Welcome to the official podcast of Rock Hill Baptist Church 2
where we are focused on glorifying God, spreading the
gospel, and making disciples of Jesus Christ right here in the
heart of Greenville, SC. Each week we bring you a life
changing word from our Senior Pastor, Pastor Matthew D Long
Junior, or one of our anointed guest speakers.
We pray this message strengthens your faith, deepens your
understanding, and empowers you to elevate in every area of your
life. Let's join the service already
in progress. Matthew chapter 27 and just a
few verses for your hearing. Matthew Chapter 27 verse #45
Thank you to our choir for singing and thank you for our
church. I'm telling it's better when we
do it together. I'm telling you thank you, thank
you, thank you. Matthew chapter 27.
Now I'm going to be very transparent with you.
If you help me, I think I can do this in just about time.
I feel like I can do this. No, I can't take my time today.
I can't take it today. You right now, 'cause you 'cause
you got to come back today at 4:00 and you got to bring a
friend, cousin, and somebody. I'll bring them with you at
4:00. You got to be back here four
o'clock 4:00. That's what I'm talking about.
Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27.
And we want to lift, Let's see, 3 verses for your hearing.
Verse #45 says now from the 6th hour, Matthew chapter 27, verse
45. Now from the 6th hour there was
darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.
And about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,
Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabbathan, that is to say, my God, my God, thou
hast thou forsaken me. One more verse and I'll be done.
Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this
man, call it for Elijah, the word of God, for the people of
God, thanks be unto God, you can have your seat in the Prince of
the Lord. If you don't mind, help me out.
Turn to your neighbor and say, hey, neighbor, are you OK?
I'm right. I'm right.
Turn to the other neighbor real
quick and say, hey, neighbor, are you OK?
OK, make sure everybody all right, I'm right.
I'm trying to hit this as fast I can.
But Greg, I'm Greg. Greg, Greg, praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord. If you don't mind, help me.
Shout to your neighbor, my subject for today, and say,
neighbor, the cost of elevation, the cost of elevation, the cost
of elevation. But my dear brothers and
sisters, we love to celebrate elevation.
I guess you don't because you didn't say anything.
My dear brothers and sisters, I find myself sometimes
celebrating elevation. Y'all didn't talk to me, so I
guess you didn't. You know, it was me and me all
by myself. Everyone be honest.
Sometimes we testify about it. But John, can you turn #1 just a
slide down for me because I don't want it to get too, too
hot when I when I lift it up. Oh, somebody got it on the
reverb. Come on here, I hear you.
Hey. Oh, praise him, my dear brothers
and sisters, we love to celebrate elevation.
I mean, we, we testify about it, we post about it, we we pray for
it, we even sow into it and we say things like God is taking me
to another level. You might even hear somebody say
it. It's my season of increase.
Others might say, you know, I'm just simply walking in my
promotion and and this and there's absolutely nothing wrong
with believing for more. But but but thank you.
Praise the Lord. I know there's that cliffhanger
like huh, but, but, but here is the caveat that we don't always
talk about Deacon House. We don't like to talk about the
price tag, huh? Because elevation, real
elevation is not free. Thank you.
I appreciate it. The truth of the matter is God
may open the door, but you still have to pay for the hallway and
sometimes it really is not in dollars and CENTS, cents, but it
is then discomfort, decisions and in discipline.
And if I can be transparent with you, sometimes it's even in deep
pain because we find ourselves wanting the crown but not the
cross, the platform but not the pressure, the oil but not the
crushing. And the truth of the matter is,
you don't get elevated without loss.
You don't get elevated without tension.
You don't get elevated without being stretched in places you
thought you were settled. You don't get elevated without
letting go of who you were so God can show you who you really
are. I remember talking with someone
who had just received a major promotion at work one time and
they had the title change. They found themselves with more
money, praises and glory. Hallelujah.
They had that that parking spot. But you know, the little sign
had the bigger office. From the outside, Sister Cheryl,
it looked like a blessing. But.
But in two months, in two months, they were miserable.
They were exhausted. They even found themselves
isolated and full of anxiety, carrying everybody's
expectations. And nobody seemed to understand.
They said to me, I didn't know this promotion would cost me so
much peace. And I thought to myself, that's
the part people don't, don't really, they don't really post
on Facebook about that. That's the part that does not
hit the Instagram Reel, the TikTok video or even the YouTube
short. That's, that's, that's, that's
what's happening when the platform comes really before the
preparation. That's really what happens when
the calling arrives. But the cost catches you off
guard. If I can just be transparent,
I'm going to get out my introduction.
But elevation will excite you until it starts to expense you
because God really doesn't promote talent.
He promotes endurance through faithfulness.
And if I can be honest, just a little bit more because I got 3
movements and I got a little time, I need to get back to you
that going higher sounds good, Sister Sherry, until you
realize, Mother Gordine, that going higher means thinner air,
fewer people, greater visibility, and more weight.
So today I'm not just here to talk about rising up, elevating,
moving up. I'm really here to show you that
you might be like me, in between the black and white pages of the
book before you, or the electronic device that which you
may be reading from with a moment that you have become all
too comfortable with, and that is Jesus on the cross.
My dear brothers and sisters, I know it is very typical of me,
to be honest, to preach Jesus on the cross around Easter because
it's seasonal. But as I was in my devotional
period and I was studying and looking and being, I found that
in Matthew chapter 27 we find 3 movements that are worth
exploring that really highlight the cost of elevation.
You got your Bible open right? Matthew chapter 27 verse 45
reads as such. Now from the 6th hour there was
darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.
Not your brothers and sisters. The very first thing this text
teaches us about the cost of elevation is you have to deal
with the shadows. You have to deal with the
shadows. But please understand that
before the cry, before the earthquake, before the veil was
ripped and torn, there was a shadow.
Glory to God. Three hours, 3 hours of
complete, utter, total darkness. If if I can take it out of the
the Roman time and put it into a more understandable moment for
you that it was from 12 noon to about 3:00 PM the the brightest,
the hottest part of the day. God pulled the shade and the sun
stood still. The sky went silent and the land
was left in unnatural, undeniable and uncomfortable
darkness. Braylon, this wasn't night time.
It was a divine interruption. TT two.
Yeah, I thank you for reaching out to me this morning.
This this wasn't the weather. It was a prophetic commentary
from heaven. And for those who may just be a
little extra online, the light didn't simply burn out.
God blew it out. You do understand that shadows
are created when something stands between the light and the
object. It means light is still present,
but it's being blocked. It means something is in the
way. It means something has come
between the source come here and the surface.
So when the text says darkness fell over the land, it's not
just pretty language for us to gloss and glaze over as we read
our Bibles and sip on our coffee with our cream cheese Danish
here. Here the text really is showing
something that's quite prophetic.
That the Lamb of God was standing between the light of
heaven, the sins of man, and what it produced was a shadow
that stretched across all of time.
That the shadow of elevation is when your assignment gets in the
way of your comfort, when you find yourself now in the
discomfort of darkness. Are you in the room?
Talk back to me. Have you ever, have you ever
tried to move in the dark? Come on, I'm like, for real, you
know, walk. Maybe even you was, you know,
you, you was real bold. You try to run, come, come here
because because you might have been like me, you might have
tried to walk or run and then even try and reach for something
without knowing where things really were.
So if, if you had those experiences similar to mine, you
might know what it's like to move in the dark.
You you then recalibrate yourself.
You you tell yourself, slow down, boy, and you shuffle you,
you, you hesitate. You start guessing because
everything in the dark now is uncertain, that there there's a
fear of Deacon Hauser stubbing your toe for some, there's a
fear of, of hitting your shin or even Braylon knocking something
over. That there's, there's, there's,
there's discomfort in darkness that there's, there's that fear
in the darkness. And I think some of us, some of
us know about that fear because the moment you move and it
doesn't go the way you want it to move, you might just have to
pay for one. Some of us still remember being
a child calling out Mama because the room was too dark.
Some of us remember sleeping with a little night light on.
And a few of us still do, praise the Lord, because we we had
associated darkness with danger. So now imagine in Matthew
chapter 27, Jesus, he's not just hanging in pain, He's hanging in
pitch black darkness. That this is not just a physical
shadow, it's a spiritual shift. The Father God who had always
been close, now I feel so far, far away that the visibility,
the presence, the sense of of God's nearness gone, the word
that became flesh is now wrapped in a silence that doesn't even
make sense. And your Bible says for three
hours he can't see his way out. For three hours, he doesn't even
feel the father. For three hours, he just hangs
in the dark. If I can give you a quick
homological highlight for your notes, whether you're taking
notes in person or you don't go back to the YouTube or the
TikTok, the Instagram or the even the podcast and listen to
this again. I want to let you know the
evolution. I'm sorry.
Elevation won't always give you clarity.
It may actually find yourself or find you placed at a point
filled with confusion. I know, I know.
That was not a pretty one. That's not one that just rings
on your ears. That's one you got to think
about because you can be in purpose and still feel like
you're in peril. And can I show you something
else before I give you a good shout?
Thank you, Shay. I think everybody got lost in
the dark. The the revelation of this text
is that God was in the dark. John I, I, I would toss you the
mic because I really want to run right here.
I got it. I got to stay on this time
because the revelation is that in Exodus chapter 20 verse 21,
Moses was drawn near to God. But where was God?
He was in the thickness of what seemed to be dark.
It it was a it was a burning fire that caught his attention,
but God was in the fire. But he was really in the
darkness of a king. First Kings 8 and 12, the text
says the Lord said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
Psalm 1811 says he made darkness his secret place.
And my dear brothers and sisters, I'm going to let you
know that you, you heard it, you heard it, you heard it said that
God is light. But I also want to remind you
that God also knows how to hide in the shadows.
I think I got some witnesses that says, I know what it's like
for God to hide in icy rooms. I know what it's like for God to
hide in those ICU rooms that turn into journal rooms.
I know what it's like for God to hide in grief sessions and
therapy sessions. I know what it's like for God to
hide in moments where you just absolutely feel like giving up.
I know what it's like for God to hide in the silence and even to
hide in the waiting. And Jesus here in your text,
Matthew chapter 27, it's still on the cross, but he's no longer
in the light. And the Father God is still
working, but he's working, Brother Poseley, in the shadows.
I think I better give you a quick little piece of wisdom,
pastoral wisdom that that that you might not need to write this
down. You might need to etch this one
on, on the memory break of your memory Bank of your mind that it
may not be rise to curse the dark because God might be closer
than he's ever been. He might be closer than he's
ever been, because the danger of the dark is not what's around
you, it's what's beginning to rise within you.
In the dark. In the dark, you have to deal
with the unknown, and the unknown sometimes bubbles up as
fear, as doubt, as anxiety, as confusion, as isolation.
But you can't move too fast because you're in the dark.
I'm going to let you know that the dark, the dark, the shadows
is not punishment, it's process. And if you're if you're in the
dark right now, the lights have gone out on what used to make
sense. If you're fumbling through a
season, you used to flow in, you're not dying, you're being
developed, you're not being punished, you're being
positioned. You're not in the tomb, you're
in transition. The shadow of elevation means
God is covering you while He completes you.
Here we find ourselves now having to deal with the second
movement of the text. Matthew chapter 27 verse 46
says. And about the 9th hour Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying ela ela lama sabatha, that is
that what your Bible says? That is to say, my God, my God,
why has thou forsaken me as I sip on this water?
The second movement of this text is the strain of elevation, the
strain of elevation. If the first cause of elevation
was the shadow, the second is the strain.
Because vow. Jesus is hanging in the dark.
Jesus does something that should stop you, your cousin, your mom
and him and the brother in the track, sister.
Rather Jesus in the dark come in, your Bible says cries out.
Deacon Meadows, you've been in this thing for a long time.
You, you, you, you, you. You may be able to help me
preach this a little better than I can.
That the text here teaches us that Jesus crying out is not a
whisper. Jesus crying out is is not a
breathless mumble. Jesus crying out is not a secret
text message. Jesus crying out is not just a
casual conversation, Sister Jackie, but Jesus crying out is
a loud, agonizing, almost general scream coming from a man
that is suffocating to death. Now you got to understand that
that old rugged cross. We like to sing about the old
rugged cross. We we say it's the emblem of
suffering and shame that that that rugged cross was a Roman
cross. Deacon Davis and and the cross
or crucifixion was design not just to kill, but it was
designed to make you suffer slowly.
The crucifixion crucifixion causes the arms of 1 to stretch
out at full span almost went back to the gym in my mind you
know when every time I stretch out a little bit more a little
bit more ain't gotten them a little bit more that the cross
caused Jesus to stretch completely out a full span,
causing his lungs to collapse and to prevent natural breath.
So for him Jesus to even inhale or to breathe, he would have to
push himself up using his feet that have been pierced around
the ankles bone with 9 inch nails while using his back that
has been shredded from rips. Not just the belt that you had I
had growing up. I'm talking about rips that
were, that were filled with rocking with shards of glass.
Rips that that had literally pulled the top and second layer
of his skin until it exposed the veins here on the cross.
That natural flesh of Jesus scraping against raw tree wood.
Untreated wood finds himself speaking.
He has to pull himself up every time just to breathe.
Just a little push to get a little more air, pressing
against pain while pushing through, suffocation of his lung
being collapsed, potentially feeling with blood.
He has to lift his weight while his nerves feel like they are
burning and on fire. And your Bible, my Bible says
through all of this, Jesus cries with a loud voice.
But the pain should have silenced him.
He still had something to say. Many brothers and sisters.
This was not just effort. This was expensive because every
word Jesus utters on this cross literally cost him come here,
blood, oxygen and even agony. So if it was me, I would really
ask Jesus why say. Anything at all.
Why use your strength to say this?
Let me get prophetic insight from Psalm 22 and one that says
my God, my God that has thou forsaken me.
Notice that Jesus wasn't just screaming in agony.
He was quoting the scripture he was hanging from, from a cross.
But he's preaching the Psalms. He's he's suffocating in pain.
I can't hear you. Did y'all go to sleep?
But he's still fulfilling purpose and prophecy even in
suffering. Jesus didn't lose the word.
The reality is He was the word. We'll let you know that this cry
wasn't just about pain, glory to God, but this cry, Mother
Gordine, was about presence. This was the first time in all
of time, eternity, Braylon, where Jesus, the Son who had
always been with the Father, now feels separation.
He doesn't say Father and the text Deacon housing verse 46, he
says, my God, I'm I'm nearing the corner.
I think there's a there's an opening in the sky coming
because in this moment, he's not just suffering physically, but
he's suffering spiritually. He's not just carrying a cross.
He's carrying every sin we've ever committed, every lie, every
death, every betrayal, every addiction, every womb, every
shameful secret, every generational curse.
He's carrying all of this. I'm the one who knew no sin has
become the embodiment of sin itself, and we know that sin
separates. The second Corinthians chapter 5
verse 21 says he who know no sin became sin for us that we might
become the righteousness of God. This cry here, this strain was
Jesus saying, God, I don't feel you anymore as Jesus saying I
can't trace you. I can't hear you, sister
Shirley, I can't see you as Jesus saying I can't sense you
and it's breaking me. But but here's here's here's
where it really begins to turn into text because even in Jesus
deepest pain, even while he's suffocating, even while he's
feeling forsaken. You ready?
Thank you. I think I'm just going to preach
to you since you want to talk to me even through all of this.
Check this out. He still talks to God, but I can
shout right now. He, he, he says, my God, my God,
He doesn't curse him. He doesn't blame him.
He doesn't abandoned him. Come here, he calls him.
And that's the cry of every believer who's ever found
himself in a spiritual strength. When it hurts, but you keep
praying. When it's dark but you keep
worshiping. When you feel forsaken but you
find yourself still saying, My God, my God, because your pain
doesn't cancel your position. You're still God's child, and
the cry wasn't proof that God left, but it was simply proof
that the Son still trusted God. I've got to get out of here now.
I got one more point to give you here, my clothes.
But I'm reminded of a story that there was a father.
Who had took? His daughter to the hospital.
The daughter found herself needing some surgery, so when
they rolled her into the room. And the anesthesia begin to kick
in. She begin to.
Panic. And she begin to cry out.
Daddy. Don't let them take me.
She begin to say Daddy. Don't leave.
Me and the father had. Tears in his eyes, but he was
right there, even when she couldn't feel him anymore.
She thought he was gone, but he was just outside.
Of the room watching and weeping, waiting for his
daughter to come through so he let her feel forsaken so she can
receive her healing. And when she woke up, she was
thin home. But if the the cry that reminded
him, she, the daughter still believed that he was close.
Because the cry does not mean he's absent but the crime it
means that you still believe that you're God is listening.
I better move on now to my Third Point here because the Bible
says in Matthew chapter 27 verse #46 hand about the 9th hour
Jesus cries on now cries. Wise with a loud voice, and as
he cries with a loud voice, the Bible says he's heard.
Saying Eli, Eli Lama subophany, that is my God, My God, why hast
thou? Forsaken Me verse 47 is where I
want to hang my. Hat.
Because the Bible says. Some have them that stood there
when they heard him said this man called for Elijah. 3rd
movement worth exploring the cost of elevation is the
scrutiny of elevation. Jesus is hanging up.
Jesus is straightening. Jesus is suffering, and now
after giving his all and now after pushing through the pain,
now giving all he's got on the cross.
Your Bible says he's being scrutinized and here on the.
Text. We see Jesus crying for God, but
the people thinking he's calling for Elijah, they mishear him,
they misread him and they mocked the moment the Saint Jesus
mother Gordine who raised the damn, the same Jesus that healed
healed the sick, the same Jesus that feather hungry now has to
deal with people misinterpreting his words.
He's misheard and miss judged, and what he said was sacred, for
what they heard was sarcasm. What he said was prophecy, but
what they assumed was delusion. What he spoke was in power, but
they dismissed him in panic. And here's the truth for every
elevated person to understand the name is that the price of
elevation includes being misquoted by people who were
never called them to carry what you carry.
I got to get out of here now, but help me wake your neighbor
up and say, oh, I'm neighbor. No, I said say, oh, I'm
neighbor. I want to remind you, this is
your hip, the elevator. I want to remind you that God's
not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he
should take it back or repent. If he's had it, it's if he's
spoken, it's it's a done deal and I want.
I'm sorry preaching fell on me, I want you to know.
That your Savior and my Savior shows us that being elevated is
going to cost you the whole of John.
I want them to hear this part that sometimes God would elevate
you and God would allow you to believe did high, but God will
be sure that your crowd it's filled the distinctive person.
Come on here. I gotta go for real.
But look, in the crown, there's three types of people at the
foot of the cross. Your Bible shows us that.
There's hecklers at the cross. There's people who's going to
mock you. Nothing.
But look at this now. Your Bible shows us that at the
foot of the cross. There's also adversaries.
There's going to be people who plan against, show progress.
He's on the cross. But look at Jesus trying to save
the world. Look at God descending from his
celestial throne now on a tree he created with his own mind,
giving over the people he loves with all his heart.
And if the crown, the third group of people be finding the
text are silent advocates, those who believe but say nothing when
it counts. And Jesus wasn't just pierced in
his hands, mother, but Jesus was pierced by their opinions.
In that same voice that once lifted up Hosanna, is the same
voice that says, let's see if Elijah's going to save him.
I'm going to remind you, in this world today, find yourself
having some spectators who have no revelation.
They may stand right there. They may listen right there,
they may be present right there, but they'll be absent from the
revelation. I'm so sorry, but the text
teaches us that somebody can even be near the cross and still
not know Christ. So don't get mad.
Men define people in your crowd. Who may not go along with you.
Don't get mad when you look in your cry and you find some
people plotting your demise. But be like she's And whatever
you do, stop. Come out the elevator plane.
Stand in the safe house, 'cause he, that's really, that's him,
the secret place, Him, the darkness, him, the strain him,
the struggle, he that hides him, the name of the Lord shall be
saved. I got to get out of here now,
but I'm reminded of a group of people that was in the theater
one time, and the whole time they saw some others scrolling
on the phone while the movies being displayed.
They laughed at the wrong part. They found themselves talking
through the tension. And at the end of the movie, the
group of people said to themselves, I didn't get the
movie. And I'm going to let you know
that there's always going to be some people who won't be with
you who will simply miss it. But whatever you do, don't come
down. Whatever you do, don't give up.
Because the cost of elevation may be a shadow, but the cow.
Is going to. Produce, the cost is the Jackie
will give you a harvest, the cost Braylon will give you fruit
and the shadow yields revelation.
But also you must know you may have to pay the cost, the cost
of strain, but the cost of strain is going to give you
identification. You may even find yourself
dealing with scrutiny. But I got to remember, I got to
remind you that scrutiny is going to yield vindication
because Jesus is on the cross. Jesus, it's paying the cost, and
as he's paying the cross, the cost of elevation, It seemed as
if it all was for not. It seemed as if this was just
for nothing. It seemed as if this was just
another man. It seemed it was another streak.
It seemed as is it was just another man, just another
person, just another pies time, just another thing, just another
one. But I'm so glad that Jesus
didn't just die, but Jesus was delivered.
Yes, God, I hear you. He was delivered from an
elevated place because the higher you got to go up, you'll
find yourself going down deeper. And the Bible says he that I've
said attended the question is where did he go?
Because it seemed not sins Earth was already hell, but he had
found himself found himself in hell for real.
And there he found captives, cactus by sin, cactus by
tradition, cactus by religion. And it's the blood Jesus pain on
that all round across the cars held to get nervous.
And Friday night seemed like another party.
Saturday was just another casual brunch.
But something happened. Something happened in the
breaking up day. The jails of hell, they give
them the ride on something happened between the breaking of
day what seemed like was just for not on early Sunday morning.
Jesus, it's vindicated 'cause he comes out of a borrowed.
Place. Comes out of a borrowed
location. Comes out.
Comes out, comes out or just a stop on his journey.
He comes down or what's only temporary, so he can now deliver
Freedom, deliver liberty, deliver salvation to you and I.
I've got to go now. I ain't never had to preach my
anniversary, but I came to let you know, as the Lord was
ministering to me this week while I was in Charlotte, that
God hath not forgot his word concerning you.
That God hath not from God what he said to you.
That God has not been God, how he thinks about you.
That God has not changed, changed His mind about you.
And I came to give you a message straight from heaven that you
gonna have to pay the cost of elevation.
But don't be discouraged. Don't be dismayed.
Just know that God won't fail you.
God won't fail you. God won't fail you.
So get out of your feelings. Get in faith because God, he's
with you. And even if you have to go from
the light to the dark, God is still with you.
God is still holding you. God is still sustaining you.
God, it's still providing for you.
You might slow down, but just no, God won't fail you.
God, God, God, God, God. He won't let you fall.
He won't let you fall, God.
God got too much invested in you for you to quit now, for you to
let go now, for you to run out of gas now.
So go, go on through with it because God's still with you.
Help me out. Telling somebody, Say go with
it, go through it because God's still with you.
Oh no, no, no, no, no. I said go tell somebody God is
still with you. I said tell somebody God is
still with you. That's the wrong person.
They didn't hear you. That's the wrong.
Go find somebody else and say God is still with you.
God is still with you.
God, God, God is still with you.
I'm sorry, it's my anniversary. I'm sorry he's still with you.
So cry if you have to, but God's still with you.
Screaming if you have to, but God is still with you.
Rolling the floor if you have to, but God is still with you.
A hero let you die, I said. Hero, the one who made the stars
in the sky won't let you die. May not feel good.
But. Hero let you die.
Body may fail me, but God won't let me die.
I got to stop. Hero, Hero, hero.
I got to stop. I got to stop.
He won't let you down. Sometimes we just read Jesus on
the cross. He don't realize the layering of
pain that is more than just snails in his eyes, heels in his
feet, a crown of thorns and a spear in his side.
Yeah, that's it. And it's also the people he was
sent to love that is in the dark with him.
And in the dark. In the dark, they start talking
stupid. In the dark we already nervous.
They're supposed to be light. Life's not supposed to be like
this. At this moment.
I'm in this moment, this season, this air, this epoch.
It's dark. And Jesus is in.
He's in agony that others see come here and he's got some
internal wounds that no one can even understand.
Some of us too found ourselves in a year where God gave us a
prophetic word and said elevate. But here we are and he's saying,
you know there is a cost to this.
I've received the word and I forgot the scripture.
Jesus says any builder before he builds anything first counts up
the cost and sometimes we get so focused on what that is supposed
to be. I don't know what your that is
that we we don't factor in the different degrees of surrenders
God requires of us. If Jesus would have given in to
his environment, if Jesus would have given in to the pressures
that he was under, if Jesus would have said I'm done with
it. You and I will have no advocacy
to God. We couldn't even talk to him.
I can't talk about your righteousness, but I know my
righteousness has a filthy rags. Then even on the day that I
think I got everything right, God reminds me, no, some of your
thoughts weren't right either. Even when I, when I, I've
revised and proof read how I was going to say it, but I was going
to say that he goes back and says, but your heart isn't right
and your heart is talking through it all.
I'm going to let you know because I hear the Lord right
here, that there's some in here that have found their hearts
grown cold. And it's not cold towards
people, it's cold towards God because God gave me a cost and
I'm paying for something. I'm trying to figure out Lord.
I. Ain't got nothing else to pay
with. I ain't got nothing else.
But it keeps saying I want your yes, I want your Hallelujah,
yeah, I want your money. Because you'll mess around and
and be silly and find yourself with but only one shirt and
start making that one shirt your got.
I want that too. I'm telling you that as we are
sitting here and I know I'm at my time on the Hebraic calendar,
this time of year, I believe you're in the month of elude.
The month of elude is a time of introspection.
It is a time of looking into oneself.
As you go to the fourth quarter, the the fourth quarter is always
the first quarter on God's calendar, September.
You're technically being a new Hebraic year.
I don't want to get super deep on you, but I want to let you
know that the timing of God brings us to this moment where
God is saying, how will you finish?
Will you finish strong or will you abandon even being in the
race? The brothers and sisters, I feel
like every week I'm either in a funeral, hearing about a
funeral, sending greetings for a funeral.
We are in a moment, God, I feel my gift kicking in that you're
going to have to get serious about God.
I'm for real that we, we got to be serious, not about
personalities and we got to be serious about God.
There is an enemy unleashed and he's roaring like a lion.
He's not a lion, but the enemy is roaming our streets, roaming
our workplaces, roaming in our houses, seeking whom he may
devour. We're in the moment that we've
got to be anchored in the Lord, not on the Lord, but in the
Lord. Then I'm not going to be shaken.
Lies and fallacies, untruths, half truths, but I'm going to be
like Jesus that even on the cross all he has is Bible.
That's all he had to save his Bible.
This ain't your season to go back and forth, but people
almost said wrong word ain't going back over.
This ain't your season for that. Because it take too much to be
in darkness and straining the straining to speak that if
you're going to say something make it count, but make sure it
ain't your words because your words are my words.
They fall to the ground, but the Bible says the word of God shall
not return back to him void but it real accomplished that which
even set forth to do that's that scripture.
That's the word that's the word. So it don't matter what you see
or what you face right now you got to be steadfast unmovable.
Come here. You know the scripture and the
ring always abounding and the word of the Lord that your
laborers may not be in vain. I'm going to let you know, don't
lose at the end. I feel that so strong in this
room. Don't lose in the end.
Some of us been saved too long to go to hell because of some
last minute decisions, huh? Clean your mouth out.
I hear the Lord saying clean your mouth out.
I'm telling you, the Bible says that hell enlarges.
Its tense, huh? It enlarges because there are
Saints that mess up at the end who should go to heaven.
We go to the funeral and we preach them into heaven.
But you know what we don't know? We don't because don't nobody
know, but God, you going to look for them and then go see them
because you know what? These moments where God is
sending a word, you're not hearing a word because you're
looking at a person. Good God, I hear you, Lord, just
like Jesus on the cross. They said he called it for
Elijah. He must call it for God.
This message, I don't want you to take this as me ranting,
giving you some some holy dispensation.
No, this ain't fervor you need to take to your family.
I can't get to your home like you can get to your home.
You going to need to call some meetings.
You can that text thread and we got to talk because I'm telling
you there is something coming. I told you earlier the top of
year, start growing your food. I gave you these words.
Go back and look to YouTube. These prophetic moments I've
had. I said, I see gold in 2025.
There's gold everywhere. Those are, I said watch what you
invest in. I gave you the word, I'm giving
you another word from heaven. Call your family and tell them
God is elevating us, but there's a cost that we're going to have
to pay and that pay us some of that silliness.
We got to let go, huh? Some of that we got to let go.
We got to secure our family and anchor it in the Lord.
We got to go back. Does everybody know how to pray?
Come on, let's practice praying. Come on.
I know it sounds mundane. It sounds simple, but we got to
go back and say you. You not to.
You not to say your prayers when you get up in the morning.
You not to say your prayers when you at work.
You not to say your prayers when you go to sleep.
You not to say your prayers over your food.
Come on, let's do it. Let's.
It sounds silly, but it is the simple things that get us, get
us messed up by the enemy. He ain't number a little guarded
snake, that's all. Just a little guarded snake and
he's Slytherin. And you, you getting all jacked
up because it's dark outside, it's dark in your life.
And he's thinking it's, it's a liar.
It's a snake, little Caterpillar just going around.
But that's what the enemy's doing in our lives for real.
And we get we get caught up in fear and we lose reverence of
God because we're like God, how you ain't keep me from this.
And he said, no, I already told you I'll never leave you.
He already, he said, I already told you, I always be there.
Believe it. If I'm in the dark, listen, you
may not know Jesus and the free partner of your sin.
I'm going to pray this short prayer to me say, Lord Jesus,
come into my heart, save me. I want to be saved.
Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me.
Lord Jesus, thank you for rising out of the grave for me.
Lord Jesus, thank you for coming again for me in Jesus name,
Amen. Come and put those hands
together, believe by faith, and so just receive Jesus into their
life. Thank you for tuning in to the
Rock Hill Baptist Church 2 Podcast.
We pray today's message planted something in your spirit and
gave you the strength to keep growing here at the Rock Hill
Baptist Church 2. We're a growing church, and
growth starts with one step. If you're ready to go deeper,
visit us online at www.myrockhill2.org and click
Next Steps to get connected, join a ministry, or give your
life to Christ. Be sure to follow the podcast so
you never miss a message and share this episode with someone
you know is ready to grow too. And remember, no matter what
comes your way, you were built to elevate.
Until next time, walk in purpose, live in power, and grow
in grace.