"It's A Different World, But You've Got It Like That" - Rev. Frederick D. Haynes, III, PhD

46:17 after your will while we are waiting yielded and still in jesus name we pray amen and hallelujah I want to call your attention in these few moments on this baccalaureate Sunday to Deuteronomy chapter 33. I want to read in your hearing verses 24 and 25 from the New Revised Standard Version translation of the 11th century vowed Hebrew text. and of Asher he said most blessed of sons be Asher may he be the favorite of his brothers and may he dip his foot in oil your bars are iron and bronze and as your days so is your strength you may be seated in God's presence I want to put tag on this text and for a few moments with your prayers I want to talk about it's a different world but you've got it like that it's a different world but you've got it like that I'm so hip even my errors are correct poetically wrote Nikki Giovanni. Nikki Giovanni is affirming in the face of a country that has decided that she was a second-class citizen that there is everything first class about her so that even if she messes up God gives her a bless up. Even if she fails she has attendance to fail forward. I'm so hip. Even my errors, she says, find even my errors are correct.

48:17 You've got it like that. Of course, Remy Ma poetically piggybacks on Nikki Giovanni when she when she raps, I'm happy another me there can never be. See, I'm so outstanding. Don't care if they can't stand me. I feel you Remy Ma because Remy Ma is testifying that there are folk who probably can't stand me but I don't give major energy to minor people because I'm so secure in who I am and I recognize my outstandingness and so I'm not going to waste positive energy on negative people. You've got it like that. You've got it like that because when you're happy, you're in a class by yourself. When you're outstanding, you don't trip and fall over those who can't stand you. Y'all didn't feel Remy. You didn't feel Nikki. Let me go with E-40 from the Bay Area because E-40 keeps it real when he says, I be more hipper than a hippopotamus. Get off in your head like a neurologist. I like that because what E40 is saying, because I've got it going on, it messes with you because what I got is a reflection to you of what you ain't got.

49:42 And as a consequence, I spend a lot of time rent-free in your head. You are thinking about me, talking about me, dogging me, dissing me, but you don't understand I be more hipper than a hippopotamus and I simply came to say to this class you got it like that you got it like that you've got it like that e40 helps us but in case e40 don't get you y'all know I love k. Kendrick Lamar Kendrick says while y'all waiting I'd be off the slave ship building pyramids writing my own hieroglyphs. Y'all didn't get that. I'll do it one more time. While y'all are waiting, I'd be off the slave ship building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs. Y'all, he's simply using in a real sense two distinct periods in our history as a people. On the one hand, there is the period of the evil, egregious enslavement of people of Ebony Hugh in this country reduced to second-class citizenship. But then he goes back and lifts up the great period of the pyramids, the hieroglyphs there in Egypt, which is in Africa. And what he's doing is saying, I am now self-liberated. I refuse to allow what the system says about me to define me. As a matter of fact, I've got it like that.

51:18 And because I've got it like that, I, and then he uses, watch this, the imagery of the hieroglyphs, the imagery of the great pyramids, because what K-Dot is suggesting is that instead of tripping on what they do to us, recognize that God has a way of transforming what is done to you into something that works for you. I'm still not coming through, but all I'm trying to say is you got it like that. And y'all just in case all of this rap and all of this poetry has messed you up and you're saying I'm in church what does the Bible have to say I hope you know if you walk by faith then God is your parent Jesus is your liberator the Holy Ghost is your power if heaven is your hope and earth is the dwelling place where you're walking toward your destiny because you know God for yourself. I hope you already know I'm in Bible country. The Bible says you got it like that.

52:27 Paul is in prison, but the book lets us know while in prison, Paul says, I ain't tripping on that because I got it like that. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You got it like that. I think it's David who testifies the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I got it like that. Jesus, heaven's hero and earth's emancipator as he's getting ready to make his exit from earth to eternity. Jesus says in that upper room on Monday, Thursday, he tells his disciples, watch this, In this world, y'all gonna have some trouble, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. You got it like that.

53:20 Jesus had already told them that the works I've done, you're going to do. And greater works than these are you going to do. You got it like that. I think Paul puts it this way. If God before us, who can be against us? I think Paul put it this way, that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I simply stopped by on Baccalaureate Sunday. As you begin to navigate a different world, you got to know, you've got to be affirmed by the reality that you got it like that. You are God's child. You got it like that. That means you are royalty. You've got it like that. You're the head and not the tail. You're on top and not beneath. You got it like that. And since you got it like that, please don't forget that as you navigate this thing called life, that you are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation.

54:22 You are God's child. You got it like that. And with that being the case, I need you to understand that when you were fueled with the faith, that in God's name you got it like that, then you're ready to navigate and negotiate a different world. I know my parents loved me. Come stand beside me. Come what may. And then the song goes on to say it's a different world than where you come from. But there's a line that really blesses me in the song. Here's our chance to make it. Hey, if we focus on our goal, you can dish it. We can take it. Hey, just remember that you've been told it's a different world than where you come from. I got some Whitley and Dwayne Wayne folks in the house who recognize that that song, which was brilliantly sung by the queen Aretha Franklin, is a reminder of the fact that those who were starring in that show, watch this, that show that is still popular to this day, They, in a real sense, had graduated and were moving into another world, and it was a different world from where they've come from.

55:41 I got to park here parenthetically as I speak to the graduating class because on the one hand, I got to apologize because you are graduating into a different world. It's a jacked up world. It's a world where wickedness seems to be reigning and running things. It's a different world where racism has made an ugly comeback and as a consequence. Whereas for 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement, there was only a subtlety when it came to racism. but because of an orange apparition that occupies the White House, now there is a boldness that certain people feel. They just come out and say what they've been thinking, but now they are bold with it.

56:35 They ain't scared because they know they've got the backing of the White House when it comes to doing their wickedness. They can be bold with that thing. And then to make matters worse, we find ourselves, watch this, in what one writer calls, I think it's Greg Carr, the demolition derby of the infrastructure of the civil rights movement. in that everything that was done in the 50s and 60s to create America as truly living up to what it said on paper in just 18 months. Can you believe that? 18 months have only passed by. We got two and a half more years of this kind of a hot mess unless we handle business in November And then in November, we can begin to reset things and hold accountable those who are in office.

57:35 Preach, Freddie Haynes, I'm doing the best I can. But understand, my sisters and brothers, that here is what is going on, a demolition. You're graduating into a different world. How do you navigate a different world? Well, I got to tell y'all, and sad on me and my own educational journey, it took my PhD program to finally expose me to the Afro-futuristic genius of one Octavia Butler. And she has a series of amazing pieces. One is called The Parable of the Sower. And in The Parable of the Sower, please don't miss your shout. It's a future America that has been destroyed, a future America that is burning and democracy has collapsed. And what Afrofuturist writers do, they write and give us a preview of possibilities to navigate the pain in the present.

58:42 They show us where we're going so we can handle what we're going through. I think I'll give you that one more time because if you have a sense of where you're going, then you can navigate and overcome what you're going through. What you're going through may hurt you. What you're going through may disappoint you. What you're going through may set you back. But if you keep your eyes on the prize of what you're going to, then the good news is what you're going through cannot dissuade you or detour you because you've got your eyes on the prize of what you're going to. Is there anybody here who has made up your mind? I've got a feeling everything's going to be all right. Has anybody made up your mind? The best is yet to come. Has anybody made up their mind?

59:34 My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. I'm not going to trip and give up while I'm going through because I got my eyes on what I'm going to. And in the parable of the sower, this brilliant sister navigating the different world of destruction and demolition decides, watch this, that God is change. That's the theme of her spiritual message, that God is change. I love that right there because she's navigating a different world, but she's no longer scared because the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore is also the God of change. And as long as God is presiding over change in my life, I can handle the change that comes because God gives me what it takes to navigate a different world.

1:00:39 I'm talking to somebody. I don't know who you are, but God has me in your Kool-Aid. I've called out your flavor and you find yourself now in a different world, embarking on a new career, a different world, perhaps pushed out of the world you were in. And now you're in a world you did not anticipate. You're in a different world, but here's the good news. You've got it like that. And because you've got it like that, you can handle the challenge of change in the different world. Well, that's why I love this text because the book lets us know that Moses, the mighty mountain man, the legendary lawgiver, leader, and liberator of the fledgling faith community, is about to make his triumphant transition, his exit from earth to eternity. And the book lets us know that Moses gives a series of sermons, a revival if you please, on the plains of Moab overlooking Canaan and the promised land.

1:01:45 They have a view of where they're going, a preview of coming attractions. And the Bible says Moses is preaching. And as he begins to close, he gives what Walter Brueggemann calls his last will and testament there in chapter 33. And blesses all of the tribes. Watch this. He speaks a word over them. A word of hope and possibility. Isn't it good when somebody speaks a word over you? Some of us are here today not because we've always been focused, not because we've always had faith, but we're here today because at the right time, God put the right people in our lives and they spoke a word over us. They told us what we could become. They told us who we are. They told us, don't you believe the negativity that is said about you?

1:02:42 They spoke a word over us. I'm going to talk to y'all because they acting like they didn't have anybody speak over them. But some of you had a teacher who saw something in you that you didn't see in yourself. Some of y'all had somebody in church who spoke a word of you over you every now and then. You ought to just thank God for who God put in your place to speak a word over you that overruled what the world was saying about you. I'm going to do that one more time. God will place the right people at the right time in your life who will speak a word over you that overrules what the world says about you. Ha!

1:03:27 So, so, Moses speaks this word and he comes to the tribe of Asher. And I love this one. He says about Asher, Asher, may you be favored among your brothers, among the rest of your family. May you, watch this, dip your feet in oil. And may your bars be made of iron and bronze. And as your days, so shall your strength be. that's my prayer for all of you graduates may this be the class of Asher where God simply wants you to experience favor in a world that disfavors you and God wants you to dip your feet in oil and when you dip your feet in oil God wants you to have here's your shout right here iron bars and as you navigate a different world as your days so shall your strength be and that's all I came to tell y'all you got it like that y'all know you got it like that what that's one of those picturesque phrases of the culture when somebody says you got it like that it means you have what it takes when somebody says you've got it like that it simply means that you are sharp you are excellent You got it like that.

1:04:56 It simply means you've got the juice. You've got the power. You've got it like that. You've got the capacity to get done what it is you said you're going to do. I came to tell y'all it's a different world, but you got it like that. You got it like that. So how do we navigate a different world knowing we got it like that? I'm almost done watch the text it makes me shout when it begins by simply saying oh my god and this is so good right here I'm gonna say it real slow because it makes me shout when I typed it out as the holy spirit was dictating to me and the holy spirit said oh my god here it is you've got possibilities rooted in your sense of identity that will help you overcome the dysfunction and dissing in your history.

1:05:53 Okay. I talk fast. Some will say it slow and give you time to shout. You've got supernatural possibilities in your sense of identity. Oh my God, that will overrule the dysfunction and dissing in your history. I ain't making this up. Tech says, watch this. And Asher, he said. Y'all know who Asher is? Let me give y'all Asher. Asher comes from a history of heartbreak. A history of being dissed. A history of dysfunction. And please don't judge Asher because nobody in here comes from a perfect family. all of us got some dysfunction somewhere in our family all of us have some people in our families that we hope don't show up at the family reunion all of us have some people in our families who ain't playing with the full deck all 52 ain't in the deck and I see you looking at me crazy and you say that ain't my family we ain't got no crazy people I talk to your family they said you the crazy when that's why you don't know that all of us got some dysfunction in our families.

1:07:21 And so check this out. Y'all, Asher came from serious dysfunction. Asher, Asher came from, watch this, Leah's handmaiden, Zilpah. Okay. I need some Bible readers to help me right here. Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel.

1:07:45 He says, I worked seven years to Laban, the father of Rachel, as long as you give me Rachel. And the text says that he worked seven years, but they were as seven days because he was in love. Oh my God. Ain't nothing like being in love. Beyonce would say you put your love on top. yes Lord Luther sang about the power of love I guess it's been a long time for some of y'all because you're not shouting like I thought you would but there's something powerful about love y'all something powerful about love love will make you oh so happy love will make you smile mighty love that's what the spinners sang about once there was a boy and girl boy said I love your soul girl said I never leave you they threw a grew older and left each other and that's the way love goes there's something about love I think it was the spinners who sang about love affair one of a kind love affair is makes a lame man walk and makes a blind man talk about seeing again I'm simply trying to say there's something powerful about love Jacob fell in love with Rachel worked for Rachel and the book says the time passed it was time for the wedding day and back in biblical antiquity during the wedding ah the bride is covered all from head to toe only her eyes are visible and so Rachel is not the bride who is waiting at the altar because she has a sister who's kind of hurt her name is Leah Leah my sisters and brothers no dates show up for her any weekend and so daddy says I got to get my girl Leah married Rachel can have a man anytime and so I'm gonna hook Leah up and the book lets us know that evidently that my man Jacob had spent

1:09:50 too much time ah at the punch bowl it was spiked with ever clear and as a consequence Thank you. I apologize I apologize y'all are playing so holy on me right now but anyway anyway so so Jacob thinks he's marrying uh Rachel but then when they say I now pronounce you husband and wife you may behold your bride pulls up the ahhh It's not Rachel. It's Leah. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd be speaking in another tongue.

1:10:43 And the book says, Laban says, all right, here's what you got to do. You work seven more years and you can have her. if you work seven more years and he worked seven more years because when someone wants you, they don't mind working for you. Freddie Hayes, you preaching up in here?

1:11:10 Don't you just give yourself and they ain't willing to work. You just give yourself. Have some sense of value. That ain't in the sermon. Let me get back to the sermon. And so the text lets us know he worked seven more years, finally gets with Rachel, but Rachel is barren. Rachel can't have children, but Leah is fertile myrtle. And so every time he gets with Leah, Leah gets pregnant and Rachel is not pregnant. It creates a lot of tension in the house. And then Rachel says, okay, get with my handmaiden. He does that. Leah says, get with my handmaiden. He does that. And when he gets with the handmaiden of Leah, the unwanted wife, the handmaiden the servant of Leah gives birth to Asher so when you look at the 12 kids in the family Asher is at the bottom of the bottom it's what uh Imani Perry talks about when she says There is a structured racism in this country that creates a hierarchy of value.

1:12:25 Where what Eddie Gallow Jr. talks about, the value gap where some people are valued more than others. There is a hierarchy of value. And in a hierarchy of value, some lives matter. Other lives don't matter. I'm in D.C. this past Thursday and Friday, and I go intentionally to what was Black Lives Matter Plaza. It's been erased now by this administration that did not mind upholding the statue of a Confederate slave owner by the name of Wade Hampton III. There is structured in this country a hierarchy of value where some lives value are valued more than others. We are now in what Gray Carr calls the corridor of freedom where we're going from Juneteenth to July 4th. And during this corridor of freedom, they are building toward the celebration of the 250th birthday of this country.

1:13:29 But the sad reality is because the nation did not handle Juneteenth right, it's not going to have a real authentic July 4th. And as a consequence of that, it's because of a hierarchy of value where some lives are valued more than others. Oh my God. But look what happens. Asher is valued less. but Moses speaks a word over him. May Asher be favored out of all of his brothers. Okay, so I gave you all that history and that did not shout you. Asher has been disfavored. Moses speaks a word over him and says now you're going to be favored. So no matter what happened in your family, No matter what happened in your history, your possibilities are greater than your history.

1:14:30 And that's the word I want to say to everybody in the house right now. Because whatever happened in your family history, it's not your destiny. Whatever happened back then is not going to mess up what's going to happen right now for you're not yet. Because God is so good. God right now is speaking a word of favor over you. And as long as you remember who you are and whose you are, you can rise above where you came from. Oh my God. Okay, okay, okay. So I told you I like to watch stuff that either makes me laugh or is just plain ratchet. And so this week I was watching a fresh, and I hadn't never seen this before, though it was in there, Trading Places. now y'all too young to know about trading places so I got to give it to you starring Eddie Murphy and Eddie Murphy plays the character Billy Ray Valentine and it's in Philadelphia Pennsylvania and and Billy Ray Valentine is is is is one of them brothers who is just slick uh uh he he knows how to play the games in the streets to get over. Life has dealt him a difficult blow but in spite of that brother knows how to survive. I think that's us is it not? We know how to survive.

1:15:56 Everything they've done to us but we've known how to navigate the negativity and nightmares and somehow survive anyhow and so here's what happened. Billy Ray and and and and and I can't think of his name who? Dan Aykroyd's character. Yeah, but I forgot the name of the character, but he is wealthy, well-off, and privileged. So you know he doesn't have melanin.

1:16:28 Wealthy, well-off, privileged, Billy Ray Valentine, brother who's broken, who's broke but not broken. yeah that's the word yeah I like that you you can be broke but it don't mean you broke in and and and I could preach that thing but I'm not going to so so watch what happens Mortimer and his brother decide that they're going to play games and so they have a dollar bet that if you take someone who because the bet is nature versus nurture uh uh is someone successful by nature or does it take nurture and so they literally exchange the lives of Billy Ray Valentine and Dan Aykroyd's character and when they exchange the lives Dan Aykroyd ends up on the bottom and Billy Ray has blown up Billy Ray is living large and in charge Y'all go check it out for trading places.

1:17:27 And Billy Ray is being chauffeured to this big exchange building, downtown Philadelphia. He gets out of the car and says to the chauffeur, what am I supposed to do here? This ain't for me. And the chauffeur then says these words, I give it to you and shout you. He says, just be yourself. Whatever else they've taken from you, they can't take that away. And that's what I'm trying to say, somebody. Just be you. Be the you that God called you to be. Okay, that didn't get you.

1:18:04 Oh, Jay-Z, of course, is doing some stuff this year, about to do a concert in New York. And so Jay-Z about to do that thing. But he got interviewed. during the interview he's asked the question Jay uh you move in different worlds effortlessly seamlessly rap world a business world sports world how do you move in all those worlds so seamlessly his response was because I enter each world as myself okay you didn't feel jay so i gotta give you jesus the bible says that jesus is baptized in the jordan river and when he's baptized look what happens god speaks from eternity as the holy spirit shows up in the jordan river on the shoulder of jesus and god speaks and says this is my boy in whom I am well pleased.

1:19:07 Hear ye him. The book says he's driven by the Spirit into the wilderness and there the first time that he is tempted after 40 days of fasting and praying. The brother is hungry. He's a brother. He's hangry. And the book lets us know. The devil says, watch this. If you the son of God, turn these stones into bread. Okay, I talked too fast because you didn't get it. in the Jordan, God said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. The first temptation of the devil is if you're the son of God, meaning that even though our prayers, watch this, may be personal, they ain't necessarily private. Satan has a way of hacking into our prayers. Y'all playing holy Naomi, have you ever tried to pray and your mind went someplace that had nothing to do with God, Jesus, or the Bible?

1:20:06 It's because Satan will hack your prayers. And y'all, when that happens, listen, listen. If you're the son of God, turn these stones into bread. Jesus said, oh, you tripping because you don't understand who I am has been settled. my father just said I'm his son so for you to say if I'm his son and my father has already affirmed I am his son I'm not going to allow my appetite to make me sacrifice my identity because I know who I am and I'm not going to blow who I am just trying to satisfy my appetite because you trying to throw me off because I'm hungry right now. Y'all missing every shout I just gave you. Always know who you are and whose you are and Satan can't throw you off. Okay. All right. All right.

1:21:12 All right. So, so, so, so, so your, your supernatural possibilities are fueled by a sense of identity and your sense of identity is greater than your history of being dissed and discriminated against that's some good stuff right there but I got to rush this thing because the text also says here is I love this piece and that is watch what happens text says I want you to dip your feet in oil because I'm giving you a visualized picture of where you're going Moses wants them watch this they are not there yet but Moses says I want you to engage in visualization visualization where you just close your eyes and visualize where it is you're trying to go. The GOAT of basketball players Michael Jordan says that when he was with the Bulls that at first he got upset because Phil Jackson would stop practice and have all of the Bulls to literally sit down in the gymnasium and when they sat down he would have them to practice visualization because he wanted them to see here it is what positive plays they were going to make in the game before the game started.

1:22:37 He wanted them to see what they were going to do before they did it. And so they engaged in visualization. All I'm trying to say, y'all, you got it like that, but you've got to sometimes engage in visualization because where there is no vision, the people perish. Conversely, where there is vision, the people flourish. So he engages in visualization. and that's when you discover my second point and it's fire. And that is God is so good that God wants you to see what's been reserved for you, set up for you, so you walk in it and recognize it when you get there. He says, he says, dip your feet in oil. It spoke of the richness of olives and olive trees in what was known as, what would be known as Asher's territory.

1:23:41 It was known for its olive trees. And so olive trees produce oil. Please don't miss your shout right here. It does not mean the oil is ready made. It means you recognize it when you get there. And when you get there, go through the work of making real what you have visualized. You visualize the oil, but you still have to process the olives. You still have to work the olives to make sure you get oil from the olives. May I bless y'all right quick. God has the future that is waiting on you. But when you get there, it's only because you've done the work of making sure the olives get processed, the olives get crushed, the olives release what they have in them. But it doesn't just happen. You've got to do your part. You've got to work it if it's worth it.

1:24:34 You've got to do what you can and watch God handle what you can't. You've got to stay up. You've got to make applications. You've got to follow up with interviews. You've got to get letters of recommendation. You've got to do your part. And when you do your part, God will release the olives there in the promised land. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I got to give y'all this. This was so good. I see a lot of my peeps here, especially King. What's up, King? I see Marv. I see Vic. I see y'all. You know, in New York, I got a favorite restaurant. Favorite restaurant. I'm gonna tell y'all the restaurant, okay? But don't go, don't go. Because if you go, councilwoman, you may not come back. It's that good. It's called Fish Cheeks, Fish Cheeks.

1:25:26 Oh my God, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, thank you. I'm sorry, I just had a flashback to a Fish Cheeks experience. And so, oh God, my God. Okay, so let me bring it back. So, so, so, so I'm in New York. in April, in April, preaching in April for pastor's anniversary there. And so as soon as my flight lands, I tell them, take me to Fish Cheeks. Do you want me to wait for you? Yeah, but I'm going to Fish Cheeks. I get to Fish Cheeks on a Saturday night. It's Saturday night. So you already know It's a popular spot, jam-packed. So I walk in and I say, table for one, just one. I'll sit anywhere. And they say, well, we have no room until 10.30. I ain't waiting until no 10.30 to eat.

1:26:22 And so even fish cheeks. But I want me some fish cheeks. I think about ordering something to go. And then all of a sudden, watch this. I hear my name called Pastor Haynes. I turn around. And watch this. It's one of our members. And one of our members, watch this, now lives in New York. He lives in New York. His dad is a baller and shot caller in New York. And he said, man, what you doing here? I said, I'm preaching tomorrow. And I'm trying to get me some food at my favorite restaurant. He said, well, we are throwing a party for my dad here. My dad made reservations. So if you want, you can join our party. And I wish y'all had seen me as I walked through the crowd waiting to get in. I walked through the crowd waiting to get in to my favorite restaurant because there was a party being thrown for the father and I'm being escorted in by the son.

1:27:21 And it's my relationship with the son that had me walk through everybody else because the reservations had been made by the father. preach Freddie Haynes I'm trying to let you know your father is throwing a party for you your father is throwing a party in his honor but here's the shout the son is going to escort you to other people other folk gonna try to figure out how'd you get that job how'd you get that blessing how'd you get that business you just let them know I'm walking in with the son because the father made reservations for me. I got to quit. Here it is. I'm done. I got to quit. Because the text says, watch this. You got to have identity.

1:28:14 You'll be blessed with prosperity because of reservations made for you. But then the final piece is, listen, you can't handle a different world if you ain't secure. Let me tell you right now. because if you ain't secure in who you are and whose you are, you'll mess up a good thing every time. God is so good. God won't just give you expanded territory. God will provide you with security in the different world that's where you come from. God is good enough to make sure that you are secure. Watch it, baby, Baba. You'll have, watch this, iron bars. and iron gates. They were symbols of protection, symbols of security. And that's what I'm trying to give to somebody right now. You be secure in who God made you. You be secure because when you're secure, you recognize that your responsibility is not to compare yourself to somebody else, but your responsibility is to walk in the destiny that God has uniquely designed for you.

1:29:27 ah you are not to look at what they have you're to thank God for what you have you're not to trip on what somebody else is doing you're to thank God for what you're called to do and if you do the best you can with what you've got then God will pour others into you God will make you secure in who you are and whose you are here it is and that last line messes me up that last line and I give it to you it says and as your days so will your strength be my mother gave me a book when I came to Friendship West 43 years ago that's actually gave me my dad's library and so I had a huge head start as it relates to my books.

1:30:21 But y'all, one of the books she gave me was written by the late great Jesse J. McNeil. Jesse J. McNeil wrote a book, here's your shout, entitled, As Thy Days. Taken from this text. As your days, so will your strength be. Okay.

1:30:43 Every day you wake up and walk into that day, God will release strength for whatever stress you got to deal with. God will give you power for whatever pressure you are under. God won't take you out of a bad situation but God will step off in that situation with you and God will give you the strength to put one foot in front of the other and somehow you just keep on walking and folk wonder why are you smiling? I know what you're going through. It's because as thy days, so will my strength be. How are you at peace when I know they're trying to sabotage you at your job? It's because as thy days, so shall my strength be. How are you staying sane in the midst of all this craziness? Because as thy days, so will my strength be.

1:31:38 Okay, okay, okay. I thought you would get it, but you didn't. So I got to help you get it. Watch this. So, you know, I was in the hospital September 18th. in the hospital September 18th and have surgery. After surgery, I'm in pain. Tell them about the pain. And they hooked me up to this machine. And the machine had painkiller in it. And y'all, all I had to do was just lay there. because whenever the pain went up the medication flowed through i said let it flow let it flow let it flow oh my god don't be judging me okay don't be judging me because you do you do know they be tripping and saying black folk have a high pain tolerance and so i'm saying i ain't one of them you just give me every bit of medication that you can and y'all i discovered something watch this I'm done I discovered it was time released okay meaning meaning I didn't have to tell the doctor I'm hurting I didn't have to ask for more all I had to do was just lay there and trust that what I needed was there Class of 26, all I'm trying to say, if doctors will give me time release pain medication, there's another doctor.

1:33:21 There's a great physician. Whatever you're going through every single day, just recognize as your days. So will your strength be because you got it like that. And because you got it like that, you hold your head up high as you navigate a different world, knowing you've got it like that. As your days, so will your strength be. You got it like that. Can I shout you right quick? I got it like that. That means no weapon formed against me is going to prosper. I got it like that. Because Joseph could tell his brothers, y'all meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. I got it like that. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. Young folk are going to fall, but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Mount up with wings as eagles. Run and not get weary. Walk and not faint.

1:34:14 I got it like that. I'm trying to let you know you got it like that. And because you got it like that, don't you give up. You keep on moving. You keep on doing what God has called you to do. because a different world will not stop our changeless God from making sure that you got it like that. Listen, every head bowed, every eye closed. God, thank you. Praise you. Because you're such an amazing God. And you're so good to us. That no matter what the world says about us. And what other people have done to us.

1:35:08 That you give us a fresh sense of who we are in spite of what has happened to us. And for that I thank you and praise you. Right now God you know who's tuned in. You know who's in this house. And a whole lot has been said to them about them that hurts. It has done harm. I just pray in a special way that this day you will heal this day you will touch this day you will give them a fresh sense of who they are and whose they are and then oh God because they connect with the son may they walk into the reservations in the future set up by you the father I pray in Jesus name that you oh God would bless touch give strength save set free heal deliver all under the sound of my voice that they oh God may live in the power of knowing they've got it like that now have your way save the lost bring home to your church those who need community and fellowship in the body of Christ in Jesus name. Listen as Christians continue to pray somebody's tuned in and you know good and well that God has spoken to you through this word but here's the deal it's one thing to hear the word is another thing to digest it so it becomes a part of you. One of the steps in doing that is to make sure you give your life to Christ that you hook up with the son who already has made sure the father has reservations in your future for you and so if you are online or in the house and you know good and well you're not in right relationship with God through Jesus Christ and you're ready for God to change your life

1:37:16 today's a good mighty good day to say yes to Jesus it's a mighty good day to give your life to Christ and so if that's you where you're online down that number 972-228-5217 use the QR code you can email us at join us at friendshipwest.org but today is your day for God to change your life today is your day to get your life straight with God today is your day to hook up with the one who will tell you who you are no matter what devils from hell try to tell you who you ain't and so if you are online you dial that number or your thing is preacher I want to I want to join church I want to be a part of community listen you can do that even online so dial that number use the QR code email us join us at friendshipwest.org and today is your day to get your life straight with God to join a community of faith so you can become all that God would have you to become understand that asher became community and moses is speaking to a community and so go ahead and get your life straight with god connect with community let me talk to those of us in the house you're in the house it ain't an accident god planned it you're in the house and you know good and well god's word custom fit for you spoke to you and your situation perhaps some of you are saying I don't know who told the pastor about me nobody Holy Spirit just did the talking so you're not here by accident God planned it if you're here and you're not saved you're here and you know it's time for God to change your life because you've tried it your way long enough and now you're saying listen I need to give my life to Christ if that's you you're in the right place it's the right time so why don't you do the right thing. What's that pastor? Give your life to Christ. How do I do it? I've got some wonderful ministers down front and all you got to do is stand up, step out of the aisle you're in, come on down front and they're going to greet you and meet you. I'm going to pray over you and then they're going to take you into a private area and pray for you, receive you into God's family and our church

1:39:26 family and today will be the beginning of a new life for you. Somebody's already coming. Listen, And if you're here and you're not saved, you're here and you're ready to get your life straight with God. You're here and you know it's time for you to let God change your life. You've done it your way long enough. Come on, say yes to God. Stand up. Step out of the aisle you're in. Come on down front and give your life to Jesus Christ. I see you. Come on, somebody else. You're here and you're not saved. You're here and you know that God can change your life and tell you who you are and whose you are. stand up step out come on down and get your life straight with God preacher I got that part right but I know I feel the need to join a community of believers if that is you stand up step out come on down and let's join church today preacher I feel God leading me to join church listen we'd love to have you I'd love to be your pastor stand up step out come on down and let's join church Preacher, here's Medill. I used to go to church, but I stopped going. I'm ready to get myself back in church. I want to join church today. If that's you, stand up, step out, come on down, and let's join church. Preacher, here's Medill. In all honesty, I just moved to Dallas-Fort Worth from another area. I got a church home back there, but now I live here, work here, go to school here. I just don't have a church home here. Today's a good day to join church. Stand up, step out, come on down and let's join church. Join church y'all because this is the age of Asher. In spite of all that's happening in the world, be a part of a community, a fellowship so we can inherit the promises that God has for us. Here's the deal. We're getting ready to all stand and this is what I love. I love the fact that some of you are saying I don't want to be the first one to move and God touched them.

1:41:24 They moved. So what you're waiting on? Some of you are saying, well, I don't want to be the first one to move. Is it the right time for me to move? And God touched them. So now you know it's the right time. So here's the deal. If you're here and you know it's time to let God change your life, it's time to get your life straight with God. It's time to join church. Here's what you do. When we stand, that's your signal. Stand up with us. Step out of the way.