Grove Live

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning good morning good morning grove family this is the day that the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it stand to your feet if you know that god woke you up this morning and he started you on your way [Music] we bring you greetings from grove church today love to all of you who are listening who are at home thank you all for coming here today thank you father for having us have your way in this service let us pray together father we love you we adore you we honor we lift you have your way in this service and have your way in our lives lord there are people here that at the sound of our voice who may be struggling today they may be suffering with loss and grief not understanding why things are not the way that they used to be but father we ask that you keep them keep us keep us focused on your word lord when we keep our hands in your hands there's nothing too hard for you lord let us focus on you you are peace you are our strength like no other lord god we ask that you have your way in the service have your way in our lives [Music] it is in jesus precious name that we say amen amen how many of you know this is communion sunday yes it is good news to know that he shed his blood for you and me doesn't it matter how many initials you have by your name you might have 10 12 initials guess what it reaches to the highest amen and maybe you feel like you're destitute and people look over you and you might not be all that people think you should be but guess what the blood it flows to the lowest valley that means he has no respecter of persons that means the blood reaches us all amen so minister with us today as we [Music] we sing that god you are our strength like no other can i get a can i get away how many of you know that he is your strength like no other like no other in his blood reaches you are my strength strength the light no other strength like no other it reaches me you are my strength strength reaches to me y'all help me sing it now you are my strength sing it like it's your testimony sing to your father today [Applause] my strengths [Music] and it reaches [Music] and the fullness of your grace and the power of your name you lift me up with those hands together that's my testimony [Music] me if this is your testimony sing to your father today can't make [Music] and it reaches me [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me me me is [Music] [Music] my strengths [Music] [Music] god you are my strength [Music] reach us the blood it reaches to the highest mountains and it reaches to me come on if you have big and you know say amen if you love the lord say amen come on we just want to give him some praise can you join with me can you join with me in appreciating god because he becomes our strength i'm not sure how many of you have ever felt weak despondent felt as though you can no longer at this moment do what you've always done yesterday you passed the test but today too many things are happening but how many of us can testify that the lord became our strength come on the lord became our strength [Music] moments when words escaped us moments when our academic excellence wasn't enough moments when friends moments when our bff wasn't available but god was always more than our bff he became that strength in the midst of the battle and many of us have won the battles because the lord became our strength because we knew we couldn't do it alone and we give out god honor and praise but you you may be seated for a moment you know i was wanted to share with you just our intentional scripture we've had prayer and i thank god for our praise leadership and praying this morning i just want to leave you with this scripture because it just kind of goes in line with our focus for the day and we want to try to tie in we tie in not try we tie in our music and our prayers and our sermons together so it can be linked up it can be have some sense of synergy moving us from one place to another and hopefully closer to god and psalm 3 verses two through six in the new living translation powerful levitt it says this so many are saying god will never rescue him those are the people who are speaking against you those are the people who who said that they knew you didn't have it as good as you had it these are individuals who are laughing at your cameron situation so many are saying god will never rescue him but you o lord are a shield around me you are my glory and the one who holds my head high i cried out to the lord and he answered me from his holy mountain i laid down and slept yet i woke up in safety for the lord was watching over me i am not afraid of ten thousand enemies who surround me on every side why because we can put our trust in god can we just clap and give god a hand of appreciation you are my glory you are my glory god you are my glory god you are my glory you are my glory [Music] and you hold my head high you hold my head high the only thing you can see at your feet is dirt but when you lift your head to the heels from which come with your health when you just hold up your head god the word says that god holds my head [Music] high and i can see more now i can experience more now because the lord holds my head high and you got to get this today he said i cried to the lord he answered me from his holy mountain you got to get that you got to get that he answers me from a place higher than my situation then it says i laid down and i slept and then i woke up in safety okay y'all i'm sorry y'all didn't get that i went to bed i had these things on my mind but i gave it to god and i woke up in safety which means that what the enemy thought they were going to do to me while i rested didn't happen okay okay for the lord who was watching over me he's watching he's watching over you i hope that you would just receive this scripture and find the ability to relax in god we call it peace and christendom peace means really to relax and trust god so i hope that you find this moment to relax in god to have peace in god that we would not simply hear the word but can't live the word come on receive the peace walk in the peace acknowledge it right now that god i can't fix it i don't even understand it and your word says be anxious for nothing but in everything lord we give you thanks we praise you and we let our request be made known to you thank you thank you lord that we are no longer afraid of the ten thousand things around us because we went to bed and we slept and woke up in safety if you can keep us in our subconscious state we know that you can keep us in our conscious state of being alive thank you [Music] that we are no longer intimidated by their words no longer afraid to walk in the strength of your power we resist the human nature of giving up too soon and god if you ride the storm with us we'll ride the storm out with you in jesus name hallelujah amen church amen hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah dying the glory hallelujah amen glory glory amen praise god somebody praise god ah listen man god is amazing god thank you for being here this morning and sharing this moment with us physically and those who are watching virtually thank you for simply your sacrifice with us as we are the corporate body of christ all of the world people are celebrating this day this jesus we serve this lord who governs us and we thank you again for just submitting to god and to share with us in this glorious beautiful day this sunday how many of you determined to make this the best sunday of your week okay but with pastor pastor marinette we only get one well that's why you should make it the best sunday of the week because you only get one sunday per week i want to just acknowledge those of you who are present today and uh first time guest with us if you're at home watching uh virtually you can always kind of highlight we have people who are ministering to you online if you just want to go ahead and just say i'm a visitor to this i'm a guest for the first time we will respond to you and let you know that we indeed appreciate you tuning in and sharing this moment with other individuals but if you're a first time guest we aren't going to ask you to say anything i remember in the old church you would stand up and tell a test a lie because you know you didn't have a pastor nor church uh they would ask you what church you go try and go to church if i had a church i wouldn't be here but we want you to stand up for a moment because we want to acknowledge you and just say thank you for coming and we have a gift for you first time guests are you present today anywhere you are we love you thank you for sharing this moment with us thank you our leadership [Music] [Music] happiness [Music] amen i mean once you get your gift you may take your seat but we want you to remain standing because we want you received a gift and and to celebrate your life and we hope that your life uh is in christ and christ is in you and if not we want you to know that we love you and we want to invite you to walk with us and getting to know jesus christ you may be seated thank you again for sharing this woman with us we love you to life i just want to share before our video announcements before our video announced we want to just kind of share um those of you who are celebrating this first sunday of the month those of you are celebrating the anniversary or birthday do you mind standing for a moment and just man celebrate yourself no one else will anniversaries and birthdays in the month of october [Music] i think amen thank you for celebrating yourself because if no one is if you don't no one else will because if it's not important to you it's not important to them and so start to learn to celebrate yourself today so we thank god i hope you have a prosperous day and a prosperous week uh on our keyboards and in fact um matthew's in the back matthew is is a teacher um in in on the peninsula i think is heritage phoebus i'm sorry i don't say that he's a phoebus look at how dr well he's dressed today usually he's casual with jeans uh and some converse on you know but look at him today he just got married so his wife made him dress up i mean a good woman will make you change some things won't it come on anybody a good woman will make you dress up and look your best oh you know yeah you can't leave the house any kind of way you can't you can't leave the house any kind of way you just gotta put something on to recognize that you are mine congratulations my brother congratulations listen i'm gonna get out of the way because we got uh something to take care of but come on receive now our video announcements and we kind of share with you information that may really help you grow in christ and i hope that you will listen and govern yourselves as the old pastor would say accordingly peace [Music] good morning grove family and welcome to sunday morning worship we're so excited that you decided to join us to hear yet another powerful message from god through our senior pastor dr melvin o mariner and don't forget if you're tuning in online be sure to share this message with your friends growth partners this month is national depression and mental health screening awareness month you don't have to do life alone our growth groups either on tuesdays at 12 noon in person or wednesdays at 7 pm on zoom is here to help and foster community many divorced or separated men and women walk through the hurt alone absent of the council needed to help through the healing process divorce care is a discreet and confidential ministry meeting virtually every tuesday at 6 45 pm go to divorcecare.com to connect or call our office for more details for full details of our upcoming events visit our website facebook and instagram pages at growthchurchva.com remember there is no place like grove [Music] amen amen listen um many of us are being queued up there's some things that i learned um in this virtual experience and i hope that you would just allow us to be free some things that we learned and things we learned that while we're streaming live we are we always getting cued on when you come up don't let that disturb you or distract you because we're just making sure that we engage those who are watching online uh with this wonderful moment that you are present in so come on let's share together uh in this time together as we celebrate the lord and celebrate what the lord has done you know um when i think about his gift to us the bible says to us the lord god loved us so much that he gave he gave his only begotten son it was his son's duty or responsibility to be obedient to god his father and through the challenges of his personal life and can you imagine being a young boy and being 12 years old and other kids are laughing at you because they heard that your mother thought she was impregnated by the holy spirit kids making fun of him and he's having to now look around and try to identify his strengths to walk in his purpose while other kids laughed at him and said joseph really is not your father your mom has some issues going on but jesus stayed faithful to his task he stayed faithful to what god has called him to do it wasn't easy so let me make sure you understand that what jesus has done wasn't easy the bible said that in the garden of gethsemane he cried and the tears were as drops of blood i can only imagine the anxiety and the pain he felt going to his three brothers just his three close friends peter james and john and looking at them and saying to them listen can't y'all stay up with me and pray me through this heavy burden that i have to carry we all understand that sometimes the life will give you those crushing burdens but just as jesus does he depends on his father and he understood because the night before he was betrayed see some things you got to do before you are betrayed so you can handle the betrayal let me say it again some things you gotta prepare for so you can handle it when it comes and you aren't looking and hoping that it come but just in case he knew that he had to face the cross and after his respect for the traditional passover meal jesus says i respect tradition but let me make this relevant and the lord then he took the cup and the bread that he had with him and the lord simply understood this is the time that god has given me i want to pray with you because the word of god says that we must search ourselves and ask god to forgive us for anything we have done wrong i'm grateful that god will forgive he will give you the strength the night he was betrayed he sat with the disciples all of them all 12 even jude is the one who was about to turn them in betray him he sat with peter the one who was about to deny him he sat with thomas the one who was not going to believe that he would rise again he sat in the same room with them and he took the bread [Music] and he took the cup father thank you for what you've done but most of all thank you for who you are and we believe now god that you want us to live up to your standard of believing that you are able to do what you've started in us be able to finish you're able to complete now god we humbly submit ourselves to you we ask for forgiveness of thought and action and we ask your lord god that you will give us one more chance to do better today than we did yesterday we ask you now god that you will forgive all the things that we did not do the words of kindness the act of kindness that we should have demonstrated but god all things are now passed away and we cannot repair what was but we can do something with what is now god help us to move forward with your peace in jesus name amen that night he took the bread representing his body if you're home with us you might not have what we have here but you can run to the kitchen and get a graham cracker or whatever you might have because these are number symbols of his body jesus took the bread he lifted toward heaven and he blessed it which means he asked god to consecrate it for his new use he then broke it and gave to them to eat y'all of it we now eat the word of god together [Music] john says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god then he took the cup symbolizing you might use water or whatever you may have at home whatever you have is only a symbol of his blood in the old days they used lambs and pigeons to ask god to forgive us of our sins but jesus christ said no longer do you need a unblemished lamb you got me jesus said my blood will be shed for you on calvary i don't know how many of you are feeling his presence now but your my blood will be shed for you on calvary because i love you that much you love me god all the stuff i've done and said wrong you love me yes i do he took the cup he said drink me all of it for in it it's remission of sin [Music] and the whole church said amen the bible says they sung him and went out to the mount of olives so as pastor bell would usually say we don't have a amount of hours to go to but you have a neighborhood you have your workplace your colleagues and you have your playground that you might share the love of christ jesus with all those that you encounter amen amen as we worship god in this moment of sacrificial giving and of ourselves to him through remembering him through the cup and through the bread we pause for a moment now to ask you to prepare your hearts to give online you find many ways to give [Music] and let me just say this that many of us have come from an old school and we were taught certain things that need to be shifted or changed you don't pay your tithe you give or present your tithe we aren't paying god for what he's done as though it's a tax it's not a tax it's just simply an obedient act that god calls you into and then the lord asks a promise to your tithe and your offering he says if you do it with a cheerful heart i'll give back to you running over press down shaken together so god says it's it's not it's not just about your money it's about your heart it's about recognizing what i've already done in your life and now what i'm about to do there's somebody here right now just got blessed because of their past giving and they're walking now in the overflow that god has already promised them in their lives so when you pray with me father thank you now that we give in to your name we don't pay we don't give it in debt but god we present it to you we bring it to the storehouse oh god we send it through cash app but lord we present our gifts to you they belong to you now god they're yours to be used now god pray for our leadership that we will use them for the betterment of your kingdom and those who are on earth and in jesus name we do pray amen come on let's do the giving right now as our leaders come the praise team come back our leader is going to come and we're going to share with you this moment and i just need your prayers today i really do i want to thank you again for all your prayers and cards and gifts for celebrating 32 years if you like me i am i i was blessed but i'm so glad that's over i am so glad that's over you know i don't like being a center of attention i do what i do because god has called me um but i'm learning to accept the blessings of god i don't want to be disobedient so i'm learning to accept that and so people say well you know it's your first sunday back after five sundays and so i'm excited about that people say i know you're gonna wreck the house you're gonna kill it and i just said no i'm not gonna put that pressure on myself i'm not in competition with the five pastors who were before me i'm just me come on see the offering the praise team comes [Music] so [Music] you lord you are worthy [Music] and no one can worship you for me for all the things you've done for me [Music] give my worship [Music] all of my worship [Music] my worship [Music] lord you are and no one can worship you for me [Music] things you've done for me [Music] [Applause] is [Music] let's do it again [Music] [Music] and i will [Music] [Music] i will always [Music] i will [Music] [Applause] [Music] i will always [Music] i will always i will [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] boys [Music] [Music] oh all of my words [Music] found [Music] of him or [Music] entering [Music] fire [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] holy ground oh [Music] [Music] all of my worship [Music] [Applause] all of my worship is my worship [Music] all of my worship [Music] [Music] this is everybody [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] this room [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] receive our worship [Music] all of our worship is our worship all of our worship please receive our worship all of our words [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Music] all of our is [Music] [Music] all of my [Music] [Music] i [Music] [Music] as i am i got breath in my body i will always worship you [Music] i will i am [Music] [Music] will not be [Applause] as long as i am [Music] is [Music] hmm [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign for the last several weeks while i had the opportunity to sit back and be preached too i had struggled with how i would re-enter the preaching moment many were telling me that when you get back you know you gotta really preach and give us a shout you have to let them know that you still pastor to show the people that you still got it after 32 years for several weeks i i fought against that because god and i were in the midst of a tug of war i shared this with two of our leaders the other day that i didn't feel the urgency to come back and show people after 32 years that i could still shut down the house slay them which means simply get them to shout and be happy and then go home saying didn't he preach yes he preached but what did he preach i don't know but he showed up preached and i must be honest with you as i spoke with our leaders day and i said this is what i'm struggling with i want to just stand flat-footed and just talk because i have a burden in my heart as a preacher not to entertain we have done quite a bit of that but but i found out that transformation is not always seeing through our praise for one can praise out of a burden but one cannot live unless you've been transformed and i wanted to come today to just talk to you about salvation and walking with god and what that really feels like versus getting us to shout and dance and clapping feel that momentary climax of excitement but many of my colleagues will tell you that after we have preached sermons that entice your emotions many people leave our churches still wounded and not knowing how to live through the day much less tomorrow i wondered lord what is it lord that we're doing that they enjoy the celebration but they don't understand the power of your presence we love the blessing we are a blessed people and i said to them i want to show them that god is not just a situational god he is a relational god and it's not about how many people we get into our churches because there are some strong spiritual warriors who won't ever enter the building because of all the isms and stuff we got going on about this wrong and that's wrong and you can't do this and you can't wear that and all of these things we have put on christ unforgiving partial in our love unless it benefits me and i struggled with this they said after you know what you're going to do just stand flat-footed and just talk and i want to share this particular scripture with you and i'll start my conversation with you and the scripture is found in acts 18 verses 24 through 26 and it gives me the foundation for my conversation with you today because i don't want a pax church but an empty soul i don't want to be known as a mega church and not touch the heart of the people of god we do church well we join boards and commissions and ministries we do things we do it we do actions we do it but so many of us can't handle life [Music] here it is in acts 18 it says a man named apollos he came to ephesus he was a jew born in alexandria egypt and a terrific speaker eloquent and powerful in his preaching of the scripture he was well educated in the ways of master or the lord and fiery in his enthusiasm apollos was accurate in everything he taught about jesus up to a point but he only went as far as the baptism of john he preached with power in the meeting place but when priscilla and aquila husband and wife duo heard him they took him aside and told him the rest of the story you may be seated today my conversation if if i can get it out of my heart through my mouth and to you i will be satisfied i want to talk today about the rest of the story okay okay pastor omar said pastor just preached don't worry about the amends today just preach that's what i'm gonna do this conversation that i want to have with you is about this man who was eloquent who was powerful in his preaching well educated committed to his daily task responsibility religiously he was accurate in everything he taught about jesus up to a point but he only went as far as the baptism of john the baptist he preached with power in the meeting place but when priscilla and aquila heard him they took him aside and told him the rest of the story i had lee to take my crutch away you know i want to start this because i don't want to stand and just preach to you like usually because really that's not my style i have learned through seminary and through homolytics how to prepare a sermon and how to deliver one especially to a congregation full of black folk to get to the point of the introduction that has to captivate them to draw them in build your three points and then you have a climax and you shout them so they can go home while there's nothing wrong with that particular style of teaching preaching it helped get me closer to christ i come now asking you to hear something else because our preaching can't just be entertaining to you it has to have the ability to sustain you and i've learned that many who come to church week after week love the lord but don't know how to apply the principles because the principles are not just abstract from the relationship you can't be faithful and you can't be submissive unless you know who you are being faithful and submissive to we do church we do it well but too many of our youth are growing up knowing about the name of jesus but never knowing jesus it was in 2020 when i decided in a conversation with shelly to get a new vehicle i said it's time to trade in my xj jaguar because my son cortland and his wife jessica are having babies and i can't have these car seats and pick them up in a jaguar and so i went and purchased an suv some call it the grandpa mobile i purchased it because now i simply got tied of rotting in luxury but unable to carry those who needed to be carried it was a challenge to come out of a luxury vehicle and step up into an suv but one thing about the vehicle that i always do i take the owner's manual and i read it from cover to cover i read the thick book from cover to cover it may take me several weeks but i read it from cover to cover because i don't want to have a vehicle with all of these features and not know how to use them i was able to purchase a vehicle but now it took some reading and labor and some application for me now to be able to put the things i read into practice that i might have the fulfillment of my vehicle and all of its features i not only read the parking assist push a button and it parks for you but i also read the part about how to change the tire on this vehicle in case you ever have a flat stay with me many of us enjoy the features of a vehicle and our salvation but not enough of us have the strength or knowledge to change attire in the rain in the sun or in the midnight hour what god wants to do for us is not only have us to enjoy the blessings but also to be able to endure in hardships and suffer with jesus christ our text today as i try to walk this out pastors i the text today is about a young man named apollos apollos came to ephesus he was a jew born in alexandria egypt he was a eloquent speaker preacher well educated in the way of the lord walk with me he was a lively affectionate preacher fervent in spirit he was full of zeal for the glory of god and he was thankful for what he had learned through john the baptist he was preaching the gospel he was preaching what john taught him but now he has to find out that what he was preaching was incomplete help me he was a complete man of god thoroughly committed to his assignment that his assignment did not and could not give him the assurance of the gospel i want to say this because most of us are so caught up in our assignment that we are actually missing the relationship with god and the assignment is simply the mandate to be responsible for the lives of others that they might see god through us but we must be careful because many of us are trapped in the assignment the actions the doing of what looks churchy that not enough of us are actually caught up in the essence of who god is because if you aren't careful your assignment will become so perplexing so at moments convoluted that you lose all your passion and hope for god because you lost passion for your assignment your assignment is not your relationship yo okay here this man named apollos was working hard he was doing it but when priscilla and aquila heard it they heard that he had zeal compassion he was out there on the front line but they also knew that if he didn't get the rest of the story he would end up on the sideline irrelevant and ineffective tired of not getting the full features out of what was purchased on the cross and i'm submitting to you today if you don't get angry with me today is that there are too many of us who sit in our churches who are enjoying the features but they can't handle putting gas in the vehicle y'all i'm i'm not coming at you i'm coming at me i'm not coming to anybody i'm just preaching today y'all gonna help me it says that he was very familiar with the way of the lord and the word is or the usage the way of the lord or the way of the master is used in a half technical sense he only had john the baptist's gospel the gospel of john the baptist was there is one coming after me who is preferred before me whose shoes i am unworthy to unlace john's gospel was simply preparing the way but he did not see the end of what god did on the cross apollos is preaching but apollos does not have the complete gospel he's only satisfied with what he knows and that is john's gospel where john was beheaded cut off from seeing all the miracles of jesus cut off from hearing about the consuming experience where jesus is struggling with god and self he didn't understand how jesus allowed those who were hurt him and betray him to sit at a meal with him in loving them and not passing judgment john didn't see how christ purchased forgiveness salvation on the cross y'all okay okay let me let me state let me here it is john only had partial because he wasn't there to see the complete story and apollos is preaching a message of conviction that he's happy to know that jesus was coming and christ would give his life but he never actually knew about christ about what it meant meant to him to now have the blood of christ flow over his head down to the skirts of his garment are y'all still with me here it is now because i i want to share this with you because apollos is preaching and he's teaching but yet his gospel is incomplete to the point now that priscilla and aquila heard him they took him aside this is called evangelism taking the youngsters aside and having a conversation with them to make their lives better if you follow me notice what it says it says they took him aside and told him the rest of the story they didn't pass condemnation and two me in the church are passing condemnation on the young people and when the young people don't know the same christ that you know because you never taught them about the jesus christ who was buried who died and buried and rose again oh lord am i getting in trouble we taught our kids about meshech chat right now bendigo we talked them about daniel in the lion's den we're talking about david fighting goliath but we never talk to them about the power of what jesus has done on calvary and the power of his resurrection that makes us sustainable in the moments that we live in y'all gotta help me let me i'm struggling y'all help me there is so much more than church life i want you to come to church i don't want you to stop watching but there's so much more than church life religion religious assignments religion comes after your spiritual conviction let me say it again religion should come after your spiritual conviction to help maintain your choice for salvation for example i'm religious about praying in the morning and in the evening i'm religious about my devotions i'm delivering religious about praying and studying god's word daily my religious activity simply helps me confirm my choice in jesus but i can't put religion before i put my relationship with him religion is do's and don'ts you're dressed too short you're dressed too long it's too tight as though that is the first thing you think about when you see a sister struggling in the flesh y'all help me y'all help me religion comes after your spiritual conviction and i definitely i definitely want you to keep embracing the body of christ but understand this many of us have made an idol out of the body and we have dethroned jesus from the head can i get can't be honest today can i just be honest y'all get me honest we do more church branding how can we rebrand the church how can we rebrand the past every church that's doing it we got billboards facebooks all this stuff wow we want to brand our local church but we don't want to brand jesus some of you all know more about me and my life than you know about jesus and the life he has for you i don't have a heaven or hell to give you put you in my fight i'm just like you i'm trying to make my life on earth worthwhile and worth the blood of jesus we spend our time branding because we live in a society that really really doesn't care about jesus as a head as long as the body gets what we want y'all help me y'all y'all gotta help me y'all help me you'll help me if christ is only a situational crutch to make us feel better or is he actually the source of your strength identity and even your future worship and honoring the created the church and not the creator worshiping a god that transcends time traditions habits hang-ups and hurts that's what worship is about worship isn't about the songs or even the preaching those things have leads you up into god's presence but how many of us get we stop at the song and the preaching of the word as though we have worshiped worship does not take place until you cry out lord i submit i surrender i give up have your way with me even now i i don't want to put you all to sleep i don't want to put you all to sleep today i don't i don't want to put you all to sleep but i'm saying that not enough of us are enjoying the features of our vehicle called salvation nor are we learning how to handle the things that will happen as you journey through this life if you have a vehicle long enough you will have a flat tire if you if you have a vehicle long enough you will need to exchange the oil [Laughter] if you have a vehicle long enough every now and then in virginia you must get it inspected and not enough of us like inspection we love to give the exam y'all help okay we want to give the exam but not be inspected okay okay i know you i know y'all won't come back next week but that's all right i'm gonna get you while you're here i gotta share these scriptures with you because now understand in colossians 1 18 it says as he is the head of the body the church is on the screen who is the beginning the first born from the dead that is all things he might have preeminence notice what it says as he is the head of the body you have to give more attention to the head than you give to the body it is the body that oftentimes interrupts the flow from the head we get so bothered by those in the body your friends your family your cousins your mama your daddy your ex your this your that we get so frustrated with them that we can't hear the head y'all okay it's just me yo we we get so caught up in everything going around us that we are actually missing what their head is telling us to be and the head is saying lift up your heads o ye gates and lift them up the everlasting doors and the king of glory shall come in and the word of god is to provoke a question who is this king of glory see what god does for you is to provoke a question who is the king of glory and then you respond he is the lord strong and mighty this word is that we share with you even in galatians 5 i have some scripture to share with you today galatians 5 verse 1 it says stand fast therefore in the liberty and the freedom and the emancipation where with christ has made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage that means that you have the choice not to go back to the same things you just regurgitated now that takes some time i'm i'm out am i lying that takes some time but you must put the time in you all know my story when i got saved i had a bottle of a fifth of bacardi rum and a bag of weed that that numbing that i was i was 20 years old i was still doing my in the world i was doing my thing that's what i knew how to cope with life i i had it in my car i i poured the liquor out but kept the weed just in case my feelings about god wasn't real i didn't want to waste the weed but i kept on studying and when god got me to the place where i was addicted and i desired to have this stuff change my mindset because i didn't have anything on the inside to help me live and fight in this world and when christ got a hold of me see i got a hold of him initially but then he got hold of me see you get a hold of christ first but then let go here it is christ is here you hold christ but then you let him go but when christ gets a hold of you christ said i'm not going to let you go no matter what you do wherever you go i'm going with you okay and that's what happened that's why now i i know i might get frustrated with god i i might get angry with god i i might say god i'm gonna i'm gonna ignore you for a week or so or a day or so but it's gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt god because god gonna be the same as he was yesterday today and forever more so me ignoring god isn't gonna hurt god it's gonna hurt me me saying god i'm not gonna talk to you today is it gonna bother god it's gonna bother my life and my peace when god got a hold of me i was able to release the burden of having to drink to have peace or having to smoke in order to relax get the munches okay i'm sorry but but what i'm saying is you got to get this stand fast because god has liberated you he is free to you and even though every now and then you go back to what god says remember you're free okay you go back okay no and guess what happens you get better and better and there will be a point in your life when you look at it you'll say no i don't even know but you have to be willing to endure the days after days after days of temptation centering your hopes not only on the blessings of god and only on the principles of godly righteousness but centering your hopes on god's presence how many men all women in here you don't just want to be a piece of meat to the one who say they love you don't you don't want to because if you go through life like i've gone when shelley married me i was six foot three i was muscular and i bore i had biceps like i mean my i was i was i was a mr america and weightlifting forgive me lord i'm just joking lord i'm just joking but as you get older things change you don't want people to fall out of love with you because you are changing physically do you love is more than i'm gonna try my very best to stay in shape now i'm gonna try i'm gonna try but she tell you when i get home and pull these shoes off i'm like lord jesus my feet hurt i don't know what to do but it comes with age so what i'm suggesting to you now is that you must center your hopes on christ who never changes god must become irresistible to you through the life of his son jesus christ you must get to the point and say grandma he is sweeter some of y'all where y'all where y'all where y'all what y'all my age focus he's sweeter than one he know y'all y'all don't remember that's how y'all forgot stuff he's sweeter than honey on a honeycomb y'all some church food y'all i got 10 more men in a minute y'all got to stay with me y'all y'all okay i don't care not enough you know even though god is this listen even though god is the same today even though god is the same now as he was then the question must be raised do we know more about him now since then okay y'all just missed y'all i am not simply referring to the blessings that are associated with god but rather the relationship with god through the sacrifice of jesus as introduced by the holy spirit in matthew 13 i love this it says there was a farmer matthew 13 verse 3. there was a farmer who planted a seed as he scattered the seed some of it fell on a road and the birds ate it some fell in the gravel it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots so when the sun came out came up it withered just as quickly some fell in the weeds and they came up and they were strangled by the weeds some fell on good earth and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams what am i saying you must know where you are planted a farmer planted he scatter seed and some seed fell on the road that means safe on the road they couldn't take root so when we preach and teach if you aren't fertile if you aren't open to god using you and loving you then when it falls on you it falls on a hard heart okay okay i gotta move on i gotta move on i got about two more minutes what does it say about this text what does it say about where i want to go because i struggled and i looked at i said god i i know people love you or they like you i think more of us i think most people like god because love is something deeper you know if i have a infatuation that means that i like you for the moment but it doesn't produce a long-lasting relationship god is often treated as a vending machine we're generally looking at the snacks and making our selection that quickly satisfies our immediate hunger but doesn't offer much in nutritional and eternal value okay i think this is just we we see god as a vending machine we see snacks push a1 salt and vinegar chips push b2 twinkie full of sugar 425 calories thank you but what i'm suggesting to you is that we must get rid of a form of godliness they know what a form of godliness is i can play this church thing as long as i'm in church and around church people but when i get in the real world i'll just be me but being you is not big enough strong enough to handle the day stuff that comes at you what am i saying you got to go deeper than just knowing about god knowing about jesus and understanding that you are seeking a relationship how many of you have ever been in a healthy relationship i mean when you first meet you talk all night long some of y'all fall asleep on the phone you still you're still here yeah i'm here you you've been asleep and you've been okay y'all forgot about those days y'all forgot about the day remember when you just enjoyed going dancing together even though he couldn't dance you just enjoyed him being on the dance floor with you because he's your man yeah yeah and i think that we have a form of godliness which means that we we put on a good show at times but we don't really have the power of god i i love saying corinthians it says they will hold to the outward form of the religion they will hold to the outward form of religion but reject its real power i'm saying this for you today because i want i want you to not only survive i want you to start thriving in the very thing that once had you bound i want you to live a life where people will look at you and wonder what makes you so strong and you tell them nobody but god i'm almost there i'm pastor i'm doing the best i can there's something i want you to write down there is a drastic difference between human optimism and biblical hope a lot of us have human optimism it's going to be all right but what if it's not can you survive i remember i remember my mom was sick and people telling me you know she's gonna be all right she's gonna have a testimony and she's gonna live through this thing my mom had pancreatic cancer my mama died within less than six months of being diagnosed with prostate cancer people telling me when she going she's gonna do this but because i knew christ because i knew him intimately i knew there was a possibility she wouldn't make it through i prepared myself to keep her because i always had her but i also prepared myself to lose her and then deal with the pain you got to deal with the pain you got to deal with the hurt you got to deal with the frustration it won't go away even if you suppress it it comes back up you got to deal with the hurt how do i deal with the pain of losing someone i love you deal with it because you know god isn't finished with you you deal with the you cry you grieve but you then allow the holy spirit to give you quickening power and say god you can get me through this i cried every day i cried every day i sat in a corner in the bathroom and cried every day lord don't let this happen and what do you do when it happens when god says i won't take it away or make it better he says my grace is sufficient and that's why people quit ministry so easily because they're more influenced by the body than they are by the head okay i got i got a clue romans 1 16 says for i am not ashamed of the gospel of jesus for it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes everyone who believes i mean i i gotta i got something to scripture but i can't read them all i wanted to read you this one here because because the word of god lets us know that you can continue even if you're suffering jeremiah 20 verse 9 says jeremiah said i will not make mention because the assignment became now so toxic for jeremiah that jeremiah gets to a place i mean come on i mean god is wonderful but sometimes god's plan come on jesus shucks you know anybody say come on jesus shucks okay give me come on jesus talk to jesus come on jesus come in you know come on man come on come on jesus jeremiah gets to a place where he is so overwhelmed because what he thought and wanted to happen didn't happen that jeremiah got mad at god over the assignment but jeremiah got middle to simon but something wouldn't let him quit and it's listed in jeremiah 20 verse 9 it says then i said i will not make mention of him god nor speak any more in his name oh hold on i'm going to shout but his word was in my heart not heart in my heart as a it's on the screen y'all can read as a what burning fire shut up in my bones and i was wearing with forbearing and i could not stay where i was cause jeremiah learned i got more than infatuation i got more than a superficial relationship i got him so deep in my bones it burns me when i can't do what he wants me to do it's so deep it's so deep it's so deep it's so deep even when you don't speak to me i'm still gonna live my life and so in closing i i i i don't know what y'all got to tell but this relationship must be deeper because christ is a friend he's a friend remember the song we're seeing i love our i love our new songs but they change every week and i mean i love them young i love i do i love them i i i love the new song i do i love them boy they're good they get you going you know but you can't beat a hymn young folk i'm not i'm not coming against our up-to-date music i love me i listen i listen all i love all kind of music i listen i listen to all music rap i all love it i find what i like and find out what i don't like i discard it i listen to all of it uh but but on him or him oh it just transcends generations what a friend we have in jesus name no no no no no hold on those aren't just male words you can't you know what a friend we have in jesus all our sins and grief to bear and what a privilege to carry everything to god in prayer oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to god in prayer have we trials and temptation is their trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged take it to the lord in prayer can [Music] we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share jesus knows our every weakness take it [Music] to the lord in prayer that connected us to the root of who god was and who god is i'ma leave you alone now so stand on your feet church with me who is christ who is god he's more than going to church put it on church clothes who is he god is the first and the last the beginning and the ending the architect of all that is he always was always is and always will be undefeated unwavering in his protection and unconditional in his love he's moses rod abraham's ram in the bush he's noah's ark samson's strength rahab's second chance ezekiel's wheeled in the middle of a wheel he's jacob's vision of a ladder going higher and higher he was bruised [Music] for my iniquity he was wounded for my transgressions the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his strikes we are healed his power is undeniable his presence is eternal he will never leave you nor forsake you for he's our savior jesus went to calvary to save a ranch like you and like me that's love they said that's love they hung him high and they stretched him wide he hung his head and for me he died that's love that's love but that's not how the story is three days later he rose again that's love that's love and that's our god he's more than baptist he's more than church of god in christ he's more than presbyterian or catholic he's more than amz united methodist he's god all by himself and god wants you to know who he is and not just have a part of john's gospel isn't he all right isn't he all right isn't he all right and the church said amen so don't be satisfied with just knowing your pastors and your church leaders get to know the person of the holy spirit i mean get to know read god's word study god's word from cover to cover learn how to fix a flat learn the features of having the full arm of god on and what that does to your identity learn how to live your life not being afraid because god walks with you and god talks with you and god tells you you are his own [Music] thank you for listening allowing me to just talk this long what i just needed i needed god to trust me with the uncomfortable i needed god to trust me with his word i needed god god we trust god but god wants to trust us he wants to trust you not to be perfect but at least trying to do better so if you're here today you don't know jesus christ as your savior oh lord if you caught and you all you know is john the baptist gospel that's incomplete if all you know is mama's or grandmama's religion that's not enough you have to get to know jesus christ intimately for yourself if you're here come on you can walk down or go to your cell phones and put in 31 31 31 you don't even have to move but please don't leave the day the same way you came in because god cannot give revelation to those who don't respect transformation you can't get it and no god doesn't care about your cigarettes he doesn't care about what's on your breath right now god doesn't even care about who you slept with last night what god does care about is are you willing to make him the center of your life right now and if you are he will help you get through life if you're here right now you're to come as a lord i give my life to you i still got some isms i still got some stuff the lord i want to give my life to you and as we as we prepare to leave i want you to become i want you to become aquila or priscilla listen i want you to become priscilla and aquila to start to evangelize listen to me to start to evangelize to people about the power of the holy spirit [Music] because we're losing too many people we're losing too many young people and we can't tell them just get a job and as that's all money isn't all that gives us hope know plenty but we're money but they're miserable and they're broken so hear me now thank you for giving me time to just talk to you today and i hope you go home and study i know the game coming on i know i know go home and study when the game go off you know then you study some more but you must surrender your life at some point young folk god doesn't want to take your youth away from you he doesn't want to take your youth away from you saying you can't experience certain things that are not hazardous to your health he wants you to have fun he wants you to have enjoy campus life if you order workforce but he wants to give you something within thank you for listening today now i'm in the grace of our lord and savior jesus christ the communion of his holy spirit rested about with you now and forevermore and the whole church said amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] 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Channel: Grove Church

Views: 1,054

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Id: yNdYPfdLeYU

Length: 124min 20sec (7460 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021