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Go To Sermons: Part III: Grace For Them? (The Power of Grace and Truth) [Grace Like A Flood Part 7]

keeshonpatrick

Before I begin, I pray that each of these words, are used to build His Kingdom. If you are moved by this know that it was not me, but the God within me. I pray that people realize that the condemnation of others, cannot stop the Grace of God. This is one for those people who think their actions are excluding them from God’s Grace, Lord please help them see otherwise. Amen.

What is God’s Grace?

Grace is a gift from our Heavenly Father, given through His son, Christ. It is the enabling power and spiritual healing offered through the mercy and love of Christ.

Those who believe, are saved by Grace. We cannot be better people, in hopes of receiving more Grace. It is unmerited, meaning that NOTHING we do is able to give us Grace. (Ephesians 2:8-9) God’s Grace is sufficient, it is everlasting. It is His Grace that covers our sins, that gives us the opportunity to get it right after sinning. If it was not for His Grace, I would be on a one-way train to hell. Honestly, if God was like us, then we would only have about two opportunities to get it right. If we do not figure it out within those two chances, then we would be given up on… BUT THAT IS NOT OUR GOD.

In this sermon, Pastor Mike, comes from John 8. In this chapter of John, there is a woman, brought in by the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. She had been caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses says that, because of her actions she should be stoned. The people that brought her, thought that Jesus, would be on their side and be eager to make an example out of her in order to keep the law.

BUT HIS GRACE!

As they are questioning Christ, he bends down and begins to write on the ground with his finger. He then said to them, “Let anyone of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” In this moment, we see the Grace of God. Jesus knew that he was the only one in the room that never sinned. He knew that, if the people in that room were honest with themselves, then there would not be a stone thrown. Just think about the scene. Jesus is trying to teach, only to be interrupted by a group of people accusing a woman of committing adultery. Apparently, they only found her in the act, because there was no other party being accused. Jesus uses the woman, that was supposed to be shamed upon, as proof that even she deserved His Grace. That even she, at what is probably her lowest moment, is covered by His Grace.

This is another example of our intentional God! Christ does everything with a purpose, on purpose. As we understand this maybe we will be less fearful of people who want to throw stones.

The truth is in our lives, we have many people who love us and want the best for our lives. At the same time, we also have people who do not loves us and are waiting on our demise. We have people who are ready to throw stones, for every mistake that we make. The beautiful thing about all of this, is that we serve a God, who is not afraid to protect us from those stones. We serve a God that will not put on us, more than we can bear. What does that mean?

Even if a stone does hit you, God knew that you could handle it!

Now put that into your everyday life. You got fired from your job, he already knew that you could handle it. You got broken up with by your significant other, he knew you could handle it. You got some bad news that you were trying to avoid, HE KNEW YOU COULD HANDLE IT. GOD KNEW THAT YOU COULD AND THAT YOU CAN HANDLE IT! Now you’re probably asking, but what if it I cannot handle it? What if it’s a boulder?

ALLOW HIS GRACE TO BE YOUR STRENGTH!

Again, our God is very intentional. So, that stone that you think is too large… is really just testing the confidence that you have in Him, to help you aid the pain. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Allow His Grace to be what you lean on no matter the situation. Even at your lowest point trust in God, that His Grace will cover you. Yes, there is even Grace for you, the (insert your problem).

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Go To Songs: Part I: What Would You Do(Live)[Feat. Isaiah Templeton]

keeshonpatrick

I want to start by thanking God for allowing me to witness this life-changing, faith-altering, demon-shattering song at the live concert. This song changed my expectation of praise and worship forever.

When I heard this song on January 15, 2020, I had no idea that it would turn into my first ever, blog post about music. I had no idea that it would be the turning point in my faith. I had no idea that it would create relationships, that help keep me on the right track. I had no idea the power that this night or song, would have on my life.

THIS IS WHAT I KNEW:

This song capped off one of the best nights of praise and worship, I had ever experienced. This song allowed me to witness a level of praise and worship, that I never knew could exist. It was the most energy that I had ever felt in a room before, and I have been to numerous concerts. Nothing compared to the energy in the room that night. I had never felt the presence of God, the way I did that night.

What would you do, if he walked into this room? I look to my left and right, and see people dropping to their knees. What would you say, if he walked into this room?” Screams begin to fill the room, “Jesus, Master, Oh God, Thank You Lord, and any other praises you could imagine.” With my hands raised and my head looking up, I begin to give praise like never before. If you were in the room with me, and you heard, “He’s here right now, the King is in the room. Your Healer’s in the room. Your Savior’s in the room. Your Provider’s in the room. Your Redeemer’s in the room. Your Champion’s in the room.” You had to feel chills all over your body, and most likely had to pinch yourself to make sure this moment was real. Then finally, you come to the realization that this is indeed real, and probably the best experience that you have ever been a part of.

Another thing I knew, was that I had to find out who that guy was that sung the covering of Christ onto us. Well his name is Isaiah Templeton, better known as Zeek. (@zeeksong on Instagram) A billboard Gospel Artist in his own rights., with hits like, Everything Will Be Alright. Zeek allowed his voice to be used to build the kingdom of Christ. I am blessed to have been able to hear Zeek sing on a few occasions at the Elevation Ballantyne location. Each time more of a blessing, then before. I would like to take this moment to personally thank him, for helping me grow within Christ.

You better sang Zeke!

Zeek, I want you to know that our very intentional God, knew that I needed to be in that room. He knew that you had to be the person to deliver that song, for me to get the deliverance I needed. Thank you for allowing God to use you. I truly believe that I am not the only one with this testimony. Now, that the album is out, I believe the you will be used to touch, change, and mold many lives. More than you could have ever imagined, before moving to Charlotte.

This moment was the beginning of my transformation. I knew that if God, could allow music to bless my spirit like that night. Then the blessings that I would gain from reading His word and watching sermons, would be endless. I was not wrong about that, because of this song being the spark plug for my fellowship with Christ, I have branched off to writing the words you are reading now.

When you are changing and growing, you try to find the moment that everything begins to click. That moment for me was this night. Ever since, January 15, 2020, I have been on a pure fire for Christ. Elevation Church, thank you for using the resources you have to grow the kingdom. You allow people to feel comfortable coming to church, as they are. Church is not a Christian hangout. Church is a hospital, that should be dedicated to saving and healing souls for the glory of God!

Please everyone who supports me, go download, stream, and buy; Graves Into Gardens by Elevation Worship. You will not regret this decision. Close your eyes and prepare your heart to praise God like never before.

Just me, worshipping to “Graves into Gardens.” The first time I ever lifted my hands in church.
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To Christ It Was Only A Nap

keeshonpatrick

Dear God, I want to thank you for putting this verse in my heart and mind. God please give me the words, so that this devotion will be a blessing. From this, may you get all the glory. Let’s remind people that to you, It Was Only A Nap! Amen

When you put into context the moments before these three scriptures, you will understand that this is a very different moment for Christ. Many of His miracles, were done for strangers and people that He had met along His journey of fulfilling His purpose. In this particular moment, the person who needed a miracle was one of His closest companions, Lazarus. Lazarus, was the brother of Mary and Martha, yes the same Mary that Christ showed himself to first once he had risen (that’s a sermon in itself). Christ was forced to come to the realization that his best friend was fatally sick, and the only way he would get better was through him.

What makes Christ, Christ?

In this moment, he knew and understood his power. He knew that He could heal Lazarus, while he was alive; Lazarus’ sickness would then cease. But what makes Christ, Christ is that he understood the opportunity of this moment. He knew that the timing of this miracle would be the key to how the story unfolded. And how the story unfolded, would then be the key to the glory that His father would receive. He knew that it was not enough for people to see Him heal the sick, but He needed people to see Him raise the dead. He knew that if they believed in Him, then they would believe in the Father.

This is what Christ is in our lives; The Bridge. He is our connection to God, which is why it is so vital to believe in Him. As my grandfather would say, let me give you some foundational truths. God is not one being. So when you read, John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. There is more than one person in this verse. God is three persons, the Holy Trinity to be exact. The greatest relationship to have ever existed, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You cannot believe in one without the other. In fact, once you know this, scriptures even read differently. Trust me I had to reread the entire John, because of this very reason. What I came to understand from this, is why Christ seemed so eager to win souls. He knew that He was the bridge (the way) to the Father. He knew that if you believed and loved Him, then you believed and loved the Father and also the Holy Spirit. He also knew if you believed and loved Him, then the Father and the Holy Spirit would love you too. Christ was that conscience of His purpose, and He is that important to our faith. (John 3:16-17)

Now this leads us back to the verses for today. Christ, waited 4 days before going to see about his best friend, Lazarus. Once again a very intentional move by the God we serve. This was a moment for His disciples to see His true power. Lazarus was dead, but to Christ It Was Only A Nap.

How many of us need a brother like that? Someone that can bring back to life, the things that you thought were dead. Someone who cares enough about you; that they go into a place that they are unwanted just to meet your problem. That’s the God, we serve.

Now let’s really touch everyone’s situation. See many of us are needing Christ to bring our joy back to life, to bring our relationships back to life, our finances back to life, our faith back to life, and for some of us we just need ourselves to be brought back to life.

If that did not fit your situation, then you fill it in, “I need God to bring my _______ back to life.”

You know the saying, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!” Guess what? There is GREAT NEWS… He sees your struggles and you are not alone. He sees the things that you are needing Him for, and He knows that only He can do it… BUT!

Can you be patient? Are you okay with him waiting, until he can get the largest amount of glory out of your struggle? I know that we want our thorn removed, but so did Paul. I know we feel like we cannot make it unless he brings our finances back to life, but just try to keep the faith. He is working it out so that he can get all the glory. Do you know what that means for you? Well, let’s just say that when God is getting the glory, then something great must have happen for you. Something life changing must have occurred. For example, CoVid-19 was supposed to kill the things I wanted to do in 2020, but somehow it brought me new life (This Blog). Remember, what we think is dead… To Christ It Is Only A Nap!

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Go To Sermons: Part II: Fading Faith (Crazy Faith Part 19)

keeshonpatrick
“It’s Only Crazy, UNTIL IT HAPPENS.”

Before I get going, I pray that he allows my words to be plain, and easily understandable in hopes to bless your life. I hope that if you are struggling with faith or any doubts, that this will feed your spirit. Each word typed is not me, but the God within me. May he get all the glory. Now, let’s get rid of that Fading Faith.

Let’s start here: What is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see.”

Faith is CONFIDENCE in Christ.

There is a certain walk a person has when they are walking with confidence. Most of the time it’s; chin up, chest high, and an exuberance that is unshakable. Most of us build our confidence on positivity. Things like a raise at your job, a compliment, or getting a good grade. Only if the feelings from these things could last forever, BUT let’s be real.

The truth is, many of us are not as confident and in return, we lack faith. Now, I am not saying that you have to be confident in yourself, in order to have faith in Christ; actually I am saying the opposite. If you have faith in Christ, then there is no reason why you should not have faith in yourself. His grace alone is sufficient enough, for you to believe that he will never leave you, nor forsake you. To make it plain, because of his grace God will not give up on you. If you know that you serve a God like that, why is it so easy to lose faith?

Maybe it’s because our expectations of what Christ should be doing, does not match His will. Let’s break that sentence down by using everyone’s FAVORITE verse, Romans 8:28. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Now here is the reality pill of this verse, number one “In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” Pastor Mike poses the question, “What happens when the thing that you were believing in him for does not happen?” This made me think of a few questions of my own. Do we actually love him or do we love what he does for us? Do we love him when we are going through our valley? Why am I asking these questions? Well, mainly because we think that we love him all the time, but when we are honest, we will probably notice, that the only time we truly love him is when everything is going well in our lives. That’s when we have the most confidence (faith) in Christ, when he is answering every prayer or raining down every blessing we asked for. That is when many of our faith is the strongest. It does not take faith to believe that everything that is good is God, but it does take faith to believe that He’s using the bad things to fulfill our purpose, just as much as the good things.

Reality pill number two, “who have been called according to His purpose.” You know the things you want for yourselves, but he knows the things that you NEED. So, if you do not have something that you want, that may not mean that he is punishing you. It might mean is that it does not fit into the Will of God! So, maybe instead of holding it against God, thank him for saving you from something that you may not be ready for. Stop losing faith in God, for not having something that is supposed to be in the next chapter of your life. Little do we know, if we stop writing our book at our disappointments (at our moments of Fading Faith), then we will never allow ourselves the opportunity to write our testimonies.

Now that we have defined faith, let’s talk about the cure to Fading Faith!

In this video, from 43:00-1:16:00, you get to see Transformation Church, giving to different charities, churches, communities, families and staff members. When I watched this for the first time, my faith was not low or fading. My faith was actually in a decent place, yet within these moments I felt something brewing inside of me. Something that I had never felt at that capacity before. Something that instantly felt contagious.

SEEING OTHER PEOPLE GET BLESSED, WAS BLESSING ME.

It was at this moment that I realized the cure to fading faith. The cure is when you can get just as excited for the blessing that you witness other people receive, as you can get for the blessings that you receive. I begin to shed tears, watching these lives get changed and watching these people receiving blessings that they could have only obtained by having Crazy Faith. But I begin to bawl, when I realized that if God can bless them, then he can also do the same for me.

“It’s only crazy, until it happens.”

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Go To Sermons: Part I: Stop Holding It

keeshonpatrick
RELEASE! LET IT GO! DROP IT NOW! STOP HOLDING IT!

Before I start writing this, I pray that God anoints each word, to help you with whatever you are holding onto in your life. Do not be ashamed, I have been there before as well. I pray that He uses this to help you Stop Holding It. I pray that he gets all of the glory. Amen.

When you are trying to grow within Christ, you begin to notice things that pull you away from the purpose that He wants you to fulfill. Why do we struggle with letting go of these things that bring us so much pain?

For some of us that answer is simple. I cannot let go of that hurt, because I use it as the motivating factor for my life. There are many problems with turning pain into purpose. One problem that I have been facing, is realizing that I will never be able to overcome the pain if I keep using it as fuel. Imagine having a car that takes only premium gas, but you put regular gas in it. What does that regular gas do to your car as you continue to use it? Well, it eventually destroys the engine, but even worse while the car still works; it never gets the chance to reach its full potential. Why? Because the fuel is insufficient.

I am not sure about you, but many times I have allowed into my spirit; the heartbreak, the mistrust, and the judgement that I have received from others. I allowed each of those things to limit the capacity that I could live up to.

What this sermon allowed me to see, is where I was making my biggest mistake. I wanted to let it go… AT FIRST. Until I became comfortable with living with my dysfunctions and insufficiencies. So comfortable, that I stopped running from pain and started gravitating toward things that I knew would cause pain. I was in that dangerous place of holding onto everything from my past, while thinking that I left enough space to be able to get something positive out of my future. BUT, that’s not how life works, because what I thought I was holding eventually began to hold me back.

The mistake that I made was holding everything while still expecting to be able to catch blessings from God, even though my heart, soul, and hands were full. I was at a point that I started blaming God that nothing was improving in my life. I started going to those things that were holding back me more than I ever had. I started losing myself, and it became so bad that I remember the day that I told God, “I am letting it go. I will no longer do this alone. I will trust you and I know that you will fill the void of everything I let go. God, I promise you right now, that I will Stop Holding It.”

Here’s the truth though, even after you have given it to God, you still have your moments that remind you of your pain. You still feel those temptations trying to creep up on you, BUT the difference is now you are no longer fighting your battles alone. You are no longer focusing on those harmful things. You have mustard up the courage to be able to stay focused on Christ! So now, when someone or something tries to interrupt your focus; you know that you are protected by Christ. You know that you are covered.

Say it with me, “I KNOW THAT I AM PROTECTED BY CHRIST! I KNOW THAT I AM COVERED!

Now take time and gather your thoughts, and make a list of the things that you are holding. If it gets too painful then you tear that list up and make a vow with Christ, not me, that this is the last time that you will hold on to any of these things. “God I will Stop Holding It!“