 worship and to praise you. Iniquities from destruction who crowned so might you. It's a character to me because old ages get me. Hallelujah. We're renewed this morning. Amen. In the spirit of the Lord. Hallelujah. He makes all things new. Thank you Jesus. There's a way. Thank you Lord. Hallelujah. And we thank the Lord this morning. Hallelujah. That he says that if we will draw nigh unto him, he'll draw nigh unto us. Hallelujah. If we seek after him, he will be found. Hallelujah. And so I thank the Lord this morning. All I desire is a closer walk with the Lord. It's a closer walk with thee. Hallelujah. It's day by day. We give all the glory and honor to the Lord this morning. At this time, we'll have Elder Kevin Ross come with special music. Praise the Lord everybody. Hallelujah. Tell somebody I'm gonna make it. Tell them I'm gonna make it. Somehow I'm gonna make it to the city. Come on stand on your feet if you can. We're gonna say somehow we're not giving in but we're gonna make it. I started out with Jesus alone. I've determined I've got to make it. The reason I know that I can make it because of God's promise. Yeah. God promised that he would know what he forsake us. He'll be with us to the end. And in the scripture it says regardless of how difficult the time is, it says God has strength enough to see us through. I'm excited because I belong to Jesus. Come on. Come on. Anybody belong to Jesus? Come on somebody. Thank you Jesus that I'm your child. Thank you that you love me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm determined. I'm determined to walk with Jesus. Yes, I am. Thank you singers. Amen. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord because he's good and his mercy endured forever. Thank God for his great and wonderful promises unto his children. Hear what I said? Yes. I said unto his children something about being a father that causes you to go extra steps away. I have three daughters and grand children and one of my grandsons came over to help me work yesterday and he worked real good. But when it got near the end, he went in and started playing the piano. Amen. And I'm excited about that as well. I was once young, but now I'm a few years older. Scripture said I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. And so when you belong to the father, you never have to worry about begging for bread. I didn't tell the first lady, but I paid the grandson. Yeah, yeah, but I paid it. And I helped him by saying that a laborer is worthy of his hire. He worked real good. And I didn't mind paying him because he's mine. Amen. Now, it's a good thing to belong to Jesus because Jesus always pays and he pays on time and he pays because he loves us who are his children. I'm excited to be in church again on this Sunday morning and I thank the Lord for the service that's gone forth thus far. The praises of Zion have been raised. And I think that the Lord is satisfied with our praise on this day. The song that came to me as I said, there's just a closer walk with the minister Edwards saying just a closer walk with the, I have that desire deep down in me to walk closer and closer to the Lord. I found out in my early years that I couldn't make it by myself. I had to depend on family members, I had to depend on neighbors. Then I finally came to realize I had to depend on Jesus. Jesus is the sweetest name I know. He's just the same as his lovely name. That's the reason why I love him so because Jesus is the sweetest name. The sweetest name I know. Hallelujah, hallelujah. When you have relationship, things go really well. If I loved Jesus and he didn't love me, I'd still be in bad shape. If he loved me and I don't love him, I'm in serious trouble. But thank God that he's the lover of my soul. He causes me to want to walk ever closer and closer to his side. I'm excited for those of you who are here today. I want to acknowledge a visitor. I think minister Edwards might have some relationship with him. Minister Edwards, that's your brother Carl. Amen. We're glad to receive you in the service on today. Trust that the Lord will minister to you and minister to all of our hearts as is necessary according to our needs. I'd like to call your attention today to the book of Matthew chapter number 19. In chapter number 19, the disciples have been walking with Jesus and the disciples were with him in his presence when the rich young ruler came and asked Jesus, what about salvation? And you know the story, Jesus said, sell everything that you have and give to the poor. And somehow that didn't sit right with the rich young ruler because the scripture said he was a rich young ruler. Not just a ruler, he was rich. And when the requirement was set before him is that you must sell everything that you have and then give it away to the poor. I don't know about you all, but I'm afraid that that would be a challenge for all of us if the Lord says, if you want to be my child, sell all you got. And I can imagine the stories that we would have. Well, Jesus, you don't really understand. I was born into a poor family and I learned how to work. I learned how to be consistent. I learned diligence and I finally got to the place where I can be comfortable with the wealth that I have amassed. And so Jesus said, sell all you have and give it to the poor. And the scripture said, and he went away sorrowful. Well now, as we come on down, we get to this place where at Matthew 1927, they began to talk, Jesus began to talk to his disciples. And Jesus helped them understand that there were rewards for believers. The topic of my message for today is the great turnaround. As an introduction to this text, Peter's question is often misunderstood. Peter was not being mercenary, he needed assurance. He wanted to make sure that he and the other disciples really were saved. Anyone who would need assurance after what Jesus has said, if thou be perfect, this is Matthew 1921, he said, if you be perfect, go and sell that thou have and give to the poor. Thou shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. I'm glad that's not my lot that I have to wait till I get to heaven to get some goodies. We work for the Lord and the Lord says that men would pour into us on earth. So we're not that concerned about what comes to us down here on this earth. Man that's born of a woman is of a few days and those few days are full of trouble and we have tests and trials and struggles and I want to taste some sweetness while I'm in the land of living. Anybody feeling that? Amen. I work for the fire department, I didn't want them to tell me that after you get retired, we'll pay you. So Jesus is helping his disciples, his followers to understand that there are rewards for believers. Verse 27 says then Peter answered, I'm sorry, then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee. What shall we have therefore? He says, Lord we've dropped everything. When you called us we dropped everything and we came to walk with you, we came to do your will and it looks like we're getting the short end of the stick while everybody else is profiting. It seems like we don't have the ability to move forward an inch. He said Lord what's in it for us? Now as I said my grandson, he now knows that when he works he gets paid. So now the disciples were just kind of on the periphery, they were just kind of talking probably among themselves and somebody says, did you notice that it doesn't seem like we're going to be able to have anything of our own? And you know how stuff gets going. But Jesus said in the 28th verse, Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory. Ye also shall sit up on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. So let me stop there for a second. Now this message is almost over. Verse 28 said, And Jesus said, I'm not one for following rumors. One thing that I found interesting in church work, someone will come to the pastor and say, well they're saying that thus and so. And what the response needs to be to that is who is they? Because most of the time they is who said it, the one who's saying it now. That's who they is many times. But Jesus says, Now Jesus gives us promise and the promises that he gives cannot fail. He said, matter of fact Jesus said to them, Verily. And Verily means of the most solemn truth. He said it can't get any truer than this. Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me, ye who have received what I've said to you and the direction that I've given you just as I gave the rich young ruler, you were able to separate yourself from your stuff. And this is where I have to make some things a little clear. Jesus said, those who are regenerated, those who have been changed, those who are going in one direction and it came to them, somebody open their eyes and help them to see that's not the way you want to go. He said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. So he said, when you're going in the wrong direction, you need to stop and turn around. One point I was talking to a person and I was encouraging them to go the right way or to do something different. And they said to me, I have to learn for myself. And I said, that's not necessary. And I said, the reason we study history is because we can see where people went the wrong way and we can see the result they got. So why would you take it on yourself to experience the wrong way? I said, if you were riding down a dark road and you saw in your headlights a man coming toward you waving, he's bleeding and torn and he says, stop, don't go any further. It's danger down ahead. You say, I've got to go see for myself. That spirit, the spirit of have to see for myself is not the spirit of God. So Jesus said to them, of the most solemn truth, I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, those of you who have heard my voice, those of you who came to me when I called you, he said, there's great reward. And I'm staying on this verse just a little bit. He said, barely I say unto you that ye which have followed me, not ye who have been around me, not ye who have seen me at the grocery store. He said, but if you followed my direction, if you heard my voice when I called, he said, you're going to be rewarded in a great fashion. Hallelujah. Barely I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, regeneration. I'm kind of a, I'm not the today kind of techie, but I was a techie when I was a boy. And I was into all kinds of mechanics and all kinds of stuff. And I learned about a generator in your automobile. You have a battery to start the engine. Then there's a generator that makes electric over and over and over. As long as the generator is turning, it's making electricity. So now to generate means to provide something new or added. Jesus said, the blessings that are coming, they're coming from me because you changed what you were to what I called you to be. He said, if you've been regenerated, he said, when the Son of Man shall sit in his throne in his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. When the Son of Man shall sit on his throne, there will be different people. There'll be people who are regenerated and will be people who are not regenerated. They have not been changed. So what this text is pointing us to is you've got to be changed from who you were when you started. Come on, somebody. You can't go to heaven in your sins. He said, I went to Calvary's cross. I shed my blood. I was poked in the side with a spear and the blood came streaming down and the blood that was shed at Calvary's cross is for you. He said, it costs you need to pay the price for your sins. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm feeling this this morning. He says, I purchased salvation for you and I offered it to you without price. He said, if you want to be rewarded in the end, you've got to be regenerated. Regenerated. You can't do it the same way you always did it, even though you got comfortable doing it. So he's saying to his disciples, don't be afraid to the body of Christ. Jesus is saying, don't be afraid. You're mine. You're mine. He says that I'm going to be an advocate to the Father in your charge, in your case. Sorry, minister Sorton's not here. There's what's called the accuser of the brethren. I always tease minister Sorton. Minister Sorton is a great man and I can do that because we have that kind of relationship. There's an accuser of the brethren even, the saints, those who have been regenerated. There's an accuser who wants to find you, wants you to be found guilty of not doing it the right way. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But Jesus said, I bled. I suffered. I paid a great price so that you could be renewed. You could be regenerated and you can walk in the newness of life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'm glad that Jesus found me in my sins. I'm glad that when he called me, I said, yes, Lord, I'll surrender. I'll come unto you. I'll do what you said, do. And some people talk about husbands and their wives. They say, oh, he's just a, a yes man. Well, I came to tell you I'm a yes man. Whatever Jesus say, I say yes. Yes, Lord, however you want it. Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it because I love you and I thank you for making it, making it possible for me to, to be regenerated and walk with you and receive the rewards of heaven. Thank you, Jesus. He said, in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory. Hallelujah. That's the new age. Now, some people talking about another new age, but that's the true new age and the purpose of that new age is judge to judge, to rule, to govern, to direct and Jesus is going to sit on his throne in his glory. Now, when he came on his way to Calvary, he came riding on a donkey. He came meek and he came lowly. And he offered the people an opportunity to take of him. Now, in the day that he sits on the throne in glory, he's not going to be meek, not going to be lowly. He said, the law is the law. The law is for the lawless. And if you've been lawless, you've got to pay the price. You've got to pay the penalty for all that you didn't get right. The song said, get right church. Get right church. Get right church. Let's go home. The Lord is soon to come. Anybody know that? Anybody feel that in your spirit? Anybody can see what's going on all around us and understand that this is not going to last much longer. It can't last much longer than this. Come on somebody. This needs to be the day of regeneration. I don't hear you. Here's some of y'all saying nothing. I hope that I'm reaching you. I hope you're understanding. But he told Peter, he said, look Peter, when my day comes, he said, I'm going to be sitting on the throne in glory. Everything's going to be my way. Come on somebody. People talking about my way or the highway, that don't count when you sit before God, you stand before God in judgment. He said, it's my way. I'm going to sit in the throne of his glory. And he said, I'm going to share my glory with you. Come on somebody. Come on somebody to know that the Lord says, I'm going to share my glory with you. At this point, he said, I won't share my glory with nobody. When he sits on that throne, he said, come on, sit right by me. We're going to do some judging now. We're going to judge the people who was acting all crazy, trying to do all kinds of foolishness. I don't want to say a whole lot. I don't want the eye in the sky. The things that are going on in this last and evil day, God's against it. God is against it. People, some people want to get right and kid. Some other people don't want to get right. They want to get what they want for themselves instead of selling what they have and giving to the poor. They want more and more and more. I'll say the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That's not God's design. He said, that will be judged on judgment day. He also shall sit up on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. The next verse said, and everyone that has forsaken house. Come on now. Come on. This is the good point right here. When Peter said, Lord, look like we're getting the shot into the stick. Seems like we're not going to get anything out of it. But he addressed that in verse 29. He said, every one of you that has forsaken your house are brethren or sisters or fathers or mothers or wife or children or land for my namesake shall receive a hundredfold, a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. There's everlasting death. There's everlasting life. I choose everlasting life. I choose everlasting life. You can't give me everlasting death. I don't want it. I'm striving. I'm striving trying to make it. I'll say to you, trials and temptations come your way. Trials and temptations only make you strong. When you're in the regenerating process trials and tests make you strong. So I said, yield not to temptation for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you some other to win. So when you're in the process, keep on trying. Keep on beseeching God for his help. Don't think about it. Don't let it pass through your mind. I think I'm going to quit. It's too tough because you got a promise. You have a promise. He says, now I have to go back on the 29th verse. I just read through that. The believer's reward is going to be a great, great reward. He said, everyone that has forsaken houses, anybody got a house? Anybody have to forsake a house? He said, if that be so, it's worth it. It's worth it. Anybody have to forsake a brother or a sister? It's worth it. Now, if you look at this, you'll see how the value is stacked up. First of all, houses and land. Anybody who's got any property to any degree, they need to be careful how much they worship their property. That's the biggest hang up, perhaps, that we have in life. Worried about property. I'm going to pause for a second. Worried about property that you're going to leave to somebody who, and you don't know how they're going to handle it. A person acquires property step by step doing what they ought to do, sacrificing here, sacrificing there, and doing everything according to the oil, and they die and leave the property in many cases. The heirs, whoever they might be, swoop in and waste it all, waste it all. Now, that's a fool decision to put all your confidence, put all your desire, all your will into some property, to be left to a fool. And so Jesus said, if you can bear that, you'll be rewarded. If you have problems with the people who are with you in your land, and if you can let them slide, don't lose your mind. Keep walking with me. He's talking to the saints. He said, you just keep walking with me, no matter how they pull shenanigans and on and on and on. You keep walking with me. He said, and how about if your brother don't want to go? He said, if your brother doesn't want to go, you can leave him. You got to leave him. If your sister doesn't want to go, you got to leave her. If your father, your daddy, if he doesn't want to go, Jesus said, leave him. Then when you get to the next one, mother. I've noticed down through the years that if a person's in trouble, the last person that'll be standing for them is the mother. Everybody says, she's no good. She's rotten to the core. And the mother will say, no, there's some good down there. I'm going to work on her. I'm going to get her back up like she ought to. If your mother, you're able to let your mother go in favor of me. Now, this is what he's talking about. All of these things that you have to let go, they're being let go in favor of the king of kings and the Lord of lords who is the ruler of heaven and earth. Plug your ears up, wife. He said, if wife are children, sweet little children, our lands for my sake shall receive and hundred fold. And hundred fold. Talking about a deal, that's a deal. Now, it's difficult to let all of that go. I'm not making light of that because it's very, very hard for loved ones, family members to be counted out. When I say that, when that came out of my mind, baseball came to my mind. The batter gets up and hits a bun and he runs with all of his might and he slides into the base and the umpire says, he's out. Difficult. That's difficult. He said, if you've given up all of these things that I've called to your attention, he's telling Peter, he said, I can assure you, I love to be assured of where I'm going and what's my life, but he's helping Peter say, when Peter wants to know what we're going to get, Jesus said, you're going to get a hundred fold and shall inherit ever lasting life. And he said, here's the deal. He said, there's going to be a great turnaround. Come on somebody. Going to be a great turnaround. He said, those people who were on Easy Street all of their life and they had it all for their own comfort, he said, there's going to be a turnaround. Yes. Those who are up in the front of the line, the one percenters living on Easy Street, pulling people's chains and causing them misery and pain. He said, they're in the front of the line. He said, but in this day, the day that I'm talking about, there's going to be a turnaround. And those who are in the back of the line, now they're in the front of the line because of the promise that I gave to you. Don't worry about what it looks like right now. Don't worry about who's doing what to you and why you can't seem to make it. You just know that you have a promise from Jesus Christ, the righteous. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank God for Jesus. Thank God for his love. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Done. I believe on the sun. I'm saved by the blood of the crucified one. Oh, don't you love Jesus? Come on, come on musicians. Don't you love Jesus? I love Jesus. He's my savior when storms are raging. He's my shelter where he leads me. I'll follow. I love Jesus. I love Jesus. And he loves me. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. I love Jesus. He's my savior when storms are raging. He is my shelter and where he leads me I will follow. I love Jesus and he loves me. Oh, I'm my savior when storms are raging. Because of the name of this victory, no matter what it looks like, you're winners. Come on, turn to somebody and tell them you're a winner. Turn to somebody else and say you're a winner because we've received the gift prizes. Sometimes you're going, you get a door prize and you're victorious. You're a winner. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Victory is mine. I told Satan to get me back. Victory today is mine. Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Victory. I love your savior. This might turn to a song service. Scripture said seek the Lord. Let us all stand. The altar is now open. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. The Lord said, seek my face. He said, I came seeking for you. You need to seek for me. You'll be blessed. Yeah. I can't get over the hundred fold. Whatever you lost, multiplied by 100, that's the promise. Now the altar is open. The altar is open for anybody who wants to draw closer, who wants to yield their spirit and say, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, from the bottom of my heart to the depths of my soul. I say, yes. I say, yes. Thank you, Jesus. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. From the bottom of my heart to the depths of my soul. Yes, Lord. The message today, that song, answer him, Lord. I will, as you go your way, answer him as you go your way. Say yes. Say yes. Learn to say yes. Have a yes in your spirit. He's bitterly called and asking you to answer. And so let's all remember our task is to answer him. Yes, Lord. I will. God bless you. Now let's prepare to receive our offering. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Now in receiving an offering, the offering is not for me, is not for the First Lady, not for none of my kin folks, the work of the kingdom. Amen. And people think I should be embarrassed to say this, but I continue to say it. I haven't received a paycheck in 26 years. Amen. Amen. The church does not finance anything that I purchase or anything I eat or anything I travel. It's not purchased with church funds. I thank the Lord. The Lord has blessed my family. The Lord has blessed us. I'm not one to say, you all have to pay me. I heard there was one preacher says he was running a revival and he said, well, when you get here, we'll raise your money. He said, I want the money before I get there. Send me the money. Then I'll come. But I'm not that kind of preacher. Amen. I thank the Lord for his blessings. This is not a boast. This is a testimony. Amen. Thank God for his provisions for myself and my family. Now, give and it shall be given, that scripture. He said, men will pour into your bosom if you give. So I admonish you to be faithful to your tithing and your offering. And I thank the Lord for you because so many of you are doing just a wonderful job in paying your tithing and offering. And the Lord has continued to bless us because of the spirit of giving that's in this body. All right. Let us stand. First lady, you can may see that I'll hold up for us. Father, we come to you. We thank you. Oh, God, for your tender mercy, your loving kindness, for the love that you have bestowed upon us. Thank you for the great and wonderful promises that you've made unto us. And we thank you, oh God, because we know that you're on our side, you're for us. Oh God, we thank you because we're able to trust in you and your word because you've never failed. You can't fail because you are truth. So Lord, we ask you to receive the tithes and the offering that we bring into your house on today. Help us, oh God, that we'll be pliable and listen to that that you would say to us concerning our offerings. We thank you, oh God, for receiving that that we bring to you. We ask you to enrich it, oh God, help it, oh God, to do that that is necessary for this ministry. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For those who had not to give, we ask you, oh God, to enrich their beings, oh God, help them, oh God, to have more to give in Jesus' name. Next week there's something special happening next week. And I invite all the mothers and the children to find a good tithe shop or sock shop because it's Father's Day. I say that because we make a big deal over Mother's Day and Father gets a pair of socks or a tithe. So y'all go on and find your your tithe shops and encourage you to, let me say this, I'm having a little fun with you all, but I want to encourage you to be kind to the fathers. Amen. Let's don't cheat the fathers. If it wasn't, it wasn't for fathers, there would be no mothers. All right, so we're going to have a good time as we come back to the house of the Lord on next Sunday. And now I'm going to tell you that the First Lady has already done something for the fathers, but don't let that deter you from doing your duty to your father. Amen. All right, come on, Mr. Maryland. Amen, amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord everybody. Such a beautiful, beautiful service. Hallelujah. I just got a yes in my spirit. Thank you. I have a yes in my spirit. Amen. Amen. I hope you have a yes in your spirit too. It is vital. Amen. And let's not be liars. Let's not be liars. We're not going to even make light of it. You say yes and you don't mean it. You're a liar. Amen. Amen. And it's detrimental to you. Hallelujah. Those of us who say yes and mean it, going on about our business. That's right. We're going on about our business. Amen. Rejoicing in victory in Jesus. Amen. And I just want to admonish you. Say yes and mean it. Say yes and mean it. Say yes. Don't let the enemy trick you. Say yes because it will bless you in the end. It will give you good, good, good wealth and good wisdom and all of that. Amen. Hallelujah. Come on. Let's get ready to go home. Be determined in our soul to keep saying yes to Jesus. Amen.