It's so good to see all of you here today!
Let's give the Lord some praise for making it all possible..
Heavenly Father,
We thank you for Your Holy Spirit, for Your Word and for the eternal truths which guide us day by day. We know that every good and perfect gift comes from above, and that includes our being able to worship You today.
Teach us O Lord, how to turn to You so that Your thoughts may be our thoughts and Your ways may become our ways. Help us to become the people that You created us to be!
We ask and pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen
"Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities."
The measuring stick of God is never placed on us on our mountain tops;
It's always in our valleys.
Character is a distinguishing quality of ethical traits that set you aside from the norm.
Your character is something that comes naturally without effort.
Spending too much time on the mountain tops has a tendency to make some people prideful and forgetful about the trials that others are going through.
The truth is, what we consider our losses and crosses define us more than our victories!
Think about that for a moment..
What we consider our losses and crosses define us more than our victories!
Always remember that your soul is only restored in the valley.
Valleys are where green pastures are found and it's a place of still waters.
Your reaction to your loss and your cross will determine your character, spiritual growth, and your victories.
The opinions we have formed in our minds about Job, did not take place when he was a Millionaire. They were put in our minds when he was in the middle in his darkest hour!
When he had lost everything, had sores all over his body, everything taken away from him,
When his wife said curse God and die.
His words let us see his true character;
"The Lord gives and The Lord takes away: blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job 1:20
There are many people, today, that need to hear me preach this message!
Because when your trial comes, and believe me it will, sooner or later, your reaction will let those around you see your true character.
It also lets God see who and what you really are!
So what if you’re in a valley, quit feeling sorry for yourselves.
Keep the praising your way out of it!
Have faith in the One who created you, the heaven and the earth, and don't let your circumstances affect your worship!
Don't let it affect your tithing, facial expressions, church attendance, and prayer life!
Sure life might be difficult right now, but your life is not over!
Our statement to the world every day should say this;
I am blessed! I’m having a great day.
Sure, I do have some valleys, but you and the devil will never know about it!
Because of all the great and mighty things God has done in my life!
I'm not going to give life to those things that detract from what God has done!
I know I don't deserve it, but God loves me enough, He did it any way!
You see, the devil only knows what you tell him or he hears you tell others.
I'm going to say that again,
The devil only knows what you tell him or he hears you tell others.
So guess what?
I'm going to get up when I don't feel like it, I'm going to smile even when I want to cry, and praise God every day, with everything I have in me, with every breath I've been blessed with as long as I live.
Why?
Because God deserves it!
Say that with me,
Because God deserves it!
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:10
"I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
Psalm 34:1
Church, we all have struggles!
But every difficulty we experience in life is either an opportunity or it's an obstacle.
The Chinese symbol for the word “crisis” is actually two separate symbols: one for the word “danger” and the other for the word “opportunity.”
Many of us are viewing the present crisis we are experiencing as one or the other. It is either an obstacle in our way or an opportunity for the Lord to display His glory in and through our lives.
Stop complaining about how difficult your life is and start pouring in to someone else.
Before you give up, roll over and play dead,
consider the following people who decided not to quit:
At age 23, Tina Fey was working at a YMCA.
At age 23, Oprah was fired from her first reporting job.
At age 24, Stephen King was working as a janitor and living in a trailer.
At age 27, Vincent Van Gogh failed as a missionary and decided to go to art school.
At age 28, J.K. Rowling was a suicidal single parent living on welfare.
At age 30, Harrison Ford was a carpenter.
At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs.
Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 39 and got her own cooking show at age 51.
Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn’t get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.
Stan Lee didn’t release his first big comic book until he was 40.
Alan Rickman gave up his graphic design career and landed his first movie role at age 42.
Samuel L. Jackson didn’t get his first major movie role until he was 46.
Morgan Freeman landed his first major movie role at age 52.
There are many things we can find to be anxious about:
Finances, health, relationships, public speaking or losing something. Maybe it is the fear of something much more ordinary, like traffic or the to-do list in front of you today. Many people are anxious about failing or for some, even succeeding.
They begin worrying about the outcomes of situations, and then allow that worry to consume them.
Eventually, their heart rate and blood pressure rise. They eat less (or more!) and unhealthily. They lose sleep. They grow exhausted and lash out at people they are in relationship with. Soon their thoughts consume them and cripple them. The peace that could be theirs is void, and every day becomes another futile exercise in fear. Some people turn to medication or therapy to help them cope with the difficulties. And it all stems from anxiety.
And for what gain?
The apostle Paul instructs us:
"The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"
Philippians 4:5-7
Did you catch that?
"Do not be anxious about anything."
That pretty much sums it up!
We aren't to allow our minds to succumb to anxious thoughts but to bring our concerns in prayer and gratitude to the Lord.
And in return, we are promised that His peace, which by the way, is far greater than the peace that comes from understanding!
Believe me, I know this from experience!
You see, I come from a long line of worry-ers!
In my veins runs the blood of many an anxiety filled people!
This peace, that I have obtained, is NOT hereditary!
But IT IS POSSIBLE!
Believe me!
Let me put it this way..
Anxiety, in it's truest definition is insubordination!
It is a lack of faith!
Think about it, when we are anxious, we are placing our faith, rest and peace in circumstantial providence, not in the sovereign providence of God.
It's like we somehow think that by worrying about a problem, we will solve it.
Well, trust me, it doesn't!
Worrying solves the problem as the same rate as ignoring it!
Both of these are unbiblical responses and will only lead to hardship.
We must submit it to the Lord.
Say that with me,
Submit it to the Lord!
In closing...
We have a choice with every anxious thought to either bear it on our shoulders, ignore it and hope it disappears, or to "cast it on the Lord, knowing He cares for us."
1 Peter 5:7
Today, as you are hearing this message, or reading this online, what are you anxious about?
Are you dealing with the problem or pretending it will go away?
Are you harboring worry and fear in your mind or bringing the problem to Jesus?
Are you worrying because you're uncertain if Jesus is concerned about your problem?
Or just that He incapable of handling it?
Or are you submitting to Him, Trusting Him, believing in His promises!
Confident in the fact, that He will do it, because He said He would!
If this message, convicted your heart today, then say to Him,
“Praise You Lord, thank you Jesus. That's what I needed to hear!"
At least let me hear you say amen or I'm going try to do better.
Because it is going take this to get you beyond your current struggle and get you blessed!
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries