Changing Faces Ministries Podcast
Hang in There
- Welcome to the Changing Faces Ministries Podcast. If you can see yourself the way God sees you, you will have a changing face. Here is your host, Pastor Jeff Landrum. - Good morning, good morning, good morning. I wanna welcome each and every one of you to our Changing Faces Ministries Podcast. I'm your Pastor Jeff Landrum. And where we believe, if you can see yourself the way God sees you, you will have a changing face. Once again, it's truly another great Friday morning that God has given us. And we're so thankful to be here, so thankful to have the opportunity to come before you this morning. And before we begin anything, we definitely want to thank all of our listeners, all the ones who come alongside of us every single Friday morning, and support our ministry. We thank you for that. We encourage all of you to share, to like, share, and support our ministry on all your various platforms. And anytime you wanna go back and listen to some of our previous podcasts, you definitely can go to changingfacesministries.com. And all of the previous podcasts are there, listed. Just continue to support us, continue to share us. We wanna keep getting God's word out there in messages 'cause our sincere desire is though, so that everyone would be saved. We also like to thank One Voice Radio for giving us this platform to come before you every single Friday morning. It has truly been a blessing, and it's been an amazing journey that we've had with One Voice Radio, so we're excited. So let's jump into it. We're living in times right now, where oftentimes I'm seeing people that wants to throw in the tile and on the verge of giving up and wants to quit. Their current situation, circumstances, whether they brought it on themselves, or whether it just out of the blue happened, or whatever the case may be, it has gotten them to a point of want to throw in the tiles, like a rocky fight, and you've taken all of the beans and the bruises that you can take, and you're ready to throw up your hands, and you wanna quit. Today I wanna speak to you, and I wanna encourage you from the word of God, and just share with you what was placed in my spirit. Because me, like you, have been in points and times of my life to where I was ready to throw in the tile. Not sure if what tomorrow will hold and not understanding what life is bringing and what God is trying to teach me. But, I wanna encourage you, and I wanna encourage you from the standpoint to tell you that God knows. God knows, and I'm gonna give you some information today that's gonna help you overcome what you feel so you can see what God has. I wanna say that again, I'm gonna give you some information today that's gonna help you to overcome so that you can see what God has. Imagine a weary traveler on a long and challenging journey through a vast desert. The traveler is parched, exhausted, and burdened by the harsh conditions. Just as despair starts to set in, a compassionate guide appears. This guide offers water to quench the traveler's thirst, shade to rest under and a path that leads to safety. In a similar way, what we gonna look at today, we gonna show you how God is gonna be portrayed as the compassionate guide who hears the cries, the oppressed and the suffering of the weary traveler. And you may be that traveler. He acknowledges your pain. He understands the plight and he's gonna intervene to lead you out of your difficulties. Just as the guide and the illustration above provides relief and a way forward, I'm gonna show you today how God promises to deliver his people from their oppression and bring them to a place of abundance, freedom and hope. Just as that traveler, which could very well be you, was right about to give up. I'm gonna show you how what my grandmother used to tell me, "God may not come when you want him, but he is always on time." So if you got your Bible this morning, I want you to turn with me to Exodus chapter three, and we're gonna read verses seven through nine. And just in these three verses, I wanna show you, show you how no matter where you are or what you're going through, no matter how bad it feels, no matter what you think or what it may seem like, I'm gonna give you concrete evidence that no matter where it is or what's going on, God knows, God has a plan for you, and if not, he can lead you to where you need to go. So I want you to pay close attention to this. Exodus chapter three, verse seven. It says, "And the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people, "which are in Egypt, "and have heard their cry, "by reason of their task massacres, "for I know their sorrows. "And I am calm down to deliver them "out of the hand of the Egyptians, "and bring them up out of that land unto a good land, "and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey, "unto a place of the Canaanites, "and the Hittites, and the Amorites, "and the parasites, and the Hivites, and the Jeffersites. "Now, therefore, behold, "the cry of the children of Israel will come unto me, "and I have also seen the oppression "wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. "For a subject this morning is very simply put, "hang in there, hang in there. "Deremnly, Father, we thank you so much this morning "for everything that you have done, "bringing us back to another great and awesome Friday morning. "We thank you so much for everything that our eyes have seen. "You just thank you for everything "that our ears are about to hear. "Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we lift you up. "We right now we ask you, prepare our hearts and minds "to receive what it is that you have for us. "Lord, I'm praying right now that you remove me, "that you hear none of me, but hear all of you, "and let your word go full-foot power "to make us better than we were before we came. "And we will always be so grateful and careful "to give you all the praise, "all honor, and all of the glory, "and these things, in Jesus' name we pray, "and we all said, amen." Hang in there. You know, it was a song, a prelude to a song that I used to hear an old song growing up by the child. And it said that in the midst of somebody trying to rescue him with a chain, said the chain broke, you know, chains coming linked fence, and the chain broke. And it was a voice that said, "Reach beyond the break and hold on. "Reach beyond what seems broken. "Reach beyond the chain link that is broken and hold on." I'm here to tell you that no matter how bad it may seem, no matter how you feel or what you think, I want you to hold on and hang in there. Just hold on, hang in there 'cause help is on the way. In this text, we're gonna be looking at a group of people that ended up in Egypt after a famine, and their leader at the time was dead and gone. They ended up in this place, and at this point in time where, right now, they have become slaves to the Egyptians. Now, being slaves as the Egyptians, they were provided with food, they were provided with things, but, you know, being a slave, you're told what to do, you're dictated by the people that are over you and all of these things. So, at this point in time, the children of Israel, they cried out, they was crying out to God, and crying out to God in this particular text, where right now God heard their cry, and God was telling them what he was about to do, and he was gonna be sharing with Moses how he was gonna be using him to deliver these people out of Egypt. And I want you to just see, strategically, how this is set up, and how this is placed, and how God strategically is gonna do this, with the people not even truly understanding, 'cause all the time when we're in our problems, when we're going through life, and we're in our struggles of our life, all we can see is what we see. But I wanna encourage you that all you see, ain't all that there is, because God knows all things, and because God knows all things, he knows where you are, he knows what's going on, he knows who's doing what, he knows who's not doing what, he knows how you feel, he knows all of these things, and because he knows that it's reason enough for us to hang on. It's time for us to take our eyes off of this, it's 'cause it's much bigger than us. God is working out of plan, and God is doing some things, and at the end of this, I'm gonna show you that if you truly, God truly knows you, and he prepares you for all the things and the stuff that you're gonna go through, and what we have to learn to do in this time and season that we're in, not look at the snow that's falling, not look at the sun that's shining, not look at the rain that's coming or not coming, not to look at the weather, not to look at the conditions, but look at the one who can control the conditions. And what we see is a group of people, but what I wanna do right now, not talk about the people, I wanna talk to, talk about the one who's in control of all things. See, when we look at this verse number seven, and it says, "And the Lord said," it doesn't matter what I say, it doesn't matter what the master say, it doesn't matter how I feel, it says, "And the Lord says," because God is gonna have to say so in all things, and because God is gonna have to say so in all things, it says, "And the Lord says," I wanna hear what he has to say. It says, "I have surely seen the afflictions." Now, that right there ought to be good enough for all of us, because if God knows and God have seen, that means God knows how we feel, he see all the things that we're going through, he knows how it affects us, he knows how it's bothering us, and he knows all things. It says, "For God says," I have seen, I have surely seen the afflictions of my people, which are in Egypt. Now, he's seeing what you're doing through, he knows how you feel, he knows the afflictions and things that are bothering you, but he also knows where you at. Look at what he says, and the Lord says, so God is speaking, I have surely seen, this is no question or no doubt do God knows what you're going through. He says, "I have surely seen the afflictions of my," that's a personal pronoun. He says, "I have seen the affliction of my people." So, if we belong to God, that means God have seen what we're going through, and now God is talking. I want you to understand, not only is God speaking, he surely have seen what we're going through, so he knows all the things we're going through, and then he says, "My people," that means he is owning the people that he have seen, he knows what they're going through, and he owns them because he says, "My people." I have surely seen the afflictions of my people, which are in Egypt. So, that means he knows what you're going through, he knows who is doing it, he knows exactly where you are, and you belong to him. I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited now, because oftentimes when we're in the midst and going through stuff, we think we're in it all by ourselves, nobody knows what I'm going through, and we're covering up everything that we're going through and dealing with, by saying any time somebody asks us, "How are you doing first thing?" We said, "Well, I'm doing all right." But deep down, knowing that you heard, you's disgusted and busted, and you're ready to throw in the towel and quick, but I'm here to tell you, and I'm here to encourage you, hang on, because God knows, you belong to him, he knows where you are, he knows the affliction you're going through, and he knows who's bringing it on you. So you need to be encouraged and just hang on, because hope is on the way. And he says, "Or in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reasons of their task masters." (laughing) For I know their sorrow, God knows on. I'm here to tell you, just as those three Hebrew boys when they was coming to the midst of that fire in furnace, and they getting ready to throw them in there, they says, and they talk, "My tell your God." If you talk about the three Hebrew gods, and the boy said, "Even if he don't, I know he ain't." Even if he don't get you out, he knows who you are, you belong to him, he knows who's doing it, he knows how you feel, he knows all things, because just as the three Hebrew boys got thrown in the fire, and he didn't keep them from going in the fire, but he got in there with them, and it says when they looked in there, they said, "Wasn't it three, now it's four, just because you think you, and you may feel like you're in it by yourself, God knows, you need to just hang on, because hope is on the way. Hang on in there and don't give up and don't quit, because God knows, God knows who's doing it to you, God knows the afflictions of it, he knows how you feel, he knows exactly where you at, and you belong to him, and because you belong to him, you need to hang on. And I, look at and I am come down. Listen at that and I have come down to deliver. When you belong to him, you can be encouraged and you can hang on, because he says, "I come down." And when he come down, he says, "He's gonna deliver." So, if we belong to God, and he says, "If I be for you, who can be against you?" What did we have to fear when we're in the midst of the battle of life that we're going through? He says, "I'm gonna do this, I know who you are, are you belong to me, you are my people, I heard the cries, I'm speaking now, and I'm gonna deal with this stuff because I know the sorrows and I see it all, and when God knows all that sees all that, and God understands everything in God, there's never been a place that God hadn't been, and there's never be a place that God won't go. So, God knows all of this, and God has a plan for your life, and because he knows all of this and have a plan for your life, that is reason right there for you to hold on, because help is on the way. And he says, "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land, and a large, and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey." Now, I want you to see this, I want you to see this and understand this. They're in a place, they belong to God. The Egyptians think they have them, but God is gonna deliver them. God is gonna deliver them, because they belong to him, and he is speaking. And he is speaking, because he saw the afflictions, and he heard their sorrow, he knew exactly what they're going through, and he said, "I'm gonna come down." And if God said, "I'm gonna come down," who gonna stand in his way? That is reason enough for us to hang on, 'cause help is on the way. Because God says, "I'm gonna come down," that means we mean a lot, that if God says, "I'm coming down." If God says, "I'm coming down," that must mean we mean a lot to him, so that's enough to encourage us, that no matter what we're going through, how big or how small, God says he's gonna take care of us, he's coming down, 'cause he's gonna deliver his people. How do you know that people? Because he says, "My people." My people, which are in Egypt. So you don't have to worry about, you don't have to send God a message and telling God exactly where you at. You don't have to call God and tell him you had 134 fish, pasture, and land. You don't have to call him and give him instructions to tell him, "You and you, tall, you in the bottom of a pit, "you don't have to do any of that," because God knows exactly where you are. And because he knows exactly where you are, he says, "When I come down, I'm gonna deliver you." Remember, look at what it says. He says, "Which are in Egypt." But then he says, "Go down," he's gonna deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians. So the Egyptians may think that they're their master, but when you belong to God, you only have one master in the Egyptians, ain't them? You only have one master in your balls, ain't him? You only have one master and family friends and family members ain't him. When you only have one master, he says, "I'm a jealous God." And when you belong to him, he says, "I got you in my hand." That's the reason enough for you to hang on. I'm just here to encourage you today. And he says, "And to bring them up, out of that land, unto a good land." Now, if you haven't gotten excited yet, now is the reason for you to start a shop. Because God says, "I'm not just gonna come down to deliver you out of the hands of those Egyptians. I'm gonna not only take you out of their hands, but I'm gonna deliver you to a better place." I don't know about you, but I get excited because God says, "Not only am I gonna come and get you out of where you at, I'm gonna take you to a better place that's flowing with milk and honey." So when you come out of this, you're gonna be on a place much better than where you are. If you ain't got excited and you don't know a reason the whole long, you need to reach beyond that break that you thought you saw in your life. You need to reach beyond that, because God says, "I'm gonna deliver you out of their hands, and I'm gonna take you to a place. I'm gonna take you to a better place that's flowing with milk and honey. I'm gonna do this." So when you need to get excited now, and that's reason enough for you to hold on, 'cause help is on the way. See, one of the things that I've learned in life, I can, once I get focused on the better place that God has taken me, where I'm at don't seem so bad. 'Cause my focus ain't on where I'm at, my focus is on where God has taken me. And when I can constantly see where God has taken me, I can deal with where I'm at. I can deal with the things and the trials of life that I'm going through. See, because if I, if somebody told me right now today that tomorrow, that I will be delivered, somebody was gonna give me a billion dollars, I can go through this day with peace, joy, love, and happiness, because I know tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, I will be good on today. It wasn't about me getting a billion dollars on tomorrow, it was about changing my focus on where I was today. And when we can learn to change our focus on where we are today, to focus in on where God has taken us, today is not that bad. I'm just here to encourage you to hang on. Help is on the way. When you look at this, he was gonna take him to a place that had canonized. And we know this place. We, we, if you know anything about scripture, he was gonna take him to a place, but in this place, it was definitely flowing on milk and honey, but it had some challenges in the place. It had some giants in the place. It had some people that were bigger in the place, but, but we don't see that. I want us to understand, why would God take us from a place to another place if we couldn't have it? So I don't care what it's gonna take for you to get that place that God has for you. You need to hang on and enjoy the ride. Hang on in there 'cause help is on the way. God is taking you to a place. God is gonna deliver you to a place you just need to hang on. It says now, therefore. Now, so I want you to understand this. Now, so now that you know that God is speaking, he's seen your afflictions. You belong to him. He knows where you are. He knows how you feel. Now, now that, now that you know he knows all of that, and also now that you know he's gonna be delivering you to a new place, verse number nine says now. So now, now that you know that, now you shouldn't be in a different state of mind. He says now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me, and I have also seen the oppressions wherewith the Egyptian oppressed them. God says, I have seen it. How long do you think God will allow his people to go through what they're going through? God said, I've seen it. Now, now, now that you know, now you got the background, therefore behold, the cry of the children of Israel come unto me. Now, all of that then took place. Now, that cry has come to me. Now, I'm finna deal with it. I'm finna take care of this. And because they're in this place, and this is gonna be taken care of, God says and have also seen the oppressions with wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them. I've seen the ones that have done it to them. I see it, I see 'em. That's reason enough to know. God says, vengeance is here. We don't have to worry about repaying folks, or we don't have to worry about getting folks back that have done something to us. We don't have to worry about any of that. We don't have to go through that. We don't have to say, I'm gonna get you back. God says, vengeance is his. And when God steps in there and God take care of it, you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about that. Our focus should be on the promise and where God has taken us. Our focus should be on understanding and knowing that the goodness of God. God says, if I be for you, I'm more than the whole world against you. And when you know that God is for you, and he's more than the whole world against you, that's encouraging enough for you to hold on. That's encouraging enough to know that everything is gonna be all right. This too shall pass. This is just the season of your life. And seasons change. We don't need to get caught up. I don't wanna get caught up in enjoying the snow because it's gonna melt. I don't wanna get caught up in enjoying the sun because eventually it's gonna get cool. I don't wanna get caught up enjoying the rain and the nice summer, ice-free days. I don't wanna get caught up enjoying the fall, but what I wanna get caught up is it enjoying the love that God has for his people. That's what I wanna get caught up in. If I'm gonna get caught up in anything, it's gonna be getting caught up in the love that God has for me. So when I know the love that God has for me, how do you know he loves you pastor? Because he says he go away to prepare a place that where he is, that we may be also, that in his father houses, many matches, if it was not so he would have told us for he go to prepare a place. Now, I get excited because I gotta prepare a place. But then I also get extremely more excited because even the place that he prepared for me, I don't have to figure out what he words at. How long he's gonna take you there? Because he says, I'm gonna come again and I'm gonna receive you. So if you haven't gotten excited yet, God says I'm coming, I'm gonna receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. And if we gonna be with him also, that's reason enough for us to hang on 'cause help is on the way. We gonna hang on down here on this side because we know that they're coming a day that we gonna be with him on the other side. And if you're ready to go be with him on the other side, that's reason enough for you to hang on right now because you can't focus on where you are right now if your focus on is going to be with him. I don't know about you and I don't know what you're going through and how bad it may be to you right now. But I need for you to shift and change your focus and focus on the one who controls all things. If you focus on the one who controls all things that will cause you to be thankful that no matter where you at, no matter what you're going through, he controls all things in his word. When he speaks to a demon's trimmer, when he speak, win, see, when he speaks, storm, stop. When he speak, he can speak to you and allow you to walk on water. When he speak, things change and you need to just allow him to speak into your life today. If you are here today and you've never received Christ as your savior, today will be a perfect opportunity for you to do it. Not next week, not next year, but right now, we don't know when this life will be over. We don't understand, we don't, I don't care how much time you think you have, I don't care how great you feel right now today, we just don't know. And the mere fact you, us not knowing, today will be a perfect opportunity to give it over to the one who knows all things. Today, not next week, not next year, not next month, but today. If you're here today and you've never received Christ as your savior, today will be a perfect opportunity to do it today. Today. Or if you're here today and you want to become a part of this ministry, today will be a perfect opportunity to do that as well because we just don't know what tomorrow holds. But thanks be to God, I have built a relationship on the one who controls tomorrow. So today will be a perfect opportunity for you to do that today. You know, one of the things that I had a chance to, I was looking at and studying in my, if, if I had to, if I had to do life over again, one of the things that I would want to do, add to all of the great things that God has done in my life, is I would want to be a pilot. I would want to be a pilot. I don't know why, but it was a burning desire. But now that I've gotten older, I sat and got bad. I can't, I don't qualify to be a pilot. But one of the things I noticed about a pilot, they go through a bunch of a series of land tests, a series of tests. They got to learn things about weather. They got to learn things about a lot of things. They got to have flight experience. They got to do all of these series of tests, a series of events and things they have to go through because they need to get prepared for the destinations that they're going to be taken. They need to get prepared for the people that's going to be riding with them on the plane. They need to be prepared because they have to go from one place to a next. And if they're not prepared, they may want to give up and quit. They even have to learn how to read instrument panels. And, and sometimes what they read on the instrument panels, compared to what they see out there is totally different. The instrument panel may be telling you you're flying on the right course. Everything is looking good. You're about to come out, you're flying right side up. And in some cases, you might be in a storm and all you have is the instrument panel. And what you feel is not matching up with what you see, but you need to know, because you have gone through all of the testing studies, you know that the instrument panels is giving you the right reading. The instrument panels is giving you all the information you need, because if it was not for the instrument panels and telling you where you at, telling you your location, telling you if you're flying upright and everything that's going on around you, you would lose your mind because you can't see in the middle of a storm. And because you can't see in the middle of a storm, you have gone through all those series of tests and those series of tests prepared you by reading the instrument panels inside the plane to let you know that you're still on course, but you would never be able to know that if you hadn't studied and read the instrument panels. And so what the instrument panels will actually tell you, because what you see on the outside doesn't make sense. It's all cloudy, you don't know if you're high, you don't know if you're low, but if you read the instrument panels, the instrument panels will give you a good indication of where you are. In this life, when you're in the middle of a storm and the storms of your life, and you don't know whether you're high or low, you don't know whether you're flying upside down, flying right side up, you don't know anything. What you need to become really good at is reading the instrument panels, because the instrument panel, because the scripture God word never failed. And when you learn to read his word, his word would give you direction. His word will let you know where you at. His word will guide you to where you need to be because you have gone through the storms before, because he's gone through the storm and he put it in his word. And when you understand his word, you've gone through things and you stay in his word. His word is going to lead you, his word is going to guide you, and his word is going to take you where you need to be. See, a lot of times in the midst of storms, Pilate can't see anything, but they have mastered the art of reading the instrument panels. The instrument panels are going to take them. And sometimes they may even be off course, but because they've learned to read the instrument panels, lo and behold, at the right time and at the right moment, they can be able to see some things and land the plane exactly where it is that they were supposed to land at, a place that was better than when they came and they landed only because they was able to read the instrument panels. Sometimes in this life, the only way you're going to make it through, because of what you see and what you feel don't line up, the only way you're going to make it through is by having a personal relationship with him. Having a personal relationship with the father and having a relationship with him by knowing his word, studying the panels of your life, studying the Bible, studying the his word is going to be able to get you. And at the right moment and at the right time, when you land, you're going to land in a place that's much better than you came from. I'm here to tell you, just hang on in there, no matter the storms of life, no matter what it seems, rain, rain, snow, sleet of shine, you need to just hang on in there because what God has for you is much better and when you come out of it, you're going to give him praise. You're going to give him things. You're going to lift up his name because where he is taking you is much better than where you are. I'm just here to encourage you today to hang on in there 'cause help is on the way. Hang in there, hang in there and do not lose hope in the midst of anything that you're going through because God will deliver. He has never failed us yet. God will deliver and I'm just here to encourage you on behalf of changing past the lander and changing face ministries, hang on in there because what you're going through is not that bad. Just keep looking, keep your head to the sky and you will arrive at your destination at the right time and at the right place because God word never fails. God word for God's people, God bless you and God keep you as our prayer and we will see you again on next Friday's podcast. Take care everybody. God bless. (upbeat music) - Thanks for tuning in to the Changing Faces Podcast. Be sure to download the podcast as well as like, subscribe and share. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)