Introduction:
We are living in a world that has been transformed from one of perfection to imperfection. We as believers are going to suffer. I know that people have lied on you, tried their best to tear you down, they have planned private attacks on you, they have tried to get you fired on the job, they have tried to lead one of your family members astray, and have even tried to get your spouse to turn against you.
But there is a reason for all of this. This world that we live in was perfected starting at the beginning when God created everything. All of this was simultaneously transformed into imperfection. This world was perfect when God and His mighty hand created it, but it slipped into imperfection when the poison of Satan contaminated the two perfect beings, which were Adam and Eve with his lies.
They both were created perfectly; however, they still had a permissive will to obey or to disobey. The Bible says that Satan is the father of all lies. John 8:44 says, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
You know the story of the fall of man. Every since the fall of man, man must toil the earth for a living, a woman must bear pain in conceiving a child, a man’s life is only for a short season and then he will eventually die.
Genesis 3:19 says, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
All of this is because of sin entering into a perfect world. I know this may sound a bit harsh, but through it all I still have some Good News. Stopping here I just want to spend a little bit of time on two points if I may.
Development:
Point #1: Things May Look Bad, But We Still Have a Guarantee
Point #1: Things May Look Bad, But We Still Have a Guarantee
Life is often very cruel. We have hopes that have risen to great heights and before the sun goes down, they have fallen into grave disappointments. Everywhere and everyday millions of people are facing:
Disease
Suffering
Death
Loss of a job
Shortage of money
Bankruptcy
Broken relationships and the list goes on.
When we go through hard times and at appears that there is no way out we all have asked the question,
God Where Are You?
God Are You Listening?
Where Is God When I Really Need Him?
These are the cries of the human heart. If you haven’t been there yet, just keep on living my brothers and my sisters because your chance is just around the corner. This was the exact same situation that the Israelites were facing at the Red Sea. They had lost their confidence.
They had totally forgotten what they had seen God do with Pharaoh. They had lost their confidence in God. Now we can’t be too judgmental with the Israelites because if the truth must be told our confidence is not where it should be.
Now according to Webster’s dictionary, the word confidence means to have full of trust, belief in the powers, reliability of a person or thing.
Let me try to paint the picture of what the Israelites were up against. The Egyptian army at that time was top of the line in military technology for war. This army had 600 of the best chariots and 800 other chariots and horses of Egypt. Pharaoh had the most powerful army on earth.
But if we really dig down deep and look at the Israelites as ourselves, the problem here was not Pharaoh and his great military power. The problem was not the Red Sea. The problem was closer to home. The problem was the fear and lack of confidence that was hidden in hearts of the Israelites. In their hearts they had the secret thoughts of:
• "God, why are you allowing this to happen?"
• "Why me? This is not fair."
• "If only we had stayed in Egypt, life would be so much simpler."
I know life will at times take you down a road that seems that this just might be the end. Your job may fold up, you could loose a loved one unto death, or sickness may have your body.
Sometimes life and the pressures of this world can have you so low that getting up isn’t on your mind. You may be in a storm of life and all you see is darkness and you are calling out to God, and your cry is, “God where are you? Lord, have you forgotten me? God, do you hear my prayer?”
There was an opera several years ago called “Emperor Jones” and a famous black baritone singer by the name of Paul Roberson sung a solo in that opera called “It’s Me It’s Me It’s Me Oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer.” I don’t know about you but I’m always standing in the need of prayer.
If you haven’t seen those dark sides of life yet, or have wondered if God is still near, or if God is hearing your prayer, just keep on living because your day is right around the corner. But my brothers and my sisters no matter how grim things may seem, no matter how dark the road may get, no matter how high the hills are that you have to climb, no matter what the judge says in a court room, no matter what the doctor may say, you still have a guarantee. These words are only for believers, those that have an intimate and defined relationship with Jesus the Christ.
For those that have that relationship with Jesus the Christ, I have some good news.
Jesus Himself made a promise to all of His people that they would never be alone. He said that He would never leave you nor forsake you. He said that He would send you a comforter, and that comforter is the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. The Greek word for comforter is paracletos (pa – rak – la –tos).
My brothers and my sisters knowing that the Holy Spirit is here within us is some good news. We have been Signed, Sealed and Delivered by God Himself. That is our Guarantee. That is our Life-time Warrantee.
God will be with us no matter what the situation. We have the Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss). The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that is with us. Just let me park here with the Comforter.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is our shield, it protects us from all seen and unseen dangers.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) has sealed us. God "seals" all of His. When God seals us it means that He puts His mark on us, He puts His stamp on us, He marks all of His believers. That’s why we are different. That’s why when we walk into a room, the conversation changes.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is our bridge over troubled waters.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is our Prince of Peace.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one who is able to keep us from falling.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one who we can call friend, that why we sing the song What A Friend We Have In Jesus.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one who comes when we are in trouble and distress.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one who is our lawyer in a court room to plead our case.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that tells us not to worry because everything is going to be alright.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when Negros and Negroettes are trying to dig a ditch for us to fall in, and when you are about to step in, the Comforter will become our Jehovah Sel’I (Sell-eye), the Lord your Rock, He will move you in another direction.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when we are sick and you need healing, He becomes our Jehovah Rappha, the one that heals.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when we are in need, He becomes our Jehovah Jireha, the one that will provide.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that is with us when we seem to be all alone because we have lost a loved one, he becomes our Jehovah Immeku (Im-me-ku), the Lord is With You. I don’t know about you but sometimes when I’m driving my car, and my spirit is a little low, a quickening comes over me, the Comforter takes control of the car, and I begin having church in my car. And before I know it I’m praising God from behind the steering wheel.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when you need strength in your time of trouble, He becomes our Jehovah Uzam, Lord Is Your Strength in Your Time of Trouble.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when we need peace in the midst of a storm He becomes our Jehovah Shalom, The God That Gives Peace. This peace, the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away.
The Comforter, the paracletos (pa – rak – la –toss) is the one that when we need deliverance from something, He becomes our Jehovah Mephalti (Mep-hail-tee), He is the one that is our deliverer.
Point #2: You Need To PUSH
God knows the suffering that we as believers go through. He sees all of our struggles each and everyday. God knew about our suffering and our struggles before the foundation of this world.
Romans 8:28-39 says that God "did foreknow" even before the foundation of the world. What I love about this scripture, it motivates me to want to stand strong and PUSH.
Because no matter how great the suffering, no matter how great the opposition, no matter how great the struggle, God is going to complete His purpose in our lives. That should make you want to PUSH.
It does not matter how many lies are told on you, how many traps are set for you, God has already "predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son," and absolutely nothing can change that. That should make you want to PUSH.
Why is that preacher? "That Christ might be the first-born [have the preeminence] among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).
God loves His Son in the most supreme way possible and God has ordained that His Son shall have many brothers and sisters (adopted brothers and sisters) who will love and serve Him as the first-born, that is, as the first Person or the most preeminent Person of the universe.
Colossians 1:15,18 says that God has ordained Jesus the Christ to hold the highest rank and position: that He be the exalted Head of all creation and the One to whom all men look.
What that means is that God is not going to allow anything to permanently defeat us. God is not going to allow any fallen child of His to ever remain down permanently.
God is going to fulfill His purpose in every child of His, and nothing can stop His purpose. Jesus Christ, His Son, will have a multitude of brothers and sisters who worship and serve Him throughout eternity. that should make you want to PUSH.
Conclusion:
Just before I take my seat, I see that some of you are looking at me strange when I keep saying that You Need To PUSH. When we are going through, we need to PUSH. There were some believers that were in a tomb. When they were awaken form their sleep, they began to PUSH.
I know that you think that I am crazy, but if you would read Matthew 27:50-55 in your leisure, you will see why I’m about to loose my mind. There were saints of old that were dead and laid to rest in their tombs. But when Jesus screamed to the top of His lungs,
“It is Finished,” the saints of old were wakened.
Once they got up they began PUSHING. Those saints just were not sitting in those tombs they were PUSHING. They had to PUSHING. They were PRAISING UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENED. They knew something special was about to take place soon.
the reason why I say that they knew something spectacular was about to take place was because the son of God died on that old rugged cross. As he gave up the ghost, He screamed to the top of his lungs, "It Is Finished." His scream had enough power to disrupt a cemetery 13 miles away. His disruption caused the stones that covered the tombs of the saints of old to be split in two and the saints were awaken from death. they knew something special was about to happen. Early sunday morning, which was the third day Jesus got up from the grave with all power in His hands. the saints of old were able to walk out of their tombs and walk to the city to show themselves to the priest as proof that Jesus is the Son of God. Hallelulah.
