THAT NOTHING BE LOST

Good morning church. I understand your feet this morning. Are you happy to be in the house of the Lord? Come on, let's put our hands together. So nothing could ever change my mind You'll never break your promises You're constant in all you do Yours is the way, the truth, the life that I choose Oh I know that I know You won't ever let me go Every low and every high You are faithful all the time I've tasted and seen I've tasted and I've seen You've been so so good to me God I know that I know Be faithful Be faithful all the time Oh Be faithful all the time Oh I will look to the left or right I will keep heaven in my sight And no I will not be shaken Cause nothing is moving me Cause I've got a faith that's sure of things I cannot say Oh I know that I know You won't ever let me go Every low and every high You are faithful all the time I've tasted and I've seen You've been so so good to me

God I know that I know Be faithful all the time Oh Be faithful all the time Oh I won't stand on word of a man God I'll stand on yours instead All of my hope, all of my faith All of it's in your name And the world cannot deny All that you've done in my life All of my days, all of my praise All of it's in Jesus' name I won't stand on word of a man God I'll stand on yours instead All of my hope, all of my faith All of it's in your name And the world cannot deny All that you've done in my life All of my days, all of my praise All of it's in Jesus' name All of my days, all of my praise Oh I know that I know You won't ever let me go Every low and every high You've been faithful all the time Oh I know that I know You won't let me go Every low and every high You are faithful all the time

Every low and every high You are faithful all the time Oh I know that I know You won't let me go Every low and every high You've been faithful all the time Oh I know that I know You won't let me go Every low and every high You're faithful all the time You're faithful Lord You're faithful all the time Oh I know your faithfulness Lord I know your goodness Lord I've seen your constantness Lord Oh one more time You're faithful all the night On a hill in Israel Mercy spoke for me Mercy spoke for me Oh, mercy spoke for me It was on Golgotha Street His death brought liberty His death brought liberty Oh, his death brought liberty May I never boast in anything Except the cross of Jesus Christ May I not forget the blood he shed It is by his death I am alive Because of Christ I am alive

What a humble sacrifice Love that washed me clean Love that washed me clean Oh, love that washed me clean What a blessing mystery Oh, his punishment, my peace His punishment, my peace His punishment, my peace May I never boast in anything Except the cross of Jesus Christ May I not forget the blood he shed It is by his death I am alive May I never boast in anything Except the cross of Jesus Christ May I not forget the blood he shed It is by his death I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Come on church, let's just lift up our voices Put your hands up and praise the Lord We're going to sing Hallelujah together Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus rose in victory He's alive, the life in me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Jesus rose in victory He's alive, the life in me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus rose in victory He's alive, the life in me Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the one who set me free Death has lost its grip on me Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus' worthy victory, He's the life of life in me May I never boast in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ May I not forget the blood He shed, it is by His death I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Because of Christ I am alive Praise the Lord Come on, let's give Him some praise in the house today, amen? How many of you are glad He's alive? Praise the Lord Look at your neighbor and say, He's alive He is alive, amen? Good to see all of you at Revolution Church God bless you, you can be seated right now before we get started Help me welcome 743 correctional facilities right now Joining us online all over the United States, multiple states God bless all of you We're just thankful that each one of you have gathered with us here today Also, I want to recognize another group that we have here for the first time today It's around 25 men from Epperson Ministries, Stephen D.'s ministry

If you guys would stand up, help us recognize these guys here today We're grateful to have you, God bless every one of you for being with us today I see some familiar faces and I'm thankful for what God's doing in your ministry So thankful for all the recovery ministries that we have that's part of this church True Purpose Ministries, let's give it up for Pastor Jeremy Graham And all of those guys that do an amazing job with that ministry Come on, we have some True Purpose men, stand up Yep, come on, let's give it up Praise the Lord Any other recovery ministries we have here today, would you stand up? Come on, stand up right over here The ladies' ministry We're grateful for all of you, we're so thankful for each one of you From the women's ministry, there's one of the ladies' works at McAllister's And Connie and I, we always try to make sure that we get to her window But she's awesome, it's great to see all of you though here today If you're a first time guest, we're grateful that you've chosen to worship with us I had the opportunity today to be out front greeting several people as they were coming in I saw so many first time guests, so many first time families And so thankful for that, but if you would just let us know you're here If you're visiting, there's a card in the seat back, either being right in front of you or maybe the seat back behind you If you'd grab one of those cards, drop it in the buckets as you leave And we'd just like to know that you're here with us If you have any prayer requests, we'd love to pray with you over those things And so, also I'd like to again say thank you for your patience on the construction You know, sometimes it's a little difficult to get in here And it may be for a little while, part of the foyer now is blocked off Because there's construction that's taking place out there But just continue to be patient, and it won't be long As a matter of fact, they're saying this, that we are ahead of schedule

Come on somebody Always, hey, two things I love to hear Ahead of schedule and under budget Come on somebody, amen So that's the two things that we're looking forward to Anyway, March 29th, if you would, if you have your calendars If you're new to the church, you're not as connected as you would like to be I want you to circle this date on your calendar March 29th at 11.30 Right here at this campus, we'll be meeting in the pavilion I'm going to be sharing vision and values of our church And serving lunch So any of you that would like to know more about that Circle it on your calendar What day is it? Somebody help me March 29th, what time? Alright, 11.30, you guys got it down And so look forward to seeing you there Another exciting announcement that I have today to make to you Is RCA, which is Revolution Christian Academy Our school here We're seeing a lot of growth, but now We can officially say and celebrate that we are a category four level one school. Which is in essence says that we now can accept state vouchers. Come on somebody, and from the Education Freedom Scholarship. That is huge. That is huge. That's something to celebrate. Lots of people have been working on that. You may be here saying, well, what does that mean?

That means if you have a child, if you have a grandchild that's interested in Christian education, now there's a scholarship for those children. You fill out an application, and I think they take the first 20,000 applications, and I think they may have extended that this year, but that's $7,200 per child that they will give you, a voucher that they will give you for their education. And so we're already seeing a tremendous amount of interest in our school. People that are interested in private school Christian education that maybe before couldn't afford it, now there's an option, amen? And I'm so grateful for that. So thank you, all of you that had part in that, we're very grateful for that. And then, let me say thank you for your tithes and offerings. I know every weekend we talk about this, and it's important because it takes your gifts, the tithes and offerings, for the ministry to continue to go forth and do what God's called us to do. But I'm so grateful that you do that. And I was just wanting to share a quick story with you when it comes to giving. So about a year ago, I had an individual in our community who's working on his citizenship. He's a builder, he's a respected builder, I've known him, I've used him on our jobs multiple times, personal jobs at our house, he's done a lot of work for us, and he reached out to me and he asked me if I would put together, if I would consider putting together a recommendation letter for his citizenship, trying to move forward, doing what he needs to do to become an official U.S. citizen. And so, I looked at that and I said, sure, I mean, he's worked for me in the past, he's done a good job, he's respectful, he's hired a lot of employees, he's been in this community for probably 15 years. So I did. And I put together a letter, and I sent it back to him, and so, he was grateful, he said thank you so much for that, I appreciate it, through the email. Now, several months go by. As you guys know, in the back, we've got several buildings.

We've got the special needs building, we've got one building that's for office space, we added another classroom building. Well, these buildings we purchased from the Blount County school system, and we were able to buy them at auction at a very good rate. But they needed to be remodeled, redone, and that's what we did. We remodeled them pretty much from the floor up, and they're beautiful now. But, I wanted to say this, the last building, the one on the right, when you're coming in, we were doing it, it was our last building that we remodeled, we're at the roof system, we're putting a whole new roof system on, that shingles, maybe even replacing some boards, I'm not even sure all the details, but, we sent that out for bid, and this fella came in that I'm talking about, that I'd sent that letter, that recommendation letter for, came in as the low bid, and so we awarded it to him, and so he did the work, and then when it come time for him to give us our invoice, instead of an invoice, he sent me a message, and he said, number one, I'm just grateful for the letter of recommendation that you made for me, number two, this is what I want to do for the church, I want to donate all the material and labor, and do this job for free, and so, I mean, what a blessing, number one, this fella doesn't attend church, I don't know if he's a Christian, but why would he, why would he want to do something so generous, I believe it was because of gratitude, I believe it was from a thankful heart, and as I was thinking about that, and thinking about what you and I do every weekend when we bring our tithes, our offerings to the Lord, why do we do that, why do we bring our offerings, why do we bring our tithes, it's because of a grateful heart, I am so thankful for what the Lord Jesus has done in my life, it's not that, okay, I'm going to give out of duty, no, I'm giving from a grateful heart, and I know you do as well, so I want to encourage all of you to just realize that that when you're giving whether it's dropping it off in the baskets or you're going online or you're doing it through our church app or however it is that you choose to give I want you to understand this is not about duty it's about God I'm just bringing back to you from a grateful heart the blessings that you blessed me with amen so let's go to the Lord in prayer father we're so thankful for this day we're so thankful for what you're doing at

Revolution Church and God we're so grateful for every single person who gives who ties who serves who volunteers in this church and I pray today got a supernatural blessing on all of them God thank you for the building project thank you for the school thank you for the salvations thank you for what's next Lord God we're excited for what you're doing and God we're so thankful God that the Spirit of the Lord is moving here and we're believing that today before this service is over there'll be people born again set free delivered and healed in Jesus name and everybody said come on help me now amen amen amen God bless you guys welcome Revolution family we are so glad to be in the house of the Lord today Amy we have a lot of exciting stuff and if you're our first-time visitor we want to connect with you so please meet us at the connect table after the service we have a free gift for you and if today you decide to make Jesus the Lord of your life congratulations we are so excited to embark on this new journey with you if you have questions or want more information you can join us at our new believers tent I love it and anything we talked about today check it out on the Church Center app or a Revolution Church website it'll all be there plus you'll see the fourth annual see our race for recovery get your team together get ready to run a relay run walk whatever you want to do but sponsor a team so we can help those with mental challenges and addictions so we're gonna do that on March 28th check it out on our website or Church Center app that's always a great event we always had a good turnout hey if you're on social media and you're interested you can find us on those all platforms all right Amy that's all we have for today a lot of exciting stuff going on we are so happy you're here enjoy the rest of the service good morning Revolution it is good to be in the house of the Lord today can you say amen to that it is great to see you just just look around it all of these folks here today come to be in the presence of the Lord and worship together we thank you so much for being here appreciate it I just want to say a couple things before we get into the word if you are a first-time visitor with us today again we are so

glad you're here in the back corner to my right your left my right there's a welcome area there and there will be people there that would love to personally say hello to you if you're a first-time visitor and give you a gift and also if you make the greatest most important decision that you can ever make and that's accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and corner back here to my left your right there will be folks there that want to pray with you they have a Bible that they'd like to give you and share with you how this journey works and walking with Jesus Christ well our sermon series is Sunday is coming everybody say that with me Sunday is coming come on we can do better than that Sunday is coming I want to tell you Sunday is coming and also Easter Sunday is coming Easter Sunday is right around the corner and we have some very special services at 645 Easter Sunday morning we're going to have a sunrise service right here on the property what better way could there be than to start Easter Sunday morning in gathering at sunrise and celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and then Easter we'll have our three regularly scheduled services at 830 10 o'clock and 1130 and we're encouraging you to bring someone invite someone maybe you have a family member a friend that doesn't know Christ invite them what an opportunity for them to come and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior well I am happy and delighted to continue on in this sermon series Sunday is coming I ran across something about a week ago and I wanted to share it with you this morning it's called 40 in the scripture it rained 40 days and 40 nights but on day 41 the rain stopped Moses committed murder and fled to the wilderness on for 40 years but on year 41 God called him to rescue Israel Moses went up to the mountain for 40 days and on day 41 he received the Ten Commandments the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years but on year 41 they entered promised land. Goliath taunted Israel for 40 days but on day 41 David showed up and defeated him. Jonah preached repentance for 40 days and on day 41 God stopped his plan to destroy Nineveh. Jesus fasted and was tempted by the devil for 40 days but on day 41 the devil fled. After the resurrection Jesus

appeared to his disciples for 40 days and on day 41 he ascended to heaven. So what's the takeaway? The rain will stop. The giant will fall and you will enter your promised land if you don't give up on day 40 because day 41 is coming. Amen? Day 41 is coming. Sunday's coming. Friday might be full of fear and doubt and despair. Saturday might be silent but Sunday's coming. God is good. Amen? The title of the message I want to share with you this morning is titled that nothing be lost. There's several verses of Scripture I want to read with you and I'm reading from the New International Version in John chapter 6 beginning in verse number 1 through verse number 12. John chapter 6 beginning in verse number 1. Sometime after this Jesus crossed to the shore of the Sea of Galilee that is the Sea of Tiberias and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover feast was near and when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him he said to Philip where shall we buy bread for these people to eat and he asked this only testing him for he already had in mind what he was going to do. How many of you are glad that God knows in advance what he's going to do? God's never caught off by surprise that he's never he's never confused about a situation. He said he already knew what he was going to do. Then Philip answered him it would take more than half a year's wage to buy enough bread for each one of them to have a bite. Another of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother spoke up here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. Look at that small loaves of bread small fish and he goes on and say what would this do among so many and Jesus and Jesus said have the people sit down there was plenty of grass in that place and they sat down about 5,000 men were there. Matthew's account of this said there were 5,000 men plus women plus children there might have been 12 13,000 people there on that occasion and Jesus took the two loaves and gave thanks and distributed to those that were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish and when they all had enough to eat everybody say enough when they all had enough to eat he said to his

disciples gather the pieces that are left over let nothing be wasted. I love this passage of Scripture it's one of the amazing incredible miracles that Jesus has performed. I've read it in the different Gospels and they all give a little bit of a different twist to what happened there. Matthew says that Jesus took the loaves and the fishes he lifted them toward heaven and he gave thanks and he gave to the disciples and told them to distribute. I've always tried to visualize how this miracle took place. Now we've got a whole lot of people in the house today but there's not 5,000 men here plus women plus children. Can you imagine if I said now a few moments ago pastor invited you March 29th to come to meet and greet and he said they'd be having lunch. Can you imagine if I said well I just want all of you to stay for lunch. I got five little loaves of bread here and two tiny fish and that's what we're going to eat. Now I'm not talking about loaves of bread not wonder bread. Well it ended up being wonder bread but it didn't start out wonder bread. It was like a little kosher loaves of barley bread kind of like Twinkie sized bread and two small fish. I think about you know Twinkies and sardines. That sounds like a bad combination right there. Something about that just didn't seem to work out right. But you get the picture. And in Matthew, Jesus gave to the disciples and told them to distribute. And so this is kind of how I see it happening. Jesus hands it to them, and maybe Peter ends up with one fish. Now he's supposed to distribute that one fish to all these people. How am I going to do that? Well, I imagine Peter looking at that little fish and going, Well, I'll break it in half and see what we can do. You know, maybe everybody will get a scale or something. I don't know how we're going to do this. But he breaks it in half, and in my mind, I see a head growing a tail and a tail growing a head. He breaks those two in half.

A head grows a tail, a tail grows a head. A head grows a tail, a tail grows a head. I don't know that that's the way that happened, but I do know everybody ate till they had enough. How many of you know it's nice to eat till you have enough? Our problem was we push it a little past that sometimes. We go overboard a little bit. But the very last part of verse number 12 is where I want to draw your attention. In the King James Version, it says, Pick up all the fragments that nothing be lost. That nothing be lost. You see, not only does Jesus reveal his miracle-working power in this event, but he also reveals his character. It's the character of Jesus Christ that nothing be lost. You see, Jesus is the Redeemer. He's the Restorer. He's the Rescuer. How many of you experience the redeeming power of the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, I love it. We know where we were, but we know where God has brought us to. Amen? I might not be exactly where I want to get to, but thank God I'm not where I used to be. Can you say amen to that? You know, sometimes we can get a little frustration because we're just not growing the way we want to. But every once in a while, not all the time, but every once in a while, just take a moment and look back. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Oh, thank you, Lord. I'm not there anymore.

Lord, you are working in my life because he is a redeeming God. He is a restoring God. He is actively working in our lives. Now, I broke that phrase down a little bit, and I'm just going to share with you a little Morgan theology here if I can. He said that nothing be lost. Take that word nothing. Here's how I define that, that no good thing. It's the will of God that no good thing be lost. I want to tell you every good and perfect gift comes from above. It's the will of God that everything he has begun in you will be seen all the way through to development. It's the will of God that your joy is not lost, your peace is not lost, your victory is not lost, your passion is not lost. It is the will of God that no good thing is lost in our lives. No good thing is lost. What is lost? Ruined, destroyed, missing, no longer held, wasted. It's the will of God that all the things that he has started in us, that we don't lose those things, that we allow God to develop them in our life. I look through the scripture, and I find there's a long history of good people losing good things. There's a long history of good people losing good things. Judges chapter 16 talks about Samson. Do you know Samson was set apart for God at birth? I want to tell you something. You were formed by God in your mother's womb. From birth, God had a plan for your life.

From birth, it was the will of God that you come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and walk with him and grow in a relationship with him. Samson was set apart from birth. Samson performed incredible, miracle, miraculous things when the Holy Spirit would move upon him. On one occasion, he defeated a thousand enemies with the jawbone of a donkey. He didn't have a machine gun. He didn't have a flamethrower. He had a donkey's jaw. And he killed a thousand of the enemies. On one occasion, they thought they had him captive inside the city of Gaza, and in the middle of the night he gets up and he literally rips the walls off the gates of the city, carries them miles, plants them at the base of a mountain. Josephus and other historians say those walls, those gates may have weighed two tons. The mighty power of God working in him. But Samson had an Achilles heel, he had a vulnerability, he had a blind spot. How many of you know we have blind spots? Do you know why you need to be in relationship with other believers? To help you watch out for your blind spots. You know why you need to be in accountability? To help you watch out for your blind spots. You know why you need to be in discipleship? To help you watch out for your blind spots. You see, Samson had a blind spot. What was his blind spot? Women. Hello. Let's just be real. I mean, you read through there. Samson just walking along and he goes, whoo-hoo, hot dog.

Come on now. I think I just saw a couple of ladies give their hugs in the elbow right there. I mean, it didn't happen just once with Samson. You read through there. I mean, he couldn't handle a good-looking woman. I'm just going to let that one sit right there for just a moment. Let that sit. Do you know from birth he was set apart unto God? The women he chose were not godly women. Women he chose were not followers of Jehovah God. He compromised his beliefs. He compromised his standards. He compromised his values. And in the end, he lost the anointing of God. He lost his ability to do what God had called him to do because he was careless. We look at Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 28, and we read about Saul, king of Israel. You know, a lot of us just think about the end of Saul. Saul didn't start out the way he ended up. He was called and anointed by God. The prophet Samuel poured the oil upon his head and prophesied over him that he would be king of Israel. Saul prophesied. He stood head and shoulders above the other men of Israel. He was a specimen of a man. On one occasion, he's coming from the field with his team of oxen, and he hears that the Amalekites are attacking Israel, and he gets so upset, he chops his own ox up into pieces. He grabs those pieces and sticks them in the hands of other men and says, you go through Israel and tell all the men, if they don't come and fight with me, what I did to my ox, I'll do to theirs. Three hundred and thirty thousand men responded, and they defeated the Amalekites.

But Saul got filled with pride. He got envious. He got off course. And Samuel stood before him and said, Saul, the glory of God has departed. The anointing of God is no longer on your life. Why? Because he didn't stay on the path that God had called him to. Even David, I love David. I have a, you know, being a David, I think I have a special affinity with David. I just, I love David. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, the name of the Lord shall be praised. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I will enter his courts with praise. All through the psalmist, he's declaring the glory of God. But then we get over to 2 Samuel chapter 11. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, it begins like this in verse number one. In the springtime, when the kings were to go out to war, David sent a substitute. It's time for the kings to go to war. But David didn't go. He sent a substitute. You know what happened next? Bathsheba happened next. Because David wasn't where he was supposed to be. He ended up where he was supposed to be. He ended up somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. In Psalm 51, David wept and fell on his face before God and cried out, O Lord God, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Remove my sin and my iniquity from me. Because David had lost that sense of presence and peace with God due to his carelessness.

We go on through scripture and we see even Peter in Matthew chapter 20. You know, how many of you identify with Peter a little bit? Peter occasionally opened his mouth before he engaged his brain. Maybe I should have told you that before I asked you how many of you identify with Peter a little bit. A pastor just pulled his hand down just like that. I just saw him pull it down just like that. Peter's the one, O Lord, I'll never deny you. I'll die for you. Until the rubber met the road. Until they took Jesus. Until they're taking him off to try him. And somebody recognizes him. Oh, no, no, no, you've got the wrong guy. Somebody else says, I'm sure that he was with them. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. For the third time, I'm sure you're one of those followers of Jesus. I swear I don't know him. Took an oath. He denied Jesus. Do you know why? Because he was afraid of what might happen. You see, nothing had happened to him yet. But he was afraid of what might happen to him. And because of that, he lost his testimony. In Luke chapter 15, we read about a son who lost his inheritance. It's an amazing story in Luke chapter 15, because he wasn't entitled into his inheritance yet. An inheritance is something you get after your parents pass. But the young son goes to the father and says,

listen, I want what belongs to me. The father gave it to him. I love what the King James Version says. How many of you grew up on the King James Version? I love what the King James Version says about this. It says that he took that inheritance and he went off and he wasted it on riotous living. Now, I'm not really sure what riotous means. It sounds kind of gnarly. He went and wasted it all on riotous living. But we do know this. He ended up in the pig pen with nothing, wanting to eat the pig's food. But nobody would give it to him. When I was preparing this message over the last couple weeks, I read through Luke 15, the whole thing, several times. There are actually three lost things in Luke 15. In the middle of Luke 15, I believe it starts in verse 8, it says, And a certain woman had ten silver coins. And she loses one of the coins. And what does she do? She lights a lantern. She sweeps the floor diligently until she finds it. And then she calls her neighbors when she finds it and rejoices with great joy. I want you to look at that passage. She lost something of great value. How many of us have lost some things in our lives? There have been a time that maybe we've lost our direction. There's been a time when we've lost our joy.

There's been a time when we've lost the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. She lost something of great value. And the first thing she did, oh, let me tell you, we can learn from this little lady. The first thing she did is she lit a lantern. She turned on the light. Do you know where you find lost things? You turn on a light. What is the light? The light is the Word of God. Thy Word, O Lord, is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Let me tell you how you find lost things. You've lost your joy. You've lost your peace. You've lost your passion. You've lost your direction. Get in the Word. Get in the Word of God. Let the light of God's Word begin to speak to you. She got in the Word. She lit a lantern. And then it says that she began to sweep the floor looking for it. How many of you know every now and then we need a good floor sweeping? Every now and then we need to get in the corners and sweep the floor. Come on, every now and then we need to get under the bed. Have you looked under the bed lately? I don't know if you have a pet in your house If you do you might want to look under the bed and under the couch Years ago, I was my son was in law school and I was I was keeping his dog and it was a beautiful Sheltie

I loved that dog. It was so sweet that thing. I I don't know how it wasn't completely bald. I I Mean I've never been so around such a shedding animal in all my life every day. I'm sweeping picking up I could I couldn't wear black It was like there was dog hair is gonna get on me from somewhere in the house I just walk around and dog hair seemed like it jumped on me and we had a small group at the house one day and I'd sweat and sweat and Done all this and done that and and more people showed up than I thought was coming in. So I said in on the floor Opposite the couch in the chairs and I can see under the couch There was a whole dog It was unbelievable That you know, we need to sweep really good. Sometimes It's like this fella. I heard about every night when he would go to bed He would pray this prayer Lord remove the cobwebs that have come between me and thee today Next night Lord remove the cobwebs that have come between me and thee today Next night Lord remove the cobwebs. He's right in the middle of that prayer. His wife yells out God kill the spider What did that lady do she turned on a light She swept the floor and she found what she had lost And then there's a maybe one of the most precious stories and all of God's Word suppose you had a hundred sheep and One of them went astray Would you not leave the ninety and nine and go and find that one? You know, I I was so very very blessed to grow up in a Christian family I've shared with you in the past. My my father died in a car accident when I was six weeks old and I live with my grandparents right here in Marable through the third grade and they were wonderful Godly people we had devotions every night. I mean get down on our knees and pray every night before going to bed I mean they raised me in the Word of God. My my earliest years were my grandmother reading stories from the Bible to me. I Accepted the Lord is my personal Savior when I was eight years old was water baptized I Stood in front of the church and preached my first sermon when I was 14 years old. I

Was one of those rare birds in public high school. I carried my Bible to school I talked to people about Jesus on the football team on the baseball team. I Graduated from high school went to a college in southeast, Florida For a minute The first shock was when I had to go to the bookstore and those books were like a family Bible size I mean they were like this thick and I'll be I'm ashamed of this, but I'll be honest with you I don't think I've read through a whole book all the way through high school. I Have it. I have still have pretty good. I had a great memory And I paid attention and took notes and I never had trouble passing tests I went to a very first class and they handed out a syllabus and said by next week You need to read the first hundred and twenty five pages. I Knew in that moment. I was in the wrong place This is not for me, I withdrew from college drove back to Marietta, Georgia and now I need a job Somebody told me well the county County Works is hiring So I went over to the County Works Department and said I'd like to apply for a job I'll never forget the guy goes. Do you know how to drive a tractor? I Said I've been driving a tractor since I was 10 years old. You're hired Next day, I load up in the back of a pickup truck with two other guys They drive us out somewhere where there's three tractors sitting on the side of the road Put us out and say we'll see you at the end of the day Me and two other guys we're bush hogging down both sides of the road lunchtime comes around We sit down on the side of the road one of the guys lights up a joint He says to me you want to hit off this He says to me you want to hit off this I'll never understand my answer. I Said sure, why not? And for the next next three years every day it was sure why not There was never a no to anything the next three years My life was such a wreck. I mean, you're in a really bad place when at 12.30, 1 o'clock in the morning,

at underground Atlanta, you're climbing up a fire escape, crawling through somebody's kitchen window to buy drugs. You're in a bad place. It's a miracle that I didn't go to jail, get killed. I'm at a party, as messed up as I can be, and the Holy Spirit shows up. You see, I hadn't been to church in a long time, but I remembered what the Holy Spirit was. And the Holy Spirit showed up. I said out loud, what are you doing here? I really did. And in my heart, I heard the Holy Spirit say, I'm here for you. Just a few days after that, my mother called me up. She said, you remember that preacher that was at our church about four years ago that you really liked? I said, that guy from Texas? She said, yeah, he's going to be at the church Sunday night. I just wanted to let you know. I went in late, high, dirty jeans and a T-shirt. You didn't wear jeans and a T-shirt to church back then. I sat in the very back row. I don't remember a word he said. But when he gave the invitation, I want to tell you something. The good shepherd walked down that aisle, and he put his arm around my shoulder, and he walked me to the front of that church. Amen. And let me tell you something. Right in that altar, he redeemed me. He restored me. He renewed his purpose for my life.

All that I had wasted, all that I had thrown away, all that I had discarded, he gave it back because that's who he is. And then the last story is about that prodigal son. He's way off mess, but he's smart enough to know one thing. I got a father. I got a father. I may have really messed my life up, and I'm not even worthy to be called his son anymore, but I'm going home. Can I say this to you today? Wherever you are, however bad you've messed up, if you're in the correctional facility, if you're watching online, right here today, wherever you are, he's a redeemer. He's a restorer. It is the will of God that no good thing be wasted. Whatever you've messed up, it's not gone. He'll give it back. He'll give it back. Joel said he's going to restore that which the kangaroo worm has taken. You see, the enemy is here to steal, kill, and destroy. He'll lie to you. He'll deceive you. He'll paint you a pretty picture. He'll say the grass is greener. Well, I can tell you from experience, it's astroturf. But Jesus is calling. He's calling today. Can you just take a moment and listen? Come home. Come home. I'm going to ask you to stand with me, please. I'm going to ask the prayer team if they would come forward.

And I'm going to ask you, if there is anything in your life that you've lost, and you want it back, or maybe you've never surrendered your life to Jesus, he's here to redeem you today. He's here to give you new life today. He's here to transform you, to make you a new creation. I want to just invite you right now. I want to pray a very simple prayer. The worship team is going to lead us this song. Don't leave here today without getting back that which the enemy has stolen. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for your holy presence. I thank you for your word. I thank you, Lord, that it is your will that no good thing be lost. I thank you, Lord, that there are men and women here right now in this service and watching online who need recovery, who need restoration, who need you to bring back in their lives that that has been lost. Father, I pray the Holy Spirit will move in power and might. In Jesus' name. Amen. Step out right now if you need God to do something in your life today. Amen. I hear you call. I am available. I say yes and no. I am available. Here I am with open hands. Counting on your grace again. Less of me and more of you. I just want to see you move. I hear you call. I am available. I say yes and no. I am available. I hear you call. I am available. I say yes and no. I am available. I say yes and no. I am your fleshly Jesus. Use me how you want to. Come and have your way. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am, Jesus. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. Here I am. Here I am. You can have it all. You can have it all. You can have it all.

Oh, use me how you want to, God Have your throne within my heart I hear you, I hear your call I am available I say, yes Lord I am available Yes Lord, we yield to your way Have your way Lord Have your way Jesus, in our hearts today Lord, I just pray that we would grow in faithfulness That no matter what we've done, you remain faithful You are steadfast and constant, God And even when you ask us to do the hard things, may we still say yes Because it is through those hard things, Lord It's through those gravel roads, Lord, that you are shaping us That you are producing in us, Lord, endurance, character, and hope You are the hope of our promises, Lord And I just pray, Father, for anyone today, Lord, that you have given them promises That you have given them dreams that they are not seeing come to pass I pray that you would begin to encourage them, Lord, and you would continue to build their faith Knowing that you will bring it into completion We just thank you that you are faithful always We thank you that you are the God that restores And we love you today We thank you In Jesus' mighty name