The Wilted Plant | Bishop McGee

Thank you, Jesus, Praise the Lord, feel his presence in here

tonight. Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Could we lift our hands just a moment.

Let's just come on, let's, let's cry out to him a little bit.

Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, man. Man, give honor to my pastor, my

son. I'm privileged to set under my

son, man, so glad for him, proud of him.

God's using them. That's a great thing.

So happy to have my beautiful wife with me tonight, man.

There's been half of me missing for a while, so hopefully

tonight it'll all come together. Man, appreciate her.

It's been hard to kind of see her go through all of this and

and she's been part of my life for over well 60 some years.

So I'm appreciate her being here tonight.

She come by faith. She's still she's pray for

strength. That's what she needs strength.

Amen. I'm going to be turning to 1st

Corinthians chapter 3 and I'm going to read this first in the

NCV, First NCV, and then I'll go to the King James.

Hallelujah. God been dealing with me a while

back in August, maybe even before that was before that I

think kind of been putting pieces together and felt like

God just led me this way tonight.

Amen. First Corinthians chapter 3 and

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

verse one through three brothers and sisters in the past, I could

not talk to you as I talked to spiritual people.

I had to talk to you as I would to people without the Spirit

babes in Christ. The teaching I gave you was like

milk, not solid food, because you were not able to take solid

food. And even now you are not ready.

You're still not spiritual because there is jealousy and

quarreling among you. And this shows that you are not

spiritual. You're acting like the people of

the world. Now let me read that in the King

James Version. And I, brethren, could not speak

into you as into spiritual, but as into carnal, even as unto

babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and

not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it neither

yet now are you able, for you are yet carnal.

For whereas there is among you envying and strife and

divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as

men. Heavenly Father, I thank you for

the word. Ask your Lord that you would

move in the sanctuary this evening is I feel your presence

in this place. I pray, Lord, that your glory

would come down and surround us tonight that your presence, God

would seek every heart out and every soul.

Oh God, I need your anointing. I need your help.

Lord, speak through me. God.

I'm just a container. The message is yours.

Move. I pray, Holy Ghost, right now in

that wonderful name of Jesus, Amen and Amen.

You can be seated. I want to speak tonight on this

subject, the wilted plant. The wilted plant, it's been back

a while. It was kind of the latter part

of August, I believe the picture that I saved said and and we've

got a plant. God had two plants actually

hangs on our porch in the front and I would water those every

day. If you didn't.

I don't know if you can see that or not.

I walked out my door and it was like the 28th of August.

It was hot outside. And you don't forget to water

this plant every day. If you don't, it looks like

that. So I'd pour water into it every

day. And you know, this time I

thought, oh, oh, I might have waited too long.

And I watered it and it came back.

I don't know you. I don't know where he's got the

other. And up there, if you can,

there's a little bit difference there that has taken back a

little more distance. But I want to tell you what just

a little bit of drink can do for you.

Hey, man, the wilted plant. I I began to take a look and

remembering that I was once thirsty and got a drink.

Amen. And ever since then I found out

that I need water that I won't thirst.

It's amazing what a drink will do when you're thirsty.

There's days that go by that I don't need much water and then

there's other days that I'm really thirsty and I need a

drink. If you're a diabetic, you

understand real well because there's a days that you

especially if you've got high sugar, you're doing this number

you're drinking. Amen.

So what I want to do first, I have no idea with what I'm going

to do with all these notes, but I've got a lot of notes and and

scripture, but I feel like the Lord has led me this way for a

purpose to speak to somebody tonight in this house.

I want to define wilted, if you please, Webster's New Collegiate

Dictionary in 1953. I tend to OK, I'm yeah, I know

I'm old or older, and I tend to go back to the old dictionaries.

I like the older ones. I'm sorry, I've looked at the

new ones, but I feel like that sometimes they have changed the

meaning of words that should not be changed.

So if, if you want to take a look, I've got, I think I've got

one dictionary that's in 1938. I've got them in 1940s, nineteen

53. And I tend to go back to those

olders. I like to move up through them

and see how they've changed it. And I'm going to tell you, I

believe that we have changed things in the church.

Sometimes I think we've let some things in and maybe we shouldn't

have been. Thank God that these youth and

people been to the NYC and I was, you didn't know it, but I

was there with you. Really thank God for Sister Don

McGee that bought me this little thing.

It's a magnifier several years ago and that thing has been used

before 7:00 every night, Sister McGee.

And I'd make sure we had everything, you know, we'd ate

and everything. And we'd, I'd set this thing up

on the coffee table in our living room and, and I'd open

that magnifier up and set that cell phone behind there and it

blows it up to about 13 inches. And so I sat there and watching

and had church with y'all, and that same spirit that you felt

there was real because it was making it all the way up here,

and I still felt it. It is wonderful that God knows

nothing about distance. You can pray here and somebody

in California can be healed because of your prayer.

That's the God I serve. He's real and he's wonderful and

he's such a great God. Hallelujah, Webster says.

I looked through four or five and then and I grabbed a hold of

this 1953 and I thought it pretty well just said the same

thing the rest of them did. So I used it.

It meets to lose freshness and to become flaccid as a plan on a

dry day or when cut to grow weak or everybody said faint, faint,

I don't know. But I feel guy like God is so

moving and I feel like that that we're beginning to see God do

some things in our church and I love that.

But I feel like we've been through a stage of being faint.

Oh my feel that Hallelujah. And then this dictionary goes

on. I like what it does because what

it does is it goes on and then it begins to talk about

individuals in this place, and it says that to grow weak or

faint as individual, all right, wilt for shame and grief, or to

lose courage or spirit. Then it takes another route, It

says, to wilt before an accuser's gaze, to be lower in

spirit, force or vigor. A state of depression that

pretty well spells out Amen, wilted Hallelujah.

Our impatient plant is what that is.

Had to be watered every day or it would droop and become faint.

And I feel like tonight that God even spoke, he spoiled.

In fact, he spoke to me that very day, Sister McGee, I I went

out and took a picture. So what in the world you doing?

I said something's on my mind and I come back in and I went to

sit down at my desk and I began to write because I felt like God

spoke to me. And at different times since

then, there's been little things and pieces added and God's

added, believe it or not, to this old fragile mind.

It's vintage mind, if you please, a man.

And I feel like that as Christians, we need a drink.

And I hope I can get a Amen every day.

I don't know about you, but I worry if I don't feel the Lord

every day, Brother Reese, if I don't feel his presence every

day, then I'm going to be in my prayer room praying because I

want to feel him. I want to know he's still there

with me. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Somebody shout Amen, Laurie.

I would be worried if I didn't feel him every day.

I didn't know he was there. Yes.

I feel like right now we have some people in here that are

like my will did plant that there's not much of life left in

them. Come on now, help me out.

They are spiritually drained. Their limp, if you please.

Can't hardly lift their hands anymore.

Don't feel like worshipping. Can't hardly motivate.

Come on now. Hallelujah.

No stamina, no energy. Is anybody there?

No stress? Why?

Under stress? And you need a drink.

Does any of these things fit you?

How many's been there Sometime in the last year?

Whoa. But I'm thankful that I see some

change in the church that God has began to give drink.

Hallelujah. All you got to do is walk in to

this church and you can feel that it is evident.

Hallelujah. I'm glad to see hands Gore up

because I want to take oh glory, I got to get this lid off of

here. I want to tell you something.

You might thought I was just doing this for me, but I've done

it for purpose because you know what I'm going to tell somebody

tonight. If you can't lift your hands,

you can never get a drink. I have to lift that up to get a

drink. And I'm going to tell you, if

you ever to get expect to get a drink, you're going to have to

raise your hands because you can't drink and have your hands

down. Nobody's going to bottle feed

you. Honey, if you want this thing,

you're going to have to get your hands up.

Come on. If you want a drink, put your

hands up. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. It is said that a human can only

do without water. About 3 days and 85°

temperatures. How long has it been since you

had a good drink? Oh, glory Hallelujah.

Glory Hallelujah. You know, I Yeah, I've done

this. I I can't even tell you when

this. It's been a long, long time ago.

It's been set in my house forever.

You know what we do? This is where we're at church.

If we're not careful, we go to get the little picture.

Come on, man, if I can just get to church and just get me a

little ring, come on. If I could just get a little of

something, I think I'd feel better.

And it's all right. But if you don't make it back to

the next service, you're going to have to run out of water.

Come on. I don't know about you, but I

won't be anointed. Come on.

I want to feel the presence of God.

I want to know that He's mine. I want to know He's my savior.

I want to know He's still in my heart.

I don't know about you, but I need a drink every day.

Oh Jesus. Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

Hallelujah. I'm telling you, some of you are

going through some things right now.

The longer you are in the heat of your problem, the more you

need to drink. I'm afraid right now that

there's some dehydrated to the place that right now you need an

infusion, not just a drink. See, See, I, I thought about

this and I thought, you know, sometimes we don't need the

little one. We need an infusion.

We need a drink. Yeah, you do it, brother.

Alex, I got a faucet up there I used several years ago.

There should be a picture someplace.

I preached about this one day because it's something that my

Mama drilled in me and in me. My dad, he done the same thing

when they was praying and when they was testifying.

When Mama was testifying. Not many times go by that Mama

did say, hey, I want to get under the spout where the glory

pours out. And in the first church she did

because she drilled a hole in the floor right where she sit

with her high heels of stomping the devil.

You know, we need some people in here that said I'm going to get

a drink no matter what happens. Mama was going to worship

whether anybody else worship or not.

And she began to stomp that same foot until she drilled a hole in

that floor. Oh, let somebody get excited and

stomp the O devil. Let somebody get excited and

worship. I don't know about you, but I

went under the spout where the glory pours out.

I wanted to bring the garden hose, but I decided to leave it

at home. I have been guilty of having a

blast of water and just kind of throwing it in water and y'all

sprinkling you a little. I've done that before, but I

knew tonight a sprinkle wasn't going to be enough.

Come on, come on. I got thinking if I could just

figure it out and just bring my hose and hook it up to the

spigot, run it inside. It's a spigot.

Back in my day. I'm old school, you know, and,

and if I could just turn it on when you needed a drink.

Come on, if I could just turn it on and spray that thing up the

air and if we could just each one just take our turn.

Come on. If you want a drink, you got to

get your hands up. You can't get a drink without

getting your hands up. And then somebody's holding the

hose for you. It's, it's, it's a sad thing,

but you know, we're living in a day now when we sat beside

people in church and we don't know what they're going for.

And I began to think maybe we need to pass a little can out a

little bit. And, you know, there may be

setting somebody close to you needs a little drink.

Give it a look. Give her a drink.

Come on. And I wonder what it'd be like

if somebody that's already full, somebody said beside you, huh,

sore behind you, shouting Hallelujah and about to have a

conniption if we just give them a drink of this a little bit

more because my cup runneth over.

Come on. That's how other people get

touched. It's hurts.

It's when your cup runs over. Oh, when they're under the spout

where the glory pours out. When they're setting beside

somebody that's on fire for God, when they need somebody to give

them a drink, give them a little drink.

Oh, Jesus, they see, they see this small one just for somebody

just needs a just a small drink, just for a little bit, you know,

just have you, you know, you've seen the waiters that come by.

God, we'll just stop it. All good news for you.

You done. Got it.

But we'll just let it run over tonight.

Hey, I get by with that. I'm Bishop, but I'm going to

take something. This little gal received a whole

ghost. NYC.

You know what, We'd have a lot more people that get the Holy

Ghost right in church on their pews if somebody would just

start running over somebody's cup.

We need to top off some cups. We need to pour a little water

where it's already fresh. Yeah, you want that?

Don't you see? I'm a little old fashioned.

I can't help it. I was born that way and had a

relapse. Telling you what, First Church I

remembered didn't know him, but they came to our church on the

night that I was kind of wrapped up in some of this stuff, you

know, and I was preaching about the joy bucket overflowing.

First Church, Some of you'll remember that we church wasn't

full then, but we had a good crowd that night.

Man, this young evangelist and I didn't know him from nowhere and

his young wife come in to worship with us.

I began to preach about the joy bucket Hallelujah that some of

us needed to drink from that joy bucket.

We need to be close to the well and draw water and just pour it

on her head at the end of the service.

The Lord tell told me said take your joy bucket.

Put the rope on it. Just put it up here and let

people come up and and kneel down there before that bucket

and let them start. Was anything in it, Bishop?

No, there was no water in it. But yes, there was water in it.

It was a Holy Ghost. It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't,

it wasn't Pastor McGee at that time.

It wasn't, it wasn't me. It wasn't because of me, but it

was because God give a word and he said you obey me.

So I did it and, and our people began to line up and they began

to take that fucking and, and directly the Holy Ghost started

moving in that place. And I could see this evangelist

wife that was she was sitting back there and they were like,

something wrong with this. This guy ain't all put together

right? And I'm not, but that's all

right. God's chose peculiar people.

So I'm one of them. I fit in so directly, Sister

McGee, I guarantee she remembers it.

That little old, that little old lady, that little old evangelist

wife, she finally was getting into it back here and everybody

getting blessed by this empty bucket pouring on their head.

So she began to make her way up, making sure, no, you know, I

don't want to be crazy. But she got up there, honey, She

knelt down. And about the time she knelt

down and got a hold of that bucket, she started having a

Holy Ghost fit. Kneeling down, she began to pour

that bucket down and she set it back down and she'd do it again.

Honey, you couldn't get a loose from the bucket.

You know why? That bucket was full of the Holy

Ghost. It had nothing to do with me.

But when God says do something, I'm telling you he'll put

something in the bucket. If he can fill bottles with

water and they turn into wine, why can't he put Holy Ghost in a

bucket and let it overflow where everybody can get a drink?

Hallelujah. Hell, Glory, 24 minutes ain't

gone. No worries yet, Glory.

I'm What I'm working on is people to dehydrate.

I want to give them an infusion. I want to see you come in here.

Nobody has to say would you lift your hand?

I want to see you come in the door and say come on.

I want to see him come out of the prayer room again.

Pastor McGee, hands already raised, already worship and God,

they done got a drink. They got a a drink in the back

and now they're going to give somebody an infusion.

They're going to run somebody's cuff over.

Thank you Jesus, I went under the spout where the glory pours

at as I began to study about this and God began to deal with

me. A little while after that, Lord

woke me up in the middle of the night and he said, I know you've

read this, but you need to go back to church and get Max

Lucado's book that says come thirsty.

So I read that book through again and there come a stir in

me church. What the problem is we don't

come to church thirsty enough. In this in this book he writes

about the scripture I read in the new century version and he

has this to say. He says, are they saved?

Well, yes, they were saved because he addresses them as

brothers and sisters, right, OK. He, he must consider them to be

God's children, a man heaven bound, saved.

But spiritual, but spiritual, somebody say but spiritual.

I like that glory, but spiritual, Are they really

spiritual? And he uses something that's

just, I loved it so much. He used something and he says

they're plugged in. Hang on to this, he said they're

plugged in. Let me tell you something,

there's some people that comes through these doors that plugs

their self in. But I like what he said next.

He said they may be plugged in, but they're not flipped on.

I mean, you can look the part, you can, you can dress the part

and you can go through the motions.

But if you're not turned on, there's nothing happening.

There's no feeling. Come on, come on.

I'm sorry. But when I really get with it,

everybody knows I'm plugged in and I'm flipped on because I'm,

I'm in, in the motion. Honey, come on, I'm moving.

I'm not sitting still. Honey, when electricity hits

you, you going to be doing stuff.

Come on. When the power of the Holy Ghost

gets on you, you going to move because Acts 1 today, when you

receive the Holy Ghost, ye you shall, everybody said, you

shall, you shall. Come on, shout it to the devil.

You shall receive power. Thank God for the Holy Ghost.

You need to flip it on tonight. You may be plugged in, but you

need to turn it on. It needs some.

It needs some excitement, it needs some moving power.

It needs to shock you a little bit.

Somebody needs to know that you got a hold of something that you

can't turn loose up. Lord, Hallelujah, I know you all

don't want me to leave this church tonight, ain't you?

So you come by for church and flip it on.

Thank you, Jesus, Hallelujah. So you know what?

Sometimes all it would need is for somebody to flip the switch.

Pastor even talked about it some, I think a week or so ago

maybe it was. I know he talked, he talked

about it, and we used to see it in the first two churches.

There was no problem. Every time you'd be vacuuming,

you vacuum that floor and you go.

I'll be paying Brother Freddie, Sister Sheila.

We send them many a lady dance their hair down.

And it was, it was like, you know what?

They were so infused. They didn't care.

And they kept on carrying on. They kept on shouting the glory

down. You know why they had the switch

on. We need to come in church and

flip the switch. Honey, we need to show the devil

the door so you get out. I'm fixing to have electricity

in this place. I'm fixing to have a Holy Ghost

igniting in here. Oh Jesus, I used I used to love

sweep the floor and hear a plane.

Then go a little bit and plane said, boy, somebody really lost

some here. They might have lost the Bobby

pins, but they got a drink. Thank you, Mariah.

I just kind of noticed what she's done with that.

You know, that's what most people do with their watering.

Can they shut it, set it down between them, Never get a drink

of it, You know, just never give it.

Nobody else. Lord, no, don't get.

Hey, I brought that water for me.

You need to share it. Come on, you.

If you've got an overflowing of the Holy Ghost, why don't you

share it with somebody? Brother Dakota needs a Holy

Ghost. Told me a while ago.

He wanted it. You know, I can just get this

thing to work like that bucket and just pour it out on him.

Like that anointing, the rundown, the Aaron's beard, come

on. If I could, if I could just get,

if I could just get some anointing in here that would run

down on somebody's lips. And they flipped the switch.

They could receive the Holy Ghost just that quick because it

was by the laying on of hands that they received it.

They called for Peter and they go up and lay hands on them and

they'd receive it. Come on church, you know why?

Because they were already filled up and all they need to do when

they just go and go pray for somebody in the name of Jesus

and they start speaking in heaven.

Oh yes, Hallelujah. See, I've always said pastor

knows it. I've, I've, I've always said

this. The only thing that we can take

with us from this life is people.

There's no armored cars in the funeral possession.

Nobody's got their, their bank bag with them.

You know what I like? I like it.

You know, the Lord really looks upon the Saints, you know, as

they die. Precious.

Yeah. Precious are the Saints who died

in the Lord. Precious.

Precious. I like it because they may not

have a watering can, but I've noticed something about going

and visiting somebody that's passed from this life that's

been filled with the Holy Ghost all their life.

Seems like even though maybe they don't fix it that way, I

don't think they can. But you know, Mama's face and

all that had been through all that pain of cancer, laying

there, dying with it for months. Think about 1995.

My mother made her last trip to Santa Claus camp, and I will

never forget it. Mama was running around the

outside of that camp because it was open air outside, just had a

roof over it. She was running around that

thing wasn't very long after that.

She couldn't hardly get up in our sister McGee in our van when

I'd go to pick her up for church.

And I knew right then there's something wrong with Mama

because Mama's about to crazy as I am when it comes to worship.

She going to worship no matter. Hallelujah, Mama going to do it.

And Mama couldn't hardly get up in the van.

But I'm going to tell you something I won't ever forget.

And I know when they they put Mama in that casket, she laid up

here in shorts Funeral Home. That one thing I remember Sister

McGee, when I walked by there, I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Maybe nobody else saw. But I saw a smile on Mama's

face. You know why?

Because she smiled ever since she got filled with the Holy

Ghost when I was about 3 years old, when I was about to die.

And Mama said, I give him to you, Lord, if you will heal him,

I'll serve you for the rest of my life.

And my Mama, she took on God as her savior.

Hallelujah. And since that day, I never seen

a smile leave Mama's face. I don't care what kind of shape

she was in. I don't care what kind of day

she was in. Mama was smiling.

Come on. She always had a word of

encouragement for somebody she could talk to.

A fence post. I can do that, too, Glory.

Hallelujah. I'm not ashamed of it either.

That's all right, Glory. I'm glad.

I'm glad that I don't meet strangers.

Come on, Hallelujah, Church. We need to get where we don't.

We don't see strangers. We ought to see them.

Hey, this is somebody. If I could just flip the switch

that God could do something great right now, as I'm talking

Horry and Mama was that kind of person.

So I don't know. I don't know.

Some of you were there. I don't know where you seen that

smile on Mama's face, but I did. And I don't think you could wipe

it off. They could have probably tried

to soul that thing up a certain way and it wouldn't work.

It'd probably go right back because that's where it was

stuck. Come on, church.

Hallelujah. I better get going.

Hallelujah. Thank you.

Jesus, we need the church to come thirsty.

Hallelujah. I'm going to tell you there's

one thing I don't want to do. I don't want to leave anybody

behind. Don't leave.

Don't leave your partner in a fire.

Don't leave him. Stay beside him.

Make sure he's going to be all right.

Glory. There's been many one that's got

killed like that. But leaving somebody behind,

wouldn't you sure that he's going to make it or not?

I'm going to tell you we need to start doing that in the church.

We ought to act like there's a fire and and, and we don't need

to let nobody get lost in that fire.

Nobody to get lost in that heat. Come on.

Nobody to get so thirsty that that they die of thirst.

Come on. We ought to give them a drink.

Oh, Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. I don't want to leave anybody

behind, but I'm going to tell you.

I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell somebody

something right now. I've been waking up through the

night right now. And I feel in my spirit to pray

for some of you because I'm afraid of your spirituality.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure, Sister Sheila,

that it's enough. Come on.

I'm not. I'm not sure that you've got

enough to go. Come on.

Hey, if that spirit dwells in you, that dwell in Christ,

raised him from the dead, it'll quicken your mortal body.

Hey, if you want to leave this place, you got to have the Holy

Ghost to leave. Come on.

That's the spirit that resurrects you.

Come on. If it's able to resurrect you,

don't you think it's able to move on?

Somebody next door to you. Come on.

Somebody that, that that's sitting there all drugged down

and discouraged and troubled, you need to give them a drink.

Flip the switch on, honey. Come on.

Let the Holy Ghost use you. Let it speak through you.

Jesus. Hallelujah.

We need to come to church with thirst and go home hydrated.

I said hydrated. We need to go home hydrated.

Hallelujah. Oh glory.

See Max says this. He says, you know, you know,

people come to church and you may have you, you may, you may

have God in your heart, but you may not have given your whole

heart to God. You can have him in your heart

and not give him your all. Come on, I don't know about you,

but I've got everything just all right.

And I feel like I'm perfect. I still got some work to do.

He's still working on me. Makes me what I ought to be.

Yeah. Come on.

I think maybe we need to sing that song.

Just to remind us sometime we ain't got it all together yet.

Come on, I don't know about you, but there's times I need a drink

and there's times that I almost feel like I need somebody to.

My wife done that back in 2022. I needed to drink of something.

I went to sleep and didn't wake up.

I I couldn't tell you what. There's nothing, period, she

said. My legs was kicking, all of

that. I didn't.

I can't tell you I would. I didn't know nothing.

And she began to pour that little bottle of glucose in me

is God think she got it down. I carry them because I'm a

number one diabetic. And if I get low, if I get too

low and it's not one to come up, I drink one of these, It'll come

up. My wife poured the first one

down, got another and was pouring the next one down.

And when I woke up, I seen this beautiful face looking down on

me. And when my wife it was.

Who was that brother? Kevin Cruz.

Tyler Cruz. Yeah, Kevin, we wish.

Brother Tyler was looking down on me and he smiled real big and

he looked at me as normal as he could ever look.

And he said, Bishop, I'm giving you some mashed potatoes.

So I go ahead and give them mine.

I'll take them. You know what?

Thank God for people in the medical field that still got the

Holy Ghost, that still got the power of God resting in them.

And I believe that that night, that one brother, Tyler Cruz

hooked me up. There was something in there

just besides this. He flipped the switch and he

said, hey, this is my Bishop. I, I'm saying in my own words,

he probably wouldn't sit that way.

I, he, he's, I'm. I'm just not ready to let loose

of him yet. Come on, Church, come on.

I don't know about you, but I, I've got some people in here.

I feel that way. Come on, I've got some that

slipped out the doors, Brother Mason, that that I'm not ready

to turn loose yet and I'm still praying every day, even the mid,

even in the 3:00 in the morning when God wakes me up.

Brother Freddie, I'm still praying for those.

You know why they started here. This is where they repented,

received the Holy Ghost, we're baptized in Jesus name and I'm

still praying for them. There's many of them that's

still in this area. They just need a drink.

Are we going to give them a drink or let them die?

How many hours of prayer is it going to take?

I don't know. Sometimes it takes 23 years, but

thank God, my daughter said here.

She's living proof that God answers prayer even after 23

years of prayer. I've got up a minute, died, and

went to my office in the Parsonage and began to pray for

my daughter. I've even called her at that

time because I felt like something was going on.

I need to call her. Come on, Church, we need that

feeling back. Come on.

You call it discernment. You'd call it whatever you want,

but I'm telling you, we need that feeling.

My mom and daddy, I can remember getting us up to 3:00 in the

morning and coming in and are speaking in tongues.

Daddy says son get dressed. We got to go pray for somebody.

I feel God, I feel, I feel in the Lord.

Somebody needs us. He knew right where he was

going. We go and we pray the rest of

the night and I go to school the next day.

But guess what, Daddy didn't leave till they was all right

until God answered prayer. He stayed there and prayed.

How long are we willing to pray? Glory, thank you Jesus.

Truth is eyes up. 3:00 this morning I was in my office

praying. I was praying for this service

tonight. I'm tired of going in feeling

dead and dry. I wanted a refreshing drink.

Come on, I want a cool drink of water.

I don't know about you, but I want something refreshing

that'll wake me up and set me on my feet and start me on my way

again. I want to be where the power is.

I want to find Jesus's seat. Man, hurry up.

Bishop long winded Co Lewis said this.

He said Christ says give me all. He said I don't want so much of

your time and so much of your money and so much of your work.

I want you. He said I have not come to

torment your natural self, but to kill it.

My flesh needs to be killed and let the Spirit run deep.

Lord, he said, no half measures are any good.

I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there.

I want to have the tree cut down.

Hand over the whole natural self, all of the desires which

you think wicked, the whole outfit, He says.

I'll give you a new self instead.

In fact, I'll give you myself. My own will shall become your

yours. Myself shall become yours.

Glory. That's what we need.

We need that. We need that.

Hallelujah, oh glory Hallelujah. I want to turn to Saint John 14

chapter. I'm trying y'all Hallelujah,

Saint John the 14th chapter. I want to read just A7 14th and

I want to read 17 to 18. I'm going to jump down to 20.

Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because

it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him,

for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you See, we got to

have the Holy Ghost in us before we can flip it on.

Have you ever heard somebody? Have you ever heard a minister

get up and say come on y'all, let's pray, flip it on, Come on.

If I'm supposed to obey my pastor and he tells me to raise

and start. Come on, because in obeying him,

I'm obeying God. Come on.

If your pastor tells you to give somebody a drink, you better

give it. Come on.

Hallelujah. Well, glory, Hallelujah, Jesus.

Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

I will not leave you comfortless.

Jesus is speaking here. I will come to you now.

Verse 20. At that day he shall know that I

am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

It works that way. It's the Holy Ghost.

If you've got the Holy Ghost, you've got Christ in you, the

hope of glory. Come on, I said, you've got the

hope of glory if you've got the Holy Ghost dwelling in you, but

without it, you don't have a hope.

Glory, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory.

Luke 13 verse #7 Then said he and to the dresser of his

vineyard, behold, these three years I've come seeking fruit on

this fig tree and find none. Cut it down.

Why come earth at the ground? He said this.

You're just wasting time. You're wasting the ground.

It's idle because there's nothing good on it.

Come on, church, every time we come through these doors, there

ought to be something good come out of this service.

Come on, we if we don't receive nothing, it's our fault.

It's not God. God does not change.

He's still here every time we walk through the doors.

Hallelujah. I don't want to be idle.

What Jesus is saying, He said you're wasting ground.

You, you, there ain't no sense of covering the ground with this

thing. Just cut it down.

Get rid of it. Now I'm, I'm fixing to get down

to business here and I may not finish this part.

I don't know. I want to get down to the nuts

and the bolts that cause you to will.

Maybe it's a trial, maybe it's a test, but I want you to know in

all these things, we've got a scripture and we've got a verse

First Peter one and seven says that the trial of your faith

being much more precious. Come on, it's a trial, but it's

precious, more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be

tried with fire, might be found unto pray.

They said pray, pray and honor and glory at the appearing of

Jesus Christ. So our prayer and our worship is

worth something. It's more precious than gold.

When God sees you lifting your hands, he said, man, they didn't

want to drink, so he pours you out a drink.

Oh God, or it may be sickness. Luke 418 The Spirit of the Lord

is upon me. Jake here talk about Jesus

because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me, He's talking, He has sent me to heal the broken

hearted to preach deliverers to the captives and the receiving

of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

Come on, church Lord, we need to get our water cans out.

Come on, we need to get the water cans out.

We need to score down the aisle. And when we empty this thing, we

need to get the other. We need to walk down the aisles

again. We need to pour a bunch of Holy

Ghost on him. Some refreshing on Kennedy.

She's been sick. These these kids have been sick.

So they they need a refreshing drink.

And I don't care how many how many years you've been in.

You need a drink. You need a drink.

You need a drink. I said you need a drink.

Need a drink. Healing.

Deliverance. Yeah.

Come on. We need a drink.

Yeah. Need a drink.

Need a healing right here, a girl, a girl y'all felt funny.

If the God just healed her just like that, then the bad that I

turned upside down. But you know what he's able to

do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think it

don't say that we can think. It says all we think Maya wants

a drink. Ray needs a drink with the kind

of people Brother Mason, you know, works with all week and

has to control. He needs a drink, needs a drink

because she got to listen to it when he gets home.

These two, these two need to drink.

Come on, they wonder and spout where the glory pours at pastor

and sister Don needs a drink. Come on, come on.

We need a flood around here. Come on, we need a flood of the

Holy Ghost. Come on, we need a move of God

that will move us to the place that we can't go home.

Come on. So strong that we got to stay

and pray half the night. You better get ready because

hey, hey, it's it's told 2009 twice that's going to happen.

Be people that be people have to pray of the night time.

There won't be time that you know we're going to have people

have people 24 hours a day praying.

Come on. Hallelujah.

We need a drink. We need to pour it out on Mount

Carmel. Mount Carmel needs a drink.

We need to flood it till it gets rid of all the boost joints and

all the gambling joints. You hear me?

All of it. Come on, come on, they need a

good drink of salvation, a good drink of the Holy Ghost.

Oh God, Hallelujah. Or maybe it's the loss of the

job. Philippians 419 But my God shall

supply all your need according to his riches and glory by

Christ Jesus. In other words, your needs will

quit being met when heaven runs out of riches, and that'll be

never. You can't run it dry.

Oh Jesus. Or it could be because you can't

forgive yourself. You think you've gone way too

far, and you just can't think that God, you, you.

It's just hard to accept that God is so forgiving that He'll

forgive you no matter, don't matter what you've done.

Matthew 1231 For I say unto you, all matter of sin and blasphemy

shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against Holy Ghost

shall not be forgiven. So he'll, if you ain't

blaspheming the Holy Ghost, honey, He'll forgive you nothing

else. Now I'm going to, I don't know,

I make the end here. I may not, I don't know.

Just I'm just feeling I had to go back and I've been reading

Sister McGee had got me a little book talking about answered

prayer in the church symbol Jimson Bella wrote it and I've I

can't tell you how many times I've read it through.

I've had it for years now, but I just felt like the other night

was, I don't know about 3/30, 4:00 in the morning that I went

to my office and I picked up that book and I want to relate a

story to you to tell you how big God is and what he wants to do

for this church. It's a story of Ricardo.

He was from the salt mines of the lower West side of

Manhattan. Ricardo was one of many male

prostitutes that flourished in this area.

That's that's where they done their business.

Many of them were boys who had been raped by adult male

relatives. And the outreach team at

Brooklyn Tabernacle began to bring blankets during the late

hour in the daylight hours on Saturday when men weren't

distracted by their work. If you want, you know, and

although these men made good money, they spent it all on

drugs, which left them going through trash cans on weekend to

get food. Come on.

I'm talking about squandering everything you've got.

The people of the church found it and I, I'm on.

Come on, I'm you'll stay with me.

The people at church found it hard to pray for compassion for

these people. They, they, they didn't know how

to do it. So on Tuesday night, Brooklyn

Tabernacle had prayer meetings and every Tuesday night they

began to focus their prayer this way.

They began to pray for love, compassion and protection for

these people. One night a young man that was

on that staff that was doing over this stuff and taking all

these blankets and stuff down. It was about 1/2 hour on the

field of the Holy Ghost, half hour before church that he come

by Jim brother Jim Simbela's office and he knocked on his

pastor's door. He said SAS Pastor Simbela.

We've got 27. Those male prostitutes sitting

on the front 2 benches, Pastor said.

They didn't smell good, they didn't look good.

But when the altar call came, some responded and gave their

heart to the Lord. They said it's at the end of

service. These men were blown away

because people were greeting them and smiling and handshakes

that stunned them to the bone. They hadn't been ever loved or

cared for like that. Pastor was walking up the aisle

and he said he bumped into this. Well, yeah.

He said the one of the most attractive women that ever laid

eyes on had on a black dress, well kept blonde hair down to

about shoulder length, nicely done nails, black stockings and

high heels. He said she was a knockout of a

woman and he said I bumped her. So I said sorry, ma'am.

And he said the voice that came back to me was not a woman's.

Said that's all right, man. Oh Lord, it wasn't a woman at

all. Come to find out later, this was

Ricardo on the street. She was known as Sarah.

What I'm trying to get across to you, he said she'd been in this

business for 10 years. I'm trying to tell you this that

God don't care where you have been or what you have done

because his power goes way beyond anything you can imagine.

He can still turn your life around and make you brand new.

So Ricardo didn't give his heart to the Lord, didn't He said he

stayed around and he kept coming for about a month and said he

just sat there. He just kind of sat there

through service and said he told, he told pastor later, he

said the one the the lat that night.

But then I went the altar. He said I I'd been watching all

this and I said maybe I can be saved.

Maybe God can do something. Ricardo found the Lord after a

month. About a year or so later, he

moved to Texas. He'd been witnessing in the

slums and every place else in New York, many of souls saved

because of Ricardo. He got in Texas and about

Christmas time one day Pastor got a call.

It was Ricardo on the other end, said he couldn't hardly talk.

He said, Pastor, I'm dying. I've, I've fought this AIDS for

many years and I'm, I'm, I'm dying.

And he said as pastor, it's my job to encourage and strengthen

people. Said I wanted to get him ready.

So here I go with mine and said the Lord stopped me.

And he said you don't need to be breeding him.

What he needs to do these last days.

You need to fight for his life because I'm not done with him.

I feel the Holy Ghost. He's moving in this place, he

said. Two weeks later, Ricardo flew

back to New York. Come walking into the service

already, said Ricardo. God sent you here for a purpose,

he said. I've got, I've got, I'm glad to

see you where you're at and you've witnessed, he said, I

know pastor, but I need to do more with what I've got.

I need to put this on tape. I need to record you telling

your story, Ricardo, he said. So we recorded him and he said

after that, he said, Pastor, I'm ready to die now.

After, after everybody's heard my story and after, after I've

already told people what God is capable of, He done it for me.

I know what he can do, said a few weeks later he died and I'm

going to tell you. Does that sound like a God that

can't do anything? He can do it all.

There's nothing he can't do. And I'm telling somebody here

right now, all you need is a drink.

Minister. Musicians can come.

He has forgotten. He hadn't forgotten you.

The prayer that you prayed many years ago.

He still remembers what he's doing.

He's just waiting on you to pray again.

And he'll answer again and again and again.

He's got your name engraved in the palm of his hand.

He's not forgotten you. Come on, all you need is a

drink. All you need is a refreshing and

a renewing. It's a sign.

See when you no longer lift your hands because you can't get a

drink without lifting your hands.

Can't do it? Try it.

Try getting drink without lifting.

Try it every time that bottle comes to your mouth.

Do you ever, do you ever notice when you're getting a drink,

you're looking up? Bible says look unto the hills,

which cometh your help. Come on, all you need is a

drink. I'm telling somebody you haven't

gone that far, that God don't still love you and go and won't

save you. He's still God.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah. See, God takes one look and he's

he's saying if you can't lift your hands, you're on your way

to die before long if you don't get your hands up and get a

drink. See it takes 91 ounces of fluid

for a woman each day. Takes 125 oz for a man each day

I'm going to read one more scripture and I'm finished in

Matthew 1619, Matthew 1619. I want I want you to I want you

Jesus is called I want you to act like and he is he's speaking

to you tonight I will give unto thee the keys.

Everybody said keys. This is how much He loves you.

Thou will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.

You've got all of heaven at your, fingertips at your and

whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,

and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in

heaven. God has given you that kind of

power, and yet we go away thirsty.

A stand. I don't know, there may be

somebody listening online tonight that you feel like

you're one of those. Maybe that's gone too far.

If we don't watch it, things of this world can vie our

innertation our our attention so much that we forget God.

My kids grew up in a home where TV wasn't our main thing.

In fact, about what they done is Saturday mornings was cartoon

time, you know, be it Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner and all those you

know, just you sit and laugh at. But when the night comes, we go

to church. But when there wasn't church, we

had Bible studies in our home on Tuesday night for people that

needed a little drink. Need to be further than the

gospel. And on other nights, notice this

is in the night. You know, you ever noticed that

the night time is when the devil deals with you the most?

The nights is what's the hardest.

Well, in the night I'd get out the old guitar.

If you want to know why my kids all sing, it's not because papaw

or not, because Daddy and Mommy taught him.

It was something we'd done. You know, kids when they're

small, they like to hear themselves.

So I'd have a recorder and I'd record them too, so they could

hear themselves, you know, and they'd find their place in the

harmony and we'd sing songs all night long till time go to bed.

That's what we'd done. We sang praises unto God.

Come on now, I, I want you to know that you can do that at

home. You can do that at home.

And I, and I'm going to taste something and whether you

believe it or not, there can be a fresh outpouring in your House

of the Holy Ghost. If you need a drink, it don't

mean you have to go to church to get a drink.

You can get a drink at home because the Holy Ghost is

everywhere and if it lives inside of you, then there is

rivers of living water that lives inside you.

So if you're one of them wilted plants, don't sit here tonight

and go away from here thirsty. I want you to be hydrated when

you leave here. We need to let everything we say

be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement

to those who hear them. Get rid of all the bitterness

and the rage and the anger and the harsh words and the slang,

slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior.

We need to get rid of that stuff.

And we need to get a fresh drink of water.

This altar is open tonight. I want you to flip your switch.

Let's do it tonight, Sing Brother, Sister Mason.

Thank you Jesus.