Perfect Peace-

In this podcast, Pastor Paul Abrams discusses the intersection of faith and everyday life. He offers perspectives and guidance to help navigate life's challenges. The focus is on topics like faith, family, relationships, and personal growth. Pastor Paul also shares a praise report about a ministry that was able to scholarship 17 kids to go to camp, with nine of them making a decision to follow Jesus. The key message is that perfect peace can only be found in God when our minds are focused on Him and we trust in Him. Welcome to Pastor Paul Abrams' podcast, where we explore the intersection of faith and everyday life. In each episode, Pastor Paul offers insightful perspectives and practical guidance to help you navigate life's challenges with courage, wisdom, and compassion. Whether you're looking for inspiration, guidance, or just a moment of reflection, this podcast is for you. Join us as we dive deep into topics like faith, family, relationships, and personal growth, all through the lens of Pastor Paul and the Bible. Oh, amen. A beautiful day, this beautiful Monday morning. Morning. Good morning, everybody. Missed you guys last, was it Thursday and Friday? Stuff to do. Had stuff to do. Good morning, Miss Stacy. Good to see you this morning. To get you guys ahead of the game, turn your Bibles to Isaiah 26.3. 26.3. Solomon, good morning. It's good to see you. It is good to see you. Praise God. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Just good morning blessings, receiving those blessings. Joanne, good morning. I finally get to catch you live. I'm glad you're here. I'm blessed, you. Without a doubt, I'm blessed. I see another day. Really, we got 281 people on here. I wish you all would stay on this morning. We won't be long, but it will be good. I wish all 293 of you would stay on this morning. Stay on, y'all. Good morning, brother. Bless you. Keeping us right in the good word. Thank you. Good morning, good morning. Do you have Facebook? The church has Facebook. Southern Avenue Missionary Baptist Church. Jim, remind me of anything I'm supposed to say. Lambriel, good to see you. How's the familia? How's the family? How's everybody going? Anybody videos, audio off? Oh, can you guys not hear me? Good morning. It's good to see you. It's good to see you, too. Can you all not hear me? Can everybody hear me okay? So good. Thank you. Oh, yeah, we can't. Lambriel heard me. Lambriel heard me. I hear you. Thank you so much. It's good to see all of you this morning. I hope everybody had a great weekend. We had church yesterday. It was a good day. Young man named Ricky. Ricky brought the word yesterday. Assurance of salvation. It was good. It was good. Oh, JT just said, make sure you go on our church website and register. Go on our church website and register. We don't know. We don't know what's going to happen with TikTok. So we've got to be ready. We've got to be ready in case something crazy happens. So any word on TikTok, anybody? Are we on a countdown? Can you please slurp your drink once more? Are you being serious or was I being rude? Was I being rude? Pastor Paul TV. So Jim, we go on Pastor Paul TV to register? Is that what we do? Joshua, what's up, my friend? I'm sorry. Was I being rude, slurping loud? And is that what we do? Do you have a YouTube? Not yet, but I'm sure that Jim will have something going for me. The news, they said we're going to vote on it. Okay, they're going to vote on it. All right. Good morning, Joshua. All right. So I'm going to slurp my mushroom coffee one more time. You need to do YouTube, Pastor. All right. Don't say that too loud because Joshua and them have been telling me that for a while now. Yes, they watch. They're probably going to jack on me. I'm working on the YouTube. They're probably going to mess with me on that. Guys, I want you to look at this first. I got something good for you. We're not going to be too long. Sorry about Thursday and Friday. Let me just be honest with you guys. Last time we were on, we had a young lady talking about, we were talking about faith, trusting in God. Let's just talk about Pastor Paul. What's the average day look like for Pastor Paul? Well, Tuesday through Saturday, I'm at Ace Hardware working. You know what I do since I get off on Ace Hardware? I take two to three hours and I do Uber. I go deliver food. So you do the math from about maybe 530 or 630, depending on what time I get off. I do about three hours of Ubering. So what am I saying? I don't tell you that to feel sorry for Pastor Paul, but I do tell you that for this reason. Remember that phrase, we do the possible, God does the impossible? Yes. Paul, I need to come on. Okay. Here we go. All right, Brother Nick. Boom. Yes, sir. What can we do? Can you see me? I don't see you, but I hear you. There, I see you now. Okay. Man, we had a phenomenal weekend. I wanted to just come and give a praise report after we went live last week and we shared how to support FCA. We were able to scholarship because of the support that people give FCA and give me at Union County. We were able to scholarship 17 kids to go to school or go to camp this past week. Wow. When I say scholarship kids, these are not just kids and students and athletes that, you know, these are lower income from a particular school. So they had no, this was $300 a student we were able to scholarship them. That's a little money. It's a chunk of change, my man. And I think I'm going low on the $300, but that includes their food, a t-shirt, bands, their sleeping arrangements. So they're, realistically, you know, it's like, it's not a lot if you compare it to, say, going to a hotel where you still got to pay your dinner and everything else and everything. But this covered everything. A weekend, it was 17 kids scholarship and that's part of the good news. Out of these 17 kids that went to camp, well, let me go back actually. When I say we had to get these kids to camp, we went around, there was a one particular girl, she wanted to go to camp and we needed to get a permission slip signed for her from a parent. She didn't know where her parents were. Oh, wow. So we, a teacher had, one of the teachers at her school had to find her mother. And after a week of searching, finds her mother sleeping in a car that doesn't run with a tarp over the top of it, who didn't even ask where her daughter was going or what she was doing. She just said, Oh, you need me to sign? Yeah, I'll sign it. She didn't know whether we were taking her kid. She didn't know if she was signing her rights away. Nothing. She just said, yeah, I'll sign it. Have a good day. Go on about your business. Wow. And so these are some of the kids we're dealing with, with the home lives and situations that they, you know, some of these kids not only aren't just going home to good situations, they're not going home to parents. They're going home to the third couch they're sleeping on this week. But 17 kids got scholarships at camp, Pastor. Beautiful. Now, 17 kids, nine of them made first time professions of faith and gave their life to the Lord. Really? I'm trying not to cry, you know? Oh man. And, uh, so they, they were able to go to this camp because of the, um, because of the support that people give to the ministry. You know, they, I tell people they're not just giving to my salary. They're, they're, they're, they're, they're given to the mission. And so these kids, nine of them never has to worry about eternity again. Nine of these kids can walk into school today and say, man, I get to live forever. Wow. And influence others. And influence others. Get to say, Hey man, what'd you do this weekend? Oh, well, you know, I went to cookout or I went and got burgers and fries with the friends or saw a movie, hung out, you know, maybe got into trouble, whatever. What'd you do? And man, let me tell you what I did this weekend. Let me tell you about this guy Jesus that I met, you know? And so they get to, they get to impact. They, you know, they get to have their woman at the well moment in the sense of who do I get to go tell? I get to go tell about this person I had an experience with. I had an encounter, you know, somebody I know now I get to tell some, if they tell one person, man, it was a success. But nine of them made a decision that are gonna, that's gonna change their life for eternity. If I know you, I know you had a different plan this morning. I know coffee talk with Pastor Paul, a lot of people were looking forward to it. And I know, and I hope that I didn't, you know, here's this guy again, but man, I want to let everybody know after we talked last week and they, they, they heard the story of how they could support. This is what you're supporting. You're not supporting me. So when you, you know, you're just supporting me, I take that back. You are supporting me. You are supporting my family, but you're not just supporting me. You're, you're giving me the opportunity. And my friend, Stuart Ramirez, he's the other rep in this County. The money goes to the County and, you know, goes to help these kids. You're giving us the opportunity to not have to have a full-time job. We're able to go and share the gospel. So yeah, we will pray for Twin Rivers tent revival, April 8th. Sorry. I just saw that, man. I love praying for a revival. Yeah. You know what, real quick, let me add something real quick, folks. It's, it's, it's not that, it's not that our Nick doesn't need a full-time job, but he needs to do the full-time for the, for the, he needs to do the full-time working with kids. You know, there are folks, some of you are, are, are, you know, you work in a factory. Some of you are nurses. Some of you are, you know, whatever it is you do, that's great. Keep doing that. But there's some of it that have to be in that mission field. So that's what Nick is doing. So let's help. But I just want to give a praise report because I know a lot of people started praying for me last week and I want you to know prayers are being answered. They started praying for this ministry. I mean, the amount of people that started following me and came right into my inbox and was like, Hey man, we're praying for this ministry. And so I praise God for you and what you're, what you, the support you're giving and want you to know, you know, and you know what, send me your emails. I'll put you on a, um, we have a newsletter that goes out and if you want to hear follow-ups and things like this, um, these stories, these, these, uh, praise reports, these testimonies there, they are, we do have a lot of them that come out. There's things that constantly happen and praise God for nine kids. Praise God for 17 though that heard the gospel, the seed was planted and there was other kids there that the seed was planted in them and it might not be this event, but they might get to get scholarships again, or they might be able to tell a friend, Hey, do you want to go? At least I had fun. Maybe I'll go back another time. And then I had a kid that I worked on for two years who came to camps with me and he wasn't a SDA, but he came to a student camps, ministry camps. And he, he told me, we started out, he said, I don't want nothing to do with Jesus. You know, my life is terrible. My dad ODed when I was two, nothing good has ever happened to me. So if God is real. And for two years, he kept coming into these camps because he was having fun. He was at least coming and having a good time, but the seed was planted. And I watched him in a span of two days, give his life to the Lord. And then two days later, say, I'm going to go, I'm going to be a full-time vocational minister. And I got to share this with somebody else. This was a kid who wanted nothing to do with it, who hated the idea of, that there had to be a true God that loved him. And so the seed can get planted and it might, you know, praise God that it, you know, I pray to God that it happens today, but if it happens in two years, praise God that it happened at all. Either or. Love it. I don't, I don't get to pick the timing. It's his timing, you know, and, and that's the, that's the other thing too. I've, I've made some failures in the sense that I've tried to rush it and put it on my time. I, you know, I've tried to rush over there and say, no, no, no, I got to go get, you know, and I'm going to always do that. I'm going to try to share and love on them, but I can't force it. All I can is, you know, and I've tried to force it and I've seen what happens when I've tried to put my will over God's will. You know, I made young ministry moments, you know, mistakes. But thank you guys for the support. Super grateful for you, Pastor Paul, for your platform and for people that are hearing this. So we, I love you guys. Thank you. Support FCA, support FCA in your local area. You can look up Fellowship of Christian Athletes, just Google search it or fca.org. Follow me if you want to know about what I'm doing in Charlotte, North Carolina and the greater Charlotte area. But I just wanted to give that praise report after Pastor Paul let me come on here last week and we prayed for this ministry and you guys saw how you could support it. Nine kids answered the call and changed their eternity. So I'm so grateful for you guys. Thank you very much. Brother, we appreciate it. Thank you so much. Yep. All right, friend. Well, folks, there you have it. Let's make sure that we support that ministry. Nine kids, that's nine kids that are now, their lives are going to be changed forever and I love that. Amen. All right. So thank you. Thank you so much, Nick. Praise God. Last week we were talking about faith. We were talking about just keeping our focus, but I was also sharing that. Yeah. So after I get off at Ace, I go for two, two and a half hours and I go Uber. Now, what is going on? Remember the statement, we do the possible, God does the impossible. Folks, I'm going to tell you right now, we can pray and God answers prayers, but we got to do something. We can't sit around and just think God, and God is able, don't get me wrong. God is able, but you know, there's, there's, I was just having a conversation with my friend Nick yesterday after church and he's like, you, you have, he goes, does it bother you that you have this education, that you are overqualified, you're this, this, blah, blah, blah, blah, but you're working at Ace? And I said, at first it did bother me, but I had to get past that because he owns his own company. And when, when, uh, the pandemic came, he had to go work at Amazon and we were talking like this. Yeah, it was amazing when I get my check and all of a sudden, you know, what I'm used to making to what I'm making and I had to wrestle with that. It's the same way. But my point to all of you is this, we do the possible, God does the impossible. All right. The young lady got on here and she says, well, you know, I'm struggling with this, this, this, and so on, etc. You know, you and I have to do what we can. We have to do what we can. We can't sit back and have a penny party. We can't sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. I'm going to really sound very hard right now. You can't sit back and think that Calvary is going to come and save you. You have to take care of things yourself. So whatever, what did somebody say is the ego and the pride that gets in our way. Hey man, forget that folks, forget that ego, forget that pride, do what you must do. As long as it's ethical, legal, do what you must do. And I don't care if you're selling soda pops on the corner to make ends meet, do what you must do. And folks, you got to do that. So that's, you know, we're talking back a couple, a week ago when we were talking about faith. I'm just doing the possible. God's going to do the impossible. But what we're going to talk about this morning is this. If you turn your Bibles to the book of Isaiah 26.3, we can find perfect peace. Nothing's perfect in this world, but we can find perfect peace. Let's get started. Isaiah 26.3, let's get there. Give me that amen. Give me those amens when you get there. Isaiah 26.3. Here we go. Are you ready? Isaiah 26.3 says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because what? He trusts in you. Perfect peace. Perfect peace. As a matter of fact, I think this Sunday I might even be speaking on this, but perfect peace. Notice again, it says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trusting in the Lord creates perfect peace. You can experience peace only as you trust God and keep him at the focal point or the center point of your life. There's perfect peace in that. Now watch this. Some people find they can, they believe they can find perfect peace in political affiliation. Some people think they can find perfect peace maybe in their financial security. Some people think they can find perfect peace by associating or joining a certain club or a membership at a certain place. Some people think they can find perfect peace by education. Some people believe that they can find perfect peace by aligning themselves to a group like LGBT. Some people think they can find perfect peace that if they just have all their family around them. And to be quite honest with you, you can find temporary peace in each one of those things, but perfect peace only comes from the Lord. How many people who somehow, and when they get there, they want more and they don't have that perfect peace? You know, me and a friend named Nick were talking about the rich sermon when he was talking about salvation. See, people are searching in the world today for a peace. People in the world today are looking for a hope. They're looking for the truth. The only way, and I read the scripture again, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you because what? He trusts in you. Perfect peace is only in God and we trust in him because God is in our today. He's in our yesterday and he's in our tomorrow and he changes not. Perfect peace only comes from God and a person without hope or without peace, alternative is very dark and sad, but perfect peace can only be found in God. It says right there, whose mind is stayed on whom? God. Back to ace, back to going to ace during the day, you bring the evening. I have perfect peace in all of it. Why? Because I know that God can take a little and make a lot. I know God can provide every need. I know God is able. There's perfect peace because why? My focus is not on the circumstance or the situation, but my focus is on the Lord. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the Lord and why? It says it in the next part. It says why? Because I trust in him. It says in scripture, it says because you trust, because he trusts in you. I trust in the Lord. That is perfect peace. Now what happens is when we talked about this last week, sometimes we can get our focus off God and focus on the circumstance. We said last week that sometimes I can focus on the details and not focus on what God is able to do and that's what Satan wants to do. Satan wants you to take your focus off God. Satan wants you to allow your mind to get in on perfect peace and to allow you to worry about things you need not worry about. I don't know about you, but that's me. All because, watch this, let's read that. Let's read what our brother just gave us there. Hang on. Perfect peace is only through God. Watch this. 1633. John 1633. Let's go there. 1633. And you've all read this before without a doubt. Watch what it says. 1633 says this. Indeed the hour is coming. Yes, it has now come that you will be scattered. Wait a minute. I'm reading the wrong thing. Please forgive me. These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will not. You will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Perfect peace only comes through God. In every circumstances you are situation that you're in. And I tell you what, in my 60 years I have seen Christian men and women experience this perfect peace in times of trial and tribulation. I remember my mother was in a very bad car accident, almost to the point that she could have lost her life. But I remember I was worried about my dad because there was a calmness about him. I remember there was, there was a, thank you, there was a peace about my father when we got the report that my mother had went head on with a drunk driver. But my father knew in his heart that God was able to restore her. But he also knew in his heart that if God took her, my mother would be with the Lord. And there was perfect peace. That doesn't mean my father wasn't hurting. That doesn't mean my father wasn't sad. That doesn't mean my father wasn't worried. But there was a peace in the midst of the storm. Once again, why? Because why? His mind was stayed on God. My father didn't worry about, you know, I'm sure Satan was whispering in his ear, she won't make it. I'm sure Satan was whispering in his ear, you're going to have to raise this little boy by yourself. I'm sure Satan whispered in his ear, why would a loving God allow this to happen to your wonderful wife? I'm sure Satan whispered every negative thing in my father's ear, but my father kept his focus on God because he knew God was able. Once again, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because what? He trusts in you. What are you going through right now? And you don't have peace. What are you dealing with right now? And you do not have peace. And I'll tell you why you don't have peace, because you are not trusting in God. I'm not saying you don't believe in God. I'm not saying you lost your faith, but you are worried about the details. Even Miss Debbie, she'll make a statement, well, you know, I have enough to do this. But, and then in the end, she goes, but God is able. God is able. Even with me, even with me, folks, I'm telling you right now, there are times where I'm walking around Ace and I'm out Ubering and I have to say, wait a minute, what about my future? I mean, how long can I do this? And I started wrestling in my head. I'm 60 years old. Am I going to be doing this at 80? And I'm going to be that guy that, that, you know, we can't make it. And Satan plays so many tricks in my mind, but I have to say, Satan, get behind me for I know that God is able and he will provide my every need. I have to tell myself that. I have to say that I've never seen the righteous go out and their children begging for bread. This is God's word. And I tell myself that, that it may take root in my heart so that I may have that perfect peace. I focus on that. And some of you right now know exactly what I'm talking about, because you're struggling with something right now. You're dealing with something right now. And we, not one individual is above having these thoughts. Not one of us. Watch this. Proverbs three, five, and six. So what do we got to do? Let's go to Proverbs. Let's go to Proverbs chapter three, five, and six. Proverbs three, chapter three, five, and six. Right? We got to trust. We got to trust. Some of you, I know you believe the Lord. I know that you believe God is able, but it's that trust factor that you struggle with. You're looking at and you're wondering what, how's this going to happen? How's this going to materialize? How's this going to take place? Look at Proverbs chapter three, five, and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. I like that first part. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And I've told you all before, we're not talking about the organ, but we're talking about the seat of consciousness. The ability where we reason and we think. We need to trust the Lord with all our heart. Brother Nick got on here talking about the Christian Athlete Association. I know I'm messing it up, but you know what I mean. He says, you know, 12, was it 17 kids going to camp? Out of that 17, nine accept Jesus Christ. They were providing scholarships. But in all of this, Nick and those kids and each one of us must trust in the Lord with all our heart. Not partial, all. You can't say, well, Lord, you take 80% and I'll worry about the 20%. No, you say, Lord, it's all yours. It's all yours. I'm going to trust in you and believe in you for you are my Father. You are my God, Abba Father. You will provide my every need. This is what the scripture says. Trust in the Lord with all our heart. Man, there's the battle. Our own understanding. We get in our mind. We get in those details. We're worried about those things. We're worried, how are we going to, how am I going to get that relationship back where I need with my kids? How am I going to allow my marriage to blossom where it needs to be? How am I going to get that particular job that I want? How am I going to live in that particular neighborhood that I would like to live in? How am I going to get accepted into that college that I would love to attend? How am I going to make it through the day as a single parent? How am I going to be a good single mother or father to my children? And how do I make that happen? But what does it say? It says, trust in the Lord with all our heart. Quit worrying about all the money. Quit worrying about all the micro details and how it's going to take place. But know God is able. Just like once again, Abraham going out to Mount Moriah and God asked him to sacrifice his son, the son of promise, Isaac. And Abraham went there knowing. Remember what he told the two men? So it was Abraham, Isaac, and the two men, the servants. And he told the two servants, we will be right back. Abraham said so much trust that God was able, even if Abraham had to sacrifice his son out of obedience, that God was able. I have a friend of mine named Pastor Gus and Pastor Gus says, I don't do it unless God tackles me. I said, what do you mean? Thank you. He says, I don't do it unless God tackles me. He goes, I don't just do everything that comes my way. But when God lets me know without a doubt, without a doubt that he's in it, I do it. That's trust, guys. He stands still for his, you know, standing still. Once again, Moses was looking and 600 Egyptians, chariots, horses, all the soldiers were going to come pursue. What did they say? Stand still. My buddy, stand still. That's trusting in God. Watching what God is about to do. But I don't know about you, but I know me. Historically, sometimes I think God needs help. God doesn't need our help. God is God. He's got this. But we what? Trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean off. But tomorrow I get back. I will go to Ace in the morning. I will Uber in the evening. I'll get home probably about 830 or 9 o'clock. But in all of that, I'm sure there are people that might question why. Even myself, I might say, why? God, but then I get back to my heart and I say, God is able. God used me to do what I'm doing. If it's ministering at Ace, if it's ministering out there Ubering, God is able. He's able. And that's what we have to do. Let's get out of ourselves. Let's get out of our details. Let's get out of the doubt. Let's get out of the negativity and understand that God is able. Watch this. Let's go to Philippians 4.8. So we understand now that we get peace when we focus on God. We understand that we must trust in God, but we got to meditate on something. Watch this. Turn to Philippians 4.8. Philippians 4.8. Philippians 4.8. Let's see what we got here. Oh, praise God. Philippians 4.8. Let me get a sip of my mushroom coffee here. Finally, my brethren, Philippians 4.8. Finally, my brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are good, a good report. If there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. All the description of everything we just read right there in Philippians 4.8 is right here in the Word. Meditate on these things. Don't meditate on past failures. How many of us? Past failures. How many of us? Oh, let me give you a past failure that I struggle with and see if anybody can relate. Are you ready? I was married before. I have a daughter from a previous marriage. Her name is Brittany Shea. This just happened last night. I was in the spare bedroom and Debbie, Miss Debbie's getting all the pictures ready. She's put a picture of my daughter and I said, you see that picture? I go, that picture is the last time that I really had my daughter. Her mom and I went through a divorce. It wasn't a great divorce. I remember struggling with, I'm a bad father. I remember struggling with that. I still, at times, I struggled with Satan whispering to me, you weren't really a good father. You abandoned your child. I didn't abandon my child. I was in the military at the time and I had to go where the military took me, but I was struggling with that self-hate. I was struggling with that thing. Even to the day when I see my daughter, I'm not as close to her as I would like to be because of the divorce and her mom and I did not, we didn't sync right as adults and I struggled with that. But what happened? I finally had to get to the point that I can't think about past mistakes. I can't think about past circumstance, but what do I have to do? I have to meditate on the Word. If you are going to feel that deliverance, that victory, that overcome, because a lot of us struggle with past events. A lot of us struggle with things that have happened to us. A lot of us struggle with some details with regards to our life, maybe a year ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago. Whatever that might be, we struggle with that. But what does the scripture say? Finally, brother, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are a good report, if there's any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Meditate on how good God is. Meditate on past things where God showed up. Meditate on His Word. Meditate in your prayer. And you know what? Come together with other people that are like-minded, because I tell you what, there's a core group that my moderators, the majority of them, they send daily messages out on my phone. You know the group text? And man, there's all these praiseworthy reports. And you'll have Raymond, he'll share some stuff, and Joshua, and Mercy, and the list goes on where Brian, and they're just sharing this praiseworthy information. And you read it, and it encourages you. And you meditate on that. As a matter of fact, 99% of the time, anything they put with something that is positive, and it always is, but you mean that encouraging positive? It's right at the right time. That encourages you, read it, and you're like, wow, I needed that. Folks, once again, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are a good report, if there's any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. You know what Satan would like for you to meditate on? That thing that happened to you. You know what Satan would love for you to meditate on? That past failure, that poor grade, that particular accident, that health scare, that financial issue. Satan would love to get you out of that perfect peace and the state of chaos. Yes, Satan would love you to dwell and think on your problems. Now, that's not saying that you deny or be in denial. You know the problems are there, but you're doing the possible, knowing that God is going to do the impossible to fix what is broken, to restore what has been separated. We know that. I'm not saying operate in the spirit of denial, but know that the Lord is able to restore, to fix, to repair, to forgive, because what? He's righteous and just to do so. He's God. Satan would love to get your focus off the greatness of God. Do you know in the Old Testament, when something great would happen, they would build altars and that altar represented the breakthrough or the deliverance or the blessing or the miracle. And they reflected that's the same way we've got to do. We have to go back and say, if God did it then, he can do it now. If he did it back then, he can do it today. We have to tell ourselves and we have to experience that. We have to go through that. And folks, we've got to encourage others the same way. Me, do you know how beautiful it is when I get an email, words of encouragement? Do you know what it feels like to have somebody after church say, you know, I really got a word from that. Now, I don't want you to praise me, but it's encouraging to know that someone was listening, that what was said was helpful. That's encouraging. And it's the same way we need to encourage each other, our brothers and sisters in Christ. We're here to help each other. We're here to encourage each other. We're here to love on each other. We're here to motivate each other, not tear each other down, not ridicule, not be so critical. That just drives me bonkers, especially here on TikTok. We're so critical of each other, but we need to encourage and love and build. This is how we run this race. This is how we press in. This is how we push through. Once again, let me read this verse one more time. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are a good report, if there's any virtue, and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Folks, this is how we overcome our circumstances in the course of the day and the situation. And know this while I take a sip. Hang on. Know this. As long as you're in that body on this earth, you are going to go through some trials and tribulations. I repeat, as long as you're in that body on this earth, you are going to go through some trials and tribulations, and do not believe some prosperity ministry that tells you, if you have Christ, that you'll be rich, that you'll be famous, that everything will be fine, this, this, this, this, that, so on, et cetera. Even Jesus said the poor would always be with you. Man, but I tell you what, what is rich? The Lord. Who is famous? The Lord. And all you need to do is keep your focus on Him, even when you go through some of your toughest moments. All right, let's look at our last verse. So we know we got peace if our focus is on Him. We know if we put all our trust in Him, we're going to be fine. And we know that if we meditate on Him, but watch this, Psalms 119.11. Psalms 119.11. Oh, my, my, my. Psalms 119.11. Here we go. Psalms 119.11. Let me get there. Psalms 119.11. Here we go. So what we have to do is that to overcome, we have to hide the Word of God in our hearts. We got to hide it. Folks, I'm going to, I'm going to preach at you, just micro sermon. Turn the TV off and study your Bible. First thing you get up in the morning, go check your TikTok. Go read your scripture. In the course of the day at work, when you got that 10 minute break, disappear somewhere. Even if the app's on your phone, go ahead and look at the Word, study, meditate on it. All right. When you get a lunch break or maybe after, after work, get in your Word. Encourage somebody else what you read. Lately, I've been, I've been reading Matthew 24, 44, and basically it's, it says to be ready for the Lord is coming soon. And I've been, I was, I was, I was sharing that all day long with people and different people. I was sharing that with them. But my point is, well, let's read. Forget what I'm saying. What did I say? 119.11. What did I say? 119.11 says this, the Word I've hidden in my heart. See, hide God's Word in your heart, studying on it, meditating on it. If you were to completely get serious about memorizing your Word and focusing on the Word and, and, and, and, and let me give you a little hint here. Let me give you a little hint. When things start getting a little crazy, when the storms of life, let me tell you what you do to achieve, to accelerate that perfect peace. You ready for this? Start quoting the Word. Let me repeat. When, when, when, when the storms of life start, start coming at you, when, when, when, when, when all of a sudden chaos starts taking place, when things start, you know, it's just getting a little uptight around you, start focusing on the Word. Start worshiping God. Satan hates that. Start like, God, oh my Lord, I just thank you, Jesus. Oh, I praise you, Lord. And start just meditating on that Word that you've hid in your heart. Start doing that. And what happens is Satan will flee. You start, you, you start ushering in that perfect peace. You start finding yourself. Thank you so much. You start finding yourself in the midst of the storm. Have you, they tell me, I've never, I've never experienced per se, but they tell me when there's a storm that comes on the East Coast, there's the, the eye of the storm where there's a calmness. There's a calmness. There's chaos all around, but within the eye of the storm, some of you probably know what I'm talking about. I've not experienced, I've only read about it. So what happens is you, you, you, you, you, you fill this peace and this calmness, even though there's a storm raging around you, you're, you're in that perfect peace that only comes from God. This is how you overcome it. Lord, just praise Him. Just worship Him. Just, just reflect on His word. Once again, look what it says. It says, your word I've hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Now, when you start focusing on the Lord, because when we sin, we sin against God, not against each other. We sin against God. When we find ourselves in that storm, in that perfect peace, our focus is on God, that we can endure that storm. So what? That we do not sin against the Lord. That we do not lack the faith. Do we not lack the motivation? That we don't lack the trust in God that we let, Lord, I'm going to trust on you in regards to what I'm going through. Folks, that's how we, that's how we make it. That's how we get through this. This is, this is, this is what I applied in my life. This is what I do. And as the storms come, and they come, don't think without a doubt that Pastor Paul doesn't experience storms. I do. Some, some storms range a little more than others. And some, not too big, but they're storms. And they come in waves. They're, they're continuously coming. But the overcoming aspect is focusing on God, trusting in God, believing in his word, and meditating on his word day and night as they come. And do not, and I reiterate, do not give room to the devil. His main objective is to take your focus off the Lord and focus on the problem. Amen? That's what I need you to do. All right, let's answer some, a question. You may, you may. Thank you. Amen. God is good. Folks, you just, we got to. Storms come, they come and go, but we got to focus on God. We got to keep our focus on the Lord. We got to, we got to, you know, that, that first verse, Isaiah 26.3, that one just, ooh, Isaiah 26.3, that, I'll close back again with that one. Watch this. I don't want to miss that question. Watch this. You will keep him in perfect peace. His mind has stayed on you because he trusts in you. We've got to trust in the Lord. How would you gently let down a godly man? He checks all the boxes, but all the personal, don't fit. With honesty, be honest. Let your response be, be kind and gentle, but be very transparent. It's not, it, believe it or not, communicate what's in your heart. Be gentle about it and acknowledge your concerns and leave it there. Folks, this is what lacks in today's society. We don't communicate like we should. Communicate what's on your heart in full transparency. Allow him and let him to know he will be hurt for a moment, but in due season, joy cometh in the morning. All right, but be transparent. Don't lead him on. I'm not saying you did, but I'm just saying don't lead him on. He says I'm a gift from God. He doesn't deserve and God has blessed him. I feel bad. I understand that, but you know what? In all honesty, if God is telling you not to do this, then you don't need my validation, nor do you need his influence. If God is leading you not to get involved in this relationship, be full transparent. I read their honesty all day long, folks. You know, and I'm going to be honest with you, I'd rather you tell me the truth than lead me astray with a lie. I'd rather you say I don't like you, I don't like you, and let me go about my business versus saying, oh, you're a nice guy, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, no. I'll be hurt for a minute, but I'll eventually get over it, and I understand that he feels that you're a gift from God, and any godly woman is a gift from God. I hope y'all heard me. Any godly woman is a gift from God, but it might not be his gift. So be honest, be very transparent, and let him know this is where I'm at. I'm just letting you know, but I love you as my brother in Christ. He'll be hurt. He might not talk. He might be angry. He might block you for a minute, but if he's a godly man, God will touch his heart, and he will overcome this, all right? That's my opinion. Now, ladies, if you disagree with that, I respect that, but full transparency, communicate. That's just what I believe in, all right? Amen. Folks, and walk away from the relationship before it actually evolves into a relationship, because I knew. Amen. How do I get comfortable with being single? Well, the Lord said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You aren't truly single. You have the Lord. So what I would do is get comfortable in taking this time to study my Word and meditate on it and create these great habits of just believing and trusting God and building and cultivating my knowledge and understanding of God. I mean, all these scriptures we talked about, Isaiah 26, 3, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, peace, trust, meditate, hiding God's Word in my heart, builds your, if you will, your spiritual foundation. This is a great time. Take opportunity of that. That is so true. What can you do for God in your singleness is so much. Amen. It's so much. Trust me. It's great when the couple is on the same page, but in your singleness, you can really, thank you, you can really build your relationship with the Lord and just get deep into your scripture, into your Word, meditating on it. Not to say that you can't do that with a spouse or a new relationship, but as a single person, without a doubt, you can really lock and load on that focus. That's my recommendation. That's my recommendation. Because you got to remember, even as a pastor, there's a lot of times I disappear. I'm in the Word. I mean, life is busy for me. It is. I get up in the morning. First thing I do, I'm in my Word. I go to bed, I'm in my Word, and I have to stop and I have to go to Miss Debbie, make sure I don't leave her out of the mix. So there you go. Can you go on serve at a drop of a hat, missions, et cetera, not having to consider the partner or family? Yeah. Yeah. You can go do a mission work. You don't have to consider that. I take everything in consideration with my family when it comes to the ministry. I was on weekly yoke with my first marriage and cannot do that again. No, no, no. You do not. Folks, I'm telling you right now, I know people think that they can change people, but before you say, I do to anybody, you better make sure they have a relationship with the Lord. If you have a relationship with the Lord, you better make sure they have a relationship with the Lord. That is so important. How many couples do I know? How many people do I know that think somehow they can change the person they're with? God can. God can, but they better be equally yoked. Why would I read my Bible before bed? Do I have more nightmares? Well, well, that, that I don't know. I don't experience that, but I will tell you what, I'm very careful about what I'm watching during the course of the day, especially in the afternoon. You know, you watch some stuff and then I read my Bible. However, this is my opinion. This is my opinion. That's Satan. That's Satan. You're having some nightmares. See, Satan, once again, he wants to rob you of your attention in your sleep. But what I do, I say, Satan, get behind me, get behind me. I got time for you. And I go to bed reading my word and please, I, I, boom, please explain second marriages. Well, I'm not sure what you're asking there, but I will tell you this. The only grounds for divorce is adultery. That's the only grounds for divorce. Divorce happened in the Bible. It was descriptive in the Old Testament, but the only grounds for divorce is adultery. We can't divorce somebody because they don't look the same or whatever. I outgrew them. No, it's adultery. That's it. Now that you know that. Second marriage. Miss Debbie's my second marriage. We've been together almost 30 years now. I wasn't a believer, or I should say, what is adultery? What is adultery? Good question. Adultery is stepping out of the relationship, having sexual relationship with someone, a man or a woman who is married. Now, there's an interchangeable word fornication and adultery. It's interchangeable. All right. Some people will, will, will manipulate that word. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I didn't commit adultery because I'm not married. No, no, no, no. Any sexual relationship out of the framework of a man and woman that are married in covenant before God, right? That's adultery. Fornication is having sex and having sex out of the scope of marriage before marriage. All right. Okay. As for, back to this question. I didn't know the Lord in my second, I knew the Lord, but I didn't have a personal relationship. I hadn't repented. With that being said, even when I was in seminary, I got called out on the spot by a bunch of people regarding, oh, you can't be a pastor. You can't be a preacher. You, you know, blah, blah, blah. Okay. If you say so. However, our first relationship came to a close because my ex committed adultery. Now, I would have been able to somehow eventually work it through, but she fell in love with a guy that she had a relationship with. Neither here nor there. So I had grounds for the divorce. However, remarriage can be tough. It can be hard. And if you remarried, you better be on the same page. From children that transition into a word that we don't use in our house, stepchildren, because now you have a blended family, blended relationships, grandparents. They better be on the same page. And I'm telling you right now, because there can be some destructive mess when it comes to getting remarried. I'm telling you from experience, I'm not telling you from, you have to set some guidelines. Ms. Debbie knew when we got married, I don't discipline your child and you don't discipline mine. However, in your role as an adult, I expect that child to respect you. And you've got to talk these things out and really get this out on the table. Now, mind you, like I said, me and Ms. Debbie have been married for almost 30 years. And so that's water under the bridge. That train has left many, many, many, moons ago. But I really try to get people to understand divorce and marriage is hard. It's hard. Folks, I tell you what, if I have any advice, make your marriage work. Divorce is hard. Man, in divorce, you're fighting over a book. In divorce, you're fighting over children. Children. And not to say, don't say make a boo-hoo amounts of money for doing absolutely zero. And if there's any lawyers on here, I don't mean to offend you. I'm just saying it like it is. That's the only person that profits. And your child has to go through the third degree. You have to stand before people and prove yourself, your worthiness. You've got accusations going left and right. Work on your marriage. Do what you need to do. But once again, the Lord can bring you perfect peace in your marriage. He can bring perfect peace if you trust Him. He can bring perfect peace if you meditate on His Word day and night. And if you hide His Word, you will experience the deliverance and the victory, and your marriage will be repaired. Please, stay married. Coming from a guy that is happily married. That's another thing. Okay, let me share this with you. You do the possible, God does the impossible. Anyone who dare says, and I get what they're saying, but I want to put a little clarity on When people say, I've been happily married for 30 years, 40 years, 20 years, whatever that number may be, I understand what they're saying. But no one is happily married every day of their marriage. There are going to be some ups and downs. There are going to be. But you must choose your battles, and you must choose what is worth arguing about. Do you hear what I'm saying? Miss Debbie and I don't agree on everything. Matter of fact, she's very strong-willed. She's very strong-willed. And there are days when I have to stop, and I have to look at her, and like, okay, you need to calm down. And so with that being said, and vice versa, she has to do the same way with me. I'm strong-willed. And so what you do is you have to say, okay, I am going to love you till death do us part. And I'm not going to allow micro things to separate us. I'm not going to allow micro things to cause us to go. One thing in our house, me and Miss Debbie, I've never slept on the couch voluntarily. I might've fell asleep watching a football game, and she just went on to the room, and vice versa. We do not let the sun go down on our anger. We repair, and we try to communicate. And I'm a great communicator, but when I'm angry, I'm not a good communicator. She's not a great communicator, but when she's angry, she doesn't like communicating at all. However, I know that, she knows that. So what we do is make sure that we do not go to bed angry or upset, or at least don't allow this to take place, that you can walk by each other. We don't allow that to exist for too long. Why? Because we know that's a foothold for Satan to step in. That's a foothold. You start doing things like that, and all of a sudden, you're going to start, you know, from each other. And that's when all of a sudden, you'll start seeing the person at work is showing you some attention, or the person at the church, or this or that, and so on, et cetera. So you've got to make sure, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to sit here and be angry and allow Satan to get a foothold. But I'm telling you right now, folks, do not let Satan destroy your marriages. The marriage, as we know it, is under attack in America. As the Bible states, marriage should be a relationship between a man and a woman. It's under attack. Its definition is under attack. Its institution is under attack. And just think about this, folks. I want you to think about this. Do you know the marriage, this is incredible. So we see Adam and Eve in the Old Testament, okay? So we see the formation and the institution of man and woman. How beautiful, as we transition to the New Testament, we see the oldest institution of marriage between man and woman now is a template into the church. The church is the bride, and Jesus is the husband, and the membership is like the kids, the family. So we see the symbolism of marriage through the scriptures. And so with that being said, marriage itself, the definition of marriage is under attack. And we as Christians have to stand firm on what marriage is. We have to acknowledge what God wants out of our marriage, and we should live a life according to what God expects from our marriage. So with that being said, don't allow Satan to get involved in your marriage or get a foothold in your relationship. Make sure that what God puts together, let no man put asunder, okay? Make sure. Make sure. Because to me, the most, and men, I'm going to talk to you. You know, I was counseling a family the other, not the other day, the other month, and the issue came up regarding Facebook. It's interesting. He has Facebook, and on his Facebook, he has pictures, various pictures. And with that being said, the fiance is like, well, I really don't like all those pictures on your Facebook. And he said, well, I don't think there's a problem. I shouldn't have to take it off. Folks, I'm going to tell you right now, don't be so bullheaded that you are going to allow your relationship with the one you love to suffer because of pride. All right? Don't do that. Don't do that. Make sure that we consider our spouse, we love on them, we encourage them, we build them up, and make sure that we remember that. But don't, oh, my Lord. Okay, here we go. Let me read this. Let's talk about marriage tomorrow, then. Let's look at some, I would like to be counseled. I need clarification about being unevenly yoked. All right. Let's definitely talk about pride can be a relationship deal breaker. Yes, it can. It will. So let's talk about marriage tomorrow, the criteria of marriage. And if you still need counseling after that, then we'll think of something. But let's talk about that. My son is getting married pretty soon, and I'm excited for him. And I believe without a doubt that God used me to give him a good template, a good example. Marriage is work. Hello, how are we doing, MT4 piece? Marriage is work. It's work. Don't think it's not. It's work. It's continuous work. It's give and take. A successful marriage. Love. Love. Man, we can get so, like, irritated with our spouses. We can get so, like, you know, caught up in the nuances. You know, well, you didn't squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom. You did it in the middle. And we get ourselves all caught up in a thing of toothpaste. And I know some of you are like, you know, look at this individual. 47 years, yes, marriage is work daily. There's somebody with something. 47 years. Some of you haven't been on the earth that long, and this person hasn't been married that long. And right there, they're letting you know. So they got married in the 70s. In the 70s right there, and they're telling you it's work. So when were you married? 76, 77? What year? 76, 77. I'm just taking a shot there. That's quick math. I'm not a math guy, but when did you get married? Praise God. They're going to let us know right here. What year was that? 75. 75. Right before the bicentennial year. 75. From 1975 to this present day, God has blessed this individual. But it's work. I can guarantee you. But friends, it's worth it. My best friend is Miss Debbie. I am looking forward to growing old with her. I'm looking forward to being those two little old people that I see. Oh, me married in 79. Hey, man, I'm looking forward to being those two little old people with our little walkers, you know, just going through the mall or whatever it is. I'm looking forward to that. But it's work. It's work. And me as a man, I I love my wife. I love my wife. I take care of her. I try to provide everything she wants. Even once again, me doing what I do, you know, with going to ACE, I do that to take care of her, take care of me, take care of the things. Unfortunately, I am a little. Miss Diane, I tell you what, I thank you for sharing that with us. And I'm sorry about that. That is something that I I watched my dad when he lost my mom. It was a struggle for him. He missed my mom so much. And so my heart goes out to you. And I think that is is is really the other aspect of when you really love your spouse is that you miss them so much. So that I get it. I get it. Spouse ran off with a young girl and married her after 30 years of our marriage. I am so, so, so, so sorry to hear that. And those things happen. And I I'm so sorry. So sorry. But you know what? I am. I don't know you on a personal note. And I'm sorry that happened. But if you hung in there for 30 years, that lets me know that you are dedicated and you are committed. That tells me that. So that means that you are valuable in the eyes of God. And and with that being said, I want you to not dwell on what you might have lost. But I want you to dwell on the greatest chapter that is about to be revealed to you that God is able to to to bring that right individual in your life. So man, I didn't deserve him. So God showed me I didn't deserve him. Amen. Amen. So with that being said, God revealed that and and you just move forward. Not easy. Not easy. It's both that that right there is painful. That hurts. I remember thinking it was my fault. What could I remember just saying? You know, I wouldn't see another day. I remember thinking that way. So boy, but it's me. But it was a woman who portrayed after 20 years. Wow. It's it's crazy. It's crazy. All right, everybody. So let's talk about tomorrow. A little bit more about marriage. And so once again, please keep your focus on that perfect piece. Once again, make sure you go on our church website and get registered. Jimmy keeps telling me I briefly looked at it. I guess it's called Pastor Paul TV. Jim, is that what it is? I don't know. I haven't really looked at it, guys. If you want to register on it, praise me to God. So yeah, I'll wait for Jim to see what he says. I don't mess it. I'm sure he's going to type it in right now. What is that? Well, let me see. Jim, are you there? I know you're there. Hang on real quick. Dot TV. Dot TV. Oh, so Pastor Paul dot TV. So the little dot in TV and the Lord walked with you. Amen. I received that. Thank you so much. Outside the wall ministry. Thank you so much. Praise God. Thank you so much. Okay. Well then. Okay. Yeah. So Pastor Paul dot TV. So not DOT, but just dot. There you go. Ricky wrote Pastor Paul. Hi, Ricky Rosa. That was a good sermon yesterday, brother. Assurance of deliverance. That was beautiful, man. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. That was beautiful. But this Wednesday on Bible study, I want you now to methodically go through a little bit slower with this so that we'll get a little more out. If you don't mind, we'll talk about that. So, all right, everybody. Well, I got it. Ricky, I need to speak to you. I got to get ahold of Mr. JT there and talk. I'm off today, but I've got a list of things I've got to do. And so I'm going to talk to him. And after that, I've got some things to do out in the yard. And then I'm going to go do some tile in the bathroom. So I've got a list of things I got to get out of the way today. So folks, God bless you. Have a wonderful day. May the Lord watch over you and keep you and bless you. Keep your heads up. Remember, if God is for you, who can be against you? Keep your focus on the Lord. Please. God is, as far as I'm concerned, is in the blessing business. And I am truly blessed. Let's bow our heads real quick. Father God, we thank you. We praise you. We honor you, Lord. I just thank you for allowing me to share the love of Christ with this group. And Lord, we thank you for the scriptures that you gave us with regards to our focus and meditating and trusting in you, Father God, and keeping you at the forefront. And Lord, I pray for each individual in the sound of my voice that you would just bless us, watch over us, and keep us. Those of us who are en route to our jobs, those of us who are in school, those of us at home who are taking care of the babies, whatever that is, Lord, I pray that you would just bless and put your protection around each individual, Father God. Lord, we thank you. We praise you. We ask all this in the name of Jesus, and we all in the name of Jesus. Thank you again for joining us today. We look forward to having you tune in next time. Until then, may God bless you abundantly.