I got to bring you in my heart GL I got to bring you in my heart GL I got Jesus in my heart I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jes
Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus if you have Jesus I got Jesus just wave your hand I got Jesus if you have Jesus I got Jesus just say amen I got Jesus he’s my doctor I got Jesus doctor in a sick room I got Jesus he’s a lawyer
I got Jesus Lord you’re in a courtroom I got Jesus he’s my friend I got Jesus a mighty good friend I got Jesus he’s my friend I got Jesus a mighty good friend I got Jesus he’s my doctor I got Jesus doctor in a sick I
Gotus he’s my lawyer I got Jesus lawyer in a courtroom I got Jesus he’s my friend I got Jesus a mighty good friend I got Jesus he’s my friend I got Jesus a mighty good friend I got Jesus GL I got Jesus my heart GL I got Jesus in my
Heart glad I got Jesus my heart yes glad I got Jesus in my heart I got Jesus I I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus I got Jesus if you have Jesus I got Jesus just wave your
Hand I got Jesus if you have Jesus I got Jesus just say amen I got he’s my doctor I got doctor in a sick room I got J he’s my lawyer I got La you’re in a court I got he’s my friend I got a mighty good friend he’s my
Friendes a mighty good friendes I’ve God Jesus of God Jesus BL I got Jesus in my heart I gotus in my Heart good morning Providence I ask that you stand on your feet and we going to give God the praise this morning this a himm that we all know it’s just simply praise him praise him we giving God the glory from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the Same yes The words of Simply Praise Him Oh Praise Him Praise Him Praise Him Oh Praise Him Jesus [Applause] Jesus bless saor he’s worthy to be praise let’s do that again from the top praise him praise him oh praise Him praise him praise him Jesus bless his savior he’s worthy to be praised from the rising of the Sun from the rising of the sun unto the going down unto the going down of the he’s so worthy he’s worthy Jesus is Worthy he’s worthy to be praised he’s worthy
To just lift him up again praise him praise him praise him praise him praise PR Lord this Just Praise Him Jesus bless hisor he’s worthy to be praised from the rising from the rising of the Sun the going down down Jesus is Worthy Jus worthy he’s worthy to be praised to be
Praised praise him praise praise him yes praise him praise him praise him yes Jesus bless his saor he’s worthy to be amen you all may be [Applause] seated amen let me say good morning Providence morning oh come on you can do better than that God woke you up this
Morning good morning Providence morning amen it is good to see all of your smiling faces to all of our brothers and sisters who are in person and all of our brothers and sisters who are online today my brothers and sisters is breast cancer awareness Sunday come on let’s
Give the Lord a hand clap of PR at this time would all women who are presently surviving or are have been survivors of breast cancer would you please stand and be [Applause] recognized as you remain standing if you’re in the sanctuary and you have a loved one a
Friend or a family member who is currently defeating breast cancer would you please stand that we may recognize your family or friends at this Time as you remain standing if you have a loved one who is smiling down upon us because God has called them home to be with the Lord they are there because of breast cancer would you please stand that we may honor your loved [Applause] One as you remain standing brothers and sisters breast cancer is serious we all know this as is any form and type of cancer so for the women of our church who are currently fighting and defeating breast cancer God bless bless you and we want you to know your church continues
To stay in prayer and recognition of you for those of you who are standing because you have loved ones who are smiling down upon us we honor them on this day not only for their fight but for their strength that we all may be here if you are in the sanctuary and you
Have dealt with any form of cancer you yourself or someone that you love would you please stand and be recognized at this time amen [Applause] friends it is important that we be aware of how cancer has impacted all of our lives and that we continue to pray for those who are
Fighting and we continue to pray for those who have fought the good fight so if Deacon Julie Brooks will come forward at this time and offer us a prayer with every head bowed and every eye closed let us prepare to pray All right let us bow our hearts and our Spirits father God we come to you first I just want to say thank you for this day I want to say thank you for this time I thank you for every everyone who is a survivor of breast cancer Lord this cancer diagnosis can be a stopper in the world that we are
Currently living in it disrupts people’s lives it disrupts the lives of their caretakers and so Lord for those who were able to defeat on this side I just want to take a moment to say thank you Lord for your healing thank you for your grace and your mercy during the time of
The journey for those who are currently in the fight Lord I ask right now that you strengthen their Spirit Psalm 41 verse three says that you will sustain them on their sick bed Lord I ask that you continue to sustain them keep them as they are going through this journey Lord strengthen them
Spiritually strengthen them emotionally and mentally as you continue to work on their bodies physically Lord we pray that you give them full healing and that you restore them to help on this side Lord we believe in your will and we ask that your will be done but while we have
The opportunity while they are with us Lord we ask that you heal them from cancer on this side allow them to return to the life that they left Lord and just enjoy the rest of their days I also want to say a special prayer for their
Caretaker Lord I ask that you pour in the caretakers as they pour out into the people that they are taking care of Lord I ask that you just continue to strengthen them give them a commun Comm that will come and sit with them that will come and pray with them that will
Help them out so that they can continue on their lives and remain healthy as they take care of others now Lord we know that you are the ultimate healer and that we all have to face a time where we transition to the other side so for those that are smiling
Down at us Lord we thank you for their full healing because we know In Heaven There is no sickness we know that they have bodies that have been restored bodies that are healthy Lord and that they are just spiritually at rest and with you and Lord we thank you for that
So Lord right now with gratefulness on our hearts I ask that you just continue to advance the technology that um is given to help to work on our health Lord I ask that you provide testing and resources for those who are not able to afford it and Lord I Thank you for the
Community that loves on us and is here for us during the journey we love you and we thank you it is in Jesus name we pray amen amen amen Praise the Lord our scripture reading for today is coming from Matthew 14 verse 13 now when Jes Jesus heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself but when the God When the Crowds heard it they followed him on foot from the towns Amen Sh sh There’s something about Yeah there’s something about that name oh Jesus About it is a sweet the sweet sweetest sweetest sweetest name I love love oh how I love oh God it is the sweetest day is the sweetest I know some people say I’m crazy but I can’t explain the power that I feel when you call your name you call your
Name the fire in me set up in my bones oh when the Holy Ghost gets moving it won’t leave me alone cuz there’s something about that name about the oh how I love the name about the it is the sweetest sweetest it is the sweetest sweetest sweetest name and oh how I love
Him I just adore him the J now I real it is the sweetest listen I know it’s sweeter than honey front of Honeycom who when the Holy Ghost gets moving it won’t leave me alone but at the name of Jesus every every every every knees been bow you don’t have to wait until the fire comes you can shout and praise him right now cuz there’s something about the
Name something about the name oh how I love the name it is the sweet is the sweet sweetest sweetest name oh how I love I just adore him now I realize is the sweet sweetest I know something about the sweeter than honeycom about oh how I love that
Name it is the sweetest sweetest name I know and oh how I love him I just adore it is a sweetest sweetest the sweet I Know the sweetest name the sweetest name Hey man come on give it up for this male Cho Providence one of the reasons why I love my job is that every now and then you get to recognize something that is truly special you to recognize something that is truly special and we have a birthday this week that is amazingly
Special so if her family will please bring her forward at this time I am happy to report to you that we’ve got our beloved sister Joan Meadows in the house who’s turning 99 years old this [Applause] week Come pro and stand to your feet let us sing her happy Birthday happy birthday to Happy Birthday to happy birthday happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday amen come on 99 years old Give the Lord a hand clap of Praise now Providence you may be seated
If you look at the screen her family was so uh gifted Us by sharing with us a video of pictures throughout her life so let us take a look at a video of sister Joel Oh [Applause] Than amen Providence the truth of the matter is every Pastor will tell you and every longtime member of a church will tell you it is because of our longtime members like a sister Joan Meadows who have Faithfully toiled in the vineyard of the Christian church for so long you
And I truly drink from Wells we did not dig and it is because of women like sister Joan that we are blessed to have all of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us so it is only appropriate that on this birthday we hear from one of our most empowered
Leaders our beloved sister Joan Meadows give her a hand I thank you so very much I I can’t say nothing all I’ve can say is I’m here by the grace of God it’s nothing I’ve done nothing I’ve done at all it’s just been blessed by him and I’m continually
Blessed by him with my children still with me and and it’s it more than more than I could take but I thank the Lord and I thank you I thank each and every one of you for coming out and being with me I love you I love you I love you am
Love you love [Applause] you Yeah Please Am My we so grateful to have you here today and we just wanted to present you some flowers that you can cherish forever and ever flowers don’t last but our love does for you and we’re so grateful to have you as our mother all the love you’ve given us all the
Support through the good times and the bad you’ve always been there father for us and we appreciate you we love you [Applause] am I don’t have anything much to say behind that except for she told me the other day her driver’s license don’t expire till she’s [Laughter] 105 I I cannot go I can’t not do this without acknowledging my mother’s caretaker Miss Deborah who’s with my mother every morning together get her up put her to bed I just she’s just been a blessing to us she’s just been a blessing amen sister Jonah if I look half as good
As you look at 99 years old it’s going to be something amen it’s going to be something she looks amazing friends with every head bowed and every eye Clos let us have a word of prayer God we thank you for sister Joan Meadows we thank you for 99
Years that you have walked with her and you continue to keep her thank you Lord for blessing her thank you Lord for gifting her to us yes yes that we may worship and serve you with her all these many years and we thank you than you God
For all of our women who have survived and are defeating breast cancer we thank you for our mothers and grandmothers who are smiling down upon us and God we know that by Your Divine Providence it may not make sense to us in our heads but we trust you in our
Hearts and our God that we approach this preaching moment Lord we need you to be the preacher Master please speak to me and Through Me Lord please make the teaching so thin in human wisdom that nothing but the shadow of the Cross may be seen beneath
This morning God you take all of the glory but to leave us the growth we ask all in the name of Jesus Christ I do pray and all of God’s children set together amen amen friends you’ve heard the verse of the morning read into your hearing as the thesis verse we’re going
To look at that verse in the 14th chapter of Matthew it says now when Jesus heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself friends with the help of your
Prayers and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit want to preach to you briefly on the subject of it’s not what you go through but who you listen to it’s not what you go through but who you listen to here’s a fact if you live long enough people that you love will
Die here’s a fact someone who you have been very good to in your lifetime will at some point in time be very horrible to you there’s a fact someone that you respect very much will at some point in time say something to you that will cut you to your core here’s a
Fact eventually a physician will tell you or some someone that you love that you are sick with some disease here’s a fact eventually cancer will visit your front doorstep or the doorstep of someone that you care about friends the truth of the matter is these facts demonstrate to us that at
Some point in time in your life you will go through something to be human is to exist between travail and lament then move to peace and celebration and oscillate between the two all the days of your life that’s right and I could posit for you why it
Is we go through the things that we go through I have been doing this for a few years now so I’ve sat with people who’ve gone through marital challenges and health diffic difficulties people who’ve gone through family struggles and emotional turmoil people who have gone through identity crisis and mental
Health challenges and I could I believe offer to you a very good biblical reason for why we have to go through what we go through scripture offers to us I believe great detail that explains why you are having difficulty on your job why you are having difficulty in your family and
Why you are having difficulties with friends that you love I could offer to you these biblical details but the truth of the matter is I’d be preaching to the choir you don’t need to know the reason why all you have to do is live your life and know that it does
Exist the existence of difficulty and struggle is so common to the human existence it is as obvious in our lives as the sun shining in the morning m a dog barking or a baby crying but the gift that the church has to give to a struggling world is not
That you will go through struggles the gift the church has to offer to the world is to teach the world that it’s not what you go through but who you listen to and in this world that we live in we must offer this gift now
More than ever did you know that in just the past s days just the past week the Palestinian death toll Rose so significantly from air and ground operations in Gaza that reasonable people everywhere no matter which side of the argument you stand on all of us are screaming Mercy enough is enough yet
As we scream Mercy enough is enough if you’ve been paying attention Hamas keeps on talking trash and Israel keeps on bombing while all this is going on you and I both know it’s actually the innocent children of Palestine and Israel who continue to suffer from adults
Misbehaving just this past week we had a mass shooting in Maine and while this is going on you should know that the CEO and the executive leadership of knights Armament company of Lewis machine and tul of Heckler and and of laru some of the top manufacturers of the 15 a excuse me
AR-15 assault rifles they get to walk around free while people are dying from the weapons of mass destruction they made men and women of these companies who if I could be honest with you could tell you but the data that I looked up they joyfully appreciate when there is a
Mass shooting because in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting all of their sales rise because more unreasonable people go out and buy the same weapons that the other unreasonable people have so that they won’t be unprotected sure it’s a good idea to go get more
Guns did you know that in just this past week I saw governmental leaders who had the audacity to l me the mass shooting to speak out against it to stand with families yet not a single one of them introduced any legislation that we may have common sense gun
Lws just this past week Republican Mike Johnson a Caucasian male who raised an African-American child took his ho his oath to be the new speaker of the house that joker has about as much experience as my youngest son Ethan because being led by incompetent people appears to be the only way our country
Wants to run itself in just this past week former CEO Sam bankman freed stood in a courtroom of reasonable human beings and said out loud and I quote from the witness stand after having placed his hand on a Bible promis promising to tell the truth and he said I quote I did not
Intend to defraud the cryptocurrency customers of my company he said he was surprised that there was an 8 billion hole in the balance sheet of his company let me get this straight Sam your customers bank accounts went down the money they gave to your company
Went down your net worth went up and you were surprised and did not intend to defraud your company he said all of this and the attorney that was speaking him asked every question except the most common sense question where’s the money Sam this isn’t a magic show baby money just doesn’t
Disappear mean meanwhile if you were watching the news if you looked at his table I saw five attorneys you think they working for chips and dip come on now Sam all this is going on in the world and if I took this mic and went out into
The sanctuary if I went online to some of you that are streaming and you told your personal testimonies in addition to what’s going on in the world everybody body in here could probably offer some level of a story of the foolishness that is going on in your life so let me ask
You when the foolishness comes to your front doorstep when the tragedy or the bement or the pain visits your life what do you do I I’ve gotten people out of jail here in Atlanta because their response to being frustrated was violent I’ve taken people to the hospital little because their response
To the pain was extreme drunkenness I I’ve counseled couples because their response to the pain was to argue I’ve prayed for families because their response to the pain was to choose silence I’m just not going to talk to you anymore I’ve buried loved ones in this very Sanctuary because their response to the
Pain was to overdose on drugs dedicated babies because the parents response to the pain 9 months earlier was well you can figure that out on your own but whatever you do what is your choice when the pain comes into your life when the difficulty finds you when Satan decides to visit your front
Doorstep what I’m required to ask you as a pastor is not did you do drugs and not did you drink and not did you have sex and not did you argue with your loved one but my job is to ask you and in all your things that you’ve tried when
Difficulty visits your front doorstep have you tried God I know you’ve tried the drugs and smoked a little bit of this I know you tried alcohol and drank a little bit of that I know you tried Netflix ice cream and shopping I know you’ve tried violence fighting and anger but the
Question this morning is have you tried God the diagnosis came you cried it out you reasoned it out you argued it out but did you talk to the Lord the angry moment between your family came you went down a social media Rabbit Hole you wrote an amazing post on Facebook or
Instagram you got more likes than you ever dreamed of but did you try God last week brothers and sisters I told you that if faith is about getting to a point in your life where you stand in front of Jesus flat footed and T toes down and you tell the Savior I’m not
Moving until you speak to me I’m not moving until you respond to me I’m not moving until you ministered to me because whatever Jesus is going to tell me and whenever Jesus decides to speak to me I’m pretty sure it’s going to take me higher than any drug it’s going to
Take me further than any person it’s going to take me deeper than any social media Rabbit Hole I’ve come to tell you of all the things you need in the crisis situation you need God this week I want to motivate you from one verse just how you get to the point to
Know that you need God did you know that our job as Christians is to be Christlike the clear objective of Salvation is articulated in Romans chapter 8 :s 29 it tells us that we ought to be conformed to the image of Christ so if
You want to know what to do in this life when difficulty comes to your front doorstep you should always check and see in scripture you know based upon what I’m going through when Jesus was in my circumstance when Jesus was dealing with my situation when Jesus was going
Through what I’m going through what did Jesus do how did Jesus handle because I can never go wrong if I respond the way that Jesus did you could get to a point in your life where you think you’re smart enough to figure it out on your
Own it is your wisdom your sciousness it is your intuition and your network that’ll help you get through problems but eventually when you finally get grown you realize that sometimes life will put you where only the Lord can get to you and the sooner we figure that out
The easier this life is going to be this brothers and sisters is how we arrive at the 13th verse in the 14th chapter even the most casual reader of the Book of Matthew recognizes that we are at the story of the feeding of the 5,000 the Bible says the crowds were following
Jesus and Jesus had compassion for the crowds the Bible teaches us that just before he fed the 5,000 he cured the sick he ministered to the lost and after doing all that work they were hungry it was getting late in the evening and somebody needed to provide
Dinner we’re so eager to read the story of the feeding of the 5000 that we miss how the narrative began in the first place it is at this point in the text that you realize that just before Jesus fed the 5,000 Jesus was grieving the Bible says in verse 13 now
When Jesus heard this which means you got to back up before the story and you have to figure out what did Jesus hear just before he fed the 5,000 backing up a bit in scripture you realize what Jesus heard were the disciples his homeboy coming to tell him
That John the Baptist had been murdered by the state beheaded under the whims of a little girl and his head paraded around on a platter Jesus must have thought this that’s how John the Baptist died to to one of God’s most Faithful Servants this is the end that he comes to this
This is what happens to truly my one and only friend my one and only person on this Earth who understood what it meant to be sold out to God and to turn your life over to Faith and God let him have his head cut off this is what happens to people who
Walk in this life and decide that they are going to choose faith for the one man on the planet who was sold out to God like me who was peculiar in all his ways like me who loved people enough to stand against society and say the world will take your
Left but God is trying to pull you right to the countercultural whims of the people who only want to satisfy their own flesh who only want to deal in their own needs and this man stood for something this man talked about repentance this man made straight the
Ways of people who would come after him and he got his head cut off no trial no conviction no arrest just a little girl who said bring me the head of John the Baptist and Herod went arrested him and beheaded him and all the while God you stayed in
Heaven and let John be murdered by the state I got Hamas militants exercising their grievances by murdering innocent israelies I’ve got indignant Israeli leadership sitting in the comfort of their own man caves while they bomb the Palestinians and you let John the Baptist get beheaded I got Republican and Democratic
Leaders who fight over topics that don’t impact 95% of the population but you let John the Baptist get his head cut off I have cancer touching my family I’ve got hospice holding my loved ones hostage I’ve got tears in my heart from the grief and the
Pain that I’ve carried for years and you let John the Baptist get his head cut off my fin Night P mind can I not understand God why is it that apparently you let bad things happen to good people my little brain that has capacity limits cannot process why it appears
That the righteous are suffering and the righteous are begging bread my my minuscule mind compared to God’s Divine wisdom cannot explain how is it that the beheading of John the Baptist was a good thing and the good news of the text is that Jesus didn’t understand either the Bible says that upon hearing
About the death of his friend his precursor the one who came before him upon hearing about the dastardly deed that Herod did to John the Baptist upon hearing about what John the Baptist had to go through and the fear that must have been in his heart when he knew he
Was about to have his head cut off the Bible says that when Jesus pondered wondered what John the Baptist ponder that I served you Lord I did what you called me to do I went and was countercultural I preached about repentance I preached about faith and as
I’m sitting in this cell with the Executioner looking at me sharpening his blade I’m wondering to myself God when are you going to show up how are you going to get me out of this situation when are you going to fix it and make a
Way for me as I’m sitting here in fear is gripping me on the inside and tears are handcuffing my cheeks Jesus wants to know who was there for John the Baptist who was concerning themselves with what John the Baptist is going through and in that fear the Bible says Jesus did not chug
His shoulders and say it’s just God’s will the Bible says Jesus did not simply give a preacher platitude and say you know what I’m too blessed to be stressed and everything is going to be all right upon hearing the brutal news that the faithful man of color has been cut down
By the state Jesus made a decision I’m not going to become emotionally unavailable and and cease to teach my disciples I’m not going to stop ministering to the people that I’ve been called to I’m not going to stop sharing the love that God has given to me but
Based upon the pain that is in my stomach based upon the hurt that is in my heart based upon the struggle that is on my mind the Bible says in the 13th verse he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself he didn’t sit there and decide I
Got to go on social media and tell everybody what’s going on on the inside of me he didn’t hop on the phone and call his home girl or his homeboy and say I want you to lament and cry with me he didn’t gather his disciples together
And say let’s have a pity party together the Bible says he withdrew in a boat to a a deserted place by himself s he didn’t shake it off and keep preaching on Sunday morning he didn’t act like it was all good and keep teaching Bible study he didn’t sit in
His car for 10 minutes and then go in his house and treat his family like everything was going to be okay he didn’t turn around and start arguing with his wife he didn’t unnecessarily start beating his children he didn’t start cussing and yelling for no reason he decided that based upon what I’m
Dealing with based upon the heavy load of pain that is on me I’m going to be honest about what I’m going through I’m going to be honest about what I feel and he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself the pain of John the Baptist death caused Jesus to pull
Back I I must pull back in process process what is happening in my life I’m not the same man that I was before I heard about John the Baptist I I can’t keep going on like I did before I heard about Don the Baptist I’m not going to
Fake the funk and act like I’m too blessed to be stressed I’m not going to negatively start being disrespectful and rude to the people in my life because I can’t deal with my own emotions the book says he withr you can’t hear about what is going on in the Gaza Strip you can’t
Listen to mass shootings you can’t think about the death of loved ones you can’t deal with the the the pain and the and the hurt and the trepidation that every single one of us goes through when we go and our doctor does our blood work and we
Wait and wait to hear what the doctor is saying you can’t live like this brothers and sisters and think everything is all good I if the one who is and was and always shall be needed to withdraw if the one who was the visible representation of the invisible God
Needed to withdraw if the rose of Sharon and the bright and Morning Star needed to take a moment how much more do you and I need to withdraw if Jesus had to withdraw I shouldn’t pull back to stay back I shouldn’t pull back to engage in destructive Behavior I shouldn’t pull
Back just to take an emotional health day but I should recognize that if Jesus withdrew to deal with and process what was happening in his life then I need to look at my own self-health practices and it’s not just the fact that Jesus withdrew but if you read the
Verse too fast you will miss the power that is in the verse it’s not just that he withdrew it’s about where he went when he withdrew the Bible says he went in a boat to a deserted place I can’t withdraw and go to the bar and hang out with my friends and think
I’m going to process what’s going on with me I can’t withdraw and get with my home boys and home girls and watch a football game and think I can deal with what’s going on with me I can’t withdraw and go get with my kids in the family
Union and think I’m going to deal with what’s going on with me but if I’m actually going to process what’s going on in my mind then I might need to go to a deserted place I remember being a graduate student in the University of Michigan it
Was the first time in my life I was in a deserted Place hadn’t found Jesus up to that point in time in my life my family was in Maryland when I when I first got to Michigan all my friends my frat brothers everybody I knew was down here
In Atlanta and there I am in the coldest place on Earth where it snows 364 days out of the year I remember my first class before I had met anyone it was a continuous optimization class I thought I was pretty smart till I sat in this class
And I listened to this Joker talk about things that I had never heard before in my life he was using letters on the board and I said to a student who was sitting next to me that’s not English nor is it Greek what letter is that by the time class finished I faked
The funk I acted like I understood like every other kid in the class I remember I left the building and I went and sat on the curb I looked up at heaven and I said what have I done why am I here it was in that deserted place that
I found the Lord it was in that deserted place that I gave my life to God and my life transformed because every now and then God’s got to get you away from your spouse and your children every now and then God’s got to get you away from your
Friends every now and then you’ve got to walk away from the things that Entertain You and engage you and it’s got to just be you and the Lord I don’t know how we going to make it through this I don’t know how we going to do this I don’t
Know how I’m going to get over but lord I can’t trace you nowhere until I sit still and find your presence my normal life distractions can’t be upon me the circumstances can’t be around me it’s just me and you God the Bible teaches us that in his
Travail and in his pain in his bereavement and in his worrisome Jesus went to be with God friends I offer the same to you things are going on in this life you do have feelings that you are processing you can try to suppress them as much as
You want you can try to act like you can make it no matter what you can be as externally physically and emotionally tough as you want to and all all that means is that you are going to be emotionally available and harmful to the people that are around you if you
Actually want to be healthy you’ve got to get off social media you’ve got to turn your phone off you’ve got to close your laptop you have to power down your iPad you have to turn off your TV you got to tell your spouse I’ll be right back you got to tell your
Children go sit down somewhere and you and yourself me my myself and I have got to get in whatever is your boat and go to wherever is your deserted place there has to come a time in your life where you recognize if I’m actually going to be transformed by the one who
Created me if I’m actually going to be picked up by the one who originally picked me up and breathed the breath of life into my being I’ve got to go to a deserted place in my life and spend some time by myself self with the Lord I got
12 disciples Jesus said but I only need one God I got dozens of people following me to get this meal but I only need one God I got hundreds in the crowd but I only need one God and it was there when he was with that one God that Jesus
Could be fully and truly and authentically himself no expectations nobody pulling on me how I feel I can just be honest he could grieve the way that he wanted to grieve he could cry the way way that he wanted to cry he could shout the way that he wanted to
Shout and brothers and sisters if you want to go through this life and find some semblance of Health if you want to go through this life and find some semblance of Peace if you want to go through this life and find some semblance of strength you’ve got to find your deserted
Place the place where God will meet you the place where God will care for you the place where God will lift you up and wipe every tear away the place where God will care less about the facade that you have developed to get through this world and
God will actually deal with the real you the place where my faith tells me and my life experiences have taught me it is in these moments when you get to stand before God and say I’m here Lord I need you Lord help me Lord and when you finally calm down all the other
Noise and you just get to that deserted place with God it’s there that God will speak in your life and when you get there it won’t be about what you go through it will be about who you are listening to God bless your Providence Hallelujah I couldn’t seem to fall asleep there was so much on my mind Searching for that peace but peace I could not find so then I kneel down to pray praying help me please then he said you don’t have to cry I’ll supply all your need as soon as I stopped worrying worrying how the story ends I let go and I let
God let God have his way that’s when things start happening when I stopped looking at back in I let go and I let go let God have his way the signal can’t get through because you and I have so much noise in our lives think about the number of voices
You listen to in a day when really it’s only one voice that matters and will shape your life if you’re here today and you’re ready to say I need to focus on the one voice I I have to learn how to pull away from all the other noise that is in my
Life that I might hear directly from God same for my brothers and sisters who are online there’s there is but one way to do it and it is offered to us in scripture comes out of the book of Romans 10: 8-10 it says if you confess with your lips that Jesus is
Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved there’s only one way to do this thing so there’s three groups of people I’m talking to group number one maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus before in your life you have no idea what that
Means you’ve never even been baptized in our tradition you’re in the group called candidate for baptism group number two you’ve accepted Jesus you’ve been baptized but you don’t have a church home you don’t have a pastor deacons that know your name you’re worshiping online but you need to
Make a connection and you were in the group called Christian experience group three you have a church home someplace but for this season finite amount of time you need Providence to watch over your soul you were in the group called watch care candidate for baptism Christian experience watch care does not matter
What group you were in all that matters is that today you were saying I want to hear the voice of God and I need Providence to help me do it if that’s you I’m going to ask you two questions you don’t have to respond aloud to me I want you to speak directly
To God because you don’t owe me anything but you owe God everything question number one today are you willing to confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord if you are in your heart say yes I do question number two are you willing to believe in your heart that God raised
Jesus from the dead if you’re willing to believe that today just tell God yes I do the Bible says if you’ve made that confession and you have that belief then you are saved and going to heaven and on your way to heaven you now have a church
Home that is here to love you and support you and help you become the man woman or person of God that God has called you to be to my brothers and sisters worshiping online there’s a number there I’ve got a deacon standing by waiting to instruct you and receive
You and welcome you into the family of Faith to those in the sanctuary in just a moment we’re going to stand the music Ministry is going to minister to us and if today is the day you need to make it official all you have to do is come
Forward and sit on this first Pew take one step towards God and God will take a step towards you friends the doors of the church are now open please may we all stand there’s so much going on sometimes I can’t find my way and often times I struggle struggle from day
Today this is your day I have to realize it’s not my battle to fight I have to know if I put it in your hands everything will be all right as soon as I stop soon as I stop worrying how the story end that’s when I let go and I let
God let God have his way that’s when things start happening friends listen the altar is open if you know that you need need prayer today as we pray for you or pray for your loved ones to continue to defeating cancer and to continue to hear
God speak in our lives the altar is open for you won’t you come and let us pray with you and let us pray for you let go let God let go let go let go let God let go let go go let go let go and let
Go you’ve got to let go and let God let go let God soon as I stop worrying bring a story I let go and I let God let God listen to me the number one thing that has come up in my life as a pastor there’s people being diagnosed with cancer I’ve heard it over and over and over
Again I’ve walked with people who have been diagnosed with cancer and fought it we walked with people who diagnosed with cancer and defeated it walk with people who diagnosed with cancer and then months later I did their homegoing celebration cancer impacts us all if when the cancer diagnosis comes
To either you or a family member if all you can hear is the pain and the frustration and the anger and the worry and the fear and the unknowing you’re not hearing all the voices that are speaking and so today our prayer is when the bad news comes to my
Life God show me how to be able to hear your voice among all the other things I’m listening to because truly church it’s not what you go through but it’s who you listen to as you go through it the head bowed D eye closed let us
Pray father God we come to you right now we come with our hearts as we only know how some of us are like Jesus we heard the news some of us are like Jesus in the midst of functioning and doing life something came to our ears it came
To our ears and landed in our hearts so bad that it turned us off course for just a little bit but God because we heard your son preach this morning that if Jesus can pull away and it’s not that he’s responding in a bad way he just
Pulled away to be still to hear you lord lord we come today at this altar to come to be still to just hear you Lord to hear you when devil knocks on our door to hear you when cancer says hello to hear you when fear says I’m back to hear
You when whatever the life comes and brings today God we say even though it’s hard to hear we choose to let your voice be the loudest voice to hear we choose today to hear you so clear for the direction and the wisdom to hear you for the compassion and the
Motivation to be one with you and cry with you if we must but God we thank you that you are the God who hears us that you are a God who doesn’t turn his ears off and walk away in the midst of our distress and Lord because we have come
To you with a willing and open heart we can say God here am I here I am here is Providence at the altar saying have mercy Lord see upon us today for the things we must carry throughout this week we will leave the altar but here we
Take to hear your voice concerning that thing we bring to this altar on this morning God move like never before and God as we sit in silence we will hear you speak a word of Life To Us in the midst of what we’re facing God we thank
You for the survivors of bre cancer that stand before us because they too would have said they had to withdraw to hear what thus sayeth the Lord and God we thank you because your word that you spoke to them proven to be fruitful so they can stand and praise you but for
Those who are still battling for those who still have tears in their eyes that this sermon will come alive and God says come quietly Away with Me Hide with me steal away with me so I can love on you better so I can whisper hope a bigger
Better so I can tell you that you are fine that I am here even now and until the end and until eternity that Lord you are with us always and for those who have gone and we still grieve their absence of their presence that God you
Are our comforter and that we still can steal away to grieve a little bit more like Jesus did God no matter the news we bring no matter the news we will hear this week we have one assignment is to steal away with you God to come alone with you
God and I thank you that when we get with you we don’t have to be nobody but ourselves that we can cry we can yell as your good son said we can throw fits and know that your wrapping Loving Arms will meet us in our need and that you will
Strengthen us just for one more day again again to go along the journey but we will be clear it’s not who we respond to we will be clear it’s not what we’re listening to it’s who we actually hear and God we hearing you on this morning we hear you even right now and
We thank you for our example Christ who was able to show us it’s all right to be all not all right it’s it’s all right to just want to say I can’t do this today and that we can hide with you Lord we pray for the environment to hide with
You we pray for the season of Stillness and silence that we are impacted by your voice that we are better than the way we walked into that space of Silence when we leave we’re stronger than before when we leave we’re more hopeful than before when we leave we’re not the same way we
Came in because we encountered you in our desert place and we are better for the season ahead continue to fortify us continue to strengthen us and we will be so careful to give you glory for what we have survived for what we have overcome for what we will overcome and for what
We will declare in eternity thank you Jesus we love you we honor you and we bless you many will pray in many ways but it is in Jesus Christ’s name we do believe we do pray and we declare amen amen and Amen amen amen and now it is giving time Providence To you on line and to all of us here in the sanctuary there are several ways that we can give um you can write a check to the church or you can give by going online to pmbc atlanta.com or you can do what I love to do and that is text to give
And if you have money or checks here in the sanctuary you can give that way too amen amen let us pray father God We Just Want to Thank You Lord thank you for this opportunity God to give back unto you father so that the funds that are
Received father can do the work of God in this community for our church members and for for you oh God and Lord we just want to praise you for that Victory Lord those who do not have it to give we ask oh God that you increase them Father
Where they’ll be able to give at a different time father we thank you Lord for the deacons Lord we thank you for the pastor and the first lady and all of those who work so diligently father to be able to help the funds be dispersed abroad Amen Oh Oh I know the Lord take me through it all you made a way storm clouds may rise strong wind I know the Lord take me through it all made to to God has made way away for you hold hold to Father God we just want to thank you Lord for allowing us oh God to give back unto you oh God we pray oh God that these blessings be a blessing unto you father that you increase the families father and everyone in this room father those online as well and God we just
Want to praise you for the victory in jesus’ name amen Amen amen Providence indeed God has been good to us a few quick announcements and then we will have uh the benediction we are blessed that we’ve got birthday cake to eat with our beloved sister John come on come on give the Lord a hand clap of
Praise so this time I would like sister Joan and her family if you guys will go ahead and be dismissed to the title room you can follow Reverend lesie Johnson she’ll take you on down and get everything all set up so the church family can come down and see you church
Family we’re going to be in the Tyler room which is the room on the hallway as you exit two doors down from the church office I didn’t want sister Joan to have to go all the way down to the fellowship hall so you’ll come in grab a piece of
Cake give her well wishes sing a song do whatever you’d like to do let’s celebrate 99 years old come on give her another round of applause amen amen if you decide not to eat cake I will not be upset because you know the pastor likees sweets sister
John wants me to have all the leftover cake amen amen few quick announcements and then we will call the benediction if you look at the screen right now and take a look at where you are seated uh in the sanctuary as it relates to our contact tracing protocols if we were to
Have a Poss positive case of coid we will let you know via the weekly Constant Contact email that we send out I am happy to report to you that we had zero positive cases on last week praise praise be to God today is the day today is the deadline for our kicks for
Kids donations so if you have shoes that you would like to drop off to our women’s ministry you can drop them off in the church office or if you miss the deadline and you want to bring them up to the church this week that is fine we
Will be going to the schools to drop off the shoes this week so we can ensure every young person has proper fitting shoes as they move through this school year amen amen Tuesday night is going down it’s Halloween and we are having our trunk for treat Trunk or Treat
Celebration 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. we talked about this last week but let’s just reiterate this what is the probability you’re going to get candy if you come at 8:45 p.m. remember it starts at 6:00 p.m. so please come come towards 600 p.m. this is a huge Community event we have
Hundreds of kids from our church and from the community who show up we do the best we can to level out the candy but I am not the pastor that says no to a child so the candy goes quick we have fun we have food we have games we have
Bouny houses join us Tuesday night 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. if you are so willing based upon the number of kids we expect we need even more trunks all you got to do is decorate the trunks the church is providing you the candy we just need
More trunks we have more spaces for the young people to go to so if you are so willing to decorate your trunk please come to room n203 right down across from the church office and let us know we are planning a huge celebration this year
And we just want to make sure that we’ve got enough trunks for the kids to get their candy because children getting candy is important to me they can have the candy the pastor gets the all right y’all have been with me so you know how this works praise be to God Amen listen
I ask you to come to church two Sundays in a row this is the first Sunday I am begging you those of you who are online everyone join me next Sunday because next Sunday is my 11th pastoral anniversary amen amen you are not going to want to miss
This my good sister my hom girl Reverend Rebecca Henry from Spelman College is coming to preach a word that is going to bless us and we’re going to have a good time in the Lord the other reason we’re going to have a good time in the Lord it
Has always been my belief that the pastor’s anniversary should not be about the pastor the pastor’s anniversary should be a time that we as a people celebrate what God has done in bringing us together and one of the main things God has done with us over the last 11
Years is put us in position to serve people and serve our community so every year on my pastor’s anniversary what we do is we launch our angel tree Christmas donations come on give the Lord a hand clap of praise for angel Tree for those of you who are not aware Solomon’s Temple is a shelter for women who have dealt with domestic abuse for them and their children and every year we buy gifts for those children to honor the pastor’s anniversary to make sure all of those children have gifts well a
Few years ago when coid hit we didn’t want to stop buying gifts so we switched to give Walmart gift cards in do denominations of $25 because the shelter is across from the Walmart on Cleveland Avenue in East Point and this became a huge blessing to them because by giving
Them the gift cards and giving it to them early the women can shop and get what they want as opposed to getting the gifts that we came up with cuz I thought my gifts were cool but I found out some of the kids lifted the gifts that the
Pastor bought and we’re like we don’t want this pastor this bike is not cute so angel tree will kick off next week we just asking you to get gift cards if you get one gift card if you get 10 gift cards it does not matter we aggregate
All the gift cards together we take them to the executive director of Solomon’s Temple uh shelter she distributes them as the families have need to make sure every year the women are so appreciative we always go above and beyond last year we were able to buy all the gifts for
All the kids in the shelter we took care of all the gifts for two schools to local schools and people of our church who were in need so thank you for your generosity I think this is a much better way to celebrate the pastor’s anniversary than to have Fried Chicken
Amen amen although I do love fried chicken so join us next week as we celebrate and get excited about what God is going to do at the same time we are still doing our turkey and ham donations to get ready for Thanksgiving you know how our food Ministry likes to
Do we give out we feed hundreds of families each each week and when we get ready for Thanksgiving we like to ensure each one of the families has a Thanksgiving meal commensurate to the Thanksgiving meals that we will have so while you are in the grocery store when
You get your turkey get an extra turkey when you get your ham please get an extra ham bring it by the church and we donate them to the families if you don’t want to buy a ham or turkey and you want to give resources to the church so that
We can go out and buy turkeys and hams and the food ministry will joyfully go out and give but we want to make sure that we are giving to others but for the grace of God the Lord has blessed us so we want to make sure other persons are
Just as blessed and nothing nothing is greater than to sit down there with our food Ministry and to see the Gratitude and the thankfulness on people’s faces when the church is able to provide their Thanksgiving meal and they are able to give to their families what God has
Blessed us to be able to give to ours amen at the same time that we’re giving out food we also will be deal dealing with men’s clothing this holiday season so any man who has gently used clothing you used to be a 40 now your waist size
Is a 44 you keep that 40 in your closet because you promise you’re going to go to the gym and you’re going to lose those pounds and be able to fit those pants again let me tell you the truth give those pants up okay okay let that
44 be your new life bring that 40 to this church and let us give them to other people I’m not saying you’re not going to lose the weight I’m saying while we wait for you to lose the weight somebody else could be wearing those pants you can go buy 40 when you finally
Decide to get back down to that size amen amen so let’s just make sure that we are doing that in addition you should have gotten a text message remember you want to keep your cell phone updated with the church because we are now texting you in addition to being
Able to email you so make sure that your cell phone number number is updated with the church amen amen amen I just lost my phone just went dead Asia is that was that it give me the thumbs up amen friends if you would please let us stand and prepare for the Benediction Bless be the our heart in your love the our k Pro you should know the benediction is a blessing the benediction is a gift it is my gift to you and when someone gives you a gift Don’t Close Your Eyes and look down but please look me right in my eye and now unto God who is able to keep
Us from falling to present you faultless before the Lord with exceeding great Joy I pray he be your wisdom and your guide the Peace by your side in this moment and in all your moments to come and all of God’s children will we all sing Together a am Providence I love you have a wonderful Week great your M man huh I need my oh need the yeah yeah
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