- il y a 3 ans
Catégorie
📚
ÉducationTranscription
00:00:00 First Kings 18 verse 41.
00:00:02 First Kings 18 verse 41.
00:00:04 Let's just tag the text.
00:00:05 Elijah said to Ahab, "Up on your feet.
00:00:09 "Eat, drink, celebrate.
00:00:11 "Rain is on the way."
00:00:14 I hear it coming.
00:00:16 I'm gonna read that again for the people in the back.
00:00:19 People watching at home.
00:00:20 Elijah said to Ahab, "Up on your feet.
00:00:23 "Eat and drink, celebrate.
00:00:24 "Rain is on the way."
00:00:28 Do you see any rain?
00:00:30 Uh-uh, but I hear it coming.
00:00:32 Let me try it one more time.
00:00:34 Up on your feet.
00:00:35 Drink, celebrate.
00:00:38 Rain is on the way.
00:00:40 I hear it coming.
00:00:42 If you're not too mean, look at five people
00:00:45 straight in the face, point at them,
00:00:46 and tell them, "I hear something."
00:00:47 Go ahead.
00:00:48 Woo, that's the wrong person.
00:00:51 I said five people.
00:00:52 Tell five people, "I hear something."
00:00:54 I hear something.
00:00:56 You may take your seats in the Lord's house.
00:00:59 So at the top of this summer, I made a prophetic statement
00:01:04 that something good is on this house.
00:01:06 Yeah, I like my track record.
00:01:08 My track record proves that normally when I say
00:01:11 the Lord told me something, what he said comes to fruition.
00:01:15 I don't claim to be the most prophetic pastor.
00:01:17 My gifts are giving and leadership
00:01:20 and relationships and leadership.
00:01:23 Those are the things I do.
00:01:24 There are pastors who are much more prophetic.
00:01:26 I don't claim to be the most prophetic pastor
00:01:28 in the country, but when I hear something, I hear something.
00:01:32 Plus, you know, the weight of my words
00:01:36 mean as much to me as anything in this world.
00:01:38 The day I'm preaching and you're filing your nails,
00:01:41 I'm resigning.
00:01:43 That means I've lost you and my voice carries no weight.
00:01:48 So if you keep saying God said stuff
00:01:50 and then what you say God said doesn't come to pass,
00:01:54 you start to lose a little of integrity
00:01:56 and the weight of your voice.
00:01:57 So I'm very careful to say God said.
00:01:59 Sometimes I just get up here and say,
00:02:01 I feel something, let's see what happens.
00:02:03 I think it's God, might be the devil,
00:02:05 maybe what I ate last night, not quite sure.
00:02:07 Praise God, amen.
00:02:09 But then there are other times when I just hear something.
00:02:11 I really heard the Lord say it was gonna be
00:02:14 an unusual summer and attendance said bang
00:02:17 and then the offering literally some weeks
00:02:20 almost double what it was the year before.
00:02:23 I'm like God, you spoke and then members
00:02:25 start walking up to me.
00:02:26 I don't think it's just coincidence
00:02:28 saying that this happened good in my life
00:02:30 and they doubled my salary and cancer is gone
00:02:34 and I'm healed and a beautiful white brother
00:02:39 that comes to our second service most of the time.
00:02:44 The tumors in his brain were so big,
00:02:46 it was all but a death sentence and we prayed for him
00:02:49 and now the tumors are all but gone in Jesus' name.
00:02:53 (audience applauding)
00:02:54 And so we are seeing financial and physical miracles
00:02:59 happening throughout the length and breadth
00:03:03 of this ministry and then this past week,
00:03:06 something happened to me that has not happened
00:03:08 in a long time.
00:03:10 I had a prophetic dream.
00:03:12 Yeah, I said a prophetic dream, a prophetic dream.
00:03:16 Now we never lift up dreams to the status of scripture.
00:03:21 If your dream contradicts Bible, ignore your dream.
00:03:25 There are people who walk up to me each week
00:03:28 and say Pastor, I dreamed I was flying through the sky
00:03:31 and then like a dog grabbed my foot
00:03:34 and a cat grabbed my hand.
00:03:36 What do you think that is?
00:03:37 I said nothing.
00:03:38 Praise God.
00:03:39 It was all a dream, that's all praise God.
00:03:41 Thank you baby.
00:03:43 But those of us who read the Bible know
00:03:45 we cannot discount God speaking through dreams.
00:03:49 Come here Isaac, come here Joseph.
00:03:51 We have too many references where God spoke revelation
00:03:54 through dreams and the Lord spoke one to me
00:03:57 which led to this teaching.
00:03:59 It was so clear I told my wife the two dreams
00:04:02 I had back to back and then the text from the Bible,
00:04:05 God gave me to preach today.
00:04:07 So you need to sit up, you need to watch closely
00:04:09 because God gave me a word and the word he gave me was,
00:04:12 I hear something.
00:04:13 - I hear something.
00:04:15 - Then he gave me the text to preach it from.
00:04:17 I didn't have to search, he gave me the text in my sleep
00:04:20 to get up and study and while on vacation,
00:04:23 not vacation, I haven't really had one of those
00:04:27 but this few days, no sabbatical,
00:04:29 just a few days with my girl for her birthday,
00:04:32 the Lord gave me this word for this ministry
00:04:34 which speaks to what he's been saying to me.
00:04:36 So the Bible says in 1 Kings 18 verses one and two,
00:04:40 you have your Bible, let's set the context
00:04:42 so you can really respect the content.
00:04:43 A long time passed and God's word came to Elijah,
00:04:46 said the drought was now in his third year.
00:04:49 The Bible says, go and present yourself to King Ahab,
00:04:51 I'm about to make it rain.
00:04:53 Yeah, you thought make it rain only happened in strip clubs.
00:04:56 No, I'm about to make it rain is in the Bible.
00:05:01 I'm about to make it rain.
00:05:02 Israel has been in a drought
00:05:05 because of their Baal worship.
00:05:09 Yeah, Israel because of Jezebel, King Ahab's wife,
00:05:13 had turned their attention toward a false deity.
00:05:16 I'll get to that in a minute.
00:05:18 The God of Baal, the God of Baal,
00:05:21 this false deity and entity that I will discuss in a moment.
00:05:26 King Ahab, Israel's king, God's people king,
00:05:31 has hooked up with a sister who's demonic.
00:05:35 Hurts my heart to see good people marry crazy people.
00:05:40 I said, the rest of my ministry, married couples,
00:05:43 come on, I am married, we're gonna get together,
00:05:45 plan on going out of town with some married couples
00:05:47 who wanna go not just here but from all over the nation
00:05:50 and really believe that my girl and I
00:05:52 have a strong enough marriage that you wanna invest in,
00:05:54 spend a few days with us talking about it.
00:05:56 I'm too old not to act like I don't know what I'm good at.
00:05:59 I married the right girl.
00:06:01 And we have put proper precepts in place
00:06:06 to give us a kind of longevity.
00:06:08 So serious couples who would like to hang with us
00:06:11 a few days, we'll talk about that going into 2024.
00:06:14 But I'm also leaning into single people now.
00:06:18 And more of my preaching will be premarital
00:06:22 because once you in it, you in it.
00:06:25 Now you gotta make adjustments and fight
00:06:27 and go to therapy and do what you gotta do.
00:06:29 I'm trying to get single people to pick rights.
00:06:33 King Ahab, a godly man, marries Jezebel.
00:06:38 Jezebel, and because he marries Jezebel,
00:06:41 now Israel is turning toward Baal,
00:06:44 who is Jezebel's daddy's god.
00:06:49 You have to read the historicity of that.
00:06:51 It's cold-blooded.
00:06:52 Read a lot of stuff on Jezebel.
00:06:53 There is no Jezebel spirit in the Bible,
00:06:56 but we call Jezebel spirits those persons
00:06:59 who have the characteristics of Jezebel
00:07:02 and we name it a Jezebel spirit.
00:07:04 The word Jezebel spirit is not in the Bible.
00:07:07 Also, it's often relegated to women, which is wrong,
00:07:12 'cause a man can have a Jezebel spirit.
00:07:14 (audience applauding)
00:07:17 Jezebel, well, since I'm here,
00:07:18 I may as well deal with it.
00:07:19 Jezebel, Jezebel, false deity,
00:07:22 characteristics of Baal worship.
00:07:24 You'll love this, or maybe you'll hate this.
00:07:26 This is terrible.
00:07:27 This is trifling.
00:07:28 Baal worship included taking infants
00:07:30 and throwing them into a bonfire
00:07:33 and amidst the stench of burning flesh,
00:07:37 there would be bisexual orgies
00:07:40 while they smelling the baby flesh.
00:07:43 Yeah, that's about the sickest thing you've ever heard.
00:07:45 Let me try it again.
00:07:46 Hate to teach it, but I have to.
00:07:48 They would throw babies into a fire
00:07:50 and amidst the stench of burning flesh,
00:07:54 bisexual orgies are happening around the fire.
00:07:57 How crazy can you get?
00:07:59 Now you'll understand,
00:08:00 even though you went to Sunday school
00:08:02 and know about Baal and Elijah,
00:08:04 now it'll come closer as to why God has caused the droughts.
00:08:09 Whenever you're throwing babies into a fire,
00:08:12 bisexual orgies around the fire,
00:08:15 amidst the stench of the burning baby flesh,
00:08:19 that's as sick as it gets.
00:08:20 So there's been a drought.
00:08:23 God has stopped the rain from falling.
00:08:25 Let me speak to somebody who's been going through a drought.
00:08:28 Sometimes God has to dry stuff up to wake you up.
00:08:32 [audience cheers]
00:08:33 And I said a few weeks ago when nobody shouted,
00:08:36 don't just thank him for the wet seasons,
00:08:38 thank him for the dry ones.
00:08:40 Oh, I wish I had somebody that went through a season
00:08:42 of dryness, emotional dryness, relational dryness,
00:08:46 spiritual dryness.
00:08:47 God was gaining and getting your attention
00:08:50 to tell you there's something better.
00:08:52 God says, okay, it's been a stench,
00:08:55 but I'm about to make it rain.
00:08:58 Amidst this is one of God's best prophets, Elijah.
00:09:03 And the Bible says King Ahab and Elijah see one another,
00:09:08 and the next verse says, he says to Elijah,
00:09:10 here comes that troublemaker.
00:09:12 [audience applauds]
00:09:13 Yeah, he saw him and said,
00:09:15 here comes this old troublemaker.
00:09:18 Let me try it again.
00:09:18 When he saw Elijah, he says, look at the troublemaker.
00:09:23 Elijah is God's prophet.
00:09:24 You just heard the teachings I gave you on Zarephath
00:09:28 and Kerath and the widows and the oil
00:09:30 and how God used Elijah,
00:09:33 who is a spiritual mentor of Elisha, right?
00:09:36 Elijah, you been with me, you been with me,
00:09:38 you been with me, you been with me?
00:09:40 So we know about Zarephath and Kerath.
00:09:43 We know the power of this prophet.
00:09:46 And when King Ahab, who's married to a witch,
00:09:48 saw him coming, he says, you troublemaker.
00:09:52 The next verse says, no, you the troublemaker.
00:09:55 No, you the troublemaker.
00:09:58 You've dumped God's ways and commands
00:10:00 to run off with local gods, the Baals.
00:10:03 You the troublemaker.
00:10:04 I'm sorry, y'all thought I wasn't gonna mention Montgomery.
00:10:07 [audience laughs]
00:10:10 It was John Lewis, Congressman, God rest his soul,
00:10:16 who says we ought to go out and start some good trouble.
00:10:19 Yeah, I'm tired of black people being called troublemakers.
00:10:22 We just said don't start, no stuff won't be done.
00:10:24 I wish I,
00:10:25 [audience applauds]
00:10:27 Lord have mercy, you might have to get introduced
00:10:30 to the chair ministry.
00:10:31 Can I preach to somebody
00:10:32 [audience applauds]
00:10:33 who knows about the chair ministry?
00:10:35 He shouldn't have hit that woman in the head,
00:10:38 but don't start no stuff won't.
00:10:40 [audience laughs]
00:10:47 That's a whole 'nother sermon, amen.
00:10:49 [audience laughs]
00:10:51 And so he says, no, I'm not the troublemaker.
00:10:54 You are the troublemaker.
00:10:56 John Lewis, young people, I'll talk about this more
00:10:58 at the second service,
00:11:00 push young people to go out and start some good trouble.
00:11:03 Start some good trouble.
00:11:05 There are certain times when believers
00:11:06 have to start some good trouble.
00:11:08 He calls him a troublemaker
00:11:09 because Elijah is now coming to call him into check.
00:11:13 And here's the verse you remember from Sunday school.
00:11:15 Elijah looks at him and says, how long will you be
00:11:19 between two opinions?
00:11:21 How long will you have it both ways?
00:11:26 You grew up on King James, two opinions.
00:11:28 Another version, both ways.
00:11:30 Another version, how long will you sit on the fence?
00:11:34 If Yahweh, God is God, let's serve him.
00:11:39 But if Baal is God, let's serve him.
00:11:42 I feel like preaching to somebody.
00:11:44 Y'all pray for me, but I'm off the fence.
00:11:47 I'm not 25, 35, even 45 no more.
00:11:50 No, I didn't get too old for you to tell me
00:11:52 what I'm not gonna say about Jesus.
00:11:55 I don't mind ecumenical gatherings.
00:12:00 Ecumenical, come here.
00:12:02 That's when Pentecostals and Baptists get together
00:12:05 with Lutherans and Methodists,
00:12:07 and some speak in tongues and some don't.
00:12:09 But at the core and crux of all of our faith is Christ.
00:12:14 Let me try it again.
00:12:16 At the core and crux of our faith is Christ.
00:12:19 Some believe Holy Spirit happens and you speak in tongues
00:12:22 as soon as you get saved.
00:12:23 Others of us believe you may not speak in tongues
00:12:25 as soon as you get saved.
00:12:26 You may not ever speak in tongues,
00:12:28 but if you got Jesus, you got enough.
00:12:32 So we differ on our pneumatological theologies.
00:12:38 Pneuma, spirit, Holy Spirit.
00:12:39 But what we all have in common is Jesus.
00:12:42 I'm now more prone to go to an ecumenical gathering
00:12:48 than an interfaith gathering.
00:12:50 Because interfaith means we all believe something different,
00:12:53 but we all have one agenda.
00:12:55 I will go hook up, I'm doing it now.
00:12:57 There's some Muslim brothers, I'm not that small,
00:13:00 who have a heart for these young brothers getting shot.
00:13:02 And I'm having meetings with them
00:13:04 because at the end of the day,
00:13:05 we still gotta stop the murder.
00:13:07 The homicide rate is on pace this year in Cleveland
00:13:11 to be higher than it was in the 90s
00:13:13 when it was at an all time high.
00:13:15 We're already on pace to be last year.
00:13:18 Just in terms of murders and we're only in August.
00:13:23 So whoever has a heart for people getting killed,
00:13:27 I'm willing to meet with.
00:13:29 But I do take some issue, how we gonna pray at the end?
00:13:34 Because I'm not saying in the name of God
00:13:37 so as not to offend everybody.
00:13:40 I'm saying in the name of Jesus.
00:13:41 I wish, okay, somebody, I thought it was Sunday morning.
00:13:45 You do know there is no other name under heaven
00:13:48 and I don't care what you say,
00:13:49 there's still something about that name,
00:13:51 the name of Jesus.
00:13:53 And it may sound Pentecostal,
00:13:55 but look at somebody say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
00:13:58 No, you're just trying to speak in tongues.
00:13:59 I don't care what I'm doing.
00:14:00 Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
00:14:02 Jesus, you don't believe me?
00:14:04 I don't care what you're going through.
00:14:06 I remember a young lady was getting killed
00:14:08 by a jealous husband.
00:14:10 He grabbed her by her hair and was shooting her
00:14:12 and taking her down the street.
00:14:13 And they said the last thing she was saying was Jesus.
00:14:16 Can I tell you something?
00:14:17 If your car starts flipping around on the freeway
00:14:20 on some ice, you're not gonna call on your mama.
00:14:23 You're not gonna call on your uncle, your best friend.
00:14:26 I guarantee you when the bullets start flying in Vietnam,
00:14:30 there are no atheists in a foxhole.
00:14:32 When the bullets start flying,
00:14:34 everybody calls on the name that is above every name.
00:14:38 Can I get a hundred people in here
00:14:41 and fathers online to scream his name?
00:14:44 (audience cheering)
00:14:47 Something, there's something about that name.
00:14:57 And I told the Lord, I'm gonna come back and say your name.
00:15:00 Yeah, I don't wanna preach about marriage too much
00:15:03 and not say his name.
00:15:04 I don't wanna preach about money too much
00:15:06 and not say his name.
00:15:07 I don't wanna preach about relationships
00:15:09 or any other thing and not say his name.
00:15:12 There is power in that name.
00:15:14 If you're here for the first time,
00:15:16 if you are watching me online,
00:15:18 the name of Jesus has a kind of power
00:15:21 that no other name has.
00:15:24 The Bible says, no, you're the troublemaker
00:15:28 based on how you're thinking.
00:15:30 He says, if God be God, he says, watch this, make a choice.
00:15:35 Yeah, I wanna say to anybody here sitting on the fence,
00:15:39 make a choice.
00:15:40 If God be God, I came to challenge this church
00:15:44 and tell all of us this summer
00:15:47 and going into this fall, say his name.
00:15:50 Stop being shame of family, make a choice.
00:15:53 I've made a choice and I'm not saying this to play hero ball.
00:15:58 Speaking of hero ball, take a mental note.
00:16:00 To play hero ball, take a mental note.
00:16:02 Take a mental note to play hero ball.
00:16:04 I'm not saying this to play hero ball
00:16:06 because I'm not trying to be a hero,
00:16:07 but even my upcoming podcast,
00:16:10 I took a break for the summer,
00:16:11 but I'm recording this Wednesday.
00:16:13 There's too much happening sexually in terms of gender.
00:16:17 And it amazed me that everybody's scared.
00:16:21 Y'all ready?
00:16:23 Maybe I was too, too politically correct.
00:16:28 Let's not offend anybody.
00:16:31 The Bible is offensive.
00:16:32 Anybody ever been offended by the Bible?
00:16:37 Once the Bible make you speak to people
00:16:40 you don't even wanna say hi to,
00:16:41 once the Bible make you get off some beds
00:16:43 that you really wanna lay in,
00:16:45 once the Bible push you.
00:16:47 And I made a statement,
00:16:50 but my church didn't hear me, Elder Gale.
00:16:52 I made a statement that whatever civil rights was
00:16:56 to Dr. King, family is to me.
00:16:59 Now get your head around that.
00:17:01 Maybe again, it's because of how I came up,
00:17:04 raising five children, being blended,
00:17:06 knowing my impact on my children,
00:17:08 how much they need me, how much they mama need them,
00:17:11 having children from 34 to 13.
00:17:15 So we've ran the gamut of raising children.
00:17:17 We raised children in the 90s, the 2000s,
00:17:20 and still doing it.
00:17:21 So I feel like we're pretty good at it.
00:17:24 Made enough mistakes, but what you not gonna tell me
00:17:27 is they don't need both of us.
00:17:29 And sometime life is what it is.
00:17:36 You just can't have both.
00:17:37 You do what you gotta do.
00:17:38 That's a whole nother thing.
00:17:39 All I'm saying to all of you
00:17:40 is let's not be scared no more.
00:17:43 Whatever you believe, say what you believe.
00:17:46 Whatever you believe, you stand on that.
00:17:49 Whatever you believe, be willing to die for that.
00:17:52 Jesus said if any man would come after me,
00:17:55 let him deny himself, take up his cross.
00:17:58 He said for my sake you'll be hated.
00:18:00 Beware when all men speak well of you.
00:18:02 I gotta go, my time is gone.
00:18:04 Elijah, Elijah says enough of this, I'm calling you out.
00:18:09 Here's the part you remember from Sunday school.
00:18:11 I'm calling you out.
00:18:12 Let's have a contest.
00:18:14 Really, the text starts in verse 41.
00:18:16 I'm not going there yet.
00:18:17 In verse 41 is where the text starts for me
00:18:20 because it's when he said I hear rain,
00:18:23 but I told my girl, you really can't have the context
00:18:28 without the contest.
00:18:30 I'm preaching better than you're responding.
00:18:32 I've heard preachers preach both of these.
00:18:34 I've never heard anybody preach both of them together
00:18:37 because you really can't preach one without the other
00:18:40 because when he said I hear the rain,
00:18:42 the faith came from the contest.
00:18:44 So you need the contest to have the context.
00:18:47 You'll see what I mean in a minute.
00:18:49 Before he said I hear rain, there's a contest.
00:18:53 And the contest was I think your God is false,
00:18:56 my God is the truth.
00:18:58 Here's how we gonna work it out.
00:19:00 You go get a bull, bring two, cut them in half,
00:19:04 lay them on the altar the way you would for a sacrifice.
00:19:08 The only difference is let's not light them on fire.
00:19:11 Let's see whose God will send down fire from heaven.
00:19:14 (audience applauding)
00:19:15 Ooh, I feel like it, I feel like it, I feel like it.
00:19:19 Lean on somebody and say I feel the fire coming.
00:19:21 Go ahead, ooh.
00:19:22 I wished I had somebody that would get ready for the fire.
00:19:25 The text says you get your bull, I'll get your bull.
00:19:28 Matter of fact, you go first.
00:19:30 Elijah, and I'll talk about this,
00:19:33 Elijah, who feels like he's God's only prophet,
00:19:37 I'm skipping this on purpose,
00:19:39 because he says I'm the only prophet left.
00:19:42 Now he has no idea that God still has some other prophets.
00:19:46 I don't have time, I don't have time.
00:19:48 Stop looking at people in the scripture
00:19:52 like they are to be worshipped.
00:19:54 They are in the Bible to show us their inadequacies.
00:19:59 I don't ever wanna preach about a Bible character again
00:20:02 in this church without telling you what's wrong with them.
00:20:05 (audience applauding)
00:20:08 I wanna be careful because we'll lift them up.
00:20:11 Do not praise the men in the Bible,
00:20:14 praise the God of the Bible.
00:20:16 Elijah says I'm the only prophet left.
00:20:22 You do know he suffered with depression.
00:20:24 You do know he'd get mad, just go sit up on the tree
00:20:27 and be through preaching just like Jeremiah had his issues.
00:20:30 Another issue is hero ball.
00:20:32 Take a mental note.
00:20:33 Y'all not hearing me.
00:20:37 Take a mental note, I told you seven minutes ago,
00:20:39 somebody gonna keep up with me or something.
00:20:41 Are y'all with me or not?
00:20:41 Say I'm a worship pastor.
00:20:43 One of his issues was hero ball.
00:20:45 I'm all God got left.
00:20:47 I'm the only prophet left.
00:20:49 I'm the only bold preacher left.
00:20:50 God is killing my ego every day I live.
00:20:54 It reminded me, let's shout, of how unimportant I am.
00:20:57 Let me say to all the important people,
00:21:01 look at somebody say you are not that important.
00:21:02 Go ahead, praise God.
00:21:04 I don't know what my wife would do without me.
00:21:06 Die and find out, praise God.
00:21:08 I'll be standing here in two years.
00:21:10 Dearly beloved, we're gathered here to,
00:21:12 to join these two in holy matrimony
00:21:15 as we grieve her husband who's been two and a half years
00:21:17 and she's now met sweet thing, praise God, amen.
00:21:21 Why you laughing?
00:21:23 To everybody in ministry, everybody working cameras,
00:21:31 everybody preaching sermons, everybody on staff,
00:21:34 don't think you can't be replaced.
00:21:37 No, don't think you're so great
00:21:40 that the whole thing's gonna fall apart 'cause you leave.
00:21:42 Don't think you're so great
00:21:43 that your family can't make it without you.
00:21:45 Every day you wake up in the morning,
00:21:47 you ought to say thank you God for another day.
00:21:49 And y'all pray for me.
00:21:51 All married couples, raise your hands.
00:21:53 Every time I wake up and that girl's still breathing,
00:21:56 I ain't used to thank God like that.
00:21:58 I used to take her breathing for granted, I'm serious.
00:22:01 Now every time I wake up, I just kind of touch her,
00:22:02 mess with her, praise God.
00:22:04 I'm dead serious.
00:22:05 Now some of y'all are kind of hoping
00:22:07 that's another sermon, praise God, amen.
00:22:09 I'm running out of time.
00:22:19 He says, let's find out whose God is God.
00:22:24 Whoever, whichever God sends fire from heaven,
00:22:29 that's the real God.
00:22:30 Matter of fact, you got more people than me.
00:22:32 You got all your false prophets, so you go first.
00:22:35 I'm gonna sit right here.
00:22:36 The Bible says they start doing what they do.
00:22:40 The Bible says around noon,
00:22:42 Elijah started making fun of them, taunting them,
00:22:47 called me a little louder.
00:22:49 Maybe he's meditating.
00:22:52 Maybe he's gotten involved in, you know,
00:22:55 keep moving upstairs, a project,
00:22:58 or maybe he's on vacation.
00:22:59 You don't suppose he overslept, do you?
00:23:03 Okay, y'all just missed y'all shout.
00:23:05 Wake 'em up.
00:23:06 They pray louder and louder,
00:23:07 cutting themselves with swords and knives.
00:23:11 Another part or characteristic of Baal worship
00:23:15 was to cut yourself.
00:23:17 To cut yourself meant the ultimate sacrifice.
00:23:20 Look, I'm cutting myself.
00:23:22 Blood is gushing out of me.
00:23:23 A lot of false deities require the cutting of one's flesh.
00:23:27 Elijah is literally playing 'em, laughing at 'em,
00:23:32 joking with 'em.
00:23:33 Maybe he's asleep.
00:23:35 Maybe he's on vacation.
00:23:36 Where he at?
00:23:37 The Bible says, and this blessed my heart,
00:23:40 and I thought it was a preaching place.
00:23:42 The next verse says they were trying
00:23:43 all kind of religious tricks.
00:23:46 Religious tricks.
00:23:49 And nothing happened.
00:23:50 I'm through with religious tricks.
00:23:53 (audience applauding)
00:23:55 Yeah, the Bible says religious tricks.
00:23:59 Now, there is a difference between religious tricks
00:24:04 and thought out strategy.
00:24:06 Because some of you have spirituality,
00:24:09 my early service entrepreneurs,
00:24:12 but spirituality with no strategy can still have you broke.
00:24:17 (audience applauding)
00:24:20 Yeah, spirituality with no strategy.
00:24:24 Spirituality with no strategy in your marriage.
00:24:27 Spirituality but no strategy.
00:24:30 Many of you have never written down your strategy.
00:24:33 I said, I haven't forgot what I'm preaching.
00:24:35 I'm your pastor, I'm not the visiting preacher.
00:24:37 Hear me, I told you this was the year of focus.
00:24:40 I said we're focusing on what?
00:24:42 Come on, Word Nation.
00:24:43 Faith and family and finance and fitness and fun.
00:24:48 I threw fun in as a caveat, and fun.
00:24:51 I don't say nothing.
00:24:53 I'm learning, future pastors.
00:24:55 I try not to say something until you can see something.
00:24:58 Okay, you gonna love what I just said.
00:25:02 Sometime I try not to say something
00:25:04 until you can see something.
00:25:06 I'm standing up here as your pastor,
00:25:08 25 pounds smaller than I was when I,
00:25:12 y'all better talk to me.
00:25:14 (audience applauding)
00:25:17 Have not missed a day or two in the gym
00:25:22 since I started saying fitness.
00:25:24 Because I don't just say something to get an offering
00:25:29 or to get an amen, and I say fitness,
00:25:32 and then I end the year bigger than everybody.
00:25:34 (audience laughing)
00:25:36 So you said that to be cute, huh?
00:25:38 Finance paid everybody off.
00:25:42 Don't own nothing in the world except the house I live in,
00:25:45 and I call that gone in Jesus' name.
00:25:47 (audience applauding)
00:25:49 Are y'all hearing me?
00:25:50 All right, fun.
00:25:53 Some of y'all saw me on Instagram with my girl, Dancing,
00:25:56 and just having a good time.
00:25:57 She took me to a party, it's called a silent party,
00:26:00 where you put on your headphones,
00:26:01 but can't nobody hear the music but you.
00:26:03 And I'm so corny, I'm like, this is fun.
00:26:05 And so we're at a place, I don't go to parties,
00:26:09 I don't go to discos, only when I'm out of town with her,
00:26:12 and there's some resort where there's a place
00:26:13 you can go and dance with your wife at night.
00:26:15 And so it said, starting at 11, the party starts.
00:26:20 It was 10.45, I said, we gotta get to the party.
00:26:23 Now my wife, who hasn't known Jesus as long as me,
00:26:26 praise God, amen.
00:26:29 She said, we can't be the first one there.
00:26:31 I said, well, I don't wanna offend the club owner.
00:26:35 I'm like, it starts at 11, it's 10.45.
00:26:41 So we walking around the resort,
00:26:42 trying to plan off to 11.45.
00:26:44 I'm like, let's just go in the darn thing and get started.
00:26:49 We go in there, nobody in there but us.
00:26:50 She's like, see?
00:26:51 I'm like, I don't need nobody.
00:26:56 (audience laughing)
00:26:59 I'll wrap it up, say fun.
00:27:02 - Fun.
00:27:03 - Yeah, some of you are so saved, you don't have no fun.
00:27:05 It's just not fun being married to you no more.
00:27:09 Where did you lose your fun?
00:27:10 I'm not saying you have to do what we do,
00:27:12 but something that says, I don't care,
00:27:13 you've been married longer than I've been born,
00:27:15 keep having fun.
00:27:16 Yeah, whatever your fun is to you,
00:27:18 if it's playing cards with each other,
00:27:19 married couples come in, have some fun.
00:27:21 Find something that you do that breaks you out
00:27:24 of the religious, cold, old, boring.
00:27:29 You make people not even want your Jesus.
00:27:32 You're just too rigid.
00:27:33 It's like, if Jesus make you rigid and judgmental
00:27:37 and can't walk, I don't want Jesus.
00:27:40 And all the boring people saying, praise God, amen.
00:27:45 Say strategy.
00:27:50 - Strategy.
00:27:52 - But strategy, intentional strategy
00:27:55 is different than religious tricks.
00:27:56 As your leader, my job is to come up with strategy
00:27:59 for us to grow, strategy to touch Cleveland,
00:28:01 strategy that makes you want to come each week,
00:28:03 but I don't want strategy to turn into trickery or gimmetry.
00:28:08 My hands are not clean, pastors watching,
00:28:14 but now that everybody's a superstar who has a phone.
00:28:19 Now, see, I was special for 20 years.
00:28:21 I think I had to grieve that to my counselors
00:28:23 because I was one of 1% of preachers
00:28:26 who came on national TV every week, which made me special,
00:28:31 made us special, not everybody special,
00:28:34 because a guy with 2.5 members can put the right phone
00:28:37 in front of his face and make you think he's somebody.
00:28:40 Anybody can become famous in 30 seconds
00:28:45 if you just post the right thing and go viral.
00:28:47 So I was special for 20 years
00:28:48 'cause it costs money to be on national TV
00:28:50 and local TV every day.
00:28:52 Now everybody has a phone
00:28:54 and now all preachers are learning.
00:28:56 You need something that you say that captures everybody
00:29:00 or nobody will look at you.
00:29:02 So you need your one minute moment in your sermon
00:29:05 'cause your social media people are calling you,
00:29:07 which parts you want us to post.
00:29:09 And if that part's boring, even save people keep swiping.
00:29:13 Yeah, okay, let me let you know you're not as saved
00:29:17 as you think you are.
00:29:18 Have you ever been on social media, Instagram,
00:29:19 and somebody said, "Let's pray."
00:29:20 You was like, "Nope, praise God, amen, huh?"
00:29:23 Yep, I prayed this morning,
00:29:25 I don't need to pray with you, next.
00:29:27 And you're a Christian.
00:29:29 Tell somebody, "I love my church, I'm not going nowhere."
00:29:35 Tell your neighbor, "I love my church, I'm not."
00:29:38 I say that to say, "Let's be careful with religious tricks."
00:29:42 I'm outta here, I only got five minutes,
00:29:44 but can I tell you I'm too old for tricks?
00:29:47 I don't want no tricks, no tricks, no tricks.
00:29:50 When we start dating, tell me on the first date
00:29:52 that you don't clean up.
00:29:53 Tell me on the first date that you kinda like to work,
00:29:56 but not that much.
00:29:57 Tell me on the first date about all your baby's mothers,
00:29:59 which one of them I have to fight, scratch, and shoot.
00:30:01 Tell me on the first date, I don't want no tricks.
00:30:04 Tell me who you are.
00:30:05 If we gonna be friends, I don't want no games.
00:30:07 Don't try to impress me.
00:30:09 Tell me who y'all, I'm sorry, let me date you right quick.
00:30:12 Lean on somebody and say, "Tricks are for kids."
00:30:13 Go ahead, I, ooh, if you said that,
00:30:16 I know exactly how old you are.
00:30:18 If you said tricks are for kids, I know how old you are.
00:30:21 I'm too grown, no religious tricks.
00:30:24 The Bible said they were cutting themselves,
00:30:26 and they were praying, and they were,
00:30:28 (mumbles)
00:30:30 and they were in blood, it's good shit, and nothing happened.
00:30:33 And nothing happened.
00:30:36 I'm tired of coming to church, watch this,
00:30:38 and nothing happened.
00:30:39 (audience laughs)
00:30:40 I told my worship team, and y'all better clap
00:30:42 for the coldest worship team in the country.
00:30:44 (audience applauds)
00:30:47 And I mean that, I was thinking about all of them singing.
00:30:51 They work as hard or harder than me every week,
00:30:53 messing up their voice and sacrificing,
00:30:56 everybody sacrifices, but to use your voice and sing,
00:30:59 that's real damage on your vocal cords.
00:31:02 And we used to have four and five services,
00:31:04 and I tell them, what would I do without them?
00:31:06 At the same time, I tell them, I don't care how cute you are
00:31:10 if there's no anointing, at some point,
00:31:12 there'll be no power.
00:31:13 (audience applauds)
00:31:15 And you'll be worshiping, and the church is like,
00:31:18 yeah, but I don't feel nothing when they sing.
00:31:21 They look all right, so I'll push them.
00:31:22 Is there anything in your life
00:31:24 that's messing up your worship?
00:31:25 Because eventually, I'm gonna see it in your singing.
00:31:28 (audience applauds)
00:31:29 Yeah, people will start texting me,
00:31:31 I don't feel nothing on them.
00:31:32 Let's add something else.
00:31:34 I don't want that on my preaching.
00:31:36 I don't want that on our leading lady.
00:31:38 I want God, let's have church, to take over this place,
00:31:43 'cause all of us, at least most of us,
00:31:45 walk in here saying, God, have your way.
00:31:47 We, Spirit of the Lord, take over this place.
00:31:50 I don't come late just to hear the preacher.
00:31:52 I come on time to hear the worship,
00:31:54 'cause I want God to saturate my soul.
00:31:57 I ain't playing no tricks.
00:31:59 Lean on somebody and say, I played already, go ahead.
00:32:01 No, I ain't come to play, I come to worship.
00:32:04 I walk in here saying, God, Jesus,
00:32:07 have your way in my life.
00:32:09 Is there anybody watching me
00:32:10 that would type in the comments, no tricks, no tricks,
00:32:13 no tricks, I want God.
00:32:15 (audience applauding)
00:32:18 Oh, I bid you goodbye, I gotta go.
00:32:22 Finally, Elijah said enough of that.
00:32:25 The Bible says he called on his God,
00:32:28 and when he called on his God, fire fell.
00:32:31 Woo, I feel like preaching.
00:32:32 And the Bible says they fell on their face
00:32:35 in awe and worship.
00:32:37 Let me try that again.
00:32:38 The Bible says when they saw the fire,
00:32:41 they fell on their face.
00:32:42 I came home to preach to somebody.
00:32:44 I'm getting to my dream, but let me hurry up.
00:32:46 They fell on their face.
00:32:48 They fell on their face.
00:32:49 When they saw God's power,
00:32:51 they fell on their face and worship.
00:32:52 Can I tell you what you ought to do
00:32:55 when God shows himself strong in your life?
00:32:58 You ought to worship him.
00:32:59 Do I have any?
00:33:01 I feel it now.
00:33:02 Do I have anybody here in this crowded church
00:33:05 at nine o'clock in the morning
00:33:07 watching me all over the world
00:33:08 that would praise God, watch this,
00:33:10 for waking you up this morning?
00:33:13 You waking up was a miracle.
00:33:15 Lean on somebody and say, "I should have been dead."
00:33:17 Go ahead.
00:33:19 Oh, is there anybody that your whole life is a miracle?
00:33:22 The fact that you're alive at 50 is a miracle.
00:33:26 The fact that you made it to 30 is a miracle.
00:33:30 The fact that your daughter is a better woman
00:33:32 than you already, and you didn't even know
00:33:34 what she was doing when you was raising her is a miracle.
00:33:37 The fact that your kids speak to you is a miracle.
00:33:40 Is there anybody here that would thank God
00:33:43 that I've made so many mistakes in my life,
00:33:46 but I'm still here, and I came this morning to worship him?
00:33:51 Whoa.
00:33:53 I gotta get out of here.
00:33:55 Oh, I'm out of here.
00:33:58 I'm out of here.
00:33:59 Well, the Bible says, let me rush to verse 41.
00:34:03 The Bible says, "Up on your feet," watch this,
00:34:06 "Up on your feet, up on your feet,"
00:34:08 Elijah said to Ahab, you'll love this,
00:34:11 "Drink, celebrate," I guess I'll close where I started.
00:34:14 That's good, homiletics, "Celebrate, for rain is on the way."
00:34:19 (audience cheers)
00:34:20 Ooh, I feel like preaching.
00:34:21 "Eat, celebrate, for rain is on the way."
00:34:25 Now, I told you to take a mental note.
00:34:28 Why did I go all the way back up to verse one
00:34:30 when I knew I was gonna end around verse 41?
00:34:33 Because you cannot have the context without the contest.
00:34:39 Preachers, watch it.
00:34:40 You have to preach these two together.
00:34:42 Some people preach about the rain falling from heaven.
00:34:46 Others preach about the fire falling from heaven.
00:34:48 I'm telling you, you gotta preach both,
00:34:51 because it is in my opinion that it is Mark Carmel
00:34:56 that built the prophet's faith.
00:34:59 It is when he saw the fire fail that his faith deepened.
00:35:06 He had already got a word in verse one.
00:35:09 God told him, "I'm getting ready to make it rain."
00:35:13 But before the rain came, the fire came.
00:35:16 Some of you want the rain without the fire.
00:35:18 I'm preaching better than you're responding.
00:35:22 But it's the fire of the Holy Ghost
00:35:25 that you ought to say, "Let the fire fall
00:35:27 "before you rain a man.
00:35:29 "Let the fire fall before you rain some money.
00:35:33 "First, let the fire."
00:35:34 And it is in my opinion that it was the mountain
00:35:38 that gave him rain ministry.
00:35:41 Okay, I'm going.
00:35:42 I'm gonna have to do better the next time,
00:35:44 'cause you missed that.
00:35:45 When you see the fire fall, I'm sorry,
00:35:47 can I tell you why some of you don't play no games
00:35:49 when you come to church?
00:35:50 Come here, Dr. King, lean on somebody and say,
00:35:52 "Because I've been to the mountaintop."
00:35:53 Go ahead.
00:35:54 Ooh, y'all not gonna shout.
00:35:55 Some of you, God has taken you to the mountaintop.
00:35:59 God has taken you up on a mountain
00:36:01 and given you a glimpse of your future.
00:36:03 God has done some stuff for you on the mountain
00:36:06 that now your faith is at another level
00:36:08 and now you're starting to speak stuff and hear stuff
00:36:11 because of what happened to you on your personal mountain.
00:36:14 The Bible says, "On the mountain, he saw the fire fall.
00:36:18 "Now his hearing has increased."
00:36:21 Ooh, I wish I had somebody that would shout,
00:36:23 "Lord, fix my hearing."
00:36:24 Go ahead.
00:36:26 I want to hear it.
00:36:27 He says, "Up on your feet."
00:36:29 Now I'm gonna tell you something I told Lady Vernon
00:36:31 looking at the Atlantic Ocean in another country.
00:36:34 I said, "Girl, you ain't gonna believe this.
00:36:35 "I've been studying this Bible of mine
00:36:37 "since I was 15 years old."
00:36:39 And the next verse says, "And it blows my mind
00:36:41 "after he told them that he bowed deeply in prayer,
00:36:46 "his face between his knees."
00:36:49 Let me try that again.
00:36:52 I know you think you know the Bible.
00:36:54 You keep coming to the Word, church.
00:36:55 I'm gonna teach you the Word.
00:36:57 To the best of my feeble ability,
00:36:59 I'm gonna teach you the Word.
00:37:01 He said, "Hey, get up and go.
00:37:05 "I hear something."
00:37:06 But it's amazing, right after he said, "I hear something,"
00:37:11 he said, "I need to feel it in prayer."
00:37:14 Because I heard something
00:37:18 don't mean I'm gonna stop interceding for it.
00:37:20 But you're shouting on the prayer,
00:37:24 I'm shouting on the posture.
00:37:27 Because the Bible says he put his face between his knees.
00:37:32 I told you I've been working out all year.
00:37:35 I told you I lost 25 pounds.
00:37:37 I told you I lift weights like every day.
00:37:40 I'm trying to be in the best shape I can.
00:37:42 So I got down on my knees and tried to put my face.
00:37:46 Let me try this one more time.
00:37:50 I tried to put my face.
00:37:51 Okay, let me try this one more time.
00:37:54 Let me try this one more time
00:37:55 because nobody's running around the church yet.
00:37:57 I tried to put my face between my knees.
00:38:01 I'm in decent shape and couldn't do it.
00:38:03 And I'm a bet 99% of you can't do it.
00:38:06 How do you put your face
00:38:08 so God is not only stretching your prayer,
00:38:11 he's stretching your posture?
00:38:13 Would you lean on somebody and say,
00:38:14 "God, take me to another level of prayer."
00:38:17 You've been prostrate.
00:38:18 God said, "I'm stretching you to the place
00:38:20 "you can put your face between your knees."
00:38:23 Lean on your neighbor and say,
00:38:23 "There's another level in your prayer line.
00:38:26 "There's another place God has taken you."
00:38:28 Prostrate won't work.
00:38:30 You're gonna have to stretch yourself
00:38:32 and get your limbs stretched out
00:38:34 so you can get your face between your knees
00:38:36 'cause where God has taken you,
00:38:37 you need another level of warfare and posture
00:38:40 to get to your next place, I feel like.
00:38:42 I'm out of here.
00:38:48 Oh my goodness, my time is gone.
00:38:50 He says, "Go, go, go, go, rain is on the way."
00:38:55 Y'all ready?
00:38:57 Y'all ready to tear the church up?
00:38:58 Rain is on the way.
00:39:00 Ahab ran and came back and said, "I don't see nothing."
00:39:04 Be careful when you hang with people
00:39:08 that can't see what you hear.
00:39:10 I bid y'all goodbye.
00:39:13 He says, "I don't see a thing."
00:39:18 He said, "But I heard something."
00:39:20 I don't see a thing.
00:39:21 Can I tell you why God put me in your life?
00:39:23 I came to say what you don't see.
00:39:26 I came to say what you don't see.
00:39:29 Pastor keeps talking about something good
00:39:32 is getting ready to happen to you.
00:39:33 Pastor, why you keep saying that?
00:39:34 'Cause I hear something.
00:39:36 I feel like preaching.
00:39:38 But pastor, I don't see that in my life.
00:39:40 I don't care what you see, I know what I heard.
00:39:43 And then I bathed it in prayer
00:39:45 and I stretched myself as it were
00:39:47 to another level of revelation.
00:39:49 And now I'm telling you again,
00:39:50 to all of you that are living right and giving right,
00:39:54 I feel like something good is about to happen in 2023
00:39:59 that you did not see coming.
00:40:02 I hear something.
00:40:03 Oh, I didn't preach too long.
00:40:05 Did I tell y'all I had a dream?
00:40:09 Did I tell y'all I had a dream?
00:40:12 I guess I'll close with it.
00:40:13 So I'm dreaming and I'm dreaming
00:40:16 and I'm dreaming and Lady Vernon
00:40:19 and I in the middle of the street,
00:40:20 I don't understand nothing about it except what I saw.
00:40:23 A bunch of money falls out somebody's truck,
00:40:26 falls out the back of it.
00:40:28 Lady Vernon and I happen to be right there
00:40:29 in the middle of the street when the money fell.
00:40:31 Like any good Christian, I'm...
00:40:33 (audience laughing)
00:40:37 My car is right next to the car.
00:40:38 And I'm thinking, well, it's not mine.
00:40:43 And somebody, I can tell you who it was,
00:40:45 but I won't say their name,
00:40:46 shouted to me who I know and you know,
00:40:48 said, "Pastor, pick the money up, it's yours."
00:40:51 And I was hesitant.
00:40:53 He said, "Pick the money up."
00:40:55 And so me and Lady Vernon started picking that money up
00:40:58 and putting that money in the car.
00:41:00 And the person said, "You're supposed to have it."
00:41:03 The wealth of the wicked, I feel like.
00:41:04 (audience cheering)
00:41:07 I come out that dream.
00:41:12 God be my witness.
00:41:15 I'm standing, I'm gonna say this, watch it on YouTube
00:41:18 to make sure you know I ain't saying the same thing
00:41:19 to both services, religious tricks.
00:41:22 I was standing in the nine o'clock service.
00:41:26 Don't ask me how I know it was nine, it was not 11.
00:41:28 It was not 11, it was nine.
00:41:30 It was nine, it was not 11, I'm standing right here.
00:41:33 I got up, it was our giving day.
00:41:35 I said, "It's time."
00:41:36 And before I could say, "It's time,"
00:41:37 all y'all stood up and held the envelope up.
00:41:39 Everybody stood up with their envelope, everybody.
00:41:43 Not well, everybody stood up.
00:41:45 And some people I won't name
00:41:48 who are leaders in this ministry said,
00:41:49 "Pastor, you don't have to talk, we got it."
00:41:51 It was as clear as I'm talking to you.
00:41:55 I go from a dream of putting money in the truck,
00:41:57 I get to this stage, I'm getting ready to raise the offering
00:42:00 and I hear everybody stand up
00:42:02 and as though y'all looked at me and say,
00:42:03 "We're mature, Pastor.
00:42:05 "We'll need no religious tricks.
00:42:07 "We'll need no games.
00:42:09 "Your teaching is enough, God's power is enough."
00:42:12 And all of you stood up and I heard the Lord say to me,
00:42:16 as I'm saying to you,
00:42:17 that everything this house needs is in this house.
00:42:22 Let me say it out loud,
00:42:24 God's gonna pay off everything we have.
00:42:28 God's gonna give us more than enough.
00:42:31 It's gonna take some strategy, but no trickery.
00:42:34 I heard the Lord then say, "Go to First Kings."
00:42:37 In my dream, I get to this text
00:42:41 where Elijah said, "I hear something."
00:42:43 He said, "Go back and tell the word church
00:42:46 "what I've been telling you all summer,
00:42:48 "that good things are coming to the word church
00:42:51 "'cause you can hear it."
00:42:52 (congregation cheering)
00:42:55 I love y'all, I'm outta here.
00:42:56 The Bible says you'll love this.
00:42:58 The Bible says he went back, Elijah said,
00:43:01 "Do you see something?"
00:43:02 He said, "I don't see a thing."
00:43:03 He said, "I don't care what you see, go back.
00:43:05 "Let's just tear the church up."
00:43:06 He said, "You may have to go back seven times,
00:43:09 "but you keep going to look until you see what I heard."
00:43:13 I got a word for everybody in this church.
00:43:16 You keep believing until you see what I heard.
00:43:20 I feel like having church.
00:43:22 Do me a favor, jump up on your feet.
00:43:24 Hit five people real hard and tell 'em I hear something.
00:43:26 (congregation cheering)
00:43:30 No, that's the wrong person.
00:43:32 Tell 'em I hear something.
00:43:34 Tell 'em I hear something, tell 'em I hear something.
00:43:37 I wish I had five people in this church
00:43:39 that would slap somebody and say, "I hear something.
00:43:42 "The devil is alive.
00:43:44 "Something good is coming your way.
00:43:48 "I got a feeling.
00:43:50 "I got a feeling."
00:43:55 The Bible says he went one time,
00:43:57 he still didn't see nothing.
00:43:59 He went back the second time,
00:44:02 he still didn't see nothing.
00:44:04 He went back the third and fourth time,
00:44:07 he still didn't see nothing.
00:44:09 Would you do me a favor, slap three people
00:44:12 and say, "Keep on looking.
00:44:14 "God's getting ready to manifest himself."
00:44:19 He went back the fifth time, nothing happened.
00:44:23 He went back the sixth time,
00:44:25 how come you're not shouting yet, but nothing happened?
00:44:28 But the Bible says the seventh time,
00:44:33 the seventh time, he ran back and said,
00:44:37 "I see a cloud, the thighs of a man's hand."
00:44:42 Would you look at your neighbor
00:44:45 and say, "I see a cloud over you.
00:44:47 "God's getting ready to rain down healing.
00:44:51 "God's getting ready to rain down salvation."
00:44:55 Would you hug your neighbor and say,
00:44:58 "Get ready, get ready."
00:45:01 (shouting)
00:45:04 Hear a sound of abundance,
00:45:07 something's breaking out in your family.
00:45:11 Don't wait till the battle is over,
00:45:15 but shout, would you find you a partner
00:45:19 and say, "I got a word for you."
00:45:22 Kirk Franklin said, "Melodies from heaven
00:45:26 "rain down on me."
00:45:31 Bishop Martin said, "Open the windows of heaven,
00:45:36 "let it rain."
00:45:38 Oh shoot, let me go from sacred to secular.
00:45:41 Keith Sweat said,
00:45:42 (shouting)
00:45:45 "I think I wanna go outside in the rain."
00:45:52 New Edition said, "Can you stand the rain?"
00:45:57 Oh heck, let's go color purple.
00:46:00 Would you push five people and say,
00:46:02 "It's gonna rain on your head."
00:46:04 Rain on my children,
00:46:07 rain on my health,
00:46:11 rain on my marriage,
00:46:15 rain on my ministry.
00:46:18 Can I get five people to shout,
00:46:22 "I hear something, maybe you can't see it,
00:46:26 "but weeping may endure for nights,
00:46:31 "but joy is coming in the morning."
00:46:36 I need 13 people and I'll make 14.
00:46:40 I need nine people and I'll make 10
00:46:44 that will shake your neighbor's hand.
00:46:46 ♪ Hey, say neighbor, I hear the rain ♪
00:46:50 ♪ I got a feeling that the drought is over ♪
00:46:55 ♪ In your life, I know it's been dry ♪
00:47:00 ♪ But God is sending the rain ♪
00:47:05 ♪ I wanna know, is there anybody here ♪
00:47:09 ♪ That will shout like it's raining ♪
00:47:12 ♪ Shout like it's raining ♪
00:47:16 ♪ Shout like it's raining ♪
00:47:20 ♪ Shout like it's raining ♪
00:47:24 ♪ Shout ♪
00:47:27 ♪ Shout ♪
00:47:29 ♪ Shout ♪
00:47:31 ♪ Shout ♪
00:47:33 This is your moment, this is your time.
00:47:36 Would you find one neighbor and rock 'em and shake 'em?
00:47:41 I said find one neighbor, rock 'em and shake 'em.
00:47:44 I said find one neighbor, shake 'em and rock 'em.
00:47:47 Rock 'em and shake 'em.
00:47:50 I said find one neighbor, find one neighbor,
00:47:53 shake 'em and rock.
00:47:54 Rock 'em and shake 'em.
00:47:58 Look 'em in the face and say,
00:48:00 "I got a feeling that rain is getting ready to fall."
00:48:05 Somebody shout, "It's my time, it's my season.
00:48:10 "I hear the sound of abundance."
00:48:16 (congregation cheering)
00:48:20 (drumming)
00:48:22 Yes, good evening y'all.
00:48:28 I'll see you next week, but if you're not to me,
00:48:32 step in the nearest aisle, shake somebody's hand,
00:48:36 turn around behind you and say, "Get ready,
00:48:40 "I hear something."
00:48:42 Maybe you don't hear it, but I hear something.
00:48:45 Something's getting ready to flip in your life
00:48:50 by this time, the end of summer.
00:48:54 Something that you've been praying for is about to happen.
00:48:59 Now you can stand there and be cute,
00:49:01 or you can rejoice like it's already done.
00:49:05 I need some prophetic hearing.
00:49:08 I need some prophetic hearing.
00:49:11 I need some prophetic hearing that will shout
00:49:16 for what you don't see, because we walk by faith,
00:49:22 not by sight.
00:49:26 (shouting)
00:49:28 I wanna know.
00:49:29 (congregation cheering)
00:49:31 I wanna know.
00:49:32 (congregation cheering)
00:49:37 (drumming)
00:49:39 Yes, if this is your word, if this is your word,
00:49:49 I heard the Holy Ghost say, "I command you to shout not,
00:49:54 "to pray not, to cry not, to run not."
00:49:59 (shouting)
00:50:03 (shouting)
00:50:05 (drumming)
00:50:12 (shouting)
00:50:15 (drumming)
00:50:17 (shouting)
00:50:19 (drumming)
00:50:21 (shouting)
00:50:24 (drumming)
00:50:26 (shouting)
00:50:28 (drumming)
00:50:30 (shouting)
00:50:33 (drumming)
00:50:35 (shouting)
00:50:37 (drumming)
00:50:39 (shouting)
00:50:42 (drumming)
00:50:44 (shouting)
00:50:46 (drumming)
00:50:48 (shouting)
00:50:51 (drumming)
00:50:53 (shouting)
00:50:55 (drumming)
00:50:57 (shouting)
00:50:59 (drumming)
00:51:02 (shouting)
00:51:04 (drumming)
00:51:06 (shouting)
00:51:08 (drumming)
00:51:11 (shouting)
00:51:13 (drumming)
00:51:15 I can't hear you!
00:51:25 (drumming)
00:51:27 (shouting)
00:51:29 (drumming)
00:51:31 (shouting)
00:51:34 (drumming)
00:51:34 Wait a minute, is the kid running?
00:51:37 Is the child running?
00:51:39 Is the child running?
00:51:41 Let that baby through, let that baby through.
00:51:43 Is the child running?
00:51:45 I wish I had some teenagers.
00:51:47 I wish I had some kids.
00:51:49 You don't have to be grown.
00:51:51 (drumming)
00:51:53 Sit him up here, sit him, come here, come here.
00:52:00 Grab him, grab him.
00:52:01 (drumming)
00:52:04 Run across him, run, run him around back, run.
00:52:08 (drumming)
00:52:11 I hear something.
00:52:22 I hear something.
00:52:24 I hear something.
00:52:25 I hear something.
00:52:27 I hear something.
00:52:28 I hear something.
00:52:30 I hear something.
00:52:31 I hear something.
00:52:33 (drumming)
00:52:35 (shouting)
00:52:37 (drumming)
00:52:39 (shouting)
00:52:42 (drumming)
00:52:44 Yeah.
00:52:58 Oh yeah.
00:53:00 Oh yeah.
00:53:03 Oh yeah, yeah.
00:53:05 I know he's all right.
00:53:09 (shouting)
00:53:11 Oh yeah.
00:53:14 Oh yeah.
00:53:17 Oh yeah.
00:53:19 Oh yeah.
00:53:22 (drumming)
00:53:24 (shouting)
00:53:27 (cheering)
00:53:47 (shouting)
00:53:49 (shouting)
00:54:06 (shouting)
00:54:09 (shouting)
00:54:12 (shouting)
00:54:14 (shouting)
00:54:17 (shouting)
00:54:19 (shouting)
00:54:21 (shouting)
00:54:44 (shouting)
00:54:46 If you need to go, we got like six exits
00:54:55 and we don't have any rest and ushers
00:54:58 that's gonna stop you.
00:55:00 But if you believe I hear something over your life,
00:55:03 I speak over your life now,
00:55:07 that the drought is over.
00:55:09 (clapping)
00:55:13 (shouting)
00:55:15 You put this Sunday,
00:55:17 you put this date down in your phone,
00:55:21 month of August, June 23,
00:55:24 watch the Word Church go to another level starting now.
00:55:29 Pastor, we've been to high levels, this is another one.
00:55:33 I hear something.
00:55:34 The impact we're gonna have on this city
00:55:38 with or without me,
00:55:40 after me, it's gonna be amazing.
00:55:43 I gotta walk in my calling, Operation Cleveland is who I am.
00:55:46 That's all of us together, let's make it personal.
00:55:50 That stuff your son been going through, I hear something.
00:55:54 Whenever I say it, just shout, I'm telling you,
00:55:59 whatever's happening with your children,
00:56:01 I promise you I hear something.
00:56:02 The best thing I said all summer, nobody shouted.
00:56:06 He's not fixing every situation,
00:56:09 but he's fixing you.
00:56:11 (clapping)
00:56:13 The best thing I said is that God is
00:56:16 largening your capacity,
00:56:18 which means some stuff not gonna change,
00:56:21 but you gonna get bigger.
00:56:22 So it's not gonna have the impact it's been having.
00:56:26 Watch this, what I'm about to speak,
00:56:28 shout if you receive it, I speak restful sleep over you.
00:56:31 I speak the peace of God over you.
00:56:39 All right, I speak the peace of God over you.
00:56:42 For the next few weeks, don't miss church.
00:56:50 We're gonna discuss biblical characters
00:56:54 who heard something,
00:56:56 and nobody else heard what they heard,
00:56:59 but they know what they heard.
00:57:01 Stop hanging with people who can't see what you're hearing.
00:57:05 And therefore they start speaking against it,
00:57:08 but you know what you heard.
00:57:11 You know what's over your child's life.
00:57:13 I ain't trying to lift her up, I lift up Jesus,
00:57:16 but I heard your first lady speak some stuff
00:57:18 over our children that I had no idea would come to pass.
00:57:21 Some, I just didn't see it at all.
00:57:23 The Lord let her build my faith,
00:57:25 and every child, y'all ought to praise God,
00:57:27 every child we got at this moment is in purpose
00:57:30 in Jesus' name, come on everybody.
00:57:33 Oh, y'all should thank God right quick.
00:57:34 They're imperfect, but they're in purpose.
00:57:38 Forget my kids, I speak over your life in Jesus' name,
00:57:42 that your children are coming into purpose.
00:57:45 How good did Elder Carr preach last week?
00:57:49 How good did Elder Carr preach?
00:57:51 Elder Carr told you, "I won't go back."
00:57:57 I am telling you, you won't go back,
00:57:59 and now this week I'm telling you I hear something,
00:58:01 you're going forward in Jesus' name.
00:58:04 Shaq, your past is behind you.
00:58:06 Your past, God is, Shaq, come up here.
00:58:09 God's breaking that generational curse.
00:58:16 Look at me, you know what I'm talking about.
00:58:21 That ain't got nothing to do with you.
00:58:24 Look at me, that ain't got nothing to do with you.
00:58:26 You are the beginning of a new thing in your family.
00:58:30 You know how, do you know the anointing
00:58:33 that draws people to you?
00:58:35 I speak over your life, wholeness and healing.
00:58:40 You're not gonna even think about that.
00:58:41 God's about to take that.
00:58:42 It'll come back sometime,
00:58:43 but I bind the spirit of retrospect and looking back.
00:58:48 You can't go back, Elder Carr said.
00:58:50 It's a new season.
00:58:51 Gina, lift your hands.
00:59:06 Gina, lift your hands.
00:59:07 Everything, put your hand down, Gina, lift your hand.
00:59:10 Gina, look at me.
00:59:11 Everything we've been agreeing on is done in Jesus' name.
00:59:14 You are Dr. Gina now, receive that.
00:59:17 Receive that.
00:59:18 I know why you're looking at me.
00:59:20 I call you, listen, it's happening.
00:59:22 With your children, it's happening.
00:59:24 That's over with now.
00:59:25 In the name of Jesus, I hear God saying it's your time.
00:59:29 Walk upright before him and don't go back.
00:59:32 Anything in your life that's keeping you from the next level
00:59:35 has to go today 'cause there's blessings over your life.
00:59:38 I feel God over you right now.
00:59:39 Lift your hands and receive that.
00:59:41 Everybody in this room that feels God
00:59:45 touching some area of your life, I hear something.
00:59:48 Oh my goodness, I'm out of time.
00:59:52 I wanna say this, those online,
00:59:53 I did this at the first service, you feel no pressure.
00:59:56 I wanna hear nothing.
00:59:57 Don't mess up my faith, don't get in my spirit.
01:00:00 Just go on out the door.
01:00:01 If that's what God has to tell you,
01:00:02 but I know what the Lord said and I fear no man.
01:00:05 I fear God.
01:00:06 There's something on this house.
01:00:08 I only do this, I think this is my third time,
01:00:10 second, third time this year.
01:00:11 I want some people here who would trust God with me.
01:00:15 I don't know what that dream was for.
01:00:17 I'm gonna tell y'all this and I'm going home.
01:00:18 There's six exits, nobody's holding you from leaving.
01:00:20 I know I'm too long today, but I gotta say this.
01:00:23 Look at pastor.
01:00:24 I'm handing out school supplies yesterday
01:00:27 and y'all know the word church.
01:00:28 We tend to take over stuff
01:00:30 and we're getting used to this partnership stuff.
01:00:32 We're used to running stuff.
01:00:33 So partnerships can be a struggle for us
01:00:35 because we just excellent, we move fast,
01:00:37 we know what we're doing.
01:00:38 And all I can tell you, I receive brother, I receive.
01:00:41 He just brought $100 up here.
01:00:43 Brother, come on, man, I give it in Jesus name.
01:00:45 Y'all clap for that brother, I receive that.
01:00:48 Look at this.
01:00:49 I just jumped in with the school supplies.
01:00:55 They gave you a yellow ribbon on your arm.
01:00:58 We had to take scissors and cut the yellow ribbon
01:01:00 off your arm that let us know you can't get back in line
01:01:02 'cause we cut the ribbon.
01:01:03 Then give you however many book bags you need for your kids.
01:01:06 And so next thing I know I'm in it
01:01:08 and I don't really realize I'm doing it.
01:01:10 And I noticed my camera and my microphone.
01:01:13 I told Phil, get this stuff off me.
01:01:14 This ain't no camera because it got real to me.
01:01:17 And I'm cutting ribbons off people.
01:01:19 I need four, I need three.
01:01:22 And then I'm watching grown men.
01:01:23 Watch this now.
01:01:24 How bad of a place you gotta be?
01:01:27 As a man, you gotta stand in line.
01:01:30 To get book bags for your babies.
01:01:32 That, you know, no grown person wanna do that.
01:01:35 And as I'm cutting off and people in the line
01:01:38 and we running getting bags,
01:01:39 can we have some clothes too, Pastor Verney?
01:01:41 Can we have some groceries?
01:01:42 One little boy said, can I have some money?
01:01:44 And the Lord told me to put a bunch of money in my pocket.
01:01:46 Yes, the number Jesus.
01:01:48 I'll never have cash.
01:01:49 Ask my wife, I put all my money in my pocket.
01:01:51 Had a bunch of fives and tens
01:01:52 'cause I take tip money out the country with me.
01:01:54 So I had a bunch of fives and tens.
01:01:55 I put them all in my pocket.
01:01:57 So I could just, and the Lord was just speaking.
01:01:59 This is, and it hit me
01:02:01 that I could do this every day.
01:02:05 Then I start tearing up
01:02:08 'cause I'm watching grown people stand in line
01:02:11 to get book bags.
01:02:12 I don't know that I would do that.
01:02:13 I don't know that most of you would do that in the heat.
01:02:16 So if somebody's standing in line that long, they need it.
01:02:19 And the Spirit of God said,
01:02:21 word mark the Christmas edition.
01:02:24 Word mark the Christmas edition.
01:02:26 It's happening in Jesus' name.
01:02:28 This first Sunday in November,
01:02:29 we officially start Operation Cleveland.
01:02:31 We've been talking about it.
01:02:33 Three major outreach events every year
01:02:36 that touch this city to let people know Jesus is alive.
01:02:40 Jesus said, what you've done for the poor,
01:02:41 you've done unto me.
01:02:42 Every church is good at something.
01:02:46 We good at giving.
01:02:48 Who feels like God gave you the gift of giving?
01:02:50 Watch this.
01:02:52 People with the gift to give need some money.
01:02:54 Yeah, I'm just telling you,
01:02:56 what good is the gift of giving?
01:02:57 You ain't got nothing.
01:02:59 So God gotta posture you.
01:03:02 And it's gonna take strategy and spirituality.
01:03:04 I need 100 people to help me.
01:03:05 Brother just gave 100.
01:03:07 If 100 more people would follow this brother
01:03:08 and give 100, 100 men, if you can,
01:03:11 they gonna tell me how much the second offering was.
01:03:14 I wanna use it for outreach.
01:03:15 I gotta do it.
01:03:16 Next week, we giving out free t-shirts
01:03:18 to everybody who helps us with outreach.
01:03:21 We got like 1,000 shirts.
01:03:22 We just giving them away
01:03:23 'cause we finna start doing stuff all over the city.
01:03:25 Brothers are coming, women, anybody here,
01:03:27 use your phone, hold it up, build my faith right quick.
01:03:30 Hold it up.
01:03:31 If you got 100, if you got 1,000, give 1,000.
01:03:33 If you got 500, start coming toward the altar with it.
01:03:36 You can stay at the altar here.
01:03:38 Use the envelope.
01:03:39 Let's do this.
01:03:40 And we going home on this.
01:03:41 But I need you to give.
01:03:42 If you're watching online, so into this, pastor.
01:03:45 I gotta stop.
01:03:49 I'm not out of series.
01:03:51 I'm just out of time.
01:03:52 We'll pick it up next week.
01:03:54 I hear something.
01:03:55 Those of you that are living right and giving right,
01:03:58 I really feel like for many of you, not all of you,
01:04:01 but for many of you,
01:04:02 something good is getting ready to happen.
01:04:06 I hear something.
01:04:07 I'll see you next week.
01:04:08 (upbeat music)
Commentaires