1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,160 Music 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:13,960 Handling God's Dark Room. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:29,640 Dr. Ruth J. Simmons is the former president of Smith College. 4 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:36,600 The largest women's college in America. 5 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:42,200 She was president of Brown University, 6 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,480 and she's the immediate past president of 7 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,840 Pre-Review A&M University, 8 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,560 the oldest HBCU in Texas. 9 00:00:54,560 --> 00:01:01,920 She was a former vice provost of Princeton University. 10 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,960 She earned her bachelor's degree from 11 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:09,600 Dillard University in New Orleans, 12 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,560 and her master's and her doctorate degrees 13 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:21,720 in romance languages and literatures from Harvard University. 14 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:32,440 The president of France named her Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. 15 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:39,800 President Biden named her to the White House Historically Black College and 16 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,520 University Advisory Board. 17 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,520 She currently serves as 18 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:55,800 a distinguished presidential fellow at Rice University here in Houston. 19 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,680 But what you would not know from reading her 20 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:07,840 powerfully accomplished resume is that Dr. Simmons grew up 21 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:14,520 the 12th child of sharecroppers in East Texas, 22 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,520 in a home without running water, 23 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:25,840 electricity, or a single book to read except the Bible. 24 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:31,040 In her fascinating book that I just finished reading yesterday, 25 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,240 Up Home, One Girl's Journey, 26 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,600 she introduced me to a word that I had never seen, 27 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,120 much less knew its definition. 28 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,880 The word is perigranation, 29 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:58,680 perigranation and especially long and meandering journey. 30 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:04,880 Perigranation means to go a winding way, 31 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:13,080 to come through difficulty by meandering through a winding way. 32 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:20,080 Despite coming from the farmlands of East Texas, 33 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,400 to be raised in poverty in Houston's Fifth Ward, 34 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,280 or as she asserts, 35 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,920 because of the way she was raised, 36 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:37,640 Dr. Simmons has become one of America's preeminent educators. 37 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:43,200 If you resent God's dark room, 38 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,800 the consequence is depression. 39 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:52,080 If you resist God's dark room, 40 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,840 the consequence is despair. 41 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,680 But if you are patient in God's dark room, 42 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:08,040 the consequence is a maturity that leads to victory. 43 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:16,040 God had displayed his power by sending plagues upon Egypt 44 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:21,080 to break the will of Egypt's pharaoh. 45 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:28,120 He had manifested his grace by protecting the children of Israel 46 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,680 from the plagues that he put on Egypt, 47 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,480 by them sprinkling the blood of a lamb 48 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,720 on the doorposts and on the lentils. 49 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:46,320 Yet, even as they took their first steps toward freedom, 50 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:52,440 they knew the definition of Dr. Simmons' word perigranation. 51 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:58,840 They must have realized they were headed in a strange direction. 52 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:03,440 The journey of the sons of Jacob was circuitous. 53 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:09,240 Not only were they not permitted to go directly to their inheritance, 54 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:14,440 it was also not a way that they chose for themselves. 55 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:16,840 Now, brothers and sisters, 56 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:24,640 they could have marched to Canaan in eight or ten days. 57 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:30,840 But eight or ten days would have been too short a period 58 00:05:30,840 --> 00:05:36,040 for the growth of character. 59 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,640 The brick yards of Egypt was not the school 60 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:44,840 that God wanted them to learn courage in. 61 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:48,240 God knew then, as he knows now, 62 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,240 that the best place to develop a believer 63 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:58,640 is in the barren desolation of the desert. 64 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:05,840 God knows it is the exclusive province of unerring wisdom 65 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:10,840 that by the discipline of long, slow-moving years, 66 00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:15,440 the result of innumerable trials and temptations, 67 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,040 and the fruit of many painful circumstances, 68 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:27,040 can help us to recognize you can get to blessings too soon. 69 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:31,640 And so God often has to take you around the long way 70 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:36,640 to help you to appreciate. 71 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:43,640 And once God has taken you on the meandering, circuitous route, 72 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:47,440 you can testify with James in his epistle 73 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:52,640 when he writes, Count it all, Joy. 74 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,840 When you fall into diver's temptations, 75 00:06:56,840 --> 00:07:02,140 knowing this, that the trying of your faith 76 00:07:02,140 --> 00:07:09,140 will work its patience. But let patience have a perfect work, 77 00:07:09,140 --> 00:07:17,140 that he may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 78 00:07:17,140 --> 00:07:21,440 Brothers and sisters, I think that many a time, 79 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:29,240 God has to disappoint us before he can save us. 80 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,440 God also has to take us through some things 81 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,040 that will keep us from being destroyed. 82 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:42,440 Because salvation is not always what God delivers us from. 83 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:48,240 More often than not is what God kept us from. 84 00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:54,240 I still believe it. All things work together for good. 85 00:07:54,240 --> 00:08:00,240 Amen, but love God and to those who are we called, 86 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:04,040 according to his purpose. 87 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,940 May I mention before exposing the text this morning, 88 00:08:06,940 --> 00:08:13,240 brothers and sisters, that when Israel left Egypt, 89 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:19,540 they didn't know how to pack. 90 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:22,640 Let me run that by you one more time. 91 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,540 Israel left Egypt. 92 00:08:26,540 --> 00:08:30,240 They didn't know how to pack. 93 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:35,640 They left some things they should have taken. 94 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:41,440 And they took some things they should have left. 95 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,040 Chapter 12 says that when they left Egypt, 96 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:54,740 they were joined by a mixed multitude. 97 00:08:54,740 --> 00:08:57,140 Verses 38 and 39 of chapter 12, 98 00:08:57,140 --> 00:09:06,240 when they left Egypt, they left Egypt with a mixed multitude. 99 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:13,840 Today, the Christians greatest danger lies with keeping company 100 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:20,040 with a mixed multitude. 101 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:32,240 There are some people who have no business in your life. 102 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:33,740 You got to get rid of that and mix them. 103 00:09:33,740 --> 00:09:37,240 You got to unfriend them. 104 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,540 Talk back to me if you can. 105 00:09:39,540 --> 00:09:42,040 There are some folk you're going to have to leave alone. 106 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:51,040 There are some people in your life just for a season. 107 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:58,240 And when that season is over, move on. 108 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,140 And here's when you know the season is over. 109 00:10:01,140 --> 00:10:06,640 You don't enjoy that no more. 110 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:08,940 I wish I had somebody to help me preach it. 111 00:10:08,940 --> 00:10:10,140 That don't mean you're mean. 112 00:10:10,140 --> 00:10:11,940 That don't mean you're not a Christian. 113 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:15,140 You just don't feel like going out no more. 114 00:10:15,140 --> 00:10:17,740 You don't feel like clubbing no more. 115 00:10:17,740 --> 00:10:20,940 You're too old for that. 116 00:10:20,940 --> 00:10:23,740 You are too mature for that. 117 00:10:23,740 --> 00:10:28,740 You got too much going on in your life to hang around with people 118 00:10:28,740 --> 00:10:40,940 you can't take to your promised land. 119 00:10:40,940 --> 00:10:44,440 You got to lay aside. 120 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:46,940 I wish I had a Bible reader. 121 00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:57,740 Every weight and every sin that's so easily beset you. 122 00:10:57,740 --> 00:11:03,740 And every weight is not a sin. 123 00:11:03,740 --> 00:11:09,640 Some people just starting to get on your nerve. 124 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,340 You too silly to be around me. 125 00:11:13,340 --> 00:11:16,540 You talk too crazy to be around me. 126 00:11:16,540 --> 00:11:19,240 That's all you got to talk about. 127 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,640 I wish I had somebody who can help me preach this morning. 128 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:34,440 There's some folk you got to get a real life because they are a mixed multitude. 129 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:48,140 Brothers and sisters more often than not the mixed multitude is not always outside us. 130 00:11:48,140 --> 00:11:59,940 Sometimes we got some junk inside us. 131 00:11:59,940 --> 00:12:04,140 There's a mixed multitude of pride. 132 00:12:04,140 --> 00:12:08,440 There's a mixed multitude of envy. 133 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,240 There's a mixed multitude of gossip. 134 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,940 There's a mixed multitude of wickedness. 135 00:12:15,940 --> 00:12:21,940 And we got to get that out of us so God can take us to our promised land. 136 00:12:21,940 --> 00:12:29,540 Because if you get to Canaan before you got all that Egypt out of you, 137 00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:34,440 you're going to bring Egypt in the Canaan. 138 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:42,040 That's why it took 40 years because God not only had to get Israel out of Egypt, 139 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,540 he had to get Egypt out of Israel. 140 00:12:45,540 --> 00:12:55,840 He had to rid them of that slave mentality. 141 00:12:55,840 --> 00:13:00,040 That slave mentality ain't gone, African Americans. 142 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,040 We still like crabs in a bucket. 143 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,140 Time one of us get almost out. 144 00:13:07,140 --> 00:13:10,540 You don't want him to have no more than you so you pull him down. 145 00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:25,140 Why don't you help him up so all of us can go up? 146 00:13:25,140 --> 00:13:40,440 When I got to the end of Dr. Simmons book, it tickled me because her real name is Ruth Jean Stubblefield Simmons. 147 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:46,140 She married a man who was not her intellectual equal. 148 00:13:46,140 --> 00:13:47,540 She loved him. He was a good man. 149 00:13:47,540 --> 00:13:54,640 She said they had 10 mostly good years. 150 00:13:54,640 --> 00:14:00,940 She realized that he wasn't going where she was going. 151 00:14:00,940 --> 00:14:02,940 She loved him. She never let her children treat him. 152 00:14:02,940 --> 00:14:05,940 She has two children with him. She never let them criticize him. 153 00:14:05,940 --> 00:14:09,940 She said her father was not the man he should have been, 154 00:14:09,940 --> 00:14:15,640 but her mother never let the children talk bad about their father. 155 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:20,840 The mother did everything she could to raise them in the fear and the admonition of God. 156 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:26,940 She knew when she married Simmons, he wasn't going where she was going. 157 00:14:26,940 --> 00:14:33,340 She loved him. They had mostly good years, but there came a time when she had to go her way. 158 00:14:33,340 --> 00:14:38,440 Because where she was going, he wasn't. 159 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:49,940 It was not according to a book. It was not a divorce. It was a deliverance. 160 00:14:49,940 --> 00:14:58,740 Because there are some people you shouldn't have been with in the first place. 161 00:14:58,740 --> 00:15:03,340 They're too small for you. They're too parochial for you. 162 00:15:03,340 --> 00:15:09,340 They're too little for you. And you're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. 163 00:15:09,340 --> 00:15:23,740 The car says you got to get away from those people because they are a mixed multitude. 164 00:15:23,740 --> 00:15:36,340 You met him with his clothes in a trash bag. 165 00:15:36,340 --> 00:15:44,740 You met her with no hubcaps on her car. 166 00:15:44,740 --> 00:15:53,540 And now she doesn't got her hair fixed. And she thinks she's all that. 167 00:15:53,540 --> 00:15:58,740 Girl, please. 168 00:15:58,740 --> 00:16:03,040 He doesn't bend to the gym and start lifting weights. 169 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:07,840 And now you can't talk to him because his head's so big. 170 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,140 There comes a time. 171 00:16:11,140 --> 00:16:15,740 Dr. Simmons said it's 10 mostly good years. 172 00:16:15,740 --> 00:16:20,640 But when it was time, it was time. 173 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:26,140 Because you can be in a mixed multitude. 174 00:16:26,140 --> 00:16:30,340 And that's sometimes true in your family. 175 00:16:30,340 --> 00:16:35,240 Everybody raised with you don't want to see you make it. 176 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,540 Everybody you went to high school with don't want to see you prosper. 177 00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:43,140 But if God be far off. 178 00:16:43,140 --> 00:16:45,840 Somebody ought to help me holler here. 179 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,140 Who can be against us? 180 00:16:48,140 --> 00:16:51,340 The Lord is my light. 181 00:16:51,340 --> 00:16:53,540 And my salvation. 182 00:16:53,540 --> 00:16:55,640 Whom shall I fear? 183 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,540 Come on, you can help me say it. 184 00:16:57,540 --> 00:17:00,940 The Lord is the strength of my life. 185 00:17:00,940 --> 00:17:03,340 Of whom shall I be afraid? 186 00:17:03,340 --> 00:17:13,640 When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh. 187 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,240 Just before they got to me. 188 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:23,040 They stumbled and they fell. 189 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:28,140 And no host should encamp against me. 190 00:17:28,140 --> 00:17:30,840 And this will I be confident. 191 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:34,940 One thing have a desire of the Lord. 192 00:17:34,940 --> 00:17:45,840 And that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life for in the time of trouble. 193 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:51,840 He shall hide me. 194 00:17:51,840 --> 00:18:01,040 I wish I had two or three witnesses who can help me testify that your enemy is looking at you but they can't get to you. 195 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,440 They talking about you but they can't stop you. 196 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:06,040 They want to see you fire. 197 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:15,940 Oh but God is holding you up. 198 00:18:15,940 --> 00:18:33,340 This business of being in a dark room is first of all to us a mystery. 199 00:18:33,340 --> 00:18:47,540 God did not lead them this way. He led them that way. 200 00:18:47,540 --> 00:19:00,240 But this way or that way the point is God was leading. 201 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:17,140 And it does not matter if God leads you this way or that way just make sure it's God who's leading. 202 00:19:17,140 --> 00:19:21,740 I don't like this song that much but it goes good right here. 203 00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:30,940 This and that this this and that. 204 00:19:30,940 --> 00:19:44,140 And you know at our church we say this this this this this this this this this this and that whatever if God is leading you. 205 00:19:44,140 --> 00:19:57,340 God is directing you it may take a while but he knows how to lead you. 206 00:19:57,340 --> 00:20:13,540 There was no possibility of misreading the map or missing a turn for they were led by a pillar of cloud by day. 207 00:20:13,540 --> 00:20:18,140 They're a pillar of fire by night. 208 00:20:18,140 --> 00:20:36,440 We Christians do not have a cloud to lead us but we have the issue that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. 209 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:51,940 We have the guarantee that he knows the end from the beginning and that he is working all things together according to the council of his own will. 210 00:20:51,940 --> 00:21:06,840 Wherever we find ourselves we are there by his providence whatever we face it is a part of his plan. 211 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:21,840 Brothers and sisters God did not lead them through the Felistine camp because the noise of war would have turned them back because as yet they were still slaves and not soldiers. 212 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:40,240 The heart searching God knew their deficiencies and a variety of circumstances connected with their feeble faith determined him in his wisdom to direct their cause. 213 00:21:40,240 --> 00:22:02,140 And him and beloved the same is true for you and I he knows exactly how much strain our faith can take and he always guides us away from those situations where that critical limit will be exceeded. 214 00:22:02,140 --> 00:22:12,840 God does not explain himself to them neither does he explain himself to us. 215 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:15,440 Let me let me hurry and make this point. 216 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:25,240 We are often running from what God wants to bless us through. 217 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:33,540 We are often running from what God wants to bless us through. 218 00:22:33,540 --> 00:22:34,940 Here's the best part of this sermon. 219 00:22:34,940 --> 00:22:39,740 If you forget everything else I've said here's the best part of this little sermon. 220 00:22:39,740 --> 00:22:45,840 A woman was driving on a country road late at night. 221 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:49,840 That was an 18 wheeler behind her. 222 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:59,140 She slowed down to let the truck go around but he slowed down as well. 223 00:22:59,140 --> 00:23:03,540 There's agony in this journey. 224 00:23:03,540 --> 00:23:14,340 Sometimes what we think is an exit is a cul-de-sac. 225 00:23:14,340 --> 00:23:23,240 Sometimes what we think is a way out is just a way through. 226 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:40,440 Sometimes a break up or a breakdown is a prerequisite for a breakthrough. 227 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:45,640 Let me see if I can make this make sense. 228 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:54,340 It was light on one side and darkness on the other side. 229 00:23:54,340 --> 00:23:59,680 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. 230 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:09,280 For the children of Israel it was light for them and darkness for the Egyptian. 231 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,400 For two reasons. 232 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,680 Come on ask me why. 233 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:25,440 Because God wanted to keep the enemy from getting to them and to keep them from going 234 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:30,740 back to the enemy. 235 00:24:30,740 --> 00:24:40,520 Because you can't grow spiritually when it's convenient. 236 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:48,240 And you can get so comfortable with what you are used to that you give up and go back to 237 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,880 the mess you just left. 238 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,400 So God said you ain't going back there. 239 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,940 And to keep you from going back there I'm going to keep it so dark that they can't get 240 00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:08,600 to you and I'm going to make sure you can't get to them. 241 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:14,200 I need somebody in here who can help me testify that there's been some sins that we walked 242 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:19,760 away from that ever in our land. 243 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:26,040 We are tempted to go back. 244 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,000 I wish I had one or two more crooks in here like myself. 245 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:38,080 There's some stuff we promised the Lord we would never do again. 246 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,160 Angry and plenty is in mercy. 247 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:46,880 We go back to the same stuff that we said we were never going back to. 248 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:51,840 But the Lord put that darkness between them and he would not let them go through it because 249 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,400 he said I know what the temptation is. 250 00:25:54,400 --> 00:26:01,240 You want to go back to the same man who depressed you. 251 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:05,520 The same problem that had you about to commit suicide. 252 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:10,280 The same junk I delivered you from you're trying to go back to. 253 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:16,120 But I'm going to put a cloud between you. 254 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:20,240 Thank God for the Shackiner clock. 255 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:26,560 Thank God for Sunday morning because just about when I'm ready to go back he lets me 256 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:32,120 go to church. 257 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:35,040 And I hear the gospel. 258 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,840 I hear the music. 259 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,440 And I make up my mind all over again. 260 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:47,320 That I've decided to follow Jesus. 261 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,320 No turning back. 262 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,800 No turning back. 263 00:26:52,800 --> 00:27:00,400 You can't make me doubt him because I know too much about him. 264 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,000 He brought me. 265 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,400 He kept me. 266 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:13,920 And sometimes what you go through in your agony is not for you. 267 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:21,480 God wants to use your testimony to get somebody else to face. 268 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,400 I can't tell you how many people have walked up to me and said to me, Reverend, when you 269 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,880 were going through your sickness, I couldn't understand it until I had to go through my 270 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:31,600 own stuff. 271 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:36,080 And I'm standing up today because I looked at how God brought you through. 272 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,800 I wish I had somebody here who got your own testimony. 273 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:41,720 You got your own story. 274 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,000 You got your own agonizing grief. 275 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:45,920 You got your own suffering. 276 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,640 You got your own testimony. 277 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:52,640 You got your own story of the stuff God brought you through. 278 00:27:52,640 --> 00:28:01,480 And you don't know who's listening to your testimony. 279 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:10,240 Because without a test, there's no testimony. 280 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:16,320 I'm not talking to the children Christians in here. 281 00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:22,440 I'm talking to some grown-up believer because you got to grow up to shout on this kind of 282 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,840 stuff. 283 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,440 Sometimes God takes a long time. 284 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:34,680 But my grandmother said, he may not come when you want to. 285 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:39,960 But he's always on time. 286 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:47,400 Sometimes God will keep you in your sickness to get glory out of your sickness. 287 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:54,440 Sometimes God will keep you in your situation so that he can get glory out of your situation. 288 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,720 Somebody ought to help me preach it. 289 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:00,120 God will let you go through some stuff and no matter how much you cry, no matter how 290 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:05,080 much you whine, no matter how much you pray, no matter how much you read the Bible, no 291 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,720 matter how much you call friends, no matter how you get your prayer partners to pray with 292 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:15,760 you, there's some stuff you're just going to have to go through. 293 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:23,000 But when you come out of it, I wish I had some noise here. 294 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:29,840 When you come on the other side of it, your soul don't have to look back and wonder. 295 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:30,840 You can testify. 296 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:37,920 It was nobody. 297 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,840 My mama couldn't do it. 298 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,360 My daddy couldn't do it. 299 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:46,360 It was nobody. 300 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:47,360 But Jesus. 301 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:53,200 Do you see you're laughing? 302 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,760 But you're laughing to keep from crying. 303 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,080 Do you see you're smiling and looking good? 304 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:04,080 A whole lot of people see, but a few people don't. 305 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,000 The mess you've been through. 306 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,480 God will help you to make you mess your message. 307 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:13,880 Have I got a witness here? 308 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:21,680 Not only is there mystery in this walk, not only is there agony in there meandering around, 309 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,880 there's victory in it. 310 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:34,600 Brothers and sisters, God led them through a winding meandering long road. 311 00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:46,080 Had they not come by the roundabout way, the song of Moses would have been left unsung. 312 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:54,520 Had they not come the long way, Miriam's tambourine would have been left unplayed. 313 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:59,880 Had they not come the long way, Elam with its whales and palms would have been left 314 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:03,040 undiscovered. 315 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:09,640 Had they not come the long way, Mount Sinai with its laws and words would not have been 316 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,680 known. 317 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:20,240 If they had not come the long way, the cloud would have been left unseen. 318 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:27,480 If they had not come the long way, the manor never would have been tasted. 319 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:37,040 If they had not come the long way, fresh water from a rock would never have been sweet. 320 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:44,800 Sometimes God has to take you the long way so he can develop your testimony. 321 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,280 You're going to help me close this, won't you? 322 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:55,560 It was God who took Joseph from a prisoner to a prime minister. 323 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:04,160 You remember Joseph was sold by his own brothers and wound up in an Ishmaelite caravan. 324 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:08,280 The caravan took him all the way to Egypt. 325 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:13,120 When he got to Egypt, he wound up a servant in Potiphar's house. 326 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:19,640 Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him and Joseph wound up in the dungeon. 327 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:26,400 While in the dungeon, he met a butler and a baker. 328 00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:32,560 While he met a butler and a baker, he was still interpreting dreams. 329 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:39,960 They both started dreaming one night and Joseph was able to interpret their dreams. 330 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:45,360 He told the baker by this time tomorrow they're going to cut your head off. 331 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:51,600 But he told the butler by this time tomorrow you'll be back in the king's palace. 332 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:57,960 And when you get back before the king, remember who interpreted your dream. 333 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:05,640 Two years had gone by and Joseph was still in prison. 334 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,480 God arranged for Pharaoh to start dreaming. 335 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:15,040 And when Pharaoh dreamed, nobody was able to interpret his dreams. 336 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:23,200 The butler remembered there was a boy from Israel who was able to interpret dreams. 337 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,440 Pharaoh said, call him up from the dungeon. 338 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,200 Let me tell him what my dream is. 339 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,080 They called Joseph from the dungeon. 340 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:38,240 And Pharaoh told him I dreamed about some fat cows and some lean cows. 341 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:44,040 Joseph said, you're going to have seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. 342 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:51,720 Put up the grain in the seven years of plenty so that everybody will have to come to Egypt 343 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,640 to buy some grain. 344 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,120 Look how God worked in Joseph's life. 345 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:04,120 If his father had never loved him, his brothers never would have hated him. 346 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:10,080 If his brothers had never hated him, they never would have sold him in the slavery. 347 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:16,200 If they had never sold him in the slavery, he never would have wound up in Egypt. 348 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:22,320 If he had never wound up in Egypt, he never would have wound up in Potiphar's house. 349 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:27,320 If he had never wound up in Potiphar's house, Potiphar's wife never would have tried to 350 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,040 seduce him. 351 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:35,640 If Mrs. Potiphar had never tried to seduce him, he never would have ran from the seduction. 352 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:40,600 If he had never run from the seduction, she never would have lied on him. 353 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:46,500 If she had never lied on him, he never would have wound up in the dungeon. 354 00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:52,580 If he had never wound up in the dungeon, he never would have met a butler and a baker. 355 00:34:52,580 --> 00:34:57,360 If he had never met a butler and a baker, he never would have been able to tell them 356 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,200 their dream. 357 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:04,080 If he had never told them their dream, he never would have been able to tell Pharaoh 358 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:10,220 his dream. If he had never told 359 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,960 Pharaoh his dream that never 360 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:15,320 would have been grain in 361 00:35:12,020 --> 00:35:17,960 Egypt and famine in Gosha. If 362 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:19,900 there was no famine in Gosha, 363 00:35:18,020 --> 00:35:21,940 his father never would have 364 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:25,700 sent his brothers to Egypt to 365 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:28,080 buy some grain. If his brothers 366 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:31,180 had never gone to Egypt to buy 367 00:35:28,140 --> 00:35:33,340 some grain, Joseph never would 368 00:35:33,340 --> 00:35:38,340 have made this for even. 369 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:45,320 But God, I wish I had 370 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:49,320 somebody to help me close. But 371 00:35:45,380 --> 00:35:51,960 God, made it for good. You 372 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:54,560 know David's story, don't you? 373 00:35:52,020 --> 00:35:57,300 David was just a shepherd boy 374 00:35:54,640 --> 00:36:00,440 but there was a giant nine feet 375 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:03,240 tall by the name of Goliath. 376 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:09,180 With nothing but a sling shot. 377 00:36:06,780 --> 00:36:12,120 Goliath said, am I a dog that 378 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:13,920 you send this little boy to 379 00:36:12,180 --> 00:36:16,260 fight me? He said, David, I'm 380 00:36:13,980 --> 00:36:18,260 gonna take your little body and 381 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:21,320 throw it up in the air and let 382 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:24,700 the birds feed on you. David 383 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:27,640 said, Mr. Goliath, I got a word 384 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:30,800 for you today. I'm gonna cut 385 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:37,240 it down so that everybody will 386 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:39,640 know. There's a god in the 387 00:36:37,300 --> 00:36:42,380 Israel. You know the story of 388 00:36:39,700 --> 00:36:44,480 Jericho. There were some 389 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:48,240 impregnable walls but the lord 390 00:36:44,540 --> 00:36:50,320 told them march around the 391 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:54,060 walls of Jericho and on the 392 00:36:50,380 --> 00:36:57,620 seventh day, shout and the 393 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:59,660 walls will come tumbling down 394 00:36:59,660 --> 00:37:04,520 the walls. I don't want to talk 395 00:37:01,580 --> 00:37:08,200 about David. I don't want to 396 00:37:04,580 --> 00:37:12,200 talk about Jericho. One Friday 397 00:37:08,260 --> 00:37:17,100 God took a cross and turned it 398 00:37:12,260 --> 00:37:20,640 into a one Friday on a hill 399 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:25,140 called Calvary. God took a 400 00:37:20,700 --> 00:37:27,140 cross, turned it into a 401 00:37:27,140 --> 00:37:34,380 one Sunday morning. 402 00:37:29,340 --> 00:37:38,940 But Sunday morning, God raised 403 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:41,780 him from the dead. Why don't 404 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,580 you tell somebody? Sit next to 405 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:47,080 you. Tell him when you're 406 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:49,480 preaching false. Come on, use 407 00:37:47,140 --> 00:37:53,620 your preaching false. Tell him 408 00:37:53,620 --> 00:38:01,600 when you're preaching false. 409 00:37:57,620 --> 00:38:01,600 Turn it around. 410 00:38:03,300 --> 00:38:09,600 Come on. Say it like you mean 411 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,600 it. God will. 412 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:22,460 Yes, sir. You do it. 413 00:38:27,860 --> 00:38:33,560 Yes, you will. 414 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:41,400 Yes, we will. Yes, we will. 415 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:49,480 I've seen the lightning flash. 416 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:56,480 I've heard the thunder roll. 417 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:00,480 I felt sin breakers dashing. 418 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:09,480 I've heard. I said, I heard the voice of Jesus beating me. 419 00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,480 Still fighting. He promised. 420 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:19,480 He promised. Why don't you grab somebody? 421 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,480 Why don't you hug somebody? 422 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:27,480 Tell him he promised. He promised. 423 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:31,480 He promised. I know he's alright.