Foundations Part 6: Fill Me Up - Dr. Mike

Foundations Part 6: Fill Me Up - 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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We can worship you.

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Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6. We're reading from the New International Version of the Bible. We are so grateful for what God is doing. And we are looking forward to having an amazing, an amazing gospel fest on today, and we are grateful for what God is doing. We have a light man malfunction. Just turn it off. The bass player works in electricity but just don't know where the power switch is. Good job. I told you I was gonna get you back. It just took me a little while. It's fine now. We just got caught in the lines. Uh read Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6. You should know this. Uh and you should have a prediction of what we're gonna preach about for the Sermon Amount. It says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Okay, Naby, let's say it again. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. For they shall be filled. This morning we're gonna share on a sermonic topic, fill me up. Look at your neighbor says, Fill me up. Lord, I thank you. I pray, Lord, that you allow those who are hating to pray. In your name we pray. Amen. Uh for those who are hating, let them pray. Uh, I wore this short this morning. You may be seated. I wore this shirt this morning. I wore it one time when I wasn't preaching. Uh, but we live in a time where we need to direct people who don't like us to do what they need to do with us. Uh if you don't know what to do with me, uh, look at your neighbor and say, if you don't know what to do with me, just pray for me. Uh Matthew chapter 5 and verse 6. I see my big cousin here. Uh my big cousin, she used to babysit me uh when I was younger. Uh she used to babysit me when I was younger. And I just knew she was slightly older than me, but today is her birthday, and she just turned 66. Amen. I just clap for her. Uh, she's back there wearing blue. Chris is so great. 66 years old. Amen. Lord help the knees, amen. Help the knees. Jesus be some alabaster oil and some Epsom salt. Amen. Uh, but God, God, she didn't turn 66. She really hasn't. Amen. Matthew chapter 5, verses 6 and 7. As we go, I want you to buckle up as we're continuing this sermon series on the Sermon of the Mount. As Jesus sits on the hillside delivering this Sermon on the Mount, he's not speaking to people who are ordinary people. What he's doing, he's making sure that he's speaking to these people who are now gathered are the poor. The people who he's speaking to are the oppressed, the people who he's speaking to are the marginalized. Uh, some of us now, as we are looking at this sermon, that you're wondering why Jesus now pivots from where he started from to now saying, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. You have to understand that we now live in a world where going after righteousness is not a popular thing. And if you think about you saying going after hunger and thirst after righteousness, that you will be filled, that you're thinking like God is now, Jesus is now preaching at the Sermon of Amount to these people who are gathered at his feet. The context is that these people who are gathered at his feet are now under the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire is expanding all over the world. However, the taxes and the wars have waged a very heavy toll onto society, and men, women, and children are now falling victim to being marginalized, oppressed, and hungry. Jesus now, very bold as a speaker, is looking at people who are gathered to hear him speak, who are literally hungry, and some may be thirsty. They're now gathered, now listening at Jesus' feet and an empty stomach, listening to the word of God. I hope no one in here right now is hungry, and I hope if you have stomach pains that I'll preach enough that you forget about it. But you ever imagine that these people now listening to Jesus' word and are now in a physical state of being hungry and thirsty, Jesus looks at them not with judgment, but Jesus looks at them with compassion and uses their physical reality to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. He does not ignore their physical needs. Instead, he elevates their understanding by saying that just as desperately as your body craves food and water, you should crave righteousness. Anybody in here ever been really hungry? Anybody? You can raise your hands, we could participate. Anyone ever not I'm not talking about slightly hungry, I'm talking about the hunger that changes your mood. Anybody ever been hangry? Anybody ever been hangry that you are sometimes you're just walking around with the Snickers because you know your spouse is hangry. Not my spouse, your spouse. This is not just just look at this. Jesus now looks at them and saying, the same hunger that you feel is the same desire that you should have for spiritual righteousness. And he's looking at them and saying, This now should not just be an occasional desire, but the hunger and thirst should be continual. You cannot eat one meal and never be hungry again. You have to eat continuously and make sure that you're constantly drinking and feeding, so it's not a one-time occasion. You don't just eat one meal and forget about it for the rest of your life. It's something that you have to continually do, or you will fall into a state of continual hunger and thirst. Jesus is now saying your thirst for righteousness needs to be continual. Look at Nab and says, Stay with me. The problem is that many of us leave and have reduced righteousness to rule keeping. Many of us have reduced righteousness to rule keeping. That's why young people look at church and sometimes don't come at church because they feel they have to be perfect to enter into God's temple. Because somebody in church once told them that they have to be perfect to enter into the kingdom of God. But the scripture now reverses this and corrects this: that rule and righteousness is not just about rule keeping, it's about we often understand that righteousness has to be more than just how you look on the outside. It has to be something that is percolating on deep on the inside. Jesus confronts this type of super rich, superlicious, super, superficial. I have a doctrine, I have a master's, I have student loans, and I couldn't just say superficial. Superficial type of religion that causes people to be in a state of wondering how is church made for me. This type of superficial religion, I'm gonna say superficial so many times that you forget the bad time that I messed up. This superficial religion that we go through. We have language and doctors of English in here watching me stumble. I have a former Howard alumni here with me, watching me just make a mockery of my education. But my education was not superficial, it allows you to come back even when you stumble. And he says, the righteousness that you see, all these commandments and all these things that you go through, and that is not just about the surface level, it is more. The Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted Jesus just to be perfect. That's why they accosted him in a temple and said, Which one of these 667 laws do you think is the greatest? Trying to put him in a trap, and he looked at them and he says, Brethren, I don't know what you're trying to do, but here's what I know uh that the Lord says that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor like yourself. Of all the commandments, these are the greatest. Um but now you have to understand that the people now in church were more concerned about how you look than how you think and how you feel. They were more concerned about your outward appearance than what is going on on the inside. Um, people think that righteousness, that they have some kind of some kind of indebtedness that because they can follow rules a little bit better than you, somehow makes them better Christian. Ah, but sometimes you have to understand your righteousness has to extend not only in church, uh, but your righteousness has to extend at home. Your righteousness has to extend with your family, your righteousness has to extend with how you treat the least of these. The righteousness has to be how do you act when nobody's looking? Oh, but you have to understand now the Greek word for righteousness means living in right relationship with God, and in right relationship with God, it means that you're not just living in right relationship with God, but you're living in right relationship with people that you always say. John says, How can you love a God that you don't see and hate the neighbor that you see every day? How can you love the God that you don't see but the brother and sister or the friend that you have to rub shoulders with you can't love? Some people claim to be righteous because they attend church and can quote scripture and no religious language, and they but you yet you tolerate injustice and you promote division and you refuse to show mercy. This is not biblical righteousness, this is religious performance. Look at tell look at your neighbor and says, You're a good performer. Don't look at them too much because they might hit you. Uh, there's some people who are good at performing and not good at living. Righteousness has no room for hatred, it has no room for prejudice, it has no room for exploitation, it has no room for dishonesty, it has no room for indifference to suffering. Righteousness means I only not only love God, but I love what is happening around me. If you want to be righteous, it depends now that you're treating the least of these, you're treating everyone as if they're God's children. How could you say that you love God but hate the people that are created in his image? God says we all are created in his image, but you love God but don't love your fellow man. That's not righteousness, that's religious performance. And some of us are now being caught up in the performance rather than allowing God to perform a work on our heart. The prophet Micah says, What does the Lord require of you is to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before our God. This righteousness we must ask ourselves is a difficult question. What am I hungry for? I want you to know that you need to pause and ask, what are you hungry and thirsty for? What consumes your thoughts? What drives your decisions? As I'm so much passionate about things that happen, are you more passionate about your career or are you passionate about being consistent? Are you more passionate about making you sure you have commas, or are you more compassionate about your character? Are you more conscious about success or are you more passionate about holiness? Are you more concerned about being right rather than doing right? The righteousness has dimensions, and I can't stay here too long, but when we place our faith in Christ, uh let me give you a brief Bible lesson. Uh that there is a Pentecostal and this something called sanctification, and we go through this whole process. Uh, let me break it down for what we believe in in terms of what we practice. Uh, the righteousness has dimensions. Look at David said it has dimensions. Uh, when we place our faith in Christ, God declares us righteous uh through his finished work in Jesus Christ. Uh, stay with me, you those of you who have gone to Bible study once or twice. Uh, this is our justification. Uh, because of Christ, we are justified. Uh, then the Holy Spirit begin to transform us daily in the renewing of who we are. We can't be righteous on our own. We need God and the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of us. Uh, and then when we're living, we're going towards sanctification. Uh, but finally, one day, when Christ returns, our righteousness will be made complete when that will perfectly come into his image. That is his glorification. Until that day, we need to not never stop hungering and thirsting after righteousness because as long as we live on this earth, we're gonna need grace and we're gonna need the Holy Spirit. So, those of you who think that you've become righteous because you got saved, try it for a little bit. If you take a tree out of a plant, or the first day the leaves are gonna still look green, or the second day it's gonna start to wither. Uh, by five to six, seven days, it's gonna turn brown. If you are not connected to the source with this, your power and your relationship to Christ, you're gonna dry up. Look at God, look at your neighbor. Say, I need God every day. Uh, the reason why I'm still alive is because I realize I need God every day. Uh Jesus did not say, Blessed are those who are perfectly righteous, he says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessing is in the pursuit. Look at your neighbor says, the blessing is the pursuit. So when people say, Where are you on your Christian journey? say, I'm on my way, and that's the blessing. I'm on my way. I might not be fully there yet, but I'm on my way. Look at your neighbor and says, I'm on my way. Oh, I want you to know that the promise is extraordinary. It says that when you go after hunger and thirst, the pursuit, the consistent pursuit, it says, You will be blessed. The world leaves us hungry. Success leaves us wanting more. Wealth cannot satisfy your soul. Recognition fades. One day you will not be doctor so-and-so. One day, no one will care what you did. One day the visits will slow down. But here's what remain: your righteousness and your integrity. I look at this, and as I'm now in this stage of my life where I'm watching the people that raise me get older, it really bothers me on the inside. It really convicts me on the inside. Uh, because you wonder what will happen to me in 30 years. Well, will people still recognize me? Will still people still call me to speak? Uh will people still call me to pray? Well, will people call me to counsel them? Will I be invited anymore? Or people will sometimes I just will fade into the night. You must know that at some point somebody is your your recognition and your titles are gonna mean nothing. And what you do and what's most important is your righteousness. Meaning, how you take care of people now, how you love people now, how you cherish people now, will depend on who takes care of you when you can't take care of yourself. You're so worried about success and wealth that you're leaving your family behind. Guess what? That same family that you ignored all these years are the same people gonna have to take care of you. Be righteous all around. But let's not keep you too long. I want to be able to share a couple things with you. I want to be able to tell you that this world will leave you hungry, that people now are going after what they think, and now we have this whole opinion of what it means to be righteousness. Can I tell somebody something? God doesn't care so much of how you perform, God cares about your heart. I was just thinking about this and I got convicted. Here's what happened. I was always my favorite Bible character is David. My favorite Bible character is David. Why? Because David was allowed to show us the good, the bad, and the ugly. Look at your neighbor says the good, the bad, and the ugly. David was also anointed king, uh, but David set up somebody so his husband could be killed, so he could end up to cover up uh adulterous relationship, and then he sent that man to the front lines to be killed, and then he ended up, the baby got lost, and David ended up marrying that same lady. Do you understand how corrupt David was at some times in his life? But you know why David was called holy? Because he had a consistent desire to please God in spite of his imperfections. That's why David is called a man after God's own heart because he had a desire. Some of you right now are allowing your mistakes to cancel your blessing, and God is saying, now is not the time. Stop allowing somebody and your past to stop you from progressing and embracing the proclamation and the promise that God has placed in your life. You don't allow anybody, you don't allow no mistakes, you don't allow any setbacks to say you can't move forward. You want to just keep that hunger and thirst. Why? Because you will be filled. Look at your neighbor says, Are you hungry? Are you hungry? Uh, the most important thing is that you have to understand that you uh what are you hungry for? Look, your neighbor says, What are you hungry for? I know don't don't tap the neighbor who looks hungry. They some of you are physically hungry. I can see the ribs on the side of your stomach, your shirt, your collarbone is protruding. I'm not that type of hungry. I know you're trying to get your summer body in, uh, but can we get our summer soul together? Can we get our soul together this summer? You're so concentrated on looking good rather than feeling good, rather than have your spirit right. What are you hungry for? In this world now, we have people who are hungry for power, who are hungry for position, and I want you just to be hungry to treating each other right. Where is the yearning to make sure that nobody in this country goes hungry? Where's the hunger that everybody's treated right? Where is that hunger? The same passion that you pursue, the same hunger that you have for everything else. God is saying, Can you be hungry for me? The same God now that you got your blessings, the same God that you prayed to when you were going through. Now that you have it, can you still stay hungry? Uh there were stories that I went, I went, I w I I watched a couple episodes, and one of my favorite things now, if you know uh that when we went away, is that when we went away, I was young. I was I was like maybe eight years old, nine years old. Uh, but I have a really great memory. When we went away, uh I was eight or nine years old. Uh this time we had a group called the Young Endeavors. Uh, the Young Endeavors, they had saved money uh by selling all types of stuff and doing all types of walk-a-tons and concerts, and I was able to tag along to New Jersey. I think the year was 1993 in the year of our Lord. Uh 1993 in the year of our Lord, and we went to the New Jersey, and we went, I was so happy. I was like, New Jersey, this is great. And we went to some place called Bloomfield, New Jersey. Ah, Bloomfield, New Jersey. As I got older, I know that you don't never pick up from the Virgin Islands to go to Bloomfield, New Jersey. Uh, that is not just one of the glamorous places that you go. Uh, but it had a very interesting concept. It had a very interesting concept. We we went to this place that had had red lights. When we pulled into the big parking lot, we were like, Well, what is this? Uh, we got to the point now where they said they said this is called golden corral. I was like, Well, this is very interesting. I've never seen a golden or a corral. Uh this seems like what a very interesting place. And I was when we got in, they said everybody has to pay a fixed fee. Uh, just in just for inflation. Say at that time it was fifteen dollars and ninety-nine cents. Uh, they says for fifteen dollars and ninety-nine cents, uh, you can have all you can eat. Oh, wait, ladies and gentlemen, we don't have this concept here in the Virgin Islands. I've never been to a buffet in my life. I was like $15.99, and you could have all you can eat. Here's the kicker. They said, You not only can you have all you can eat, you can have all you can eat and drink. I was like, Well, welcome to heaven. Uh, where's the angel? Peter should have met me at the door. At nine years old, I know I bucked up on something special. I walked in there and they says, Here's your plate. And now I went around taking being cute the first time. I was being cute because I don't really want nobody to buffet shame me. You know they're the buffet shamers. And I don't want nobody to buffet shame me, but I was hungry. I was a growing young man. I had worms in my stomach. I could eat long and happy. The first time I went up, I just got something cute. And then I felt the people that I remember somebody says, you know, you can go. I said, what do you mean? You know you could go back. I I had forgotten, so I went back again. And then first I started with American, then I did Korean, and then I did Japanese, and then I did, then it says, Are you finished yet? You know there's dessert. I said, I'll make room for dessert. Don't worry about it. And then you know they said one time I taught, I remembered watching later down, they said that there's sometimes that you will go to these buffets and they don't follow their own rules. Because there was an instance where a man went to the same buffet and his hunger and first wasn't being filled. The management came up to him and said, You have passed the limit of what is allowed at this buffet. You have to take up your stuff and leave. I want you to stop. He'll say, You can come back to me and keep coming to a fountain that will never run dry. God says, No matter what you're going through, I will not get tired for you falling on your face. So, what are you hungry for? We need to be hungry for prayer, we need to be hungry for praise, we'd be hungry for seeking God's face because God will never get tired of you. Oh, look at your neighbor. It said the second thing is the blessing is the pursuit. Your neighbor says the blessing is the pursuit. You have to understand not to miss this in the text. Let's go back to this. It says, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. I want you to know sometimes in the Bible, uh, for those over here, let's say it again. It said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. So the blessing is it the blessing for those who are perfectly righteous? Is the blessing appointed to those who have it all together? The blessing is now dedicated for those who hunger and thirst, meaning that the pursuit, some of you need to understand is if you understood this right now and you find yourself on a journey towards a goal, you'd have just got happy. Because some of you right now are getting tired of the pursuit. You're saying, God, I'm walking this road all along. When is the blessing? The blessing is the journey. Some of you are not happy in life because you're waiting to get to a destination, and then you get to the destination and you're not happy because you miss the blessing along the way. All those nights, all those sleepless nights that you study, that's the blessing. When you feel like giving up, that's the blessing. When hard times happen, that's the blessing. You have to understand, you have to know that the blessing is the pursuit. So now, when you look at your pursuit as a blessing, no matter what comes your way, you will never give up. Because you now know this is all part of the blessing. This is all part of what God has for me. The blessing is in the pursuit. Look, your neighbor says, Don't stop. Don't stop. I remember now me and my wife were, I'll tell you, we were building this home. I I would never do it again. The Lord knows I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever do it again. Uh, it is one of the most difficult things that you ever do. Uh, but last week I was looking at a picture, and my wife sent a picture in our family chat. In our family chat, it had a picture of us that was standing outside of our unfinished home. I it was standing outside of our unfinished home, and at that point, the steel structure was just up, and I was looking busted and disgusted, tired from working all day on that house, and my wife was there with the family. We took a picture together. Uh, who would have known that after we took that picture, uh 28 months would have to elapse before I move in and we moved into that house? You have to understand all the things that went wrong in this whole journey. And anybody ever built a house before from scratch? Uh, anybody ever anybody ever built, anybody ever done that? Anybody ever wanted to see a contractor? We we can't say it. You're seeing your contractor now, and you just started talking to them three years after uh because you weren't really mad at them, but it we all been through so much, you're kind of like, let's give ourselves 12 months to get this back together because there were some moments there. Have you understood that when we were building this house, COVID hit? And after COVID, everything went up. Do you understand building this house? I literally lost my hair. Literally, do you understand that we went entirely wondering what is gonna happen next? And at that moment, I looked with tears in my eyes and said, God, this can be a blessing. However, what happened in the lonely nights and the difficult times is that God was percolating something deep on the inside, and that percolation of something deep on the inside caused me to deepen my faith. Some of you need to know that everything that you're going through has a purpose, and God is assigning up and alighting things in your life to make sure you are blessed. Don't miss the journey. I want to be able to tell you that the blessing is in the pursuit. I want to be able to remind you that don't get wary of doing good. But I want us to collectively make an agreement to make sure that we will never stop pursuing righteousness. That we won't allow what is going on in the world around us to cause us to become discouraged. Some of you right now are wondering, Dr. Mike, why may I try to live righteous when everybody who's living wicked seems to be getting ahead? Remember, the meek shall inherit the earth. Don't worry about those who are forcing their way into places that they don't belong. God has a blessing with your name on it, and nobody else can get it. Don't worry about it. Your seat is already assigned. I just want to tell somebody, I know right now it's been years of you praying, it's been years of you fasting, it's been years of you trusting, and you're wondering why do I keep pursuing this dream? Why do I keep trusting God? Why do I keep coming back to the same place where God is asking me, do you trust me? Why do I keep end up in a position where God is saying, I'm gonna place you in this position so you can surrender? It's because God is saying, I'm not through with you yet. I want to let somebody know that you thought that what is happening in your life is causing you to be discouraged and despondent. But God is saying this is a part of the journey. You are right now in the right place where God wants you to be. Don't get wary of doing good. I want to tell somebody, don't get tired. I don't want you to get tired of doing right. I'm tired of what's happening in this world. Can I tell you sometimes you look around and you're wondering why is there so much confusion in the world? My prayers really matter, does my faith really matter? Does my discipline really matter? It might not matter to everybody, but it matters to God. I want to let you know you need to change your audience and stop worrying about what everybody else says and worry about what God says. God says, I'm gonna bless you once you continue to pursue my righteousness. No matter where you are, if you might be far away from God right now, God is saying to you, I want to bless you and you need to start the pursuit. Somebody look at you need to start a pursuit now, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know if you've ever seen a car chase. If you've been in this church long enough, uh, you know that my alter ego and what I really wanted to be in my life was a CIA spy. Uh see any any kind of secret clandestine organization that this not too superficial in what things that happen. I told you I was gonna lose it one more time. I don't want a superficial task, I want a task that's really embedded in saving the world. Uh, one of the things I like about action movies, uh, one of the things I like about action movies is that there's always a chase. Look at neighbor says there's always a chase. Uh that now there's chases that happen through cars, uh, there are chases that happen on foot. Uh, but I like a good car chase. Anybody likes a good car chase? Uh, you imagine yourself behind the wheel, imagine yourself behind the wheel of a Foxbody 9093 uh with turbo in it, uh, with slicks on the back, and the cops came up to you, uh, but you know that they were dirty cops, and they didn't really mean you any good. And they whole set this whole thing up to entrap you, and you were indicted to the spirit, and you knew that your mission was bigger than the cops because you work for a higher organization, uh, but you didn't have time to show them the badge. Uh so you looked in your rear view mirror and you put your seatbelt on and you started that five from O V8 engine and it started to rumble. And right now, when it started to rumble, you saw the police with the lights there. I'm not telling nobody in here to run for the police. This is a sermon example. If you end up running for the police, I'll see you on third Sunday when we visit the prison, amen. Uh, but now I'm there in the car, suited and booted. I saw the lights, I said, this is my time to shine. And now that you have to understand that I realize that I'm gonna be pursued. I realize that I'm being followed. And sometimes when you're being followed, I have to understand that the thing now, the cop wants to catch me. And so I'ma make sure I maneuver. I was driving now, I left town, and instead of going up Joe's Hill, I went up to Paul Watley Hill. Uh because I was gonna sneak down to see Cow's Bay and go around the little A race track. I was gonna back into the boys gas station by Wrinkle Laton to act like I was getting a car wash. I will wait for the car to slowly pass by, and I will turn my lights back on and I will ease back out and turn left. I will start speeding down to West End, but then I'll forget since the rock sand that ain't finished fixed the road. So I had to slow down. So then I took elevator hill and I said I'ma go back to Sage Mountain. And then I got out my car and got to Sage Mountain, but there wasn't a trail. So then I had to end up flinging my door open. I slid out the window because I needed to be more dramatic. And then I started running through Sage Mountain. I hear the footsteps behind me of the cop starting to get tired. He says, I'm pursuing you. I said, I know. He says, Aren't you tired? I said, I'm tired and hungry. And the cop says, Well, I'm tired and hungry too. The cop says, you don't understand if I catch you, everybody else hasn't been able to wait and catch you. The last person that chased you when you got to Sage Mountain, they said they quit because they're not getting bruises on their skin. But the cop says, here's what happened. On July 19th, I went to this church and there was this young man there preaching, and they said, he said, you should hunger and thirst after righteousness. He says that the pursuit is a blessing. Uh so now when I came and I saw you there running with your little fancy 5.0993 fox body purple with turbo in it, and you going all fast and going up elevator hill because you know the road ain't finished, and you ended up the sage mountain, and you start going through the bushes. I realized at this point, this is the point that everybody else gave up. This is the point when the bushes start, when the heat started, when I started getting hungry and thirsty, that's where you got away. Uh, but that young man at that church says, he says, the moment you start getting hungry, the moment you start getting thirsty in your pursuit, that's the blessing. So he started running. And then at some point, as I was talking to him, I realized I wasn't looking back anymore. He was there talking beside me, and I was saying, Hey, how you doing? He says, I'm pursuing you, and you're my blessing. I know you've been doing this a long time, but I have to take you in. And this is what happened. He jumped and pounced and threw me down. He says, I'm not gonna let this blessing get away. The pursuit wasn't finished. He secured the blessing. They placed me in handcuffs. He says, I'ma walk you back to your little fancy car. And I says, Well, you can let me go now. You prove your point. He says, No, I gotta bring you now back to the station. I got back to the station. It's three o'clock in the morning, as you know, there's no police at the desk to receive me. Nobody's there. They came to King Garden May police station. That ain't never open. Are there all types of crimes? And I was like, I'm now at King Garden May station. I'm ready to make a report. He says, Well, the station is closed, but I'ma take you to town. I'm not talking about this officer. Uh, she's a good officer. She subcomes to work, all dressed, suited, and booted. I'm not talking about Brother Simon. He's a detective. He's he's he's always on the job. Uh but the lady in the yellow back there, she's always a uniform. That's not that type of police. I'm talking about the ones who don't really need to be on the force no more. Are those police that that that giving you tickets for nothing? So now they took me back in the car. I said, Man, there's nobody around. Why don't you just let me go? He says, the blessing is not finalized until you get before the judge. So he took me to town. He says, I'm gonna take you to town and put you in a cell. I was now in that cell, I was wondering. Now this young man is saying, I said, I said, young man, why are you pursuing me with so much fervor? I'm already secured. Why are you making sure that you don't finish? He says, Listen, the catching you was part of the job. The pursuing was part of the job. Uh, but I know that if I want my final blessing, I need to bring you before the judge. I sat there now, imagine my imaginary prison, and the days went by. And he says, now is your court date. The judge now comes and sits before us. He says, We've been trying to catch you for a long time. You are the blessing that everybody was afraid of. And now I'm gonna make sure that you get. He says, Who is the officer responsible for catching this near getaway criminal? I said the officer stood up. He says, uh, he says, What made you do it? He says, What made you chase him? What made you go to Sage Mount? What made you get scratches and bruises? He says, He looked at your honor. He says, Your honor, I know everybody else gave up on this blessing. I know everybody else got tired, everybody else got hung. He says, However, on my time of pursuing him, you remember that time I asked for leave to go to church? You remember that July 19th, I went down to King Garden May Baptist Church. I told you there was a young man down there preaching. Uh, he was preaching on the Beatitudes, and he was saying, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And he says, Because they will be filled. So here's what I said my temporary hunger, my temporary thirst in pursuing this blessing is not gonna be compared to when I get filled. He says, Well, whoever preached that message for you has to understand that now you're not just a constable. I'm gonna promote you to sergeant. And in a couple times, if you keep securing the blessing, I will keep elevating you. And he says, Here's what I want you to do. Not because you got this original blessing, I want you to lose your hunger and thirst. I want you to be as hungry, as thirsty as you were when you got the original blessing. I hope you like the little story time. I saw your eyes twinkle, I saw your heart get alive, I saw your ears perked up, I saw your spirit get in alignment. But now let's swip it on you. I want you to know that your blessing is just like that criminal in that five-point old foxbody Mustang. That you have to get to a point now that no matter what you're chasing, no matter how far it goes, that you will pursue it. When you get hungry, you don't stop. When you get thirsty, you don't stop. I want somebody in here that you'll pursue righteousness with that same fervor. I want to leave you now, but I want to let you know it says, but let justice roll like a river, righteous and never end the failing stream. And he says, Oh Lord, what do I require of you? I'm the God who's asking you, what is it that you should do to be righteous? I just want to tell you, and let me leave it with you uh to act justly. But your neighbor said, just be just, just be just, just treat people with kindness, just treat people with fairness. He says, What else do you should do? You should love mercy, meaning that you can't be out here acting like you are without sin. Show mercy to somebody, and here's what you should do. If all you should do is show that you're righteous, is walk humbly before our God, meaning you're not better than nobody else. You know that you're only here but for the grace of God. But I want to just remind somebody you might be hungry, you might be thirsty, you might feel like giving up. But I want to just tell you something. And before I take my seat, don't stop. That man in the police who was chasing that invisible criminal, he says, I'm not gonna stop until I get my blessing. Some of you right now, God has blessed you a little bit, but God has more in store for you. Look at your neighbor and said, Don't stop, don't stop, don't stop. And here's what happened when that police officer got that commendation from the judge. He says, Judge, thank you. He threw his hands up, he did a little dance, and he says, What are you doing? He says, I'm grateful for you, but I'm grateful that I was obedient to the word. I want everyone in here who knows that God is faithful to do, exceeding above all you can ever ask and hope for, to know that the promises of God are yes and amen. I want somebody to understand that no valley and no hell, no brick wall or no defenses can stop you from the goodness of God. There's some of you right now are right knocking on the doorstep of your blessing, and there's so much stuff trying to distract you, but I want to remind you, don't stop. There's so much peril trying to distract you. I want to remind you, don't stop. There's so much persecution coming your way. I want to remind you, don't stop. Because they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up like wings as eagle, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and never faint. They that wait, I want somebody to know that you should seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and all other things will be added onto you. Don't worry about what's happening in the world. Seek God's face. Don't worry about it. God wants you to seek his face. That's the type of righteousness we need. A people who are loving God so much. That no matter what, nothing. And a pursuit for God can start at any point in your life. And some of you may need to start over. But that's not a bad thing. God says once you start the pursuit, your blessing is guaranteed. Because the blessing is the pursuit. Some of you are allowing fear to stop you from doing what God has called you to do. We can all stand all over the church. But it says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the sin, the way of sinners, nor seated in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his light does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that are bringing forth fruit in its season. His leaves also shall not weary. But whatever he shall do shall prosper. The promise it says, In your pursuit there will be sun, but it will not smite you by day, nor the loneliness of the moon by night. The Lord will preserve your soul. Some of you here who are going through and on this journey, God is preserving your soul because your purpose is not finished. No matter where you are, no matter where you are, we don't want to miss this moment. First, if you've never, if you've never given your life to Christ, I want you now to say, God, I'm ready to start that pursuit towards righteousness. As we all the saints around here create an atmosphere that makes it easy for someone to surrender, that you're praying right now that all distractions are removed. If you want to give your life to Christ, you can raise your hand and one of us will come and pray for you. Because God is still in charge. He has not forgotten about you. You want to start this journey now for some of you who are in here. That's your distance from God and your distance from your purpose and distance from your plan has caused you to feel like you're not being blessed. But God says you are never far outside of where I want you to be. God says, start your pursuit. So if you need to restart where God needs you to be, you can raise your hand and says, I surrender my life back to Christ. I rededicate my life back to Christ. Things have been happening just to get your attention, no matter who you are. And for those of us who want to be real, that life sometimes is just really difficult. And the hunger and thirst after God is lonely. But you realize that you're not gonna give up because the blessing is the pursuit. If you just want collective prayers, we're about to do corporate prayer. You can raise your hand, your hand is a sign of faith. It says, God, I just want the faith to continue. I see those hands raised over the church. I just want the faith to continue this journey called life. We see those hands. Your hand is a signal saying, God, I realize I can't do this alone. Lord, as those hands are raised, as these hands are raised all over the church, our eyes have not seen and ears have not heard, and we're not sure what's going on in their life. But God, I pray that right now that we are able that we're able to move and shift and be able to do things. That now my hand raised is a signal of surrender. My hand raised is a pledge to say, God, I am re and asking you to direct my life. This pursuit has been filled with all types of traps, all types of setbacks, all types of surprises, all types of things that I never imagined. But God, you are now telling me the pursuit is the blessing. So we will not stop pursuing righteousness, justice, mercy, love, fairness, integrity, creating us a new heart, a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. Lord, we are not cast away, but we're prepared to do amazing right now. We are prepared for a battle. So, God, now settle in our hearts. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but you come to give us life and have it more abundantly. Lord, the abundance of your presence that is resting us. We call for renewing of the Holy Spirit to catch fire on the inside, to wreck our thoughts, our deeds, our actions. Lead us to forgive even those who don't deserve forgiveness. Because we were once undeserving of forgiveness, but your grace and mercy cause us to be delivered. So, God, we thank you. Restore us, refresh us. You are an amazing God. Thank you for never giving up on us. And we will not stop. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, name of the Holy Spirit. If you believe, say amen. You believe say amen. I will not stop. I want to let you know that no matter what's going on, don't you dare give up. Amen. Don't you dare give up.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

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