Faith For Change Part 1 | Pastor Raymond Ramsey

[Music] then you know the theme for this year is defiant faith defiant faith anybody want to have faith to defy the odds that are against them everything that God has called you to do will have odds and opposition against it that God will cause you to rise above rise above it's funny if you've ever caught a plane if you've ever been on a flight then you know that there are opposing wins and there's winds crosswinds that are pushing against that plane and as the pilots taking off you can even feel it moving can't you you can feel it moving but but the plane is designed in such a way that the opposite wind is being used to propel and push the plane up into the air and so God has designed our lives that he's designed our faith journey in such a way that we learn to rise against opposition before God will remove the opposition because you need the opposition everyone say I need this you need the resistance that's coming against you because God is not just an interested in what you do he's interested in who you become right and so we know in Hebrews chapter 12 it calls Jesus the author and the finisher of your faith he is the one who began the journey and he is the one who will finish it David said you will perfect that which concerns me your mercy O Lord endures forever forsake not the work of your own hands and so what we know is that Jesus is the one who began the faith journey I'm sorry I know your grandmama was probably praying for you but she's not the reason why you're a believer because you cannot come to Christ unless God gives that to you God has to grant you the gift of repentance God has to give you the ability to see that your life is going toward hell and give you the faith to believe the message of the gospel and give you the ability to act on the message of the gospel but how many of you know that God is in your corner and he wants that ever he wants everyone to be saved and so your ability to respond is all by the grace and mercy of God and so God does not remove opposition that he needs to cause you to become more like Jesus so that you can move against the opposition the enemy has in your life but in he twelve when it talks about Jesus doing this for you it actually says that you have not yet come to blood in your fight against sin speaking of how Jesus is at his opposition of sinners against him and his fight against sin actually ended with him on a cross so let me tell you something if you think that being good is gonna help you not have enemies and it's gonna help you not have problems then let me tell you something Jesus was as good as it gets and he ended up on a cross and in the grave but the grave could not hold him because the power that was working within him God used that to raise him from the dead praise God so I want to talk to you today since we're in January I want to talk to you about faith for change faith for change now I wouldn't say I'm not sure if I was with you guys when I talked about hope was I here then I was in Dothan y'all like I've never seen you before in my life well then you're not in this conversation I talked about hope it was what's beautiful is that sooner I was in Dothan I talked about recovering and sustaining hope and how hope is the foundation of faith and I was in the office after watch night talking with my dad and a few other people and he began to talk about hope as well he said hope was something that was on his heart because you can't have faith without hope it would have nothing to substantiate and he made a comment that he's probably teaching in Dothan today but he he made a comment about how hope faith makes hope matter and using the word matter um it materialized this year a hope man I just wanted to throw my bottle off my Baba doesn't even work get this island man out of here and so as we're gonna be talking about faith we're gonna be digging into hope and and what does hope hope a basic definition is the favorable expectation of good it just means that I believe that no matter how bad things get is gonna be okay in the end you know David David in Psalm 23 he talks about the Lord being his shepherd now David had experience as a shepherd and he talked about how you know he may have been a shepherd to sheep but then as he got older it says by the integrity of his heart and the skillfulness of his hand he shepherded Israel right but he said not only he did he Shepherds sheep and people or nation she said meant God is my shepherd and he says I won't lack anything and he he makes me to lie down in green pastures he leads me beside still water he was all this good stuff and you know at least be beside still waters he restores my soul all this good stuff but somehow he ends up in the valley of the shadow of death he says let yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why he says because you are with me so David knew something about his shepherd that gave him comfort and peace even in the midst of the dark valley that he was walking through and I wonder right now do you have the same peace that David had as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death do you believe that you are safe because God is your Shepherd because he is the one who has sent you he is the one who is with you or do you believe that because things are dark that God is not present in your situation but Jesus said I will never leave you nor will I forsake you what does that mean it means that you can have hope that no matter how dark this sickness gets that if you hope in his word it's working his power into your body the Bible says that a spirit of a man can sustain his body and sickness but a broken spirit who can bear and so the enemy will oftentimes come for your spirit through your body through your sense realm evidence against you through a depression and through rejection and all manner of brokenness and relationships to try to break your spirit because he knows of your spirit is broken he can cut your assignment short but if the Lord can continue to infuse his life and his power and his word into your spirit to say listen you can keep moving forward I am with you I will never leave you nor forsake you never ever ever will I leave you and if you will hope in his word then guess what it can sustain you through anything because now your faith has something to work with it has something to materialize and when we talked about hope it's it's something really simple you know if we pray in accordance with God's Word the Bible says Jesus themself actually said that whatsoever things you desire when you pray you believe that you received them you will have them but we learn later on that these things must be in accordance with God's will so you can't go to God say you know Lord I really want you to rain fire on my enemies well you know he may not want to do that because there's someone else's enemy and he kind of you know turn a deaf ear to their prayers when you were wrong against them so he doesn't work that way right he's like well dog we got to start with you they'd you know press the red button really all right you know and then you're evaporated while you're praying because of all the wrong you've done but his grace threads across so it's a yeah he's not gonna hear that foolishness God is not a hit man are you with me but when you pray in accordance with his will what does he do he literally takes the answer God it's an eternity outside of time he's outside of the timeline of your life and he will literally drop the thing you prayed for in the future of your life and he'll now tell you to keep walking toward it now what are you seeing you're seeing a picture of the hope of what you desire it's there and now God says okay now he gives you the evidence which is your faith faith without works is dead what does that it's saying listen I believe that that thing is true and now I'm gonna work toward that thing I'm gonna abstain from certain things to get to that thing I'm gonna continue to trust God that no matter what happens and now all these things get thrown at you but your faith keeps getting bigger and bigger until you're not only able to see it and take it you're able to keep it when you get when you in that timeline meeting you know it's funny by the time God answers some prayers you didn't need him as bad as you thought you did but the time God gives you that promotion that you wanted to get so you could flex us not all people by the time you got that promotion you were so humble you were so you see what I'm saying because God was not interested in what you were too he was interested in who you would become as I said before [Applause] and so it's the it's January it's the beginning of the year and one of the things that people are thinking about now and and they're releasing their faith for now is change because we're thinking about all the stuff we give ourselves a report card of the previous year and we realized that if we wise we realize it's not that God didn't keep his word it's that we didn't keep our word we said we were going to do certain things that we didn't do it and we look and we say men last year was so bad or or there were so many things that weren't right and last year and so this year I'm gonna do this than that what do we call it New Year's resolutions everyone say New Year's resolutions right and so we said man this year I'm gonna do this this dish you got your little journal you bought a new journal right you understand I'm a journal this year last year's Journal still has you know 356 pages left little bit that's not the point you know I'm gonna I'm gonna journal this year or you start writing out your goals and you do all this stuff and here's the deal though um your New Year's resolution there's a little voice in your head that says come on now now you noticing a word what because you tried it so many times you try to so many times and it didn't work so I want to talk to you about about recovering your faith or or having faith for a change and we're going to go to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 and then I'm gonna get you guys out of here in about 22 minutes all right somebody said they don't believe that I did it yesterday in like 35 ish minutes all right here's here's what the Apostle Paul says to the church in Rome he says and so dear brothers and sisters I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you let them be a living and Holy Sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship Him don't copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think then you will learn to know God's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect and it's such a beautiful you know two verses that we've read here because oftentimes there are a lot of misnomers in that verse right and so especially toward the end where he says that she will know what God's will is for you which is good and pleasing and perfect and your King James you might have heard of the good and acceptable and perfect will of God and so people have oftentimes separated that say there's a good will of god there's accept the will of God the protocol of God you know you know God made and I've wanted this but I'm gonna do this and he's gonna accept it you know and it doesn't work that way God's will is it's good it's beneficial it's good to you it's pleasing to him it's good to everyone around it's pleasing it aligns with this will and it is perfect it is suitable it is right and so God wants you to experience his will and I think as believers that's what we're saying we want every year we don't just say we won't have a new year's resolution for ourselves we're saying god I want to walk more closely in your will I want to know what it is you want for my life why because I keep trying it my way and whenever I try to pick my own spouse this is what happens whenever I try to go to my own thing this is what happens whenever I try to you see it's hard it doesn't work the way and so now God I'm saying I want your will it's good it's pleasing and it's perfect but oftentimes we miss the foundation of that which is in verse 1 Paul is saying I plead with you brothers and sisters that you that you present your body to God and we're going to get into this in a second and so and so this year we want to make sure that we understand how change works we want to make sure that we understand how God is working in us because in these first two verses we see something here we see that the Apostle Paul is saying God didn't save you to leave you as you were that God saved you in order to change you in order to make you a new person in order to transform you everyone stay transformed and in the Greek it's the word Metamorpho o or Metamorpho and what is he saying he's saying listen he wants you to be changed not from the outside in but from the inside out and that presents a dilemma for Christians because what we try to do is we try to change people from the outside in we want you to talk this way we want you to look this way we want you to walk this way we want you to feel this way but we don't know how to tell them how to think because we've learned in this house that your thoughts affect how you feel your feelings affect your decisions your decisions affect your actions your actions affect your habits your habits determine your future but what we like to do is start from the outside if we could just get you to make an outside change why because concern if you stop walking like that it would really make us more comfortable ma'am if you stop talking like that would really you really you know it would really make us more comfortable and then you can serve in an apartment right we'll watch you Torkington praise the worship not what she said now with mom being here you're gonna be twerking to pray that's the only dance she knows she only knows how to shake it for Jesus you told her shaking with Jesus and not in the club she came and brought it in you want her out I don't know they're gonna take it outside fight just wait for us to open our face facebook live and so we're trying to change people from the outside in and totally circumventing God's process of transformation where he wants his work to cut deep and he wants us as he sends his word as we receive his word and we're gonna go out and we're gonna have experiences and as our experience has changed as we begin to see you know some of the Bible says wisdom mocks you in the day of calamity which means that if your mom says put your coat on it's cold outside you might get sick and you'd be like ain't that cold you go outside you sweat all this stuff you get sick you come home and now wisdom says aha I told you so the next time you go out mama doesn't have to tell you to put a coat on what you believe what she said the last time and that's how God does us with experience so that our mindsets can change it's not just in the sterile learning environment of the church that you're transformed it's as we give you the Word of God as we receive the Word of God and we believe it we mix it with faith in action and when we go out there what happens there are times you have faith failures and faith successes there are times when you get out there and realize you know what I really don't believe that because if I believed that I would act on it it's like saying you know I really believe that if I go out here without a coat on you look at your coat you walk out the door you don't believe it you see but that's okay because when we fall on our faces the pain of that experience wisdom pops up told you told you I imagine mine sounds like Chris Rock yeah right told you and so as that happens now God through the good the bad and the ugly is changing the way you think and over time he's the one making it happen through the power of the Holy Spirit you begin to think and speak and look and act like Jesus Christ listen God wants to change our life he wants to change our life but it's gonna take our faith my dad used to say our permission and our participation it's gonna take your faith it's gonna take you believe in God's Word it's gonna take you acting on it oftentimes we a lot of times want to change especially with our New Year's resolution in these three Arius and i want to show you they are important number one we want to change physically number two we want to change positionally and number three psychologically here's the easy way to remember it we want to be healthy wealthy and wise you guys have heard that right healthy wealthy and wise and what do I mean when it comes to us changing physically we're saying we got to get you know we got to get lose weight and feel great we got to get our bodies in shape we got to do all this stuff I remember long time ago I was up late at night because you know I was just my sleep pattern man I got to get that stuff I got to get that right I'm used to working on designs late at night and I remember being up late and you know you hit you get you got this thing that happens it's like TV turns off and it's like and all of a sudden what do you get the land of infomercials it's like when does it end does it ever end it's like a three-hour special on one thing and the point of the infomercial is to prove to you that your life is not worth living unless you buy a certain product so many strange contraptions have been purchased during the hours of I don't know midnight in three in the morning but I remember being up late at night one times probably bout maybe twelve years ago maybe about ten years ago and I was up watching this infomercial about a juicer now it minds you I ate fruits and vegetables I didn't think anything about it but man apparently I wasn't eating them right and even if I wasn't eating it I wasn't getting any nutrients and God forbid I got a blender because the blender blade would kill off the nutrients you understand what I'm saying like how was I ever alive without this juicer and I mean I just watched the blade just go I don't know if they were hypnotizing me or what was going on but I just like whoa like how have I ever lived and it's just somehow it's like magically my debit card was in my hand and and I'm paying an ungodly amount of money for this juicer because I got a live so I buy this juicer too I want to keep everyone I'm like Noah right now and I'm building an ark if you want to stay alive I mean you got to get on this juicer with me if you don't that's all you bro that's all you I'm trying to stay alive I gotta give these nutrients I remember the first time I used the juicer and like 90% of the rink was phone this is not at all would it appear to be then I started thinking about those camera angles they were added in that they were editing that I used the juicer for maybe a week and after that I forgot all about and saw it some months later as rusty looking and all that and I gave it away but a lot of times that's what it's like even were trying to make physical changes from the outside in right we're not thinking about our mindset concerning our health we're not thinking about our mindset concerning our time management and those different things physically what about wealth that has to do with us having a different position in life we want promotion we want to we want to be building a legacy we want to see ourselves in a different place than we were that has to do with the scenario or circumstances surrounding us and we're saying god we want to see a change in that and it's more than just making a plan and saying well I'm going to do this i'ma go for this no it's more than that it's saying if I don't think like a manager then I will be a manager and if I am if I be happen to become a manager but I don't think like a manager I won't be a good manager and either the employees relief or I will leave or both and so God is saying yes I have those things for you but I need you to change from the inside out I need to transform the way that you think sometimes it's not this that you don't think like the boss sometimes it's that you have a nasty attitude so you can run the ship you're just a terrible human stop nudging your wife no you're just not fun to be around right you're just not a kind person and so so where you're praying and asking God for promotion God's got people around you irritating you trying to teach you to be humble trying to teach you it's not that deep trying to teach you that just because you're going through something doesn't mean you got to take everybody else through something and whenever things aren't happening in our timing we think God is not hearing us and if we're not careful we'll think God is not real yeah I had friend recently that I was um I was messaging with the other night and he and I would go and have you know have creative conversations about business about life in about ministry and I noticed he wrote something on Facebook that was very I'm hopeless and so you know another friend said reached out said hey man reached out to so-and-so and make sure he's okay and so he would do that from time to time this time I reached out to him and I said what's going on man he said I'm not doing well and I said well what's going on he told me about you know his marriage was on the rocks and the business was not doing well and and he ended up telling me and I don't know that I believe anymore I knew what he meant but I said believe what the whole God slashed Jesus story and I asked him why not and he's beginning to go on this whole discourse and I found it interesting because my question to him was well did you ever really believe he said yes but I think it was the influence of a peer and so I said did you ever have a personal experience he said yes I said so what do you do with that and it's amazing to me when you traced a lot of people who have fallen away from the faith that rarely did they have Peachy experiences where they threw a prayer up to God and an answer to fell from the sky most of the time their life is littered with hardship with confusing circumstances with painful rejection and then that somehow what's supposed to make believers cling to God causes them to fall away from God and it goes to show that their hope was in anchored in the wrong place because Hebrews six tells us that hope is an anchor for the Soul it's supposed to keep you grounded when the when the wind is blowing against your ship hope the belief that that things will get better the belief that God is not a man that he should lie no the son of man that he should change his mind as I hope God is with me even in Dennis he is with me to deliver me he is with me to heal me then no matter how bad and gets God's got me if I'm not anchored in the right thing if I'm anchored in if I give my life to Jesus he'll give me success then my anchor will not hold I was telling them yesterday the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego as well as Daniel it is very interesting we take clips of their story like for example we talk about Daniel in the lion's den Daniel was under a new administration everyone else had been wiped away with the old king and his administration except for Daniel so everybody's there like who was this guy why y'all got it when the scripture says that his work was above reproach though unjust he was spiritual he wasn't the guy in the office with it you know you know just talking about God he actually had really good work cuz Daniel had integrity right and so this was the interesting thing about him we know the story was that the people tried to trap Daniel to get rid of him by using his faith in God and so what they said was okay we got to get the King to sign a decree that no one can pray to anyone else over the next thirty days except the king or else they'll be thrown in the Lions - and so what happened Daniel not only did he pray three times a day he opened the windows to the Ruby was it all you ought to see was about it happen right it doesn't take much for us now they changed the law or a policy and we just we hush-hush about Jesus but he understood that his anchor was connected to something he had to stay plugged in and so where did he get this from we know the story even when they threw him in the lion's den he was sustained there where the Lions suddenly lost her appetite because he continued to pray even in his trial where would it come from when they came out of exile him and his friends were were brought into the king's palace because of their noble families and they were intelligent had knowledge of science and all that so they came through a training course to serve this king the previous king and so they all went through their own individual trials what's funny about Daniels is that he was brought in with those who would interpret dreams and the King said listen you know I had a dream and I want you guys to interpret the dream no no for Daniel this couldn't have been that deep because he obviously had a spiritual background and it obviously heard the story of Joseph you know Joseph incur in interpreted injury and was promoted to be second in command over all of Egypt so he's probably thinking yeah this is gonna be great but the king this King says but I'm not listen I'm not on July what should interpret my dream I want you to tell me my dream I'm not even gonna tell you the dream to interpret it I want you to tell me but he did say pick a number between 1 and 10 he's saying listen I want you to tell me my detailed dream and then interpret it and if you don't everybody's dead Danya was not a man of great faith in power and he went back to his friends disguise I need y'all to help me please but we got to pray we got a fact we got to figure something out and so they did they pray they fasted they sought the Lord and together they got the interpretation of the dream he went back presented it and was promoted see a lot of times we're trying to check out of our crises of faith when it's the crisis of faith that brings about the answer to our prayer God is using the crisis God is using the crisis to promote you you know we we read these stories of people who you know who I was watching a Steve Harvey's story a little bit he was telling part of his story and he was just talking about some of the setbacks he went through and some of the bad things he went through and we hear these success stories success stories typically have a succession of failures in them but when we're going through we're freaking out I wonder if we can realize that this is the making of that that these successive failures are really leading to a greater success but you can't see that without hope you can't see that if you look at the the natural and what's happening now instead of having a bird's-eye view that God has the eyes of faith and so Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they have their own challenge that they had just come through they said man we're not going to defile ourself with the food that is that the king's table and so they asked permission you know can we eat our own it was something like a vegetarian type diet and consecrate it to the Lord can we do that and their boss was like man look if you guys look sick and weak and all that stuff he's gonna have my head but you know it's on you guys and they did it in at the end of that course they were actually stronger and healthier looking than everybody else and so it was always about standing up for God but they had their own crisis that came and what was their crisis they were told if you don't bow to this statue you're gonna be thrown into a furnace and they made the furnace hotter to the point where the people who increased the fire fell in and died it killed them it was so hot and so now here they are again favored like Daniel and they're in this this situation we got to make a decision we have to make a decision whether we should compromise based on sensory realm information or whether or not we should comply with what God is showing us in our hearts should we walk by faith or should we walk by sight I might come and sit here when my dad teaches this cuz I feel a he gonna break that off I just feel it and with the accident it just makes it so much sweeter all right so here's that here's the point is that they made a decision and they were vocal about it they said listen we're not gonna bow hey we gotta figure something out because this is not gonna happen what you're not gonna do is make it out of this statute but but check this out and so they're like well don't you know you'll be thrown into the fire we don't care they said God will deliver us from this fire I want you to hear this but even if he see many of us don't have that kind of faith we don't have that kind of faith and then when we do we think that no I can't the possibility of me not living that's not faith no they were still in faith it's just that their faith wasn't in their faith their faith was in God their faith was in God you know I've used this example in the past but you know a guy gets a or a gal gets this uh you know a whole entertainment set got a television got a little sound bar surround sound system and and your xbox if you you know Playstation whatever if you're a sinner you know and all this stuff gives all this stuff and then you know something plugs it into this power strip plugs into the power strip plugs it into their power strip stands back and it looks beautiful and then they turn on the power button nothing happens check the batteries in a row it's there they go into the back and realize that they've also plugged the power strip into itself and that's how it looks when we have faith in our own faith our faith in our own spirituality know God wants you to connect to the wall he wants you to connect to the source of power which is the Spirit of God that's in us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is inside of us but oftentimes our our bodies our spirit our soul excuse me are plugged into other things besides the Word of God besides the Spirit of God and so we have no power and so these guys they understood they didn't leave the place to fate they said listen man they said God will deliver us from this fire but even if he doesn't we're not gonna bow to the statue it's just not happening so guess what happens they are thrown into the fire but when they're thrown into the fire the scripture says a fourth person appeared in the fire and the king himself said he was like unto the Son of God he looked like the Son of God this is called a christophany this is a pre-incarnate christ before he's taken a human body and they see Jesus in the fire with them now what would have happened had they not gone in the fire had they not gone in the fire they would have lost their witness had they not gone to the fire they would why because they would have out but when they refused to bow and comply with the ungodly system they were thrown into circumstances that revealed God to everyone around to the point where it was undeniable that God had been with them the entire time and the scripture says that when they came out of the fire not only would they not burn their clothes were not burnt nor did their clothes smell like smoke and the whole nation including the king begin to follow their God you're trying to get a revival in your office by turning up your worship music extra loud you trying to get people saved by I will not go to that club because the Lord taught me that I can't go to that Christmas party because Jesus is good to me and I won't there's drinking ther God and wondering why no one follows you you know why because your life is so perfect and pretty and you hide all the dark stuff and you hide all of those the trials and the struggle so nobody thinks they can relate to you why don't you tell them about the abusive situation that you're currently going through oh how you're struggling in your flesh in your mind why don't you tell them about the pills you're popping for depression but how you have your open God but why you're so busy hiding your imperfection they're not able to see the handle that grace has on your life [Applause] let me tell you something I couldn't follow a Jesus who can't deal with messed up people I'm telling you right now I'm telling you right now cuz it's I'm astonished by how often I'm in a room with Christians and I'm the worst Christian there it's almost embarrassing like god I don't get it he uses the weak things of the world the foolish things of the world that confound the wise well that's me people like yeah I was on a seven-day fast for this and the Spirit of God revealed I was like what did I do the last seven days crazy maybe that's why I was eating four teeth because you were fasting just doing my my function in the body praise the Lord but we know that all of this this takes place when we have a psychological change and this is what the Apostle Paul is saying here notice he does not mention a spiritual change he says presents your body and have be transformed by the renewing of your mind but he does not make reference to your spirit because you don't need your spiritual growth it's kind let me say it like this how can I say you think you need your spirit to grow but you really don't you need your mindset to change because the Spirit of God is working within you he's always in communion your your spirit is always in communion with the father always your soul which is your mind will emotions imagination intellect is what we know of you is the you that you know I am NOT my body that's right you are your soul and your body is what you used to interact with the physical world what would you do if I started using my soul to move things around up here you'd get that here but the issue that we have oftentimes is as Jesus said the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh the body is weak the disciples wanted to pray with him before it the night before he went started his passion but what was the issue they were physically tired right they're physically tired and weren't unable to hang so didn't matter what the spirit wanted it oftentimes we we want to serve God we want to sin Romans 7 we want to please God we want it but we present our bodies everywhere else but before God in this process so what is God saying the determining factor is in the battlefield as Mariana book called battlefield of the mind it's in the battlefield of your mind it's in the it's the center row where the spirit and the flesh go to me to see who will dominate the situation and God is saying give your spirit and upper hand by submitting to the process of letting God's Word shape the way you think but it can't happen unless you choose to not be conformed to this world conformed to be to be molded from the outside in I can't tell you how many people I went to school with when I was younger you know it was a good boy Zeki you know you know and then you see them older they're ahold of you like bro you but you were raised man shut up man like oh I don't remember you being from Compton but okay I don't know maybe you are maybe I just forgot you at Christian school at that time praying in heaven down but they allowed themselves to be conformed so the enemy is always presenting options and brands for you to choose from of who you want to be do you want to be you look at all the hairstyles you want to pick you can see what kind of style you want to have who do I want to be like but he doesn't want you in the scriptures to be like Christ so that you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind can you guys handle any more of this I'm at 34 minutes now see you got me alright alright see see that person that said preach I appreciate you guys don't know if everyone else does that's usually how that happens I'm gonna blow through these these three things here are three factors and reasons why we don't change number one I like to call it the Hope factor it's because we don't have a clear mental image of what the change looks like in first John 3:3 the scripture says I want to say that's where it is it says that when we're talking about Jesus appearing it says those who have this eager expectation or hope in themselves it will purify them they purify themselves in this translation a new living it says they keep themselves pure but they King James it says those who have this hope in them purify themselves even as he is pure so oftentimes the scripture says also that we behold him as in a glass in a mirror and we were changed into the image that we see we become what we behold but if we can't see the hope if we don't have something to expect then it's very difficult for us to be transformed or to change into what we see faith has nothing to work with in Acts chapter 3 when Peter and John were going into the temple the scripture says they saw a man who was lame from birth he could not walk had never walked the day in his life and he was begging for alms and he was begging Peter and John asking them for money but what I love is that when he called out to Peter and John Peter said look on us now sir he's already looking at you man he's asking for money he's asking for money and and he says silver and gold have I none but such as I have give unto you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth arise and walk and he grabbed him and he yanked him up by his hand and the scripture says that when he yanked him up immediately his ankles were strengthened and he walked for the first time in his life but here's the thing is that before he prayed for him he created an expectation in him it'd be like someone it'd be like me saying you know I'm past it over here Brown it'd be like me saying you go my pastor elder Felder's tell the brown it'd be like me saying to you you know man can I get twenty dollars and you say may come follow me into the office now I'm expecting look he told me to follow these that following office you've we've had this happen haven't we where someone says yeah follow me I got you and they get stopped a million times and stuff have it but you still follow why because you're expecting something didn't I get in the office says man got 20 bucks but I got a hand to pray for you I'd be like man trying to hear all that lay your hands on my gas tank but the first reason why we don't change is because of the Hope factor we don't have a clear picture of where we're doing listen you got to have an image of what it is that you want to change into the second thing is called the how factor a lot of times we don't realize how to change because we have not learned how we change some change is instant the most change is gradual and this can really play with your mind as a believer because you gave your life to Jesus and something fell off instantly however my dad used to talk about how you know he was addicted all these drugs and when he got saved the drug addiction he just was gone but but smoking cigarettes was not going see other struggles and how many guys can attest to this you have some things that just went away but other things they still not gone if in 20 years you're still you still smooth you stood still lying right you know you end up in a crisis you open your toolbox you'd be like truth or Alive this is my cocktail right here you know so so God is still working in us this description that says that he sanctifies then he is sanctifying them that are sanctified so we're set apart but man he's still setting apart your finances to him you're still having you to set apart different parts to him because we're because goddess is literally translating us into his kingdom he's literally downloading us into his kingdom are uploading us into his kingdom right and it's a process everyone say process we've got to understand that you know I have two children and I remember my daughter London is now five - she's five - and she's 10 years old and so the funny thing is is them I think she's actually probably taller than Lady Kay it's funny though because she just shut up it's like you see her one day a little baby you turn your back and you look and you're like whoa wait a minute Yeah right and so but here's the thing it's not that it happened instantly it's that it was a process and we check in and check out of that process often times and then what happens we notice growth but I doubt my daughter every day was like just grow just grow you can you imagine walking outside and hearing the grass thing you know you got trees just trying to branch out an apple tree man this is my hustle man my hustles I could just grind and get these apples out no they're producing fruit and that's why it's called the fruit of the Spirit and not the building of the Spirit the structure of the spirit that can pop up in you because the fruit of the Spirit is love joy me meekness patience here's the thing is that you got some fruit that small and some fruit that's big on a tree you got some branches that have fruit on it some that don't yet and so God is perfectly okay with this and then it seems like the winter comes and all the fruits gone what in the world just happened but it begins to produce a gang and so God wants us to understand how we grow so that we're not frustrated and impatient with his process because some things we want God to Mike he is wants to develop over time he wants it to simmer and he wants to marinate it there's some things you want in God and throw on the grill right now and he's saying I'm not putting it on the grill right now cuz I need to get this marinate in there deep I need to get the suffering in you deep right now I need you to really really be rolled around in that rejection a little bit so you can know what it feels like so when I put you in a position of power where you can reject others from a position or whatever now you do it with grace that's why the scripture says that your word would be seasoned with salt and full of grace because if you've never been rejected then you don't know how it feels when someone rejects you see King Saul was the first King in Israel the only example he had were outside Kings so he comes in the kingdoms drop in his lap but what happens he comes in he has no regard for the things of God he doesn't care what the Ark of God is he's just doing his thing and he loses the kingdom as an adult but God as my dad but I say you fired him and left him on the job why he was keeping the seat warm for David who was a boy and what are you seeing David's life nothing but process he's a shepherd he's a he's a musician he's fighting battles he's a warlord of Israel he's moves into the palace he gets married he ends up leaving the palace he's in the wilderness he's with the Philistines he's here and there he's everywhere his process was so that when he became King anything he'd do to disobey God would hurt anything he'd do to hurt a person he would feel it even if he didn't feel it right there and so when he got out of bounds with Bathsheba go and read your Bibles when he got out of bounds and started doing reckless stuff God was able to reset him like a typewriter why was God able to do that because all God had to do was bring Nathan to him we need for his light Nathan we need homeboys a whole girls light like Nathan man Nathan was able to come in and say it King man this is probably like a year later it's David's kind of just sitting there you know he's he's finally safe in his in his sin and he's finally calmed they didn't have no social media no one's outing him and stuff what happens anything comes up mrs. Mann King he would not believe it man this rich guy has all this flocks and all this stuff and you know some guests came to his house and instead of taking one of his own animals and killing it for food he goes and finds his poor family all the guys one little airman he goes and takes that one little lamb and goes and kills it and gives it to his man he said what should happen his person Davis said that man deserves to die and Nathan says this is what the Lord says you're the man you're the man and then he goes but here's what else God is saying to you King he says I've given you everything if you wanted more all you had to do was ask what did God do he appealed to him on the basis of relationship a relationship they had established through the process and if you don't understand how God is trying to get you to grow and to change then you'll be frustrated when your changes are an instant and when you try to make instant changes from the outside in and they don't stick so the first factor that we don't change is the Hope factor the second is the how factor and the third is the hardship factor and this is super simple you go to the gym you work out a few times you're hurt you go home and you never go back you guys know Charles Butler right you know him by his beard or as muscles or guitar I don't know he seems he you know muscular guy beard you're feisty here you know but he plays the guitar and sings like sweet Jesus that 12 years old of the temple with you know I don't know it seems like an angel it gets on my nerves my God knew not to give me that gift but you know it's funny the muscles aren't a gift that's a that's a result of process and work so every day you know we're in Atlanta he'll go man come on man come with me to the gym man I'm right now I'm good you know I'm gonna hit a couple people they'll go to the gym and then we'll all go eat afterwards stay up there for the food I'm supportive it's just to work it out far I you know I'm like man I'm gonna get on that looking on and what I begin to notice is that every time we go sit down to eat many these guys are getting bigger you know what I'm saying I'm looking I'm like a little tweak right now y'all get like a baby right now you know but what is it it's that I didn't want the pain associated with the process of working out I was too comfortable and relaxed and I don't feel like it so when he's walking out his chest is sitting up and has a chest on top of his chest and others I can't be mad and I'll say this like I told it pastor whose church was shrinking and he was wanting to scale his vision down and I told him don't scale your vision down and he was talking with just the pain of what he was going through I said you have to change your relationship to pain you have to change the way you see pain the same pain that keeps someone out of the gym is the same pain that keeps someone coming back to the gym because they understand that their games are connected to their pain they want to feel the burn they want that pump right and as we change the way we think about hardship then it will begin to work for us rather than keep us out of what God has for us I'm gonna in here so how is it that weird to approach change in this season here's how number one we must understand first that most change is sovereign your process is sovereign God himself has set certain things in motion that you are not going to be able to get out of so understanding this will help me to understand how I am to grow and change throughout the process there's some changes that God wants I'm not making my daughter grow to a certain height she's doing it on her own I'm not making in fact she's not even in control of that it's something that God wrote on her DNA and that's why you can have two children and they have two different personalities two different genders two different everything one can beat all the other can be sure one can have long hair the other way what why does it happen they're in the same house but why are they so different because God is the one who picks and chooses for mogera this from the grandfather over here I grabbed this from the the aunt over here I'm gonna do this okay they don't have this in their family line I'm gonna get this from friends over here so they got to go to this school over here to learn this and they got to go to God is the one picking and choosing sovereignly what will happen and how you'll grow into who you'll be and there's some changes that although their sovereign there's a struggle attached to them why because there's some changes that God wants to make that he cannot make on his own it will not be the product of environment it will be the product of your work it'll be the product of you growing in the direction intentionally that God wants you to grow in and that's why I don't open up the Bible and the pages jump into my brain right I've got to read it I've got to hear it I've got to learn it there are times that Jesus said things to them and the whole crowd was like oh that's a good word you know and then the disciples came and said what are you even talking about and he was like good because he knew that no one else understood it he said it wasn't given to them to understand these principles of the kingdom but to you it has been given he was waiting to see who not only was willing to hear it but was willing to try to get an understanding and they grew because they had a search about them so I've got to understand that though although growth is sovereign oftentimes there's a struggle associated with it so what is my responsibility in the growth process and the change process and my responsibility is to stay connected to the process stay connected to the process Jesus said he's the vine where the branches man if we're connected to him we're gonna bear fruit but what happens if we're disconnected what happens if I I cancel my gym membership what happens if I disconnect from from school I cancel that will I end up with a degree you can't be asking God for stuff you're not willing to pay for your job it's like saying you know we'll quote this when we talk about you know who those who the Lord is laying on your heart to get connected to the church well I join the Church of just versus attending it because whenever I make a conscious commitment to something I can hold it accountable it can hold me accountable and it's just like where we grab hands there's a life that's flowing through you that's not flowing through you if you're just sitting on dating the church it's the same thing with relationships when you're married is that there's a difference you can live together and have kids together and pay bills together it's still not the same as getting down in the soil and being connected because you know and then if either of us walks away it's either gonna be dead or it's gonna be a lot of legal challenges that's how I committed I am to it is what you're saying and so so David says those who are plants to the house of the Lord will flourish in the course of their God and God is just saying we're in a generation that does not believe in commitment anymore but just because our generation doesn't believe in commitment doesn't mean God's Word changes for us and so he's saying if you're gonna experience certain growth and certain change you've got to get your roots down in the soil and you've got to make a commitment say make a commitment look at someone next you say make a commitment dating Jesus and hoping that if I just maybe if I read a few verses are being around a few Christian people I'll understand you Jesus told that Jesus told Nicodemus this he said listen he said unless you are born of the Spirit unless you were born again you are not only not enter the kingdom he said you won't even see it which means that there's a whole kingdom operating a whole system operating that you cannot see with the natural eyes but when you're born of water which is naturally end of the Spirit when you make a commitment to Jesus and the Spirit of God comes inside of you he opens your spiritual eyes that you begin to see that means that even when you go through hardship you're able to see the kingdom of God growing you up and that's why I asked my friend did you ever truly believe because it has an opposite effect when the Spirit of God lives in you then no matter what happens you can't shake that hope even if you start talking crazy the prophets all of them had times where they wanted to die Elisha did and God put him to sleep he woke up an angel had made food for him said told him eat the food and put him back to sleep did it a couple of times and said you need strength for the journey ahead Jeremiah was having a fit he had lost hope Ben I'm tired of this I entered this thing being obedient and nothing has worked out anybody ever been there nothing's worked out in fact people want me dead I'm done and you know what God said to him nothing God let him have his moment and then Jeremih sitting there and he says but his word was in me like fire shut up in my bones and I could not stay see when God's Word is working in you that's why he's putting his word in you that's why he's saying come to church and hear the word of God turn off the music for a second and pin and put on some Scripture put on some preaching quad he's saying because for the seasons when you can't see any light and you want to give up his words need to be in your bones and his word alone will propel you out of where you are and say stay in the fight stay in the process you got to stay connected and what does that look like it means keep showing up keep showing up keep showing up keep showing up because as you're showing up God is growing you up and you're gonna find and there are things that used to terrify me when I was a child that don't concern me at all now I used to be so scared of storms now I remember being in Delaware I was working and it seemed like every time I left town there was some crazy storm that would hit Dothan and my daughter faced Tommy one time they were the lights were out she was at my sister's house they were in the hallway she's like daddy the storm is coming because she's describing how bad this storm is and she's I hated that my daughter was in this storm and I said London remember that time we lived in Indiana me without really bad storms yeah I said did you die in that she said no no sir I said what about that other storm that happened at this time I'm the one over there remember that time that hurricane came by did you die in a storm she laughs no sir I said I'm 30-something years old I'll be 35 next month I told her I said London I have been through a lot of storms you know it's crazy none of them have killed me this doesn't mean no one experiences death or nothing is to happen to anybody else I'm just telling from my personal experience it hasn't happened to me so the likelihood that this storm is gonna kill you is very low more than likely what was I doing I was stirring up her hope saying stay connected to that one day you're gonna be okay and you know it's crazy got testimony time guys nothing happened to her she didn't die still got my dog praise God I want to encourage you today stay connected to the process don't think of 2020 as the time that you're going to set all these resolutions and then you're going to accomplish this in this year you just going throw all that away but say these are the things I'm growing toward find the process the picture of hope and go toward that and understand that this whole thing is a process that will take you into 2025 Lord willing and then also understand that out of 10 things you pick seven of those things may not be God's will and God may take you a completely different direction but trust this that what God has for you is 90 million times better than what you have for yourself because your hope is anchored in God I want to pray for you got your heads did you guys receive that word today praise God praise God bow your heads and close your eyes thank you Jesus thank you so much for your word I've got to get you out of your father thank you for everyone under the sound of my voice those who are watching my stream thank you for your abundant mercy and grace toward us you constantly put up with us you constantly are riding our wrongs you're constantly balancing us and and forgiving us you've cleansed us and and lord help us to stay connected to that because the enemy comes with all sorts of condemnation and because of the past times that we failed and let go but Lord we thank you that you're always telling us to to stay connected you're always telling us to show up again because Lord you never leave us nor will you forsake us for those here today Lord who have never come to know you I pray that this would be the day that they come to be born again that they are changed from the inside out that their hope is not anchored in the Jesus of culture who meets all your needs but the Jesus of Heaven who gives you life and gives you heaven and corrects you and strengthens you I pray that they come to know you today for those who have fallen away whose hearts have grown call toward you and maybe you said there with their lips they honor you but their heart is far from you I pray Lord that you are married to the backslider today have them to come home have them to come home in those Lord who have been maybe dating the church or this is their first time and and they just sense a connection like I'm supposed to be here I'm supposed to be a part of this Lord let them come to be accounted for Lord so that we can count on them and they can count on us and we can build this family of yours and more than anything Lord steal your words or our hearts steal your word to our hearts that no matter what we go through when we leave this place that we're able to be effective witnesses to you we're not gonna be able to test the five your goodness in your mercy your verses taste and see that the Lord is good we say you're a good guy we thank you for it in Jesus name with your heads bowed eyes closed - if you're here today and you say I've never been born again I've never been born again I've never made Jesus the Lord of my life maybe you said he was just Savior you might have recited for it but you know when your heart nothing transformed nothing changed Jesus is not living on the inside of you listen don't walk out of church missing the point Jesus is the point his grace and mercy is the point salvation is the point and don't think it'll come to you later it doesn't always happen tomorrow's not promised in the scripture says today is the day of salvation if that's you and you want to receive Jesus we want to pray with you will you raise your hand right now where you're sitting just raise your hand and say Jesus this work I see your hand is anyone else this is Jesus I see your hand I see your hand Jesus is working in my heart Jesus is pricking my heart he said I stand at the door and knock if anyone will open the door I'll come in and we'll eat together and God said I want to reveal my reality to you but so many times were disillusioned by cultural Christianity and not the real thing your hands down is the second invitation if you fell into the second category and say you know I'm I have a relationship with God but I've fallen out of fellowship with him I'm backslidden my heart has grown cold the scripture says those who when a person's overtaken in a fault you who are spiritual who can see with spiritual eyes and not just a natural you restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering yourselves lest you also be tempted in other words we have a responsibility to you if you are overtaken if your heart is growing cold to make sure our brother or our sister is back restore with the father if you're here and you say I want to recommit my life to Jesus I need to help would you pray with me would you raise your hand would you raise your hand right now where you're sitting I see your hand is else that says I see your hand hands are going up all around where people are saying listen don't wait to think okay well once I get this right in that right you know how this works don't don't listen you have no allegiances to anybody but God at this point so don't think well well let me go make sure I can you know fix this relationship or break this off and do no right now it's you and Jesus he'll give you the wisdom that you need but you can't plug it into yourself thinking that you're gonna have power you got to plug it into his grace if you're here in the third and final invitation and you say you know what I'm here at safe harbor and there's something in my heart that says I'm supposed to set down roots here I'm supposed to be connected here there's a life that's flowing beneath the surface of this place that you will never experience until you make that commitment but if that's you and you say I believe I'm supposed to be a part of this would you raise your hand to so we can account for and pray for you as well if you say you know I believe I'm supposed to I see your hand I see your hand I see your hand I see your hand and says I'm supposed to be a part of this congregation praise God give them a big hand give them a big hand everyone looking up so the scripture says this Jesus himself said that whenever one sinner repents whenever one sinner turns all of heaven breaks out in rejoicing and so when we rejoice here which is reflecting what heaven does because Jesus said that it would be on earth as it is in heaven if we pray that down and so we're saying listen we want it to be this great celebration you know why because the next time it could be us anybody ever been in that place before I have I've been in ministry have been like Lord should I answer my own altar call right now soon and it takes a great deal of humility to acknowledge the invisible work that God is doing in your heart we're going to do this very quickly because we have some people who want to pray for you everyone we're gonna stand to our feet we're not ask you to come forward and you're gonna stand right here you we're not gonna say I'm have you say anything if you guys do that here okay good if you raised your hand for any of those invitations which you come here I want to shake your head I want to pray for you and then we're going to sit and you're not going to turn around testify preach freestyle rap show us the new dance nothing we just want you to come and face me I want to say some words to you pray for you and then we're going to send you with someone to be ministered to would you give the hands they come forward [Music]

Channel: Pastor Hart Ramsey

Views: 1,550

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: imfKL4WNvOc

Length: 62min 41sec (3761 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 22 2020