Priscilla Shirer: My Eyes Can See

the first baptist and received priscilla shirer ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) good morning good afternoon it's a privilege to be with you you may take your seats I'm so grateful so grateful to be at the First Baptist Church of Glen Arden it refreshes my soul it feels like coming home it feels like coming home I'm so grateful thank you for allowing me the privilege to be a part of this particular day because I know it's not just us Sunday it is your anniversary and so I celebrate you today I celebrate the years of faithfulness all the work that God has done through you and it feels special to be a part of it I want to celebrate your pastor and First Lady I cannot ((applause)) ((music playing)) I celebrate them because oh man for so many reasons but because they have integrity let me tell y'all it's sad to say but it is a rare thing these days when you find church leaders who are actually the same people when nobody's looking and the fact that you all have that is something you ought to thank God for that he entrusted you to people like this such a blessing so much of the way Jerry and I have patterned our marriage and the way we have raised our children is directly connected to the influence of these two people on our life I'm so grateful I do want to greet you with from my husband we were all planning on coming had a little hiccup with his mom who's not doing well right now so he stayed home with the bigger boys but I've got my youngest son with me Jude you do one just stand up and say hi this is Jude shyer right there I'm excited to have him with me in the house of God today let's pray and see what it is that the Lord would say to us Lord Jesus put a guard over my mouth father unveil our ears Lord so that we can hear and Lord would you open our eyes so that we can see it is in the mighty matchless name of Jesus the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the name at which demons tremble it is in that name that the Church of God said amen amen amen as I mentioned I have three sons Jackson is 16 years old I've been a bit nostalgic and reminiscing while I have been here with you today because the very first time that I came to First Baptist Church of Glenarden Jackson was six months old he was in my arms like this now he is 16 6 foot 2 inches tall towering over me his brother is 14 years old Jerry junior and then Jude he's our surprise baby we still don't know how you got here ten years old now we named him Jude on purpose because that's as close as I can get to Revelation because it is finished that's it that's how you got your name Jackson Jerry jr. and Jude one of the things that I have done with my son since my oldest was five is when I started it I got them each a journal I went to Ross Dress for Less on the left hand side back corner for about $4.99 you could buy a journal and about one for each son I have kept a journal for each of them for all these years I plan to write in it I don't write in it every day or even every week it's just when I see something I don't want to forget that's happening in their lives or I see the handiwork of God maneuvering things that I want them to be able to recount and recall later on so I'm just kind of writing love letters to them I think I'm gonna pass it on to them when they're old enough to appreciate it or better yet I might just give it today wives so they can see what they're getting themselves into that's what I might do but I'm writing these journals keeping it for them safekeeping I was looking through the oldest ones Journal recently because he just turned 16 a couple of weeks ago and so I was just sort of looking back through his journal and I was reminded of something that happened on a particular day in his life and I remember this particular incident because I recall that after it I was particularly spent something was going on with the boys they were all little at the time so it was diapers and you know just full-on in full time when they're little like that and I remember being very tired after that incident and I will never forget it because I had to get on an airplane and travel to memphis the next day I was so excited about this particular trip things had been so crazy and so chaotic and I don't know how it worked out that I was traveling by myself usually we all kind of traveled together we homeschooled our boys for quite a while so they could just travel with us so usually we were all together at least somebody was with me but on this occasion I was by myself and I was glad I was so tired I could not wait to get into Memphis I was picked up from the airport and we went to the hotel the sweet woman from the church that came to pick me up took me to the hotel she said hey do you want to stop for dinner first I said naw girl take me to the hotel I am looking so forward to being in the room by myself being able to sleep in the bed by myself I was so excited about all of that just getting some rest and I fell into a deep sleep about 8:30 p.m. really early excited for a full night before the conference the next day but it was about three o'clock in the morning that I was jarred awake out of my slumber and I wouldn't looked outside the window to see what was making all this noise and not too far outside of the back of the hotel there were train tracks and a train was roaring by at 3 o'clock in the morning the conductor was sitting down on the horn the entire time that he roared by anyone one of those short trains it's one of the ones that never ends it just keeps going forever and ever and so I waited for the train to go by and then I tried to get back into a deep sleep but I really wasn't able to sleep really well after that and the conference started early so the woman from the church came and picked me up early and I didn't say anything about the about the train at all I just went through the day looking forward to one more night I had one more night in the hotel I plan to get a good night's sleep fell into a deep sleep about 8:30 and you guessed it about three o'clock in the morning a train went roaring by the back of that hotel drop jarred me awake out of my sleep I looked out the window there was a train again and this time I tried to get back to see but really I would just couldn't wait for the sweet woman from the church to come pick me up so I could ask her about this train and so early in the morning when she came I sat down in her car and she said hey how did you sleep I said well since you asked there's a train that has gone by not just tonight last night but the night before as well this train Ward by both nights waking me up what's the deal with this train as I spoke to her her eyes got wider and wider there was a look of apology on her face I felt so bad for her she just said Priscilla I'm so so sorry she said I have to be honest with you those of us who have lived in this neighborhood for so long those of us who are used to this community and have been here for years and years we have gotten so used to the sound of the train that we don't even recognize it when it comes to her anymore it didn't even cross my mind to prepare you for the train because we are so used to the sound that we become desensitized to it when it passes through it occurs to me that those of us who live particularly in this part of the world in the western part of the world where we have been so blessed by the presence of God where you can go on most any corner and find a Bible teaching Church like this one with a pastor who is proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ where you can turn on Christian radio and turn on this station if you like contemporary and Christian radio or if you want to hear Gus well you can turn on this station you can go in a Christian bookstore and pick up any Bible in any translation in any language that you like we have been so blessed by the presence of God around us that could it be that when the Train of his glory wants to fall in a unique way in your life you don't even recognize it anymore have we become so desensitized to the goodness of God that when he wants to speak to us we don't even hear his voice when his fingerprints aren't to be recognized in our circumstances we call it coincidence we don't even recognize that it's him making himself apparent in our lives lord help us to wake up out of our spiritual slumber and hear you when you speak and see you when you are near because I don't know about y'all but listen if he's speaking I want to hear his voice if he's moving I want to see his fingerprint I want to see his footprints in my life guiding my path if he is near I don't want to miss him when he comes and is at least in part to this end that I believe Luke gives us a passage of Scripture a story of Christ's coming into the world that was already read to you earlier in the service so I will take the time to read it all verse four verse but this is the occasion when Jesus is coming into the temple almost for the very first time he is about forty days old the time for purification which is what it was called was over where the mother kind of kept herself in secret with her new baby but then after forty days they would bring the son into the temple to be presented to the Lord and on this occasion Luke gives us details about the Messiah coming into the temple I love the Gospel of Luke I like Luke as a writer in fact he is the physician he's a doctor so he's been to details I like juicy details I like to sing the words that can put flesh on the story so that we can get a full picture I like how Luke writes throughout the entirety of his Gospel he wrote his gospel and recorded stories and encounters with Jesus not only to show us that Jesus encountered others but also to encourage us to know that we can encounter him that our eyes can be open to see him in the details of our life and listen this really should be our goal as believers in Jesus Christ we must not just meet him on the pages of the Old Testament as a pillar of cloud during the day and a fire at night we must not just meet him in the New Testament as you raises Lazarus from the dead we're supposed to see him throughout the scriptures and the encounters he had with those people and realize that they are not exceptions to the rule they are examples for us as to how we should anticipate seeing God in our own circumstances he didn't just show up for them he shows up for us and we can see him he meets us we can encounter him when we're spent and empty and no longer to provide for ourselves we can expect that when we're blind he makes us sieved we can expect it when things are dead he still raises Lazarus we can expect it he still turns water into wine he didn't just do it for them he fully intends to do it for you and this is why Luke writes and he writes during a time of national decay you need to know that the children of Israel were in a time of depression when Luke writes they are underneath the sum of oppression this is a time of more moral and social decay and decline like never before in the nation of Israel and I don't know if you've noticed or not but our nation is in a time of moral and social decay like we have never ever seen before and the more our God is marginalized and pushed to the periphery of society the war y'all we're gonna see the influx of chaos and destruction and disaster of every kind Luke writes to people who are in a nation that is in need but he doesn't just write to people who were in an eighth in a nation that it better that is in need he writes to individuals that are in need he writes to people who don't just want to know about what God can do in the White House but what God can do in their house underneath the roof of their own home where their marriages fragmented where their bodies are broken where their minds are fissured where their hearts need mending he writes to people who need a Savior not just out there but in here individuals who are struggling he writes to us he writes encounters about broken people who met up with a great God and I believe that somebody they might need to hear this today in this service I didn't say this in the previous two services sometimes sometimes your difficulties there are less about the enemy being against you and more about God's showing you what it looks like for him to be for you sometimes when things are chaotic they provide the backdrop that is the backdrop for Jesus to show up and your eyes to finally be primed so that when he comes you will not miss him so these people have been waiting on a savior the nation is in trouble they personally are in trouble they have been calling out to God for centuries asking Yahweh to send a deliverer to send a messiah to send a savior they need a hero to rescue them for the struggle and when Jesus arrives they do not realize that it's in they've been calling out for four years and century asking God for an answer and when the answer comes the package in win in which he comes is so much different than their expectation that their expectation has blinded them to the reality of God's answer to their prayer they expected a champion on a white horse with a sword in his hand they wanted all of the dignity and all of the authority that would come with the king that they had pictured in their mind but when Jesus comes he doesn't come as the king in a chariot no he has put on humanity he has clothed his deity he has condescended and he comes packaged as a baby and when he arrives in the temple they do not even know that God has answered their prayers I want to suggest to some of you that the answer you've been praying for God has already answered I want to suggest to you that the invasion of holiness that you've been needing in your marriage or and your finances or in your health I want to suggest to you that possibly the answer has already come it's just packaged in a way that you do not prefer ((applause)) I want to suggest to you the possibility that sometimes when we pray for oak trees God answers in acorns possibly when we pray for growth sometimes God answers with rain sometimes the answer looks different than what you anticipated so then the prayer becomes a Lord would you open up my eyes Lord would you heighten my spiritual sense our sensors so that my radar is up so that when you are near even if you've come differently than I've expected I do not miss sight of you so the text tells us Luke writes and he says listen Mary and Joseph they come into the temple and they bring the baby Jesus the Messiah the one on whom everyone has been waiting and they come into the temple it says in verse it says in verse 22 that they came according to the law of Moses and they brought him Luke chapter 2 verse 22 they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord that's an interesting concept isn't it they were presenting the Lord to the to the Lord and they bring him into the temple and it says in verse 24 that they had a pair of turtledoves with them I'm gonna open up a little parenthesis right here if you don't mind cuz you know this is the twelve o'clock service so pastor Jenkins said I had a little time i'ma open up a parenthesis because Luke with the details wants us to know that Mary came as all parents of firstborn sons would have come to the tabernacle to the temple rather to perform two different sacrifices it was like two different layers in the sacrificial system the burnt offering and the sin offering they were required to bring with them to animals for this sacrifice one for each Leviticus gives us details about the sacrificial system you don't have to turn there I'll just tell you that a Leviticus chapter 12 all the details are given as to what they were supposed to bring and how the system was supposed to be outworked on the specific occasion and Luke chapter 12 tells us that they needed a pigeon for one of the sacrifices but they also needed a lamb that was the requirement that they needed a pigeon or a Turtledove and they needed a lamb which is why it's interesting that Luke wants to make sure we understand on this occasion that Mary came but she didn't come with a lamb she had two turtle doves two pigeons that seems to go against the Levitical law in Leviticus chapter chapter 12 but there is a little caveat a little nuance in verse 8 of chapter 12 of Leviticus that tells us that if someone was not able to afford their own lamb if they did not have sufficient funds to be able to purchase for themselves the lamb they could buy the lesser expensive sacrifice which was what was another pigeon they could come with two pigeons if they could not provide for themselves enough to purchase the lamb scholars say that Joseph had a job he was a carpenter as we all know but he was really more like a stonemason an architect he had money but the thing is they'd had to travel to Bethlehem you remember for the for the census they had had to stay in and around Bethlehem for 40 days scholars say that he had probably just come to the end of his resources and by the time the 40 days were up and it was time for him to go to Jerusalem they no longer had enough to be able to buy for themselves a lamb so when they came into the temple with two pigeons would have looked at them and turned their attention away thinking that these people are poor they are meager they are insufficient they would have had all of the signs of people that were living in poverty I wonder how many people would have looked away I wonder how many people would have turned their noses up at the poor couple who just came in with the toddler I wonder how many people because they lack the signs of affluence would have disregarded the people who are holding the Messiah that they prayed for I want to speak to anybody who is in the room and you've got insufficient funds I want to speak to anybody who was in the room and you've never been marginalized or outcast or ignored or somebody has turned their noses up at you because you don't have the signs of affluence that everybody else has and maybe your insufficient funds are not just financial maybe it's emotional you are depleted you've given everything you've got emotionally or relationally or creatively you've done everything you can and now you don't have enough here's the good news while they were looking down at Mary and Joseph because they didn't have a lab what they didn't realize at the time was that this couple had the world listen it is when you are in times of lack that the lamb can be carried most beautifully in your life sometimes we don't experience the Lamb of God as he is meant to be experienced because we got too much death as long as we are able to provide for ourselves as long as we have our own sufficient funds financially emotionally spiritually as long as we think we can buy our own lamb we don't experience the lamb in close intimate fellowship the way he is meant to be experienced so if you're in the room and you are depleted and spent and lacking in some area of your life get ready the lamb is on the way emptiness makes room for the fullness of God weakness is the platform for the strength of God to be displayed in your life I remember being with some people in a hut y'all in Africa dirt floors thatched roofs when it rained they lived in squalor as the floor became mud and I walked into the house and the peace of God was almost tangible they didn't have no stuff just the lamb and I want you could feel the presence of God as you walked in the room the smiles on their faces the way they gave their last little bits to be able to be a blessing to me the foreigner who had come over from America and she sat me down to tell me about her life and she said Priscilla you need to know that we here in this village we pray for y'all over in America she said we need you to know that we pray for you because when we hear you pray when Americans come to us and we hear you pray your prayers they're so self-centered she said you're already blessed and yet we just hear Americans praying for more blessing she said your prayers sometimes they're so weak and anemic and feeble we are asking God to allow you to experience him in the way we have no choice but to we can't afford our own lamb so we get him in a way y'all have not gotten him so we're asking the Lord to make you desperate enough to experience him the way we've experienced so if there's some black somewhere in your life financially spiritually creatively you've run out you're taxed in your relationship you just don't have it in your own natural resources expect that the reason why it's because he wants your arms empty so that you can carry him more closely to yourself close parentheses the couple comes in with Jesus please do not let it be lost on you that they bring Jesus into the temple they are at church and folks don't see Jesus young they're in the midst of doing religious stuff and don't see him which means you could be in church every single Sunday that means you can be waving at the service and saying Amen and participating in religious activity and doing your little quiet time reading a verse a day to keep the devil away and say in your prayers because your grandmama said you're supposed to you can be doing all the religious and be around people who are also doing it but on this day there was a temple full of people in the presence of God and only one man notices later on Ana will as well there are only a couple of people who were seeing Jesus even though he's right in front of them Lord open up our eyes so that we can stop playing charge and see you ((applause)) verse 25 luke says and behold somebody say behold come on say behold in the original language when a writer would write the word that is translated to our English behold it was a powerful word it was pregnant with possibilities in our language it just says behold and we consider it to be a transition from one part of the text to the other but when a writer would write that in the original language it was very very intentional behold is designed to spark your attention it's designed to spark your interest if for some reason you've kind of fallen asleep or you've been born with all the details of what has been written before the writer wants to make sure that now you sit up straight and you lean in and you put your chin in your hands and that your ears are heightened and sensitive so that you do not miss the person that he wants to introduce you to he says behold there's a guy who sees Jesus and his name is Simeon he says in verse 25 behold there was a man in Jerusalem his name was Simeon and here's the kind of guy he was he was righteous he was devout he was looking for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him I've been thinking about Simeon and what made his eyes primed his spiritual eyes primed to see something that everybody else could not what made him different what attributes about his experience in his life made it so that his heart was sensitized to the sight of Jesus the presence of God in his midst even though he was packaged in a way that nobody had anticipated there are many of them that I could pinpoint to you but there is just one that I want to focus my attention on for the next few minutes the last line of verse 25 says and the Holy Spirit was upon him the Holy Spirit was on it the Spirit of Almighty God if you are believer in Jesus Christ you have received the Holy Spirit Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 and 14 says that the moment you place faith in Jesus you received you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise you are not waiting on the Holy Spirit all the Holy Spirit you ever go get you got the moment you were saved now we need to be filled by God's Spirit as we yield to him and yield in obedience to the conviction in our life that he gives us but you have received the Holy Spirit if you're a daughter or a son of the Most High God through Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of you and just in case you didn't know he is not a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he is often symbolized by those things but y'all that ain't who he is he is the third person of the Trinity not third because he is a least in value just third because he's the last to be revealed to us in the pages of Scripture but all of the fullness all of the power all of the glory all of the grandeur of God the Father is in the person of the Holy Spirit so if you've received Jesus and the Holy Spirit lives in you that means that all of the power all of the grandeur all of the greatness all of the authority all of the glory of God the Father now lives on the inside of you he lives with you he talks to you he walks with you and the reason why is so that you don't have to wait to get to heaven to experience heaven God said I'm coming to you right now that you might have life and life more abundantly that's the Holy Spirit so he walks with you he talks with you he lights up your steps so that he can guide you he makes it so that you are comforted and encouraged in times of discouragement he is your guide he is your advocate he is the Holy Spirit of God he will never leave you nor will he forsake you there is nothing that you can do or can't do - cause the Holy Spirit - no longer in dwell you he empowers you to make it so that you can be what you cannot be in your own power and in your own strength he gives you fruit so that when your patience has run out he gives you an extension of patience he gives you gentleness when your gentleness has long since gone he gives you self discipline so that you can restrain yourself when in your flesh you are not able to restrain yourself but he doesn't just give you fruit he gives you gifts so that those things which might just be natural talent now they edify the body of Christ they build people up they break yokes they loosen shackles on people life because you have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit of God ((applause)) but the text does not tell us that God's Spirit was in him it tells us that God's Spirit was which means y'all there is a difference between God's Spirit being in you thank God spirit being oh I'm so great for the God's Spirit is in me but I want the presence of God on me I want to live the kind of life that is the magnet that calls down the presence of God on my life I want him resting on me gracing me with his favor on my life so that when people see me when they see you they don't see us they see something they can't quite put ((music playing)) ((applause)) God's presence on you his presence marking you is why your boss when it comes time for promotion looks at your resume and the other person's resume and they are far more qualified than you but there's something about you ((applause)) it's the presence of God on your life when you are parked about God presents that's the difference choir that when you sing the song it's not just a song that tickles folks ears now the lyrics reach down into the souls and the hearts of people and redeems them then delivers them and shakes the shackles off the presence of God on us is what takes a message like this one help me Lord and changes it from a motivational speech to a message that is the power and the very palatable presence of God that sets us free it's what makes you a woman or a man on who God's presence rests and listen you came by it I don't care how much money you have you came by it and I'm so glad you got all them degrees but you can't study for it God's presence on us is a gift of God himself and I want God's presence on this shower of God's presence I want that intangible quality it's God's favor that's what it is it's favor y'all favor is what opens up doors that can nobody shut favor is what puts you in positions where you know you ain't got no business being there favor is what aligns you in the right places that went the right people in the right season to accomplish the right tasks it's God's anointing that marks you and when you have been marked you do not have to market yourself because you've already been marked by the Holy Spirit of God oh I want the presence of God in my life this is what sets you apart it's what makes you distinct this is why Moses prayed in Exodus 33 he said Lord listen if you're not going with us to the promised land and we ain't going Yahweh had been so upset with their grumbling and with their complaining he said y'all go ahead I'll meet you there later Moses said not today if you're not going to the promised land we ain't going to the promised land here's why he says because what will make us different how will they know that we're a different nation than all the other people if we are not marked by your presence the presence of God and if there is one thing that invites and magnetizes the presence of God on your life it is listen to me you gotta be ((music playing)) I'm talking about old-school flat-footed holiness I'm talking about the kind your grandmama used to talk about your great-grandmother your great-grandfather before we became tolerant and sensitive and accepting anybody any old kind of way to come and yes you should come as you are but don't stay as you are we've been called ((music playing)) ((applause)) Dallas Texas to my family at First Baptist Church of whether to employ you brothers and sisters by the mercies of God to walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which we have I came to encourage you to me aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles up so that you can walk free Galatians 5:1 says that it is for freedom that you have been set free therefore stand firm and don't be subject to get into a yoke of slavery he paid too high a price for us to still be shackled by every sin and every addiction ((music playing)) you can have victory in Jesus name living holy it's not a call to perfection it is a call to walk away from a lifestyle where you have planned to sin I mean where you scheduled it it's in your calendar who you're going to see where you're going to go what you plan to do it means that you choose as a lifestyle to align your behaviors and attitudes with the truths of God so that you can honor him and also so that you can invite the favor of God on your life why do you think that the enemy tempts you dangles a carrot of just the right thing it wouldn't bother her or him but that's yo carrot that lures you away the reason why is because of you and I are pulled away into a lifestyle of sin and rebellion he knows that that resting presence of God will no longer be ours and if we're not marked he can take full advantage of us every single day holiness you gotta live holy you got to decide to lay it down you got to decide not to go back you got to decide and trust the Holy Spirit to take the taste for it out of your mouth to change your desire to change a wants so that you can align with the truth of God be ye holy ((applause)) Lord would you forgive us for wanting to impress people more than we want to impress you forgive us father for wanting our selfies to be perfectly lit more than making sure that our lives are full of the lights of God Lord forgive us to be silk from being so lured in to friends and likes and Instagram followers that we've forgotten that all we need is the applause of heaven help us Lord to be the same in the light as we are in the dark help us to live lives of integrity that honor God that have character that are the same through and through lives I came to tell you to lay it down lay it down it's not worth it the Spirit of God can't wait to lay on your life and give you the favor that you were made for that you were redeemed for but you got to lay it down if you are in this room today and you need to lay it down listen there is something you know right now the Holy Spirit is beckoning you to lay it down it might actually literally be a physical thing you have with you and you need to come and let it go or it might just be a secret sin of the heart that you know you've been holding on to and harboring it today is the day when you want to lay it down and walk in freedom and fullness and the favor of God if you need to man down don't think twice about it run to the altar tonight run to the altar and come and let's do business with holiness today you choose to live holy he's gonna open up your eyes so you can see him he's gonna open up your eyes so that you can experience him come on lay it down whether it's in your heart and you just need to lay it down or whether it's a physical thing you have with you that's symbolic of it if you need to lay it down do it in Jesus name come be free in Jesus name victory it's yours in Jesus name if you're in the balcony we'll wait for you just come on lay it down let it go y'all move forward just a little bit move forward just move it ((applause)) come on y'all anybody else this is it this is this is the time today's the day tomorrow is not promised he's calling you to holiness he's calling us to be a church that lives right ((applause)) if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior if you've never placed faith in Jesus you come to come down just by you coming I'm telling you shackles are being broken off of your life right now ((applause)) he's going to take the taste for the drug out of somebody's mouth right now in Jesus name he's going to take the taste for the alcohol out of somebody's mouth right now in Jesus name he's getting ready to change her desire so that you're what to wants to do what he wants you want you to do he's getting ready to break ties with that illicit relationship that you haven't been able to shake free from he's getting ready to break that soul tie right now in Jesus name so that you can be free he's gonna give you the names of the people that you need to call into your life to be an accountability circle to hem you in so that you can walk in holiness and get your footing in this thing freedom in Jesus name freedom in Jesus name freedom in Jesus name ((music playing)) you don't have to go back the same way lay it down tell them right now whatever you're offering to him offer it to him right now ((music playing)) anybody else ((music playing)) the shepherd of this house is about to pray over you pastor Jenkins gonna Prairie and you don't want to miss this if you need to lay it down calm don't wait come see you God's got you he has got you just a couple more minutes come on that's what he's called ((applause)) ((music playing)) Lord Jesus I pray right now for every sister every brother who is gathered here I prefers for those who may not know you as Savior floor I ask them right now even now in this holy moment they would confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that you indeed are Lord I thank you Lord that you came to save not just to deliver but to provide ongoing empowerment and victory while we're still here so follow my pray right now in Jesus name then you would not only redeem but that you would deliver you would set free you would loosen shackles or that you would cause us to live in a way that is different than how we're living now for anyone who has come forward lord I pray that by your spirit you would a loosened shackles off of their life Lord so that they literally go home different than when they came today father help them to have the courage lord I pray out holy courage a holy boldness right now in Jesus name that you would lay it down every sin every intercept you would not go back that you would no longer push that button then you would no longer sit in front of that screen then you would no longer smoke that substance that you would not participate in that in the sit relationship that your lifestyle would be changed name of Jesus and by his power that has been shed on Calvary father we're gonna walk home late today lord I pray for accountability in Jesus name I pray that you would send the right mentors the right friend to stand around to stand guard to help them to be measured in their their activities father so that they want a sounding board as they want worthy lord help them as Colossians 3 says to put off the old things Christ in Jesus name in Jesus name we thank you for freedom today Lord we thank you for freedom now listen to me look at me it is yours now walk in it ((applause)) you ((applause))