Pastor Robert and TaQuaris Smith
Robert: As we were thinking about the message we were going to bring forth this morning, I was listening to Pastor Brian's messages that he has been preaching the last couple of weeks. And last week I just got really fired up. If we had a second service, I was ready to go. I'm sure Pastor Brian, Jeff, you guys understand that when something drops in your spirit, it's like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You are ready to go. I pray that what the Lord has placed in our hearts today is something that will cause you to grow in him. It's my desire as a preacher for you to be better than you are today in him. When we think about that, what came to my mind that Sunday is not a topic that I haven't shared before, but to share it in a way that is meaningful for you, Hope and the rest of the body, more meaningful in this season for you.
And so we are going to talk about faith today, but not the same old Sunday school lessons we learned about faith. I think we can graduate from that a little bit. And so when we use the word faith in Christendom, we can talk about faith in different ways. I liked that pastor talked about last week we don't call our walk in Christ a religion. I know society wants to label it, but we describe it as our faith. Even the scriptures describe it as our faith. There is faith in order for us to be saved and we call it saving faith. There are different terminologies or different contexts that we can use the word faith, but I want to focus our attention on an action of faith. Sometimes when we use the word faith, we are so spiritual that faith seems somewhere out there in the ether, that it doesn't seem very tangible to us.
We want to make it tangible to us today. Faith is not blind, like I just heard on a secular television show this week about blind faith. Faith is not blind. We are going to talk about why it's not blind because in order to have the faith that we are going to share today, there has to be an object of our faith. And that object of our faith is the Lord. And so it's not blind. It's not something that we just wish something happened. No, there is an actionable, tangible thing that we have when we say we have faith. The scriptures have a lot to say about faith in the different aspects of faith. And so I want to kind of open up this morning. TaQuaris is going to read a scripture in Romans to kind of set the atmosphere of where I want to take our discussion on faith today. So if you can read Romans chapter five verses one through five—
TaQuaris: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by fate into this grace in which we stand. And so we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, not only so, but we also boast in tribulation knowing that tribulation produces patience, patience produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Robert: Amen. When we were discussing, um, this message and this scripture, we could preach the whole message today on Romans one through five, but that would be a different aspect than what I want to do today. But it's the contents of this passage is something that the Lord shared with me about a year ago, about how to apply faith, because how in the world does the scripture says that we are going to boast in tribulation? How is this hope produced when we are going through rough times? How are we confident even when things seem to not go our way. When circumstances seem troubling, how do we produce joy and hope through those things? How was our character changed? How was patience form during those things? It's because of faith, but faith in the object of our faith and that's faith in God.
But what does that mean? What does faith in God during these circumstances mean? For the purpose of our message today, this is the definition that I want to give you about faith. Faith, what we are talking about today is our absolute confidence in God. Faith is our absolute confidence in God. There is no way that during tribulations that you will gain patience and hope if there is something that you are not pointing that to, or depending on. And that's something that you have to point to or depend on is God. It's not something blind is because through whatever you are going through, you can look back and you can see that there is one thing that was constant. Even when you failed, even when you made the wrong step, even when you said the wrong thing, there was one thing that was constant that God was always there and God fulfilled what he said he was going to do.
And so through each trial, when we go through those things, we can see the goodness of God. That's why the Psalmist David can sing the songs even when I'm in a fiery pit. Even when I'm down to the ground, he can have confidence that his God is his redemption. Even when his father-in-law, King Saul was persecuting him even when he was abandoned in a cave by himself, his own men that he trained up abandoned him. He had the confidence, he had the faith, he had the absolute confidence in God that he would be delivered. That doesn't come blindly. We are not guessing. We are not wishing for anything, but we know that we have a God who is there for us and has the best things for us. Amen. And so this is going to be a series on faith and that this series is faith with the subtitle of trusting in God.
And so each time we are blessed to come before you, we are going to have a certain aspect of trusting in God. Today, we are going to talk about trusting in God's character. The next time we come, we are talking about trusting in God's promises. And then the third time we come before you, we are going to talk about trusting in God's program and his timing. And so, because when you trust in God, whatever we face, we are going to rely on those three things about God. We are going to trust in his character, which we'll talk about today. We will trust in God's promises. If you want to subtitle that, his promises that we are talking about, it's his promises through his word. And then we'll talk about his program, his timing, God is sovereign. God is in control of everything of this world. And he has a specific timing in a season for things.
And we have to trust what he is doing in those times. Amen. The way we are going to bring these messages to you is to talk about how we apply this faith. Especially when we receive opposition from the enemy now, right away. When we talk to Christian folks, the only enemy they know is the devil, the Satan. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but we have more enemies than the devil because you and I, and everyone around us have this thing called the flesh, the carnal nature, that is an enemy to our soul.
And I dare go on the limb sweetheart and say that I believe that the flesh is a bigger enemy than the devil. That may be just me. But when I look out through our scriptures and what Jesus has done, according to the new covenant, the devil is defeated. Sometimes I think we make him bigger than what he is. And a lot of times we give him more credit than he deserves. A lot of times what we blame the devil on is just our plain stinking flesh, which is contrary to the spirit. You don't have to take my word for it, it is in the scriptures because the carnal mind is hostile enmity against God. That's what the word says. And so the scriptures have a lot to talk about the works of the flesh. You can look in the letter to the Galatians. And if you look at that list, it may sound devilish, but there is a whole lot that the flesh can do before the devil even gets involved.
But for the purpose of what we are sharing today and forward you can insert the devil as the enemy. You can insert the flesh either way. You have to have faith in God to overcome these enemies. Amen. And that's why I like this next scripture in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter six is probably one of my favorite chapters in Ephesians, especially when it talks about the full armor of God. I love the revelation that the Lord has given me about the full armor of God. And I thought that this passage, Ephesians 6 and verse 16 was appropriate to what we are talking about. Faith, especially when it comes to overcoming trials and tribulations and the enemy. So we want to read two versions, one that we are more familiar with, first in the King James.
TaQuaris: Ephesians 6:16, above all, taking a shooter fate, where with you, you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And that's the king James version. In the living Bible, it reads: in every battle, you will need fate as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.
Robert: So I looked at the living Bible translation and I'm like, that's exactly what we are trying to say. In every battle, you will need faith as your shield. In the King James, it says above all. And that's because in the previous verses, it goes on talking about the full armor of God that you will be able to withstand the enemy in the evil day. It talks about the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the spirit, the belt of truth, but here, it says above all. It says when all those things are you are using in your trials, your daily trials and your struggle with doubt and fears and when every fiery dark comes from the enemy. It says, when all of that is said and done, you are going to need faith for those things to work. You are going to need faith to hold those things together. You are going to need faith to quench those fiery darts that come from the enemy, whether the enemy is Satan or whether that enemy is your own fleshly mind, because our fleshly mind can get in the way of God's way for us. You ever heard of the term stinking thinking? That's just fleshly, carnal thinking. That's contrary to the things of God can be very devastating for us, especially when we are going through trials and tribulations.
You see here in Ephesian six, it says the shield of faith has a purpose. And that purpose is to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy. Now, notice it did not say stop the fiery darts from coming. It said to quench, because in this walk, we can't avoid fiery darts. What are fiery darts? Let me explain what that is and let me come back to the shield of faith. Fiery darts are schemes, temptations lies, deceptions, and attacks aimed at God's people to get God's people to shift our trust to something else or someone else other than God. Remember, we said, faith is our absolute confidence, our absolute trust in God. The fiery darts come to shift that trust away from God. So the Bible tells us in order to quench, not stop them from coming, but to extinguish them, we have to have faith in those things.
As a powerful illustration, as the apostle Paul was writing his letter during his time, his audience would really resonate with the image of a Roman soldier because in that region of the world, that time, the Roman Empire was occupying the land. And so as far as a big soldier, military presence, it would be of this Roman soldier and his Roman soldiers were known for their military fighting techniques and tactics and armor. And this particular part of the armor was a shield. This belief has been debated, but I believe in this interpretation that this shield that Paul had in mind, was this huge shield that would be able to cover arrows coming, and we'll be able to be, as the soldiers would flank together, they can even link shields to form a wall for protection. And the way this shield would be made, it would be made with layers. And these layers were designed because the arrows in that day often would be laced or coated with some type of fiery substance. So not only would it Pierce, but it also burns.
Have you ever been pierced by a lie? Have you ever been burned by deception? And so, as these arrows are shot and they come up against these shields, the shields didn't deflect them away, but they were allowed to have a little penetration, but the layers would be able to extinguish those fires. And so that's what applying the shield of faith does to every lie, every scheme, every temptation, every deception that comes our way. When we hold up our faith shield, when we hold up our absolute confidence in God and in for today's when we hold up our absolute confidence in God character, that's going to extinguish those things that speak contrary against God's character in our lives. Amen.
I love the word because it gives us examples, practical examples, for what we are talking about today, one of those examples comes in Genesis chapter three, and it's a situation where there is a fiery dart or several darts that's going to come towards Adam and Eve, and it's specifically going against God's character. So I want us to read in Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 through 6.
TaQuaris: The serpent was to shoot us of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in a garden?" "Of course, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied, "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says, you must not eat it or even touch it. If you do, you will die." You won't die." the serpent replied to the woman. "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it. And you will be like, God, knowing both good and evil." The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful in his fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her, so she took some other fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too.
Robert: Did you see what happened? Adam and Eve heard what God said. This is God saying you can eat of all the tree in the fruit of the garden except this particular one. God said this. Here comes the serpent to pretty much call God a liar. It's an attack on God's character. And what happened with Eve? This particular passage is says the woman was convinced. So she came under deception and she bought the lie from the enemy. Even after she heard what God said, she was convinced. But why? You see, we can blame the devil for temptation, but guess what? You can't be tempted with something that's not in you. This scripture says she wanted the wisdom that it would give her. She had a desire that went beyond what God's desire was for them. And so the enemy used that and she was able to be convinced out of our own fleshly desires.
See, I told you we can have the devil as the enemy, but our flesh is an enemy too. When those two team up, we are in trouble. Why someone would lack confidence in what God said is because when we don't put that absolute faith and trust in God, then we will lean into our own ways and we will be willing participants to fall for deception. So another example in the New Testament of the great gift that we have in Jesus Christ, because he is the good son that shows us the way to live with God. Where Adam and Eve failed, Jesus was victorious. So we have the scripture in Matthew, chapter 4.
TaQuaris: Matthew 4 verses 8 through 11. Next, the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory. I will give it all to you. He said if you will kneel down and worship me. "Get out of here, Satan," Jesus told him. "For the scripture says you must worship the Lord, your God, and serve only him." Then the devil went away and ages came and took care of Jesus.
Robert: You see the enemy, whether it's your mind, your flesh or Satan wants to his method of deception is to shift our trust away from God. He wants you to cast doubt on God. He wants you to cast doubt on God's word and he wants you to cast doubt on who you are in God. When he cast doubt and we buy into that doubt, then we want to grab anything that presents itself as immediate, which really is an alternative to what God wants in any particular situation. Because sometimes God's provision, doesn't come right away. See that's where our faith has to kick in. And that's why we are doing this in three parts. Number one, what has to kick in is God's character. Number two that has a kick in God's word and three, especially, is God's timing.
You have to have all three when you have faith in God, because you can't have the first two. Well, I believe God is who he is. I believe what he said in his word, but God, you were late this time. You should've showed up earlier. I wouldn't have failed. No, God has a timing for everything. And there are situations beyond our control, things that we don't see. We don't know what's going on as God's provision, as God's deliverance, as God's word is coming to us, but God knows. And so when we have absolute confidence in God, it doesn't matter how long it takes, we know that God is coming.
And so what happens is we have this thing that first John talks about: the pride of life, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and especially in this society today of immediate gratification. We want things right then right now, when we want it, how we want it. And that just doesn't work with God. But when we trust him, it doesn't matter what the deliverance looks like. It doesn't matter what form it comes. It doesn't matter how long it takes. We trust God because he knows best. And in trusting God, we trust that he has our best interests, not some of the time, but all of the time.
People can ask, why do you trust God so much? Because I believe he is who he says he is. I believe when the scripture tells me that he loves me and the greatest manifestation of that love came in the form of Jesus Christ and is the very reason why I'm here with you all today. There is no greater than that. There is no greater manifestation of love than that. So, yes, I trust God with all of my heart, with all of my mind. With all of my being, I trust him. But that doesn't mean that things don't look scary. That doesn't mean that doubt doesn't try to creep in. I'm not immune to those fiery darts either, but when those fiery darts are slung, I have to resort back to who I'm trusting in. I'm not trusting in the situation. I'm not trusting in the darts, but I'm trusting in the one that can protect me through it all.
TaQuaris: Well, it brings back to my remembrance the word where it says no weapon formed against you shall prosper. And it didn't say that the weapons wouldn't form, but what it said is it won't prosper.
Robert: Amen. Sometimes in our walk, and it seems like sometimes in seasons, we have more fiery darts than others, but guess what? The soldiers, they have battles where there seemed to be more arrows coming overhead than others, but they still had to have confidence in that shield no matter what. Let's get out of trying to avoid those times because we can't, those seasons going to are come. Those attacks are going to come. Those trials are going to come. Those doubts are going to come, but we can rejoice in those things as the scripture says, because we are not putting confidence, not even in yourself.
I don't trust me in times of tribulations and attacks and trials. I have absolutely no confidence in Robert whatsoever because better than anybody else, I know my flesh. I have no confidence in it, but I have confidence in the one whom I serve and who are worship and to whom I pray and to whom I walk and talk with and counsel with and listen to and obey. And so when I'm able to put all those fears and all those doubts onto him, that's just like me raising up that shield to quench all those fiery darts that are coming my way.
We said that this faith we are talking about today is faith, trusting in God's character. What is character? We take a textbook definition of character: it is defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. When I thought about that, I'm saying, okay, these are qualities. Another word for qualities are attributes. So there has to be something about the qualities or attributes to God that I can trust. And so if I was to bring a definition to attribute, it will be defined as a quality or feature regarded as characteristic or an inherit part or someone or something. So when we look to character and attribute, if we take those two definitions, then when we say we are trusting in God's character, then what we are in essence saying is that we are trusting in who God inherently is.
We are trusting in God's very being, He is not separated from his characters or his attributes. Amen. So there are attributes, certain attributes, and I can go on for weeks and weeks talking about the attributes of God. But I just have a few that we want to wrap this up with today. These few attributes, so that you can see a practical application of your faith when it comes to trusting in God's character. So I have a few attributes of God's character that's defined in his word that we can trust when those fiery darts are thrown our way. The number one attribute or number one that I want to speak of today is God is all powerful. God is all powerful. Jeremiah, 32:17.
TaQuaris: Our Lord God. Behold Dow has made the heaven and the earth by digressed power and stretched out arm. And there was nothing too hard for thee.
Robert: What's hard for God? Nothing is too hard for God. Nothing. I know your imagination is can go well— no, nothing is too hard for God. So how do you apply your faith to this? When the enemy, and remember this could be Satan or your mind, flesh, tells you that God can't do anything in your situation, you can go to the word of God. And it says, what? No, is nothing too hard for God. It doesn't not matter what the enemy tells you. It doesn't matter what your flesh tells you. It doesn't matter what anybody else tells you. There is no situation that you are going through or wherever face that's too hard for God. Oh, that dart is quenched. Nothing is too hard for God. It may be too hard for you to figure out, but you are not having faith in you. You are having faith in God. This particular character said God is all powerful. God is ever present, Psalm 1:39.
TaQuaris: Verses 7 through 12. I can never escape from your spirit. I can never get away from your presence. If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the furthest oceans, even there, your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and delight around me to become night. But even in the darkness, I cannot hide from you to you. The night shines as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
Robert: Have you ever been told that God is far from you? You ever felt alone. This week as I was ministering to people, and a few people told me how they felt isolated and alone, or you may be isolated or alone from people, but you are never isolated or alone or away from God. God is ever present. He is ever present. That's why I liked the old footprints poem, an illustration that shows that when we think that in our deepest, darkest moments, that God is not there. And we may in the beginning, see those double footprints, and after a while, we only see one, what does it say? That God has carried us through?
God is never away from us. God is never away from our situation. We don't know all the inner workings that God does on our behalf, but our absolute trust in his character tells us that we may not see it or understand it, but God is always there for us. And the scripture tells us that all things, God uses all things to work together for the good of those who love him.
TaQuaris: So that means the good, the bad and the ugly.
Robert: He doesn't cause them, but he uses them to work for your good that's how much he loves us. That's how much we can have confidence and trust in him, that even in those situations, God can use them to turn for our good. Now that's hard. Let's be real. That's hard for our finite minds. When we are going through seasons of loss, seasons of trouble, seasons of persecution, seasons of whatever, you can fill in the blank, that seems hard. There is nothing too hard for God. We are living testimonies that God can turn all things to work to the good. That's why we are here today with you at Hope. Through a season of loss and transition and aloneness and disappointment, God opened the door for us to become a family. So throughout the hardships, the trials and the tribulations, God still had a plan to turn all of that around for his purposes, for our lives. Amen. This is one I think is really appropriate in the context of our society today, for us to remember is that God is just second Corinthians 5:10.
TaQuaris: For We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be paid back according to what he has on while in the body, whether good or evil,
Robert: When the darts come when we feel injustice or we feel wrong, we are often tempted to take matters into our own hands. But faith tells us that we don't have to take matters in our own hands, that a recompense will come to who everyone, we all have to face judgment before the judge of all judges. No one's exempt from that. So don't worry. No one, including us is getting away with anything. We may have legal systems fail in our eyes. We may have governments fail in our eyes. We may have people fail in our eyes, but the great judge is watching and holding everyone accountable. And guess what? I'd rather spend time here on earth in prison than spend an eternity separated from God. That's right. So we remember we want that immediate gratification for our desires. And sometimes that immediate gratification causes us to want to see something, come upon our enemies, come upon those that have wronged us. We want to see it right now, but what if that doesn't happen in our lifetime? What if we don't ever see it?
TaQuaris: We still know that the Bible says vengeance is his. He will pay.
Robert: So where we fail, God does not. He is just. And it says everyone, whether good or bad done in our bodies, the things that we have done, everyone we'll go before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, I don't know if that's a literal seat. This is one of those things in context, in Jewish society, in the synagogue, and even in a Roman society, there was this seat of judgment where high officials would sit on. And that's when they would hand out declarations and proclamations of official judgment. So the idea is that the ultimate authority is not letting anyone get away with anything. I believe in the principle of sewing and reaping and I believe you reap what you, so in this lifetime and in the next, but don't be dismayed if you don't see justice meet in the way that you think you should see it, because Christ ultimately is a just God and will meet justice with the appropriate justice. You can rest assure God is just, and he cares about injustice more than we do. And so faith says that God will take care of it. The last attribute is why all of us are here today. And that is, God is love: Romans 8:35 and then 37 to 39.
TaQuaris: Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us? If we have trouble or calamity or are we persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love, no power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus as our Lord,
Robert: See Pastor Brian is that asphyxiating power and pressure from religion that tells people that they have calamities in their lives because God is angry with them, or God doesn't love them or you are being punished from God. That has a whole bunch of people hurting in churches today because people have been putting themselves as judge. We just said that there is only one judge and that's Christ. And how dare us put the of people's lives that God is far from them, or doesn't love them, or you've must have done something to displease God, so that's why all these things, bad things are happening to you. That's a big fiery dart that needs to be extinguished.
TaQuaris: Or they say you are cursed
Robert: Or you are cursed, which is a lie because in the new covenant, Jesus has become a curse for us. Galatians 3 and 13 says that Jesus Christ became a curse for us. That was nailed at the cross. Jesus said it is finished. We'll talk about that one day too, what it is to live in the new covenant and that God is love not law. The spirit of love, supersedes law, amen and judgment, for God is love. This powerful scripture says nothing can separate you from God's love. That's the love that God has for you.
So Robert, even when you've done your worst, God still loves you. He may not approve of what you've done, but that doesn't take away God's love for you. Do we understand that? I don't think the majority of Christendom does. I don't really believe that we understand the depths of God's love for us. We should because it's in his word. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, not to condemn the world, but through him, that gift that the world would be saved. Whether the world would reject him or not— your rejection of God has nothing to do with how much he loves you.
Your behavior has nothing to do about how much God loves you. He loves you enough to compel you out of your bad behavior. It doesn't disqualify you from love God's love. It compels him to draw you closer. That sounds very opposite of what law tells us. Doesn't it? It says that when you behave badly, you should be punished. And so those that are bound by law says that God sits there on his throne, waiting for you and I to mess up, and when you, you mess up, he is ready to condemn you, punish you and throw you away. And then you have to make all these steps in the guise of repentance to come back to him. No, that's the control of religious spirit. That's the Pharisees God's love says, no, I paid for your sin already. And through my love for you, which going back to our first passage, Romans said, because of God's love it allowed for the Holy Spirit to be in each and every one of us that attest that God loves us, which produces a hope in us.
What hope do we have if we fall down and mess up, God throws us away. What hope is there? Because that's what, I mess up every day. When people say they love us, oftentimes it is because they approve or like something about us. And then when they don't like or approve something on us, their so-called love goes away. That's not God's love his love that I love you regardless and I will chase after you, regardless. Until you turn back to me, I will love you. So his way of restoring you is not to legalizingly— I don't know if that's a word punish you. His way is to love you back. That's why, when we go through those things, those fiery darts, when we go through those troubles and troubles come our way, we don't our mind doesn't tell us, oh man, what did I do to displease you? No. When we have confidence in God's love for us, we say, okay, Lord, in this calamity, how is your love going to show forth in bringing forth deliverance and victory in this situation? Because my heart tells me through your word, that all things work together for my good, because of you.
That's having that trust, that absolute trust and confidence in God, through his character. We have to understand his character. God is love. God is just. God is all powerful is ever present. And we can go on and on. God is merciful. The scripture says he is rich in mercy. God is forgiving. God is faithful. God has an expected end for you. That's who we can trust in, not the lies of our flesh, not the lies of the enemy, not the lies of religion, not the lies and bondages of law and legalism, but we can trust in God's character, who is his very being. That's how we can have absolute confidence in God, because we believe who he is.
I would like everybody to pray this prayer with me. If this has ministered to your spirit, let's seal this with this prayer. Now we'll have the prayer on the screen. Let's say this prayer together, shall we? Heavenly father, thank you that you have given us the shield of faith to quench every fiery dart of the wicked. We thank you, Lord, that as we trust in your character, as we trust in who you are, we will not succumb to the enemy's lies and deception. We will not seek alternative paths and methods that are contrary to your will for our lives. Instead, we will walk in righteousness, obedience to your word in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. God is a good God. The relationship that he has established with us. It just blows my mind sometime. We want you to be encouraged today that no matter what you are facing, God's character is the same yesterday to day and forever. And that no matter what you are facing today, just trust in who he is and he will see you through. Amen. Pastor Jeff.
Jeff: Thank you, Robert. Thank you, TaQuaris. Great word. Deb, why don't you put that prayer back up that we just prayed together? Can you get that up there? For some of you who are listening to livestream or maybe are here right now. This is a different kind of prayer than you've ever prayed before. Maybe it's something that you've never prayed before. Maybe you've never prayed before, but the things that Pastor Robert shared today are true. And every single one of us has an opportunity to believe what he is told us and to respond to God. And the prayer that he let us in is actually a prayer of salvation. I thank you that you have given us a shield of faith to quench every fiery dart of the wicked one. You know that word, "thank you", hat's a magic word because what he is telling us that no matter where you are in life, no matter where you've been in life, if you have no clue where you are going in life, if everything has fallen apart, if you know that you are that you are a broken human being. If you know, you need to be put back together and you have no clue how to do it, that you have a God that you can think because he is going to watch for you. Amen. He is going to watch out for you. He is going to help you. And the magic word you have to say is just, thank you. Thank you that you love me. Thank you that you hear for me. I, I will live for you. So if you've never prayed that prayer before, or maybe you need to pray it again, I'm going to pray it. I want you to join me. Just say this.
Thank you, heavenly father. Thank you, Jesus, my savior. Thank you that you are here for me. I don't deserve it, but I thank you that you forgive me. I receive your forgiveness and I give you my life. If you've prayed that prayer, you are starting a new life right now. And if you've prayed that prayer, we want to hear about it. So if you are here, please come and share with Pastor Robert and TaQuaris that you just prayed this prayer. They'll have something to share with you. If you are watching by live stream and you prayed with us, if you go to our website, there is a little button up at the top, "contact us" we want you to send us a message. Pastor Brian and Jacque will get that. And we have some video to send you about why you matter to God. In fact, we can send that to anybody who asks.
Before we leave and we are very glad to have anybody in the family of faith, if you've joined us today, but we want to also pray for everybody who needs a miracle from God. Anybody here need a miracle from God? I see one hand. Anybody else? I see two hands. I see three, four. Sure. We need miracles from God. We need healing. We have all kinds of new battles with cancer here in the recent months at Hope. I want to especially pray for Nadine. I just believe God's going to touch you, Nadine. If you are watching by livestream, God's going to touch you and you are going to see his miracles in your life. We've got Dave. We've got Butch. We've got so many of us that are in need of a miracle. Mindy raised her hand, Misty. Boy, I'm good with names today aren't I? I figured out Nancy Campbell is an old friend who lives in Tennessee. Right Gerald, Collin and Nancy.
Who had their hands up? If you had your hands up, somebody walk over and take their hand and let's just join together in praying for each other. I think Jacque had her hand up. I think Lou had her hand up. There are a couple hands up over here. We have to get out of our chairs to go do that. Sorry. Pat has his hand up. You can get up and you can go find somebody to pray with. Behind Ovita, there was a hand up too. Yeah. Jim and Brenda, you want to go over there? Thank you. If you have a need at home, put your hand up the Holy Spirit's going to take your hand. Us use those magic words.
Father, thank you. Father, thank you. Father, thank you. Father, thank you that you sent Jesus father. Thank you that he was the sacrificial lamb. It was his blood that was shed the powerful, precious blood of the lamb that was shed that brings benefits for every single one of us. We don't forget your benefits, Father, that you forgive all of our sins and you heal all of our diseases. We trust you for every miracle that we need. We trust you for healing and we trust you for a breakthrough. We trust you for help in every way. And we thank you. If your hand was up, just say it to the Lord. Just say thank you. I thank you. I thank you. I thank you. I thank you and I trust you. Holy Spirit, just come. Come to us in our homes, come to us in this place, come and release your power right now and meet us where we are.
If you are feeling the presence of God, don't move too quickly away from it. Just let him keep doing what he is doing if he is touching you, but we are going to close the service. Pastor Brian is going to come. After the service, Cheryl and I are going to be serving communion. So you are welcome to come over and join us and have communion with us.
Brian: Pastor Jeff, just stay here. We just want to bless you. TaQuaris mentioned moments ago that many people have heard word spoken of them that were not true, that they were cursed, that they were a waste of space, that they were not of value, but we have something different to say over you today. And what we have to say is that you are blessed because God says you are blessed. He commanded Aaron to speak over the whole nation of Israel. Now, remember they were grumblers and complainers when this took place, they were Wanderers when this took place, but God didn't pronounce over them how they were, he pronounced over what they could be with him. We have access to God through Jesus Christ, and because we do we are blessed. So let's raise our hands together. Shall we?
So may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace and may you have faith and the wonderful character of our living God. This, we pray in the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day. Pastor Jeff and Cheryl will be here to serve communion for you. God bless you.
Oh, if some of you men could hang around for just a little bit after, we are going to set up the tables for the tea and move some chairs. So any of you, men or people that could help with that, we would appreciate it.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 11-28-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.