Going Back to Bethel

foreign [Music] [Music] though the storms keep on raging in my life and sometimes [Music] [Music] [Music] though the storms keep on raging in my life and sometimes it's hard to tell the night from day still the hope that lies [Music] as i keep my eyes upon the stone shore i know he'll be mistakenly to that blessed place he has prepared [Music] [Applause] don't see and if the winds keep blowing my soul [Music] when my friends have gone and left me by myself and the road seems to get longer day by day [Music] where my god will lead through the ups and downs and my god will give me strength to fight the fight and make it through the toilet of this world and praise the day [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] i that sometimes in my life i'm gonna be tore by the waves and the currents that seem soft [Music] [Music] despite the times [Music] [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] [Music] let the church say amen let the church say amen again ah we're so thankful to the almighty god who doeth all things well in that he has allowed us just one more day to get our proverbial houses in order uh the god we serve is a good god uh you i hear them saying now god is good and not just some of the time but god is good all the time sometimes i don't think we really know just how good god is amen somebody yeah he woke us up this morning amen somebody i said he woke us up this morning he woke us up this morning you do know that a lot of folk didn't wake up this morning but the god of grace the god of mercy he saw fit to give you and me just one more day to get our proverb of your houses in order and for that we ought to be eternally eternally grateful amen somebody uh to our visitors to our friends we trust and hope and pray that you you're ready to receive with the meekness gods and grafted word which is able to save all of our souls our listening audience we thank you for tuning in to us virtually in our virtual worship we want you to know that we do not take your attendance with us lightly we too uh uh want you to be ready also to receive god's word uh because it's god's word that's gonna judge us in the last day is that all right uh and we also invite you to to ask questions see in the body of christ here at simpson street we we we're going to be preaching and teaching what thus saith the lord is that all right the bible is clear if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god is that all right so if you have any questions about anything that you're going to hear us say we want you to know that you can ask quite you can question the preacher is that all right and as long as you put your thoughts down and i put my thoughts down and my ways down and you put your ways down the bible say we can come together and we can reason is that all right as long as we can come together with the word of god and open up this book then you and i we see it's possible i said it's possible for us to see the word alike isn't that right yeah yeah yeah but you got to put down what you feel you got to put that away and i got to put how i feel away and when we get ourselves out of the way now we can truly see god is that all right amen somebody we are in genesis chapter 35 genesis chapter 35 this morning and i'm gonna wait for you at verse number one genesis chapter 35 and and verse number one and we're going to ask all those that are able to stand to please stand for the reading of god's word genesis chapter 35 and i'm waiting for you at verse number one the bible reads then god said to jacob go up to bethel and settle there and build an altar there to god who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother esau so jacob said to his household church don't miss that so jacob said to his household and to all who were with him get rid of the foreign gods you have with you and purify yourselves and change your clothes then come let us go up to bethel where i will build an altar to god who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever i have gone so they gave jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears and jacob burned them under the oak as shechem then they set out and the terror of god fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them jacob and all the people with him came to luz that is bethel in the land of canaan there he built an altar and he called the place el bethel because it was there that god revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother going back to bethel please be seated in the sight of god going back to bethel i want us i want us to look at this story because jacob jacob is an interesting character for us uh he's he's he's one of the patriarchs am i right about it he's one of the patriarchs of god and and when you look at jacob's story jacob was a cunning deceiving individual i said jacob i'm talking about the patriarch jacob i'm talking about the one who god said i'm the father i'm the god of abraham isaac and jacob church i believe jacob's story is our story jacob there was times in jacob's life where jacob faith was shaky he didn't always have everything together uh he he he he lord have mercy jacob jacob reminds me of us jacob he comes from a dysfunctional family and jacob even started messing up his own family jacob he had some heartaches and some pains all because he forgot god when we look at this text we find jacob god telling jacob to go back to bethel why in the world would god tell him to go back to bethel you have to understand nearly 30 years before this time in our text jacob was running for his life you remember the deceiving jacob he fooled his brother esau and he stole his birthright you see jacob forgot that his grandfather was promised that because of him that that all nations is going to be blessed through him jacob was a part of that lineage but jacob jacob was like some of us he didn't want to wait for his turn so he said what i'll do is i will i will i will scheme it's all about me i want this so he fooled his brother he fooled his daddy into giving him the birthright and you know he saw wasn't all together and esau said okay you gonna do me like that i'm gonna kill you this is my birthright and because esau threatened him esau put a hit out on frasier and jacob went running amen somebody he went running he went running for his life after he after after you were conniving after you were deceptive don't throw the rock and run if you're man enough to lie if you're mad enough to deceive he said you ought to be man enough to stand up and deal with the consequences amen somebody but but but but but jacob no jacob said i got to get out of here my life my life is at stake jacob's story is our it's our story jacob jacob jacob ran and he he came to a place he came to a place called bethel and the bible says he fell asleep and he fell asleep and he he he he had a dream and in that dream he he saw angels ascending and descending and and and the bible says that that that that that an angel of god said to him and assured him and promised him jacob i got you jacob everything is going to be all right jacob i promise to be with you like i was with your father he said jacob you don't i'm gonna make sure you make it back home and that you make it back home safely so jacob jacob said all right god if you here come the bargain here come the vow he said if you lord if you can do this for me then this is what i'm going to do for you where in the world do we get off trying to bargain with god amen somebody where do we get off trying to bargain with god is that all right but jacob is no different than what you and i do jacob was so stuck on himself after he made the bargain with god after he made the promise to god and god carried out his promise i said after god carried out his promise jacob forgot all about his promise oh y'all y'all gonna help me here this morning he forgot about the promise he made to god and jacob god blessed him he flourished because of god jacob had money jacob had wealth jacob had a good family a man somebody had a great family but i say but he forgot god whenever you forget god god will god will bring down the heads of protection for you you will no longer be under god's protection you see god never moves if god made a promise he said i'll be with you always even until the end of the earth god said i will be with you i will provide for you that's his promise to you and i but here we are here we are god's carrying out his part of this thing and jacob forgot his part church i'm suggesting this morning that you and i not forget our oath that we made to the god of heaven you see jacob wrestled with god because jacob was carnal jacob jacob was stuck on himself jacob lost sight i mean he got caught up in materialism he got caught up in his own stuff amen somebody does that i wish somebody was here i wish i was talking to somebody this morning who know what i'm talking about many times we get caught up in our own stuff and that we forget god that's why it's important i want to encourage us this morning to let's go back to bethel you see you see you see you see over over over a year now almost going on two years that we've been in this pandemic amen somebody and and what i'm afraid of brother rucker is that this pandemic has have has have become become a a sabbatical i say a sabbatical for god's children oh y'all gonna help me here no no no don't get me wrong i look i had covet uh-huh amen somebody uh again i was down and out for about a month i had relatives who had to go into the hospital because of coving so don't trip on me this morning i'm not those of us who are online and worshiping with us look look look i am you do whatever you feel that you're comfortable with doing and amen somebody you're saying but what i'm suggesting is that wherever you are that you worship god i'm talking about going back to bethel no no no no no no see we when we when we're at home in the confines of our house and we're worshiping we we showed you how to make your living room your sanctuary oh y'all gonna help me here hey man somebody you ain't you don't have coffee in your sanctuary you're not making breakfast in the midst of your worship to god you you you come on now y'all just stay with me i you know look i want us to make sure we understand our commitment to god you're not a worshipping god in the bed this situation is not a matter of convenience that we have made it the god of heaven he wants the preeminence he wants to be first in your life you not taking a walk while you're listening to the worship service all i'm trying to get us i want us to go back to bethel you see this pandemic has created something for us amen somebody you see this pandemic what it has done for us is that god has allowed us opportunity to get our families in order many of us were out of work many of us were working from home from home many of us our children are not a worshiping god because they've been watching you our children's our children don't know nothing about the priority of giving god first because they've been watching you put everything before the lord amen somebody in the name of pandemic in the name of covet now we got the delta variant now i know you ain't doing nothing now remember do you remember when do you remember when when you were in bible study every time the doors were open you no no i said i'm not talking to you if you ain't been there but do you remember do you remember what is like getting up on sunday morning i mean you you know you you putting on you putting on redeem and you you listening to uh yeah your religious cds and and and just getting you in the spirit you you're walking around you're singing in the shower you preparing your heart you preparing your mind and you couldn't wait to get to worship service do you remember that do you remember when you when you were always involved in ministry you remember when you used to teach bible classes amen somebody you do you remember all of those things that you used to do all i'm suggesting this morning is that we we go back to bethel is that all right go back to bethel remember the oath that you've made to god and god is a we serve a god who believes in oaths and he takes them seriously am i right about it you you you can't play with god don't bargain with god oaths are important to the god of heaven let your yays be yays and your names be names am i right about it in other words if if you say you're gonna do something do it but in this period of time we we have our homes have broken up amen somebody yeah yeah yeah yeah we got folk that are divorced right at home mm-hmm children are off the chain mm-hmm yeah yeah yeah you you you got you got a job but you can't make ends meet huh i wonder what role god plays and all that i wonder what role guard plays and all that you see when god is put on the back burner i say when god is put on the back burner you start missing some of your blessings here it rains on the just as well as the unjust you know some things may be going good but for us who are children of god you need to understand that when you sit in the fist of rebellion in god's face god is gonna show you who's boss i said you don't believe me ask jacob jacob the bible says jacob wrestled with god you remember he was doing his own thing and god sent an angel to him to try to get him on the right track oh y'all gonna help me here and jacob did everything in his power to fight against god and the bible says that jacob jacob was winning the battle i said jacob was winning the battle and god said well i got to show you see sometimes god have to show us who's boss and i'm what i'm trying to tell you is you don't want that you don't want that heat i said you don't want that you do not want god to show you who's boss because the bible says that that the angel god hit him in his head hit him in his hip pull it out that socket oh y'all gonna help me here and now jacob is walking around with a limp yeah a limp that he did not have to have or y'all gonna help me here but the limp was designed to remind him don't play with me don't play with god am i right about it when you became a child of god you said that you were going to love him that you were going to trust him that you were going to obey him that he was going to be your god and you going to be his people but for some reason but for some reason you allowed satan to get you caught up in the things of this world am i right y'all satan is a bad man but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world satan is out to get you i said satan is out to get you luke chapter 22. luke chapter 22 and see if we can get that on on the board luke chapter 22 and i'm waiting for you at verse number 31 uh through 34. uh if we get to 34 but luke uh chapter 22. listen look at here there's you've heard this passage before but i want us to really look at it uh uh god jesus is talking to uh the disciples and he he they're all there with the lord and he he talks to simon and he said simon simon he said satan satan satan is out to get you and me satan has a hit out on you and he has a hit out on me now now i understand who does he have a hit out he has a hit out on those that would be great in the kingdom of god he said he has a hit out on those that's one that was that they're tired of playing church and they really want to be the church uh they they made the commitment to turn their life over to god and they said i'm not gonna let nobody turn me around amen somebody even in the midst of a pandemic i can still be what i'm supposed to be to god he said simon simon satan has asked y'all miss your shout out satan has asked satan has to get permission from god in order to attack you and god is not going to allow him to hurt you god will always give his children a way of escape isn't that right so even in the midst of your situation satan has to ask for permission and he said he said he's asked to sift you like wheat now big mama used to have a sifter and before there was you know when you're having that fish fry when you're having that fish fry uh see grandma didn't know nothing about xanaran oh y'all gonna help me here yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah look look look that's my stuff i know xanaran but grand mama used to get that cornmeal and she would put it in the sifter and she would turn the sifter and then somebody and the cornmeal [Music] and then she would just dip the whole fish head and all and fry it amen somebody when you sift you get rid of the bad stuff and you keep the good stuff amen somebody see satan satan wanted to put some of us on front street in other words see god knows within you what's in you god wants you to discover what's in you and there's a difference from being discovered and being exposed i say there's a difference than being this and being discovered and being exposed and what i'm afraid of frasier is that that through this pandemic some folk have been exposed where's your faith now don't again i'm not talking about your faith and to the point that is that that i'm challenging you to leave your home and come out here that is not what i'm saying those of you that are virtual god bless you continue to do what you're doing you stay safe so that's not what i'm talking about is that all right but what am i saying even at home you have to be in bible study amen somebody we here at simpson street we have elders that are responsible for your soul we have men that are concerned about your spiritual well-being we have individuals that are concerned how how you're being fed and if these doors were open and we had bible study at nine o'clock you would be here if we were here on a wednesday night at seven o'clock you would fight the traffic and you would get here at seven o'clock or 7 15 but you would make it if we were here on wednesday at 12 noon you would be in bible study at 12 noon but now since we've been in this pandemic where you been some of some of you we ain't seen in two years let's go back to bethel oh i'm not finished with that text cody let's get that back up to luke luke chapter chapter 22. yeah i figured that's where i was luke chapter 22. uh-huh desire to shift you like weak uh-hum but but thank god for that butt amen somebody yes sir yes sir look he said he said simon simon see see this this is plural here he said simon simon satan satan has desired to sift you he's talking to all 12 here desire to sift you like we cuz he's out for everybody he's off all 12 of them and he's out for you and i but he looked at simon and he said but but i have prayed for you simon what are you praying for that your faith may not fail i am praying this morning for every member here at simpson street every woman and every man that in the midst of what you're dealing with that your faith do not fail the reason why he's praying i believe for simon specifically it's because he knew how great simon was going to be in the kingdom oh i'm trying to tell you we have some men who can be great in the kingdom of god but should not allow allowing god to to to control your life you're not allowing god to use you for his glory and for his honor amen somebody what we need so cheryl we need i i i got to come down there because i need to talk to i need to as i close this thing i need i need i need for us to understand that that that that we need christians here to join yeah yeah yeah yeah to be a part of the fat club i said we need we need christians i i'm particularly praying for my men amen sisters i'm not i'm not shorting you y'all wonderful i love you uh you guys are doing a great job amen somebody uh i don't know where we would be without you hey man so don't don't don't don't get me later amen somebody but i'm praying see when you look at men that's in the church and when i use the word church i'm using it universally i'm talking about denomination i'm talking about uh the church of christ i'm talking about just in religion as a whole men we just don't show up all the time is that okay i mean that that's a fair statement right amen somebody but let me let me tell you men of simpson street you have great power you have great ability you have a great opportunity to do some wonderful things for the lord but we need you to join the fat club somebody said what's the fat club faithful available and teachable oh y'all gonna help me here you need to be faithful it makes no sense that we haven't seen you on zoom are y'all gonna help me here hey man somebody and if you can't make gotten well some of us don't like technology got you covered can you pick up the phone because on tuesday night we have a conference telephone call bible study oh y'all gonna help me here amen somebody wait wait wait wait wait wait wait i'm gonna do you one better if wiz they don't work for you if tuesday don't work for you you tell me what works for you and we'll make it happen it don't get no better than that huh why because god wants us to grow in his grace and in his knowledge and for those who say well i'm just studying on my own that is a blatant disrespect to my elders because they are the shepherds of your soul and their god is gonna hold them accountable for what you hear and what you don't hear oh y'all gonna help me here amen somebody he he's praying for peter because peter is going to be great in the kingdom now let me close with this revelations revelations chapter two revelations chapter two uh we're gonna look at that church in ephesus we're gonna look at that church in ephesus and and this is your invitation this is this is this is what needs to happen amen somebody you got to go back to bethel you got to go back to bethel and when you go back to bethel go ahead and build that altar build that altar to the almighty god give god give god your life give god your your your your your everything put him first revelations revelations uh uh what verse do i want uh let's look at that he said write write this letter to the angels of the church in ephesus this is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and the one who walks among the seven golden uh lampstands come on come on come on he said i know all the things you do god knows everything that you and i what we're doing he said he knows it you i know i'm watching you i'm sitting high and i'm looking low he said i have seen your heart and and your patient endurance he said i know you don't tolerate evil people amen somebody when you're committed to god you don't tolerate evil people oh amen somebody he said you have examined he said you have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not if i could take out the word apostle without damaging the text and insert christians oh y'all gonna help me here in other words he said you have to examine the claims of those who say they are christians but are not in other words that statement is an indictment that statement lets me know that everybody who wears the name christian are not really truly christians that statement alone indicates that there is some characteristics some behaviors that's going to be conducive to a child of god and you first of all got to examine yourself i'm challenging you this morning to examine yourself is that all right come on come on let me see let me see let me see let me see let me see uh-huh and they are not you have discovered that they are liars come on come on he said he said he said you have patiently suffered from me without quitting y'all there's some of us that are just going through a whole lot of stuff and you are patiently enduring amen somebody there are times when you just don't want to get out to bed but you get out of the bed anyway why because you know you wanna you wanna you you wanna worship god amen somebody come on come on come on come on what's next what's next but he said i have this complaint against you he said i see all your good stuff i see what you're doing but i have a complaint well what's your complaint you don't love me or each other as you first did he said when i look at you you're doing all the right things but i have this one complaint you're not loving me like you used to amen somebody you're not loving me like you used to come on come on come on he said but look how far you have fallen you got to look you have to see you got to examine yourself how far you have fallen come on come on turn back to me and do the works you did at first amen somebody if you don't repent i will come and remove your lap stands from its place among the churches you don't want god to move you amen somebody you see let me let me just say this i mean we gon we gonna bid you we're gonna bid you good morning if you're not being used if you're not being used in the kingdom you need to ask yourself why amen somebody and if you want to be used here you have to be a part of the fat club faithful available and teachable not coming to a bible study i don't mean you are not teachable you ain't teachable we have not arrived yet i don't care how long you've been in the church amen somebody you still have to be teachable elders have to be teachable preachers have to be teachable deacons have to be teachable i sit in a class my elders sit in the class our senior minister sits in the class oh y'all gonna help me here and our classes are growing our members are growing their faith is growing my deacons are sitting in a class amen somebody why because we can't hold you accountable if we're not accountable amen somebody here is your challenge repent and go back to bethel remember your first love i said remember your first love the opportunity is yours huh if you're here and you're you're not a child of god guess what god wants you to be a part of the fat club yeah everybody has something to offer uh and god wants your offering whatever it is that your hands fine to do let's do it for god you've heard his word this morning the question now is do you believe it huh will you repent of your sins and repentance is a change of one's mind that will result in a change of action confess that sweetest name on earth that you believe that jesus christ is the son of god and that confession brought death for him but it'll bring everlasting life to you after you have completed your obedience and baptism and for those of us who are children of god all you got to do is change your mind and change your action and get back on track and let's do the things that god will have you and i to do is that all right i told you jacob's story is our story and when you look at jacob when jacob made up in his mind that he was going to go back to bethel took his family i said he took his family bring your family with you back to bethel bring your children amen somebody back to bethel show them that god is first in your life he said put away all your foreign gods amen somebody put them in the table so i can burn them because we had no business doing this anyway amen somebody and go back to bethlehem and build that altar because that altar i said that altar is where you worship god it's what you sacrifice amen somebody you sacrifice and you give god the preeminence in all things don't i'll beg i'm not too proud to bag but don't make me beg you to do what it is that you know that you're with so don't get caught out there stand with me and let's sing our invitation song you've been good to me jesus you've been good to me oh jesus you've been good to me you've been we come to a portion of our worship service where we freely give back a portion of what god has given to us in the 13th chapter in the 16th verse of hebrews the writer reminds us that god is happy when we freely give back the scripture reading says do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to god now let us go to our heavenly father for word of prayer dear merciful father we come before you at this hour first of all father thanking you for all the riches of life that you have provided to us you allowed us to lay in the very form of death on last evening and eliza allowed us to wake up this morning and for that we're truly thankful father you have given us means and opportunity to take care of ourselves and our families and we're truly thankful so father this time we freely give back a portion of that which you have shared with us with thankful father for the opportunity to share in your ministry and to be a part of it we ask that you will bless this offering your son jesus christ's name we humbly pray and we give thanks amen [Music] he opened up his heart and he led me [Music] i feel so good so new and strong all i can say is jesus [Music] and now we come to a portion of a worship service that we call communion this is the lord's supper this is an opportunity for us to remember the sacrifice that our lord made on our behalf he became sin even though he was without sin and gave his life for us the methane account the 26th chapter commencing the 26th through the 29th verse gives an account and the writer writes and as they were eating jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drinking all of it for this is my blood the new testament which is shared for many for the remission of sins but i say unto you i will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when i drink it new with you in my father's kingdom now shall we go to heavenly father in the word of prayer the gracious father we come before you thanking you for your darling son jesus christ thank you father for his love for you his obedience for you the father and his op the love that he had for us the father that he would give his life for us that he would become a lamb on the slaughter table dear father and so we thank the father for that because we know that it means life for us it means a new covetable relationship that we now have with you and so we thank you father we ask and pray to father that you will bless this broken bread which is your son's bruised body we pray to the lord that you will bless this fool of the vine which is your son's shed blood as we partake of the father we remember in your son jesus christ's name we humbly pray and we give thanks amen now let us partake of the sacrament and shall we close our worship service today bow with me for a moment merciful father we thank you for bringing us together in your household of faith today to worship you through your son jesus christ lord as we close our service this morning we pray that our worship has been acceptable before you may we continue steadfast in your word and use it for the glory of your holy name and now by the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy ghost rest rule and abide within us hence forth now and forevermore amen [Music] won't it be wonderful there [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] having no [Music] won't it be [Music] won't it be wonderful then you

Channel: Simpson Street Church of Christ Atlanta

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Length: 59min 38sec (3578 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021