Keion Henderson - The Strength to Climb

God said to tell the people, «I am going to give them the strength to climb.» God says, «I am going to give you a supernatural strength that will enable you to overcome every wall that the enemy has placed in front of you.» If you need that kind of strength, just say, «I need it.» Encourage your neighbor before you sit down and tell them, «God’s going to give you the strength to climb.» You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

I just feel like saying that everyone who was born in the '80s is the bomb. I just felt like saying it; all the '80s babies, make some noise in here! Look at all those '70s haters and those '90s kids. When you get a mic, you can shout your heart out. The reason I said that is because we grew up with TV kind of being like our homeboy or homegirl. TV raised us. I remember watching the best cartoon ever made; it ain’t even up for argument. It’s the Thundercats, and I’m just going to tell you that right now. It ain’t up for discussion: Thundercats! Thundercat caps! Thunder caps! Oh, and I remember watching cartoons on Saturdays. We used to watch stuff like Captain Planet. Yeah, we watched Tom and Jerry, but it was the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that were on Saturday.

Now, I don’t know how y’all grew up, but on Saturday at our house, two things happened: number one, you woke up, and number two, you had to clean up. How many of y’all had a house where you didn’t ask to go outside and you didn’t ask if anybody could come inside? You just had to clean up. And we only had one cleaner; see, right now y’all are rich. Y’all got Fabuloso, God bless you! Some of y’all got Mr. Clean. Let me tell you what we used: Comet. Yeah, it was either Comet or Ajax. I’m just going to tell you right now, it came in a metal can, and the humidity from the house ensured that at the bottom, there was just one ball that just wouldn’t release. But you don’t throw that away; you gotta use it! And my mother, I promise you, this is the truth, would tell us to clean up. My mama didn’t play about that. She said, «Now look, I’m going to come in there and check it, and if it doesn’t look like how I want it to look, you’re going to have to start all over again.»

Let me tell you something: I think it was a setup, because Comet and Ajax don’t come out of chrome. It just doesn’t wipe off. You can wipe it off over and over and over again, but it leaves a film. But we found out how to clean up, and because of that, I still clean up to this day. I don’t understand how she got that ingrained in us, but it stays with you. Likewise, when we would watch those cartoons, there was one commercial I looked forward to. It was a company called Life Alert. Life Alert was a company where you could either buy a pendant or a bracelet that had a button on it. So if something happened to you, you could push it and the ambulance would come to you if you didn’t have the ability to dial 911. My favorite commercial of all time was when the elderly lady was in her house, and in one scene she was walking, and in the next scene she was laying down. She said seven of the most famous words I’ve ever heard in the history of television: «I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.»

I didn’t see any salvific power in it, but you know, when you live, you learn. I realized that the commercial was actually showing us what God does when we can’t do something. If we call Him, He will give us the strength to do something that we cannot do on our own power. Before I start preaching, has anybody ever had to call on God? We’ve all done it, but does anybody have a testimony that when you call Him, He will answer? Touch your neighbor and say, «He will answer!» One of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture—not just the part that we can quote, «Yes, you shall mount up with wings like eagles; you shall walk and not be weary; you shall run and not faint"—I believe it’s powerful. I’m an absolutist when it comes to Scripture; there’s nothing in it that I don’t believe. But I think the more powerful statement comes before the 31st verse. I think verse 29 is so strong that it’s worth really thinking about. It says, «He gives power to the faint.» Hallelujah! That is such an amazing thought. What happens when a person faints? Their blood pressure drops, and they fall flat, which is actually a life-saving response to trauma. When the brain can’t get blood, God innately designed us to fall flat so that the blood could get there and we could regain consciousness. God says, «I give power to those who feel like they’re about to pass out. I give power to people whose lives have so much pressure that they don’t feel they can take another step. I give power to people who recognize that they need Me every hour.» And can I say something? It doesn’t matter if you are black; it does not matter if you are white; it does not matter if you are rich; it does not matter if you are poor; it doesn’t matter if you have a GED—it doesn’t matter.