Fear Not! | Rev Paul White
by Paul White
First Apostolic Church of Maryville (Maryville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Genesis 49:10, Exodus 6:1, Exodus 6:2-3, Exodus 6:6-8, Exodus 6:9, John 11:17-24, Philippians 3:10, Philippians 3:13-14, Hebrews 10:17, 1 John 1:9, Joel 2:23-27, Exodus 13:20-21, Exodus 14:13, Exodus 14:18, Psalm 139:1-5, Psalm 23:5, Jeremiah 29:11

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/paul-white--fear-not
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everyone can we give the lord another handclap of praise together if you would hallelujah he is worthy today of all glory praise and honor we bless your name god we give you thanks we magnify your name he is altogether lovely he is wonderful there's none above him there's none beside him he desires to forgive he is not fair but he is just he does not wink his sins but he offers mercy and grace but he does not throw us down when we make mistakes he's the first one to encourage us he's the first one to give us opportunity to get back up he is the cheerleader that says you can keep going when we feel like we cannot go any more i'm glad that we serve a god that loves us more than we love ourselves i'm glad i serve a god that doesn't give up on me as quickly as i give up on myself i'm glad we serve a grace and a mighty saving god tonight would you look at your neighbor and say he's worthy look at your other neighbor and say he's still worthy amen amen if you would tonight would you pray with me lord jesus we thank you for your word we thank you for your spirit we thank you for your anointing and your grace god we thank you for your goodness but you're faithful to us god you're wonderful god you're the saving god you're the mighty god i ask that you administer tonight in this word in this place side this is your people bought by your blood and we give you thanks in jesus name amen you may be seated tonight it is indeed a privilege to be a part of this body of believers and it's an honor to be up here tonight and i have fallen short of being worthy of either many times but i give honor to you i give honor to our pastor and his family amen i appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight although i'd rather have pastor preaching than myself it's kind of like having a favorite radio host and uh if you have a favorite radio host and you turn that station on you've been looking forward to hearing them and you turn that station on and there is a substitute host sitting in there it's just ah just a little let down at least it is for me so i would much rather have pastor here than myself but i'm excited to be a part of the kingdom of god in this great church i love our pastor and his family give honor to them and also honor to the saints of god glad to have my wife and daughter with me i appreciate your prayers for her she had emergency surgery a couple weeks ago tonight and i'm glad she is here amen with us in this place tonight are you ready for the word of the lord amen from the shattered piece of a utopian garden where sin and perfection cross paths where death and life met and man first felt separated from god a promise was given amidst the debacle known as man's original sin and his fatal repercussions hope was granted went to the serpents god said i will put enmity between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel this would be the first announcement of a campaign wage to defeat sin and redeem man years would bring struggles defeats victories and prophetic glimpses of that promise to come one such glimpse is found in genesis 49 and 10 when jacob is speaking blessings over his children as a time of his departure is at hand he speaks to his sons and to judah he says the scepter shall not depart from judah or a lawgiver from the feet between his feet until shiloh comes he expressed the long-awaited desire for messiah he said shiloh will come we know him as jesus christ from that time throughout all of the old testament prophets rose and went away kings would rise and fall children of god would be born and die but there was always in the midst of that beating heart of man a promise that one day messiah would come in luke 1 when the cup of sin was full a priest named zachariah while in the temple performing his duties was startled by an angel named gabriel as he made a promise to him zachariah is told that he will have a son who will prepare the way for the lord and his name shall be called john six months later gabriel again visits an individual this time a virgin girl named mary and he declares to her that she will have a son who shall deliver his people from their sins and his name would be called jesus and he would save his people two declarations of miraculous births one to an old man full of age and the other to a young girl with little life experiences two declarations of promises one full of life and one with little lived and both of those would have problems receiving the promise have you ever had a promise given to you that felt it was hard to receive you ever had somebody just promise you something and you thought yeah right whatever worse than that have you ever had a promise from the spirit of god speak to you and you struggle to receive it if so you're not alone zachariah a man of the priesthood his wife was from the tribe of aaron he was old and his wife elizabeth was well stricken in age zachariah had desired to have a son he and his wife had tried many times over and over to have children but she the bible said was barren zechariah a man full of life and years understood the feelings of disappointments he knew how to live with hope lost perhaps he had been told numerous times by his old pal hey zach don't worry bud you'll have a kid one day you'll have a daughter you'll have a son to which he gave a weary ear day after day year after year he struggled with the desire and fulfillment of that longing that he and his wife had to have a son and as he felt the pain and anguish of the past he weighed that against the promise of a future by an angelic being in that temple that day and as he stood there between him and god was the angel and his past and as he stood there listening to the angel tell him zachariah you're going to have a son and he's going to be the forerunner of messiah as he heard those wonderful elating words he struggled with his own thoughts of past defeats and failures to hope for a promised future meant letting go of a hurtful past and the baggage he carried with it his promise was waiting for a man to release history and grasp eternity conversely mary some say she was likely a teenager very young in her youth had little life experience which to hang this promise on she had not seen or heard of anything like what this angel was talking about before never had an angel visited anyone that she knew of and proclaimed a miraculous birth she did not have a lifetime of quote proving god or a reservoir of past miracles to strengthen her faith she had never had aunts and uncles or a pastor ever say to her i know what that experience is like you've been offered i know what it's like to have a child from a virgin birth none of that had ever happened she would have to step into the unknown and go where no one had ever gone before her promise was waiting for a young woman to step into the future and make history shiloh was coming there was no doubt in the midst of earthly chaos and spiritual darkness he would come and he revealed his grand scheme to two people who struggled with the same problems and obstacles that we do today the past and the future here we are at the end of 2020 what a past event we've had this last 12 months some of us have seen hurts some of us have seen blessings some are not even here who were here a year ago the past 12 months has been a time of some anguish and hurts and then we look around the corner as some are running into 2021 we look at the uncertainty of what tomorrow may bring political upheaval new strands of coronavirus so we stand here in the middle the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 and many people as these of old struggle in their own personal lives with the past and with the future yet these two believed god's promises were true and god was able to birth in their lives that promise our knowledge of yesterday and our uncertainty of tomorrow can cause us to miss the miracle of the present so tonight i've come simply to tell us this fear not fear not knew what it was like to have struggles and concerns and disappointments when the promise of god came to him the first thing that came to his mind was oh zach you know what it's like to be a failure zach you know what it's like to be disappointed you've tried to have kids for years your wife is old the bible says she's well stricken in age and you're not a spring chicken yourself you know you're beyond the age of having child birth zach why don't you go ahead and just pack up your hopes and dreams put it in the box and put it away there are some of us that tonight it may not be a life past of sin that we're struggling with it may just be disappointments it may be failures there may be things you've wanted to accomplish that you never did there may be things in your past that haunt you and when you walk in those doors to walk in this service and you lift your hands up you have a hard time believing that god would ever fulfill his promise in you because you know your past mistakes and nobody knows you like yourself that's why people can believe in you easier than you can believe in yourself somebody says something good about me the first thing i can think about is yeah but yeah they said this but i know me and the problem with us comparing ourselves with ourselves the bible says we are unwise and because we often compare compare our weaknesses to others strengths and when i look at your strength and i look at my weakness it causes me to stumble so a lot of us understand what it's like to deal with the past of failures the past of mistakes a past of hurts and we walk in those doors we try to receive a promise that god wants to birth in our spirit and while the pastor is preaching and while the singers are singing we'll speak we're listening to god through the voice of the word speak to us hope and speak to us visions and dreams and promises and the whole time we struggle with what have we messed up in the past with do you know sometimes it is easier it would seem for a sinner to walk through the door believe the word of the lord and receive the holy ghost than it is for a saint who have struggled with making mistakes have you ever noticed somebody could walk in off the street and man we can believe with them they may have walked right out of a crack house and walked right down that aisle and we'll believe that god will forgive them we'll believe god will save them we'll believe god will fill them with the holy ghost and we'll dance and shout but you get a person a saint of god who has sinned since they've been born again who've made mistakes and struggled and they can hardly believe god will forgive them for the things they've done that's just the past and the baggage of satan telling you god will not look past your past mary on the other hand is a little different she didn't have a lot of past baggage but she had a lot of concern about the future she didn't have a lot of experience so when the promise came to her that says you're going to have a child and he's going to save his people from their sins she had no way of identifying that against anything else she had ever seen or ever heard she didn't even ask for this promise she wasn't praying for miraculous birth she wasn't praying that somehow she would define favor it was just a promise from god and she struggled with the uncertainty of tomorrow there are some who have a hard time dealing with the past but there are also some who are so burdened by the uncertainty of tomorrow how's my job look six months from now what if i get corona three months from now what about my kids my marriage i don't know what tomorrow brings what about the political scenery going on tomorrow how do that affect my life and the times when god would tell us to step out we say god i don't know if it can be done i've never seen it done i've never done this before i don't know if it is possible but right in the middle of the past and the future the angel said to mary to zacchaeus zechariah and to joseph the angel simply said fear not only believe you know who else he said that to brother uh mentioned it earlier tonight about the young man who had a daughter who was sick the lord said to that young man whose daughter was dying as the woman with the issue of blood came to jesus and interrupted jairus's healing parade jerius is standing here holding on to jesus the the words come to jerusalem say jerry's your daughter who was sick has now died jesus looks at him and says fear not only believe there is something about when god gives a promise he will back that up by telling us to fear not the past if you tonight struggle with the past you may have issues 10 days ago 10 months ago 10 years ago there may be things holding on to you that you have a hard time letting go of i want you to know that there is a god tonight that can look beyond your past the past is heavy it can be very difficult to bear as a matter of fact the past can be so difficult to bear that it can interfere with us believing the presence of god exodus chapter 6 says this in verse 6 god is getting ready to deliver his people from egypt to land the flows of milk and honey god is talking to moses god is encouraging moses then the lord said to moses now shalt thou see what i will do to pharaoh for with a strong hand shall he let them go and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land and god spoke unto moses and said unto him i am the lord and i appeared unto abraham isaac and jacob by the name of god almighty but by my name jehovah was i not known to them so god is beginning to talk with moses and god is saying i'm going to free you from this land of bondage they were a people of promise with the hope of tomorrow bound by the activity and weights of today god had a future for them but they were chained by their presence and verse 6 wherefore say unto the children of israel i am the lord and i will bring you out from under the burdens of egypt and i will rid you out of their bondage and i will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments and i will take you to me for a people and i will be to you a god and you shall know that i am the lord your god which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the egyptians and i will bring you in unto the land concerning the which i did swear to give it to abraham isaac and jacob and i will give it to you for heritage i am the lord this is god speaking to his promised people he is promising milk and honey a future without whips and chains but he is talking to a people who are dealing with their past and in verse 9 and moses spake so unto the children of israel but they hearkened not unto moses for anguish of spirit and cruel bondage god just said i'm going to set you free i'm going to deliver you blow you out of this city give you a whole new hope and a future and the bible said they were so burdened with anguish and despair they could not even believe what god had said how many times have we walked in this door or that door or any door and the devil tries to beat us down with our past so much to the point when pastor is preaching faith and he's declaring victory the only thing i can feel is anguish in my heart or in my spirit but i'm here to tell you tonight that in the midst of that shiloh will come jesus will come and it will not be stopped by the past failures he will not be stopped by future uncertainties if you will believe he will show up he's not looking for perfection he's not looking for the past 36 months of no accidents or no failures he's looking for someone that can say god in the midst of my past i still believe you're greater than my mistakes you're greater than my struggles and i'm going to believe that shiloh will show up in the middle of my problems if i will fear not fear not shiloh is coming if you have struggles with mistakes and failures you are not alone john chapter 11 one of my candy scr candy cane scriptures that i like to read john chapter 11 and verse 20 excuse me verse 17 through 25. we know the old story of lazarus who has a friend of jesus lazarus is sick and he has subsequently passed away they send word to jesus jesus tarries his coming and finally when jesus gets around to showing up we find him four days late lazarus is in the tomb the stone has been rolled up and the party is over crying has begun john 11 and 17 then when jesus came he found that he had lain in the grave four days already now bethany was nigh unto jerusalem about 15 furlongs off and many of the jews came to martha and mary to comfort them concerning their brother then martha as soon as she heard that jesus was coming went and met him but mary sat still in the house this is the mary that worshipped at the feet of jesus she knew what it was like to be in his presence but now things have changed her brother is in the grave jesus didn't show up when they wanted him to then said martha unto jesus lord if thou hast been here my brother had not died so here's a woman who's friends with jesus her and her sister and their brother supporters of jesus gave to his ministry maybe read jesus's weekly letters i don't know but he was a friend of jesus so they expected jesus to come when they called for him but he tarried and in the tearing lazarus has died hearts are broken dreams are gone hopes and futures are laid in the tomb with their brother and when jesus finally shows up the first thing martha says if thou hast been here my brother had not died she was relaying to jesus the frustrations of an unfulfilled past she said jesus if you'd been here my brother would be alive but now i'm having to deal with the fallout of you not being here my brother's in the grave i'm sad my heart is broken and i'm weary and troubled by my past but she mustered up a little bit of faith and she says but i know that even now whatsoever thou will ask of god he will give it jesus saith unto her thy brother shall rise again and martha skips the present and martha says unto him i know that he will rise again in the resurrection at that last day she didn't understand what jesus was talking about she had had the past wrapped up in the tune she said it's over with and done with i'm disappointed i'm discouraged and when jesus himself says your brother is going to live again she jumps past the present and looks to the future and says i know lord there one day there's going to be a rapture one day when that trumpet sounds he's going to come up out of that grave one day he's going to rise up out of that she had troubles about the past she had hopes for the future but right in the middle of her debating the past and the future jesus looks at the stone and says lazarus come forth and lazarus came out bound hand and foot jesus didn't let the path stop him he didn't let the future stop him he stood right there in the middle of her dilemma and said lazarus i want you to come forth tonight if we can muster a bit of strength at the end of 2020. i don't know what you went through in 2020 i don't know what you may face in 2021 but let us not be so labored about the past and worried about the future that we can't let god right now speak to a dead situation in our life and say you can live right now you don't have to wait till tomorrow you don't have to be discouraged about yesterday that that promise in you come to life how can i do that brother white philippians 3 says it this way that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death brethren i count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus the writer said one thing i'm going to do is i'm going to forget about the past i can't go back and redo the past i can't go back and reshape the past but what i can do is i can forget about it how can you do that brother white there's divorce in my past there's sickness in my past there's jail time in my past there's mistakes in my past how do i forget the past what that means is you stop letting the past dictate to you how you're going to live today you can't let the past dictate to you and say hey why try today i made a mistake yesterday i forget those things which are behind and i press toward the things which are ahead hebrews 10 and 17 says this way the lord says and their sins and iniquities will i remember no more do not let our past come up to us in the midst of god's promise and tell us we're not worthy we're not deserving we're not able because all that may be true but god doesn't forgive you on your worthiness god doesn't forgive you on your your your ability to be forgiven he forgives you on the sacrifice he made at calvary first john 1 9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness condemnation and guilt guilt clouds the past and condemnation steals the future right in the middle of the past and the future while we're struggling between those two there is a god that can work today there is a god that can deal with your past and your future it's not a question if if it's not a question of can he it is a true truism that he can joel chapter 2 the bible talks a little bit about the past and the future joel 2 23 be glad then you children of zion and rejoice in the lord your god for he hath given you the former rain moderately and he will cause to come down for you the rain former rain and ladder rain in the first month and the floors shall be full of wheat and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil and i will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten and the cankerworm and the caterpillar and palmer worm and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the lord your god that hath dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be ashamed and you shall know that i am in the midst of israel and that i am the lord your god and none else and my people shall never be ashamed i love this scripture because joel is talking to a people who have understood what it is like to have forefooted the blessings and benefits of god they have given away their inheritance they have squandered they have lost and they have shown little for their efforts they have nothing to show for what has happened because of the enemy taking things from them but god gives them a promise and god says i want you to know one thing he says that i can rain down upon you the former and latter rain together and the floors shall be full of wheat and the fats will overflow and i will restore to you the years that have been lost one of the greatest tricks the enemy has is to tell us we have squandered away our talents our time our abilities whether you're 18 or whether you're 68 the devil will come to you and say you could have been this and that you should have been this or that you could have been a great singer preacher evangelist musician but you blew it you could have had a wonderful family in the kingdom of god but you got divorced your kids got pregnant out of wedlock you did all kinds of things the devil will put guilt and shame upon us to the point where we feel like we're not available or able for god to use but the lord said that he can restore to us the years that have been taken from us how does that happen brother white restore means to buy back he can look at the past mistakes and what you should have done and what you could have done and he said you know what i can buy back some of those years and i from this point on can give you some benefits and blessings that you do not have already so the facts that were empty because the enemy had squandered and taken it from them are now able to be full how does that look in real time i've mentioned this before how does that look in real time the way it looks is there are people who sit in amongst our congregation tonight so look at them you would think that they were speaking in tongues when they came out of their mother's womb he would think that they have never sinned nor made a mistake they look godly they pray they act godly what is that are they perfect have they always been like that no what has happened is when god forgave them and healed them they stayed in his presence long enough for restoration to begin and god began to give to them things they didn't have some grace that they lost along the way some glory that they squandered along the way some talents and blessings that they thought they'd never get suddenly they began to find themselves being asked to play maybe in a youth service be able to speak at a at a little seminar somewhere and suddenly the things they thought were no longer available god is allowing to bloom and blossom again because he is able to redeem the past so you may say my past has taken a lot from me jeremiah 18 is the story of the potter the potter goes to the wheel to make a vessel jeremiah 18 1-6 you can look at it jeremiah is told by god go down to the potter's house i want to show you something and you know the story the potter begins to shape and make a beautiful piece of clay and somewhere along that way as he's molding and shaping it something happens to that clay maybe a piece of hardened clay or dirt or something i don't know i'm not a potter but something happens to it where it gets marred in the potter's hand and the bible said that that pottery got marred in his hand and so he took that pottery and he pushed it back down again and he began to remake something else as he desired to make god is able to reshape what has been messed up by sin and the past you may not be what you had wanted to be but god can make you into something good today you may not be what you had hoped to have been 10 years ago 20 years ago six months ago but god can take what he has today and shape it and mold it to what he wants it to be god is able to save deliver from the past but not only the past but is able to secure our future god is not only able to forgive but he's also able to set into freeing and deliver and give us a hope and a meaning tonight some of us stand between the past the future and a quandary feeling unworthy in uncertainty not knowing if it's able to be done but i want you to know that god is able to work in both the past and the present at the same time exodus chapter 13 i already mentioned the children of israel but exodus chapter 13 verse 21 god is getting ready to lead his children out of the land of bondage out of the land of slavery into a land of freedom exodus 13 20 and they took their journey from succoth and encamped in etham in the edge of the wilderness and the lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people god is not only god who works in our past but he is a god who works before us these people were on their way as i mentioned before to a great land a land of milk and honey they went out with a high hand god spoiled egypt god rendered them ineffective and useless and so they danced their way out of egypt they laughed they sung their bleeding backs would finally get a chance to heal they had been beaten by chains and by whips and by verbal abuse they saw their children die their grandparents died but now they were on their way to a mighty wonderful land and the lord went before them god was ahead of them leading the way by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and god was before them on their way to their promised land but the enemy would not let them go that easy the enemy said you know what we're full so let these people leave so the bible said in the heart of pharaoh he determined that he would pursue god's people next chapter exodus 14. pharaoh is on the march toward the people of god and moses says unto the people fear ye not stand still and see the salvation of the lord why did he tell them that because when they looked behind them they saw the egyptian army and chariots in fast approach and their hearts began to fail them for fear and so moses says hey don't look behind you god is before you and so moses and the people stood still verse 18 and the egyptians shall know that i am the lord when i have gotten my honor upon pharaoh listen to what god does and the angel of god which went before the camp of israel removed and went behind them and stood between them and the chariots of pharaoh and it became a cloud from before their face and to them it was darkness but to the children of god it was light what does that mean brother white what that means is the god that was before them when their past came back upon them when their past came running toward them god said you know what i'm not just going to lead you from a head i want to come around and i'm going to step between you and your past and when your past comes running toward you god will come around to your backside and say i've got your back the enemy cannot take you from behind i will stand with you so the lord went from before them and went behind them and the bible said when he looked down he looked through the pillar of cloud and the fire that he had made and he discomforted the the the children of the egyptian army when he looked down at the children of god he saw them through the cloud and through the fire what that means is when god saw his people he looked at them through the provision he made for them and he defeated the enemy because god made a way for his people when god looks at you he doesn't look at you as the mistaken and failure you think you have been does he wink a sin no does god just shove off sin no but god looks at you through the cloud and through the fire in other words when he sees you he sees you through the blood he sees you through the work of calvary so he went from before them in the cloud to behind them and he stood between them and their past your past may be running up on you young person your past may be running upon you saying of god there may be things behind you that are coming breathing down your neck but we serve a god who will stand between you and your past psalms 139 says it this way and verse 1 through 10 you actually could look at he says oh lord thou hast searched me and known me thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising thou understand this my thought afar off thou compasseth my path and my lying down and aren't acquainted with all my ways good bad and ugly for there is not a word in my tongue but lo oh lord thou knowest it all together thou has beset me behind and before and laid thy hand upon me that word beset some writers say means hemmed in the writer is saying god you know me you know my uprisings my downfalls you know what i thought about you you know when i wasn't thinking about you you know my past my future my mistakes my hopes and dreams it's all laid out there for you in living color the one thing about the word of god is he never whitewashed over anything he showed you the good the bad and the ugly in living color full throated god throws it out there the the beauty and the ugliness of mankind the highs and lows of his people some of the people god used were adulterers and murders and mistakes and failures but god didn't just throw them away god had a plan and a future for them as he does with you and i tonight and the lord in his writings he said thou hast beset me behind and before in other words god has worked on my behalf in the past and in the future so 2021 is coming i've said all that to say this 2021 is coming i don't know what tomorrow may bring some of you brother sullivan have had corona twice already some of you haven't had it at all some of you had it once a lot of symptoms little symptoms they say that there's another strain coming around the corner that may be more difficult than the others there's an election that's still up in the air they don't know exactly who's going to be what in a few weeks president vice president all kinds of things going on there is turmoil and chaos and in the middle of it there is a god that says it doesn't matter what your past has been it doesn't matter where you're going to in the future i will be there so it matters not what tomorrow holds he said i will be there biden president trump president it doesn't matter because he said i will be for you sickness and health he says i will be there before you yesterday's mistakes yesterday's problems he said i'll stand between you and your past he is a faithful saving god psalms 23 and 5 the writer said thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies he's already down the road making your path straight because he is a god who can deal with the past and the future and in the middle of it he says fear not only believe the musicians would come tonight joel excuse me jeremiah 29 and 11 the lord speaks and he says i know the thoughts that i have toward you he said i know the thoughts that i have toward you guilt condemnation would tell you god's thoughts is to pound you in the head for the mistakes you've made uncertainty will tell you god's thoughts for you is uh i gave them responsibility once before they didn't do too good i gave them an opportunity to pass so i don't know if i'll give them another chance that's what uncertainty about the future will say to you but the lord says in jeremiah 29 11 i know the thoughts that i think toward you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end if you stand with me tonight the lord has an expected end for us we're at the end of 2020 we're not there completely yet there's still another day or so to go but if we can live our lives from the perspective of the end david said when i saw the prosperity they wicked my foot almost lit until i went into the house of the lord and i saw their end the problem with the past failures and mistakes and the worry of the future is we miss the moment when god is trying to birth in us his power and presence and anointing and with the end in mind knowing that his thoughts are toward us we can make it through the past and through the future the writer said jesus christ the same yesterday today and forever shiloh is coming no doubt the question is will i see it past my mistakes and failures well i believe god just enough to say god your grace and mercy is greater than my mistakes do you know it takes just as much faith to believe god will forgive you as it will to think he won't forgive you how is that possible because his word said he would i heard brother arnold say this i thought it was so powerful if the devil is willing to take us back so let me ask you a question if you've been in church for 25 30 years do you believe that the devil will be willing to take you back if you backslid would he take you back or he said nah nah nah you've living for god so long i don't want you anymore i imagine he'd probably take you back so if we know that satan would take us back if we leave the presence of god why would we be so doubtful that the one who shed his blood on calvary would not be willing to take us back if satan will take you back don't doubt jesus christ take you back our past need not stop him our future need not halt him in the middle of your mistakes and your promises for tomorrow he is before you he is behind you he is beside you if you lift your hands with me tonight lord jesus thank you for your presence thank you for the word tonight god thank you that you never leave us nor forsake us but you're with us always tonight is someone struggling with the past are you dealing with some things that when you would do good evil is there to remind you of your disappointments are there things that you would like to do for god but because of unfulfilled opportunities mistakes hurts from leadership somewhere along the way that has caused you to become stunted in your growth keeping you back are there uncertainties and worries about tomorrow will i fail tomorrow like i did last year will god give me an opportunity like he did last time will god really forgive me for all my sins can i be baptized can i be forgiven will god use me in the midst of all of that there is a god who goes before you and goes behind you and is always beside you walking with you looking out for you able to heal save and deliver tonight if you would if you wouldn't mind as they begin to sing if you wouldn't mind if somebody like just come across to come to the front and just say god i'm going to give you some past mistakes i'm going to give you some hurts i'm going to give you my future i'm going to give you some hopes and dreams if you do that tonight god will take it god will help god will heal god will deliver as they begin to sing tonight would you just lift your voice lift your praise to him tonight lord jesus thank you god as you're able to go before me and behind me always with me god able to save forgive and deliver of god i pray for a young man just made mistakes got you to let him know his life was not over i'm praying for an older couple god who's wondered if they've messed up their opportunity to let them know god that there's still possibility in you lord let your hand deal work in this place tonight oh god