A Better Me - Becoming spiritually focused

[Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] nothing's talking [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning g-stop good morning to our internet audience i don't know about you but to my to me today is a good day you want me to tell you why it's a good day because i'm on top of the ground you're on top of the ground and the ground is not on top of us now let me show you tell you what that represents for you today that means you have another chance to get it right you have another chance to give god some praise you have another chance to let him know that you are so grateful for what he's doing in your life [Music] don't don't take for granted the gift that you are given today let's go to god in prayer i'm just so for the lord has been with me all this week and this morning he showed up rained down on it i i don't know about you but i'm feeling so good right now let's pray our father and our god creator and maker of all mankind father abraham isaac and jacob we call in on your name this morning first of all lord just to say thank you we want to say thank you because last night when we laid down in the very image of death we had no idea if we would wake up this morning lord but you saw fit to put us on the wake-up call this morning and for that we want to say thank you oh lord when we woke up we were able to move around move about throughout the house and see that everything was as he was supposed to be for that lord we want to say thank you and lord after we moved about we went and looked in the icebox and looked in the cover so god found something to eat oh god and for that we want to say thank you then oh lord we were able to dress ourselves and make it here to the house of worship lord to lift up your holy and righteous name and for that lord we want to say thank you now lord we calling on your name because we need you today somebody here may be caught between two opinions somebody here may be wondering what their next move is going to be somebody here may be wondering if you're real oh god but lord we're asking today this morning rain down on us with your holy spirit shower down on us with your glory touch someone's heart breaks touch someone's mind let someone know that you are god and you are god all by yourself you said in your word that if you enforce that you're mars in the world against us and in the bible we have examples because you was moses bush on fire you was adam's redeemer you was a harsh porn in the valley you was ezekiel's will in the middle of a wheel he was david shepard lord you were the acts coming of the holy ghost and today we need you we need you like we never needed you before oh lord we want to lift up our pastor oh god he's been on the battlefield a long time but yet the journey is not yet over oh god continue to exalt him to continue to crown his head with wisdom and knowledge so that he may be able to lead us in the ways of eternal righteousness oh lord someone listening in social media this morning don't know what their next move is gonna be they'll call between a rock and a hard place oh heavenly father we ask that you be a god today that you be a god in their midst lift them exalt them deliver them [Music] we'll be sure to give you all the praise all the honor in all the glory and it's in jesus mighty name it's in jesus mighty name it's in jesus mighty name we pray and ask it all amen thank god [Music] [Music] i love you jesus [Music] just wanted him lord i love you [Music] i love you jesus [Music] just want to tell you boy [Music] lord [Music] [Music] i was just [Music] [Music] [Music] now [Music] for i have received of the lord that which also are delivered unto you that the lord jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me [Music] after the same matter also he took the cup when he had sucked sand this is the cup this cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat drink this cup you do show the lord's death till he come wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the lord but let a man examine himself so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for he that eat it and drink it unworthily eat it and drink a damnation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep may we pray most gracious heavenly father father god we're coming to you this morning dear lord jesus father god we're coming with thanksgiving father god thanking you father god for what you've done and thanking you father god for the promise that you made to us father god as we make preparation this morning for this communion father god help us father god not just listen or hear what you said but help us by the god to listen to what you said father you said in your word that your body was broken and by the god as we take this cup by the god you asked us to remember you by the god that you bled and died by the god but you asked us to remember you father god we just want to thank you father god as as you was there by the god on that cross by the god you didn't have to do it by the god but you did it because you loved us and so now father god as we examine ourselves by the god help us to understand father god we need to love one another father god as you loved us by the god help us to understand father god that your dying was not in vain help us to understand father god not to get comfortable by the god we're just coming in and doing the communion as a normal or everyday ritual is just something that we always do on the first sunday help us by the god to realize that you're saying do this in remembrance of me but more than anything father god help us to understand that you came you bled and you died but you are coming back so help us by god to remember father god that you're coming back looking for the church without a spider or blemish help us father god that you're coming back looking for us by the god and we all want to hear you say well done my good and faithful servant so right now father we just want to just thank you father god thank you father god for good shepherd temple of praise by the god folk location father god the west location and the main campus by the god thank you father god for the shepherds of both locations by the gods and their families father god thank you father god for the entire g-stop family father and in father god we also want to thank you father god that those that are that are watching us online father god we want to thank you father god for those that might not know you and the partner that they're seeing may not know exactly what it means by the god when you say do this in remembrance of me so my prayer right now father god for us to go out by the garden just to tell somebody by the god about your goodness all these blessings we asked in jesus christ's name thank god amen and the scripture says we took the bread and we ate that and remembers of him [Music] then he says take the cup and sup in remembrance of him [Music] amen thank you jesus [Music] [Music] hallelujah come on and continue to stand on your feet as we go into praise and worship hallelujah [Music] [Music] we're ready for you to move we invite you to feel this room come take rightful place [Music] [Music] say say it again [Music] here we are [Music] we need to know [Music] say come holy spirit come touch your people come holy spirit yeah come set your people free oh holy spirit you say [Music] say goodbye hear my lord come by him come by hear my lord come by come by hear my [Music] [Music] come oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] somebody needs we're waiting on you [Music] [Music] we need you now we need you now we're waiting on you [Music] said we won't [Music] [Music] [Music] said we want you we want you said we want you we want you said we want you lord we want you say we want you we want we're waiting we're waiting on you hallelujah come on and lift up a praise in this place hallelujah how many you want more of him hallelujah he's worthy to be praised [Music] hallelujah come on lift your hands all over this place as a sign of surrender unto him come on just open up your mouth and begin to talk to him for a second follow you wherever you are and we give you glory hallelujah [Music] i searched all over couldn't find nobody here we go the lord is my line of salvation whom shall i fear whom shall i be afraid the lord is my light and salvation whom shall i feel whom shall i be afraid i will wait on you i will wait on you i will trust in you i will trust in you the lord i will trust in you i will see be here is sing away will say [Music] come on and celebrate the lord our god we put our hope and trust in him [Music] god you are the everlasting god we said i hope that i hope [Music] you are yeah i said again you are [Music] i will remain confident in this i will see the goodness of the lord i will remain oh [Music] come on you got to make that a declaration said i will remain confident in this i will see the goodness of the lord i will remain one more time hallelujah you will see the goodness of the lord hallelujah come on and lift up for praise in this place hallelujah [Music] [Music] i will remain confident in this i will see the goodness of the lord [Music] goodness of the lord [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning family and welcome to g-stock connect here at g-stop we have three ways to give online number one the text to give option text g-stop to 54244 number two the cash app option which is money signed g-stock church number three the sale option which is giving at gstop.org tomorrow we kick off a new theme in monday school entitled there is nothing too hard for god make plans to join us online at 7 pm search g-stop monday school and remember to join the group every tuesday we have youth bible study at 7 00 p.m on facebook live our youth leaders have been teaching on the beatitudes which is a essential piece of the bible that every believer should know you can access youth bible study by searching gstop youth bible study on facebook and remember to join the group tune in wednesday at 7 pm on our g-stop main campus facebook page for mid-week service our pastor or one of the ministers will be bringing a life-changing lesson on thursday at 7 p.m join us for the g-stop prayer conference call all you have to do is dial 516-597-9006 and your phone will be automatically muted [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well family that's all for today and thanks for watching g-stock connection [Music] [Music] why good morning good shepherd temple of praise good morning to all of our friends and family this is the day that the lord has made i will rejoice and be exceedingly glad in it amen amen welcome to first lady connect october october october is breast cancer awareness month a man not only breast cancer awareness month but it is domestic violence month amen and believe it or not 2021 it's still going on my lord in honor of breast cancer awareness month on the fourth sunday we will we ask that everybody would wear pink to honor all of our breast cancer survivors and also the one who has lost their lives to this deadly disease amen amen and also on the third sunday of october i think i said it backwards but the third sunday we asked that you would wear purple in honor of the domestic violence abusers amen not the abusers but the yeah survivors thank you yeah because i don't want to lead you wrong because we ain't nothing no but anyway thank you so much thank you so much do we have any guests worshiping with us this morning any first time second time guest if you don't mind wave your hands stand to your feet amen i see you back there my sister i see you my brother and my sister we thank you so much i see you god bless you god bless you we thank you so much for worshiping with us this morning even in this time of pandemic we still have to worship god and if this is your first time second time worshiping with us if you are looking for a church home we're still looking for members even in this pandemic don't let this be your last time amen you are welcome welcome at any time to come and worship with us amen thank you so much for listening to first lady connect [Music] amen did anybody come to lift jesus a little bit higher hallelujah if you came to lift him go ahead and stand to your feet i don't know about you but i know he is the light of the world and in everything that's going on right now we need a light right hollywood [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] he's hey [Music] [Music] [Music] when darkness comes don't we knew your strength [Music] open up your heart and let the light come in he's ever shining shining in my soul [Applause] is [Music] [Music] is is [Music] yes [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] y'all oughta catch your point [Music] i'll give you [Music] [Music] shining hallelujah if you're not already standing if you would stand with us and welcome our pastor pastor c.e nickerson to the pulpit [Music] [Applause] give [Music] come on put our blessed hands together let's thank god for who he is in our life and all that he is doing for us while we're on our feet let's talk to god father god we thank you for just another opportunity to witness the power of your love dear god we thank you for allowing us to repent of every sin that we've committed and then we thank you for allowing us to rise this morning and make our way to such a holy place to learn more about life dear god and so father god we pray that you would decrease the man of god and that you would increase within us and so father god let the words of our mouth the meditation of our heart allow it to be acceptable dear god we thank you we pray now for every ministry we pray for the sick and the shut in and we pray that you would have your way in the furtherance of this service in jesus name we pray thank god amen come on let's give the lord some love as we take our seats and prepare for the hearing of the word amen i'm excited today because i'm alive hallelujah i realized that somebody laid down didn't rise this morning but god showed favor somebody ought to say favor god showed favor in my life and allowed my eyes to come open and the breath was in my body hallelujah amen let me just start off before we go in and you can go to first thessalonians 5 16 through 22 but i need to thank the gstop family for last sunday celebrated my birthday and you did great things and then me and my wife had to go out of town but yet you went with pastor antoine amen amen made an impact on a church anniversary amen amen pastor sent me a text and said it was all lovely amen he said and that young man did a great job amen and that's that makes a daddy feel good i'm not just talking about the physical i'm talking about the spiritual dad it makes me feel good amen so i want to thank you because we are just a people of love and you're always showing love and concern we're going to get back into our series again this morning talking about a better man i ask this question every sunday i'm gonna ask it again how many folks in here really want to be better and how many folk take the messages and apply them and begin to work them in your everyday living amen they will make us better amen and you know i was talking to the lord last night and i said god you just making me better while i'm trying to give somebody else directions to be better and that's what the word of god does it slain the preacher before it slain anybody else hallelujah so paul writes to us in first thessalonians paul gonna give us eight thoughts on this morning and that's what we're going to deal with we're going to deal with these eight thoughts paul starts off in first the last first thessalonians 5 and 16 he says pray without ceasing in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you the 19th verse he says quench not the spirit despise not prophesying prove all things hold fast to that which is good abstain from all appearances of evil and we're going to talk about a better me but becoming spiritually focused hallelujah hallelujah you know there are a lot of things in life that competes for our attention uh god and family ministry jobs social media emails and preparations for events it's always something that causes us to lose our focus why because the world is full of distractions now go with me you'll stay with me in a minute uh research shows that iphone users unlock their phones an average of 80 times per day am i talking to anybody in here the average iphone user checks their phone between six and seven times per hour or about every ten minutes have you ever been waiting in the restaurant to get your food and you notice that they were spending more time checking their email than preparing for you our days are constantly being interrupted by texts by tweets by push notification by ads instagram and facebook post email and on and on what happens is our brains are being trained uh to crave distraction and if we're not careful we can become disconnected from our creator a simple definition of distraction is this something that turns my attention away from something that i want to focus and concentrate on i need to say that again that's what distraction is it takes my focus away from me you ever been riding down the road and the driver made a bad turn on you the problem was they lost their focus they allow something else to distract them and this is exactly uh what satan wants for us satan loves distracted christians see when satan distracts me i stopped reading my bible i i stopped studying i i stopped praying you know i let little things that happen in ministry cause me to quit on ministry satan loves us when we get distracted you know satan cares nothing about us he'll lie to us he wants us to turn our attention away from the things of god but today i want to learn how to stay focused you know most of us have had these days you know when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and your attitude goes from zero to a hundred in a matter of seconds nothing seems to work out everything is a mess pressure and problems just never seem to go away that day when i wake up on the wrong side when i wake up on the wrong side what happened my children they won't act right husband won't act right wife won't act right uh car payment behind house payment behind i got a lot of things i'm thinking about the utilities about to be disconnected i lose my focus but we have to remember some what i'm going through i got to remember what john 10 and 10 says it says that the enemy comes to kill to steal and to destroy us you got to think about that when you're going through god's how i allow you to go through because that's where your strength come i don't know about anybody else but through my pains i've learned how to grow graciously and when we get distracted we become disconnected now i'm losing my focus and so paul reminds us in romans 12 and 2. paul said as christians we are called to not be you that not be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may discern what is good pleasing and the perfect will of god i've got to elevate my thinking i've got to elevate my learning so i'll know when the devil is after me we need to focus on what what captivates our interests because what we give our attention to will shape our thinking and feel our hearts so where we spend our time what we do with our time is going to shape our life what we watch will change the way we see the world what we listen to will change the way that we speak to others what we read will change the way that we handle our issues so as christians we make must make sure that we are spending time in god's word and in prayer that that that's not a choice if we spend time in god's word we'll think different you know just source of life whatever i put off here in my heart that's what i'm gonna focus on if i put evil in there guess what i'm focusing on evil thoughts if i put happiness in there then you can't make me go zero to that hundred so let's get in our text for a minute i'm ready for you the first point i want to make to us because in this lesson paul gives us uh eight healthy strategies that can lead us to focus on the things of god number one paul says that focused people are joyful people anytime you're focused you're happy got that uh the message bible says uh focused peaceful or cheerful people and then the niv version says joyful and what that means is that when i'm cheerful when i'm joyful i'm able to maintain peace and calm even though my situation is totally different focused people allow their sanctified mind to keep them inspired when the winds and the rough winds begin to blow paul says it's when you know paul went through anybody understand that paul was writing his best writings sitting in the jail cell for no reason at all and paul began to write he said brothers i count myself to not have apprehended he said but this one thing i do see i'm remember the days when i was a player i remember the days when i had a lot of money but paul i'ma forget about that stuff and i'm going to focus on what god has promised me ah lord then paul said i i'm pressing i'm pressing anybody pressing in here every time i start pressing the devil get in my way but i'm gonna press i'm gonna i'm gonna press my way through paul say i'm pressing toward the mark for the prize oh there's a prize there there's a prize eternal life is the prize that i'm pressing for i'm pressing toward the mark for the prize in christ jesus paul is saying don't let what's happening to you in the physical wreck your spiritual walk you might be broke but paul said keep on pressing you might get sick along the way but keep on pressing you may be suffering mentally and emotionally but i guarantee you if you keep on pressing you'll come out a winner at the finishing line my god stop looking back and always stay focused on your future you may not understand it god will make promises to us and the problem is we want it right now but we got to stay focused sometimes god said i i got that boaz that you've been praying for i got that root that you been believing for and you just keep bouncing around and bouncing around and bouncing around and then you lose focus you say well maybe i'm not supposed to have them but whatever god says it will come to be god's timetable is just a little bit different than ours hallelujah now solomon says it again proverbs 3 and 5 you know this one he says listen no matter what happens in your life keep trusting in the lord i want to tell somebody somebody is about ready to quit right now somebody's tired you you've been complaining for two years now and you're ready to quit but solomon said trust in the lord with all of our heart he said stop leaning on our own understanding he's in all of our ways let us acknowledge him and he shall direct our path now if you can't stay focused on your path god can't direct you where to go god's already paved the road for us but many of us take some u-turns and some lefts and some rights because we get in our own way of thinking you know how when we putting something together we don't like to read the instructions brother because i don't look at the picture and i can see the outcome and but god says stop leaning on our understanding he's all you got to do is acknowledge me god i acknowledge you as the head of my life see good things began to work when we began to acknowledge god god i thank you for the finance that i have then god began to multiply those finances because are giving reverence to him god i thank you for the wife i have not a wife start being a real wife because i am reversing god and thanking him for what he gave me i know i wasn't fit for her i wasn't ready for her i wasn't qualified to be the king of her castle but god i thank you oh i thought i'd get a few more amens out of that hallelujah god is there in our good times and he's there in our bad times and he is there no matter what i stopped to tell somebody that god's faithfulness does not come with a limited warranty you know everything we get it it's got dainty days it's got one year and then it falls apart but god does not give us limited warranty he gives us a lifetime oh my god god i'm gonna give you a lifetime warranty because i know you're gonna make some mistakes along the way i know you're gonna sell a cuss word along the way i know you're gonna get disturbed and do what you all not do god's i'm gonna give you a lifetime warranty so all you got to do is repent repent repent and get focused again hallelujah the second thought that we find in the scripture is is that focused people pray things just don't happen by chance they happen because i communicate with god you got to stop thinking that everything's gonna fall in line when you never pray and talk to god about your situation first thessalonians 5 and 17 says pray without ceasing in other words don't quit even when it looks like in the physical that it's not coming through don't quit pray without ceasing since jesus is the center of our lives we should bathe our goals our dreams in prayer don't give up tell your neighbor don't give up don't give

Channel: Gstop Main Campus

Views: 45

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: #gstop, #iamgstop, #goodshepherd, #goodshepherdtempleofpraise

Id: NrKGu8RvBxs

Length: 66min 19sec (3979 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021