FBCG Virtual Watch Night Service 12-31-2020

[Music] and we give you all of the praise we bless you we magnify you we glorify you we lift you up and not only that but we lift up your name because your name is above every name there's power in your name there's deliverance in your name that's healing in your name and there's authority in your name because at the name of jesus every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that jesus is [Music] here we go [Music] [Music] everybody [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's no name greater than you you're the name above our names [Music] you are so [Music] [Applause] and that when we call your name things begin to happen [Music] listening [Music] jesus [Music] is what are we talking about yes it is [Music] psalms 100 says make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye lands serve the lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing listen know that the lord he is god it is he who has made us and not we ourselves we are his people and the sheep of his pastor the next part [Music] come on [Music] and he will clap your hands come on [Music] [Applause] come on [Music] [Music] [Music] mercy and do it you saying forever praise the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him for his mighty acts and his excellent greatness praising what the tribulation and organs let everything to have breathe [Applause] [Music] now listen we're gonna teach you a little chat here we go everybody say pray the lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] come on clap your hands come on come on clap your hands come on come on [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] because you paid an awesome price with the ultimate sacrifice lord i give my life my will to you i give i surrender my all to you please accept my lord i give you my heart every man woman boy and girl if you know that god has been good to you and you know that he's been merciful come on say it please accept my offerings [Music] you pay the price so i can be set [Music] wherever you are join in [Music] come on [Music] [Music] everybody who's ready to make that commitment to the lord today if you're ready to be sold out to him and only him help us out lift your hands towards heaven and tell them [Music] here we go come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] thank you jesus [Music] me [Music] it was on that glorious palm sunday as jesus proceeded towards the mount of olives i heard the multitudes that were there together sing a song and it sounded like this [Music] for you are the son of god again come on [Music] the next part says after we rejoice [Music] [Music] come on and put your hands together and help us sing this song we want to take it a little higher for you are the son of god [Music] as jesus got a little closer to the mountain i saw a group of ladies from a little corral and this is what they said [Music] come on [Music] let there be peace [Music] but you are the son of god [Music] so if you don't mind help us sing this song come on [Music] uh [Music] for the last time listen as we rejoice [Music] everybody [Music] all things are passed away and behold all things become new so i gotta forget about those things that happened in my past because i'm pressing towards that mark all i'm trying to say is that there's a new beginning and it's taking place within me [Music] god is changing me [Music] and god is changing me and it's happening right now [Music] jesus so this is what we gotta do y'all [Music] god is changing me [Music] here we go here we go [Music] shut up [Music] i don't live the same way you may ask me why because i got this y'all this is what i [Music] [Applause] [Music] got [Music] is happening [Music] [Applause] [Music] now this part is for those who really believe something is happening for those who expect something great from the lord for those who are expecting something new from god let's declare when it's going to happen let's tell the world that it's happening right now [Music] he's amen let church say amen amen i want to say good evening to you and uh thank you all so much for joining us here at our watch night celebration here at first baptist on gresham road god has brought us to the last day of 2020 and god god knows it's certainly been a an interesting year we've seen so many things this year you know it's been absolutely amazing uh but god has has been faithful as he always is and he's brought us from a long way so again i want to say good evening to you and welcome to our watch night celebration here first baptist on gresham and uh this is a virtual amen first time we've done this in uh ever this makes history first time we've had a virtual service and uh we're grateful i want to make sure everyone everyone is safe uh i do encourage you i know you're gonna probably watch service and be tempted to go out there and mingle with everybody else please i'm just going to ask you as a pastor and as your brother in christ please be very careful be very safe if you decide to go outside tonight please make sure you're careful and very safe uh because they're you know this virus is still floating around and uh we don't want anyone to be placed in any danger amen amen let church say amen amen again thank you so much uh whether you're watching via facebook or youtube or instagram and to all of our family who are fam and friends who may be watching from anywhere around the world thank you so much for joining us here at uh first baptist on gretchen road how grateful god we are glad to have our musicians here with us uh tonight uh amen got a good number of our band members we're grateful to have them uh also on the leadership of brother jimmy aaron owens we have our praise ensemble here tonight and i'm excited about that amen they uh they are certainly a blessing so we look forward to hearing them and i also want to thank our media ministry thank you to uh brother brenton hayes thank you brother james jones thank you norman thomas iii as well thank you all so very much for everything that you do each and every week amen that church say amen amen all right well we have a slightly different format tonight so please listen very carefully what we're going to do our praise ensemble is going to come and they're going to sing a couple of selections amen get us excited and praising god and then we will have our testimonials amen i want to thank our members and friends who uh shared their testimonies thank you for sending those videos in and allowing us to include that as a part of our testimonial part tonight of service tonight then our praise ensemble will come back with another song and then we'll have our message and we'll bring the new year in together as a church family let the church say amen [Music] so [Music] [Music] i i am [Music] victory my name is victory come on help us sing it today [Music] [Music] [Music] victory my name is [Music] although i've already won heroes [Music] [Music] [Music] my name is victory [Music] [Music] my name [Music] it is victory [Music] i know victory and i know who i [Music] who i am [Music] i know who i am hey first baptist family uh as pastor thomas i was just just grateful first of all happy new year and we're heading into the new year but i want to wish everyone a happy new year sitting here with my dad uh deacon thomas and uh since this is flipgrid it's something totally different it's new to me too um i want to make sure that he's able to record uh his testimony so here's digging thomas all right okay thank you number one son as you know this year this past year has been a difficult year for me and i would be remiss if i did not get up and give my testimony and let you know how blessed i have been during the previous year earlier this year i was diagnosed as having prostate cancer not only did i have prostate cancer but it was in the stage four according to my doctor and that i needed to make a decision about how i wanted to handle this cancer and that was in my prostate one of the things that i thought about when i left the doctor's office was how can i be afraid to witness in the name of jesus when i tell people all the time to live in your sunshine and every day is a good day and today is the best day of your life i had an opportunity with this illness that i suffered with uh this past year to not only test my faith but to share with others so that they will know that no matter how dark the night the dawn is sure to come and whatever it is that you're going through you can get through it if you know that god is the source of your strength it's not you it's not your doctor it's not the people who pray for you and with you it's between you and god so i did a lot of praying and i had an opportunity to test my own faith and i remember in the scripture that said that whatever you ask in faith if you have faith it will come unto you and of course i did a lot of praying but i also talked to a lot of others i talked with members of the deacon's minister here at first baptist i talked with my wife first and i told her that as well as i feel and as good as i think i look i don't need to be having any kind of operation by doing anything about this cancer in my prostate but i gave it a second thought and i realized that you have to live in such a way that people can see jesus in you jesus reminded his followers to let your light so shine before men that others will see your good works and glorify you father in heaven so i wanted to make sure that i was continuing to let my light shine so that my faith in jesus christ would be manifested not only in words but in deeds but even with that i meant that i took longer than i should have to really go make arrangements to have uh actually treat me for my prostate but uh talking with number one son the pastor he said dad you need to follow through on this because uh we need to have you around for a little longer and sure enough i uh talked with the deacons i thought was uh the mothers and sisters of the church and the fathers of the church but even more important i talked to those people who had gone through prostate cancer themselves and they could tell me firsthand and deacon cason told me that when he was a lot younger than i am he had operation and it turned out fine but i told him i didn't want to have an operation but i did want to give myself an opportunity to to address this illness by going through the steps uh known as radiotherapy it was designed to actually get your cancer under control without having to operate on you they get the treatment but the bottom line is it turned out beautifully and i want to thank god for all the people who called and checked on me those who sent me cards those who just every time they would see me they said how you doing and i tell them the same thing best day of my life if it gets any better i wouldn't know what to do with myself and i kept saying that but i wasn't doing anything so my son got on me about that he said dad you need to go get the treatment the other thing that i would like to share with you before i close is that whatever you do don't allow anyone or anything to take away your joy and cause you to doubt the lord we serve because the lord we serve is a healing lord a comforter a savior someone who will always be there for us when no one else will so i want to just close by saying to the members of first baptist thank you for being so kind as to allow me to come and be a part of this church family but even more important to remind me of the things that i have shared with others that hopefully i should have been internalizing myself but in the end and final analysis i want you to know that all is well uh i'm i will be actually finishing out my uh treatment this month and the early part of next month and you will see my smiling face in the place reminding you that whatever you do give god the glory and lift him up and don't allow anyone or anything steal your joy to the god be the glory and to my church family i say thank you you mean more to me than you realize and i want to say to all of you keep living in your sunshine thank you and be blessed happy new year to you hi fbc family this is brianna my testimony is that my guy is a healer and my guy is a redeemer and a sustainer i'm sure you all know that last year i was going through tests for a double lung transplant and the bad news of being rejected by that but this here even through covet my god being a healer that he is i am doing very well god has allowed me to go through this journey and i am now a published author so to god be the glory for that god has blessed me in ways unimaginable so i am over the moon excited and i am beyond blessed with what god has in store for me and the calling on my life i will not be here with today without him i would not be here today without the love and support of my family my friends and of course my fbc family you all have supported me so much and i just want to say thank you for your love thank you for your support thank you for your encouraging work it means so much to me to know that i have my fbc family always supporting me and backing me and loving me and always embracing me with so much love so thank you all oh so much my book is a testimony indeed it is a testimony that i'm not saying that my book is a testimony just because it's my personal book but because it's going to take you on a journey of my life from birth to the recovery of my stroke and it's going to encourage you that if i can go through this at a young age that you can go through your own hurdles so get my book i love you all and i am just so happy with what god is doing in my life and the calling he has my life and i just love you all and i thank you fbc for all that you have done for me i thank you for your love and i am going to see you all later i love you my god is big so strong and mighty and his plan for me that is victory victory victory [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] is nothing my god can i do help me victory is my victory is mine victory today is mine and i told satan to get thee behind i got it i thank god i got it everybody say victory victory is my victory today god [Music] is [Music] everybody is [Music] [Music] [Music] anybody got the victory we've got the victory it's mine it's mine it's your victory victory hey i'm james earl jones iii i'm the sound tech here at first baptist gresham and um i had coveted i'll get right straight to the point i got it the late part of march i stayed in the hospital for 11 days and i was out early part of april i didn't have to be on a ventilator and thank god i don't know where it came from i couldn't track it i couldn't go by what i've touched or who i was around but it's real it's no hoax it's real and i thank god for bringing me through i knew when i went in i could not make it through another day not another day it felt like um unless and i made it through the night and i could not make it through the night without god i know it i prayed and i talked to him like i've never prayed and talked to him before in my life never i it was like he was sitting on the side of the bed with me talking but i kept praying and i you know they they went through the procedures you know you go in there and they go through all the procedures they make sure your oxygen is up your blood pressure's right they give you needles to keep you from getting blood clots you know the symptoms you know you you're coughing you're losing your taste and your smell i kept coughing i had chest x-rays and when i had the x-ray they said hey your lungs a little bit infected so when i found that out hey my wife said hey taking you straight to the emergency room went to the emergency room they kept me in the hospital that's when they said hey it's covered so i realized that the time that i was there hey i kept praying and praying and praying like i never prayed before and i thank god for bringing me through i knew that to myself i said hey everything must change i also knew that i could not make it to another day unless i made it through another night and i couldn't do neither nor neither however you want to put it unless and i talk and pray to god and believe in god you got to have faith and also remember you never know or you will never know who you are unless you know who he is and keep praying keep your head to the sky and be safe thank you hi everybody my name is lauren thomas and i'm a student at north carolina a t state university um i was supposed to graduate this fall i mean this spring from high school but i didn't really get to have a graduation or really finish out the semester which was a struggle for a lot of students and um so we should have struggled but i was very excited to go to college in the fall and hope i was hopeful that we will have a somewhat normal semester despite all the covid protocols um despite following all these protocols and trying to be as careful as pos as possible i did test positive for covid and that was a pretty rough experience because i wasn't asymptomatic i had um really bad fever and cough and um chills just like a lot of sweating and stuff like that and it wasn't very like my quarantine period had to be on campus so i because i didn't want to get any of my family members sick so i wasn't um with my family i was away from home so that was a pretty tough um part of my year along with a lot of other things that like our community was affected by as a whole like the pandemic and then the black lives matter movement and just trying to like kind of continue to live our lives throughout that so i'm just very grateful for peace of mind and being able to get through my cover diagnosis and not really have any long-term effects and i'm very grateful that i was able to go to school and just kind of finish out the year so i'm very grateful for all of that and i just want to wish everybody happy holidays and happy new year somebody say blessed bless everybody said everybody [Music] [Music] oh they did it we are blessed [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey [Music] turn around [Music] turn [Music] turn around for the devil is defeated [Music] good evening and happy almost new year to our first baptist family um first given honor to god who's the head of this house who's the head of our lives giving honor to pastor thomas and our first lady and all ministers of first baptists um we're just taking this time out at this time to give a testimonial about how good god has been um to us in 2020 though there have been a lot of things and a lot of challenges that have happened this year god has been gracious enough to allow us to um overcome um with the whole pandemic and covet and you know me started to work from home and you know with my son being one of my children um being home schooled and having to work in homeschool a kindergartner um that has been quite challenging but um you know things have gone on and we are making it thus far um another challenge that we were faced with in 2020 um in april some may know and most may not but in april of this year a little bit after easter my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer not only was it colon cancer it was stage four colon cancer because it metastasized to his lung um throughout this process even though it was trying for the both of us i thank god for the pain that he endured for without that pain we would not have known what was happening and what was going on with him so as you can see standing here next to me is mr ross and i'll give him the opportunity to tell you his challenges and how he has overcome in 2020 all right babe well um merry christmas and happy new year everybody um first and foremost i want to thank the lord jesus christ for looking over me my family through to the times that we've been going through these tough times um i also like to thank my wife here for taking care of me and this household that we have um making sure that everything is um running smoothly um i owe it all to her um everything how i feel today um you know each day is a challenge for me um i thank um also a lot of my friends and family some friends that i didn't know i had um that helped us out through his tough times making sure that our christmas was very um fun fun filled for our kids um and i'd like to you know thank um pastor for praying for me um and um anyone in our um church family who's uh who reached out to me and has prayed for me for speedy recovery um it's it's it's a battle but um i'm getting there um each day is very different for me um in the beginning it was real tough um i didn't know what to expect i'm just taking it each day day by day on um on how to you know make each day work for me but for my family but you know this uh it's it's different it's different um life challenging stuff that we go through um you don't take things for granted it's not i don't anymore um and i am glad that i'm here to say you know to talk to you and let you know how i'm doing how i'm feeling and this beautiful woman right here is a big part of why i'm here and continue to get better each day um that's all i have right now um to wrap it up we just want to say thank you to our church family for your prayers for your phone calls for your text messages um they really kept us uplifted your prayers definitely when we couldn't pray for ourself or when we weren't strong enough to pray for ourself you all prayed us through we're forever grateful we love you and we look forward to what the new year hold thank you so much for this opportunity for us to talk to you all and have a wonderful new year we love you greetings pastor thomas and my first baptist family for those of you who do not know who i am my name is tess lemon and i'm actually a minister at the church i usually attend the early morning service so some of you perhaps have never seen me but i am so excited and i'm so honored to share my testimony and a little bit of my story with you back in september of 2019 i was diagnosed with breast cancer in december of 2019 i was diagnosed with lung cancer and given three months to live the doctor said that it was a very aggressive and a very rare type of cancer for which there was no treatment and that there was nothing that they could do nothing that they could do but how many of you know that we serve a god who specializes in things that seem impossible what's impossible to man is not impossible to god and that's why i am so excited not only to be alive but to share my testimony with you because 2020 has been rough let's just go on and admit it 2020 has been a rough year for some of us for most of us and a lot of us are having and still struggling with the idea of moving into 2021 with things the way that they are in 2020 but i want you to know that it's time to close the door in 2020 we're gonna seal that and we're gonna move on into the newness that awaits us the newness that god has in store for us my grandmother used to always tell me baby you got to be careful when you get stuck you don't want to get stuck in some place where you don't want to be and so we're not going to get stuck in the midst of a pandemic we're not gonna get stuck in the midst of all the difficulty and all the trials and tribulations that 2020 has brought to a lot of us it's time for us to move on y'all we got to get to bigger and better how do i know that 2021 is bigger and better because god's word tells us that eyes haven't seen ears haven't heard it has not even entered into our minds the things that he has in store for us and then you say well tess lemon what makes you think that the things that he has in store for us are all good because his word tells us he says i know the plans that i have for you and my plans are to prosper you to give you hope and a future that sounds real good to me and that's why i'm telling you to get excited forgetting those things that are behind us yeah it was rough but you made it through yeah it was tough but you made it through we lost some loved ones our hearts were been broken we couldn't do the things that we're accustomed to do but you made it through you're here you're a living testimony and you must move forward because we serve a god who specializes in the things that seem impossible i want you to get ready if i'd gotten stuck in 2019 december 2019 i wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation with you right now recording this video of encouraging you to move forward we can't afford to get stuck in our stuff it's time y'all pick yourself up dust yourself off put a smile on your face press through to get to the goodness that god has awaiting you yep you made it through it's time to get up it's time to think up it's time to look up and know you know what i'm getting ready to tell you that it's already all right happy new year to you get your mind right change your perspective get ready for greatness because greatness is looking for you happy new year god bless you i wish you the best amen you have been mighty good to me i can't stop thinking about it looking back over my life you have been mighty good to me [Music] when i was down and out didn't have not is [Music] you've been a mother for [Music] [Music] you stay [Music] i should have been have been dead sleeping in my grave but you told that old satan turned that back and behaved and you brought me [Music] brought me from almighty brought me from my mighty long way you brought me thank you for bringing me god [Music] you thank you anybody gonna thank you down in your belly tonight thank you i said do you really wanna thank you thank you thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] tribulation [Music] me i wanna thank you thank you i wanna thank you lord for picking me up thank you i wanna thank you lord for building my car thank you i wanna thank you lord for making me where [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] nobody [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] from [Music] i said somebody shall thank you [Music] thank you jesus i thank you jesus i thank you jesus ten thousand times foreign thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] amen amen let church say amen amen that was some good singing amen thank you praise ensemble uh thank you for those who share your testimonies thank you so very much uh for that god has certainly been good and just as uh brother ashton just saying with the praise ensemble god has certainly brought us from a mighty long way 2020 was a year to remember and but we thank god he's brought us from a mighty long way and that is all about testimonies that if you're here tonight you're able to listen to the sound of my voice we have that same testimony that god has brought us from my long way let's church say amen amen listen we're going to get right into the message i want to make sure that we're on time let's have a quick word of prayer father we thank you so much for this day thank you for the many blessings you bestowed upon us thank you for bringing us to the last day of 2020 december 31st father you have certainly brought us from a mighty long way and for that we say thank you now probably i pray that if it be your will if you allow us to see the stroke of midnight or 1201 i pray that you would be our guide for 2021 that you open our minds and our hearts and our spirits to receive a word from you i pray that you help me not to preach or teach with enticing words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the holy ghost and power i pray that you speak directly to your people that you give us a word that will be incident in season have your way tonight it's in jesus name we pray let the church say amen amen if you would please turn with me uh very quickly amen to isaiah the sixth chapter and we're going to look at verse one isaiah the sixth chapter we're going to look at verse one isaiah 6 1 isaiah 6 1. god has has certainly blessed us brought us through 2020 and some people say 2020 is a year to forget uh it is a year to remember amen in fact if you're able to listen if you can look at the screen right now uh god has brought you from a mighty long way as well and uh we want to make sure that we if the lord allows us to do so in 2021 uh that we bring in the new year uh with the right mindset and mentality isaiah 6 1 isaiah 6 chapter verse 1. here's what it says king james version it says in the year that king uzzai died i saw also the lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple i'm going to read that one more time isaiah 6 1 says in the year that king uzziah died i saw also the lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple i want to talk very clearly a very very simply from this subject this morning or this evening uh i can see clearly now i can see clearly now my brothers and sisters uh we we all last year you know a lot of uh ministers were there for their watch night service to bring in the new year a lot was said because you know 2020 also recognizes or you know if you are in the field of optometry uh you're an eye doctor and you say somebody has 20 20 vision that means that they have perfect vision and a lot of preachers amen some of us last year pastors were making the declaration 2020 is going to be the year where i can see things a lot more clearly uh 2020 is going to to be our year you'll be able to uh to to to move in a different way and be able to see things from a different perspective well i i they did not lie we did not lie uh 2020 has certainly opened our eyes to be able to see things that we uh have not been able to see perhaps in our history uh this this country amen has gone through changes we were able to see things from the federal government from our leadership that perhaps we were unable to see before we saw things as it pertains to to race relations that we were unable to see before it seems like the scales were taken off of some people's eyes and they were able to see that there are racial injustices there were disproportionate numbers of african-americans killed by police officers there is discrimination in our land not that we didn't see it we knew it as african americans but uh this seems like this year i saw a lot more people marching black white latino marching together in the streets with the mindset that we all see what has taken place in this country brothers and sisters yes we were able to see things a lot more clearly in 2020 but we thank god we thank god that if at the stroke of midnight god allows us to see 2021 that we'll be able to look back on 2020 we'll be able to see things a lot more clearly in our lives that will help us to be who god has called us to be that's what the prophet isaiah said in that that that sixth chapter of isaiah he said in the year that king azad died i saw also the lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple notice what what isaiah said isaiah said he didn't see god until king azad died can i tell you brothers and sisters we look back on 2020 some of us didn't weren't able to see god until certain things happen in this country and in our lives can i go through it real quick real quick and say because we're going to celebrate the new year in just a minute real quick how do we do this remember what happens when we see god what happens when we see god a lot of times at times enables us to see god be to fill us uh whatever enables us to see god number one is tragedy notice what isaiah said he said in the year the king was out that i saw also the lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple sometimes we're unable to see god unless we have tragedy strike in our lives in fact god is is not attractive to us god is not necessary for some of us until something negative happens in our lives until kovid came many of us were not praying the way we used to pray until our loved ones had to go to the hospital we were not in contact with god the way that we used to be in contact with god until something tragic happened in some of our lives we didn't look at god as someone who would be a necessity in our lives sometimes tragedy brothers and sisters opens our eyes to god we're able to see that we need god more in tragedy than we ever did before this year has been a year 2020 has been one of the most unbelievable years that this world has ever seen we've had nearly uh uh uh four hundred thousand people die from a virus worse than any of the wars that that this country has fought we we've had uh people lying in leadership positions we've had racial tension we had a loss in our family we've had deaths of people who were close to us we've had all kinds of things and now if we did not know it before we need god more than ever sometimes in order for us to recognize the need for god it requires us to go through tragic situations some of us didn't pray until you found out your spouse was cheating on you some of us didn't didn't you know uh think god was a necessity until your job shut down because of this virus some of us did not pray didn't talk to god didn't think it was important until your loved one was laying up in the hospital with a virus that you could not see that that took over his or her body you couldn't you didn't you didn't feel the need for god some of us wouldn't wear a mask some of us were just bullheaded and would not do what we were supposed to do because we had no respect for god we didn't think certain things were real god caught up in in conspiracy theories and and would not listen and be wise about what was going on in the world today and it wasn't until god allowed tragedy to strike in our lives that we woke up and said god i need you number one brothers and sisters here it is sometimes in order for us to see god clearly number one we need tragedy but also i'll tell you what what what what reveals uh us to us uh we also not only when we see god we we deal with tragedy but secondly it also reveals the truth about who we are when we see god here here's what isaiah said check him out isaiah 6 5 when when he saw he says in in verse 1 he says in the other kingdom that i saw so the lord sitting upon the throne high and lifted up and strained through the temple look at verse 5 says then said i woe is me for i am undone because i am a man of unclean lips and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips but mine eyes have seen the king the lord of hosts isaiah said when i saw god for myself when i clearly saw god for myself as i looked at god i saw how unclean i am when you really have a a a a confrontation uh or a a meeting with god when you really see god um for who he is god does not reveal uh stuff when you first meet god he don't reveal stuff about your neighbor he don't tell you stuff about your mom and your daddy and and and everybody else on your pew at church or people on your job he allows you to see yourself for who you are uh you recognize how filthy you are compared to him you see that you are a gossiper you see that you have bad habits you see that your mouth is unclean that's what happened to isaiah when he saw god he said then said our woe is me if i'm undone because i'm a man of unclean lips and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips because my eyes have seen the king when i look at jesus i see just how dirty i am i'm not comparing myself to anybody else uh i'm not looking at somebody and say oh at least i don't i don't look like them or at least i don't sin like them at least i don't cuss like them at least i don't wear my clothes like that at least i don't sleep with as many people as that person sleeps with at least i'm not cheating with as many people as they're cheating with no when you really see god you see how filthy you are it's me o lord standing in the need of prayer oh i see tragedy allowed me to see god but not only would allow me to see god when i i saw him it was it was when i saw god uh the truth was revealed about me i'm not as good as i thought i was that's what isaiah said number one here's what it says when we see god uh we we see him uh we're able to see god very clearly more clearly through tragedy but also when we see god as isaiah did the truth is revealed about ourselves thirdly watch this there is a transformation so we have the tragedy we have the truth about ourselves and then there is a transformation look at what isaiah said in verses six and seven it says then flew one of the seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken from the with the tongues from off the altar verse seven and he laid it upon my mouth and said lo this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin is purged thank you lord that as i look at myself and how dirty i am god says if you enter into a relationship with me i will cleanse you and purge you of all of the mess that you have entangled yourself in from 2020. we thank god that he gave us another opportunity we thank god for december 31st that if if god sees fit that maybe in just a few minutes we'll usher in the new year and be able to to start afresh and god will have wiped away all of our sins in fact first john 1 9 reminds us if we confess our sins god is faithful and just to forgive us and he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness who thank god for the transformation when we enter into that relationship with god you know what he does he cleans us up because we love him not out of force not out of you know trying to act a certain way but we we begin to change our behavior because we love god and we want to make sure we represent him well so guess what first thing i noticed about me when i when i first gave my life over to god at the age of 12 uh i stopped using as many curse words as i used to i said as i used to i ain't say uh i'm 100 clear now i said i improved from where i was and so where i am right now i don't use them as much i don't do it in front of other people i i try to manage my mouth why because god has come into my life and given me a different perspective he's cleansed my tongue and my mind and and and made me want to be more like him instead of more like the world no i'm not perfect in you not either but what god does is he he cleanses us and he begins to change us that's why it's a process that's why you can't you can't judge folk coming church and they they give their life to christ and you expect them to be a totally different person the next day it doesn't work like that it's a it's a process you are transformed over the course of time over the course of time you start changing mind starts changing your your thinking starts changing the the the things you do things you eat places you go people you hang with it begins to change because now you see life from a different perspective you have the spirit of god dwelling on the inside of you and you begin to see a change in your life there has to be some fruit from the holy spirit coming out of your life you should not be the same person there should be some evidence that you are changing to become more like christ so when we see god there's a tragedy there's a truth there's transformation fourth and finally and we're almost finished we want us in the new year there's a test here's what it says isaiah 6 8 it's also i heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i sin and who will go for us then said i here am i send me you hear what god did for isaiah after and god brought him through all those years and he allowed isaiah to see god for who he is that's what 2020 did for us it was tragedy in 2020 hopefully if you're wise you're able to see some truths about yourselves because you were quarantined you were home you had to do a lot of self-reflection at your house thirdly brothers and sisters god gave you time to to change and he's still giving us time to change and now comes the test what's the test preacher the test is are you going to i thought god has brought you through all that in 2020 are you going to go out there and be the same person you were in 2020 or are you going to be the person god is calling you to be what's it going to be you know what isaiah said isaiah said it right here in verse 8. he said also heard the voice of the lord saying whom shall i sin and who will go for us then said i hear am i send me god is asking you in 2021 are you willing to go and be my ambassador are you willing to represent me in your family are you willing to represent me on your job are you willing to represent me in traffic when somebody cuts you off are you willing to represent me at walmart when somebody is acting crazy are you willing to be my ambassador your test for 2021 is whether you're going to be the same person you were in 2020 or work on being somebody better i pray my prayer for you right now is that if lord sees fit in just a couple of minutes few minutes if god sees fit for us to make it to 2021 are you gonna say like isaiah send me here am i send me i'll go let us buy here's the word of prayer as we bring in this new year father before we do that we want to give someone an opportunity today to give their lives to you if there's somebody who wants to accept you as their lord and savior i pray they type it into the comments that i want to give my life to christ secondly there may be somebody who wants to rededicate their lives to you father i pray that you help them to know that there's nothing that they've done that can separate them from the love that is found in christ jesus i thank you that you welcomed them back with open arms thirdly there may be somebody who wants to be a part of this church family put it down in the comments we'd be glad to have you to be a part of this church family start your new year off right god allows you to see in just a minute or so okay if he allows you to see a brand new year are you going to are you going to be a part of a church family we can learn to become more like christ and fourth and finally there may be somebody standing in the need of prayer where i'm praying for you right now i pray father that you bless each of us with the blessing we stand indeed uh first we want to say thank you lord we thank you that you were with us all through 2020. we had family members to pass away we had friends to pass away we had family and friends to get sick but lord you watched over them and we just want to say thank you some of us lost our jobs some of us lost our businesses some of us are no longer living in the same place we don't have the same mode of transportation but in spite of all of that you kept us and we just want to say thank you lord father i pray that you be with those who are grieving i pray that you confident strengthen them in a way that only you can i thank you for watching over us lord help us to be who you're calling us to be thank you for a brand new year [Music] for allowing us to have made it thus far and allowing us to see the brink of a brand new year we thank you lord jesus for your goodness and your mercy help us not to squander the time that you you've given us that we have left here on this earth help us to be just as your servant isaiah said here in my send me i'll go help us to submit ourselves to you so that we can be who you're calling us to be we love you we thank you we praise you it's in the precious name of our lord and savior jesus christ that we pray let us all say together amen and the church say amen listen we want to wish each and every one of you a very very happy new year god has brought us through 2020 and allowed us to see 2021 we ought to just give god and pray wherever you are just tell god thank you thank you for a new year thank you for a new day god you have brought us if you got you some uh some champagne amen and some some juice and crackers celebrate but do it in moderation amen do it in moderation amen we we thank god uh we celebrate we thank god with you and we celebrate the brand new year with you we thank you thanks for joining us here here at first baptist on gresham road uh amen if you'd like to give it at this time you certainly may do so um but this is a a a celebration for the new year and if you don't want to give you don't have to however there are several ways you can give here at first baptist if you so desire feel free to do so you can give in person uh you can give the church's website you can text to give or of course you can give uh via cash app or you can give with give life if you want to do so please feel free to do so we'd be glad uh to accept those offerings if the only if the lord has laid on your heart to do so but thank you so much for joining us here at first baptist we wish each and every one of you a happy new year please be safe if you're going out there please make sure that you're safe wear your mask uh don't get in large groups of people socially distance yourself amen and make sure you know that wherever you're going you still belong to god amen amen before we dismiss just a reminder make sure that you vote amen and make sure that you go out there and vote january 5th hey man make sure you know where your calling place is or if you did your absentee that ballot make sure you um drop it off at the right place make sure you've sent it in amen january 5th make sure that you get out there and exercise your right to vote god bless you happy new year love you all so very much let the church say amen god bless you [Music] god is changing me [Music] [Music] what we gotta do jesus set them up [Music] here we go here we go [Music] shut them up that's a new beginning y'all taking place in me so i don't talk the same way i don't act the same way i don't live the same way you may ask me why because i got this y'all this is what i [Music] [Applause] [Music] got it's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening it's happening [Music] is [Music] now this part is for those who really believe something is happening for those who expect something great from the lord for those who are expecting something new from god let's declare when it's gonna happen let's tell the world that it's happening right now he's fixing me

Channel: First Baptist Church Gresham

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Id: 5zp62ptv29o

Length: 96min 8sec (5768 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 31 2020