"Level Ground" Part 2 (2nd service) - Pastor Derrill Corbin (September 20, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Would you do me a

favor? Would you give a Life Bible welcome to

Pastor Daryl Corbin? Senior pastor of Manor House,

come on up. Wow. I am completely wrecked. I'm

wrecked because I also miss My pastor, Pastor

Frank. How many knew Pastor Frank? Just wave

at me. What a gift he was to the body of Christ.

To my wife and I, my wife was his personal assistant.

And when we planted our church in 1997, he said,

Daryl, you can go. I want to keep your wife here.

Actually, for two months, she worked Monday to

Thursday for him and stayed in Portland. because

she was so committed to seeing that transition

go well and seeing him flourish. And finally,

after two months, I walked into his office and

said, Pastor Frank, I want my wife back. I want

my wife back. And he said, okay, begrudgingly.

He said, you can come back if you want. Just

shut the church down, come back. So she'd stay

there Monday to Thursday. Then I'd come pick

her up. We'd go do church for the weekend. And

how many know a couple months of that, you're

going to get tired of it pretty quick. But he

just had a way of getting what he wanted, first

of all. But he was such a blessing in my life.

My wife preached a few weeks ago at our church.

And I picked up my phone while she was preaching

to take a picture of her and send to him before

I realized what I was doing. He's left a gap

in our lives. The scriptures give us examples

of servants of the Lord who die and go home.

They run their race. They finish their course.

Moses was one, and the Bible's very plain. Moses,

my servant, is dead. Now Joshua. And with all

of the faith in me for the season ahead, I believe

that if Pastor Frank were speaking today, he

would say Life Bible Church. He would say the

same to Manor House. Everything that's happened

so far is foundation upon which you build the

future. You can't sit and grieve the past. You've

got to mourn what needs to be mourned, but then

you've got to take that mourning and turn it

into a building. You've got to turn it into something

for the future. And I believe Life Bible, your

best days are in front of you. Can I hear an

amen about that? Come on, put your hands together

for the Lord Jesus. I believe it. Something happened

to me in worship this morning. The glory of God

was so real. I could not stand. I started by

sitting. Finally ended up on the floor on my

face. One of your prophetic people came to give

me a word and I literally couldn't find my recorder

on my phone to get the word. I just felt like

I couldn't even see or think straight. There's

something really rich happening here. I feel

like there's a melding together of eras and burdens.

seasons and tears and joy into something that

is going to be quite explosive for the next chapter

it might not look like it because it tends to

be in the kingdom things happen line upon line

precept upon precept then you look back over

25 years and you think how did all that happen

it's like a A breath. It just happened. It just

happened. No, it didn't. It happened through

a lot of obedience, a lot of decisions, a lot

of saying yes, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of grit,

a lot of determination, a lot of prayers, a lot

of prophecies. And you know, the next 25, though,

you've got a foundation to build on. And I'm

declaring acceleration over this house. I'm declaring

the pace will pick up. Amen. And the bigger the

stone and the rock that's turning, the more momentum

that's there, the more momentum. And I just want

to declare, I've been pondering, like probably

every prophetic person, what is the Lord saying,

even through the erosion of the river and what

you've been up against. And I just, I was walking

with Pastor Brad on that steel wall, and I just

heard the Lord say, no further. No further. I

believe that's a word into the atmosphere over

demonic encroachment. It's not just about a river.

I believe the natural often speaks to spiritual

things. And the enemy tries to rob and steal

and take. But I just hear the Lord saying, as

the enemy came in from one angle, so I will push

out the borders the other. I prophesy a property

line increase. I prophesy a property line increase.

over this house. I heard it this morning while

I was on the front. I see a property line increase

that will take in more territory. It's going

to take in more territory. And the Lord is going

to repay you over and over again for property

that was lost on one side. I see property line

increase, declares the Lord. I see dollars that

are being restored. I see property lines that

are enlarged. There will be no... even natural

reduction, says the Lord. Instead, I will turn

on the enemy's head what he meant for evil, and

I will make him repay, says the Lord. Everything

that was stolen and robbed from you in violence,

says the Lord, I will force the enemy's hand,

not by might, not by power, but by my spirit,

says the Lord. Even now I'm breathing upon hearts.

Even now I'm breathing upon hearts. property.

Deeds of property being signed over. Yes, there

will be transaction. But I'm here to tell you

today, says the Lord, this will not happen slowly.

This will happen quickly where there will be

enlargement and sudden increases will come your

direction. And you'll wonder and you'll stand

and you'll say, how in the world did this happen?

And then you'll begin to plot and you'll begin

to plan and enlarge, says the Lord. For I see

new footprints of foundations being written upon.

that's yet to be turned over. I see foundations

being poured. I see slabs being laid. I see walls

being erected. And I see people being trained.

I see the generations being trained. And this

house will become known, says the Lord, for not

just the presence of the Lord, but it will be

known for a multiplication of five -fold leaders.

For there will be enlargement, education, and

spiritual impartation, says the Lord. For this

will happen and it will not happen in the long

future, says the Lord. Begin to have a now sense

of expectation to come upon you and even upon

this house, says the Lord. For I will do, even

when you don't expect it, things that you couldn't

have dreamed in your own imagination. You'll

stand and you'll say, only God, only God, only

God. For have I not been faithful in the past?

Will I not be faithful again? Is my character

damaged by some strategy of the enemy? Yes, you'll

hear of trials. And yes, you'll hear of disruptions.

But let not your heart be troubled, says the

Lord. Place a guard over your heart. Place a

guard even over your mind and keep your thoughts

stayed upon me for I will act quickly, says the

Lord. You'll stand in amazement and you'll declare,

surely God is in this place. Come on, do you

believe the word of the Lord today? Come on,

do you believe the word of the Lord? Put your

hands together. Come on, put your hands together.

Come on, I did this in the first service. I just

want you to sing, oh, I want Jesus. Come on,

sing this with me. Oh, I want Jesus. more time.

Lord, I thank you today for your goodness in

our lives. Thank you for 25 years. Come on, let's

applaud. Let's applaud the Lord Jesus. 25 years.

Thank you, Jesus. Lord, we thank you. We thank

you for 25 years, but Lord, thank you for the

next. I pray that you would come and just begin

to reveal yourself to us even through the preached

word today in a way that helps. us put into perspective

who you are and how you work among the people

of God. Give us revelation and understanding

so we can be in step with the Spirit. In Jesus'

name, amen and amen. Thank you. Jackie, there's

such a grace on you as you lead in worship, such

an anointing. I am asking you to stop because

if you play, I will keep prophesying and never

get to my message. I'm a sucker for a keyboardist.

I'm telling you, just when they start to play

is when they've got an anointing. I just cannot

stop prophesying. You know, the first service,

something really special happened. I believe

that the Lord started to show us the importance

of a stirred heart. and the initiative of the

Spirit of God among the people of God. God moved,

as we read in the early service, on a king, a

Persian king named Cyrus. God moved on his heart

because though he was probably the foremost military

authority in the world at the time and had control

of... the Israelite exiles who had been carried

away decades before into Babylon, something began

to move in his heart. And the scripture records

in Ezra chapter one, it was the spirit of God

that stirred him. He wasn't a believer in God,

but something in his heart began to be stirred.

And the reason why the scripture records that

is because we need an understanding. That when

God wills something, God intends something, God

plans something and God declares something, he

will bend kings and kingdoms around his prophetic

word. He will accomplish what he says he's going

to accomplish. So when you look back over 25

years, you wonder how did that happen? It happens

because God stirs hearts and God sets things

in motion. And when he sets things in motion,

he'll... Bend economies around it. He'll do whatever

he wants to do in the earth. So to raise up a

church in Harrisburg, to put his hand on your

life, to make you a business person after what

you did in the early days of your life, it's

unbelievable what God does. To restore your marriage,

to give you your home, to... release his favor

in your life, to heal your body. We look in the

mirror sometimes. We wonder, how did I deserve

this? You don't deserve it. It's the God of the

universe who says, I've chosen you. I've appointed

you. I've destined this. I've set it out in my

will. So I've chosen you and I speak. And when

I speak, the world begins to align around my

intentions. We talked about God moving on Cyrus,

then God moved on the people. And everybody who

responded to the voice of the Lord got to be

part of something called a rebuild. A rebuild.

A rebuild of a life, a rebuild of a marriage,

a rebuild of a family. A building of another

chapter in Israel's history. They had had years

of great success, years of great influence under

King David's rule, the city of Jerusalem and

the beauty. There's periods of time in Israel's

history that were so profound, but we're dealing

with a time when you go to the post -exilic prophets

of Ezra and you go to Nehemiah and hear the recounting

of the wall that was reconstructed after Jerusalem

was pummeled. You see different seasons in Israel's

life. Sometimes in captivity, sometimes in the

city that was plundered by the enemy. But when

they were allowed to go back into the city, they

rebuilt in one season but then stalled in another

season. And the beauty of the story of Israel's

journey laid over the life of the Christian is

that you actually find that God always works

in his people's life even when they're in captivity

or when they're returned to the city that they

were taken captive from. And when he's working,

he's always doing something to accomplish his

purpose. But every season has its own unique

contribution to that purpose. And you can't pull

out of one season and expect the next season

to look exactly like the former season. You've

got to be willing to allow God to work in each

season exactly what he's trying to accomplish.

So you read about Nehemiah. Nehemiah rebuilt

the wall in Jerusalem. He did it in 52 days.

It was a miraculous intervention of God that

God not only moved on Nehemiah's heart, but he

moved on the king's heart at the time, and the

king gave him letters. He got to take timber

from the forest. He went, he looked at the rubble,

he looked at the decay, and God gave him strategy

and insight. The people's hearts started, and

in 52 days, they rebuilt the wall. They rebuilt

the wall around Jerusalem. It was a great sound

of joy and celebration. That was beautiful. But

the wall did not contain the presence of God.

The wall gave them security from their enemies.

The wall gave them a sense of identity. Inside

the wall, there was a part of the rebuild that

needed to happen. And it was about the presence

of God and the temple of God being welcomed back

into the city. You can have an identity. and

not have the presence. You can have security,

but not be moving and encountering the presence

of God. You've got to look at the other prophets

to understand there was another stage of the

rebuild. This is what I'm trying to say, because

in service two, I'm building on what I did in

service one. Service one was about entering the

phase of rebuilding the temple. And not comparing

that season with another season of building the

wall, but just doing well what God wanted to

do in that moment and at that time. There was

a group of people that were brought back under

Cyrus' rule. God worked in his heart to send

them back. And the Bible says when their hearts

were stirred, they went up to Jerusalem to build

the house of the Lord. So they had to respond

to a stirring and then they went up. which means

they had to kind of take a journey from a low

place to a high place. They had to dig and climb

and do the work to get there. And then when they

got there, they got there to build the house

of the Lord. That was the objective. That was

the task at hand. And when they got there, what

they found was a pile of rocks. The pile of rocks

were what the temple used to be constructed by,

but now they were covered in char and they had

the smell of smoke and the pile was so significant

that they looked at it and they said, I'm not

sure how to overcome that pile of rubble. What

does a pile of rubble mean? It means that we

have a past. that has destruction written all

over it. We have a past that the purpose that

God had designed us for got pummeled by the enemy.

And I would expect that there's some people around

the room today who look at the piles of rubble

in their life at different times and wonder,

how can anything good come out of this? God used

to be there. His presence used to dwell in the

city. But now all I remember is what... isn't

rather than what is. I think when we begin to

give more attention to the past and the work

of the enemy and exalt the destruction that's

happened in our life, we miss the moment of opportunity

wherein God wants us to take the pile of rubble

and he wants to turn it into something that the

Bible calls level ground. Everybody say level

ground. What was level ground in the scriptures?

Level ground was an even playing field on which

they would take the rocks of yesterday and begin

to build and construct the house of God. I think

what is beautiful about this... picture in the

Old Testament is that God is declaring to all

who would follow him, I will take the rubble

of yesterday and it will become the foundation

for the presence of God for the future. I'm going

to do something. So I want you to see this today.

This is a prophetic word to this house. Everything

I've done to this point is foundational for the

next chapter. Can I hear an amen about that?

Everything I've done so far. So the first thing

when the exiles returned to Jerusalem, The first

thing they started to build was not the top of

the temple. They started at the altar. They started

by building the altar. The opening of Ezra chapter

Ezra 3 · chapter mention

3, before a single foundation stone was laid,

before it was laid down, they rebuilt the altar

and they started to worship again. Verse 3 says

they did it despite their fear of the people

around them. Now notice the temple was being

built before the wall was constructed. So the

city was without borders. The city was without

security. The borders even of the city that would

establish identity weren't even there, which

tells us the primary concern of the people of

God as they returned was to establish the presence

of God back in the city before their own security.

They wanted to secure the presence before they

secured themselves. They started to build the

altar. They started to establish the presence.

And they did it, according to verse 3, despite

their fear. Worship came before the walls, the

song before their safety. So it was the second

year when they actually started the real work.

Let's read verse 8 to 13 in Ezra chapter 3. It

Ezra 3 · chapter mention

says, In the second month of the second year,

after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem,

Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, Joshua, son of

Josedach, and the rest of the people, the priests

and the Levites, who had all returned from the

captivity to Jerusalem, began the work. They

appointed Levites, 20 years old and older, to

supervise the building of the house of the Lord.

Joshua and his sons and brothers, Cadmeel and

his sons, all Levites, joined together in supervising

the work on the house of God. When the builders

laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,

the priests in their vestments and with trumpets

and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with symbols,

took their places to praise the Lord as prescribed

by David, king of Israel. I wish I could go into

this. David, under his authority and under his

prophetic leadership, established a sound in

Jerusalem that had never been heard in Jerusalem

prior to his rule and reign. I think this is

prophetic of the last 25 years of this house.

You put a stake in the ground and establish something

in the region that hadn't been heard before.

There's a sound that emerges when kings step

into a city. When kings, when leaders with spiritual

authority step in, they don't just build buildings,

they establish sounds. They establish sounds.

The people knew that in order to reconstruct,

they needed to reorder the sound. They needed

to reorder the sound. And it's so important to

understand because the sound goes into the airwaves.

We're not just dealing with dirt and we're not

dealing with buildings. We're dealing with the

prince of the power of the air. The worship of

a house, the sound of the house, the musicians

of the house become so essential in a rebuild

work. With praise and thanksgiving, the Bible

says, they sang to the Lord. He's good. His love

towards Israel endures forever. And all the people

gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because

the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

But many of the older priests and Levites and

family heads who'd seen the former temple, that's

the temple of Solomon, by the way, wept aloud

when they saw the foundation of the temple being

laid while many others shouted for joy. Notice

the sound of the temple had tears and joy. No

one could distinguish the sound of the shouts

of joy from the sound of weeping because the

people made so much noise and the sound was heard

far, far away. I want to prophesy the sound of

this house, the sound of this house. When the

foundation of the house was laid, two sounds

erupted. There was a sound of weeping and the

shout of joy, the sound of lament and the sound

of laughter. The text says they got so tangled

together that no one could tell the two sounds

apart. Some people were celebrating, some people

were grieving. At the exact same moment over

the exact same thing, I think it's exactly where

some of us are in this season of the church.

Some of you are new to the house of God, new

to faith, and you're grieving the pile of rubble.

and the smell of smoke and the sound of yesterday

and the brokenness of your own life and you're

looking at others. who were celebrating and laughter

and joy, and you compare yourself and you class

yourself and you wonder, well, maybe I'm unworthy

because I'm new to the house, but they were around

long enough to see the beginning of the house.

I want you to know, if you've arrived at the

25 -year mark, you're all at the start of a rebuild.

And I feel like the Lord wants to put in your

heart today, everybody today is on level ground.

Everybody gets to start the next chapter together.

Everybody gets to start the next chapter together.

Can I hear an amen about that? Don't disqualify

because you say, I've just been here three months

and somebody else says 25 years. You're all part

of this chapter of the church. It's a beautiful,

beautiful thing. You got to understand the history

here because it allows you to actually feel the

ache and the dichotomy that's being expressed

here. Solomon's temple had been the glory of

Israel for almost 400 years. Decades of people,

generations of people understood the beauty of

Jerusalem and the sound that came from Jerusalem.

In 586, Babylon burned it to the ground. So now

you've got roughly 50 years later after it burning

down and there's this small, poor remnant of

people. They lay a new foundation and they take

burnt stones to do it. And they lay the foundation

out. The old timers who remembered Solomon's

gold said that foundation looks like nothing.

Haggai would later say to them in his prophetic

utterance, he'd say, does it not seem to you

like nothing? Aren't you just looking at that

and actually minimizing it? Aren't you like despising

the day of small beginnings? Some people look

at anniversaries and despise. Some people look

at their salvation and despise it because they

compare it to another season and another time

and another work. And the enemy likes to keep

you in a place of comparison. What is the emotion

that comes with that? It's the emotion called

grief. But if you watch what they sang, you've

got to hear this. You've got to listen to the

voice. Ezra chapter 3 verse 11. It says, And

Ezra 3:11

with thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord. Now

I want you to read with me what they sang. He

is good. His love towards Israel endures forever.

That song that they sang, those words that they

rehearsed, is the very same song as when they

laid the foundation and dedicated Solomon's temple,

the first temple that they're reflecting back

on. It was God who allowed Solomon to build in

the beginning, and it was God who moved on Cyrus'

heart to get the people back into the city to

rebuild the temple this time. When you begin

to sing the song of the Lord, whether you're

building 25 years ago or building now, you're

building upon the goodness of God. That's the

basis of your song, and it's the basis of the

sound of this house. Now, across 400 years, a

burned temple, and decades of exile, they came

back with the same song, even though their emotions

were all over the map. I want you to know this

today. I believe it prophetically for you. Circumstances

may change season to season, but God never changes.

You might have a variety of emotions as you sing,

but the song itself has got to stay pure. The

song has got to be, you are good and your love

towards Israel endures forever. You're good when

my family is going through the valley and you're

good when we're on the mountaintop. You're good

when I'm in exile and again, you're good when

I'm in captivity. God, you are good when the

temple is large. You're good when the temple

is small. God, you are good and you are good

all the time. To understand this idea, you have

to think about joy and tears at the foundation.

That's what you have to think about, joy and

tears. Laughter and lament. One of the quiet

traps people fall into when they feel called

to get in and begin to build something in another

chapter. is believing that everything has to

make perfect sense before they throw themselves

in. But according to this portion of Scripture,

the Bible actually gives us insight and tells

us that beginning something is worth celebrating

even at times when it seems insignificant. It's

worth... celebrating. Can I tell you for every

person who went into the waters of baptism today,

it's one of the reasons I was overtaken because

it represents new beginnings. And you might say,

well, I wonder what kind of journey they went

on. Enough of a journey that they needed Jesus.

Can I hear an amen about that? And guess what?

They're still going to need Jesus and you're

going to need Jesus. And every point of decision

in discipleship is worth celebrating. It's worth

stopping and acknowledging. You might think it's

a small thing to make a decision to get water

baptized. Well, people just do that every month

around here. No, that is worth celebrating. It's

worth enjoying the moment. Every time a body

is healed in this house, we need to celebrate

new beginnings. There should be a sound of joy.

God, you're good. And you're good in the land

of Israel. You're good because you brought us

out of captivity. There should be a constant

sound of celebration in the house. Seems insignificant

that a little child testified up here and said,

I just want to serve Jesus. That should bring

us out of our seats. Starting is worth celebrating.

Before you have the plan, before you have the

blueprint, before the full vision unfolds. There's

an apprentice that's come to the church and Brad

just told me, I just... Felt like I had to kind

of give room and opportunity for somebody to

begin their leadership development journey in

the church. I think it's worth celebrating because

I'll tell you what will come out of it is a Bible

college. What will come out of it is many interns

being developed and many interns being trained.

I think that there has to be celebration at the

small beginnings. In your own life. It's important

to stop and say, well, I might remember Solomon's

temple, but God, you're doing something in my

day. The Bible says it this way. When it refers

to people who never take time to look at fulfillment,

they never take time to look at starting. Proverbs

23 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. It

tells us when you start to see God at work and

you actually lean in and you start to say God's

at work, it's like a breath of hope comes back

into your soul again. When something starts,

the pile of rubble starts to move. The forms

for concrete are set. Wet cement starts to flow.

And you start seeing the rebuild of something.

It starts to awaken internal hope mixed with

delays of years of captivity and all of a sudden

the attempts to cope. and not be disappointed

start to surface in other people. Some that don't

shout for joy start to bring to the surface the

sorrows that they've experienced over the course

of their journey. Lament, pain, the difficulty

of exile. It would seem that when the first stone

started to move, The only thing that they should

do is shout for joy, but something else needed

to happen. Some people needed to weep for what

was lost in the journey to get there. In the

context of workers, the returned captives, the

exiles, the people who were in slavery in their

nation, they couldn't shout for joy. They started

to weep. They started to mourn, but I want you

to notice something in the weeping and in the

joy. The work began by joining together. It didn't

matter if they were coming out with a long history

or brand new there for the first time shouting

for joy. They got together on the same team.

And that's what I want to tell you today is I

want to tell you the work began by joining together.

Ezra 3, verse 8 and 9 says this. As I put it

Ezra 3:8

on the screen, it says, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and

the rest of the people began the work. All the

Levites joined together in supervising those

working on the house of the Lord. Notice that

there's two verbs in the text. One is that they

began the work, and the other one was they joined

together. The work got done because they were

together. Their hearts were stirred. But you

can't just have a stirred heart. You've got to

have a willing hand. You've got to step forward.

You've got to bring your gifts to the table.

You've got to link shields with people that are

further along and those that are behind you in

the journey. Everybody finds their place. Your

heart, yes, has to be stirred, but your hands

have to get in the game. Don't just work, but

have joy as you work and give room for some to

shed some tears along the way. If you'll work,

but not bring your heart, you'll feel abused.

If you get in the game and start to build but

don't have gratitude, you'll invest your time,

talent, and treasure and say later somebody took

something from you. I think what the Lord wants

in the house is a sense of communal faith that

says nobody builds alone, nobody walks alone,

nobody sings alone, nobody cries alone, nobody

invests alone. Everybody's in it together. Come

on, everybody's in it together. Nobody rebuilds

in isolation. Nobody worships in isolation. Nobody

gets baptized in isolation. Nobody overcomes

their addictions in isolation. Nobody goes through

deliverance in isolation. Everybody's in this

faith journey together. This house, this house

is built for togetherness. It's built for beginning

the work, getting into the trench. It's built

as a discipleship house and a development house

to get into the trench and start to overturn

the stones. And when one stone is too big for

somebody, somebody jumps in beside them and says,

let's turn over that stone together. What you

don't understand is they start to tell the story

of the stone, they pull it over, and as they

pull it over, they start to weep. You could say,

what are you weeping for? Or you could say, let

me get down here close with you and weep with

you while you weep. The sound of the house. Everybody

say the sound of the house. The sound of the

house was laughter and lament. Everybody joined

together. Nobody rebuilding in isolation. Their

heart was stirred, but their hand went to work

and they celebrated. Listen to this. They celebrated

a foundation, not just a finished house. Ezra

Ezra 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 says, all the people gave a great shout

of praise to the Lord because the foundation

of the house was laid. I thought we would just

celebrate when the party was finished. No, celebrate

at 25 years. Go ahead, celebrate. Come on, put

your hands together. Celebrate at 25 years. Now

recognize that's just the foundation. It's just

the beginning. Bring your tears, bring your joy,

bring your laughter, bring your memories, bring

it all. They shouted over a foundation. It was

like a new beginning. We accomplished one layer.

We accomplished one level. Now it's time to go

to another. It's a fresh start. People tend to

withhold their celebration until everything is

in order. You're never going to be perfect. You're

never going to arrive. As long as this house

is a prophetic house with an apostolic tip of

the spear, there's going to be new ground to

take. There's going to be new nations to step

into. There's going to be new layers of destiny.

So don't hold back. Get in the game. Put your

hand to the plow. Actually start picking up the

rocks and beginning to lay the next layer of

the foundation. The song they sang was about

character. God's character, not the building

size. He's good. His love towards Israel endures

forever. They had to sing a song about God's

character. They had to sing a song about his

goodness because their hearts were so broken.

And yet their soul was celebrating what could

be. The unique thing about this, and I know this

might sound weird, but I actually believe that

grief and joy can share the same moment in worship.

I'm just going to put that statement on the screen.

Grief and joy can share the same moment. I want

you to hear this. I actually long in this season

of the church's history in the Pacific Northwest

and this entire region. To see a church that

chooses wholeness. A people who know how to lament

and laugh. Who know how to forgive fully. Who

know how to heal deeply. Who know how to work

hard but yet rest well. Who know how to enjoy

life but do it without shame. How to take the

abuse and the battered parts of our life. And

even have the memory of what was. And bring it

to the family of God and the people of God. And

realize there are some brothers and sisters who

are going to get in and turn over these stones

with me. And let me tell you what grief will

do. Grief will restore your soul. Because what

grief is, is it's a covenant protest. What happened

to me was not okay. And I want you to know when

the people that understood the past stood in

worship and lifted their hands and said, God

is good. You know what they were saying? God

is good, but some things that happened to me

were bad. And I'm going to put them into perspective.

I'm going to celebrate God. And I'm going to

realize that was the enemy that worked against

me. And when you grieve, you protest the enemy's

work and you establish a new beginning. That's

what grief does. And I believe that the house

of God needs to give room for people to lay up

the altar and weep the loss of yesterday. Begin

to weep and grieve and pour out their hearts.

If this house is going to reach another wave

of lost people, you're going to see people. grieving

their mistaken identity. You're going to see

a people that begin to grieve marriages that

were destroyed by the hand of the enemy. You're

going to see people grieve and lament years of

addiction and sickness and brokenness. And they're

going to lay at the front of this house and weep

over what was lost. And then they're going to

begin to say through the tears, but you are good,

O God, and your mercy endures forever. They're

going to begin to declare the character of God

through their tears and through their weeping.

Some of you have been afraid even to shed tears

of the brokenness in your own life. You've wondered

if people knew how dark the background of my

life was. I want you to know God specializes

in overcoming darkness. He specializes in actually

putting it in its place. He specializes in listening

to the tears of his people and allowing them

to pour out their heart before the Lord. You

protest the enemy's attack in your life through

grief. And then the Lord takes the grief. As

you pour it out before him and he turns it into

joy because he shows you where he was in the

midst of the brokenness and grief turns into

joy. I felt to come to you today and simply say

this. There is a masterful strategy being released

by the hand of the Lord to make this a house

whose sound is both grief and joy. Lament and...

and laughter. There's something in this house

that God is going to begin to work through people

who come and lay their grief at the altar and

weep and let it go and watch what God will do.

He'll build a foundation. He'll restore their

walls. The presence of God will come again to

the city that is established. The city called...

Harrisburg and all the surrounding regions a

new sound is going to emerge and the presence

of God will be among his people I know this is

deep and maybe a little bit complex but how many

know that God's into the soul business he's into

healing you on the inside he's healing and restoring

you not just bringing you in and making you work

in the house but restoring your soul as you do

It's a beautiful sound that's going to come from

this house. Grief can show up where there's joy.

And the Bible says those two sounds mingled together

and it was heard from far, far away. Here's what

I prophesy to you today. Many will come and need

to weep, but their weeping will turn to joy.

Their weeping will turn to joy. Those sounds

will be heard in the house. And it will be heard

far, Far away. How many would just say, Daryl,

in my own life, I need that word. I need some

grief to turn to joy. Come on, would you wave

at me? I need some sorrow to be replaced with

laughter. I want to pray for you today. I'd encourage

you in this service, go back and listen to some

foundational truths in the early service. Build

this together as a series in your life and just

see what God will do to strengthen. and build

Life Bible in the next 25 years. Amen? Come on,

it's been my honor to be here today. I want to

pray for you. Would you stand to your feet? Father,

thank you. Thank you for this amazing family.

God, I thank you for pastors Brad and Jen. I

thank you for their sacrifice, their service,

their diligence, their faithfulness. Thank you

for the team that's come around them. God, we

declare over them. Lord, a Holy Spirit touch

in the season ahead. Lord, let even next weekend

as they come into a season of pressing into healing

and miracles, let there be an outbreak of the

supernatural manifestation of the presence of

God, healing bodies and setting people free.

And Lord, I pray there'd be a deepness and a

richness to the sound of this house that would

flood the airwaves of this part of the state

and the surrounding region. Lord, even touching

the nations of the world from how you move and

cut away the brokenness of yesterday and turn

lament into joy in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.

Come on, give the Lord Jesus a big hand today.

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this

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