I want to begin a series of sermons throughout this summer period
entitled Out Living Your Life. Out Living Your Life.
Let's pretend for a moment that you had a rich benefactor or an uncle or
grandparent who left you a sizable amount of money with caveats and
stipulations. A rich family member or benefactor left you 86,400 dollars to
spend every day. 86,400 dollars to spend every day with one stipulation.
You cannot bring any of Sunday's money into Monday. You cannot bring any of
Monday's money into Tuesday. You have to spend all 86,400 dollars in one day
every day. You can't save it. You can't put it in a chicken at the bottom of the
deep freezer. You can't put it in an account in you and your sister's name so
your husband don't know where it is. I wish I had a witness here. You can't put
it in a shoebox or a hat box. You can't hide it in the back of the closet and
say, oh this whole thing? You have to spend all 86,400 dollars in one day.
You can't bring one day's money into the next day. I think I could handle that.
I think there are two or three other people in here who could handle that.
Spending 86,400 dollars a day every day until the day you die. The only
stipulation is you cannot bring one cent of Monday's money into Tuesday. I think
that's a pretty good deal. But let's quit dreaming. Let's get our head back
in the sermon. You do not nor do I have any rich people in my family who would
leave me that kind of money. I do not have 86,400 dollars for spend every day.
That was a wonderful game to play. But now let's get serious for real. No kidding.
There's somebody who loves you more than a rich benefactor. There's somebody who
loves you more than a grandmother, than a mother or father who deposits 86,400
seconds in every day of your life with one stipulation. You can't bring a
minute of Sunday into Monday. You can't bring a minute of Monday into Tuesday.
You got to spend all day Monday in Monday.
Somebody will help me preach it. I only have a minute with 60 seconds in it.
Trust upon me and I can't refuse it. I didn't seek it and I didn't choose it.
But it's up to me to use it. I must suffer if I lose it. Give an account if I
abuse it. A tiny little minute, but eternity is in it. You do not have one
second more than the person sitting next to you. Every single one of us has only
24 hours in a day. Nobody here has 27 hours. Nobody here has 18 hours. All of
us have 86,400 seconds that God expects us to invest in every day. And if you
take one second out of Monday and bring it into Tuesday, you wasted Monday.
So how, Pastor, can I outlive my life? Because if all that you are can be
put in a casket, your living has been in vain. If all that you are can be six
feet underground at Houston Memorial Garden, you've missed what life is all
about. Sadly, brothers and sisters, most people live and die and never ask why. The
greatest day of your life was the day you were born. But a day greater than the
day you were born is the day you find out why you were born. Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, see how the masses of men worry themselves into
nameless graves while here and there a great unselfish soul forgets himself
into immortality. Most people worry themselves into nameless graves while
here and there an unselfish person forgets him or herself into eternity. Your
life will never be lived by anyone else. You have been given your life. No one
else has a version of your life. They might try to style their hair like yours,
but they'll never be you. They might try to color their hair like yours or walk
like you walk or talk like you talk or dress like you dress or drive what you
drive. And listen, imitation is a sincere form of flattery, but no matter
how they try to be you, you are the best you in Houston. And it makes no sense at
all to get a copy when you can get the origin. That's why you ought to walk
with your head in the clouds because God made you your individual version of you.
God gave you your own set of fingerprints. God made you who you are and God
likes you just the way you are. No, God loves you just the way you are, but he
won't leave you there. He wants to bring you to another level of significance, but
you've got to put yourself in God's hands to outlive your life. A Chrysler 300
looks fairly much like a Bentley until a Bentley drives up. And people who are
envious of you or people who try to bury the light of your potential under the
bushel of their expectation, people who suck all the air out of the room because
of their insecurities, people who won't let you be you because they don't want you
to shine. They want you to come underneath them so that they can always be
over you. You need to get out of the company of those kinds of people because
they halt and keep you from being all God wants you to be. God has a destiny for
your life, but you got to get away from some people.
You got to you got to unfriend some people. I wish I had a witness here.
That's some folks you got to get out of your concentric circle of concern
because God has a destiny for your life because nobody is a better version of
you than you. And so how preacher can I outlive my life? You shall be my
witnesses. You shall be witnesses unto me. The message that God sends us through
through this acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. John Chrysostom,
the golden mouth preacher of another generation, John Chrysostom said that the
gospel of Luke is what Jesus did and said, but the book of Acts is what the
other comforter did and said. The Holy Spirit came to continue what Jesus
started in the gospel of Luke. Acts is what Jesus is the continuation of what
Jesus started in the gospel of Luke. We are an extension of what Jesus started
in the gospel because Jesus said greater works than these shall you do. And I
thought about that. How can I do greater work than Jesus? Well, when Jesus was here
on earth, when he was in Capornium, he couldn't be in Galilee. When he was in
Nazareth, he couldn't be in name because he was spatio-temporally related to the
universe in that he could only be in one place at one time. But now that he's here
in the presence of the Holy Spirit, he can be everywhere at the same time with
my eyes, my hands, my feet, your mind, your heart, your spirit, everywhere
Lillie Grove lives. That's where God is.
You shall be witnesses not to Pastor Anderson, not to a congregation called
Lillie Grove, but witnesses under me. That's talking about Jesus. And the only
star in this show is Jesus Christ. He's the fountain from which all else flows.
He's the root out of which all else grows. And if you didn't come here to hear
about Jesus, if you came here with an entertainment philosophy and a nightclub
mentality, you've come to the wrong place. Because all I come to talk about this
morning is a man from Galilee.
He was rich, but for my sake he became poor. He was wounded. I wish I had a
witness for my transgression. He was bruised for my iniquities. The chest
ties of one of my peace was upon him. All we like sheep have gone astray.
But God has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was born in Bethlehem. He was
brought up in Nazareth. Healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, made the lame to
walk, made the dumb to speak. He healed a woman with an issue of blood by just a
touch of his clothes. He was sleeping one night and a storm blew up. He stood up
on the boat of that on the hull of that ship and said, peace, be still. The people
were hungry in the desert place. All they had was two fish and five loaves. He said,
bring it to me. He lifted it up to his father, brought it down and gave it to
his disciples. Fair five thousand not counting the women and she was Jesus.
Jesus in the morning. Jesus at noon day. Jesus laid in the evening. Jesus when
the sun goes down. That's something about that name. There is a name I love to
hear. I love to sing its worth. It sounds like music in my ears. It's the
sweetest name on earth. He heals my wounds. He soothes my sorrows. He lifts my
bow down head. He puts food on my table, clothes on my back, money in my pocket.
He puts down my enemies. He raises up friends for me. He's a doctor in a sick
room, a lawyer in a courtroom. There's nobody.
There is none.
Like him.
Searched all over.
Couldn't find nobody.
Nobody greater.
Have a good witness here. He's a rock in a weary land. He's a shelter in a time of
storm. He's a friend when you're by yourself. He's company when you're all
alone. He'll be a husband for you. He'll be a father for you. Whatever you need, he
can provide.
You shall be witnesses.
Under me.
Everywhere you go. Talk about Jesus.
When you wake up in the morning before you go to bed at night, tell your
nephew, tell your grandson, boy, have you heard about Jesus? I know you got some
problems, but I know a man who can fix it for you. I know you think you're grown.
I know you think you know everything, but you're gonna run up against some
stuff, young people, that you don't have to have somebody because mama and daddy
is not gonna be there, but I know somebody who'll go to college with.
I know somebody who'll get in a dormitory with you.
Won't he do it? Somebody here ought to help me testify when I was down in my last
time.
That's the message. That's the message.
But there's a method to this message.
Jesus said, everywhere you go, talk about me.
Because when you talk about me, that makes you a witness.
You shall be witnesses.
Witnesses and a witness in a court of law cannot testify on hearsay.
You have to have seen a herd for yourself.
You can't be talking about my mama say God is good.
I know for myself what God can do.
Somebody ought to help me here.
I need to get it over to my young friends this morning.
That we old folk wasn't always old.
We were 25 years old, 12 months.
We were 18 and 19 years old, 12 months.
You know how we got to be 64 and 70 and 85, trusting in the Lord?
We didn't always have a lot of money.
Somebody ought to help me shout right here.
We didn't always have opportunities because there was time when black folk couldn't go in a whole lot of places.
But look where the Lord has brought us from.
Look how many doors God has swung open for us.
God opened those doors for us so we could open those doors for you.
Moses told the children of Israel in his valedictory address before he was buried in the plains of Moab.
He said you're going to come to houses that you didn't build.
I wish I had a Bible reader.
Vineyards that you didn't plant.
Wells that you did not dig.
He said that's the time for you to be careful because when you get a lot, it's easy to forget God.
I need somebody who can run back here with me in your own mind and think about when you didn't have a lot.
But God provided and God opened the door and you just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
You just kept coming to church.
You just kept praying.
Some days were better than other days.
Some days were good.
Some days were bad.
Some days were sunshine.
Some days were rain.
Some days were hot.
Some days were cold.
Some days you smile.
Sometimes you smile to keep from crying.
But look where God has brought you.
You can help me like David said.
I've been young.
I'm old.
I've never seen the righteous forsaken.
Not his seed.
Not only would God take care of you.
God will take care of your children.
God will take care of your grandchildren.
Have I got to witness it here?
I'm blessed today because somebody in that grave prayed for me.
God is still answering prayers of people who's sleeping in that grave.
Somebody told me about Jesus.
I know him because somebody told me about him.
But then one Wednesday, down in Eunice Louis there,
I came to Jesus as I was weary,
worn and sad.
And listen, listen, listen beloved,
don't you think because these young people are young,
they don't get weary sometimes.
Because there's a heaviness over these young people.
There's a cloud sometimes over these young people
because we've left them to raise themselves.
And we're not telling them our story.
We're not telling them how we made it.
And we're not close to them as our parents and grandparents were close to us
because we are letting them be raised by TikTok and Instagram.
But you ought to sit them down and tell them that I know somebody who can help you in your midnight hour.
Young people are so lonely these days.
They are so depressed now because nobody is around.
They are locked and latchkey children.
They got to go in the house by themselves because nobody's around.
Mama still thinks she's in her 30s.
Daddy ain't nowhere around because they can't even put his name on the graduation invitation.
But when daddy is not around, when mama is still a fool,
there's a God who loves you.
There's a God who will provide for you.
There's a God who will protect you.
There's a God who will be with you in your midnight hour.
There's a God who will make a way for you when it looks like there is no way.
Witnesses.
But there's a mindset that goes with the method and the message.
You'll be witnesses in Jerusalem.
That's the mindset.
Your mindset, you got to start at home.
You can't be something outside the house and nothing at home.
I want to try to be all spiritual over here.
And you get home and your family can't stand you.
Because your Christianity ought to go with you when you leave church.
You're not just good on Sunday.
You're not just spiritual on Sunday.
You're not just holy at Lily Grove.
It goes to your job as a witness.
Because on your job, people who are un-Christian have listened to you talk about how good God is.
And they've watched you pray over your lunch.
And they've seen you testify to other coworkers who were struggling about God's mercy and God's forgiveness.
And they know when you just supposed to take an hour for lunch and you take an hour and 45 minutes.
They know when they go to your house and all your towels say holiday in.
They know when you dine and dash.
Eat and don't pay for your meal and you're trying to act like it's some hair in the food.
Or you keep sending it back.
You've eaten about 15 spoonfuls but I don't like this.
Take this back and you full so you get up and leave.
Your witness goes beyond Sunday morning.
That's all I'm trying to get over to you.
You've got to be what you say you are.
And listen, you will always have some failures.
There will always be some snaffles and some slip ups and you will mess up big time.
Well, let me talk about myself.
I have made some cataclysmic mistakes.
There are some decisions I wish I hadn't made.
There are some roads I wish I never traveled.
There's some stuff in my closet that if I opened the door every skeleton would fall out and you would see me for who I really am.
But by the grace of God, I can stand up here this morning and testify if you confess your sin.
He's faithful.
Just to forgive you of all your sins.
You've got to start at home.
And then you've got to go to the Judea and some Mary.
You have to talk to homeless people.
You have to talk to people who are homosexual.
You have to talk to people who are drug addicted.
You have to talk to your neighbors who have no relationship with Christ.
It's not enough for you to drive here and leave your neighborhood with people who've never heard about Jesus.
That's Judea.
That's Samaria.
You have to be able to talk to people and to let your guard down.
Of course you're going to be misused.
Of course you're going to be taken advantage of.
Of course they're going to have a line.
They're going to have a trick.
They've got a scheme.
They've got a hook.
That's what they do.
That's how they make it.
But it's not on me for them to trick me.
It's on me to do what God tells me to do.
And if you just do what God says to do, if they trick you, that's on them.
But God will bless you because your heart was in the right place.
Now you know, you know as well as I know,
that when they're holding up that sign, talking about will work for food,
they ain't trying to do that.
That there's a man on the corner of Benz and 288 who I respect
and put some money in his little jar every time I pass there.
Because his sign says, I memorized it.
I memorized it.
Why lie?
I just want a beer.
I said, have a cold one on me, doc.
Weekends were made for make alone.
Get your butt light.
It's less filling.
He ain't lying.
He ain't talking about I want to wash your car.
He ain't talking about I'm trying to come rake your grass.
He just want to get him a cold one.
And listen, it doesn't take anything away from me to help somebody who's in need.
As a matter of fact, it enhances in my mind that it could have been me.
Every time you pass by somebody who's in bad shape,
you don't know what got them there.
You don't know how far they've fallen to get to where they are.
They might have been up one day, but they fell down to where they are right now.
And you don't know because you're up right now does not mean you're going to be up six months from now
or two years from now.
Don't look down your nose at people who life has turned on because life can turn on you.
But if you got your faith in God, when life turns on you, God can turn it around.
I'm through.
But he says you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria
and in the utmost parts of the earth.
But there's only one way you can do that and I'm through.
You need the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not an it.
You can't catch it.
Somebody ought to help me talk it.
He's not like COVID or the flu.
He is the third person in the Trinity.
He has personality.
He has a will.
He has emotions.
You can grieve him.
Somebody ought to help me talk it.
But if you let him, he'll take control of your life.
He'll make you walk right.
He'll make you live right.
He'll convict you of righteousness, of judgment and of sin.
He'll get you back on the road when you turn off in an exit that you have no business going on.
He'll get your mind and your spirit right so that by the time you get to the right,
by the time you get to worship on Sunday morning, all the mess you did last week
should have disqualified you to even be in this place.
But the Holy Spirit covers you.
He surrounds you like a cloud.
He protects you from hurt, harm and danger.
He lets you get here and pray to God the Father who will give you power to pray to God the Father.
The Bible says he'll make intercession for you with groanings that cannot even be uttered.
There are some times you want to pray and you don't know what to say.
Sometimes life can get so heavy.
Life can get so hard that all you can do is sit down and fold your arms and just ask God to help you.
Just ask God to come to your rescue.
I wish I had somebody to help me.
It's in that moment that the Holy Spirit comes in and takes your prayers and makes intercession for you.
He goes up to God the Father and says to God, now here is what she's saying, but here's what she really needs.
Here's why she's crying, but let me tell you what the problem is.
Here is where she is, but let me tell you where she wants to be.
And somebody ought to help me testify that before you know it, you start feeling better.
You still got the same issues.
You still got the same problems.
You still got the same enemies, but the Holy Spirit just comes where you are and lets you know that everything is going to be alright.
I don't know how he's going to do it.
I don't know when he's going to do it, but I feel his Holy presence.
I feel his Holy Spirit in this room right now.
The only people who can help me shout right now is folk who has felt the presence of the Holy Spirit.
He'll walk with you.
He'll warm your heart.
He'll make your burden lighter.
He'll make your pathways brighter.
That's something about being in the room with the Holy Spirit.
I wish I had one or two more witnesses.
There's a language that the Holy Spirit will give you to help you talk to him in a way that nobody understands but you and him.
He'll help you to know that life seems to be going in one direction, but God can turn it in another direction.
I need somebody here who's got some problems in your life.
Everything is not going well in your life.
Everything is not coming up roses in your situation.
Your job is getting on your nerves.
Your friends are sometimes there's some family members you having some problems with.
There's some church people you may not even want to be on the road with, but you still come in here on Sunday morning because it's not about your family.
It's not about your coworker.
It's not about your friends or your husband.
It's not about your wife or your sister.
It's about a God who saved you one day and put his Holy Spirit in your heart to make you love people who don't love you.
He'll make you do good to people who hate you and pray for people who despitefully use you.
They think they've gotten away with something.
They think they've gotten over on you, but the Holy Ghost has a way of turning things around in your life.
He'll make you smile when you feel like crying.
He'll make you get in a hurry when you ain't going nowhere.
He'll wake you up in the middle of the night and let you know everything is going to be all right.
I need a witness this morning who knows that God will show up in the dark hours of your situation.
God will show up in your midnight hour.
God will turn midnight in the day.
God will turn sadness into joy.
God will turn bad times into good times.
Be not dismayed, whatever be tied.
God will take care of you.
Won't He do it? Won't He do it? Won't He make a way out of nowhere? Won't He pick you up?
Turn you around, place your feet on solid ground.
I need a witness right now who's got some stuff in your past that you shame to talk about.
But since you met Jesus, you can witness now that that's what I used to be.
That's where I used to go.
That's how I used to act.
That's how I used to talk.
But since I met Jesus, since I met Jesus, since I met Jesus, there's a change in my life.
Since I met Jesus, there's a change in my disposition.
Since I met Jesus, I am not the same.
If you met Him and you're not ashamed to talk about Him.
If He brought you and you don't care who's looking at you.
If He made a way for you and you don't mind testifying.
If He saved you and you are a witness, why don't you look at somebody?
You don't have to put your hands on them. You don't have to touch them.
Just look at somebody.
Tell them look at me. I'm a testimony.
Look at me. I'm a testimony.
Come on, use your preaching voice. Come on, use your preaching voice.
Tell them look at me. I'm a testimony.
I didn't make it on my own. I'm not standing here alone.
It was Jesus. Y'all know Him, don't you?
It was Jesus. Adam's Redeemer.
Abel's Vendicator. Abraham's Sacrifice.
Noah's Ark. Y'all know Him, don't you?
He died. Didn't he die?
But suddenly morning, He got up with all power in His hand.
Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus. No, He's alright.
I feel His presence in the room right now.
I said I feel His presence all in the room right now.
There's somebody but the catch on fire.
Because the Holy Spirit is all in this place.
The Holy Spirit is all in this place.
Why don't you worship Him? Why don't you magnify?
Why don't you lift Him up? Why don't you lift Your hands?
And tell Him, come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit.
Come Holy Spirit.
Feel this room. Feel every heart. Feel every life.
Bless every job. Bless every house. Bless every child.
Bless every child. Bless every job. I knew He's alright.
Bless every child. Bless every house.
Bless every house.
When I think about Jesus and all He's done for me.
Think about Jesus how He set me free.
When I think about Jesus and all He's done for me.
How He set me free. You dance.
Hey!
There's nobody like Jesus.
There is none like Him.