Viola Solid Rock Assembly
Boot the Root
This guy, I tried to keep up with him today. Cannot keep up with him. And I climbed a mountain. I already told you that, I couldn't keep up with him. I tried. You are blessed people. You are very blessed. So, yeah, I got a little bit of a unique message tonight. One of the reasons I did it is because of what the worship leader said to me. What's your name, brother? Pastor Ethan said, "I remember when you preached a youth camp in Arkansas, when I turned 100 years old, they quit calling me to do youth camps." He remembered a sermon, an illustrated sermon, that I preached on the snake. We all know what, John 3, 16 says, "For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, whosoever believed that Him would not perish but have everlasting life." We don't really know what verse 15 says. It says, "There's no, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness so the Son of Man must be lifted up. My put rubber snakes on a pole and crawled all around the camp ground there in Arkansas on the stage like a crazy person." And that's a little bit what you're in for tonight. I have some products in the back. I want to tell you about them just in case you're interested. First book I ever wrote was called The Third Chair, Implementing Lasting Change. If you look at the back you'll see how young I was before I fell apart. It's about transformation, it's about changing something, something the Lord gave me on my way to Michigan one time. Then my Arkansas buddy, Dr. Jerry Nance, the Global Teen Challenge Director, he asked me to write a book with him on family life. I said, "Why do you want me to do it?" He said, "You know, you're such a weirdo." I said, "Well, thanks a lot." He said, "You know what I mean, Joe." I said, "Not really." He said, "I grew up in Arkansas cutting my teeth, went to revivals, went to Sunday nights. You grew up in such dysfunction. All my teen challenge guys are mainly like you and I want them to have some principles." So we tell a lot of funny stories he and I do and practical principles. Then there's a large print devotional book, three for 30, three words a day for 30 days. It's large print so I can see it. And then the thing I'm really the most pleased with recently, I wrote a novel called Irrevocable, The Gifts and Callings of God are Irrevocable. I am passionate just like your pastor. We talked about it at lunch with another pastor, trying to keep men and women in the ministry. They're jumping ship like Crazy Gallup says 75% of them. If they could figure out what they could do besides ministry, they would leave for a myriad of reasons. This is like a Grisham novel. It's also on Audible. And there's a price sheet back there, but the way I do it on this is any donation. If you need to be encouraged and one of these things may encourage you, you can have it anything from a nickel to a million dollars. My accountant gets nervous over a million dollars, but I mean, if you have a cough drop, I like cough drops. I don't want to want at the bottom of your purse, ma'am. It's got hair on it, it's sticky, it's gross. I got some caps, I can't take a donation for the caps because they cost me a lot of money, but I don't make a lot of money on them, but this be somebody as a message. I made a film in Thailand in 2019. We were premiering it in 2020 on March 19th. It was on the front page of our local newspaper in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. We had a red carpet purchased. I bought a tuxedo at JC Penny. I mean, it was going to be on. And then we got this virus in North Carolina. I don't know if you read about it, it's called COVID. And they shut down everything. The governor shut down, so I have given this film to the world. It's on the inspiration network. You can get it if you scan the code at the tables called Aren't You Somebody? The hat is, in reference to that, my friend went to Thailand in 1986 and he saw trafficking. The film is about a trafficking theme, so his parents use your discretion. And he was just floored and he pounded the table at breakfast and said, "Somebody's got to stop this. The government's got to stop this. The church's somebody needs to do something about this." And the pastor in Thailand looked at him and said, "Your somebody, aren't you somebody?" And so he went over there and started a children's home in 1986, 600 people have graduated. Every one of them's graduated with Jesus in their heart. They're lawyers. It's amazing what he's done. So anyway, it's what the film is based on. And then I do an illustrated sermon about forgiveness and that's what free means. And there's a little key there that I use in my sermon. All right, turn to Hebrews chapter 12. I gave a longer pitch because I'm not going to preach as long tonight. Everybody said hallelujah. We have two layers of altar tonight. I'm going to call for people to respond to what I'm preaching. And we'll take as much time there as we need. And then we're going to pray for sick people. I'm going to pray for sick people. Lord, how amazing it is that you love us with an everlasting love. We're the apple of your eye. If you had a refrigerator in heaven, you'd have our picture on it because you're crazy about us, Lord. And how amazing that you used the foolish things of the world that confound the wise. I'm just perplexed. God, who am I? You would take a broken down, thrown away, illegitimate kid like me, giving away, tossed to and fro, hurt in every kind of way. And let me be in a church like this with the quality of people that are in this room tonight. I give you the praise. For the people that are healed, we'd like to tell you in advance, God, you get all the glory. Every bit of the glory goes to you. You're mighty welcome just to touch them in their bodies, even right now, Lord, because you're going to get all the glory anyway. Praise you for it, now help me prophesy and say what you want me to say in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Many years ago, 30 years ago, I bought a house in Columbus, Georgia. It was a big stretch for us. I had two kids, had a little small swimming pool. If you're ever thinking about getting a swimming pool, don't do that. That's such a problem. But we loved it at the time and loved the house, but it had a problem. It had a shrubbery problem. It had a shrubbery problem. They were everywhere. The corner of the house, behind the house, overshadowing that little swimming pool by the carport. And in the front sidewalk, they were shoulder high. I had to do like a Michael Jackson moonwalk. Just to get to the front door one day, I was in my office. I was an evangelist at the time. And I was just looking out the window, talking on the phone. And I saw swarms of hornets going in and out of those shrubberries. And I'm going to tell you, I hate hornets worse than I hate a snake. I'd rather deal with a snake than a hornet. And I decided right then and there that I'd get out there and I was going to push those shrubberries over. They'd probably take me a long afternoon. Well, I bode my back, you know. And I tried to push them over with a shovel and a hoe and some other equipment, and they laughed at me. They laughed at me. I put a chain around one of the shrubs, and I hooked them to my four-wheel drive of a red Toyota four-runner. And I attached it there and let off on the clutch. To my horror, I did not hear the sound of shrubbery pulling out. I heard my bumper coming off. I heard some of my feelings just saying in front of a guy like Joe Garner. Never claiming to be mechanical or horticultural. I fastened the chain to the thing I had it, supposed to have had it on and thought I had it on and I had better success. What I thought was going to be a long afternoon turned into two solid weeks of long afternoon and two full weekends. I contacted Georgia Tech horticultural department. I found out what my problem was. The problem was that the roots of my shrubs were actually connected to an elm tree in Genera, Western Australia on the other side of the planet. I didn't have a shrub problem, not a root problem. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 12 says, "Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down in the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed, be healed, be healed, be healed, be healed, be healed, pursue peace with all people and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness, lest any root of bitterness, lest any root of bitterness, springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Roots are important. I'm speaking about booting the root tonight. There are all kinds of meanings and connotations about roots. The old people in the room like me, you remember back in the 70s, there was a television program and many series called Roots by Alex Haley. It made a big impact on my life. There's other connotations about roots. One is a term of heritage. What are your roots, darling? Another's establishing residence. We're gonna put our roots down over here in Norton, Virginia. But the formal definition of root is on the screen. It's the underground part of a seed plant body that originates usually from the hypocodal function as an organ of absorption, aeration, and food storage, or as a means of anchorage and support differs from the stem, especially in lacking nodes, buds, and leaves. Roots are good except when they ain't good. They can be bad because roots compete for nutrients with the good plants. They affect stabilization and they suck the life out of desired plants. Let me give you what the full life study Bible says about this passage. Root of bitterness refers to a spirit and an attitude that is characterized by intense animosity and resentment. Know anybody like that? Here it may refer to an attitude of bitter resentment towards God's discipline instead of humble submission to His will for our lives. Bitterness can also be directed towards people in the church and it results into filing the person who is bitter, making him or her unfit to approach God in prayer. Bitterness in the community of believers can spread and defile many destroying the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. So what we are calling this is our heart. This is our heart, this represents our heart. It's a metaphor for our heart. Proverbs, chapter four says, above all else, guard your heart, for out of it flows the issues of life. And so tonight we want to be fruitful. The Bible says be fruitful and multiply. The Bible talks about the fruit of the spirit. So if you're just indulged me for a moment using this pot as a metaphor, y'all have a vacuum cleaner, we're gonna need one tonight. I'm going to, we're gonna need two vacuum cleaners tonight. I'm gonna make this, oh yeah, this is good. Rich soil. And what we want to do is we want to plant some seed in this thing, above all else, make sure your heart is guarded because out of it flows the issues of life. We want to be fruitful, we want to be fruitful. So we're gonna put maybe a couple of things of seeds in here. Oh yeah, they got wet so it's a little bit harder than, there you go. That's what that represents our hearts. We've sewn some seed. The Bible says the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long, suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such there is no law. We talk about the gifts of the spirit. And I have prayed for tonight a gift of healing and miracles for this, your people, God. That's what I prayed for. And the word of knowledge, if God wants to give it to us because he said earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, 1 Corinthians 14, 1. But we also must pray for the fruit of the spirit in our lives that this will, there's nothing greater than love, faith, hope, and love. These three remain. I was adopted when I was three, my parents divorced when I was 15. I was adopted by an Indiana farmer's son turned to insurance salesman. And when we moved in from Indiana, we moved to the Ozark Mountains. Not too far from here. I was adopted, my dad would leave on Monday morning, come home on Friday. My job as a 10 year old was to pull the weeds and get the roots out of the garden. It's about a half an acre garden. I mean, for a kid, that was like, you know, a huge. 'Cause I knew that on Friday, my dad would be driving his green el Camino, el Camino, and get his leisure suit wearing self out of that el Camino and check the garden to see if I'd done what I was supposed to do. The Greek word for leisure suit is ugly. I don't know if you knew that. (congregation laughing) And I'm gonna tell you, 49 years later, I still hate that job. I hate it. My wife's the gardener. She never used to be, but just turned into a green thumb and there's little weeds in the flower beds. I know I need to pull them, but I hate it. It gives me PTSD. You gardeners know you cannot plan or should not plan where there are a bunch of contrary roots. And in the believer's life, there are all kinds of roots that grow in the heart. You can talk about the root of lust, anger, condemnation, depression, fear, addiction, violence, rebellion, laziness, just to name a few. You can talk about the root of unforgiveness. I was telling the pastor today at lunch that I drag a five by eight trailer and put an 18 by six by six, three cell prison on stages around the country. And I share my testimony in a multimedia deal and I put people in the prison of my unforgiveness and then I got to figure out how to get them out. And then what I do is I take keys and they look about like that key on my hat and I give them to the pastor and I put him on one end and I go on the other end. And I say, now these keys are not magical and they're not mystical, they are metaphorical. If you don't know how to forgive the person, a guy in Arkansas looked at me one day and said, you tell me preacher, how do I forgive that guy that beat my daughter when she was nine months pregnant? I said, sir, I have no idea how you do that. I just know you've got to do that. That's what the Bible says, 'cause if you don't forgive, you will not be forgiven. And the pastor and I will just have folks queue up all the way to the back and they'll come and they'll take a key or they'll take a bunch. If they got to forgive the whole trailer park, they'll take a bunch of keys. And I see little boys with their mommas, single mommas, 'cause daddy walked out on 'em and I just see them weep. You know what happens if root grows in their heart? A root springs up and the Bible says that it's related to healing. And the Bible says if we don't deal with it, it troubles us and it defiles many people. We're closer ladies and gentlemen to the coming of Christ that we've ever been before. We cannot let anything stand in our way of being holy. We cannot afford to pollute anything in our hearts. So I'm gonna spend the rest of my time spotlighting some roots. I'm gonna give you six roots and nine fun facts about roots. I'm gonna talk fast, so you gotta listen fast. It's not gonna take long. I'm gonna spotlight six roots. The first root is this. It's the easy pull root. This is so easy to come out. Just an index finger and a thumb. These are almost fun to pull. And the definition of this root is a root whereby just two fingers can pull this up. And it's no big deal. This is easy. And the application is this. You've been working hard all day and you come to church, somebody says something stupid to you. My mother-in-law is 96 years old. She had a brain tumor in 1969. She was married to a backslidden, a-g-boy, grew up in church. And when he was 40, he was an alcoholic. My dedicated that white book there to him because he's one of the greatest men I ever knew. My father-in-law, Jimmy Grigs. When Anna got that brain tumor, Dr. Hazuri, a Lebanese doctor, he was actually consulted the day John F. Kennedy got shot. That's how successful he was. And he did the surgery on my mother-in-law. And he said to my father-in-law, who was an alcoholic, a world-class broadcaster, Hall of Fame broadcaster, he said, "Now, Mr. Grigs, you better be prepared to raise "these two little girls by yourself." 'Cause I don't believe she's going to last through the night. If her brain swells at all, we got her wrapped in ice, but if it swells at all, she's going to be dead. He went into a chapel, said, "I'm going to make a deal "with you, God." If you heal my wife, I will pour every bit of my liquor down the sink and I will serve you all of my life. And so he died in 2012 in his 80s. And I'm happy to report that his wife woke up in Columbus, Georgia today at 96 years of age with a very sharp mind, very sharp. God answered that prayer. He over-answered that prayer. I mean, he answered that prayer. But when they did the brain surgery, the filter came off. My mother-in-law just says, "Whatever's on her mind." I would love to have that spiritual gift. I'd lost a bunch of weight one time and I walked in to see her and I was really proud of it. She said, "She's Southern Bell." She said, "Joe, I believe every time I see you, "you're losing more and more." And then I puffed out my chest like this. "You're losing more and more hair." Little root of it or the sprung up right there. That's the application. But I know that she loves me and so it's not that hard. I'm not gonna let that live inside the garden in my heart. I'm not gonna let that live 'cause I know she's crazy about me and another reason is 'cause I've said a lot of stupid things, my own self, even this week in Arkansas. COVID made me socially awkward. That's the first root, that's the first root. Here's a fun fact about roots. If you have, this is no big deal in the garden, but if you had 10,000 of these, you're not gonna grow anything. You're not gonna grow. Roots, the bad ones, choke out the good plants. Here's another fun fact about roots. Sometimes they stink, you ever gotten one at stonk? I've got some up here that stink. Number two, we call this the full pull root. Right here, ladies and gentlemen, this is the full pull. This is a root whereby a thumb and a finger is not gonna do it. You gotta put all the fingers of your hand around that root and give it a full pulling. Full pull root, here's a fun fact. Sometimes it hurts when you try to boot the root. Your hands get cut and bleed, you get calloused, or you worse, you get blistered, I'd cry to my mom, my mom, my mom blistered. She'd say, "ice up, son." Man, I rub some dirt on it. Y'all are tough at Arkansas, I smashed my finger, trying to help passage the other day. It wasn't even a speed bump for him. He don't, I was running like a little mission net, trying to get the blood off my finger. This guy here cut his hand off, just put a towel around and keep on going hard after Jesus. But pulling roots hurts. The Bible says in James chapter three, if you have bitter envians self-seeking in your hearts, don't boast and lie against the truth. It hurts, but no matter how much it hurts, we gotta pull it. This is the application, you've been discouraged lately. You can't really put your finger on it, something that sprung up in your heart. You have to put all the fingers of your spiritual hand around that thing and get it out. Number three, this root here is called glove required. Glove required, you're not gonna get this root up with a finger and a thumb, and you're not, you're gonna try to give it a full pulling, but you gotta have, there's an Arkansas root right here. You gotta put a glove on, you gotta put a glove on and get that thing working. That's the definition of that root right there. Here's another fact, here's another fact. The longer you wait to get the roots out, the harder it is, how many testify? Whether it's in nature or whether it's in spirit, the longer you wait to deal with that root, the harder it is to get out. Man, here's the application, the man has an anger problem. Instead of dealing with it when it was small, instead of dealing with it when it was just itty bitty, like just small, when it was easy to get out, he let it grow, now he says things to his wife and to his kid that's reprehensible. He needs to get the glove on right now, it's just gonna get worse, it ain't gonna get better. I know, 'cause I had an anger problem, it was modeled to me growing up and I used as an excuse and a crutch and God had to reach down into my heart and get that thing out. Here's another, here's another root, we call this root right here. This root is called elbow grease, elbow grease root. There's a bunch of those. Elbow grease root, by definition is a root that my own grandpa, Preacher's definition, when he was saying to me, "Joe, you need to put a little bit of elbow grease on it." When I was a kid, I thought that your elbow actually did have grease somewhere attached to it. That's this root right here. That's this root right here, I cleaned up that mess, don't worry about. Here's another fact about weeds. Weeding is hard work and it is tough to remove 'em. It is tough to remove 'em. My mother-in-law, she is a, I told you about her, well, she's a prolific gardener 'til she couldn't, 'til she sort of got bedridden in her 90s, sharp mind, bedridden, and she would be in her 80s. My mother-in-law's a little bit different. She would collect Georgia pine straw in a flower bed, put it all together, tap it on a rock and cut it with scissors so that all the pine straw would be the same length in the flower bed. Do that for hours, picking up pine cones. She would work on a root with an axe for hours at a time. She was doing that one day and I walked down and said, "Nana, it's hard for me to take a nap in here "knowin' you got that axe in your hand." (audience laughs) It's hard work to get a root out of, give me the axe, but we are commanded Ephesians 431, get rid of all bitterness, not an option. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every form of malice. Someone in the church offended you. Maybe it was someone offering a, their form of a well-intentioned rebuke. Maybe it was a hypocrite, maybe it was a leader. The roots sprang up, maybe you were a child and that was years ago, decades ago. Then it never quit growing. We are to work hard at getting our hearts right and all of that stuff out. I was preaching to my home church in Georgia where I got saved. I was gathering my Bible up and my notes and I saw the pastor's wife talking to a lady way in the back and she kept motioning like, "Go, go up, go up." So I stepped down off the platform. I said, "Hi." She was walking slowly up to me. She said, "Do you remember me? "I called you, do you remember me?" And I said, "I'm kinda drawing a blank. "I've been going a lot of years. "When did you call me?" 20 years ago, I said, "Man, I don't remember "what I had for breakfast this morning." That's a long time ago. You're gonna have to refresh. Yeah, I called you 'cause my son was in trouble. And I said, "I want Pastor Joe to talk to my son." So the secretary said, "Just a moment." She came back on the phone. She said, "Pastor Joe said he'd never do that." She said, "I've hated you for 20 years. "My husband died last year hating you. "I don't know who these people are." I said, "Man, man, anything can get under the radar "but what you just said does not in any way "sound like it represents my heart. "I've driven six hours across state lines "to be in a hospital at six o'clock in the morning "for people having heart surgery that don't even like me." She said, "Well, that's what I was thinking "when I heard your preach. "It didn't sound like that would be the kind of person "that you are." She had a root of bitterness. That wasn't even true. Some of you might have that too. Perceptions and perspectives that sprang up. Number five, the number five root, ladies and gentlemen, we call this the chain it up root. You gotta put a chain on it. Here's definition of this root. This root right here, finger and thumb ain't gonna get it. You put all that, you can squeeze out all the elbow grease tube that you have and it ain't coming up. There's got to be an outside force that you have to put on that thing to get it out. That's the definition. Here's a fact. You cannot see the root. Even you cannot see the root. An example of this is found in Acts chapter eight, verse 13. I referenced it last night at the altar. Simon himself believed and was baptized and continued with Philip and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. They were miracles and they amazed Simon. But Simon, all rights and intents, a believer had a problem and he didn't see it. But God gave an X-ray to Simon Peter of his problem. Simon Peter read the X-ray. The passage goes on to say, when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Spirit was given the offer to money. I'll remind you what I said last night. When he saw miracles, he didn't reach for his checkbook. But when he saw the baptism in the Holy Spirit, he reached for his debit card because that was more powerful even than miracles. He wanted to give them money. He said, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit. Peter said to him, I'm reading your X-ray. Your money perish with you because you thought the gift of God could be purchased with money. You neither have pardon or portion in this matter. For your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. He said, I see that you are poisoned, you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. This is a hard thing to get out of your heart. In other words, Simon, you need to remove the root. And really, you didn't want to mess with Simon Peter, did you? Remember the Garden of Gethsemane? You feel froggy jump, baby? Come on, let's go and try to cut somebody's head off. Remember, Anonai, since the fire, you don't want to mess with Simon Peter. Number seven, if you don't get all the root, the plant might just grow back. That's the lazy man's way of getting roots out, and that's what I do sometimes. I'm at the mailbox. My wife planted a horrible flag in our garden in honor of her mother and Auburn graduate. I saw an Auburn flag in my garden. I said, what meaneth this, Cecilia? She said, oh, it's just an honor. My mom blew in orange flowers. I immediately ran, got my Alabama flag, put it on a mailbox. Everybody thinks we're bipolar in my neighborhood. But by that Alabama flag, I saw a root walk in the dog the other day, and I pulled it. And the root didn't come out. And I was just too lazy to go get a shovel and get it, and I know it's coming back. If you don't deal with it, it's going to come back. I'm thinking of a pastor in Georgia. I heard him speak to 130 kids at an anti-alcohol conference in Navarre Beach. He was a college student at the time. He told his life story. He spoke of the time as a child that he would pray to God, not really knowing who God was. When he was 10 years old, he found a tape in the house. He didn't know what it was, he put it in the VCR. It was pornographic tape, and right then, a root spring up that he fights to this very day. Even if you have to, you've got to chain it up. We got one more root. The definition of this root is called the no sir root. This is a root that you bring a thumb and an index finger to, and it really laughs loud. You use the full pull technique and it says, "Uh-uh, you put the glove on and it giggles." I said, "No, you get a chain and it cracks its neck "and it bows its back and it growls." And it says, "Uh-uh, we call this the no sir root." Ladies and gentlemen, this root right here is tough. That's a tough root right there. But I met believers that have that in their heart. It's hard for me to get this in my carry on luggage when I go flying on an airplane. Fact number eight, you can't grow or be affected without it in the way. I mean, you might grow a little something, something, but you're not growing grow what you're supposed to grow. As much as you're supposed to grow. Jesus said in Matthew 13, "Now he who receives seed "among the thorns is he who hears the word "in the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches "choke the word and he becomes unfruitful." And here's the good news and the gospel is good news. The last fact is this, Jesus removes the big roots. He's good at it. There's the application, your spouse walks out, your daddy walked out, rejection, rage, grief, insecurity. Man, you were created by God in his image and you were created with a desire that comes from God for a righteous man to cup your cheeks in his hands and say, "Your daddy's a little girl. "Your precious, you're a princess for a grown man," to cup his hands on your cheeks and call you his beautiful queen. And when something diminished that, something interfered with that, something derailed that, then bitterness can spring up. And you should get it when it's small. See, this root right here started like that. It started right there. And you're supposed to get it when it's small, but maybe you didn't know how to. You weren't equipped to. Nobody helped you with that. Maybe you go to a self-help book and it might help you a little bit, but it ain't gonna get it out. Counseling, I'm a big believer in counseling. I've got a counselor. She's not gonna get that out. Seminars ain't gonna get that out. Make you feel a little better, but it just breaks off and the root doesn't come up. Call it rape, hate, molestation, whatever you wanna call it, it has to come out. There's a Greek word that I like. It's called sozo. It means to rescue, to save, to deliver, to keep safe and sound from destruction and danger, to preserve one who's in danger of destruction is found 101 times in the New Testament. And over and over, the Lord knows how to sozo us, to get that out of our heart. I love this passage in Matthew 11. Just listen to 11 verse 12. Now the next day, when they had come out of Beth and Jesus was hungry and seeing a fig tree from afar, having leaves, he went to see if perhaps he could find something on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season of figs. And in response, Jesus said to the tree, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." If I was with him that day, I'd say, "Hey, let's get away from the balls." He's having a day, he's having a day. He's cursing trees. The next day, look what happened, verse 20. Now in the morning as they pass by, they saw the fig tree, dried up from the roots, from the roots, from the roots, from the roots, dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you have cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God, for surely I say to you, whoever says to the mountain be removed and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask for in prayer, believe that you receive them and you will have them. We're living in a day when everybody gets canceled for everything and everybody gets offended by everything. You wanna have a superpower in 2024, be unoffendable. If you're unoffendable, you will be, Marvel can make a movie about you. The way to be unoffendable is remember you're dead. We have died with Christ. The life we live is no longer ours, but it's him. Dead people don't get offended. If you don't believe it, next time you go to a funeral say, Uncle Bill, you ugly. He ain't gonna talk back. So you gotta work hard and speak hard. And so you know, I can't do it by myself, Lord. I can't do it. You're gonna have to do something. You're gonna have to reach right on down and get this root out of my heart. As I've been preaching, 'cause this has happened when I preached this passage in other places, even pastors have said to me and to the congregation. While that passage was being preached, the Lord put a memory in my mind when I was a little boy and I saw my dad slap my mom in a car, just weep. Big old six foot six guy, MVP, weep before his people. In conclusion, Matthew 13, another parable he put forth to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a man who's so good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and so tears among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain is sprouted and produced to crop, then the tears also appeared. So the servant of the owner came to him and says, "Sir, did you not so good seed in your field? How then do we have the weeds and the tears?" And he said to him, "An enemy has done this. This comes from the enemy. It's a trick from the enemy. The service said, "Do you want us to go and gather them up?" The Lord has been called a lot of things. Wonderful counselor, Rosa Sharon, the bomb of Gilead. He's the great physician. He's a lot of different things, but today we're gonna call him an environmental contractor because he knows what to do with roots. He reemphasizes Matthew 13 and Matthew 17 when he says to the people, "Because of your unbelief, I say to you, "if you would just have faith as a grain of mustard seed, "you will say to this mountain, "move from here to there and it will move "and nothing will be impossible to you." So tonight when you come up here in a moment, we're gonna say, when you say to the mountain, mountain, be that removed and cast you to the sea, how many millions of roots are you speaking to when you speak to the mountain? And we're gonna speak to the mountain and say, "In Jesus' name, get out that root of bitterness." Jesus knows how to reach in and pull out every single one. We are co-laborers with Jesus, so we've got to cooperate with his program and his plan. But if you do that, if you get all of that junk out, if you can just get all that stuff out, all of these roots, all these nasty roots, and reach way down in, you will find the fruit of the Spirit. It's in there. God will make you fruitful. He'll make you profitable. He'll make you successful. And now I'm gonna, you guys wanna come back. I'm gonna share something. I told you it wouldn't be a real long sermon. I'm gonna share something that I really don't wanna share. But I will do whatever the Lord tells me to do. It's very personal and private. It's very personal and private. I got a text today from my sister, step-sister. She needs some money. You know what, she needs some money? She needs a little help so that she can take my brother to his probation officer. I've been looking for my brother. I only got one. We were raised by the same daddy, 18 years different. Couldn't find him, but finally found him in prison when he called me and needed some money for his commissary. We were raised by the same man. I think the difference in our lives is not because I'm any better in him. I'm not an ounce better in him. It's this thing I'm talking about tonight. It's our heart. It's things that spring up. And we'll give an example. I don't wanna throw my dad under the bus because my dad rescued me when I was three years old, being raised by a mentally ill woman who abused me, put me in the attic by her own admission, put me in the attic. My dad rescued me, but then he got beaten there about to death in Tampa, Florida when I was 14 years old and he was never the same. He was never the same. I was sitting in 2013 or 2009. I can't remember what year, I think it was 2013. I can't remember. I was praying. I like to pray outside sometimes. It's praying in the woods. Just minding my own business with the Lord, just talking to him. There was nothing horrible going on. I was just regularly praying. I didn't do the waiting discipline like I did. Yesterday, 17 minutes, part of the whole devotional aspect, the hour that we spend with the Lord. But I just prayed and I got a memory that hit my head. This memory hit my head. I was an eight year old boy and I was going from Missouri to Georgia and we stopped at a truck stop. We're sitting at the truck stop. I'm eight years old, lady walks over. I can still see her. I'm 62 years old, 52 years ago. I can still see this woman. She was kind of a tall lady with dark hair and had an apron on. She said, "What can I get y'all?" "What you want, young man?" And I said, "I want a catfish dinner." When I said, "I want a catfish dinner," my dad was sitting on my left. He used the Lord's name in vain. Cussed, angrily. And it scared me. It scared me. I didn't understand what was going on. I said, "No, I guess I don't want that." And he pounded the table, "Well, are you going to get it? "You're going to get that? "You're going to eat everybody that catfish dinner?" My mom, I remember saying, "Wayne, he's going to eat it." And I didn't understand the nature of the stop. I guess it was just a coke stop. But I didn't know I was an eight year old boy. So I'm sitting in the woods as a grown man, thinking about something I hadn't thought about forever. And I started crying so uncontrollably that I honestly thought I was having a nervous breakdown. He ordained minister this, him is of God. I thought I was having a nervous breakdown, I called a board member of mine's wife who has a ministry called Soso. I said, "Gracie, didn't, I'm sitting in the woods "and I'm balling my eyes out. "What's going on, Joe? "I had this memory. "Am I losing my mind? "I told her about it and she just laughed." Well, thanks a lot, lady. She just kind of laughed. She said, "Yeah, that happens. "And you know what you did back then? "You made vows and we got to meet together "and we got to pray and we got to undo those vows." Oh, that's weird. But I started thinking about it. And I was a missionary for a few minutes. You know why I quit being a missionary? 'Cause I can't ask people for anything. It was hard enough for me to just ask you to go look at those books. I don't like asking anybody for a catfish dinner. For the rest of my life, I'm not going to ask you for anything. You can ask Pastor Joe, there's no demands when I come for whatever. But the other thing was growing up with four kids, raising four kids as they grew up, if I had enough money to go to Applebee's or Chili's and I could give the waitress a 20, 25% tip and it was all the money I had. I would take my family. I know that's bad financial management but I'm telling you nobody in this world will ever tell me again that I can't get a catfish dinner. So I met with Grace in my office. We just sat on metal chairs. There was nothing mystical about it. She had a notebook and she opened it up and she said, "Now, let's pray about this." And she kind of let us in a prayer and then she went to another thing and let us in a prayer and then between that experience and a men's conference just a few weeks later, I was at a men's conference on Joy Mountain, North Carolina right after this sozo experience. And God, I've heard all the old timers talk about being drunk in the spirit. I just thought that's something they said. I remember as a kid what it felt like to be drunk. I was on that mountain and I got drunk in the Holy Spirit. I mean, totally, totally. He just came upon me and when he came upon me that night he reached right down into my heart and he pulled that thing out and I don't know what to tell you except I'd probably still be doing ministry. I'd probably still be doing ministry. But when he pulled that root out, I'm telling him he put miracle grow on the fruit and we started exponentially increasing. Maybe you need to ask God to help you with the root of bitterness. I just shared with you transparently tonight, my own experience, you don't think down to me. I bet you don't think worse of me. Nobody thinks worse of me because we're human beings. They're gonna play something before we pray for any sick person. The Holy Spirit is zeroing in on this. Oh, it doesn't mean that you've got this horrible, ugly heart. It just means that the spirit of God has notified you. He's done a spiritual x-ray. You couldn't see the root. It's below ground, but he showed you. I can help you with that. When that person said that, I'm thinking of a minister right now, another MVP, a super successful guy with a wife who's an incredible minister in her own right, but she still deals with insecurity because when she was a girl basketball player in high school, a coach said something stupid to her and she's now grappling with it decades later. Let God get that root out of your life. Would you all stand? We have an environmental contractor. You are a great gardener. (gentle music) You told us to bear fruit that would remain and you know how to cultivate the fruit, dig around, put some miracle grow on it. You know how to get rid of the roots. And I've tried to obey you here, Lord, and just preach what you put on my heart. So many times, a minister and Lord so many of us are just insecure, I'm one of them. And we think that a response at the altar means we've ministered good and some kind of a pat on the back. I ain't praying that tonight. It'll have anything to do with that for me. It's about your people. It's about your people walking in freedom. It's about your people being fruitful. It's about your people bearing fruit that will remain and nothing in their heart. The Bible says that the root of bitterness was tied with healing in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. Let the lame be healed. For the one in here that says is nobody's business, the pain that I went through as a young man, young married man, my wife did the things she did. Help them see from the word of God that it is people's business because when we get troubled by a root, it defiles other people. Let us get that root out of our hearts, God, that other people will be blessed, encouraged, and strengthened it because of our lives. Ladies and gentlemen, this anointed worship couple is going to lead us in a moment. And if the Holy Spirit has been speaking to you during the last few minutes about your heart, there is no shame in your game. Would you come and kneel or stand and give us the honor of just asking God, would just agree in Jesus name that he'll reach right in, no matter what size, tie near big, and get all that junk out and heal you of all that stuff for the glory of God. Thank you for what you're going to do, Lord. Go ahead, y'all. - Thank you Lord, y'all, to us all. (gentle music) ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Oh, we're well by the way of sin ♪ ♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ And you come to the end of this land ♪ ♪ Do your thirst for a dream come to birth ♪ ♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Come to the long term ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are rolling ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious provided grace ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Keep in mind your senses ♪ ♪ Come to the end of this place ♪ ♪ Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ From the ashes of your eyes ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus is calling ♪ ♪ Come to the end of this land ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are rolling ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious provided grace ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are rolling ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious provided grace ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ You're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ I'm hurting you growing in the fear ♪ ♪ You're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are rolling ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ Singing the name of your heart ♪ ♪ Christ is breathing ♪ ♪ Who wants to save your heart ♪ ♪ Is in your wonder ♪ ♪ Singing the name of your heart ♪ ♪ Christ is breathing ♪ ♪ Out down in the morning ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Oh, you're hurting me growing in the fear ♪ ♪ Christ is breathing ♪ ♪ Oh, come to the altar ♪ ♪ And Father's arms are rolling wide ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Come to the altar ♪ ♪ The Father's arms are rolling wide ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Come to the altar ♪ ♪ And Father's arms are rolling wide ♪ ♪ For goodness was blowing ♪ ♪ The precious love of Jesus ♪ - My friend, having brain surgeries and chemotherapy, she's not in remission anymore, and her son's getting married in three weeks, and she's going through aggressive chemotherapy as the brain tumor grows so fast, they're aggressively trying to get her to her son's wedding before she goes to Jesus. She's the toughest lady that I've known in a long time, what an inspiration, but I'm standing in for Jennifer Luke tonight. Do you have somebody that you love that's not here but they need to be healed? And you care about 'em and it means something to you. - Would you raise your hand if you like me and just call their name to the Lord? Lord, send help from the sanctuary. I pray for Jennifer, call their name out to the Lord. Call her, I would pray. - Praise my name, praise my name. - That God, you'll send help from the sanctuary, that you'll send your word to heal them, that you'll walk by 'em in a hospice room, walk by 'em right now in an easy chair with oxygen on full blast, three liters. Walk by, lay your hand upon them, Lord. Somebody on their deathbed, put your hand upon them, Lord. Lord, send your word and heal these people. We tear off the tiles and we push down the roof. We bring our loved ones to your feet and ask you to heal them. Bring healing, healing is the children's bread. These signs follow them that believe they lay hands on sick people and they are healed. Tonight, if you have a need in your own body, you need to be healed in your own body. I believe the Lord is present to heal. I know that's his nature. I know that's his character. These are the things I know, whosoever will can be saved, no matter what you've done. There's only one unforgivable sin that's blaspheming the Holy Spirit, that means when the Holy Spirit convicts you, you just tell him to the very last breath. I don't want you, that's blasphemy. Anything else can be forgiven, murder can be forgiven. And I also know that every forgiven person is a candidate for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. These are the things I know. When it comes to healing, I'm in sales and he's in management. I don't know everything about it, but I pray for everything. I pray for everything. I stalk people in pharmacies at the Walmart sometime if they got a limp. I want to lay hands on everybody. Tonight, if you need something in your own body and you believe that all things are possible, you believe we can speak to the little tiny mountains and say, be thou removed and cast into the sea and not doubt in your heart. If you believe that he's able and he's present and he loves you and he cares about you and that we have a high priest that is touched by the feeling of our infirmities. If you believe that, that tonight you can be healed. I want you to come to this altar like popcorn will kind of go around. I may not pray in a line. I may pray loud 'cause when I pray for cancer and heart disease, sometimes I speak to the mountain with a loud voice. If you need to be healed in your own body, we won't take a long, long time, but we'll take enough time and lay hands on every single person and believe, especially those of you that are in pain. If you come to this altar and you're in pain, Pastor Joe and I, we pray for you. You go back and test it out. Test it out, see if the pain is gone. And you're welcome to come back. Like the Bible says, the man did to Jesus. He prayed twice for a blind guy 'cause he saw men like trees. You go test it out and then you go show yourself to the priest. If you got a bad blood report, go show the doctor, get a lab report. The priest was the doctor of the day and let them confirm the miracle that he has for you. God nine lepers, 10 lepers were healed and nine left and never turned around, but one came back and said, "Thank you." Tonight, we're not competing with lepers, but in advance, oh, thank you Lord. It's a pretty strong anointing here tonight. In advance, God, for every person, the pain that you let go of their lives, every person, the pain that you, every person, the diagnosis changes, every person that's healed in this room tonight. In advance, we give you the praise and we promised you earlier, all the glory goes to you in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name, I might ask you, I might not. If I do, if it's personal, just say, "That's none of your business," or it's unspoken in there. I won't be offended. Thank you, Lord. (soft piano music) ♪ And we need a brush with the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ For your spirit I, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ The holy anointing, the power of your presence ♪ ♪ For your spirit I, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ And we need a brush with the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ For your spirit I, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ The holy anointing, the power of your presence ♪ ♪ For your spirit I, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ The spirit's sound rushing wind ♪ ♪ Fire of God, for within ♪ ♪ Holy Ghost, breathe on us, we pray ♪ ♪ As we repent and turn from sin ♪ ♪ Revive a lamber smoldering ♪ ♪ Breath of God, fan us into a flame ♪ ♪ And we need a brush with the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ For your spirit I, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ Want your for your spirit I ♪ ♪ For hearts that burn the holy fear ♪ ♪ Pure with fight and faith and deep ♪ ♪ Refiners spark, strengthen what we face ♪ ♪ So we the church, prepare your life ♪ ♪ Lamb of lame, city bright, king and kingdom ♪ ♪ Come is what we pray ♪ ♪ And we need a brush with the fragrance of heaven ♪ ♪ For your spirit I will, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ A holy andointing, a holy andointing ♪ ♪ The power of your presence, for your spirit I ♪ ♪ For your spirit I ♪ ♪ A little the redeemed, prophesy and see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ Move upon our graves, sons and daughters see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ Let all the redeems and let all the redeemed ♪ ♪ prophesy and see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ Move upon our graves, sons and daughters see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ Come on prophesy, you're healing in this place ♪ ♪ And let all the redeemed, prophesy and see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ Move upon our graves, sons and daughters see ♪ ♪ That we can hear the wind blowing ♪ ♪ 'Cause you did not hold you ♪ ♪ The veil tore before you ♪ ♪ You silenced the voice of sin and grace ♪ ♪ The heavens are roaring ♪ ♪ The praise of your glory ♪ ♪ For you are raised to life again ♪ ♪ You have no rival ♪ ♪ You have no equal ♪ ♪ Now and forever God puree ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory ♪ ♪ Yours is the name above all names ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of death could not hold ♪ ♪ Death could not hold you ♪ ♪ The veil tore before you ♪ ♪ You silenced the post of sin and grace ♪ ♪ Oh the heavens are roaring ♪ ♪ The praise of your glory ♪ ♪ For you are raised to life again ♪ ♪ Oh you have no rival ♪ ♪ You have no equal ♪ ♪ Now and forever God puree ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory ♪ ♪ Yours is the name above all names ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus Christ my King ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ Nothing can stand against ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ ♪ What a powerful name it is ♪ ♪ The name of Jesus ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) I learned a long time ago that I'd rather obey God and look foolish than try to look cool, disobey, because that would never happen anyway. And so at the end of services like this, I just try to listen and see. Is there something else, Lord? Do we miss anything? Is there something else, Lord? I think He wants to talk to all of us all the time, and it's like that half-lack, duck, half-lack, you know, people don't listen, I don't listen, but when I get in these atmospheres, I try to listen. And I'm gonna say a word, and if it resonates with you, it's up to you, whether you want to obey or not. We don't want you to be embarrassed. Jesus isn't into embarrassing anybody. (gentle music) What we are about is bearing one another's burdens and fulfilling the law of Christ, and if there's a brother or a sister that's hurting, we want to rally to that person. And I heard, I feel like I heard this word, I'm not infallible. There's somebody in this room that the Lord wants to minister to, and the area of your sleep because of, here's the word, nightmares. Disturbing your sleep, maybe not every night, but regularly you have a nightmare. Maybe the same one may be different one. If that resonated, if something jumped in your spirit, don't say, "Well, he's talking about somebody else." No, the Holy Spirit's calling time out for you. We want to pray for you. I think I'd like to pray with you right where you are, but I want to know who you are. There'll be some people that will put their hand, they'll hold your hands up, you can lift your hand, and they'll hold your hand up. We'll ask God to set you free from that. Here's the word before you lift your hand, that you will lie down and your sleep shall be sweet. And remember this, he never slumbers, neither does he sleep. So because he's always on the job, we get to sleep. Sleep is a gift from God, rest is a gift from God. So I said that word nightmare, if that's you, would you lift your hand up so we can pray for you? And I'm not going to be nervous about it, is that you? That you? Okay. You know the Lord, he'll do a lot of things for just one person. He'll stop, he'll stop everybody in the crowd and say, "Who's that person that just touched the hem of my garment?" I'm embarrassed. In fact, I admire your strength. Slip your hand towards this man right here, God. Let this be a mark in this young man's life that he will never forget. That from this moment, you know, bokkorra says that each other, from this moment until the end of his long life, should Jesus tear you? That there's never an issue again, never an issue again. Solid rock, please, and praise the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Lamb of God over him. And the angel of the Lord camps round about those who fear him and delivers him. I pray that he'll feel the holy presence of God in his room and that this will never be an issue again in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm proud of you. I've got a hat up here for you. You can get one free of charge. Not just proud of him. Thank you, Lord. Come on, let's worship God. Oh, from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You are worthy of it all. You're so worthy. You are worthy of it all. From you, for from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You are worthy. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of my praise. You are worthy of it all. You can do all things. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. You deserve the glory day and night. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day. Cause you are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. God you deserve the glory. Oh you are worthy. You are worthy of it all. Oh so would be. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Come on sing day and night. Let's let our praise arise. Day and night, night and day, let it. Our praise is in since. Day and night. Night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day, let it listen. So rise. Day and night, night and day. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. God you deserve the glory. Lord we just thank You today. Lord we thank You for what You are doing in this house Lord. We thank You for what You are doing in our people God. Lord we thank You for what You did tonight God. I am believing that tonight some roots have been pulled out. Lord I am believing that we are going to hear reports of the healings that took place in people's bodies. Lord we know that You are grateful. And we pray that You continue to do that. Lord I pray that You watch over these people and bring them to their homes and bring them back here safely in Your name we pray. Amen. We'll see you tomorrow night at seven o'clock and bite your friends.