Cry For Help

September 3, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Faith, Trust

Cry For Help

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34:17‬ ‭

Right With God

The key word in today’s verse is righteous. When the righteous cry for help the Lord hears and delivers. To be righteous, one must be right with God. To be right with God you must have a relationship with Jesus who makes us right with God. To have a relationship with Jesus you must believe in Him as Lord and Savior.

We all face situations that seem too overwhelming or out of our control. This is what we call a crisis situation. It is at this point that we feel helpless, hopeless and alone. God wants us to cry out to Him and He wants to deliver us from our troubles. However, sometimes we get in our minds that we got ourself in the problem so we must get ourself out of the problem. This is called “stinkin’ Thinkin’”. We soon feel exhausted and out of energy. Guess who wants you to feel this way? That’s right, your adversary, the devil. The devil wants you to feel that God is nowhere near and is avoiding you. He even wants you to feel that your prayers are not being heard.

It is at this moment that you need to get on your knees and cry out to the Lord. He has never left you. But He is waiting for you to submit to Him as Lord and Master. When He is in control He can do wonderful and miraculous things. Don’t ever think you can live life without God. Without God, you’re not living; you’re dying. Only the righteous can be heard by God.

Prayer

Lord, I cry out to You for help. Cleanse my heart and make me new. Deliver me from my troubles.

The First To Throw A Stone

August 30, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Trust

The First To Throw A Stone

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
‭‭John‬ ‭8:7‬ ‭

Guilty But Not Condemned

A woman caught in an adulterous act was brought before Jesus by the Scribes and Pharisees. They were testing Him to try to find a way to discredit His authority. The Pharisees were disciples of Moses because they knew God spoke to Moses. They could not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. So this was a test to see what Jesus would say and do. According to the Law, the punishment was stoning to death. However Jesus turned the situation around. He made the Pharisees realize they were sinners as well.

The Pharisees tried to destroy the woman but Jesus restored her. Jesus wrote a message in the sand that no one knows. Then He said for the one without sin should be the first to throw the first stone. One by one the Pharisees walked away. Jesus then asked the woman who was there to condemn her and her answer was “no one.”

This is a great lesson for all of us. First, who are we to pass judgment upon someone else. We are all sinners in need of God’s grace. We should never throw stones of judgment upon anyone else. And second, we should never try to destroy someone else but instead we should help restore them. If we witness a person living a life of sinful behavior we should take the needed time to disciple them with love and care. This is what Jesus would do.

Prayer

Lord, help me to restore and encourage people today. Help me not to condemn or discourage anyone.

Into A Pit

August 23, 2019 Pastor Stephen Dedman Encouragement, Faith, Trust

Into A Pit

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit.
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭37:23-24‬a

No Way Out

Joseph was a victim of circumstances. He told his family about the dreams he had of them all bowing down before him. His brothers were jealous and his father showed him favoritism by giving him a special colorful robe to wear. He was eleventh in line of inheritance but the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. No doubt Joseph was hated by his brothers and getting rid of him was their choice of action. Instead of killing him they all agreed to throw him into a waterless pit. He didn’t stay in the pit long though before he was sold to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites and then sold into Egyptian slavery.

God had a special plan and purpose for Joseph. He was treated harshly for simply sharing about the dreams he was given. Sometimes we find ourselves in a pit just like Joseph. We simply mind our own business and evil things happen to us while we don’t deserve them. This is the reality of life. As we live in an evil world, evil things will happen to good people. The most important thing we can do is keep our head up and our minds on Christ. Even though we cannot control some of our circumstances, we can control our attitude and behavior. We can keep shining the light of Jesus as we suffer so others will see Jesus in us.

God might have you in pit right now for a reason. If you find yourself in a bad situation make sure to make the best of the situation by keeping a positive attitude and pointing others to Christ.

Prayer

Lord, I pray my life will be an example for others to see who You are and to show Your glory and grace.