Transcription
Praise the Lord. And God bless each and every one of you.
Welcome to another exciting episode of Doers of the Word Ministries broadcast on the Marketplace Network channel. My name is Bishop Reginald Givens and I'm the senior pastor of the Word of Truth Community Worship Center. Our address is on the screen and listen, I want to personally invite you to come and be in our service this Sunday. I believe God has a word just for you. Amen. I want you to come and I want to shake your hand and I want to have a special prayer with you when you come. All right?
Today's message is entitled Can you trust God to step you through your life? Amen. I want to talk to you today about trust. This is the very thing that we all have to rely on since the day we were born, trust. You see, when we were newborn infants fresh out of our mother's womb because of our helplessness and inability to fend for ourselves, we had to trust our parents to do everything. We had to trust them to feed us, to give us water to drink, to clothe us, to change us when we needed changing, to bathe us when we were dirty and when we smelled bad, amen. And to protect us and not allow any harm to happen to us. We trusted in our parents that they would fulfill practically everything that was considered a need in our lives. That is until we grew to the point where we were able to replace our parents with our own self-sufficiency. And that's when our trust shifted from in thee to in me. Amen. And as we grew up and learned and matured, we began to trust in our own abilities to do the same things that we once relied on others to do for us.
Now, the word trust, trust in the Hebrew language is the word bata. Bata. It means to place one's confidence in. And then you look at that same word trust, but you look at it in the Greek language, and it is the word elpizo. Elpizo. It means to expect things that you have hoped for. So, if you run those two definitions together, it says to place one's confidence in the expectation of a thing hoped for. Now, let me ask you a question. Are you expecting some things today? Are you expecting something to happen that you've been looking forward to for a long time? Listen, I know I am. My expectations by the way, my expectations [clears throat] are really high. Amen. I mean, it's like, come on, Jesus. Any any day now, Lord. I wait for it, my expectations to come. Trust now.
And I said I wanted to talk to you about trust. Trust is a good thing because life can be good when you can have something or someone that you can trust to help you walk safely through it. But there is a danger, a a danger side. There's a dangerous side to trust that we need to talk about as well. All right? Trust, especially when it comes to the things that are central to your innermost being. Trust cannot be handed over to just anyone. Trust, Amen. has to be selective who you place it in. As a matter of fact, if you really want to get technical about it, the Bible does say that you should not hand it over to anyone. Notice what it tells us in Psalm 146:3-4. "Put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help." Verse four says, "His breath goeth forth." In other words, he will one day die. His breath goeth forth. He returneth to his earth. In that very day his thoughts perish.
Now, thank God that the Bible never leaves us hanging. Praise God because there are two things that you can depend on from the word of God. Number one, it will not only tell you what not to do, but number two, it will also tell you what you can do instead. Which is, which is, which is a great deal. In Psalm 118:8-9, it says this, "It is better." Remember I said the first verse said, "Don't put your trust in man. Don't put your trust in princes." This verse is now telling us what's better for us to do. It is better. In other words, it is much more advantageous for you and I to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Reason being is because man is feeble. And and man is often times ignorant as well as fickle and capricious. It is a much wiser move on our behalf to trust Jehovah in all cases. Verse 9 says this, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." When it says princes, it is referring to men of high degree, such as politicians, judges, uh people of of high degree. Amen. You know, that hold high positions because people who hold high positions, unfortunately, they're generally proud as well as vain glorious and they can often times be self-confident, arrogant, and rash. It is better all day long to trust in God than in princes because so often these people that are in high positions, they cannot deliver. And they never deliver. Sometimes they'll make you promises, but they'll never deliver. And then, here's another sad case. They can deliver, but they never do. Amen.
In Psalm 37:23-26, it says, "The steps or the goings of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. Though he fall," verse 24, "though he fall," talking about a good man, because sometimes, unfortunately, good men do fall. But though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Verse 25, "I have been young and now I am old. Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed." And I, I, I say to myself, what a mighty God we serve. All the blessings that are contained in verse 24 through 26 are only activated according to the steps of that woman or that man in verse 23. And if those steps are not ordered by the Lord, that will also negate those blessings as well. So that's why I have entitled this message, can you trust God to step you through your life?
And my reason for posting my text as a question is because a lot of people have a hard time letting God step them through their lives. Not only do they have a hard time allowing God to do that, but also simply because they have a hard time trusting even in God himself. Amen. Because to be honest, most people, and I'm, I'm, I guess I'm guilty, too, but most people like to be in charge over the affairs and the directions that their lives take. Because the direction of your life completely depends on which path your steps take you in. In Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12, it says that there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Listen, just because you feel or you think that you're going in the right direction does not necessarily mean that you are actually going in the right direction. You see, the problem with sin is, [snorts] that there is a terrible price to pay for it. In Romans chapter 6 verse 23, "For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." You see, sin shuts the door to heaven and it cuts off access to God's presence. And that's what hell is going to feel like. On top of the fire and the torment and the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, God's presence is not going to be found there. But if we allow God to step us through this life, then heaven will surely be our home because God knows where he's taking us.
Now, this is going to require you and I to completely trust in God because when God orders our steps, he does not explain the steps he orders us to take. God is not obligated to explain his plan to any of us. Amen. People will oftentimes say things like, "God, why did this happen to me?" Or, "Why did my life take this turn?" And they begin to feel that their life is all messed up. But I got new good news for you. A messed-up past does not guarantee a messed-up future. Hallelujah. Listen, could it be, and I'm just, I'm just thinking here, but go with me, could it be that the steps you thought were missteps or mistakes in your life? Could it be that they were actually the steps that God ordered for you? Could it be that God ordered those steps for you that you thought were mistakes to teach you some things concerning obedience? Could it be that it was to pull you out with his mighty right hand so that you could praise him for the deliverance, praise him for being a keeper, praise him for not letting the enemy sift you like wheat, praise him for not even exposing some of the secret sins that you did? Oh, I thank God that he did not expose me. Amen, because a lot of dirt was done in this life right here. Can you trust God to step you through your life?
As God steps us through our lives, he will allow us to do one of two things. Watch this. He will either allow us to evolve, or he will allow us to repeat. Let me say that again. God will, as As steps us through our lives, he will allow us to do one or two things. We will either evolve or we will repeat. Now, to evolve, it means to grow. Amen. It means to grow. And the word grow, G R O W, is an acronym. G R O W, get rid of old ways. That's the only way we're going to grow. You keep doing the same thing over and over and over, you're going to keep getting the same results over and over and over. But if you want to grow, you got to get rid of old ways. And you, [snorts] know, it's funny because the early church used to cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" But today's modern church cries out, "What can I do and still be saved?" "How many parties can I go to? How how much can I smoke? How much can I drink? How many boyfriends, how many girlfriends can I have and still be saved?" That's the modern church today. Just remember this, saints. Just because someone bears the name Christian does not necessarily mean that they bear the nature of a true Christian. Amen. Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Marvel not. You must be born again."
Faith does not eliminate your problems. Faith keeps you in a trusting relationship with God in the midst of your problems. So, no matter what you go through, you're still trusting God. No matter what what circumstances are against you, you're still trusting God. That's what faith does. It does not eliminate the problems, it just keeps you in a trusting relationship with God through your problems. Faith has to do with your relationship with God. And not your relationship with your circumstances. It's funny, you know, some people have a greater relationship with their circumstances than they do than they have with God. I had a friend of mine who was going on to be with the Lord by the name of Prophet Roger De Cure. And he used to tell me all the time. He said, "Son, I don't care what it looks like. I believe God." That's what he would tell me. And God sure enough would always come through and meet the need. Because he, because he said it every day of his life, "I believe God." I dare you to show me one person that actually regrets the consequences of living a godly life. Show me somebody that, that, that, that says, "I wish I never lived for the Lord." I don't think you can find anybody that can say that, 'cause I searched all over and couldn't find nobody. I looked high and low and still couldn't find nobody. Because there is nobody greater, nobody greater than the God I serve.
You got to understand that faith is a choice. Amen. You got to choose to believe that in every circumstance God is working. He's working right now. And listen, the hardest battle that we will ever face in life is going to be between our old habits and our new standards. We will always want to digress back to the old things that we used to do, but God is saying, "I've got a new standard for you. I've got a new way of living. That's why you've got to let the old ways go. You got to, you got to just turn them loose." You see, your destiny does not fall in line with your idea of what you think your destiny should be. Your destiny is already set by God, and you have to fall in line with the destiny that God has already set for you. And listen, that only happens when you can trust God to step you through your life. I don't know about you, but I have decided that I'm going to let God do the leading in my life. Amen. So, I say every morning, "Go ahead, Lord. Step me through this life because I have confidence in you that you will get me to the other side." So, I ask you, can you trust God to step you through your life? Amen.
So, that's my message for today, and I hope that it encourage you. I hope it challenges you. A lot of times we think we're going in the right direction, but God is saying, "No. Let me do the stepping for you. Let me show you the right way to go." And when he shows you the right way to go, he will always get you to the right destination.
Listen, I just want to let you know I, I just wrote a new book, and I was led by the Lord because of the season that we're in. This is simply a blueprint of the season of what we're in now and I will make you promise if, if you buy two of these books because I know that you know someone who may be in need, uh, of one of these books. The reason being, each video that I do from this point on, I will do a key point for your breakthrough. The book is the blueprint for your breakthrough and the videos are the keys to get you through your circumstances, no matter what the enemy throws at you. By picking up the book, it's a small fee to the ministry, but the videos are free. Amen. On the back of the book, there is a QR code and all my videos, all my videos, over 50 videos come up free. I have over 50 videos for your learning. You can share them. You can watch them as many times as you want and it's all free. I say this because it's not about the money because God provides my needs, but we're all going through some kind of financial struggle. So I want to tell you what God showed me some time ago. In the book of Philippians chapter 4 verse 19, the Bible says, "God shall supply." Did not say maybe. Did not say he'll think about it. He did not say put in an application and I'll see if I'll approve it. He didn't say those things. It says, "God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus." You see, in the kingdom, we declare his word, which in turn invites him into our circumstances. And then we thank him for it continuously until it manifests. So I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to to prove my point. If you were seeing $10, even $20, every month, and my Zelle is, is on the screen right here. If you do that and you be consistent until the end of the year, because God said in Ecclesiastes 11:21, "Cast your bread upon the water." Which means we give to good deeds or to good ministries because we believe we're doing good deeds through this ministry. And God said that he will give the increase. So we're going to hold God at his word. Amen. So go ahead and send the $10 or $20. Go ahead and send that now. And don't forget to journal also so that God can prove to you that his word is true.
Once again, my name is Bishop Reginald Givens. I am the senior pastor of the Word of Truth Community Worship Center. Amen. We thank you for watching this broadcast today. Don't forget, remember, we hope to see you in church this Sunday 'cause I have a word just for you. And I want to pray for you as well. So until next time, we hope to see you again real soon. May God continue to richly bless you, beloved. God bless.