Bible Study

good afternoon good evening my brothers and sisters good evening to you what a tremendous blessing it is for me to be coming to you live and in living color from the beautiful sanctuary of the pilgrim rest baptist church and how we thank god for this chance to be coming into your homes or wherever you may be on tonight to share with you what god has shared with me concerning where we are in our lives and where he's trying to take us and where we need to be i want you to take some time as you're coming on to begin to express jesus joy for those who are on with us on tonight i believe something else is going on in a few minutes on phoenix suns is playing the denver nuggets in a few minutes so i want you all to stay with me stay with me because i know many of our eyes will be fixed to the television screen or you'll be watching me on one device and watching chris paul on another but whatever the case may be we're just excited that you've come to join us and those even that will join us later beyond june the 9th i want to say thank you so much for watching this even on demand as it has been for your convenience to receive the word of god tonight brothers and sisters this particular handout that we have it's halftime part two it's found on many of our social mediums on tonight if you would look at your email we have already emailed it to you so if you have not printed it out or you have not viewed the particular email if you are in the church database and we have your current information you should have it right now also it is on our on our facebook page if you go to pilgrim rest baptist church phx which is an abbreviation for phoenix we want you then to look down below just scroll down just a little bit and then you will see the handout for tonight for it's halftime part two then also it is available on our church app on our mobile app listen if you have yet to download the mobile app it is the most accurate most up-to-date way that you can stay informed about the happenings of your church in real time so please go to the app store look for this beautiful emblem that you see right before me which is our crest here at the church our insignia and we want you to download what you see that particular symbol there there are many pilgrim rest baptist church in the world and we want you to make sure you have the right one so download it right now download it today so you and your family and those connected to you can have the most up-to-date information concerning your church now at this time i want you to share this live share this particular study with someone i have learned in this virtual space that you don't know who you're blessing who god lays upon your heart to send this particular message out because we want people to know that they can be victorious even at this halftime in the month of june that on the second half we believe that the principles that will be displayed for us tonight the principles that will be explained on tonight that those principles would certainly help us in making sure that our second half is even the better this year than the first half of the year let's start with a bit of review of what we talked about in installment one of this lesson of halftime we're in june as we've already discussed we're at the halfway point so this is our half time half time is defined as the time at which half of a contest game or project is completed what happens at halftime teams use the halfway point to reevaluate to refuel so that they could come back and re-attack i also told us on last week that some coaches use this time not to just re-evaluate and refuel and re-attack but some of them use it as a time to reduce their players they they don't talk real good about their performance and you know it's kind of reverse psychology talking bad about them to bring the good out of them sometime of the coach sometimes the players will begin to reprimand themselves about their particular performance but as i want to stress to you tonight as i did on last week that we should use this time of half time to not only reevaluate and not only to refuel and re-tap but we need to use this time to rebuild and we saw this was made evident in the book of nehemiah on last week if you have your bibles before you come on with me to the book of nehemiah nehemiah chapter four and we were beginning to look at that sixth verse because in nehemiah chapter three we know that god has placed upon his heart the purpose to rebuild the walls of the city of jerusalem because although we know the temple is going to be rebuilt if the walls of the city are not rebuilt then those children of god have no fortification they have no safety and even if they were to build the house of god it's still left exposed to danger because the wall that protects the city which the sanctuary is in is not protected and so god gives this command this commission to nehemiah to start the campaign to rebuild the walls of jerusalem and so he gathers the people together in nehemiah chapter three they build the sheep gate and many of the different places around the wall and many of the other families the levites join in the work of rebuilding the wall and they're doing that and we find in verse six of nehemiah chapter four this is how we made the connection with half time he said so we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height they were halfway there they had reached the halfway marker in other words it was their half time for the people worked with all their heart the niv says king james says that the people had a mind to work and a few of those points that i lifted for you last week that i think is worthy of a second look and a second consideration is number one when you have come to your halftime as the children of israel did in nehemiah chapter four you will experience trouble on the outside of the locker room you know halftime is that time when the the teammates gather together in the locker room but what i need you to know is that there's going to be trouble even on the outside of the locker room there's there's going to be trouble on that comes from outside of your sphere of influence that's outside of your particular control and this is what happens in nehemiah chapter four verses seven through eight sin ballot tobiah the arabs and the ammonites and the people of ashdod were coming against them they did not want them to rebuild the wall verse eight says they plotted together to come and fight against jerusalem and stir up trouble against it listen you don't have to go looking for trouble it will find you can i get amen amen amen in the comments it will find you you will get trouble on the outside and we know this to be true you're going to have troubles in this life john 16 and 33 says that in this life you might no have tribulation there's a possibility you will have trouble no in this life you shall have tribulation it's a guarantee james 1 2 it all joy when you fall in diver's temptation not if you fall not per chance you fall it's a guarantee that trouble will come in our life that's trouble on the outside in the world things that we can't really do anything about trouble on the outside of the locker room there's also trouble on the inside of the locker room because in verse 10 the people begin to tell nehemiah we cannot rebuild the wall we have become so forlorn and frustrated and fatigued that we cannot rebuild the wall listen you got to understand that while you are reevaluating where you are at halftime you cannot fall into the trap of believing what you cannot do success comes in cans failure comes in cannots philippians 4 and 13 not i might but i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you have the support system of the heavenlies you've got the father you've got the son you've got the holy ghost and if god gave it to you to start the bible tell us in philippians 1 around that sixth verse that if god has begun a work in you he will see it to completion so be encouraged today brothers that trouble yes will come from the outside even trouble will come from the inside from the people you that are least likely you think that will begin to stir the pot those can actually be the same ones who can cause division strife and even discouragement to you from completing the work that has been assigned to your hand but i told you last week and here's where i want to just expand the lesson on tonight is you got to keep your eye on the ball listen if you played any type of sport you got to know there's a ball involved you got to keep your eye on that ball you can't be be worried about the referees you can't be worried about your haters commentators even the crowd in the stand you have to remain vigilant and keep your eye on the ball in other words keep the main thing the main thing because when all of this was being said by the children of israel not only did they complain about what was going on but the bible lets us know when we continue to read this text that there were some other jews who came along and said whatever y'all try to do it's not going to work they're going to prevail your enemies that we read about early in verse 7 those enemies are going to prevail over you when they attack you but brothers and sisters what does nehemiah do nehemiah does not respond to their threats he does not respond to their particular attacks he he doesn't respond he gets to work why because you must learn in your halftime as he did that you cannot respond with words but you got to respond with actions and that's what he did and the bible says he tells the people in verse 13 he says i station some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places uh one translation said at the open places which lets us know that as the wall is way up there are exposed areas in the walls there are holes in the wall if you will spaces open spaces in the wall which left them vulnerable to attack because the enemy could shoot their arrows and their spears through the exposed areas in that wall and so brothers and sisters we learned that the bible says nehemiah got people around those exposed areas to provide coverage at the places where they were most vulnerable and see we have to realize that in our lives too in the the walls that we're trying to build in the even in the reputations that we're trying to build that there are some exposed areas there are some areas of weakness there there are some areas where we are vulnerable and we must do what we can to provide coverage over those exposed areas where we are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy and i went through some of them last week i wanted to return to the sociological construct of ferpy f-e-r-p-e remember i said that the f stands for family and you need to look for what are those exposed areas areas of vulnerability as it relates to your family e as it relates to your education listen just because you're not in school at the moment does not mean that your odyssey for education has ended it is a lifetime journey to try to educate yourself to become better because the bible says my people perish for the what lack of knowledge and so we have to remember it's a lifelong pursuit for us to fill ourselves with knowledge and with wisdom education and then i skipped over the r i went to politics you got to you got gotta know what's going on around you so you can properly respond to what's going on and i'm gonna read a scripture that correlates with that in a second and then the last e is your economics your money you've got to know how to manage your money in this day and time the bible tells us that money answereth what all things sometimes don't answer it right but but brothers and sisters you've got to have some capital you've got to have something saved not only just spending here and spending there eighty that rule of thumb eighty percent you're living off of ten percent you're saving and ten that you're giving back to god you gotta have some metrics for managing your money and brothers and sisters that are though that's in the middle it begins to speak to everything around you it is religion your christianity your beliefs how you interpret the word of god that begins to influence what you think about family what you think about education what you think about politics and what you think about your economics your money it all stems from the are in the middle your religion so please ma'am please sir begin to chart down those areas of vulnerability in those areas and ask god to help you to provide the coverage necessary to decrease your vulnerability now tonight i want to pick up where we left off which was at that particular verse on last week at verse 13. and i want to dig a little bit deeper into this verse because the lord has shared with me some other things three other points that we need to consider from this passage as it relates to our half time let us see is that under this number two point of keeping the main thing the main thing yes we respond with actions not word and addressed the exposed areas but if you're to keep the main thing the main thing you're going to keep your eye on the ball you have to sometimes revise your current plan revise your current plan because what i want you to know is that when nehemiah hears the impending threats of his enemies and what he's heard from the jews and people associated with his naysayers he does not respond to them he begins to revise the current plan what was the current with the plan before he revised it the plan was that everybody had a particular place on the wall and everybody was to work their corner if you will on the wall but when he hears about these enemies trying to attack him he says wait a minute we've got to do something different he stationed people he strategically in verse 13 put people behind the lowest points of the wall and at the exposed places not only just the exposed places but at the lowest points of the wall and then he posted these people by families with their swords and their spears and their bows so that when the enemy would were to look at them through these holes through these exposed areas they would see that they were armed and dangerous that they were prepared for whatever attack they were trying to administer toward them they were ready and prepared for that particular attack because and the reason why they were victorious is because nehemiah realized hey what you all were doing at first just working your corner of the wall that's not going to work because when we were just working our corner we had no knowledge of what the enemy was doing we had no knowledge of what schemes and strategies that they were trying to plan to bring us down at our halftime but at halftime we've got to regroup we have to revise our current plan that's what nehemiah does in nehemiah 4 around the 13th verse and sometime for many of us here's the application it's not that the plan that you have is entirely bad it's just that it doesn't fit the particular season in your life that where you are at this particular point and what you need to do at this particular point that the plan that you were using is outdated and is obsolete it's not working for what you have going on in your life right now i want you to go with me to the book of first chronicles first chronicles you already know my joke first chronicles is before second chronicles yeah yeah yeah first chronicles chapter 12 verse 32 you've got to adjust and you have to adapt that particular plan to what is going on at that particular time i want to give you a particular piece of scripture that has been a blessing to me as long as i can remember as it relates to the fact of some time you have to change your strategy you have to change your plan now you got to have a plan because if you fail to plan your what planning to fail you got to go in with some type of strategy you just can't go in absent-minded you got to have some type of strategy some type of plan some type of play if you will if we're going with the sports analogy you got to have some type of play from the divine playbook as to what you're going to do but watch this first chronicles 12 and verse 32. i hope you're there now it says from israel men who understood the times and knew what israel should do stop it he's listing for us all the warriors who joins david in first chronicles chapter 12. but the bible says that when it came to these particular persons from issachar it said that they understood the times and they knew what to do see you have to realize brothers and sisters that where you are in terms of time that your plan might have worked for another day for another dispensation for another era it may not work today all right and so if these men knew what to do but they had to understand the times that means that you and i have to devote some time to understanding the time that you're in right now devote some time to understanding that look what i have here on the number two you have to realize that sometimes what got you here won't take you there oh wait a minute what what we're saying pastor what what got you here won't take you there i'm saying let me tell you what i'm not saying first and then let me tell you what i am saying i am not saying that you shouldn't pray i'm not saying that you shouldn't read your bible i'm not saying that you shouldn't have a period of meditation but what i am saying is that it may be time for a new strategy when it comes to your praying i know you've been praying once a day it may be time for you to pray three times a day it may be time for you to once a week have a period where you fast and pray when you push that plate back to let the body know that my spirit is in control yes you're reading your bible but you're doing it at 12 midnight and you're falling asleep after the first turn of the page and you're really not getting the information on the inside you're really not putting the word of god in your spirit because it can't come out of you if it's not been put in you i know the bible says that the holy spirit will bring it back to your remembrance but he can't bring back what's not there amen somebody he can't do it you can't do it and so you it may be time for a different fresh approach based upon the situation notice for nehemiah when the situation changed then he had to change his strategy to fit the situation and some of us our situations have changed but we have yet to change the strategy it's just like with church when covet 19 came on the scene march 15 of last year we just couldn't gather in church like we normally would with no social distancing with no covet 19 protocols we had to do things differently why because the times the times required for us to do something different and even though we have returned in some form to in-person worship we still have covet 19 practices we still are putting masks on we still are social distancing we still are requiring temperature checks why because we're in a different time and things are going to have to be done differently look at number two if you have your hand out before you're on the letter c i put upgrade upgrade versus upgrade now look what it should be is upgrade versus update all right upgrade versus update why do i put that because the difference between the upgrade and the update and i just want to give you this this analogy see when you go to sprint or you go to t-mobile or you go to verizon whomever your carrier may be and you tell them i need a upgrade that means you want a new phone you want a new device right but once you get the phone once you already have the phone and you have your phone charged appropriately you'll get a notification that says that you are going to receive an update on your phone and what happens is many times we don't know what the update is but when you re your phone receives the update then that means there's going to be different features yeah i'm getting there that you have on your phone that you did not have before the update here's the difference the update gives you a new resource that's the upgrade the upgrade excuse me the upgrade gives you a different resource but the update gives you different features on the resource that you already have and what i'm saying is you need to be very prayerful [Music] about whether or not you need to upgrade or you need to update because what i'm saying is god may be not he's not telling you to throw what you currently have away but he's saying you need some new features you need a new strategy you you need a new plan with what you already have if you're married and it's not working you can't keep trying what you've been trying he's not saying throw the person away thank god but but there but but if if the flowers and candy is not working you've got to put something different in place take advantage take an opportunity to assess where you are and then ask the lord is he requiring an upgrade or he is he requiring an update and most time he's requiring an update because he wants to show you that i can take the same old thing that you have and i can do something different something even more majestic with what you already have remember remember when when god sends jeremiah to the potter's house and jeremiah is watching this particular work on the potter's wheel and notice he did not say that that when he was watching the potter making this particular vessel on the clay notice the bible says that that that jeremiah saw that the clay was marred it had some defects in the clay but it said the potter made it into another vessel he didn't throw it away but he smoothed out the defects so that it can be even the better all i'm saying to you child of god is god is trying to implore a new strategy with you so you can get rid of those defects and so you can become even the more impactful where you are so you got to revise your current plan this is one of my machiaisms you can change without improving you can never improve without change i'll say it again you can change without improving but you can never improve without change revise your current plan see if the lord is telling you it's time for update and make sure that if it is that you walk in the way of the lord let's go back to nehemiah go back to nehemiah 4 because of some other helpful holy hints that we see nestled in this passage we read just a second ago nehemiah 4 and 13 right i want us now to look at nehemiah 4 and 14 because after he positions and has this new plan to put people and provide coverage at the areas where the wall is exposed 14 says after i looked things over i stood up and said to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people do not be afraid i got to stop that's good enough right on this on because he's heard what the naysayers have said but he warns them that if we're going to be victorious we cannot be afraid can't be afraid we cannot be fearful we cannot allow fear to rob us of the prospect of victory look look look below number two under letter d i have fear in an acronym each letter representing some word fear as i've been told stands for false evidence appearing real that's what fear is false evidence appearing real what do you mean pastor i'm scared of it it must be real no a lot of us are scared of the potential threat of what we think is there because many times what we are afraid of never materializes mark twain says that 90 of the things that we're fearful of don't even happen think of it during this pandemic how how many of us still are afraid today but many of us are not as as afraid as we once were prior to the vaccinations and some of us were even afraid to get the vaccinations but now when you go to places just like right now the talking stick some of you watching the game now while you're watching me you're seeing uh people i don't know where they are whatever stadium they're in tonight you'll see people right wherever they are these stadiums are packed have you been looking at the playoffs people are everywhere airports are packed people are returning back to normalcy because by them being vaccinated many of them there there's not that same particular agency of fear in the same way as it once was because a lot of things that we were worried about with covet has not happened not just because of the vaccine but because god come on someone has been protecting us every step of the way because we have been in some spaces we've been in some places where covet was present but it did not harm us because god had shielded us and protected us can i get an amen in the comments there yes he has and just as nehemiah commissions the people not to be afraid i'm commissioning you that as you start this second half of this year the goals that you have don't allow the threat don't allow fear to you and this be your worst part of the year rather than the best part of the year i want i want to read for you something let's stay in nehemiah chapter 4. i want us to look at verse 15. i want us to read verse 15 because they're all scared they're all frantic about the possibility of their enemies doing something to them watch this well look at where verse 15 when our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that god has frustrated it we all return to the wall each to our own work why what's the significance of that because these people in verse number 7 and the people in verse 11 and verse 12 who were their enemies who were supposed to attack them who were supposed to be looking through the open spaces of the wall as to see how they could attack them the bible said when they heard about their new strategy that they retreated see i know we've talked about a lot of ours that we if we revise and if we refuse and if we re-evaluate and if we rebuild and then we can re-attack but when we re-evaluate and when we rebuild and when we revise our plan it lets us know here's another re that the enemy will retreat from us yes he will yes he will but that all that stuff all the negative stuff that we thought could happen lord i feel your spirit all the negative stuff that we thought that could possibly take us out and keep us away from our goals that was stopping us from pushing full speed ahead god said if you abide in the plan that i'm giving you the revision of the plan i'm giving you when the enemy hears about it he you're not going to have to run from him but he will run from you glory to god oh here's the point i wanted to make through all of that is that all the stuff they were saying they were gonna do they didn't even do it because a lot of times it's just false evidence appearing real it's not real it's not it's just a threat and people say this is a threat or there's a promise because people can threaten you all day but if they don't act on it it still remains a threat it's not a promise but god wants you to know that if you walk with him that the folk that's been talking about you all the stuff you've been thinking that could potentially happen that could thwart your progress god says if you do what i've said for you to do and you keep walking by faith and not by sight then all those things you thought could happen will not happen they will retreat you can't be afraid we walk by faith and not by sight second timothy chapter one verse seven and many of you already know this by heart that god has not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind remember i told you from the scripture that god has not given us the hindering spirit he's given us a helpful spirit called the holy spirit and when you look at that particular passage of 2nd timothy chapter 1 verse 7 the holy spirit is the one who gives us power acts 1 and 8 and ye shall receive what power after that the holy ghost has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem judea samaria and the uttermost parts of the world the holy spirit gives you power holy spirit gives you love galatians 5 the very first fruit of the spirit mentioned is love and what fruit of the spirit means these are evidences that one has the spirit god will give you love steadfast that hessed love that i was talking about it's that it's similar to agape love it's love without conditions it's steadfast love hesed is the term in the hebrew agape is the term in the greek and then he'll give you a sound mind god will give you the ability that what's ever going on around just like nehemiah all of these folk are talking about what's what they're going to do and how they're going to bring him down but he had that sound mind because he knew that the victory already belonged to him and we have to walk in what we already know and last but not least brothers and sisters i'm i'm through it's that not only do you have to revise your current plan and you can't be afraid but what else does this say i want us to read nehemiah 4 and 14. he told them don't be afraid of them and then he says last remember the lord who and i want to stop there remember the lord remember the lord remember the lord because it's very important that as we reflect and as we revise and as we re-attack that before we get out there again we need to also add another re we need to remember the lord now notice what he said he did not say meet the lord he did not say seek the lord but he says rather i want you to remember the lord remember the lord remember the lord and notice now hold on let me say this as pastor there may be someone watching tonight that if you have not sought the lord you need to see him seek him if you have not met the lord you need to meet him but in the context of this verse the children of israel god's chosen people already knew him now nehemiah is saying remember what you already know about him in other words he's not saying go out and try and read and find out and learn something new about god he says remember what you all already know put your knowledge to good use of what you already know about god and nehemiah says that when you do this when you remember who your god is and who you are fighting for that's enough it should be enough to bring peace to your mind and peace to your spirit when you remember who your god is i want you to think about that for a minute because often we try to make our dreams our goals and our ambitions loom large in our life and they should but brothers and sisters when we look at all of the burdens all of the hills and the mountains that we have to climb over to achieve our goal sometime we focus on the mountain and not the mountain mover come on come on come on sometimes we focus more on the problem than we do the problem solver sometimes we focus more on the trouble than we do the trouble sharer and the troubleshooter because god will not only be with you to share with you in your trouble but then he'll get tired of sharing with you and he'll shoot the troubles away i'm trying to tell you today that whatever the drawback is whatever the pitfall is whatever the problem is whatever the shortcoming is whatever the burden is don't you focus so much on the mountain focus on the mountain mover remember your god above your situation i feel preaching coming up my right shoulder so let's so let let me keep going um i want you to turn to psalm 30 and 5. and many of us already know that psalm and i i'm just going to quote that psalm for the sake of time i know some of you all want to watch the game okay so i'm i'm i want to i want to cut across the field just a little bit okay i want you to go to first chronicles chapter 21. and i'm gonna read this very fast i'll make my point and i'll keep going verses one through seventeen it's a lot of passage for me to read but i need to make a connection for you about remembering remembering your god now psalm 30 and 5 we know very well his anger endureth but a moment in his favor is life or some translation say his favor last a lifetime weeping may endure for the night but what joy comes in the morning come on someone somebody in the comments just type joy joy joy joy joy joy comes in the morning we we know that passage very well but but here's what i need to give you i need to give you the context surrounding the content what precipitated david to write the words of psalm 30 verse 5 that god's anger endure by the moment but his favor lasts a lifetime it's in first chronicles theologians tell us 21 verses 1-17 what's going on here let's read satan rose up against israel and incited david to take a census of israel so david said to joab and the commanders of the troops go and count the ends the israelites from bereshiba to dan and report back to me so that i may know how many they there are but joy replied may the lord multiply his troops a hundred times over my lord the king are they not all my lord subjects why does my lord want to do this why should he bring guilt on israel the king's word however overruled joab so joab left and went throughout israel then came back to jerusalem joab reported the number of the fighting men to david in all israel there were one million one hundred thousand who could handle a sword including four hundred and seventy thousand in judah but joab did not include levi and benjamin in the numbering because the king's command was repulsive to him this command was also evil in the sight of god so he punished israel then david said to god i have sinned greatly by doing this now i beg you take away the guilt of your servant i have done a foolish thing god did not want david to number israel but he did it anyway verse 9. the lord said to god david seer go and tell david this is what the lord says i am giving you three options choose one of them for me to carry out against you since gad went to david and said to him this is what the lord says take your choice three years of famine three months of being swept away before your enemies with the sword overtaking you are three days of the sword of the lord days of the plague in the land with the angel of the lord ravaging every part of israel now then decide how i should answer the one who sent me david said to gad i am in deep distress let me fall here's his choice into the hands of the lord for his mercy is very great but do not let me fall into human hands so the lord sent a plague on israel and seventy thousand men of israel fell dead and god sent an angel to destroy jerusalem but as the angel was doing so the lord saw it and relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was destroying the people enough withdraw your hand the angel of the lord was then standing at the threshing floor of oral the jebusite david looked up and saw the angel of the lord standing between heaven and earth the drawn sword in his hand extended over jerusalem then david and the elders clothed and sacked lord fell down david said to god was it not i who ordered the fighting men to be counted i the shepherd have sinned and done wrong these are but sheep what have they done lord my god let your hand fall on me and my family but do not let this plague remain on your people what happens here david numbers israel god tells him not to do it why because god wants david to know that the soldiers the mighty men belong to god and not to him so there was no need for david to take a a census so he could begin to say and get puffed up in pride and i have all over a million men in my caravan who are ready to fight to the death at a moment's notice but the text reveals that that god gives him three options because of his wrong doing he can be in the hand of mother nature he could be in the hands of his enemies or he can be in the hands of almighty god and what does david choose the best one he wanted to be in the hands of god because he said god you will have mercy on me my enemies won't have mercy on me the earth will not have mercy on but i know you will have mercy on me and that's what god does although the angel of death comes by and kills thousands of the men notice nothing happens to him because god extends grace toward this particular brother and once that happens when when david realizes that he's a grace case that all of these men died but it should have been him who died because he was the one who committed the wrong act against god and for god not to take it out on him he realized how gracious god was and after that he writes in psalm 30 and 5 after that experience of remembering what god had done then he writes his anger endureth but a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime see see it should have been that his anger lasts a lifetime but his favor didn't do it for a moment but no no no that that's not our god he said rem that's what nehemiah says remember your god remember your god he said his anger is just for a moment but his favor lasts for life weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning the only way david knew this is because he remembered his god and he was able to get through that dark time in his life because of his remembrance of the lord hmm and what does the text say about our god nehemiah didn't just say remember your god but go back to nehemiah chapter four i want to i want to make this clear to you then we'll be done nehemiah chapter 4 verse 14 he says don't you be afraid of them remember the lord who is great and awesome i'm i'm done church listen your god is not a god that you put up on the shelf your god my god our god is great and awesome i would have been okay for nehemiah to just say god was great that would have been enough for me but he said no not only is he great but at the same time he's awesome what a great god we serve what an awesome god we serve god is so great and god is so awesome that this same david reminded us on sunday in psalm 103 bless the lord o my soul and all that's within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all of his benefits number one he forgiveth our sin he healeth our diseases he redeemeth our life from destruction he crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercy and he satisfies us with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles you serve a great god you serve an awesome god well i say here it's time for us to stop telling god how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our god is because the same god that helped daniel in the lines then the same god that that helped the three hebrew children in the fiery furnace the same god that led moses and the children of israel across the red sea the same god that led joshua to fight and tear down the wall of jericho the same god that helped gideon the same god that helped ezekiel the same god that have jeremiah the same god who helped to get jesus up out of a dead grave is the same god that is great and awesome toward you yes we have hindrances yes we have obstacles in our path but none of the obstacles none of the hindrances as big as they are are bigger than god yes cancer is out there and they say cancer is the big c now they say covert is out there and that's the big c but no no no there's still a bigger c that's christ christ is bigger than any crises he's bigger than any cancer he's bigger than any covet 19 case he's bigger than diabetes tonight he's bigger than discouragement he's bigger than depression he's bigger than mental illness he's bigger than a bad attitude he's bigger than your financial situation he's bigger than the situation on your job whatever it is our god is great and is awesome while you're trying to figure it out the lord is already working it out come on if you believe it put those hands together yes and give god great come on let's give him great praise come on a great god even at home deserves some great praise hallelujah thank you for being a great god looking beyond my thoughts and seeing every one of my needs god's done that for me he wants to do that for you too maybe you're not saved tonight maybe you have not given your life to jesus christ what must i do to be saved pastor matthew believe one friday on the skull-shaped yield and the blood-salt cross said golgotha cavalry's healed jesus died for your sin but he didn't stay there the same god i'm talking about romans 10 and 9 said if we confess with our mouth the lord jesus and believe in our heart that god raised him he didn't do it on his own that that same great and wonderful god we just talked about god raised him from the dead the bible says we can be saved what does that mean we can be rescued from the penalty of sin which is death hell and eternal damnation you can be released and be rescued from that eternal bondage on tonight by believing in him what must i do pastor mackey if you on our social medias if you're on facebook live it should be a pin there just press that pin go to our virtual membership page or a text number should come up in just a moment you can text us here at the church whatever particular social medium you own and we will reach out to you and to make sure that you have received the gift of god's salvation or maybe you say pastor mackie i'm already saved but i've i've been benefiting the more from the teaching and the preaching and from the service of pilgrimage and i want to be a part even virtually of this wonderful congregation we'd love to have you as we seek to go to higher heights deeper depths and occupy all streaks you follow those same steps if you're on facebook live press that pin or that number that's provided for you on the screen text it please and you can become a part of the pilgrim rest family on tonight come on let's tap our hands and thank god for those who will unite with us god be praised for you and god be praised for your family and those who are part of you before we leave tonight please brothers and sisters let's remember on this coming friday we are celebrating with our graduates yes our graduates here at the church starting at six o'clock p.m whatever particular social media you're on uh we will be bringing that particular broadcast to you as we celebrate with our graduates from six o'clock until about 6 29. or so we'll be having graduations k through five k through five and uh i can't wait little timothy is in that bunch and a whole lot of our young people so i'm looking forward to sharing with them and then brothers and sisters we're going to have at 6 30 the promotions for sixth grade onwards sixth grade onwards that's going to be led to us by our youth and young adult director minister alan hunter so we're looking forward to a wonderful time sharing virtually with our youth and even some of our young adults who will be graduating on this coming friday virtually and we're going to honor them as they have graduated likewise brothers and sisters don't forget sunday morning uh 7 15 9 15 and 11 15 and then at 3 p.m we're going to be having the first sermons of dr crystal williams and minister les carey we're looking forward to hearing from that man and woman of god as god is going to speak through them with them and for them it will be on site and on lines if you choose to come in person will be ready to receive you and then the 19th of this month we will be leading the charge at the diamondbacks for the juneteenth celebration our choir will be ministering i'll be throwing the first pitch y'all praying i'm i'm trying to get myself together for that amen i'm not going to embarrass you amen praise the lord but if you desire to go the tickets are 50 please call the church on tomorrow and secure your tickets they are rolling fast so we're looking forward to seeing you at the chase field on june the 19th all right brothers and sisters it's been a great night of study and spirit the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you is our prayer have a good night and see you sunday morning god bless you

Channel: Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church

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Id: wemZtOR4Xfs

Length: 61min 55sec (3715 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 10 2021