Dr. Carlton P. Byrd, Count Your Blessings

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] first getting 17 and we're going to verse number seven first King 17 in verse number seven first King 17 and verse number seven the Word of God says in first Kings chapter 17 verse number seven and it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land and the word of the Lord came unto him saying arise talking like get bee to Zarephath which belonged to Sidon and dwell there behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee sorry rose and went to Zarephath and when he came to the gate of the city behold the woman widow woman was there gathering of sticks and he called her and said fetch me I pray thee a little water in a vessel that I may drink and as she was going to fetch it he called her and said bring me I pray thee a morsel of bread in thine hand and she said as the Lord thy God liveth I have not ate cake but I only have a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in the cruise aboard I am gathering two sticks then I may go in address it for me and my son that we may eat it and die Nigel said unto her fear not go and do as thou has said but make me there of a little cake first and bring it unto me and after make for thee and for thy son but I'll say the Lord God of Israel the barrold meal so not waste neither shall the cruse of the oil fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth and she went and did according to the saying of Elisha and she and he and her house did eat many days and the barrel of meal wasted not neither did the cruse of oil fail according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah I think today in harmony with the season I believe this is appropriate count your blessings father god bless us now speak for your servants here with hot behind your cross and Lord of the appeal time move forgive me of my sins make your work plain in Jesus name Amen count your blessings in my ministry I preached a lot about suffering and making it through because maybe it's the evangelistic side of me or maybe it's because of what my wife and I and our family have gone through I don't know but I do know that just like a lot of people in the world are hurting there are a lot of people in the church that are hurting and so a lot of my ministry has been to giving hope to people and offering them a healing word in a hurting world do I have a witness in this place the reason why I do this is because I know that life is rough and tough I know sermonic content dr. Samson is important I am fully aware and understand that the Greek and Hebrew they are necessary I know a command of the King's English is a must but I also know that after a long hard week on the job a hard week at school a hard week at home there are some people who come to church that need a word to help them make it through because life is tough I don't care how many times you've read the Bible through I don't care how many times you studied the Sabbath School lesson I don't care how long you've been in the church I don't care how long you've sung in the choir assured or serve dinner after church I don't care how holy you think you are you're still gonna have to deal with life you're still gonna have to deal with tests and trials roles and sufferings marital problems kid problems parent problems dog problems cat problems job problems and all kinds of problems its life and it's not always a demon it's not always a force from hell sometimes is just life mama dies daddy dies child gets in a car wreck you get laid off things just happen it's like everything is not demonic some things are just life the Bible says and I said all the time that the rain must fall on the just and the unjust so I don't care how good you are how just you are it's gonna rain sometimes because as we always say bad things can happen to good people and then I want to throw this in be careful in this light who you listen to because sometimes your friends and even church folk can always tell you why you're going through something they can tell you everything or why you're going through what you're going through but they can't explain why they're going through what they're going through but the rain falls on the just and the unjust sometimes some things just happen to you I'd love to be able to stand here on the Sabbath and tell you that if you serve God if you get baptized if you take communion if you tide if you give offering if you come to church you won't go through anything I love to tell you that but that would be alive from the pits of hell that's not life that's not real Ellen White says the best in ministry of healing she says that even those things which appear to be against us may work out for our good because God would not ask us to be thankful for that which would harm us count your blessings I was reading a story this week Friday the 13th 1972 Uruguayan Air Force plane was carrying a college rugby team to play a match in Chile while flying over the Andes Mountains the pilot reported his location to the air traffic controllers and he was cleared to begin his descent into Chile but due to cloud cover do the head win miscalculations the descent was initiated too soon as a result the plane crashed on an unnamed peak named near Argentina twelve people died in the crash the survivors however had to withstand hunger the fearful mountains 30 below zero degree weather most of the survivors lost hope when they heard over the radio that the search for them had ceased eventually two of those soul fibers decided to cross the huge mountains to reach Chile but the story says that on December the 22nd 1972 after being isolated for 72 days the world found out that there were 16 survivors that beat death in the Andes Mountains these 16 people survived seemingly impossible circumstances and so today I know that there are some people who are here who are facing what appears to be impossible circumstances you may seem like you're facing a situation that there is no hope you look at you at your situation and you feel there's no way out when you examine your options you just don't know how you're gonna survive but I want to encourage somebody today when we look to the Word of God we find in there is hope when things seem hopeless things may be impossible and appear to be impossible but with God all things are possible when we are powerless we must remember that we serve one who is all-powerful when we don't know what the future holds praise God we know who holds the future and in spite of our circumstances and problems I've gotta count my blessings I've gotta count my blessings and consider the source of my blessings I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help my out comes from the Lord who made heaven earth in this text and I won't be long we read about a woman who finds herself in a difficult situation at this point in her life it would have been easier for this lady to give up and get discouraged because here she is widowed broke no job her son is hungry and she's looking at the last meal that they have they're victims of a widespread family there was no place to go and nothing to do about their situation they were about to starve to death but she would take her little pot of flour and a little bit of oil that she had left gather some sticks make a cake eat this final meal with our son and then she was gonna lay down and die no food no husband no job no hope now while this would be tragic for many of us today how much more was a tragic in biblical times because in those days women received no pain they couldn't get jobs they couldn't find work in those days there was no Social Security if your spouse died you did not get a benefit are you hearing what I'm saying when a woman's husband died husbands died it was the law of the day that the oldest son would provide for the mother's care but this little boy of this woman was a lad he wasn't grown he was not married so all of her means of support were then gone this is why the Bible says we have a responsibility to take care of the widows do I have a witness in his place this woman's future was bleak death was imminent what would you be thinking if this were you what would you say to your son and then here comes somebody you don't know who comes in your house and asks for a drink of water now the woman's response to Elijah amazes me why because she steps out of her own suffering to provide for a man she doesn't even know with something to drink now Elijah takes the requests further he asks the woman to bring him some bread with the water now remember she's down to her last barrel of meal last bit of oil last bit of flour the woman could have gone off of him and said you're a man I'm a woman I have nothing left there's a famine in the land and you're asking me for my last meal but she doesn't go off on him the Bible says she just says all the widow's are dying and we're gonna eat this bread and then we don't just go on and die too but God but God God specializes in those things that seemed impossible but notice in the text God doesn't stop the family because if God would have stopped the famine it would mean that God can only help me when things get better so the Prophet says I'm going to keep you in the midst of the famine the lady says but all I have is a handful of meal the Prophet says but your meal barrel will not run out but notice the Prophet didn't say it would run over either it didn't run over but it just the Bible says didn't run out he says she says well I just got a handful he says we'll treat that handful and bake me a cake first she said preacher this is no time for an offering we're about to die he said but I have to stretch you out of your comfort zone because if you do what you've always done you always be bringing always fit he said I'm not gonna even ask you to give me everything I'm just asked you to get your priorities straight baked me a little cake first not math but first so she baked the Prophet cake gave it to the man of God first and throughout the entire family the Bible says her meal barrel never ran out the entire famine I said her meal barrel never ran out she was always barely making it but she was making it yacht earlier and I'm saying oh she knew was that whenever she needed a handful she had it is there somebody in this place that notices that no matter how tough things my gifts how are things might get it might only be a handful there might be no seconds left none extra but just when you need it God has a way I wish I had a Church of this place today God has a way of giving you just a handful are there any handful people in this place is there anybody in this place that just when you needed it God gave it to you just when you need it that little check in the mail God gave it to you just when you needed to get financially cleared on your child financially clear God gave it to you are there anybody is there anybody in here who can count their blessings you may not have enough or more than where to be but God gives you just enough you may not have what you want but God gives you what you need count your blessings not your problems sometimes we read the Bible with such cavalier feeling I think we forget the Bible characters were real these were real people they had hopes they had dreams they believed and they doubted they they felt jory but they also experienced despair they suffered real pain they didn't know what was gonna happen next just like many of us we don't know what's gonna happen next we don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow or next week or next year this woman did not know what was gonna happen next she didn't know that God had already chosen her to be part of something more wonderful than anything her broken heart could ever imagine the woman did not know that God had chosen this weak broken lady to be a part of something that would influence people of faith through eternity that God had chosen not only to give her life but to declare through her life that he is the resurrection and the life if you're going through a storm right now if you're going through a challenge right now if you're walking through a deep dark Valley right now if you've got a problem in your life right now I dare you to look and see through this woman's story just how you can survive we have no guarantee that if we live for the Lord he will remove our trouble we are not promised that if we live for Christ that he won't guarantee as trouble in fact there is biblical proof that we often suffer because of our stand for the Lord but notice friends if you do live for him I'm a witness he will protect you in your storm in your valley and your problems God will protect you God will keep you he will keep you in perfect peace when your mind is stayed on fret not thyself because of evildoers neither be not envious of the workers of iniquity because God will cut them down like the grass God will protect you you may be tempted to turn from the Lord but don't do that don't do that no way no matter what you're facing if you desire to survive your circumstances trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths you got to count your blessings and not your problems but we talked about the woman but let's talk about brother naman you do remember named captain of the Syrian army the Bible says the mainland's day everyone who contracted leprosy died naman had leprosy but the Bible says naman recovered if mainland would have looked at everybody else who had leprosy he would have died just because everybody else with leprosy was dying but the Lord told me to tell somebody today that if you could keep looking at everybody else you'll die because everybody else is dying but the Bible says in Psalm 91 he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty save the Lord he is my refuge my fortress my god in him when I trust now let me be clear today I'm not saying you won't go through trouble I'm not saying you won't be tested I'm not even saying today that everything you have won't be shaken because I have learned in my life I have learned in my ministry that because sometimes God will shake some stuff in your life to make you pray sometimes God will shake you so you don't trust in money sometimes God will shake stuff in your life so you find out who your real friends are sometimes God will shake stuff so you will get your focus back on what really matters in life sometimes I've learned this God will shake stuff because he's not really after you but he's after somebody in your house sometimes he has to shake your stuff to get their attention I wish I had a witness in this place and I don't know how you'll handle it but what I do know is you can trust God I do know you've got to count your blessings name them one by one - oh that meant all the maintenance out there you don't have to die everything you lost everything everything you lost God will give it back to you I wish I had some worshipers in here today let me try to say it this way because I think if somebody would have shout it right there but maybe I'm assuming you know something that you really don't know leprosy was the kind of disease that started out as a spot on the body but then leprosy would begin to eat up the body until after a while the flesh would begin to rot and when you are a leper you know you're a leopard because your fingers start to come off your toes start to come off and after a while your arm will come all because leprosy dismembers the body but it wasn't just that God stopped naimans leprosy because even if God stopped it he still doesn't have get back what the leprosy took from him but the Bible doesn't say that layman would naman was healed and didn't recover because you can be healed and not recover are you hearing what I'm saying but the Bible says that naman was healed and he recovered so everything that fell off everything that came aloose was recovered somebody ought to praise Him right there God's not only gonna heal you but you're gonna recover everything you've lost God's not only going to heal you but God's gonna restore everything that the devil tried to take away your merits recovers your children recovers your money recover your health recover my recover God's gonna give you everything back what the devil took from you you do remember Joel Satan told the Lord job is only serving you because you're rich job has a good name everybody likes joe job's children are well-spoken they are attractive people his wife's a good-looking woman he's all that but Satan said if you remove the hedges that should have around him I'll make him curse you to your face because the devil thought job's faith was in job stuff so God says I'll remove the hedge from around his cattle around his wealth and around his stuff but you can't touch his life because God knew job's faith was not in what Joe possessed but job's faith was in the God that possessed him so the enemy starts to shake everything that could have been shaken in jobs life his family his wife his children his money his oxen but the that mattered most could not be shaken job's faith his trust in God could not be shaken why because we sing that hymn on Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand can you then imagine the devil talking to his ears what's that noise I hear over there is Joe praising God didn't I tell y'all to mess with his stuff we did not tell you to burn his crops we did did not tell you to mess with his children we did did not tell you to mess with his wife we did didn't I tell you to mess up his reputation we did and you mean to tell me he's still praising let me tell y'all something God has seen enough of us shouting because we got the suit on sale God has seen enough of us shouting because we drove a new car off the parking lot but God wants to see somebody somebody praising him through the storm through rain through sickness through pain through the wildfires through famine where you able to say Lord I know you haven't brought me this far to leave me because I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually in month now somebody needs to praise Him right because in spite of every test it's part of every storm god look back over this year look at how many times you thought you were [Applause] [Applause] what the care grass Saturday shop count your blessings I'm done let me take this off I'm better sit down but I've learned my wife reminded me today say you can oh you know that I've learned you gotta be around folk who've been through something cuz they ever they say to you I made it I got sick but I made it I had surgery but I made it I had cancer but I made it they put me in Hospice the doctor said there was nothing else he can do but I've made it I lost my job but I made it I lost my car but I made it I lost my house but I made it he left me but I made it she left me but I made it I was talked about but I made it I was criticized but I made it I was in trouble but I made it name the one by one count your blessings see what the Lord has done I've had some good days I've had some heels to play I've had some we read a map has sleepy and sleepless nights but when I got Mick around and I beat people good day outweigh my bad days and I complain [Music] [Music] from the complaint counter come to the claim window count your blessings you may not have a lot of flour you may not have a lot of oil but God will give you just enough that's you won't run out scouts blesses and you some have flown at least you have count your blessings thank you very much for tuning in to this week's breath of life broadcast we hope and pray that you've been blessed by dr. Byrd inspirational message if you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety please feel free to visit us at WWF of life TV or call us at two five six nine two nine six four six zero [Applause]

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Keywords: Seventh-day Adventist, SDA, Adventist, Byrd, Breath, Breath of Life, Religious, TV, preaching, sermon

Id: GypDwrI2vYY

Length: 27min 29sec (1649 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 24 2019