The Faithfulness of My Father’s Hand

asked me to sing a song but I think I'll sing it when I'm done if that's okay if nobody minds please does somebody mind no I'm not just kidding I have an unusual message tonight and first of all I just want to say I'm so thankful pastor Tim took an early flight and came home I know you are too as well thank God for a shepherd in this church you know every once in a while I was telling pastor Tim backstage you have an epiphany and an epiphany is like when something you you should have known or maybe you've marginally known it but you've not known it the way you should have just comes to the fore and you begin to realize that you saw something but you didn't fully see it maybe you didn't but you did something but you didn't fully do it you didn't understand the depth of what God had been asking of you and it came to my mind this week was that last week when I was praying about speaking here that I have never honored my father now I have spoken about my father and I've tried to be kind in my speech about him but I've never honored him and honoring your father and your mother is a commandment of the Lord it's not a suggestion it's a commandment and there's nothing in the Bible that says if you think he or she in your mother's case is worthy of it God doesn't put an asterisk he said I want you to honor your father and your mother which is the first commandment with a promise that's Ephesians 6 verses 2 and 3 and the promise is that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth and pastor Tim wants me to stay alive so I have to do this to live long on the earth is in honor of your request but it's just something I need to do and I started thinking about it and I did is a lot of people do I took my father for granted I was of the generation in the 1960s and 70s that we're all into doing our own thing anybody who's my age remembers that rebellious against all authority and kind of casting off the values of our parents as if they weren't worth following and not ever understanding or appreciating what those who've come before us have done for us my father was not a believer until the end of his life thank God he came to Christ as Savior in the last days of his life the last moments of his life actually but some here tonight you've had we've all had fathers some fathers have been faithful and others not so much some have been present others have been absent some have been kind and others not so kind but for many hopefully we've been able to see some of the characteristics of God the father I know it's difficult you know I've had a lot of people especially in New York over the years I have no trouble with the Holy Spirit I have no trouble with Jesus the Savior but I have a real hard time with the father I can't picture God as a father and that's because there's an unresolved issue in the heart I think it's a good thing to just make the choice to honor your father as the scripture says no conditions no terms no conditions to say God this was not a suggestion it was a commandment and it was a commandment that came with a promise so God I'm going to speak about my father from this day forward in an honoring way and as a matter of fact when I made that choice the Lord showed me some things about himself that he actually taught me through my father that I really was never aware of and so I want to talk about the faithfulness of my father's hand tonight from John the gospel of John chapter 10 and beginning at verse 27 so father I just want to thank you tonight God you have brought us here this evening for a reason Lord you're you're looking to strengthen your church you're looking to strengthen all of us you're looking to bring us into a place of obedience to your word and gratitude God for all that you have allowed to come into our lives so that you can bless us in a way that only you can but you can't circumvent your own commandment and I think of the numbers of people that it's not going well with them and their lives there's a bitterness that's eating away at the fabric of their very physical body and their mind because they have chosen not to forgive they've chosen not to see good Lord they've forgotten that sometimes fathers if they if they fail and they're calling it's because they were failed by somebody that came before them so father just thank you God that you're going to give us the grace because you describe yourself as a father Jesus you had a high reverence for your father and you told us to honor ours and so tonight we make that choice I do I make that choice to honor my father tonight God and if it's possible Lord would you tell my dad tonight that I'm doing this and I thank you for it in Jesus name John chapter 10 verse 27 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish and neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand I and my father are one now though my father wasn't saved until his final days on the earth yet I learned something about God from the kind of man that he was first and foremost he lived for a cause higher than preserving himself it had been his dream since he was a young man to go to university was very very very bright when it came to science and math and I'm sure he wanted to further his college education get a degree perhaps in engineering or architecture but in the first year of his university in Canada war broke out in Europe and it came to his attention that there was a madman with an army that was taking nations and people's captive and really doing serious harm to some people especially the Jewish people in that particular time and he made a choice to leave University he wasn't drafted he volunteered he was 19 years old when he volunteered to go into the military he subsequently was stationed with the Air Force and was put in on an Air Force base in London England he flew in the Lancaster bomber and he flew about three dozen runs over enemy territory you shot down shot crash landed twice survived both times and he was part of about 28 squads that were stationed at this particular base in England when the war was over there was only eight squads left squad was about eight to nine men and at the end of the war there was only eight of 28 squads left all of the rest were shot down or taken prisoner in in the war you think of what it cost my father to give me a hope and to give me a future and it causes me to think about God we so likely say the verse for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life but we often very likely think about what it must have cost God the father to send his son to this planet to redeem a creation a humanity created in the image of God who had rebelled against God fully well knowing the personal cost we I don't think we can don't think we understand the cost of what it meant for God the father to pour you see they had they had always been co-existent together as existed time didn't exist for God the three persons of God the Godhead father son and Holy Spirit and so to be separated even to have to pour his wrath out upon his son we said we sometimes we say it so lightly God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son we we quoted like it's a poem by Shakespeare and maybe don't fully understand the cost but I understand it even better today because of the cost of my father of leaving the dream of his life to go and fight for a cause higher than preserving himself and he instilled that into me the times that he talked to me about Carter life is not just about living for yourself and we actually teach it at our Bible school now true Christianity the purest expression of the Christian faith is found in living not for ourselves but for the benefit of others yielding our lives for the sake of somebody else somebody else's in a prison somebody else's blinded somebody else who's wounded in heart somebody else who has no future they have no hope if somebody doesn't fight for them if somebody doesn't stand up and pray for them if somebody doesn't go to them with a word from God we can't do everything obviously my father couldn't defeat the German army on his own but he could do something and that's got to be the attitude of heart in in the house of God and among those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ in the book of Proverbs chapter 8 now it's it's about wisdom solely this particular chapter it's not really about Christ some believe it is but I I personally don't I think it's really about wisdom the draw with God from the from before even time began but in this passage of scripture in Proverbs 8 we we get a picture of what the fellowship between God the Father and God the Son must have been like before time began before the world was created so I want to look at Proverbs 8 just for a moment from verse 22 to verse 30 as a type it's only a picture it's it's not necessarily about Christ himself but it's a picture the Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way before his works of old I have been established from everlasting from the beginning before there was ever an earth when there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains were settled before the hills I was brought forth while it yet he had not made the earth or the fields or the primal dust of the world when he prepared the heavens I was there when he drew a circle on the face of the deep when he established the clouds above when he strengthened the fountains of the deep when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters would not transgress his command when he marked out the foundations of the earth then I was beside him as a master craftsman and I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him think of what it cost the father I don't know if I can fathom it I try but I know I'm never going to say lightly John 3 16 again I think for the rest of my life for God so loved the world thinking of my father and thinking of he giving up his dream it was his dream to be an engineer it was his dream to be an architect to build things it was his dream to invent and design but he gave it all up because of the people in other parts of the world that didn't necessarily affect him but he was of that generation that considered it reasonable to live for a higher cause than preserving ourselves and in my heart as I think back on my father I said God would you give me that strength of character in my life that I would consider it reasonable to live my life for the sake of others I considered reasonable to be given for somebody that if nobody helps them they're going to be overrun by grief sorrow and darkness and evil there's there's an enemy who seeks to steal and kill and destroy but you've given me words of life and you've given me the ability to do something about it and even my prayers if I can't go there my prayers can fly into enemy territory and drop as many bombs as need to be dropped. It was over my father came back and the opportunity for education was now gone the opportunity for university had passed there was there was no money everyone come back and there was it was very hard the wages were very very small economies were trying to rebuild and he took a humble job in a mine in a copper mine upon returning and he knew he had given up his dream but his dream began to shift and he began to save for my future his firstborn son everything he did he started putting money away little bits here little bits there and he didn't make a lot of money in what he did but he started putting my future that he lost in fighting for somebody else and speaking of Jesus Christ it tells us in Philippians chapter 2 verses 3 to 8 let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in law let each of you not only look up for his own interest but also for the interests of others let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation he took on the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of Ben and being found in appearances of Mandy humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross my father began to save for my education so that his dream in a sense that he had lost in fighting for others could be fulfilled through his son but unfortunately I didn't appreciate it my generation were stupid I'll tell you straight out everybody was doing their own thing and it was it was fashionable to cast off the values of your parents and and launch out and experience the world and a whole bunch of other stuff and my father even though he knew I didn't appreciate what he had done you know he would maybe try it was hard for these men to talk about the war because they had seen things that people should never have to see in their lifetime it was hard for him but when he when he would talk about the fact that he went off and he fought over Germany in places like that I you know I would just brush it off yeah sure that was great I didn't appreciate the fact that he was saving up for me but the fact is it never stopped him from saving hallelujah hallelujah he knew he knew at a certain point it must have broken his heart but he kept storing for me and he kept saving I think at the times that we we don't appreciate what God did for us we don't fully appreciate Christ going to the cross we don't even fathom what that meant we don't fully understand the sacrifice we claim yes we're the children of our heavenly father but we don't understand we don't even appreciate it but even when we don't appreciate it he keeps saving up for us and he keeps storing up for us and when we call out he still answers his love never fails thank God thank God thank God my father's word was his bond what he said he didn't need to say twice now it was a good side to that and there was a bad side to that if he said to me you say another word I'm gonna slap your mouth you knew if I said another word and you could do that back then by the way matter of fact your neighbors could do it too as well if they heard you they heard you swearing on the street corner they grab you by the ear and bring you home to your father for real for real and most of us turned out semi-normal in spite of what we consider abuse today 2nd Corinthians 120 says the promises of God in him that is in Christ are yes and in him a man to the glory of God through us God's word is his bond I learned that through my father I never doubted what my father said and my father was also punctual to a fault if he said I'm going to be there he had a theme better never than late if he asked me to be home at 5 and I walked in the door one minute after he'd say where were you he was punctual to a fault it might you didn't need to watch with my father if he said I'm gonna pick you up at 2 o'clock he'd be there at 2 o'clock right on the dot I don't know how he did it but he did it punctual literally to a fault and you think about we talked so glibly about God he said he won't come when we when we want him to think he should but he comes right on time he's never late he's never late he has a plan for every one of our lives and when we call out to him he may not come when we wanted but he'll be there right on time oh yes oh yes oh yes I've learned that about God through my father and I'm thankful to heaven that I did I had a very very tender moment with my father because probably in my teen years there began to be a separation it wasn't his fault it was mine and our relationship was very strange for quite a long season but he got cancer I prayed for him for 26 years and God in his mercy gave him a it's mercy folks that gave him a a long and a painful cancer you see if it wasn't for mercy could have just had a heart attack and died need be in hell today but God broke down that oak tree because he loved him and there was something good in that man that man stood for good I never heard my father tell a lie I never heard him embellish a story I'd see that's the gospel truth not even one time I never saw him turn his head and look at a pretty woman going by there was something of God in that man's character yes he wasn't a Christian but he's still created in the image of God and there was a value system in that man that did something in my life some of the characteristics that are in my life not all of them but some of them that are in my life I learned from my father I learned by watching his life I learned by seeing how how he acted I learned what was good and what was not good and in the last season of his life we got we became close as a matter of fact at one point he was one of the few that he would even let touch him and I remember going to see him one day and sitting down with him and he had cancer and because he had cancer he had a colostomy on his side where the your excrement goes into a bag on his side attached to his colon or his intestines and so what happened was he wouldn't deal with it World War two guys were all stubborn until you straight out I knew a lot of them because of my dad they're all the same thank God they were stubborn that's what sent them into battle in the first place and kept them there but he wouldn't deal with it so I flew my mother called me and I flew to Canada and I went and I got him out of bed and I I made him sit in front of the toilet and I said dad you got to deal with this you can't just ignore this thing it's not gonna go away the nurse only comes in every third day and and this thing's gonna explode you can't just leave it like this and they had told they had told us if you if you have to deal with this thing you have to wear a mask with strawberry spray in it you have to wear rubber gloves because it was cancer and they the smell was it was beyond anything you'd want to ever smell and I'm sitting there with him in front of the toilet and I didn't put on a mask and I put no gloves on and I took it off and I cleaned it and I got his excrement all over my he saw that he was watching me do this he's watching me clean it he's seeing my hands filled with his excrement he knows how bad it smells then I took him I cleansed it I put it back on I put him back in bed and I said dad I want to tell you one more time what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ and for the first time ever he listened to me I said it's gonna take me three minutes and I want you to listen to me and he just okay and he listened for the very first time I told him what you have to do to be born again I did I did the pastor Tim Delina thing you know they'd be but I did a B C D E F G H all the way and so I came back to New York City and I was only back here a short season and I told pastor David Wilkerson I have a real burden to go back home to see my father and pastor David said to me this is your window this is your window into his soul he said go and go now I got on a plane immediately when I flew there and I was I went to my mother's house and I was going to shower up and get ready and go and visit him in the evening and my brother who hadn't talked to me in years he called and he said I'm at the hospital are you coming I thought that's very odd because he doesn't really talk to me and or hadn't at that point and I remember saying this has to be the hand of God so I just left the house and I went to the hospital my dad sitting inside the room on a chair and I walked in just a regular chair he was still able to get out of bed and sit down and and I looked at him I and I didn't even say hello I just said have you been praying he said I've been praying all night I said you ready to pray with me now he said if you'd like that I'd really like to do that praise God I let him listen listen I let him in a sinner's prayer from Genesis to Revelation I'm telling you straight out I'm a sinner I'm lost I I can't save myself I need a Savior and then I helped him back into bed and the next hour was the sweetest hour I had ever spent with my father on this earth we talked about forgiveness we talked about Christ we talked about the cross we talked about heaven and the last thing he said to me I didn't know this but he was going to slide into a coma shortly after I left and he never came out he died not too long after but the thing is the last thing he said to me I said dad it's gonna be so awesome when I get to heaven and you are there at the gate to greet me he looked at me and said Carter I'll be there I'll be there God the father sacrificed for me he took a lower place than he was worthy of he made promises and commitment to me even though many times throughout the years I've not returned it in like kind as David the Psalmist once said God if you marked iniquity which one of us would stand and yet all was not in vain in my life the investment that God has made in my life through my father has brought a dividend back into the kingdom of God and I am forever grateful to God my father and I am forever grateful to my father Charles Conlon on this earth even though he didn't know Christ he lived as a godly man before me and made a difference in my life and put some aspects of God into my character he told me one time he said Carter he just many times is it Carter if your word is worth nothing you are worth nothing he said a man is only as good as his word and if you say something you don't follow through you've lost your value you've lost your worth if you say you're going to do something you do it if you say you're going to do something a certain way you do it a certain way my father was such a man if he told you that he would paint your fence for a hundred dollars and he miscalculated and it cost him a hundred and thirty dollars for the materials he would paint your fence for a hundred dollars because he was a man of his word and what he said was his bond and that was part of his generation there was he wasn't the only world others like that but I never valued it do you understand what I'm saying I do now it's it's like a revelation I don't even know how to fully articulate it but God thank you for the father you gave me and forgive me God forgive me God for not honoring him I I know I'll get a chance again in heaven but I wish to heaven that I had a chance on the earth I wish I had a chance to sit with my father and just look him in the eye say thank you for being the man that you are and were thank you for what you did how you lived your life how you loved my mother how you were faithful to your family how you took a lower place so that you could afford to send us to a higher place how you sacrificed for us you worked so hard every day you were as punctual as the Tower of Big Ben in London you could be counted on when you said you would do something you did it and I would look him in the eye and say father would you forgive me for not honoring you the way I should have I didn't honor you in my speech I didn't honor you in my thoughts I didn't esteem the man you were as I should have and I'm truly ashamed of that and I'm so thankful that God has brought that to my attention I shared with you on Sunday that when the Lord speaks about an aspect of my character that he wants to change I need to be quick to move in the direction of God and he spoke about something I never anticipated he would you have not honored your father you've spoken of your father and you've made efforts not to dishonor him but you have never honored your father and I thank God and I'm very thankful tonight that you're here and you're allowing me to make that wrong right in your presence and in the presence of God tonight I thank you that I'm going to live long on the earth pastor Tim and it's going to be well with me and be well with my house I thank you God that in obeying God in all of these things that I bring a blessing on my own house I bring a blessing on my sons and on my daughter and on their spouses and on my grandchildren by obeying God I bring a blessing on my own house it is the first commandment with a promise I know some are angry tonight hearing this I know you're saying well you don't know my father no I don't but I do know your God and I do know the God who formed you the God who washed you the God who saved you said I give you a commandment with a promise honor your father and your mother which is the first commandment with a promise that it will go well with you and that you will live long on the earth it will go well if we make the choice to go God's way whatever God speaking I'm telling you it will go well with you if you make the choice to do things God's way I know it's difficult sometimes to honor when you were abandoned or abused or whatever the situation is then so next you can't necessarily do it out of the circumstances that were there in in your relationship but you can do it in obedience to God if there's a higher law than just being right in circumstance say God I'm doing this for you because you told me to do this and I believe that because of it I am going to bring a blessing in my own life and in my own home my father will be there to meet me I have no doubt I've no doubt he never once didn't show up and his last words the very last words to me where I will be there I will be there I'll be at heaven's gate when you get there oh I told pastor Tim tonight that he's probably found pastor Tim's father already and there's one of them just they're just having a casual conversation and my dad said you know my son pastored in the church in New York City called Times Square Church well I'll be darned says Paul Delina so does mine both of our fathers were savers you know like especially that generation the World War two generation they if they saw a button on the street they picked it up and put it in a jar at home they saved everything my father would say you never know when you'll need one of those and somebody would visit us they saw I lost a button on my jacket he'll say well I got one of those and they knew where everything was yet he must have 80 jars of stuff all over the place but he knew where everything was and pastor Tim's father was exactly the same way I almost called this message if there's a dumpster in heaven that's where our fathers are right now looking for things that other people threw away yeah there's going to be such joy when we get there it's going to be such joy when we get there and we will be thankful that we did things God's way you know you you preach the message recently pastor Tim where you talked about the sensitivity to the voice of God and I started praying along those lines Lord make me sensitive to your voice and help me to move to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and you never know where that's going to take you never know what he's going to ask of you but I do know that when I obey every time we obey there's there's another measure of strength that comes into our lives there's a there's a another measure of wisdom there's something of God he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him those who come to God must believe that he is and he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him I want to close with Matthew chapter 25 verse 20 to 23 so he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying Lord you delivered to me five talents and Lord I've gained five more talents beside them his Lord said to him well done good and faithful servant you were faithful over a few things I'll make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord he also had received two talents came and said Lord you delivered to me two talents look I've gained two more talents besides them and his Lord said them well done good and faithful servant you've been faithful over a few things I'll make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of your Lord one day one day we'll get to heaven's gate and your father will be there your heavenly father will be there and he will stretch his hand out to you and he will say my son my daughter you received what I gave you and you went out and you did good with it and you brought other people into the knowledge of the goodness of God well done come with me and enter into the joy of the Lord Jesus said you're sealed in my father's hand and nobody can take you out of my father's hand if you have never fully given yourself into the hand of God I want to challenge you with all my heart tonight to do it tonight surrender your life into the hand of God surrender your future into the hands of God surrender the little bit that you think you have into God's hand and let God take it seal it multiply it and let your life be used for his glory and one day you get to heaven's gate and heavenly father says well done well done your earthly father may or may not make it there but the thing is you chose to do what God said it chose to honor him with your speech you search for something you could say it might not be much but you found something you could say some good thing an aspect of this character perhaps I don't know what it is but you found something you could say and you did it in obedience to God and you chose to honor your father and God says I promise you that if you will do this I will give you long life and I will bless you on the earth I bless you coming in I bless you going out I bless your employment I bless the house you live in I bless you as you walk down the street it's a promise from God is the first commandment with the promise and tonight I feel like I have fulfilled what God and I've done it with an honest heart I feel joy in my heart I've actually done what God commanded me to do thank you there's some people here tonight that you need to surrender your hand your life into the hands of God he's a heavenly father he's a good father he won't fail you he won't forsake you never abandon you won't abuse you won't hurt you be there when you need him and there's others tonight you need to start by forgiving your father just let it go any grievance any wound we all have stories we're all failed in some way I suppose but you know it is true that you reap what you sow if I lived by finding faults in the way I was raised and my children will find faults in the way they were raised you really do reap what you sow but I chose I've made a choice in my heart to do it God's way and I've garnered a new appreciation in the sense that I don't think I've had to this degree before finally I see what I and all I have is the only downside is I regret never saying these words to my father but perhaps perhaps just perhaps there's recordings in heaven you never know he probably can't hear what I'm saying tonight but God can and he can tell him let's stand together if you'd like to surrender your life into the hands of God tonight through his son Jesus Christ you'd like to be free and forgiven all the wrong things that you've done I'm gonna pray a prayer and if you'd like to be part of that prayer would you just join raise your hand right now wherever you are God bless you all over the centuries raise your hands thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you tonight you're coming home to God tonight you're you're going to be embraced in the hand of your Heavenly Father and the Bible says nobody can take you out of that hand let's pray together tonight Lord Jesus Christ thank you for saving me thank you for loving me thank you for giving me the desire to be forgiven to be your child thank you for giving me a heart to want to obey you and walk in the truth of your word tonight I open my heart to you Jesus Christ to forgive my sin and to receive me as your own child and you said that you had come to heal those whose hearts had been wounded so heal my wounded heart to me and give me the courage and the desire to obey you in all things I ask this in Jesus I'd like to give an altar call we're gonna sing a song and as we do one ask those who raise their hands to give your life to Jesus Christ tonight to just come to this altar just make your way out right now go to either aisle just just join this gentleman that's coming here now make your way down here and also for those who just need to forgive tonight see pastor you just you just preach right down my lane and it's as if God knew I needed to hear this I want to be free from the bitterness I want to be free from the regrets I want to be free from judging others I want to be free I just want to do what you best I want to honor my father I just want to obey you if that's you would you slip out and just come doesn't have to be a multitude just come join those that are on their way now and we're gonna pray and God's gonna heal there's gonna be healing at this altar there's gonna be freedom from sin there's gonna be healing and spiritual vision given to you and the promise of life and blessing is going to become yours just come on just go don't hesitate put away the reasons the excuses you say well I can't I can't do it I can't forgive you're right you can't but God can he'll give you the power come on don't hesitate just come just come Can we hold on the keyboard just for one second You let them hang you on the trees You died for sinners just like me I raised my voice up with a cry Your nail scarred hands have dried my eyes You let them hang you on the tree me. You died for sinners just like me.

I raised my voice up with a cry. Your nail-scarred hands have dried my eyes. I love you, love you, love you, Jesus.

And I praise your holy name. You are the Alpha and Omega. You're the first, the last, the same.

You let them hang you on the tree. You let them hang you on the tree. You died for sinners just like me.

I raised my voice up with a cry. Your nail-scarred hands have dried my eyes. I see a lot of tears here tonight.

Jesus Christ stood in the pulpit and said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to bring the good news of strength to the poor. For those of us who know, we don't have the strength to do what God is asking us to do. But I said, I came to release to you, reveal to you the treasure of heaven.

I came to set free those that are captivated in their mind, even by thoughts of the past. I came to heal those that have been bruised in their heart. That's who Jesus is.

That's what Jesus does. Father, I pray for those that have come to this altar tonight. God, I thank you for these men and women.

I thank you, Lord, that a miracle of healing is happening here right now. That old grievances are being put away and old memories are losing their power over our futures and our lives. God, you're giving us the ability to go beyond just the wounds of the past and to do what you say.

God, I pray from this day forward, we would speak well of our mothers and fathers, because it's a commandment. We would find something. We would walk in obedience to the little things that nobody else sees.

And some people think they don't matter, but they do. There's such a peace when we choose to do things God's way. All the old fears, all the old struggles seem to lose their hold.

God says, tonight, I pronounce a blessing on you. You'll live alone on the earth and it will go well. It will go well because you've chosen to obey me.

Father, thank you. Father, thank you. Father, thank you for miracles tonight.

Thank you, God, for prison doors opening. Thank you for blinded eyes seeing. Thank you for wounded hearts being healed.

Thank you, God, for our speech changing. Thank you for the blessing of heaven, God, when we choose to do the little things that nobody else sees, but we know you're asking us to do. God, thank you.

Take every person who's here tonight and make every man and woman a blessing to somebody else. Hallelujah. No longer dragging our wagon of old wounds behind us, but the healing oil of Jesus in our hands.

God, give every man, every woman, just a new future, new giftings, new power. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Let's just sing one song, would you? My brother, just one song of worship and take time to talk to God while this song speaks to you. Just take time and Pastor Tim's going to come after this song and just lead this congregation and it's closing, but just take time to talk to God right now.

You heard a message tonight. It's touched your heart. Just take time to speak to the Lord.

Go ahead. Talk to him.