Nice day, meet the perfect ending. If we don’t catch you tonight, maybe we’ll give your chilly fall morning a boost with some highlights from a message Brother Nobles taught this past weekend about complaining.
If you’re married, have you ever been in an argument with your spouse, and right in the middle they say, “Will you forgive me?”
N – n — no. I had a good fight coming. I’ve got good material, haha.
But those words stop you in your tracks.
Don’t take for granted the power of your words. When the ministry preaches about loving one another, that runs deep and into our actions, but words matter, too. Seeing someone and saying hello or asking how they are or saying I love you — those clichés we throw out sometimes — they really matter. You have no idea what somebody next to you is going through. Don’t take for granted how those words might affect them.
In the Early Church when the gospel mattered more than ever, the New Testament was filled with warnings — greet each other with a holy kiss and with songs. We read that now, and we’re like “I’ll text them”. There’s something about a biblical principle like that. Why would they have said that? Why would Ephesians be filled with reminders to greet each other with joy (remember the church was being persecuted)?
They might not be there the day after.
Every day was life and death. The tone was to make every moment count, every interaction matter. Every time you saw a believer, you let them know God is for us not against us — see you later.
Your worship matters. Maybe someone doesn’t believe in this, or they do believe but are on the fence, and they see your joy, your praise, the way you listen to messages and your testimony. All of it matters.
One time Elder asked some of us, “Are ya’ll gonna get saved?” We laughed and thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. He said our faces looked angry and uninterested. Our faces should reflect our joy and peace. Our tone should reflect that we don’t deserve to be breathing, but God saved our life. In church it matters to let each other know we care and for people to feel welcome.
Share this with a friend who is glued to a new favorite scripture.
Change of Plans
Paul was planning on one thing (preaching in Bithynia), but was able to be stopped in his tracks by the Lord (in a vision) and instead goes to Macedonia. The greatest enemy of God’s plans are usually our plans.
Have you ever been working on a document and lost the whole thing? (Special prayer group for you later.) It happened to me not long ago. It’s a good reflection of how we should be with God. I’ve been working on this particular thing, but in the blink of an eye, I’ll let it be gone to trust what Jesus wants instead of what I was planning and hanging onto.
Tents Packed? Then, Let’s Go.
Not so fast. It’s Numbers 11, and God is displeased because right away — at the beginning of the journey — people start moaning and complaining about everything.
There’s no food! It’s too hot! We ate that yesterday! Nahsham pushed me!
God hears all this complaining and is displeased, so he sets fire to the camp. The people freak out, and ask Moses for help. So, Moses prays to God and he puts out the fire. Okay, point taken, Lord. Right?
Nope. No one learns their lesson. Lots of people keep whining about how hungry they are. Even though God has given them delicious manna, which they’re able to collect every morning, the people want meat. They keep reminiscing about how good the food was back in Egypt. They had fish, leeks, and melons. So delicious.
Of course, they were slaves back then, too, but oh, the food was good.
Complaining is deadly.
God is still just as displeased today as He was in Numbers. Why? Look at what God had just done for them. He had just brought them out of 400 years of bondage. He had delivered them from Pharaoh and his army. He divided the Red Sea and brought them over on dry ground.
He did all those things.
And the whole time, they were complaining.
As soon as God sent the angel over and they got to the Red Sea – they started complaining from the very first part of this journey.
What have you done, brought us out here to die? There’s a sea in front of us and Pharaoh’s army behind us.
Moses had to tell them, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.”
Here, Hold This Mirror.
We are in the same condition. God has delivered us from the bondage of this old nature, if you’ve let Him. He’s caused you to be able to come across the Red Sea. He’s already given us the same kind of deliverances. We just have to be able to see them spiritually so that we stop complaining.
We should remember what Jesus has done.
Didn’t I walk on water? Haven’t I done all these things for you? Didn’t I come when you called? Didn’t I answer your prayers when you prayed about certain things?
We have to stop complaining and put the spirit of victory back into our heart. I’m going to have something inside of me that’s going to rejoice and keep something in my heart that’s positive.
Hi, How’s It Going?
Did you ever ask Elder how he was doing? Have you asked Brother Nobles how he is doing? Have you asked Brother Jack Kinsey how he’s doing?
Doing great. Doing good. I’m super-duper (Brother Jack’s version).
Even though we have conditions we are dealing with, we are in the Body of Christ. I have a revelation so that I can read the Book and understand mysteries that are hidden in there. I can get those things I need. I have the Holy Ghost in my life!
Do you realize what power you have when you receive the Holy Ghost?
What do you think divided the Red Sea?
What do you think kept those three men from being consumed by the fire when someone threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace?
What do you think kept Daniel safe when he was put into a den of lions?
What do you think caused Jesus to walk on water?
What caused Jesus to be able to say, “Lazaraus, come forth?” And that man came up, and Jesus told him to take those grave clothes off.
The Holy Ghost, the life of God, did all those things!
It was not a different Holy Ghost than what you have, so you have something in you to have victory and something to feel good about all the time. There has to be something in us that says, “I’m going to win! I’m going to do this and not complain. I’m not going to wait for a situation to bring me joy. I HAVE JOY IN ME!”
I’m not going to wait for a situation to change to bring me peace. I have the peace of God in me. He told us, “My peace I leave with you.” We have that same peace. It comes through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If you don’t have it, you need it. It’s your birth, your life. It is not just an extra added power. It is the power. It is your salvation.
From A Mile Away
Whatever conditions I meet on the road ahead, He’ll deliver me from those things, too. I can already see my blessings, my victory from a mile away.
Have you watched someone in a situation that you knew where things were headed, how they would turn out? There used to be a crazy series on T.V. where the producers followed someone whom they suspected was being duped and lied to in their relationship (e.g., they met someone online but had never actually “seen” the person in real life). You watched it — not to see a love story — but to see a train wreck and how bad it was going to go.
It always led to a brokenhearted person sitting there saying, “I can’t believe they weren’t who they said they were.”
Of course everyone is thinking, really!? You couldn’t see this coming? Every time you communicate, they send you a different picture, you can’t track them down, and you’ve never heard their voice. You’re devastated? Seriously? How could you not see this coming from a mile away?
It’s easy to judge them, but look at ourselves sometimes.
A stupid series, but it shows us how we allow ourselves to have a blind spot. Other people can see us going in a direction that is not going to end well. They can see us going down roads, that if we looked with spiritual eyes, we’d never be caught anywhere near.
We would see the danger coming from a mile away.
Making This Joy a Reality in Our Daily Lives
(2 Corinthians 1:6-10)
No matter what afflictions or what we’re going through, we’re still going to do it with the right spirit so He gains from it. Whether we’re going through something or just had a great victory, it’s still for the people of God to see that God is on our side.
Verse 7 — If you’re going through a hard time, don’t let that be what takes your joy from you. If you’ve just had victory, don’t let that be the only thing that gives you joy. Keep that joy and peace regardless of the conditions around you.
Verses 8-9 — They knew and had already accepted this fact: we’re in a condition that will take God to get us out of. Nothing you can do, and nothing I can do will save us.
Go back in Acts and read when they were in Ephesus (a hotbed of different cultures that were always looking for the mysterious, a higher consciousness, or something complex). All those merchants of Diana got into such an uproar that they were going to kill those men because they were convincing people to not follow after Diana.
They assumed at that point that unless God delivered them, that was going to be their end right there, but their trust was in God.
He delivered them.
We Shouldn’t Be Stumbling Our Way Through LifE.
Our joy and peace shouldn’t be hit or miss. We can pray the same thing Paul did. Open up my eyes so I can see you for who you are and your truth. I need your touch to see it.
Have this mindset: The God I’m serving is with me all the time. “Lord, you’ve already delivered me from so many things. I know you’re with me right now, right here, and I know in conditions coming, you’re going to still be with me.
You have to plant these things in your heart. If you don’t, every condition that comes around is going to sway you. It’s going to cause you to either start losing hope or it’s going to cause you to become concerned, upset, or angry. Whatever it does, you have to put your trust in Him.
You say, “You don’t know what condition I’m in.” It doesn’t matter, because God is still with you. He hasn’t withdrawn His spirit from you. David said, “When I made my bed in hell, you were there.”
There may be times when He feels afar off. The Bible talks about the heavens being shut up. That’s when we get into such a condition that God has to let us feel that distance, so it will cause us to say, Lord, I have to change something in my life.
He’ll allow that to happen sometimes . . . but He hasn’t withdrawn from you.
Zeroed In On 2 Corinthians 1:10
Circle it. The apostles were in a position they didn’t plan on being in. You have to shout that scripture down. You have to read it quietly. You have to say it to yourself daily. You have to put this statement in your mind for your present day condition:
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. -2 Corinthians 1:10
Don’t let what people say or think overwhelm your spirit. Hold fast to the things you know are true. Plant them in your heart. They will keep you.
In Days of Shock, Conditions, and Trials . . . You Can Be at peace. Be a Palm Tree.
Holding fast to the things you know to be true will cause you to be as a palm tree.
Our fruit grows high off the ground.
Our roots go deep and wrap around the rock.
We draw our water out of that rock (even when it doesn’t rain, the palm tree still thrives).
When the storms come, we will lie down, humbling ourselves before God.
When the storm passes over, like the palm, we will stand back up and thrive.