Latest / The BLAZE (Bible Study) / Morning Devotion from John: Don't Turn Back
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Good morning, and God bless you, family. Good morning, God
- 0:03Speaker 1: bless you. Welcome back to The Morning Devo. It's your bro,
- 0:05Speaker 1: Sam Lopez, aka DJ Sam Rock, and we're here on
- 0:08Speaker 1: The Morning Devo. Try to be here weekdays, 5.30 a.m.
- 0:11Speaker 1: Eastern Standard Time. Today is actually Labor Day from the
- 0:14Speaker 1: time of this recording, so I know there's a lot
- 0:16Speaker 1: of people that's off of work, home, relaxing, resting, cleaning up,
- 0:22Speaker 1: whatever you got to do before the fall comes, right?
- 0:26Speaker 1: In my region, when fall comes, you know, the leaves
- 0:28Speaker 1: start falling off the trees, and It starts getting dark
- 0:32Speaker 1: early and all that good stuff. But I'm glad that
- 0:36Speaker 1: the Lord made this day regardless. Amen. And I'm going
- 0:39Speaker 1: to rejoice and be glad in it. How about you?
- 0:42Speaker 1: So on the morning devo today, we're going to continue
- 0:44Speaker 1: in the book of John. We're going to be in
- 0:46Speaker 1: chapter number six, verses 63 to 66. John chapter six,
- 0:51Speaker 1: verses 63 to 66. I'm calling this one. Don't turn back.
- 0:56Speaker 1: Don't turn back today on the morning devo. Amen. We're
- 0:59Speaker 1: going to pray first after we pray. Share this out
- 1:02Speaker 1: with as many people as you want. Amen. We're going
- 1:04Speaker 1: to jump right into today's morning Devo. Let's pray. Father,
- 1:07Speaker 1: I thank you for today. Thank you for this morning.
- 1:10Speaker 1: Thank you for waking me up, waking us up. I
- 1:13Speaker 1: pray I had your protection over myself, my marriage, my family,
- 1:20Speaker 1: my whole entire bloodline from the very youngest member to
- 1:23Speaker 1: the very oldest and every single person in between. I pray,
- 1:26Speaker 1: Lord God, that you would continue to move by way
- 1:29Speaker 1: of your spirit, that you would Fill us to overflow
- 1:32Speaker 1: so that way many will know that the love of God,
- 1:35Speaker 1: the grace of God, the mercy of God is upon
- 1:37Speaker 1: us and working through us and in us. Father, I pray,
- 1:40Speaker 1: Lord God, that everyone who hears this morning devotion or
- 1:43Speaker 1: sees this morning devotion will experience you, Lord God, will
- 1:47Speaker 1: experience a move of God like never before. They will
- 1:50Speaker 1: move forward in victory with joy and they will have
- 1:52Speaker 1: peace in their heart and more understanding, more wisdom, and
- 1:56Speaker 1: that you will give us a great measure of faith
- 1:58Speaker 1: moving forward. I pray this by faith, knowing that you
- 2:01Speaker 1: hear us and you hear my prayer and you answer
- 2:04Speaker 1: us accordingly to every single individual situation that's going on
- 2:08Speaker 1: right now. In a powerful, matchless name of the Lord
- 2:11Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, our Savior. In Jesus' name, amen to the amen.
- 2:15Speaker 1: Those who agree, we say amen, right? We're going to
- 2:17Speaker 1: get right into it, man. God is faithful to his word.
- 2:21Speaker 1: He's able to do exactly what he said he would do, amen,
- 2:24Speaker 1: according to his scriptures. So I'm excited about what God's
- 2:27Speaker 1: going to do today. Amen. So let's see. Let's see
- 2:31Speaker 1: today's scripture. I always wanted to look at this scripture
- 2:36Speaker 1: in the morning devo, and I believe the Lord finally
- 2:40Speaker 1: gave me the okay. This is very interesting to me,
- 2:43Speaker 1: especially the location of this last verse. And if you
- 2:48Speaker 1: don't notice, I'll see if you notice it, but let's
- 2:51Speaker 1: just read. Today's verse is in John chapter 6, 63
- 2:55Speaker 1: to 66. So it's kind of like two Two or
- 2:59Speaker 1: three verses here. I just wanted to give a little
- 3:02Speaker 1: background on it. That's why I picked it up. 63.
- 3:05Speaker 1: The spirit gives life. The flesh profits nothing. There's your
- 3:13Speaker 1: answer for all those people who say, what do we
- 3:16Speaker 1: get from the flesh? Nothing. Profits nothing. This is the
- 3:20Speaker 1: Lord speaking. The words I have spoken to you are
- 3:24Speaker 1: spirit and they are life. 64. However, There are some
- 3:30Speaker 1: of you who do not believe. For Jesus had known.
- 3:35Speaker 1: He had known from the beginning which of them did
- 3:42Speaker 1: not believe and who would betray him. Then Jesus said,
- 3:48Speaker 1: This is why I told you that no one can
- 3:51Speaker 1: come to me unless the Father has granted it to him.
- 3:56Speaker 1: Verse 66. From that time on, many of his disciples
- 4:02Speaker 1: turned back and no longer walked with him. Did you
- 4:07Speaker 1: notice it? So if you're into numbers, John chapter 6,
- 4:15Speaker 1: verse 66, and you get the number 666, which is
- 4:18Speaker 1: the mark of the beast, and this verse shows up.
- 4:22Speaker 1: From that time on, many of his disciples, the Lord's disciples,
- 4:27Speaker 1: turned back and no longer walked with him. Don't turn back.
- 4:32Speaker 1: That's what I'm calling this one. Don't turn back. Why?
- 4:36Speaker 1: Because there's no one else to turn to. I can
- 4:40Speaker 1: tell you that from experience. There's no one to go to.
- 4:43Speaker 1: The Lord gives life. The Spirit gives life. The flesh
- 4:50Speaker 1: profits nothing. The words I have spoken, Jesus said to you,
- 4:54Speaker 1: are Spirit and they are life. Wow. So we have
- 4:59Speaker 1: already An idea of what people were going through even
- 5:03Speaker 1: during the Lord's time here on this planet Earth. And
- 5:07Speaker 1: now we have an idea of what people are going
- 5:09Speaker 1: through even right now. Right? So don't think because the
- 5:14Speaker 1: disciples who were with Jesus, literally with Jesus, don't think
- 5:20Speaker 1: that they didn't have any doubt. Don't think that they
- 5:22Speaker 1: didn't walk away. Some of them walked away. There were
- 5:24Speaker 1: many disciples. We know about the 12. We know about
- 5:27Speaker 1: some others. but there were many disciples of the Lord
- 5:30Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. But he made the statement that people did
- 5:36Speaker 1: not believe. And he even knew who was going to
- 5:41Speaker 1: betray him. Because remember, it was prophesied, and Jesus is
- 5:45Speaker 1: the fulfillment of the prophecy. And Jesus said to the
- 5:48Speaker 1: Pharisees and Sadducees and the scribes, he said, listen, since
- 5:52Speaker 1: you know the word of God, you have eternal life.
- 5:54Speaker 1: But the word of God that they had, the Torah,
- 5:57Speaker 1: Old Covenant, was speaking about me, Jesus said. So he
- 6:01Speaker 1: made a God statement right there. He made many God statements. Why?
- 6:06Speaker 1: Because Jesus doesn't lie. And if he says he's one
- 6:09Speaker 1: with the Father, he is one with the Father. If
- 6:12Speaker 1: he says he is before everything else, he is. He
- 6:19Speaker 1: forgave people's sins. They told him, wait, only God could
- 6:24Speaker 1: forgive sins. Exactly. Jesus is God. So don't turn back.
- 6:30Speaker 1: There's going to be moments in your walk, right, and
- 6:32Speaker 1: in my walk, when following Christ, it's not going to
- 6:36Speaker 1: be comfortable. It's going to become uncomfortable. Sometimes God's word
- 6:45Speaker 1: will challenge your thinking, right? There's no way we can
- 6:49Speaker 1: understand every single thing that the Lord is doing in
- 6:52Speaker 1: your life and in my life. There's no way. Just
- 6:55Speaker 1: trust and put our faith in. It's not a hopeless faith.
- 6:57Speaker 1: It's not a blind faith. It's a directed, purposeful faith
- 7:00Speaker 1: that we have in Christ. Knowing that he's with us,
- 7:04Speaker 1: he's in us and working through us. There's never a
- 7:06Speaker 1: day that goes by when I don't feel the assurance.
- 7:11Speaker 1: I was going to say feel the presence. Sometimes I
- 7:13Speaker 1: don't feel God's presence. What about you? But the assurance
- 7:16Speaker 1: of knowing, knowledge, knowing that he will never leave me
- 7:21Speaker 1: nor forsake me, that he's always with me, that he's
- 7:23Speaker 1: willing to do whatever it takes to put me on
- 7:27Speaker 1: the path that he has for me. All I have
- 7:29Speaker 1: to do is show up sometimes and be willing to
- 7:32Speaker 1: follow God. Sometimes obedience will require us to let go
- 7:37Speaker 1: of something you love, right? Sometimes we will pray and
- 7:45Speaker 1: sometimes we won't immediately see the answer or get the
- 7:49Speaker 1: answer for what we're praying for. Not immediately. I know
- 7:52Speaker 1: that for a fact waiting on promises of God. that
- 7:55Speaker 1: took close to 15, 16 years until that promise came
- 7:59Speaker 1: to pass. But the purpose of that was for us,
- 8:03Speaker 1: me and my wife, when we had the word of
- 8:05Speaker 1: God over our children, we had to purposefully, purposefully wait
- 8:11Speaker 1: on the Lord, right? And that's not easy all the time,
- 8:14Speaker 1: especially when it's five, 10, 15 years waiting on a
- 8:17Speaker 1: promise of God. As humans, we want things ASAP, especially
- 8:21Speaker 1: in the culture we're living in. It's a culture that's, immediate.
- 8:25Speaker 1: Everything is immediate. Information, immediate, AI. You ask the question,
- 8:29Speaker 1: you get it immediately. God doesn't work that way. God
- 8:32Speaker 1: is not artificial intelligence. God is authentic intelligence. God is
- 8:36Speaker 1: original intelligence. God is who he says he is. Wait
- 8:40Speaker 1: on his promises. Wait on his answer when you pray. Sometimes,
- 8:45Speaker 1: just like the disciples in John chapter 6, we just
- 8:48Speaker 1: read it, you and I may be tempted to walk
- 8:52Speaker 1: away because the teaching seems too difficult for us to
- 8:57Speaker 1: understand or seems too difficult for us to accept, right?
- 9:03Speaker 1: Which God said, I'm speaking plainly, right? He's not speaking
- 9:06Speaker 1: in riddles. He spoke to the parables as a means
- 9:10Speaker 1: of judgment to people who were following him. He had
- 9:14Speaker 1: to speak in parables. He had to kind of like
- 9:18Speaker 1: do stories while he was teaching. Then he would go
- 9:20Speaker 1: to the disciples, right? The chosen few at the time.
- 9:24Speaker 1: and explain what he was trying to say. So in
- 9:28Speaker 1: Jesus' words, he says just like this, the words I
- 9:32Speaker 1: have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
- 9:37Speaker 1: So we trust what Jesus said, right? I hope you
- 9:40Speaker 1: trust what he said. The words that he has spoken
- 9:43Speaker 1: are spirit and life. So in this chapter where we
- 9:49Speaker 1: just read these scriptures, John tells us, in John chapter 6,
- 9:54Speaker 1: tells us that after hearing Jesus, after that performance, miracle
- 10:00Speaker 1: signs wonders after he spoke this word many of his
- 10:04Speaker 1: disciples notice it was his disciples turned back no longer
- 10:10Speaker 1: followed him you would have to ask why right you
- 10:15Speaker 1: had to be there to ask all those individuals who
- 10:17Speaker 1: walked away why are you walking away They had their reasons, right?
- 10:22Speaker 1: So we can't really judge that. Like, oh, they were cowards.
- 10:25Speaker 1: They were this, they were that. We don't know. We
- 10:27Speaker 1: just know after Jesus made this statement, according to the scriptures,
- 10:31Speaker 1: many of the disciples, not all of them, we know
- 10:34Speaker 1: not all of them left, but many of his disciples
- 10:37Speaker 1: turned back and no longer followed him, right? So they
- 10:41Speaker 1: believed in Jesus, but they were not willing to follow Jesus.
- 10:44Speaker 1: I've been saying this for years to believers, my brothers
- 10:47Speaker 1: and sisters in Christ. If you say, You believe in Jesus,
- 10:50Speaker 1: just don't only believe him because the devil believes in Jesus,
- 10:52Speaker 1: but the devil doesn't follow him. Demons believe in Jesus,
- 10:55Speaker 1: but the demons don't follow him. So if you say
- 10:57Speaker 1: you believe in Jesus, great. Believe and follow the Lord
- 11:01Speaker 1: Jesus Christ and then see what happens in your life
- 11:04Speaker 1: and in my life. But Jesus didn't chase them down, right?
- 11:08Speaker 1: There's no evidence of Jesus said, wait, hold on. You
- 11:11Speaker 1: have to stay with me. There's no evidence of that.
- 11:14Speaker 1: He wasn't desperate for them. He said, uh-oh. These disciples
- 11:17Speaker 1: are leaving, so my ministry is ruined. There's no indication
- 11:20Speaker 1: of that through the scriptures. He didn't chase them down.
- 11:23Speaker 1: He didn't change his message to try to appeal those
- 11:27Speaker 1: who were backing down, to try to appeal those who
- 11:31Speaker 1: left him, who no longer followed him, right? So we
- 11:34Speaker 1: need to be doing the same thing. Just because people
- 11:37Speaker 1: don't agree with us and who we follow doesn't mean
- 11:39Speaker 1: we have to change our testimony or change the message
- 11:43Speaker 1: that we're preaching, the gospel message, to appeal to people
- 11:47Speaker 1: who say, no, I'm going to walk away if you
- 11:49Speaker 1: continue preaching that way. I'm going to walk away if
- 11:51Speaker 1: you continue to move in that way. I'm going to
- 11:54Speaker 1: walk away if you continue to follow Jesus, right? There's
- 11:58Speaker 1: no indication that Jesus chased them down and tried to
- 12:02Speaker 1: appeal to them. Brother Maurice, I see you. Good morning.
- 12:04Speaker 1: God bless you. Good morning to you. Happy Labor Day. Instead,
- 12:11Speaker 1: he turned to the twelve. that he knew were going
- 12:15Speaker 1: to be with him and asked, do you want to
- 12:18Speaker 1: leave too? Jesus is amazing, right? So he sees all
- 12:22Speaker 1: these disciples of his leaving. And he turns to the 12,
- 12:26Speaker 1: knowing that one of those 12, that's right, one of
- 12:29Speaker 1: those 12 was going to betray him. He knew it already.
- 12:32Speaker 1: He's God. He's all-knowing. But he humbled himself to the
- 12:36Speaker 1: form of a man, Jesus, to show us an example,
- 12:40Speaker 1: a perfect example of how to follow the Father. He
- 12:44Speaker 1: gave us a perfect example of how to follow the Father. Amen?
- 12:51Speaker 1: I just realized something. Brother Ricky, God bless you. Good morning,
- 12:54Speaker 1: my bro. I forgot to share this out to the group. Amen?
- 12:59Speaker 1: And when I seen Ricky, I said, Ricky's from the group.
- 13:02Speaker 1: And I still didn't share it out. So we have
- 13:06Speaker 1: an interesting scripture here. These scriptures are interesting to me
- 13:10Speaker 1: because if Jesus had many more what do you call, disciples.
- 13:17Speaker 1: And after he made this statement that he said, listen,
- 13:22Speaker 1: the spirit gives life. The words that he speaks, that
- 13:26Speaker 1: he's spoken, are spirit and they are life. And then
- 13:30Speaker 1: two verses later, from that time on, many of his
- 13:33Speaker 1: disciples turned away. Wow. Wow. And no longer were walked
- 13:43Speaker 1: They turned back to their old lives, I guess. They
- 13:47Speaker 1: turned back to what they were doing before. They were
- 13:52Speaker 1: no longer interested or no longer willing to follow Jesus. Peter,
- 13:59Speaker 1: the disciple, apostle, answered with one of the most powerful
- 14:04Speaker 1: declarations of faith. Right? And this is not in our scriptures,
- 14:09Speaker 1: but this is further down. That's why I always tell
- 14:11Speaker 1: you to read the whole chapter. Look at this. We're
- 14:14Speaker 1: going to devote some time to some scriptures, but this
- 14:16Speaker 1: is not a full-out Bible study on the matter. But
- 14:21Speaker 1: I saw two verses more down. Peter says, Lord, to
- 14:28Speaker 1: whom would we go? In other words, where are we
- 14:32Speaker 1: going to go if we don't follow you? Jesus asks
- 14:35Speaker 1: his 12, you're going to leave too? And Peter says,
- 14:38Speaker 1: where would we go? That's a good answer. Like, you...
- 14:42Speaker 1: He says, where would you go? You have words of
- 14:44Speaker 1: eternal life. Like Peter wasn't like so spaced out and
- 14:50Speaker 1: following the crowd that he's going to abandon the one
- 14:54Speaker 1: that he knows wholeheartedly is eternal life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 14:59Speaker 1: Mind you, they saw Jesus doing signs, miracles, wonders, forgiving
- 15:04Speaker 1: people of their sins, right? Living a righteous, holy, perfect life, sinless.
- 15:10Speaker 1: He didn't sin less than Jesus Christ was sinless, never lied,
- 15:15Speaker 1: was tempted in all ways just like we were, yet
- 15:17Speaker 1: did not sin. Got angry, but did not sin because
- 15:21Speaker 1: of his anger. Right? He had confrontations with his religious
- 15:27Speaker 1: people of his time, the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and people
- 15:32Speaker 1: who thought they knew more than him. Peter saw all
- 15:36Speaker 1: of this. The disciples saw all of this. And Peter
- 15:38Speaker 1: was like, wait. Those people left. But where will we go?
- 15:42Speaker 1: You have the words of eternal life. That's the attitude
- 15:46Speaker 1: we need to have today. That's the attitude I have.
- 15:49Speaker 1: I'm very stubborn when it comes to my faith in
- 15:52Speaker 1: the Lord, meaning that it's going to take the devil
- 15:56Speaker 1: a lot more than what he's currently trying to do
- 15:59Speaker 1: in my life to make me stop following the Lord
- 16:01Speaker 1: Jesus and turn back. Turn back to what? There's nothing
- 16:05Speaker 1: to turn back to, right? Turn back to what? The
- 16:09Speaker 1: flesh profits nothing It's the spirit that gives life. Last
- 16:14Speaker 1: time I checked, I want life. Last time I checked,
- 16:17Speaker 1: I want to be prosperous. If I'm going to invest
- 16:20Speaker 1: in something, I want that investment to profit, to be prosperous, right?
- 16:26Speaker 1: I don't want to follow my flesh, which profits nothing,
- 16:31Speaker 1: when I know that Jesus has the words that are
- 16:34Speaker 1: spirit and that are life, right? You have to make
- 16:38Speaker 1: a decision. I have to make a decision daily and
- 16:40Speaker 1: realize that The Lord has it all. So that's the
- 16:44Speaker 1: attitude we need today. When life gets hard, and it
- 16:47Speaker 1: will get hard, because I don't know if you noticed,
- 16:50Speaker 1: but things are getting out of control in this world system.
- 16:55Speaker 1: And it's not getting any better. It's not just because
- 16:59Speaker 1: we're in the United States. People say, oh, if you
- 17:01Speaker 1: go outside of the United States, it's not that way.
- 17:04Speaker 1: And it's easier, and it's just that and a third. Okay,
- 17:09Speaker 1: but I'm in the United States. I'm broadcasting right now
- 17:11Speaker 1: from the United States. So that stuff really won't apply
- 17:14Speaker 1: to me unless, you know, I can't go all over
- 17:18Speaker 1: the world looking for peace because, first of all, I
- 17:24Speaker 1: can't travel the whole world. That's number one. Number two,
- 17:26Speaker 1: I have to deal with where I'm at now. I'm
- 17:29Speaker 1: in the United States. So when people disappoint you, don't
- 17:37Speaker 1: turn back. When life gets hard, Don't turn back. When
- 17:42Speaker 1: your prayers seem unanswered, because if you're right with God,
- 17:47Speaker 1: when you pray to God and ask God according to
- 17:49Speaker 1: his will and purpose for your life, those prayers will
- 17:52Speaker 1: be answered according to his will for me, his will
- 17:55Speaker 1: for you. If he doesn't hear your prayers, you might
- 17:59Speaker 1: be out of alignment with his word. You might be
- 18:02Speaker 1: praying things out of his will. So it seems like
- 18:05Speaker 1: he's not answering you, but he is answering you. The
- 18:08Speaker 1: answer is no. Sometimes we don't want to hear that.
- 18:11Speaker 1: But when you pray and your prayers seem to go unanswered,
- 18:16Speaker 1: don't turn back. This one is big to me. When
- 18:21Speaker 1: obedience becomes uncomfortable, don't turn back. I'd rather obey the
- 18:29Speaker 1: Lord than go with the trend of this world. I'd
- 18:33Speaker 1: rather obey the word of God than follow the words
- 18:37Speaker 1: and wisdom of this world system. Because I'm seeing a
- 18:40Speaker 1: trend here. The trend is evil seems to be good
- 18:44Speaker 1: and good is claimed to be evil, especially on the
- 18:48Speaker 1: social media platforms. Some people will call this hate speech.
- 18:52Speaker 1: If I talk about a certain group or certain community
- 18:56Speaker 1: right now on this podcast, on this live stream right now,
- 19:00Speaker 1: they would deem me as a hater. They would threaten
- 19:04Speaker 1: to sue. They would do all kinds of things. to
- 19:09Speaker 1: get me to stop talking about their community. Right? So
- 19:13Speaker 1: I'm not going to let the uncomfortable part of obedience
- 19:20Speaker 1: make me turn back. Devil can't do it. Groups and
- 19:25Speaker 1: communities in the world system can't do it. Church people
- 19:29Speaker 1: can't do it because there's a difference between church people
- 19:32Speaker 1: and believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Church
- 19:35Speaker 1: people are this way. They leave their church When they
- 19:38Speaker 1: see you outside of the church, they look at you
- 19:41Speaker 1: like if you're, you know, left the game. But people
- 19:44Speaker 1: who believe in Christ and you leave the church that
- 19:47Speaker 1: you were fellowshipping at, you see them again. we pick
- 19:50Speaker 1: up with love, joy, freedom, hugs, speak about the word,
- 19:54Speaker 1: ask about families. Those are real followers of the Lord
- 19:57Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Church people, they just know the system of
- 20:00Speaker 1: the church. They go around, you know, saying the right things, right?
- 20:05Speaker 1: They go around propping up their leaders, propping up their
- 20:08Speaker 1: pastors or apostle, And then when they see people that
- 20:12Speaker 1: used to go fellowship with them outside of the church walls,
- 20:15Speaker 1: they don't know where to put their face to act
- 20:17Speaker 1: funny with you, right? And they think that you're some
- 20:20Speaker 1: kind of sin because you left the fellowship. Church people
- 20:24Speaker 1: versus true believers, the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ
- 20:28Speaker 1: are different, right? I think I did a series on
- 20:30Speaker 1: that once before. So today, make a decision. Because the
- 20:37Speaker 1: world is going to offer us temporary satisfaction, but Jesus
- 20:41Speaker 1: is going to offer us eternal life. So today, make
- 20:43Speaker 1: a decision. If you struggle, make a decision that you're
- 20:49Speaker 1: not going to quit. If you don't understand something in
- 20:53Speaker 1: the Word of God, just continue to trust God. Trust
- 20:57Speaker 1: His Word. If you see it in the Word, and
- 21:00Speaker 1: you look at the Word and be like, I don't
- 21:01Speaker 1: understand that, trust God to give you the explanation for
- 21:05Speaker 1: when he's ready to, or when you're ready to receive
- 21:07Speaker 1: that information. You know, sometimes I read some scriptures, I'll
- 21:10Speaker 1: be like, I don't know what that means. And I'll
- 21:12Speaker 1: ask God, can you explain that? And if he doesn't
- 21:15Speaker 1: right away, he has a reason for it. Amen. I
- 21:19Speaker 1: may fall, but I will get back up by the
- 21:23Speaker 1: power of Jesus. We have the spirit of God who
- 21:25Speaker 1: raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and resurrected the Lord.
- 21:30Speaker 1: We have that same spirit living inside of us. I
- 21:33Speaker 1: don't think I completely understand that. I don't think I
- 21:36Speaker 1: get it, right? There's a lot of people out there
- 21:38Speaker 1: watching or listening that don't get that, right? But that's
- 21:42Speaker 1: what the Word says. We have the living Spirit of
- 21:44Speaker 1: the Holy God living inside of us, man. Some people
- 21:49Speaker 1: go around saying, well, that's impossible. Well, God says it's possible,
- 21:54Speaker 1: and He's doing it. He's working His way through us,
- 21:58Speaker 1: the sons and daughters of a living God. I may
- 22:01Speaker 1: be challenged, but I won't turn back. Life has challenges.
- 22:09Speaker 1: We're not all having a great day every single day
- 22:12Speaker 1: of our lives. We will face challenges. But the beauty
- 22:16Speaker 1: of being a follower of Christ is that I know
- 22:18Speaker 1: 100% and you should know 100% that you're not facing
- 22:22Speaker 1: those challenges alone. You have a Savior. You have a Lord.
- 22:25Speaker 1: You have a Father. You have a person on your
- 22:28Speaker 1: side 247. Amen. All your life. Brother James, God bless. Amen.
- 22:33Speaker 1: The righteous man falls a thousand times and gets back up.
- 22:37Speaker 1: That's in the book of Proverbs. Yes, you're right. And
- 22:41Speaker 1: that's where we're going to see the test anyway. We
- 22:44Speaker 1: don't see the test of who we really are in
- 22:46Speaker 1: Christ if everything's always flowers and everything's always butterflies flying
- 22:52Speaker 1: through and all that stuff. When we face challenges in life,
- 22:55Speaker 1: that's when we know where we stand when it comes
- 22:58Speaker 1: to the Lord Jesus Christ. So today, choose Jesus. You're
- 23:04Speaker 1: not going to lose anything. You might lose some friendships.
- 23:07Speaker 1: You might lose some relationships when you choose Jesus over
- 23:09Speaker 1: the situation. When you choose Jesus over sin, temptation, and
- 23:14Speaker 1: just bad company. Yeah, you might lose some friends. But
- 23:18Speaker 1: were they really your friends? They certainly are not your
- 23:21Speaker 1: brother or sister in Christ. If we don't have the
- 23:23Speaker 1: same Father, we cannot be related. Right? Listen to this.
- 23:29Speaker 1: Today I choose Jesus. I will follow Jesus. I will
- 23:33Speaker 1: trust Jesus. I will stand on the word of Jesus,
- 23:37Speaker 1: and I will not turn back. These are kind of
- 23:40Speaker 1: like declarations, right? To say to yourself, when you're approached
- 23:46Speaker 1: by this system, which is the world system, when you're
- 23:49Speaker 1: approached by the devil or his demons, when your mindset
- 23:54Speaker 1: is not operating accordingly, amen? Today's declaration, I will not
- 24:00Speaker 1: turn back. Jesus has the words of eternal life. We
- 24:03Speaker 1: read that. And I choose to follow him no matter what.
- 24:08Speaker 1: Because in verse 66 of John 6, some of the
- 24:12Speaker 1: disciples from that time on, many of his disciples turned
- 24:17Speaker 1: back and no longer walked with Jesus. You know, that's
- 24:23Speaker 1: a like sobering scripture. And especially when you start thinking
- 24:26Speaker 1: about what did they do? Where did they go? You know,
- 24:30Speaker 1: What were they looking for after they stopped following the
- 24:33Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ? So the question could be, what situation
- 24:40Speaker 1: currently in your life is tempting you to turn back? Right?
- 24:46Speaker 1: I think about over my life, what's tempted me to
- 24:49Speaker 1: turn back? And what would that look like to trust
- 24:56Speaker 1: Jesus Christ through that situation? What would it look like
- 25:01Speaker 1: to turn back and no longer walk with the Lord
- 25:03Speaker 1: Jesus like these other disciples did. They were his disciples.
- 25:07Speaker 1: That's the key that's interesting to me. These weren't disciples
- 25:11Speaker 1: of John the Baptist. These weren't disciples of John, Peter, Paul. No,
- 25:17Speaker 1: these were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ that Jesus spoke,
- 25:22Speaker 1: and from that time on, many of his disciples turned
- 25:25Speaker 1: back and no longer walked with him. That's interesting. Wow.
- 25:32Speaker 1: So if it could happen to Jesus' own disciples, don't
- 25:36Speaker 1: you think it's possible that it could happen to me
- 25:39Speaker 1: or it could happen to you? If we're not careful,
- 25:42Speaker 1: we're not focused on what really matters. I try to
- 25:45Speaker 1: make the main things the main things. Sometimes the plain
- 25:49Speaker 1: things in life are the main things in life, especially
- 25:52Speaker 1: when it comes to your walk and in your faith
- 25:54Speaker 1: and trusting and following the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? We
- 25:58Speaker 1: have a basic basic attitude that we should have as believers,
- 26:05Speaker 1: that we're going to follow and believe and trust in
- 26:08Speaker 1: the Word of God all our lives. Hold on to
- 26:11Speaker 1: the Word of God because we know that the Word
- 26:13Speaker 1: of God is the Word that brings eternal life to us.
- 26:19Speaker 1: The Word of God is true, time-tested, can stand up
- 26:23Speaker 1: to any generation, to any culture, to any system. It's
- 26:27Speaker 1: the Word of God that we trust. You're blessed to
- 26:30Speaker 1: have Leaders in your church, pastors of your church that
- 26:33Speaker 1: preach the word of God the way it was intended
- 26:38Speaker 1: to be preached, man, you're blessed. If you're in a
- 26:41Speaker 1: big church or a small church, it doesn't matter. If
- 26:43Speaker 1: you're in a church that have pastors that are filled
- 26:45Speaker 1: with God's spirit and are anointed and appointed by God
- 26:49Speaker 1: himself to preach the gospel, you are blessed. There's other
- 26:53Speaker 1: churches out there that have the lingo. They look the part.
- 27:00Speaker 1: They have the attitude that the people are looking for.
- 27:06Speaker 1: Growing churches, growing ministries, but they're preaching a self-centered gospel. Right?
- 27:13Speaker 1: Kind of like a different gospel. They might whip open
- 27:17Speaker 1: the scriptures and read right out of the Bible, close
- 27:20Speaker 1: the scripture, and then give their interpretation of what that
- 27:23Speaker 1: scripture means that will only benefit them. So we have
- 27:27Speaker 1: to be mindful. We have to be careful. We have
- 27:29Speaker 1: to be The Lord's disciples, he knows us all. He
- 27:32Speaker 1: knows who believes and who doesn't believe. He knows who's
- 27:34Speaker 1: going to turn and back away from him. He knows
- 27:37Speaker 1: who's going to turn back and not follow him no more. Amen.
- 27:41Speaker 1: But we have an opportunity to stick to the script, literally.
- 27:45Speaker 1: Make declarations over our lives. Amen. And really focus on
- 27:50Speaker 1: the author and perfecter of our faith, which is the
- 27:53Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. And trust in him and move forward
- 27:56Speaker 1: with him. Grab him by the hand and never let
- 27:58Speaker 1: him go. So I'm out of time. Thank you so
- 28:00Speaker 1: much for hanging out with me for this morning Devo.
- 28:03Speaker 1: Pray you have an amazing Labor Day. From the time
- 28:05Speaker 1: of this recording, this is Labor Day. Thank you for
- 28:08Speaker 1: hanging out with me for the morning Devo. So God
- 28:10Speaker 1: bless you all. God keep you all. And remember always,
- 28:15Speaker 1: remember this, remember this, that God is good. Peace.