Give Your Mess To God | Pastor Jim Combs

Well, I kept you standing because although I could introduce him a million different ways, I just would say it like this. He's one of my favorite people in the world. He's definitely one of my favorite preachers in the world. He's our dear friend. We have in the house today, I'm telling you, you better get ready. God's got a word for you. Ain't nobody sleeping in this gathering. I promise you. Put your hands together. Let's welcome back our very own pastor, Jim Coombs. Hey, Momentum Church. Wow, it's good to be here. Be seated and get comfortable, and let's get after it. Hey, before I jump in and get started, I wanted to just kind of say, hi, on behalf of The Timothy Initiative. I don't think that you realize, you're not just in Pensacola anymore. You are now global. Do you understand? You're global. I mean, I'm going to do this. I'm part of this family now, and we are, you know, we're global. I'll be in Africa tomorrow, and so we'll be in Benin and Togo. But I wanted to tell you about just a few weeks ago, my wife, Carol, and I, we were in Kenya, and we were walking, went walking through a village, a town, if you may. No church. You understand? No church. No Jesus. Not one single believer.

Now you won't, you won't experience that very often in America, right? I mean, you're not used to that kind of thing. An entire Muslim village. Carol and I walked through the village, and we began to pray, God, give us a person of peace. Just give us a person of peace. Give us somebody that you want to do something great in their life. Give us a person of peace. Now far from there, you are involved in training at one of our training centers, young pastors, young people that have surrendered to ministry and want to go into places that you can't even drink the water. You can't drink the water. It could kill you. You can't eat the food. You can't, it's just a, but they have a burden for their people. And a young Kenyan got so burdened about it that he went to that village, that town that my wife and I walked through, and he met this lady. He talked to this lady about this incredible man by the name of Jesus. She had no idea about what he was about and who he was and what he had done for her. That lady received Jesus as her Savior, the very first person in that town to ever know Jesus as their Savior. She got saved. You were part of that. You know what's crazy? Watch this. She owned a piece of property right next door to her home. She got so radically saved. You know what she did? She donated that piece of property, and there is now a church in that village, a church that you put there.

Man, you're global. That's exactly what we're supposed to do. When it said go to the world, you're going to the world. And I love it. And I'm so glad to be part of this with Momentum. I love you. I hate for this to come to a close. I'll be on an airplane in a few hours and be out of here, I kind of bounce around pretty much week to week in some city or some country, and I love doing it, but there's nothing like coming to Momentum. I even came in early to hang out with you. I really did, because I just wanted to do this, and it's refreshing, and I appreciate you so very much. Not long ago, I ran across a story that grabbed my attention for lots of reasons, but the story's about a biker. This biker, he loved his motorcycle, I mean, he just loved it, but he didn't have a garage to put it in. So what he would do is, to keep it out of the rain, he would put his motorcycle on the front porch. Every time he'd pull up there and keep it out of the rain, he'd keep it polished, and he was one of those kind of guys, just loved his bike. One day, he's sitting out on his porch, and he's working on his bike, and he's giving it a little tune job, and for some reason, something happened, he leaned over it, and he kicked it into gear, and as he did, he cranked the throttle on accident, and it blew him and the motorcycle right through the picture window of the house. They landed in the living room. His wife come around the corner, looks and says, what have you done now? My wife said that to me many times, but anyway, what have you done now? And they turned the bike off, he is cut to ribbons. I mean, he has gone through that picture window, and he is sliced in every way he can be sliced.

She called 911, the paramedics show up, they come in, they do some triage, and some of his, you know, cuts, they put him on a gurney, and they take him to the hospital. As they're going out the door, his wife's kind of panicked, she said, I'm coming right behind you, honey, I'll be right there, I'll follow behind the ambulance. And they said, she said, would you mind helping me guys stand this motorcycle up? So they stood it up, and when she looked down, some gas had come out of the tank and spilled on the floor there in the living room. So she, she's kind of, she grabbed some paper towels, and she wiped it all up, and thinking, what am I going to do with it? So she just tossed it in the toilet, and took off for the hospital. Fifty something stitches later, the man, I mean, I'm telling you, he was, he was cut up. She, you know, they helped load him in the car, and she brings him home, and he is one beat up dude. They get home, and I don't know how to say this any different, but he's got to go to the bathroom. So he walks in the bathroom, sits on the toilet, and lights a cigarette. When he lights a cigarette, it's boom! His wife goes. This is what have you done now, man? He went right boom. Yeah, she called 911 the same paramedic show up They come in there like what happened the boom-boom cigarette and so they they load the guy on the gurney One of the paramedics is trying not to laugh and he's struggling man He's like you got to be kidding me And is there wheeling the guy down the sidewalk one of the wheels of the gurney slide up the sidewalk and the gurney flips over It breaks the dude's arm Would you call that a bad day? I Would call that a bad day, let me ask you a question ever had one Hmm Ever had a day that you wish would go away Ever had a day that you just said to yourself man. How'd I get in this place?

Ever have the doctor tell you something you didn't want to hear the Every day where you wonder if your marriage is gonna get out of this thing or you're gonna make it You ever have a day when you're You Wonder if your kids are gonna make the right decisions You ever have a day when you? You're so discouraged and so depressed. You don't even know how to talk about it Yep You ever have one of those days How about one of those couple days? the turn of the weeks Well, you don't know what to do and you don't know where to turn Well, I love you and I mean that And I want to help you with your journey today Because you're gonna have a bad day and if you're not in the middle of one you got one coming Hmm they're coming the world is broken and it will break us if we are not careful So I've been in the church world a long time And you know, we always have a lot of our standard answers when somebody says well Where do you go when you have a bad day and you know the standard answer in the church will you go to the Bible? Dude, that's a big book. I Go to the Bible. I mean like where do I start here? I got do I go to the Old Testament man? Is it there do I go to the New Testament? I mean, where do I start? Let's go to Genesis 1 in the beginning God. What'd that do for you? Yeah Where do you go? And so for a little while I Want to help you know where to go. I want to show you where I go Believe it or not I have a bad day once in a while and I have a time when I'm when I you know I'm looking up at the ceiling and wonder why I'm not going to sleep and why I'm worried about this and why this is going

On and why I'm making this kind of decision and why'd that happen to me? And God one day showed me Zephaniah chapter number three and verse 17 and it was a world-changing for me I'm telling you it was a world changer and before you leave here I want to become as raw with you as I can possibly come and as real with you because if we ain't real We ain't really the church. Come on We're not really the church And Zephaniah chapter 3 exploded in my life in a way that was just I Hope maybe I can describe it before we get done Zephaniah chapter 3 in verse number 17 Let's kind of take a look at it for a little bit and see what it has to say to us They're in verse 17. It says this the Lord your God is in your midst Now very sincerely. I'm from the hood I'm from Detroit. I'm from where kids shouldn't grow up Some of you have heard my my talks before, you know, mommy had when she was 15, my dad was an addict My grandfather did life in prison for murder I grew up with felons and dope dealers and you name it so I didn't grow up the way any kid should grow up Got kicked out of school the first time when I was 10 years old They came to arrest me not long after that when I was 13 They told me I was incapable of learning listen. I got to tell you I've been on a journey And so I don't necessarily talk or speak like a lot of people with their you know Their grand vocabulary because I just barely went through school Eloquency is not my style I'm just I'm just a guy who'll tell you it's all good in the hood So when I look at a verse in the Bible, I only know how to speak it in sort of my vernacular which is this When he says he's in the midst. What's that mean to me that man? He's in the midst of my mess in my mess Come on, we all have a mess We've all have our messes. We all have those moments where it's this is a mess I don't know how to get through it or get around it. Thank God. We have a real God who wants to be in our real messes Everywhere I go I pretty much declare this truth. You can have all the religion in the world

I need a real God in my real life I need a real God to show up in real ways because without a real God, I'm not interested in any of this I thank God that we got a real God who show up in our mess You betcha. Yeah Nothing wrong with giving God So when I began pastoring in the Detroit area man, that's a story in itself me a pastor who well, that's a story and And so I took this little tiny church we had about 50 adults and you know Just barely trying to figure out how to survive. I Man, there was no paychecks there It was just nasty time in life But God put us there and we began and did this what they did in those days You had Sunday morning it's Sunday night Wednesday night and I was doing it, but I don't know if you ever noticed I have a little bit of energy so I get bored easy. I Do I got bored and I thought God, you know, I'd like some more stuff to do and manage anything So I'd heard about this this home for senior ladies, it was a Special place. It really was somebody had taken a gigantic home and they turned it into a place where ladies who kind of wanted their Their independency but yet had some care didn't necessarily have to make their own meals But you know, they would you know It have a way to come and go and it was a beautiful house that somebody done very well And it was about 20 ladies who lived there and they wanted somebody to come and do church for him So I heard man, let's do this. So I contacted the people and said listen, I'd love to do this I could come every Friday and they said that'd be great And so we would show up when I say we my wife and my three sons They would sing my wife played the piano They would sing some songs for the ladies and it was just a beautiful time and then I preach, you know I you know, I you know do what I do and we went every week. Well, there was a lady there Her name was Josephine Josephine's probably 170 or 80 or something like that. But anyway, she's she's up there Anyway, she's older lady and Josephine

Asked to see me afterwards and she said listen pastor Jim Josephine at Parkinson's and struggled with that and all the difficulties that go with that and she said I I'm kind of getting up there in age and she said I I'm gonna need an official pastor and I was wondering if you could Become my official pastor. I said well, let's make it official girl And I said I'll become your official pastor and let's get it done and you'll have it officially Officiated and she said okay so I said here's what we're gonna do my wife and I got to pick you up Sunday and I want to introduce you to Your official church because you'll have an official church. You got an official pastor and it's just all official and So she said great So we pick her up and she's on a walker at that time and we took her to church and introduced her to everybody They celebrated Josephine, you know, and it was really kind of a cool moment she wasn't able to come to church hardly much because of you know, her battles and you know The age and all of that stuff and but what we would do is every Friday I would go and I would take a recording and I would give it to her so she could listen to what was going on Official church, you know I'm saying and so she would sit and listen to it in her room And and so we'd go there one Friday. We get all finished and we had shared at our church the week before We've been blessed in a crazy way. God had God had taken that small group of people and done some miraculous stuff I I can't even tell you how God began to grow that church We baptized twice a hundred people at one time baptized at one stretch honestly a hundred and a hundred and ninety two weeks straight we baptized Every single week new believers. We were watching people get saved at a rate. That was just insane It was a movement of God. We were watching God just transform people and we had an auditorium the auditorium was About sad about 500 people for 500 people rectangles shaped like this and it was packed. I mean it was packed capacity We just were you know, didn't know what to do. I'm trying to figure out you know what I'm supposed to go I'd never been the sharpest knife in the drawer. So I just tried to figure out what do I do God? What do I do? And so I got this idea and it was shaped a lot like this There was a back wall, but there were some offices and nurseries back there. And so I said, how about we do this? How about we tear the back walls out move the nurses offices to the other parts of the building and we expand the auditorium?

Whatever that is that 30 feet or whatever and we'll you know, you know get new chairs It'll make a little smaller for people and we'll be able to seat 150 200 more people play people said yeah Let's do this and then you know the guy that's always got to ask the question He says well how much you know, where are we gonna get the money? And then I gave the standard answer. I don't know And so we began to pray about it. Well, this was on, you know that recording well a Couple weeks go by I go there to preach on a Friday. We get done doing our deal Josephine says to me Can I speak to you afterwards in my room? I said sure Josephine. I said is this official? She said yeah, and so so I went into her, you know their room there and she said listen, she said I heard that our church is gonna expand and we need to renovate we're praying about how to pay for it She said I'd like to pay for it. I Said all of it. She said all of it all of it. She said I want to pay for every dime of it I'm gonna just pay I want I said well when you want to do that Josephine she said well right now She takes a walker. She goes across the room and there's a checkbook sitting on the counter there and she's like there now Remember who I am. I told you who I am and she has Parkinson's I'm hoping she'll shake and add another zero to that bad boy. You got me I'm too honest. All right. Anyhow, so she hands me this check It is the largest check I'd ever taught the largest amount of money I had ever had in my hand I'm thinking are you like kidding me this thing this whole renovation of it and I whether you notice or not I can get a little excited. So I'm a little pumped man. I'm like, are you like kidding me? I remember going out of the building and I'm like yelling at the stars saying man God you really out there You're up there. Look what you did. I jump in my car. I said, baby God just paid for the entire building Josephine wrote a check. I said boys. Look at this. You're God's real We're pump man. I was I split up I Go home pull in the driveway. I ain't sleeping man. Are you kidding me? I don't sleep much Anyway, now I ain't sleeping and I'm thinking you got to be good. So I get on the phone I start calling a bunch of guys in the church I said fellas God showed up and we're gonna do some craziness show up at the church bring sledgehammers Let's do this thing man guys start pulling it in their pickup trucks, man And we start ripping tools out of the back and next thing, you know, we're hammering the back wall out. It's gone We tear it out overnight. We tear out the back windows because it's summertime. We got the back of the building. It's exciting Sunday morning

We open the door people start showing up. They walk in the back of the buildings gone. They're yelling. What happened? What happened? I said God happened. He showed up God's incredible God so good Wow people applaud Jesus and it's just a great moment and we're all happy Monday morning My office manager calls me on the phone. Your name is D and she says, um, hey, I'm pastor Jim I gotta tell you something. You know that check you got from Josephine. It ain't no good. I Said huh, I said, I believe God's calling me to Africa She said I don't know what to tell you but the checks no good I mean I say you say we ain't got no money and I told her back to the building out. I'm such a good leader What a mess I thought what am I gonna do here and I I'm thinking Wow God, please and then I looked at her She said what are we gonna do? I said I'm gonna quit anyway, and So I said we'll figure it out. Whatever. So next morning Josephine calls me on the phone pastor Jim I'm so sorry about the check. She said I just wanted you to know I do have the money But you can't have it until I die Right then you don't know how to pray I Said Josephine it's all good. Well, we'll figure it out. How's your medicine working? Anyway, no, I Said how you doing? Good good. And anyway, I said, well, it'll be all right, whatever. Oh my so Tuesday We have staff meeting every Tuesday and We had a lady in our staff that took care of our seniors and she would make appointments to help with things and Josephine had Called me an appointment to have her run some errands. And so she calls Goes to get Josephine takes her out on Tuesday get a few errands She ends up going to a store and buying a new blue dress that day and and Josephine went home She dropped her off there and she went in her room and she laid down in her bed and Josephine Straub went to heaven that day I Did not touch her Josephine Straub paid for the entire renovation of that building The church was able to go forward in ways that we've never able to go forward before We grew in ways that would make nonsense. We didn't go to hundreds. We went to thousands God did some stuff that was amazing and he used a woman's life

Today she rejoices in heaven because there's a great ministry that today now has 12 locations and it's doing it in ways that don't make Sense and God's incredible as my three sons lead that church I thank God that Josephine Straub was a real lady, but I think more than just Josephine Straub I thank God that God was in the midst of my mess. I've been a mess I've always be a mess, but I have a God who's in the midst of my mess Where do you go when you're having a bad day you go to a God who's in the midst of your mess? Come on church. Let's celebrate a real God Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 continues to say this look at those first of those two words at the very end a mighty one who will Save I don't know how to say it any different than this, but he's mighty. There ain't nothing too big for God I'm glad in the midst of my you know struggles in my bad days I got a mighty God to go to that's bigger than anything. I'll ever face anything I'll ever struggle our church began to grow even more and more and more We went to one service two services three services four services five services six services seven services on a Sunday I'm telling you it was absolutely crazy People said you're nuts preaching that many times why it's the most thing in the world to do is preach That's why I get to do here. It's Christmas You understand so man, I just love it, and I'm thinking this is nuts, but the auditorium is filling again and again We built a new auditorium. That's that 1200 and it's filling and we're thinking what do we do now? There's a piece of property that wasn't far from us that was first that was empty vacant not for sale, but vacant It was an old drive-in movie theater. Remember when they used to be popular? Most of them are all closed up these days. But I thought, I wonder who owns that? It'd be a great place to build a new auditorium, you know? And so I contacted the community, called the, you know, the municipality, and they told me that it is owned by a little company you might have heard of called Paramount Pictures. I guess they own those drive-in movie theaters all over the country and, you know, of course introducing their movies and all the different things. And so I contacted Paramount Pictures and talked to their real estate division and talked to a man and said, hey, my name is Pastor Jim Combs and I pastor a church in the area. You guys have a piece of property there. I'm sure you're not aware of it, but I'd be interested. We'd be interested in purchasing that if you'd be

interested in putting up for sale. He said, well, let me see what I can do. And he looks it all up, gets back with me, and says, listen, it's not really for sale. And I said, well, if it comes up for sale, would you please let me know? And believe it or not, just a few days later, he called me back on the phone. He said, kind of crazy. He said, we're gonna, we'd like to sell that piece of property. I said, awesome. He said, how much would you like, or I said, how much would you, are you gonna sell it for? He said, well, we've done some research and we're gonna sell the property for 1.2 million dollars. And I'm in the park. It was a number of years ago, so my numbers may not be exactly right, but I'm real close. And he said, 1.2 million dollars. And I said, oh. I said, well, we're not willing to pay that. He said, well, what are you willing to pay? I said, we'll give you 1 million dollars. He said, we'll never take that. We don't negotiate, he said, because why do we need to? We just, this is the price we want and you're either gonna take it or not. I said, okay, here's how it's gonna work from us. We're gonna give you a million dollars, but you got 30 days. 30 days. If you don't contact us within 30 days, our church will never, ever again give you 1 million dollars. You got 30 days. See, I've always believed if God ain't in it, I don't want to be in it. So I said, you got 30 days. Now, 31, you got 30 days. He said, wow. He said, you're crazy. I said, that's a given. About 34 days later, he calls me back on the phone. He said, listen, we've decided to take your 1 million dollars. I said, dude, you lost track of the calendar. I said, I told you 30 days. 30 days, we'd give you a million dollars. He said, you really meant that? I said, yeah. He said, I said, well, what's the price now? I said, 900,000. He said, do you know who we're dealing, you're dealing with? You're dealing with Paramount Pictures. I said, you know who you're dealing with? I happen to be a child of God. I said, so here's how it's going to work, dude. You got 30 days. He said, what? I said, you got 30 days. You call me in 30 days and accept $900,000 or we'll never give you $900,000 again. He said, no, you're out of your mind. I said, we've already been there. 30 something days later, he calls me on the phone and says, we'll take the 900,000. I said, man, you ain't catching on. Before it was all said and done, we paid $700,000 for that piece of property.

You say, what happened? Look, a mighty God happened. A mighty God who shows up. Why? Because that's who he is. A mighty God who wants to come in our bad days. Where do you go when things are not going the way you need them to go or want them to go? How about leaning on a mighty God that wants to do something mighty in your life? Yeah. Nothing like him. Wow. Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 17. The Lord, your God, is in your midst. He's in the midst of my mess. A mighty one. Yep. Nothing too big for my God. Watch this. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He's crazy about you. Do you realize that when God looks at you, you make him smile? What else does that mean? God will rejoice over you. He says, that's my girl. That's my girl. Ain't she something? That's my guy, man. That dude, he's the man. He's mighty. He's incredible. Do you realize that the enemy doesn't want you to believe that? He wants you to believe that your relationship to God is dependent on your behavior. But I'm going to give you something the church don't really want to talk about much. God loves you when you're happy and God loves you when you're sad. God loves you when you're good and God loves you when you're bad. Boy, you're all good at being bad. We all are. Do you realize we all sin to come short of the glory of God? There is none righteous, no, not a stinking one of us. Do you get it? But you make him smile. I love the story about this little boy. Man, was he a rascal. His dad had checked out on the family. Mom was trying to do her best. And this kid was a struggle. I'm telling you, he got kicked out of school. He caused havoc. He, man, he was doing everything a kid shouldn't do. And mom's just trying to figure out what in the world am I going to do? Oh, somebody said to take him to church. And she said, church? She was unchurched? She said, well, I'll give it a try. So she goes and checks him into church, and oh my, that little boy caused more havoc, stealing the offering, doing all kinds of stuff. You say, that really happened? Yeah, trust me, I could take you down that road.

Anyway, and when I was a little boy, no, we won't even go there. Anyway, all I know is is that this little boy was not what he was supposed to be, and man, everything he touched seemed like he'd make a mess of it. Classrooms, difficulties, and just, it was a difficult time. Well, it became around the Easter season. So they decided they were gonna have an Easter play, and the kids were gonna perform, you know, all about the resurrection and the death of Jesus. And so the director said, listen, I'd like to give this little boy a part. The other people that were in the thing said, are you crazy? This kid'll wreck the whole play. And they said, no, it's what we're here about. Let's give him a part, a little part. So they went to the little boy and said, son, listen, we'd like you to be in our Easter play. And the little boy said, me? Said, yeah, we want you to be in the play. We're gonna give you one line to say, just one line. That's all you got. You give one line, that's all you have, and it's a simple little line. And the little boy said, well, what is it? He said, all you gotta do at the very end of the play,

after everything is all done, we'll scoot you out, you walk up to the microphone, and you just simply say this. He's not here, he has risen. And the little boy said, what do I say? Said, just say, he's not here, he has risen. And he said, look, we put it on a piece of paper for you. Take it home, just memorize it, give it to your mama, and you'll learn this, and that's all you gotta learn. The little boy said, okay, I'll give it my best. Man, he worked on that thing. He tried to memorize that, he worked on it. Mama tried to help him. The day of the play comes. Man, they do an amazing job. They show the crucifixion of Christ, the resurrection. It's, the stage is beautiful. The kids have done an amazing job. The parents are all out there, the grandparent, the place is full, it's an amazing program. And they come to the very end, and the director says, it's your time, son. Little boy walks out, walks to the microphone, looks and said, what was that again? What was that again? Oh, stinking, what was that again? He looks at the crowd, he says, oh yeah. He looks at the crowd and says, he ain't here, he's in prison. You know what I bet happened right then?

I bet God leaned over to the son who sits at the right hand and says, hey boy, did you see that? That was amazing. Did you see, that's my kid down there. He's absolutely spectacular. Can you imagine God saying, hey angels, the thousands of you, did you guys get a good on that? That was spectacular. Flip your wings and celebrate this amazing guy because he made me smile. Do you understand? You make God smile. You make God smile. He looks at you and he's proud of who you are and how he made you and what you're becoming and what's going on in your life. Don't you think for a minute that you don't make God smile because according to this incredible verse, we make God rejoice. We make him rejoice. Wow. Man, that was my go-to place. Check it out. Zephaniah chapter three, verse 17. The Lord your God, he's in the midst of your mess. He's mighty, ain't nothing too big for him. He will rejoice over you with gladness. You know what that means? I make God smile.

And then it says this. He will quiet you by his love. If you don't hear anything I have to say today, would you please hear this? God loves you. He loves you right where you're at. His love is not conditional. His love is not determined on whether you're everything you're supposed to be one day. He loves you. See, where do you get that from? See, where do you get that from? Only this thing called the Bible where he says in the book of Psalms that he loves me with an everlasting love. You know what everlasting love means? That means there ain't no stopping place. There ain't no quitting. There ain't no place where he says I'm off today. There ain't no time where he says I'm stopping loving you for a moment. Guess what? He loves me. He loves me. He loves you. He's crazy about you. My Bible says in the New Testament that nothing shall separate me from the love of God. Neither heights nor depths. Nothing shall separate us from the love of God.

We ought to get together every week and just celebrate the fact that God's crazy about us. He loves us to such an nth degree. Not because we're good. Not because we're what we're supposed to be. He's just nuts about us. God loves you. Yeah. Wow, when I'm having a tough day, that's my go-to place. Here's what I know. Zephaniah chapter three, verse 17. God said, I'll be in the midst of your mess, Jim. I am so mighty, there's nothing too big for me. I'll save you. I'm rejoicing over you in gladness. We smile son you make me smile and then he said something that honestly nobody ever taught me He said something that blew my world away He said I will exalt over you with loud singing God sings over me He sings over me I Got thinking about that he sings over me One of the things that I love about momentum church is this I love that the roof doesn't leak I Don't know why I said that I Love that you can be real here And I can say things to you About my journey, but there's some places I I couldn't say a Few years ago, I'd reached the lowest place of my life. I honestly hate talking about it I'd reach the place in my life where I'd reached every single goal. I'd set When I went to pastor in Michigan I wanted to build the largest church in my city

God only blessed Nali with the largest church in the city. We became the largest church in four cities. I Written two books I was now traveling speaking in the biggest pulpits in America Was preaching somewhere between 16 and 17 times a week But I was empty And I was alone And I felt like I had nobody and nowhere to go When you let the enemy whisper that in you and you start believing it. I Won't lie to you. I was fatigued. I was tired. I Was wore out I was making some decisions that weren't good I had nobody to talk to about it. So I'd get in the pulpit and pretend You know, it's pastor Jim But they had no idea I wanted to die I Just wanted to die I Sat down one day I was trying to figure out how I could end it Who do you tell I got I got a hundred employees. I got buildings. I got budgets. I got boards. I got people that depend on me Who do you talk to about? being lower than you've ever been in your life and you You know what to do when you it just be easier If I died Yeah, I hate telling you that fellas I consider myself a man's man Because I don't want you to think I'm weak that's weak I so broken And then Zephaniah chapter 3 came into my life And I said God what you singing over me today And Listen I'm I'm from Detroit And I grew up my mom was 15 when I was born and that was in the 60s so I Was able to grow up in a moment where the greatest music in the history of music was produced

called Motown Give me some temptations, baby. Come on Aretha Franklin the Queen Oh my I'm just some songs are bouncing around inside of me, and I'm thinking this is incredible. Oh my And one day I Was honestly at the lowest place I could get oh I won't walk you through the details But as far as I was concerned life was over for me today And the song came on And I said Hey That's you God Is that you God? Think about the words God's talking to me Ain't no mountain too high. Ain't no valley too low. Ain't no river wide enough. He's coming for me Is that you God? Come on church Remember that day when I set you free that's the day he saved you You can count on me. He said You do have somebody Jim. You got me They're gonna keep me from getting to you. I got a plan for your life And I'm gonna use you and I'm crazy about you. You betcha. Let me sing over you a bit Jim Come on church Never done this here. Have you Can't stop me baby. You can't stop him When I'm in trouble he'll be there in a double yeah I Help you ever need a helping hand Jim I needed you so bad God and you became so real What a God I

Think about it think about it. What a God Hear me church I have never been at a better place in my journey than I am right now. I Wake up every morning and pinch myself and say God How can I be so blessed How could you have done so much for me how could you be so big and real in my life I I Told pastor Tim before the last gathering I've never been in a better place I've never been in a better place, you know Cuz there ain't no mountain High enough to keep him from getting to me There ain't no valley low enough to stop him from coming to me. There ain't no river wide enough Do you understand? There's a very real God Who wants to be very real in your life? Yeah You're gonna have a bad day or two Me I hang out in Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17 And then I just listen Hey God, how about you sing a little for me? Wow What a God You Would you bow your heads please in the room You'd say pastor Jim here today young old man woman that makes no difference You'd say this message spoke to my heart today It's hard to even tell people when you're broken and you're discouraged And you're struggling and you can't sleep You're staring at a ceiling with doubting and wondering if God's even real

Passion my marriage is in trouble kids are making bad decisions. I Got some regrets that I'm fighting with that are eating me alive The Message spoke to me Would you pray for me? If you'd like that, maybe slip your hand up won't embarrass you just want to pray for you The message spoke directly to me today. If you'd like that, we just slip your hand up hands They're going up all over this auditorium literally dozens I'm telling you they're going up front to back all hands still going up young old men women and people Every kind of person's raising their hand. God bless you. You may pray put them down. You say, I wish I'd raised my hand a minute ago and I didn't. Come on, you still can. I'm just gonna pray for you. Anybody say, I wish I woulda. God bless you and God bless you, that's awesome. You may put them down. In just a moment, I'm gonna have a prayer for you. But here's what I'd like to do. I'd rather pray with you than for you. Now, I will pray for you because I promised I will. But in just a couple minutes, I'm gonna give you opportunity and I'd love to lay hands on you and pray over you. And ask God to help you in your journey. Because I know you're either having a bad time or gonna have a bad time. You got some things you're struggling with or you're gonna have. And I wanna pray over you.

And if just one person lets me pray over them, cool. In just a moment, I'm gonna ask you to come do that. But before we do, I have one question that I need to ask you about. Because this is real important. If you had to die today and this is your last day on the earth, are you sure you'd go to heaven? Are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven? You can be. First John says, you may know you have eternal life. You can know it. I wanna prove something to you. How many of you in this room will say to me, I know that I know that I know. I'm not the best guy or person in the room, but I know if I had to die because Jesus is my Savior, I'd go to heaven. Would you say a soft amen? Amen. You can know also. It's not by anything you do or don't do. It won't be by baptism or church membership. That's all a joke. The church has created that mess. It's simply by you receiving the gift. Jesus will be your Savior today if you'll invite him to come into your life. Right where you're seated, if there was a doubt in your mind that you said,

I'm not sure if I had to die, man, get that settled before you leave. Don't walk through this life without him. You need him. If you're like that, I'd invite you to pray this prayer with us. It's not the prayer that will do it. It just speaks of the sincerity of your heart. I would encourage all of you to join in. Maybe you'll help some others pray this prayer for the first time. It goes like this. Dear Jesus, come into my life and be my Savior. I believe you died for me and rose again. Forgive me my failures. Take me to heaven when I die. Thank you for being my Savior today. In Jesus' name, amen. With heads continue to be bowed, you'd say to me, Pastor Jim, I just prayed that prayer for the very first time or for the first time sincerely. Not pretending, but really trusting Jesus. I need him for my struggles in life. We all do. We all do. Don't go through life without him. It's crazy when it's so simple to receive him. And if you just prayed that prayer and you meant business, I won't embarrass you or nobody else,

but we just wanna celebrate it. I wanna celebrate it with you. You'd say, I just prayed that prayer for the first time. I received Jesus as my Savior. I made sure of that thing, because I wasn't sure. If you're like that, maybe slip your hand up and say, I just did that. Anybody in the auditorium say, I just did that. I just did that. God bless you. Anybody say, I just did that. You slip your hand up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.