The Invisible Struggle in Our Sanctuary
Pastor David T. Elms 3/9/2025
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46:03
Summary
Pastor Elms explores the healing at the pool of Bethesda to challenge the congregation to cultivate spiritual sensitivity, urging men and women to look past the routine of life to recognize and respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
Key points
- •The story of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda highlights the difference between superficial 'wellness' and significant eternal healing.
- •True spiritual maturity requires 'eyes to see' the signs of the Holy Spirit's movement rather than just performing physical duties.
- •There is a constant invisible struggle between carnality (logic, critique, pride) and spirituality (heartfelt worship, sensitivity to God).
- •Men specifically are called to be spiritual burden-bearers who recognize when the 'water is troubled' and help lead others into God's presence.
- •Apathy and indifference are the enemies of a healthy church; believers must transition from being observers to active participants in the Spirit.
Scripture
Spiritual Growth
Healing
Worship
Leadership
Holy Spirit Balance
Life application
This week, move beyond your logical critiques and routine habits to intentionally 'read the room' for spiritual needs. Look for opportunities to be the 'man' or 'woman' who carries others into prayer when you sense the Holy Spirit moving.
Reflection questions
- In what areas of your life has 'hope deferred' made your heart sick, and how can you bring that heartache to Jesus for significant healing?
- Are you more prone to being an observer/critic in service or a participant in the Spirit? What prevents you from fully engaging?
- What are some of the 'tells' in your own life that indicate you are becoming spiritually sluggish or 'rank' like the horse Pastor Elms described?
- How can our church better support men in becoming spiritually sensitive burden-bearers rather than just physical providers?
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Full transcript
0:00life and so you will be blessed by being
0:00here next Sunday I am going to speak on
0:01the subject the invisible
0:03struggle in our sanctuary
0:08the
0:09invisible
0:10struggle
0:12in
0:14this
0:16hour
0:21Sanctuary turn to your neighbor and say
0:23I don't want to be a
0:25part of the
0:27struggle you don't even know what you're
0:29saying do
0:33you you're afraid you're afraid
0:36[Music]
0:40you may be seated in the name of the
0:41Lord Jesus
0:55Christ in life there has been a desire
0:59of my wife and I
1:02to guard our
1:05children from heart
1:08break from the things that would
1:12distinguish a faltering step from a
1:15healthy
1:17stride and there are times in life that
1:22hope and false hope
1:26meet and I do not know that there is
1:28anything more
1:31hurtful than hope that is disappointed
1:38the story of sons who sit on curbs
1:40waiting for father to
1:42come and he never comes
1:45home story of a little girls waiting for
1:47their daddy to come home for Christmas
1:51and he's too busy to come home for
1:54Christmas all of these are traumatic
1:58events that we desire not to happen unto
2:02our
2:03children Proverbs 13:12 says hope
2:06deferred
2:07maketh the heart
2:10sick there is
2:12nothing as thoroughly
2:15descriptive as a sick
2:18heart I've had headache I've had
2:21backache but the most painful thing I
2:24believe I've ever had is
2:28heartache hope put off hope falsely
2:34given hope that was a fraud
2:38it makes the heart
2:40sick and where life's aggravating
2:44problems come so
2:46close to necessary
2:50burdens that the aggravating
2:53problems become confused with the
2:56necessary burdens you can become
3:00overwhelmed with sickness of heart
3:03brother garfinkle our dear brother has
3:06been in the hospital for the past couple
3:07of days with congestive heart failure
3:11symptoms not not heart failure but the
3:15symptoms and it has been we believe
3:17after diagnosis in the help of highly
3:20paid professionals did I say highly paid
3:23professionals okay uh that it has been
3:27sparked by a medicine that was given to
3:31him that was an attempt to make
3:33something better and it ended up
3:36becoming worse this is a
3:39description of life's aggravating
3:42problems becoming so close to necessary
3:46burdens that they can become like the
3:50same and so we as a church as friends as
3:56families we are continually trying to
3:59discern the difference between
4:01superficial
4:03answers and significant
4:06answers I want to know know the
4:07difference between the
4:09silly and the
4:11wise silly is not sin I'm silly a lot of
4:15the time thankfully it's not sin I love
4:19being around silly people but there's
4:22times that you cannot be silly because
4:26you need to be significant you've got to
4:30be wise and so in life because the blind
4:35is blurred so greatly
4:38we're often needing someone to help us
4:40make sense out of this
4:42stuff I am preaching to a people that
4:46are surrounded by a thousand different
4:48mixes of how to do
4:51Church a thousand different definitions
4:55of how to do life there are a thousand
4:58opinions on how to do marriage one
5:03fellow said he was more confused than a
5:04chameleon in a bag of Skittles
5:10you can have so many voices coming into
5:13you that you're not certain what to do
5:15and they can all come with such purpose
5:18and dynamism and Clarity it seems that
5:22this one since it's the last one will
5:24have your attention until the new one is
5:27the last one and it grabs your
5:30attention the disciples though walked in
5:32a world just as chaotic as ours less
5:36technical but just as
5:39confusing and somehow the disciples
5:42gathered and gained a faith that jails
5:47could not lock up Swords could not kill
5:52water could not drown death could not
5:56destroy somewhere their decision on
5:59serving God was so clear that they were
6:02not confused at all they were not afraid
6:06at all in the face of the ultimate
6:09penalty that could come on this Earth
6:11they had a certainty on what they would
6:14do at that moment when I
6:17evangelized I had a certain Bible I
6:19carried with me I still have the Bible
6:21it was hard back had it covered with
6:23maroon cover but on the inside cover of
6:26that Bible was written the words Revival
6:30is expensive but the alternative we
6:33cannot
6:34afford to keep a spirit of life and fire
6:39and freshness in a church requires
6:43people's soul to be
6:46engaged and uh we make our case when we
6:50come to church through our song Our
6:53Praise our worship we make our case by
6:56how we greet people in the foyer and how
6:58we walk with them in the parking lot but
7:01we do not make this case as if we're
7:03seeking
7:05clients we are making this case because
7:08it is the soul that it has to do with in
7:13this house the Bible says prepare to
7:15meet thy God which with whom your soul
7:19has to do in our text we read first from
7:24The Book of John we read secondly from
7:27the book of Hebrews The Book of John is
7:29a story of a lame man who the Bible said
7:33had an infirmity for 38 years we end in
7:37the book of Hebrews where the Bible says
7:40unto those who look for his appearing
7:44shall he appear the second time without
7:46sin unto
7:49salvation John is the last writer in
7:52your Bible he writes differently than
7:55any other author in that Bible God is
7:58the author but there were 66 different
8:01books and there were several different
8:02writers in that entirety John leaves us
8:06with five books 1 2 3 John Revelation
8:10and the Gospel of John John is the last
8:14person to put pin to parchment in the
8:17writing of your Bible there is debate
8:19whether or not the Book of Revelation is
8:20the last or there is much that many that
8:24think it could be the Gospel of John
8:27that was the very last book written and
8:30when you read the Gospel of John the
8:32very last sentence in the Gospel of John
8:36says these
8:38words and truly Jesus did many other
8:41signs in the presence of his disciples
8:44which are not written in this book but
8:46these are written that you may believe
8:49that Jesus is the Christ the son of God
8:53and that believing you may have life in
8:56his name so John is a Jesus name
9:00preacher John said these that I've given
9:04to you are written so that you might
9:07might believe that Jesus is Christ which
9:10is Jesus is Messiah Christ is not a
9:14surname Christ is a descriptor it tells
9:18us Jesus
9:20Messiah and so other words uh in in the
9:25gospels Matthew Mark and Luke there are
9:26many miracles recorded they tell of
9:30signs and wonders and miracles in those
9:32books but in the Book of John there are
9:35fewer than any any other book there are
9:38only seven Supernatural works and there
9:41are only four healing Miracles recorded
9:45in the entire Book of John now my
9:47question is why John do you leave us
9:50with such so few of these reports in
9:53fact the four Miracles that John tells
9:55us about none of them are recorded in
9:58the gospels Matthew Mark and Luke he had
10:02Matthew Mark and Luke when he's writing
10:04these he writes in sometime some between
10:0790 and 97 ad the gospels were written
10:12somewhere in the 60s so there's almost
10:1430 years between Matthew Mark and Luke's
10:17works and John's work you could make
10:21reduce it down to 20 you could reduce it
10:24down to 10 but you know they had each
10:26other's works if a letter was sent by
10:29Matthew the other disciples were getting
10:31it and so John had these three works the
10:35first one many times many he say it was
10:37Mark these three Works to read and to
10:42compare and to adjust and to look at and
10:45somewhere the Holy Ghost moves him to
10:47give us the Gospel of John and it says
10:50things
10:52differently than the gospels that are
10:54Matthew Mark and Luke why in fact the
10:58very word John uses for miracle is the
11:01word
11:03sign he's not as much enamored with the
11:06fact that it was miraculous or
11:08Supernatural he's more trying to drive
11:10into your spirit this was a sign that
11:14you might understand that Jesus is
11:19Lord so he tells us about the Royal
11:22officer son in chapter four of John he
11:26tells us in the text the story of the
11:28man with the 38-year infirmity in the
11:31fifth chapter he tells us the story of
11:33the blind man in the ninth chapter and
11:35his last miraculous thing done for a
11:37person of healing is the resurrection of
11:40Lazarus in the n in the 11th chapter of
11:42his book so even more
11:47intriguing is that none of these are
11:49told in the other gospels of the
11:52healings recorded in John this one that
11:56we're reading to you as a text doesn't
11:58fit the profile and so my question is
12:01when John tells us about a miracle or a
12:04sign or a significant moment why does he
12:08tell it the way he tells it you're the
12:11author of your book you get to report it
12:14the way you saw it you get to add the
12:17sentences and the emphasis as the writer
12:20what you
12:21feel and here's John pay portraying that
12:25the physical healing in all of his
12:27miracles do not rank as high as the
12:30Eternal healing of
12:32Salvation it's as if he said maybe
12:35Matthew Mark and Luke emphasize the
12:37supernatural a lot but I've got to make
12:40sure you understand that you understand
12:42all the Miracles only heal you until you
12:46die but if you don't get salvation in
12:48your soul though you are healed of 10
12:51Cancers and 20 lame things and though
12:53you may be raised from the dead you
12:56still have got to deal with eternity and
12:58it's on its
13:00way so many people only come to God when
13:03they need something they're sick so they
13:05need healing they got a bad diag nois
13:07from the doctor so they come to the
13:09altar thank you Christian for standing
13:11while I was preaching I felt that right
13:13then they only come to the Lord when
13:15when they need something and so
13:17hallelujah thank God for that there's
13:19nothing wrong with coming to the Lord
13:22when you need
13:23something but if you come thinking that
13:26God is your bell hop your bell booy your
13:30concierge then you need to understand he
13:32is not here for time he's here to tell
13:35you you have to live for forever
13:37somewhere and though you are healed a
13:39thousand times and though you get 10
13:42billion dollar given to you none of it
13:44will matter if your soul is not right
13:48with
13:50[Applause]
13:53God so why does John so carefully
13:56describe the place where it occurs when
13:58you read this he takes great pains to
14:00describe that this is a porch and it had
14:04five porches to the untrained D you
14:07don't really know what he's talking
14:08about you think this is just a little
14:10detail just passed by maybe he got out
14:12there trying to add color to it but to
14:15the people who understand that day and
14:17to his letter written to everyone living
14:19in that day it said that this was not
14:22just an ordinary place now I wouldn't
14:25like to present myself as a historian or
14:27a scholar I do know though when the War
14:30of 1812 was and I am aware of the
14:33occupant of Lincoln's tomb these two
14:35historical facts I can share with you
14:38and I know who's in the Lincoln's tomb
14:40and I can tell you when the War of 1812
14:42was but in
14:47all deep sometimes sometimes I get
14:52deep but this word helenistic it means
14:55something that I want you to understand
14:57it was the Zeitgeist of that day that's
15:00just a German word that means the the
15:03what's in the air of that time it was
15:05the cool thing remember when the copper
15:07socks came along maybe they're still
15:08around remember when they said if you
15:10wear the copper socks you're going to
15:12have all kinds of healing qualities and
15:14remember when uh drinking manavi was the
15:16best thing for you and and we all had
15:19manavi delivered to our house and some
15:21of you all believed in the shackle
15:23Revolution and so we all got into our
15:26shackly products and don't mess with me
15:28just because I like Coq tin don't talk
15:32bad about me because I take my baby
15:34aspirin every day don't mess with me
15:36because I got joint pills that I take
15:38every morning don't you even talk to me
15:41because I'm taking my Grooms
15:45vitamins which I've been out of them
15:47lately I need a new Supply honey the
15:49inventory is
15:53low but when John said this was a porch
15:57with pool and five porches round about
15:59it he was essentially saying that he
16:02this is a place that was the cool Health
16:05Clinic of that day it was Greco Roman it
16:08was the marks of a place that wasn't
16:10Hebrew it was a cool joint to go and
16:13hang out and it was represented many
16:15times with snakes people would go there
16:18and that's the reason there are serpents
16:19on your doctor's door because it comes
16:21from this helenistic period which was
16:23the idea of a healing place and you and
16:26I have health clinic on every corner but
16:29back in those days they had a place with
16:31porches in the metropolitan centers and
16:34that's where those who needed uh some
16:36kind of we Wellness would go it was a
16:37wellness center and this man is visited
16:42by
16:43Messiah doesn't seemed like this ought
16:45to be a place that Messiah would go it
16:47wasn't Hebrew at all it wasn't what the
16:49god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob would
16:51prescribe if you wanted that you would
16:53go sit by the gate beautiful like the
16:54other guy that get healed but if you're
16:56kind of up to date with copper tone and
17:01uh monavi and uh
17:05shakal and
17:09Hershey all of these healing
17:12ingredients you would go where the
17:14porches were and a pool
17:16existed Jesus walks in to this place and
17:21says to the
17:23man what's wrong would you be made
17:27whole and the man
17:29offers the conclusion and
17:32commentary of his
17:34soul now Lord help me
17:37get this Ro of this
17:40church it's a 38-year
17:44dissertation this is a field education
17:47research
17:48project that he has compiled 38 years in
17:52the
17:54learning and it's really easy to write
17:57this guy off just like many times we
17:59write off people with
18:01handicaps in our
18:04ignorance but 38 years of imagine how
18:07long that
18:08was I mean me and my wife had a date
18:11yesterday I took on an official
18:13date and
18:15uh on that
18:17date while we're sitting there we decide
18:20to do what you do on a
18:22date when you're at my space in life we
18:25shared an
18:32entree while we're sitting there talking
18:35I looked at her and I said said Melanie
18:38what has
18:41happened I don't know if any of you have
18:43the high learning of Fiddler On The
18:46Roof is this the little girl I
18:49carried is this the little boy at
18:52play don't remember getting
18:55older when did
18:59they when did she get to be a
19:02beauty when did he grow so
19:04tall wasn't it just
19:07yesterday when they were so
19:10small so my wife brings up to me that we
19:13have our anniversary coming in a couple
19:14weeks of course I
19:26knew 36 years
19:30[Applause]
19:37she and I are not qualified to give the
19:40report that this man gave sitting beside
19:46that because whatever intellectual
19:48Acuity it takes to imagine where I might
19:51go for the best hope in my
19:53city that's what this man gave to the
19:56preparation of going to the pool of
20:00bethesa and after the first year of
20:02thinking through the process he
20:04determined year two will be worth
20:08it I don't know if you've been through
20:10the fiveyear space of your marriage yet
20:12but everybody says you know you come to
20:13some ages and spaces where you kind of
20:15assess is this really
20:18working I never thought those
20:25thoughts no I really
20:28didn't but you know these are things
20:30that happen and can you imagine with
20:33me this man as he
20:38is continuing on the 10th year to say
20:41where shall I go every day it's not that
20:44he is not a man of great Vigor and a
20:48determination in fact I want you to see
20:50the resilience that this man
20:53demonstrates he knows that where he's
20:56going has hope
21:10you want to go places that have
21:15hope if you have ever been fired from a
21:18company you've ever gone through being
21:20told you're in the
21:22cutback ever you've been in application
21:25of the unemployment
21:27line ever you've had to be on the school
21:29lunch
21:31program if you've ever had the
21:32embarrassment telling somebody we don't
21:34have health insurance
21:37if you've ever been in a place where
21:39you're driving and you're not sure how
21:42things are going to work out because you
21:44don't have money to get the tires and
21:46you're hoping they won't go
21:50flat you want
21:53hope in your
21:56life if you don't have answers you
21:58pretend like you
22:00do if the one to whom you've been
22:02married proved to be a fraud you try to
22:05saddle your own heart and tighten your
22:07own belt and go forward and say I can I
22:10can make it all by myself but that
22:13wasn't the hope you brought
22:16into this man for 38 years has shown
22:19that there's hope in this place and I'm
22:22asking you to do not reduce this man to
22:26ignorance do not say he's there because
22:29he's
22:29stupid do not say he's there because
22:32it's his only option do not say he's
22:35there because it's the only chance that
22:37the people that were going could take
22:39him because I can tell you in 38 years
22:41he had to find a new
22:44Uber he didn't get there with the same
22:47people you had had have you had friends
22:49for 38
22:51years those are rare if you had somebody
22:54that could give you a ride for 38 years
22:57those are even more
22:59rare 38 years he's been so Innovative to
23:03find somebody to carry him at dawn on
23:06and at dusk to this
23:08pool do not erase him as
23:12thoughtless do not ignore his sense of
23:16selfworth he didn't go because it was
23:18the only spot he had do not impose your
23:22assumptions of lethargy upon him but in
23:25the face of unrelenting adversity he has
23:28his tenacity and he has his resolve and
23:31for 38 years he's determined the bless
23:34best place for for my hope is to get
23:37around this pool and Jesus asked him
23:41will you be made whole and the
23:43commentary the
23:45dissertation the thesis
23:52statement
23:54sir I have no
23:57man when the water is
23:59troubled to carry
24:03me but while I am
24:06trying to get
24:10there someone else gets there
24:13first the third verse of this chapter
24:16tells us who's around this pool it says
24:19that these lay a great multitude of
24:22impotent folk of blind halt
24:25withered boy that's a crowd to run with
24:28isn't
24:29it isn't it great to choose every day to
24:32go to that place where am I going today
24:35going to hang out with with the Blind
24:36and the Halt and the withered why were
24:39they there
24:41waiting for the moving of the
24:46water but I have no
24:48man now I'm going to hit this message
24:51and say when it says man there 552 times
24:56in the scripture that very word is
24:59translated
25:00masculine
25:02man so while some editions of the Bible
25:05say I have no one that's not what the
25:08original says the original said I have
25:11no
25:13man now this feels like a Father's Day
25:15sermon but it's not but I'm telling you
25:19men are supposed to carry things men are
25:22supposed to be burden bearers now you
25:25women do it all the time you do it
25:28unbelievably you do it so awesome your
25:30pain threshold beats most men I know
25:33your ability to carry things is
25:35unbelievable able it's
25:37breathtaking but the scripture tells us
25:39that men are supposed to carry loads
25:42they're built for burden
25:45bearing they're tough and they're hard
25:49and they don't understand the Nuance of
25:51the load they just say put it on and I'm
25:53going to carry it have you ever seen a
25:54man carrying the
26:02groceries I'm sorry most of you women
26:04are laughing right now it's not funny It
26:06All To Us guys because we got a job to
26:09do and we're going to get it done and we
26:10don't care that we've hung a bag over
26:12our
26:15ear get out of our way clear the deck
26:19the groceries are coming in
26:40no no no no it's not the way God made
26:45us spiritual sensitivity is the essence
26:48of this message because the man had men
26:52to carry him every morning and every
26:54night They Carried him he was brought
26:58every day 38 years maybe not the Sabbath
27:02but all the rest but it was the Sabbath
27:04when this happened so they carried in me
27:06on the
27:07Sabbath every day men were there but a
27:12man that was watching for a move of the
27:17spirit was so rare that for 38 years he
27:22had men all around
27:25him they could carry loads and pay bills
27:28and plow
27:29Fields they could correct a mule and
27:32they could lead an
27:33ox but they were not watching seing for
27:36a move of the
27:41spirit John told us earlier he said they
27:44that Worship the Lord must worship Him
27:47in spirit and truth so in every church
27:50service there is wooing that happens
27:52there's pulling that happens in the
27:55presence of God there's a tug that
27:57happens from heaven and you feel God
28:00reaching you but this man said I
28:03attended a sanctuary for 38 years and
28:05there wasn't one
28:06man that was watching enough other than
28:08the coming and the going and the
28:10figuring out a tire to be fixed and
28:12figuring out an ox that need to be
28:14plowed and figuring out how to change
28:16the oil and go and work on the land but
28:19they weren't spiritually sensitive
28:20enough to know the water is troubled now
28:24is the time I've got to move in the
28:27spirit Ephesians 5:19 says speaking to
28:30yourselves in Psalms and hymns and
28:32spiritual Psalms this is not a book a
28:34verse written to just women
28:36it's written to both of us singing and
28:38making melody in your heart to the Lord
28:41uh and so here it is songs have impacted
28:44us and that's the reason we sing in
28:46every service because we're hoping
28:47somebody will recognize the moving of
28:49the spirit happens with songs that's the
28:52reason they're called spiritual songs
28:55from the hot scorching Pavements of
28:59Selma Alabama to the frostbitten Plains
29:02of Valley Forge songs have moved me men
29:06in this world but why is it in the
29:09church house that men seem to be so
29:11hesitant to move when the spirit's
29:17going when the spirit moves we'll get we
29:19get about 20 women up here walking where
29:22are the
29:23men oh we're waiting for a tire to
29:28burst the women will get out and walk in
29:30the
29:31aisle where are the men do we not have a
29:35man
29:36that knows when the troubled waters
29:39come is it that you don't think that's
29:42part of your
29:43creativeness that you're not supposed to
29:45be spiritually driven because that's
29:47feminine the feminization of the
29:50American Christian Church makes me sick
29:53and believe me I appreciate and love and
29:55know the purpose of feminine and there
29:57is a perfect place for it and they are
29:59strong this is not strong weak this is
30:01placement in God's Divine assignment and
30:03what we need in this hour power is men
30:07that will move when the water is
30:12[Applause]
30:19troubled you got to have the desire to
30:21see I told Jamie I don't know what he
30:23was doing in my
30:26notes because you got to have eyes to
30:28see the world is full of subtle clues
30:31that reveal a deeper sign you can't
30:35understand or can't even write the word
30:37significance without it starting with
30:40sign if you don't see signs you won't
30:43know what's
30:45significant and so here we are are we
30:48willing to pay attention it's the
30:50difference between IQ and EQ some can't
30:53read the room so we tuck them far away
30:56and say just prove us your brains but
30:58you got to be able to read the room
31:00who's carrying them God bless that man
31:03who's taking them home every night God
31:05bless that man but for 38 years the men
31:08in his life could not take a day off or
31:11a time off to be watching for when the
31:13water was
31:15troubled and we're living in a new disp
31:18dispensation where it's not just once a
31:20year as it happened in the old
31:22dispensation when he only would accept
31:23the blood of the atonement once a year
31:26no this is a day where every day there's
31:28a move of the spirit there's people who
31:30are either sensitive to it or they're
31:32not sensitive to it and we've got to as
31:34a church and I'm preaching to the men in
31:36this house I am looking for men who are
31:39willing to read the signs of the spirit
31:44in a church service because we have a
31:46silent invisible struggle in this
31:49sanctuary and it's looking for masculine
31:52men who will see the sign and move in
31:56the Holy Ghost and be heard in the
31:59spirit I don't need your Brawn I don't
32:02need your brain I need your soul
32:06[Applause]
32:10oh do you see it you know this may be
32:15old but all of you with old with with
32:17Microsoft based computers know what I'm
32:19talking
32:20about you know when you're computer
32:22starts getting sluggish and slow maybe
32:24some of y'all
32:25remember Sometimes some sometimes people
32:28don't even know what's going on man it's
32:30so slow it's so slow and somebody will
32:31ask you when was the last time you
32:32defragmented it that's a word
32:36isn't that an interesting word some of
32:38y'all don't even know what that word
32:39means God bless you you know what
32:42defragment means means organize the bits
32:45in your computer so it can think fast
32:49well now nowadays we have SSD cards
32:51which is solid state drive that's all
32:52that means don't let me geek out on you
32:54but it we don't have to have
32:56defragmentation because of the way solid
32:58state drive stores information it
33:00doesn't have the same sluggishness but
33:02if you got got a defragment but if you
33:04don't have the eyes to see this thing's
33:06operating sluggishly that will spinning
33:08forever or whatever it is you got going
33:10on you don't have eyes to see it if
33:13you're raising horses there are tals
33:15that you better learn about horses
33:18because one of my dear friends Tim
33:20Foster died and he was a Horseman he
33:24died and he took a what we call a rank
33:26horse I don't know if that's Politically
33:28Incorrect but this was a horse that was
33:31unpredictable and he took it out into
33:33the wild uh parts of Texas
33:36and uh they didn't find him until a day
33:39or so later and he had taken that horse
33:42out training it and had got down in
33:44front of that horse and that horse
33:46raised up and clipped his head with the
33:47front hoof and he went on to Heaven
33:50because of that but there are signs and
33:53there are tells with the horse if the
33:55horse has soft eyes and a lowered head a
33:58steady breathing it's pretty good you
34:00can deal with a horse that's got steady
34:02breathing and you don't see the white of
34:03his eyes but if you see the white of a
34:05verus eyes uh or it's uh that's or ears
34:09back is number one if the ears go back
34:11that's number one tail they're
34:12uncomfortable with something if they
34:14stiffen up it means they're getting to
34:16be a coiled spring and that could be a
34:18very deadly moment but at that moment
34:20they paing and stomping is another sign
34:23flared nostrils is another sign these
34:26are tails that if you're not around
34:28horses you better learn them or B around
34:31somebody who knows them because a horse
34:34is a dangerous but same thing with
34:38dogs there are taals I was golfing last
34:41week as I told you uh good friend of
34:44mine came down and we went golfing last
34:46week as I announced a couple Sundays ago
34:48or last Sunday I told you I would he he
34:50was so caught in the snow he called he
34:52said I'll take you golfing come on
34:53please I'll be there and I said well
34:55okay I'll suffer through
34:58that we went golfing and I'm telling you
35:01what there were times our balls
35:03unfortunately went into the water
35:07but on the side of these Lakes I just
35:10saw balls and he saw peacock
35:15bass he said did you see that I said
35:20tius is it what is it is it Callaway
35:24ball what kind of ball is it no he said
35:26that striped
35:28bass no I didn't see
35:32that he was so Afflicted every Pawn we
35:35went by he was looking at the P he said
35:38I've never caught one of those in my
35:39entire life I want to catch a k peacock
35:42bass he said what should I
35:51do can I phone a
35:55friend I didn't know what to do he said
35:58you mean you don't have you you you
35:59can't tell me how to catch that John you
36:02got to have want line you got to have a
36:04hook got to have a fishing pole it could
36:06be Kane it could be a Zebco
36:11202 he said no I need to know what
36:15they're
36:17biting he was so Afflicted that we where
36:20we were had a valet for parking okay
36:22very nice golf course very nice Dural is
36:26the city was in and uh so we were
36:28playing this golf course and he made a
36:29deal with the valet he said listen I'm
36:32going to come back and he pretended like
36:34he was going to play
36:36but he wasn't playing to play he was
36:37playing to fish he was just going to hit
36:40the ball until he because he said these
36:42legs are
36:45packed and he told the valet I'll be
36:47back and so he got a little deal with
36:49work with valet and he told me what he
36:50was doing he called one of my friends to
36:53find out what that was biting and he
36:56went to
37:00Walmart's and he bought a rooster tail
37:05y'all don't know what I'm talking about
37:06because I don't know what I'm talking
37:10about but he said they hit that rooster
37:14tail and he slew that's what he called
37:16catching fish he was slaying
37:18them he was catching those peacock bass
37:21at sunset in theado there's fish down
37:24there I didn't know if we knew
37:27that what does he have he has
37:31eyes to
37:33see our closing text sister El
37:36come our closing text was Hebrews 9:28
37:40so Christ was once offered to Bear the
37:41sins of many and unto them that look for
37:47him unto
37:50them that look for him shall he appear
37:55the second time without sin unto
37:58salvation in other words when you come
38:00to church when you walk on the job when
38:04you go into the city there is a
38:08dimension of living where you're looking
38:11for him and some think the interpret
38:14that means only the Rapture but I don't
38:17believe it means only the Rapture
38:19because there are 10,000 Generations
38:21before us that did not get a Rapture and
38:24they looked for him so in other words
38:27when we come to church I'm looking for
38:30men and yes women this is to you too I'm
38:34looking for Souls who are looking for
38:38what the man with the infirmity called
38:41the troubling of the water I'm looking
38:44for men who will see this is a
38:48supernatural spiritual moment I see
38:51signs I see tals there are evidences
38:55that there's hunger in this house when
38:57you come to this altar we have what we
38:59call altar workers they're intended to
39:01pray with you but if you just stand
39:03there and look like this they're
39:04probably not going to pray with you
39:06because you're giving us a
39:09tell I'm here but I'm really not
39:13interested so we'll ask would you like
39:16to pray we we'll be kind but we were
39:19trying to see do you really want this or
39:21you just
39:22here because if you really want it you
39:25won't you won't just stay static in your
39:29presentation you'll start praying you'll
39:31start praying out loud you won't won't
39:35just sit there and let us pray your
39:36prayer for you you'll say I don't know
39:38how to pray but I'm past being
39:40embarrassed I mean you still get
39:42embarrassed but you know what I mean you
39:44just are past being embarrassed so I'm
39:46still embarrassed sometimes did you hear
39:48Jamie this morning he messed up on his
39:50prayer did you notice that I didn't
39:52Jamie messed up two times when he was
39:54praying and I noticed him but he
39:56recovered pretty good but if he and I
39:59went out to eat after church I'd say I
40:00like the way you laid it out there good
40:03recovery why because is praying and none
40:06of us are perfect prayers right right
40:09and so when you embrace the fact that
40:10I'm going to be a prayer you got to get
40:12over the idea that I'm gonna pray
40:15perfectly you start saying I'm G to just
40:18say hallelujah I'm gonna say I love you
40:20Jesus I Need You Jesus I Need You Jesus
40:24I Need You Jesus I Need You Jesus I need
40:28you in my mind I need you in my heart I
40:33need you in my soul
40:35I need you where I'm going I need you
40:38where I'm coming from you say I can't
40:40think of all that I get it you can't I'm
40:42a preacher they call me a
40:45professional but my point is this if you
40:49care you're
40:51[Music]
40:53trying
40:55Hey what does that word mean that I just
40:57said right
40:58there hey where did that fit in that
41:02sentence what in the world that makes no
41:04logic iCal
41:06sense
41:08hey what am I trying to do it's one of
41:12those Soul
41:13words that really isn't saying a lot but
41:17you just say it right there because
41:20you're trying to get something that's
41:21not in the natural realm down here
41:24you're trying to ascend to a place where
41:26God abides it's above logic it's about
41:29the ways of Mind mind planning this is
41:33spiritual and the invisible struggle in
41:36our Sanctuary is that we've got to push
41:39back carnality there is war the Bible
41:44word is enmity there is war between the
41:48spiritual and the carnal between the
41:51fleshly and the spiritual and men fight
41:55it as bad as anybody because we think
41:58we're creatures of critique and so we've
42:01got to critique presentation present
42:03critique the layout critique the quality
42:06critique the accuracy and all of that
42:08time we're staying in our pride instead
42:11of getting in the spirit and saying you
42:13know what sometimes I get it right
42:16sometimes I get it wrong but the one who
42:17never gets it wrong is the one who walks
42:19into a health clinic a helenistic clinic
42:23where this man has found his hope for
42:25Hope for 38 years and he said take up
42:30your bed and walk because I'm lord of
42:34the secular places just like I'm lord of
42:37the Sacred spaces I'm God in health
42:41clinics and I'm God in the house of God
42:45shall We Stand there's not any hour
42:48that's the same there's never a move of
42:51God that we are to take for granted
42:53apathy is not welcome in this house we
42:56don't do indifference here if you're a
42:59child of God you need to be pressing
43:02towards the move of the spirit if you're
43:05worshiping you got to get in the spirit
43:07stop being an observer and become a
43:10participant stop being one of those that
43:12looks around to assess always there's
43:15nothing wrong with some assessing but
43:17there comes a time where you got to say
43:20I'm finished assessing everything it's
43:22you and me Lord and I need a move of the
43:25spirit it's not easy to pray in the
43:27spirit it's not easy to have spiritual
43:30church because it's more than two songs
43:32a testimony an offering and a sermon
43:35spiritual praying and spiritual singing
43:38and spiritual songs and spiritual
43:41Pursuits requires you to shut down the
43:43brain calls and open up the heart cries
43:47and say oh Lord I need you you'll never
43:50get the Holy Ghost with your brain never
43:53never never 10,000 times never if you're
43:56only going to pray from your brain
43:58you're not going to get the Holy Ghost
43:59because he didn't come to reach your
44:01brain he came to reach your heart and
44:03there is a difference between brain love
44:06and heart love between brain logic and
44:09heart logic I want to serve him with all
44:13my
44:14heart my
44:16soul my
44:19mind my strength for components of
44:23reaching that
44:25starts with the
44:28heart the invisible struggle in our
44:32Sanctuary the church will only ever be
44:35as good as it's men who are watching to
44:40carry others when the spirit starts
44:45moving it will only ever be as good as
44:50its Watchers who are looking to carry
44:54someone else Somebody Prayed For Me had
44:58me on their mind took the time and
45:02prayed for me I'm so glad they
45:06pray I'm so glad they
45:10prayed I'm so glad they prayed for me
45:16the spirit of God is moving this altar
45:18is open the water is trebled there's
45:21miracles to be had there's deliverances
45:24to be gotten there's a Healer in the
45:27house there's a dynamic force from
45:30eternity that was poured out on
45:33Pentecost that's a liive right now the
45:36miracle of the Holy Ghost is for every
45:38one of you are you hungry do you have
45:41eyes to see do you have ears to hear are
45:45you willing to reach
45:49knock and it shall be
45:51open ask you shall
45:55receive
45:57seek you shall F how could I