Bishop Donte L. Hickman - "Hang In There" December 6, 2006

[Music] of all of our hallelujahs i'll thank you jesuses i praise the lord because you alone have been good to us you have blessed us in spite of ourselves you've blessed us o god even when we haven't been blessing you and so thank you right now for your grace and your mercy reacts that you will forgive us of our sins cause us to be whole and pure in your sight that you might get good glory out of us today lord we pray that there is anyone lost that you would save them anyone sick that you would heal them anyone bound you would deliver them anyone broken you would restore them anyone divided you would unite them oh holy ghost have your way do what you want to do bless my neighbor today and lord i won't be mad i won't hate on their blessing but i'll celebrate their blessing because it means you're in the neighborhood have your way today in jesus name now come on and give god some praise [Music] god is great in his greatly to be praised to your wonderful and esteemed pastor my friend and brother the reverend arthur jackson and to his queenly wife uh lady jackson all of the ministers of the gospel officers members and friends it's mighty nice to be on the lord's side and i thank god to be in miami in the month of december thank god uh to be in the only place in the planet that's 70 degrees and i'm going to chill out for a while and bottle this up so i can go back home and tell the folk what a good time that we have had if the truth be told my brothers and sisters there are some people who never shout in the church that i pastor until arthur jackson gets there and so and so and so we can only try to do or attempt to do what he does to us every year uh that he comes thank god help me to thank god for your pastor and your first lady two dynamic wonderful people of god and i love him from the bottom of my heart it's very rare uh when you have a peer somebody uh near your age cause he's older than i am but it's very rare to find somebody in your peer group who can give you wise counsel who can give you good advice i normally tell people stay away from your friends to get good advice seek somebody older but you have a very wise pastor and he's a master pastor and i thank god for his friendship and his counsel in my life i want to invite your attention at this last watch of the day to the gospel of john chapter 19 john chapter 19 verse verses 23 and 24 the gospel according to john chapter 19 verses 23 and 24. the gospel according to john 19 verse 23 and 24. this is what it says in the new king james version of the scripture then the soldiers when they had crucified jesus took his garments and made four parts to each soldier a part and also the tunic now the tunic was without seen woven from the top in one piece they said therefore among themselves let us not tear it but cast lots for it whose it shall be that the scripture might be fulfilled which says they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots therefore the soldiers did these things look at the person beside you and just say neighbor whatever you do hang in there amen you might be seated in the presence of the lord for a few moments i just want to close this very beautiful day with that simonic thought hang in there my brothers and sisters there are three truisms that i have learned to stick by in this life truism number one is that you and i must learn how to trust that god knows exactly what he's doing in this life you will meet with some negative and some positive you will meet with some opportunities and some opposition in this life you're going to have some good and some bad days there's going to be some hustle and bustle in your life even as a christian but you and i must learn how to trust that god knows exactly what he's doing we've got to spiritually mature to the place that we can uh we can affirm we can say with a firm voice that all things really do work together for the good of them that love the lord and are called according to his purpose we must be able to say like joseph even the in the face of backstabbing friends that while you meant it for evil god really meant it for my good we've got to say like job my brothers and sisters when we feel like giving up and we feel like we've lost everything that the lord gives and the lord takes away but still blessed be the name of the lord in this life we've got to trust that god knows exactly what he's doing we've got to stop telling the lie that god will never put more on us than we're able to bear because the truth be told my brothers and sisters sometimes god does allow more on us than we're able to bear so that we can get some common sense and learn how to pray father i stretch my hand to thee no other help i know i've learned that we got to trust god that god knows exactly what he's doing but the second thing my brothers and sisters if we're going to grow as christians is we've got to learn how to live within the tension of life we must know that although we are saved there's still going to be some storms to come in our lives doesn't matter whether you've given your life to christ the devil's is going to intensify his powers against you you must understand my brothers and sisters that as a christian all of us going to have some good and some bad too many of us want to live the imbalanced life we want to live the life that only has one good and we don't want any bad to ever come our way but in this life my brothers and sisters jesus said you will have tribulation for his but he has already overcome the world he teaches us that if we're going to spiritually grow as christians that we've got to learn how to praise god in the good as well as in the bad the third truism of life my brothers and sisters is that you and i have to learn how to take a licking and keep on ticking every now and then the devil is going to knock you down but he can only knock you down to your proverbial knees where you get up praying to god for strength because the devil cannot stop what god has decided will succeed you must know that in life you're going to have some bumps and some bruises but if you learn how to take a licking and keep on ticking god will give you strength for the rest of your journey it is here my brothers and sisters that we find jesus suffering and agonizing on the cross jesus is going through some excruciating pain the devil has done all that he could do to stop jesus from pursuing the plan of god the bible says that here jesus is he's nailed up on the cross and they are now stripping him of his clothing and my brothers and sisters i need you to understand that this is not the first time that the devil has messed with jesus the devil has been messing with jesus even from the embryonic infantile stages of his life when you take time to read the opening chapters of matthew mark luke and john you will discover that the devil has been messing with jesus from the beginning of time the bible says even when he's a baby the enemy is threatened by his potential read the holy writ and you will discover that jesus was just a young baby when herod the king was trying to take his life what i'm trying to help you to understand is that the devil does not wait for you and i to spiritually mature before he gets busy in our lives he doesn't wait for you to make up your mind to come to bible study he doesn't wait for you to make up your mind to develop a prayer life he doesn't wait for you to make up your mind to start paying your tithes and giving your offerings but the devil messes with you in the embryonic stages of your spiritual maturity because the devil knows that you are a threat to his kingdom he knows that if you ever arrive at the place that god has for you that you will tear his kingdom down so the bible says from the very embryonic and infantile stages of jesus's life that the devil tries to kill him before he ever gets started not only that my brothers and sisters as he grows up he goes and he gets baptized by john in the river jordan and while he's being baptized the spirit of god comes down descends and ascends and god speaks with a loud audible voice this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased but my brothers and sisters whenever god affirms you never get caught up in the affirmation of god because right after god affirmed him in the river jordan it is in the very next chapter in the very next verse that the holy spirit of god advances jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the adversary so whenever god anoints you whenever god appoints you whenever god affirms you get ready for the adversity of the devil the bible says that he had to go into the wilderness so that he could defeat the devil on his own territory jesus my brothers and sisters needed to have his passions tested by god because it's easy for you and i to praise god as long as all of our physical fleshly needs are met it's easy for you and i to praise god while the sun is shining in december but what do you do when hurricane season comes your way see god wants to know can you praise me although your physical needs may not be being met god wants to know can you praise me in the storm as well as you praise me in the sunshine god wants to know can you praise me when the doctor gives you a good report and can you praise me when the doctor gives you a bad report can you praise me when you got a job or can you praise me when you broke as a joke your credit can't get it and your change is strange is there anybody in the house that says god i can praise you no matter what the season is in my life here it is my brothers and sisters that the enemy was threatened by the potential of jesus god had to test the passions of jesus but then here we are in this text where the devil is tampering with jesus as pride pride you say preacher yes because the bible says that the devil has already done all that he could do to jesus he has spat on him he has ridiculed him he has laughed at him he has talked about him and now he's nailed him to an old rugged cross but to add insult to injury the bible says after he's crucified jesus he then strips jesus of his clothing and can i park him parenthetically and tell somebody that maybe that's what needs to happen in the african-american church maybe some of us need to be stripped so that we can learn how to praise god like we used to or maybe we're too loaded down maybe we got too much blessing maybe we driving too nice and living too fat maybe god's got to take some stuff from us in order for us to get back to the praise when we didn't have carpet on the floor and cushion in the pew and air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter some of us come to church and sit like bumps on logs like frogs like god has never done anything for us but if god has been good to you you don't need a praise team to pump you up you don't need the preacher to be hooping you up you don't need the organ to rev you up but when you come in church you got your hallelujah shoes on saying it's just another day that the lord has kept me how the bible says in this passage of scripture that god allowed jesus to be stripped and i said to myself and i said to god god enough is enough i mean haven't jesus gone through enough that that you would not allow the devil to strip him have you ever prayed in your life have you been going through so much stuff god haven't i proved faithful enough i mean i come to church every sunday god i'm paying my tithes i'm studying your word i'm trying to live right i try to bless folk that curse me i try to pray for folk that despitefully use and abuse me i try to love folk that hate on me yet you still allow the devil to strip me and to mess with me is there anybody in the house that sometime i say enough is enough uh but before that my brothers and sisters you got to understand what what the enemy is trying to do in your life but what god is trying to use as the developmental process the bible says that god allows the enemy to strip us because what the enemy is trying to do is he's trying to humiliate us yes let the church say humiliate that's what the that's what the devil is trying to do he is trying to humiliate the people of god but when you read in the scripture jesus said i have come into the world that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly but the devil comes into the world to steal to kill and to destroy see when the devil couldn't stop you from coming to church when he couldn't stop you from giving your life to christ now he wants to steal your joy he wants you to come to church but he doesn't want you to ever feel the fire of the holy ghost the devil wants you to sit there and say it does not take all of that because the devil knows that the joy of the lord is your strength and if you lose your joy then you will give up on god and after he's stolen your joy he will try to kill your peace he will have you walking around worried about stuff that you have no power and no control over he will have you frustrated walking around in confusion and anxiety when jesus said to us be anxious for nothing if i can take care of the sparrow that's flying in the air if i can clothe the grass of the field how much more will i take care of my children and after the devil has killed your peace he will try to destroy your witness he wants you to walk around ashamed of where the lord brought you from but is there anybody in the house that knows the lord brought you from a mighty long way and you cannot be ashamed of what god brought you out of now you got to use it as your testimony you got to learn how to say to some negroes who point their bony finger in your face and remember who you used to be you ought to say yeah it was me yeah i was there yeah i did that but look at me now i'm not what i used to be and i'm not what i'm going to be is there anybody in the house that has a testimony that god's been good to you in fact you ought to lean over and tell somebody it is no secret what god can do if he saved me he can save you too the bible says that the devil tries to strip us because he wants to humiliate us but but then secondly he comes to agitate us let the church say agitate the bible says that the devil was looking at jesus and he began to realize that the plan of god was beginning to work because understand my brothers and sisters that jesus did not come into the world just to heal the sick and raise the dead he did not come into the world to live in the lap of luxury but jesus came to die he came to die as the perfect unblemished lamb of god he came to be the substitutionary atonement for our sins and as of yet he still ain't cussed nobody out he still hadn't fussed at anybody he still had not shown any arrogance and the devil started realizing that if jesus dies like this then the plan of god will work and the people will be saved from their sins so he strips jesus of his clothing to try to agitate jesus to make jesus come down off the cross and give the devil a piece of his mind and some of your holy rollers in here are looking at me like you've never been agitated by the devil well if you keep on living the devil's got somebody who will come to church and rub you the wrong way that they'll get on your last black nerve do i have any real folk in the house who say preacher every now and then some folk get on my nerves and i say god give me five minutes let me take them outside and show them i ain't always been from the suburbs i come from the hood i don't know about your sedentary folk but i'm a preacher of god's word but every now and then i say god give me a few minutes there's a deacon that needs my attention but the bible says that when haters get on your trail when folk talk about you when folk lie on you you've got to learn how to say hallelujah anyhow you've got to learn that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are spiritual they are mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds do i have any help in the house the devil will try to strip you because he's trying to humiliate you he will try to strip you because he's trying to agitate you but then thirdly he'll strip you because he wants to emulate you y'all going to sleep on me i'm right here in the text when they strip jesus of his coats they did not throw his coat away they did not burn his coat they did not get rid of his coat but they started gambling for his coat because they wanted his coat as a souvenir as a memento i'm trying to help somebody to understand that the haters in your life are not there because they don't like you but the haters in your life want to be like you do i have a witness here that's why i made up my mind that i'm not going to apologize for how blessed i am i know i'm blessed is there anybody in the house that knows you're blessed i ain't gonna hide my car i ain't gonna hide my clothes cause you don't know how i prayed in the midnight hour you weren't there when i was broke as a joke but i've been faithful to paying my tithes and god opens up a window and pours me out blessings that i ain't able to receive so if you got long weave in your head you ought to wave your weave like you just don't care because somebody in the house wants the weave you got if you got big hips don't be ashamed of your hips but shake your hips cause god blessed you i find somebody tell him i'm blessed and i know i'm blessed so i just came to preach to somebody who's felt like giving up to hang in there don't throw in the towel look at somebody tell them don't give up help is on the way i know you feel like ain't nobody praying i know you feel like you're going to be in trouble all of your life i know you feel like the devil's having his way but i came to preach to help somebody who's about to give up to hang in there would you help me preach shake somebody's hand like you're gonna shake it off tell them i don't care what you're going through i don't care what the devil's doing to you whatever you do don't give up but hang in there shake their hand and hold their hand and tell them my hand is like the hand of god he won't let you go i thought you all thought i was finished i thought i told you that i won't stop i feel like preaching here the bible says if you want to hang in there this is what you got to know if you want to hang in there you've got to recognize that you've already endured the devil's best shot i'll say it again you've already endured the devil's best shot i'm right in the word the word says and when they crucify jesus stop right there they nailed him before they stripped him they nailed him before they stripped him i wonder which one was worse the nailing or the stripping if i handled the nail i can handle being stripped i'm so glad i've been through hell been through high order been through the storm been through the rain but look at somebody tell them i'm still here by the grace of god and i ain't gonna let nothing stop my praise because i've been through the worst and the best is yet to come holly if you hear me shout if you hear me praise him if you hear me shake somebody's hand said the devil couldn't kill me so since he couldn't kill me i'm gonna praise god like i'm losing my mind yeah yeah yeah [Applause] yeah good afternoon may the lord bless you real real good but on my way back to baltimore can i tell you hang in there hang in there cause you got alternate strength look at somebody tell somebody you're stronger than you think i'm right in the world the bible says they stripped him of his outer garment they cut it up in four parts but the inner garment they could not tear it y'all missing me the outer garden they divided it but the inner garment was kept in one piece i came to miami to tell the devil you can mess with my outside stuff but you can't mess with what i got on the inside i got something within me that'll hold the rain i got something within me that banishes my pain i got something within me i cannot explain do you have it the holy ghost give me joy unspeakable yeah shake somebody tell them be not dismayed whatever be kind god will god will god will take care of you look on the other side tell them the lord will make a way somehow hang in there hold on be strong hold on be strong hold on be strong hold on be strong yeah [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] so yes yes tell somebody i'm a hold on in the storm i'm a hold on in the rain i'm a hold on through pain but early early early sunday morning i'm getting up i'm getting up i'm getting up praise him praise him praise him [Applause] [Music] [Music] just tell someone neighbor hang in there hang in there come on you didn't say it like come on you didn't you didn't say it like tell me but hang in hang in there no no come on take him by the hand you know somebody's been on the verge of giving up come on somebody's on the verge of quitting someone felt like throwing in the towel come on come on somebody felt like quitting and throwing in the towel come on help minister to somebody terry look at me and say neighbor you've been through too much to give up now tails whenever you come too far to give up now it tells a lot of you come too far to give up now what you need to do is praise him while you're going through is there anybody in this house that loved the lord yes yes hug somebody tell them hold on hang in there god will [Music] i know he will i i know he will [Music] i know he will won't even do it as i wanted i wanna do it [Music] like a ship that's tossed and driven batted by and i christy help me church when the storm of life [Music] i wonder have done [Music] and to make this race so hard to run look at somebody tell then i say then i say to my soul don't worry don't worry the lord will the lord will make somehow if you know that put your hands together and say it the lord will [Applause] [Music] he will take away come on he will take eat sorrow [Music] if you let them have it let them have it [Music] [Applause] [Music] so heavy there's a sweet relief there's a sweet [Music] relief [Music] i wish you just go and hug three people tell him i know he will i know he will just hook three people i know he will [Music] [Applause] don't hurt three more people somebody needs to be encouraged [Music] i know he will yes he will [Music] and you just let him head [Music] has anybody in here ever tried the lord has it come through right on time come on put your hands together and just tell them thank you right now [Music] come on open up your mouth and just take 30 seconds thank him right now thank him right now

Channel: Miami, FL Gospel

Views: 375

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: sevuOL3RuWc

Length: 34min 44sec (2084 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 02 2021