You've been with us throughout the week Lord. You with us, O Lord, with the women's retreat, Lord Jesus Christ, to edify them, O Lord God, to build them up, O God, to help them and make them stronger, Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you O God for the day, O Lord God, and we thank you for what you experienced, Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your spirit, Lord.
We thank you, O Lord God, for the anointing, O God, that we felt and the word, O God. We thank you for your word, Lord Jesus Christ. It's not everywhere we get to hear the word of God. We thank you, O God, O Lord God, for using your vessels, O Lord God, that your word would come forth, O God, and that we would be built up.
Lord, now you use my lips, O God, use my being, O God, for your glory, O Lord. If you're anointing, O God, it's your anointing, O God. Use it, O God, to bless your people, O God. Speak, O Jesus Christ, to the heart and mind, O God.
Are those that did discourage, O God, those that are heavy, O Lord, those that need to make a change, O God, ask you, O God, to let your loin tank fall, O Lord God, and help them and deliver them. Make your word alive in their life, O Jesus Christ. Let them walk out of here different than the way that came in. Lord, we thank you, O God, for your great goodness and your mercy.
Let everyone say thank you, Jesus. Let everyone say hallelujah. Let them say thank you, Jesus, again. And say hallelujah.
And now lift your hands and up to the Lord and say hallelujah. Say hallelujah. It's a down payment of what you're going to say in heaven and say again and say hallelujah. You may be seated, hallelujah, hallelujah.
The Lord is worthy to be praised, hallelujah. Giving high us honor to my Lord and Savior, the God of my life. I thank the Lord for the portion of strength that he's given me that to be in this building, in this assembly, in this congregation, in the day and time we live in. I thank the Lord for our pastor, I thank the Lord for all the men and God, I thank the Lord for the mothers, giving honor to mother, mother get us as well in the saints and visitors and the deacons.
I thank the Lord for my family, thank for the Lord for my wife being here and my two daughters. Please pray for me so the Lord can do what he wants to do and you can be blessed and then we can do what we're supposed to do, right? Right, praise the Lord. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 40.
Familiar verse, familiar verse. We can read this over and over again. But if we don't act upon it and we don't believe it, nothing's going to happen. And so God has a word for us and a word for me.
Verse 31, we'll focus on right now. Familiar verse, a scripture from the book of Isaiah, the eagle eye prophet. Verse 31 reads, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Like you used for a thought for just a little while, he is our strength. He is our strength.
And how much are some of the testimonies of the hallelujah praises that the Lord is their strength. But you know, we are living in the day and time when people have a different mind. And in the church, we believe that we're able to take things on our own in our own strength. And that is where you're going to fall, and you're going to fail, and you're going to feel discouraged because you're not relying upon the Lord, who is your strength.
If there's ever a time that the church needed the strength that is now, we are being ambushed, we are being singled out, we are being isolated by the enemy to wear the saints out. We must remember we are not, we have not it within ourselves to stand on our own. It's the Lord that allows us to stand. It's the Lord, whatever we do, it's the Lord is giving us strength.
We may have physical strength or mental strength and strength within ourselves. We may have some power. And with our physical body, with our muscles. As a horse and pick up a house and move it.
But as quick as I click, it's a switch. In the twinkling of an eye, we could all be out of spiritual breath. We could be in our backs looking up, or face down, crying on the floor, crying out to Jesus. Because we don't walk in our own strength.
We don't do what we want to do. And we can take on the world without the Lord's permission. We need the Lord to help us. We need the Lord to increase our strength.
And we need to wait on the Lord. We can fast until our belly buttons fall off. We can pray until our rest breath. But our prayer and our power comes from the Lord.
He is our strength. What we have is, we have nothing to offer the Lord. He has all to offer us. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as egos as shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. We don't want to faint. But if we walk in our own strength, he'll let us fall.
He'll let us see how frail we really are. If we don't consult the Lord, we don't do what we're supposed to do. We are walking with a God, an invisible God, a real God. A God that can do anything at any moment to help us.
He is ready and able. Are we ready and able to be used by the Lord? Are we ready and able to be used by the Lord? And to let him to be our strength.
We can't rely upon ourselves. This passage of scripture is so powerful and so deep. It's so applicable to the day and time we're living in. Because we have young people that are losing their mind.
We have young people that are on anxiety drugs. We have young people that don't know they end from the beginning. They don't know where to and fro. They're right from the left.
They don't even know what common sense is anymore. Elder Robinson talked about who Bob Hope was. Some people don't know who Bob Hope was. But it was a time in a place of where they didn't allow all filthy stuff on TV.
But it was just comical jokes. And people can't get comical jokes anymore unless someone's on fire or being chopped or kicked. And even the three stoiches aren't funny anymore. To them, it's an offense.
It's politically incorrect. We've gotten so tight and so wound up in ourselves that we can't laugh anymore. You see, oh, hey, hallelujah. I thank the Lord for what he's put us.
We're looking in verse 28, it says, has that not known? Has that not heard? That the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the end of the earth, faint does not. Neither is weary.
There's no searching of his understanding. He gave us power to the faint. Do you hear me? He gives power to the faint.
You're not going to raise your hand in here today saying, I don't feel like I can go on. I don't feel like I can make it. I don't think my prayer life is where I'm going. I don't think I'm fasting enough.
I don't think I have the strength in me to go on. I know what you're thinking. Because the spirit is leading me that way. So you just have to resolve yourself that you're going to be strong in the Lord.
In the power of his might. You give power to the faint. And to them that have no might, he increases strength. Do you hear that when you have nothing else to give within yourself?
When you've tried all everything else, the prayers, the things that you're trying, things to work out, we're leaving one thing out. Who is able to give you the strength to go on? Who's able to give you that strength to make it? To give you that strength to encourage you?
It is the Lord. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And young men shall utterly fall. And they're fallen.
They're fallen. You have people. There was a gentleman in my bank where I was working. He was a young man.
He was probably no older than 25 years old. And he hadn't see him for a couple of days. He came up to me. And this is probably about two months ago, when he goes, I'm sorry.
And I didn't know what he was talking about. He goes, but I was in the hospital for a couple of days. And he goes, I'm just sorry. I wasn't here.
And I said, well, I didn't want to ask anymore. He says, it doesn't work for me. He's a vendor. And he goes, I was just in the hospital.
Because my thinking is not right here. Anxiety, all kinds of stuff and depression. And he guys is 25 years old. And I'm coming across more and more and more and more and more young people.
And they don't know what to do. And see, if you take your Bible and you read this Bible, and you read it just once a week. And you just read it when you come in here. And you read Jesus' wept.
And then you walk out. You're going to be in the same condition. Because the building doesn't give you the safety. It's Jesus Christ that gives you the strength.
It's a few applying a word of God. And you go like we say in prayer. There's no prayer. There's no power.
There's no connection. We have to do something as a church, whether you be old or you be young. There is no magic wand on how this works. But the source of your power is the Holy Ghost.
And the source of your power is Jesus Christ. So we're not in here by accident. We're not in here with our own power. He didn't line us up and give us a physical.
And guess our way and take our blood pressure and take our height and say you're a candidate. No, we were right sinners. He said, I can use you for my kingdom. I can use you.
How many of you want to be used by the Lord? How many of you are sick and tired of being used by what was out there before you came into the church? And you young people that are in the church right now that have been born in the church, dig into the word of God. Because the enemy is the same.
He'll entice you with different things. But we need to wait on the Lord. We need to be encouraged. And that we need to know that the Lord is our strength.
The word wait in Hebrew is quava. The root word needing to bind together or to twist, winding. It means to look patiently to teary and to wait, expectingly knowing that the God of glory is going to do it. How does that say?
How did he come about that? But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew what they have to wait upon him. We can't just be so, so rushed and so just in such a hurry that we have to try to meet God and try to help him along. We can't help him along in our own strength.
We can't do anything that is spiritual. And I would say even natural without the Lord's permission. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
And they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Do you hear me? You're going to walk and not faint.
You're not going to faint. The devil's telling you're not going to make it. The devil's telling you there's no use in doing it. In trying it.
You're going to go through the same thing and the same thing. And the reason we're going through the same thing and the same thing and the same thing. And week after week after week. And because we are relying upon our own strength.
We're saying with our mouth that we believe that we were waiting on the Lord. But are we trusting in him? Are we giving ourselves completely to him? And we allowing him to be the strength of our life.
Because he is the strength of our life. If we would accept it. The other part is why we're waiting. Because the Lord wants to do something for us.
Whether you've been in here 75 years or what you've been in here for 15 minutes. He wants to renew you. And no one can renew you like Jesus Christ. But we have to be honest with the Lord that we want to be renewed.
We want to be honest with the Lord that we don't like the way the pattern that we're going in. We don't like the routine that we're traveling. We don't like the way that things are going. We see a pattern in our lives that things just aren't changing.
We're going through a routine. You know what I mean? That word kavana in Hebrew means rope. It means it means to be repetitions with no thought.
Because we're coming in. We're praising God. But we're not worshiping. We're not worshiping.
We're not doing a heartfelt worship. So there's nothing coming to the Lord because we're going to the motion, because someone said so. But what if we came in here with our eyes closed and we were just going to worship? Just keep your eyes closed until you felt the presence of God.
Keep your eyes closed and be not distracted with surround you. And keep your eyes closed and worship until the Lord because it's not proper for us to lay in the middle of the aisle and fall on our face, prostrate and worship the Lord. It is proper to do that at home. It is proper to do that in your own prayer closet.
But why we're here? We are not to be focused on ourselves. We are not to be focused on whether one's window wearing or how this person dances or that the Lord will give you a new dance. We have to be engaged here and understanding that the Lord is looking for true worshipers, that worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Leave out your performance when you come before the Lord. Leave out your shortcomings when you come before the Lord. Confess your faults. Confess them before the Lord.
But when you come in here, get everything you're supposed to get. Get as much as the Lord wants to give you so that you can be a worshiper. We need to be renewed in the Holy Ghost. We need to be renewed within our mind so the Lord can regenerate our thoughts so the world doesn't affect us.
It's almost like a fishy. You cut it open and it's going to start getting a little affected by the salt water. But as it's living in the water, it's not affected by the salt water, but it's able to keep that out. We don't want the world to affect us.
We don't want the world to steal our prayer life. We don't want the world to steal our joy. See, the joy of the Lord is our strength. It's not weight.
It's not exercise. It's not cardio. It's not yoga. It's not a mindful path.
Most people of a mindful path kill themselves. Brother Byron's testimony was powerful on Friday night. What are they talking about? People giving advice that it's better and comfortable to go take suicide.
Why don't you try it out and then come back and tell us how it goes on fire. People giving out all kinds of advice today and people don't know whether or not the word of God is true or a fable. But this is real. God is very real.
He's very real. And we are dealing with a formidable enemy. He's Satan and he's a prince in power of the air and he's a liar and he's trying to make us surrender. He's trying to make us throw the white flag, trying to hold up all our failures, trying to tell us that we're not going to be any use to God.
Is that why God has this all regimented? We're doing, having prayer almost seven days a week. Is that why the Lord has us coming in on Friday night before service, coming in before Sunday morning service, coming in at 5.30, coming in on Tuesday, coming in on Wednesday, coming in on Monday. Is that why we're doing home prayer?
The week of consecration, church is already a consecrate. Consecration for them is coming. Chocolate. So why do we try to stifle God's power?
God's Word. God, what do you want us to do? Forget about your limitations. It's not about your strength.
It's about his strength. It's about Jesus' strength in you. Let him be your strength. But you need his joy.
See, we need joy. We need joy. We need joy. The things that he's promised you individually.
He hasn't forgotten you. We must bind together his word and twist it like a cord using your faith and trust in the renewing of your faith. Go down and reset that button and renew your faith and say, Lord, I'm sorry. I've been murmuring complaining and I just didn't think you're going to do it, but you know what?
I'm going to trust in you. I'm going to trust that Lord, you are my strength. And I believe that you're going to do it. Amen?
I like it. Do you like it? Is it true? Is God real?
Will God do it? Everything that he said in this book is going to happen, whether you participate it or not. If you walk out of here, the promises are still going to happen. You know what's dangerous?
You know what's scary? You know what frightens me? Do you know what makes me nervous? Reading this.
In Psalm 1 Samuel 28, you can go and take a look at it. Why don't we read that together? Because if I quoted, you may not believe it. But I'll tell you what's scary is that we don't ever want to have to the point.
Is God still speaking to me? Can I go to God and will he hear me? Does God love me? Does God still speak to me?
Can I go to the pastor and talk to him about something? Well, I hear from the Lord. We don't want to take for granted. So you know, you can walk away from God and you can get yourself in a real jam.
But if the Lord has brought you back, you don't need to worry. Don't let the devil try to slap you around and make you doubt whether or not you're supposed to be here. You're supposed to be here. So Samuel, Saul, he ran his nonsense for quite some time in chapter 28.
But if you look at verse 6, it says, when Samuel, it says that verse 5, it says, when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled. And Saul and quiet. And Saul saw the host of the Philistines and he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled. We're in the church.
We shouldn't be greatly trembling. We shouldn't, our heart shouldn't be overwhelmed. We have the God, the Lord of hosts. He's on our side.
I don't care what the enemy tries to throw at you. God is in charge. This is a king that would backslit. Look what he said.
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not. Neither by dreams, nor by your room, nor by the prophets. So he went out and he sought a familiar spirit. He put those out of the place.
He put them to death. But now he's looking for a familiar spirit because he can't hear from God. And verse 15, it says, Samuel said to Saul, why has thou just quieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am so distressed for the Philistines make war against me.
And God is departed from me. Think about that. Not talking about having your bad day. Think about God departing from you.
And he answered me no more. That means you're not hearing the word of God. The Reem is not coming through. It's not affecting you.
We take the word of God. I'll choose it. I'll choose the preacher. I don't like this one.
I don't like that one. I won't hear from the word of God. I won't listen to testimony. I won't get involved.
What are you doing to yourself? You're isolating yourself. And he answered me no more. Neither by the prophets nor by dreams.
Therefore, how that called on me, that thou may as may make known what I shall do. When you get to the point that you don't know what to do, that's how these people get in this mindful path, this yoga. Because they tried everything else. And they just blaspheme God saying that there's no use in believing this.
There's no sense of doing that. There's nothing to this. That's a slap in the face of God that we take and say, well, the Lord doesn't hear my prayer. Why wouldn't he hear your prayer?
Why wouldn't he put all these promises in his book if he wouldn't do it? He loves his church. He died for his church. He died for every one of you.
He knew you before he said let there be. And he knows your end from the beginning. He knows the words and the things he's prophesied and told you. And he's going to do it.
But we have to understand something. We need to play a part in that because he cannot bless us with us being heavy. We can't bless us with the joy of the Lord being our strength. The joy of the Lord is Your strength.
saying the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
The joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Now say it like you believe it. Worship the Lord and say it like you believe it.
You want the Lord to come down? Oils not gonna do this. The pastor's not gonna do this. This praise, this joy is brought up by the Lord.
He gave us joy and before the cross he saw the joy that was set before him. So when you think he brought us in here, not to fulfill his promises, so that we wouldn't hear from the Lord. You may have a seat. Is it the Lord our strength?
Is it the Lord our strength? I'm closing, but I'm gonna read something to you because we need to get in shape. There's different shapes we can get. My shape is kind of round around the middle and I'm gonna change that because that's gonna be a new shape for me.
That seminar, I was already heading in that right direction, but now I just wanna be one in shape so the Lord can use me, but two be in shape for the Lord most importantly so that he can use me. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 19. Isn't the Lord good? Isn't he great?
Oh, he's really, really good saints. And if you get with this and you praise him for who he is, not for what you're going through. We don't praise God for what we're going through because if we do, we won't praise him. Praise him for who he is.
Praise him for what he's done and praise him for what he's gonna do. Now, when we read this, I want you, this is our participant, you, you, you. When we read this every time you see the word hallelujah, you say hallelujah. We're gonna get ourselves in the book of down payment.
We're not up there yet, but we're going there, right? So we all don't get used to the word hallelujah because it's a word that's kind of like hallelujah. We're gonna walk by each other and they're gonna say hallelujah. And then we never talk, but there's gonna be some hallelujah.
So in Revelation chapter 19, it says, and after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, yes, salvation and glory and honor and power until the Lord our God. Do you hear that? There was nothing about us in there. There was nothing about our circumstances in there.
There was nothing about our feelings in there. We're supposed to be worshipers of the Creator. We're supposed to be worshipers of the God who bought our salvation. Verse two says, people are not done yet.
For true and righteous, heart is judgment. He has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and avenged the blood of his servants at his hand, at her hand. And again, he said, hallelujah. And her smoke closed up forever and ever.
Hell's gonna burn forever and ever. We're not. But you know what? Everything that God says is gonna happen, gonna happen.
And they said it in verse three. And they said, hallelujah. And the four and 20 elders and the four beasts fell down and worship God. That sat on the throne saying, amen and hallelujah.
And the voice came out of the throne. Hear that? The voice came out of the throne. There's still nothing about us.
There's still nothing about our problems. There's still nothing about our shortcomings. It's all about him. And the voice came out of the throne saying, praise our God.
All his servants. That's what we are. We don't wanna be called servants. And this politically, damn the most society we live in.
We, we, we, this is like, this will be ripped out of the Bible. Calling me, so who are you calling me, servant? We are servants of the Lord. And we are the servants of the Lord the most high.
And he said, I'm not just calling your servants. I'm calling your friends. I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. Take that as a compliment.
High five each other when you get out of here and say, I am a servant of the Lord. And you need that fear in both small and great. And I heard, is it were the voice of a great multitude? There it is again.
What are you thundering saying? Luyah, for the Lord God. I'm the potan. I'm the potan.
I'm the potan. The Lord God. I'm the potan. Having ultimate power.
Having influence. All power. All my supreme. The most high.
He's invincible. And he is unconquerable. I know you all love this. All this.
What is this thing? The X-Men. And we love that. That's what is that show?
That movie just came out there. Everyone's getting for free by Lincoln. The Avengers. We want all the Avengers.
And every time there's an Avengers movie. There's someone who outdoes the other person destroys whatever they have because they have the upper hand. We can try whatever we want to try in this world to go against God. We are going to fail.
We can't conquer God. They can't all the military powers of this world cannot conquer God. He's unconquerable. He's invincible.
He has all power on his vestment. It says King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And in his vesture, it's dipped in blood. This God wants to use us.
The joy of the Lord is our strength. If we don't tap into the joy of the Lord is our strength, we can't pull anyone else that's being tormented by the devil because of depression or oppression. Wicked thoughts, drug abuse, alcohol. You name it.
The world needs us. And we don't know how much time we have. But I can tell you so right now, the way things going is not going to be much longer. And we don't want to not do what we're supposed to do for the Lord.
Amen. Amen. So please stand and we'll try it one more time. I won't say it slow, but you do it your own.
Don't look at me. But the joy of the Lord is my strength. Now close your eyes and raise your hands. And I'll think about him.
Think about all the things he's done for you. And say the joy of the Lord is my strength. Now give him a hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
The Lord is in our midst, tap into the joy of the Lord, let him touch your body. Come to the altar and let the Lord move upon you. Come to the altar now and thank the Lord. Come to the altar and say hallelujah.
Get to your own zone and worship the Lord. Thank them for what He's doing. And what he's gonna do, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Don't look at the clock.
I'll tell you what time it is, it's God's time. Don't look at the clock because it's not even 7.30. Spend the time with the Lord and worship him. Spend the time with the joy of the Lord is your strength.
He knows what to do. And if you're weak, he can increase your strength and use you mightily. He can use you mightily if we would surrender and know that the joy of the Lord is my strength. Praise him.
Oh, glory to Jesus, hallelujah. Lord God, we come here to praise you, O God. Lord God, we come here to magnify you, O God, and lift you up, O God, hallelujah. Lord God, we come to draw strength, O God, from you unto night, Lord.
Lord, God, we praise you, O God, for praises come unto thee, upright Lord. And you desire, O God, for us to give you praise, Lord. And we know that praise, O God brings joy unto you, O God. And when your joyful God, your joy turns into our strength, O God.
And so we come lifting up holy hands without wrath, without doubting. We come lifting our voices unto you almost high. For you're the God that can do anything but fail, hallelujah. Lord God, we're not even coming with our problems on tonight.
We're becoming this appraiser because you are God. We come to magnify you because you are mighty, Lord. We come to glorify you, God, because you have all power, Lord. And you fill all spaces.
And Lord God, in you, Lord God, do we live and move and have our being, O God. And Lord God, we come to give our hallelujah unto you unto night because you're worthy of our hallelujah. You're worthy of our praise on tonight, Lord. You're worthy to be glorified and to be lifted up, Lord.
But Lord God, you cannot be beat, Lord. There's none beside you, O God, in the heavens above, Lord. Only you exist, O God. You sit upon the circle of the earth, Lord.
The heavens are your throne and the earth is your footstool. Let your will be done in us, O God. And strengthen us unto night, Lord. And strengthen your holy people, O God.
O God, hallelujah from the inside, Lord.