Transcription
I want to thank our pastoral council and executive board because we met. Amen. I want to, cuz I want y'all to know that we are spiritual. You know, really, I know there's a business component to everything, but we really are spiritual. And that's important to say because I've gone among some reformations and everything is so business that they forgot it's the business of souls. And it's all about who's going to be what and all of that. That ain't us.
And we came together in a meeting. And while we were in that meeting, uh, the pastors lifted up because of traveling and flights, you know, let us close convocation on Friday night. And I agreed with them. I said, "Oh yes, I agree." Because when we stay over an extra day, you know, the staff of our church, that's another day that puts us behind in preparing the church for Sunday. So I was like, "Oh, truly good, good."
And I went and I was in my time of prayer about me, not about nothing else. I was in my time of prayer about me. And the Lord spoke to me and says, "You didn't ask me. You went and sat at the table and not one time did you ask me."
And the Lord spoke to me, uh, uh, you know, physically Saturday, a convocation is, you know, we packing bags to get out of here. And the Lord spoke to me and says, "No, gather the sights for an exodus." Oh my God. And I went to the pastor. I said, "Please don't misinterpret that I don't respect your voices. Didn't I tell y'all I called, I think I called you oversea?" I said, "But please, if you will hear my heart, the Lord spoke and said, if it's only the remnant, oh, glory be to God." I just got this prophetic word. The Lord told me this is the Exodus because when we talked about mending our nets, this is what the Lord was speaking about, mending our nets, cuz and and then every, all of y'all kept saying it, that hold on, we're saying mending our nets and we've been saying it all year, but mending our nets is not the conclusion. It's mending our next net, nets so we can go to the next. But most of us want to move to the next without mending what we had.
And the Lord spoke to me dealing with closure. I want you to lay hands on somebody and give them eye contact. Tell them, "Before this convocation ends, God is giving you closure."
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Because I, I never forget. I had a a laptop, one back in the day when them Word Microsoft Word, you know, one of those processors before I had Mac and my computer was working so slow and uh, and uh, Sister Ashley St. McCary always been good with technology and she took my computer. She says, "I, I see why it's so slow. She said, "You got all these windows open."
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And when you got a whole lot of windows open, it slows down the processing. And I need you to look at your neighbor, tell your neighbor, "God is about to catch you up because he's closing all of those windows." He's giving you closure in things that you have kept open in convocations past, you danced over it, but you left the window open. And I want to tell you, if you're ready to walk into the next door, close that last door. Mend that net so you can move to the next. He said, "Closure." He said, "I'm giving you closure. Conversations when necessary. Conversations when they are available." Hallelujah. But even if you deserve an apology, be willing to move without one.
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Even if you deserve an apology, don't keep the window open waiting. Even if the screen gets stuck, learn the function buttons and force it down. My God, I've come to tell somebody in this room, before this confrontation's over, you need to force or quit. You need to shut that window whether it desires to be shut or not.
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And what the Lord spoke to me, this was crazy. Now, Pastor Bruce, you're prophetic. And so, when you walked in the office today and you said something random, it wasn't random. It was so God. And you said it to pastor. You said it to Pastor Benet. So I know we talk about mending nets and then I said this is the exodus and I was trying to find out God, what, what are you speaking to me? Exodus and mending nets. This is an Old Testament and New Testament, almost like the old negro spiritual we sung, "Oh Mary, don't you weep, oh Martha, don't you moan." New Testament because Pharaoh's army got drowned in the Red Sea. It seems like there's no correlation. And I preached over and over that there's no correlation, but I found out that our ancestors were more in tune than I realized. Why Mary don't weep and Martha don't moan? Because of what happened in the Exodus? Because the same God that caused this to end well. I come to tell you, you got a reference point from another season that tells you, although it's challenging right now, touch two people, tell them, "It's going to end well."
And and so what the Lord was speaking to me, mending that, creating closure because I'm about to bring you out. I'm about to bring you out of a place that you've been held captive for a long time. I'm about to bring your ministry out of a place that has been held captive for a long time. I'm about to pull your marriage and your children out of a place of captivity that has been held for a long time.
So what was the assignment? How did they create closure? The Lord told them, "Go to the uh Egyptians." And the King James version translates this Hebrew word "sha" and says, "Borrow from them jewelry." It's not the best translation because the Israelites are leaving Egypt not to come back to Egypt. So the more proper word is ask. But this ask is not a timid ask. It's almost an ask with a demand tone. He said, "Go to the atmosphere that's been holding you hostage, but before you exit, put a demand on the atmosphere." In other words, you're not going to waste a season of captivity. Before you come out of this season, you better put a demand on everything that belongs to you. You're not asking for a handout. You're asking for what you suffered for. You're not asking for a give me. You're asking for what you cried for. Scream at somebody. Tell them, "It belongs to you." Don't go in timid. Put a demand on your race. Put a demand on your healing. Put a demand on your deliverance.
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God conditioned the atmosphere. God conditioned the at this leaders in this room, to some business owners in this room. God has already conditioned the atmosphere because if they would have went to the Egyptians two weeks early and said, "Give us your jewelry." The Egyptians would have said, "Are you serious? Y'all slaves? What makes you think I'm going to give you my jewelry?" But because God had afflicted Egypt, the atmosphere was right and something that they would not have given you two weeks ago.
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Something that would not have been released to you two weeks ago. This ain't for everybody, but everybody who's been working on something, you've been looking at something, you've been discussing something, I want you to just touch the altar real quick and say, "It's coming to me now. It's coming to me. The atmosphere has been shifted. The atmosphere is set." What they would not have given you two weeks ago. God has conditioned the atmosphere for yes. God has conditioned the atmosphere for approval. I didn't know that many of y'all was working on something. You tell me that many of y'all are really working on something. The atmosphere has been conditioned for yes. The atmosphere has been conditioned for a yes. The atmosphere has been conditioned for a yes. Before you get there, God has already worked on their heart. Before you get there, God has already conditioned their spirit. The hard heart has become a heart of flesh. I didn't, I didn't know that many of y'all were working on something.
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Tell somebody. Tell them, "I dare you to go back." Oh, no. No. I'm going to exit. Oh, I'm going to exit. But before I exit, [Music] I want everything that belongs to me. I'm not coming out empty-handed. Leaving, leaving a season is hard for many reasons. We shout about my season changing, but leaving a season is hard. When he says, "Drop your nets and follow me. I'll make you fishers of men," it's hard. When he says, "Come and get ready to get out of Egypt," that's hard. As much as we're excited about it, there's a difficult uh element to it because the unknown is scary, and the known, although it's captivity, is familiar.
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Because the Lord told me before you leave to address this, to address this and to pull off of you the spirit of what if.
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What if some of you instead of being suspended in your questions, living God's statements? There's a whole lot you don't know, but that that you do know, you need to keep rehearsing it. What if I step out and I can't afford it? What if I step out and it don't work out? So instead of living in that, step over on what's sure. "My God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches." Look at your neighbor. Tell your neighbor, "Get out of your questions and stand in his statement."
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What if I can't sustain it? What if I can't sustain this? What if it falls apart? What if it falls?
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What if I, what, what if I'm being set up to be humiliated? How am I going to do this? Sometimes I'm barely making it with what I have right now. How is it that you're calling me to do more? How you going to put more on me? You just living in your what if? What if? What if? When you need to get out and it's not by might, not by power. I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep screaming, but it's by our spirit. Lay hands on somebody. Tell them, "The Lord is going to sustain you." Now, come on. That, that might not be churchy, but I need you to look at somebody. Tell them, "The Lord will sustain you. You are not going to drown in the assignment. You're not going to lose your mind in the assignment. You're not going to lose your family in your calling. The Lord will sustain."
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So, I don't know if you notice, but everywhere I've traveled all last week, whether it was an outside pavilion for church or whether it was at Pastor John Hannah's church in Chicago, Pastor Venet would look at me before we would go into service and said, "Is, is it okay if I leave my shoes in the office?" What many of you all do not realize, culturally, for Indian Christians, the majority of them would never walk into a church with shoes on because they don't walk in their houses with shoes on. So it, they would never go as far as to track the outside [Applause] the outside trash into a holy place.
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And so as I was wrestling, trying to hear what the Lord wanted to say, Pastor Bruce got to, you know, got to the green room before service and he looked at uh Pastor Venet and he took his shoes off. He says, "The Lord showed me you in a vision this morning." And he says, "So when I got to you, I decided to take my shoes off." And you don't realize it's by the mouth of two or three witnesses that let every word be established. That this was the message the Lord wanted me to communicate. The reason why so many of us, not y'all, so many of us are drowning psychologically and emotionally is because we're trying to deliver it. My God, we are trying to deliver it. We're trying to deliver the family. We're trying to deliver the church. The vision. Oh, you gave me the vision. Okay, I got to deliver it. I got to make it happen. I got to work it out. I got to fix it. I got to keep the people together. I got to keep it going. I got to finance it. I got to make it happen.
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When God looked at Moses and he says, "I want you to go get them out. But before you get them out, take your shoes off." Take your shoes off because the ground you're standing on is holy ground. And so many of us when we look at that scripture, we say, "Okay, he had to take his shoes off 'cause the ground was so holy." But you have to realize him taking his shoes off was greater than reference or reverence. Him taking his shoes off was transfer. Oh God. I said it was more than reverence. It was transfer. Because in Judaism, let me give you an example. Do you remember? Glory be to God. Yeah. When Ruth had lost her husband, and there is something in Judaism called kinsman redeemer, the redemption of a kinsman. That if your family member dies and your family member was married to somebody, then you have an obligation as a sibling or the next of kin to marry his widow to keep his name alive. And yes, you know, Ruth married Boaz, but Boaz was not the next of kin.
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There was another one though, was close in kin to Ruth, uh, Ruth's husband than Boaz was. The only challenge with it is that although he had proximity, he didn't have the price. He had proximity but he couldn't afford it. Evidently, his house was already maxed financially, but she was not available to another until the one that had proximity released her to the market. Hear me? So, the, the, the symbolic gesture that this man had to do in order to allow Boaz to come in is he had to remove his shoes. When he removed his shoes, he was communicating, "I have proximity, but I don't have power." And God told me to tell you that's been exhausted and drained trying to make everything work. Take your shoes off. I'm going to bring them out. I'm going to bring it to pass. I'm going to deliver. I'm going to make it work. I'm going to put the keys in your hand. I'm going to touch the heart of the financer. I'm going to do it. Somebody tell them God is going to do it.
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God's going to do it. God got him out. And when, when God got him out, you know, 'cause this is what the Lord told me to tell you. He says, "I won't let you stay." Jesus gave the disciples a directive. Moses gave the children of Israel a directive. God is eliminating excuses and options. He's eliminating excuses and options. God won't let you stay. Lay hands on yourself and say, "God won't let me stay." He won't let you stay into your under your old anointing, under your old system of doing things, your old way of thinking, your old captivity. God won't let you stay.
And they came out. When they came out, they, they came out. But as soon as they came out, the enemy came behind them. And y'all know what happened, right? When the enemy came, what did the Lord do? He, he, he released the waters. And and yes, he released the waters to destroy the past, but he also released the waters to keep them from easy access of going back. It wasn't just about the enemy. It's about the enemy in us. It's about my own carnal nature that every time God brings me out of something, I then desire soon as a challenge comes to go back to what God delivered me from. But the Lord says these are crashing waters, not just for Pharaoh's army. This convocation is crashing waters. So you can't trace your way back. Hallelujah. God says, "I know. I know the proclivity in you to try to reach for what I brought you out of, but scream at somebody. Tell them, "You won't be able to trace your way out of this. You won't be able to find the old path."
And I'm finishing.
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Because God brought Peter and the disciples. He said, "Come on y'all. Drop your nets. Follow me. I'll make you fishers of men." Doing the resurrection after the resurrection of the Lord and his post-resurrection pre-ascension ministry, that though that 40-day period, he was showing up, walking through walls, but you got to realize when he found Peter, where was Peter? What John 21? Peter went back fishing. He went back to what he knew. Amen. And the Lord is saying, "No, this time is different. I'm shutting doors behind you because you won't fit Egypt anymore. It served its season." And we're moving now. And we're moving now.
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And we're moving now. And we're moving now. And before your legs get there, your language has to.
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Before your legs get there. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. You won't always be able to control how you feel. I've had this conversation with you a thousand times. No, no, no. You won't always be able to control how you feel, but you can control what you say. And as your language starts changing, the world around you is going to start changing. Hear me? Because when God made us, he made us in his image and in his likeness. That's more than facial features. Hallelujah. He made us in his image and his likeness. So as he is, we are. He's a speaking spirit. Yes. When he created the world, Pastor Stack House, he didn't do it with his hands. He did it with his voice. So when your language gets in the future, I said when your language gets in the future, here is Isaiah, a pre-Yeshua prophet. Yes, sir. And Isaiah speaking of Messiah in the past tense. Okay, I'm, I'm, I'm finished now. Let me, let me. I said Isaiah centuries before Jesus is speaking of Messiah in the past tense. His language was already in the future. When he said before Jesus is in Bethlehem, Isaiah said, "For he was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities. And the chastisement of my peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed." Scream at somebody and tell them, "Dance in the future. Dance in the future. Dance in the future. Dance in the future." What do I mean when I say some of y'all hear, "Dance in the future"? Dance in the future. Say, "See. See." When you dance in the future, you dance as though it's already done. I love, I don't need a clip. We ain't going to dance. We ain't going to dance. But every once in a, every once in a while, you start walking around the house you live in now and be like, "Woo, look at my master bedroom."
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When you start moving in the future, you don't dress for the position you have. You dress for the position that's about to be released to you. Hey, hey, hey, hey. When you start moving in the future, I'm going to tell you, I'm serious. Y'all think I'm crazy. Y'all think I'm crazy. When we were at Memorial Avenue Church and we were believing God for this building, I got up one Sunday at the Ramp on Memorial Avenue and I said, "Welcome to the Ramp Church International located at 701 Thomas Road, Lynchburg, Virginia." We hadn't signed a contract. We didn't have a down payment, but I was already in the building before I got here. Let your voice go before you. Let your sound introduce you because your praise has hands.
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I said your praise has hands. Come here. Uh, Pastor Bruce, your praise has hands. You can turn around. Turn toward them. Mark chapter 10 said there was a man by the name of blind Barameus. Oh, y'all already know where I'm going. Oh, y'all already know where I'm going. Blind Barameus, the son of Tameus. Before we are introduced to his father, Tameus, before we are introduced to him as his name Barameus, we're introduced to his affliction.
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Blind Barameus. He could not see. But I want you to know, Pastor Bill Russell in Harvey City, you don't need eyes for this next move. All you need to do is be able to hear. I need a sanctified preaching church. Lay hands on your ear and shout, "I know what I heard. I know what I heard. I know what I heard. I may can't see my way out of this, but I'm going to hear my way out of this." 'Cause faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You don't need eyes for vision. Just because you got eyes don't mean you got vision. And some of the people with the greatest vision are people who can't see. I don't see where the money's coming from. But I got vision. I don't see how it's going to work. But I got vision. Jesus.
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Hold up. Hold up. Who y'all said it is? Who? Be quiet. Be quiet. Who is it? Is that the Jesus of Nazareth? Hold on. Hold on. Ain't he the one that interrupted the funeral procession of Jairus's daughter? Ain't he the one that the woman touched the hem of his garment?
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Ain't he the one that showed up at the pool of Siloam and a man who had been lame for 30? Ain't he the one? He said, "Jesus."
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He cried, "Barmus." But Jesus, when people try to shut you down, you just tell them you don't have that situation. Jesus. All right, Dig and Bruce, I want you to make two steps forward. Do it now. Jesus.
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The Bible did not say he touched Jesus with his hands. Go to verse 49. Go to verse 49. Hallelujah. He cried out and touched him with his voice until a Jesus that was in motion.
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Now, I'm not going to pretend that just because you shouted, you're going to get the Lord's attention. 'Cause there was a whole lot of people around Jesus. One woman touched him and he said, "Who touched me?" And they said, "What are you saying? There's a whole bunch of people around you." No, no, no. There's a whole lot of people around me, but everybody's not touching me. Just because you shout don't mean it's going to shift. It's when you shout in faith. I said it's when you shout with faith. It's when you let faith ride the wavelengths of your voice. Jesus, I finished. Thank you. Amen. I finished. Thank you so much. This is the Exodus. This is it. This.
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Glory be to God. Oh, I've had to tap into another reservoir in me. But I wouldn't have never dug into it if I hadn't hit a hard place. I, my mother and I, she raised me up in a mobile home in Gretna and sometimes she don't like me always talking about that mobile home, but it gave me the best messages of my life. Because Pastor Nick, there came a time when we turned the knob and the water was coming out slow, but the water was stained. And it stained, stained the tubs. It stained the sink because the well had started to run dry and the water was coming out brown because the well, the well that had served us for years, was running dry. And the man told my mother, "If you want to get more water out of this well, you're going to have to dig deeper." When they got in the wilderness where there was no water, water came out of a hard place. I want you to lift up your hands. Everybody who's been dealing with a hard place. I've been dealing with a hard place, church. I've been dealing with a hard place. I've been dealing with the difficult place, but still moving. And where there was no water, your refreshing is coming out of a hard place. There is another revelation of God that you will experience in this season that you would have never experienced less God had taken you this way.
So what is this about then? Because why would you bring me all the way out of there to get me in this middle? Am I have I been brought here to be embarrassed? Would you raise me up like this for me to be under constant attack and warfare? This ain't what I thought it was going to be. This is not what I prayed for. And moments in the wilderness will make you start glamorizing your past. Well, if this is what it is, y'all can have it. Y'all know what I'm saying? Y'all can have it. I don't want it. I, I wanted to be married, but if this is marriage, ah, I wanted to lead. I wanted to pastor, but if this is pastoring. That's what present challenges in the wilderness. It'll make you say, "Well, at least I had food and I didn't have to worry about where it was coming from." Uh-huh. I'm talking to some of you preachers right now. You start thinking it was easier when I didn't have to worry about a church budget. But then Elder Franc say, "Why bring me out here?" He said, "Moses, go get them out of Egypt." Here it is. So they can worship me. Well, you going. They were there for 400 years. You going to tell me they didn't worship? Oh, no. No. That they worshiped, but they worshiped with limited knowledge. There is a worship that comes from experience. There's a knowing and intimacy. And how many of y'all can testify that God has revealed himself to you in a new way in this wilderness?
All right, stand. We're going to go home. Hallelujah. All over this place. Come on, lift those hands. Relieve it. We're moving. Scared to death. What am I doing? Don't have all the resources. But when my feet land, it's going to land on something solid. My shoes are off, but my heart is ready. I have transferred the power to the one that has the ability to redeem. All over this place. I know you'll worship him when you get there, but will you lift up a sound and worship him in the middle right now?
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The psalmist says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." In other words, the word of God shows us where we are and it shows us where we're going. Thank you for joining in and listening to this message today. I pray that something was said that has shifted you into the direction that God wants you to go. Take this opportunity. If this was a blessing to you, share it with someone else. And if you're not already doing it, follow us on all of our social media outlets so you can continue to get the word of God pumping in and out of your heart and into your life daily. Uh, if you were blessed and you want to be a blessing today and you want to share with what we're doing domestically and all around the world, there are ways to give on the screen. And remember, when you sow seeds into the kingdom of God, the seed may leave your hand, but it will never leave your life. This is Bishop S. Yunger telling you to go with God because he's already going with you. Don't stop here. Keep going.
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