SPEAKER_01: Why don't you turn your Bibles to Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20?
SPEAKER_01: This is our last sermon.
SPEAKER_01: We preached five parts on this.
SPEAKER_01: Our last sermon in this series on mission.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your name and say mission.
SPEAKER_01: Our title on today is Matthew from Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to listen, my hearing, as I read from the New International Version of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to do everything that I've commanded you.
SPEAKER_01: But for today, we're concentrating on these last couple sentences.
SPEAKER_01: And surely I am with you always to the very end of age.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, and surely I am with you always to the very end of age.
SPEAKER_01: Our sermonic topic for this morning is the last words.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor said, the last words.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for what is about to happen in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: We pray, God, that the power that rests upon us because of your Holy Spirit will just rest rule and abide in us.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Lord, right now that you quicken our hearts, minds, and settle our spirits so this word could go forward.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Lord, we thank you for this moment that's gonna transform us and be powerful.
SPEAKER_01: And God, we come and because we're in your presence, we have liberty.
SPEAKER_01: We're so grateful for what you're doing, what you have done, and what you're about to do.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Look at neighbor say last words.
SPEAKER_01: As we're closing this sermon, we we this sermon series, uh, we know that the number of things happen in our world.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this sermon series started off with my obsession of being a secret spy.
SPEAKER_01: As everyone knows that when I leave church, I am a secret spy.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone knows that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, or if you don't know that, that my stream job, if it wasn't for pastoring and being a psychologist, would be a secret spy.
SPEAKER_01: And one of my favorite spy movies is a Mission Impossible Franchise, a Mission Impossible Franchise.
SPEAKER_01: The last series that just came out with Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, uh, is called The Final Reckoning.
SPEAKER_01: That's called The Final Reckoning.
SPEAKER_01: And the Final Reckoning uh is one of the last ones in this whole series.
SPEAKER_01: It's also a three-part trilogy uh that started off years ago.
SPEAKER_01: And this mission usually starts out with Ethan Hunt receiving an anonymous message from headquarters, and it comes by saying, We have a mission for you, and if you choose to accept it, it could save the world.
SPEAKER_01: And now we know as we've gone through this, God has given us a mission, a mission to go out and give us disciples.
SPEAKER_01: You may not get the mission statement in an anonymous radio or a box or a message that's gonna explode in five seconds, but God has told us in Matthew 28, verses 18 and 19 and 20, is that He wants us to go out into the world, making disciples and teaching them what I command.
SPEAKER_01: Those commandments, if you remember, is that God has commanded us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as you do yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And in this scripture, he now commands you to go out and make disciples out of love.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as we go through this and we look at this now, Ethan Hunt had so many amazing missions that he went on.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but the last one was also the best one, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_01: It was spicy, there was suspense, they brought back old characters, some died, and even though Benji was not around, he still saved the day.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you haven't watched it, take some time out with your kids and watch a movie.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, now what I'm able to say to you is that all of us have a mission as we go through these five parts of this series.
SPEAKER_01: No matter who you are, God has instilled you with a mission.
SPEAKER_01: And that and that mission has a purpose that is bigger than you, and you cannot allow fear to cause you to be stumbled, stop.
SPEAKER_01: And even last week, remembered that even when you have doubt that God is still calling you to go forward.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Jesus, as you look in verse 17 of this same chapter, it says, even when they saw him, even when they saw him, they they looked at him, and some of them praised him, but some of them doubted.
SPEAKER_01: And and but Jesus was untethered and undeterred and delivered this statement to go out into all the world and make disciples.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to break down this simple message on today, and it came to me on last week.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, while I was just taking notes, and I was sitting there bored out of my mind.
SPEAKER_01: I was sitting there bored out of my mind, and I and I was I was I was in an election.
SPEAKER_01: I was in an election.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, as you know, I was sitting there as a in a as a delegate.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be I'll just be honest.
SPEAKER_01: I was sitting there as a delegate on last week's Saturday, and they what they did is that they asked us to make sure that no matter when you go in to vote, is that you can't have your phone.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, ladies and gentlemen, I contemplated very long and hard if this is a mission that I'm called to.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, my brother says you have been designated as a delegate to vote in a next uh NDP Congress.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be transparent and honest.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, of course, because this is an important decision that we have to make for our country.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter what political party or officiation that you have, that sometimes you're called.
SPEAKER_01: So now this is 121 delegates, and we have to arrive at 3:30, and they start at 4, and it may not finish until 9.
SPEAKER_01: As you may not know, and some of you may be questioning, is that I struggle with newer diversions.
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you what that means.
SPEAKER_01: It means that I have a tendency to have a difficulty of sitting still for a long period of time.
SPEAKER_01: My attention span whacks and weans.
SPEAKER_01: I always need to fidget, I always need to get up, I always need to talk to my neighbor on my right and to my left.
SPEAKER_01: If you are in class, I am the absolute worst classmate for you to have because I'm going to finish my work expeditiously, and then I turn on the comedy show and I will start to disturb you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going on this mission now that we have to walk in.
SPEAKER_01: As I was walking in, I thought I could sneak by the security guards and be able to take in my phone.
SPEAKER_01: However, as I was going, they said, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Mike, turn in your phone.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I wanted to say, I don't have a phone.
SPEAKER_01: But the Spirit of God convicted me at that moment.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You're not gonna lie here for this.
SPEAKER_01: So the mission became complicated.
SPEAKER_01: I turned my phone in, and then I said, Please keep it safe.
SPEAKER_01: And as I sat down the first 10 minutes, I was like, This is an impossible mission.
SPEAKER_01: And then the next 20 minutes, this is an impossible mission.
SPEAKER_01: An hour passed, and I believed my skin started to itch from the inside out.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, then the next half an hour passed, and then I tried to find people to talk to, but they weren't too friendly.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody was just so uptight about this whole election process, and I was just wanted a friend to be able to talk to.
SPEAKER_01: So I scooted up and I came right behind my brother and I tapped him.
SPEAKER_01: I said, How are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I found a friend.
SPEAKER_01: And I started talking to him, and then after a while, he put his suit.
SPEAKER_01: After a while, I realized he did this in this in the chair.
SPEAKER_01: He took his suit and buttoned it and went like this.
SPEAKER_01: And I kind of felt that that was a nondescript verbal language that he meant for me to leave him alone.
SPEAKER_01: Stuck there all alone in my ADHD thoughts.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, this mission is gonna fail.
SPEAKER_01: I am not gonna make it to this vote.
SPEAKER_01: And then they started to go through all types of things.
SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna vote?
SPEAKER_01: What color to use?
SPEAKER_01: What marker to use?
SPEAKER_01: Are the boxes gonna be the back or the front?
SPEAKER_01: People start to say, I don't like this one, do this one, and I start to be like, God, if it's not for me, take this cup away.
SPEAKER_01: And then I remembered that I had my handy dandy pen and paper.
SPEAKER_01: When I remembered that I had that book, it was like heaven opened up.
SPEAKER_01: I started to write and scribble, and God says, I got you where I wanted you.
SPEAKER_01: Because I set you up making you feel like you can't do this mission, but you left the thing that you thought you needed at the front, which was your phone, but you don't remember that you always have me.
SPEAKER_01: The last words now bring us to this sermon.
SPEAKER_01: And surely I'm with you always, even to the very end of age.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the missing statement that I want to leave for you on this mission.
SPEAKER_01: That when God calls you on a mission, I want you to remember this.
SPEAKER_01: Surely I'm with you always.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, I'm with you always.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as we go through this, now there are things that you have to understand that what this means is so important that you have to understand that this scripture is now reminiscent of so many times in the Bible that God reminds us that He is with us always.
SPEAKER_01: God says, I promise to be with you always.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason why.
SPEAKER_01: Because when we go through this life, life becomes hard.
SPEAKER_01: Look at a neighbor who's had a hard time or hard week, or sometimes have some hard moments in life, and that you have to be reminded that sometimes it's not always peaches and cream, sometimes things are not always looking good, sometimes you're not always smiling, sometimes you're not always happy.
SPEAKER_01: Has anybody in here ever been through some things in your life that you wonder, why am I called to do this?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever been through some situations that you've met some obstacles and you're going along your merry way, and then an obstacle comes and you're like, Why me, God?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, this message is for you, for somebody who's on a mission right now and you have started that business and you had the grand opening, and now you're trying to balance the books, and you're wondering how you're gonna make payroll.
SPEAKER_01: You're wondering, how why me, God?
SPEAKER_01: If somebody who's saying that you're gonna go back to school, and right now you're sitting in church, half tired, half sleep, because you've been up all night trying to study, and you're saying, Why me, God?
SPEAKER_01: And you some of us who've been having families and friends, and those relationships are being blown asunder, and you're asking, Why me?
SPEAKER_01: There's some people in here that you're on mission, you're doing what God has called you to do.
SPEAKER_01: And right now you're wondering, God, are you sure?
SPEAKER_01: Is it me?
SPEAKER_01: Am I called to this?
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is not for everybody, but for those of us who are going through life, who are making these risks, who are making sure we live according to God and go out and branch out and be have faith and walk in water and be ocean steppers and trendsetters.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I this is for you.
SPEAKER_01: This is now not for the people who are just sitting on their dreams and wondering where to go.
SPEAKER_01: These are for the people who are praying and moving in every day and waking up every single day and saying, God, order my steps.
SPEAKER_01: These are for the people who are waking up even though you're feeling tired, even though you feel like giving up, even though you're wary.
SPEAKER_01: And these are for the people who are trying, these are for the people who don't have it all together, who don't know how to say every scripture, who doesn't know every prayer, but you know that God says, I'm gonna be with you, and even though trials come, even though temptations come, even though sickness in your body comes, you're saying, God, I'm gonna stay on mission.
SPEAKER_01: This is for the folk who now are going through, and now you're in the position where you have to make a decision.
SPEAKER_01: I want to just let you know that God says, I'm with you always.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's simple that I want to share.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, it's gonna be simple.
SPEAKER_01: Three things.
SPEAKER_01: I was there in the past.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, I was there in the past.
SPEAKER_01: And don't be petty and distracted like me.
SPEAKER_01: Because if I was you down there right now, and someone says, I was there in the past, I'd be like, Where were you?
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see you there.
SPEAKER_01: You weren't there, no, you weren't, no, you weren't.
SPEAKER_01: And you have to be like, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Mike, he's making an example.
SPEAKER_01: That's not, he don't mean that you were literally there, and he's not even actually talking about you.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying God is saying he was there in your past, and then by the time you come around to the sermon, I'm already on point too.
SPEAKER_01: But I stayed to explain it just for you.
SPEAKER_01: I was there in the past.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is one of these sermons that I need you to be a part.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna teach too much because God was there in the past.
SPEAKER_01: You see, I when I thought about this, I was saying, I know that somebody will sit in this church and wonder what's the significance about this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but if you pause right now in your mind and just think about this, and the sermon topic is the last words, and God says in these last words, I will be with you always.
SPEAKER_01: And this first point says, I was there in the past.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, see, this is what you don't have to understand now that we live in this world, that we're so afraid of what people will say about our past, that we are so worried about how we lived before we spent Christ, or how we lived in yesterday, or the day before, or months ago, or years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I want somebody who's in here who's bold enough to know that you're not ashamed of your past.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, some of us are so ashamed of our past that we act like we've always had it together, uh, that we ain't never had no problems, we ain't never had no worries.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I want to have some people who are bold enough to be able to say that I didn't have it all together, that that there were times in my past that I didn't know God, that there were times in my past I didn't pray for my enemies.
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to fight my enemies.
SPEAKER_01: There were times in the past that I would go by church and just to look at church, but I didn't have any intention of having a relationship with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: In my past, I will cuss you out in a moment.
SPEAKER_01: In my past, no, I'm not coming to church on Sunday because we got brunch at 11.
SPEAKER_01: I will come, I'm not in my past, I will talk about people, I would curse people, I will lie, I will cheat, I will steal.
SPEAKER_01: In my past, I was a devil.
SPEAKER_01: Some people don't want to talk about their past.
SPEAKER_01: But you have to understand, God says, I was there in your past.
SPEAKER_01: Now you're wondering, Dr.
SPEAKER_01: Mike, well, if I was doing all these things that were bad, and God was there still.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You mean when I was driving home from the club?
SPEAKER_01: Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Ritter, it's so great that you're here with us.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Lek Ritter, because we know the carnival just started.
SPEAKER_01: And where you would have been right now is with your tennis shoes, rubbing a little bit of paint off of you.
SPEAKER_01: And Sister Roxanne will be up there with Daddy Friday, singing a tune or two.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you right now, like Pastor Lek Penn would have been on the radio, playing the latest bhagana.
SPEAKER_01: And all of you who are laughing would have been waking up next to people.
SPEAKER_01: You would have had no business to be next to.
SPEAKER_01: Don't say nothing, just say ouch.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, Yes, I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: When you were hungover and drunk, I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: When you were highlighted trying to get home, I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: When you were stealing from your parents, I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: When you try to take that piece of land and food from that person who didn't deserve it, I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, even in your lowest and baddest times, your sin never scared me away.
SPEAKER_01: I was with you.
SPEAKER_01: And if anybody in here that you're here and some of that touched your nerve, and you wonder, how can you say that God was with me?
SPEAKER_01: The point that you know, and the evidence that you know that God was with you is because you're still here.
SPEAKER_01: And then, in spite of what you did, in spite of your drunkenness, in spite of you being high, in spite of you fighting, in spite of you being angry, the moment and the testimony and the evidence that God was still there and has been there in your past is that you're still here.
SPEAKER_01: Look here, your neighbor says, I'm still here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's some people that need to understand that I was there in your past, and your past didn't scare me.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I want a second thing.
SPEAKER_01: I told you that's real simple, but I want you to get it.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is, is that I'm here in the present.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, I'm here in the present.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I'm right here right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm here, I'm right here right now.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you, right now, in this moment, is that the present moment is a treasure, or the present moment is what it is in this vernacular and synonym.
SPEAKER_01: It is also a present.
SPEAKER_01: That to be alive in this world, to be able to take a breath in this moment in itself is a gift, and we should be grateful that we're able to sit here, stand here, touch our friends and loved ones.
SPEAKER_01: You might not have it all together in this present moment, but somebody needs to be grateful is that I am here.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us need to stop worrying about what we don't have and what we lost and enjoy the present moment.
SPEAKER_01: As a psychologist, you understand that anxiety and depression and worry are a manifestation of people unable to be in the present moment.
SPEAKER_01: Let me break it down for you.
SPEAKER_01: Is is that worry or anxiety is is your concern about the future.
SPEAKER_01: Worry and anxiety is concern about the future or concern about what happened in your past.
SPEAKER_01: So now the present moment is becomes an illusion because it's taken away from what is happening now and you're worried so much about what is to come.
SPEAKER_01: You're worried if you'll be able to pay your bills, you're worried if your family's gonna be okay, you're worried if you're gonna be healthy.
SPEAKER_01: And God is saying, Can I want you to be grateful for being healthy now?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be grateful that your lights are on now.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be grateful that you have a job now.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be grateful that your family and friends are around you now.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be grateful that you might not have the hundred dollars, but you have five dollars now.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to tell somebody that sometimes that you don't need to worry about what's to come.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be grateful for now.
SPEAKER_01: But there's some people who are stuck in the past.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're worried about what you did yesterday, you're worried about what happened before, you worried about that interaction or that situation that and God is saying, Why are you worried about something that's already gone?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be in the present moment.
SPEAKER_01: Worry causes robs you, and it causes you to be so anxious that you can't be grateful.
SPEAKER_01: The appreciation of being able to pause and stop is saying, God, I'm thankful for now.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us need to be able to appreciate more about what we have now.
SPEAKER_01: I know, I know that you're not the size that you want, but at least you are a size.
SPEAKER_01: I know you don't have the car that you want to drive, but at least you got a car.
SPEAKER_01: I know you don't have the house that you want, but at least you're not homeless.
SPEAKER_01: I know your kids act up Monday through Friday, but at least they give you a break on Saturday.
SPEAKER_01: I understand that your spouse may not look like the people on TV, but they hear they loving you, they trying their very best.
SPEAKER_01: They might not have it all, but they trying.
SPEAKER_01: I know somebody needs to understand that you need to appreciate the present.
SPEAKER_01: But also depression now.
SPEAKER_01: Depression now is also a robber of the past and also a robber of the future.
SPEAKER_01: What it does, it takes you away from the present moment.
SPEAKER_01: Is that you are so hopeless or sad about what's to come that it causes you to be sad about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: So your present worry and sadness and look outlook about tomorrow causes you to be sad now.
SPEAKER_01: When You ask people, what are you sad about?
SPEAKER_01: I'm sad about what's gonna happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: And you, if you think about it, all of us do it.
SPEAKER_01: What are you sad about?
SPEAKER_01: I'm sad about what's gonna take place tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: But you're happy now, you should be grateful for now.
SPEAKER_01: But because we're so worried and concentrated about tomorrow, it causes sadness in our present moment.
SPEAKER_01: Or you're sad.
SPEAKER_01: This is where a lot of our sadness and depression comes from.
SPEAKER_01: We're sad about what happened yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: And we're literally, I never understood.
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, growing up in neurodiversion, there were so much things I just said I understood that I didn't even understand.
SPEAKER_01: You know that whole thing?
SPEAKER_01: It was maybe I was 18 years old.
SPEAKER_01: 18 years old.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and when somebody and I really understood what it means to struggle, not cry over spilled milk.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I was younger, I would cry over spilled milk.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was a cereal aficionado.
SPEAKER_01: Uh my parents could could could could tell you, you could get me to do almost anything for a bowl of cereal.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and my cereal wasn't just any eye type of cereal, I was hooked on all the commercials.
SPEAKER_01: If anybody was born in the 80s and grew up in the late 80s, that the commercials made you feel like a superstar.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and when the first time I saw Kellogg's, they put me in a chokehole.
SPEAKER_01: It is not healthy.
SPEAKER_01: I don't admit for anyone to eat any of these cereals, they are not good for you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but this matches the sermon, and I have to put it in.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, frosted flakes.
SPEAKER_01: The first time I had some frosted flakes.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and for those of you who mix your cereal in any other different order that I am about to say, the altar is open for prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because what we used to do, uh, Pastor Jones, is that my father, you see, y'all don't understand.
SPEAKER_01: I was just so grateful.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes when you're growing up middle class and right on the edge of between just making it, you don't even know that you really are.
SPEAKER_01: You're just having a good time.
SPEAKER_01: Because I used to remember my parents making sure you remember that half-gallon ice cream bowl that used to come from St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas with the little cow on it, with the blue and white writing.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all not too young.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, I'm breaking it down.
SPEAKER_01: It was a half gallon, and it used to come with the white cover on top, and the cow used to look at you and just say, moo, and I say moo back, and I will eat that ice cream, and I couldn't wait for that bowl to be finished.
SPEAKER_01: And then we will, my mom used to wash it out in some hot water, and then it will come out.
SPEAKER_01: And then sometimes some people who are strangers will come to the house and try to throw that bowl away, and I would say, take thy hands off of that cereal bowl, you dare Philistine.
SPEAKER_01: You are not.
SPEAKER_01: And I and I was like, Don't throw away the bowl.
SPEAKER_01: And that bowl was a half gallon of joy.
SPEAKER_01: And I used to, in the proper way of making cereal as a serial lieutenant, as someone a part of the serial army, is that what you do is that you take the bowl, you get the cereal, you pour the cereal into the bowl first.
SPEAKER_01: If there's anybody in here who puts their milk in first, the altar, I will stop this entire service for you to come up here and repent of your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it don't even make no sense because it's milk and cereal.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do it.
SPEAKER_01: So I will put my cereal in first, and then it's not just adding milk, you don't add the milk willy-nilly because you don't, I don't want to cry over spilled milk.
SPEAKER_01: So I will take my time and put in the milk very precisiously.
SPEAKER_01: I was it was a precise deal, and you don't stop pouring the milk.
SPEAKER_01: When do you stop pouring the milk?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna help you out.
SPEAKER_01: You stop pouring the milk when you start to see that first little bit of Oreo or frosted flakes or fruity pebbles.
SPEAKER_01: The first one, you have to be paying attention for the first one to start to rise just a half an inch.
SPEAKER_01: As soon as it rises, you stop.
SPEAKER_01: But when you pull that away, you gotta be careful.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes I wasn't careful, and I spilled the milk, and what happened is I got sad because of the milk I spilled.
SPEAKER_01: It's because now the next time I go back to make cereal and I don't have enough.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you now I'm gonna come up in your alley.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds a little bit crazy.
SPEAKER_01: In your life, you are sad about how many times you messed up.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, you are sad of how many times you felt like thrown in the towel.
SPEAKER_01: Right now, you are sad of how many opportunities you failed about, and God is saying you're worrying about the present moment that's causing you to be sad about stuff that happened yesterday, but the reason I preserved you for today because yesterday is past, and but today is the present.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, let go of yesterday, stop worrying about what happened because what God has given you is the present.
SPEAKER_01: The last words I'm with you in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Look at your neighbor says, I'm with you in the future.
SPEAKER_01: If I had some people in here who understood the significance of what this means, I won't even have to preach this point.
SPEAKER_01: Is that you understand that God now is now what he's saying with this affirmation is giving you a 360-degree protection around your life.
SPEAKER_01: That he's saying that every angle, every corner, every auspices, everything that you've done, that time and space will not separate you, and that time is just a figment of my imagination, that uh a year for me is like a second, and meaning that no matter where you go, that I'm gonna be with you.
SPEAKER_01: There's some people in here who are worried about what's gonna happen tomorrow, who are sad about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: And God is saying, God says, I'm already there in your tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I already made sure that I've gone ahead of you and make sure and make the crooked plat straight, that no matter what you go through in life, God says, I'm with you always.
SPEAKER_01: Now, some of you need to understand that your mission now is called you to go out and be amazing.
SPEAKER_01: This mission is calling you now to go out and do great things.
SPEAKER_01: This mission more so is calling you to go out and be an ambassador for Christ and says, no matter where I go, no matter how I feel, I will live and die for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: This mission is saying that you're gonna go out and make sure that your example of Jesus' love on earth, that you will be uh stand on top of the hill and says, I love God with all my heart, mind, and soul, and I will love my neighbor as I do myself.
SPEAKER_01: The mission that you're being called to right now is a mission to be able to say, God, no matter how bad it gets, I am gonna walk forward and says, I know that you're with me.
SPEAKER_01: Now you have to understand what God means and says, I'm with you in the future.
SPEAKER_01: That you've ever been anybody in here, ever been in an altercation.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone in here?
SPEAKER_01: Now let's go back to before you were saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's go back to the past.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever been in an altercation?
SPEAKER_01: Any anybody ever been in a fight?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about just a regular fight.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about just a verbal spat.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about a fight fight.
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about, I know, I see you, sister Tucson.
SPEAKER_01: I know you fight.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I know anybody like a fight, fight.
SPEAKER_01: I mean like a fight fight, like like like like you had one of those fights that you remember that it says that after school, you and me.
SPEAKER_01: After school, as soon as the bell ring, I see you, I'ma pray for you extra special.
SPEAKER_01: And you said, after school, it's gonna be me and you.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens is you're looking forward after school for this fight about to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the thing: once sometimes there were situations where my friends and family had a fight.
SPEAKER_01: And there were times when my people used to say that they're gonna fight me, but my brother used to live away.
SPEAKER_01: And I used to be all scared because I didn't have any backup, I didn't have anybody.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but when my brother was here and somebody said they want to fight, I'd be like, okay.
SPEAKER_01: And what I used to do is make sure wherever you want to meet me to fight me, I'm gonna make sure my brother is already there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because when I show up, he's gonna make sure I meet him there.
SPEAKER_01: God is saying in your life, I'm meeting you in your battle.
SPEAKER_01: I'm meeting you in your fight.
SPEAKER_01: The fight has already taken place, but I've always been there.
SPEAKER_01: I've always been there in your past, I've always been there in your present, and I'll always be there in your future.
SPEAKER_01: I wanna be able to tell someone, no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're facing, no matter how bad it gets, I want you to live on mission.
SPEAKER_01: If somebody in here understands that God has called you to do exceeding above all you can ever ask, hope, or think, that every year, every breathing moment that you have, that you're gonna be a disciple, an ambassador for God, that you're gonna make sure that you are light on top of the hill.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be able to support right now in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: This is not for everyone, as I said.
SPEAKER_01: This is just for the people who are gonna make sure that they're gonna make every moment of their life count.
SPEAKER_01: God says, I've called you to do amazing things and you want to live on mission.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to be able to remind somebody.
SPEAKER_01: I know that things may get hard.
SPEAKER_01: You need me worried about the future because God says I'm there in your future.
SPEAKER_01: Now let's just put it all together.
SPEAKER_01: If now you serve a God that says I was there in your past, if we serve a God who says I was there in your future, you says a God that I'm saying I'm here with you now.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you, what's your reason?
SPEAKER_01: What's your real reason for not giving all to God?
SPEAKER_01: What's your reason for not branching out on faith?
SPEAKER_01: Because God says I got you in the past, I got you in the present, and I got you in the future.
SPEAKER_01: What's your reason for not stepping out on faith?
SPEAKER_01: What's your reason for not trusting more, praying more?
SPEAKER_01: What's your reason for not trusting God?
SPEAKER_01: Because the same God that had you uh when you were back in your past says, I didn't let you die because you had a mission.
SPEAKER_01: The same God that has you now in the present says, I'm not gonna let you fail because I still have you.
SPEAKER_01: And the same God that says I'm gonna meet you in your future, who says, No matter where you go, that I'll be with you always.
SPEAKER_01: Now I wanna be able to tell you, I didn't do this all by myself.
SPEAKER_01: It was the grace of God that keeps God around you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not by your own works.
SPEAKER_01: You are not good enough to deserve God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: But God says I'm gonna stick with you.
SPEAKER_01: So I just wanna be able to tell you that my last words for you on this statement is God, I thank you for sticking with me.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I thank you for sticking with me in my past.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for sticking with me in my present.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for sticking with me in the future.
SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for sticking with me when I felt like giving up.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you sticking with me with tears in my eyes.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for sticking with me when I felt broken down and disgusted.
SPEAKER_01: I thank you for sticking with me when my friends and family left me.
SPEAKER_01: God, I thank you for sticking with me.
SPEAKER_01: When I was lonely, you were there.
SPEAKER_01: When I was burdened, you were there.
SPEAKER_01: When I was tired, you were there.
SPEAKER_01: When I needed strength, you were there.
SPEAKER_01: When I was distressed, you were there.
SPEAKER_01: And God, I know that you are able to do exceedingly be all things through Christ who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't need everybody to get happy.
SPEAKER_01: But I was want to be able to tell you now that my uncle is here.
SPEAKER_01: I want to know that Pastor Jones is here.
SPEAKER_01: Now that I have some old saints that understand what the goodness of God looks like, I want to be able to remind you what the old saints used to say.
SPEAKER_01: It's just say, I come to the garden alone, where the dew and the church are still on the roses and the voice to be here.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the point I like.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the point I know.
SPEAKER_01: What I really remember it says, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I'm his own.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is God is saying, No matter where you go, I'ma be with you.
SPEAKER_01: And it used to have another song that he says, No, never alone.
SPEAKER_01: He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, you might not know those two old hymns, but if somebody in here knows this one, I want you to jump up to your feet.
SPEAKER_01: Because I could imagine a songwriter being able to sit now in the pen and the handy-dandy pen.
SPEAKER_01: And I was reminded I may have been like the songwriter.
SPEAKER_01: I was on a mission there now for one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna be able to get through this.
SPEAKER_01: And it sent me and led me to start to write these words on pen and paper.
SPEAKER_01: And it says, I want you to remind the folk at King Garden Baptist Church that I've been with you in your past.
SPEAKER_01: I've been with you in your present.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be with you in your future.
SPEAKER_01: I've got even if they don't get this, even if they don't laugh at your funny stories, even if they don't read the scripture after, I want you to be able to remind them and tell them that I don't know about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you and sit up here and tell you what's gonna happen about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: But I will just remind you, I just live from day to day.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not worried about what has gonna happen after, but my skies may turn a gray.
SPEAKER_01: And then this here's the thing I want to tell somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Many things.
SPEAKER_01: I don't understand it, I don't know what's going on, but I know many things about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see that.
SPEAKER_01: I know you're worried about what's gonna happen, but God says, I don't see me, you don't seem to understand it.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what you need to know.
SPEAKER_01: I need somebody in here who knows this by their heart and feeling in their stomach.
SPEAKER_01: Many things about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, but I know who holds my hand, and here's the part I wanna be able to remind you.
SPEAKER_01: God says I will never leave you.
SPEAKER_01: Never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever leave you, nor forsake you.
SPEAKER_01: So let tomorrow come, I'm gonna meet it with praise.
SPEAKER_01: Let tomorrow come, I'm gonna meet it with joy because the God that kept me through my sickness, the God that kept me through my pain, is the same God that's keeping me now, but the same God that's gonna keep me tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: If his eye is on the sparrow, I know he watches over me many things about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what you're going through, I know you might not understand tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I know tomorrow scares the living daylights out of you.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to know we may not have to understand it, but all I want you to do is remember, you may not understand tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: But God reminds you and says this I've been there in your past, I'm here with you now, and guess what?
SPEAKER_01: I'll be with you in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Sand over the church, no matter where you are, many things about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see.
SPEAKER_01: I don't see you understand.
SPEAKER_00: But I know and I know I don't know about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: I just live from day.
SPEAKER_01: I don't borrow from sunshine.
SPEAKER_01: For skies.
SPEAKER_01: I don't worry about the future.
SPEAKER_01: For I know what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: And today I walk beside him.
SPEAKER_01: For he knows one more time, many things.
SPEAKER_01: I got I got a song for you that just came in my spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But not for just for you, but for everybody in here.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know, for those of you who are committed to being on mission with Christ, this prayer is for you.
SPEAKER_01: That you're saying, how am I supposed to be on mission when I'm so worried about what's gonna happen?
SPEAKER_01: If you're one of those people that may not have as much peace and joy in your life, or you're worried about something in the present, or worried about the future, I want you to know that God has never left you nor forsaken you.
SPEAKER_01: He's never left you or forsaken you.
SPEAKER_01: So no matter what, no matter what happens, I want you to raise your hand as a sign of saying, God, if nobody else wants to go offend me, I'm not worried anymore.
SPEAKER_01: I'ma live my life totally dependent on you.
SPEAKER_01: And here's my prayer for you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's my prayer for you.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what you might work, though, Satan.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna come.
SPEAKER_00: Let this bless the shore.
SPEAKER_00: That cries all my life.
SPEAKER_00: You have been faithful.
SPEAKER_00: You have been so so good.
SPEAKER_00: I will see who I will save of the good God.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I love you for your mercies, for your birth in every day.
SPEAKER_00: This is a whole sermon and all minds.
SPEAKER_00: I've been led in your head from the moment to this until I live my head.
SPEAKER_00: And I for what I will see all the goodness of God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to hear your voices.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say all my life.
SPEAKER_00: All my life you have been faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Sing it for your belly all my life.
SPEAKER_00: All my life you have been so my life be so good.
SPEAKER_01: If you feel with me, here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: God, I just stopped by to say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: God, I just want to say thank you.
SPEAKER_01: For the things that didn't go well, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: For the people that try to set me up, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: For my trials and tribulations, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: For my good days, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: For my bad days, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: And thank you for reminding us.
SPEAKER_01: Lo, I will be with you always, even until the end of age.
SPEAKER_01: For what eyes have seen, is a heard.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray now for the hearts, the minds, that you will renew us.
SPEAKER_01: That you never left us.
SPEAKER_01: That you've never left us.
SPEAKER_01: You've never left us.
SPEAKER_01: And that you will never leave us.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We need to say amen.
SPEAKER_01: God I'm grateful.
SPEAKER_01: Say God, I'm grateful.