Maintaining a Posture of Faith - Jesus People

[Music] well hello meeting house it is such a joy to be here today it feels like home it feels like family to me my second family what a privilege it is to be with you and i i just want to i want to encourage you today i really felt prompted by god to give you a word of encouragement and i want to ground it in a scripture for you found in joshua 1 6-9 i'm going to read that for you today it says after the death of moses the servant of the lord the lord said to joshua son of noon moses aid moses my servant is dead now then you and all these people get ready to cross the jordan river into the land i am about to give them to the israelites i will give you every place you set your foot as i promised moses your territory will extend from the desert to lebanon and from the great river the euphrates all the hittite country to the mediterranean sea in the west no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life as i was with moses so i will be with you i will never leave you nor forsake you i want you to dial into verse six be strong and courageous for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land i swore to their ancestors i would give them again be strong and very courageous be careful to obey all of the instructions moses gave you do not deviate from them turning either to the right or to the left then you will be successful in everything you do study this book of instruction continually meditate on it day and night so that you will be sure to obey everything written in it only then you will prosper and succeed in all you do and he says it once again just to drill at home this is my command says god be strong and courageous do not be afraid or discouraged for the lord your god is with you wherever you go well i i want to have a moment of real talk with you guys can we talk can we have real talk for a second i want to ask you some hard questions what do you do when what's in front of you seems absolutely impossible to cross and and what do you do when your present reality looks nothing like what god has promised you and if those questions aren't big enough let's throw in a third as believers how should we posture ourselves when we are in our hardest struggles well if we're honest with ourselves the past 18 months has been incredibly hard devastatingly hard for so many and i can tell you honestly it wasn't what i signed up for anyone else no 2020 was not what we signed up for and we were so happy to shed 2020 and jump into 2021 thinking it was going to be a brand new year with just blessings and overflow and no it is pretty much more of the same 2021 has come with its own challenges as well you know when i think of the the grocery list of the past 18 months my chest just tightens saying it and you know i think we need to sit in this moment as uncomfortable as it is so that we can come out of it in the right posture you know we think about the past 18 months let's talk about it pandemic global crisis job losses uh businesses closing left right and center economic downturn and then throwing on top of that racial tensions political upheaval protests there's been illnesses and death and loss and loss and loss not to mention here on the soil a global heartbreak and outcry for the precious lives of our indigenous children lost through the national shame that is residential schools now we see earthquakes in haiti and and all of the relief that's happening there the devastation that's happening there and now the rise of taliban and afghanistan and the and the um the persecution of christians even throughout the globe and now also in afghanistan our hearts are breaking and we're saying god we're crying out god help i was talking with a pastor a friend of mine and we kind of felt like this feels like the aftermath season i want you to imagine a tornado blowing through a town and just wreaking havoc and destruction and now the aftermath it feels like we're slowly picking up the pieces of our lives again slowly trying to put back the pieces of our lives again from this tornado that's blown through you know the word for me that comes in this moment of aftermath is trying we're trying to resume natural rhythms of our life we're we're trying to reopen businesses where we're trying as churches to open back safely and i know that you're doing that in the fall you know people are trying to physically go back to work and we're trying to get kids back in school safely and soundly and we're we're also trying to be social or as i say i'm i'm trying to people bear with me yet somehow it it all feels different doesn't it well it feels different because we are different if we're honest with ourselves the past 18 months has changed us in some way it's affected us in some way for many of us and i can say for myself we are not the same you know like joshua and the children of israel for me this current season feels like it's like the river jordan like how we're asking these big questions how do we navigate through this and and and how do we move from here to where we need to go and and what will life look like on the other side of this this so-called new normal you know for the children of israel the promised land represented so much it represented freedom from the people and the systems that oppress them it it represented peace it represented provision it represented abundance and joy and victory and i don't know about you but i i feel very disconnected from from that promised land i i feel i feel like i'm standing on the edge of this body of water and and i'm disconnected i can see it but i can't quite access it just yet and i don't know about you but i i feel like i'm very far from that place of joy and abundance in in victory anyone else feel like that today well i was deeply encouraged by the scripture that i read to you i was so encouraged by it because it spoke to me in this season i want to just give you a little quick back story we all know it so well for 40 years the children of israel held on to the hope of the promise of god that he would take them into canaan into the land of promise and for 40 years they travailed and tried to reach this promised land but did not access it guys wait for it until their beloved leader moses passes away how hard how devastating that moment must have been moses a leader of the people of israel but not just a leader a spiritual father to his children and so there's deep connection there and great loss and great grieving imagine joshua a dutiful aide serving with his whole heart mind and body and now the heartbreaking loss of his beloved spiritual father gone and yet and yet in the midst of that pain in the midst of that moment at that very same moment their prayers are being answered this 40-year promise being fulfilled what does that say for you and us today well it says that in the midst of devastation in in the midst of heartbreak in the midst of grief in the midst of sorrow and and great loss god is still leading his people he's still making a way for us he's he's still fulfilling his promises in the midst of the pain he is still blessing but more importantly in the midst of devastation my friends god is still good you know my 2020 was a year that i would not wish on anyone for me and my family it was the hardest year i think i've ever had outside of my beginnings which were pretty pretty grisly before christ bc as they say my family and i we lost seven people last year seven deaths it was a combination of kovid deaths heart attacks and cancer and for me it was an ocean of grief it felt like wave after wave after wave and every time i thought that i could catch my breath every time i thought that i could surface another wave would knock me down and i felt like i was crashing against the rocks and i feel like someone today says yes cheryl that's me right now and you know i wasn't just crashing against rocks let me let me let me break this down for you i was crashing against the rocks of why me why me why god why so many deaths why another one why so much grief why the pain why why god and i had to do something i had to surrender it and i asked god what should i do with all of this pain and this word is literally the word i'm giving you today i felt really prompted to shift my posture can i walk you through this to step out of the prison of why because why will cause you to be in a place of bitterness why can lead you to these bitter places of resentment instead i shifted my posture from why to what god what would you have me learn through all of this in what ways can i see your hand in the midst of the chaos and god help me to understand what it is that you're doing and what i can be grateful for in this season and you know something amazing happened to me when i shifted my why to what my heart opened up literally and i became open to see and i feel like this is for someone today to see and identify the blessings of god in the most bruised moments of my life i also learned a great truth some storms some hardship some crisis some pain they don't always come to devastate think of joshua some storms come to clear a path for something new some storms come to lead us into a new direction for me in the midst of pain i found very few moments to just sit because we had all of the racial reckonings and racial justice moments that were so hard and painful and i was called upon to speak and in in in a wonderful way that was a blessing my platform elevated and i was able to speak around social justice issues and and i saw god's hand through all of it you know i have the privilege uh in honor of uh being a co-host on a national fate show through crossroads here in canada it's called see here love and every year i've been there for five years seven seasons and every year uh at the end of our season we kind of speak into the year to come right we have a word of the year show you're gonna get you're gonna get a laugh out of this one and so we kind of like sort of almost prophetically and just boldly declare some big words for 2020. well i i look back on that show cringeworthy i think is the word that we're gonna go with today here here were some of the big words that i had for 2020 uh abundance uh limitless um expansion leap yeah cringe cringe cringe now as they say hindsight is 20 20. you know what the words are that god gave me for this season resolute hope you know resolute means to be admirably purposeful it means to be determined and unwavering in the time of trial and well hope my friend hope is everything but what does hope look like when you're all alone what does hope look like when your back is against the wall i have a definition for you today that i want to give you i want you to write it down i want you to just say it make a t-shirt send me the t-shirt sell it do whatever you need to do this i pray will give you some strength in this time hope is this glorious holy posture of defiance against the overwhelming darkness that would try to surround us can i say that again for you hope in god is this glorious holy posture of defiance against the darkness that would try to overwhelm and surround us there are three key words that i feel are ours to grab a hold of and make part of our life's journey in this season that we're moving into in the fall and those three words are hope trust and reconnect hope trust and reconnect my friends god is calling us to hope in him again god is calling us to trust in him again and god is calling you and i to reconnect with him again god is calling us to hope in his word again god is calling us to trust in his word again and god is calling us to reconnect and sit in his word again and in this new season this new ministry season that we're going into god is calling us to hope in his promises again to trust in his promises for your family for your marriage for your life again god is calling us to hope in humanity again this one's a tough one we've been through a lot god is calling us to trust in humanity again and that looks like loving our neighbor and god is calling calling us and this is this is where we are to reconnect with humanity again to step out of our bubbles and start to love intentionally this one's this one's big for those that have been wounded by the church those who have been disappointed or let down god is causing calling us to hope in his living church again god is calling us to trust in church leadership church structure church direction again and god is calling us to reconnect it's the coming together again that's the season that we're in my friends god wants to reignite our hope again for those of you whose hope has been wavering and waning because of what you're seeing and what you're experiencing i just want to encourage you with these four words he is still god he is still god in the pandemic he is still god in global crisis he is god in your job loss he's god with your business that feels like it's crumbling he is still god he is still good in economic downturns racial tensions protest upheaval earthquakes natural disasters illness deaths loss he is still god and he is still good in all of it i pray a rebuilding of your faith today i pray a a strengthening of your faith today my friend i pray that you come back into a belief and an assurance that is found in jeremiah 29 11 where god says i know what i'm doing i know what i'm doing i have it all planned out plans to take care of you not to abandon you plans to give you the future that you hope for i want you to stand in faith my friends stand in the promises of god for yourself your family your children your home for everything you are holding dear you know sometimes we just have to encourage ourselves like this david did that in psalm 42 11 david said why am i discouraged like like he talked to himself he said why is my heart so sad i will put my hope in god i will praise him yet again my savior and my god our faith in god my friends is not a passive thing it's it's intentional and it's active so what does that look like what you know god is calling us right now to maintain a posture of faith but what does that mean maintaining a posture of faith what do you what do you mean cheryl well here's a beautiful thing about this moment maintaining a posture of faith looks like different things based on different situations and based on different circumstances it changes day to day but it all is an expression of our faith can i walk you through i want to show you elijah for a quick second elijah maintained a posture of faith in that moment it looked like unrelenting prayer and that may be a season that god is calling you to right now just unrelenting unwavering prayer and elijah is praying and asking for rain in the time of a drought and he is as the bible says body bowed head in between his knees face to the ground unmoving unwavering in prayer despite the servants constant reports back that there is no rain six times imagine this no no no rain no rain no answer no answer only to hear yes on the seventh one how did he do it how did he stay so unwavering with all of those no's that he came up against well right just before this moment elijah saw the power of god in action he saw the power of god looking like fire falling on the wet drenched soaked altar of mount carmel right before the prophets of baal he saw god move and he held fast to the hope that if god can do it before he can do it again and that's a promise i want you to hold on to if god has ever answered a prayer before in your life my brothers and sisters he is faithful to do it again abraham maintained a posture of faith his faith looked more like quiet trust and obedience when he dared to hope in the god of the promise he was willing with this trust and obedience to literally sacrifice his son isaac on the altar believing that god is who he is and that if necessary god would raise him from the dead and maybe god is calling you to trust right now maybe god is calling you to just obey and follow you know isaiah 46 8 and 10 8 to 10 says this do not forget this keep this in mind remember this you guilty ones that's you and i remember the things i have done in the past for i alone am god i am god and there is none like me what an insurance only i can tell you the future before it happens everything i plan will come to pass for i do whatever i wish here's what i know for sure it's a little bit of an open moment follow me as she says here's what i know for sure the sovereignty of god is hard to understand but here's a beautiful thing god doesn't want us to understand his sovereignty he just wants us to surrender and trust him in it there's a beautiful quote from peter crieft and he says god calls us just as he called abraham away from the security we knew out of our old familiar little room down the ladder of faith and free falling free falling into his arms jesus called his disciples that way just as a lover elopes with his beloved i want you to imagine that being in that room of safety and security all that you know and god is calling you out of that window and saying fall fall i'll catch you fall trust me god is calling you and i to free fall into his arms today and the best part is he will always always catch us you know paul and silas maintained a posture of faith in that moment that posture of faith looked like worship it looked like praise and the bible says after they were tortured and imprisoned in acts 16 26 that suddenly there was a violent earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken and at once the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose man worship breaks chains breaks chains of heaviness breaks chains of oppression and maybe you just need to sing and worship your way through this moment i'm mindful of shadrach meshach and abednego they remained an apostle of faith and i love this one this is where i'm at right now guys me personally and this posture of faith just looked like standing firm or as the bible says having done all to stand and they stood in the midst of a fiery trial and they dared to hope in the god of their protection it was a hope that burned brighter and hotter than any fire that king nebuchadnezzar could inflict on them listen to their response to the king in that moment of hard trial daniel 3 17-18 if we are thrown into the blazing furnace the god whom we serve is able more than able to save us he will rescue us from your power your majesty i love verse 18. but even if he doesn't we want to make it clear to you make no mistake or as young people say don't get it twisted don't get it twisted we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up in other words if god doesn't move in the way that i want him to move in this moment i will still trust i will still stand i will still obey i will still hope in my god my brothers and my sisters i want you to maintain a posture of faith i want you to maintain a posture of faith for the journey ahead i want you to be strong and of good courage i want you to meditate as god said to joshua on the word of god day and night don't look to the left don't look to the right it's crazy right now just focus on god focus on the one who knows the beginning from the end focus on the one who holds you in his hands focus on the one who catches you at all times focus on the one whose plans for you are good you know hope is this glorious holy posture of defiance against the overwhelming darkness that would try to surround us my friends he's the same god yesterday today and forevermore and i encourage you with this last scripture as i close and we get ready to pray daniel 2 20-23 it says praise be the name of our god forever and ever wisdom and power are his he changes times and seasons he deposes kings and raises up others he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning he reveals the deep hidden things sometimes we can't see it god will show us he knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with him so how do we pray in this moment how do we pray for our hearts to be re-postured the way god is calling us to right now well i want to pray for four postures that i think are really affecting us as individuals and affecting the church today these are postures that god wants to correct the first posture is a defeated posture i want you to imagine being bent over just that defeated posture god is encouraging our hearts today that victory is in his name that god grants us victory the other posture is defensive fists up fighting camps wars infighting people just being uh you know cancel culture and all of that and god is calling us to open our hands to live open-handed to surrender to trust him another posture that i felt was uh really prevalent the church is apathetic imagine your back turning to all of the crisis i just you know it's like pandemic fatigue it's like it's like crisis fatigue i've had enough i just i'm done and god is saying turn your eyes to the heat to the cries to the to the hearts of those that are breaking turn your eyes to what's happening in the world and pray and care care let your heart break for what breaks the heart of god again and the last is self-centeredness it's just about circling the wagons as my husband says it's i i just got to think about me i can't think about anybody else i've been through too much i could i know that i could say that i'm just i'm so hurt and wounded i can't and god is saying no we still need to be other centered we need to think about others so let's pray into that right now father we just pray now that you would uh take this word that has been said let it fall on good soil let it let it just ignite our hearts even now and god we ask that you would re-posture us just turn us again back to you give us a posture of faith to stand still to believe to trust to hope to worship you again to love again to trust humanity again to reconnect with you god and humanity again father just help us to not be defensive to not be defeated to not be apathetic to what's going on but god to just have a heart of compassion and not to look at our own pain but also think of others that are going through in this time father we need you like never before give us a heart of faith ignite our faith once again and god can i say this we will trust you in the times of storm in the hardest part of our lives and the hardest part of our marriages in the hardest part of our daily living we will trust you god because you are good and you are faithful i love you meeting house maintain a posture of faith god bless you hi i'm bruxy thanks for tracking with the meeting house teaching if you want to see more videos by us just click right here if you want to see what our youth and our kids are learning you click here and if you want to be notified anytime we post a new video to make sure you don't miss a teaching then you subscribe by clicking right here thanks again for tracking with us

Channel: The Meeting House

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Keywords: jesus, the meeting house, the meeting house teaching, TMH teaching, TMH livestream, Jesus christ, the meeting house 2021, Cheryl Nembhard, Maintaining a Posture of Faith

Id: BKr0W9EGKlE

Length: 29min 28sec (1768 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021