Rise Up Session 3 | Pastor Jim

Just thank you for what you're doing today Lord we thank you for God all Lord that you are depositing into every person in this room and Jesus we are just grateful Lord our hearts are open and we want to hear from you and then we want to move and be different than who we were when we walked in so Jesus we just we bless you we bless your name we pray all this in the name of Jesus amen man you guys go ahead back to your seats who makes some noise for our band up here just crushing it leading so well well man killed it today's already been incredible and it's not even halfway over yet God is doing some big stuff and it is an absolute privilege to introduce this next guy a dear friend of ours in an incredible influence in our life so much of the encouragement of where we are as a church and what God has done in the past probably year has been in a direct result of getting to know Pastor Jim and so it is a privilege it is an honor to hear him preach today so you guys stand to your feet and welcome Pastor Jim Combs to the stage sit down get comfortable what's up you have no idea how pumped I have been about coming here if you don't know me I'm Pastor Jim and I travel pretty much globally preaching him but there's nothing like coming and hanging out at Momentum I couldn't wait to get here and I mean it with all my heart and I didn't have to that's why I flew in early last night to kind of hang out with you and see what was up and man it's exciting plus this my whole life was transformed when I was 17 years old and my life needed to be changed and some of you know a little about my story and I won't spend a lot of time there but I'll just tell you when you're born to a 15 year old and your dad's a street addict and a felon and your grandpa's in prison doing life man there ain't much hope for you but I'll tell you my journey got changed man when I was 17 years old and so being here with you it's just it's just awesome so here's my goal we're gonna set it straight and get it going my goal is to help you with your journey that's it I want to help you your journey no matter where you're at no matter what's going on no matter what place you're personally and right now I want to help you with your next step and I mean that with all my heart

on my soul only agenda I have and then I'm gonna preach tomorrow morning here and then I'm gonna be on a plane yeah and then I'm heading to West Africa and I'll be preaching there for a few days so kind of crazy life but I don't know if you know me but I like crazy maybe that's why I like momentum what do y'all think I think so I think so so a number of years ago I I was a youth pastor and I decided hey you know what I was gonna do I was gonna grab a bunch of kids I'm gonna take them to amusement park now in the north where I'm from in Detroit there's an amusement park there south of there in Ohio called Cedar Point Cedar Point has if you want to check it out the largest roller coasters in the world I'm telling you it's crazy ville I mean the roller coasters are off the charts and so what I did was is man I start signing up kids and getting kids to bring kids and students bring their friends and it was just awesome next thing you know I got like five busloads full of you know students are gonna go to this this you know amusement park so we got it all set up and got our drivers and our buses and man we're we're heading down there one morning and we're going there we want to get there when it opens so the kids can spend the day and and so we're on the way down there and I'm riding one of the buses hanging out with you you know the different kids and and so there was a young lady that I knew she was kind of sitting by herself and looking out the window and looked a little like discouraged and so I thought I wonder what's up so I went back sat down next and I say what's going on kid and she said on nothing I said hey sums up and I see you're on your way to Cedar Point everybody's happy when they go to Cedar Point and and she said yeah I know and I said what's going on and she looked across the aisle about two or three seats up and there was this young man up there and she said ain't he a hunk I thought huh I said hunk of what and she said he's incredible she said I I just wish I could get his attention I just she said he didn't want nothing to do with me and I think he's amazing and I just I just I just wish somehow I could get his attention and I said well you know what's he like to do and she said well I heard he loves roller coasters that's why he's coming on this and I said well maybe you ought to go

ride the roller coaster with him and she said I hate roller coasters and she said I ain't riding a roller coaster I said well you know sometimes you got to do what you got to do and I gave a little girl advice and I don't know if it's the best advice at that moment and next thing you know she goes uh they arrive there everybody heads out does their day at Cedar Point we tell them this is the time we're meeting I saw him start I got there early climbed up on top of one of the buses and was waving the kids and you know and they're coming across the parking lot there and I'm waving here she comes I wave at her and she don't wave back and I wave at her and she don't wave back and I'm thinking what's up with that? And so everybody had to ride the same bus back So we you know, so we knew where everybody was gonna be, you know You wouldn't lose track of kids in the same count and so she gets back on that bus I'm on the same bus and she's back there almost in the same seat staring out the window and I go back there and I Sent out next to her we take off home and I said, hey, what's up, but she don't speak to me I said girl what's what's up and she won't talk to me I said you got to talk to me and she said I ain't speaking to you ever again the rest of my life She said in fact, I hate you. I Said like what she said, I hate you your lousy stinking advice. I said well what happened? She said well, I saw him standing in line She said he was getting over there to get in one of the lines one of the big roller coasters And she said so I I went over there and said hey you ride with anybody and he said no and she so hot mine He said oh, that'd be great And the next thing you know, I take your advice and I'm in standing line to go ride a roller coaster And she said he's one of these psychotics that goes to the front seat. He don't just get in the roller coaster He goes to the front seat man. He he's up it goes and I'm thinking you got to be kidding me I hate roller coasters and I'm going to the front seat So she gets up there and she says next thing, you know, we get up there and all his friends are behind him and man We're all pumped and excited and they've raising their arms up in the air She said I'm just trying to hold on for dear life and it began She said we went up and it was one of the she said mother all the roller coasters

But it man it is it kind of grabs you You know how when it starts off and it starts cranking you up the hill Come on y'all with me and I'm she said it was it was I said, oh you're afraid of heights She said no, she said it was beautiful. You got the top of that first gigantic hill and it was incredible You could see all the way across Cedar Point and all people and man Everybody's waving and screaming and hollering and I'm just I'm shaking holding on to the bar And she said it all of a sudden it lets go of you. I said, are you kidding me? It scared you She said no, she said we went down and she said and it's we hit the bottom and that's when it happened I said you didn't she said I did I said you puked she said I did I I puked I said Oh, so you're embarrassed cuz he saw you puke. She said he never saw me That's what how you sit next to a dude right next to him and he don't see you puke. She said I caught it I said I said you like what she said I caught it. That's what I saw. What'd you do with it? She said I put it all back. I Said I said like what she said. Yes. She said I put back every piece I said, well, what'd you do with it after you put it back? She said I swallowed it I'm thinking you gotta be kidding me. I guess I gave that girl some lousy stinking advice on her journey Well today I want to hope to give you a little bit better advice on yours. Everybody go with that Let me take you to a principle in the scripture Genesis chapter number 33 There's a cool couple little verses there I just want to show them to you real quick and then we'll jump into our talk and see what God's got there Genesis or excuse me. I'm not Genesis. I'm an Exodus ain't I Exodus chapter 33 Exodus chapter number 33 and I just want to check this out for a minute I think the guys got it for me. Boom says this then the Lord said to Moses leave this place You and the people you brought up out of Egypt and go up to the land I promised an oath to Abraham Isaac and Japheth and I'll give it to your descendants Then he says in verse number two I will send you an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites the Amorites the Hittites the Perizzle all the mites You know I'm saying so what's going on here? Moses is he's getting ready To lead God's people to the promised land. The journey's already begun. They're kicking it, you know

And they're moving along going through all kinds of different stuff And God says here's what I'm gonna do for you I'm gonna send you and give you what I promised. I Promised your people I promised Isaac and Jacob I'm gonna give him my proud promise because guess what? Let me tell you something about God God always keeps his promises God promises something bank on it. He ain't like people He keeps his promise everybody with me. So God said I promise you I'm gonna do this. I'm not only gonna send you there I'm gonna protect you. I'm gonna drive out all your enemies He said I'm gonna go up to the little I'm gonna go up there to the land of flowing milk and honey He said you're gonna have it all I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna provide you water out of a rock I'm gonna make sure you're taken care of you're guided you're directed You're gonna go to my promises and you're gonna have them. But here's what he says to him. I Ain't going with you Ouch God said you go ahead and go cuz I can't I promised you But I ain't going with you and he says this He said I'm not going to with you because you are stiff-necked. You were stubborn You were rebellious In fact if you want to read into this it basically says this and you ticked me off Can you imagine you can take God off? God's ticked off. He said tell him do it. I'm a promise keeper. Everybody knows that how we celebrate that. I'm a promise keeper I'm gonna keep my promise to you. I love you. I'm crazy about you. I'm gonna Give you my promises. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna protect you I'm gonna bless you with what I said. I bless you with but I want you to know something. I ain't going with you You ticked me off to the place That I might just kill you Ouch That's a hurt one in it But you skip down a few verses Go down the verse number 15 you find Moses' response. Check it out. It's kind of cool

Then Moses said unto him If your present does not go with us Don't send us. May I? Moses says God If you ain't going with me, I'm out God if you ain't gonna go with me if your presence is not gonna be in my life Forget it. I'll die right here Moses said I ain't taking that deal Do you realize that most Christians you have ever met in your life have already taken that deal? Whoa, you said what do you mean? What a deal see the promised land is sort of a picture of heaven for us Do you realize that when we accept Jesus as our Savior nobody can ever take heaven from us We become a child of God and once you're a child of God man, you get you get the promised land That's a promise from God. He'll take you to heaven. That's a pretty good deal. What do y'all think? I mean had nothing to do with my behavior and has all to do with what he did for me. Are you kidding me? That's a that's a kicking deal. I Get to go to heaven, even though I'm a punk. I Get to go to heaven, even though I've messed up now. Don't look at me like you never messed up. I I Get to go to heaven even in my imperfections. Yeah, why? Because it's a promise you get when you get Jesus Pretty good deal pretty good deal. So we got churches filled of people that have received Jesus their Savior and said, yeah I I'm gonna go to heaven when I die And God's even gonna watch care over me He's gonna protect me and he's gonna do things for me that I don't deserve we call that grace Which means it's unmerited which means you didn't do anything to get it that means God's gonna God's gonna bless you take care of you He's gonna do things for you and you think to yourself What a deal what a deal and the majority of God's people

Have taken that deal They've missed out on the most essential Thing there is in all of humanity the presence of God Moses said I'd rather sit here and die And not you not be with me See my friend. Listen to me kid There is nothing more Important than the presence of God in your life. There was nothing if you don't hear anything I had to say the rest of this time I pray you'll listen to me that whatever you're wherever you're at in your life, wherever you're from No matter what you're going on, you know what's going on with you I want to tell you something the most important thing you need is the presence of God You're gonna need the presence of God in your journey. You're gonna need the presence of God in your dreams You're gonna need the presence of God and your problems your battles your struggles You're gonna need the presence of God more than you need anything on this planet and Moses knew it He said listen, I'm not taking the deal and I'm gonna beg and plead with you today. Do me a favor Don't take the stinking deal Don't be like the majority of Christians in churches today They're okay sitting in their Christianity No one that one day they're going to go to heaven because they accepted Jesus as their Savior and God's gonna do some things for Him because he's a God of grace and he's a good God and he loves us But at the end of the day, do you realize what they're missing out on? They're missing out on a very real God that can do some very real stuff in their very real life I've declared to the world a number of times I could care less about religion and I'm not interested in being a religious man I need a real God in my real life. I need a real God to show up in ways that don't make sense I need a real God to do things that are unbelievable And my hope and prayer is just that there'll be a young lady here today. They don't say I'm not taking the deal I'm not taking the deal. I Want the presence of God my future. I want the presence of God when I become a mom

I want the presence of God when I become a wife I want the presence of God when I when I run after the things God wants me to run after I pray There'll be one young man. They'll stand up and say no deal No deal. I Need the presence of God more than anything and you may not know it now, but it's coming It's coming because when the world brings what the world will bring your way You're gonna need the presence of God more you need anything and I want to give you just very very quickly Seven simple truths that you're gonna need in your journey If you decide not to take the deal This is how you do it. Number one, you're going to have to do some adjusting of the attitude. Now, I do know the group I'm talking to and I do understand sometimes there needs to be a bit of an attitude adjustment. Amen, Pastor Jim, that's good talk, man. Attitude adjustment. There's a story about this. These psychologists, they decided they were going to do a study with some kids and so they got two kids that signed up to do this thing. They were two basically middle school kids and they decided they were going to kind of see what they do. So they built this room. They took a room and they put some monitors in it, some cameras, some microphones so they could listen to what's going on and watch what was happening and they filled the entire room up full of manure. Just covered the floor with manure. They put the first little boy in there and the little boy went in there and he began to walk around and the boy's thinking, this stinks. This stinks. I hate this. This is lousy. Man, get me out of here. Who in the world? This just stinks. I'm telling you, he's walking around in there and after a little while, finally all those that were doing the study said, get him out of there. So they pulled the little boy out and they put the second boy in there. The boy goes in there and he looks around and he does one of these numbers. He gets to the other end of the room and he takes off running and he's sliding across the room and he slides to the other side and he gets on the other side and takes off running. He's sliding across back and forth and all of a sudden they heard him say on one of the monitors, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere. Listen, do you understand? You're going to have a lot of poop in your life. Are you supposed to say that in church? You're going to have a lot of poop. You're going to deal with poop of all kinds. You're going to deal with poop of all shapes. You're going to deal with all kinds of different poop and I want you to know something. If you don't get your attitude,

have an adjustment of attitude, that poop is going to turn you into a poopy person. Boy, is that deep spiritual scriptural stuff. But do you understand? Do you understand? There are so many believers whose attitudes are so bad they can't see that the presence of God will get you through anything you face. That the presence of God will lift you above anything you come up against. That the presence of God is bigger than anything you're ever going to face. That the presence of God is the sweetest gift God has ever given to us. That he wants to stay with you. He'll never leave you, he'll forsake you. He wants to be by your side. You'll never be alone the rest of your life. Moses said, I ain't taking that stinking deal. I'm going to have an attitude that says I can't wait to walk with a very real God in a very real way. And he wants to walk with you. Yeah, he does. So may I say that the first step in not taking the deal, you may need a little bit of what we're going to call an attitude adjustment. The second one is this. You're going to have to come to terms that you must realize you're going to have to develop some determination. Develop some determination. Do you realize that if most Christians guts were dynamite, they wouldn't have enough to blow their own noses? Now, think about that. Determination. You see, very often what happens is you begin your life and you say to yourself, man, I want to do this and I want to do this and I want to do that. Talk is cheap, my friend. It's when you decide today, you know what? I'm going to live a life with the presence of God and watch God do things that are unexplainable. Let the rest of Christ unexplainable. Let the rest of Christianity settle for so little of God when there's so much of God to be had. Let much of the church just say, hey, we'll go sit in our seats and we'll go to heaven when we die and we'll experience some grace. But maybe you'll be one of those that stand up and say, but wait a minute, there's so much more. Give me the presence of God. You betcha. You're going to have to get a little bit more determined. I mean, come on. So one day my son, my second boy, Caleb came home and he said, dad, can we have a talk? He's eight years old. I said, yeah, buddy. What's what's up? He said, listen, dad, when I was in school today, the teacher was going around the room and he was asking us, he said, I want to go around and I want to, I want you to tell us what you want to be when you grow up. So he's asking all the students and so many of them want to be firefighters and policemen and teachers and

they're going around the room and they got to me, dad. And I told him what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a professional basketball player. He said, the teacher looked at me, dad, and said this, that's not a real dream, Caleb. You need to get a real He said, Daddy, I got to ask you a question. Is that a real dream? I said, yeah, it's a real dream, son. That's a real dream, and don't you ever let anybody take your dreams away from you. So I called the teacher. I said, hey, Teach, that's wonderful. Come by and see ya. Teacher said, yeah, you come by. I go in and I said, hey, I want to tell you something. Man, I appreciate so much you're teaching my kid English because I ain't real good at it. I said, teaching him math and teaching him all history and all that stuff, and, man, you have to help him with his life, but I want you to do me a favor. Never, ever, ever again take my dreams away from my kid. Ever. I appreciate what you're doing, but don't ever, ever do that again. Well, my boy Caleb was for some reason unusually small. My first son, Caleb was the second one, my third son, they're all three years apart. Are you with me?

Well, the second one and the third one were, for some reason, always the same height. Caleb just, like, never grew. He just never grew. He just, it just, he's just a little guy. He used to kill it, man. In high school, they used to give him a children's menu. You get what I'm saying? It broke his heart. He just struggled with all that stuff. But, man, I'll tell you what he did. He loved this thing called basketball. So he goes through, plays some different things, goes out for the high school varsity team, and, you know, or, excuse me, the junior varsity team, you know, as a freshman. So he goes out, and he gets cut. He comes home, and he says, Dad, they cut me. I said, son, I'm sorry. And a little while later, the phone rings, and it's the coach of the junior varsity public high school basketball team. He said, listen, I just wanted to call and tell you, the varsity coach told me I had to call. Evidently, some parents who saw my boy play

thought, man, this kid got overlooked, and they told me that I had to put your son on my team. I said, well, why don't you tell my son that? So Caleb comes to the phone, and I say, I'm just a good guy. All I am is a street hood. So I said, that lousy coach is on the phone for you, boy! So he says, hey, coach, you can be on the team, but you're not going to play. He said, I'll give you a jersey, I'll let you practice, but you're never going to play in the game. He said, okay, I'll do it. I said, why'd you do that? He said, Dad, I'm going to show that dude I can play. I'm going to show that dude I can play. So I said, okay, dude, go for it. So anyway, I went to every game. I'd go to the game, I'd sit down there, I'd watch him warm up, sit at the end of the bench. I'd watch him warm up, sit at the end of the bench. I'd watch him warm up, sit at the end of the bench. One day, the starting point guard and the coach in a timeout get in an argument. They're down by nine points against this school. They get in an argument. The argument goes on past when the time lapses for the timeout.

The coach is kind of frustrated. He's just mad. The referee is saying, let's get your players on the floor. He yells down, Caleb, just go in! Caleb goes in, throws in 12 points in the quarter, and they win the game. Guess what? He never plays another minute. Never plays one more minute the rest of the year. Not another minute. I'm frustrated. All I want to do is knock the coach out, because that's where I'm from. But it's all good. Before it was all done, my son Caleb graduates from high school as the most valuable player on his varsity team. Guess what? College scouts begin to call us. Scouts begin to contact us, and they begin to say, listen, we're very interested in your son. Next thing you know, he signs his agreement, his letter of intent. He gets a scholarship to go play basketball. He wins a national championship playing college basketball. His number got retired. He was a senior. He was elected to the Hall of Fame of his college, and he got a phone call from this very interesting organization you might have heard of called the Detroit Pistons. And the Detroit Pistons called and said, hey, we were wondering, Caleb, if you would be interested in traveling for us

and playing on our summer league. And he said, are you kidding me? So Caleb, for four years, played with the Detroit Pistons. I'll never forget when he'd come home one day just after his first week, and I said, that's nuts. He would go from city to city, and they'd do exhibition games in different cities, and they would do some clinics. They picked out just some top-level college players to play with some of the pros. And he came home, and he had his first paycheck. In the corner, it had the Detroit Pistons logo. He said, look at this, Dad. I said, yeah, dude, check it out. I said, let me ask you a question. What's it take to be a professional basketball player? He said, you gotta get paid to play. I said, let's go call your teacher, dude. Let's go call your teacher. Do you understand? You can settle for so little of God if you want to. But I decided a long time ago, God's a big God that can do some big stuff. Stuff that doesn't make any sense. Or I can settle for so little of God. Come on, man. Let's make up our mind. We want more of God than we've got. But some of you got it, Velson. Determination, you know, you just, you talk a big talk, but talking will get you nowhere.

Just a few things that I jotted down that maybe would help you in your journey if you really want more of God than the average Christian is interested in. First of all, adjust your attitude. Secondly, develop some determination. Thirdly, forget your failures. Forget your failures. Do you realize that one of the greatest tools the enemy uses in our life is failure? And we somehow think that failure is the end all. Man, failure, listen to me, failure is a necessary step to success. Do you realize that when you were just a little guy, little girl, do you understand that one day your parents looked at each other, your mom, your dad, or your grandma, whomever, and said, it's time for you to start eating on your own. You know what they did? They spread plastic out on the floor. They sat you in your high chair, they wrapped a big old plastic bib around you, and they handed you a spoon that was rubber. Do you understand? And they handed you this ungodly stuff like peas and squash. And you know what you did? You grabbed that spoon and you scooped up a little bit of that stuff. Why anybody want it, I don't know.

But you scooped some stuff up and your parents were so pumped and excited for you, they said, yeah, look, there they go, they're gonna do it. And you know what you did? You headed that thing towards your mouth. Man, next thing you know, it was like splat. The first one hit the cheek. The next one, boom, hit the forehead. Guess what? What if you'd have let failure beat you right then? Do you understand? You would have never eaten. People'd still be feeding you. Do you realize? We don't like talking about failure in the church. But the truth of the matter is, if God couldn't use failures, he wouldn't have anybody to use. Nobody. May I say to you, forget your failures. Forget your failures. Forget your failures. Oh, I wish I had time to hang out here. But if you're gonna go to the place where you watch God do something crazy in your life, you're gonna have to use your failures as a necessary step to your success. That's how it works. They also say you're gonna have to respond

to your responsibilities. We are almost afraid to look Christians in the eye today and our generation and talk about responsibilities. We're just almost afraid to. I don't get it. My fourth son, his name is Luke. Big old dude, about six foot five, weighs about 240 right now. And Luke was an incredible baseball player, high school player. Flat out, flat out play. I'm just telling you flat out. If you know anything about baseball, he hit in the 490s his senior year. He never gave up an earned run. Threw 92 miles an hour as a senior and all kinds of colleges wanted him. He signed a scholarship to a baseball college in Ohio. It was going, we thought he was gonna get drafted. The kid was absolutely a player. When he was a freshman, one day I walk in his room and I said, hey dude, time for school. He said, I ain't going today, Dad. I said, what? He said, I don't feel good. I said, huh? I said, you don't what? He said, I don't feel good, so I'm not going today. I said, really?

I thought you were pitching today for the varsity. He goes, I'm scheduled to pitch, but I don't feel good. I said, that's why we brought you up, boy? Is that what we taught you? We taught you to be irresponsible and let your team down? That's what we taught you. So you're gonna lay in this bed because you don't feel good. Man, he was ticked, man. I don't know if you ever got ticked off of your dad, but he was ticked off of me. He started talking to me. He's like, I don't wanna go. I don't know why you're making me go. I'm saying, whatever, dude. Get your butt out of bed, let's go. He goes, that day he throws his first no-hitter against one of the best baseball high schools in the state of Michigan, throws a no-hitter. Today, he still has that baseball that he threw the final last out, and he realized that my dad taught me to respond to my responsibilities. And he's living a life that's pretty spectacular because we learned a principle. What's this? Don't take the deal. Don't take the deal and settle for so less of God. Respond to your responsibilities and watch God do something great.

Man, I gotta get done, but let me give you a couple more. Eliminate your excuses. Eliminate your excuses. You wanna play the excuse game? Come on. I'll swap stories with you all day long. You know what it's like to have a dad who's a junkie? You know what it's like to have a dad who beats your mom every night that he comes home when he does come home? You know what it's like to get kicked out of school like I did the first time when you're 10? And they serve a warrant for your arrest when you're 10 years old? You know what it's like for your middle school counselor to tell your mom you're incapable of learning? Because you have too many learning disabilities? Fred, you want to talk about ADHD? You're looking at the highest extreme you can find. I tested at levels that are beyond human consumption. They always said when I get older, I'd calm down. When's it gonna happen? Do you understand I've been battling my whole stinkin' life? What excuse you want? Grandparents? I never even had one. The only one I knew was doing life in prison. What story you want me to tell? How many criminals you want me to tell you I grew up with? I'm not talking about penny anti-criminals. I'm talking about felons.

I'm talking about guys that are doing life sentences right now. But I didn't say that a long time ago. There's a big God who wants to do something big in my life and I eliminate those excuses and said let's go, God. Let's go. Some of you gotta start eliminating your excuses. Let me give you a couple more. Learn to love. Learn to love the way God wants you to love. Learn to love. Not the con game love that you get on television. Not the con game love from some movie. Not the con game love, ladies, that some guys, you know, dishing out to you. I'm talking about a love that's deep and real, earnest and honest and it comes from a real God. You wanna know what real God's like? You're gonna have to have a real God doing something real in your life. Don't settle for so little of God because you're gonna miss out on so much. And then study the scriptures. Greatest book that was ever written. Do you understand armies have marched against it and tried to stop it? Hitler tried to burn it. Do you realize the enemy has worked so hard to eliminate this grand book from our lives that's filled with every answer to every question

you'll ever face in life. You wanna know which direction to go? The word of God will tell you. You wanna know what he wants you to be and do? Look at the word of God. Man, this thing's amazing. So I can spend all day long trying to help you in your journey and not take that stinking deal. Don't live another day without the presence of God. So let me get done. Her name was Rhonda. I was a youth pastor and she was 16 years old when she came to our church. And she gave her life to Jesus. And man, I'll tell you, a beautiful girl. It was crazy. My youth department really began to grow with boys because of Rhonda. She was like one of those girls that man, you look at and go. And the boys would just line up behind her going, are you kidding me? And she was just beautiful. I mean, she's a stunning girl. And I'm just incredible. And Rhonda came from tough side of town, kind of same place that I came from. So we had a good relationship. Her dad abandoned her.

She was just like living a tough lifestyle. But man, came to know Jesus, starting to grow a little bit, trying to figure it out. She graduates from high school and comes to me and says, listen, I'm gonna move to Texas. I said, what's that about? She said, well, I've never known my dad and he told me I can come live with him. And I said, Rhonda, that ain't a good deal, girl. I said, your dad doesn't know anything about who God is, doesn't walk with him. I'm afraid for you. She said, I know, but at least got a chance to meet him. So I'm gonna move down there with him. I said, Rhonda. I said, I got no peace about that, girl. She ends up moving to Texas. But a year goes by and I get a phone call. It's Rhonda's sister, Lori, who attended our church. And she was older and I could tell she'd been crying. I said, Lori, I can't understand you on the phone, but I'll come right over. So I jumped in my car and I drove down to their house, little dirt road, last house on the right, never forget it. I pull in the driveway, Lori standing on the front porch. I walked up, I could tell she'd been crying. I said, Lori, what's up? She said, my sister. I said, Rhonda, is she okay?

She said, no. She died last night in a car accident. They say she was out. They were doing some stuff they shouldn't have been doing and they hit a tree. She said, will you do her funeral? I hate those. I hate those. I said yeah. I remember getting to the funeral home and the place was packed because you know when kids die place was jammed. I mean you couldn't get in the building. Jammed. I get there just because I want to you know talk to the funeral director, see the mom. I'm waving my way through people. The funeral directors in my right ear and he's saying Jim I'm sorry. Jim I'm sorry. I'm like what what in the world? Mom's over here saying oh I'm so glad you came. I got mom in this year. I got funeral director this year and they're escorting me up to the front where the you know the casket is and for some crazy reason they decide to have an open casket and I now understand why at that moment I understood why this guy is saying to me I'm sorry Jim I'm sorry. Do you understand? Her face was disheveled. Her neck was wide as her head. This beautiful girl that I once thought was one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen. May I? Do you realize that when you hit an object, a solid object like a tree, going over 55 miles an hour, one tenth of a second they call that impact. Two tenths of a second you start leaving your seat. Three tenths of a second your shoes come off. Four tenths of a second your chest meets the steering wheel. Five tenths of a second your face hits the windshield. Six tenths of a second you are leaving the vehicle. Seven tenths of a second, not seven seconds, in seven tenths of a second one of the most beautiful amazing girls I'd ever met in my life was gone. Seven tenths of a second. You know why? She took the deal. She took the deal. Yeah, she went to heaven because she knew Jesus. Yeah, she was blessed in some ways because God's a God of grace. But she walked away from the most important thing in all the

world and that's the presence of God. Let me help you with your journey. Let me help with your journey. If you never hear me again, please don't take the stinking deal. Too many Christians have taken the deal and they're missing out on a real God that wants to do something real in your life because you're real amazing and he made you and he didn't make junk and he didn't mess up and he made you in a spectacular way to experience spectacular things. There's a very real God that wants to be a very real part of your life. Don't take the deal. Don't take the deal. Don't live one single day the rest of your life out of his presence. Not a one. Because there was nothing like the presence of God. Nothing. Bow your heads, will you? Cross the room. Cross the room. Nobody looking around. Just me and you. I got to get done. I'm already past my time. You would say to me, Pastor Jim, don't embarrass me. Don't come to me but do me a favor. Pray for me because the message spoke to me. It spoke to me real today in a very real way. It's time that I stopped taking the deal and I made up my mind there's nothing more important than the presence of God. Nothing more important. If you're like that, would you slip your hand up and say, God spoke to me. God spoke to me. Come on, slip them up, will you? There's a hand. There's another hand. Come on, will you? You say God spoke to me. They're still going up. God spoke to me about the presence of God. Another one. Another one. Another one. They're still going up. The presence of God. There's nothing more important than the presence of God. That's incredible. I'm gonna pray for you but here's what we're gonna ask you to do. I'm gonna ask you to stand around the room. Come on, everybody stand up. If you've ever experienced me, what I do, I am gonna pray for each of you that raised your hands and I promise you I wouldn't embarrass you so I don't do that stuff. But I'd love to pray over you. I'd love to pray with you. I'm down here. I'd love to pray with you. I'd love to just somehow lay hands on you and ask God to make his presence so real to you important that you never forget this moment. If you'd let me do that, I would love to. If nobody allows me to do it, I understand that. If one person comes and says, listen, will you pray over me? I need to commit to the presence of God. I need to stop taking the deal. Will you pray over me? If you're like that, you

guys, have at it. Let's do some music and if you want me to pray over you, we can do it. Come on, let me. If nobody comes, I'm just gonna pray over everybody that raised their hands. God bless you if you'll let me pray over you. It's awesome. Anybody else? Just want to pray over you, that's all. I can do it. Real men. Come on, ladies. Come on, ladies. Let me pray over you. Here's what I need you to do. I want you to put your hand on the person's shoulder next to you. Put your hand on the person's shoulder next to you. Put your one hand on their shoulder. We're going to all connect. Folks are still coming. Put your hand on somebody's shoulder. Ladies, come pray. Put your hand on somebody's shoulder. They're still coming. There's young men and young ladies still coming. I just want you to put your hand on somebody's shoulder. Still coming. Still coming. Still coming. Put your hand on somebody's shoulder. You're welcome to join us. We're not ready to go yet. Come on, God. Make your presence real. You're incredible, God. I pray none of these young men or young ladies will take the deal. I pray, God, that the price of your presence will be more important than anything they could ever dream of. Put your hand on somebody's shoulder. Now, here's what we're doing. I'm praying over you. I got my hand on your shoulder, so we're all connected. You with me? We're all connected. God, there's some amazing young men and ladies that are right here right now. Some raised their hands out there that didn't feel like they needed to come, but that's okay. Bless them in their journey. Help them, God, to be determined. God, for each person that's here now, on their knees, God, I pray over them, and I ask you, God, in the name of Jesus, touch their lives. May, God, they be like Moses and say, I will not take the deal. I will not. I won't go one more step without your presence. God, may your presence be sighted, be real. May we have a passion and desire for your presence to be about everything you do. Bless them. Bless them in Jesus' incredible name. God bless you, everybody. Come on, let's go.