Sunday Morning || 06.07.26 || Pastor Matt Smith & Dan Mohler Jr.

If you're comfortable, can you just join hands with the person next to you? I just want to start off worship this morning just in a place of unity, a place of love.

So Jesus, we just thank you, Holy Spirit, for your presence. God, you are welcome in this place. God, you are the reason for this place. Holy Spirit, we ask you to come like a mighty breath this morning. Jesus, we ask you to flow into to every heart this morning. Jesus, we thank you that as we come together as a church body in unity to worship you, Christ Jesus, the King, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Lord of our hearts, the Lord of our life. Jesus, we give you everything this morning. Jesus, we position ourselves as servants unto you. We are sons and we are daughters, but we are servants to the high king of heaven. And so Jesus, this morning, we bless your holy name. We bless what you want to do in this place. And we say yes, church. Can you say yes this morning? Yes, Jesus. So, Father, come have your way. We love you and we bless you and we worship you in Jesus name. And all God's people said, "Amen."

Let's worship. All things have passed. Your love is stay the same. Your constant free makes the corner strong. Things that we thought were dead are breathing in life again. And you cause your son to shine on darkest night. For all that you've done, we will pour out our love. This will be our song. Jesus, we love you. Oh, how we love you. You are the one our hearts adore. Come on, let's tell him. Jesus, we love you. Oh, how we love you. You are the one alive. Our hearts adore. The hopeless have found their home. The orphans thou have their home. All that was lost has found its place in you. And you lift our weary head. You make us strong instead. You took these breaths and made us beautiful. For all that you've done, we will pour out our love. This will be our anthem song. Jesus, we love you. Oh, how we love you. You are the one God hearts adore. Jesus we love you. Jesus we love you. Oh how we love you. You are the one. hearts adore. Our hearts adore. Our hearts adore. Our hearts adore our affection. Our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus our affection, our devotion. Lord, how on the feet of Jesus, our affection, our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus, our affection, our devotion, poured out on the feet of Jesus, our affection. ction our devotion poured out on the king of Jesus. Our affection our devotion poured out on the feet of Jesus. our affection, our devotion. Lord, our Lord, the feet of Jesus. We love you. Yes, we do. Lord, how we love you. You are the one. Our hearts adore Jesus you are. How we love you. Oh how we love you. You are the one. Our hearts adore. Our heart. Our hearts. Our hearts adore. And we love him again this time. Jesus love you. You are the one your hearts adore. Jesus, we love you. Oh, how we love you. You are the one.

When peace like a river attendeth my way. When sorrow like sea billows roll. Whatever my light thou hast told me to say. It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well >> with my soul. >> with my soul. >> It is well. It is well with my soul. Is it well with your soul today? Come on. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought. I sin not in part but the whole is nil to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. It is well with my soul. with my soul. It is well. is well with my soul. >> We have the promise that he's coming back. Come on. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The trump shall rise out and the Lord shall be sent. It is well with my soul. It is well. Come on. My soul with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well Jesus with my soul. My soul is well. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well. made his well with my soul.

I'm sure in a room this size that somebody's having trouble saying that. Maybe it's not well with your soul. Maybe there's circumstances in your life and you feel like you're drowning and one wave hits and then another comes and you can't breathe. And this song may irritate you today because you don't have that peace in your heart. I don't know if you know the history of this song, but it was written by a wealthy lawyer named Horatio Spatford. and he sent his four daughters and his wife on a vacation and he was going to meet them later. And on their way across the Atlantic Ocean, their ship was hit by another ship and his four daughters drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. He got on a ship to go meet his wife and when they got near where the children where his daughters were drowned, the captain told him, "This is the area." And he sat down and he wrote, "When peace like a river tendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my heart, thou hast taught me to say, it is well. It is well with my soul."

There's more to that story that maybe you don't know. He was very wealthy at one time, but lost all his investments in the Chicago fires in the 1800s. And he lost a four-year-old son to scarlet fever. That's a lot of loss to process. And most of us would be, "God, why? Why?" But Horatio knew his anger was in Jesus. And no matter what he faced, it couldn't take him down because he had Jesus. Jesus paid for all everything on the cross for us. And he knew he had a living hope >> and he could face every day no matter what his circumstances look like. So maybe today you're like, Pam, it's not well with my soul. I have watched so many of you, Brenda and Dave and and other amilies in here face things with so much grace knowing that Jesus was their anchor. And that's available for you today, too. The the front of this room is always open. And if you can't sing these words today, come on down and kneel before Jesus and let him just love you because that's what he wants to do. and try to find peace in your soul because he truly is our living hope in our anger. We're going to sing that little chorus again few for a couple times and if you want to come on down do so. If you want to do it in your seat, do so. All right.

It is well. >> It is well >> with my soul. >> with my soul. >> It is well. It is well with my soul. Let's do it again. Come on. It is well. >> It is well >> with my soul. >> with my soul. >> It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well It is well with my soul.

Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope, my hope. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living home. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have in every chain there's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ my living hope. Jesus Christ my living hope. Oh Jesus you are my living hope. Crazy Jesus.

Everything changed. It's getting harder to recognize the person I was before I encountered Christ. I don't walk like I used to. I don't talk like I used to. I've been washed from the inside. I've been washed from the inside. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been blind. I cannot explain. But nothing's more real than this. In the presence of God. Oh, what my heart experienced. When my shame hit the wayside and my sin, I was watched from the inside. I was watched from the inside. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood.

Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Come on. It's never been It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for acceptance. Let me tell you, it's only about the blood. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift that's freely giving. Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be holy and rightous, purified as Godless? Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Does anybody want to be worthy for justify living? Let me tell you, it's only by the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Going to have been the blood. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelu. I know it was the blood. Could have only been the blood. Hallelu. Hallelu. It was the blood could have only been the blood could have only been could have only been the blood.

What can my s? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. What can my sin? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. >> There's only one. >> There's only one who can make us whole again. And his name is Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No, other fountains I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. Nothing. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. It's not about what we've done. It's about what he's done. He said, "It is finished." It is finished. It is finished. He said it. It is finished. There's not anything we have to do. He's already done it. He's already done it. It's not about performance, perfection, striving for acceptance. It's only by his blood. It's never been about deserving or earning. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. It's a gift. Receive it. It's a gift that's freely given. We believe. That's all we have to do is believe. I believe, Lord. I believe. It's a gift. It's a gift. And I You are worthy. You are forgiven. You are righteous. >> Yeah. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. And oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. found. I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's the blood.

We're going to do something that we we do regular at this house. And I'm going to explain some things. But a as you get ready for partaking in communion, we know this as the meal that heals. But can I remind you of something that healing is not just limited to the outward appearance. He healing doesn't pertain only to the blind man or to the lame man or to someone who can't function because of their health. Because communion is not really all about the physical. It's about the spiritual. And and I believe that God wants to heal some people here today. But I think that one of the healings that we need to look at is the the healing inside. Keep in mind, I can't spread the gospel because I'm in a wheelchair, right? But guess what? You can still spread the gospel from a wheelchair. Where the barrier comes in is when you're driving in your car and you're thinking about how so and so hurt you, >> how you're not good enough, or that God will never be able to use you. And that's a lie from the pit of hell. I I think a lot of times when Jesus was explaining communion, okay, we're in the upper room. Watch this. He's got 12 with all different backgrounds. Kind of looks like this room, doesn't it? >> You had the old, you had the young. You had people from different cultures, different colors, different parts of the world, different generations, but they came together all in one table. And and Jesus starts to kind of go over things a little bit. And and and I and I want to share this and I'm going to actually read it from the word so we don't get confused. But in Luke 22:14, it says, "The hour had had come. He set down, right? And the twel apostles with him. And he said to them with firming desire that I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I would no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. You know what that tells me? They had one cup, one body. I believe that what Jesus was trying to teach them is the unity of the body of Christ. The enemy comes in to kill, steal, and destroy, to divide. Jesus came to give life. Now, for for for those of you that know me, I'm I'm I'm a numbers person, okay? So, I'm going to break it down in math, okay? if you don't mind. Okay. The kingdom of K is about plus and multiplication. >> The kingdom of darkness is about division and subtraction. >> So I really believe that a as we come together and we start to partake of this, it it's about us being unified as a body. This is why I I so appreciate our our pastors for for faithfully doing this because unity in the body is so important. And and watch this, the unity, it starts in this room, but it overflows into the kingdom of God. >> Yes. >> Your neighbor goes to this other church because that's where God called them to be at. >> Yes. Amen. >> But we're gathered together in this. So I'll keep reading and it says um then he took the go and divided among themselves for I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. Wait a minute. The kingdom of God comes. Wasn't his first message repent for the kingdom of God is here. But now he's saying that it's going to come. And I think it's a prophetic word for all of us. He was letting his disciples know that I came in and bought the kingdom. But I'm coming back for you because communion is a reminder of his death, burial, resurrection. >> Hallelujah. >> And his coming back. So he took the bread, gave thanks, and broke it and gave it to them. This is my body which is given to to you. Do this in remembrance of me. >> When I was praying this morning and Rick had asked me and I was a little reluctant and the only thing that kept coming to my mind was remember remember what he's done for us. And I don't know about you, and some of you know my background, our background. I sit and I remember, Jesus, you saved me. You set me free. You redeemed me. You healed me. You forgave me. You love me. And I sit back and I say all that. And you know what? I don't say it here. I say it openly. I remember. We remember what he's done for us. We look back so that we can move forward in him. So they took the bread and and you know what? I'm going to I'm going to go a little bit further because we know what happens after that, right? And a few chapters later is this these two disciples walking the road of Emmas and and and I'm going to say the Bible describes it as being downcast and but they were disciples and and they were going on a seven day a seven mile journey away from Jerusalem, right? and and Jesus joins them on this road and and he brings a very loving correction because he reminds them of the full story and and and it's almost like this is the first time communion was actually done after this. So it says that he broke bread and their eyes opened. church. >> How many of you want your eyes open? >> No, no, no, no. I I'm not saying because you're blind. >> I'm saying because we're going on a journey and sometimes we need better direction on things. And I feel that this is really on point this morning that we've been on a journey and and we just want God to bring a little bit of clarity of where we are at. Amen. So So he took the bread and he blessed us. So let's do that. Lord, we just thank you for your body that was broken for us, Lord God. We thank you for reminding us, Lord God, who you are, your promises, Lord God. Lord, we believe that by your stripes, we are healed. Lord, heal not only our physical body, but Lord, heal our spiritual body, heal our emotions, Lord God. Lord, heal our relationships, Lord God. Restore them, make them new, Lord God. And Lord, now we take of this as a reminder, Lord God, and we eat of the bread in Jesus name. Thank you, Jesus.

And likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant of my blood, which is shed for you." We just sang about the blood. It was the blood that was shed on Calvary for all of us. It was the one that paid the price for us to be restored and renewed. I'm sitting in my bed one day and the Lord took me back to the whipping post. If we know anything about it, you know, no one could have taken a beating like that. And I saw the stripes and the whipping and the flesh being torn up. And this is what the Lord showed me. He says, "By my stripes, I you're you are healed." Watch this. By the destruction of the flesh, I am healed. I believe that this is what generates the ability for us to forgive those that wronged us. And I don't know if this if there's anyone in this room right now that you're you're just thinking, I just really need to forgive this person. It it begins here. Forgiveness begins in your quiet place. Before you even approach a person, it begins in your quiet place with the Lord. So, let's drink of the cup. Thank you Lord. Lord this room is full with people Lord God. People watching online who just right now are just receiving Lord God. receiving the price and remembering, Lord God, your death, burial, resurrection, but most of all, Lord God, that you're coming back and we need to be ready and we'll continue to remember you, Lord God, on a regular basis in this house. Lord, we bless you. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

And here we have Amanda. >> You can all have a seat. So, I'm going to um do the offering today. And when asked to do the offering, the Lord dropped a phrase in my spirit. It's a song a lot of us are probably familiar with, and it's praise before the breakthrough. And I remember when I first heard this song, um, there was a misconception in my family and we all came into agreeance and we were like, why does it say praise for the breakthrough? We were like, that's so weird. That's such a weird song. Why are we singing that? And then we looked up the lyrics and it's actually praise before the breakthrough. And we're like, okay, that makes so much more sense. But I want us to ask ourselves like in this room, are you living in that place that you are praising for the breakthrough instead of before the breakthrough? Are we only praising if the breakthrough comes? Because we can get stuck in that place where we're like, "Woe is me. My life is so hard." I mean, I was at the kids check-in desk until 9:45ish and walked into the room just Miss Pam was singing it is well with my soul and and the words that she was saying were perfect. It's like are we are we praising because he is good? Are we saying it is well with my soul no matter what our circumstances are? Are we only praising if the breakthrough comes? So I want you to ask yourself, are you as you're giving this morning? Are you only giving if your financially stable because I can tell you there's probably not a lot of us in this room that are. And that's okay because if you wait until you're financially stable to start giving, you're going to be waiting a long time. Are you only praying if the last person that you prayed for got healed? Are you only praying if the last person you asked to pray for said yes? Because sometimes you get nos. Are you only praising when you get your breakthrough? So, let's all stand. Sorry, I just had you sit, but we're going to stand again. So, Jesus, as we give this morning, let us do it with joy. Let us do it with thanksgiving. Let us give even if our finances look a little bleak this morning. Even if our hope is a little down. even if we're feeling a little discouraged, a little downtrodden, because Jesus, you are worthy of our praise, even when our circumstances look a little less than ideal. Jesus, you are worthy of everything we have. Let us be obedient in this thing because you are faithful. And let us praise you before our breakthrough. Even if our breakthrough never comes, let us cry out in the deepest darkest places, "It is well with my soul." Jesus, we just thank you for the opportunity to give, to worship you in a different way, to be faithful in a different way. We thank you for all of these things in Jesus name we pray. Amen. There are giving stations around the room. There are ways to give up on the screen and we will get started soon.

All right. All right, who's excited to be in the house of the Lord? >> Just a quick reminder for the youth, if you didn't get the announcement, there is a youth loft service going on in our loft. So, if you're in sixth through 12th grade, uh, we would love to have you join our youth team up there. They're having a blast. I think they have donuts, so no pressure, but if that will lure you in. Some of you are like, "Can I go?" Like, >> so good. >> God is good. Oh man, come on. >> Yeah, Uriah is keeping us on our toes. He is officially in children's ministry now, so that's kind of cool. Kind of different. Mom's still getting used to that, checking him in and getting a little sticker and he had a blast last week. So, he's been he's been having a good time. We took him to Kadoris the other day just to skip rocks and uh he threw a couple rocks and then he just decided to jump into the the lake. So we were at a graduation party yesterday and um he managed to find their pool and he managed to get in the pool so with us. We he didn't just jump in the pool without us but he loves water so that's exciting. So swimming lessons are on our horizon sooner than later. So yeah we are excited. Uh today we have uh the honor of having Dan Mohler Jr. with us this morning. This is the Mhler's home church, but it's uh exciting to have him speak for the first time. I'm sure he's experiencing all the feels this morning and thinking about his journey with God and where he was five years from now, 10 years from now, and just to see what the Lord has done. So, it's going to be beautiful just to kind of let him loose in in just a moment. But before I do that, I just want to lay some foundation um because I want to encourage uh some folks in the room that you need to not give up on the promises of God that have been spoken over your life. >> I hear some excited, but I need to get more of you excited because I'm telling you there there's there's more promises that have been spoken over your life that haven't come to pass yet. And I want to take this day, let this day be a a moment in time where you can On that day, I was reminded that God is doing more than what I could see. God has a plan. God has a purpose. I'm excited to see those promises become a reality because I believe that some in this room uh may be believing for children. Pastor Anna and I are believing for a vanful. Come on, somebody. Can anybody partner with us in that dream becoming a reality? We're believing for for children. Maybe you're watching on the live stream and you're believing for children. Maybe uh you are praying for a spouse. Maybe you are currently in a a season of singleness. Why don't we just put up some hands? Put up some hands. Now look around the room. No pressure. It's just an easy way to see who's single in the room. Hello. Or maybe you're already uh praying. Maybe you already are married, but you're contending for uh your your spouse in a in a different way. Maybe for them to come to the Lord fully. Or or maybe you are believing specifically for freedom to manifest in your life. Maybe in the form of a healing or or a son or a daughter coming back to the Lord. I'm here to tell you, do not forget what the Lord has spoken. >> Do not forget what he has said and what he is continuing to say. Because if we're not careful, the length of time that passes can tempt us to believe that God has forgotten. Would anyone in this room be honest and say there was a time in your life where you took your eyes off of the Lord and you put your eyes on your circumstance and you got a little distracted? But how many know that now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that you cannot see? I don't know if you're hearing me. We Sorry, camera guys. Um, >> this is fun. We need faith to actually marry with hope >> so it can pull what's in the unseen into the here and into the now. >> So, if there's anyone in the room that your hope is down, you need to get your hopes up. That's right. >> If you're struggling to have specific faith for a specific thing, you need to ask God for more faith. You need to be contending and saying, "God, you are the giver of faith." And God, I need more faith to possess my heart for this specific thing. And then you ask God to fill your heart with a supernatural hope that only he can give you because he is the God of hope that fills us with all joy >> and all peace. >> Notice that it doesn't say some joy and some peace. He gives an abundance of what we need. So when we're in a place with him where we're believing for something that maybe we can't even see right now, you have to believe. You either believe that God is working all things together for your good or you don't believe that. So when you're going through a circumstance that comes against that reality is your first thought, God, you must be doing something that I can't see with my natural eyes because this doesn't seem like what you spoke. So I'm going to believe that you are already in my future working all things together for my good. So if over here is all things coming together for your good and becoming a reality now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen. So you just continue to move towards that thing step by step by step by step. And if you refuse to not take your eyes off of Jesus, you will continue to get to that thing becoming a reality in your life. But if how many of us if we're honest in the process of all things working together for our good for those that love him >> and are called according to his purposes. So that's also a big point in that scripture. >> You got to love him with all your heart. He's got to be your everything. >> You got to be fully surrendered to him. You got to fully give him your life. You can't just give him your Sunday. >> Can't just give him your Wednesday. You got to give them your whole life. You got to love them with all your heart. >> So then faith and hope are working together to bring what's in the unseen into the here and now. >> So when you go to the doctor and you get that diagnosis that doesn't look like what you want it to look like, you're not in denial, but you're in Christ. I'm not telling you to be in denial. I'm not telling you to know the things that you need to declare over your own life because death and life are held in the power of your tongue. This is fun. I like this. This is fun. >> It's kind of cooler down here, too. >> Don't feel like I'm getting heat up like a rotisserie chicken up there. All the lights. Set it and forget it. Sometimes I feel like that up on the stage. But what has God spoken over your life? We want We as Christians sometimes we get so drawn to getting words and more words and more words and I just need God to say a new thing. What has he already said? What has he already spoken over your life that hasn't become a reality yet? >> Because if it hasn't become a reality yet, HE HASN'T CHANGED HIS MIND. >> That's still what he wants to do in your marriage. That's still what he wants to do through you, in your life, in your career. That's still what he that's still the plans that he has for your children. >> But we get distracted by what we see on the outside. We get distracted by our circumstances. The last time I checked, your circumstances don't get to dictate internal truths. >> That right now, if it's a big if, if you've given your life to Jesus, if you've surrendered your life to Jesus right here and right now, whether you feel it or not, you are filled with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead >> right here and right now. That's not something that's going to happen. That's something that has already taken place. When you go through challenging circumstances, do you find yourself praying for joy or thanking him for the joy he's already given you? Do you find yourself asking God for more hope? Or do you thank him that he is the God of all hope that is already inside of you? You are already one with the thing you're praying for. You're praying for peace, but you're already one with the prince of it. >> So, what is what happens when your prayer life looks like, man, this is really an unsettling situation that I'm facing right now, but God, I thank you that the higher truth is that right here as I go through this circumstance, I'm already filled with your peace that doesn't make sense. So God, I ask for that internal peace to begin to manifest itself outwardly. God, what you've done on the inside, will it now align with what I'm going through on the outside? And would you actually let me be the person that brings the peace to the room? Because a lot of the times we're praying for God to do things that he's already equipped, empowered you to do. Some of us are contending for our family and we want this brother and sister, this brother and sister, this brother and sister to be contending for our family. When God asks us, "How how much are you contending? How much are you on your knees believing for God to do the impossible with your loved one?" >> And it's not about God, change them so that they treat me differently. God changed their heart so Thanksgiving's a little less awkward. Come on. Come on. No. God, would you open up their eyes? Because right now they're lost. Right now they don't know you. Right now you're unsaved family member, it doesn't make sense for them to act saved. They're lost. What makes what doesn't make sense is for you as the saved one to look lost just as lost as they are. >> You okay? >> I do have some notes I want to get to, but that is fun. I like that. >> Galatians chapter 6. Go to Galatians chapter 6. Who likes Galatians? I like Galatians. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 says, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Notice that Paul doesn't say if there will be a harvest. He says there is a harvest coming >> if you don't quit. >> So you do do you want to harvest? >> Don't quit. >> If you not quitting is just taking one step a day. >> You need to celebrate that one step. You keeping your eyes so fixed on Jesus where you say, "I refuse to take a step backwards. I refuse to partner with doubt. I refuse to partner with fear. I refuse to partner with anything that God isn't speaking and saying." If you're his sheep, you hear his voice. If you're his sheep, again, that's a big if. It's not about occupying a chair in a building on a Sunday. It's about him occupying the throne of your heart. >> It's about you being one with him. You being in a a beautiful relationship with him >> where where you speak and you talk and you commune just like we took communion together. It's beautiful. I love taking communion together as the body of Christ. But you are in union with Christ. You are one with him. You are close to him. He is closer to you than the very skin on your bones. That's a beautiful thing that needs to hit our hearts a little deeper than it does sometimes. The enemy often tries to convince us that because we haven't seen change yet, that change isn't coming. Say it right now. Change is coming. >> Things are shifting. Things are starting to get in place. >> Come on. I feel like prophetically, we've been in a season where there's a there's a combination and it it's taken some time for it to click. But guess what? You know what I hear in my spirit? Click click click click click click click click click click click click. >> It's time to open the door. It's time to open the door of the promises that God has for you. >> The promises that God has for your family, the promises that God has for your church. It's time to step into those things becoming a reality because he is the great locksmith. >> He is the one that has all the combinations. He is the one that can take a mess and make it a message. >> You may be lost the code. He's never lost the code. You maybe got distracted, but he never got distracted. He knows exactly where you are for such a time as this. For the sake of time, I won't read it verse by verse by verse, but I I I would ask you to spend some time in Luke chapter 15 and study the story of the lost son, the prodical son's story. We all know that that story. A lot of us in this room could preach that story, but have you encountered that story? Have you put yourself in that story? And maybe you grew up in a beautiful home and your testimony is that you've been very protected and there's been this supernatural barrier over you for generations and and and and decades. But how many know you need Christ just as much as the lost one on the streets today? Come on. >> You need savior Jesus Christ just as much. This is this is one of my favorite pictures in scriptures. It's it's it's the father running to the son. The son left. The son rebelled. The son wasted everything. But when Jesus tells the story, the father never stops being the father. Notice that that in this story, the father never puts off being the father. He doesn't say, "Well, you know, we'll get back to this later on in life." No, he never stops being the father. I believe that father stood on that porch waiting and contending and how faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things that I cannot see right now. I can't see my son coming off of that horizon and making his way home. But God, I believe that you know the day. God, you know the hour. You know the moment that it's going to become reality, God. And if it's not today, maybe it can be tomorrow. If it's not tomorrow, God, maybe it can be next week, God. If it's not next week, maybe it's going to be next month. It's time to get your hopes up, church. It's time to get your hope in him, not your circumstances, not everything working perfectly the way that you would like it to. How many of you that that's what your relationship with God looks like? God just doing everything you would like him to do in in your perfect timing. >> Okay. Just well just want to make sure >> because his timing is perfect. A lot of the time we lay we need to lay down our own understanding as a beautiful act of sacrifice and say, "God, I don't know how this is going to work out, but I trust that you're walking all things together for my good." Come on, somebody. I think there are parents here today who need to hear this. >> You need to hear never stop believing God for your children. >> Never stop praying. Never stop speaking life. Never stop trusting the Holy Spirit. The story isn't over. >> Come on, someone needs to hear that this morning. That the story isn't over. >> And in the context of the story, who are you allowing to write the story? Whose hand is the pen in? Yours or God's? Are you fully surrendered to him? Are you really dead to yourself that God can say, "You've been trying to write this chapter, son. You've been trying to write this chapter, daughter, but guess what? I'm the one that writes the story. Submit the pen to me and let me write the story." Some of us are so wondering why this chapter isn't ending. This chapter isn't ending. Things aren't shifting. Things aren't moving. You're trying to finish the story and it's not your job to finish the story. It's no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in and through me. Amen. >> We have to remember that Moses was a murderer. Rahab was a prostitute. Peter denied Christ. Paul persecuted Christians. Yet God rewrote their stories, didn't he? >> Why? Because our failures are not greater than God's grace. Someone in this room needs to hear that your failure isn't greater than God's grace. No one is beyond redemption. Can you say, "No one." >> Not one thing is too far gone. No addiction is too strong. No bondage is too deep. No prodal is too distant. Jesus still delivers. Jesus still restores. >> I promise you, he has a plan. >> You have to know who you are. who you are in Christ before the transformation takes place. >> Because if not, you will define who you are by the transformation taking place and not what's already taken place because Jesus Christ said it's finished. Your identity must be that you are a son. You are a daughter. Period. There's no more to add to that story. One of the greatest lies the enemy says is one of the greatest lies of the enemy is change first then God will love you. The gospel says the very opposite that God loves you first. >> Then his love begins to transform you. When Jesus was baptized, we know the story. The the heavens opened and a loud voice said, "This is my son who I love and who I'm well pleased in." This was before Jesus did anything in ministry. This is before he did anything. He's starting his his natural ministry from a place of acceptance. I need my rag. Where's my rag? Help me out. Thank you, buddy. I'm glad that you're brave enough to touch it because I've already been using it. I love it. He's not just a guest speaker. He's my friend. So good. You don't fight for identity. You fight from identity. >> You don't become a son because you perform. You live differently because you have you already belong. You already belong to him. So you start to act differently. Maybe you've been praying for years for the thing that you're thinking about today. Maybe you've cried tears that nobody knows about. Maybe you've you've wondered whether your prayers mattered. I'm here to tell you, keep praying. >> God hears every prayer. >> Every seed matters. Every act of faith matters. The Holy Spirit knows how to reach people that we cannot reach. Never underestimate what God can do in a single moment. One encounter with Jesus can transform your entire life. >> One encounter, >> one moment, one touch. So, you're about to hear a story that takes everything that I just said and puts it on display and says, "This is this is what God can do and this is what God has done." It's a story of God's faithfulness. It's a story of God's grace. It's a story that proves nobody is beyond the reach of Jesus Christ. >> So, as Dan Jr. comes today to share. I I don't want you just to listen to his testimony. I want you to listen for God's invitation because the same God who transformed his life is still transforming lives today. >> So, would you do me a favor and would you stand up and would you welcome up Dan Mohler Jr. as he comes and preaches the gospel for the first time ever at Harvest Chapel, Abbott, Pennsylvania? Good morning. >> How you guys doing? >> You could do better than that. Good morning. >> How you guys doing? >> Amen. Uh, you know, I walked through the doors of Harvest Chapel for the first time ever in 2008, uh, completely broken. Oh man. And I see a lot of familiar faces out here that have seen me at my worst. Where's my buddy Ryan at? Where you at today, buddy? You're somewhere. Right over here. Uh, thanks for coming, bro. You know, we ran the streets together for some time and both got into a mess. And um, God changed both of our lives around radically. And today, I'm going to share part of my testimony. And testimony means if God did it for me, he can do it for you. >> He can do it for those in your life that you're believing for. And uh I walked through those doors as a broken man in 2008. My mom had brought me cuz I was facing some criminal stuff. Um I did some really bad things. And and when I get into some stuff today, it's never to glorify the past and the evil that I once did and how the enemy had a grip on me. It's to glorify God and how much he can bring you out of no matter how deep you are. And I was facing some criminal stuff and I was taking things out of family members houses. My own grandmother uh was robbing my family to feed my habit. And she's actually here today. It's restoration. >> And my mom had brought me and said, "I think you need to talk to a guy I know named Pastor Don." I said, "I don't want to talk to no freaking pastor." And she brought me through the door and I saw him and he said, "Well, hey buddy." And I was just not doing good. And he said, "How are you?" And I just broke. And I said, "I'm not good." He said, "You don't look too good." And he just began to pour into me who I was and who I was created to be and just talked about the mercy of God and how mercy can triumph over judgment. And a man can reap what he sws, but it's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. and just watching, you know, the transformation that's taken place over years. It was a cycle for me. You know, I I grew up in a a really good household. You know, a lot of you guys know my my dad, Pastor Dan. He's very well known and carries an incredible message of the gospel. And uh I'm going to hit on some stuff today that might convict your heart, but it's never to condemn you or bring me bring you down. is always to uplift and encourage you and bring you closer to the Lord. Amen. Because there's some experiences that I experienced as his son. That is a a tactic of the enemy that the enemy tries to use on other believers. >> And the enemy can't create the enemy can't make anything new. He can only pervert and manipulate what God intended for good. >> And I grew up in this household with a dad who was serving the Lord. And you know, I gave my life to Jesus at a very young age.

I was 5 years old, guys. I was 5 years old. And part of me did it because I saw my parents do it, but I also did it because I saw the change in my parents. Because before that, the household wasn't always the prettiest the first few years growing up. And I have a pretty good memory. I tell my mom some things that I remember, and she says, "That was your second birthday party? How do you remember that?" I'm like, "I guess I just remember."

But I grew up in this household. I gave my life to Jesus as an innocent boy when I was five. I got radically filled with the Holy Spirit at age seven with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I was speaking in tongues. My sister and I were on the school bus for like three days just blah blah blah. I was speaking in tongues to the point the bus driver was wondering what was wrong with us. And some of you might have heard the story too. Any of you ever hear the story? I share it on social media. My dad's preached about it about uh the time he dropped a battery on my finger. Did anybody ever hear that story? Okay, raise your hand if you heard that story. Okay, only a few of you. Okay, so I won't spend a lot of time on it here. I got about 45 50 minutes. U but I feel like this is going to lay a foundation because because some people say, you know, you were raised in that church. How raised in that church home with a dad like that and these experiences. How did you ever stray off? >> What c how would you be possibly able to run into the darkness that you ran into?

And that's what I want to hit on today where it's the trap that a lot of us fall into where growing up I I was told I had big shoes to fill. People in the church, you know, man, your dad's amazing. You got big shoes to fill. And then people would say things like, and this can be true to a point, but sometimes people think they're prophesying, but they're actually causing pressure where they say, you know, your ceiling's going to be his floor. Well, what if it's not? What if we all have the same purpose but a different calling? What if my life doesn't look like his? What if your life's not supposed to either? What if you're supposed to shine like Jesus as bright as you can in the midst of darkness? But growing up under this, I had all these people putting this pressure on me.

So, we're uh I was age seven. My dad and I were in a boat. My dad loves fishing, you guys. He loves fishing. He's addicted. He has a problem. He's like, man, he's like, "Where's that place you went? Life Changers Teen Challenge to get help. He's like, "I need to go there for fishing." And we were in his boat. I was seven. It was a bright summer day. We had an amazing day out on the lake. If you go fishing with my dad, you'll catch tons of fish when nobody else is. You'll catch them cuz he's in the boat, I guess. I don't know. And we pull into the dock. And if any of you know what a trolling motor is, it runs off a marine battery. Marine battery is like a car battery. It's about 70 pounds. that's filled with acid. And uh he used to always teach me as a little boy when the battery was charging in the garage, he always said, "Don't touch the battery because there's acid on it and if the acid gets on your skin, it can eat the flesh off of you." So he would always tell me that and it kind of like instilled like a healthy fear in me to not touch the battery.

So then we're in the boat and we're getting out of this canoe. He has a trolling motor. He's unhooking everything. I'm helping him get the fishing rods out. And he picks up the battery and when he turned to to put it on the shore, he slipped and he dropped the battery. My hand was on the edge of the canoe on the metal frame of the canoe. And when he dropped the battery, it landed flat on my pinky. This pinky I'll never forget. It was the worst pain I ever felt. It shot up my arm and it just like almost went like completely numb. And I started screaming not only because of the pain but because I was thinking the acid and I started screaming and he said people were looking around like I was you know how something tragic happens all of a sudden you don't understand your surroundings you're just in the moment. I'm in the moment and I'm in pain and what's up Harold? Bless you bro. It's my barber. He does a really good job. It's awesome. Good to see you too Kenneth. He does good right. Just kidding. So, he drops the battery. I'm screaming. There's people all around. He said, he looked around as a parent and he all these people were looking like, "What did you just do to your boy?" Because I'm screaming, guys. Screaming. I looked at my finger and it was completely flat. Flat like a piece of paper, just flesh hanging. The bone was crushed and within seconds it was turning black and purple and I my hand was just lifeless. Like it was my finger was done for.

I'll never forget my dad didn't go, "Oh my gosh, buddy. I'm so sorry. Oh, come here, Lord. Please." He never did that. You know what my dad did? He wrapped his arms around me and started going, "Father, I so thank you for your love. God, I thank you for your mercy. Father, I just so thank you for your presence. God, I thank you for your goodness, Lord. In Jesus name, thank you for your mercy." He never even prayed for my finger. never prayed. He just hugged me and said, "Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your love." You know why he was able to do that? Cuz he wasn't applying last week's sermon. He became it. >> Wow. >> He understood the authority he carried and who he was in Christ to the point that it enabled him to walk in that same that same place. So in the midst of the trial, he wasn't trying to apply what he learned. He became it and now he had authority over the problem. And as he's saying, "Father, I thank you for the mercy. God, I thank you for the grace." He's holding my pinky as if he's molding it back into place. And I didn't even realize it until I looked down and realized my pinky wasn't flat anymore. And about 45 seconds later, that the whole catastrophe was well, it wasn't really a catastrophe. It was amazing experience. But the whole thing was about two minutes, under two minutes. And my pinky, all the color came back. It wasn't black. It wasn't purple. I stopped crying. and I was able to move my pinky. And he looked at me and I looked at him and he said it was like a movie scene. He said, "I'll never forget the way the sun was hitting your face and you had tears rolling down your cheek." He said, "You looked at me and said, "Daddy, it sure is a good thing we know Jesus."

Now, that had to be a proud dad moment big time because I got a three and a halfyear-old and another baby on the way. My wife's here today, my beautiful wife. She's ready to pop. I said, ' Don't giggle too hard. The baby might fall out. We'll be having baby dedication before an auto call. She's ready to pop. I give her a hug. I'm like, she she had to drive my truck the other day and got in and sent me a picture and said, I think I'm almost done driving. She had the seat. You know how guys in here, you know how your wife drives your car and you get in and you get in, you're on the steering wheel? You gota like put the seat back again. I got in my truck today and I was way back. I had to put my seat up. I thought, "How's her legs this long?" She sent me a picture. Her she was so far back. Her belly was on the steering wheel. I'm sorry. But I have a three and a half yearear-old daughter and we're in the car driving yesterday and I'm driving home from the store and she's in the back and she just starts singing Jesus. I knows. >> My three and a halfyear-old. I didn't tell her to do that. It's a proud dad moment. I posted on my Facebook yesterday. You can go see it. Follow the page while you're there, too. I'm just kidding.

So, I had this this this this moment with my dad and it was intimate and the Lord used that to mark my life. And some people in here, you might have somebody running, a son or a daughter, a spouse, a grandchild, a loved one, and they might have not been raised the way I was raised in a Christian home. Or they may have been. For those who have been, Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child up in the way they should go, and when they're old, they will not depart." But even if they weren't tra trained up as the way they should go, as a child, you still have the authority to speak into their life from a distance because you're not the one that changes them. Your prayer doesn't change them. It's the Holy Spirit that does. >> Like your prayer doesn't heal the sick, it's your faith through the prayer. >> You with me? >> Yes.

So growing up in church and hearing my dad preach and seeing all the miracles, signs and wonders and you know watching scars disappear off people's skin, tumors disappear, cancer dissolve. See, a lot of times we say we believe that stuff, but then when we pray for somebody with it, we actually seem to have more doubt than we realize because then when it actually happens, we're surprised that it happened. >> But yet God still had enough mercy and love to do it anyways. Anybody ever deal with that? I prayed for a guy when I was in rehab. I went through 12-month program. I went through two rehabs. 12-month program. And I was in there a few weeks and prayed for somebody and watched the scars come off their arm. Never prayed for the scars to leave. I asked God to show them how good he is. And then it rocked me because I was only there three weeks, still getting clean, going through withdrawal. And God used somebody like me to do that. And then I got called back in the pastor's office and they sat me down. They said, "Can you explain what happened?" And I told them and they said, "Don't pray for anybody else." And some people hear that and they're like, "Well, that wasn't a good pastor." No, that was the wisest man I knew in that season. You know why? Because it's really easy to not be okay with the Lord, but then still flowing the gifts because gifts are irrevocable without repentance. And if you're not careful, you'll think God's using you and you're not close to him. And then you'll find yourself through how you're being used rather than who you are. And I wasn't there to pour out. I was there to get filled because I was broken. And then months later, they released me to be able to pray. And I saw all kinds of really cool stuff. But that was the wisest thing he could have did. See, that's what happened growing up in church under the the father I had and the family I had and the miracles. I started finding myself through that. And it felt good when people would applaud how God used you when really I wasn't living close to him.

By my by 12 years old is when I really started taking a downfall. My parents didn't My mom's here today. She didn't really they didn't really see how bad it was at first until it progressed to where I couldn't hide it anymore. But I was 12 years old when I got high for the first time. I was in sixth grade. And you know, growing up in in church or yeah, growing up in church, going to school, kids would view me different because like my family, we don't celebrate Halloween. It's just a personal conviction. People will like fight over that. If you have to defend it, that's probably a reason why you shouldn't celebrate it. >> It's good, right? I wasn't planning that. I don't have any notes, by the way, so I can't mess. I don't plan I've preached a hundred services and I've never had notes. Um, I've tried to and like Pastor Don's amazing app, Pastor Matt, I just can't do it. And I used to think it was the enemy trying to like brain fog me so I couldn't speak, but I realized it was God just saying like, "Open your mouth. I'll fill it cuz otherwise you'll get in the way." >> Like I was laying on the floor in worship. I was telling Pastor Matt, I said, I was laying on the floor and I was just praying and weeping under the presence of God. And I said, "The Lord," I said, "Lord, I feel more unprepared than I've ever felt before." And he said, "You're more prepared than you've ever been." You know why he said that? Because every day we should be getting closer to him. If I'm not closer to God today than yesterday, then what are we here for? If you don't walk out of this building with something that you're holding on to that you start to become, then why are we gathering? I feel like a lot of times we come to church to find God, but really we should be finding God at home, in our workplace, and then when we find him, we bring him here to sharpen others. You come to church, it says, the Bible says, stir one another up in love and good works. You come to edify, encourage, and lift each other up. Not come here and pull on God's strings to see what he can do for you. >> Amen. >> No, you become more like him. And from that place, Matthew 6:33, it's in the house. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else will be added. I'm in that season myself. Like, you know, have a fiveyear plan, have a 10-year plan. And the Bible says somebody without vision will perish. People are if you have if you lack vision, that's not a good thing. So, it's okay to have vision, but make sure that God's the one that's creating the path, not you. Like, I'm in a season where I don't know what the next six months of my life looks like, guys. I got a second baby on the way, a wife that works a full-time job, and might not always be able to do that same job now that we have two kids, and this is what I do full-time is serve and love people and just share my heart and travel and and just let the Lord do what he wants to do. But there's a lot of there's a lot of things that people don't see that I have to walk through and the tears that I cry and the fears that try to come against me where I'm learning what that actually means like what it actually looks like. Like what is it actually look like to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added. Think about that. Are we doing that?

So at age 12 was when I started getting pulled into peer pressure because I didn't celebrate. We didn't celebrate Halloween. So my dad would pull me out and my sister out of the Halloween parties at school and my friends would be like, "What do you mean you can't celebrate? You are a weirdo." And they would say things and you know, I didn't always have the Jordan shoes and the nice clothes. And my parents always took care of me. We were never in need. But my dad was not a fan of trends. Still isn't. That's why he doesn't own a computer. He tells me I'm a sinner for having an iPhone. I'm like, "No, you have an Android. You need to get born again." He's like, "They do that." He's like, "I does that so that we can't send videos and pictures and clarity." I said, "No." And we just get back and forth about it all the time. People are still like, "Your dad has a cell phone?" Like, "Yeah, and don't ask me for his number."

So at 12 years old, you guys all right today? >> At 12 years old, I started getting high. Pulled in the peer pressure. And the reason I did it is because the person that one of the kids that I looked up to at the time, he was popular. You know, you have your clicks and your trends in school. You got your popular, you're unpopular, sadly. And it's all about identity and finding yourself through what people think about you and how you look and who you're accepted by. and it's all just frivolous because then you're only doing as good as how people treat you. >> So, I felt accepted because this popular group wanted to hang out with me. So, I got invited over to my my friend's house at the time. His name was Shawn. I go to his house and he pulled out marijuana and a pipe and he asked me if I ever smoked and I didn't even know what it was. And I'll never forget, we were smoking out of his bedroom window. He was playing music that I knew I wasn't allowed to listen to. And it was all the stuff that I knew was wrong, but there was a conviction in my heart because of Proverbs 22:6, train a child up in the way they should go and when they're old, they won't depart. There was this conviction inside of me that was telling me I was doing wrong, but the pressure in front of me was still strong enough to pull me in because I was still trying to find myself through people and still comparing myself to other people.

See, what happens when you compare yourself to somebody else? And there's nothing wrong with gleaning up to somebody. Like the Bible literally says in Hebrews to imitate the faith of those before you. But there's a difference between imitating and copycatting. And I would watch somebody even like my dad like on YouTube and all the impact that he would have and I would try to become like him and I would apply what he's doing to my life. And then I'd fall short and question God why he's not there for me like he's there for him. But in reality, God was there the whole time. I just didn't create the intimacy to get to that place yet. I was trying to feed off somebody else. rather than get alone in the secret place. And it's the secret place that will propel you into walking in that authority, into that revelation, into that understanding, into the signs, the wonders, and miracles. See, the signs and wonders and miracles are really cool, but they shouldn't be what you're going after. They become a byproduct of who you become in him. >> See, I was seeking the signs, miracles, and wonders because I thought they were cool. That's what I grew up with. I thought that's what Christianity was supposed to be. When you pray for somebody, they have to fall over. If they don't, then God wasn't there. That's what I used to think. And there was a season where I'd pray for somebody and every person I pray for fall over. And then there was a season when they didn't. And the same thing happened to my dad. I said, "Lord, what are you doing?" He said, "You started living by feelings, not by truth. Because feelings change, truth never does. And you're limiting yourself based upon what you see. And just because things aren't happening and I'm not moving tangibly, physically the way that I used to, now you think I'm not moving." But God doesn't change. Are you with me? >> So I was trying to compare myself without even realizing having the big shoes to fill. You know, your your ceiling's going to or your his ceiling is going to be your floor. And it was all these things that were coming against me. And and the Bible says as a man thinkketh so he is. And you believe what you become. How you live your life reveals what you truly believe. So I'm believing the lies, not the truth. So I start becoming the very thing that I didn't want to be.

So I started getting high through my teenage years and it was probably mom what 15 16 years old where it started to be a little evident that I was getting rebellious. Um, I didn't want to go to church. Uh, you couldn't really tell me that I was doing wrong. I thought I had it all together and I couldn't wait till I was 18 so I could move out of the house. Um, that's why I started taking music serious and I would write raps and I just share this on social media a while back. It's very People always say like I love your vulnerability. It's not being vulnerable to me. It's just being me. I'm just sharing the truth because it's a truth that makes people free and you need to hear it. I would write these raps about my dad when he was traveling and I would rhyme things and say like something about the past and I wish this weekend his plane would crash. I wish that upon my dad that he wouldn't come home. People say, "What are you talking about? That's evil." It was evil, but I was confused and I thought that my life would be better with him not in it. It's the enemy, guys. I thought my dad was the problem. I thought God was the problem. I thought this was a list of rules that I had to follow to be a better person. rather than something I can become and actually be free.

So, praise God, I graduated high school when I was 18. I played high school football and you know, there was a time um even that I was finding my identity through football and you know, scoring a touchdown and being the allstar of the game. if you made the winning touchdown and it was like you felt good when you went to school wearing your jersey. And there was a time that I even got more hard-hearted towards my dad because he saw how detrimental it was and he told me I was my dad. He's like I can't come to your football game and support you like this the way you're living because I was 18. I knew better but I didn't know better. I was confused. And he said like I don't even want to like support that. And like I I understand now as I'm older like I'm not knocking my dad. It's not like he did anything wrong. But I think the enemy used that to make my heart hard towards him and think like, well, everyone else's dad's there and you're not. You don't even love me. Does that make sense?

So, I graduated high school and that's when things really went downhill. Um, I don't have time to get into the whole story, but you know, by the time I was 21, I was driving around just under the influence every single day. Um, could barely hold a job. You know, my buddy Ryan here, we were both running crazy and we both turned our life around, but he was always more responsible than I was. And I remember he had his own house and I got to the point where I was in this horrible relationship, strung out. It's when the the prodical son story when I'll get to that in a minute. When I came home and knocked on my dad's door, I was 123 pounds, living in this terrible relationship, getting high every day. I would manipulate my mom into bringing me money for laundry when it wasn't for that. and she knew, but I tied her hands and felt like I could disrespect her because she would give me what I wanted because it was twisted. But I remember Ryan, you remember I was walking down the road to your house. I had stolen car parts, copper, aluminum. I was on my way to the junkyard so I could get my next fix. And he's like, "Bro, what are you doing?" Like, I don't look like a guy that did that. I know that now, but I shouldn't because I'm not that guy anymore. >> I'm a new creation. God changed me. They could change your loved one. >> But it was those times when I was in my young 20s, I'd run crazy. My dad was traveling longer time periods at a time. Now he travels a weekend. He's home through the week before. He would travel throughout the week and things and be gone a little longer. So that's when I would go on my binges and I would run cuz my mom had no control over me. And I would just pretty much tell her, "This is what I'm doing. If you tell dad, I'll And I would be I share this everywhere I go. I'd be in a crack house at 4 in the morning missing for three days and my parents didn't even know if I was alive.

But I'll tell you what my parents never did. What my mom never did. She's sitting right over there in the flower shirt. She's amazing. She didn't worry and say, "You know better. We gave you a good life. What are you doing? You were raised in church. You're hurting your family. You're taken from me. You're taking from your grandma. What are you doing? You know better." She never did that. See, cuz I knew I was doing all that wrong. I didn't need to be reminded what I was doing wrong. I needed to be told who I was. And when I'd be in that crack house at 4 in the morning running, missing for days, I would get a text, my phone would go off, ding. And I'd look and it would be from my mom and it would say, "I love you, man of God." I wasn't living like one. Some people say, "Well, what do you mean? Why would she call you a man of God? You weren't a man of God." Yes, I was. >> I just didn't know it. >> See, we got to be careful. We don't allow what someone's going through to dictate their value. Because Jesus said, "When you were yet a sinner, he paid the price." And he paid the same price for everybody. >> So the moment that you get disappointed in someone for who they are, you better make sure you question yourself and say, "When can I find in the word that God was ever disappointed in me?" But it's impossible to see somebody that way if you don't see the yourself the way God sees you. How can you love somebody in the supernatural if you don't understand how you are loved? If you don't understand how you're forgiven. See, we sing, "I'm forgiven. I'm blessed. I'm chosen. But do we believe it? Do you believe you're forgiven for everything you've ever done? Some of you in here might be struggling with stuff that nobody knows about. But you can't overcome what you're not willing to confront. >> I had to be willing to confront what I was going through.

And the first time it didn't work out. my parents. I was driving one night intoxicated. I was texting and driving and I swerved off the road and I hit a street sign and knocked the the mirror off my car. I shattered my windshield, busted my bumper, but my car was still drivable and I'm like, "Oh crap, now what am I going to do?" Like my parents are going to know because I lived with them at the time. That night I was driving around just getting high with my car messed up and I ran out of gas. I think my mom you were out of town and it was just my dad home and I thought, "Oh no." And I was only like miles from the house and it was 11:00 p.m. at night and I had to call my dad under the influence and tell him that I ran out of gas. Can you bring me gas? He's like, "Where are you?" And I told him, he said, "What are you like, how are you?" To me, it made sense cuz I was messed up. To him, he's like, "What?" So, he had to bring me gas. He saw my car all messed up. He's like, "Dude," and that's when he realized like I had an issue. So, he told me I needed to get help. And I went to a place called Teen Challenge. Anybody ever hear Teen Challenge? I went to the Teen Challenge program in North Carolina. I was there for four months and I already had in my heart like I felt like I wasn't going to finish it because it was 14 months and that was a long time. Like and they take everything from you like no phone, no anything. Two phone calls a week to your parents. You have to have your shirt tucked in. If you spit in the grass, you lose your phone call to your parents. It was very strict. Very strict. Just full on schedule. Because when you come out of that lifestyle, you need to reimplement structure to be a human being. and I lasted about four months. And then they saw a change in my life. But when I transferred to the training center in Pennsylvania, I left prematurely and I went back home and I was doing good for a season. And then I slowly fell back into the trap of using and started with smoking cigarettes and then I got into smoking weed again and before you know it, I was doing all the hard stuff, selling drugs, you name it.

In that time, I just put this on Facebook and Instagram the other day. At that time, I was still trying to walk like Christ because I loved people and I had a heart for God, but I didn't know who I was fully in him. So, I was still trying to find these other things to mask and fill the void that only he can fill. So, I was at work and when I got out of Teen Challenge, I was on fire for the Lord and everyone knew me as like the Christian guy. But then I started backsliding behind the scenes and trying to mask it and nobody knew. But I still had to uphold that image because now I'm screwed up, but people are still asking me to pray for them. Now we have a problem. So then I pray for a guy with diabetes and a partially blind eye while I'm under the influence in the workplace in the aisle. And he got healed and his eye opened up and I'm under the influence. Now we have a bigger problem. So I go out to my car and I'm crying and I said, "God, what are you doing? Why is this happening?" And I have to be careful when I preach this because I don't want you to think I'm saying you can live how you want and God will use you. I'm saying the opposite. I'm saying in the middle of your problems and in the middle of your darkness, when you were yet a sinner, he died for you. His grace is sufficient and his mercy triumphs over judgment. But his grace is designed to transform you and enable you to live according to Christ. That's why Jesus said, "The things I did, you can do and even greater if you follow me." So his grace isn't for you to sin and get away with it. And I'm not talking to a bunch of people that live that way. I'm not saying that. I'm saying there's a time in your life where God has to become so real to you that you realize what this thing's really about. And in that moment, that's what it was for me. I said, "God, how is this happening?" And he said, "Daniel, it's funny, he called me by my full name." He said, "Daniel, the reason it happened is because the level of sin in your life will never dictate the movement of my love." And it broke me. In the middle of my mess, who am I to think my sin's big enough to not heal Jerry's eye? That would be weird. But God's love's bigger than that. See, I had to have that moment, that personal encounter, and not just things I've heard preached. It was things that actually happened.

So then I went on another binge and my own dad had to call me and he said, "I don't know." Well, before that, I had returned home out of that relationship and I had knocked on his door. A lot of you guys heard that story online, probably on YouTube. He's preached about the prodical son. And I love what Pastor Matt said. He said, "The father never stopped being the father." See, we always make the story about the prodical son, but I think it was the fact of the love of the father because if the father didn't love properly in the midst of the storm, then the son had nothing to return to. >> So, when I knocked on my dad's door that time that I was really messed up, I was missing for a long time. I didn't see him. I didn't want to talk to him. The last time I talked to him was a phone call. He called me because they got a letter in the mail that I was bouncing checks at the grocery store to get high. And he said, "If you keep doing this, you're going to get locked up." And I didn't understand how that stuff worked. I would write a check. I had no money in my bank account. So I'd write a check for cash back and balance the check so I could go get a fix. And it just kept piling up. So I went to his house. I knocked on the door one day. He was in the kitchen. My mom was out of town again. And he was jarring tomatoes. And I knocked on the door and he came and looked out the door and I was 123 pounds sick, missing teeth. And I was pressed up against the wall, trembling because I was scared. And he opened the door and he looked at me. He said, "Well, hey buddy, it's good to see you." And I just started breaking down crying. I said, "Dad, I'm so sorry. Like, I know you're upset. I know I've disappointed the family." And he said, "Look at me." And he looked at me very stern. I He touched my chin. Look at me. He said, "I'm not disappointed in you one bit. And I don't know how you could think I am." He said, "If I cry one tear, I cry for you."

See, because as parents, I think it's really easy to have expectations on our child on how they should be. But what if they're not being what we think they should? Do we lose sight in their value and get frustrated? Because you have no authority over what you're frustrated about. When you give into frustration, you lose your authority. When you lo walk in love, you empower God to move in a moment and in a season and in a situation that only God can fix. There was times my mom would text me, "I love you, man of God." When I was in that crack house and I would respond back with not very nice things to say. Guess what she would text me next time? Love you, man of God. It's like a little bug in my ear. But I needed it cuz people don't need to be told what they're doing wrong. They need to be told who they are. Every addiction, every lie, every every thing that somebody falls into, that trap in that whole sphere always comes from a lack of identity. And it comes from insecurity and not knowing who you are. Because when you come to Christ, you're no longer trying to follow rules. You become that. And now the things you once struggle with, you actually lose a desire for. >> Like the things that used to control me that I needed to get through the day now make my stomach cringe when I see them because I'm different. >> The lie was telling me I needed it. The truth told me that's not who you are.

So after I had that moment with my dad, this next time I had gone on a binge, he called me. I just had cycles, guys. Even after that moment, I still had cycles. And they had to walk through that. My parents had to walk through it. The whole time my dad's out preaching the gospel. It's not that he was neglecting his family. No, he loves his family. He loved me well. But he can't allow what I'm going through to dictate where he's at. >> So he had to hand me off to the Lord and say, "He's yours anyway. So I just pray for mercy over him in the midst of the adversity.

So then I made the choice to get help again. But this time it wasn't help, it was change. See, when I went to Teen Challenge, I was kind of forced to go and I needed help. The next time I was a grown man. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, when I became a man, I put away childish things. The love chapter. And I realized that I had a problem. My dad had called me, left me a voicemail. He said, "Hey buddy, I seen you've been well," he didn't call me buddy that time. He called me Daniel. And he said, "Hey, Daniel, I see you uh went off and ran off on a binge again, I guess, and I guess you're going to decide to live like a man. So, you're not welcome at the house anymore. And I'm leaving out of town tomorrow morning. So, if I don't have the house key back in my mailbox tonight, 5 5:00 pm, I'm calling the West Manchester Township Police and I'm telling them the make and model of your car because you're a destruction to yourself and society. And if you don't kill yourself, it's going to be somebody else. Click. That'll wake you up. Talk about a buzz kill. See, because there was times they provided everything for me, but I took advantage of it and I leave. There was a time when I say I was homeless, I I had nowhere to go. I didn't have money to go somewhere. And if I did, when I was holding a job and had money in my bank account, I was using it to get high. So then I could never function like pay the bills. So then I had somebody open up a place. They said, "If you need a roof over your head, they they had a double wide trailer." The lady had gone to prison for something and her house looked like that show The Hoarders where you go in. There's stuff everywhere. There's like bugs and stuff. That's where I lived. My mom had to help me take my furniture there. What do you think that did to her heart? Watching me choose the vomit. I had a best friend come knock on the door and I felt so ashamed I didn't want to answer it. And I would see things at night and shadows and the windows were cracked out and there was no electric in the winter. I could see my breath in my bedroom in that place. That's how low I let myself get.

So, I went to the second place called Life Changers Outreach. That's where I saw the guy's scars disappear. And it was 12 months. And I told myself when I went, "No one's making me go. I could keep my job and try to make it, but I need I need to change." And I went and I locked in. And I finished all 12 months. And my family supported me. My dad came down to Tennessee. My niece Jasmine, she came to visit a few times. And my dad actually preached my graduation night. And we got to stand on stage and hug each other. And it was incredible and it was a moment of redemption. But the only reason that moment was possible is because my parents never lost sight of my value on my darkest day. Cuz God never lost sight of theirs on theirs on their darkest day. The biggest thing I think it is and and you might be in here and say, "Well, I've never been through addiction or I don't have a family member." That's okay. There's other things in your life that would try to take advice. And whether it's television or drugs, anything greater than God is considered an idol. >> Drugs just destruct your body a little more in the physical realm. But the biggest thing I had to face was the guilt, the shame, the condemnation. And I always thought that, you know, I had to make up for my mistake. But God's a redeemer of the years. And you don't have to. There's things you did in your past that you can't go back and fix. There's things your family members might have done they can't go back and fix. But each day you have the choice to believe the truth and stand firm in that. And from this moment forward we move forward. I think a lot of times we allow what we've been through to dictate who we still stand as. And that's how you talk to somebody. I I'm 36 and my biggest age group platform that I get to minister to online is people older than me. And it's parents that have struggling with something and a lot of times the parents beat themselves up for where their kids at like it's their fault. But it's not. God's the perfect father of God's the per would you guys agree God's a perfect father? But how many people run away from him? >> It's like Adam and Eve in the garden. They had everything they could ever want and they still went after the one thing they shouldn't. That's what I did. I had everything I ever needed, but I went after the one thing I shouldn't. It's a trend. It's a It's a The enemy just uses it to get people. You can't let your past define you. It's okay to have a story from it, but don't stay there. >> That's right.

Do you guys have the scripture Romans 8:37? You could throw up. Read this with me. You don't need to open your Bible. We're limited for time here. No. Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. Next verse. Nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor angels, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us. Next, no power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. He lists a bunch of things, but there's one thing not on that list that's not listed. Can you flip back to verse 38 again? >> Nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us. I'm going to read this in my translation quick. Verse 38. For I am convinced, this is NIV, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's one thing not listed in that passage. You know what it is? Your past. He says, "Neither the present nor things to come." You know why the past isn't listed? Because when you give it to God, he doesn't remember it anymore. And when you ask him to forgive you more than one time, he doesn't know what you're talking about. >> You know what you're talking about because you haven't let it go. Because you haven't seen yourself the way he's looking at you. Your past isn't listed. It's not that God forgot. He just didn't put it there because it doesn't exist to him. He doesn't see you for where you used to be. He sees you for who he created you to be. And when you get that, it empowers you to see others that way. And it's the goodness of God that leads people to repentance.

I could preach for two more hours, but I don't have time because there's some stuff I really wish I could hit on maybe next time. But I do want to do something special today. Um, if you guys got to go, you can you can slip out. But for anyone in this service today that's um believing for a loved one and even not more importantly but I want you to have a reality check today. If there's something in your life that you're hiding that you wish wasn't there and you feel like you don't know how to kick, I promise you God will break the chains off of your life today. >> He's real and he'll do it. But you have to be willing to give it up. I know there's people in this room that deal with things cuz we're all human. We go through things, but we can't allow that to be normal. Jesus didn't have secrets. And he said, "Follow me." Sometimes we think it's the enemy attacking.

us. It just might be a choice we're making to hold on to something that we really don't need. Pastor Matt, can you come up?

So, I'm going to hand it over to him in a minute, but I want to have a time of prayer and just one-on-one intimate stuff because I have time. I believe the Lord's going to reveal things. And there's people in this room right now, you can you feel uncomfortable inside. I feel it because you're like, "Well, I should have it together. I don't want to go up there. I don't need you to come up to make my day better. I want you to come up to be free." Cuz I know what secrets do and they are not fun.

When I first got married to my wife, I got off social media a few years and I wasn't doing the And I was drinking pretty bad and I thought it was okay at first and then it got out of control and she had to watch that and then I felt like she'd be ashamed so I would try to hide it from her and that did stuff to her too and I know what it does to families. I'm not condemning you in here if you drink but I'll tell you right now I think it's the most misused drug on the planet. And I think it's accepted in the body of Christ way too much. And you can be upset at me for saying that if you drink, but the fact that you feel upset shows it's probably a problem. And I'm not talking out of turn. I've been there. Why do you drink for what? Sorry I had to end on that note, but I feel it.

I'm here to call you to a higher place because this thing's real. And people that have been through what I've been through, some of them didn't make it out. By the grace of God, I stand here today because I had a family who loved me through it. And even when they didn't, and God sent other people into my life to love me when I wasn't able to receive from them. So, I want you to open your heart today and put aside any kind of pride that might be trying to creep up and ask yourself, what am I doing? And why do I do it? Because if you want free, there's freedom here today. I promise. I'm going to lay hands on you and God's going to deliver you.

So good. Why don't we all just stand together and uh if you do feel that that pulling, I I don't want you to think about it. I want you just to come forward. Like Dan said, if you have somewhere to go, that's fine. But if if you feel that compelling of the Holy Spirit, there's nothing to be ashamed of. There's not there's no condemnation in Christ, come against guilt and shame right now in Jesus name. God, we thank you for freedom. We thank you for freedom. So right now, like if you just feel that, just just come come forward. This is about you having an encounter with God. It's not about the man of the hour. It's about Jesus Christ himself is here. So God, we just thank you that you are the one who sets the captives free. God, we thank you that you are the chain breaker. As individuals come, if there's a a few people on our prayer team that could come and help us pray, that would be amazing. Dan's going to pray, but maybe even just catchers. God, we just thank you for the power of of a testimony. God, we thank you that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When a testimony is released, it says this is what God has done, and if he did it once, he can do it again. So God, we just thank you, Lord.

I just feel like I'm supposed to ask again if there's anyone in the room that even wants to stand on behalf of a family member and say, "I've been contending for a son. I've been contending for a daughter." Could we do this? If that's you specifically, you're contending for a for a family member. Could you come right here, man? Could you kind of just like host that? Miss Kim, if you would feel comfortable to pray for them, I would. That would mean so much to me because you stood in the gap for your son. You feel compelled to do that. I'll let you be with over with Anna over here. If there's a bunch. Wow. There a whole group over here. Praise the Lord. Wow. It's beautiful. Mom, you come pray. You prayed for me. Come on. Come. You You come help pray. You You prayed me back. I was lost. Lost, lost, lost, lost. Yeah.

If you can if as you're just waiting for prayer as as the prayer team kind of gets to you, just kind of just be in a receiving position because the Lord is moving. The Lord is doing things right where you are. So God, I just thank you. I just heard the Lord say that I'm doing more than what you can see with your natural eyes. So parents, the ones that have been praying by name for their sons and daughters, he he's doing more than what you can see with your natural eyes. So God, I just thank you, God. I thank you that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. God, I thank you that we're not pursuing freedom, but freedom actually pursued us and found us.

Before we close, I just want to do this as well. If there's anyone in here that has a physical need, you have a physical need and you would like prayer, I'd like you just to slip your hand up right where you're at. There's a few that are up here at the front. We'll get to you guys all keep your hands up. But if there's anyone out there, there's a hand right here. There's a hand here. There's a hand here. If you see a hand near you, can you get by them and find out what it is? Ask them just, "Hey, what are we praying for?" and just go after healing. Just we're not begging. We're just declaring be healed in Jesus name. Be healed in Jesus name. Be whole in Jesus name.

So, we're just going to continue to go after Jesus, but thank you guys so much for being with us. We're not going to rush this, but if you need to go, that's totally fine. We got Bill Vanderbush with us next Sunday. It's going to be a blast. We'd love to see you back. But again, if you'd like prayer, please come up to the front. We'd love to pray with you.