God Will Not Let You Sink - Dr. William H. Curtis

[Applause] would you reach out take somebody by the hand every hit is bowed every eye is closed consecrate me to thy service Lord by the power of thy grace divine and let our souls look up with a steadfast hope and our wills be lost in deine we asked it in the strong and perfect name of Jesus Christ our Lord we pray and all of God's children said together give somebody a big hug tell him I'm glad you're alive glad you're alive and while you're clapping help me thank God for your bishop for his hospitality for the warmth of his spirit for his lovely wife I am so honored and humbled I'm overwhelmed with the privilege of standing in this sacred place to walk in to worship today and to feel immediately instantaneously like I'm at home your music is like our music your passion is like our passion the temperature and the fervor and pitch of your worship is like owls and though 19 hours of flight across the skies I feel like I walked right into my own church and so I'm I'm grateful for the big deal we even have some of those wild members like y'all have coming back from the camp [Applause] and so I do it counted as an extreme privilege whenever a pastor turns his pulpit over to anybody he's taken a risk and then to do so for a complete stranger is all the more a risk and so Bishop thank you for trusting me with your pulpit I can tell that you've been a faithful steward over ministry and so we thank God for your entire ministry Deuteronomy chapter 33 one verse constitutes the framework Fowle sermonic time together this morning Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 27 reads singularly like this the eternal God is our refuge an underneath of the everlasting arms he will drive out your enemies before you saying destroy them and I want from the singular verse to preach the God who won't let you sink [Applause] the God who won't let you sink Moses is meeting out blessings and describing God's unique design in each tribe in Israel as she prepares to occupy the long-awaited land of promise after centuries of bondage in Egypt the time has come and the aged sage who survived countrywide euthanasia at his birth when the Pharaoh feared the swelling birthrate of these strong Hebrews who if left to keep multiplying it was feared they would outnumber and take over fertile Egypt Moses placed afloat in the now and the wicker basket covered in tar and pitch to then surprisingly be discovered by Pharaoh's daughter moisés now well advanced in years having recorded a lifetime of faithful duty and spiritual devotion to God his body of work is superlative and full of God's miraculous work in and through him to each tribe Moses describes the personality that makes them unique it gives to them the promise that God has attached to their posterity how inspired brothers and sisters would you have perhaps been to have spoken over your tribe that your tribe will never die out what would you have felt if you had heard promised to you that God promises to help you against every one of your enemies and that the Lord will always bless your substance and crush your adversaries to hear it prophetically spoken that God will advance your growth and defend you against all adversaries Moses is talking but he is speaking what God has bestowed and what God is promising these are the kinds of things they are hearing as their age liberator who has given his entire life to their liberation from Egypt their arrival to the land of promise Moses with frail voice and faltering strength is also fighting through his own personal disappointments as he's talking he can't help but to muse regarding all the careless moments of his own leadership oversight God now I'm telling him that his own mistake will mean he'll take Israel to the border of the land of promise but he won't be able to step in to the land himself and as Moses is about to wrap up his handing out of blessing with word over the tribe specifically of Asher with the promise that God is going to give them cattle and a stronghold how strong their days are going to be on the earth he now switches in verse 26 and he speaks to the entire collective tribe of Israel and his blessing to them is this there is none like God Jeshurun that's a symbolic name for Israel a nickname of sorts she gives to herself which simply means to be blessed or to be happy so it means in this stage of their lives and progression of their liberated tribal lives just prior to their entrance into the Promised Land Israel nicknames herself happy well I guess so you've been delivered from bondage you've been escorted got it fed protected by God through the wilderness God has cleared out the land he promised and major enemies vacate land they essentially prepared for your arrival and as he has shaped you to be strong in the land he now plants you and I guess they would nickname themselves happy verse 26 there's none like God just Charon riding to your rescue through the skies his dignity haloed by clouds and his worth surrounded by the clouds verse 27 the eternal God is your dwelling place and here's the word and underneath are the everlasting arms he will thrust out the enemy before you and say destroy now I'm sure your excitement soars as the clause of verse 27 characterizes God is a dwelling place a refuge for Israel the image might have been a tent but it all means the same thing that God becomes the abode where one can rest his or her hopes on the assurance of the things Moses just prophesied to each tribe they can find collective shelter in it meaning they can rest in it live secure in its unfolding knowing exactly what's going to happen here it is God is going to protect what he claims God will fight to complete everything God has promised which is why he says God will be riding the clouds in rescue towards his children it also means he won't just arrive without struggle these blessings will not come without struggle the blessings of the later delivery of surviving early struggle in other words you have to fight to walk in it and though it will be God delivered God pronounced God promised God intended God does not eliminate the need to fight and to struggle and to battle in order to possess the blessing he has promised to you God can bring big blessings to your life I say that without doubt the question is while we know God can bring big blessings to your life can you accept that life will resist easy hand off of those same blessings and sometimes in order to access them to grasp them you're gonna have to struggle to possess however God is committed to fight for you and the faith response you must offer back to him is to fight as hard for yourself as God is promising to fight for you and here is what he promises he says I will be your refuge your safe place your shelter and of course what's interesting about God being a refuge is the implication as you need shelter you need shelter from trouble you need shelter from danger you need shelter from being pursued by an enemy who without you being sheltered you would become excessively vulnerable too he says so fight to live out the promises of God pursued by an enemy that will attempt to frustrate you being happy in the promised land but know that you're safe in the refuge of a God who will fight to protect his very plans promises and purposes in your life I'll say it one more time God will fight for you it's the second part of what he says in verse 27 that arrested my sir Monica tension though when he says and underneath everybody say underneath underneath for God's everlasting arms it signals to me on the one hand just how unstable our lives can become it signals how shaky progress can become in pursuit of the promises of God even if I believe that God is my refuge I am still potentially faith fragile because of how unstable my life can sometimes become I don't know about you but I have to confess it's easy to mess up it's difficult to stay upbeat and motivated and focused and aggressive how hard it is to keep believing in myself and my cause and my calling the constant tempting by the enemy the criticism that comes by other people the disappointment that comes with trying and failing and failing and trying the self-doubt that makes me ask am i doing the right thing and if it's the right thing is it the right time life can get unstable the awareness of being being in the right place at the right time is no guarantee that I believe I'm the right person feeling secure doesn't mean I trust all my steps I might stumble in pursuit in advance unsteady some enemy push back might make me often feel unstable literally spiritually theologically and God knows this so he shelters me on top and more interesting to me is this he puts an everlasting arm underneath did you catch it no need for forensic word analysis to conclude that God is promising to be above for protection but he's also promising to be beneath for stability and the reason he does that is because God knows sinking is a constant fear all of us are scared of failing and falling and faltering and weakening or becoming weary or to walk unsure of how strong our decisions are how secure the thoughts and imaginations we produce and it means every one of us walks around I don't care how anointed I don't care how close we are to God I don't care how much robust Scripture we have losing from inside of us every one of us has seasons we're sinking causes anxiety so let me be very clear no direction you can head in with no decision you can make with no attack you defend against God will never let you sink don't let the fear of instability make you not take the risk to try to be whatever God is spoken about your life your impact your posterity whatever God has shaped your personality to be or released in you give spiritual gifts to work for the benefit of the body please understand life may become unstable but your God remains the same and he promises I will not let you sink whatever idea he has given you no matter how strange it appears and different than the way others have done it before he won't let you sink you can trust in trusting him and you can go ahead and try the god sized thing you've been nurturing and quiet and in secret go ahead and try it give it the best you have build your I can stretch your rod and step out of the boat and write your revelation even while in exile on an isle of patmos forgive anybody who has frustrated you in the past and let the petty go let small people stay small and keep shaking hands with people whose vision is similar to yours because no matter what threats come against your life your God will never let you sink in no direction that you can ever hit in with no decision you can ever make with no attack you are attempting to defend against what God ever let you sink in stability doesn't have to drain your energy you don't need to doubt the power of the promises of God in your life because instability is not part of your vocabulary when you walk with your hands inside of God's hands instability threat regret attack fear mistake can't bury your life lower than his everlasting arms can hold carry and lift you now this means Bishop those arms must be some long strong arms those must be some powerful eternal arms the promise here is simple it's clear to interpret it's so strong and provocative God is giving you promises that define your reach your scope your impact your endurance your legacy your participation your prosperity your posterity and all if it makes the same promise I won't let you sink let me ask you a question what does that do to your faith how much anchoring does it place in your life does it perhaps ignite a new sense of confidence in you as anybody listening to me in here what pushes you through life is not over confidence in your ability but huge faith in a God who says I won't let you sink I've tried more things brothers and sisters believing that God wouldn't let me think it I've tried things believing I was capable of doing it because I trusted inside that no matter how high I go or low I fall I am in relationship with a God whose arms are so long so strong so eternal that I can't go lower than his presence how does this change what you think when it gets shaky out there when the foundations of your life begin to falter when your planning and your preparation when your commitment begins to weaken or dilute when how tired you are Trump's how desperate you are to arrive at a certain place emotionally or spiritually and while you thought you wanted to advance there and grow here and be this and trusted with that it's the attacks the agitation the constant need to defend and redefine the neverending shouts that come from your fears it all makes you wonder is it worth it how long will I fall how low is low well here is God's promise to you God is not going to let you sink underneath whatever is happening in your life right now are his everlasting arms they build these ships that they claim are unsinkable and if only facing water that might be true but you and I know life is not that linear and threats are not that predictable some ships built with that promise of never sinking we're doing well as long as the water was still and blessed those sinks no ships they say will never sink were okay as long as no storms began to brew when some of those ships hit an iceberg they discovered they were built for blessed and calm but they did not have ferocity or durability to handle storms and win the Titanic lunch may 31st 1911 built by Thomas Andrews was a 200 million dollar British project it was touted to be the what the unsinkable ship we still watch the movie and listen to the experts talk about the Titanics sinking and it did because the only purely guaranteed unsinkable reality in human life is the disciples life in the arms of an everlasting God anything else built in creation is not built to withstand all of life's attack except a child of God in the hands of an everlasting God notice these arms are his enduring presence everybody say enduring presence that's the first thing I want you to see in this text these arms have enduring presence why because the writer says they are what kind of arms everlasting arms which means he won't let you sink now and he won't let you sink ever because these arms that are underneath your life are everlasting now the ancient Hebrew understood that to mean there is no duration of time that is only known to the Lord that stretches so far back beyond your beginning so far out beyond your ending that you can't discover the origin or the length of time expectancy for how long his arms will under girge your life in other words it'll be further than your history tells you and further then your destiny takes you do I need to say that again all right his arms will be further then you can remember from your past and further then you can stretch with your hopes meaning I don't care what hurt you dragged in here God's bigger than that and I don't care what dream you bring in here God is further than that and as quickly as things change as quickly as relationships get hot and go to cold the promise the writer makes here is that God's underneath presence is always in your life and the writer image is it like all spread out to catch carry and comfort you forever his presence underneath your life is permanent you can trust it that man was learning to fly his instructor told him put the plane into a steep and extended dive he said that's exactly what I did when I put that plane into a steep dive I was totally unprepared for what was about to happen after the brief time of going into the dye the engine began to stall plane started to plunge out of control it soon became evident that the instructor next to me was not intending to help me after a few seconds which he says seemed like an eternity he said my mind began to function again and I quickly corrected the situation he said I turned to my instructor and began to vent my anger and frustration on him you all know the cold word that I'm trying to give you is he turned to him and cursed him out the instructor then calmly said to him student there is no position you could ever get this airplane into that I as an instructor cannot get you out of but if you want to learn to fly you gonna have to go back up there and do it all over again come here for a second at that moment God seemed to be saying to him remember this as you serve me there is no situation you can get yourself into that God can't get you out of who am I talking to in here turn turn look at somebody tell them no situation can you ever get into you got to put your preacher points on and tell them can you ever get into that God cannot get you out of no space [Applause] no space no span of time no predicament no circumstance can erase erode or eliminate God's presence underneath your life it's his enduring presence it's his eternal strength by saying turtle strength now you already know this is to image God's power God doesn't have physical arms because God doesn't need flesh or bone to be everywhere at the same time but the image is to teach that God's power is beneath your lowest thought emotion location condition when I hear people use quitters language going around talking about what they can't try because of what they can't do because of what they can't be because of who is in the way resisting being anything better than they are right now I know they don't feel secure in these everlasting arms because to have everlasting arms under you is to know at all times that you are supported by a power that is forever permanently available to you by virtue of nothing more than relationship meaning your perfection could not earn it and your sinfulness cannot block it his arms are not strong or weak contingent upon the level of your obedience in other words he doesn't listen his purpose or weaken his presence based upon the condition of your righteousness he brings eternal strength to your life and makes it a presence that stretches from everlasting to everlasting Martin Luther King jr. wrote in strength to love we need to rush to purchase an earthly fallout shelter and we don't we don't rather need to purchase an earthly fallout shelter because God is our eternal fallout shelter his pillars bore deeper his anchors weigh heavier his arms are underneath and that's why we can say he can keep us from falling Augustine says understanding is the reward of faith there seek not to understand that thou mayst believe but believe that thou mayst understand I'm trying to teach you very quickly to try to understand how God can be underneath your lowest point and bring to it his eternal strength now you don't have to leave here today being totally convinced of it but if I can get you to get a mustard seed size of belief in it it's all you need to live without sinking because faith precedes understanding do you hear me I have to believe God so confidently that I then obey what I don't understand and let understanding catch up to my belief does that make sense it is I'm gonna build the ark and a drought when I don't even know if rain is coming i'ma fight the giant with the same weapon I used to fight the lion and the bear and I know it worked on them but I'm gonna believe it works on him I'm gonna step out of the boat where no man has ever walked on water and trust that if I believe his invitation can hold me up and keep me from sinking I'll let understanding catch me on the backside all I'm trying to tell somebody is go ahead and believe him and try it and let understanding catch you a lot later on do I have any company here so I agree with one of the fathers of Methodism Martin Luther that God has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will then have everything and whoever does not have faith will have nothing uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride bishop his friends were eager to hear about how his first encounter was when he got down out of the plane they asked him uncle Oscar how was your flight he commented it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be but I tell you this I never did put all my weight down okay y'all acting like my members I gotta say it again huh all right one more time uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride and those who knew him were excited to hear the report when he exited the plane when he got off they asked him uncle Oscar how was your first airplane ride well it wasn't as bad as the thought but I never did put all my weight down okay that's about half of y'all it is when it comes to these everlasting arms you don't board the plane and then try to hold yourself up if you go ride with him put all your weight on it and trust him because he can keep you I wish I had somebody here he can keep you up he can keep you going he can keep you through and that's why we say it now I tell who keeps us from God's got some strong arms that are mixed martial arts commentator talking about his predictions for the fight put his way to confidence on a fighter not because of his technique nor his record he said i'ma put my money on that fighter because that boy has some strong hands and it only takes one punch to change the whole fight well I hope you can tell that I'm committing to you and I'm almost going to my seat I hope you can tell that I'm committing to you that no matter how low life takes you that you rest your low plane faith and hope in God because that God who saves and loves us sure got some strong arms and you can put your weight on it and watch him keep you up it's it's his enduring presence it's his eternal strength there's only one other thing the text teaches us and that is it's his extended depth see here's a question I ask of the techs if his everlasting arms are underneath me I want to know how deep does underneath go how far down can I depend on his arms how far do his arms descend when I'm plummeting Kola super-deep borehole on the Kola Peninsula of Russia reached 40 thousand two hundred and thirty feet which on record so far is the deepest penetration of the Earth's solid surface now to put that in perspective that's five point seven miles deep into the earth that's way down there but I'll tell you what if God created this earth with nothing more than his own imagination then it means to me he goes deeper then we on record have been able to go thus far now let me tell you something I've been reflective as one can imagine now that I've crossed this half century mark of age and I keep saying to myself Bill Curtis you've been through some deep stuff some of it so deep it yet remains buried as pain joy pride regret but not one of them is deeper than God's arms underneath you proving who created the experience or protected me against the danger or get me from all human heart you asked me how deep God is willing to go with you he's willing to go so deep that if you dig a path that lowers your life then darkness prevails he'll shine a light there he'll prove to you what the psalmist says that the Lord is your light and your salvation that night that house caught on fire that young boy was forced to flee to the roof the father stood on the ground below with his outstretched arms calling up to his son and all he could say was son jump that boy in his fear and trepidation looked down at the distance between where he was on the rooftop and where his father was on the ground below and all the boy could see him between was the flame the smoke and the blackness as you can imagine he was afraid to leave and leap off of that roof but his father kept yelling to him jump son I promise I'll catch you that boys finally protested and yelled back daddy I know you're down there but I can't see you and the father replied son you don't need to see me I see you you jump and that's all that matters I don't know who I'm talking to I don't know in here who I'm talking to it might be as dark in your life as you could have ever imagined but I'm here to tell you that on the ground of your experience there is a God without stretch underneath harms and he's saying cast all your cares on me because I care for you am i talking to anybody in this room turn and look at somebody tell them just jump you don't have to have all the answers just job it doesn't have to make sense just job I don't care how you feel just jump because even when you can't see him he always sees you [Applause] I'm done they found the deepest combat some was 1020 meters down in the ocean they discovered the deepest oil rig was pulled up from 3400 meters down they found a shark 3,600 75 meters down in the water the deepest fish so far has been found eight thousand 145 meters down and yet none of that was deep enough when compared to my sin I had sinned so deep are y'all listening to me in here that I had to resonate with the songwriter I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful sure very deeply stained within I was seeking to rise no more but the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and from the waters he lifted me until now I can testify save him I do I have any company here i'ma leave y'all alone take somebody by the hand shake it like you're trying to shake it off and tell them love lifting me okay there y'all go again I gotta tell you how to be a preacher tell him lifting me and when nothing else could help it was love that lifted me [Applause] we serve a god who won't let us sink I know you're not used to my voice I'm not used to your rhythm it doesn't matter because there's one universal language and it is this I don't care how much trouble you ever could get your life in I don't care how much danger you can back yourself into I don't care how dark Darke gets in your life you don't even have to understand why or how everything is unfolding or how it's gonna work out but I promise you this when you can't see him he can always see you who am I talking to in this room somebody open your mouth and give God the best praise you have and thank God he can see you [Applause] stand to your feet all over the room hands are lifted heads are elevated come on lift your heads Bible says lift up your heads o ye gates eyes are closed no matter how low today your life may be sinking it's not lower then his everlasting arms underneath you so much so that he can keep you from falling and present you faultless before his throne of grace with exceeding great joy those arms are strong they are long they are everlasting they are eternal they are all powerful and in those arms as such security such love that he can keep you stable anchored until you'll be able to testify if God be for me who can be against me he that hath begun a good work in me shall perform and completed until the day of the Lord's return I want to pray and I want you to pray out loud with me most of us have prayed this prayer before we pray it collectively though as a sign symbol stimulus to your faith then we want you to believe that as you are praying that God literally is hearing and is anxious to answer your prayer come on pray with me out loud god I come in Jesus name and I believe that Jesus is Lord come into my life save me change me convert me I want to live for you and I thank you that right now by my faith I accept the gift of salvation in Jesus name Amen put those hands together all over the room [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my brother my brother my sister if you're in this sanctuary and you pray that prayer for the very first time I'm not talking about the specificity of the prayer I'm talking about the spirit of the prayer there's never time in your history until this point where you've ever prayed that prayer that's the Lord to be a personal Savior if that's you raise your hand wherever you are we want to celebrate you we want this congregation to love on you to pray with you god bless you those of you have your hands raised listen those of you those of you who raise the hand I want a person who's a part of this church who's standing next to you to reach out grab you by the hand they want to encourage you and walk with you down the aisle so that you might come to acknowledgment you might receive some vital information have somebody pray for you to care for you to love to love on you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right listen everybody turn to one person next to you put a big smile on your face ask them are you a member of this church now listen if they say no if they say no I'm not a member here ask them are you an active member somewhere else if they say yes leave him alone but if they say no I'm not a member here I'm not a member anywhere else I want you to encourage them Bible says sheep beget sheep so I want you to encourage them tell them the one reason why you decided this would be your church maybe it's because the people here love on me so good maybe it's because the pastor preaches the word with such power maybe it's it's a place where I feel equipped and empowered to do the work of ministry in the marketplace whatever your reason is share it because you will become the number one reason why they decide to align to this church churches churches grow because of relationships if a person is feeling isolated they can't find a way to plug in they don't feel like that churches are home for them but relationships mean everything and you can form one today with the person right next to you and tell them I want to become a part of this family and I want to start my relationship with you if that's you I know you're saved but we want you to become a part of God's church so you come on and make your way here to the front join these wonderful people who are already here wherever you are wherever you are wherever you are I don't wherever you are yep god bless you walking give myself away I give myself away so you can't use me I told you y'all's music it's just like ours right away yes Lord hey church help me celebrate these wonderful people who walk for Christ and church away still coming still coming everybody I give myself away hallelujah Jesus I give myself I get mine so you can I give myself away get myself away so you don't everybody I get my a wedding hallelujah I give myself away so you I give my come on it's not too late for you I give myself so you can hurt somebody real tight come on hug somebody real tight tell them I'm living with those everlasting arms [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] this [Music] Oh [Music] my sisters you have made the most powerful greatest decision in your life we have already prayed we cannot leave you in pray again but there's pastinaca standing at your left side please if you do not mind can you just follow him so he will explain into details what need to follow this decision that you have made in the prayer that you have made before God let us encourage them [Applause] we met his secret

Channel: Gospel Ramah Church

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Id: 8PZuMN-cuDc

Length: 52min 31sec (3151 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 02 2018