Louie Giglio - Blessings Behind Bars
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Yeah, come on, we can give a big shout for Jesus out here in this place today. No big shout? Come on, yeah! So good, great, so good. Let’s all thank Crowder if you can. My goodness, I love that guy. My wife and I have known him for a long, long, long time and have been working together for a long time. He is the real thing, and it is such a privilege to be here with Crowder today. I’m just going to talk for a few minutes, so if you can lean in with me just a little bit, we’re going to see God do a miracle right now. We did not come here to sing songs; we did not come here just to meet you amazing people, which was awesome. We did not come here just to preach a talk; we came here because we believe that God is still doing miracles.
And you know, I’m not looking to hype that up; that’s just a real thing because the tomb is empty. That’s right; it’s really truly empty, and that’s not hype; that’s an empty tomb. If there’s an empty tomb in our story, then there can be empty tombs in this yard today, amen? There could be miracles happening. Everything might not happen in the next few minutes, but God can set things in motion in those next few minutes that can change everything. I am so glad to be here; I cannot tell you how happy we are to be here. We are very close with God Behind Bars, and we love Isaac, by the way. Shout out and happy birthday! Isaac’s never gotten more love in his life than he got out here today! And the God Behind Bars team that’s here, some of our team from Passion is here. We just are so happy to be here.
I’ve been hearing about Everglades forever because Rich Wilkerson and Don Sheree Wilkerson are super close friends of my wife, Shelly, and me, and they’ve been telling us how great this place is for a long time. So today is just sort of like the fulfillment of a dream for us to get to come here ourselves, and I just want to say thank you for letting us be here. Thank you for having us. And whatever you do, if you’re coming to an afternoon event here, don’t wear black. Just a heads up. I know it’s not an option, but you know, if it ever is, don’t wear black out here. But I’m not hot; who’s hot? I’m not hot at all; I’m just happy to be out here.
We want to try to see God set three miracles in motion today. The first one you’re going to like; the second one you’re going to go, «Okay, I think I can see that.» The third one, you’re going to go, «But all three of these miracles can not only change your life but change the lives of a whole lot of other people in this world.» See, that’s the thing, and I know you’ve heard this said, and I want to guess that everybody who comes here to do what I’m doing says this, but these walls, these fences, these bars, they can’t stop God from continuing to do His work in your life. No situation, no circumstance, no location, that’s right, can stop God from having a purpose for you.
And you can change and touch the whole world from in here, not just when you get out there. If that’s an option for you-man, when I get out there, I’m going to change some things and touch some things. No, you can change some things and touch some things from in here. This book right here, does anybody know what this is? It’s God’s Word. It’s got an Old Testament and a New Testament. The New Testament is the story of Jesus coming to earth, dying on a cross, going into a tomb, being raised from the dead, and starting a church. When He started that church, all hell broke loose — literally, all hell broke loose.
The main guy that He picked to take that church to the world spent most of his time in prison for the gospel and wrote the Word of God while he was in chains. Now that’s just showing today that circumstance, situation, location doesn’t stop God from having a purpose for you and me and using you to touch people all over the world. Right now, it’s around 3:00, close to 3:06, so I want to read you a verse of scripture. I want to talk about it for one second, and then I want to get to the three miracles. But before we get to the three miracles, you have to go with me to this place, and I’m reading out of Matthew, one verse. I want to remind us today that this isn’t a fairy tale; that’s right. Matthew is an eyewitness to Jesus. He was there, and he wrote this account of Jesus, and when this account finally got spread, people who were alive when Jesus died were still around. So if this was a fairy tale, they would have just said so, but they were alive and knew what had happened to Jesus.
He was there on the day of days, and this is what it says; it’s pretty interesting that it’s 3:06. I should have gotten to this six minutes faster. I’ll read two verses: «From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land.» Why? Because the Son of God was hanging on a cross. «And from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, darkness came over the whole land.» That was God’s way of saying through creation, «What’s happening here is terrible.» We got a guy that got railroaded; we got a guy who’s falsely accused. We got an innocent guy trading his life for all the guilty people-me-and he is in a lineup of criminals. We know there were at least two, one on the right, one on the left; it might have been 22; it could have been 122.
But this is the Son of God in a human body, nailed to a cross for the sins of the world, and God said, «I’ll tell you what I think about that. I’m going to need to cover the whole world with darkness right now.» And then it says this; it says about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. Now, this is Israel time; this is Jewish time. We don’t have, it’s not 9:00 a.m. or 9:00 p.m. The sixth hour is 9:00, and guess what time the ninth hour is? 10, 11, 12, 13? What time is the ninth hour? This right here. About now. About right now. The reason why I love that is we could be doing this inside; we could be doing it at night; we could be doing it in the morning. But praise God we’re doing it right now because we can feel it!
We can feel the ninth hour! Can you feel the ninth hour right now? What does the ninth hour feel like? It feels like the sun blazing down on you. It feels like the heat searing you on top of the fact that you’re nailed to a beam, and to breathe, you gotta push up on the nail in your feet. So when He spoke to His Father, He cried out right about now. The Son of God cried out, «Do you know what He said?» He said three major things before He died. He’s just about to die; he’s seconds away from dying, but he says three things. First of those last three things He says right here in this verse is, «My God, why have you forsaken me?»
Do you understand that the Trinity is complicated? Can I get an amen? It’s over my pay grade. People say, «Oh, you’re a pastor; explain the Trinity,» and I’m like, «You just turned the lights on; explain how electricity works.» The Trinity shows us that God is bigger than us, and if you could explain it, I wouldn’t love that. I like the fact that I can’t explain that God is one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Right now, the conversation is between the Father and the Son, and the Son dying for the sins of the world is saying to the Father, who is sitting on the throne of thrones, «Why? Why? What? Why have you forsaken me?» In other words, this is a picture; it’s the only time we see this in the entire story of God, where God the Father turns His back on God the Son and basically is saying, «You are on your own now.»
Why did He do that? Why did the Father turn His back? Why did He forsake Him? Because He’s holy, and He just became the sins of the world, yeah. And I like to tell you a second reason, though, why He turned His back and why He forsook Him. I love that word; it didn’t just say He, you know, kind of turned away. It says He forsook Him. You know what forsake means? It means «good luck and goodbye.» I’ll tell you why he forsook Him: so that He would never have to forsake you and me. Oh, come on; you gotta give God praise! What happened here was a miracle, and what it’s showing us is that there’s a dynamic between the Father and the Son.
Now, I believe in — I’m not going to try to get in an argument with anybody-but I believe the most powerful force in a man is his relationship with his dad. Now, I’m going to guess that might have hit a nerve, and somebody went, «Amen.» «My dad was a good man; he loved me; he never forsook me; he gave everything he had for me; he hung in there with me; he was honorable; he wasn’t perfect, but dang, he was good.» And I’m sure there’s somebody in the middle, and I’m sure there’s somebody on the other side that said, «If you keep going on this father thing very long, I’m going to need to go get another thing of water, 'cause I don’t even know him. He never cared.»
And if you want to know what it means to be forsaken by a father, let me come up there and talk for a minute, and I’ll tell you what that feels like-to have a father turn his back, say «good luck and goodbye.» When that happens, it breaks something inside us that we spend the rest of our lives trying to fix. What we typically do is we try to push it about a hundred feet down in the ground; we say «screw it, I don’t care.» Then we spend the rest of our lives trying to prove to other people that we don’t care what he did or didn’t think. The problem with that is every time we say we don’t care what he did or didn’t think, we’re saying that we care what he did or didn’t think. I’m telling you, three miracles can happen here.
Anybody believe it? You don’t have to clap, no hype; we’re not hyping now. Anybody all the way to the edge believe that three miracles could happen here today? You don’t even know what they are, but do you believe three miracles could happen here? Okay, here’s the first miracle, and God, we’re just praying that You’ll do this right here and right now. The first miracle is that everybody here could receive the blessing of a perfect Heavenly Father-everyone! Everyone! We’re going to put these up. God, the perfect Father can bless you right here and right now because of all the things He wants you to know today is that you are a loved son of God.
Now this happens when you put your faith in Jesus. This happens when you’re born again. Because when you put your faith in Jesus, you don’t join a church membership; hello! You don’t become something in a denomination; hello! You become a son or a daughter. Jesus said when you get saved, you get born again. The reason why He said that is because He wanted us to know it’s about a new relationship where you’re born into a new family. Right? And when you put your faith in Jesus, if you have put your trust in the Son of God who hung on that cross, then you’re born again. You’re not going back to nineteen- whenever or 2000-whenever and getting born again; you’re born again right in that moment.
Spiritually, you’re born again, and when you’re born again, guess what? Your mom and dad, they might have prayed; your mama might have prayed; maybe your dad prayed; your aunt prayed; your grandmother prayed; but they didn’t have anything to do with you getting born again. So who did? Father, Son, Holy Spirit brought new life to you. So whose kid are you? Yahweh’s kid! Yahweh’s son! Son of God! Son of God! Son of God! Who are you? If you put your faith in Jesus, who are you? Son of God! I’m a Son of God! Amen! I might be in here for a minute, but I’m a Son of God in here. I’ve got access to the throne; I can talk to God anytime I want to. I am forgiven by the blood of Jesus. I’ve got a spiritual gift! I’m connected in a family. I have the Living Word of God. I’m a part of a church, sir, and I got a future! I have a future!
I met some men earlier today; they told me they’re going to be in here till the end most likely, and most likely they said, «I’ll be here till I go out to the back gate.» And this man looked at me and said, «But my spirit would have already gone out the front gate!» Amen! Because I have a future! I have a future! I have a future! Why do you have a future? 'Cause you’re a good person? Why do you have a future? 'Cause of Jesus Christ? Trying good? Well, you have a future 'cause you didn’t make any mistakes? You got a good record to show? At the end of the day, here’s what all I did-no! You have a future because you are a son of God! You’re a Son of God, and you’re in the family of God, and the Father God wants to bless you!
What does that mean? He wants you to know right now that He loves you. Is that okay if God tells you He loves you? You’re like, «Well, can I trust Him?» A lot of people told me that, but I can’t trust Him. Can I trust Him if He tells me that He loves me? Where did we start this talk? Where did we start? Three miracles! And at three o’clock, that’s when He told you, «You can trust Him,» when He gave His Son for you! That’s when you knew, «I can trust Him! I might not can trust you; I don’t even know you; you don’t know me; I don’t know if I can trust that guy. But I know I can trust the one who gave His Son for me, and when He tells me He loves me, I believe it!»
He not only wants to love you; He wants you to know He’s for you! He wants to show up; He wants to be there! Do you ever have a moment in your life where you were hoping your dad would show up? You were just hoping he’d show up, and he didn’t, and you felt that again? And you were like, «Dang, could you not just show up?» I’m telling you, God wants to show up for you, and He wants to pour on you a blessing. He wants you to know that you matter. He wants you to know that you’re somebody. He wants you to know that He likes you, and He loves you, and He wants you to know that He created you, and He likes what He made in you.
Now, there’s stuff in every one of our stories that we’re not proud of, but that’s why Christ gave His life on the cross so that God can look at all the stuff we’re not proud of and go, «I forgive you for all of that, but I still love you.» Yes, we gotta work through some of that, but I still love you. Yeah, I know you wish you could go back, but I still love you! I want you to know there’s a waterfall of the blessing of God on you! You are not living in lack! You are not an orphan! You are not forgotten! You are not forsaken; that is not who you are! You are not left behind! You are not unwanted! You are loved by Almighty God! You are a loved son of Almighty God!
We say, «What do I have to do to receive all that blessing?» Stand under it! Receive it! Humble yourself and accept it! That’s a miracle for somebody on this yard. You walked out here feeling forgotten and forsaken, and you’re going to walk off this yard knowing that you have the blessing of a perfect Father! Now see, let’s understand something today about fathers. I’ll talk about mine right at the end real fast, but my dad did his best, but my dad did not have a good dad. In fact, his dad was not around. I never met my grandfather; don’t know anything about him, never laid eyes on him. My dad never talked about him; never said a word about him. But here’s the thing you gotta understand about your earthly father: God’s not just a bigger version of your earthly dad.
See, that’s where a lot of people get off the train. They’re like, «Okay, we’re talking about God being a Father.» No thank you! No, He’s not your father, and He’s not a bigger version of your father. He’s the perfect version of your father, hallelujah! He’s everything you wanted your father to be, and He’s more than that. He’s not a reflection of your earthly father; He’s the perfection of your earthly father, and that’s what kind of blessing is coming on you right now. So, we’re going to pray at the end, but before we get to miracle 2 and 3, I just will ask right now with a show of hands: does anybody today want to receive a perfect Father’s blessing over your life today? Could you just lift your hand up? I want to receive that blessing over my life today.
Okay, could you put them down? Let me ask it one more way. Would you believe it today, and would you accept it today? Would you amen it today, not right now? Would you applaud it today? And would you say, «I agree with God; I’m a loved son»? 'Cause see, that’s more than just saying I believe; it’s when you start amening it and say, «If He said it, I believe it! I’m going to agree with God on this one!» Amen! I’m not interested in what you think; I already know what my Father thinks. He loves me; He is for me; He is with me; His blessing is on my life! I will not live one more day with the enemy lying to me saying, «You’re unwanted; you weren’t worth it; nobody cared; you’re on your own!»
Anybody live with that in your life? Anybody live with any of that in your life? Not after this moment! You got to say to the enemy, «I’m sorry. I don’t know who you’re talking to. I, hello, am a loved son of Yahweh!» So go talk to somebody on the other side of the bunk room who doesn’t know the truth of God’s word! I know who I am! I’m already loved! I’m already chosen! I know who I am! I know what you' ve spoken! I’m already loved more than I can imagine! That is enough! That is enough! That is enough! Okay, these two will go fast, but it did get a little cooler. Miracle number two: if you know that you’re a loved son of God, you can do something powerful.
If you know that you’re under the blessing, you can do something powerful! I love this. Let me read it for you really quick. This is psalmist, and this is what the psalmist wrote, and I just, I don’t know; I just got my spirit. Somebody’s like, «I’m almost there, but I’m not really quite there yet. I’m almost with you but not quite.» I bought to turn past the rose petal, that one of the men in my life-that was my father-in-law’s grave flowers-a few months ago. My wife over there, she’s an amazing dad. God bless him; he was a great father to me. Amen! God! Somebody’s almost there, but you’re like, «I got worse first news for you. Not only was I forsaken by my dad, I was forsaken by my mom.»
And the psalmist wrote, «Even if my mother and my father forsake me, the Lord will take me up.» God is in the scooping-up business. But this is the way the psalmist describes Him. He says, «Sing to God"-we just did that-"sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds! His name is the Lord! He is a Father to the fatherless, a defender of the widow, is God in His holy dwelling! God sets the lonely in families, and He leads forth the prisoners with singing. But the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.» There’s always an option! Praise God today that we’re seeing God as a perfect Father!
So here’s what can happen: it’s one thing for me to say, «Thank you, God, I need the waterfall! I need the blessing! I need the love! I need your presence! I need the belief! I need to know I got someone in my corner!» But here’s the most powerful thing: if you know that you can bless, bless your children! Can we just get real for a second? I feel like we already are. How many of you feel like you didn’t really get a blessing from your earthly dad? Can I just see a show of hands? How many of you have children? Can I see another show of hands? Guess what? You’re not your dad! Amen! The enemy has got a thousand lies, and one of them is you didn’t have a good dad, so you probably won’t be a good dad.
The answer to that isn’t, «Well, I’m going to try.» The answer to that is, «I got a good dad! Amen! I actually got a perfect dad! Amen! I got a perfect Father in my story now, and because I have a perfect Father in my story, guess what? I can be a good, good father to my children.» And I just want to encourage you today: you can bless your children starting right now! You’re like, «I’m not in touch with my children.» It doesn’t matter; you’re in touch with Heaven, and Heaven’s in touch with your children! And you can start praying for them! You can start speaking blessing over them! You can start passing love to them! You can start giving them what God is giving you! You can pass that on to them!
You can say a miracle happened as you become the conduit of a father’s blessing to your children, and you can start blessing them right here and right now! And then here’s the last one; I’ll close, and this is a huge one. Remember, you can bless your dad-"Well he doesn’t deserve it.» Neither did I! He wasn’t there. «God is; he wouldn’t even care.» God does! «He’s dead.» Okay, that one’s tough. But even your blessing, him being dead, will free you! Amen! Because it’s possible that maybe your dad didn’t get a father’s blessing, but you did! You can start asking God to show you how to give that blessing back to the man who never gave you one.
Because I' m in a miracle story, and that is a miracle! I sat with my dad right before he died. My dad was disabled with his brain disease and became an invalid for the last seven years of his life. I was sitting with him toward the end, and I said, «Dad, I love you.» We didn’t have common ground around Jesus, me and my dad. I said, «Dad, I love you.» He said, «Nobody ever loved me.» Never heard my dad say this. This man is in his sixties. He said, «My parents never loved me, and nobody ever loved me, and nobody wanted me, and I don’t believe God loves me either.» I’m sitting there 30 years old, and I was like, «This man has been struggling for sixty years without a Father’s love blessing,» and I never even really saw it until that day.
I went, «Dear God, let him live a few years longer so that I can give him every bit of blessing that You are giving me.» And I started just pouring blessing up my dad’s father’s tree. We didn’t have a miracle ending to that; my dad didn’t have a radical conversion at the end. He died of a heart attack a few years after this conversation. I don’t honestly know where he is with the Lord right now. But it let me understand that fathers are also sons. And I’m telling you, from inside this prison, inside these walls, these bars, these fences, you might want to think about putting a miracle in motion!
Dear Dad! You don’t have to read him the riot act! Just say, «I just want to tell you-I met Jesus! I got a new relationship with God! I’m living under a perfect Father’s blessing, and I want to share some of that with you! I forgive you.» Not forgetting, but I forgive you. Not sweeping anything under the rug, but I forgive you! Why? 3:00! Amen! Amen! 3:00! I forgive you! Because of what happened at 3:00; that’s when I got forgiven! And Dad, that’s when you got forgiven too!
3:00! Dear God, thank You that You’re not just some big cosmic force! You’re not just some big king in the sky, some Lord of heaven, but that You are making Yourself available to us right here and right now as a Father! We’re not just soldiers working for You. We’re not just worker bees in the kingdom; we are sons of God! I pray that that waterfall would fall on many men today. So I want to pray for you. If you want to receive that waterfall today, could you just lift your hand? God, I pray for every man reaching. I pray that they would feel and sense and know the waterfall of Your blessing, of Your grace, of Your goodness on their life right now.
I pray that You’d break every lie and every curse that has been spoken, every demonic force, every evil plan. And I pray that You would speak to them right now, «You are a loved son of God!» You can put your hand down, and I just want to pray over anybody today who just got a revelation from God that I need to bless my children. I’m in this prison feeling like I’m a failure, and they don’t want to hear from me anyway, but I can bless them! I can speak love over them! I can tell them how proud I am of them! I can let them know they have a daddy, and they’re on his heart, and he cares! If that’s you, I want to just lift your hand; I want to pray for you.
God, I pray for these fathers today. I pray that You’d break shame off of them today so that they can see that they are able and adequate today in You to speak words of blessing and affirmation and belief over their children. I thank You that they can be a difference maker in the life of their children from a thousand miles away or a thousand feet away-that their daughters can know that they are loved by a father. And I pray this, that You would empower them through Your Spirit in Jesus' name. You can put your hands down, and I just want to pray for that third miracle.
If anybody might not be-a lot of hands on this one-who got a revelation today: my dad never was loved, and I see it now. His dad was never around, and he never got a blessing, but I did. I’m going to start asking God to show me how to give that blessing back to the man who never gave me one because I’m in a miracle story. I’m going to ask God to walk me towards forgiveness. I’m going to ask God to give me a heart of peace. I’m going to ask God to do something supernatural in me. I’m going to start praying for my dad, start praying for my granddad, that God would do a miracle in their lives. I can do that from right here. I want God to use me to be a blessing to my dad. That’s a big one, but if that’s you, I want to pray over you. If you just lift your hand, Lord!
I thank You that You’re in the miracle business, and we pray in the mighty name of Jesus that You would reverse every curse. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus that You will reverse every curse and that You will use these sons of God to be generation shifters and generation changers by the power of Your Holy Spirit! Lord, break every lie; make them men of peace, not men of war! We’ve had enough bodies along the way; it’s time for healing! It’s time for the new! It’s time for the page to turn, and a new chapter be written! And we pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit, You will write a new chapter starting here and now! In Jesus' name, if you believe it, in Jesus' name, can we just lift up a shout of praise!