Transcription
With your glory, would you give the Lord a good hand clap, a praise all across the building? Oh, come on, clap it! Clap like you mean it! Yes, Lord! Anything can happen on Tuesday night, and probably will. God bless you. You can be seated if you need to. Worship with this praise team, unless you have church.
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Lord, you are good! Your mercy endureth forever! Sing it with us!
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Forever!
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Hallelujah!
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From generation to generation, we were singing!
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I know you've been really good to me, Lord, from waking me up this morning. You're good!
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Hallelujah! One more time! God never gets weary of hearing how good He is.
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Come on, all the time! All the time! Really, really good!
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We worship You, Jesus!
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We worship You!
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Praise Him! Praise Him! Hallelujah, somebody! Magnify the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords on Tuesday night, on a midweek service. Let's lift Him up and magnify His name. Yeah.
Now, I understand that Tuesday night is geared for teaching. I understand that usually we come out here on Tuesday night and our focus is on getting a few preliminaries out of the way and focusing on the Word of God. But I'm telling you tonight, I feel revival in the air. I feel like it's a revival service.
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We need to have some church around here. We're going to have some teaching, preaching, whatever Brother Jordan Copeland feels. Man, we need to prepare the atmosphere for anything to happen. Somebody needs to receive the Holy Ghost. Don't use tonight. Somebody needs to receive a miracle, have their life changed on a midweek service. Would you lift your hands together and say, "God, fill somebody with the Holy Ghost. Change somebody's life tonight. Work a miracle in this place." Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God bless you. You can be seated. If you need to, worship together and let's have church in Jesus' name.
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Can you hear me?
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The sound of heaven touching earth.
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Can you hear it? The sound of heaven touching us.
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[Applause]
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Is...
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Break out, live and come down.
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Our walls.
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Jesus.
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The shaking of the earth.
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[Applause]
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We're lifting high.
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Yes.
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[Applause]
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Is...
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Jesus, You're the name we're lifting high. Your glory.
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We wanna see Your kingdom.
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Yes, we wanna see Your kingdom.
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Break our walls down.
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Heaven, come down.
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Why don't we take a moment to magnify the Lord together? Come on, all across this building, would you magnify His name? Make some kind of noise. The Bible says, "Make a joyful noise." All the way back under the balcony, you ought to be lifting your voices, clapping your hands, doing something to let God know how you feel about Him. Hallelujah! We praise and magnify Your name. Oh, we magnify the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
If you'd remain standing, I want the ushers to come, and we're going to give you an opportunity to be blessed in this house. I'm telling you, this is a church that knows the blessing that's connected to supporting God's kingdom, and we give, and God gives it back, pressed down, shaken together, running over. We're one of the most blessed people on earth because we've learned that when you give to God's kingdom, it's the only promise that it'll come back fourfold, yay, tenfold. And we love to give around here. So, the Bible says He loves a cheerful giver, and the Bible says to bring your offering to the storehouse. That's why we march and give. So, we're going to give you an opportunity to do that right now.
Jesus, dear Lord, take every penny that comes in, bless it, multiply it, that Your gospel might be preached, and bless every giver abundantly. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. God bless you as you cheerfully bring your offering to the storehouse.
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As morning comes, Lord, You inspire songs of praise from...
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...earth. By Your name is... Your name is...
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To louder. Jesus.
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To live for You and glorify Your name.
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Your name is...
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Is...
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Cause is...
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Has the power.
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Jesus.
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Hearts today.
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This is...
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Is...
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To say...
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What's your name?
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Lord gives us...
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Is...
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Let the nations sing.
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Hallelujah! Let's magnify the Lord together one last time. Come on, would you give God some praise, thanksgiving?
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God bless you. You could be seated for a few moments. I want to just say a few things before Brother Jordan Copeland comes to take this pulpit. First of all, I want to say that if you need to get a drink of water, use the restroom, anything like that, right now would be the time to do that, because you don't want to miss or interrupt what's about to happen in this house. We're about to hear the Word of the Lord, and I'm so honored that he's here. Um, it's an emotional thing for me for him to be here preaching for us, probably way more for me than it is for him, because see, I remember when he was born, and I got pictures of him sitting in my lap when he was just a toddler. And I remember when I saw the call of God on his life to preach, I remember sitting him down and talking to him about it, pleading with him to obey the call, and he was a little hesitant. Anyway, I prayed for him, and every so often, I would go by and say, "You need to come preach for us. You need to come, come preach." I, I wanted to be the first place that he ever preached. And so I would ask him, "Come preach for us, come preach for us." Well, that never, that never happened, but it's happening tonight, and that's a monumental thing for me, because I believe in Brother Jordan Copeland. I've got confidence in him. I was so thankful whenever it worked out for him to become the pastor of his father's church. I had numerous prophets that called me and told me that he was going to take that church, and that they said, "Man, you need to, you need to do everything you can to be there for him the way his dad was there for you." And so, there's a lot going on, there's a lot of emotional, emotional stuff for me tonight, but, uh, let it suffice to say that, uh, this is a great young man that I believe in. He's doing a great job casting vision and pastoring the church that his dad really established. He didn't start the church, but he established the church, took it from just a handful of people to a, a mother church with, with dozens of churches out from under that church, both in North America and overseas. And they're now, uh, in the first phases of building a brand new auditorium for the kingdom of God, expanding that facility. And so, I appreciate so much that he's revival-minded. I wish we could spend more time together. I'm going to do everything in my power to make that happen, but I'm so honored that he's here tonight. I believe he's hearing the will of God for that purpose. So, let's get with him. Young people, pay attention. Sometimes on Tuesday night, it gets distracting around here. Y'all get more going on in the pews than's going on in the pulpit on some Tuesday nights. I try to be merciful with all that because I know what it's like to be young. I understand all that. I was a young man with a short attention span too, one time. And, uh, so I want to be merciful to you, but I'm going to tell you what goes on here on, on Tuesday nights is vitally, vitally important. Some, probably the most important thing that'll happen in your life. And so, let's be attentive and receptive. Let's help him preach. Would you stand together as this anointed man of God comes to this pulpit? God bless Pastor Jordan Copeland. I love you, man. Appreciate you. Glad you're here. Why don't we all give God a handclap of praise tonight? God bless you. Thank you for standing. You can be seated in the fear of the Lord. For a moment, I do want to say a few things before I preach. This is a very emotional moment for me as well. I do feel comfortable tonight. I've got too much family and friends in the building to not feel comfortable, but this has been a long time in coming. Your pastor has been there for me. He's tried to push many times when I didn't want to be pushed. I appreciate, I appreciate his hand on me. I want to give honor to him. He is my cousin, in reality, but truthfully, he's been more like an uncle to me. He is the angel of this church, and I've got a whole lot of respect for him. I was in the prayer room, was just amazed by the amount of people in the prayer room and on time in the prayer room at 7 o'clock on a midweek service, praying, pouring their hearts out to God. And I stood and looked at that building and I remembered years ago standing in that building when that building was dedicated as a very young man, and the excitement that was there. And my mind began to go over the things that I have observed over the years, the services that I have been in in this building. In fact, you probably don't even know this, but the very, the most pivotal moment in my life, there was a point where I needed to go somewhere and clear my mind, and it was to Sebastopol, Mississippi, that I came. I came and stayed for a few months. I don't know where I would be if not for that time, for that period where God got a hold of me and God got my attention. So I'm thankful. He's family, but he's more than family. He's someone I trust. I'm thankful for your pastor. I'm thankful for my extended family here in this building. I also want to give honor to my pastor, Bishop Timothy Copeland, the greatest Christian I've ever known. I love him. I appreciate him. I want to give honor to my wife. I wish she was here. I believe she's online, but I love her. I appreciate her. And on everyone that's helped make this happen. I was actually working in Meridian, Mississippi, and it just, it just felt, it felt right. We talked, it felt right. So I had, had not planned to come, had no church clothes, no nothing. So everything I'm wearing, top to bottom, is courtesy of Lyndon Copeland. I appreciate you. I've never had people tell me I really look good until tonight, so he, I must be doing something wrong. He must be doing something right. I didn't even have a Bible. I had to resort to stealing the pastor's Bible out of the office. We're in bad shape when we start stealing Bibles, but I guess it's better than, than some things. And lastly, before we get into the Word, I want to thank Walter for coming with me. This is my business partner. I'm so glad he's here. He was working with me, agreed to come, possibly against his best wishes, but he acted like he wanted to come. We've got to be in Atlanta at 7 AM. So, as we talked, the things that have been happening in our church, things that have been happening here, it always felt like our churches are linked. And there are certain spirits that attack churches, especially in revival. You understand that revival stirs up the spirit world. And even as God tries to sow things into the fabric of a church in revival, even so, the devil tries to weave his way in through your mind, through your heart. He tries to get into the church and shut down what God is doing. So, one thing I know above all else, I know that I'm here on a mission tonight. I'm here on a very specific mission. I'm looking for specific people. I don't know who you are yet, but God has sent me to reach for you tonight. If you would, I'd ask you to stand, and we'll turn to the Word of the Lord. We'll be going to the Song of Solomon, John 5:39. He said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." We know that the entire Word of God is a picture, if you will, of God Himself. We know that as we gain revelation and understanding throughout the Word, each piece of the puzzle reveals a greater part of the image of Jesus Christ. And there are some pieces of Him that are so powerful that these singular revelations can keep you. Peace is like understanding the love of God, the mercy of God, the judgment of God, understanding the oneness of God. All of these things are things that will solidify your feet on the rock. I'd like to talk to you tonight about the love of God, but not the love that the world knows or the world talks about, or the reformed church world at large, who preaches of a love that is what we call a sloppy agape that reaches for you yet requires nothing of you. But I want to tell you of a love that is so demonstrative and so powerful and so deep that by its nature, it requires something of you in return. This is a love that does not leave you the same way that it finds you, but when you experience this love and understand this love, it changes you. It molds you. It shapes you. Is anybody thankful for the love of God tonight? Thankful to be His?
Song of Solomon, chapter 2, and verse number 1. The Word of the Lord says, "I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." If the Holy Ghost will help me, I'd like to take a title from that second verse and preach to you about the lily among thorns. The lily among thorns. Would you lift your hands and would you pray sincerely that God would open your mind? God, I pray that You would help us tonight. God, Your Word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. God, I pray that Your Word would have free course in every heart and every mind in this building. God, have Your way. God, break every yoke of bondage and despair in this building. God, we are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, the apple of Your eye. God, we come to You in need tonight. Did anybody come with a need? Why don't you give God a handclap of praise?
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God bless you. You may be seated. The Song of Solomon, or the Song of Songs, that is often known, is one of the most intriguing and layered books that you'll find in your entire Bible. The song tells the story of a young Shulamite girl who finds love and loses love and finds love again. And we interpret this Shulamite girl to represent us. She represents the church, and you can read the song, and when you read of the Shulamite, you're reading of yourself. You're reading of the people of God. We understand that she was beloved of God as the bride of Christ. The church, we are beloved of God. We also understand that the Shepherd throughout the song represents the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd. When you read the Song of Solomon, it is an allegory that shows God's love and desire for His bride. At various points through the song, it can be hard to understand the flow of the storyline because it's not written entirely in chronological order and does not always identify who is speaking. So it takes much prayerful, contextual study of every word and every line to try to follow the storyline and understand what is happening. But as you study the song, there are some revelations of who God is and His love for us that will keep you if you can just grab hold of them.
Now, at the very beginning of the song, we open the pages on a young Shulamite girl. She stands in a pasture, in a field where she works, and she lifts up her voice and she begins to tell her story. She speaks of her uncomely appearance as a slave girl who works day after day after day in the sun. And yet, quickly after she speaks of herself, she pivots and places the attention on an unknown love that she has, calling Him "the one whom my soul loveth." As she begins to speak of this love that she has, her tone implies that she feels that perhaps she is not worthy of such a love. Yet, even as she speaks for the first time onto the pages of the Song of Solomon, bursts the Shepherd. As the Shepherd arrives, He boldly introduces Himself in a way that is reminiscent of the Good Shepherd who is Jesus Christ, that He represents. You see, as you read through your Bible, you'll see that God has a certain way of speaking about Himself, a certain way of introducing Himself, certain phrases that He will use that are meant to describe His majesty. He told Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." Jesus, in the flesh, would later say, "Before Abraham was I AM." He'd say, "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life." He'd say, "I am the door." He'd say, "I am the Good Shepherd." He'd say, "I am the Bread of Life." But on this day, long before God incarnates Himself in human flesh, it is a Shepherd who stands and lifts up His voice, and He says, "I am the rose of Sharon, I am the lily of the valleys." Now, this is one of the most beautiful types of the Lord Jesus Christ, showing, among other things, His purity and His righteousness. But the Shepherd doesn't stop simply by saying that He is the lily of the valleys, but He goes on to say something very curious in verse number 2. He says, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters."
Now, there are a number of beautiful things about this picture that He is painting. Uh, one of which is that He's saying, "I am the lily, but my love is as the lily." She's like, "I am." We focus on Him as the lily, but we forget that He said, "We are like the lily." What it says to me is that if we're part of His bride, part of His church, we're going to resemble who He is. This is why it matters how we appear. It matters what we do. It matters how we walk, how we talk. If you're part of His church, you resemble Him because you'll always be a reflection of that which you truly love, not that which you say you love, but that which you truly love. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, "But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." It's saying as you behold Him, as you work to attain His righteousness, even so, He also changes you. He, He molds you, He shapes you. It's not, "I come as I am, I stay as I am," but when I recognize His love for me, I begin to be molded into His image. First John 3 and 2 says, "But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Now, we know that now we see through a glass darkly, but, but even through a glass darkly, we still behold parts of Him. This is a process. It's a process that is not complete until one day we are in a glorified body. Yet, even on this earth, we reflect Him. Even as the lily represents His purity, His righteousness, we, as a reflection of the lily, reflect His purity. We reflect His righteousness because we have no righteousness of our own. "For all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." But we reflect the righteousness and the glory of God. So, I'm thankful that we have the opportunity to be changed into His image, slowly.
And He says, "My love is as the lily." But I'd like to focus not on the lily right now, but on the lily that is among thorns. He said, "As the lily that is among thorns, even so is my love among the daughters." Now, this, this is very important. You must understand the spiritual significance of thorns. And to understand what thorns are and what they mean, you must go all the way back to the Garden of Eden, and you must observe on a day where Adam and Eve have sinned and fallen, and God stands before them in righteous judgment, and He begins to curse them. And God begins to speak, and first He curses the serpent, and then He curses the woman, and then He curses the man, and then He curses the ground because of sin. Adam will now have to fight the ground just so he, just so he can survive. But even as Adam tills the ground for the first time in human history, something curious will happen, because the ground will bring forth something called thorns. You see, thorns were not originally part of the garden, but when man sinned, thorns were born on the earth. Thus, thorns do not represent sin itself, but thorns represent the consequence of sin. Thorns are the lingering after-effects that will plague the life of a man, of a woman, of a boy, of a girl. And this theme of thorns continues throughout your Bible. In Numbers 33, God tells Moses, "You better drive out the inhabitants of the land, and you better destroy them, because if you do not, and if you are disobedient, they will be as thorns in your side." Proverbs 22 says, "The evil man's life is like a path covered with thorns." Chapter 25 says, "The vineyard of a man without understanding is covered with thorns." Jesus said, "You'll know an evil man by his evil fruit, because he will bring forth thorns." David said, "The ungodly are like thorns." Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Ezekiel, all prophesied of the land of Israel being covered by thorns because of their sin. You see, thorns are a lingering condition. They're not just a momentary situation, but when thorns get a hold of you, they have a way of sticking on you, and you try to free yourself from the thorns, but the more you struggle, the more you seem to be enveloped by the after-effects of what has happened. You see, they're the consequences of sin. But even more horrible, sometimes thorns are not even the result of your own sin. You see, sin is an infectious disease. Let a man bring sin into his household, and let him watch as that sin tries to devour his family whole. Let him watch as the effects splash over his wife and his children. Let him watch the struggle and the pain of the thorns of sin. Let him watch as the innocent are destroyed as his thorns wrap around those who love him most, because the thorns of sin, they don't just affect the sinner, but they affect everyone around the sinner. They affect every area of life. They affect every part of who you are. They wind themselves into the deepest parts of your mind. There are people here tonight with thorns that nobody in your world knows about. You've never verbalized that, you've never talked about it, but you sit here on these pews and you know that they are there. You know that they exist in your mind, because the thorns have become a plague, and at times it feels like their grasp is inescapable, and you feel, as you try to respond to the touch and to the call of God, yet there is this piece inside of you that holds you back, this part that you can never seem to give, never seem to let go of. I'm talking about real-life thorns today. There are many different types. Some of you here, you have thorns that are named fear. And some of you have thorns that are named depression. And some of you have thorns that are named bitterness. And thorns named pain. You see, every person under the sound of my voice, no matter what face you might put on tonight, no matter what your mask, what your facade, you're dealing with thorns, because thorns are the result of sin, and "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," and all are dealing with thorns.
In Matthew 13, Jesus gives the parable of the sower. He tells of a sower who goes into his field to sow, and he begins to throw his seed out onto four different types of ground. Now, understand, every time your pastor walks to this pulpit, he takes the seed, which is the Word of God, and he begins to throw the seed into the congregation. You see, the seed is always perfect. There's never a problem with the seed, because the Word is perfect. So the only problem can be with the ground. Thus, we examine the ground of our heart, of our mind, to make sure we're able to receive the seed of the Word of God. So he begins to throw this seed, and some of the seed falls on good ground, and some of it brings forth fruit, and it brings forth 30-fold, and some seed brings forth 60-fold, some seed brings forth 100-fold, and we thank God for it. It's a parable of potential. It's telling us that when the Word of God goes forth, it carries the essence of God with it. He said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." There's no point at which God is separated from His Word. So the seed goes forth, and we decide if we will receive it, the promises of God. But the scary part of this parable is what happened to the rest of the seed, because when you understand that the seed was perfect, and the seed was divinely inspired, and the seed had potential, and the seed was packed with promise, you understand that all of the seed was meant to bring forth fruit. All of the seed had potential. All of the seed had promise. It should have been fruitful. It should have lasted. But you see, the different types of ground provided different difficulties for the seed. Some fell by the wayside, and the Bible says that the fowls of the air came and devoured it. And some fell on a rocky ground, and it had no root, and the sun came out, and it withered because it had no substance. Yet, there was a third place that the seed fell. The Bible says that some of the seed fell among the thorns. The Bible says something interesting about this seed that fell among the thorns. It says that when the seed fell among the thorns, the thorns sprang up, and it choked the life out of the seed. You see, there is an eagerness that is implied on the part of the thorns, as the enemy was ready and waiting to use these thorns to choke the life out of the seed. You see, this is the battle of the mind. It's when you come to church, and you find yourself feeling alienated. You find yourself, in fact, Colossians 1 and 21 says, "And you who were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works." Now, notice, he didn't say you were alienated. He didn't say you were enemies. He said, "You are alienated enemies in your mind." This is what you can come into a church that has revival, and you can come, you can worship, you can sit by your friends, and you can feel totally all alone. You can feel, "Hey, everyone else is finding their place, but, but I, I'm just not finding any substance. Maybe I don't fit in. Maybe this is not my place." No, friend, the thorns are trying to choke the promise out of your seed. It's in your mind. You belong in the church of God. God has brought you here for a reason and brought you here for a purpose. But this is the battle of the mind. You see, it's not that you're doing it on purpose. It's, you truly believe that's the way it is. You truly believe you'll always be held captive by these thorns, and you come to church, and you hear the Word of God, you feel the tug of God on your heart, and you want to give it up. You want to respond. Yet, even as you try to grab hold, you feel these thorns. They spring up. They spring almost past you, and they begin to choke the life out of the seed as it comes forth. You, you begin to say, "Well, that's for my neighbor. That's not for me." Or, "Or if he knew what I really was, he'd understand that doesn't apply to me." That's not your self-awareness. That's your thorns that try to choke the life. The seed goes forth, and they spring forth, even as the seed comes. You, you might come up to this altar, you might pray, you might feel God working on you, but sometimes, even as you pray, you, you hear that voice in the back of your mind saying, "Why are you here again? Don't you know it'll always be this way? Don't you know you can't live in this altar forever? Don't you know they're tired of praying with you?" You see, friend, it's not that what you feel is true. It's that you're alienated and you're an enemy in your mind because of your thorns. You pray, you go home, but by the time you get home, the voices are so loud, and they've reached a crescendo in your mind, and, and you're thinking, "Why am I back to square one? Why am I back in this same place? Why can't I ever get past my thinking, past my thorns?" You see, God sent me here tonight because there are some people that are going to have some long-term thinking problems corrected tonight. Some people that you've accepted that life is just this way, and that this is just your mind, but God intends to break some yokes in this place if you can believe. You don't have to accept things the way they are, but God's ready to help you. God's ready to set some people free. I'm not talking about just short-term problems tonight. I'm talking about people that you've been thinking this way a long time, and maybe nobody even knows, but you know, my friend, you know the battle in your mind. You know how ugly it really is, and you try to keep it hidden from those around you, but, but you know, and God knows, and the enemy knows, and God sent me here to reach for you tonight, because you don't have to live with your thorns.
You see, I'm talking to a church full of people that, whether you'll admit it or not, the enemy has tried to convince you that you are broken, and that you are beyond help, and that there are some things that will never change. You know, God gave me this burden. I preached this to our church. I did something I will not do tonight, but I asked the church, I was interested to see. I said, "If you're willing to be honest and transparent, I'd like to know how many of you struggle at times with that enemy's voice telling you when you come to pray, saying, 'Who do you think you are to pray? Don't you know they're tired of you praying? Don't you remember what you did? Don't you remember what you are? God doesn't want to hear your prayer.'" And I asked them, I said, "If these thoughts go through your mind on a regular basis, I'd like you to just slip your hand up." Would you believe almost an entire apostolic church, a revival church full of the Holy Ghost, raised their hand? Would you believe that the devil was telling almost everybody in our church, "You're not worthy to pray"? He's finding some little nook and some little cranny in their mind and beginning to lie to them. So I asked them to put their hands down. I said, "Now, I'd like to know how many in this building, when you look at yourself, you think about what you really are, not, not what people think you are, but what you really are. How many of you has the devil tried to really convince that you are broken, that there is this one piece of you, your mind, your heart, this part of your character, that is so beyond help, that if anyone knew about it, they, they'd think you were a freak, a monstrosity, but, but you try to keep it hidden, but all the while that voice tells you, 'You'll never do anything for God. You'll never be anything for God. There's, there's something wrong with you.'" Would you believe again, almost an entire church raised their hand? And I asked them to look around the building, people they knew, people that seemed to have it together, yet even as they tried their best to live for God, the devil is lying to them and trying to isolate them. I asked a Sunday school class two weeks ago, filled with teenagers, apostolic teenagers, ages 13 to 17. I began to talk about depression and fear, fear of failure, inadequacy. I asked them to put their hands down. Now, remember, these are church kids. These are kids that have been raised in church. I said, "I want you to raise your hand if you feel like on a consistent basis you struggle with deep depression and dark thinking." Two-thirds of them raised their hand. 13 to 17 years old. I said, "I want you to put your hands down. Keep your eyes closed." I said, "If you struggle on a consistent basis with thoughts that you're not worth living, that you ought to end your life, I want you to raise your hand." Would you believe half of those kids raised their hand? I don't have to ask tonight. I know you're in the building. I know it's in this youth group. I know the thoughts that he tries to attack you with. Even as you try to be something for God, he's lying to you and telling you you'll be a failure. He's telling you you're not worthy. He's telling you you're broken. How many know the devil is a liar tonight? He's a liar, and the truth is not in him. Tonight, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Come on, how many are thankful that we can be a free people? The Bible says, "He whom the Son hath made free is free indeed." You don't have to live that way. You don't have to live with these thoughts. You don't have to hate yourself and wonder why you're isolated. You are not broken. You are not rejected. God does have a plan for your life. How many are thankful for the plan of God? Come on, you ought to thank God. He loves you despite what you feel, despite what you think. God loves you.
You see, these are the same lies that the enemy has always used. He'll tell you, "Who do you think you are to think that God would use you?" He'll tell you, "Don't you remember what happened to your parents? You'll be just like your dad. You'll be just like your mom." He'll tell you, "Run from it as long as you want, but that generational cycle will catch you." He'll tell you, "You'll never be anything for God. You'll never be delivered. It'll always be this way." He'll remind you, "It's been 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. Who are you to think that God would change you?" But friend, he's a liar. He's always been a liar. He'll tell you, "You don't mean anything to this church. Say, they'd forget about you." He, he'd tell you, "No one would notice if you weren't here." In this church, hey, it's a lie. This is the body of Christ. Everyone here is meant to be here. You are a part of the body of Christ in this church. No one else can take your place. No one can fill your role. God brought you here for a reason. You see, the devil is a liar. He's the father of lies. Everyone under the sound of my voice, you matter. God does love you. God does hear your prayers. God does have a plan for your life. But you see, we're dealing with spiritual warfare. We're dealing with an evil spirit of AIDS that wants you, wants to convince you that you are totally and completely worthless. It wants you to feel that you do not matter. It wants you to feel that you were created on accident, without purpose and without plan.
I recently read, actually last week, I read a study that Facebook was doing on the effects of Instagram on the mental health of our young people. You can look this up yourself. Would you believe that the findings were so bad that Facebook is trying to bury their own study because they know what it's doing to our young people? They know how it destroys their feeling of worth. They know how it attacks them and tells them that they are deformed, that they are broken, that they're useless, that they're ugly. Hey, it's no wonder that suicide rates are skyrocketing in our country, and even in the church, because the devil is a liar, and he attacks you at the core where you were created by God to serve a purpose, and he tells you, "Hey, you'll never serve that purpose. You'll never find your place." But he's a liar. How many know he's a liar, and the truth is not in him? You see, he wants to tell you, "Things will always be this way." You don't have to live with these thorns. God can break the yoke of bondage off of your mind in just an instant, in only a moment. God can set you free. Did anybody come to be free tonight? I know it's Tuesday night, but God came to set some people free. It might not have been in your agenda, but you're on God's agenda tonight. God sent me on a mission to reach for you.
You see, He already paid the price for you to be free. I take you quickly back to a courtyard, a large palace owned by Herod the Great. Yet, a man named Pontius Pilate stands on a veranda high above the crowd, and he's just condemned Jesus to the crowd. And Pilate begins to wash his hands, attempting to wash off the stains that have forever stained his soul. The crowd begins to jeer, they begin to mock, they begin to spit on Jesus. They, they begin to beat Him. The soldiers take Him and they throw Him on the ground in the common hall, and they begin to beat Him with a cat of nine tails. They strip Him, they place a purple robe on Him. Yet, off to the side, something interesting is happening. You see, a soldier has brought in a bushel of thorns, and he begins to take those thorns and he begins to weave them together. The soldier is making something, and soon it becomes clear that he is making a crown of thorns for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The soldier goes and he stands over the top of Jesus. He takes this crown of thorns and he cruelly presses it down into the skull of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he presses the crown down, the thorns pierce the skin of Jesus. He begins to bleed. The blood begins to flow. And you must understand, the thorns were only there because of our sin. Had there been no sin, there had been no thorns to make a crown of thorns. And as the thorns press deeper into His brow, those thorns become covered in blood. And as those thorns are covered by the blood, this is where the thorns lose their power. Because, my friend, you must understand that what His blood covers, His blood possesses. And when His blood covers your thorns, His blood takes ownership of your thorns. You don't have the right or the power to say, "Those are my thorns," because when it's under the blood, my friend, it's under the blood. Who do you think you are to drag the thorns out from under the blood of Jesus Christ? They don't belong to you. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be saved. He became a curse for us so we didn't have to live cursed. Are you thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ tonight?
But you see, the crown of thorns that encircled the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, and even as it became pressed around His mind, His blood purchased the right for you to have a sound mind. Second Timothy 1 and 7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; or I would insert, or depression, or anxiety, or inadequacy; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." You see, He purchased the right for your mind to be right. You don't have to deal with these thoughts. You don't have to deal with this darkness, with this depression, but He took it on Himself that you could be free. You don't have to live with these flaws in your thinking, but you have, you can trust Him. He will deliver you. He will set you free. But you see, He purchased the right for you to have a sound mind, regardless of what you think about yourself. It's already paid for. You just have to quit trying to drag your thorns out from under the blood, because we're not talking about the thorn in the flesh here, we're talking about thorns of sin. It's not God's will for you to live the rest of your life battling these thorns and battling this impure, dark thinking, and you don't have to live with these thoughts in your mind. Hebrews 12 and 3 says, "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your mind." So He's talking to people who are weary, they're mentally fatigued, they're, they're struggling with the way they think, with feeling like something's wrong with them. But He says, "There is an answer." Now, to get the answer, you have to go back to verse 1. Skip back two verses. He says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." Now, I would insert here, "and the thorns which doth so easily beset us," that plaguing after-effect, the lingering effects of sin. So He says, "Let us lay him aside." Well, that sounds great, but, but when you lay aside a thorn, you find that the thorn is stuck to you. It's not, it's not so easy. It's just, "Well, I'm, I'm done. I'm free." But, but you find that thorns have a way of creeping back up into your life until you really deal with them. And He says this in verse 2: "Looking unto Jesus." So before, in verse 3, He said, "You need to consider Him." He's saying, "Consider looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God." He's saying, "When you find yourself weary and faint in your mind, don't focus on your thorns, but focus on Jesus, because He is the answer. He is your source. He is your supply."
Now, now I understand that's that's cliche. We'd say for church, "Obviously, we're looking at Jesus." I understand that. You all understand that. But, but I'd like to take it a little bit deeper. It's not so surface level as what it would think, because it, it really takes effort to take your eyes off of what is right in front of you, and what is tangible, and what you know is there, and to focus on Jesus. But you see, if you can just find the strength within you to quit looking at your problems, and quit focusing on your inner darkness, and to focus on Him, then you'll find that He was looking unto you. You'll find that He was watching you the whole time. You'll find that you were never alone, and you were never forgotten. But that God has been there leading and guiding you. He talked in Hosea that even when my people did not know it, "I led them with cords of a man, with bands of love." "It was I who fed them, I who led them, and they did not even know." You see, there are people here that you've tried so hard in your mind to disqualify yourself, and you've tried to, to make the decision, "I, it's over. God will never be able to do anything with me. I'll always live this way." But friend, you've got to learn to look unto Jesus. You've never been alone. When you thought that your thorns had swallowed you up for the last time, you were never alone. You sit here in this church because God has not given up on you, and your presence here is evidence of His plan for your life and evidence of His love for you. You were never alone when you thought you were crushed, when you thought you were forgotten, when you thought you were left in the darkness. God never left you alone. He never left you by yourself, but God was with you, but God was leading you, but God was guiding you, but He was loving you home. But you see, He's always looking unto us.
And take you all the way back to the Song of Solomon, because you see, there's always been a Shepherd. Before time began, there was a Shepherd. But on this day, the Shepherd stands, as He always has and as He always will, and He observes His love. And this Shepherd contemplates His love, and He says it again, a little louder, perhaps, this time. He...
Says, "I am the lily of the valley, and my love is a lily among thorns." You see, he was saying, "When I look at my love, when I observe my love, when I observe my church, when I observe my people, I don't just see my love, but I see her thorns. I see her disappointment. I see her fear. Yet, I see her through it all, and I love her through it all. I see her problems, I see her bitterness, I see her anxiety, I see her fear of failure, her inadequacy. Yet, in the midst of it all, as the thorns try to swallow her up, I see my love. Even as the thorns try to crush the life out of her, I see my love."
You see, your struggles were never hidden from God, but God loves you through your struggles. He loves you through your thorns. There's no thought, there's no intent, there is no piece of you that is unexplored by God, but God knows you inside and out. He knows you better than you know yourself, and God's ready to free you from the authority. He understands the way you've been thinking. He understands the fear and the hopelessness in your mind. He understands your depression. He understands the way the devil's lying to you. Come on, you ought to rip your mask off right now. You know God's reaching for you. You know the thoughts you've been dealing with. You know the impurity in your soul. God's trying to set you free. It's not just another service for you. It may be for other people, but God is reaching for you. God is reaching for you.
Would you lift your hands? Let's take a moment. Would you lift your hands and pray unto God? Come on, God's trying to reach somebody. You're not breaking, but he's trying to break you. He's trying to mold you. He's reaching for you. Come on, don't shield yourself. Don't hide behind the thorns. He sees you so clearly. He sees you through that fear. He sees you through that bitterness. You see, your struggle was never, at any point in your life, was never hidden from God, but he loved you through those thorns. When you tried to get away from him, he loved you through your thorns. When you ran as far and as fast as you could from his call, he loved you through your thorns.
But you see, the shepherd loves his lily. The thorns are not a disqualification for his love, but but he sees them and loves her all the more because he knows that he is the only answer for her thorns. And Song of Solomon, a few chapters later, this Shulamite may become separated from her shepherd. She begins to look for him. She smells his aroma, but knows that he is gone. She begins to run through the city desperately crying, searching. The men of the city take her, and they beat her, and they mock her, and they're making fun of her. But she continues to search for her shepherd, and she knows that he, he must be just around the corner. He must be just around the bend. But but she can't find him.
And the women of that city, they begin to mock her and they say, "Whither is thy beloved gone, O fairest among women?" You see, they're making fun of her. They, they remember a day where she was called the lily, and they were not. And they began to mock her. You see, this is why the world hates what God would do in your life. The devil hates what God would do in your life. The devil hates your redemption because he never was able to be redeemed. He hates that God would forgive you because God never forgave him. But the devil is a liar. You can be forgiven. You can be redeemed. You can be free.
But these women begin to mock the Shulamite, and they laugh at her, and they say, "Where is your beloved now? Where is your precious shepherd now?" And no doubt the words hit her like a bomb, and no telling the feelings that might have gone through her mind. Yet, as she begins to contemplate her shepherd and to think about who he is, suddenly it hits her like a bolt of lightning, and she says, "My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of the spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies." You see, she remembered, "My shepherd is the lily of the valley. I am a lily among thorns. My shepherd loves his lilies. My shepherd specializes in gathering the lilies."
Yet, yet I would ask you, where do you suppose he gathered the lilies from, my friend? You see, he gathered them from among the thorns. He walks through his garden and he says, "I'll pluck you out of that heartbreak. He said, I'll pluck you out of that devastation, out of that despair, out of that fear. Come, hear my lily, my love. I'll take you out. I'll take you with me. You belong with me because you are my love, because you are my lily." Come on, there's no sin, there's no thorn that can keep you from the shepherd if you'll just surrender to his love.
You see, he came here to gather you tonight, even you who are unwilling to be gathered, who feel the thorns try to hold you back. If you try to make free, he will gather you to himself because he is the lily gatherer, and you are his lily. Whether or not you understand, whether or not you realize, is irrelevant, but you are his lily. You are his creation. But when she realizes where he is, that she realizes instantly that he had never stopped loving her in the first place, despite their separation, despite her fear, despite the fact that she came back wounded, she said, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." He feedeth among the lilies.
And she understands. She's not even laid eyes on him yet, but she knows where he is, and she knows that he still loves her. She knows that she is still his lily, even bruised and broken and torn and battered and maligned and ridiculed, she still is lily, and she knows that he still loves her. You see, this is what you must understand. Despite where you are right now, he still does love you. To be free of the thorns, you have to understand and believe that he always loved you. You've always been his lily. You see, when he said, "He feedeth among the lilies," the original translation is saying that he has communion, he has deep fellowship with his beloved. There's nowhere he'd rather be than plucking his lilies from among their thorns.
You see, he came on a mission to free you from your thorns tonight. No matter how dark it might be, he sent me to tell you there is hope. There is hope on the other side of your thorns. There's life beyond your thorns. There's life beyond your darkness. Come on, can you believe it? Would you lift your hands? Would you lift your hands? God's trying to speak to you. God's trying to open your mind and your heart. He loves you, my friend. If you could understand the depth of his love for you, you know that you can be free. Would you stand across the house? Musicians, you can come.
I want to take your attention to one more passage. I'm begging you to please understand this and grab ahold of this. Do not, do not brush away the promise of God. I'm telling you, you know that it is for you, even as that voice tries to speak in your mind, it's the thorns trying to spring up and steal the seed from you. Don't let it happen, my friend. He loves you. He sent me from Atlanta, Georgia, to preach to you tonight that God loves you. Isaiah 27 and 2 says, "In that day say ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine." Now, we know that a vineyard denotes that which is set apart. A vineyard denotes that which is separated, that which is valuable, that which is protected, that which is precious. You see, this vineyard is not like the land around it. You see, you're not like the land around you. You're not like the people around you, but you are different. You are his lily.
He said, "I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment lest any hurt it. I'll keep it night and day." You see, this is the Lord's love for you. It's his walk with you. It's his plan for you that even when you were more thorns than you were lily, that God was still keeping you and watering you night and day. It was because of his mercy that you were not consumed. It's his mercy and his love that have kept you, that had brought you to this place and to this service. But verse 4, and this is the culmination of this entire service, because this is more, I want you to understand that the love of God is a love that takes action in your life. It's not a weak, needy love, but it's a love that gets involved.
He said, "Fury is not in me. Who would set the briars and the thorns against me in battle? I would go through them. I would burn them together." What's he saying? He's saying, "My love, I don't just watch from a distance, but when you desire to be free of the thorns, I get involved. I wade through the thorns." Who would set your thorns against the Lord God Almighty in battle? He'd burn them. He'd break them. I'm telling you, he's ready to break every yoke of captivity. It has no place in your mind. It has no place in this church. It has no place in the revival that God intends to bring. God's ready to set you free. Come on, don't you let him tell you God doesn't love you. You are the apple of his eye. You are his lily. You are his love. You mean something. You have worth in God's kingdom.
This altar's open. You gotta understand, my friend, God's ready to wade through your thorns. God's ready to destroy the yoke. God's ready to open your prison door. If you could just see the way that he sees you, the way that he loves you. Said, "Hearing us love not that we love God, but that God loved us before time began." God loved you before you were formed in your mother's womb. God loved you when you were at your lowest. He loved you when you were at your darkest. God loved you. Hey, when you had given up on his love, God loved you. When you felt you'd never have a place in his kingdom, God loved you. You see, he said, "You haven't chosen me, but I have chosen you."
Come on, your thorns can't separate you. Your thorns can't separate you. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or nakedness, or famine, or peril, or sword? I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, nor any thorns, nor any thorns, nor any thorns shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Come on, would you cry out unto God? I know it's Tuesday night. I know it's maybe not what you expected, but God sent me to reach for you. You have worth. You have worth. Don't you dare think about ending your life. He loves you. You're his lily. Come on, you're precious in his eyes. He never stopped loving you. He never walked away from you, but he was always reaching. He was always drawing. Come on, would you cry out unto God? Your desperation is key to your deliverance. Get the attention of heaven right now. He's ready to set you free. Come on, talk to him.
Every head bowed, every eye closed. You ought to be talking to God right now. Come on, God, deliver me from this darkness. God, deliver me from the way my mind thinks. God, my actions, my words, my deeds, set me free. Come on, lift your voice. He loves you. He loves you. It's beyond your comprehension the way that he loves you, the depth of his love, the depth of his mercy. Come on, his arm's not short that he cannot save. His ear is not heavy that he cannot hear your cry. You were never separated. You were never hopeless. Come on, lift your voice a little louder. Lift your voice a little louder. God, set some people free. God's delivering you from that darkness. Come on, maybe nobody knows about it, but you know how bad it's been. God sent me to tell you there's life on the other side of your thorns.