Join us for Morning Worship at Sweetwater Church of Christ

[Music] oh yes [Music] [Applause] time of day in the morning [Music] when i have things to do [Music] that i must submit to the call you placed on my life in the morning in the middle of the night don't matter when you call me [Music] right here it's in the morning go preach with all your mind though he heard your calling in his life jonah didn't do what he knew was right but you help me to be a servant for this for me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is listen to me [Music] [Music] to your is to me [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] the spirit oh [Music] [Music] [Music] i want to ask you a question to [Music] in the lineup [Music] oh foreign [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] take me [Music] [Music] going to see the king now soon and very soon lord we are going to see the king hallelujah hallelujah we are going to see the king soon and very soon very soon lord we are going to see the king soon and very soon and very soon oh we are going to see the king soon and very soon lord we are going to see the hallelujah hallelujah we are going to see the king no more crying there lord we are going to see the king no more crying there [Applause] oh we are going to see the king no more crying there lord we are going to see the king a hallelujah hallelujah we are going to see the king no more dying there cause we are going to see the king no more dying there dying there [Music] [Music] hallelujah hallelujah we are going to see the king soon and very soon and very soon lord we are going to see the king soon and very soon and very soon oh we are going to see the king soon and very soon and very soon lord we are going to deceive the king hallelujah hallelujah we are going [Music] that i might sit [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Music] filled by your amazing ways holy spirit holy spirit comfort me [Music] and holy spirit rescue made and set my soul completely free and they decided [Music] and let me live in a brand new place and see my blessed savior [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] and keep me sheltered holy [Music] let the church say amen let the church say hallelujah for this is a day that the lord has made we shall rejoice and be glad in it and it's truly a blessing to be able to see this day which god has sent forth i have some prayer requests this morning to read and the first one will be coming from brother sister smith said well somebody help me brian arnold smith and jake jake smith missing daughter 13 years old and another prayer request is coming from sister carolyn jones the hodges and howard family in valdosta georgia cousin carolyn died this past tuesday morning asking for traveling grace for this family and another one from the computer here if i can get this right i told y'all i'll be praying for me on amazon would i be on the computer down there yeah y'all go i don't mess it up already okay prayer requests for sister penny thomas say please pray for me for peace and understanding and forgiving heart okay and the other one is from the other one is from brother allen thornton and they say please pray for lisa batten who suffered a third stroke is in back in the hospital i also pray for one of his customers martin martin to ma moran what say it again bro motron passed away asking for family strength at this time and see we got a lot to pray for we just we just it's prayer just all over for the uncertainties for the discouragement for everything that's going on atlanta we don't look around us brother and sister we might look at ourselves but we need to look around everybody going through and i had a i had experience when i went last week with me and my wife when i went to see my grandson and as i looked at that young man 21 years old in the bed with half his arm missing and nubbed off and the things that he's going through at 21 years old staples coming out the top of his head and all that he's been through and i sit there and i look i said lord you know i sit around a grown man and complaining about the things that i'm going through this young man has to go through what he goes through and i just look around at others and i just whatever come my way let god deal with it let him have it let him go and let him do what he do with it and i just thank god that he just continued to spare each and every one of our lives because i say jeremiah said it best in lamentation chapter three i keep saying it if it wasn't for the lord's compassion if it wasn't for his compassion his mercy we'll all be consumed so we ain't got enough to talk about one against another we just need to do we love unity and do it the way that the lord will have us to do and i'm the first one need to do it i look at myself in the mirror that man in the mirror and just thank god it's moaning that i can be here and stand before you and say that now let us pray from everlasting to everlasting truly your god and besides your father truly there is nowhere it's by your grace and your mercy that you continue to keep us father i'm not i'm like paul i'm the chief of a wholesaler i'm not worthy to be called the son of god a deacon or anything else but it's by your grace and your mercy that you've done it and i'm thankful that you spared each and every one of our lives cause truly a father we need it we all need you if it wasn't for your grace and your mercy we wouldn't be able to do anything that's right and father this morning you seen enough in your mind that you thought about us shook our bedsides and rose us up and told us to get up one more day and it wasn't for nothing it's for your purpose and your will father i'm like paul father god in the scriptures i'm gonna take my time and pray this morning father for us to be here is some more work got to be done because if it wasn't paul said foreign to be with you but thank you for being here thank you for doing what you're doing in each and every one of our lives father god and lift us up with the prayer service this morning as we lift it up to you let blessings come down and father god we see all the prayer requests that has been here since dependent thomas father god in the situation that she's going through with chris and everything father god father god you are the relief you see jesus is the answer for everything and lord look into that situation and continue to keep them and lift them up and bring them through where they need to be brought through brother thor's request father god for the one that had the stroke father god bring her through it here though you one thing about you jesus you are the physician the great physician jeremiah said in the oblate in jeremiah you are the bomb and getting yeah and father god when you when jesus come in this picture everything's going to be all right god that situation and for the ones father god who are going through bereavement that family father god that brother thornton has prayed for father god i'm so glad that jesus wrote in matthew chapter 11 verses 28 29 and 30. come unto me all he that labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly and hard and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and father god we pray for sister carolyn jones request father god we just ask you just to just continue to take care of that family up in valdosta georgia father god in the past and father god for all for we all need you we all need you and father god for the missing young lady father god 13 years old father god we just pray for our youth we pray for the young folks father god we just pray that you just continue to keep them we pray that we will pray for them father god diligently father god that they will bring them to the understanding of knowing you as lord and savior our lives and father god made it everything that we do and say through the rest of this service be pleasing unto you that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight oh lord my strength and my redeemer let the church of christ say amen hallelujah hallelujah sing hallelujah [Music] sing hallelujah sing [Music] hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and hallelujah and hallelujah oh hallelujah and hallelujah and [Music] hallelujah oh hallelujah and hallelujah and hallelujah and you are worthy you are so worthy you are so worthy you are so worthy and you are worthy you are so worthy you are so worthy to be praised [Music] hallelujah [Music] sing hallelujah and hallelujah and hallelujah [Music] and hallelujah and hallelujah and what a friend we we have in jesus and all our sins and our griefs to bear and what a privilege it is to carry everything to our lord in prayer sing hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] and hallelujah and hallelujah and hallelujah hallelujah [Music] and hallelujah [Music] [Music] and now we have all announcements good morning today is september 26th and here's what's going on at the wall yesterday you don't have to worry we do have another one coming up on october 23rd at 8 00 am so that gives you time [Music] good morning sweetwater today is september 26th and here's what's going on at the water if you missed the sweetwater bike ride on yesterday you don't have to worry we do have another one coming up on october 23rd at 8 am so that gives you time to get you a bike you are able to walk as well it is in the same location and remember that is on october 23rd at 8 am so please mark your calendars we hope to see you there and we do have a youth bake sale on today right after worship services that is located in our fellowship hall so before you leave service today please go over and support our youth we have all types of snacks and goodies that you can buy for a very low price so please please support the youth today after worship service in the fellowship hall there will be a bake sale as well as the youth community will be meeting here at the building on monday tomorrow at 7 00 pm in the fellowship hall for our youth committee meeting so if you would like to be a part of the youth committee or if you are wanting to know more about the youth committee you can come here tomorrow at the building at on monday at 7 pm we hope to see you there also on our youth department we do have some events coming up on next month our first event is our youth movie night that is on october 23rd as well as october 30th we will have a trunk or treat here at the building once again that is the trunk or treat here at the building i believe that it started at seven o'clock here at the building so you are able to come up in here a safe environment so that you can get treats and and goodies for the kids you don't have to go knock door to door uh we also are inviting everyone to come out and decorate your car we are asking members as well as anyone else that's not a member here sweetwater to come up decorate your car and provide candy out the trunk of your car uh we're told that the best car that is decorated will win a prize if you want more information about that you can see brother and sister man so please make sure you decorate your car uh and provide treats uh so that we can give that to our youth so that is on october 30th please mark your calendars that is here at the building at 7 00 pm the youth devo has been rescheduled for this friday i say again this friday here at the building at 7 00 p.m that is our youth devo has been rescheduled for this friday here at the building at 7 p.m please mark your calendars for all youth that plan to attend thank you and as we are approaching a new month of october remember that the medical ministry meets on every first sunday of the month here at the building at 5 00 p.m so if you would like to be a part of the medical ministry or would like to know more information about that we do have an event or a meeting coming up on the first sunday of next month that is at 5 00 p.m here at the building we hope to see you there and like always if you do have an announcement you can send that announcement through text or you can send it through the app with an email that is coming straight to me and i can display your announcements please get those in by friday i do the announcements on saturday but that is everything that is going on here at the water [Music] at the crossett the cross where i first saw the light and the burden of my heart [Music] now i am happy all the day and was it for crimes that i [Music] is pity grace unknown and a love they on degrees [Applause] [Music] it was there by faith i received [Music] [Applause] is [Music] died for me the creatures sing at the cross at the cross oh where i first saw [Music] it was there that i see my side and now i am [Music] [Music] the [Music] hear oh lord i give myself [Music] it is all that i can do [Music] at the cross at the cross where i fur saw the light and the burden of my auditor [Music] it was there by faith that i received my side [Music] good morning we have now come to two items of worship which are collection and communion the first is collection and the scripture for collection comes from first corinthians chapter 16 verses one and two and it reads not concerning the collection for the saints as i have given orders the churches of galatia even so do ye upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as god has prospered him that there be no gatherings will not come at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light i am the [Music] that i received my side and now i am happy all the days and at [Music] [Music] away it was thereby that i received my side and now i am happy all the days [Music] [Music] i [Music] here oh lord i give myself away it's all that i can do [Music] let us pray for collection heavenly father thank you for letting us be able to make it to your house of worship once and more to learn more about you and your word please bless people that gave that they gave us cheerful givers not expecting anything back from you and please bless people that didn't give that they'll be able to give at the next appointed time jesus and then pray amen the next item of worship is communion the scripture for communion comes from matthew 26 verses 26 to 29 and it reads and as they were eating jesus took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the now we have come to this part of our service which is where we set aside time every lord's day to allow our minds to go back to roll back on the sacrifice that christ did for us so many years ago it's recorded in first corinthians chapter 11 beginning at the 23rd verse it says for i have received of the lord that which also i delivered unto you that the lord jesus in the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you this dude in remembrance of me after the same matter also he took the cup when he had sup saying this cup is the new testament of my blood this do ye as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup ye do show the lord's death till they come wherefore whosoever shall eat of this bread and drink of this cup of the lord unworthily shall be guilty of the blood of the body and blood of the lord but let every man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup for if he eat it and drink it unworthily he eats it and drinks it donation to himself not discerning the lord's body for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many asleep some may ask man why do y'all take it every lord's day because it's commanded the bible says upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread that paul preached unto them ready to depart on tomorrow and continued his speech until midnight simply put if you find a week that doesn't have a first day you ain't got to take it but guess what all weeks have a first date so on the first day to take up the lord's supper the unleavened bread and the fruit of the wine the man if you would if you have your own communion there or if you would let us know we can get it for you at this time hey thank you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] over over and over again i keep falling in love with them over over and over [Music] between my savior and i i keep falling in love with him over and over and over again and i keep falling in love with over and over over and over and over again i keep falling in love with him open over and over [Music] [Music] over and over and over again and he keeps blessing me over [Music] and we're [Music] is [Applause] [Music] over and over [Music] and over and over cleansing me over over and over over over and over [Music] between my [Music] again over and over [Music] and over and over again [Music] [Applause] between my savior and i keep falling in love with him over over and over and over again [Music] i keep falling in love over and over over and over over i again falling in love with him over over over and over again and you [Applause] [Music] between my savior and i i keep [Music] that the church say amen let the church say amen again god is good and god is good all the time uh i was listening brother danny he condemned him to pray this morning what a spirited prayer and i too i'm like paul chief center if it wasn't for god grace and mercy where would i be amen we want to welcome you if you're viewing with us online to the sweetwater church of christ located in jacksonville florida at 7009 wilson boulevard for our senior minister richard crawford senior and our minister's brother trevonte peterson we are a bible believing church we are the church of christ we believe in what thus said the lord amen we we are thankful that god has allowed us to come out this morning for the express purpose you brought to worship him in spirit and in truth and we pray this morning that our worship service will go before him as a sweet smelling savior amen i'm here to read scripture to you this morning scripture is going to be coming from revelations chapter 2. that's revelation chapter 2. your brother trevonte peterson has been doing a marvelous job of preaching i'm so thankful uh he has standing in his heart to preach on stewardship that's one of those conversational subjects we we need to hear we we need to hear as good as god has been to us and all that he's blessed us with we should love to give to him because what he's done for us again that's revelations chapter two i'm going to be reading from the king james version if you have it say amen amen and the bible reads until the angel of the church at elvis wright these things said he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks i know that works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bap them which are evil and thy has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and has found them liars and has borne and has patience and for my name sex has labored and has not found it nevertheless i have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love verse five remember therefore from whence thou fallen and repent and do the first works or else i will come unto thee quickly and will remove that candlestick out of his place except they repent i read for you revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 may the lord of the blessing to the readers and the dude of his holy and divine word please bow and pray for me and wolf me as we go to the lord in prayer to our fathers which are in heaven to the father of our lord and savior jesus christ lord we come humbled before your throne this morning through the avenue of prayer first father we ask you to forgive us of any sins that we may have committed whether they were by worth or a deed that our prayers would not hinder father we come with thanksgiving on our heart thanking you for being the great god that you are and father besides there is no other we thank you for loving us and caring about us and we thank you for all the many blessing you showers with every day and father we take not granted the things that you bless us with being in our right mind having the ability to speak having full use of our limbs all of our senses are working and father we thank you for that we thank you for your amazing grace and we thank you for your tender mercy but we especially thank you for our our big brother jesus christ our lord and savior father we thank you for the great sacrifice that he made when he came from heaven and came and lived and died and rose again on the third day and now sits on the right hand making intercession on our behalf father we just pray that you give us strength day by day to be better christians today than we were yesterday and father we have to pray for all those that are sick and that are homebound that you be with them bless them in the blessing that they stand in need of we pray for our members that may be a nurse tongue we pray for members that may be troubling that you grant them traveling grace father we pray for our children we ask that you keep our heads around them keep them protected at all times we pray for marriages father west that you bless the marriages of richly we pray for spouses we pray for our children well father we pray for our children that are in school whether they be uh pre-k kindergarten day care middle school high school college we pray for all of our children that are in the military father protect them protect those men and women that serve our country we have special prayers for the doctors the nurses the saints the firemen the policemen father pray for them we pray for leaders in high places father that they'll make right decisions with what's best for the people father pray that you'll touch their heart that they'll be make those decisions that will afford us our liberties father we thank you for the church of christ our love of this land and especially the sweet water church of christ father we pray that you'll bless our ministry here in this this community that we live in we pray for our elders our deacons our teachers and we pray for the membership here at sweetwater father help us to be all you will have us to be in christ jesus we thank you for this opportunity and all opportunity father we especially thank you for this opportunity to come out and worship you in spirit and the truth and we pray father that our worship service here today will be carried on such a way namely glory and honor unto thee none to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly all that we may ask to thank for the powers that work within us it's in the mighty name of jesus that we do pray in the church today men and amen to that land oh don't you wanna go to that land don't you wanna go or to that land where i'm bound where i'm bound or don't you want to go to the land church don't you want to go to that land don't you wanna go or to that land don't you wanna go or to that land church don't you wanna go to that land don't [Music] don't you wanna go to that land don't you wanna go or to the land or where i'm bound or where i'm bound ain't nothing but [Music] [Applause] [Music] bound [Music] ain't nothing but a piece uh in that land church nothing but there's nothing but a piece or in that land that's where i'm bound and where i'm about ain't nothing but a piece or in that land there's nothing but these in that land there's nothing but peace [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and where [Music] [Applause] church don't you wanna go [Music] don't you wanna [Applause] [Music] and all the time find somebody close to you this morning say neighbor god loves you and i do too and if you love me as much as i love you then nothing can break i love into amen it's just one more testament of god's goodness god's grace and of god's mercy that he has blessed each and every single one of us to be here on this morning i know you had did everything right and made all the marks that you were supposed to meet so god just had to wake you up this morning but somebody who's like me will say that i'm not worthy i didn't meet it i didn't do everything right but still god blessed me to see another day that was not promised to me this day that i've never seen before in this day that we shall never see again god is good church he's good not just some of the time but he's good all of the time and he's good enough for us to get up on the first day of the week to come out and worship him and praise his name in spirit and in truth for the father seek as such to worship him it's so good to see everyone that has come out on this morning for the purpose of worshiping our father we thank all of you that are watching us via live stream we thank you for tuning in and being with us here on this morning and we pray that you'll be blessed by the things that are said here on today we pray that you'll follow with us as we go throughout the word of god and prayerfully if you're seeking a relationship with god we pray that you'll find that here on today anybody come to hear a word from the lord this morning amen i believe you came to the right place we'll be in revelation chapter two beginning at verse number one and concluding at verse number five uh we know over these past three weeks that we have been dealing with the subject of lessons dealing with the topic of stewardship um and i know that we love that so much that it's showing up in the offering that the other this he gonna tell me if he's showing up uh so so we believe that and we believe we love god we're thankful for what god has given us we're thankful for what he's done in our lives and we're going to show him how grateful we are by how much we give back to him but i want to bring another point to mind that in order to give to him you got to be here i cannot give anything if i am not present so this is a continuation of something that we did on last sunday evening because it is imperative for us as children of god to understand that even though we are living in a time as of we've not none of us have ever experienced before and many things have changed god's word has not changed and what god is calling for each and every single one of us to do has not changed god has called us to save souls god has called us to take his word out there into the world and we cannot do that snuggled up at the house amen amen so revelation chapter two beginning at verse number one and the bible says to the angel of the church at ephesus right these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands i know your works your labor your patience and that you cannot bear those who are evil and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them to be liars and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and have not become weary god given them all this good stuff that they've been doing right all this good stuff all the stuff that they've been doing right nevertheless i have this against you that you have left your first love remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the first works or else i will come quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart the lord be acceptable in thy sight i want you to look at somebody this morning and say you need to go back to your first love they don't even know who their first love is you need to look at the other one and say hey you need to go back to your first love now church one thing that every single one of us as christian as children of god struggle with is losing our fire for god it's losing our desire to serve god you know it's easy to become a lazy christian you know that right because it's always easier to do nothing than it is for us to do something and before we know it the fire that we had will go out and the love that we have for serving god is going to grow cold you know who loves this kind of stuff the devil really loves this kind of stuff and he loves it when it happens to us because it gives the devil an opportunity to lure us away from the things of god and to lure us away from the desire to serve god and to worship him and that is why it is important that we follow the advice that paul wrote to the ephesians he said finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole arm of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil now when you put on the whole arm of god the devil has no power over us because we have what we need to be successful the bible tells us in saying corinthians 2 and 11 he said at least satan should take advantage of us because we are not ignorant of his devices notice the bible say we're not ignorant of his device but we are not ignorant of his devices meaning that the devil has many things that he can throw at you so if he didn't get you in this old monday guess what he got something else for you on tuesday if he didn't get you with this on tuesday guess what he got something else prepared for you on wednesday the devil has many devices that is why it is important for the people of god to take every opportunity that they can to assemble with the saints so that you can get what it is that's necessary for you to do battle with the devil and sometimes church our fire goes out sometimes not just individual fire goes out but you know that the fire of a congregation can go out yeah it can't the church at ephesus is an example of a congregation that lost his fire we read that in our texas said to the angels of the church at ephesus right these things says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstand he said i know your works and your labor and your patience and that you cannot bear those that are evil you got some good qualities about you you got some good things going on there but children oh god we cannot get to that place to where well i do this for god and i do this for god but i'm not doing this if you are missing the mark in some part you are missing the mark in all of it church you can't say well i do this and i do that but i don't believe i need to go serve god i do this and i do that i don't believe that i'm supposed to be a part of the ministry to help further the kingdom of god that is far from the truth he says in verse number three and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my name's sake and you have not become weary nevertheless i have this against you that you have left your first love he said remember therefore from whence you fallen and don't just go back but on your way back what you need to do now if i need to repent that let me know i've done something wrong if i need to repent that means that i've gotten outside of the will of god and if i have gotten so far from away from the will of god and i'm not doing what it is that god has commanded for me to do i just can't come back home and act like ain't nothing happen i can't just pop back up and act like i've been at the house all the time doing what it is that i'm supposed to do but on my way back i need to stop by and ask the father to forgive me of what it is that i have done and restore me back and give me an opportunity to work out my soul salvation now first of all you're gonna notice that this church has some good qualities but they started going downhill and jesus basically said y'all left y'all first love now they had reached a point to where they were just going through the motions and as a result of this jesus tells them that i'm gonna come and i'm gonna remove your lamp stand now there is no reason for a church to have a lamp stand if it ain't got no fire is it just there for decoration there's no use in having a lampstand if you do not have any fire in it jesus basically tells them that you got to repent or you're going to face the consequences now while it is sad when people and congregations lose their passion you got to realize church that if you're not careful it can happen to you as well that is why it's important that you test yourself to see if your fire is burning hot for the lord or if your fire has gone out for god that is what paul tells us to do in second corinthians chapter 13 verse number five he said examine yourselves as to whether or not you are in the faith test yourself do you not know yourself that jesus christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified so one of the most important things that we should possess as god's children is love for god and not just love for god but love for your brothers and sisters in christ notice what he said in first corinthians chapter 13 beginning at verse number one he said though i speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love i have become as just sounding brass or clinging symbols in other words i ain't doing nothing but making noise and though i have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge and though i have all faith so that i can remove mountains but i ain't got love what does it profit me nothing and though i will store all my goods to feed the poor and though i give my body to be burned but i have not loved church it don't profit me anything so without love you can never have the kind of zeal that god wants you to have a person can do all kinds of wonderful things but if you don't do it in love it does not profit you anything now let me ask you this question are you on fire for god are you hiding your light under a basket if you do not have a zeal for serving god he gonna come and remove your lamb saying church how many people do you know that used to have a fire for god and they used to let their light shine everywhere that they went but now the fire has gone out like a flashlight when the battery going out you know you start hitting it on the side trying to get the light to come back on and it's just flickering away almost like that it is so sad when we allow ourselves to become lukewarm in our christianity you know god never intended for his children to be mediocre i don't hear nobody so so what i would like to do this morning is for us to just look at what would help us to keep our fire for god and help us to get back to our first love now all of these things will come from what paul wrote to the philippians in philippians chapter three beginning at verse number 12 going down to verse number 16. he says not that i have already attained or have already perfected he said ain't there yet god's still working on me he said but even though god is still working on me this is one thing that i do i press on that i may lay hold of that which christ jesus has laid hold on me brethren i do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing i do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things in our head he said i pressed toward the goal of the prize of the upper call of god in christ jesus therefore let us as many as are mature have this man and if in anything you think otherwise god will reveal that unto you nevertheless to the degree that we have already attained let us walk by that same rule and let us be of that same mind is that in your bible so paul is letting them know you know what i haven't reached where i need to be yes yet i haven't become that perfected work in christ jesus just yet but there's one thing that i do even though i'm not there yet i'm still striving i'm still pressing i'm still looking forward church you can't get to a place in your walk with god where you feel like you'd have made it you feel like you didn't did all that you need to do and now you can just sit back and wait on jesus to come sit back and twirl our thoughts waiting on jesus to come back church you still got to work out your soul salvation with fear and retrembling you still got to serve god so our first point comes from verse number 12 where he's and we need to know that we need to have the attitude that the apostles did yes we did because we got the wrong attitude in our day we need to have the attitude that the apostle said what he said in verse number 12 not that i've already attained or have already perfected but i press on that i may lay hold of that for which christ jesus has laid on me now paul is one of the hardest working brothers that you're going to read about the new testament and he even makes that claim himself paul said in first corinthians chapter 15 verse 9 for i am the least of the apostles who am not even worthy to be called an apostle why because i persecuted the church of god but by the grace of god i am what i am and his grace towards me was not in vain but i labored more abundantly than they are yet not i but the grace of god that was in me so paul is taking a moment and say hey you know what i've done good for god but i don't want to ever get to the place in my life where i feel like the good that i've done is all because of me and something that i've done paul said even the things that i have done i've done them not of myself but i've done them because of the grace of god i don't know you got up this morning off of the grace of god you put one foot in front of the other for the grace of god you blinking your eyes off of the grace of god you're hearing what i'm saying all because of the grace of god but you see it didn't matter how hard paul labored why because he always had the attitude i have not been perfected i haven't got their judge i have not arrived and from this we can learn that you ought to never get to the point of your christianity when you think you've done enough and you can just sit back well you've done enough and you just sit back because as soon as you start thinking like that your flame is on his way out that's what jesus said in luke chapter 9 and verse number 23 he said if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and sit at the house go do something else besides come to church he said you got to pick up your cross and after you pick it up then i want you to follow behind me that's what the bible says jesus makes it clear for us to understand that serving god ain't just to every other sunday kind of thing serving god is not just a sunday thing serving god is an everyday event and if you only got a faith that want to serve god on sundays on wednesday you're serving the wrong god jesus makes it clear for us you cannot grow weary of doing good church or growing weary or gaining knowledge of god's word because if you're not growing you're becoming complacent which is not a good thing for us whether you are 10 or 90 you got to challenge yourself to grow and become wiser in the knowledge of the i don't care if you've been to church 50 60 years you still got to work out your soul salvation [Applause] now let's take a look at a few things that people say that causes their fire to go out y'all never heard well i've been studying the bible all my life so i don't really see a need to study as much as i used to second timothy chapter 2 verse 15 studied to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needed not to be ashamed but rightly dividing the word of truth just say if i'm in school and i got a test coming up the only way i'm going to be prepared for the test if i have studied the material if i have looked over the material to see what it is that i'm going to need to know when i take my exam so how is it that we think that we can neglect serving god we can neglect coming and hear what it is that we need to know and think we're going to defeat the devil and think we're going to be able to overcome him the only way jesus overcame him when he was in the wilderness was with the word of god and if we don't know the word of god then we won't be able to overcome church he proverbs chapter 15 verse 28 he said the heart of the righteous studies how to answer but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil i mean if you're a wicked you're just saying any old thing you just want to just say something to say something but when you are a child of god and your heart is righteous you study the word so that you can find the answer to life's problems first peter chapter 3 and verse 15 but sanctify the lord god in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear now these three verses teach us plainly that you can never reach a point to where you feel like you necessarily enough of god's word you will not never get to a point to where you feel like you've heard enough about god church it doesn't matter how many hours a day you study the word of god because you will consistently learn new things that you did not learn the previous time that you studied the word of god it is also important to study to keep it fresh on your mind so that you will be able to find things better when you have an opportunity to share god's word with somebody then some will say oh well you know i've been praying all of my life and it seemed like most of the prayers that i haven't got prayed so i don't see a need to pray anymore first thessalonians 5 17 says pray without what that means don't stop that mean keep going that means what the acronym push pray until something happens that means keep calling keep praying until god gives your answer he says pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus for you luke 18 1 says then he spoke a parable to them that men are always pray and not lose heart so do you get any indication from those scriptures that we just read that you can get to a place in your walk with god where you didn't pray too much well you called on god too much of course not church if you get to the point where you lose your desire to pray you've lost your zeal for god we ought to want to talk to god when we wake up in the morning church we ought to want to talk to god going throughout our day we ought to find ourselves sometimes getting by ourselves i ain't talking about you ain't got to sit there and pray none of them long drawn out king james prayer but if ain't nothing but lord i thank you for what you've done in my life lord i thank you for taking care of me lord i thank you for providing for me lord i thank you for being god and god all by yourself you ought to find yourself spending time with the lord he got a big one i didn't did enough work in the church it's time to let somebody else take over it's time to let somebody else work that ministry i've been doing it all my life i'm tired of doing it first corinthians 15 and 58 therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the lord knowing this that your labor is not in vain for the lord now our issue is we do stuff and we want people to congratulate us and we want people to tell us good job and we want people to pack us on the back but if you're looking for that church you're going to always be disappointed but you got to recognize that everything that i'm doing to god is not in vain revelation 14 13 says then i heard a voice from heaven saying right blessed are the dead who die in the lord from now oh yes says the spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works shall follow them their words gonna follow them now when we look at those verses it should be clear to us that your work for god does not come to an end until you are not capable or you did i didn't say until covert 19 came i said until you are not capable until you are dead notice paul says that a christian is to not just sometimes abound but he says always abound in the work of the lord and john continues that thought by saying that after a christian dies then you can rest from your labor church it concerns me when christians get to a point to where they say somebody else got dead i'm tired i don't want to do it anymore because i've already done that work for so much time you need to be careful when you start thinking that way because what you are setting yourself up for is to become idle and when you become idle your flame just grows dimpler and dimmer for the lord if you are already in this condition this morning then the way you relight your flame by god is by taking those sleeves and rolling them up and getting busy for the lord church our next point comes from verse number 13 of our texts in philippians chapter 3 verse 13 he said brethren i do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing i do forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are here now again we see paul making it clear that he doesn't consider himself to have reached his goal just yet paul said i ain't there yet god's still working on me but notice there's one thing that he does and that is keeping heaven as his goal he got heaven on his mind church he refuses to allow the things from the past to drag him down now just think about everything paul did before he became a christian how did christians down in foreign cities and he persecuted them severely he watched with great joy as stephen was stoned to death in acts chapter 7. if paul allowed himself to dwell on the bad things that he did in the past it would be hard for him to think about going forward for christ but paul understood that once he became a christian that his past was forgotten about and done away with god got the ability to forget the things of our past but sometimes we find it very difficult to forget what we've done and if we dwell on those things all the time church it will hinder you and keep you from reaching the goal of heaven hebrews chapter 12 verse number one through two says therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin that don't so easily ensnare us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us and while you're doing that looking unto jesus the arthur and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is now sat down on the right-hand side of the father now the writer tells us lay aside some weights lay aside every way that would include your past now you want to be effective for god and to have a zeal burning hot for him you got to learn to forget those things and keep your eyes on jesus church the next point comes from verse number 14 of our text where paul says i press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus now the greek word press means to strive intensely the greeks use it to describe a hunter that is eagerly waiting and pursuing his prey in a race it describes a person who zaggingly strove for the prize now this tells us that paul was striving with every muscle and every fiber of his being to be who it was that god had called him to be and this shows the zeal that he had to serve god until the day he died that's the same attitude that every single one of us as children of god should have when it comes to serving him in matthew chapter 10 jesus was sending his disciples out on a small mission and he gave them a warning about what would happen to them but notice what he tells them in verse number 22 he said and you will be hated by all for my name's sake but he who endures unto the end shall be saved he didn't say go until you run into some trouble and didn't quit he didn't say go until you run into some difficult circumstances and then you can stop going he said he that endures unto the end shall be saved and what good will it do some people on the day of judgment to say lord well i pressed up unto the pandemic but after that i didn't think you wanted me to serve you no more i didn't think you wanted me to go hard for you like that anymore let me tell you church the same villain and violence that you had serving god before this time you ought to have that same villain advisor to serve god right now because he is the same god yesterday today and even forevermore and we got to get out of the business of using excuses we got to own up to some stuff and stop using excuses for everything we gon do everything that we want to do and we ain't scared to be around folk while we're there doing it but we got to feel about coming to serve god we got a fear about coming to church well i just ain't comfortable i don't want to be all them walmart touching everything that you didn't say all of them from there in the house alone getting they had their all the folk on your job you don't know where they be you don't know what they've been involved in we'll make good excuses to go do what we want to do but then when it come time to serve god we got every excuse in the world why we can't come to church [Applause] it ain't like we're here every day yeah i could understand you know the missing the day or two here it was here every day of the week this is the lord's day this is god's house and if god has been blessing you and if god has been good to you if you are a child of god you recognize that on the first day of the week if i ain't in the hospital or dead i need to be in god's house because he that endures unto the end shall be saved this is a test of your faith church this is a test of your faith i wonder i wonder if god would just bless us up until the pandemic came and then after the dimming wood i ain't pouring out blessings no more you're on your own feeling for yourself do what you got to do we got to get out of this because what has happened together as the manner of some is but one another so much the more as you see the day approaching you gotta be in charge there are some things that happen here that if you ain't here you just miss it you just miss it number one the bible tells me where two or three are gathered in his name touching and agreeing on anything he said damn i in the midst of them so if i'm gonna be anywhere on sunday morning i want to be where god is i want to be where the lord is in the midst of them i want to be because the bible says what the spirit of the lord is there's liberty to set you free we need to be set free from the mindset that this is a new normal we need to be set free from this man said that things have changed god ain't saying who told you god changed who told you god changed his word ain't nobody changed but us we got comfortable we got lazy we don't want to do anything for god i'm being real with you this morning god we've got lazy for god we gotta work out our soul salvation church with fear and we're trembling and if we don't do that if we die in our soul we lost who we got to blame well to preach it and tell me you got to work out your own soul's salvation well such a sudden you've got to work out your own soul salvation with fear and withdraw he told us he said save yourself from this untoward generation now let's look at the remaining verses of our text verse number 15 through 17. he said therefore let us as many as are mature have this man and if anything you think otherwise god will reveal even this to you nevertheless to the degree that we have already attained let us walk by that same rule let us be of the same man brethren join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have for a pattern he's given us an example church he's given us a pattern that we ought to follow after and paul is teaching us that you got to have the same man that he did you should never have the attitude that you are already there that you've already reached your goal that you just got your ticket in your hand you just sitting on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away that it that that ain't time it ain't time for that but we should continue to grow church and do as many things for the lord as we are able to do notice he says that we are to walk by the same rule and those rules come from the word of god if anybody have the right to become discouraged to the point of allowing their flame to go out it would have been paul how many of y'all had folks following behind you throwing bricks at you and boulders and and they thought they had killed you so they left you there for dead but you got back up and with how many of y'all have been shipwrecked and spent a night in the day in the deep how many of y'all have went through any of that stuff paul was going through all of that still serving god let it be overcast outside it'd be half of this amount of people in here we got to have that same zeal we got to have that same desire church if anybody had the right it would have been paul look what paul said ii corinthians chapter 11 beginning in verse number 23 it said are they ministers of christ i speak as a fool i am more in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequently in depths of them from the jews five times i received 40 stripes minus one three times i was being rewards once i was stoned three times i was shipwrecked a night in the day in the deep in journeys often in perils of water and perils of robbers and parents of my own countrymen and powers of the gentiles and perils of the city in perils of the wilderness in perils of the sea and in perils among false brethren in weariness in tall and sleeplessness often and hunger and in thirst and fastings often in cold and nakedness besides the other things paul says what comes upon me daily my deep concern for all the churches now when you or anyone you know went through half of what paul did i can't name nobody yet paul keeps that fire burning hot church even though he went through so many things his example should inspire us to go back to our first love his example church should inspire us to get our fire back for him and even if you have allowed your flame to go out you can reignite the church by rededicating your life to christ once again if we can follow paul's example we'll be able to say the same thing that he did before i am ready to be poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand paul said i've fought a good fight i've finished my course i've kept the faith finally there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness with the lord the righteous judge would give me on that day and not only for me but for all those who love him in his appearance notice church that he describes this walk of faith as a fight because that's exactly what it is day in and day out we got the fight to remain faithful to the lord and when you do you can know that there's a crown of righteousness that's waiting on you church i want to encourage you this morning this message this morning is not meant to deter or put anybody down but this message is to encourage you and to wake you up church to get you to recognize that your soul is important your soul is important in church and you got to save it or it's going to be lost god has not changed he's the same god yesterday today and he's going to be the same god even forevermore and i'm glad that i serve a god that does not change i'm glad that i serve a god that i can depend on him to be right there when i call on him i could depend on him to come through for me when i need him and just like god is the same he wants us and his children to be the same he want us to get back on fire for him he wants us to serve him he does not want us to be so fearful and afraid because what's our theme this year faith over fear we cannot allow our fears of things in this world to keep us from serving god and to keep him from keep us from giving him our all church god is keeping the record of things and we ought to be careful about that he's keeping a record of things church and wouldn't it be bad to stand before god and he be talking to you like he was talking to this church at ephesus well oh you did that good check oh yeah you got that check oh but i have this against you you got to a place in your walk with me when you got lazy you got to a place in your walk with me where you just stop putting forth effort you stop putting forth the desire church let's serve god we're not just some of our self let's serve god with everything that we got let's serve him church and not let look and when we're serving let's serve god for real let's give god our everything because guess what if we're just doing it for sure guess who know about it god know about it and guess what he's going to keep a record of that and that's going to come up here because you know it's easy as i don't know what to fool people but we can't fool god because we can only look at your outward appearance but god looks on the heart of man god knows your intention god knows why you're doing what you're doing and for what purpose that you're doing and god is gonna judge you accordingly i'm glad church that one of these days i got to stand before just god and i hope and i trust and i pray that when i stand before him that i will have served him to the best of my ability that i would have done everything possible in my ability to make sure that heaven is my home one thing that he will not be able to say is that i didn't come serving one thing that he will not be able to say is that i was not devoted to coming out and giving him my all church we got to devote ourselves just like we devote ourselves to those things that we like and enjoy in our own lives we got to desert ourselves to the work of the lord church we gotta devote ourselves to his house just like we want everything good and correct in our personal lives guess what we gotta want that same thing for god's house so even when we come into the house of god each of us individually we can't have one person giving part and another person giving their all everybody got to put everything they got into a church so that we can make sure that the work of god that the ministry goes forth it's important church that we get back to our first love that you remember why it is that you first obeyed the gospel remember why it is that you first got involved in the work of ministry that you first started serving god and let that get you to a point to where you want to bring that fire back and get that desire to serve god i don't want god to come and remove my lamp stand do you church i don't want him to remove and neither do i want a lamp stand that ain't got no fire in it lord if i ain't got a lamp stand give me one and don't just give me a left stand put some fire in it lord give me a desire to serve you give me a zeal to do your will lord so that i can work out my soul salvation with fear and dribbling my brother and my sister all each and every single one of us walking through the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living none of us even those of you that have already obeyed the gospel you are not ticket punched on your way to heaven you got to work out your soul salvation with fear and withdraw every day of your life you got to work it out church don't just wait till you get here on sunday morning trying to work out your soul salvation every day of your life you got to be working out your soul salvation you ought to be spending time with god so that you can become closer with him and be who it is that god wants you to be my brother my sister all of us one of these days we gotta check up out of here and go stand before a just god who's gonna call before all of those all of those unrepented things that's why if you got anything in your life that you ain't repented of you need to get rid of it today what did he tell the church at ephesus he said even when you come back even on your way back to your first love i don't just want you to come back but on your way back i want you to repent because you've done wrong you've gotten outside of my will you've gotten outside of my plan so it's it's necessary for you to repent so you can be brought back into a right standing with god my brother my sister maybe you're here today maybe you're watching us and you have never even had a fire for god you have not had the desire to serve him you're not a member of his body not a member of his church my brother and my sister i plead with you today what you waiting on i plead with you today don't put off today for what you have plans on doing for none of us know what the plans of the lord are you have plans but god got plans too and guess whose plan is going to trump the other ones god that plan is going to drop you you got to put your stuff on the back burner and say whatever the lord's will let it be done my brother my sister maybe you're here today and you don't know the lord has just said i call for you today my brother and sister hear the word of god you've already heard it the question is now do you believe what it is that you've heard i have to believe repent of your sins repentance is a change in your mind that produces a change in your action you're living different you're doing different you confess with your mouth the sweetest name known immortal tone jesus is the son of the living god be baptized for the remission of your sins let the lord add you to his body the bible lets us know praising god having favor with all the people it is the lord that adds to the church daily such as should be saved maybe you're here today my brother and my sisters i plead with you maybe you're here today and you say preacher i'm already a christian but i ain't got no fire let us pray for you that god can give that fire back to you maybe you're here today say preach well i've been serving god my fire has gotten a little dim let's pray for you that you can get that fire back church because let me tell you when the church is on fire things are happening when the church is on fire ministries will flourish when the church is on fire people will come to see what it is that got these folks so excited about jesus when you on fire let's get that fire back if you need prayers of the church today to get that fire back you have that opportunity to request that at this time my brothers and my sisters you can come now as together we stand and sing the song of invitation the pride is telling the world that jesus says today i'm way [Applause] [Music] [Applause] clearer way oh i'm in the glory land wave [Music] heaven is nearer [Music] [Music] the gospel call today and just get in the glory lamb we hey oh wandering [Music] and [Music] oh i'm in the glory land wait [Music] is nearer [Music] let the church say amen god is still good and uh brother peterson we appreciate the fine message isn't it funny though when you preach what people want to hear but when you preach what they need thank you brother god bless you appreciate it so well good to see you appreciate those who have come visiting we have a couple of prayer requests that we want you to honor and uh as we take these folk and pray for them we have sister magdalene lost her brother and we want to remember and then in condolence sister magdalene we want you to pray for her and her family during this time of bereavement be close to them we have brother stark who is out of town with his family we did have a message from him that kim lost or had triple bypass surgery and we want to remember [Music] in her in prayer remember the family that's going through that and then we just had a car turned in from schlender uh for zeal to be re for her zeal to be restored god bless her that's a good that's a good good request isn't it a great request all of us uh that need to now i know that some of us may need to and never do that but but uh you should you should now we're thankful again for the beautiful message and we pray that it will resonate with all of us that wake us up to the sense of our duty uh we do know and and let me tell you just because we don't take this pandemic for granted uh it's real uh but but but you know what like the preacher said now i'm blaming it on him so if you if you don't like he said you go everywhere else and he even picked on some of your favorite places walmart and uh and business hadn't fell off there and uh you know we still go and uh other places and uh you know we'll still get our nails done well we don't get hours we get access yeah football game uh oh lord i didn't think y'all remember that but but uh i'm just seriously though we have to consider uh because what happens is satan will steal your joy and he'll have you thinking that everything is okay when it really isn't uh and and and that's what happens uh you know he he has some wisdom he's he's outsmarting us in a lot of areas to make you think that it's okay when pat you on the shoulder it's okay let's have a pity party don't do anything stay home watch it from the watch everything from the bedroom and gotta be happy let's pray for those who have requested god father in heaven we're so grateful for this day time that you've given us we're thankful father for your manservant brother travanti who had stood and proclaimed your word this morning without addition or subtraction father we pray that the word will look for this good seed sown in good soul and bring forth fruit in due time father we pray again that you'll be close to sister magdalena and her family during this time of bereavement yes we and we even know father that uh death is imminent in each life we just pray that you bless us give us strength to be able to even when we make preparations we we you need your strength to carry us we pray father for the honesty and transparency of sister shalon celinda she asks that she uh pray for her to have zeal and father we pray that you bless her that she can remove some of the obstacles from her life uh those that are not necessarily uh important that she can spend time with you in prayer and and according to your word we pray for kim brother starks his cousin i believe it is that had to triple bypass surgery we pray that you're blessed bless her and bless those doctors that are treating her that she regained a reasonable portion of her health and strength and lord we always ask you to bless our spiritual family that meets here at the sweetwater church of christ we pray that you continue to draw us closely in love and wisdom and knowledge much better understanding of your holy and divine word lord we appreciate you we love you we ask this in jesus name because he's our savior he's our mediator let the church say amen truly truly truly i would like to take this opportunity to thank you thank you for tuning in today and being a part of our worship services we pray that those things that were said and done on today were a benefit and blessing to your life that will help you to grow as a child of god if you're ever in our area here in the greater jacksonville area we invite you to come out and visit us at the sweetwater church of christ we're located at 7009 wilson boulevard come here where the gospel is preach and the water is very sweet i look forward to seeing you god bless you god [Music] you

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Length: 113min 2sec (6782 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 26 2021