Remembering Past Blessings and Preparing for the Future Blessings

Well, it's good to be back with you this morning. I'm glad to

last week I was away visiting with the pastor friend of mine in rock Hill,

and it was it was good to be away for the weekend and visit

some friends in a church family to become friends of ours. But it's good

to be home. It's good to be back with you. I'm glad that

you're here. If you have your Bible, was turned with me to Deuteronomy

chapter eight, Deude Army chapter eight. We're kind of a break for a

few weeks here through Acts. We've been preaching through the Book of Acts,

but we're kind of taking a little break and of looking through Mother's Day and

some different things over the last few weeks. And but this morning, I

really believe the Lord has led us to Deuteronomy chapter eight, and hope you'll

turn there with me. You know, seven years ago I was I was

actually a pastor of another church, and God had opened up the door for

me to consider leaving that church and coming to become pastor here, and I

was praying about it. It was actually right here. I think it was

Junior July, and I was no one knew except me and Brandy, of

course, And I don't even know if the girls knew at that point.

And I was praying, and I remember I was We're on vacation, and

I was laying in bed and I was praying about God, whether God would

have me come be pastor here. I was really worried. I was at

a church that was stable, and I've been there five years of four years

almost five, and things were going well, and I was really believed that's

where God wanted me. But I felt like God was up another door,

and I was not sure about whether God would lead me here and what God

would do, and it was concerned about where the church was and church here

Buttessa was hurting and going through a lot of difficulty, and I remember thinking,

Lord, I don't know if I'll be the pastor. They've been through

so much hurt. Things are in struggling, and I just don't know that

I can, if I can rebuild it, if I can protect them from

any more hurt. And that night I would read my devotion that morning,

the passage the Lord put on my heart that day, and I read in

my quiet time that morning was Psalm one twenty seven one and two, and

this is what it says, unless the Lord builds a house, those who

build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the

watchman stays awake in vain. It's vain that you rise up early and go

to rest late, eating bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved

sheep. That night, I realized that Lord was telling me, Jonathan,

you're right. You can't do it. You can't rebuild Bethesta. And you're

right, Jonathan, you can't protect Betesta. If you try to do it,

you'll fail. Those who labor without the Lord labor in vain. Those

who build build in vain. Only listen the Lord builds. And the Lord

told me that that day, Jonathan, I will build and I will protect

Bethesda. Seven years ago, as we were transitioning here Bethesda, the state

of Bethesda, and I know some of you are from have been here through

the last seven years, some of you are new Bethesda. So just we'll

share a little bit about the history. Seven years ago, the church before

I came had lost all its staff. There was no staff left here except

Tanner High School student lean worship a part time. There was no staff to

church financially had just a little bit left in the bank. The budget showed

that the church would be at a loss the following year and maybe in jeopardy

of running out of money and closing. So as I was laying in my

bed that night, I was praying, Lord, this doesn't look good.

Can I tell you in two thousand I would surrender to come become pastor here

August of twenty seventeen, God would bring us here the next year. When

the church was looking at the prospect of not making it a year the next

year, we didn't close the next year through God's provision. One year later

we renovated this sanctuary. Through the Lord's provision, we raised We had a

goal of raising one hundred and thirty thousand dollars to just renovate this building.

And God, through his blessing by him building but ASDA he rebuilt this sanctuary.

We raised money to do that. We also been aated to sit on

the four year and also the BCA renovated the classrooms on the academy side the

next year. We after doing such a big fundraiser, the following year,

twenty eighteen, we got word that our chiller on the academy side had went

out and it was sixty thousand dollars. Now that was a big deal because

we didn't have any money of the bank. We just had raised one hundred

and thirty thousand to renovate this building. And now we're in the danger of

figuring out how in the world or we're going to pay for the sixty thousand

dollars chiller. Can I tell you the following year. In twenty eighteen,

God let us raise sixty thousand dollars and we put a new children in In

twenty nineteen we did that. Twenty eighteen we renovated the sanctuary. Twenty nineteen

we replaced the chiller. Over the next few years, God would lead us

provision we would need new roofs on both of our academy and in preschool with

thirty thousand dollars each, and God would provide we would in two thousand and

two, would God would lead us to have our old our first building,

that oldest building on the property are what we call the eight building or the

old Sanctuary, built in nineteen thirty something, I believe maybe fifty. Don't

quote me on that. It's somewhere back then. Needed a whole lot of

work and got put on our hearts to rebuild it, and we raised one

hundred thousand dollars to renovate that building that it could be used for our primetime

ministry, our academy, for our middle and high school. And then just

in two thousand and twenty three, we put new floors. God blessed the

preschool where they were able to put new floors in the preschool. We as

a church were able to do some of that as well. And today listen

seven years later. Last year, I guess six years later. Last year,

we realized the church was kind of in another financial crisis. We weren't

sure how we were going to make it another year. Our budget was struggling.

We had one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in debt of our office space,

our office building. I came to you last October and said what should

we do? Should we sell it or should we pay it off? And

you as a church, said let's pay it off. And today listen,

seven years later from when God first started this work, seven years later,

can I tell you church where debt free? I tell you, as you

look back over the last seven years, God has been so good. I

can tell you as a pastor. There's been times I told someone just the

other day that the first two years of my ministry here I felt like I

was walking on financial thin ice. I was just waiting for something to break,

like a chiller or a roof that would cause the church to go under.

For every point of the way, whether it was a chiller or a

new roof, God met our every need. And today He's met our need

and that we are now debt free. I said. The beautiful thing over

the last year seven years is we seen how God provided for us in all

those means, and we did that in the midst of having debt. And

today now God has set us free from that. And so today as we

come to this this morning, I really want us to think about what is

that? What does God want us to do with thinking about the past.

How does God want us to remember the past? But I really believe that

not only does God want us to look back over these last seven years and

remember what He has done, but I also believe God wants us look and

prepare for the future. And as we come to Deuteronomy eight, that's what

is happening in this passage of scripture. Deuteronomy eight is the last book of

the Pentateuk or the Torah. It is the last book where Moses is an

instruction manual. And you know, you have vehicles, and when you buy

a new appliance, it comes with an instruction manual. Right, It tells

you how to operate, it tells you what to do with it. Deuteronomy

is really an instruction manual. The people of Israel have been forty years in

the wilderness. They're coming to the end of that period. They're about to

go into the Promised Land. And God through Moses, just before Moses dies,

he gives them a book, an instruction manual of what they should do

when they go into the promised Land. Okay, now that we've given you

all the commands, we're gonna show you what to do and how you should

handle going into the promised land, how you should live. And so chapter

eight, this is what's happening. They've that God's taken through forty years of

wilderness, and he wants them to look back at that period of the wilderness,

and now he wants them to look toward the future and what does he

have for them, and how he wants to prepare them for the future.

And so this morning. There's kind of two parts of this passage that's breaking

down. One remembering the past, and another part of the passage is preparing

for the future. And so this morning, that's what we're gonna do it.

That's what we're gonna do together. We're gonna look at how do we

remember the past? But that's I also really want to challenge you to look

through the past of your life. You're you're walk with the Lord over the

last few years, even though maybe the last seven years, maybe the last

ten years, And I want you to remember what God has done in your

life individually. But I also want to do that as a church. So

how should we remember the things in our life individually and corporately as a church?

And then how should we prepare for the future blessings that God has for

us? And so those are the things that I want us to do today

as we look through this passage of scripture. So let's stand and let's read.

We're gonna this is a pretty long text. Of what I'm going to

do is kind of break it up in different sections. And so this morning,

as we just began, let's just read Deuteronomy eight one through six,

and then we'll jump right in. So let's look at the passage together.

Chapter eight Deuteronomy, Chapter one. The whole commandment I've commanded you today shall

be careful to do that you may live and multiply, and go in and

possess the land the Lord's wore to give your fathers. And you shall look

at verse two. This is the remembering part. And you shall remember the

whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the

wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what is in

your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled

you and lets you hunger and fed you with man which you did not know,

nor did your fathers know, that he might make known to you that

man does not live by brea alone, but man lives by every word that

comes from the mouth of the Lord. Listen to this. Your clothing did

not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these forty years.

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the

Lord disciplines you. You shall keep the commandments of Lord your God by walking

in his way and by fearing him. Let's pray, Lord, we love

you. We thank you Lord for this morning. I pray Father, as

we Lord, as we look back and remember the past, God, we

remember the blessings. We'd remember the testing and TH's blessings, and those testings

will lead us of further obedience in You in the future. God, help

us remember the past. But Lord, help us prepare for the future today.

So Lord, you know the words, Lord, that you've led me

to. Lord, you know the words that you have for us as a

church corporately, but also the message you have for us as individuals. So

Lord, I pray this past will speak to us as a church, or

I pray this passage will speak to us as individuals. Lord lead us.

Lord, I need your power, I need your strength. I need your

words. Now, said Lord, might you may you feel me, May

you lead me? Pour me out? Father, Lord, May every word

that comes from me, Lord be yours today and your name. We pray,

Amen, you may be seated. So first, how do we remember

the past? How do we remember the past? The blessings of the past.

First, remember God's blessings and testing, or we remember God's blessings through

testing. You know, this week Brandy was cleaning out our house and she

was going through closets and working through clausets and cleaning up old things that got

piled up, and she came across across a folder of treasures and she opened

up that folder and it was a picture. It was a it was a

folder of pictures. And so we when I came home after work and me

and Airline laid out all those pictures and there were pictures of me growing up

and all through the years. And you know, one thing that we noticed,

as or I noticed, I don't know if Caroline so much, is

there's kind of like there's kind of ugly duck in stages, you know what

I mean. There's kind of like ups and downs of growing up. It's

like, oh, I was cute here? WHOA What was I thinking?

You know, why did mama let me buy? Why did she buy those

glasses for me? Those are the most hideous things? And then things would

get a little bit better, maybe I got contacts and things looked a little

bit better. And then there's another picture and I've got the ugliest silk shirt

you can ever imagine on from my school pictures, And I was like,

oh, why does she why does she let me buy? Or why does

she? Why does she buy that, why does she let me wear it?

From my school pictures? And so it's just like ups and downs right,

where things look a little bit good and things are kind of a little

bit bad and it's funny. But you know, as you look at our

lives at times, there's periods in our lives spiritually, and there's times in

our life corporately as a church where it seems like there's kind of ups downs.

Right, things are sometimes are really good, and there's sometimes things are

really really bad. And that's not only for you and I and our individual

lives as we grow, but it also is in the life of us as

a church. There's furies of where God's really blessed, but that's and there's

times where but that's a really went through peers of struggle. There's times when

your life individually corporately, I mean individually, there's times where you're really growing

spiritually, but then there's times where you're really struggling spiritually, and there's ups

and downs. That same thing that happens to you and I and our individual

lives in us lives incorporately also happened at Israel. And that's why the Lord

says to them in verse two. Remember the whole way the Lord your God

has led you these forty years in the wilderness, Israel. I want you

to look back at your life. I want you to look back at the

last forty years as you been in the wilderness. There's been times where you

as Israel, where you have loved me, where you obeyed me, where

you serve me. And there's times where I poured out my blessings on you.

And then there was times where you you rebelled. Well, you turned

away from my word and you went out on your own. And in those

times I disciplined you. And when I disciplined you, you repented and you

came back, and then you went right back and again you grew a little

bit, and then you rebelled again, and then I disciplined you again,

and then you came back, and it was just an up and down cycle

in your life spiritually. Over these last forty years. There's times where you

trusted me. There's times where you rebelled me. There's times where I provided

for you, and there's times where I disciplined you. Israel. Look back

and see how through this time you had times of growth and you have times

of struggle. And in all these periods of time, listen, this is

very important, he says to them. Look at this passage and verse two.

How I've led you these forty years. Now he might humble you,

but listen to this. But these forty years, listen to this. I

was testing to know what was in your heart. You know that time israelin

as you were going to these forty years, and you grumbled against me.

You grumbled about the water, you grumbled about the manna. You know that

in those periods of time I was testing you. Do you know this?

Listen to this? Just think about something for me. Do you believe God

is all powerful? Yeah? You think God's in all provided Jehovah jiray,

that he provided for every need that you have. Of course you do,

right? Do you know for Israel, God had the power and he had

the provisions to spoil them rotten? Do you remember? Do you know for

forty years they could have been without want? But there was times in Israel's

life that God withheld his provisions, withheld his hand. That why he might

test them in times of abundance or times and loss. Will you trust me?

Will you obey me? Can I tell you in your your life and

in my life, there's times where Lord will take us through seasons of testing,

seedsons of little, seasons of much And in those seasons God is testing

us of whether in the times of trials and the times of hardships, will

we obey him. We look over the last seven years, but that's it's

been hard, it's not been easy. Maybe these last seven years of we're

just saying, well, but that's to obey me. They didn't have it

and in the bank had really trusted me. And as we go forward it

saying hey, look back and don't forget that in those times where you didn't

have it, you've trusted me. And I want to just encourage you also

in your life, as you think about the past, of your last seven

years of your life, there's times where you've went through different seasons in your

life, struggling with different things. Some of you've gone through some physical issues

in your life of the last seven years, health issues, help crisis.

Some of you've been through relationship issues, some of you went through loss,

some of you went through job issues, spiritual issues of dry seasons. Might

in those last seven years, might God be testing you to see what's in

your heart and whether you would obey him in the heart seasons. I encourage

you today as you look back in the last seven years of your life and

the hard things. Now, you see that God in those moments was testing

you just to get you to come closer to him. I remember Hurricane Hugo.

You remember that came out and wiped out everything. I was laying in

the bed and took out the power and it was so dark I couldn't see

the hand in front of my face because there was no light at all.

You know when the storm came. You remember what you know what I did

that night. I ran to my mom and Daddy cried out to them,

why because that's where my help was. You know, when God takes you

through a storm. God takes you through the storm that you might run to

where he is and said, God, I will not run from you.

I'll run to you, he says. The Israel remember the past, remembers

the times of the past, and remember the blessings in the midst of testing.

You know what I love about this passage of Scripture, He says,

in those times, I tested you to see what was in your heart,

to see if you would trust me to see if you would obey me.

Key just principle all through this entire chapter is obedience to God, obedience to

his command, obedience to his word, he say, And in the midst

of the testing, I wanted to see whether you would continue to obey my

word. If you continue to obay me, and in the midst of the

testing, in the midst of the hardship, do you know I love this

beautiful part of this passage of scripture, he says in verse four. That's

the way it says. Your clothing did not wear out and your foot did

not swell these forty years. You know that in your heart a man disciplines

his son. So the Lord disciplines you so that you might keep the commandments

of life. Lord, he says. And through the testing, Listen,

there was never a time that you were without. I provided for your every

need. Listen, if we will obey God in the times of testing,

he will provide our every need. How do we remember the past? We

remember the past, we remember the blessings of the past, But I remember

God's blessing through testing. So I want to look quickly as we as we

have a little bit time left here. How do we then prepare for the

future. How do we prepare for the future of God's blessings or future blessings?

Number two, We prepare for the future God's future blessings. We prepare

for God's blessing by resisting complacency. What't you read the passage with me?

So he reminds him of the past, and then I'm starting. In verse

seven, he begins telling them about the future blessing that were having the Promised

Land. There again, they're in, They're still in the wilderness. They're

not crossed over the Jordan. They're about to go over the Jordan into the

Promised Land. And he's preparing them for them. These are their instructions of

what you're gonna do as you go in. And so here he describes the

blessing that lies before them in the Promised Land. Listen to the passage script

verse seven he says, for the Lord, your God is bringing you into

land, a land of brooks of water, fountains and springs and springs flowing

in the valley and hills. A land of wheat and barley, and vines

and victories pomegrants, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in

which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing,

A land whose stones are iron and who's and out of whose hills you can

dig copper, and you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless

the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. So there's

the blessing man. You're about to go into the land, and you've had

nothing but barely having enough to Now you're about to go to a period of

time where you're gonna have abundance of food, abundance of supplies, abundance of

things. I am going to pour out my blessings upon you. Is what

the Lord says in this new land. And now he tells them what they

should do to prepare for this land. Look at verse eleven. Take care

at least you forget the Lord, by your God, by not keeping his

commandments and his rules and his statues, which I command you today. At

least when you've eaten in a fold, and have built good houses and live

in them, And when your herds and your flocks have multiplied, and your

silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,

then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord, your God.

He brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house

of slavery, and led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, and with

its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst your ground where there was no water,

and brought you out of the water to the flinty rock, who fed you

in the wilderness with man. And your fathers did not know that he might

humble you and test you to do to do you good in the end,

how do you prepare for the God's blessings? We prepare for God's blessings by

resisting complacency. He reminds them of. He tells them about the blessings they

have, and then he warns them. He says, in verse eleven,

don't, hey, don't forget when you go into this land. Don't forget,

but continue to keep my commands. And then he warns them in verse

twelve, least you have eaten in a full and have built good houses and

live in them when you're hurts. So he talks about, Hey, when

you get there and you're and you're full, and you have all these things,

and you're you have these beautiful houses you've been living in tents for the

last forty years. When you have plenty of food, when you've just been

having enough manna for the day, and when you've been just longing for water

and you have just enough, I am about to give you a time of

plenty. And when you have when you have plenty food and houses, don't

forget God. We've all had those moments when we're at the Christmas party,

your birthday party, and there's your child there and they're getting abundance of gifts

and abundance of things, and they open up the gifts and they have some

awkward moments. Either they look at their mom and or look at their dad

and say, is that all? And you all just want to like just

cringe right or roll underneath the carpet or whatever you can hide because you're embarrassed

because or they get the toy and they run out with the toy and they

don't thank anybody for the toys. And so those are all uncomfortable moments.

But when you see that, what we're seeing, we're seeing a child who

who loves the gift more than the giver. Hear me. They're excited about

the gifts and they love the gifts more than those who gave the gifts.

And what Moses is warning God's people is is when you come into the land

of abundance, don't love the abundant things more than you love the God who

gave you those things. You know we do that at times in our life.

We can hear it, but we can. God has blessed us with

the renovations, and you blessed us when things broke down. He's blessed us

with paying off debt. But maybe we as a church never get to a

place where we're complacent that we neglect the God who gave us these things.

We neglect obeying the Lord when he's blessed us in so many different ways.

Have you ever done this? You ever lost something and you go through your

house and you try to find it and you just cannot find it. I

did that the other day. I was were we had something and Brandy and

I we couldn't figure out what we did with it, and we lost it.

And we went through two or three days just going through the house,

going through the car, going through the truck, going through my bags.

We went through everything, And now I get I finally got to a place

where you felt this way, you just kind of felt powerless, like,

I mean, I can't I can't figure out where this thing is. And

you know what I did. I did the most spiritual thing I could ever

do. I just said, Lord, I really need your help. You

ever done that? And in that moment I felt convicted. You know why

I felt convicted because you'll ask me, Jonathan for help when you feel powerless.

How about asking for my help in areas that you don't feel powerless,

Jonathan. You'll you'll you'll come to me when things are falling apart or you

don't know what to do, or you don't have to handle this solution.

But how about coming to me with the things that you think you are you

have under control? And I say that because that's what most This is the

same to the people right now. You're desperate for me because you've lived in

the wilderness. You've not had enough things, you not had abundance, you

don't have provisions, and so you've come to me. But there's gonna be

a day when you're gonna have enough food in your home. You're gonna have

enough house, You're gonna have more than you ever need. You're gonna be

safe, You're gonna be comfortable, and in those times there's gonna be a

temptation to push me away, to say, God, I've got this,

I've got my life under control. I don't really need you now. As

we prepare for future blessings God blessings, we must resist complacency. I wonder

to you in your life today, as God begins working in your life,

how many how often do you in your own life at times just come to

God when there's a crisis, and not come to God when in areas that

you feel you've got under control. I tell you, we prepare for God's

blessing by resisting complacency. We prepare for God's blessings by resisting pride. Lastly,

look at the passage scripture. He tells them, Hey, when you

get in there, you have all these things. Don't get complacent. Obey

me, remember, don't forget. The passage continues verse seventeen. He says,

beware lest you say in your heart, my power, my might of

my hand has gotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God,

for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he

may confirm his covenant that he swore to his father's on this day and don't

forget the Lord your God, and go after other gods and serve them and

worship them. I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish like the

nations that Lord makes to perish before you. You shall. You shall perish

because not obey the voice of the Lord your God. Prepare God's for God's

blessings by resisting complacency. We prepare for God's blessings by resisting pride. He

says, when you get into that good land and you receive all those blessings,

don't forget to continue to obey the Lord, and don't become prideful.

Listen to the imagery there. You sure remember the Lord, for he who

gave you the power to get wealth. Look at verse seventeen. So remember

this the Lord who's done this. Don't in turn forget the Lord and think

it was by your hand. Look at verse seventeen. Beware you, least

you say in my heart, my power and my might and the might of

my hand has gotten me this wealth. So how do we prepare for the

future? Resist complacency. But listen, this is very important. We must

also resist pride as we as a church. I think it's very important for

us as we look to the last seven years to not say, look at

what Jonathan did, or look what our staff did, look what the elders

did, or the deacons did, or our leaders did. Can I tell

you today it was not by me. It was not by my power.

It was not by the power of our staff, or our elders or our

deacons. What God did the last seven years was God like what Van Lily

said one of our elders. Only God could have done what has happened in

the last seven years. And listen, as we move into the future,

and I believe God is going to do an abundance of more and our church

than even what we've seen in the past. And as He continues to provide

for us in the future. May we not think it's by our power or

our mind. But can I only warn you that we should have We should

be warned of that as we go into future as a church. But can

I warn you that as an individual, so many times we are guilty.

We go through hard season, we go through tough times, and then we

go through times of abundance where the bank account is doing well and we're doing

things. Things are going well at our jobs or things are going well in

our homes and things are going and we can look back and says, look

at what I have done. Look at the wealth I have, Look at

what I have in the bank, Look what I have at home, look

at the the provisions that I have, and look at what I have done

to build a life for myself. Look what I have done on the basketball

court, and look at what I've done in school. Look at what I

have done. Instead of looking back and says, look at what God has

done for me, Look at what's God provided for me. One of the

most disheartening passages in all Scripture. And I'm going to close with this.

It's Revelation. We've been reading Revelation in our Bible reading plan, and there's

a church in Revelation. These writes seven letters and seven churches in in Revelation,

and one church he writes to it's called layout to see it, lay

out to see it, and oh, ask the band, you can make

your way. They ought to see it was a church that had an earthquake

and it devastated the city, devastated everything. The city was so wealthy,

just like now we see in our world when there's crisis there's nations that we're

rally together and give support to help cities rebuild. When lay out to see

it was destroyed by the earthquake, they ought to see it was so rich.

They told all the other city, we don't need your money. We

rebuild ourselves. As the Lord speaks to Elidasseeah, he says to them,

you say I have need of nothing. I am good. And the judgment

against Laotisicea is you have rebuilt yourself listening, and you've done it without me.

And now you've come to a place as a church which you say,

God, I don't really need you anymore. We've got this under control.

And one of the most striking passages in all the scripture, and probably one

of the greatest warnings to us as a church today seven years later, when

after God's all provided all these blessings for us, is that we would avoid

the danger of Laodicea, theoid number one complacency and number two pride. We

got this God so much that when God speaks to Laodicea in Chapter three of

Revelation, he says, this, those whom I love are approving I discipline,

So be zealous and repent. But listen to this, he says these

words. Behold, I stand at the door. Knock. He says,

If anyone hears my voice and opens up the door, I will come in

and eat with him, and he with me. You know, the imagery

of that passage is the Church of Eliadissea had gotten so prideful, so complacent,

so dependent upon their own power and their own street, that they've forgotten

God. And God is now outside the doors of the church and he's knocking

on the front door of the church and saying, hey, hey, y'all

have a church in there. But guess what, I'm not in there.

But listen, I'm knocking at the door, and I'm saying, Church,

if you open up the door and you'll let me in, I'll come and

do work in you can. I tell you there's so many churches today in

America that they have forgotten God. They become complacent that they're just okay with

a few, with the ones that they have in the church building. They're

complacent with where they are. They complacent or what God's done in the past,

and they're not longing for God to do something in the future. There

are churches all over America that have become prideful, and how good their buildings

look, how good are the things they've done in the past, And they're

satisfied right where they are with not seeing God do more things in the future

that only God could do. But not only are there churches that way,

but there's individuals in the church who are just this way, who look to

God and say, God, right now, I don't need you God.

I'm good. My finances are okay, my homes are okay, my health

is okay. God, I've got this God. I'm complacent right where my

life is spiritually right now, there are some today says God, I don't

really need you. Look what all I've done in my life. And just

as God is on the outside the doors of churches, God who's on the

outside of the lives of many individuals, teenagers, young adults and adults,

you've forgotten God, And the Lord is saying you today listen. I stand

at the door of your heart, and I said, Hey, will you

let me come in? I want to do something in you. Will you

let me come in your life? Will you surrender your life to me?

Let me in? Today? You pray with me, Father, I thank

you Lord for this word God, we see the blessings of the past,

and we see God that there's times of testing. God, that you,

Lord, Lord, want us to look back and see how you blessed ins

in the midst of testing, that we might not forget you but obey you,

Lord God. As we look to the future, God, help us

resist complacency, getting comfortable as a church, getting comfortable as individuals with where

our lives are, where our spiritual walks are. God help us resist pride.

Times we feel like, look at what we have done in this life

or what we've done in this church. That God, we push you out.

Today. You are, as your word says, you're standing at the

door and you're knocking. Lord. You're knocking on the hearts of individuals today

or today you're telling us as a church, Lord, you want us to

continue to be obedient to you. So Lord, may as you are knocking

today, Lord, may we hear your word. May we surrender to the

Lord to you today? Or we love you. We thank you Lord for

this word. Pray Sirs, painted all and all to Him.