Kierra Sheard - "Who Are You Following?" - SERMON

praise and worship in the Lord [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] turning and Haven say as bishop would say don't get amnesia you know God to be good it's a mess I got myself into but I don't look like what I've been through because got me out of it didn't get me out of it thank you Jesus clap your hands and give them some praise one month thank you Jesus I want to give honor to my leader my Shepard my bishop my daddy bishop jade russia god bless you bishop y'all can do better than that what's wrong with y'all what's wrong and I also want to give on it to the fragrance of this house ladies share my beautiful mother first lady god bless you and of course to whom honors do all of the youth leaders J Cole Dante and John and all of the leaders of whom honor is due let's go straight to the word of the Lord I'm so excited to be here at home and I'm very nervous I'm very nervous my underarms are sweating y'all and I'm nervous but we're gonna go to the Word of God Matthew 16 23 through 26 amen Matthew 16:23 and 26 are you praying for me amen when you're there say I got it if you don't say hold up all right hurry up boo-boo amen Matthew 16 and 23 and it reads I'm gonna read it from a different translation it says Jesus turned and said to Peter get behind me Satan you are a stumbling block to me you do not have in mind the concerns of God but merely human concerns then jesus said to the disciples if anyone wants to be a follower of mine let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again what profit is there if you gain the whole world and lose eternal life one can be compared with the value of eternal life may the Lord had a blessing to the reading of his word father I thank you God for this grateful morning I thank you for this glorious morning I think you for life health and strength I thank you for my leaders God thank you for trusting me to be before your people as your servant not as a star not as a celebrity never none of that but I'm here as your servant I'm here as your vessel as your instrument my leader said the other day that you are getting ready to shake up the world and we ought to want to be instruments so here I am as you're serving I'm here doing ministry and God I asked you that you give me what it means to give what the people need on this morning I search my heart search my mind if you find anything that should not be there that will cause me to not hear you God I'm asking that you remove it right now and not just for this moment but destroy it so that I can still walk it after this and god I thank you I thank you again for trusting me let the words of my mouth the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer and I'm giving you the praise because you said if I knock you will answer and so I'm trusting that I have found you in Jesus name Amen clap your hands for the word of God I'm coming from the topic who are you following that's our theme in case you don't know who are you following following Jesus is not only based off of a belief but there's a commitment involved many of us are fans of Jesus more than we are followers many of us believe but we are more like secret admirers I've had to ask myself in what ways does me following Christ interrupts my life I didn't seem to come up with many answers and that was a shameful thing but there obviously needed to be some adjustments because the text says that I'll have to do some denying of myself which means there would be some type of interference there will be some changing of plans so I began to reflect and ask myself and I want to encourage you to do the same thing by asking yourself today are you willing to go public with your conviction are you willing to go public with your salvation or are you okay with commercializing your Jesus a lot of us have given him our minds through understanding but we have not given him our hearts through commitment or through committing what we like to play games with God but when we're in a serious relationship we don't want nobody to play games with us so turning in and say quit playing games with God a lot of us we believe that Jesus died for our sins and that he is the son of man and that there is a heaven in hell but a lot of us don't follow him out of relationship but out of fear of the consequences that come with forsaking the relationship but oh you tried it turned to your neighbors say how unfair could you be being a fan of something doesn't interfere with our lives in which a lot of us are but a true follower of Christ I found that it will cost you something and it may cost you some things that you may not be ready to give up but when following Jesus we find that it becomes the best decision ever we began to go from glory to glory and faith to faith and the Bible says that while in that process his righteousness begins to be revealed to us I began to learn that there's a lot that I have to get rid of there are some things that I just can't participate in and it's basically me just having to deny myself when we follow Jesus our desires change the Bible says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord he will give us the desires of our hearts and that's because while delighting ourselves in him we trust him so then he trusts us and what we will ask him for he begins to trust our desires our mindsets in our mentalities changed they must change while following Jesus Christ because again he interrupts our plans he interrupts our lives and what we are used to doing it way so some things that I may be used to doing I can't do them all the time I can't do them anymore because I'm denying myself so for example if I hold my tongue and I don't curse you out when you've made me mad it doesn't mean that I don't know how to I may know how to do that very well but it's all because Jesus is interrupting my life I'm being changed and I'm trying to deny myself while following Jesus and some of us may know how to drop it like it's hot some of us may know how to twerk and be real nasty but I'm not doing that or participating in those types of things anymore because to deny myself I'm being changed and I'm following Jesus just because I don't run with you and your crew it doesn't make me judgmental said Diddy or lame it's just that I have some other issues that I'm dealing with in I may be struggling but the same thing you're struggling with so I might as well make this easier on myself by cutting you look in the to Live Crew out of my life because you'll become a stumbling block to me turn to your neighbor say I'm just following Jesus it's nothing personal it doesn't mean I don't know how to have a good time I just know who I'm following I understand that I'm a living epistle I may be I may be the closest thing to Jesus that someone may ever see so I might as well be the well written letter to that person that may not know Jesus I can't attach myself to the stumbling block turning and able to say don't cause me to stumble while following the Lord some of us don't identify the issue as the stumbling block because we may have fallen in love with it like Jesus did when Peter when he said to Peter get behind me Satan he was identifying the stumbling block and immediately casting it away or getting it in order the difference between us and how Jesus handles the stumbling block is that we attach ourselves to the stumbling block so we then make it harder for ourselves to follow Jesus because we then try and carry the block rather than getting rid of it or getting it in order and so then we begin tripping over the stumbling block rather than laying aside every weight we're holding on to the weight so it's now pulling us backwards when we're trying to go forward turn to your neighbor and say quit tripping and let it go walking with the Lord I've learned I've learned that I've learned that he deals with us differently but on a personal level it becomes a personal thing it's a personal experience it's not about religion but it becomes an intimate experience it it's not knowing the tradition but it's knowing what and what will not offend my Christ I developed my own personal conviction some things that I believe or the way I do things can't always be explained or understood by everybody because everyone may not get it and I may come off as if I'm doing too much of being too deep when really there's just an understanding that I have while I'm following Jesus and with ourselves we have to gain an understanding and do it one on one check and make sure we understand that I can't a worry about what someone else has to say about what I'm doing because if it's keeping me from going backwards then that's just what I need to do for me turn to your neighbor say you do you and let me do me that's a growing Christian there will be some things that I've once thought we're okay but as I'm growing I develop a standard I began to have higher expectations I begin to have higher expectations of myself if I do something that is silly or dumb or that may seem to offend the Lord I've checked myself and said what are you doing and so these are things that we have to understand and that is that everything that is lawful is not expedient just because it's the thing to do I don't have to do it help me Jesus 1st Corinthians 2 and 15 assess but the spiritual man has insight into everything and that bothers this is what the Bible says it says and that bothers and baffles the man of the world which is the carnal man the person who isn't following Jesus he can't understand the spiritual man oh and so it's so important that I then checked my circle making sure that they understand that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty through God I'm not fighting you my sister I'm fighting the demon that's using you and so to be gracious what I'm fighting this fight understand we hi imagination and understand that we're just walking with Jesus turning a neighbor's say it ain't personal it's a spiritual thing I don't have time for people who always need an explanation I don't have time for it or people who aren't trying to walk with Jesus to be so close to me you can't be too close to me if you're not walking with Jesus because you to hear him for yourself turn to your neighbor say don't be timid bow I need some strong soldiers in my life I mean some for real and that doesn't make me perfect it doesn't make me perfect I just need somebody to hold me accountable I need somebody to hold me accountable clap your hands if you need good people around even you get it all you don't I need people around me once again who will hold me accountable who also have something to lose you know if you connect with folk they don't got nothing to lose then they'll live like whatever and anything and so daddy told me you got to make sure you've got somebody around you who also has a career who also got some money who also owns some things else they will do silly things and they'll act as if there's nothing to lose but turning your neighbor and say I've got a sacrifice and I've got something to lose and that is my Jesus I'm not gonna silly everywhere I go I'm not perfect but my decisions will be made different because I know I'm reflecting Jesus turn to your neighbors say I'm following Jesus bow that's all it is and so I have to also have people around me who are ok with having a standard and not always being so liberal sometimes too much freedom can cause us to get in too much trouble or too deep of a hole then causing us to be stagnant and not moving forward to total salvation or fulfilling our purpose in life to understand that the enemy fights me not because of Who I am because of mama or daddy but they're fighting me because there's a call on my life so when a reason of people if I resist the devil and he flees for me that's a whole crew of people who are running to Jesus and Satan no longer having the victory over their lives we have to get it in our minds that we're not just living for ourselves we are living for Jesus but we are living for somebody else because again we are a living epistle we have to get it in our minds that we have an anointing on our lives I can't do any and everything because what I lived in the past made be or show up in my future there's more to my life than what's in the moment daddy taught me to think not just temporarily but to think futuristically you may not have kids now but if your kids come in the future it's some things that may pop up from the past and they may see it and it may affect them emotionally turning your neighbors you may be young but don't be dumb just think in the future my sacrifice may be different than yours it may be different than yours and that doesn't make me better so don't get better don't let what's on your place for you because you're too busy looking at mine we are all following Jesus but with different assignments stay in what I may be convicted about you may not be convicted about so I have to be careful that I don't put my convictions on somebody else but we must be careful to not get into technicality and logical reasoning when it comes to this Jesus walk because everything is not a science and everything is not right in the book but some things God will reveal to us by walking with Him that's why you gotta walk with him but remember it's personal outside of the law there are some things that God will tell you that he doesn't like for you to do just you it doesn't have to do with anybody else but it's just you that's why we have to walk with Him proof of that because the Bible says Romans 14 and 23 it says but anyone who believes that something he wants to do is wrong shouldn't do it so if you have it in your mind if your Holy Ghost is convicting you to not do it then don't do it don't worry about what everybody else is doing because here later in the text it says anything that isn't anything that is done apart from what he feels is right is a sin it may be lawful to have a drink it may be lawful to turn up but if you're convicted about it and if maybe saving you from an addiction then deny yourself and follow your conviction going out with a certain crew of friends it may be lawful you may be innocent one if you used to do what you used to do with God is convicting yourself and yourself daddy would say Bishop was saying you ain't so such a much so don't trust your principles if you ain't made it maybe there's somebody else's principles that you should go by because if you barely make anything you still don't have nothing quit trying to put your reasoning and principles to the test and try somebody else's and you'll get it by following Jesus turning your neighbors say follow Jesus sometimes following our convictions are us following our inner Jesus he holds us accountable I've learned that this fatherless generation we don't like folk holding us accountable and then here in the word we find that Jesus will correct you and you can carry your feelings on your shoulders while walking with Jesus not just in the world but you can't carry your shoulders while walking with Jesus if some of us were Peter we wouldn't have even had the tough skin to take the correction that Jesus had given him in that moment when he told him get behind me Satan some of us probably would have taken offense and walked away and stopped following him and said who you callin Satan but many of us I have learned that we can't correction the Bible says that a fool despises correction and if Jesus is trying to correct Peter help me the only thing that he was trying to do in that moment was to cause him to think with the deep consciousness of God to get his mind on those things of the Lord I'm afraid many of us can't be corrected because we are insecure and so we put up a shield we put up a defense trying not to show what we're insecure of but if your brush thank you some I didn't tell you to put out so I didn't get my get the Altoid fix the problem if somebody say that something is too tight and it's not complementing your figure go get a spank and fix the problem if somebody tells you that this person isn't good for you you can figure out what the issue is go and fix the problem if you are not managing your finances right understand that that is also an act of worship what you put in your body is also an act of worship so if somebody corrects you and tells you that this is causing so I understand that we have to accept the truth and I've learned that but truth really though it may hurt it really will set you free it'll prepare you for some things that God may be preparing you for and so it's it's so important that we accept the truth our mindsets have to change Romans 12 in 2 it says and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good acceptable and perfect will of God meaning if you renew your mind God will give you a high sense of discernment to know what is from him and what is not from him we're knowing the mind means to replace fallible worldly knowledge and logic with the infallible logic of God's truth it is to memorize the Word of God the renewing this starts with reading the Bible and the Bible is made of that available to so many of us because it's on our phones now and so you should be walking but your shank everywhere you go and so it's so important that we also understand that six times in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus acts have you not read turn to your neighbor and say have you not read and then Paul goes on to tell us to study ourselves to be approved Jesus Christ read scripture what aren't you reading the scripture and Ana Venice is he is the best example then we might as well follow him some of us don't even read and so in result many of us are walking into a fight powerless and defeated as a follower and not a fan I can't embarrass my Christ I can't let him down so I have to study to show myself that I'm ready I have to show myself approved I can't keep coming to him about the same thing over and over again at some point there ought to be some growth I have to know him know him not just know him off of what I hear when I come to church but I need to know him for myself I need to know his character I need to know why are you doing I may not even have some of the answers that I need but I understand if I keep walking with you a little later down the line I understand some things as manna would say by and by if I keep walking with him I can't let him down I have to no one know him I have to know what irritates him I have to know what will cause him to flip a table from being angry I need to know what with me I need to know what to give up to him I understand that this life is only me rehearsing so that I can live with Jesus my commitment off because it's a process and for many of us it may be a long process there may be a long process and a long working that God may have to do in our lives I need someone I can trust and depend on I need someone who I can confide in in it and I thank God because there's some things that I told him and there's some things that he knows about me that I don't know about myself but for some reason he hasn't exposed me so why not give him my heart when I give Jesus my heart today that's the question why not follow him Jeremiah 29:11 says for I know the plans I know the plans that I have for you but he goes on to reassure us and say the plans are good and not evil they are plans for good and not of evil it is to give you a future and a hope I need to know in what ways I can give my life back to that kind of God some kind of God that will give me a future and the hope to a kind of God that will protect me from evil what give him my life if you gave yours up for mine if you give you my life back and that is denied myself I have to know how to follow Jesus successfully yes I'm saved by grace but I need to practice this righteous walk so that I can stay in heaven and not get kicked up like Lucifer turn to your neighbor and say Satan was once an angel so everything that looks pretty is not pretty so you may be killed you may be pretty today but aren't you Satan on the inside and you gotta keep in mind that in the text there Jesus told Peter to get behind me Satan Satan will disguise himself as a harmless being and that's someone close to you so it's it partner then I'm not walking with Satan because some of us could be walking with them and not even know it so my question to you is who are you following are you following your own wants in your own desires are you following what your family and friends are encouraging you to do are you following the purpose that they have for your life or are you following an allowing God to reveal his purpose for your life to you sometimes I purpose for our lives is revealed and what we're good at doing young people is good in our gifts and talents many of us don't know who we are and if you're having a crisis or a crime of identity sense think you're gonna run into a huge problem because the enemy will continue to take advantage of knowing just that we don't know our value so we treat ourselves like the stones that sit out on the case in the store rather than the diamonds that stay behind the case you're too available which could be causing more confusion are you following the generational that has been on your family when you were probably born to reverse and destroy a curse on your family you may be the only thing that will save the rest of your family from homosexuality from alcoholism from mental disorders from raising families out of wedlock from producing baby fathers and neglectful mothers from producing non-integral men and women from producing bad management of finances you may be the one idea that God had for this to be broken but because you are not walking on so close with Jesus you're delaying the plan and we're still waiting for the curse to be destroyed turn to your neighbor and say I'm waiting on you clap your hands if you know that you're gonna follow Jesus and then the last question is are you blindly falling into every trap that the adversary has laid out for your life like I said before Satan will disguise himself as a close loved one and to be very harmless but it's up to us to be on guard don't let your guards down Turning Tables say don't let your guards down as a growing Christian as a growing Christian again it's nothing personal but it I began to have a a greater sensitivity to sin in my life sin begins to bother you because you hate anything that hurts your gun we have to be willing to do whatever it is that is necessary to correct the problem turn to your neighbor say fix the problem you are in everybody else's business sex your problem thank you Jesus here's the thing some of us push off the commitment saying that I'll give him my life when I know I'm ready so I won't be half steppin but my question is to you who promised you tomorrow who promised you the next minute who promised you the next Prince nobody never promised you any of these things so who are you fooling when you say I'm gonna give up my life so I won't be half steppin no today and get it better tomorrow and the next time tourney avaible say don't wait too late why should I follow him why shouldn't you once again he's nothing but the best for you it's nothing but he wants the best for you and that's what we have to understand after all he created you he invented you you want to know your purpose in your life you want to know what it is you are here for so my question again who are you following I don't know about you but I've made it up in my mind that I'm going with Jesus if it takes me praying a little more and developing my prayer life and understanding that it doesn't take me coming to God the way everyone else does but I understand that he has a desire to converse with me so even if it's me just talking to him and walking mama taught me she said you know yeah there's a lot of people that think that you're crazy when you talk to yourself but I think they crazy when they don't talk to themselves I mean look like I'm talking to myself but I'm walking and talking to Jesus so you can think I'm strange but it's long I can hear as long as I can hear from my Jesus I have to understand that while walking with Jesus it won't make me perfect because I've learned my friend told me the other day that some of the closest people some of the closest disciples that follow Jesus they still had issues later down the line Judas which was Jesus cousin he betrayed him and think you had Peter who had a fighting issue and not only did he have a fighting issue but he became a stumbling block so when we follow Jesus it won't necessarily make us perfect but it will make us holy God said I'm calling you so be holy and that means to be sacred set aside I'm different than the rest of them clap your hands if you're following Jesus I haven't lost my mind because he stayed with me that's that's why I'm gonna stay with Jesus if I keep my mind on him I'll find perfect peace as well is the well that never that will never that will never run dry don't never leave me being first is some of you are too thirsty it's because you aren't walking with Jesus every Passover in the blood of Jesus and following Jesus because I trust him he is trustworthy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my friends [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Sc0rpion

Views: 151,672

Rating: 4.9163895 out of 5

Keywords: kierra sheard, kiki sheard, karen clark sheard, dorinda clark cole, the clark sisters, twinkie clark, jacky clark, rihanna, beyonce, erica campbell, tina campbell, mary mary, kirk franklin, sunday's best, justin bieber, president obama, solange, jay z, on the run, jesus christ, cogic, the sheards, j drew

Id: Ke4O3-R1f-Q

Length: 39min 14sec (2354 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 22 2014