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00:00 Who preaches from Lamentations on Easter?
00:03 I am.
00:04 Wait till you see the real love exuded by the lamenting prophet Jeremiah.
00:08 This word's gonna bless you.
00:09 Come on, it's Easter.
00:10 You got a million choices.
00:11 Everybody preaches.
00:12 You could've watched anybody.
00:13 The fact that you even stopped by, I'm so grateful.
00:15 I believe this third chapter of Lamentations is gonna bless your life.
00:19 Let's just be honest.
00:20 It's not everybody's favorite book, but it's powerful, man.
00:23 The third chapter of Lamentations, the message version, today's text, today's series, Real
00:31 Love.
00:32 It's a series.
00:33 Don't miss it.
00:34 Let's get it.
00:35 Love, a word that comes and goes.
00:36 But few people know.
00:37 What it means to really love somebody.
00:56 Oh, love, though the tears may fade away, I'm so glad your love will stay.
01:16 Because I love you, and you show me, Jesus, what it really means to love.
01:38 Have you ever had to pick your face off of the altar because you lost yourself again?
01:39 Think about the blood of Jesus and how we can be whole again.
01:42 Searching to find love in a world led me to the wrong places.
01:47 Trying to fulfill my broken heart, he said he would never forsake me.
01:51 Have you ever been super grown but had to go back home?
01:55 Pride broken because you thought you could do it on your own?
01:58 Obedience is better than sacrifice is what I had to learn.
02:02 But it's love never gives up, and it keeps no records of wrongs.
02:06 Yeah, that's love right there.
02:09 See John 3, 16 said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
02:14 so whoever should believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life."
02:19 Yeah, that's real love right there.
02:21 Do you know the patience you have to endure to save a wretch like me?
02:32 After dying for me, leaving a 99 for me,
02:36 moving mountains or even part in the Red Sea.
02:39 Yet I doubt you time and time again that you still showed up in that third degree.
02:43 Yeah, you did that for me.
02:45 That's love.
02:46 Not being touched at night, not being the one that they call just because they know they can fight.
02:51 Love is letting go when it's best for them.
02:55 It's a choice, like letting your homie win when you wanted it first.
02:59 Love is winning the silence the Bible calls that peak.
03:02 Love is letting you live after eating my leftovers.
03:06 It's obvious that you needed it more than me.
03:09 Love is clapping for you when you just pulled that over my shoulder.
03:13 But when you know God's love, you can love yourself and his people a little bit bolder.
03:19 That's love.
03:20 Oh.
03:21 Oh.
03:23 Oh.
03:24 Oh, make it rain tonight, let's try
03:35 Oh, make it rain tonight, let's try
03:45 To love, patient, patient time, let's love
03:55 To love, patient, patient time, let's love
04:05 [Applause]
04:13 [Humming]
04:18 You guys still here?
04:21 Oh yeah, that was a poem that I made when I first came back home.
04:26 Yeah, home to church.
04:28 Yeah, see me? I was outside.
04:31 Real bad.
04:33 To the point where like, I lost myself.
04:35 I didn't even know who I was, my family didn't know who I was.
04:39 I was trying to find love in all the wrong places.
04:42 And maybe that's where some of you guys are.
04:44 But there is hope.
04:46 Because if I could come home, you definitely could come home.
04:49 You know, love is patience, it's kind, it's real.
04:54 God's love, that's real love.
04:57 That's all I got for you guys though.
04:59 So, bye. See you later. Get out of here.
05:01 I got to study.
05:04 Love's so true, it's so amazing.
05:15 I knew you were the answers to the problems in my life.
05:21 Don't you think I'll ever regret it, I think I'm better now.
05:26 Oh yeah, it's time to turn up.
05:33 Yeah, where my whores at? It's real love Sunday, let's go.
05:39 I need everybody on their feet.
05:41 We changed the words up a little bit, y'all know.
05:43 Let's go. Real love, yeah.
05:46 I search and I plow.
05:49 Jesus has set.
05:53 I search and I plow.
05:56 Real love, yeah.
05:58 I search and I plow.
06:01 Real love, it's okay.
06:03 We're going to do it one more time.
06:04 Say real love then.
06:06 Real love.
06:07 I searched all over but I found.
06:09 I search and I plow.
06:11 Real love.
06:12 Jesus has set.
06:13 I search and I plow.
06:15 Real love.
06:17 I search and I plow.
06:19 Can we dance?
06:20 I want to hold up those praise forks.
06:22 Let's go, let's go, let's go, yeah.
06:24 [Music]
06:33 Put your hands together.
06:34 Put your hands together.
06:35 Put your hands together.
06:39 If you love Jesus, make some noise.
06:43 [Music]
06:49 Yeah, yeah.
06:51 Say Jesus is real.
06:53 [Music]
06:58 Yeah, his love is real.
07:00 Jesus is real.
07:01 It's all his, it's his love.
07:03 [Music]
07:10 I don't want to love nobody.
07:12 I don't want to love nobody but you.
07:19 One more time.
07:21 I don't want to love nobody but you.
07:25 I don't want to love nobody but you.
07:29 Real love.
07:30 Come on, Sopranos, real.
07:31 Real love.
07:32 I search and I plow.
07:34 I search and I plow.
07:36 Real love.
07:37 Jesus has set.
07:39 Set my heart free.
07:41 Real love.
07:42 Real love.
07:44 We don't know what Mary Jane was talking about.
07:46 But we know what we talking about.
07:48 Can we do it again?
07:49 Break the music.
07:50 Real love.
07:52 Real love.
07:53 Real love.
07:54 His love is real.
07:55 Real love.
07:56 His love is real.
07:57 Jesus set my heart free.
08:00 Real love.
08:01 Real love.
08:02 Real love.
08:03 Oh, you gonna switch up the groove like that?
08:06 You're gonna switch up the groove like that?
08:08 His love is real to me.
08:09 His love is real to me.
08:11 I need everybody to dance.
08:12 His love is real to me.
08:13 His love is real to me.
08:14 Yeah.
08:15 Yeah.
08:16 Yeah.
08:17 Yeah.
08:18 His love is real to me.
08:20 I see you.
08:21 I see you.
08:22 Two step.
08:23 Yeah.
08:24 His love is real to me.
08:25 Yeah.
08:26 We're gonna break the music.
08:27 I want y'all to dance.
08:28 His love is real.
08:29 His love is real.
08:30 His love is real to me.
08:31 Come on, family.
08:32 Y'all got it.
08:33 His love is real to me.
08:34 His love is real to me.
08:35 Yeah.
08:36 Uh-huh.
08:37 and his love is real. Y'all got to dance. Come on. YM, I need y'all right here. Can we dance? Come on, horns! Let's go, let's dance. Let's go, horns!
08:48 What we doing? We exercising our prophetic gift. We walking in his love. We walking in his joy. We walking in his grace and his mercy. In his grace and his mercy. Here we go.
09:07 I'm walking in. I'm walking in his love. I'm walking in. Whenever God has for me, I take it on. I receive it on. His love is real to me. His love is real to me. Y'all got it? His love is real.
09:36 His love is real to me. His love is real to me. Let's go. His love is real. Y'all sing it. Put your hands to your right now. The ultimate act of love is when God puts his love on the cross to save our sins and he commissioned us to walk in that love, to embrace that love, and to show that love in a real powerful way.
10:06 The most truthful display of love is being at a church who loves God, who loves the community, and who loves each other. Can we show y'all a true depiction, a powerful picture of what love is? Turn your attention to the screen. Let's go.
10:28 I think we just need to display real love. Just listen to somebody who really walks in love. That person is Fontella. I've watched her grieve.
10:53 Grieving in such a way, again, that she showed real love is the word because we know God is real love.
11:00 Right now, you're dealing with cancer. Many people don't know that here. You have breast cancer. Now, you're one of my ladies to tell me that you're going to push those metagrams. Right now, you're walking with a limp.
11:14 That's because I have neuropathy from the chemo. That's going to go away.
11:24 Let me ask you this. How are you able to serve the loss of your grandmother, which I know Gramps was everything to y'all. Gramps was amazing. When I tell you, you guys are a reflection of her love and just how hard she worked.
11:39 The loss of Gramps, your husband who passed away right in your arms at home. Your son passed away in a car, just sitting in a car and the fumes took over his body.
11:53 We talked about how your mom transitioned. You was right there with your mom. How are you able to stand on that door Sunday after Sunday, dealing with cancer?
12:01 I mean, five losses, four losses, four major losses in your life. How are you able to still serve and stand and dealing with everything that's going on within your body?
12:14 Who am I? They crucified my Savior, so who am I? I can still love because God still loves me. He wakes me up every morning. He thinks of me every morning.
12:24 He thinks of you every morning.
12:26 I was talking to Pastor and we were talking about just how we can just do something amazing and just love on you. I said, "I need to just pray for her."
12:35 I said, "We just really need to lay our hands on her and pray for her." I think Pastor prayed for you. I've been praying for you. But then I heard that you had a situation that your car was messed up.
12:47 Oh, that thing is good.
12:49 Yeah, so you're driving yourself back and forth to ... Yeah. So on behalf of the Word Church and Matt and Lisa, Lord of losses, Lord of everything that you've been going through, Pastor and I just wanted to make sure that you ain't got to worry about how you're going to get your chemo treatments.
13:15 The devil is a liar. May God be glorified. Let the devil be horrified. And let you keep on praising and worshiping God. Turn around because God has answered your prayer.
13:30 Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. Turn around. I'll be right back. I'll be right back.
13:40 Hear her. Say, "Lord, you watch over me."
13:55 Even when the sun is up, yes, we are. And from the top of your heart, you shall know. Will there ever be a change? What shall I do? Just know He has His hand.
14:22 I owe serving at the Word Church everything. God loved me, and I show up to serve to show that love. That's why I serve on the door. I don't want to be hidden because He's not hidden. I serve because I love, and I love the Word Church.
14:43 Talk about real love. Thank you. Thank you, Word Church. Thank you, Matt at Nissan. Shout out to our pastor, Dr. R.A. Vernon. We love you so much. Again, on behalf of the members of the Word Church, Matt, we had to bless this young lady.
15:09 Thank you, Word Church.
15:31 He's a great guy! He's a great guy! I can't thank him enough! He's a great guy! I can't praise him enough! He's a great guy! I can't thank him enough! He's a great guy! I can't praise him enough! He's a great guy!
15:53 In case your love that is strong is unconditional. The power of the Lord is unbeatable.
16:07 We have raised Him! Yeah!
16:12 [Instrumental]
16:41 [Instrumental]
16:47 What pastor does this on Easter Sunday? Y'all pray for me. Lamentations 3.
16:53 Lamentations 3. All of my pastor buddies said, "No, you not, RA." I said, "Yes, I am."
17:00 Why is Lamentations in the Bible? If you're not supposed to preach it sometime.
17:05 Sometime we get caught up, we do, present company included and popular for Rickapiece.
17:12 So we all know Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When you've been preaching to the same people for a quarter century, you gotta throw them a curveball.
17:18 And so more than all of that, the Holy Ghost told me that this is my assignment today.
17:25 And so Lamentations 3 is your homework assignment. Put this in your notes in your phone.
17:30 I'm going to read Lamentations 3, the message version in its entirety in my devotion time this week, okay?
17:38 Because it's just that good. Lamentations 3. But you do know one verse, you just don't know you know it.
17:43 Verse 22 says, "God's loyal love couldn't have run out. His merciful love couldn't have dried up."
17:51 And then most of you know verse 23 says, "They are new every morning."
17:55 But watch this. "God's merciful love couldn't have run out." God's merciful love, look at me, couldn't have dried up.
18:03 You can look at what I got on, what everybody has on, and you can sense our thematic thrust for this Resurrection Weekend.
18:10 Shake three people's hands and tell them, "God's going to give you some real love." Go ahead and tell them right quick.
18:14 God's going to give you some real love.
18:20 You may be seated in God's house. I shall never forget it.
18:25 July 28, 1992, down the way, everybody goes crazy because American singer Mary J. Blige drops her first inaugural album called the 411.
18:43 Some of you too young to remember. Some of you my age.
18:47 July 28, 1992, she drops her album called the 411. The hit smash on it was "Real Love."
18:57 I'm searching for that real love. My sister and all the girls down the way really liked Mary because she was kind of the first person to come along that was kind of soul and hip hop,
19:08 which is why one of her titles is the Queen of Soul Hip Hop.
19:13 Everybody liked her honesty. Everybody liked her transparency. There was something real about her. Still is.
19:20 Something about when she sung, you felt like she was singing from her heart.
19:25 And so she said, "Watch this, ladies. I'm searching for some real love."
19:30 Most women can identify, particularly those that have been through strenuous relationships and persons who wanted you for one thing but didn't want the totality of who you were.
19:38 Just kind of trying to get what they needed. Those of you that have been in relationships that have been ravaging.
19:43 You just kind of know what I'm talking about. Can I suggest, she said, "I'm searching for that real love of Mary Washington this morning."
19:49 There's only one person that can give you the kind of authentic real love that would never fade nor go away, and his name is Jesus.
19:59 Yeah, yeah, real, real, real love.
20:04 And speaking of real love, Lamentations 3 speaks to that real love.
20:10 Who preaches lamentations on Easter? That's almost preaching suicide.
20:15 Some people would think, not me. When I read this text about two months ago, God told me, "This is your Easter message."
20:21 And so I've spent the last couple of months just sort of letting it marinate in my heart.
20:26 Lord, please let it come out right the way you showed it to me, the way I've read it, because it can bless people's lives.
20:32 You know who wrote Lamentations, right? Come here. It's Easter. Don't be deep, Dr. Vernon.
20:36 Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Jeremiah, you almost could call it Second Jeremiah.
20:41 You know what lamentations comes from? Lament. What does lament mean? To cry, to be in despair. Lamentations.
20:48 So Lamentations is in the Bible. Why? Because Jeremiah, in a very real sense, is lamenting.
20:55 That's the heaviest part. Look at me, and then it'll get practical, I promise.
20:59 Lamenting what? Number one, Judah's population. They used to be booming. Now they have fell off.
21:05 Their economic survival. They had plenty of money. Now they were broke.
21:09 Plus, of course, their social standing. Everybody thought they was the bomb, and now they were going away.
21:14 And so Jeremiah is feeling for his people. Plus, he may have his own personal stuff going on.
21:19 And so Jeremiah was the lamenting prophet. Jeremiah would cry on your behind.
21:25 One time, he said, "I didn't even want to preach no more. I was through with God, but his word was like fire.
21:32 Shut up in my bones. I had to make a comeback because I found myself in despair and depression."
21:38 I'm going to read something to you, right? And I'm going to see who can handle this.
21:42 And I was reading this to my sister, Rachelle, and we crying and praying during our devotional time on the phone
21:48 because I said, "Sis, I want you to read this." She read it. Six in the morning texting me
21:52 because she got up and read it and got to crying. And now I'm telling you, I want to let it bless you,
21:57 particularly if you've been through something in your life. Here it is. Lamentations 3, verse 1.
22:02 I'm going to speed read, and then I'm going to break it down to you.
22:05 "I'm the man who was seeing trouble, trouble coming from the lash of God's anger.
22:09 He took me by the hand and walked me into a pitch black darkness.
22:13 Yes, he's given me the back of his hand over and over again.
22:17 He turned me into a scarecrow of skin and bones and then broke the bones.
22:21 He hemmed me in, ganged up on me, poured out trouble in hard times.
22:25 He locked me up in deep darkness like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
22:30 Even when I cry out and plead for help, he locked my prayers up and threw away the key.
22:35 I gave up life altogether. I've forgotten what the good life looks like.
22:39 I said to myself, 'This is it. I'm finished. God is a lost cause.'"
22:45 That's all in the Bible. I wouldn't want to go to a church that didn't read the whole counsel of God's Word.
22:51 Why is that in the Bible? Is that the kind of God that Jeremiah serves?
22:56 Uh-uh. But look at me. That's how he felt.
23:00 And don't you look at me like you haven't had some days, saved or not, where you wasn't thinking, "Where you at?
23:07 I feel like you've taken my prayers, locked them away, and thrown away the key."
23:12 He says, "I felt like a scarecrow. I didn't got so small because my heart was so broke I couldn't eat right.
23:17 My kids was getting on my nerves so bad it started impacting my health."
23:20 And where you at, God? He felt like God wasn't there.
23:24 Can I talk to everybody, but I guess I got to start with somebody.
23:27 What if somebody walked in today and you feel like God has abandoned you?
23:32 You feel like life is not working. Jeremiah was as deep in despair as a brother could get.
23:39 I decided on Easter Sunday to tell people, "Don't take the humanity out my Christianity."
23:46 Because I love Jesus does not mean sometimes I don't feel some kind of way.
23:51 Can I tell you, Jeremiah is about to lose it? He's at the end of his rope.
23:56 But then, you know I can't leave you there. It's Easter Sunday.
23:59 The Bible says, "I was almost done, almost gave up on God, but then I did something I remembered."
24:06 Y'all just missed your shot. He says, "I remembered." Y'all just missed that.
24:11 Let me read it from the Bible so you can see if I'm telling the truth.
24:13 Verses 20 and 21 says, "I remember it all. Oh, how well I remember the feeling of hitting the bottom.
24:20 But there's one thing I remember, and remembering I keep a grip on hope."
24:26 Can I tell you the first thing that real love makes you do?
24:29 Real love makes you remember.
24:32 Now, I need to talk to somebody that maybe life is not perfect right now, but do you remember?
24:37 Do you remember how much God has done for you in the past?
24:43 My son, PMJ, watches me at the first service before he goes and preach.
24:47 Most of you know he wrote the hit song, "Big and Amazing," and he texts me right after the first service and said,
24:53 "I remember when, I remember when he saved my life."
24:57 Y'all know his song, right?
24:59 I promise he texts me because he was watching me preach.
25:02 He said, "Dad, make sure you tell him, tell them that your son remembers."
25:05 Y'all look at me in that tone of voice because can I tell you what you gotta do when the devil starts messing with you?
25:11 It's real deep. Touch your nerve and say, "Just remember." Go ahead.
25:14 Remember how lost you were. Remember how you didn't have nothing and God gave you another chance.
25:22 Can I tell you, once you have experienced the love of God, when the devil trying to bother you, all you have to do is remember the love of God.
25:32 Okay, y'all not feeling me. Let me go grandma style.
25:35 I don't believe he brought me this far. Can I preach to somebody?
25:39 To lead me right now, is there anybody that God has been good to you?
25:44 Watch this, so much so that if he don't do nothing else, you will praise him on what he did already.
25:49 I need 50 people on Easter Sunday, it's not three people saying, "I remember."
25:59 I remember, I remember what? I remember what? I'm glad you asked, Pastor.
26:04 Verse 22 says, "I remember God's loyal love couldn't have run out. His mercy couldn't have dried up."
26:15 I remember God's loyal love. Y'all didn't say nothing.
26:20 God's loyal love. Those of you that have matriculated through seminary and received any kind of bachelor's degree, MDiv or master's of practical theology,
26:30 in order to graduate, before you graduate, you have to do something called a Hesed project.
26:37 A Hesed project, because Hesed, watch this, Hesed in Hebrew is to show the love of God or God's unyielding or God's demonstrated love.
26:48 So we all had to go out and do some kind of Hesed project. Clean somebody's house, do something for somebody, go to nursing homes.
26:56 We had to come up with some project that showed the love of God, not just talked about it.
27:02 And I think I'll pause parenthetically and pastorally and give props to the outreach team,
27:08 because yesterday they said, "We're not wearing real love shirts and don't show no real love."
27:13 So they went all over Cleveland to women's shelters and cleaned up women's shelters and dropped food off on all four sides of the city.
27:23 And people lined up all across Cleveland. There's the project, where I was raised, because we don't just talk about love.
27:31 We try to show real love. Can you clap on a rainy day, them outside, all over the city. Come on, y'all, clap for them.
27:45 And then verse 23, let's just tear the club up and go home and eat some chicken, because verse 23 says,
27:52 "This the one you know, his mercies are new every morning."
27:57 Y'all didn't say nothing. Let me try this one more time. "His mercies are new."
28:02 They're created new every morning. How great is your faithfulness? Let me try this one more time.
28:08 He says, "I was tripping. I felt like God forgot my prayer, threw away the key. I was losing weight.
28:13 My mind was playing tricks on me. I thought I was done with God, but then I remembered.
28:17 I thought to myself, 'His love can't run out. His love can't dry up.'"
28:24 Anybody filled with that much love, any entity that has that kind of boundless love can't run out.
28:31 My God is not some capricious, all over the place capricious.
28:37 He didn't abrogate or take away his love just because I'm feeling some kind of way.
28:42 That's the enemy playing tricks on my mind. The enemy would take your present situation and make you forget your past blessings.
28:50 Let me try this one more time. "Like God is some capricious, uncaring, non-pleased."
28:58 He said, "God's love me." And then he said, "His mercies," look at me, "are new every morning."
29:04 I took a note down, this is worth shouting over, "God don't give out leftover love."
29:12 And by the way, I'm from down the way, so I'm the only person in here who like leftovers. Raise your hand. Praise God.
29:17 Now y'all pray for me, every time I throw that away. Don't throw that away. I'm eating that Thursday and Friday plate.
29:21 Put that right over to the side of the fridge. That's Thursday and Friday breakfast right there. Don't touch that.
29:27 Okay, okay, okay. Somebody about to remember Sunday school. Remember in Exodus 18?
29:33 When God says, "You're stuck in the wilderness, Israel." But here's what I'm gonna do.
29:38 Every day, I'm gonna drop manna down from heaven. Bread gonna fall out of heaven.
29:44 You ain't gotta do nothing but go outside. When it's time to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'm just gonna drop bread straight from heaven.
29:50 Y'all gotta catch this, because who knew Exodus 18 tied to Lamentations 3? It's called proof texting. Look at me.
29:56 Y'all ready to shout? He says, "I got one rule. I don't care how much food I drop, don't try to put none up for the next day."
30:05 Somebody missing your shout. Don't put none up, because if you put some up, that's suggesting you don't think I'm gonna be there tomorrow.
30:14 Now that doesn't mean don't save your money. That doesn't mean don't have life insurance. That's a different teaching.
30:20 He's trying to teach them, "I got you." Matthew 6, read your Bible, "Give us this day our daily bread."
30:27 Now some of you wonder, "Where am I going? Here I come." Can I tell all of you, maybe tomorrow you don't know what's gonna happen.
30:34 And maybe yesterday is gone. But can I tell you why you ought to praise God? Because He woke you up today.
30:41 If the Lord blessed you today, the old folks said, "He gave me one more sunny day."
30:47 I need to preach to 10 people in this church that would thank God for today, because tomorrow's not promised.
30:53 Yesterday is gone, but His mercy is new every morning. I need you to praise God for new mercy.
31:02 Look at me. I don't care how much you've messed up in the past. I don't care who you've been to bed with.
31:09 I don't care where you've stayed at. I don't care what happened with you and your ex-wife or your ex-husband.
31:14 I don't know what happened with you as a parent. Maybe you could have been a better father. I know I could have.
31:18 Maybe you could have been a better mother. There are no perfect people in this room, and the enemy wants to get you stuck in your past.
31:24 He doesn't want you to hear this word today that God's mercies are new.
31:28 Today is Easter Sunday mercy. If you woke up today, that's called mercy.
31:33 If you put food on your table, that's called mercy. If you sit here, you ready? That's called mercy.
31:39 I need you to praise God for something that's bigger than a Bentley. Praise God that don't nothing hurt.
31:45 If your legs work, praise Him for mercy. If you know your Social Security number, you didn't lose your mind, praise Him for that.
31:53 If you didn't get no death calls about your children this morning or your grandchildren, I need you to take 30 seconds and praise God for new mercy.
32:03 It's Easter Sunday. I'm not crazy enough to preach too long on Easter Sunday.
32:16 First of all, real love makes you remember, but then secondly, real love makes you remain.
32:23 You don't believe it? Look at verse 24 and just try not to run around the church because verse 24 says, "I'm sticking with God.
32:31 I'll say it over and over. He's all I got left."
32:39 Not only will real love make you remember, but real love will make you remain. Real love will make you remain.
32:46 Let me talk to people here for the first time. Don't you leave out of here without hugging me and my girl.
32:50 Here for the first time, don't you walk out of here without Jesus.
32:53 And I'm being selfish. I need you to hug me, brother. Shake my hand. Introduce yourself to me. I'll be right back to you.
32:58 Let me talk to people who never left God and tell you the reason why we keep on remaining.
33:03 Because real love will make you remember, but then real love will make you remain.
33:08 He says, "I'm sticking with God." I'm going to say something out loud and shout if you receive it.
33:15 I've made too many mistakes in my life. I'm probably going to make some more. I want you to identify with me.
33:19 I'm so imperfect. I'm just a trip. Thank God. How do I get to hold this mic every Sunday?
33:26 It's called the grace of God. I've made some mistakes. Watch this. I'm going to make some more.
33:31 But I want to make an announcement out loud. All the Christians in here who believe it and agree with me, I need you to shout.
33:37 Let me just promise you one thing, since I can't promise you everything. I can promise you one thing.
33:41 No matter what happens in my life, I'm not ever leaving Jesus.
33:48 This side ain't saying nothing. Let me talk to somebody. I didn't say I won't mess up.
33:53 I just want to say out loud, I'm not ever leaving Jesus because he's the one that woke me up this morning.
34:01 Can I get, he says, I'm sticking with God. It gets better. Lamentations 3 is the bomb, y'all.
34:10 The message version in particularly, he says, he's all I got left. He's all I got left.
34:20 Look at me, teenagers. Look at me, outsiders. Look at me, YL. This is a tough text to preach.
34:27 I'm saying why it's tough, because of the amalgam, the amalgamation of this congregation.
34:33 It's not monolithic, but it's varied. Everybody comes from different contexts and different backgrounds.
34:39 And so Jeremiah's background is his. I'm trying to preach a text to you.
34:43 And some of you are thinking, what you mean he's all I got left?
34:46 I know my children, God bless them, and I'm glad they can say that.
34:50 They don't know that feeling. Why? Because what happens when you were born to two parents who never forsook you?
34:56 What happens when you're blessed with siblings that you can call right now and they'll run up here and tear this church up to get you out?
35:03 What happens when parents were there, children love you, siblings will come get you, and you're young, and then the preacher says, he's all I got left.
35:14 Some people can identify with that. Others are like, no, I can't lie.
35:21 I got more than God. I've got God. But I got my sisters and my parents. If I get hungry, I'll call Jesus. I call my father.
35:28 If I need some money, I'll call Jesus. I call my mom. You're ready. This is going to get good.
35:33 But the old folk told me to tell you, keep living. Because the older you get, the smaller your circle becomes.
35:51 Let me break it down. And even somebody can feel this.
35:59 You can think you got it all, right? And so you got the husband, got the wife, got the parents, got the family structure, got the in-loves, got everybody, got siblings, got frat brothers, sorority sisters.
36:12 But then let's say, boom, spouse does something that you ain't think they was going to do.
36:17 Now the issue becomes, I can't talk to my parents because I ain't trying to really get them involved.
36:26 And I can't call my siblings because they don't want to jump on it.
36:32 And I can't tell my children because you never vent down.
36:38 That's called immaturity. When you tell your kids your problems, you're immature.
36:43 When you tell your kids what's wrong with you and how much you can't stand their daddy, that's immaturity.
36:48 When you tell your kids everything that's wrong in your life, that's immaturity.
36:52 You never tell your kids what's wrong with you. Tell somebody above you what's wrong with you.
36:56 Don't tell nobody under you. Don't put that weight on your kids because of your choices.
37:04 Immature mothers complaining to their children like they're your friends. Your kids not your friends.
37:12 My kids don't know none of my business. I tell them enough, but what's happening with me and their mother?
37:17 What happened with me? I don't know, know, know, know, know.
37:20 But not all of a sudden, you had a whole bunch of people, but now life done got small.
37:26 Now you laying there crying, thinking, all I really got.
37:32 Come on, talk to me, somebody.
37:35 Let pastor teach you something. The reason why I'm not going to play Jesus for none of you is because when all of you are gone, all I'm going to have is him.
37:47 And can I get somebody that would thank God, come on, talk to me, that Jesus has never left you.
37:53 Come on, talk to me. I don't care if you're 20 years old, you can feel this.
37:57 If you 30, 80, 90, 100 years old, if Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to you, I need you to take 10 seconds on resurrection weekend all across the world and thank him for his consistency.
38:23 And so during this series, and I guess this is kind of an infomercial for the next couple of months because, okay, my relationship series, always my hottest series, the most viewed on YouTube, all that.
38:34 Everybody wants you to talk about who they're sleeping with, you sleep with, want to sleep with, who they married to, how to raise their babies.
38:39 Real love is starting off today, of course, with our real love for him.
38:43 And you missed it because Easter Sunday is not about our real love for him.
38:47 It's about his real love for us.
38:51 Our love can be fleeting.
38:54 Our love gets fatigue, but he never stops loving us.
38:59 Okay, let's get practical, let's have some fun because this Friday night, you won't be able to get here, you won't be able to get here, I've been all over the world, y'all know that, all over the world with the one night stand for singles, thousands and thousands.
39:09 And let's clap, this Friday night, the one night stand coming home, y'all, come on, come on, come on.
39:15 So this Friday night, every person in Cleveland, absolutely free admission, got a little short movie we've made.
39:23 You'll hear me preaching a way that's different than Sunday, it's like a live podcast, so bring your children at your own risk, praise God, amen.
39:29 I'm not lying to you, it's going to be rough, it's going to be raw.
39:33 Married couples, you're invited to come too, but one of the things I'll talk about this Friday night, but I'll sort of introduce it and next Sunday and the week after that, is this whole word about love.
39:43 Say love.
39:45 Let's put the different definitions of love on the screen, I want you to catch this because in Greek, if you say I love you, they'll laugh at you.
39:51 In America, it's a flippant word, we use it willy-nilly.
39:55 In America, as soon as a bro meets a girl, "You don't even know I love you."
39:59 You're like, "And what's your name again?" "I don't know."
40:02 "I don't even know I love you." "You don't love me."
40:05 Yeah, and so watch us walk through these, I'll just give a precursor today, I can't stay.
40:11 Eros means romantic love.
40:14 Every married couple, until you get a certain age at least, unless there's some medical stuff or things that, you know, come up in your marriage, there ought to be some eros.
40:22 That's lovemaking, there are children here, so I won't go into detail.
40:24 We'll talk about that in a more proper context, but eros, eros is romantic love.
40:29 It's what Lady Vernon and I have, it's what every married couple should have.
40:32 Only persons that should have eros are married people, not engaged people, not people who date, romantic love.
40:39 But then there is Philia, and you know what that is, that is the city of Philadelphia, Philia, that is the city of brotherly love.
40:47 It's what you have for your frat brothers, your sorority sisters, it's a real love, it's not a touchy love, it's not an eros love, but it's a deep love.
40:55 Then there's something called Storage A, and Storage A is familial love or family love.
41:02 Soon as I saw my two grandkids born two months apart, I looked at them and thought immediately, I'd die for both of them.
41:09 That should be innate in you.
41:12 Every pastor has his issues, pray for me, one of my issues is people who don't care about their children.
41:17 Yeah, to me, not trying to raise your children is one step below pedophilia.
41:24 Yeah, I know that's a tough statement, but I mean that.
41:27 I can't understand not being in your children's life or fighting like heck to try to get there.
41:32 Even animals take care of what came out of them.
41:35 Yeah, animals protect what came out of them, so I don't care what happened in your life, unless there's something really, really mental going on,
41:43 I don't want to be insensitive, but there's not many cases where I understand a man or a woman having a child and not trying to be there for that child.
41:50 That's a family love, but then there's mania, you know where that comes from, maniac, obsessive love.
41:58 And some of y'all know, which is why you shouldn't have Eros before you have Holy Spirit and marriage,
42:04 because once you have love, your brain stops working.
42:08 Once you have Eros, you can't think, and now you act like a maniac.
42:13 You know you're the one scratching Keith's car on St. Clair, praise God, raise your hand.
42:17 Come on, Cresha, you didn't scratch up Keith's car.
42:21 And calling him on the three-way, trying to act like you're your friend, just acting crazy, praise God.
42:26 And then there's ludus, there is playful love.
42:29 Playful love, that's like recreational sex.
42:33 Yeah, I ain't really love you like that, but girl, I love you, just play and there's some stuff you just shouldn't play with.
42:39 And then there's fellation, which is self-love, and self-love, this is the heaviest part, I'm finished.
42:44 Self-love is important, but it can become narcissistic, where you love yourself so much you think you all that.
42:51 The antithesis is you don't love yourself enough, and when you don't love yourself enough, you let people get away with too much.
43:01 Jesus said love others as you love your--so I need a clear, healthy self-perception, so I make you treat me right.
43:10 Oh, y'all better be here, so over the next few weeks, I'm gonna talk about what it is to be single.
43:15 Next week on Sunday, what is it to be grown and alone?
43:18 And then I'm talking to married couples, love and happiness.
43:21 I'm talking about group love, what is it to be in groups around the church and be connected to people and have that kind of love?
43:28 All I'm trying to tell you is that it makes sense.
43:30 There's a wonderful read, Easter Sunday, I'm finished, called "False Intimacy."
43:35 False intimacy, I need you all to read it in your spare time, it's on the screen, take a picture of it, remember it.
43:41 False intimacy is when if there's real love, there got to be fake love.
43:47 If there's real love, there's fraudulent love.
43:51 And so false intimacy is when you get so caught up in the sex stuff that you think you're being intimate, but it's really false.
43:59 It's false intimacy, people have lost time and had children with people and lost years off their life because of false intimacy.
44:07 No, during this series, we're going for God's real love.
44:11 If you're gonna be my husband, love me like God loved me.
44:14 You're gonna be my wife, I need a woman with the love of God in her.
44:17 You're gonna be my friend, we need to love each other with God's kind of love.
44:21 Are y'all listening to me?
44:23 All right, I'll just cut something off, I'm not finished.
44:26 I wanna go straight to verse 28 and I'll be talking about verse 28 says,
44:30 "When life is busy and hard to take, go off by yourself, enter silence and bow in prayer."
44:37 When life is busy and hard to take, go off by yourself and bow in prayer.
44:45 I know it's Easter, but how many of you know just a little talk with Jesus still makes it right?
44:52 When you don't know what to do, and this is gonna bless your life because the next verse says,
44:56 "I'm done, people about to get saved, don't run from trouble, take it full face, the worse is never the worse."
45:09 You don't need this sermon, but somebody on your road do.
45:12 The worst is never the worst.
45:15 Pastor, my money, your trip, the worst is never the worst.
45:18 Pastor, they said they saw something in my breast, the worst is never the worst.
45:22 Pastor, my one child has broken my heart three different ways, the worst is never the worst.
45:28 Pastor, I got a lot on my mind, the worst is never the worst.
45:32 The devil hates that you came to church today because I come to encourage you and tell you that whatever you're going through,
45:40 if you sit here this morning, if you're in your right mind, you got a reason to praise God and say,
45:48 "Enemy, you cannot have my mind, you cannot disturb me."
45:52 Last verse is on the screens, why?
45:55 Because the master won't ever walk out and fail to return.
46:01 Not only will real love make you remember and real love make you remain, but real love will always return.
46:08 Can I tell you, if you fell away from Christ, but you've never felt his love, today you're going to return.
46:16 Can I tell you, once you've experienced the love of God, I got to go, y'all, I'll see y'all on Friday night at the one night stand.
46:22 Everybody's talking about this eclipse that's going to hit Cleveland.
46:26 Y'all heard about the eclipse?
46:28 They're talking about shutting schools down, they're talking about having eclipse parties, days off work for the eclipse.
46:35 You know about the eclipse, don't you?
46:37 You know about the eclipse?
46:38 The eclipse is when in the middle of the day, it's going to get pitch black for like a few minutes.
46:46 In the middle of the day, because of something that happens with the sun, it's called an eclipse.
46:51 Holy Spirit told me to tell you, every Christian should get a t-shirt that says, "Been there, saw that."
46:58 Because one Friday evening, y'all just missed y'all shot.
47:06 One Friday evening, at midday, it became midnight, because Jesus was hanging on the cross, and the S-U-N had to go down, so the S-O-N could come up, and it became midnight at midday.
47:20 That was the real eclipse.
47:22 But that's Good Friday, that's not Easter, because three days later, early Sunday morning, he got up from the grave with all power.
47:35 And that's called Easter.
47:42 That's called real love.
47:46 No greater love than this.
47:50 Than a man lay down his life for his friend.
47:54 Amen.
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