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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.
>> Amen.
Hey, you guys look good this morning.
I hope that you're doing well.
I know that you probably got a lot of sleep last night.
And you're doing good this morning.
You're alive and well.
You're ready for the word.
I want to get right to it today.
And I'm excited about the opportunity to be back at Ozark Winterfest.
Man, what a great, great gathering.
I love this setting here in the mansion theater.
And just seeing all of you, man.
and it's just good to be in the presence of God
with young people and student pastors and leaders, man.
It's contagious when we get in this room together,
what God is gonna do, so I'm so glad I'm here with you.
Thank you, Bishop Yawn, and thank you, Bishop Reyes
and all the team here, Bishop Cook,
who's the chairman of the event, all the leadership.
I thank God for you and how you're doing
to put this event together for students.
And man, you're a part of a great gathering, man,
really around the world.
This summer I'm going to do Winterfest in Africa,
in Lome Togo.
So you're a part of a Winterfest movement around the world.
So I'm so glad to be here with you this morning.
It's good to be back with you.
And they say, "Blessed is the short-winded guest preacher,
for he will be asked back."
So I'm gonna do everything I can
to get right to this today.
Do you know what my job is this morning?
To get you out so you can go to lunch.
So I know what my role is.
But before we go, I feel like preaching this morning.
And I'm just thankful to be with you.
Come on, grab your Bible, look within the book of John,
chapter five.
If you don't have a Bible that's leather bound
or one that glows, it'll be on the screen for you here
in just a minute.
Come on, if you're ready for the word,
somebody shall bring it on.
Let's stand to our feet.
It's my custom to stand for the reading of the word.
If you're physically able, do that.
And after we're done reading, you can sit back down
and I'll stay standing the rest of the time.
I'm so glad to be here this morning.
My wife, Amy, is with me today.
She's over here on this side.
Yeah, okay, yeah, y'all know Amy.
She spoke here a couple years ago.
If you remember, she came out on crutches and a boot
because she'd had a surgeon.
I told her if she'd have thrown those crutches,
we would have had revival.
It would have broke out.
But she's doing great.
And when you see her and you see me,
there are two things that you realize.
Jesus was good and I found her at Lee University.
So I'm thankful for what God has done in my life.
But I'm so glad you're here.
Every pastor, every leader,
that you took time to raise money,
You took time off of work, you sacrificed
to bring your students to this gathering.
I just wanna say as a pastor and person
who worked with Winterfest for a long time, thank you.
You're the unsung hero.
We can't do what we do with Winterfest without you.
And so we love you so much.
Come on students, tell your leaders one more time,
I know you did it last night,
but tell them how much you love them.
Come on, you do better than that, man.
They care about you, they love you.
I wanna talk to you for just a few minutes this morning
on this thought, get up off the mat.
Get up off the mat.
Look with me, John chapter five.
I'm reading from the NCV version.
If that's not your favorite version,
just send the email to Brian Yawn.
The Bible said, "Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem
for a special feast."
In Jerusalem, there is a pool with five covered porters,
which is called Bethesda in the Hebrew language.
If you translate that, it's called house of mercy.
Some say house of grace.
Some say the house of flowing water.
This pool is near the sheep gate.
And many sick people, the Bible says,
were laying on the porches beside the pool.
Some were blind, some were crippled, some were paralyzed,
but they waited for the water to move.
Bible said in verse four, sometimes an angel of the Lord
came down to the pool and stirred up the water.
And after the angel did this,
the first person to get into the pool was healed from any sickness that they
had but there was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years come on
somebody says a long time 38 years brother had been sick but when Jesus
saw the man and knew that he had been sick for such a long time Jesus asked
him do you want to be well this is just for free can I tell you God knows
exactly the condition of your life. He knows exactly where you are and what's
your face, but he says to this sick man, "Do you want to be well?" And the sick man
answered, watch his answer here family, he says, "Sir, there is no one to help me get
into the pool when the water starts moving." You ever met anybody like that?
"While I'm coming to the water, somebody always else gets in before me." Then Jesus
said stand up.
A glamory translation, Jesus said get up.
Pick up your mat, walk.
And immediately the man was well and he picked up his mat
and he began to walk.
I wanna talk to you for a few minutes on get up off the mat.
Get up off the mat.
Lord bless the word, bless this time together.
And I just pray in the name of Jesus that again,
the anointing of the Holy Spirit will flow.
There's an atmosphere of your presence in this room
the mansion. Oh I know concerts and other theater productions going but right now
this is the tabernacle of the Lord. This is a place where you reside. You are
welcome here and we know Lord you're gonna do something mighty in our midst
this morning and we thank you for it in Jesus name. Everybody say amen. Amen. Look
at your neighbor say get up off the mat. Come on tell them again get up off the
mat. Listen I read a story it was a great story I read it this summer my wife was
telling me about this story. She said, "Kevin, you're going to have to read this story. This
story is amazing." It was a story about determination. It was a story about
achievement. It was a story about perseverance. In July 20, 1988, there was a
lady by the name of Judy Robles. At the age of 16 years old, your age, some of your
She gave birth to a baby boy, but this baby boy was missing his right leg.
The doctors could not explain what went wrong.
They could not explain to Judy why this happened.
Her son, whose name was Anthony, was missing his leg.
But Anthony shares in his story that his mother always told him, going up,
that God made him that way for a reason.
Can I tell you everything that you don't like about yourself?
God made you that way for a reason.
Everything that you think, God, you didn't do this well on me.
The Bible says that you're fearfully and wonderfully made.
That God took time on you.
That He knit you together in your mother's womb.
So everything you don't like, guess what God loves about you?
And He made you that way for a reason.
See at the age of 14, Anthony was trying to figure it out just like you are.
What's my purpose?
What's my plan?
What does God have in store for me?
And he realized in this moment that God was revealing to him his purpose.
Now, this is going to maybe sound crazy to you, but he realized that he wanted to participate in athletics.
Now, I know what you're thinking right now. Bro has one leg. How's he going to accomplish that?
That sounds like that's going to be challenging, and it was.
But he decided that he wanted to pursue wrestling.
He tells the story that his very first year of wrestling that it was awful.
He did horrible.
He was not successful.
He was the smallest kid on the team.
He was the worst kid on the team.
And no one believed that he would ever excel at wrestling
with one leg.
But here's the problem.
They underestimated Anthony.
And I wanna tell somebody in the room today
that the enemy is underestimating who you are
and what God has put in you.
And you've got great things ahead in your life.
But see, he chose to get up off the mat
things were not going his way. He believed that one day and he told himself, "I'm going
to be a champion wrestler." Now as I continue to read the story, there were all kinds of
obstacles along the way. Again, he was the worst in the city, but by his junior and senior
years of high school at Mesa High School in Mesa, Arizona, he went 96 and 0. He never
lost. The last two years, all this time of work, all this time of dedication, all this
time of perseverance. He went 96 and 0. If you don't know anything about
wrestling, you don't know anything about athletics. If the number on the left side
is larger than the number on the right side, that's good. He was 96 and 0. And he
was a high school champion. He was a high school national champion, a state
champion. But even with all of this success, the elite wrestling college
programs wouldn't even talk to him. Another obstacle where the enemy could
have said why don't you just stay laying on the mat. Why don't you just stay right
there because no one's acknowledging what you've already done and family let
me tell you even when God does great things in your life the enemy will try
to get you to stay on the mat and not get up but I'm gonna tell some young
people in the room right here at Ozark you need to make your mind up on this
Saturday morning I'm gonna get up off the mat no matter what the obstacle is no
No matter what comes my way, I'm gonna stand for him.
So what did Anthony do?
He kept working.
He kept going after his dream, pursuing his dream.
And Anthony shares that his mother made him believe
he could do anything that he set his mind to.
And with that mindset, he got up off the mat again
and he chose to walk on at Arizona State.
Arizona State at the time
was one of the greater wrestling programs in the nation.
The coach told him,
"I have all these scholarship wrestlers.
"What makes you think with one leg
that you can make this team, but Anthony would earn his spot.
He wanted to prove to the world that anything is possible.
I think there's a couple pictures maybe of him
if you'll throw those up.
Through trials and through hardships,
both on and off the wrestling map,
he finished as a three-time All-American,
a three-time All-American in Division I,
and 2011, he was the national champion in his weight class.
This is what Anthony said.
He said, "Although my competition days,"
this is after he was finished, "are over,
my competition days on the mat are over.
I will continue to wrestle the opponents
that life brings my way,
all the while believing that I am unstoppable."
Family, I got to tell somebody in the room today,
you need to make up your mind
that no matter what obstacles come your way,
you're not gonna stay on the mat.
You're gonna get up and you're gonna do the things of God
that he's challenged you to do.
But we look in John chapter five
that correlates with this story.
Here's all these people around the pool of Bethesda
suffering for all kinds of illnesses.
The Bible describes them as blind, lame, and paralyzed.
They were waiting for the waters to be stirred,
many by the pool, hoping to be the first one
to get in and receive their healing.
But Jesus sees all the lame in this story,
but specifically, he sees this one man.
The Bible tells us that he had this infirmity
or sickness for 38 years.
I said, when I read the scripture,
Jesus is very much aware of the conditions in your life.
He knew he'd been this way a long time
and he asked Jesus an interesting question,
or Jesus asked him an interesting question.
He says in verse six, do you want to be made well?
Can I ask you a question?
Do you want to be made well?
Or are you just loving, staying on the mat
because that's your excuse?
That's your crutch.
That's what makes people feel sorry for you.
You just wanna stay on the mat.
I wanna tell you today that the Lord said,
"We're about to tell somebody,
"it's time for you to get away
"from just being comfortable on the mat
"and you need to get up off the mat."
Come on, somebody say, "Get up off the mat."
Come on, say, "Get up off the mat."
Now, this is an odd question
that Jesus asked this man, isn't it?
He was at the pool just like everybody else,
hoping to be healed and he's been there for 38 years,
but he faced disappointment after disappointment
because someone would always get into the pool.
And I look at scripture and I'm just puzzled
by the response of this man.
Look what he says in verse seven.
The Bible said the sick man answered.
He said, "Sir, no one is here to help me get into the pool
when the water starts moving.
And while I'm coming to the water,
someone else always gets in."
I love this, I love this story because this crippled man,
one, he doesn't really who he's talking to,
he's talking to Jesus.
But then he tries to explain to Jesus the rules of the pool.
He wanted to tell him how it worked at Bethesda,
as though Jesus did not know what was going on there.
He said, "Jesus, maybe you're not aware
"of the pools of the rule."
They're posted, you know the rules at swimming pools,
they're posted over there, nobody ever reads them.
You know, they prefer you to walk and not run,
and we all kind of do this right here,
trying to get there as fast as we can.
You know, swim at your own risk.
You know, all the rules of the pool over there.
This guy's trying to explain to Jesus,
Here's the rules of the pool.
He tried to tell Jesus,
let me tell you why it's not possible for me to be healed.
See, quite naturally, the man couldn't think
of any other way for his need to be met
other than the water to be stirred.
Can I tell you, some of us in the room,
we already are putting limitations on God.
The lame man put limitations
on the possibility of being made well.
He thought the only way was for the water to be stirred.
He didn't realize that the miracle worker
was standing face to face to him,
and he could speak the word and it would shift.
I wanna tell you, don't put limitations on God.
You think God's gotta do it one certain way.
The Lord can do whatever he wants anyway that he wants.
Come on, somebody say get up.
Off the mat.
See, before we throw stones at this lame man,
because sometimes we like to judge people,
not y'all, just maybe people I preach to, maybe down south.
I know you guys don't probably judge people.
But have you ever put limitations on God?
Have you ever tried to explain to God
of the pool and why you seal our lane on the mat. Have you ever told God about all
the other people who have been healed, all the other people who have been saved,
all the other people who have been delivered, all the other people who have
been set free because you never had an opportunity to get in the water. You
probably never met anybody like that but if they're on the road seated near you
don't look down their way okay. It's important for us to realize if we're
honest we all have been where this lame man is. We've been paralyzed maybe not
physically but we've been paralyzed emotionally. We've been paralyzed
mentally. We've been paralyzed spiritually and we feel as though we are stuck on
the mat beside the pool at Bethesda. See I can remember growing up in Winterfest
in different services as a young person and even as an adult where I sensed the
waters were being stirred but it seemed like somebody got into the water before
I did. Oh I feel like preaching this right here. See too many times we're
observing and God is saying why don't you participate. We've been sitting on the
wall. Hey do you remember when you were if you if you learned how to swim and
hopefully you don't wear floaties anymore that would be a bad look for you at this
point but hopefully you can learn to swim but do you remember when you were on the
side of the pool and you were trying to get the nerve to jump in the water? Is it
Okay, it was just me.
I'll just tell my own personal story then.
I remember like, you know, you start counting your mind at
three, I'm gonna jump.
One, two, okay, hold on just a second.
Let me go back here and do it one more time.
Okay, one, two, two and a half, two and three quarters,
two and seven, eight, so I'm usually just going through the
numbers trying to make yourself jump in the pool.
And meanwhile, there are all kinds of people jumping in all
around you.
I'm afraid that some of us, the waters are being stirred and
If you'll give me just one more minute,
we give one more reason why,
but God says the waters are stirred and I'm right here.
I'm speaking the word.
Let me do what I can do in your life.
See, I wanted to tell you in this room
and we want to tell God sometimes
why it has not happened for us.
We wanna tell God why we've not gotten up off the mat.
We want to point to other people
who seem to be able to get into the water,
but nobody helped me.
Can I tell you there are sometimes
you're looking for someone to help you,
but God is looking to you to get up off the mat.
Everybody can't do everything for you.
I'm guilty.
Do you know what I do?
I like to fix things for my family.
I like to fix things for my kids.
I like to fix things for my,
I mean not with my hands 'cause I can't build anything,
but you know, it's problem solve.
That's what I wanna do.
But sometimes I realize that I can't fix it.
that the individual has to do it for themselves.
Listen, family, if I could take care of all the difficulties
that you have in your life, all the troubles,
all the things that you have to face,
if I could take care of it this morning,
guess what I'd do?
I'd fix it.
But sometimes, it's not about me helping you
get into the pool, it's about you saying,
I'm gonna get up off the mat,
and I'm gonna step into the water myself,
and I'm gonna let God do the work in my life.
Come on, that's a good place to praise Him right there.
(congregation applauding)
Pick it up off the mat.
See, I find it interesting that when Jesus asked the lame man
if he wants to be healed, the lame man offers excuses.
Many of us have become quite good at giving God excuses
for why we have not stepped into the water.
Excuses like, "Well, Lord, I don't think you could use me
"in this capacity 'cause I don't have the same gifts
"and talents as this girl in my youth group
"or this young man.
I don't come from the right family.
I don't have enough money on my bank account.
My family's situation is jacked up.
Man, I don't look like she looks.
Listen, JC, that man's a toothpick.
I'm big boned.
Come on, y'all, where the real people at?
I mean, I can't, I mean, I don't even know
what skinny jeans are.
Y'all not talking to me, but it's all right.
I mean, I gotta have wide leg.
Come on, I wore a Husky my whole life.
Y'all not talking to me, but it's all right.
I mean, I had to have the elastic in the back.
My parents bought that.
I didn't realize it because they knew I was expanding more
and they wanted to save some money.
Y'all not talking to me, it's all right.
There'd been moments in my life where we could have said,
God, I can't, I can't, I'm not, I'm not.
There's someone else, there's someone else.
But God is saying, He's saying,
if you'll just get up off the mat,
listen, you don't even have to get in the water,
but would you listen to my word?
See, I love to say this all the time,
I wanna say it to you.
We can make excuses or we can make progress,
but we cannot make both.
We can make excuses or we can make progress,
but we cannot make both.
Family, I'm telling you, I look at a generation
of young people that are seated at the mansion today
and I see an army of believers
that are not gonna make excuses,
but we're gonna say, "God, we're gonna get up off the mat
"and we're gonna do exactly what you called us to do."
Come on, somebody say, "Get up off the mat."
Get up off the mat.
See, if Jesus is asking you, do you want to be healed?
Can I give you a quick news slash?
He is not looking for your excuses.
If he's saying, do you wanna be healed?
Do you wanna be healed from the things
that you're battling in your mind?
Or do you wanna be healed from some of the things
that have happened to you
that I wish would have never happened to you?
Do you wanna be healed from the things
that have been spoken over you death instead of life.
God's not looking for your excuses,
He's looking for your faith
that will radically change your life, don't miss that.
See, instead of presenting God limitations and excuses
on why we cannot be made well,
or why we're not able to get up off the mat,
recognize that Jesus is the creator of the universe,
the son of the living God,
and He is providing an opportunity
to change the trajectory of your life.
Do you know what this weekend is all about?
Yeah, we want to worship.
Yeah, we want you to buy a Winterfest t-shirt
or a sweatshirt.
You're welcome, Brother Yawn.
I mean, we want you to buy those things, sure.
We want you to give into the offerings.
We want you to have a good time.
We want you to drink less monster drinks
than what you're drinking right now.
Yeah, we want you to enjoy wherever you go
and whatever you do this week.
Yes, we want that,
but we want you to encounter the creator of the universe
because you have an opportunity when you meet him
to see your life's trajectory change.
See, Jesus is telling you it's time to get up off the mat.
Jesus is saying you don't have to stay stuck
on the side of the pool anymore.
Jesus is saying this weekend is about something brand new
in your life and you better get ready and prepared
to experience the fullness of who I am.
Jesus was saying I don't need your excuse
of why you haven't gotten the water.
I just wanna know do you wanna be made well?
Can I ask you the same question?
God is saying to us, He's saying,
"Do you wanna be made well?"
He doesn't want the answer of your excuses.
He's asking you, "Do you want me to perform
"the miraculous in your life?"
Look what He says in verses eight and nine.
Then Jesus said, "Stand up."
McGlamey translation, "Get up."
He said, "Stand up, get up."
He said, "Pick up your map."
And He said, "Woke."
Now can you imagine what this guy's thinking?
He's been laying there for 38 years.
I mean, some of y'all can't even comprehend 38 years.
You've only been here 14 or 15,
but for the older people, not myself,
but the older people, they know what 38 years looks like.
They can imagine that.
I'm just kidding, I'm close to that.
I mean, for 38 years, he's been laying there,
not knowing what he's gonna,
but Jesus says, "Bro, get up."
That's the modern translation, bro.
Bro, stand up.
Get up.
Pick up your mat.
Are you sick and tired of being stuck on the side of the pool
watching everybody else get their miracle
and their breakthrough?
He's saying to him, get up.
And the Bible said, look at what he said in verse nine.
He said, and in two days.
Is that what the scripture said?
You got that scripture, throw it up.
He said, and the Bible said, and in a week,
in a month when he felt better about what Jesus said
and he worked through Jesus hurting his feelings.
Is that what it said?
No, y'all can read, right?
Y'all sound that word out, e, me, dz, e, le.
Yeah, immediately, there it is.
The Bible said, and immediately the man was well.
That's the key word.
Jesus said, do you want to be made well?
Man, I don't have time to break all this down,
But here's what I want to tell you.
Jesus knew that the man was dealing
with all kinds of issues in his life.
And the physical limitation was part of that.
But there were other issues that he was dealing with.
And the Bible said that when Jesus spoke the word,
that immediately he was made well.
Can I tell you on this Saturday morning
here at Ozark Winter Fest,
God is saying to you, do you want to be made well?
And if you want to be made well,
all the limitations, all the obstacles,
everything that's holding you back,
I can speak one word and you can made
made completely whale. He picked up his mat and he began to walk. Can you
imagine the other people that were there that were sitting laying close to this
guy and Jesus. I'd better say, "Hey Jesus, I'm ready. I'm good. Jesus, you can help me
out too. I'm good with that. Come on. I'm ready to be made whale." Let me say it to you
this way this morning. Jesus stands ready to do infinitely more than you can hope,
dream or imagine and we must move beyond our baggage, our issues, our stagnant
mindsets that are holding us back from experiencing the healing in our lives. You
need to read that one more time. Throw it up on the screen for me please. Jesus stands
ready to do infinitely more than you can hope, dream, or imagine. We must move
beyond our baggage, our issues, our stagnant mindsets that are holding us
back from experiencing healing in our lives. What baggage did you bring with
you to Ozark, not the physical baggage.
You need to take that home and make sure yourself
gets in the right suitcase.
This ain't youth camp, come on y'all.
I mean, you gotta take that stuff home with you.
But what baggage did you bring in hopes that you would
encounter the King of Kings and he would say to you,
"Do you want to be well?"
And he would change your life.
See, if Jesus is telling you, "Stand up or get up,
"pick up your mat and walk," he's saying,
"Activate your faith.
I'm gonna do my part, but I need you to do your part.
See, Jesus is not looking for your ability to help him out.
He doesn't need your help, but he's interested
and he desires for your faith to trust him
to perform the miraculous in your life.
Some of you are going to have to let go of the mat
because you've grown too comfortable there.
Some of you laying on the mat,
you set up a big screen TV, you got your Xbox plugged in,
you got all your snacks that you like over there,
You got everything ready to go.
It's just all over there on the side.
And you have grown so comfortable on the mat,
you haven't even given a thought of leaving that place.
Preach on, pastor, I think I will.
I wanna tell you this morning,
God is saying, do you want to be well?
And some of you are saying, Jesus,
no, I'm good where I am.
But Jesus came to set you free from the issues
and the baggage and the bondage in your life.
But here's the thing,
Bishop, y'all can't help you get in the pool.
Bishop Reyes can't help you get in the pool.
Bishop Cook can't help you get in the pool.
I can't help you get in the pool.
Your pastor can't help you get in the pool.
All we can say to you is this,
Jesus is saying to you, do you want to be made well?
Jesus isn't coming to get you in the water,
he's coming to get you off your mat.
Somebody say, get up, off the mat.
Come on, say get up, off the mat.
Maybe the waters around you have already been stirred.
Maybe somebody else has got in before you.
I understand that.
I've had some moments in my life, somebody come play softly for me, if you will.
I'll try to wind this down.
I'm ahead of schedule, so y'all feel good about that.
I'm going to try to wind this down.
Now, when they come play, you know what that means for a Pentecostal preacher, right?
Nothing.
Come on, y'all.
It's all right.
It'll be fine.
We'll get down here in a minute.
Maybe the waters have already been stirred around.
Maybe it seems like everybody else.
I'll never forget one time, me and Amy, we were going through a difficult season in ministry.
I was a student pastor.
And during the season, man, we were having some of the greatest years of student ministry
with our students.
God was growing our group and we were doing good things, but man, I was just at a place
of, I was at a place of emptiness.
And then one night there was an altar call that was given by our pastor, and I just needed
the Lord to help me.
I felt like I'd seen so many people get in the waters of the pool that were being stirred,
and God do something in their life, but yet it was never happening for me.
And we went down there to the altar, and Amy's down there, we weren't down there, we weren't
down there two minutes y'all. Amy's crying got her hands in the air speaking in
tongues. I got mad. I said Lord I brought this woman to the altar and I brought it
because I needed some help. I needed some encouragement. Obviously y'all are doing
good. You and her are fine. But I feel like I'm stuck on the mat. I need you to do
something for me Lord. I want to tell you that service a man came and he prayed for me he
prayed one word he prayed lift he prayed lift and then he lifted me off the
ground when he said it the third time y'all been to a buffet come on y'all
he picked me up off the ground and then when my feet hit the floor I knew I had
gotten up off the mat I knew that the the waters had been stirred and it looked
like others had gotten before me.
But in that moment, Jesus said,
do you want to be well?
And in that moment, the word of the Lord
is what changed that situation.
Here's what I wanna say to you.
If you wanna get up off the mat, focus on Jesus.
Focus on his words, focus on his commands,
focus on his ability, his power,
and observe him perform the impossible in your life.
Some of you came here this week and said,
there's no way God can help me with that. There's no way God can heal me of that.
There's no way God even knows where I am with that. He ain't told one person, "You
better hear this, Pastor. God knows what you're going through this very moment."
And he sent me from the volunteer state to come to talk to you, to tell you,
"It's time to get up off the mat. It's time to get up off the mat, student.
Maybe there's a leader in the room that for years you've been held captive in
your mind because past events that you can't forgive yourself for. But it was
before your relationship with Jesus you did some things. I'm telling you leader
God says, "Get up off the mat." It's time to get up off the mat. Levi Lusko said this, he said
Jesus never calls you to do something that he is not prepared to enable you to
God is asking you to get up off the mat to watch you fail.
God is asking you to get up off the mat because he is about to
perform the miraculous in your life and it will be a moment in
your life that you will point to that I am never the same again
as a result of this encounter with Jesus and what he has done
for me.
Come on, that's a good place to praise him right there.
Hey, do you remember the story that we started with just a few moments ago?
Empty, Robles?
It's an incredible story of overcoming physical limitations to achieve personal success.
It's a story of great determination.
It's a story of belief.
Catch this.
about not waiting for someone to do it for you. Hear me? It's not about waiting
for someone to do it for you, but it's about getting off the mat when
everything seems against you. It's not about waiting for somebody else to do it
for you, it's realizing I'm gonna get up off the mat myself because I have the
word of the Lord and this is gonna change. Sometimes you just have to get up
off the mat. Come on somebody say get up. Come on say get up off the mat. Say get
up, get up off the mat. Everybody say do your feet.
Now we're not done don't talk. Stay off your phone.
I'm gonna tell you right now the waters are stirred this morning.
Here's the reality of the waters being stirred. This is not an event where only
one can get into the water and that's it.
I'm telling you the river is flowing and all we have to do is we just have to
step into the water. All we have to do is listen to the voice of the Lord when he
says do you want to be well Gabriel you won't be well do you want to be well if
you want to be well
get up off the mat I believe that immediately immediately you're gonna be
well. See this is what Jesus wants to know. Do you choose to be well at his
word or do you want to remain paralyzed and stuck on the mat?
There's a problem with some of us, not everybody, but a few of us. We like the
We have to be
I just say to my spirit, there's some young men, young women of God, some people in the
room that we don't want to stay stuck on the mat anymore.
That we're going to make the decision this small, we're going to get up off the mat.
We're not going to stay paralyzed in our issues, in our struggles, in our disappointments.
Man, I could have easily stayed stuck on the mat
for disappointments.
Man, just live a minute.
If you've never been disappointed, keep living.
I know that's not good news.
Somebody gonna let you down.
Somebody gonna frustrate you.
Somebody gonna tick you, can we say tick off?
Somebody gonna tick you off.
Somebody's gonna frustrate you.
And the easy thing to do,
Well, I'm just gonna go sit over here on my mat.
I'm gonna stay on my mat over here.
Maybe somebody will come talk to me
and make me feel better.
But Jesus is coming close.
And he's saying, "Do you wanna get up off your mat?"
And he extends a hand to you
and then immediately, Shabbos, (speaking in foreign language)
you can be made well.
Come on, praise him a little more than that.
(speaking in foreign language)
So we just talking about what song we're gonna do.
Jesus is calling you to get up off the mat.
Now listen, before we sing this fast paced song,
It's easy to move when it's a fast-paced song.
But here's what I want you to do.
If you need to get up off the mat today,
you're already standing,
here's what you're gonna have to do.
It's more than just standing.
The Bible said that immediately he was made well.
Put that scripture back up there on, I think it's eight, nine.
Jesus said, "Stand, pick up your mat."
He said, "Walk."
Do you hear what he said?
He said, "Get up, stand up.
pick up your man. We're not gonna pick up our man today. We're gonna leave our man.
And then we gonna walk. So you're already standing. But if you want to get to the
immediately, if you want to get to the immediately, here's what you're gonna have
to do. You're gonna have to walk. Y'all not talking to me, but it's alright. If you
want to be immediately, you gotta get up, you gotta stand up, but then you got to
You gotta take a step.
You gotta believe that God's about to do what only God can do.
How I feel it right here.
Come on somebody take a step.
Come on somebody take a step.
I'm getting up off the mat.
I'm not staying on the mat anymore.
This is the day.
Immediately I'm gonna be made well.
Come on, come on, come on.
All across the room.
If you can't get to the front, stay in the aisle.
We got room over here.
Come on, move.
And when you get there, throw your hands up and say, "I am
well." Come on, just say it. Say, "I am well. I am well." The
enemy thought you thought he had you in a grave on your mat. But
the Lord says today, you're about to experience it
immediately in your life because you chose to get up and you
You chose to take a step.
Are you ready to sing?
Hey, get up, get up, get up, get up out of that grave.
♪ Get up, get up, get up ♪