June 3, 2012 "Do You Make Me Better" Pastor Howard-John Wesley

ever since the Lord allowed me to cross that milestone moment of the tender age of 40 I've been in this devotional place of examining the people connected to my life for the past few sermons have brought to you the wrestling that the Lord has kept me in and today I pray that that personal struggle will somehow be a benefit and a blessing to someone body in church today I want to invite you to hear word from the Lord from two passages of Scripture in the Old Testament the first may be an unknown story found in the book of first Kings the 12th chapter and once you found that if you'll just go to the right a little bit to the book of Proverbs there is a well-known and familiar passage of Scripture in the 27th chapter of Proverbs first Kings chapter 12 I want to read some selected verses and you're hearing and asked those who are physically able to join in with us as we reverence the reading of God's Word from first Kings chapter 12 and then from proverbs chapter 27 in the book of first Kings the twelfth chapter the New King James Version beginning in verse number six reads as follows then King Ray album consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived and he said how do you advise me to answer these people and they spoke to him saying if you will be a servant to these people today and serve them and answer them and speak good words to them then they will be your servants for ever but he rejected the advice which the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him who stood before him verse 12 so Jeroboam and all the people came to Rael bomb the third day as the King had directed saying come back to me the third day then the King answered the people roughly and rejected advice which the elders had given him and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men saying my father made your yoke heavy but I will add to your yoke my father chastised you with whips but our chastise you with scourges or scorpions verse 20 and now it came to pass when all Israel heard the Jeroboam had come back they sent for him and called him to the congregation and made him king over all Israel there was none who followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only and very quickly in proverbs 27 and verse 17 a familiar saying as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend do me favor look at your neighbor and give them tell you title and a sermon say neighbor Oh neighbor do you make me better you may be seated in the presence of God do you make me better need to share with you in violation of my own HIPPA that for the past few weeks I haven't been feeling the best you can Johnson had some problems with fatigue and trouble sleeping at night a mild recurring headache so after dealing with it for a few weeks I decided to break my male legal and go see my doctor went to go see the doctor or the mayor and after running some tests and doing some examinations and even some blood work she came back and said pastor your problem the reason you're always tired the reason you can't get enough sleep the reason you're Restless at night and the reason you have a mild recurring headache is that we've diagnosed that you have an iron deficiency didn't really understand what that meant she said well you don't have enough iron and your diet and in your blood and as a result you can't get enough rest you're always tired and you have a mild recurring headache due to your iron deficiency and I need you to take some iron supplements so you can get back on your game because when you don't have enough iron in your life you'll never perform at your best well I'm not a medical doctor but I am Reverend doctor and I did sleep at a Holiday Inn last night I want to come by diagnose it for some of us one of the major problems in life is that you suffer from a spiritual iron deficiency I'm not talking about iron supplements that you buy at CVS but rather in a biblical sense where it is Solomon the writer of Proverbs who declares that iron you know what iron is iron is someone in your life who sharpens you iron is someone who makes you better that you really need some people in your life who are not satisfied to let you remain where you are but understand that they're calling your life is to truly make you better and for some of us we suffer because our lives are filled with people who really don't make us better you do know that the only number that adds nothing to an equation is zero and so if you've got people in your life who are not adding to the quality and character of your life you know what they are zero don't look at nobody zeros if you browse through the Bible and search through Scripture you will find that God is intimately and ultimately concerned about who's connected to your life at no time is God apathetic nonchalant and willy-nilly about the people who occupy the intimate circles of your life God cares deeply about who you give access to who you are for the Lord knows what many of us have yet to discover in life and that is that the easiest way for the devil to detour delay and even deny you your destiny and God is to attach you to people with whom you have an emotional connection but they lack a discernment a concern or an ability to help push you into God's design for your life Paul stop rewind press play so you can tweet that correctly the easiest way to be delayed denied and detoured from your destiny in God is to be attached to people with whom you have an emotional connection but they have no discernment no concern and no ability to push you in the direction of the design that God has for your life and all they do is hold you stagnant in a place that God is trying to groom you and grow you from and I don't know who I'm preaching to this early on Sunday morning but let me give it to you from the gospel of Tyler Perry you can do bad all by yourself you don't need other folks to bring you down to drag you down to keep you stale and stagnant you need people in your life who make you better can I come in and sit on your couch this morning let me tell you there are two types of people in your world two types those who are assigned by God and those who are allowed by you go and preach fast there two type of folk around you the ones assigned and the ones allowed a sign folk ordained by God to join in your life to partner with you and push you and promote you into the plan God has for your life that's what God says when he looks at Adam and realizes that Adam has a work to do but he can't do it by himself and so he says I've got to bring someone in your life and I can't just bring you something anybody and everybody can't bring Shaniqua Nene I need to create somebody in your life who will help push you to what I told you to do as a helper assigned folk but problem is that the majority of folk in your life are simply allowed for the truth be told many of our relationships are random and not purposeful they're accidental and not providential then we just connect with whom we connect and allow people to have access to us and because Deacon v2 many people are not discriminating about who's in their life and why they're in their life we wind up in relationships that empty us rather than edify us if crystal if you are not discriminating about who you allow in your life you will gravitate to people who help you escape and insecurity who share a deficiency with you who are good for your ego or simply feel a void in your life go say that again passing if you're not discriminating you will gravitate to people who help you escape your own insecurities people with whom you share a deficiency in life people who are good for your ego and blow sunshine in your face all day long or people who feel a void in your life but not people who make you better scripture and life are filled with examples of people who missed the mark of magnificent and landed in the misery of mediocrity because of the wrong people in their world say that again life is filled with folk who missed the mark of magnificent and led in the misery of mediocrity because they have the wrong people in their lives Dean Vogel the irony of Scripture is that the wisest man in the world who repeatedly in the book of Proverbs writes about the need to have right associations and the right people around you this Solomon who understood that you need iron to sharpen you and people who make you better this same Solomon was unable to pass that life lesson on to his son named Rael bomb many of you may not know who Ray Obama is let me give you the context of his life to understand ray Obama's life and dilemma you got to know a little bit about the end of Solomon's life Solomon this brother the son of David who started with a bang with God winds up in a fizzle and the reason Solomon fizzles out in his walk with God is real simple the Bible says that at the end of Solomon's life Solomon developed a real problem he had 700 wives and 300 booze just about um that's the problem that dance he has 700 wives and 300 booze and the Bible says that Solomon's love for women was greater than his love of God and as a result Solomon began to build altars to false gods for his wives and his booze to worship at the Lord becomes displeased with Solomon and allows three major enemies to rise against him Haddad resin and a brother by the name of Jeroboam Jeroboam is a former leader of the armies of Solomon and well beloved among the people and Jeroboam poses a significant threat to the kingdom and the reign of Solomon because the people want to line up with Jeroboam Jeroboam is hesitant to revolt against Solomon so he flees to Egypt to stay out of the way when Solomon dies the crown passes on to his son by the name of rail bomb ray Obama is the son of Solomon and the grandson of David and it is his legal right and inheritance to sit on the throne of his father David that rail bomb will rule over the 12 tribes of Israel he will be great in Israelite history for he is the third king of the United Monarchy of the 12 tribes of Israel it is his destiny to be great but you will find that it was under the reign of Ray abang that Israel goes through a civil split between the northern tribes and the southern tribes the northern kingdom is formed called Israel and the southern kingdom is formed called Judah and this rail bomb who should have reigned over twelve tribes of Israel is left reigning over two tribes in the southern kingdom it is under a bomb that Israel is split and the kingdom of David is decimated and the people are at odds with one another why that's a good question because when Ray Obama becomes king jeroboam comes back from Egypt and he says to riobamba in your father solomon's latter years he became cruel and mean with the people he burdened them and beat them and had them toil and labor without adequate resources in Jeroboam tells ray Obama take it easy be a little light and the people will serve you forever ray o bomb then calls the councilors of elders who had counseled his father Solomon and asked them what he should do and the elders told ray o bomb listened to Jeroboam take it easy on the people don't be so mean and cruel and nasty but take it easy and the folk will love you forever and the greatest tragedy of scripture comes in verse number 8 that says rebel rejected the Council of the elders and formed a new Council of his friends that had been raised with him Paul stop rewind you missed it he rejected the Council of the elders and surrounded himself with his friends and his homeboys not let me tell you that there's nothing wrong with having friends everybody needs friends everybody needs somebody to get your back when your back need to get God if I need some folk there down with you like folk flats on a Cadillac you need some folk that you've been cool with since pampers and pacifiers and you know will stand by your life ride or die you need some like that Chris you can't grow in life if everyone in your life says yes to everything you want you can't grow surrounding yourself with people who agree with you and see everything the way you see it what rail bum didn't understand that I want to pass on to you is that you can miss the mark of magnificent and land in the misery of mediocrity not simply by having the wrong people in your life but by not having the right people in your life there it is it's not just about the deadbeats and delinquent zeros that are hanging out around you but there are to be some right people in your life some people who help you pursue the call of God and meet the mark of God and become the woman of God the man of God that God created you to be you need some right people around you and in this next few minutes I gotta I want to teach you that there are six people you need in your life in order to be what God has created you to be there's there's six roles to folk around you have to play if they're going to make you better six six type of folk you need to be sharp into in life can I drop on you real quick number one you need a comforter let the church say comforter you need someone who can help you where you hurt let me tell you why you need a comforter cuz life will inevitably hurt you people will always let you down hope that you thought you could trust in will stab you in the back enemies will be real friends will be fake co-workers will be fickle supervisors will be unjust the world has a way of wounding you and bruising you and hurting you at the core of who you are as a matter of fact there's some folk that have been around the block long enough to know that in this life it is inevitable that you will be hurt and I come by to tell you that when life hurts you it doesn't matter how big and bad you are it doesn't matter what your salary is doesn't matter what show w2 says doesn't matter what degrees you have on your wall everybody needs somebody sometimes you need somebody who you can be real with somebody you can take your mask off somebody you can be vulnerable with somebody you can sit down and share with them the hurt in your heart and know that they won't wound you everybody needs somebody you need somebody to talk to you need somebody to help you somebody to hold your hand and tell you everything is going to be alright you need somebody to remind you that God is still in control you need somebody to speak life to you when you want to lay down and die you need a comforter and let me tell you how you know they're a godly comforter because you can be vulnerable and they not judge you I need some folk that I can share the good the bad and the ugly of my life and they not judge me I need some folk that can hear me say that I have trouble forgiving her and I want to slap him in his mouth and I felt like cussing them out and I wanted to break their windows and slash their tires I need some folk that can let me get it out of my spirit and not judge me for being human but comfort me where I hurt and remind me that God has a higher call on my life I need somebody I can be real with let me know I quote motive scripture if you don't have a comforter Dustin one of two things will happen to you number one you will react out of feelings rather than fact your feelings really are the most irrational compass in your life because your feelings change all the time but if you don't have someone to process those feelings with someone to vent your hurt with someone to speak your pain to you will go around life full of negative feelings that cause you to react in inappropriate ways out of feelings and so you take out on Sara what Susie did to you and you cuz it's somebody for cutting you off on the Beltway and you get mad because lessor won't let you sit in your family seat that you sit in every Sunday because you ain't processed your feelings so you always walking around ready to let loose on anybody that crosses your path if you've ever met somebody that goes off at the drop of a dime I promise you they don't have a comforter and if you don't have a comforter catch this you will want the one who hurt you you want them to heal you you don't have someone to process and comfort the hurt in your life you will in Everly go back to the one who hurt you and expect the one who hurt you to make you better you want to work it out with them you want them to say I'm sorry you want them to hold you you want them to make it better but when you have a comforter the primary goal of a comforter is to help you with your feelings so you can be around the people who hurt you and I need anything from them I don't need you to hook me I don't need you to like me I don't need you to say I'm sorry I worked it out before I got around you and I'm fine baby can I preach it like God gave it when you have a comforter you can go to work and don't need your best friend to be on yo job you don't need your co-workers to like you you don't need your boss to pat you on the back you don't need to blow sunshine in yo face cuz you got that stuff straight at home before you got on the job I need a comforter can take what else you need I feel it now you know do you need a comforter can I give you number two you need a watches a confront turn you want to hear that when you shouting on comforter but you need a confront let me tell you why you need to confront it it's simple cuz you ain't always right sometimes you wind up in places the children of God should not yeah I'm talking about you sometimes you get in places the children of God should not be come on I don't want you to wave yourself away but weak at me if you've ever gotten stuck in a place you know you sin has a way of sticking and binding us in places the Lord doesn't want us to be and the problem when you get stuck in sin is that many of us surround ourselves with enablers because for many of us the true test of the fidelity of your friendship is how much you'll live for me come on come on come on you ain't my friend if you ain't gonna cover me or are we around folk who can't confront us cuz if they start calling out our stuff I'm gonna start calling out dont you judge me cuz I know yogurt too and so you get stuck because there's no one around you who can confront you with your sin to pull you out of where you are but the Lord says watch this that the reason I've used confronter x' in your life is because godly confrontation leads to repentance then one of the ways I get you out of a place of sin is to send someone sit by God into your life to confront you with you being in a place the Lord doesn't want you at now that's some word because in church we want to live and let live we don't want to say nothing but the bottom line is that I need some people every now and then to step into my private space and speak a word of truth to me whether I want to hear it or not don't say ouch if you read in the Bible you'll find that God uses godly confronted wood when David is stuck in his sin with Bathsheba God sends Nathan into his life to confront him when Ahab and Jezebel have wrongly stolen the property of bawls God since Elijah into Ahab's life to confront him with godly truth and maybe the standard of friendship should not be how much they'll live for you but how much they'll say the truth to you hear me you know it's godly confrontation when there's no threat of exposure that those who are sent by God don't come blackmailing and trying to threaten you and let you know that they're going to go public no those who are caught by the Lord the Bible says they come to you based on Galatians 6 and private and speak to you about the sin in your life and say I love you too much to expose you but I love you too much to leave you in a place where you are not moving in the destiny of God if you love me speak truth to me if you love me don't leave me where the Lord is not in my life if you love me don't threaten to expose me but speak truth to me and confront me do you have a confronter in your life do you have a comforter in your life cat a number three what you need you need a challenger in your life Kaitlin can I just make this simple here it is you need someone in your life who's godliness gets on your nerves you know kind of I'm talking about how folk they're always talking about Jesus Khan folk when they say they don't pray you know they mean they gonna pray all night long how the when you asking to be your prayer partner you regret it because they call you every day the that every other word I say mouth is the Bible says this in the Bible says that in the Bible says this in the Bible that you need some folk whose godliness irritates you because it exposes the deficiency in your discipleship that causes you to grow to another level go and preach pastor you need some folk that get on your nerves and make you realize you don't pray like you should pray and you don't read the Bible like you should and you don't walk with God the way you are to and they become an example to motivate you to grow um oh son deuce play basketball this year with with Li district and and by the grace of God he made the all-star squad it is pretty good made all-star squad and Dustin I noticed a significant difference between the way he played in the regular season and the way he did on the all-star team in a regular season he just kind of laps around but since he was the tallest and won the best on his team he'd shoot and just kind of ticket laxa days ago but on the all-star team when they gathered the best players from all the other teams I noticed that his game stepped up a little bit he drive to the hole with a little more passion he shoot that jump shot like his daddy taught him to he was doing everything he stepped his game up when he got around some better players and so now when we go down the lead district to play basketball Deacon Johnson I don't let him play with the little kids on the court I make him play with the teenagers and he gets mad daddy where I got to play with the teenagers they're bigger than me they're faster than me I said because you will never grow playing with folk at your level if you want to grow you got to get around some folk that are bigger than you better than you and stronger than you and if you're stuck and you'll walk with God you better find some folk that love the Lord more that talk to God more that read their word more and step yo game up because if you don't have a challenger the devil will make you become satisfied with past progress preach boy the devil will convince you that you ought to be satisfied with what you don't do anymore as opposed to what you need to do and you will miss the call of God to grow because you're boasting about past progress because you don't have a challenger in your world you need a comforter you need to confront her you need a challenger can I give you number four you need a counselor you need somebody whose wisdom you can receive who can advise you in difficult situations let me tell you why you need a counselor Melvin some go like this but let me tell you why you need a counselor cuz you ain't always right I know you think every thought you think is right but sometimes your thoughts are wrong I know you Holy Ghost field but sometimes your discernment is off I know you smarting anything around you but sometimes your perception is skewed but you don't see things the way they really are the Bible teaches us that in when we listen to wise counsel that makes us wise but a fool rejects wise counsel ray Obama had two problems I want to share with you what they are when he surrounded himself with his friends he surrounded himself with people who were lower than him and had to receive his wisdom as king and just say yes to whatever he want he made himself the smartest person in his world you've heard me say it if you're the smartest person in your circle your circles too small if you are the best in your circle your circles too small you need some folk around you who are wiser than you and the biggest problem riobamba had is that he rejected the council of elders didn't want to receive the wisdom of some folk that have been around the block a couple of times can I just drop this on you my dad used to say this you don't get old being stupid when the worst things the world you can do it's just surround yourself with people your age you need some elders in your life some folk who've been around the block who've seen some seasons come who push through the problems who climb up the ladder who bore the burden on their back who got their kids grown in out in school and doing well you need some folk further up the road than you you can share with you the wisdom of gray hair who know what it's like to be where you been can give you counsel on how to get through y'all one of the best moments of my week about to share something I probably shouldn't say one of the best moments of my week is Wednesday morning Wednesday morning I get up early to go down to a ministry place many of you all don't know anything about it's a magical ministry place called the ham store now there are a couple brothers in here who know what the hem story it's our private place early on Wednesday morning a few of us gather at the ham store so that we can get in the car and go play golf I mean have fairway meditations every Wednesday morning and when we gather at the ham store it's not a bunch of young whippersnappers but it's a gathering of some of the seasoned men of Alfred Street Baptist Church so many older guys who cheat playing golf but they're good at they give you wise counsel so so Wednesday mornings I get up early go down to the ham store be teamed up with men like Leo Brooks will Willis Joe Briggs and Charles Montero Isaiah Morrison we get together and we go play golf and and these older men sit in the golf cart with me and they not only teach me about golf they teach me without life and there's nothing greater than surrounding yourself with some older folk who walk with God and who climbed the mountains of life and can look back over and give you wise counsel I thank God for them fairway meditations there's nothing like having wise counsel you need a comforter you need a confronter you need a challenger you need a counselor let me give you number five so when you hurry up and get on out of here you need a coal benefactor now now that may be a little hard to discern what that means but I want to tell you that each and every one of us in this place you are a beneficiary you know what it means to be a beneficiary it means you receive a blessing from somebody else let me just tell you in case you didn't know it you are the beneficiary of the Grace and the mercy of God you are the beneficiary of the favor of God you are the beneficiary of the faithfulness of God if you didn't get a little bit like this God's been good to you the Lord has blessed you the Lord has given you abundance the Lord has met your needs the Lord has favoured you the Lord is rain down in your life as a matter of fact in our paws for sermonic survey is anybody in out the street early on Sunday who knows that it is of the Lord's mercies that you are not consumed that God has been good to you the Lord has made ways for you that the Lord has opened doors for you that the Lord has been gracious to you that everything I had is a result of the goodness of God matter of fact no somebody tell him God's been good to me Oh God's been mighty good to me the Lord has smiled on me the Lord has blessed me the Lord has given me more than I could ask for God's been but when you are the beneficiary the Lord demands that you be a blessing okay can you minute that I gotta find someone else who I can pour into of what the Lord has given me that the reason the Lord blesses you is for you to learn to bless someone else you hear me the greatest joy in life is not getting a bigger cup to hold more the greatest joy in life is allowing your cup to run over and to begin to fill the cups of those that are empty around you God says listen if you want to be better you've got to find someone else to bless you ought to be looking for a brother whom you can touch looking for a young brother that you can mentor looking for a sister whose life you can change looking for someone that's hungry whom you can use the blessings God is giving you to bless them try being kind and gracious next time you would Starbucks just pay for the brother behind you next time you're the grocery store and you see that single mother with three kids with a hands will pay for her groceries go preach faster every week I put a $20 bill in my wallet and my prayer Lord show me someone this week who I can just give this to I've literally pray an S Lord to bring someone into my world who I don't know who I'm simply saying I'm gonna give this to now I already gave it out so don't come to the up Church okay you gotta catch me next week amen uh what I want to challenge you to experience the joy of blessing somebody else cuz you need a co benefactor you need a comforter you need a confronter you need a challenger you need a counselor you need a co benefactor and let me tell you the last thing you need you need a celebrator you need a party person in your life you need someone who refuses to let you stay depressed you need someone who refuses to let you be oblivious to the goodness of God you need that folk around you give God glory all the time I back back back in the fall in 1991 see I spent eight weeks six days 23 hours 37 minutes and 10 seconds joining kpop South tourney Incorporated and I had a lion brother my back number five and I still don't know how this boy graduated school cuz he liked to party I know I don't just mean on the weekend I mean I mean Beyonce Andre 3000 we like to party he and some of y'all too old don't know what hit him did this boy wood part in over anything you know how some folk wait for it Friday it could be Tuesday afternoon class get out he lets go party he would party when homework got done he would party if we won a game he he wasn't party all the time and I realized that he was a brother in my life who never let me get consumed with how bad things were but reminded me that there's always a reason to celebrate come I tell you that that's the kind of Christian you need in your life somebody who's got the spirit of David who said bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me and then he said come magnify the Lord together I refuse to let you sit like a bump on a log and not realize how good god has been now let me tell you why you got to have a celebrator cuz every now and then life gets so rough that you even come to the house of God with a attitude on your mind with a chip on your shoulder don't want nobody to touch smooth don't want nobody to talk to me don't tell your neighbor this and don't say your neighbor I don't high-five your neighbor nothing leave me alone and whenever you get to that place the Lord will inevitably sit you next to somebody who in the middle of the sermon want to stand up just want to pump their hand and just want to say thank you and you want to tell them shut up sit down and the next time somebody looks at you like that you nudge them and tell them girl I'm trying to help you out I'm your celebrator I want you to know that god is good and he's worthy to be praised do I have any celebrators in the house who know of the goodness of God goodbye Satan may the Lord bless your mighty good but I gotta take it from the gospel of cool in the game there's a party going on over here a celebration to last throughout the year so bring your good times and you laughter - we go celebrate and party with you listen as you stand this morning would you stand let me tell you if you don't have celebrators you will be embarrassed to testify about the goodness of God but if no one in your circle knows how to say thank you if no one around you knows how to say to a God be the glory you'll shut your lips in fear of how they're gonna respond but when you get around some celebrators and some folk that rejoicing the goodness of God it ought to encourage you to celebrate God's goodness in your life to know that there are some people on my pew who speak my language who know how good god has been God says you cannot grow without a comforter a confronter a challenger a counselor a co benefactor and a celebrator in your world and the truth be told that's why the Lord created church as the Deacons come to the altar I want to say this definitively that I don't believe the primary purpose of church is for people to be saved in this place for the truth be told the gospel we carry we carry to the streets and it is not the preachers job to preach to the unsaved it's your job watch us so that by the time you get them in church you've already gotten them in Jesus Church primarily is a place where weary soldiers come to be refreshed where we who've been on the battlefield come to find some comfort come to be confronted come to be challenged come to get some wise counsel come to find someone to bless come to find a celebrator in our lives that's what church is about giving you and connecting you with the right people to help you grow in God you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Keywords: Pastor Wesley

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Length: 48min 31sec (2911 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2013