Proverbs 4, April 07, 2024

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast with Rhonda Harrison on 1017

Bay FM.

Good morning. Thank you for listening to Champions in Christ. Hope you're having a

great morning. This morning we're going to dive into the word of God. We're going

to start in Proverbs four and we'll begin in verse 20. It says, my son,

attend unto my words and climb your ear into my sayings. Attend. That means give

all attention to give all attention to my word. God's word is powerful and it's

alive. Incline thy ear unto my sayings. That means listen very carefully. Let

them not depart from your eyes and keep them in the midst of your heart for they

are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. You know, God's

word is alive. Why? Because God is alive because Jesus Christ is known as the word

of God. That is who he is. And so we can trust that his word is true. Why? Because

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Right? So as we read the word

and allow that word to penetrate in our heart, you know, it goes through our mind

drops down in our heart and the more we hear it, faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the word of God. So the more we hear it, the more we get solid that

foundation of faith begins to build and our shield of faith because the Bible

says in Hebrews 11 that without faith is impossible to please God. So he that

comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that

diligently seek him. Amen. God never, never ask anything of us without a reward

that he has that he wants to bless us with. Why? Because he's a loving, heavenly

father and he has loads of blessings to pour on us. Does that mean life's always

easy? Absolutely not. Life is full of challenges and they're full of challenges

for lots of reasons. One, because we make challenges on our own, just sometimes

with mistakes we made, sometimes with poor choices. Sometimes the devil loves to

throw a stumbling block our way or a curveball in us and life and sometimes

it's because we don't know the truth. We don't know how to walk in the truth, but

as you learn the word of God and the truth and he and Jesus himself becomes

more real to you, your life will become much more rewarding, much more exciting

and his love for you never leaves. Remember God never leaves you, never

forsakes you. Whether you know him today as your savior, whether you serve him or

not, doesn't change his love for you. That's the great love of God. So we're

going to turn over from there into Matthew and we're going to start in Matthew

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and we're going to start in verse 13. It says, and then came Jesus

from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him, but John forbade him. He

stopped him and said, I'm the one that needs to be baptized of you and you're

coming to me. And Jesus said unto him, let it be so for this becomes unto us to

fill all righteousness. And so John permitted it and he went ahead and

baptized Jesus. And it says in Jesus when he was baptized went straight away out

of the water and the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of God

descending like a dove and lightning upon him and lower voice from heaven said

this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Can you imagine being on the

side of the bank when John's baptizing Jesus, the heavens open, the Holy Spirit

descends on him like a dove and God's voice is heard out of heaven. That had to

be quite exciting and quite amazing. And then it says in verse 16 in Jesus when

he was baptized went straight up out of the water. Okay, let's go down 17 and

lower voice from heaven. Let's go down to chapter 4 verse 1. And then when Jesus

was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

You know, I want to stop right here and settle in for a minute because this says

Jesus was led by the spirit, the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted

of the enemy. Why? Because test and trials help us. They help grow our character,

grow our faith, find out God gets to find out what's in our heart. You know, he

tested Abraham's faith in him when he asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac back

in Genesis. Remember he, Abraham was childless and had been for a long time.

He was a hundred when he got Sarah pregnant and she was in her nineties.

Both their reproductive organs had died, but because they believed God granted

them the desire of their heart, which was a son. But then later God asked Abraham

to sacrifice Isaac. Now Abraham knew God so well that he trusted that if he went

through with it and God allowed him to sacrifice Isaac, then that God would

raise him from the dead because God is such a great God. He will not promise you

something and not bring it to pass. If we have faith and our faith has to match,

our actions have to match our faith because faith without works is dead. So

you can't just say you believe. You have to have some action, corresponding action

with that faith. So let's keep going. So he was led up and it says, and when he

had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry afterwards. And when the tempter,

Satan himself, came to him, he said, if you're the son of God, command these

stones to turn to bread. He was tempting Jesus to turn the stones to bread

because he knew Jesus was hungry. But Jesus said, it is written, man shall not

live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Let's stop right there for a moment. Remember we read earlier that the Lord

in Proverbs wanted us to incline, give our full attention to the word. Why? Just

because of this right here, because we are to live by every word out of the

mouth of God. Now the New Testament is a new covenant. It's a better covenant.

The word of God says God has better promises for you than in the Old

Testament. We don't have to slay bulls and goats to cover our sin because

Jesus died on the cross and removed our sin. And we became a new creature in

Christ. Old things are passed away and behold, all things become new. So the

awesomeness is that we live by every word of God. So that means those promises.

The Bible says are all yes and amen to those that believe. Hallelujah. That's

something to get excited about. But we're going to go on and see what else

happened with the devil that day. And the devil took him up into the holy city

and set him on a pinnacle of the temple and said unto him, if you are the Son of

God, cast yourself down for it is written. He gives his angels charge over you.

And in their hands they will bear you up, least at any time your foot dash

against the stone. You know Jesus said to him at that time, it is written, you

shall not tempt the Lord your God. Jesus knew God. He could call a legion of

angels, 10,000 angels and they would be there in a second. But he also knew not

to tempt God. But did you see how Satan took the word of God and turned it and

tried to use it and cause Jesus to sin? That was his whole goal. Jesus came and

had to become the sinless lamb. But he had to be tempted like man was and had

to say no. And he did. Why? Because Jesus knew the word. He was raised. He was

raised knowing the old covenant by his parents. They taught him. And so he knew

that you don't have, you don't tempt the Lord God Almighty. And so again, what

did he use the word? The same thing were to incline our ear to the word of God.

Will turn the enemy from your circumstance if you believe it when you say it.

And again, the devil took him up into an exceedingly high mountain and showed

him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. And he said unto him,

all these things I'll give you if you will fall down and worship me. He was

trying to get Jesus to worship him. You know, he said he would promise them all

the kingdoms of the world. Many times Satan has has tempted and people have

yielded for large finance or great wealth. They've sold their soul. And that's

why there's a scripture that says it's hard for a rich man to enter into the

kingdom, just like it is for a camel to go through an eye of the needle. What

does that mean? Over in Egypt and places like that, there's a gateway and

there's small openings and they call it the eye of the needle. And a camel has to

actually get down on his knees, unload his back to be able to get through. So

it's not impossible for rich people to go to heaven, but it's difficult because

they live a comfortable, wonderful, you know, blessed life in finances. But at

the same time, they don't feel they have need of God and they won't call on him

a lot of times because they don't know him. And so, but they need a savior just

the same way we do. And God wants to be their best friend as well, you know. So

if you've got wealth out there and you've not talked to Jesus, he wants to

talk to you. He wants to help you. He can give you more wisdom in your business or

in your finances, but he also wants a relationship with you. That's the goodness

of our God. It doesn't matter what realm of life. Maybe you're not, maybe you're

on the other end and things aren't easy for you right now. But God's love and his

grace and his mercy and his word will teach you. If you seek the wisdom of

God out of the word of God, he'll teach you how to get out of the pit and get

into the palace. God is a powerful, powerful God and he knows everything. He

wrote the book. Praise God. Alright, so then the devil leaves him and behold, the

angels came and ministered to him. Verse 11. And so right there, you know, the

devil will tempt you. He's going to test you. He's going to see what is in you

because when the pressure is on, it's like a grape. You know, when you step on a

grape, you see what comes outside was what was on the inside. That's the same

thing with mankind. When the stress of life and the hectic things come, pressure

in every area, whether it's relational or financial or physical with sickness and

disease, what is in use coming out? And you want to listen to yourself that

tells you a lot about your own heart. You know, it says that man looks on the

outward appearance. We all know that because we're all, you know, trying to

look our best, but God looks on the heart. He wants to help you in every way. He

loves you so much that there's nothing to compare his love to. And it says

height nor depth nor distance. Nothing separates us from the from the love of

God. Nothing, nothing separates us from the love of God. You know, if we go on

over to Matthew in chapter eight, we're going to pick up just in verses one

through three, it says when he was come down from the mountain, a great

multitude followed, we're talking about Jesus. And behold, there came a leper and

worshiped him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He knew he could

make him clean. He had heard all the noise about Jesus, but he said, if you

will, he didn't know it was God's will to heal. It's always God's will to heal.

Why? Why do you say that? Because he took those 39 stripes on his back that by

those stripes, we were healed. It's already provided for, but we have to

receive it by faith. We have to stand. It said the Bible says when you've done

everything, stand and we have to keep believing it's already done. Okay. And

then it says that Jesus said, put forth his hand and touch the leper and said, I

will be thou may clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Hallelujah.

Leprosy was cleansed. Leprosy was cleansed. We thank God that every sickness and

disease was defeated on the cross. No matter what has happened, we don't build

our belief around an experience. People say, well, why did this person die? Why

did that person die? We don't have all the answers here on earth. We'll get the

answers in heaven, but we don't stop believing because there's, there's many

people out there that need what God has. Maybe it's you today. Maybe you have a

physical illness right now and you need healing. I want to pray with you right

now, father in the name of Jesus, I pray right now, there's no distance in the

realm of the spirit. And I speak healing and life to this person right now,

whatever the sickness and diseases we command it to go in Jesus name. Now you

just lift your hands and say, thank you, Lord, I receive it and you believe it. And

you just begin to walk that out and keep believing, keep thanking God every day.

And you watch God move. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. If two or more are

gathered in my name or come in agreement, he says he will answer them and they

will receive whatsoever they ask. Hallelujah. God is faithful. He is faithful

to a thousand generations and we just love him. We just love him so much. You

know, if he says he'll do it, he will do it. He's no respecter of persons.

Hebrews 13 eight says that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. Jesus is

the same and we're going to, we're going to go ahead and flip over to Matthew 8

Matthew 8:7

verse 7 and it says in Jesus said, well, let's back up. Verse 4, Jesus said, no,

verse 5, sorry, and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto

him a centurion beseeching him saying, Lord, my servant lies at home sick of

palsy and grievously tormented. And Jesus said, I will come and heal him. And the

centurion said, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but speak

the word only and my servant shall be healed. Wow. That's a wow. You know, Jesus

said, I'll come, I'll heal him. The centurion said, speak the word only. Jesus

says later because the servant centurion said, for I'm a man under authority

having soldiers under me, I say to this man, go and he goes to another come and

he comes and to my servant do this and he does it. And when Jesus heard it, he

marveled and he said to them that followed him and he said, I send you, I

have not found so great of faith, not in all of Israel. Wow. Wow. He said this man

had great faith. Why? Because the man said, speak the word only. He was going to

believe his word. He didn't have to have Jesus physically there to do it. The same

way we've been given the blessing of the word of God, we can believe it only. We

don't have to have Jesus in the physical. We don't have to have him physically

here to lay hands on us is laying hands on. Okay. Yes, absolutely. When men and

women of God get together, they can lay hands on one another and the Bible says

and the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up. You

can call for the elders of the church. They can lay hands. The Bible instructs

every believer. You can lay hands on the sick and they will recover. So it is a

promise, but we don't have to. We can believe the word only just like the

centurion did and Jesus said unto him, go your way for as you have believed it

is done unto you. And his servant was healed in that self same hour. Glory to

God. Hallelujah. That self same hour just by believing God's word. It's his word.

It's full of life and health to all our flesh. Remember, we read that earlier.

Life and health. You can believe him for whatever you need. You can trust his word.

We're going to take a moment, a few minutes and we're going to listen to a

couple of songs and then I'll come right back to you and we'll speak again.

Well, the unfulfilled are satisfied.

And the unknown scars are reconciled.

There's an open door to brand new life.

Up close in the presence of the Savior.

I just want to be in the room.

I'm not leaving.

I leave it.

Tell you.

I just want to be in the room.

I want to be in the room.

When you go.

I'm not leaving.

I leave it.

Tell you.

I want to see the blind receive their sight.

Hear the praise of the voiceless start to rise.

Every child of God baptized with fire.

Right here in the presence of the healer.

Yeah.

I just want to be in the room.

I want to be in the room.

When you go.

And I'm not leaving.

I leave it.

Tell you.

I don't want to be sad.

I just want to be in the room.

I want to be in the room.

When you go.

I'm not leaving.

I leave it.

Tell you.

I just want to be in the room.

When you go.

I'm not leaving.

I leave it.

Tell you.

No me down.

Tear off the roof, lower me down Whatever it takes to get me to you

Tear off the roof, lower me down Whatever it takes to get me to you

Roll every stone, push through the crowd God, I wanna see you break through

Tear off the roof, lower me down Whatever it takes to get me to you

Roll every stone, push through the crowd God, I wanna see you break through

Oh, I wanna see you break through, oh, break through

I just wanna be in the room, wanna be in the room when you move

And I'm not leaving, not leaving till you do

I don't wanna be safe

I just wanna be in the room, wanna be in the room when you move

And I'm not leaving, not leaving till you do

Tear off the roof, lower me down Whatever it takes to get me to you

Roll every stone, push through the crowd God, I wanna see you break through

Tear off the roof, lower me down Whatever it takes to get me to you

Roll every stone, push through the crowd God, I wanna see you break through

Everything changed, it's getting harder to recognize The person I was, before I encountered Christ

I don't walk like I used to, I don't talk like I used to

I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside

Oh, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Oh, Hallelujah

I cannot explain, but nothing's more real than this

In the presence of God, all of my heart experience

My shame at the wayside, and my sin at the most high

I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside out

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Could've only been your blood

Oh, so let it wash over, let it wash over me

It's never been about performance, perfection, or striving for acceptance

Let me tell you, it's only by the blood, it's never been about deserving or earning

It's a gift, it's freely given, let me tell you, it's only by the blood

Does anybody wanna be holy, righteous, purified, and flawless

Let me tell you, it's only by the blood

Does anybody wanna be worthy, forgiven, justified, really letting

Let me tell you, it's only by the blood

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I know it was the blood, could've only been the blood

Yeah, only been

What can I say, thank you is not enough

Jesus, your grace, your mercy poured out for us

I will love you forever, here on earth into heaven

I've been washed from the inside, I've been washed from the inside out

Hmm, hmm, hmm

I've been washed from the inside out

Hmm, hmm

How precious, how generous your blood poured out for us

How precious, how generous we remember

Hmm, hmm

You paid it in full, you paid it in blood

You paid it for us, Jesus

Amen, amen, the blood of Jesus, there's nothing like it

I want you to take this time, if you don't know Him

Or if you knew Him and you've walked away, you know, we get hit with bankruptcy

Death of a loved one, situations that throw us off and we blame God or we turn away

I just wanna give you this opportunity just to bow your head and say, Lord Jesus, come in my life

Fill me to overflowing, I wanna know you, I wanna know your word

I love you, thank you for being my Lord and Savior in Jesus' name, amen

If you prayed that today, I wanna offer you a free Bible

You can contact us at championsinchrist3 at gmail.com

That's championsinchrist3 at gmail.com

I want you to go out and make it a great day

Remember we love you, God loves you and you are a champion in Christ

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