Turn Around! | Rodrigo Vargas

and connect people to God together. What's good Houston, Texas, and we hear you out there, come on now. (congregation applauding) So good to be in the house of the Lord. What an amazing worship set today. Listen, if this is your first time with us, we love to worship Jesus. It's what we love to do here. We believe that He is worthy of all praise. He is the high King. He is the one that is in control here, and He is going to be the one that beats us here. And we also want you to know that you're not just an honored guest here, but you're an answered prayer. And you didn't Houston exist to connect people to God through the gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus tells us that it doesn't matter what your past looks like. It doesn't matter what your present struggles may be, and it doesn't matter what doubts may weigh in your heart. Jesus, now hear me. Jesus loves you right where you are. And He also loves you too much to leave you where you are. And that promise, that truth, applies to every single person, everyone that is watching, that is incarcerated right now, and watching us through the panda wack.

Union Houston, can you help me welcome our Union prison campus? (audience applauds) Right where you are, in your cell, in your pot, we want you to know that we love you, and that we can't wait when you walk in through those doors. Now, we've been in a sermon series called The End. And last week, one of my mentors was in town for a few days, he came to church, and he's a professor at ORU. And he says, "My God, Pastor Rod, "how many weeks are you in?" I said, "Four weeks." And he said, "You're still on chapter one?" I said, "Yes, sir." He says, "Man, you're really digging in the word." I said, "Yeah, we're not getting out of chapter one either." So, this series is on the Book of Revelation. In the Book of Revelation is not just the end of the Bible, it's not just about the end times. It's a revealing of Jesus Christ to His church. It's a prophetic revelation filled with encouragement, strength, and comfort. And it's actually meant to stir our faith and prepare us for what will come. But here's the thing I have for you today, okay? It doesn't just prepare us for what will come and how we'll usher our new beginning. It's important that we know these words aren't just about what will.

They're right now word. They're a word for what is right now. And some of you walked in here carrying some things. Some of you walked in carrying some burdens. Can I get a name in? Some of you are facing some problems. Some of you are facing some charges. Some of you are facing some legal problems. Some of you are facing financial calamity and relationship pain. But as I've taught you in the previous weeks, when we look at things with the right lens, today I'm gonna call that the God lens, we start to see that even in the midst of our wilderness, we can have a fresh revelation. And I believe today, if that's you, if you came here to church and not to show a church face, but to actually meet the living God I got news for you, He's gonna meet you right here. And to I believe today, this word is gonna give you breakthrough. Would you stand with me as we read once again out of the book of Revelation chapter one, beginning at verse nine, going through verse 18, where John is writing and he says, I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and the kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus. I was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

And on the Lord's day, I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet that said, right on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw. I saw seven golden lampstands. And among the lampstands was someone like the son of man dressed in a robe, reaching down to his feet. And with a golden sash, around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. And in his right hand, he held seven stars and coming out of his mouth was a sharp double edged sword. His face, like the sun, shining in all its brilliance. But when I saw him, I fell at his feet. As though dead, he prostrated before the Lord, all the way down to the ground. And then he placed his right hand on me and said, and someone came to church to hear this. Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am the living one.

I was dead and I look. I am alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Let's pray, Father God, we thank you. What a sweet revelation you're giving us today. Holy Spirit, Spirit of the living God, move in this place. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see. Open our ears to hear the voice like a trumpet and a voice like rushing water to our situation. Lord, I don't know what you're going to do today. I don't know which way you're going to leave me. But Holy Spirit, you be in control. All the work I've done this week, all the meditation, all the prayers, all the research, mean nothing if I don't do what you say. So help me, guide me, soften the hearts of those that need to hear this. And may this seed of the gospel be fruitful where it lands. Holy Spirit, help me deliver that which you have spoken to me about. And then I might honor your mighty name. And I pray this in Jesus' mighty name in the church of God said, amen, amen, amen, amen. It's church today, my title for you is simply this, turn around, we're going to turn around today. You know, I know God's going to turn around, but we today are going to talk about we need to turn around. I need you to, just for a moment,

I need you to silence your minds for just a moment. Maybe if you have phones and you're taking notes on a phone, just put it down for just a moment. And I need you to envision, I don't know if you've ever been on an island, okay? I've had the luxury and the pleasure and the privilege of being on islands before, and I got to tell you some of my favorite places to be where you're on an island and there's white sands and clear water, you know what I'm talking about? There's exotic fruit you could just pick from a tree and eat, you hear me? I was on an island with Pastor Jeff not too long ago and he wanted a punch, a little monkey. Jeff, why would you, he wanted to bite me? I said he wasn't trying to bite you. I don't want you to envision an island. Now let's not, let's envision an island that's not a vacation island. There's no beach chairs, there's no resort. There's no umbrella, there's no sunscreen. And that island is called Patmos. John is an old man now. I think he's way past his beach days, you know what I'm saying? And he's exiled there, he's isolated. He's cut off from all the churches that he so dearly loves. And this is not exactly the greatest of circumstances for him. And yet on this island, John in the midst of his loneliness, in the midst of his heartbreak, in the midst of his consequences and circumstances,

he receives an extraordinary revelation from Jesus Christ. The most profound and prolific revelation ever recorded. I want you to see how it happened and how I believe Hold on to how this progression works. In the spirit, John heard, John heard and he turned when he turned, he saw, and when he saw, he found courage and strength. I'm going to tell you something. I don't know who need to hear this, but today you came to read out of the book of Revelation to find the courage and the strength to face whatever it is you came in here with. Amen. This past week, I was asked to go speak at Sharpering Recovery. Where's my Sharpering Recovery family? Hey. Hey, they told me, hey, would you come and give a word and encourage our people. And, you know, I was praying on Wednesday and the Lord just gave me this revelation. And, you know, I went, I went and I gave this word. And what I did was I sat there and listened to everybody first. And I look back on my own life. And what I realized that I wanted to share with them is that I am a product of recovery. Okay. Now, now I'm also a product of restoration and redemption. But, but it all started as a product of recovery. Are you with me? And what I told them, hey, this is available to all of you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care how bad it's been. I don't care how many relationships you broke. I don't, it doesn't matter. You can be a product of recovery, but it is the body of Christ. This is my message that body of Christ that makes restoration and redemption possible. In fact, I told them something that I believe dearly.

I believe the body of Christ is not just us in this building. It is not this building. It is not me. It is not the logo. It is not the name. It is not the vision. The body of Christ manifests itself. Anytime we are generous, the body of Christ manifests itself. Anytime we serve someone, the matter of Christ manifests itself. Anytime we sit with someone who is grieving. Anytime someone needs help and they need an encouraging word. In fact, the body of Christ is present even when you pray for someone that doesn't have faith. And what I told them was if it wasn't the body of Christ, I wouldn't be here. But it all started for me on a part bench. See, that was my patmos. I walk into rehab, addicted, cocaine, Xanax, alcohol, you name it. I walk in there and three days in the detox, I go and I sit on a part bench and I told God, I know, I know what you've done for me. I believe that you died for my sins. I believe what your word of God says. But for so many years, I've been living against that word of God for years. I've been doing exactly what you told me not to do, what you stand for. But Lord, if you take this addiction from me, whatever it is you ask me to do, my answer is yes. And on that patmos, the Lord reached down and touched me with hope. Like John, I was exiled. I was exiled in rehab. I was all alone. I didn't have my family with me. I had my own set of circumstances. A lot of it, like John didn't do anything to deserve to be on that patmos.

Like he did the right thing and he ended up on, I did all the wrong things and ended up on my part. I was rock bottom. I was broken. I was, I was broken marriage. My family was in shambles. My finances were a mess. And yet I, it all started when I bowed before the Lord and said, I can't, I can't do this. Can I tell you something? I want to tell you the first thing you need to know about today, worship Jesus, even on your patmos. You need to worship Jesus, even on your patmos. It is, it is, it is, hear me out. And I say this and I say this very passionately that when I'm going through things, when I'm going through a difficult time, it is important for me to worship predominantly, worship primarily. It is not what I do after this storm passes. It is what I'm going to do as the storm is raging. Are you with me? You, you want to worship on your patmos. Why was John on patmos? Well, verse nine, it says that he's there because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus, the Word of God. He was there because he was preaching the Word of God. He was not there because he did something wrong. In fact, he was there because he did all the right things. Sometimes that's your patmos. You've done all the right things and they still rejected you. And what was the testimony that Jesus is king? That he conquered death and sin. And Revelation's one five told us that he is the ruler of all kings on earth and then later on in Revelation's 1916, this is that he is the king of king

and the Lord of lords. Now, I want you to imagine for just a moment. And I tell you this because it's contextually this is the culture we live in. If you say the wrong thing, you're gonna get canceled. Just imagine proclaiming the message that I just told you in a Roman Empire where Caesar demanded absolute allegiance. Now, you can see you understand how he ends up on patmos. He is separated from the people he loves. He is suffering for his faithfulness. But watch what happens next. And this is where the sermon starts to come alive. On the Lord's day, on the Lord's day, I was in the spirit. How many times have we read past that verse and never put those two of the things together, right? On the Lord's day, I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a voice like a trumpet. There's three things here I want you to point out. One, it was the Lord's day. What day would that be? What day is the Lord's day? I'm sorry? The Lord's day, I hear everything, Sunday, Sunday. You know what the saints were saying? The prophets every day, every day, ha! Yeah, every day, yes! It's the Lord's day! Well, if that's the case, I need you to tithe every day.

On the Lord's day, number two, in the spirit. He was in the spirit. But number three, he heard from behind him. Now, I tell you, I quizzed you, but more than likely I did research when he says on the Lord's day, it was the Christian practice to call Sunday, the first day of the week, the Lord's day. It was the day they celebrated a risen Christ. Now, I cannot prove what was in John's heart that morning, but I can tell you what day it was, and I can tell you that the text says right after that, that he was in the spirit. Now, here's the significance of this. The Sabbath, which is Saturday, watch this, looked back at God's creation and how he rested on the seventh day. It also looked back at what God did bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, okay? But the Lord's day, it looked back at what Jesus did on the cross and on the third day. On the Lord's day, they celebrated and honored the redemption and the beginning of a new creation through Jesus Christ. The first creation began when God spoke light into darkness. Watch this, and the new creation began when Jesus, the light of the world walked out of the darkness of the grave. John is in isolation on Patmos, but watch this, but he is in the spirit.

And so what is he doing? He's celebrating the risen Christ, right? I believe that his circumstances have changed, but his devotion had not. He was still going to worship Jesus. He was still, no matter what, on Sunday, he knew it was Sunday. He potted himself a little coconut and he said, "This is the body of Christ." And he took the Lord's Supper and he drank a little coconut juice and he said, "Oh, this is the Lord's blood." I mean, he did whatever it took to get in the spirit. I was like writing some notes down, and I remembered Acts 16 when Paul and Silas are in a prison cell, and in the middle of midnight, they begin to worship, they begin to pray, they begin to praise, and all of a sudden, even though they had been beaten, they had been shackled, and they had been thrown into a cell at midnight. They had enough wherewithal to say, "We gotta pray, we gotta praise, we gotta worship." (congregation applauding) They weren't praising because they were happy about their circumstances, they were prayed because they knew God was good. And what did God do? God shut the prison cell, the doors flew open, the shackles fell down. Let me tell you something, I don't know who came to hear this,

but some of you are going through something, I'm gonna tell you something, that situation is gonna shake, that chain is gonna break, those cells are gonna crush when you begin to praise Him in the middle of that cell. (congregation applauding) Now not every experience with Jesus is the same. On Patmos, we don't have a recorded of the earth's shaken. It doesn't tell us how chains fell off, and prison doors opened up. For Paul and Silas got open prison doors. For John, he opened the door to heaven. Different experience. Same key, different Patmos, same key. Now notice what John does not say. He does not say, I worship myself into a frenzy to the point that I was in the Spirit. That's not what he says. He says he put himself in the Spirit. He began to praise and worship, he forgot about his problems, and it was in the Spirit that the Spirit took in next to them. See, we tried to manufacture God's move on our lives. We tried to manipulate him into doing what we want him to do instead of just worshiping because we need him in our lives. We worship because Jesus, what are we seeing? It's worthy, whatever those circumstances may be. And the Spirit met John on the Lord's Day in the middle of his Patmos. Prayer, worship, praise, fasting, meditating on God's word.

That's how you get out of Patmos. They don't twist God's hand to do what you want him to do. It helps us recognize his goodness, his mercy, his compassion. And it provides us the revelation we need, not the one we want. How many times has he answered you? And it wasn't the answer you wanted. So you say the Lord hasn't answered me yet. Oh yes he did, you just didn't like the answer. He told you, stop messing with that dude. He told you, you don't have to wait for your Patmos before you start worshiping the king. And I heard behind me a voice, did you catch that? He heard a voice from behind him like a trumpet. Like how many times have I read this? And I realized, oh my God, like wait a minute, on the Lord's Day he was worshiping the Lord and he got into the Spirit and from behind him, from behind him he heard something. Now when he heard something behind, what does the Scripture tell us that he did? He turned around, see you have to turn to see Jesus. You've got to turn to Jesus to see what he is trying to tell you, I'm gonna help you real quick. I'm gonna help you because from behind him, John heard a voice, John probably had heard this voice before, whoa, this sounds familiar, right? I mean he walked with Jesus, he saw Jesus feed 20,000 people, he saw him raised from the day, he heard that voice say,

Lazarus come forth, he heard him teach, he watched him heal the sick, raise the dead, he leaned in close, we hear that he leaned in close to sit on Jesus' chest, but now decades later, but it sounded like a trumpet. I want you to think of Mount Sinai. That it says that on Mount Sinai Exodus 19, which is extremely blurry, by the way, is there's a lot of things going on next to this 19. Y'all are gonna go back to your Bibles and start reading Exodus 19. And I'm gonna tell you something, it is some weird things going on next to this thing. But it says that they heard the Lord's voice and it sounded like, "Boo, trumpets!" This is the glory of God being revealed. And so here, the trumpet sound is like the glory of God being revealed in voice. I want to be careful here, but the text does not say why the voice came from behind. But I want to give you what I thought, my revelation, my thoughts on why it came from behind. Here's what the text does tell us. I turned around to see the voice. So he turned around to see the voice. He turned around, John heard a voice and he turned toward the one who was speaking. And when he turned, he saw him. He saw him. I want to share with you a reflection that I had.

It's not the rule, it's not in text. You probably won't find it in commentary. But I began to think sometimes we get so focused on what is right in front of us. We get so focused on this problem that I'm dealing with. We get so focused on the pain that I'm experiencing. We get so focused, listen to me, with the frustrations that you're going to. We get so focused that we forget what Jesus has already done behind us. See, I believe that there was a physicality that had to take place where he looked back. He had to look back. Well, I saw Jesus raised people from the day. I saw him feed 20,000 people. I saw him heal the lepers. I saw him get sight to the blind. And sometimes we have to remember, he met me at a part bench. He brought me out of bankruptcy. He restored my marriage. He healed me. I know you go and do something. I know some of you are going through something, but you got to turn back and hear the voice from behind. And he's telling you, I saved you from the pit of hell. I brought you out of that. We got to turn around. We got to turn around and hear the voice has behind and praise him for what he's already done.

I'm not denying that it hurts. I'm not denying that it's difficult. I'm not denying that you're heavily frustrated. But the reason you're frustrated is your soul is tired and it needs to remember what he's already done. We become so consumed with tomorrow's uncertainties that we forget yesterday's faithfulness. We forget the prayers. That he's already answered. Turn around. We forget the doors. He opened. Turn around. We forget the mercy. He's already given. Turn around. Hey, we forget the sins. He's wiped clean. Turn around. We forget the battles he's brought us through. You got to turn around. I have found that looking back, remembering that what Jesus has done gives me faith to trust him for tomorrow. (congregation applauding) But turning, ask something more of us than just remembering. It asks for your attention. We want, listen, you want to run a fresh revelation. You want a fresh revelation? Turn around and respond to what he's asking you to do.

You want to change your circumstances. You're broke. You're in a job that doesn't pay you enough. Your relationship is taking, hey, I'm here to tell you. You want a fresh revelation on how to fix those things? You need to turn around and respond to what he's telling you to do. And he responds out of this word of God. He doesn't respond from TikTok people. He doesn't respond from the world. He doesn't, look, I love you guys. I go to therapy. Your therapist ain't gonna help you with that. The Lord is gonna reveal to you. He's gonna heal. He is the healer, not the therapist, that you gotta turn around and respond to what this word says. This word is the living word. It is the bread of life. It is the living water. It is the way of life. We want to hear from God. We want His guidance. You got to turn around from the things that have been distracting you. I have this thing I ask anytime someone calls me or who I meet with them and they tell me they're going through something, my first questions and some of you are going to laugh because, you know, I've asked you, hey, tell me what your spiritual disciplines have been lately. Oh, yeah, I haven't been reading the word. Okay, well, we got an answer already, look at that. We got an answer, don't we?

Okay, well, yeah, I can see, yeah, if I didn't read the word, yeah, your boy beat throw a bunch of people, I'm, hey, look here, yeah, you know, but if I was to ask that same person, which I haven't, let me see your phone and see your screen time. It's having a conversation with some of my people, they know, I'm not throwing anyone under the bus, we got a bunch of ladies here that have kids, right? And there's something that happens to a woman's body, they have a kid, their intricate system goes into whack, their hormones are everywhere, their adrenal glands are like drained, they got no cortisol, which means they get seriously irritated, they cry for no reason. I mean, I have four children, I watched my wife go through at least two of them because in the first two, I was a knucklehead 19 year old, I didn't know what was going on. I thought she was just mad at me, you know what I mean? And probably half the time I was high, so I don't remember, but on the last two, like I often found her crying in the bathroom and I'm so ugly, this is normal, postpartum. But that's all you are, you are fearfully, wonderfully made, this is your patmos, but if you worship Jesus, if you get Jesus in you, let me tell you something, he's going to be there with you, he's going to bring you out of that, but here's what happens is we stop reading this and we start listening to all experts in Lizzie Clancy. And so all of a sudden we get am I the next Lizzie Clancy, oh my God, I know what Lizzie Clancy, let me tell you something, Lizzie Clancy succumbed to her demons. You can call that psychiatric break, you can cancel me on that, you're going to say you're insensitive, let me tell you something, I read the Word of God and I believe that unclean spirits is the only thing that could have killed its own flesh. And so you watch some of this stuff so much and you watch experts and you watch the feminists. And they feel your mind with poison, and so now all of a sudden you feel like you're the next Lizzie Clancy, don't you do that? Because the Word of God says you're a queen in this kingdom and you got authority and you got dominion and you can walk in it, reach out to one of your sisters that is not going to agree with your postpartum but it's going to say, "Girl, let's pray together, let's turn on worship music, I'm coming over, I got an oil, we don't get out of this together." [Applause]

We want his comfort, and here's my point, but we turn to the things that rob us. We cannot expect to grow in our revelation of Jesus while refusing to turn to Him with our attention, He needs your attention every day. I'm not saying that physical turning, hear me, I'm not saying physical turning gives your revelation, I'm not saying God only speaks when we do things perfectly just like John did. I am saying John's response is a beautiful picture of spiritual attentiveness and when the Lord speaks we need to turn and respond to Him, when His Word corrects us we need to turn and do what the Word says, when His Spirit convicts us we need to turn and surrender The most powerful thing you can do in the middle of your past pat most is turn around to Jesus Don't don't you turn to your fear? Don't you turn to your frustrations? Don't you turn to your emotions? Don't you turn turn to your feelings? Don't you turn to your past? And some of you need to turn turn away from the past of your parents and your grandparents How I saw a teaching the other day It's something simple you could do at home But you need to research if you had Family members grandparents great grandparents that were anywhere ties to masons You're affected by it There's a spirit of death. There's a spirit of depression and you could break that off You could break that off But you're gonna have to turn to Jesus to do that Says the word of God among the Lambstance was someone like the son of man dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet And with a golden sash around his chest now How many of you have ever seen pictures of Jesus in little Sunday school pictures of Jesus? Right. Yeah, he blond, right? He's not blonde, bro Why people want to make Jesus white? Why people he's not white?

He's not white. He's Palestinian in Arab Jew Right and he's wearing a white robe and he's got you know some Birkenstocks, right? I don't know why how did Jesus get Birkenstocks? Y'all know this picture and he's got a Golden sash and it's going like this, right? That's incorrect Read what the word says It says he had a golden sash around his chest I Believe this whole chest was gold So his space suit But the point of this passage is that you know what John saw He saw the one that was who was standing with him Listen, you got to look to the one who is standing with you when you're all alone when you're broke when you're on your patmos When you and your circle not when you and your pain look turn around because he is standing with you That's the faithfulness of this passage that he's gonna be standing with you in your pain He's gonna be standing with you in your circumstance Now now watch what happens when John turns he sees seven golden lampstands Standing among them is someone like the son of man That's Jesus because it's the prophetic picture that Daniel gave us and this is not a picture of Jesus that John remembered in Galilee No, no, no, this is the resurrected glorified reigning Jesus the king of kings and the Lord of lords and every detail John describes tells us something about him for instance the robe reaching down to it the ground is Kingly it's when when kings wore a robe they wore it down to their feet They you ever seen a king they dragged their Right that that's what he's wearing is wearing down to his feet and then a golden sash Which represents what it priest where they wore an ephod here. Jesus is wearing a golden ephod This is the royal dignity and Priestly authority He's not painting a picture of a defeated slain lamb. He is painting a picture of

reigning and divine authority His hair is White like wool why does no this echoes the ancient of days that's recorded in Daniel 7 exactly verbatim This is his majesty and his eternity Penetrating knowledge nothing escapes his sight, but when his blazing eyes are like fire nothing escapes him He sees your faithfulness, but he also sees your compromise He sees your pain, but he also sees your heart His feet are like bronze glowing in a first catch that this is right watch this radiant strength Purity and steadfastness I don't know about you, but if I need someone standing with me I need someone that steady someone that's not gonna move someone that's not gonna get scared someone that's gonna give me strength You need that steadfast Earthly kingdoms rise and fall, but Jesus stands forever This is the overwhelming, have you ever been at a waterfall and how loud it is? This is Jesus's voice, a sharp double edge, the sword coming out of his mouth. This is symbolic language for the power of his word, to judge, to expose and to conquer. His face shine like the radiant, brilliant son. This is his divine guard. Listen, this is the Lord of glory. That's what he's describing. And the Lord of glory, right? John falls to his feet, I love what happens next. He falls to his feet as like dead in worship. And Jesus doesn't leave him there though. Jesus, that same right hand holding the seven stores, reaches down and touches. I don't know who needs to hear this,

but the hand that holds the seven stores, which are seven angels attached to the churches. They just, that same hand is willing to touch to a dissuffering disciple that's willing to turn to him. The one whose face shines like the sun reaches down to convert the same Jesus who has all authority, has the same, is the same Jesus who draws his people with compassion. He does not just reveal his heart, he reveals his heart to us. He goes on to reveal that he's alive forever and this is the encouraging part. He's got the keys of death and Hades. I'm gonna tell you something. Your final breath doesn't have the last word, Jesus does. Jesus does. I don't know what you came in you with, but church, I wanna close with this thought. John was on Patmos and it's pretty clear that his circumstances were difficult. His future. Dark, bleak, uncertain. His freedom restricted. But you know what wasn't affected? His relationship with Jesus. And on the Lord's Day, he finds himself in the Spirit and it was in the Spirit that he heard. And when he heard, he turned and when he heard, he saw what did he see? Jesus.

Not a defeated one, not an absent one, not a distant one. Not a Jesus that forgets his church, that forgets his disciples. But a glorified, resurrected reigning king of kings and the first words out of Jesus's mouth are the four words I wanna leave you with. Do not be afraid. I know someone is to hear that today. Don't be afraid. Your Patmos may be painful. Don't be afraid. Jesus has an abandoned you. Listen, I know you're in a prison cell, you're in a pod. Your circumstances may be uncertain. I don't know if you're gonna make a parole, but don't be afraid. His authority is absolute. Your future may seem unclear. You've been praying about this decision. You've been praying about this job you got. You're unhappy with it. You don't know where to the quit. You don't know where to go to be. Do something different. Yes, I'm having a conversation with one of my guys. He has a dream of being an artist and these things of artistic people and creative, people like myself, those things are hard. These are real things that we face. I give you real reality of that we face.

I was telling them how when we first launched the church, I had to go to work the last year, knowing I was planting the church, pouring my heart out to disciples like Pastor Fabian and Edith and Pastor Susan and many of y'all of Genesis here was with us. My younger brother, and I have to go to this workplace and it was just like, I don't want to be here anymore. You ever been there? I get it. I'm with you. My future seemed so unclear. Didn't have an answer. We were working towards it, but I didn't have an answer. I didn't have a date I didn't have a location. I didn't have a name. I didn't have nothing. I Had the passion and vision God gave me. I had five families and a home With a lot of coffee stains on the carpet That's it. That's all I had I But Jesus was with me The one that holds the keys of death and Hades Was standing with me. I tell you that this head tell you stop allowing your circumstances to have more attention than your Savior Stop allowing the difficulties of your life Have more attention Then King Jesus Turn to his word and hear him Turn around to him in prayer and hear his voice Turn to him and worship and let him touch you. It is my

It is my belief God will never touch your heart until you learn how to worship him Someone needs to hear this especially us men raise your hand and worship, bro Your wife doesn't think you're some tough, dude In fact, the more you worship and you get before God She'll see a different side of you. Maybe maybe maybe Maybe you fight less. I don't know Maybe she'll look at you and be like, hey, he's sex I got a spiritual man. Hey Turn around worship him Worship him come in here. Don't get here on the third song you tonight's I said the prayer of you a and M homecoming game. Y'all think this is a homecoming game Me and my boy Joshua. We were the only ones sitting in the stands for the whole first half Then all all the all the all the student body came and kicked the side of our chairs in the second half man I'm like what the hell I said these people are like they must go to union or something They come in on the third song That past halftime Just some of y'all walking well, I'm already shouting What I'm trying to tell you is worship is where Jesus is going to touch you And I rather Jesus touch you than my sermon touch you. That's the truth Turn away from the things I've been pulling you away from him And turn to his word Trust the Holy Spirit Because he it's the Holy Spirit. It's when he touches you that he's gonna open up understanding and revelation of Who Jesus is in your life who's standing there with you and the revelation you need? Because this revelation wasn't simply to tell us what was going to happen at the end of the world Revelation was giving us to reveal the Jesus who reigns over our world This is a prophetic revelation that strengthens our faith comfort to our hearts and empowers us to remain faithful No matter what we face

It's time to turn around. Maybe you've been walking with a lot of disappointment Discouragement Maybe you've been distracted by the pain And somewhere along the way The pain of your circumstances became louder than the worship you give him The pain of your problems are bigger than the promises of Jesus. Well today. I'm inviting you to turn around For some of you it means turning back to prayer for others it means turning back to worship for others It means turning back and making this place this place your home Union Houston your home it means that you're gonna go to meet the team and you'll be like, you know what? I've been putting this off for so I need to get involved. I need to finish this I need to get involved. I need to begin to become part of the community and for others. It's just turning back to the word of God Here's what I'm trying to tell you is your circumstances may be I may have isolated you But they can never separate you from the presence and the power and the promises of Jesus Christ Would you stand with me? You may not be be able to leave your path most today [BLANK_AUDIO] are. And for some of you, it means turning to Jesus for the very first time. I'm gonna give you an opportunity in just a moment. This means that you turn around and you receive His forgiveness, His mercy, surrendering your life, confessing your sin to Him, and trusting Him as your Savior and King. If that's you, I'm inviting you to respond to that today. But after you respond, I want you to also come up for prayer and tell one of these prayer partners, "Hey, today," I said, "Yes." If you need prayer, they're up here. Any prayer you need, for some of us, for our families here, or our family on Pandora, you can turn right where you are. He hears you no matter where you are. Because the same Jesus I met, John on Patmos, is the same Jesus that meets us here in faith. With all your heads, enclose your eyes for just a moment. Yes, Lord. Jesus, move in this room and touch them, reveal to them. May your right hand come and touch their hearts right now. With every eye, clothes, no one looking around the room, we want to

give you an opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to receive the forgiveness of Christ. This is by done by faith. It is a movement of the heart where you make a decision and say, "Yes, Jesus is the Son of God. He lives, suffered, and died from my sins." But he was buried on the third day he rose. He rose so that I could have new life in him. If that's you, and you want to make that decision today, shoot up your hand real quick. Shoot up your hand. Yes, sir. Shoot up your hand. There you go, another one. Yes. Yes, a tiny one's little hand. Yes, Father God, we thank you for the hands. Yes. All across this room, Lord, you are touching people. Lord, I ask you now to move in the hearts of those that have let their circumstances or pain. Their patmos become more loud than they do. Right now in the name of Jesus, I ask those people to move out of their chairs and come get prayed. Confess it, and healing will come. The book of James says, "Lord, move." I've said all I have to say,