Let's Follow the Son ~ Part 9: "Don't Give Up On Your Strays | Pastor Bobby D. Hamilton

somebody ought to be getting your freedom right about them somebody ought to be getting your deliverance right about now your marriage is getting getting better your house is improving right now as you declare that your god can do it miracles [Music] [Music] you may be seated in the presence of your miracle-working god [Music] the power that we celebrate on first sunday is the power of the blood now the blood is the thing that gives you access to all that god has all of his miracle working power is available to every believer through the blood of jesus christ how many of you know that blood reaches to the highest mountains [Music] the blood that jesus shared for me way back that gives me strength it's worse [Music] [Music] my face [Music] is [Music] i will never lose mountains [Music] [Music] today today its um [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] hey [Music] is [Music] it's never gonna lose [Music] never gonna lose [Applause] [Music] it will oh lose [Music] there is no expiration date on the blood of jesus never lose his power not like the milk in your refrigerator it never loses its power we thank god for the power of the blood anybody know about the power of the blood we came today we are saying today because the blood of jesus christ the blood of the lamb watch your wash away my sins watch your face be whole again nothing but the blood of jesus we thank god we thank god for the blood give god praise for the flood can we get fired [Music] give god my brothers come on ministers vegans elvis come on [Music] yeah nothing but the power brothers [Music] i don't know about you guys but growing up my mom always sent us to the dentist [Music] we went to school we went to the dentist and every time i got ready to go i always did what many of you do right now i tried to brush real good [Music] hopefully they tell me that day you know what we see nothing we have to clean anything cause you're good but you know they have those special tools and devices those special cameras and those special lenses those special glasses and no matter how much you brush and scrub there's always some decay there's always some plaque there's always something in there that's not good for your health that you tried to get out on your own but you couldn't get it out that's how humanity is and when it comes to god we try to brush ourselves up real good clean up our lives real good but when god looks at it through his jehovah's lands he always sees there's something that's not right something that sinful platfil and there's no one that can make you perfect but jesus and his blood that makes us holy and we thank god for the blood of jesus and matter of fact you'll take my word for luke you got your bible on you my brother get your bible get your bible lewis hebrews 9 11 through 14. read that for our hearing so we go to the lord today holy communion all right when you grew up you know that the one son that you did not miss church was why on first sunday because that was that was the remember the reminder of the blood of jesus eleven fourteen please read them through fourteen but when christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this creation and not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered the holy place once and for all having obtained eternal redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh how much more yeah with the blood of christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself with our blemish to god cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve sir living god amen amen amen amen amen he paralleled and contrasted the old priest with the new priest and jesus christ a great high priest that all those sacrifices only did what externally but when christ came his sacrifice in the holy of holies cleanses on the inside and nothing but the blood of jesus not the blood of bulls or goats or sheep only the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world and for that we're thankful that's why we're saved today if i get excited on first sunday we're saved today because i don't know i spent my whole life in early life trying to save myself did not know that the mechanism the remedy for my sin has already been given through the blood of jesus and now because of that blood my faith in his life death burial resurrection i'm saved you're saved we're saved and if you're online today you can be saved to the blood of this lamb but we do this today [Music] in celebration and the text says and you proclaim the lord's death until he comes elder jones you pray for us because though we can be saved folks we can also still be some sinful folks and actually just to pray that god's cleansing god's god's blessing god's favor over this time [Music] amen lord god we're so grateful that you're king of king lord of lords yeah lord there's no one like you so father we come humbly this morning humbly before you say lord god cleanse us this morning as only you can as only you are able we thank you father god that you're able to pick up a busted up heart we praise you lord god that you're able to see our sinful ways but lord god we thank you that you're able to forgive it we thank you lord god for the blood the blood that cleanses all o god and so we give you praise we give you honor we give you glory lord god for the victory the victory that's in christ jesus today oh god thank you lord god for calvary's cross thank you lord god that you saved riches like us lord god that we might come before you and say lord what we must do thank you lord god for saving our souls yeah so we give you the praise o god this morning for saving us we give you the praise o god for loving us we give you the praise oh god for picking us up we give you the praise oh god for taking our cameras oh god we give you the praise of god for who you are today we thank you lord god it's in jesus name we pray amen amen now all those that's in this house and for those that are on your house in your house online will you please stand with us [Music] as we worship around the lord's table i always say that those disciples had no idea what was transpiring in that upper room but as we look back we knew exactly what was happening and because of what happened in that upper room and what went on to calvary's cross we ought to be most grateful most appreciative most willing to serve the lord because he didn't just give us a good suggestion he gave us his whole life on that night when they were together in upper room in that sacred moment mixed with confusion contrition and yet jesus know that it is up time's up they ate together can we eat together on that night they had participated in passover before they remember the night in which the death angel passed through egypt and took out all the firstborn passover was a ritual for them but that night was going to be a different night no longer we celebrate some blood that's on the outdoors of your home but the blood that's been shared for your savior jesus christ he became our passover lamb he is our passover god passed us over because they see the blood and on that night they pass the cup and they drink together can we drink together and they thanked god together because the text said they sang on him when they went out you turn to somebody and tell them thank god for jesus okay give somebody a fist bump give somebody a fist bump for jesus [Music] [Music] i am oh oh oh [Music] [Music] don't worry jesus god [Music] amen amen thank the lord amen thank you thank you for praying good morning friendship thank god for all you who are here today in the house and all that are watching us online we thank god for you you've become our friendship community family also online thank god that you came out today and you had made a mind to come and worship with the people of god and we thank god for it you can see us beginning to come back we're starting to come back until this is live gathering we thank god for that and we'll always be in-house and also we'll be online so i thank you for what you're doing a couple things coming up here friendship because i've told you so many times covet can't stop the church so we've been ministering for over the past year and a half and missing this pandemic and coming up on this wednesday night the word wind is another town hall it's an expungement town hall it's a town hall we have d.a in here judges in here attorneys in here and they'll be talking about literally uh how you can wipe the slate clean what steps are necessary for you to address some of those legal issues that are on your record and we're going to bring them in here because i can say there's a lot of us a lot of time we got caught up in the system and the system is planning on you staying in the system but you know what though we've been praying we've been digging we've been researching and god has put some people in some very key places this season of our lives that can they can open the door to let us know how we let some people been in come out and so we're going to be bringing before you you can learn you can gather get your family get your friends get your cousin get your nephews get your nieces get everybody and you watch this online on wednesday and see if it's pertinent to you if you need more information we'll get you more information because we're trying to be a place to begin again that's our call it's our vision and so with that also to help you also in your legal in your legal affairs how to begin again so that's gonna be a town hall also you know guys uh we're getting vaccinated around here hey man yes we are yes we are we got the first dose we got the second dose and we're getting ready for the third though i'm telling deacon robinson if they got a fourth in the field we're going to roll that out too but also on the 10th october the 10th which is next sunday next sunday you'll be able to come back and get your shots also the third doses are also going to be available it'll be for those who qualify for that third dough so if you haven't got your first you can get your first ain't got the second you get the second you need the third you can get your third if you need to be explaining why you should get any of these doses we have a medical alert team that is here that will give you the science behind it and not the politics behind it so i assure you i'll assure you you just kind of will hook you up with the nuclear team and they got the wherewithal because they're in the trenches every single day dealing with this issue so thank god for that also my wife just walked back in um i want to i want to remind your teeth come on buddy i want to remind you get to my come on i want to remind you about the uh leadership summit leadership summit the last summit for the year we're going to be talking about 2022. now this summit is on the 23rd so you got to take yourself together and it's going to be in person because we can spread out the leadership team in this sanctuary okay man that's why we're gonna do it we're gonna spread out so you gotta worry about you know where they are because most people in here are getting vaccinated and that's how i would not put you in harm's way we're not wrong that's why we haven't brought our children back here okay we're trying to make sure we get the vaccination get people uh properly uh remedied mass wearing all those kind of things on the 23rd we're gonna have a leadership meeting to talk about 2022 so actually to come out won't be long we'll be long enough to get the marching order for 2022 so i thank god for that also before i'm coming to you babe also um discipleship i understand that some of you have didn't hear the end of the service messages have been given these last few sundays many of you are signed up to disciple someone else want to disciple you and thank god for what you have done now i'm going to say it again this week i want to give you an opportunity to be involved in discipling someone or allow someone to disciple you i'm saying it because the fact that some of you did not know about it and now i want you to know about it and so what's going on next week when we come back lord allows then i'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to do this what's going to happen to those who are going to be the disciplers and those are going to be the very disciples there are the plans the strategy which this discipleship team is going to lay out before you because i'm glad that that from that from the pulpit to the pews you guys are serious about engaging and doing life and help people to grow up in jesus christ that's what it means to have discipleship in the culture of the church and not just in the classroom of the church and i thank god for all you who responded so if you didn't respond you get another chance to respond today now my wife is standing my lovely wife standing here y'all thank god we love when she stands here uh we're talking about the marriage the marriage prayer sentence she's been talking for the last couple weeks and i'm gonna say a word today we're gonna do warfare we've allowed the adversary to come in and kidnap and hijack so many marriages and we say we're going to pray for them individually and we do but it's time collected for the church to deal with the issue of what's happening in these marriages and we just want to do every sunday in october call that prayer line number prayer line number we're going to be praying together beginning at 6 00 p.m there's a strategy for what we're going to do so i want you to get online on time tonight that you know what it is we've got we've got a strategy for every week that we're going to be meeting what you're going to be doing during the prayer time and away from the prayer time because if he's not playing then we shouldn't be playing and so i want you to come together no condemnation no shame no woes you will know i'm better than you none of that because if you're married you know that there's a roller coaster in this thing sometimes and yet we're going to try to flatten this thing out to let god get the glory and goggle down so wherever you may be we say well pal i got my marriage you don't need that well it may be good today but you don't know how it's going to be tonight so just 6 p.m today all marriage people online amen look forward to seeing you there amen ain't been got you there all right all right all right hey man she said thank you thank you thank you amen shout out can you hear a few shots quick few quick shout out couple shout out all right first shout out there's a sister in this church who's a dental hygienist she's the best dental hygienist obviously in the city because there's a lady who wrote a report about her called her by name and said she's the very best ever she has seen in all her years of going to dentistry uh and this sister works at the avalon dental her name is rena harris it's just arena in the house arena in the house there's back there right there serena harris amen the very very best amen amen amen amen also we got a couple the martas marcus and cheryl martin celebrated 27 years of marriage on thursday happy happy anniversary and many many more also the digital ministry you guys remember last week so the cookie scott left from the from the rear and came to the front put a church shoes on y'all came up here and made an announcement and thank god you responded for all you responded it's still not too late but i think i'm as many as 10 people responding she's asking for 12. so thank god for those who still desire to do so as part of our digital ministry so thank you for who responded thank you for cooking for that great step of faith that you took to come up here again amen you never might be up here again so stay ready to stay ready praise god for all the awana men want us blowing and going and up and running thank god for awana and parents kingdom kids is back it's online on sunday morning so not just for you but also for your children so thank you for those who are laboring in a children's ministry through this pandemic praise god for you also also also we got some new lawyers in the house we knew where they got married got the may shacks nicole and anthony may shack got married y'all we got a picture of the may shack we got a picture of the may shack where they're daring their daddy oh that's there we go oh my goodness baby all right all right all right they got married y'all amen also also today some birthdays today today deacon ronnie barnes today is his birthday wait what a dick in there what a good dig in there what a good deal amen also sister ma martha get out of my way kelly so the today is her birthday wait what's in the mouth it wasn't my father myself amen it right hey minute happy birthday sister marsha happy happy birthday she don't look like her age i assure you guys thank god for that now some of you have birthdays in october anybody have an october birthday please stand any october birthdays please stand please amen amen hey man happy happy birthday happy birthday happy birthday and may you have many many more any october anniversaries any october anniversaries amen amen i see you back that way amen amen but you have many many more we thank god oh so much for you amen [Music] that was a good meeting pretty good meeting i think we got a plan indeed yeah but what about this foolishness with this discipleship oh here we go again it's not enough hours in the day to deal with all the drama i mean the stuff these people bring i just can't deal with it i can't do it i i feel like quitting but i know we got to remain committed who knew who knew it was going to be this hard i certainly didn't think it was going to be this harsh man what's going on y'all look stressed these people y'all told us to go fishing for i have never seen so many ain't folks in my life ain't folks ain't folks ain't folks i ain't got time to meet no no i ain't got time to read nope i ain't got time to change i ain't going to do that ain't folks ain't folks you heard me look ronnie all of you you have to meet people where they are it takes time for people to live in a new way now you do know it's a change right and most people are resistant to change brother johnny what if and for me this is a big old what if i get stuck with somebody who even before you get to the memory verse they highlighting all the drama in their life i mean you want to chronicle every little crisis they don't been through and every tragedy that will wear the average joe out right and you still got to get through your lesson and what about you have a young lady who sees nothing wrong with living with her boyfriend see i'm saying and i'm not going to mention the brother i'm dealing with want to leave his wife just because he don't want to be married anymore wait wait everybody can't talk at once everybody can't talk at once we get it we get that you get frustrated from time to time we understand that listen man they didn't sign up for that and off the show did not sign up for this y'all really just complicating this thing right the plan is plain and simple open up god's word yep and show people how they supposed to live how god intended yeah plain and simple these folks still want to do the same stuff they've been doing drinking popping pills selling peers doing whatever they want to do ain't folks anything they're supposed to do they ain't gonna do right right and we didn't sign up for all that look guys all of us we have to love them the way christ loves us he accepts you and me flaws and all and he doesn't give us a grade for our daily walk but that's not what we're doing we're just simply saying it's hard to disciple these people who don't want to change i mean you know they'll do the lesson sometimes sometimes but change their lifestyle they ain't doing that these ain't folks it's like they want to say that they're being discipled but they're not really wanting to change to be more like christ see all this talk about change ain't nobody trying to be like michael jackson man in the mirror disciples they don't want to make a change know terry i understand where you're going with the michael jackson reference i want to change but you got to have grace you got to show grace you got to show mercy just like christ show grace and mercy and love and kindness towards us as we were trying to get from where we are where we were to where we are now you got to be patient with them and you know something y'all sounding right now to me like some ain't folk i ain't got patience ain't got humility ain't got the heart of christ i ain't got time to get the person where i am today man y'all just tripping me out no brother johnny it ain't even like that all we're trying to say is with the baggage these people carry we ain't got all the stuff they need to give them you know it's like i can't even they're broken or something just needy just too needy and what do you all expect us to do right we're doing our part we're staying consistent but these people don't want to change what they're doing ain't folk ain't full okay guys look think about your walk did you always get it right didn't it take you a while to change were you ready and prepared every single time you met with your spiritual parent we all need to extend grace and how long did it take you to get to where you are now y'all acting like y'all never fell back a time or two brother johnny it's not the same though bro we're dealing with a different breed of disciples right it's 20 21 we're in a pandemic all they want to do is sit around and binge watch hulu and netflix i'm terry brother explain to me how is it not the same a sin is a sin and god showed grace to us and his mercy love and kindness towards us even yet while we were sinners so i'm just not understanding how you making it so much a difficulty of disciplining somebody like this is different a sin is a sin brother and as a matter of fact we all came with our own unique mess each of us each of us has a problem or a struggle with following christ it's tough it comes with a set of challenges that those who are not in christ will never understand but we know you all know what it means and feels like to be broken and did your person get tired of you no they didn't give up on you don't you remember what it was like to come from the other side of brokenness how sin had such a tight grip on you that the only way you could see your way through is to pray it out we've all been there we've all been there and they never got tired of dealing with us and think about it gene terry ronnie what if when you were being discipled the people gave up on you they were tired of you they got frustrated and didn't want to continue to share the love of christ in your lives do you think where you'll be where you are right now y'all come a long way and y'all know that doing all of this discipline stuff it takes love and compassion but if you hold on a change will come it won't happen overnight nothing special ever does but you we gotta remain steadfast and have to keep on pushing now i know we all got another meeting but think about that another meeting yeah think about it well lord knows we need to help so yeah we're just going to stick with it and pray our way through yes lord please make a way do not pass us by lord please help pass us [Music] past me not oh gentle save [Music] yes [Music] [Music] not [Music] mercy hold on [Music] deep country [Music] i'm [Music] my wow pass me oh calling you i want you to hear me [Music] [Music] oh me [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah yeah yeah are you visiting other folks don't forget to stop by amen amen galatians chapter four galatians chapter four you're at home please grab your bibles grab your phones your tablets [Music] galatians chapter 4. i'm going to focus on verses 19 and 20. but just for context let me set you up let me go to beginning of verse nine coming back to 19 and 20. it says but now verse nine but now that you've come to know god rather be known by god how did you turn back again to weak and worthly elementary things which you desire to be enslaved all over again you observe days and months and seasons and years i fear for you that perhaps i've labored over you in fame verse 15 where there is a sense of blessing you had for bear you witnessed it if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me have i therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth verse 19 and 20 my children with whom i am again in labor until christ is formed in you but i can wish to be present with you now and be changed my tone for i am perplexed about you i want to preach this morning i want to tag with the title don't give up on your strays don't give up on your strengths let's pray together father in the name of jesus here we are and we thank you so much god for this opportunity we have to be positioned as your people god and to meet together lord this in this holy sacred convocation is our prayer god that god the holy spirit will have his way in this place lord and arrest random thoughts arrest god depressed spirits arrest mind says lord god that on everything but you right now because god there's a word you want to give for us for our house for your house for your work and i pray as always you would anoint me at this strategic hour that i may preach your word with power have your way in the name of jesus christ i do pray amen amen amen amen you may be seated in the presence of the lord don't give up on your strays i've been preaching this series on discipleship the premise of discipleship has simply been that we're to be followed to christ that when you got saved god intended you would now follow the one who saved you god does not desire us to be vampire christians i told that two weeks ago vampire christians of those who want the blood of jesus they want the blood of jesus for the next life but they don't want jesus to bother them in this life that's called being a vampire christian he saved us to be people who fully follow him through the thick and through the fans of life but today i want to talk about strays read a story about these two girls in northern california one girl lia was age eight and her sister caroline was age five and and they decided to go for a stroll on their family's 80-acre homestead 80 acres they went for a stroll but along the way of going for a stroll they were going down a deer path and somewhere along that deer path they ended up wandering off they end up straying off the path and they end up on another path another path that was the wrong path and yet they didn't know it immediately but they soon found out it was a path that was filled with simply it was it had bears that was in where they got lost that had bears there they had every kind of wild animal you could imagine because it's 80 acres of land and they're out there a five-year-old and an eight-year-old they're out they've wandered off and they're stranded and they've strayed off into this place in which their parents don't know where they were and that is a horrific thing and they've been gone for a mighty long time but here to shout in the story is that somebody came looking for them because not just somebody but over 200 people put together a search and rescue team and came looking for them and they even had a military black hawk helicopter and guess what after 44 hours they found these two little girls who were 1.4 miles from where they lived they were scared they were shaken but they were safe and sound something that could have turned very traumatic turned out terrific it turned out all because somebody went looking for them the community made up their mind that we will not simply sit back and give up on our strays we're going to go after them i heard that story i said i i need to use that because what's true about that community is also true about this church it must be our mandate must be our mindset to declare that we're a people that when people stray off that we're not just going to sit here and twirl our thumbs but we're going to be willing to go after our strength we're going to be committed to chasing our strength as a disciple of jesus christ who want to make disciples for jesus christ i just need to inform you in case nobody ever told you that god's people the saints of the most high god will stray off do i have an amen up in here oh yes they will somebody in fact there's some strays up in here right now that you just they will stray off if you're going to be committed to making disciples committed to serving commit to carry out the great commission you can't get all hot in the college you can't get all frustrated because they will just simply stray off straight off into what pastor they would stray off into working overtime for themselves and working no time for the lord they would stray off into isolation cut off the cell phone cut off the tv cut off all communication even the child support people can't reach them they would just stray off they would stray off in the living living like the marriage when they're not married they'll stray off they'll stray off into simply put down put away put away what put down the bible put down prayer put down coming to church put down god put down the people of god they'll simply put it down they'll stray off into anger just hot and bothered and mad at the world and everybody in it they will stray off but the questionable floor is not will saints stray off the question for the church today is what would be your reaction when the people of god stray off that's the real question what will you do will you simply just say you know what i'm going to just let them go or will you go after them that's the question will you just say you know what too bad too sad no will you go after them god wants us to be a people who are littered to what make their mind to go after strange y'all excuse me but i'm just so happy i'm so glad i got excited when i'm studying this passage that i'm glad i serve a god who has a go after kind of spirit i'm glad i serve a god who will go after strays anybody read isaiah 53 6 when the bible says we all like sheep have strayed away but the lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him he's a go after kind of god oh i thank god for that anybody read everybody luke 15 4 when jesus asked the great question if any man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays off will he not leave the 99 and go after the one he's trying to say guess what i'm that man i'm that if i lose one one is more important than just as important as the 99 and i will chase astray thank god god's got a sweet spot for strays but what about you what about you and what about you this text is written to strays paul writes this passage to a people who boomerang back into the very thing that god brought them out of they've decided they've been hoodwinked bamboozled shot a spiritual mickey thinking that the old life is better than the new life in christ they've been ruled back into what they used to be anybody know anything about that spirit speaks to your mind spirits speak to your flesh and tell us somehow that the previous life is better in this life i'll tell you that somehow disobedience makes you happier than obedience it's a lie from the pit of hell vote so when paul writes this letter when he pins this epistle he doesn't write this epistle with all the niceties all the pleasantries he doesn't talk about how y'all doing how your mama doing how's the job going he'll talk about how your kids doing he'll want to know how your health been how's your blood pressure how your sugar doing he don't want to know all that he writes this pathway as a perturbed pastor he writes this epistle as a cranky church planter he writes his passage as a frustrated disciple because not only have they turned against what they were taught but they've turned against the one that told them and paul like y'all lost your mind y'all only gone plum crazy y'all just crazy and yet i love what paul does because what would you do if you sacrifice someone serve for someone poured out your life for them and they turn on you how many you would vote for kicking them to the curb any kick to the curb hands in here how many of y'all would say cause i'm out pastor how many custodial folks up in here i know we got some cusses up i know who i passed we got some custard up in here or how many of y'all would say you know what i'm gonna press on to what god told me to do that's what he does look at the text verse 19 he said my children it's a term of endearment my children paul said my children not not the judaizers children not the pharisees children not even the church children paul says you my children his spiritual children your mind still my children paul has spent over four chapters now ranting and raving telling them how spiritually dumb they are how spiritually thick-headed they are how spiritually scatterbrained they are he's been them whole time tell them y'all just spiritually stupid how could you begin in the spirit and not try to live by the flesh how can you go back to what god brought you out of don't you remember the hell hole you were in and god snapped you out and now you're going back to her you're going back to him you're going back to them you just stupid but he shifts he shifts he shifts from being a berater to now a broken hearted parent and he says compassionately my children which means what when you dealing with strays you gotta love them right where they are right where they are my oldest son jonathan andrew got a baptism by fire in the rudiments of parenting a week ago amber was at work and it was just johnson and drew at their house and john's inside he's gonna doze off and take a nap drew who was supposed to be taking a nap didn't vote for that so while he trying to doze off drew gets busy busy revenant i even say this busy boo boo i mean feces everywhere from a stomach to the sole of our feet painting feces like picasso just painting it just making stuff and amber's at work and jonathan's sleep but he ain't sleep no more [Applause] because this feces feel little girl feces fingers boo boo everywhere touches him [Applause] we know he up now [Applause] and when she touched him he got up held his nose threw away all her clothes and scrubbed her down until she was completely clean why because that's what love does it loves you [Music] just like y'all but they don't leave you like y'all oh i'm trying to help somebody today because in this journey of discipleship i gotta tell you i know from experience you will run across some spiritual people who are spiritual drools they are filled with spiritual boo-boo their lies are stinky their lies are smelling their lives are nasty their lives are embarrassing but yet you gotta hold your holier than thou knows you got to be willing to take some time to adjust your schedule and you got to scrub them with the word of the living god because that's what love does it takes you as you are but it doesn't leave you as your oh that's the good news if we're gonna deal with strength love is the key you gotta love them not just try to teach them you gotta love them not just preach to them you gotta love them with all that you have now wait a minute loving them does not mean that i agree with your sins loving them does not mean i support your sin loving does not agree i'm gonna cover your sin loving does not mean i'm gonna finance your sin that's not what it means loving them simply means i'm gonna work with you and walk with you and be with you till you get through this sin because there's another life a better life up the road that's what it means i'm gonna be who i am i'm going to be who god called me to be i'm going to call your sins sin but if you let me stay in your life i'm going to walk with you and talk with you and pray with you to help you get to the other side that's what it means in loving trays wait a minute it means we must be tough and tender say amen that's not what jesus told us trust and tender where you get that from bethlehem from the bible come go with me in john 4. jesus meets a woman at the whale and he's tough on her woman go get your husband and come here he knows she's had five and the boo in a bed right now is not a husband he's tough on him but also he's tender because he told her guess what the messiah you're talking about i am he was tough and he was tender john 21 you know your bible john 21 jesus was tough after his resurrection appearance simon son of john i heard what you saying i heard how you said it and i heard how many times you said it therefore simon son of john do you love me more than these one time simon son of john 3 11 man two times simon son of john do you love me three times he was tough on simon peter but he was also tender because he said guess what simon peter here's your preaching license back here's your ministry license back and go intend my sheep he was both we got to get that in our spirit we can't just be one because your daddy your mama your uncle taught you to be one or the other you you're tough you brute you're rough you rough round the edges you bark and you bite and you curse and you fight and that's all you know or you're tender you're soft as a piece of cotton everything gets to go you let everybody skate you let everybody pass you don't confront nobody with nothing everything is fair game for you and yet they are wrong you must be both to know when to be tough and when to be tender oh somebody's marriage could get healed today somebody's ministry could get elevated today because you always thought you had to pick one but the lord is saying no i want both i want you tough and i want your tender because that's what love does and you got to love them right where they are say amen right where they are your child right where your child is your parents right where they are your husband right where he is your girlfriend right where she is your classmate right where they are you got to love them right where they are you're moving to where they need to be love is the key god loved the world he moved it by love not rules regulation rituals and platitude precepts love agape supernatural love that comes from the heart of god that can impact the heart of people pastor already done that all right do it again do it again i've been trying for 34 years this man ain't going to change the world ain't going to change perhaps but here's the bonus question are you changing why your obedience is predicated by their obedience why can't you just obey god is just the right thing to do you ain't been a part of nothing else why you want a pardon in this please pastor hamilton i know i shouldn't have came this sunday should have stayed online but i can mute you [Applause] do it again because he says with whom i am again in labor let's work this for me paul is saying it's pointing back to acts 13 and 14 when he first came to these galatian churches and brought the gospel of jesus christ and the gospel of christ brought them out of spiritual darkness to god's marvelous life they were born again paul is saying it's about two or three years later now paul's saying y'all act like you need to be saved again now he's not saying you get saved over and over and over again when you're saved you're saved the spirit of god dwells he's in you forever and ever ever i mean he's saying that it's his way of using this greek word labor labor the idea means that it means pain it means anguish the greek word means to be in trepidation it means to be so filled with anguish that he says he's saying paul is saying it's hurting me the way y'all are living is hurting me he said what i'm again in labor paul said posing i'm like i'm having birth pains i'm like i'm about to give birth and i don't have an epidural [Applause] this is hurting me oh some sisters all know what i'm talking about i read yesterday about a system i had to read that a couple times who was in labor for 75 days having triplets on bed rest feet elevated 30 degrees for 75 days all the mama's in the house now i understand why when your kids after food you want to chop them in a thought not throat thought all this pain all this anguish all this pushing and all this breathing and all these narcotics in my body and you're gonna have to fool with me and try to face up to me and tell you ain't never done nothing for me and you ought to give me why aren't you like somebody else's mouth you must be out your rabbit mind you don't understand i labored for you hey that's the mama's up in here right now i've been waiting to hit it all day long because they've been acting as they somehow you just some food you just some witch you just somebody who just served no you labored for them [Applause] didn't they have money to go into the hospital or money to pay when you came out of the hospital but you labored for them and they gonna say you ain't done nothing [Applause] i want another mama paul says i'm in labor on you but why go through that pain you know why i watched my wife great woman of god great humorous loving kind but in that labor room like i'm gonna be in the wrong room this ain't my wife oh love squeezing a hand get the ice i don't like that ice huh i'm just gonna sit over here and be quiet act like i'm looking for the doctor i'm just gonna hang out this room as long as i can it's troubling now some of your brothers know what i'm talking about you'll be scared to laugh at that you know what i'm talking about [Applause] how much you praying you ain't praying you hiding she's crazy but you go through the pain because you know that there's a blessing on the other side of the pushing you pant you push you put in the work because there's a blessing on the other side paul says in the same way come here galatians i'm like i'm giving birth to you and it hurts me but i'm panting and i'm pushing and i'm putting in the work why he says right here until christ is formed in you he said because there's a blessing on the other side what's the blessing on the other side the more food the idea that the spirit of living god is going to take you he's going to change you he's going to change your character he's going to change your choices he's going to change your convictions from the inside remember the false teacher was saying change needs to happen on the outside paul says that's a lie from the devil true change is never about the outside that's like painting a dead man's body he's still dead he said you must be able to change on the inside that's what we need is a change on the inside change our hearts change our minds change our will change our values he said christ is formed takes shape inside of you and he's talking about growth he's talking about growing you won't that's why but he says in the word until which means it don't happen overnight it takes time this growth takes time so what does that mean it means you must lock in for the long haul you're going to deal with strays you're going to disciple anybody this is when we punt it's why we don't want to do it but you got to lock in for the long haul let me take you down memory lane for a minute when i became the path of this great church we were located over on beechnut i remember i was only a few months into the pastor and i was talking to my friend in the ministry pastor dean byrd many of you guys remember john byrd as the dean of college of biblical studies went on to become a pastor and i was talking to bird i said doc i'm young man i ain't no pastor before been around a lot of pastors been in church a lot i'm not a pastor nobody i don't know what to even do what even start give me some nuggets of wisdom as to how i need a pastor how can i be successful as a pastor because i don't want to mess nobody up i don't want to hurt those people i don't want to hurt that church and i don't want to fail in what god's called me what should i do and he said i remember him saying hamilton let me tell you something about him he said pastoring is hard passive is hard on your health it's hard on your family it's hard on your marriage it's hard on your own spiritual well-being it's hard hard on your heart the same folks who will love you one sunday will leave you the next sunday the same folks who will vote you in will also vote you out it's hard on your health and it's hard on your heart but this is what he said if you want to be a great pastor you stay there and you love those people you lead those people you feed those people you bury those people but you gotta be there the way to be great is not by being a young person by by staying long enough to become an old pastor and god will teach you the rest what was he saying simply this you gotta lock in for the long haul i'll shout by myself because what i've learned that's true about pastoring is also true about discipling you need to know that discipleship can be hard on your health it can be hard on your family it can be hard on your mind it can be hard on your heart there are people who will come to your walk through the bible and leave the next week and never come back there are folks who will come to your life group and never come back to your life group there are folks who will come to god's mighty men and gods find china and never come back there are folks who will sit in your circle for breakfast on a saturday morning and you'll never see them again but stay right there do what god told you to be and don't just be a young discipler be an old discipler and god will teach you the rest drive a witness up in hell does anybody have that long-haul spirit inside of them just stay with it and god will teach you to rest stick with them when you're hurt stick with them when you're confused stick with them when you had earth stick with them when you're sick stick with them stick with god called you too because here's the truth maturity doesn't happen in just one message change doesn't happen in just one class you know the healing doesn't happen just through one high energetic worship service it takes time you must be willing to put in time that's why many times we don't disciple because we want to have a class we want to have a book study we want to have a leaflet that's somehow assuming when we finish the material voila maturity is going to happen but if you think about it that's not how you grew and that's not how they're going to grow it took time you hadn't always been an elder you haven't always been a deacon you haven't always been a preacher you haven't always been a ministry leader you haven't always been a disciple you haven't always been faithful you haven't always been a tither it took time and if it took time for you it's going to take time for them too so you must give it time but you got to hang in there for the long haul and not for the short haul because somebody's counting on you to help them grow in christ because we serve a long-haul kind to god am i right about it anybody search the scriptures isn't he a long-haul kind of god anybody been in the bible anybody been in the book anybody but in the prayer closet this god is a long-haul kind to god i heard when paul says i'm confident of this one thing he that began a good work in you will keep on working to the day of christ jesus that sounds like long haul if you think about it hebrews 13 5 says guess what he'll never leave you nor forsake you that sounds like the long haul and jesus in matthew 28 20 says and lo i'm with you always always to the end of the age that sounds like a long haul thank god for the long haul thank god for staying with me now here's the question who you going to stay with think about the lord stayed with you through all your mess all your miseries all your missteps all your mistakes and he stayed with you and now you can't stay with them how much hubris do you have why in the world is grace good for you but grace is not good for them the bible says don't give up don't ever give up on your strength but let me cut across the field and head for home because the text says in verse 20 i could wish to be present with you and to change my tone but i'm perplexed with me i'm scratching my head i'm confused i'm at my wit's end i don't understand what's going on but here's what jumps out he says i could wish to be present the implication is he's not present that in spite of what they're into and going through he's not there which means what you got to leave him in the hand of the lord because you won't always be there you are not omniscient you are not omnipresent you are not omnipotent you can't always be there i'm going home reverend eddie and i'm a shout all the way home i called my baby girl last night because i had a fatherly moment and i started thinking about all these years and i started thinking about when i took natalie to xavier university and i drove to new orleans and i drove there fussing and i drove there tight lip because i ain't want her to see me crying and i drove back from xavier university and i knew things would never be the same cause my baby has flown the coup she left home but that was all right there's some stuff she got into so people dealt with her and i thought about that if i'd been there i'd handle that for you but i couldn't be there and then she left xavier university and went to university of michigan big blue in ann arbor michigan and while that's a long ways off from texas and louisiana and it gets real snow up there and yet while she's up there natalie i wish i was there i could help you but i couldn't help her because i'm too far away from her and then she went off to connecticut and while in connecticut she's on that east coast now that i wish i was there to protect you and watch over you i wish i could you know that's what daddy do but i couldn't be there to protect her and now she's back in michigan and i wish i was there still at michigan making sure probably driving her around but i couldn't do that and in april she's going to graduate from michigan and she's headed somewhere else and it won't be in houston and this is what i thought about i say lord after all them cities and all them states and all them years i wanted to hold my baby but i couldn't hold it cause i just couldn't be there then the holy spirit remind me that ain't your job that's my job cause when you work there i was there leave your baby in the hands of the lord and he will oh yes he will i'm a witness up in hell he will take care of your baby and your strength and your son and your daughter let him go and leave him with the hands of the lord his hand is big enough his hand is wide enough his hands is strong enough don't he have a hand with his hands he created the heaven and the head with his hands he holds you and nobody can snatch you out with his hand his feet and wind shifts and birds fly it's the hands of the lord not just anybody's hand but the hands of the almighty god that the mighty god who is my shalom the god who is my peace he is my way out he is in your hand i give her to you and i say lord help me never give up on my strength bless the lord oh my god and all that was it bless his name leave them in the hand of the lord you ain't trying to get them to be like you they gotta become like christ someone inside of my voice right now this is your moment this is your time to make this decision to no longer be foolish no longer be unfaithful to no longer be around holy things and not know the holy one man god loves you so that god loves you loves you more you could have a dream or a match with a love you can't even compare but he loves you too much to leave yeah y'all christ died and buried and rose again that you might live but you got to come to him for life you see a pastor already like no no no no spiritual might re-commune reconnect you to the purpose playing will of god for your life but you got to come what you got to come will you right here right now give your heart to the lord and your handle on these counselors god's calling you to receive him to be his child to be in his family by faith whoever calls the name of the lord shall be saved whether in this house or in your house somebody needs to be saved to be saved the issue they're not saying and i say it and i say that's the issue and ain't that they're not your church they ain't saved will you come will you come in this house here's a prayer father in the name of jesus i give you me i believe you die rose live and you two love me forgive me of every one of my sins i give you me in jesus name i pray you pray that i pray to receive christ come give your hand to one of these counselors if you're online let us know to inform friendship cbc.com let us know well maybe god led you here to be in the family of friendship you want to join this church right here right now maybe you're online maybe you're in the house you have not joined this church you've been reluctant to commit now god's calling you to commitment commitment to him and to the local church will you commit will you join this church right here right now come on muscles come on my sister somebody somebody meet him somebody meet us somebody meet her let's let's shoot my trip she's not the only one she's not the only one there's others there's others you join this church right here right now god's calling you friendship a place to begin again a place to begin again a place to be disciple and become a disciple to impact the totality of your life but you got to come will you come will you come where you come i want to join this place i want to join this church that's why i keep coming back god tell me to cross the line cross the line of commitment my third invitation is to the body of believers hear me online hear me in this house i want to pray for you because i want to pray for you in this area of you beginning to see yourself as a disciple and one that makes disciples to connect to allow what you don't know god to grow you to what you don't know and what you think you do know to have your flesh out what you think you do know but i want to pray that you will be open to the head and hold discipleship team saying that you turn your name in turn your name in to the discipleship team with a team at please stand please stand turn your name in [Applause] to the discipleship team when church is over give me your name give me your contact number i'll put you on the list we'll talk about the list next week but i want to pray here's why because i'm gonna challenge your friendship i'm gonna pray for you too be your co-laborer [Music] maybe discipleship doesn't happen outside of our houses because it don't happen in our houses stay with me you know what kind of pastor i am i'm gonna pray for our houses because in many of these domiciles we have there's no discipleship there's no growing there's no sharing there's no communion there's no encouragement [Music] reading the book say why do kids in their 20s early 30s leave the church ain't always because the ain't can't come to the church no no no the author said because many times the kids have never been taught the difference between religion and relationship so when they get on their own they choose to do something different because they've been ruled and grounded in relationship i'm not saying they make their own show there's some great parents in here i'm not calling i'm not condemning you there's some great parents in this church we got to be better friendship not just in this house but in your house my house our house take back what the adversary has stolen we've just fought we've just laid down men have just laid down and won't lead and women have just laid down and won't follow it children just laid down with carnality of the culture just lay down [Music] no no no this is a resurrected god who wants some resurrected people [Music] so i want to pray for you stand on your feet no condemnation no shame but you got to stop giving hell the combination to your house you letting me you letting them in you letting them in and then you can't get out god said if you be faithful i'll fight your battle [Music] so i want to pray today for our houses [Music] here to hit mouth father in the name of jesus we ain't pretending we ain't playing it takes everything we have some time to drag ourselves into these doors the hemorrhage the hurt of our hearts it's our families [Music] we're here and they're not here you got husbands that are coming wife on coming wife that'll come hugging won't come children don't serve far is strange from the things of god and while they're trying to disciple other people in their minds they're wishing this was my child wishing my grandchild wishing my spouse wishing i have a ministry partner who is one of who i'm married to and the adversaries calls us to doubt to lose hope to believe that it just is what it is and nothing can change and singing these songs and the songs we sing about victory and yet we live like victims help us lord free us god deliver us god pour out your spirit afresh we don't want just church we don't want religion we don't want some cute songs [Music] nothing artificial nothing artificial yeah god to god have your way reach us god help us to examine ourselves we've protected ourselves we've alibited we've covered and we've we've cajoled and we've done so many things to cover up the anguish of our heights today we let it we vomited out because you can handle it you said god we've cast all that cares upon you because you care for us you say when we're weak you make us strong you say that you are our shepherd and we shall not walk and then we walk through the valley of shadow of death went to fear and evil because you promised to be with us bless these houses bless these families change hearts change mind change commitments today god we declare your authority your authority in dark places your authority let your will be done let your will be done praise you lord praise you lord in the name of jesus christ i do pray amen amen amen give god a big old praise give god a big old praise fist bump somebody fist bump somebody fist bump somebody bump somebody hug somebody amen amen i thank god for you friendship i'll see you online tomorrow i'll see you wednesday get in your word we're going to decor on wednesday come give your name to the discipleship team come give your name to the disciple be a disciple don't give your name we'll talk next week come on come on come on come on i'll beat god come on come on come on come on come on come on come on you

Channel: Friendship Community Bible Church

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Id: FSLgojFjHhU

Length: 113min 34sec (6814 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021