*******SERMON OUTLINE*********
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now!
I. Stopping Short...
Praise the Lord!!!
Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Matthew 16:13-18.
How many in here this morning has ever set a goal
in your life,
and you stopped short of completing your goal?
You could have had the reward that comes from
accomplishing your goals,
You could have been an accomplished man or an
accomplished woman,
You could have had the satisfaction of knowing
that you did this one thing,
But you stopped short of success and
You missed the mark in that perticular area of
your life. Amen?
Ya’ll know what I’m talking about today!
We see it everyday.
The basketball player that could have been the
next Michael Jordan,
but he let his sinful lifestyle get in the way of his
career.
There’s the football player that could have been the
next heisman trophy winner,
But an injured knee stopped him short of his goal.
The teenage role model who had a successful
acting career with Disney,
But her choices in life cost her her career.
I’m talking about people who could have been
somebody,
But something or somebody stopped them dead in
their tracks! Amen?
Well I’m here to tell you this morning that though
you may have fell short in the past,
Though you may have stopped short of
accomplishing your goals in the past,
Though you may have slipped up and fell down
and come to a halt in your walk with God in the
past,
You can still get up today,
and and you can still carry own and be that
somebody that you were striving to be back then.
II. Be Somebody...
How many in here this morning wants to be
somebody?
Turn to your neighbor this morning and say I
wanna be somebody?
How many in here this morning knows that God
wants you to be somebody?
And He just doesn’t want you to be anybody he
wants you to be that somebody that He’s created
you to be.
He wants you to be that somebody that was
created to be blessed!
The somebody that was created to have fellowship
with Him!
He wants you to be the somebody that ain’t afraid
to tell people how much they love Jesus!
He wants you to be the somebody that’s willing to
walk in the calling that He’s for ordained for you to
walk in!
He wants you to be the somebody that’ll tell
everybody about the one that can save anybody.
How many knows what I’m talking about this
morning?
God doesn’t want you to be an unsuccessful
nobody!
God has a purpose just for you,
and a plan just for your life! Amen?
He’s got great things in store for you.
Every believer has a destiny and God is waiting for
you to come to that realization,
So that He can begin to reveal his will for your life.
And though we may have fallen short in times
past,
Though we may have come to a detour or to a stop
sign in other areas of our lives,
Even though the enemy has had us bound up,
And beaten down,
And he’s thrown road blocks in our paths since the
days of old,
When the Lord begins to guide our steps,
When we put the Lord in charge of our destiny,
And we recognize who God is in our own
individual lives...
There ain’t no stoppin’ us now!!! Amen?
III. No More Stopping...
If you have your Bibles opened to the Book of
Matthew the 16th chapter,
I want you to look at verses 13-18 with me this
morning.
Mat 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Mat 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Mat 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Mat 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Christ said He would build his church and the
gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
What He was saying in todays language was we are
the church and "Ain’t no stopping us now"!!!
How many in here remember that old song by
McFadden & Whitehead?
The song that use to say "Ain’t no stoppin’ us
now"!
Who knows what I’m talking about?
That’s something to rejoice about this morning?
That’s something to shout glory for. Amen?
We use to fall short at every thing we tried our
hand at.
We used to hit every red light on the road to no
where.
We used to get stopped before we even got started.
But ain’t no stopping us now!!!
Let’s all stand to our feet and rejoice about that
this morning!
Let’s all dance like David danced about that this
morning!
Let’s clap our hands and stomp our feet about
what the Lord has done today!
Let’s thank God that there ain’t no stoppin’ His
People. Amen?
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IV. The "Theysayers"...
Praise the Lord!!!
How many in here has ever had somebody talk
about you?
Tell you how worthless you are!
Tell you how much better they are than you.
How many knows that Jesus had to go through the
same types of things.
They ridiculed Jesus!
The Pharisees followed Jesus around simply to try
and discredit His ministry.
They were always talking about Him.
Always trying to trip Him up,
But How many knows there wasn’t no stoppin’
Jesus! Amen?
He was a man on a mission.
I want to take a minute and give you a little bit of
insight on the background behind our text this
morning?
Jesus was known through out the land to be many
things. Amen?
Scripture says they called Him Rabbi.
He was a respected teacher in the community.
He was known to be a miracle worker.
He was a natural born leader.
He was a somebody. Amen?
And how many knows that when you’re a
somebody,
The people are going to begin to talk. Amen?
The rumors are going to begin to fly. Amen?
Everybody’s going to have an opinion about you.
Well that’s what was going on in our text this
morning.
Everybody had an opinion about who Jesus really
was.
Most of the religious leaders of the day saw Him
either as a threat,
Or as a fraud because we see all through the
gospels where they’re trying to discredit His
ministry. Amen?
Verse 14 says that some thought that He was John
the Baptist.
Rumors were going around that He was the
prophet Elijah who was suppose to come before
the Messiah.
They said He was Jeremiah or one of the other
prophets. Amen?
So Jesus asked His disciples "Who do they say that
I am?"
He said who does the world say that I am?
And His disciples said They say you’re this or they
say you’re that.
See, the they sayers of Jesus day had a whole lot to
say about who He was. Amen?
Well how many knows that the they sayers in our
day and time got a lot to say about who Jesus is
too. Amen?
They say He’s not real!
They say He was just a prophet!
They say He’s not a healer, or a helper, or a
provider, God, etc!!!
They say a whole lot, but just because they say
something doesn’t mean that what they say is true.
That’s why we call them "they sayers" cause they
got something to say about everything,
Even when they don’t know everything about what
they say. Amen?
V. Think Before You Speak...
The "they sayers" were all wrong. Amen?
You know that, I know that, Jesus knew that!
And He didn’t let what they said bother him
because what they said didn’t matter,
Because they didn’t know Him?
Alot of people have a lot to say about me and
where I’ve been and where I’m at. Amen?
Alot of people have something to say about me
based on what somebody else told them about me!
I’ve had people formulate an opinion about me
based on what they heard about from Holiness
Tabernacle.
People formulate opinions about me because of
what Carl James or Joe Parnelle said about me!
But the truth of the matter is they don’t know me,
and what they say is just an opinion that is not
based on any facts because the really don’t know
me.
And opinions are like feet...everybodys got them
and they all stink. Amen?
Jesus knew the they sayers were all wrong,
But He wasn’t interested in what they had to say in
the first place.
He said in Verse 15 BUT....
He said I know what they say BUT...
That but means let’s change the subject. Amen?
I know what they say, BUT the subject at hand is
whom say ye that I am?
Instead of defending His reputation against what
they were saying He changed the subject.
Why? Because He didn’t need to defend Himself to
Peter because Peter knew Him.
Someone could stand up right now and say what a
horrible Pastor I am,
or what a bad preacher I am,
or how unloving I am,
And I would not need to prove to you that I’m not
those things because you already know.
Why? because you know me. Amen?
You would know that those were lies from the
start.
In the same sense Peter knew Jesus. Amen?
He knew Jesus was more than a prophet!
He knew Jesus wasn’t a fraud!
He knew Jesus was the Christ! The Son of the
Living God! Amen?
VI. Know That You Know...
And as soon as he confirmed that to Jesus,
God’s blessings and promises began to flow his
way,
When Peter was able to rise above popular opinion
as soon as he was able to say hey I’m not gonna
listen to what everybody else is saying,
I’m not gonna listen to the they sayers,
I’m gonna find out for myself.
And the only way to know what you’re talking
about for real,
Is to really know that you know that you know.
And if there’s one thing Peter knew - it was Jesus.
And He not only new Jesus as a prophet,
But He knew Jesus as God in the flesh. Amen?
I tell you the truth this morning Church,
When I stand here and tell you there are alot of
They sayers in the Church!!!
They say that they’re Christians!
They say that they’re saved!
They say that they know Jesus!
But they’ve only heard of Jesus!
They might of heard that Jesus saves souls,
But they don’t know Jesus as their savior!
They might have heard that He still heals,
But they don’t trust Him as their Healer,
They might of heard the preacher say He’s Lord!
But they don’t know Him as their Lord & Master.
Hearing builds faith,
But as soon as you know who He is...
Knowing is doing and doing is better than hearing
And as soon as you know who He is then you can
start being that somebody that you want to be!
Because as soon as you know who He is,
Then you can know who He created you to be!
In verse 17 right after Peter confessed that Jesus
was the Christ.
Jesus began to tell Peter who he was in Christ!
He said Peter you are blessed!
Peter you are somebody!
I ’ve got something I can work with now. Amen?
Peter I’ve chosen you to be a rock!
And on this rock I will build my church!
On this foundation I will build my church!
That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.
That foundation is the knowledge of who Jesus is.
When you know who Jesus is then He build on
that. Amen?
He can build His church on that knowledge.
And the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it.
The enemy and all the host of hell can try to come
against that,
But victory is mine. Amen?
When sickness comes it won’t prevail,
Because I know Christ as my healer.
When recession comes it shall not prevail,
Because I know Him as my provider!
No weapon formed against me shall prosper,
Because I know him as my shield and my fortress.
Because I know who He is I can be victorious! Amen?
VII. The Keys of The Kingdom...
I want to read the very last verse and I’m going to
close out this service this morning.
Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Jesus said when we know who He is
He will give the power to bind and loose.
And power over the enemy,
And even power from the Holy Ghost.
But what I want to point out to you in closing this
morning,
Is that He gives us the keys of the Kingdom!
The keys to accomplish whatever we need to
accomplish for the Kingdom.
We are His church and the gates of Hell can not
prevail against us.
And when you come across a locked gate in your
path just remember you’ve got the keys to open it
and continue on. Amen?
Everybody say "ain’t no stoppin’ us now"!
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