SPEAKER_00: Welcome to our podcast.
SPEAKER_00: We hope this powerful word from City Center Church transforms your mind and improves your relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to check out our website at CityCenterCurch.com for all of our sermons, outreach events, and the opportunity to partner with us to advance the kingdom of God through your generosity.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us, and let's get into the word of today.
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to be here today.
SPEAKER_02: Are you excited?
SPEAKER_02: Come on, I'm excited for so many reasons because what we're doing here today is we're closing out a sermon series that we've been in.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that this has been speaking to all of us.
SPEAKER_02: Has this been blessing you?
SPEAKER_02: Come on, it's been blessing me.
SPEAKER_02: We're in a sermon series that we're we're calling Built for This.
SPEAKER_02: And we have been talking about seasons because how many of you know that life happens in seasons?
SPEAKER_02: Seasons are happening all the time, and uh every season requires something different out of you.
SPEAKER_02: And what I want to talk about here today is uh winter.
SPEAKER_02: While I was studying winter, I discovered something about the word winter.
SPEAKER_02: Can I share it with you?
SPEAKER_02: If you look at the word winter spelled out, there's something that's there that is right there in plain sight.
SPEAKER_02: Can you see it?
SPEAKER_02: W I N.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, what I came here to tell you is that there is a win in winter.
SPEAKER_02: There is a win in winter.
SPEAKER_02: How many of y'all are taking notes here today?
SPEAKER_02: Wave at me if you're gonna take some notes.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to write that in your notes right now.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and write, there's a win in winter.
SPEAKER_02: I came to preach to somebody this morning that you've been looking at your season and your situation that didn't work.
SPEAKER_02: You've been looking at things that you lost, you've been looking at the things in your life that have been changing.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, you've been looking at people who walked away.
SPEAKER_02: And just because you're in a winter season doesn't mean that you're losing.
SPEAKER_02: And I'd like to preach this word here today.
SPEAKER_02: If you have a Bible, turn with me this morning.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be in the book of Acts, chapter 28.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 28, we're reading about a man named Paul, and and what you need to know is that we are we are jumping right into the middle of a story.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, if you read it long enough, you'll you'll discover that we're actually jumping into the middle of a mess.
SPEAKER_02: Because by the time we get to what we're about to read here today, in Acts chapter 28, Paul has been through some stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Do I have any people in the room?
SPEAKER_02: You've been through some stuff.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you know that God can turn a mess into a message?
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 28.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to read to you the first to the eighth verse.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says this once safely ashore, we found out that the island was called Malta.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say Malta.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if you're taking notes today, will you write that in your notes?
SPEAKER_02: Malta, circle, underline, highlight, whatever you got to do, we'll come back to it.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that the islanders showed us unusual kindness.
SPEAKER_02: They built a fire and they welcomed all of us because it was raining and it was cold.
SPEAKER_02: Paul gathered a pile of brushwood, and as he put it on the fire, watch this a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.
SPEAKER_02: And when the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said, Oh, he's a goner.
SPEAKER_02: They said, This man must be a murderer, for though he escaped the sea, the goddess justice has not allowed him to live.
SPEAKER_02: But the Bible says that Paul shook the snake off.
SPEAKER_02: He shook the snake off into the fire, and he suffered no ill effects.
SPEAKER_02: The people expected him to swell up and suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to them, uh they changed their minds about Paul and they said, Well, he must be a god.
SPEAKER_02: There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, he was a chief official of the island.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says that he welcomed Paul into his home and he showed him generosity and hospitality for three whole days.
SPEAKER_02: But watch this, verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that Publius's father was sick.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he was in the bed, in fact, he was suffering from fever and dysentery.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says that Paul went in.
SPEAKER_02: He laid hands on him, and the Bible says that he was healed.
SPEAKER_02: Good God Almighty.
SPEAKER_02: I want to talk to you all today with the lesson topic of there's a win in winter.
SPEAKER_02: Will you lift your hands towards heaven and receive this blessing?
SPEAKER_02: Father, we just come before you now, thanking you for your goodness, your greatness, and your mercy.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, I'm asking, God, will you preach this word in and through me today?
SPEAKER_02: Will you open up hearts to receive this word?
SPEAKER_02: You bless everyone under the sound of my voice here today and watching online, and may something be said or done that's gonna change a life.
SPEAKER_02: We give you all the glory for what you're doing, for what you've done, and what is still to come.
SPEAKER_02: In the mighty, matchless name of Jesus, we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, if you believe it, will you say amen?
SPEAKER_02: Come on, say amen one more time.
SPEAKER_02: Charles bless you, sir.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be talking about winter today.
SPEAKER_02: And when you think about winter, you probably don't think about growth.
SPEAKER_02: When you think about winter, you probably don't think about productivity.
SPEAKER_02: When you think about winter, you probably don't think about fruitfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Winter is usually associated with things slowing down.
SPEAKER_02: Things are becoming dormant, things are becoming cold, the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and from the outside, it can look like nothing is really happening.
SPEAKER_02: And I wonder if there's anybody here today or maybe watching online, and this is how you see your life right now.
SPEAKER_02: You don't see anything changing in your life right now.
SPEAKER_02: You don't see the answers that you've been praying for right away, you haven't seen a breakthrough in some time, and you see yourself in what can be described as a winter season.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to show you in scripture what a winter season looked like for a man named Paul.
SPEAKER_02: Now, there's so much happening in the first eight verses in Acts chapter 28.
SPEAKER_02: I need you to go home and read this for yourself, but but but but Paul is standing safely on the shore of Malta.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say Malta.
SPEAKER_02: Now, now if if the author who is Luke, Luke wrote Acts, if Luke is telling me that that Paul is safely on shore, then apparently something happened before he got to shore.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to talk about it here today before we dive into this lesson.
SPEAKER_02: If you go back just one chapter with me, if you have a paper Bible, turn with me to Acts chapter 27.
SPEAKER_02: I love the sound of pages turning.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 27, uh, verses 7 through 12 say this.
SPEAKER_02: We made slow headway for many days, and we had difficulty arriving at Snidas.
SPEAKER_02: And when the wind did not allow us to hold our course, watch this.
SPEAKER_02: We sailed to the Lee of Crete opposite of Salmonet.
SPEAKER_02: We moved along the coast, watch this, with great difficulty.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever had a season like that before?
SPEAKER_02: And we came to a place called Fairhavens.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to write that in your notes for me, right in Fair Havens, and we'll come back to that.
SPEAKER_02: We came to a place called Fair Havens near the town of Lacey, and and and much time had been lost.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever had a season of your life where much time had been lost?
SPEAKER_02: And sailing, watch this, had already become dangerous because by now it was the day of atonement.
SPEAKER_02: If you read another translation, it'll say, it was so late in the fall.
SPEAKER_02: What season comes after fall?
SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
SPEAKER_02: So Paul warned them, he said, Man, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to the ship, the cargo, and to our very lives.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_02: But the centurion, instead of listening to Paul, he followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship.
SPEAKER_02: And since the harbor, watch this, was unsuitable to winter in, what season are we talking about today?
SPEAKER_02: The majority of them decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there.
SPEAKER_02: Are you following me, church?
SPEAKER_02: Let's put these two stories here together and see what we can come together with this.
SPEAKER_02: If you're keeping track and reading in Acts chapter 27, you'll read about a disastrous storm.
SPEAKER_02: They give us detail about a violent hurricane wind.
SPEAKER_02: It's a ship that they can barely control the cargo, y'all.
SPEAKER_02: They are throwing their possessions overboard just to survive.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible tells us that they went days, days without seeing, nor the sun or the stars.
SPEAKER_02: And eventually many of them gave up hope of ever being saved.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever had a season where your hope they find themselves in a winter season, not only emotionally, not only spiritually, but they find themselves quite literally in a winter season physically.
SPEAKER_02: And if you look at Acts chapter 27, verse 12, it tells us that the harbor that they were at, Fair Havens, was unsuitable to winter in.
SPEAKER_02: So they decided to go ahead and see if they could reach Phoenix to winter there.
SPEAKER_02: The reason they wanted to leave Fairhavens was because they didn't want to spend the winter there.
SPEAKER_02: The harbor was not ideal and it wasn't comfortable.
SPEAKER_02: And what I love about this story is that they were trying to avoid winter and sail directly into a storm.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I wonder how many times you and I have sailed into something because we didn't want to stay comfortably where God has told you to stay.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we become so desperate to get out of where we are that we'll move before it's time to move.
SPEAKER_02: We'll attach ourselves to somebody because we're just tired of being alone.
SPEAKER_02: We'll enter something God never told us to enter and we'll exit something God told it never told us to leave.
SPEAKER_02: But can I help you today?
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say, help us, JD.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna help you.
SPEAKER_02: Not every winter is something that you need to escape.
SPEAKER_02: Not every winter season do you need to be looking for the exit door.
SPEAKER_02: Can I make this practical for somebody in the room here today?
SPEAKER_02: Because when I say winter, your winter might be different than the person seated next to you.
SPEAKER_02: For some people, your marriage is in a winter.
SPEAKER_02: Where are my married people at where you wave at me, married people?
SPEAKER_02: For some of you, uh, your marriage is in a winter.
SPEAKER_02: You love each other, you're committed to one another, but if we're being honest, it's cold in this room right now.
SPEAKER_02: Don't look to your left and your right, we'll know that we're talking about you.
SPEAKER_02: Communication hasn't been easy, intimacy uh wasn't what it used to be.
SPEAKER_02: And you're and you're wondering, God, can you breathe life into this marriage again?
SPEAKER_02: Can we laugh again?
SPEAKER_02: Can we trust again?
SPEAKER_02: For some people, that's winter.
SPEAKER_02: For somebody else, singleness feels like winter.
SPEAKER_02: You're watching everybody else get engaged, you're attending everybody else's marriage, everybody else is posting pictures, and you're genuinely happy for them.
SPEAKER_02: You're celebrating them publicly while privately you're asking God, well, what about me?
SPEAKER_02: That's somebody's winter.
SPEAKER_02: For somebody else, wintering is parenting.
SPEAKER_02: Where are my parents at when you wave at me?
SPEAKER_02: You did everything you knew to do, didn't you?
SPEAKER_02: You prayed, you taught them scripture, you brought them to church, you you you you tried to raise them right, and and somewhere along the way, they started making decisions that you never thought that they would ever make, and you keep replaying things in your mind like, where did I go wrong?
SPEAKER_02: Where did I mess up?
SPEAKER_02: What should I have done differently?
SPEAKER_02: And you're asking God, what happened?
SPEAKER_02: That is a winter season.
SPEAKER_02: Winter is walking into a doctor's office.
SPEAKER_02: You thought you were going in for a routine checkup, and yet the doctor uses words that you have never heard in your life before.
SPEAKER_02: Winter is for somebody else, it's it's on your job.
SPEAKER_02: For some people, you you get up every morning, you clock in, you're doing what you're supposed to do, you're collecting a paycheck, but you don't feel no purpose there no more.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you feel stuck or overlooked, maybe you're sitting at your desk every day thinking, God, is this really it?
SPEAKER_02: Is this all you have for me?
SPEAKER_02: That could be winter.
SPEAKER_02: And for somebody, it's waiting on God to answer a prayer.
SPEAKER_02: You've prayed so long that you've forgotten how to even pray it anymore.
SPEAKER_02: It used to be a long, elaborate prayer, now it's just a short prayer.
SPEAKER_02: That's a winter.
SPEAKER_02: You see, church, when we think about winter, especially here in Kansas City, you know that winter gets cold.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's not always just about the cold, it's about how long that cold lingers.
SPEAKER_02: Do I have any witnesses in this house?
SPEAKER_02: Uh we get in those stretches where the temperatures drop and they stay low.
SPEAKER_02: Day after day, cold morning after cold morning, gray sky after gray sky, and after a while it starts wearing on you.
SPEAKER_02: And I wonder if there's somebody here today, you're in a winter season and you can feel just that.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't just one bad day, it's that the fact that you've had multiple bad days in a row.
SPEAKER_02: For somebody else, depression has felt like winter.
SPEAKER_02: Things that used to bring you joy don't bring you joy anymore.
SPEAKER_02: You know how to smile when people are around, but when you go home, it gets cold when you walk into your house.
SPEAKER_02: And maybe nobody knows about your winter.
SPEAKER_02: You haven't told anybody about your winter.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you come in here dress to dress, smiling from ear to ear.
SPEAKER_02: You know that everything is not good on the inside, and yet you'll smile on the outside.
SPEAKER_02: There could be somebody here today, and you're wondering, JD, that's a great title, but how do I win in winter?
SPEAKER_02: I believe that Paul shows us in this text, and I want to give you three points here today.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you are taking notes, wave at me one more time?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna talk to you, just my note-takers.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't have your hand up, I'm not gonna look at you during something.
SPEAKER_02: Point number one, will you write this down?
SPEAKER_02: Point number one is shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: You feeling that, huh?
SPEAKER_02: Let me exercise this for a quick second.
SPEAKER_02: You see, in Acts chapter 28, starting at the third verse, the Bible tells us that Paul gathered some wood.
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember that in the story?
SPEAKER_02: He put it on the fire, and the Bible says that a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened on his hand.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible goes on to say in verse 5, but Paul shook the snake off.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody raise your hand like this and shake, just, just, just, just, just, just shake, he he shook it off.
SPEAKER_02: And in Acts chapter 27, he he encounters a massive storm, a storm that probably should have taken everybody out.
SPEAKER_02: Then you go into Acts chapter 28, he's safely ashore, and Paul is adding wood to the fire, and all of a sudden he gets bitten by a venomous steak.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever been in a season before where when you finally get out of one thing, you haven't even had time to thank God yet until the next thing reaches up and bites you.
SPEAKER_02: But, but, somebody say, but, but Paul shook the snake off.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to discredit anything.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, the bite was real, but Paul realized something that all that all of us need to discover today.
SPEAKER_02: Some things you're just gonna have to shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say, shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: The snake was fastened to his hands, but he shook it off.
SPEAKER_02: But I think that one of the problems that we have here today, somebody say, JD, what's the problem?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell you what the problem is.
SPEAKER_02: I believe what the problem that is is that many of us are still having conversations with things that continue to bite us.
SPEAKER_02: You know that boy ain't no good for you.
SPEAKER_02: You know that girl ain't no good for you.
SPEAKER_02: You know that group of friends ain't no good at you.
SPEAKER_02: They have bit you so many times, and yeah, what do you do?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, what y'all doing this weekend?
SPEAKER_02: We're still negotiating with things that keep hurting us, we're still entertaining things that keep poisoning us.
SPEAKER_02: And somebody walked into this church this morning, and you're still carrying something that you should have shook off a long time ago.
SPEAKER_02: Something happened, somebody hurt you, somebody disappointed you, something bit you, Bubba.
SPEAKER_02: But now the bite has become baggage.
SPEAKER_02: What what happened in one moment you've been carrying for 10 years?
SPEAKER_02: What happened in one relationship, you've now carried to every relationship since.
SPEAKER_02: I'm losing eye contact.
SPEAKER_02: I must be talking to somebody in this place here today.
SPEAKER_02: You've been allowing what happened in one season to follow you into every single season.
SPEAKER_02: Can I help you here today?
SPEAKER_02: What you shake off in this season can't follow you into the next season.
SPEAKER_02: You need to shake off disappointment, you need to shake off the offense, you need to shake off the bitterness.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say, shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: I want to be clear here, church.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not telling you to get over it.
SPEAKER_02: Look at your neighbor say that's not what he said.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't say get over it, I said shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: There's a difference between shake it off and get rid of it.
SPEAKER_02: Get rid of it could discredit the fact that the betrayal was real.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, that divorce, it was real.
SPEAKER_02: The diagnosis the doctor said, that was real.
SPEAKER_02: The rejection, the people that walked out on you, that was real.
SPEAKER_02: The abuse was real, the disappointment was real, the bite was real.
SPEAKER_02: But can I help you?
SPEAKER_02: Just because it bit you doesn't mean it has to stay attached to you.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say, Shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: Now you might be sitting there right now and be like, okay, JD, that's preaching real good.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_02: But how do I shake it off?
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad you asked.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody look at your neighbor and say, That was a really good question you had.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for asking him.
SPEAKER_02: But but because scripture gives us language for situations like this.
SPEAKER_02: There's so many of them, and can I just give you a few?
SPEAKER_02: There's things that we need to do to the things that are trying to stay attached to us.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says to cast all of your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
SPEAKER_02: There's some of y'all that are entertaining your anxiety, you've been taking it out on multiple dates.
SPEAKER_02: You need to let that anxiety go.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that we need to throw off everything and every sin that hinders that so easily entangles.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible, the Bible says that we need to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Some things aren't going to fall off just because you ignore them.
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: Some things you're gonna just have to shake it off, baby.
SPEAKER_02: Some things require an intentional release.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you just need to say, God, I give this to you.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you need to lift your hands and just say, I've carried this for too long.
SPEAKER_02: And it's time for me to give this back to you.
SPEAKER_02: I've allowed what they did to define my life for way too long, and there is a wind in my winter.
SPEAKER_02: If you believe it, say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we just need to shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: Point number two.
SPEAKER_02: Write this in your notes.
SPEAKER_02: Serve where you are.
SPEAKER_02: Also in Acts chapter 28, starting at the seventh verse, the Bible says that Paul came to an estate belonging to a man named Publius.
SPEAKER_02: He was a chief official of the island.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that he welcomed Paul into his home.
SPEAKER_02: Now, mind you, Paul had just gone through a storm.
SPEAKER_02: He had been shipwrecked, and now he's finally on uh Malta, and now he's walking into a home with a man whose father is sick.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that he walks in and he prays, and he uh, through the power of the Lord, laid his hands on him and healed him.
SPEAKER_02: But somebody say, Hold up.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody say, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_02: What did the snake bite?
SPEAKER_02: What did he lay on the father?
SPEAKER_02: 400 of y'all missed it.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say it again.
SPEAKER_02: Can I run it back?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible tells us that the snake did what?
SPEAKER_02: His hand.
SPEAKER_02: And then he goes into Publius' house and he laid what on the father?
SPEAKER_02: And it got me thinking.
SPEAKER_02: It got me thinking, what if Paul had allowed what happened to his hand to make him afraid to use his hand again?
SPEAKER_02: What if, what if, what if Paul allowed one painful experience to make him question everything God had placed over his life?
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking to somebody in this room here today.
SPEAKER_02: What if Paul allowed the trauma of what happened yesterday to determine his obedience today?
SPEAKER_02: Can I help you in this moment?
SPEAKER_02: Don't let what bite you and bit you keep you from using what God gave you.
SPEAKER_02: What I'm trying to say is don't let one winter season.
SPEAKER_02: Don't let one season convince you that God is finished using you.
SPEAKER_02: Someone could be asking, well, well, how do I win in winter?
SPEAKER_02: The way that you win in winter is you don't put your calling on pause because you don't like your circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: You don't put your calling on hold because you're not in a job that you like.
SPEAKER_02: Serve where you are.
SPEAKER_02: You don't put your calling on hold on pause just because you don't like your circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: The married people in this room here today, your marriage might be in winter, but guess what?
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you go ahead and serve your spouse?
SPEAKER_02: Where's my mirror at?
SPEAKER_02: Because I need to be talking into one real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Hold on just one second.
SPEAKER_02: I got you, baby.
SPEAKER_02: I got you.
SPEAKER_02: Let me let me you hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, when things get rocky, why don't you go ahead and try and serving your spouse instead of ignoring them?
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you love when it's hard?
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you forgive when it's hard?
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking to myself here today.
SPEAKER_02: Your finances might be in winter, but why don't you be faithful with what with what's already in your hand?
SPEAKER_02: Don't don't don't wait for God to bless you with more before you get faithful with what he has already put in your hand.
SPEAKER_02: How do I win in my winter season?
SPEAKER_02: By realizing that your location may change, but your calling never changed.
SPEAKER_02: The calling has still remained the same.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says to go, to go.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is one of his last few words on the earth.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Therefore, go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, teaching them all that I have commanded you.
SPEAKER_02: And I will be with you, even until the very end of the age.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the thing: many of y'all don't want to go, you want to stay.
SPEAKER_02: You want to stay in this hurt season that you've been in.
SPEAKER_02: You want to stay in this winter season and not give what God has given you.
SPEAKER_02: But I came here with a testimony in my mouth here today that you needed to get up and actually serve where you are.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think my marriage was gonna look like this.
SPEAKER_02: Many people will say that that's why you won't serve your spouse.
SPEAKER_02: Many of you are are spending your entire winter season frustrated because you're like, this isn't where I thought I would be.
SPEAKER_02: Can I help you today?
SPEAKER_02: God's thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm thankful that he didn't consult your thoughts before he gave you what he gave you.
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of people in here saying, I didn't think my career would look like this.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think my marriage would look like this, I didn't think my family would look like this.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't think I would still be waiting.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't plan on being in this season.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that many are the plans of man, but it's God's will that will prevail.
SPEAKER_02: I'm so thankful that he doesn't consult me and you about your plans for the plans that he has for your life.
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes we spend the entire winter asking, God, bring me spring.
SPEAKER_02: When God is looking at me and you saying, Before I change your season, I want to show you what I can do in this winter season.
SPEAKER_02: And I just believe that even in your winter season, even when it's cold, even when it's lingering, even when it's something that you want to escape, God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_02: He is good, and he's always gonna be there on time.
SPEAKER_02: If you believe it, we say, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna work this last one real quick.
SPEAKER_02: Are y'all ready?
SPEAKER_02: Come and get throw up number three.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, uh, write this in your notes here today.
SPEAKER_02: Stand on what God said.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to spend a little bit of time in this last one.
SPEAKER_02: We've been talking about how you need to you need to throw off, you need to shake it off.
SPEAKER_02: We've talked about how you need to serve where you are.
SPEAKER_02: Point number three, stand on what God said.
SPEAKER_02: You see, there's there's some winter seasons that I haven't talked about yet that the Lord placed on my heart to share because some winters aren't loud.
SPEAKER_02: Some winters are are are are private, they don't happen in front of everybody to see, because the reality is there could be a woman or a mother sitting in this room right now who knows the winter of a miscarriage.
SPEAKER_02: You carried a dream, a plan, you carried a future, you imagined something, and then you experienced a loss that perhaps not everybody in this room can fully understand.
SPEAKER_02: People may have moved on, but yet the winter season that you've endured lingered.
SPEAKER_02: There may be a woman here today who has prayed for having a child, and you haven't been able to have a child.
SPEAKER_02: You've waited, you believed, and month after month, year after year, barrenness has felt like winter.
SPEAKER_02: And there's so many seasons of winter that many of us have gone through very similar to this.
SPEAKER_02: They're they're they're personal, they they're they're hard to talk about, and it got me thinking how in the world did Paul make it through everything that he had made through in his entire story?
SPEAKER_02: How do you go through that and still keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: How do you get uh arrested and keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: How do you get caught in a storm and the ship breaks apart and you keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: How do you watch everybody in your camp stop believing and yet you keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: How do you get washed up on Malta and keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: How does a snake bite your hand and you keep believing?
SPEAKER_02: What did Paul know that nobody else had the privy information of?
SPEAKER_02: And what you have to do is you have to go back a few chapters to Acts chapter 23.
SPEAKER_02: Acts chapter 23 tells us that Paul is in Jerusalem and he has been arrested.
SPEAKER_02: And listen, y'all, his circumstances don't look great.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't know about the upcoming storm that's gonna happen four chapters later.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't know about the shipwreck yet, he doesn't know about Malta yet, he doesn't know about the snake yet, but God does.
SPEAKER_02: Take courage.
SPEAKER_02: That's somebody's word here for today.
SPEAKER_02: Take courage, as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, you must also testify in Rome.
SPEAKER_02: What I'm trying to say is that the storms were raging, the boat was sinking, but Paul had not yet made it to Rome, like the Lord said he would.
SPEAKER_02: Which means we've been reading about Malta, but Malta was never part of the plan.
SPEAKER_02: God, I wish y'all would get this with me here today.
SPEAKER_02: Malta was never a part of the original destination.
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever ended up somewhere where you didn't think you'd be?
SPEAKER_02: You've been trusting the Lord to get you somewhere, and yet you found yourself on Malta.
SPEAKER_02: What I want to encourage you here today is that Paul was shipwrecked on Malta with over 270 others, but this is what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_02: Before his winter season ever showed up, God had already spoken.
SPEAKER_02: God had already said what he was going to say.
SPEAKER_02: What I want to encourage you today is don't let your winter make you forget about what God said before your winter ever came.
SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes you have to, you've shaken everything you know to shake, you've prayed everything you know to pray, and the season still hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_02: When you've done everything you know to do, what I'm encouraging you today is to stand.
SPEAKER_02: Stand on what, JD?
SPEAKER_02: You need to stand on everything that God has already said.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that by your stripes we are healed.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said you'd be my refuge and my strength.
SPEAKER_02: A very present help in a time of trouble.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said no weapon formed against me shall ever prosper.
SPEAKER_02: You said that you would keep my mind in perfect peace.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that you would renew my strength.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that you would walk through with me anytime I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
SPEAKER_02: I have nothing to fear because you are with me.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that you'll never leave me nor forsake me.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that you would be my shield and my rampart.
SPEAKER_02: God, you said that your grace is sufficient for me.
SPEAKER_02: You say that your grace and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_02: You say that a thousand may follow my left, ten thousand by my right, but the danger will not come near me.
SPEAKER_02: I know, I know that I know that God has never left me, nor has He forsaken me.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I know that you've been listening to podcasts.
SPEAKER_02: I know that you've been talking to Chat GT, uh, you know, about your therapy session.
SPEAKER_02: Some of us talk to the Chat Gt more than we talk to Jesus, but there's only one name that I can stand on.
SPEAKER_02: It's the name that is above every name, it's the name that by his name we have been saved.
SPEAKER_02: It's a name that when I'm in a storm, I don't have to question anything because I can stand on his word.
SPEAKER_02: Paul can stand on his word because before the storm came, Jesus spoke.
SPEAKER_02: And what I want to encourage somebody today is that winter doesn't have to have the authority, excuse me, winter doesn't have the authority to cancel what God already said.
SPEAKER_02: There's many of us in our winter season, and you're wondering, how can I win?
SPEAKER_02: How can I have the victory?
SPEAKER_02: And I came to preach to somebody today because there's a scripture in here that I want to read, and if you can just leave it up there for me, because 1 Corinthians chapter 15, write this in your notes.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting at the 57th verse.
SPEAKER_02: This is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: But thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_02: Can we give God some glory in this room here today?
SPEAKER_02: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_02: He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and leave that scripture up there for me because I think many of y'all need to write this on your heart here today.
SPEAKER_02: I was reading this word and I was just saying to myself, Lord, Lord, Lord, I I I have the victory.
SPEAKER_02: I am victorious because you are my victory.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, I can have a win in my winter.
SPEAKER_02: And when I saw that word, I just decided.
SPEAKER_02: I'm here to declare something.
SPEAKER_02: We're halfway through the month of August, and I speak to the remainder of this whole month that you are going to win.
SPEAKER_02: We haven't even seen September yet, but I'm already speaking to September.
SPEAKER_02: You have to produce a win.
SPEAKER_02: October, win.
SPEAKER_02: November, win, December, win.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, I'm gonna go ahead and step into my 2027 right now and declare that there's a win.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not afraid of what the season might come because whether I'm in spring, summer, or fall or winter, I was built for this.
SPEAKER_02: Look at your neighbor say that's my word.
SPEAKER_02: That's my word.
SPEAKER_02: We're in a sermon series right now, and I'm declaring there's a fifth season that I want to talk about here today, and it's called my winning season.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm stepping into the most winningest decade of my life.
SPEAKER_02: There will be no bigger season.
SPEAKER_02: There will be no season of lack.
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if there's anybody in here today who will stand on their city with me and just declare right now that I'm walking into a winning season.
SPEAKER_02: I declare I'm winning over my business, I'm winning over my finances, I'm winning over my family, I'm winning over my members, I'm winning over my mind, I'm winning over my body, every element of my life, must win, everything I put my hand to do must win.
SPEAKER_02: If you believe it, second amendment.
SPEAKER_02: Paul Aps, he says in Romans chapter 8, who shall separate us from the love of God?
SPEAKER_02: He says this, shall trouble over hardship, persecution or famine, nakedness or danger of a sword?
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: Look to the neighbor right now and say, oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: In all these things, we, me and you, you and I, you and your neighbor, we are more than conquerors.
SPEAKER_02: As I look out in this congregation, you know what I see?
SPEAKER_02: I see conquerors.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why I can say there's a win in my winter.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna wait till spring comes to give him a spring praise.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go ahead and give him a spring praise in my winter season.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and have a seat, have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: We're not done yet, we're not done yet.
SPEAKER_02: I came here to tell somebody that my my victory is not predicated on my season.
SPEAKER_02: The circumstances that you're in, they don't block God.
SPEAKER_02: They don't stop him from moving.
SPEAKER_02: My victory isn't found in my season, my victory is found in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: We've been talking about Paul today, but the reality is this you can't talk about Paul without talking about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You can't talk about Paul without talking about Jesus because you see, there's a season of Paul's life when he was running from God.
SPEAKER_02: If you go back and read Acts chapter 8, 9, the Bible tells us that Paul he's walking on the on a road called Damascus.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he's on his way, on his way to persecute and murder more Christians.
SPEAKER_02: Bible says that a light shined bright from heaven, blinded him.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, threw him off of his beast.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible says that he looked at the light.
SPEAKER_02: He looked at him and said, Who are you?
SPEAKER_02: He said, I'm Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Why do you why do you persecute me?
SPEAKER_02: Bible says that he got up from that moment when saw Ananias and his his sight was restored.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that Paul goes out and he's he's preaching, but watch this.
SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of people who remember who he used to be.
SPEAKER_02: This side don't want to hear it.
SPEAKER_02: Let me talk to this side.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says this that that Paul got to a season where he was on the right track, but people remembered when he wasn't on the right track, so they wouldn't believe anything that came out of his mouth.
SPEAKER_02: And I believe that there's been seasons of your life that you've gone through, you've endured, you made some choices.
SPEAKER_02: You're not serving where you were supposed to, you weren't shaking things off, you weren't standing on what God said.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the reality: just because they can't see it doesn't mean that God didn't put it in you.
SPEAKER_02: Let me help somebody, somebody's memory of your past doesn't cancel what Jesus is doing in your present.
SPEAKER_02: I just said a thing.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't buy an amen in this church right now.
SPEAKER_02: Bible says that he had one encounter.
SPEAKER_02: One encounter changed his entire life.
SPEAKER_02: And there's people out here who don't know Jesus, and all I want to do is come here and tell somebody about a man who picked me up and turned me around and placed my feet on solid ground.
SPEAKER_02: Do I have any witnesses in this place today that Jesus did a good work in you?
SPEAKER_02: That now that everything that comes out of your mouth is boldness because you've seen the pit, you realize that you were at the bottom and he was at the bottom with you, pulling you out.
SPEAKER_02: All I'm trying to do is tell somebody about a man named Jesus that encountering Jesus does not mean that you're not gonna encounter another storm.
SPEAKER_02: Just because Jesus is in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Did you see Paul?
SPEAKER_02: Paul was out there, he was doing his thing, and yet, storm after storm, snake after snake, things were happening all along the way.
SPEAKER_02: But Lord, I thought I gave my life to you.
SPEAKER_02: I thought this was supposed to get good.
SPEAKER_02: The thing is, it's better than good because I know that somebody's on my side.
SPEAKER_02: Now I'm not doing life alone.
SPEAKER_02: I'm doing it with a man named Jesus, and by his stripes I am healed.
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, we're gonna have to, we're just gonna have to.
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm I'm gonna close.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna Charles, you can come.
SPEAKER_02: Can I take my time?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not preaching something that I read about today.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not preaching the whole story today.
SPEAKER_02: I'm preaching my life today because this year.
SPEAKER_02: This has been a year.
SPEAKER_02: Uh eight months into the year, and I've spent more time seeing doctors, been hospitalized more, had procedures, surgery, than I ever have in my entire life.
SPEAKER_02: In eight months.
SPEAKER_02: There I was at the beginning of the year lying in a hospital bed with 700 milliliters of fluid in my lung.
SPEAKER_02: 700?
SPEAKER_02: And I just remember laying there, breathing wasn't easy.
SPEAKER_02: And I remember I got a little low, but but but God reminded me, He whispered in my heart, because I started preaching to myself.
SPEAKER_02: I said, JD, you know, it might be difficult to breathe right now, but God gave you that breath.
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we got through that, and and and you know, you can see me huffing and puffing up here, you know, God's gonna restore my health.
SPEAKER_02: But but but then another season happened.
SPEAKER_02: And and herniated discs.
SPEAKER_02: How many of y'all know know the 40s 40s changed things?
SPEAKER_02: But but then the herniated disc caused so much pain that it I I ended up in the hospital again, and now this this time it ruptured.
SPEAKER_02: I find myself in another hospital bed, can barely walk, and I had to remind myself that JD, you might be struggling to walk right now, but the steps of a good man are ordered.
SPEAKER_02: And although I didn't like the steps of where my life was taking me, I had to I told myself I can trust the one who is ordering them.
SPEAKER_02: And I just I just had a a season in my life where my prayers weren't really all that deep, y'all.
SPEAKER_02: Can I just be real?
SPEAKER_02: I didn't really pray deep prayers.
SPEAKER_02: I I just said, God, I need a win.
SPEAKER_02: Like God, I could right now I could really just use a win.
SPEAKER_02: I never told you about that, my love.
SPEAKER_02: I just I was almost like Lord, are you putting me through this so that I'll preach it to them?
SPEAKER_02: Like, like and uh some of you you you see me standing up here today and you see me kind of limping around, but but but but don't let this limp fool you.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, there's still purpose over my life Pastor Alvin doesn't know this, but he used to sing a song here at Lanexa Christian Center over 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_02: It was called I couldn't wait.
SPEAKER_02: And uh I don't know if you if you were here during that time, but the lyrics they said I I I couldn't wait.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't wait to get here.
SPEAKER_02: And Pastor, I I I understand that that song differently now in this season of my life.
SPEAKER_02: Because when I was younger, I praised God because I was excited to get to church, but now I have equity with God.
SPEAKER_02: I have history with him.
SPEAKER_02: We've been walking this thing together.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen him keep me.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen him sustain me.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen him meet me in my hospital room.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen him be too faithful.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen him be too good.
SPEAKER_02: He he's carried me through too much.
SPEAKER_02: So so now, Pastor, when I say I couldn't wait to get here, it means differently to me because I know what it took to get me here.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't wait to give him praise, uh uh because I've seen what he can do in winter.
SPEAKER_02: I've I I couldn't wait to lift my hands because I've seen all of the bites that I've received in my life, and yet he's still using my hands.
SPEAKER_02: I couldn't wait to open up my mouth because there was a season where I could barely breathe and I could barely talk.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, God, if you give me back my strength, I will worship you all the days of my life.
SPEAKER_02: That I'll tell my children about him, I'll tell your babies about him, about the goodness and greatness of God and all of his splendor when all I did was just put my faith, hope, and trust in him.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I'm not I'm not standing here today to say that your winter is gonna end tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have control of the seasons, but there's something about winter that became really beautiful to me.
SPEAKER_02: Can I share it real quick?
SPEAKER_02: There's something beautiful about winter because.
SPEAKER_02: Every year we have a call of winter solstice.
SPEAKER_02: You don't notice it right off the bat.
SPEAKER_02: It's still considered winter.
SPEAKER_02: The season hasn't changed.
SPEAKER_02: There's a little bit more light.
SPEAKER_02: It's still cold.
SPEAKER_02: But there's more light.
SPEAKER_02: And I find it beautiful.
SPEAKER_02: Say with me, I'm about to put this together.
SPEAKER_02: You ready?
SPEAKER_02: I find it beautiful that the same season on our calendar is the same season where we celebrate Christmas.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that Jesus was born on December 25th.
SPEAKER_02: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02: What I'm saying is we celebrate Christmas on the 25th.
SPEAKER_02: And the winter solstice is late in December.
SPEAKER_02: Picture this.
SPEAKER_02: Because right there in the season, the longest of nights, we celebrate the arrival of the one who said, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus walked into the darkest winter humanity had ever seen.
SPEAKER_02: He was rejected, he was beaten, he was crucified, he was placed in a tomb, and for a moment it looked like a dark season.
SPEAKER_02: It looked like the darkness had won.
SPEAKER_02: Friday looked like a winter.
SPEAKER_02: Saturday looked like a winter.
SPEAKER_02: And hope looked buried.
SPEAKER_02: But the light of the world he laid in that tomb.
SPEAKER_02: And if you were to look at the circumstances of Saturday, it would have looked like winter woman.
SPEAKER_02: But don't ever call your story over on Saturday.
SPEAKER_02: Because I know that the long the night has been long.
SPEAKER_02: But God's word says in Psalm 30 verse 5 that weeping may endure for the night.
SPEAKER_02: But joy, somebody say joy.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know if you know, but I'm gonna go ahead and tell you early on that Sunday morning, my Savior, the stone rolled away.
SPEAKER_02: The tomb was empty, death was defeated, the grave lost his power, and Jesus got up with all power in his hand.
SPEAKER_02: And that's because I know how the story ends.
SPEAKER_02: The story ends by saying Psalm 126 and 5 those who sow in tears will weep songs of joy.
SPEAKER_02: You've been sowing tears, parents, you've been sowing tears, married people, you've been sowing tears, single person, but don't confuse your tears with defeat.
SPEAKER_02: You can still win in your winter.
SPEAKER_02: And you're saying I'm in a winter season right now.
SPEAKER_02: We're not asking you what the winter season is.
SPEAKER_02: It could have to do with something that's been said here today, or maybe something that wasn't said.
SPEAKER_02: God knows the winter that you're in.
SPEAKER_02: But if you're here today and you're saying, JD, this was my word here today.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in a winter season.
SPEAKER_02: It's been cold, it's been dark, it has lasted longer than I thought it would, and I need God.
SPEAKER_02: I need God to come in and walk this season here with me.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody looking around.
SPEAKER_02: If that's you, will you just lift your hand long enough for me to recognize it?
SPEAKER_02: There are hands everywhere.
SPEAKER_02: Who else?
SPEAKER_02: We'll wait for you.
SPEAKER_02: JD, pray for me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm in a winter season right now.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're here with your spouse and you don't want them to know that you're actually dealing with a winter season.
SPEAKER_02: Lift your hand anyways.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're a child or a student in this place here today, a young adult.
SPEAKER_02: There's you came here with friends.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want them to know.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Lift your hand.
SPEAKER_02: Praise God.
SPEAKER_02: You can put your hands down if we stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: Listen.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna turn this whole church into an altar.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna have you come down.
SPEAKER_02: But I want to pray for you right where you're at.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're here today and you didn't lift your hand.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you're watching online.
SPEAKER_02: You're lifting your hand right where you are.
SPEAKER_02: I want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_02: If you're here with family, will you link arms or hold hands or hug if you're I'd ask that you you would just lift your hand right now.
SPEAKER_02: I just want to pray.
SPEAKER_02: Father, you know the situation.
SPEAKER_02: You know what they have endured.
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray for every single person right now who is here under the sound of my voice, watching online or watching at another date.
SPEAKER_02: Father, I pray right now that you will meet them at their very need.
SPEAKER_02: That you'll do exceedingly abundantly above more than they could ever ask, think, or imagine.
SPEAKER_02: Father, it's been cold, it's been a cold season, and I just pray that your sweet embrace would wrap them like a hug.
SPEAKER_02: That you would meet them right now and wrap your love arm protection around them right now.
SPEAKER_02: Strengthen them with your finger of love.
SPEAKER_02: I'm praying over marriages in this place here today.
SPEAKER_02: I just declare right now by faith that there's restoration happening in married couples who haven't spoken in a while.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you got up this morning and you're in an argument before you got here to church.
SPEAKER_02: We're laying that down.
SPEAKER_02: I'm believing right now that we are shaking off the things that have hurt us.
SPEAKER_02: We're releasing pains and we're releasing doubts.
SPEAKER_02: We're releasing the things that have happened to us, God.
SPEAKER_02: So that way we can use our hands mightily for the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: I pray that you'll equip us, Lord, right now.
SPEAKER_02: God, that you'll put us in seasons where we can serve where we are.
SPEAKER_02: There could be somebody here today, they're on a job that they just don't love.
SPEAKER_02: God, I pray that you'll speak to their heart right now.
SPEAKER_02: The greater days are still ahead.
SPEAKER_02: Father, that the plans that you have for them are plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future.
SPEAKER_02: Right now, I pray, God, for purpose to be given.
SPEAKER_02: But until that season is time to move, that you'll use them on their job, that you'll use them in the season in which they're in to serve somebody else.
SPEAKER_02: There's somebody that is on their job in their home in their life that needs what you have placed inside of them.
SPEAKER_02: May you give them boldness to walk, may you give them courage to open up their mouth.
SPEAKER_02: And Father, right now, by by faith, I pray for every single man, woman, and child in this place to take a step to stand on what you have already said.
SPEAKER_02: Father, you are our shepherd and we shall not want.
SPEAKER_02: Father, you are our you are our healer, you are our redeemer, you are our strengthener, you are the one that we can count upon.
SPEAKER_02: You are the one who has gone ahead of us, been beside us, and all around us.
SPEAKER_02: We stand on your word here today.
SPEAKER_02: Father, for those who have lost loved ones, blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted.
SPEAKER_02: Father, I'm reminded that you're near the brokenhearted, Father.
SPEAKER_02: I'm reminded right now that you inhabit the praises of your people.
SPEAKER_02: And right now, we praise you in this place here today because we know that you're with us and that we have nothing to fear.
SPEAKER_02: So I just declare and decree over this house, Father, that the best days of their life are still ahead.
SPEAKER_02: Father, that you're gonna bless the latter part of their life more than the former.
SPEAKER_02: God, that you are going to uh build them up where they're weak, strengthen them where they're torn.
SPEAKER_02: God, that you're gonna allow their your word to be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path.
SPEAKER_02: It's been a dark season right now, but God, as long as we take a step, that every step we take, every move we make, God, that you're with us.
SPEAKER_02: I just declare by faith right now, in the mighty name of Jesus, that there's healing in this house, there's freedom in this house.
SPEAKER_02: I speak against addiction today, I speak against bondage today.
SPEAKER_02: We take those thoughts captive and we make them obedient to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And as of today, we step out of this place renewed, restored, redeemed, and repressed.
SPEAKER_02: God, the things that have kept us down are not going to keep us down anymore.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, your word reminds me that you make my enemies a footstool.
SPEAKER_02: God, I'm so thankful that I can stand here today only on your word.
SPEAKER_02: We give you all the glory in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, if you believe it, we say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, say amen one more time.
SPEAKER_02: Can we give God just one more shout of praise?
SPEAKER_02: Listen, before you go, before you go, before you go, there could be somebody in here today.
SPEAKER_02: You've heard me talk about this man named Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: You heard me say that this Saul, who was formerly Paul, Saul, Paul had an encounter with Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: One encounter changed his whole life.
SPEAKER_02: If you're here today and you're saying, JD, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: I want to enter into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ today.
SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't know him, but I want to.
SPEAKER_02: I've never given my life to him.
SPEAKER_02: This is not to embarrass you.
SPEAKER_02: Will you lift your hand just real quick long enough for me to recognize it?
SPEAKER_02: Ushers, help me if there's anybody.
SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody in here?
SPEAKER_02: I want to give my life to Jesus for the first time.
SPEAKER_02: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not missing anybody, am I?
SPEAKER_02: I have a hand over here.
SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: It only takes one.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all help me.
SPEAKER_02: My eyes don't work as like they used to.
SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Glory to God.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, can we pray this prayer together?
SPEAKER_02: Along with this young person over here.
SPEAKER_02: Can we pray this prayer together as a family?
SPEAKER_02: Say, dear Jesus, I love you.
unknown: I love you.
SPEAKER_02: Be the Lord of my life.
SPEAKER_03: Be the Lord of my life.
SPEAKER_02: I believe in my heart.
unknown: I believe in my heart.
SPEAKER_02: And I confess with my mouth.
SPEAKER_03: I confess with my mouth.
SPEAKER_02: That you are my risen savior.
SPEAKER_02: You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for dying for me.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for saving me.
SPEAKER_02: As of today?
SPEAKER_02: As of today.
SPEAKER_02: My life is yours! My life is yours.
SPEAKER_02: And yours is mine.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, give some, give God just one more shot of praise.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you enjoy this powerful message, feel free to subscribe and share this message.
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SPEAKER_00: Thank you once again and check out our other podcast to further your relationship with Jesus Christ.