Summary
Guest speaker Christopher Shumate preaches from Psalms 20, emphasizing the importance of trusting in God during times of trouble. He highlights that while many rely on worldly means, true strength and salvation come from the Lord. Shumate shares personal stories from his ministry with troubled youth, illustrating the transformative power of the Gospel and the necessity of reaching the next generation with God's message of hope and salvation.
Housekeeping and Dismissals
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If you have a child who wants to be dismissed at the Children's Church, they're going to be dismissed now, as you can see. It's a wonderful time. This morning we've got Mr. Christopher Shoemate.
He's from Rock of Ages Prison Ministry. He's got some cards in the back and in the front here. If you want to pick those up, some prayer cards for him. Rock of Ages means a lot to me. One of the directors, his name is Rick Hildebrand.
And Rick Hildebrand worked with my dad at Hercelanese, COSA, there in Salisbury for many years.
And began witnessing to my dad. My dad was not in church. He was a believer. And began witnessing and trying to get him in church.
My dad was raised Methodist. My mom was raised Lutheran. When they got married, they didn't really know what church to go to. And so Rick began witnessing and trying to get him to come to church. And through his influence, they began coming to the church there at Gospel in Salisbury.
And we all were raised in church. Just yesterday we were going to a friend's house. And the church burned down when I was five years old.
But the back wall of the church is still there and a couple of the buildings. And I stopped in and got a picture right there where I accepted the Lord as my Savior.
But it was because of Rock of Ages and because of Rick Hildebrand and his influence on our family. So it always means a special heart to me.
And Chris reached out to me a couple of months ago now, I think it was, and just said, Hey, if you have an opportunity for me to come, I'd love to share what we're doing with Rock of Ages
and possibly even preach. And I said, You know, I've been busy these last couple of weeks. I think it may be a time for me to take a week off of preaching. And so I'm going to have him come.
He's going to share what they're doing with Rock of Ages. And then he's going to open the word and preach to us in just a little bit. So, Pastor Chris, come on up. And the service is yours. Close down as you see. Amen.
Let me say it's good to be in the Lord's house this morning. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you, Pastor, allowing us to come. Thank you, church.
As the pastor said, my name is Christopher Shumate. And I kind of feel alone. My wife and little girl is not with us. My little girl was sick last night. She was up.
So my wife is staying at home with her. You pray for them. I would introduce them. My wife is Miss Ruth and our little girl, Miss Ava. She'll be two next month.
And we found out a while back that we're expecting another one. So we're so thankful for that. That's an answer of prayers. So you pray for the Shumate family. And we're missionaries with Rock of Ages.
And we go into a special area. The Lord's called us and burdened us and commissioned us to go. And we go into the juveniles' prisons across America.
And we're taking the gospel to the troubled youth. And if there's ever been a time we need to reach young people, it's now. We can see what the devil's doing in our country. He's trying to divide and conquer. He knows he has but a short season. He knows his span is short.
Spiritual Warfare and Victory
So he's doing all he can to cause havoc against God's people and God's church. But I'm glad the scriptures tells us, greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. We're more than conquerors through him.
So I'm glad we're fighting in the victory. We're not fighting for the victory, but we're fighting in the victory. And I'm glad because of Jesus wins, we win too.
But I'm going to give you a verse, what the Lord put upon my heart concerning what we're doing. And then I'll share a little bit more about the ministry. And then I'll preach what the Lord put upon my heart concerning Psalms 20. The Bible says in Judges chapter 2 and verse number 10.
I'm going to read it to you. I want you to listen. The Bible says, And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers.
And there arose another generation after them, which do not the Lord, nor yet the works which he done for Israel. The Lord gave me that verse and said that's what we have in America today. You understand church, the generation we're going after.
They know nothing about the Word of God. They know nothing about the house of God. They know nothing about a man of God. They're so blind that there's things we're accustomed with today. In fact, we was up preaching in West Virginia in a juvenile prison. One of the boys came forward.
He said, preacher, he said, I've only been in church twice my whole life. He said, I was forced to go those two times. I said, well, I appreciate you coming. And I said, let me ask you a little thing. What do you know?
I was trying to gauge to see exactly what he knew about the house and the Bible and all that.
He said, well, I've heard John 3.16. He said, but I don't know what it says. I don't know what it means. He said, I've just heard John 3.16. I said, have you heard about Jesus?
I said, can you tell me anything about Jesus? Can you tell me how he died or why he had to die? A 13-year-old boy looked at me and said, I've heard the name, but I can't tell you anything about him. Can I remind you that's not over in Africa somewhere?
That's not in the desert halfway around the world. That's right here in the red, white, and blue. That's right here in our own backyard.
A kid doesn't even know why Jesus lived or why he died. I was able to take my Bible, sit down, talk to him. Went over there in the book of Genesis, started in the beginning, talked about the fall of man,
talked about how God had an animal over there to cover them and clothe them, walked them all the way through the Old Testament, talked about how the high priest made sacrifice, and the Bible says without shedding your blood is no remission. I took him to a place called Calvary,
told him about the Lamb of God that marched up Calvary's hill, who had bled, suffered, and died, told him how we're all sinners, and how we all stood and faced the wrath of God. He looked at me.
He said, I need to be saved, Donna. I said, that's the only hope any of us could have. I saw the Holy Ghost break down the walls that God built up. That 13-year-old boy called on the Lord and was born again.
And that's what the Lord has called me to do, is take the gospel into our troubled youth.
Mission Work and Outreach
I'm all for four missions. I believe the gospel message should go all the way around the world. But church, if America's not careful, we're going to have to have missionaries come to reach our own people.
God called me to stand in the gap and make up the hedge for our young people here in our own nation. If the Lord commissioned me, Pastor, to go to Africa, I would.
If He wanted me to go to Asia or Europe, wherever He was, I'm His. I'll go wherever He wanted me to go.
But my calling is right here in our own nation for the troubled youth. And that's what I want to do to the best of my ability. My home church is Bethel Baptist Church. Our pastor is Donnie Shumate.
We're out of Bethel over there in the Mountain View community. And right now we're in 22 facilities, 22 prisons across five states.
We go all the way up to Wheeling, West Virginia. We have eight facilities in West Virginia. We have two in North Carolina, two in South Carolina, two in Georgia, eight in Florida.
We go down far south as West Palm Beach, Florida. And in fact, next week I'm helping another missionary with our ministry.
We've got a girls' prison and a boys' prison in Kentucky. So we'll be leaving in the morning, about 6.30 in the morning, so you help us pray. We'll be going all next week, coming back Friday, and then hitting the road again Saturday. We've got a juvenile prison Saturday here in North Carolina.
So a lot of travel, a lot of expense. You help us pray, and I greatly appreciate that.
But I'm going to share some stories with you real quick. And I'll preach fast, and I'll try to make up for the time.
But I want to share with you what we've seen the Lord do in our ministry. And I'm just so thankful for what the Lord's done. And aren't you glad Jesus is still saving? I'm glad He's never lost the power to save.
And I'm glad He's willing to save, and I'm glad He's able to save. But we was in a West Virginia prison about two weeks ago.
A young girl came to our service, and each time we go to service, we always give them a Bible. And we gave her a New Testament study Bible, and she got the Bible, looked at it. She said, what is this?
I said, it's a Bible. And she looked at it, and she said, I've never seen a Bible. She said, in fact, I've never even had a Bible. I said, you have it? I said, well, this is yours.
She said, I can have it? And I said, yeah, it sure is. Write your name in it. Read it, and live it.
And she was just so tickled that somebody gave her her first Bible. And she said, I've never been to church. She was 13 years old, a young girl from West Virginia. She said, I've never been to church.
And I was kind of amazed at that. And I said, you've never been to church? She said, no.
She said, I've always wanted to go. She said, but my mom won't let me go. She said, I've always wanted to go, but she said, she won't let us go. And she said, I've never been to church. I never had a Bible.
Can I tell you what that young 13-year-old girl did? Every service, she came. She brought her Bible. She was there every single time we was there.
She brought her Bible. She heard the Word of God preached. And before the end of the week, you know what she did? She gave her heart and life over to the Lord. She was born again.
And I'm just so thankful the Lord's given us a job. I don't want to call it a job, but a calling. And that's to take the troubled youth of America to the gospel. In fact, we was up in another facility preaching. A young girl came forward.
And she said, preacher, she said, I can't be saved. And I said, why? She said, I'm too bad.
She said, there's no way God can save me. There's no way God can forgive me. She said, you don't know what all I've done. I said, it doesn't matter what all you've done. I said, my God is greater than all that. The Bible says where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.
She said, but you don't know how bad I am. And we can never ask why they're incarcerated or what they've done. But one of the girls there, that young girl, she was telling me, she said, you don't understand. She said, I had a plan. She said, I had everything.
She said, I'm in here for terrorist threats. She said, I planned to go to my school. I was going to shoot up the school. I was going to kill and do all this. She had the plan. She had the plan. She had everything lined out. But she got caught.
She said, I was going to go and do that. She said, there's no way God can forgive me. I said, let me tell you about a man named Saul and before what he did and how God converted him, how he was saved and now he's Paul.
Let me tell you how bad of a dude Paul was. I told him what all Paul did, how he was going to send him to the death of all the martyrs. I said, God saved him.
I said, God can save a murderer. I said, God can save you too if you repent and give your heart and life over to you. Give them over to the Lord. In church, I saw the Holy Ghost tear down that wall she had built up. And she looked at me. She just broke.
She said, I need to be saved. Tears had fallen down her face.
She gave her heart and life over to the Lord. Before it was all said and done, that girl that was burdened, that couldn't even look at me in the eyes, just kind of looked down at the floor. Before it was all said and done, we was going home.
She had a big old smile on her face. And she said, God will save anybody.
Here's a girl that said, God won't save me. But before it was all done, she got saved. You know what? She had a testimony that God can save anybody. And that's what it is. We're praying that God will continue to save and do hearts. We was down in Georgia, a juvenile center.
We was preaching to the facility. And I was excited. We had some delays and stuff.
And they said, well, you can't preach to the boys today. You'll go over here and preach to the girls. And only one girl came to the service. And Pastor, I was kind of frustrated. I was already preaching to a whole multitude. And then only one came forward.
I said, well, praise the Lord, we'll preach to one. So I sat down and talked to her.
And she had her arms crossed and kind of gave me the cold shoulder. And I thought, well, this is good.
But I didn't know God was working through it all. And I started telling what God did for me and how God changed me and saved me. And she looked at me.
She said, you know, I'm not even supposed to be here. She said, a couple of weeks ago, she said, I tried to kill myself. She said, my boyfriend dumped me.
She said, I loved him. And I thought he was the one. But he told me I was worthless.
I'm not going to amount to anything. I'd be better off dead. Just go ahead and get it over with. She said, so I tempted my own life. She said, I didn't even do that right. She said, then I got involved in some stuff on the street.
She said, now I'm locked up. She said, I'm supposed to be dead. I'm not even supposed to be here. I started talking to her, sharing her about what God did and the God of love. And I looked at her. She said, I don't have no mom and daddy. I don't have nobody.
She said, the only person I love turned his back on me. And I said, the Bible says in Psalms, your mom and dad might forsake you. I said, Lord, we'll take you in. And I asked her, has she ever been saved? She said, I've never been saved.
I said, well, can I tell you something? I said, I'm not being mean. I'm just being honest with you. I said, if you would have committed suicide back then, I said, do you know where you'd be at today? Because you said you've never been saved.
She said, no, I've not. I said, do you know where you'd be at if you would have killed yourself? She said, I guess I'd be in hell.
I said, you'd be in hell. Not that you committed suicide, but you died in that lost condition. I said, you'd be in hell today. I said, but did you know God had enough grace and mercy to prevent you from doing that? Even though you wanted to do that.
I said, God prevented that from happening. I said, then he sent a preacher all the way from North Carolina, all the way down here to Georgia to talk to you one-on-one to tell you that he loves you. And I tell you, whenever I said that, she just broke. She said, I'm so ashamed. She said, I'm so ashamed.
I mean, she just cried. I gave her some time to kind of refocus.
Sometimes people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. She kind of got back and I said, the Lord loves you. She was just so shocked how God could love somebody like her. Her old mama and daddy, she didn't have nobody. I'm glad the Lord's there.
I said, you might not have anybody. I said, but you've got a heavenly Father that loves you. I said, let me tell you what he did for you. I told her about Calvary, about how he laid down his life, about how he died to forgive her sins. You know what she did?
She gave her heart life over to the Lord and she was born again. Here's a girl that tried to kill herself.
Can I tell you, she met the Lord and now she has a life worth living. And she had a smile on her face when we left.
And that's what God's able to do. And I just couldn't help Pastor but think. But what happened if all those girls would have came forward to service? We wouldn't have had that one-on-one sit-down talk.
There's a good chance that young teenager probably would never share about her being dumped. And you know how girls are, especially teenagers. She probably wouldn't have shared her feelings.
But can I tell you, God knew what he was doing. God said, I'm going to hold all them girls back. I'm just going to let one come. Because today's her day.
Today's her opportunity to get in. I'm glad God does all things well, aren't you? We might not understand.
We might not under. Sometimes we don't think we do. But can I tell you, if we just trust him and walk by faith and not by sight, he does all things well.
Preaching in Prisons
I'm just so thankful for what God's doing. And I'll share one more with you. Then I'll preach. Go ahead and find your place in Psalms chapter 20. I'm going to share one more with you. It was down in Florida preaching to a group of young people.
And this facility, it's been shut down since COVID. In fact, they've not even had family visitation started back yet.
They've kind of did like a webcam Skype type thing. They go into a room. They have a computer screen. They talk back and forth.
They've not had any physical contact, any people coming in from the outside world since COVID. I called that facility, talked to the administrator, told them who I was, what I wanted to do. And they said, well,
God gave us favor at the facility. The administrator said, you can come. I'll approve it. I'll sign off on it.
You can come in. He said, this is the first interaction they have with the outside community since COVID. He said, you'll be the first one to come back in. Even before family, you're coming in before them.
So I praise the Lord for giving us favor. So we went in to preach. And the facility, as you see their windows across, down the perimeter of the church, each one of those windows, let it represent a cell.
And the boys, they kind of sit out here in the middle. And if they didn't want to hear the church service, they could go back to their rooms, which represents these windows. But if they wanted to hear, they kind of sat down here in the middle. And I was preaching to them.
Some stayed. Some went back. And I was focused all on the boys in the front. And I think we had about 19 get saved.
And whenever I was getting ready to leave to go to another unit to preach, one of the officers was getting ready to buzz me out. I heard, preacher, preacher, preacher. And I turned and looked.
And the officer kind of pointed in the back. And I noticed it wasn't coming from the center. It was coming all the way in the back in the corner of a room. And I asked the officer if I could go. And he kind of gave me permission. I walked back there.
Walked all the way back to the corner. There was a door shut. And I went over there. And it has a little peep hole at the top. And I looked in. And I looked down. I saw a young black boy sitting with his back against the door. He looked up.
And he saw me looking down. He stood up.
I noticed he had tears. Pastor, coming down his eyes.
He said, preacher, you can't leave. He said, you can't leave. He said, I'm going to hell. You've got to tell me how to be saved. Preacher, you can't leave. I asked the officer if he could open the door. He unlocked it. And the boy came out.
He said, preacher, I didn't want anything to do with God. I didn't want anything to do with religion.
He said, I didn't even want to stay for the service. He said, so I went back to my room. He said, but I heard every word you said. He said, God, God, I hold my heart.
He said, I've sat here and listened to everything. He said, God, show me I lost. And I need to be saved. Preacher, you can't leave without telling me how to be saved. And I wasn't even focused on him.
I was focused on the ones that came. But can I tell you, the Bible says his word will not return void. There was a young boy all the way in the corner that was in his room, sat there with his back against the door.
The Holy Ghost of God spoke to his heart and smote his heart and showed him his lost condition. And you know what? He got saved.
I was able to lead him to the Lord. And we're just so thankful for what God's doing. We've seen several saved. We've got several prisons we're going to. So please pray for us.
You say, preacher, we don't have a public job. We don't do anything like that. We do this full time. You say, well, preacher, how do you pay the bills? How do you pay for gas and food and travel and hotels and all that?
We live by faith. God pays our bills. And you say, preacher, well, how does God do that? Through churches, through families, through individuals.
They give to us to allow us to go. And some of our prisons are in during the week. Some of them on the weekend. But this is our calling.
This is what God burned my heart to do. And you say, preacher, are you worried? I thought I knew what living by faith was. And then God called me to be a missionary. I know what living by faith is now. And so we're just so thankful.
We ask if you would pray. Pray about how you might be able to help us go and do what the Lord has called us to do. The work is good and the burden is there.
And their souls lost and dying going to hell. And sometimes they might not even hear except they get locked up.
The youngest we've seen was eight years old, incarcerated for murder. And whenever I say, pastor, we go to juveniles, sometimes they think 16, 17, 18, 19. But the average age that we see is between 12 and 16. That's basically kids. That's what I call them, young kids.
And you help us pray for the troubled youth of America that they get saved. And that's a little bit about what we do. And I'm not going to take questions at the end if you all have any, if that's okay, at the end of the message. But Psalms chapter 20.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you again, pastor, for allowing us to come. Thank you, church.
I don't want to take that for granted at any time to stand and preach and try to be a blessing to the people. The Bible says in Psalms chapter 20 and verse number 1, I'm going to read all nine verses.
Scriptural Foundation: Psalms 20
The Bible says, Psalms 20, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice, Selah.
Grant thee according to thy own heart and fulfill all the counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation. In the name of our God we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions.
Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses.
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord.
Let the King hear us when we call. I'm going to pray and I want you to pray.
And I'll deliver the message that the Lord put upon my heart. But let us pray together, church. Heavenly Father, God, we come to you once again. I thank you for many blessings. Thank you for the opportunity, Lord, to come to your house. Thank you, Lord, for the pastor. Thank you for this church.
Thank you for the blessed word of God that we hold in our hand. God, I pray you help me.
Lord, as I stand and break the bread of life. Lord, I know I'm nothing but a man.
But, God, I pray, Lord, I'm your man for the hour. And, God, I pray, would you touch my lips of clay.
Let me be your mouthfeeds for a little while to be a blessing and encouragement to your people. And, Lord, if anything is accomplished, you're going to have to do it. Lord, I can't do anything, but, Lord, you can do all things.
And, Lord, we're trusting, looking, and leaning on you. And, God, I pray, Lord, get honor and glory out of this service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I appreciate it.
If you notice, this psalm, I'm going to kind of walk you through it a little bit, kind of give you some introduction and some side notes, and then we'll kind of break it down and apply it to how it applies to us.
But, it has something to do with the king. If you notice, it talks about, save, Lord, let the king hear us. And then, verse number one, it talks about the king.
But, basically, it has something to do with the king. That can either be King David, or it can either be the king of kings. So, we're going to kind of look at it from two different perspectives, but not only does it have to do with the king, I notice something else.
It has to do with a battle. Notice what it says.
It says, in verse number five, it says, In the name of our God, we will set up banners. And, that word banners basically means, during these armies, they would have flags that they would fly. And, those banners represents who you're following after, who you assemble with. And, notice I see banners.
And, only that, verse number seven, notice I see chariots and horses. Those are war horses and war chariots. It has to do with going into battle, going into war.
So, I notice it has something, Psalms 20 has something to do with a king. I notice it has something to do with a battle. But, only that, did you know Psalms chapter 20 also has something to do with worship. I see words like sanctuary. I see the word Lord.
Then, I see the word God.
Then, I see the word sacrifices. And, then I see the word offerings. All those words deals with the sanctuary.
One, man I was reading after. He said, you know, we have the battle hymn of the republic. He said, this Psalms 20 could be a battle hymn for Israel. The people praying for their king. God to strengthen their king.
God to give favor upon their king. God to answer all the king's heart. God answer all the requests upon the king's heart. Protect him. Save him. Give us the victory through our king. And, a battle hymn for Israel.
You say, preacher, how can we break that down? Well, I read the whole chapter in eight, but nine verses. If you wanted to kind of put it together. Verses one through five is an address to the king. Verse six is personal confidence in the Lord.
Verse seven and eight is national confidence in the Lord.
And then, verse number nine is an appeal for the king. So, you can see how it's kind of condensed like that. But, I want you to see the difference between verse six. Verse six says, now know I.
I notice that word I. But, verse number seven, notice how it changes. It says, some trust in chariots and some in horses. But, we will remember the name of our God.
It switched. Verse six was I. And, verse seven is we. So, you can see how verse six is a personal confidence. But, then it switched from personal confidence to a national confidence. We.
It's no longer I, but it's us. It's we. We know the Lord. We trust in our God. We, as a people.
I notice six and seven. There's a difference. Seven and eight is we. Six is I. But, I also want to look at this from another perspective.
Psalms 20. And, I believe it can fit. Did you know this could be a messianic psalm? We look at that. We could. You say, preacher, how can that be? Well, think about the king.
You say, preacher, what king? King Saul? King David? King. Now, I'm not talking about any of those kings. I'm talking about the king of kings and the Lord of lords. I'm talking about King Jesus. One of his greatest battle. You know what it was? Going to Calvary.
So, I want to look at this psalm from that perspective about the king going to Calvary. The king going to Calvary.
Look at verse number one. It says, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. Didn't Jesus have some trouble along his way? Didn't Jesus have some battles? Some sufferings? Think about him in the garden. You know, whenever Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane praying,
he took his disciples and he wanted them to pray, didn't he? He said, watch Terry here. Watch and pray. I'm going to go a little further and pray in the garden. He said, y'all watch and pray. Could it be?
Could it possibly be that this was one of the psalms that he wanted them to pray? Think about it. Here Jesus is agonizing, wrestling,
praying to do the Father's will. He said, I want you to watch and pray. Terry, you hear.
And I want you to think from that perspective as a king goes to Calvary. I want you to think about this psalm. Think about it. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.
Think about him. The Bible says his sweat became great drops of blood. There Jesus is in anguish and pain and is praying for the Father's will.
Can you imagine the disciples there praying, Lord, strengthen thee. Grant thee. Defend thee.
Send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Did you know help comes from God? And it comes out of heaven?
That's where they're focused on. I'll look unto the heavens when it's coming from my help. I'm going to look up. A lot of people, they look out. But you know what the church and the Christian does? We look up.
Our help's not going to come from the government. Our help's not going to come from over here, the neighbor. I'm glad my help comes from above. My help comes down from heaven, out of God. Help comes from God, out of heaven. Look at verse number three.
It says, Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifices. Selah. That word selah, that means the stop, the think, the pause and wonder.
Can I tell you the offering? Think about Jesus offering himself.
That was the greatest sacrifice that's ever been paid, that's ever been given, was Jesus offering himself. The greatest offering was Christ dying on the cross for the sins of the world.
Can you see how we can apply that song to him? Not only the King David, but the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. Verse number four says, Grant thee according to thy own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. Did you know that?
We're putting that on Jesus. Did you know every prayer Jesus prayed came true?
Did you know everything God, everything that was in Jesus' heart came to pass? You know why? Because his heart and God's heart was twain.
His will was the Father's will. Many times Jesus said, He said, I'm not coming to do my own will, but Him sent me.
He said, I came to do the Father's will. He said, I came to die. I came to be His lamb, led before the shearers. He said, I'm here because of Him. Even when He stood before Pilate, Pilate said, what are you doing? I don't understand.
Do you understand? I have power to set you free. I have power to put you to death. Your life is in my hands.
And Jesus looked at him and said, To this end was I was born. He said, I was born to die. A lot of people is born to live, but can I tell you that King was born to die, that we could live, and that He should live too. Notice verse five.
It says, We will rejoice in thy salvation, in thy name, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfilled all thy petitions.
The Sacrifice of Christ
We will rejoice in Calvary. I tell you, if there's anything to rejoice in, it's Calvary. It's a sacrifice. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. Notice it says, We will set up our banners. You say, Preacher, what's that? That's our testifying.
That's us giving Him praise, giving Him worship, giving Him glory. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a Christian. I'm not ashamed to say I love God. I'm not ashamed to say I'm part of them. I'm part of the church. I'm part of the bride. I love the Lord.
The Lord loves me. I have salvation full and free through Jesus Christ.
I'm not ashamed to say I'm one of Him. Telling it to a lost and dying. Hey, that's our banner.
But you know He has a banner over us, His love. We have a banner saying, Hey, we're part of Christ. We're part of Him.
Christ in me and I'm in Christ. That's a message that we can hold up. Our banner to a lost and dying world. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Hallelujah. Jesus saves. That's our banner, church. And notice verse number 6. Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointing.
Didn't Jesus say? He said, Thou wilt not leave my soul in a shield. Thou wilt not leave my soul in a hand. He said, I'll lift you up.
Didn't God raise up Jesus from the dead? Didn't God give Him strength? Didn't God do all that? He saved the anointed.
Did you know a lot of times when kings, whenever I say this has to do with a king, did you know almost all the time it was God's will and it was God's king? Did you know every king was anointed? Anointed by God? Couldn't that also apply to Jesus Christ being anointed?
By King of kings and Lord of lords? It says, Now know I, the Lord saveth His anointed, and He will hear Him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Isn't that what God did?
The world said He's going to die. He's going to die on that cross. He's going to be martyred. He's going to be put to death. We got rid of Jesus. I'm glad God raised Him up.
God saved the anointed, called Him back up, brought Him back out. Look at verse number 7. Some trust in chariots and some in horses. I tell you, the people trust in a lot of things. People trust in their education, their family, their money, their finances, their government,
whatever you want. Some trust in this, some trust in that. But you know what we trust in? We trust in the Lord. Why?
I just got to tell you, money will go so far, but it runs out. People's good and all, but they'll let you down. I'm glad if we look to God, He'll never let you down. He'll never run out.
That's the power of what we serve. That's what God says. But we will remember the name of our Lord, our God. I'm glad that we can trust on Him. We will remember His name.
Notice verse 8. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and standeth upright. Think about all the powers and all the enemies of Christ that's been defeated. Think about all the Old Testament and the New Testament. They've all been brought down.
Think how many times the nation of Israel has been knocked down. You know what they do? They get right back up. Even we read about now, they're being attacked.
You know what? They might be knocked down, but you know what? They're not down and out. They'll get right back up. Why? Because it's God's people. It's God's nation. It's God's land. God will defend.
God will destroy any enemies. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and standeth upright. Not only from that perspective, but I'm glad us being saved, I'm glad we're risen, aren't you? Because Christ is risen from the grave, we too shall be risen.
I'm thankful for that rising power, aren't you? I'm glad that we can have life. You know Jesus mentioned three times, you shall have abundant life, everlasting life, eternal life. I'm glad we got it all through Jesus Christ.
We have life. Not only do we have life, but we have life worth living. I tell you, it's a joy to be a Christian. It's a joy to tell this lost and dying world, there's hope.
You don't have to go down that path. You don't have to follow the way of the world. You can go to a higher calling. You can go to a higher life. Give your life over to the Lord and He'll take care of you. He'll meet your needs.
What a joy it is to serve the Lord. Verse 9, Save, Lord. Let the King hear us when we call. What's that? God, magnify your Son.
Didn't the Bible say God has given Him a name that's above every name? The name of Jesus. Things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, every name shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, glory God the Father. What's that? God exalting His Son.
And what do we do? We come into the house of God to exalt the Jesus, to lift Him up, to praise His name, to exalt His name.
It's not about you, it's not about me, but it's about the Lord and Him high and lifted up. He said, if I be lifted up, what will we do? He said, I'll draw all men into myself. And that's what we do. We exalt the name of Christ. Why?
Because He's the only one worth worshiping. He's the only one worth praising. It's because of Him. I don't want to focus on a few things and I'll be done. I'll be done in about five minutes. I want you to notice verse 5. It says, we will. I noticed that word rejoice.
We will rejoice. I looked up that word rejoice. Do you know that word rejoice means to shout, to cry aloud, to sing? Notice what it's singing of, what it's shouting of, what it's praising of in thy salvation. We will rejoice in thy salvation. Do you know salvation is not in us?
Trusting in God's Salvation
It's in Jesus Christ. Did you know we couldn't save ourselves? Did you know you're looking at somebody that could not save himself? I couldn't do anything to it. The only thing I could do is add to the burden, add to the misery, add to the sin. But you know what Jesus did? He set me free.
He paid the debt that I couldn't pay. He paid the debt that He didn't owe. It's all because of Him. In thy salvation,
did you know salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and the finished work of Calvary? And that's something to rejoice about. That's something to shout about. That's something we sing about is salvation in Jesus Christ.
Did you know the Bible says over there in Acts, there's no other name given unto heaven whereby men must be saved? It's in Jesus Christ. It's not in denomination. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's His salvation. Salvation in Christ Jesus. But I notice that. Notice verse number 7. It says some trust in chariots, some trust in horses.
Do you know people trust in a lot of things to get to heaven? I go into the juvenile prisons and I can tell answer after answer after answer of all the things I heard. I hear a lot of young people say, well preacher, I've not been that bad.
I ask them, I say, well how do you know you're going to heaven? They look at me and they can say with confidence they're not playing games, they're being honest, they're giving me their heart. They say, preacher, you don't understand. I've only lived that much bad
and I've got my whole life. I'm only 13, I'm only 15, however, I'm still young.
I'm just going to do a little bit of bad here but everything else, I'm going to live for God.
I'm going to go to church, I'm going to buckle down, get a good job, get a good education,
get a good family, I'm going to live good and God's going to see all the good I do and a little bit of bad and it's going to tip the scale in my favor. That makes sense but that's not in the Bible.
They say, preacher, you don't understand. My good is going to outweigh my bad. I say, that's good and all but that's not in the Bible. I've heard some people say, well, I've been baptized. I tell you, that's not salvation.
Baptism is good and all but that doesn't save you. You can go in wet, get out, you can go in dry, get out, that ain't going to save you. I told the people, I met one person and he said, preacher, I've been saved, I've been baptized.
I said, is that what you believe? He said, yeah, I've been baptized. I'm going to heaven because I've been baptized.
I said, I don't mean to mean mean or anything but can I tell you what baptism is? He said, yeah, isn't that the same thing? I said, no, it's not the same thing. I wasn't mean or rude or anything.
He just didn't know and I explained to him. I said, you see what I wear on my hand? I said, what is that? He said, it's a ring.
I said, what type of ring is it? He said, it's a wedding ring. I said, yeah. I said, what does that mean?
He said, it means you're married. And I said, I'm not trying to, you know, I'm just kind of giving you an example. I said, you're right. It means I've been married. It means I've been to a wedding.
It means something's happened before and this represents what happened.
I said, so someone can look at that and say, hey, that man belongs to somebody. He's been to a wedding before. I said, what baptism is, it's just like this ring. It represents something. Something happened before.
It's for people to see. You're dying to yourself and you're coming up. You're dying to your flesh. You're dying in Christ and Christ is resurrecting you out of that liquid grave. It represents what happened. I said, but can I wear this ring and not be married? He said, yeah.
I said, I'd be weird to wear it, but people could do it. He said, yeah, I guess you're right. I said, does that mean you could be baptized and really not be saved? I said, something has to take place before that. I said, that's just showing the lost and dying world.
That's following the command of Jesus Christ. Showing them that you gave your heart and life over to the Lord. I said, have you ever done that? He said, no.
I said, then you're not saved according to the Bible. He said, I've never thought about it. I've never had anyone explain it to me like that. He was trusting in baptism. I tell you, baptism is not salvation. Aren't you glad salvation is in Jesus Christ?
It's because of Him. Some trust in chariots, some in horses.
Notice what it says. It says, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. I tell you, it's hard to remember somebody. Notice in verse 7, it says, we will remember. You'll never remember until you first know. Verse 6 says, now know I.
You'll never remember the Lord until you first know the Lord. And I want to ask you that today.
Do you know the Lord? You say, preacher, I've heard about Him. I'm talking about, do you know Him?
I'm not talking about up here. I'm talking about down here. Do you have a personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know that you know that you know whenever you die, heaven will be your home? I preach to a lot of young people. They have head knowledge,
but very few have heart knowledge. Some of them die and go to hell, and they miss it by that much. That much of a distance. If they could ever let what they think get into their heart, it'll change your life.
A lot of people think as long as it's up here, it's okay. I tell you, I don't know your heart and I don't know your soul, but you and God does. I want to ask you, verse 6 says, now know I that the Lord, I tell you, I know Him.
Whenever trouble comes, you know what? We will remember. I will remember the Lord. Why? Because I met Him. I know Him. And I want to ask you, do you know the Lord?
Some trust in chariots, some in horses. What's your trust in this morning? Is your trust in your 401k? Is your trust in your power, your name, your family? Only.
But you know what? My faith and trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not a popular person.
I don't have a lot of money. I don't have a lot going for me. But you know what I do have? I've got a God of heaven that's on my side. He meets my needs.
He takes care of me and my family. And He'll do the same for you. What are you relying on in this life? Your education? I tell you, trust in the Lord.
Invitation to Salvation
Lord. And He'll get the job done. We will rejoice in Thy salvation. I'm glad salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to ask you simply this morning, I'm closing. Have you been saved before? Do you know that you know that you know heaven will be your home when you take your last breath?
I tell you, if you don't have that full assurance, today will be a good day for you to mark it down and get it settled. Heaven can be your home today.
I met a lot of people. I tell a lot of kids, I said, salvation is a foundation.
I said, you'll never grow with your walk with the Lord. You'll never mature. You'll never be that Christian. You'll never be the disciple that God wants you to be. You'll never achieve anything in life until you first get that salvation. Foundation settled.
I said, think of this. When you build a house, what's the first thing you've got to have? Foundation.
I said, you can build a mansion, but if you don't have a good foundation, when the weather of life comes, it's going to crumble. That's the same way. You can have a good outside. You can have a good image. You can put on the right mask. Whenever storms come,
it's going to crumble. Make sure that salvation foundation is settled and secure, and then you can build. What about you today, friend? Do you know that you know that you know? Verse 6 says, now I know.
I say, I'm glad I know. But what about you? Do you know today? If not, today can be your day. I'm going to ask you if you would, if you bow your head and close your eyes. I'm not going to embarrass you.
I'm not going to come to you. I'm not going to do anything like that.
I'm going to just ask you a question. If you're here today, I'm going to ask two questions. If you're here today and you say, Preacher, I know that I know that I know. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. I've been born again.
I know heaven will be my home. Would you slip your hand up?
Would you say, I know that I know. I appreciate that. Hands going up everywhere. You can take them back down. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Here's my second question. If you're here today and you say, Preacher, I've never been saved.
I think I am. I hope I am. Or you might finally come to terms and say, I'm not saved. But I want to be. Would you pray for me? Is there anybody in the church today that would just slip your hand up and say, Preacher, would you pray for me?
I'm not sure. Or I'm not saved. Is there anyone anywhere? Just slip your hand. I'm looking. Anyone anywhere? Just slip your hand up and I'll take it right back down. Is there anyone anywhere? Preacher, would you pray for me? I'm not saved. I see that hand. Is there anyone else? Preacher, would you pray for me? I'm not saved.
Is there anyone else? I saw one hand. Anyone else? I'll pray for you. I'm not going to come to you. I'm not going to embarrass you. I'm not going to tell the pastor. I just want to pray.
Do you care enough about your soul to say, Preacher, would you please pray? I'm not right with God.
Is there anyone else anywhere? I'm going to pray and turn it back over to the pastor. Anyone else anywhere? Slip your hand up and take it right back down. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you for today.
Closing Prayer and Reflection
Thank you for many blessings. I thank you, Lord, for the Word of God. Thank you for the pastor. Thank you for this church.
God, I thank you for the opportunity to stand and preach. And God, I pray, Lord, would you please, Lord, help the individual that raised their hand or they said they're not sure about their salvation or maybe they even realize that they're not saved. God, I pray, Lord, today will be their day
or they get birthed in the family of God before it's ever lasted too late. Lord, I don't know the heart. Lord, I don't know what's hindering them. Lord, I don't know what's preventing them, but Lord, you do.
And God, I pray, would you please help them if it's pride or if they're scared or whatever it might be. God, I pray, would you please have your hand upon them or help them and continue to give them grace and mercy and Lord, let them take that first step
coming to know you. Lord, I thank you for speaking to hearts today.
Lord, I pray you continue, Lord, speak to us and through us and God, let us take the word of God and let it find a resting place in our heart that Lord, we don't only be hearers of the word, but God will be doers through the word.
And Lord, take that lost and dying world, the message of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful that Lord, you're able to save.
Lord, we have the message to share and that's Jesus saves. God, I thank you again for this church. Thank you for the pastor. Thank you for the opportunity to come. And Lord, go with us and bless us and Lord, have your hand upon us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
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