Video

Faith is More Than Words

Many people claim to have faith in Jesus, but when tragedy comes their way, they show their true colors. Faith is a process of growing closer and trusting more in Jesus Christ. A true Christian that has been through trials and tribulations while trusting in Christ will have a greater testimony in their faith than someone who has never experienced that trust.

The Bible verse, “Walk by Faith, Not by Sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) is one that expresses experience over awareness. In other words, living by faith is more than saying that you have faith, it is faith being experienced in real life.

Video

Feeling like God is against me

Lamentations 3
I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.
He bent His bow
And set me as a target for the arrow.
He made the arrows of His quiver
To enter into my inward parts.
I have become a laughingstock to all my people,
Their mocking song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drunk with wormwood.
He has broken my teeth with gravel;
He has made me cower in the dust.
My soul has been rejected from peace;
I have forgotten happiness.
So I say, “My strength has perished,
And so has my hope from the Lord.”
Hope of Relief in God’s Mercy
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he should bear
The yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and be silent
Since He has laid it on him.
Let him put his mouth in the dust,
Perhaps there is hope.
Let him give his cheek to the smiter,
Let him be filled with reproach.
For the Lord will not reject forever,
For if He causes grief,
Then He will have compassion
According to His abundant lovingkindness.
For He does not afflict willingly
Or grieve the sons of men.
To crush under His feet
All the prisoners of the land,
To deprive a man of justice
In the presence of the Most High,
To defraud a man in his lawsuit—
Of these things the Lord does not approve.
Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass,
Unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That both good and ill go forth?
Why should any living mortal, or any man,
Offer complaint in view of his sins?
Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.
We lift up our heart and hands
Toward God in heaven;
We have transgressed and rebelled,
You have not pardoned.
You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and have not spared.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud
So that no prayer can pass through.
You have made us mere offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.
All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
Panic and pitfall have befallen us,
Devastation and destruction;
My eyes run down with streams of water
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
My eyes pour down unceasingly,
Without stopping,
Until the Lord looks down
And sees from heaven.
My eyes bring pain to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.
My enemies without cause
Hunted me down like a bird;
They have silenced me in the pit
And have placed a stone on me.
Waters flowed over my head;
I said, “I am cut off!”
I called on Your name, O Lord,
Out of the lowest pit.
You have heard my voice,
“Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief,
From my cry for help.”
You drew near when I called on You;
You said, “Do not fear!”
O Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause;
You have redeemed my life.
O Lord, You have seen my oppression;
Judge my case.
You have seen all their vengeance,
All their schemes against me.
You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me.
The lips of my assailants and their whispering
Are against me all day long.
Look on their sitting and their rising;
I am their mocking song.
You will recompense them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
You will give them hardness of heart,
Your curse will be on them.
You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
From under the heavens of the Lord!

Video

Cast all your cares on Christ

[I actually took this out of one of my other sermons. I felt that this snippet says something that is important for people to hear. ]

The Devil can really mess with our minds and get us depressed, feeling lonely, angry, hateful, irritated, and hopeless to say the least. As followers of Christ Jesus, the Bible tells us that we can take all of our concerns to Him. the Bible says that we can do this because He loves us and that He will give us rest. Many of us have struggled way too long with life’s battles, we need a Savior that truly loves us and will give us victory. Jesus is that Savior!

From the Bible:
1 Peter 5:6-11 ‘Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brothers and sisters who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. ‘
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light.”’

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