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00:00 I'm starting a new series today titled "The Life of Samson."
00:03 It's not just about his hair.
00:04 It's about his holy.
00:05 It's not just about Delilah.
00:07 It's about his dedication.
00:08 It's not about his strength.
00:09 It's about God's sovereignty.
00:11 Sermon number one, I didn't ask for this.
00:14 What happens when God picks you
00:16 and gives you an assignment that you did not request?
00:18 This word is gonna bless you.
00:20 I know it's December.
00:21 I'm headed toward Jesus.
00:23 Nazarite, Nazareth, are they the same?
00:25 Are they different?
00:26 Oh my goodness.
00:27 I can't wait to preach this, the life.
00:30 All right, take your seats.
00:31 Let's come at it different today.
00:32 Take your seats, grab your Bibles.
00:34 And I want you, if you're using a phone app,
00:36 young people, teenagers in the back,
00:38 I want you to, if you're using a phone app,
00:42 I want you to get, Judges 13.
00:44 Judges 13, I want you to get the message version.
00:47 The message version.
00:48 If you're using a phone app or any sort of gadget.
00:51 If you have a traditional Bible, that's cool in the game.
00:53 Judges 13, I wanna come at it different.
00:55 Okay, so normally it's like homiletics,
00:57 my formal training, you read a text,
00:59 and then you take a topic, and then you do an intro,
01:02 and then you do three points,
01:03 and then you tie the clothes to the intro,
01:05 and get out alive, hopefully, with antiquity,
01:08 modernity, all that cute stuff that my training teaches me.
01:12 Sometimes I just go another way,
01:13 'cause the Lord is just speaking to me.
01:14 I wanna do a different kind of teaching today.
01:16 It's like Christmas time.
01:18 Mary had a little lamb.
01:20 Should I be preaching about Mary and Joseph?
01:23 I'm headed that way.
01:24 December's a trip, because it speaks to the end of one thing
01:29 but the coming of another.
01:31 There's this understandable anticipation about 24,
01:34 and yet we're finishing 23, and then Christmas is on us.
01:38 And so I say, God, am I preaching
01:40 about Jesus and Christmas only?
01:43 He said, oh no, you preaching about me whenever you preach,
01:47 because you do know that I'm in every book of the Bible.
01:51 Yeah, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
01:56 The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
01:59 And that Christ is in every book.
02:01 In Genesis, he's the seed of a woman.
02:02 In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb.
02:04 In Leviticus, he's the atoning sacrifice.
02:06 Numbers, he's the bronze serpent.
02:07 Joshua, he's the unseen captain.
02:09 New Testament, Matthew, he's the king.
02:10 Mark, he's a servant.
02:11 Luke, he's the son of man.
02:13 John, he's the son of God.
02:14 Acts, he's the Holy Spirit.
02:16 Peter, he's the bishop of our soul.
02:18 In Romans, he's our grace.
02:19 In Jude, he's our benediction.
02:21 In the book of Revelation, he is our coming king.
02:24 You looking for Jesus?
02:25 Whoop, there he is.
02:26 (audience cheering)
02:29 1994, my first sermon.
02:32 I said, if you're looking for Jesus tonight,
02:33 whoop, there he is.
02:35 The song was hot too, whoo, it was crazy.
02:37 They went running through the church, whoop, there he is.
02:40 That's so corny, let me hurry up, amen.
02:42 People in the back like, what's whoop, there is?
02:44 What is whoop?
02:46 You have to Google it, amen, it's on YouTube.
02:48 All right, so Judges 13.
02:50 I wanna talk about, here it is, the life of Samson.
02:53 The life of Samson.
02:56 I say Samson, you think Delilah.
02:59 I think about divinity.
03:02 You think about hair, I think about it's holy.
03:05 Yeah, you think about his strength,
03:06 I think about God's sovereignty.
03:09 You will see, if you pay attention,
03:12 that this text is full of relational construct,
03:15 sociological construct.
03:17 Okay, let me break it down.
03:18 Who to date, who not to date,
03:21 marrying the wrong person, not honoring God,
03:25 not knowing who you are and what God put in you,
03:28 and not maximizing the giftings
03:31 that God has already intrinsically put inside of you.
03:35 It is so much I wanna deal with.
03:37 I'm coming at it different.
03:39 Number one, I'm gonna do something
03:40 that preachers just don't do anymore
03:41 because they told us it's a sin on YouTube to look down.
03:46 Well, I'm just gonna have to say it.
03:49 And it's not a sin, the word of God is important.
03:51 So again, I was thinking about how to paraphrase this.
03:54 I was, like, how do you paraphrase it?
03:56 Then I'm thinking, it's too good to paraphrase.
04:00 Why are we scared of the Bible?
04:02 The Bible is better than me in anything I can say.
04:06 And so I'm reading,
04:07 particularly the different versions of Scripture.
04:09 So I'm reading the message,
04:10 and I got away, preached for Dr. E. Dewey Smith
04:12 last week in Atlanta, jumped over to Florida
04:15 because I just hear God better with water.
04:18 And so I'm watching and at the ocean
04:20 and just looking and studying.
04:21 And I'm reading this and it's just all over me.
04:24 And Acts, in Judges 13, I don't know why I keep saying Acts.
04:27 Must be something I'm supposed to do in Acts.
04:28 But Judges 13, verses one through 24.
04:30 I want you to see this, I'm gonna read it.
04:31 Stay with me, don't fall asleep.
04:33 I promise, it's like listening to your mother read
04:35 when you were little or watching a good movie.
04:37 The Bible is better than all of that.
04:39 Let me just read the Bible.
04:40 From the message version, Judges 13.
04:42 Judges 13, starting at verse one.
04:45 And then the people of Israel were back at it again,
04:47 doing what was evil in the sight of God.
04:48 God put them under the domination
04:50 of the Philistines for 40 years.
04:51 At that time, there was a man named Manoah from Zorah,
04:54 from the tribe of Dan.
04:55 His wife was barren and childless.
04:57 The angel of God appeared to her and told her,
04:59 I know that you are barren and childless,
05:01 but you're gonna become pregnant and bear a son.
05:04 But take much care.
05:05 Drink no wine or beer.
05:07 Eat nothing ritually unclean.
05:09 You are in fact pregnant right now.
05:12 Caring a son, no rays of what touch his head.
05:15 Take a mental note.
05:16 No rays of what touch his head.
05:18 The boy will be God's Nazarite from the moment of his birth.
05:21 He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression.
05:24 The woman went to her husband and said,
05:26 a man of God came to me.
05:27 He looked like the angel of God, terror laced with glory.
05:29 I didn't ask him where he was from
05:31 and he didn't tell me his name.
05:32 But he told me, you're pregnant.
05:34 You're gonna give birth to a son.
05:35 Don't drink any wine or beer.
05:37 Eat nothing ritually unclean.
05:39 The boy will be God's Nazarite from the moment of birth
05:42 to the day of his death.
05:42 Manoa prayed to God, master, let the man of God
05:45 you sent come to us again and teach us how to raise this boy
05:49 who's to be born.
05:50 God listened to Manoa.
05:51 God's angel came again to the woman.
05:53 She was sitting in the field.
05:54 Her husband, Manoa, wasn't there with her.
05:56 She jumped to her feet and ran and told her husband,
05:58 he's back.
05:59 The man who came to me that day,
06:01 Manoa got up and following his wife,
06:03 came to the man, he said to him,
06:04 are you the man who spoke to my woman?
06:06 I don't know if he said it like that, praise God.
06:08 He said, I am.
06:10 Manoa said, so, so, when what you say comes true,
06:14 what do you have to tell us about this boy and his work?
06:17 The angel of God said to Manoa, keep in mind everything.
06:20 I told the woman, eat nothing that comes from the vine.
06:23 Drink no wine or beer.
06:24 Eat no ritually unclean foods.
06:26 She is to observe all things I command of her.
06:29 Manoa said to the angel of God,
06:30 please stay with us a little longer.
06:32 We'll prepare a meal for you, a young goat.
06:34 God's angel said to Manoa,
06:36 even if I stay, I won't eat your food.
06:39 But if you wanna prepare a whole burnt offering for God,
06:41 go ahead.
06:42 Manoa had no idea he was talking to the angel of God.
06:45 Then Manoa asked the angel of God, what's your name?
06:49 When your words come true, we'd like to honor you.
06:52 The angel of God said, what's this?
06:55 You answered my name.
06:56 You wouldn't understand.
06:58 It's sheer wonder.
07:00 Unquote, look at me.
07:02 I haven't read that many verses to start a sermon.
07:05 Since I've been your pastor, I don't think,
07:06 but gotta preach different to the same people
07:08 after 23 years.
07:09 But I will say this to you.
07:10 Here's what we know.
07:12 Samson's daddy, his daddy, Manoa, his mama,
07:16 angel comes.
07:17 What kind of angel?
07:18 Bible says, angel of the Lord.
07:20 Who is that?
07:20 Most people think Theophany or Christ
07:25 busting a creep move in the Old Testament.
07:28 Sometimes Jesus is in the Old Testament,
07:30 but you don't know it's him.
07:31 Okay, Bible readers, remember the Hebrew boys?
07:34 Didn't we throw three people in?
07:35 But I see four.
07:38 And the fourth one looks like the Son of God.
07:41 Most people believe that in the Old Testament,
07:44 Jesus got in the fiery furnace.
07:46 He was there.
07:47 Colossians says, he's the creator of all things,
07:50 and by him do all things consist.
07:52 Which means the same Christ in Colossians
07:54 is the same Christ in Genesis.
07:57 In the beginning, God, in the beginning,
07:58 Christ created the heavens and the earth.
08:01 He's there, he's just on the low.
08:03 This angel, most believe, probably Jesus,
08:07 shows up to Samson's mama and says,
08:10 "Girl, you're not only about to have a baby,
08:14 "you pregnant now.
08:16 "Some of you just missed your first shout,
08:19 "you pregnant now."
08:21 I hear 50 women over 40 like, "Hell to the no, praise God."
08:25 That's because you don't know
08:28 what pregnant I'm talking about.
08:30 I'm not talking about physical pregnant.
08:32 I'm talking about money pregnant, vision pregnant.
08:37 Entrepreneur pregnant.
08:39 Come on, receive that by faith.
08:41 And you know why you're not shouting,
08:43 you know why some people don't believe you pregnant
08:46 when you first get pregnant, is because they can't see it.
08:49 In the first trimester, don't nobody know
08:51 the mother pregnant but the mother and whoever she tell,
08:54 'cause you can't see it.
08:55 Well, how you know you're pregnant
08:57 if you're not sticking out yet?
08:59 Look at somebody and say, "Because I missed some stuff.
09:00 "Y'all missed that.
09:01 "Some stuff skipped over me that normally happens.
09:06 "God is doing a change."
09:07 And that's for free.
09:08 That's a whole teaching.
09:11 That's a whole teaching on pregnant
09:13 that I could just run with.
09:14 So she goes and tells Sam, "Since daddy, I'm pregnant,
09:19 "angel came to me."
09:20 Who came to you?
09:21 Angel, a brother, a man?
09:22 What type of angel was that?
09:24 What'd he say to you?
09:25 He said, "I'm supposed to keep myself clean
09:29 "because I can't mess up what I'm carrying."
09:31 Come here.
09:34 All my life, I've heard people talk about Samson,
09:38 Bible readers, come here.
09:40 Don't know the Bible that well,
09:41 but you got a master's degree?
09:42 That's okay, listen, let's learn the Bible together.
09:44 Because the Nazarite vow is not to be confused
09:48 with Jesus of Nazareth.
09:50 Nazareth place.
09:52 Nazarite person vow, something you decided to do,
09:57 take a mental note, something you chose to do.
10:00 Take a mental note.
10:02 Even if I don't make it back this Sunday,
10:04 remember I said it's something you chose to do.
10:07 I'm gonna need you to remember that.
10:08 Something you chose to do.
10:10 Anita Baker, "And I made a vow, and I tell you now,
10:14 "I'm giving you the best that I got.
10:17 "I made a vow."
10:19 Okay, remember that.
10:20 So I'm thinking, okay, Samson, we know about a Nazarite.
10:25 A Nazarite.
10:27 I can't forget it because the Hebrew is the same
10:31 as my writer son, Jennifer Wainwright,
10:34 on our staff, our staff writer,
10:35 who makes sure everything sounds good on video,
10:37 writes everything, help me with all of my books.
10:39 Her son, my godson, his name is Nazir.
10:42 Nazir is the Hebrew for Nazarite, all right?
10:46 It means to be set apart, separated,
10:49 or consecrated, Nazir, Hebraically,
10:51 of which we get Naza, Nazarite, okay.
10:54 So what did you do if you were a Nazarite?
10:58 Number one, you didn't touch no dead body.
11:01 Matter of fact, not only did you not touch a dead body,
11:03 you weren't around a dead corpse.
11:05 If your mama died, you couldn't go to the funeral
11:08 'cause you couldn't be around dead stuff.
11:11 That's for free.
11:12 Number two, you were to drink no kind of alcohol,
11:15 and number three, up under no circumstances,
11:18 did you cut your hair.
11:20 That's the part you know about, Samson, right?
11:22 The haircutting part.
11:23 Under no circumstances did anybody touch your hair.
11:26 No line up, no barbershop, no hookup, nothing.
11:29 Don't touch your hair, let it grow.
11:32 So I know that a Nazarite couldn't do any of those things,
11:37 but for the first time in 30 years,
11:41 he wasn't talking to Samson,
11:43 he was talking to Samson's mama.
11:45 She wasn't a Nazarite, but yet the angel tells her,
11:50 "Don't you touch no beer.
11:52 "Don't you touch nothing strong to drink
11:55 "because what you carrying
11:58 "was coming out of you.
12:00 "You gotta watch what you do."
12:03 Oh, let me bring it to right now.
12:04 Can I tell you, my girl and I have learned,
12:07 even those of you who are grown kids,
12:09 you still gotta watch what you do
12:11 'cause they watching you.
12:13 You think just my small kids watch me.
12:16 I got three grown ones.
12:17 Every time we interact on vacation in the kitchen,
12:20 I just see them all looking at us.
12:22 Even when we, I'm sorry, saints don't argue,
12:24 we just have heated fellowship, praise God.
12:28 And when I was younger and married,
12:30 whenever my wife say anything to me,
12:32 I give her that crazy look like,
12:33 "Don't say nothing in front of my kids."
12:35 Time taught me, let them see us disagree
12:43 because some of us divorced
12:45 because our parents didn't teach us how to argue.
12:47 (audience cheering)
12:49 We never saw disagreement.
12:52 Everything was frontin' like there was all that.
12:54 Then next thing we know, one of 'em gone.
12:57 I thought y'all was happy.
12:58 So we've learned, as long as it's not too private
13:01 and not too toxic, let them hear us disagree.
13:04 We're not cussin' and life is not about agreeing all the time.
13:08 Whoever you marry, y'all gon' disagree.
13:10 Here's how you do it with civility,
13:13 without ad hominem language.
13:16 Ad hominem is when you attack the person
13:18 instead of attacking the subject.
13:20 So now you callin' me names and using red words.
13:24 Now I can't hear you.
13:25 You're stupid just like your daddy.
13:26 Argument over, I can't beat that, praise God.
13:29 Now you can call my whole family stupid,
13:31 my grandmother stupid, my father stupid, my mama stupid.
13:34 We was just talkin' 'bout the toothpaste.
13:35 You can call my whole family stupid, praise God.
13:37 I gotta be careful what I do 'cause my kids can pay
13:50 or become the collateral damage of my crazy.
13:53 Yeah, those of you who will have children,
13:55 who have children, even the grown ones,
13:58 every choice I make, I'm also makin' for them
14:01 knowin' that they're watching me.
14:04 Okay, this gets gooder and gooder.
14:06 And so Samson is born.
14:08 Now as we sneak to the circumference of our text,
14:12 let me let you read some on the screen.
14:13 Verse 24 and verse 25 is on the screen.
14:16 And notice what it says.
14:17 The Bible says, "The woman gave birth to a son,
14:20 "named him Samson, and the child grew.
14:24 "And God strengthened him."
14:28 Ooh, this is so good.
14:28 "And God strengthened him."
14:30 The child grew and God strengthened him.
14:34 Wow, so Samson is a Nazirite.
14:37 There's only two other ones I know of in the Bible.
14:40 I wonder if you knew, tell the truth,
14:42 that Samuel was a Nazirite.
14:45 Many scholars believe John the Baptist was a Nazirite.
14:48 I do a lot of strange studies.
14:50 Some believe in the New Testament
14:52 that James was a Nazirite.
14:54 This idea, I don't touch anything strong,
14:57 I don't cut my hair, I don't hang around dead stuff.
15:00 It's a kind of asceticism or monasticism.
15:04 Ascetic simply means to separate.
15:06 Ascetic, ascetic, ascetic.
15:07 I don't just sleep around.
15:09 Ascetic, I don't get drunk.
15:10 Ascetic, I stay away from certain stuff.
15:12 Ascetic, monastic, monastery, monk, you all know this.
15:16 Ascetic, and in a very real sense,
15:19 every Christian should have some Nazirite in 'em.
15:23 It's not the idea so much of not having a drink of wine.
15:26 The Bible don't say you can't drink.
15:27 The Bible says don't get drunk.
15:29 I hate to teach that 'cause 10 people are like, "Cool."
15:32 (audience laughing)
15:33 That's all I wanted to know, prayer, praise God.
15:36 I got, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
15:39 I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop right before I get drunk.
15:41 I'm good, pass it, pass it.
15:43 My, but, but.
15:45 Now, I don't drink at all, don't want to.
15:48 I've seen it in my family, I've seen alcoholism,
15:51 I've seen the results of it,
15:52 so I just don't want nothing at this point.
15:54 Not even champagne on my wedding.
15:56 That's a choice, though, that's not Bible.
15:58 And sometimes pastors take their particular,
16:02 that's a whole 'nother thing.
16:03 But the Bible is the Bible.
16:04 The Bible says be not drunk with wine.
16:07 Also, I could argue it's not the same wine
16:09 that Jesus went to the reception with.
16:11 It ain't, it ain't Mad Dog.
16:13 It ain't White Hennessy.
16:16 Wasn't no White Hennessy at the reception Jesus was at.
16:20 That's a whole 'nother teaching.
16:23 They put stuff in this wine
16:25 that can get you hooked and messed up.
16:27 It's not the pure wine of it.
16:29 I'm sorry, look at your neighbor and say,
16:34 where is Delilah at?
16:36 I'm looking, where?
16:37 I thought Samson and Delilah, what type of sermon is this?
16:44 Romans 12, brothers, I beg you, sisters, I beg you,
16:48 present your bodies.
16:50 A living sacrifice.
16:53 And in a very real sense, whatever else,
16:56 I got smart people here today,
16:57 whatever else Christendom is,
16:59 it is at least saying no to stuff your body won't.
17:01 Yeah, yeah, if you don't want that,
17:06 then church ain't really, you know, Christ,
17:09 if any man would come after me, let him deny himself.
17:13 Don't ever forget this,
17:14 it's not a sacrifice unless you want it.
17:16 It's not denial unless you want it.
17:21 Yeah, don't be talking about, girl, I don't want no crack,
17:24 'cause you ain't never been on crack.
17:26 Yeah, I gave up crack.
17:29 No, you never smoked crack.
17:31 You didn't give up crack.
17:32 It is sacrifice when you want it,
17:36 when you desire it, and say, I'd rather have him
17:42 and his power than a feeling.
17:45 And the reason why most people are failing
17:51 in a very real sense, they don't wanna give up nothing.
17:54 Romans 12 says, in a very real sense,
17:56 I want you to present your body a living sacrifice.
17:58 Say no to some stuff you want.
18:00 Nazarite, we don't have any command
18:02 toward a Nazarite vow in the New Testament.
18:05 However, there is a principle,
18:07 and the principle is,
18:08 sometime God blesses you with a child,
18:10 you say, God, I'm gonna give this child back to you.
18:13 Yeah, and so she gives him back to God.
18:15 I was thinking about something.
18:16 I'm gonna lose time, and that's okay.
18:18 Oh, I'm already out of time.
18:19 Here's what I want you to understand.
18:20 It is the idea that the elephant in the room
18:24 is Carlton Pearson and his passing.
18:27 If you're not from church, you don't know Azusa,
18:29 you don't know universalism,
18:31 and this idea that he left traditional Christianity
18:33 and shifted to a theological construct
18:36 called universalism.
18:37 Universalism, pastor, why you teaching this?
18:39 Because I got like 100 people under 30 on the front row,
18:42 and if I don't teach, who gonna teach?
18:44 Universalism is the idea that universally,
18:47 because of Christ, everybody going to heaven.
18:50 Hitler's in heaven, slave owners, rapists, molesters.
18:54 His blood is so strong that in Adam all die,
18:58 but in Christ all live.
19:01 Okay, I get it.
19:02 They're saying the veracity of Christ's blood is so strong,
19:07 you don't have to choose it.
19:08 It just choose you.
19:10 So therefore, nobody's going to hell
19:13 because in Adam all die, but in Christ all live.
19:18 That's universalism.
19:19 So Carlton is watching something on TV
19:21 where he sees a bunch of children from Africa
19:23 getting slaughtered and murdered
19:25 who never heard about Christ,
19:26 and he couldn't reconcile the idea
19:28 that all of those children are in hell.
19:31 Therefore, I've been wrong in my teaching.
19:33 Everybody's going to heaven.
19:34 That's too extreme because it takes away Romans 12.
19:38 Because why present my body?
19:43 Why give up anything?
19:47 Why not cuss everybody out?
19:49 Why not sleep with everybody and their friend?
19:53 I'm talking to 10 people.
19:55 Why not punch everybody in the face
19:57 and say something stupid to me?
19:59 I'm sorry, lean on your neighbor and say,
20:00 "You better be glad I know Jesus, praise God.
20:02 "You want me on that wall.
20:04 "You better be glad because Christ and me."
20:11 I got five children, look at me, five.
20:14 Now a granddaughter who I'm kissing all over,
20:16 grandson be here in a couple of weeks.
20:18 And I want you to catch this.
20:20 They need to know consequence or they'll stay crazy.
20:25 They need to know I'm not some father
20:30 that's looking to beat on you.
20:32 But I will.
20:33 I wish I had.
20:36 My son does not take out the garbage out of love.
20:42 I'm losing people here.
20:50 The counter argument would be,
20:52 so God needs fear in order for you to love him.
20:55 No, that's not what the text is saying.
20:57 God loves us, I love God.
20:59 But there's a reverent fear.
21:01 My kids don't fear me, but there's a reverent fear.
21:04 Even my grown kids know they grown,
21:07 but they can go down to the ground right now
21:10 if they say the wrong thing.
21:10 Praise God, raise your hand if your kids say the wrong thing
21:14 at 45 years old, they'll just wake up like, "What happened?
21:17 "I was just standing here talking to daddy.
21:20 "I was standing here talking to daddy,
21:22 "and then it was Monday."
21:31 If Ray says something, I'm like, "Bruh,
21:33 "don't get confused in front of your wife."
21:37 She'll be like, "Did you knock my husband out, dad?"
21:39 "Yes, I did."
21:40 "I love him."
21:41 He'll be up in a minute, praise God, amen.
21:44 Is that good, everybody?
21:48 Here's all I can give you,
21:50 and I'm gonna pick this sermon up next week,
21:52 and I don't know what I'm preaching about,
21:54 but I'm enjoying all of it.
21:55 'Cause I want you to learn.
21:58 Are you learning something?
22:00 So, pastor, I saw Carlton Pearson's funeral.
22:03 There was a Muslim person there.
22:04 There was a person who believed in just nature
22:07 and the worship of nature.
22:08 All these people spoke at the funeral.
22:10 They seemed to be sincere.
22:11 You're telling me none of them going to heaven.
22:13 Watch this, you want dogmatism.
22:15 I'm gonna give you theology and construct.
22:17 Here's all I can teach you.
22:18 Best analogy I know, I gave it to you five years ago.
22:21 Don't think I'm repeating myself.
22:22 A lot of new people watching, I gotta repeat myself.
22:24 I went to Ashland for like six, seven years,
22:27 got my master's degree and my doctorate degree,
22:29 and I took not one class online.
22:32 Even with the biggest church in the city,
22:34 went to every class, summertime, all that,
22:36 trying to finish on time.
22:37 And so I know how to get there.
22:39 Pastor, how do you get to Ashland?
22:41 From here, you take 77, and then you get on 271.
22:45 271 gonna turn into 71.
22:47 Now, it's only one sign to say Ashland.
22:50 I recommend you don't miss it.
22:51 (audience laughing)
22:52 Or you gonna be in Columbus, praise God, amen.
22:56 Now, there might be another way to Ashland,
23:00 but I don't know about it.
23:04 The only way I can show you is the way I know.
23:10 There might be another way to heaven,
23:13 but I don't know about it.
23:18 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
23:23 (audience cheering)
23:24 And the life.
23:25 So pastor, don't nobody who didn't accept Christ,
23:31 including millions of Muslims and children
23:33 whose parents taught them to be Muslim,
23:35 so all of them in a burning hell.
23:36 I didn't say that.
23:38 There's a scripture, I'm gonna get in trouble,
23:40 but I don't care, I've been doing this a long time,
23:41 and I'm right, and if you don't agree with me,
23:43 you have a right to be wrong, praise God, amen.
23:46 Pastor, so only people who accepted Christ
23:49 are the millions and millions and millions and millions
23:51 of Muslims whose fathers taught them about,
23:54 no, Jesus, what's happening.
23:56 There's a scripture I want you to take with you
23:57 the rest of your life.
23:58 Jesus said, "I have sheep you know not of."
24:03 (audience cheering)
24:06 Now, any scholar watching me in the world,
24:08 you cannot exegete that passage.
24:11 Don't no scholar know what it means.
24:13 Don't no New Testament theolog know what that means,
24:16 'cause I don't.
24:17 Jesus said, "I have sheep you know not of."
24:22 God gave me this this morning in the Sprinter.
24:24 They was driving me, I promise you,
24:26 and the Lord gave me this driving.
24:28 I said, "I'm gonna say this in the middle
24:29 of my supposed to be Samson sermon."
24:31 If I say, "Come out to the ranch,
24:35 I'm having a get together, but it's black tie.
24:37 I need everybody, if you don't have on black tie,
24:39 you not getting in."
24:40 Black tie, black tie affair.
24:43 If you don't come the way I told you to come,
24:45 you cannot get in.
24:47 So everybody has on black tie, but then my cousin come.
24:50 My cousin come to the side door.
24:55 Bruh, I ain't have no black tie, but I'm hungry.
25:01 And I let him in.
25:03 Pastor, the instruction said, "Black tie."
25:07 How you gonna let him in?
25:10 Hit five people say, "Because it's my house."
25:12 Go ahead, y'all just.
25:13 (audience cheering)
25:15 If it's my house, no matter what I told you,
25:19 I can let anybody in that I don't,
25:22 you don't know who gonna be in heaven,
25:24 just make sure you go.
25:26 I'm going the way I know.
25:32 And the way I know is Jesus, and I ain't taking no chances.
25:36 So back to my sermon.
25:38 So, oh, sookie, sookie, only got 10 minutes.
25:44 Now I just went from soteriology,
25:48 which is the study of salvation, systematic theology,
25:51 soteriological thought, now I'm gonna swing
25:54 to ghetto relationships, right quick.
25:58 You don't believe me?
26:00 Because the Bible says teenagers, y'all ready?
26:02 All the single people, all the single people,
26:04 married people too, here it is, Judges 14,
26:08 verses one and two.
26:09 "One day when Samson was in Timnah,
26:11 one of the Philistine women caught his eye.
26:14 When he returned home, he told his father and mother,
26:17 a young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye.
26:20 I wanna marry her, get her for me."
26:24 All right, all right.
26:28 So that sermon just took a major turn.
26:31 And here it is, he sees a woman in Timnah,
26:34 this woman's a Philistine woman,
26:35 Philistines don't believe in Jehovah God.
26:38 Philistines don't believe in Jehovah God.
26:40 Philistines believe in false gods and goddess.
26:43 His parents say to him, "Why would you do that?"
26:46 The Bible says in Deuteronomy, in the Torah,
26:49 Deuteronomy and Numbers, "You are not to marry
26:52 foreign women and intermarry,
26:54 lest those women take you after their gods."
26:57 Be surprised, I got a family member who dated somebody
27:01 and left Jesus for a man.
27:03 Be careful when the sex so good you turn Muslim.
27:06 (congregation cheering)
27:10 Yeah, ain't no sex that good.
27:12 Yeah, no sex is that good.
27:14 You done left your whole Christ to get Keith.
27:18 And when Keith leave your behind,
27:21 you gonna come running back to Christ
27:24 and Christ gonna be standing there saying,
27:25 "Come on, Cresha."
27:28 Amen.
27:35 The Philistines did not believe in Jehovah God.
27:39 The Bible says, "Get her for me.
27:42 She look good to me.
27:44 I wanna marry her."
27:48 Really?
27:49 So you don't just wanna sleep with her,
27:52 you wanna marry her.
27:54 And all you know about her period is that she fine.
27:58 Yeah, you don't know nothing about her character.
28:02 You know nothing about her substance.
28:04 You don't know if she got a good heart.
28:07 You don't know if she's selfish or selfless.
28:10 All you know is she fine.
28:12 And she's so fine, you can't think.
28:14 Yeah, she's so fine,
28:17 you gonna let your loins lead your logic.
28:20 Thank you, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.
28:24 Don't let your loins.
28:25 Thank you, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.
28:27 Don't let your loins lead your logic.
28:30 Many of us got a baby by somebody
28:33 because our loins lead our logic.
28:37 Many of us got a baby's father we pray for,
28:39 but we don't have a lot of respect for
28:42 because we let our loins lead our logic.
28:45 Young people and old people,
28:46 because everybody think sex is a young thing.
28:49 Oh no, there might be snow on the roof,
28:53 but there's still fire in your chimney.
28:55 (audience cheering)
28:59 There might be snow on the roof,
29:00 but it's fire in your chimney.
29:03 Let me talk to some of you old nasty people.
29:05 I wanna talk.
29:06 Touch your neighbor and say,
29:11 "What kind of Christmas sermon is this?
29:12 "Where is Mary Had a Little Lamb?"
29:15 I'm going back to my old church
29:16 because I need to hear Mary Had a Little Lamb.
29:19 I ain't feeling this.
29:20 I got some guys to introduce to y'all in a minute.
29:26 Don't walk out, don't leave.
29:28 I gotta introduce some guys
29:29 I've been talking about for a year.
29:30 It's time to bring 'em out, bring 'em out, bring 'em out.
29:33 (audience cheering)
29:34 But before I do that,
29:35 she's fine.
29:39 Can I tell you the worst thing in the world?
29:42 I'm doing a singles tour without embellishment,
29:44 and I'll tell you the names of the churches soon
29:46 because you ain't gonna believe it.
29:47 The hottest churches in America.
29:49 I'm not making this up.
29:50 The most up-and-coming churches in America
29:52 with the most young people and just you name it.
29:56 I'm going to like 10 in a row.
29:58 If I said their names, you know I'm all killing the game.
30:01 I'm going January 12th.
30:02 I started my son, Mike McClure's church.
30:03 He just built a new building, bought a new place,
30:06 3,000 people, all that.
30:07 From there to both of Darius' churches from there,
30:10 Travis Green Church from there.
30:12 It's just Keyon Henderson, Houston, you name it.
30:16 And I'm taking this tour, hear me,
30:18 and I'm going to like the 10 hottest churches in America,
30:21 and it's called the One Night Stand, the third edition,
30:25 and I did my book again,
30:26 10 Rules of Dating with a new subtext,
30:29 The Rules Have Changed.
30:32 Because in light of the pandemic and social media
30:35 and dating online, it's not what it was.
30:38 Watch this, even 10 years ago.
30:41 I'm so glad I'm out the game.
30:43 I'm glad I'm out the game.
30:46 But to those of you that are still in it
30:48 and want to be loved and all of that,
30:49 this series, this book, this teaching I'm doing now
30:52 is going to help you.
30:53 Why am I doing this?
30:54 Because I've decided that married people who love Jesus,
30:58 we have to make adjustments, but we can't leave.
31:02 Straight up married people, straight up Jesus people
31:07 aren't just leaving 'cause they don't feel good no more.
31:10 Yeah, if we're going to do that, let's just be the church.
31:13 As soon as you don't like her,
31:14 as soon as he's not as sexy as you thought,
31:15 he don't make as much as you think,
31:17 just trade him in and do like street people do,
31:19 unless we're going to be Romans 12
31:20 and have a kind of Nazarite thought.
31:22 And Jesus said to stay married forever
31:25 with the exception of adultery or abuse or abandonment,
31:28 I'm sticking and staying.
31:30 So from now on, when I teach to married people,
31:33 I really just want married people present.
31:35 What's the difference between now and 2000, 2005?
31:39 I used to teach to married people
31:40 with all these single people present.
31:43 And you sitting there thinking like,
31:44 "I ain't got that, I don't want that,
31:47 "but how you get that?"
31:48 And then if you teach to single people,
31:49 married people like, "Well, I'm already married, who cares?"
31:52 So I want to split y'all up
31:54 and deal with you where you are,
31:56 'cause single or married is not better, it's just different.
31:59 [audience applauding]
32:03 But I will say when it comes to picking,
32:06 be careful that they more than cute.
32:09 [audience applauding]
32:12 Samson said, "Get her for me right now, I want to marry her."
32:17 What Samson don't know is when your mother get cancer,
32:21 will she help you wipe her butt?
32:23 [audience applauding]
32:26 I know what I'm talking about.
32:29 When she go to the hospital with you,
32:33 when your mother, will she go pick your mother up for you
32:35 when you can't go in her last days of life?
32:39 Will she take stuff to your mother
32:40 because you traveling out of town?
32:42 Or will she say, "That ain't my mama,
32:43 "I ain't gonna do with that.
32:45 "And them your kids, you shouldn't have them kids,
32:47 "they ain't my kids, why you pick me then?"
32:52 Be careful, everything they glitter.
32:56 I feel like preach, you know what?
32:59 I got two minutes.
33:01 Everything they glitter.
33:03 Now where most preachers mess up,
33:06 did I tell y'all every church I go to,
33:08 this gonna be more work on me.
33:10 I gotta get there early in the morning,
33:11 some of my worst city people wanna go sell books with me,
33:14 I told them I'll take them to some of the trips,
33:15 but some of them, I'm in California,
33:17 I'm a long way away, Texas.
33:18 Usher's help me, I want no babies crying right now,
33:20 this is important.
33:21 Usher's when you hear baby run,
33:21 'cause this too important for my baby,
33:23 your baby, anybody's baby.
33:24 Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me.
33:26 This is so critical, look at me.
33:28 I want the men to come one hour early,
33:33 single men, particularly single black men,
33:36 in every city I go to, before church start,
33:39 I want the men by myself.
33:41 Now that's double work for me,
33:43 I can sell the same amount of books,
33:44 same amount of money, all that, no, no.
33:46 This is a labor of love for me,
33:47 I wanna make money, I need money, okay?
33:49 It's a lot I wanna do for my children,
33:51 these books help me a lot.
33:52 But that's not the only reason I'm going.
33:53 There's a burden on me, my girl will tell you,
33:56 to help single people pick right.
33:58 (audience applauding)
34:01 The biggest choice you will make in your life,
34:04 other than Jesus, is who you say I do to.
34:07 You can make a lot of mistakes, wrong major in college,
34:11 buy the wrong house, wrong car,
34:14 but to have to untangle your life?
34:16 And don't let us have babies together.
34:20 And then sometime we had babies before we met,
34:22 and now they gotta see their second daddy leave.
34:26 And you wonder why they in therapy.
34:27 'Cause mom and daddy don't pray,
34:30 they just jump on what looks good.
34:32 So why you want the men to come first?
34:35 Because I wanna say something that a lot of women
34:36 can't handle, particularly black women,
34:38 and I wanna say it to single men,
34:40 and I won't give it all away, except to say this.
34:44 There are not a lot of available, Jesus-loving,
34:48 wooded job, between criminal justice system,
34:50 same gender-likened brothers,
34:53 who gonna marry our black women?
34:54 And the enemy is after the seed.
34:58 And don't nobody want me to preach about it.
35:02 It ain't just what you wanna sleep with,
35:04 it's what you destroyin' as a race,
35:07 when women don't sleep with men,
35:09 and black men don't sleep with black women,
35:12 who's gonna marry our daughters,
35:14 if we sleepin' with each other, and locked up?
35:17 (audience applauding)
35:18 So it's not just theological, Rochelle,
35:22 it is sociological.
35:25 I don't even need to use my Bible
35:27 to prove that men need a man,
35:30 women need a man, and man needs a woman.
35:32 I don't even need theology, I can use anthropology.
35:35 I can use sociology.
35:38 Oh gosh, y'all not ready for me today.
35:41 Touch your neighbor and say, "Where is the lilac?"
35:46 She comin' next week, I'm done.
35:48 I'm done when I tell you.
35:52 Samson said, "Here's where most preachers mess up."
35:54 Then they flip and say, "Forget looks."
35:58 No, I didn't say that.
35:59 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
36:02 See, see, that's too spiritual.
36:05 That's why brothers don't come to church.
36:06 It's not about how she look.
36:08 As long as she got a good heart.
36:15 Touch your neighbor and say, "I ain't sleepin'
36:16 "with her heart, praise God."
36:17 Yeah, I'm sure her heart is a beautiful thing,
36:20 but that ain't got nothin' to do with my sex life.
36:23 Her heart ain't got a thing to do with my sex life.
36:26 And so all these single guys,
36:28 I'm gonna introduce you to some of 'em in a minute,
36:30 they'll tell you, I don't do the fake preaching.
36:32 I tell them that looks is not enough.
36:35 But for a man, women, I'm sorry,
36:38 I get men by themselves, start with looks.
36:42 But right after looks, start your investigation.
36:45 But start with looks because you like what you like.
36:50 Don't marry me and then watch pornography
36:53 and commit adultery 'cause you ain't get what you like.
36:57 The Bible says, "Get her for me, she looks good."
37:02 This is important, "To me."
37:04 I know some of y'all be like, "Him and Lady Verna,
37:07 "him and Lady Verna, him and Lady Verna, Lady Verna."
37:10 Well, starts you a church?
37:15 You don't think I know there's some of y'all like,
37:20 she's too short, she's too everything.
37:22 I didn't say she looked good to you.
37:24 I like, okay, enough of that, praise God, amen.
37:40 Oh, she called my bossy.
37:41 I got what I like.
37:47 Beauty is in the eye, if you're very slim and tall,
37:51 if you are dark, if you are short, if you are heavy.
37:54 Some brothers have a fetish for bigger women.
37:57 Take her to eat and say, "Baby, eat another Big Mac,
37:59 "go ahead, no, no, come on girl, eat, no, eat girl."
38:04 You like this?
38:09 Baby.
38:10 I'm finished when I tell you, get what you like.
38:25 I've never seen a man, you've heard me say this before,
38:29 say, "Ooh, look at the Holy Ghost on her."
38:31 Ooh, bless him.
38:39 Get what you like, that's for men.
38:41 Women, I'll tell them this, I'll tell them this
38:43 when they come at six o'clock all over the country,
38:45 when you come an hour early to the one night stand,
38:48 single men, there are not a lot of available black men
38:53 with Jesus and a job, but there's more women
38:58 than you can count.
39:00 You crazy to pick the wrong one.
39:04 Because just in my church, there are hundreds
39:08 of fine women from 70 to 18 who love Jesus,
39:13 who will make you a good wife,
39:16 be a good mother to your children, grandmother,
39:18 if your children are grown, she's ready, I love it.
39:21 So to pick the wrong one, you got to be out your mind.
39:26 Can I tell you the second thing?
39:30 Oh my goodness, long as I preach,
39:31 the second thing the text says,
39:33 he tells his parents, "Get her for me."
39:37 Why?
39:38 Last point, because marriages were arranged.
39:42 You know this if you go to the word nation,
39:44 thousands just got here, y'all be patient,
39:46 they're watching online, they just joined post-pandemic.
39:48 Let me repeat myself and teach stuff you already know.
39:51 Marriages in the Bible were arranged.
39:53 You just ain't going on no dating site
39:55 or walk up to nobody.
39:56 Even if you liked somebody, you had to tell your parents.
40:00 And then your parents would meet them
40:03 and decide if they were worthy of your family.
40:06 In my book, one of the chapters is,
40:10 know what direction you're dating in.
40:13 Directional dating, because sometimes you're dating down.
40:18 At least know that.
40:20 You come from stability, she come from crazy.
40:28 You're used to peace, she used to helter-skelter,
40:31 cussing each other out, everybody mad, no sense of,
40:34 you come from stability.
40:36 So relationally, you dated down.
40:38 But financially, you might have dated up.
40:41 So know what direction of direction you're dating in.
40:45 I'm gone.
40:46 So at least you'll know.
40:48 So parents would decide, your father would then pay a dowry
40:55 and pay for the girl,
40:57 'cause you weren't just paying for the woman,
40:59 you were paying for her virginity.
41:01 Look at every sister in your world,
41:03 say how much you cost, praise God, amen.
41:06 Okay, I just lost the whole church, praise God, I just,
41:09 praise God.
41:09 Okay, not many versions at the 11 o'clock.
41:13 I have to go over to Children's Church, praise God.
41:16 I have to go over to Children's Church
41:17 and teach this over in Children's Ministry.
41:20 Gotta go over to Children's Ministry.
41:22 (audience laughing)
41:25 Number one, last two things, write it down, I'm finished.
41:30 First of all, get what you like, particularly men.
41:34 She should look good to you.
41:36 Don't hold that against her
41:38 because she didn't have what you wanted
41:39 when you could have picked it
41:41 and you watch a pornography, which is wrong.
41:43 When that should be in your bed.
41:45 Number two, get other's assistance with your picking.
41:51 (audience cheering)
41:53 Which means Samson said, "Get her for me, I'm done."
41:56 Your parents should help you pick.
41:59 Particularly if your parents are the truth
42:04 and you trust them, take them home.
42:06 All of my children were taught,
42:08 you don't just bring anybody to the ranch
42:11 and let them all in our space and in our business.
42:15 And they ride right out the driveway talking about us
42:19 and calling their sister and calling their friend,
42:20 "Girl, they ain't what you think."
42:23 You didn't let them all in our space
42:25 'cause you just wanted something to do that day.
42:28 You don't bring nobody to the ranch
42:29 unless you think they got the potential to be your spouse.
42:33 Once you think that, let us meet them
42:36 and help you discern 'cause you in love, we not.
42:40 Y'all, you know what?
42:42 Oh, Jesus.
42:43 Yeah, we not in love.
42:49 Which is why singles, don't sleep with them
42:53 before you get to know them
42:54 because when you turn out, you can't think.
42:57 (audience cheering)
43:00 Yeah, once that sex is good and you did orgasm
43:05 and all that crazy stuff, now your mind don't work.
43:08 Now you putting up with stuff.
43:10 Now you acting like you don't see stuff that's obvious
43:13 because you're trying to get back to one feeling like crack.
43:16 (audience cheering)
43:19 Do y'all see why I gotta do this tour?
43:23 It's all over me.
43:25 It's all over me, not just for y'all,
43:27 but for millions of singles.
43:28 I gotta take this all across the country
43:29 'cause God won't let me sleep.
43:31 Second half of my pastoral, yes, I'm gonna help couples,
43:34 but I'm gonna lean into single people picking right.
43:36 I shall never forget when Jason got on his knee
43:41 on Thanksgiving and said, "Would you marry me?"
43:43 She's looking around the room
43:44 and she's looking for me.
43:46 Soon as he turned his back, she was like,
43:48 "What you think, daddy?"
43:50 Had I said,
43:51 wouldn't have worked out too well.
43:55 And then, and then Ray brings Nadja home.
43:58 I'm like, "Yep, beautiful inside, cold, everything we do.
44:02 "Thank you, Mrs. Vernon.
44:03 "Thank you, Mr. Vernon.
44:04 "Thank you."
44:05 You say thank you more than my kids.
44:07 Just as polite and kind and nice with a good mother
44:09 who raised, I said, "Yeah, she'll be a good grandmother.
44:12 "She'll be a good mother for your children.
44:15 "Don't just look at how cute she is.
44:16 "Do you want her to be the mother of your children?"
44:19 (congregation applauding)
44:21 Let us help you pick in the absence of parents.
44:25 Bring them to the church.
44:27 Walk up to my pastor, one of the elders I respect.
44:30 Let us smell him.
44:32 (congregation applauding)
44:36 It's too big of a decision.
44:40 Did I do all right today?
44:42 Did God, did God, did God speak?
44:44 I know I preached a lot of different things.
44:48 One more time, ask your neighbor, "Where's Delilah?"
44:53 I'm just getting started.
45:00 Before he hooked up with Delilah,
45:04 he hooked up with two other women.
45:05 Wait till I tell you what they did to him.
45:09 Don't walk, don't walk, don't move, don't move, don't move.
45:11 This is crazy, don't move, don't move, don't move,
45:12 don't move, don't move, shh, don't move, don't move.
45:14 We going home, I'm late today.
45:16 I had to give you all that.
45:17 Carlton Pearson been on my mind.
45:18 I prayed for his family and can't knock Azusa,
45:21 can't knock all the people that he put on stage.
45:23 But I don't have to agree with your theology to love you.
45:27 And I don't know where he is right now.
45:29 Only Jesus know that.
45:31 But I have to tell my church,
45:32 no, we don't ascribe to universalism.
45:34 We believe that Jesus does love everybody.
45:37 But you do have to try to go toward God.
45:40 And no, I don't believe everybody going to heaven.
45:43 Now, if you need that,
45:45 there are churches that have a universalistic
45:47 theological construct in this city.
45:50 Do what you wanna do, believe what you wanna believe,
45:53 sleep with who you wanna sleep with,
45:54 smoke what you wanna smoke,
45:56 and you're going to heaven anyway.
45:58 I can't teach you that here.
46:00 Jesus said, if you confess with your mouth
46:06 and believe in your heart
46:09 that God raised Jesus from the dead,
46:11 you shall be saved.
46:14 One writer said, he that believeth and is baptized
46:18 shall be saved.
46:21 Salvation is conditional.
46:23 The only condition is that you believe and come to him.
46:26 You may fall when you come to him.
46:28 You will fall, but if you come to him,
46:30 the Bible says he will in no ways cast you out.
46:33 The scripture says you are sealed to the day of redemption.
46:36 Now, everybody stand up.
46:39 I'll preach alone.
46:40 The Browns don't play till four.
46:41 The Holy Ghost told me and the TV guy.
46:44 (congregation laughing)
46:48 I've been going all week, so my staff, don't run out, staff.
46:53 We gotta have some time together at the church today.
46:56 Let's kind of use it as a working afternoon
46:58 before the Browns come on,
46:59 because we gotta get ahead for next week.
47:01 Got a lot on my mind I wanna drop on you,
47:03 so to my team, don't run out today.
47:05 Let's talk.
47:07 I gotta do some work.
47:08 But right now, I want you to hear me.
47:10 If you're unsaved on church,
47:12 if you don't go to the Word Church, raise your hand.
47:15 Nobody look at the pastor.
47:16 I ain't gonna put you on blast.
47:17 I see you, baby.
47:18 One thing guests be like, "Please don't put me on blast."
47:21 That's why we don't ask visitors to stand
47:23 and all that country stuff.
47:24 The worst fear a visitor got is for you to put him on blast.
47:29 So we don't ask you to do that, but now I can't help it.
47:32 It's time for you to come to Jesus.
47:34 If you've never sat in a church
47:36 where the preacher was preaching that real
47:37 that you ain't fall asleep, this might be your church.
47:40 Jesus love you.
47:41 And when I saw that brother who held that door,
47:45 two Sundays ago, he was hugging me.
47:46 Today, he gone.
47:47 Let me try that again.
47:49 Brother Charles, every time I walked in my office
47:52 from the convention center,
47:53 I stopped and greeted Brother Charles.
47:54 "Hey, Pastor."
47:55 And he gone.
47:57 You don't have to be doing nothing wrong to die.
48:00 He was on his way to church.
48:02 And he was so faithful.
48:03 Selena says, "Something got to be wrong."
48:05 Brother Charles didn't call.
48:07 Had died in the car.
48:08 Don't walk out of here without Jesus.
48:11 If you don't know Christ, if you already a Christian,
48:16 but you'd like to join our church,
48:17 would you just raise your hands?
48:18 Raise your hand.
48:19 Raise your hand.
48:20 I see you.
48:21 Somebody else, raise your hand.
48:22 Raise your hand all over the building.
48:24 I see you, raise your hand.
48:25 I see you, raise your hand.
48:26 I'm gonna pray with you.
48:27 And as I pray, when church is over,
48:30 I want you to run up here and say, "I wanna be saved."
48:32 If you're watching online, text right now
48:34 and say, "Will somebody pray for me?
48:35 "I got relationship stuff, salvation stuff."
48:38 Text that number on the screen right now.
48:40 Father, in the name of Jesus, bless this word.
48:42 We pray that somebody, as opposed to running out the door,
48:46 will run to the altar and say, "What must I do to be saved?"
48:49 I thank you, God, for salvation experiences in this church.
48:52 If somebody who's already a Christian
48:55 will come back to church and say,
48:56 "I gotta get myself together."
48:58 In Jesus' name, amen.
49:00 Come on, give God praise, everybody.
49:03 (congregation applauding)
49:05 Don't walk.
49:06 Don't walk, don't walk, don't walk.
49:09 I wanna do this now.
49:10 I wanna call up some men.
49:11 LaShanae, where you at?
49:12 Do I see LaShanae somewhere?
49:14 Run to me, LaShanae, come fix my iPad.
49:16 I lost everything.
49:17 Amen.
49:18 I could play it off, but I ain't got time.
49:20 Praise God, amen.
49:21 Come fix this.
49:22 I wanna introduce some men.
49:23 Get their names back up there for me.
49:25 I wanna introduce some men.
49:27 Sit down one second, please.
49:28 You're going out the door together.
49:29 Real fast.
49:31 These men have finished my,
49:34 they have not finished my training.
49:35 They're in my training.
49:36 They're not getting no certificates today.
49:38 I'm not laying no hands, thank you so much.
49:40 I'm not laying my hands on them.
49:41 Don't walk right now.
49:42 I'm not laying hands on them.
49:44 I just wanna introduce them
49:45 because they've stayed the course.
49:47 I started with like 60.
49:48 We're down to like 20.
49:50 10 or 15 I didn't let come up today.
49:52 They just haven't been faithful enough.
49:53 That's okay.
49:54 If you like what you see today,
49:56 every woman write this down, every man.
49:59 Discipleship, no, not that kind of like.
50:01 We'll see you all, no, no, Jesus.
50:03 (audience applauding)
50:06 Oh God.
50:07 Oh God.
50:15 Oh my goodness.
50:16 This is, this is, okay.
50:19 So if you are interested,
50:21 I'm gonna find the right word in a minute.
50:25 If you,
50:27 but if you're a man 18 to 35
50:29 and you're interested in being a part of this group,
50:32 then we would love to let you be a part of this.
50:35 Go to discipleship@wordcity.org.
50:38 Watch this, discipleship@wordcity.org.
50:41 Email us at discipleship@wordcity.org.
50:45 If what you see today, you think to yourself,
50:48 I want him to train me too.
50:49 What you training him, pastor?
50:51 Number one, spiritual maturity.
50:55 Number two, emotional health.
50:57 Number three, ecclesiastical excellence, ecclesiology.
51:02 The church, how to act in church.
51:05 Financial responsibility.
51:08 These are things that we spend time,
51:10 if they can get these things straight.
51:12 They don't wanna be preachers.
51:13 Most of them deacons, they just wanna help me.
51:15 They already helping me around the church.
51:18 About three years ago, El Reno said,
51:19 pastor, some of the men don't come like they used to.
51:21 Some of the deacons missing, some getting older,
51:23 some tired, some whatever.
51:24 And the spirit of God said to me,
51:26 nobody's bigger than the ministry.
51:29 Started with pastor Vernon.
51:30 We gotta make sure the Word Church has a future.
51:33 And so I just said, if you're 18 or 35
51:35 and you want me to put my heart in you,
51:36 and these brothers came and I'm so proud of them.
51:38 I'm gonna announce the ones that are married,
51:40 the ones that are single and all of that and what they do.
51:43 And as they come, which y'all laughing again.
51:45 The Lord have mercy, amen.
51:47 As they come, I want y'all to clap for them.
51:50 Number one, so proud of him.
51:51 I mean, he is a director of fraternity and sorority life.
51:54 At Ashland University, brother Darrell Cannon.
51:57 (audience cheering)
52:00 And he is a single brother.
52:07 This beautiful single brother is an IT cloud engineer.
52:12 Brother Peter Ratcomb.
52:14 Come on, brother Peter, where you at, brother Pete?
52:17 Come on, y'all clap for Pete, amen.
52:21 This young brother works here full time in our ministry.
52:25 Does all of our camera stuff and editing stuff.
52:28 I just love having him with me.
52:29 Brother Denzel Frazier, single beautiful brother.
52:32 Come on, brother Denzel.
52:33 I love it.
52:35 Also, this is one of my frat brothers.
52:40 He's also director of HR and he's single.
52:43 Brandon Griffin Sr., come on, brother.
52:46 So proud of him.
52:49 Also, we're so proud, this beautiful married brother
52:54 is an athletic trainer.
52:55 Brother Desmond Holmes, come on, brother Desmond.
52:58 I love it.
52:59 This beautiful married brother helps me in the back.
53:06 Beautiful brother, good, great dad, all that.
53:08 Great husband, love him so much.
53:10 Helps me all the time.
53:11 He's a technician, brother Bo Jefferson.
53:13 Come on, everybody, come on, brother Bo.
53:16 Come on, brother Bo, so proud of him.
53:19 Also, this beautiful brother is also married
53:23 and he's a facility maintenance worker.
53:25 Brother Derrick King, come on, come on, brother Derrick.
53:29 Where Derrick at?
53:30 He's on his way.
53:31 There he go, come on, brother Derrick.
53:33 Praise God for him, amen.
53:35 Also, this single brother is an entrepreneur
53:38 and non-profit founder.
53:39 Would you welcome brother Mike Mathis.
53:42 Come on, brother Mike.
53:43 Come on, Mike, come on, Mike, come on, Mike.
53:48 Yes, this brother is a medical doctor and married.
53:53 Praise God, y'all like, shoot, praise God, amen.
53:57 Would you please welcome Dr. Will McClure.
54:01 Come on, Dr. Will.
54:03 Where you at, Dr. Will?
54:05 I'm so proud of him, amen.
54:08 This beautiful brother is single
54:10 and an organizational manager.
54:12 Would you welcome brother Gregory Tatum.
54:16 Come on, brother Gregory, come on, Gregory.
54:18 I love you, I love you, I love you.
54:21 Also, this brother is also single forklift operator
54:25 and he's my wisher wood, brother.
54:28 On Sunday, I'll wish you.
54:31 Would you welcome Big Dave, David Thomas, come on.
54:34 Come on, come on, brother Dave.
54:39 I love it, come on down, Dave.
54:41 Praise God, I'm so proud of Big Dave.
54:43 This beautiful married brother is a technical support angel,
54:47 brother Scott Ware, come on, everybody.
54:49 Come on, brother Scott, amen.
54:54 So proud of him.
54:55 This brother is a beautiful Cleveland police officer,
54:58 had a great time hugging his mother.
55:00 Brother Shaka, Shaka Brown, Shaka Brown, Shaka Brown.
55:06 This single beautiful brother is a truck driver,
55:12 brother Antonio Watts, would y'all welcome him, everybody.
55:15 Come on, Antonio, come on.
55:19 Yes.
55:21 And finally, this beautiful single brother
55:25 is an entrepreneur, brother Eric Witherspoon.
55:28 Come on, come on, come on.
55:29 Come on, we call him Easy E, see how he walk,
55:38 everything's easy.
55:39 He won't even speed up on camera.
55:42 Easy, tell him what you say, easy.
55:46 We call him Easy, that's easy.
55:50 Easy like Sunday morning.
55:51 Ladies and gentlemen, these men,
55:53 I'm not giving them no certificates
55:54 'cause they haven't finished anything yet.
55:56 Some of them got papers due, I'm still getting to know them.
55:58 The Bible says, "Lay hands on no man suddenly."
56:01 So they are not my deacons, my deacons are proven,
56:04 my elders are proven, my ministers are proven.
56:07 These are brothers that just hung around for a year
56:09 and I didn't want a new year to come in
56:11 without them feeling like we were making some traction.
56:13 So they don't get no certificate today, can't do it,
56:16 can't do it, I don't know them like that yet,
56:18 but I'm getting to know them.
56:19 They don't have to be perfect, we told them,
56:20 we're not looking for perfection, we're looking for what?
56:23 We're looking for what?
56:25 We're not looking for perfection, we're looking for progress.
56:27 If your husband, son should be up here with me,
56:30 I'm gonna put my heart in them.
56:31 Nobody doing this to me, no elders, no nobody,
56:34 it's me and them.
56:35 On Zoom calls, Jesus spent three years with 12 men,
56:39 them 12 became the 120, them 120 became the 500.
56:43 Then it got so big,
56:44 they just start calling them the multitudes.
56:46 And so I'm proud, would y'all welcome these men,
56:49 the disciples, the disciples, the disciples
56:55 of Dr. Vernon's cohort.
57:01 Again, feel free, if you're 18 to 35,
57:05 I know what you're thinking before we go on,
57:06 what about the women?
57:07 Lady Vernon gonna do that in 2024.
57:10 She has an earned doctorate, she's a truth.
57:12 And some passes, they have to use a female minister
57:18 or elder because everybody know their wife just ain't got it.
57:21 Y'all first lady got it, she got it.
57:25 So she, in this church, I'm a trained man,
57:30 she gonna train women.
57:31 I just think it's the best way to do it, amen.
57:33 Amen, it's the safest way, it's the best way, I like it.
57:36 It's actually the Bible way, I love it.
57:38 Would y'all welcome one more time the disciples.
57:40 (congregation cheering)
57:41 Let's go home.
57:42 As I pray, we are walking over to the convention center.
57:47 Would you come over and shake all their hand
57:50 and tell them you proud of them, please.
57:51 Let me pray first.
57:52 Do me a favor, Wednesday, don't miss church,
57:54 12 noon and 7 p.m., let's pack the place.
57:57 Let me bless your baby.
57:58 Go to wordcity.org, if I've never blessed your baby,
58:01 this the last time, it may be March before I do it again.
58:04 So if I've never blessed your baby, let us know.
58:06 Bring your whole family, 7 p.m. and 12 noon
58:09 is gonna be packed, YF Friday night.
58:11 And don't miss these two funerals,
58:13 they're gonna be something we just need to do.
58:15 Father, bless us as we go.
58:17 Thank you for these young men,
58:19 thank you for who they are, y'all follow me.
58:21 In the name of Jesus, I pray now for blessings over them.
58:24 Watch their families, watch over them.
58:26 Those that are married, bless their wives.
58:27 Those that are single, bless their future wives.
58:30 Bless their children, thank you for watching over them.
58:33 Thank you, God, for this ministry.
58:35 Thank you for church today.
58:36 Bless us until we meet again, in Jesus' name, amen.
58:40 Wow, the life of Samson, I'm just getting started.
58:45 We haven't even gotten to Delilah yet.
58:47 He slept with a prostitute, married the wrong woman.
58:49 When your heart is broke, your head don't work.
58:53 Don't miss this series.
58:55 Next week, we meet Delilah, it gets deeper.
58:58 What happens when you don't follow God's instructions?
59:01 I can't wait to teach this.
59:04 Tell somebody this word is blessing you.
59:06 I know it's blessing me while I'm teaching.
59:07 I'll see you next week, enjoy.
59:09 (upbeat music)
59:12 (upbeat music)
59:15 (upbeat music)