 We ain't holdin', tried and true Give it on microphone, with thanks you give it I'll be a sanctuary Say Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary We ain't holdin', tried and true And with thanks you give it I'll be a sanctuary Say it again, say it again Sanctuary, sanctuary Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary I sit in my seat and God said tell the people I want to use them in the kingdom of God God wants to use you to do some great things Say great things, say great things In the kingdom of God Lord prepare us We offer ourselves up to you You provide the fire We'll bring the sacrifice So we bring the sacrifice of praise to the house Then we offer up to you Sacrifices of praise Father we give you praise, we give you glory We thank you For what you've already done so far Father we pray that you'll use us to speak to your people Speak to our hearts and knowing this You'll be glorified in everything that's said In everything that's done In Jesus' name Amen, go ahead and take your seat Does anybody want to be used by God today? Does anybody want to be used by God today? As I was looking back over the events that have taken place in my life I came to the conclusion that there was purpose in my pain And you might say Ross you almost died and that's true But there was purpose in my pain You might say Ross just a few years ago you lost basically everything And you were even going to food giveaways just to survive But there was purpose in my pain See at some point I felt like giving up and throwing in the towel David said it was good for me that I had been afflicted That I might learn your statues Or it was to my benefit that I was tested and tried That I might learn what I needed to know to fulfill my purpose and my destiny See because when you go through a test in a trial you need to know that It's not always going to be like this But there's something that I can learn in the middle of my test I can learn how to trust Him I learned how to praise Him I learned how to give when I didn't have anything to give See but I ain't hurting no more He's done a new thing in my life See they thought it was over the enemy He was going to take him out but God said not today Because I knew sooner or later something was going to happen And it was going to turn in my favor Because a God that I sure He won't leave me He won't forsake me He won't let me go out like that God is preparing us to be vessels fit for the master's use He wants to use you Tell your neighbor he wants to use you Don't tell him that God wants to use you Your ugly thing Don't say that part No fights in the church this morning Because I started something God has a process Uniquely take Hallelujah for everyone That's in this room God has something that He wants you to do But today after all that I have been through I can report that I'm blessed I'm anointed and I'm prosperous Tell somebody I'm blessed I'm anointed and I'm prosperous Say it again I'm blessed I'm anointed and I'm prosperous But I've been through the fire I've been through some stuff And the word that God gave or spoke to me is That that I went through That that I suffered through That brought me to this Hey to prosperity To favor To power But I learned it in the process Most of us can easily identify the difficult process That catapulted us to where we are today Often when people look at us And they just believe that we appear to be An overnight success It appears like we just walked on rose petals All the way to get where we got And assume like it happened overnight But the truth is if you were listening To our story Most people that are successful In the world and in the kingdom of God The truth is that there are a 25 to 30 year Overnight success See we look at Bishop he's sharp and he's clean And he can preach I think he got a rose in the garage He just doesn't want us to know about it But he wouldn't always like that He had to go through the process God wants to use you and God wants to bless you In a way that you can't even imagine But he's got to take you through the process He's got to fix some things and take some things away And cause you to see that at the end of it I got to get the glory See I'm blessed but I give all the glory to God I got stuff but I give God the glory He took me through a process I lost it all before he could give me everything See because when I lost it all I realized everything that he gives me I've got to give him the glory He wants me to use See your neighbors look at you and say Oh you so blessed and you say oh yes I am See but when you've been through the process And people say oh you so blessed And you say all the glory belongs to God I thank him for what he's done for me I thank him for where he brought me from But I can't take the credit I look good today but it's because of the glory One lady she said, she said, Rob you so nice I said I ain't this nice I said if it wasn't for the glory of God You see me coming and running the other way I be hell on wheels, bitches I'm so glad I'm saved And y'all ought to be glad I'm saved Because I was a hot mess Tell somebody he was a hot mess But most successful people will tell you No pain, no gain It may not be in those exact words But if you listen to this story it comes out No pain, no gain See we want it all and we want it now And we want it for free But in the kingdom it doesn't work like that Now salvation is free But favor will cost you something But in my saga of from pain to glory I'm ready for phase two, I'm ready for the glory part See we need to understand that our challenges And our struggles serve a much higher purpose Because I think it's all about me But the Lord allows some things to happen When I found out it's all about him It's all about giving him the praise And giving him the glory I've seen him do some things in my life That you know it's just impossible in the natural But when I walk through the process When the doctor said you were one day away from dying When I lost everything I had to put all of my furniture All my nice furniture in my front yard And tell everybody come and get what you want And see when you watch your stuff ride down the street You have a different perspective Bishop I didn't cry but I felt like it And we had gotten to a place I said Lord I don't know what to do But I need, see that's when I learned how to trust him I need you to do something I don't know what to do And I ain't going to ask nobody to help me Because if you don't help me My ship is going down I ain't going to ask my uncle I'm not going to ask Aunt Irma I'm not going to see brother there I said Lord you got to do this for me And I prayed about it and I left it alone Somebody called me and said I heard you were sick what's going on And that one brother Make sure that I had everything that I need In abundance God will give you a benefactor If you will learn to trust him Don't beg on everybody learn to trust him I said if you don't do it It ain't going to get done I've been preaching too long I'm telling folks too long about what he's going to do Turn to Romans chapter 8 verse 28 See there are no shortcuts to get To where you're supposed to be in God There are no easy ways to get But in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 It says and we know I think probably for us It would be easier for us to say And now we know I've been through some things I've been through pain I've suffered some things I've trusted God and every time he brought me out Now I know It said that all things The good things The bad things The crazy things All things Work together In concert God is orchestrating He's moving some things around He's pushing some things up And pushing some things down But it all works together And this is the point I like to say For good See for good Here's the key To them that love God And to them that are called according To his purpose God has a plan just for your life It may not be easy But it'll be worth it If you will work the plan It will work together for your goods And his glory If you'll work the plan So all that I've been through All that I have suffered That brought me to this Let's look at the life of Joseph One more time it's just so much in that It's so rich and full But turn to Psalms 1971 Very familiar Text to us Her bishop mentioned it and preached it But it's just Gives us some insight In Revelation it says It was good For me That I have been Afflicted That I might Learn Your statues So we want to look at the story of Joseph But we want to start at the end And go back through We'll start with Joseph He is the prime minister Of Egypt King Can you imagine yourself that you are a writer For the Egyptian posts And you've been sent to interview Joseph The man, the legend The myth The prime minister One of the two most influential men In all of Egypt And so you get to him and you say Joseph I need To know how did you do this How did you, how were you able To succeed like this To be so rich and powerful And seemingly overnight I need to know the story Behind the story How did it happen so Joseph says well Where do I begin He said what had happened was I had a crazy dream from God And I dreamed that my family bowed down To me And I was so full of myself See some of us Are so full of ourselves He said I was so full of myself I went and told that to my brothers Who already hated me He said and then my father sent me out To the fields to snitch on them And you know what happens to snitches I only once go there but you know He said not only did they want to give me stitches They wanted to kill me But instead of killing me they put me in a pit And left me there They went home and told my father that I was dead And that a wild beast had killed me And the Ishmaelites they showed me For a slave to an Egyptian officer Named Ponifer And down I went into Egypt He says but I used the accounting skills That I learned at home I was running Ponifer's house See you need to God gives you skills And talents and abilities But what he really wants to do is use those skills Those talents and ability in the kingdom of God Now he wants you to prosper in life But my real mission is to prosper in the kingdom of God To use what I have in the kingdom Everything that I have I surrender it to God So he said I used the skills that I learned down In Ponifer's house He said one day I was doing my thing And his cougarous wife Y'all know about cougarous wife Came out and tried to put a move on me She was relentless She wouldn't stop She wouldn't go away I thought I was going to have to will smith her You know about to slap Come on somebody I'm sorry, I'm sorry I'm sorry, bitch I shouldn't have gone there But I thought I was going to have to will slap her a couple times Come on somebody Anyhow And I continued to refuse her advances And she cried rape Next thing I know I ended up in prison And I was in prison For about ten years But even when I was in prison God gave me favor See even when you're going through a test and the trial If you will stay with God He'll give you favor even in jail Favor on the job Favor with people that hate you So I was on the job and my boss said I hate you I don't know why I don't like you But I don't know why I keep blessing you I said I know why Because see when God's hand is on your life If God be for us Who can be against us If God is for us Who can stop us So even in the jail God gave him favor And one day Pharaoh had a bad dream And his men couldn't interpret the dream Someone told the king that I could Interpret the dream And they sent for me And they came and they got me And I told the king You're dreaming seven years of prosperity Seven years of famine I gave him a plan, a strategy Using the accounting skills that I learned at home And I learned at Ponifer's house And I told the king All you need is some man Someone to execute the plan that I've given you He said that the king turned to me and said You the man You had the plan, nobody can execute the plan like you God has deposited some things into you That nobody else can do but you He's called you to do some things That your mother can't do it Your father can't do it Your sister can't do it Only you can do it He's called you to make a difference in somebody's life Next to you So he said you the man, you the man And you know the rest of the story From there I became the prime minister And then Joseph asked the reporter Did you write all of that stuff down? See because all of that stuff All of that bad stuff That's the stuff that brought me to where I am today That's the stuff that brought me into the favor of God We don't like to suffer But God has a way of taking our suffering And takes us to another level We got to learn to shake it off Former had an old mule And the mule wouldn't perform like he wanted And so he threw the mule down into a pit And he started shoveling dirt Over into the pit To kill the mule And every time he throws some dirt in The mule will shake it off And go up a little bit higher And shake it off And go up a little bit higher Till he was able to walk out of the pit We've got to get to the place where we're not so sensitive Cry about everything Can't take nothing You got to learn to shake it off Step up a little bit higher They thought that was gonna stop me But shake it off Go a little bit They don't know I'm getting ready to come out of this thing Keep on talking Keep on lying Cause I'm gonna shake it off And go up a little bit higher That's the plan And then he said And by the way I did see my brothers The ones that threw me in The pit turned to Genesis chapter 50 If you get the Exodus You're going too far Turn one page over and you're back Verse 18 it says And his brothers also went And fell before his face And they said, behold We be thy servants And Joseph said unto them Fear not For am I in the place of God? He said, but As for you You thought Evil against me But God, hallelujah God had a different plan But God Who's rich in mercy God who's rich in love But God who's rich in prosperity He made it for my good See that was the fulfillment of the dream He went through the process Oh, Testament New Testament Paul is talking in Philippians chapter 3 He turned to Philippians chapter 3 Paul is talking here Verse 13 and 14 He said, brother, I count not my Self to have apprehended See, I was going through a test Some tests and trials But I didn't get it at first I didn't understand it at first I was thinking, how can God let me Go through trouble like this But I'm glad that I found out That trouble don't last always Sooner or later He's going to bring you out Sooner or later He's going to open a door Sooner or later He's going to bless you Of course I didn't get it I can't say that I apprehended it at all He said, but one thing I do Forgetting those things That are behind me Forgetting the time that I messed up Forgetting the time that I lied Forgetting those times that I stole Forgetting my failures And forgetting my successes See, sometimes the Lord blesses us With success And we're so caught up with that That we don't give Him the glory So when the Lord blesses me I say, thank you And I let it go When the Lord uses me I say, thank you But He gets the glory See, I've been through the process I don't want to go back Through the process again I've learned some stuff That I've got to give Him the glory I've got to say, God did it He says, I don't count myself to apprehended But I forget those things that are behind me He says, and I'm reaching for those things Before me And this is what I like He said, but in the next verse He says, but I press I press towards the mark of the prize I press towards the mark of the prize Of the high calling For what God wants me to do I'm pressing I'm reaching I'm stretching With everything that's in me I want Him to use me So I'm pressing I'm pressing I'm pressing I'm pressing I don't claim that I've got it all together But I'm pressing I don't claim that I've reached everything That He's called me to do But I'm pressing I'm pressing Tell your neighbor to press Tell him to press Say, press Say, press Press towards the mark See, I'm pressing towards the mark And I'm aiming for the bullseye See, even when I don't hit it The bullseye, I'm not going to stop I'm not going to quit I'm not going to give up But I'm going to keep on pressing And pressing And pressing Because I want Him to use me Yes, there are going to be some good days Yes, there are going to be some bad days Yes, sometimes everything is going to go wrong Sometimes I'm going to say Lord, I don't understand it This is crazy But I'm going to stay in the race Because my goal is See, I want to be blessed But more than that, I want to be used I want to be a blessing to somebody Dr. Sykes says it all the time I want to help somebody get to heaven And God says, I want to use you That's what He spoke to my heart Tell other people, I want to use you You might say, who me? I don't have anything to offer God wants to use you See, the thing is What's that you have in your hand? What can you do? See, some of us can encourage folks Some of us can pray for folks Some of us can fast Some of us can give a thousand dollars to somebody If you in that ministry see me at the church No, no, no, no I don't know where that came from But, but, no, no, I'm just kidding But whatever God has called you to do Do that, let me encourage you I don't care what the test I don't care what the trial I don't care what the problem You're going to make it You're going to make it Let me encourage you You'll be all right Hey, the enemy can't stop you The enemy can't block you God has a plan for your life Even when you can't see it When you can't, I'm the shanty Just know God has a plan for your life God said, I know the plans that I have for you That I think towards you Plans for good and not evil To give you an expected Or a good end See, I used to run track And I discovered it's not necessarily How you start the race There are times when I stumbled Coming out the blocks But I did not give up on the race I stayed in the race And, and see, the longer I ran The stronger I got See, it's not how I started the race But it's how you finished the race In the kingdom of God It's not where you start It's a matter that you started Get up and run for the kingdom of God God has a plan God has a plan So Romans 8 says, and we know that All things work together For good To them that love God Do you love God? He said those that love God and are called According to His purpose So let me encourage you today Stay in the race Whatever you do, don't quit Don't give up Don't give out Don't go back God wants to use you Every test, every trial I like Paul say End these light afflictions See, compared To what we're going to receive in glory These are light afflictions So you have to remember I'm working in the kingdom of God But payday is coming Payday is coming And when we all get to heaven What a day of rejoicing That will be When we all see Jesus We go sing Sister Merlin, we go sing We go shout We go dance Victory Just like when you play baseball And you run around the bases And you slide in the home and the umpire says Safe When we get to heaven We hear the angels say safe God is calling you to greatness God is calling you to work in His vineyard God is calling you to do some things Nobody, nobody Nobody, nobody Nobody else can do I love Sister Shy, she's got such a gift She gets up and starts saying I could just slap her sometime I feel like Will Smith sometime I could just slap her But see, she takes what she has And she offers it to Jesus And he blesses her Sister Merlin, Brother Daryl I wish I could preach like Bishop When he's preaching I think I wish I could preach like that But I take what I got I take what I got and I use it And I appreciate what he has I love it See, God said You don't have to be like anybody else All I want you to do You do you and tell your story Tell how God saves you Tell how God delivers you Tell how God brought you out Tell all the trouble, all the trial All the hell that you went through At the end of the story I said, and this And that is what brought me here To where I am And I give God the glory Because he's using me in Jesus' name Go ahead, Bishop We've heard a great, great message This morning I just want to summarize what I heard Elder Ross said for us He said we can be a winner Through Christ Jesus If we give him the opportunity To bless us He said it's not going to be easy There's a pressing way I've always heard the old folks say Growing up in church They say this is a pressing way And it is the truth It's the pressing way The adversary of your soul Who is the devil He's going to oppose you Every step of the way So he said if you will allow the Lord To bless you He'll do it He said press your way And he said if you press your way If you don't quit If you continue in the race He said you will win And you'll have a testimony Come on somebody You'll have a testimony Of the goodness of the Lord And what he's done in your life You've got to go through something Before you can have a testimony You've got to bear the burden In the heat of the day Before you can be brought out To where the Lord wants you to be Darrell the song said Jesus You brought me all the way I don't know if you know But you can catch on to this Jesus You brought me all the way And you carried my burden Every day Oh he's such a wonderful savior I've never known him to fail me He brought me Praise God all the way Jesus Oh Jesus You brought me all the way And you carried my burden Every day Oh he's such a wonderful savior I've never known him to fail me He brought me Praise God all the way Oh yes Jesus You brought me all the way And you carried my burden Every day Oh he's such a wonderful savior I've never known him to fail me He brought me Praise God all the way Now you can't have that testimony That he brought you If you wouldn't go So you've got to yield your spirit You've got to say Lord I need you Every day of my life I've determined that I'm going to run with you Every step of the way I'm not a quitter Come on somebody He's such a wonderful savior He can save you to the uttermost Hallelujah And he'll give you joy In the midst of your sorrow He'll give you hope for tomorrow He's a wonderful savior Come on somebody Now if you've not Come to the place where you're willing To surrender yourself You need to do that today Today Scripture said The day you hear my voice Heart and not your heart Don't try to play hard When you hear the Lord speaking to you So he says The day you hear my voice Heart and not your heart So you've heard the word today And you can recognize When the Lord is speaking to you All you got to do is yield Lord I give myself to you I give myself away I give myself away So that you can use me See you'll be rewarded For giving yourself to Jesus Did he say that? Did the preacher say that today? He said the Lord will bless you I'll put my spin on He'll bless you out of your socks I'm a witness Give myself away So you can use me I give myself away Give myself away So you can use me Longing to I give myself to you Because my life is not my own My life is not my own You hear today and you've not Had your sins remitted through baptism Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost We invite you to come today Give yourself to Jesus When you give yourself to Jesus You'll be glad about it Throughout all of eternity He wants to bless you He wants to save you Is there anybody here today? Myself away If you need a closer walk with God The altar is open Come on ministers Those of you who need prayer I give myself away You want to draw closer to the Lord Come on, the Lord will help you I give myself away Myself away Oh God I give myself away I give myself away I give myself away I give myself away I give myself away I give myself away My life is not my own I give myself away Use us, oh God Use us in your kingdom, God The harvest is truly right But the laborers are a fear, God Those that will yield their all to you, oh God, touch us. Hallelujah and use us in your kingdom, oh God. Get glory, get life. All the days of our lives, sweet Jesus. Hallelujah, we surrender, Lord, we surrender. Jesus has spoken. Hallelujah, oh, hallelujah, God wants to use us. Make you wanna think, uh-uh, he can't, yes, you. He wants to use your members to him, so that he can have his way and get glory out of your lives. Amen? Come on, let's give the Lord a great hand for deliver us. So when you walk out of this place today, know that God is prepared by him. So everything you say and you do, let it run you just so you can, you know, put on a, come to church and jump around. So when you walk out of here today, be used of God all week long until you come back and get more of what he has to say to you. Amen? Come on, let's put our hands together. Thank you, Elder Ross, Lord, you, just off. When he comes in every Sunday and he comes in and he blesses us and he prepares us and he prepares us and he keeps preparing us, keeps getting us ready. I'm telling you, you all stay right here and shield the faith. Because when he cracks the sky, you gonna be ready. Yes, that's right. I'm telling you that. When he cracks the sky, you keep living, right? Keep listening to the Bible study. Keep listening to the word of the Lord that comes. You gonna be ready when he cracks the sky. You keep staying right here and shield the faith. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Come on, let's put our hands together. I'm so excited, you all. It's been offering time. Do you have your offering? Come on, if you have your offering, have you been served? Amen. Come on, come on, come on. Can we hear you say, bless, bless. I'm won't keep, go ahead. Wait a minute, come on. We're blessed in the fields. We're blessed when we come, when we go. Fast down every stronghold, weakness and poverty. The devil is different. We got a black eye again, yeah. We're blessed in the fields. We're blessed when we come, when we're strong. Poverty must cease. So the devil, again, again. And let's see, blessed in the fields. Bless when we come, bless when we go, yeah. Every stronghold, sickness and poverty must cease. The devil is defeated. Come on, put your hands together. With your blessed self, come on. With your blessed self, come on. Lord, we thank you for the offering, God, thank you. Amen, for those that gave, thank you, God. How you've increased us, we thank you. How you're giving us to give. We praise you, oh God, that it will be meet for Shield of Faith Long Beach. We thank you, God. Every need will be met in the house, God. And all of our needs will be met because we're being faithful to your word. We thank and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. Hallelujah. Come on, we're determined. Hey, hallelujah. Come on, I know you feel more determined. Hallelujah. I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. Through heart trials, through heart trials. Persecution, I be faithful, I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. Relation, persecution, I be faithful, I'm determined, oh Jesus. It's from this place, but never from your presence. Thank you, God, for all that you've done here today. What a mighty God we serve. Hallelujah, you are Jehovah Jireh, the God that always provides. We bless you and we praise you. God, take us to our several homes. Hallelujah, and when we get there, let it be safe. And let all be in order, God, and we thank you. Hallelujah, we praise you. We'll come back next Sunday, ready to give your name, praise and glory. In Jesus' name, we pray. Hallelujah, persecution, I be faithful, I'm determined, oh Jesus, yes I am. Walk with me, walk with me, Lord. Walk with me, walk with me, Lord. Walk with me.