A Full House

Good morning, Revolution Church. Let's stand up and praise the Lord this morning. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul, Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise when I'm feeling, praise when I don't. I'll praise cause I know you're still in control. My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound. My praise is the shout that brings Jericho down. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul, Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul, Praise the Lord. I'll praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign. Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave. I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true. Praise cause there's nobody greater than you. I'll praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign. Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave. I'll praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true. Praise cause there's nobody greater than you. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? I won't be quiet, my God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Baby, we made this complicated more than it was ever meant to be. Hasn't it always been about the same thing? Bring us back to simple things You'll be the center of it all My heart belongs to You My Savior of it all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of the day I've so much left to say Jesus, I love You Teach us to deserve the moments When we're too shy And when to sit here at Your feet Give us a way to what's important Just like they chose the better thing

For You are the center of it all My heart belongs to You My Savior of it all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of the day I've so much left to say Jesus, I love You For You alone Are the center of it all My heart belongs to You My Savior of it all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of the day I've so much left to say Jesus, I love You Oh, how I love You Oh, how I love You Jesus, I love You Oh, how I love You Oh, how I love You My whole life for You alone My whole life for You only Every day for the honor of Your name And if my test, tell the story Let it be of You only Every day for the honor of Your name My whole life for Your glory My whole life for You only Every day for the honor of Your name And if my test, tell the story

Let it be of You only Every day for the honor of Your name My whole life for Your glory My whole life for You only Every day for the honor of Your name And if my test, tell the story Let it be of You only Every day for the honor of Your name Oh, how I love You Oh, how I love You Jesus, I love You Oh, how I love You Oh, my Savior Oh, how I love You My whole life for Your glory My whole life for You only Every day for the honor of Your name And if my test, tell the story Let it be of You only Every day for the honor of Your name Oh, for Your honor, Jesus My whole life for Your glory My whole world, for You only, everything For the honor of Your Name And in my days, tell a story, let it be Of You only, everything For the honor of Your Name Oh how I love You Oh how I love You I find Your presence

Oh how I love You Oh how I love You For You are the center of it all My heart belongs to You Our Savior all in all You're the one I hold on to For the beauty of Your Name My soul will live to say Jesus I love You My soul will choose to say Jesus I love You My soul will live to say Jesus I love You Oh how I love You We love Your presence Cause when You're in the room Nothing else matters Nothing else matters Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord We honor Your Name in this house You are above all, You are through all And we love You today God Man I don't know about you but I am thankful for a hollow grave today A grave that sits empty to this day Because our King, our Savior, our Lord is risen And we honor the Name of the Lord in this place Jesus thank you for being with us Man I don't know about you guys but for me I delight in giving my life to the Lord No matter what people say, no matter what people think

My life is dedicated to the Lord Jesus And if you're here today I hope and I pray Maybe you're not to that place But I hope and I pray today That you see the goodness of our God But also the power that He holds To be able to change a life forever Amen, amen, amen God we love You, we thank You today For Your power, Your glory And we stand in awe of You today We serve You Lord Jesus We lift up Your Name to the highest shelf in this house this morning Your Name is to be praised Your Name is to be glorified No one else's, Your Name Lord And we praise You and we thank You today for our new four year space Thank You for the ability to have that Thank You for everything that You've continued to do for this congregation We give You the rest of this service in Jesus Name And everybody said Amen If you guys would take a seat real quick, I've got a couple of things to tell you First thing is, should get a pretty loud applause on this We've got ice cream after service So make sure that you stop through, get you some ice cream And all of that is really for the grand opening of our four year space You guys make sure to take pictures with our Backdrop all those all those cool things and can we give a hand to miss Angie? I think she's in the room today miss Angie helped us with all the four-year decorations. Thank you so much Also, we have connect to today you guys heard about connect one how full it was and it was crazy we set records

But here's the cool thing We also have set records for people returning to connect to and so if you're in connect to make sure you get down there It's going to be a great time and the Lord Jesus and you get to know more about yourself and the church And so that's that's really cool also, we are having communion today and Honestly communion is one of my favorite things to do because of the reverence of it We get to remember what the Lord Jesus has done for every single one of us today And so make sure that that if you haven't got a cup There's going to be some moments here where you get to hold your hand up and get one of those online I just want to talk to you for a second. Go ahead and grab your juice. Grab your bread. Grab your Doritos. I'm just kidding The Lord can bless anything And don't act like you don't know that cuz y'all eating unhealthy stuff. You're like Lord Jesus, please bless this food in the name, you know Sorry So make sure you grab that it's gonna be a great time together This next part of the service real quick Is actually one of my favorite parts of the service because we get to inform some people that maybe aren't informed and it's giving The giving part of our service you guys realize that this is a form of worship It is a form of worship to the Lord to literally whatever we are holding in our hands to release it back to the Lord and That's what we call faith Because we don't know what's going to happen after we release that money, right? Or release that tithe or that offering and so it's it's one of the most exciting parts of the service for me But we're gonna do something different today. I would like everybody to stand to their feet because I think that there is a time in giving that we have kind of lost reverence for the Lord and Here's what I want to tell you today, and I need to look everybody directly in the eyes Okay, God cares about where you give your money Don't let the enemy Dilute confuse. Let me tell you something

One of the reasons our churches have suffered over the last decade is Because Satan has convinced us that money doesn't matter in the church Let me tell you something. We wouldn't be standing in this building right now if it wasn't for money This is built out of money, but here's here's the deal. This is the reason why money is so important It's not about the money itself. It's about the heart behind it When we release what we hold so dear to the Lord. We are actually telling Jesus. I trust you with my whole Life, that's what we're just saying about you guys remember that bridge my whole life for your glory. Guess what money's in there, too a Lot of times you can tell where your heart is by where you spend your money Go look at your bank account see where it's all going So what I want to challenge you with today is don't don't give because of me don't give because of the church Give because the Lord Jesus is worth it, and he is we honor him by giving that Okay, so we're gonna say a quick prayer And I want to just just say we've got places to give on the back of the seat We've got offering buckets in the back. We've got online. You can give any way you need to And nobody is pushing you to do it. I'm asking you to be obedient to the Lord Okay, all right. Let's pray together Heavenly Father God. We honor you today We honor you in this place, and we give you every part of our life Not just the parts that are easy to talk about We give you every part of our life the parts that we want to hold close to the vest God We pray right now that you would release some hearts Away from the bondage of the enemy and his falsehoods God we ask that you would bring the whole tithe into the storehouse That your people may be fed provided for and That we may be able to do even more than we've done in the last decade that we would be be able to do double triple quadruple in the next God we trust you with our resources, and we trust you that the God who's given us so much Would continue to provide his provision Lord we love you. We praise you in Jesus name. I pray amen

Good morning, Revolution Church, welcome. I'm Amanda, this is Amy, and we have so much to share with you today that's exciting. If you miss anything, you can scan the QR code and you can find everything you've missed on the website or the Church Center app. Tennessee Kids Belong is hosting the FAM Interest Panel coming up on September 3rd here in the pavilion at six o'clock. You can come and get more information, get some questions answered about FAM or fostering and adopting, and you can get more information for that on our church app or website. Also in the pavilion, there's a men's ministry that's meeting, it's August 29th at two o'clock p.m. They can get together, they're gonna have hot dogs and just enjoy a time of meeting and greeting and having brotherly community. Nice, we are so excited for that. Church, we are so glad you're here with us today. If you need prayer, our prayer team will be available after the service. We hope you enjoy the rest of the service. Hello, good morning. Good morning. Hello. Hello. Ready? We're doing it again. Quit laughing.

Three, two, one. Quit laughing. You're already smiling. Blah. I'm done. I'm gonna ask you if you need a break. No. Get behind the camera, butch. Countdown. Come on. Come on, how many of you guys like to have fun when you come to church? I do. I share this on a regular occasion, but I look forward to church services. Amen? I can't wait to get here, especially on days when we have ice cream out here in front of the church. Come on, somebody. So anyway, welcome to Revolution Church. Let's give it up for our first time guest today. Those that are visiting for the first time, thank you for visiting today. Grab a Connect card if you get a chance sometime during the service. Fill it out. Drop it in one of the buckets as you're leaving, or stop by the information desk in the center of the foyer, and we would love to say hey. Also, right now, help me welcome the 411 Campus.

They're live right now with us. Packed house, full house down there. Pastor Tim, Jenny, you guys are doing a great job. Thank you. Also, we need to welcome the 892 Correctional Facilities. Joining us from all over the United States. 47 different states joining us right now. We're grateful for all of you. I encourage you to grab your tablets, grab your friends in your cell blocks, and we're getting ready to jump into the message. Also today, I would like to recognize a special guest that we have here with us. He is the mayor of Blount County, Ed Mitchell. Ed, would you stand up? And your wife, Kim. Kim, stand up as well. We're grateful to have these guys with us. Come on, let's appreciate them. They're here to celebrate the grand opening. We appreciate them very much. Ed and his wife, they've served 16 years as the mayor. He's retiring this year, but I do want you to know this. They have been here all along our journey here at Revolution Church. From the groundbreaking, you guys were here, right? The first service, when we had the balloon drop out of the ceilings, you were here, and then they're here today for the grand opening. Again, let's give it up for Mayor Ed Mitchell.

Thank you guys, and Kim. They're awesome people. Done a great job in Blount County, serving the community. Loves veterans, loves the church, and we're just so thankful for you. And I had the privilege of knowing him from the city mayor when I worked there, and he's just always been that solid man. Great leader, and we're thankful for him. So today, we're starting a new series, and the series is No Empty Seats. No Empty Seats, and what we do in our new series, as you guys know, we start it with communion. We want to do that now. I will ask you, if you didn't receive your communion elements, if you'll just hold up your hand real quick, we have ushers that'll come through. Keep your hand up real high. Ushers will come through and serve, and you at home, if you have an opportunity, you can go ahead and prepare as well. 411 Campus, Pastor Tim, I think you guys are serving your body, so we will serve everyone, and then we'll get started with communion. While they're serving, a couple things that I'll mention to you about communion. It's a very special time. It's a time to be reverent. It's a time that we honor the Lord. It's a time that we remember the great sacrifice

that Jesus made for us, and so I'm gonna read today out of the passage in 1 Corinthians 11, and Paul was telling the Corinthian church, he's just giving them instructions on the correct way to do it, and he says, he's just giving them instructions on the correct way to take communion, and a couple things I would want you to know is communion is for believers, people who have been born again, have trusted the Lord, and then lots of things happen during communion, things that you don't see with your natural eye, things that happen in your. physical body the Bible talks about healing coming into our bodies as we receive communion you know forgiveness of sins so many different things so what I would like to do before we move on is just take a moment for each one of us individually to search our own hearts and ask God if there's anything in there that doesn't belong Lord would you take this time to remove it we want to do this in as holy as we possibly can so let's take a few minutes here to pray in Jesus name and everybody said amen you can go ahead and and open up your bread 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verses 23 through 25 Paul said for I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed he took the bread if you would grab your bread he gave thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me let's take the bread in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me father today we're just so grateful for the incredible sacrifice that you made for all humanity God we just want to say thank you never forget the great sacrifice giving your life shedding your blood for for all of us Lord and today

we just want to say thank you for that in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen how many of you appreciate the Lord Jesus and the great sacrifice that he made for you amen it's because of him that we're here today and we're so blessed for that so today's title of the sermon is going to be a full house a full house and we looks like we have pretty much a full house today I know the 411 campus has a full house but I had a question what's the largest crowd that you've ever been in think about it for a second the largest crowd that you've ever been in for me it was the Indianapolis 500 gentlemen start your engines ladies and gentlemen now but anyway 350,000 people imagine that for a second 350,000 people attend the Indy Annapolis 500 it's the largest sporting event on planet earth it's incredible you know and and I was just thinking about 21 days from today 30 minutes down the road close to a hundred thousand people are gonna gather in Nayland Stadium come on somebody it's football time in Tennessee and I know we all get excited about that Connie and I we went for years now we we sit behind the TV and just take it easy and watch it but you know something interesting I mean that that is a crowd of people I was looking up they already have four home games sold out for the season as a matter of fact there are no empty seats in Nayland Stadium for four get home games this year I mean as I was thinking about that oh my thought was God would that not be cool if in the church house there was no empty seats then every single Sunday three services for counting the Spanish service no empty seats I believe it would be pleasing to the Lord don't you and so I was thinking about what it is that draws These huge crowds, what is it that excites people, wants them to be there? And so some say it's the atmosphere. It's the excitement. It's the expectation. It's the endorphins, you know, when a touchdown's scored or whatever that may be.

Others say it's a sense of belonging. It's gathering with people that have common interest. You know, we're pulling for the same team or whatever. And then another reason, it's because people are talking about it. This creates momentum when you start talking about an event or you start talking about, in this case, the church. When you look at Jesus, how many of you realize that Jesus was a crowd puller? He was a people magnet. People gathered wherever he was at. As a matter of fact, huge crowds would gather to hear his teachings. I mean, even his adversaries were attracted to his ministry. The naysayers would show up. Everybody came when Jesus was going to be present. Last weekend, how many of you appreciate Pastor David in bringing that powerful message last weekend? Man, that was really, really good. And I'm jealous because I wish I could be as funny as him. I don't know, he just flows with, and it was such a great message. But last week, Pastor David said, the church has the best message going. Is that what you said? The church has the best message going. How many of you believe that today? The good news, there's not a better message than the good news. And so when you look at the church,

it's one entity that serves spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial needs in the body of Christ. Hits them all, and that's awesome. When you look at the church, you guys realize it has endured severe persecution. It's endured world wars. It's endured famine. It's endured a global pandemic. And it's still going strong. Can I hear an amen? The devil can't stop it. If he could have, he would have. But Jesus said, upon this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We know that, that he can. And the church continues to grow. Because of this growth, this is the reason we've added to our foyer. We've doubled the space. And today, we want to thank the Lord for allowing the work to be complete. Can we praise the Lord for that? Amen. Amen. We're so grateful for that. Last weekend, as Pastor Chris said earlier, last weekend, we had over 70 new people sit through our Connect One luncheon, interested in new membership. That's a record. We've never had that many before.

That's not including all those that were serving. They said there was about 100 people in the pavilion. We had to cut it off, because we were afraid we were going to run out of food. So in saying that, if you would like to sit through our Connect One next month, September, go ahead and register today. Pre-register, and we'll get you on the list. We're excited about it. But when we talk about the uptick in church attendance, it's happening in a lot of churches across the United States. Did you realize that? As a matter of fact, I read this survey just recently that young people from the ages of 18 to 24 regularly attending churches has quadrupled in the last six years. Not doubled, but quadrupled in the last six years. So today, I'm going to be speaking on a message that talks about growth and talks about the full house. And it's found in Luke chapter 5, verses 17 through 26. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. Otherwise, you can watch it on the screen. It goes like this. It says, on one of the days while Jesus was teaching, listen to this, some proud religious law keepers and teachers of the law were sitting by him. They had come from every town in the countries of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem.

The power of the Lord was there to heal them. So what we see right here is we see many people gathering. We see these large crowds gathering among Jesus to listen to him teach. It includes religious dignitaries and teachers of the law. They're coming from the surrounding region of the area. And so I was thinking about, what was it that sparked these huge crowds? Well, in this case, it was probably the fact that Jesus had just healed a leper. He had just touched a leper, which no one done that. But he provided this miracle. The leper was cleansed and healed, and the whole town was talking about it. They're sharing. And so as a result of that, the message is out that Jesus, yeah, he's a great teacher. There's also miracles and signs and wonders that are happening. And so crowds are gathering. Another important element I want you to notice here is we see that the power of the Lord was there. Power of the Lord was there. Listen to me, guys. We need the power of the Lord today, in 2026, in our churches, OK? We need the power of the Lord showing up. We need the presence of the Lord to be here. You know, last weekend, I was going around to different tables talking to people

that were in our connect. We had over 20 people from the state of Florida that was here that's interested in joining the church. Come on, let's give it up for the state of Florida. They're coming here. And so we're grateful for all of you. But there were several different states. And I know the mayor is very familiar with all the people coming in. But here was something I thought was interesting. I'm stopping by these tables. And there's one particular table. A young couple, they have three children. They're probably in their 30s, maybe mid to upper 30s. And they told me that they were here from Michigan. They had moved here from Michigan. They said, we've been here four years. And here was what they shared. They said, we've been looking for a church. We've visited a lot of churches. But here's what we're looking for. We're looking for a church where we sense the power of God in it. And they said, for four years, we've been looking. We think we found the church. Come on, I got excited about that. Because you cannot manufacture that. Did you hear me? There's nothing I can say that's going to manufacture the presence of the Lord or the power of God.

There's not a song. There's not a message. It's prayer. We pray and invite the presence of the Lord. And that's happening all through the week. But that fired me up right there. They told me this. They said, last week was their first Sunday. They said, we were in the service. And they said, our oldest son, which I'm guessing is maybe seven years old or so, they said he felt the presence of God. He told us out in the parking lot that he felt the presence of the Lord in this church. I said, amen, come on. Because I want you to understand something. The presence of the Lord is not in a style. It's not in a genre that the worship teams play in. It comes from the anointing of God. Did you hear me? And it will touch the five generations that are here today, the young kids and the older senior adults. It touches everyone. And so we need the power of God. Well, the power of God was there where Jesus was teaching. And we see that. He wrote it out. How many of you realize that you could have church without the best preaching? You could have church without the best worship team.

You could have church without the lights and the smoke and the LED screens and the new foyer. You could have church without nice buildings. But you cannot have church without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Did you hear me? You can't. You can gather. You can have a gathering. You can call it a church. You can put a sign out front that says we're a church. But it's only the power of the Holy Spirit that will transform a life, change someone from darkness into light. And we know that. You know, today, we live in an age where AI produces sermons and messages. Did you know that? I mean, we could plug in AI and say, give me a sermon on no empty seats. It'd pop you out a sermon. I could probably play it on the screen. And you'd get more excited than you would for me preaching. That's AI. AI can produce sermons and music. Jenkins and Stiles can produce buildings. Can I say amen? I appreciate them. Studio 4 can produce plans. But it's the Holy Spirit that produces transformed lives.

Amen? That's what we need, the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 18. Some men took a man who was not able to move his body to Jesus. This guy's paralyzed. He was carried on a bed. They look for a way to take the man into the house where Jesus was. Now, what I want you to notice right here, this is probably Peter's house. We're not for certain. But when you look at the other gospels, it was in Capernaum. And there's a good chance it was Peter's house. We also know here that we have a paralyzed man who couldn't get to Jesus. He couldn't physically get there. We have friends who are committed to getting him in the house. You know, if there's one thing that we need to do in the church today, guys, we need to raise our commitment level to going out into the highways and the hedges and compelling people to come in the house. I believe you get them in the house and God will change them, amen? I believe you get them in the house and God will touch the hearts and their lives. But whose responsibility is it to get them in the house? It's ours. Look over at your neighbor and say, it's yours. It's ours.

Verse 19. But they could not find a way to take him in because there was so many people. Four men, four buddies, they bring him in. He's paralyzed. They get him there, but there's no physical. They can't get him in the door. It's packed. You've got religious leaders, you've got, you know, probably lost people, you've got those that he's, his disciples, you can't, they can't get him in the house. So I want you to listen to what happened. Couldn't find a way to get him in. They made a hole in the roof over where Jesus stood, and then they let the bed with the sick man on it down before Jesus. So what we see here is we see a packed house, we see some friends who are determined to get their friend to Jesus, and as they're lowering the man before Jesus, I want you to listen to his response. It's found in verse 20. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, friend, your sins are forgiven. Now I want you to notice right here. When Jesus saw whose faith? Say their. Their faith. Not his faith, not the man who's paralyzed. When Jesus saw the faith of the friends, you know, that's when he was moved. He saw their faith, and then he said, your sins are forgiven. You know, just a month ago, down at the 411 campus, we have one of our members, Michael Alfred, and he was, he was out mowing his grass, and by the way, we've been doing a lot of mowing here lately, haven't we? Because the rain has been every day, but he's out mowing the grass, he's on his mower, got

a steering wheel, and he gets a little scratch, gets a little nick on his, on his finger. Nothing, nothing big, nothing major. And so, didn't think anything of it, just like none of us would. The next day, he wakes up, and his, and his finger's swelled. It's turning red. As the day goes, he's not, he's not feeling well. He's nauseated. He's running a fever. He goes to the doctor, and when he gets there, they find out that he's got an infection in his body from this little cut. And I'm being updated through our deacon's text and through our prayer line, I'm seeing this, and you guys don't know Michael, I mean, Michael is probably mid-thirties, I mean, he is physically fit, he's a big, strong guy. The least person that you would think of to get some type of infection. Now he's in the hospital. It moves from there to intensive care, like, overnight. The next message I get, it's turned sepsis. Sepsis is in his body now. Well, you guys know that's not good. Seventy-five percent of the people don't make it to get sepsis. So people are praying, but here's what I want you to notice happen. I'm talking to Pastor Tim, he's updating me. You guys that have a relationship with the Alfreds, you guys are being updated, and so Pastor Tim gathered with the members down at 411, and they showed up in the parking lot on a Thursday because he's having surgery. They're saying we may have to amputate his hand now, possibly his arm, it's gotten bad. And so the friends of Michael gather in the parking lot at 411 campus, and they gather there to pray. And I want you to understand, life groups in our church were praying on that Thursday night.

Our life group was praying. Over a thousand people in groups here, all of our life groups were praying for Michael. And I'm going to tell you what happened. God saw the faith of his friends, and his wife, and his family. He goes into the surgery. They didn't have to amputate his hand. They did have to take his finger, but he's healthy, and he's well, and he was serving at the Greenback Helping Hands, and he's doing great. What are you saying? I'm saying there are times in your life where you need your friends. You better have your friends. This guy had four friends. Do you have four friends that would carry you to Jesus? If you needed it that would get you to Jesus in the presence of the Lord, we need that. We desperately need that. So Jesus saw the faith, and he said to this man, your sins are forgiven. This great kindness is what we need to offer those people around us, showing those people that we care, and that God can see our faith. So question, what was the first thing that Jesus addressed to this paralyzed man? When he sees him lowered through the roof, was it the physical side or was it the spiritual side? Help me. It was the spiritual side. Why? Why was the first thing he addressed was his sins? Because the spiritual side is eternal, the physical side is temporary. Amen? You guys understand? It's not that it's not important. Our physical body is important, but the most important thing is our soul, and it's our

spirit. So that's the first thing that he addressed. Here's the man now. He's been touched, he's been forgiven. The man's line... He's eternally saved. He's secured. He's going to heaven, but he still can't move He's still laying in this bed paralyzed It's Jesus gonna leave him there. Look at verse 21 the teachers of the law and the proud religious Lawkeepers thought to themselves Who is this man who speaks as if he's God? Who can forgive sins but God only? Jesus knew what they're how many of you know that God knows what you're thinking always That can be scary sometimes, right? he always knows what we're thinking and so Knowing what they're thinking. He said to him. Why do you think this way in your hearts? Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven or get up and walk verse 24 So that you may know the Son of Man has the right and the power on earth to forgive sins He said to the man who could not move his body. I Say to you Get up Take your bed and go to your home At once the sick man got up in front of all of them in that crowded house He took his bed and he went to his home thinking God verse 26 all those who were there were surprised and gave thanks to God saying we Have seen very special things today Question I have God works this miracle After this miracle, he's already healed a leper now. He's here healed a paralyzed man My question is this do you think Jesus's popularity continues from this point?

somebody answer that 100% I mean he's on a roll He said he said he's healing every sickness in every disease. So his popularity is growing the crowds continue to get bigger and and so we see these miracles and Today when I look at our church and I look at people around us. How many realize that this house is full of miracles. I Mean, I look at the women's home over here that they have babies you came into the home addicted to drugs Pregnant and you deliver those children drug-free and today we have a whole group of women at true purpose Stand up if you guys would stand up ladies Come on, look at the babies right there Can we praise the Lord for that Amen That is a miracle Can I say it again? That is a miracle. Thank you true purpose. Thank you Ladies and what you're doing there, but this house is full of miracles I could go around and and find a bunch of them But today what I want to do is bring one miracle up on stage right now His name is Mitch Mitch Tolbert. Mitch Tolbert. Would you come up here for a second? You guys that know Mitch give him a hand I want you to listen to a modern-day miracle right here I am honored to be a part of this church to be a part of this family. It's been amazing It's been seven years ago. I was sitting behind that sale Seven years ago. I was if I wasn't in jail. I was looking for a place to lay my head Wondering where my next meal was coming from or chasing drugs today I'm able to serve and to be like The Lord blessed me with Y'all I was that paralyzed man I was the one that was paralyzed and y'all's faith is what carried me through the Spirit of the Lord brought me and drawed me to here. But y'all's faith is what?

Healed me brought me to the sense of where I'm at. So I'm I praise the Lord for where I'm going like at my I Stutter so So, yes, I praise the Lord right now today I'm able To I've been blessed with a wonderful wife. My wife has given me the strength I by no means deserve the woman that I have or the child that God has blessed me with the things that I went through in my past I Keep them in rearview so that I know that's not anywhere. I want to come back from I I was addicted. I've been I've lived underneath bridges. I've I Didn't know where I was going to be eaten or what I was going to be doing Today, I'm I'm secure. I have a home. I have my wonderful family I have my church family that helps lift and support strengthen me. I've been through the discipleship. I've served this body Every week, if I'm not serving this body, I'm serving somewhere outside of the church. North Carolina, I got the chance. My first missions trip, I got to take my entire family. It blew my mind the things that I got to see and the things I got to experience and being able to share God's love and the abilities that He has given me. He's allowed me to start my own business. There's nothing in this that I could have ever done in my own power. It's all gone, but the only thing that I got to do was be obedient. I got to be obedient, and He planned everything else out. I don't know exactly what all He's got in store for me from here on out, but I know it's going to be better than I could hope, think, or ask in every way. Praise the Lord. Stand up here with me for a second. I want you to listen. Go ahead and stand if you would. We're going to dismiss after this. I want you to listen to this story. I asked him one day, I said, Mitch, how many jails have you been in? How many different jails have you been in? And he shared this with me over the phone probably five years ago. He said, more than I can count, but pretty much every jail from Florida to Tennessee, all through Georgia, he said, I think I've been in almost like every jail there.

Living under a bridge, he found you when you offered this device in the Blount County Jail. He was sitting in there lost and broken, alone and hurting, and he picked up one of the services and started watching it. Now here's what's crazy is he was released. He got released at 11 o'clock at night, and he requested if he could stay the night there because he planned on walking to this church out on East Lamar Alexander Parkway. And they said, yep, you can stay in the visitor room. He stayed there that night. They fed him that night. And as soon as daylight hit, he started walking down East Lamar Alexander Parkway on the side of the highway. Many of you passed him that day not knowing. He's walking down the road. He was going to a place that had helped him, spiritually helped him. He came here, and he'd come through these doors, and you didn't reject him. You didn't turn him away because he didn't look like you, talk like you, act like you, but you received him. Seven years ago, you received Mitch. And I saw potential like many of you did, and I decided I'm going to spend a year with this guy. We sat together a year, and we went through the book, the entire New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. Every week, I'd ask him to come in with five chapters read, with his own commentary written. Every day, he'd come in well-prepared, and I was training and discipling this young man. I'm going to tell this. I didn't tell it in the early service, but Mitch came in one day, and he said, I'm not going back to work. He's working at Home Depot. He said, I'm tired of it. I can live better under the bridge. Do you remember saying that? He said, I always had food.

He did. He said this, and I couldn't even fathom this. Living under a bridge, I could do better? But I hadn't come from his lifestyle. I had parents that were there for me and that helped me, so I couldn't relate. But here's what the conversation I had with Mitch that day is this. I said, Mitch, didn't you tell me you wanted to get married one day? Didn't you say you wanted to have a family? Do you remember that conversation? I said, didn't you say you wanted to have a family one day? Well, go back to work. You've got to work. You've got to save some money. And he did, and he did. He went back to work, and he's still working. And I'll never forget when God brought that beautiful wife into his life. Unbelievable story. You should hear that sometime. They get married. Do you remember meeting with me at Aubrey's? Said, we don't have a place to live separately until we get married, so we're going to stay in the same apartment. And I said, no, you can't do it. And he's like, we have no option. I said, no, you can't do that. But we're wanting to have this big wedding. My wife's really been wanting a wedding, and we're wanting to do it, and it's planned out there. Do you remember the conversation, Connie and I? And we said, no, you can't do it because the enemy can tempt you through that.

Just don't do it. Don't do it, Mitch. He said, well, what do I do? I said, go get your marriage license, come to my house, and in our backyard we'll marry you. And then we'll have a big ceremony later on you remember that and that's what they did they did it the right way Come on and and here's what's so awesome is God not only gave him a wife Gave him this beautiful son But now he has a home he has a business and he's thriving and I wanted you today to see Ladies true purpose Epperson ministries all of you I wanted you to see all of the 892 correctional facilities that you you just don't see a way out Right here is a good example of someone who got out Man so So I'm gonna ask the prayer team if you guys would come We're gonna take we're gonna sing this last song and I want to encourage you today if you need prayer for anything Maybe you need to invite Jesus into your life Maybe you need to take that first step or maybe you just need encouraged or you need to pray for a loved one Maybe you have a loved one a family member I want you to understand something that these people that are up here are not just casual prayer warriors, they're professional They're trained their prayer therapist They really are They're here to pray for you. And I believe that as you come forward that God is going to meet needs answer prayers Whatever it is that you need let's worship the Lord with this this last song and give Mitch another hand clap for coming up because I know that's how Oh

My words for sure I've got nothing How could I express All my gratitude I could sing As I often Every song And you never do So I throw up my hands praise you again and again I Know it's not much. I'm nothing else fit for a king Except for our team Oh I've got one response. I've got just With my arms How we So I praise you Ah Yes Oh Church I just want you guys to lift up your hands and sing this out and praise him Praise him from your hearts because he's worthy and he's worthy of the whole Come on my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me lift up your song cuz you've got a lion inside Those lungs get up and praise the Lord Come on my soul. Oh, don't you get shy on me lift up your song cuz you've got a lion inside of those lungs get up and praise the lord so come on my soul oh don't you get shy on me lift up your soul

cuz you've got a lion inside of those lungs get up and praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord praise the lord so I throw up my hands to praise you again and again cuz all that I have is a hallelujah hallelujah and I know it's not much I've nothing else fit for a king except for a heart singing hallelujah hallelujah just give him some praise real quick thank you Jesus it's such a blessing to be able to worship the lord it's such a blessing that he redeems us through everything that we do it's such a blessing for his forgiveness, for his sacrifice and it's such a blessing to be able to lead such a beautiful congregation that is truly after the lord's heart I'm so grateful for you all and I just want to just pray thank you Jesus for this amazing church that you've built up God I thank you for bringing these people here I thank you for bringing me here cuz I wouldn't be the same without it and without you and I know a lot of people feel the exact same way and Jesus I just thank you for this service I thank you for your presence

and I thank you for your blessings and lord I just pray over all these people that as they step out that they can be bold bold and go out and talk to your people and to bring more people to your house to your cross and to the altar and lord I just pray over all of them as they step out into this week and as they step out in today and I pray that you can follow and lead them I just thank you and praise you it's in your mighty name that we pray, amen God bless you all, have a fantastic Sunday