It All Makes Sense Now - Dr. E. Dewey Smith
It All Makes Sense Now - Dr. E. Dewey Smith
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00:00 Stay with me and turn to the book of Acts chapter 8, book of Acts chapter 8, the book of Acts chapter 8
00:07 and verse 1, we honor the Lord for all our ministers of the gospel, our deacons who are here and all of
00:14 you my father's children. We bless God for each of you and to all nine audience God bless you.
00:20 Acts chapter 8 verse 1 you see these words, "And Saul was consenting unto his death."
00:29 And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem
00:34 and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria
00:39 except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.
00:48 As for Saul he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women he
00:55 committed them to prison. Therefore they that was scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
01:04 As for Saul he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women
01:13 committed them to prison. Therefore they that was scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
01:21 the word. It's amazing this is the same text that I lifted 20 years ago when I stood to stand
01:29 in this place for the first time. I want to lift the same text 20 years later
01:35 with this message, "It all makes sense now."
01:43 You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. It all makes sense now.
01:51 There he was, fresh off of the pageantry and pomp and circumstance of promotion.
02:00 The cheers and applause still loudly ringing in his ecclesial but neophyte ears.
02:10 The growth of this movement called the way had presented significant challenges for him
02:16 and for his constituents. However his ordination along with six others would prevent
02:22 the Hebrew widows from succeeding Jewish or Hellenistic leadership.
02:28 We only find out about him because there had arisen a murmuring in the church.
02:38 This murmuring was amongst the Grecians and the Hebrews because the widows,
02:42 the Greek-speaking, the Hebrew widows were neglected,
02:46 and the Greek-speaking widows neglected in the daily administration. And so the apostles stood
02:53 to say it was not reason that they should leave the word of God to serve tables.
02:58 So now because of that crisis and that solution, he is now officially a deacon and the church is
03:07 growing. The word has increased and priest had been free to walk in unencumbered obedience.
03:16 Yet before he can fully enjoy this new season, celebration and euphoria has turned into oppression
03:25 and anguish. What had now once rather been seen as a blessing has now become a curse.
03:36 Had the apostles made the wrong decision, had they now become what the Persian preacher
03:43 Jonathan Edwards called sinners in the hands of an angry God. For now for the early church,
03:50 better had become worse. Richer had become poorer. Sickness has turned to health and even life
03:58 had turned into death. Though he was authentically anointed full of faith, water with wisdom,
04:06 though he was a man of God, his entire life had been completely turned upside down.
04:12 To get to where God had ordained for him to be, he had to get to the realization that certain things
04:21 had to be a part of his journey. His name is Philip. He is seemingly inconsequential,
04:32 but he's not insignificant. He alone was Stephen or Stephan and five others were promoted to bring
04:41 strength to the early church. The early church, which had been birthed on the day of Pentecost,
04:48 but was experiencing its own challenges. I want to say to us all, it's very important that we get
04:55 this, that the Holy Ghost birthed the church on the day of Pentecost. And yet four chapters after
05:06 the birth of the church in Acts chapter six, the church was on the verge of disintegration.
05:12 Even though the Holy Spirit had birthed the church of the Lord Jesus in chapter two of Acts,
05:19 it did not prevent hell from getting into the church in Acts chapter six.
05:26 I want to just preface the message with that reality because for some reason or another,
05:31 we tend to think that when we get into right fellowship with the Lord and right relationship
05:38 with the church, the life is going to be a life of all honey and no bees, of all gain and no pain,
05:48 of all sunshine and no rain. And if we're not careful, when we run into those difficult moments,
05:54 sometimes it will make you question who you are. Sometimes it'll make you question,
06:00 did you make the right decision? Sometimes it'll make you wonder, is God on your track or are you
06:06 being paid back for some dastardly or sinful deed that you've done in your life? But I want you to
06:14 understand, brothers and sisters, that when you go through the challenges, when you go through the
06:20 adversities, sometimes it won't make sense as to the reasons why until you come out on the other
06:29 side. I wish I had somebody who understood what I'm talking about this morning, that life has its
06:36 way, that you have favor on one side and frustration on the other, that heaven can be on one side
06:44 and hell on the other, that anointing is on the one side but aggravation and agitation are on the
06:51 other side. And sometimes you'll throw up your hands in the classic gesture of despair and ask,
06:57 "God, why me? I didn't ask for this. God, why me? I was doing fine until you selected me for this
07:07 assignment. Why me, Lord? Everything was tranquil and serene and smooth until promotion and elevation
07:16 came in my life. And in the moment of elevation and promotion, seemingly all hell broke loose."
07:24 And maybe that's somebody in this room or somebody who's watching me online today.
07:27 You've gone through the pageantry, you've gone through the euphoria and the celebration,
07:33 but life, life is life thing. Whether it be with your children, whether it be in your marriage,
07:40 whether it be on the job, within your business, in your body, when life is life thing, it'll leave
07:46 you in a place where you have to ask yourself, "How did I get here? Where did I come from? And
07:54 who am I?" Those three questions of existentialism, as asked by Karl Barth and Paul Tillich, give us
08:01 what Tillich called the courage not just to do, but rather the courage to be. The challenge is
08:09 many of us look at life when we're doing it, and we're so busy doing life, doing, doing, doing,
08:15 that we're never being, being, being. And sometimes when you're doing, doing, doing, doing,
08:21 you get frustrated because the more you do, seemingly the more that needs to be done.
08:25 But God is trying to call us from having the courage to do to what Tillich called the courage
08:33 to just be. And what I understand in life, in Philip's estimation, when you look at chapter
08:39 six of Philip's life, you would think his selection as the first deacon, or diaconate, or diakonos
08:46 in Greek, the first servant of the Lord's church in Acts chapter six, you would pause to write that,
08:52 put him in the hero's hall of faith. But I came to tell you, you just can't celebrate God for the
08:59 good. Just can't appreciate God in the good times, and the chapter six promotion experiences of life.
09:08 Because after every chapter six, there will come a chapter seven and a chapter eight.
09:13 Challenge here is by chapter eight, Philip is dealing with something, another fellow whose
09:19 name is Paul. He is a tent maker from Tarsus, a Jew by birth, born in a Jewish household. He was
09:27 a member of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. He was a member
09:33 of the Pharisee party, that party which had arisen in the early second century BC to protest the fact
09:39 that military leaders had been nominated as high spiritual and sacred high priest. This was the
09:47 group to whom he belonged. He went to the prep schools of Palestine, went to the University of
09:51 Jerusalem, was tutored at the feet of the Rabbi Gamaliel. But by Acts chapter seven, Acts chapter
09:57 eight rather, he is going around, the Bible tell us, making havoc of the church. The word havoc in
10:05 Greek is the word illuminato, which means he's going around like a wild animal. He's going around
10:12 like a wild animal, persecuting anybody who has just become a part of the church of the Lord Jesus.
10:21 The irony is when God promotes Philip in chapter six, he doesn't tell him that Saul is coming
10:28 in chapter eight. A lot of us love asking God for promotion, but the question I want to ask you is,
10:35 can you stand to be blessed? A lot of you asking God to make you entrepreneurs. Do you really know
10:42 what you're praying for? Do you really know what it means when all responsibility is on you? What
10:49 are you going to do when you get employees who handle you like you handle your last employer?
10:55 Y'all quiet on me here. What are you going to do when it's payroll time? What are you going to do
11:00 when it's tax time? What are you going to do when supplies are unaccessible or the economy is not
11:05 favorable? A lot of us ask God for promotion in chapter six, not knowing that Saul is coming
11:13 to persecute you in chapter eight. I came to tell you, brother and sister, but when those moments
11:19 happen, I'm praying that God would give you a testimony that after I had to deal with that
11:27 dichotomy of chapter six and chapter eight in my life, that it all now makes sense.
11:35 What makes sense? What makes sense? Here's what makes sense. It made sense now that I had to lose
11:43 a person that was close. Someone said I had to lose a person that was close. It is interesting
11:49 that chapter six when they got ready to make the first deacons of the church, the first two deacons
11:54 that they chose to help stabilize the church, one, his name was Stephen. The second one, his name
12:01 was Philip. They were the first and second round draft choices of the ecclesia in terms of the
12:09 drafts of life. They were the first two, the most important, the most known of all of the deacons,
12:16 Stephen and Philip. Well, they're chosen in chapter six. Stephen, brother, preaches a sermon
12:25 in chapter seven. Well, they heard about his message. When they heard about his message,
12:30 they came, the religious of Jerusalem came, and they threw rocks and they killed Stephen.
12:38 They killed Stephen. They stoned Stephen to death. And as Stephen died, he prayed the prayer that
12:46 Jesus prayed on Calvary, "Father, forgive them." They have no idea what they've just done. He
12:53 dies. He's chosen, commissioned, and killed all within the framework of three chapters.
12:59 Verse number three of Acts 8 says, "And they have made great lamentation over him.
13:05 Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and they made great lamentation over him." Here is the irony.
13:12 Philip and Stephen were the first two deacons selected, and now Philip has to diminish and do
13:22 life without his partner, Stephen. Philip is probably asking the question, "Am I gonna be next?
13:35 Why should I preach? Why should I say yes to the call?
13:39 If I've said yes in chapter six and I'm in the cemetery by chapter eight,
13:44 maybe I should have rejected this opportunity." And maybe there are some of you who look at life
13:53 and you received an anointing that you didn't ask for. There are blessings that have come in your
13:59 life that you never sought God for. As a matter of fact, there are some people who don't like you.
14:05 And you've never done anything to them. There are some people who can't enjoy your experience.
14:09 Here's why. Because God has done something in your life that they cannot explain. And you look at
14:16 life and you wonder, "God, why did I have to go through this process of losing someone that was
14:22 close?" And here's the reality. From the time that Stephen was chosen, along with Philip, in Acts
14:29 chapter 6, here's the truth. We have heard nothing done by Philip since his selection.
14:38 He's chosen in Acts chapter 6 verse 5. And from that selection up into Acts chapter 8, we have
14:47 heard and seen nothing. It is as if Philip has been living on the testimony of Stephen.
14:58 It is as if he found his strength and his courage that Stephen was the stabilization for he and the
15:09 other six deacons. And out of nowhere, without proper warning or without even provocation,
15:16 what has been viewed as his strength has been taken from him. And now he has to stand on his own.
15:26 Reminds me of what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 6 when he talks about his uncle. He said, "In the
15:32 year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up." It took the death of Uncle Uzziah,
15:42 as my grandfather called him Uzziah, in order for us to see Isaiah walking in his ministry.
15:50 It is as if he found his strength, he found his stabilization, he found his promotion and peace
15:59 as long as Uncle Isaiah was alive. But now without any notice, Isaiah is gone for Isaiah,
16:10 without any notice. My God, Stephen is gone for Philip. What do you do when you've been living
16:18 life but now your whole life, your equilibrium has been turned upside down? Because the one that used
16:24 to provide you with the source of strength and stabilization are taken from your life,
16:30 and you have to deal with what's next in my life. You know what makes sense to me now?
16:37 What makes sense to me now over the past 20 years of having to say goodbye to three of my
16:45 grandparents, having to say goodbye to my mother and my sister three weeks apart, having to say
16:52 goodbye to my little brother at 28 years of age, to have to say goodbye to so many church leaders
16:59 and so many strong people in my family. When you're going through it, it does not make sense.
17:04 But can I tell you what the Lord would do for us? It's in those moments of transition,
17:10 it's in those moments of chaos that the lessons that you didn't know were being taught to you
17:17 come to strength and those seeds germinate and are watered by the Holy Spirit and you find out
17:25 that you are stronger than what you thought you were. Am I talking to somebody who's had to lose
17:31 somebody close and you wonder now, "God, why did you take them when I needed them?" And God was
17:37 saying to you all along, "It's because you were hiding behind them." See, as long as mama was
17:44 alive, I had strength because I knew she was praying for me. But God says, "I got to move you
17:50 from relying on mama's prayers, appreciating mama's prayers, but now, boy, you got to develop your own
17:58 prayer life. Now you can't call mama to come home." I wish I had a witness. "You can't call daddy to
18:04 get a check. Now you got to stand on your own two feet and trust in the Lord with all your heart and
18:11 lean out to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him." Am I talking to somebody
18:17 who's had to lose somebody close? Maybe it was through death. Maybe it was through deception.
18:24 Oh, Stephen has left your life. Stephanie has left your life and you wondered why God took them.
18:31 Can I tell you why? Often it's because God heard the conversation they had about you when you
18:37 weren't around. And sometimes you didn't realize that you had fallen in love with a leech. You were
18:44 loyal to a leech who was sucking the life out of you and it hurt you at the moment. But now you can
18:50 look back and say, "God, it all makes sense now. It all makes sense why I was heavy. It all makes
18:57 sense why I had to do it and take somebody out of my life. I thought life could go on without them."
19:05 But every now and then he would let relationships die. I wish I'm talking to somebody who went to
19:10 your class reunion. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Yeah, in 1985 you were in love with Junebug.
19:16 You remember Junebug, don't you? Junebug with the long jerry curl. Junebug. You remember Junebug,
19:22 don't you? With the members only jacket. You remember Junebug, don't you? With the short-ass
19:27 jeans. You thought the sun rose and sat on Junebug. You were so in love with Junebug,
19:34 but Junebug left you and married Femay Kwisha and it broke your heart. You were depressed, sad
19:40 for months. But yes, you went back to your 35th class reunion. My God, 35 years later and the
19:49 first person you saw was Junebug. And he had that same jerry curl, them same numbers on the jacket
19:56 with Jordan's jeans with 14 minutes now and two of them were gold. And you paused right there in
20:01 the class reunion and say, Lord, I thank you for the stuff that you let die in my life. Some of
20:08 y'all thank God for what he provides. I learned how to thank God for what he prevents. Am I talking
20:14 to somebody who can give God glory for some stuff in your life that did not work according to your
20:19 plan? So he is, he is. He had to lose a person that was close. He had to lose a person that was
20:33 close. Not only that, but he had to leave a place of comfort. He had to leave a place of comfort.
20:41 Up until this point, the only place where Philip had been residing, it was at Jerusalem.
20:49 The only place where Philip was preaching, it was at Jerusalem. But what happened? God
20:57 allowed, I want to call this a case of divinely permitted satanic antagonism. This is a case
21:05 where the, uh, uh, uh, Niber said that there are times in our lives when God will become our enemy
21:14 in order to become our friend. And what God does, God allows Saul to persecute the church of the
21:22 Lord Jesus. Look at verse number four. It says, and Saul was consenting unto his death at that
21:28 time of the great persecution against the church. It says, as for Saul, he made havoc. Somebody say
21:36 he made havoc. He made havoc. He made havoc of the church. He's like a wild animal. Enemy to
21:42 every house. And he's taken men and women to jail. And guess what happens? The church now breaks up.
21:52 Verse one says, and when the persecution took place, they were scattered abroad
21:58 throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. The church was scattered abroad.
22:08 But guess what happens after Saul goes crazy, like a wild animal, taking men and women to jail.
22:19 It says they, therefore they that was scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word,
22:28 then Philip went down to the city of Samaria. You missed your shot. I said, then Philip,
22:42 then Philip, Philip's place of comfort was upset because God had just told Jesus,
22:53 I just told him an X one and eight, but you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon
22:58 you and you should be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria and to the other most parts
23:07 of the world. Jesus had just told him, you're going to go and spread the gospel.
23:11 But eight chapters later, they are comfortable and stuck in Jerusalem.
23:21 So guess what God says? You won't leave voluntary.
23:29 I'll send something to make you leave involuntary. If you won't do it on your own
23:44 to get you, I need you to be. What I will do is sometimes I will allow craziness.
23:52 I don't have no help right here to come in your life to get you to a point of obedience.
23:59 What I've learned in my own life is so many times when I wouldn't be sold out or surrendered to God,
24:11 he says, first, I'll give you your choice to do on your own.
24:14 And if you won't do it on your own and surrender all to me, what I will do is let some
24:23 go crazy in your life. But somehow I will get a yes. Y'all got no help here. You don't believe me.
24:35 Ask Joe. God tells you to go to Nineveh and preach to the Ninevites.
24:41 Joseph, I ain't going to stand in there. How they treated the Israelites. I'm going
24:46 on the opposite direction. You can run from God, but you can't hide.
24:51 Come on, you get to where you're going. God knows how you are and he'll trouble your spirit
24:57 and get you to where he wants. I wish I had somebody in this place. I look at my life
25:05 and some of my own struggles has been the cause of my refusal to surrender.
25:11 So God said, do it. My purposes are greater than your own peace.
25:20 You want to be in a place of peace, but my purpose is greater.
25:28 And just because you think you have peace, if you're not in my purpose, that's pseudo peace.
25:35 All things work together for good to them that love God and to those who are called
25:41 according to his purpose. And God says, you know what? I've been trying to tell you to start your
25:45 own business. I've been trying to tell you to start your own business. I've been trying to
25:51 tell you to step out, but you're fearful because you're comfortable. Because you got mortgage,
25:59 car loan, car insurance. Y'all not helping me here. You got to get your eyelash done every
26:07 three weeks. Someone help me preach here for a moment. You're comfortable where you are,
26:12 but God has more in you. Because I tell you what, if you won't do it voluntarily,
26:18 I'll drop the pressure with crazy folk on your job, or crazy supervisors who will get on your
26:25 last nerve. As a matter of fact, if I need to, I'll let the company shut down. Y'all got to bring
26:32 some in. I'll let your section get eliminated, dog. In order to get you, here's what David said,
26:38 the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. Here's the point, he makes me.
26:49 Sometimes we don't allow that on our own. God loves us too much, so he has to make us.
26:56 Some decisions in my life, God had to make me. But can I tell you something? God's will
27:18 is the safest place in the entire world. And if God is forcing you and moving you,
27:26 something is moving on your spirit to go back to school, to go get that certification,
27:31 to go back to start the business. And you're wondering why. Don't you make God put you on a
27:37 ship and send a storm and you get swallowed by a fish to say yes, Lord. And some of you right now,
27:44 Lord have mercy. You're so comfortable in your place of being spiritually.
27:48 When you don't need a relationship with God, you don't need Jesus because you're the spiritual
27:53 moment in your life. I don't need to be Christian. I'm comfortable being spiritual. I came to tell
27:58 you one day you're going to move from that place of comfort because when we get to eternity,
28:05 every eye going to see him. Not only is every eye going to see him, but every knee
28:11 shall bow. And every tongue, every tongue going to see him. You're going to have to bow voluntarily
28:21 or involuntarily. When I was a boy, my favorite candy was called now and later.
28:28 Here's why, because you can eat some now and save some for later. I came to tell you it's now or
28:35 later. You're going to bow now or you're going to bow later. Because when the Lord shall crack the
28:42 sky and the dead in Christ shall rise first and no one wants you to lie to them. You're going to bow now.
28:49 I made up in my mind, I might as well bow now. I don't want him to have to make me bow.
29:02 Why? He's been too good to me for him to have to make me bow. He keeps on waking me up in the morning.
29:08 Keep on putting food on the table and I talk to anybody else who got a reason to give God glory.
29:14 You got to make me do it. I will bless the Lord at all times and pray that you'll continually
29:24 be in my life. I didn't understand. I'm looking back 20 years later. 20 years ago, my own mama,
29:31 my own family. Are you sure? Are you sure you're going to do this? You're going to leave a place
29:38 where you know everybody? You're going to leave a place where people love you?
29:45 Where people support you? God got that? Got that? Why have you just got married? You got a
29:53 two-year-old? Are you sure? Are you sure that you're going to follow God who's concerned about
30:00 your baby? A childhood friend called my mom and said, "Did he do any of that?" Take him to the
30:05 doctor to have his... This is true story. To have him checked out, this don't make sense.
30:10 Can I tell you something? Sometimes you got to be careful who you share your vision with.
30:16 Because God will put something on your heart and you share it with the people who are closest to
30:26 you. And they can talk you out of what you believe God is doing in your life. I wish I had a witness
30:33 of that. Folks, 20 years ago, called me, "You're everything but a child of God." How dare you?
30:37 We know you're not going to that place. The pastor's been there a long time. He's not going
30:43 to let you pass through that church. Those people are not going to let you come there
30:46 with an organ and drums and all that screaming. They're not going for all that.
30:50 You're not going to make it there. Everything is going good. Sometimes good can be your enemy
31:02 to your great. I wish I had somebody who knows that God has more he can do in your life.
31:08 He wants you to exceed him abundantly above all you can... I'm talking to somebody who wants more
31:15 from God. Philip, if I don't let Stephen die in your life, you'll spend the rest of your life
31:28 in an unlimited hiding. Whenever something needs to be done, call Stephen.
31:36 Yellow Sermon, call Stephen. Give it to Mikey. He likes it. He likes it. Call Stephen.
31:43 [laughter]
31:45 What God is doing, he's calling you. I said our young people around this church,
31:52 as you see, we're celebrating 50, 60, 70, 80 years. Our people are maturing. They've carried the torch.
32:01 They've carried the mantle. Now, and what has happened, some of you are comfortable
32:07 sitting in the back. You have become Philip and Filipina watching Stephen and Stephanie
32:14 do the work in the church. But what God is saying is now you are going to have to stand to the
32:20 forefront. Our leaders are dying, they're retiring, and they're getting older. They
32:25 need somebody to take the torch and stand up. You've been watching long enough.
32:37 When you going to grow up?
32:38 50 and still borrowing money from grandma.
32:44 I never understood how grandma on a fixed income
32:57 always got some food and some money. And here we are with two, come on, y'all not saying that.
33:06 Two car garages.
33:07 Here's why. We got 14th century French provincial furniture through our split-level suburban crib.
33:18 Come on. You go to grandma's house, y'all quiet. She's living in the same place. Still got the
33:25 plastic on the furniture. Still got them beads in between the kitchen and the living room. Y'all
33:31 quiet. She's still got that picture of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King with a
33:36 white Jesus on top of it. Listen, may y'all have no education, but have wisdom. And what God is
33:42 saying, when are we going to become a grandma?
33:58 So guess what? Philip had men doing nothing for two chapters.
34:01 But now, Stevie is dead.
34:05 Saul is going crazy. The saints are scared as hell.
34:12 You remember that? And guess what? For the first time, Philip
34:19 come to the forefront. This time I preach on the corner, dead Philip.
34:26 Dead Philip. Whatever your name is, then your name.
34:36 What am I saying? Every moment that you've gone through has brought you to this moment in your
34:47 life. And now I hear the Lord saying, it's your time to step to the forefront. It's your time
34:55 to walk in your assignment. It's your time. So guess what Philip does? Philip does something
35:01 that we haven't seen done since John 6. He goes to the city of Samaria. Now, why is this noteworthy?
35:09 This is noteworthy because for 800 years, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. The only significant
35:17 revival in Samaria took place in John chapter 4, when Jesus must leads go through Samaria.
35:23 He stopped at a place called Sychar in John 4 at Jacob's well. He stopped there at the sixth hour,
35:30 which was noon. When he got to the well at noon in Samaria, a woman was there to draw water.
35:37 The chronology of the text lets us know something is off, because noon was not the time to draw
35:44 water. The time to draw water was the third hour, which was 9 AM. So why is he at the well with a
35:50 woman at noon as Jewish rabbi, when women drew water at 9? That tells us something about her
35:56 social status. Jews say, "Can you bring me a drink?" She said, "How? You being a Jew, asking me a Samaritan
36:02 for a drink? You know Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." He said, "Baby, if you knew who it was
36:06 who was asking you for a drink, you wouldn't let me ask you for a drink. You asked me for a drink."
36:11 He said, "I tell you what, go call your husband." She said, "I don't have one." He said, "You're right, you don't have one.
36:17 You have five cousins. Your little one is not yours. That makes you have six men."
36:22 But that's why I had to stop by this well, so you meet me. I'm the seventh man. And seven represents
36:28 perfection. Seven represents completion. Seven says it's over. So I had to stop by this well,
36:35 because all the foolishness in your life, I came to tell you, it's over. As a matter of fact, let me just
36:40 drop it on somebody. Everything you've been going through, that's been arresting your spirit, I came
36:45 to speak prophetically over your life. You don't meet the seventh man.
36:49 She drops her water pots, goes back to Samaria, said, "Come see a man." A revival had happened
36:57 down there since then. Since Pentecost took place, nobody from the church had been to Samaria.
37:07 They were comfortable in Jerusalem. Samaria represents unchurch folk.
37:15 Samaria represents people who didn't go to Sunday school.
37:22 Samaria represents people who didn't go to BTU.
37:28 Samaria represents people who didn't sing in the sunbeam choir.
37:35 The problem with the church now is we want everybody who looks like Jerusalem.
37:40 But if we're going to reach folk, we got to leave the convenience and the comfort of Jerusalem
37:49 and find some folk in Samaria. Yeah, they don't have three-piece suits in Samaria.
37:55 They may wear jeans with the pants down low in Samaria. They may have a gold grill in Samaria.
38:03 They may smoke something. If you hang around them too long, you'll start getting a headache.
38:08 Y'all not with me here. They don't look like us. They don't act like us. But guess what?
38:13 They need the Lord just like we need the Lord. While I'm on this and I'm taking my seat here
38:20 now, we got to stop judging folk in Samaria. I know you're in Jerusalem now at 9 o'clock,
38:25 but that's the time that you should have been in church at 9 o'clock after homecoming at your
38:30 college on the weekend. Come on, you want to act like you forgot where you've been. Y'all look at
38:34 your night. No, you better understand Cardi B, a lot of old. Come on, help me here, but don't you
38:40 let me call Millie Jackson. Don't you let me call Betty Wright. Look how y'all looking at me. Yeah,
38:49 tonight is the night that you make me a woman. You said you'd be chilling with me and I hope you
38:54 will. I wish somebody would talk to me here. You ain't always been in Jerusalem, so don't you get
38:59 so sad and how forlorn and arrogant that you forget people who need the Lord just like you need Him.
39:06 They're just in Samaria. Am I talking to anybody in this house who can look at your life and testify,
39:17 I ain't always acting like Jerusalem. There's some things in my life I'm not proud of,
39:21 but He came to where I was. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
39:27 very deep in sin where they ain't sinking the river no more, but the master,
39:32 I can see her, my despairing cry, and from the Lord has lifted me.
39:36 Lord lifted me. Lord lifted me when nothing else could help me.
39:54 Somebody take a moment and thank Him for loving you. Thank Him for loving you.
39:57 Thank Him for loving you. Say thank you for your unconditional love.
40:01 So guess what Philip does? Now he's learned
40:08 where his power comes from. Not only does the deacon go and preach in Samaria,
40:18 he preaches Christ under them and the people with one accord gave heed to the things he's speaking.
40:27 Verse 7 says, "Hearing and seeing the miracles that he did." Verse 7 also says, "An unclean spirits
40:37 crying with a loud voice came out of the men that were possessed with him and the men that were
40:43 lame, sick, and taken with palms were healed." So a deacon, not a bishop, not an apostle,
40:53 not a pope, not a cardinal, not a reverend doctor, not an evangelist, not a licentiate,
41:02 somebody with no talent has the power of God to go in a strength to hit the power.
41:11 We have done a problem of deifying leaders.
41:15 Thank God for your pastors. Thank God for those who pray for you, who led you, but every one of
41:23 them had flaws. Some of them you saw, some of them you didn't see, but the Word of God will
41:32 speak over your life. It's what God will do sometimes, get you by yourself so you can realize
41:39 that sometimes you don't need nobody else or you don't need a title for the power of God to show
41:47 up in your life. If you got a child that's rebellious, I dare you, get you some oil.
41:53 Go in that room tonight and lay your hands on that child's head and say, "Lord, in the name of Jesus."
42:01 [applause]
42:09 Now, Philip, who hadn't done nothing since O'Day, now is able.
42:19 He's able to do what Stephen and the others couldn't do.
42:29 God did something in his life that none of the other diggers, even some of the apostles,
42:37 were not able to do. I'm taking my seat here, but I came to encourage you today with this word.
42:46 If you look back through it, you'll see it all made sense.
42:57 If I hadn't gone through that, if you hadn't gone through that,
43:02 you wouldn't know how much power you have.
43:06 Do you know what? Some of you have gone through some things that kill other folks.
43:21 You've gone through some things and you shock yourself. How am I still here?
43:27 I've learned to thank God now for keeping me in my right mind.
43:37 It's a blessing now to be able to see folk and recognize them.
43:46 Y'all quiet over here. It's a blessing to be able to look back at your life and say, "Lord,
43:51 you have helped me. You have provided for me. You have sustained me to bring me to a place of power."
44:02 I want you to stand with me now.
44:09 There are places that God has allowed me to see that I never would have seen them
44:17 had I stayed in my place of comfort.
44:20 There are things about God I wouldn't know if God didn't let me experience it.
44:36 I used to hear people say, "He'll be a mother for the motherless."
44:39 I preached that, but it's hard to preach about something you didn't experience.
44:46 I used to tell folk, "He'll make it away when your back is against the wall."
44:54 I was 17 years old preaching, "He'll bless you when your back is against the wall."
45:00 What I knew about, "He'll bless you when your back is against the wall,"
45:04 was when daddy was paying for all the walls.
45:08 Some of you have lived long enough now that you don't have to tell nobody, "Mama said,
45:22 he's a provider."
45:29 No, some of y'all have gone through some experiences that now you have your own testimony.
45:36 If it had not been for the Lord who was on my side.
45:40 As I close this service, I sense here that somebody's in a place where it's getting uncomfortable.
45:51 Life seems different for you. People that you thought would be there are no longer there.
45:58 God is doing some weird stuff in your life. You went to school, you majored in something,
46:03 you've been working on a job, and now you're 45 and still got student loans and don't like your job.
46:08 God told me to tell you that it's a restart.
46:13 And when I restart, sometime I got to move Steven.
46:24 Now when I move Steven and put him in the cemetery, don't you put your black dress on
46:30 and get your defibrillators going out to the cemetery trying to resuscitate
46:35 what I killed in your life.
46:38 God said, "I'm gonna bring you back, I'm gonna bring you out, but you can't go back
46:44 to what you got delivered from."
46:49 Then Philip, today brothers and sisters, today is your day where it's gonna make sense.
46:55 In the next 12 months of your life, some stuff that's been bothering you,
47:02 you're gonna look at it and say, "God, I thank you for the pain that you let me endure. Oh God,
47:10 you allowed it so I could be who you called me to be."