Transcription
I want to talk to you tonight about the unlikely ones, because that's who God's about to use in this next season. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of First Corinthians, chapter 1. 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, hallelujah. We're going to begin in verse 25. If you're if you're turning to the scriptures on your phone, that's cute, but don't you check TikTok right now, or I'm going to throw my shoe at you.
1 Corinthians 1:25: This is what Paul said: "because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. You ought to praise God right there. And he has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong; and the base things of the world, and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are; so that no man can boast before God, but by his doing." You are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; so that, as it is written, Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Can you say amen?
I came to tell y'all tonight that the God that we serve loves to pick the people that nobody else would ever dream of using. Our God likes to take the ones that got passed over, that did not get picked for the team. Am I preaching to anybody in here right now? He loves to take people; he delights in using people that the world would never select. You want to know why? It's so that no one will be able to take the credit for what he's about to do.
Let me tell you what God's about to do in this church in the next season; what God's about to do in your marriage—what, I'm talking about the marriage that you think is over—what God's about to do in your marriage; what he's about to do with your babies; what he's about to do in this region. It's going to be so astounding that everybody that sees it is going to say that had to be the Holy Ghost. That's why God uses the unlikely ones; he does it so that none of us will appropriate the glory that is only due to his name. This ain't the season of the hot shots. Come on, somebody. This is the season of the rest of us, who maybe don't have any qualifications, who who don't have a ministry pedigree and don't have four degrees on the wall. But guess what? We're open, we're available, and we're hungry for the Holy Ghost. He's coming for the unlikely ones.
Our God is determined to use the ones who are the least likely to succeed. You want me to prove it? All right, here we go. Get ready. God likes to take somebody like, you know, a snot-nosed brat, a punk that tried to get ahead of God, like Moses. I want you to consider this: Moses knew he was called to be the deliverer; he literally murdered a guy so that he could prove how cold he was. How many know that will never work out for you? I don't recommend that you try that. He ended up getting sentenced to a desert for 40 years, wandering by himself before he got to go get the children of Israel. God loves to take the black sheep, like Moses, that runs away as a murdering fugitive. God takes that boy and sets a burning bush right in front of him, traumatizes his life for the sake of the Kingdom forever, and then sends that firebrand to stand in front of and said, "You are going to let my people go."
Our God is coming for the unlikely ones. See, the great thing about the Bible—I don't know how to tell y'all this—it's true; and the people that God used were never the ones that we would have chosen. Come on, American church. We need shiny people; we need the anointed people, the glorious people that have a great big following on social media and an awesome website. We need the people that look like they've got it all together and put out great YouTube sound bites every week. But God's looking for the folk that maybe don't know how to network properly, but they know how to pray in the Holy Ghost; they know how to fast; they know how to pray until something happens; they know how to push. So God took—I'm talking about the unlikely ones—you okay? God takes a con man like Jacob, who never approached anybody without an angle. Y'all ever met anybody like that? Don't look at your neighbor right now; don't make it weird. Okay, a con man like Jacob, who constantly promoted himself, constantly defended himself, always had some kind of a scheme going, and God wrestles with that boy and shifts him and and changes his name and makes him walk out of that encounter with God with a limp. Until the man was a scheming liar and a thief, all of a sudden is called Israel, the prince of God. God birthed a nation out of that man. I said God's coming for the unlikely ones. Oh, you didn't like that? Here we go.
He took the redneck Elijah. Have you read your Bible lately? Cuz that dude was a beast, man. Dude was wild. I mean, most of the time he slept outside; he was he was he was not a nice person. Sometimes when he prophesied, he was ugly to folk. You would never let Elijah in the doors of a church. I'm telling you right now, you'd be like, "Somebody needs to call security up in here, cuz this dude looks rough." God took a redneck, and in one altar call—just one—I mean, I've seen some altar calls, but in one altar call, Elijah sees an entire nation bow down and repent and say, "The Lord, he is God." You'd have never thought it, but God used the redneck to turn a whole nation. Reckon who he's going to use to turn America? What who is it that God's about to tap that is offensive to your little religious senses? Who is it that God's about to use to turn this nation? He's coming for the unlikely ones. Are y'all in here right now?
God takes Rahab. Uh-oh, I went there. She was not a nice girl. Come on. I know what neighborhood this church is in. Don't you look at me like that. I grew up in this neighborhood. You're not fooling me, man. You might fool some other guest speakers, but you ain't fooling me. Rahab was not a nice girl; she was a prostitute. Come on, y'all. And when the Lord redeemed Rahab, she was not even an Israelite; she was a gentile prostitute. But because she honored the spies, and because she was willing to come into the Kingdom of Israel and become a part of the congregation of Israel, God did not just redeem her; God did not just let her be a part of the nation of Israel, but once he started, he just kept on redeeming and redeeming until that woman—if you look in your Bible—her name is in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Hey, he's coming for the unlikely [Applause] ones. You better get ready. You have no idea who's going to come through those doors and sit next to you on your little sanctified pew, and they might smell like Jack Daniels tonight, but they might start a revival tomorrow. You don't [Music] know. Lord, I wish I had some help in this church tonight. He's coming for the unlikely ones.
He takes David, who's just a little hippie kid sitting out in the in the wilderness; he's out in the pastures; he is not a warrior yet; he has no resume; he has nothing to make you feel better about who he is. In fact, he smells pretty funny. Have you ever been around sheep? David has nothing going for him that makes him appealing to people; people—all he's been doing is sitting out under the stars day and night with his guitar, singing love songs to Yahweh—and all of a sudden, God takes that little shepherd boy that smells like the sheep and anoints him, puts a crown on his head, and uses his voice to teach an entire nation to say, "The Lord is my shepherd." Oh, hallelujah. He's coming for the unlikely ones. You got one more? Can I do one more?
He takes a coward like Peter, who was a loudmouth at best. Peter, who in the time when Jesus walked the Earth, only got it right about three times. You know, he had that real big moment: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." He got it right that time. The whole rest of the time, Jesus is just like, "Could you, for the love of all that is normal, could you just be quiet?" How many have ever felt the Holy Ghost tell you to please just be quiet? I've got my hand up. Are y'all okay? Peter says, "You're the Christ, the Son of the Living God," and in like 10 minutes from that moment, he messes up so bad correcting Jesus. Can you imagine? He rebuked Jesus, and as you can imagine, that did not work out well. He spoke to the Lord Jesus in such a way that Jesus recognized the voice of Satan himself. So Jesus looked at Peter and called him the devil. How many know you can't get a much worse rebuke than the Son of the Living God calling you the devil? And yet, after he denies Jesus, you know, three times—because once was not sufficient—say what you want to about Judas, he only betrayed the Lord once. Peter goes the extra mile. Come on, but three times—my Lord—denied the Lord Jesus three times. And yet, by the time that boy came back to the Lord, we find him willing to stay in an upper room for 10 days because he knows he ain't got it by himself. And because he stayed in that upper room until the Holy Spirit was poured out upon him on the day of Pentecost, the same Peter that was a coward a few days ago is now the one anointed and appointed to stand up in front of the city of Jerusalem. He opened his mouth in the first message of the church, and his message defined the parameters of what we call revival and outpouring today. Hey, I'm here to tell you, I don't care how you messed up on God in your last season; God is coming for you. He's coming for the unlikely ones.
Do me a favor. I want you to slap your neighbor and say, "She's talking about you." Come on. Slap your other neighbor and say, "Yeah, I'm serious; she's talking about you." Hear me, my friend. The Lord is not looking for the next big preacher; he's not looking for us to have polish; he's not looking for who among us is going to go viral next on YouTube. I'm here to tell you that it's none of our concern, but he is looking for the ones that everyone else has counted out. There's a call going forth in the spirit realm, especially right now in the State of Florida. God is calling for the ones who know that they don't have it all together, who are not so preoccupied with their own destiny that they're not looking at Jesus anymore. I like to say it like this: God's looking for folk that are not caught up in the narcissistic, self-centered gospel. You're going to hate me for this; this might be the message that gets me never invited back, so let me just let you have it with both barrels real quick. Is this okay? Hear me; hear me; hear me. Anybody—any gospel that tells you that Jesus only died to bring you purpose—that's a false gospel. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day to catch you up into his calling. Come on. That's what Ephesians says. He said, "I pray"—Paul said, "I pray that the Holy Spirit"—he said, "I pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, and that you would come to know what are the riches of his inheritance." It is his inheritance, and he said, "I pray that he will catch you up into the the hope of his calling." I don't have to worry about my destiny; I don't have to worry about my calling if I keep looking at Jesus; if I keep worshipping; if I keep pursuing the Great Commission; it's all going to even out. But God's not looking for folk that are trying to audition. You better hear me in here tonight. God's not looking for folk to audition to be the next Great American wonder; he's not looking for Brother Wonderful or Sister Holy Ghost; he's looking for those who say, "It's not my will, but it is his." Come on; come on. He's looking for the ones that think the prayer room is more important than the platform; he's looking for the ones who would rather intercede than become another public spectacle. I wish I had somebody in here that said, "Jesus, I want you to do it to [Applause] me." Hallelujah. He's not looking for polish; he's looking for the diamond in the rough.
One of the most unlikely people God ever used was Gideon. Gideon was hiding under his bed, calling for his mama. Have y'all ever read the Book of Judges? Because it's a scream. Some of y'all ought to read the Bible from time to time; it'd be great if you did. I'm not gonna preach on that right now. Praise God. God used Gideon because Gideon understood that he had nothing in and of himself. You see, I want you to understand tonight that when you lean your whole life on the person of Jesus, Heaven calls you usable. Oh, can I say that one more time? I don't think y'all heard me, cuz I mean your whole life—your money, your time, your talent, your gift, your job, your school, your husband, your wife, your little snot-nosed, bratty kids—when you lean the entirety of your life on the person of Jesus Christ, that is when Heaven calls you usable; not when you become a great speaker. May God deliver us of great speakers who function independent of the real Holy Spirit. I ain't got time for that right now. Come on; come on; come on. And I want you to see this with me in Judges chapter 6, verse 1. I'm gonna do a lot of Judges for a minute, so you can hang out with me, or you don't have to turn there; it's just up to you. But um, I I just know that some of y'all aren't going to read the Bible again till next Sunday, so you're going to take some in here tonight. Don't don't tap your neighbor on that one though, cuz that will make it weird. Come on. They're not going to go to Denny's with you if you act ugly like that. Okay. Judges 6, verse 1: "The sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. The power of Midian prevailed against Israel, because the sons of Israel had made for themselves dens which were in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds." See, can you imagine? They were they were digging fresh strongholds for themselves and hiding among them. That's when you know the people are in bondage; that is the opposite of revival. Yes, you might be in a stronghold, and it might not be your fault; maybe it's your mama's fault. I understand it; everybody's got junk. I've told y'all about the side of my family that's Pentecostal preachers that lay hands on everything that moves and talk in tongues and sees miracles and preaches the word. I didn't tell y'all about the folk in jail. Come on, somebody. Bradley on the front row that works with our ministry, we adopted him as the cousin; he's not a blood relative, but I got to replace the folk in jail. How many got some jail folk? Wave at me. I don't want to be all by myself on that. Thank you. I don't mind the fact that you have a stronghold, cuz we can get you out of it in the name of Jesus. The problem I have is when the people of God defend their junk, defend their stronghold, and start moving in fresh wallpaper and some throw cushions and making yourself comfortable in your own dysfunction. The devil is a liar; whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You ain't got to stay in that mess. "You don't understand what my trauma was; you don't understand how easily I get triggered." Oh, give me a break. The blood of Jesus is stronger than that mess. So it was when Israel is—the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the East and go against him; they would come against him and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza and leave no sustenance in Israel, as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey; for they would come up with their livestock and tents; they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable, and they came into the land to devastate it. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord.
I want you to understand right here that Israel was in a completely backslidden condition, and all of those bad things that were happening governmentally, economically, and socially was actually all their fault. Y'all want to go home, or can I keep preaching? Because here's the deal: as it was then, so it is today. It's not the Republicans' fault; it's not the Democrats' fault. Do you understand me? It is the church's fault, because while we stopped praying and while we tried to have shinier services, the enemy moved in, and he took all the sustenance out of the land. Let me tell you, if you do not like the condition of the United States of America, let me tell you, it is the indicator of what the church's prayer life really is, no matter what we say it is. Y'all shouted when I talk about David being a shepherd boy; you don't want to shout right now, but I'm telling you it's the truth. But I know I'm in a house with some remnant folk tonight that are rising up in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost that have been crying out and interceding, and there's churches like this one all across this land. You know how I know it? Because the last time I was here, abortion was still the law of the land, but praise God that devil has been defeated. Somebody ought to shout right there. Hallelujah. God's looking for some folk that'll come after it in prayer, because there's a lot of people like Gideon that's hiding out in a stronghold; there's a lot of people that have been comfortable in their stronghold. You know, I don't go looking for devils to cast out; I think that's kind of dumb; usually they come find me. Pastor Kim wasn't too long ago, I had to cast one out in a Baptist church. Nathan said, "My Lord, that looks like an episode of Swamp People; shoot it; shoot it." I mean, that thing was crazy; like they did not cover that at bible school. Let me tell you, I don't go looking for things to cast out; they usually find me. But let me tell you, I believe in deliverance for this reason: the next generation of mighty warriors—they ain't got no gray in their hair yet; they might have purple hair. Come on, somebody. They might not look real churchy; they might be all tattooed out, and they might have piercings all up in their face. I believe in deliverance because the next generation of mighty warriors is bound right now, and at some point we're going to have to stop being frustrated that they don't look like us, and we're going to have to go get them and cast that mess out of them in Jesus' name. I got to hurry, my Lord; y'all are acting out. Sit down.
When I say that God is looking for the unlikely ones, I want to be real specific, because I don't want you to be confused. So here you go: God's looking for the crack addict. Yes, amen. Thank you, Jesus. God is looking for the folk who are in the gay bars right now. Oh, come on; come on, church. God's looking for folk that are thinking about transitioning their gender, and by the time the Holy Ghost sets them free, you're not going to believe what comes out of their mouth. Come on, somebody. Hallelujah. He's looking for the unlikely ones. God's coming after the folk that right now they think they're spiritual cuz they know how to cast spells and do some incantations and flirt with some witchcraft, but when they meet the power of the Holy Ghost, they're going to throw them stupid crystals down and drop their charms and say, "That is real power, and I want some of that." God's coming for the unlikely ones. Hey, I tell y'all something: this pulpit is wobbly. I bet it doesn't shake when you preach, Pastor Kim. You're so much nicer than me. Like I didn't get that anointing; I got the crazy. I don't know, man. Hey, everybody from Georgia is not crazy; your pastor's wife is.
The proof? Okay. Don't blame her for the whole state. The Bible says, in verse 11 of chapter 6, "The Angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress in order to save it from the Midianites." The Angel of the Lord—almost every theologian will tell you that this was Jesus Christ before his Incarnation; this was a theophany. Okay, I like that about Jesus, that he was so excited to interfere in human history that sometimes he just had to show up before Bethlehem. I love that about Jesus. Was that too much? Was that too Sunday school for right now? Are y'all okay? If I give you a gold star, will you wake back up? Come on, come on, come on.
The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior." Then Gideon said to him, "Oh my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are his miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian." The Lord looked at him and said—said, "Go in this your strength." Wait, did y'all hear any strength? Because I mean, I heard a lot of whining. What did y'all hear? Was it whining to you, too? How many of your kids have said that to you? You'd have said, "Whiny butt! Whiny butt! Oh, whiny W!" Is that just me?
Can I talk to this for just a second? Because there are people in the room right now that, if I gave you the opportunity, you would come to this altar and you would weep on me and say, "Lydia, I don't understand why the Lord isn't answering my prayers." Can I talk to it? He never answers prayers according to your insecurity. He will only ever see—did you see how Jesus ignored Gideon's insecurity but immediately said, "Go in this your strength," called him back up into his calling? Did you see that? See, you're frustrated because you don't think God's answered your prayers. No, no, no. He's never going to answer your prayers according to your insecurity. He's always going to call you back up into his higher narrative. Stop accusing God and calling it prayer. Every time you do that, you can expect his silence. The quicker you surrender, the more answers you'll get. Y'all want me to go back to just talking to the chicks? Are you mad at me now? Well, she done told me that's why I'm not getting my prayers answered. Listen, I'm here to help you pray effectively. It's time for breakthrough. That means we need to stop whining about what we are not and what we do not have or how hard it is. It means we need to look at Jesus and say, "I want you to catch me up into your story. I want your kingdom to come to Jacksonville. I want your kingdom to hit every single ministry associated with this house. I want your kingdom to hit my family." Stop whining about the—the what we don't have and start plugging into his narrative.
The unlikely ones—they have a hard time seeing in themselves what God sees in them, but that's why God delights in choosing them. I want you to know that Gideon's name—it means "one who cuts down." Ain't that something? I looked it up in the Hebrew. It means "one who cuts down." And if you read the rest of his story—we're only hitting some highlights right now—but if you go home, maybe you need some homework, so go read Gideon's story when you get home, class. But if you read Gideon's story, what you're going to find out is that his daddy was a backsliding jerk. His daddy's name means "fire of God," but his daddy was an idol worshipper and had set up a Baal idol in his backyard and then a Asherah pole to go with it. There's a lot of kids in the room, so I'm not going to tell y'all right now how those people worshipped those false gods, but it was not rated G. Are you okay right now? His daddy was a backsliding jerk, but even in his backslid state, he named his son "You're the one who cuts down," and you are—guess what?—a mighty warrior. It was in his name the whole time. If you look up the name Gideon in the Hebrew, it literally means "one who cuts down" and "mighty warrior." Every time that backslid jerk daddy talked to Gideon, every time he called him in for supper, every time he berated him, it didn't matter; he was prophesying, "Son, this is your destiny."
Well, the very next thing that happened is that God told him—I'm just going to tell you about it; I ain't going to read it right now—God told Gideon, "Before I can use you to deliver Israel from the Midianites, I'm telling you now, boy, you're going to go in your daddy's backyard and you're going to knock down that idol. You're going to cut it down. You're going to set it on fire, and you're going to build an altar to Yahweh where your family's generational curse used to be." Let me tell you about the unlikely ones. They worship a little bit different. They don't just stay bound to some generational curse just because it went back three generations. No, they build an altar on the thing that used to have them bound and say, "We are not going to take it" [Applause] "anymore!" Let me tell you who's going to win in this next season; who's going to stop whining about the generational curse and who's going to take authority over it; who's going to build an altar. You know you're starting to get free when you build altars on what used to bind your life. The unlikely ones—they push past their fear, and they push into freedom. They push—I said they push—into freedom. Let me tell you, he restored the family altar that had been torn down.
I want you to know there are still people—and it blows my mind, it blows my mind—that there are still people afraid to—to come to church. I think that is absolutely ridiculous. Several different solutions to the virus at this point. For the love of all that is sacred, take a shower, take your pajamas off, take a shower, put your real clothes on, and come to church. You need the gathering of the saints. You do. You need it for your soul. I promise you, you do. But listen to me: In the next season, the key to your next season lies both in this sanctuary and in your living room. It is not the children's pastor's job to teach your babies about Jesus; that's on you, baby. Let me tell you, it's not the youth pastor's job to get your little snot-nosed brat talking in tongues; it's your job. Come on, somebody. The unlikely ones—they are restoring the family altar once again and bringing that family back into the house of God. Can you say, "Amen"? Man, I got to hurry. Jesus, take the wheel. We're only on—I don't want to tell you what page we're on; it's bad. Only me and Jesus, and maybe Nathan knows how many pages I have, but I ain't telling you. If you want some notes, you get you an iPad. Praise God.
The next thing that God told Gideon was, "You have too many people." He gets a whole bunch of soldiers ready to fight—32,000 people come to help him fight the Midianites. Here's the thing: Midian had an army that couldn't be numbered, so 32,000 wasn't a great number. God speaks to Gideon. Gideon has a prayer meeting, and God speaks to—speaks to Gideon and says, "You still got too many folk, don't you think?" He didn't like that word. That had to be a lousy word of knowledge at the prayer meeting, and all of a sudden thousands of people walk out just because they're afraid. Come on. Welcome to 2022. I ain't even got time. Let's go. But then God looks at Gideon after all these thousands of people leave. God looks at Gideon and says, "I got to talk to you." Gideon's like, "I don't want you to talk to me right now." God said, "I got to talk to you, son." "What is it, Lord?" God said, "Son, you still have too many people." And Gideon says, "You have got to be kidding me." And God said, "This time the test is going to be how they drink from the river." Are y'all in here tonight because how you drink from the river matters? Let me tell you about the unlikely ones. They drink a little bit different. Come on, somebody.
God said, "I want you to watch." He said, "Some people, they're going to get down on their knees and they're going to bend all the way over." Aren't y'all glad I wore my Spanx tonight? You ain't going to see no glory but the Lord's. Praise God. The Pentecostals wear safety shirts. Isn't it wonderful? Spanx—it's like the word of the Lord; it holds all things together. Come on, girls. Y'all better say "Amen." Don't you leave me up here by myself. So listen, he said, "Some of them are going to drink from the river with their face in the water, just like this," right? He said, "You can't have those." He said, "I want the ones that drink like this." This is so like not classy. Forgive me for this. Can you see the difference? See, this way, I'm not inviting any enemy fire. Amen. I—I have lowered myself. I have humbled myself. I'm able to drink from the river, but my eyes are still on the horizon. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Let me tell you about the next season. Oh, I—I—I know nobody's going to like this, but in the next season, God ain't going to use the folk that's got their high and mighty up in the air, that's only concerned about themselves as they consume the river of God. No, no, no. God's not using them anymore. God's looking for the folk who will get all the way down, humble themselves all the way down, and say, "God, I—I—I don't want to draw attention to myself. I only want your glory, and I'm going to look out for those I'm fighting." Are y'all listening to me? The unlikely ones drink a little bit differently. I want you to want revival, but don't you stick your rear end in the air. Come on, somebody. They really aren't ever inviting me back. You know why? What I said just matters because the word of God does not just say "pray"; it says "watch and pray." This is the season you can't afford to stick your honey up. Come on, somebody. This is the season where you better have your eyes on the horizon, 'cause the enemy is coming for your marriage, your family, your ministry, your church, your pastors. Come on, somebody. You better be ready to watch and pray. I'm almost done. If the worship team wants to come, that's a sure way to get me to shut up. Praise God. You know that's why preachers do that, right? It's your cue to stop talking. Praise God. It's just nicer than saying, "Please shut up." It's great.
You know the story as well as I do. Gideon ends up with only 300 rednecks, and the fighting strategy from God was that they were going to take clay pots—this is one of the dumbest battle plans I've ever heard in my life—clay pots with torches down in them. Gideon tells these boys, "When I say 'go,' you're going to smash the pot, light the torch, and everybody—we're gonna blow the trumpets, and everybody's going to say, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'" How many know that's ridiculous? But in ancient times—this is what I didn't know; I played with some encyclopedias, and this is what I found out—look at my glasses—this is how it goes, friend. Nerd power. You ready? In ancient times, Thomas Edison wasn't there yet, so that field was dark; it was pitch black. This battle against Midian took place in the middle of the night. When those men—when those 300 guys broke the pots and those torches lit, what happened was Midian assumed that these were the guys that were lining the perimeter to hold up the—the lights, the torches, so that they would know where the battle was to be fought. They didn't realize that these were the actual soldiers; they thought they were just the light holders. Can I tell you about the unlikely ones? They fight a little bit differently. We don't fight according to flesh and blood, but we hold up the light in the name of Jesus. We hold up the revelation light of the Holy Spirit. We hold up the truth of the word of God. We hold up the truth of the light of the world, who is Jesus Christ, and as we do that, he releases angelic forces to fight for us. Do you understand?
I want you to know that light couldn't shine until they smashed those pots. In the next season, God will be using the unlikely ones in direct proportion to their brokenness. So if you feel broken in the room tonight, if you feel like you've had all you can take, if you feel like one more thing—the devil opening up one more battle line on you—would be about all it took to see you go crazy, I've got good news for you: God's about to use you like you've never been used before. He's going to use the broken ones. Second thing I want to tell you is you need to hold up that torch. The light of revelation is about to uncover and expose every hidden thing that the enemy has tried to accomplish. God is releasing the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of God once again. Come on, church. We got to raise up the torch. The third thing they did—and I've been doing a lot of this even this weekend as we've been fighting for Pastor Lindel Coy's life—I've been saying—that they said, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" You don't have to agree with me, and if I broke this, I guarantee you y'all will fix it when I'm—I know y'all are wonderful; y'all will fix it when I'm gone. You don't have to agree with me, but I believe when they said, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon," that they were inviting the angelic forces of Heaven to fight on their behalf. How many know we serve the God of angel armies? I've been asking God—God, in Jesus' name, release the angels into that Vanderbilt Hospital, into Lindel Coy's operating room, and bring that man to complete restoration. And I've been asking God to do that in my own life: "Father, release the angels, the ministering spirits that minister to the heirs of salvation, to fight battles I don't even know about." How many need God to do that for you?
Here's how I want to end this right now. Okay, I told you we're going to acknowledge our brokenness. We're going to lift up revelation light—the torch of revelation light. We're going to look to the voice of Jesus. We're going to invite angelic armies to fight for us. But how many in the room right now say, "Lydia, all night long I know you've been talking to me. I'm one of the unlikely ones, and I got nothing working in my favor, but I want God to use my life"? If that's you, wave at me right now, all across this room. Come on, look at that! Look at that! Come on, we're in good company tonight, guys. It's all of us. Did you see that? God wants to use all of us. Why don't you stand with me right now? Hallelujah. I want to pray for you before I hand this mic off. I want to pray for God to touch your life. I want to pray for God to touch your pastor, 'cause I'm about tired of the devil coming against his life. I'm tired of it. I've had—I know you have—I've had [Music] enough. I want us to do—I know I end every service like this. I know I do. I think that I'm—I don't know—maybe I have just lost patience with people who are Pentecostal in name only. When I tell everyone in the room in just a moment to pray in the Holy Ghost, if you're not yet baptized in the Holy Ghost, I don't want you to feel left out; I want you to get hit, too. So I'm going to just tell you in a minute we're going to all pray in the Holy Ghost because we're Pentecostal. But if you have not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit, receive him by faith, and he will overtake you, and all of a sudden you'll be talking a language you ain't never learned. It's a—it's wonderful, and I think it's nuts to not want to talk in a language from Heaven. The Bible says in the book of Jude, "You build yourself up in the most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit." So all the unlikely ones—the remnant that God's about to use in this season—come on, somebody—all of us that don't have our life together that want God to use us for the glory of his name—I want you to lift your hands up across the room right now and begin to lift your voice and pray in the Holy Spirit. Let Heaven touch you right now. You don't need my hand to touch your head; you need the Holy Ghost to burn your life, brand your life, and mark you for eternity. Come on, lift your voice and pray in the Holy Ghost right now. Come on, baby, in the name of Jesus. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Evangel, I can't hear you. Pray in Jesus' name. Father, right now we pray for Pastor. We break every assignment from Hell against this man, against his heritage, against his legacy. We plead the blood of Jesus, and we command his body to be made whole. We speak life in the name of Jesus. Father, I ask you for literal revival to hit every cell of his body in the name of Jesus. I thank you for what you're doing in this life, and let it trickle down to the whole family church. Will you pray right now for literal revival in Jesus' name? Father, I thank you that you're touching people across this sanctuary right now. If you're sick in your body, I want you to put your hand where the pain is right now. We rebuke every sickness, every disease in the mighty name of Jesus, and we speak life and wholeness right now. Come on, put your hand on your body. Talk to that pain. Command it to go right now in Jesus' name. Father, release the healing virtue of Jesus across this room right now in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, that you're pouring out your spirit all across this room. Come on, come on. If the Lord is touching you, start waving at me right now. If God's touching you, if you're feeling a healing touch, wave at me right now. Wave at me right now. What's happening? Come on, look at that! People are being touched all over the sanctuary. Oh, Hallelujah. Father, I thank you that you are raising up an army of remnant warriors. I thank you that you're raising up the unlikely ones in this house tonight. Father, in the name of Jesus, I ask you to shift Jacksonville for your glory. I ask you to touch the state of Florida for your glory, and God, I ask you to pour out your spirit in the United States once again. We ask you for revival as you raise up the unlikely ones in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. They're about to lead us—whatever's going to happen next. But listen, listen, listen. I want to bless you like I blessed my two little boys. Is that okay? Just as a servant of the Lord and as somebody who considers this their Jacksonville home church, I want to bless you like I bless my boys. I bless you in the name of Jesus that the blood cover your life. I bless you right now that the angels of the Lord encamp around about you, your family, your home, around everything and protect everything that your life touches. I bless you in the mighty name of Jesus that you have wisdom and discernment. I bless you in Jesus' name that you have an excellent spirit and an obedient heart to the will of God. I bless you that, friend, you are strong and you are courageous, and I bless you that you have a voice of authority that speaks clearly. I bless you in Jesus' name. If you believe it, if you receive it, lift up a shout!
The King! Right now. Come on.