How Do You Respond When God Says No? | Rev. Anthony Copeland

listen i've been sent here today for an assignment and so i came to do what thus said the lord i'm i'm a baptist preacher i'm from the old school i believe in preaching the word of god and uh if you're looking for anything different uh you can wait to next time around but on today you have me amen and i'll be out of your hair uh in at least 30 minutes no more than that and so then i want you to pray with me that god will have his way in this place there's a word i want to lift according to the pauline epistle according to 2nd corinthians chapter 12 and if you will go there with me briefly and again if you would just reverence the word of god by standing i would appreciate it second corinthians chapter 12 i want to begin reading at verse number seven from the original text second corinthians chapter 12 beginning with verse number seven and you will find these words as printed and lest i should be exalted about marriage major through the abundance of the revelation there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffet me lest i should be exalted above measure for this thing i besought the lord thrice that it might depart from me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in the weakness most gladly therefore i would rather glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon me therefore i take pleasures in infirmities and reproaches and necessities in persecutions in distress for christ's sake for when i am weak then am i strong the word of god for the people of god you might be seated for this one thing i besought the lord three times that it might depart for me and he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee i want to talk briefly from a subject how do you respond when god says no how do you respond when god says no ever hear this bow father again we do thank you and we are appreciative of the fact that you have allowed me to come and stand behind this sacred desk to proclaim your word i pray now that you'll take tony out herself until there's none of me but all of thee and use me as a vessel of amazing grace speak through me and speak for me god help me to preach whether the people of god say amen or not and i pray god if you see fit to catch some fish have your way but if not god clean the ones that are already caught we'll give you praise glory and honor and we count it done in jesus name we pray and those who love god said amen how do you respond when god says no paul is the author of this particular poepy it is stamped and contained more autobiographical materials than any other of his writings here paul addresses the church at covent for it was a wealthy church a church with great influence a church of abundance of valuable material possessions and resources but the church had become relaxed and immorality indulging in things that were ungodly and i don't know how you feel about it today but a lot of times you look for the church and you find the church in the world and you look for the world and you find the world in the church and my brothers and my sisters are as we stand here and proclaiming the gospel of jesus the christ i discovered that whenever a person gets mad with the message they become disturbed with the messenger you have to recognize and realize as pastoring for some 32 years and standing and proclaiming the word of god the truth of the matter is when he stands here boldly and preaches the gospel it's not his words but it's the word that god has given unto him to give unto us that we will be perfect and that we will be fully developed and that we will be able to deal with all of the struggles and the trials and the tribulations of this life before we discover that the church even at coverage was indulging in things that that was unholy things that was not pleasing in the eyesight of god and i don't know how you feel about it but we need more men and women of god who are willing to stand and to proclaim the gospel of jesus the christ for paul had said many of times that there will come a time when men and women will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they heat to themselves teachers heaven itching ears they shall be turned over unto favors and they will believe a lie before they believe the truth and i don't know how you feel about it but if the truth ever needed it to be told it needed to be told on today paul was a man of god who told even timothy timothy preach the word be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with long-suffering and doctrine for the time will come when men and women will not endure sound doctrine and i don't know how you feel about it my brothers and my sisters but again being redundant whenever the man or woman of god stands and preaches against sin and lifts up holiness and righteousness a lot of us are ruled the wrong way but i'm here to tell you on this morning i'm not sharing uh something new to you but it's something that has been preached for 32 years about this man of god paul dealing with the church at covent uh he was communicated with and letting him know about the behavior of the corinthians church uh come here for a brief moment when you get the time uh read first corinthians chapter five and how there was a young man who was entangled and was sleeping with his father's wife when you get the time read how paul lifts up the fact and how there were believers that were entangling with unbelievers the word of god teaches us that we are not to be unequally yoked why because darkness and light has nothing in common and my brothers and my sisters that whenever you are uh hooked up with someone that's ungodly and you are godly they don't have the same appetite that you have a matter of fact y'all left some people in the bed this morning you wanted to come to church but they wanted you to lay one more day i wish i had the right church up in here and my brothers and my sisters are you want to walk in the spirit but they want to fulfill the lust of the flesh but i stopped by to remind us this morning that everything good to you ain't good for you here paul deals with the fact and he deals with sin he deals with believers being hooked up with those persons who are not godly and i don't know how you feel about it but we're living in that time today we're living in a day and a time when people think that it's all right in living ungodly and serving or indifferent ministry in the church and nobody did not say anything my brother's and my sisters or when you read the first epistle of corinthians chapter 5 you would take notice of the fact that paul said even those believers in the church did not say and they knew that this young man was sleeping with his father's wife he said but rather they glory and what was being done and let me say this to you the only reason that you glory in on godlessness is because you're tied up with it y'all ain't got to see nothing here i passed the oak road i ain't going to be here long i didn't ask to come here y'all invited me and my brothers and my sister paul began to deal with these issues and he recognized and realized that god is not pleased and i stopped by to remind us this morning that god is not pleased with our ungodliness uh god is not pleased with our sinful ways and rejoicing in the fact that it's all right to live ungodly and we claim to be children of god and i want to remind dr manner and others who are preaching the gospel of jesus the christ when you preach the gospel and when you stand flat-footed and tell it just like it is you're going to create some enemies and my brothers and my sisters there will be persons or who will not like you who will not invite you to certain functions that your heaven and they are heaven just because of the fact you don't do what they do uh you don't live like they live but i'm glad to know on this morning that the word of god says that if we're living as a believer ought to live we don't want to endure in such things we want not to be men and women please us but we want to please god i believe i got about 10 folks up in here who's on my street and say reverend i'm concerned about pleasing god i want to live holy i too will like paul that when i want to do good evil was present saying that i hate that's what i did the things i said i wasn't going to do i found myself doing those very things and it's no more me but it's a sin that dwelleth in me oh wretched man that i am who shall deliver me from the body of death but thanks be to almighty god that giveth me the victory through jesus christ our lord hear brother paul my brothers and my sisters was hated of certain individuals because he was standing up for that which is right and i want you to know on today that whenever you decide to take a stand can i preach like i wanna the devil will get mad as hell i know i'm right up in here whenever you decide to do that which is right he'll come against you like a mighty flood or hear brother paul begin to share and begin to give instructions that the people of god will stay on the street and the narrow house and the word of god says because paul my brothers and my sisters had a close walk with god and so much that he was caught up in the third heaven and brother paul says i was so caught up i began to think a little more about myself than i should have thought what are you saying brother preacher a whole lot of time people will stroke us and say a whole lot of good things and accolades and we will begin to believe that stuff and recognize and realize it ain't about tony it ain't about dr man it ain't about you foreign go home and die and never come back jesus will still be alive that's why the word says and upon this rock i build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it come here the word of god said because brother paul was living that which was right he said that there was a messenger sent from satan to blessing me i want you to know that a whole lot of you all are going through what you're going through is because the enemy has appointed and hide an assassinator to kill you oh yes he's not happy that grove is a pillar in this community he's not happy that souls are being saved that lies are being changed he's not happy that god comes for the total totality of man and the christian woe is one that's holistic he is not happy that the man of god and the woman of god is addressing your issues and helping you to grow in the lord and in the power of his might and for that reason brother paul says yeah i begin to think of myself more highly than i should have thought and so what happened was there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh uh yeah to buffet me uh god has a way when we try to elevate ourselves god knows how to bring us down i wish i had some help oh listen i was over in alaska during revival and everybody was lifting me up and everybody was giving me accolades and pastor can i do this and can i do that but when i got back on the plane i came back home jack and say tony take out the trash i wish i had some real people in here god's got a way i'll bring you your back down and the last time i checked the record i heard the word of god said ain't gonna preach not the bible he who humble himself shall be exalted y'all scuba but i feel like i'm in oak road and he who humble himself shall be made a base paul says i was brought down and given a thorn in my flesh let me slow my rule a thorn is something that causes distress and irritation or something that constantly would nag at me uh the reason that you're going through or what you're going through cause you've been given a throw in your flesh because you're trying to do that which is right the enemy came to kill to steal and to destroy i heard ephesians chapter 6 said put on the whole armor of god that ye might be able to withstand the white house of the devil put on the helmet of salvation put on the breastplate of righteousness let your feet be shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace and taking the sword of the spirit as the word of god and the shield of faith somebody said wait a minute reverend i'm dressed up from top to bottom in the front but i don't have anything in the back god told me to tell you i got your back you just put it on and my brothers and my sisters he was given a thorn in the flesh to buffet him the word blessing means there was a blow there was a blow that came at him to buffet him something that strikes with telling force to buffet him to destroy him to kill him but that's all right even though you've been given a thought in your flesh to perfect you god told me just to remind you of something that ma'am has already told you and that is that no weapon that's formed against you shall prosper but every tongue that shall rise up against you thou shalt condemn for this is the heritage of the servant of the lord and their righteousness is of me said the lord one can put a thousand to flight two can put ten thousand in christ if god be fire he's more than the whole world against you well my brothers and my sisters he was given that thorn in the flesh and the bible says that he prayed three times to god that he would take the thorn from him uh yeah can i give you a couple of points and then cut across the field and get on back to suffer well first of all the first thing that you need to do when god says no because i'm sure that dr myrna and others under the sound of my voice there was a whole lot of things that you prayed about but god told you no matter of fact you showed up this morning and the enemy tried to discourage you because you've been praying for a long time and the answer that you keep getting is no and a whole lot of preachers and pastors but i know uh dr marino he's my friend and i know he don't preach to you don't ask god why because if god is your father you can ask him why it's up to him to give you an answer i wish i had the right church in here and my brothers and my sisters paul prayed three times he prayed to god so the first thing that you do when god says no is simple turn to god i i i didn't say turn until your mama and your daddy because the bible says when mother and father has forsaken you then the lord shall lift you up i didn't say turn to your friends and i want to throw this in for free christian people stop going to ungodly folk and trying to get godly counseling oh my god they're gonna tell you to leave that negro they're gonna tell you to leave that negro at they're gonna tell you leave that individual because their life is regular then ebola but i want to thank god that those who are believers in christ they'll tell you stand still and see the salvation of the lord they'll tell you trust in the lord with all your heart i lean not to your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path that's my second point my first point turn to god second point talk to god tell somebody talk to god you see a whole lot of us don't want to talk to god until we come to church and when you try to talk to him six days has gone by and when you try to talk to him on sunday he wants to know who are you i i haven't talked to you the whole week you need to get intimate with god or you need to learn how to talk to god my brothers and my sisters i talk to god well what do i say to god well the bible teaches us when you talk to god watch this he says pray my word wait a minute uh and then he says remind me of my word remind him does god help our hammers remind him yes he says listen i know my word but i want to make sure you know the word because if you know who he is then you know what he's capable of doing you see a lot of us want to live a vicarious life we want to live on the hymn of others but there comes a time in your life where you need to know the lord for yourself and so you need to learn how to talk to him you need to say to him lord i'm weary lord i don't know what to do you need to pray his word but you say it in your word according to isaiah 40 have thou not known have thou not heard that the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ears of the earth he fainted not neither is weary there's no such thing of his understanding he giving power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases their strength for even the youth shall think and be weary and the young man shall only the fall but they that wait that wait on the lord they shall renew their strength they shall murder with weed like an eagle they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint talk to god [Music] turn to god but can i give you something else let god talk to you when you go home my brothers and my sister look at that night verse cause this is what i love because that night verse says when he prayed three times and he didn't get the answer that he wanted and after he had talked to god watch this god turned around and talked to him i'm not making this up because the verse says and he said yeah and god says to paul my grace is sufficient for thee listen my brothers and my sisters uh the message bible says my grace is enough see a whole lot of us come up here trying to look all booze i'm not just talking about grow old growth too i like that nobody never and god has never done anything for you but let me say this to you and be transparent and a man of god i i'm glad that god is not a god of only a second chance i don't know about y'all but if god was a god of only not just a second chance but 200 chances i ain't talking about y'all i would be in trouble and would have been in trouble a long time ago but i i believe i got about 20 people who would say reverend i'm on your street i i'm glad that god is not a god only of a second chair but i'm glad that god did not just look at my fault but he looked beyond my folk and he saw my knees i i want to thank god for grace grace grace it's god's unmerited favor thank you for your grace well don't sing like they're too excited about your grace god so let me just be autobiographical and say god thank you for your grace because i should have been dead and sleeping in my grave i shouldn't be up here preaching the gospel but god i want to thank you even though they saw some bad in me but you saw some good in me thank you for your grace i should have been there and sleeping in my grave but god you kept me for another day wait wait a minute the bible says he will give you a brand a new day i he'll turn around and give you a brand new mercy lord thank you lord i want to thank you for a brand new day but most of all i want to thank you for brand new mercy because the mercy yesterday can't help me for the day he said but that's all right tony let me talk to you not only will i give you a brand new day but i'm gonna give you a brand new mercy and i don't know how you feel about it but on tomorrow if tomorrow does come if i mess up on tomorrow i get another brand new day and i get more mercy wait a minute mercy suits our case so i want to thank you god let me cross the field point number one turn to god point number two talk to god point number three let god talk to you but let me throw this in with point number three trust god watch this when you can't trace god i i know dr marino like me there's many times when you call on the lord uh shall they didn't know what you were going through jackie didn't know what i was going through and dealing with the congregation didn't know anything but the only person that knew was god and i didn't know what to do but but but i got to a point that i said look lord i trust you with all of my heart i lean not to my own understanding but in all of my ways i'm going to acknowledge you that you'll direct my path have i got anybody in here that trust god that believe god you'll trust god even though you can't trace them can we can i just pause for a moment and i remember when my father died at the age of 50 with cancer and my dad was a community pastor i i didn't understand why god would take him at a young age and i was destroyed i was mad with god i was angry with god i didn't give up on god but i was upset because i felt like god was not there for me in that particular twilight moment but i want to thank god i had a conversation with my daddy coming over from the veterans hospital uh he had just taken the first dose of radiation and i say daddy i'm mad with god i don't understand that alcohol is the drug addict the seeds the robbers are living good they are healthy they drink 24 times a day they're laying in the street all night long and here you are feeding the hungry clothing the naked here you are teaching and preaching the word of god here you are fake for the god i'ma tell you i'm mad at god daddy have god show you anywhere that he's going to heal you and my dad said wait a minute tony don't be mad with god and let me say this to you he haven't shown me any place and he hasn't shown me that he's going to heal me but i want you to know don't worry about me because i'm like the writer said i said what's that day that happened he said to leave his christ and to die is gain and to be absent from this body is to be present with god don't be mad with god but trust him and never doubt and he'll surely bring you out and i don't know how you feel about it but i want to thank god that in the midst of 32 years there were some news in the midst of 32 years your back was to the wall in the midst of 32 years people who left you in the midst of 32 years they talked about us in the midst of 32 years they stopped showing up but i'm so glad that my trust is not in a man my trust is not in a woman but i trust in god and if you trust god you'll work it out won't he do it brother paul says i trust god he says so when i'm weak then i am strong i will glory in my infirmities i will glory in my reproaches i will glory in my necessity i will glory in my distress cause when i'm weak then i'm strong and i don't know how you feel about it but i want to thank god when he says no i turn to him when he says no talk to him when he says no let him talk to you when he says no trust him when you can't trace him but last but not least when he says no thank him i wish i had some help in here thank you god i didn't marry the woman that i wanted thank you god i didn't marry the man that i wanted thank you god you didn't give me the job that i wanted but you knew what was best for me and that all things work together for the good of those who love the lord and to them that are called according to his purpose and i don't know how you feel about it but i want to thank god you don't always say no but sometimes you got to go through the nose to get to the end i wish i had some help thank you too many dangers toes and smells i've already come it was grace that brought me safe thus far and his grace just to leave me on thank you god and he all right thank you for being a mother for me thank you for being a father for me thank you for being a bridge over troubled water thank you for being a badass thank you for being wonderful counselor almighty god everlasting father prince of peace thank you and i don't know how you feel about it but lady all right yeah [Music] yeah [Music] thank you for joining and watching with us today if this message has impacted your life in any way we need for you to do a few things first please join us every sunday at 10 30 am on facebook or youtube also don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel secondly share this message with your friends family co-workers and lastly pray about how you could sow a seed into this ministry that way that we could share this message globally across the world your best days are ahead of you we love you and we miss you being here don't forget you are a walking talking breathing living miracle [Music]

Channel: Grove Church

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Keywords: grovechurchva, betterisnow, melvinomarriner

Id: 5GLgaZamSW8

Length: 35min 34sec (2134 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021