When My Soul Needs A Doctor | Pastor Merrill Weir

Come on, give that to the Lord. Come on, give that to the Lord.

He's worthy. He's worthy of all praise, honor

and glory. There's no praise that he's not

worthy of. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

I was, I was committed to being good about Brother Frederick and

Brother McGee has opened a door that if he were not now Doctor

Frederick, I would probably not tell you to ask him this the

next time he is here. I was not aware until yesterday

evening that you would have a water slide.

And I just want you to ask him. Look him up on Facebook, Bombard

his Facebook page and ask him to please tell the story of his

experience on a water slide. And when he tells it, if he is

gutsy enough to tell it on Facebook, I will watch and I

give you my word that I will clarify any misinterpretation.

I I was present, I was there. I know what happened and, and

well, I so hope he's watching from Mount Rushmore today.

He's I hope he took time out of his.

Well, I'll know because if he's watching, he'll be texting my

iPad. I am so thankful today to be

here. I talked to brother Frederick

the other day and I said, you know, is there anything, can you

help me out? Is there anything I should know

about preaching in Mount Carmel? And, and he said, he said, well,

I can, I, I can tell you something to preach.

And I didn't trust him. I just didn't trust him.

I, I said no, he honestly, he spoke very highly of this

church. I have never been here.

It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance.

I, I, I asked permission for this before I did it.

I asked Sister Don McGee today I said it will it be OK if I, if

I, if I tell that I am an Andy Griffith show fan and she said,

if you will tell it, you will get, you will get more people

undivided attention. And I, I said to her, I said,

well, I'm going to read something in kind of my ice

breaker to, to the that I think will tie to my sermon.

And I, I really do want us to sing that song.

Just give me a little bit. I'm, I'm just getting

comfortable. I mean, pastor, pastor told me

to act like I was at home and Bishop told me to act like I was

at home. Now I'm apartment to throw water

or pour water out on the carpet or I'm apartment to do about

anything if I'm at home. So you really don't want me to

act like I'm at home. But I I, I said to them that I

would both Sister McGee, Pastor McGee, Bishop McGee, I would I

would try to refrain from speaking in the voice of Ernest

T Bass today while I'm while I'm preaching.

So in an attempt to to not do it while I'm preaching, I'll just

get it out of the way. It's me, it's me, It's Ernest T.

If I had a soldier, I'd have wove that you.

No hunt, beware. Open and close, no credit.

And she is a nervous wreck right now because when I ask my lovely

bride to greet you, she is afraid that I will refer to her

as my mother figure, but I will not.

This is my girlfriend. This is my lifelong girlfriend.

We, we got married 30, almost 31 years ago.

And, and I was 12. Not really.

But I want, I want my wife to stand and greet you today and,

and, and, and bless the Lord. And again, I this is not my

mother figure. Not going to do any voices.

Amen, Amen. Amen.

I want you to do something for me today before we, I'm going

to, I'm going to slow down. I have thoroughly enjoyed praise

team and musicians. Of course, I have to tell you

that I, I, I mean, I give honor to brother and sister McGee and

brother and sister McGee, but I also give honor to brother and

sister Mason and brother and sister Mason.

These y'all, these are some of my favorite people.

So they're they're some of my favorite people.

So, but I am going to slow it down just a little bit of my

half brother Jerry Mason. Help me, help me sing an old

song today. We're going to sing an old song.

But I want you to do something for me today.

I want you to think of one thing that you know for a fact God has

done in your life. I want you to just think of

something. He healed your body.

He delivered your soul. He set you free.

He, he delivered you from alcoholism.

He delivered you from addiction. I just, I just want you to think

of one thing. Everybody, are you thinking

about one thing? I just just one.

I don't want you to think about a dozen or two dozen.

I just want you to think about one thing that you know God did

in your life. Now, would you give him adequate

praise for that? Oh, come on, come on, Will you

give him? See, they told my Mama.

They told my Mama, abort that baby because he's going to be

born dead. You don't want to give birth to

that baby. But my Mama said, no, I know a

God that's bigger than that. See, the doctor told me I got to

trache you when I had a baby at home.

I got to trache you. You're going to die of this

sickness. I got to, I got to.

And I said, no, I don't want to do that.

I want him to pray. I know God is able.

Oh, come on, I, I, I know I'm just, would you give him

adequate praise? Would you just give him the kind

of praise that he deserves? The doctor said no.

The banker said no. The lawyer said no, but God

stepped in. Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

Hallelujah. It got good.

It got good. Brother Mason's going to help me

sing this song because I don't have a lot of singing voice, but

he's going to help me sing this song.

And you worship the Lord with a little song that says only Jesus

can satisfy your soul. Holy Jesus can't satisfy by your

soul only. He.

Only He can touch and cleanse your heart and make you.

He'll give you peace. He'll give you peace you never

knew, sweet love and joy in hell you do.

Only Jesus. Only Jesus can satisfy.

Your soul. Do it again, Brother Mason.

One more time, Do it again. Your soul and the only heat can

touch your heart, cleanse your heart and heal me.

Can raise your soul. Can give you beauties you should

never do. Sweet, sweet love and joy and

heaven to only Jesus only. Jesus.

And satisfy. Your.

Soul. I want you to do this with me.

I want you to ask God to open your heart and let you receive

the Word of God today. I'm going to ask Him to open

mind and I'm going to ask Him to give me clarity, and I'm going

to ask Him to help me deliver the Word the way He wants it

delivered. But will you ask God to help to

open up your heart and let you receive the healing balm of

Gilead? Will you, God?

I pray today Lord, that you will remove error and distraction.

From my mind. I pray today, God, that you will

give me direction. You will help me to not just

preach the Word, but you will help me to.

Minister in the Spirit today I pray God that you will open our

hearts and our minds. I pray that you will help us to

receive the Word of God as only you can deliver it.

Lord in Jesus name in Jesus. Name Amen.

Amen. Amen.

God bless you. You can be seated I I know that

it's very possible you may be accustomed to standing for the

word of God. I'm going to read my text as I

preach today. So I'm, I'm not going to have

you stand for the whole reading of the text, but I read

something early, early this morning.

There's something about having to preach in a, a pulpit that's

not your own that wakes you up early in the morning.

I, I can't explain it. It just wakes you up early in

the morning. And and I read a little excerpt

from an article of It's about That Andy Griffith Show.

But Ernest T Bass has left the building.

He's not here. But on the final day of filming

The Andy Griffith Show in 1968, the atmosphere on set was far

from celebratory. Andy Griffith, usually composed

and warm in front of the camera, quietly stepped away from the

sound stage once the last scene was wrapped, according to crew

members who were present. He walked down the familiar

corridor at Desilu Studios, turned corner and disappeared

behind a row of trailers. Have you ever had to put on a

good front in public when you were broken in private?

He disappeared behind a row of trailers.

Moments later, someone heard soft sobs.

Griffith had broken down in private, overwhelmed by the

weight of saying goodbye to something that had defined

nearly a decade of his life. For eight seasons, he had played

Sheriff Andy Taylor, the calm, wise father figure of Mayberry.

But the relationships that developed behind the scenes had

they had grown much deeper than those written into the scripts.

You and I probably all know Don Knotts who portrayed the high

strung Barney Fife, and that's saying it politely.

He had departed the show after a few seasons, but he returned

occasionally and maintained a close bond with Griffith.

Ron Howard, who played Opie, later recalled how Griffith

became a real life mentor. Francis Babier, or Aunt Bee and

George Lindsay and the rest of the cast had become like

extended family members to Griffith.

Griffiths emotional connection to them was rooted not in

fiction, but in shared years of longing, long work days and

laughter between takes, and even the rare honesty that can exist

between people when they create something meaningful together.

The moment that triggered his tears was not a scene in the

show, but the silence that followed the final cut.

The absence of movement on set, the way everyone slowly lowered

their scripts and avoided eye contact, created an emotional

vacuum. Jack Dodson, who played Howard

Sprague once, shared that nobody wanted to be the first to speak.

He said this. It's as if Andy had given us the

permission to feel and then took it all with him when he walked

off. That day, Griffith's dressing

room remained closed for nearly an hour.

Only a lifelong friend and manager approached the door,

placing a hand silently on the door but choosing not to knock.

When Griffith finally returned to the stage, his eyes were red,

but he carried himself with grace hurting on the inside.

He carried himself with grace on the outside.

Without saying much, he moved from 1 cast member to the next,

hugging each tightly. According to Ron Howard, who was

just 14 at the time, Griffith held him the longest.

He He whispered. You're going to be all right.

You've got this in you, Ronnie, Howard said.

That meant everything, meant more than anything to me.

Griffith had been hesitant about ending the show, and he just

recognized that chemistry was changing and Don Knotts was

doing more film roles and Ronnie Howard was beginning this and

outgrowing the Opie character and the tone of television

itself was beginning to change. And he said this in an

interview. My greatest fear was that

nothing else I ever would do would ever carry the same heart.

It's a soul breaking. It's a it's an inner man

breaking. Are y'all?

I'm not boring you yet, am I? I mean.

I'll, I'll, I'll. Continue till I bore you.

But I'm pleased. I don't want you to be bored

this fast, Andy said. I didn't know if I'd ever get to

feel that kind of warmth again. Not just in front of a camera,

his quote in quotes. Not just in front of a camera,

but I didn't know if I would ever feel that warmth again in

life. After the wrap, the cast and

crew gathered for a quiet dinner at a local studio adjacent

restaurant. There were no speeches, no

formal farewells. Andy Griffith held or kept a

handkerchief in his hand the entire evening.

George Lindsay would later say. I think he was still crying on

the inside may not mean much to you yet, but I think that it

will in a moment because I'm going to read to you from a

chapter in your Bible. I'm going to read from a book

that is written with tears of a broken heart.

I want to read to you today from a book that is written from a

wounded spirit to the media team.

You can place my title slide at any time.

My title today will be When My Soul Needs a Doctor When my soul

needs a doctor. This book that I will read to

you from is is is Jeremiah is overwhelmed by the destruction

of Jerusalem, the sin that had produced such destruction, the

suffering which followed and the memory haunts Jeremiah as he

writes to us. It's pressing in on his soul.

This book is written with the tears of a broken heart and a

wounded spirit. But in the middle of this book,

in the middle of this chapter, in the middle, in the middle of

the ashes, in the middle of his lament, there's the key, the

secret to where we're going. In the middle of his lament or

his lamentation, in the middle of his lamenting, something

seems to turn and hope walks into the room.

Hope seems to rise up out of nowhere.

Just just let me get comfortable.

Is that all right? I know I stand between you and

food and a water slide and I know somebody is dying to text

Brother Frederick and ask him, but give me, just give me a few

minutes. Many years ago when I was much

younger and I, I would not even want to dare go back and listen

to this sermon because I'm sure that I, I, I, I just, I'm sure I

just botched it all up. But I, I preached a title, not

from this passage, but I preached a title that said,

please hold while I speak to my soul, because there are times in

your life that you need to have a doctor look at the problem

that's going on in your inner man.

There are times in life that you need a doctor to look at the

inner person of you. And, and when the Bible talks

about the heart or the soul of a man, it's not talking about the

thumper. It's talking more about the

thinker. It's talking about the inner

man. It's talking about that deeper

personality that it's that, that, that the Bible said we

have heart, soul and mind and, and, and, and we know that the

soul is the seat of our personality.

It's the seat of our emotions, of our feelings, our affections,

our appetites, our desires. It is your soul that needs a

doctor when you are addicted to cigarettes or to alcohol.

Can I, they said pretend like I'm at home.

I mean, I come in the other night and and a young man's been

coming to church off and on all of his life.

He's my age. That's why I said a young man,

he came in and he said, pastor, I'm three weeks cigarette free.

I said, well, what, what did you, what did, what did you do?

What did you try? Are you using this?

Are you using that? He said no, I just got to coming

to church and I just got every time I smoked a cigarette.

I, I felt a little bit of guilt raised up in my soul and he

said, I told the Lord, if you want me to quit, I'll quit.

But you got to help me because I'm only doing this for you

because I really want, Oh, come on, he said.

I really want the cigarette. He is now 15 1/2 weeks cigarette

free without any trouble, not even bought a pack and looked at

it. Why?

Because he knew that a doctor needed to deal with something

that a specialist couldn't handle.

Now I want. To tell you, it's going to take

us a little bit to a little bit to get to the good part, but the

good part's not going to take very long.

It's going to take us a little bit to get there.

But it's worth the walk. It's it's worth the journey,

Brother Mason, she said to me at general conference, she said.

I said I'd like to have one of those milkshakes from over

there. At, at at at.

The the pharmacy at Phoenix Pharmacy and she said, what do

you want? Are you sure you want to walk

all the way over there? I said I've already had one of

the milkshakes. The milkshake is worth the walk.

I mean, a, a bad peanut buttermilkshake is worth the

walk, but a good peanut buttermilkshake is worth the

walk twice. I mean, I said, I'll walk uphill

both ways. We're going to walk a little

bit, but we're where we're going.

It's going to be worth where we're where it's going to be

worth the time. Your mental reaction to life,

the activity of your mind, the will and the character of your

person often times needs a doctor to evaluate it.

And I got to tell you that there's not a doctor in this.

This world that can do what you. And I got to get negative in

order to get positive. But lamentations that I am the

man that had seen affliction. Jeremiah is physically,

emotionally, spiritually broken. The suffering shows on his skin.

The suffering shows in the weakness of his bones.

The suffering shows he is surrounded.

He's hedged in like a prisoner buried alive in his.

So let me just read it to you. I I am the man that had seen

affliction. Lamentation 3 One through 20 I

am the man that has seen affliction.

By the rod of his wrath He hath led me and brought me Into

Darkness, but not into light. Have you ever felt that way?

Surely against me he is turned, He turneth his hand against me.

All the day my flesh and my skin hath made me.

Old. He hath broken my bones.

Let me paraphrase a little bit. This experience has taken a toll

on me physically. I am I am aging beyond my years

because of the stress that I have lived in in my life, the

unknowns in the medical and the and the the the the lack of

provision in the financial I'm. I'm getting older ahead of

myself. The suffering has aged me in

advance of my years physically. Jeremiah says I bear the scars

of this traumatic experience and traumatic walk that I have.

My bones and my skin reflect my affliction and my worry.

Let me get to verse 5. He hath builded against me and

come past me with Gaul and travail.

He had set me in dark places as they that be dead of old.

They've been dead a long time. He had hedged me about that.

I cannot get out. He had made my chain heavy also.

When I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone.

He cut stones to hedge me in and to block me.

He hath made my path crooked. Walls have been built against

me. I am shut in by bitterness and

sorrow. I feel hedged in like a criminal

in heavy change. I feel caged like some kind of

wild animal. No freedom, no escape possible.

I I feel like the dead that my the my world has already buried

and forgotten, he said. I feel buried alive in my

circumstance. Y'all are looking at me in a

wrong tone of voice like you have never been named where you

felt like you were buried alive. The world was closing in on you,

he said. I cry, I beg, I plead, I pray

again and again, but it seems my prayers are shut out of heaven.

But the spell Tim spell used to sing.

There have been times when I felt like my prayers didn't even

even reach the ceiling of the room where I knelt to pray.

I want you to know that every one of us somewhere has walked

in a path where we felt like that.

The world was closing in on us and our prayers were

unanswerable. In fact, it felt like God did

not even hear us. Jeremiah said.

I travel an enclosed way, like a tunnel.

My paths are crooked so I cannot see around the corner of the

next bend. I don't know what my tomorrow is

going to bring. I feel like I am surrounded.

And if that is not enough, Brother Alex Mason, if that is

not enough, he was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion

in secret places. He had turned aside my ways and

pulled me into pieces. He had made me desolate.

He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow.

He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.

A bear waits for me at around every bend in the road there's a

bear, or a lion, or some destructive creature, or some

destructive circumstance, or some destructive problem that

I'm not going to know how to get through.

I am become a target. For every painful arrow there is

trouble. People awaiting me, waiting to

attack me, waiting to tear me into pieces.

Life. Is tearing me up.

I was. In I, I was a derision to all my

people and their song all the day.

There is no hope from others, no help from others.

They say it's all my fault. I got 6A man's.

Everybody says it's my fault, I'm the problem.

It's it's, it's, it's my fault. Nobody understands my dilemma,

nobody feels my pain, and there's certainly nobody around

to pat me on the back and offer me sweet counsel and tell me

that everything is going to be all right, Jeremiah said.

He has filled me with bitterness.

He has made me made me drunken with Wormwood.

He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones.

He has covered me with ashes. Bitterness has entered my heart.

I am intoxicated with the poison of bitterness.

I am covered with the ashes of yesterday's fires, and thou hast

removed my soul. Far.

Off from peace I forget prosperity and I said my

strength and my hope is perished from the Lord.

I will never survive this trial, I said to myself.

It is over for me. There is no hope.

My strength has been sapped by my suffering.

Hope has been buried alive in this tomb of despair.

But verse #19 starts to turn a different corner.

Remembering mine affliction and my misery.

The Wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in

remembrance, and is humbled in me.

Walk with me, just a little, he said.

My flesh and my skin bare the toll of my worry and my

affliction. There is no escape.

There is no peace. There is no voice from heaven.

There's no sounding symbol or tinkling brass.

There is nothing that seems to break the silence of my despair.

Jeremiah is telling us about a soul that is crushed under the

weight of sorrows. His prayers feel blocked, shut

out of heaven. His tomorrow looks darker than

his today, and his today already looks darker than his yesterday.

He said a bear waits for me at every bend.

Some new trouble awaits to tear me apart.

Bitterness has intoxicated me. Hope feels perished.

Jeremiah says my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord

Church. Will you be honest with me

today? There are moments in like, can

we just be honest with one another?

There are moments in life. There are moments even in the

walk of a child of God. There are moments in life when

the soul can bleed without ever leaving a mark on the outward

skin. You can smile, but your soul is

hemorrhaging. You can wave and grin and play

the part, but you are dying on the inside.

My question for you today is, Sir or ma'am, brother or sister,

do we fall in our frustration? Do we die in our dilemma?

I come to tell somebody in this house there may not be a soul

doctor. On the outside, but there is a

soul doctor on the inside. I'm feeling a little more

comfortable right now. I'm feeling a little more

comfortable right now. Many, many years ago, a a

minister friend, an evangelist, stopped by our church and he

started unloading the trunk of his car.

Now, when an evangelist is scheduled and they unload the

car, you don't worry when they're supposed to just be

stopping by to say hello and they start emptying the trunk at

the front door. You start getting a little bit

nervous because you're not sure whether they're suitcases and

coffee makers coming out, because that's all that matters,

your suitcases and your coffee maker.

You don't know what all is getting ready to and and he

starts setting boxes out and he carries them into these open the

door for me. I don't don't make me do all the

work. So he carries the box in, goes,

gets another one. I'm looking.

Because I don't. Know what he's doing, but the

McGee he he come out with these boxes of scraps of leather, he

no, if it had been him, I don't know when we were in trouble.

He come out with these boxes of scraps of leather and he started

he started pouring them all over the front of the church.

He said I got a friend who makes leather covered furniture and

these are the scraps and he said I could have all of these and he

said I just happened to like leather.

Now y'all got to understand I like leather.

Cowhide deerskin, Buffalo, water Buffalo, lizard alligator.

It doesn't. Matter what it is crocodile

ostrich, I like all of it I, I I I happened to and then I said,

what are you going to do with all this?

He said, well, I thought maybe you might want some of so

brother McGee, I, I, I mean, I know a good deal when I see it.

And I walked down and picked up a few pieces and I, I, there was

one that had a brand mark on the outside of it.

And I, I picked that one up with the brand mark on it.

And I said, I want this one right here.

You can have everything else, but I want this one.

And he said, that's the one that you can't have.

I said, well, you told me I could have any.

He said he thought I misspoke. He said, so you lied.

He said, no, I didn't lie. I misspoke.

He said, that's the one you can't have.

He said, I want that because of the brand Mark.

But listen, my friend, I took that piece of leather and I

said, I said, just let me hold it a little while.

I said I got something going on in my mind and I in my spirit

and I'm thinking about something and I, I turned, I got to

thinking about that branding day, that day that that old

steer, that old cow was led down to the.

Barn and they. Took a poker, they took a, they

took a hot iron out of the fire and they stuck it on his.

Rump. Or on his hide they it sends the

hay and it burnt the flesh and the, the old cow squealed out in

pain. He wasn't normally a squealer,

but you put that on my hide and I'm going to squeal.

He squealed out in pain. And I got to thinking about what

all that that meant to him. And then I got to rejoicing a

little bit because I realized if that old cow got out of the gate

and somebody found it two or three miles down the road in the

middle of the night, they can look at the brand and they can

say, well, this belongs to old Farmer Jones down here.

I can take this cow back. I can, I can return turn it to

the pasture. I can, I can put him back in the

barn because I know who he belongs to.

And I got to I, I was feeling bad for the cow.

And then I, I got to feeling good about it, like it, I mean

it, it was all for his good. But I turned the leather over.

Listen to me. I turned the leather over and

looked at the brand mark on the inside of the flesh.

And the brand mark on the inside of the flesh was just as clear

and just as clean and just as. Obvious and just as perfect as

the brand mark on the outside. I want somebody to hear me today

when they Almighty God touches your life.

You can rest on it, honey. You can bank on it.

Sir, the mark goes all the way through the flesh.

It's like a cowhide branding. His calling cannot be erased.

His mark cannot be overridden. You may leave the fence.

You may scrape at the mark, you may try to hide it under this or

under that, but you need to hear me that the singing mark of the

Holy Ghost on your life is forever.

Years ago when I was a boy we had a man his name was Jim Ross.

I can tell you because he's he's deceased now so he can't get mad

at me. His name was Jim Ross He was on

the FB is most wanted list. My dad baptized him in Jesus

name. Jim got the Holy Ghost.

But he couldn't live it. He just couldn't walk with God.

He just. He just.

Called my dad and time after time he would call my dad and

he'd say preacher. I'm drunk and I, I, I, I, I

don't know what to do. And my dad would say, you know

how much you got in the house? You got any alcohol?

Yeah, I got there. I got 1/5 of this.

And I got, I got this, I got a pint of that.

And I got, I don't want to sound like I know too much about it,

but he said, I, I got this and I got that.

And dad would say, pop a tab, take a top of it.

I want to, I want to hear you pour it down in the sink.

And he would get Jim settled down and and and Jim and I don't

know what makes me do this. I'm, I'm and dad would say, you

know, you're running, you're running Jim, you're running from

God. You're trying to hide.

You're you're trying to get away from, from the God's already

marked your life. You're more.

And my dad said to him one night and I was sitting, I was just a

boy, but I was sitting there at the table when I heard my dad

say, Jim, I'm telling you, it doesn't matter where you go.

It doesn't matter what you do. You will always be marked by the

hand of God and God watch this, watch this.

About a year later, Jim called him, I believe it was Southern

Arizona. If I'm wrong, I'm not wrong by

much. I believe it was Southern

Arizona. And Jim called him.

He said, Preacher, you were right.

He said. You were right.

Dad said, what are you talking about?

Jim, it's 2:00 in the morning. You woke me up out of sleep.

What are you talking about? I was right, he said.

I was sitting on a bar stool. I asked for another another fill

of the glass and a man walked in and sat down beside me.

And said, what are you doing here?

You don't belong here. You belong in God's house.

You look like a child of God, he said.

I'm telling you, preacher, there's a mark in my life that

runs all the way. You can leave the fence, you can

scrape at the brand mark, but you'll never get rid of it.

You can deny the goodness of God and you can go AWOL, but your

soul has been marked by the power of God.

Good God Almighty, I got, I got to get where I'm going.

Jeremiah is not just lamenting pain.

To get back to my text, Jeremiah is not just lamenting pain, but

he's crying out for healing. Jeremiah is looking for an

answer and cannot find any place to go because Jeremiah is

learning that in this life there is no real soul doctor.

There's not one available to us. There's there's not one that we

can get access to. He says I, I need one, but I, I

can't seem to find one. Now, in our world we have

neurologist and we have psychotic and we have

neurosurgeons and cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons and

vascular surgeons and pulmonologists and allergists

and immunologists and orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists.

And are y'all getting the picture here?

We got internists and we got family medicine practitioners

and, and we've got hospitalists and we've got hematologists and

oncologists and, and hematology specialists and hematologists.

Oncologists, especially where they're, where they're locked in

together, we've got endocrinologists and

diabetiologists and, and gastroenterologists and

hepatologists and I can go on. We've got, we've got colorectal

surgeons and dermatologists and, and we've got, we've got

ophthalmologists and optometrists and retina

specialists. And we've got I'm, I'm a, I'm a

try to hurry here. We've got audiologists, we've

got gynecologists and obstetricians and urologists and

reproductive endocrinologists and pediatricians and pediatric

subspecialties. And we've even got dentists and

oral surgeons and, and orthodontists and, and general

surgeons and trauma surgeons and plastic surgeons and

radiologists and, and, and, and, and it goes on and on.

Pathologists and anesthesiologists and

geriatricians and, and palliative care specialists and

are y'all getting the picture here?

We got all of these doctors, But Jeremiah said, I cannot seem to

find a doctor for my soul. It's not my heart that is

hurting. It's not my brain that is

broken. It's not my leg that has a

fracture. It's not a bad back.

It is a broken soul. I do not know where to turn.

I want you to know, today there is not known to man in this

world. We do not have an X-ray of the

soul. We do not have access to an MRI

of the soul. There's no imaging of the soul

not no diagnostic tool. There is no soul doctor, no soul

medicine, no soul ointment, no soul surgery.

There are surgery centers everywhere, heart centers,

birthing centers, cancer centers, burn centers, rehab

centers, foot centers, eye centers, babysitters.

There are specialists for every part of the human anatomy.

But there's not a soul center on any corner that has a doctor's

emblem on it. And Jeremiah is saying I just

need somebody that will step into my soul and will look

around in the deep place. Of my life.

I just need somebody that can walk through the corridors of my

it's that Jeremiah that said, is there no bomb?

In Gilead, is there not a fix for me somewhere?

Is there not something that I can lean on?

Is there not, is there not something somewhere I've come to

tell somebody today? We're almost there.

We're almost to the peanut butter milkshake.

We're we're all Brother Mason. We'll next we're two weeks from

now. Well, a little over a week from

now. We'll be there.

We're almost to the peanut butter milkshake.

But I want somebody to hear me today that Jesus is the bomb,

not the bomb, the bomb. Jesus is the salve.

He is the sole Dr. I want somebody in this house and I

know it's probably listen, your pastor is one of my favorite

preachers. If you don't like his preaching,

you don't like preaching. He's one of you are beyond

blessed. He is a preacher of preachers.

He he has he and I know that this may not be.

That's all right. Give him honor.

He deserves that. He is a preacher's preacher.

But I want somebody in this house to hear me that you might

feel like an eagle in a chicken coop.

You might feel like you were born for more than what you're

living. You may feel like you're living

beneath your calling. It might feel like you're

scraping your beak in the mud and on the rocks, pulling

feathers out in frustration, just trying to fit in in a

chicken world. But I've come to tell somebody

it's time you see what is flying over.

It's time you understand. That there may not be a soul

doctor down here at the corner, but right here in this house

there is the specialist of the soul.

Somebody needs to declare I will not be affected by a chicken

world. Matthew 16 and 26 reminds us

that no gain in this world can minister to the soul.

Only Jesus can satisfy your soul.

Lamentations 3 and 21 said this I recall to my mind.

Therefore I have hope. Here we are.

We're at the we're at the peanut buttermilkshake.

We're standing outside the pharmacy right now.

We're at the peanut buttermilkshake, he said.

This. This comes to my remembrance.

I recall it to my mind, and therefore I have hope in the

darkest hour. Hope is not wishful thinking.

If you're writing it down, this is it.

I want you to get this. Hope is not wishful thinking.

Hope is remembering truth. I'm going to give you that again

so you didn't miss it. Hope is not wishful thinking.

Hope is remembering truth. When the doctor tells me there's

nothing they can do, I may be devastated in my flesh, but if I

remember that he is the great physician, therefore I have

hope. In the darkest hour, hope is not

wishful thinking. It is remembering truth.

In the darkest moment of your circumstance.

Hope is remembering that Christ died for the lost.

Hope is remembering He bore stripes for my Lord have mercy.

He bore stripes for my healing. He was wounded and bruised for

my transgression. He came from heaven.

To Earth just for me. And watch this, watch this.

Do you all understand? I trust that you do that it is

by the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed.

I'm going to help you with hope a minute.

I'm just I'm just getting to where I need to be.

It is the. Mercies of the Lord that we are

not consumed. It is God saying in my mercy I

will give them better than they deserve.

See, they deserve to die a miserable death in sin.

They deserve to be sold on the. Auction block of sin, but I'm

willing to pay a debt I didn't know to cover a debt they

couldn't pay. It is the mercies of God it is

only by the mercies of God that we are not consumed.

One of the most powerful and and I've been in some powerful

prison services. I I I prison prison ministry is

a heartbeat of mine. I I sister Julie asked me the

other day how many men at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in

Carlisle have been baptized in Jesus name since you've been

going down there? And my last count was over 325

men baptized prison ministry. Listen, listen, it's a heartbeat

of I love prison ministry, but one of the most powerful moments

that I ever experienced in a prison service was packed, 85

men packed in a room that they told us we could never have over

5560 at the very most. And I gave the microphone to my

father-in-law. He said, I just want I just got

one thing to say. You're preaching.

I just got one thing to say. My father-in-law walked out with

the microphone. He said, I need one of you.

Now it would have got in trouble if I didn't know he did this,

but he said I need one of you, you men to give me your coat.

One of them took his coat off and my father-in-law put his

coat on. Now it's against the rules.

I understand it's against the rules, but it's been a long time

ago and the statute of limitations is run out.

He put his coat on and with a microphone in his hand, he said,

in a minute I'm going to lay this microphone down and I'm

going to lift my hands in this prison coat because I want to

know what it feels like where I was supposed to end up, He said

I should have been locked up. I should have been thrown away.

The keys should have been locked on me.

I've done enough in my past for God to hate me from now.

Till eternity I should have been locked up in here, said, I just

want to feel what it feels like to praise God where I should

have been. And he laid them.

There was no preaching after that.

When a man will say I'll praise him from where I should have

been, I want somebody to know that it is the mercies of God.

Lord help me, I got to. I got to get to a close.

It is the mercies of God only, but the mercies of God.

God saying I'll give you better than you deserve, that we are

not consumed. But there's a piece that I want

you to understand. That's all good.

And we shout about that. But this ought to bring more

hope and more shout to your shout.

His mercies are new. His mercies are new every month.

His walk with me just a minute. His mercies are new every

morning. The mercy of God did not go

bankrupt over yesterday's use. You see, this morning God got up

before the sun rose and God said, I need to put a little

more mercy over here on the shelves of the storehouse

because I got somebody at First Apostolic that's going to need

to come in and I'm going to lay a little more mercy up here on

the altar rail. Because somebody is going to

walk in and they're going to know that they deserve to die,

they deserve to be broken. Their soul is a mess and nothing

that they have sought out has been the answer.

But I am going to put a little new mercy out.

I'm going to spread a little more mercy.

His mercy. God did not run bankrupt.

His compassion did not run out yesterday, he said.

Let me just a little bit more out.

I'm headed to a close. Every earthly alliance in this

entire world is temporary. Somebody asked me the other day,

what do you think about what's going on in the world?

It's a mess, but it's been a mess for a little while now.

And it's not the end yet, because it's going to be all

right in the end. And if it ain't all right, it

ain't the end. And so, and I believe the end is

coming. But the UN is temporary.

NATO is temporary, but God's mercy is eternal.

I wish somebody would speak to your soul right now.

I wish somebody would remind yourself of his faithfulness.

I wish somebody would just say out loud what you thought of a

little while ago when I said, think of one thing that God has

done. Listen to me.

You got to latch on to hope. Hope is not wishful thinking.

Hope is remembering truth. You know that God brought you

out of that valley. You know that God delivered

y'all. Come on, you know that God did

it. I wish you would speak to your

soul. I wish you would.

I wish you would preach to your soul just a little bit.

Remember. Where are you?

Hebrews 1618 through 19. Hope is an anchor of the soul,

that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God

to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for

refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us, which

hope we have as an anchor of Yeah, of the soul.

Come on. Which hope we have as an anchor

of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth

into that within the veil behind the the finish of these walls,

behind the baseboard, behind the finish, especially around the

perimeter foundation. It's got concrete in it and

there are bolts driven down into the concrete before it's set.

They're put into wet concrete. They stick up high enough Bishop

McGee, to come up through the sill plate and just above the

sill plate they'll put a washer and then a lock washer and then

a nut on it with some loctite and that is called an anchor

bolt. The purposes of the purpose of

that is when the storms come and the winds blow, the building is

going to stand. The builder said I've got to

anchor this. Do you know that God gave you

some things? I've got to quit, but God gave

you some things. If you will lean back and

remember truth. If you'll reach back and

remember truth, Abraham. Abraham hoped against hope.

Abraham hoped against hope. Why?

Because even when the soul said give up, the spirit said hold

on, against all odds Abraham still believed.

So you can still believe. See, Abraham believed God when

there was no reason to believe. Abraham believed God when his

age said no. Abraham believed God when his

circumstance said no. Abraham believed God when time

said no. But Abraham held on.

I've come to tell somebody you are not a misfit.

You are marked by the master. Do not pay the bully.

Learn to stand up and declare the word of God.

Learn to stand up to the bully and say when the enemy comes in

like a flood, the Spirit is going to raise up a standard

against him. I wish somebody would would

preach to yourself today and declare from the.

Song earlier No weapon formed against me is going to prosper.

Give me, give me two more minutes.

They're going to start playing now.

This is an order. They're going to start playing a

little bit louder every 30 seconds.

So I know my 2 minutes. I want you to look at what Hope

did in the scripture. When the soul needs a doctor and

you remember truth, Lord have mercy.

I want you to look at what Hope did after 38 years for the Mason

the paralytic is healed. Anybody in here know how long 38

years feels like? After 38 years, the.

Paralytic is healed, the leper is cleansed, the lame do leap,

the blind do see the issue of blood was.

Stopped. The dead are raised alive.

The withered hand is restored. The bent back is straightened.

The sick are made whole. The multitudes are fed.

The storm is stilled. The empty Nets are filled.

The. Lost coin is found, The lost

sheep is discovered. The prodigal comes.

Oh my God, the prodigal returned home, and by hope Jesus is

alive. I've come to tell somebody you

need to hold on to some hope. You need to reach back and get a

hold of some truth and remember. I'm closing.

I'm closing right here. They're going to sing in a

minute. Why art thou cast down, Oh my

soul? Why art thou cast down, Oh my

soul? And why art thou disquieted

within me? Hope.

Remember truth in God. Hope.

Remember truth in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the

health of my countenance. And my God.

Why art thou cast down? Oh my soul, You need to remember

some truth. It's time for somebody in this

house. I don't know what you may be

going through. It may only be one person, but

I've come to tell you. I've come to Mount Carmel today

to tell you that somebody needs to say to your own soul,

Remember what? God has done.

It's time to preach to your soul.

Anchor your soul in hope. You have been walking this road

too long, Sir. You have been letting the enemy

call the shots too long, ma'am. It's time for somebody to

declare. Yeah, though I.

Walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

I will fear no evil, for thou art with thy rod and thy staff

they. It's time for us.

I wish somebody get up on you out out of your seat and come to

this altar today. I wish somebody would come up

here and just lift your hands and declare.

I shall dwell in the house. Of the Lord forever, today,

right now. Listen to me today.

God bless those that have come today, right now, right here in

this house, the only soul doctor that there is.

Bishop right here, right now, the only sole deliverer that

there is, is in the house. That doesn't mean he didn't show

up in Terre Haute. It doesn't mean he didn't show

up in Michigan. He admit that he's everywhere at

all times, but the only sole Dr., the only healer of your

lament. Is in this.

House There is a balm in Gilead. His name is Jesus, and he's

present in this Gilead. Today, somebody that's not come

to the altar, those that are at the altar keep praying and those

that are worshipping keep worshipping.

But somebody that's not at the altar, hear me.

Hope is not fragile. Hope is not fragile.

Hope is the anchor of the soul. Hope is not a feeling.

Hope is a weapon. And today, Hope is calling your

name. I wish somebody else would come

to this altar. Bring your weary soul.

Somebody that's willing to let it be known that nobody knows

what I'm going through in private, nobody knows what I'm

dealing with when no one is there and I need.

God. I need God.

I need God to reach down. I need God to reach.

Down in the. I need God to reach.

Down in the depths of my spirit. I need God to reach down into

that hidden place. I'm not trying to make a

spectacle of me. I just need God, the only soul.

Doctor, that there is. I need God to reach in.

I need God to stay. They brought the sick man to

Jesus. They brought the sick man to

Jesus, and Jesus said Thy sins be forgiven thee.

They got mad about it. Why?

That's not why we brought him here.

And Jesus said, which is more difficult?

Which is easier? Which is more?

Difficult. Should I heal him of his sins or

should I cleanse him? If I can heal his soul, you can

bank on the fact I can heal his body.

I want you to know that the Soul Doctor is not.

Only locked to the soul. Those unknown doctors questions,

those answers that we do not have, can be found in one visit.

One visit to the soul doctor. One time.

Go ahead and sing, please. One time I kneel in the presence

of the soul mender. See.

He's here today. He's 3.

I remember remembering truth, how you sustain me.

When you sat in to. Save.

My life if I knew them. What I know now I would be.

Still and let you, I let you work you.

Oh Jesus, I was tossed. In the water, Lord.

But I never. Went under you.

You were always tired. Oh, Jesus.