Guided Through The Desert | Lady Virginia Jones | Mother's Day | Full Service

For the city, good morning and welcome. What a beautiful day to be in the house of the Lord this fine Mother's Day. If it's your first time, we want to know you, we want to know your family. You can tap the disc in front of you or you can stop at the connect desk on your way out. If you are watching from online, tap that digital connect card. In Psalm 28 and 7, the word says, the Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. I'm grateful to God this morning that he is my strength. I'm grateful that I can trust him and for that, I burst out in song. Let's pray. If you're not standing already, please stand. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your kindness. God, we thank you that you're meeting us in this place today. Lord, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus that you would have your way. And Lord, we give you all honor, we give you all praise, we give you thanksgiving in song. Lord, we give you it all. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Let's worship. Lord, we thank you for freedom. Lord, we thank you for freedom. I'm shaking off the heaviness. I'm dancing out of my regrets. I'm throwing caution to the wind. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this. Some would say it's foolishness. But I say it's worth the risk. I can't forget what Jesus did. No, I am not ashamed to praise like this.

Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe it. I'm free, I'm free. Thank God I'm free. I've got a friend that never quits. No one loves as good as this. And I don't care what anyone says. I'll never be ashamed to praise like this. Where are those chains that once held me? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. My sin is gone, how can it be? I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. I'll sing, I'll dance, cause I believe it. I'm free, I'm free. Thank God I'm free. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. You took the cross and you broke your body. You shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me.

You took the cross, and you broke your body. I shed your blood, now the sinner can't see. My debt is paid, and my record is clean. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. I couldn't do it, so you did it for me. Sing it out! We believe that! Come free! Come look at what the Lord has done! Let's sing it out! Thank God I'm free! You're free! You shed your blood! I can't pray! I can't pray! My debt is paid and my record is clean. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. I couldn't do it so you did it for me. And look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done. I'm never going back to the way I was. Look at what the Lord has done.

I'm never going back to the way I was. Praise you, Jesus. We praise you, Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. We sit in your presence, Jesus. We sit at your feet, Jesus. Lord, here's my heart again. I come just as I am. All that I have, I give to you. I don't have much to bring. Faith like a mustard seed. All that I have, I give to you. And I put all my hope and trust in your promise. Oh, I'm reaching for the hem of your garment. Oh, I'm desperate for you, my Jesus. I won't live without you. And I want your presence. I'm after your heart where you are. I am running. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. Oh. If it's in all yours, I'll seek you all myself. For you alone will satisfy. The love of my soul. No one else would I long for. And you alone will satisfy. Oh, I put all my hope and trust in your promise. Oh, I'm reaching for the hem of your garment.

Oh, I'm desperate for you, Jesus. I won't live without you. And I want your presence. I'm after your heart where you are. I am running. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. Oh. Wars in custody battle brought a level of fear and brokenness I had never known. Instead of facing it, I ran. I stayed busy, saying yes to anything that would distract me, no matter how uncomfortable it made me. I cried almost every Sunday, carrying pain I didn't know how to release. That is when I started with CTC. I had a lot of anger in my heart, and it affected my relationship with my parents. I was stuck in a toxic cycle with someone, going back to something I knew was hurting me. I drank, I partied, and I even showed up to church hungover. In November on Wednesday, Pastor Norman Chandler talked about freedom. It was especially impactful to me. During worship, I pleaded to God for help, because I knew he was speaking directly to me, but I wasn't ready to let go. It felt as if I was hopeless, and that's when Stephanie came to me without me asking, and prayed over me, speaking directly to the pain that I had. There was no way she could have known what I was going through. I felt God's presence for the first time, and I knew he was calling me out of my brokenness. Then in March, after watching someone go public with their faith,

my daughter looked at me and said, Mommy, I want you to get baptized. God was confirming what he was already starting in me, and breaking cycles through me, not just for me, but for her. And since giving my life to Jesus, I no longer allow access to anything that does not bring me closer to God. I am rebuilding my relationship with my parents, setting a better example for my daughter, and most importantly, I am building my relationship with God. I have two wonderful women in my life to thank for bringing me to CTC. Cindy and Angelina. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. I want to see you, Jesus. I want to see you, Jesus. Come down, fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to taste you, Jesus. Come down and fall down. I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down and fall down. I want to see you, Jesus.

Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down and fall down. Oh, I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Oh, I'm desperate for you, Jesus. I won't live without you. I want your blessings. I'm after your heart. Where you are, I am ready. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your breath. Come down and fall down. I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Come down and fall down. I want to see you, Jesus. Consume me and fill me. Oh, I want to touch you, Jesus. Oh, I'm desperate for you, Jesus. Come on, Jesus wants to hear our desperation, our cry out. I want your presence. I'm after your heart. Where you are, I am ready. I'm after your heart. Just one touch of your glory. Lookin' back at where I came from Just to see how far you brought me It's amazing all the things that you've done And I just want to say thank you

There wasn't a time or a place That you weren't there with me Never tried to load a fire You didn't walk with me My God, you're so steady and true All my word of friend I've found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You walk my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able Seen me more than I ever could dream You've been so steady You've been so steady Here's the heart of what I'm saying Lord, I never would have made it If it wasn't for your goodness If it wasn't for your mercy There wasn't a time or a place That you weren't there with me Never tried to load a fire You didn't walk with me My God, you're so steady and true All my word of friend I've found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You walk my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able Seen me more than I ever could dream You've been so steady You've been so steady I can't even walk without you holding my hand Every hour I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm even here When I draw close, you draw even near I said I can't even walk without you holding my hand Every hour I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm even here When I draw close, you draw even near And when I draw close, you draw even near My God, you're so steady and true All my word of friend I've found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You walk my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able Seen me more than I ever could dream You stayed so faithful, willing and able Seen me more than I ever could dream You've been so steady You've been so steady You've been so steady Hallelujah, come on give Him praise. He's a faithful God today. Oh we worship, worthy of all praise Lord. We worship You Jesus. We give You honor and glory. Oh Lord. Oh we thank You, we thank You. Hallelujah. Amen. Well church, what an amazing experience to experience worship in the house of God together corporately.

We're gonna transition the message before we do. Let's take this time in a minute to mingle, find someone you've never met before, greet them, tell them you're thankful they're here in the house today. Let's do it. All right, good morning to you. Welcome to the church for the city where we'll teach the word, encounter the presence of God, and spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How many are so glad to be in God's house? Amen. It's good, it's good, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. One of the things, you know, our ministry of course, we celebrate the fact that we're multicultural and also multi-generational. We believe we emphasize ministering to people from birth to death, honestly. And one of the things that I'm very grateful for is the ministry that we have to the tweens. Those tweeners, those that are in between, kind of on the high end maybe of elementary school, preparing to go to middle school. Gabriel and Jolene Morales and their teams do a tremendous job of ministering to that group. What you're going to see, three of the tween life groups, you'll see a picture here where 44 of those students actually graduated from the foundations class, which is the beginning steps for any of us going into discipleship. And so I'm so thankful for the opportunity for them to learn and a desire for them to learn and their parents being so much a part of that. Now, the tween groups don't meet in the summer, but what we do in the summer is three nights we do what's called summer jam. You might kind of think of it similar to a VBS kind of, but it's more thorough than that, a little bit more rich than that, has more to it, learning the word, learning the worship. They do have their groups that they break off into, but those are great nights for you to register your children to be part of and for them to bring a friend of theirs that they get to know also the same Lord and Savior that they know. So there's a QR code there. You can also tap the disc in front of you, and that should give you the information to register for those three nights of summer jam. Now, this morning, every woman at Crossroads Mission received a purse with a handwritten card and a gift inside that purse because of your generosity of giving. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having a heart to give beyond ourselves. I know that was a blessing for them and certainly gives them the dignity that they so deserve being created in the image of the almighty God. Now, generosity, every time you come into the building, there's an opportunity to give. You are a giving church. You're so, so good at just being generous and tithing, giving to the Lord what belongs to him. That allows us to do so much that we do. There's only a couple of times of the year, as you know, if you're a first-time visitor here, you won't see us pass a chicken bucket around for you to put offering in. Nobody's going to come in front of you and shake something to make sure you give. We don't do that.

We just believe that people will give out of their hearts. They know Christ. They'll follow the leading of the spirit. There's ways you can give around the building. There's ways you can give on the screen. But there are a couple of times of the year where we may put the buckets out. One is doing Super Bowl Sunday. But for the last three weeks, I've been asking for everyone to bring $10, to give $10 for every person in their household to help us in the work to feed the children in third world countries with our partner, Convoy of Hope. As of right now, there's 639 children. that are fed every day in 39 countries because of the giving and the generosity of churches like CTC and $10 will feed a child for 30 days. Think about that, $10 will feed a child for 30 days. So if you haven't heard this, those of you that have been here the last two weeks, you're prepared to give and we're gonna give you an opportunity to come up and do it. You can also hit the tap disc in front of you. That giving opportunity would be right at the top and you can know that this is for Convoy of Hope. But if you haven't been here the last two or three weeks and have no idea what I'm talking about, just take it from me. Anything you got in your pocket, we want it right now. You can just bring it and we're gonna make sure that there's children around the world being fed. Again, $10 feeds a child for 30 days. And so they're gonna play music. Here's your opportunity to come and to give.

And again, you can use the tap to give also. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Well, thank you and God bless you. Can we give it up for the spirit of generosity? We're so thankful, so grateful. I'm telling you, this has an impact on thousands and thousands of lives, so thank you for being generous. Before I introduce our speaker, we want to show a baptism that was done at my home a few weeks ago. It was special. It's the oldest person that I've ever baptized. This lady was 93 years old, came to the conclusion where she needed Christ and wanted to be water baptized with a great story, so let's watch this. My name is Dolores. Before coming to the church on the city, I was searching for answers in a place that truly felt like home. I have always believed that life is precious,

and even many years ago when I faced pressure from others to make a different choice during my fourth pregnancy, I chose life. That child, my other three children, have all been a blessing. As time went on, the church I was attending began to move away from what I believed, and I finally stopped searching again, wanting truth, clarity, and a deeper understanding of God. Then my grandson Jordan and his wife Brianna invited us, the us being my son Brad and his wife Allison and me, to church in the city. From the very first service, I felt at home. At that moment, I surrendered my life to Jesus. When I left that day, I knew that this is where I wanted to worship because of the inner peace I felt. I had been baptized before by sprinkling, but after watching others being baptized and learning more, I felt in my heart that I truly wanted to take the step of water baptism as a true expression of my faith and understanding. Throughout my life, I have prayed and even said the Lord's Prayer and Apostle's Creed daily, but now I truly understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus. I've been able to open up. openly talk with others about him, and I feel a deeper peace and confidence in my faith. At 93 years old, I know how important it is to take this step. We never know what comes next, but I do know I have hope in Jesus.

That's why I'm here today. Today I'm going public with my faith. That's awesome. Well, Dolores, the scripture says that every disciple of the Lord is to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Based on your confession of faith, I now baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and the scripture says you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. I'm telling you, that is one of the most fascinating tests. 93 years old, searching for truth, saying the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed every day, and knowing she hasn't come to that Christ that she's praying to and talking about, and then going to a church where she realized this ain't what the Bible is teaching. I just love it. What was also amazing, she talked about having the pressure to abort the fourth child, and after that baptism was over, I knew her son Brad in Allison, New Jordan, and there was a couple there I didn't know after that baptism was over, a young man came up to me and says I was the fourth child that she was going to abort. Beautiful. I mean, just, come on, let's just give it up for Jesus. He just, he's amazing. He's amazing. He's after you. You haven't come to Jesus yet. Don't, I don't know if I can baptize you when I'm 93, so you need to get baptized before you get 93. Give your life to Jesus before then. The Lord is after you, and he loves you. Well, it's an honor for me to serve this church.

I love the church I serve, love the staff that I work with. All of them do a tremendous job. They're very honoring, and it's a joy to work with them along with our elders, but there is no one more honoring to me than the love of my life who's going to bring the word this morning. I want you to stand on your feet and receive Lady V. Jones as she brings the word of God. All right, praise God. It's been a good day. I'm so excited to be here. You may sit down. This morning I was thinking if there's ever a time for me to shoot into a, go into a trend is this morning. I was thinking loose stomach, hallelujah. Nerves, hallelujah. Throat hurting, hallelujah. Like I had all of it. I am going to be a true Pentecostal kid, and I'm going to blame Satan for everything that's happened to me this week. I fell on Wednesday over in his office, and I was like, I had to go get x-rays and the whole works. I thought I had broke my hand. Then this morning I woke up like at four in the morning, and I'm coughing, and I'm like, what is going on with my voice? I normally talk hoarse, but it was really bad, and I was trying not to cough. I didn't want to wake him up. Then when you try not to cough, then finally you get a cough attack, right? I was feeling so terrible because I didn't want to wake him up, because it's Sunday. Then I thought, oh wait, he's not even preaching. Why am I afraid of waking him up? I am so, so excited to be here.

We have eight children. I love them all. I'm so in love with all the kids. I just love my family. We have Jermaine, Tyrone, Leanna. Leanna's going to thank me for that because usually pastor, he always says Jermaine, Leanna, and then Tyrone. I'm giving you guys in the order that they are. Leanna, Eli, Tisha, Tiffany, Malachi, and Junior. Then we have four amazing daughter-in-laws, Karina, Kathy, Natalie, Laura. We have 17 grandkids. Seventeen grandkids, praise God. I told the other service, we still have two slots available for a son-in-law. Oh, we have two son-in-laws. Oh, I love you, Mayer. Alex was our only son-in-law for years and years and then here comes Jimmy. He's added on to the bunch. But we have two slots available for a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law. So when you hit the tap just to give, you'll also find an application. Tisha, if you're watching, I love you, girl. But I love coming from a big family. I love when we're all together. I love it so much. It fills my heart. Even if they're walking back and forth. And I told this morning, I told Pastor, I'm going to speak for myself when I say that I love having all the kids over. I love it. But let's get to the word. I have this word in my heart. And I've had it for a while.

And it just so happened to be that I have been writing so many notes. And then the first day that I heard this song so steady, I was like, oh my gosh. My word in this song, it has blessed me so much. I memorized it. I sing it on my way to work. One of the girls here came today from my office. And she's like, that's the song you've been singing every day at the office. But we're going to go to the book of Exodus. If you can please stand. Exodus is the second book of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus. You've gone too far if you're in Deuteronomy. Exodus 13, verse 17. It says, when Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the promised land. God said, if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle. Remember this line. Let's skip to verse 21. The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from his place in front of his people. Amen. Father, we're so grateful to be in your house this morning. I pray, Father God, that you just are so present this morning.

Take control of my thoughts, my mind, my spirit, Father God, that I may speak truth and words from you, Father God, that you have deposited in my heart. I pray that all nerves are set aside and that I am able, Father God, to just project what you've given me, Father God, and give it to the people. I pray for every person that's here, every mom that's here. I pray that she lets you guide her, Father God, as she leads her children. I pray for any individual that's here today that had a hard time getting to church because maybe, like me, their mother is no longer here on this earth, or maybe they don't have a good relationship with their mother, or they struggle to get here. So I pray that you put peace in their heart, Father God, and that they can listen to the word today and know that you don't fail us, that you are a heavenly Father who wants to guide us, guide us onto eternity. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. The book of Exodus records more miracles than any other Old Testament book. It's also known for the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are there if you didn't know. Very interesting. If you want to know the Ten Commandments, want to catch up with them, that's where they'll be. And when I read this story every time I read it, and, you know, we've read it since we were little, right? We've read this story. The people were taken out of slavery, and they were going to the Promised Land. They had a destination. They were going somewhere. The Lord was going to prepare the way to take them out of the desert and into the Promised Land.

That's where they were headed. They didn't go out of Egypt just with let's just run and go and see what we find. They were going somewhere. They had a destination. And I really believe that the Lord knew what he was doing. I've often wondered as a little girl when I read this story, like, why? Why did they go through the desert? When we read, the Word of God says that they could have gone straight through. There was a path. And they were prepared for battle. But God was afraid that if they were faced with a battle, that they were going to turn around and go back to their mess, go back to Egypt. And I just thought, even this morning when we were walking over here, I thought, okay, my husband and I, we could walk all around and go, you know, leave our house and walk around, but why? We could just go straight to here. It's a straight path But the Word of God says that the people of Israel they went Moses let them through the desert. The desert is not easy terrain It's not fun. If you guys have ever tried to hike or go somewhere where it's just desert It's first of all, it's not pretty I believe there's a certain time of year because I remember my mom loved flowers there's a certain time of the year that you walk walk through the desert or look at the desert and there's this really beautiful little Like purple flowers and yellow flowers are so cute and you wonder like how did they come to be? It's so dry. It's so hot, but that's probably the only pretty thing that I've seen at the desert But the people of God were going through the desert and they were led by the Lord with a pillar of Cloud by day Can you imagine like how cool is that to walk around and the heat here in Yuma at 120 and but you have a cloud over you

So it's nice you can walk. It's okay, right and then at night you have a pillar of fire Leading you through and when it's cold, of course, that's gonna give you heat, right? so the Lord knew what he was providing and I feel that the Lord he won't lead us through the desert if He if he didn't give us the proper tools beforehand He always gives us the proper tools. He gives us provision He gives us what we need to go to the desert and walk through it So don't go to the desert with your ice chest and your little Folding chair, you know your picnic chair. Don't go there with that. You don't need it. You're gonna walk right through I've wondered why the Word of God said that you are to walk day and night That's what the word says and we all need rest We all need to rest at one point But the Lord was saying you're gonna get rest, but you you have to walk through it You need to walk continuously and you know why we can walk continuously Because he's with us because he has provision because he made a way because he went before us So the three things that I found out through this passage is that the Anticipation of God was with us He went before us the Word of God says that he goes before us and he prepares a way for us there's a beautiful story in the Bible of Simon fishing and he wasn't catching a thing and The Lord told him to go back and cast his net onto the water and he says Simon says Simon Peter, he says well, I've already fished there all night And I know he said I've worked there. I've been working all night We've been working all that all night and we didn't catch a thing I don't understand why we have to go back there and he said go to deeper waters. Just go and cast your net just do it and So the the the Word of God says that he went there if you want to read this story I'm not gonna read this story. I don't even know. I Actually don't even know what's behind me but if you want to read this story Simon goes out and he goes and drops the net again and When he drops the net I want to believe in my mind

Because I love to see the stories come to life in my mind like a like a cartoon, you know And I feel like God just demanded the fish to go Just told the fish go and go to that side of the boat or maybe he just created them at that very moment He's like create yourself I Love that so cool cuz he just speaks it and it's done right it just just speaks it into into existence I don't know how it happened but the Word of God says that there was so much that they had to call another boat to come and pick up fishes because And then the boats were sinking. There was so much vision the boat that they were sinking. It was too much I had to share it with somebody and What if we did that what if we came here Sunday after Sunday and we listen to the speaker we listen to the sermons We listen to the Word of God. We pay attention to what we're singing and we're so full of the Lord We're so full of his presence. We're so full of him that we're just just All over it. We're just spilling out. We're spilling out into our coffee houses. Most importantly We're spilling out into our homes into our children. That's what we need to start I don't know if this is in the Bible, but what good is it to save so many souls, but you forget your family Is that in the word? But what you know, we're sometimes we're so desperate to be known Oh Tyrone led 50,000 people to Christ, but we we want to reach those that are here among us The ones that the Lord calls us to speak to right But what if we went and we just got so full of the Lord that we had to call even other churches other You got to get a hold of this. You got to come on over here. You got to experience what we're experiencing We're experiencing revival. We're experiencing something Don't come over here and take our people but come and take the blessings that we're experiencing What if we did that? What if we did that earlier this year? My husband and I we went through a Desert time it was early February and I it was late at night and we experienced something that I don't Think we ever thought we would have to go through but it just wrecked us and we're outside the house And we're shaking we're crying We're praying with all the emotions even frustrated and angry. I want to say maybe we started there it was a lot of stuff and

We were out there and I thought I was shaking so bad. I thought I'm not gonna be any support I'm gonna go back inside the house, but I'm going inside the house coming out and I'm I just started praying I thought Oh Spirit of God Show me what to say. Show me what not to say. I Never want to be like Job's wife where she goes to job is this Just tell your God that you don't believe in him like curse your God and die You know, you never want to be that I never wanted to be that I went inside and I'm praying I'm walking out Coming back inside and I thought God you're gonna get us through this. We're gonna get through this. Everything's gonna be okay You cannot work in this one day. We're gonna talk about this. We're not gonna cry We're gonna know that you were in it that you were with us. So we know what it's like to be in the desert We know what it's like to walk in hard terrain. We know how to do it We also know who to go to right? We know who to go to a few Sundays to go I Experienced I experienced my first panic attack that night. My chest was like my heart was beating so fast. I thought oh my goodness This is this terrible. I don't I don't I wasn't even sure what I was feeling I know now that that's what it was, but the Lord steadied in my heart a few Sundays ago My husband was leaving to go after his meeting He was gonna go to LA for a meeting where he was gonna speak at and so I knew he was nervous He was gonna speak to a lot of pastors and I thought I'm not gonna tell him that I'm feeling really uneasy and like a nervous just a nervous situation and I I Think that when things happen to that the kids are involved as a mom. That's where it really hurts That's when I lose it. I feel like I have pretty good self-control in other situations But if it's got anything to do with the kids and I'm done. I Was I was I was in my feels We I went to bed and I couldn't go to sleep pastor was gone and I couldn't sleep and it's not like me I the minute I hit the pillow. I'm out if pastor not gonna watch a movie I'm always let's not don't bring me the pillow. Let's not go to bed cuz I'm I'm not gonna finish watching it I go to sleep. I don't worry about a thing I just fall asleep But I was I I could not fall asleep and here it is 2 in the morning and I'm like

What is this? My heart was beating really fast. I was clammy. So I got up and I thought Okay, I have two kids that live close to me. Well three, but I didn't want to go junior has little kids I was like, I'm not gonna go there. I'm gonna go to Tyrone or I'm gonna go to Alex's house I'm just gonna show up. So you imagine then I'm gonna scare them, right? I don't know what he would have done here to be like, what is she doing here in her pajamas at 2 in the morning? Alex why I would have called me from the ring and said sweat go back home What are you doing waking us up Tyrone and I probably would have gone for a hamburger or some But when I was thinking that I actually got up and thought I'm gonna go And I got up and I thought no I'm gonna I'm gonna I know what to do I'm gonna pray I'm gonna call out in the name of Jesus. Why do I feel so unsteady? Why do I feel like this? I'm not gonna let Satan bring back stuff from my past and be nervous and I'm I'm not gonna go there I'm not gonna feel this way. I'm looking for anointing oil. I go into his office. I don't see it So I went to the kitchen like any good I'm like, I'm gonna go find the manteca or something But I did have virgin olive oil went to the kitchen and I grabbed it. I put cross on my forehead And I'm speaking in tongues and I just start praying over my mind my heart and I put my hand on my head and I was like Lord You come right now and steady my heart Please take over my thoughts and I know who I am I reminded myself of who I am in Christ and all that he has set out for me to do and I'm gonna start with me I'm not gonna go wake up my kids and scare them that their mom is having a you know It's funny cuz on Wednesday when I thought the first thing I did is I go and tell Tyrone like I'm like We like become we're no longer parents when we're older Like I'm crying to him about falling. He's like, okay. Are you okay? He's got a service to lead over here But we I just that I don't know why I thought about that Because now that we're older now, we want you guys to take care of us Jermaine so But I'm praying and I'm talking in tongues and I'm walking around the house and Tesla is looking at me. She just walking with me

She never asked me to translate. So I was in no hurry to tell her what I was saying in tongues You can talk in tongues in your house and nobody's gonna ask you for that It's you and the Lord you talking to the Lord in your heavenly language. He knows what you're saying, and I'm screaming. I'm screaming I'm talking in tongues. I'm walking around the whole house and I just went back to the room I sat on the bed and I said my heart was still beating like crazy and there's a Panic button in our house that Jane Bell left there. Thank you, Jane, and it still works. We tried it Not because we wanted to but we needed to but I was like, okay I'm gonna go to sleep with the panic button here If I like so dramatic if I like fall over I'm just gonna push the button as I fall But I laid down and I said this words I said steady my heart Lord Just steady my heart Fell asleep woke up as if I had slept eight hours and my alarm went off at six I was good went in the shower and I got in the shower and I started singing this song God, you're so steady so steady You order my steps and you're leading me through and this morning He's telling you guys you've got to walk through the desert. The desert is hard to rain You don't camp out there you need to keep going He's given us the tools the people of Israel. They had a destination. They were on their way to the promised land Where are we going? We're on our way to go to eternity to pass eternity with him we have a Destination like the people of God that it's leaving Egypt. They had a destination. So do we We have a destination we know where we're going we're no we know where we're gonna end up don't go back into your mess Don't walk around the desert Dehydrated Disoriented just walking around in your lone little pity party. Don't do it The desert can kill you it can kill you. So you got to keep walking. You got to keep moving You got to keep going the Lord says this morning Keep going keep going. There's a there's a story that I shared earlier about We have a program. I work for the Yuma County and we have the indigent burial program So when people pass and they don't have relatives, we don't know who to call

We many times if they if they die in the desert They're illegals trying to cross and they die in the desert We work with the Mexican consulate and the sheriff's office to find Who this person is so that before we cremate we can give them a proper burial call their families, whatever And he told me this story He said, you know what Virginia? He said when we find the bodies many times almost every time that I've gone out What before I pick up the body we see that the person has gone around and around in a circle They were so disoriented. They they no longer had water They were just walking in circles walking in circles until they collapse and die and I that story stayed with me. This was years ago that he told me the story So when I was preparing for this word, I spoke to Caleb Kota and Jacob Volpe And I said, do you guys know about this? Have you guys heard this and Caleb said? Absolutely, and he said I'm gonna tell you something else a TV. He said there's a there's a beacon There's a tower there that we have there that they can go to and they're they're stretched out But he said they can go there press the button. There's also water he's like in many times you see the the footsteps they either pass the beacon or The it's like they went to it and then they decided not to press the button and they went back and that's and then they Die like in front of the beacon But I understand why they don't want to press the button and call on the beacon because they don't want to go back They're on their way to their promised land right to the United States and they're Afraid if they press the button, if they call the beacon, they're gonna be sent back to Mexico or Venezuela, whatever they came from. They're gonna be sent back and maybe gonna be taken to jail, I don't know. They're afraid. What are we afraid of? Why aren't we going to the one that can change it all? Why are we walking around in circles in our mess?

Why are we telling the whole world about our mess and what we're going through? But we're not going to the one that can really change it all. The one that can transform us. We keep going back. We keep going back. We keep taking detours. Stop taking the detour that looks so cool and inviting. Just follow the path. Let the Lord guide you. Let him lead you. He's gonna guide you to still waters. He's gonna guide you to the promised land. He's gonna guide you to the place where it was meant to be for us that he has prepared. So the anticipation of God, the story of Simon Peter, God already knew that he was gonna catch the fish. He anticipated that. He already knew that. He knows what's gonna happen. Way before you got into the desert, way before you got there, he already knew. He already knew, Ashley, where you were gonna go through here on earth. He knew and he prepared a way. He knows. He knew what road you were gonna go to. He knew your desert. He was here. He knows.

He knows what we're gonna go through. He's there when we're in the waiting room and we're waiting for our loved one to come out of surgery. He's there when we get the bad news. He's there when we're in a room and somebody's telling us things that are hurting our heart and making us feel this little. He's there. He's listening. It's not that God's way up there and we're way down here. He's with us. He's with us. And you know what? He's even with us when the temptation is so bad that you're trembling because you wanna go to it because it tastes good because you remember that because it takes you away from just thinking about the mess you're in. You wanna go back to that. He's even in that. But he's also there when you buy your new home. He's also there when you finally walk out of the lot with that car you dreamt of. He's in everything. He's involved. The second thing is that, exactly that, that he's involved. He's involved with us. He's involved in all the things that we do. He carries us through.

He gives us the way because he's already prepared the way. He's already gone before this. The cloud gave us shade, gave them shade. The fire gave warmth and light. I believe that the people, the foreigners that were around, they knew, oh, there goes the people of God. There's the cloud. I feel like everybody was able to see it. I think they saw it. Oh, there goes the people of God. Look at the cloud. Look at the pillar of fire. There it goes. There they go. I wanna be known as that, don't you? I wanna be known like, there is somebody that has the Lord in her. There's a child of God. There's a child of God. There's a child of God. The presence of God shines light on us so that people know who we are. It gives us strength. It gives us boldness. It lets us be able to start new businesses and flourish, and people don't know us because of our business. They know us because we're a child of God. They don't know maybe, that you can be known so much more

that you're a man of God, and not just that you're an electrician, like a good one too, but that the Lord will know that you're a good man, a man who loves God, a man who loves his family. We wanna be known as that, people that are known by his presence because we carry it with us. The third thing is God's motivation. He wants us to make it. He wants us to make it. You know why? Because he wants us to worship with him forever. Every step that we take in this life, whatever we do, our children are watching. They're imitating our walk. The way you handle your stress, your victories, and even your problems, the way you walk through the desert, your children are watching. So you need to surrender. You need to go to the one. Don't be afraid that if you're gonna go to the beacon, if you're gonna go to the Lord, that things will be exposed. Sometimes we don't wanna go to Jesus because, exactly because of that. Because maybe we've never told anybody

what happened to us in our childhood, or what we've done. We don't want that exposed. So we don't wanna go to the one. We don't wanna surrender. But this morning I'm telling you, you need to surrender. You need to surrender those things. If more of us would surrender the things that we have inside of us that we haven't. Our families now that if we would do that before we got married our families would be so much healthier We would have healthier kids. We would have healthier families. So but it's never too late We need to surrender now because our kids are coming behind us. God has motivation for us to get there He wants us to cross the rest the desert. He wants us to reach the promised land because he's there he's prepared a Place for us When I was little when I was little when I wasn't a little maybe I was litter on size. I was skinnier I was already an adult. I was working two jobs How my family always got together and I would get there so late because I was working And my mom this is a like a beautiful memory, of course, cuz you guys all know I love food But my mom when I would show up she was like I Saved you a plate of carne asada man Music to my ears She'd be like or or I told I had to save you a plate of a rosco leche. I carry go So delicious. She's nobody makes it like her and I remember that I was the guy We get a big old smile on my face Because if she didn't put it away from me my my siblings they can eat if you think I can eat you should watch Them they can eat she would put it away Revelation 2 17 says that he has manna prepared for us for when we get there. He has it prepared

He's gonna give it to us. He's gonna share it with us We're gonna be an eternity and we're gonna be eating out of the fruit that he has he's gonna prepare a way He makes the way he makes a way where there is no way and well All we have to do while we're walking here is keep going keep walking Stop staying in your mess Stop going back to it. Just walk Just walk Many of you guys need to run Run out of your mess. I love when Naya worships up here and it looks like she's just gonna run off the stage Some of us need to do that run Run out of that situation Run run out from the temptation. He's telling you today to run just run there's provision God has provision for us all my husband. He keeps planning and planning for what's to be for a new sanctuary He always says when Tyrone takes over it's all gonna be done. He won't have to do nothing except take it Don't mess it up. Just take it son That's what dad says I got you You just gotta go with it and he worries about that and he's planning and making He sits and just has this whole vision that the Lord gave him for it to leave everything Ready, and sometimes I he's giving out checks to churches everybody who's they need he's like Stephanie. Let's give them a check He's so generous. I'm like, what are you doing? Like stop? We got a build Tyrone wants us to leave You owe me lunch son but I There's a beautiful this passage of the other Bible that I love it made me think of of him of our pastor Pastor the Lord the Lord knew that Peter had been questioned about Jesus not paying the temple tax And this is a beautiful story that I love and he he's talking to Peter and he tells Peter I don't know why they're worried about me not paying my taxes But I want you to go just to ease their minds. I want you to go to the sea and you cast your fishing rod, I

Don't know if I've ever gone fishing but my son fishes And I told him to bring this to me because I I just could see it in my head and he goes to the Sea of Galilee and he throws down his his rod and The Word of God says that the Lord told him the first fish that you get You open his mouth and there's gonna be provision There's gonna be a coin there and you'll be able to pay not just my tax but yours as well and It sometimes the Lord tells us to do silly things to go here or go there, but he did it he went and threw his rod and the Just think go there with me and your imagination When he picks up his first fish and he's looking at you like is it is there gonna be a coin in there? You know, or did he know it and just know I was like, oh my god Okay, is it gonna be a fish and he's picking it up who is? So slight me and he's picking it up. Is it gonna be provision there? Is it gonna be there and he opens up the mouth of the fish and there it is provision He provided he provided he's gonna prove I don't know where the millions are gonna come that we need but it's gonna come because you've believed it You're believing it for the church. You're believing it for our son. You're believing it There's gonna be provision the provision Johanna. There's gonna be provision Provision from the Lord for you for all your needs. He's always gonna provide all of your needs I really believe this morning that the Lord wants us to just keep walking keep walking because there's provision There is a way out of the desert Can we all stand this morning? I? It's third sir, oh I have one minute two minutes, but This morning what if What if the Lord provides like these songs that you guys wrote? I'm so proud of you guys that the songs are amazing. But what if they not just hit the number one? What if they? transform lives

Bring people to Christ. I It brought me to my knees, but I'm believing for that. I'm believing that the Lord's gonna do something you worship You guys are so so important to me. I love you guys. There's provision There's provision there's provision the Lord's gonna use this song to bring others to the Lord He's gonna bring people and I'm gonna take the time to give each one of you guys provision in the name of Jesus It's gonna be provision that the Lord's gonna bring many to Christ because of these songs I got you the Lord's gonna bring many to Christ because of this song forget about making it number one It's gonna bring it to people's hearts and bring us to the Lord father. Thank you for all you you've provided for us Thank you for leading us through the desert father. God. Thank you for these beautiful songs. Thank you father God I pray for the worship team father God that they just keep moving forward that they keep going and going and writing father God for your glory for your glory father. God. I thank you for your word I thank you for this day. I thank you for every mother that's here every person that's here father. God That maybe is going through a desert Father God just walk them through Hold their hand and take them through in the name of Jesus I thank you father God for all that you're doing and all that you will do and in Jesus name we pray Amen Can't even walk without you holdin' my hand Every hour I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm healing here When I draw close you draw even nearer Can't even walk without you holdin' my hand Every hour I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm healing here When I draw close you draw even nearer I said I can't even walk without you holdin' my hand Every hour I need thee to stand It's only by your blood that I'm even here When I draw close you draw even nearer

And when I draw close you draw even nearer My God you're so steady and true Oh my word of bread I've found in you My sacred shoulder, my refuge You are in my steps and keep leading me through You stayed so faithful, willing and able Exceedingly more than I ever could dream You stayed so faithful, willing and able Exceedingly more than I ever could dream You've been so steady Yes you have Lord You've been so steady Be blessed church, have a blessed week, we'll see you next Sunday.