1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:06,800 Since he never Hallelujah walks away, Hallelujah, we walk away 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:12,000 so many times, give up. He never walks away. 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,560 He won't leave this there. The Scripture talks about 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,800 Haggard, the one that was the mother of Ishmael had had this 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:26,880 child with Abraham and Sarah had sent her away and Abraham kind 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,560 of endorsed that as well. The Bible says found her out 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,240 there into a desert wilderness place. 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:36,920 Her little boy was there and she kind of had him over a stones 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,360 castaway and she was just totally frustrated by life and 10 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,400 out there in that very desolate wilderness place. 11 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:49,200 She come to this realization and it's stated in Scripture. 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,320 She said the Lord begin having a conversation with her in that 13 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,280 desert place. She had been in a hand, a 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,360 handmaiden in the House of Abraham and Sarah. 15 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:05,239 So she knew what it was like for God to speak to them and 16 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:08,760 overhear the conversations they had with God. 17 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:12,080 But in this episode, Abraham's not around. 18 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,160 In this episode, Sarah's not around. 19 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,800 And so when God started speaking, she's almost a little 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,200 set back because she's always used to hearing that voice speak 21 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,800 to somebody beside her. But at this moment, in that 22 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,760 place of desolation and barrenness, she understood God 23 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:35,240 was speaking to her. And she said he's the God that 24 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:40,040 sees me. He's the God that sees me. 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,240 Somebody needs to be comforted tonight. 26 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,360 He's not speaking to your brother or your sister right 27 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,560 now. He's a God that sees you in your 28 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:55,600 desolation, in your barrenness, in your he's a God that sees 29 00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:01,560 you. Hallelujah. 30 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,919 We love you Jesus. Such a wonderful God. 31 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:12,320 Man. It's good to see you all. 32 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,880 I would go through all the names I get my wife just she just 33 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:20,760 covers it all. So I just say kudos and concur. 34 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,360 And yes, we are so happy. Amen deceive you and have you 35 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,040 and that's not a condescending statement course her at all. 36 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,200 I'm thankful for what she does in leading us in these services. 37 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,320 Thankful for the praise team leading. 38 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,800 I know they had a busy weekend. I know both Mason sets of Masons 39 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,400 families were gone on Friday and Saturday with district and 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,000 planning and things like that, both those days. 41 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,120 And so they've come back and such and the time they put on 42 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,560 hand usually on a day through the week to practice for Sundays 43 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,400 and such. And so we just got people 44 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,360 always, you never know who's going to come or who's going to 45 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,640 go around here. I came in, it's been a busy 46 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:58,840 week. I, I do different things to do 47 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:01,360 like iron sharpens iron for mentoring young ministers. 48 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,440 And so I did that on Thursday night for probably over an hour 49 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,920 session with them. And I came in and the cleaning 50 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:14,880 team was here doing their thing, right, talking and cleaning. 51 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:17,960 All right. And it's all right that there's 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,120 both that I was doing that and I was out there doing it. 53 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:23,920 And all of a sudden I hear this alarm, the church alarm starting 54 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:25,720 to beep, like counting down to arm. 55 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,160 I'm thinking, I wonder if they don't even know I'm here because 56 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,160 I did kind of just sneak in, you know, and I'm doing my about my 57 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:33,800 voice. I thought for surely would be 58 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,160 heard. And so I'm in a zoom meeting 59 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:37,680 with these guys said just hold a minute. 60 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,200 I need to make a call and so I called brother Reese and he 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,920 didn't answer his phone, don't you know, but he called me back. 62 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:48,680 He's like I don't know how he ever he says hello. 63 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,120 However y'all do it? I don't know. 64 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,400 I'm not up to that speed OK? I still say hello. 65 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,400 I said, buddy, I said, Dad, did you just alarm the church? 66 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,520 I'm over here in the office. Oh, I just put it on home. 67 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,200 He said, so you're good. You know, in case anybody, I 68 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,720 thought, because I thought as soon as I leave that office, the 69 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,080 motion detector in the sanctuary and I'm going to make a mad dash 70 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:10,840 and hit in my code and take care of that. 71 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,360 No, he thought about me, but you never know what's going to be 72 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,160 going on around here. People cleaning, people 73 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:17,959 practicing, people praying people. 74 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:20,279 Amen. I have, I walked in before with 75 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,840 members of cleaning team that's been up here prior to church or 76 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,400 prior to clean up here praying. I told my wife said let's just 77 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,000 back out of here. This is a holy moment right 78 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,200 here. Amen. 79 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,680 You can stand with me. I don't use some of you already 80 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:36,440 stand. Isaiah chapter 49. 81 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:45,400 Isaiah chapter #49 I have a lengthy reading. 82 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,040 All right. Sometimes they say lengthy 83 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,080 reading means short sermon. That's not necessarily true. 84 00:04:54,280 --> 00:04:56,520 I have a lengthy reading. Amen. 85 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,160 Tonight I want to start with verse #14 I'm sitting on my 86 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:07,400 couch last night and but something come over me as I was 87 00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:12,560 looking in a folder that I put thoughts and things that God has 88 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:14,520 dealt with me on through, you know, the years. 89 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:18,160 I came across something that my spirit was impressed and I was 90 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:23,240 so impressed with this that it took me back to another sermon 91 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:28,520 that I preach last year at a camp meeting as along the same 92 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:33,400 lines and feel like preaching it tonight like preaching it 93 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,240 tonight. I not that old sermon. 94 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,200 This is a brand new sermon, but in Isaiah 49. 95 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:40,280 Let's just look at the Scripture. 96 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,240 The Bible says but Zion, everybody say Zion, but Zion 97 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:50,600 said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. 98 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:59,040 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have 99 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,120 compassion on the son of her womb? 100 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,080 Yeah, they may forget. Yet will I not forget thee? 101 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,520 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. 102 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:14,880 Thy walls are continually before me. 103 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:22,480 Thy children shall make haste by destroyers, and they that made 104 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,320 the waste shall go forth of thee. 105 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,280 Lift up thine eyes. This is, this is the dress 106 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:32,800 design. Lift up thine eyes around about, 107 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,160 and behold all these gather themselves together, and come to 108 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:42,560 thee as I live, saith the Lord. Thou shalt surely they thou 109 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:47,000 shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, 110 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,880 and bind them on thee as a bride doeth. 111 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,080 For thy waste and thy desolate places in the land of thy 112 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:58,640 destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the 113 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,720 inhabitants. They that swallow the up shall 114 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,000 be far away. The children which thou shalt 115 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,600 have after thou has lost the other, shall say again in thine 116 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,200 ears, The place is too straight for me. 117 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,560 Give me, give place to me, that I may do well. 118 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:19,960 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, who have begotten me, 119 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,360 thee see, and I have lost my children. 120 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,280 This is I'm saying, No, we're talking about children. 121 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:31,760 I've lost children, and am desolate a captive in removing 122 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,760 to and fro. And who have brought up these? 123 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,720 Behold, I was left alone these, where? 124 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,320 Where had they been, or where did they come from? 125 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,360 Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine eyes, my 126 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:49,040 hand to the Gentiles, and set my standard up to the people, And 127 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:53,800 they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughter 128 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,320 shall be carried upon their shoulders. 129 00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,200 And kings, just bear with me a little bit longer. 130 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,480 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their Queens thy 131 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,840 nursing mothers. And they shall bow down to thee 132 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,760 with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of 133 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:09,640 thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am 134 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,160 the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. 135 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,640 Verse 24 Shall the praise Zion is answering back. 136 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,760 You're talking about this. But shall the prey be taken from 137 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,000 the mighty? For the lawful captive 138 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,160 delivered. Thus saith the Lord, Even the 139 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,680 captains of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the 140 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,840 terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that 141 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:41,080 contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children, and I will 142 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,320 feed them that oppressed thee with their own flesh. 143 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,040 And they shall be drunken with their own blood, as the sweet 144 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,080 wine. And all flesh shall know that I 145 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:53,080 am the Lord, thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of 146 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:58,280 Jacob. God's wanting to do something in 147 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:04,720 Zion, but something's happened to Zion in the past. 148 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:11,920 She's lost some children, some sons and daughters, and God 149 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:17,000 wants to bring them back. But Zion's almost in disbelief. 150 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:23,200 How can this happen? They're under the hand of a 151 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:28,320 mighty thumb of oppression that God says even from the mighty 152 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:35,320 hand, I will save your children. I'm preaching with backsliders 153 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,680 and prodigals on my heart tonight, and I'm preaching to 154 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:42,240 the church, Zion, and I'm preaching this this evening, 155 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,680 reclaiming Zion's captive children. 156 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:52,440 Reclaiming Zion's captive children. 157 00:09:55,200 --> 00:10:02,240 Folks, I I believe, and I'm convinced in his word, that as 158 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,840 the timetable clicks closer to eternity that there's going to 159 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:09,560 be a harvest of those that once sat on the Pew. 160 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:21,480 Hallelujah. Let's pray right now. 161 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,520 Father God, I come to you, Lord, and I'm thankful, Lord, for your 162 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:27,000 spirit. I'm thankful, Lord, for the 163 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,320 songs of Zion. Thankful, Lord, for the power of 164 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:33,040 your Holy Ghost. I pray, O Lord, tonight you're 165 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,920 able to guide our steps and you're able to guide our minds. 166 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,000 And Lord, let your word, Lord, be applicable. 167 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,400 Lord Jesus each and everyone Lord setting of the sound of my 168 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:43,920 voice. Help from God to be encouraged. 169 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,160 Let Zion God find her moorings, the Lord and her strength and by 170 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,880 faith, but to be able to believe God, what you desire to do and 171 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:55,920 what you desire to accomplish. God, I believe in you and it the 172 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,760 Lord here Lord online God and for the church collective in the 173 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:01,760 lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 174 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:12,440 There are moments when the church, like Zion in Isaiah 49, 175 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,920 feels forsaken and feels forgotten. 176 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:22,080 There are seasons in this life that we call church life of 177 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:27,680 barrenness and loss and discouragement that weighs heavy 178 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:33,680 upon our lives and it leads us to question God's care at times. 179 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:39,000 It leads us to question God's presence here in the Scripture. 180 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,120 Zion is burned and Zion is broken. 181 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:49,000 Her walls are laying there in ruins, and her children had been 182 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:54,440 carried away, and they were struggling to reconcile their 183 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:59,560 desolation with God's promises for them in their life. 184 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:04,800 And her, her lament and her cry echoes the cries of those who 185 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:09,080 have ever experienced the heartache of backsliders or 186 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:13,800 prodigals or estranged loved ones, those who have seemed to 187 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:18,800 be maybe, in our human estimation, beyond hope, or held 188 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:22,720 captive by the mighty forces of sin and shame and despair. 189 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,720 Yet in these verses we find that God speaks with a unshakable 190 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:33,400 assurance, declaring that his enduring love and his enduring 191 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:38,480 faithfulness was there for Zion. He tells her that the brokenness 192 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:42,640 that she has is not the image that he remembers. 193 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,240 It's not the image that he recalls. 194 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,720 He said her walls, though shattered right now in the 195 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,560 moment, He said they are continually before me and 196 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,280 they're restored and glorious and aforementioned state. 197 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:00,800 He even says Zion, you, you just cannot see the hope you God. 198 00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,360 I understand that you're seeing the future and you're seeing 199 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,000 this adorned with the beauty of our children and and filled with 200 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,200 them that are returning. But Zion has not yet caught a 201 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,440 vision, Amen, of what God wanted to do. 202 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:19,720 And so this chapter invites our us with eyes of faith to look to 203 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:24,640 the Lord as God would beckon to bring from the nations of Four 204 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,360 Nations and cultures the children of estranged sons and 205 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:31,800 daughters back to Zion. The reclaiming, if you will, of 206 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,160 the captives of rescuing, of those that have been taken 207 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:37,800 place. Some of those are even known as 208 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,040 the lawful captives be brought home. 209 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,400 He had a promise of restoration. He had a promise, promise of 210 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,840 redemption. And so in the Scripture we got 211 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:51,160 to hear the hope filled promise that God is giving to Zion, that 212 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,440 he'll come forward and he'll contend with those that have 213 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,560 contended with her. That he indeed will bring the 214 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,960 prodigal home. He's trying to stir her faith. 215 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,600 Hey man. That the church's children, 216 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,440 though they may be estranged, and though they may be bound, 217 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:11,320 and though they may be lost, will return as ornaments of 218 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:17,560 glory, adorning Zion as a bride, ready for the bridegroom again. 219 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:21,040 Can someone say, man, you must understand these verses of 220 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,520 Scripture tonight. They were written on the eve of 221 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,280 Israel's return from a Babylonian captivity. 222 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:33,760 They're encouraged in verse #13 of this chapter to sing. 223 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:38,120 Zion is. But Zion feels forsaken and 224 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,000 forgotten. She had endured years of 225 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:47,240 suffering in years of pain. As the city Zion is burnt, her 226 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:52,080 walls are broken down. Many, if not most of her 227 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,840 inhabitants have been carried away as captives to a foreign 228 00:14:56,840 --> 00:15:00,800 land, a strange land of foreign culture. 229 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:03,840 And no doubt those that have been carried away. 230 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,080 Their plight is connected to their disobedience. 231 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,880 They are where they are because they have done what they have 232 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,400 done. Many have push God aside outside 233 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,080 of their minds. They have pushed God aside 234 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:20,760 outside of their thoughts and their actions, and the Lord is 235 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,120 just seemingly given to those captives. 236 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,600 What they were leaning toward that that he's allowing them to 237 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,480 go to a land. Amen. 238 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,320 In the atmosphere of paganism and idolatry, because that's 239 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:35,920 where they had leaned. They have proverbially made 240 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,240 their bed and now they are laying down in it. 241 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:43,680 They were lawful captives, if you will, that they were not 242 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:48,040 imprisoned so much as they were made to feel comfortable in 243 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:51,360 houses in Babylon. They were made to feel 244 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:55,160 comfortable in communities along the river of Babylon. 245 00:15:55,160 --> 00:16:00,360 Babylon, which is a type of the world It specializes in 246 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:05,840 attempting to integrate those that were enzyme to feel 247 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:10,560 comfortable and a part of the Babylon society because Babylon 248 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:14,400 knows how to just apply the right amount of pressure. 249 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:20,200 So that one that once knew Zion will now identify and accept the 250 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:24,480 customs of Babylon. That one that used to know Zion 251 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:29,400 will accept the names even like the three Hebrew boys that that 252 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,240 that Babylon is putting on them and all the religious practices 253 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,320 of that place. It doesn't take you to see that 254 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,680 it's hard to keep the tension between being faithful to God, 255 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,160 Amen, and not coming under the cultural expectations of 256 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,120 Babylon. Many of those that were taken to 257 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:50,960 that city in that place were unsuccessful. 258 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,280 They integrated, they, they, they lost, if you will, the 259 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,840 morals of what Zion had instilled in them. 260 00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,280 They had loosed them. They had cut them off. 261 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,680 They blended in with their surroundings. 262 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,359 They're alienated from Zion. They're alienated from the 263 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,040 church. Other sooner if not later, 264 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,880 though, Amen already begin to think through Amen, the 265 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,680 decisions that they had made and the actions that they had taken. 266 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,200 And the Bible describes that. There's a bit of tinge of regret 267 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,920 in their voice. But the Bible says that by the 268 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,400 river of Babylon, there was some that sat down. 269 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:31,040 And yeah, they wept when they remembered Zion. 270 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:38,240 Someone say man, those Zions walls are broken down. 271 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:43,760 God tells us that Zion is not forgotten though her walls are 272 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,800 in disarray. He tells her that I've engraving 273 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,520 you on the palms of my hands. Hey man, which is a 274 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:55,560 foreshadowing no doubt of the crucifix of Calvary's cross. 275 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,800 He says your walls are continually before me. 276 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,520 And in other words, the way that I remember you, Zion, are not 277 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,000 the ways that you are presently in the broken down state, the 278 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,840 without your children's state, without your sons and daughters 279 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,360 state. I know you feel inadequate, 280 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,600 Zion. I know you feel vulnerable 281 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,280 because of your broken down walls, he says. 282 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,200 But the image that I bear in my mind is when your walls were 283 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,960 high and they were continually before me. 284 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,200 Hey, man, it's the picture that I have. 285 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,480 I know it's not the picture of what he is, but it's the picture 286 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:36,400 of what still can be. Just follow the Scripture here a 287 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:37,960 little bit. We're we'll be going back and 288 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:39,760 forth. The Bible says if we can see 289 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,600 again in verses 15 and 16, he says, can a woman forget her 290 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,520 sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son 291 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,520 of her womb? Yeah, they may forget, he says, 292 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:54,200 but I will not forget the any woman in this place that's ever 293 00:18:54,200 --> 00:19:00,840 nursed a baby understands the impossibility of forgetting a 294 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,760 nursing child. Those cluster feeding times when 295 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:08,040 you don't have much time in between and when a break is 296 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,720 welcomed. Those moments whenever, and I'm 297 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,400 not trying to be graphic, but those moments when the milk 298 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:18,720 let's down just from the whimper of your infant, the little 299 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,320 pulling of tiny hands on the blouse. 300 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,240 Amen. Because it's indicating to you 301 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,840 and the nestling its head into your chest because it's it's 302 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,000 trying to tell you it's feeding time. 303 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,080 You can't ignore that. He says, would would a woman 304 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,880 forget? Would a woman forget her sucking 305 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,400 child? He and the rhetorical question 306 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,360 that we should answer said absolutely not, but even says 307 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:44,760 she even may forget but I will not forget you. 308 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:51,280 Someone say God remember Zion, God remember Zion. 309 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:53,960 I remember it so well. I know I've told it here before, 310 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:57,120 but sister Laser, a woman that goes into the prisons with us, 311 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,480 she always tells her story about her abandonment by her parents, 312 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,560 her mom and dad and how she lived a life of violence and 313 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:06,160 fighting and that's the only way she knew how to get through 314 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:07,880 life. It was just the fight and 315 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:09,720 violence that became her way of life. 316 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:12,680 And eventually somewhere along the way someone had given her a 317 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,680 Bible. She had never owned a Bible in 318 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:16,880 the entirety of her life and someone gave her. 319 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,680 For a Bible Amen in her life and she was like at wit's end and 320 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:23,120 she was like God, you're just going to have to prove yourself 321 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:25,760 to me God, you're just going to have to let me know that that 322 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,440 you exist and I'm not able to trust anybody else in my life. 323 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:31,160 I've been abandoned by my mother. 324 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:32,960 I've been abandoned by my father. 325 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,760 She says you're just going to prove yourself to me in my life 326 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,520 and she said I took that Bible and I just did what you do 327 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,640 sometimes. She said I flipped it open and 328 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,480 threw my hand down on the verse. She never read the Bible before, 329 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,560 she says, and I put my finger down on the verse and it landed 330 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,920 on Psalms 27 and 10. That said, when my father and my 331 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:55,360 mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. 332 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,520 Honey, not only does he remember those that used to be in Zion, 333 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,200 he remembers Zion. You'll be the father that you 334 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:10,560 don't have and the mother that maybe have abandoned you. 335 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:22,600 God remembers his children. But right now Zion doesn't have 336 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:28,080 all the fields. Zion feels partially abandoned 337 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:36,280 by God because one reason she has been deprived of her 338 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,640 children. But the Bible also tells us in 339 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:44,200 verse 21, not only as has children been taken from her, 340 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,080 she says that she's unable to conceive. 341 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,280 She says that I'm desolate, which in the Hebrew the meaning 342 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:57,640 of that word is I'm very. So not only have I been children 343 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,560 taken away, but I'm in a season of life. 344 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,640 I can't have any children. I'm talking to the church 345 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:10,920 tonight. I know I had years how to 346 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:14,640 evangelize them and been a part of this thing since 1990 and 347 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:16,840 before that, if you count whenever we started doing all 348 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,080 this. Let me over the years, I've been 349 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:21,520 deprived. We've been deprived as the first 350 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,760 Apostolic Church, as Kingsburg Pentecostal Church in Kingsburg. 351 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,800 We've been deprived of children by whatever major. 352 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,040 There have been things that's come in and taken people out and 353 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,240 there's been vices, if you will, of the world that that have 354 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,040 taken people out. We've been deprived of children, 355 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,920 but we have also known time since seasons around here when 356 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,440 we've been barren, when we've not been able to bear any 357 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,400 children, when the womb seem to be closed up. 358 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,240 And Zion at this moment, she says I'm in a place that I feel 359 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,560 a little abandoned and forsaken. I know what you're promising, 360 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,360 God, but I've been deprived of some children and right now I'm 361 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,520 in a place of barrenness. Folks, there are times that 362 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,280 there will be troubles and there are times there will be 363 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,360 barrenness that will assail the church that will make the church 364 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:14,600 question, does God care, does not see us, Is God concerned? 365 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:20,440 Where is God's whereabouts? The Bible says that Zion had 366 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,120 downcast eyes. That's that's typical the 367 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:26,960 posture of somebody with shame or somebody with guilt. 368 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,680 However, God is speaking to Zion and this is what God says to 369 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:36,080 her. He says lift up your eyes. 370 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,800 He said lift up your eyes. He says because the children are 371 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:56,740 coming back, we have all these feelings of doubts and God 372 00:23:56,740 --> 00:24:00,260 declares the children are coming back, Zion. 373 00:24:01,140 --> 00:24:08,660 And he says you're going to wear your children as ornaments or as 374 00:24:08,660 --> 00:24:14,400 adornments like a typical bride would actually wear in their 375 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,720 culture. God swears an oath concerning 376 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,280 this. He says, I want you to 377 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,520 understand Zion, what I'm saying perfectly clear. 378 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,040 This is not happenstance, this. I'm not suggesting that they're 379 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,160 coming. I'm not saying they might come. 380 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,240 He says, I'm telling you that they are coming. 381 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:35,880 God swears an oath by it. He says as I live, as I live, 382 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,120 saith the Lord. Just as sure as I'm living, God 383 00:24:39,120 --> 00:24:42,960 says they're coming back home, they're coming back to Zion. 384 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,360 They're coming. The glory of Zion is going to 385 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:46,760 shine again. That's. 386 00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,520 We got to preach it tonight till somebody believes it, but we get 387 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,480 into this mode. We are totally loved, we are 388 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,760 totally bewildered. We're like it can never happen, 389 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,320 it won't happen. I know what their life is like. 390 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:10,240 I know the dreads of sin that they are in. 391 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:11,880 I know the path that they've gone. 392 00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,640 They've went so far. There's no possibility. 393 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,560 I'm telling you that's a lie. That's a bunch of doubts and non 394 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,280 faith in your head. The voice that was spoken in 395 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,160 Isaiah. I stand as a prophet of my day 396 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:28,440 and tell you as the Lord, Lord Liveth, they're coming home. 397 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,480 As the Lord Liveth, they're going to arrive as the Lord of 398 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,000 Liveth. Zion's going to be in hurtful 399 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:43,600 glory before we get out, before we get out of here. 400 00:25:54,400 --> 00:26:11,200 Let's magnify him right now. I want you to pick up the 401 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:15,360 wording of verse #17 he told Zion. 402 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,920 He said Thy children shall make haste. 403 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,240 Why? Because these words are written 404 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,560 on the eve of the release from Babylon. 405 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,520 He says when they feel the release, they're going to make 406 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:36,040 up a hurry trip, they're going to make haste back to their 407 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,040 homeland. They're going to make come on 408 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,520 somebody. There are things, there are 409 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,080 people that are being held in bondages. 410 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,760 There are people that's being held by society, there's being 411 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,000 people that's being held by thoughts. 412 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,880 But God's saying when I get the release, they're going to hasten 413 00:26:53,880 --> 00:27:37,340 home when I get. Someone says the Lord lives, has 414 00:27:37,340 --> 00:27:40,380 the Lord lives, has the Lord lives? 415 00:27:40,820 --> 00:27:43,100 He said. They're coming has the Lord 416 00:27:43,620 --> 00:27:56,200 lives. He said just what? 417 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:08,480 There's something happening here, right there. 418 00:28:30,080 --> 00:29:23,760 Yeah. I and make ready, for I the Lord 419 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,080 shall return thy children as to thee. 420 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,120 Do not be inside thy house drinking and making Mary, but I 421 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:34,360 say unto thee, be waiting, be looking, be ready to receive 422 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:38,200 them, for they are coming. I say their preparations prepare 423 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:42,040 thy hell, for I the Lord shall bring them to thy door unto thee 424 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:48,200 and I speak in this night. Hallelujah, let's glorify the 425 00:29:48,200 --> 00:30:30,760 Lord right now. Please look at it. 426 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:37,600 Please look at it, he says. I and your children will be as 427 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:40,360 the ornaments or adornments of a bride. 428 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,880 They'll be as the ornaments or the adornments, if you will, of 429 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:53,120 a bride. Find them on you as a bride. 430 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:57,560 Do it. When I first pondered all this, 431 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,400 my mind with the Scriptures that we adore and we we love, and 432 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,840 we've executed and spoken from pulpits of like Revelation 19 433 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:09,160 seven that says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to 434 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,560 him. For the marriage of the Lamb has 435 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:16,760 come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 436 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:24,120 The Lamb's wife, the church have made herself ready. 437 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:31,920 She is clothed. She is adorned as a bride is 438 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:35,760 adorned. She's clothed and she is adorned 439 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,920 with the ornaments of a bride. Can I tell you today? 440 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,280 And we look at it like this and that's OK. 441 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,560 We talk about the church being without spot or blemish or any 442 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:48,840 such thing. And she's a glorious church. 443 00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:52,840 And I believe with all that, but perhaps part of this adornment, 444 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:58,360 part of this being adorned and, and, and, and ornamentation of a 445 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,520 bride as a bride should be adorned. 446 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,840 Perhaps part of that is the church making herself ready for 447 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,720 the purpose of recovering and adorning herself with the 448 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:12,040 estranged children. That part of the ability of the 449 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:16,200 church making herself ready is prior to the rapture, there's 450 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,240 going to be some children come back home. 451 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:20,400 There's going to be some lost folks come back home. 452 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,200 There's going to be some prodigals come back home, and 453 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,760 the church is going to strap those children on herself and 454 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:31,600 adorn herself as a bride adorns her and she's making herself 455 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:39,960 ready for something. She some would say man to talk 456 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,920 about her adornment as wholeness and holiness without air, all of 457 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:45,640 that that is still biblically valid. 458 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,760 But perhaps the ornamentation of this pride is that it's her 459 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:54,120 children that she's been deprived of, that she that's 460 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,120 been taken, that's been lost. And part of her readiness is 461 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,280 they're coming back home, the captives being released, the 462 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,320 losses being found, the prey to board. 463 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,480 They're returning and she's getting prepared. 464 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:26,360 She's adorning herself with him. God declares verses 19 and 20 465 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:41,120 that Zion's space, her unused waste, desolate space, says 466 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,840 what's going to happen is they're going to come, please 467 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:49,600 hear me, and they're going to say it's too narrow for me. 468 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:57,160 Wait, too narrow for who? Too narrow for the returning 469 00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:02,120 inhabitants. He says children's coming home, 470 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:08,800 but when they arrived to Zion, they're going to tell Zion, we 471 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:13,000 don't know Zion, if what you have can presently contain. 472 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:20,639 We don't know if what you have right now, if all of us can fit 473 00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:27,199 in that space. Say, man, he says they're coming 474 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,360 home, but please vote if you read the Scripture. 475 00:34:30,639 --> 00:34:32,199 He says that they are coming home. 476 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,360 They're in verse #20 and they're saying that the place is too 477 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:37,199 straight or the place is too narrow. 478 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:39,440 They say the last phrase of verse 20. 479 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,719 They say, give place to me that I may do well. 480 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,440 You know what that tells me? This is not a casual visit her 481 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:48,560 children. This is not like her children 482 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,520 coming home for the holidays. This is not like the children 483 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,159 showing up for Easter, Christmas, or some other special 484 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:56,600 event. This is not her coming home for 485 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,280 an overnight stay. This is not her just hugging her 486 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,440 shoulder and kissing her neck. She says I need a place to 487 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,480 dwell. I need a place to put up my 488 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:06,960 mailbox. I need a place to put my roots 489 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:08,960 down. I need a place to dwell. 490 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,240 I need a place of permanence. I need. 491 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:14,160 I don't need a temporary hello, I need a forever. 492 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,160 How you doing? This isn't a what? 493 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,680 Design what you felt like you were deprived of. 494 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,920 It's coming home and it's coming home to settle. 495 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:42,650 It's coming home to stay. Hey, man, design the church. 496 00:35:43,330 --> 00:35:45,650 You read the scripture. She's a little puzzled. 497 00:35:49,730 --> 00:35:57,280 She sees the children starting to come and she's like, where 498 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,240 did all these come from? Who bore these? 499 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:07,520 I mean, she's seen people file in. 500 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,960 She's like, I don't even remember who that is. 501 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,160 Where are all of these coming from her? 502 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,240 I'm a little puzzled. I'm not even realizing that the 503 00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:27,840 ones that are coming home are the ones that in the past I saw 504 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:32,200 going to captivity. She's not even realizing, 505 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,600 Brother Fred, that the ones that are saying I need a larger space 506 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:39,800 for all of us are the same ones that were taken down the captive 507 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,520 Rd. See, she understands I've been 508 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,160 robbed. You understand, I've been robbed 509 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,520 of my children. I've been deprived of my 510 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,760 children. And so she's surprised now to be 511 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:57,680 surrounded by her children. She's astonished, she's 512 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:01,600 surprised. Where did all of these come 513 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,680 from? It almost seems like there's 514 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:13,760 more here than what I lost. Verse 21, she asked, where did 515 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:17,080 they come from? God says these are your two. 516 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,920 Over a process of 20 some odd years doing church life, you 517 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,800 won't even you don't even realize how many people walk 518 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,800 through the doors. You don't even realize how many 519 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,040 people cried at your altars. You don't even recount when they 520 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,800 ever sat on the Pew. But God says you need to open 521 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,680 your eyes and get back out the old list because your children's 522 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:43,640 coming home. I know you're going to ask where 523 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,400 were these born or who are they? They're yours, Zion. 524 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:57,600 God answers her question, where are these, How can this happen? 525 00:37:57,600 --> 00:37:59,600 What is going on? He answers her question. 526 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:04,240 He says I'm going to influence the nation's, you hear me Zion? 527 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:07,480 I'm going to influence the nation's that have had your 528 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,520 children in captivity. I'm going to, I'm going to put 529 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,960 my hand up on the nation's that has deprived you of your loved 530 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,720 ones and your sons and daughters are going to return up on the 531 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:22,880 shoulders and in the arms. He says even now he says I am 532 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,600 beckoning them and listen, this is God here. 533 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:30,880 He said even now I am inviting them to Zion as a rally point. 534 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,280 The Bible says that he was lifting up the standard. 535 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,680 The standard in battle was always the rallying point where 536 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,560 everybody was to convene. He says, I'm standing here at 537 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:42,880 Zion and I'm lifting up the standard and the church is going 538 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,720 to be the rally point and I'm inviting every lost son and 539 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:48,440 daughter back home. I'm inviting every child, the 540 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,440 crowd that's been this strange, I'm inviting them back. 541 00:38:51,680 --> 00:39:01,080 Ho come and say Amen. And it's a biblical truth. 542 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:01,760 Listen to me. I'm not. 543 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:03,360 I'm not preaching some pipe dream. 544 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:05,800 I didn't have bad pizza this afternoon. 545 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:12,560 I didn't eat pizza. It's a biblical prophecy that 546 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:17,560 was even spoken of the tribe of Judah and Judah in Genesis 49 547 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:23,160 and 10, when as as Jacob is speaking blessing on the sons, 548 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:28,000 each one, he speaks to Judah and says the scepter shall not 549 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:30,720 depart from Judah. Do you know what tribe Christ 550 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:36,760 was from? He's the lion of the tribe, nor 551 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,640 he says a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh in the 552 00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:42,680 Hebrew. That basically means this, until 553 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:48,280 he whose it is and that which belongs to him come, he says, 554 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:55,280 and when he comes, under him whose it is, under him shall the 555 00:39:55,280 --> 00:40:01,320 gathering shall the gathering of the people be. 556 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,680 That was valid for Jesus day. He no longer showed up in 557 00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:09,600 Bethlehem's Manger that shepherds come to the bedside of 558 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,240 that Manger. It's not long that wise men from 559 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:16,160 afar, from the East show up inquiring Amen of when it said 560 00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,440 that the Lord and the King of the Jews would be born. 561 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:20,520 They're showing up. It's a gathering of the people. 562 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:22,440 It's Jews throughout the Gospels. 563 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,080 It's Gentiles and the epistles. It's Samaritans. 564 00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:29,600 And that's chapter #8 it's a gathering of the people that has 565 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,240 taken place. But that's not just for Jesus's 566 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:34,000 day. That's for the church age. 567 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,360 What you said, Brother McGee, I'm saying in this church age 568 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,640 today, I'm saying at the First Apostolic Church, and I felt it 569 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:56,520 come on me. It happens every once in a while 570 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:59,680 and not all the time, but I felt it come on me last night. 571 00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:02,920 And so I'm standing here tonight under the gift of prophecy. 572 00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,040 And I'm telling you there's coming a gathering of the 573 00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:08,360 protocol. There's coming a gathering of 574 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,920 the backslider. There's coming a gathering of 575 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,560 the estranged. There's coming a gathering of 576 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:18,480 the broken, of the captive, of the derailed, of the misguided, 577 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:31,020 but the wayward. They're coming home, Brother 578 00:41:31,020 --> 00:41:33,500 McGee, you, you're just, you're out on a limb tonight. 579 00:41:33,500 --> 00:41:36,300 That's too much faith for me to subscribe to, honey. 580 00:41:36,300 --> 00:41:38,860 You better subscribe to it because whether you realized or 581 00:41:38,860 --> 00:41:41,460 not, there's been a trinkling of it already happening. 582 00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:44,820 There's the Jessica Wagner's, there's the Danielle Camden's 583 00:41:44,820 --> 00:41:47,020 someone hear me? There's the Jenny Pascals, 584 00:41:47,340 --> 00:41:50,140 there's the Rebecca and Tag. They are already happening. 585 00:41:50,340 --> 00:41:58,400 There's a trinkling in. You hear me? 586 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:11,440 And distance, literal figurative distance is no problem when it 587 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:13,760 comes for God to get His children back to Zion. 588 00:42:15,720 --> 00:42:17,720 Bible says in Isaiah 49 and verse 12. 589 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,360 Still yet in this chapter God says, he says, behold, these 590 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:25,640 shall come from far, and lo, these shall come from the north 591 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:29,360 and from the West, and these from the land of cinema. 592 00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:31,640 You know what he told Zion in verse 18? 593 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,960 He said, Zion, lift up your eyes and look round about. 594 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,000 You know what he's saying. Zion, look to the north. 595 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:41,640 Zion, look to the South. Zion, look to the east and to 596 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,840 the West. Because from every direction, 597 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,360 your sons and daughters coming home, whether they're close or 598 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,760 whether they are far, they are coming. 599 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,320 I'm telling you, I'm telling you what I felt Saturday. 600 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,600 I'm telling you, I'm telling you it's the same thing I felt last 601 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:16,040 last year at Texas camp meeting. And I preached one night about 602 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,920 prodigals, man, they were licking the ceiling and 603 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:19,280 everything else before I started to preach. 604 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,720 I'm thinking God, my spirit in a whole different direction than 605 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:23,840 what's going on. But God already told me two 606 00:43:23,840 --> 00:43:26,520 weeks before I ever went to that camp, every sermon I was close 607 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:28,520 to preach Amen at that camp meeting. 608 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:31,160 So I went with the reassurance that I had heard from the 609 00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,640 master, so I wasn't shaken by what was going on. 610 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,440 And I stood on that last night, Friday night of all nights, 611 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:38,080 That's when you kick your heels and do everything. 612 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,920 And they had done it. And I stood there and I begin to 613 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,360 preach to them about prodigals and backsliders coming home and 614 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,200 how the church needed to be prepared and be there looking at 615 00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:49,760 Sister McGee said tonight, looking for them to come. 616 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,400 And before it was all said and done that night, I don't care if 617 00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:56,240 it's one or if it's twenty, as I was preaching a man at the end, 618 00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:00,280 there was a girl there that was a backslider, a backslider to A 619 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,200 and his wife. And she prayed back through to 620 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:05,200 the Holy Ghost that Friday night. 621 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,480 I'm telling you, I preached that and I told them I felt the 622 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,800 Spirit of prophecy that night. I said on Sunday morning, some 623 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:14,200 of you going to have backsliders sitting on your pews. 624 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:17,760 I have pictures on my phone right now, a pastor's texting me 625 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,480 backsliders that were sitting on their Pew on that Sunday 626 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:24,000 morning. I preached that sermon then and 627 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:26,720 my bare sister sitting back there this year. 628 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:29,160 Don't you tell me God's not doing it. 629 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:48,180 God is you can't do like as he lives, 630 00:44:48,180 --> 00:45:14,840 sayeth the Lord there cabin. So distance is an issue, Sister 631 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,200 Sheila. Distance isn't an issue. 632 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:18,600 It's not about how far they've straight from God. 633 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:21,520 That's not an issue. That's no competition to God. 634 00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,960 God's not scratching his head trying to figure that one out. 635 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,280 Distance, not look to the North SE and look all around about. 636 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,360 They're going to come from every corner of the world. 637 00:45:32,720 --> 00:45:35,680 They're going to come. Even those that you thought were 638 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:38,920 beyond hope. You watch them come. 639 00:45:57,010 --> 00:45:58,410 Zion's still a little leery, Dad. 640 00:46:01,090 --> 00:46:07,290 Still got some doubts. God, the prey will be taken from 641 00:46:07,290 --> 00:46:15,770 the mighty. The lawful captive will be 642 00:46:15,770 --> 00:46:17,330 delivered. You know what the a lawful 643 00:46:17,330 --> 00:46:24,200 captive, don't you know, is they're a captive because with 644 00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:25,840 all legality they should be a captain. 645 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:34,680 Israel and her distress and her disobedience finds herself in 646 00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,120 Babylon because of her disobedience. 647 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:44,160 Lawful captain and Zion saying even even the lawful captain, 648 00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:47,440 Zion saying, God, this sounds a little too good to be true 649 00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:53,840 because my children's been taken by some mighty ones tonight. 650 00:46:53,840 --> 00:47:00,920 Put your label on it. What's the mighty one to you is 651 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:06,400 the mighty one. Addiction of some sort is the 652 00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:12,080 mighty one. Immorality of some sort is the 653 00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:14,240 mighty 1. The entertainments in the dregs 654 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:19,440 of the world of some sort. Do whatever you want, whatever. 655 00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:21,320 The mighty 1 is a mighty one to you. 656 00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:24,880 And the Church's offspring is under that domain. 657 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,040 And through time, it seems like many have been taken by the 658 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:31,200 Mighty ones. And let's say we even have some 659 00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:36,080 lawful captives because sometimes the Church even wants 660 00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:43,440 to spout that where they're just getting what they deserve, made 661 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:47,000 some bad choices and bad decisions, and their choices 662 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,640 have set them on a path of destruction and separation. 663 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,200 They're a bunch of lawful captives. 664 00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:54,720 Their actions weren't their predicament. 665 00:47:56,280 --> 00:48:00,440 The God answers Zion's doubts and said, yes, even the lawful 666 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:04,480 captives, those under the mighty ones, the prey that are that are 667 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:06,280 terrible, they're going to be delivered. 668 00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:08,400 God declares. He says, I'm going to gather, 669 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:11,680 gather the captives and the prey and listen what he says. 670 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:14,240 Don't worry about the mighty ones, don't worry about the 671 00:48:14,240 --> 00:48:15,520 oppression. He says. 672 00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:19,160 I will contend with those that have contended with you. 673 00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:24,320 He's saying every vile thing that has breached the walls of 674 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,240 Jerusalem and have pulled her inhabitants outside of those 675 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:31,800 walls. Every vile idea, every enemy of 676 00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:35,560 several nations that's come in and laid hand on your children. 677 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:45,520 I'm going to contend with folks. God is right at the moment in 678 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:47,680 His second coming of flexing his muscles. 679 00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:55,440 The world's waxing worse. It's becoming more and more 680 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:58,240 chaotic. The shines of the time all 681 00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:01,840 around us, It's the him and it it's near, it's nigh. 682 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,760 And God says as they get worse, I'm going to shine a little 683 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,360 brighter. I'm going to flex for one last 684 00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:15,760 time. I got to I got to hurry, he says 685 00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,600 plainly in verse 25. And I guess musicians can come. 686 00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:19,800 I really don't know what to do about all this. 687 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:27,040 He says in verse 25 basically this, he says, I will save your 688 00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:35,600 children. I Zion, I the Lord will save 689 00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:47,280 Zion's children. So when I read Isaiah 49, well, 690 00:49:47,280 --> 00:49:54,840 Isaiah 49 reminded me was of the relentless love and power of a 691 00:49:54,920 --> 00:50:03,040 God who never forgets his church even in their broken down States 692 00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:09,920 and in their barren states. He never forgets Zion and his 693 00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,600 declaration for the church stands firm. 694 00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:15,760 Your walls are continually before me. 695 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,080 What are you saying, God? He's saying I'm not looking at 696 00:50:19,080 --> 00:50:25,240 your desolation, but I'm looking that in your restoration you're 697 00:50:25,240 --> 00:50:27,960 going to be adorned with those you once lost. 698 00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:33,480 Stay with me tonight. Contends with the forces that 699 00:50:33,480 --> 00:50:38,360 contended with us. Whether it be bondage, that's 700 00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:41,520 fine, he'll contend with it. Shame, he'll contend with it. 701 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,800 It has been self-inflicted wounds, he'll contend with it. 702 00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:48,480 But his covenant of love says even the lawful captives are are 703 00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:51,520 free. I'll bring them back not as 704 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:58,920 visitors, but as residents. I find this sometimes as the 705 00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:03,520 church in the posture of Zion of Isaiah 49 and brother we Reese 706 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:07,040 with our doubts. Sometimes we cry out, God, can 707 00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:15,600 this really happen? And his response is sure, and it 708 00:51:15,600 --> 00:51:21,840 resounds. Yes, I will deliver. 709 00:51:23,160 --> 00:51:26,520 Because the same God that brought Israel out of Babylon 710 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:28,960 and the same God that brought the prodigal back to his 711 00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:34,280 father's house, His Spirit is calling even in this hour, and 712 00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:36,960 it's contending with forces that we can't even see. 713 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:49,440 And he's gathering captives. So the church heed to Zion's 714 00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:59,400 invitation. When God's up your eyes look 715 00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:03,960 with faith, look with belief. This is what I want you to know. 716 00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:08,520 Your sons and daughters are not beyond the reach of God. 717 00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:20,200 To the weary church. To the weary church tonight I'm 718 00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:26,120 telling you, refuse to believe the lie that it's over. 719 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:38,520 God's vision for the church. It's not her brokenness, but her 720 00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:47,760 restoration. I speak tonight to those that 721 00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:52,920 have a strange loved ones, and I urge you tonight that when we go 722 00:52:52,920 --> 00:53:00,080 to prayer, you speak their names in prayer and you trust God and 723 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:03,240 you have faith in God that he's already working. 724 00:53:03,240 --> 00:53:13,400 And if you're a prodigal tonight listening online, or if you're 725 00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:18,720 in this building this evening, hear the voice of God who says 726 00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:23,520 I've graven you on the palms of my hands. 727 00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:28,120 And there's no distance and there's no decision that can 728 00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:37,520 erase God's love for you. Can we raise our hands right now 729 00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:40,560 and close our eyes? If you could start praying in 730 00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:42,640 your Pew around the altar, It matters not. 731 00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:46,840 But rest assured, just as sure as God lives, there's a 732 00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:49,920 gathering coming. Just as sure as God lives, 733 00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:53,600 there's a gathering coming. Chronicles are going to return. 734 00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:56,560 The church's desolate places are going to be filled. 735 00:53:56,960 --> 00:54:00,240 Her children will become the church's greatest adornment. 736 00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,440 Lift your faith. Lift your eyes. 737 00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:11,480 Your sons and daughters are coming home. 738 00:54:11,480 --> 00:54:13,800 Come on, Sir. Come on, ma'am. 739 00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:16,960 Come on, young person. Come on, Elder. 740 00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:19,680 Declare it. Believe it. 741 00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:21,800 Have faith. Sing. 742 00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:28,400 But if we sing long enough and by joining with us, this may be 743 00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:31,520 a dance that's too heavy for those chains. 744 00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:35,720 But if we dance long enough, the prison will open up. 745 00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:46,000 This may be a shout that those fragile looks can't bear, But if 746 00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:51,000 we shout long enough Or the walls might finally fall, They 747 00:54:51,000 --> 00:54:53,920 may need some help to lift their hands up in the air. 748 00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:58,560 We know the freedom's coming, So we're going to sing it all the 749 00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:03,960 more. And the routine Now have a song. 750 00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:08,560 Sing it all day long Until the rest come running home. 751 00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:12,840 And all the broken can't be here. 752 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:17,520 But shout it out forever. Can't wait till you get here. 753 00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:39,000 And. Oh, this may be too daring of a 754 00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:43,200 prayer to pray out loud, but you sit over at home. 755 00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:47,640 We've been waiting all day long. Ring and Robe is ready. 756 00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:51,320 We can see them coming now. Just like the prodigal. 757 00:55:51,320 --> 00:55:53,920 We're going to meet them in the row. 758 00:55:56,800 --> 00:55:58,800 The routine now. Have a song. 759 00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:01,960 We'll shout it all day long to the rest. 760 00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:06,640 Come running home. All the broken. 761 00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:10,240 Can you hear? We'll shout it out forever. 762 00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:12,200 Can't wait till you make it here. 763 00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:34,760 Hello. Daring of a prayer to pray out 764 00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:37,480 loud, which is in those orphans home. 765 00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:52,160 We've been waiting all day long. Oh, all the pros can you hear 766 00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:56,000 Will shout it out forever. You can't wait till you make it 767 00:56:56,000 --> 00:57:00,120 here. The strongholds start to break 768 00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:04,800 at the sound of our voices, at the sound of our phrase. 769 00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:11,080 Mountains get out of our way. Hear us dancing. 770 00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:15,760 There's no room for you to say strongholds. 771 00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:20,600 Get out of our way. Did you see us dancing? 772 00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:27,040 There's no room you to say the routine. 773 00:57:27,040 --> 00:57:31,160 Now have a song. We'll shout it all along till 774 00:57:31,160 --> 00:57:36,600 the rest come running home and all the broke begin. 775 00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,840 You here, we'll shout it out forever. 776 00:57:40,080 --> 00:57:42,040 Can't wait till you make it here. 777 00:57:42,440 --> 00:58:27,880 And no. Welcome, oh, welcome. 778 00:58:32,920 --> 00:58:41,880 Oh, to the broken and weary. Just come up. 779 00:58:42,040 --> 00:58:46,000 There's a ring and a robe. There's a ring and a robe. 780 00:58:49,640 --> 00:59:08,040 Just come home, Come home, Regina, have a song. 781 00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:12,360 We'll shout it all day long till the rest come running home. 782 00:59:15,200 --> 00:59:19,240 The broken can you hear? Will shout it out forever. 783 00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:24,440 Can't wait till you make it here. 784 00:59:44,640 --> 00:59:56,800 Oh, come on home, Just come on home. 785 01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:06,800 Welcome home. Just come home. 786 01:00:36,120 --> 01:00:40,640 The D and I have a song. We'll shut it all day long Till 787 01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:46,880 the rest come running. All the broken can you hear? 788 01:00:47,160 --> 01:00:50,640 We'll shut it up forever. Can't wait till you make it 789 01:00:50,640 --> 01:02:44,240 here. The regime now have a song. 790 01:02:44,760 --> 01:02:48,760 We will sing it all day long to the rest. 791 01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:55,640 Come around and home. Oh all the broken can you hear? 792 01:02:56,280 --> 01:03:01,360 We will shout it out forever. Can't wait till you make it. 793 01:03:12,600 --> 01:03:16,920 And the Lord just ended it all by saying that I, the Lord, am 794 01:03:16,920 --> 01:03:23,040 thy Savior, thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob, tying back 795 01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:29,560 to Genesis that unto him shall the gathering of the people 796 01:03:29,560 --> 01:03:32,000 being someone. Look at your neighbor and tell 797 01:03:32,000 --> 01:04:00,040 them they're coming home. We're. 798 01:04:02,560 --> 01:04:04,640 Going to allow them to sing a few more lines of it. 799 01:04:04,640 --> 01:04:06,600 If you want to participate with it, you can. 800 01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:08,840 If you want to be dismissed, you can. 801 01:04:09,000 --> 01:04:11,360 We're just going to end with the coming home.