at this time we're going to begin to worship god in spirit and in truth amen and after worship comes the word of god amen so at this time let's just begin to praise him [Music] jesus let brazes rise from the inside from the in the inside in the inside of me come fill my life from the inside from the inside [Music] from the inside from the inside of [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] me [Music] send me [Music] from the inside from the inside of me is [Music] is [Music] [M
usic] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] be glorified be glorified be glorified be glorified be glorified be glorified [Music] be be glorified be glorified be glorified [Music] so let praise his rise from the inside from the inside of me maybe [Music] my [Music] [Music] is [Music] for you [Music] for you [Music] [Music] is [Music] thank you [Music] thank you i can be more like him as i sit in his presence we thank you this morning we're glad for all those that are joi
ning us through streaming this morning this is abiding faith christian church where my pastor's pastor john has escort and i'm rather stubbs and i'll be sharing the word with you this morning uh thanking god for an opportunity to come before you share what god has placed on my heart today so if you would just bow your hands with me and we'll go to him with words of prayer lord we thank you lord we thank you lord and we pray lord let your faith arise on the inside of us that we can be even more l
ike you that we can be the vessels that you're calling us to be and even as the word goes forth this morning god i pray that you open the hearts and the spirits of your people that they will be changed for the better god that they will be and become the vessels that you want us to be oh we come against the enemy today we cancel all of his assignments and purposes all as the ways and he tries to influence your people and send deliverance to them send enlightenment today lord send help today send
healing today whatever you want to you today learn let the faith arise on the inside of us that we can be even more like you in jesus name we pray amen amen thank you for joining us today as i said this is the fighting page where my pastor's pastor john escort and glad that i have an opportunity to share with you today um the blessings of the lord make rich it says and ask no sorrow i want to thank reverend stokes this morning for such a beautiful word on the radio broadcast so well done and how
um it just connected so much with what guy had given me to share so i was like wow uh okay guys so i'm on the on the right track but one thing that she talked about is that we need each other to survive we need to have one another in our lives so she said don't let someone or your own thoughts keep you from the blessing and that was definitely a word that resonated with me about the importance of loving one another and not letting things come up that causes us to be disconnected because he talk
ed about that importance of connection this morning and sometimes we let those little things those things that the enemy brings the things that the flesh brings to pull us down um and it's i've heard just saying it's easier to deal with clean water than dirty water okay it's easier to deal with water when it's clean than water when it's dirty and sometimes when we let those things come in whether it's pride or unforgiveness or bitterness we can muddy the waters we can muddy the waters in our rel
ationships and some definitions of muddying the water is introducing something typically information to an issue or situation that's not clear causes confusion moneying the water introducing something typically it's an inflammation um an issue or situation that doesn't make it clear but causes more confusion and what we don't want to do as people of god in the body of christ or with family we don't want to muddy the waters with unrelated issues okay we don't need to continue to focus on somethin
g that's already passed okay but we have to learn how to let those things go don't confuse and complicate issues that don't need to be brought up amen okay our 2022 theme is an abiding faith looking beyond the scene and we know that we may have had some experiences in the past with people and relationships that may not have all been good okay and that's not only in the past but maybe even this year and some of those things may have been very painful and can lead to unforgiveness and bitterness a
s we go through this new year and we definitely don't want that within our families and we definitely don't want that within the body of christ we want to address things differently and god told us how we're supposed to address things within the body of christ one thing we're supposed to go to that brother and that brother alone to get that thing straight but the most important thing is that you let go and you begin all right i'm not saying it's easy to let go of those things that have happened
within your family line or things that have happened among the body of christ but the more that we let go of those things the more we're going to be blessed as reverend stokes shared this morning don't let your own thoughts or let someone keep you from the blessing today so the book that came to mind while i was preparing for the word was obadiah have you ever read the book of obadiah okay over die is the shortest book almost the shortest book i won't say it's the shortest one but close to the s
hortest um in the old testament after amos and before jonah it's a little book in there called obadiah okay and i'm just going to give you just a little background history of how god was dealing with um obadiah the children of israel at that time due to some things that happened in the past um both israel and eden go back to the common ancestry of isaac this story starts out with isaac who had two sons and you all know the story the sons were jacob and he's all right and jacob was the youngest s
on which stole the birthright of the oldest brother what esau esau was very angry at that time and he was promising to kill jacob so jacob granted fear of his life but one thing that was such a blessing later in the story is that the brothers became reunited and they forgave each other and they forgot about the situation so later as they separated esau came from that family of the and jacob was from the family of the israelites okay they were two brothers that forgave each other but family membe
rs didn't hey come on okay and they couldn't move beyond that point of history of when their brother or their uh or uncle whoever esau was got his birthright stolen now the scriptures share that both esau and jacob were blessed god was going to bless them jacob was going to get the greater blessing but it wasn't that esau was not going to be without blessings but he was blessed also but the family [Music] didn't let go of knowing that he saw birthright was stolen so this led to an issue between
the and the israelites that were family okay have you been holding something against somebody in your family whether it's the body of christ or a blood family member well and it's distracting you as reverend stokes said from your present blessings and some things god wants to put in your hand now that you don't have because you're holding on to stuff you shouldn't let go up he can't fill you with nothing with stuff your hands are already full come on that's the more that you're stopping your lis
t so we're going to read a little bit about the and the israelites and what was happening during that time and how god was trying to help them get to a point of forgiveness um and how he said i'm gonna deal with you a certain way because of how you're dealing with each other and that's something god will deal with you a certain way because of how you dealing with each other okay he said if you don't forgive guess what i can't forgive you all right so he will deal with you according to how you're
dealing with each other all right so i'm going to use the nlt version and the contemporary english version but whichever version you have this morning we're going to just review the obadiah real short book but such great information to help us in 2022 to be blessed okay so i'm going to do everytime at 1 verses 1 3 and this is the contemporary english version the lord god proclaims concerning edom have you heard a message from the lord a messenger has sent among the nations rise up let us rise u
p against her for battle look now i will make you a little importance among the nations you will be totally despised why because i'm holding on to all right your proud hearts has tricked you has your pride tricks you that you justify your wrong that you justify your hurt that you justify why you're holding all the stuff you should let go of he said your proud heart has tricked you and you live in the cracks of the rock whose dwelling is high above you who say in your heart who will bring us down
to the ground were in a place of refuge they had rocks all around them that protected their city okay and they were like hey nothing gonna happen to us we don't care we're holding on to stuff because nobody can get to us so that was their thought pattern at that time though you saw like eagles though your nest is set among the stars i will bring you down say it's the lord so sometimes you think you got it all together because you know i'm prospering now you think you're prospering but you're no
t getting all that god has for you and you think you're in a secure place and god says but you haven't forgiven your brother you haven't forgiven that sister you haven't forgiven that aunt you haven't forgiven that uncle you're still holding all this stuff and i got to bring you down so that you can understand and so going back to that point for the it was pride that's what's keeping them under okay so it's pride keeping you from forgiving that family money you say that they hurt you they you sa
y that they didn't love you like they should have and just always remember when you're holding on to that hurt to that pain to that pride it only hurts you crying hurts you okay christ is gonna take you under if you're the one with the pride you know don't try to put it on the other person well if someone so didn't treat me this way i wouldn't have this it don't matter god does not like pride that's one thing that he says i do not like you want to make me mad have some pride okay so in proverbs
13 10 and this is nlt tell us a little bit about pride and it said pride leads to conflict those who take advice is wise and the easy read version says pride causes arguments but those who listen to others is wise [Music] the only effect of pride that comes about is fighting arguments but wisdom is with the quietest spirit that's how the basic english bible says it the only effect of pride is fighting but wisdom is in the quiet in the spirit and proverbs 16 verses 18 through 19 it says and this
is one we quote a lot we love this one i do too but i still have to watch the pride okay pride goes before destruction destruction and hardiness before a fall so that's what the were at this point right now because they were like oh we protected we're living in a good place we got all this refuge around that's nothing gonna happen to us and god says i'm ready to pull you down and the only reason i'm doing it is because of your pride so pride goes before destruction and hottiness before a fall an
d verse 19 of that proverbs proverbs 16 19 says better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the pride so you know they were like oh we're doing well man we are in these rocks nobody gonna bother us and god was saying because of your pride i gotta bring you under it's bad enough when we treat our enemies wrong and god says you know you're not supposed to even do that we're supposed to work pray for our enemies right we pray for their deliverance but it's definitely wrong when y
ou treat your own family wrong all all right and the body of christ is like rolling stone said this morning is your family also so it's not just a blood family all right it's all those that are connected with you okay the body of christ and everyone else so we have to watch that spirit it's a deceptive spirit that pride cause it'll make you think you're doing right when you are all wrong uh scriptures also say where do fights and arguments come from they come from your own selfish desires that a
re inside of you so that's why you know it's it's bad when we try to justify and say because someone's so so nasty that's why you know i can't forgive god says no because whenever pride comes he said it's because of what's in you right not what's in the other person so you can't justify it by saying because of them i'm this way okay [Music] uh how can you say you love god that you've never seen all right but you hate your brother he's saying you a christian they know that we are christians but i
love we love singing that song too but then you gotta apply it just like we apply the blood to our sins you gotta apply it you gotta apply this word to your situations whatever you're experiencing out there i don't care if you have a family member that argue all the time god says watch what's in you because it's your pride that's gonna bring you down so we still have to watch that we have to be careful of how we're dealing with each other and how were you speaking out your mouth i wish they fai
led they make me so mad i hope they don't get that money watch what you are speaking out of your mouth because death and life is in the power of will my time all right you have a lot of power in that mouth so be very careful of what you are sharing even when you speaking you think you whisper it to your your friend or your other family member i just can't stand up watch it because god hears he sees and he knows all so he didn't miss one beat even though you said you were whispering god saw it al
l all right it didn't get past god at all all right so let's read another part of obadiah it's an interesting book isn't it we want to all gain what god has for us we all want to be blessed we want to get all the blessing right you don't just want a partial blessing we we want a lot okay so let's read through um obadiah five through nine and like i said i'm doing nlt but whatever version that you have if thieves approach you in robbers by night how you've been devastated wouldn't they steal only
what they wanted if those that gather grapes came to you will they leave some grapes how esau has been looted his treasures taken away all those who were allies have driven you to the border those who were on your side tricked you and triumphed you they are sending your own bread as a trap under you but you don't even see it coming won't i on that day saith the lord destroy the wise from eden and understanding from mount visa your warriors will be shattered timon and everyone from out esau will
be eliminated so they had a strong army too okay they had some things going for them they had the refuge of the rocks but they also had a strong um a team of warriors that would fight for them and would be there for them and god says oh you think they can't take your grapes you think they can't get into your borders but he said i can eliminate it all good so god said i can take all of this down you you just don't know that i can do this so you just need to pay attention to what's going on aroun
d you what's happening in the natural is something that already happened in the spiritual right it's something that you may not be doing and sometimes it just takes like we shared in a bible study it takes repentance turning around acknowledging you that you were wrong sometimes it's hard for us to acknowledge we'll justify are wrong but sometimes it's just hard for us to acknowledge you know i was wrong i did i treated honestly really bad that wasn't right that wasn't right guy but we'd rather
say cuz she's so mean she make people respond like that no no wrong answer okay wrong answer you you have to see where you are because he said pride starts in you so you got to ask god help me because i'm not seeing this right yeah so-and-so is is a list okay they're a mess and god got to deal with them where they are but let god deal with you too on the inside and get those things straight so we're going to see how edom's misdeeds cause them to not prosper so verse 10 and 11 says because of the
slumber and violence done to your brother jacob shane will cover you and you will be destroyed forever so this was a time where jacob was going or the children of israel was going through something at that time and the edom night weren't even willing to help their own brother but they stood against them and god said because of that guess what you're going to be destroyed also he said you stood nearby strangers carried you shouldn't have even looked on his suffering on the day of his disaster yo
u shouldn't have stolen his possession in the day of his distress so he says you saw when the stranger came in against that arm against that uncle that didn't treat you right and you didn't do that you didn't pray you like she deserved that you deserved that but you didn't do anything to stand to make that thing better and that's what the were doing to the children of israel that when the enemies came against them they just stood back in their pride and say goodbye because they stole esau's bles
sing all right 14 you shouldn't have waited on the rose to destroy his escapees that's how bad they were they didn't even just watch while the enemy came in to try to destroy their brothers and sisters but even the ones that were trying to get out of the violence they came and they waited for them on the roads and handed over the survivors wow to the enemy wow that's how that's how prideful they were that's how prideful they were okay 15 and the day of the lord is near against all the nations as
you have done so it shall be done to you you're going to reap what you do you're going to read what you sow so even though you think oh i got that back you're gonna reap what you saw he said what was done will be done to you your actions will make you suffer i always remember that you read what you saw and you told the your actions that's going to make you suffer 16 just as you drunk on my holy mountain so will all the nations around you drink they will drink and swallow quickly and they will b
e like they've never been before don't blame others or declare yourself a victim when you have a disagreement that's not how god told us to operate okay don't play the victim because i saw it so nasty sometimes that's true but do what you can to restore the relationship and get it right don't just say oh they did me so wrong and i deserved to be this hurt and had his pride in my heart because of them that says no because the invites not only watched while their brothers were defeated but even th
ose that were trying to escape they took them to the enemy and that that's pretty mean that's pretty mean for something that's already been forgiven the brothers already forgave each other but they're still holding on okay you'll read what you saw so let's go through 17-21 on mount zion there will be those who escape and you and it will be holy and the house of jacob will drive out those who drove them out the house of jacob will be a fire the house of jacob joseph of flame the house of esau you
're going to be destroyed this time because you watched your brother get defeated and didn't help they will burn them up completely and there will be no one left in the house of esau for the lord has spoken those of the arab southern plains will possess the mountain he saw this mount that they thought was so protected he said enemies gonna come in and take it and those of the western footholds the lands of the philistines they shall possess the land of ephraim and the land of samaria and benjami
n will possess gilead so he's given all their stuff away that they once had that they thought they were so blessed with those who remain of the israelites will possess the land of the canaanites and separate will possess the cities of the arid southern plains the deliverance will go up to mount zion to rule mount esau and the kingdom will be of the lords all right so the as we see kept holding things back against children of israel because of what esau went through his birthright got sold he sai
d he was giving it away for that little bean soup right he got some bean soup and said no you take this and we know that jacob got that blessing but later the brothers resolved that issue and they basically forgave each other i don't know if you all remember the um it's a story about the mccoys the hatfield and the mccoys hatfield the mccoy is one of the oldest and well-known family feuds in american history they were once close friends before the civil war but after the civil war as a returning
to their homes a feud broke out over a dispute over a pig where the pigs belong to the mccoys or to the hamptons and since that time the few continued for 30 long years of people fighting because of a pig and they said the most important thing in the story is that other people came into the fight from the different signs and didn't even know what the fight was about [Music] they were just like oh we want to fight you know and they didn't even know the reason is because of a pig okay and they we
re fighting over this issue for 30 long years they finally came to a truce in 2003. wow my lord thank god for the truth but look how long it took to get there because they wanted to hold on to it guys they wanted to hold on to it that's not good that's not good so let's read a little bit more and this may be about the same because 10 talks about the slaughtering violence done to you jacob to your brother jacob the shame will cover you um you stood by while you know your brother so he's repeating
it again and foreigners came into the gate and you were like one of the enemies to your brother but you should take no pleasure over your brother on in the day of his misery that shouldn't have made you happy that the enemy came in to destroy your brother you should never rejoice over the people of judah on the day of the devastation you shouldn't have bragged god says over their hardship so they weren't just being mean and nasty they were bragging oh that's good for them i'm so glad the enemy
got him and then we got the ones that were trying to escape and took them to the enemy so they were pretty bad um leviticus 19 verses 17 through 18 says don't secretly hate any of your neighbors but tell them openly what they've done wrong so he's teaching about forgiveness so that you will not be just as guilty of sin as they are i'll repeat that one again this is leviticus 19th chapter verses 17 through 18. don't secretly hate any of your neighbors but tell them openly what they have done so t
hat you will not be just as guilty of the sin as they are 18 forget about the wrong things people do to you and trying to get even love your neighbor as yourself i am the lord all right all right so one thing when we try to handle things on our own we usually mess up god told us what vengeance is mine and he told us how to treat one another he told us to forgive okay forgive and forgive um and we need to make sure we give those things to god ephesians 3 verses 31-32 says let all bitterness wrath
anger clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and then 32 tells us as people of god because it's a family affair whether it's blood family or whether it's family in the body of christ it says be kind one to another what we're supposed to be tenderhearted forgiving one another even ask god for christ that has worked given you and first peter 3 8 says this finally all of you be of one mind having compassion for one another love as brothers not only be tenderhearted but be co
urteous [Music] be courteous we are the body of christ we are the people of god all right so we need to work together and whatever the argument might have been whatever the situation may have been i'm asking you to let those things go we need each other to survive and don't let your thoughts or what somebody else has done keep you from the blessing amen let's pray lord i just thank you for this word today i thank you for helping us to recognize well we may not get it right when we may hurt help
help ourselves to our the vengeance on our own and not allow you to take care of our circumstances i pray that you deliver us i pray that you heal our hearts i pray that you make us more like you on the inside from the inside of us make us more like you let that faith of god arise where we can forgive our enemies we can forgive our friends we can forgive our family members we can forgive and we can accept the things that you told us to do to love one another to care for one another to be compass
ionate to one another oh god and we just thank you this day for helping us to understand it's all about us and we need to work with each other in order to straighten those circumstances out but help us to let go if you got something in your heart right now i just want you to cast your tear on god because he cares for you just cast it on he's willing to take care of it if there's something that you feel you need to repent of you can ask him right now god is willing to forgive you and help you thr
ough that circumstance where you can receive all the blessings if you're already full of hate he can't put a blessing on that if you're already full of bitterness he can't put his blessings on that you're gonna have to let it go and lo allow god to heal you and deliver you from that earth and there may be some online or even in the building maybe you've been bitter against god you're angry at god because god didn't do it the way you wanted him to but maybe it's because you've never given god a c
hance but i want you to give him a chance today and accept christ in your life and all you have to do is just repeat after me and say lord i repent of my sins and i ask you jesus to come into my life and make me whole where i have been broken because of her because of words because of what has been done of youth lord heal me now make me whole and fill me with your holy spirit [Music] until you come again we thank you lord for salvation hallelujah we thank you for the blood hallelujah we thank yo
u for deliverance hallelujah we thank you for the word of god hallelujah that sharpens us and cuts off those ragged pieces that keeps us bound we thank you god for deliverance today lord and we pray your continued blessings as we continue to be a family and i helped one another in jesus name amen and i hope that you enjoy the word [Music] and don't let pride keep you from forgiving or repenting today but allow that person to be free and allow yourself to be free some hurt today know trauma isn't
easy abuse isn't easy but i'm telling you god will make your loan easier he said take my yoke take his note upon you all right and he will give you the peace and everything that you need today so today if you want to give them give down our website abiding faithfcc.org and you can get the offering we are doing um for those that may be in the gainesville area and you want to join us for our annual 47th anniversary celebration you're able to buy your tickets online this month is a special fourth
of june not fourth of july but july month special until the 31st our tickets from 18 and above is 45 but if you purchase it uh this month um you get five pounds off of each ticket that you uh purchased 17 and under 17 to 70 is 20 and then six and below is three but we thank you for joining us this morning and we pray god's blessings upon you and have a blessed day amen [Music] and you can begin to
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