The encouragement of Christ - pt. 2

[Music] is on the line [Music] [Music] i was lost but he brought me [Music] yes [Music] [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] [Music] there's a place [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a yes [Music] [Music] yes [Music] oh i've heard a thousand stories [Music] that you're pleased and that i'm never alone you're a good father it's who you are it's who you are [Music] [Music] oh and i've seen many searching for answers [Music] we [Music] it's who you are it's who i am [Music] to use [Music] and all [Music] [Music] oh [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] buckle up and hold on at our church we love god make no mistake about that at our church we believe in god's radical unconditional and unwavering love for us at our church we believe that jesus is god we also affirm that you may or may not believe that jesus is god and we're not asking you to change your belief system before you attend our church we're simply inviting you on a journey toward jesus for years churches have placed a high priority on jesus as the get out of hell free card at our church place the highest priority on jesus as a live life to the fullest invitation at our church we believe every person has a dream deep inside their hearts and that god put that dream there not for our glory but for his at our church we're not concerned with where you've been but where you're going at our church we believe that the bible is god's word it is real it is a living it is active we believe that people who don't go to church anywhere are not the enemy they are real people who need the perfect love that only god can give and we believe that god gives this love through of all people us at our church we do not and we will not display a holier-than-thou attitude toward anyone we are all broken people but he is putting us back together and finally and most importantly at our church we believe that jesus really lived that he really died on a cross and that he really rose again on the third day and we cannot and we will not candy coat or water down that message ever today you've chosen to sit yourself in the middle of a very safe place to hear a potentially dangerous message welcome to our church let's all stand let's give a clap to our lord and savior jesus christ come on i mean make it sound like there's 300 people in here [Applause] oh i'm believing for the day we're going to have to put a tent up outside because of all the people we want to welcome everyone that's here in person we obviously want to also welcome everybody that's watching electronically either through facebook or youtube whether you be live or replay so elevate family let's welcome those that are watching online amen yes well once again we got a couple of a couple of worship songs we're going to do we're going to worship the lord uh i know you at home say well i want you at home to to and get yourself involved in that get up off your couch get up off your chair i want you to worship you say well pastor where i'm worsh it's a scream well that's all we have on wednesday nights too it's a screen we don't worship the screen we worship jesus christ son of the living god amen our lord and savior and so i encourage you to do that at home give your wife a big old smooch on the lips right now at home and prepare yourself to worship and let's pray lord jesus we thank you for who you are and jesus we are here tonight lord yes we're excited to be in your house on a wednesday night in the middle of the week lord jesus to worship you to praise you lord we believe that not only do we honor you with our worship and our praise but lord we believe as we worship and praise you it's like a tractor that tills the soil of the heart for the receiving of the seed of your precious incorruptible word and so lord jesus we thank you for that in your precious name we pray everybody said amen and you here in the house if you have offering please bring it during one of these two songs [Music] you are here [Music] you are here [Music] you are here [Music] you are here [Music] we [Music] that is [Music] is [Music] you are here [Music] [Music] you are here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] even when i don't see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're worth it you never stop you never stop broken [Music] stop [Music] you never stop is [Music] you never stop working you never stop working you never [Music] [Music] you never stop working [Music] [Applause] is [Music] the promised people [Music] who you are [Music] [Music] [Applause] is that is who you are [Music] [Music] so all the worries of this world [Music] you're perfect [Music] is [Music] everything with everything singing [Music] lord [Music] i will take you out your word [Music] though my life my is [Music] [Music] jesus oh [Music] is your jesus [Music] princess [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] perfect [Music] you're my [Music] neither [Music] cause i will look up before there is none above you i will bow down [Music] is because you're jesus [Music] hey man remain standing don't sit down yet sister bonnie don't sit down i tell you i love that part of that song it says that you'll cast your cares on him so i know there are people in here you've got some cares amen i've got some cares so right now come on pray with me lord jesus we thank you that you care about our cares lord jesus yes you do and jesus you told us that your burden is light and it's easy and lord we bring our cares to you right now your word says be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god so lord we request that you take these cares right now jesus lord and that you fill us with your peace right now in the name of jesus be filled with the peace that passes all understanding peace in the midst of the storm peace when it looks like there should be no peace we speak peace in the name of jesus as you lay your cares down before the lord who cares for you amen amen lots of things to care about the lord we lay them at your feet sincerely right now in faith in jesus name right now and lord we give you praise and thanksgiving let's do it lord we thank you that you took our cares lord we thank you we praise you in the name of jesus amen take 30 seconds and welcome someone into the house of god if you would please 30 seconds all right god bless you all right god bless you you may be seated amen and amen going to go over a few announcements uh for those watching and those in the house before we go to the slide announcement amen i want to tell y'all uh we had julius morar here sunday and you say pastor how much came in the offering for him i'll tell you sunday i'll tell you sunday i'll tell you what though it was tremendous we want to thank you or do you want to know now do you want to know now bob you want to know now you want to know now i'll tell you approximately 9 700. in a pandemic [Applause] and of course we bumped it up to an even 10 grand so that's what he took for missions to india amen that's right that's right so that's incredible i want to remind you that this saturday is the elevate partnership class we do not have membership because you're already a member of the body of christ if indeed jesus christ is your lord and savior uh when you come saturday if you come from ten o'clock in the morning to 2 30 and i'm sorry we don't have nursery but 10 o'clock to 2 30 and we'll feed you right here we'll break for lunch at 12. we'll feed you a nice lunch i think we got some macaroni and cheese and okay we got something better than that and uh we'll go over four sessions about elevate church uh one is a discovering elevate so you can get a to know us another one's discovering your spiritual maturity amen which you are in charge of amen don't rely on the pastor and the home groups we'll help hallelujah prayer helps but you're in charge of your own spiritual maturity uh the third session is on the holy spirit and his gifts and then the fourth one is on hospitality and the partnership covenant so you'll each get a folder like this one of these you can take it home with you it's good i think we have about 20 or so signed up on this sign up sheet you can also sign up through our let me bring it up uh you can also sign up through our phone app which is right there on the screen those you watching online and so you can go to your app store type in elevate church dash lincoln the icon in the upper right hand corner will appear that's us that's a free download and no we don't flood you with stuff we'll send you notifications when church services are we'll send you notifications of special events or cancellations or postponements but we don't flood you with a bunch of stuff but on there you can watch current and past uh sermons you can get connected to a home group you can say hey i'd like to try out for the worship team on there hey i'd like to serve uh cleaning toilets amen that's on there hallelujah i'd like to be part of the greeting team or the whatever that's all on their prayer requests you can go in that app there's a place for you to fill out prayer requests you can give if you want to give to elevate you can give through that app but if you want to sign up for the partnership class on the app when you open it scroll down it'll say first time visitor click on that and then one of the icons that appear will say partnership that's what you want to fill out we'll get that in the email and i did everybody who sent yours i got yours and you are registered i put your name on the clipboard so uh maybe pass that around to see if anybody wants to sign up all right that's this saturday it's great my wife teaches the class on hospitality and it's great i've been through it i don't know how many times and she still says i need to go through it again hallelujah so no she doesn't say that it's going to be good tonight i'll tell you how many of you you loved julius morar last sunday and uh for those of you he did it again he did it again he preached one message first service and he preached a totally different message second service and he does that sometimes i don't know that that's coming he doesn't tell me but uh you can certainly go back and watch the second service if you miss brother julius and uh of course you now let me explain something about julius and i tried to help him out with this when he's in the states he lives in riverside california in a home that his brother-in-law owns the brother-in-law said you can stay here if you pay utilities and you keep up you know keep the place nice he owns no property in the united states he's in india eight months out of the year now he may be there two months come over here for a month be there three months come over here for two months but it's eight months out of the year in india uh four months out of the year he's here no matter where he's at he's always working he preaches every sunday in his church whether he's there live or whether they're getting it piped in every sunday he's preaching he's got like us like cleo and i he has great helpers amen great helpers that help him and undergird so uh and you say well pastor why is he even over here well number one he has to itinerate because uh a lot of the and i think that's right he has to itinerate which go around the churches that's why god gave him the english language supernaturally because they told god i'm not doing this unless you give me the language because that no one wants to just hear i happy you happy god happy we all happy and uh in the in the 90s god gave him the language supernaturally and you heard it it's not gotten any better thank god hadn't gotten any worse so there those months that he's here he's most of the time he's itinerating uh also death threats were on him and his family and uh so he wanted to protect his wife and his son also which is exactly what every one of us would do amen we would do it so no don't be throwing no stones it's amazing how we judge and throw stones and then we throw in our five bucks in the offering i tell you when that when someone the church needs help oh pastor i'm busy i gotta i got a golf tournament i got to be at i got to go fishing this weekend i can't help anyway let's not go on that amen uh so download our free app amen you get sermons just like the one i just preached a little bit all right also if you're watching online and you'd like to give to elevate you can give on our website right there on your screen or if you'd like to mail it which many of you do thank you mail it to the business address there on the screen 1235 north 69th street amen and join us live sunday mornings 11 a.m on facebook or youtube or come in person we've been having great services god's been uh god's been blessing us i'll just put it that way right pastor rod it's jesus except the lord build a house they labor in vain who build it i'm not into man-made uh things to build a church uh no god told us to go and witness about his son jesus christ and the gospel and the love of christ amen and that we're supposed to the church is supposed to be come in here get equipped and they go out and they do the work of the ministry and then they bring them in the church is not the church meeting the church services are not for unbelievers they're not for the unlearned your bible tells you that in corinthians they said if an unbeliever or an unlearned command so we're not going to dumb down the gospel we're not going to dumb down the teaching of the word of god we're not going to water down or compromise on the word of god to placate the unbeliever or because listen folks if the holy spirit's not drawing them you can't draw them and if you i heard one preacher said whatever you got to do to to get them is what you got to do to keep them so if you had a compromise to get them you're going to throw a halloween party or you're going to have hey sit on santa's lap for christmas time at the church and let's take your picture well that's what you're going to have to do to keep them well now you know kind of where we stand i will say on this note of uh we don't celebrate halloween no we don't we don't but our youth pastor and uh kirby and jessica's son israel they and others they've been working hard because the last wednesday of this month they put on halloween education drama teaching instruction they turn that youth room he says i can't give away too much let me just tell you it's divided into four parts and after the youth go through then the adults can go through which will be like 8 30 8 45 but i promise you it's worth going through where did trick come from where did treat come from things of that nature the truth about that demonic holiday un holy day called halloween now a lot of us we didn't know did we we didn't know but as we know it's just kind of like solomon said pastor while we with uh great wisdom comes with much wisdom comes much sorrow i can't participate no forget over it join us sunday amen and and you that are watching be here the last wednesday come to service man we start service at seven on wednesdays uh but you say well i want to go to a service but pastor i'd like to go through that uh halloween education deal we'll be here about 8 30 8 40 the last wednesday of this month and uh we'll let you go amen it's it's quite amazing i told him he'll do it the second night on thursday he said i would but i've got live actors and stuff and they can't make it so uh and if you've been praying lord give me a sign that i should go to elevate there it is that's the sign you've been looking for i'll try to find another one in a month or two that's different wherever the lord leads me amen that's the sign i got to make sure all right here we go tonight we're going to continue i'd like you to open your bibles up if you would please gosh where do i want you to go so much scripture here i would like you please to open your bibles up acts chapter 9. we're not going to get there right away but we'll be there acts chapter 9. uh calling this little mini-series or whatever this is just the overall title clear preaching for confused christians it's amazing to me how many christians are confused about issues in our world and in our churches they're confused about salvation they're confused about abortion they're confused about the lgbt they're confused they're confused about god's laws and his ordinances and his statutes they're confused about the baptism and the holy spirit with the biblical evidence of speaking in tongues and they're either really confused or they're just hiding behind a barrier of confusion that's what they'll push out there i think it's really clear i think the word of god speaks to you and me in every area of our life tells us how to treat our spouses tells us how to raise our kids tells us how to steward our finances tells us how to steward our lives amen it tells us all about the the danger of unforgiveness and the beauty of love and forgiveness tells us all of that can i get an amen and so and and so much more so clear preaching for confused christians and this is part two of the encouragement of christ so i hope to encourage you tonight amen i hope you leave here encouraged and you're like wow i never saw that in the in the word before so before we get started you remember uh last wednesday we talked specifically about gideon and we're going to go to gideon here in a little bit we talked judges 6 about gideon and how that they'd israel had been under the hand of the enemy as punishment for seven years gideon was found threshing wheat to hide it from the enemies to provide for his family the angel of the lord appeared to him and if you know the story gideon went from uh to that mild if i could say i'm never i'm never going to say he was not courageous because to me that is courageous because he's risking his life trying to provide food for his family but he went from that and to a doubter we'll read that where he was a doubter of god god if you're for us and why is all this happening to us and all that he went from that to a champion of israel and all because of the phrase the lord was with him and so last week we talked about do you know as a child of god that the lord is with you that there are some things that he delivers you from there are some things that he delivers you in and there are some things that he just walks with you through it and it doesn't come out like you want but he's never left you he's never forsaken you see where's your trust the first thing the first thing you got to know is number one god is good he's good even when it doesn't go good our way even when our prayer is not answered the way we want it to be answered even though we think god failed and god let us down and god dropped us and in our thinking that's what he did and we tried to to to justify our anger against him anybody ever been there and try to justify our confusion god is good and he's right and he sits on the throne judging right we preach a message called uh god and i don't always agree probably need to do that here before thanksgiving or before christmas but it's just places where in the bible god and i we just don't see eye to eye on this thing but you know what in the end he's right he's god he's holy he's just and he's always right and when you can settle that in your heart christian man christian woman then you will prevail the devil will not be able to toss you to and fro like a like a wave of the sea you'll be rock solid you're not always going to agree with with god's decision boy it's quiet in this place right now you're not always going to agree with it you're not always going to understand it and you know what you may never understand people say well when i get to heaven i'll understand you may and you may not can you trust him yes i can so where'd i tell you to go i told you to go to acts chapter 9 and we're not going to yet i'm going to bring this up on the screen right here because this is the preface god says remember in isaiah 46 remember the former things of old for i am god and there is none else none i am god and there is none like me and this is what i want you to see declaring the end from where from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying here's what god says my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure and and and that's why come november 3rd hear me come november 3rd you know where my eyes are going to be on jesus my trust is going to be there i don't care who is declared to win i mean i do care but you know what i'm saying whoever's declare if it's not the guy i want if it's sniffing joe god's counsel shall stand and he will do all his pleasure he already knows what's the first line there he declares what the end from the beginning he already knows and he hasn't fallen off his throne are you listening to me so i got to make sure i get this right you know one of the things that tells me that when god calls you and i and i'm going to get to this in a second when he calls us hear this he does not call you from where you are at but where he sees you to be in his plan god doesn't call you from where you're at we're going to see this with gideon with paul but he calls you from where he sees you to be in his plan acts chapter 9 verse 10. this is about paul right acts chapter 9 verse 10 the conversion of paul and so paul he's been blind now for three days verse 9 says he neither did eat nor drink and there was a certain disciple at damascus named ananias and to him said the lord in a vision now not an apostle not an evangelist not a just a regular disciple worshiping god and god appears to him in a vision that says ananias and he says behold i am here lord and the lord said unto him arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of judas for one called saul who we know later becomes paul of tarsus for behold he prays and he has seen in a vision a man named ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he may receive his sight now ananias is going to respond in the only way he knows which is how you and i respond when we feel god calling us which is how moses responded when god called him which is how jeremiah responded when god called him and so many others when god called him here's ananias now the call's not for him but it's for paul but ananias answered lord i've heard by many of this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at jerusalem and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name now that's how ananias is seeing paul ananias is seeing paul from where paul in ananias's mind was at he's not viewing paul from the position god is viewing paul are you getting this and so god straightens out ananias and says but the lord said to ananias go your way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the gentiles and kings and the children of israel i will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake but i want you to see that when god called paul god just called him from a position where he sees paul to be in god's plan not in a position where paul was at three days before but ananias only saw that's what we do sometimes do you like that story julius told about we should pray lord your will not my will but your will be done lord what would you have me to do which is what paul prayed remember when he was knocked down to the ground remember that story he told about this people were coming by these kids and julius had prepared to give them uh what would be fifty dollars for their uh supplies and stuff you know for their club or whatever i mean it was a bona fide club and so they got the guy come and said sir we'd like to know if you'd give to our club and and he said sure and they said we'll not will not take less than ten dollars he said i was ready to give him 50. but he said we won't take less than 10 he said here's the 10. he said i walked out of there with 40 for myself but we do that with god god calls you from where he sees you in his plan not from where you're presently at okay another one uh go to genesis 17. first book in the bible amen easy to find genesis 17. oh couple things i got to announce i forgot uh the service the memorial homegoing service for diane clark is tomorrow morning 11 a.m right here at elevate if you knew her feel free to feel free to come some ladies are taking care of the serving you know the lunch and the stuff afterwards thank you ladies appreciate that but it'll be tomorrow uh deb schneider they buried her mother on monday deb and tony schneider naomi's grandmother who had passed away just just passed just went to be with jesus the saint of the lord just how every one of us want to go amen and so had a glorious reunion or she did and they had glorious service amen so that is tomorrow seemed like there was one other announcement hopefully it'll come to me a little bit let's go to uh genesis 17 verse 1. and when abram who there again god's going to change his name when abram was 99 years old the lord appeared to abram and said to him i am the almighty god walk before me and be thou perfect and i will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly and abram fell on his face and god talked with him saying as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of many nations now watch that you shall be and then look at the screen for the next verse because i put it up there neither shall thy name any more be called abram but thy name shall be right now present tense abraham for a father of many nations have i made thee god calls you from a place where he sees you at in his plan not from where you were at uh of course paul uh in correlation with this paul puts up in romans as is written talking about abraham i have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed even god who makes alive the dead and calls those things which be not as though they were and they become now all of us right away we're like ananias we only see the physical calling the initial calling god sees the end from the beginning god sees those things that be not as though they were and i like one preacher said and they become when you walk with him amen how many know that so now now now go to judges if you would please judges six amen right after joshua's judges you'll find it find it easy old testament judges chapter six love it so where he gave you somewhat of the background they've been in uh under the enemy's persecution for seven years because they rebelled against the lord imagine that imagine that a god in verses eight through ten sends them a prophet which basically says nana booboo in uh in my uh humble armpit opinion but then god in his mercy he sends an angel to talk to gideon let's pick it up in verse 11. there came an angel of the lord and sat under an oak tree in oprah not oprah oprah that pertained unto joash the abazarite his son gideon threshed wheat by the wine press to hide it from the midianites and the angel of the lord appeared unto him and said unto him the lord is with you you mighty man of valor correct you mighty man of valor now now watch gideon because this there again god's calling him from where from where god sees him in his plan present state gideon's no come on let's just be honest he's no mighty man about he's courageous right and and but he's in no shape that he's in mentally right here to take on the task that god has for him and you if you read the story of gideon you're going to find it first he's like oh lord if you're with us where's all your works and your miracles why are we in this position and god doesn't even answer that's how you know that's how you another way you know jesus is god in the flesh because he answers just like this so verse 15 he says where is uh he said where without shall i save israel my family is poor in manasseh i'm the least in my father's house and the lord said unto him surely i will be with you this the third time god is emphasizing the fact that what makes gideon a mighty man of valor what makes gideon a res how do i put this a subject for god's task is that god is with him god's not going to leave him alone he's not going to give him orders and then send him out by himself no just like we have orders go into all the world and preach the gospel and the end of mark 16 says the lord and they went forth and preached everywhere the lord working with them confirming his word with signs following when you and i step out of the walls of the church or our home and we step out into the satan's territory the lord is with us every step of the way in fact he's with us in the house he doesn't stay in the house and send us out he goes with us and he loves to confirm his word which signs following bank on that believe on that amen and so gideon is not notice uh god's not getting upset with gideon he god knows he's got to work with gideon and god takes this man who's full of doubts full of questions amen and takes him from a man again full of doubts full of questions to by the time god is done working with him and showing him things and helping him build his faith gideon attacks calls against an army of tens of thousands with 300 men and defeats them and defeats them because by then he's got the revelation the lord is with me go with me please to romans chapter eight romans chapter eight there it is in judges the lord is with thee thou mighty man of valor do you know the lord is with you romans chapter eight man there's some famous famous famous scripture we love to butcher i mean uh brag about in romans chapter no we love the butcher in romans chapter eight we'll try not to do that tonight romans chapter eight let's drop on down to verse 26. says likewise the spirit whenever you see likewise or therefore you should read the preceding verses or in this case start with with verse 1 and then get down to 26 and then likewise or in like manner the spirit also helps our infirmities our weaknesses our shortcomings for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searches the hearts knows this is a strange scripture man because how many know the holy ghost is god how many know the father is god how many know jesus is god they are one god but three divine persons and here's another scripture that just it's come on let's just say it it's weird it shows the inner working of father son and holy spirit look at this look how this is how this is worded and he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because he the spirit maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of god and we know keep these verses all in context that all things work together for good to them that love god present tense that this verse gets so butchered we know that all things work together for good now not all things are good but if you love god and jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments you're not you know don't don't be going on these one of these snowflake christians where you know you're breaking the commandments of god you're out you know telling lies and gossiping fornicating you're getting drunk you're doing all that but you come to church and you worship and everything and something bad happens and you're like well i know all things we're together for good yeah to them that love god well pastor mike i do love god then why are you doing all that stuff what if i said i love my wife but you know i got my little girl on the side you know but i love my wife you'd say pastor mike if you loved your wife you wouldn't have a little floozy that's what we call them little floozy little hussy little tart uh frolic you wouldn't have one on the side but i know i love my wife i love no you love that hussy well we do the same you know go read ezekiel 16 sometime where god tells israel you are like a harlot you are like a oh yeah god speaks that way ezekiel 16. he says and you don't even charge so you know don't tell me yeah i love jesus but i do all this stuff now we're not talking about thank you you know we're not talking about somebody you know you you yield to a temptation i mean how many believe that as you grow in christ that that stuff just gets less and less oh yeah it does no none of us are perfect but i'm telling you as you mature in christ and you grow into christ those temptations that before all they had to do was come across your nose or your eyes and you fell they'd come across your nose and your eyes and your ears all day long now and you just go because your love for christ has grown i said your love for christ has grown and the fear of the lord has grown and that's the thing that's missing when i say the fear of the lord for the believer i'm going to say it again especially for you on facebook and youtube i'm not talking about this oh i better do right or god's going to walk me with this big heavenly bat no the fear of the lord which by the way the book of hebrews said jesus had the book of hebrews says that in the garden when jesus was praying and sweating great drops of blood and he prayed that that prayer not my will father if it be possible remove this cup nevertheless not my will but thy will be done read the book of hebrews it says in the garden when jesus prayed that he was heard in that he feared now what was he fearing was he fearing death no never fear death was he fearing the agony of the cross never feared the agony of the cross what was he fearing he was fearing displeasing his father the fear of the lord for a christian and hear me facebook and youtube write this down i i'd love to take credit for it but someone smarter than me did all the good stuff's borrowed even that statement so the fear of the lord for the believer is a holy dread of doing anything that would displease god that's the fear of the lord for the believer now the fear of the lord for the sinner it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god when you're a sinner when you're an enemy of god but jesus was heard it said in that he feared what does that mean in that he he was heard in that he didn't want to do anything that would displease his father people say well isn't it nice that jesus went to the cross for us and that is nice but we're not the first ones he went to the cross for read it in the gospel of john he said that the world may know that i love the father i go to the cross he loved us first and foremost he loved his father secondly he loved us that is the two great commandments which form the cross the first one is the upright love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself you see that and that makes the cross and keep it in that order keep it in that order he went to the cross first and foremost out of love for his father out of obedience for his father and he went there for us and if you flip-flop that around you're out of the will of god when you put the the creature above the creator see i can tell that's a revelation for some of you because you like real quiet okay here we go uh we know that all things work together for them who love god to them who are all the called according to his purpose for whom he did for no now we're not going to get into foreknowledge versus predestination but i'll get into a little bit foreknowledge is not predestination are you hearing me god knowing you're going to do something before you ever do it is not predestination that no you're locked in to do it because he knows no he knows because he's god you're going to do it whether he knew or didn't know but because he's god he knows now watch this now whom he did for no he also did for know what that they were going to give their lives to christ that they were going to be part of the elect who's the elect jesus is the elect when you put your faith in christ you become part of the elect there's only one the elect maybe we should teach on that some wednesday amen so for whom he did for no then he did predestinate see pastor right there he predestinate to what read the rest of it what do you predestinate you for to be conformed to the image of his son who does that work in you why the holy ghost does and and the working with the word of god in that amaze so yeah pastor mike you believe that you're pre predestined yeah to be conformed to the image of a son that he might be the firstborn among many brother moreover whom he did predestinate predestinate to what to be conformed the image of his son the bible interprets himself to whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified i'm going to bring it because this is the encouragement of christ you should be encouraged when you read this i'm going to bring it up on the screen out of the amplified bible the next few verses what then shall we say to all these things if god is for us notice the word us in these next few verses if god is for us i believe god's for me i don't believe god's against me even when i was a sinner and i was at war with god god sent his son to make conditions of peace hello what shall we say to these things if god is for us who can be successfully against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how we know will he not also along with him graciously give us all things i hope this is encouraging you who will bring any charge against god's elect it is god who justifies us declaring us blameless and putting us in a right relationship with himself who is the one who condemns us christ jesus is the one who died to pay our penalty and more than that who was raised from the dead and who was at the right hand of god interceding for us see don't let the devil beat you down don't let the devil isolate you in your mind and in your heart and and physically that's what he does that's one of his tactics is to isolate you so because when you're isolated this is proven even in the world when you're isolated all kinds of thoughts come into your mind all kinds of things change physically and chemistry in your body the devil loves to do that he loves to isolate you he'll get you listen here's one way he'll do it he'll get you this is what happens it's happened so many times gil in this church it's incredible people come and write it first they love you oh pastor mike i love that prayer and you got to watch out for the ones that say i love that hard preaching pastor mike so just know i got in the back of my mind we'll see i love that hard pre yeah till the pastor starts digging in the soil of your heart then all of a sudden that hard preaching ain't so nice anymore but oh pastor mike and your church is so friendly i just can't all the people are so nice but guess what they're just people they're not perfect and neither are you and so the day's going to come and it's happened to me pastor mike i had a couple leave they left this is one thing they left over you there were four of us greeting and you shook the person on the right side and we were in the and you shook the person's hand and left and you just ignored us that's going to happen i don't know why it happens i don't know why i can't keep my kids names right david uh john wesley [Music] pastor mike i said hi to you the other day you were at the mall or whatever nice and you just looked right past me well that happens sometimes it's not on purpose it's not because i hate you it's not because i saw you say hi and i thought i don't care for you no more and if it ever gets to that i will tell you that i don't care for you anymore but that oh pastor mike we love the music and then after a while it's are we singing that song again and then they start nitpicking the songs especially that one reckless love oh they've got their own panties all in a wad and if you try to explain to them listen it's just saying that god went to great lengths it's just like if your house was on fire and you you believed that your son or daughter was in there you would be so reckless in going running into the fire in other words you have no thought for your safety but no some people they can't no no no no no no no they're going to take it's like this if there's a right way and a wrong way to describe that word they're always going to take the wrong way then they start complaining we had a guy one time in our church and he doesn't come here anymore don't even live in this state and and the statement is true the statement is true but he let it get to him and this is the statement we sing more lies than we tell and that's a true statement you know but what's the condition of that person's heart at that moment that they're singing that you don't know that and you should be concerned with can you sing that song i surrender all or do you sing i surrender 75 so instead of being everybody else's judge what's the bible tell you to do judge yourself anyway who's at the right hand of god interceding for us but it happens i'm going to overlook you i'm not going to see your hands sticking out there sometimes you know i'm not going to hear you every time you call my name and especially when they go pastor mike i was in my car waiting and all your windows are dark and you got dark interior and your car's dark and pastor mike i was waving real quick i can't see inside your car especially if i'm on my scooter because i ain't looking to see who do i know while driving around i'm looking to see who's going to possibly hit me and if i wave at you man [Laughter] i'm just telling you it's gonna happen and it's gonna people in here we got there's people in here like oh yeah so-and-so never says hi to me says hi to my kid and i'm standing right there never said hi to me it's happened to me too it's happened to my wife how do you like to be my wife she people don't even know her name they just know the pastor's wife well she got a name it ain't chloe it's cleo like cleopatra like the queen because all of us married anyway i'll leave that one alone you're going to find out saturday they're getting married saturday amen it's not too late brother who shall separate us from the love of christ now notice it's not saying and christians read it this way who or what shall separate the love of christ from uh that's not the question god's love's never in question our love is what could possibly happen that would draw you away from you loving christ what could possibly take place and don't answer out loud and say nothing because some of you haven't been that challenged in life yet where your baby died when the whole church was praying where your child went to heaven before you did and the whole church was praying see so don't be so johnny on the spot mr super spiritual quick i'll tell you nothing i hope not and paul's writing is to get us to think this is more of a statement to think and ponder rather than you know a bold confession of faith because their people have used this as a bold confession something horrible happened god forbid and they left the faith who shall separate us from the love of christ with tribulation it's coming will tribulation how about distress how about persecution i'm talking about real persecution not just getting called a jesus freak somebody stealing your trump flag oh persecuted how about famine john g lake uh back in the early part of the last century had missionaries in africa spirit-filled man many miracles yet a number of his missionaries starved to death on the field read in your bible 11 out of the that's not in the bible this is in history 11 out of the 12 apostles martyrdom horrible deaths horrible deaths how about nakedness or danger or sword just as it is written and we're going to go back to reading in the word and we're closing for your sake we are put to death all day long re-regarded as sheep for the slaughter and my brother and sister there have been more christian martyrs the last hundred years than all of the years put together since the resurrection of christ who or what let's read it in in uh where we at romans 8 37 no paul's trying to encourage us in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us pastor how can i believe that christ is loving me when i'm out and and i'm starving to death how can i believe that christ is loving me when i watch them put my family in a cage and drown them and film it while they were doing it how can i believe that christ is with me and for me when when i watch them burn members of my family with a flamethrower and don't think it can't happen here in america in fact it has happened in isolated places boy we could get into human trafficking and the horribleness and all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us can i believe that christ loves me when the muslim is cutting my head off with a serrated knife when deliverance isn't coming when the fire is going to consume me how am i more than conquerors because they can't take my devotion for christ they can't take my faithfulness i live i'm aware and hopefully you are we live in a fallen world and injustice is a thing of the fallen world and it's going to read ecclesiastes one thing happens to this man the same that happens to the other what matters is who's your foundation as jesus talked about is your house built on sin or is it built upon the rock of jesus christ because people things are not going to get much better in this world if any right i want to know are you preparing your heart to love jesus no matter what you're preparing your heart to stay with him even though you don't understand even though you don't agree what he's what did jesus say if they if they hated him they'll hate you and you the servant you're not above your master and they crucified him so he knows about it all verse 38 i'm persuaded are you persuaded see this is what you got to answer in yourself are you persuaded that neither death i like this next one nor life how mean you know if the devil can't get you through your weakness he'll get you through your strengths he'll get you through blessing you to where you become lethargic i'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate who us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord amen is right let's pray father i pray for all of us father that our foundation in you is so rock-solid in the love of god in your faithfulness in your character in who you are father you are right and you are holy and you are just and you sit on the throne judging right and father we i pray lord that every one of us we don't just say that we believe that we're connected to that and father nothing no matter how horrid is able to separate us from our love for you lord jesus those that are watching online open their eyes i pray in us in here lord jesus thank you for your love and your mercy thank you that you are always with us and you said you'll never leave us you will never forsake us and lord we thank you for that in your name we pray amen and this is pastor mike in elevate church signing off for the resistance god bless you [Music]

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Length: 83min 48sec (5028 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 08 2020