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00:00:00 [MUSIC]
00:00:10 [APPLAUSE]
00:00:11 >> We're going to a very familiar passage of
00:00:14 scripture in the book of Acts chapter 9, verse 1 through 10.
00:00:18 In many ways, this moment is a hinge of most of the New
00:00:28 Testament epistles.
00:00:31 It's predicated on what happens in these ten verses.
00:00:35 Acts chapter 9, verse 1 through 10.
00:00:40 When you have it, say amen.
00:00:42 >> Amen.
00:00:44 >> It starts out and it says, and Saul,
00:00:46 you will see throughout the Bible his name mentioned Saul and
00:00:50 then Paul, but it's the same person.
00:00:53 And Saul, who becomes the Apostle Paul of the New Testament,
00:00:59 yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against
00:01:04 the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest.
00:01:08 He hadn't been converted yet.
00:01:10 He's gone to the high priest and desired of the high priest
00:01:15 letters to Damascus, to the synagogues.
00:01:20 That if he found any of this way,
00:01:24 that's what they were called before they were called
00:01:26 Christians, the way.
00:01:28 He said, if I find any of them, whether they were men or
00:01:33 women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
00:01:38 By the way, Jerusalem is not a country.
00:01:42 Israel is a country.
00:01:45 Jerusalem is a city.
00:01:49 So if you're praying for Israel, if you're praying for
00:01:52 Palestine, pray broad.
00:01:55 Don't just pray for Jerusalem.
00:01:58 It's like somebody blowing up Dallas and you praying for
00:02:01 Arlington.
00:02:02 Jerusalem is quite small.
00:02:05 Very important, but quite small.
00:02:09 Tel Aviv is in flames.
00:02:12 Come on somebody, Gaza is in flames.
00:02:18 Innocent Palestinians are in flame.
00:02:20 And if you're gonna pray, don't just pray, because most of us
00:02:25 know Israel from the Bible only.
00:02:28 So that means our ideas are imaginative.
00:02:33 But in reality, Israel is a country.
00:02:38 In reality, we have Americans over there.
00:02:42 We have all kinds of people in trouble.
00:02:45 We've got Palestinians in trouble.
00:02:47 We've got Israelis in trouble.
00:02:49 We need peace in the Middle East.
00:02:52 Come on somebody, we need peace.
00:02:56 And a little bit of justice wouldn't hurt too.
00:02:57 And we want them terrorists captured.
00:03:01 Amen?
00:03:04 Cuz they're trying to, we would call it instigate.
00:03:08 They're trying to instigate a war that will encompass Iran,
00:03:14 Iraq, Jordan, everybody else around it.
00:03:17 And everything is tremoring.
00:03:20 It is in this atmosphere, biblically, Paul is bringing
00:03:24 Christians back to Jerusalem to have them tortured,
00:03:30 slaughtered, and slain.
00:03:31 At this point, he is a terrorist.
00:03:35 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.
00:03:41 And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven,
00:03:47 suddenly.
00:03:48 And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him,
00:03:55 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
00:03:58 And he said, who art thou, Lord?
00:04:03 He doesn't even know who he is.
00:04:06 And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
00:04:12 It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks.
00:04:17 And he trembling and astonished.
00:04:20 Wait a minute, the guy who was going down there to snatch people and
00:04:23 destroy them, God has brought him down to his knees.
00:04:27 He's trembling.
00:04:29 God, that's somebody's word right there.
00:04:33 Whatever you were scared of, God's gonna bring it down to his knees.
00:04:36 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:04:39 >> And he trembling and
00:04:41 astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
00:04:44 And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city, and
00:04:49 it shall be told thee what thou must do.
00:04:52 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless,
00:05:00 hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
00:05:03 And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were open,
00:05:09 he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
00:05:19 He was blind, and he was there, he was three days without sight,
00:05:24 and neither did eat nor drink.
00:05:30 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias.
00:05:36 And to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, I am here,
00:05:43 Lord, I'm gonna use a subject called a blind date.
00:05:47 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:05:51 >> A blind date.
00:05:54 Amen.
00:05:57 Look at somebody and say, you got a blind date.
00:05:58 >> You got a blind date.
00:06:01 >> Don't run, don't run.
00:06:03 >> Don't run.
00:06:04 >> Don't run.
00:06:06 Father God, in the name of Jesus, as we go into your word,
00:06:09 let it be made flesh in a supernatural way.
00:06:12 I thank and believe you for all that you're going to do.
00:06:16 Have your way in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:06:19 You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
00:06:23 According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
00:06:26 a blind date started in the early 20th century.
00:06:29 It didn't mean what it meant today.
00:06:31 The word blind date was first used in about 1914.
00:06:36 And it was used in a very different kind of way.
00:06:39 The origins of the term are difficult to track, but it is thought that it may have
00:06:45 been inspired by the tradition of students at the University of Oxford
00:06:50 playing a game called blind button games.
00:06:54 They played these blind button games in which they would take turns
00:06:57 pressing another player's button without knowing who was behind it.
00:07:02 The game evolved over the years.
00:07:05 The English language evolved over the years.
00:07:07 Things mean different things in different ages.
00:07:10 Learning to recognize a person only by the feel of their button and
00:07:14 the tone of their voice was what it meant at first.
00:07:17 It is believed that the term was later applied to romantic encounters
00:07:23 where the parties involved would get to know each other without knowing each other,
00:07:29 what each other looked like, a blind date.
00:07:34 I had a little experience like that, sort of.
00:07:40 >> [LAUGH]
00:07:43 >> Yeah, it was quite a while ago.
00:07:46 But I used to drive a 1979 Silver Anniversary Trans Am and
00:07:51 some of y'all saw it with the T-top and
00:07:55 the infrared dashboard when I was young and in my teens.
00:08:02 And the church mother wanted to go up there someplace and have a service.
00:08:08 And I put Mother Boyd in that car.
00:08:11 >> [LAUGH]
00:08:12 >> Now, Mother Boyd had white hair and
00:08:14 she wore it back in a bun.
00:08:16 But West Virginia is full of mountains and curves.
00:08:21 By the time we got there, that bun was like sitting.
00:08:23 >> [LAUGH]
00:08:27 >> Yeah, it was kind of sideways on her ear.
00:08:31 I didn't know, I thought she just needed a ride.
00:08:33 But it was a setup, cuz there was this girl up there that she wanted me to meet.
00:08:38 It was a long time ago.
00:08:39 >> [LAUGH]
00:08:43 >> Long, long time ago.
00:08:44 >> [LAUGH]
00:08:46 >> Long, long, long time ago.
00:08:51 >> [LAUGH]
00:08:55 >> And so Mother made the introduction.
00:08:58 I guess it was supposed to be some sort of blind date or something.
00:09:01 And you know you're in trouble when an older woman says to you,
00:09:05 she's got a pretty face.
00:09:07 >> [LAUGH]
00:09:13 >> I see you, uh-huh.
00:09:14 >> [LAUGH]
00:09:16 >> Sure do.
00:09:17 That means I'm gonna spend the rest of my life looking from the neck up.
00:09:21 >> [LAUGH]
00:09:26 >> That's what I thought.
00:09:28 I wasn't as mature spiritually as I am now.
00:09:33 I've grown in the Lord a good bit.
00:09:35 But it was a blind date sort of thing.
00:09:38 It was a setup.
00:09:39 It was kind of like a blind date.
00:09:42 It didn't have an eight to it.
00:09:44 It was, cuz it didn't last, you know.
00:09:47 I didn't know I was going up there for that.
00:09:49 I was going to praise the Lord.
00:09:51 And it got set up in a situation.
00:09:53 Well, blind dates don't always work out good for everybody.
00:09:57 I have a certain degree of skepticism about that.
00:09:59 Now, the older people know what a blind date is.
00:10:02 The younger people swipe left.
00:10:04 >> [LAUGH]
00:10:07 >> Y'all got a new equivalent.
00:10:08 You swipe left and they catfish you.
00:10:11 >> [LAUGH]
00:10:13 >> You think you're going out with
00:10:15 the person on the picture.
00:10:16 You spraying on extra cologne.
00:10:18 >> [LAUGH]
00:10:20 >> Washed everywhere,
00:10:22 cleaned everything, flossed your teeth.
00:10:25 You haven't flossed your teeth since Vietnam.
00:10:27 >> [LAUGH]
00:10:30 >> Floss your teeth and
00:10:31 go in there and see that person and.
00:10:33 >> [LAUGH]
00:10:37 >> Yeah, yeah,
00:10:38 that's what we call the blind date.
00:10:41 Y'all do it a little differently.
00:10:43 [LAUGH]
00:10:46 >> On the other hand,
00:10:47 sometimes it works out pretty good.
00:10:48 Cuz actually, I kinda, it wasn't exactly a date, but
00:10:52 I kinda met my wife as a blind date.
00:10:55 Cuz she was sending me secret power cards.
00:10:58 >> [LAUGH]
00:11:01 >> Little floozy.
00:11:02 >> [LAUGH]
00:11:04 >> Going out to the man of God,
00:11:06 sending me secret power cards.
00:11:09 I didn't know who it was, and I preached at her church, and
00:11:12 her pastor's wife came up and said, I got a member who wants to meet you.
00:11:16 And she looked at me that kind of way that I knew it was more than prayer.
00:11:22 >> [LAUGH]
00:11:32 >> She said it was cuz it was an anointing
00:11:37 on my life, but I think it was a few other factors down in there too.
00:11:43 But anyway, we're gonna let her keep her story the way she kept it.
00:11:47 I came over and she came over looking all, you know.
00:11:51 >> [LAUGH]
00:11:55 >> And I decided to put the eight with
00:11:59 the D and make it a date and say,
00:12:02 you don't know anywhere a bachelor can get a good home cooked meal.
00:12:06 And she said, I.
00:12:06 >> [LAUGH]
00:12:14 >> I'm gonna get you well,
00:12:15 I'm gonna get you well, see, don't worry about nothing.
00:12:17 Sit right there, I'm gonna get you well.
00:12:19 And the problem was she couldn't cook.
00:12:21 >> [LAUGH]
00:12:24 >> So she said, I'll ask my mother.
00:12:26 >> [LAUGH] >> I said, that'll work.
00:12:29 >> [LAUGH]
00:12:31 >> And almost 43 years later.
00:12:35 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:12:43 >> I'm not telling you to do this, but
00:12:45 I dated her six months and got married.
00:12:47 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:12:49 >> Yeah, that's how sure I was,
00:12:51 that's how well I knew, that's how certain I was.
00:12:55 I knew, I knew.
00:12:57 If he's been dating you 12 years and- >> [LAUGH]
00:13:01 >> And ain't made up his mind.
00:13:02 >> [LAUGH]
00:13:07 >> You need to ghost him.
00:13:08 >> [LAUGH]
00:13:11 >> You need to ghost him.
00:13:13 Tell all the old people what that means.
00:13:15 They don't know what that means.
00:13:16 Tell them what it means.
00:13:17 >> [LAUGH]
00:13:18 >> Friends often set up people on a blind date.
00:13:21 A truly blind date leaves you asking lots of questions to your friend.
00:13:26 I mean, questions that you can only ask a friend,
00:13:29 like what does she or he look like?
00:13:33 You don't want to sound carnal, but
00:13:36 you do want to know, am I going to be stuck from the neck up?
00:13:40 >> [LAUGH]
00:13:42 >> Maybe your question is,
00:13:44 how tall is he, or maybe it's, what's his credit score?
00:13:47 >> [LAUGH]
00:13:50 >> Maybe it's where does he work?
00:13:51 Does she have children?
00:13:52 There's a lot of questions, a lot of things I want to know.
00:13:54 I want to know.
00:13:56 I want to know before we go into that.
00:13:57 I want to know what I'm going to do.
00:13:59 I want a briefing.
00:14:00 I want a report.
00:14:03 I want a five page report and a resume and a background check.
00:14:08 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:14:10 >> Amen.
00:14:11 I want a background check.
00:14:12 Something wrong with you, I want to know it.
00:14:16 You going to wake up in the night standing over my bed with a knife,
00:14:19 I'd like to kind of know that.
00:14:20 >> [LAUGH]
00:14:24 >> I think the reason we want to know so
00:14:25 much, one is we watch TV and we read all this crazy stuff that's going on
00:14:29 in the world today, the other part of it is the root of the questioning rests in
00:14:34 our abhorrence of disappointment.
00:14:36 We don't want to be disappointed.
00:14:39 The lack of the ability to interject my opinion in the process is important too.
00:14:45 I know in the Bible days they selected a wife for you, but
00:14:49 I'm glad I wasn't living back then because I want to have my mouth and everything.
00:14:53 I don't want you to select a pair of shoes for me.
00:14:55 I want to see them and try them on and feel them, see, come on.
00:15:00 The vulnerability of being denied the right to select is a painful thing.
00:15:07 To not select, to not choose, to not control,
00:15:10 especially if you're a person that likes to be in control.
00:15:14 That's a vulnerable feeling.
00:15:16 After all, who wants to test their risk tolerance in public?
00:15:21 There's nothing like public shame.
00:15:24 Nothing like a public mistake.
00:15:26 See, and everything's public now.
00:15:29 Everybody's a celebrity, everybody's a news reporter, and everything's public.
00:15:35 They don't have to get the facts right, but it's all out in public.
00:15:37 You're living your life out loud all the time.
00:15:40 Everybody got an opinion.
00:15:41 You dye your hair, somebody got opinion.
00:15:44 You shave your head, somebody got an opinion about it.
00:15:47 You gain weight, somebody got a, you look like you gaining weight.
00:15:50 I'd be one to type, so do you.
00:15:54 >> [LAUGH]
00:15:57 >> But I know that's not appropriate.
00:15:59 I know that's not appropriate.
00:16:01 That's not a kind thing to say.
00:16:03 Sometimes I look at the picture and say, you should find the weight I lost.
00:16:07 You know?
00:16:09 Yeah, you know.
00:16:10 But I don't say things like that because I'm so
00:16:13 convicted by the Holy Spirit I would never say anything like that.
00:16:17 You wanna pick it up at the gate out front, you know?
00:16:21 But I don't say things like that.
00:16:23 My wife has proved that it does have positive outcomes.
00:16:27 Sometimes blind dates do have positive outcomes, but
00:16:31 I have control issues and I want to know.
00:16:35 The truth of the matter is, God is interested in dating.
00:16:40 The whole Bible is a love story.
00:16:43 The whole Bible is a love story.
00:16:46 Listen to this, you have to understand, from the book of Genesis to the book of
00:16:50 Revelations is one big long love story about a God who is looking for
00:16:56 a place to have a date with humanity.
00:16:58 That first date, that first date they went on.
00:17:02 You remember the first date we went on to the steakhouse?
00:17:04 Yeah, and I ordered the prime real, and you ordered the teriyaki chicken.
00:17:08 I remember all that stuff.
00:17:10 Yeah, I know, I'm telling all our business, yeah.
00:17:12 >> [LAUGH]
00:17:14 >> Yeah, yeah.
00:17:15 Well, God arranged a date in the Garden of Eden.
00:17:18 And the Garden of Eden was the place where divinity and
00:17:22 humanity cohabitated in the same spot.
00:17:25 It was a rendezvous place.
00:17:28 Meet me behind the 7-Eleven, meet me over at the garden, meet me at the park,
00:17:35 meet me over here, meet me over there.
00:17:37 God created man and woman from the dust of the earth and said, meet me in the garden.
00:17:42 This is a parameter, I've made the whole earth, but this is our spot.
00:17:46 This is our hangout spot, yeah.
00:17:51 This is our hangout spot.
00:17:52 And when they got in the spot, it was so
00:17:55 that there might be a meeting between humanity and divinity.
00:18:00 Humanity and divinity.
00:18:03 And over and over again, God has looked for a spot to meet with man, a spot.
00:18:09 A meeting place like Jacob, for example, at Bethel.
00:18:14 Jacob gets tired at a place where there's a big stone, lays his head on a stone, and
00:18:20 the heavens open up, and God says, I'll meet you there.
00:18:23 Somebody say, I'll meet you there.
00:18:25 >> I'll meet you there.
00:18:26 >> It doesn't always have to be at the potter's house.
00:18:29 God says, I'll meet you there.
00:18:30 It can be while you're washing dishes, God says, I'll meet you there.
00:18:35 It can be on a lunch break at work, and God says, I'll meet you there.
00:18:39 You can be driving home in the traffic and fussing about the traffic, and
00:18:43 all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit will come in the car, and God says, I'll meet you there.
00:18:48 See, wherever God is, is holy.
00:18:51 Wherever God is, is a sanctuary.
00:18:55 Wherever God is, is a special place.
00:18:57 He told Abraham, go to a place I will show you.
00:19:00 I got a place reserved for us to date at.
00:19:03 I got a place reserved for us to meet at.
00:19:06 And he said, I'm not gonna tell you where it is, but I'll show you when you get there.
00:19:11 And Abraham takes Isaac and his son and
00:19:13 goes to the place that God has prepared to have a rendezvous with him.
00:19:18 It's powerful.
00:19:20 Well, Jacob, when he was trying to find himself, goes up to Peniel, and
00:19:24 there rustles a man with him to the breaking of day.
00:19:27 And the Bible says, when he saw that the day broke, he smote him at the hip joint.
00:19:33 And the hip joint was taken completely out of place, and
00:19:36 Jacob had a meeting with God that left him limping.
00:19:40 A meeting with God will change the way you walk.
00:19:45 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:19:49 >> Don't think cuz you bought a Jesus
00:19:51 t-shirt that makes you a Christian.
00:19:53 A real meeting with God will change the way you respond to situations in crisis.
00:19:59 A real meeting with God will get in your personality, your attitude,
00:20:04 go against your background, where you came from, teach you a new way of responding,
00:20:09 living, thinking, breathing, moving.
00:20:11 A meeting with God is a powerful thing.
00:20:13 And God says, I'll meet you there.
00:20:15 Look at somebody says, I'll meet you there.
00:20:17 He told Moses to build a tabernacle with an outer court,
00:20:22 an inner court, a holy of holies.
00:20:24 And he said, when you come to the holy of holies, I'll meet you there.
00:20:28 And the person of Shekinah glory that sat down in the third dimension of
00:20:32 the tabernacle, he said, I'll meet you there.
00:20:35 Everything else was in preparation for the meeting.
00:20:38 The laver and the brazen altar was all preparing you,
00:20:42 admitting that I'm a sinner and I'm far from God.
00:20:45 And so I've got to offer up a sacrifice at the brazen altar.
00:20:48 I've got to wash at the laver because I'm guilty.
00:20:52 I don't want to come into your presence with guilt and shame.
00:20:55 I've got to come into the most holy place where the candles to operas are and
00:21:00 where the table of shoe bread is and have communion with you.
00:21:04 And the closer you get, the richer the communion, the deeper the fellowship,
00:21:09 the stronger the connection.
00:21:11 The more I think back on where you brought me from,
00:21:14 how you brought me through by the blood of a lamb,
00:21:16 how you allowed me to escape the Pharaoh that was in my life.
00:21:21 When I look at the wine and the bread,
00:21:23 I'm cognizant of the fact that had you not done what you did,
00:21:27 I would still be a slave to my sins.
00:21:30 But thanks be to God, you have eradicated my sins,
00:21:34 you have expunged my record, you have thrown my past into the sea of forgetfulness.
00:21:41 When I bring it up, you don't even know what I'm talking about.
00:21:44 Thanks be unto God who gave me the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:21:49 And then through the veil, I pass through the veil,
00:21:53 I pass through the veil that would separate me and God.
00:21:58 I pass through the veil.
00:22:00 The veil is an important thing because no veil existed in the Garden of Eden until
00:22:06 man sinned.
00:22:07 God could look down into the Garden of Eden and
00:22:10 see the glory of God reflected back at him through man.
00:22:15 But there's a veil that comes.
00:22:16 Whenever sin comes, it brings a veil.
00:22:20 It shuts off your view.
00:22:22 It limits your access.
00:22:23 It separates your anointing.
00:22:25 But God designed through Moses that on the Day of Atonement,
00:22:29 the veil would part and the priest could go in and
00:22:33 offer up sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant in a powerful place.
00:22:38 Because God has always been in love with you.
00:22:42 God has always been crazy about you.
00:22:47 God has always wanted a place where he could hang out with you.
00:22:51 Whether the place was Eden or whether the place was a stone or
00:22:55 whether the place was Mount Moriah or whether the place was where Abraham took
00:23:00 Isaac and offered him up as a sacrifice, God has always wanted a place to you.
00:23:05 And once you get in that place, his provision is always in that place.
00:23:10 The ram that's tied in the thicket is waiting on you only when you get in
00:23:15 the right place.
00:23:16 Had Abraham climbed any other mountain,
00:23:19 there wouldn't have been a scapegoat there and Isaac would have been dead.
00:23:23 But thanks be to God that he orders our steps and
00:23:27 brings us to the right place at the right time so
00:23:31 that we can receive the right blessing to move into what he has for us.
00:23:35 There's a place for you.
00:23:37 There's a place for you.
00:23:39 There's a spot that if you get in that spot at the right time,
00:23:42 God will open up things to you that he's got waiting on you.
00:23:46 Do you not understand your eyes have not seen, your ears have not heard,
00:23:51 neither have entered into your heart the things that God has in store?
00:23:55 Burn up all your plans.
00:23:57 Burn up all your ideas.
00:23:59 God's getting ready to blow your mind with something you didn't expect.
00:24:03 If you could just get in the place for this blind date.
00:24:07 You don't know where it is, but I'm gonna show you where it is.
00:24:11 And when I show you where it is, you're gonna know it's me,
00:24:14 because your provisions will be there.
00:24:17 And the Bible said Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh.
00:24:23 He didn't call God Jehovah-Jireh.
00:24:25 He called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh.
00:24:29 Somebody throw your hands up and say, help me get to the place.
00:24:32 >> Help me get to the place.
00:24:33 >> That's why I don't have time for a lot of foolishness,
00:24:36 because I gotta get to the place.
00:24:39 I don't have time to play games, cuz I gotta get to the place.
00:24:42 I don't have time to fall out with you, cuz I gotta get to the place.
00:24:47 I don't have time to worry about who's jealous of me,
00:24:49 cuz I got to get to the place.
00:24:52 I don't have time to worry about my haters.
00:24:54 I gotta get to the place.
00:24:56 There is a place where God is gonna meet with me.
00:24:59 I got a blind date with a God I've never seen before, and
00:25:04 I've gotta get to the place.
00:25:05 That's why things that used to bother me don't bother me anymore,
00:25:10 because I've realized I gotta get to the place.
00:25:13 I don't have time to be distracted by he say, she say, and
00:25:17 they say, I've gotta get to the place.
00:25:20 I got a ram waiting on me.
00:25:22 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:25:25 >> I'm gonna say that again for
00:25:26 the people in the back.
00:25:28 I got a ram waiting on me.
00:25:30 I got an unexpected blessing waiting on me.
00:25:33 I got a divine provision waiting on me.
00:25:37 I got an answer to prayer waiting on me.
00:25:40 I got a moving mountain waiting on me.
00:25:43 I got a lion with his jaw stuck waiting on me.
00:25:48 I got honey to eat out of a carcass waiting on me.
00:25:52 God's got blessings for me that'll blow your mind right now.
00:25:56 I don't know who I'm preaching to, but
00:25:58 I'm talking to somebody in this building right now.
00:26:02 God wants to meet with you.
00:26:04 He doesn't just want you to be a church person that goes to church like you're
00:26:09 paying a bill every week.
00:26:10 He wants to have a rendezvous with you.
00:26:13 He wants you to get all that junk and all that foolishness out of your mind and
00:26:18 set your affections on things that are above,
00:26:21 because God wants to show you something.
00:26:23 He's got some things prepared for you.
00:26:26 You're not a throwaway, you're not a castaway.
00:26:29 I told you last week, you're not an orphan.
00:26:32 God has a place for you and a blessing for you.
00:26:36 That's why the enemy's fighting you, dummy.
00:26:39 He's fighting you because God has something for you.
00:26:42 If God didn't have anything for you, why would he be fighting you?
00:26:46 The enemy is fighting you because God has something better for you.
00:26:52 There's something that's tied in the thicket.
00:26:54 It can't get it away.
00:26:56 It can't run away.
00:26:57 It can't crawl away.
00:26:59 It can't move away.
00:27:01 Can't nobody take what God has for me.
00:27:04 What God has for me is for me.
00:27:07 I gotta get to the place that I can receive what's tied.
00:27:11 I don't know who I'm preaching to, but God's got some stuff that's tied up for
00:27:16 you, and you gotta get in the right place.
00:27:19 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:27:25 >> You gotta get in the right place.
00:27:28 You can't get that blessing in that place.
00:27:32 You can't get that blessing in that place over there.
00:27:36 You can't get that blessing in that place over there.
00:27:39 You got in the place what God has for you in Dallas.
00:27:42 You can't get in North Carolina, South Carolina, what God has for you.
00:27:47 You can't get it in Jamaica.
00:27:49 You gotta get in the place.
00:27:50 That's why some of you moved here, cuz you had to be in the place.
00:27:54 Who am I talking to?
00:27:56 There's somebody in this room that you went through a lot of changes cuz you
00:28:00 said this is the place where God talks to me, and I gotta be in the place.
00:28:05 In times like these, I need to be in the place.
00:28:09 I need to be in the place where I can get the blessing of the Lord.
00:28:12 Somebody texted me and said, when can we hang out together?
00:28:16 I said, when can you come to church?
00:28:18 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:28:21 >> Glory to God.
00:28:22 You want me to jump over mountains to come see you, and
00:28:25 you won't get up out of the bed and come to church in the morning.
00:28:28 You gotta get in the place.
00:28:29 You have to make an effort to get in the place.
00:28:32 And when you make an effort to get in the place, you appreciate it
00:28:36 differently from people who made no effort to get in the place.
00:28:42 You want it more.
00:28:43 You praise harder.
00:28:45 You clap louder.
00:28:46 You stand on your feet.
00:28:48 You glorify God.
00:28:50 You magnify his name.
00:28:52 Cuz you didn't just wander in here.
00:28:54 You didn't just come in here cuz you got some stilettos to show off.
00:28:58 You came because you wanna get in the place.
00:29:01 You'll lay prostrate on the floor.
00:29:04 You'll do whatever you have to do because you wanna get in the place.
00:29:08 Somebody give him 15 seconds of a crazy praise.
00:29:11 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:29:23 >> Glory to God.
00:29:25 Touch me people say I gotta get in the place.
00:29:27 I gotta get in the place.
00:29:28 I gotta get in the place.
00:29:30 I gotta come out of all of my junk and all of my habits and
00:29:33 all of my sins and all of my foolishness.
00:29:36 I gotta get in the place.
00:29:38 If I gotta crawl, if I gotta fast, if I gotta pray, if I gotta talk in tongue,
00:29:44 if I gotta walk around the house singing out of tune, I gotta get in the place.
00:29:49 If I gotta clap my hands like they're on fire, I gotta get in the place.
00:29:54 Whatever it takes for me to get a touch from God, I gotta get in the place.
00:29:58 I don't know who I'm talking to, but I see a moving band coming.
00:30:03 You gotta get in the place.
00:30:05 You gotta get in the place.
00:30:06 You gotta get in the place where the glory of the Lord is.
00:30:10 Glory to God.
00:30:11 Somebody had to get in the place.
00:30:13 Your friends didn't understand it.
00:30:15 Your relatives didn't understand it.
00:30:17 Your neighbors didn't understand it.
00:30:19 But God told you to get in the place.
00:30:22 If I'm talking to you, make some noise in this house.
00:30:25 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:30:34 >> From the Garden of Eden,
00:30:36 from the Garden of Eden to Genesis 22,
00:30:39 Mount Moriah where Abraham goes to meet with God.
00:30:44 God is always trying to meet with humanity to have a date with us,
00:30:50 to connect with us, to be close to us, to be with us.
00:30:54 To in the middle of the wilderness, in the middle of the desert,
00:30:56 he told Pharaoh, let my people go, that they may worship me in the desert.
00:31:01 He said, I want to have a date with them in the desert.
00:31:06 And even though you're Pharaoh, you can't stop me.
00:31:08 I'll send frogs, and I'll send lice, and I'll send boils, and
00:31:13 I'll turn the water into blood.
00:31:15 But when I get through fighting, I'm gonna win this fight,
00:31:18 because I'm gonna get my people to the place where they can come and
00:31:22 have open access to me, and be exposed to me.
00:31:26 And let my people go, that they may worship me.
00:31:30 See, when you're a worshiper, can't nobody hold you.
00:31:33 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:31:35 >> Uh-huh, come on, stay with me.
00:31:37 When you're a worshiper, can't nobody hold you.
00:31:39 Let my people go, that they may worship me.
00:31:43 When you're a worshiper, can't nobody bind you, can't nobody block you,
00:31:47 can't nobody stop you, cuz God has a place for you to be in.
00:31:52 You'd be surprised at the people that tried to hold you back.
00:31:55 But the more you worship God, God made that Pharaoh turn you loose,
00:32:00 that you might be free to worship him.
00:32:02 And some of you are happy right now, cuz this is the first time in your life
00:32:07 that you have really been free to worship, free to praise, free to lift him up,
00:32:12 free to give God the glory.
00:32:14 That's why I wouldn't let nobody stare me down.
00:32:17 When I get ready to praise God, you can watch, but
00:32:19 I'm gonna praise him while you watch.
00:32:22 Cuz when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that he's done for me,
00:32:27 my soul cries out hallelujah.
00:32:29 Thank you Lord for saving me.
00:32:36 >> [APPLAUSE]
00:32:39 >> It was all about a meeting.
00:32:42 Look at your neighbor and say it was all about a meeting.
00:32:44 >> It was all about a meeting.
00:32:45 >> Tell your neighbor it was all about a date.
00:32:47 >> It was all about a date.
00:32:48 >> I had a date, I had a time, I had a moment, I had a second in history.
00:32:53 Lord, don't let me miss my date.
00:32:55 Lord, don't let me miss my date.
00:32:57 Lord, don't let me miss my time.
00:32:59 Lord, don't let me miss my moment.
00:33:01 Don't let me get to the right place at the wrong time.
00:33:04 I don't wanna miss this date cuz I got a date with God.
00:33:08 I got a date with destiny.
00:33:10 I got a date with purpose.
00:33:12 I got a date with miracles.
00:33:13 I got a date with my gift.
00:33:15 I got a date to be used by God.
00:33:18 Don't let me miss my date.
00:33:20 I don't mind God using you, you, you, you, you, you, and you.
00:33:23 When it's your time, may God use you.
00:33:25 But when it's my time, get out of my way cuz I got a date with God.
00:33:30 I got a date with destiny.
00:33:32 He's he has predetermined a date for me.
00:33:38 I feel the anointing of the Holy Ghost
00:33:40 in this place. Glory to God.
00:33:43 It doesn't do any good to do the right thing
00:33:45 at the wrong time.
00:33:46 I got to do the right thing at the right time.
00:33:49 I got a date. I got a date.
00:33:51 That's fine people say I got a date.
00:33:53 Yeah, I got a date. I got a date.
00:33:56 I got a date. I got a date.
00:33:58 I got a date. I've got to date.
00:34:00 I got a date.
00:34:01 Some of y'all ain't been able to say that for six years.
00:34:04 You better say it while you got a chance.
00:34:06 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:08 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:10 I got to fix myself up.
00:34:12 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:14 I got to clean myself up.
00:34:16 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:18 I got to watch what I say.
00:34:20 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:22 I got to get my beard right.
00:34:23 I got a date. I got a date.
00:34:25 What you in there getting? I got a date.
00:34:27 I got a date. If you go through that much trouble
00:34:29 for a person, how much more are you to go through trouble
00:34:33 to get ready for God?
00:34:35 I got a date with God.
00:34:36 I have a date with God.
00:34:38 I have a date.
00:34:39 If I got to worship the labor,
00:34:41 if I have to lay a lamb on the altar,
00:34:43 whatever it takes, I got a date with God.
00:34:46 I can't miss this date.
00:34:48 I'm running out of time.
00:34:50 I can't miss this date.
00:34:52 I can't answer every phone call.
00:34:54 I can't put out every fire.
00:34:56 I can't respond to every crisis 'cause I got a date.
00:34:59 I don't know who I'm talking to,
00:35:01 but you've been distracted.
00:35:03 Your days of distraction are over.
00:35:06 I declare a focus is coming in your spirit.
00:35:09 You've got a date with God.
00:35:11 Whoever I'm preaching to, glory to God,
00:35:15 you missed the last date,
00:35:16 but you're not gonna stand them up this time.
00:35:19 You're gonna be in the right place at the right time,
00:35:22 and something amazing is gonna happen in your life.
00:35:25 I can feel it in my hands.
00:35:27 I can feel it in my feet.
00:35:29 I can feel it in my soul.
00:35:31 I can feel it in my hand clap.
00:35:34 I can feel it in my dance.
00:35:36 I can feel it in my leap.
00:35:38 I can feel it in my run.
00:35:40 I'm excited about it.
00:35:42 I got a date.
00:35:42 Somebody, hold on, I got a date!
00:35:44 (audience cheering)
00:35:47 (audience applauding)
00:35:51 After 40 years of dating in a tent,
00:36:05 God finally set up a house called Solomon's Temple,
00:36:09 and he set up Solomon's Temple
00:36:10 so that we would have a stabilized place to meet.
00:36:13 It means my wandering is over.
00:36:15 My search is over.
00:36:17 I've come to a place of stability.
00:36:19 Solomon's Temple means I can come
00:36:21 to the same place every time.
00:36:22 I'm not on the move.
00:36:23 I'm not nomadic.
00:36:25 I'm not traveling.
00:36:26 I'm not on the move.
00:36:26 I know who I am.
00:36:28 I know where I am.
00:36:29 I have possessed the land,
00:36:30 and Solomon's Temple is where we hang out with God.
00:36:34 - I like it.
00:36:35 - Glory to God.
00:36:37 It's a date with God.
00:36:38 - Amen.
00:36:39 - It's a date with God.
00:36:40 - Amen.
00:36:41 - It's a date with God. - Amen.
00:36:43 - It's a date with God.
00:36:45 I have a date with God.
00:36:47 It's about, the truth of the matter is,
00:36:49 when Gabriel came to Mary and said,
00:36:52 "Hail Mary, you've been highly favored amongst women.
00:36:55 "You should bring forth a son,
00:36:57 "and his name should be called Jesus."
00:36:59 Jesus is a meeting place
00:37:02 between humanity and divinity.
00:37:08 He is all the way man and all the way God.
00:37:11 Jesus is where humanity and divinity meet together.
00:37:16 Jesus is where, it's a place where grace and truth
00:37:19 are met together.
00:37:20 Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
00:37:23 Truth shall spring up out of the earth,
00:37:25 and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
00:37:27 Yea, I, the Lord, will give that which is good,
00:37:30 and our land shall yield her increases.
00:37:32 Talking about Jesus.
00:37:34 Jesus is the meeting place.
00:37:36 He is Emmanuel.
00:37:38 He is God tabernacled with us.
00:37:41 He is God living amongst us.
00:37:44 He is God hanging out with us.
00:37:46 It is God at the bowling alley.
00:37:48 It is God playing ping pong with us.
00:37:51 It is God coming down to our level.
00:37:53 He said, "My thoughts are above your thoughts.
00:37:55 "My ways are above your ways.
00:37:57 "You'll never be able to reach high enough to reach me.
00:38:00 "So since you can't reach me,
00:38:02 "I'll come down where you are.
00:38:04 "Mary, let me borrow some flesh,
00:38:07 "and I'll wrap myself up in a body,
00:38:09 "'cause I got a date.
00:38:11 "I got a date.
00:38:12 "I got a date.
00:38:13 "I got a date."
00:38:13 And when the date was fully come,
00:38:15 it didn't matter that they didn't have a house,
00:38:17 they had a date.
00:38:18 God said, "We'll have a date
00:38:19 "if we got to meet in the barn,
00:38:21 "if we got to hang out behind the bushes.
00:38:23 "I got a date with you."
00:38:24 This is a place where humanity and divinity
00:38:27 have collided with each other,
00:38:29 and all the magic came to bring gifts.
00:38:32 They didn't even fully realize what had happened.
00:38:34 Heaven had come to earth.
00:38:36 The kingdom had come.
00:38:38 The will of God had come down.
00:38:40 The celestial had touched.
00:38:42 The terrestrial, the divine, had touched the human.
00:38:45 The holy had touched the humane.
00:38:48 In Jesus Christ, they were all met together.
00:38:51 It's a date.
00:38:51 Jesus is God having a date with man.
00:38:54 Jesus is God having a date with humanity.
00:38:58 Jesus is God having a date with righteousness.
00:39:01 Jesus is God holiness meeting humanness.
00:39:04 Jesus is God.
00:39:06 God wanted a date with her.
00:39:08 For God so loved the world
00:39:10 that he gave his only begotten son,
00:39:12 that whosoever believeth on him
00:39:15 shall not perish, but have everlasting.
00:39:17 This is a love story.
00:39:19 This is a love story.
00:39:21 This is not a scandal.
00:39:23 This is not an embarrassment.
00:39:25 This is not about a young girl gone wild.
00:39:27 This is not about somebody getting pregnant.
00:39:30 This is a love story.
00:39:32 This is how far God would go to get to you.
00:39:35 This is how far God would go to reach you.
00:39:37 God would go to reach you, that he would wrap himself up in the
00:39:41 dressing room of Mary's womb and come walking out like a man.
00:39:46 And the Bible said he became obedient unto death and took on
00:39:50 him the form of a servant so that he could have a date with a
00:39:53 slave. Come on. Come on. Come on. Go with me. Go with me. Go
00:40:01 with me. Go with me. Go with me. Go with me. Go with me. Go with
00:40:08 me. Go with me. Go with me. These dates, these moments
00:40:10 express the attitude of God and how far God will go to get who
00:40:13 he wants. God will go in the club to get who he wants. God
00:40:20 will go in the strip club to get who he wants. He'll go in the
00:40:24 drug house to get who he wants. He'll go in the crack house to
00:40:27 get who he wants. He'll go into a den of iniquity to get who he
00:40:31 wants. Everybody, God didn't get them in church. Somebody who
00:40:34 spin you around on the bar and say, "You don't have no business
00:40:37 in here." Somebody you had to leave out the hotel room, say,
00:40:41 "Ain't nothing wrong, but I got to go." Something pulled you
00:40:44 out. Something pulled--the reason you're here this morning
00:40:47 is because something pulled you out. The Bible said no man can
00:40:50 come to the Father, say the Spirit draw him. The Spirit
00:40:53 drew you out. You didn't just come on your own. The Spirit
00:40:56 drew you out because God has a purpose and a plan for your
00:41:00 life. I don't know who I'm talking to, but somebody in this
00:41:03 room, God drew you out. You said you wasn't coming, but God drew
00:41:07 you out. You said you wasn't finished partying, but God drew
00:41:10 you out. You had a dope deal pending, but God drew you out.
00:41:14 You're about to make you some money on the side, but God drew
00:41:17 you out. Oh, that's why you ought to give him the highest
00:41:20 praise because God drew--God drew you out. He drew you out.
00:41:26 He drew you out. He drew you out. Somebody shout,
00:41:30 "Hallelujah." So in our text this morning, it almost reads
00:41:43 like an ambush. It's a setup. Saul does not know that he has
00:41:50 a date with God. Saul is busy operating off an old
00:41:57 commandment. The old commandment being the Old Testament. He is
00:42:03 being obedient to what God did say, not what God is saying.
00:42:10 Some people are loyal to what God has said, but not loyal to
00:42:15 what God is saying. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
00:42:19 every word that--that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. That
00:42:24 means I got to live in his mouth. I got to stay close to
00:42:28 him so that I can get updates. If I don't get updates, I'll be
00:42:34 operating off of old dates. And if I'm operating off of old
00:42:37 dates, I don't have an update. And if I don't have an update,
00:42:41 I'm going to miss my blind date. So I got to get it together so
00:42:45 I understand that I'm not operating. Saul was operating
00:42:49 off an old date. He wasn't wrong. He wasn't evil. He
00:42:53 wasn't wicked. He wasn't bad. He just hadn't got an update. The
00:42:56 other day my phone was acting crazy. I thought it had lost
00:43:00 his mind. I thought, "Well, maybe I got to buy a new one."
00:43:04 And then I looked in the phone and realized there's nothing
00:43:06 wrong with my phone. It just needed--there may not be
00:43:12 anything wrong with it. You might just need an update. You
00:43:17 might need an update. You might need an update. You might be
00:43:21 operating off of old date and think you're serving God and you
00:43:24 don't even know what you're doing. And you're--you're
00:43:26 killing who God is raising. You're tearing down what God is
00:43:31 trying to erect. You're messing up your house, messing up your
00:43:35 life, messing up your marriage, all in the name of the Lord
00:43:38 because you got an old date and not a--uh-huh. Come on. Come
00:43:45 on. We're going to get this. We're going to get this. Me and
00:43:48 you, we're going to get this today. Everything that Saul has
00:43:50 experienced is circumspectly in alignment with his current
00:43:54 situation. It makes sense that Saul would act this way. Saul
00:43:58 was raised to think this way. He was taught to think this way.
00:44:02 Many theologians and scholars think that Saul was the boy who
00:44:05 was holding the coat when they stoned Stephan. So, all of his
00:44:09 life, he's been around Christian killers and he calls himself
00:44:13 defending Jehovah, not fighting Jehovah. He calls himself
00:44:17 defending Jehovah because when you have an old date, you can
00:44:21 innocently do damage to good people because you're operating
00:44:25 off an old date. When you got an old date, you'll put women out
00:44:30 of the church because they're wearing pants. When you got an
00:44:33 old date, you won't let them in the altar because they got on
00:44:37 makeup. When you got an old date, you won't establish
00:44:39 somebody in the kingdom of God because a man is wearing a hat.
00:44:42 If you got an old date, you got an old memo, women shouldn't be
00:44:46 wearing lipstick. If you got an old date, you will major on the
00:44:49 minor and minor on the major. Saul has an old date. He
00:44:54 doesn't have an update. What's wrong with a lot of our churches
00:44:59 even in this contemporary society is that we're operating
00:45:02 off an old date. They're preaching off an old date. They
00:45:05 don't have an update. They don't have a present revelation of who
00:45:09 God is right now. They don't know who he is right now. They
00:45:13 know who he was to their fathers, but they don't know who
00:45:16 he is right now. So, they can't touch this generation because
00:45:21 they got this depression mentality. They're preaching
00:45:24 like they were back in the 20s and they don't have a word from
00:45:27 God. Is there a word from God? Is there a word from the Lord?
00:45:32 Can I preach? I'm about to feel like preaching now. I done fooled
00:45:35 around and got myself happy. Hallelujah. I need a word from
00:45:38 God, a present word, a right now God, not a logos, but a rhema,
00:45:44 a right now God, a God right now, a God that can fix this
00:45:48 moment, a God for this present danger, a God for this attack
00:45:53 that's happening right now. Give us this day our daily bread and
00:45:57 forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
00:46:00 against us. But Saul has no update. He has an old day.
00:46:07 Psychology suggests that the past experiences are strong
00:46:12 likelihoods of what the person's next experience will be like.
00:46:16 Like if I've been a murderer all my life, why would you think I
00:46:19 wouldn't kill you? If I've been a philanderer all my life, why
00:46:25 would you think that I would be upright with you? A person's
00:46:28 past behavior is a predictor of their future behavior. That's
00:46:32 what psychology suggests is a feasible way of deducting what a
00:46:36 person is capable of. Once I learn what you're capable of, I
00:46:40 handle you a little bit different. It's not that I don't
00:46:43 forgive you, but I watch you. Where my real folks over here?
00:46:53 I forgive you, but I'm watching you. I forgive you, but I'm
00:46:57 watching you. I'm looking at you because now that I know what
00:47:00 you're capable of. I didn't know you could talk to me like that,
00:47:05 but now that you show me that you're capable of talking to me
00:47:09 like that, now when you say nice stuff, I take it with a grain of
00:47:12 salt because I don't know when you're going to switch on me.
00:47:15 Come on. Where my real--are there any real people? Did any
00:47:20 real people come to--did any real people come to church this
00:47:25 morning? And thank you for showing me what you're capable
00:47:30 of. Thank you for showing me what you're capable of so I
00:47:34 don't put too much weight on you, so I don't lean on you too
00:47:37 much, so I don't expect too much for--thank you for showing me
00:47:40 that the chair might fall so I might sit in such a way that if
00:47:44 it falls, I don't have to go down with it. Come on for
00:47:46 showing me. Hallelujah. You ought to take a minute and
00:47:49 praise God for what your enemies taught you. Unwittingly, he has
00:48:03 become the executor of genocide. Saul single-handedly is trying
00:48:13 to eradicate Christians. It's genocide. He wants to purge them
00:48:19 out. He wants to clean them out. He sees them as spots in the
00:48:24 feast of charity of Israel. He thinks they need to be removed.
00:48:27 He thinks they're a cult. He thinks they're demonic. He
00:48:31 thinks they're evil. That's why he thinks nothing of killing
00:48:34 men, women, boys, and girls is genocide. And he's on his road
00:48:41 to Damascus. He's on the Damascus road. And he's got a
00:48:47 bunch of men with him to serve him. Because if you teach
00:48:50 anything long enough, somebody will follow you. If you teach
00:48:58 anything long enough, somebody will follow you. And he's got a
00:49:01 little band of minions that are following him. He has spent his
00:49:06 influence to ascertain credentials. He has gone to the
00:49:10 high priest and used his influence to get credentials to
00:49:14 legalize his genocide, his assault on humanity, his assault
00:49:20 to destroy the Christians that will escalate the agenda of
00:49:24 ridding orthodoxy of this thorn in his own understanding of
00:49:29 accurate theology. Paul always had a thorn in his flesh. He had
00:49:34 a thorn in his mind before he had a thorn in his flesh. Come
00:49:37 on, talk to me somebody. He had a thorn in his mind. That's
00:49:40 what made him kill Christians and thought it was holiness. It
00:49:43 was a thorn in his mind. And now later on we'll find out he has
00:49:47 a thorn in his flesh. He has built a team of cohorts
00:49:50 surrounding him. He has become the Saddam Hussein of a massive
00:49:54 revolution. He has become the Adolf Hitler of his era bent,
00:49:59 of his era bent on eradicating the seemingly cultish teaching
00:50:05 called the way. He's out to destroy them. He's out to
00:50:12 annihilate. You need to understand that there are some
00:50:14 people who live to kill you. Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon,
00:50:25 Satan has desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat
00:50:30 but I prayed for you that your faith fail thee not." There are
00:50:34 people who are just trying to sift you as wheat to get your
00:50:38 last nerve. You ain't got but three left. They're after that
00:50:42 last nerve. They're trying to get to that last nerve so that
00:50:46 you can revert to who you used to be so that they can go laugh.
00:50:50 I thought she was a child of God. I thought she was a
00:50:52 missionary. I thought she was a church mother. And then they
00:50:55 made you cuss them out. Come on somebody. Come on somebody. All
00:51:05 they're trying to do is try to entice you back to being who you
00:51:09 were to draw you back. They are people who are anointed to get
00:51:13 on your nerves. He wants to use his influence garnered from the
00:51:25 priest making his terroristic efforts seem heroic. Making his
00:51:32 terroristic efforts seem heroic. Isn't it funny how the people
00:51:38 who terrorize you get a little posse and make themselves a
00:51:43 hero? Am I preaching? Come on here. They make themselves a
00:51:50 hero. When you write the story you're always innocent. Oh, I'm
00:51:57 preaching good. Lord have mercy. I'm preaching good. I may have
00:52:02 to go watch this on YouTube myself. This is good. See
00:52:06 there's such a thin line between revelation and religious dogma.
00:52:13 There's a thin line between revelation and religious dogma.
00:52:20 He is on a journey between Jerusalem. You know if you
00:52:24 haven't been to Jerusalem, Jerusalem sits on a hill. It's
00:52:27 a city set up on a hill that cannot be hid. It sits up on a
00:52:30 hill. You remember the text where the Bible said a certain
00:52:33 man went down from Jerusalem? Jerusalem sits on a hill. It's
00:52:37 set up on a hill. It's a holy place. It's a high place. And
00:52:42 he's on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus. The distance
00:52:46 between Jerusalem and Damascus is 143 miles. That's a long
00:52:55 walk. When you picture it's like walking to your car in the
00:53:00 parking lot. Paul was on the road to Damascus, glory to God,
00:53:08 and he saw a great light. And so while you on the bridge you'd
00:53:13 be looking up waiting on a light to hit you. He walked 140
00:53:17 some miles to see a light. He walked 140 some miles in old
00:53:27 dates. And when he was near Damascus, close to Damascus,
00:53:38 when he got close to it, religion gave way to
00:53:42 revelation. Dogma gave way to destiny. When he got close to
00:53:50 revelation, God said, "I can't bring you into your destiny
00:53:54 with old data." Ooh, that's good. Ooh, that's good. You
00:54:05 could use that in a whole lot of ways. If you don't get
00:54:07 updates, if you don't get current data, you'll make bad
00:54:11 decisions with old data. Can I? Oh God, I got to hear it.
00:54:16 That's why I got to be careful who I let get in my ear.
00:54:20 Because if the wrong person get in your ear, you will dislike
00:54:26 somebody without a reason. You don't even have no reason to
00:54:30 dislike them, but because of what somebody programmed into
00:54:34 your head. Paul has, Saul has no reason to hate Christians, but
00:54:39 what has been programmed into his head has affected him in
00:54:43 such a way that he is snatching them out of the house. No
00:54:47 clothes, no food, no water, and throwing them in Jerusalem and
00:54:51 putting them in jail and destroying them and killing
00:54:54 them because of what's in his ear. Who's in your ear? Who's
00:55:01 in your ear? He has gone 143 miles. Every step he and his
00:55:07 minions have traveled is a long distance. As the Bible records,
00:55:12 they were nearing Damascus. It takes a long time to really
00:55:18 figure out what God really wants you to do. You don't do
00:55:24 that in three days. You don't do that in a weekend. You don't
00:55:30 get wise in two weeks. Watch out for people who get overnight
00:55:35 wisdom. All they've been doing is flipping through Instagram
00:55:40 and they're quoting some people who lived a life and went
00:55:44 through stuff, but quoting wisdom isn't having wisdom.
00:55:48 Wisdom has to work through you. You got to walk a long ways. You
00:55:56 got to endure something. You got to cry sometimes. You got to
00:56:00 moan sometimes. You got to be lonely and still stay. You got
00:56:05 to be unhappy and still be there. You got to be
00:56:09 unrecognized and still serve. You got to endure something.
00:56:13 143 miles is a long walk before you get a revelation of who
00:56:18 Jesus is. Who am I preaching to this morning? Who am I preaching
00:56:23 to this morning? Now, Damascus is the capital city of Syria.
00:56:31 The Syriac root word for Damascus is Dama and it means
00:56:37 subdued. And the closer he gets to Damascus, he is going to
00:56:42 subdue the Christians and get subdued. And he's headed to a
00:56:49 city whose name means subdued. And the closer he got to it, he
00:56:55 got subdued. A great light appeared from heaven and shined
00:57:03 down on him and it began to interrupt his life. This is a
00:57:08 burning bush moment for Saul. It's an awakening. It's an
00:57:12 epiphany. It's an exciting moment. It's his road to Emmaus
00:57:17 where he finds out the stranger is the Savior. It's his road to
00:57:21 Emmaus. It's his upper room moment where Jesus just shows up
00:57:25 in the door and he walks through a closed door. God doesn't
00:57:28 always announce your next. God doesn't always announce your
00:57:41 next. Whoever this message is for, it's just going to hit
00:57:48 you. It's going to hit you suddenly. You ain't even going
00:57:58 to see it coming. This is a blind date. This is a hostile
00:58:06 takeover. This is a sudden move of God. This is God's alarm
00:58:12 clock that says enough is enough. This is God saying time
00:58:17 is up. A change is necessary. You got to make a move right
00:58:25 now. If you don't move right now, you're going to miss the
00:58:29 date. I got a date to bless you. I got a date to bless you. I
00:58:34 got a date to raise you. I got a date to establish you. This is
00:58:38 God saying I can't afford to let you make it to Damascus and not
00:58:43 seize you. If I don't seize you, you're going to hurt people. If
00:58:50 I don't seize you, you're going to kill people. If I don't seize
00:58:53 you, you're going to work against me. If I don't seize
00:58:56 you, I'm going to have to destroy you because you're on
00:58:58 the wrong team. And I know you don't know no better and I know
00:59:03 the way you was raised and I know your mama left you and I
00:59:06 know you don't know who your daddy is and I know all the
00:59:08 reasons why you're broken, but in spite of all of these reasons
00:59:12 why you held the coat while they were stoning Simon, I still got
00:59:17 to arrest you. I got to stop you. I've got to get to you.
00:59:23 I've got to do something for you. I've got to do something
00:59:26 radical to get your attention. I don't know who I'm preaching
00:59:29 to, but sometimes God will do something radical to get your
00:59:33 attention. And they've traveled a hundred ... Can you imagine
00:59:36 walking 143 miles? I wouldn't walk 143 miles for a whopper
00:59:43 with cheese. I wouldn't ... 143 miles, glory to God, 143 miles.
00:59:51 I don't know what it would take for me. If you see me walking
00:59:54 143 miles, somebody's chasing me. 143 miles. 143 miles to get
00:59:59 somebody. Look at how far people will go. How far they
01:00:14 will go to kill you. But also look at how God will stop them.
01:00:22 Look at how God will stop them. There are a few people in this
01:00:32 room, people were after you. They were coming in for the kill.
01:00:36 They were going to destroy you. You were vulnerable. You
01:00:39 couldn't fight them. You couldn't stop them. You couldn't
01:00:42 do nothing about it. But at the last minute, come on. At the
01:00:49 last minute, God subdued them. He subdued your enemies. He
01:00:55 subdued ... If God subdued your enemy, holler at your boy and
01:00:59 let me hear it. Can I go a little bit further? Give me a
01:01:11 few minutes. There are moments that God makes an appointment.
01:01:15 There are moments that God just shows up. There are moments that
01:01:18 God just intervenes like Moses is on the top of the mountain
01:01:21 and God has a meeting with him that Moses didn't see coming.
01:01:24 And the Bible said that Moses turned aside to see and the
01:01:27 bush was burning and it was not consumed. He didn't expect it
01:01:30 to happen. God just interrupted his life. He just broke in the
01:01:34 door. He just, vroom, he appeared. He just came in the
01:01:38 room. He just appeared. There are other times that God will
01:01:42 schedule an appointment and say, "Meet me in Galilee." But
01:01:47 sometimes you don't know you have a meeting. My point being,
01:01:50 Saul did not know that he had a meeting. This was an unscheduled
01:01:55 encounter. This was a blind date. This was a moment where
01:02:02 God got his attention and he intervened in his life. Say,
01:02:06 "You got it all wrong. You got it all wrong. You've lived most
01:02:12 of your life. You're scholarly. You're intelligent. You're
01:02:16 educated. You speak five different languages. You're
01:02:19 respected as a scholar and a theologian and you got it all
01:02:24 wrong. Here's something I want you to always think about. I
01:02:30 could be wrong. I hate you, but I could be wrong. I hate you,
01:02:45 but I could be wrong. I think you're persnickety, but I could
01:02:50 be wrong. I believe if you don't wear scarves around your neck,
01:02:55 you're going to hell. And so I get on YouTube and I tell you,
01:03:00 you're going to hell and I show you a picture, but I could be
01:03:06 wrong. Saul is going to kill the Christians, never considering
01:03:13 that he could be wrong. Before you draw blood, before you draw
01:03:21 blood, before you lacerate somebody's name and reputation,
01:03:25 before you set yourself up as judge of the universe, always
01:03:38 leave room for the fact I could be wrong. Can I go deeper? Can
01:03:46 I go a little bit deeper? I'm almost finished. I just want to
01:03:49 go a little bit deeper. And so God gives him a great light that
01:03:53 knocks him off his beast and the subduing, the one who goes to
01:04:00 subdue gets subdued. He falls off his beast onto the floor. He
01:04:06 sees a great light. He sees a great light, epiphany, an
01:04:12 awakening, a moment. This is what the Holy Spirit said he's
01:04:17 going to do in here today. The Lord said, "If I preach this
01:04:20 Word today, somebody's going to get an epiphany. They're going
01:04:24 to have an awakening. They're going to have a moment where
01:04:28 they begin to recognize that all the things that set you up, that
01:04:32 brought you to this place, God is getting ready to divert your
01:04:36 path and change your way and order your steps. And even
01:04:43 though you have been conditioned to respond a certain kind of
01:04:47 way, God is getting ready to do a new thing in your life. Watch
01:04:53 a thing for which you have no point of reference, a thing for
01:04:57 which you have not been trained, a thing that you are not like
01:05:01 the other disciples. You didn't go to the school they went. You
01:05:05 didn't go to the university they went. You're going to feel like
01:05:08 an imposter, but I'm going to raise you up and put you in a
01:05:12 place and I'm going to do a new thing in your life. I don't know
01:05:15 who I'm preaching to. You're not going to feel capable. You're
01:05:20 not going to feel sure of yourself. Saul didn't know how
01:05:23 to beat an old Christian. He knew how to kill Christians. He
01:05:28 didn't know how to be one, but he got knocked off his beast.
01:05:33 Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's not the
01:05:38 devil. Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's not your
01:05:45 haters. Sometimes you get knocked off your beast and it's
01:05:49 God to stop you from doing something stupid that's going to
01:05:54 mess up the rest of your life. Sometimes he broke up with you
01:06:01 and it was God. Sometimes she left you and ran away with your
01:06:10 best friend and instead of crying you ought to go to
01:06:13 dancing. You ought to get right by the dishwasher and start
01:06:18 just, "Thank you Jesus. Thank you. You knocked me off my
01:06:22 beast. You knocked me off my beast. You got me together."
01:06:26 Saul falls off his beast. He falls down on the ground and all
01:06:30 of a sudden, all of a sudden he loses his eyesight that he might
01:06:36 gain insight. And this is what happens to him. Let me grab
01:06:48 somebody. Let me grab you. Come here. You ain't doing nothing.
01:06:50 Come here. Ain't nobody trying to kill me. Now, you go in
01:06:56 front. I got to hold on to you because in order to get out of
01:07:05 this I got to walk by faith. I can't walk by sight. Wait a
01:07:20 minute. Wait a minute. When the story started I was leading you
01:07:24 but the tail has become the head. This is prophetic to how
01:07:42 Saul will live the rest of his life. God is training him how
01:07:50 to walk by faith. Whoever I'm preaching to, stay right there.
01:08:00 Whoever I'm preaching to, God is training you to walk by faith.
01:08:10 You don't see your way clear. You don't have all the answers
01:08:15 yet but the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and the
01:08:29 Lord delighteth in his way. He delighteth in his way but he
01:08:34 doesn't explain his way. Watch this. Job said, "The Lord knows
01:08:39 the way that I take." I don't know but the Lord knows the way
01:08:46 that I take and when he has tried me I shall come forth as
01:08:52 pure gold. And he says to him, "Go down to Ananias' house."
01:09:01 Lord, how am I going to get to Ananias' house? I can't see
01:09:07 Ananias' house. You're going to have to trust me. Here is the
01:09:14 word of the Lord for the Potter's house at this junction.
01:09:18 You're going to have to trust it. God has a place for you to
01:09:29 go that you cannot see. You must trust him. The reason your job
01:09:43 is important is that even though I'm not one of the original
01:09:51 twelve and even though they don't like me and even though
01:09:57 I'm an outcast and even though even Ananias is afraid to let
01:10:02 me in the house, I will write most of the New Testament. I
01:10:09 will establish the New Testament church. I will set up the
01:10:14 apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists. I will establish
01:10:18 the perfecting of the saints. I will reveal the mystery of the
01:10:22 Godhead. Great is the mystery of godliness. For God was
01:10:27 manifesting the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels,
01:10:31 preacher unto the Gentiles, and received unto the world. I will
01:10:35 be stoned. I will be snake-bitten. I will be
01:10:40 shipwrecked. I will be alienated. I will be ostracized.
01:10:46 But none of these things kill me because I'm walking in the
01:10:52 light of the Lord by faith. I close with this. You have been
01:11:08 waiting to see your way clear. If you see your way clear, you
01:11:15 will never get there. The only way to get there is to go
01:11:25 vulnerable, go scared, go not in your own strength, not walking
01:11:36 in your own wisdom, trusting in God to bring you to the place
01:11:42 that he's supposed to bring you. And you can't get mad because
01:11:46 Ananias is scared of you. You did enough stuff that Ananias is
01:11:50 supposed to be scared of you. Stop acting like people are evil
01:11:54 because they're scared of you. You've been hateful as hell. How
01:11:57 could you expect for them not ... I'm too old. How could you
01:12:03 expect for them not to be scared of you? You just changed this
01:12:06 morning. You've been nice to your daughter for two days and
01:12:15 you said that didn't work. It's like me being on a diet, eating
01:12:20 a salad for lunch and then looking in the mirror. Ain't
01:12:27 nothing going to be in the mirror. You're going to have to
01:12:30 do this a while to build credibility. Watch this. This
01:12:39 is one of the most pivotal moments of the New Testament. We
01:12:44 would not have the New Testament if this had not happened on a
01:12:50 blind date. The blind date is a blind date because he never saw
01:12:56 it coming. Now let me tell you, stand on your feet, let me tell
01:13:00 you what God showed me. I'm after something in particular
01:13:08 this morning. Let me tell you what he showed me. Whoever God
01:13:14 wants, you didn't plan on it. You just came. You're just
01:13:20 watching online. You did not plan on giving your life to
01:13:25 Christ. You have another agenda. There's somebody in here from a
01:13:34 completely different religion. This ain't even in your
01:13:41 background. But the Lord said to me, "Today is your blind date."
01:13:51 Today is the day that you have an epiphany that will change the
01:13:59 trajectory of the rest of your life. It is not what you planned
01:14:08 to do. It's not what you set out to do. It's not what you were
01:14:13 walking toward. But this is going to be the moment that
01:14:18 disrupts your life and sets it on a new course and a new
01:14:23 pattern that it's never been before. And you're going to find
01:14:27 out that everything you've been through has prepared you for
01:14:32 this moment. Hold your clap for a minute. This is what I've
01:14:43 learned so far in 66 years. Maybe this one thing. It is hard
01:14:52 to let go of what you had in mind. The way you thought it
01:15:03 ought to be. The way you think it works. What you think you
01:15:08 know. It is hard to let go of what you had in mind. And most
01:15:14 people can't do it. They cannot have a blind date that radically
01:15:24 transforms them. Jesus told Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I
01:15:32 say unto you, ye must be born again." He didn't say, "You
01:15:39 must go to church. You must sing in the choir. You must join the
01:15:42 usher boy." He said, "Ye must be born again." Nicodemus said,
01:15:51 "I've been walking this road too long. How shall a grown man
01:15:55 enter back into his mother's womb?" Nicodemus doesn't
01:16:00 understand that your past doesn't dictate your destiny.
01:16:07 Do you think it made some waves for Saul to get saved? Didn't
01:16:20 you read that he has gotten a letter from the priest? How do
01:16:25 you explain to the priest? How many Christians you catching
01:16:28 Damascus? I got the Holy Ghost. I caught the Holy Ghost. That's
01:16:35 what y'all say now. Y'all caught the Holy Ghost like it's the
01:16:38 flu. I don't know where that came from. There ain't no
01:16:42 worrying about it. I caught the Holy Ghost like it's COVID. This
01:16:58 is your moment. And it's not easy and it's not convenient
01:17:02 because your life is not set up for the change that God is
01:17:08 asking you for. This is a blind date. You didn't see it coming.
01:17:14 And for a while you're going to stumble at it. But there's a
01:17:23 great light in this place. Your spirit knows it. It's so
01:17:37 different from where you was at it. But your spirit knows it.
01:17:42 Truth of the matter is it might only be one person. But this
01:17:51 word is for you. God means to knock you off your beast before
01:18:02 you mess up your future going the way you were going. Heads
01:18:08 bowed, eyes closed. No music. I want a cold, callous decision.
01:18:21 This is your time. The Bible said it is hard for you to kick
01:18:27 against the pricks. The goats, the oxen used to get in the
01:18:32 stall and they put a prick to keep the oxen because the oxen
01:18:35 could kick down the door. But every time he kicked it, he
01:18:38 bled. Every time you try to go another way, it costs you
01:18:44 something. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
01:18:49 Everybody in this room is praying. Everybody online is
01:18:55 praying. I know it's a hard turn. It's a 180. Do you have
01:19:08 the courage? Whoever's standing beside you will move out of your
01:19:14 way. But this is a radical moment for massive
01:19:20 transformation. You thought one way, God is showing you
01:19:30 another. You're trying hard not to receive this light. This
01:19:35 light is coming at you right now, suddenly. And your spirit
01:19:45 knows there is something to this. And I'm waiting on you to
01:19:57 meet me on this altar because all while I was prepping this
01:20:01 message, God showed me you. And this is a moment where things
01:20:10 turn in your life and you find out what you were really
01:20:14 created to do. That's right. Come right now. Come right now.
01:20:30 It's not your nature. It's not your norm. It's not what you're
01:20:36 used to. Immediately. I see it. I see it. I see it. I see it. I
01:21:04 see it. I see it. I thought I was exempt. I thought I
01:21:12 couldn't do it. I thought, I thought, I thought, I thought,
01:21:14 I thought. I thought, I thought, I thought. I've been
01:21:17 through this, I've been through that. I've been through the
01:21:19 other. I've been through the other. All kinds of excuses to
01:21:22 keep on doing what you're doing. This is a transformative
01:21:28 moment. It's just a moment. It's a date. Tomorrow we'll have a new date. Today is
01:21:39 the day of salvation. Today, today. Today, today. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that you
01:21:57 humble yourself and allow yourself to walk into something better than what you came from.
01:22:04 You ain't been happy. You ain't been happy. Not really happy. How many of you that came
01:22:31 to this altar, this is a radical change for you. It's a radical change. I get it. Let
01:22:41 me see over here. It's a radical change for me. It's out of character. It didn't look
01:22:47 like I was going to do this. I didn't come to do this this morning, but I had a blind
01:22:54 date with God and it changed my life. Give me just a second. Give me just a second. Because
01:23:10 when you come up against strong spirits that have been around a long time, they don't break
01:23:17 easily. They don't break easily. I ain't going to lie to you. They don't break easily.
01:23:29 Sometimes because we are more loyal to what's killing us than we are to what's changing
01:23:38 us. I'm waiting on somebody. I ain't going to wait long, but I'm waiting on somebody.
01:23:52 It's a big old change. You've read so much stuff, you don't know what you believe. Is
01:24:04 it you? I'm waiting on you. Come on down. This is real. This is real. To you. To you.
01:24:34 Do you realize how essential Paul became to establishing the New Testament church? He
01:24:47 went from killing Christians to making Christians. As radical as you have been in your wrong,
01:25:01 you got to be just that radical in your right.
01:25:18 (upbeat music)
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