Keion Henderson - After These Things

Ezra chapter 7, the word of the Lord says, «Now after these things.» I’m going to be reading between two versions of the Bible, so you’ll see some words from the King James Version, but I will be reading from the New English Translation simultaneously. I want you to understand that you’re about to hear a whole lot of stuff that you may not know how to pronounce. To be honest, during my study time, I was going over it to make sure I said it right. You have to understand that neither one of us in this room speaks Hebrew, so whatever you say, you are probably saying it wrong because you will say it with an English vernacular. But the most important thing that I want you to see about this is that whenever you see «now after these things,» it means that God acted after something happened.

So here’s the testimony for your life: no matter what’s going on in it right now, one day you’ll be able to stand up and say, «After these things…» If I could change the subject of the message right now, I would just change it. Yes, change it, change it online, change it on YouTube, change it on the placeholder-change it everywhere! The name of this sermon is «After These Things.» Yeah, y’all can sit down; that’s all I’m going to say. I just got a whole different direction because the name of the sermon that I prepared for you today is «Supply and Demand.» However, the Word of God is a living, breathing mechanism, and as soon as I read it in your presence, the Lord told me to tell you: after this depression, after this dark season, do me a favor, touch three people and say, «I’m going to survive this!» I promise you, I promise you, I promise you, I promise you! Count me out if you want to, but I promise you! I don’t even know what I’m about to say right now. This is where y’all have to pray for your boy!

I once read a sermon by a Chinese evangelist named Watchman Nee. Yes, sir! He wrote a sermon called «Expecting the Lord’s Blessings,» which centered around Jesus feeding the 5,000, not including the women and the children. Okay, not to bore you with the semantics nor the details of the message, but what he said was so powerful. The sermon was wrapped around the miracle, excluding the 5,000 and the women and children, and he said the miracle of the message is not the fish and the loaves. He said the miracle was whose hands it was in. You see, two pieces of fish and five biscuits in your hand are worth about $12 at Popeyes or Long John Silver, or wherever you can get your fish from. I don’t even know fish restaurants, but you get the idea; it isn’t that expensive. Two fish, five biscuits-I say a dollar each for a biscuit and $3 for fish, right? So how much does a biscuit cost? With inflation, how much does a biscuit cost? $2? $2.50 a biscuit? That 's about $20. When I grew up, you could take $20 and feed everybody in the car. You can’t do that anymore, but if you put two fish and five loaves of bread in the hands of a chef, you could charge $85 for the same fish. It isn’t because the fish cost $85 to extract from the ocean; it becomes worth that because of who touched it.

Okay, let me prove it: put a golf club in my hand; it costs about $600. Put the same golf club in Tiger Woods ' hands, and it’s worth a billion. What 's the difference? The hands! Put a basketball in my hands; it costs $40. Put it in Jordan’s hands- and I did say Jordan; if anyone has a problem with that, it’s all right-it’s worth three billion! Yeah, because it’s never about what it is; it’s about who touched it!

So the miracle of the two fish and five loaves, you must understand, is that it started out in the hands of a boy. It was barely enough for him. Jesus touches it, he breaks it, he blesses it, he distributes it, and now it feeds 5,000 — not including their women and children. The scripture says they had 12 baskets of leftovers. How do you go from having just enough to feed a boy to having enough to feed anybody who showed up, with leftovers? By putting it in the right hands!

Is it possible that you don’t have enough because you’re still holding it in your hands? It’s money in God’s hands; it’s a seed. The miracle of Watchman Nee’s sermon was that when the right hands touch what God has given you, you will literally see what you have become fruitful, and it will multiply. The greatest fight of your life is to release that which you love to control.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait a minute, wait a minute! There 's an old song that says, «All in His hands.» Are y’all old enough to know this? I put it-watch me say this: let’s get ghetto in this! No matter how great or small, he is the Master! Y’all walking with me? The main idea of Watchman Nee 's sermon was that somehow the need was met when what was held exchanged hands.