Sunday A.M.
...But God
With Lucky Land Slots, you can get Lucky just about anywhere. Daily Beloved. We're gathered here today. Has anyone seen the bride and groom? Sorry, sorry, we're here. We were getting Lucky in the limo when we lost track of time. No, Lucky Land Casino, with cash prizes that add up quicker than a guest registry. Lucky Side, pronounce you Lucky. For free at LuckyLandSlots.com, daily bonuses are waiting. No purchase necessary, void we're prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply, see website for details. Of all human life. Whatever you're going through in your life right now can be changed. Persecution, tribulation, suffering is guilty, though innocent. There is an answer. There is a cross. There is a... There is his transcendence. Because of them, your whole life can change. Just say them again. Will you say them with me this morning? But, God. If you're going through anything, say them with me. But, God. If you don't understand what you're facing or going through, why don't you say them with me? But, God. If you don't see a way out, will you say them with me? But, God. But, God, I want to preach that this morning. Lord, be in my helper. But, God. We find in Philippians chapter 2 verses 25 through 27. Paul writing here. He's beginning to one another one of his journeys, another one of his missionary journeys. He had some plans and purposes that he had to fulfill and some things that had to be done. And he had to get travel colleagues and all of those things. And he said, "Yet I suppose it necessary to send you Epharotitis, my brother, in companion and labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger." And he that ministered to my wants. He said in verse 26, "For he longed after you all and was full of heaviness, because that you had heard that he had been sick." For indeed, he was sick unto death. There it is. But, God had mercy on him. And not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Paul was talking here about a ministry colleague that was just going to do what they did. And what they always did. It was his assignment to go to that place because he had a heart for those people. And he wanted to share with those people. But lo and behold, he fell sick and was not able to make the trip. Anybody ever been there? He said that he wants to be there, he longs after you. He's full of heaviness. Not only is he sick, but he's full of heaviness because of the sickness. He cannot make the journey. He cannot be with you. As I was looking back over this morning, my message as I began to look at these scripture bullet points. Basically, my notes consist of that. It's a verse. And then another verse and another verse. You could probably hear me preach and then look at my notes and say how did he preach that from that. A lot of my outlines are just scripture outlines. And it just depends on God to take me from one level to the next. And as I was looking over this particular verse, I was going to talk to you this morning about healing and about sickness. But I began to read this. And as I began to read this particular verse, I couldn't help but to think. I didn't have no idea. Can't even pronounce his name. Ephra diditis. I don't know who that is, but he was a colleague of Paul that he thought highly of. He said, my brother, my fellow soldier, my fellow companion in the ministry, he was important to him, but he was also important to the people that he was going to go and minister to. So he was important to them. Ephra diditis, he's important to me because he was part of church history and a part of the Word of God. But can I tell you, there are some folks that are missing in our congregation today. They're important to me. They're important to you. I think of brother Larry, who's not been able to be here. And him and sister Linda's not been able to be here for weeks because she was sick. And he was sick. And now they're there and they're struggling with this. Sister Joyce, charter member basically. Not quite a charter member, but been around here a long time. Our longest standing member put it that way. She's not been able to be in church in a long time because of ailments in her body. I think of sister Emma, this traveling today that has a need in her body. And I think of others as brother Scott was sharing this morning, the pain in the shoulder. Not always able to be in church. Not always able to override the battles that goes on in our body. And not able to be here with us. And I don't know about you, but when I'm not able to be in the House of the Lord, when I'm home sick, it is the desicness. 2020 about killed me. 2020 those six weeks of testing positive for COVID. And not being able to gather together. COVID didn't bother me losing taste and smell. Sometimes a benefit, but to know that I could not gather in the House of the Lord. And to know that everything that comes with those sicknesses today, but the heart and the longing. Can I tell you this morning, no doubt sister Joyce is longing for the House of God. But the Larry sister Linda is longing for the House of God. There's those of you sitting here this morning longing for your healing. I don't know what a helmet that you have. I don't know what you're facing, but I begin to read this for indeed. They are sick. Oh, thank God. They're not like our brother in this verse. None of them as far as I know is nigh unto death. But even when they are sick, even when we do get sick and it's nigh unto death, even though when the report is not good. I love what he said next, but God had mercy on him. Oh, can we just lift our hand right now? It don't have to be a long, strong, out prayer. Can we say God? Have mercy on Brother Larry. Have mercy on sister Joyce. Have mercy on sister Linda. Have mercy on sister Emma. Just insert whoever it is right now and say God just as you move forever, not as just as you move for Paul's colleague. Move for my brother. Move for my sister. Bring healing upon their bodies. Bring healing upon them, not on them only, not on them only, but also on us, Lord. Paul said not only on my brother, but on me also, because I could not stand the thought. This I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I'm tired of worshiping without them, aren't you? Amen. I don't know about you, but when Linda and Larry is not here, I'm missing my hooks. Amen. And so if we're going to get those hooks, we have to go to their house and they probably don't want to parade a people coming through their house. I don't when I feel sick and I'm feeling bad, but let's just believe God to touch them. We hear those encouraging words and those just to be in their presence. Paul said sickness. Sickness has made it where he could not make this journey, but God. But God healed him is what he's saying. But God had mercy on him. Brother Scott shared that testimony this morning. I didn't want to cut, didn't want to come, not because I didn't want to come, but because my body was not cooperating. Did I interpret that correctly? My body was not cooperating. And we were there, and matter of fact, Brother Scott, when he was getting his escort around by Sister Miles, he does on Sunday morning, I shook his hand, shook my hand, and he was on his whip. I said, "How are you doing?" He said, "I'm hurting." And I said, "Well, I am too, but we're here." Amen. I'm hurting. You're hurting. You may be facing some circumstances and your situations. Oh, but thank God that he had mercy, that he gave us strength. I began as Brother Scott was testifying. I couldn't help but to think of the psalmist who began to write about all the struggle and the hardship that he saw. And he said, "When I thought about this, it was too much for me." He said, " Matter of fact, my feet were well not a slipping." And I don't understand how people would stay out of church. Because the psalmist said, "When I began to look around," he said, "It was giving up time in my mind. It was what's the use." You ever look at our nation and say, "What's the use?" It may be a work environment. You say, "Man, maybe you don't have a screaming goat. Maybe you are a screaming goat." Right? It's just frustration. The psalmist said, "I saw this, and it's too much." He said, "I see godly people suffering. I see ungodly people prospering. I don't get it. I don't understand it." But there was another transitional word. The psalmist used in that psalm, and it was until. He said, "I was about ready to give up until." "I was about ready to throw in the towel and call it quits." He said, "My feet were well not a slipping until." Until what? He said, "Until I came into the house of the Lord." There's something about his house. There's something about the anointing that is in his house this morning. So maybe you're there indeed. Maybe you say, "Indeed, I am sick. Indeed, I am hurting. Indeed, they are sick. Indeed, they are struggling. But can I tell you that God will have mercy on them because our God is no respect to person. He is faithful." Then Paul writes in Romans chapter 5. Matter of fact, here in just a couple of weeks, we're going to start a study on Romans. We're probably going to cover this chapter in others as we talk about the holiness of God through the book of Romans. But he said in Romans 5, 7, 8, "For scarcely, for a righteous man will one die." Yet per adventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die. He said, "Yeah, there's a good chance, possibly maybe, that people would die and take a bullet for a good man." If I heard somebody talk about somebody and they hold them such high regard and to let you how much they think, they say, "I'll take a bullet for them. I would take a bullet for them. I would do whatever I could." So Paul is writing scarcely for a righteous man. Per adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But think about the ones in society that are labeled useless. Amen. The nothings, the nobodies, the scum of the earth and then look below it and you'll find them. Amen. And maybe some of us were that before God found us, I don't know. The lowest of the low, I'm talking about people that when you walk down Skid Row, you're talking those that are on death row that done the unmissionable, those that have taken others' lives, those that some would say statements like this, if they were burning on the side of the road, I wouldn't spit on them. Never heard that, just horrible people. Paul said scarcely for a righteous man. Per adventure for a good man, some would even die. God commends his love towards us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Couple that with what Jesus himself said in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever, that's not just righteous, that's not just good. I don't know about you, but when I'm out in that label that I carried with sinner, I lived up to the name. Amen. Just as that name, Christian, I do my very best to live up to that name, surrendered and yielded. We as sinners, there's some that they take their sin in seriously, but God, but God. Paul said, but God, while we were yet sinners, while you were yet a drunker, while you were yet doing whatever you did, whatever your sin of choice was, while we were yet sinners, I was not a righteous man, I was not a good man, but God, oh, but God commended his love. God loved me anyway, brother, Jeremy, God loved me anyway, brother, Paul. He did not look at my resume, of my history, of my mistakes, in my mess-ups, and say, I can't love you, and you're disqualified. I'm going to die for them, but I ain't dying for you. No, it's not His will that any should perish. He died for all. Paul said he died for all, so I can't help but to thank this morning of my lost loved ones, of my lost co-workers, my lost friends, family. You begin to look at your Facebook, and you look at your friends list, and it's everybody, isn't it? It's your church family, it's your blood family, it's people you went to school with, some dude you met in Walmart, some person you probably don't even know, but they said they knew you. I would recommend deleting them because they're probably trying to scam your account. I don't know, but we have that list, right? God died for every one of them. God died for every one of them. We got a lot of lost family, but is it just me? I mean the list as long, I got a long prayer list of lost loved ones that I pray for. We've put their names on an altar, we've put their names in an envelope, we've put them on our prayer list. We've had round the clock prayer in the sanctuary for them, but is it just me that every now and then, one of those names just, one of those people just get you, just stick in your heart. You don't know why, but you're focused on them, and you're wondering about them. You may not even have a clue where they're at, or what they're doing, or what they're called up in. Can I tell you that most of the evils and most of the sinning goes on, usually when us good holy righteous people, besides Brother Paul, he's good, holy and righteous, but he's a night owl, and Sister Amy's a night owl, and I think Sister Melanie's a night owl. So I'm not talking about them, praise God, they're up, but most of the evil goes on late at night, and if you're like me, and whether you're in your easy chair, in your bed, or maybe even driving down the road, 9/30 comes, it's time to go to bed, time to go to sleep, because I'm a morning person. It's amazing that God puts morning people with night people. Amen, I'm married to a night owl, and I'm an early bird, and I'll get up early in the morning, so when I get up early in the morning, by the time evening comes, I'm ready to go to sleep. But there's an inconvenience that takes place in about midnight, or 11 p.m., which is middle of the night for me. You take me at 10.45, you're going to get a response at 4.45. That's the middle of the night for me. When God wakes you up, and your brother, or your sister, one of those that's on your prayer list, heavy on your heart, you don't say, "Hey God, I'm trying to sleep here. Why am I thinking about them? You know, I've done it time and time again. I've done it time and time again. I didn't say when I get up at 4.30, I'll be sure to pray for them, but no, I've rolled off that bed onto that floor, and I begin. I don't know what they're going through, I don't know what they're facing, I don't know what they're standing up against right now, I don't know what the enemy is trying to do in their life right now, and many times I have not heard the results of that prayer, but I knew I could not afford not to call them out in prayer, because we don't know what evils and everything that the enemy is trying to do to prevent them. The devil knows that you're praying for your loved ones, and while he's got them in his grip, he's going to do everything he can to stop your persuasion. Oh, but Paul said here, "If for a good man in one would dare to die, but God commended his love, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Can you just lift that hand with that love one and say, "God, have mercy on them too. Have mercy on them too." And then Psalm, the psalmist said, the psalm that I was deluding to earlier, Psalm 73 verse 26, he declares, "My flesh and my heart," come on Pastor Paul, "my flesh and my heart," wherever you had, I was listening, I didn't see where you said you were laying on this floor at, right here, "my flesh and my heart," he said, "faileth me." Faileth me. So I was listening to Pastor Paul preach that just a couple of Sundays ago, I could picture one of the strongest guys I know, by the way, I've worked out with him at the gym, and I'm Amy and Gracie has gone through his training classes for self-defense, and there's not many times that I've seen something that he cannot handle physically. There's never been a time that I had a challenge that he wasn't up for the challenge. So for him to declare that I was so weak that I couldn't even get off this floor, you know what he was saying? My flesh and my heart, "faileth," he was talking literally, the psalmist was talking literally, Pastor Paul was talking literally, and he said, "I cannot even get up off the floor." But when he could get up off the floor, he said, "I got enough energy, and I got a decision to make. I'll run for the phone and dial 9-1-1, or I'll lift those hands with the strength that I do have, and call on the one. It can change every situation your flesh may fail you, your heart may fail you. Listen, people tell you, "Follow your heart, you better not follow your heart, your heart is deceitfully wicked, your heart is turned with everything. Don't follow your heart, follow God, follow his word, follow his spirit, follow your presence." He said, "My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Oh, maybe this morning you're here. You're here. You say, "I don't know how much more I can take. My heart is failing me." Maybe you're here this morning. You're saying, "I've endeavored to live for God, but my flesh is failing me. My flesh and my heart is telling me it's not worth living for the Lord anymore. God don't answer prayer no more. Our emotions will tell us nonsense like that. What's the use? Maybe you're here this morning. You've prayed for your lost loved ones. You've prayed for the sick. I'm not asking anybody to be selfish this morning, but Sister Amanda said, "If it concerns you, it concerns the Master." So I don't know what you're facing and what you're going through this morning, my brother and my sister, but if you're facing a circumstance or you're in a scenario and you're a situation right now, don't get excited. I'm not done, but I want you to stand with me this morning. I say, "My heart and my flesh fail." This situation is way too much for me. It's too much for me to try. I've tried to figure it out and I can't figure it out. My heart and my flesh fail is me, but remember, but God wants you to just lift your hand and meditate, if you will, encourage yourself and the Lord and remind yourself this morning, God is the strength of my heart. God is my portion forever. Why don't you go ahead and just personally talk to God right now and just tell him, "Lord, you're my rock. You're my salvation." God already knows you don't have to go through the dialogue of everything that you've been facing and you've been going through. God sees it. He knows. Listen, not only does he know he cares and where you're at, the song writer said, "God is right there." So you may just allude to it and say, "God, you see what we've been going through. My heart is failing. My flesh is failing." You see my frustration, but I declare this morning, "But God, you're my strength. You're my portion. You're my very present help in time of trouble. You're my healer. You're my victory. You're my mainstay. You're my all in my heart, preach to yourself for a little while. Why don't you just lift those hands and tell God who he is to you and say, "God, when my heart fails, when my flesh fails, you're my strength. You're my portion forever and ever." Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You can be seated. The chosen series, whatever you call it, the shows, the depiction that they give of, believe it was the first season of Mary Magdalene. I asked Gracie to look this up for me yesterday. Gracie actually has a shirt that has this on it, says it best, I think. It sums it up best. Because in the show, Nicodemus, we know Nicodemus was curious in John 3, Nicodemus is a ruler and he's part of the Sanhedra and man, he sees Jesus and he set up a meeting to meet with Jesus at night because if anybody would have saw him meeting with Jesus, he'd have been in all kinds of trouble because he was a blasphemer. He was everything but what he really was to them, to the religious crowd. And in Nicodemus' search in that series that shows him, they give a conversation, it's not found in Scripture, but it's a possibility that it could have happened. But this depiction of what Mary Magdalene said, because in the show, they had Nicodemus endeavoring to pray for her and to cast the demon out of her to no avail. And then she encountered Jesus, some would say just a chance encounter and everything. Now they see this woman who was just out of control, demon possessed, she's just as beautiful as ever, she's just walking and living and bubbling and she's making new Christian friends if you will in all of this. And Nicodemus stops her and begins to question her about that. I just love the depiction of how they put it and how it went. This was her response, and I believe this is the response of all of us. She said, "I was one way, now I'm completely different." And the thing that happened in between was him. And I heard that I was like, "Wow, did you hear what she said, I was one way." Some kind of way. Was anybody, I know you was some kind of way, he's my family, I know you were some kind of way. I've heard the testimonies, Brother Tony has shared his, believe it or not, his long red hair, rebellious teenage, some kind of way, that's not me sharing his news, that's his testimony. I was some kind of way, I was one way, but now I'm completely different. I'm completely different, I'm preaching the gospel, I'm preaching the gospel, I'm sharing the good news every chance I get. I'm completely different. Why is that? How was you one way and now you're different? Has that blow anybody else's mind that you encounter friends and Facebook people look me up on social media? You passed her a church, you were, and then they began, you did this, and you did that, and now you're, I was one way, but now I'm completely different. It's called a 180, there's an about face, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. It is, everything is changed. And all she said that I can tell you is the thing that happened in between was him. The blind man, he was blind for 40 something years, and now he can see, they're calling him in saying, listen, we need to know something, we need to know what happened. He said, well, Jesus spit in some dirt, made it mud, put it in my eyes. They said, that guy's a sinner, he's like, I don't know what he is, you read it. He said, I don't know what he is, I don't know where he came from, all I know is I was blind, but now I see, and the only thing in between those two things is him. I was one way, but now I'm completely different, and the only thing in between is him. If any man is in him, I was one way, but God, and now I'm a different way. I was one way, I was on my way to hell, but God, and now I'm on my way to glory. But God, I was lost, declared this morning, but God, I was bound, who was bound by drugs and alcohol, pornography, and insert whatever you want there. I was bound, but now I'm completely different, but God, I was sick, but God, I was tempted, but God, I was down, and I was out, even while serving him, but God came on the scene. Oh, we got to be reminded this morning, it can't be overstated. He's in time, own time, every time, amen, God's not struck concerning his promises. He is faithful, as you may feel down and out today, but can I tell you, look up. God is there to meet that need, but God, I was dead. No breath, physically dead, some would say, but God. But every one of us can say I was spiritually dead, but God, but God. As I approach my closing, I love that I'm adopting that. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, and you, hath he quickened, who were dead and trespasses and sins. Listen to what Paul begins to do here, we're in a time pass, you walked according to the course of this world. Help me out here, I'm going to read these things that Paul writes, and if this was you, just say amen. Okay? You ready? Don't participate, or not spectators. We're in time pass, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit to now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also, we all had our conversation in time passing the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desire of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Amen. Paul started this out by saying, and you, hath he quickened, who were dead and trespasses of sin, and in everything that you just, amen, you just went ahead and said, he wasn't just writing to the Ephesians, he was writing to me, he was talking to me, and he was writing to me, and man, he was talking about me, he put me there in those verses. How did God know me, before I was even born? There it is. But verse 4 takes a transition, it takes a transition, it says, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead and sin has quickened us together with Christ, by grace are ye are saved. Now, just like you, amen, all those sins, now is your chance. I want you to give me some amenes here, if this is who you are now. I was one way, but God, and now I'm a different way. Verse 6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace to his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Oh, listen, before I got saved, I didn't understand what any of that meant, I didn't know whether to amen, I didn't know what amen was, I didn't know what oh me was, listen, my stepmom put it best, I thought Job was job, and Psalms was palms, had no clue, but I can stand today and tell you that this Word has proven to see be truth, he has risen us up together to sit in heavenly places, but God, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, listen, for by grace are ye saved through faith? Not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. I'm not approaching clothes, I am clothes, come help me Gracie, I want us to look there at verse 10 one more time, when Gracie sits down on the piano then you go ahead and stand, if you want to stand now you can, but if she comes, think about this, all that Paul wrote. I don't want to read the first nine verses again, I hope you heard them, this is something we all need to know this morning, we are his workmanship, you were created for a purpose, I don't care what anybody has told you. Hey, I was told as a child, you are not good enough, you are not big enough, you are not strong enough, you are not fast enough, you are not popular enough, you are not pretty enough, all of those things, maybe you have been told the same thing, but I found out something these many years of serving the Lord, I'm his workmanship. He that began a good work in me, he's going to complete it, God's not finished with you yet, Paul says here in verse 10 as you stand with me, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them, simplest terms, I used to act the fool, I used to act the fool, but God changed me, and now I'm walking, I'm walking, I shared from Galatians, the verses and Galatians the other day on social media, that we need to do as much good as we can to all that we can as often as we can, because that's who we are, that's who we are. I am not who they remember me to be, I am not that selfish person that I used to be, I am not that alcoholic, I am not that drug addict, I am not, you just go ahead and insert that because the devil will try to tell you that that's who you are, what's an alcoholic always an alcoholic, what's a drug addict always an alcoholic, no, once all of those things, but when I met him, everything changed, I don't answer to that anymore, I don't answer to that anymore, find it very interesting, I didn't really understand this and really see it until just a few days ago, that the name, name change that took place in the life of Paul after the road Damascus, scripture really isn't clear if God changed his name or if he determined that this was what he was going to do, but he went by Saul, he was known as Saul and everybody knew him as Saul, that religious zealot, but then after the road to Damascus he didn't go by Saul anymore, he went by who we know that wrote most of the New Testament, Paul, it was very interesting that I found out, I probably should have already known this all my years of ministry, but Paul was the Gentile interpretation of his name, Paul was the Gentile interpretation of his name, he said that religious name didn't get you anywhere, but when you begin to align yourself up, when you're up here and you think I'm holier and everybody else, I'm more righteous than everybody else, he said get yourself down here where you realize who you are without me, you may be Paul, you may be a sinner, you may be a Gentile, you may be all these things, but most of all you're my workmanship, most of all you're in my hand, I don't know what's going on with you right now but all I need to remind you this morning is he's got you right there in the palm of his hand, but God, but God, say it with me, but God, when you're encounter with all the forces of hell tomorrow just go, but God, but God, when whatever troubled you before you got here this morning, if it should try to trouble you in the days to come, you got a response to it, you can look at it and say I'm not even responding to that, but I will give this response, but God, only God can change it, but God, Heavenly Father I've delivered my heart this morning, all we know is I was one way and now I'm completely different and what happened in between was you, but God changed my life and I thank you for it, I praise you for it, if you're thankful for the but God that took place in your life once you're coming crazy, if you need to be reminded of but God this morning, why don't you come call upon his name, see what he will do, step into the world of power, loyalty and luck, I'm going to make him an orphan, he can't refuse with family, canollies and spins mean everything now, you want to get mixed up in the family business, introducing the God Father, at ChampaCasino.com, test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather's slots, someday I will call upon you to do a service for me, play the Godfather, now at ChampaCasino.com, welcome to the family, no purchase necessary, VDW group, boy reparhibited by law, 18 plus, terms and conditions apply.