Sunday Throwback"Better Than I've Ever Been "

42:03 You may be seated in God's presence. I want to put a tag on this text and for a few moments with your prayers, I want to talk about better than I've ever been. Better than I've ever been. People can be slave ships in shoes. This is a profound and painfully picturesque phrase coming from that genius Zora Neale Hurston. One more time, Zora Neale Hurston said people can be slave ships in shoes. Yeah, you're wearing red bottoms, but you can be a slave ship in fancy shoes. Perhaps you were wearing Air Jordans, but you can be a slave ship in shoes.

43:04 Unpacking the painfully picturesque phrase, one can't help but reflect upon the reality that slave ships contained those who had been traumatized as they had been snatched from home and taken on a journey knowing not where that would be torturous, traumatic, and painful. And so to be a slave ship in shoes is to, in a real sense, find yourself having something behind you that continues to confine and even define you because of its traumatizing effects. A slave ship ensues. Further, I believe may speak to the fact that if you're not careful, you can internalize the oppressive systems that are around you.

44:01 And when you internalize the oppressive systems that are around you, you will find yourself, please don't miss this, even if you are looking good externally, you are still trapped internally. It's possible. Zora Neale Hurston sagaciously suggested to be a slave ship in shoes. My sisters and brothers, I won't forget, just in case that didn't get you, something that happened right before the pandemic. I was preaching for a church. I've preached for just about every single year. And when I landed and picked up, and when I landed and went to the assigned place where my ground transportation was waiting on me, the driver, a D, indeed familiar. I have been preaching at this particular church for years, and when Paul picked me up, my sisters and brothers, I could tell that in spite of the smile and warmth of his greeting that something just wasn't right.

45:08 I asked him if he was okay. He smiled and said yes, but then he revealed to me that on his way to pick me up, he had been hit by another vehicle. The vehicle had hit him, and not only had the vehicle hit him, but the vehicle had kept on going. He was the victim of a hit and run, and yet when he got out, he noted to his satisfaction that there was not much noticeable damage on his vehicle. He was excited about that, and yet there was something about him that was still rattled, still shook from what he had experienced in the hit-and-run accident. And so he drove me to the hotel. We agreed upon the time that he would pick me up to take me to church to preach that evening. When he picked me up, he did not have his car.

46:06 It was a different car. I asked him what happened to his car. It was then that he shared with me, well, even though my car had no noticeable damage externally from the hit and run accident, there was hidden damage. As a matter of fact, there was a radiator that was busted and leaking. To make matters worse, my oil was also leaking. And so shortly after I left you, I did not know that the hidden damage would cause my car to come to a stop on the freeway. I parked here parenthetically because that car has a testimony about trauma and its impact on us. If we are not careful, hear what the car is testifying. Justifying the car, my sisters and brothers to begin says that oftentimes we experience something that hits us and hurts us.

47:09 And then they keep on going about their business. Now, that's bad enough. And I'm looking at someone right now who is looking at me. I don't know you. God has me in your Kool-Aid. I just called out the flavor because you know the pain of a hit and run. I don't know what your hit has been, but a hit and run has taken place. You were left with the damage and they seemingly kept on going. Now, that's bad enough right there when they hit you and then they move on about their lives as if nothing had happened. It is a hit and run. Hold on, the car not only talked about a hit and run and the damage that was left, but check it, the damage, my sisters and brothers, was internal. The damage could not be seen.

48:04 The car still looked good on the outside, but there was damage on the inside that would eventually cause the car to come to a stop at an inconvenient time. Man, already I'm pulling up at somebody's address because, yes, you've been hit. There's internal damage. As a matter of fact, people on your row, they look at you. Some of them are jealous of you because of how fly you look. Some of them are upset because they see the smile on your face, but they have no idea what you've been through just to get where you are right now. Why? Because no matter how big your Bible is, all of us have experienced some kind of hit and run trauma. And the trauma may not have any external damage, but there is some internal damage.

49:01 That's why it's often said in our black church circles, I don't look like what I've been through. And yet, my sisters and brothers, the only danger about that is if you don't look like what you've been through, are you honestly dealing with the internal damage that is the result of what you've been through? Preach, Freddie Haynes, you know I'm about to do that. But not only that, the car let me know that internal damage inevitably will cause you to come to a stop where you just can't go on anymore. And somebody came to church. No, somebody's online. And that's the point that you've reached. You've reached the point where you just can't go on anymore. Well, that didn't get your people in. people who are slave ships walking in shoes, somebody with hidden damage.

50:00 I'll give you this other piece right quick, and that is my sisters and brothers. Every now and then we find ourselves not only hidden, not only experiencing hidden damage from something that happened in the past that still is messing with us in the present, But the reality is we can find ourselves experiencing what Paul said about his car as he lamented to me before the pandemic, my car is now damaged goods. I think I'll stop right there because somebody knows the feeling of damaged goods. you do recognize in some stores they have items that have been slightly damaged. And you know what that means? It means it is now reduced in value. It does not hold the same value that it used to hold because of the damage that it experienced. And some of us, if we're not careful, We will allow how we've been mishandled and damaged to reach a conclusion that we are damaged goods and we will decrease our own sense of personal value because we see ourselves not only with the hidden damage, but we see ourselves, my sisters and brothers, having experienced such damage that we now no longer see our value.

51:35 Well, if that's your story, I want you to know immediately that's exactly, I'm sure, how Peter and those first disciples must have felt. This passage trips me out because oftentimes we rush to Pentecost and we get excited, but we forget the fact that 50 days prior to this passage was the first of three major high holy festival days of commemoration and celebration that the people of God experience on their holy calendar. Understand, the first holy day is Passover. Passover, my sisters and brothers, was what they were experiencing during that torturous and tumultuous week where Jesus, their Lord, liberator, lover of their souls, had been in a real sense lynched.

52:33 Look how it went on Thursday. Thursday, it was a day of torture and trauma as their Savior was betrayed by someone from their ranks. And then they discovered, please don't miss your shelf, that Rome had gotten in bed with Jerusalem. Those who were religiously pious got in bed with the political power structure and conspired to lynch Jesus. And the book says they arrested Jesus, brutally beat him with the Roman police officers. They stripped him naked. He went from judgment hall to judgment hall. The book lets us know it's a kangaroo court of injustice that Jesus has experienced. He is brutally beaten, made to carry his cross up a hill called Golgotha.

53:29 And the text lets us know there on Calvary, he dies. He is lynched on Calvary's cross as a reminder of the occupation of the oppressive Roman Empire. In a real sense, Jesus had experienced the worst. And the text lets us know his protégés of the Prince of Peace had watched all of this happen. Imagine the trauma. Imagine the torture of Thursday. Imagine the flap of fractured Friday, the stunned silence of Saturday. But then there's the surprise of Sunday. Yes, my sisters and brothers, they get word that trauma didn't have the last word. They get word that the lynching of the Lord was not the end of the story. They get word.

54:23 And here's your shout right here that when trauma tries to put a period, God will erase the period, replace it with a comma because period means it's over. Comma means pause, catch your breath because there's more to come. My sisters and brothers, note with me that Jesus gets up on Sunday. He has all power for 40 days. He appears, reappears, disappears, and reappears, teaching them about the kingdom, his reoccurring appearances and disappearances. Let the people who are following him know, get used to the fact that I am no longer trapped in my earthly body. Get used to the fact that you are not going to be able to trap me in one geographical location. It's a preview of coming attractions.

55:19 And now the book says in Acts 1, he goes back to glory. When he goes back to glory, he says, y'all wait right here in Jerusalem, this hostile environment. You wait right here. And when you wait right here, the Holy Ghost is on the way. And the book says for 10 days they waited. And then on the day of Pentecost, Pentecost came. Now, I park right there because Pentecost, as far as I'm concerned, 50 days after Passover, another day of commemoration and celebration, Pentecost had to be triggering. It had to be a triggering reminder of what had happened 50 days prior. Don't forget Passover. Jesus gets set up to be lynched and taken out.

56:14 It's 50 days later, another time of commemoration where Jews from all over the world gather in Jerusalem. This has to be a triggering and tumultuous time. And so what I love about this passage is this passage lets us know that God is so good that even when you have experienced trauma, your life has been flipped, turned upside down. The good news is God ain't done. And God will take you from trauma in the midst of your triggering and then transform you and make you transformational. No, I think that's where I'm going. And you'll be so transformational that the Bible lets us know your testimony will be with Nas. If somebody says, how you doing?

57:09 You're going to say I'm better than I've ever been before. I love my subject. My subject is fly because it ain't original with me. I got it from Nas. Nas, my sisters and brothers. I think it's 08 when Nas drops this particular song better than I've ever been before. Nas is reflecting on his career and all of the highs and lows and the growth he's experienced. And now Nas basically says, it's because of what I've been through that I am where I am right now. What I've been through did not stop me. What I've been through propelled me. It fueled me to become the person that I've become. I'm going to stop and give somebody a moment to shout. Don't let anybody look down on you because of what you've been through. I serve a God who takes what you've been through and then transforms it into fuel to keep you going.

58:11 Fuel to take you where you never would have gone. Give you wisdom you never would have had. Y'all playing holy like you ain't getting this. Some of y'all have wisdom, not from books that you've read, but the wisdom you have is because you graduated. Thank you, Lordy, from the school of hard knocks. Some of y'all are where you are right now in terms of your strength of faith, not because you read about faith, but because God allowed life to back you into a corner, and you came out swinging. And when you came out swinging, you came out stronger, wiser, and better because you're better than you've ever been. Better than you've ever been. God is good enough where your trauma doesn't have the last word. But God can transport you.

59:11 Watch this. To becoming transformed. So you were now transformational. Oh, you didn't shout. I'm trying to help somebody to know that your trauma doesn't have the last word. Whatever they did to you said about you, it's not going to end everything for you. What they intended for evil, God can work for good. and then God is so good that God will prepare a table before you in the presence of those who traumatize you. God will prepare a table of blessing before you in the very face of those who did you dirty and they'll wonder, how are you doing? And your response is, I'm better than I've ever been before because God is able to raise you up in the very place where life had broke you down.

1:00:06 All right. How does this work? Let's unpack this. Let's unpack this because somebody came here. Somebody's online. And the bottom line is that you're saying better than I've ever been before for real? Well, yeah. Let's unpack it. Look, look, the text says first thing is you get positioned for your next chapter. regardless of what went wrong in the last chapter.

1:00:42 I love this. I love this. There is a next chapter. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. There is a next chapter. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He will strengthen your heart. There is a next chapter. I need somebody to know that today. No matter what you've been through, no matter how bad you feel right now, There is a next chapter. Look at the text. The text says that when the day of Pentecost had come. Now, you got to stop right there because that's the beginning of chapter 2. How does chapter 1 end? Chapter 1 ends with them waiting. They are told by Jesus to wait right there. Wait in hostile territory. Wait in Jerusalem where your Lord, watch this, had been messed over by the authorities as they got together with the occupying forces of the oppressive Roman Empire. You wait right there.

1:01:43 I know the territory is hostile, but don't you go nowhere. I know folk are looking at you and talking about you, but don't you go nowhere. You let your presence stay right in that precarious place and then watch what happens and for 10 days they wait.

1:02:05 Wait. Can I be honest? Why is it, this is me, not you, why is it that I'm in a hurry but God ain't? Now, I'm not speaking for you because I know you're patient and you just know how to wait. Not your boy. No, no, no. I'm in a hurry. I want stuff to happen. I need God to move now. And God has the audacity to make me wait, wait, wait, wait. It's real jacked up because I'd like to know what I'm supposed to be doing next. And God says, no, I can't let you do it that fast. You're going to have to just sit and wait. You're going to have to wait.

1:02:58 I love what the disciples did when they were waiting. The text says on the one hand, they prayed. Because sometimes waiting time is praying time. When you find yourself not knowing what to do next, you just start praying. And just keep talking to God for 10 days. they talked to God. For 10 days, they prayed and they waited. They waited and they prayed. For 10 days, they prayed. And sometimes that's all you can do is call on God and wait. And here's the jacked up thing. Can I be real with you? If it was me by day three, I'm going to say, all right, in Jesus' name, can I have it now? And yet they had to keep on waiting day four, day five, day six, day seven, day eight, and still no word from God. Somebody is looking at me right now, and that's your testimony. I'm in my waiting season, wondering what is up. I'm letting you know right now, in waiting season, that's praying time, and praying time is positioning you for the next chapter that God has for you. Waiting time is praying time. And if you're praying, you're getting position. You're getting position because Pentecost is on the way. And when Pentecost comes, instead of it being triggering, it's going to be transformation. No.

1:04:29 man that that that that gets me hyped right there because the text says Pentecost comes and when Pentecost comes they're gathered in that same space where they've been praying and all of a sudden the text says the wind began to blow tongues of fire lit on every disciple I'm tripping right now because they've been waiting and then all of a sudden here comes Pentecost because God allows waiting time to position us if we're praying for what God is doing in the next chapter I got to make this this thing real plain uh uh one one of our blessed members they asked me to keep their name to to to myself but but share their testimony wrote me this email. It was about three weeks ago, and the email was so powerful, I downloaded it on my mental computer. And now I'm going to sermonically pass y'all a copy. Here is what my member shared with me.

1:05:35 She shared with me, watch this, that she and her family were in the waiting room of a hospital as her mother was playing hide and go seek with death. And she said while they were waiting in the waiting room. They called and asked for me to pray. I prayed for them, prayed for especially their beloved mother, and they said they continued to wait in the waiting room. Have you ever been in the waiting room of a hospital? It is a place of anxiety. It is a place of emotional torture because basically you are handcuffed by helplessness as you just wait for good news. You wait for bad news. Sometimes you're waiting for bad news because you're not believing any good news is about to come. And they're waiting.

1:06:28 And she testified while they were in the waiting room, her daughter's cell phone rang. Her daughter answered the cell phone. The cell phone on the other end was good news for her that she was the recipient of a full-ride scholarship to medical school. And she began to shout in the waiting room. Now, I'm going to go ahead and let y'all get this because she's in the waiting room, but she got good news in the waiting room. And she does not wait to get to church to shout, but she shouts in the waiting room. because sometimes you get your shout on where God gives you good news. Now, here's the thing. Her grandmother was still sick and in ICU, but she had received good news over here, though her grandmother was still suffering over there.

1:07:22 And when she was shouting in, walked the doctor. And the doctor said, what has you so happy? And that's when she said, I just got a full ride to medical school. And the doctor said, oh, which school is that? She told the doctor, the doctor said, that's my alma mater. I'm on the board of trustees there. And so what I'm going to do, I'm going to give you an internship right here at this hospital and make sure that you were taken care of. And here was the beginning of her testimony. She said, if I had not been in that waiting room, I would not have been positioned to receive the good news I received. And they got their praise on. And she said, while they were praising, that's when the doctor said, I got even better news for you. I can't explain it.

1:08:17 But somehow during the last hour, your mother took a turn for the better. Your mother is defying the odds. As a matter of fact, I'm going to let you know if she keeps doing what she's doing, I'm going to let her go to a regular room before the end of the day because somebody must have gotten involved in this that's bigger than me and they touched the body of your grandmother. I can't explain it. I cannot define it. But I can let you know there's a power at work in her body and that power has got her ready. and that's when the granddaughter said, Grandma's getting better. I'm going to mad school. The next chapter is about to get better. May I just shout somebody right now? God will get something to you in the waiting room. God will get your good news in the waiting room because God is positioning you for your next chapter.

1:09:21 The day of Pentecost came. And the text says their position for the next chapter. And then, I love this, they're powered to fulfill their purpose and anointed to work their assignment. Oh, I love this. They got power. Look at the text. The text says, day of Pentecost. could have been triggering. And I get that. Because some stuff is an ugly reminder of what happened yesterday. And it will trigger you today. Y'all see what CNN released this week? Diddy been lying and denying about hitting women.

1:10:17 And then it comes out. that he was so reprehensible that in a towel, he took this sister who was trying to escape Peter. And for some, that can be triggering. Please, don't watch stuff that's going to take you back. Give yourself permission to say, I don't have to view it. Give yourself permission to say, I don't have to set myself up. to be triggered. And y'all, look what happened. Look what happened. It's Pentecost. Could be triggering. Instead, it's transformational because the text lets us know. And this messes me up right here. All of a sudden, the wind began to blow. Fire fell. And of course, those are symbols of the Spirit from the Hebrew Bible, symbols of the Spirit.

1:11:16 You do know the wind blew in Ezekiel chapter 37 where the Bible says Ezekiel had a vision of dry bones in a valley which was symbolic of the defeated, depressed people of God who had been beaten and broken by the Babylonian empire. And the book lets us know Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones. And all of a sudden, God raised the question, son of man, can these bones live? Ezekiel says, I don't know, you know. And God said, watch me do what only I can do. And the book says the wind began to blow. And as the wind began to blow, the bones came together. If I'm an old school black Baptist preacher, I say the ankle bone connected to the foot bone, the foot bone and ankle bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone got the hook, got hooked up with the hip bone.

1:12:16 And before you know it, there's a skeleton and then flesh came on the bones. And the Bible lets us know they rose up as a mighty army because of the power of the wind. Jesus put it like this the wind blows where it wants to blow my dear beloved mentor Emmanuel Scott Sr. said the wind has inexorable freedom it blows where it wants to blow the wind will set you free once the spirit gets in your life it has the power of the wind it has the power to set you free hear y'all not shout not gotta shout you it's Pentecost triggering the disciples experience wind and fire fire fire fire oh that's what happened God came down in fire as fire symbolizing God's presence in exodus exodus where God emancipated the people from enslavement because there's something about the presence of God that is antithetical to oppression. There's something about the presence of God that rises up against any kind of brutal oppression. And that, my sisters and brothers, is what this administration had better get with. And that is God ain't on the side of Israel as Israel, 70 years of apartheid, brutal oppression, 70 years of constant terror that the Palestinians have lived under.

1:13:56 For 70 plus years, they've lived under that kind of occupation and oppression for 70 years. And now in the aftermath of October 7th, the war criminal Netanyahu has engaged in a brutal, disproportionate response in the name of declaring war on Hamas. Ain't no war when you're killing 35,000 civilians. Ain't no war when you've had children and women and men slaughtered who ain't got nothing to do with what Hamas had done. Ain't no such thing as a war. It's called a brutal take down a brutality that makes him a war criminal. But here's what's sad. It's being funded by the United States of America. How you going to tell the Palestinians to go and run to Rafa and then that's where you bomb and tell them they've got to leave there because it's brutal and God ain't on the side of oppression.

1:15:03 Oh, I'm losing you. God is on the side of the oppressed setting them free. Man, I saw this and it was powerful. It was powerful. They were showing what had happened. And we pray for Houston and all the wicked weather that took place there. And I'm in New Haven, Connecticut watching the morning news. And while watching the morning news, they showed something that totally had me shouting. They showed, watch this, the wind knocking over a huge garbage bin. The garbage bin fell over. When the garbage bin fell over, the door to the ceiling or the door to the garbage bin opened. When it opened, out flew a bird.

1:15:56 The bird flew out of the trash. It flew out of the garbage bin because what had trapped it had been knocked over by the power of the wind. I said, yo bird, can I holler at you right quick? And the bird said, I got a testimony. I said, what's your testimony? I was trapped in trash. And then the power of the wind began to blow on my situation. And when the wind began to blow on my situation, it set me free from the trash. I got to stop right here because that's a shout for somebody who's been trapped in a trashy relationship, trapped on a trashy job. The wind of the Spirit is blowing in your life and God can use the wind to set you free from that which has trapped you and tried to trash you. The text finally says this, that this is Peter.

1:16:59 Peter. Okay, you're not impressed. Peter basically says, because of Pentecost and the Holy Spirit, I'm on fire and I want all the smoke.

1:17:19 so so the text says watch the text I ain't making this up text says they begin to speak in the dialects of everyone who had gathered from all over the then known world from as far west as what we call Libya today in Africa as well as in many other countries they had come and gathered as a part of the diaspora coming back to Jerusalem. And the Bible says when they gathered, I'm about to shout you, they heard the disciples speak in their dialect. And they are amazed. Most are amazed. But you always got some when they see God moving in your life, when they see God's power on your life. And since they can't explain what happened, they've got to mock you. They got to talk smack about you. They got to go there on you. Ah, so you know I had to go there because we got a member of this church, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, all she's doing is trying to represent. And while representing, she asked Marjorie Taylor Greene, do you know what we're supposed to be talking about right now? Because Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to appease her boss, her wicked boss, Trump.

1:18:45 And so she's talking about the judge in the trial of Trump. And they're supposed to be dealing with something else in this hearing late at night. Jasmine says, do you know what we're talking about? And that's when she says, you can't see through your fake eyelashes. Well, you don't know. She represents the south side of Dallas. She's from St. Louis. And you'll understand. You'll understand. You're going to go there. You want smoke. I own fire. Since I'm on fire and you want the smoke, I can bring the smoke. Let me stop here. Because there are some, and I get it, who are saying, well, she shouldn't have retaliated like that.

1:19:33 Oh. I mean, I've had that. I've received that. Some are saying she shouldn't have retaliated like that. She shouldn't have done that, get into all stuff. There's even folk online. You should see the piece. When I did my post, giving her some love, I mean, folk coming for me and all that stuff. And I must be trash because she's trash. And y'all, they'll understand when you come for me and I don't sin for you, I'm on fire. and I'm going to bring some smoke. And y'all, I park right here because oftentimes in the name of Jesus, we believe that we're supposed to just take stuff. Do you understand the Savior I serve? When he saw the money changers who were ripping off people and doing them dirty, he whipped the mess out of them.

1:20:26 He went parliament funkadelic and said, I'm going to turn this mother out. This is my father's house. You made it into a den of thieves. Do you hear Jesus when the Pharisees are going off on him? He says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. On the outside, you look like white at sepulchrist. On the inside, you full of dead men's bone. I'm glad Jasmine got a spine. And I'm simply trying to say, I'm tired of white evangelicals talking all of their smack. and black folks just laying down taking it. I'm tired of Republicans lying, and Democrats ain't got a spine. Grow a spine and know that you've got the right to fight back. Put on the whole armor of God.

1:21:21 Fight back. We're just rolling over, laying down. This is fight back time. This country, this country, right now we're not careful. We're going to lose what this country claims it wants, a democracy, because we ain't fighting back. I need some saints who are here to say, in the spirit of Frederick Douglass, I'm going to fight back. in the spirit of Harriet Tubman who led her people with a gun. Harriet carried a shotgun because Harriet's thing was either we're going to be free or we're going to die. But the bottom line is we're going to fight back. Well, so of course, Congresswoman Crockett went in.

1:22:25 And all I'm saying, let's fight back. Let's fight back on behalf of Palestinians. Let's fight back on the hell. Let's fight back on behalf of those who were catching hell in Haiti. Let's fight back on behalf of those who are finding themselves in the midst of the conflict in the Congo. Let's fight back on behalf of those who find themselves experienced suffering in the Sudan. Let's fight back on behalf of those who find themselves impoverished in a country that's supposed to be the richest in the world. And yet we got 140 million poor people in this country barely making ends make. And you're not going to fight back? it's time to fight back. Oh, I hear you. I hear you.

1:23:17 I hear you. You say, okay, okay. Fight back. You sure? Uh-huh. I'm real sure. I'm real sure. Because the Holy Spirit, watch this, the Holy Spirit is God's sign to the disciples. Jesus has been with you. Now he lives in you. So the same Jesus that was, oh I love it, soft on sinners but hard on hypocrites. the same Jesus who comforted the afflicted afflicted the comfortable the same Jesus who fought for the oppressed and fought the oppressor his spirit now lives in us and so the beauty of knowing Jesus is now, you ain't got to worry about him walking by your side because he lives inside.

1:24:31 Okay. All right. Well, I'm going to let y'all go. Let me do this and I'm done. This is good because I know what's happening. And that is y'all are thinking about Paul and his car that had hidden damage. Is that it? No, it ain't it. I preached after the pandemic for the church. Paul picked me up. And when he picked me up, same car. Same car. picked me up in the same car I get in the car and when I get in the car he says pastor you want to feel this thing go I like that I said yeah uh show me what you got and y'all he hit that thing it sounded like your car and he hit that thing and it sounded like Magruder's car it took off and we took off with such power I said man what's up he said pastor when I last saw you before the pandemic My car had hidden damage and I found out that a friend of mine who is like a brother to me, his dad is a mechanic and his dad works on cars for the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500.

1:25:43 And so his dad, when he found out what was up with my car, said, bring it to me. I brought my car to his dad because he's my boy. He's like a brother to me. And his dad opened up the hood and went to work and said, listen, because you are my son's friend and my son says you're like a brother to him, what I'm going to do, I'm going to do this all on me. I'm going to get you an engine from one of the cars I've been working on that usually is for a race car. I'm going to put it in this particular car. I'm going to rebuild your car from the inside out. He said, Pastor, I got a new engine. I got a new radiator. I got a whole new car on the inside. And so I look the same on the outside, but I got a new power on the inside. I look the same on the outside, but I got power on the inside.

1:26:41 You see, Pastor, the car is saying, I've been rebuilt from the inside out. And I came to tell somebody, when you know Jesus, the Holy Spirit rebuilds you from the inside. The Holy Spirit gives you a new engine. The Holy Spirit gives you a new mindset. The Holy Spirit gives you power. And when you've got power, you've got power to move forward. You've got power to confront injustice. You've got power to make a difference. You've got power because you've been transformed on the inside. to transform the world around you on the outside. I'm just trying to let somebody know, ask me how I'm doing. I'm better than I've ever been because God is my father and mother. Jesus is my liberator.

1:27:35 The Holy Ghost is my power. I've been rebuilt from the inside. What is this? that won't let me hold my peace. What is this that won't let me hold my peace? What is this that gives me power on the inside to make a difference in the world around me? Whatever it is, it won't let me hold my peace. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Listen. Every head bowed, every eye closed, every Christian, please pray online in the house. You're in church or you're online.

1:28:32 The bottom line is you recognize that you need this power so that in spite of whatever trauma you've experienced, you have a power because you've been rebuilt internally. I think that's what I've been trying to say this whole sermon. And that is Pentecost Sunday is your day to get rebuilt internally. So that what happened back then that left you with hidden damage that only you and God know about. But it's not going to have the last word on you. God rebuilds you from the inside out and when God rebuilds you from the inside out you got a power a power the world didn't give you and the world can't take away you got a power you got peace you got strength and so if you're online you can email us join us at friendshipwest.org or use the QR code or call us 469-498-0210 If you are online, do that right now.

1:29:44 Beautiful thing is from online because God is everywhere. You can join us from anywhere. So go ahead. Dial that number. Email us. Use that QR code. We want you in our family. We want you to know this Savior. And we will pray for you. Pray for you. Trauma ain't got to have the last word on you. Here's the invitation. if you're in the house and you know good and well