Valley Gospel
A Pentecostal church experience.
Valley Gospel
Whatever He Tells You To Do—Do it.
What if the ground under your feet is already level, even while life feels uphill? We explore a simple, radical claim: faith in Jesus places every believer—regardless of past, position, or pedigree—on the same spiritual footing. From the wedding at Cana to the valley of Psalm 23 to the tomb of Lazarus, we follow a thread of hope: obedience births overflow, God sets a table in the presence of enemies, and resurrection power meets us precisely where trust failed.
We open with an honest look at the Monday dip—when worship fades and questions creep in. Then we lean into a bold promise: God’s sovereignty meets our willingness when we get back up and walk. In John 2, Mary’s counsel—“Whatever He says to you, do it”—frames obedience as the hinge of transformation. We bring that lens to Psalm 23, seeing “before” as both place and time: God prepares blessing ahead of our arrival and right in front of opposition. It’s comfort for the weary and a call to keep moving. In Galatians, we underline real inclusion: neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. Equal access to grace, equal nearness to Christ, equal inheritance as heirs according to the promise.
The heart of the message beats in John 11. Jesus invites Mary and Martha to take Him to the grave—the exact point where faith collapsed into resignation. That’s where He speaks, “I am the resurrection and the life,” restoring not only a brother but two hearts that had settled for someday. We confront a quiet drift many of us know: starting in the Spirit, then running life by effort, bylaws, and technique. The fix isn’t flash—it’s returning with Jesus to the place we quit, letting love cast out fear, and choosing to walk it out. When He says move, we move. When He says pour, we pour. When He says believe, we believe. The ground at the cross is level, and the table in the valley is already set.
If this encourages you, follow the show, share it with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review with one takeaway you’re walking out this week. Your words might be the nudge someone needs to keep going.
Hello. Welcome to Valley Gospel Church. We are a non-denominational Pentecostal church located in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Our sole mission is to present the living truth of a risen Lord, Jesus Christ, to a remnant church and a lost world. Let's get into the service recorded live at Valley Gospel Church.
SPEAKER_01:Of the 20th chapter of Matthew, which incidentally is in our text for today. But Jesus teaches on the inner working of his kingdom and how that kingdom functions. That by our faith in him, by our trust in his word, by our understanding of his love for us, it levels the surface that we live on. It levels the field of our struggle. Regardless of who you are, where you've been, what you've done, your color, your gender, your race, your nationality. Faith in the all-powerful Christ puts us on the same spiritual plane as giants of ministry. The same spiritual plane as Billy Graham. Hallelujah. As any evangelist, a prophet, prophets of old, same spiritual plane, past, present, or future. Now think of that. Through faith, through faith, Gentiles became followers of a Jewish Christ. That made sense to no one at that time. By faith, a lost sinner, evil, wicked, can be an heir and a joint heir. A once immoral person steeped in darkness can be great in God's kingdom. By faith. By faith. And maybe you're saying, you know, I've been in church, but I don't know if I completely get it. I hope there's a heaven. I pray there's no hell. And I hope I'm going to heaven. You see, Pastor, I'm dealing with some struggles in my own life with faith. And I'm having trouble staying connected. And if that even has crossed your mind, I get it in church. I get it when I'm praying or during an altar call or during worship. But then when I'm alone, when Monday comes, when I'm just trying to get through. I'm up and then I'm down. I'm in light and then I'm in darkness. Fearful of losing the little traction that I've gained. Oh my. I believe this is ministering to someone this morning. Uh someone in this tabernacle may have felt that closeness with the Lord, but it was fleeting. It came and went. And you don't know how to get it back. You may have experienced his power, his glory filled your soul, you knew his mercy, but you felt it slipping away ever so slightly at first, and then you didn't know how to go about getting it back. How do we get back to where we were? It goes drip by drip by drip. Maybe today you don't feel his presence like you used to. You don't feel that closeness that you used to share. Maybe you don't pray like you used to. Maybe you don't worship like you used to. Maybe you doubt God even cares about you individually. Oh, yeah, he cares about the church, but not about my affliction, not about my pain. Let me prophesy to you this morning. The Lord's called you. You've heard his voice. He's directed your feet, but through events in your life, through no fault of your own, your faith fell on hard times. And that power, that fellowship, that communion with Jesus that was so easy prior is not there any longer. That anointing of the Holy Spirit is no longer or seems no longer accessible to you. And now we question our own worthiness. We question our experience. Was it real? We question the gifts, our faith, even our salvation, even our salvation. And here's the prophecy. God's sovereignty. And his sovereignty is, listen, his sovereignty is unbridled, it's unhindered, it's absolute power, full power. His awesome power, and I'm gonna give you this uh churchy sound and phrase, his sovereignty is about to intersect with your destiny. Say that sounds like Star Wars, Pastor. Stay with me. Stay with me. What's that mean? His power, God's power, Holy Ghost's power will meet your willingness, your courage, and your commitment if you stand back up, dust yourself up, and get back on the road. Walk it out. Walk it out. Glory. His favor, his favor. We hear a lot about God's favor, right? His favor is only the fact that he loves you. You're his child, you're his baby boy and baby girl, and he loves you. It's about to become your blessing, and today you can connect or reconnect with the limitless power of your salvation. Today, your faith in Jesus and Him crucified can lift you up, can and will lift you up above the shadows and plant your feet on higher ground. The ground beneath the cross, as Judy's sister Jenny would say all the time, is level. It's all level at the base of the cross. It's all even. Hallelujah. Climbing Calvary may get, may be rocky, but once you get to the cross, it's all level. Your Lord leveled the field. He leveled the field. What are you talking about, Pastor? I believe the Holy Spirit will reveal it to you this morning. He that has ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church, listen. If you'll turn with me, please, to John 2. John 2. Wow, that was the longest introduction I think I've ever had. John 2, beginning with the first verse. We're going to start with a verse that you all know so well. Heard a thousand times. But maybe today it'll have a little different meaning. John 2 and 1. And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, They have no wine. Jesus said unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother said unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And I'll I'll stop there. I'm going to use for a subject this morning. Whatever he tells you to do, do it. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord. Lord, it is in the name of your beloved Son that we come to you, that we bring this. Lord, I need your help today. This somewhat difficult message, Lord. I need your Spirit's intervention, Lord, to help me deliver it and his intervention, Lord, to help your people to understand. Let today's word, I know it's important, let it be a lamp and a light. It is in the name of your August, all-powerful, majestic Son, we pray. Amen and amen. Please be seated. Now many people read that verse and they've come away that feeling that Jesus, the son of Mary, was being disrespectful to his mother, calling her woman. And just as a clarification, the term that's used there, woman, is actually a term of endearment and respect. It would be, in today's English, it would be like saying, yes, ma'am. He's saying ma'am to his mother. And that has some implications too, because it's no longer mom. Mama, it's that's not it anymore. So we see some things happening here. Mary's obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit to summon her son to perform his first miracle. Jesus says, ma'am, what have I to do with you? If this is to be a supernatural event that you're asking me to perform, then it has to come from my dad. It has to come from my father, because my time hasn't come yet. His time hadn't come yet. Those that believe they can pray, this is just an aside, uh, grew up in Roman Catholicism, but those that believe, and there are some in uh Protestantism as well, that believe we can go to the mother of Jesus and she got sway with her boy, and you can ask Mary, hey, get your son to do this for me. Those that believe they can pray through Mary to get Jesus should take note of this scripture. This is an important scripture in your understanding. Uh what do you have to do? Jesus says to his mother, what do you have to do with this supernatural divine nature that I'm about to enter into? And again, with in total respect and regard to his mother, Jesus said, It's not my time, it's not my kairos in the Greek. You say, oh, you're getting Greeky on me. Mary couldn't yet partake of Jesus' power. Amen. Just as Jesus had to summon his father, uh Mary couldn't fulfill her destiny yet. It was because Jesus' destiny wasn't yet fulfilled. His time hadn't come. So what was his time? His time was his completed work. His completed work at Calvary. But see, you and I, now's our time. This is our time because Jesus completed the work at Calvary. Uh his work is done. All the mission is fulfilled. It's finished. He said so. Earlier we said that God's sovereignty would meet your destiny, and I know that's a spooky-booky sounding phrase. But here's the revelation. God's sovereignty, what is that? All power, all knowledge, all wisdom, glory. The Father's sovereignty and Jesus' destiny traveled side by side throughout for 33 years. They traveled side by side. Jesus could do all the wonderful miracles that he did by praying to his father. Hallelujah. By praying to God. They traveled, they will travel for all eternity toward the finish. His finish, Jesus' finish, was the cross. His telos. His telos, John, makes your time now. His finish makes your time right now. Today. Yesterday, too. Glory. And always. And forever. Let me throw this at you. You might think it insignificant. You've seen it on every funeral card you've ever read. Huh? 23rd Psalm, right? But I want to read it because I want to make sure I get it right. 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Wow. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Judy, I'm looking, you know I use your mother's Bible, and that whole thing is underlined. Emily underlined all of that. Hallelujah. And I only want to focus on a little part of it, but I wanted to read it all. He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Now, before, that word before, it's, and I'm not trying to teach you English, I'm not qualified for that. But it's both a preposition and an adverb. It's two different phases. But you might find this really interesting. I found it really powerful. We all know before has a couple of meanings, right? Before is a preposition as regards location. The pulpit is before me. The table is before me. But before as an adverb is time. It's set as a time prior to my arrival, prior to me getting here. Amen. The deer was before me before I got in the tree stand. All right? So two different understandings of the same word. God prepared your table of blessing by his favor because he loves you based on your faith before you as an adverb as it pertains to time. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. The Lord has chosen you, called you before the foundation of the earth. Before the foundation of the of the world. Jesus told Nathaniel before I got here, I saw you sitting under that tree. Prior to me getting here, I saw you under that tree. He prepared your blessing. Listen, Church of the Living God, He prepared your blessing while you were still in unbelief. He prepared your blessing while you doubted. When you said stupid things, when you thought stupid thoughts. He prepared your blessing while your faith was slipping. He's preparing your anointing now. Even though you're going through a storm. Before, a preposition, location. He prepares your table when you were undergoing tests in the hospital. He prepares your table while you were in prison. He prepares your table when you were lost and undone. When your spouse unexpectedly died, when your relationship fell apart, when you were in the wrong church, he was preparing your blessing. When you were visiting the funeral home, Vicky, he's preparing your blessing. When your emotional state was so fragile, he was preparing your blessing. In that valley. Glory. In that valley. The 23rd Psalm continues, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what we might miss, what is often missed, what many miss is walking. Just walking takes faith. Just walking takes faith. And he promises you that you will come through. Just walk it out. Walk it out. Exercise some faith. Mustard seed faith. Walk it out. We walk by faith, not by sight. Not by feelings. It's by scripture. Hallelujah. As long as we're walking it out, just yeah, just keep walking. Keep walking. Keep moving forward. You'll get through the valley even when it's hard. Even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it's either the valley, out the other side. Promise of God. But it's in that valley that God prepares your table of blessing. With devils telling you you won't make it. You know you'll never get over this. You know you'll never get past this. You know it's going to hurt forever. Huh? Devils, temptation, hidden snares. Demons surround you with chants of fear, fear, fear. This won't ever end. This won't ever end. He prepares a table before you and he makes the demons watch you eat. Hallelujah. And the promise is he'll see you through to sun-filled skies in his time and his place. Glory, glory. Oh, I love that. He'll make the demons watch you eat it. Galatians three. Galatians three and twenty-four. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith comes, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all in Christ Jesus. And if you be in Christ, then ye are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. All, all, all those who come to Jesus, all who come to Christ by faith are children of God. No nationalities, no race, no physical, emotional, mental reservation, no gender, all, all, all. No age discrimination. Amen. All have all have that full arsenal of God's power and weapons available. We're heirs to the promise. We're heirs to the promise. This is true DEI. This is the real thing: diversity, equality, inclusion, glory. Heirs of the same promise, equal access to every believer. You know, we think that church big shots, pastors, evangelists, popes, pastors, priests, whatever, Peso Novante. Big shots of the church. We think they have some different access to God than us, than you. Hmm. Not so. Well, I'm gonna take it to I need to I need a prose prayer. I need a pro to answer this. We all, it's all level at the cross. It's all even. If we follow the words of Mary, whatever he says, do, do it. That's what his mother said. Whatever he tells you to do, do it. That's all simple, straightforward. Let's get back to Galatians 1. Just to get a true understanding, one in one. Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. And God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren are with me unto the church of Galatia. Grace be unto you, peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Emily again has this underlined, Judy, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Wow. It brings to the forefront now the question: did you receive supernaturally, and then intellect or learning or our understanding or our ability to understand somehow takes over. And let me just clarify this. We supernaturally were convicted by the Holy Ghost. Supernaturally were we saved, not through anything we did, right? No works. Supernaturally we were justified and sanctified by the power of Almighty God. Then we decide, I got it now. I'll take over from here. I'll get to the bottom of this. I know what the church needs. I know what we should do. I know the service and how to cause some excitement. I know what I need in my life. But when we leave the supernatural power of God behind, and we rely on religious constitutions or bylaws, what the denomination says, what the board said, we're actually being led away from faith. We're being led away from faith. And faith is conditional in its dependence on love. Oh, you didn't think I'd you'd hear me say that, did you? Faith is conditional. Faith is dependent on love. It depends on God's love. That's how it works. It's his love. It's his perfect love that casts out all fear. His love allows us to be victorious. His love allows victory. His love allows us to win over doubt and depression. Love allows faith to surpass hope. I hope this gets better. I hope this quits. I hope this. I hope this passes. Love allows faith to surpass hope. Hope is is the beginning. Hope becomes belief. Belief becomes faith. And then faith, faith, you notice that faith is a thing that we get by hearing and reading the word of God. But in the gifts of the in the nine gifts of the Spirit, faith is listed. Super faith. Hyper faith. To believe God for anything and everything. That's the gift. Faith becomes super faith. And then your faith changes things. It changes the situation. Faith opens doors. Faith moves mountains. Faith stops the leak. Faith levels the field. It levels the surface. If you're in a crisis of faith, you might need to backtrack to that place where your ship of faith started to leak. You have to go back there sometimes. When and where did we start to lose our faith? Where did I get stuck on that doubt about a particular issue in my life? Where did I lose my way? How did that happen? And the Holy Spirit will you say. Well, I don't know where that happened. All I know is it leaked. Drip by drip, it leaked. The Holy Spirit will take you back. He'll take you back on the path with that fork in the road where you stepped off the path. I think we talked about it Wednesday night a little bit, that Polaroid, that instantic photo he takes where you stepped off the track. He'll take you back there. He'll show you the snapshot of where it was. See, the Holy Spirit resides in every one of us who are called by the name Christian as believers, and he's not there to just while away the time. He's there to lead us forward. Forward. Back to John. Hey John, speaking of that, I see your faithfulness and your commitment because I know the Steelers are playing two hours ago. And you chose to be in church. And you still chose to be here. It would have been so easy to go, hey brother, not feeling well. And I don't I only say that because I was there. This morning would have caused me to go. John 11 and 25. A little bit of a long reading. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She said unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which is come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister, secretly, saying, The master is come and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha had met him. The Jews then, which were with her in the house, and comforted her when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out following her, saying, She goes unto the grave to weep there. And when Mary was coming, and Jesus was in where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus their father therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled, and he said, Where have you laid him? And they said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'll stop there. Probably one of my favorite passages of scripture. The Lord teaches us so much from that little bit. Those few verses, this encounter with these two ladies, Mary and Martha, and you all know about the two of them, sisters that were so different. One um had to have everything perfect on earth and everything set up just right and everything, and the other one just wanted a worship. Just wanted a worship. So they were kind of at odds. Uh it's such a snapshot of the modern church and believers today. I believe you see Mary and Martha hit that valley when their brother died. And Jesus wasn't there. He was off elsewhere. Jesus was best friends with Lazarus, their brother. And Mary and Martha's faith was shaken because of what transpired. The brother wasn't an old man, they didn't have any problems that they didn't recognize. And they reverted back when they had that trouble in their faith, they reverted back to Jewish law. They re reverted back to religion. Well, I guess this is just what happens. And they said he'll rise again. We understand that. Okay, Jesus, you don't have to give us all this religious talk. We know he'll rise again at the resurrection. Jesus tells them, notice he doesn't say, tell me about it. Jesus was days away, three days away. So it took some time to get there, right? And he doesn't say, oh, tell me about it, Mary, tell me about it, Martha. He says, take me to where he is. And he's ministering to these two sisters that he loved so much because they have his favor. They have God's favor just because they're believers. And what he's asking them in essence is take me back to where you quit believing. Take me back to where your faith vanished. Take me to the place where you quit and gave up. Where your faith began to fall apart, where you started to dwell in unbelief. Because it's at that place, at our lowest point, wherever that may be, wherever we find ourselves, when life has left you dazed and confused, it's at that place that you can experience restoration. That you can experience renewal, rebirth, resurrection. I love that whole scenario between the sisters and Jesus. Yes, we know he'll rise at the resurrection along with everybody else. And Jesus says, Honey, I am the resurrection. Hallelujah. I am the resurrection in the light. As great as Lazarus' resurrection from the grave was, the resurrection wasn't even so much for Lazarus. He was pretty happy where he was. It was for Mary and Martha. That's who the resurrection was for. In their grief and their unbelief, and they were restored to full power, full faith, full understanding, full fellowship. The resurrection wasn't for Lazarus. Mary and Martha allowed Jesus to walk them back and show them where they where they lost their faith. Where they had given up. Brothers and sisters, he'll walk back with you. He'll walk back to that place with you. In that Galatians passage that we read, we started in faith, we received by faith, we walked by faith, but at some point we succumbed to the flesh. Uh and we became we became easy targets for the enemy. It'll pick you up so quick when we resert resort to man or religion. Because we're unarmed. We're unarmed. You can't face Satan like that. You have no you have a you don't have a weapon. We left the supernatural road for the natural road. And again, we live by the supernatural, not by the natural. The natural road isn't level. It's full of humps and bumps and stones and rocks and ditches, right? But it's not too late. It's not too late. You haven't gone too far. All it takes is a walk back to that place where you got off the road. Maybe a short walk, maybe a long walk, but you have to go back to where you left the road. Jesus will walk back with you. He'll go with you. You're not gonna go alone. At that level spot at the cross is where he provides restoration and mercy. His love restores. His love rehabilitates. Because as I mentioned earlier, it's your time. It's your time because of what he did at Calvary and your attachment, your relationship with him. Hang on, hang on to God. I don't care what you're going through. Hang on to God through the belly, through the struggle. Like Jacob told the angel, that wrestling match, you remember? I will not let you go until you bless me. And the Lord could have shook him off like a fly. Right? I will not let you go until you bless me. Don't ever quit. Don't ever quit. We call things that are not as though they were. Well, what if it doesn't transpire? We call things that are not as though it were. God's promise to pour out a blessing that we can't even contain. That's already been prepared. That's already been prepared for us. He'll bless you while demons and devils are forced to watch. And all we have to do is eat moments. Whatever we tell you to do, do it. Whatever we tell you to do, do it. Lord, Lord, we worship you. Our creator, our provider, our sustainer. Lord, you are the God of mercy and love. You uphold us, you prepare us, you love us with an everlasting, undying, unending love. And it's through you, Lord, that we have seen the glory of your Father. You are our God. We acknowledge your kingship, your complete and total authority and control in our lives, our church, our career, our relationships. We look to you, Lord, as Lord of all, as the bright in the morning star, as Alpha and Omega, as priest and life giver, as the ancient of days. We glorify you in your grace. We submit to your leading, to your guidance. Though you were rich, you became poor. You understand our trials and what we go through because you went through them. You were tempted on all sides. Yet you, Lord, were without sin. You went about doing good, preaching and teaching the gospel of your kingdom. You accepted that awful death sentence that was put on you that you didn't need to accept. You didn't have to accept. But you knew that that sentence would free us. You open your kingdom to all that trust you, the Lord. The Lord who sits in glory at the right hand of your Father and will come again to be our judge, to be our greeter, to be we rejoice today in the fellowship of your spirit. We have been born again into your family, into your family, not the church's family, into your family. We've been made heirs and joint heirs, members of your body, children of the king, saints in your church. Glory! The witness confirms that your wisdom teaches it, your power enables it. We give ourselves completely to your cause this morning. Use us in any way, any station that you see fit. And though you slay me, still I will follow. It is in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen and amen. Amen. Thank you so much for listening.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to this week's podcast, and we pray it was an encouragement and a blessing to you. You can contact us at Valley Gospel Church at 1069 at Father Logan Road in Springdale, Pennsylvania, 15144. We invite you to listen to this week's worship service that follows and tune in for next week's podcast.
SPEAKER_03:I'm forever. I think the man I think I think now I know that he is high and it is home. When I crossed me, it turned around, it turned by free, all so I can come back, I think, because it might I'm forever free. I could say I can come back. I can't, I think. I've got around, I can come back, I can take off, because it's fine, I'm forever free. I'm at the same Athletic Combat, Athletic Speaker, I think. Oh I am free. Yep, I am free. I am free. Oh I am free. Yes, I am free. I am free. Oh I am free. Yes, I am free. I am free. Oh I am free. I am free. It turned me around. It takes my free on the ground. I think the mat I think we save Because it comes out. It takes my head for every I've got to say, I think the bad I think I think Well if you want to cut children, how to be a bow raise your hands for help! All the blessing down. Well, if you wanna cut children, how to be a bow! Raise your hands for help! All the blessing down! I'm so tired of you saying you cut me down! I'm gonna raise my hands for the helper! I'm gonna save me a victory! Well, if you wanna got children, you're tired of me! Well raise your hands for help! You say you turn me out! I'm gonna raise my hands for help! I'm gonna take me called It turned me around! I can come back I can't play and play and come back to the video.