SPEAKER_00 0:09

In the baby back to where we gather together to experience all the love. Grow in calls love and give that love back to each other.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Matthew chapter 5, verses 4. Matthew chapter 5, verses 4. It's a very, very, if you don't know it, it's okay. It's a second beatitudes that was preached, uh, that was preached from Jesus on a Sermon on Mount, and it's from the New International Version of the Bible, and it says, Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted. You're like Dr. Mike. This doesn't seem like a Father's Day message, uh, but you gotta bear with me. Uh, because this sermon came from God our Father, and it says, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. One more time for the people in the back who didn't read it yet. It says, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. This morning we're gonna share on foundations part three, and it's a reminder for the brokenhearted. Foundations part three, a reminder for the brokenhearted. Lord, we are grateful for what is about to happen. We thank you for creating this moment, and I pray, God, that everyone that's here, everyone that's allowed us to be here. I pray, Lord, that you'll just keep this message in a corner of our hearts to allow us not to give up in the middle of our suffering. God, you reminded us to your father that you'll never leave us nor forsake us. Be with us right now. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated no matter where you are. We're just so grateful. God has said some things uh in the spirit, and I hope it's transformed now in our reality. No matter where you are, we've been continuing of our team on foundations. Our foundations talk about what is important, what is needed for us to go from one place to the other. We've been talking from Matthew the and the sermon on the mouth, and the first sermon we started with Matthew 7. We started at the end with the builder who who built his house on a rock, or the builder who built his house on sand. And Jesus said for those who hear my words, that they will be able, they will be able uh to be able to be successful and with storm, withdrew and withstand the storms of life. I want you to be able, no matter where you are, to be able to help me on this morning. That I need your encouragement as much as I'm gonna try to encourage you through this word. That means I need you to be a little bit participative uh in this morning's service. Uh, that this is not meant to be a dialogue, but it's not meant to be a monologue. It's meant to be a back and forth conversation uh before us and to us together on this morning. No matter that the sermon topic seems a little bit dreary, I want you to bear with me that God says that it's gonna turn around. A reminder for the brokenhearted. Now, Jesus now, after first he says, Blessed are they that are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He then now goes to says, Blessed are they that mourn, uh, for they will be comforted. Jesus starts off a message in a most inauthentic, a most inopportune way. Like, like God, why are you talking about people who are poor in spirit? And now you transition to saying, Blessed are they that are mourning, for they shall be comforted. It's not really a highlight to start a message on, and you're saying, God, why did we start uh from people mourning? Now, and now this is now the second point that Jesus had: Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. As you look at this scripture and the beatitudes that we've been talking about, that this gospel of Jesus Christ was designed for those who are disinherited. Uh, Howard Thurman wrote a book called Jesus and the Disinherited. It talks about the book that the gospel of Jesus Christ was distinctly and specifically designed for those who are going through hardship, uh for people who are going through difficulties or who may go through difficulties at some point in time. I don't know if you've lived long enough, but I know it might be early in the sermon, uh, but you might not want to say amen. But somebody in here has gone through some difficulties in their life. Uh, this is where you get to talk back. You can say amen, you can say yeah, you can say hallelujah, you can say out. Uh, but you need to identify that somebody in here has gone through some difficulty in life. I might beg to say and beg to guess that someone in here at some point in time in their life have mourned in their life. Uh, that somebody in here has shed a tear in their life, that you've gone through a point in time where life didn't seem joyful, that life seemed a little bit sad, and you mourned. Now you have to understand the Greek and Hebrew interpretation for this word mourn is not just a physical state that's just dependent on you and your isolated psychological state. And mourning is not just what you feel, a mourning is just not mourning over your life. I'm talking about a collective mourning. And now Jesus was very now aware and in touch with what was going on in the society. Jesus understood that the people he were preaching to not only were they poor in spirit, but he understands that the end product of being poor in spirit is that you mourn. Uh, this is what I mean when people don't have nothing left to give, when you don't have any more tears to cry, uh, when you don't want to shout anymore, that all that's left for you is just to mourn. I know some people here that we live now in a modern society where talking about sadness and mourning uh seems to be a little bit off-brand and not popular because we don't want everybody wants to be living their best life, everyone wants to be happy, but there's some of us who are sometimes, and some of us in here who knows what it is to mourn. That life ain't always been pretty, that every day you always wake up laughing, that sometimes that you can't wait for night to come for you to try to go to sleep because life has brought you to a place of mourning. Now, Jesus was preaching now to these people under Sermon on the Mount, both all under the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire that was starting wars, the Roman Empire that was raising taxes, the Roman Empire that was treating people unfairly, the Roman Empire that was giving raises to those in government, but not for those who were doing the actual work, the Roman Empire that was scrutinizing and making sure that they were building themselves, but not taking care of the people. These people now had everything stripped from them. There were people from all over the world who'd been captured by the Roman Empire in wars, that there were people there who weren't even citizens, who were now being treated as slaves and being treated as workers, who lost their families, were stripped away from mothers, daughters, children, and friends. These people were wondering, God, who where are you now? These people were now so poor in spirit that they weren't even left with a tear, they were left with a mourn. I don't know if anybody in here has ever seen someone in so much pain that what they do is not cry, what they do is moan. What it comes out is just a verbal, incongruable, and an inaudible thing that comes out. You can't really understand it, but you understand it. You can't write it in a dictionary, but you feel it in a tablet of your heart. That you have to understand that people go through things, and what you do is end up mourning. Now you might be saying, Well, Dr. Mike, that was 2,000 years ago. Uh, but I will beg to say that right now we live in a world that we are being stripped of who we are. We live in a world that we don't even regard ourselves as brothers and sisters. We live in a world where women and children are still going to bed hungry. We live in a world where people are still being discriminated based on the color of their skin. We live in a world where men, boys, and girls sometimes can't go to bed at night safely because of the risk of domestic violence. We live in a world where people don't know where the next meal is coming from. Well, Dr. Mike, why are you talking about a world that doesn't happen here in our reality? We live in a territory where we are seeing taxes rise, but there's poor delivery in what's happening. We live in a world where men, women, and children are being forced to make hard decisions whether they provide a meal or they go out and buy some school clothes. We live in a world where men, women, and children are having to go to bed hungry. We live in a world where people are being discriminated based on their last name. We live in a world where we live one in a place where people are being discriminated based on their passport color. We live in a world where we seem to have a higher budget but poor delivery. And people are wondering, how are we so rich but poor in spirit? Uh, we must mourn because we're watching the destruction of what is called our cultural identity. You might think that we might not mourn, but we're not just mourning for our individual isolation and pain. We have to mourn for the collective world. We can't be okay and the world is dying around us. We have to do something different about it. We have to make sure that we're passing along what we have to someone else. You should be at a point where you could empathize with somebody else going on and what's going on in their life. You have to be willing and caring enough not to say, I'ma just pray for you, but you come alongside them and bear their weight. That you're actually saying that I'm gonna help you. I'm not just gonna use this super spiritual spirituality that we have now come across where we're saying bless you, but you're not really sticking around to find out what blessing they actually need. That you're praying for somebody to get a ride where your car is right there unfilled, that you're praying for those who are hungry but don't want to donate to the pantry. You don't understand that there has to be a practical delivery of your faith. And so when I look around at all these things, I can't help but mourn. I mourn the destruction of our culture and not understanding the significance of dates and days. You might think it was just simple, but it seemed that nobody had the time to break it down. Let me break down why I'm mourning. Because now you have to understand that over a hundred and something years ago we were emancipated from slavery. The records show that the emancipation proclamation was read on a Sunday. It said it was read on a Sunday in churches all over the island. The significance about that is we didn't have email or WhatsApp or text message. What it does is that the message of emancipation spread through all the country. It spread by donkey, it spread by boat, and by time that it spread around the entire Virgin Islands and everybody heard it, they started dancing wherever they were. And here's what happens they started dancing wherever they were, and all of them found a way to find their way to the town. When they got to the town, they said some of them assembled by the Sunday morning well. Some of them assembled by the Sunday morning well, and then what happened is that men, women, and children, boy and girl, celebrated and danced in the street. They danced in the street all Sunday night into the morning, and then they ended at the waterfront where they were so hot and jubilant that they jumped into the water. That was Sunday to Monday. That's why we have a rise and shine celebration on Monday, not because it was glorious, because they danced and celebrated from Sunday into Monday. I mourn because you just changed a date of something that is historically significant. I mourn because you don't understand. It's not just a parade, it's not just a rising sign trap. It is a metaphorical representation of us dancing through the street from Sunday to Monday. Dates matter, but I mourn because I seem like the man standing on the hill talking about things that are insignificant. I mourn when we don't understand the significance of raising children who could say, good morning and good night. I stand that but not being able to live in a country where we don't see our brothers and ourselves as our brother's keeper. I stand and mourn at a country who don't value family anymore, who don't value God anymore. I stand and mourn and looking at the desecration and destruction of our family systems all over the world, but in this country I mourn. But God said, Blessed are those that mourn. For they shall be comforted. But God, right now, in the middle of my mourning, I don't feel too much comfort. What I feel is a dire pain of understanding that where are we gonna be and who are we gonna be 10-15 years from now? That dates won't matter, things won't matter, there won't be a cultural significance. Sunday will just be another day because we are not mourning loud enough. So I'm gonna be on the hill and mourn independently. That there's a significance, and we must mourn. Some people may think that when you mourn, you're just a complainer. It's not about complaining, it's about saying that something is wrong, and I don't have the words, but my body is echoing out something. But let me bring this down to your individual lives. You're going through life, and you're now going through life and understanding why your parents told you, stay and be a child as long as you could. Mr. Skelly used to be around the village and he used to work for the public works department. Uh, he had a barrel, a rake, and a shovel. And every afternoon, on point around three o'clock, when I was being dismissed from school, he would come up and tell me, Michael, be a man. And I used to tell him, one of these days, Mrs. Skelly, one of these days, and he used to say, Stay a child as long as you can. I wish, Mrs. Skelly, I could have stayed a child a little bit longer because adulthood is ghetto. This is for the birds. This is for the birds. It is horrible sometimes. You gotta wake up in the morning, you gotta pay bills, you have a mortgage, you have children to take care of, and most of the times you don't even want to do it, you just want to play PlayStation with your kids. The reason I tell my kid to get off the PlayStation, if I can't play PlayStation, you can't play PlayStation. All of us are gonna be miserable. Nobody tell Elijah this. Don't repeat it. Don't don't tell him. Sometimes I'm just jealous. I I don't even have nothing for him to do. Get off the turn it off. That is Saturday, and school is closed. Well, the school is gonna open in three months. Get ready. Being an adult makes you wanna mourn. Be truthful. I mean, every day we feel like life is easy. And for you individually, you're just trying to do the best you could. Anybody in here just trying to do the best they can, and the best you can don't seem good enough? I need people in here. You you now let me let me talk to the men in here. Man, men, let me talk to you. You ever you you're waking up every day going to work or running a business with people who you know trying to set you up, and every day you're trying to provide, you're trying to stand up to all these labels, you're trying to be present, and it just don't seem enough, and you're just trying day after day, and Mother's Day comes around, and there's everything celebrated, and you just don't feel appreciated on Father's Day, and you're wondering, they want me to be present and want me to be a man, uh, but you can't celebrate me. That sometimes that is hard that we don't get the recognition we need, but the stripes are on our back and we're moving forward. If you've lived long enough, you understand that sometimes being a man in this world is one of the most unappreciative jobs in this world because sometimes a man is beaten into silence. Sometimes a man comes home and has all the thoughts that he would like to say, but the words don't come out of his mouth. It doesn't mean that he doesn't care. I want to give you a secret. When you see that man showing up in the morning, coming home at night, and doing it over and over again, he might not be sensitive like Mr. Steve Harvey and all these people on the street, but he's showing up every day. Rain, sleet, snow, hurricane, death, he's showing up sometimes. You gotta give a clap when the men show up. Might not be pretty, might not say nothing, but sometimes, men, the weight of the world is on our shoulders, and all we can do is mourn. But I want to remind you before I get ahead of myself. Blessed are they those who mourn, for they will be comforted. What God shows now Jesus as he's preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, the first thing he shows is concern. You have to understand that Jesus mentions something because he's concerned about you. I want you to know in here that some of you are thinking that somehow you've fallen out of the realm of God's concern. That God is not concerned about you and your life. I want to remind you that no matter who you are, God is concerned about your situation. The point now that Jesus, as we recount, is now sitting down talking to these people and saying, Blessed of they that mourn, for you will be comforted. Imagine Jesus stopping long enough to recognize that you're mourning, and told you, I am concerned about you. Imagine Jesus being concerned about your situation. I want to let somebody know is the first thing is that God has concerned, is concerned about you. Now, this should remind someone and let you know, no matter how much you feel that people have forgotten about you, God says, I am concerned about you. That somebody should get happy because you've been feeling like you have been rough left out from God, and God is reminding you, I am concerned about you. Uh you have to understand, I want to be able to and share some things with you because God is concerned, it is an evolution that takes place. Because when you're concerned that you do something, I like a God that He's not only concerned, but He goes into action. Uh, you know those people who are always concerned about stuff but don't never do nothing about it. Uh, those people are not the people this sermon is for. Uh, those are the people who are concerned, and the next thing you know that they're there. So God now is saying, I'm concerned, but I am here. Um that that I'm that your problem is not too big or too small. I'm concerned, and my concern springs me into action. Uh, here's the thing that hurts that happens. Then now that he's concerned, but he also cares. Look at your neighbor says, God cares. You see, I could be concerned, but don't really care. I could be concerned, but I don't care. Think about it. There's a lot of things you are concerned about, but you don't care about it. Let's break it down. Let's be honest. Amen. We did not do good. All right. All right, so it's gonna be a long season. When I concerned, I was concerned. I was concerned about them losing. But after I started to feel some type of way, I said, you shouldn't care that much. Because I was so upset. Because in Jeff, I was so upset. With Fox. There's a player on the spurs. Fox is his name is Fox's last name. If you're in the in the game watching online, your last name is Fox, I apologize. This young man in the game three or four. Twenty seconds and seventy seconds left on the clock. This is after the spur. Something I don't usually do. My wife, I said, Can you please tell me to score? My God is lying when she told me to score. And I realized that the next were just down nine points. When I couldn't wear it anymore, every couple minutes, I would just go on the ESPN app and just hit refresh. And every time I hit refresh, it felt like it was a kid to the end of the world. I was in the kid. And when I realized that all he had to do was hold on. And then I realized that we were losing. I was concerned because at this point we're down three-one. And then it could have been bad. And then in the last game, again, he seemed to be recruited by the New York Knicks. And again, he messed up. But I stopped caring. Ladies and gentlemen, I was concerned, but I didn't care. Because I started looking up a little bit more in depth about this young man, Fox, and I realized, cousin Jeff, over the next four years, this young man is gonna earn over 250 million dollars. I stopped caring immediately. Then I looked at the whole Spurs roster and look at their roster over the next several years, totaling over a billion dollars in salary. I absolutely stopped caring. My care went out the window. I was like, they're gonna take their tears and go in their Bentley or Bugatti and go into their big house and lay on their silk sheets. I don't care no more. I was concerned. Jesus cares about you enough to do something miraculous in the midst of your mourning. You have to understand that this sermon on the mount was destined for those whose backs are against the wall. But I want you to know that if you mourn long enough and you have the concern of Jesus and you realize that he cares for you, what happens is that he creates a new path for you. Uh, out of your mourning comes creation. Look at your neighbor, say creation. I know you didn't get it yet. Uh, but here's what happened: when you mourn long enough, God creates a new path for you. Uh some of you right now feel that your mourning is the end, but God says, Out of your mourning, I'm creating something new. Uh, what it means is that you've mourned long enough, but because God now is giving you his attention, he's saying it's time to create something new, a new path in a new life. See, some of you are thinking that the end of your mourning is death, and God is saying you're blessed in your morning, so it can't be death. That means something new is gonna rise up out of you. Anybody ever been in a situation where your back has been against the wall, you felt like you couldn't cry no more, you felt you couldn't hurt no more, and God says, I'm gonna do something new in the midst of your depths. Now you think about it, you might be thinking about, well, Dr. Mike, you're just you're just talking about something. Willie Nelly, what you're talking about really doesn't reply to me, it doesn't seem scriptural. Think about it. In every situation where somebody was mourning, or they're against the wall, or they're suffering, or they're going through hard times, that at every time, every moment, God created something new. Uh, let me take you down vacation Bible school just for a minute. Uh, take you down vacation Bible school just for a minute for some people who were in situations that were mourning. Uh, the first one is when he had his friend Lazarus. If you think about it, now you have to understand that he has been dead for like three days and his family were doing what? Mourning. Now I want you to help me. All right, everyone. I say what his what somebody was doing, your your response is mourning. Okay, you you got your part? Me, me, me, me, me. You y'all got it? What your part is is all right. You guys sound distinguished. Let's try that again. I don't have a reason to do it, I just want to hear it again. All right, uh, so now Lazarus and his family, you couldn't believe how much they were, and you could imagine that the pain and the stress that they've gone through watching their the brother and their friend die, they were. You can now imagine now uh Jarius now with his daughter, when he came to Jesus, he was in a spirit of you could imagine now people who've gone through difficulties and triumphs and tribulations, they were, but out of all those situations, God created something out of a miracle. Some of you have to understand what God is creating now in your life, out of your mourning season is a miracle season. He's gonna turn your mess into something that you can't imagine. I just want you to mourn long enough, I just want you to pray long enough, I just want you to hold on long enough. You think about it, Daniel in the lion's den. You can imagine they all paint that story that he came out of lion's den all triumph and safe. But I can imagine that sometimes he couldn't cry loud, he couldn't make a big sound, but all he could do was mourn in front of these lions. But God created a way out of no way. You have to understand when the people now are being chased by the Pharaoh and they're going into the Red Sea and the Pharaoh's behind them, that some of them are old and young and may not be able to say, and feeling death is near, they all were left with mourning. But no matter what, God created a way where there seems to be no way. You have to understand you can't see it out of your mourning season, but God says, I'm creating it, I just want you to hold on. Oh I'm gonna take my seat. I want to be able to remind somebody that you have to shout before things happen, that situations are gonna happen in your life. I've stopped by here at King Army Baptist Church to remind you that life is hard sometimes, that life is filled with the road with low times. Are there gonna be hills to climb, that are gonna be valleys to climb out of? Are there gonna be situations where you feel like giving up life is hard? I want to be able to tell somebody that your situation right now is not a dictator of your destiny. God says, I still have more left for you. I want to be able to tell somebody, it says that blessed are they those who mourn for they will be comforted. That's all I have to be able to share with you. Uh, it says, Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. I want to let somebody know I am finding joy, not because I'm happy right now. Some of you are saying, Dr. Mike, I'm in my mourning season, and you're telling me to find comfort in my mourning. I want to be able to tell you the scripture doesn't seem to illustrate it as clearly as you should. It says, Blessed are those who mourn, meaning that the blessing is attached to your morning, that your situation requires you to be blessed. And it says, I want you to know that you will be comforted. I want you to understand is that your mourning is not gonna just leave you there, you're gonna find comfort. Uh, somebody needs to understand that the comfort is guaranteed in the midst of your mourning. That means that if something is now, you have to understand joy and comfort does not go along with mourning. That means that there's mourning and there's comfort. Now, I want you to be able to understand. Uh, Daryl is in here, and I see him every week. He sends me these notices to sign up for the spelling. Ladies and gentlemen, I've told Daryl on several occasions I have ADHD and I ain't spelling for nothing. I spell phonetically, and uh, but I just need someone to understand. I'm wondering why he keep trying to prepare me to be able to understand the English language. Well, Daryl, I know he was a teacher and he understands this, so he's gonna break it down for us. Here's what happens: if you have blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted, it means that there's two realities existing in one sentence. That means that the blessing, the mourning, and the comfort happens one time in the same sentence. Now, Daryl, I don't know how to spell all the words, but I did my research, and comfort is spelled C-O-M-F-O-R-T. I got a prize. Now, you have to understand that mourning is now you have to understand that mourning seems to be more established and more celebrated, and you don't understand that the comfort, because all you're concentrating on is the mourning. All you're concentrating on is the pain. All you're concentrating on is the lack, but you don't see that the comfort is there. It doesn't say it says, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The shall means that it's gonna come to pass, that it might not be here yet, but it's on the way. I need somebody in here to know that you might be mourning right now, but your joy is on the way. Let me talk to somebody. You might not remember this, uh, but you have to understand when I was growing up, when I was growing up, one of my best things that used to happen uh was when we used to have an old ice cream truck. We used to have an old ice cream truck that used to come around every now and again. I used to get real happy uh when this ice cream truck used to come around. My parents are there shaking their head because they know if I hear the music, I'm already happy. Here's what I like about the ice cream truck is that now there's a modern-day ice cream truck held by Mr. Thomas out of East End. Uh, and he plays his music very, very loud. Uh, and here's what I was able to understand. He now has a modern-day ice cream music uh where he plays music that you can hear from afar off. And then sometimes you have to understand what happened was when I was younger, why I used to get happy when I used to hear the music is because I know Joy was around the corner. What used to happen is that I used to hear the ice cream truck playing, and I still had time enough to go and say, as mom or dad, I need 50 cents to please go and buy some ice cream. It gave me enough time to get prepared. Sometimes I had to put my shoes on, sometimes I used to have to put my pants on, sometimes I used to make sure my shirt was on. I don't care if it's front to back or back to front, I need to go get some ice cream. I asked my parents for the ice cream, and then I will run down the hill. And you will understand that sometimes I used to get down to the hill, hear the music, but no ice cream truck. And I used to start to mourn. If you understand that I'm a professional, miserable person. I I will I could fuss for any reason. You want somebody to fuss? Call me, hire me, I'll fuss about it. Doesn't mean I care about it, but I'll fuss about it. And I used to be there, where's this ice cream truck? He knows how long and how hard it is to go through school Monday through Friday, having to wake up and deal with all these people at school. And I was like, this ice cream truck, I'm unhappy. The stomach pains are getting there. And then you could imagine I'm thinking about all the friends before me who got their ice cream long ago because I'm later on the route. I am mourning. Now, here's what happened: after a period of time, the ice cream truck will show up, and then when I got the ice cream, I'll just be so happy. I was like, oh man, this is the best time of my life. And sometimes I used to be there with the ice cream, and I'll be like, I used to like the Neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Uh, I used to eat the bad part first. The bad part was the chocolate. I used to get that out the way. I used to eat the chocolate, nobody really liked it. Uh, then I got to the middle. Oh boy, I got to the middle, and then there was the pink section, and then there was the last part. The last part when the joy really came is when you were able to get all three flavors mixed up in the bottom of the foil, and then I would just be like this. Joy is here. I didn't feel it all along, but now see, I wasn't really prepared, I wasn't matured. Now, here's what happened. Over a series of years, I realized that I will often hear the ice cream truck way before it arrived. Uh, but I knew no matter what situation I was in, when I hear the music, I know that it was coming. Some of you have to understand, and some of you got it already, some of you already got it. Now, as I got older and I saw the same thing happen year after year, year after year, month after month, that when I heard the music, no matter what I was going through, the ice cream truck is gonna show up. It might take long, it might not arrive when I want it, it might seem like I'm not gonna make it, but the ice cream truck showed up because I heard the music. And somebody needs to understand, you grow long enough, you've lived long enough, you've lived this life long enough, you know that morning is gonna come, you know that sadness is gonna take place, that you know that sometimes in life you're gonna feel the pain and the struggle and the weight of life. But I wanna let all y'all know that no matter what's going on, I've learned to be able to live long enough that I know when I hear the ice cream truck, it's about to show up. Now, let me bring this down to your alley. You have to understand in life, you're gonna be able to go through some stuff day after day, night after night hear ice cream truck music. Sometimes you're gonna turn to your Bible and it says Matthew chapter 5 and verse 4, and it says, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. What I want you now to do is understand that we live long enough, that joy is about to show up. And if you didn't like that scripture, it says, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy is about to come in the morning. There's now a patience between your mourning and your joy. I want to let you know that comfort is coming, and then you have to understand that God has not forgotten about you, and God shall wipe away all the tears from your eyes, and there shall be no more death and no more sorrow, no crying, no neither shall there be any more pain. For all the former things of this life have been passed away. Joy is coming. I know you feel like giving up. I know you feel like throwing a towel, but I want to remind somebody here. I know you've been mourning, I know you feel like giving up, but joy is coming. I feel like preaching because there's somebody in here who feels like God has forgotten about you. I just want to tell you that joy is coming. But here's what I started to be able to do. When I realized the guarantee of joy is coming, I learned this. I saw some kids the other day waiting on the ice cream truck, and I knew they had five more minutes for this ice cream truck to come on. But these kids taught me a valuable lesson, seeing the past emeritus. They started dancing before the ice cream truck showed up. Because they knew that the ice cream truck was gonna show up. I wanna tell somebody, instead of you waiting around in your morning, I want you to dance before the joy comes. Because you can change your situation. Some of you right now are feeling poor in spirit, poor in heart, press down, but God says if you hold on long enough, your joy is on the way. If you hold on long enough, your peace is on the way. If you hold on long enough, your shout is on the way. For I know the plans that I have for you. Plans to prosper you and give you a future. It doesn't gonna, it's not gonna last. It's not gonna last. I want you to look at your neighbor, I want you to tap somebody. You don't know what they're going through, tell them it's not gonna last. It's not gonna last. It's not gonna last. I know, I know you're crying all that night, telling your kid tell somebody else it's not gonna last. It seems like the curtains are crawling in, it seems like everyone is walking away from you. Look at your next neighbor. I want to tell them that it's not gonna last. I want somebody in here who's been going through the difficulties of life. I want you to grab onto somebody else and tell them it's not gonna last. And if you feel it in your spirit, I want you to stand up to be able to tell them it's not gonna last. And it's not gonna last. I want you to grab somebody next to you and be able to tell them it's not gonna last. If you believe in your spirit and you want to declare it, I want you to stand up to your feet and be able to tell somebody it's not gonna last. It seems like it's gonna happen. It seems like it's taking root in your family, it seems like it's taking root in your life. But look at your neighbor. Now that you got that neighbor, who you believe, I want you to hold their hands and be able to tell them it's not gonna last. I want you to be able to hold them and say, it's not gonna last. I want you to tell them, I know it's tough. I know you feel lonely, but it's not gonna last. Hold on a little bit longer. Pray a little bit longer, fast a little bit longer, believe a little bit longer, it's not gonna last. I want you to be able to that person to your right didn't really get it. I want you now to hold the person to your left and be able to tell them it's not gonna last. It's not gonna last. It's not gonna last, no matter what you're going through, weeping, may endure for the night. But joy! Joy! Joy comes in the morning! I wanna end this and be able to take my seat. You're wondering, Dr. Mike, how is this a Father's Day message? Here's what happens there was a father in heaven who sent his son, Jesus Christ, to this earth all day Friday. He mourned on the cross. His family mourned. His mother mourned. His friends mourned. The people who believed in him mourned. All day Saturday. You can imagine that silence hushed around heaven. They were mourning for their savior. But all along, the Father says, I know that you're mourning. But I want to promise you that joy is gonna come. I want to let somebody know that you might have some priorities. You may have some Saturdays. But it says Friday, they hung him high, they stretched him wide. He hung his head and indeed he died. They said on Saturday, he visited the gates of hell and he took the gates and the keys of hell. But here's where our joy comes. You might have Friday. Look at your neighbor said, I got Fridays. I got Fridays in my life. I got Fridays where people are persecuting me. Fridays, they're talking about me. Fridays, they're spitting on me. Fridays, it's been hard. But then I've got Saturdays where nobody else is around. I'm dealing with my pain alone. I'm leaving my sorrow alone. But I have wanna remind you the reason we preach this gospel, the reason we stand and proclaim, the reason we sit here and shout in the midst of hard times. It's because God showed us that Friday did kill you. You thought it did, but it was just preparing you. Saturday seemed silent, but the Savior burst open, hell in the grave, and by Sunday he got up with all power. And now that Jesus is here, guess what happens when Jesus in your life? You get comfort, you get joy, you get your smile back. I want somebody you look to declare in their life, joy is here. But I've never, I've never ever, I've never ever, I've never ever seen the righteous forsaking or his needs begging bread. I want to tell you that God still cares about you, that God is still concerned about you, that God still loves you. And although it might be hard on us, we're gonna keep walking, we're gonna keep praying, we're gonna keep trusting because greater is God that's within us than he that's within the world. I want to stop by to let somebody know. Don't you dare give up, don't you dare give in. God is on your side, so if you believe it, just shout joy is coming. The devil, I'm gonna take my seat. But God says I've been turning things around in the background, so I want to let you know I'm gonna take my seat. I don't think I've been up here too long. I just want to remind you, weeping, may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. You may not feel it, but it's on the way. I want to let you know it says late in the midnight hour. Late in the midnight hour where it seems like nobody's around. God says, I'm turning it around. The songwriter says, It will not always be like this. God is perfecting your concern and where it says, Sooner, sooner, sooner, sooner or later, it's gonna turn, it's gonna turn, it's gonna turn, it's gonna turn, it's gonna turn in your favor, in your favor, in your favor, in your favor, sooner or later, because we serve a father that cares about you, he did all this, for he will always be like this the law will perfect that concerning me, and sooner later it will turn in my life, it's turning around for me.

SPEAKER_03 49:08

No matter where you are, we could pray at this altar together, and it will always I'm just open the altar for prayer. The Lord, the Lord will concern me, sooner It's gone, it will turn in my way, say sooner or later, sooner It's gonna turn, it will turn in my say sooner or later, sooner later, it will turn in my love, it's turning, it's turning to love, no matter where you are, you can come to this altar, know it's about to turn.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

Look at your neighbor say it's about to turn. Tell them already, it's you know what? Actually, actually tell your neighbor it's turning around already. It's already started. It's it's already started, it's already started. So there'd be somebody who knows that their situation is turned around. You ought to give your hands to heaven and say, God, I thank you for the starting of the turnaround. I I thank you for the start. I'm gonna initiate my praise before I see it. God is turning around. It's already started. No matter what you're going through, God says it won't.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

It won't always be life. The Lord will put that too much later.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Guess what? Shh, it's turning around. It's turning, it's turning around for me. Say one more time, it's turn around for me.

SPEAKER_03 51:53

It's turning around for me.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Lord, now we gather here. We gather here at this altar. We gather here at this altar to be able to say our hearts may be broken. But you are consistently repairing our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. You care about us. You're concerned about us. God, thank you for never giving up on us. The scripture says the songs will come. The trials will come. But it says, those who remember my teaching are like those who are building their house on solid rock. And here's further teaching. Blessed are those who mourn. For they shall be comfortable. So God, right now, we are standing on your promise that you will give us comfort in the middle of the storm. Thank you, God. I pray for those of us who've been lacking sleep. That you will pass all your cares upon God and turn it over. God cares about you. No matter what you're going through. God cares about you. It's gonna change. I want you to surrender your heart to Christ. Surrender your life to everything. God, you're in full control. Do amazing. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Spirit, and all those that believe. Say amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222. Or email us at linen at cgbbc.org. Visit our website at cgbbc.org. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast so others can be encouraged and blessed as well.