Bishop Paul A. Bowers preaching: "Don't Give Up Too Soon" (1990)

and when jesus came into the ruler's house saw the minstrels and the people making a noise he said unto them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn but when the people were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose and the fame here of went abroad into all that land said unto them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn i alluded to this text some time ago or at least this thought and at that time i informed you or whoever it was that i was not through with this text today we want to think about it a little longer and a little more the thing about this text that is important to remember or at least as far as i'm concerned is that the people that were gathered together in this house had accepted the conditions and the circumstances jesus came into the house and gave them a word or words of hope and promise to them they permitted the circumstances and the conditions to overshadow in their hearts the words that jesus spoke to them the maid is not dead but she is just sleeping they did not accept the words of jesus but they rather accepted the conditions things that they saw and observed before their eyes sad thing is that they not only did not accept what jesus said but proceeded to laugh at his words even to the point of scorning making light of what he had said or they knew or at least they thought they knew that indeed this maid was dead what i want to say to you today the point that i would like to drive into your hearts is that we have to be very careful we have to guard against allowing conditions to dictate our concepts and so today i just want to say to you don't give up too soon don't surrender too fast don't allow conditions and circumstances to cause you to be discouraged too quickly and i suppose this is still somewhat related to psalms 16. for jesus in that psalm as he anointed the soul of the psalmist he said to his god you have been my counselor you have told me what to do you have given me admonition direction and counsel so that it behooves the child of god who has made the lord his god to at all times give heed and lend your ear to the voice of god and be persuaded and be directed not by conditions not by the circumstances or the environment but rather give attention to the voice of god and allow the direction of the lord to be the source of your behavior this maid is not dead but sleepeth and of course there were those in the crowd that got there before jesus they had already taken inventory of of the situation perhaps even jarius himself released others around had felt as though it's over maybe somebody had taken the pulse and said she's dead the heart perhaps no longer was palpitating the blood was no longer circulating the eyes perhaps had closed they could find no pulse and no no sign of life she's dead jesus came in the midst of all of this first thing he saw was their unbelief we saw the music makers the mourners the weepers the criers well this was certainly a sign of death because we're told the musicians would play death music music to enhance weeping music to bring about tears death music dead music she's dead we're going to play some dead music and this music is designed to bring tears to the eyes of those who are around and this in in a sense is the same perhaps today but there are folks who believe today that if you don't cry over the dead you didn't love them so i've seen folk do all sorts of things that were unseemingly and ungodly and insane almost i've seen them act like they wanted to get in the grave with the casket but all they had to do was turn them loose they would have soon found out how serious they were about getting in that grave so that these people were weeping and the music was playing and all of this was designed to bring sadness and grief because we're told that if folk did not cry the music was designed to help them to cry i've heard sermons at funerals designed to bring about hysteria on the part of the bereaved but in the midst of all of this jesus came oh thank god jesus knows when to come so the point of the message and the thought to you today and i know that all of us at times have decisions to make but don't ever surrender too soon don't ever let conditions get you down too quick don't let the things you see going on around you be the source of your reaction in your response might be wise before you do anything to wait on jesus wait until the master puts in an appearance if he is your counselor and if he's going to give you direction and tell you what to do then wait till he comes wait until you hear the voice of the master i want you to know first of all dear saints that your faith has to be tested for if your faith is never put to a test then you will not know if it is real faith or not it is the test of faith that makes faith faith as i said a few days ago that our faith ought to be in god for he's the only one worthy of our faith the reason you can trust him and put your faith in him is because he's already demonstrated and performed in your behalf so that faith never needs to be guesswork faith is not saying i hope so or i think so or maybe so that's not faith that's something else the bible tells me that faith is the substance of things hoped for and it is indeed the evidence of things not seen but i'm here to tell you today that because conditions are allowed to come that does not mean of itself that faith has surrendered and lost the battle just because conditions seemingly are unfavorable and maybe gone beyond the limit of understanding that does not mean you ought to get discouraged and say that all is lost and i might as well surrender because i've lost the fight glory oh you see dear friend of the adversary can never get you to feel that you have lost the battle if you can plant a seed of doubt in your heart and if you allow it to linger then i want you to know that seed will take root and grow and produce other seeds so that the secret is don't get discouraged too soon don't form an opinion too quickly especially if god is involved do not say that it is all lost or that it is over or that it is too late if you are placing god as the featured attraction in your particular condition and situation or you see friend god has a time to show up and he has a time to make his appearance the reason god doesn't show up immediately sometimes is because he wants us to get to the place where we feel that nobody else and nothing else will work but as long as we tend to rely or depend on some other source then you don't need god amen and god doesn't intend to share your life with any other power the lord wants you to know that i am complete within myself and there is no need to turn to any other source for whatever you need to be done and accomplished in your life i'm the god that's able to do it amen and the thing about god that i love and appreciate and adore is this that god does not have no particular time to act or to perform or to make his appearance amen god doesn't have to come in amen in the nick of time he but he comes whenever he gets ready and the very fact that god shows up on the scene or to let you know that everything is going to be all right regardless of how discouraging things may appear to be on the outside amen let the church say man today and so i want you to know that faith to be faith must be put to a test for you see faith is somewhat like gold gold in order to be labeled as pure gold it must be put through a test of trying and testing and purification amen for sometimes there may be things in it that's foreign to it and it is the heat it is the test praise the lord that determines if gold is real gold or if it's simply fooling somebody for you see fools go to a great degree looks like the real goal but fools go cannot stand when the test and the fire is put to it and i want you to know if you say that you trust in god and if you've taken him as your savior then god wants to know i'm gonna submit you to a test to find out if you really believe me like you said you believe me [Applause] so the damsel the maid jesus said is not dead but she is merely sleeping thank god and so as they looked at this and applied their reason and then a logic they applied their understanding to the situation maybe they conferred about what jesus said and they among themselves came to the conclusion this man must be crazy she's been here she's dead we've tested her we've checked her we know what the situation is and here comes this man jesus coming in amen in the midst of these tears and the time of grief and telling us praise the lord the damsel is not dead but she is merely sleeping amen that's the thing i love about god almighty he comes in at the darkest of the darkest tower he comes in when things seemingly have gotten all out of control amen but all god wants you to know is just keep on believing on me i will come i shall come i told you i will come if you just wait on me i'll be there when i get ready amen oh yes oh yes and so the condition the circumstances and the things that these people saw that felt like there was no help to be had and so they went into their ritualism they began to cry they began to weep even and the music began to play thank god but when jesus came and he saw what was going on here he wanted to demonstrate his power and let them know there is a help beyond the help of man there's hope when the condition seems to be hopeless there's help when the case seems to be helpless there's life when the condition seems to be one of death there is possibility when the condition seems to be impossible amen in god you know i can do what no other power can do i'm not just a physician i'm the great position i'm not just another god i'm the almighty god i'm the everlasting father i'm the prince of peace the great counselor here today hallelujah yes hallelujah saints of god amen then the second thing i want you to understand is this we've got to continue to serve god regardless of the situation amen there are some maybe that are waiting on things to get right so you can serve god and give him some honor and maybe you've been sitting around all week waiting for the sky to clear so you can send up your prayer maybe you've been waiting till the storm subsides until you can say what a mighty god we serve and then maybe you're waiting to shout and then when god has moved out all the demons and set aside every form of opposition but i just come to tell you today you should not let circumstances uh dictate your reaction to the god of your salvation you should override your circumstances amen and step over whatever environment you're in amen because whatever case you find yourself a thank god in the day you ought to understand you're not there by yourself well you see if i was all by myself then i would have surrendered a long time ago if it was just me by myself with myself with nobody but myself amen i would have said years ago amen i surrender i give up satan you win but because i've had somebody else somebody bigger a man than i am i've had somebody amen that will speak for me and i want my faith to speak not my reason not how i feel in my body not my mentality but i want faith to speak out for me and tell me keep on keeping on keep on believing keep on trusting everyone everything is going to be all right thank god oh yes let the church say amen thank god now you just pray for me just a little while amen and the thing i want to impress upon you is amen listen to your faith let faith talk to you amen let faith speak out let faith or be your mouthpiece or when you look at conditions when you look at circumstances amen then the flesh will speak your mind will speak your body will tell you your sicker or maybe than what you really are amen your spirit your thoughts will tell you you're deeper in the valley then you may really think you may really be here so don't let conditions dictate how you worship god don't let your pocketbook be the deciding factor of how great you sing and how much you give god glory amen don't let whatever's going on around you amen inspire you or discouraged here or you see when you come into god's house you leave conditions on the outside when you come in god's house you leave worries on the outside and let worry know if you come in here i'm gonna put you under the blood if you come in here i'm gonna plead the blood on ya if you come in god's house with me i'm gonna ask god to rebuke you and set you aside well i've come for no other reason but to make a joyful noise unto the lord i'm gonna praise him i'm gonna glorify him and i'm not gonna bring my troubles here with me i've got somebody that i've got to see i've got a man that i've got a meter i've got somebody i want to hear their voice and feel their power and feel their touch get back situation step aside environment goodbye troubles i'm going to glorify the god of my salvation let the church say amen our blessed be god today and so as we look at it and see the lord as he speaks a word here if you just look at how jesus speaks every time god speaks for the most part he has something good to tell us that every time the lord has something to say to his children it's really never to rebuke us unless we're not trying to depend on him but when god sees us waiting on him he says be of good chair it is i be not afraid amen that's when jesus he makes his appearance he waits till everything else has failed he waits till the darkness comes he waits till it seems like things can get no worse and then here comes jesus hallelujah god aren't you glad that when god saved you and then sometime you went to the very bottom you didn't feel like you needed god but god let you fall and stumble and triple and fall on your face and then here came jesus he said i am the mastermind i come to bind up the brokenhearted i come to heal the wounded spirit i come to unstop your death ears and open your blinded eyes and so jesus wants you to know amen don't give up too soon i don't surrender too quickly i don't throw in the tower or wait on god or just a little bit longer for he that shall come will come and he won't carry i don't care where the pain is don't give up don't surrender to death don't give overton by my just stand and believe god and say lord i'm not gonna be persuaded by what i see around them but i know you're coming i'm your child i'm gonna wait on you i'm not gonna sing no sad story i'm not gonna play no sad music but i am going to make a joyful noise unto the lord hallelujah hallelujah clap your hands and say hallelujah and so i want you to look here and see what jesus did when you come down and look at that verse amen in the very next verse they say but when the people will put forth i thank god jesus went in hallelujah god almighty there's no room around here in the same room for jesus and the doubters there's no place in the same house for jesus and the unbeliever there's no place in the same condition for faith and doubt a one's got to go amen you can't have jesus and then expect to be defeated you can't claim him to be your savior and then think about failing they both can't stay around and so jesus put those doubters out of those unbelievers those surfacings amen those that are simply are built on the wayside amen there's many come come today that as long as they can shout out but they'll be around here as long as there's no pressure put upon them they'll be around here as long as everything is all right they'll be around here well i just come to tell ya things are not always gonna be all right there's some tears that you gotta shed if you stay over here in the church of god almighty there's some sorrow that you've gotta go through if you're gonna stay over here there's some disappointments some hardships and heartaches and headaches if you please you've got to be light on you're gonna be falsely accused and set aside you're going to be stepped on and stepped over and stepped around you're going to be pushed aside and ridiculed and made fun of but i just come to tell you but jesus knows who i am he knows he put me in here i didn't come here on my own he brought me here he picked me up off all of the junk hebrew he found me out there in the dirty gutter he brought me out of the filthy environment and brought me on over here and sit me down but before he sent me down he cleaned me up he washed me in the blood of the lamb he put something in there hallelujah he instilled something weed down a deep on the inside and then he told me as long as this generator keeps operating on the inside as long as this dynamo keeps turning over there's no demon can stop you as long as you keep drawing power up from the powerhouse there's no environment that can turn you around and that's the secret child of god keep the turn going keep the generator moving keep the dynamo operating keep the switch on and when you're down oh lord and somebody said that you can't get up huh let me tell you when the man years ago landed on the moon when he landed he took with him the equipment that's going to take him off of the moon when he landed he had his power that he was going to move and turn on it would blast him back up in the heavens and take him back up in the space capsule and the man can do that i'm here to tell you oh lord when i go down down down down when i go down i got the stuff with me that's going to bring me out hallelujah when i go down i don't go down by myself but i go down in jesus name and when i get out there when it looks so dark and looks so discouraging when everywhere around me they tell me you can't make it i've got to say i'm not going to let conditions uh dictate how i love god i'm not gonna let trouble decide for me how loud i'm gonna sing i'm not gonna let the environment tell me or when to praise my god i'm going to praise him when i get ready i'm going to love him when i get ready he's my god he's my mother he's my father he's my sister i'm going to praise him whenever i get ready i may be stretched out on the sick bed maybe i don't have no appetite no energy stretched out there but i will look to the hills from whence from winds amen can i preach a little bit today i'm talking about letting your environment uh dictate your aspiration letting your situation decide what you're gonna do amen so you can't look at the conditioner but get rid of the doubters and then get rid of that senior or stop running with that saying there's always talk and trouble quit calling up that chain that's always got a sad story to tell don't sit with that singer that complains about everything the choir is not singing right don't sit with that shade that has a lip hung down their mouth poked out but let me get with somebody hallelujah that's ready to praise the lord let me sit down with somebody that's ready to make a choice noise unto the lord and if i don't feel like it out if i can just sit here with them after why the spirit they have will jump on me after why the praise they have will get on me don't you let that volley take your testimony don't let that sickness stop you from saying lord i love you don't let that liar make you leave here and go out of the church of god almighty ain't no demon gonna run me out of here ain't no liar gonna run me out of here hallelujah just let me ask you what kind of saint are you amen if the liar didn't bring you in here why would you let him run you out of here what kind of saint are you why would you let a cold dead dry sing make you lose your victory jesus was the one that died for you jesus was the one that went to calvary it's his blood that wash me it's his name that's over my forehead you might as well get on out of here yourself get back out of my way get rid of the dollars i believe that god is able ah i believe that god will bring something out of nothing today hold it hold it hallelujah i know god had to give it to me hallelujah believe on god anyhow hallelujah don't let these things cover your course of action believe in god anyhow and that's my final point anyhow believe him anyhow if you can't see it just believe it if you can't feel it believe it if you can't find it believe it she's not dead she's only sleeping it's not bad as you think it is i'm gonna hold on believe i know you'll do it i made it i made it i made it oh my god i made it i may be tired but i made it i may be weak but i made it hello somehow get rid of that doubter get rid of that fault finder and say lord you came when jesus came it made everything all right listen i'm not trying to solve the world's problems i don't know the secret to the arab problem i don't have the solution to the gulf crisis but all i know in my little circle in my little spot in my corner i'm gonna brighten the corner where i am ah i don't believe an atomic bomb is going to destroy me i don't believe a scutt missile is going to find me glory clap your hands and say hallelujah get rid of that sad music get rid of that sad story get rid of that death music and that dry service and that dead choir get rid of that big prayer meeting come on come you get rid of that complaining spirit get rid of that sour attitude get rid of that indifferent spirit and come alive say lord use me lord let me shout over the rocks and the crevices make my feet like hinds feet uh get up get loose get free get rid of that sad song get away with that dry spirit get out of here doubters if you don't want to live right get out if you don't want to walk right get out and jesus he went over and took that damsel by the hand and said rise get up out of here he did not have to say i told you so they could see it but those doubters didn't see they didn't get to see the glory of god they didn't get to behold god's power in action god bless you the ministers are going to come hallelujah clap your hands say hallelujah ah clap your hands and say i made it i made it i made it oh i made it victory hallelujah thank you jesus don't get discouraged don't give up too soon don't stop too quick hallelujah don't do it um come on the choir's gonna sing if you want to be safe get up and come on to jesus

Channel: Emanuel Broadcast

Views: 945

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bishop Paul Bowers, Pastor LaVelton Daniel, GEAT1150, AllAboutSouls, Evang. Patricia Daniel, Greater Emanuel Apostolic Temple, Greater Emanuel Cincinnati, Cincinnati Churches

Id: KXHGkoz-7cQ

Length: 47min 34sec (2854 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020