Where are the saints who will remain?
Where are the ones who have decided that come hell or high water up decided that as for me and my house, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna serve the lord.
That the political landscape may change, that all those around us may change, that our financial situation may change, but no matter what happens around us.
We’ve decided that we have made a decision to follow Jesus It was September of 2008.
When a hurricane named Ike swept through.
Those of you that were around in 2008, you might remember that. Hurricane hike.
It caused extensive damage, particularly in Texas, 110 mile per hour winds, swept through and ripped through one town in particular that was most impacted.
It was called Gilcrest, It’s a little beachside town in Texas.
It’s a community that boasted about 200 homes, just a small neighborhood, mostly retired couples, who had gone there, moved there to this little shoreline community to enjoy a little peace and respite in that season of their life and just when they were looking for some peace, the storm came.
And the aftermath of Ike was devastating.
In fact, the people that had visited the site afterward said that it was nearly completely unrecognizable 24 hours later.
After the storm. The once populated neighborhood with brightly colored homes and detailed landscaping and green lawns and friendly sidewalks.
Now the neighborhood, they said didn’t really resemble a neighborhood at all. It looked more like a swamp.
It was almost completely desolate, just a muddied patch of ground.
There was almost nothing left except fragments of what once was, But the only thing that gave a slight nod to the history, the only landmark that gave evidence that there was once a community that existed the day before is that of the 2 hundred houses that had been there, only one remained.
199 of them had been wiped out by the storm, but there was one that was still standing.
I think we have a couple of images so that you can see the odd remarkable sight of this one house remaining standing after the store.
And oh, I wish I had time because if I had time tonight, I would just ask the question, what is it about this house?
That kept it standing when the storm wiped everything else out.
Because the truth is if I had time, I’d tell you about the owners who had been through previous storms, So they made the wise proactive decision to retrofit their house so that it would be prepared for future storms.
Oh, we could spend some time right there if we had time.
But rather, I would like for you to consider that shocking image that you just saw and think about how it not only plays for us a look at geographical landscape, but, honestly, sadly, if you think about it, it looks a whole lot like the land escape of some of our lives.
Because the truth is there’s a whole lot of people that started out on the journey with us, but now in these years we’re in right now, we look around us and realize that everybody ain’t building houses that are still standing.
That the truth is when we started out, made a commitment, maybe to follow Christ or made a commitment to see our marriage through to the end or that endeavor that the lord had entrusted to us or that ministry that he asked us to start.
Everybody had so much fervor at the beginning of the building project. But then the storm came.
And now we look around us and realize that everybody ain’t building houses that are built to last.
Lives that will go the distance. Where are the saints who will remain?
Where are the ones who have decided that come hell or high water I’ve decided?
That has for me and my house, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna serve the lord.
That the political landscape may change that all those around us may change that our financial situation may change, but no matter what happens around us, we’ve decided that we have made a decision to follow Jesus.
Where are the saints who will remain?
Why is it that it’s becoming harder and harder to find people who are playing all flat out faithful that have decided to follow Jesus that have decided there’s no turning back.
There’s no turning back. People are drifting away. Have you noticed? There are spouses who are leaving.
There are parents who are giving up.
There are dreamers who are throwing in the towel of a dream god put in their heart there are ministers who are quitting what they said was a calling.
How do you quit a calling? Many people are abandoning their faith.
They’re deacon instructing their faith to the point where what they have left doesn’t even look like faith anymore.
Where are the people who will remain?
Who will stay, who will plant their feet firmly and choose faithfulness.
And can I tell you the older and older I get y’all the less impressed I am with the famous?
And the more and more impressed I am with the people who are just playing all flat out faithful.
They may not be famous, but they’ve remained. They may not be rich, but they’ve remained.
They may not be applauded, but they’ve remained.
They may not have best selling books or millions of followers on around, but they ain’t concerned about that.
They try to be steadfast, movable, and always the bounding of the work of the lord.
We need some people who are just just faithful, not comparing themselves with somebody else’s house Not wondering whether or not their house looks good compared to the other people’s house around them.
No. This is the house. The lord hasn’t trusted to me.
And so I’m gonna make sure this foundation is firm.
And I’m gonna make sure that the scaffolding on this house is solid, and I’m gonna make sure that I have a house that is still standing.
So I came to encourage you to stay to remain, to be faithful.
What is it that god has called you to do?
Only you know the assignment that he is entrusted to you, the ministry that you know he has called you to start, that you feel ill equipped for.
You feel like you’re not gifted enough, not talented enough.
So you’ve delayed doing what god has asked you to do, and you’ve thought maybe you’ll throw in the towel because you tried it for a little while, but it doesn’t seem like it’s flourishing or growing.
So you’re just about to throw in the towel. I came to tell you to stay.
The entrepreneurial that got us birthed in your heart, the marriage, the relationship that he has entrusted to you, the parents, the teenagers, Lord have mercy that the lord has entrusted us to parents.
I came to tell you, don’t throw in the towel now, sis. Stay.
And maybe it’s just, you know, 1 or 2 of you that are in the room or on the other side of the screen till I lost thing you just said to the lord this week that if you don’t show up and do something real specific to encourage me, to let me know that you will never leave me nor forsake me lord.
I feel so isolated and alone and abandoned and confused And if you don’t do something, god, I’m getting ready to throw in the towel.
Well, the lord sent me all the way over from Dallas, Texas to tell you to stay, remain be faithful.
Not in that situation that maybe is unhealthy and with with wise council, you do need freedom from there or situations like that, but a lot of times y’all, we’re just abandoning stuff because we’re tired.
We’re just abandoning stuff because, you know, it’s gotten difficult, and it has, and the storm has opened the cloud have opened up over our life.
The rain is fall fallen. The hail has fallen.
The winds are blowing hard against us, and so we’re about to throw in the towel but the spirit of the living god lives inside of you and inside of me to give us resolve that we do not have in our own strength and in her own power so that we can remain.
I came to tell you to stay. Be faithful.
What is the assignment the lord has entrusted to you?
Jerry and I had the opportunity to take our boys, um, some years ago to South Africa.
Um, we knew we were gonna go a year in advance.
So at the time, we were homeschooling the kids because they they just kinda traveled with us everywhere.
So I knew a year in advance, we would get the opportunity to go So we did everything we could to make it happen.
We were saving up money to make it happen.
I planned their schooling around the fact that we would be there So 6 weeks leading up to it, we were reading everything about South Africa and looking at the geography of South Africa, reading about Nelson Mandela and the apartheid movement because my whole goal was when we get there, we’re gonna go and try to see some of these things that you’ve only seen online or you’ve read little articles about.
So we’re gonna go try to see that stuff. I think they thought they were going there on vacation.
I was like, uh-uh, y’all got the wrong mama for that.
We’re halfway across the world. We’re gonna see this whole situation.
So every morning, you know, like, I had a plan, like, we’re gonna go and maybe go see table mountain today, or we’re gonna go take the little ferry across to Robin Island so you can see where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
Like, I wanted to milk it. And they were kinda like, oh, mom, can we stay in the bed today?
Absolutely not. You’re gonna get up.
You’re gonna come here and see what we’re gonna today, and you’re gonna enjoy it.
And one day, you’re gonna rise up and call me. Bless it is what you’re gonna do. Shucks.
Have you ever done that where you make your kids do something?
You’re like, you’re gonna be happy about it.
So one day, we did have to wake up, like, at the crack of dawn to get to a safari that was started.
We had to drive 2 hours outside of Cape Town to take a little half day safari.
So we woke up real early. We we did the drive. So glad we did. It was a great experience.
We got in this open jeep with a very bubbly, um, skilled, learned guide that stood at the front facing us the entire time pointing out animals, most of which we had only seen online.
So it was really cool to see some of them in person.
I remember when he came to a herd of Zebra, that I was thinking to myself, I hope he doesn’t stop very long here to talk about the Zebra.
Like, we’ve seen Zebra before, in the States. We don’t need a class on the Zebra.
But in the end, I was really glad that paused for a moment because he said something that I can’t forget.
He pointed out the Zebra, and he said, you see the little baby, the foal there with the herd.
He said, do you know this is the first time I’ve seen that baby in about 3 weeks?
And the reason why is because the stripes on every single Zebra are as unique to each one as fingerprints on human beings.
You can’t tell by the naked eye, but particularly the configuration that is right smack dab in the middle every forehead is unique to each and every Zebra.
So when a baby is first born, the mom will take the baby away from the herd by itself with just the mother for the 1st 2 or 3 weeks so that the baby gets to know the configuration of stripes that belongs to his mother.
And then after a few weeks, she’ll bring the baby back to the herd.
But now that the baby has spent so much time getting to know who his mother is, He is not confused by all the other stripes that he will now be around.
He can’t be duped.
He knows the configuration that below to his parent because he took time to get to know the one who gave birth to him.
The reason why when you’re in a fledgling stage, you need to come away and get to know who your daddy is, is because y’all, there’s a whole bunch of other stripes out here.
And if you don’t know that by his stripes, you are healed, then you and I live in a culture that is gonna try to play us for the fool.
That is gonna try to introduce to us a new modernized version of Jesus that doesn’t match up at all with the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
You’re gonna need to know who your daddy is.
You’re gonna need to know exactly who he is in the old testament and the new testament We have a generation of Christians today.
I gotta tell you that are growing up too fast. They’re skipping this stage right here.
They’re on their social media teaching bible study, and they don’t even know who their daddy is yet.
They haven’t even taken time to just get to know the god of Abraham have Isaac and Jacob to see what it was like when god went and hand picked Abraham out of her and changed his name to Abraham and changed the GPS coordinates on his destiny.
You need to know who the angel of the lord was when he met with a tired timid giddy and underneath an oak tree walk.
He was beating out wine in a winepress and called him the greatness and victory with a less than impressive army.
You need to know who he was in the book of Ruth when basically he silently orchestrated circumstances so that her story is a legacy for the record books.
You need to know who god was when he miraculously freed 2,000,000 Hebrew refugees and brought them through the wilderness and then into the land flowing with milk and honey.
You need to see god provide water from Iraq and cornflights from heaven and quail for his people so that they can eat You need to know what it was like when their shoes did not wear out on their feet because god provided for them and took care of them.
You need to know who your god was so that you can be confident in who he is.
And so I implore you sisters.
Don’t skip this stage right here.
This is the part that’s gonna make sure your house can stay standing because the foundation is firm so that when the culture tries to introduce to you a new advanced version of Jesus so you can look back at them and say, uh-uh.
That’s not who he is because I know who he was.
When they say he is silent against injustice or that he has a new modified lower standard for holiness.
You can say that’s not who he is because I know who he was.
Get to know who your savior is.
Take the time to just steep yourself in the scriptures so that you have a firm foundation for this house.
You might know what it’s like when you take your child to a pediatrician and, you know, our tendency when they’re little and not walking yet is to bounce them on their legs, you know, just kinda happily in our laps bouncing them up and down and have heard a pediatrician say before that, man, it could be very dangerous, actually, to put too much weight on their legs too soon because their bones are still soft and malleable.
And, actually, if there’s too much weight on them too soon, too soon, it could cause just slidest of distortion in their spine that you can’t detect or see when they’re young.
It’s just when they get older, there might be a slight imbalance in the way their hips adjust because there was too much weight put on them too soon.
So I’m telling you when they’re in when you’re in the fledgling stage, allow yourself to be there, remain there until god releases you.
Because oftentimes, you can’t tell till somebody grows up.
That there’s a limp in their integrity, that there’s a lapse in their character, that they have no fortification in their spiritual backbone, because they didn’t take time just to get who to know who their daddy was.
So if you find yourself in a fledgling stage, I implore you don’t grow up too soon.
Go ahead and just relax there until god releases you. Great. Because infancy is for intimacy.