Join us for Wednesday Night Bible Class at Sweetwater Church of Christ

i go pointing souls together to the crimson flow many arrows pierce my soul from without within but my lord leads me on and through him i must win and we're singing now oh i want to see him look upon his face and dare to sing forever of his saving grace of his savior and grace on the streets of glory let me lift up my voice and cares are past home at last ever to rejoice to win in service for my lord dark may be the night but i'll cling more close to him he will give me life satan snares may vex my soul turn my thoughts aside but my lord goes ahead please whatever be tight and we're singing oh i want to see him look upon his face and dare to sing forever love is saving grace of his saving grace on the streets of glory let me lift up my voice and cares of past home at last ever to rejoice pray with me please to our father which are in heaven father we're so thankful for you loving and caring about us and we just want to say thank you thank you for being the good god that you are we thank you for touching us this morning with the thing of love starting us on our way not only that father but you provided a shelter for us you gave us food and you gave us clothing you're a lot of safe travel today you put a hedge around our loved ones you protected our children and our spouse you kept the evil one away from our homes and we just want to say thank you we thank you for so many blessings but we especially thank you for jesus christ our lord and savior father we just want to say thank you for your amazing grace and your tender mercy and father we just pray that we'll live out all those things that you will have us to do that will be obedient to your commandments father help us to go strongly each day and our walk with you help us to be kind hard to help us to be loving help us to be forgiving to one another father just help us to grow in all those areas you will have us to be and we just pray father as we come out to study another portion of your word today you will bless our study here tonight and we just pray for all of our memories and the sound of my voice we pray for our sick and our shut-in we pray for those that are home with anxiety and concerns and father we ask us to be with them we pray for all of our members that have lost loved ones during this pandemic for whatever reason father if we just pray that you'll be with them as they grieve and let them know that you're just god in your perfect god and you don't make any mistakes fatherly we just pray that you'll give them that comfort they need during this time father we also pray for your leaders here at the sweetwater congregation father give us the wisdom and the understanding we need to be a better people for your people father that make sure that we are leading by example and that we we live up to those standards and expectations you set for us in your word we pray for the congregation father bless the sweetwater congregation bless all of our ministries here bless our teachers bless our deacons bless the membership here father just allow us to be that light upon him that shines so all men boys and girls may be drawn closer to you that some may ask that no precaution what must i do to be saved these are all blessings we asked in the mighty name of jesus in the church that amen and amen thank you elder dancer appreciate it so much good evening to each of you welcome you to our midweek study welcome those who are viewing us by social media facebook youtube we're so glad that you took time out of your schedule to come in and be a part of our study with us tonight and we're glad for those who are in the auditorium we pray that you come tonight to study with us with questions these lessons are rapidly coming to an end we've been studying about discouragement and through the various ways that we as christians have gotten discouraged if you don't lose sight of jesus you will get the scare now in the little uh handout that has been given us uh that we've been working from i should say on page 86 you you all need once okay there's a couple right on that bookcase right out the door okay discouragement can come in many forms and fashion that's what we've been studying over this period of time that we have been studying uh i think that it's always interesting to take our time to deal with those things because like i say in this day and time with so much going on so many things unexpected so many anxiety trips this type of discussion is certainly relevant in bible study and so we take our time and take a look and see but i want to start uh i i want to read that little outline there in verse uh in that outline five or no number five and then i want to come back and start it just a different way uh it it just appears that it may be but but i just want to start it a different way it's a discouragement because of friends turning on you let that resonate discouragement because of friends turning on you christ on friends lifted up his heels against him psalms uh 41 9 demons for paul ii timothy 4 10 but neither gave up in despair and despondent remember that in christ you have a friends that stick it closer than a brother proverbs 18 24 and to make sure and count your many friends who have not turned on you that's interesting edmond said jesus he had friends that turn on him and i think if we go back through the gospels and looked at through the gospels not only did it said his many friends judas turned on him for for money i don't know if any of you have had that experience or not maybe we'll if you that that may be something you want to discuss and we'll do so uh but you know uh how did judas turn my pardon the authorities for money for money so this friendship for money remember 30 pieces and the sad part about they he sold his friends here uh for 30 pieces of money which he never got to spend money which he never got to spend uh any job i guess his whole purpose for doing it was to have it so he could enjoy it but he never got to enjoy uh his conscious i ate him up uh so i i want to talk about but any you all and we'll just start this way have had an experience where you thought someone particularly in the church and i don't want to make this appear to be or or someone that's closely associated with you that has done something to or before you that may have discouraged you that's real in it that's real because uh i can say what discouraged me but what discouraged me might not discourage you see that might be what someone dwells on or points out or says or done does may be one of my weaknesses and if you dwell on my weaknesses rather than my positive you you probably wouldn't discourage you know i'm just saying uh so has anyone experienced something similar to that that maybe can help somebody else you know because sometimes our experiences even though they may not have been very profitable to us can help someone else if they experience something in a similar sim is um of god focus on them um other people is so i think and when we follow the scriptures amen thank you that that's a very good example and and i might bought a little bit of that for myself in just a minute anyone else have an experience that may encourage i want to say uh let me let me just say this and this will help because i think he'll help me um you know you can you can be doing something for so long uh in a leadership position and not necessarily leadership yet you can just be a member of a congregation and doing something so wrong in a certain way that it's almost you feel it if that's almost the right way to do it my challenge has been since we the elders were dangerous sweet water is that you have to have a lot more wisdom to be able to deal with people now because and i tell one of the main things i shared with these brethren uh when you become a leader that don't make you superman you don't put on superman's cape and that's brother held the density say we should do it through the servant attitude now that's a challenge dealing with people even though that's what the bible instructs us to do it's a challenge because some issues that come folk don't want to deal with them on the spiritual side you know what they deal with fleshly normally when they come to you they don't come in a spiritual they come freshly especially if they are and i don't want to say man upset disappointed or angry they're not gonna come to you and say you know brother i pray pray for you before i come in here to talk with you they're not gonna say that no when they come in totally and and so so i my challenge has been lord uh give me the wisdom even though i've been here and done this job for a long time to deal with circumstances because the the thing that i don't want to do is to be discouraging and even if those who i address or are trying to talk with or trying to encourage or trying to lift or uplift respond in an unkind way or an unkind manner i want to make sure that i stay above board that's a challenge amen it's a challenge but you want to do that then somebody used to say my mother-in-law i used to call my mother preacher she said now every knock should be a boost in other words every time you get something that appears that way it should boost your spirits and not tear your spirits down but now you got to have the right mindset to be able to approach that all the time and i'm sure all of us in here all the time if you work at the public or you in the public a lot you're going to hear people say things that are discouraging they may not be saying them directly to you but you might be an earshot of what they're saying and you immediately try to move yourself from that vicinity because some folks and some folk never have to say anything to you some folk just the way they behave in your presence or towards you and and one of the things that you have to learn is that people are going to be people and they will say things and some people well that's just the way i am well when we became children of god christians jesus speaks there in matthew 16 24 he said we have to learn to deny ourselves in other words get out of us we can't be what we used to be because it makes us happy we have to be if we're disciples because of disciples and followers of christ then that's going to have to be the new character that we take on now because you say that you want to do that and you have a desire you don't achieve that overnight they're going to have to be some trials to help you to build that foundation to be able to self-denial and jesus said except a man deny himself he picks up his cross notice he didn't say well there will be a cross no all of us have a cross to bear and what have you ever heard of that term cross bearing prosperity sometimes it's tough it's tough no man no matter how much you think you have prepared to bear across crossberry is tough somebody some cross can't nobody bear but you uh paul in galatians chapter six uh says uh it makes this it sounds contradictory he said every man should bear his own burdens then he comes back in a couple of verses later and say we are to share in burden burden bearing in other words we are to help each other bear burdens that tells you that uh that this this is not just going to be a life of ease and and it shouldn't be it shouldn't be because we're we are where we're in the world the bible says but not in other words but it's preparing us to move uh one day whenever the lord decides to call one day we're gonna go home and live with jesus and while we are here in this preparing ground we're being shaped and mowed and sometimes shaping not always easy okay i think i talked about i almost talked joe out of class and not that portion but anybody have an experience they want to say here's a way that i want to start it not if you have a comment you can i want to think of because we already talked about one but i want to thank uh i want you to think of and then we can discuss this i think this will help with us this lesson tonight before we conclude so jesus is our friend in fact in john what is it john john john 13 15 13 he said greater love had no man that is one who lay down his life for his friends he was our friend before we was his friend i want you to think about something what is it that makes a person your friend what makes someone your friend how do they become a friend how do you become a friend to someone how do we make friends show yourself friendly showing love and concern to the person uh you say you gotta be friend well what's up and i understand uh russell smith but what does that mean what i do to be friendly to him okay sister smith not this has been is okay so just the coffee um um anyone else uh i i i like i like your sense every one of them and i'm not a uh i'm not the doctor on the this friendship thing but um as as i said earlier it's been real challenging uh i like it i'll put that out so i don't want you to leave that over a copy no i i enjoy and then listening that people talk now is really interesting and then seeing because everybody that you may help is she said i agree totally may not necessarily be a friend that may be uh that may be a part of your character to work i know now when i go to the grocery store and i see older people older older people that's struggling you know when i see them struggling with well something getting i was the grocery store then a lady parked a buggy on the incline she was going to open a trunk and the buggy was on the incline i was coming up through the parking lot in the bug you took off rolling she turned it loose and she couldn't run after because i didn't notice until she started that she had a cane and so i run and rescued the buggy i became a hero at that time she thanked me enough and then she said i don't have any money she had bought some apples inside she said i don't have any money but here take this out and rather than refuse yes ma'am thank you very much i took her out and uh but that wasn't friend it was just a kind act and i that that happens sporadically every day all the time but a friend you establish this relationship and then you build trust in them and a friend is not someone who will always judge you they they will know that you are not perfect they will know that you make mistakes but they don't always bring those things up because none of us want to be measured that way man right we don't want to be measured that way now a friend will always tell you the truth they won't they won't condone uh yeah you need to stop smoking you need to stop drinking you need to stop whatever if it's wrong if it's detrimental to your character to your health to who you're supposed to represent christ they may they will tell you that but they don't tell you to criticize they telling you that because they love you they genuinely love you and they want to see you move from that now the reception how they receive it you can't control that you only do your party because you're concerned because you can go to something in the homeless way you know how uh so how does jesus love us how he's our friend how how does he love us and how how does what does he do to make us a friend he makes promises uh you know in hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 he promised that he would never leave us or what that that that that's a prince now we can look at that and that statement he makes that hebrews 13 5 he says i promise that uh he doesn't use that but it's imperative but i'll never leave you nor forsake you that's a friend in other words when you're struggling through the rough times i'll be there and you know that's all of us have those good times those hallelujah praise days and sometimes when they go on two or three day he said i'll be with you even going through that i don't even go through that so so that's a friend and and and remember now remember remember in the 15th chapter of the book excuse me i'm sorry go ahead days that's true that's very true says thank you so much and another thing is um some people it's so easy for them to walk away in a friendship when you have a real friend that you you you miss their you miss their care uh you know i still remember my high school friends that i grew up with way back with and some of them are pretty rugged and when i go in town i want to see them anyway because when we were growing up as boy we were close we were like brothers we we fought together we played together we cried together we did a lot of things together and i remember that and i remember the relationship uh that we had and we would of course times were different then times were different we were poor we lived in a poor community most of our friends were poor and one of my best friends was uh muhammad muhammad ali's cousin mike clay mike used to come to the house because they didn't have anything they need and we'd have nobody into the bread left and i'd make a peanut butter sandwich we wouldn't even cut it we'd eat at the same time i'd take a bite he'd take away you know swapping whatever but but we were close very close and one year when i went home i went to see him because i knew it when he'd hang in and i didn't see him and all of the people in the community i'd ask them you know see mike today they say where you been that man mike's dead i said dead he said you might polish killed mike a couple weeks ago a couple months ago or a year ago he was robbing the store and he came out and he shot him that didn't hurt me that thing really hurt me mike and i were really close so even though he was doing that side of life and i was doing this side we still had a bond we still had a relationship and and so if if we understand we all know what we expect from our friends we all know how we want to expect how we expect to treat people who are our friends but the bible says that jesus presented himself to be friendly now to be friendly doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything that your friend is doing to be friendly no because i'm sure if i was living in kentucky when mike's decided to go to that side of life i don't think and i would have been there telling him that's the wrong thing to do because i loved him but i wouldn't have joined forces with him to do that so so i say i say that because we we know what to expect from friends so jesus promised that he would be our friend he would never leave us and then the other thing that i like about jesus because we are friends he said he laid down his life for his friends he loves us unconditionally in other words he don't have no condition if you love him if you do this he didn't say that he loves us unconditionally when we are messed up flow up he still loves us he doesn't love our disposition maybe our attitude but he loves us he loves us he's genuinely loves us and it's unconditional i don't know if we have friends that we are associated with that we can love unconditionally you know particularly in our setting in our society church members are to be that close though we're going to be that close on that old coffee i sure i sure can't put up with everything you do but i love him i'm going to work to try to help him to get further i think what happens is we get discouraged with because we do talk to people and because they don't respond the way we think they should respond in fact we'll even say i don't talk to him ten times in or change well how many times has god had to save or jesus went on our behalf to the father to pray for in our behalf you know he said in john i pray for you and he has been praying for us ever since ever since we became christians he's been praying to the father for us and in first john it says that he is a immediate victor he goes before god on our behalf and asks god father you know that's old coffee he's our child and he's still down there messing up but give him another opportunity don't call him home today he's not ready wait wait on another day he's always praying on our behalf because and that's because he loves us unconditionally there's no strength attached in other words he just loves us we obey the gospel we became members of the body of christ some days we up some days we die you know those things some days we upside down but brother smith he loves us anyway he loves us and that's why he's always praying to god the father on our behalf because he loves us unconditional love and then the greatest thing i can see in that whole thing and i'm kind of skipping along but you can stop me i know he loved us because he gave his life for us i don't know if you have a friend that you would be willing to die for oh y'all had your hand up same time he gave his life and that's what the bible said greater love has no man in this one that lay down his life for who his friends even when i was still out there messing around doing all he gave his life because he was my friend and he was a better friend to me than i was to him i don't know if we look for that when we have relationships but he had more invested in my friendship than i had invested tony mentioned earlier about the premise of friendship trust the lord trusted me before i put my trust in him well it was easy to say that but i mean actually work that out go through that trust in you he's a friend if he's our friend we are to trust him and i know that there are times in life real times there are real times when some anxieties circumstances issues come through life that really shake that trust we have sometimes it can be something as simple as us being selfish asking the lord for something that he really doesn't give us and then we i don't know i trust him we trust in spider because that's what that relationship would build trusting that the lord would stand on his promises and he does he doesn't make promises idle whatever promises he make he stands on questions comments no you all right with that am i okay i'm sorry i didn't do much let's turn uh and read this one passage and i think our time will be inspired in the old testament proverbs chapter 18 old testament proverbs chapter 18. let me get there we'll read this passage and then i think we'll be close to concluding for this evening and i do appreciate you so much for coming in and i appreciate you for being a participant in uh and listening to what we had to share with you this evening 18 verse number 24 the bible says a man that has friends must show himself brother smith said this earlier friendly there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother uh so so we have to learn the characteristics to be friendly that doesn't mean though it doesn't mean it doesn't mean i i have to i have to learn it i had to learn this that every time something comes from a friend doesn't mean that it was intended to discourage you sometimes things like that they just happen in life and you and i you and i as children of god have to learn to build up a tolerance the lord has built he didn't have to build he he has tolerance for us someone put something in them every morning i look at this prayer on facebook it's long extended prayer and it asks always ask the question if the lord has done this for you or been good to you today i'll respond by saying hallelujah praise or something and uh this morning i looked on and it was talking about you know if the lord blessed you if you feel blessed that's what it was if you feel blessed this morning then you ought to respond back to god and my response was i woke up this morning i was able to dress myself i was able to open both my eyes put my feet on the floor i'm blessed more than i deserve that was my response those things happen in life listen and i appreciate you so much next week we're going to finish this excuse we're going to finish this uh this part of this lesson we're going to talk about a solution since we've been talking about all of the different issues that lead to discouragement insecurities and all of these things that happen in life and then if you have your little paper and you want to take it home and review it six talks about discouragement of being blighted hopes and dreams you know some things that you hoped for didn't come through it says your business may have failed you may have lost your job college education may have excluded you consequently discouragement respond when the disparity sits in but have you ever considered that you can turn disappointment into his appointment so it's not always what you see at first you know so saying like they were saying at first you don't succeed try try again thank you so much for your time tonight god bless you um good to see all of you tonight and pray that you're keeping yourself safe this pandemic is still real we want to do everything that we possibly can you you can read every day people who have fame they're getting the pandemic many of them are passing away and so we want to do what we can to stay safe look forward to our sunday morning worship service and edification sunday school we pray that you'll come and be a part of that uh thank god for sister buford obeying the gospel on sunday we're so glad that she uh she she she had some tenacity she told me when she got back from michigan that she said i'm gonna be a member there she is god bless her uh so we we're looking forward to a great time lord today uh anyone that have any uh prayer requests tonight we want to take advantage of it this tomorrow it's so good to see you back in jacksonville amen god bless you sis we appreciate you so much uh mr beauford you had okay thank you smith amen we will we will do so james okay what's the attorney okay anyways is there anyone else let's do this let's sing a verse of a song stand we'll do we'll pray for all of those and then we can be dismissed i'll dismiss as well damn 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 will benefit a 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 700 wilson boulevard come here for the gospel is preached and the water is very sweet i look forward to seeing you god bless you god [Music] um

Channel: Sweetwater Church

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Length: 47min 33sec (2853 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021