Indebtedness to God Alone - Rev. Tony Barr

[Music] morning good morning apex first baptist it is the fourth sunday of february and we are excited to be in the house of the lord one more time i know that you all are excited in our facebook uh sanctuary as well as our youtube afbc tv and even online look y'all know what i'm going to ask you on behalf of pastor frankie mclean we are excited to greet each and every one of you this morning we ask that you all do us a big favor join us in sharing and liking and commenting this morning lord god share it so that we can get this word out to somebody else we are excited to be in the house of the lord just one more time look i'm gonna pray for us and we're gonna get on the road let's go father we say thank you we love you we bless you we magnify your name lord we thank you lord for getting us even into the fourth sunday of the second month of this year father we ask that lord you just direct this service however it is that you want it to go god we know that we will have an amazing word and lord we don't know whether it will be the word whether it will be a song lord god or even just the offering father however you decide to move god we ask that you touch somebody's heart this morning lord we ask and we know that these things can be done in jesus name so we call them as it is lord we love you we bless you and we thank you amen amen and amen [Music] [Applause] the sound of heaven touching earth [Music] the sound of heaven [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] holy spirit [Music] we wanna see your kingdom here we wanna see your kingdom here [Music] very brave [Music] [Music] we need to do [Music] break out haven't come down [Music] [Music] [Music] i was [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] let's go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] me [Music] come on go with on go with me [Music] me [Music] [Music] come on go with me with me come let's on let's go let's go go with me [Music] good morning apex family these are your weekly announcements we are still offering free covet 19 testing our drive through testing is available monday through friday from 4 pm until 6 pm register today for an appointment please visit our website for more details join pastor and first lady maclean for our weekly connection call on fridays at 7 30 a.m the dial-in number is 425-436-6379 and the access code is 355-445 family thank you for your attention these have been your weekly announcements amen amen look it's offering time it's offering time we understand the biblical principles we know that we cannot reap a harvest where we have not sown so we ask that you all just come with us as we worship god in our giving this morning understand we have four primary ways that we're able to give here at apex first baptist the first is you all can come to the church for the next 30 minutes you all can come and drop off your offering here at the church for the next 30 or if midweek works better you all can come from 5 30 to 7 30 on wednesday and you can come and drop off your offering as you pick up your communion and your holy sacraments for this week also understand we have three other ways you can mail in your offering you can mail it in to us at apex first baptist church p.o box 64 apex north carolina 2750 or you can give online you can go to our website apexfbc.org forward slash give and you are able to give that away lastly and my most favorite you can text to give you can text apex first it'll be on the screen all one word apex first to 73256 and you can give that way come on let's give now [Music] oh [Music] for you [Music] this song i just want to say more [Music] is [Music] i [Music] the race [Music] oh [Music] i just want to say that i love you more [Music] when all my friends [Music] oh jesus [Music] i never [Music] is [Music] i love you jesus [Music] i just want to tell you oh i love you jesus i love you jesus i love you jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] lord oh i love you jesus i love you jesus [Music] i love you jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] you jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] i love you jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] i love you jesus [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] [Music] i am jesus [Music] [Music] go anything [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] foreign thank you [Music] [Music] lord i love you more than [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen look i am excited again to be able to introduce this amazing speaker for this morning it may be new to some but surely it's not new to the gospel listen we are excited we have the very own reverend barr that will be with us today a short bio uh for him understand he told me to tell y'all these three simple things look he's married he has a he is a father of two children that have already graduated understand that he is also he has pastored for 19 years and he is the executive secretary treasurer of the general baptist state convention of north carolina listen we are excited this morning we ask that you all just fasten your seat belts get ready for this amazing rhema word so the next voice that you all will hear will be none other than reverend barr grace and peace god bless you to the apex first baptist family to all of you the beloved of god i'm so excited to be able to share with you on this sunday morning truly this is the day that the lord has made and you have no excuse not to be glad in it if you are looking at my face if you're able to hear my voice if you're able to just know that you know you are blessed right now beyond measure and so we thank god for our entrance into this day and for this opportunity for us to worship hey y'all this is a new thing for us but i think of over in the psalms i believe in psalm 139 it says you know how can we worship in a strange land here's how you worship in a strange land just know wherever you are it's not new to god and whatever you are going through he's already been through it so you can just thank god right where you are for him being god him being gracious him being kind him being loving towards us and so we bless his high and holy and most worthy name i must also acknowledge and thank god for my dear brother and friend reverend dr mclean and for his beautiful wife and daughter we are just so glad to be here with you on today i've often joked with frankie through the years i welcomed him i've been married a little longer than he has but i welcomed him into the club of brothers who married out of their league but he is aware of that and he's okay with that and i'm in the very same ranks and so we thank god for him and for his wife again and for you the apex first baptist family to your leadership to your ministers amen to your audio-visual people uh and just to the totality of the body we thank god for you and the opportunity to be able to share with you on this sunday morning my wife sends her love and and her blessings to you as well so just know when you see me she is always with me in prayer and after after 32 years i can say i am more in love with her today than i've ever been at any stage of our journey together i'm just so grateful for the gift god gave me in her and so i just celebrate him for his daughter but most of all i thank god for jesus amen where would we be without the lord on our side even we're not on his side he is always faithfully on our side it is my esteemed privilege and honor to also acknowledge the general baptist state convention of north carolina and the great works the lord has done for the last hundred and fifty three plus years with this wonderful local yet global organization that does so many tremendous works and also for our president who is the reverend dr leonzo d lynch and the entire leadership team of the general baptist state convention we do extend uh greetings to you on behalf thereof well there is a word from the lord on today if you would not mind looking with me to genesis chapter 14. genesis chapter 14 is there at the beginning of your bible amen and i just want to share with you here from verses 17 through 24. uh i i i am both an old school and contemporary preacher i i use an ipad that's my notes i love it but there's just something about reading the book y'all i'm here to tell you anyone who's ever had to take medicine you know how you can take multi-symptom medication it'll do something for cough or do something for runny nose or you can take medicine that's meant for one particular thing we use our phones we use our tablets for so much stuff there's just something about when i really need to hear from god about picking up the book and then reading the pages and just having something that's only used for one thing and not multiple things so i i still have to hold on to my paper and and read from the scripture it's just something that does something to my soul all right um again genesis chapter 14 uh i'm going to read to you verses 17 through uh 24. let's let's pick up now and when king went and and the king of sodom went out to meet him at the valley of shiva that is the king's valley after his return from the defeat of cheddalomer and the kings who were with him then melchizedek king of salem brought out bread and wine he was the priest of god most high and he blessed him and said bless be abram of god most high possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be god most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand and he gave him a tithe of all verse 21 now the king of sodom said to abram give me the persons and take the goods for yourself that's really important i want you to hang on to that verse 22 but abram said to the king of sodom i have raised my hand to the lord god most high the possessor of heaven and earth that i will take nothing from a thread to a sandal strap and that i will not take anything that is yours lest you should say i have made abram rich verse 24 and last except only what the young men have eaten and the portion of the men who went with me and or ash call and memory let them take their portion amen the word of god for the people of god beloved just for a few minutes i i want to share with this you this morning from the thought indebtedness to god alone indebtedness to god alone won't you pray with me father in the name of jesus thank you right now for this opportunity for us to hear the declaration of your word god we just asked that as your word comes forth that you will remove distractions remove anything that would hinder us from holding on to you as you hold on to us father i ask you now to take the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart that you will make it acceptable in your sight o lord my strength and redeemer is in the name of jesus the christ i do pray amen indebtedness to god alone indebtedness to god alone i i read a very brief statement one time and it said i believe in the sun even when it does not shine said i believe in love even when it doesn't feel like it said i believe in god even in the times that i cannot see him this was a an inscription on a wall it is said of a holocaust victim that even though they had lived through some very difficult times they did not lose sight of the reality of god that even though they have suffered and they had endured they had seen difficulty they had seen death they had seen mistreatment yet they still trusted in god uh the the last year has has been some very challenging times for all of us i don't care who you are rich or poor or what side of town you're from what political affiliation you might have the last year has been difficult for all of us yet in spite of all that we've experienced and or been through who god is should remain true the preeminence of god god's existence god existing all the time is not subject to happenstance it's not subject to seasons god is always god we we sometimes have difficulty with that as human beings because everything we know has a beginning middle and an end but god always has been god always will be and god shall be he is always god and for us here in the world if you are a believer then i'm talking to you if you are a non-believer i am talking to you god is god whether you know him as god or not god is not decreased god does not lose any power just because people may not understand or even acknowledge the fact that he is god our relationship with god should supersede every other relationship in the earth as a matter of fact our relationship with god should be the thing that makes the rest of our relationships operate in a proper fashion beloved when you think about the preeminence of god let me say to you today that i believe that all of us that are born in the likeness of adam we are born with a god awareness that that we are aware that there is a god even if we don't know god by name we don't have to some point develop an awareness of god we are born with a steady awareness of his reality from the moment we come into existence there will never be a day where a person has to be made aware of god god is always existing and i believe all of us who were born after the same fashion of the first man are born with an awareness of god are you with me this morning so with that being said all of us have dna in our body and dna that's our building block it just keeps reproducing itself and it makes our body move it makes our body function but none of us know what dna looks like from an exterior perspective we don't make dna make itself we we don't we don't make dna function we don't make dna do any of the things that it does but it works because it's already on the inside when you think about god you don't have to know him as god in order for him to be god but still there's an awareness of god's existence birthed into every person who's born into the world and when we begin to understand that there is an awareness of god inside of us we must also be painfully aware that there are things that stand in opposition of our relationship with god there are our natural needs that will challenge our allegiance to god i want you to really capture that this morning there are natural needs that will challenge our allegiance our commitment our devotion our dedication to god and when we can begin to understand that these things are going to challenge us we are going to be better equipped to maintain our commitment to god instead of being distracted by other things let me give you some biblical examples of natural needs drawing us away from god in exodus chapter 16 verse 13 there the people of god are in the wilderness and they've been eating manna nobody's been to work nobody's been to walmart but they're eating manna every single day and understandably so somebody wants a hamburger somebody wants some steak somebody wants some some meat and so they begin to complain to god and complain to moses that we we need something more than just manna now understandably so when you eat the same thing every day it gets old but this is an illustration watch me now of how our natural needs can make us either complain about god or be pulled away from god because the natural need can override the spiritual thought come on walk with me this morning in first samuel 13 say their king saul offers a sacrifice to god before they go into battle and you may say that's a great thing but he was a king he wasn't a priest and even though there was a demand and there was an expectation that an offering would be made to god king saul didn't want to wait on samuel so it was a natural need i know you're saying it's spiritual but they were getting ready to go into a physical battle but before going into physical battle king saul said let me offer a sacrifice it was a natural need a spiritual act but it was a natural need in matthew chapter 11 john the baptist after declaring that jesus is the christ he has said behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sin of the world whose shoelaces i'm not even worthy to tie but but when john got put in prison he sent message to jesus and said are you the one or shall we look for another beloved of god that's what i want you to see this morning is that sometimes our natural need will draw us away from god the natural things of life the natural operation of not life the natural flow of life these things can pull us away from god our natural need for food shelter love or relationship can inadvertently challenge our walk and our relationship with god so it is up to us beloved to make sure that we are guarding against those things that would draw us away from who we are in christ now this word indebted this word indebted it is the condition of owing money the condition of owing money and and some of y'all don't know about debt i was uh scrolling through facebook the other day and i and i read a very ignorant statement by uh one of my uh high school classmates and he said well somebody's got to pay for this fifty thousand dollar student loan forgiveness so i gotta go to work and pay for it and it took it took all the god restraint i had in me not to just blow him out of the water because you know some people consider one thing aid and other people consider it a handout you know you know farmers can get subsidies all day long and look most farmers don't look like me oh that's okay that's okay but anybody that's gonna get a student loan forgiven so they don't have a tremendous debt on them so they can really enter into life free and be a productive citizen that's a bad thing but sometimes beloved of god that that owing of money can make you do things or want to do things that you shouldn't do but but the second part of this definition of of indebtedness it is watch this the feeling of own of owing gratitude for a service or favor walk with me this morning the feeling of owing gratitude for a service or favor so so in other words it means somebody did something for you and because they did something for you now you owe them something but here's my response to that if you did what you did for me why do i owe you something back and so so we have a an angel saying that that we say you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours well in reality if you did what you did out of love i shouldn't owe you anything in reality you you asking me to scratch your back you might need some hydrocodone you might have psoriasis i don't know you don't need me to scratch your back you need something else but beloved we've got to begin to understand and grasp this thought of not allowing anything to make us feel indebted to somebody else except god alone you don't owe anybody anything else but to love them according to the scripture and so beloved the bible tells us in proverbs 4 and 23 that we are to keep our heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life and indebtedness is one of those things that can hamper us hold us and hinder us from living a full life in god through christ jesus in our text today here abram now is is doing something that we're not accustomed to him doing abram is going into battle this this is the only time that we see a reference to abram as a physical warrior we know abram as the father of faith but but here in this text he is a warrior and he takes 300 some odd men and and they go into battle against these kingdoms that have united together to overthrow sodom and the area and and they are are somewhat successful and and in the process watch this this is what ties abram to the story while they are conquering sodom and gomorrah and the surrounding area they made a mistake and got the wrong one they they took lot when they took the rest of the captives and they did not know who lot was to abram nor did they know who abram was to god i'm getting happy already they didn't they didn't know who abram was they didn't know him as the father of faith at that time abram didn't know himself as the father of faith but but now lot has been taken captive abram catches words he he he gets his boys and they roll up on these kings they they go to battle and they come out victorious upon coming out victorious it says that somebody had had sent a tweet to to the king of sodom and also to to salem and so they meet them on the road back to the city and there they are excited because now they got their territory back not only did they get the territory back but they got the spoils of war they got the riches of war and they got their women back they got their children back and so they are understandably happy and in their vigor in their excitement in their enthusiasm now now uh the king begins to talk to abram it is melchizedek y'all know melchizedek he he is likened unto christ because we we don't see his beginning nor do we see his end we don't really know his natural parents and he is both king and priest so here melchizedek the high holy man comes before abram the father of faith and he says abram i'll give you whatever you want and abram abram understandably senses this moment and and he knows this that it wasn't his hand it wasn't his spear and it wasn't his arrow that brought him the victory abram knew that the only way that the victory happened is because god showed up and god showed out abram said no no no you can't steal thunder from god and you can't give the praise to me abram said no i i know i understand i comprehend that the only way i got the victory is because god is on my side so so here here comes here comes the king he said abram i i want to give you whatever you want you can you can you can choose from all the best stuff you can get whatever you want and abram thought to himself that that king i respect what you're saying i thank you that you're sounding spiritual y'all do know that unspiritual people can sound spiritual oh he gave accolades to the most high god oh he lauded on god for his goodness and his power but abram said i will not allow you to take credit for what god has done beloved hear me good whenever god brings you out whenever god brings you through don't let them give credit to the doctor don't let him tell you that it was luck don't let them tell you that you just got through by happenstance no baby you let them know if it had not been for the lord who was on my side if he wouldn't have stepped in if he wouldn't have interfered i would have fallen but thanks be unto god whatever victory i got i got it because god did it for me yeah abram abram would not allow himself to be pulled he would not allow the source of god to be resourced to anybody else it's here it's here that i want to to share with you some of the tenets that can lead to indebtedness and and these are just practical things for us to think about and to process when you when you think about civil unrest when you think about mass hunger when you think of a vaccination that is misunderstood and terrible things happen it's real life that's happening to us right now and when real needs hit the table the people of god can't lose their mind so so here here i want to share with you some of these tenets that can lead you to indebtedness first of all battles second of all bounty third of all benefits and fourthly ultimate blessedness those four things again are battles the second thing is bounty the third thing is benefits and the fourth thing is ultimate blessedness right here in the text we see the battle we see abram has now gone in to fight for the liberty of lot we see that there was a battle that had to be fought we understand that that this was one of those things that even though god was going to bring the victory somebody had to show up and can i say to you today to this morning beloved of god listen there's some battles that you just got to show up to i know you don't want to go you you don't want to hear what might be said you don't know how it's going to turn out but sometimes it's not about the fight it's about showing up for the battle i wish i had a witness that could thank god on this sunday morning that it wasn't by might it wasn't by power but it was by god's spirit all i had to do was show up to the battle and i know there's somebody watching there's somebody streaming there's somebody liking right now because you can thank god i didn't know how i didn't know when but i showed up anyhow and god showed out on my behalf baby sometimes you just need to show up for the battle yeah yeah we're going to have battles beloved we're going to have struggles we're going to have stressors we're going to have difficulty and i wish i could tell you that once you get saved all the fighting is over i wish i had some some five heartbeat fans in the house there was a scene in the five heart beats where where the brothers were trying to push up on this sister and and and she had a had a boyfriend uh who was a big fella and he came walking back through after they walked out with with his girlfriend and he pushed some brothers out the way he said i got to fight every day just to prove my love if you haven't watched the five heartbeats you need to check it out one time but sometimes it seems like we have to fight all the time but battles beloved of god understand this that each of us will have battles but hear me good the battle that you're in is not about you and it's not for you abraham didn't go into battle for himself he went in the battle for lot and beloved if you've got to fight fight to make sure somebody gets liberated don't go through a fight just for the sake of fighting but make sure that when i get on the other side of this somebody's got to be blessed by what i've gone through abraham had to show up for the battle and beloved of god all of us have a battle or back tolls that have been set aside for us and so we understand that there will be battles secondly we understand there's going to be a bounty there's there's going to be some some overflow there's going to be some potential gain there's gonna be some potential increase there's gonna be some particular accolades but understand me good beloved of god that there's no amount of money that's worth the value of your relationship with god i don't care how big the purse i don't care how deep the cards i don't care how wide the wallet there is no amount of money that is worth your relationship with god the potential gain that the king of solomon melchizedek was saying unto him that you can have your choice but he said listen the bounty is not worth the value of my relationship with god and if i can stress to you today beloved of god it's good to have sheepskin on your wall it's wonderful to get promotions it's great to live in a nice house but that's not where your joy comes from it's great to drive nice cars it's wonderful to wear nice suits i do want y'all to know this is a 10 year old suit it's nice to have nice clothes but it's not the main thing that god wants us to desire this is what the bible says delight yourself in the lord and he will give you the desires of your heart here here the bounty was there and abram could have asked for anything that he wanted but he said no no i do not want you to make me indebted to you he said no no no no it's just not worth it and beloved i want to say to you today it's just not worth it whatever little thing you might get out of whatever thing you're about to do that you know is out of the will of god it's just not worth the joy of living with the lord the third thing the third thing was the benefit the the promise of future things he's throwing accolades on abram and he's telling him how the most high god has blessed him and he's speaking in his future that the most high god would continue to bless him and keep him here he's trying to talk about benefits or of promises that will be extended that if you do this for me i i promise that god is going to be there for you he's trying to get abram to cooperate and to come on board and to do things that would please him but but abram understands that there's no benefit greater than what god grants us he knows there's no benefit greater than what god grants us and so there was no manner of joy that abram would get from the king the fourth thing ultimate blessedness is is is the ultimate outcome that who's gonna get the credit for it all and abram would not allow anybody to take credit but god including himself those four things battles bounty benefits and ultimate blessedness now beloved i want to share with you the two most dangerous r's of indebtedness the two most dangerous r's or if i can say it as my good friends my good friend from south carolina would say the the two auras i i'd say you talk about aura no abras the two arrows of indebtedness they are please stay with me this gonna hurt a little bit religion and relationships those those those two arms watch me walk here religion can be used against god come come come here come here enemy jesus i'll take you up to the pinnacle won't you cast yourself down and god will give his angels charge over you you see the enemy knows how to use religion against god and hear me good people know how to use religion against you you ever had a non-believer tell you what the book says even people who don't believe religion know how to use religion against you the foundation of this america we live in is based on a phallus religion it's based on a broken religion that allowed some people to feel superior to oppress other people and then you get 400 years of free labor and you're upset because i want my student loan forgiving the devil is a lie religion has been used to separate and to divide people i'll never forget i was a hellion on my job one of my first jobs out of college i didn't i didn't walk with the lord i didn't act like i knew the lord but i was the antithesis of everything them sisters wanted to talk about when they talked about jesus on third shift so we were we were sitting up one night and i remember uh one of my caucasian sisters uh uh saying uh um god wants to keep uh uh the races separate so so that's why you shouldn't marry out of your tribe now i hadn't done no deep bible reading i hadn't done any study but i knew that couldn't be right so just the the very logical mindset that i was in i just said well what tribe are you from people know how to use religion against us and in that same conversation a little bit later in the night or early in the morning something happened and i said oh jesus and i never forget the sister from new jersey said you better call somebody you know some of y'all gonna get that on the way to the bedroom you're gonna be on the way to the bathroom you're gonna get what she was saying to me i didn't profess to know christ then but i called his name when something happened people know how to use religion if we look back over the years in our politics religion has been used to divide us you have a president that was a member of a church in regular attendance and they vilified him and then you had a president for four years that never professed christ till he got in office in a back room and you elevate him as a godly man please so religion can be used to separate us from each other and make us feel indebted to other people but it's not just religion that makes us feel indebted it's relationships it's it's those human relationships that make us feel indebted and i want to tell you one of the most dangerous relationships you could ever be in is a self-defeating relationship with yourself when you tell yourself you deserve to be hurting when you tell yourself you weren't good enough to get the job when you're in a self-defeating relationship that you're constantly telling yourself you're not good enough and you deserve whatever happens to you when you're in a self-defeating relationship there's an indebtedness to sorrow that pulls you away from god but not only a self-defeating relationship but a relationship where people manipulate you come on come on people we'll manipulate you to do what they want done we saw that on january the sixth where we had a whole band of people that were brought to one particular city for what looked like one particular thing and then it turned into something completely different that's how manipulation works you don't find out you've been manipulated till it's too late we have relationships where people make us feel indebted to them and when you feel indebted to people it will pull you away from god well well bar i i understand all of this stuff so so so tell me tell me what are the principles of indebtedness when when i look at the text what what things do i see here in the text that would tell me that that my indebtedness is to god alone i'm so glad you asked that question guess what the four things are the four exact things i already gave you it's the battle but the battle should support god's agenda it's the bounty but the bounty belongs to god it is god's glory is the primary benefit and for fourth is god is the ultimate blessedness very very very quickly here as i get ready to let you go whatever battle you're in should support god's agenda whatever whatever you find yourself entangled with it should support god's agenda why because at the end of the day the battle is not yours the battle belongs to the lord and so if you're going to be in a battle make sure the battle is going to support god's agenda abram wasn't so much fighting against the kingdoms he was fighting for the king he wasn't warring against rival factions but he was reveling in the glory of god if you're going to be in a battle make sure that the battle supports god's agenda secondly that the bounty is god not the belongings not the stuff but it all belongs to god the earth is the lord's the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell therein it all belongs to god now i want you to get just sit up in your seat i want you to hear me good when the the battle is supporting god's agenda and when everything belongs to god hear me good lean in lean in lean in that means the problems isn't yours either if everything in the earth belongs to god i don't have the problem god does when when i got a problem in my body it's not my problem it's god's problem when i've got things in my life that i had to control it's not my problem because the stuff doesn't belong to me it's god's problem and when god is the owner of all the belongings it takes the onus the responsibility and the weight off your shoulders why because whatever i need to do and whatever i need to do it with god's got it so now i don't have to sit around stress my hair falling out and and trying to figure out how i'm gonna make ends meet the one that made the ends is the one that will make him meet and so now i don't have to figure it out cause why it's not my problem it's god's problem i remember many years ago my marriage was on the rocks and i had had just given my life to christ and my wife and i couldn't really get along and i was just so in love with jesus and and when i got with my wife she was she was in the church and she married a thug and a hoodlum and a whole bunch of other stuff and and i pulled her out of the church and i'll never forget when i gave my life to christ i just simply couldn't get her to come back in and so finally one day i just went down to the altar and i laid my marriage down and i said god i can't fix it but i didn't make her and i didn't make me so god if this is your marriage you take it and from that point god took our marriage and brought my wife into a walking relationship with christ because it wasn't my problem because she doesn't belong to me she belongs to him and i don't belong to me i belong to him and so the bounty it all belongs to him thirdly all right thirdly god's glory is the primary benefit when abram heard the report and heard the things that they were saying he was saying the primary benefit is that god is glorified which means if they don't call your name if if if if your auxiliary is doing something in church and they leave your name off the program if you don't get the award if you don't get the reward if you don't get the promotion it's not about me it's about god getting glory out of my life and beloved when we get to the place to where we just want god to be glorified we stop looking for people to validate us we stopped looking for people to say you sure did sing today and most of the time when they tell you you're saying they're not telling the truth they just don't want to hurt your feelings but beloved when we're in it for god to get the benefit for god to get the glory and not we ourself and lastly the fourth the fourth principle the fourth pillar of of of indebtedness toward god along the fourth and final principle is ultimate blessedness now i want you i want you to i want you to walk with me right here ultimate blessedness here is ultimate blessedness ultimate blessedness is where i never need god to bless me stay stay with me stay with me i know that's a controversial statement i never need god to bless me can i reference psalm 1 where it says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly no citizen of the seat of the scope but when it says blessed is that is a perpetual state which means that when i'm in god god in me i'm blessed because god's you blessed you didn't get it you didn't get it you didn't get it god never has to bless himself because he is blessed blessed he's got the abundance he he's already blessed so god never has to bless himself so when the psalmist said blessed is the man in a perpetual state it means that when the man is in god the person is in god and god in them and you're walking in relationship with god i don't need god to bless me because i'm already blessed i'm blessed in relationship with him and now this is the way god said it in the old testament he said you'll be blessed in the city you'll be blessed in this deuteronomy for those who don't know you'll be blessed in the field you'll be blessed when you come and when you go you bless will be your basket and your store it talks about all this state of blessedness and all god asks israel to do is to put me first that's all israel had to do to be blessed if they didn't sacrifice enough animals that didn't make them blessed it was being in relationship with god now that's the ot let me give you the new tea jesus said the thief cometh not brought before to steal heal and destroy he said but i have come that you might have life and have life more abundantly that that your life will be full and overflowing jesus later says that he wants us to have a joy that overflows now now it's impossible for something to overflow that's not full come on come on y'all you didn't get that you can't overflow unless you're already full so when god wants to have joy that's overflowing it means that we're so full of him and his joy that i got enough joy to spill out on somebody else that's that's the new testament illustration of being filled in a relationship with god and you may be sitting out there today and you may say well i want to be in relationship with god but but i've done too many too many things i've done too much stuff i know god can forgive me but he'll never forget no that's us that's not god god says look i throw you'll see in the i'll throw your stuff into the sea of forgetfulness and since i never turn around i'll never see it again god can't turn around because he doesn't have a body like this god's body was jesus but we use those anapromorphic terms to to help us relate better to god but but for us to get to that place in god to know that there is no sin there is no offense that's too great for god to forgive you may be sitting out there and you say well i i had a relationship with god but but but i fell out of relationship with god and here's the beautiful thing about god you might fall out of relationship with him but he doesn't fall out of relationship with you this is what the bible says why we were yet sinners christ died for the ungodly not the church folk not the good folk not the folk that's got it going on he died for the ungodly folks just like you and me and then romans says it this way is that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit there's there's nothing that you've done that god won't forgive and restore i don't care how much you drank i don't care how much you shot up i don't care how much you smoked up i don't care how many you slept with i don't care how big the embezzlement i don't care how wicked the wickedness was there's nothing that is unforgivable for god's love he says though but i don't want you to be indebted to anything or anybody else and it's it's nothing wrong with having people who love you that want to do good for you but but as i was was walking in this morning talking to a brother that grandma and them y'all they were wise and they say stuff like like can't nobody do me like jesus can't nobody do me like the lord i remember my grandmother i would i would say granny how you feeling and she hit me with this i'm fair to moderate oh y'all that was deep wisdom they were saying you know i'm i'm okay i'm i'm not down and i'm not through the roof but i'm in a place of peace with god and listen if you're if you're out there today and you're saying to yourself i just need the peace of god i want to be in relationship with god i want to know my eternity he holds it but i want to know right now in my present that god is with me and if you're listening on today the only indebtedness you should incur is what you owe to god and here's the beauty beautiful thing about indebtedness to god god doesn't expect you to live up to it god doesn't see us through an eye of love because of the stuff we do right because if he factored in the stuff we do right you have to factor in the stuff we do wrong but jesus died for all our sins and now he's saying i'll extend to your relationship and it's the relationship that transforms you not the religion you can be as religious as you want to be religion won't change you the bible talks about true religion being undefiled and that is where there's an indebtedness to god that proves god's worthiness and that there's never anything you can do to make god love you anymore in that wonderful on today that indebtedness to god doesn't incur payback but it is a free gift romans chapter 5 that's given unto those who believe and so today today let me extend an invitation to you that if you're listening if you're watching and you're sitting right there in your living room or in your bedroom or or wherever you may be maybe you're watching in your car maybe maybe you had to run to the grocery store and and this this message has stirred something in your heart i want to i want to encourage you right there where you are that that god is there too no matter where you are no matter how you're dressed or not god is right there with you and right now in this moment you can ask jesus into your life you can ask him to forgive you of your sins you can acknowledge that he is the son of god and that he died for your sins and you can acknowledge that he rose to give you eternal life not us he died to give you yes you eternal life so i want to pray with you but i also want to pray for those who know christ and you've had some battles and those battles made you question god and and and those battles maybe led you to do something of your own strength and you ended up in a in a way that that now you're struggling just just just to stay afloat i want to i want to pray with you on today because all of us have been away from the shore the bible bible gives us a story of peter who had lied and said he didn't know christ and it ultimately led to him being crucified and peter peter said to his brothers he said i go fishing and that's that's not i'm going fishing that's peter's saying i'm going back to my old way because i'm not good enough to be his and there where peter was fishing he sees the lord jesus on the shore and it says that peter just dove into the water just to get back to him some of us knows what it feels like to be way offshore and to hear god calling i want to pray with you i want to pray with you i want to i want to pray for that son or that daughter that's that's been been obstinate and been fighting against your parent i want to pray for that spouse that's been upset or depressed and you you don't know why you're trying to figure out what's wrong and and god is saying the whole time i'm low i'm with you low know i'm with you no matter where you go i'm with you i want to pray for you today but let's let's bow our heads in prayer father in the remarkable wonderful forgiving name of jesus we come tonight this morning lord god and are looking for you as as it said in the gospel sir we might see jesus father we come looking for the only image of you we've ever seen which is christ our lord and we understand that even though we say we're looking for you it is you that finds us thank you thank you this morning for finding that that daughter that that has been broken and wounded thank you for locating that son that's been trying to find manhood and trying to find acceptance and masculinity thank you lord for finding that that one that's addicted to whatever it may be that that person that that feels like i gotta put more in me to make me feel better lord i pray release in the name of jesus god we know right now that that just one drop of your blood was more than enough to forgive forgive ten thousand years of sin so lord it is with that truth in mind that we acknowledge our sin as sinners we acknowledge we've fallen short and we recognize that you wrapped yourself in flesh and you came and you allowed yourself to be humiliated and beaten and scorned and left for dead and at any moment you could have stopped time and and made it all in but you you suffered for us and not only that but you laid in the grave for three days to prove that there is no no death greater than your life and your love for us and you rose and you gave us evidence of your resurrection person after person group after group evidence your resurrection and so today we believe you rose with all power in your hand and it is that resurrection power that we stand in this morning asking for forgiveness accepting your forgiveness accepting your love accepting relationship with you and all that i have and all that i shall be it all belongs to you take take my life take take my my wants take my will and let it be lost in you [Music] god i want you to be glorified in my life that's the cry of somebody this sunday morning lord let my life bring you glory and father in times of battle and when it's time for the bounty to be given when it's time lord god for us to understand ultimate blessedness and god if there's going to be any benefit let it all be paid homage unto you father i pray for every relationship that's out of order in the earth god i pray right now for every one father that's in an upside down inside out relationship that now today lord you'll make us want more of you and more of you for us and that lord god we will refuse to be yoked with anybody that does not love you and father i i pray for marriages i pray for for sickness and lord thank you for how you've kept us in this covert season and yes some have passed on but you told us that that all of us have a certain number of days and so father thank you for how you've kept us and and you're still you're still our jehovah rafa you're still our healer and we just trust you lord not only with covid but high blood pressure and diabetes and cancer and and fibromyalgia and and all manner of diseases we claim healing in christ tonight and lord we pray that that as we are are looking uh lifting our eyes to the heels that we will continuously be indebted to you and you alone thank you for breathing upon us on this sunday morning and we we strengthen ourself in you as you strengthen us as you said unto joshua be strong and of a good courage we encourage ourself with your word and that your presence is always with us thank you heavenly father for receiving our prayer today it's in your son jesus name we do pray amen amen amen amen and amen indebtedness to god alone i know that that was somebody's word i know that that was somebody's word for this morning we're just going to pray right now even for the uh for pastor and reverend barr that has come here and that has been able to bless us lord so we just pray lord god of fullness lord god we accident right now lord you just continue to restore him father god for everything that he has bestowed and lord we believe that that was not even the word for just afbc but even the word for his family and his life so lord we pray it now that we are indeed indebted to god alone in your holy and precious name amen lord we ask that right now if that word was for you and if you don't have a church home he's already done the benediction and we've asked for those that uh want to be called to christ but if you don't have a church home and you're looking and you're saying i've seen some of the work that afbc has done if that is you today we ask that you just message us email us and we promise that we will get back to you if that is what you have decided to do we love each and every person that is on today we even want to bless you all and thank everybody that came out for the vaccine this past weekend we understand and we thank even our volunteers some of the great volunteers and our partnerships as well as afbc we know that without uh some of the work that you all have done we would not be able to bless the community and continue to help so that's it on behalf of pastor frankie first lady and our afbc family again we thank reverend barr we know that you all are going crazy in the comments we thank reverend barr for coming and blessing us this morning and we are excited and we bless each and every one of you as we get ready for this week we love you we bless you we thank you until next week amen you

Channel: Apex First Baptist Church AFBC TV

Views: 286

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: Uf0zVjYGb-M

Length: 83min 23sec (5003 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 28 2021