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Experience the life-changing messages from the Church of God’s annual Winterfest youth gathering. These are the sermons, moments, and voices that have shaped generations of young believers — now available anytime, anywhere.
I want us to go to 1 Kings chapter 19, 1 Kings chapter 19.
I'm going to start from verse 9, actually.
So let's go to verse 9, if we can.
1 Kings 19.
And it reads like this.
Then he came there to a cave,
lodged there, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him,
and he said, what are you doing here, Elijah?
He said,
earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was a sound
of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood
in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to Elijah saying, what are you doing here,
Elijah? Then he said, I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, the sons of Israel
have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword.
I alone am left. They seek my life to take it away. The Lord said to him, go return to the way of the
wilderness of Damascus.
And when you've
arrived, you shall anoint Haziel, king of Aram. Jehu, the
son of Nimshi, shall anoint the king over Israel. Elisha, son of Shaphat, of Abel, of Abel, Maloa,
you shall anoint as a prophet in your praise. It shall come about the one who escapes from the
sword of Haziel, Jehu shall put to death. And the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha,
shall put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel. All the knees have bowed that have not
bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed them. I want to preach a message entitled,
come out of the cave. Come out of the cave. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this opportunity
to share your word. These are your sentences. These are your paragraphs. These are your people.
I am your vessel, Lord. Do what you want to do. Lord, we love you and we thank you in the mighty
name of Jesus. And everybody said? Everybody said? Amen. Amen. And amen. You know, when you get saved,
salvation saves you from destruction, but it doesn't really save you from discouragement.
When I was younger, I grew up in church. I love the preaching of God's word.
I think the preaching of God's word is absolutely amazing, but sometimes we'll take
some fantasies and we'll add on to the word of God and we'll add on to our relationship with God.
But God actually never said that. God said he would save you from hell,
but discouragement will still be something that we face on this other side of eternity.
When I was younger, the preachers would get up and tell me that I was called to be anointed and
that he had a plan for my life, but he didn't tell me that I could still be afflicted.
They would tell us that God has a blessing for us, but what they didn't tell us is that you would
still feel broken sometimes. And when I was younger, I would have this idea that one day,
as I get to this place in my relationship with God, discouragement wouldn't do anything to me.
In fact, I would be a person that always is walking in accordance with God's word.
I'll never be discouraged. I'll never be lonely. I'll never feel afflicted. I'll never go through
insecurity. Why? Because I'm saved now. But one thing I've learned is that salvation is something
that, again, it saves your soul. But as far as this discouragement thing goes, you got to still
give that to Jesus. There was a lot of characters that I wanted to preach on this morning, but I
decided to go to someone who was super known in the Old Testament. If you're not familiar with him,
his name is Elijah. Elijah is a prophet that everybody knows. The Lord is with Elijah.
When Elijah shows up, people get weird because they know, hey, you ain't gonna mess with him.
There's actually a story of some kids making fun of him because he didn't have no hair. He was bald.
By the way, everyone here got some beautiful hair. I came in. I was like, my cornrows are ugly. I
don't even like mine. I almost took them out last night. But these people were making fun of Elijah
and he looks at them and he tells bears to eat the children. So don't mess with the man of God
because you have no idea what the man of God is going to do. Elijah, in fact, in this story,
We're in the chapter 19, but what happens before is he just experiences the power of God.
It's between him and these other prophets. There's these other prophets that don't serve God.
They don't know God. They don't love God. They serve this thing called Baal.
Baal is a false God. He's not a real God. He's a God that culture made up, that people made up.
And people think that that God can do something for him, but that God can do nothing for him
because it's not a real God. And in fact, it's a war between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
It's a simple battle. He was like, hey, because the prophets of Baal, Baal actually speaks to
lightning and destruction. So they believe that Baal could rain down thunder and make things go
on fire. There's a story between Elijah and the prophets. There's a whole bunch of wood.
And Elijah was like, hey, if your prophet, if your God is so powerful, I want him to light this fire
light this wood up. And so every prophet tries. They all tried, but none of them could do it.
So Elijah said, it's my turn. And he did something crazy. He went and grabbed some water.
He grabs water and he says, that's the wood. He said, all right. And he throws some water on the
wood. They're like, what is wrong with this guy? He must not know how this works. But he's making
it so clear. He's making it so clear that if this sets on fire, you know, it has to be God.
So he says, Hey, give me some more water on it. Throw some more water on it. Not once,
not twice, but three times they throw water on the wood. And Elijah lifts his head up to his Lord
and he asked the Lord to set it on fire. And you know what happened? Things set it on fire
because of the law of that day when you were a prophet and you decided to follow another Lord
that was not God, the punishment be that you would be slaughtered. So after this, Elijah,
along with others, go and slaughter all these people that were bad prophets.
That gets to the queen, that gets to the king, and they send a message to Elijah.
In fact, 1 Kings chapter 19 opens up with this message coming to Elijah, and it's from the queen,
And this is what the queen says.
She says, may the Lord of God deal with me also if I don't take your life tomorrow.
So this man goes from being full of faith and he gets that message.
And now he starts running from his life.
It's crazy how you can go from a moment of faith in one second to a moment of fear in the next.
It's crazy how you can sit in this very room and sense something last night.
But when you go back to your hotel and you put your head on your pillow for a brief moment,
you feel like it didn't even happen because you feel lonely again. You feel scared again.
You start wondering again. What's so insane is that this is Elijah. What are you afraid for?
All you did was read a message. But sometimes the things we read can hurt us so much, can't they?
You ever been having a good day and then you open up your social media and you see someone get more
blessings than you? And like suddenly you don't like your day anymore. You just got some new shoes
love your shoes and you open up your phone, see your friend with better shoes and you're like,
I hate my shoes. I wish I had what they had. You see something and something you see changes the
way that you feel. He received something and something he received changed the way that he
feels. He's not calling down fire. He's running for his life. In fact, verse one through eight,
the Bible says that Elijah, the man of God, the man of God, the man of God, Elijah,
He hears from that woman and the Bible says that he goes and lays down. You know what he wishes?
He wishes that he would die. He's a man of God. He's a man of faith. He knows the Lord,
but what is driving him to say, I want to die? Two times the Lord sent an angel. The first time
he sent an angel was to encourage him. The second time it was to give him a piece of cake and some
water. So when he woke up, he could eat something because sometimes you think you're, you want to
life. And no, you just need to eat. That's what my wife tells me all the time. She's like, I was like,
I'm done. I'm quitting the ministry. It's over. And she puts a plate of food in front of me. I'm
like, you know what, Jesus, I love what I get to do for you. I love you so much, God. You are so
good. I felt that way last night. I don't know who it was. Someone was microwaving some wings and me
and Daniel had some top ramen. I was so jealous of those wings. I was thinking about them when I was,
I don't know if you're in here, but I was like, those wings look good. But he was laying down and
he wanted to die. He gets up and he goes on a journey to a cave. Now, unbeknownst to him,
this same cave is the same cave that God met the prophet, the man of God named Moses.
And he happens to go to the same place that generations before him went to. What does that
speak to? God wants to speak to the next generation the same way he spoke to the last generation.
He doesn't just want to speak to your mom and your cousin and your auntie and your uncle,
and the bishop and the pastor and the leader and your friend.
He wants to speak to you.
He wants to speak to you about your shortcomings.
He wants to speak to you about the things that you are longing for.
He wants to talk to you about that discouragement.
He wants to talk to you about that fear.
He wants to talk to you.
God desires to meet with you.
And Elijah goes in this cave.
I don't know what would drive a man.
I mean, you were just displaying power.
And now you're in a cave.
It just goes to show it doesn't matter what gift you carry all of us can go through discouragement
It doesn't matter how amazing you are how anointed you are how good looking you are how amazing your gifting is
We all are susceptible at times of going through pain
There was this preacher back in the day named charles spurge and in fact, they called him the prince of
Preachers and he was known for his sermon delivery
He could grab a microphone in London and he would speak and people would be confounded by his ability to communicate.
But what a lot of people didn't know about that man of God is that he severely went through depression.
He wrote a quote and he said, underneath the dungeon of despair is layers of discouragement that the man, that man will never know.
Being that just, just when you get to the place where you're like, man, I can't get more discouraged than this, you get more discouraged.
Just when you feel like it can't get any worse, it gets worse.
And all of us have circumstances and situations that if we're not careful, it'll draw us into
a cave. When I was praying about what to preach, the Lord says, I want you to preach,
come out the cave. And I said, why? He says, because there's a lot of leaders and young people
that are in this room that are living their life in a cave. They're not walking into the
thing that God wants them to be. They're discouraged. And they're discouraged because
and many reasons. Maybe you're discouraged because dad left. Maybe you're discouraged because mom
left. Maybe you're discouraged because neither left, but they both stayed. And the way they
treat you is discouraging. Maybe someone in your life died. Maybe someone in your life is dying.
Maybe you've gone through something that makes you say, God, I, I just can't. I don't want to be
around anybody. I don't want to talk to anybody. Leave me alone. I just want to be in the cave.
The Bible says that he found the cave and he lodged in it
You know, i'm gonna change the word lodge to make you to make you understand exactly what it was
He found the cave and he started living in it
And this is what I feel I have to tell you someone today. You can linger in discouragement, but don't live there
Don't live in that cave
I know what happened hurt you and maybe it caused you to push yourself away from society
push yourself away from your church, push yourself away from even Jesus and reading the Bible and
worshiping, but don't live there. You can linger, but don't live there. Don't stay in the place of
discouragement. Don't live in the place of despair. God still has a plan for your life.
But when you're in the cave, it's hard to see that plan, isn't it?
It's hard to see God's calling around chaos. It's hard to trust that God is moving when you see
him moving in everyone else's life, but for you, you're like, God, are you doing a standstill or
something? What's going on? For them, you're moving mountains, but for me, these mountains won't move.
For them, you're opening up doors at school, but for me, it's getting harder. For them, they get
saved and they get more friends. When I got saved, I lost all my friends. Lord, I don't understand
what this is. And when you don't understand, we regulate our life back to a cave. So Elijah,
A man of God living in a cave, wants to end his life, wants to give up all hope,
just experienced the power of God moments before. And now he's like, I'm done.
I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to be a man of God anymore. I don't want to be a woman
of God. Can I just be like everybody else? Can I just sleep around? Can I just smoke? Can I just
drink? Can I just live like the culture? I don't want to be like everybody else because I'm so
discouraged because when you're in the cave, your circumstance will start preaching to you.
And your circumstance will preach a sermon like this. God's not going to show up. God's done.
And you'll believe it in the cave. The Bible says that as he was in the cave, the Lord shows up and
says, Elijah, what are you doing here? And he says this, I'm the only one left. Now I'm going to skip
to the last verse and I'm going to jump back up. The last verse says this, there's 7,000 more,
but two times he says, I'm the only one. When you live in the cave, you start thinking you're the
only one going through this. You'll start telling God this, I'm the only one. God, I'm the only one
that didn't have that experience. I'm the only one that lost someone in the shooting. I'm the only
one that lost someone in cancer. I'm the only one that's gone through the situation. And God says,
hey, I want you to know that it feels like you're alone, but there's not alone. If you feel like
there's nobody with you, I just want you to look around because you got over a thousand young
people that are deciding to put their faith in Jesus, walk according to his purpose, and believe
that even if they're in discouragement from a cave, that God can still do something with their life.
You're not the only one.
But Elijah believed the lie that he was the only one.
So he's in his cave and he's just by himself.
And God says, I'm gonna send something.
He sends wind, but the Bible says
that the Lord was not in the wind.
He sends an earthquake, but the Bible says
the Lord was not in the earthquake.
He sends fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
If I was preaching not to young people, just to church,
I would have called the sermon Earth, Wind, and Fire,
but y'all wouldn't get it.
So I'm just going, I kept it, but come out of the cave.
They're going to be like, earth, wind, and fire?
What is this?
But God sent three things.
And here's the interesting thing.
When God sent the fire, that was the last miracle that Elijah just experienced.
So it would make sense that if Elijah sees the fire, he would feel God again.
It would make sense.
And this is what happens to a lot of us.
Well, if I can just get my fire back, if I could just get back into the place where that fire consumes me again, if I can just have that moment, if Pastor Brittany can just preach one more time, if we can bring the worship team one more time, if I can just have that fire.
But hey, just because he was in it yesterday doesn't mean he's in that today.
The Bible says that he sends a still, small voice.
Still, small voice.
this shows me that in chapter 18, we see the power of God displayed in his power.
But in chapter 19, we see the power of God displayed in his presence. You don't need
to have a loud encounter. You can have a quiet moment with God. And when you experience quiet
moments with God, he will assure you, he will do things, he will clean things in your life
that you had no idea that it was even possible. Elijah is over here. And for the first time,
he hears a small gentle voice. I like that it says gentle and I like that it even says small
because that's how the Holy Spirit works. Last night, Pastor Brittany was preaching about the
Holy Ghost and I want to tell you this, that sometimes the Holy Ghost is loud. He will.
Sometimes I will hear him loudly. Sometimes like through discernment, I'll walk up to somebody and
I like them. Everything looks right on the outside. And then as soon as I like start talking to him,
the Lord says, I'm like, what? I'm like, why are you? I really like that person.
Because the Holy Spirit knows something about that person I don't know.
Sometimes you'll be hanging out and you'll just see something and it'll be as clear as day that
that was God. You heard the right song at the right time. You saw the right clip in the right
moment. And it's so clear, but there's sometimes it's not as loud. Sometimes it's quiet.
Right before I even came out, I was scrolling through my phone and I saw a clip by a friend that,
and I knew it was the Holy Spirit because it's in tandem to what I'm preaching on. And he said,
he's like, so many people stay busy. You want to know why? Because they can't handle being alone.
So we rather hang out with them because we don't want to be alone. We rather date that person that
we know isn't good for us. We don't even like them. We don't even like looking at them, but
It's someone that loves us, so we'd rather be with someone that loves us than be alone.
But sometimes loneliness is not bad because loneliness can be the place where God can do
something in your life. He can do something in the lonely seasons. He can do something in the
hard seasons. He can do things in seasons where you're like, this makes no sense. No one's around.
God was always growing me the most when no one knew. So I was by myself in my little zone. I felt
there were so many similarities of Pastor Brittany's story in mind. I remember being 14 years old,
being in my room, saying the same prayer about the William McDowell song, I give myself away.
And I remember having moments where the Lord in a still small voice would encourage me.
And you got to learn to listen to that still small voice, young person.
That still small voice will keep you from making decisions that will ruin your life.
listen to that still small voice. Ask the Lord to speak to you regarding the situation that you're
facing. Listen to that still small voice. It may not be loud. It doesn't need to be loud to be
powerful. It can be small. But if you listen to the thing that he says, it will change the trajectory
of your life. Elijah is in a cave. And that voice speaks. And Elijah says, oh, that's God.
God's in the small things. So Elijah steps out and now he's at the entrance of the cave.
He's not out of the cave. He's not in the cave. He's at the entrance.
Some of you think you're out. You may not be out. Some of you think you're still in it. You may not
God has for you? Or are you going to listen to what God says? And, you know, that sermon was good,
but I'm going to go right back to my life. I'm going to go right back to my sin. I'm going to
go right back to that drug. I'm going to go right back to that
and believe the lies that the enemy's been telling you. Most of us are believing the lie.
And what I love is that Elijah makes a decision to step out of the cave,
and God gives him instruction when he gets out of the cave. See, so many times we're asking God,
God, what do you want to do? And he says, I'll tell you what to do when you come out of it.
You want me to give you instruction while you're in your sin. I'm not going to give you instruction
while you're in your sin. The instruction is get out of the sin. The instruction is get out of her
room. The instruction is get off of that porn. The instruction is get off of that drug. The
instruction is give your life to Jesus. And once you give your life to Jesus, he will give you
something that you didn't even know what was possible. Elijah steps out and God gives him
instruction. I know instruction doesn't sound cool. I know instruction doesn't sound powerful,
but you know what instruction is? That's calling. That's God saying, I'm not done with you.
I don't want you to stay here. There's a king that I want you to anoint.
There's a successor. There's someone out there that I'm going to raise up just like you.
His name is Elisha. I want you to go find him. And I love that part because sometimes when I'm
going through hell, even as a man of God, even as an evangelist, sometimes it's so hard I even
want to give up. But I've learned to develop some tricks. And this trick that I always do,
for the most part, it always works. I just remind myself that there is some young man somewhere
watching me. And maybe, just maybe, if I do what I'm supposed to do with my life,
they'll watch me and they'll get so encouraged that they'll dream bigger, they'll go faster,
and they'll begin to do stuff that I've never even dreamed possible. So when I get to the place
where it's really hard. When I want to give up, I think about who's looking at me.
Is there an Elisha in this room? There could be someone in this room as I preach this moment
where God is going to raise you up to do not what I'm doing, but further, farther, and faster.
And you got to understand that the thing you're facing right now is just the enemy's way to get
you to stop. So he's trying. When that friend left you and betrayed you, that was the enemy
trying to get you to stop. When that situation took place, that was like the enemy trying to get you
to stop. There's been many situations that I've faced in my life that the enemy has used,
and at times it made me slow down, and at times it made me even stop. I remember being 23 years old
eight years ago, working at a church and getting the news that my brother died in a mass shooting.
when I got that news, you know what it made me want to do? It didn't make me want to step on a
stage and talk about my calling. I looked for a cave. You know what? I built my own cave.
And none of my friends could come in. I was like, y'all stay out. All your breath stink. Y'all stay
out. This is my cave. My brother died. My dad left me. My friend betrayed me. I'm done. I don't want
to do this anymore. I'm finished. God raised up another. And you know what I heard in that still
small voice when my brother passed away? I still have a plan for you.
I still have a plan for you. God, what plan can you use with this?
Tell me what you can do with this. Never heard a preacher preach on that one, Lord.
And I've searched. I went through all the Bishop Jake sermons, all of them. Couldn't find any on a
mass shooting. And I remember thinking to us for a moment, maybe there will be one person
one day that I'll be able to share my story with and maybe I can help them.
My brother died in 2017. As the band comes up, I'm going to be concluding very soon.
My brother died in 2017. And when he died, I didn't talk about it. I just try to stuff it
down. I do what you do. You just try to act like it don't faze you. How you doing? I'm fine. I'm
good. You know, you ain't fine. You know, you ain't good, but you don't want, you don't have
time to slow down. So you just don't, you just tell them when you're good. And you say you're
good because you don't want them to talk to you. You don't want to talk about it. You don't want to
go deeper. You don't want to reveal
that God can do anything with this situation
because you've regulated yourself down to a cave,
you don't want to talk about it.
And I've been there.
So 2017, Jordan died and I stuffed that thing down.
Austin died and I stuffed it down.
Five other family members died and I stuffed it down.
I just act like it didn't happen.
2018 came, see mass shootings on TV.
Let me change the channel.
Let me just go back on my phone
because I don't want to do this.
And then 2019 comes and man, these shootings are happening more and more.
Let me just ignore it.
And then Lord knows what we went through in 2020.
And I remember it was in 2022.
I just reconnected with my dad.
Me and my wife were supposed to be at a place preaching and the engagement canceled last minute.
And the Lord said, I need you to go see your father.
which was funny because God's been telling me
to go see my dad multiple times,
but I didn't wanna do it.
And let me say this to somebody.
I know that he wasn't your dad then,
but if you allow the Lord to heal your heart,
he can be a dad now.
And so many of us are mad at men in our life.
And this is not for everyone,
but this is definitely my story.
I was mad at my dad for so long
for not being there in my life
until two years ago,
I found out that his dad wasn't in his life.
so all my life I'm mad at him for doing the very thing that he saw
and the Lord told me in 2021 go see your dad I said you go see him
tell me how he's doing
2022 comes it's the month of May and all my engagements
cancel I was like
maybe I'm not
called to be a preacher the Lord will even stop opportunities from coming to you to make you
believe that you're not supposed to be the thing that you know you're supposed to be
And that happened to me in May.
So the Lord said, hey, go see your dad.
Took my wife.
I have a small dog named Ghost.
He's a mini dwarf lab.
I love him.
He's a little demonic sometimes.
And I said, Ghost, we're going to meet your grandfather.
Let's go.
I remember meeting my dad and connecting with my wife.
I'm not going to lie.
It was one of the best weeks of my life.
It's one of the best weeks of my life.
I'm with my grandma, Grandma Bobby.
She's like so cool.
I was like, Grandma, tell me some stories.
He's telling me some stories.
I'm with my dad and I'm just acting like his son.
I'm having so much fun.
And I remember coming back at the time,
I wasn't living in Gainesville.
I was living in Florida, in Jacksonville.
So we left Brookhaven, Mississippi
and we went to Jacksonville, Florida.
And I was so happy.
This is how you know you happy.
I said, babe, let's go walk on the beach.
Listen, I don't walk on no beach.
I'm gonna tell you that.
But I was just happy.
I was like, I'm gonna see what this be like.
I'm walking on the beach and the Lord's speaking to me.
I remember looking at the waves and the waves were crashing.
My wife was talking and I'm just looking and the Lord said, if you trust me, Ty, just like those waves keep crashing and showing up, I'll do things that if you just stay open.
And I was looking at those waves.
I was like, OK, cool.
God, thank you.
I went home.
To work on a message.
And I look at the news.
There's this shooting that happened in Buffalo at the Tops grocery store.
And that same still small voice that showed up in 2017 said, hey, are you ready?
He said, ready for what?
I said, God, you got to send someone to that families.
I said, someone needs to go and know that even after hell, heaven can still show up.
You got to send someone, Lord.
He said, Tyshawn, come out the cave.
I was like, I'm not in the cave.
I'm not in the cave.
And he was like, yeah, you are.
Because compartmentalization is a cave.
It's a cave.
When you walk in 80% of your calling
and you don't let the Lord use his 20%,
there's 20% of you that's regulated to the cave.
That's why when 80% of you does this,
you don't feel fulfilled.
Why?
Because you're still in disobedience
because you're still in the cave.
So God says, hey, Ty, you're in your calling,
but you're in your calling compartmentalized.
I need to, I need to break you, son.
I said, God, you need to send somebody. He said, can I send you? I said, God, you can,
but here's the thing. The way my bank account is set up, Lord, I just can't
jump on a plane and go. When I became an evangelist, our car got repossessed. I didn't
even have a car to go. So I am sitting in my office as an evangelist and saying, God,
if this is you, you'll do it. If you speak, I'll listen. I talked to one friend who connected me
with another friend named Billy Heather, who connected me with another friend named Pastor
Mark. Pastor Mark called me. He said, Hey, I got your number from Billy Heather. And I know this
is crazy, but can we pay for you to jump on a flight just to meet with the families?
I was in my office and I was like looking at my phone
because I was like, this is weird.
It's weird when it starts working.
It's weird when he starts showing himself faithful.
When you've been used to him not showing up
and you not being blessed,
when you get a blessing,
you almost don't even know what to do.
You can't handle it.
So you try to give it away because you're like,
I don't deserve to be blessed,
but no, it's working.
So I said, yes, sir.
I should have said first class,
but I didn't have that much faith at the time.
Now, I would have did it.
Sir, my feet hurt, you know.
I go, I get there, and he says,
hey, Tyshawn, I'm so sorry, man.
I only have one person that you can talk to.
When it's really God, hear me, young person.
Because when I was younger,
people made me believe that if it was really God,
it needed to be masses.
If it was really God,
hundreds and thousands would show up.
If God really called you to plant that church and start that youth ministry and do that thing,
then when it starts, it's supposed to be bumping, right?
No, that's not really God.
That's just really crowds.
But sometimes when it's really God, one is enough.
I told him, I said, sir, take me to her now.
I remember meeting with her briefly.
We didn't have some fantastic moment.
I just looked at her and I said, hey, I know exactly what you feel like.
Lose someone in a shooting.
Everyone's talking to you for seconds,
only to be replaced by another shooting.
And now your whole life is over forever.
You lost everything and people just don't act like
it didn't happen and you're supposed to keep going
and everyone else around you is wondering
if you're going to be okay.
I said, I know what that feels like.
And let me tell you this woman, you're going to be okay.
Because I've been where you've been.
I've seen what you saw.
I know what it feels like to lose someone
in such a horrible way.
And I know you're going to go in the cave, but please don't live there.
Please don't stay there.
Please don't regulate God down to a man that only died for you, but can't help you with the thing that died in your life.
Please don't be there.
Every now and again, when I think of her, I just text her.
And it was so crazy.
I was on the plane with Daniel.
And when we got off, I was walking.
And Daniel will tell you this.
I was walking the airport and I just stopped.
It was almost like God gripped me.
I was like, hey, bro, we have to.
Have I been, Daniel, have we been to this airport?
Daniel's like, no, we've never been.
Oh, you haven't been, Daniel.
I have been.
I was sitting right there when the Lord told me
he's gonna keep doing what he did for me that weekend,
that time, I was right there.
Oh my God, Tyshawn, it's been three years.
It's been three years.
And I'm reminded that God doesn't just want to use
your powerful gifts that you put on display, young person.
He will.
He will use those.
But he also wants to use those painful things
that keep you in a cave.
He wants you to come out.
He doesn't want you to stay there.
Because I know that you have a calling.
I know you want to grow up and be great.
but there's an Elisha coming. And how you live today, that's going to teach Elisha something
for tomorrow. If you give up and throw in the towel, Elisha is going to give up and throw in
the towel. If you say God can't show up in your discouragement and despair, Elisha is going to
believe that God can't show up in his discouragement and despair. So sometimes you have to get mature
enough to say, God, this is bigger than me. Because I know that this should be a little bit more
encouraging, but you know what I saw in this story last night when I was reading? Is that Elijah kept
talking about himself. I'm the only one. I love you so much, Lord. It's only me. Me, me, me, me, me.
That's the problem, Elijah. Maybe if you stop looking at you and you start looking at your
neighbor, you'll realize that God is bigger than you. He's bigger than just one person. He's bigger
than just one church. He's bigger than just one nation. He's a man that wants to go far beyond.
And so if you're in here today and something has regulated you to a cave,
Pastor Tyshawn, how do I know I'm in the cave?
Because this whole time you're like, how does he know about what I'm going through?
I don't know anything about what you're going through, but the Lord does.
Maybe someone died.
Maybe someone hurt you.
Maybe you just don't believe that God can choose you.
I've been there.
I told this to Pastor Brittany after service.
I said, you know what?
I've always believed that he could use everybody else except me.
had no problem believing that he can use my best friend.
But when they were calling my name,
I was like, why do you want to use me, Lord?
Because God says, I have a plan for you too.
And so whatever drew you to that cave,
I want to say this, that did not come from God.
God didn't do that thing.
That was not God.
He would not try to hurt you.
He would not try to bring pain and pestilence to your life.
We live in a fallen world because of a byproduct of sin.
So when things happen, it's not an indication of God.
It's just an indication of the broken frailty of this world.
Feelings aren't bad.
They're good indicators.
My feelings tell me when I need something.
But feelings are horrible dictators.
I don't listen to them.
Because sometimes your feeling will tell you God's done and God's not done.
Sometimes your feeling will tell you to leave the church and God's saying, don't you leave this church.
Sometimes your feeling will say, give up on your calling and go back to the world.
But God says, don't go back to where I saved you from.
There's greater calling.
There's greater purpose.
there's greater glory, just come out the cave.
Come out the cave.
And so if you're in here with every head up
and every eye open,
if you're saying, Pastor Tyshawn,
I want to leave this cave.
And not only do I want to leave this cave,
I want to help other people
that are going to go through things
that put me in this cave.
Is that you?
When I count to three, I want you to come over here
and I want to pray for you.
One, two, three.
Come to the altar.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus.
Yes, Jesus.
Amen.
Hey, what's your name, man?
Yeah.
What is it?
Joshua.
Joshua, you're anointed, man.
Joshua, he has a plan for your life.
Joshua, you know what?
He is in the Bible.
He's a successor.
You know what?
Elisha is a successor.
You know what you are?
A successor.
And the things that God is going to do in your life is not going to come by you building it.
It's going to come by people giving it because God can trust you, Joshua.
God can trust you, Joshua.
Be a man of God.
Walk into the anointing.
I know people get weird when young men,
especially that look like you,
start acting holy.
But walk in it, Joshua.
If you want this, you can have it.
If you want to go around the world
for the glory of God,
preaching his good news
and seeing your family restored
and seeing God use you in amazing ways,
you can have it.
God is going to perform miracles
in your life, friend.
He's going to perform some miracles
in your life.
you with the beautiful, amazing glasses.
I love them.
He sees you.
And everything that put you in that cave
is just an indication of your calling.
Everything that puts you in that cave,
the enemy thought it was going to kill you.
He thought he was going to stop you.
He thought, and you even thought,
when you came up here,
I saw you look at me and you're like,
of course he's going to pray for him.
He ain't going to pray for me.
No, I'm going to pray for you
because God's hands on you.
His hands have been on you.
His hands always going to be on you.
You were anointed.
your called, your purpose, and don't ever be afraid of that.
You walk into that, friend.
Thank you, Jesus.
Lift your hands, young people.
Lift your hands.
Lift your hands like you're reaching for him.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus.
Lord, I ask over these next few moments that we have together
that you would show up in such a profound and powerful way
that every young person that leaves this room
will be changed, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost.
I bind the enemy that's been coming against them in the midnight hour.
I bind that's been coming against their family.
I bind that's been coming against that youth ministry.
We rebuke the schemes of the enemy.
We rebuke you in the name of Jesus,
and we say go, loose them and let them go.
I thank you that anxiety is dying.
I thank you that insecurity is dying.
I thank you that suicidal ideation is dying.
I thank you that identity is coming.
I thank you that greater glory is coming.
I thank you that opportunities are coming.
I thank you that you are not done with this generation,
but in fact, you've been raising them up
for such a time as this.
God, I thank you that exceedingly, abundantly,
above anything they can ask, think, or imagine
is gonna be their portion.
Lord, we love you.
God, we love you.
God, we love you.
God, we love you.
Lord, we love you.
Young man that has your hand lifted,
He's going to raise you up.
He's going to do miracles in your life.
He's going to do miracles in your life.
And you're going to reach so many people.
People that don'T even look like you.
Look around you.
People that don't even look like you
are going to need you.
God's going to raise you up.
And people are going to walk up to you.
Why are you doing all this stuff
for all those black communities?
And why are you doing that for them?
And you're like, it's not about black.
It's not bad.
out wide. I'm doing this all for these communities, but God is going to raise you up and give you
special resource. I can just see you. You don't even know it. It's like you don't have millions.
They're going to come through those hands. Lift your hand, man, a God. God, I thank you for young
Joseph. I thank you that things will touch his hand. You will trust him with things that even
his parents weren't trusted with. You would give him things that it would boggle the mind of those
that are around him. God, I thank you that you're not just going to give them weight, but you're
and give them wisdom.
The mighty name of Jesus.
The mighty name of Jesus.
The mighty name of Jesus.
Champion sweater.
That's exactly what you are, friend.
Victory is your portion.
There's an anointing.
You're like a prayer warrior.
There are things that you can call down
and there's things that you can call forth
and there are things that you can rebuke.
In fact, I want you to know this,
that when the enemy, he's nervous about you
because he's been looking at you
Here's the thing about our potential.
The enemy knows about it just as much better than we do.
So he knows if she can just stay discouraged,
if she stays down, if she never learns to look up,
then she won't know that her father owns a cattle on a thousand hills
and she can bless her in an instant.
God can do so much in your life and he's going to bless you.
Healing, inner healing, inner healing.
The deep places, the deep crevices, the things you don't talk about, the things that mama don't know, the things that daddy don't know, the things that you've been running from for years.
People try to take advantage of you.
People did take advantage of you.
And I just want you to know that healing is coming to you.
Power is coming to you.
Prosperity is coming to you.
God, I thank you for this woman of God.
I thank you that no weapon formed against her shall prosper.
I thank you that every step she takes is going to walk into accordance of the word of God.
God, I thank you that victory is coming.
I thank you that power is coming.
I thank you that ways of glory is coming.
Lord, we thank you.
We love you.
We thank you, Jesus.
We thank you, Jesus.
Go ahead and give God a praise right where you are.
Just because he's faithful.
If you can stand up, even if you're not at the altar, if you're back there, I assume that you're good.
So extend your hands to those up here.
Heavenly Father, I thank you.
You right there.
She's looking around.
You right there.
What's your name?
What is it?
Shakira?
How old are you?
How old are you?
You're 24 years old.
Shakira, you don't even know how important you are.
You don't even know that the timing that God put you in was the right timing, Shakira.
I kept walking back and forth and I wasn't going to come down.
I'm going to tell you why.
Because my wife is watching.
She told me I could not come off the stage.
But what she didn't know, I could put one foot on and one foot off.
So hey, I'm sorry, baby.
But the hand of God is on you.
And I felt the Lord tell me, touch her and let her feel you.
And as much as you can feel me squeezing your hand,
this is how much he's been holding on to you this whole time.
He's been happy.
Every time you felt something was like pulling you, it was him.
Every time you felt like what woke me up, it was him.
Every time you're like, why do I like that song?
It's him.
He's real in your life.
Go home and change.
Go home and walk in it.
Go home and watch what he's going to do.
I can just see you're going to have a beautiful family, woman of God.
Beautiful family.
I see you just walking through your house with oil, just anointing everything.
Lift your hands, young people, if you're up here.
Lift your hands.
Heavenly Father, I thank you.
I thank you for healing.
I thank you for grace.
I thank you that they're coming out of the cave.
I release the leaders and pastors to pray.
Daniel, I release you to pray.
God, I thank you that you are doing
some incredible things in this room.
I don't know who you are right here, sir.
If you can open up your eyes,
he probably doesn't even thank you.
What's your name?
Julian?
Julian, what do you want to do with your life?
You want to be able to help you?
Hey, Julian, come up here.
Come on and say it, Julian.
well Julian you want to help you help you
we're gonna just want to thank you God just for for all you've done God thank you just for just
bringing everybody here, Lord God, today.
Thank you just for the opportunity, God,
that you've just given us, Lord God,
to just be here, Lord God, with you.
Lord God, I know, Lord God,
that you haven't brought anybody here by accident, Lord God.
This is a divine appointment for everybody, God.
Lord God, I just ask, Lord God,
that you just let your will be done
in each and everybody's life, Lord God, today.
I thank you, Lord God, for all you have done, Lord God.
Amen.
Julian,
you've been praying for God to use you.
And the reason that I touched you is because I feel like the Lord says,
hey, he's dreaming too small.
So you have to see it sometimes to believe it.
And what if the youth ministry God raises you up for
and the thing that you do is bigger than what's even in this room?
Because of your humility, God is going to raise you up.
Humble yourself under the mighty hand of the Lord,
and at the right time, he's going to lift you up.
You can go back and walk back down,
but before you get on this other side,
take it in, whatever he's doing,
because that's the entrance.
So when you go back over, you may be over here.
You may be over here for another 10 minutes.
We may not even see you come out.
But don't rush it, because he hasn't rushed this,
so don't rush that.
you go there and you let him do things at the entrance.
Nice to meet you, man of God.
And hey, when I see you on lineups,
I'm gonna be so happy.
When I see you open up the youth ministry facility,
I'm gonna be so happy.
When I see you give away hundreds of thousands of dollars
in the community, I'm gonna be so happy.
When I see you walk according
to all the things that God has,
I'm gonna celebrate you.
I'm gonna smile.
I'm gonna repost it.
I'm gonna hug you
because the hand of God is on you, bro.
The hand of God is on you.
Thank you for this man of God.
Thank you, Jesus.
I felt very specifically to pray for two things
and then I believe I'm gonna be released
and I would love to meet you and connect with you,
but I know we have to end the service.
But if you're in here
and you've been wanting to,
not in your life because maybe you're not even there.
I wanna say it different.
You just don't wanna live your life.
So maybe it's not, I don't wanna be here,
but maybe it's like, I just don't wanna leave my room.
He has a plan for you
He has a plan for you
You keep dreaming it
You keep believing it
He has a plan for you
Your faith is so strong it can interrupt a service
He has a plan for you
It's that heavy on your life
He has a plan for you
Trust Him, woman of God
And you're saying, hey, I don't even want to
I just don't like living my life
And maybe you just don't think God has a plan for your life
love to pray for you if that's you lift your hands lift your hands if you see a
hand lifted if you see a hand lifted can you just put your hand on their shoulders
and give you a hand young man
God for every discouraged soul Lord for every young person that is been held
hostage by despair and suicidal ideation. For those that have been paralyzed emotionally,
for those that don't even have the energy to breathe, for those that don't even know how to
dream, God, I pray that even in this moment that you give them a small whisper, you give them a
whisper of vision. I pray for some of you that throughout this day, random dreams and random
thoughts come
because he's going
to give you vision.
He's going to
give you vision.
You're anointed
for such a season.
He's going to
give you vision.
He does not
have an idea
for you.
He has a plan
for you.
He's going to
give you vision.
The reason that
you may not
understand what
to do with
your life is
because it's
not your life.
It's his life.
He's going to
give you vision.
God,
I thank you
for them.
And if you're
in here and
you're saying,
hey,
Pastor Tyshawn,
I lost somebody recently in my life
and it's been just hard for me to move forward
ever since they left.
Maybe their face haunts you.
Maybe their name haunts you.
My brother's name was Jordan.
How many days do you think I can go
without hearing Jordan?
Michael Jordan, Michael B. Jordan, Jordan River.
I can't run from it.
And maybe you've been running from something
and God says, hey, I don't want you to run from it.
I wanna walk with you in it.
And if that's you and you lost somebody
and it's been hurting your soul,
I would love to pray for you.
Raise your hand if you lost somebody.
God, I thank you for every hand that's lifted.
Your word says that you're near to the brokenhearted.
And God, I pray that right now they sense your nearness.
I pray they sense your presence
in a way that they have not sensed before.
God, I thank you that they're gonna understand
that even in the hard seasons,
though they walk through the shadow,
the valley of death, they will fear no evil.
God, I thank you that even in this room,
you are raising a people that are gonna go far beyond
to do some incredible things for your glory.
Lord, we thank you.
We thank you, Lord, that what you're doing is so necessary.
Where's Pastor Brian?
can we extend our hands to pastor real quick i believe that god is going to give you so much
more vision next year is going to be way more than 1500 and i believe that god is going to open up
super now i i feel like even when i talked to you that the lord was like oh i'm going to put him in
new rooms just new rooms people that you didn't even know people that you didn't even know were
paying attention they're gonna say hey can you just come do this event for us and can you do this and
then in turn, yeah, we would love to get behind the thing you're doing. And God is going to
supernaturally do things in your life that you have been believing for, for a very long time.
He's going to redeem time and all the dreams that he put in your heart when you were younger,
the ones that you've decided, you've decided, ah, it's not me. And here's the cool thing about that.
You still say, it's okay, it's them. Like when I was hugging Julian, you got that heart,
That's you.
But God says, hey, I want you to know that it's still you.
And I'm still not done.
And every promise I gave you when you were a young man,
it's still gonna reign supreme in this season.
You're gonna step into new seasons of glory,
new seasons of anointing, new seasons of grace.
A new mantle of leadership is gonna be on you.
You're gonna start coming.
I don't know how it works.
God is gonna start giving you so much vision
that your whole team's gonna start getting mad.
They're gonna start getting mad at you.
We can't do that.
We can't get 3,500 people.
We didn't even have 3,500 three years ago,
But no, the Lord told me this number.
And if he told me, I believe he's going to do it.
Can we extend our hands to this man of God?
Because when God gives words like this, the enemy is going to come try to steal it.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this word.
I thank you for this couple.
I thank you, God.
that you have a divine plan for their life,
that you've protected this marriage for years.
God, I thank you that you are not done,
that there's still resources coming.
There's still glory coming.
There's still redemption coming.
He would have not brought you this far to leave you right here.
There is more.
Thank you for your yes.
Thank you for your integrity.
Thank you for loving a generation and not abusing a generation.
Thank you for taking a time to pasture us and not abuse us.
Thank you for being a man of God.
Thank you for being a person of integrity.
Yes, it still matters.
Yes, holiness still matters.
And God, I thank you for this holy man and his incredible wife.
And I just want to say this over the New York Collective.
as I leave. I'm going to go and I'm going to pray. Daniel Maples, I really like your Bible. If you
don't find it, I'm liable to steal it. I told this to the bass player yesterday and the piano player.
You guys are anointed and God is going to raise you guys up individually and collectively to do
things that you didn't even dream possible. I want you to know that if he did it once,
he's going to do it again and he's going to raise you up for such a time as this.
Even when you guys were leading, I was in the back and I was like, I literally feel like I'm in a move of God that when I look back, everyone's going to be like, no, it was at that Winterfest that so-and-so was leading and she came out and she said this song and as you led.
And it was when you began to even play the piano that God was doing things.
And I'm, man, he's going to do some weirdly big things in your life, brother.
You are going to be playing.
Your gift is going to make room for you.
and then the thing that's really on the inside of you
is gonna be released.
And when people see what you've been submerging
underneath your gifting,
the Lord is gonna release something on your life
that your family needs,
that your friends need,
that this generation needs.
He has a big plan for you, man.
I thank God for each and every one of you.
I thank God for your sacrifices.
Can we just praise God for everything that he's did
and you guys can
lead us in a time of worship.
Come on.