"A Suffocating Culture"_Daniel 6_Darwin Mason JR

[Music] someone oh [Music] they showed wow [Music] [Music] never me [Music] and will tell me they show all right good morning good morning good morning everyone welcome welcome welcome to another sunday morning service here at the schrader lane church of christ we are so glad to see you it may be raining outside but the sun that's the wind is shining on the inside welcome we are so glad to see that everyone made it here safe we hope and pray that something is said and done that will cause you to be closer to our lord and savior jesus christ if you are visiting with us we are so glad to have you you are our honored guest if you are with us virtually and you're visiting saying we are so glad that you've decided to join us this morning if you have any need for prayers or anything else you wanted to know about us here at the straight elaine church of christ please feel free to reach out to us through our email and our websites and office staff or elders or ministers we'll be glad to get back with you as soon as possible again thank you for being here this morning a few announcements before we get started we have some thank you notes we have a thank you notes that has been received from sister vicki caldwell thanking you for all your wonderful acts of kindness also a thank you note from brother and sister jones brothers brother and sister jones would like to thank us for all of the prayers that so many have done and to check on them during this time but as right now they would not like any visitors at this particular time not any visitors but continue to keep them in your prayers and thoughts they really appreciated all of that our sympathy and condolences go out to beatrice wyatt aryan wyatt and jesse garrett in the loss of their brother eugene wyatt on sunday the 15th also on sunday august the 15th that was a while ago also aryan wyatt's son beatrice white and jesse garrett's nephew terrell thompson passed monday on september the 13th that's how it is services will be held wednesday the 22nd at terrell brody chapel visitation at 1 pm the funeral to follow at 2. the family is requesting prayers at this time so please notice the bulletin for those particular announcements also we would like to send out some special prayers for one of our shepherds brother walter steele and his family they're not requesting visitors at this time but they would really like for us to pray for them consistently for us sister steel and the children and grandchildren when you're given your contribution offering please do so electronically we would like to ask or mail it to the straight elaine church of crisis address if you are giving on person giving in person please give to one of our ushers at the end of the service they'll be at the doors right here volunteers are needed volunteers are needed the churches of christ disaster relief effort is once again in need of volunteers to assist in packing food boxes this will be on tuesday the 21st at 10 a.m if you have any questions you may call the center 615-833088 i'm sure the number will be in our bulletin and again we would like to thank you so very much for the contributions to help in this disaster relief funds have already been sent to haiti and on their way to waverly again we thank you so very much if you are in need of communion you may stop by on monday wednesday or friday from 11 a.m to 2 p.m or any saturday from 8 30 a.m to 11 30 a.m come into the first floor for you and pick up from the grab and go basket again visitors you are our honored guest virtual tutoring will begin starting on mondays and thursdays from 6 to 7 30 p.m if you are interested please register on our church's website our brother mason jr will be speaking at the goodness bill church of christ on saturday september the 25th they are hosting a men's momentum weekend there is a registration fee of thirty dollars but if you are one of the brothers here at the trailer lane church of christ your admission is free free for all saturday september the 25th brother mason jr will be speaking again if you are in need of prayers please contact us monday through saturday at 6 a.m or on sunday at the conclusion of the 9 15 a.m worship service the access code and the email to get in touch with elders and ministers as in the bulletin or on our website again we're so glad to have everyone here let us pray our gracious father in heaven again we humbly bow before you thanking you number one for loving us thanking you for your darling son jesus lord and we just thank you for being our god father we pray now that you will be with those who are bereaved at this time the wyatt family father we pray for those who are dealing with illnesses we pray for sister jones and brother jones father we pray that you will comfort them father we pray for our shepherd brother steele and his family lord we pray that you will comfort them guide them continue to be with them wrap your loving arms around them lord lord we pray that you will be with us as we go through this service that the things that we say and do are pleasing and acceptable in your sight father we pray that you will forgive us of our sins our shortcomings father father we pray that you will be with the leaders of this church with each and every family member of this church we pray that you will be with this community lord we pray that you will be with this world we pray that you will guide strengthen and protect us all as we navigate through the pandemic and all of the unrest that we may be dealing with at this time lord because lord we trust in you we have our faith and we know that all things work for good for those who seek after you it is in your darling son jesus's name that we pray amen good morning church happy sunday it's a blessing to be in the house of the lord amen like brother phillip said it is it is raining outside but the rain is a blessing it's a blessing to have rain we need rain okay and somebody said you can't have a rainbow if you don't have the rain all right and we all know that that rainbow was a promise and so god's promises still reign true no matter what we go through is that right let us lift up our voices and sing praises to god someday someday all sopranos sing with me someday someday someday someday someday someday someday someday singing out sopranos [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] gotta be ready when he calls my name i've gotta be ready is [Music] [Applause] someday say someday [Music] [Applause] [Music] joy and happiness no more sorrow someday there'll be peace and joy and happiness oh someday someday someday someday someday oh someday [Music] [Music] someday someday there'll be peace and joy and happiness no more sorrow so i've got to be ready everybody i've gotta be ready when he calls my name gotta be ready when he calls my name i've gotta be ready when he calls my name someday i've gotta be ready don't you wanna be ready [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] when he calls my name i've gotta be ready when he calls my name some sing someday someday someday oh someday oh someday someday sing someday someday someday someday oh someday someday it's now time that we participate in our offering on the screen you see that there are a few ways that we can give you may give online as i announced earlier or you may mail in your offering if you have your offering with you today our ushers will be standing at the doors to take it after the end of the service again we thank you we thank you so very much for your continued contributions we thank you so very much let us pray to god in heaven we are so very thankful that you've allowed us another opportunity to come out and worship you lord lord we pray at this time that as we give back a portion of what you have so richly blessed us with lord we pray that we use it in a manner that is uplifting and building your kingdom while we are here on this earth lord in jesus name we pray amen and now at this particular time we will observe our communion in the book of corinthians the lord instituted this portion that we have to give an opportunity for us to remember our lord and savior jesus christ and that he suffered bled died and rose again so that we may all have a right to the tree of life we pray now that as we partake of these bread and this cup that our minds focus on the sacrifice that our lord and savior gave let us pray the father in heaven again we humbly bow before you we thank you father for your darling son jesus and the sacrifice that he made so that we would all have a right to this tree of life we pray father now that we would take it in a manner pleasing and acceptable in your sight clean hands and pure hearts in jesus name we pray amen we have seen his glory let us sing we have seen his glory [Music] we have seen his glory we have seen his glory the one and only [Music] we have seen his mercy we have seen his mercy [Music] we have seen his mercy [Music] the one and only son [Music] we have seen his powers [Music] we have seen his power [Applause] the one and only [Music] we have seen his glory we have seen his glory we have seen his glory the one and only sun the one and only sun the one and only [Music] good morning our restriction reading will come from daniel 3 verses 1 through 6 daniel 3 verses 1 through 6. and it reads king nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 60 cubits high and six cubes wide and set it up on the plane of dura in the province of babylon he then summoned the set traps prefix governors advisors treasurers judges magistrates and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he has set up so the set traps prefix governors advisors treasurers judges magistrates and all the other provincial provincial officials assembled for the dedication of the image that king nebuchadnezzar had set up and they stood before before it then the herald loudly proclaimed nations and peoples of every language this is what you are commanded to do as soon as you hear the sound of the horn flute zither liar harp pipe and all kinds of music you must fall down and worship the image of gold that king nebuchadnezzar has set up whosoever whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace may the lord place a blessing upon the readers and doers of his divine word good morning church all right it's good to see oh yeah i haven't seen some of you in a while so i'm just looking out in the uh audience smiling and trying to figure out some some of who you are actually with the mask on but it's okay uh anyway you bless me lord i'll be anyway you bless me lord i'll be all right amen let us sing anyway you bless me lord you know i i'll be satisfied anyway anyway you [Music] you know i'll be satisfied anyway anyway you bless me lord you know that i'll be satisfied anyway anyway you bless me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] anyway [Music] you know i'll be satisfied anyway anywhere you bless me lord you know that i'll be satisfied well jesus say come unto me [Music] right now and rest anyway you bless me lord you know that i'll be saddest oh anyway anyway you bless me [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] anyway [Applause] oh lord i i'll be satisfied anyway [Applause] [Music] [Applause] anyway [Music] [Applause] i'll be satisfied oh lord i'll be satisfied anyways [Music] anyway [Applause] church say man church saying man again what a what what a proclamation anyway you bless me lord that'll be enough and the reason why we can say any way you bless me lord is because god knows how to bless us better than we know how to be blessed we don't even know what to ask god for but he gives us more than what we need and then a blessing to be in god's house today thank you to all the brothers brother reed brother mccleskey and all those who came before me uh to to lead us in our worship services it's good to be here on a day and i love to see you i will say your faces but your eyes i love seeing your eyes and i'm excited to to be here in god's house to to worship with you on today i really love the lord i i really love love the lord oh lord you don't know what he's done for me yes he gave me the victory yes and that's why i love the lord knows i love him [Music] [Music] the lord and yes i really love the i know how good god has been [Music] friends against the wall i know that jesus he hated [Applause] i really i love the lord and you hear you you you you you don't know what he's done for me oh god he gave me gave me victory lolly yes and that's why i love lord knows i love you [Applause] gave me all i needed and more and that's why [Music] [Applause] i love the lord and you you you you you you you don't know what yes what is that for me god he gave me yes he gave me all i needed oh [Music] gave me the victory [Music] that's why [Music] oh [Music] [Music] i'm so glad it's gone hey gave me the gave me all i needed [Music] i love start saying man turn your bobs to daniel third chapter i'm so glad god is good i don't know about y'all but i'm glad i wouldn't be anywhere near i wouldn't be alive it hadn't been for god i know sometimes you know when you see people shout about the joy they have or what they've overcome i know sometimes in this space we don't know how to receive it receive it like he receives someone who's crying his emotion because god has done for them what they could not have done for themselves and if we're being honest every one of us have the same testimony daniel 3 says nebuchadnezzar the king made a gold image whose height was 60 cubits and is with 60 cubits he set it up on the plane of dora in the province of babylon then nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the traps the prefects and the governors and the councillors and the treasurers and the judges and the masters and the lawyers and all chief officials of the province to come to the dedication of the image that king neb that which in nazareth has set up then it's the traps the prefects the governors the councillors the treasurers the judges the masters the lawyers and all the chief officials of the province gathered together for the dedication of the image that king nebuchadnezzar has set up and they stood before it then they herald loudly proclaimed you are commandment commanded o people nations and speakers of every language that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn the pipe a liar the fourth stringed harp the bagpipe and all kind of music you are to fall down and worship the golden image the king nebuchadnezzar has set up whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be thrown in the midst of the fire from the furnace of burning fire so when the people heard the sound the horn the pipe the liar the four string harp the bagpipe and all kinds of music all the people's nation and speakers of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that nebuchadnezzar the king has set up from this passage of scripture i'd like to offer you the title between a rock and a hard place a suffocating culture between a rock and a hard place a suffocating culture often christians feel conflicted about their faith we are to be in the world but not of the world right yeah but it's so easy to be both and what do you mean brother mason i mean it's easy for us to live grey lives and what i mean by gray lies meaning not black not white just a mixture of both see the world will allow us to perfect profess god with our mouths as long as we don't honor him with our lives culture doesn't really accept christianity uh you see culture is good with any action that keeps the status quo of culture y'all follow me here culture is good with you doing anything that you choose as long as you don't disrupt the culture what it what is cultural how is culture defined culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts beliefs and institution of a population that are passed down from generation to generation culture has been called the way of life for into entire society so so culture is what we live in what we engulfed in what we are surrounded by and in our culture in tennessee in nashville in america even in the world we live in a culture where anything goes you can do whatever you want whenever you want but christians we don't live by that creed we don't do whatever we want we do what pleases god and that was a time for y'all to say amen but that's okay we do what pleases god or at least we are supposed to but often our culture suffocates our faith and we become more cultured than the culture a recent study by stanford uh measured how christianity impacted a young man's ability to abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage one group of men grew up in christian homes where fornication was sinful and discouraged another group of men grew up in homes where sex before marriage was fine and common 23 of men in non-christian homes abstain from pre-marital sex 20 of men in christian homes abstained from premarital sex what are you trying to tell i'm telling you that those men in this study who grew up in homes where sex before marriage was common and allowed were more likely ten percent more likely to abstain from sex before marriage than men who grew up in homes where sex was considered sinful y'all follow me something's wrong with that y'all but the question is is how did we become more cultured than the culture what happened to us let's look at the text now we're going to spend some time in the book of daniel but we got to go back to daniel 1 for you to understand what's going on in daniel 3. in daniel 1 you find out that nebuchadnezzar uh had uh has decided he had uh taken over or uh was now had taken over jerusalem and obtained jerusalem and when the first thing that nebuchadnezzar did was he sent out his officials to go find the most handsome intellectual and physically fit young men to work in his kingdom so so the question is what are we trying to answer we're trying to answer how do we become or did we become more cultured than the culture here's here's your first point and write this down because often culture will recruit god's best y'all not here with me today see see nebuchadnezzar recruited daniel and mishael and azariah and had hananiah and more than likely they were about 14 or 15 years old when this happened never chinese wanted them at a teachable age so they will be willing and able to learn new things he's recruiting them he only wanted the physically strong the intellectual or the intelligent and those who learn quickly why would nebuchadnezzar want the brightest young men well because babylon and if you don't know this study a little history babylon was known for its assimilation and its ability to brainwash those those nations that they captured see babylon was not just about taking your land it also wanted you to become babylonian if you look back into the ancient near east culture you found out that the assyrians were masterful at skinning people alive that was their thing they were good at it you you'll know uh when you when you get to the book of jonah remember jonah didn't want to go to nineveh right he didn't want to go to nineveh because he didn't want them to repent he didn't think they were worthy of repenting well what we find out is that nineveh wasn't a syrian nation so nineveh was cruel they were the worst kind of people they would mess you up they will skin you alive so assyrians were merciful and skinny people alive persians were the originators of the crucifixion now rome developed it and made it even more harsh but it began with the persians but the babylonians were best at brainwashing and assimilation are y'all still here with me so never chinese didn't not just want to rule he wanted to change your way of life so that you became babylonian and how did he reduce how did he do this he recruited the young the intellectual and the the influential now what not now just stick with me i'm trying i'm trying to lay this groundwork so you can see how culture gets to us now it's important for you to understand that what he did was he took young men from prominent families in the jerusalem in in the in judah and he moved them to to uh prominent positions in babylon and he recruited these young men with with the hope of that their influence would influence others y'all see how this work so what he's doing he's saying if i get the best looking uh the most physically fit and i get the smartest kids who who are who are able to learn and learn quickly and i can get them to act like us then what will happen is is that those kids will influence or those men because they're 14 or 15 they would have been considered men those men will influence the rest of the culture the rest of their people and if i can assimilate them i can get the rest of the people to act like us y'all follow me so we're trying to figure out how how do we become more cultured than the culture well because at some point in time we have been recruited we have been recruited by the culture and the culture has taught us to act like the culture be careful everybody but especially especially young folks be careful when the culture starts to invite you to places where you don't fit in what do you mean see because the culture wants to invite you to places that you don't fit in so i can teach you how to act like them and then your influence can be on other people who know they don't fit in and then as a result when you who are supposed to love god acts like the culture then the culture actually uses you to undermine god y'all see this so how do we become more cultured than the culture because we were recruited what are you talking about this is the methodology used by the culture to assimilate us now what i'm trying to help you is i'm giving you a biblical story but i want you to i want you to make the connections between what's happening right now young people there are people out there that are working to right at this moment to recruit you to their way of life so how do we become more cultured in the culture well the culture will change what recruits you but not only will the culture recruit you when they recruit you they'll change your name if you go back to daniel 1 you realize that that how we know them is shadrach meshach and abednego but that was not their names right their names was hananiah that was the name they were born with which means yahweh or god is gracious their names were mesham which means who is what god is the idea being that there is no god like the god of israel his name was azariah yahweh has helped or yahweh will help hananiah's name was changed from god or yahweh is gracious to shadrach which means uh the command of aku now who is aku who was the moon god y'all see that he changed his name from worshipping the only god to uh worship the moon god see michelle received a new name his new name was meshack meshach which seems to represent who is what aku is you see that so they changed his name from who is what god is to who is what the moon god is so they gave him the equivalent name y'all see how he did that and then azariah's name was changed to bendigo which means servant of nabel another god y'all see that so he they've been recruited and then once they've been recruited their names have been changed you see the names were significant because their names represented their faith their names represented what they believed but never chinese or changed their names to represent what they really from what they believe to what he wanted them to believe you see that i see the focus on the name shifted now culture will change your name once it recruits you it'll change your name some of y'all saying ain't nobody changing my name you so engulfed in culture you change it yourself what you mean your name is jennifer cunningham but on instagram you sweet and spicy [Applause] your name is john brown but on snapchat you ladiesman81 i'm trying to help you you have been recruited and in your recruitment somebody has offered you a new name and you have accepted your name and as a result you are now becoming more cultured than the culture yeah who y'all making me work too hard here we go it will so nebuchadnezzar recruited them and then he changed their name i'm getting the way you want to be and then he changed or attempted to change their diet y'all see this nebuchadnezzar in chapter one i'm still in chapter one i'm still in chapter i can't read through it but you go back and read it later i promise all in there so nebuchadnezzar even ordered the four hebrew boys to eat a certain food food they resisted and were even in better health than all those who ate the king's food nevertheless the decree was to have all young men eat the king's feast what they ate what they drank how they celebrated he wanted to change their diet because he wanted to change their appetite y'all missed it watch this watch this if you show me who you break bread with i'll show you what your appetites are what do you mean who you sit down billy to eat with because eating and sitting and breaking bread is an intimate thing we don't take who we eat with lightly if you show me the people that you eat with i'll show you what your appetite is if you eat with ungodly people your appetite is for ungodly things and never chinese understood if he can get them to eat with and eat the way that he wanted them to eat he can change their appetite to be babylonian some of you say well well well wait a minute wait a minute bro mason i i don't really like i ain't really my people i just went over there you know because i want to show my face no show your face where you want to be seen but john said bro jose he would do this right here show your face where you want to be seen see it's amazing that you're so willing and you work so hard to show your face at the party or show your face at the social event but we can't get you to show your face in the ministry see that daily ration was more than just a meal he was assimilating them into babylonian culture what was he doing he was suffocating their faith with his way of life some of us are walking around and we're saying this life is so hard i feel so uh restricted i'm suffocating i i'm trying but but i'm just i got too much on me i can't breathe i can't do this i can't more than likely if you're feeling that way it's because you probably didn't got a little too close to the culture but bruh mason everybody i know it feels like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place but once culture changes your name recruits you changes your name and then it changes your appetite this is what this is what he was really getting to go to daniel 3 it will make you bow down you see this chapter three now in chapter one he has he's attempted to change well he's changed that now he's recruited them he's changed their name he's attempted to change their that their diet and now in chapter three this is what we pick up now he is changing who he's trying to change their god you see that you do you see the progression see see well that's the way the culture works it doesn't automatically come to you brother godhead and say i don't want you believing god anymore i want you to believe in this now what it does is a progression it starts you off on little stuff and then a little stuff leads to something else and before once you get into it once you start doing all the little stuff the big stuff don't even seem big no more you just do what everybody else does see what once you get used to going to the club at three or four o'clock in the morning on saturday saturday night you only you won't even think about waking up for church in the morning not even if it's online now he he he he's got him progressing he needs god's children to be sons of babylon culture will do anything he can to make sure that you undermine god see so but but my encouragement is don't give in don't give up don't get too tired stand your ground even if watch the text watch this go to the section i need to get some sections y'all with y'all thinking i'm just talking go to verse 8. for this reason at a certain time childians came forward and brought charges against the jews they began to speak and said the nebuchadnezzar old king lived forever y'all see how he did that they walked in and they they fluffed him up oh king live forever you o king have made a decree that every person who hears the sound of the horn the flute the liar the sultry the bagpipe and all kind of a musical instrument is to fall down and worship the golden statue but whoever does not fall and fall down and worship shall be thrown in the middle of the furnace of a blazing fire but watch this king but king there are certain jews that you you recruited and appointed over the administration of the province of babylon namely which ones the ones i really want to tell you about are shadrach meshach and abednego these men o king have disregarded you they don't serve your gods nor do they worship the gold statue which you have set up so the king is mad now in rage and anger he gives orders bring me shadrach meshach and abednego then these three men were brought before the king nebuchadnezzar began speaking and said to them is it true shadrach meshach and abednego that you do not serve my god nor worship my golden statue that i've set up now no no it's true it's what he asked him but but then he gives him he says but but now if you're ready i this might be true but i know you made a mistake i know you made a mistake i i know you really were trying to serve my god but you might have made mistake so here's your chance now if you're ready you missed the last one if you're ready at this moment at the moment you hear the sound of hot the horn the flute the liar the salty the bagpipe and all kind of musical instruments fall down and worship the statue that i made very well but if you do not worship you would immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire and what god is there who can rescue from it from my hands he didn't know what he was asking but watch this shadrach meshach and abednego reply to the king nebuchadnezzar we are not in need of an answer to give you concern in this matter well i love this we don't even really have to talk about this i don't we don't even really have to you you see the kind of the kind of boldness they have but they're not bold because because they're they're they're overly intelligent they're bold because they believe in god we don't even really want to talk about this but it but if it be so our god whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire and he will rescue us from your hand o king but this is the part this i want you i need you to stand firm even if but even if he does not let it be known to you o king that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship your golden statue that you have set up even if he does not save us we will not serve you are you strong enough to say i trust god even if even if what brother mason i'm saying i believe god will provide me a wife or a husband but even if he doesn't i'm not going to sell out on social media i trust god will provide me with some friends but even if he doesn't i'm not going to get drunk at the club to see him friendly i i trust god will remove this financial burden but even if he doesn't i'm not going to get into that shady business deal even if he does not i trust god will do it but even if he doesn't i ain't serving your god yeah y'all see that we need more brother god and i even if christians the culture may not like you but that's okay the culture is irrational and when it in his response to faith but god is consistent and is respond to the faithful when i teach the word of god when you live like the word like god's word says people will criticize you don't worry about that stand with god culture won't change your faith if we do it right we'll change culture with our faith and that that's what happens that's what happens when you get to the story you get to the story you realize we'll get there just a second see see when you stand with god what happens is that instead of culture changing you you will change culture the bible says the king was furious and he said make the the the fire seven times hotter now first of all when i just told you uh culture is always irrational in his response to faith that don't even make sense billy it don't even make sense for him to make the fire seven times harder what do you mean if we if he wanted to be cruel he would have let him burn slow he made it seven that hot day ain't gonna even feel like that you y'all missed it okay here we go he the fire was seven times harder he didn't making sense those people then he had people tie them up and those people who tied them up and were taking them into the furnace were burned before they got to the furnace but they walked in the furnace they didn't should have knew something was wrong there how everybody who's responsible for killing me dies but i'm still able to walk in the three hebrew boys did not avoid the fire watch this christians we will not avoid the fire i said we will not always avoid the fire they went into the fire but god was with them the king looked after a few minutes and said didn't i tell y'all to put three people in that fire and he said yeah you did tell well how many we put three he said what it looks like there's four people running and walking around remember they went in tied up and now all of a sudden they walking around with no ties and he says it looks like there's four people walking around and the fourth one looks like the son of god the king said wait a minute go get them out that fire he got him out of fire when they got out the fire they weren't even burned as a matter of fact they didn't even smell like smoke i can't even go to a cookout and not smell like smoke these folks came out of the fire and didn't smell like smoke watch how god worked this out i'm trying to show you how he changed culture watch out god worked this out never chenisa recruited the young the handsome and the smart man what he didn't depend on is that they were faithful it's something when when they recruit you remain faithful see you see he thought he can turn them in to babylonians he thought culture would change their faith but their faith changed the culture he came out of that thing and said bow down to the god of shadow shadrach meshach and abednego he thought he had them stuck between a rock and a hard place here it is but he didn't realize the rock was not there to oppress them the rock was there for stability he didn't realize that they were not between the rock and the high hard and the hard place they were actually able to hide behind the rock see the rock is not there to crush you it's there to protect you brother god you know i too work with some people who are as you said conspicuously ambitious some of them have attempted to harm me they didn't tie me up and pushed me towards the fire but i didn't learn now i ain't even afraid of the fire especially when i'm in harmony with god i don't even try to avoid the fire anymore if you coming for me because i decided to stand with god come on because the rock i'm not stuck behind i'm not stuck between the rock i can hide behind the rock see the rock is my cover bring it on i'm not scared of you culture the rock covers me i'm going to keep calling sin what it is i know we got to a point in our life but we can't call sin sin no more no i'm going to keep calling sin what it is and when you come after me i'm hiding behind the rock i'm not even trying to fight you it's not even my battle to fight god said he'll take care of me i don't care how legal you make the scene i'm gonna call it a sin and i'm gonna tell you you gotta change your ways people start saying well ah all they hate people over there the people people in the church of christ they hate they hate the drunkard they hate the homosexual they hate this no no we don't hate the people we hate the sin we love the people i'ma keep on raising my kids to love god i don't care how unpopular it is i'm gonna keep on loving my wife i don't care whose side's in my dms i'm gonna keep on walking with integrity i don't care what my co-workers do and if you want to bring it bring it cause i don't have to fight i'm not stuck between the rock and hard place the rock is my refuge see the song goes like this where do i go when there's no one else to turn to and who do i turn to when nobody wants to listen and who do i lean on when there's no foundation stable i go to the rock i know he's able i go to the rock i go to the rock of my salvation i go to the stone that the builders rejected i run to the mountains and the mountains this is my favorite part they stand by me y'all see that he not i run to the mountains but those mountains they stand right next to me god stands next to me he fortifies me he ensures that i'm able to do whatever it is that he's called me to do when the earth around me is sinking stand on christ the solid rock i stand when i need a shelter when i need a friend i go to the rock don't you let culture suffocate you breathe why because you're with the rock you're not stuck in between the rock see can you imagine you know most people who die in a fire you know they die of smoke inhalation first even if the fire didn't burn them tim it should have suffocated them but when i'm with god even when i'm in the fire i can breathe even when you coming after me my blood pressure it ain't going up i can breathe i could breathe because you thought the rock was there to crush me i know the rock is going to protect me what are you saying brother mason i'm saying breathe breathe in the fire why because god is your rock if you're here and you're not a christian we invite you to the rock not the rock that crushes but the rock destabilizes my favorite song one of them is 118 in that song of faith book jesus is a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in the time of storm we invite you to jesus the one who died on the cross was buried and rose again believe that he did that repent of your sins confess his name and be baptized and you see you won't be stuck between a rock and a hard place you'll be covered by the rock now some of us are in here right now and we've already given our life to jesus we've already done exactly what i just said we've already we've already committed ourselves and have been baptized and confessed jesus name but the world is suffocating us i'm here to tell you y'all jesus can fix it you don't have to the problem so so so the other day we we got renovation going on and and a house uh we got renovations going on in our house and and the other day my wife was moving some stuff around uh we'll lose some stuff around for the contractor so they can do some stuff and she got to picking up something that she really should not have been picking up and i'm looking at her brother godhead like what are you doing why i'm here why are you trying to pick up something that was meant for me to pick up move woman let me grab this that's my job i'm here to make sure that when things get too heavy i pick them up for you when the cabin's on too tight i don't squeeze it when the car's out of gas i go get that's my job without going through struggles trials and tribulations why am i trying to pick it up that's god's job move let them pick it up and the rock will stabilize you and it won't crush you some of us just need to remind ourselves that we're never stuck between a rock and a hard place because jesus already paid it all if you're here and you're subject to the savings invitation come right now as we sing the song the lords are rocking him we hide a shelter in the time of storm circular [Applause] [Music] don't you know that my jesus is what an amazing message thank you thank you something that that i recognize you know i've been feeling this for several weeks there are those of you who want to respond you do respond we answer email and pray and pray and pray but if you want to get up right now and socially distance on these front views in response to the invitation so we can pray here and now brother mason is that all right that's fine with me is that all right so if you today recognize that you've been between that rock and the hard place and you want prayers at this moment just just come down here and just socially distance on these front seats we'll get your names and we'll pray all you gotta do to is helped you for khan for strength and and keep i know that he you come on down to a you and my jesus will care all you gotta do is just ask the savior's head help you oh confident strength come on down i believe you will oh lord he is [Music] jesus somebody else is here all you gotta do is just ask the savior to help you [Music] come down [Music] each victory you will have [Music] onward [Music] [Music] is [Music] he's a good god i know that he is [Music] [Music] just ask [Music] [Applause] [Music] he is willing [Music] [Music] will [Music] do you believe that he oh lord god will [Music] he will [Music] ask them to help your church [Music] you and jesus will carry you through [Music] um thank you thank you brother mason i have a lot to say so i'm just gonna go with what and singing as i go hello i'm robert gardenheier minister of the schroeder lane church of christ thanking you for joining in to today's live-streamed worship service i'm also elated to tell you that we have resumed in person worship services on sundays at 9 15 11 30 and 5 p.m guests are welcome we are practicing protocols including social distancing mask wearing and sanitization vaccinations although not required are encouraged please consult our website straighterlane.org for more information regarding our worship services our prayer line and other offerings of the schreiter lane church of christ again thank you for joining us today i look forward to connecting with you and may god be with you until we meet again [Applause] as i journey through this land singing as i go pointing souls to calvary hello i'm robert gardenhire minister of the schroeder lane church of christ thanking you for joining in to today's live streamed worship service i'm also elated to tell you that we have resumed in-person worship services on sundays at 9 15 11 30. just a few more announcements before we dismiss and move on number one please remember brother mason is a keynote speaker at a men's conference at the goodness viewer church of christ on next saturday the 25th there is a registration fee but but our brothers here at the straight elaine church of christ you are admitted for free not the fee so please join him please join us please remember that we have a thank you note from the lowe's thanking you for all the wonderful acts of kindness in the loss of brother lowe's mother and also brother dora woods i heard brother dora woods was here today this morning brother dora woods is 100 years old today happy birthday when i get 100 i'm gonna be as smooth as you my brother i'm gonna be right there with it congratulations yes indeed thank you thank you thank you also please remember that when we dismiss those of you on the outer aisles in pews please go to the doors first those of you on the inside please watch stay socially distanced watch and let them leave first and then you go if you do have your contribution the ushers will be at the doors waiting to take that it's been a wonderful day wonderful wonderful wonderful morning i told dawn we were sitting there saying man pace yourself you know you got two times to do this he said only no one way so what can i do all right let us pray a father in heaven we pray that you will continue to bless this church bless each and every family member at this church farm we pray father that as we leave this place that no harm hurt or danger will fall upon any of us in jesus name we pray amen let us all stand we sing total praise let us sing lord i will live [Music] [Music] is [Music] you give me in times of the storm lord you are my source you are the source of my strength lord you are my strength you are the strength of my life [Music] grace let's sing that again [Music] will live i'll lift my eyes [Music] is you give me in [Music] times of the storm saying lord you are my source you and lord you are my strength of my [Music] race [Music] and lord you are my source you are the source of and that's why i lift my hands amen [Music] amen amen [Applause] um [Applause] you

Channel: Schrader Lane Church of Christ

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Length: 98min 34sec (5914 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021