if you don't remember anything else i
said today remember climb
and maintain
if it's turbulent and there's trouble go
higher don't sit there the devil is
breathing down your neck he's right
where he's supposed to be because the
bible says you ought to say get thee
behind me satan
how do you introduce a man like tyler
perry i can say this he's one of the
most influential people in the world
and you know you know him from the you
know a prolific filmmaker writer
director actor
entrepreneur
tyler's a one-of-a-kind type of man but
you know him as medea but let me tell
you this
[Applause]
tyler is a man of god a man of faith he
knows his word you're going to be
blessed today come on lakewood mr tyler
perry here with us today
come on give him a good welcome
awesome to have you please have a seat
here
please be seated you all thank you so
much on that song we go from glory to
glory to god
we're going to keep going we have a
change
that's so good we're going to talk for a
few minutes then i'll turn tyler loose
talking about this chair
i want you to get some size appropriate
chairs for people like me and john gray
so we'll have some
so we don't have to squeeze in and hope
that we he'll hold up here
that's all fun
oh can i say thank you for having me
here oh thank you awesome to have
i i get a kick because i can't help but
tyler because i do this to you every
time i whenever i look at you i think of
medea i can't help it but
let me let me ask you this i did a radio
interview
with tyler i asked him i said something
about coming to lakewood do you remember
how you answered as medea as soon as you
get a smoker section i'll be right there
somewhere in the back
i don't know why y'all ain't got no
smoking section where people like to
smoke they want to know god just put a
smoking section in the back
next to a bar and we'll sit there all
day and listen to you listen to you
well somehow we got you here without the
smoking section but anyway that's right
she's not coming until your giveaway
you want to reach the loss put in the
smoking section man come on
well tyler you know we all know you as
like i said when i introduced you you
know your films your movies we all see
that but
it didn't start off like that for you
you didn't necessarily come from a
functional family and i'd like to go
back and you know i was very moved when
we did the interview on sirius about how
you got underneath the porch when you're
a little boy to escape the pain and you
told stories and your imagination can
you share a little bit about your
upbringing yeah well well you know it's
it's
it was a very very difficult time i um
was a child that was born to
two wounded parents and they were
wounded children themselves my mother
was 17 and my father was about 19 when
they got married and i came along when
when she was 24 years old and there was
a lot of pain in the house there were a
lot of arguments he would he was very
physically abusive and verbally abusive
to the both of us it was it was really a
difficult and and very hard um
time especially for a man child i don't
know what it's like for a little girl
but i'm sure it's just as painful but
for a boy child a man child to watch his
mother being beaten and belittled it was
really really hard so i went under the
house and i built this little put some
wood up in between some of the pillars
and built this little uh
safe place for me and i painted it robin
egg blue i found some some paint
somewhere painted blue and i would sit
in this room and i would let my
imagination take me to other places i
would i would just be somewhere running
through grass and trees while i'm
listening to all the pain and all the
heartache up above me in the floorboards
so it was a very difficult time but the
beauty in that moment and i say this to
people all the time is that i i know
that all things work together for you
good when i when i am writing a script
or movie or writing the haven't have
nots or if loving you is wrong or
writing into these shows or movies in my
imagination
i go to a place where i'm in that world
and that was formed and born inside of
all that pain
so the little boy's imagination is where
the man goes now to to feed his dreams
so it's a beautiful thing when you know
that all things are going to work
together for you good god was getting
you prepared even back there yeah and so
we'll jump around a little bit tyler you
know you graduated from high school you
had the dream for the play but it wasn't
easy and doors didn't necessarily open
and i loved the thing about the
hurricane in south carolina can you
share some of just some of that yeah it
was uh i started doing this play after
watching the oprah winfrey show she said
it was cathartic to write things down
now i didn't know what cathartic meant
so i had to go find a dictionary
sub-standard high school i went found a
dictionary and i started writing things
down in this journal and i was using
different characters names because if
someone found it i didn't want them to
know that i had been through the things
that i was talking about i was talking
about adult survivors of child abuse at
the time so in 1993 i saw a move to
atlanta i moved to 92 and 93 i decided
to put the play up work save money uh my
tax returns from h r block did
everything i could to put this show up
and uh i spent all my money it was a 200
seat theater i thought we would do all
of these different shows over the
weekend and 1200 people would show up
and only 30 did
so i lost everything i had my car
payment everything was tied up in it and
it was a very very difficult time
because i know i felt led to do this
show about adult survivors of child
abuse who had forgiven their abusers
i out of the 30 people and i knew every
one of them in the room uh
there was somebody said this really
touched me and i want to invest that's
how you know when god is doing something
for you because he'll put you on a path
and just when you think you're at the
end
somebody or someone will show up and say
hey here here's here's another
opportunity over here so from about
93 94 95 96 97 we did this play once a
year everywhere uh in these little small
towns outside of atlanta and they never
worked they never worked every time i'd
go something would happen i'd go get a
job and i'd go you know every after i
work on the job for a couple of weeks i
get a call saying hey tyler we want to
try the place somewhere else and i go to
my boss and i say listen i i need two
weeks off to go do this play he's like
man you just been working here two weeks
how do you think you can
get two weeks off
and i go back to my desk and i sit and i
pray and i was like okay god i know i
just got this job i know i just did the
play it didn't work i got another
opportunity here if this is you telling
me make it plain what should i do and i
hear this voice say quit
now i'm not telling you to go quit your
job i'm telling you my story
quit your job send me your bill say you
told me to quit no no
that's not how that's not what i'm
saying so so there i was
stepping out on faith leaving a job that
i knew that this money was going to come
in from week to week to go out and do
this play because i heard the voice of
god so i remember every time i'd go out
to do the show it wouldn't work it
wasn't successful and like god i know
you told me to do this and when i pray
i'd hear nothing that same voice that
said quit i heard nothing which was a
very difficult time for me very
difficult and i remember the time you're
talking about was in spartanburg south
carolina
i had gotten another job because i had
more job man i had about 20 jobs during
this time i'd gotten another job asked
the boss he said no i heard the voice
quit i go out do the show
and i'm driving there and there's a
hurricane headed toward spartanburg
hurricane
i'm like my god i know you controlled
the wind and the
the waves but you told me to quit and
now nobody's going to show up so
i lost everything homeless sleeping in
my car
following god
when you follow god sometimes things get
tough they get tight
but if you keep pushing just on the
other side when you think it's the
darkest something miraculous will happen
that will change your life something
will open up that will blow your mind
so in 1998 and i and i got an
opportunity to do the show again and it
was at the house of blues and i was like
i don't know i'm done i'm gonna do like
my mother said my mother who loved me
dearly loved me dearly she i had we were
doing the play at that spartanburg trip
and i couldn't afford to pay the credit
card because she had rented a van
for us
and that bill was three hundred dollars
and 300 to my mother was like 30 million
let me tell you something my mother
loved me to deaf sweet wonderful woman
but she would cuss you out and beat you
up
and then pray for you as she taking you
to the hospital that's kind of person
she converted she was
so we were sitting in the house and she
was saying
listen i'm tired of this i'm tired of
you doing these plays just stop it just
stop it i'm totally crying about it and
the woman loved me loved me loved me
more than anything she said you know
what just give it up just go get your
job working at the phone company you're
never going to make it with these plays
do you go just go get a job at the phone
company i was sitting there in tears
when she was saying it to me she turned
around and she saw me because i was
sitting behind her on the sofa and the
blood drained from her face and she said
baby i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i didn't
know how important this was for you but
what i want you to understand is that i
don't care how many people love you and
encourage you
or the ones that try to tear you down or
destroy you when god has a dream for you
it is your dream
your dream
your dream and there are people who love
you who will think that they're saying
the right things to you to try to
protect you or there are people that
have been that have been in your lives
and watch you grow up and they don't
know what god has put down inside of you
because they think they're too familiar
with you but what you have to understand
is when god has something for you you
have to go for it fully
fully so so that's what i did i did the
show
we go to we we i get this opportunity to
do the show in 1998 it's at the house of
blues and i walk in and i'm mad and i'm
angry because all those years those
seven years of me trying to get this
play up nothing was happening god would
tell me to quit then he'd get me out
there and he'd leave me you lead me out
here by myself god where are you you
wouldn't even talk to me during these
dark times so i was mad i was done i had
went to get my application at south
central like my mother said and go to
work at phone company i wanted some
benefits to get my teeth fixed
so
there i am so there i am
there i am 19 1998 get this opportunity
to house the blues and i walk in and
they're all just they call it folk art
all over the walls i'm from new orleans
i said that's voodoo and i'm not
performing here get it off the wall
so they
they told me the next day well house of
blues was pulling out so house of blues
was gone
so the name of the place would return to
its original name it was a church it was
called the tabernacle
so i was about to perform in a place
called the tabernacle
i go and i do the show and
i'm complaining all the way i'm there
putting on my makeup getting ready to
play the old man joe and i've got
attitude i'm just mad i'm upset i'm like
i don't want to do this and i hear that
voice that one that told me to quit say
shut up
let me tell you something when god tells
you shut up you sit around like what
happened
and he said get up and look out the
window i got up and looked out of this
little dusty window and there was a line
around the corner trying to get in the
building
and
the place sold out over and over and
over again and i said god where were you
in all those times he said i was proving
you
to see that you would honor this that
you would do the right thing with it
sometimes when you're not hearing from
god god is trying to see what you're
going to do in the situation that you're
in
and it turned out to be
an incredible moment that has taken me
from that sold out house all the way
into every show that we've done it's
been incredible it's been miraculous
it's been nothing but god and i'm
grateful for it that's so awesome
that's
tyler another important part of the
story jump back there a little bit
because your father didn't treat you
right a lot of bitterness anger can you
tell about how something broke there
when you yeah what what broke in the
moment if you wonder what happened like
from the time when i started doing these
shows to the time when they started to
take off what broke in the moment well
here i was with this script about adult
survivors of child abuse whose parents
had abused them and this the characters
in the show that i had written from my
own mind had forgiven their abusers
but i hadn't forgiven my father so one
day we were on the phone before the show
sold out before everything changed we
were on the phone and i got a chance to
just say everything that was on my mind
because i wasn't a little boy anymore i
was a six foot six man and i wasn't
afraid and i started saying everything
that i needed to say to him and the
things that came out of my mouth blew my
mind but at the end of it what i heard
was i forgive you
i said i forgive you to him
and something shifted in me
something shifted let me tell you
something forgiveness is so incredibly
powerful
forgiveness is not for the other person
it is for you
there are people living their lives
who've done you wrong they are happy
walking down the street not even
thinking about you but there you are
holding on to unforgiveness
when i forgave this man i found myself
trying to
i was lost for a second because my
entire fuel was based on the negativity
of not forgiving him
but once i forgave him i had to find a
way to find another source of fuel so
the negativity and all the darkness that
i'd been through was the source now i
needed a more positive source now i
needed a good source of pure source it's
like it's like taking a car that runs on
diesel and putting regular gasoline in
it and then all of a sudden you say
drive and something's gonna go wrong so
you have to rework all the components
inside of your mind to be able to
understand how to function in positivity
so that shift for me was so incredible
forgiveness did all of that for me and
the minute i did that the minute i
started to function and doing the right
thing and being positive i went from
nobody coming to the show to not having
enough seats for the people to get into
the places wow
powerful yeah
i went up a few months ago tyler and we
toured your your facility your studio
you bought 300 acres the old army base
and fort mcpherson yeah yeah tell us
about that and then about i love the
about the entries about what you did
there just first off it's a it's a place
it's a studio where he's got 20 probably
20 big studios where they shoot some of
the biggest shows that we see on
television today well
tyler remodeled it it's a magnificent
place but tell me a little bit about the
that other part
the the uh i i was telling pastor joel
this when you come to the studio when
you drive in there's only there's only a
couple of ways to get in but when you
drive in you have to go through the
gates and what we did at the gates were
we buried bibles
so in order to come into the facility
you got to come over the word
yeah
yeah
and when you leave out you got to do the
same
so you're blessed going and coming
and we put them under the foundations of
all of the sound stages and people you
should see people who don't know god
it's so funny they're sitting around
going there's something very different
about this place it's
the atmosphere here is really cool don't
you think i said
yeah yeah i know can come stand right
here for a little bit tell me how cool
it is
tell me tyler um the old buildings there
about the the presidents that say there
in the letter you found
i um
all these this
let me tell you how how wonderful this
country is i don't care what's going on
in the country this this is a wonderful
country i
and and the beauty of this moment me
being inviting here looking at all your
faces all different races sitting here
together serving one god that's all that
matters the one god that we serve
the reason the reason i brought that up
is because here was an army base that
was established 20 years after the
abolishment of slavery that was once a
confederate army base that i now own wow
i mean the miracle in that alone the
miracle in that alarm
some of these houses were built in the
1800s and and uh president roosevelt
stayed there colin powell stayed there
and we were doing some cleanup on one of
them they're beautiful houses but some
of them had some asbestos so we brought
in an asbestos team to remove it
and we had
um
after they left out my cleaning crew
went in from the studio and they
moved this cabinet that was had been
there for many many years and something
fell out it was a letter
they brought the letter to me and i
started reading it when i read it i got
tears in my eyes because what i realized
is that this letter was written to me
but the letter was written october 29
1969
by a 13 year old boy in
[Music]
atlanta georgia
he goes on to tell all these stories in
the letter and he's writing it about his
where he's come from the country's at
war nixon is the president he's saying
all this stuff but there's one line that
really caught my attention he said
i know this sounds silly but i've always
wanted to write a letter to the future
so he wrote the letter
october 29 1969 well i was born
september 14
1969.
so i had only been on the planet six
weeks i'm there in my mother's arms in
new orleans and there is a little 13
year old boy at fort mcpherson army base
in atlanta writing a letter to the
future that i would find 48 years later
and i realized i am the future that he
was writing to
and it came at a time when i was going
through some things and i had to make
some decisions about the studio and it
was just it blew my mind because there i
was in this moment understanding that
god had already ordained this even
before i got to the planet
it was so powerful for me
so powerful so wonderful and and i just
felt so blessed and so fortunate i still
have a letter and i have a frame and
every time i'm going through something
to deal with something i walk past it
and i'm reminded god's got it god's got
it everything's all right god's got it
yeah that's so good tell her somebody
asked you about all your failures you
know
explain that yeah somebody i just
shocked a few people they said let's
talk about your failures i said i don't
have any
and and i tell you why i tell you why i
say that
i tell you why i say that
because when you know
that everything in your life is going to
work together for you good listen
i look i look back on all the things in
my life that i thought that should have
been a failure that should have been a
very that should but when i really
analyzed it i realized those were
teaching moments those were molding
moments those were moving moments
and i realized had that not happened i
wouldn't have been ready for this moment
or had that situation not going on i
wouldn't have been ready to go here had
i not been able to live at that altitude
i wouldn't have been able to stand at
this altitude so
what happened to me
as i look back on all those moments i
couldn't i don't call them failures i
call them the grace of god because it
had brought me right where i needed to
be all right
he's directing our steps right where i
needed to be
all right
shift gears a minute where did medea
come from holy lord
you jumped one day you can't find her in
the bible no you can't find it in the
bible you won't find anywhere in the
fire
medea i have an aunt who lives here in
houston and uh and her name is uh mayola
siberan and her
she and my mother they're a cross
between but there's a cross between both
of those ladies and you wouldn't want to
run into either one of them in a dark
alley late at night because
you try to snatch they first you're
gonna get snatched up but but but they
but i saw eddie murphy do his hand at
you know playing an old woman in the
clumps and i said okay i'm gonna try my
hand at it and that's where this
character was born but the power of it
as silly as it is as silly as it is
there's a power in it here's the power
in it it was the anesthetic that i used
to make people laugh to get to some very
serious subject matter people found
themselves coming into these into these
arenas and laughing
laughing really hard then i started
talking about forgiveness they're
laughing really hard i started talking
about getting over pain and molestation
and rape all the things that are
plaguing us as a society that we were
ignoring and that weren't getting any
attention so i found that if i can make
you laugh i can use this as a teachable
moment so it became very very important
to me as much as i don't like doing the
character i realized what it has done
for many people and i got i got a letter
from someone this is one i got plenty of
them but this one was really powerful
it's about a woman who said she was
going to commit suicide
so she got her kids together and she
went to a hotel and she wanted to spend
the last day with them she said we're
going to do whatever you guys want to do
whatever you want to do will do
and
she sent me this letter this is before
facebook and all these other things so i
get this letter and she's talking about
what they wanted to do they decided they
wanted to see a tyler perry play so she
went found one on bootleg she brought it
back to the hotel and they watched it
yeah yeah it's all right and they
watched it
don't but y'all don't buy bootleg i know
i know
but they watched it and what happened
was as as she was
watching it she started to laugh
and she started to be healed and she
sent me this letter saying i no longer
want to die i feel like i can live and
move on after seeing this place
yeah
last thing
last thing tyler and i'll step down i
want to turn it over to you for your
message but um you know somebody's
trying to we're all trying to reach
dreams today and it's not easy and and
you've you know you've you've hit the
success but give someone give us some
encouragement what's what's a final
thought for us on this section i just
listen don't give up
don't
i know this sounds simple but don't
give up if you go to bed with it
and you wake up with it
and you can't shake it
you go get a job and that dream is still
in the back of your head you're working
for somebody else but that dream is
still in the back of your head you're
getting up every morning five in the
morning going on somebody else's job let
me tell you something honor that person
that you're working for listen listen
because when you can when you when
you're faithful over someone else's god
will give you your own so make sure you
honor the person that you're working for
but but at the same time don't give up
the mantra at the studio at my studio is
a place where even dreams believe
because when i think about joseph he
went through so much before he became he
got into his promise he was in jail he
got all these things happened to him but
but when it got really bad and he gave
up or wanted to give up the dream
reminded him that he can go on so if
it's in you and you can't
shake it
and you dream about it and when you want
to walk away from you still dream that's
god telling you to keep going and if i
can tell you anything else please keep
going there are people who whose lives
and destiny are tied into you just think
had you stopped all of these people
where would we be going to worship and
hear a positive message do you
understand what i mean so
don't stop
keep going no matter what anybody says
you are worth it and here's the thing
about worthy get too worthy whatever you
do get to worthy what does that mean
understand that you are worth it you
deserve the good things if god said it
you deserve it and he did his thoughts
of you are pure and he wants to give you
a hope
you better grab me right now cause i'm
getting ready to go somewhere on this
thing right here go ahead
but but just don't give up if i can tell
you anything don't give up i
am grateful to be here and thank you for
that moment
um pastor joel i really really
appreciate it thank you
thank you for the invitation to be here
it's um it's
really really powerful to stand here in
front of so many people lakewood you
have been really kind to me all weekend
i'm grateful for that and pastor joel
pastor victoria thank you for allowing
me to come into your space because when
you have when you invite somebody to
come and speak to your folks you got to
know what what they're about and what's
going on so i'm grateful that you were
given this opportunity
we talked about medea early and a lot of
people know me as media but there's
something that a lot of people don't
know that i want to share with you about
30 years ago when i was about 17 18
years old i went to seminary school
i was a minister in my church i would
pray and i would i would uh
encourage people and i got up to do my
first sermon
didn't go over so well
i got up there and started to thought i
was preaching the pastor comes behind me
he said well
if god called you he would qualify you
and i don't think he
[Applause]
will be qualified
so
so i was very very happy i went home and
prayed i said god what is going on he
said well that's not where you're going
to minister you're not going to do that
that's you won't be in the pulpit and i
say oh thank god
because you know you look at people like
pastor joel if you step on his foot he's
going to pray for you step on mine i'm
going to punch you
you mess around and hit this bunion you
really gonna be in trouble but
but i i'm grateful for for the
opportunity of understanding what i was
supposed to do
god and i when i when i prayed god
showed me my ministry would come through
movies and television and listen just
because i'm a christian who makes movies
don't don't think that all my movies are
going to be christians sometimes they'll
be sci-fi sometimes they'll be rated r
they'll be all over the place because
i'm an artist i want to tell all kinds
of stories but what is important to me
is that as i'm telling stories that
there is a message of hope that people
take with them so so if you guys can
understand that and appreciate that with
me i'm grateful for it
we talk about this moment where where
i was trying to get the career off the
ground then all of a sudden it started
taking off
and i was in demand everywhere we were
selling out we couldn't add any more
seats to the theater i was doing 350 60
70 shows a year just wouldn't stop just
performance after performance after
performance and something was happening
you ever find yourself in a moment where
everything is going great and then all
of a sudden you get anxiety about
something
i found myself having great anxiety
about being able to fly
i was a very very nervous flyer you know
coming from a kid who had nothing who
had never been on a plane to
20-something years old putting me on the
first plane and i didn't understand it i
was scared to death
i get on the plane with my oil
i had a friend named nida she gave me
oil just oil she would just pray over it
oh i had olive oil all over myself just
anointing the door as i'm going in
anointing every seat people coming
behind me going what is this all over
the place
get to my seat we take off fight
attendant come on and say the stuff they
say i didn't hear none of it i was just
holding on hold it on hold on we take
off i'm white knuckled you have not seen
white knuckles until you see a black man
with white knuckles holding on to
something
so there i was
in demand but afraid to fly
then the horror of 9 11 happened and i
stopped flying all together i said i
can't do it anymore i started taking my
bus everywhere so i was on the bus and
my promoters and people in my business
folk were like tyler my agent like what
do you mean you're coming to california
on the bus yeah how long does that take
i don't know four days
you know how much time you're wasting
you don't want to get on the plane and
just come no no no i can't do it i can't
do it so finally i was one day i was
running in the park and said god i got
to do something i'm getting all this
demand and this is hindering the
blessing that you're giving me it's
hindering me because i'm afraid to fly
so
what i did was i'm running in the park
one day and i'm exercising and i see
this little plane in the air
and it's it's being tossed around and i
immediately start praying for the people
on the plane
i say lord have mercy help him lord all
that turbulence help him jesus shabba
hell she shall be jesus
you know it's bad when you call jesus
and shabbat at the same time
and then the plane gets lower and lower
and then all of a sudden it comes down
and land i realize it's a toy
there's a man flying a remote control
airplane in the park
and i said you know what i'm going to go
buy one of those maybe that's what i
need to be all right so i go and i go to
the hobby shower and i said okay let me
have one of these i don't read the
instructions i don't do any of that just
like a man just take it home take it out
of the box take off now
boom crash two seconds
did nothing to help me
went back the next day bought another
one
boom same thing
about the fourth or fifth time i went
the old guy that worked there he said
son
you got more money than cents
i said come here sit on the simulator
let me show you how this works and he
started explaining to me how an airplane
works how the wings have lift in the
airfoil and how there's an aileron that
goes right and left and there's the
elevator it goes up and down to make the
plane go up and down then there's yawing
and all this stuff and as i was learning
i got fascinated so i bought them and
started flying and i was like yeah i got
it now i got it i'm gonna be able to fly
so i started flying again then i said
you know what i'm gonna get my pilot's
license so one day i'm walking into an
airport and i see this little plane
it's uh looks like a little volkswagen
with wings
it was called a cirrus and they were
explaining to me what's great about the
cirrus is that if you get in trouble
there's a parachute you pull a handle
inside a rocket shoots out in a
parachute it lets the whole plane come
to the ground i say yep that's the one i
want that's the one i'm gonna fly on
right there
so i called the salesman and we go up
and he takes me up and i've never been
in a plane this small they took me up
early in the morning the air was smooth
wonderful it was great we're taking off
i was like wow this is really nice he
said you want to try the yoke i'm like
sure no white knuckles i'm just taking
the yoke planes moving from left to
right i was like okay i'll buy it
called the next day i said you know what
let's go up again just so i'm i'm sure
and comfortable it's okay well i only
have a slot in the afternoon so we go up
in noon
now if you know anything about flying
the middle of the day in the heat and
the thermals is not very comfortable so
we take off and we're in the heating
thermals and the plane is bouncing
around
i mean bouncing
a little plane
and i am having a fit
i'm like oh we're gonna have to land
he's like no no just stay i'm like no no
land shabbat i can't do it land land
land i need my feet on land he said hold
on just a minute
air traffic control comes over in a
headset then the lady says 378 golf lima
climb and maintain 6 500 feet so he
pushes the throttle hit the elevator
plane goes up we go up
and we break through this layer where
all of this turbulence was happening
then all of a sudden we got to a place
where everything was smooth
all because somebody said climb
and maintain
[Applause]
climb
and maintain
climb
and maintain
with that in mind i'd like to go to the
scripture if you don't mind those of you
who have your bibles turn with me to vic
jolie the 21st chapter and the 16th
verse of vic jody if you have it say
amen
why y'all laughing
oh cause you know there's no vic jody in
the bible
i'm glad because that saturday night
crowd wasn't too sure they were looking
for it
they were looking for it
[Applause]
big jody there's a cross between
victoria joel and mama doty and they
were looking for it in the bible it was
something
[Applause]
well seriously i'd like to go to genesis
the 22nd chapter genesis 22nd chapter
and it reads as follows and it came to
pass after these things that god did
tempt abraham and said unto him abraham
and he said behold here am i and he said
take now thy son thine only son isaac
whom thou lovest and get thee into the
land of moriah and offer him there for a
burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which i will tell of thee and abraham
rose up early in the morning and saddled
the donkey and took two of his young men
with him
and his son isaac and claimed the wood
for the burnt offering and rose up and
went unto the place of which god had
told him then on the third day abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place so
far off and abraham said unto his young
men abide ye here with the donkeys and i
and the lad will go yonder and worship
and come to you again
and abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering and laid it upon isaac his son
and he took the first he took the fire
in his hand and a knife and they went
both of them together and isaac spake
unto abraham he said father
my father and he said hear my my son and
he said behold
the fire and the wood but where is the
lamb for the burnt offering
and abraham said my son god himself will
provide the lamb for the burnt offering
so they went both of them together and
they came to the place which god told
them of and abraham built an altar and
laid the wood in the order and bound
isaac his son and laid him on the altar
upon the wood and abraham stretched
forth his hand and took the knife to
slay his son and the angel of the lord
called unto him from heaven and said
abraham abraham and he said here am i
and he said lay not thy hand upon thy
lad neither do thou anything unto him
for now i know that thou fearest god
seeing thou has not withheld thy son
thine only son
and abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked and behold behind him a ram
caught in the thicket by its horns and
abraham went and took the ram and
offered him up for a burnt offering
instead of his son and abraham called
the place jehovah jireh as it is said to
this day in the mount
of the lord it shall be seen
today i want to talk to you about
anxiety
anxiety i look at this scripture and i
see isaac who is
a young man at the time from theologians
historians say he's about 13 and 10 from
13 into his 20s and he is walking up to
a higher place
with this father
his father
a man that he trusts
that he loves
that he respects
his father is leading him to a higher
place
and as he's walking up isaac says
abraham
daddy
father
i see the burnt offering
i i see the wood sorry i see the wood
i see the fire but where is the offering
meaning i see the knife i see the wood i
see all the tools for a sacrifice but
where is the sacrifice
itself
i see the knife
i see the wood
i see the fire but where is the
sacrifice
he's got anxiety about it i can imagine
it's got anxiety like what is going on
here we're going up to this place
and i see all these things that are
about to take me out of here or could
take me out of here or could take the
offering for the animal out of here but
why are we in this moment
so i wanted to talk to you about anxiety
like those of you who are dealing with
things
walking through situations in this life
you're married
things are going great then all of a
sudden something happens
a person wants a divorce
you thought you would live your life
forever with this person and all of a
sudden the very person that you thought
would be there forever is about to leave
and you see the knife
you see the wood
you see the fire but you're wondering
are you the sacrifice
you've got children that you're raising
and everything seemed to be fine when
they were younger but now they're at a
place where they're a little bit older
and they're doing things that you
couldn't even imagine and you're worried
they've got addictions they've got
things going on and you're wondering god
what is going on you see the knife
you see the wood
you see the fire but where's the
sacrifice those dreamers in here who are
trying to build a dream
everything seems to be going fine and
all of a sudden you hear something
there's a rumbling something is
happening that is trying to distract you
you see the knife you see the wood
you see the fire you've got anxiety
you can't sleep
you're tossing and turning all night
long wondering what is going on god what
is going on in this moment
what is going on what is happening right
now i've been there it's a very
difficult place when you know that
you've got anxiety all over you
so as i look at this text
and i see
isaac wondering is he the sacrifice
i came here to tell you
some good news
if you are in this place and you are
wondering if you are the sacrifice i
came to tell you that you are not
you are not the sacrifice
god did not bring you this far to leave
you you are not about to die you are not
about to lose everything you are not
the sacrifice
how do i know that in the very next
verse
abraham answers isaac he says
god himself will provide the sacrifice
so here in this moment in the old
testament they are under the law so they
needed the blood of a lamb for the
atonement of sin
us today we are under grace
so the blood of jesus atones for our
sins
so jesus was already the sacrifice so
let me ask you something since god
himself provided the sacrifice and was
the sacrifice why are you having so much
anxiety nailing yourself to a cross that
jesus has already risen from
what do you do in this moment though now
that you know you're not the sacrifice
what do you do
how do you get past it how do you get
past his anxiety how do you rest how do
you have peace how do you what do you do
and that is in the scripture for me as i
was reading this is what made me think
about it abraham
tells his servants stay here
and me and isaac are going to go up
and worship
he saw a mountain that god had led him
to so he was going to go up and worship
so they were going to climb
they were going to go up and they were
going to climb and they were going to
maintain
they were going to worship
climb
and maintain
the climbing is the prayer and the
worship is maintaining
so what do you do with anxiety
you climb and maintain
it's turbulent you go higher you climb
you pray
you maintain you worship you pray and
you worship you climb and maintain you
pray and worship you climb and maintain
you pray and worship listen to me
turn to somebody right now and tell them
you are not the sacrifice
i want to tell you something go home and
get you some rest tonight because
understanding that you are not the
sacrifice all you have to do is climb
and maintain all you have to do to get
rid of the anxiety is to pray and to
worship
what what prayer simple prayer prayer is
talking to god just having a
conversation with him god i need you god
i need you to be with me right now god i
need you to walk me through this thing
god i need you to be by my side please
father in the name of jesus stay with me
let your blood be with me o lamb of god
thank you right now lord increase my
territory let your hand to favor stay
with me keep me from evil that i may not
cause faith you've got to pray and that
is decline and then to maintain is the
worship god you're wonderful how i love
your name how excellent are you o lamb
of god you have no rival you have no
equal you are the only true and living
god god thank you for everything you've
ever done for me god i worship you only
you can you've got to climb and maintain
and you've got to read the word you've
got to get into some of those psalms
where you really understand that god is
on your side psalm 91 says he that
dwelleth in the secret place of the most
high shall abide under the shadow of the
almighty
i will say of the lord he is my refuge
my fortress my god in him will i trust
surely he will deliver me from the snare
of the fowler and from the noiseless
pestilence a thousand shall fall at my
side and ten thousand at my right hand
but it will not come near me
yes sir
only with mine eyes will i behold and
see the reward of the wicked because i
have made the lord which is the most
high my habitation therefore no evil
shall befall me neither shall any plague
come near my dwelling for he will give
his angels charge over me to keep me in
all of my ways
they would bear me up in their hands
lest i dash my foot against the stone i
would tread on the lion the adder and
the young lion and the dragon shall i
trample under my feet you've got to get
the word inside it you've got to believe
that no weapon formed against you shall
prosper you've got to believe it you've
got to believe it you've got to climb
and maintain you've got to climb and
maintain
if you don't remember anything else i
said today remember climb
and maintain
if it's turbulent and there's trouble go
higher don't sit there the devil is
breathing down your neck he's right
where he's supposed to be because the
bible says you ought to say get thee
behind me satan
but if you want him to flee just submit
to god and resist them and he's got to
flee i've never seen anybody in the
presence of god worshiping and praise
and the devil was able to stay if you
want him to flee you've got to pray
praise and worship you got to pray and
worship you got to climb and maintain
you got to get into the word
of god
and here's how i know
that it's going to be all right the
first five words of this text simply
says
and it came to pass
which means whatever you're going
through did not come to stay
you're going to be all right
abraham told his servants stay here this
is the thing that blew my mind stay here
and we're going to go up and worship
but there's a little part of the verse
where he says and we will return to you
well abraham if you're going up to
sacrifice your son how do you know
you're coming back with your son
when you have that kind of trust and
that kind of faith in god
i don't care what it looks like it's
going to be all right
and abraham turned and he named the
place jehovah jireh meaning god will
provide so the very thing you're worried
about don't worry about it because god
will provide
but tyler you don't understand it's been
difficult it's been hard god will
provide but tyler you don't understand i
love my wife and my husband this has
been really difficult but you don't
understand god will provide just climb
and maintain
just pray and worship just climb and
maintain
and if i can leave you with anything i
want to leave you with this
hear me clearly when i say this
there are people who come in your life
sometimes
to be there for a season they weren't
meant to be there always
sometimes we find ourselves hooked up
with people that we think are there for
a lifetime but they were only supposed
to be there for a season there are
people who come in your life like
boosters for a rocket if you ever watch
a rocket go into space the boosters fall
off when it reaches a certain altitude
some people are not equipped to handle
the altitudes that you're going to
so don't be afraid when they fall off
they're not bad people they just
couldn't go where you're going
god bless you lakewood
climb and maintain
climb and maintain
climb and maintain thank you so much god
bless you
i was going to ask tyler to pray a
prayer blessing and i think there he is
right here well tyler we're very honored
to have you here at lakewood you can
tell we all love you you got to come
back sometime don't make it the last
time but uh
hey as we close it out tyler
pray over the people their dreams their
goals the forgiveness the blessing would
you pray over
but by your hands for just a moment and
and i feel anointed to be able to do
this because god has done so many
wonderful things for me
so and i know he can do it for you too
so father it is in the name of jesus
that we come before you
god these are your people reaching out
to you god crying to you believing in
you i pray right now that every dream
here that has fallen by the wayside god
that someone would go back and dust it
off and pick it up and dream again i
pray right now god that you would bless
every household breast bless every loved
one bless every family member in the
name of jesus god whatever the devil
tries we we bind it and rebuke it right
now by the blood of jesus god we come
standing knowing that you will deliver
that you are the awesome true and living
god you are the only one who can work it
out for us god we come looking to you
for all things we thank you for this
moment we thank you for this day and we
thank you for a word that i hope will be
life to us god let it be seeds that grow
into wonderful things and fruit that
show up in our lives in jesus name we
pray and we thank you god amen for
everything god at tbn our mission is to
use every available means to reach as
many individuals and families as
possible with the life-changing gospel
of jesus christ thank you for helping
make
the gospel of grace go around the world
without you we couldn't do it god bless
you