John K. Jenkins Sr - Beyond Beyond

Oh God, we thank You tonight for the privilege of being here. There are some who started off 2009 with us who are not here tonight, but You spared our lives for one more year. It’s not that we shouldn’t have been cut off, but You were merciful to us, and we thank You. Thank You, thank You, thank You for the multitude of Your mercies. Thank You for Your loving kindness. Thank You for forgiving us of our sins. Thank You for giving us another chance at life. Thank You for protecting us when we could have been killed in car accidents. Thank You for being with us in places where things could have happened to us, but You spared us, God, and we say thank You tonight. We come tonight to give You praise and adoration. We make no apologies; we don’t hesitate to say thank You. Nobody has to ask us; nobody has to plead with us. When we think of how far You 've brought us, we just want to say thank You. Thank You for the battles fought, the victories won, the prayers answered, the breakthroughs. Things have not always gone the way we wanted them, God, but we thank You that You 've seen us through everything. You brought us to this point. Now, anoint our time together tonight in Your Word. Speak to us as we launch into this new year. Father, I pray in Jesus' name that Your Spirit, God, would have His way. Do what You want to do; anoint Your people. Let the power of the Holy Ghost fall afresh. Fill our empty places; fill the void in us, God, and allow Your power to rule and reign in us. Take charge; this is Yours-Your church, Your people, Your service. We yield it to You, Father, that the name of Jesus might get the glory and the honor. Save sinners, reclaim backsliders, fill Your people in Jesus' name. Thank You for hearing our prayer. Thank You for what You are about to do in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen, amen!

Come on, let’s give Him a shout! Let 's give Him a shout! He 's worthy, He’s worthy, He’s worthy! Something spectacular, something supernatural, something amazing-God is about to step into the domain of your life and do something that you cannot imagine! Okay, hallelujah! I feel an anointing up in this place. I feel a breakthrough; I feel a miracle! I believe God is about to do something wonderful. Hallelujah! He didn’t bring me through thick and thin to leave me in hot water. He didn’t bring me through all that I’ve been through for me to just be ordinary. He brought me this far to give Him the glory! Hallelujah! Somebody say, «He’s worthy! He’s worthy! He 's worthy!» My mama used to call me here. I am, come on, here I am! All together, here I am, the same! Jesus, tonight, turn Your all together, all together, worthy, higher than me again! You 're all together lovely, all together wonderful. Sing it with conviction right here: «How much of course we mustn’t upon the cross become a man!» Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! Oh! Jesus! Oh, so here I am! Here I am! Let 's just be for dear; here I am! You 're all together lovely, Jesus. He’s all together wonderful! Wonderful! Hallelujah! Glory to God! Oh, I feel something up in here. You can be seated. I don’t know why you’re here tonight. Some of y’all came perhaps to ease your conscience because you haven 't been in church all year long. Maybe you came to appease your spouse. Maybe you came because your life is so jacked up and in such disarray that you’re in desperate need of a miracle and help. Whatever reason you came, you came to the right place. I want to preach a little different than I normally do. I’m going to save my Scripture and subject for the end of my sermon. I just want to talk to you all for a little while. I want to care for somebody who’s frustrated, weary, and tired, and somehow thinks that what has been dished to you for the last 12 months, you didn’t deserve it. The truth of the matter is none of us deserve anything but bad because we have done enough in our lives that any goodness that comes our way is the mercy of God. If I hope, hold your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 2 for just a second-well, just longer than a second-but turn to Ephesians chapter 2. While you’re turning, I want to just take a moment and talk about the stuff we have overcome. We’ve come through some difficult days, some tough times-not just in these last 12 months-but this decade of the 2000s has been tough. We had 9/11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, anthrax attacks, bankruptcies, and swindling from major companies-companies that we never thought would shut down are filing for bankruptcy. The Shuttle exploded in 2003. We had a power blackout across the Northeast. Can you imagine? A major part of our country lost all power! Hurricane Katrina, economic collapse, the economy is in shambles-this decade has been filled with challenges, and that’s just on the national scene. Across the country, if you just take your own life, your life has had its own share of challenges. Some of us lost our jobs; some folks had their families torn asunder. You 've lost loved ones. It’s been a difficult decade. While this decade has been filled with challenges, we exit 2009 with a word from God. We thank God for the excitement of recognizing that we’ve had our share of troubles, and yes, this has been our season.