Fisherman of Men

Leshawn tells it like it is!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:35

The broken victory is mine. Hey, happy Thursday, beloved. Happy Thursday, baby. Hey, y'all see this month almost over? Didn't it just come in? Lord, these days are flying by. But let's get in what we came in here for. This is gonna be a good one tonight, y'all. Everyone, this good one. I ain't gonna even tell no lie. God be surprising me when He gives me the word for the week. But anywho, y'all know we gotta pray before we get started. So bow them heads, close them eyes. Not if you're dry. We need you saved. All right, dear heavenly most gracious father, we come to you on this day, Lord. First of all, we want to say thank you. Thank you for allowing us to see a new day down here, Lord. Thank you for allowing us to remain in the land of the living, Lord, in this room that we call earth. I just give you all the praise, all the glory, all the honor right now, Lord. It all belongs to you. I take no credit. All I am, Lord, is the vessel that you're using to share your word to the masses. You're just using me as a vessel for kingdom building, and all I am to do is to plant the seeds, and it's on us as men to water it, to nourish it, and let it grow and expand. I accept everyone that's going through, Lord, right now, you cover them, touch them, meet them at their need. And Lord, I ask that you help my clients and my prospects that's overwhelmed in stress of what's going on in this world, in this nation right here, the United States of America. Help man understand we have no control over what's taking place. This battle is not ours, it's yours, said the Lord. And if we learn to just release and stand on faith, stand on your word, be still, and know that you God, man nor our enemy has no authority and all control and all power over this earth, world as a whole, not even just the United States, just as a whole. Let our people know that if we put our faith in you and we be still, we learn to sit down and be patient. Everything will work itself out because nothing happened without your authority. They have to give permission. That's why, as if it's not God ordained, it's God allowed. So, Lord, touch right now, help right now, and ease the mind of everybody that's going through with the depression, the stress, the panicking, the fear, the anxiety. Cover us right now, and let this word that you send from on high bless someone on tonight. I exing all blessings in the only name that has power in heaven and on earth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. All right, child, let's get into this word. Let me put my glasses on so I can read. Y'all know I got my notes, but I gotta read my scriptures, which were coming from all NIV, Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17, Luke 5 and 10. I'm gonna start with Matthew 4.19, then Mark, then Luke. And Matthew 4.19. Jesus says, Come, follow me. Jesus said, I will, and I will send you out to fish for people. See, this verse emphasizes the call to discipleship and the mission of spreading the gospel, which is God's word. Mark 1 and 17, come follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. Luke 5 and 10. And so were James and John, the sons of Zabbedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, Don't be afraid. From now on, you will fish for people. So as you can see, God was preparing the 12 disciples that walk with him. But what he did back then, when he walked this earth, this room we call earth was a plain example of what we are to do today. We're called to be disciples, to teach, to lead, to inspire, to encourage, to help, and not judge, to draw man back to God. Because, see, life go happen. Our environment, everything we in and around causes us to get off course, and God knows we go astray. And the thing about God, He's a true gentleman, He gives us free will, He knows we're gonna return home just like the prodigal son, and He go welcome us back with open arms. But you know what? He don't judge us, He not like man, and He tells us all the time, you can't hear me. My mic not working. I'm sorry, Sandra. Mic check. Can y'all hear me now? Can somebody let me know if they can hear me in the chat? Okay, all right, Sandra. Maybe you're in. I'm sorry. Just go back and watch the replay later, please. So at the end of the day, if we understand and take, and first we have to have our own relationship with God. I'm just gonna be very transparent. We is it's okay to learn from our pastors, our parents, our grandparents, but we need to suck and allow God to dwell in his temple. This body is not ours. This alone. That's why when we die, our soul transition, it ascends, not this body. The body returned back to dust. See, when we understand the concept that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, King of Kings, Lord and Lords, walked this earth and was a living example, not just a sacrifice, but a living example. How we to live down here. But nobody can cast a stone. Why? Because we all have sinned, we all fall short, but so many times we forget that and we think we're better than everybody else. Go back to even when Jesus walked this earth. Never did he act like he was better than. Never. And remember, he knew he was above us, but you never seen him come arrogant, judgmental, and he always showed us by example when he went in solitude and he talked to the father to show us example because I want y'all to get clarity understanding, because I don't want nobody to be confused, because God had to give it to me. God and Jesus is one, right? That's right, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then He tells us He's not gonna leave us alone, He's gonna leave the Holy Spirit. He's here with us, he dwells in us when we're ready, when we open that door. But he came now in Mary in the bird canal to be an example to show us. See, God understood and understand still to this day, it's not easy being down here. We fighting against principality and power, evil all around us. We can't control that. That's not our bad, it's the Lord's. When we stop trying to fight something that's not ours, we're gonna be all right. I promise you, I'm just telling you for me. But let me go from the lesson today. I just wanted to share something, but uh do my notes so I can stay on course because I get inside, y'all, when I talk about God. Oh, baby. So fishers of men refers to Jesus' call for his disciples to gather people into God's kingdom, just as fishermen catch fish, right? So that's what God calling his children to do. The phrase originates from Jesus' calling of Simon, Peter, and his brother Andrew, who were fishermen by trade. They yes, that just like some of our occupation, nurse, doctors, teachers, lawyers, they were actual fishermen. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him, along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were also called to lead their fishing business and follow Jesus. This metaphor illustrates the transition from their ordinary profession to a spiritual mission. Look at how there's no coincidence when you went to God. Nah, but look at that, y'all. Look at how their profession, they were fishermen, and you know, I could only imagine they was master fishermen now. When we look at it in a spiritual eye, now here in this day and time, look at it this way. I want you to fully understand you master that skill, you could at it, right? They were already a master at being fishermen, getting that fish for food. Now, when we look at it, now you're a fisherman to draw man back to God. Okay, the spiritual meaning, being a fisher of men, symbolizes evangelism and discipleship. Just as fishermen must understand the habits of fish, choose the right equipment, and patiently cast their nets. Believers are called to understand people's spiritual needs. We are to use the tools God provides and share the gospel faithfully. Notice, faithfully. Ephesians 6 and 10 through 18 says it emphasizes faith, obedience, and readiness to respond to God's call, leaving behind always to embrace a new purpose and spreading his message. How can we spread the word of God if we in our old skin have to shed the old us and become a new creature? Going down in the water to be told you're born again doesn't have nothing to do with being a new creature. You have to shed the old skin, just like a snake sheds its skin. We must do the same. That old filth must be washed away and everything become new. If it was a gossip, you ain't gonna like gossiping no more. And if you was like me and you did a lot of pork, baby, that pork gonna get turned off. The tape bud even change. Now, am I fully there? No, but every now and then I'll have pork. I used to eat a pork chop all the time, and every now and then, because I'm from New Orleans, so the hot sauses, you know, the pork best for it, but you no longer want things and no longer do things, the places I used to hang or wanted to hang. I don't hang no more. Some of the people I used to associate with, I no longer associate with. You outgrow because now you align with your true self, who God called you to be, the spiritual being you down here having an earthly experience. The flesh that you see out here is not who you really are, it's within the soul. That's what we have to understand. So, lessons from the calling, immediate obedience. The disciples left their livelihood, immediate obedience. You you didn't see them say pause, immediate obedience, that's faith over fear because we fall for the fear time and time again. I know y'all, I've been there, and there's sometimes my flesh gets weak. Just I'll give y'all an example before I go to the next point. God is working a miracle right now. I'm not to talk about that, but I won't give you a plain example. God's move with this situation, just happened Thursday, Friday. Things was in place less than 48 hours. Sunday, God moved miraculously. Monday, got some news just without going into all the details, how fast God can move. Never seen this done in history, and my anxiety came in out of nowhere. Now, I ain't mind you, I ain't suffered with anxiety, depression, since I really took my uh healing journey seriously in 2022. God told me now, now my king don't don't know what God's doing right now. God told me to keep my mouth closed on that. He told me though, call him, not call him. I'm sorry, let me take that back because I don't I I don't want I want it right. God said, Send him a message. I'm following my spirit for him to pray for you because I was allowing anxiety to overwhelm me because everything was moving so fast, not moving so fast in a good way. My back was up against the wall in a good way. I immediately obeyed God, send my king the text, of course. You know, he stood in agreement, amen. He don't ask no questions. We already know all this is all God alive, and immediately I can feel the anxiety. I was able to whoosah and come back to where God needed me to be, and sometimes God gonna have sometimes you have that special person in your life that's gonna have to come in, step in because we all need somebody, and we all need prayer. You just gotta make sure you have somebody that's praying for you and not praying against you. So I shared that to give an example of how we go always fall short here and there because we're in flesh and the body gets weak. And sometimes you just need that person to pray and breathe back into you so you get it together, and it wasn't a bad thing, it just was everything was coming all at once. And I had to move with the flow. So faith in God's provision, just as Peter experienced a miraculous catch of fish after obeying Jesus' instructions, believers are encouraged to trust God in their mission. Spiritual transformation, the call to be fishers, fishers of men, represents a shift from a worldly occupation to a divine purpose. So, although you have that worldly occupation, you also have a divine mission, we're not just on this green earth to suck up this air and do nothing, and think that we're just entitled to be here and not give God any thanks, praise, or glory for it, because without Him, we would be in trouble. Yeah, sometimes we don't want to hear that. I've been there, but it's the truth, and I tell people all the time the truth shall set you free. I'm sorry, I I just learned to stand on my ground of being a truth teller, whether a person like it or not like it, don't like me. God didn't put me here to be like, God put me here to speak the truth, not to sugarcoat, not to make you feel good, not to breed. Oh fairy tale. No, I gotta give you the real deal. What God gives me. God woke me up the next morning at last Friday to give me this word. I had no clue, and God will always prepare you. He gives the word to you first before he wants you to give it to someone else. And sometimes God will do things in your life, it's a testimony, but you can't share that testimony just yet. He wants you to wait until he brings it to fruition, so the enemy don't pray against it. That's the truth, beloved, because everybody ain't happy for you, and everybody ain't gonna be happy for you, and see what people don't understand when you sit there and you're being envy because your brother or sister are in their seasons of blessing, you're gonna always wonder why your blessing don't come, because you gotta learn to clap for others. We gotta be grateful and happy for others because God don't bless no mess, and God is a God of unity and love, and how you got unity and you causing the vision because oh girl, you see her? She thinks she all that, she thinks she got it going on. Hating, hating. How do you think God gonna bless you? And that same person that you hating on, when it becomes your turn, they clapping for you, thanking God for you. But see, you gotta let go of that envy spirit, that jealous spirit. That's a spirit, and you can rebuke that spirit. God give us dominion over everything. You speak that thing, tell it, get the behind me. I'm gonna be happy for my sister. I'm gonna be happy for my brother. They work hard to get where they are. Ain't nobody gave them nothing. You don't know what people been through to get what God brought them through. So before you put your mouth on people, think about if you could walk through their shoes from the time God brought them in this earth to where they're at now. Some people like a person would have just gave up a long time ago and say, Take me not, God. So that's why I say it's important to understand the word and not just speak the word, two different things. That's why the words say, seek wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. They're not all the same. Knowledge, wisdom, understanding. Do you understand what God is telling you in this word? Do you seek the truth? Do you want to know the truth? Wisdom always came from elders. See, I've always had a relationship with elders since I was young. Didn't understand why I was that crazy chick, as they call it. Sit with the elders, love hearing their stories. Why they've been through something. They was able to teach me even when I didn't understand the teaching. And it stayed with me today. And even now, as I'm on this journey and discovering and learning and loving who I am, I remember everything is like God just open his fault and bringing everything back that was given that I suppress because life happened. Because all I've been through, God never promised us it was gonna be easy. We leave him, he don't leave us even when we mad, when the church folks do us wrong, or as we call it, Christians. See if people really understand when you use the word Christian, what that really means, Christ-like you want to, you'll never be Christ, but you want to imitate him, become more like him, and do more good than bad. The people that always have something to say about, oh, look at her, she just a drug addict alcohol. Look at him, just a drug addict, alcohol. Do you know what they've been through? Do you know all the hell they've been through? Then stop talking because I guarantee you if she was on the other foot, you couldn't go 10 minutes. What they went through. See, God knows how much we all can bear. That's why some had more harder battles than others, but we all have battles, but his stronger soldiers just on the front line because he preserving you, because you couldn't stand the hot furnace fire and come out not smelling like smoke. You would have given up in there. You're you couldn't do what Daniel did in a line then the line would have came in and ate you up because your faith was not where it needed to be. See that line couldn't touch Daniel because God dwelt in Daniel, and that line knew it from the jump. But those ones that threw him down, my God, they thought they was gonna get a show, but no show could be given, but given a show, my God worked miracles and wonders, and that blew their mind because I tell people, even to this day, that people say, Oh God, not real. Y'all believe in that hocus, pocus. Let me believe in whatever I want to be, but I can tell you one thing God is real, whether you want to believe it or not. People won't pick and choose what they want to believe in. But at the end of the day, until you have your day, you meet my Lord and Savior for yourself, you will know everybody. You cannot leave this green earth without having a God encounter experience where God will perform a miracle the doctors can't do, your mama can't do, your daddy can't do, and definitely your kids can't do. Only God Himself can perform that miracle. That's why he said, You worry for nothing, you lack nothing. All we have to do is hold our hands up and say, My God, I stretch my hands to thee. You are my Jehovah, Jirah, you my Jehovah Nisi, you my Jehovah Rapha, you my Jehovah, everything, everything I stand in the need, you will provide. I lack for nothing, I seek healing over my body. Yes, the doctor said I have five of my algae. Yes, the doctor said I have diabetes. Yes, the doctor said I have high blood pressure, but guess what? They don't have me. That's the difference. I speak life over myself. People see me death, they can't believe I have five of my if you don't know about five of my algae, that's an autoimmune disease. Baby, I have my moments where the pain hit me. It I guarantee you, I don't let it take me out for weeks no more and days. I might have to sit down one day and rest my body because God tell him enough is enough, my child, you gotta rest. Because I'm one of those people run, run, run, run, run. And God knows I'm human, I must rest. So he knows how to sit me down. And you I'll come back the next day. You'll never know I had a massive flare up, and me in the bed was best friend that morning or that evening, because I don't put my trust in what doctors tell me and speak over me. I put my trust in what my heavenly father speaks over and told me, even when it comes to, he said, I make you dominion over everything, the animals, the land. So if he made us, he made us in his liking and image, and if he spoke to that mountain, and that mountain moved, what make you think we can't speak to that mountain? That mountain has to move. I want y'all to get tonight, if nothing else. We are God's children, we have every right. God wants us to have every He don't want us to be arrogant, self-centered, and forget where your help and your strength and everything else come from. Yes, there's a war going on around us, that ain't our battle. When God gets tired of all the shenanigans that's going on in this world, everything he just brings it to the forefront. Nobody, I don't care who's sitting in the White House, the over office, the purple house, it could be the green house. Nobody, even with Satan himself, when he wanted to touch Job, who did he have to go to? That tell us right there, nothing can be done without God giving consent, and sometimes God gotta step back because I'm gonna share this with y'all. See, God was already telling I I messed up two times. The first time I didn't ask God, was that my husband? Oh, I was 30, ready to be married, didn't want no more kids out of wedding lot because I had my daughter and I had a young, so I did my thing. God stepped back, wasn't God a day, God a lot. Hell came, was bitter for a while, got better. Then my second husband later on down the road. Now a situation occurred. God made sure He told me because He didn't tell me to marry, He didn't answer, so I'm like, Oh, God didn't say nothing. No, that's that's that means it's okay, God that's me. I'm I'm all telling you exactly what I'm just like, oh, he ain't say no, he ain't say yes, so yeah, we in there. Well, you know, of course, every marriage not gonna have problems in the beginning, might might not, but when you go against God's will, because you gotta be aligned, and I'm not gonna put no nothing out there, I I'm not gonna do that, but it was a situation that occurred. God made sure I wouldn't jump on it. Oh me, I'm the good wife, I got to all I can tell you, like the sister said, I'm a better woman than she is. No woman would have put the money and what I did on the line. So, since I was rebellious and disobeyed God, when that happened, God stepped completely back. See, God was protecting me in the midst of it. But oh no, I just knew it all. God took his hand completely off me, and that hurt that my ex put me through almost took me out of here, almost took me to the grave. You hear me? I remember my place that took me to the hospital, they would not let me leave. They say, one one, my holistic doctor told me, he said, What are you waiting on today? He said that with his own mom. That was what woke me up. But the hospital said, We're not letting you out here. Your pressure is dangerously high. God, that's how, but God kept me in the midst because I could have had a stroke, y'all. I could have had a stroke, but it goes to show us when God tells you enough is enough, when he allows a door to open for an exit, because everybody can go where God is taking you in life, they can, and if we learn to wait on God to answer, we will save more headaches than we bring upon ourselves. We bring all the headaches because we're trying to do it our way. How we go do it our way when he's the creator, he's the one that created us, who knows best what's for our life than us. He does. So if we learn to get out the way and allow him to be God, like he said, be still and know that I'm God, he's telling us, be still, but we we don't want to be still. I'm just telling I'm just saying because that was me, but I can tell you now where I'm at in life. Romans 8 and 28. God took every situation and turned it around for my good. I went through my Joel moment, I lost. That's right, that's right, I lost everything. Everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. My health failed, I lost my book of business, I had to walk away from my marital home, everything stripped, clean, everything, and I was fine with it because at the end of the day, I was like, my ex-husband was healthy, he he didn't say no man, nothing was wrong with him, and he exercised the rest of the day. But when he got a lawyer to call me and said I was gonna have to pay him alimony, and me give because when we got the house, the house at that particular time was 369. Well, it had then went up to uh 549, 529. I call up the finance company. Thought I was crazy. I called and told them y'all can hear the house back. I'm walking, I'm walking away. They had to ask me to repeat three times what I said. He, you know, I was so you that's just stupid. No, I'm good. I'm good now. I had to pray and ask God for forgiveness because you know, of course, right after that divorce, I had to heal because I was a hot mess. A lot of stuff I did off emotion because women, we are emotional beings, but I refuse because of the hell he put me through to give any dollar, but I got every whooping and hurt that I got was because I was disobedient to God, because he kept trying to forewarn me before it got that far, and he removed him away out of the equation, and I brought the equation back because me being who I am, so when he removed himself, you I got to see the bigger picture, and I'm like, wow, this is deeper than what I thought, and that's what we have to learn too. When we don't listen to God, when we want to do it our way, because we think we know it all, we go what the elders used to say, a hard head makes a soft tail, baby. I I saw real quick, I see real quick what it was like at that moment being disobedient when God was trying to help me, protect me, save me, and I'm trying to protect someone that's hurting me. Make that make sense. I can't. That was stupid on my part, but I learned from it, I healed from it, and I had to heal from everything else I went through in life because I thought toxicity and dysfunction was all part of living in life, it's not that's what the enemy wants us to think. We have to break that curse, that generational curse, at some point so it don't keep trickling down from generation to generation because hurt people hurt people. So, who's gonna stop the hurt? I had to stop the hurt. Now I think got my last two, 20 and 21. They are getting their self together, mind stable, ain't worrying about blow blow out there. They're focused on because when they turn 25 and they go transition to their own place, their own life, they're gonna be ready for the world, and yes, the males gonna still be there, but I can assure you now they know what healthy looks like versus unhealthy because God sent in a true king, but in the beginning, I was said man, I was just bitter. I thought all men was alike, and God, like, that's the problem. You won't want to sit and look and listen and see, and then finally it clicked. But the one thing about my king, he like, I'm gonna let you have some time to heal. He never left because he understood the sermon, God was speaking to him just like he was speaking to me, and he came always in love and patient, and that's something I never had, never seen, you know. So I didn't know what patience in a man was, thought it was a game being played. I'm just being very transparent. But when God brings people into your life, and we were friends for like two, two or three years before he even asked me to go study, yeah. Because we'd be two years in a relationship in April next month. But he allowed me time to heal, he understood because he had already told me God told him to be patient with me. Casa, this man full of it. He he using God to his benefit. That's I'm just I'm keeping it 100 because that last one, baby. I when I say I wasn't falling for nothing, and I was a something something. And why I tell people I don't sit up here and act like I was holy than that. No, because none of us are holy than that. I'm still not perfect, I still mess up because I'm on this earth and I'm in flesh, and my flesh gets weak sometimes, and I fall short of God's glory, and I have to look up and ask God for his strength and to help me meet me at my needs. Forgive me for my sin, forgive me for my shortcoming, because that flesh will fail us time and time again, and it's gonna always happen because when sin came, because of the forbidden fruit by the wonderful Adam and E. But once you do right by God and you obey Him and you do His will, follow His calling, everything you lost, just like Job, start giving it back, but guess what? This time you're gonna get more. You thought you was doing good, but He multiplies it tenfold so long as you do right by people and do God's will that He has for your life, not for Lashawn Fernandez's life. We all have a purpose. My purpose is to help others awaken to the Christ conscience and know who God is and know who they are in Christ Jesus. I'm not to throw up on people, I'm just to help you open the mind and see. And get to know him in the pardon of your sins. He knew we was gonna fall short, he knew we was gonna sin. That's why he went to Calvary. He died on Calvary for you and me, and he didn't hesitate. He was sinless for his love, unconditional love. See the one thing you gotta know, man can't love you like God. God loves you unconditional at your worst. Till you start figuring out who you are and start knowing who you are and start walking right, being obedient. He loves you regardless, and don't let nobody tell you otherwise. I don't care what kind of life you live in now, you fall down to your knees and you ask God for forgiveness. You ask, amen, Sandra. You ask God, He's a forgiving God, He's a loving God, and all He wants is what's best for us. He don't want us to be hurt, that's why He protects us and keeps His hand covering over us until He has to pull back, teach us touch tough love. We do it with our own kids. Where do you think we get our personality from? That's how I know God is not just loving, His personality is just like mine. He made me in His image and His liking, so I gotta be part of Him, and my personality is part of Him too, and just like with my kids not too much the last but my older she was all of me, but hey, I lived in toxicity her her whole life. The girls was teenagers when I got out of this foolishness. So with her, I understand she was my twin. You can't be mad at because kids don't do what you say, they do what you they see. Now you might think, oh, my kid go do what I say, and this. Yeah, you think you're not around them at school, you're not around. Trust me, just like for us, because I know in my era, you better not open your mouth back to your parent. You will be looking for your tea, but you still did what you did. So our kids just go mimic the example because remember, God made us the example, that's why we are the parent. We are supposed to be the example to show them how to live on this earth. Amen. Santa Amen. And when we mess up, they go mess up. It's given whatever you put out, go return, even with your kids, it got to no matter what seeds you plant. That's why people think they get in the way. How you think you get in the way? God is all seeing God all knowing. You might get away with man, but you'll never get away with God. So we gotta stop the shenanigans thinking we outsmart God. You'll never outsmart God. You can't outsmart the creator, the one who created you and I. The God, the the uh Yahweh, the divine, the great I am, the beginning, the end, Alpha, the Omega. You can't, and that's what we have to understand. We cannot. So before I close, let me do the conclusion, and then I'm gonna do the prayer, and we go get off tonight. So, so highlighting the transformative power of following Christ, equipping for the mission. Believers are spiritually equipped with faith, the word of God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to reach others effectively. Notice the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads in guidance. Remember, Jesus said, I will not leave you alone, I will leave you with the Holy Spirit. See the soul, what God said it's us, it's three, everything is three. God, the Son, Holy Spirit. There's us, the soul, and the spirit. God connects in that spirit, baby. That spirit. So the conclusion for tonight, I want y'all again. The metaphor of fishers of men conveys that discipleship involves actively seeking, guiding, and bringing people into a relationship with God. Notice I say a relationship with God, but it requires faith, dedication, reliance on God's will, wisdom. It remains a central teaching for Christians about evangelism and the call to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. And understand on this walk, you're gonna come get a lot of knockdowns. I had it happen to me the other day in a group. God led me to uh give my response. As Michelle said, when they go low, you go high. I would have gone low, not high. But I have to say, I was proud of myself. I had to pat myself on the back because I went high, baby. I watched how God goes, and they were mad because when people can't get to you, they're gonna constantly say something to try to get up under your skin. But see, this one you know you evolve and you elevate because as you pass the test, because you will be tested, just like in school, they do not let you go be promoted to the next grade until you pass the test. It's no difference with life down here as you evolve and grow and on a spiritual journey because that's all we have in down here, it's truly a spiritual journey. We're spiritual beings just having an earthly experience, and is it easy? Absolutely not, but with having God as the leader, let him lead the way, you can't go wrong when you knock him out the way or close the door on him, he can't come in and lead you in the direction you need to go, so you go fall. So we gotta learn, even when we do fall, laying on your back. So if you can look up, you can get up, and until next week, beloved. I hope my word tonight blessed somebody's soul and let go and let God and understand. We were called to be fishermen of men. Pray for your brother, pray for your sister, don't give up on them, love on them in spite of. But just know boundaries, even Jesus had boundaries. Don't put up with shenanigans. I don't care who it is. God wants us to live in peace and love and understanding and to be kind to one another. That's all this world needs right now. If the world had more love, we wouldn't be going through all this, but it's coming. We're gonna keep praying. Will it ever be perfect? Absolutely not, but I guarantee you more people are gonna come back to God, and that's where the love gonna come back, those that draw back to him. How can you say that? Sean somebody said, I'm one that went so far away from him, and I'm wholeheartedly with him now. 110 he leads in God my life. I don't do nothing without him now, nothing. So that's how I know what's gonna happen in the world. That's how I know as people draw back what's gonna happen because I was one that was way out there, and God welcomed me back, just like the prodigal son fought with open arm, and he just loved me and held me, and he forgave me for all my sin. And he loved on me in spite of me being uh rebellious, wanted to do it stubborn. I think I was the most stubbornest child God had on this earth, but he didn't stop loving me, just like with us with our kids. We don't stop loving them, we just love them even more. So let's close our eyes and we're gonna pray out tonight. Good. I'm glad to hear that, Sandra. All praise be to God, all praise be to him, dear heavenly most gracious father. I thank you for this night, Lord. Thank you for this word that you use me to deliver to the people. I ask that you bless someone, Lord, tonight with this word. Not let them just be hearers of this word, but also be doers. Let somebody cry out to you tonight, Lord, saying, What must I do to be saved? And Lord, then you accept them in the bottom of your hands and receive them as your child, as you always have and will. Welcome them back home like you did for me, Father. Let them know somebody that was as stubborn and rebellious and disobedient as I was, can come back to you and turn from my wicked ways and my toxic dysfunction behavior and shed my old skin. Go from that cocoon to that creepy little caterpillar to bust through that cocoon to transform, shade all that old skin and become this beautiful, beautiful butterfly, and to love all my brothers and sisters, these kings and queens that you created and gave us inheritance of because we heirs of you. I ask that you meet them right now, Lord. Bless everybody under the sound of my weak voice, touch us all, strengthen us where we weak, and build us up where we torn down. And I thank you, Lord. I give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Until next week, y'all! Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

I didn't fall apart in public. I fell apart alone where no one could see. My mind became a place I was afraid to be. Every thought felt like an attack, and the silence was louder than any scream. I believed in God, but I didn't understand why I was hurting like this. I prayed and still felt broken. There were moments I didn't know if I had the strength to keep going. Moments where surviving felt harder than quitting. That's when I realized something. I didn't need to be ashamed. I needed to fight for my mind. I learned how to confront the pain, how to face the thoughts, how to heal without pretending. This book tells the truth about that fight. I didn't just survive mental anguish. I broke free from it. If your mind has been a battlefield, if you've been fighting in silence, you are not weak. You are a warrior. Because healing is possible. Your story isn't over.