To Trust Him More (March 3, 2024)

The speaker is addressing their family and discussing the importance of trusting in Jesus and his sacrifice. They emphasize the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives and encourage walking boldly in holiness. They reference Psalm 118 and highlight the need to trust in the Lord rather than relying on worldly things. The speaker acknowledges the challenges and obstacles that they and their family may be facing, but urges them to trust in God and not fear. They remind their family of the power and purpose that God has given them and encourage them to stir up the gifts within them. They emphasize the importance of overcoming fear and not being swayed by the opinions or actions of others. They reassure their family that God's purpose and grace is already within them and that they are valuable in His sight. The speaker concludes by reminding their family of Jesus' words to not fear those who can harm the body, but instead fear God who has authority over both body and soul. To my beloved and wonderful family this morning, today we just honor and glorify the wonderful name of Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. And as we continue to approach Resurrection Sunday, this being the first Sunday in March and Resurrection Sunday being celebrated on the fifth Sunday in this month, we're reminded to just speak it again in the atmosphere, that it's because of his eternal and loving sacrifice that we are no longer the same. We have been redeemed, thank God for Jesus. We have been redeemed from the grips, from the ugliness of sin and shame. And by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, we have been called to walk boldly to the throne of grace. And as we're walking boldly to the throne of grace, we're doing so in the beauty of holiness, hallelujah, the bold, hallelujah, and the beautiful. That's what you are, that's who you are, the Ecclesia, those who have been called out. And as we walk each and every day as the bold and the beautiful, with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we continue to find a greater joy, a greater happiness. I believe Paul may have described it as unspeakable joy. I thank God for the unspeakable joy that we have in Christ. Draw me nearer, draw me nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where thou hast died. We this morning are not people most miserable, but a people who resonate with the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, hallelujah. We're walking in the light. So this morning, to the Ecclesia, the church of the living God, we are people who are called out of isolation and into relationship. It is a beauty of holiness that guides us, that directs us, that leads us unto greater works in Jesus Christ. This morning, as we gather our thoughts and our minds and focus on the Lord Jesus, we think about his word. I redirect your attention once again to Psalm 118. Psalm 118, primarily reading today from verses 1 through 9, and verse 6 being the primary verse. God bless the hearers and doers of this word as I read. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, because his mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say that his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endures forever. Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endures forever. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? The Lord takes my part with them that help me, therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord and to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord and to put confidence in princes. This morning I'd like to speak to you from the thought to trust him more. That's from verse 6. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What man can do unto me? And from that verse, this thought resonates within me and I share it with you, to trust him more. Let's pray again. Our Father who is in heaven, we approach the throne of your grace in the name of your only begotten Son, Christ Jesus. We speak your favor in all things and that you will perfect those things that concern us. Let your word be amplified this day in our thoughts, in our conversation, in our mind, in our bodies. Hallelujah. Let it be amplified. Let we come to understand and to appreciate, oh God, that it is the time. The time has come. The time is at hand. That we comprehend that you have called us to greater works and you called us to greater works as now saviors. Hallelujah. As now prayers and as now praises. And this morning we testify, glorify that you are a now God in a not now generation. Let your Holy Spirit continue to fill us completely and we may be resolved to just do your will. Let our will be lost in thine. In Jesus' name we pray. We declare that it is. Amen. My dear family, I am sure that all of us, all of us are facing things that certainly represent on some level a challenge or an obstacle to our faith. I am certain that we are facing things on our jobs or in our homes that appear to be overwhelming. And maybe we are facing challenges with those who we are in relationship with. Those in our homes, those in our classes, those, hallelujah, in our jobs. Maybe we're having difficulty with family members or co-workers. There are challenges and I don't tend to undermine or undervalue that we all run up on barriers and troubles that can be perplexing at times. But whatever we are going through, certainly it brings to mind the question of who do we trust the most? What do we trust the most? So I ask you, do you trust the job more than you trust the Father? Do you trust your bank account more than you trust the Father? Do you trust your education more than you trust the Father? Do you trust the relationship that you have with the circles of power more than you trust the Father? And in the struggle, in the thought process, and in the consideration of do we trust the Father more? I can hear him reminding us through verses of Psalm 118 that the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do unto me? This morning I'm going to make three points, hallelujah, if God be willing and we should live in them. And the Lord delays his return. And the first point is simply this, no fear. No fear. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. This morning we should be saying it to ourselves and speaking it into the atmosphere and speaking it directly to the circumstances that we are facing. We need to say no fear. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. You got to face it this morning. We have to face it this morning and say it. No fear. The Lord is on our side. Brother Paul understood the struggles that a young minister was having. That young minister being Timothy. And he knew that Timothy was a bit timid. So he wrote him a letter to inspire him to go to the next level by faith. And we find it in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 6 through 9. And Paul told Timothy this. He says, wherefore I put you. That's what we're doing this morning. Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God which is in you by the putting on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of faith but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not you therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be you partaker of the frictions of the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our words but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world. Family, in this hour of worship, as we seek to worship him in spirit and in truth, I believe that the Holy Spirit is calling us to be reminded to stir up the gift of God which is in us. Stir it up, stir it up, stir it up. If there is anything that we ought to do this morning, hallelujah, it is to stir up the gift. And as we stir up the gift, the power of God that is within us, hallelujah, hallelujah, we can face the fear, we can face the challenges, the obstacles that lie ahead. And I'm so reminded this morning to share that if there is anything that we are doing to instill or to promote fear within and without, let's lay it aside. The scriptures say that we ought to lay aside every weight and sin that can so easily beset us, fear can beset us, but today as we hear his voice speaking in the atmosphere, no fear, no fear, no fear. Family, I believe that the Father is calling to our recollection that he has not given us a spirit of fear that ain't from God. What God has instilled and put in us is that of a power and of a love and a sound mind. And he is also reminding us that he has called us with an holy call, and not according to our works, and not according to our personal agendas, not according to our personal objectives, not according to our knowledge or our education or our profession or what our last names are. No, not according to our alignments and our associations with power and the seats of authority. No, he has called us according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Hallelujah. He's called us. He's called us. He's called us with his purpose and grace. And that purpose and grace is not just something that was made up. Hallelujah. It was predestined. Hallelujah. Before the world began, he predestined us. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So my second point is just simply this. In Christ Jesus, we have purpose and grace. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You are valuable. You are valuable. We are valuable. Hallelujah. We are his dear children. That's why we can say Abba Father. Hallelujah. He loves us so much that he's already given us purpose and grace. And the enemy knows that. The enemy attempts to use each and every opportunity to diminish God's purpose and grace in our lives by injecting fear in our minds. For instance, there are times that God has called us to speak up for righteousness' sake. Hallelujah. But because of fear, we keep our mouths closed. We shut down. And we do so because we're afraid. We're scared. Hallelujah. We don't want to be alienated. We don't want to be kicked out of the group. We don't want to be marginalized and cast aside so we cower down in fear. But the psalmist asked the question, what can man do unto me? That's the question of the hour. What can man or woman do unto me? Jesus spoke to this. No fear, no fear. Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 10, verse 28, he says, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. In Christ Jesus, we have purpose and grace that overcomes the fear of being alienated or ostracized or marginalized. And we don't need to worry about what man can do unto us because God has called us to a high level of faith. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So we don't back down and we don't give up. Hallelujah. Because we're more than conquerors. Through him that loves us, the family, we are to be awakened in this very hour of God's great revival. We are to be awakened with a mindset that is quickened by the AI, the anointed intelligence, the parakeetos. Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost. And in this hour, hallelujah, by the power of the Holy Spirit, there comes an understanding of the times and that the challenges and obstacles of life in front of us, hallelujah, they are simply there to distract us from the manifestation of the purpose and grace of God within us. Hallelujah. Let me say it again. The challenges and the obstacles of life in front of us are there to distract us from manifesting God's purpose and grace within us. Hallelujah. Stir up the gift. Hallelujah. Stir it up, stir it up. He's calling us to stir up the gift that is within us by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Fear will keep you from stirring up the gift, but I need you to stir up the gift. Hallelujah. The now says, I need you to stir it up. Not the may say it, but the now says, I need you to stir up the gift of God that is in you, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to proclaim a different report. As the children of God, by faith, we need to refocus and realign ourselves with the Father's will. And not just his permissive will, I'm talking about his perfect will. Hallelujah. And as we do so, hallelujah, we have to trust him more. Hallelujah. And declare, just like the psalmist did, the Lord is on our side. We will not fear what can man do unto us. This morning I want to tell you, forget about man and trust him. And him I'm talking about is our Father. Trust him. Focus on him and forget them. Focus on him and forget them. What can man do unto us? I heard Paul say, if God be for us, help me Holy Ghost, if God be for us, who can be against us? What can man do? Hallelujah. To the children of God, by faith, so we don't have to worry about them. Hallelujah. Because we have him who has saved us. Him who has called us with a holy calling. Him that called us with a calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which is given us in Christ Jesus. Before the world began. Hallelujah. To trust him more. That's where we are right now, just to trust him more. Money might be looking funny, but we can say we can trust him more. People can be tripping on a job, but we can say this morning we're going to trust him more. They may not be treating us right, hallelujah, even within our own families, but we can say we're going to trust him more. Hallelujah. We don't have to worry about them. Because we have him. Hallelujah. Great is he that is in us that he that is in the world. We've got a truth for this morning, family, because our Father is inside and he's on the outside. Hallelujah. He's in us and he is next to us. We have a truth for this because he is inside and on our side so we can trust him more. And as I close, family, my third point is that the only way we can overcome our fear is to simply do his will. That's how we overcome the fear is that we understand that faith without works is dead. Hallelujah. But when we do the work of the Father, when we are a doer of the word and a doer of the work, we overcome our fear because we operate in his will. Fear is a defeated mindset. Fear creates anxiety and depression. And it comes about when we choose to focus more on the obstacle before us than the God who is with us. Every time, family, every time, every time, every time that we hesitate or we neglect to follow what the Father has spoken, it creates a defeated mindset. But he has not given us. Hallelujah. He has not given us a defeated mindset. But he's given us a mind that is a power and love and a sound mind. The scripture says and speaks to us so clearly today that if you hear his voice, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. Let's listen. What is he saying now? What faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God? What is he saying now unto us to do? To overcome the fear without. The enemy comes, comes to distract us from doing the Father's will by attacking our minds through the systematic weapons of fear. It's systematic because we don't fight against flesh and blood. There's a principality of powers and dominions and levels of Satan's kingdom. So we ain't just fighting against our neighbors that we can't see. The enemy is invisible but yet so real and he attempts to attack our minds through the systematic weapons of fear. You're not the right height. You're not the right color. You're not the right gender. You don't have the right color of eyes or hair texture. And the enemy will attempt to discourage us by having us to feel unworthy or incapable of performing what God has already equipped us to do. Because he's already given us his purpose and his grace. It's already within us before the world began. Family, we are equipped. Don't be discouraged. You have all the tools that are necessary. Hallelujah. It may be in your poem. It may be in your prayer. It may be in your exhortation or in your praise report. But you're already equipped. Hallelujah. And you've already been qualified by his love and his grace to do what he has called you to do. I want to let you know this morning that the Father doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called. So if you're feeling like, hallelujah, that you're not worthy, I'm telling you right now that you're worth it. He sent his only begotten Son just to show us that we are worth it. He laid down his life and took it back up again to show us, I love you because you are worth it. He qualifies the called. And thank God that we're not by ourselves. We are not shouldering the burden alone. He has not left us comfortless. The Father has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us, to teach us, to lead us, to console us, to just do his will. And it's not by our might. It's not by our strength. But by his power, says the Lord. The Father is showing us that we are more than conquerors through him. The love. We're not doing it by ourselves. We're doing it with them. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. In Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus, our Father has equipped us to do greater works so that we can build the kingdom of God. In Christ Jesus, who certainly can understand and appreciate the obstacles that can be in front of us, as he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and thinking about his purpose through the cross. I believe in my Christological mind that he wrestled with fear. He wrestled with anxiety. He wrestled with distress and depression. Hallelujah. And he wrestled with drinking of the bitter cup that had been assigned to him as the living, the loving, the eternal sacrifice for the sins of the world. He wrestled with his moment, his destination, but not his destiny to the cross. Because he would get up on the third day. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's praying three times because he's wrestling with this anxiety, I believe. And he says, Father, would you remove the cup from me? Hallelujah. And I believe that he could hear the Father say, no, I can't remove the cup from you because you've been assigned with purpose and grace. I sent you as my only begotten Son to redeem the world. Hallelujah. And to save men and women from their sins. So, I can't remove the cup. And he found himself, he prayed three times, and he found himself saying the same thing. And he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. That's how we overcome fear. As now says, we say, not my will, Lord, but thy will be done. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Everybody, I want to ask that you close us out in prayer and benediction. Hallelujah. Yes. Yes, ma'am.