another couple

of moments here. Could you imagine what might

have been going through the minds of the people on each side

of this jail cell? Amen.

Because at midnight they begin to pray and sing praises unto

God. I don't know what it sounded

like. I don't know what it was like.

I don't know what kind of song that they sang.

I don't know any type of ancient Hebrew.

I don't speak Aramaic. I don't, I don't know what kind

of hymnal that they were hanging out in back then.

But they begin to pray and they sang praises unto God.

I don't know, They might have. They might have been singing

Jesus, something about the name of Jesus.

They might have been singing that old song that I just feel

like something good is about to happen or you don't.

I know, like I know what the Lord has done for me, but here's

what's going on in my mind. But I'm reading this and I'm

thinking about all the people around us and the Hannibal

Lecter that got evicted from his cushy little jail cell there.

And I'm thinking about the guy on the other side of the wall

who's trying to sleep. It's midnight.

He's like, nothing good happens after midnight.

I'm just going to go to bed. But all the sudden he's hears

them praying. Oh God, Lord, we thank you, man.

You've been so good to me, God. You've been better to me than

I've been to myself, Lord. Thank you, God.

I know that we're in trouble, but thank you for delivering

that woman from that spirit of divination today.

God, I know that we're in jail, but I don't regret rebuking that

spirit out of her. God.

Thank you, Lord, that there was a sister named Lydia that was

watching in a distance. Thank you, God, for the revival

that's going to come. You can imagine that God, he's

like what in the. World, where did Hannibal Lecter

go? We're hearing something

different on the sound waves. We're hearing something a

little. Sean Garnett should have got my

notes. He could have said, do you hear

what I hear if you were there? You know, man, this sounds

different. I hear the cling and the chains

but it sound like they're clapping their hands.

Oh, clap your hands, all you people.

And shouting to God with the voice of triumph.

And I think that there must have been at least somebody that was

probably saying, shut up, I'm trying to sleep.

But then there might have been another person in the cell over

for this. And hold on just a minute.

I haven't heard that song in a long time.

There's something different about what they're singing and

there's something different about what they're praying.

And I can imagine that over the hallway just a little bit.

Hey, man, somebody's singing, man, that song sounds familiar.

And they say, I don't know the words, but I like that tune and

the and they're thinking, you know, this is a depressing

place. This is a horrible place.

I've come here. I'm probably come here to die.

I'm Fleer in and I'm itching all over.

I'm missing my family. I'm regretting all my life's

decisions. But I feel a little something

happening while these guys are praying and they're singing.

It feels like a little bit of hope.

It feels like the atmosphere is changing in this prison.

Can I tell you right now, Amanda?

Suddenly there was an earthquake, so that the

foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the

doors were open and everyone's bands were loose.

And the keeper, come on, the jailer who was asleep.

Seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword and would

have. Killed himself, supposing that

the prisoners have fled. I've just read this differently

than I've ever read it before. But Paul cried with a loud voice

saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here.

I just want to take you a little minute.

I just want to help you and then put you and show you how in the

Holy Ghost that the Apostle Paul really was.

Because he had his hands fastened and his feet fastened.

He was still fastened to the wall.

Or at least, he had been proud of that moment.

But I want you to know something the Scripture never tells us

that he was right across the hallway from the keeper of the

prison because he don't want to stay in that neighborhood

either. So he's somewhere else, Amen.

Paul knew maybe he could discern the feelings or the thoughts

even of the jailer when he woke up, that he stopped from his

singing and he stopped from his praying.

And he said, hey, do yourself no harm because we are all here.

Could you imagine a prisoner, Amen.

Where all of the doors were open and all of the bands were

loosed, but the prisoners didn't leave.

Oh, I've come to tell somebody right now.

There is a special kind of freedom in God.

There is a special kind of freedom that just doesn't make

sense. There's a special kind of

freedom that when the Lord begins moving, he'll give you

peace that passes all understanding.

He'll make a way where there seems to be no way.

He'll take you through the waters.

He'll make a highway through the desert.

He'll pull water out of a rock and manner from heaven.

There's something about the name of Jesus.

Oh, I've come to tell somebody right now.

Hey, man, I don't care who you are, where you from, what you're

going through right now. There is a piece that could come

over you in the middle of your worst hour.

You know the rest of the story. He calls for a light springs in

came, comes trembling, fell down before Paula Silas.

And he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be

saved? And they said, believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.

We know that to believe on him means to repent, be baptized in

Jesus name, and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

He took them the same hour of the night and wash their

stripes. Look at your neighbor.

Say that was a quick word. Man, could you imagine?

You know, Paul, we've had a long day.

We've had a long day, Paul. We've had to just get ourselves

some sleep. Or maybe it was Paul saying

we've had a long day, we ought to get ourselves to sleep.

But one of those two guys said, Nah, I think it's time to pray.

I think it's time to pray. Somebody's going to be praying,

might as well be us. Somebody's going to be

sacrificing somewhere. We might as well give God a

sacrifice of praise by the fruit of our lips.

Ohh. But how can you do that when

you're bound up? How can you do that when you're

bound hand and foot? How can you do that, hey man,

when you can't even walk far enough away from the wall?

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a I'm a pacer when I pray.

Hey man. So she might have been cheating,

you know, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink.

Maybe that's why I got the song started.

They're like, man, you know, that feels pretty good.

I like that. I feel like praise and praising

him. And man, could you imagine what

would happen if we got into this place and we got into a prayer

meeting, into a praise service that was so strong, Amen.

That that Mount Carmel just begin to shake in the power of

God. I want you to know something

right now that God has a church in this city, Amen.

And it's first Apostolic Church. I love this.

Slogan here, Amen. Where heaven meets earth,

because that's what happened in that prison.

Heaven came in contact with earth.

And when it did, hey, man, it wasn't just Paul and Silas that

was springing in the jailbreak, but it was the guy beside them.

I think it might have even been old brother Hannibal Lecter that

got evicted. A man.

I never said anything like that. The guy on the other side said,

I've never heard a song like that that feels good.

All I've ever heard was cursing. And all I've ever heard was

devious deeds. And all I've ever heard was

somebody bragging about what they did.

But I can hear with my ears the sound of somebody magnifying God

in the middle of their midnight hour.

Oh, I've got to tell somebody right now that God put Paul and

Silas right where they needed to be in the perfect hour so that

He could perform a miraculous jailbreak.

If you don't think that God won't allow you to be in a tight

spot, you are not paying attention.

Oh, but Brother Taylor, I thought that whenever I got the

Holy Ghost, everything was sunshine and unicorns.

It's absolutely not. But He'll give you power to

overcome. Oh, brother, I thought that

whenever I received the Holy Ghost, that God will never put

more on me than I could bear. That's not in the scripture

anywhere. He'll never put more on you than

you can bear. Well, don't talk to Job and

let's be sure that we get our let's be sure we get our mindset

right. That wasn't God either.

Only thing that God did different was lifted the hedge.

You ever thought about that? Job had to learn how to be

faithful in the same space that he had been without a head.

God already knew the answer to that question, so much so that

he asked his own question. Just want to say thank you God.

Hast thou considered my servant Job?

Can you imagine? Job was like, you know, things

are going so well. What I really wish was for

everything to not go well. If things could get worse, that

would just be perfect. No, Job was serving God.

Here's the thing though. The Lord knew that Job was not

going to let him down. So much so that he told the

devil, He's not going to let me down.

You can't kill him, but he's not going to let me down.

You can take all of his stuff away, but he's still going to be

faithful. You can afflict him, but he's

still going to be faithful. You can tempt him, but he's

still going to be faithful. You could get his friends to

turn on him, but he's still going to be faithful.

You can cause his wife to be so confused that she just doesn't

understand how a man that served and loved God like he has could

be in this type of trouble, but he's not going to be unfaithful.

He will be faithful unto me. Let me tell you something.

Hey man, if you don't think that God won't allow you to have some

issues, you are not paying attention.

If you don't think that God won't put you in a tight spot so

that he could get the attention of somebody else.

I want you to hear me right now that Jesus spit Steven to buy

Paul. I heard Jake Osbourne mention

that one time. He said, could you imagine?

Could you imagine Steven being in heaven and the Apostle Paul

walking up? He's like, what are you doing

here? Last thing I remember you were

holding the coach of the guys who were killing me and Paul

looks at me and says, Jesus spit you to buy me.

I want you to know something. If you're appalled that Jesus

spent someone as great as Stephen to buy you, don't you

think for one moment, Amen that you won't have any midnight

hours that you got to deal with? Don't think for one moment that

you won't have any persecution that you got to deal with.

Don't think for one moment, 'cause you're not going to be

beaten and shipwrecked and left on an island.

Don't think for one moment that you're not going to be jailed.

Don't think for one moment that you're not going to have

problems and situations that you think that you can't overcome.

I'm almost done this morning. Give me about 5 more minutes,

Paul wrote to the Philippians. He said I thank God for you.

I remember, you know, everywhere Paul went was revival or riot or

both. Did I remember that God was

moving and doing great things? And then we cast the devil of

that girl? And then I remember going to

jail and I remember them evicted Hannibal Lecter, and I remember

them putting us in the supermax. And I remember them binding our

hands and our feet and tying us to the wall.

He said, I remember a midnight hour.

I remember prayer service that shook the foundations.

He said I, he said when I think about you, I thank God for you

because First Corinthians 16 and 15 reminds us.

He said, I beseech you brethren, you know the House of Stefanus,

that is the first fruits of Achaea and that they have

addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints, that you

submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth us.

And Laboureth Stefanus was a first generation Apostolic.

Most scholars believe that that was the name of the jailer in

Philippi, that that Paul went and baptized him and his whole

family that night. He went from binding up revival

to being a catalyst of revival. I don't know who I might be

speaking to, or I might just be speaking into the air.

But I believe that God is able to open up and open up some

shackles and open some prison doors so that maybe somebody in

this area who's constantly trying to bind revival will come

and addict themselves to the ministry.

Hey man. And they will be a propagators

of revival instead. Man, there was a midnight hour

that said, I remember when all. This went down, but I thank God

every time that I think about you because you may be the first

fruits of your family this morning.

Musicians can come. You may be the first fruits of

an entire area, but God will finish what He started because

you were the first in your family.

You won't be the last of your family.

I believe that God wants to give this church a first generation

revival. I believe that God wants to give

this church a first generation harvest.

I don't know you and you don't know me.

I, I, it's my first time that I've ever been here and

preaching like this. It could be my last, But here's

what I want you to know. I believe that God is willing

and ready and able and wants to give this church a first

generation Apostolic revival. I believe that God wants to fill

these seats. I believe that God's got a

Stefanus out here in this. Community, maybe he's over in

the next community. Maybe she's over just down the

way. But I believe that there is a

Stefanus anointing that is trying to get on somebody.

I believe that somebody is a little bound up in some places.

I believe there's somebody in prisons of addiction, in prisons

of health scares, in prisons of false doctrine that the sound of

prayer and praise in this place. Oh come on, you might be sitting

in a midnight hour, but those of us that have been living for God

for very long can tell you that weeping may in endure for a

night, but joy cometh in the morning.

I'm telling you right now, the sun's going to rise.

It's going to be a better day. There's going to be another day

coming. There's growth coming, there's

harvest coming, there's revival coming.

The prisons are going to open up and God is going to move.

Yet there's people that will come into the church and you'll

sit there week in and week out, bound up by the same old things

when all that you really need to do is just get a hold of some of

that prayer and get a hold of some of that praise.

Amen. There may be somebody under the

sound of my voice right now that you're like, oh brother, you

just don't understand. I'm in the worst midnight hour

that I've ever been weeping may endure for a night, but joy,

there is joy coming in the morning.

It's. On the way.

Joy is on the way. Breakthrough is on the way.

Break out is on the way. It's coming, it's coming.

Hey, man, if you're in the next sale to Paula Silasa, you might

as well just shake your change to it.

You might as well just clap your hands to it.

You might as well learn the words of the song and sing

along. Man, I'm not out of this yet,

but I'm going to be. There's going to be a better

day. Oh, come on.

I'm going to have houses I didn't build and drink from

wells and I didn't dig it. There's going to come a better

day. God's going to pull me out to.

God's going to take me a Amen. God sent somebody to my jail

cell because he had he that has begun a good work in you.

Amen. Come on, Pastor didn't start it

in you. It wasn't some other person.

Bishop didn't start it in you. It was God, the start of the

work in you. He's the alpha and Omega, the

beginning and the end, the author and the finisher of our

faith, the one who knows our ending from our beginning.

And that means that he believed in you before the work was ever

done. That's why you need to hear this

one more time. The weapon may be formed, but

it's not going to prosper. The weapon may be formed, but

it's not going to prosper. I believe that you're going to

be healed today. I believe there's a spirit of

healing that's ready to jump out in this house, Amen, and

miraculously heal somebody. I believe that there's someone

in this house. You're going to walk out of this

place feeling better than you felt in a long time.

Hey man, and you need to go tell everybody that you can about it

because I, I can't get it out of my spirit.

Hey man, I believe that God is about to open up a first

generation Apostolic harvester in this place like you have

never seen. Hey, man, if you will believe

that with me, why don't you lift up your hands right now all

across this house and why don't you say God?

I received that. I believe that it's going to

happen. Oh come on, backsliders are

going to come home. That's right, but there's a

first generation move that's about to happen in this place.

I believe it. I can see it in my spirit.

I want you to connect with me right now.

God, you're going to do it. God, you're going to do it.

We've been praying, God, we've been sowing, we've been a

watering now, God, we've been doing all the things that we

need to do. We believe it's going to happen.

Oh God, let our youth group multiply.

Let it double and triple and quadruple.

God, Lord, let our seniors be healthy.

Oh God. Lord, I pray right now for young

families, then young families like we've never seen coming

into this place. God, I pray that our Bible

studies would be more potent than they've ever been.

God, I pray that the baptistry would be a fool all the time of

somebody being baptized in the name of Jesus.

God, I pray that our addiction ministry and recovery ministry

and jail ministry, God would multiply.

God, I pray that you would just bring open up the floodgates of

heaven and pour out a blessing and a harvest that we cannot

contain. God, let us be thankful for

every midnight hour. God, it doesn't matter time of

day that we're in, we're going to give you everything and Jesus

day, if you need prayer, I want you to come right now, but come

in faith. I believe that God is going to

heal you. He's going to touch your body.

Hey man, these alters are open right now in the name of Jesus.