Though... | Dr. Jacari P. Davis

You know that your God makes you secure from all along. Come on, bless the Lord for his safety. I said thank you for his protection. Every single hour. Come on, bless him. Hallelujah. You may have your seats in the presence of the Lord. We greet you, each of you, on sight and on line in the name of God our Father, our Lord and Liberator Jesus Christ. And the precious Holy Spirit who is our comfort and our guy. In the words of our elders, it's another day's journey. Anybody in will avenue beside me, you're glad about it. I said anybody glad about it. Anybody glad to be in the service one more time? Come on, testify. He didn't have to let me live. He didn't have to let me live. Oh, but I'm glad to be in the service. Just one more time. Look at somebody and tell them one more. One more. You got one more. He gave you another chance. You got one more. He forgave you again. You got one more. He kept you all this week. You got one more. He met all your needs. You got one more. One more opportunity to thank him. One more opportunity to bless him. One more opportunity to tell him he's worried that somebody shall one more. One more. One more. One more. Amen. We are out of the spirit of Christ and even in absence. Help me thank God for our incredible and illustrious pastor and leader, the Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby. Come on, thank God for your pastor. In some regards, the nation's pastor. Help me thank God for the gift. He is blessed to be with him. I certainly appreciate him for this opportunity to be able to stand in this sacred place in his stead on this Sunday morning. I do not take that lightly. I have said on every occasion that he has allowed me to stand in this place, how much the Will Avenue Church means to me. When I first started tending here as a college student at the best university on the other side of Scott Street, Texas Southern University, I would walk into then the sanctuary to be blessed by the preaching and pastoral ministry of Dr. Cosby. And I have said before, the witness of Will Avenue in my life is that I was a Christian before I came to Will Avenue, but Will Avenue made me a disciple and I thank God for that. Thank God for that. And to all of the other Reverend clergy, this whole heart of clergy and this pastoral team and staff who was present this morning who serves you so ably, we thank God for them as well. This marvelous music ministry who has blessed us to everybody. Amen. I want to thank you already for your grace and your compassion. I've been blacking back just my whole life and I know that when you get up this early on a Sunday, one, you don't play about Jesus. That's that's one.

And two, you make your way to the house of the Lord because you want to hear your pastor and I know some of you may be disappointed this morning that I am not Pastor Cosby. But I want to tell you, I understand I'm disappointed too. I'm disappointed too. So we can all be disappointed together. But we thank God nonetheless and we anticipate hearing what the Lord has to say. Those of you who are able, will you join me in the Scripture that has already been ably read the Old Testament, might a prophecy of Habekah. Habekah chapter number three. Remember Dr. Jock Dinkins read verses one through 16 and as he made his way back to his seat, he said, "Reve, that's a whole lot of bad news." And I say, "Well, I'm going to pick up where you left off and see if there's some good news." In Habekah chapter number three, I want to read verses 17 through 19. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hear what the word of the Lord says. Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines. Though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food. Though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stock. Verse 18 says, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will exalt in the God of my salvation. God of the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights," some translations say, "the high places." I want to label this morning's message with the word that appears in triplicate fashion in verse 17. I want to talk this morning about though. That's all. You may be seeing that. Though. So, joy takes discipline, any food can be miserable.

When spiritual retreat leader Jim Curtin uttered these words several decades ago to a young man who was finding it difficult to keep getting up each day and go out into the world and face its various challenges and multiple complications while simultaneously maintaining the spring in a step and the spirit of hoping to be pleasantly surprised by life. Curtin didn't know that that one statement would reorient and reset the daily approach to that young man's life as well as his spiritual outlook. Here but again, joy takes discipline. Any fool can be miserable. Inasmuch as those words were transformative for that young man, for Jim Curtin himself, those words sparked some personal inspiration and became the catalyst for his book, "Joy as an Act of Resistance." And the premise that undergirds the book, Dr. Dinkins is simple. Being miserable doesn't take any effort at all. You ain't got to pray for misery. You'll never at any time have to prepare for it. When it comes to misery, when it comes to trouble, somebody ought to testify, life will hand it to you for free. But when it comes to joy, joy is work. Having joy costs something. And the cost is a decision that you must have. You must have the discipline to make every single day so that your faith develops the resilience to recover quickly in rough places. [APPLAUSE]

The Prophet Becca knew something about the work of joy. In the seventh century, before Christ, what this prophet saw happening in his nation and around the world that was known to him was eerily similar, I believe, to the sickening and sinister reality that we are witnesses to in our time now. Becca's nation, Israel, is divided and has been quite some time. Political power plays have fractured Jerusalem in the north and Judah in the south. And there is no competent or coherent leadership in place to bring both sides together. Only more divisive rhetoric, blank shifting, and public vilification are being spewed from both sides while the people on both sides are staggering to find support for their everyday needs. has provoked covenant disobedience in their spiritual and social practices to the extreme that God's people are almost unrecognizable as God's people. I know you don't know, I know, I know, I know you don't know of any nation like this. But can you for a second, can you for a second imagine a nation that claims God, but looks nothing like the God it claims? Judah's social landscape was infested with violence to the point where it became normalized in the psyches of the people. There was no longer a sensitivity to or a sacred respect for human life, those in positions of privilege and wealth and power exploited those already living under the poverty line. While at the same time multiplying their personal net worth by millions and billions while they were still in office, the governors and the judges had no concern for justice or regard for mercy, they took their marching orders from the king. And if the oppression of others kept them in good standing with their political affiliation, they just called that the price of doing good business.

Beloved, the land is sick. God has and is the cure and the eternal count of measure. But from where Habekah was perched, God must have been out of the office because it seems that God ain't seeing nothing and he ain't saying nothing. From the prophet's initial perspective, God doesn't appear to be too inspired to intervene and it is this apparent idleness of God that sparks this conversation, this dialogue between God and Habekah that we now have in front of us. By way of context, beloved, I want you to know that this is the uniqueness of Habekah amongst the other prophets in Scripture, that prophets typically address the people on behalf of God. But when you read Habekah, you pick up on how he never talks to the nation, he only talks to God, that this is a book that, for all intents and purposes, is a dialogue with divinity. This is a work that invites us into a sacred exchange between humanity and the holy one. This is a record of how the voice of human vulnerability bends the ear of eternal sovereignty in search of soul anchoring revelation and what do you say? When after all of the bitterness you've tasted, all the ways you've been tested and all of the pushback you've tolerated, God has remained still and conspicuously silent. You probably start by asking God what Habekah asked God. You probably start by asking Lord, how long? In the first chapter, Habekah is in a place of spiritual discontentment because he sees all of the violence, all of the wrongdoing, all of the evil, all the destruction and his complaint with God is, how long are you going to let me see all of this play out? I cry out to you for help and you just let it continue without any kind of reckoning or response. I'm giving you the spark-nose version, but when you get home, I want you to read all of chapter one, particularly verses one through five. Habekah tells God, "God, if you take a look at the world you create, even you would be astonished and amazed at some of the things being done. Some of the things God, your people are capable of doing. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, God, are you going to say something?

God, are you going to do something? What's your plan? What's your in-game? What's your strategy? You've been silent, but I tell you what I'm going to do, God. 2 verse 1, I'm going to stand in my watch pose. [BLANK_AUDIO] And, beloved, let me rush to tell you that if you wait and watch long enough, God will respond. And when God decides to answer Habekah, the plan is made plain. You know the response, don't you? Habekah, here's what I need you to do. I need you to write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may go throughout the nation and proclaim it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time. It speaks of the end, and it does not lie, though it's hairy, wait for it. For it shall surely come to pass, and it will not delay. Habekah, I need you to hear me clearly, because the proud and the arrogant and the violent do not have the right spirit in them. Here's what I came to tell you, they ain't going to prevail. But can I tell you what will happen? The just shall live by their faith. In other words, Habekah, you don't have to understand all of what I'm doing to trust that I know what I'm doing. You just let faith keep moving your feet, and know that your future is in the hands of the one who's holding you tomorrow. I wish I had somebody in here who can testify, I ain't got to know it all. I just need to know God is still in control. I don't want to get stuck here. But the reassurance from God to Habekah is that God, give me here, God always has a vision of victory for God's self, and he always has one for God's people.

He always has a vision of victory for your life, and a vision of victory for himself that he's piecing together through our circumstances. And what we can't resign ourselves to is allowing the inconvenience of divine timing to deter us from faithful living, because living by faith is what will protect our joy from being snatched away by misery while we wait on God. I need you to get that because that's really the whole sermon. I said we have to keep living my faith, because faithful living is what will protect our joy to keep it from being snatched away by misery while we wait on God. This is what happens in the remainder of chapter 2. God outlines the plan for how he'll use the Babylonians to address the spiritual and social sins of the nation, and although Habekah isn't satisfied with the plan, he prays a prayer of Thanksgiving, watch this, for just knowing that God is still God. I don't have to agree with the plan, I don't have to understand the plan, but when God shows me the plan, I can thank him for the plan because he was God who gave me the plan. Then in verse 17 through 19 of the chapter, watch this, he reaffirms his trust in the care of God by declaring, watch this, he says, from now on, I'm going to use my faith to protect my joy. Y'all need to hear it again, listen to it, though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the backs, though the produce of the olive fence, and the fields yield no fruit, though the flock is cut off from the stars, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will exalt in the God of my salvation. And let the church say, though, say it again, say, though, that this conjunction beloved is significant to everything Habekah's faith declares in the verses, because it adds what scholars call conditional texture. I like that, though conjunction, junction taught me on Saturday mornings, though it's a might seem to contradict what comes after it. Though acknowledges the reality of a circumstance without surrendering to the authority of the circumstance, all I'm trying to tell you what I have anew is that those those are there for reason. Habekah doesn't keep saying though randomly. Habekah keeps saying though, don't miss this, because this word keeps his language connected to the covenant that he has with God. Habekah understands that even when he's

uncertain, there's still a human responsibility to his relationship with God. He has to say though to preserve his joy, because joy is what protects his belief that God's promises are and always will be absolutely assured in my life. You ain't challenged, let me put it this way. Those say us that the negative in front of me will not be given permission to drain the joy out of me, because the God above me will never stop working for me. I must say that one more time it get happened. But when I say though, it says that the negative in front of me won't drain the joy out of me, because the God who is above me will never stop working for me. And child of God, I came to tell you, you need to borrow this from Habekah as you live out this last quarter of 2026, trust in God, with all of the violence and the nastiness and humanity that's becoming so commonplace, not to mention the personal battles that meet you every morning when you put your feet on the floor. I'm telling you, you better learn how to keep a though in your spirit. You better learn how to keep a though in your lips, because declaring though it's going to re-establish your trust in God. And listen, when you have trust in your God, in sight of the problems, it should encourage your joy to persevere in spite of the problems. Those say us, I can't let what I see separate me from my spiritual strength, which is the soul-sustaining joy that I have in a God that keeps me from becoming miserable and believe in non-believing when life is making me feel like I'm about to absolutely lose my mind. Yes, they are worshiping warrior in the cathedral who can help me right through here and testify that my joy is rooted in the promises of God. And they are so rooted that I refuse to let what I face and what I see uproot the joy that's in my life. I got a commitment to God that goes beyond beneath the satisfaction of comfortable seasons. Here it is, I'm not going to let the world take my joy, because this show that I have, the world didn't give it to me. And look at somebody and tell them I'm not going to let trials, I'm not going to let trouble, I'm not going to let tragedy, and I'm sure not going to let Trump take my joy. I'm moving. I need us to know this today that trust in God's character is a decision, and it's a decision that defies the faith-breaking intentions of the troubles we experience. Hear me clearly, faith is an a denial of trouble. It's a position of defiance in trouble. It is to see the ugly, the upsetting, and the unsettling reality of the truth. I get down on my knees, I argue with God, I fuss with God, I question God about it in prayer. And before or after I say amen, even if I still see what's in front

of me, I resolve. remember Job had to do that, Job lost everything, Job had to suffer with sickness and abandonment and demonic interference and false accusations and when Job saw it all, Job didn't understand what God was doing, but without blinking, without stuttering, Job sitting on the ash heap. Here's what Job's faith declares, though he slayed me, I may be sick, I may be without bank account, may be an overdraft, but can I tell you, though, he slayed me, he had oil, I trust in him, he say, anybody in here who can shout, though, that life had certain seasons and points in history, situates us in the tension of living between absence and rejoicing, what's been removed and what we should still find, Joanne, absence wants to define your reality, but I came to tell you that if you keep rejoicing in God, rejoicing will redefine it in the unchanging presence of God. I want you to take this advice from me this morning, I heard this is the year of reset for y'all. My advice to you this morning is reset your perception of spiritual joy, joy isn't something that is always given, joy is something that you got to choose, and it's something that you got to practice, you have to choose to rejoice. Not because life is always filled with what you expected to be, but I rejoice because God is faithful in hell. And tough times, you have to discipline yourself to declare of those, share it again with me though, but what spiritual resources can get us there, what resources can move us from just seeing the truth of what we face to speaking and declaring of those. Watch what Rebecca shows us, he says, if you're going to learn how to have a though testimony, you have to learn how to make spiritual preparations in advance of the probabilities. Can I say it again, you have to learn how to make spiritual preparations in advance of the probabilities, verse 17, on the heels, watch it, on the heels of God's response and revealed plans for the nation to Rebecca, the Babylonians will invade Judah and carry them into 70 years of exile, he begins to envision Habekkados, all of the disastrous and catastrophic possibilities that could become the reality of those who are left in the ruins, he references failing theatries, fruitless vines, non-producing olive trees,

sterile livestock, all of these agricultural disasters that would all but ensure death and poverty. But what I find interesting will have a new, what I find spiritually intriguing is that prior to verse 17, there is no reference in the whole book to anything agricultural being affected by the attack that was supposed to come, say with it because I don't want you to think this is some interpretive overreach, Habekkad he lived in that day so he no doubt knew what could happen to the land when another nation attacked it, but in his though responses without knowing that it will happen, he has anticipated the likelihood of it and he has prepared himself on the inside for whatever will be, y'all miss me, it hasn't happened yet. [BLANK_AUDIO] when there are no figs, no food, no fruit, or no flocks, his joy in God won't fail, watch this because he never tied his joy to the land. He tied his joy to the Lord. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will exalt in the God of my salvation. Can I tell you why that helps me and it ought to help you? Because too many of us anchor our faith and our joy to our circumstances so that when the famine shows up in our lives, our joy is usually the first thing to leave and fail, lean in beloved. This is why you have to rehearse speaking your joy in advance. I wish I had somebody to help me preach here. You have to learn how to speak it in advance because if you only try to practice being joyful after the famine arrives, the famine will starve you before your faith kicks in to sustain you. Let me help you see it. Everybody knows, if you're a sports fan, that Steph Curry is one of, if not the greatest shooters that the game of basketball has ever seen. If you ever watch an interview with Steph talking about his shooting ability, you'll hear him say that a lot of what he does comes down to something called muscle memory. Muscle memory. Muscle memory is real interesting. You do something with so much frequency and so much repetition that even when you're under pressure, although your mind may forget how to do it, your body will still remember how to do it. Somebody see where I'm going. You train and it's so much that your body does it instinctively regardless of the atmosphere that you in. And reporters, they always ask Steph, how is it that you can pull up from 35 feet or pull up from half court and shoot the ball with so much confidence? And Steph says it's because whenever I take a shot in a game under pressure,

it's a shot that I've taken a thousand times in practice. All you see in the moment, all you see under the lights is my muscle memory kicking in. And I can tell by how some of y'all responded, this is what has a lot of us upset and miserable and irritated and panicking about the way things are now. It's not that we don't have faith. It's that our joy in God ain't got no muscle memory. You didn't let your faith strengthen your joy before days like the past 10 months showed up or the almost past two years with him downstairs in office. Can I help us if you would have learned when times were stable, how to get up every single day and practice showing, how to get up every single day and practice being grateful for the little things, practice being thankful for things being as well as they are, practice appreciating that you can be content with what you have. If you had practiced in the days of faithfulness, by the time the famine showed up, by the time all this foolishness showed up, none of it would have stolen your joy because you've been practicing the same joy every single day. When Trump is in office, when Obama is in office, when Reagan is, when I got money, when I don't have money every day, I've got the same practice. This is the day. no snap benefits to Kiki and this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad it. Don't know how that tuition is gonna be paid but this is the day that the Lord has made. I'm gonna rejoice and be glad in it. Somebody ought to declare right here. I wake up every single day practicing my joy so that the circumstances never determine how I give God his glory. Look at somebody and tell them you better get you some muscle memory. Matter of fact get you some practice here and right now I doubt somebody who's looking at some difficult circumstances to lift up your hands right now. Open up somebody in here. You've been unemployed for six months and can't nobody tell. Somebody in here don't know where your next meal is coming from but the last time you stepped on the scale you gained weight. Somebody in here don't know what tomorrow is gonna hold but nobody around you knows that you're about to absolutely lose your mind. It's because the joy of the Lord is my strength and I've learned how to tell him thank you anyhow. Prepare in advance of what could happen so that if it happens it ain't gonna take my joy. Somebody shall though. You need to get you a though because when you when you when you when you start speaking of though it's also Habekah shows us it's a way that we can make so strengthening determinations that will adjust our perspective. Watch this again Habekah anticipates catastrophic outcomes in June. Failing big trees, fruitless vans, non-producing olive trees, stairwell livestock.

Listen all of this unsuccessful produce and husbandry speaks to the fact that there is or will be something toxic or direll that's happening in the soil. Don't miss that. Things that provide life-giving resources are dying off not producing because the land has become poisonous. Let me plug this in here parenthetically. I think that's a word for for the nation and for us. Nothing grows on compromised ground. That's all I'm gonna say. I don't want to get sidetracked. But Habekah understands that when the attack shows up the soil will be compromised. So he speaks all of these those in advance. Watch this to strengthen his soul and adjust his perspective. And here's what blesses. It's the those that lead him to the yet. Yet I will rejoice in the low. I will exalt in the God of my salvation. Y'all that blesses my whole soul. Because that yet it has deliverance in it. In the Hebrew it's a it's a personal declaration. It says I don't know about anybody else what they gonna do in the nation. But ask for me. I will rejoice. Y'all don't know when to get happy. Rejoicing here means it means so deep delight. It is God-centered joy. It is spirit-settled gladness. It is peace field contentment. Let me put it this way. And then your happiness gets full of joy. It's happy, happy, it's, it's joy, joy. Habekah says, ask for me. I'm gonna have some joy, joy. I'm gonna be happy, happy. Although the land is toxic, I will have soul delight in the God who makes me safe. And that's liberating, that's liberating because he's making a spiritual determination that all of us who trust God should make. Here it is. I refuse to let what is sick in the soil make me sick in my soul. Lord have mercy. I may not have a resolution for my circumstances. I may not have an answer for the overdraft fees

that are accumulated in my bank account. I may not have clarity about what's happening in my family or an explanation for why certain doors keep closing in my themes. I don't know why the soil of my life is the way it is. I may not have a resolution for those things, but one thing I do have a resolution for is my attitude about it. I'm going to choose joy in my soul. Anyhow, and child of God, I came to tell you, your joy can be so shallow that the removal of a few resources and the rhetoric of a few ignorant people calls your joy to try out. No, when your faith and when your joy is rooted in a God who saves, when it's rooted in a God who delivers, when it's rooted in a God who liberates, you can look evil and inconvenient square in the face and say you can take some of my stuff. You can take some of my money, you can take some of my opportunities, you can take some of my liberties, yes, I'm going to fight, I'm going to protest, I'm going to vote, it don't mean I'm not going to use everything that I have to fight you on it. But even if I lose some stuff in the fight, I'll never let you have any parts of my soul because that's where my joy is. And that's where my God is, is there anybody in here?

I don't mean to quote Beyonce at the seven AM service, but say anybody in here who can testify, you can break my soul. No, no, no, you can try everything that you want to try, but you can break my soul. I got God in my soul. God is the joy and the strength of my life. Weeping me and doing for this night, but is there somebody in here who can testify, I'm still going to have joy because I know that weeping has a check out time because somebody else has to check in in the morning. Joy, unspeakable joy and full of glory. He says though because I need to learn how to adapt, I need to learn how to change my perspective, I need to learn how to make preparations. But here's the last thing he says when you practice a zone, it is your declaration that the Lord will give you spiritual adaptability to accommodate shaky places. Verse 19, I'm done. The Lord, when you say though, you say, Lord is going to give me some adaptability. That's going to help me to accommodate and navigate shaky, shaky places. I like this, I'm sure here. In his last declaration of faith and joy in God, Habekah illustrates the spiritual strength that God will supply to your life by using this natural image. He uses the image of a deer.

The declaration is God, the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and makes me to tread upon the high places. Now, the deer, animal, use multiple times by people in Old Testament to paint this picture of what life as a believer in different seasons looks like. In nature, the high place may be on a cliff on the side of a mountain, or some place on the mountain that has rocky ground, ain't got a whole lot of room to maneuver. One false move, you can fall over the cliff door, to fall over the side of the mountain. You got it, the high place is where the trouble is. And if you can't adapt to the terrain, you can lose stability and fall down. But here it is, here it is. Some seasons will avenue, will put you, put your life in some high places that are not designed for you to maneuver in. Not designed for you to survive in. Not designed for you to make it through. But here's what your God will do if you say, "No, He'll make your feet. God help me here." Like the feet of a deer, so that you can adapt, so that you can walk around. You can walk around in the same places that other folk are falling down in. I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Yesterday, I asked my daughter, I was putting some, some final touches on one of the messages today, and laptop battery was getting lower, I asked my daughter to bring them my laptop charger. And when she handed it to me, she asked, she said, "Daddy, what's this black box that's on this charger? What is that for?" I said, "Baby girl, that's the adapter." She said, "What does that do?" And I gave up my best daddy definition of what it does.

I explained to her that the adapter takes the power that's coming from the outlet and transforms it into power that my laptop can handle. I told her, I said, "Baby girl, without the adapter, the electricity that's coming straight from the outlet, could overwhelm my laptop's circuits, damage everything on the inside, and cause it to be destroyed." She said, "Well, if the laptop needs power, how can the power end up messing it up?" I said, "Baby girl, because it's possible for this laptop to have access to all the power it needs and still be destroyed by what it ain't equipped to handle." The problem is not the availability of the power. The issue is the capacity to receive the power without being overwhelmed by it. Good morning, will I ever do, may the Lord bless you real good. But beloved, that's what your faith in God, that's the kind of faith you need in God that will never fail. Is there anybody in here who can testify that the power of God is your adapter? God may not always change what surrounds you. God always may not remove you out of the high places, but somebody ought to help me close here and testify that God will give you the capacity to handle what you couldn't handle before. Is there anybody in this place who can find out that he'll put some extra grip in your feet? He'll give you some adaptability so that when the road gets rough and the go and gets tough, and the heels get hard to climb, you'll never lose your testimony, because your testimony will be now unto him who he is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before his presence up with exceeding great joy. I wonder is there anybody in here? to handle the cheeky seasons in your life, God kept you through what should have killed you, God sustained you through what should have shattered you, God is carrying you through what should be crushing you out, and you ought to open up your mouth, and give God praise, and bless the name of God, because the ground may be shaking, but you testimony, also, oh Christ, the silent, who I can't stand, all of the ground is sinking sand, you testimony

either side, the steps of good men and women, all ordered by the Lord, we will not suffer, your foot to be moved, be that keeper in trail, I will neither summon nor sleep, your testimony, also, even the youth shall fade and be weary, and the young men and the young women shall utterly fall, but can I get somebody at seven o'clock to lift up your hands, open up your mouth, can I get somebody at seven o'clock, who has some feet like a deer, to help me right through here and testify, but they then wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength, they'll mount up with wings like eagles, they'll run and not be weary, they'll walk up and not face up, can I do without the cosmic style, I want to make a way for you, won't he open the fire, won't he come through for you, say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes, won't he do it? No, thank you, Dr. Davis. As our deacons come to stand with us, there may be somebody here today, who is Dr. Davis says, needs a God who has a vision for our victory. You haven't accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life, or you're looking for a church home, are you here on temporary assignment, for health concerns, for school, for work, and you need a place to watch over your soul, this invitation is for all of you, it has to be seen, the fact that God is the joy and the strength of our lives, for those of you who need a vote, who need to be able to have strength for the high places, this invitation is for you, is there one, come on. [Music] ♪ God is the Lord and the strength of my life ♪ ♪ He moves away ♪ ♪ His religion brightens right ♪ ♪ He's proud of me ♪ ♪ He's proud of me ♪ ♪ He's that one ♪ ♪ Come on ♪ ♪ All of you work, I've never been back ♪ ♪ With great change and never wait ♪ - Make preparation.

♪ I need my life to be everything ♪ - I want to go with you. ♪ With great change and never wait ♪ ♪ With great change and never wait ♪ ♪ And I've never been back ♪ - Is there one? Come on. ♪ With great change and never wait ♪ - Die. ♪ I need my life to be everything ♪ - Hello. ♪ I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Oh, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Oh, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Oh, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Oh, I need my life to be everything ♪ - Is there one? - Oh, no. ♪ Oh, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Die, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Die, I need my life to be everything ♪ ♪ Well, it's time for a little pewee evangelist ♪ ♪ Are you ready? ♪ ♪ Turn to your neighbor, to your left ♪ ♪ So you're right in front of you ♪ ♪ Behind you and ask them, are you safe ♪ ♪ They say yes, they praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Ask them ♪ ♪ Do you have a church where you're growing ♪ ♪ Where you're growing ♪ ♪ The testimony of Dr. Davis was that ♪

♪ He was saved when he came to will ♪ ♪ But will I made him a disciple, hallelujah ♪ One more time. ♪ God is ♪ ♪ God is ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ God is ♪ ♪ Is that one? ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Let's find God in ♪ ♪ Let's find God in ♪ ♪ Let's find God in ♪ ♪ God in ♪ ♪ Let's find God in ♪ Give the Lord a hand to praise us. I was to extend yours to accept our reject. Hallelujah. Thank God for the word that came to us. ♪ ♪ Through Dr. Davis on today, amen. I don't know about you, but I needed that word. Hallelujah. ♪ Let's stand. ♪ And praise God from whom all blessings flow. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift the light of His countenance upon you and grant you His feet. The Lord be with you and guide you in your labor and in your leisure, in your joy and in your sorrow, in your laughter as well as in your tears. Until that day when we meet the Lord face to face, and cry holy, holy, holy to the Lord of hosts. Until that day my brothers and sisters grow in peace, grow in love, grow in joy, and may the God of peace, love, and joy go with you now, His for and forevermore. Let us all say. (upbeat music) Amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (audience cheering) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(audience laughing) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ]

[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ]

[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ]

[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ]