Welcome to City Reach Cumberland's weekly podcast. We hope this message blesses you for more information about us You can check us out on the web at cityreachcomberlands.com The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 He says that Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of those who have died and that since he died and rose again If you're in him that when you die you will rise again And that later that chapter he talks about the Trump he says that trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will be raised To incorruption which means that if you've passed on that you're gonna be raised again You're gonna get a new body. That's good news. Who's ready for a new body?
Yes. Yeah, Don says amen and yesterday The older we get the the more we're looking forward to that new body And if you're still alive when Jesus comes and that Trump sounds and you're in Christ You'll get a new body too So that trumpet's a great thing to look forward to to hear that trumpet But if you don't know Jesus that trumpet's not a good thing So I encourage if you don't know Jesus today's your day Can we get the lights up in the auditorium please in the sanctuary? I will move these so I don't knock over everything I did last week. All right.
Hey, I can see you guys. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning. Good to be here today So you can imagine on that day when that trumpet sounds and People all around the world come out of the grave. You think it's chaotic today You think there's like the media's going nuts today that day will be crazy They won't know what happened. We know what's happening Well today.
I want to take a time just this past week. I just asked the Lord is like Lord. How long can this go on? Anybody been asking God that lately how much longer?
2020 corona political season How much longer can this go on it's wearing me out and so God God took me this week to to the book of Naeum now if you've never it's in the Old Testament and The book in Naeum is one of what we call the minor prophets not minor in the aspect that Naeum was a little guy or that he was less Impactful, but if you if you study the Old Testament, there's major prophets typically the longer prophetic books Isaiah Jeremiah big long books And then the smaller ones Jose a Joel Amos over died of Jonah Mike and they on those those are minor prophets So in the book of Naeum, I just give a little background on the book the book and name is kind of like a sequel Anybody watch a sequel? No, I better go to the movies not not anymore. No, you don't That's a thing of the past too So the book in Naeum is like a sequel to the book of Jonah So most people are more familiar with the book of Jonah if you remember that God sends Jonah to the city What's the city to go to? Nineveh sends in the city of Nineveh and he says I'm gonna destroy Nineveh Unless they repent of course Jonah doesn't want to go he gets on the ship he goes to Tarshis They throw him overboard he gets caught up in the belly of a big fish three days He spends in the belly of the fish spits him out on the land and he goes and preaches to the city of Nineveh and says If you don't repent God's gonna judge the city destroy the city and it said on the first day everybody repented And he was actually upset about it believe it or not So fast forward a hundred years So now a hundred years later Nineveh that had repented under the ministry of Jonah has now gone back into their evil ways It's a wicked city Nineveh was the capital of the of the other Syria And Nineveh at that time was oppressing for generation after generation was oppressing Judah And I'm sure the people of Judah at that time were thinking things like we are where's God in the middle of all this?
When's this gonna end? God where are you? I've had those thoughts. I'm sure you've had those thoughts and so in the middle of not in the middle But in verse 7 of chapter 1 so the book and name is really this prophecy about the destruction of Nineveh That's gonna come and I think in around 612 give or take BC the city of Nineveh is literally completely destroyed So much so that up until just a hundred and fifty years ago people thought that Nineveh didn't even exist that it was just an allegory in the Old Testament Of something bad until they discovered it in the 1800s.
We're like oh wow imagine that the Bible's right go figure So I want to look at this story. We're gonna read the first eight verses verse 7 says the words that I want to bring to you today verse 7 Says that God is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him Everybody say that the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him Father I just pray today as we open your word Holy Spirit use it to encourage to speak to challenge to convince father that you are good No matter what the circumstance is that you want to be our stronghold and Lord You know those that truly truly trust in you Father. I thank you for this time speak now in Jesus name Amen all right So before we look at this when we look at the Old Testament we see we see a God who brings judgment on people So a lot of times we read these stories in the Old Testament We get a picture of God a certain way, but then Jesus comes and Jesus is the manifestation of the very nature of God So Jesus brings us a clearly different picture of God and what I want you to remember is that when Jesus came He said that the law and the prophets were until John speaking the John the Baptist But since that time the kingdom is preached and everybody is pressing into it because under the law and the prophets There was judgment when the kingdom begins to get preached all stunned. Wow.
This is great. This is something new This is the age of grace and this is the time that we now live Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount He said don't think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets but to do what but to fulfill them So what does that mean? So the law just think of like this Jesus We know that Jesus fulfilled the law that he kept the law perfectly all 613 of those do's and don'ts so essentially the law was for the purpose of pointing out what's right and what's wrong and Without the law we don't know what's right or wrong So God brought the law and to establish this is what's right and this is what's wrong Everybody has broken it in one fashion or another the book of James says if you offend in one point that you're guilty of the whole thing So it's not it's kind of like if I took a BB gun to one of these windows and I shoot it and crack it I don't just have to replace the one piece. I've got to replace the whole glass So if you offend just in one point you're guilty the whole thing So that Jesus came and fulfilled the law and he kept it perfectly and on top of that He said I'm coming to fulfill the prophets well the prophet really had two two main emphasis the prophet talked about the judgment That would come because of breaking the law and the prophet would also talk about the coming Messiah that was gonna come one day So the prophet was talking about judgment talk about hope Jesus fulfilled the law that he kept it perfectly But he also fulfilled the prophets that on at the cross he took all the judgment all the penalty all the shame all the guilt all the sin and died The death that you should die and he also fulfilled the hope of the Messiah that's coming So when we look at the Old Testament we look at the Old Covenant I've told you this before I want you to put on your new covenant lenses We want to look at this through the lens of the new new covenant that we now live under so we're gonna read some things that are Sound bad, but in the midst of this so you have name he's delivering this to the people and he's saying hey It's bad, but right in the midst of what's going on that's bad God's good and I really probably would rather title this God is good But I had to pick one I didn't know whether God is good.
He's a stronghold or he knows who trusts him So I went with a stronghold in the day of trouble. I feel like that's that's kind of like what we're living in That's kind of the day today So let's go ahead and read this we'll turn to name chapter one if you have your bibles or you can look up here name one And we're gonna look at verses one through eight The burden against Nineveh the book of the vision of name the Elkeshite God is jealous and the Lord of vengeance the Lord of Vengeance and is furious the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserves wrath for his enemies the Lord is slow to anger and Great in power and will not acquit the wicked so there's a point there I want to make a point that God will not acquit so if you've ever been to court before and you've been you've been Charged with something what's everybody want you want an acquittal right you want to be found innocent you want to be let off the hook So so the Prophet says that God will never acquit the wicked God will never let you go free that all sin Must be accounted for and all sin must be punished That happens one of two places that either happens at the cross Where that happens in eternity in hell and that's your choice So your sin the book of Romans tells us says for all have sin everybody sin everybody's shall fall in short of God's standard That's Jesus you fall in short. He's set the standard you fall in short It also tells us that the wages or the penalty for your sin is death that because you sinned the law demands death But the good news is Jesus fulfilled that Jesus took your penalty Now God does not acquit sin because he's just he has to punish sin But the good news is he sent Jesus to take your punishment So you can let that judgment fall at the cross you can receive that and be forgiven or you can say no I got it. I'm gonna do it myself and you can spend the rest of eternity paying for that.
I suggest you put your faith in Jesus It's a better choice It's kind of like when God when Moses read the children of Israel and do their on me 30 And he said I lay before you today life and death anybody remember this verse blessing and cursing So I'm gonna give you a two-part exam. It's a and B You only got to it's not like ABCD. It's just a and B life and death blessing and cursing choose life So he gives you the options, but he even tells you the answer to pick choose life It's much better life better than death blessing better than cursing choose that so it's really up to you All right, so verse four says the Lord has his way in the whirlwind now I really want to just think about this because as we read these things I want you to think of it in this this context that the mighty power of God that he displays over creation and also in the Destruction of the wicked is the same power that he displays and employs for the protection and provision of those that are his So to the same degree that he we're gonna see his power over creation to that same degree is the power that he puts in place To provide for and to protect for you. So listen this it says the Lord has his way in the whirlwind So think about it ef5 tornado, right?
170 mile an hour plus wins says he's got his way in that tornado If he wants to walk through it, he's gonna walk through it. If you want to walk on top of it He's gonna walk on top of it and in the storm a category five hurricane walks right through it He has his way it doesn't doesn't impede him the clouds are the dust of his feet He rebukes the sea and makes it dry and dries up all the rivers So he has his way in the tornado his words speak over top of the rivers and the seas and dry them up Beishan and caramel with her the flower of wet Lebanon wilts the mountains quake before him the hills melt the earth heaves at his presence Yes, the world and all who dwell in it next life Who can stand before his indignation who can endure the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him This is what the prophet is is Pronouncing judgment on Nineveh for their sin, but in the midst of that here he gives this verse of hope to the people of Judah He says the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble He knows those who trust in him but with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place and darkness with darkness. He will pursue his enemies Alright, anybody want to figure out what the three points are today? God is good.
Are you guys are with it, right? God is good He's a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who trust in him don't want to talk about that today Alright number one God is good. Alright, so if I said this I got enough churchy people here anybody here churchy I don't like churchy. I'm not real churchy, but I got enough churchy.
I was churchy eyes the word Jordan you probably get better at vocabulary than I do is churchy eyes the word Can we make it can we put you know what urban dictionary it's in there? I guarantee you churchy eyes if it's not I'm putting it in If I say God is good, what do you say? I knew you guys are churchy eyes the new it you know I've been to churches and man people will make a message out of this But it's I feel like it's something we say and don't even think about the meaning of it or don't even 100% believe it You know it almost makes me feel like when I was a kid and there was a Miller light commercials Now this is going back and we're talking about beer in church. We'll get to point So you have one side and they say taste great unless those I would say less filling Taste great less filling I always feel like God is good all the time God is good and we just say it But I need to tell you that God is good It's good because his word says he's good But here's what happens a lot of times a lot of times we have Experiences in our life that make us question the goodness of God And if you tell me you haven't had this thought we'll talk about lying later if he was a good God Then why did he allow?
You ever thought that fill in the blank if God was so good, then why did he allow this to happen? Why did he send this into my life? Why did he permit this? So I just want to take a minute and talk to you about a lot of times what Confuses us and brings bad theology into our thinking is that we don't really understand the sovereignty of God Now before you say amen, you might want to know what I want to say because you may not agree But hear me out How many times do we ever hit a situation?
We don't understand you're telling somebody about something in your life And they say well, you know God is in oh you guys are churchy eyes Right we put it in this box of God is in control Can I tell you there's a difference between being between God being in charge and God being in control Be think of it like this. I've got I've got several businesses at each one of those businesses. I'm in charge But I'm not in control because I've delegated the authority at that rooftop to somebody that's there I have a perfect plan for that business. I have a perfect plan for this business I have a perfect plan for this business But the fact that that plan happens or not relies on the person that's in control at that location See if we believe that God is control in control, then we have to believe that everything that happens was his will We say that again for you if you believe that God is in control Then you've got to believe that everything that happens is his will It's not God's will does not always come to pass.
I'm gonna prove it to you first that's the lonians four verse three This is the will of God for you Even your sanctification that you should abstain from sexual immorality What's God's will abstain from sexual immorality does that always happen? I better be a big no First that's lonians five 18 in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Do you always give thanks? Are you thankful in every situation? Is it God's will is it God's will that you give thanks in every situation?
Does it always happen? No second Peter three nine God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness But as long suffering to us Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance God's will is that no one perishes God's will is that everybody comes to repentance does that happen? No, it's his will see Jesus said in a terminal man He said why does the gate and brought is the way that leads to destruction, but few there be that find it narrow is the way Or sorry many that find it narrow is the way and few that find the way that leads the life So there's lots of things that God has planned for me God has planned for you God has planned for this church That don't necessarily come to pass because he's given the authority on this earth to us So you got to realize that when God put Adam on the earth He gave authority to Adam Adam forfeited at the Satan God sends Jesus as a man to get back what Adam lost And then when Jesus left this we gave it to us The Psalmist says the heaven even the highest heavens is the Lord, but the the earth he has given to man See what happens is quite often we have in a situation come into our life and we think oh well, it's bad It must be God's will So we we fall back on this. I want to say fall back in a bad way because I kind of let's call it the ace in the hole Maybe I got an ace in the whole verse.
Let me give you an ace in the whole verse Romans 8 28 You probably know and we know what that all things work together For good to them that love God to them that are called according to his purpose So we know that God can take a bad situation whether it was the enemy whether it was my bad decision Whether it was none of the above he can take a bad situation and work it out for good But just the fact that he works it out for good doesn't mean it was his intent See because sometimes what happens when the devil brings something bad into our life We embrace it because we think we'll got to work it out for good therefore all embrace the situation You got to know is it from God is it good or is it from the devil and is it bad? If it's from God embrace it isn't from the enemy it says resist him and he'll flee See sometimes people say why I don't believe God sent it, but God allows it That's just really a lesser thought of the same idea My son's gonna be a doctor next year He's gonna be a gynecologist, but I'm gonna sue for many is gonna be an orthopedic surgeon You guys now I think so let's just assume for many He's gonna be an orthopedic surgeon if I broke my daughter's arm So that my son could display his skills of setting a bone. What kind of dad would I be? Probably end up in jail, but we put God in that same box Say why don't believe God sent it, but he allowed it Well, what kind of dad would I be if I allowed somebody to come into my home to break my daughter's arm Why I sat and watch so that my son could display his skills and reset the bone?
That's just as bad That's not your father your father is good Even in creation if you read through Genesis chapter one everything that God made was what good and Genesis chapter one verse 31 It says in God saw everything that he made and it was very good Everything God doesn't make bad things God makes nothing bad everything that God makes is good When Jesus came there was a rich rung-ruler come up to Jesus and he said good teacher What do I need to do to inherit eternal life and Jesus says why do you call me good? There's no one good, but the father Jesus wasn't saying he wasn't good. Jesus was saying if you're calling me good, I'm also God, which he was the father's good Jesus is good He has no bad thoughts about you He always is thinking positive for you, but see we can have bad situations in our life to make us question Is God really good? I'm gonna tell you what to do with that thought rejected stand against it Because God is always always good In addition to having good next slide.
I guess I better get moving here. That's the next slide So sometimes we got to reject these things that the enemy brings into our life not embrace them thinking that they're good from God Because all sudden I can let that thing diminish what I believe about God and his goodness that he's always good Everything he does is good But the psalmist in Psalm 34 eight says taste and see that the Lord he is what good So there's also measures of God's goodness that can only be accessed through experience See there's levels of understanding that can only be accessed through experience. So I never base your doctor on experience God's word says he's good He's good remember we said last week forever. Lord your word is settled where in heaven God's good But there's also ways to experience additional levels and have more understanding of the goodness of God So think about it like this I've had people tell me here's one I haven't experienced man when you get grandkids It's so much better to raise grandkids than kids Can anybody attest to that?
Okay a couple is that true? Okay, but I know that I'm looking forward to those grandkids But until I actually experience that for myself I don't completely understand it if I told you that hey having a wife is the greatest thing that you could ever experience and If you knew my wife you would know that's true. Hey, did you press and got her first tattoo this week? You'll never you'll never see it not that it's in a bad spot.
It's her eyebrows She laughing she said I look like grouchy marks now you're all gonna be looking at her I gotta stop So David has this invitation He says I want you to taste taste has to do with experience once you taste then you're gonna be able to see see means to perceive See means to understand so that there's things some things about God that he's inviting us into this in He's giving us an invitation to experience what he has for us But you've got to be able to take a step into it see I can stand up here all day long and tell you how many know what gravity is oh My gosh, you kidding me. How many know what gravity is are you afraid to answer? How many experience gravity you do every day? How many have ever experienced the acceleration due to gravity?
Okay, so I just experienced it just now in a very small measure See the acceleration due to gravity says that in the first one second you're gonna fall 9.8 meters about 30 feet in the second second You're gonna fall double that so about 60 feet and then it keeps adding each time So that most of us if we fall just a short bit We just experienced a little bit of it But if you do a base jump or you sky dive you're gonna get an experience that's completely different than this So there's certain things with God that I can only understand as I begin to walk into it and experience that makes sense He's got good plans for you and he wants you to walk into it. He wants you to experience it He wants you to taste it next life So you got to be completely and fully persuaded that God is always good and he has good plans for you common verse next life Jeremiah chapter 29 11 how many know this verse you ought to put this verse in your Bible underline highlight it write it down Memorize it right know the plans I have for you says the Lord plans for what good so God's not only good But he has good plans for you. He says I know the plans I have for you They're good plans other translations say thoughts of peace peace is the word Shalom It means wholeness completeness soundness God wants everything put together in your life God doesn't want you missing in any area. He wants your life to be complete He wants it to be whole they're not plans for disaster to give you a future and a hope hope is really a confident expectation of good So if I if I don't know that God has good plans for me, how can I ever expect anything good to happen in my life?
God wants good in your life. God's good God only makes good things God only prepares good things if it's bad Where to come from? Oh, come on if it's bad who sent it the devil. What did Jesus say in John 10?
Look at this verse next slide It says the thief comes it's not for accepted will do what steel kill and to destroy but I have come that they might have Life I am the what what's Jesus? I am the good shepherd the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep So he says the devil is coming to take away the devil's coming to steal the devil's coming to destroy everything the enemy does is bad I'm the good shepherd. I'm coming to give life If you don't know, let me make it real simple for you next slide If it's good, it's of God If it's bad Where to come from it came from hell So God doesn't make mistakes. God does nothing bad.
God is what good I want you to better day thinking God is good So it's having that it's almost like a foundation or a cornerstone of your thought because if I don't know that God is good How can I ever walk into anything that he has for me? I've got to have confidence knowing that he's good in everything for my life for my business for my ministry for my family for my kids Good good good Number two God is a stronghold in the day of trouble He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. What's a stronghold? So often we think of strongholds in a negative sense.
I better hear about bad strongholds Yeah, strongholds can be bad. The enemy desires to set up strongholds in your mind He wants to have strongholds in your life Second Corinthians chapter 10 of his verses three and four four and five It says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal which means physical But our mighty through God to the pulling down of what? strongholds casting down Imaginations or arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing them into captivity to the obedience of Christ So see here's how the enemy works He starts it's actually in reverse order here But he starts with thoughts and that thought becomes a high thing or a proud thing and that proud thing becomes an argument or imagination And before you know you've got a stronghold in your life. You got a stronghold.
It's like got you in captivity That's what he wants to do But the flip side of that is God says don't allow the enemy to create strongholds in your life come to me and let me be your stronghold I want to be your stronghold. I want to be your fortress I want to be your place of safety So that's what a stronghold is a stronghold is a place or a means of safety It's a place or a means of safety that actually means the word fortress That God wants to be the fortress that you reside in See how many times do we want to play in the world until things get bad and then what do we want to do? I want to go run back to the fortress of God Oh, okay. I'm going back out.
I'm going to play with the fire some more. Oh getting a little hot better to back Okay, I'm gonna go crawl over here and do that No See if he's going to be you don't know when the enemy's coming in so I suggest you stay In God Don't go running around with the world. Don't go running around seeing how close you can get to the fire and and how close you can get the Temptation without falling over the edge stay in the stronghold God wants to be your strong. Here's a good thing day of trouble that word trouble means adversity anybody going through some adversity today It means distress anybody got a little distress in your life It means calamity it means tribulation.
Here's the good news They had been being oppressed by Nineveh for generations and what's God call it a day of trouble See when God looks at this thing from the perspective of eternity, it's a day So you're going through it right now and it maybe it's been a week Maybe it's been a month. Maybe you've been stuck in this rut for a year. God says it's a day of trouble It's a day of trouble. The Lord says a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day to him He can take care of this now The other thing is the fact that it is a day keeps put a time on it.
Guess what it has it has an expiration date That thing it's he didn't say this is an eternity of trouble. He said it's a day of trouble So know this God's good. God's got a good plan for you You might be going through it right now if it's from the enemy rejected, but it has an expiration date It's not going to last forever. You will come out of this and you will come out of this victorious.
That's what I know Alright next slide Let's go on to the next one So sometimes we think we think well, I'm a Christian nothing bad happens to Christians Anybody call bowl on that one, right? I shouldn't have said that Yeah Things happen things happen not because God planned them because we live in a sin-ridden world See nothing bad happened in the earth until sin entered God created a perfect environment. That was his plan for Adam Everything was good. Nothing bad came in until sin entered in but we live in a sin curse world bad things happen Here's David of all people.
David was a man after God's what own heart a guy that understood forgiveness a guy that had a picture of the new covenant A guy that just stayed in the presence of God But he had people out after him the king that he was under was King Saul King Saul was trying to kill David Matter of fact if you read Psalm 59 I encourage you to read it The very beginning of Psalm 59 says basically a poem put to music that David wrote when Saul sent messengers to kill him So here's David. He's been anointed as king, but he's not the king yet Saul's trying to kill him trying to wipe him out And he talks to his son Jonathan says hey, I'm gonna kill David. Jonathan says now, you know Let's let's let's not go that far and then next day an evil spirit comes on Saul and he throws a spirit David and tries to kill him Are you having that bad of a day? And then the next day Saul after he misses David He sends messengers to David's house and his wife I don't know if his wife got wind of it from her father or if she was prompted by the Holy Spirit But she said you need to leave or you're gonna get killed tonight And she actually sent David out the window puts an idol or an image in his bed puts goat hair on it So when the guys came to get David, she said oh, he's sick And so he left and Saul said go back and bring his bed to me and I'll kill him in his bed And when they went back to his room They pulled back the sheets and there sits in a big wooden image with goat hair on it And they realized they were deceived God made a way See stronghold means a means or a place of safety sometimes it's a place sometimes it's a way out God always provides a way out David knew this David was a man after God's in heart, but he still had people after him He still had to fight the enemy.
So I was singing your strength I'll joyfully put cling your faithful love in the morning for you have been a stronghold for me a refuge in my day of Trouble. Hey, he had trouble too. It's not that you're not gonna have trouble It's what are you gonna do when the trouble comes David and I were talking about singing about who you're gonna call Remember that we thought about making this the thing for where we're fogging We were fogging the we're gonna do this David. We're fogging the auditorium Why wasn't but David was I say we want to make this like a ghostbuster song I ain't afraid of no virus Just start walking around fogging a place.
Well, you're gonna call you're gonna call on the lord You're gonna call on the lord. He's your stronghold See, but the enemy wants to create strongholds in your life He wants to do things in your life that keep you from God He wants to bring things in your life to keep you from God. God says stay in me stay in me dwell in me abide in me I'll protect you All right last The enemy wants to form a stronghold in your life. God wants to be the stronghold in your life All right, here's the most important one Cornerstone foundation.
You got to believe that God's good But I know God's good and I know his plans for me are good And I know his intentions for me are always good And I know he's out to protect me not to harm me that he has plans of peace What can I put in him at that point? Trust I don't want to put my trust in somebody that doesn't have my best interest at heart I don't want to trust somebody that doesn't care about me I don't want to trust somebody that I question their intentions that one day they're good and the next day they're bad That one day they're for me the next day they're they're biting me in the back The one day they're they're giving me, you know a hand up the next day they're giving me a punch in the face God's always good and because he's always good. I can put my trust in him See it says that God knows Those that trust in him that word knows is really it really has the connotation of intimacy It's the same word that she was in Genesis chapter four verse one that said adam knew his wife eve And they can see the child It talks about intimacy That God knows If you're Wanting to do business or not? God knows If there's really something there or not or you just going through the motion God knows or you're just trying to run to him when things are bad and running away for him things are good See God knows the ones that trust in him So a lot of times you might fool you might fool me you might fool me You might fool your friends.
You might fool your co-workers. You go to work. You have your old john 3 16 on the wall Say God loves you You might say God bless you. You might fool everybody at work But God knows He was able to be an anointed as king to guide anointing and thinks that the I think of Samuel he thinks that the older brother is the guy and God says hey don't look on him For God sees not the way man or man doesn't see the way God sees for man looks on the outward appearance, but God what's God see?
He sees the heart God knows you might have everybody fooled in the world. You might even have your spouse fool But God knows See there's coming a day that if you don't have a relationship with Jesus But you're gonna have to answer for everything that you've done in life And actually pay for that. I said that earlier God will never acquit sin. It's either judged At the cross you either receive what Jesus did or it's judged in eternity in hell And you spend eternity paying for that There's a good in the next slide Matthew chapter 7 verse 21 to 23 So sobering story Jesus tells about people that come before him and talk about Jesus knowing Your heart People come before him and says not everybody who says to me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven But he who does the will of my father in heaven I'm gonna talk about that in just a minute many will say to me in that day lord lord Have we not prophesied in your name cast out demons in your name and don many wonders in your name And then I'll declare them.
I never knew you depart for me you who practiced lawless He didn't say that you were saved and you walked away or he said I never knew you There was never a relationship You might even fold everybody you might have prophesied you might have cast out demons You might have done all kinds of things that on the outside looked like you were a believer But there was never a day that you actually put your trust in me See sometimes we even see people that a lot of times we think well How could they do anything miraculous if they weren't saved? So you gotta think about this if you look at the end of mark chapter 6 16 When it says these signs will follow those that believe They will cast out demons they will speak with other tongues if they drink anything deadly It should by no we can hurt them They should pick up serpents you lay hands on the sick and they recover all those and it says they went out and preached The lord working with them confirming the word with signs So that miraculous signs confirm the word of god they don't necessarily confirm the person So you gotta be careful. We might be full God's never full You might fold everybody on earth, but there comes a day when that trumpet sounds That's either a good sound or a bad sound So he says no one will enter the kingdom of heaven except those that do the will of my father in heaven It's real simple. It's not keeping the old testament law.
It's not keeping the 10 commandments It's not coming to church on sunday. It's not praying every day of the week. It's not reading the bible from genesis to revelation It's one thing John 6 last line This is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the sun and does what believes in him They have ever lasting life See jesus came that you can have life and then you can have life abundant and that you can have life everlasting So the apostle paul he explains a little bit more He said that if you confess with your mouth the lord jesus christ and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead You'll be safe. So there's this connection between the mouth and the heart.
So a lot of people that mouth the words I believe in god. Oh, yeah, I believe in god. God's a good god James says the devil's belief So you got to get your mouth in your heart in unison. You got to say that yes, I believe jesus is the lord You got to believe And this is what god sees we see this I can see your profession of faith, but I can't see your heart The god sees your heart Someone asked you today.
I don't stand up. We're gonna pray done Biggest question you can you can answer number three. I want to pray for those that are going through a tough time here in a minute But god knows those that trust in him and if he knows those that trust in him guess what else he knows Those that don't so I could look out here today and you could say yeah, I'm safe. Yeah.
I know the lord I'm gonna believe whatever you tell me But here's that here's the fact god knows god sees your heart god sees behind that exterior. He knows The best decision you can say today is I put my faith and trust in jesus So if you've never done that today if you've never known what it means to have your sins forgiven I want to pray for you. I'm not going to embarrass you I just want you to just to slip up your hand say say pastor pray for me today I want to know that I know see that hand. Thank you right here.
Amen. Anybody else anybody else? All right, so usually do I want you to say this father I know that i'm a sinner and I know that you sent jesus to die for me And I know that he died and he rose again the third day And I put my faith in my trust a hundred percent in him And now i'm a child of god According to your word in jesus name Let's give a hand for that one day You know right now in heaven the angels are going a little bit of this their dancing said the angels in heaven are excited we're excited No, I want to pray for you today. Anybody going through it.
I mean, I mean everybody right let's just receive what god has for us today Just write your hands out like this. We're gonna receive what god has It's gonna just put your hands out just the way to receive from god. We're gonna ask the holy spirit Just to just to be that strong power today holy spirit right now I pray for that one that just received you to put their faith in trust in you I ask you to fill them in the name of jesus be real to them speak to them Confirm to their heart that they're now the righteousness of god that all their sins are completely forgiven father that each person Right here with their hands raised today. God.
We're all going through it Sometimes we say god where are you in the midst of this but holy spirit you have never left us Jesus you will never forsake us that you've never gone anywhere that you're right here Father that you're good. Lord. I just pray your goodness right now over everybody here today everybody watching online I just pray good things father may your good plans come to pass in their life Lord plans to prosper them plans of peace plans that are not of evil or disaster plans that are of an expected end and In a hope of a good future. I just declare that over them now in the name of jesus Lord for those going through it I just asked that you would they would draw close to you in this time of need and father that you would be their strong power that you would be their fortress Father that you would just Encourage and strengthen them and your mighty power in jesus name amen amen.
Hey god bless you today. Have a wonderful day Thanks for coming