But you said, well, the two or three, you gathered together your name, you were there in the midst. We know you're here, Lord. We know you're beholding what we're doing, Lord, in our efforts to be with one accord, to give you glory, to give you honor, to give you praise. Lord, you said, by this shalom, you know we are your disciples.
When they see the love, we have one toward another, and so we pray tonight, Lord, that if there's anybody in the midst of this assembly who doesn't know you, that you would reveal yourself tonight to them, that you would take them higher. Lord, God, to a greater revelation. Oh, God, we are abiding power and your ability to change their lives completely. Oh, Lord, Jesus, have you.
Oh, God, there are some in our midst that are sick, and we want you to touch them, Lord, through the going forward of your word, Lord, for you preach your word with power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. So we're asking you tonight, Lord, to touch somebody's body. Oh, God, in the name of Jesus. Oh, God, bring revelation to every heart and every mind.
Hallelujah, that we might love you, Lord, God, and glorify you and praise you from the depths of our soul, Lord, with reckless abandonment that we will let go and allow you to bless as only you can. Oh, Lord, God, have your way. Move, Lord, move tonight, move tonight. And oh, God, we will give you the glory.
We will give you the honor, and we will give you the praise. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Again, turn with me to Exodus chapter 14. And we're going to read, as I mentioned to you, verses 10, down through verse number 16, the word of God reads, and when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and to hold the Egyptians marched after them.
And they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried out into the Lord, and they said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, has now taken us away to die in the wilderness. Wherefore has now dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt. It's not just the word that we did tell the in Egypt, saying let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians, for have been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
And Moses said unto the people, fear you not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he shall show to you today. For the Egyptians whom you have seen today, he shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and he shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore Christ I want to me, speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.
But lift up thou, but lift up thou up, thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry land, shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. I like to use this simple thought today, go forward, go forward, may I have your seats at Jesus name, go forward. Now I'm the kind of man that, if we say we're gonna do something around a theme, I just feel compelled to be in that lane.
Obviously the Lord lays something on Bishop Geddes' heart to where he chose Philippians, and that particular theme for us. And as I was praying, seeking the Lord for what to share with you, a multitude of thoughts came to my heart and mind, but I couldn't get away from this one, go forward. Our text draws from the account of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. God has just miraculously delivered them using a series of Jim plagues, the last being the killing of the firstborn throughout Egypt.
This calls Pharaoh to finally let the people go. He had been blaspheming and saying he was gonna let him go, but then he would change because God would harden his heart. But on this particular time, he finally recanted and let the people go. So at this point our text, they are out of Egypt, they're out of there now.
They're headed in the direction of the Promised Land. They are exactly where God led them. They are literally walking in the will of God, but there's a problem. After he let them go, God hardened Pharaoh's heart once again.
And now he and his army are in hot pursuit. So that Israel is hemmed in between the Pharaoh's army and the Red Sea. They are between the rock and the heart place. What appeared to be so clear only a few minutes ago now seems uncertain and perilous.
They are overcome by doubt and fear and begin doing what many of us do when we find ourselves in similar situations. They begin questioning God. They begin questioning his leader and they begin questioning his plan. Feeling stuck with nowhere to go, they began looking backward, wishing they'd never left Egypt.
But God's will is never for us to go backwards. It's always for us to go forward. Turn your neighbor's neighbor, go forward. See, when we are in God's will, he never takes us backwards.
Bible says to me, I'm putting his hands to the plow, looking back, he's not even worthy of the kingdom. And so if we find ourselves having to go backwards, it's because we've lost sight of God. It's like Mary and Joseph losing sight of Jesus. He was 12 years old and they went to Jerusalem for a feast.
And on their way home after their feast, they failed to make sure that they knew where Jesus was. They thought he was with them, they thought he was with the kids folk, but he wasn't there as they supposed. And they went a whole day's journey without knowing where Jesus was. I'm gonna dawn on, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, I don't see no Jesus.
Where is he? We gotta go back and ain't spent three days turning back to find him. They lost three days, really four. If you got the one they went out in, the three that came back, trying to get back to the Lord, trying to get back in the will of God and having Jesus and walking with him is when we're in God's will, hallelujah.
And so you don't wanna lose sight of Jesus, but if you do hold in the only way forward, is to go back and to find out where we allowed ourselves to get separated from him. And so getting back to this situation with Israel at the Red Sea, notice that when they were under pressure, they forgot who brought them out. And just like sometimes we do, God, how many know God's been good to you in here? How many know God's done great things in your life?
Where miracles and don't things you've never thought he would do and then things get troubled. And we start getting shaky in the lads, we start, well, what will God do at this time? Is God really for me? Have I done everything I need to do?
We start to doubt because we don't see God moving the way he was just moving. So we can't blame them because we do the same thing. God doesn't show up right the way we expect them to show up. So we start getting scared, hallelujah.
And we start doubting and we began to do what many people are so prone to do, we start focusing on the wrong things. Maybe get to revert in their thinking and acting like slaves. They had been freed, they were out of Egypt, they were on the way to the promised land, but with the slightest sight of trouble, all of a sudden their mind froze up on them and they start going back to what they used to be. They start thinking the way they used to think.
Hallelujah, glory to God. And they began to question what is going on here? They began to say, didn't we tell you to leave us alone? Wasn't it better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness?
It's a horrible thing when God has been good to you. But then you begin to wonder what's that better off in the world? Absolutely not. Somebody said, my worst day in holiness is better than my best day in sin.
How many know that without the joy, the Lord, you couldn't do nothing. I don't care how bad the trouble will get. I'm like the writer says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. I used to be a child.
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of the weekend. Hallelujah, but see when we see trouble, sometimes we start to fret, we forget the actual power of the God we serve. We began to focus on the wrong things. We began to focus on backward things.
And we began to go back into our own each other. Now, Egypt doesn't necessarily have to be sin for you. Egypt was just a place where you used to be bound, a place where you weren't free, a place where God couldn't lead and guide you because you had something else that was getting in a way of you hearing the voice of God. How many love to hear God talk with him?
I love to hear the Lord talk because he walks with me. And he talks with me. And he tells me, Joe, you belong to me. And that makes me happier.
And so I want to walk with the Lord so I can hear him talking to me. I don't want to be focused on what I used to listen to. The places I used to go. The things I used to feel.
I used to be a depressed person. Down and out, you wouldn't ever know it because you never saw me that way. But I used to be depressed. But look at me now.
Not a depressed boner in this body because God has changed me. God moved on me. And God showed me a better way. And so now I don't go back in my brain and start wallowing in Egypt type of stuff, looking in the past, trying to figure out my future.
But see, this is what the devil wants us to do. He wants to trap you in your past. He wants to get you thinking about the stuff that used to happen and the stuff that you used to do. Because all it does is keep you from going forward.
It keeps you from. You can't press on when you're looking backwards. Hallelujah, you've got to be looking forward. If you want to press on, hallelujah, glory to God.
How many of us like to drive our car? I wouldn't want to drive with anybody who's driving in a car using a rear view mirror. You can't see very much in that little tiny mirror. Or the little tiny mirror.
You can't go very fast, I hope, trying to drive that way. But if you look forward in a nice big windshield, you can move with some speed. Because you can see what's going on. And some of us in our lives, we're looking in the rear view mirror too much.
That's why we're stagnant. That's why I would destroy the joy and the luster and the beauty of holiness isn't really motivating us anymore. We settle for routine and tradition and ritual. But look in the rear view mirror.
I remember when I once got the holding on. What about today? What about today? It's real today.
Get your face out of that rear view mirror. Because God wants you to go forward. Hallelujah. We need to press.
Hallelujah forward towards the mark of the high calling. In God. And the high calling of God is never in your past. It's always in your future.
It's always forward focused. Stop dwelling on the past. God was telling me too many people. I live in our past glory.
You want to live on some glory today. How many want some glory today? How many want to shout today? Come on out of that past.
Come with me and press forward. Go forward. We must go forward. Speechless speaking.
There are only two directions. Two directions you can go. Forward. On backwards.
There's no such thing in God as standing still. For that is the same as moving backwards. What do you mean preacher? If I'm standing still, I know nothing.
Precise you the point. You're going to do nothing. But say God is always moving. Forward.
So if he's moving forward and you're standing still, then you're actually going backward relative to God. You cannot stagnate in this way. Oh Lord, look at me really, really strangely. Because I hold it.
Oh Jesus. Stagnation got a hold of you. But tonight God will lose you from your stagnation because you're going to go forward. Turn your name and say go forward.
Go forward. Go forward. Now I know in today's passage Moses told Israel I stand still. See the salvation of God.
And on you. See. You can still the Bible. But see that's just a metaphor.
That's a metaphor for letting God work versus you trying to do things on your own. See any time we're standing still in God to see his work, we're actually moving forward. You can be standing still and God and you're still moving forward. Why?
Because we're trusting in God. And we're believing on him. And we're walking by faith. How many walk by faith in here?
I walk by faith. And now I shine. Doesn't matter what the devil puts in front of me. I'm still going to go forward.
No matter what obstacles I see. I'm still going to go forward. Because I'm walking by faith. Come here.
Come here. You're a big dude. We're not really the problem. He's the problem.
But he's the problem. We should problem. And some of us. Come here.
I'm trying to go around. I'm trying to go around. I'm trying to go around. I'm trying to go around.
I'm trying to go around. If I come this way. See the problem? Keep following you.
The problem ain't going to wear. You think changing your position is going to change the problem. It's not going to change the problem. You know how you got to go through it.
You got to attack it. It's like David did with Goliath. When he saw the circumcised Philistina and he got that rock. He didn't just stand back and throw it from afar.
He ran at him. He said, don't be afraid. Don't doubt. God's got you.
God's got you. Go through. Go forward. Some of you don't have situations in your life.
And you feel like I can't do that. Yes, you can. You can do all things through Christ. As he strengthens you.
There's no demon. No devil. That you don't have victory and power over. God's that you're tread upon the super.
And upon the scupions. God is for you. We walk by faith. I'll be in diligence to move when God says move.
You can't move by your own mind. You must pray. Turn your name to the neighbor. To go forward.
You got to pray. And it's going to be the prayer like Mother Tencent said. It's down in the sea floor prayer. You got to know you're in the will of God.
Because everybody might understand what you're doing. But you better know you're in the will of God. See, that's why you stagnate. Because you're not praying.
Oh, I got some more for you too. Come on. Come on. Let's get there.
See what I'm moving by faith. We're always moving forward. We never stagnate. Because faith is the substance of what you hope for.
It's the evidence of what you cannot see. By faith. You can do a lot of things you can't do if you walk by your eyesight. You're going to get scared.
You're going to be like Peter who was actually walking on the water until his eyes got in the way. And he saw the way and started to sink. No, it's saying me. No, no, no.
The Lord said, wait for it. This is no doubt. I said, why are you doubting? Just go forward.
By faith. Everything is impossible. Everything is possible. Everything is possible.
By faith, according to Romans 14 and 14 and 17. Faith calls those things that are not as though they be. Look at that guy gave you a blank check. He gave you a blank check.
If you don't see what you want to see by faith, you can call it out. I don't see my faith. God said, I feel like I'm in the world. Faith, God said I can have it.
I don't see another job. By faith. God said I can have it. I don't see my husband, my wife.
By faith. God said I can have it. I'm going to just write my check out. I'm going to write my check out.
I'm going to write my check out. Are you bold enough to write your check out? Are you too afraid? Are you afraid?
Don't be afraid. See you're mad. Little flak. It's God's desire to give you, to give you to give you the kingdom.
Go forward. Through faith. God said we have everything we need to go forward. After Moses tells the people.
He says, stand still. Now, in God, stand still. As he got salvation. He started crying out to God.
Now, here is the leader. Say, you're God's going to fight for you, stand still. See the salvation of God. And then he's going back in this prayer.
I said, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God. I said, look at this. It's just like us. Preachers.
We talk big. Then we turn around and talk small. But you got to talk big all the time. Everywhere.
Talk big. I got to the big. God asked Moses a question. I said, why are you crying out to me?
Y'all ready for this? That's the song. Y'all ready for this? See that scene where to me?
The God asked him this question. He asked him this question. Give him what they were facing. Pharaoh's army.
We're going to see. Never been in this situation before. Don't we have any experience to back me up? I'm walking a path I have never ever seen before.
And so I start to wonder, God, what are you really doing for me? And that doesn't mean that you're doubtful. That just means you just don't quite see it. What did the man say when he said, Lord, I want you to heal my son or my sermon.
And when he said, Lord help my unbelief. How many of you believe God? But sometimes you need them to help your unbelief. God's going to help your unbelief today.
So you can step into another dimension of your faith. And so God said, man, why are you crying out to me? Remember, God always wants us to move forward. And so he said, Moses, what are you doing brother?
I'm your God. And God said to him, lift up that rod. That's in your hand. Stretch that over the sea.
Hallelujah. How many of you got your rod today? How many of you willing to stretch it out over your sea? Get your rod in your hand.
It's not stretching it out over that trouble. God promised me. God says, stand still and see His salvation. I'm going to stretch my rod out.
And I'm going to watch that dread see that troubled part as I stretch out. My rod to God. Hallelujah. Glory to God.
Because He wants me to go forward. So God said, stretch it out. And so what's the significance of us doing that? So you need to stop looking for something other than what you've already got in order to move forward.
Someone said, if I had a little more money, if I had a little more education, if I had a little bit more friends and associates. If I had a little more of this, then I could do this. And then I could do that. No, God said, you got a rod in your hand.
Stretch it out. Stretch it out. It's already with you. What you need?
When I was a little, I was a cartoon freak. I would watch cartoons so much. I'd fix it on the cartoon. People could talk to me.
I wouldn't even hear them. My mind was just telling me about that this way. She said, you know, you used to get in front of that TV. Watch those cartoons.
And we call your name. My middle name is Clifford. I'm a junior. They don't want to call me you.
So they call me Cliff. I said, Cliff, Cliff, Cliff, Cliff. I'm fixated on the cartoon. But you know what?
I was learning something. How many of you can learn from cartoon? Okay, here we go. How many around the world in 80 days?
A cartoon with past part two and finius fog? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Some do. Let me give you the background.
So they were hanging around the world in 80 days. And there was somebody opposing, because there was a wager that they couldn't do it. So the person who was a guest of said somebody else was trying to stop them from moving forward. And so they would get to certain cities.
And they'd think everything would be okay. And then a problem would arise. Because the adversary would get in the way. See, I got some Bible-yvenac cartoon.
The adversary would get in the way. And so they'd stop them. And a little old tattoo now. The assistant would go, oh professor what are we going to do?
What are we going to do? What are we going to do? I don't know what I'm going to do. What are we going to do?
What are we going to do? That's my potential. But there he comes finius fog. He would say tattoo, learn to use what you have got.
And you will not need what you have not. That's a good cartoon. Learn to use what you have got. And you will not need what you have not.
Sir, some of us are so fixated on what we ain't got. I ain't got this. I got to look what you got in your hand. You got to run your hand.
It's called faith and love in me. Use it, use it, use it. Oh God. You got to learn to use that rod.
So God told Moses I already gave you what you need. It's a rod and I say your hand. If you love me and you have faith in me, then watch me work on for you because of God before us. Who can be against us.
If God before us. If God before us. Turn your number and say I've got before you. Who can be against you.
Just move forward. I don't care about opposition. You just press right through it. You be like a bulldozer and nothing is going to stop me.
I'm going to go forward, forward, forward. But our rod, our natural gifts and talents. God gives us faith. How many of you know God gave you something inside of you?
It's talent. How many of you know about the talent? Am I in a book? God gave to everybody talents according to his will, according to what you can handle.
You got enough to get you through for what you can handle. Don't worry about trying to be like somebody else. I wish I could sing like Sister Turner. I wish I could preach like Minister Geddes.
I owe to Geddes. I wish I could pray like Pastor Praise. And the whole world comes crashing down when he starts to pray. You're so fixated on somebody else.
You don't see what God has given you. What is it giving you? What is it giving you? Don't tell me that I'm a B.U.
I got a lot of talents. You know why I got a lot of talents? Because some of y'all don't use yours. Because what I got to do, the one he didn't use is, God said, okay, I'm going to take it, give it to the one who got five who had ten.
I'm going to give it to him. So I got your talent. I'm a talent hog. Some of y'all into crypto.
Ain't no growth pattern like you working the talent guy gave you. So I said, listen, I gave you something. When I filled you with the Holy Ghost, I equipped you with more than just your face now. There's something natural about you that you need to you.
And you got to use that. Stretch it out. And cry out about what you don't have. Just try and go forward.
Go forward. Go forward in Jesus name. And don't make any excuses. Be like Nike.
Just do it. Simple. I got another one for you. Oh, the Negrine.
I stole this from the Negrine. I stole this from the Negrine. Vision? Okay.
See, your natural talent is giving to you so you can do something. Turn your neighbor, say neighbor. You got to do something. You ready for this one?
Vision without execution is hallucination. I'll say it again. Vision with no execution is just hallucination. You're just hallucinating.
Get up and do something. Stop that guy going to do it. No, you do it. You do it.
You do it. You do it. Why are you going to sit there hallucinating? All the things are possible.
Why are you sitting at home? Whatever you got, God wants you to use that. No matter how old you are either. Go ask Caleb.
80 years old. Took the city. What about you? I'm too old.
Stop that lie. Can't say it again. Stop that lie. You're not too old.
You just can't be lazy. See, you rubbed off on me. Can't be lazy. You got to want it.
See, God has given you something to work with. Don't look at your neighbor and try to get their talent. If you work yours, God will give you another one. But he's not going to give you something if you can't work with what you got.
If you're like that fearful servant and go dig a hole and put it in there, God is going to say, if you say you know me, if you really know me, you would have gotten up and done something. You can't be in a holy ghost apostolic church and do nothing. See, that's stagnation. Am I talking to somebody tonight?
I know I am. You don't have to be stagnant. You have to go forward. Because, God, I promised us.
I told you I think the last time I was in this book, it's all good. All things work together. For the good of those who love God, those who are the called according to his purpose. No weapon formed against you shall prosper.
Every mouth that rises up against you shall condemn. This is the heritage of God's people. Stop making excuses for what you're not. That's you living in the past.
That's you dwelling on what you are not. That's your past experience of what you weren't able to do. But this is what I love about God. His compassion is filled not.
They are new how often. Every morning you can hit the reset. Tomorrow morning, get up and say, I'm going to move forward. I heard that preach your last night and now I'm going to attack something.
I'm going to go do something I've been procrastinating doing. I'm going to get up and go. I'm going to get up and go. I'm going to get up and go.
I'm going to go forward. Forward. Forward. Don't focus on your past.
If you focus on your past you'll get depressed and you're going to lose hope. But if you can do what Jesus did, who for the joy that was set forward, he endured his cross. He despised the shame. And let him do that.
Some joy. Because he knew what he was going to do was going to bless other people. So stop focusing on your past. God wants you to move forward.
Stop letting the devil dictate your direction. Tell the devil I'm going to go forward. Stop letting people around you tell you what you can or cannot do. Say I'm going to go forward.
When the devil comes to you and says I'm never going to wake up for you. Tell the devil you're a liar. The father of it. I'm going to go forward.
I don't care what obstacle it is. How big it looks. If it's a red sea. I'm going to stretch out my rod.
My faith in God. My love in God. I'm just going to walk in. Into the water.
And watch it part. Because I'm going to go forward. Hallelujah. You got to.
You got to. You got to. You got to. If you want to go forward.
Press. Press. Go forward. Go forward.
Go forward. Go forward. Pray for me, Jesus. Come on and put your hands together.
Come on. Come on. Put your hands together. We've been blessed to hear a powerful message tonight that spoke to our heart telling us we need to refuse stagnation.
We need to refuse looking backwards. Refuse the thought of settling. Because when we settle we do not move forward. Come on.
Elder Black broke it down so clearly tonight. Amen. Letting us know if we are going to be what we need to be in Christ. Look at what's in front of you and the tools that God has given to you.
Something that Bishop Michael Geddes says put in our mind. You can't be better at someone else's doing better than they can. You've got to be you. You've got to be you.
See we look at others. We see Sister Frank and said I want to be just like her. You don't know what she went through to get to where she is. You don't know the battles that she had to battle to get to where she is in Christ.
Why don't you allow God to use you? No one can be you better than you can be yourself. We look at others. And so many times we yearn for what others have.
But I remember as a child growing up, if you want to, you see the Joneses come in with a brand new car. Well you don't know how many hours the Joneses worked to get that car. You don't know how much sacrifice they made to obtain the things that they have. Stop looking at someone else and focus on the talent on what God has placed inside of you to work with.
See as you begin to utilize what God has given you, then God can work inside of you and bless others. See the problem is we don't believe in ourselves. We don't believe in ourselves. And I'm not speaking of believing in ourselves more than believing in God.
But see if you don't think you have anything to offer, then you are always going to be an individual that's a step behind. Always depressed. Always living in despair. Always looking at someone else and say, I wonder how did they get to where they are.
And sometimes it takes more than just going to them and asking, sometimes you just need to buckle down yourself and say, Lord, how can I avail myself to be used by you for what talent you've given me? Too many of us have buried our talents. Because we think our talents have no value. I've heard people say if I'm not a preacher, then I'm no one.
Who's going to win the souls? Who is going to do the things that will affect and affect the lives of others? You have got to believe that what God has put inside of you is for the value of the kingdom of God and the value of the church. It doesn't matter if you're not the head.
God placed you in the church as the hand. And if you do not utilize your hands as you should, then you will not accomplish the things that God wants you to accomplish because you do not believe that God knew what he was doing. We need it another, another Huey. We need it a mother dentin.
We need the different saints that are in the church. And I've heard this many times people down themselves because they're not in the position that they think they should be in. But have you ever heard about the people that work behind the scenes? Sometimes the greatest workers are those that are not in the front.
Because it's those that are behind the scenes that help to push the program forward. Sometimes you never know their name. You'll never see their face. And sadly, sometimes they don't get the recognition that they should get because people are only looking to the ones that are in the front.
And also even with our convocation. It's those that push behind the scene that help the convocation to go forward. You may not ever hear about the person who's in the room who's putting the microphones together. You may not hear about the person who's behind the camera.
Yes, we mentioned them. But listen, if they were not doing their job, those that are listening that are not in the sanctuary, would not be able to hear tonight. I need to go forward. But thank God that He's given us the opportunity to be valuable.
Some of you tonight need to ask the Lord, Lord, show me my talents. Show me the things that you've placed inside of me that can bless the church, that can bless the ministry, that can be a blessing to the pastor, that can be a blessing to the mothers of the church, the deacons of the church. God, maybe my automobile is sitting there and I'm not using it to bring anybody to church. Because I think I have nothing to offer.
The saints we need to go forward. Somebody needs to raise their hand right now as we begin to go before the Lord in prayer. Somebody's lacking confidence. Somebody's lacking the desire to do what Pastor Black told us to move forward and to go forward and to say, I be...