The Breakdown: "Come Through, Jesus"

17:40 the center of my joy. Can we give God praise one more time for brother Vincent Hall? Come on, give God praise one more time for brother Vincent Hall, our entire music ministry. amen for blessing us thank you brother vince for uh that moving selection and for that powerful reminder uh and again what is mental health uh awareness month as we try to center down and anchor down we're going back to uh the study from uh sunday luke chapter 7 uh beginning at verse 11 through verse 17 we give god praise and we give god uh glory uh for uh the spirit of christ in whom we live and move and have our being. And we also honor our senior pastor, Reverend Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. Amen. In his absence, he's on assignment tonight. Amen. He's in demand all across the country. So we send our prayers to him that God will use him mightily tonight.

18:39 It's a solo flight. So y'all pray for your boy. Amen. With your prayers and with God's help. Amen. We'll unpack this word again, a powerful word from Sunday. Come through Jesus. from Luke chapter 7. I want to do a couple of things. We'll lift some of the high points from Sunday's sermon. It's preached by Dr. Haynes. And then we'll turn to the text. We'll read the text. And then we'll get into our deep dive Bible study. But one of the first things that Doc asked is, have you ever wanted God to make it make sense? have you ever wanted god to make it make sense he said it's a contradiction to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave built on the back of the slave we don't tell that part we we're proud to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave but we don't like to tell the truth that that land of the free that that home was built on the back of enslaved people and so there's a collective trauma a collective sorrow a collective grief that we as black people amen must contend with as we deal with our mental health he asked us how do you heal a heart that has been broken from loss he talked about the loss of a mother but we could we could expand upon that the loss of a job, amen, the loss of access, the loss of resources.

20:17 How do you heal a heart that has been broken from loss? He said, whenever you are going through, that's when you get to watch Jesus come through. Whenever you're going through, that's when you get to watch Jesus come through. We're going to talk about that here in a little bit. point one was that Jesus will pull up when life has you down. Jesus will pull up. That's for all the young people. Amen. Jesus will pull up. Amen. When life has you down, what is pull up? Come to wherever you are. Amen. Jesus will come to wherever you are. Jesus will pull up when life has you down. He said that God has a way of pulling up. God has a way of pulling up when you are about to give up. Have you ever been about to give up? And at the place where you're about to give up is the place, amen, where God will do his best pull-up job. Watch this.

21:15 We serve a God also who centers you and who sees you. You're not on the periphery to God. You're not on the periphery to your heavenly Father. Amen. So while others marginalize you, while others attempt to write you off, your God centers you and your God sees you. Okay. Here's a powerful point. We're going to talk about this tonight. There is power in the word that you use. The power of the word. The power of the word. Why? Because when God speaks, things change. when God speaks it, that changes it. Or when God speaks to it, it has to change.

22:10 Why? Because all of the universe, Dr. Haynes said, is word activated. All of the universe is word activated. Let there be light. And light said, let me show up because God called me forth, right? All of the universe is word activated. He said that when you experience loss, resurrection power sets you up for a gain. So that everything that we assume to be a loss is really God's way of setting us up to get more than we ever imagined.

22:44 Here was point number two. If you see something, you better say something. If you see something, you ought to say something. We associate that with the culture of safety. But in the house of God, that ought to be associated with the culture of worship and the culture of praise and the culture of the believer that we overcome by the word of the, by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony. If I see something good ought to tell you how good God has been to me. If I've seen God make a way, if I've seen God heal, if I've seen God open doors, the old saints would say, I just couldn't keep it to myself. had to tell somebody else what the Lord, not my, come on, talk to me, not my money, not my education, not my qualifications, not my boss, not my connections. I had to tell what the Lord has done for me. So if he's been good, you ought to say so. Look at somebody and just say, he's been good. Help me tonight. Look at somebody and tell him he's been good. Yeah, he's been good.

23:45 the passage that we focus on tonight from Luke chapter 7 again preached with such power and authority by Dr. Haynes on Sunday comes from the gospel of Luke the seventh chapter and if we wanted to give context to Luke chapter 7 I would say that Luke chapter 7 is about Jesus's lordship being authenticated. Jesus' lordship, his power being authenticated.

24:25 Starting with point, there's several moves, several moves through the scene, through the chapter, right? Several moves, several narrative pivots that take place in Luke chapter 7, I want to start in the middle and work my way out because the first or the third move, we might say, and really what I want to say is the one that helps us to see that it is about Jesus's authority, his power, his lordship being authenticated happens in Luke chapter 7 when his cousin, John the Baptist, is in prison. And the Bible says that he sent disciples to ask Jesus, are you the one or should we be looking for somebody else? Yeah, and it's a trip because again, John the Baptist was Jesus's cousin, right? They had grown up together. They knew one another. John's ministry is literally predicated on Jesus being who Jesus says that he is and John says are you the one some of you are asking that in your relationship life some of you are asking that amen in your job life some of you are asking that amen in in your faith life are you the one or do we need to look for somebody else and Jesus really helps us to see watch this you can be a blessing to people and they still choose to problematize you that you can be an answer to somebody's prayer and they still make a decision to hold you out to be a problem.

26:07 Are you the one? Or are we to look for another? And then that last move is Jesus gathered around the table with his disciples, with his homeboys, they're kicking it, and a woman who the text describes as a sinful woman, But that's how the disciples perceived her. Comes in to anoint Jesus' feet. And one of the disciples says, watch this, if he was really a prophet, he would know the kind of woman that she is. Now they've seen him open blinded eyes. They've seen him unstopped deaf ears. They've seen the lame walk. They've seen the blind receive their sight. And they still have the nerve to say, if he is who he says that he is. Isn't that what Jesus says to John while he's in prison? You look at the miracles that have been done, right?

27:03 You look at the miracles and you tell me, am I who I say that I am? They're gathered around the table, a woman who they perceive to be in sin comes, and the disciples of Jesus who have walked with him and talked with him for three years say, if he's a prophet, he would have known who she was. this is Jesus authenticating his lordship his authority and his power and what better way to do that than to declare and to make clear his power and his authority over death itself the bible says that i like the first miracle that jesus is is making his way into town and a centurion what is a centurion the leader of the roman military sends his jewish homeboys his jewish intermediaries he's not a jew but but he sends his jewish intermediaries to go to jesus to say my servant is sick even to the point of death and and check this out I know that on the basis of my authority that if I just tell a member of my legion of my centurion to go to the left they go to the left and if I tell them to go to the right they better go to the right why I said I'm gonna show As a matter of fact, I'm so cold with it that I'll send members of the Jewish community on my behalf.

28:41 I've got that kind of power. I've got that kind of authority. I've got that kind of lordship. Watch this. Except over the death of my servant. I can tell my soldiers to go left. They go left. I can tell my Jewish comrades to go right and they go right. But I can't tell sickness to get off my children. I can't tell death to get off the back of my servant. And so, Jesus, I'm coming to you. Now, here's where the centurion messes me up. He says, I know that if I've got the kind of authority that I've got, that if I just send the word, my servants have to do it. You must have enough power that you don't even have to come to my house. But if you would but send the word to my house, whatever's in my house is going to be good by the time I get home. just you don't have to come to my house just send the word just just send the word to my situation and somebody here tonight you're hearing in bible study and you're trying to get a word because you need god to send a word to your house to to your next doctor's visit you need god to send a word to your bank account you serve a god who doesn't even need to come by the house he can just send the word and what's wrong in your house will be made right through the word.

30:02 Just send the word. Amen. So you're in God's house tonight. And if you, if you just tell the Lord what you need, he can send a word to your house while you're in his house. That, that's that, I love that story. But the central focus of our study tonight, of our sermon from Sunday, was the story of the widow woman. A widow woman from a city that is called Nain. And according to my research, Nain only shows up one place in the Bible. And it is here. And it's a little city. A little hamlet, a little town somewhere around Galilee. So this is a miracle performed in Jesus' own hood.

30:59 He's still in the neighborhood. Amen. He's in the hood performing miracles. Isn't that good news to know that while the rich are getting rich and the poor, amen, are getting poor, we serve a God who still performs miracles in the neighborhood. I wish I would help me tonight. Right, that you don't have to live in the White House for God to bless your house, but God will still send blessings in your neighborhood. He's still blessing in the hood. And Jesus here in this little neighborhood of name in and around Galilee encounters a grieving mother. But I want to expand it beyond the grieving mother. That I think was the focus of the sermon on Sunday. amen because we were celebrating Mother's Day amen shout out to all the mothers amen my mama's still in town amen shout out to all to all of the mothers amen but but but but it's not just this widowed grieving mother it's also a story about a broken community um and and we have to I think start there as a people because as uh Dr. Haynes said we love to talk about living in the land of the free and the home of the brave without acknowledging the fact that it was built at and by the hands and through the hands of the enslaved right and that failure to tell that story inculcates the trauma that we continue to repeatedly experience whether it is through the death of young people who should not die before their time but because they're caught up in the street culture and a drug culture they are losing their life faster than they should and that compounds the trauma in the community uh or or or or disease that takes the life of the young or the old amen before their godly appointed time that's a compounding trauma upon the community so this grieving mother is living in the midst also of a broken community.

33:06 The Bible tells us that Jesus enters the city called Nain and he encountered a funeral procession leaving the city gates. I forgot to read it. I got so excited. I forgot to read it. We're going to read it. Luke chapter 7 and we'll begin at verse 11 of Luke chapter 7 from the New Revised Standard Version. It says, in the midst of a funeral procession as the man who has died is being carried out of the city.

34:04 He was his mother's only son. And she was a widow. And with her was a large crowd from the town. We're not clear if she sees Jesus, but the Bible says that Jesus saw her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, do not weep. Then he came forward and touched the buyer or the beer and the bearers stood still. So they're carrying an open casket. This is an open casket funeral. This is Mamie Till in Chicago in 1954 who says, my baby died at the hands of white supremacists who maimed and mangled his body, and I need the world to see what they did to my child.

35:06 So we're going to have an open casket funeral for my baby in Nain or Chicago. Amen. The neighborhood. Amen. And so this is an open casket funeral, and the Bible says that Jesus touches the casket. And those who are bearing the casket stop in their tracks. Then he came forward and touched the bearer and the bearer stood still and he said, Young man, I say to you, rise.

35:40 Young man, I say to you, rise. Simple word. the bible says the dead man sat up and began to speak. He's a grown man, but like a baby, Jesus gave him to his mother.

36:07 Fear seized all of them, and they glorified God, saying a great prophet. There's that authentication again, right? A great prophet has risen among us and God has looked favorably on his people. This word about him spread throughout Judea and all of the surrounding country. So again, a widow who has now lost her only son. And as Dr. Haines said on Sunday, I iterate again, this is a critically important detail because in first century Israel, widows were among the most vulnerable people in society. Even in the ancient world of the Old Testament, right?

37:02 We have the prophets saying consistently what? Take care of the poor. Take care of the orphan. Take care of the widows. so without a husband to support her and without a son to protect her or to provide her any progeny this woman now faces economic devastation she's a woman who must deal now with social instability she's a woman who's got to deal watch this with deep loneliness loneliness as we talk about mental health. We've got to deal with the role of loneliness and the perpetuation of mental health. And then let us not forget her deep grief. This is grief upon grief upon grief. Luke paints a scene that is filled with sorrow. A grieving mother who's a widow, a dead son. But then we've also again got a broken community because Jesus finds this woman in the midst of what a funeral procession and a crowd walking in participatory mourning okay now I only my Louisiana folk my New Orleans folk can talk about the second line right am I right right and and the strut right which is which is about a dichotomy between joy and mourning. Okay, so we know that this is the neighborhood. Amen.

38:42 This name is the neighborhood. These are black folk, and this is, amen, this is a black participatory funeral procession to the graveside. Y'all ain't got to say amen. I'm gonna preach anyway. Huh? These are people who are participating in the grief. This is a broken community, And there is power here if we sit for just a little bit as we talk about, first of all, the pain. The pain as Jesus encounters a grieving mother and a broken community. This is a text that opens with an atmosphere of deep despair. This ain't joy. This is hard stuff. This is vulnerability. This is grief. this is despondency and the trick and the beauty of black people is watch this we have had to live in death and despair and vulnerability but we have found a way to convert death and despair into joy y'all to talk to me here tonight that right uh in frankly isn't frankie beverly amazed that said joy and pain are like sunshine and rain.

40:00 That ain't just a good R&B hit. That's good theology that for us as people who are kissed by nature's son, we've had to live with the dichotomous experience of joy and pain. And to watch this do the work of turning what is despairing and death dealing into joy. That's why we have the second line. that's why we got the strut we turn what is death dealing into joy producing Dr. Haynes said it this way. You can look one way publicly, but feel another way privately. If you live long enough, life has a way of draining you. Amen. Draining you. I'm not testifying. I'm just preaching it.

40:52 It can just take, because if it ain't one thing, it's another. If it ain't this, it's that. If it ain't the kids, it's the house. If it's not the house, it's the dog. If it ain't the dog, it's your neighbor, right? And life has a way of draining you emotionally. And when you get your emotions together, then it drains you spiritually. And when you get your spirit together, then you're drained physically. And so this is an experience of loss.

41:23 Loss. what does it mean dr hayes said to mourn a heart or to nurture a heart that is broken through loss sunday was difficult for somebody because of the loss of a mother right the economy is difficult for people right now because of the loss of a job, the loss of income. This is an experience of deep loss. And sometimes we're going to talk about praise in a little bit when we get beyond the pain. Sometimes the praise in the middle of the pain is, Lord, I lost everything, but I didn't lose my mind. Huh? Y'all to talk to me tonight. I lost my job. I lost this. I lost friends. I lost influence. Amen. But I did not lose my mind. I I still was able to identify Jesus in the middle of my death dealing situation.

42:26 I had enough sense to identify, to call on, to beckon to my side, Jesus in a death dealing situation, in a despairing circumstance, in the worst situation of my life. I had enough sense to call on the name of the Lord. Live with pain long enough and your testimony will be, I've been through the storm and rain, but I made it, right? I'm still here. Despite what I'm going through, despite what I'm struggling with, despite what I lost, despite what I think that I should have that I don't have, my losses didn't break me. My losses didn't take my mind. in that black people's story we've been through so much we should be crazy America should be towed up from the flow up but we but we've held on to at least a little bit of our joy and our mind so we encountered this woman this grieving widow grief upon grief she's a widow she's lost her only son and the community has gathered with her one of the beauties of our people or let me say it a different way um how about this one of the things i think people misunderstand about black faith this is why i don't like watching church in movies is is we mistake the fact that joy is not our joy is not produced in a vacuum we just got finished a minute ago talking about how we produce joy out of despair our joy often comes through lament, through our grief, through our pain. As we remember those that we've lost, then we remember something that they said. We remember how they look. You look, right? Our children come in the room and they say, man, you look just like ain't so-and-so. You look just, right? And our joy is often produced on the other side of our lament. We can't rush to,

44:37 Let's not rush to the joy without also dealing with the fact that this is a community in lament. And it is biblical for us to lament, to be able to speak our pain to God. Somebody ought to write that down. It is biblical for you to speak your pain to God. Don't let nobody tell you that it ought to always be sunshine. That it ought to always be roses. huh that you ought to always just keep a stiff upper lip no sometimes you have to connect to god through the tears through the pain through the agony through the despair that's where we find and meet god it is through the pain watch this that we discover and we discern discover and discern god to be a presence before i rush there i want to say i want to offer you this uh one of My favorite text in college was the fire next time.

45:36 James Baldwin. Powerful line that I want to leave you with as we think about pain and the reality that we are, that God offers us the space to lament. Jesus can handle your worst circumstance. You have to, you might have to have it all together for other people, but you ain't got to have it all together for God. You can cuss at God. You can fuss at God. God big enough to handle it. You can fuss at God. You can tell God, I don't like this. I hate that. Isn't that what Jesus did on the cross where he was quoting from the psalter? What is the psalter? The praise and the hymn book of Israel. What does the psalm say? My God, my God.

46:24 How are you going to do me like this? If I was Pastor Haynes, I would have said hell. But I ain't Pastor Haynes, so I can't get away with that. Right? But my God, my God. how in the world did I end up here? Where are you in all of this? God is big enough to handle the worst of you. This is that quote that I want to leave you with. You think your pain, Mrs. Baldwin writing in the midst of the civil rights movement, he said, you think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world. But then you read. it was books that taught me that the things that tormented me the most were the very things that connected me with all of the people who were alive and who have ever been alive that's why i think this community is broken but together for this mama because they know what it is to lose someone they know what it is to weep when death has come. They know what it is to lose a cousin or to lose a job. Amen. To not have enough money to make the ends meet. Right? They understand. And what a blessing it will be for us as a community to stop fighting each other and to be together, recognizing that the things that torment us most are the things that most connect us to each other.

47:53 My God. In the pain, we discover God as a presence. That's the second thing. That's the second move. We move from pain. This is a community in pain. And they encounter Christ as a presence. Verse 13. when the Lord saw her he had compassion on her when the Lord saw her we're going to deal with that lower piece in a little bit because as Dr. Haynes said on Sunday this is the first time that Luke uses the word Kyrios translated from the Old Testament Adonai Lord and it is watch this to affirm his authority as a source of compassion before he says anything to her, he sees her.

48:59 I like this because the widow never asked Jesus for help. She never calls his name. She never makes a request. But Jesus notices her before she ever speaks. Here it is. here you are and you don't think that you can voice what bothers you some one writer said it another way you are as sick as your secrets and as we talk about mental health we are confound confronted by the reality that we don't talk about what it is that we've been through This is, we don't talk about what it is that we've been through. This is a communal reality.

49:52 I've never, I don't know your family, but you know that there are people in your, there are things in your family you just don't talk about. things that you just don't say you keep it in the house right okay she doesn't call for jesus but jesus sees her luke intentionally calls jesus here lord again emphasizing his divine authority and his divine identity it is this lord who sees the grieving woman in many ways he's trying to cast a juxtaposition between what the lordship of caesar who raises the taxes on the poor who deprives them of food who only gives them bread and circuses. He's really juxtaposing this to the lordship even of the centurion who says I can command my servants or my soldiers to go left or right and they got to do what I say.

51:08 compares that with the lordship of the compassionate one this is not detached observation this is divine compassion and divine visitation this is divine and holy presence because even though she don't want to or she doesn't talk about what is bothering her. Everybody can see it. She's in a funeral procession. Jesus ministers to it through presence. Here it is. The compassion moves him toward her suffering.

51:50 Okay. You ever notice when people start crying, we give them tissue, and it's like, it's literally like a reflex. You're in church and people start crying. What we start we go and get some tissue and and we think that we're being helpful really what we're saying is ew i don't want to see that their compassion their disruption the disruption of their spirit disrupts ours so the tissue is about moving away from the suffering aristotle said human beings are social animals social creatures what one does impacts what another's going to do right people start crying and something you ever seen somebody start crying and somebody else start crying okay all right okay right we're social animals and so when that tissue is about wanting to move away from the suffering. Jesus does the opposite. Jesus runs to it. And the Bible says he has compassion on her. I appreciate what Dr. Haynes does Sunday. He said, we don't know how the son died. We don't know where he died. We just know that he's dead and there's a funeral. And there's a grieving mother who's lost her only son. And the Bible says he has compassion on her. Now, here's the challenge. We misconstrue compassion with license.

53:26 Okay. Okay. Somebody said, fix that for me, Reverend. Okay. We, we miss, we misconstrue compassion with license. We don't know how the son died. We just know that he's dead and we got a grieving mother. The Bible says that he's moved with compassion upon her. And we oftentimes believe that compassion is about excusing the dysfunction.

53:52 Let's just assume, right? We got a holy imagination. We don't know how he died, but we can just assume. Think about all the ways in your community that young people die too soon. Leave before their appointed time. okay that might be too much for you just think about your house your children your nieces your nephews compassion doesn't override correction okay y'all don't like this okay okay Jesus has compassion on her, not just about her mourning. The compassion is about Jesus seeing her, not just what's bothering her and driving her to tears. Jesus sees all of her, including the dysfunction.

54:48 Jesus is drawn and moved by compassion. We see this similarly when Jesus looks upon the city and we get that short verse, Jesus wept, or he would move, or in other places where we see Jesus looking upon the multitudes and being moved with compassion upon them, it's not just that Jesus is feeling, oh, sorry for them. It's that Jesus is mad because these Negroes can't get it together. move with compassion upon them.

55:22 As we talk about mental health, right, we got to be clear about the places and the spaces where the presence of God shows up, not just to dry our tears, but to check our motives, to check our heart, to check our actions. What does he say? Don't cry. I got another move for you. All right, this is too tough. All right, let me move on. Jesus is present in the grief, present in the sorrow, present in the despair. He's also present in the confusion, present in the dysfunction.

56:01 There in where he is present, he displays his power. He displays his power. he speaks life where death has settled and that is power.

56:22 The power of the Roman Empire is only to put to death. That's what's going to happen to Jesus as he's going to be crucified on Galgatha's hill, right? The Roman soldiers, maybe one among them will be the centurion who had him heal his servant, right? among the centurions are going to what? Gamble for his clothes.

56:49 They're going to put mocking garments upon him. They're going to crown his head with thorns. They're going to pierce him in his side. He's going to be pierced by the Roman authority. He's put to death because the Roman Empire's power is the power of death. It's a death-dealing power. It's a death-dealing government. it's a death dealing authority and jesus shows his power in the presence of death he affirms his authority he affirms his lordship by speaking life in the presence of death oh my god and here we are in the midst of this death dealing administration with these death dealing policies coming from the legislature death dealing rulings coming from the supreme court and the word of god for the people of God tonight is can you speak life in the face of death? Can you declare the things of God that are not as though they were? Do you have the power to speak life even in the presence of death? Death dealing authorities in the White House, death dealing authorities in City Hall, death dealing, amen, around the legislative table, but there is a word of life in the face of death. Jesus says, let me interrupt this procession. Cause y'all are headed to the graveyard and I'm getting ready to send y'all back home. Yeah. Let, let, let me interrupt this, this death dealing procession. You're on the way. Amen. To, to, to lay the body in the grave, but I'm getting ready to speak a word of life in the face of death. And he shows his lordship by disrupting.

58:28 Who am I talking to tonight? Here, here it is. He doesn't deny the fact of death. That's good preaching he doesn't deny that death is real he doesn't deny that death has come he doesn't deny that this is a funeral procession he says i don't need to deny it i just need to disrupt it he said let me disrupt this death dealing let let me disrupt this despair let me disrupt this disappointment and who am i preaching to tonight you don't need to deny what has happened to you but you do need to disrupt it and i'm so glad that i serve a jesus who sits high and who looks low who says i'm not going to deny your despair but i will disrupt it i'm not going to deny your pain but i've got the power to disrupt it i'm not going to deny what happened to you but i'm going to give you a power to stand up and to get up in the face of death dealing policies and death dealing family members, death dealing co-workers and to speak a word of life in the face of what is dealing death.

59:35 He said I'm not going to deny it. I just came to disrupt it. And there's some systems in your life you can't deny. Because if you deny it you'll miss the opportunity to disrupt it. There's some dysfunction in your family you can't deny. because if you deny it you won't be the one to disrupt it oh yeah yeah yeah there's some stuff we can't deny we got to call it for what it is ace gotta be a ace spade gotta be a spade you gotta call it what it is because if you deny it you can't disrupt it I'm speaking to somebody who got to go home tonight and you got to say what it is you can't deny what's happening in the life of your child you can't deny what's happening in your own mind you can't deny what's happening in your own heart because God has given you the power to disrupt it in the middle of the funeral procession.

1:00:41 Bible says he does it by touching the open casket. This is again about what? Affirming his lordship. Affirming his authority even over death. Leviticus 11, 31 through 38. The book of Numbers chapter 19 verses 11 through 16. and even Haggai. We don't even preach or teach Haggai. Chapter 2, verse 13, we learn about the rituals and the rules that made death a method for making one ceremonially unclean. did you hear what I said? Let me say it another way.

1:01:34 Numbers 19, 11 through 16, Leviticus 11, 31 through 38, Haggai chapter 2, verse 13. These are texts that show us that when death has come, in the Jewish tradition, death made one or one's household or anything that the dead person touched ceremonially unclean. Okay. Not just the body, but the grave clothes were unclean. The bed has become unclean. Huh? The casket, this open casket is now unclean. those who are carrying it they're gonna have to go and wash they're gonna have to go and make oblation they're gonna have to go and and and perform ceremonies and rituals to to make themselves righteous again because the fact that they are touching this dead body makes them unclean and jesus says i'm a risk being ceremonially unclean to speak life where there is death.

1:02:51 I'm going to risk being messy so I can turn it around for my mission. And with a word, with a word, he activates resurrection where death was believed to be final.

1:03:12 They're on their way to the graveyard. They're on their way to bury this young man. They're on their way to put him in the tomb. And on the way to the graveyard, Jesus said, I got another word that I can speak over your dead situation. And he says, young man, I say to you, rise.

1:03:43 Not spooky. that ain't deep that ain't deeply spiritual it's just a question of if you're gonna be obedient yeah young man I say young woman I say family I say get up out of what is a dead situation get up out of what is problematic for you get up out is out of what is despairing for you get up out of what is death dealing. I say to you on the way to the graveyard, there is another word. Get up. And when God speaks, things got to change. When the Lord speaks, that has to change it. Here it is. Even if it doesn't change your situation in the way that you assume, it ought to change you that word from God has the power to change things and then we move from pain community this mother in pain to experience jesus as a healing holistic presence jesus is a holistic presence we move from christ uh being present to displaying his his unparalleled power and he causes that which is dead to come to life again and after the experience of his power the bible says that they went up with a praise the community responds with testimony and with worship. They didn't sit on their blessing. They didn't sit on what God had done

1:05:58 for them. But the Bible says they had to go and tell somebody else about how good God had been to them. They are motivated by the power to do the work of praise. Here it is. The Bible says that the young man rises, the dead man sat up, and he began to speak. It would have been enough if he had just got up. But he didn't just get up. He got up, and he began to speak. Amen. He began to do that which they didn't think was possible. He didn't just get up, but he began to speak. He began to speak, and Jesus, the Bible says, gave him back to his mama. He disrupted the funeral procession. He disrupted the undertaker's business that day. He disrupted the grave digger's business by giving this dead man back to his mama, whole clothed in his right mind. And the Bible says fear seized all of them. Fear seized all of them. And they glorified God, saying a great prophet has arisen among us. Watch this. And God has looked favorably upon his people. Now, this is a miracle that only happens for one woman.

1:07:25 did you get that this is a miracle that happens for one widow who has lost her one son okay two people and the son is brought back to life two people get the miracle but the community says this is a sign that God has visited all of his people y'all still not shouting like I thought you would wouldn't it be a blessing if we got delivered from the spirit of selfishness and self-centeredness and could see that the miracle in my neighbor's house is really also a sign that god is capable of blessing me too wouldn't it be a miracle if i didn't just let my neighbor praise by themselves but i helped my neighbor praise for their miracle with expectation no with certainty that this miracle wasn't just for them.

1:08:21 Okay, let me really help you. Wouldn't it be a blessing if you didn't keep the miracle for yourself? Wouldn't it be a blessing if God blessed you so you could be a blessing to somebody else? Can I speak prophetically tonight and declare that every blessing that God is getting ready to put in your lap ain't for you? But it's a blessing that God is going to give you so you can be a blessing to the whole community. Aren't you glad that the blessing ain't going to stop at your house? But my blessing is for my block. My blessing is for my neighborhood. My blessing is for my church. My blessing is for my community. Everybody in my family getting ready to be blessed when God blessed me. I'm not talking about a house. I'm not talking about a car. I'm talking about peace of mind. All of my family getting ready to be blessed when God blesses me with peace of mind. With love in my heart. Come on. With joy in my life.

1:09:13 everybody connected to me is going to be blessed because of the blessing that god is doing in my life i got to quit y'all don't like this here the witness the witness becomes a proclamation Dr. Haynes said it's Sunday when you see something, you ought to say something. And I believe that we struggle as a people of God, amen, because we don't tell the whole story of what happened. You think that you got to where you got by yourself, right? You thought that you got the job because you had the right resume, because you had the right credentials. But if you told the whole story, sometimes we don't know the whole story, right? That there were angels that kept watch all night and all day. That God had angels keeping watch. That he put a hedge of protection around you while you were stupid and silly and doing your own thing and going your own way. While you were dead to who God was.

1:10:12 Dead to the knowledge of your people. Dead to the knowledge of yourself. Dead to the knowledge of your God. There was another word over your life. and God said get up in the midst of a dead situation he spoke life to that which was supposed to be dead if the Lord's been good to you You ought to say so. If you got good religion, you ought to show some sign. what is your testimony going to be on the other side of your struggle here it is your struggle ain't just about you your struggle is about who God has connected you to heal and to help deliver and to help save when they hear what it is that God did for you when they hear what it is that God brought you through when they see what it is that was dead in your life that God brought back to life your situation ain't even about you it's for the hundred the thousand the million people connected to your testimony of deliverance.

1:11:25 I got to get out of here. Word of God for the people of God. We say tonight, thanks be unto our great God. Doors of the church are open. the invitation to discipleship, the invitation to Christ consciousness is extended. There's someone here tonight in the sanctuary. You're watching me online and you've been in a dead situation so long, getting up, never even crossed your mind.

1:12:00 And the word of God tonight for you is that dead things can live again. Dead situation, dead relationships, dead finances amen watch this dead in your faith not believing that god has another move and the word of god for you tonight is young man young woman get up and be who it is that god has called you to be if you're in the sanctuary tonight we extend this invitation to you dr haynes would love to be your pastor we would love to be your family of faith we've got ministers down front with an extended hand that is a hand of welcome it is a hand that is extended to say your place of purpose your place of destiny your place of resurrection is here at friendship west if you're in the south