Keion Henderson - Major Pain

Most of you know this movie; it’s called *Major Pain*, and it is still hilarious to me today in 2020. When I watch that movie, I’m no good, especially when he sees them all for the first time, and he goes down the line, talking to each one of them. To this day, when I see it, I laugh just like I’m seeing it for the first time. So I’m going to name this sermon today «Major Pain.» That 's the name of this message today: Major Pain, his name P-A-I-N. But today, I want to talk about the major pain in the major pain because, just like him, I know some of you know what it feels like to be discharged for no wrongdoing of your own. He didn’t get discharged from the military because he did something wrong; he got discharged because the world no longer fought the way he knew how to fight. And I’m telling you right now that God will change the rules of a situation. He will change the method of a situation; he will change the basis of a situation. Because if you are not willing to upgrade your skills, he will upgrade the area so that you are no longer relevant. I want you to let that sink in. God is intentionally making you useless where you used to be. I know that’s a hard pill to swallow, but I’m looking at you, and I know most of you personally. You love to feel needed; you love to feel useful. You only want to be where people want you to be. But what happens when where you want to be is no longer where God wants you to be? And when you will not leave it, God will honorably discharge you. He will make you irrelevant in a job where you’re trying to get 30 years for a gold watch, and God will say, «I didn’t intend for you to be here all your life. You 're going to be discharged because you were created to create wealth, and your job will never make you rich.» Some of you went to churches where your parents went, and someone got upset with you when you left because that was the home church, the church where everybody was raised. But you didn’t know that all of a sudden you would wake up one day and no longer feel comfortable in the church where you were baptized, that you would no longer feel comfortable in the church where you were married, that you would no longer feel comfortable in the church where your mom was buried, that you would no longer feel comfortable in the church where your Sunday school teacher taught. And God says it was a hotel for you and not a house. I meant for you to check in, but I meant for you to check out. And you are now honorably discharged because you’re no longer needed where you used to feel comfortable. I am telling you right now that when Major Pain got to that academy in Virginia, he had instructions but met young men who did not want instruction. And I’m going to tell you something right now that I’ve learned by reading the scripture. Are you ready for the point of the lesson? I am telling you that Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, gets his soldiers ready. Are you ready for this? Through the ministry of suffering, God uses Major Pain to make major people. I’m telling you what I know: this too shall pass, but there is something in your pain that God is trying to use to shape you as a soldier. Jesus Christ said, «But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, shall,» watch this, «teach you all things.» When I grew up in church, they used to say, «Sequoia, you could catch the Holy Ghost .» Y’all remember that? Someone would be sitting there, and all of a sudden, they would fall out. We used to be scared of them; we would cry when people caught the Holy Ghost in church. And we’d be like, «Man, they didn’t call it the Holy Ghost; they caught the Holy Ghost.» One day, our pastor told us, «You can’t catch the Holy Ghost; you either have him or you don’t.» They said all kinds of things, teaching us things based on how they felt, but we would say that they caught the Holy Ghost, and that’s what we believed. Brother Leroy, we just thought that when people caught the Holy Ghost, it was because they were shouting. Then I started to realize there is something instrumental in what I had observed, and that is this: we will rely on the Holy Spirit for our comfort. We will rely on the Holy Spirit, Miss Monique Nixon, to make us shout in church. We will rely on the Holy Spirit, Miss Yvonne, to make tears fall from our eyes or to wipe our tears away. But do you know why we haven’t received the full power of the Holy Ghost? I want you to think about this. You’ve got to listen, Natasha; here it is. Are you guys ready? The reason why we have not yet felt the full weight of the Holy Ghost is because we accept every side of him except for his teaching side. And the Holy Spirit will teach you all things, but here’s why we don’t.