PICKING UP WHAT GOD IS THROWING DOWN (Sermon Only)

4:40 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. You may be seated in God's presence. For just a few moments with your prayers, I want to talk about picking up what God is putting down. Picking up what God is putting down. County Cullen, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, poetically proclaimed, I doubt not that God is good, well-meaning, and kind. Yet do I marvel at this curious thing to make a poet black and bid him sing. It's very interesting because County Cullen, my sisters and brothers, begins this poem in a real sense reflecting on and making sure that the audience knows he does not doubt the goodness of God. Yet do I marvel and curiously think and curiously raise the question about how God would make me a poet even though I was made black. There's something going on in the heart and head of County Cullen.

6:01 On the one hand, he does not doubt the goodness of God. That's the joy jargon of black faith because in the joy jargon of black faith, we will lift up the goodness of God. Life may be going bad, but we still know God is good. God is good. Ah, when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me. And then our choir from time to time sings a song, just think of his goodness. And then, of course, my favorite song has to do with have you ever looked around and then you thought about how good God is. The bottom line is you conclude he's been good, he's been good, he's been good.

6:54 That's the joy jargon of black faith. When life is going bad and our hearts are hurting, somehow we still look up and believe that God is good. Even when life makes no sense, we hold on to the hope that our God's goodness will overrule the bad that we find ourselves in. And so that's our joy jargon. God is a mighty good God, but yet County Cullen does not stop there. He wonders how is it that God could call him to be a poet and sing in the midst of the insufferability of what it meant to be black in America at that time. Don't forget, it's the height of the Harlem Renaissance, but lynching of black bodies is going on.

7:53 and black bodies are hanging as strange fruit, to use the lingo of Billie Holiday from southern trees. It's still a time of Jim and Jane Crow segregation. I think, who is it? Rayford Logan refers to this as the nadir, which is the time, the worst time in the history of this nation for people whose skin has been kissed by nature's son. and he says it's almost as if God is playing a game. God has made me a creative in the midst of this chaos. God has given me a gift, but how do I express this gift with the sensitivity and sagacity of a poem, of a poet when I'm dealing with the sorrow and sadness of what it means to deal with and find yourself under the assault of white supremacy.

8:53 I think that's what County Cullen is saying to all of us. He is disoriented, as it were, because the math ain't math, and God has not learned the wisdom of the culture. Make it make sense. That's what County Cullen is saying. Hold on. Y'all didn't feel County Cullen, so I might as well bowl down your alley and get in your lane because let's keep it real. No matter how big your Bible is and how long you've been going to church, there are times when you want to hear from God, but life deafens you to what God may be saying. There are times when you want to follow God and discern God's will, but nothing is making sense. It's not quite adding up. and you find yourself in the darkness of confusion, perplexed by providence, wondering what God is up to because life has got you down.

9:57 I think that's where I want to hang out right now because life can drag you down, knock you down. People can let you down. And now you're trying to figure out what is God up to when down has a hold on me. preach, Freddie. I just did that. In a real sense, it happens to each and every one of us. We are walking by faith into a dark place, and the darkness has us confused. I'm trying to hear from God, not miss God, but there is something going on around me that is poisoning my perspective. There is something that is happening to me that is making it difficult in darkness to discern what God is doing. I think Killer Mike helps me. When Killer Mike says, I remember sitting all along in service trying to hear from God about a higher plan and purpose.

10:58 I think that's what I'm trying to say. Because Killer Mike says he's in church service, but he feels all alone. Can I park right there? You can show up in church on Sunday and yet adversity and attacks have you feeling all alone. Even though you're sitting with people and people are all around you. I remember sitting all alone in service asking God, reveal to me a higher plan and purpose. That's what Killer Mike says. Yes, my sisters and brothers, it happens where we find ourselves hurt even as we believe in the God of heaven. But we're catching so much hell and we're asking God to show us what God is up to. Though life has got us down, who am I talking to that will honestly say, Freddie Haynes, you are in my Kool-Aid.

11:55 You've called out my flavor because I'm trying to figure God out right now. But God just ain't making sense. And that is what I call spiritual disorientation. I like that right there, disorientation. I'm trying to use big words to show off my education. Disorientation is really when you get thrilled. Disorientation is when you find yourself not knowing which way is up. disorientation is when you can't quite figure out what's going on around you and what you've got to do next. Disorientation. It happens, watch this, when you are driving along in a place you've never been, trusting GPS, but all of a sudden there is no signal. And as a consequence, where you hope to hear a voice that says turn left in one mile or you hope to see a direction. Instead, there is absolutely nothing. I got to stop right there because that's what it means to walk by faith every now and then. You find yourself hoping to hear from God and yet the voice ain't speaking.

13:12 You find yourself hoping for God to let you know where to turn next and yet nothing is happening. and you are disoriented. I got to help y'all because y'all still not getting it. You see, if you were down, watch this. You were down and then all of a sudden you pop up. Watch this. If you're not careful, you'll experience what they call vertigo. And when you pop up, the vertigo will have you throwed off and you don't know which way to feel. Y'all still not getting this thing. I read this about this surfer. This surfer, watch this. And he put online, I believe earlier this year, that he had been riding a wave that they called Jaws. He's riding a wave that they called Jaws. I used to want to be a surfer. And he's riding this wave called Jaws in the barrel of the wave, which is like a tunnel. And he said the wave all of a sudden collapsed on him.

14:12 And when that wave collapsed on him, all of a sudden he found himself tumbling and going down. The wave had collapsed with such a ferocity that it left him in a real sense, throwed off, disoriented. There's that big word. And he is tumbling and going down and not knowing which way is up. I got to park right there because that happens in this thing called life where you are so disoriented. You don't know which way is up. It happens. You get thrown and you're trying to hear from God. God, I got a decision made. God, to make God, I've got to do something. And you need God to speak, but you're so thrown and disoriented that it's hard to connect with God, to hear from God. And that's who this message is for today.

15:09 Those who are trying to walk by faith and not by sight and let you, and yet you ain't hearing nothing. Those who are trying to do what God is calling you to do, and yet everything has collapsed on you. And you're wondering how you are going to make it. If that's you, that's how John the Baptist felt. John, my sisters and brothers, has anticipated the advent of the Almighty and has proclaimed with power while speaking truth to power about Jesus being on the way. And as a consequence, he's excited. But John, in his courage, dares to speak truth to power and proclaims that Herod is wrong for what he has been doing in abusing and misusing his power. He speaks truth to power.

16:04 And when he does that, y'all, the Bible lets us know Herod's wife, Herodias, decides that she's going to weaponize power against the political enemy of Herod John the Baptist. And all of a sudden, John is thrown in prison. I did my research. The prison is the Macaris prison. And this prison, my sisters and brothers, was notorious. It was a dark, dank, and damp dungeon. It was a horrific place. And just imagine John the Baptist is now in prison for something he had done. And because of what he had done, he is now in a dark place. Can anybody identify you did something back then and you're in a dark place right now because of what you did in the past that now has you a prisoner in the present?

17:01 Wait, I'm not done. Because John the Baptist got in trouble for doing the right thing. And y'all, please don't get it twisted. you can do for God and hell will catch up with you. You can try to do good and yet life go bad on you. You can take a stand for what's right and somehow wrong will get a hold of you. That's where John is right now. And y'all imagine the psychological torture, the assault on the mental health of John the Baptist doing right and life going wrong. That will mess with your mental health. Wait, John the Baptist in prison. It's dark, dank, and damp as a dungeon. He's locked up and not free. And now the book lets us know in this darkness, in the dankness and dampness of this dungeon, look what's happening.

17:59 Scholars agree it's probably a year that has gone by since he has been in prison a whole year. But listen, he's in a dark place. Days begin to turn into weeks and months and you lose track of time and nothing has happened to show you that things are about to change. And here's what's jacked up. And that is the one he was proclaiming as the expectant, liberating, revolutionary Messiah hasn't even paid him a prison visit. Jesus has not even come by to see how John the Baptist is. John has to be tripping. Now, hold on. I done preached about you. I baptized you. I watched the heavens open and God say, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased and you haven't come to see me.

18:52 I'm the one that said I'm not worthy to untie your sandals. I'm the one who declared that the root, that the axe is now coming to the root. I'm the one who's been speaking truth to power, baptizing people in the name of God and goodness, and yet you won't even come visit me. I was expecting you to come, and there would be a candle lit that would come down in the prison letting me know you were coming to break me out of this bad boy. But instead, I'm stuck in this insufferable situation. situation. I'm stuck and nothing is happening. Imagine the assault on his mental health. Wait, I did some more digging. It gets worse because in that day, prisons were unsanitary. There was vermin in it and unsanitary conditions. And imagine being in this darkness and you don't know what's crawling around you and time is going by and nothing is happening to change your situation. It's a dark situation, but y'all in the midst of that darkness, he said to his disciples, y'all go see Jesus and ask him if he is the one we're looking for or should we keep on looking?

20:14 And that's when Jesus responds, John, I want you, here's your shout, to pick up what God is putting down. Now, y'all know my subject is fly. It's fire. I love my subject, but it ain't original with me. It's a remix of what is said in the culture. It started back at the beginning of the century where someone would say, I hope you pick up what I'm putting down or laying down. It simply means I hope you get it. I hope you discern it. I hope you understand it. I hope you dig it. I hope you get what I'm saying. Do you see what I'm saying? Can you understand what's going on? I hope you can pick up what I'm laying down. I hope you can pick up what I'm putting down. Y'all, it dawned on me that when you walk by faith every single day is a day of trying to pick up what God is putting down.

21:12 Every day I'm trying to discern and determine what God is up to, how God is moving, what God is saying. I'm trying to pick up what God is putting down even when I'm down. So how does that work? Picking up what God is putting down when I'm disoriented. Losing my bearings. not knowing which way is up because I live in a nation in a political environment where the politics of flooding the zone has left me thrilled. Oh, you didn't get that. There is what is known in politics as flooding the zone. It's what's happening in this nation right now. It has taken place all year and that is every day, all day.

22:10 There is a controversy here and some policies there and some stuff that comes out of nowhere that makes no sense. We have witnessed, watch this, the erasing of black history one day and then the assault on the Civil Rights Bill the next day, the gutting of the Voting Rights Bill and doing everything whatsoever to ban blackness and lift up whiteness. It happens every single day. ICE agents have become agents of terror. It's flooding the zone, flooding the zone. While watch this distracting us from the Epstein files. It's still, we haven't seen all of them distracting us, my sisters and brothers, from an economy that is weak, an economy that has shifted so much that we've seen a wealth transfer go from the bottom to the top and we still find ourselves now concerned about health care because of the fact that Congress can't do their job because they're so beholden to the authoritarian dictatorship in the White House that they refuse to take a stand for justice.

23:27 And now we find ourselves with the zone being flooded, The zone has been flooded and we are disoriented. But the good news is in the midst of disorientation, God gives us the wisdom and discernment to pick up what God is putting down. So watch it. Watch it. Watch it. Picking up what God is putting. That's what I want to help you do because somebody, you're here. And I'm at your address. And that's your whole thing. I'm trying to hear God's will. I'm trying to discern God's voice in the midst of this chaotic mess. How do you do it? Let me give you a few and I'm out. Number one, the text says, and this gets me right here, I love it.

24:21 Sometimes you've got to make an inquiry of the Savior. And after you make an inquiry of the Savior, I love the text. The text then says, then you can interpret the signs. And after you interpret the signs, the text lets us know you'll be independent of your situation. That's where I'm going and will be done. Number one, in choir of the Savior, the old folk used to sing in the old school church, I must tell Jesus all of my trials, I cannot bear these burdens alone. They used to sing, have a little talk with Jesus. Tell him all about your sorrows. He will hear your faintest cry. He will answer by and by. We used to sing what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer. We used to sing in the old school church, Jesus is on the main line.

25:16 Call him up and tell him what you want. Anybody know there's power in prayer? Anybody know that prayer changes things? Anybody know that prayer will change you? Anybody know that prayer will change your situation? I love it because John the Baptist says, okay, since I can't make sense of this, I need y'all, my disciples, to go to Jesus and ask him in the words of Marvin Gaye, mamas are crying, brothers are dying. What's going on? Now, now, now, here's what's interesting. He says, are you the one we've been expecting or do we keep on looking? Are you the anticipated Messiah? Are you the anticipated revolutionary liberator because I'm still in prison?

26:10 Herod is still on the throne, flooding the zone. Are you the one that should come or do I keep on looking? I like that. That's a question that has faith, but it's disoriented faith. And, oh, it's a question. It's a question. Uh-oh. It is a question. Because a lot of us, including me, have been brought up to believe you don't question God. Uh-huh. I was told that after my dad died. I'm 14 years old. His death made no sense to me. How could he die at 46 with kids to raise and a wife to love, a church to lead? It made no sense. And I questioned God and well-intended saints there at my home church, Third Baptist in San Francisco said, you don't question God.

27:11 Never question God. God never makes a mistake. I couldn't clap back, but I did in my mind. Well, he made one here and he needs to explain it to me. And y'all can judge me all you want to, but if life hurts you enough and you prayed and God is deafening in his silent response, there are moments when you will find yourself having some questions for God. And I just came by to say, if you walk by faith and you have questions for God, the Bible says it's okay. If you don't believe it, ask Gideon. Because the angel of the Lord said, Gideon, this is Judges chapter 6. Oh, mighty man of valor, they're being oppressed by the Midianites, economically exploited. But here comes Gideon, here comes the angel, and the angel calls him a mighty man of valor. Gideon says, if God is with us, why has all of this happened to us?

28:10 I got to park right there. If God, then why? I got to stop right there. If God is good, then why am I hurting so much? If God is sovereign, why is my life out of control? If God is faithful, then why am I frustrated? If God, then why? Anybody have an if God, then why? In your spirit, if God, then why? You didn't feel Gideon? Ask Job. Job lost it all and said, you let me find God. And I'm going to interrogate God as a hostile witness on the witness stand. And if that doesn't get you, come here, Jesus. Because Jesus is hanging on a cross and Jesus says from Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

29:08 Anybody got some whys for God? If then, why? If God, then why? Anybody have a why for God? That's what Gideon does. Because Gideon says, here's the good news about questioning God. And that is at least you're turning to God and not from God. and the shout is when you turn to God and ask God what's going on he sends two disciples to Jesus because he wants to know what's going on that's exactly what happened in January of 1956 Martin Luther King Jr. is in Montgomery Alabama the bus boycott had started the month before in December And they, of course, as a people, have gotten together.

30:02 50,000 black folk have decided to walk in dignity rather than to ride in shame. They've decided not to fund their oppression. They've decided not to use their resources to give to people or to give to institutions that don't believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion. They say, I'm not going to subscribe to AT&T. I'm not going to give my resources to Target. I'm not going, oh, I see y'all sitting on me real mad. I know you got AT&T, but AT&T just told us that they don't, they're not down with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Though every black person you know got multiple phones, subscribe to AT&T. I'm just trying to say at least I have respect for our ancestors who said I'm not going to give money to those who are trying to disrespect me and dehumanize. Oh, boy.

31:07 Okay. Warning, warning. I'm on one today. And so watch this, my sisters and brothers. They walked in dignity. Mother Pollard said my feet is tired, but my soul is rested. They walked in dignity, not riding in shame. They knew they had agency. They had power. And they used that power to bring the bus system down. But that ticked them folk off. Because whenever you go after folk's money, whenever you go after folk, they coming for you. And y'all, that's what happened. And so King at midnight had come in from a mass meeting and answers the phone. This is before caller ID and cell phone. This is 1956. He answers the phone. And on the other end, he testifies is an ugly voice that calls him the N-word and then threatens his family, threatens himself and tells him what he's going to do to him.

32:11 And when he gets threatened, King hangs up the phone. He doesn't want to disturb Coretta sleeping quietly near him, and he goes into the kitchen, and there in the kitchen, according to King's own testimony, and Lewis Baldwin in Never to Leave Us Alone, that wonderful book about the prayer life of King. Check out what happened. King, my sisters and brothers, gets a pot of coffee and tries to get some comfort in coffee, and After that didn't work, he knew he couldn't call his father, but decided to call on the God of his father. And y'all know what happened. King right there at the kitchen table in Montgomery. I saw that kitchen table. King, my sisters and brothers, has a little talk with Jesus. And he tells him, listen, I'm out here because you told me to get out here. I'm out here doing what you told me to do.

33:06 And I don't know if I don't know what's going to happen. but I'm concerned about my baby daughter that has just been born. I'm concerned about my wife. I'm out here. What do I do at that moment that he turned to God and asked God? That's when God, he said, in his spirit said, Martin Luther, stand up for justice, stand up for righteousness, and lo, I'm with you always, even until the end of the age. Here's your shout. When you've got questions for God, ask away. And God is so good, God won't give you an answer, but God will give you assurance because God is not in the business of explaining, but God is in the business of sustaining. I think I just said something. God may not answer your question, but God will fuel you with just enough to sustain you, to keep on keeping on, to move and do what God is calling you to do.

34:10 Is there anybody here who wants to testify? He did not answer my question, but he gave me just enough strength to put one foot in front of the other. He gave me just enough strength to keep it together. When my world was falling apart, he did not explain, but he did sustain. So you make an inquiry of the Savior. And once you do that, I love it, you then have to interpret the signs. Here's what gets me, makes me shout really. And that is that Jesus receives the query and look what he does. he says tell John what you've seen and what you've heard. Now the only way that they could tell John what they had seen and heard is that when they first asked Jesus he didn't respond immediately.

35:19 He just kept doing what he was doing. I guess you don't know what he's doing. Go back to Matthew 8 and Matthew 9 and you'll discover what he was doing. In Matthew 8, watch it. The text lets us know there was, here it is. I got to shout you, a leper. And the leper said, listen, if you want to, you can cleanse me. And then Jesus touched him. He touched an untouchable. Ah, y'all don't know this song, but back in the day, we had a song that we used to shout about. He touched me. and oh, the joy that floods my soul, something happened. And now I know he touched me and made me whole. Y'all gonna get this in just a moment. So the leper gets touched by Jesus and all of a sudden his skin is no longer a sin. All of a sudden his skin is no longer a barrier to becoming.

36:15 Y'all still missing every shout. I'm letting you know that when God touches you in a nation where Ice Cube would say, my sin is my skin. God is so good, your skin is no longer a barrier to your becoming because Jesus can touch you. Y'all still didn't shout. I got to tell y'all what was happening. He not only touched a leper, but two blind men are following him. And they say, Lord, we want to see. And Jesus says, cool in the gang and speaks a word over them. And before you know it, what they did not have, they now have. Before you know it, their sight was restored. Y'all still missed your shout right there. He spoke a word to them. And because of the word that went forth from him, their lives were transformed. Y'all still didn't get it.

37:09 I got to give it to you like this. I'll skip and give you this. Jesus has been approached by Jairus whose 12-year-old daughter is dying. And Jairus says, come to my house. And while Jairus is being followed by Jesus to his house, there's a woman with an issue of blood and she's had it for 12 years. And y'all, she's not supposed to be outside because of the law, because everything legal ain't necessarily right. It's a whole lot of stuff that's legal, but that does not make it right. Slavery was legal, but it was not right. Y'all still not shouting. Jim Crow was legal, but it was not right. The executive orders may be legal, I doubt it, but they are not right.

37:58 And y'all, this woman, here it is, has this issue of blood, and there's a crowd around Jesus, and she can't get to him. But she's a woman. You know, women are resourceful and creative. Look at a black woman around you and say, I know you creative. And watch this. This woman, watch this. She's on her knees and she's crawling through the crowd. She's crawling through the crowd. And as she's crawling through the crowd, she's saying to herself, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, if I can just touch the hem of his garment. Y'all, she kept saying it to herself because sometimes you got to talk to yourself when ain't nobody else saying what you need to hear.

38:54 Talk to yourself. And she kept talking to herself, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, if I could just. and within herself, she felt freedom. And Jesus said, uh-oh, wait, who touched me? Who touched me? And Peter said, yo, gee, seriously, you see this cloud around you? He said, I ain't talking about those rubbing up against me.

39:27 I'm talking about a touch of faith because the crowd comes for a rub, but a touch of faith will change your life. You better preach Freddie Haynes. I'm doing the best I can. On Sunday mornings, there's always a crowd coming for a rub. They want to see who's zooming who. There's always a crowd coming for a rub. They want to see who's wearing what. There's always a crowd coming for a rub. They want some political connections. There's always a crowd coming for a rub. They want to be entertained. But every now and then, when life has you down, you ought to come here for a touch. and y'all Jesus said daughter your faith has healed you go into shalom go into peace the book says here's your shout Jesus kept on with Jairus but before he got to the house they said don't bother him she did Jesus said I specialize in the impossible.

40:43 I specialize when you think it's the end in establishing a new beginning. I think that's a word for somebody to shout on because it looks like the end, but God says, no, baby, Baba, I'm setting the stage for a new beginning.

41:04 And Tech says he took her by the hand, said Talitha Kumai and brought her up back to life because a resurrection had taken place. What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say that when you start to interpret the signs, what is good? When God seems silent, God ain't still, but moving on the margins. Thank you. Okay, okay, okay. Notice he was lepers, blind men, woman with an issue of blood, outlawed from being outside, dead girl. I mean, we're talking about on the margins.

41:58 That's what God is moving. God ain't moving in the palace. God is moving with the peeps. God ain't moving in the big house. God moves among those who are unhoused. God moves among those with small houses. God moves on the margins. That's where God is moving in the lives of everyday people. That is where God is moving. God doesn't show up in a palace or a castle. God shows up where people are crushed and suffering and hurting. And that's what John has to understand. You want to see Jesus move? Then you go where people are hurting.

42:50 I got to say this. One of the things that bothers me about this nation is that so many, especially in the church, have been head, hoodwinked, and bamboozled to the point where we are silent, quiet, and blind to suffering going on in this world. And the sad reality that the vast majority of people in this world live on less than $5 a day, and the church ain't saying nothing about it. The sad reality is we live in a nation, my sisters and brothers, where the wealth transfer has gone up. And the sad reality is people are suffering, whites in Appalachia, Hispanics in Barrios, black folk in the hood, and not to mention Native Americans on reservations that are really plantations of suffering. I'm letting you know people are suffering not just here, but they are being crippled by confusion and crushed in the Congo.

43:51 They're being hurt and catching hell in Haiti. not to mention suffering in the Sudan because of civil war. And please don't forget about the hell experienced by those in Gaza and Palestine. Don't you know we may ignore them, but that's where God is. That's where God shows up. That's where God wants us to get ourselves so we can be a part of healing and the solution. Oh man, I'm losing y'all, so let me go ahead. So we interpret the signs and you'll discover that, oh, this is so good right here. God gives signs of hope in the midst of your hell.

44:36 Signs. Signs. I like that. Signs. The sign ain't the place, but it's pointing you to it. Okay. The sign ain't where you're going, but it lets you know which way to go. Right, right, right. Okay. Unfortunately, yesterday I missed the wonderful hanging of the greens, heard great things. And I was in Cali because this is the weekend. My family has the family gathering of Sweetie's Brunch, named after my grandmother Sweetie. And so I flew from Dallas to San Francisco Thursday night. Will McCall was gracious enough to honor me as organization with the Zan and Wesley Holmes Leadership Award. It was really cool. And then I went to the airport to catch a flight. And y'all, my flight was delayed.

45:29 It was delayed leaving. And then we get to, yeah, Ameritrash. Got to San Francisco. I didn't get there until like 2 o'clock in the morning. So I get there at 2 o'clock in the morning. Not in the best of spirits. And so I decided to catch a cab to the hotel. And so I get this cab and this dude, it's 2 o'clock in the morning and he is wide awake. It's 2 o'clock in the morning. He's wide awake. I've had a long day and he is wired and all the way live at 2 o'clock in the morning. And so, you know, I'm working on me knowing my introvert has to sometimes turn on some extroversion so I can be nice. And so he wants to talk. And y'all, he starts giving me his autobiography. I had not asked him one question. And he is giving me his autobiography. This brother could talk.

46:22 He just talked, talked, talked, talked, talked, talked, talked, talked, talked. Said I got divorced after 30 years of marriage. And I got these kids. And I'm giving my kids everything I can to make sure. And now that I'm divorced, I'm out here in these streets. And the honeys are just loving me. I just saw the best. I mean, he's, I ain't asked one question about a honey. I ain't asked about his family situation, his kids, and he is volunteering all of this information I'm not asking about. And so he keeps on talking, and finally he says to me, so where are you from? And so I let him know Dallas, but I grew up in San Francisco. He said, oh, that's cool. So what kind of work do you do? I said, oh. Now, after all he had told me, I'm trying to figure out how not to say I'm a preacher. And so, you know, I hear Jesus saying, you're ashamed before me.

47:19 So, I said, all right, man, I pastor a church in Dallas, Texas. He said, oh, you're a preacher. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I mean, I'm telling y'all, he, everything shifted. It just shifted. And he talked about how, he said, oh, I need to tell you right there. He said, you know Mount Davidson because you're from San Francisco. Mount Davidson is a hill. It's the highest point in San Francisco, a city built on seven hills. And at the top of Mount Davidson is this cross. It's a cross that goes up and it's the highest point. in the city of San Francisco. He said, you see that cross right there? That's Mount Davidson. I got saved by that cross. And now the conversation has shifted because it was about the honeys. It was about all this other stuff.

48:12 But now it's about how that cross at the top of Mount Davidson saved him. And y'all, he started talking about that cross. He said, when my wife divorced me, I divorced her really because she was playing on me. He's still giving me info I did not ask him. And he said she was playing on me, wouldn't come clean. And that's when I had to let her go. I still love her to this day. She still has my heart. And as I was driving to her home to let her know that it was, I was driving home to let her know it was over. It was one of those foggy nights in San Francisco and the fog just descended on the city. It blanketed my car. I could not see in front of me, but then I looked up and saw the cross. That's where we live. We live near Mount Davidson or we lived near Mount Davidson. And when I saw that cross through the fog, that's when I knew I was going in the right direction.

49:12 He said, that cross, it saved me. That cross, when I was down in a foggy situation, I looked to the cross and I pray every day, Pastor. Every day I talk to God. God is a mighty good God. That conversation shifted it, didn't it? But the real point he made that got me was when everything was foggy, he looked and saw a cross through the fog, and the cross was the sign. I think that's a shout right there. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light, and the burdens of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith. I received my sight. Now I'm happy. Oh, the day. I got to quit. Here it is and I'm done.

49:58 Inquiry of the Savior. Interpretation of the signs. And then here it is and I'm done. Text lets us know you're independent of your situation. Verse 6 gets me. It says, and blessed is the one who's not offended by me. Blessed is the one who trusts and does not trip. Blessed is the one when life makes no sense, but they hold their hand out in the dark, trusting I'm going to grab their hand and leave them where they need to go. Blessed, it's a new beatitude. Blessed. The word blessed etymologically is not eugolites from which we get eulogy.

50:51 That's often used as blessed. Instead, it's makarios. Makarios, which simply means, here it is, it means favor even when situations are unfavorable. Okay, okay. It means, here it is, it means you are independent of circumstances. It means you are like this, internally content regardless of your external circumstances. It means internal satisfaction regardless of your external situation. You still didn't shout. It means that you don't define your disposition by what's happening around you because blessing means you got something within you.

51:45 that hold you together when your world is falling apart. Okay, let me quit. So I was telling you about this surfer. Let me close with the surfer because the surfer survived and was interviewed on the local television station in Maui. And here's what the surfer said because the journalist raised the question. I love it. Did you ever think you were going to die? This was it. To which he responded, no. because my training kicked in. And when my training kicked in, I just simply resorted to doing what I had been trained to do. I resorted to what I had been taught. And because I had been taught well, I knew there were certain things to do. Number one, I knew don't panic because if you panic and you don't know which way is up, you'll make bad decisions.

52:44 It's bad to make a decision in a situation where you don't know which way is up and you are panic driven in your decision. He said, number two, in my training, I also was taught that whenever you don't panic, that means that you just chill. And once you chill, then you can discover where the bubbles are because bubbles are only going in one direction. They're going up. And so once you don't panic and just chill, then you start waving your hand in order to catch the bubbles because once you know where the bubbles are going, you know to swim in that direction. But then finally, I had a life vest on and the life vest only goes in one direction. And so I felt the tug of the life vest that was going in the direction of the bubbles and that's the direction I began to swim in.

53:38 I survived because I did not panic, but I knew how to chill. I survived because I raised my hand and my hand caught the bubbles. I survived because I let go and allowed what I was covered by. I'm covered by a life vest. I'm covered by a life jacket. I allowed what covered me to do its work and rescue me. Y'all, I'm about to shout, but every now and then, if you want to pick up what God is putting down and you find yourself down, That's no time to panic and give up. Just pick up what God is putting down. Be anxious for nothing, but by everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God that passeth all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. But once you don't panic, that's when you recognize now is the time to find out where the bubbles are.

54:42 How do you find where the bubbles are? That's when you wave your hand. Wave it in the air like you know God cares. And when you wave your hand, that's why when you see me at church some Sundays and my hands go up, I'm trying to find the bubbles because once I find the bubbles, I've got a feeling everything is going to be all right. And once you find the bubble, remember that you're covered. You're covered by something that will pull you all the way back to the top. Somebody came to church, and if you don't believe me, ask our ancestors, those old school deacons who would get down on one knee in the midst of devotion. They didn't have what we call a praise break or a praise time. They had devotion. Y'all remember devotion where the old deacon would pray, my father, just once more and again, that a few of your humble servants are knee bent and body bound.

55:45 And after they got through praying, that old deacon would then let God know I'm waving my hand, would let God know I'm glad I'm covered. I love the Lord. He heard my cry And y'all once he did that Then before you know it The church went up Why? Because the church knew That the deacon was covered I gotta quit right now But I'm so glad I can pick up what God is putting down. Pick it up. All things work together for good to those that love God and are called according to God's purposes. Pick it up. Pick it up. The Lord is my life and my salvation.

56:40 Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? I feel my help coming. Pick up what God is putting down. Anybody want to pick it up? I'm about to pick it up. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. I'm about to pick it up. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding.