Rusty Nelson | March 1, 2023

Hope you're having a good week. Just so grateful that you've prioritized the house of God on a Wednesday night. You've prioritized the presence of God on a Wednesday night. So thanks for doing that. How many of you are grateful for all that God is doing here at the Refuge and doing in our midst?

And I'm sure you have figured out by now we don't have a monopoly on the presence of God. Isn't it exciting that God is moving all across the United States? There's so many things we're hearing and I'm just so grateful. It feels like a new day, doesn't it? Church like man.

There's a Joel 2 outpouring that we're seeing and experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I'm grateful, grateful, grateful, grateful. I want you to be praying and we'll pray into this maybe towards the end. But tomorrow, March 2nd is our annual board of directors meeting. And so once a year, our board of directors flies in or drives in and we spend the entire day with them and go through reports and share victories and testimonies and just submit this house and this work to the covering of our board.

And we're so grateful for those men and women that serve on our board of directors and so thankful that for now, coming up on 19 years, so today's March 1st, so next month, April 4th, will be the 19 year anniversary of the Refuge. That's so hard to believe. Yeah, so hard to believe. And you know, I see people like Wayne and Susan Trexler sitting back here and they were in the basement when we started the Refuge. In fact, Wayne kept the books for us for a few months and made sure we were doing everything right.

Yeah, what a blessing. So in these 19 years, I'm so grateful that we've had just a very healthy covering. And our board of directors. And our board is made up of men and women who all function and operate in the fivefold offices of Ephesians 4. And so we have represented in the covering body of this house apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers that speak into this work with so much wisdom.

So we're excited that they'll be coming in. Some of them are probably landing soon. Sean Smith is on his way. He'll be flying in. And Jimmy Johns is driving in.

And Pastor Johnny Jernigan is flying in early tomorrow morning. And Bishop Zink is having to join us by zoom tomorrow because his wife Sharon is having some surgery in the morning and so he has to be with her. And then we'll join the board meeting a little bit later. But so thrilled that it worked out. Pastor Rusty Nelson is already here.

And he came in actually last night. He and I serve on a few boards together, and we serve on the board for New Life in Jacksonville, Florida, New Life Christian Fellowship. And we were both serving on the board for Bishop Zink. And then about five years ago, five or six years ago, Bishop Zink transitioned the church to his son, Paul Jr. And Paul Jr. Asked us to remain on the board of directors there.

And so their board meeting was yesterday. And so I was in Jacksonville for that. Pastor Rusty was there. And instead of him flying back to Huntsville and then coming here, he just flew straight here, which gave us an awesome opportunity to say, you know what, if you're going to be here, why don't you just teach on Wednesday night? Would you do that?

And he graciously said yes, and we're grateful for that.

This dear man and his wife, Pastor Lisa. Pastor, just an amazing church in Huntsville, Alabama, the Rock Family Worship Center. And I've served on their board for a long time. And from day one, Pastor Rusty has served on this board. And for 38 years.

We were talking about this today, so we've been dear, dear friends for 38 years. He and Pastor Lisa have been some of our closest friends and accountability partners for 38 years. We all met in Bible college and have journeyed together. It's a rare thing to have longevity in a friendship like what we've enjoyed. And I can just tell you a couple of things.

First of all, I don't know that I would still be in ministry if it weren't for this man. There were many times that he's talked me down off the ledge. Secondly, he's one of the most Christlike people I've ever known in my entire life. And so really, for 38 years, I've just said, like Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Well, I just follow Rusty as he follows Jesus.

He's a dear friend, and I'm so grateful for his friendship, so grateful for the role that he plays as one of our board of directors. And we're looking forward to hearing from him. Would you welcome Pastor Rusty Nelson? Think you went to the keyboard. I went to the keyboard.

I just. I don't get to do this a lot, and I just kind of felt this. What a sweet worship. And how many thankful for your pastors, For Pastor Jay and Melanie, Your love is higher than the heavens.

It's deeper than the sea, wider than this universe. This love you have for me, where could I run?

Where could I flee?

For your love always just overwhelms me. Anybody feel like that? Your love is higher than the heavens.

It's deeper than the sea.

It's wider than this universe. This love you have for me.

Where could I run?

Where could I flee?

Oh, your love always still Jesus overwhelms me.

Living, he loved me.

Dying, he saved me.

Buried, he carried my.

My sin far away.

All living he just that I might live this life.

To be praised to your name.

Still your love is higher than the heavens.

It's deeper than the sea.

Wider than this universe.

This love you have for me where could I run?

Where could I flee?

For your love always just overwhelms me.

Jesus, your love still of all these years. Your love still just overwhelms. Your love just overwhelms me.

You are worthy of our praise.

You are worthy of my praise.

We come and adore you.

Bow down before you, you are worthy. On you, you worthy.

You are worthy of our praise. It's really simple. Would you just lift your hand to sing, you are worthy, Lord, you are wor. Worthy of my praise. You are worthy.

You are worthy of my praise.

And I come and adore you, Lord, I love to bow down before you, Worthy father, you. You are worthy.

You are worthy of my praise.

Just a simple praise. But everything within me says you, you are worthy. Jesus. Jesus, Come on. Can you just thank the Lord tonight?

Isn't he worthy? Come on, man.

Look at. Look at someone. At least scream at them. Holler at them across the room and say you look fair to meddling. I don't know what you've been meddling in, but you've been.

You're fair with it. Thank you, Pastor J, for letting me come tonight. And I love this. I love Wednesday nights, and I love it that we just get to come and hang together. And I know what's been happening here on.

So you realize Pastor Jay and I text almost every Sunday afternoon just seeing. Hey, how was today? And so the Sunday you guys were just. Well, I think the last two Sundays, you just. I mean, just.

God showed up, and that's what's been happening back home. As long as he shows up, man, you can do what you want to do. Just give me Jesus. That's all I want. How about you?

And so I'm thankful for that. But it's called because of the hunger that's here. And so I'm grateful that you're here tonight. I want to just talk to you About a couple of things. Not going to preach at you, but I do want to talk to you and I want you to take your bibles, if you would turn with me to First Peter, chapter four.

First Peter four.

And we're going to begin reading here in just a moment with verse seven. My wife, I wish she could be here tonight. She wanted to be here and she just had neck surgery. So she is still recouping from. They had to fuse three discs in her neck.

And so she's still kind of coming out of that. For years I thought I was the pain in her neck and actually. But I realized it was something a little more because when we went for a two week checkup, she had carpal tunnel in her right arm too. So they had to fix a nerve back here. And then the last nerve was right, you know, of course, right here.

So they did all that at the same time. And on the two week, he did this X ray and he said, listen, everything looks great. And he said, but Rusty, I'm telling you, man, there's something. I've never seen this before. He said we had to actually look up her chart to get your information because on her last nerve was engraved your name.

These are dad jokes. All right? I'm trying to help you. These are G daddy jokes. I mean, he's G Daddy, I'm G Daddy.

So I got five grandkids and I would have had them first had I known they were this good. And I am enjoying. I love bringing home little things, noisemakers, anything to allow my grandchildren to enjoy being at their house. And so I've done that and. Exactly, brother, I'm telling you, I'm gonna work it for everything it's got.

I'm gonna enjoy every bit of it. But you know, I'm not gonna tell. I'll do that later. First Peter, chapter four. Because I know I'm.

I'm kind of limited on time. I'll have you out of here at least by 9 o'. Clock. I know that's your typical Wednesday night time. No, I.

Look at this. In verse seven, here's Simon Peter speaking. He said the end of all things is near. Now think about that. That sounds really encouraging, doesn't it?

It's like Pete has just put on a sign and standing on a street corner, you know, the end of all things is near. But I want you to notice something. What I'm about to read to you, he doesn't tell you, okay, the end of all things is near. So he doesn't tell you to stockpile he's not gonna tell you to buy gold or silver.

He's not about to tell us to freak out. He's not about to try to give, you know, you need to lock and load. He's not gonna say any of that. What he's about to do is to say this. The end of all things is near.

So act like this. I need you to do this. Here's what he said. Be of sound judgment and a sober spirit. In other words, have clarity about your life.

And don't let anything. Don't be intoxicated with anything that will cloud your mind for discernment.

That's really what he's saying. Why? For the purpose of prayer. So you can pray. Clearly, distinctively.

And he says, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another. Now think about that. Why? Because love covers over a multitude of sin. Has anyone lately felt like you needed somebody to cut you a break?

See if you're not willing to cut a brother a break. The one who shows mercy actually can obtain mercy. Why is that? Because you appreciate mercy? I appreciate mercy.

I've been following Jesus since I was a little boy. And I can tell you now, I was young and now I'm older, and with what, letting this thing grow out. I don't know what's been happening, man. I show up when I go to Walmart or Target, you know, for you, that Target, you know, for where I'm from. But when I go there, I don't.

There's this phenomena happening around me right now. Children start gathering behind me, starting to tell me what they want for Christmas. I'm just like, this is freaking me out, okay? They keep doing that. I'm shaving this thing.

But he said, but look, the end of all things is near. So love one another, because that kind of love, that agape love, is going to cover over a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. There you go. Just.

Just serve one another, care for one another, be hospitable and don't complain about it. And you don't have to parade it on social media either. As each one of you has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. In other words, God's got a multifaceted way of his favor that he can empower you to do any of these at any time and be able to know that did it through you. But he wants to do it in you, to get it through you.

Watch this. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who's speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so. So do it as one who is serving by the strength of God. God supplies, which God supplies.

So that in all things. Everybody say all things. In the Greek, the word all means let me see. It's all. In all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory, dominion, forever and ever.

Amen. Notice Peter never mentions Satan, but what he's talking about is how you counter his attack. Now, just. I pray today, tonight, just this short teaching challenges all of us. I know every time I read this passage, it challenges me.

So he's saying, listen, the total focus, because the end of all things is near. Here is the focus of life. And watch. It's a life of glorifying God. That's it.

Jesus is coming soon. So glorify God in everything you do. Focus on a love that's ready to forgive again and again and again, refusing to allow the sins of others to get in your way, to use your spiritual gifts to serve one another and glorify God. Tyndale said, where did he learn this? Where do you think Peter learned this?

Where would this revelation come from?

I think it actually began when Jesus said this. He said, simon, this is before he was transitioned into Peter. Really, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat. But he said, but I've prayed for you. What did he pray?

That your faith doesn't fail.

I'm praying that what you are about to be sifted in, that your faith doesn't fail. And when you get through it, because if I prayed for you, just know your faith is not going to fail when you get through it. Strengthen your brothers.

Do you know that what he was telling us in First Peter is the revelation he got from his experience and the trial of his faith when Satan was trying to sift every good thing out of him. Now hang with me. Jesus said, I prayed for you. I am praying for you. Every one of us sitting here tonight.

He is at the right hand of the Father, praying for you. Praying for me. God has not forgotten your name. He has not. He has not gone.

It has not gone unnoticed. No matter where you may find yourself, what you may be thinking, or where you may feel like you're in the place you're in. He is praying for you. What is he praying? Your faith.

Don't reconstruct your faith now. Let faith reconstruct you. But he said, satan's going to sift you. Just the word sift. There was the Winnowing, that was the throwing the weed up in the air and the wind would blow it out and actually it would separate the bad from the good.

It was blowing the bad out. It was. It was winnowing down the wheat to the ground. But then the sifting was a sifter that it actually was separating the good from the bad. It was leaving the chaff while the good fell to the ground.

So what Jesus was telling him, he said, simon Satan wants to sift every good thing out of your life, every attack you're about to experience, every moment you're about to face, is to try to steal you. What I've placed in you. It's not just wanting to make you bad to the bone. It's wanting to dry your bone where there's no more life left to even want to live. He's coming to attempt, watch, to drain every.

The very life out of you, to drain every relationship, to drain every decision, every mental challenge and leave you hopeless. He's wanting to wear you down. Now, I found out I don't have the time to go into my testimony. Over the past two years or year and a half, it's been a journey where actually from an accident, from walking around with a concussion for four and a half months. I was not at the board meeting last year because I was nowhere last year.

I actually stepped off of every board I was on because they said the left side of my brain was not firing properly. And it's abnormal. And I'm like, my wife could have told you that a long time ago. That's what she's reminded me of all these years. But I walked around and I had one of the.

I had an incident in September of 2021 where I was confused. I had driven myself to a place, I had done all these things. I was around people and I had no idea where I was for almost eight hours. And it was just. It was.

So they said, what do you do? They just said, rest your brain. What does that mean? It means you go sit home and you do nothing. Now, listen, I've been in ministry now for 38 years.

I don't know how to do nothing. And maybe that's been my problem. Maybe that's when I'm brain damaged. I don't know. But what I do know is this.

That what took me out of a pulpit for 16 weeks and realizing, God, what. What is happening here? There were a lot of things that he began, but 1, 1, 1, 1 discernment, 1 revelation I had was the difference between being tired and being weary, see, being tired. God said, I know how to take care of that. I've given you a Sabbath, a Shabbat, so go take a day and chill out.

If you. If you forfeit the Sabbath I told you to take, then you'll have to make up time. Catching up. Being tired. So tired is being physically drained, but weary is spiritually drained.

And usually this sifting, the devil typically uses people to sift you. Now, I'm going to go somewhere, so y' all look at me like a cow at a new gate right now. So just hold on for a minute. The devil used to sift. He usually uses people.

Now these, I cannot count these gray hair, but I can name them.

People did this to me.

I had black hair when I started this thing. Jet black hair, bluish black. I mean, black is black night, black hair. My eyebrows stayed black for a long time. And when they started graying, I asked my wife one day, I said, could I please dye my brows just to prove I had black hair?

She said, do you know how creepy you would look?

So she. She doesn't allow that. I don't know if you figured out who my boss is in life, but she's the love of my life. And my dad told me, said, son, there are two words that will keep a strong marriage, and that is, yes, ma'. Am.

And I've learned that very well. And she would kick me if she knew I was saying this right now. You ever notice that? Typically, too, that the people. Now I'm going somewhere, because what Peter's laying out, he said, men there, in the last days, lay out everything from Matthew 24, 25, lay out the whole thing of what Jesus just in the red parts of what happens in the last days.

You see, what Peter and the disciples always live their life on, which we have forgotten many times, is they live their life with the end in mind.

Do you know that they had a constant in their life that they realized they had a mindset of the imminent return of Jesus? They really believed he could come in their lifetime.

Were they wrong? No. What it did was we were all living on borrowed time. But what it allowed them to do was they lived as though they were going to meet him at it any day. That if he came tomorrow, they're ready, but if he came today, they're ready.

And how they viewed the world, their biblical worldview was Jesus first called them to be with him. That's the intimate walk. Then he called us to proclaim him. We've got so much of wanting to Proclaim him without knowing Him. So there's no anointing that can break any yoke because we've not spent time with Him.

And so if that intimate walk is not with him and we're trying to reach them, we don't have him to give them.

I think that's right.

But I've noticed this. I noticed this in my life, that people many times tend to make rules for others and exceptions for themselves.

They set up these. Y' all didn't knew you were going to get this tonight. I'm sorry.

Can. Let's sing Jesus Loves the Little Children right now. Can we do that? They set up standards, if they were honest, that they will never. They never intend to live themselves.

They have expectations of others to live in a level they really have no desire to reach themselves. See, Jesus was warning Simon. He says, the enemy is trying to destabilize you, trip you up, cause you to lose your footing, shake you off your foundation. Try your faith.

I realized this a long time ago. A tried faith.

A faith that has never been tried has not been tried.

I'm gonna say that one more time because make sure I got that right. Yeah. A faith that has not been tried has never been tried. You've never tried faith. You never let faith try you.

Because faith is always the risk of the kingdom to step out on nothing and find something.

But what the enemy tries to do is he tries to come and for all of us. And because the very trial of that passage I gave you was all, how we love one another, treat one another, show hospitality to one another in the most trying circumstances. The end times are the most trying circumstances one could possibly find themselves in if they get into the very meat of what that is. And he's saying, in those intense times, the enemy's going to try to keep you from reflecting the image of Jesus. He tried to sift me like wheat.

He says every good thing out of me that I would be willing to take a sword and cut the ear off of a man thinking I could control the situation always. You know, Peter, I kind of. I bear witness with him a lot. He had trouble with athlete's mouth. What that means is every time he opened his mouth, he changed feet.

Because he's always sticking his foot in his mouth. He was always saying a little too much, going a little too far. Just dramatic, Mr. Drama.

But what he was bringing us into, he said in that whole thing, when Jesus said he's trying to sift you, and I gotta hurry to get. Oh, wow.

He's wanting to sift through your life. I did a. I did a study a few months ago, a study on trash.

It was really. It was the trashiest study I've ever done in my life.

But what I found in this study that happened is that trash lives way long after you've gone through, actually has a second life. Trash becomes the storyteller of those who have left it. Actually, since the Romans, humans have carted away trash and buried it in landfills. The Romans even recycled some of the garbage. And when archaeologists look to understand past civilization, they look at the landfills more often than not.

Because you can understand a lot about people by looking at what they threw away. You find out what they valued and what they didn't value, how much and what kind of things they enjoyed eating. Because what you throw away can tell someone almost everything they need to know about you, of how you lived your life. Your garbage knows everything about you. Where you bank, where you shop, even what you had for dinner.

Your trash can tell your whole life story. That's why investigators look for your trash.

Scammers, identity thieves look for your trash. And here's what the enemy tries to do when he sifts. He wants to sift through all the garbage of our life that he can to see what we refuse to take to the dump. He'll sift through every baggage of the past, the boxes that you thought you had not gone through, yet things you had forgotten. He's the accuser of the brethren.

He comes with accusation to distract you on your journey. He's looking for the food, the offense, the unforgiveness, the bitterness, the unfulfilled expectations, hope, deferred refusal to change, unsurrendered desire. He's coming to look for all the baggage we refuse to get rid of and even destroy in such a way that it had no place even in a field.

He goes sifting through our pain. You say, where are you going with this? I'm saying, how did he get. Here's how you act and live in the last days that are here. How did he get to that point?

He had to learn how to walk through a sifting moment where even trying to convince that pain is bad so you get rid of it.

Sifting through pain. Not just offense, not just man. The pain of being wounded. I can tell you the toughest thing I've ever walked through in my life has not been physical challenges. It's been the wounds in the house of friends, The wounds that contain Jesus that we will see through eternity when he steps his Foot one day on the Mount of Olives and it splits from east to west and he comes as the King of Kings.

This time the Jewish people will ask him, where'd you get their stuff? Where did you get those scars? And he will say, in the house of friends. My friends did this to me. There is no pain like the pain that happens in the house of a friend.

You say, what are you doing? See, we have counseling today that tries to get you pain relief. Is that not right? Everything relieved the pain. But pain is like an alarm.

An alarm goes off in your house at 2 in the morning and that is a freaky moment. But an alarm goes off. You can get up and take the batteries out of that alarm, but it's still not going to change the danger of why the alarm went off.

And what the enemy does, he sifts through our pain. So you got pain relief. Chocolate is good pain relief. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Entertainment, food, performance, exercise, blaming, complaining self, pity, anger, even humor and sarcasm can be pain reliefs to try to stop pain.

But what the enemy wants to do is to sift through it to try to get us to numb a pain that God is wanting to acknowledge, to heal the pain. It's all a part of this sifting thing.

Are y' all getting anything out of this? Alright, I'm almost. Pastor J. I'm almost done. It's a quarter till I need to get done. That's all I need to hear you say.

As I was good. No, C.S. lewis said this. He said, God shouts in our pain. You know what he shouts?

Look at me. God shouts in our painful moments. I've asked him, where were you? Where were you? He said, I was waiting for you to look at me.

You couldn't see me. The pain was shouting at you. Look at me. Why? Because he bore our pain.

It's painful, but it's necessary. Don't deny it. I just give it to him. He was beaten for my pain.

And what we have to do is shift our attention to him. He's saying, look at me. Lift up your eyes to the hills from where your help comes from. My help comes from the Lord.

In the end times that we live. There are perilous times there shifting times, sifting moments. But it's in that moment that Peter was saying, I got to shift your attention off everything that's going on in the end times that are trying to freak you out, put fear in your life and feel like you have no faith to be an overcomer and a more than a conqueror. He said, if I can shift your eyes up and see, here's the etiquette of the kingdom, here's how heaven functions. That's powerful, man.

Here's how heaven forgives. This is how mercy triumphs over judgment. This is how picking up a towel and a bowl and washing the feet of a generation, we went, Pastor J and I went and watched Jesus Revolution Monday night. He had already seen it. It was his second time.

It was my first time. And can I tell you the part that just messed with me, man, is when Chuck gets on his knees and he is washing every hippie's feet. Because religion had said, you're not welcome here. You're dirty, you stink, you're not welcome here. And so he picked up a towel and I'm going, if we will just be bowl carrying, towel bearing people, it will shift an atmosphere, shift a church, shift revival into restoration and completion.

Shift it out of an even a feeling of a moment and into the reality of the kingdom, man. It will shift your life.

I'm teaching a lot better than you're saying amen right now. I can tell you that that becomes the glory of the story. And I close with this. Do you realize Egypt, the Hebrew word for Egypt means this protection and provision.

Egypt, the place of bondage. Actually, its name in the Hebrew means protection and provision. Why is that? Because Egypt was only for a season, not for a lifetime.

Egypt was to provide for the covenant promise during a famine so that God's word would never return void. But he never intended them to stay. And the longer you stay in, what you think.

Is going to get you more and more convenient and comfortable.

I believe one of the reasons the Holy Spirit is going to shake up our churches like we've never known is because we have been the most comfortable people in the world. Complacent, comfortable. And he said, no, no. What I brought you into was deliverance and freedom. But I didn't cause you to stay where you are.

I brought you in to get you out. And the way he got them out was they had to disdain bondage, of what it had become. Till they finally cried out to God and he said to Moses, I have heard their cry. It's what I've waited on. They finally need me.

They finally want me. So I have come down to deliver them. So, Moses, go do it. Get up and tell Pharaoh, let my people go see our tendency. And even afterwards they went back, guys, if you'd come.

And I know we're going to, to go into a time of prayer.

See, as soon as they get out there. They'd only been in the wilderness for a short period of time when they were already complaining and saying, why'd you bring us out here to die? We just need to go back to Egypt. Keith Green. So we want to go back to Egypt.

That's okay.

See, he was taking them out of Egypt, not bringing them back.

But God was saying, now it's time for you to assume your responsibility. You got to change your view.

It's this moment that Peter said, I learned this. I learned that I could write that to you. You. It was a revelation because of the sifting I went through, the brokenness, the pain of failure.

See, the moment of denial, Jesus was saying, pete, you're going to deny me? You don't have that kind of strength in yourself. You're trying to do this on your own. I didn't call you to be mine for now, you to end up your own. I called you to be mine.

And if I said I'm going to be with you, I'm going to be with you. But you're trying to do things to impress me because you still think you're going to get some kind of chair around the table of my government. You still think I've come to set up an earthly kingdom. But I'm telling you that the devil's going to try to sift every good thing. But in that sifting, in the moment of denial that it'll bring you to, you're going to find me.

And when you get through it, don't you love it? He said, when you go through the fire, you'll not be burned. When you go through the flood, you'll not drown. He didn't say, you'll go around it. He didn't say you'll get in a boat and go over it.

No. He said, when you go through it, I'm not leaving you. You know, I just really felt this today. If you'd stand with me. I really.

I really sense that, you know, if this was just for one person, if it's just for me, I'm sorry. I've gone back and read these notes back to me, and it always takes me to this final thing, and it's actually in second Corinthians 4. And here's kind of the paraphrased version of this passage. Here's what it says. I may have pressure all around me, but I'm not completely discouraged and out of the picture.

I don't understand what's going on. I can't figure it out, but I haven't lost my hope and my confidence. I'm being mistreated, pursued, harassed, but I haven't been abandoned and left helpless. I may have been knocked down, but I'm not knocked out.

Jesus said to Peter, peter, when you get through this, strengthen your brothers. You know where this came out of in me is I was ready to quit, walk away. I thought I was broken. I thought I was done. I had never been in that place in my life.

I thought I was done.

You know, I never. I just said, God, you're welcome to take me home. There's never a thought to take myself home, help him out.

But over those months, I thought I was done.

I was called to ministry, and I was. I started traveling when I was 14 years old. Singing, called to preach when I was 18.

Grew up in a pastor's home. My dad, my hero. My mom still alive. Pastor dad and Pastor mom, just my heroes. It's all I've ever known.

Until this thing hit me and I realized, man, I can't even see 10ft ahead of me. I had never battled depression. I prayed for thousands of people, anxiety and depression.

I prayed for them and believed I always used to live my life. Optimist. I'm an optimist. You know, I'm add, adhd, abcd, efg. I'm probably every.

You can put more letters, everything, but. But I'm an optimist, you know, I always see the glass half full. It's always. It's half full. Dr. Mark Robert looked at me one day and he said, you know, that's the most demonic thing you could ever say.

I thought, well, thank you, he said, because I don't care if you're half full or half empty, you're still half.

He said, well, why are you saying this tonight? Because Jesus said to Peter, when you get through it, strengthen your brothers and sisters.

I can tell you I got through it. I'm on the other side of it.

I'm on the other side. I don't know what all this side looks like. It's a new side to me. But I can tell you he's faithful and the end of all things is near. He said, here's how my kids live.

And the devil's going to try to sift every good thing to keep you from being the radiant image of the Son of the living God in the darkest moment of history. But if you will just let me pick you up, brush you off, let you know I have never left you, I have never forsaken you. I am here, my calling. Has not been reversed. I do not repent in my calling.

I want you to know I am for you. And if I am for you, who can be against you?

Father, thank you for tonight. Here's what I want to do. I'm going to give this to Pastor J. Could we just. If you just need prayer tonight, I know it's Wednesday night.

Maybe this wasn't a Wednesday night teaching, I don't know. But it's what God put on my heart. I want you to step up from where you are. Let's come and make an altar here and Pastor Jay will take it and will dismiss us in just a moment. I know the time you're.

But can we take five minutes and come and pray together? Because I believe as we unite together, it's really going to help maybe someone out that feels like they're not doing just being singled out tonight you say, well, can't we pray right here? Yeah, you can where you are, but there's something about a response. And can I encourage you maybe just to step out from where you are and let's come and stand together here at this altar. I'm going to pray over you and I'm going to give this to Pastor J.

But if you can, if you don't mind, I understand if there. I'm not. If you don't come, it doesn't mean you're not spiritual or anything. Doesn't mean that at all. But I just.

I think it's good, man on Wednesday night for us to close to close, close tonight. Amen.

Can you sing something, brother?