 Prophecy Files Briefing, I'm so glad that you've joined us today. I hope you'll share this out on your social media. I know that other people will want to hear what is taking place in our world and what the Bible has to say about it, so that you can be rapture-ready. That's what this little series on Prophecy Files Briefing is all about. It's talking about, we're talking about the setup for the take-up, that is being rapture-ready. And these are some rapture-ready indicators that I believe are happening, of course, right now. You're seeing it in your news. But the Bible has predicted it thousands of years ago that would take place. And now we're seeing it unveiled right before our very eyes. Let me take you to some of these indicators today. Last week, we talked to you a little bit about the global vacuum of leadership that's taking place and certainly the rise of the coming Antichrist on the scene. We're seeing all those indicators. But one of them that probably has been the most prolific, the most profound and the one that has been in the face of people in recent years is the fact that the pandemic that was global was almost a test case to find out how that people are going to respond, react to a global dominance and authoritarianism that would take place in our world. And one of the indicators that I'm giving to you today is the absolute trust in Almighty government instead of the absolute trust in God. During the pandemic, we saw this in a major way where churches were shut down and the willing compliance of people to be cooperative and to try to be able to help other people not get sick, so forth and so on. But now we're seeing the lies that were behind the pandemic and the COVID outbreak one after another that were called conspiracies and all this kind of thing are now tumbling one after another as the truth is being revealed, concerning what was behind the pandemic and what we might indicate as a depopulation of the world. I'll indicate that to you and give you more information about that in a moment. But the government promised during the pandemic to take care of everybody through vaccines or free medications, whatever that it may be. And now after people did not ask any questions, we didn't put up resistance to any great degree. People willingly complied to a certain degree. Now these lies are being revealed. What is happening? What took place during that time? Well, it was an altering, I believe, of the state of mind. And this is an indicator toward the coming entrance of the Antichrist and a one-world government. Listen to what the Bible says in Revelation 17. It says this about the state of mind of people. These, having one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. That's the Antichrist. These shall make war with the Lamb. You know, it's going to be an interesting thing that takes place during the Tribulation of the reversal. And we're watching that take place where people don't want God in society. They don't want God in their churches. They want God in their lives. During the Tribulation, people are literally going to come against the Almighty God in the heavens. You're seeing that set up right now. People that are embracing, as we talked to you last week, about democracy. We want more democracy, as if it is going to be the Savior of the world. And I want you to know in the time that we're living, God is removed from education, from universities. He's even removed from professing Christian churches. And society is being taught how to rise man's nobility and his wisdom and knowledge to the God state, even through AI and all the other things that are taking place. And all of it returns back to the worship of self, which is the very original sin in the beginning that Satan introduced in the Garden. As society is realizing now that it cannot, in some cases, they're finding, fix the problems of the world, as we're seeing the Ukraine and the Russian War that is taking place and everybody's involvement in that, that's when we will see the embracing of this Antichrist to deceive the nations into believing that he is the Savior. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 3 says, For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon them as travailing upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. I will say here in the Panhandle of Florida, Alabama area that we've been in in the recent days, one of the indicators, one of the rapture-ready indicators for you is what the Bible says would be signs in the heavens, signs in the heavens and in the stars. It's not an accident nor is it something that is unprecedented that there would be signs in the heavens from the moon turning to blood and the sun and the stars and all that's taking place in the heavens. God said in his word that that would take place. In fact, here's what the Bible says, watch this. It says in the book of Luke chapter 21 verse 25 and 26, There shall be signs in the sun, moon and stars, upon the earth nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the seas. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Well, what you're seeing on the screen right now is phenomenons over the past several days right here in our vicinity where tornadoes have ravaged all of the Southeast from Texas and all throughout the state of Florida. And it's been an unusual event. In fact, just listening to the news forecaster and the weather forecaster last night, he was saying this is unprecedented for us. These words he was using, unprecedented. I've never seen it like this before. I want you to know 50 years ago, David Wilkerson wrote in his book in The Vision, 1973 that weather forecasters would use the terminology's apocalyptic. Never seen this before. This is completely unprecedented. The same words that they're using right now. As I speak, there is a churning hurricane that is coming off of the coast of Africa, a tropical storm that has headed our way and potentially a hurricane. What's happening in our world? Well, God is shaking everything that can be shaken. But here's what I wanna tell you as we conclude today that you can make sure that the word of God is true. And the Bible says when you see these signs, look up for your redemption draws nigh. You know, the one thing about it that when you are seeing these cloud formations and multiple tornadoes as they're spinning up in the Gulf of Mexico, it forces everybody, both Saint and Central like, to look up into the clouds and see these formations. I want you to know if anything, these signs in the heavens, make us look up. And that's what I want you to do today. Make sure you're looking up towards the heavens because I believe that Jesus Christ is coming soon. We'll see you next time right here on Prophecy Files Briefing. Amen, amen. Good evening Pace family. How's everybody doing this evening? Amen, praise the Lord everybody. Are you happy to be in service on a Wednesday night? Hallelujah, let's stand for a word of prayer. Now there are many needs here represented on the prayer and praise. And I know in this congregation and those watching online, but thankfully we worship a God that hears and answers prayers tonight. You believe that? Amen, that he's as close as the mention of his name is what the Bible says. Come on, do we believe that this evening? Let's reach out to him. Father, we thank you for your love, Lord. We built our lives on your love. It's a firm foundation. Father, and I thank you, Jesus, that you are as close as the mention of your name. So right now, Jesus, we call out to all the needs that are represented on the prayer and praise, all the people that need a healing tonight. Lord, we speak Jesus. They need salvation. We speak Jesus over them. Lord, if they need deliverance, we speak Jesus over them. There's healing in that name. There's power in that name, Lord. We believe in the name of Jesus tonight, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you're faithful, God, that he who promised is faithful to hear and to answer prayers when we cry out with all of our hearts. Do you believe that this evening, church? Do you believe that? Let's cry out, let's praise the Lord right now. Let's praise him for his holiness. We enter in his presence with praise and thanksgiving and those watching online, we know that he's with you. Hallelujah, let's give him a big hand. He's worthy tonight. He's worthy. Cross the aisle, greet a brother and sister. Shake a hand. Online audience, we're so glad that you're here. We consider you family. It's a privilege that you would take time to be with us here at Pace Assembly. Let us know where you're watching and how we can pray for you. And if you're ever in our area, we'd love to have you in service. Just know that we love you here at Pace Assembly. God bless you this evening. Everyone's looking wonderful tonight. Can we give our online guests a big hand? All right. Hey, the Bible says in Hebrew is the forsake not the assembling together as some are in the manner of doing. The truth is, is that we need one another, amen? So I wanna invite you Sunday, 10 a.m. to be here in service and let's believe God for a move of the spirit. Amen. Hallelujah. Well, the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Any of those in the house tonight? He's faithful. We, let's bless the offering. You can give with the offering buckets in the back. We have a QR code online. You can stamp it and mail it in if you'd like as well. But Father, I thank you right now for the privilege that we have to sow into your kingdom, Lord. And God asked right now that you would bless the gift and the giver of light that it would meet the needs, Lord, that the gospel would go forth in Jesus' mighty name. You believe that? Say amen. Hallelujah. Here's a word from pastor. Hello everyone and welcome to a Wednesday night Bible class. I'm so glad that you're in service here and those of you that are watching online. I want you to receive tonight as he steps into the pulpit, somebody who has long since had roots in Pace Assembly and he and his family have made Pace Assembly their home church. Pastor Aaron Johnson recently, pastoring Bayview Assembly of God has now come alongside and has been enjoying the presence of God and ministering right here around the altar. And tonight he's going to bring the word of God to you. So get ready and let's enjoy the ministry of Pastor Aaron Johnson. Come on, Aaron and take this pulpit tonight. Go ahead and give the Lord another hand clap of praise this evening. Amen. All right now, say amen. Say it a little bit louder for me. All right, see I'm going to need some help this evening. Okay. Cause if y'all go to sleep on me, I'm not able to go to sleep standing up myself, okay? So y'all just, y'all just helped me out this evening. I'm thankful to be here. Pastor Joey, sister Rita, thank y'all for allowing me to have this opportunity to bring the word tonight at a place that I've called home nine months before I was born. I was coming to church here. That's how life was for us. We grew up at church. We were here all the time and the doors were open. We were here, my mom and dad are here tonight. I mean, if y'all know them, they are still continuing serving at what was Baywood's assembly of God, which is now Rhythm Church, assembly of God. And we are, I'll share a little bit about that in my message tonight. It kind of goes along with what I'm speaking on tonight, but just thankful that they're here and everything that's happened in my life, I can point to Pace Assembly. I was saved probably right around here. I sat on about the 10th pew back when we had pews and the orange carpet and orange everything slept under that pew growing up as well. Got saved, filled with a holy ghost, met my wife at church here. We got married here. So so many milestones of my life happened right here at Pace Assembly. I was up in the youth room one Wednesday night at the age of 15 when God called me into ministry. The same youth room that they are in right now. My son's not up there tonight because he wanted to hear dad preach, but the same youth room that my son's in currently, it was set up a little differently back then, but the same spirit and the same God that hovered in that room all those years ago was the same one who still touches lives tonight. Amen. So if you have your Bibles, if you don't know who I am, I don't know who you are either most likely. So we're just in the same boat anyways. But it's not about me, it's about God and that's what I wanna do is glorify him. So if you have your Bibles, flip me to Hebrews chapter 12 this evening. And I think I'm gonna have it up there in a minute at the title, but Hebrews chapter 12 this evening and beginning in verse one. And the Bible says, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run with patience in the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Lord I thank you for your word tonight. God I pray that you do what only you can do and anoint me tonight God to speak your word. God I pray that it would come forth God, anoint the word that come forth God let us be anointed in our ears to hear your word, our minds to understand your word and our hearts to receive it. God let the fruit of your word bring forth harvest in our souls and God as your word goes forth it promise it would accomplish what it was set forth to do. So Lord I pray tonight God you just have your way. You take my place and speak through me tonight and let your will be done. And we give you all the glory and all the honor and all the praise in your name. Amen and amen. I wanna talk to you for a few moments tonight. Pastor tells me this morning when he called me that he tries to have everybody out by 8.30 and I told him that wouldn't be a problem. So, but for a few moments tonight I wanna talk to you on this subject it's time to run. I know somebody probably just had you know a mini heart attack when I said the word run but don't worry I promise you. It's time for the church and for the Christians in this world to stop standing on the sideline. To stop being bystanders. To stop just going through life like it's just another day. But it's time for us to run this race that God has ordained us to run that has set before us and just so we understand my race is not your race, right? Your race is not my race. So we gotta quit telling each other how we should do things, right? And let the Lord speak to us on what we should do and run the race that God has set before us and do what God's called us to do. So in Hebrews chapter 12 we have the author of Hebrews as he's finishing up being anointed by the Holy Spirit to write Hebrews chapter 11 which is what we consider our hall of faith of just men and women of God who just through trials and perseverance just did what God called them to do. And then he says now, wherefore we are compassed by this great cloud of witnesses. Let us run our race. Let us run our race that has set before us and do what God's called us to do in the time and the hour which we are living. What I love about that list of people is we like to put them on these pedestals, right? Oh, Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Man, these just goliaths of our faith and we wanna put them on pedestals. But if you read their stories, they all made mistakes. They all messed up. They all made the wrong choice at one point, right? They all did things that maybe went against what God wanted them to do. But we still look at their stories today and we say, man, if I could just have the faith of Moses who has stretched forth his arms in the Red Seawood Park. If I could just have the faith of David when Goliath stands up against the armies of Israel and he says, you know what? I'm just a young man but that's okay. I'm gonna go out here and slay this giant. If I could just have the faith of Abraham who left his home to follow after someone he just heard speak. And yet, every single one of these individuals made mistakes and messed up. What does that tell me? There's hope for me, right? There's hope for us that despite our mistakes, despite our failures, God can still use us. God can still do something with our lives. All we have to do is make that decision to get up and run. That's all we gotta do. Now, we like to talk about the pandemic and things and what's happened and long before the pandemic ever happened, we became lazy, right? It's not because we didn't have to go to work. It's not because we were just stuck at home but long before the pandemic happened, we got lazy. This Netflix came out and every few hours, it'll ask you, are you still watching this show? And now, instead of hitting the button, you just hit that button that says, don't ask me this again. So you just continue watching the show and we're just sitting there and hours go by and before we know it, where'd the day go? What we do in the physical, we do in the spiritual. Amen? A lot of times, if I'm lazy in my physical life, I'm probably lazy in my spiritual life. That's just the truth. So whenever we look at our lives and we're running this race, my question to me tonight, my question to you tonight is how are you doing? How are you running? Are you running with a limp because you've got hurt? Got a little pain? Somebody's hurt you, somebody's said something, somebody's done something or maybe it's hurt because of life. Maybe it's hurt because you're just dealing with struggles of life. If we were to poll everybody tonight who's going through something, who's had a struggle, we'd probably have to have psychiatrists and counselors and everything else in here, right? To help us deal with everything going on. But there is one. Amen? There is one who's a great physician who's able to help us in all of life struggles and all of life's problems. There is one and his name is Jesus. He's a friend of six closer than a brother. There's nothing that I can walk through, nothing that I can face that he cannot fix that he can't help me with. And that's who I want to proclaim tonight. So when you run this race, you're not running it for yourself but you're running it for him, right? Paul says that we run this race that we would receive the reward at the end. What is that reward? The crown of life, right? Eternity in heaven and glory to worship our Savior. That's the reward. So we run this race to receive the reward, that crown of life that, guess what, we're gonna lay down at his feet. Because it's not about me, it's about him. Everything that I do is about him and if I live my life that way, then everything that I do is gonna bring glory and honor to God. But how do we know we don't always do that, right? We don't always make those decisions or do those things that bring honor and glory to God. How many of you have somebody pull out in front of you this morning, be honest? Sometimes our responses aren't so glorious, right? Just don't have a Pace Assembly sticker on the back of your car when you go by, okay? But this flesh will rise up inside of us. That's why he's saying run the race with patience, all right, with patience. I've got a 12-year-old son, I've got a two-year-old daughter, and I've got a one-year-old daughter. And can I tell you, yes, bless, bless us, please, can I tell you, patience is not something you're born with, it is something you learn. And you learn it through a lot of resistance, amen? You learn it through a lot of resistance. Patience, and I promise you, I love my kids, but my goodness, have they taught me patience? My wife and I, we had our son, and then nine years after we had our son, we decided, because we couldn't have any more children, biologically, we decided we're gonna do foster care. And so we stepped into foster care. And my goodness, it is a whirlwind of emotions of things that go on in foster care, and I will advocate for foster care because we've enjoyed it, we've loved it, we've adopted our daughter out of it, and it's just a wonderful thing. And I encourage you to support those ministries of fostering kids and things like that. If you, it's wonderful to be able to give a child a home and love on a child. And we started doing foster care, and we went from nine years without having an infant in the home. He was good, I mean, he could make his own food, kind of, it probably wasn't edible sometimes, but he tried, you know, he was potty trained and all that. And then we went to have an infant, and all of a sudden, patience, right? Patience, sleeping all night was not an option anymore. Patience, but life has a way of making you work out patience, right? The English standard version of this passage of scripture says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us. So it takes that word patience to put in endurance. A few years ago, it doesn't look like a nail, but a few years ago, I was actively running on a regular basis, and I got lazy. But I was getting to the place to where I was running easily six to eight miles without stopping, and I was doing really good. I even ran a 5K, but I remember the first time I decided I was gonna get off the couch. I was gonna go for a run. I told myself I was gonna do a mile, right? Because if I can't run a mile, I mean, I know I'm not a spring chicken anymore, but if I can't run a mile, then something's wrong. So I get out there to run my mile, and I get going, and running in the neighborhood I grew up in, I knew where my mile marker was, didn't have to worry about it, didn't have to measure it out, I knew where I was going. About a quarter of the way in, I realized miles are a lot longer today than they were in high school. All right? They're a lot longer today than they were in high school. I don't remember a mile being this long or this hard to run. So I was running about halfway through, I made up my mind, I said, I am finishing this mile. I might need oxygen afterwards and life support, but I'm finishing this mile. About a third of the way through, I started doing something differently. I stopped looking at what was ahead of me, and I just started looking at my feet. Probably wasn't smart, because people in my neighborhood can't drive very good, but I just started looking at my feet and making sure that my feet were still moving, making sure that I was taking one step after another, and my feet were still going. You see, sometimes we have to stop looking at what's in front of us. The Bible says we live and walk by faith, right? Not by sight. So I don't have to see what's in front of me if I'm running this race that God's called me to run, I'm chasing and running after Him. If He's got to hold my hand and drag me along the way, if He's the one leading, I just got to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to do and what I'm able to do, and that's keep running. That's keep running. So I put my face down, I just kept looking at my feet. My feet were still moving. That means I was still going. I quit looking at my destination and I just wanted to make sure I was still doing what I could do to reach my destination. You see, in life, when life happens and in Christianity so many times, we get bombarded with life and things and obstacles that come our way. And when I'm not careful, I begin to look at what's in front of me and I get over this obstacle just to see the next one. I'm like, how am I gonna get there and make it through that? And before you even get faced with the problem, you're already worried about it. Before you ever go to the doctor, you're already worried about what he's gonna say. So you work yourself up in this horrible situation of, well, the doctor's gonna tell me I'm dying before you ever get there. Whenever, whenever someone sends you a text, your boss sends you a text message, hey, I wanna get, I need to talk to you for a minute. Oh man. You call your wife or your husband, honey, I just lost my job. What are you talking about? I gotta meet with the boss, it's over. You ain't even met with him yet. What if it was a pay raise? Well, we work ourselves up in such an emotional strain and such a struggle that before I even get to the obstacle, I'm already worried about it. My dad preached last Sunday at his church and I listened to it the other night. And he reminded me of the pastor's scripture where it says that he's not giving us a spirit of fear but a power of love and of a sound mind. Amen? So why are we fearful of things in all honesty? We can't control anyways. Why are we fearful of things we can't control? Do we trust God? Or do we trust God just because we say, oh yes, I trust God? My wife and I stepped out in the ministry together in 2009 as youth pastors at a church in Baker, Florida. My wife, she was my fiance then. You see, because the Sunday before we started going to that church, I asked her to marry me because I told her it's better if I energies you as my fiance instead of my girlfriend. You see, there's more weight to that, right? We're about to come and run their youth program. There's more weight to the fact that we're in this, we're sticking together, right? We're not married yet, but she's not just my girlfriend. She's my fiance. Thought it sounded better. And now we've been stuck together for 13 years. Amen. But we stepped out in ministry together in 2009, got married in 2010, had our son in 2011, and life after that has been a whirlwind of emotions and things that have gone on in our life. And I wanna share just a little bit of how I know that you can run this race despite what you're facing, despite what you're going through, despite what you're gonna face tomorrow, you can run this race knowing that the author and the finisher of your faith has already written your story down. That he is holding on to you even when you don't think you're holding on to him, he still has you. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. So we stepped out in ministry, youth pastors, and how many of you know when you first stepped out in ministry, if you've ever done it before, you know what to do, right? You've gotta figure it out. You're gonna do the work of God, and it's gonna be amazing, and man, you're gonna win the whole city to the youth, to the kingdom. And we were doing really good in that small little country church. We were running about average, about 15 young people on a Wednesday night, and that was really good for our small little country area. And then we had our son, and how many of you know, when you have a baby and you're living out there away from family, it's not always easy, right? It's your first child, and we got a little homesick, although we were just like 30 minutes down the road, 30 minutes down the road is a long way when the baby's sick and you need help, right? So, we talked to the pastor there at the time, and we agreed to resign our position. We came back home here and stayed a little bit here at Pace for a season, and there was a time through that season that you know, the devil has a way of telling you your failure, you know? Things didn't go the way you thought they would, things didn't work out the way you thought they would, and that's just because you failed. I wanna tell you, the devil's telling you your failure, or you failed. Remember, he's the father of lies. He does a pretty good job of lying, so if he's telling you that, don't believe it. I know that's easier said than done, because I've had the sleepless nights. I've had the tossing and turning and the struggling and the tears and the pain of living this life out, so I understand that's easier said than done, but I'm here to tell you that there is one who is a comforter, who is the Holy Spirit who will comfort you in the time of your need, in the time of your struggle, when you're a fear, when you feel like you're a failure yourself that will come alongside you and prop you up and say, you're not a failure, I'm just carrying you for this moment, and that's okay, but we can't stop running this race, right? Cause not only did God call me to this type of ministry, but he's called all of us to ministry, right? Maybe it's not vocational ministry behind a pulpit or teaching in a Sunday school class, whatever it is, he's called all of us to ministry in order for us to do ministry, that means we gotta get up and run. So a few years of coming back to pace and coming back home and enjoying, I think we're here for, I don't know, maybe a year and a half of that stretch, and we stepped out again, and I sent emails to churches and pastors of that summer and I were looking for a ministry position and our resume, which wasn't much at the time, but I sent them out and got one email back. How do you know when you send out 40-something emails and you get one back, it's kind of deflating, right? It's kind of like you send out that big balloon and then it's like, you know, and it just comes to the ground. So we got one email back from a church called Baywood's Assembly of God. I met with Pastor Al and his wife sister Tina at the time and we met with him and we were going to go and be their youth pastors and spend time loving on their youth and doing what God's called us to do there and we really felt like that's where we were supposed to be. So we were there for four years, going into three years, I'm sorry, going into three years as youth pastors. Pastor Al calls me on Tuesday night and I says, hey, I just want you to know I'm resigning. I just had the board meeting, let him know I was resigning and I said, well, Pastor, when's your last Sunday? And he said, next Sunday. I said, well, you mean like, was that five days from now? Yeah, I'm like, oh, I'm used to at least two weeks notice. I was working at McDonald's at the time as a general manager for them and I'm like, I'm at least a two weeks notice, a month notice if you're higher up and wow, that's really quick. And we go from youth pastors to being the only credential members or ministers in the church. So I stepped in, I told the board that if you need me to preach on Sundays, we'll preach because I had youth that we started with three years ago or two years ago who were going in, getting ready to start going into their junior and then their senior year and we just didn't feel like it was time for us to leave. We didn't know why. We felt like, you know, we were meant to stay and we thought it was just for the youth program there and those young people, so we stayed. Sometimes you gotta run your race even when you don't know the outcome. Even when you don't know the reason why you still got to get up and run your race. You see, there's many people who have decided to stop running because they can't control the outcome. Many people who have stopped running this thing called faith because they can't control what's gonna happen tomorrow. I'm getting to a point, but I'm telling you that you don't have to control it. You've gotta be obedient. You've gotta be obedient. There's so many things in my life and so many things as I span across this audience of people's lives that I look and I see that if you could have controlled it, you would have done it differently. A month ago I stood behind this pulpit and I preached my grandmother's funeral. If I could have controlled it, I would have done it differently but I can't control it, right? I've gotta be obedient. I've gotta be obedient. So I put my shoes on every day and I run my race. Is it perfect? Not at all. Do I stumble all the time? Am I making the time limit that I wanna make? Not at all. Are my mile markers where I want them to be? No, but I'm obedient. God's not worried about your mess. God's not worried about you going and making a mistake. He's covered that on the cross, right? His grace is sufficient, right? His mercies are new every morning, right? He's not worried about your mistakes. He wants your obedience. And in order to be obedient, we gotta get up and run. So we stepped into Interim Pastor there at the church and we're doing this thing the only way we know how and that's praying. Coming up with a word God wants to share. My wife was helping with the worship and everything else and I get a phone call one Wednesday night as I'm up at the church because one Wednesday I'm up at the church, I was off work and I went up to the church to just prepare. You get a phone call from someone, the church has opened up resumes. So they sent out, people were sending resumes and I had a phone call of someone who had come in wanted to know about the church, to get the demographics of the area and know about the church that were interested in putting a resume in. So I told them everything and I told them about the church. I told them the demographics of the area we were in and when I hung up the phone, I just had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and my next phone call was to my wife. I said, I don't know what's going on but somebody called and asked about the church and wanted to talk about putting a resume in and I just feel like I can't have anyone else pass through the church and she said, what do you mean? I said, I don't know but I think God's trying to say something to me. So here I am as a youth pastor trying to fill in on Sundays and I feel like the Lord is getting ready to speak to us about pastoring a church. Lord, at that time, how old was I? I was still in my 20s. Not that I'm in my 30s by much, I'll be 35 in August but I was still in my 20s and here we are stepping into a possible pastorate position. So I told the board, I said, y'all come with us alongside us, pray with us over this for a few weeks and we prayed about it and I told him, I said, you know, we wanna put our hat in the ring. That's how we say it, right? We wanna put our hat in the ring. So we went, we preached the message, I guess my message to come and interview process, I guess. So I preached the message, I got voted in as pastor and in June of 2015, we took a picture in front of that wooden door that said pastor on it. I was baby-faced and I didn't have a beard and we took a picture at that door that said pastor and for the next seven years, we served that church the only way we knew how to the best of our ability and with everything we had within us. But just because you get to pastor, doesn't mean everything is perfect, right? You know, we have a great pastor here at church and pastor Joey and sister Rita and they share a little bit of what goes on in their life and ask for prayer, but I promise you, the weight that they carry, because I know what it feels like. I'm not pastor, they church of this size so I can only imagine it exceeding the weight, but I'm telling you, I know what it feels like to have the burden of pastoring a church and pastoring a group of people and wanting to see God do what only God can and the struggles of everyday life, the struggles of not knowing what's next, the struggles of doctor's reports and everything else and coming to a place of trying to preach on a Sunday morning, I know what it's like. That's why you should pray for your pastors, amen? But I know what it's like to struggle with that, to get up on a Sunday morning and wonder, what am I preaching this Sunday because Lord, you haven't told me yet and here I am a few hours away and I've gotta try to preach and quite frankly, I don't feel like preaching. Can I just be honest? Well, you gotta be obedient. So you run your race, you run your race. So we're pastoring for five years and we're seeing people come and the church grow from 2015 to 2019 and 2020 and then this thing called COVID happened and we begin to see the decline within our church and people just deciding not to come back to church, to go to a different church or whatever the reason was but you're still there, right? You're still left there to pastor and carry the weight and the burden you call people and you say, why aren't you going to church anywhere? I don't care if you don't come back to Bay Woods but go to church somewhere because that's your heart, right? That's the pastor's heart. Get back into the kingdom, run your race. So we get through COVID and we get through the pandemic and the shutdown. We start having in-person services again and things begin to kind of roll and move forward and at this time before COVID came, mom and dad started coming over and helping us out. They were a godsend to us there and just helped us out and so we were there and things were moving forward and fast forward to this year or this past year and the beginning of this past year. We felt as we walked into this new year, we were going through a season of transition and we didn't know what it meant. How many of you understand? Now listen, I want to tell you something that's very important, don't make a decision. Just because you feel like it's the right decision. Don't make a decision just because you feel like it's the right decision. I told my church when I first started there, the Sunday I got voted in inside of that fellowship hall, I said, I can promise you two things. One, I'm gonna make a mistake. I'm gonna mess up. Number two, I'm not gonna do anything that goes against the word of God or do anything that I haven't prayed about and I know the Lord is leading in that direction. I can promise you those two things. Beginning of this year or last year, we began to pray and felt like we were walking in a season of transition. You know, running your race is really hard when you're not sure where you're going. When you're not sure what's around the next corner, when you're waiting to see if the dog in the backyard is loose or not and the gate's open because that's what you feel like's about to happen. It's hard. And about June of this past year, matter of fact, this month, about a year ago, me and my wife sat down and we started talking. I said, I'm preaching a series in August. I'm preaching a series I entitled The Church's Purpose and I told her one or two things is gonna happen. I said, we're gonna have our answer of what we're supposed to do or the church is gonna spark again and we're gonna keep moving with this thing. I prepared that sermon series just as I would any other. The best amount of time I could give to it, working a full-time job, pastoring a church, being a husband and a dad. And I know I got those backwards and wrong. Husband and dad come first. But doing everything I could, I prepared that sermon series. I got up there on the first Sunday of August to preach my first message out of that series. As I was preaching that message, about halfway through the message, the Spirit of the Lord just spoke to me, he said, this is it. And in that moment I felt the release, the weight, the burden. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll never understand it. But I just felt the release. And in that moment I knew I was gonna step off of that stage that Sunday morning and I will not no longer feel like I was the pastor of that church. The next Sunday morning I met with the board and I spoke with them and I told them, I said, we wouldn't even be having this conversation if I didn't know for sure that this is the direction of the Lord's leading. And here we go again, running our race. It's not ending the way you thought it would end, right? The church isn't going the direction you thought it would go. Things didn't pan out, the people you thought were coming to help and to grow a church aren't there anymore. But now you gotta be obedient to something that honestly you don't even wanna do. How can God ask me to do something that I don't wanna do and I gotta be obedient to Him, right? God doesn't wanna, God doesn't do that, right? God doesn't do that, right? But now I gotta be obedient to something that I'm not fully 100% sure that that's what I want. But I gotta run my race. I gotta run my race. So the next few weeks I told the board I'd stay on to the end of September. Last Sunday of September would be my last Sunday as a pastor of that church. And can I tell you it's really hard to pastor a church when you've got the release. You don't know what's next, but it's hard to pastor a church. But that's what I did. Because in my mind, in my mind, the way it works, I wanna leave it, try to leave it better than the way I found it, right? I cared about those people, I loved those people. They were family. I just didn't wanna tell them one Sunday I'm resigning and up and going the next. That's not how I do things. I may not put my socks up the way I'm supposed to, but that's not how I do things. So we stayed on. I met with a good friend of mine who wanted to take me to lunch. Now listen, I'm still running the race, right? It doesn't look like it's supposed to anybody there. It doesn't look like it's supposed to. It's not what you want it to be, but I'm still running the race. I met with a good friend of mine who wanted to take me to lunch just to see how I was doing. And I met with Passover now of Rhythm Church and we sat down at Longhorn Steakhouse. And he bought me a steak. And it was an amazing steak because my precious dear brother bought it for me, amen. It was seasoned, right? It cooked just the way I wanted it. But we sat down and we talked. And I was just sharing with him what was going on. They were a church plant here in Pensacola meeting in a warehouse in a shopping center. They just signed a lease to this property. And I told him, I said, for now when we met each other two years ago, when y'all first came to Pensacola and y'all came in Baywoods and sat down and shared with the minister meeting of what God was wanting to do. I said, in that moment, I had an instant connection with you and I wanted to try to do whatever I could to help y'all figure out a way to get y'alls church planted and do what God's called y'all to do in Pensacola. If that was helping out with hosting meetings or whatever, I wanted to help out. And he knew that. But that day I came to him, I said, listen, I know you just signed the lease of this property that y'all are in. I said, but I want you to know something. I really wanna ask and see if there's a possibility that as I step out of the door at Baywoods, if rhythm could merge with Baywoods and you bring your team in, we gotta pay it off facility and y'all hit the ground running. Because see, although I wasn't gonna be there, again, it's not about you, it's about the kingdom, right? It's not about me, it's about the kingdom. So I'm gonna run my race the best I can and be as obedient as I can and run my race. So we started talking with the district officials and everything, because you know, gotta get all the legalities, you know, in order. Although it is a church, it's still business and everything else and you know, it's tax exempt and all that good stuff, but it's nonprofit, all that. But you know, you get all the legalities stuff, right? So it was a whole process that went through this of trying to get rhythm merging with Baywoods. Baywoods was a sovereign church. If they didn't wanna do it, they didn't have to, right? So as we walk this journey out, I'm on the backside looking in here, this past September, I'm on the backside looking in here, you know, not got my hands in it really, I'm just talking for now and trying to reach out to him and I'm not really, I can't move any pieces, right? But January of this past year, they preached their first Sunday there at Baywoods Assembly of God and they merged in with Baywoods and God is doing some great things at that church through their ministry and the youth group is growing and just exploding. I saw the other day, a youth event, they had about 20 or 30 young people out there. I mean, God is just doing some great things and I honor that, I applaud that and in all honesty, I am so excited about what God is gonna do at Rhythm Church at that location all because we were obedient and we bowed out when God told us to. The things that I had a vision for, they're able to do. They've got help, they've got the people, they're able to do it and it's not about if I get to do it, right? It's about if the job gets done. If you were homeless and someone was gonna build your house or you're gonna sit there and say, I'm sorry, I don't want you to build it, I want someone else to. No, you just want the job to get done, right? So we run our race with obedience even when we don't understand it and it's been nine months now. I thought about that today and I know I didn't carry the baby but I thought about that today of everything that goes through in a nine month period of a woman giving birth to a child. I wanna tell you, this has been some hard nine months. This has been some hard nine months. I'm a pastor, that's my heart, that's my heart. It's been a hard nine months. I've been able to preach in certain places and things like that and that's got nothing about me preaching. I'm just telling you, it's been a hard nine months when you're called to do something and all of a sudden you're saying, sit, sit, sit, sit. God, I'm done being lazy, sit, just sit. Obedience, we don't like that word, do we? I'm gonna keep saying it just cause it's rubbing somebody the wrong way. Obedience, so we sit, we sit. And I just wanna say I'm thankful for this house and Pastor Joe used to street in this place who's allowed us to sit even when we would have got up and did something, has allowed us to sit so that we could heal, so that we could do and get what we needed even though we didn't know we needed it. Let's talk about those sleepless nights when the enemy's calling you a failure and you're believing in him. Kids go to sleep, my wife goes to sleep. I'm laying in bed, I get up, go to the couch. Couch gets uncomfortable, I go back to bed, get up, go to the couch. It's just a roulette wheel round and round we go. Said they remember one night I was tears crying in prayer and I said, God, what's going on? I know, have you ever stepped out in faith and done what God asked you to do and all of a sudden you're questioned if it was the right thing to do? Cause everything is falling down around you and you think that if you step out in faith and do what God's asked you to do, this shouldn't be happening. Not that it would be a field of daisies and roses but surely God you would keep us, right? Surely God you wouldn't allow all this to happen and all of a sudden you're struggling in every area of your life and you don't know what to do. So I'm sitting there one night I'm crying I'm praying, God, what is going on? Did I miss you? Did I miss you? Did I make a mistake? Did I step out too early? What is going on? Because I feel like I'm not even anywhere near you at the moment. Anybody been there before? In my tears and in my prayers, he simply spoke to me, will you trust me? Looking back three months now, later, it's funny how you remember those moments. I find it interesting that he didn't ask me do I trust him but he asked me will I trust him? It's easy to say yes, I trust you when someone asks do you trust me. But the will you trust me is a moment when you've got to put the action behind the trust, right? The will means I'm gonna trust you in my finances when if I pay my tithes, I'm not gonna have money for the bills, right? The will is stepping out in faith and going to talk to that person or that neighbor that quite frankly, you don't agree with, you don't like, but God's told you to go talk to him so now you gotta do what you said you would do as a Christian and a believer and trust the Lord, right? It's an action, the will part of that is an action. It's easy when the Lord asks do you trust me? Yeah, I trust you. What did he ask Peter when he says Peter, do you love me? Yeah, I love you, Lord. Peter said, he said again, do you love me? And Peter says of course I love you. He asked him a third time. He said Peter, do you love me? Peter says yes, I love you. What is his response? He says then feed my sheep. All of a sudden if you're gonna love me there's gotta be an action behind the love, right? If you're gonna trust me, if you're gonna put your faith in me there's gotta be an action behind that. It's not just I do, it's when I said I do to my wife, it's okay, I do, we're married, no, right? There's gotta be an action behind that. There's an action behind that vow that every day I'm gonna wake up and I'm gonna show that I love her. There's an action behind that will. So now here I am telling the Lord's asking me will I trust him? And now I've gotta make that decision. Cause it's no longer about me answering a simple question of of course I trust you Lord, it's will. So that means now I can't look in front of me, right? Cause I've gotta walk by faith and not what I see. So I gotta put my head down again and just look at the feet and make sure they're moving. Because I don't know where we're going or what the direction is, but if I'm trusting in him then he's gonna lead me every step of the way the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord, right? If I fall, he's gonna be there to pick me back up. His grace and mercy is new. I know that when I walk and I'm following Christ and I'm doing what God's called me to do then he's gonna open the doors. He's gonna make a way where there seems to be no way. So it's one foot in front of the other doing what I know to do, right? Doing what I know to do. I told my wife for the season that we're in right now that we've parked ourselves here at Pace Assembly whatever happens happens if we get help out in ministry somewhere that's fine. But I told my wife this, it's about that boy right there. It's about those two girls that we've had the privilege of fostering and adopting and praying that we're able to finalize the adoption of the other one here in the next year or two however long that process might take. Why? Because I know what to do. It's about giving them the foundation that they need so that when mom and daddy are dead and gone they know how to stand. Mom, dad, grandparent, by now you should know what to do. You should not still be drinking milk, you should be eating steak. And if you're not, then spend some time with the Lord and let's grow up. Let's run our race that is set before us and let's grow up. Let's spiritually mature because there's a generation of children coming behind us that don't know who their own identity is. They're confused, they have no idea who they are, they're told they're this, they're told they're that. Let's grow up and be spiritually mature so when they come to us, we don't give them our opinion, we give them the word of God that has been seasoned in our lives so we can speak the word of God in truth and boldness and with love. That's why you gotta run your race because there's somebody running behind you. If they see you stop, they're gonna stop. You can't stop running, not when their soul's hanging in the balance. So we run this race with patience and endurance and oh my goodness has the Lord been working endurance and patience in my life over the last few months. If you wanna go and build some muscle, what do you do? You pick up that light potato chip, right? You curl the potato chip to the mouth, right? No, you pick up that dumbbell, that weight and you start curling it, right? Just doing this is not gonna do anything, right? But when you add some resistance to it, when you add some weight to it, all of a sudden you're stretching those muscles and you're growing those muscles, right? If you're gonna grow spiritually and get stronger, you've gotta add some endurance to it. How many of you know you don't add the endurance? God does, all right? You don't get to put on, I just want 245 plates. I'm good with that. No, God decides what the endurance is gonna look like in your life and what the resistance you're gonna come up against and then you're gonna say, God, I'm gonna trust you. I put my faith in you that no matter what I face, no matter what I go through, you're gonna bring me through everything that I face, everything I go through, so I'm gonna trust you. You don't get to decide what your endurance regiment is gonna be, he does, but he promised in his word that he wouldn't put more on us than what we can bear, right? And we sit there and we go, well, God, I'm really going through a lot right now, but my strength is made perfect in your weakness. My grace is sufficient for you, so we gotta run this race. We've gotta run this race. Wherefore, we are compassed about what's so great a cloud of witnesses. You know, they felt like giving up too. That whole chapter of Hebrews chapter 11, verse after verse, you know what it says? They died without receiving the promise. They died without seeing everything God promised them fulfilled, but they ran their race. Don't you know the apostles probably at some point another felt like giving up when every time they got, they preached, they got thrown in jail. They got beat. They begin to tell them, you go to preach, we're gonna dip you in this vat of oil. That's not cold. Don't you know sometimes they ask themselves, what are we doing? Can I just be honest? Because they're like we are, they're men and women like we are, right? And if God's okay with me questioning, he was okay with them questioning, okay? We gotta quit putting them on pedestals and realize that they struggled, but they took their struggles to the one who was greater, to the one who was stronger. And they continue to run their race with patience, with endurance, because the ones who endure to the end, the same shall be saved. You notice it doesn't tell you what you're gonna have to endure, right? Because if you came to the altar and you got saved and God said okay, your life is gonna have to go through this, this, this and this, you turn and walk out the back door and say forget it. I'm not walking through that. But we got to understand that God is entrusted you with the gift of salvation. Him giving his son was not just something, it was everything. It was precious. And Hebrews chapter 12 says that Jesus looked and saw the cross. He accepted the shame that was gonna come. So the Bible says cursed is the man who dies upon the tree, right? He accepted the shame that would take place and be placed upon him. And by the way, that wasn't his shame, that was our shame. He did it because I sinned, right? Because you sinned. So he went to the cross. And the Bible says when you read in chapters and Hebrews who for the joy that was set before him, we believe the Bible is a holy inspired word of God, right? That the Holy Spirit gave men the words to write. I know it was written by men and we can argue that point all day, but I believe the Holy Spirit inspired men to write the word of God. And the words that are written in this book are not by accident. So for the joy that was set before him. Hey, you're getting crucified today. Ha, what a joyous occasion. Really? For the joy that was set before him. What was that joy? That joy was understanding and knowing that thousands of years later, there's gonna be somebody who's gonna receive salvation, who's gonna be pulled out of the pits of hell. And he knows that eternity has changed for that person. The joy is the fact that you and I are not living a life sending us to hell, but tonight we're on our way to heaven, right? We're on our way, we're of another kingdom, of another world. That's the joy is that one day heaven is gonna be filled with believers and that is his joy that carried him and gave him the strength to endure the cross, the race that was set before him. Aren't you glad he finished his race? Aren't you glad he said it is finished? There was no to be continued. It was finished. And because he finished his race, he said, because I've overcome the world, you can too. Child of God, whatever you're facing tonight, I promise you, God is bigger. God is greater. God is greater. I don't care what you're facing, I don't care what you're going through. I've, the last nine months of my life have been a roller coaster, but I'm standing behind this pulpit today, telling you that the same God who told me to walk that course and to run that race is the same God who's standing with me today on the other side of it, saying I've kept you every step of the way. Run your race. You may be here today, you're a single parent. Run your race. I know it's hard. Can I tell you what kept us coming to church the last few nine months? Well, he's not there anymore, I can't even point to him. Was that 12 year old little boy who wanted to come to youth on Wednesday nights? Cause after your work all day in the sun, how many of you know you can stay home on a Wednesday night? We can stream it, right? But I get home. I'd sit on the couch for a few minutes. He'd come bopping in there from his grandma on grandpa's house, his grandma on pop's house. Hey dad, we going to church, you gonna get ready? Hey dad, we going to church, you gonna get ready? There's been a lot of Wednesday nights in these nine months that I didn't feel like being here. I'm just gonna be honest with you. I don't know if Pastor Joe's gonna get mad at me for saying that, I don't know, but I just didn't feel like being here. But because of that 12 year old boy telling me, dad, are we gonna go to church? I got up and got ready and went to church. With a smile on my face, nobody I talked to knew what was going on in my life. Nobody knew what we were facing. Nobody knew the struggles we were walking through. Through the process of all this, we're trying to adopt our daughter. Can I tell you, adoption is a struggle. It is a headache. We put a smile on our face and go from day to day and go. Nobody knew, but we ran our race. We ran our race. Today, we have a beautiful little girl who is two, who officially has my last name. On that birth certificate, it says Summer and Aaron Johnson as mom and dad. We run our race. Was it easy? Not at all, but we run our race. Whatever you're facing and whatever you're going through tonight, understand and know. He knew you would get there before you ever got there. He knew you would face it before you ever got there. Run your race. If you feel like giving up, I preached a message series at my church a few years back. I called it the fight and I built a boxing ring. As I preached, I built a boxing ring. Foundation was Jesus. I better not share this. I was gonna steal and write a book on it or something. But after I got the ring built and everything, I was preaching a message. And you know what they do in boxing, if their fighters get beat up real bad, what do they do? The corner throws in the towel, right? They throw that white towel and they say, hey, we surrender, we're done. He's getting beat up too bad. How many of you been throwing that towel and then God's been throwing it back at you? Let's be honest. I'm not here to sugarcoat. I'm telling you, you've thrown the towel in and God's thrown it back and said no. Sometimes you can't give up because God won't let you. When you're supposed to give up and God says, okay, let go and give up, it's because he's releasing you and he is ready to do something inside of you. Sometimes when you throw that towel in and God throws it back, it's for you to wipe your sweat off and clean yourself up because you're still in the fight and you can't stop fighting. You can't stop running. Do we understand it? Not at all. But we run our race. We run our race. Run our race with patience and endurance. That word we don't like, patience. Something I found out about running, you gotta have the right equipment. I'm gonna close with this. You got a bad pair of running shoes. You're gonna know it real quick, okay? You have the right equipment. Gotta drink water, right? I know I say water funny, I'm sorry. Every time I gotta say it when I'm preaching, I gotta figure out how to say it the right way. You gotta have the right clothes to wear. You don't wanna run a 10K in blue jeans, right? You gotta have the right equipment. Are you running with the right equipment tonight? Are you running with the word that he says to wash in the word? Are you running with the right equipment? Because his equipment says his word is a lamp between my feet, a light into my path, right? His equipment is my strength will be made perfect in your weakness, my, the joy and the sorrow you may be facing the morning you're going through. There's a day that's coming, right? The night is gonna last, but there's a day, a dawn that's gonna take place. So are you running with the right equipment? Are you doing this? You're running. Then the problem shows up. Then you run over here. You're like, let me see what I can do. And you hit this topic thing back here. You're like, all right, what did Jesus say about this and how do I live? All right, what do I do now? Are you running to the equipment when you need it? Are you training with it? Because just showing up to run on race day and not training before race day, when you go to run, you're gonna have a problem, right? Those Olympic runners don't just run on race day. They train. So how are you doing in training? Because see, your training is just as important as the race. Your training is just as important as the race. So what do we do in training? We pray, we read the word. We praise, we worship, we do what we know to do, right? Isn't it amazing? Whenever we do what we're supposed to do, God has a way of showing us things that we cannot do. Run your race. Run your race. As I close the night, I just wanna reiterate and tell you that if you're here tonight, you're facing a problem and a struggle. It's not caught God off by surprise. He's not caught off guard. He sees right where you're at. And he's asking you the same question he asked me at about 2.30 one morning. Will you trust me? Will you trust me? So now you have a decision and that decision comes with an action. To decide within yourself, will I trust him? Will I trust him and will I run the race that is set before me? With patience, with endurance. Looking unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus. We love Pastor Joe and Sister Rita, but we're not looking at Pastor Joe and Sister Rita, right? They bring us great words and encouragement, but that's not who we look for and they'll tell you themselves. Don't look at them. Looking unto Jesus. Not looking to our favorite preacher. Not looking to our favorite worship artist. Not looking to our favorite podcast, spiritual podcast person. But looking unto Jesus. There's nothing wrong with the things I just mentioned. But if I place more weight on them than I place on Christ, then I'm gonna fall. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Will you stand with me this evening? We got a few moments here and I just wanna, if you felt like giving up, if you feel like life has thrown you something that you just can't handle, that's okay. Let God handle it for you. And as a man, I know that's hard. Well, if there's some men in here tonight that are holding on to some things that God's asking you to let go of, because you just don't know how to let go of the reins, there's freedom in letting go. There's strength in letting go. So if you're here tonight and you feel like, I just don't know what I'm gonna do tomorrow. I don't know if I'm gonna make it. Maybe you feel like you're giving up on this thing. You don't know how you're gonna make it. He does. Will you trust him? Will you trust him? You can do it in your own way. You can come around the soldier, we'll lay hands on you and pray for you. You can make the decision in your seat tonight. I don't care how you do it. But will you trust him? Will you trust him? Lord, I pray tonight, God, over this congregation, I ask you, Lord, that in each and every individual, God, as they're searching in their own lives, Lord. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit that is evident and real in this place, God, as it's dealing with hearts and lives, Lord. God, that they will learn not just to say, I trust you, but that they'll put action behind that trust, Lord, and they'll step out in faith, God, and do what you've called them to do. That the trust, Lord, will become action. Lord, there's nothing that is brought into our lives, God, that we may not understand, but you know exactly what's going on. You're not caught off guard, you're not caught by surprise. So Lord, I can trust you because the Word says, he who's begun a good work in me is faithful. The man, the woman, the people I talk to every day, they may not be faithful, but they didn't start the work in me. You did, and you promised in your Word that you would be faithful and you would see the work to finish, to completion. So Lord, there's people in here tonight who have given up and they just don't feel like running anymore, God. Lord, I pray that you give them some spiritual running shoes tonight, God, and you tell them it's time to run. God, it's time to run the race that is set before them, God, because there's people running behind them that they may not even know who are watching them, God, that need to see them walk out and live this life of faith. God, let us run our race with patience and endurance, God, looking unto you, the author and the finisher of our faith. Lord, I pray tonight, God, for those who feel like giving up, God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would come and comfort them, strengthen them and encourage them, Lord. God, I pray that you would go forth, Lord, and just speak to them tonight, God, and they may feel like they're throwing in the towel, God, but if it's not time, Lord, give the towel back to them, Lord. Lord, you've washed the feet of the disciples before. You know what it is to serve, God, if they need you to come in, Lord, and serve them for a moment, God, you are willing to step in, God, and to serve them, Lord. But, God, I pray that you strengthen them and encourage them, God, and help them, God, along this journey to get back into the race and run their race. Run their race, Lord. Lord, we pray tonight over this church is to ask you, God, that you will continue to do what only you can. Blessing this house with your spirit, with your presence, God, we pray over our pastors tonight, God, that you would just strengthen them, God, and encourage them, Lord, that you would be with them, God, and that as they, Lord, get ready to be back in the house when they're here, God, I pray, Lord, that they are encouraged and restored and renewed, God, that you would just strengthen them. Lord, we thank you, God, for what you're doing in this house, God, through this ministry, and we just pray, Lord, that you just continue, Lord, to stamp it with your Holy Spirit. Let your Holy Spirit ever be abounding in this house and the hearts and lives of people for lives to be changed and transformed, and we'll give you all the glory and all the honor and all the praise in your name. Name of Jesus, we ask it. Amen, and amen. Look at somebody and tell them, run your race. It's time to run. Amen, amen. Shake hands, tell them you love them and glad seeing them.