Participants: John Lomacang (Host), Dr. Timothy Nixon
Series Code: FDOF
Program Code: FDOF000002
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00:16 Hello, friends, welcome to the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:18 My name is John Lomacang, and I'll be your host 00:21 for this evening's program, Dare To Dream, 00:24 Foundation Of Faith. 00:26 Which means there is no other foundation that can be laid 00:29 other than Christ Jesus. 00:31 So sit down with your family and your friends 00:33 for the next hour as God speaks to us through 00:36 the servant He has chosen tonight, Dr. Timothy Nixon. 00:40 Now I've known him for a number of years since childhood. 00:43 We know each other by our first name. 00:45 He calls me John, I call him Timothy. 00:47 But I know that God has really worked in his life 00:50 through the years. 00:51 Last night's message was, Boys To Men. 00:54 And we knew each other when we were boys, 00:57 and God has given us the privilege of ministering 00:59 now that we are men. 01:01 And this message is a very significant message. 01:04 I'm waiting to hear what it's about, because 01:06 the title of this message is, Junk In The Trunk. 01:10 And that alone would make me want to sit down and 01:13 find out what it's all about. 01:15 Dr. Timothy Nixon is a native of Brooklyn, New York. 01:19 He also has a BA Degree from Oakwood University, 01:24 and masters and also a doctorate degree from Andrews University. 01:28 He is the associate chaplain, as a matter of fact 01:33 the administrative chaplain for Andrews University. 01:37 That's the present position in which he serves. 01:39 And he does a wonderful job there. 01:42 What I couldn't tell you last night was about his spouse. 01:45 And she is here tonight. 01:46 Sandria Lalasingh. A very interesting name. 01:50 You'll get the chance to meet her at least on camera. 01:53 And they have been married since 1985. 01:56 She's not only a registered nurse, but they both 01:58 believe in education very well. 02:00 He has his doctorate, and so does she. 02:03 They have two adult children. 02:04 And God, I know, besides giving them education and 02:09 giving them a solid foundation upon which to build 02:11 their family, God has given them a desire to share the message, 02:15 and truly a love for the Lord. 02:17 So tonight you are definitely going to be blessed 02:20 by the message. 02:22 Before we introduce our music for tonight, 02:25 I'd like to invite you to bow your heads 02:26 as we invite the Lord's presence to be with us. 02:29 Let us pray. 02:30 Our gracious Father in heaven, what a blessing it is 02:33 to know that when we put our lives in Your hand, 02:36 You never plant a seed that does not produce harvest 02:40 for Your kingdom. 02:42 Lord, we pray tonight You'll send Your Holy Spirit 02:44 to fill your manservant, Dr. Timothy Nixon. 02:48 Give him unction from on high. 02:50 Give him power to proclaim the Word. 02:52 And Lord, may those who are watching and listening 02:54 to this program find in these divine seeds 02:58 the power and the strength to live for Christ. 03:01 And so, Lord, come and fill this place with Your presence we ask. 03:04 In Jesus' name we pray, amen. 03:08 Now last night I was blessed by Brian Ezra Bates. 03:12 Met him a few years ago at Oakwood University 03:16 during one of the ministerial association meetings 03:20 in December, and I was impressed by his 03:22 ability to communicate the message. 03:24 Tonight I know we're going to be blessed. 03:26 The message in song tonight is, I love The Lord. 03:29 And so sit back as you hear God speak and sing 03:32 through His servant, Brian Ezra Bates. 04:17 I love the Lord. 04:27 He heard my cry 04:36 and pitied every groan. 04:49 Long as I live 04:57 and troubles rise, 05:06 I'll hasten to 05:18 His throne. 05:23 Oh, I love the Lord. 05:34 I love the Lord. 05:36 He heard my cry 05:45 and pitied every groan. 05:57 Long as I live 06:06 and troubles rise, 06:14 I'll hasten to, 06:24 I'll hasten to His throne. 06:29 Oh, I'll hasten to His throne. 06:38 Yes, I'll hasten to His throne. 06:47 Yes, I'll hasten to His throne. 06:55 In the morning when I rise I'll hasten to His throne. 07:04 In the midnight hour I'll hasten to His throne. 07:11 Eternally every day I'll hasten to His throne. 07:20 When I need sweet relief, I'll hasten to His throne. 07:29 When I need somewhere to lay my weary soul, 07:33 I'll hasten to His throne. 07:37 When I need some direction, I'll hasten to His throne. 07:45 When I need, Lord, protection, I'll hasten to His throne. 07:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 07:59 I'll hasten, 08:06 I'll hasten to His throne. 08:11 I love the Lord; 08:13 come heard my cry, 08:18 and He pitied every groan. 08:21 So I'll hasten to His throne. 08:28 Yeah, yeah, I'll hasten to His throne. 08:41 I'll hasten to His throne. 09:06 Amen. 09:08 Thank God for Brian and his message in song tonight. 09:13 If you have your Bibles, turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 09:18 And I want to begin by reading a passage of Scripture 09:23 in verse 16 to set the foundation 09:30 for our message tonight. 09:32 2 Samuel chapter 6 beginning in verse 16, 09:36 and I'll read down through to verse 23. 09:40 I'll be picking some verses there. 09:43 "And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, 09:48 Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window 09:55 and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. 10:02 And she despised him in her heart." 10:06 Verse 20, "Then David returned to bless his household. 10:12 And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, 10:15 and said, 'How glorious was the king of Israel today, 10:20 who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids 10:24 of his servants, as one of the vain fellows 10:27 shamelessly uncovereth himself.' 10:31 And David said unto Michal, 'It was before the Lord, 10:35 which chose me before thy father and before all his house, 10:39 to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. 10:44 Therefore will I play before the Lord.'" 10:47 Verse 22, "And I will yet be more vile than thus, 10:52 and will be base in mine own sight. 10:55 And of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, 10:59 of them shall I be made in honour." 11:02 And then verse 23, "Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul 11:07 had no child unto the day of her death." 11:13 I've titled the message tonight, Junk In The Trunk. 11:20 Let's bow and pray together. 11:22 Father, tonight as we open Your Word, 11:26 we pray tonight that You will speak to us. 11:32 We pray that we will open our hearts to receive Your message. 11:37 Let Christ be lifted up. 11:40 And may we allow Him to speak and direct us. 11:46 For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. 11:51 Our series has been on relationships, 11:53 and tonight we want to focus on women 11:57 and relationships. 12:00 One of the perils of traveling to preach sometimes is 12:06 not knowing who will pick you up at the airport. 12:11 I remember one appointment I was going to, 12:15 I did not know who was coming to get me. 12:17 And so when I came through the gate, I was greeted by a 12:22 gentleman who recognized me. 12:25 He introduced himself and said, "Pastor Nixon, 12:28 I've been sent to pick you up." 12:32 And after walking to the car and exchanging some pleasantries 12:35 from my host, he grabbed my bags and he opened up his trunk 12:41 to put them in, but as hard as he would try in this challenging 12:47 task, it appeared that his trunk was full. 12:54 And he tried to rearrange his trunk to accommodate my luggage. 12:59 He began to move old clothes and a golf club and boxes, 13:04 and just a myriad of lost items, old food wrappers. 13:11 All kinds of things that ended up in the trunk. 13:16 And as he struggled to make it fit 13:20 and try to get in what could not fit in, 13:22 he turned to me and said, "Pastor, it looks like 13:25 I've got a lot of junk in my trunk." 13:30 And when he said that, I looked at him and he looked at me, 13:34 and we both started laughing. 13:37 My luggage ended up in the back seat. 13:40 And we drove and I assured him I know how it is 13:43 when your car becomes the family taxi. 13:48 And the reality is, the sad reality is, 13:50 that incident is a metaphor for life. 13:53 Because with all of the non-essentials he had 13:57 placed in his trunk, when there was something that he really 14:03 needed to carry, he had no room for it. 14:08 And here's the amazing part of it all. 14:11 The car itself was a Lexus 400. 14:15 Beautiful, shiny, washed, and waxed. 14:19 Attractive on the outside. 14:22 However the outside was and however the outside looked, 14:29 the reality is that the inside could not carry what 14:35 he needed it to carry. 14:38 And in relationships, that's how people are. 14:43 They make sure that the outside looks good, 14:49 but you never really know what junk they have in the trunk. 14:55 Are you listening to me tonight? 14:59 And that junk represents not only physical junk, 15:04 but literally even deeper mental and emotional junk. 15:09 Things that clutter our minds and emotions 15:13 so that when something new comes along, 15:16 we have no room for it. 15:19 There's too much junk that has accumulated 15:22 over so long a period of time that it becomes impossible 15:26 for us to move on in our lives. 15:30 And tonight, I want to look at a person who had not cleared 15:35 the junk out of her trunk before she got married. 15:41 It was David's first wife, Michal. 15:46 In 1 Samuel 18:20 we are introduced to her. 15:52 She is a daughter of Saul, the first king of Israel. 15:58 And she has great expectations. 16:01 In verse 28 of 1 Samuel 18, the Bible says... 16:17 There is so much that can be said, but what I want to 16:21 focus on is this one phrase; how much Michal loved David. 16:28 Because it's the polar opposite of the text that we began with 16:32 in 2 Samuel 6 which says she despised him in her heart. 16:37 How could this have happened to a relationship 16:40 that began with such promise? 16:45 Their wedding was the social event of the year, 16:48 and yet it has gone sour and has turned into this. 16:54 How did this happen? 16:58 Let's see what the Scriptures tell us. 17:02 1 Samuel 18 introduces us to their impending nuptials. 17:06 David has just slain Goliath and has become instantly famous. 17:12 He catches Michal's eye. 17:16 Well what do we know about her? 17:19 She's the king's daughter. 17:21 So she's a princess. 17:23 Which may mean she's probably a little spoiled. 17:29 Over-indulged perhaps. 17:31 She likes getting things her way. 17:35 She's the king's second daughter, which may 17:38 suggest some sibling rivalry. 17:43 She's lived a privilege life, so she has some high expectations 17:49 about whom she will marry. 17:51 She wants to be on the arm of someone important, 17:55 someone famous, someone with status. 17:58 Someone who can give her the things in life 18:01 that she has become accustomed to. 18:05 She is more impressed with the outer than the inner person. 18:11 And you can imagine that she has fantasized 18:14 about some knight in shining armor who will come along 18:19 one day and sweep her off her feet and ride her off 18:23 into the sunset to live happily ever after. 18:30 And David seems to fit the bill perfectly. 18:34 He has everything that she's looking for 18:37 from outward appearances. 18:39 Young and talented, gifted musically, 18:43 passionate, heroic, handsome. 18:46 The women of Israel singing songs about him in the streets. 18:50 He's the talk of the town. 18:51 A legend already. 18:54 What women would not want David? 18:57 What woman wouldn't fall in love with him? 18:59 And the Bible says she loved him. 19:02 Without knowing about the real David, she loved him. 19:07 And so the question tonight is, what... 19:11 Or perhaps I should say, who did she really love? 19:18 She loved that image which David filled so perfectly. 19:24 Listen to what I'm saying tonight. 19:27 Because there are a lot of women who want to marry an image. 19:35 You know, women spend much more time than men 19:38 contemplating whom they will marry. 19:41 And the reality is that women are socialized 19:45 to get married in their early years. 19:49 Huh? 19:52 From their childhood years they are given dolls to play with. 19:56 And they play dress-up in their house. 19:59 Isn't that right? 20:01 You get Suzy Homemaker and Easy Bake ovens as toys to play with, 20:06 as little girls learning how to be wives and mothers. 20:10 Isn't that right? 20:12 You buy Barbie dolls and get wedding dresses and outfits 20:18 to dress up Barbie. 20:20 And from your early years, you develop in your minds 20:25 who you want to marry. 20:27 I met a young woman who told me 20:31 when I was working at Andrews University, 20:34 one of the young students, young ladies, told me that 20:37 she had been planning her wedding 20:40 since she was 11 years old. 20:44 She told me she had been planning what colors 20:47 she was going to have at her wedding, 20:48 what dresses her bridesmaids would wear. 20:53 Since 11 years old. 20:55 Little boys don't plan their weddings at 11 years old. 20:58 Huh? 21:02 Woman attend weddings just to watch them. 21:06 Like spectators at baseball and football. 21:09 Men don't do that; go to weddings to watch them, 21:12 see what people are wearing. 21:15 They're building this image of their knight in shining armor. 21:23 Some years ago I pastored a young woman. 21:27 Professional young women. Fine, professional, attractive. 21:30 And she had in her mind an image of the qualities 21:35 that a man should have that she would marry. 21:39 And her image of what this man should have 21:43 was what she called, 666. 21:48 Lord has mercy. 21:52 When she told me that, I said, "Wait a minute now." 21:55 I said, "What does that mean?" 21:57 She said, "The first six means that he has to be 6 feet tall." 22:03 She said, "The second six means he has to have 22:06 six years of education beyond high school." 22:11 And then she said, "The third six mean he has to have 22:14 at least a six figure salary." 22:19 Huh? 22:20 Help me, Holy Ghost. 22:22 Ain't nothing going on but the rent. 22:24 Isn't that right? 22:27 And if he didn't have those three 6's, 22:32 you weren't for her. 22:36 She didn't say anything about whether or not 22:38 he was a spiritual brother. 22:40 Huh? 22:43 That was Michal. 22:45 She had this image that David happened to fill. 22:50 And she determined that he was the one for her. 22:54 And nowhere do you find her consulting God on her decision. 23:01 And so David and Michal get married. 23:03 And Saul tries to use his daughter to help him 23:07 kill David. 23:09 And the King James Version says that he hoped that his daughter 23:13 would be a snare for David. 23:16 And though she knows of her father's intentions, 23:19 her intentions were to develop this unrealistic 23:23 relationship with David that she has imagined. 23:27 She hoped that her love for him would somehow mold him 23:32 into this man that she imagined. 23:36 And so she betrays her father and saves David, 23:40 and helps him escape from the palace. 23:42 And they have one of these romantic partings, 23:46 "I'll wait for you." 23:48 "And I'll wait for you." 23:53 But David was David. 23:56 He wasn't coming back. 23:58 Not David. 24:01 He didn't want to be stuck in any castle. 24:04 And I don't want to be too harsh on David. 24:06 After all, he was running for his life. 24:08 Saul was trying to kill him. 24:11 But that did not give him license to be unfaithful 24:14 to his wife, Michal. 24:17 David was not faithful to any wife. 24:19 David was not faithful to any woman. 24:23 David's idea of love was just as twisted as Michal's. 24:27 The reality is that David did not love any woman 24:31 more than he loved himself. 24:35 We talked about this a little bit last night. 24:37 One example is in 1 Samuel 25. 24:40 The Bible says one day David and his men rescued 24:42 the sheep of a rich business man named, Nabal. 24:45 And the custom was that when you save someone's property, 24:50 they were suppose to reward you as a sign of appreciation. 24:54 But Nabal rebuked David and his men. 24:57 And when David got the word of what happened, 24:59 he went to settle the score with Nabal. 25:03 But Nabal's wife, Abigail, intervened and pleaded 25:06 with David to spare her foolish husband's life. 25:12 And when David decided to spare Nabal, 25:16 Abigail told her husband what she had done in sparing him. 25:20 And the Bible says he had a stroke. 25:23 And ten days later, Nabal died. 25:27 And so what do you think David did? 25:30 To commemorate this act of God's intervention, 25:33 David marries Abigail. 25:37 And why did he do it? 25:39 Not because he loved her. 25:40 The Bible says in 1 Samuel 25:39, 25:43 "When David heard Nabal was dead, 25:45 he said, 'Praise the Lord who has paid me back 25:49 and paid back Nabal, and kept me from doing it myself. 25:54 Nabal has received the punishment for his sins.' 25:56 Then David wasted no time in sending messengers to Abigail 26:01 to ask her to become his wife." 26:04 A trophy to commemorate God's goodness to him. 26:11 And then the Bible says in verse 43, 26:13 "David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; 26:16 and they were also both of them his wives." 26:22 David was a big time player. 26:25 Motivated by his insecurities. 26:29 And we've still got some players around here in the church. 26:33 They come to check out to see who they can conquer next. 26:36 Another notch on their bedpost. 26:39 And I don't want to be too harsh on the brothers. 26:41 I understand in this age of enlightenment, 26:43 in this post-modern era, we've got some female David's... 26:47 Huh? 26:49 ...who just want a man for sex. 26:52 Oh y'all getting kind of quiet tonight. 26:55 They're just being Mary Jane, as they say. 26:59 You know, they've got a show out today called, Being Mary Jane. 27:04 About a modern woman who's living and having 27:08 an affair with a married man. 27:10 That's the new modern woman. 27:12 A professional woman who just has men for sex. 27:17 It's not for love or it's not for relation. 27:20 Just sex now. 27:23 You see, this is why God tells us to wait until we're married. 27:28 This is why Solomon asked the question in Proverbs 6:27, 27:32 "Can a man take fire in his bosom, 27:35 and his clothes not be burned?" 27:39 This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:18... 27:51 So David has two more wives. 27:54 And in verse 44 the Bible says, "But Saul had given Michal 27:58 his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, 28:03 which was of Gallim." 28:05 So David moves on. 28:08 And Michal moves on too. 28:10 What's good for the goose is good for the gander. 28:14 She marries somebody else, and both of their lives are ruined. 28:18 Because they both had images of what marriage should be, 28:23 and would not give these images up. 28:29 And there is some indication that Michal was happy 28:32 with her new husband. 28:35 But one day David would come back. 28:41 And in 2 Samuel 3, the chapter begins by 28:44 naming David's six wives. 28:47 He's added four more by now. 28:52 Saul was now dead. 28:55 But his relatives were still resisting David's leadership, 28:58 still claiming the right to the throne of Israel. 29:01 But one of the relatives, a member of Saul's household 29:05 named Abner, decides to support David 29:08 and said to him, "I will put you on the throne. 29:12 I will support your leadership." 29:15 But David was not convinced. 29:17 And so to test Abner's loyalty, David said to him, 29:21 "If your support is genuine, then I want you to return 29:25 my first wife Michal to me as a symbol of your allegiance 29:31 of the house of Saul to my kingship." 29:35 You get the picture? 29:36 A deal to prove his loyalty to David as king. 29:43 And look at how he puts it in verse 14. 30:03 That's how he remembers her; 30:05 by the dowry that Saul made him pay to marry her. 30:10 "She's the wife I won by killing a hundred Philistines." 30:17 Then verse 15 says, "And Ishbosheth sent and took her 30:20 from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish. 30:25 And her husband went with her along weeping 30:28 behind her to Bahurim. 30:31 Then said Abner unto him, 'Go, return.' 30:34 And he returned." 30:36 So you get the picture of this sad story. 30:39 Phalti obviously loved her. 30:43 He followed behind her crying. 30:47 But when Abner told him to go home, he went home. 30:50 He wasn't one of the roughnecks. 30:55 He knew he'd be killed if he fought for her. 31:00 He didn't fight for her like David would have. 31:02 And you know, Michal probably wasn't too impressed with that. 31:06 "Why didn't he fight for me? 31:08 Talking about he loved me so much." 31:11 As nice as he was and as faithful as he was, 31:15 he still wasn't the kind of man she imagined. 31:23 And you know, some of you ladies are like that. 31:28 You don't want a nice brother. 31:33 Oh, I know what I'm talking about. 31:36 He's okay, but he's too nice. 31:43 Huh? 31:44 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what I'm talking about. 31:47 You see, you point out a real nice Christian brother to 31:51 some of these ladies, they say, "Yeah he's nice, 31:53 but he's a little too nice for me, Pastor. 31:55 I like a man with a little thug in him." 31:59 Yeah, I know what I'm talking about. 32:01 And that's the problem with some of y'all. 32:03 Y'all want too many men with a little thug in them. 32:06 And then when that thug comes out, 32:07 it becomes a problem for you. 32:09 Huh? 32:15 So Michal came back to this arrangement. 32:19 A trophy wife. 32:22 And some men look for and marry these trophy wives. 32:27 Somebody who will look good on their arm. 32:30 But I've got news for you, my brothers. 32:32 She's not going to look good forever. 32:34 Trophies get tarnished over time. 32:39 So you see, when Michal attacked David's worship as a spectacle, 32:45 she was angry because he did not live up to this image 32:51 of the knight in shining armor. 32:52 She was angry because he was not the man she imagined him to be. 32:58 She was angry because after all of these years, 33:01 he still had not changed into the image that she believed 33:06 he was suppose to be. 33:07 You see, she has some junk in her trunk. 33:12 And the junk did not allow her room to develop an appreciation 33:17 for the godly qualities that a real Christian man 33:22 is suppose to have. 33:27 She only had enough room left in her trunk 33:31 to make a selection based on his outside. 33:34 She never looked under the hood. 33:38 And because she never did, she suffered great pain 33:42 and disappointment in her marriage to David. 33:49 And so the question tonight is, how do I get the junk 33:55 out of my trunk? 33:57 I want to talk about that. 34:00 I want to deal with seven suggestions 34:03 how to get the junk out of your trunk tonight, 34:05 if you're suffering from this. 34:06 Seven suggestions. 34:07 Number one... 34:09 Write these down if you've got a pen or pencil, write these down. 34:11 Number one, first we must know God for ourselves. 34:17 What did I say? 34:18 We must know God for ourselves. 34:21 The Bible says that Michal loved David, 34:26 but we never read that she loved God. 34:31 Before you can truly love anyone to marry, 34:35 you must first love God. 34:40 We don't even know what love is without God. 34:44 1 John 4:8 says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; 34:48 for God is love." 34:50 God is love. 34:51 And all true love emanates from God. 34:56 And when we love God, His love completes us. 35:00 A relationship with God heals us and builds us, 35:04 and makes us ready for someone else. 35:07 The reason why so many people are incomplete 35:10 and dysfunctional is because they don't know God. 35:16 And they have never experienced His love for themselves 35:19 and have never known that love in their lives. 35:22 And if they knew how much God loved... 35:24 Listen to what I'm saying tonight. 35:26 If they knew how much God loved them 35:29 and how valuable they were to God, 35:32 they would not settle for the men they settle for. 35:37 You know how many women are sharing men tonight? 35:41 Settling for that. 35:44 Because they don't know how valuable they are to God. 35:49 When you don't know God for yourself, 35:53 and have not found completeness and wholeness in Jesus Christ, 35:58 you will make the mistake of trying to find your completeness 36:01 in a relationship with another person. 36:04 And you will end up going from one bad choice to another, 36:08 one bad relationship to another, 36:10 trying to escape the pain and hurt and disappointment 36:14 from the past in a relationship with another broken person 36:19 who is incomplete and broken just like you. 36:22 Are you hearing me tonight? 36:26 Colossians 2:10 says... 36:36 Find your completeness first in Jesus Christ. 36:42 And when Christ makes you complete and whole and healed, 36:47 then you are ready to make wise decisions 36:51 and enter into a good relationship. 36:54 You've got to start with God and experience 36:57 His love for yourself. 36:59 That's number one. 37:01 Then second, you need to know yourself. 37:06 You need to know you. 37:09 You need to know what makes you tick. 37:13 You need to take a personal inventory of your life 37:17 and identify the things that keep coming up over and over 37:22 and over again in your life. 37:25 If you keep attracting the same kind of person... 37:31 Listen to what I'm saying tonight. 37:33 If you keep attracting players... 37:37 Huh? 37:39 ...after the second and third time... 37:44 Y'all not listening to me tonight. 37:45 Huh? 37:47 ...you need to stop blaming the players 37:50 and start examining why you keep ending up with the 37:54 same kind of people. 37:58 There's a saying that goes, "Jerk me once, shame on you. 38:02 Jerk me twice, shame on me." 38:04 Huh? 38:06 Somebody else is not your problem, 38:09 you are your own problem. 38:11 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 says... 38:27 You see, knowing God helps you to know yourself better. 38:31 You see, God will expose the rough edges and reveal the 38:34 defects in your own life which you hide so well 38:38 from other people. 38:39 Understand the patterns that lead you to the bad decisions 38:44 you make in your own life and start avoiding them. 38:48 Amen? 38:49 Then number three, learn the power of forgiveness. 38:55 1 John 1:9 says... 39:04 Isn't that good news tonight? 39:06 The first person you need to forgive is yourself. 39:11 Some people feel like they deserve to be in 39:14 bad relationships because of the bad decisions 39:17 or things that they have done in their past. 39:21 But I've got good news for you tonight. 39:23 God says when you confess your sins, He's faithful and just 39:28 to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you 39:30 from all unrighteousness. 39:32 He says, "I'll cast your sins in the depths of the sea." 39:37 Stop allowing the mistakes of your past to define your present 39:43 and destroy your future. 39:46 Forgiveness cleans the slate and gives you a 39:49 new page to write on. 39:51 That's why Jesus told the thief on the cross, 39:53 "Today you will be with Me in paradise. 39:57 You may have been a thief yesterday, 40:00 but today..." 40:01 "You may have been a whoremonger yesterday, 40:04 but today..." 40:08 Then second, forgive those who have hurt you in your past. 40:12 The Lord's prayer says, "Forgive us our debts 40:14 as we forgive our debtors." 40:19 Some of us cannot move on with our lives 40:22 and build healthy relationships in the present 40:25 because we have never resolved some past break-up, 40:30 some past divorce, some past abuse. 40:35 some difficult experience in your past. 40:39 And because we have not forgiven the person who hurt us, 40:43 we live our lives stuck in the past. 40:48 Huh? 40:51 When there are unresolved issues in your past, 40:54 every person you become involved with gives you an opportunity 40:58 to rehearse it and relive it over and over again. 41:03 And in every new relationship, the bad experiences 41:06 that happened in your past, 41:09 that person does something in the present 41:12 that reminds you of someone else, and you go off on them. 41:18 And they wonder, "What did I do?" 41:21 Huh? 41:22 You explode on them and they... 41:26 And they don't realize it's not them. 41:29 You're attacking through them somebody else. 41:35 Not because of what they did, but because you're ex 41:38 five, ten, or twenty years ago that you still have not 41:43 put through your rearview mirror... 41:46 Huh? 41:48 Oh yes, they hurt you. 41:50 Oh yes, they wronged you. 41:52 But because you have never forgiven them 41:55 and moved on with your life, you're the one who's stuck. 42:02 And when you forgive someone, don't hold it over them 42:06 like a bludgeon. 42:07 Some people say they forgive you, but whenever it's 42:11 convenient for them to use it as a manipulative tool, 42:16 they'll bring it up to shame you... 42:19 Oh, come one talk to me somebody. 42:21 ...so they can get their way. 42:26 Beloved, Christianity and charity begins at home. 42:30 Come on say amen. 42:31 There are some people who are great Christians everywhere else 42:35 except at home. 42:38 Learn the power of forgiveness. 42:41 Then number four, learn to move on. 42:44 Learn to move forward. 42:46 Paul said in Philippians 4:13... 43:00 Move forward. 43:03 The reason why the front windshield is large 43:06 and the rearview mirror is small is because in order to 43:10 reach your destination you've got to focus in front of you 43:14 and not behind you. 43:18 You've got to learn to move forward, move on. 43:23 Stop lamenting about the past. 43:27 Stop thinking about what was. 43:30 The best days for you are ahead of you, not behind you. 43:37 If he left you, that's his problem, not yours. 43:42 He missed out. Come on say amen somebody. 43:46 Then number five, clean out the trash 43:50 that has accumulated in your life. 43:52 Now I know this is a real problem. 43:53 Some people, they just can't get things out of their minds. 43:57 It just haunts them. 43:58 It troubles them. 44:00 It just keeps coming back up. 44:03 Here's a wonderful promise. 44:05 Hebrews 9:14, the Bible says... 44:19 Purge; it means cleanse. 44:26 Sometimes these things trouble you. 44:29 They keep coming up. 44:30 But the Bible says that God's blood can purge, 44:34 it can wash these things out of your mind. 44:39 Sometimes you need God's blood, His detergent, 44:43 to wash it away... 44:47 ...so that you can move forward. 44:48 Come on say amen somebody. 44:52 So we need some time to plead with God to purge this. 44:55 "Get this out of my mind. 44:56 It's haunting me, Lord. 44:57 It's troubling me, Lord. 44:59 I need You, Lord, to purge it from my conscience." 45:05 And God will work a miracle of grace in your life. 45:07 Come on say amen somebody. 45:09 Then number six, don't allow other people to define you. 45:16 Did you know the Jews tried to define Jesus 45:19 by His supposed illegitimacy? 45:23 You know, everybody didn't believe that Christ was 45:25 born of the virgin Mary? 45:27 They didn't believe Mary was a virgin. 45:30 Some of us wouldn't have believe that. 45:32 If some teenage girl told you that she was made pregnant 45:37 by the Holy Ghost, and she came to church this coming Sabbath 45:42 from the Hood... 45:45 ...you know you wouldn't believe it. 45:48 So don't act like you would have. 45:50 Huh? 45:53 So they didn't believe that. 45:54 And one day they came to Him, in John 8:39, 45:57 the Jews said, "Our father, Abraham is our father." 46:02 And then in verse 41 in John 8, they said, 46:04 "We were not born of fornication; 46:08 we have one Father, God." 46:11 They said that to Jesus. 46:13 They were implying, they were saying to Him, 46:17 "We know who our father is. 46:19 Who's Your father?" 46:22 Trying to define Him. 46:24 Trying to belittle Him saying, "Abraham is our father. 46:28 Who's Your father?" 46:29 But Jesus said to them in John 8:14, 46:31 "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true. 46:35 For I know where I came from, and where I'm going. 46:39 I'm not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 46:43 For it is written in your law that the testimony 46:45 of two men is true." 46:46 Verse 18, "I am One who bears witness of Myself, 46:50 and the Father who sent Me bears witness with Me." 46:53 He said to them, "I'm one witness 46:55 and My Father is the other. 46:57 I don't need you to validate Me. 46:59 My Father validates Me, and that's enough." 47:04 Huh? 47:05 If God be for you, who can be against you? 47:09 Don't let people define you. 47:11 Don't let people tell you who you are. 47:13 If God is with you, God is a majority. 47:17 Come on say amen somebody. 47:22 If God defines you, that's all you need. 47:26 So don't let people determine who you are. 47:29 God is the one who determines who we are. 47:31 And God says we're His children. 47:34 And then number seven, don't let other people 47:38 put their junk in your trunk. 47:41 Come on talk to me somebody. 47:45 There are some people who always want to dump their mess on you. 47:49 Huh? 47:50 And draw you into their mess and make you a 47:54 party in their issues. 47:56 They want you to carry all their mess while they do nothing. 48:00 Pay their bills, handle their debt. 48:04 Huh? 48:05 You know what the Bible says? 48:07 These are good text. Write these text down. 48:09 Proverbs 17:18, the Bible says... 48:20 Huh? 48:21 Then Proverbs 22:26... 48:30 And then the Bible tells us why in verse 27, it says... 48:41 Huh? 48:43 Somebody putting their debt junk in your trunk. 48:48 And they'll come and take your house away. 48:50 Come on talk to me somebody. 48:53 Don't let some slick dude come to you with some sob story 48:57 and unload on you more than you can bear. 49:01 Every tub has got to stand on its own bottom. 49:04 Come on say amen somebody. 49:06 You're not the Lord. 49:07 God did not ask you to save the world. 49:09 He sent Jesus to save the world. 49:13 Proverbs 22:3 says... 49:23 Help me, Holy Ghost. 49:26 So the next time somebody is in trouble... 49:28 Now I'm not saying you ought not help folk. 49:32 Do all you can to help, and do as much as you can. 49:37 And when you have done the best that you can, 49:40 take them to the Lord and leave them there. 49:44 Come on say amen somebody. 49:48 So, beloved, we've got to learn how to clean house, 49:55 and clean the junk that's in our trunks. 50:00 I was watching a show. 50:03 I don't know if it's still on, but it use to be a 50:04 cable show on called, Clean House. 50:07 You ever seen that show? 50:09 Niecy Nash use to be the host of the show, 50:12 and she goes around and she tries to clean these homes. 50:16 She's relentless in her pursuit to change people's homes around. 50:21 And invariably she gets to some homes where some people 50:25 just don't want to let some of their things go. 50:29 And there was one episode that I was watching 50:31 that there was one place where she was trying to 50:32 get this house in order, and there were just some things 50:35 that this woman who owned the house, 50:38 there were just some things that she just didn't want to let go. 50:41 And she had to sit down with the woman. 50:42 She wanted to get things in order and she has to, 50:45 "Why is it you won't let this go?" 50:47 And they finally got to the reason. 50:49 The reason why she just wouldn't get rid of 50:52 all of this junk in her house, because many of the 50:55 things that she was holding onto brought back memories 50:59 of her first marriage that ended in divorce. 51:07 The relationship had been over years ago. 51:10 Her ex-husband had moved on. 51:13 But this woman would not let it go. 51:18 She couldn't move on with her life. 51:20 And all of the junk in her house was symptomatic 51:24 of a deeper psychological problem that she had. 51:28 She could not come to terms with this failed relationship. 51:33 She could not move on. 51:35 She was stuck in her past. 51:41 And there are people like that today. 51:44 Stuck. Can't move on. 51:50 But tonight, Jesus wants to set you free. 51:57 Clean out the junk. 52:00 Get rid of the clutter. 52:04 But you've got to be willing to surrender 52:08 and let Him have His way in your life. 52:11 Turn over a new leaf. 52:14 And He can clean the slate. 52:16 And He can change whatever the situation is in your life 52:21 if you are willing to give Him a chance. 52:25 But you've got to be willing to surrender. 52:27 Who's willing to do that tonight? 52:29 If you are, God can make a change for you. 53:05 Jesus, You're the center of my joy, 53:15 and all that's good and perfect comes from You. 53:26 You're the heart of my contentment 53:31 and hope for all I do. 53:36 Yes, Jesus, You're the center of my joy. 53:47 When I've lost my direction, 53:51 Lord, You're the compass for my way. 53:56 You're the fire at night 54:00 when my nights are long and cold. 54:06 In sadness, You are the laughter 54:13 that shatters all of my fears. 54:17 When I'm all alone, Your hand is there to hold. 54:26 Oh Jesus, You're the center of my joy, 54:38 and all that's good and that's perfect comes from You. 54:49 You're the heart of my contentment 54:55 and hope for all I do. 54:59 Yes, Jesus, You're the center of my joy. 55:10 You are why I find pleasures 55:15 in the simple things in life. 55:19 You're the music in the meadows and the streams; 55:29 the voices of the children, 55:36 my family, and my home. 55:40 You're the source and the finish of my highest dreams. 55:49 Oh Jesus, You're the center of my joy, 55:59 my joy, 56:02 and all that's good and that's perfect comes from You. 56:10 I believe and I testify, Lord, 56:13 You're the heart of my contentment 56:18 and hope for all I do. 56:22 Yes Jesus, 56:25 You are the center of my joy. 56:33 Yes Jesus, 56:36 You are the center of my joy. 56:43 Yes Jesus, 56:46 You are the center of my joy. 56:54 Lord, You're everything, yes You are. 56:57 Everything, yes You are. 57:00 Everything, everything. 57:04 You're my joy in my sorrow. 57:10 You're my hope for tomorrow. 57:15 And when I'm lonely and I'm feeling sad, 57:20 You are the lifter of my head. 57:25 You're my music, You're my song; 57:31 You're my hope all the day long. 57:35 Oh Jesus, 57:38 You're the center of my joy. 57:51 My joy. |
Revised 2014-12-17