Foundations Part 2 - Dr. Mike

Foundations Part 2 - Dr. Mike

Transcript

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Welcome to Life Series, a podcast from King Garden Bay Baptist Church, where we gather together to experience God's love, grow in God's love, and give that love back to each other.

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Matthew chapter 5, verses 1 to 12. We're reading and you're hearing. Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him and he began to teach them. These were known as the Beatitudes. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for their the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness' sake, for they shall be failed. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. You because of me rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they are persecuted the prophets who were before me. This morning we want to share semonically on the topic Foundations Part 2. Blessings, pain, and promise. Look at your neighbor says, Blessing, pain, and promise. Now, if you want this to go a little bit quicker, uh, because this you're in here, I need to be able to hear you. Uh, as you know, just talk back. Don't be afraid. Say blessings, pain and promise. See now that we're here with these great hosts of musicians. Uh, that we're, I'm gonna ask Brother Drexel to come here. I'm gonna ask Brother Bradwith to come. We can just put the whole band here and then have a new band here. I just want to say hi, and then Dylan is gonna lead praise and worship. Amen. All right, I'm not greeting nobody else. That's it. I put it all together in a nice story to greet everybody. I think I've done my best. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. For these next moments. For those of us who are feeling a bit empty, fill us up right now. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated wherever you are. I want you to journey with me on this morning. Now we started this series on last week. We started this series on last week, and we started talking about foundations, and we started with the end of the chapter, Matthew 7, verses 24 to 27, where Jesus gave the story that those who listen to his parables and his teaching are like the man building his house on a rock. However, those who said he didn't listen was like the man who built his house on sand, and it was about to be ruined because he said, The winds and the rains of life will come. And what would you do if you haven't listened? Now we go back now to the beginning of this sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount, you know, Jesus went up to a place where it was a valley and also called the Wadis, meaning that he preached this message in an area that sometimes amazingly the rain will come immediately and it will flood. At any time, the dry land will come and will disappear and it will be flooded with water. But now, Jesus, now look at me. I want you to come closer if you're if you're paying attention. I want you to Jesus now goes now and starts his sermon in this way. Jesus did not come up on a pulpit, he did not stand before, he did not have the band playing as he walked up. Jesus now came to the Mount of Olives and it said, He what? Sat down. I want you to know that I had to look at this in a very interesting way that Jesus came to this point and he sat down. Before he would be able to begin to speak, he sat down and got close and became on the same level as everyone else that he was speaking with. I don't think that Jesus did his position, his physical position by chance. He did it intentionally. He sat down so he could get close to the people and let them know we are on the same level. Jesus wanted to be able to explain to them that no matter how much miracles you see me performing, I'm gonna sit down and speak to you so I could be able to pick up your heartbeat, pick up your breath, and let you know I'm with you in this. That's why we like the humanity. He does not stand over them, he does not position himself over them, he does not create distance between himself and the people. Instead, he sits among them. Because when people stand over you, it often communicates authority, often communicates power, it often communicates, I know something that you don't know. I'm I'm better than you, I got more money than you, I have more status in you. But Jesus sits. I hope somebody here right now wants Jesus to come and sit in your situation. Jesus is showing his mandate for empathy and concern for those who are disinherited, marginalized, pushed aside, forgotten, overlooked. He may not always be in their position, but he was willing to get close enough to understand their position. He sits where they sit, he comes close enough to hear what they're hearing, to feel their pains and to feel their hurts, and to pick up their scent and their smell. You know that we have some people that you want to be nice, but if they somebody has a bad body order, you don't really want to get close to them. Okay, I'm gonna see, see, this is what happens. I was reported in the church community chat that I only look at this side because my mom and my wife and my dad are over here. Uh, they said this is why. Now I gave you guys a look over here and there was nothing. Two more Sundays. You're not gonna get no more looks. We're gonna try this one more time. You're the leader. Now, imagine now Jesus, we're gonna do this again. He comes close enough to hear what they hear and pick up their sense. But have you ever wanna hug somebody and they had a bad body order and you kind of just want to step away? We've been working on this side, we've been praying. When y'all go back to y'all churches, fast for the right side of the church, amen. But sometimes you want to be nice, but if somebody smells, you don't really want to get close to them. Truth or not, because I don't really want to smell like you after I leave. But imagine Jesus says, I don't care how you smell, you have to understand the audience that Jesus was preaching to were not priests, they rejected him, we're not the high Jewish, they rejected him. He was not preaching in a church because he wasn't allowed. He had to preach in the Mount of Olives because he had nowhere else to go. And he was preaching to the people who were poor, the people who didn't have, who are marginalized, who were just trying to make it day to day. He was preaching to the sick, he was preaching to the widows that lost everything. He was preaching to the least of these. He was under and living under a Roman Empire that was constantly raising taxes, a Roman Empire that was expanding military and people were struggling to survive, a Roman Empire that was filled with wars and rumors of wars, a Roman Empire that understood power but didn't understand justice, a Roman Empire that separated people and classes, a government that was growing and the people were suffering, an economy that seems to say that we're doing good and we're moving forward, but many people were hurting. The powerful were getting stronger and the ordinary people were feeling weaker. And into this reality, Jesus sits down and opens his mouth and says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there's the kingdom of heaven. Now, Lord, that seems like a straight place to start. See your pastor emeritus. Starting off with a negative that blessed are the poor in spirit. How would you start at that point, Jesus? That is not a high point to start a message to talk about the poor in spirit. And he says, why not start with strength? Why not start with some victory? But Jesus starts with the poor in spirit because Jesus understands the people who he was preaching to, he was preaching to a bunch of people whose backs were against the wall. I don't know if you understand what it means to be poor in spirit, but the being poor in spirit is now at a point that you have nothing left. Imagine some people start off thinking that being poor in spirit is because they lack faith. Has anybody had the strongest faith and still end up feeling poor? Anybody had the strongest belief and trusted God but still end up feeling poor? They were poor because they were running on empty. They have to understand that God says the only thing that they had left was the inner spirit, and that was poor. Life had crushed them, they have been pushed, the government had taxed them enough. Some of them have widows, they've lost their family, some of them have lost their kids, some of them were unemployed, some of them were sick, and some of them were homeless, some of them were cast aside, and their back was against the wall. These were not the people that had it all together. This message may not be for everybody, but it's for somebody who's at some point in your life, your back has been against the wall. I want to be able to tell you, growing up in this church, my father always used to tell me, you're either at the beginning of the storm, going through a storm, or at your end of a storm. At some point in time, your back is gonna be against the wall. Well, if you're that kind of person, I'm so happy you came by the King Garden Baptist Church today because this message is designed for people who are backs are against the wall. Now, young people, uh, you might not understand what it means to have your back against the wall, uh, but it came from where people used to fight. And when people used to fight, they used to be able to put people against the wall so you were able to position them. Uh, but what it found out is that when you put somebody against the wall, they have nowhere to go. And usually the person whose back is against the wall fights like they have nothing to lose, but they need some encouragement. I've stopped by to be able to encourage you, is that you have to understand why the world calls you weak because you're poor in spirit. Jesus calls you blessed. The world will tell you to quit, but Jesus tells you the kingdom belongs to you. Howard Thurman, as we've been calling and talking about with Jesus and the disinherited, reminds us that Jesus was speaking directly to the people whose backs were against the world. Thurman argues that the gospel is not God just for the disinherited, it's for those who are pushed to the margin, those who've been denied dignity, those who've been burdened by fear and oppression and hopelessness. Not because your suffering itself, your suffering itself is a sign that your blessing is away. But God says He refuses to abandon the suffering. The blessing is not the pain. You have to understand, no matter what you're going through, God says, I got you. Now I want to go that there's some people right now, because of what you're going through, there is a little devil on your shoulder. I remember when young people I used to watch cartoons on Saturday morning. I parents, I don't know if you go through this, but when I was growing up, there was a spirit that was used to be on me very heavy during the week. I was the spirit of sleepiness. Amen. On Monday through Friday, it used to overwhelm me. I could not get up in time for school. I was running late every day. It just seemed that the bed was a little bit cooler and the nights were a little bit longer. And my parents used to wake me up Monday through Friday, used to have to wake me up. Michael, wake up. My dad sometimes used to be so fed up. He used to just stay in the middle hallway. And one time me and my brother had a drum set in our room, and he used to come in and play the drums. You don't know, senior pastor Meredith played the drums. That's how I learned to play the drums. He used to come in and play the drums in the room to wake us up. And sometimes we just wanted him to play a specific beat. So we used to just pretend like we were sleeping. And Mitch and I used to the covers at each other. And then when he played the calypso beat, we would pop up. And that spirit just struck. I couldn't get up during the week. But ladies and gentlemen, on Saturday morning, God set me free, and I was able to get up and watch cartoons on time. I don't know if your parents are saying you have a trouble getting up. Say, Dr. Mike said it's a spirit holding me during the week. And what will happen? I will get up on Saturday. I know y'all don't know about this. I will get up on Saturday and I I will watch my favorite cartoons. Uh cartoons used to come on channel four or channel seven. I know y'all don't know about this. I used to turn your little Panasonic uh VHF box uh from cable TV, and now the statute of limitations are gone. Uh when we got a little bit older, my brother and I hacked the back of the box, so we got all the free channels. The devil is alive. And what now, what happened is whoo, I got that off my shoulder. Uh and and I see a police guy in the back. Please don't arrest me. Uh, and so what used to happen is I remember the cartoons used to be at the point where you used to have a devil on your shoulder. Remember the cartoons uh when Bugs Bunny sometimes used to say, Should I jump or should I do it? And the first one used to pop off and says, It was an angel used to pop up on the shoulder. The lights look character says, Don't do it, it's not right. And and and Bugs would be like, Well, this is not fun. And then, then the character comes up all smooth and says, comes in your shoulder and says, You should do it. You should take that, you should steal that, you should do wrong. And you have to understand when your back is against the shoulder, some of you and back is against the wall right now. There's somebody on your shoulder trying to tell you the enemy has been whispering in your ear. You need to quit praying, you need to quit believing, you need to quit trusting, you need to quit serving, you need to quit building, you need to quit poping, you need to quit showing up. But I want to tell you that the reason the enemy wants you to come off the wall is because he already sees something great in you, and if he gets you to quit now, he knows he's one. But I understand that I want you to get you to know that I don't want you off the wall. I don't want you to quit praying, I want you to keep moving forward. No matter what's going on, no matter what's happening, no matter what's taking place in your life, I want you to keep moving forward. I want somebody to understand that life is sometimes difficult and life is sometimes hard, but I want you to stay on the wall. Now I want you now to know, let's let's go, let's go now to this passage of scripture. That if you are going through life, I want you to understand what it means for the kingdom of God to be with you. No matter what you're going through, the kingdom of God looks a certain way. The kingdom of God now has a point and a position for you to be able to direct yourself and your mind and your thoughts and your deeds to a point that you could have the blessings of God. Now I want you to just briefly recap from last week. The blessings of God are experienced through love, forgiveness, courage, and community. The blessings of God and experience the kingdom of God are experienced through love, forgiveness, courage, and community. And the building blocks of a good society are the protection of the marginalized, equality and justice for all, but love for everybody. I can't go back into it, but if you don't have these things, you are not experiencing the kingdom of God. This let me say it again. I didn't say no super spiritual stuff. Uh, what it is is the protection for the marginalized, equality and justice for all, and loving everyone. That's the most important thing. So when now Jesus talks about the poor, the Greek word for poor translates to payethos, meaning those without pay. This is not someone who merely is struggling financially, it refers to the beggar or someone who's dependent on someone else for survival. It describes absolute poverty, the poor in spirit of those who are recognized of being completely dependent on God because they have lost everything. Now, this is not for somebody who just have something, you you have a backlit plan besides God. This is for some of us who life has broken you down so much, all you have left to depend on is God. Now I know you might want to admit it in front of your friends because you want to show that you have it all together, but blessed are the poor in spirit. These are the people who life has shaken them and shaken them like a tree, and there's nothing left. There are no fruits, there are no leaves, there are barely any branches. Life has been hard. You've been beaten. Your family has turned their backs on you, your friends have turned their backs on you. You're a victim of losing your job, your mind, your body, your soul all seems to be burdened, and you seem to be bankrupt by life. Nothing makes you happy. You are just fed up with how things are going. Your back is against the wall. And when your back is against the wall, now everybody has a clear view of all your mistakes. I want to tell you it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit. So I've stopped by to be able to describe what it means and why it's a blessing to be poor in spirit. I know this doesn't seem like a fancy message, uh, but there's a blessing about being totally dependent on God. Now, some of us who still have things going on in your life and you seeing God stripping things from you and making you wonder why you have to go through this, it's because God realizes because of all the stuff you have, you're depending on your intellect, you're dependent on your network, you're dependent on your friends, and God says, I need to strip you of all this stuff so you could just depend on me. I know the stripping is hard. I know when you're going through the difficulty, it seems tough, but God is setting you up for a blessing. So let me just tell you, let me take my seat. The first thing is your situation, your situation does not disqualify your blessing, it guarantees it. It guarantees it. Uh, if there were people in here who had faith and were understanding that you will say the worse your situation gets, the bigger the blessing around the corner. Uh, somebody who's been through some stuff in life that I want to remind you that you've been thinking the hardship in your life is so God could position you to bless you. I was talking to a brother, I was talking to a brother, I was talking to a brother earlier this year, and what he said blessed me. And I told him I'm gonna use it in the message. He lost so much things, he lost so much things, and it was hard and it was tough. And I asked him, How are things going now, brother? How how are things going? He says, I lost it, but I gained. And he asked me, Do you understand, Dr. Mike? I said, You need to explain that to me again. He says, I lost these things, but I'm gaining more. Now, let me break it down for you. Some people are thinking. That the things that you need to hold on to your life because you lose some friends and lose some valuables or lose some things that you feel that you're like. God is saying you can get your blessing with these people in your life. So you have to have the courage now to be able to walk away from things that are no longer causing you to be blessed. Comfort is not blessing. Comfort is convenience. And the reason when you get comfortable and convenient, here's the first thing to go. God. The minute you get comfortable, you forget about God. But the minute you're under peril, the minute you're facing a hard situation and your back is against the wall and you're feeling it, God, I need your help. And that's the first time in six months that God even heard from you. So God now has to position us to be poor in spirit. I want to be understanding and I want to share this with someone. I need God every day. Every day. So I need God in my life. I need to pray. I need to read. I need to meditate. I need to work. I need some kind of God in my life. But for those of you who think your situation is disqualifying your blessing, I want to just tell you it guarantees it. So now you have to understand there's a reason for you being there. Your situation, your circumstance was necessary. You're saying, Dr. Mike, if you only know what I'm going through on a regular basis, you won't be up there saying this to me. But if you know the battles and the demons that I have to fight and the things that are coming against me, and you don't understand how hard it is to just wake up in the morning and go to that job with these people who are hating on me and talking about me. Dr. Mike, you don't understand what it means to come into a church and you have brothers and sisters in the church who ain't spoke to me for six months or a year. Dr. Mike, you don't understand what it means to go to a family reunion and everybody forgot you and you didn't get a shirt. Dr. Mike, you don't understand when your kid and your grandkid and your grandchild is not graduating and no one shows up but you and the father. Dr. Mike, you don't understand what it means to look in your bank account and see more zeros, uh, but it starts with a negative. Dr. Mike, you don't understand that you have more bills than money, that your kids want to go somewhere for summer and mommy and daddy can't afford. Dr. Mike, you don't understand how it is to see a government spending millions and millions of dollars of money and we don't have proper roads to drive on. I'm sorry. I'm just saying, uh Dr. Mike, you don't understand how difficult life is. Your parents are preaching to us, and you don't understand. But what I do understand is your difficulty. It doesn't disqualify the blessing. Because of the flight. Because we just want to show off our new dress. Show off our boyfriend, girlfriend, or husband. You want to show all your hair, dude? Looks nice. You cute. I like it. Little finger waves. I like it. That's not finger waves. That finger waves. What is this called? What's the thing at the front call? The edges, yes. You your edges finally got laid down after the spirit of God has been put on them. You done anointed them things with oil, your cup is running over and they're laying down, amen. And you just want to show up to church and show, hey, look at my edges. Sister Mad she's very proud of the edges she sees around here. We give them an A-minus, amen. There's a couple that are C, amen. Um your plight doesn't disqualify you from your blessing, it positions you for it. What do I mean? If you look at Daniel in a lion's den, he would have never understood the grace of God unless he was in a situation where he had to depend on God. Look at Paul trying to walk and Peter trying to walk on water. If he didn't start to sink, he wouldn't know about the saving power of Jesus Christ. I could keep going on and on. Look at Daniel facing a Goliath, that he wouldn't have known that God was faithful unless he had a giant standing in front of him. But let me bring it to you. Some of you that wouldn't have been close to God because of your plight, your position brought you to Christ. Your position in life, your pain in life, is what positions you closer to church. You would have never been in church or never made it here if it wasn't for your plight. I don't know. There may be some people in here, some people like me who've grown up in church all their life. Um, but you have to understand that when you grow up in church, there's a point of time that you have to leave. And when you leave, it's now what you have on the inside of you. But there's some of us, some people in here that you ain't never known God, that that you you you ain't grow up in no church, that you used to go to church, but church wasn't in you. You knew the scriptures, but the scriptures weren't in you, you knew the songs, but the songs weren't in you, and you couldn't wait, and you were out there doing whatever you wanted to do, that nobody could party like you do. Second time you missed it. Nobody could party like you do. Nobody could party like you do. Listen, I know y'all used to party, so it's okay. God understands, He saw it all. You remember when you were out in the world and nobody could start? You will start the party, end the party, be the middle and the end. You're there with the beginning and you're there at the end. You are there. Can somebody say amen and shame the devil? I know y'all, I see y'all. Some of y'all look sleepy right now, amen. You were in a position that you were living so royally, like out of control, that God had to set you against a wall. God positioned you and places that wall in front of you for you to run into. Because if you didn't put something in your own path, death was the next stop. That's the truth. Some of you are in situations that the wall actually saved your life. I know it was hard, but if God didn't put the wall for you to run into, the next stop was destruction. So some of us need to start to be insane for God. Thank you for the obstacle. Thank you for the pain. Thank you for the walls in my life. Thank you for the struggle. Because if it wasn't for the struggle, you wouldn't have been in a position to be close to God. I want to be able to kill somebody here now. What is your life? For those of you who now understand that the blessing is guaranteed because of your situation, is that the plight positioned you. I want to let you know right now that it's God's turn. Now that you're in the position, now that you know that the blessing is God's turn. And I was seeing, seeing a pastor, I was wondering, God, why don't you give me more for this last point? Why don't you make it as full and as boisterous as all the other stuff? But he says it's God's turn. Oh, because you have to understand, a couple years ago, I lost my best friend. One of my best friends was brutally murdered here in these British Virgin Islands. And it's coming up on a month on the anniversary of his death. And you have to understand every time now that it gets closer, it starts to do something on the inside of me because I've never had to go through anything like this. I remember the night that I got the news, a couple hours after I had to sit up in this pulpit and preach. It maybe was the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. And God says, You have to understand that I have to pour things out of you so you could be empty. I want to tell somebody, I know the God pouring out of your life right now doesn't feel good. You understand? You're questioning God, why do I have to go through this tragedy? Why do I have to go through this struggle? Why do I have to go through this pain? Why do I have to face these obstacles, ups and downs? Why can't my life just be smooth? I want to just tell you, you understand that the position is guarantees your blessing. The plight is for your position, but now you have to understand. Now that you're empty, now look at the people. I don't want the people who have it all together. I want the people who are willing to say, you know what? Life has been real hard to me. Things have been real tough. And God is saying right now that you're empty. I just want you to get in position. Uh, but I also want you to remember my promise. And you understand that now it's God's turn. You have to understand why God and Jesus worried and cared about the oppressed, because he identified and said, This gospel is for those who are struggling, this gospel for those who don't have all the strength, the gospel is for those who don't have all the intellect, the gospel for those who don't have it all together. This gospel is for you because he knows that if you come to God with all your intellect, all your intelligence, all your pride, all your money, you're gonna think the blessings in your life are due to those things rather than God. That's why God now has positioned you against the wall. You're naked and sweating and wondering, God, why am I here? I'm struggling. Why do I feel like I need to give up? But God says you have to understand I placed you against the wall. And the reason I placed you against the wall, because now it's my turn. You don't have nothing else between your obstacle but the wall. Well, you have to understand as I was building a house by the contractors in here, Brother Manny, you'll be able to agree there are two types of walls. There are the walls that you just built with blocks, the blocks, the walls that you just build with blocks. And these walls just have cinder blocks, they're just like this, and then there's six-cent blocks, and you just build them. And and and these walls just have a little bit of steel in them, but they they don't have really no support. If something really comes in their life, it's just the wind and the wave is gonna come and they're gonna break. But there's some walls, senior pastor. There's some walls, it's an engineering class. They're called cantilever walls. Uh and the engineers in the house, please correct me if I'm wrong. These are called cantilever walls. What happens is uh the wall now has a base. The wall has a base that now you first you cast the foundation, and now they spend a whole bunch of time casting their foundation. Say if the wall is gonna be six feet long, uh they make sure that they build a depth and they create a base and they put steel in the bottom of that wall. Now, hey, they put steel in the ground and then they will put some rocks. And here's what they do they build the wall. Imagine in your mind, they build the wall with the foundation like this. This is the foundation. All right, you have to understand you with me. Says somebody you with me. This is the foundation. And depending on where the load is gonna be, the wall is on the opposite side of that foundation. I want somebody to understand. So if you're now building a wall and it's against this wall, this is the wall we're about to build. Here's where where are we gonna put the foundation? Uh, we're gonna and the weight is coming on this, we're gonna bring the foundation out this way. Um, so why when the weight now is pushed against the wall, the foundation has an extra footing to help keep it up. Now you have to understand why God placed you against the wall. He didn't just place you against any wall, he placed you against a wall that was already reinforced. Although your back hurts against the wall, you have to understand God placed you on the wall because he knew how the wall was engineered. He says, No matter what, you feel like you're against the wall, but I place you against that specific wall because I know it's gonna be able to hold you up. No matter what, life comes in your way, it feels like you're about to be thrown down. But the wall sometimes serves a purpose of being able to keep you up. Now, somebody needs to understand it's God's servant. Look at David, it says, it's God's servant. What does it mean that it's God's servant? It says in Psalms 34 and 6 it says, the poor man cried onto the Lord and he heard him. I want to tell somebody if you're feeling poor in spirit, cry onto the Lord. And the Lord says, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. So now there's a guarantee and there's a position. It says that God is near to those who are brokenhearted. Somebody who should be getting happy right now would have got this in their spirit. God just says, I want you to remember the promise, and then I want you to remember the blessing. And now that you're in the midst of the pain, it goes on this there's a blessing, there's a pain, but there's a promise. Some of you right now are giving up at the pain and forgetting the promise. I want to let you know, I just want you to get so tired that your back is now against the wall. I don't want this for some everybody, everybody, this is not for you. But these are the people who want to go higher, who wanna do more in life, that life has knocked you down, and you know what it is to feel like giving up. I want you now to understand that God says, I am near to the brokenhearted. Well, I would like to be in a position always that my situation calls God not first, not only just to hear me, but to position himself closer to me. So I wanna have anybody in here ever been in a fight? Anybody, anybody ever been in a fight? I used to watch boxing with my grandfather, my grandfather, aka mentu, and we used to go down to his house and be able to sit on his furniture with the plastic covering on the seat and with the little, he had a plane in the middle, and all I wanted to do was go in there, start the plane, and put it around. See, my grandfather mentu lived an amazing life. He had horses, he had boats, he had businesses, but what he had was a love for boxing. And what I understood by watching, my grandfather used to drop us off, and my grandfather used to have apples there, and oranges, and grapes, and we used to be late at night these matches at nine o'clock, and we used to watch these matches. Some part in my mind, in watching those matches, my grandfather mentor did something. He used to tell us what's gonna happen. And he used to be said, you need to be careful. He says, Mikey, he used to call me that. He said, Mikey, you need to be careful when somebody puts you against the wall. You need to be careful when somebody puts you against the wall. And he was saying, We're watching a boxing match. I don't remember who was fighting, but I remember one of the one of the boxers were against the wall. Now their backs were against the proverbial wall, but they were really against the ropes. And now they were like this, and they were losing, and all they had to do was able to put up their defenses, and now they were getting blows left and right, and they were just against the ropes. And I want to let you know, some of you right now may feel that you're just taking blows against the ropes. Life is beating you up left and right. You seem that you have nowhere to turn and you're against the ropes. My grandfather says you need to watch out for the guy against the ropes. I was like, This don't make no sense. All he's doing is ducking and taking blows. He said, You need to watch out for the guy against the ropes. I was like, it makes no sense because life seems to be making them toss and turn. Life seems to be rocking them left and right. He said, You need to watch out for the guy against the ropes in one more moment. As the bell used to give you a 10-second warning to let you know that there's 10 seconds left in the match. You see what happened is the guy who had the other guy against the ropes got a little cocky. He got a little happy. He thought that the guy against the ropes was about to lose. But that guy against the ropes had nothing else to fight for. So all he did was started swinging and saying, I'm not gonna stay against these ropes. One punch, two punch, by the third punch, the other guy was against the floor. Now you have to understand, you have to look at this like life. When life starts to back you up against the wall. You might have a period in your life that you just have to sit there and take the blows of life. I know you feel like crying, I know you feel like giving up, but I just want you to bob and weave. I just I just want you to stay there long enough and say, God, you said there was a blessing, but this pain seems to be hurt. But then you remember, no matter how hard it gets, I'm against the ropes, but God said there's a promise, and God's gonna give you an indication, something like a bell ring, and say, now it's the time for the promise. I want you to know that no matter what happens in your life, keep fighting. I feel like I'm preaching to myself, but I feel that there's some people in here that life at some point has had you against the ropes. I wanna tell you, keep fighting. But here's what you do when you're bobbing weed. You gotta start encouraging yourself. You gotta say, great is he that was within me, that he's against the world. You gotta say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. But when you feel poor in spirit, you said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for there's the kingdom of heaven. What the kingdom means? It means love, it means equality, it means justice, it means all this. So now, you're not just fighting for yourself, you're fighting for love, you're fighting for justice, you're fighting for those who don't have a voice. So I wanna be able to tell you don't you give up, don't you get off the wall. Name my hand said, I am doing a good work, and I'm not gonna come down. No matter how life tries to tuck you out and think you're gonna get count out. Here's one the Lord has the final say. For those of you who are poor in spirit, who feel like giving up. I just got one promise that God says, yours is the kingdom of heaven. I know you might not feel like it, but yours is the kingdom of heaven. I'm standing on the promises of God. No matter what, I'm standing. Oh, there was a there's a hymn. Mama, you can help me. It says leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all our lives leaning.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

What?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Lee I know some of your young people don't know this song. Thank God for the words on the street. Amen. You could join in with us, Lee. See, I'm leading. No matter where you are, we're about to pray. If you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior, if you've never said, God, I want to rest on your promises. No matter where you are, I just want you to shoot your hand in there. And we're gonna come pray for you. This is for those who say, God, I want to surrender my life to you. No other help do I know. As we are praying all over the church, we don't want anyone in here to be left behind. You say, God, I recognize that I need you in my life. If you want to give your life to Christ, no matter where you are right now, just shoot your hand up in the air. It says, I want to give my life to Christ. I see that hand in the back of a sister there in the back. Let's go to her and pray for her. We're not gonna call you up here. But we should rejoice because guess what? She just won a battle. She just won a battle and says, You know what? Life, you try to throw me against the wall, but I'm choosing God. Anybody else in here want to surrender their life? I see that hand, that sister go. Let's go pray for that. We are not gonna allow the moment to pass. I know that there's somebody else that says, I want to surrender my life. All you gotta do is shoot your hand up, it will come and pray for you and pray the prayer of salvation no matter where you are. For those two who've raised their hands, for anyone in here who feel like you've drifted away and life has made you poor in spirit, and you want to give, rededicate your life to Christ, just pray for them where they are. Pray for them where they are. I want you, if you've given your life to Christ, but you've had not in the right relationship with God, and you want to rededicate your life to Christ, just raise your hand and we'll collectively pray the prayer of dedication, rededication for you. No matter where you are, God sees your hand and knows your faith. But lastly, for anyone in here who at various times life has put you against the wall. And I want to encourage you not to give up. For those of you going into high school, there's gonna be some moments where you feel like giving up. I want you to push through and continue to be amazing. But when you feel like giving up, you could literally cry out to God and say, God, I need your help. Because God promises to never leave you nor forsake you. For the rest of us who are in here, if you need strength just for another day, you can shoot your hands towards heaven and says that's a sign. We we see those hands shooting up all over, and we're gonna pray collectively because your hand is a signal of your faith, because life ain't easy. Saying, I need you, God. I need you for those of the people in here that surrender understands I need you, God. Lord, now we pray first for those who have given their life to Christ. I pray, Lord, that they will confess with their mouths and believe with their hearts that Jesus Christ died and rose for them. And today, all things are passed away, and all things have become new. Today, Jesus has come into their life, and today starts a new chapter on the destiny for your promises that are yes and amen. For those who have drifted away and want to rededicate their life to Christ, God, you said you will never leave us nor forsake us. Now, with our mouths, we say, God, I want you full-fledged in my life. It wasn't for your grace, it wasn't for your mercies, I don't know where I'll be. And for all of us who go through life, ups and downs, trials and tribulations, who might feel that God has forgotten about us, God says, I never forgot about you. You have to understand I'm positioning you for our blessing. So, God, I pray that you'll give them the wisdom to hold on, that you'll give them the strength and the courage not to give up, that they'll use the wisdom of prayer and Bible study and meditation to concentrate on your word. The enemy thought we were against the ropes. But God says when it's time, the promise is gonna be fulfilled. So, God, I pray that you anoint everyone in here anew from the crown of their head to the sole of their feet. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and all those that believe say amen. All those that believe say amen.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Thank you for worshiping with us today. If you'd like to go deeper in your walk with Christ, we invite you to contact us at 284-442-4222, or email us at linen at cgbbc.org. Visit our website at cgbbc.org. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast so others can be encouraged and blessed as well.