Standing With A Thorn! A Sermon The World Needs To hear. Rev. Timothy Flemming Sr.

ii corinthians chapter 12 and we shall look at verse 7. unless i shall be exhausted above measure through the abundance of the revelation thou was given to me of thorn in the flesh the messenger of satan to buffered me lest i should be exhausted for this one thing i besought the lord thrice that he might departed from me he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in your weakness we're going to talk this morning thank you so much you may take your seat i'm going to talk about standing with a thorn in your flesh [Music] standing with a thorn in your flesh what a word the lord has given me for you today doing this pandemic doing these tragedies during these times when people want to give up when people are confused and i want to continue on to tell you as i've been preaching for you for several weeks on the standing series that no matter what is happening you got to stand during these times standing is about courage standing is about conviction standing is about what you know not what you heard you can't stand unless you know certain things you can't stand unless you feel this you can't stand unless you have courage and i want to continuously telling a lot of you you can't stand if you can't stand things and continually telling you that to be a christian is not about how many demons you can run away it's about how many demons you can take on it's about how many demons you can face and stand up to because jesus defeated the devil himself not because he ran from him when the devil came to him jesus didn't run he didn't take off oh i rebuked you i'll show my tata and run over i put the devil on the flight no sometimes you need to tell the devil come on with it come on with it throw at me your best points throw at me your best weapon because i'm ready for you and the only way you can really stand as a christian is that you got to first learn how to stand up to the devil and i'll talk a little more about that next week because too many christians trying to run from the devil instead of standing up to face him because there come a time in life you can't run you can run but can't hide and can't get away you have to stand up that was jonah's problem he tried to run from god because he didn't want to stand up and face the ninevites his own enemies and he felt that that wasn't for him but god took a well and sent him on there anyhow to teach him look you can't run from people that are dangerous stand up and face them and i keep trying to emphasize this message to all of us out here today sometimes it's not about trying to uh void pain and avoid things that's happening in the world we got to learn just some teaching on how to take it how to stand up against it and once the enemy see you can stand up and face him he knows you're not a coward we have too many coward christians trying to run from evil trying to run from trouble taking everything they can to get away from pain and trouble all these good luck charms somebody guy walking around with a a dead rabbit foot now how in the world some adam are dead a brand new look people got good luck charms saying it's gonna bring me good luck and still having bad luck oh you can't run from good luck charms and all these things you talking about gonna bring you a good look it's not about look anyway it's about god's blessing i want to teach you today in this message about the thorn that something we have to live with paul who had had a lot of problems with the corinthian church is now he's he's facing them he had more trouble at that church than any church i know he had and they were challenging him and talking about so many things that don't have time to go and all of that but he decided to tell them you know i got caught up with describing another man as though it was not he it was a man i don't know who he was it was like he was destroying another man when he's talking about himself he said but one thing i know i was caught up in the third heavens and when i got up there i saw things i never heard of things i could never say but i know the minute i came down a thorn was given to me a thorn was given to me in my flesh so much about the thorn what brought about thorns anyway thinking about how a thorn came about a thorn came about because of rebelliousness rebelling that's exactly how the thorn came god took adam god took man put him into the garden of eden he didn't have to pay no rent he didn't have to pay no light bill oh bro adam had it made he had the music the birds singing in the treetops he had the fish jumping in the ocean and in the sea for his entertainment he had the rocks for his furniture he had the green grass for his carpet he had the trees for his shame he had everything he needed they need no insurance they need nothing all god told a man to do was just live and enjoy and walk with me in the cool of the day and that's one thing i don't want you adam or eve is to mess with a certain tree and eat that fruit and most times when i got a whipping from my mother it was about the things she told us not to mess with not amazing always got a whipping messing with that lamp and she told me stop playing around that lap and one day i was playing around and let me feel and broke and the other part of me she broke let me tell you something and if she hadn't said nothing about that left i probably would have never been paying attention to it the very thing god told adam not to touch and mess with when he said you could you could touch it but just don't eat it because the devil lied and said he was told to touch it god didn't say you couldn't touch it he said don't eat it see how the devil screwed things and turned things all around and when god told adam uh not to be disobedient but to just obey my word they ate the forbidden fruit and as a result of eating the fruit and disobedient god crushed the ground and when god cursed the ground that punishment all the thorns and thickets began to grow up before that adam didn't have to worry about no thorns but after he disobeyed god that's when god decided to curse the ground because god made man from the ground and so he says since you came from the ground and the earth when you die you're going back to that he cursed the ground there were no wild creatures then in those days the lion and the lamb could lie down together we didn't have to kill animals to eat meat man was a vegetarian that's probably why he got tempted by a fruit he was a vegetarian from the beginning and the bible said when he disobeyed god thorns began to come up what is so unique about a thorn anyway most of us don't like thorns most of us hate thorns because they stick us they make us uncomfortable it's a dwarf looking creature god cursed it to torment man you walk on you don't ever go walking around barefooting with around thorns because they're going to stick and agitate us why the thorn well the thorn i need you to look a little deeper at that what a thorn is a replica of authority is a replica actually of man disobedient look it was a it was a bush but it became thorny why because it wanted to have his own way a thorn is turning into something dwarf that i started out being one way but i want to have my way and i ended up being a thorn my god and that's what make folks thorny that's what make folks stick you trying to have your way and this is what that thorn represent man so the animals got wild because when man disobeyed he got wild he started man start killing each other started destroying it in battle everything got wild when god cursed the ground the animals start attacking one another eating them for flesh everything gets wild when we don't obey god yes that's why we got wild children that's why we got wild home and that's why we got the wild wild west by god because when we disobey god you just get wild we living in a wild crazy world wild crazy young folk wild old folk everything wild but you know what it came as a result of disobedience and this old thorns aside i don't want just to be a nice bush i want to stick somebody i want to dis i want to hurt somebody and that's how you end it up with a thorn but the difference in a leaf and a thorn is that a leaf is a blessing and a thorn is a curse how about that somebody said the other day because we got so many thorny people they'd like to stick each other is that a thorn like just tormenting everybody else when it could have been a nice leaf but now wanting to have his way disobeying god i want to stick somebody i think somebody said the other day the trouble with so many of us who have this sticking attitude is that we like to stick one another and you can't rise when you're in the ditch keeping a man down with you then all the way for somebody to help you out help them out the ditch but we got so much thorny attitudes that we like to stick one another have you ever been around some thorny people that just love to agitate you there's a lot of things in this world that agitates us some of us have to live with some thorny wives some of us have to live with some funny husband some of us have to live with some troubled children and sometimes you wonder what in the world did i do to bring about this kind of uh of trouble we have out of some of our children you raised them right you brought them to church you taught them how to say their prayers you were there for them all through but they just turn out their way why wanting to have their way and they got thorny on you some of us have to work on some thorny jobs you go there looking for a good place to work and now you got a funny boss all they do is agitate you all they do is just ride you all they do is try to do things that upset you and you start saying lord why do i have this thorny life some of us have to live with thorny kin folk amen in laws that become outlaws and how many times you wonder how come i can't get along with my own people but that's because you got a thorn in the house some of us got i don't have to get on this long guys i know i got some thorny memories i don't care what you do you just can't please them i don't care how good you preach preacher you either preach too short and they'll say you didn't study so i don't want no summer in it and then when you give them a good night long sermon they say he wants me to sleep too long you just don't know what to do because they're funny they were just like a lady who loved to just talk up against everything people do so one time there was a man he was going down the street and he had an old mule and he was on that mule and and she looked out and saw that news she said now isn't it a shame big old self on that poor little old mule when he should just not be on that poor little moon that mule is struggling so the man said well i think i'll stop him from talking this time he took the muse home and then he decided to walk to where he was going she saw him walking then she looked at him and said now ain't that a shame he he out here walking and got a mute well he said well god i can't stop it now from that then he went back and decided that he would bring his son and put his son on the mule and he just walked with the muse so when she looked out and saw the boy on the mule she said now isn't that a shame here he is got that kid on a mule and he old and walking my god and then he decided well both of them to get on the mute when she saw them both on the muse she said now isn't that a shame both of them sitting up there on that poor little old meal then he decided to leave home and walked on by himself and she said now isn't that a shame i can walk in and left the mule at home and god some folk you can't please they always aggravated they'll find something wrong with whatever you do that's a thorn like to stick you stick you all the time but look at that the leaf did not stick you ought to have a leaflet attitude because look at how good the trees in the leaf is over a thorn the the leaves suck in all the carbon dioxide that we uh have in our body when i got ready to build this church i noticed that the arteries got on my case about trees and i was saying to myself why did i knew all these trees around here in the back she said because trees are healthy for us oh i didn't have no money to food with no keys trees and they started to shut me down but you know what but since i didn't have any money for it all of a sudden the trees on the bank started growing up and i looked around and said my god look at all these pine trees and now that back then i wish i could cut them down so she came back so i see mr fleming you put the trees i said god gave me trees you know what we don't realize have you noticed i've been in certain countries especially like it people in china talking about with so many people there they didn't plant enough trees now people are getting sick because trees and leaves help pull in poison if i took everybody in here and put them in this building and i decide not let no air in here and just close up every day every building every winter and don't let no air in and all of us in here you know we die because the carbon dioxide is like being in a car with the motor running can kill you that same carbon dioxide that we breathe out of us is pausing did you know that and that's why they make you plant trees on the interstate because so much carbon dioxide coming from gas from the cars producing all that they won't let you bother those trees because the trees help pull in poison and when the trees suck that into their leaves and and you know what that does it takes that carbon dioxide and turn it into a starch and they take that and the trees give us pure clean air that's why people with tuberculosis they take them out and sit them around trees because the trees suck in the parson and it throws back out fresh air did you know that that's why the operas is so on us about keeping trees in our country they preserve us if there were no trees you'll see how hard it is to breathe if there were no trees you would see how difficult it is in life so a leaf takes what something bad and give out something good and that's why but what does a thorn does what does a thon do for us thorn it doesn't do nothing but stick at least leaf can take out what's bad and give you something good but a phone doesn't give you nothing it just goes around and stick people because that's his job is to stick you now the bible tells us why the thorn i think i read a book on dr luke adelson said he preached a sermon years ago when i was a kid why the thorns why the thorn because if you notice god gave israel a thorn in that flesh it talks about it in judges god said i want you to go to the promised land i will keep my word i will bless you as i promise your forefathers don't mix and mingle with these unbelievers i don't want you around them because they worship idol gods if anything my friend that god hates he hates idol worship if anything that really gets under the skin of god so to speak is that when we turn from him and start worshiping idols and god said because of you abraham either jacob if you obey me and don't mix with these people and start worshiping these gods with them i will bless you but because they did not obey god because they got out there and started mixing and mangling with the enemy god said i'm going to give you a thorn in your flesh i'm not going to take away the thorn i'm going to make sure you keep the thorn because you disobeyed me why the thorn the thorn would put up on jesus head they put a crown of thorns on his head and dr luke ellison said because of the thought it brought us salvation and because of that thorn jesus had on his head it was replica of what god went through to save us why the thorn i'm trying to tell you today that a lot of us have thorns and a lot of us have all kind of problems but paul said i got a thorn in my flesh why why would god want to agitate us why would god want to upset us because there's so many things we get a blessing from when god decide to give us a thorn now i want you to notice one thing the bible said when paul went up into the heavens into the third heaven the heavens above the heaven the heavens above the angels the heavens above where god throne is he sought things that he cannot explain sometimes we'll see things we cannot explain i want to say this before i get too far this paul had a thorn in his flesh and there were many people have been trying to describe why and what was paul's thorn nobody really knows some skeptics that said paul thorn in his flesh was a sexual desire that perhaps paul had some weakness that he was probably had us a urge for some sexual desire but there's nothing in the bible to support that and uh all of us know from ball's letters that he never ever thought about he had some sexual desire that that was his weakness then some people have said paul had a thorn he was talking about he had eye trouble because he states sometime in galatians i wish they could pluck out the eyes and give them to me he also said look what's large letters i write in because he had a hard time trying to see and they felt that was his thorn in his flesh then others have out there said well paul's thorn in his flesh was that he always had enemies and persecution and that he was going through so much well paul was never worried about people who didn't like him and he was never worried about people who resented him he preached to all of them he spoke the word to them and he never feared nobody anybody get whipped with many stripes beating it on shipwrecks like paul certainly wasn't worried about his enemies then somebody said well paul probably had a high blood pressure or he was on ship and he caught some virus which tormented him night and day and he had two terrible headaches that would get like hot fire at time and he was very uncomfortable and that was his thorn in his flesh but you know what the bible doesn't tell us what that thorn was neither does god tell us what it is so why because none of your business is none of your business but you know why because so many of us are so busy looking at other folks thorns we don't pay attention to ours so many of us are so busy talking about other folk weakness and we don't talk about ours so many people love to sit around and gossip on what you do wrong and what you did wrong but you got some wrong in your life and if you're going to talk about other folk tell your story so you know what tell somebody shut up you need to shut up everybody says shut up quit talking about people because everybody got a thorn a lot of us always talking about what other folks do and then a lot of us love to talk about what we don't do but we don't talk about what we do you got some kind of problem you have something to pray over you got something going on in your life hey man someone said i don't smoke and i don't chew and i don't run with those that do then what do you do i know that's bad grandma but good preacher hallelujah you doing something you got something if it ain't number run in your big mouth there's something going on in your life and when we go around talk about other folk got bad children and then you got one in your house stealing and doing everything else you can't control what your children want to do you can't control what they want to be that's your thorn are you carrying something and the bible said god put it on it it said it was given to me he said i didn't ask for this thorn it was given to me wow god gave him the thorn after he went on up to the third heaven maybe god put a thorn-on pulse in his flesh because he went so high that everybody can't handle height hallelujah when some people get the coin up high they get so egotistical they're going to start going up in other areas where they've never been and they like to look down on everybody else and talk about how they look amen just like six and nine amen and i'm sure you know the story uh you know nine were talking about six and and nine was that sick look at you you all down with your head in the mud see you ought to be up like me nine said you this way down there uh six say you ain't nothing but another six turn upside down well i'm telling you right now though you got your head up you still a six look my friend the god has a way of putting these thorns because sometimes he had to deal with us when we go high so there come a time you got to learn how to go high and yet be low i often tell all young preachers be a lion in a pulpit and a lamb on the floor don't get so high that people can't reach you god will give you a thorn don't get so above everybody because you're riding in a nice mercedes you'll soon be crying mercy these bills killing me don't get so high that you start talking about look at those people look at those people and you look around you got some problems that the people don't know about you just been hiding your thorn but you got a thought and god said he went so high i got to do something to paul to make sure he doesn't get no higher than i want him to be oh god listen listen that old fleming today he went so high that he saw things i don't know what paul saw maybe he saw the pearly gates maybe he's walked the streets of gold and he saw all of these things and he probably saw things god has he has for us that we can't imagine what it's going to be like when we get to heaven and he saw something he couldn't describe he didn't have enough adjectives to describe what he saw paul said it was so awesome i can't find words to tell you what heaven looked like that's just what god got for us and heaven is going to be worth it all if paul said he saw something he couldn't find words to describe what it looked like what about the pain we go through it's going to be worth it so bury your cross bear your thorn let them hurt you let it stick you there going to be something good coming out of it so when he went up high the next reason why god gave him that thorn because he he he didn't want him to get so full of pride can you imagine how paul would have been walking around i went to heaven and you didn't i saw that pearly gays on the grove and then you're going you did yes i did and you'd be walking around like these pseudo saints i got the holy ghost i can speak in tongue and you can't and that's all you got my god how many times i tell you speaking in tongues and lying in english oh my god speaking of tongue is not for you to go around and boast about what are you doing with it i get some i've been kind of watching the thing that everybody wants you to get so and anointing but what you're going to do with it when god gives you this gift what you do you don't sit down on a gift that's why some people don't have nothing they're sitting down on a gift you're supposed to be strong enough with these special gifts to witness the bible says jesus came down on the day of pentecost so they could be witnesses and all these folk got these gifts and not doing nothing we said we the light of the world and light hanging around light and you cannot see with a flashlight in the daylight now god help me holy ghost if you want somebody to see your light you got to go out in the dark but christians running from sin running from evil people running from people that need it we knock on doors of people we think that's friendly we don't go down there on the corner where the real darkness is see the holy ghost is there to give you boldness how in the world you're gonna have the gift of speaking in tongue and won't speak to each other how in the world you're gonna have all this anointing and don't even pay your tithe and trust god how are you going to have all this anointing and don't come to church because god didn't give it to us to sit in here with it take it out into the street tell somebody about god that's what it's all about and sometimes we get so full of pride how many times i told you the worst words got a a i in the middle that little old word i is in the middle of the word pride that little word out that little letter i is in the middle of the word sin that little that little letter i is in the middle of the word lie and you got to watch it when you get full of pride that's why god put a thorn on paul because he wanted to keep him down on a low level don't get so ariel that i have blessed you to walk some places where nobody's walked so he gave him thorn in his flesh sometimes god will you notice this he said and also satan brought it to him are you all getting this the devil brought this thorn on paw wow and he had to stand with a thorn in his flesh the devil brought it why in the world it says and satan brought this thorn because the devil is your adversary he's your accuser i think one of the reasons why god allowed the devil to do it because god can afford to let evil be in this world why does god let thorns come why he can afford it god can afford to let the devil do anything to you he wish you know why because god can handle the devil the world belongs to god the earth everything belonged to god he made it he redeemed it he saved it and god know what it and he made the devil you need to understand why god used the devil god used the devil because he made it and he know how to control him he he gave him the mind to think he gave him the tongue to talk he gave him the power that he has and you don't think and one thing i need to say the devil is stupid he thought when god gave him power that god mistakenly gave him all of it you know i don't care what you give people don't give them all of it i don't care how much money you lend folk don't give them all of it baby then you may not get it over back i don't care how many people you let in your house uh don't give them no key oh y'all ain't saying nothing this morning well let me tell you something you get that joke a key you come back in there y'all love me hey look come by and visit but don't get don't let that smooth there to talk you into a key he'll give you his key so he can get your key and come in your house hold on take everything you got don't have no business in my house i just invited you over here god said i gave the devil power but the devil thought god gave him all of it and what if god had mistakenly trusted the devil and gave him all his power he would have turned on god and threw god out of heaven so whatever you give pope hold something back and you know god knew the devil and he knew what he would do and the devil can be used by god because god can afford it god can afford why would god let so much evil be in the world why would god even put up with the devil anyway because the devil if we didn't have the devil at us we wouldn't be talking about running to god let's be honest about it because the devil is at us we don't take the devil seriously god wants you to know he's evil we you know what we sow into the devil we eat devil food we eat devil eyes devil eggs that's what i meant to say not devil the real don't know what to cook devil cake and devil you know eggs we take the devil we thank you some little old red creature with pitfall and and got eyes or red eyes or green eyes and got horns and we think that the devil no no no no no that's that that's that's not the devil he comes as an angel of light he looked like a fine mama jabba he looked like a big old robust brother hey you better be careful watch he comes as an angel he comes smiling what's that baby you need to tell him nothing up and going somewhere my god let me tell you something that devil knows how to break up a home that joker knows how to get you fired off a job and if the saints are not wise and can't see how he tricked adam and how he tricks so many people he will bring you down god can god can afford to use it god let evil do all he's going to do but when he got ready he got rid of it the devil know he's on a time limit the devil knows that god's not worried about the devil because his time is coming when god gets ready to get rid of the devil that's when god will move the devil but he permits things to happen why in the world people ask me i had a friend of mine who was jewish and he told me even though he was jewish and he respected the custom he was not a believer in god and i asked him why you don't believe in god he said i can't get over what god permitted the hitler to do to my people six million of my people were murdered and where was god i got quiet i said he moved he said when when he got rid of hitler but i tell you when hitler finally he committed suicide god has a time set when he would get rid of hitler thought he got into all the jews and he didn't get them all they're still here but god will allow the devil to do something to let you know it's evil and to let you know it's the devil but god can conquer him though nebuchadnezzar thought he was mighty he ended up eating grass like an arc though belle chaser had a party he ended up being slain that night with a handwriting on the wall i don't care though herod thought he was big stuff the bible said that warren's got him and eat him up a lie i don't care how many times they enter me it's after trying to destroy you when god get ready they get rid of that devil he will move in his own time but the devil keeps us on our knees the devil's keeps us praying so god can afford evil to reign everybody thought george wallace was gonna turn around and do so much to black folk and ended up in a wheelchair serving and praying for when god get ready out of all the slavery and injustice they had done to us that god raised up an abraham lincoln when god get ready to do something he'll let the devil know i can put him in his place so god can afford to let evil reign because god has it all in his hands somebody said praise the lord [Music] and god can also let you have a thorn in your flesh because god can use it god can use it listen friend i preached my best sermon when i go through things i think there was a great preacher i don't know if it's dr f b meyer or somebody charles heart of spurgeon one of the greatest preachers ever walked he had the great church of london in england and this dr murray i believe i'm saying it right he got jealous of heart aspersion because he drew 6 000 people and everybody passed by his church going to the great metropolitan church and he decided to think about it because of so many folk going to spurgeon church a lot of folks started attending hills he didn't know that god was using it look people got on there and couldn't get in spurgeon church so i think we'll go over dr meyer's church and some folks start noticing his little church past and going there see how god can use things to bless you than you think is out there hurt you people never notice his church until they start going dispurging his church am i right i know that was another great preacher they asked him a time what made you so great are you ready for this what made you such a great preacher said do you really want to know they said yes he said my wife was a hell raiser what a hillary yes that's what made me a great preacher she made me preach oh my god and this is true because he said that thorn in his flesh made him the preacher that he is god can use a thorn listen my friend if it had not been for some things that go wrong in your life you would have never been discovered i'm thinking about one of my deacons right now to cut his love joy if he had not been crippled if he had not had that wreck he wouldn't have been known all over the world and broke world records lost his legs but kept his arms god made his sickness his blessing sometimes god can take what's hurting you and use it all right god if there had not been a boycott i'm telling you in birmingham we would have never known no martin luther king beethoven was deaf but because of his death in spite of it it didn't stop him he wrote his ninth sentence john bonin wrote pilgrim progress while in jail if he had not been in jail we wouldn't know that about pilgrim progress i'm trying to tell you right now so if we had not had slavery we would know no abraham lincoln if you had not had some setback you wouldn't have no comeback experience if god had not allowed something to go wrong in your life joel lewis if he had not gotten beat by max melon he would have never known that he could defeat that great german sometime god will let things happen to make you bigger sometimes god would bring you through some things to expose you more some of the people that i know are very famous today because there was a disaster a tragedy in their lives brought about so sometimes when god take you higher it's because he had used a thorn that thorn made you get serious that thorn made you say i'm gonna do something better with my life that thorn may do who you are or nobody will know you thank god if i hadn't been preaching hard in that little country church my first little church in pond where's georgia i wouldn't be the pastor of the imminent pastor of the mount carmel baptist church i was down there preaching hard in that little church a little 19 year old pastor and a lady came home for homecoming day i didn't like it i said lord look like you can get me in something better but i preached in that little black robe you all think i'm preaching now you should have heard me then i didn't preach no more in about 20 minutes i knew you over like that oh but i could turn up plays upside down my voice was still strong i didn't need no mic and i was down there and i got real back on the floor i'm telling those days i got here to atlanta preaching and this lady came now just for homecoming reverend j alamo craig's wife she came home for homecoming and heard this little old 19 year old pastor preaching his heart out came back home and told her husband it's a little young boy down here at home you need to bring him up here to atlanta and let somebody hear him you're gonna love him baby and he didn't know me so he told me to come at 7 45 service so if i mess up he wouldn't have to see me for 11 o'clock but when i got through preaching at eight o'clock that morning he said stay and preach at 11 o'clock and then when i got through preaching 8 11 he said remember just came to me don't want you to go back home jamaica they want you to preach two more nights i preached two nights morning to the they said no bring him back wednesday i preached wednesday night then they came back and did the most ridiculous thing we wanted to preach the rest of the week and then i preached the friday went on back to macon and then there was a church in curtwood faith tabernacle baptist church said who that little young boy was up here preaching for you we we couldn't get over him his name is timothy fleming and then he called me and says a church over in i didn't know nothing about it faith tabernacle doesn't have a pastor he said when you come up and preach they want you to come i came there and preached for them that morning this is ridiculous crazy they told me to go down in the basement never seen me never heard me when i finished the deal said go down the basement went down there and the next thing i know in about 40 minutes that came back said the church has met and voted for you to be their pastor i said you all don't even know me and i don't know you say we don't care when you accept i said well i guess i will i went on back and became the pastor of faith tabernacle now that put me in atlanta already had a church in maker didn't want to leave zion hill i loved that church and i didn't want to leave it so they said well come preach for us in the morning and john he'll change his servant at three o'clock didn't want me to go so i preached here 11 o'clock rush out the door round one trying to make it and make it sometime i was 30 and 40 minutes late and they were still there waiting now preaching at faith tabernacle never heard of no mount karma didn't know that the body atlanta didn't want to come to the ladder never heard of no oc wood and then white i looked up one sunday morning and i saw some strange folks sitting in my congregation and one of my i asked my deacon who are those folks he said elmo that's the more folk from mount karma over here trying to steal our pastor i said well i don't know about that i preached and went on home to make it i know when i got through preaching they sure shot out of there they got out in a hurry then i get this call from the chairman of the deacon board and mount karma we are vacant our pastor died six months ago and we've never been without a pastor will you come preach we can't promise you nothing we just want you to come i said well i'll come but i can't i can't come back no more they said just one time i came there in 1975 preached on a sunday morning is on youtube power from on high they never heard me i never seen them i got lost trying to get there after i preached and went back to my church in making i get a call two or three weeks later the church had voted that you would be the pastor of mount carmel and he called me the deacons i tried to play big he said we have called you at mount calm i said really i got a church in atlanta faith tabernacle in decatur they said we know that but will you accept i tried to play big i said i'll pray over it i think about it i hung up the phone and my wife said who was that i said that's the church in my coma great big church there and she said well what's going on i said well they called me the pastor this church and she said well what you gonna do she said i told her i said i want you to go upstairs she said go up there for what go to packet but i play so big like i think about it when that dick and hung up that for myself wow let me tell you something and i'll walk right in this church in march in april and here i am been here 45 years let me tell you through that little church down and bad hurts what let me have it because god said if you can take hard time i got a time set you don't have no idea where i'm gonna take you sir so don't curse out your bad days because sometimes god will allow you to have bad days because he finna promote you to good days god can use trouble god can use adversity that's how god can move you to another level a thorn makes you let me get to this point before i be all the time here the bible said paul look he went to god three times and asked god to take away that thorn and god wouldn't do it he wouldn't do it have you prayed to god god if you just move this thing out my life i'll be better have you ever said lord if you just take this old crazy husband [Laughter] man got quiet now i sure would be a better wife and somebody if you take this old crazy wife out my life and god sent that person there and you say i would be better who said you'd be better no you get all walking around with your little arrogant self and god said no i'm gonna slap that person on there and keep you praying i'm gonna slap that thorn on you and make you preach i'm gonna slap that thorn on you and make you sing i'm gonna slap that thorn on you and make something come out of you you didn't know you had i'm gonna slap that thing on you and keep you praying you know why paul said he prayed and asked god and god wouldn't move it because god sometimes give us thorns to make us pray a prayer instead of saying prayers because see sometimes when we're doing good we just say prayers our lord lay me down to sleep i pray the lord my soul to take and you know how you i forgot how good you know you remember we pray to you little children's prayer but wherever when you get behind on your rent when you get behind on your bills and you don't have no food on your table you don't say no prayers you pray prayers okay you get sick lord it's not my mother it's not my father it's not my sister it's not my brother but in me god god why you put this on me god well you wouldn't be in trust right now if you happen you're right here joy riding amen on e let me tell you something hey you know what god lets you be on e to come to church when you catch enough hell god sometimes will allow these thorns that come in our life to teach us how to pray yes pray pray pray not just saying prayers praying prayer you can say your prayers when you guys got uh food on your table but how when you don't have no food you're gonna pray a prayer you can say your prayers when you just got a nice little job but when you don't have no job you're a prayer prayer you can say your prayers when you're trying to impress folk how good you can pray but when travel hits your house your prayer prayer god will let you learn the difference and pray in a prayer not saying a prayer and that's why when you get down and pray you know when you got your little arrogance you pray with one knee up like men do yeah put that cam on me baby boy young man put all that get my pass on his knees see that's why men like to pray on the chair yes lord thank you for waking me up and last night she was not my cooling boy uh-huh oh boy well you can pray and everybody say oh that deacon can pray look at him pray but baby when you don't have no money and when your bills are due and you don't have no food and you don't know what you're going to do you get all this both knee see when you got one knee up that means halfway give god half of it but when things get bad even though you got bad knees you get out on these bad knees and you put your hand as a healer god because i got to get down on my knees and sometimes stuff will get so heavy on you you get all down here and god got you now all down on the floor and you get so heavy sometimes you got to roll all night long can't sleep rolling rolling right helping god break me out break me out i tell you when you get down on your knee god said i'm finna promote you i'm gonna bless you i got your attention now thank god you can pray our prayer baby you'll mess up your suit mess up your clothes when things get bad enough that's why god gave him the thorn in his flesh i want to tell you something some of you are going through so much and you wonder why you're going through so much you know why you're special you are anointed and god let job go through so much i want you to get this i'm about ready to roll out bro god let job go through i just hit me by why god let the devil mess with you and stick him so much some of the greatest worries fell from the lips of job ever been written because he was sick and had a thorn but here's the thing that i thought about god permitted him to uh god permitted him to go through these things to shut the devil's mouth watch this when god permitted job to suffer i want you to notice something about what the devil said the devil said the only reason why he's worshiping you like he's worshiping you play bradley is that he's you've been good to him and i thank god i said hmm so you think the reason job worshipped me i blessed it so god said this is what i want to do try him out test him let me tell you what happened and this hit me why the devil didn't want to give job credit for being a good man and spoke against job because the devil wanted to show god there is no such you got to get this there are no such thing as goodness in a man because god said it's good and he wanted to slap god in the face though he's good nothing god made him good but here it is since ain't nothing good and good not the best way he wanted to justify himself for being evil take that and hang that on the lines of faith and let the holy ghost blow on it [Music] see when some people want to justify for being the way they are they want to make sure you can't be no better and he wanted to say no such thing as no goodness and no man so quit bragging on it then that'll justify him for being the devil beat evil [Music] give me some preaching music right now that's it [Music] god wants to use you in your adversity and he's doing it you may not see it you may say i don't see how god getting nothing out of me suffering what i'm going through and god up in heaven saying look satan you thought you could get everybody to curse me but this one now they're blessing me god is saying you think everybody like you you know some people think everybody like them because they're the way they are but everybody not like you and everybody don't give up like you do and everybody don't cuss out god and leave the church when things go wrong and everybody don't leave that truck because some few folk getting mad trying to destroy some folk don't follow [Music] people and i think this is one reason why god is allowing the christians and this world to be going through this pandemic now because god is showing us you not the boss brag about how powerful you are brag about you the strongest nation in the world brag about you don't need god to pray out of school god said i'll put you on your knees i'll put you in a situation your bombs can't do it i'll put you in a situation the doctors can't do it i'll put you in a situation nobody can get you out of it till i get ready god said i'll just do it i'll do it because i want to let you know i'm running this world god put that thorn in paul's flesh and paul didn't run from it he preached he preached all away all over the judiciary area and because paul had a thorn in the flesh he went to god and said god take it away god said i'm not going to move it but yeah where i get happy he said i'm not going to take away your enemy i'm not going to get you out this mess i'm not going to break people love you i'm not going to make things comfortable like you are at home i'm not going to make every member of you but my grace my grace is sufficient my grace is sufficient pong i'm not going to take it away but i'm going to hold you in it i'm going to keep you in it i'm going to sustain you in it my grace is sufficient though you're going through something stand hold on the grace of god is there praise we'll make you walk right we'll make you tolerant grace to make it a little right please we'll give you power power in the morning power that new day power in the midnight hour god is god is sustaining you god is deep in you the devil has not won though you're giving your hard time you're standing you're still standing the doctor gave up on you but god grace is keeping you it may still have some problems he won't move it but is that my grace is sufficient amazing grace how sweet the sound that insane a wretch like me i want one loss but now i'm found i was blind but now i see praise woke me up grace keeping me up praise hold you praise and open the door for you grace [Music] [Laughter] look at somebody said i know how i'm making it i know how i'm making it i know how i can take it grace did it praise is doing it grace is holding you [Music] have you noticed everything you go through you keep getting blessed have you noticed all the attacks against you you still standing have you noticed all the pain your body's in you're still living have you noticed everything that's come against you you're still around grace grace insufficient you still got to have it but god is holding you in it you still got some problem but god is holding you in it praise this official [Music] listen god's not going to move it how many times you said lord if you just can move this i'd be a better person if you could just get me out of this i'll serve you more no you won't you're glorified in your accomplishment and not give god to glory you'll get caught up in your success and forget god i got the answer now i got the answer to how to survive it's not about what god take off you it's what god keeps you while you're in because when you bear what you bear you're showing god's power doing it not your power and somebody asks you how you doing tell them i'm blessed and i'm highly favored i didn't accomplish nothing i didn't wake myself up this morning god did it how you making it on a small paycheck and don't make enough god did it how you surviving still got a roof over your head with the little income you got god grace [Music] god want to show you that he's so powerful he doesn't have to get you out he can strengthen you in it and he get the glory if god moved everything away from us that we wanted to move oh you want to get this you probably wouldn't have what you have [Music] if god gave you what you want you probably wouldn't accomplish what you have and i know it's hard and you want to know why god let you suffer suffering god want to show you i can feed you in the presence of your enemy not in the absence god want to show his power and your infirmity and people wonder what i mean i thought she's supposed to be dead [Music] i thought i thought by now they'd been finished they don't know god is allowing that thing to happen so people can look at you in wonderment and look at you they still here [Music] glory you mean you still working you mean they didn't repossess your [Music] house and you start saying i don't know how high i didn't go under and i'm wondering myself look look at somebody say i've surprised myself [Music] here's the answer just tell them it's a god somewhere god wasn't through with me [Music] when god got ready for paul he'll let him take him on but not until god was through with it and he wrote over half the new testament [Music] if paul had not had that thorn he wouldn't have been preaching like he preached and i'm just pleading on somebody here this morning stand up with your thorn in your flesh take it you know why you all have to take it your young man i've been with you all and when i was your age i didn't i didn't know what i know now got to take it to make it what makes a man a man sometimes a bad woman but she'll make you make a man out you you get a you get a woman get you hell she'll make a man at you you start praying then laugh at the preacher i don't know what they talk about get a bad woman laughing you you you see you get caught up thinking we're so mighty and god will let you hit rock bottom and you won't be laughing at folk in church that's right that's right that's right you're right when we were young i used to laugh at mama shouting and i thought all that was crazy i used to get mad at my daddy because he and mama fell out i never felt that way they want to carry on you know boy gonna defend his mama until i got married and so how women can be with a credit [Music] card so when i got mad and find out what real marriage is marriage can be hell but you know what if god's in it nothing going to happen all right he's going to bless you in it because you finna find out what real life is [Music] and he put a man in your life that's not your dream husband because you had your dream husband man be somewhere riding up down camera road passing by the church holding hands and he know how you are changed on it if he gave you what you wanted and you know what he will lose you yes sir write about himself you're right about it teach yourself you write about yourself you he gave you just the opposite that's right that's right you asked for a good job and he gave you a bad job you asked for a great church preaching he gave you a hell raising church gonna make you preach that's right amen [Music] he know you look god know how quick we'll change we're all ready look last year everybody booming the economy blowing up you all hear me you all hear me nobody going to church last year church were empty everybody oh god economy booming hold on in the beach just naked sauna you don't even need no about a tan what you need for a table we already got a paint and all out on the beach and i'm saying he'll say you all pay some money here so i run the church oh real don't do my talk about money turn that thing off hold on yeah and churches were everywhere a tenant is dropping that's right that's right that's right for one giving that's right and then god hit us with a patented me well you came go to the beach you parted all last year and now you got to have social discipline you got to do all this now probably won't even give me a feel society [Music] now god's got our attention and people nodded said give it more in church now online i've been trying to get some of you all to go online i don't know how to use that thing you're doing it now come here baby show me how to and two oh yeah oh yeah i'm getting more members too late now talking about oh and then somebody's gonna tell me uh let's go to the parking lot here you weren't coming when the door was oh [Music] you see how we are when god bless us and god move the prophet now folk all in the street policemen oh you know policemen all up on their knees everybody on their knees in certain countries all in front of this shopping mall yeah see so god said i can't trust you giving you too much i'll give you a thorn or you get away from god the devil loves seeing us blessed because every time god blessed israel what did they do touring from it and god has to do things that draw us back you know i'm right he's gonna keep that thorn in your life and let you catch some trouble and coming you're gonna have so much on your nerve talking about i'm going crazy no you're not going crazy you get some sense you're learning what life is life doesn't give you nothing you don't just walk off a job now you know how you were when everything got i gonna get me another job you don't go walking off now bro [Music] don't don't don't look they don't pay me enough they pay you enough now you know how we are [Music] they don't pay me enough but now you're in a position where you just glad to get what you can get and don't leak don't go leaving on child right now don't get fooled out here there's nothing out there shops closing down and places shut down and you're gonna run off get out there if you want to with your arrogant self talk about i'm worth more than this you better be thankful that somebody let you work anywhere [Music] get out there if you want to [Music] because right now all these businesses are laying off don't get fooled by them back i i come to work every day and pastor even more i pastor harder i don't even stay in the bed or lying around the house i get up and run over here without hiding any other help i said i'm gonna have to bat it low and say just some money you know what i mean because i know it doesn't have to be like this it could be worse they don't need to be lying up there well you all get somebody to see but i know i'll deal with it in a minute you're right about it i'm honored to have a job you're right about it you're right to a preacher you get up off your blessed assurance and go over there and see about your church and go home and study and get up at five o'clock every morning like i do god talks to you better early in the morning shut down nine o'clock and go to work i'm gonna open doors to the church you know what god gino will tell you i told him what i was going to preach yesterday didn't know what and i said told him early what i was going to preach this morning and last night around 10 o'clock in my house god said change your sermon and what do you know man no i want you to come back with stan before you close i would stand with a thorn [Music] alone i'm not i wasn't ready i hadn't studied this sermon he said with that i'll text geno late last night about 10 30 and said the title has changed and he didn't know it he texted me again he wanna watch your title i said did you get my text he said you sure i said yeah that's the title standing with a thorn in the flesh standing with a weakness standing with a problem and god won't move it paul said ask god three times i said i won't take it and something of some stuff you're not gonna get away from you can't pray your way out of it you can't sing your way out of it you can't figure your way out of and they can lay hands on you a thousand times you'll get right back up still got that desire god said i want you to trust me in it bring it to me i'm not going to move it i'm going to hold you with my grace in it good god what a word that may be somebody want to come as you are as i said it's an insult to god said i'll get myself right you're right who are you to get yourself right that's right that's right you have to come just as i am just as you are and say well lord i it's this problem if you can't fix it nobody can just stay under the cover and it's fine you're gonna find yourself staying in church getting better sometimes i believe god said some folk here to work to get them in church because that's how you get in the word and you ain't getting no word out there on those jobs he'll put you somewhere to save you i mean i make the money but you're getting you're getting a worry this morning you keep looking at y'all man that you weren't gonna get out there on these other jaws and sometimes god is putting you where i want to get some word in you so you don't crack so come as you are give it to god i don't care about all these condemning preachers all i've got a thorn all of us just full got authority all that's got some kind of problem and we are no better than you we just trust in god with it church is nothing but a hospital and i want you to give yourself to jesus right now let people talk about you look you just trust god go to church anyhow pray and ask god for guidance anyhow okay there may be somebody right now saying i'm well that preacher really made me feel like i'm somebody i felt so worthless i felt so condemned about what i do i mean what do i do you come to god with it and he gonna strengthen you in it you don't always take stuff from you give you strength to bear it will you accept you can just hit like and i'll know you're looking you can say right now i accept it pastor i accept jesus i accept his blood all you have to do is say i accept it we'll know it leave us some information say i want to join the church call us on our 1-800 numbers and say it on the voicemail uh my name is this and i want to be a member of reverend fleming's ministry i don't live in atlanta but i wa i have several members have joined our church from other states online uh you just let us know text us and send us a message you will get a message from me an accepted letter i signed some last week that you are not a certified member of mount carmel baptist church and you'll be getting a message from me very soon some are already starting to kind of call some people let them know thank you i'm happy to have you as our new member and you can go online and give as we all members do and get credit as being a member how about that so since people can't come here i still open the door to church i don't care if you're in another country we still take you in i want you saved safe in spite of your weakness i'm the pastor of mount carmel baptist church my name is timothy fleming senior i thank you for tuning in i'm out of time now so i pray that you will bear your pain bear your cross and stand stand stand god bless you see you next week [Music] you

Channel: Praise Move

Views: 9,138

Rating: 4.8743458 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Timothy Flemming Sr, MCBCATL, ATLANTA CHURCH, PREACH, AMEN, Standing Series, Praise Move, God's Strength Records

Id: ZFCvOjL5iEQ

Length: 80min 47sec (4847 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020