The Breakdown: "We Got Our Groove Back"

14:21 He's so good. Let's pray because I'll stay right there that you've been so good. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, that you have been good. Thank you, Lord, for the privilege of prayer, of breaking bread together. Thank you for all of the hearts and minds that have gathered in this hour that you appointed to come together to hear the word, Lord, that we believe comes from you. So open up our ears so that we may hear. eyes that we may see a heart so that we may receive where you're leading guiding um how you're transforming but god we thank you um just for being in your presence we thank you for newness of life so speak now so that we may hear from you and be glorified in the name of your son jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. So it's me. You got me tonight. Um, and so I'm not gonna, uh, go on a long spill or welcome. I'm excited to be here with you and I'm going to, um, be in accordance with what we always do. And that is the breakdown. So I'm excited. That is the breakdown. How many of you heard the sermon on Sunday? What a powerful word. Anybody got their groove back? Yeah. You feeling was you step a little higher, a little faster, a little crisper, on your way out, a little more crisp as you left out. What a word that we received. And so I'm just going to stick with that, talk a little bit about that. And I want us to look at an additional text, if you don't mind, after we talk about highlight and kind of review what pastor broke for us on Sunday.

16:01 So let's go. Let's get with it. So we got a group back. We got a group back. It's the breakdown. So we can go to slide number two, all written. Slide number two. Put my glasses on so I can see how we got it. We're going to start off. I'm just going to start off by reading the scripture, the text that a pastor broke for us on Sunday. And here it is. I'm in your sight and in your hearing. When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. It was like a dream. Psalms 126 verse 1. So now let's, before we talk about review, I know we normally give some highlights, but before we do the highlights of the sermon, I want us to do some backdrop, which Pastor did share with us on Sunday, a little bit about what was going on and how we get to Psalms 126, that they're proclaiming here that God brought back his exiles from Jerusalem and it was like a dream of them returning.

17:04 So I wanted just to give some backdrop text on it, which he shared. But for some of us, it's just good to see and put our eyes on him. And so those two areas of 2 Chronicles chapter 36, 2 Chronicles chapter 36 verses 14 through 21. We're not going to read those, but I want us to focus on Jeremiah 25, 7 through 14. 2 Chronicles chapter 36, 14 through 21 says basically what Jeremiah 25, 7 through 14 says. I just like the way that one reads a little bit better. But basically it is explaining how the children of Israel found themselves in exile. What happened? What was going on? Why? So then it gives you some context about how we get to 126. And they're like, it was like a dream. This was exciting. So let's read Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 7 through 14. Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 7 through 14.

18:02 I think this is an NLT version that I have pulled up. So it says this, Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord. and for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant. And I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Let's keep reading. Verse 10. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

19:05 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. Then after 70 years are completed, I'll punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. One more. I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it. Everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall make slaves of them. And I will recompense them according to their deeds and the works and the work of their hands. What? isn't that something listen i i don't know what y'all what you think about that but listen what this is first of all when we open up god is it god is in the middle he's already warning the children of israel and that's why he says and now you didn't listen so he goes on so if you go just a couple verses before that he's trying to warn them stop with the idolatry stop with the evil what is happening is uh the children of israel regularly have evil kings they don't listen they're not obeying they're not following God and um just doing what they want to do that they whatever seems right in their eyes that's what they're doing and um they have a lot of them that looks very much like today they're selling out their community they're taking extra payments from um the king that they're under Babylon's um authority he has not taken over them but they're paying money to them and he's switching out the kings that are are committed to them versus the ones that are committed to God and so you see all of the the um the foolery if I can use that word you see the ridiculousness you see how the disobedience them not listening to God not doing what God has asked them to say you can see the fall is coming and God warms them over and over again you should really stop because you are provoking my anger and they kept going just like

21:13 some people and we all probably have a moment that we can tell in our lives where God spoke to us clearly and we made our own decision like you will say something told me not to do this something told me not to go there something as if we don't know that the holy spirit is real and our and gives us direction in our lives but we go against it how many times have we prayed for something and asked god for an answer and god gives it to you clearly but it's not the answer you were looking for so you just decided to do what you wanted to do and so god is talking to them and warning them they're not listening and so he tells them what I'm getting ready to do is I'm going to have I'm going to call Babylon I'm going to call all these kings all these other nations in I'm going to have them overtake you everything will go move to desolation they're going to destroy the temple they're going to destroy the land you're going to have to serve Babylon for 70 years that's what he tells them and so that's what the backdrop is and so they didn't listen and so that's what happens they're overtaking God sends for Nebuchadnezzar sends the Babylonian king and all the other surrounding kings and they overtake the children of Israel and they enter into um oppression for 70 years because that's what God said and that's what had been prophesied they didn't listen now before we jump and I know it seems like I'm jumping but I don't since we're in this text what I want you to see which is something that we should realize in our lives that I get excited about is that God is telling them this is what's going to happen to you and he lets them know the end at the beginning I like your parents like I'm getting maybe I shouldn't say that because if that was my mom I mean I'd be every mom everybody's mama but anybody's parent ever tell you I'm about to beat you and this is what's gonna happen you're gonna go to your room and then when it's over this is what's gonna happen I know we don't want to talk about that anybody ever get in trouble okay grounded maybe somebody was grounded I don't know anybody got grounded in my house um it was it was the anyway it was it was it was punishment but you know at the beginning what's about to happen you got get called in the room this was going down this is what you did and so I don't want to hear any more talking this is what it is

23:22 but he lets them know you will serve the 70 years but when the 70 years is up when they when they are up then I'm gonna handle Babylon and I think that's important for us to stop and see and he tells them I'm going to take care of Babylon according to the way that they treated you. That says something. We got to pause and talk about that because God is saying I'm going to punish you for what you've done but Babylon the one that's going to put their hands on you and all of the evil that they're going to do to you they will suffer for what they have done and it's going to be according to how they treated you. That is so important when we're thinking about all the things that we're going through now that even, and we'll talk about in a minute, that even Pastor Haynes talked about what happens with the empire when they don't follow justice, live the principles according to justice. God says, don't worry, I'm going to use them to check you, but then I'm going to check them because they thought they could put their hands on you because they were foolish with it. And we ought to get excited. And let me tell you why, because when you're going through the people that are celebrating your demise, celebrating your fall, celebrating your brokenness, sometimes they get a little bit of delight in it and they get carried away. They start doing too much. I didn't ask you to go in there and do all of what you asked you to do. I just told you to go in and teach them a small lesson. You went over there and cracked them over the head. You killed some of the people. You did all the things. And so God says, according to how you treated my people, that's what I'm going to do to you. And they're going to have years of slavery and they're going to be spread out and all the things. And so I think it becomes important that if you have an enemy, and some of us have those, I mean, if you've ever experienced one, they might be talking about you, they're looking at you, they're placing bets against you. Don't even worry about it, because God already told you, you may be in this position, because as Pastor told us on Sunday, because of bad decisions that we make. We find ourselves in bad decisions, and here are the children of Israel, they're in a bad place, because bad decisions that they made, not once, but over and over again. Bad decisions, not mistakes, because there's a difference,

25:31 they made bad decisions. But part of the thing that you need to understand is God says, don't worry when you're coming out. And I'm also going to handle your enemy. And I think that's an important message on both ends. One, you're going to come out and God's going to take care of them. So you don't have to worry and stay up at night and try and figure out how you're going to get them. Because sometimes I just lay back and say, okay, you know, keep throwing your punches, keep throwing your punches. Because every time you hit me, it's coming back twice on you kind of thing and um but also sometimes we might find ourselves on the wrong end of god's instruction we don't want to be but sometimes we might find ourselves on the wrong end and this is something you need to keep in mind be careful about putting your hands on god's anointing be careful about thinking somebody ain't covered because you don't know who's coming out you don't know how deep they run and the reality of it is as believers when you put your hands on a believer god is going to come back not because you could overtake them not because you could break them to a place of no return but because you tried and I've I've shared those stories plenty of times I've shared a couple of stories plenty of times when I've been on that bad end that I I was disrespectful or or put my hands on somebody that belonged to God and God said because you tried you tried it and I just want you and I had to watch him elevate them in my presence which I then broke down and said well hold on, Lord, I belong to you too. I ask God for forgiveness. Please forgive me. And you my God too.

26:57 So I can start expecting God to cover me and keep me the same way. And so we better be careful about who we think we are being dismissive of or who we think we're running over because they may be shorter than you, weaker than you, maybe not as smart as you. They don't have as many degrees as you have. But if they belong to God, maybe he's going to come back around. You don't know all of God's story and what he's handling, right? I'll tell this quick story. I know I've told it before, is I'll never forget we were outside playing. We were sitting outside in the front yard and the grandkids were playing. I was sitting with my mother, kind of on the porch or what have you, in the driveway. And this dog came from next door and was running after the kids. Now, before I could even get up and realize what was going on, my mother was up out of that chair. She handled that dog. She went next door, knocked on the door, told a neighbor about the dog that was running loose that almost got her kids.

27:49 And the kids were in the house probably before I even got up out of my seat. And that's what I think about when I think about God, that's what God does. He will handle the dog. He will handle the enemy that comes for you and the one that sent it. Right. And so you don't have to worry about it. Anyway, you get the story. That's the gist. And so that's what God is saying here that you don't have to suffer because you didn't listen because you didn't obey. Um, but don't worry. You're going to do your time. But after that, it's going to be all right. Right. Right. So that was, that's Jeremiah. That's what's going on in second Chronicles. If you read that text too, it's the same thing as the warning about everything that was going on. Okay. So the highlights from Sunday, Psalms 126 verse one, here the highlights. It was so good. And there was a lot. These are the ones I pulled out. We cannot groove to the blues. And he ran down all the songs of the people that have a hard time grooving to the blues. People are living a facade. So pause with those two. It's hard to groove to the blues and a lot of us show up in a facade. It is hard when life is tough, when you don't, even when you just down and you don't feel well, it's hard to get up and keep your groove back.

29:05 And people can see it. Cause when you're not used to stepping high and smiling and having a lot of energy. And even if you're not, if you're kind of a quiet person, usually people can tell when you're a little bit off. And so he talks about not being able to groove to not being able to move to the groove, but also people living a facade. And that's so real. Has anybody in the room, anybody watching online ever just been pretentious? Like you put the smile on and you show up cause you feel like you have to. And people ask you, how you doing? I'm good. Are you really? And I think somebody checked me on that the other day cause they asked me if how I was doing I said I'm good and he was like yeah no not really I mean he heard it in my voice and he rephrased the question and he and his point was I'm not going to ask you how you're doing if I'm not going to be concerned about the answer and so um I love that because that's part of his ministry which should be part of all of ours is to break through those walls and to break through the mask of the people that we're sitting next to, of the ones that God has allowed us to have ordained encounters with. Why are we just simply asking people, how are they doing and not waiting to see the answer or dismissing them or accepting the shallow answer? Oh, I'm good. Are you really?

30:22 What makes it good or what could make it better? And so we're living facades, making people think everything is okay. We know that that happens on social media. We know that that's what's going on at all times. People don't have the life that they're posting about, but they want you to believe that they're broken. Families are broken. They barely go make it, but they have hundreds of thousands of followers. So we have to be careful about that. It says living with the hell of an L of having failed, living with the hell of an L of having failed. And now we always, we always say that a lot of times when pastors preaching, man, he was on my road. And like he says, I'm on your street or I'm drinking this is your Kool-Aid what is it and I got the flavor I'm in your Kool-Aid and I got the flavor all those things but this one also last couple ones that he was preaching I was just like ouch really I do sometimes you just wish you not at home you wish like I could just back into the bushes like Herman Simpson and not be seen anymore but he says we're living with the hell of an L of having failed has anybody had to wrestle with that in your mind of any failures that you had and had to wrestle with it and now you're living as a captive of your consequences we can talk about it as community we don't own it necessarily but as a nation we're living with the consequences um we're living captives of the consequences of our last few elections that we have to wake up to every day and people i'll never forget somebody looked at me and she said she blamed african americans for not voting for why some of the changes that we have i I said, ma'am, are you sure that that's the, yeah, come back again?

31:58 And so anyway, people just make up crazy things in terms of why we're suffering and the things that we go through. But we're captive of a lot of consequences. We have conversations where people still don't think it's important to vote. They still don't think it's important to show up. They still don't necessarily believe in the God that's able to save. They just think you do what you can do. You handle yourself. Do what you can do for you and your family. If you like it, I love it kind of situation. but we are living captive to the consequences of the decisions that we make. Another personal one that being transparent about living in the hell of the failure is kind of the conversation that I was telling you earlier. I used to have a business, and I share pieces of this from time to time, but I used to have a business, and my dad took me to an attorney. He paid for top attorney in the city to explain to me what I needed to do.

32:54 I had a partner in the business. He took me to him to tell me what I needed to do in terms of contracts, how to sign it, how to keep my side clean, how do you enter into a partnership and all the things. Don't ask me what I was thinking. But after my dad took me and paid all of this money to be partner at the time, she and her husband called me into the office and they had drawn up this contract. And they said, hey, this is our contract. This is what it looks like. Just sign right here.

33:22 Yeah, okay. I did. I signed it. And then I read it. And I took it to my dad. And my dad was livid. And he never let me forget about it. Because I basically signed over half of the company. Which it shouldn't have been half. Because my father financed it. Because my father was trying to set me up in business. And I had to live with the consequences of not listening to my father. And so he regularly reminded me, I paid for an attorney. He told you what to do. You went against everything I told you to do. And I paid the price. I paid financially. I paid mentally. I paid spiritually. All the things. And so it hurts when you have to live with the consequences of your decision. And so, and a couple more things I want to review. So, and there's more.

34:17 So those are kind of the negative things about living with the consequences of our decisions and what Pastor Haines was talking about. But here are some other things that we can keep our joy. How can we hold on when we seem to be in a down place, when we seem to not be able to cover when we're suffering and going through these hard times? We can keep our joy. And these are some of the things that he reminded us about why we can keep our joy. We can keep our joy because he says this, every empire has an expiration date that does not, whoever does not live by the principles of justice. And that puts us in the minds of Psalm 73 when the psalmist said, I wondered how the wicked prospered until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord. Everything looked like it was going good. Everybody looked like they were winning. But there is an end to it. There is an expiration date so we can hold on to our joy. He also said, he didn't say, hold on to our job, but I'm saying, this is what we can say.

35:13 When we are down, God is up to something. He said, when we're down, God is up to something. And so maybe we can search our hearts and search our minds and talk to God. God, what are you up to? God, what are you doing? God does answer. He does speak. He does give direction. We can keep our joy and we can hold on to our joy because we serve a God that looks beyond our faults and sees our needs. There is forgiveness after the bad decision. God still loves us. There's protection. There's cover. God still keeps after we make the bad decision. And we can keep our joy because God gives grace that we don't see coming. That's what he talked about on Sunday. That should have just emptied the room because God will pour out grace, something that we don't deserve, that we don't even realize is in the bag, that is not in our plans because we have no idea. We're too busy sulking.

36:05 We're too busy trying to figure out how God's going to fix it. We're trying to figure out how we're going to fix it. And God has grace that we don't see coming so we can get excited and hold on to our joy for all of these reasons. And so that's kind of the review and the highlights of what pastor talked about on Sunday. So in light of July and us talking about a revolutionary liberation and talking about freedom, I wanted to add some additional texts for us to get excited about that I feel like turn that support and undergird what pastor was telling us and teaching us on Sunday. So what I'm getting ready to do is I'm getting ready in scripture. I'm getting ready to make a wide turn. But I'm not going to go off the road. So stay with me. I'm going to make a wide turn. And I want you to see this other text that I thought was important that we can see that there is life after a poor decision. That we can get excited about and still hold on and believe God.

37:06 And I like this text. I think it was important. So the next one is getting our groove back is not a fluke. That God intends to keep his word. That God does what he's going to do. It's not a one-off. When God saves us, when God keeps us, it's not a one-off at all. It's who we are. as children of God, that God will hold on to us. He's not outside of correcting us and keeping us so that we can come back into alignment with him. So it's not a fluke. So knowing that it's not a fluke, I wanted us to look at these three scriptures that kind of align with where we are and what we've been learning, especially with the Ezra text brings us back to where we just left from. So 1 Chronicles 7, verse 24. 1 Chronicles 7, verse 24. I first encountered this text when I was reading a book by Dr. Irie Session that I just love. And I fell in love with this text.

38:01 I fell in love with the person. And here it is. 1 Chronicles 7, verse 24. He had a daughter named Shira. She built the towns of Laura and Upper Beth-Haron and Uz and Shira. That's it. That's it. I know it don't even make sense. What is this? What you doing? Somebody go get it. Listen. 1 Chronicles chapter 7 verse 24. This is the only place in the Bible that you hear of this lady, Shira. That's it. He had a daughter named Shira. She built the towns of Laura and Upper Bethlehem and Uzanshira. That's it. That's the only time you see her. What's happening and why would I possibly pull that up today? Let's talk about the backdrop. We just came out of a text where the people were celebrating because they had been in 70 years of oppression because of bad decision that they had made.

39:01 And yet God was now bringing them back around, restoring them, building them back up, giving them grace in the things that they didn't necessarily deserve. But he loved them and he's a God that keeps his word. well when we get to shira here shira is in first first chronicles where they're naming the genealogies of the children of israel of the 12 tribes of the children of israel when we get here around chapter uh around verse this is chapter 7 around verse 20 21 they began the genealogy of ephraim and when they talk about the genealogy of ephraim they talk about all his sons and then they talk about two of his sons were killed two of his sons were killed why because they were trying to steal cattle from somebody else from a neighbor they got caught and they were killed and so he is sorrowful he's hurt he's in pain all this in those first few verses before you get to shira and so he just can't get over the loss of his sons who were doing bad who were doing evil and if you look up the history of the Ephraimites, they're known for their idolatry. They're known for their wickedness.

40:12 They're known for not following God, for not listening to God. And here his sons went out and tried to steal from their neighbors and they died. And he cried and he was mourning and all the things. And so it says that he went into his wife. He had a son. He named his son Bariah, which means tragedy or misfortune so he named his son based off of what he was going through we all know anybody that's been in church for a little bit of time you know that names mean something you know that names matter and so Ephraim's name means fruitful he came his father is Joseph Joseph is the son of Jacob so his name he is is a son or a descendant of Jacob who is the father of the trail tribes of Israel. And so he is being fruitful. Abraham, I mean, excuse me, Joseph was fruitful. And so he names a son based off of who he is in the body of Christ, who he is in the lineage. And so he names Ephraim something that means fruitful. But when his sons get killed, he's in a tragic situation, an unfavorable situation. So when he goes into his wife and he has another child he names that child bariah which means tragedy and so he is living in this space of hurt and pain now the next scripture is verse 24 he had a daughter named shira now the theologians disagree as to whether or not this is ephraim's daughter or whether it's his granddaughter is it ephraim that had a daughter and he named a shira or is it bariah that had a daughter and named a Shearer. You can talk about however you feel because it's not qualified. It just says he and so English matters. So he had a daughter and he named a Shearer. So whether it's the granddaughter or whether it's the daughter of Ephraim, she's in the lineage of the 12 tribes of Israel, but she named, but they named her Shearer. It says that she built the towns and that's it.

42:16 That's what we know about her. And so here it is. However you want to look at it, the, the, uh, that the Ephraimites don't have a good history. They don't have a good name, right? And now they go through this great tragedy, and that's all that Ephraim is thinking about to the point he names his son Tragedy. And that's his name, Bariah. And after tragedy, he, whether it was his granddaughter, whether it was Bariah, the daughter, the doctor is named She-Ra. She was name means remnant. So after tragedy, the next name that comes up is remnant. Why is that exciting? Why should we be like, I see you, God. I know what you're doing.

43:08 Go ahead. It's because of what's happening. First of all, why would they even take the time to name Sheera in the middle of the line of genealogy when normally the genealogy is just followed by the sons. But you see a daughter's name here, and every now and then you'll see the name of a daughter. And 1 Chronicles is also the place, if you go back, I think it's around chapter 6, where you see this is where the famous scripture came out, the prayer of Jabez. When he prayed and asked God to enlarge his territory, and everybody started singing a song and praying the prayer because they wanted God to enlarge their territory because they realize God will do what he said he will do. He keeps his promises. Well, this is where we are. Just a couple of chapters over and this is She-Ra. Her name is Remnant. So now watch it. She is born into a place.

44:00 She is born into a condition and in a time, not that it's so much different from today, but she is a girl. She's a female. She is a daughter. She is born and they're naming the genealogies after the sons. but we find her in here and that she's named why would they potentially why would they even decide to drop her name here maybe it's because out of all of the shame and all of the embarrassment understanding that this these are part of the 12 tribes of Israel we need to list something good we need a break we need a change we need something that's going to shift the atmosphere because whether these are her uncles or whether they were her big brothers or whatever it is they died doing something they had no business doing and now they're living in this place the father grandfather is living in a place of tragedy we need a remnant and why is it important that she's named remnant it's because when you see remnant in scriptures god always uses a remnant to rebuild when the children of israel go through something and he allows them to be overtaken by their enemies He always saves a remnant to rebuild.

45:11 And so it's important not just her name is remnant. We're going to talk about that in a second. But it's important because he gave a daughter that name. When women are not respected, they're not acknowledged, they're like property. But here it is Shira that carries the name remnant. Which means she was planned. There was plans for her and purpose for her and intention for her. to maybe to live into what she's called her name is remnant and I know you're not excited about it but let me give you just a little bit more background and then I'm going to tell you why we have Romans 11 5 here her name is remnant and maybe she'll live into that that God will restore that God will rebuild and that's what she does I don't know we can talk about it the scripture doesn't tell us how she did it well the things that you can say about her as being a woman we know she probably had a whole lot of challenges with a whole lot of men that felt like she didn't have the right to be in a position that she was in but to build a city means that you had to have vision first of all and after vision you had to have some authority and some strategy and had to have some favor for people to listen to you we know she didn't build three cities with her own hands and so we know that she was a leader this is a woman leading men in terms of building cities And these aren't just any kind of cities when you do the research on the cities.

46:34 These are major cities that people come through and they fight over and they fight for. And the word build here is not her building them from scratch, but it's her by fortifying them. She's building them back up. She's, what's the word I'm looking for? An R word. She's restoring them. It's a restoration of the cities is what she does. But to have the wisdom and the foresight and the vision for her to be able to say, this is where we need to build. There was a major road from lower Bethlehem to the upper Bethlehem. There was a city that ran through it where they did enterprise. And a lot of wars took place on that same road. So what she did was not just build something for herself, but she built something for her community, for her people, for her lineage, for her tribe. This is amazing, huge, big thing.

47:30 And so that's what she did in her name is remnant. So when you think about the remnant, you think about when God wanted to destroy the earth, he used Noah and his family to restore the earth. It was a remnant of the people. Everybody died except the remnant of his family and the children and when he and the animals that he had to bring onto the ark. And when God allowed the waters to rescind, he told them now replenish the earth. He started with a remnant that was Noah's family. when Joseph was sold into captivity from his own family and they eventually found themselves in front of him he said don't even worry about the fact that you sold me because what you don't even realize of course that's what we know what you meant for harm God worked it out for my good our good God sent me ahead so that I could preserve a remnant and save many lives because God was going to bring a great deliverance God uses remnants in order to bring change and great deliverance it was Elijah after just Elijah fought with the battle um with with Jezebel and all of her all of her her imps and he he defeated all of those um the the soldiers all of the prophets of Baal he went and he went and hid and he was running and he cried out to God he said hey God I'm the only one out here I'm the only one that's been living for you. I'm the only one. And now what am I going to do? He's crying and asking God to save him. And God said, hold on, wait a minute. You're not by yourself. You're not the only one. I have 7,000 people that have not bowed their knees to Baal or kiss Baal. And so I have a remnant that I can restore and move into motion at any time. God always has a remnant of which he's going to rebuild. Why does that even matter? Why can we even get excited about it?

49:24 It's because when we came, when we started and we're looking at Psalms 126 is that God preserved a remnant. Let's go and look at Ezra chapter one, verse four. Ezra chapter one, verse four says, wherever this Jewish remnant is found. Now we're back in Ezra. Now we're talking about the children of Israel when they were taken captive from the students of Babylon. And we know that, um, pastor preached about it, but in this text, when you read Ezra, and when you go back and read second Chronicles chapter 36, leading up to Ezra chapter one, you'll see where they're being overtaken. But this is what God allows King Cyrus, the King of Persia to tell this to the children of Israel. He gives them permission to go back and rebuild. And when he gives them permission to go back and rebuild he says wherever this Jewish women is found let their neighbors contribute towards their expenses by giving them silver and gold supplies for their journey and livestock as well as a voluntary offering for the temple of God in Jerusalem he God laid it on the heart of side King Cyrus to allow the children of Israel to go back and build and when he sends them back to build he sends them with a blessing wherever you find the remnant bless them that's the order from the king wherever the remnant is bless them so that they can go back and rebuild the temple it's a remnant that that comes out of psalms 126 verse 1 it's a remnant that's celebrating that made it back out of captivity and so and when we look at shira and her story her name is remnant and god is using her to restore the name of the Ephraimites because she builds all these great cities and she does all the things that she's able to do before I get to the last one and I'm really I'm done before I get to the last one let me explain why I'm still excited about Sheerah in that one verse Sheerah is evidence of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 that says that we are God's workmanship that

51:33 We are God's masterpiece created in Christ so that we may do great works. Masterpiece. I may have shared it before. I don't know, but here we go again. Masterpiece. When I decided to look up the masterpiece, how do you even determine what a masterpiece is? I declare to you that when we see Shira and when we look at our own lives, Shira is a masterpiece. Why? Because when you look at determinations, professionals in the science and the art industry disagree necessarily on what they want to call a masterpiece. They disagree on it. But what they do agree on, that there are at least three things that must exist before you can call something a masterpiece. The first thing that they say you need to do in order to have a masterpiece is that the masterpiece overwhelms with awe. It's overwhelming with excitement. when you put your eyes on it, when you see it, when you experience it, it's an awe and an amazement that comes over you because, oh my, look at this piece. I can tell you that Sheerah is a masterpiece because when you think about a woman in the time period that she was in that was able to be raised up and build three cities that was able to then fortify for her family and for the tribe that she was a part of, she was able to lead and these cities lasted and they stood the test of time.

52:50 which is the second way that you are able to name a masterpiece. A masterpiece has to stand the test of time. When you look through the scripture, you don't hear Shearer's name anymore, but you see these cities that don't ever have to ever be rebuilt. They just have to be restored just a little bit. And so she did something that led far past who she was. It wasn't just about putting her name on a building or on a city, but it was about what she was providing for her people. Masterpiece is that it was built to stand the test of time It's amazing that we can get excited There was a woman that did this And then the final piece is when you look at a masterpiece It ought to make you think about or reconsider About how you do your own genre of work So if this was an artwork It ought to make all artists or all architects step back and say How did she do this?

53:43 There's a different way of doing it How does she live? How does she move? when we move that ought to be something that causes other people to rethink about how they live and what they do and so shira is a masterpiece but guess who else is a masterpiece god said that we are created his masterpiece we are his workmanship so when people look at us and the struggle that we go through and they are they're amazed about how we make it they're amazed about how you get up in the morning how do you keep showing up to work why do you still have your joy. They're amazed of who we are and how we show up masterpieces and we stand the test of time. We have been through so much that we are still here. All of the beating, all of the lies, all of the killings. And even now when we see all of these black boys showing up dead, if any of you have black boys in your family, take the time to talk to them because the impact of the things that are happening are real on them. When they have to go to school, when they have to show up when we're just telling them oh just grow up just be a man just make it back home don't fuss you got to give them all of these drills you don't understand how they're processing the mental health and the mental struggle is real for them and yet they still show up yet they still perform that they still go to work yet they still take care of their families they are amazing and they're masterpieces that are standing the test of time but then also when people see how we survive and we even look at ourselves how do we look at ourselves to say that we can do something different that we should do something different how do we need to show up different how do we need to pray for one another how do we need to cover one another how when we look at how these people moved in scriptures what does it mean for us differently now and how we can show up and how we can love and how we strategize and not get up when when you're named under such pressure and such expectation like Shira was to have the name remnant, to have to live into that and not even starting at the starting line when everybody else does,

55:49 but she still showed up. She still performed. She still strategized. How does her story and how does the story of the children of Israel cause us to show up different and to trust God different? But okay, that's Shira. That's Ezra. Well, we can see they use the remnant, but this is the piece that gets me excited and we're done. Romans chapter 11 verse 5. Romans chapter 11 verse 5. This is the place of Elisha when Paul is recalling what Elijah did and God is telling him, I have a whole lot of other people out there. I have remnants. You're not the only one. There are other people that can live for me and this is why we can get excited. This is why we can hold on to our joy because Paul said it wasn't that that God just told Elijah that but also we need to understand that in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace God always has a remnant and so no matter what we may be enduring no matter what we may be going through what Paul was telling the Romans and what we can grab now is that by grace we are God's remnant by grace God can use us and so when we see that God's going to call up a remnant to restore. You can keep taking your shots, but this expiration date is going in. The question is, I don't even have to be concerned about the moves that you're making. What moves have God called us to make? What moves have God called us to make as the remnant? Because God's going to raise up a remnant and we're remnant by grace. It's by God's grace that we're still here. It's by God's grace that we're still standing.

57:27 But that's the remnant that he will use to change things. And that's what we can get excited about. Because pastor said when we feel down, God is up to something. And that trouble doesn't last always. And if you can't hold on to anything else, hold on to the idea that it's a remnant. That we are called his remnant by grace. We already know how this is going to turn out. So you can hold on and you can keep your joy. which is why I'm saying you get frustrated sometimes when people take pot shots at you when you think people are betting against you but the the secret joy the thing that you can hold on to is I'm God's remnant and in a minute he's going to turn it around you can keep talking you can keep hitting you can keep um you know doing whatever you want to do but God's going to turn it all around because I know I'm his remnant I belong to him and he's going to make it well and that's what we can celebrate. And I just wanted to, to come and bring that back around, um, to the joy and what they celebrated that God will change things. And that's what, and it's like a dream.

58:32 And when God restored them, he didn't restore them with just what, what, what they lost. God always gives more, um, um, for the trouble. Amen. All right. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the teaching. We thank you, uh, for your grace, um, that saves. We thank you for your love. We thank you that we are the remnant. And Lord, so we just want to align ourselves. We just want to be in your presence. We want to be next to you.

59:00 Use us to transform, to change, to rebuild, to fortify, to reset all the things. When we find ourselves down, we thank you, God, that you're up to something. Thank you for how you save. Thank you for calling us and first planning out our lives and then purposing us in the kingdom so that you may be glorified. We thank you, God, for all that we were able to hear, all that we've been able to experience, all that we've been able to learn and to pull, that you are God and you're good. so Lord thank you for allowing us to get our groove back by what how we reflect on you through prayer through experience through your word how we know you thank you for allowing us to get our groove back thank you for being God thank you for being good you be glorified through your remnant in the name of your son Jesus we pray amen okay amen so um so now we'll just take the moment uh we may all be family in the room but there may be somebody online or somebody here in the space that we don't want to take um for granted that you may have come and you don't know about being a part of god's remnant you're not at peace you're searching you're hurting you feel down um you feel lost and so we want to invite you to either call the number that you see on the screen or if you're in the room and you're not a part of God's family you're not a part of the remnant you can come down now and you don't ever have to wonder whether or not you'll see God for yourself face to face um ever again uh because when God saves you nobody can take you out of his hands so you can place yourself in God's hands today, whether you're in the room or whether you're online, you can like that call now.

1:00:56 And so God, we thank you for the opportunity to hear your word. We thank you for the opportunity to say yes to you. There's anybody in the room that may be wrestling, anybody that's online that may be wrestling. God, we pray that you stir it up in them until they say yes, until they dial the number or till they come down the aisle, continue to cover, continue to keep, and let them see how you have been God in their circumstance and situation and we thank you for the remnants that you're still calling and we thank you for the change that's coming to your people in due time in the name of your son Jesus we pray amen amen well give God praise for the ones in the house that are saved let's give God praise for those that are saved and now you can keep clapping because it's offering time it's offering time it's offering time thank you that's exciting and here are all the ways that you can give that are on your screen you can text to give 972-294-19 it's a privilege to be able to give givelify app we have a givelify app you don't have it download it and you can give through the app we have a give online church app you can give online through the church app at friendshipwest.org and it's fwbc app what a blessing that we're growing um that we can do these things there's a qr code that you can scan and give that way and for those of you that are in the house you can give in the house and so we thank you for that thank you for all the ways that you are obedient and give to the work that goes on because it is much um that god is allowing us to continue to do so we thank you in advance and praise god for your obedience and now there's but one announcement so i won't hold you one announcement are you ready drum roll you already know what it is transforming life revival is here I know y'all were just sick when we had to put it on hold for a moment but it is here and so if you are yet just holding on then this revival is about to shift everything and we're

1:03:05 about to go high so it is starts on Sunday and it goes through Wednesday so please join us online call your friends if you anywhere in the vicinity get in this house because it's gonna be fire and that's a fire you don't mind catching amen so transforming life this week okay we're good yeah he said the won't he won't he man won't he won't yes he will all right let's stand to our feet and thank god for what god has done God, you are amazing. You are good. Thank you for what we've been able to experience, what we've been able to hear.

1:03:54 Thank you for those of us that are getting our groove back and those that are still trying to dance to the blues. We pray that your spirit will fill them. As Pastor said, not in their soul, but their soul, that they are soul, that we are souls. So God, I pray that you would fill the souls of those that are still down and get them here to revival. We thank you that revival is coming. But thank you for the privilege of just today, of the victories of today, of the joys of today, of the visions of today. Thank you, God, for saving, for keeping, for covering, for loving. Now may the God of peace who brought us up from the dead of our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood. May he equip us, may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May God produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ everything that is pleasing to him.