God Loves Prisoners -- Robert Madu
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00:00 Dear Social Dallas, I am on Texas death row and I have been here for 22 years.
00:12 It's only by the grace of God that I'm still alive without an execution date.
00:17 I'm writing to you because I have Pando on my tablet and I recently discovered your church.
00:23 Pastor Madhu, I was an evangelist for more than 32 years and I also pastored for five.
00:29 Since discovering your ministry, God has been drawing me closer to him.
00:34 I now know Jesus more since I've been on death row than all the years that I've been saved.
00:40 For the first time in my life, I realize that he is my father and I am his son.
00:45 I failed to see that before because I was in religion and not in relationship.
00:51 Thank you for being on Pando so that I could hear the word of the Lord and continue to
00:55 build on the relationship I have with him.
00:58 Thank you for remembering people like me.
01:01 May God be with you now and always.
01:17 Never underestimate the power of a letter from a prisoner.
01:25 What you just saw on video was a letter that we received from an inmate.
01:32 As a matter of fact, every single week we receive letters from inmates who watch our
01:41 services on Pando.
01:45 You can even walk out of service today and go on the lobby and you'll see some of the
01:48 letters that we've received.
01:50 I got to tell you, I read these letters every week.
01:55 I read these letters every week for my sanity.
01:58 I don't know if you've noticed this, that the words of other people, whether read or
02:05 spoken have the tendency to take up a residency in your mind and they will live there rent
02:12 free.
02:14 I found just for me, rather than reading the negative comments on Instagram from internet
02:20 trolls who have a public opinion from a private page, I would rather read the letters from
02:29 a prisoner.
02:30 Matter of fact, the reason we are on Pando today and inmates can watch our services on
02:36 their tablets is because of a letter from a prisoner.
02:41 Last year I got a letter from an inmate who said, "Pastor Madu, I watched your sermon
02:46 from Elevation Church entitled, 'I'm Annoyed, But I'm Assigned.'"
02:52 He said, "I don't even think this letter will get to you, but I may as well try anyway."
02:57 He said, "I just have one request.
02:59 Could you please put Social Dallas messages on the Pando app so inmates can watch your
03:07 services?"
03:09 To think, because of that one inmate's letter, not only are we on Pando, but today we're
03:17 on Pando with 19,817 subscribers.
03:24 These messages that some of y'all just kind of sit back like you don't want to hear have
03:28 been viewed by 40,733 inmates.
03:31 As I sit before you today, 964 inmates have given their life to Jesus Christ.
03:41 I'm telling you, never underestimate the power of a letter from an inmate.
03:52 The reason you can never underestimate the power of a letter from a prisoner is because,
03:57 hear me, God loves prisoners.
04:03 God loves prisoners.
04:05 We're filling in another blank today.
04:07 Those of you who are just tuning in to the Social Dallas Netflix series, maybe you're
04:11 a little confused because we started a series, and this is the fourth installment of that
04:17 series.
04:18 The series is simply titled, God Loves Blank.
04:23 We've been filling in the blank each week.
04:25 Can I tell you that even when this series is over, we're going to be filling in the
04:28 blanks.
04:29 We as a church community, we are going to fill in the blanks of God's love.
04:35 I've been telling you that it's easy to fill in the blank for people that you like, but
04:40 God's love will always stretch you to fill in another blank.
04:45 As a matter of fact, one of the things I've been trying to get you to see in this series
04:49 is that you really can't fill in the blank until you see yourself as the people in the
04:55 blank.
04:57 We started off with God loves sinners, and then we said God loves the LGBTQ community,
05:01 and we said God loves addicts, but you got to see yourself as the person in the blank.
05:06 As long as you have the sin of self-righteousness and you think you all that, you will never
05:11 see yourself as a sinner that needs grace.
05:14 As long as you judge somebody else's type of sin because it's different than your sin,
05:18 you will never fill in the blank and love people the way they need to be loved.
05:23 As long as you judge the heroin addict and refuse to come to the reality that you addicted
05:28 to social media, you will never love the person in the blank.
05:32 Today, we got a new blank, and it is God loves prisoners.
05:38 This must be the most difficult blank to fill because unless you're watching this message
05:43 on Pando today, you're free, aren't you?
05:48 You're not behind any prison bars.
05:51 You're like what I just did.
05:52 You can get out, move around whenever you want to move around, go wherever you want
05:57 to go.
05:58 You don't have a curfew.
05:59 You're free, right?
06:00 You can do what you want.
06:01 But I guess the question I've been asking myself is what does freedom really look like?
06:08 What is freedom?
06:09 Because some of the things that people call freedom, I would call imprisonment.
06:16 And some of the things that people call imprisonment, I would actually say it's freedom.
06:20 What are you talking about, Pastor Robert?
06:23 Let me break it down a little more.
06:25 I know people who are restricted in what they eat.
06:29 Just talking real practical.
06:30 You ever met that person just restricted in what they eat?
06:33 They're like, "Oh, no.
06:34 6 p.m.
06:35 No more carbs for me.
06:36 Oh, no.
06:37 I'm just going to do kale today."
06:38 And you're like, "Man, you're restricted.
06:41 That's all you're going to eat?"
06:42 And then I met people who are free with what they eat.
06:45 I mean, it don't matter.
06:46 12 o'clock, crumble cookies, Taco Bell and Jack in the Box.
06:50 They eat whatever.
06:52 There's no restriction.
06:54 But if you look at their life and I dare say even their physicality, the one that is restricted
07:00 looks like they're free.
07:02 And the one that's free looks like they're restricted.
07:09 That's too much.
07:10 Let me do a different example.
07:11 I've seen people who...
07:15 Can I say it?
07:16 I may as well.
07:17 I've seen people who will have a budget.
07:22 That cuss word, budget.
07:25 Like they act their wage and they're like, "Hey, first of all, the first 10% goes to
07:29 God and I only spend this much here.
07:31 I only spend this...
07:32 Oh, I'm sorry.
07:33 I can't go to that vacation.
07:34 I got a budget."
07:35 And it's so restricted.
07:36 It's like they're in prison.
07:37 And then I meet other people.
07:38 They're like, "It don't matter.
07:39 Ball out.
07:40 Charge it.
07:41 I'll figure it out later."
07:42 They will spend whatever they want to spend.
07:43 What is restricted?
07:44 The other one's free, I guess, but they're drowning in debt.
07:53 I don't understand.
07:55 What does freedom really look like?
08:00 I know people who will sleep with whoever.
08:03 Look at how shocked you are.
08:07 "Really?"
08:08 I know people that as long as it's consensual and as long as they're attracted, that's fine.
08:16 And they think they're free.
08:19 Then I've seen people faithful to one spouse all their life and I see the fruit of their
08:26 life.
08:29 But they're in prison.
08:30 Matter of fact, the one that sleeps with everybody would look at them and go, "Really?
08:33 You look shackled."
08:34 Never mind, they don't have STDs.
08:37 "But really?
08:41 Seems like you're in prison."
08:43 I wonder what freedom really looks like.
08:48 And I'll submit to you that there are people that yes, you're free in your physicality,
08:52 but you are bound in your mind.
08:55 What good is it to be free legally, but in your mind and in your spirit, you are incarcerated?
09:03 I would dare say there are men and women who are actually in a prison and yet they are
09:09 more free than some of you who are watching this message in service right now.
09:14 And I felt like we had to fill in the blank today with the reality that God loves prisoners.
09:22 Yes, there's a difference between being free physically and being free spiritually.
09:29 And yes, there are those of us who are free, but you're imprisoned in your mind.
09:34 But let's not shy away from the reality today that there are people in these United States
09:40 of America who are physically in prison.
09:44 As a matter of fact, approximately 1.8 million people are incarcerated in state or federal
09:51 prisons or local jails.
09:54 Almost 2 million people today in these United States of America are prisoners.
10:03 The prison population varies significantly from state to state, but Texas has the highest
10:09 prison population with 133,772 people who are incarcerated.
10:19 And if you're one of those 2 million people who are watching this message today, I want
10:23 to let you know God loves prisoners.
10:34 If you are not in the physical prison, but yet you found yourself in a situation that
10:39 you don't know how you're going to get out of it or when you're going to get out of it,
10:43 I want to let you know today, God loves prisoners.
10:50 What do you do?
10:52 When you're imprisoned in something and you can't get out?
10:57 When I said God loves prisoners, somebody said, "Well, that's cute.
11:02 That's nice.
11:04 But if God really loves me as a prisoner, how about he show me that love by getting
11:09 me out?"
11:10 Even some of you who are not in the physical prison, you're like, "Okay, Lord, if you love
11:14 me, you're the great liberator.
11:16 Why don't you get me out?"
11:17 Oh, and I feel you.
11:18 Oh, I feel you.
11:19 I understand it.
11:20 As a matter of fact, I've never been incarcerated before, but I have been in some situations
11:25 where I said, "Lord, I'm ready.
11:30 Release me.
11:31 Get me out."
11:32 It wasn't until I looked back on that situation in retrospect that I realized that there was
11:37 actually something God was trying to get out of me in that season before he actually got
11:43 me out of that circumstance.
11:45 And sometimes when you are trapped and stuck in something, there's actually something God
11:50 wants to do on the inside of you that's actually more important than the thing he's trying
11:55 to get you out of.
11:57 See, this is the type of message that nobody likes to shout about.
12:00 Nobody shouts about this message right here because many of us only relegate our praise
12:04 for God when he gets you out.
12:06 So we love to exalt God when he gives you an exit strategy, but I'm trying to tell you
12:11 there are some things God can only do while you're still stuck in it.
12:16 There's some things that God says, "Yeah, you're not ready yet, so I'm going to let
12:20 you stay in that a little bit longer.
12:22 I know you want to get out of the circumstance, but I'm trying to get something out of you.
12:26 I'm trying to work on some character on the inside of you."
12:30 And for some of us, the only way God can get our attention is for us to actually be in
12:34 isolation.
12:35 For some of us, the only way God can really get you to listen to him is to get all of
12:40 the noise that's on the outside away from you, to get you away from that people group
12:46 that doesn't care about your purpose or your destiny.
12:48 Yes, God can get you out anytime he wants to get you out, but there's sometimes he'll
12:53 let you stay in it until you realize that his way is better than your way.
12:57 His thoughts are better than your thoughts.
12:59 He has to keep you in it until your will breaks, until you get desperate, until you realize
13:04 that you need him.
13:05 And some of y'all acting bougie like you ain't never been stuck in something, and now you
13:09 can look back over and say, "God, it was good you didn't get me out when I wanted you to
13:14 get me out, but now you got my attention."
13:17 Sometimes God keeps you inside of it because there's something he's doing on the inside
13:25 of you.
13:26 What if God has you in it because there's something he's doing in you while you are
13:33 in it?
13:34 That is even the testimony of some prisoners who are watching this message today, that
13:38 it wasn't until they actually got behind bars that God got their attention.
13:43 It wasn't until they had to be restricted, because sometimes to me, freedom is having
13:48 the right restriction.
13:52 Freedom is not doing whatever you want.
13:55 Freedom is having the right restrictions.
13:59 And I've come to a place in my life where I'm saying, "If I'm going to be held captive
14:02 by anything, I want God to hold me captive," because it is his captivity that actually
14:08 gives my spirit the freedom that it needs.
14:11 Anything else that holds me captive will keep me stuck.
14:15 God says, "I have the ability to pull something out of you even when you're in a situation
14:22 that you feel like you're ready to get out of."
14:24 I need you to look at the person next to you that ain't said amen this whole message and
14:28 just elbow them real quick and say, "He preached it better than you talking."
14:36 Hear me today, let's be clear.
14:38 I'm not advocating for anybody to go catch a case.
14:44 I'm not saying that you should be locked up, but I am telling you, because God loves prisoners,
14:53 often he'll do his greatest work sometimes when you're in it.
15:00 You don't believe God loves prisoners?
15:02 You better ask Joseph.
15:03 As a matter of fact, the first time we see the word prisoner in the Bible is actually
15:11 in the book of Genesis when we look at the life of Joseph.
15:15 Some of y'all are super saved, you know Joseph's story, but he is the favorite son of his father
15:19 Jacob.
15:20 Gave him a beautiful coat, and this boy's favor, ooh, got him in trouble.
15:28 Favor usually does.
15:30 Those of you who are always shouting about, "Ooh, I'm favorite, I'm his favorite child,"
15:33 watch out what you shout about, because what you're really saying is, "Ooh, I got a target
15:39 on my head.
15:40 Is somebody going to be jealous of me?"
15:43 His own brothers jumped him, beat him, stripped him of his coat of many colors, and threw
15:51 him in a pit, and we're going to leave him there for dead.
15:58 He gets rescued from that pit, and his brothers sell him into slavery.
16:02 Proof positive that sometimes the greatest pain you go through are from the people that
16:05 should protect you.
16:07 Sometimes the greatest pain of your life doesn't come from an outsider.
16:11 It comes from somebody you're about to see at Thanksgiving.
16:14 His brothers sell him into slavery all the way to Egypt, and here he is, a slave, but
16:22 God's hand was still on him.
16:24 This guy named Potiphar picks him to work in his house, and because he had an excellent
16:30 spirit, here he is working in Potiphar's house, but Potiphar, whoo, was married to a desperate
16:35 housewife.
16:38 She noticed Joseph, who the Bible says was well-built and handsome.
16:43 I've often said that if the Bible says you're well-built and handsome, can't nobody tell
16:48 you ugly.
16:50 Just tell him, "Read the Word."
16:52 He said it, not me.
16:55 She noticed Joseph every single day, and this woman begged Joseph to sleep with her, and
17:05 Joseph refused and refused and refused.
17:09 Every time he refused, she wanted more.
17:12 One time she goes to grab him, and Joseph does what you're supposed to do when you're
17:16 facing sexual temptation.
17:18 Don't stay there and pray about it.
17:20 He takes off running, just leaves.
17:24 He flees, and she grabs his coat and tells a lie that Joseph raped her.
17:34 This is the first time we see somebody taken into prison.
17:38 In the Bible, let's look at it in Genesis chapter number 39, it says, "Joseph's master
17:44 took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined."
17:52 Do you realize the first inmate in the Bible is a man who was favored by God and who was
18:00 innocent and yet found himself with a 13-year sentence?
18:06 Joseph is proof positive that you can be imprisoned and still be in the will of God.
18:12 You can be favored and still be in the will of God.
18:17 Joseph is proof positive that you can do the right thing and still end up in the wrong
18:22 place.
18:23 This text confuses me, because you would think that if I denied her advances and I had integrity
18:29 and I had character, that God would give me a blessing.
18:33 But what happens when the reward of my integrity is incarceration?
18:39 Joseph is proof positive that just because you follow the will of God don't mean you
18:43 going to get a Tesla and going to get a raise.
18:46 Sometimes you can be in the will of God and find yourself in a dungeon, find yourself
18:50 in a dark place, and that's really when the enemy's voice is loud, because you're trying
18:54 to figure out, "How did I do the right thing, but I'm in the wrong place?"
19:01 Maybe it's because God wants to see, "Can you be faithful even when you're in prison?"
19:08 Maybe it's because God wants to see, "Have you relegated my love for you to only when
19:14 you get roses?"
19:16 You don't even know that I love prisoners too.
19:19 Here is Joseph in this prison, and he's there, but because God's favor was on him and the
19:26 Lord was with him, he had an excellent spirit.
19:29 He had favor in the prison.
19:32 He got favor with the prison ward.
19:36 There he is in the prison, and he interprets a dream, and he gets out.
19:43 He gets released.
19:44 That's the part everybody shouts about.
19:47 You're like, "Oh, don't you want to be like Joseph?
19:51 God will take you from the prison to the palace.
19:53 Isn't that a great testimony?
19:56 Let's shout, because God can restore and give you a position."
19:59 I didn't shout.
20:00 I'm not shouting that Joseph got out and became second in command in Egypt.
20:08 So what about the position?
20:10 I'm asking questions about his reputation, because it seems like nobody ever stood up
20:17 and said, "Hey, by the way, the dude you had in prison for 13 years for rape, it wasn't
20:23 true.
20:24 It was a lie."
20:25 Oh, you all don't want me to go there since I'm preaching on prison.
20:29 You would be shocked at some inmates who are listening to this message right now, who are
20:33 in prison not because they are guilty, but because they are innocent.
20:37 They are in prison because they got a court-appointed attorney, and they didn't have any money,
20:42 and the attorney didn't care about them.
20:44 Let's not just have intercession for our criminal justice system.
20:48 We need some legislation for this criminal justice system that sometimes will treat you
20:53 better if you're rich and guilty than they will if you're innocent and poor.
20:58 We need God to send a revival for the criminal justice system, because there are some people
21:04 who are just like Joseph, who are innocent.
21:06 They're in there because they didn't have the money to get the attorney.
21:13 I'm thinking, "Joseph, if you got out, somebody should have shouted from the rooftop, 'Hey,
21:18 by the way, he didn't do it.
21:22 By the way, his reputation is clean.'"
21:25 I said, "God, this is not justice at all," and God said, "That's your problem.
21:31 You care more about your reputation than my reputation."
21:37 God began to show me that my reputation is not really my responsibility, because a reputation
21:46 is what other people think about you.
21:50 A reputation, by definition, is the belief or the opinion that other people have of you.
21:57 It's a reputation.
21:58 I've heard people say, "Well, you only got one reputation.
22:01 Take care of it."
22:02 I disagree, because if the reputation, by definition, is what somebody thinks about
22:07 you, that means I can have as many reputations as there are thinking and opinions of other
22:12 people.
22:13 I've learned this lesson in life, that my reputation has nothing to do with me, but
22:18 my character has everything to do with me.
22:21 Oh my goodness.
22:23 It's not my responsibility to watch my reputation.
22:27 It is my responsibility to watch my character, to watch my integrity, because I can't control
22:32 what you think about me, but I can control my character.
22:35 I can control my integrity.
22:37 Even though Joseph got to the position, and there were still people who said, "That's
22:41 their rapist that's got that position."
22:43 They might have thought that, but God was in heaven going, "I'm so proud of you, Joseph.
22:48 Thank you for praising me in the dark and praising me in the light.
22:51 Thank you for having integrity and praising me in the prison and praising me when you
22:56 got out."
22:57 I wish God would send a revival of some people that actually had character and integrity
23:02 and said, "Think what you want about me.
23:04 I'm not trying to please you, but I am trying to please him, and as long as you are good
23:09 with me."
23:10 It doesn't matter what anybody else's opinion is.
23:20 You want to know what you can control?
23:22 Your character, your integrity.
23:26 Who are you when nobody else is watching?
23:28 You can't control other people's opinions of you.
23:31 As a matter of fact, some of you, the biggest prison you're in right now is the prison of
23:37 the opinions of other people.
23:43 Because you are enslaved by the approval of other people.
23:49 No wonder you're a chameleon and you curate who you are depending on who you're with,
23:54 because your prison isn't behind bars.
23:57 Your prison is the opinions of other people.
24:01 Here is Joseph who goes from the prison to second highest position in the palace.
24:10 Why?
24:11 Because God loves prisoners.
24:16 You know who else would tell you God loves prisoners?
24:19 Not just Joseph.
24:20 How many know Jeremiah would tell you God loves prisoners?
24:24 Oh, you didn't know that prophet had a record?
24:27 Hi, prophet.
24:28 Look at him.
24:29 Jeremiah 37.
24:32 Then Jeremiah said to the king, said, "Akaiah, what crime have I committed against you or
24:37 your attendance with this people that you have put me in prison?"
24:43 Jeremiah would tell you God loves prisoners.
24:46 You know why he got thrown in prison?
24:48 Because he was a prophet and he declared what thus said the Lord.
24:53 It just so happened that what thus said the Lord wasn't the best report.
24:59 The report was, guess what?
25:01 You're not going to get out.
25:02 You're going in.
25:03 I love that Jeremiah had enough integrity as a prophet to say, "I'm not really a prophet
25:09 if I only give you the good news.
25:13 I'm not really a prophet if I just tell you you're going to win the lottery tomorrow and
25:17 I see favor in your life."
25:19 Who wouldn't want that prophet?
25:21 If all you ever say is, "I'm going to get a blessing and I'm going to have 100,000 followers
25:25 on Instagram," the true prophetic voice would tell you, "Yeah, your character's terrible."
25:29 In love.
25:34 A true prophet would tell you, "Yeah, you're in sin.
25:37 Yeah, that's wrong."
25:39 In love.
25:41 Jeremiah found himself in a prison.
25:46 Jeremiah would tell you, "God loves prisoners."
25:52 Who else?
25:53 Because you know the Bible is full of people that have records.
25:54 Matter of fact, it's hard to find people that didn't have one.
25:57 Remember the three Hebrew boys?
26:01 Remember when King Nebuchadnezzar sent out an edict and said, "When the flute and the
26:05 music plays, everybody has to bow down to this giant image?"
26:11 These three Hebrew boys were so gangster.
26:13 They said, "We refuse to bow down."
26:17 They weren't adults.
26:18 They were teenagers.
26:19 Shout out to the young people listening to this message.
26:26 Do not wait until you turn 21 or you turn 35 to start taking a stand for God.
26:32 If you wait to that age, you'll never take a stand.
26:34 Matter of fact, you're living in a darkness that generations before you have never seen.
26:39 You ought to stand up for God right there in the third grade, right there in the fifth
26:43 grade.
26:44 Everybody else is coming out of the closet and saying what they are.
26:46 You may as well just identify with Jesus and say, "Say what you want about me, but this
26:50 is who I am.
26:51 I identify with the cross of Jesus Christ."
26:54 Shout out, Gen Z.
26:55 Stand up.
26:56 Be who God has called you to be.
27:03 Realize that God doesn't control anointing because of age.
27:06 You can be 10 and anointed.
27:08 You can be 8 and called by God.
27:11 They said, "We ain't going to bow down."
27:15 And it was against the law.
27:19 What have we got to that place in our nation where in order for you to be faithful to God,
27:24 you had to have some civil disobedience and it would get you in trouble with the law.
27:29 Everybody else bowed down and these three Hebrew boys are the only ones standing up.
27:35 It's interesting what happens.
27:36 They have their court case.
27:38 They're about to go to juvenile detention.
27:41 And look at what happens.
27:42 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him.
27:46 This is King Nebuchadnezzar.
27:47 This is in the courtroom, y'all.
27:48 He says, "We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
27:54 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from
28:00 it and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand.
28:05 But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty, that we will not serve your
28:12 gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
28:15 Oh, I got to pause right there because that just makes me want to do some laps around
28:19 Gilead.
28:20 You know your faith has gone to another level when you can look at authority and say, "God
28:26 can deliver me.
28:27 God will deliver me.
28:29 But even if he doesn't, I'm not going to bow down."
28:32 When you start getting that even if faith, you know you have gone to another level.
28:39 So you know the story.
28:40 You've been to Sunday school.
28:42 They turn up the furnace seven times hotter.
28:46 Throw these three Hebrew boys in the fire.
28:50 And this is where the story gets interesting to me and nobody broke it down like this to
28:54 me in Sunday school.
28:56 Because if I'm King Nebuchadnezzar, I've just turned up the fire seven times hotter and
29:02 I threw three Hebrew boys in that fire.
29:07 I don't need a chemistry class to know what's going to happen next.
29:09 If I threw you in the fire, you would think the next step for me as the king is to walk
29:16 away and smell the ashes and the smoke.
29:20 But that's not what King Nebuchadnezzar did.
29:24 After he threw them in it, he then watched inside the furnace.
29:34 Why are you watching inside a furnace that you just turned up seven times hotter?
29:41 I want to pause right here and help somebody who feels like you're in something you shouldn't
29:46 be in.
29:47 He turned it up and watched him because I think King Nebuchadnezzar had the strange
29:52 suspicion that God was going to get them out of it.
29:55 This is what I love about God is that even his enemies know his reputation.
30:00 Don't worry about your reputation.
30:01 Worry about God's reputation.
30:02 Nebuchadnezzar must have known God's reputation because even after he threw them in, he's
30:09 still watching the fire.
30:10 Then all of a sudden he said, "Wait a minute.
30:11 Didn't we throw in three?
30:12 I see a fourth man in the fire."
30:13 And there they are in it, but they're not getting consumed.
30:14 There they are in it, but they're not getting consumed.
30:15 There they are in it, but they're not getting burned up.
30:23 I wish we could just have a praise break for somebody that can say, "My testimony isn't
30:28 that God saved me from the furnace.
30:30 My testimony is that I don't even smell like what I've been through.
30:33 You don't even realize I should be in an insane asylum because of the hell that I went through."
30:39 But God was the one that stepped inside the furnace.
30:43 Somebody take like 20 seconds to give him a praise in this place.
30:48 If you know that your Savior, King Jesus, is the fourth man in the fire, oh, you ain't
30:55 got to take me out of it as long as he steps in it, in it, in it, in it, in it, in it.
31:05 I don't know who this is for, but I can't get off this point right here.
31:08 You've been asking God to take you from it, but God said, "Why?
31:11 I got to give your enemies and your haters an opportunity to see that I can step in the
31:16 fire in it."
31:17 In it.
31:18 Look at our God, who's more concerned with his reputation than yours.
31:29 God said, "Yeah, I hadn't put that on my resume yet, but I saved people in furnaces, and I
31:36 chose you three to carry the testimony that you can go through the fire and not even smell
31:44 like smoke, that you can be in it and not even look like what you've been through."
31:52 What he did for them, he did it for Daniel too.
31:56 Oh, Daniel had a record.
31:58 You remember Daniel?
32:00 That's their friend.
32:01 He's in another season of his life, but here comes another evil edict.
32:10 Matter of fact, let me back up.
32:13 It's crazy how it happens.
32:15 These people who were jealous of Daniel tried to get something on him, but again, Daniel
32:20 had so much character and integrity.
32:22 They said, "There's nothing we can get on him.
32:25 He don't got nothing hiding that he's hiding.
32:27 There's nothing he has in secrecy."
32:29 So here's what they said.
32:30 They said, "The only way we can get Daniel is if it has to do with the law of God, because
32:35 he's so faithful."
32:36 So they had to pass a law that says you would get thrown in a lion's den if you prayed.
32:43 Because they said, "That's how we got on him.
32:47 Is he going to pray three times a day no matter what?"
32:52 What if that was your testimony?
32:55 If the enemy could guarantee that no matter what, you're going to talk to God.
32:59 So that's the only way we can get them on it.
33:03 So they got the king to sign an edict that anybody who prays to any other God but the
33:07 king will get thrown in the lion's den.
33:11 And David's like, "I've been doing this.
33:14 Been doing this."
33:17 Opens up his window just so they could see him.
33:24 Prays three times in a day.
33:27 And this one confuses me too, because they take Daniel, a prisoner, and throw him in
33:36 the lion's den again.
33:37 "If I threw you in a lion's den, I'm going home.
33:46 I know how this plays out.
33:48 I have seen the Discovery Channel and I've been to the zoo.
33:53 I've watched The Lion King, the old one that's better, and I know I've been on safaris in
33:59 South Africa.
34:00 I know how this is going to play out."
34:01 But King Darius couldn't sleep that night after he threw him in.
34:07 Look at what happened the next morning.
34:09 Daniel chapter six, at first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's
34:17 den.
34:18 And when he came near the den, he called to Daniel in anguish.
34:25 "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able
34:36 to rescue you from the lion's ... Why is the king outside of the lion's den after you've
34:42 been there a whole night asking questions and waiting for a response?"
34:47 Because King Darius knew the reputation of this Godhead.
34:51 King Darius wondered if he delivered them from Red Seas, if he delivered them from demonic
34:56 oppression, if he delivered them from fiery furnaces, I wonder if lions are on his resume.
35:02 And sure enough, after a hush ensued outside the lion's den, here come Daniel from the
35:08 lion's den talking about, "May the king live forever.
35:11 He's so respectful.
35:12 My God sent his angel and shut the mouths of lions.
35:16 They have not hurt me because I was found innocent in his sight, nor have I ever done
35:22 any wrong by you, your majesty."
35:27 So respectful.
35:29 And here he is coming out of prison, coming out of a lion's den.
35:36 Why?
35:37 Because God loves prisoners.
35:40 And sometimes the greatest work he can do is not necessarily get you out of it.
35:48 There's something he wants to do in you and through you, even while you're in it.
35:56 God loves prisoners.
35:59 We can do this all day.
36:00 I could tell you about Paul and Silas, and we could go straight to church.
36:07 Paul and Silas, who got put in prison for setting a girl who was oppressed by demons
36:12 free.
36:14 And because their praise was not relegated to a Sunday morning or just when they got
36:18 a blessing, the same praise they did in public is the same praise they did in private in
36:26 the inner part of the prison.
36:29 And I don't think God sent an earthquake to get Paul and Silas out.
36:33 I think he said, "If y'all are going to praise me like that while you're in it, if I can
36:39 get a praise from you when you did the right thing, but you still ended up in the wrong
36:43 place, I got to get to where that type of praise is."
36:47 Because you do know that God inhabits the praises of his people.
36:52 And when they started praising God, he stepped in.
36:57 And I believe it was the manifest presence of God that shook the foundations of that
37:03 prison.
37:04 Why did he do it?
37:07 Because God loves prisoners.
37:12 We could do this all day.
37:15 I could tell you that the same Paul who was thrown in that prison is able to give us not
37:23 one, not two, not three, but four books that you read in your Bible today.
37:30 They're all written, not in paradise, but in a prison.
37:38 The book of Ephesians, the book of Colossians, the book of Philippians, and the book of Philemon
37:46 are all written while Paul was in chains in a Roman prison.
37:52 As a matter of fact, if you study what they did in those times in Roman prison, sometimes
38:00 if you were a high alert prisoner, they didn't trust just to put you in the prison.
38:09 Sometimes they'd put you in there and they would chain you to one of the guards.
38:15 So you'd be in there chained to another guard just to make sure you didn't go anywhere because
38:21 they knew God has a reputation of getting people out of stuff.
38:27 Can you see Paul in a Roman prison chained to another dude who's just doing the night
38:35 shift?
38:36 And here is Paul writing now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above
38:47 all you could ask, think, or imagine, who according to the power, you're like that,
38:51 yeah.
38:52 He's like, bro, whatever.
38:53 According to the power that works in you.
38:56 Can you see him writing these letters that we still read today with guards watching him
39:03 who were annoyed at first, but then started looking at what he was writing?
39:08 And all of a sudden I can see the Roman guards fighting over who would watch Paul late at
39:14 night because they said, "Never have I heard the mystery of the gospel like this before."
39:19 Can you see all these soldiers breaking down in tears and responding to this gospel that's
39:25 been going on for centuries because of the pen of the apostle Paul?
39:30 Oh, now I get why you said, Paul, I glory in my chains.
39:35 How can you glory in your chains?
39:37 Because if you got me in here and it's still affecting somebody else's life, I've gotten
39:42 to the place that it ain't about me.
39:43 As long as you get the glory, I'm fine.
39:44 So if you get the glory when I'm in the prison, take the glory, Lord.
39:49 If you get the glory when I'm out of the prison, take the glory, Lord.
39:54 If you want to kill me and you'll get the glory, kill me.
39:57 If you want me to live to get the glory, then I'll stay alive.
40:02 It's the power of this gospel.
40:05 Don't you think this gospel that we have is something weak?
40:09 It is the power of God unto salvation.
40:14 Why did early saints sing songs when they were burned and crucified upside down?
40:22 What made them in Colossians face lions that God in those instances sometimes didn't shut
40:30 their mouths, but they devoured their flesh and yet they said, "For God I live and for
40:34 God I die."
40:35 What would make them do this?
40:40 They were convinced of the power of this gospel and that this earth is not the end and I will
40:45 see him one day.
40:49 God help this American church that gets annoyed when we don't get our lattes or if there's
40:58 a long line or God forbid we have to get to a parking lot.
41:03 When people have been killed for this gospel, why does God love prisoners?
41:19 Because he was one.
41:25 The cross was not for celebrities.
41:30 It was for criminals.
41:34 Before I talk about the cross, I dare say that his incarnation was incarceration.
41:44 What would make the King of Glory strip his deity and come and put on humanity?
41:51 What would make him leave heaven, the place that we want to go, and come down here to
41:57 earth?
41:59 What would make a God that has all power and authority and can snap his finger and disintegrate
42:04 the humanity he created still allow people to talk to him any kind of way?
42:11 It was his love.
42:14 He was brought in before Pontius Pilate.
42:18 Pilate said, "Don't you know I have the power to crucify you or let you go?
42:25 Aren't you going to say anything?"
42:27 As he just stood there as a lamb goes before the slaughter and says no word.
42:31 "Don't you know I have the power?"
42:34 And our God, our Savior looked up and spoke to Pilate and said, "You could have no authority
42:41 over me except that which was given to you."
42:50 Pilate washes his hands, says, "I can find no fault in this man."
42:57 Yet the crowd screamed, "Crucify him!
43:02 The one who was truly innocent and did no wrong.
43:06 The only one who can truly say, 'I'm innocent.'"
43:11 Seemingly his life is in the balance.
43:13 "Crucify him!" they shouted.
43:16 Pilate said, "You know we have a rule where we can release one person.
43:23 Let me release this man, Jesus.
43:25 He's done no wrong.
43:28 Crucify him!" they shouted.
43:31 They said, "Give us Barabbas, the murderer, the one who was guilty.
43:41 Can you see Barabbas?"
43:43 In this critical moment in the annals of human history, watching the Savior take his place,
43:54 he woke up that day knowing he was going to die.
43:57 He was guilty.
43:58 He had killed people.
44:01 And all of a sudden, he watches them take Jesus as they say, "Barabbas, you are free
44:10 to go."
44:11 Ladies and gentlemen, this is the gospel.
44:16 We are this Barabbas.
44:19 We were guilty, yet your God loved you so much.
44:23 He said, "Take me.
44:27 I'll pay the price."
44:29 Even as he hung on a cross, he hung between two thieves.
44:39 It's interesting because the Bible doesn't tell us what two thieves on the cross did,
44:47 but whatever it is, it warranted the highest level of execution.
44:54 And I watched as you saw that video that opened up the service, which was a letter from an
45:00 inmate who was on death row.
45:03 And I watched how you clapped, which was appropriate.
45:09 But if I told you what he was on death row for, I promise you, you wouldn't clap.
45:19 Some of you would scream.
45:21 Some of you would gasp if you knew what he did.
45:24 And yet this gospel says that grace can come to him too.
45:31 This gospel says that if he puts his faith in Jesus, that he can be forgiven of his sin
45:38 and worship in the same place as you and I.
45:41 Ladies and gentlemen, grace is not cute.
45:43 It makes no sense.
45:48 One of these thieves, in an attempt of a last-ditch effort, just said, "Lord, if you could remember
45:58 me when you come into your kingdom and look at the love of this Savior who didn't wait
46:04 for him to go to social DNA or memorize the book of Leviticus, he didn't have time to
46:08 get baptized, he didn't have time to worship or sing the latest worship song," he says,
46:15 "truly you will be with me today in paradise."
46:20 This is the love of our Savior.
46:24 God loves prisoners so much that you can go from being a prisoner to being in paradise
46:31 if you would just put your faith in him.
46:34 He is faithful to forgive you of all unrighteousness and all sin.
46:42 How can you refuse this love?
46:46 I'm glad God loves prisoners, because when it comes to sin, I am guilty as charged.
46:54 Yet his love reached out to me.
46:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]