"When Perception is Not Reality" | Pastor Debleaire Snell

so this time we're gonna go ahead and get ready to go to God's Word I'm gonna go to God's Word and the good thing and I'm gonna encourage somebody to know that even in weeks like these there is a word from the Lord there is something that God still has to say to his people and I believe that for many of us especially those in the african-american community this week has been one that has been filled with an interesting cocktail of emotions there's been a very real grief a very pronounced sorrow and even as we have seen seas of people of every ethnicity March and operate with unity perhaps it has given us a little bit of hope but I believe even above all of those things and those those forms of evidence we need to constantly look to God's Word and so today I'm glad you look with me in your Bibles to the 13th division of the psalm psalm the 13th division and we'll begin reading the government verse 1 in fact and this was a text that elder Francis shared with us this week in our staff meeting in and as I read it it just stuck with me and administered to me and I want to be able to share that with you today as well Psalm 13 and the first division when you get there in your home just say Amen Psalm 13 and verse number one and I think that David here in many ways expresses what some of us are feeling in our pursuit for righteousness in the face of injustice he asked this question Psalm 13 in verse 1 he says how long O Lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long will my enemy be exalted over me consider and hear me O Lord my god enlighten mine eyes lest I sleep their sleep of death and lest my enemies say I have prevailed against him lest those who trouble me rejoice when I moved but notice what he says in verse five but I have trusted in your mercy my heart shall rejoice in your salvation I will sing unto the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me I'm going to just read again emphasis verse one the question how long O Lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me today Saints I want to talk to you for a little while under the subject when perception is not reality when perception is not reality let's pray together father today I'm praying that in the hearing of this word that you would multiply the faith of your people exponentially would you grow our faith miraculously that it would be able to flourish in the midst of these difficult and vexing times and so Lord I am praying that you would once again hide me in the shadows of the cross that Jesus alone might be seen that Christ alone would be heard and at the end of this service may Jesus alone be praised and so Lord permit us through the vehicle of faith to be able to move past our current pain to our eternal hope bless us to this end we pray in the wonderful name of Jesus let God's people say together amen and amen again just talking to you today under the subject when perception is not reality you know Saints when I was about when I was about 9 or 10 years old I had an experience that that felt traumatic at the time at the end of each school day I would go to the parent pick up where I would wait for my mom and dad to come and pick me up from school and on one particular afternoon they were late coming to pick me up and so it put me in a position of having to wait and so I was at a place where I saw all my immediate friends get picked up while I was still waiting I saw kids from other classes get picked up and I was still waiting I saw faculty and staff from the school get in their cars and go home and I was still waiting I even saw my teacher wave at me from her car as she drove out of the parking lot and I was still waiting and this campus that was usually robust with parochial noise all of a sudden fell silent and I alone was left there and I was still waiting and I needed to get that as I was waiting as a nine-year-old I felt my stomach begin to sink my throat began to dry out and then crocodile tears begin to fill up my eyes and before I knew it I was in full lamentation and weeping as I was waiting for my parents to come and get me now the strange thing is that this wait could not have been more than 40 minutes but in that moment it felt like it was nearly about 40 years and the feeling of being forgotten was real and palpable at the moment and just when my lamentation and grief was nearing its apex my parents pulled around the corner in their brown cutlass supreme as they had so often times done and and that's concerned parents they began to inquire why was I in such distress and disarray and I begin to respond like David did in Psalm 13 I begin to wonder how long are you gonna forget me forever and as they begin to calm me down they begin to explain some things that didn't make a difference that particular day my dad began to explain you need not be distressed he said we were at the administrative building right across the street and we were looking at you from the window we saw you when you were throwing rocks at the stop sign we saw you when you took off your shoes we saw you when you were talking to such a such person and the thing that that was trying to get me to get is that even though you could not see us we were still able to see you and then my mom begins to express the need not to worry she tried to talk in terms of sacrifice you know our parents do they tell you how much they love you how much they sacrifice for you what they go without so you could have and I came to understand that that was not just her boasting she was trying to help me understand that her sacrifices were too great in order for her to forget me in other words her investments would not allow her to forget where I was and I need you to understand that in this moment I felt like there was a way I perceived it that was not in line with the reality in that moment I thought I was forgotten in that moment I thought help will not come in that moment I thought that things would not get better and how many of us understand that sometimes in our first journey that sometimes the way we perceive it does not line up with our reality because there going to be some days where you feel like God has forgotten there'll be days where it feels like evil will triumph there will be days where it feels like the cause of the justice will be ignored there will be days when it seems like God does not see you but the truth is that the Bible says the eyes of the Lord run to and fro in the earth and I need somebody to know that just because you can't see God it doesn't mean that God cannot see you I need you to know that God sees you in your pain God sees you in your anguish God sees you in your distress I would have felt better that day if I just had known my daddy could see me and I want somebody to have some hope to know that your daddy sees you where you are and he knows your exact situation but the more powerful and profound truth that my mom tried to get me to understand is that the reason God can't forget you is because he sacrificed so much for you in other words I need you to know that God has made too many investments in you to forget all about you see I need somebody to understand that even if Jesus wanted to forget about you he could not forget about you because every time he looked at his hands he would still have the nail prints in his hands as a reminder of the cost of your salvation see the reason you can't be forgotten is that your names have been engraved on the palms of the hand of the Almighty God and let me just say that somebody that's discouraged when you feel like God has forgotten you don't look in your bank account look at your price tag let me say that again when you feel like God has forgotten don't look at your bank account look at the price that has been paid in order to secure your salvation in other words it is the cost of the sacrifice that guarantees that Jesus will not forget you in fact let me say it this way like we live in this world of cellphone culture where we pay a lot of money in order to have these cell phones we put our entire life on these cell phones and because we make such a sacrifice we want to make sure that we never lose these cell phones I don't know about you but sometimes when I wake up in the morning before the lights are even turned on the first thing I do is reach over to see where my cell phone is as I going operate throughout the day sometimes I'm checking my pocket as I move to make sure that I don't lose that cell phone and how many of us know that I have so much value that even if I leave my cell phone you better believe I'm gonna turn around and come back and get the cell phone because of the amount that's been paid for it and how many of us know that Jesus paid a bill that was higher than your bills are Sprint or t-mobile yeah I need you to know that Jesus is checking for you at the start of each and every day that God is checking for you all afternoon and even though you can't see him because he went away because he paid so much you better know that he is coming back again receive you unto himself Jesus pay too much in order to forget about you somebody ought to say Amen today and so I want to invite us to go back to the Word of God today and that's look at Psalm 13 and I want to relook at verses 1 and 2 as we unpack it Psalm 13 verses 1 and 2 when y'all get there say Amen Psalm 13 the Bible says David says how long O Lord will you forget me forever how long will you hide your face from me how long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long will my enemies be exalted over me now saints of God one one of the beauties of Scripture is that the scripture is not just a hype book for Jesus Christ in fact one of the things that the scripture is transparent in doing is that sometimes it literally shows the struggle that believers have as they try to navigate the landscape of faith and here in Psalm 13 specifically we find David having a conflict in his faith as he tries to manage the tension of holding on to what he believes when what he believes does not match up with what he sees now I need you to understand that there's some conflict theologically about the immediate context in which Psalm 13 was written some scholars believe that Psalm 13 was written in response to David's lengthy flight and exile as he was under or running away from the murderous hand of King Saul others believed that Psalm 13 was written in response to David trying to fight off the insurrection of epsilon as epsilon came for him to bring justice to to what he believed was his father's indifferent actions and the truth is it doesn't really matter specifically what the context is because what the Bible makes clear is that whatever the situation it great on david's faith and understand that the conflict comes because sometimes it's hard to be a believer then the fact that God is still good when the evils seem to prevail around you sometimes it's hard to believe that God is in control when the wicked control all of the devices and systems that affect your day-to-day living sometimes it's hard to believe that God is still on the throne when you get to a place where evil is champion and the causes of the just are slow to array and what grates on David's faith is the slowness with which the wicked are actually addressed now the thing I need you to get that in order to describe his despair David uses terms like God has forgotten he uses language to suggest that God is hiding his face from me and it's interesting because God is got David out of place where he is so exhaustive that he is on the verge of letting go or loosing his hold on God and let me just pause and say this to my brothers and sisters that sometimes in times like these there is a real danger in putting down your faith in other words when you're between the promise and the fulfillment it's easy to put faith to the side to stop operating in the weapons of the Spirit and start trying to operate em the weapons of the flesh now see I know that some of y'all watching the more spiritual than me and David you always Frank you always bless and highly favored you always operate in the spirit but how many of us can be real enough to acknowledge that some weeks like this it's hard to pray when you see justice for somebody like David George Floyd we're where justice is nearly aborted by falsified police reports and intentionally misleading autopsies sometimes it's hard to stay in the spirit when you see that justice for Ahmad our Barry had been swept all the way under the carpet for months until the people begin to raise their voice in speak sometimes it's hard to operate in the spirit when the president of the United States of America puts tear gas on peaceful protesters so that he can take a photo-op with a Bible in his hand without opening up the reading the scriptures are praying in front of the Church of the Living God sometimes it's hard to trust that God is in control when you've been passed over in your place of employment simply because of the color of your skin sometimes it's hard to operate in the spirit where your heart races like a rabbit when you're pulled over by law enforcement and they approach your car because you're speeding with pain on the holster of the gun and sometimes like David in the midst of a continuous and prevailing despair you're tempted to wonder like David how long O Lord before you come and overthrow the devices of the wicked and come to the aid of the righteous but let me help somebody find some hope in the word today because how many of us know that the progression of David's life actually teaches us that you can't make a permanent decision of our faith based upon a temporary situation let me say in other words you can't make a permanent decision based upon a temporary situation do you realize that after David's 15 years of Exile that God came through and fulfilled the promise that he made when samuel came and anointed him in his daddy's backyard it took a long time for the which--i to be overthrown but guess what God was inevitably true to his word it didn't happen as soon as he wanted it to happen but guess what God did come through and so now you see an interesting dichotomy and the way David talks in Psalm 13 he's saying Lord how long he's saying Lord why are you hiding your face from me but by the time you get to Psalm 23 he's saying surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life by the time he gets I'm 27 he's saying the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid by the time you get to Psalm 34 he's saying I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth by the time you get to Psalm 37 he says I was young and now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or seed begging got the bread by the time you get the psalm 46 he's saying the Lord is my refuge and my strength a very present help in the time of trouble by the time you get to Psalm 121 he's saying I will look to the hills from whence cometh my help my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth and I need you to know that in Psalm 13 David wasn't saying I was lying he's just simply saying through the other chapters that in Psalm 13 that was the way I perceived it but the way I perceived it ain't always the reality the way I see it doesn't always mean that's the way it is that sometimes God is just working in ways that our eyes cannot see are y'all here in the word today Saints and says one of the things I need somebody to understand is that David teaches us that you can't make a permanent decision about faith based upon your immediate or current circumstances because one of the things I need somebody listening together is that their circumstances that will look like they will never change until they do okay cuz oh I wish somebody was on this side so I can say that y'all on this side see there are certain sick of situations that won't look like they will change until they do see I need somebody that's in that posture of prayer to understand that God is working some things out but you will always see a progression you won't always see momentum that will always be a buildup you will always feel your help coming on but sometimes they'll just be a ship when God turns the situation upside down and right-side up because there are certain things that won't look like they change until they change can I just speak from my own experience there was a time where it looked like Jian and I would not have any kids until we actually had them there gonna be some days where it looks like your kids won't get it until they get it there will be days where it looks like you won't be healed until you get healed there will be days where it looks like you won't find work until you find work there will be times where it looks like you won't meet the right person until the right person shows up there will be days where it seems like God won't come through until he comes through and I guess what I'm saying that somebody is don't give up on the book in the middle of the book don't leave the game while it's still in the third quarter because as long as God is on the throne it may not look like it's gonna change but it won't look like it until it comes well y'all hear me today in fact let me say it this way and the reason we use this example is because it brings me a great amount of joy y'all remember in 2013 where the Miami Heat were up against the San Antonio Spurs basketball team y'all don't remember that thing where the minor Heat were down three games to two and and how the San Antonio Spurs had taken a five point lead with about 40 seconds left in the game and and so I need y'all understand that when they were down by five with about 40 seconds left what happened is you have some Miami Heat fans that literally began to leave the arena in other words they made a decision they saw how it looked at the moment in other words they walked out the door they forfeited they seized they left the arena based on how it looked at the moment they left the arena based upon the current circumstance but they didn't realize that LeBron would get the ball he won't make a three-pointer and put it down to two points and then they would go down to the other side San Antonio will make a free throw and put them up by three points but then with last shot left Ray Allen would get the ball in the corner he won't put it up and follow through like he did in practice and then if we hit nothing but the bottom of the net but then LeBron the King would lead him to victory in overtime the King would lead him to victory in Game seven in other words you can't give up on it as long as the King still got some time and they miss the victory because they made an assessment based on how it looked and I guess what I'm saying to somebody as long as the king is still on the throne don't you leave the arena of faith you've got to learn to be still let God be God because it will look like his goal change until it actually does somebody ought to save me hallelujah hallelujah so the first thing that word is teaching us today is that sometimes the way we perceive it it's not the way that it actually is not now now again I want to just read again for emphasis verse number number one on Psalm 13 and I'm not trying to drag it out he says how long O Lord yes the question he says will you forget me forever now now I want to just take some time here because I want to make sure that at home we have clarity about the nature of the lemon of lament that David is given now notice the question is not God will you come through the the question is not God are you willing to show up the questions or the complaint is is when God will show up and so the issue is not about God's ability it's not about God's willingness the issue at hand is God's timing and see what David shows us in Psalm 13 it's sometimes the urgency of your need can affect your perception of God's speed then let me let me say it again that sometimes the urgency of my knee in fact my perception of Godspeed now see how many of us understand that there is an interesting link between the greatness of my desire and my perception of God's timing in other words when I really want God to do a particular thing I tend to operate as if God is moving too slow that's also the issue here at hand is not tiny in other words like like Saul David is man because man he's been anointed to be king almost 15 years ago he is wanting God to go hurry up and fight the battle he is wanting God to hurry up and establish his throne he is running God to hurry up and defeat the enemy which is song now this is an interesting thing because that David is saying God you're taking too long now I need you to think about kind of the chronology of things you realize that David is seated as king over Israel when he's about thirty years old and in other words I need you to get that at 30 that's a pretty young age to be a key in other words God does what he says by the time David gets by the other words David ain't fifty writing this he's 60 writing this he is thirty years old or under 30 saying God is taking too long in other words I need you to get kind of the absurdity of this is you got a 24 27 28 year old David saying God you taken too long when by all human accounts David is ahead of schedule in other words what is teaching us is that might the urgency of my need can impact my perception of God's speed and see what happens is we allow sometimes I were created urgency to cause us to question God's character and so my question but somebody is today it's God slow or have we put some wants in the need category have we made certain wants more urgent than they really are is our perception of what we need so out of alignment with God's providence your will that it makes us think that somehow God has fallen asleep at the wheel and that he is no longer in control and what I'm saying is is that God is not faithful I just think that we are so pressed and we are so in a hurry that we want it so immediately that it makes us in that God's character I y'all hear what I'm saying this up kind of like this it's just like like like if you say for instance you want to put a bag of microwave popcorn in the microwave now I need you to get that if you've already eaten breakfast or lunch and and you're just eating the popcorn as a snack and you put that three-minute sure you're not starving but you got a little something that three minutes ain't gonna really seem that bad but guess what man if you ain't ate none all day long if you on e your stomach is growling that same three minutes is don't feel like is taking an eternity but how many of us understand that three minutes is three minutes but understand it is my condition that's gonna affect my perception of how long it is actually taking and my question for somebody is God taking too long or are we just so empty spiritually so empty emotionally so thirsty relationally that feels like God is taking too long does God need to hurry up or do we just need to learn how to be content does God need to hurry or do we just need to get full of the Holy Ghost full of the Word of God full of his promises because if we got full of spiritual things it wouldn't feel like God is taking so long and see one of the things I want to just say to some young adult who is watching this service I need you to know man you trippin 27 it's too young for you to panic about not right finding the right husband or wife need somebody to know that 35 is too early for you to worry about not being able to purchase your own house I need somebody to understand that even 40 is too young for you to panic about not being in the stride of your career how many of us understand that as a believer that we don't peek when we're 25 or 30 but the proverb says that the path of the just is like the shining sun going brighter and brighter in other words how many of us know that in Christ we don't go down as we age we get better that the latter is going to be greater than the former that the second half is gonna be better better than the first half in other words like we are living under self-imposed urgency and that self-imposed urgency is causing us to question the goodness of God and see the reason I want to really just stay here for a second is because a lot of our self-imposed urgency it's not even spiritual is based on comparison in other words I would actually have more joy about my life if I wasn't so aware of what was happening in your life and in your life and in your are y'all hear what I'm saying it's just like man when I when I when I when I was left out there waiting on my parents I need to know that if there was other kids stuck with me I would have been good like if nobody else had got picked up I would have been straight like if all the other kids was there I would have been tripping not at all but in other words because they parents came and got them because of what happened with them it made me alter the perception of my parents and I'm saying Lord deliver me from allowing my perception of God to be altered based upon what's happening and somebody else is like in other words when God is blessing them and I've not discouraged you it always just lets you know that God can still bless you come on and say man listen let me say this way I remember when we all met my wife and I we moved into our current neighborhood you know we were the the one of the first houses that were built on our street as they were developing the subdivision and so when when I when that Street was still new because there are not street lights along the sidewalk at night it would be very dark and hard to to navigate in the dark and so we have been telling them like y'all we need y'all to hurry up and get these street lights up because it's very dark on this part of the community and so what happened is they built the house I literally saw where the four-way intersection there's a house in front of me they built houses on the side of me and so it's crazy because like we don't have any light on our part but they build this house for this other couple and they put a light on their side of the street now I need you to know I'm all in my feelings because they got a light before we did it's the right couple I got all kind of conspiracies rolling around in my head and it's crazy because they put a light at the house across the street they put a light at the house across the street on my right and then they only put the light on my block all the way by the backyard and it's crazy because I was mad because somebody got their light first but the way God arranged this thing is that in the front yard I get some of the light that comes from their side on the side I get light that comes from their side and then I get some light that comes from the backyard in other words they got the first light but I got the best light because I was a part of a long term plan and what I'm saying is don't get worried about who gets it first you just got to know that God has you on his schedule come on and say Amen but it's interesting here because what David Davis limitation is in Psalm 13 what it is beloved it is an expression of disappointment now it's funny because the only way you can be disappointed is if you first got an expectation about something and see the reason David is disappointed about God's timing is that David has constructed an expectation about God's time that's based upon his preference and not God's providence and in other words he's saying man David is not a place where he is disappointed about how long it takes in other words in his mind I should be king by now by now justice should be done by now wickedness should be punished by now this system of oppression should be done away with by now something should have been taken care of and said one of the things I want to say sometimes when we talk about how long God is taking that sometimes you should not complain that God is taking so long for something when that's simply how long it takes okay let me say this I see that sometimes we're saying God is taking too long when certain things that's just how long it takes see it's just like this man yah we order my parents were all the kids are toys for the kids on Amazon now the problem with that is when they ordered on Amazon its own coming a thousand screws which means I gotta put it together and it's crazy when I'm putting it together the kids are coming they got the attitude they met they're like Daddy why is it taking you so long and I'm trying to help them understand all this this is just how long it takes in order to put it together like there are times where I'm cutting the boys hair as soon as I put the Clippers on the head they like daddy what's taking so long in order to get it done I'm like I don't want to be here no more than you do I'm trying to get it over quick like I'm not dragging it up this is simply how long it takes and what history teaches us is that justice for the oppressed it is certain but it's always slow and maybe there should be an appropriate caution for us because even though we have seen some positive things this week maybe we might be setting ourselves up for the okey-doke if we assume that justice for George Floyd and our Maude are berry and Brianna Taylor and mr. Fletcher right here in Huntsville that everything is gonna go Swift and complete right here in our time si si si I need you to understand something about human nature see what makes God just is that he gives us free will well you hear me what makes God awesome is that even as God he has chosen not to violate the boundaries of human thought that he will not overthrow man's conscious what makes God just is that he gives us choice but what makes God just is the same thing that makes just this slow in other words some of us have had the conversation this week they said man I wonder why this killing we're so different than all the others why is it that they were finally able to see it this time have y'all had that conversation in other words what made this different than Trayvon or or Mike Brown or Austin sterling why is it that they finally hear this one and the replies from heaven is you're saying it took a long time for him to see it but this is just how long it takes this is how long it takes to something hard hearts this is how long it takes to quicken the conscious this is how long it takes to bring darkness to light this is how long it takes to break the boat of oppression this is how long it takes to illuminate darkness this is how long it takes to dismantle systems this is how long it takes to bludgeon willful ignorance and see there some who are saying that God has started something this week I need you to know that God didn't start it this week it simply peaked this week but God has been stirring the collective conscious for a nation I need you to know that not one single incident operates and functions in a vacuum that God has been working through Trayvon and Rodney and Emmett Till and Michael Brown and my Freddie Gray's and Tamir rice and Luis Castillo he has been creating a mounting pressure from stress to stress and protest the protest even Kaepernick kneeling in the own NFL and I need you to know that it was even providential that he allowed the Floyd killing to take place in the middle of this pandemic where you got a lot of America at home from work sitting in front of devices all day long King watts no NFL came watch no MBA King watts no MLB we ain't got nothing to distract us we ain't gotta go to work the next day God gave it a captive audience where it could not be ignored I can't go back to my own self-interest I can't hide from it I've got a deal with it and so I need you to understand that just as Trevor Noah said that God didn't just knock down one Domino today I need you to understand that all of these was links in a chain in other words God didn't start it this week God has been working since the days of Emmett Till's he has been working him knocking down one Domino after another and I need you to know that nothing functions in a vacuum are y'all hearing me so in other words I'm praying this worked but but even when the last domino falls it doesn't fall by itself it's knocked down by all of the dominoes then I'll come before it and what I'm saying that somebody in this place is that God is knocking down the dominoes of racism he is knocking down the dominoes of sexism he is knocking down the dominoes of prejudice he is knocking down the dominoes of bias he is knocking down the dominoes of elitism that God didn't started today God is just allowing it to a peak in our time are we hearing the word today about here without halfway done come on say man Bible says in verse number four but it's gonna go quick Bible says that begins to pray he says lest my enemy say excuse me verse three the Bible says David says considering hearing me O Lord my God considering hear me O Lord and light my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death that's my enemies say they have prevailed against me third thing that this story teaches us or this particular song it teaches us that before God changes things that before prayer changes things prayer has to change us specifically one of the things that prayer does is it changes my perception now now one of the things that probably should have happened when you read Psalm 13 that finally should have been a little bit of tension as you read because remember what happens it's all his thoughts in verse one and two with a complaint and end with a lamentation by the time you get to verse three and four he is making a petition to God but the end by the time you get down there to chat verse five and six what happened is he is he is pledging his unwavering trust to God and by the time he gets to verse six he's from my heart he's gonna praise the name of God and it's amazing how his whole disposition shifts without any super in of the intervening act okay in other words his his his whole disposition or perception changes even though no circumstance changes in other words even as he's writing this the wicked are still in power the wicked still have their devices in control in other words soul is still in power in other words how does he shift so radically to this place of unbelief in verse one to this place of steadfast trust in verse number six because I need you get that what psalm 13 is it's a transparent prayer and with these Clause he says how he what he means and then it reflects also in his emotions he starts out with a complaint but then what happens is by the time you get to verse three he ain't just complaining about what's wrong he's beginning to make a petition known to God he said hear me O Lord look upon me lest I sleep the sleep of death and then by the time you get down to verse six he is getting his phrase on and I need somebody to understand the miracle of Psalm 13 is that it is the fulfillment of a real time promise given in Philippians chapter 4 that says be anxious or nothing but with everything with prayer and Thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and peace which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus let me say to somebody at home one of the problems is we only shout when prayer changes things but how many of us understand that things can be slow to change but the one thing that God can do instantly is he can give you peace for your panic what you can do instantly is he can change your perception what you can do is give you perseverance right there on the spot but see one of the problems sometimes is our prayers to focus so outwardly on the sicker situation they're focused so outwardly on the change of circumstance that prayer misses its most miraculous work which is the change that needs to take place in us so let me just say to somebody very clearly you're not gonna like this part of the sermon I need you to know that God can't change the thing until God changes the person because if God doesn't change the person then certain things are gonna keep on repeating themselves and some of us are not just be praying outward some of us ought to be praying for some deliverances on the inner virtues of the heart somebody instead of praying lord changed my spouse you ought to be saying lord I need you to change my spirit somebody instead of saying Lord changed my finances you ought to be praying Lord grow my faith and settle say Lord changed my boss say lord will you change my bad attitude Lord before you fight my enemy will you please deliver me from Envy Lord before you change the country would you please change my character before your asking to change Trump you better ask them to change your temper y'all don't want to hear this word today and say I need you to understand that peace is the automatic result of time spent in communion with the Most High God and see the thing I want to say real quick is that the application of peace in prayer is immediate but it's not permanent in other words God does not give me peace after one press session for the next 35 days now I gotta go back again at the end of the day I gotta go back again or early in the morning I gotta go to him that next evening because the good news is that he's got an infinite supply that I gotta maintain an infinite connection in order to not be disrupted in my peace in other words one of the things I want to say to somebody is that you got to learn how to get on what I want to call the peace and prayer see saw y'all y'all remember this he saw come on and saying that like when you go to the playground they have the little little metal pole where you get down on one side and you raise up your partner and you get down on the other side and you raise them up and I need you to know that peace and prayer play on the seesaw together y'all y'all Oh y'all not hearing me neither I need you know peace and prayer they stay on the playground together in other words how this thing essentially works is that peace and prayer are on the beam but as soon as I get down on my knees what happens is it elevates my peace but but if my peace is going down it's because I've gotten up off of my knees and out of a posture of prayer but if I just get down on my knees then my peace is gonna go up but when my peace goes down it's because I decided to go about it doing my own way but this will call for somebody to stay on your knees to call on its name because as your prayer goes down your peace goes up as the old song says it's hard to stumble when you on your knees come on and say Amen so listen I'm almost done is to take my seat here verse number 6 the word says I will sing unto the Lord because the Lord has been good to me last thing this text teaches us beloved is that sometimes fear about your future will be defeated if you have an understanding where God is moved in your past see notice what it is what he says he says I'm willing to sing praises unto God why he says because God has been good to me because God has dealt bountifully to me in other words at some point in the midst of this despair when it stands the reason is at some point what David did is he simply consults his own history and when David takes the time please stay with me all that when he takes time to consult his history it gives him confidence about his destiny in other words Ellen White says it the best that we have nothing to fear for the future lest we forget the way in which God has led us in the past in other words you ain't got to be afraid about what's down there because your courage is right behind you when you look at where God has brought you from I believe that all David does as he looks at his own history and in his own history he is able to be reconvince that God has been good to it in other words I can see David sitting down and he begins to think about this time as a shepherd when one day a raging lion came upon him and how God gave him strength to defeat the lion and then he just became convinced that God has been good to me then he begins to look at his own history about one day he had to face the power and the fury of a bear and God gave him power to overcome a bear and he became reminded that God has been good to me but then he remembers the time where he stepped on the battlefield against a giant named Goliath who was cursing the name of the Most High God and how David showed up with five smooth stones but he only needed one to knock down the Giant and cut off his head and he was reminded that God has been good to me but then it looks back as his time as an apprentice of under a tormented salt and how Saul was so tormented that he threw a sphere or a javelin but the sphere missed and he was reconvince that God has been good to me but then his recall to mind God even gives him favor from Saul's offspring so that his offspring were not for him but those offspring were against him and he was reminded again that God has been good to me then he was reminded about how God even puts Saul in his hands how he bought Saul into the cave what David was sitting there waiting and how David doesn't kill him he's just cut off a piece of his garment to let him know that I could have if I wanted to and when he looks at his own history he is reminded that God has been good to me and I just want to suggest that maybe there's somebody in this room that when you look at your own history it is a testimony that God has been good to you in other words if God has ever paid a bill you didn't have money for you ought to stop God has been good to me if God has ever made a way when there was no way you ought to shout God has been good to me if God has ever watched over you on the plane on a boat or in a car you ought to shout God has been good to me if God has ever answered a prayer when your faith was not sufficient you ought to sell God has been good to me if God has ever opened the door if God has ever fought a battle if God has ever come through if God has ever showed up on time somebody out of shot God has been good to me the victory ain't in the future but the strength comes when you look at your past all right let me say it not to just you individually but let me suggest it to us as a people the african-americans who are just feeling like God has forgotten who feels like God isn't different who feels like things won't ever change now suggest that all you've got to do is consult your own history and your own history will remind you that God has got your destiny in his hands in other words all you got to do is look at your own history we came here as slaves on the bottom of ships but God was so good that it taught our ancestors how to use constellations and bodies of water as directional sands for how to get to the north and the Canada and how to get away from their freedom it's a reminder that God has been good to us it just shows when you look in 1863 at the Emancipation Proclamation when with it had no benefit to the country God allowed documents to be signed which guaranteed on paper our freedom when I look down to 1954 I can see in my history of God moved in the courts and gave us victory wins Brown versus the Board of Education and begin the dissolving of educational segregation when I left in 1955 see the fun covery bus boycott and how the little bitty black dollar was able to bring down an entire industry it's a reminder that God has been good to us but look at the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with expanded federal powers to pre protection South Africans living in America it's a reminder that God has been good to me but I look at 1965 Voting Rights Act where because we marched and we protested we got a chance to go into the mouth and make our voices known even if I look at more recent history but I look at November of 2008 and God gave us Barack and Michelle it was just a reminder that God has brought us on my mud mighty mighty mighty mighty long way see I'm reminded of the old song from James Cleveland when he says I don't feel the way science can I say that somebody at home that this is not the time to give up that is not the time to throw in the towel it's not the time to throw faith but it's time for us to get a second wind it's time for us to be revived because I don't know about you but I don't feel no ways tired come too far from where I started from nobody told me get the road would be easy but these brought me to talk I said he's brought us too far to leave us he didn't bring us through lately just to leave us now he didn't bring us through a part time just to leave us man he didn't bring us to reconstruction just to leave us now didn't bring us through chimpo just believe us snap didn't break up through the civil rights movement just to leave us now but if he was on the throne there if he was in control D then he's on the throne and he's still in control if you are retired if you believe he's brought you to somebody he's brought me to me hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah and I just want to say to the body of Christ in these difficult days and even in the ones that lie ahead when you're tempted to say it ain't no change we intend to say it can't get better you just have to remember and remember where we started from remember nobody told us that the road was gonna be but I don't believe he's brought me this far just to leave me I'm gonna say to that young person who's saying all this Church and forgiveness and about God it ain't worth it cuz I still see what's happening out here in these streets I need you to see I need you to look at history because if you look at history you see that God the God of the universe who sided with heal press he didn't leave us but he brought us a mighty mighty long way and there's some times where we we're frustrated that is taking so long but but there's are certain things that just take a long time to see what makes God just he gives us the power choice what makes him just is what makes justice slow I wish I had better news but but they encouragement for somebody is that even if the wheels of justice go slope of the oppressed on this side as I told you first last week nobody ever gets away with but ultimately I need you've known every heartache every inequity every injustice every hardship that guy got swept away they got overlooked when justice was not served on this earth God says in his word that we must all stand before the judgment seat where all of our works and our deeds will be brought to the light I need you to know that there is justice there is mercy there there is a better day on the other side and so my prayer today is that somebody would cling to the faith that somebody would hold on to their trust and that somebody would simply say nobody told me the road would be easy but I don't believe he's brought me this far to leave me my last appeal is this there's somebody hearing the word of God today hearing God's Word and it's challenging you you've been personally challenged about God's timing and and maybe there are some situations in your life that have caused you to give up on your faith because you're realizing now the way you perceived it you thought you were abandoned you thought you were forgotten you thought God was indifferent you thought God didn't care now God was just moving the Dominos God was still at work he just worked in ways that you could not see maybe there's somebody who is hearing the Word of God you're in the home you're walking on the block doing your car we're watching on YouTube watching on Facebook and you want to say I realize that this is not the time to give up this is not the time to walk away from my faith so if you're here in the city of Huntsville or maybe you just need some direction wherever it is you're watching from on the next step spiritually I'm gonna invite you to email me in busy church at BellSouth net or even if you put your email address or your information in the comments on Facebook or on YouTube somebody from our pastoral team will get with you in the next three to four days to give you some next steps but if you're here in Huntsville if you want to make it up your mind so I want to follow Jesus I'm gonna be a born-again Christian I'm gonna be baptized for the remission of my sins when your church opens first weekend I want to become a member of the body of Christ just email me right there BellSouth at busy Church of Mel song net we want to follow up with you want to give you some next steps we want to help you grow and your walk with Christ so that you'll have the strengthen the spirit supported to to make it to the time of the end so right now write down we prayed and we're talking to Jesus so right now every head of household would you would you rather those under your influence would you take some time and pray for their faith that it would not fail would you pray for the little ones that the things that are being seen and talked about and discussed then would not cause them to question God that it would not cause them to walk away and put down the weapons of the Spirit in pick up the weapons of flesh would you pray for for God to give them a stretch in doing strength of a man a persevered you pray you're praying calling on the name of the Lord and and say I'm gonna pick with it I'm gonna say to the anxious person I need you to get on that seesaw see some of us pray we pray spots not spasmodically we pray in case of emergencies but I need you to stay on that seesaw I need you to know that when you get down on your knees the peace of God instantly begins to go up in your life right that would pray and father in heaven thank you so much for your word your word is a lamp unto our feet and it's a light unto our path I'm praying for hurting we use country of hurting bruised community hurting grooves Church I prayed that we would make sure that our direction is not centered just on houses of government or on Pennsylvania Avenue but ultimately put our trust in you and Lord when we look back at our history individually when we look at how you've worked in the history of Africans in America it just gives us a little hope that if you were able to do it then when times were even more fierce in the walls of affliction stood even taller that you're still able to do it and they're able to bring us help and hope now so Lord my friends that you would give us divine strength that you'll give us a and that we would not be tired but in you that we would renew our strength and we will mount up with wings as Eagles run and not be weary walk and not faint clover to bleed blesses would you keep us would you uphold us or we cannot uphold our we prayed this in holy nights listen the wonderful name of Jesus that God's people say together amen

Channel: First Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Id: 6OTIkenQm3k

Length: 58min 14sec (3494 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020