John Gray - Still
We interrupt this regularly scheduled Wednesday night to bring you a special announcement, that the Holy Ghost is here. Do me a favor, high-five five people. Tell 'em "I hear the chains falling". High-five up-top, high-five. Shout-out to my man Marquis Terrell, if you're in here. I see you, Homie. Shout-out to anybody that cried in the last seven days. Shout-out to anybody that didn't know how God was gonna fix it. Shout-out to anybody who's not sure how God's going to fix it. Shout-out to anybody that's ever gotten a negative doctor's report. Shout-out to anybody that's got more bills than cash. Cause I hear the chains falling.
Father, in this atmosphere, break every single chain off of every single person that's in this church, and watching online. By the power of the Holy Ghost, move through these chairs and through wifi and change people's lives and save marriages and reconstruct relationships between parents and children and heal bodies and shrivel up cancer and reignite synapses in the brain. We come against epileptic seizures and all manner of growths and blood borne diseases, and we stand under the blood of Jesus. I don't care what virus tries to overtake this nation. It will not overtake us. We declare that we are covered under the blood of Jesus. And we pray for those affected by all manner of demonic attack all over the world, and the body of Christ shall stand, and the church will have its finest hour. This is my prayer, in Jesus's name, amen.
If you could give God about five seconds of praise. You can be sure that the fourth quarter is going to bring unprecedented attack, and you can be sure that every attack will fall straight to the ground. You can be sure that God has more power than everybody coming against you. I want you to go to II Chronicles chapter 20. You know, there's something to be said about getting to the house of the Lord in this season. There's a lot going on in the world, just in case you haven't been watching the news. There's a whole lot that the enemy's trying to do, just in case you aren't aware. Some people are afraid to leave their houses these days.
I was on a plane. It looked like I was in a surgery room, people just face covered, mouth covered. I didn't have on a mask, but I was covered. Somebody needs to get that in your spirit. Just get it out of your mouth. Confess, I'm covered, I'm covered. My family is covered, my children are covered. I'm praying for those who were impacted by what took place in Canada. If you are not aware, then apprise yourself. Make sure you're checking the news to be aware, to know what you can pray for. We as the body of Christ need to be praying for government officials across multiple nations all over the world. There is tumult and unrest and plots and plans. But the Bible declares, why do the nations so furiously rage together, and the peoples plot in vain against the Lord and his anointed, which means, silly devil. You can't stop God. Now, it's easy to say, but it's harder to live.
And tonight, I wanna talk to you about how to respond to the attack of the enemy, what you need to do, how you need to respond as a believer, as a Christ follower. For those who are here who, this might be your first time, where are our first-time visitors? Can we see your hands? Let's welcome again all of our first-time visitors. Welcome. We have a guest reception in the front with macaroni and cheese and ribs and candied yams. But it's gone, 'cause I went there first, amen? We don't have that, but we are so glad that you are here. Come back again when our pastors are here on the weekend. You will be blessed.
I want to encourage some families tonight. This is a season where you need to get your family around you, and you guys need to get in the word like never before. Maybe you've never made family devotion a priority, but if there are any parents in here, it needs to not be optional. You need to be mandatory with speaking the Word of God over your children before they leave to go to school. If they're in college, facetime 'em, send 'em an email with a scripture. Stay connected to your family like never before. If there are any relationships that have tension, then you need to maybe start working towards getting those things right. Don't assume that you've got tomorrow. Just work on it today. Fight for forgiveness, fight for reconciliation, the same way God fought for us.
There's a lot going on. There's a lot that we could be concerned about, but I want you to know that nothing that's happening has caught God unaware. Not one single thing in my life or your life, not even the minutest detail. Every single thing, even the tire light that came on in your car, that red engine light, he's concerned with it. He knows you've got less than a quart of oil in that car, and he keeps speaking to you every morning. Just take it to Jiffy Lube. Just drive through there, take you 12 minutes. And then you don't listen, and then a week later, you on the side of the road talking about, Lord, I need a miracle. He's like, if you would have listened, you wouldn't have needed a miracle. We're just a few acts away from needing less miracles. Isn't that funny?
I want you to go to II Chronicles 20, because in this scripture, we find some people that God loves who are surrounded by people that can't stand 'em and wanna take 'em out. I want you to know that your enemies are not just physical beings, but they're spirits. Something in the heavenly realm has been agitated. I believe that I'm speaking to some mature believers, so I want to share what I sense in my spirit, if that's all right. This is a very different season for many believers. There's a quiet tension in your life. There's a pulling, there is a tugging, a stretching, and I've kinda shared about it before, but I need to stay on this for just a moment, because that tugging, that tension, these are things that God does when he's about to launch and unlock and lift the curtains off of who you are to the masses, and God wants to make sure that you are able and equipped to handle anything that comes your way, because there's nothing worse than being gifted and immature.
You want the platform, but the platform is not the thing that makes you. It's the quiet place of discipline, where there are no lights that makes you. The platform cannot make you. It can only expose you. So there is a reason why God has kept many of us hidden for a certain amount of years or weeks or days or seasons, because even though you have the gift for the thing, you don't have the character for the thing. And so, God wants to make sure that your heart and your spirit and your emotions and your intellect are all in line with the calling of God, because there's nothing worse than getting to the place called Canaan, and you don't have the internal mechanisms necessary to sustain it.
The enemy has locked you in for destruction. Some of you are like, why does the enemy keep Messing with me? I don't understand. I just, I do everything I'm supposed to do. He's messing with you because you're doing everything you're supposed to do. In this scripture in II Chronicles, the people of Amon, Moab, and Mount Seir are surrounding the they're gonna take 'em out, some bad enemies, too. These are not people that play fair. These are real enemies. You ever been around people that just, they don't have, you know, boundaries. They just go for blood. It's just one of those things. And they're surrounded, and because they are surrounded, fear can creep in.
Have you ever been surrounded? Have you ever been surrounded by the attack of the enemy? Have you ever been surrounded by something bigger than yourself? Have you ever felt like you were overwhelmed, perhaps in over your head? Have you ever felt like, God, if you don't get me outta here, I ain't gonna make it. Have you ever felt like maybe you don't have what it takes to get through this on your own? If you've felt overwhelmed, or if you're feeling overwhelmed, for the people who have been dealing with depression, that weight that sits on your shoulders, and in the back of your head, it's almost hard to wake up in the morning. Always have a headache, right here between here and here, hard to lift your eyes.
Who am I talking to? I'm talking to the people that keep looking in the mirror, turning sideways, holding your stomach in, seeing if you look different than you did yesterday, and then you get depressed, because you don't see anything change, so you go eat some more cookies, and you start the cycle all over again. Am I talking to anybody in here who's tried to do the right thing, but the wrong thing keeps showing up? I want you to know that if you keep doing the right thing, at some point, it's going to tilt in your favor, and I believe that tonight, I'm called to announce that it's tilting in your favor. It's shifting in your favor. It's breaking in your favor. I'm not simply encouraging you. I believe that I'm prophesying to anyone who has the faith to believe that if you keep serving the Lord and keep honoring God and keep staying in his word, and staying faithful to the things that God has called you to do, at some point, that thing's gonna tilt in your favor. And what if tonight is the night that it tilts in your favor?
II Chronicles 20, starting at the 13th verse. Now, all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. This is important. Judah, their little ones, their wives, and their children stood before the Lord. The first thing that you didn't see is the husbands, and the reason why you don't see that is because it was a given that when wartime comes, the men need to be in position.
I wanna speak to every man in here right now, that we are in a very different season in the earth. If you are a husband or a father, God's gonna press you to get in position, to cover your wife in a different way. He's gonna ask you to dwell with her as the Bible says, in understanding, and the way that he causes you to dwell with her in understanding is through misunderstanding. So if you've been having some tension, and you can't say amen, 'cause she's in here, and you got nosy people on your row, but if you've been having any tension, where he just doesn't listen to me, I don't think he understands me, it's because God is actually pressing for you to get to know her differently, because in this season, what she carries next to the calling that placed in you, if you guys can get in agreement, there's nothing God won't do for you. And so, the tension is actually designed to get you closer.
Am I helping any married folk out in here? Nah, y'all doing like, uh-uh, he still get on my nerves. I don't know about it. Just preach the rest of the sermon, and then I'll let you know at the end. But it said, all of Judah. Judah means what? How many people didn't know that the word Judah meant praise? Let me see your hands if you were not aware of that. Keep your hands up. In this season, you're going, keep your hands up! If you didn't know, in this season, in your hand, there has to be a praise. So you can either take it from your hand and you can clap with it, or you can take a bite of it and you can shout with it, or you can throw it on the ground and you can dance with it, but you've gotta have a praise in your hand, because in this season, this season of attack in the earth, your praise is a shield against the enemy.
Am I talking good, prophet? I feel the Holy Ghost. Can we practice? Praise like your family was counting on you. Praise like your deliverance was one shout away. Praise like the healing was on the other side of this sound. Praise like this shout and this dance was exactly what God was calling for. God's looking for Judah to get out in front of this thing, and Judah has offspring, because if you can praise, you're gonna get some joy, and when you get joy, you'll have some peace, and when you have some peace, you'll have some patience, and when you have some patience, you'll have some goodness and meekness and gentleness and self-control. But it starts with a praise.
Hey! In this season, you better learn how to praise at home. You may, and I'm not talking about singing, 'cause some of you say, but I don't know the songs. You don't have to know the songs. You can make up your own songs. You don't have to be able to sing. Just get up in the morning, "oh Lord, I'm cooking these eggs, Jesus oh, cover my children, Jesus I'm about to drink some orange juice, Jesus bless my husband, Jesus, mm hmm Lord, don't let my stockings get runs in 'em, Jesus help me, Lord, on the highway not to customers nobody out if they cut me off oh, Lord, mm hmm", make up your own song.
The Bible says, if you read II Chronicles 20, that the children of Amon, Moab, and Mount Seir surrounded Jerusalem. They were getting ready to take 'em out, and they were like, what are we gonna do? King Jehoshaphat, he was the king, and he inquired of the Lord. God, what do we do? And then, we catch the scripture, Judah, their wives, their children, stood before the Lord. Notice where they were. They didn't move. The enemy came, but they didn't move. Steve, where were they? In the face of the Lord.
People are gonna attack you. Don't attack them, talk to the Lord first. I know what it looks like. The natural response to an attack is to defend, but in this moment, you need to not defend, but inquire. When the devil hits you, ooh, ooh, ooh, stay right there. The devil just busted me in my face. Jesus, tell me to stab him, Jesus, tell me, please. Notice, it didn't say they stood and talked to the Lord. They stood there. Isn't it hard when you're under attack to just stand there? Am I talking to anybody that has just a little bit of something on the inside, reminiscent of hood, reminiscent of slightly ghetto, just, if you mess with me at the wrong time, what you say? Hold on, take these earrings. Stay right there. You don't know me, you don't know me, fifth ward. You don't know, you don't know. You don't know, you don't know.