Apostolic Lighthouse
God did not plan your failure but He did plan your recovery - Bro Bradley McCormack
the Lord everybody. And I'm telling you, I feel like we're having good church already. I don't know about you, but I'm having good church anyhow. Man, I have been here all day long, even got ready here. I told brother Caleb, I said, I don't know. I might have should have went town, went shop or something. You know, sometimes we lock ourselves in, and we feel like, man, we can get it all together. But I'm questioning in my own mind tonight. You know how that goes? But God knows. God knows. And I will tell you tonight, I do know. There's a man setting in this section. God wants to do something in your life. You've been wounded. You've been hurt in the past. You've lost trust. God wants to preach to you tonight. I do have confidence in no land in this floor today for hours up on the end coming in and going out from office to this sanctuary. I said, God, I don't want nothing fancy. Y'all know I don't preach fancy. I just want a word. And I'm telling you tonight, God wants to do it for somebody in this room. Can we lift our hands right now and ask God to help us? Come on, can we do that right now? Come on, can you ask God for His help and His anointing? God, we can't do it without you. Oh, God, we need you in this house tonight, God. You know, if we're not careful, if you're not careful, we blame God for things that was never God's fault. Brother Caleb said it, I've been going through one of the hardest trials of my life, but not one time I've ever blamed God. Because I stand this job, it's going to be greater in the end than it ever was in the beginning. Someone said, what's it going to cost you in between? I don't know. I'm just holding on to God. Hey, man, if you got your babbles, I mean, I do apologize. I'm wearing the same suit. I wore a Sunday morning. I only brought two with me. And I wore one Sunday morning, Sunday night because I thought that's all I was going preach. But anyhow, here I am, but I am clean. Y'all don't fear. I'm clean. If you got your babbles, let's go to the Word of the Lord Luke 22 verse 31, very familiar scriptures tonight. I, but I have to follow what I feel the Lord has laid upon my heart to preach tonight to this great congregation I love. Amen, the Simpson family. Amen, they are dear to my heart. And where the Caleb said, will it go? Man, I appreciate the confidence he has in me, but I also have a lot of confidence in him because this man was there for me and stood for me when I didn't know what I was going to do. And God used this man. And I promise you, amen, I'll never forget what the goodness of God would do if you'd just hold on to God. Such a Samson. I hope I don't get in trouble. I forgot my hank in a car and I borrowed this okay. Well, I won't make sure because y'all know I sweat real bad. So, amen. I don't want to get no trouble. Luke 22 and verse 31 reads, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan had desired to have you. That you may that I may sit you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not when thy art converted strengthened thy brother. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both unto prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee Peter, the cock shall crow this day before shall deny thy thrice deny thee knowing, help me hold a ghost. And he said, I tell thee Peter, the cock shall crow this day before. I would have preached tonight if the Lord will help me on this thought the Lord has dealt with me strongly about this. If the Lord will help me on this thought God did not plan your failure, but he did plan your recovery. God did not plan your failure, but he did plan your recovery. God, we ask you tonight, Lord, I'm a failure. I stand here, God, just a man, but I'm asking you, God, that you would anoint me from the top of my hand to the soul of my feet. God, for the next few minutes, God, that you would use me. God, to preach to this wonderful congregation tonight. Come over to ask God to help the preacher. I believe God wants to talk to somebody in this room tonight. Come on, God wants to try to give somebody a direction in their life in this room here tonight. God, I'm asking you, God, that you would anoint me. I want to be a willing vessel that you can work through. God that you can speak through me to speak to somebody's heart. And somebody's mind, we give you all the glory and all the praise. Somebody clap your hands to the Lord tonight as you're seated. You're all we all understand that we know the story. A man of Simon Peter. We understand that Simon was a chosen disciple. He followed God. And we understand that Simon was not the only man a man out of the 12 that failed God. Simon was simply a man desired in love. God with his heart. Simon, amen, give everything he had to the things of God. Simon loved God with everything that was within him. But yet can I tell you, we understand that Simon failed God. We understand that people failed God and we we come short sometimes. But can I tell you tonight just because you failed God does not mean you're not worthy to be in his presence again. We understand that people make mistakes. People struggle in people sometimes slip up. But you can understand tonight. And that all of us is subject to fail. I'm a preacher. I've been preaching on time. But I can fall just as quick as anybody. If I let myself get in the item behind, I'm going to get myself into place ever that the devil can work inside of me. See, sometimes we as people, we feel like we can't fail and we were so involved in the things of God ever that we'll never make a mistake. I just come to tell you tonight, you're going to make mistakes. You're going to slip up sometimes. You're going to fall sometimes. But in your failures does not mean it's over. It just means it's God has prepared of recovery for you to get back up a feet and for you to live for God again. You cannot live in your failures. You cannot live in your mistakes. But you got to get up. You got to get some grit inside of you to forgive. Well, somebody plays him right now. Understand you can be seated. Simon, man is not the only one that failed. It was also a man by the name of Judas that was sitting there that betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. And it was Judas except there at the supper table and the Lord said the one that dip with the shop with me. And it's going to betray me. Can I tell you Judas was sitting there knowing in his mind that he was the man. They're all so said Peter and Jesus looked at him and he said Peter before the cockhose, I'm going to deny me. Peter said, Oh, no God. I'll even go to death to prison. I'm not going to deny you. But can I tell you when God says it, it will come to pass. And it was a man Judas sitting there and Simon Peter, Judas knowing the money had already been exchanged in the hand of Judas. All he had to do was set up in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I tell you the difference and Judas and Peter, the only difference was that Judas sent there with a straight face as nothing going on. But Peter, when he heard the cockhose, Peter fell in his face and he whipped and he prayed and he got it right. I come to tell you the difference is what you do after the mistake. What you do when you fail, not if you fall, but when you fall, that's what the difference is. You got to get up. You got to do something about where you're at in your situation. Somebody praise him. Let me see the problem is Judas tried to cover up his sin. Peter was the man. It was Peter when they looked at him and said there's something different about you Peter and they asked him, do you know the Lord? And it was Peter that looked at them. And he said, I know not the man. Understanding Peter is an disciple. Peter walks with God. He knows what God can do. But yet Peter set there with a straight face and denied him. Peter walked out on the porch and the council looked at him and said, Peter, there's something different about you. Your speech betray you. And it was Peter that swore with an oath and the Bible said he cast and he said, I know not the man. See what you got to understand is, once you've ever had the Holy Ghost, your speech will never be the same again. I'm preaching on somebody's defense tonight. You've ran from God because you've been hurt and you've been scarred and you've been done wrong and you felt like it wasn't fair. But I come to preach that God has a recovery. If you're willing to repent and get back up on your feet and say, God, I may have failed. I may have been done wrong. But I want to lay up the feet of you. I want to repent. And I want to get it right. It was a man. I'm hurt. There was a man. Lord help me. Oh, if that's a good idea to use that or not. And so it was a man in our home church. He back sled in 2000. He walked out on God, live for God many years. I worked for the man. And he began to tell me one day on the job of how bad the people done him how wrong man was sitting in the bar one day. A man walked in and sat down at the bar with him. And he looked at him. He said, sir, what are you doing here? He said, what do you mean? What am I doing here? He said, I'm just like you. I just come to have a social drink, kind of relax after a hard day's work. He said, no, you don't understand something, sir. You don't belong here. True story. He thought I dare him to tell me. He said, sir, what do you mean? I don't belong here. He said, there's a glow. There's something different about you. You've entertained things. And the rest of us has never experienced before. And you don't belong here. I'm just going to tell you, I don't care how far you run from God. And God still can look at you and say, hey, you don't belong in the world. There's something different about you. Just speaks between you. And you don't look like everybody else. You don't fit in like everybody else. I understand that if anybody probably to be seated did not deserve mercy. It was Peter. Here's the man that swore with an oath. I know not the man. Now probably if anybody didn't deserve mercy, it was Peter. He denied that he even knew Jesus. But if you read over in the book of Acts, the man that denied the Lord with the nose is the man that stands on the day of Pentecost and preaches the word of God. God, I feel the Holy Ghost right now. I come to tell you, I don't care how far you drifted. I don't care how much sin you've been involved in or how many times you've felt God. God's got to recovery. God's got to play him. But he said, hey, you got to get up. You got to get some grit inside of you, Peter. You hear me? The cops crying when you got to fall to repair it and get it right with God. It was Peter. But Jesus handed the keys to the kingdom. Thou art Peter and upon this rock, build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. You're talking about a man that denied him. But yet God saw something in the heart of Peter that nobody else saw. I'm preaching in your defense. There's a recovery. God's got to plan. He didn't plan your failure. He didn't decide that you would fall. But he said, hey, Peter, though you failed. I've got to recovery. I've got to plan for your life. The difference. It's a heart of repentance. We're not live already. Okay, good. You're talking a lot about saying anything. I got my granddad in me. We see that. Why? Think about it like this. Why would I want to go to hell with the very people that hurt me? You're better than that. You hear me? You're better than that. The hardest thing there is for man a woman to say is, I'm sorry. You ever had to tell you why? If you're sorry, you better say, yeah, she, she, her eyes got back that big round. Did it feel good? Was it easy? No. Takes a real man and a real woman. Somebody hear me? You need to get some grading. Get something inside of you. Quit just going along. You got to get some driving. Yeah. I've been praying for you today. I'm playing preach your time to man up and put them boots on and say, I'm going to live for God no matter what. Y'all want me preach this? If I only preach what the Holy Ghost give me to preach. You see that baby? Thank you. Got three. That ought to make enough grade inside of you to come early for every service. I don't get too kind. Just pick it on one. I'm gonna tell you something ain't enough things to make me want to backslide over. My kids are worth living for God for. Your baby is ought to be enough for you to dance and worship God. Go better watch your face. Hey, I wouldn't say well done. I may have been hurt. I may have been scarred. I may have been warmed up in the house of friends. But oh God, if I can just get back in the present. If I can just get in his precious, I know everything. It's going to be all right. You won't ever live for God. Just dragging along. He said, I wish that she was cold or hot. Man, I'm going to tell you, I'm excited. Yes, your man right here got the Holy Ghost last night. Hey, he was sitting way back there last night. But he's up here with the rest tonight. Hey, this is some great inside of you. Hey, hey, I don't care what happens. I'm not going to make any suit. I got to get to church. I got to get in this presence. Hey, God's got something in store. You hear me Peter? God's got to recovery. God's got to plan. You just got to feel in the will of God. Oh, somebody shouted to the Lord. We see that. Those act when I went long enough, let me know back there. I don't want to be long winded, but God, I feel a burden to preach. I want to try to pick somebody up out of the place you are. You got to live for God. Simon Peter had the choice. He could have been like Judas. When he heard that cop crow. Oh, it's just a imagination of the mind. I'm preaching to some wounded people in this room tonight. You failed God miserably. And you know you did. And you don't even feel worthy to lift your hands. I saw it when this brother was singing right over here. I saw the tears well up in your eyes. I saw conviction good to heart. It lets me know they're still hope. They're still a God. They said, hey, you may have failed me. You may have messed up. Hey, but you came to church tonight. You made an effort and God sent a preach about it. He didn't plan your failures. He had nothing to do with it. But he had a plan for your recovery. God's got a plan for your life. The hardest season sometimes to make is to get out of your pew and walk down to an altar in front of everybody. Imagine think about this. There's nobody in this room that can save you or send you to hell either one. Who cares what everybody else thinks? I watched you by the Samson. We went down there today. Care me some good old Chinese. Oh, I love it. I proved it. I think the Samson guy, the truck, he hurt his leg. He couldn't hardly bore. He was hobbling. But it was church time. I saw him running the house. You know what it is? Hey, devil. Hey, devil. I'm still going to praise God. It may hurt. It may not feel good, but God's been too good. God let me come to church. God provided a way. I'm just going to praise him. I'm just going to worship you though it hurts through the pain in God. I may need you tomorrow. I'm just going to praise you right now. The decision. Oh God. Being hurt wounded. I'm preaching right here in this section. I'm preaching to others. I'm going to tell you there's a man in this section. You need this message tonight. This message helps nobody else. I hope I can get you out of your pew and get you in this altar. I could have preached and we could run and we could shout. I've done it long enough. I know what moves the crowd. I'm not interested in that. If I can pull somebody out of the pits of hell, it's going to be worth every hour I've spent in this building today. My kids call me. I said I can't talk. I'm talking to the man upstairs right now. I was focused. I'm not just a preacher. I'm focused in what I'm doing church. If I'm not, I will find some kind of career and make all kinds of money. Not in it for that. I can just win one. That one that's hurt. That's wounded. That sets in the presence of God. The only reason you're here is because of the mercy of God. At times in your mind, you've got to talk to yourself and even come in. What good is it even doing going to church? I'll tell you what good is doing because God sent a preacher by the preacher to you to tell you. I was only covering the midst of the hell that you're in. Oh, God, help me right now. You've been hurt the scars. Come on. You feel like you've been done wrong. But at the end of the day, I'm not holding anybody responsible. If I'm lost, it's my own fault. If I go to hell, it's my own fault. You hear me right now. I'm preaching to you, sir. You've got to recovery at the altar for you. God's got a plan for your life. But all you've got to be willing to get up and walk down to the altar and say here in my God. Come on, let's lift our hands and lift our voice to it. Come on, let your voice to the Lord right now. Give me a seat here. I was preaching Jones don't usually enter the sanctuary to church starts. I'd like to stay in the office and pray and get my mind focused. I come out and I walked on the platform. Same as tonight. God let an individual in my heart. I never laid eyes on this man before. It was like I'm preaching my guts out and I opened my eyes in the middle of the eyes of man with no legs. He's on his hands, his upper body's in the air, tears, his streaming down his face. He's coming down the hour on his hands. This man ran from God because of people that had done him wrong and he thought it was unfair to what happened to him when he was a young man. He got so involved in drugs, different things. This young man ran from the presence of God for years. It was high one night, lost in trouble of his car, flipped, severed both legs. He hadn't been out of the hospital long. That day he came down the altar and repented. My God, I'm telling that man was on fire. He was like a wild man. I'm talking about a man with no legs. He jumped on the seat with his hands. I'd be preaching. He'd get out and walk on his hands, crawl on the altar, grab my leg, and say preaching. Don't let me go to hell. Come on, preach a preach to me. You know what it was? Hey, he had been wounded and hurt, but he said to God, I'm just thankful. You had mercy on me. God knew. He failed God. He done got wrong. But God had a recovery. God had a plan that was waiting at the altar for a man that probably did not deserve it. He seated that man, passed away probably six or seven months ago. Brother, things was different in his life. He wasn't trying. He said, preacher, you know what I'm doing? He said, the man drove. Imagine that, drove a car, had a little sports car. He tried to get me to ride with him. No, no thank you. Because he didn't learn his lesson. He had to do with fly. And I thought, no, no, no, no. I'm not getting in a car with a man with no legs and a sports car souped up. It ain't gonna happen. But let me tell you something. He said, brother McCormick, I'm trying to find everybody that I did wrong. He said, I'm trying to make it right. He said, hey, he said, I know God could heal me. But I don't want God to heal me. It took me losing my legs to get back in church. I'd soon go to heaven like this. It's hard to be home and go to hell. You hear me tonight. You're sitting in the place of our recovery. God has set it up. God's gonna plan. But you got to be willing. Come on, let your voice lift your hands to the Lord right now. I would try to have to crawl to an altar and be saved. Can we see them? I'm just about... As a matter of fact, brother, you want to just come or whoever's supposed to play the piano. Just play something soft. That's all I need, just a piano. What's it going to take? What's God going to have to do to wake you up? My brother's a backslider. I've gained many cousins from my brother because I tell him, I pray if God has to take your legs, your arms, he has to paralyze you. I want you saved. You will in the parade, that kind of prayer, God, whatever, you got to do. Do I want to see my brother in that shape, Lord? No. But I don't want to have to look at him in a casket. No one is going to hell for eternity in a place of fire. My brother probably can preach a Bible study better than any preacher here. My brother knows, but you know what it is? My brother was hurt, and he's held that bitterness for years. Just a couple of days ago, me and him was alone. I looked him in the eye. I said, "The very ones you can't stand is the ones you're going to have to look at in hell." I ain't going to tell you what he's saying. They sound a little comical. When I got ready to walk out of that room, I said, "I love you, but your worn heart beat away from going to hell." Boy, do y'all feel the presence of God like I feel it right now? Is it really worth running from God? Is it going to be worth it in hell? Judas had the same opportunity that Peter had, except Judas says, "Oh, no." He even said, "Who isn't? Is it you?" "Hey, let's don't make excuses here tonight. Why don't you say it's me, God?" Oh, I know we've been having high church the last two services. God came special for some people in this room here tonight. I wish to ever head bowed and never I closed. I want somebody talking to the Lord right now. Peter, I can come and get you by the hand. Peter, why don't you get out of your seat where you are right now? Peter, you know I preach to you. You may have failed God, Peter. God has a recovery at this altar waiting for you. You don't even know what God wants to do in your life if you were just so tender. Damn. Come on, this altar's open right now. [Music]