ENCORE

0:55 Thank you so much. Before you're seated, look at someone beside you and tell them, you look marvelous today. You look marvelous. They worked on that outfit. The Botox settled great, all that. So whatever you did, it is such an honor. In fact, those words are an understatement to be here in this house today. Pastors Ed and Lisa are mine and Cindy's pastors have been for quite some time, many, many years now, have radically impacted our church, our family, our ministry. And there's no way for me to properly describe who they are to us. it's frustrating to try to describe that. It's like the picture when you go to visit the Grand Canyon and then you take that picture and you take it back and try to show it and go, no, but it looks better than that. It just didn't come out right. That's the frustration in trying to express your hearts about your pastors.

1:50 And so please know how much we love you, your family. Thank you for all that you continue to be to us. We're so grateful. And let me just say this to all of the staff at Fellowship Church and the volunteers, what you have done over the past two weeks in this place has touched the entire nation. I served as a staff member for 19 years. I can appreciate what it means to open doors, serve a cup of coffee, work in the parking area. Your smiles, your class, your joy, your excellence, your energy were outstanding. And according to what statistics tell us today, 1,700 pastors a week are quitting the ministry. Let me tell you the impact you did. The pastors that were here this week are speaking stronger in their churches today than they did the week before because you minister to their hearts. And I want to say thank you for that from the bottom of my heart.

2:46 We love you and we honor you for all of that today. We certainly do. And Cindy, it's good to see you too. I love you too. Way back. Hey, I want to talk to you just, Pastor Andre, Pastor Vilma, your message, I just got to say this, that you spoke, that will be in our leadership library, in our entire staff. be watching that. The impact was phenomenal. Thank you for delivering your heart and making us better. I mean that. It was just so very good. So very good. Yeah, you can, yes, that's good right there as well. Hey, I just want to talk to you for a few minutes on the faithfulness of God and your ability to access God. Is anybody glad that you can access God on your own? Like you can just go and talk to him. You can be at In-N-Out Burger and talk to God. You understand that? You can be in your car. You can be in, or like me, your truck, like wherever you are, you can talk to him on the 114. I know you talk to him a lot on the 114. Wherever you are, you can talk to God. And I want to talk to you about your access to him today.

3:48 A few years ago, Cindy and myself, we took our team to a concert. And I know if you're music people are not, and you would expect, well, if the pastor's taking the church staff to a concert, it would be something that, you know, just somebody who just won the Dove Awards, somebody who won this big Christian. No, we went to Earth, Wind, and Fire in Chicago. That's who we went to see. Like, we went to get it on. I'm a big Earth, Wind, and Fire fan, y'all. Listen, you can call it old school. I'm just here to tell you, it's still school. You can learn something from them. It's still the classic, timeless stuff, right? Just the best. They get up there on the stage and they were going crazy. Philip Bailey was just breaking it down, singing up in the rafters, singing Reasons. Y'all know these songs. Don't act like you're so safe. Take your halo off and set it aside for a minute. Let me just talk to you real quick. Boogie Wonderland. Some of y'all were getting dressed this morning for church. It went to Boogie Wonderland. I know. Let's Groove Tonight. Come on. I mean, some of the classics, they get up and they're singing these songs. And man, there was 10,000 plus in this outdoor amphitheater. We were all just singing and going crazy. It was just so good. And they came to the end of the concert and they thanked everybody and they walked off and the band, the singers walked off and then the band walked off and the lights went down and 10,000 of us were sitting there going, we want more. We want more. And it began to grow and began to grow, began to grow. And do you know what happened? The lights came back on. Do you know what else happened? The band walked back out on the stage. Do you know what happened? Here came earth, wind, and fire, back out on the stage again, and they hit the stage one more time. The crowd was going crazy because the concert was great, but their best had not hit the stage yet, and this is what they had to sing.

5:38 I thought I'd have 50 people dancing with me right there. I just knew. That right there, that's gold, y'all. That will be in heaven. That will be sung in heaven. I'm just convinced of that. We were going crazy. It worked. They came back out on the stage. We were not leaving until we heard the best. We enjoyed everything, but we knew there was more there. Can I just declare over your life today, what you've seen in your life, God's goodness has been good, but the best is yet to come. Anybody believe that God has more and he can do even greater in your life? The word encore, I wanna talk to you about that a little bit. This encore, earth, wind and fire came back out for this encore. Encore is a French word, much like where you go shopping at Target.

6:34 Encore is a French word that literally means again. It's just, again, we wanted an encore. We were demanding more. Come back out again and do what you do. And when the encore hits, it's not a pity performance. No, it's actually planned. They were there. It's a response to the call. Because somebody was calling, and encore is when the band responds to the demand. The band is not looking to return to an empty room. When they walked off the first time, if we left the place, they would not have come back out. But because we refused to leave and we were declaring we want more, the same band came back out and actually played their best. I want you to understand today, where you're living right now and whatever it is that you're facing, As good as it's been, God has more.

7:31 But you and I have got to stay locked and loaded and believe that the best is yet to come in my life. And I'm decreeing that I'm going to live in the goodness of God. 558 BC. If you want to know when that was, that's a long time ago. 558 BC. The Babylonians laid siege around Israel, around Jerusalem. And while they were in this, on the brink of destruction, there's this guy, the Old Testament, his name is Jeremiah. He's really cool. They wrote a book after him. Jeremiah, he receives this message of hope. And he starts promising that God will restore the land. And God is going to heal the people. Things look bad, and it's hard right now. But God's not finished yet. In other words, there's going to be an encore.

8:24 God is going to come back around and do something that you can't tell from your circumstances, your situation. The way that it looks right now is bad, but he's going to turn this thing around. And it's in this setting that he gives us Jeremiah 33, verse 3. If you're looking for a new tattoo, I highly recommend this one. This is a good one. Here's what it says. Read the first three words with me. Ready? One, two, three. Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Call to me. God is not ghosting you. Call to me. You got something going on? Talk to me. Habla me.

9:10 Talk to me. Reach out to me. Things are good? Talk to me. Things are in a difficult place? Talk to me. Driving down the road? talk to me. Sitting in your house, washing dishes, talk to me. He says, if you will talk to me, I want you to ask me some stuff that you can't ask from anybody else. I want you to believe me and believe that I'm actually God in your life. I'm actually able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all you could ever ask or think. Talk to me, and I will tell you great and unsearchable things. In other words, there's some stuff about your life that you're never going to know until you talk with him. And he has the ability to show you around the corner. He'll show you what's coming. And you just, you've got a feeling that I need to make this decision, whether it's in your finances, in your relationships. If you're raising a teenager, you better be talking to God.

10:06 I mean, if you're, if you're sucking air in America right now, you better be talking to God. He wants to show you things you can't know unless you're accessing it through him. God will never give you anything that will replace your need for him in your life. He's always going to bless you, but then hold something back. So I've got to go to him to make sure the relationship is strong between me and my God. You've got to talk to him. But when you do, he will show you some stuff. In other words, there's some things I don't know. and that's not good because my Bible tells me you and I are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. And he holds it. Would you turn to someone and tell them, I'm concerned about your ignorance today. Just tell them, I'm concerned. I know, they just said that because I told them. They don't mean that, they don't mean that. God says, call to me and I will respond with more than you expected.

10:58 I love that. You see, here's what we're doing. We're calling God back out on the stage of our life. What are you facing right now? because you see, as we stood in the concert that night, we were looking at an empty stage. We were looking at a dark stage. The lights were off, done, over, gone. But we were still calling for more. And some of you today may be standing looking at a situation that is dark and I don't see any way for doors to open and I don't think there's anything else there. And I feel like it seems foolish, but I'm just calling for more. God, if you're there, God, if you're listening, God, if you're able, God, if you care, and I want you to know something. Here's a key, that whenever we were standing in that room calling, earth, wind, and fire left the stage, but they did not leave the building. They fully had planned to come back out.

11:51 They just wanted to know, do you really want more or not? And I want you to understand today, fellowship, God knows where you are. He has not left the building. The situation might not look good. It might look dark. It might look empty. But he's waiting right behind the curtain. If they'll call on me, I'm going to show up and do things that only I can get the credit for. God is expecting you and I to call on him. Call on me, and I'll show you some amazing things. God's hearing you when you pray. You might not have seen, but he's listening to you. Your whisper matters. You're good morning, God. Thanks for another amazing day. You see, here's what I've learned. I've grown up in the church all my life. I'm more churchy than Noah was Archie. Do you understand? Like I've been doing this a long time. I'm a preacher's kid. I'm recovering, but I'm a preacher's kid and I'm coming through this.

12:45 Medication does great things. It's all good. And I want you to know, here's what I've learned. When we begin to serve Jesus for a long time, if you and I are not careful as believers, we start to just begin to walk this out and forget to continue to call on him. I just, I quote a scripture and I just walk it out. We have to continue to be reminded that he's God and he's good and he's able to do all of that. And here's what we're, here's where we are. Every stage in life is going to be another demand we have to place on God. There's some things that I can do. Quite honestly, I've wasted some prayers because I've asked God to do stuff that I could actually do myself. And God is saying, Scott, you take care of your part. And when you reach the end of you, that's the beginning of me. Then I will step in. I need you to pray prayers bigger than your capacity. Pray prayers bigger than your ability.

13:39 And trust that I'm hearing you and I'm going to respond. There will be an encore in your life. Could anybody in the room use God doing something supernatural in your life, in your family? Of course you could. Me too. Me too. I got good news today. the same God who brought you through 2020, 2023, 2025 is the same God who's going to bless and carry you throughout 2026. He's going to be faithful and lead you in that. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The same God who answered Elijah's 63-word prayer is the same one listening to your 3 a.m. cry. The same God. The same God who walked the three Hebrew boys through the fiery furnace is the same one who's gonna walk you through the diagnosis that you just got.

14:32 God's gonna be faithful. He's by your side. The same God who turned a Happy Meal into a buffet is the same one who's gonna get you through this famine that you're walking through in your business. He sees, he knows, he's able. He's just saying, would you please call on me and invite me back out on the stage of your life? See, there's nothing about your struggle that shocks or worries God. He's got you, boo. Everything is going to be good. In other words, God is not Googling your situation to figure out what to do. He doesn't need artificial intelligence because he's the author of intelligence. Do you understand? Yeah, yeah, yeah. In other words, the I am doesn't need the AI. God has you. God knows what he's doing, and he's got your life in the palm of his hand. Same problems, just a new generation.

15:26 I've got a book at my house that my mom wrote to me. She gave one to me and one to my sister. It's a little journal, and it's the Thomas family diary of God's blessings in our life. The testimony is what God did privately, personally for my mom, for my dad, from when she gave her life to Christ at 14 years old all the way through, and I flip through those pages, and I see a legacy of God moving and working in my family. And I'm reminded so many times, if God did it for my Pentecostal mama, he can also do it for her son. God is good, and he's faithful. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. So understand this, same problems, new generation. If you saw God do it before, he can do it again. God parted the Red Sea for Moses, and 40 years later, he did it again for Joshua. God multiplied oil for a widow with Elijah, but he did it again 25 laters with Elisha.

16:24 Manna fell in the Exodus to feed Israel through the wilderness, but then Jesus fed 5,000, but with Jesus, there was leftovers more than what they needed in the end. Why? Because the encore is always greater than the first act. It always gets better. God's hand in your life is gonna keep elevating you. the best is yet to come. Here's the point I want you to understand. God knows what you need, and he knows when you need it. Scott, you just sound like you're just trying to get my hopes up today. Well, thank God you heard the message. You better believe I'm trying to get your hopes up. Well, I didn't say hype you up. I said to hope you up. Hype is empty. Hope is built on the promises of our God. The Bible, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a good place to thank God.

17:19 The Bible says in Hebrews that faith is the substance. It's built on things that are first hoped for. If you don't hope, then you don't have anything to put your faith in. I have a hope. Hope sees beyond where I am right now. I'm in a dark place, a difficult place, struggling in the home, but I've seen the promises of God and what God says this can be, and I believe he can turn this around. Hope sees faith steps.

17:53 Faith doesn't even know where to step until hope steps in and gives you a vision for where you're going. I need hope. That's why it's important that you're in church on Sundays. Hope, hope, hope, hope, rebuilding, showing you again that the promises of God are yes and amen. You can build a marriage on it. You can raise kids on it. You can run a business on it. Do it God's way. You'll get God's results. Hope is what we stand on. But in that hope, then I step with faith. And when hope and faith get together, they have a baby called expectation. And man, now I'm expecting stuff. And I've got a party going on before the party even starts because I know God is faithful. And if God promised a thing, he can do a thing. I'm not putting my hope in the White House. I'm putting my hope in God's house. Do you understand? There's a whole nother level we live our lives at. Job chapter five, verse nine says this. He, speaking of God, he's famous for great and unexpected acts. There's no end to his surprises. He's famous for this. I don't see a way out, Scott.

18:59 Oh, you're a prime candidate for God to get involved right now. Oh, you may go ahead. It's the pre-party. Y'all know what the pre-party is, right? It's when you're throwing a party at your house and before everyone shows up, you've already got the music going and you're tasting everything you got going. You're partying before the people even get there. You need to go ahead and throw a pre-party, not a pity party, a pre-party. Get the pre-party going knowing that this is about to get good in my life. But let me talk for just a couple of minutes here on those who might be in the room who don't think you qualify for the encore of God. I've been there. I've made a royal mess of things. You see, you and I know us like nobody knows us. Thank God that social media has filters because we love our filters, don't we? We're going to paint it up and make it look a whole lot better than it really is. We take like 75 pictures to find that one that I finally approve of, and then we post that.

19:54 It's all these highlights, but the truth is we live with a lot of lowlights. And these things, I know what it is to look myself in the mirror and just go, just get frustrated. Come on, Scott. You know better than that. But we struggle with us in these moments. And I just want to talk to you about God sees and can handle this as well. There was a guy in the Bible named Samson. He was a he man with a she weakness. Read that for yourself later on. That's a whole different story. But Samson, he was in rebellion, and he was a mess and full of pride and bondage. And the Bible describes where he is blinded, he's been mocked, he's been enslaved. He's at the lowest point of his entire life. And he prays a prayer in Judges 16, verse 28. Look at this. God, give me strength just one more time. God, I need an encore.

20:50 I need you to come back out on this stage again. I need you to do something in my life. God, you're not stepping on the stage to play. You show up to show off in my life. I need you to do something for me that I can't do for myself. I need you to fix this home. I need you to give me wisdom. Show me stuff I can't see from where I am. I need you, God. And that's what I'm talking to you about today. He's not just the God of a second chance, a third chance. He's just the God of another chance. How many wore out the fifth chance a long time ago? The 12th chance a long time? I wore 17 out before I got to church this morning. Do you understand? We all have our, but he's the God of another chance. Do you understand? He's the God of one more time. And that is exactly who God is and what grace does for our lives. Call on me. He didn't say, get yourself together first. You know you're really in a real pickle. You're really praying serious when you hit the place where you're no longer praying in King James.

21:48 Dear Lord. Have you ever heard somebody change their voice when they pray? Dear God, we want to thank you who sits high. And like, that ain't you. Who is that right there? When you really have some hell hit your life, oh, you ain't praying King James. No, you're praying the message version. You're praying New Living Translation. I hit the ground. I slide it to my bed. Oh, God, I need you now. He just wants you to call on him, but keep it real. Would you turn someone to him? Just keep it real. Keep it real. Keep it real. God can handle your talk. Keep it real. Call on him. there's a guy that I think really epitomizes and give us a picture of this in real time. I know today in the sports world, MMA, I'll watch some MMA, mixed martial arts, it's all cool. But back in the real day when real fighters were there, we had this thing called boxing.

22:41 Where they put these big fluffy pillows on each other's hands, right? And they pounded the snot out of each other and we all screamed and yelled for them. So my guy, my favorite guy, his name was George Foreman. Now, George Foreman was my guy back in the day. He was just this big old boy. When he came on the scene, he was rocking the world. And in 1974, he had this big show with this young upstart named Muhammad Ali. And they had a fight called the Rumble in the Jungle. And George Foreman and Ali were in the ring. And Foreman wasn't aware that Ali was the best at what he called a rope-a-dope. Ali would lay up against the ropes. and you would think he was about to go down only to come back blasting. And what happened that night rocked George Foreman's world because in the eighth round, George Foreman was knocked down. He lost the fight, but he didn't just lose the fight that night to Ali.

23:35 He lost his life in the sense of his boxing world, his purpose, why I'm here, what I do. And he retired from boxing angry, frustrated, lost, didn't know what to do. What's amazing is at the lowest point of George Foreman's life, guess who was waiting on him when he hit the ground? Jesus. Jesus was there. Everybody walked out on Foreman, but Jesus walked in. Said, now that you're down here, George, you wanna talk to me a little bit? And George started talking to Jesus. George said yes to Jesus, turned his life over, surrendered his life to Jesus. And when he did that, all of a sudden, man, joy came back and peace. And he had this million dollar smile Everybody wanted to crawl up in George Foreman's lap until he actually, 10 years later, stepped back in the ring in 1994, stepped in the ring at 45 years old to take on Michael Maurer. And he knocked out Michael Maurer in the 10th round and actually became the oldest living champ in boxing history.

24:38 That was George Foreman. Amazing transition. Here's what I want you to understand. his encore was greater than his start. In the beginning, he had power, but he had no peace. But in his encore, after he met Jesus, after he called on Jesus, power, peace, and then also the grill. Y'all know, you got like three or four of those at your house right now, right? Can I tell you something interesting? George Foreman made more money off the grill than he ever did in his boxing career. Tell me God doesn't know how to bring it all back around. God is good, over $200 million off of a grill, and I contributed heavily to his retirement. Yes, I did, yes, I did. Here's what I'm trying to tell you today. The Bible says in Isaiah 43 that God's doing a new thing. Not a new thing, no, a new thing.

25:33 Because you and I, we're a little bit all over the place and sometimes got to get right down to the street with you and say, I'm going to deal with you right where you are. It's a new thing that I'm doing in your life. Everything is going to change. I can handle your idiosyncrasies. I can handle your failures. I can handle your ups and your downs. I can handle all that. Just keep calling on me. Stay in relationship with me. Let me whisper things to your heart, your spirit, and direct your life, direct your relationships, direct your business. Let me help you as a single to live successful as a single. You're not desperate. Oh, no, no, no. I will bless your life and have them lined up to interview you. God wants to bless and lead your life. This is what he does, and he does it well. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. God has not left the building. No matter what you're going through, he's waiting on you to call him back out on the stage of your life, that he can do his best, and he can make you leave that place dancing. You just got to call on him.

26:26 despite your Samson situation, despite your George Foreman losses, God has the ability to turn it all around. And he'll make the next better than the last. You're not done. It's not over. Your best days are still coming. And I'm here to tell you today that this new era, this new joy, this new level of living doesn't happen because the check was actually in the mail. because you can have the check in the mail and still can't sleep at night? No, what you and I need is Jesus to step on the stage of our heart and begin to transform everything inside of us out. He wants you to live with your best mind. Peace. How about some sleep at night? How about some laughter that comes from deep inside your belly? How about laughter filling the hallways of your house where the kids are lined up, they can't wait to get back to church, where the home is serving side by side and God is blessing.

27:27 Oh, everything else goes with that as well, but it starts with, let me just call on him and invite him back into my life. Greater strength, greater wisdom, greater faith. Hope sees, faith steps, and I experience all that God has. Would you please stand to your feet in this room? fellowship church I'm so excited for you because you're not done and I I want to encourage you no matter what level of faith you might be maybe you haven't yet said yes to Jesus we're going to talk about that but maybe you've been serving Jesus for a minute don't forget never fail to keep calling on your God call on me talk to me and watch what I will do in your life especially when the lights are out and the stage is dark and you see nothing working. I'm standing backstage waiting on your call. You can change something today because you call on him. I want to pray for you in just a minute before I do that. I want to pray for all those who may not know Jesus today as your Lord and Savior. This moment right now, why would I not? Why would I not call him back out and let him play his greatest hit in my life today? Sending his son, Jesus Christ, to take your place, to rebuild you, to forgive you, to give you a brand new start, trade status with you.

28:44 His righteousness is put on your life. He takes your sin and you stand free and clear before a holy God so he can bless and advance your life. Why would I not want that? And he's paid the price. So if you're in this room today, would you bow your heads, everybody? You say, Scott, I need Jesus. I want him in my life. I want to just surrender it all. I want to call him out on the stage of my life to just run everything. I need to give all that I am to him. I want all that he is. On the count of three, shoot your hand in the air. One, two, three. Where are you, fellowship? Oh, yeah. I love the honesty in the room. I love the reality. Let's all pray this together. Say, Jesus, I invite you into my life today. Forgive me. Change me. Rework me. My mind and my heart, I surrender them to you. I believe you died for me. You rose again. and you've made a place for me to spend eternity with you.

29:41 Come into my home. Come into my heart. Take all that I am and I take all that you are. I'm yours and you're mine. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Can you celebrate those who just made that declaration today? Man, what a prayer.

30:01 And now, Father, over every family, business owner, single student, God, I declare that this year they will experience the goodness of God in a way they never thought possible. Show off in supernatural fashion as we call on you. You are the only name that we can call on that is faithful and good and true and just. So today, God, bless your people and show up again and provide an encore that they never knew was this good. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen, amen. God, thank you.