Believing Is Seeing | Pastor Ricky Lee Harris

and tells their neighbors what God has done for them is a Christian who does not appreciate the grace and mercy of God. History makers is anybody glad that God chose to save you or you were anybody thankful to be in the house of God this morning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, I'm afraid because I'm always nervous. Amen. Amen. Because y'all look at me like, what's you going to say? You're going to say, Pastor Rick, I'm like, I don't know. Here we go. Let's pray, Father. I am completely convinced that your people do not need to hear my thoughts. And Lord, to be honest, I don't know what we all walked in here feeling this morning. But I know one thing, every song, every song, every word points to one thing. And that is that you have something you want to say. So King Jesus, show up. We're not here to perform for you. But God, we are actually here because we actually desire just you. Anything on this service that is not pleasing to you, take it out. Holy Spirit, dominate the service. We need to hear what you have to say. And God, would you please say in somebody's soul this morning, who may not know you at all, who thinks that this Christian thing is a joke. King Jesus, would you become visible that they will see that you are the way, the truth, and the life? I'm out the way, God. In Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Normally, when I start my sermons, you good, buddy. You good to go. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Go ahead. It's all right, man. Normally, when I start my sermons off, I have a cute story or illustration or anecdote to help you and I connect with the text. But every now and again, you come across a portion of Scripture that is so powerful, so other world changing, no cute story or anecdote will do. Every now and again, you come across a portion of Scripture that you have to take your shoes off because where you are standing is what is called peer and holy ground. Well, that's what we find ourselves this morning. Pastor Ricky, what makes this story so important and what makes me have to grab my ADD and control myself? Well, it's because if you ever wondered who Christ was, ever wondered what he sounded like, ever wondered how he walked in, ever wondered how he talked in, this is the story for you. If you've ever wondered what captured the mind of Jesus today, he's going to give you a VIP pass to come behind the curtain and really see who King Jesus is. Amen. Amen. Y'all can like nod, you have my black preacher, say something back to me. All right, come on, man. Y'all look a little dry. I thought I was coming to Atlanta

moisture. It's come on. But Pastor Ricky and all serious note, why should I pay attention to you? Why should I put my phone down, stop scrolling and really listen to what you have to say? Because somebody walked in here hopeless. I'm not fooled by thinking that just because this crowd is full, that all of you came in here on cloud nine. Life has been punching you and punching you and punching you and the world walks by and says, good luck. If that's you, today's story is for you. Or maybe you're just exhausted, running out to kids and running out for your job and running out for your hopes and running out for your dreams. And if you're completely honest, Pastor Ricky, I am absolutely exhausted. And the world now stands beside on the silent screams. There's no one to help you. If that's you, today's story. And maybe here's your maker's church. You're going pass it again. Okay, the first two are kind of cute. Ah. But you don't know what I'm really going through. I got too much problems. I actually list out on a sheet of paper. But I guess if you keep pushing me and pushing me and pushing me to figure out what do I really need, I guess at the end of the day, I need someone to save me. If that's you, the story is for you. Today, Jesus wants to show off what he can do for you. Today, hold on, hold on. Are we going to clap? Everybody clap or nobody clap? I don't know what the word this is. Are we going to clap? Everybody clap. (audience applauding) You clap.

So I've seen you, you. Hey, hey, listen, listen, listen, we didn't come for a show. I didn't fly four and a half hours to entertain you. I came here because Jesus has something he wants to say to you. (audience applauding) All right. Jesus says, I really do want to help you. But the issue is, you keep getting in the way of what I can do for you. So today, I just want to show off what Christ can do for you. Amen? Amen? Now, I have four points and I'm out your hair, okay? I'm out your hair because the presspiration and the cocoa butter is beginning to drip from my face. I got four things about the heart and mind and soul of Jesus and I'm out your hair. But today will be in Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. Go ahead and turn your Bible to Mark chapter 10. Stop looking at me and turn to Mark chapter 10. Mark is a biography of the life of King Jesus. It talks about how he lived and how he moved and how he walked and how he talked. As you turn to Mark chapter 10, let me set the scene for you.

You and I catch Jesus taking an interesting walk. What makes the walk so interesting is because he's walking to the city called Jerusalem and that's where he's going to fling his body on a cross for broken, messed up, jacked up, lying, conniving, self righteous, ruthless. Stop me if I get to you, people. Okay, y'all did, okay, 'cause I got, I forgot y'all, perfect, get history maker's shirt. I'm gonna try it again. Jesus is gonna fling his body on a cross from broken, messed up, jacked up, lying. conniving, lustful, self righteous, greedy, people like you and me. And he's going to do that for free. But before he gets to Jerusalem, he has to go through a city called Jericho. Jericho's about 20 miles outside Jerusalem and Jericho, much like this city's a beautiful place, it's called the City of Palms. In the ancient Middle East, they had the perfect temperature, perfect climate, beautiful guards, it was a place to be, it was the epicenter for trade. But also what made Jericho so beautiful was that if you were trying to be seen by the world, this was where you had to be. And as we walk down this road called Jericho, not only do we see King Jesus, but we see another man by the name of Barnamaeus.

Barnamaeus is interesting because he's a blind beggar. He's blind so he begs and he begs because he's blind. This is called dual despair, twin hopelessness. By all accounts, Barnamaeus is the bottom society. He's probably like many in this city at times who are homeless, dressed in rags, having a unique aroma and the hope of his day is somebody coming by to drop a coin in his cup. But everything shall change because Jesus happens to be walking in the city of Jericho. And the hope of Barnamaeus is not just someone put a coin in his cup, but the hope of Barnamaeus is somebody tells him that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is coming exactly where you are. Y'all good? Y'all good? All right, y'all, let's be all caught up. You ready to go? Okay, all right, now march up at 10. All right, mark 10. I forgot to say this. Listen to me. I am so grateful for this church. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Because what you don't know is your two pastors have invested in me and my wife. And history makers church is actually helping God save people out west in Las Vegas. So I'm like, you can clap now. (congregation applauding)

All right? And next time you in Vegas, 'cause I know y'all come, (congregation laughing) Okay, y'all okay. Next time y'all come, y'all have family, okay? All right? Okay. All right, all right. Now, Mark 10, verse 46 says this. And they came to Jericho and asked they, as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, but Amaius, a blind beggar, the son of Amaius was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him telling him to be silent, but he cried out all the more. Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him. And they call the blind man saying to him, take hard, get up, he is calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. The first thing that Christ will show us is that Jesus pursues the helpless. Christ is now walking on the road of Jericho.

Crowds are following him, really for two reasons. The first reason is that at this time of year, they're going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. That's where the Jews celebrated, that God had freed them from 400 years of slavery. But they're also following him because Christ is the most famous man all the land. He's killing the sick, he's raising the dead, he's casting out demons. He's even making hot biscuits come out his hand by feeding 5,000 people. Now listen, if you make hot biscuits come out your hand, I'll follow you too. I mean, he's making a hot homemade southern style biscuits come out his hand. Amen, I felt that little butter, little glaze on that thing. Ooh. And crowds are following him. Now, what I mean is the beggar, he's used to crowds following, he used to crowds walking by, but this time it seems to be different. In fact, studies say that when one of your senses is gone, the other sense heightens up. So I guess now the pit patter and the walking and the talking, someone walked by by the mess and had the nerve to say the name Jesus. In fact, verse 47 says this, it says, and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth.

See, Bartimaeus is used to crowds walking by him, but the difference is it's not the crowd, but now it's who the crowd is with. Bartimaeus must have known something of Jesus because he responds in an interesting way. Now, just in my sanctified imagination, I'm just assuming that maybe Bartimaeus had another friend who was blind at one point and that friend had an encounter with Jesus. And Jesus Christ was able to heal that blind friend. That blind friend came back and said, Bartimaeus, I met Jesus and maybe, just maybe, if Christ did that for me, then maybe Christ can do that for you. Here's your maker's church, hear me. Never underestimate the power of a satisfied customer. This is why you exist in this city to go to broken people who have some real issues that say maybe, just maybe, the way God healed my marriage. And maybe, just maybe, the way God saved my children. And maybe, just maybe, the way God paid my bills. And maybe, just maybe, the way God healed my body. Maybe, if Jesus can do that for me, then maybe he just may do that for you. This is why you exist. Hear me and hear me good. A quiet Christian is an oxymoron. A Christian who never, done for them is a Christian who does not appreciate the grace and mercy of God. You do not exist to build your own kingdom, you exist to build his and in

this real moment, part of me is remembering the resume of Jesus and all the things that Christ could do and he takes Christ's resume and he snatches his problem and then he begins the journey of saying well if you could do this and you could do that and you could do this and you couldn't do that and this is my problem, well maybe just maybe you can also do that for me and what happens in real time is what springs up from Bartimaeus is the thing called hope. Hope says I got a real issue that nobody else seems to be able to answer but I heard about your resume and your resume says that you tend to stick your foot in people's problems and maybe just maybe if you did that for him then maybe you can do that for me and Bartimaeus says Jesus son of David have mercy on me. Now pause. Now Bartimaeus I know you're blind but are you also deaf? You said son of David they called him of Nazareth but Bartimaeus says on timeout he says just because you're around Jesus that does not mean that you know him. Nazareth was some raggedy cheap pole dunked town that no one ever wanted to claim but Bartimaeus says but I'm able to see what they can't see. Is it possible that the very ones who you think are not able to understand God happened to be the very ones to understand God better than you? He says son of David. Bartimaeus says well I've been able to read some Braille and and what I read in the Old Testament was that only God could heal the sick and only God could raise a dead and only God could cast out demons and you seem to be doing what only God can do so I guess I come to conclusion that maybe just maybe you might be God. When he says son of David that's Christ's messianic name. That's the name of the one that God will send walking papers to walk down the stairway of heaven and come to earth to deal with a human condition called sin. If you don't know what sin is sins are archery term it means that God has put a mark for every human being to hit and you are not told God thank you but I'm gonna do my own thing. Oh it's just me I'm gonna go on this side of the name with me. Sin says hey God appreciate the 66 books. Great wisdom, great knowledge but at the end of the day I'm gonna do me. Sin says at the core hey God please be quiet. I have my own plans and your laws

and your command was a seem to get in the way of what I really want. And God loves you enough to send his perfect son to save people who barely say thank you. And the text the text says even though Bartlemaeus may be at the lowest part of the totem pole society he has two things going for. The first thing is location. He happens to be a poor man on the side of the road the very road that Jesus Christ is walking down. No better position to be. The second thing he has going for him is desperation. You know what really bothers me is we as Christian we've got to sophisticated. We've got to cue because you got your resume in your nice house and your white picket fence and got your Roth IRA. that we're actually betting on what we really are. See, I know at this moment I won't get a lot of shout, so name it, it's okay. But hear me, hear me. We are never as good as the way God blesses us. (congregation clapping) Hear me, hear me good. The issue with the American church is that we think God owes us something. We spend our time demanding of God to be an Uber driver or a cosmic vending machine. Hear me, God does not exist for you, you exist for him. (congregation clapping) And Bartimaeus in desperation says, "I'm not trying to be cute. I don't care who's watching." He says, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me now." In the Greek, in the original language of the New Testament is in the Greek language. In the Greek, there's two different words for cry. This first cry was more of a, "Hey, I'm trying to get your attention. Hey, hey, Jesus. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Crashed that you see me." But the second cry was one that was so loud, you can't understand what I'm saying. It's a cry that says, "If you pass me, if you don't see me, I ain't got no hope. It's a cry that can care less about your grammatical corrections." So cry that says, "If you don't come by and help my husband, or help my marriage, or if you don't come by and save my kids, nobody is going to help me." When's the last time you could care less about who's watching you? It says, "Jesus, if you don't show up, nobody's going to help me." And what's crazy, you know, the people who are following Jesus told what I'm in is, "Crescent got time for you. He's busy." You realize that every time God prompts you to share your faith with your friends at school, or your neighbors, and you say, "No." What you really are saying is, "Shh, Christ does not have time for you." Church, what really bothers us is that we're singing loud in here, but this was never the goal in here. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Every time you and I have the opportunity to change someone's life with the gospel, and we tend to cower away. At the core, we're saying, "Shh, my schedule's too busy. I have errands to run. I don't have time to snatch you out of your problem." What happened to us? What happened to us? We forgot what we were here. Um, but I got some good news. The good news is, the same thing that Bartimaeus has, you have. Location, God is here. And desperation. Now, now, Pastor Ricky, this is a cool story, but it does nothing for me. It was because you and I don't realize that we're actually Bartimaeus. I'm going to say it again because you and I are Bartimaeus. If Jesus Christ never came by to hear us and to love us and to save us,

we will be stuck in the same mess we've been stuck in for decades. You and I, lack it or not, we are Bartimaeus. Unless Jesus Christ comes by to give His grace and His mercy, we are done. So give me a favor. I know life's been hard recently. don't think you can actually do. Ever been there before where you're saying Jesus praise God for that and I can know you can do that but this right here? I don't know. Ever been there before? You just say Jesus I know you're good man but you can't be that good and you buried that prayer. Do me a favor. If you're desperate enough, grab your shovel. Dig back up that prayer request and bring it back to God. All right, I've got to go man, I've got to go. This clock is moving, I'm a black preacher, let's go. All right, the next one is Jesus knows his the broken. Verse 49, it says Jesus stopped and called him. I love this first of all, don't forget Christ is walking to the cross. He's about to save the world. He's about to save your soul and yet Christ has time to stop for a poor man. That means that if Christ has time to stop for Bartimaeus and Christ has time to stop for you. Christ is going, here's your maker's church, the Bible was never written for you just a gawk at but it was your blueprint on how to live. But then Ricky, what does Christ show me if Christ had the

time to stop for Bartimaeus, it shows the word compassion. Actually compassion simply this, true compassion stops, sees and helps when everyone else keeps walking. Now hear me, hear me. The word compassion in the original language called Greek is the word splagneso mind, say splagneso mind. No, no, at least the most spit out your mouth. Splagneso mind, y'all, y'all are really terrible. I'm trying to get it, come on, come on, one, two, three. Splagneso, there it is now. When you say the word splagneso mind, you should feel it pulling from your diaphragm, why? Because that word splagneso mind means that something has twisted so much it hurts your guts. Has history makers church lost this splagneso mind for their city. When's the last time you saw something so gut-wrenching it twisted your stomach? Do not that social media make you grow cold to the brokenness in your city. Christ has splagneso mind. Christ has time to stop for broken people. I'm going to go ahead and go here. When I first started preaching about 10 years ago, my first first time I was in a sermon in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm preaching. And there were some people, sadly, who were down and out, who were homeless, who will come to the church every now and again. I'm preaching to someone on God's grace and mercy. And I end the sermon and I ask people to come for prayer. And I begin to see the man in the back who has a real issue.

And he's coming towards me. He's taking by the smell of feces and odor and alcohol and he's getting closer to me. And when he opens his mouth, I am engulfed in tooth decay. The stench is so terrible, I give him a five-second prayer and send him on his way. I get in the car and I tell God, God, I want to be a pastor, a preacher of your word. Your Holy Spirit hits me, says, boy, you want to preach. I mean, really preach. You better learn to love that smell. Because that's how your sin smells before me appear in Holy God. [Applause] And I whet because I had lost compassion. You don't exist just for you. There's people your age who are absolutely struggling and they don't have what you have. Does that ever bother you? We miss the people God is placing our path. And verse 49, it says, and they called the blind man saying to him, take heart, get up. He is calling you. I love this. Folks are told to be quiet, Christ says, now you tell him to come here. Ha ha ha, you're a bad boy. And it says, take heart. It means Bartimaeus, I know you've been sitting on this roadside for a long time. Now you ready to quit? The Bartimaeus grabbed the last bit of hope you have because the one who blew breath in your body is calling your name.

Bartimaeus, it says he throwing off his cloak, he sprang up, he jumped up and came to Christ. Now just time out, Bartimaeus, you can't see. It's just me. Okay. No one else thought about that. Like you blind, you can be jumping up and you don't know where you're going. But Bartimaeus, it says he sprang up and threw off his cloak at me that anything that could hinder me from getting the King Jesus, I'm going to throw that off because I want him so bad. Hear me, hear me. What in your life is hindering you from the intimacy of knowing Jesus? Is it that porn website? Is it that greed? Is it your attitude? It's a thing that is tripping you up from getting not just knowing, but the intimacy of his heart. In fact, Hebrews says this, 12.1 it says, "Let us, who was us, me and you, let us lay aside every weight and sin which cling so closely." Your question, are you fighting to be holy? Are you fighting to say whatever is getting in my way of pursuing you? Get me the strength and the grace to remove it out of the way because the only reason I exist is to know you intimately. I got some good news. If Christ had time to stop for Bartimaeus, Christ has time to stop for you. Our next point is that Jesus answers the desperate. Verse 51, Christ says, "What do you want me to do for you?" I love this, Christ gives him a blank check. Now if that were you, what would you say? Christ gives you a blank check, whatever you want, I'll do, what would you ask for? More money, more followers, more comfort, a bigger house, a bigger home, what would you

ask for? But you know what suffering has a way of etch a sketching, what's really important? When you meet someone who's really been to some real hardships, they have a way of being absolutely clear and not, they have substance to their life. Bartimaeus said, "Well, I could have asked for a house, I'm poor, no one has an issue with that. Could have asked for some Jordans, I ain't got no shoes, no issue with that." But he asked for the very thing each of us take for granted, sight. Not money, not comfort, not even a house. I just want to be able to see. My prayer for this church is that if Christ were to come in this morning and ask history makers, "What do you want me to do for you?" My prayer is that you would scream, would you open the eyes of people who do not know who you are. But the issue with you and I's prayer request is that we have a tendency to get needs and wants mixed up. Let me put some guidelines around you and I, bringing our issues to God. if needs means essential for life, most of the things we load into our need category aren't really needs at all. They're actually desires that have become so precious to us that we convince ourselves that we cannot be happy without them, but that sit just for a second. The issue with me and you is we've got our needs and our wants in bed together. And so we really don't know what's a real need versus a real want. Yeah, it'd be pretty quiet on that one, man. Woo! I'm gonna keep going here.

Hear me history makers. I'm just trying to say, when you begin to beg God for something, make sure your heart is right. God is not in the business of you just keeping him busy with your prayer list. God's in the business of building his kingdom and he's gonna use you to bring soul to salvation. So Jesus says, what do you need from me? Amen? All right. And now our last point, which is, I love it, man, at the end of the day, Jesus changed lives forever. Up to this point, Christ has done some pretty nice things. He saw Brother Mayus, even heard his issues. In fact, for Christ to even stop and talk to Brother Mayus, it shows that Christ has given him value. You know what's pretty cool? The name Brother Mayus means honor. The very thing he never got until Jesus walked by. Some of you in the room, you've never received love or honor or value. You've been laughed at, you've been mocked, but until Christ saved your life, he has didn't brought you a new identity, a new purpose, a new way of living, all because Jesus stops by those who don't deserve him. And it's verse of the two, the text says, "And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way, "your faith has made you well.' "And immediately he recovered his sight

"and followed him on the way." I love this, the way this is written. Mark is a masterful here, he says, immediately. No hand gestures, no cadence. He just spoke and it was done. Hear me, God uses doctors and counselors, amen, but he does not need those things. He does not need those things to heal. And it says, "Your faith has made you well." I love this, when Christ says it, he's saying, "Brother Mayus, good job." Now, he's not saying good job because you have the right prayer request or the right tone or you want the right Christian t-shirt that made me want to answer your praise and all. Brother Mayus, the good job is you brought your problem to the only one who can actually fix it. He says, "Brother Mayus, "I'm trying to get history makers' church to understand "that the reason why they keep finding themselves struggling "is because they keep bringing their problems "to people who cannot fix it. "But I hope one day that history makes it well understand "that they will actually be able to bring their problem "to the only one who can actually fix it "and that person is me." The reason why you and I keep finding ourselves struggling is because you don't have enough resume to fix your issues. You're not that smart. I'm not that cute.

Nobody is, but God, but God steps in the human condition and makes your problem his problem. Brother Mayus simply said, "Jesus, I cannot fix myself, "so I shall bring my issue, I shall bring my problem, "I shall bring my concern to the only one "who's actually able to help me." And Christ says, "That's what it means to be a believer." He says, "Your faith has made you well." That word "well" could be also translated as the word "save." It means, Brother Mayus, two things have just happened. The first is, I've healed you. You can physically see me. The second thing is, I've spiritually healed you. But Mayus, you can really see me. Your biggest issue is not your marriage, not your bills, not your health. you and I could not see God. But God and his kindness sent his son down from heaven to come to earth to fling his body on a cross to make broken, jacked up, messed up, lying, conniving, self-righteous people, now holy and called him amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved or ripsed like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found I was blind. But now I see anybody grateful that God has made a way for broken people to come and to know who he is. This is why we exist. We exist to tell the world who God is. But I may have said I finally found the one to open up my heart.

I'm not trying to move you by my emotion. But we've got to stop playing church, man. It comes a point of you've got to mature enough to save my life. It's not my own. My life is yours. And I have you want to use it, God. Have you want to use it, Jesus? Have you want to use it? I give it to you. [APPLAUSE] It was the last time you cried because you can see. Well, last time you lost your breath, because you can see God. What happened to us? What happened to us, man? We used to come to church. We used to invite people because we were just trying to say, I'm going to know all the words, but I just want you to see and feel what I feel. What happened to us? The text says that after Bartimaeus was healed, it said he followed Jesus. Now, I love it. The picture it paints is that once he started following, he never, ever, ever stopped. That's what it means to be a believer. It's once I taste and see the goodness of Jesus. I will spend all of my emotional horsepower. Just walking behind him, no matter the valley, no matter

the pain, no matter the suffering, no matter the joy, no matter the grief. I will never, ever, ever stop following him. Could you imagine being Bartimaeus? I once was blind, but Jesus walked by. And now, I can see. [APPLAUSE] True story in your own state, about 75 years ago, if you were to walk to the photo coastline right where the water kisses the beach, you would have seen an old man with a white bucket tossing up shrimp as seagulls flocked around his head. His name was O. Eddie Rickenbacher. He was an old world pilot who retired, but years ago, asked for one last mission. So he and his crew went down to the South Pacific, finished their last mission, and were heading back on their plain malfunction. And now, they're stuck in the sea in the South Pacific. All of his crew now own one small, yellow life raft. They are out there for about 10 days, no food, no water. And Eddie Rickenbacher, being the pilot, it gives to say that we're not going to make it. And so he has what is called a come to Jesus meeting. They all get together, and they all begin to pray. And now, as they pray, Eddie Rickenbacher's head is down, and he's quiet, and he's hopeless. And as they pray, he begins to feel a pecking on his head. He says to himself, that's a seagull. If I can catch it and kill it, there

could be enough food for me and my crew. So he caught the seagull, broke his neck, and uses entrails for fishing bait, allowing them to live a few more days until they were rescued and brought back to America. They said that around 70 some odd years ago, on the Florida coastline, right where the water gets to the beach, around 6 PM, that you would have seen old Eddie Rickenbacher and his white bucket tossing up shrimp. you would have heard old Eddie Rickenbacher say, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Because old Eddie Rickenbacher knew that when somebody dies for you, the least you can do is say, "Thank you." God, I may have simply said this. I am now a testament of the goodness and mercy of God that God put his body on a cross to die there for me, and the least I can do is open my mouth and tell God absolutely, unequivocally, "Thank you, King Jesus. You and I are but I may as sitting on the roadside." But Jesus Christ of Nazareth walked by. And what bothers me is Christ gave His life for people who can barely say, "Thank you." Is there anybody grateful? Is there anybody grateful that God had the audacity to sin His Son to die? [ Applause ] Man.

>> This is my secret. This is my secret place, walking with Jesus, calling on Jesus' name. This is my secret. This is my secret place, walking with Jesus, calling on Jesus' name. This is my secret. This is my secret place, walking with Jesus. I've been, I've been amazed by this song. I can't get out of my head. My secret place, when life has beat me up, the bills on my table keep piling up. When my wife stopped trusting me, when my kids are living it's if I'm never raising my love, Jesus. This is my secret place, walking with Jesus. I can only imagine being what a man's after Christ has come to him and got him up from the ground just in the mouth and touched his eyes and made him see. And now he gets up from that ground, a new man. He begins to put his feet behind the Savior's feet and begin to put his stride behind the Savior's stride and he begins to find himself saying, "This is my secret." This is my secret place, walking with Jesus. Is there anybody in the room who's not afraid to sing, not afraid to tell God, "God, you've met me where I was, and you say anywhere I was, and I'm no longer going to be timid. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm going to stand till I feed and openly tell you, how good you've been to me. We didn't come to entertain.

Come on, church, you need this song in your life. You're going back to the work tomorrow. Those problems are way to do in the car. You've got to have something. You've got to have someone. You've got to have someone. What the hell you do like? This is Jesus. Come on, church. Come on, church. This is my secret. This is how I get to life. This is how I get to life. I get to life because of him. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. This is who he is. Bring it back up. This is my secret. Where's the compliment? Where's your hope? Where's your joy? It's found and kicked in. All people with Jesus. Yes, church. Come on, Jesus. Get the voices. Get the voices. This is my secret.

Sing, sing, church. ♪ This is my secret ♪ You're singing your song to your Savior, this is your secret to get through school, it's your secret to get to your marriage, it's your secret to get to your job that you hate, your secret is not moving, but your secret is found in the one who moved for you. It's not a show, not a event, but God lives here, God lives here, this is my secret. Is there anybody grateful, is anybody grateful, is there anybody grateful, anybody grateful. Now, I gotta go, I gotta go, keep singing, keep singing, keep singing, but I did not come four and a half hours to travel through three different times zones to stand up here. I was told past the Emma that when you open the Bible, you better expect change. So there could be somewhere in the room right now, you are absolutely exhausted. You're tired of living life the same way, getting the exact same results. How long are you going to play with your life? One day God will say, give me back my breath, your breath is borrowed. How long are you going to play with your breath? God said, I came so you do not have to keep living the way you're living. So, if you don't know Jesus, and I mean you don't know him, every hear about, every eye close, Father, would you please save somebody's soul? If you are absolutely tired of the way life has been, and you want Jesus to save you, to change your life, to meet you where you are, would you just do something bold? You just raise your hand. Yes, if you want Jesus to save your soul, would you just raise your hand? I'm seeing hands, I'm seeing hands, I'm seeing hands. Now, now, now, do one last thing for me, would you be bold enough to step out of your seat and just come down here? If you are asking God to save your soul, would you please just come down here and let us meet you, if you're asking God to save your soul, if you're asking God to bring you the new life, if you're just tired of the way things have been, please come down here, keep saying, keep saying, listen, listen, listen, I want those who are down here, listen to me, listen to me, share the gospel, Romans 10 9, if you believe that Jesus Christ is

the Son of God, you shall be saved. So, for our staff, our volunteers, find somebody, find somebody, share the gospel with them, they accept Jesus Christ, Romans 10 9, so you can believe in your heart and confesses your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you will be saved. This is why we're here, if you don't know Jesus, so keep saying, keep saying, keep saying, pass the tears where you are, pass the emma. This is my secret place, walking with Jesus, like you are, calling on Jesus' name. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus for sons and daughters coming home, for sons and daughters coming home and receiving identity, if you're down the front, I know that someone's praying with you. I'll give them 10 more seconds and I want you to look up at me if you're down the front. Just look up at me, I want to see those eyes, I want to see those eyes, I want to see those eyes. Okay, if you're down the front, just let me just see those eyes for a minute, just host team and ministry team, if you just give me a little pause for a moment. "The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me." Mike, "Spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon you." And I need you to understand what that means. That means the same Holy Spirit that hovered at the beginning of creation when God said, let there be light, and then the Holy Spirit moved to create light. And everything God said, the Holy Spirit moved to create it, that Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. What's this? It's the same Holy Spirit that is not just on you, when you accept Jesus, He's now in you. See, you can be in the water, and that's one thing, but there's another thing to have the water get in you. And I want you to know, young man, just like every single person standing here today. Did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, young man, at the front? Was that you?

I'm so proud of you. Can I tell you? What's your name again? You told me your name earlier. David, the one who took down Goliath, and there's a giant slayer inside of you. I need you to know that. And young David in the Bible was told he was a giant slayer, but before he slayed a giant, he learned to love and look after the sheep. So God's going to teach you just at home, teach you at school how to love people, how to care for people. And just like that message that Pastor Ricky preached, you're going to have eyes to see like Jesus people who are beside you, who are blind. And I'm telling you, the Spirit of God, listen to him, I'm speaking to everyone here, I'm speaking to you, but I'm speaking to everyone. God's His place is spirit upon you. He says to bring good news to the poor. Why would you notice blind Bartimaeus, why? Because God cares for those who are poor in spirit. Spirit of God's upon me, good news to the poor, freedom to the captives. There are people who are in such bondage to their past, to their minds, and that spirit is upon you to break every chain that's being upon you in Jesus' name. This is the power you're stepping into, Marcus, you need to understand this power. Good God's upon me, He's anointed me, someone say I'm anointed, to bring good news to the poor, freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind. I didn't even know what Pastor Ricky was preaching exactly. He sent his notes through, but I didn't look at them, and I text him this morning in that scripture, and he's speaking about God opening blind eyes. Look at me. I need you to look at me for this reason, because your eyes have been opened in the spirit. And now you're going to see things like you've never seen before.

You're going to see God as He truly is a good Father. And the reason, young David, why I'm telling you to understand the picture, your dad's arms around you right now is a prophetic picture of what the Father in heaven is doing to you right now. In fact, I want everyone here to just do that, just to do that. So when I hug my kids, they kind of just curl up in a ball and receive it. I want you to receive it right here at the front. Everyone in the congregation just received the love of the Father. You see the New Testament, although it's Jesus, it's actually not just about Jesus. I know you might think that's heresy of it. Let me tell you what it is. Jesus says, I only do what I see the Father doing. In fact, Jesus came to reveal the Father. And through Jesus Christ, we have a relationship with this loving Father. And when Daddy loves you and Daddy's fighting for you, you see, when David took the stone and picked Goliath, the trajectory of a stone being flung, if I'm Goliath and I get picked by a stone, I should fall which way, backwards. But Goliath didn't fall backwards. Goliath fell forwards. What does that mean? It wasn't just Goliath's stone that took down. David's stone that took down Goliath, it was God, the Father, who took it down. So you're going to experience God fighting for you, God watching over you, so you're going to go back into the same environment. Let me tell you, you might go back home and things aren't different, but you're different. As he passed the Ricky, he said, hey, you can't be a Christian and stay silent. You got to ask if God could ask you one thing God, would you allow me to be the vessel? One that you would use, you saved me when I was blind and couldn't see. Can you help me do the same for others? Is that your son you're holding then?

Wow. You know, when God called Moses, he said, Moses, Moses, when he called Abraham, he said, Abraham, Abraham. The fact that I got two prophetic pictures of the Father holding the Son is, I'm telling you what God is saying to you here today. affirm you and tell you he loves you, but I need you to know that. I know you're a dad of three boys, and I know you're doing well. But the father, Daddy, Abba, Father, and Heaven wants you to know that he sees you. He knows you and he loves you. And there's some mighty men in here and you're doing great things for God. And Father God wants you to know, listen, I see you. I know you. I love you. He's giving you that ada-voit. You're doing good. And you think you've been like blind, bottomated, made us and no one sees you. But God says he sees you. One of the speakers has gone out. They'll fix it in just a second. But God sees you. He knows you. You're awesome. Thank you. And your father wants you to, man, isn't it just like the devil to try and shut me up in this moment? Isn't it? But listen, hit that one. Oh, and I will not be silent. Come on. And I will all the basses now.

Oh, you lift your voice. ♪ Worship you ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ It's long as I am breathing ♪ Father loves you. Father is for you. He wants you to know that you are going to, by God. ♪ Worship you ♪ I don't know. I will not be silent. ♪ I will ♪ ♪ Time ♪ Ginger! ♪ I will be silent ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ Always ♪ Come on. ♪ Worship you ♪ Come on. ♪ You lift your hand ♪ ♪ Worship the kill ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ Just go ♪ ♪ Just go ♪ Put those lyrics up for me. ♪ Worship you ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ Who and I will always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪

♪ Lift those hands and worship the king ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ As long as I am breathing ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ Always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪ One more time. I need you here to sing it. Keep going. ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ Be sorry ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ Always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪ Oh, you're about to lift your voice in this place as long. ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I will always ♪ ♪ Something I will recall is a shell ♪ ♪ And I will not be silent ♪ ♪ I will not be silent ♪ ♪ I will always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪ ♪ As long as I am free now ♪ ♪ Oh God, you're worthy ♪ ♪ I will worship you now ♪ ♪ Come on, is he not worthy of your worship ♪ ♪ Has he not done enough for saving me ♪ ♪ And sending Jesus ♪

♪ Oh, I will not, I will not be silent ♪ ♪ I will not be silent ♪ ♪ I will ♪ ♪ I will always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪ ♪ As long as I have risked my life ♪ ♪ Has long as I am free ♪ ♪ Yes God, yes God, come on ♪ ♪ You will ♪ ♪ I will always ♪ ♪ Worship you ♪ - Come on, make your hands a little song rise in your voice. One more trip up to heaven. Thank God for the sacrifice. Thank you for the finished work of the cross. Thank you for the grace in your hands. Thank you for beginning sins. Thank you for healing my disease. ♪ I will always ♪ - Let's go. (audience cheering) ♪ Hail, oh, oh, oh ♪ [Music] Let me hear it. [Music] Come on, come with him. [Music] This is the marching orders. Step, I step, 'cause I'm walking out, I'm getting off that mat, 'cause God has opened my eyes, and I'm mad as to me in my house. We're gonna serve the Lord, and so when I hear that guitar play, it starts to set a rhythm.

Now tell me, when I go back to my school, I'm not gonna be silent. When I go back to my home and you send the marriages over, no, as to me in my house, we will serve the Lord. God is for me, who can be against me? I'm not giving up, because God has not given up on me. There is more in me, because greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. You will have that baby, you will have that right through expect. [Music] [Music] I will go away, the king of kings is worthy of all my praise, I will, I will, I will. I will go away, the king of kings is worthy of all my praise, I will go away, the king of kings is worthy of all my praise, I will go away, the king of kings is worthy of all my praise, I will go away, the king of kings is worthy of all my praise. Just the keys, just the keys, just the pain, come on, lift those hands, close your eyes, just let God speak, just the keys, just the keys. That's it, come on. [Music] Blind eyes are being opened right now and the spirit cancer is being healed in this room. I feel cancer dropping off, I feel cancer cells dropping right now, because cancer cannot exist in the presence of the healer. There's healing in this room. Bowel cancer, be gone, get off their life, every cancer is celled, breast cancer, we rebuke you right now in Jesus' name, prostate cancer, get off that man in Jesus' name. You will live and you will not die. Oh, we're in the presence of the healer. What do you need? Ask him, what do you need? Oh God's here. Yeah, receive your healing. Just one touch, one touch from the Savior. Here's what I'm declaring in this place that I'm telling you in one month from three months from now. Listen to me and hear me clearly that there are people in this room who have had a diagnosis from the doctor and it's brought such fear that it's crippled you. But today you've received a touch from heaven and you are going to go back to that doctor because we don't have to run from the mountain. Now you're going to look at that mouth and you're told that mountain be moved and be cast into the sea. The sea represents when Jesus was pierced and his blood and his water for the remission of sins. And I'm telling you watch this, he was not just pierced for my transgressions, he was bruised for my iniquities. So he didn't just die for my sin,

but he died to purchase my healing. So sickness has to bow at the name of Jesus. Shame has to bow at the name. Barbara says listen, listen, by his stripes you are, you were healed. I'd be so bold. I'm going to for the sake of time because I know some people have to get some kids, but we don't come to play church here. Now we really don't play church. Like there is a real God that saves real lives from a real hell to take you to a real heaven and this is why we do what we do. Holy, healthy, happy, bringing heaven to earth is not a cute phrase. It's scripture. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name is holy. We only get to the king of kings through the holy name of Jesus. So right now as we close this moment, for those of the front, I'm going to lead you in a prayer of salvation because the Bible says if you believe in your heart which you do, that's why you came out here, but you got to confess with your mouth. Have you been out here before? What do I know your face? Yeah, you looking like I'm not talking to you. Yeah, you young good-looking brother. What's your name? BJ? Yeah. Wow. Built for Jesus. God loves you so much young man and he's so proud of you. You need to know that and you got to walk out here with a little pimp in your step and lift that chest up knowing it's not you, but it's greater as he who is in you. So I'm going to lead you in a prayer because the Bible says you don't just believe here. You've got to confess. You've got to speak it out. So let's say it together. Every eye closed, every head bowed just for a moment. Just give us a moment. Here we go. Ivan, here we go. So let's say this. Let's say dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to find me and forgive me. Today I repent of my unbelief and I follow you. Fill me with your holy spirit. Give me courage open my eyes to see you the way you truly are. A loving father. And open my eyes to see myself the way you see me. Holy, whole and healed. Today I follow you and I'm saved in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, heaven is celebrating and we are celebrating with you and we want to walk this journey together. So if you prayed that prayer or you just want to know more about Jesus, follow the prompts that are on the screen right now. We are so proud of you and honestly God's vision for you is to see you live that better story epic and eternal. We say like this to see you. Holy, healthy, happy and bring in heaven to earth. And if you're watching and you want to help others find Jesus like that, you can partner with us and together we can make that epic difference. Giving details are coming up on the screen and we just say God's blessed you. You can be a blessing to other people as well. And hey, if you're here in the South Florida area, we'd love to see you in person. Check out the description below for times and the

Makers Chat where friends truly become family. See you soon. [MUSIC] (upbeat music)