Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those that you share it with.

God bless you.

Amen.

This morning, I have the privilege of turning the pulpit over to Pastor Brandon.

My family and I, we were out of town this week.

We got to enjoy the deaths in Florida, shark-free.

So I was great.

And God brought us back here in one piece, just with a few burns. on the face and stuff like that.

But so Pastor Brandon is going to bless us with the word this morning.

So Pastor Brandon, come up here, man, and feed the people this morning.

You know you're a gangster.

If you make that, just kidding, kind of.

God bless you.

How are we doing this morning?

Nah, I ain't doing good.

So how we doing this morning?

better than we deserve, right?

Amen.

All right.

Well, first off, good morning.

God bless you.

I'm going to try to do two things.

Be slow and stand still.

Those of you that know me are laughing.

It's not right.

But I want to first off say good morning and I want to thank Pastor Ryan for allowing me to come up here and share with you guys.

I do believe God has something he wants to say. and I'm just going to be obedient.

Amen.

I also want to say that when I get behind this pulpit, as I believe every person here currently servant does, they know the heaviness, they know the reverence behind it.

And it comes with a heavy heart, bless you, from the pulpit.

So I'm talking about it.

But it comes with a heavy heart.

And I'll share just one quick thing that happened this Saturday on prayer.

I'll be brief.

That's another, that's kind of another joke there.

So there was a, this pulpit was down here.

We had prayer on Saturday.

I'm not going to say we didn't see all of y'all, but I will be positive to say I've seen some of y'all.

I like that.

But anybody's welcome.

It's open.

I had my own agenda, what I was trying to do, being obedient.

And as I was doing it, I bumped this.

Pulpit. thoughts were not there.

My thoughts were on something else.

And I said, oh, I should pray for the pulpit.

Yeah.

So I placed, I'm like, that's a great idea.

So I placed both of my hands here.

But I don't know if it was God saying, well, look, you get behind here, there's a weight, and it's heavy.

And I want you to know that it's not because of Pastor Ryan or Pastor Danny, or even the Pastor Juan or the ones that came before them.

It's all in reverence to the Lord. it's all in respect and honor for him.

Amen.

So I just wanted to share that with you guys this morning.

All right.

I would say let's pray, but Pastor Ryan already prayed like, I think once.

I think once.

He prayed to get us started.

So I'm going to leave, well, let's pray for the word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.

We thank you for this opportunity.

We know there's things in the world that we can be focused on, but we're here in your house.

We're focused on your word.

We're focused on growing and knowing you, my God.

So I just ask these next few moments, Lord, we just focus. on what you're trying to do and just leave everything else outside.

Not even the storm, maybe even our own personal storms.

My God, let it be separate from us.

Let us be focused and attention to your spirit.

In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen.

All right.

So, I want to share a little bit of my testimony with you guys this morning as far as when I became a new believer.

The story of how it all came about, that's a whole other story.

That's pretty crazy.

But period, I want to talk about when I first became a new believer.

There's a lot of things I struggle with.

I struggle with obedience.

I struggle with pride.

The way I struggle with pride is I said there's, if you're a man in this house, falling to your knees usually means submission or a punk, right?

So I had a problem with going to my knees for anybody, much less something that I couldn't see.

So when I first started, God had to, humble me and it happened quick because I'll tell you right now if you don't do a pride quick it could do it could do bad things it stays there it's like cancer but I had a problem with with bowing and kneeling before something or someone that was not before me that not defeat me but I tell you what I hit both my knees I bowed my head and I surrendered because God is much more than I can ever be amen and I know some of you share that same story or maybe similar something similar, you know?

And it's great, and I'm thankful for it.

But I always remember having faith.

I don't know if it was because my mom, we weren't Christians growing up, but my mom, she believed in Jehovah.

I take it for granted.

My dad was Catholic.

My mom was something.

I really don't know what.

We were in the kingdom hall, Jehovah's Witnesses.

I was a hood hopper before I knew a hood hopping was.

I was church hopping.

So, as my mom was fault, I can't, you know, hey, I'm.

I'm sorry, I'm a mom.

She can't defend herself.

But, no, but she always instilled that she would always say Jehovah will have us.

Jehovah gases.

And I only knew Jehovah because those Jehovah's witnesses.

I know nothing about it.

But I've learned in my life just from hearing that, and this is the crazy part, just from hearing that.

This is something that kind of like revealed to me as I was getting ready.

I'm like, man, I've always had this mindset of it's going to be all right.

Like, I know there's storms.

I know there's battles, but it's going to be all right.

We're good.

My wife hates the fact that I'm like that.

She's like, no, no, there is a storm.

I'm like, bro, Mr.

Burrell sounds like a really nice old man who lives down the street from us.

You know?

But, and she's like, no.

And I'm like, hey, she's like, bro, I don't know what you're taking.

God just, I'm following him because I've always been like that.

Now, if it falls down around us and it's burning, I'm like, it's going to be all right.

We're going to get another house with me.

Whatever, God is going to meet the need.

And I've always had that and I'm thankful for it.

And I understand that it comes from the faith that my mom had. even though I don't know really if she was Christian, she just trusted Jesus regardless of that, right?

So, it's a little bit about me.

But what I want to also talk about is when I was coming here, I was around a lot of people who were seasoned or who knew the Word of God.

And I did not.

I came to the Lord when I was like 24 years old because I was like three years ago.

Just kidding.

No, I was like 24 years old, 25.

I was a know-it-all.

I wanted to know it all.

I was proud of the knowledge that I had.

When I came here, I didn't know what was being talked about.

I didn't understand it.

And what happened is I learned quickly, but I didn't learn correctly.

And that was a flaw that had haunted me for a long time afterwards.

Because what happened is when we started getting in real conversation and started doing things, I only knew surface level.

If I watch a basketball game or fight last night or whatever the case may be, I could be like, hey, yeah, man, last night was good, man, who was going to fight next?

I sound good, right?

I'm in our NFL fantasy football.

I kind of start watching it, you know, playing it.

And I'm like, all right, well, I can kind of hang in the conversations.

But once it starts getting too deep, I'm like, man, I don't know who that is.

So that's how it was.

I was just surface level.

I didn't know the depth, right?

And I want you to know that knowledge can exist without wisdom, but wisdom needs knowledge.

So it's crucial that you know you grow in knowledge.

But without wisdom, we're going to get to it.

Knowledge is information gained through reasoning, experience, or study of the scriptures.

Wisdom is the ability to judge what is right and true to apply knowledge properly.

Come on.

And like I said, this hurt because when I got into conversations, I had knowledge, but there was no wisdom.

I didn't know how to utilize.

I didn't know where to put it.

I didn't know how to put things in the perspective.

It wasn't enough just to know enough.

I had to know more. and if you follow me, pay attention because we're going somewhere, right?

But I am thankful.

I'm thankful for the journey that I've been on.

I'm thankful.

I know it's not short.

I know it's going to be long.

I know it's not until I go home.

And I'm not talking about my house.

I'm talking about in the presence of God.

But my question is, who likes to double work?

Who likes to take steps backwards?

Who likes to get derailed?

Who likes to come off the path?

I know some of us are a little crazy.

But reality is nobody likes double work.

I want to do it one time and I want to get paid twice.

If I can do it that way, that's better.

But I do not want to do it twice and get paid once.

That's no fun.

Question.

Who here as men?

I'm going to say women.

I'm not discriminating.

Preface that, I'm not discriminating.

The men.

Who here is great, like, navigating directions and stuff like that.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Before you raise your hand, some of y'all jumping, like, hey, wives are like, he thinks. all right, but without your GPS, I'm going to go back old school without your MapQuest, you know, from one place to the next place, right?

Without your phone, who's here is good with directions?

It's a whole lot of fewer hands.

All right.

My dad, man, he was nicknamed the Navigator, or he is nicknamed the Navigator.

He will always be the Navigator.

My dad can go there one time and he'll figure it out.

I've never seen this man lost ever in my life.

He's like, I don't know where I'm at, but if I take this, I'll take that.

I should come out here.

And that's what happened.

That's what it was.

So to me, you weren't lost.

You knew exactly what to do.

I would freak out.

Once I lose signal, I'm done.

I'm like Pastor Ryan.

I still put my address to go to my house, even though I know the way.

The thing is, I don't like admitting it, right?

Because my wife's like, you're so bad with direction.

I'm like, I'm not good direction.

No, I'm not.

You're not good in the direction.

She's like, I actually am.

Go that way.

I'm like, the map's like, I'm like, I'm going to go that way because my map said.

I don't want to admit it because she's. to hold it against me.

See, you said it, don't lie, you admit it.

You are not good with directions.

Praise God.

As Christians, each one of us are on a journey.

Each one of us, all right?

But a lot of times, we don't focus on that journey.

We focus on the end game.

Where are we going to go.

That's a lot of our mindsets.

But I'm here to tell you. that the end game is not as important as the journey.

Imagine if God just took you from where you are right now before, let's say, I just got saved.

He just grabbed me and put me in heaven.

What would I do in heaven?

What would I be thankful for?

How would I know how to worship him?

You see, it's when you go through the journey, you start leaning on him.

It's when you go through the journey, you start seeing what he does for you.

It's when you go to the journey when you have shortage and you know if it's going to be enough, but there is enough.

It's through that journey.

That's when it comes to the end when we sit here and you can't worship for 30 minutes or you can't pray for 45 minutes.

Well, guess what we're going to do in heaven?

So if you can't do it here, how are you going to do it for eternity?

So let's say, can we agree that it's very important that the journey is crucial. end game is very important.

I'm not saying that that is not important.

What I am saying is the journey is to, in my eyes, more important because who you are on your journey can determine that end point.

Amen?

I imagine just as my walk, as you are walking in your walk, you've come against trials, you've come against decisions, you come against temptations, you come against the enemy.

So many things.

Some things I probably can't even imagine or even say that you have come. against in this journey that you walk.

Regardless to that fact, it is still your journey.

But I'm not here to tell you whether you're wrong or you're right.

I'm not here to tell you where you're going to go.

If it's heaven or hell, that's not my decision.

That's not my power.

It's not my authority.

Right?

But I am here to do two things.

I'm here to encourage.

I'm here to encourage the people who are newly, barely about to walk, or maybe you're just sitting here and you're like, man, I don't even know what you're talking about.

I'm here to encourage you.

Number one, God sees if you're not doing nothing.

He sees that you're sitting idly on the side.

Maybe you've been sitting in church for a while.

You ain't really doing much.

He sees it.

I'm here to encourage you.

It's time to get on that journey.

It's time to get ready.

I'm also here to encourage the ones who are on the journey already.

The season.

The ones who are doing the things.

The ones who are still making mistakes.

We're not perfect.

If you think we're perfect, if you think the church is perfect, you'll never find a perfect church.

I promise you.

We are not perfect, but God is.

And that's our standard.

Not me, not pastor, not my wife, sometimes.

Not my wife.

Right?

It's not us.

It's no man.

It's no woman.

It is God alone who is perfect.

Jesus.

The only one who walked this world, this earth that is perfect, is Jesus.

The disciples and the followers of Jesus, the way.

If you read the Bible and you see the picture of how the journey or your walk with Christ is, it looks a whole lot different than the way we see it today.

Why?

The disciples and the followers, they were persecuted.

They sacrificed themselves.

They sacrificed time.

They sacrificed their job.

They sacrificed at all.

They didn't own anything.

They simply went from place to place and were given and there was provision.

That looked like us today?

What do we say?

Oh, I can't do that.

I don't have time.

I got to work.

And I remember, I would say, I love being transparent.

I'm good with it because it gives glory to God.

I remember going to Pastor.

Pastor Juan, when he was here.

When he was the pastor, I said, man, I can't say, man.

He said, don't call me bro.

I was messed up.

He said, don't call me bro.

All right, bro?

And I was like, yes, sir.

But I remember going to him.

I said, Pastor, man, I can't.

Pastor Bro, I said, I can't be here all the time.

I said, I can't be in the house.

My job pulls me away.

It's not fair for me to be here.

And I remember, like I told Pastor Ryan, I said, he would always tell me, he was so cool, man.

He still is cool, but it was so cool.

And he would say, Brandon, a man has to do what a man has to do.

And I remember that he saw me and my flaws.

But you know, as I transitioned, I understand he didn't hear my words.

He saw my heart. because I came to him knowing that it was not right.

And he told me we have to provide Brandon.

That wasn't all he said.

We kind of explained.

It wasn't just a man that's what stuck.

But I was thankful for that because, man, there's times where we just can't.

No matter what we want to do, no matter what we want to sacrifice, if I leave my job, how do I feed my family?

It's tough.

But here's the thing.

The disciples, they did all of this. did they do it for gain?

Did they do it to achieve something?

The kicker is this.

They didn't do it for no gain.

Maybe initially it was a start of gain.

If you go through the Gospels, you see it.

Who's going to sit next to you in your kingdom?

They won a game, right?

It was a mindset, but it shifted.

And then it went from what they can gain to what they would lose to share the truth, the good news, the gospel with the world, and it ended up costing them their lives and much more.

Again, the way we see it in the Bible doesn't look to be the same this way.

And I'm not saying nobody's laying down their life.

I'm not saying those things at all.

But I am saying if you look at the church, it does not mirror what we see when we read the Gospels.

And that's for us.

I'm not saying that PNEUMA's got it wrong.

I'm not saying the other church has it wrong.

But I am saying if we look to the scripture, I know times have changed.

We don't need to ride camels.

We don't need to ride in caravans.

We have vehicles.

We don't need horses.

We got horse power.

I get it.

The times change. but I think we've changed too.

Amen.

Say amen and say how else.

How do you want to do it?

All right.

So if you haven't gathered by now the title of my sermon, it is the journey.

I've said this word quite a few times.

And I will still be in awe and I pray that I'm always in awe when I come in here right before I preach to hear a pastor Melissa come up here and say things that tie into my message.

When I hear Pastor Ryan say things that tie into my message, when I hear the message that's in the Spanish is not even the same message, but it still ties into the message.

We think that just the little things we do, we just react.

You know, it's in reverence.

It's in obedience, but we just think we're doing it.

And then you see things come together.

You hear the songs that they sing, House of Miracles, goodness of God.

And it just ties in to show God, you are so much more in the details than we realize.

And that is awesome.

So our scripture we're going to be reading today is going to be Psalm 121 versus 1 through 8.

And it's up top for you guys.

And I didn't, it was kind of long, so I didn't put it on my paperwork.

That was a, so let's see.

And I'm going to read it.

I'm going to read in the NLT version.

All right.

So let's read it.

And like I said, it's up.

It's going to be up top.

Versus one through eight.

It's not very short.

I mean, it's not very long.

Sorry.

I look up to the mountains.

Does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

He will not let you stumble.

The one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumber.

The Lord himself watches over you.

The Lord stands beside you at your protective shade.

The sun will not harm you by day. nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go.

And just to kind of let you know, I didn't realize what pastor was telling me before.

The mic, because of the storm, the signals kind of cut in and out.

So we do apologize about that.

There's nothing we can do.

So I will project when I have to.

Forgive us.

We told you we weren't perfect to help us out.

Amen?

Just let me know if I need to go higher or lower.

Okay, so let's get some background.

Psalm 120 through 134.

These are known as the Songs of Ascent.

They're the Psalms, right?

But they're referenced as the Song of Ascent.

All able-bodied Jewish men and their families were required to go back to Jerusalem.

Right?

They had to attend three of the seven Mosaic Feast every year.

And if you're taking notes, Deuteronomy 1616, is there. a reference point.

I'm going to read it still, but if you're taking notes.

Deuteronomy 1616 says, each year every man in Israel must celebrate these festivals.

The festival of unleavened bread, the festival of harvest, and the festival of shelters.

On each of these occasions, all men, I'm sorry, must appear before the Lord your God at the place he chooses, but they must appear before the Lord without a gift for him.

So we have three feasts, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover, the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

So these three, they had a journey back.

Okay.

And a reference to this is Luke 241 through 50.

I'm going to kind of just, I'm sorry, Luke 2, 41 through 50.

And what happens, you're going to remember this story, if you're familiar.

What happens is Joseph and Mary, they go to Jerusalem to go back to celebrate the Passover.

They're on their journey back.

The problem is there's no Jesus.

They couldn't find them.

Reason why is because if it was just me and my wife and my kids, I would think, hey, my kids missing.

But they rode in big caravans.

They rode in groups.

They ride together in groups.

And this is the reason why they thought they were with the family members who were with them.

It wasn't until later that night, almost a full day that they saw that he wasn't there.

They journeyed back to Jerusalem.

And they find him.

Right?

I like to say things, and I like to point to the scripture on how it shows that it is true.

All right, what was he doing?

He was in the temple, typical Jesus.

Right?

So while the Jews are traveling to their homes or from their homes to Jerusalem or Jerusalem back to their homes, they would sing these songs.

It's 15, 14 Psalms, and they're very short, but they're all great.

If you read them, I think they're awesome, right?

And what they would do, they would sing these songs while they travel.

If we just read Psalm 121, it's pretty great for when you're traveling.

I'm not a good singer, but if I was just me, I would probably sing out loud by myself.

All right.

So that's the background of where we're going.

Now we're going to go on a ride.

So what we see in these scriptures that he's our helper.

Versus one through two is says he is our helper.

It's twice in it.

That's the main word in those two verses that we see.

Understand.

He says, I look to the mountains.

Where does my help come from?

The mountain is not the help.

The journey itself is not the help.

God is our help.

And he is the creator of everything, of all things, the hills.

We do not serve a worship that created.

We worship the creator.

Amen?

And we call that, that is Elohim, the God who created.

We can see that in Genesis 1-1.

In our journey with Christ, we will need help.

Amen?

That's just the fact.

There's no way you can do it yourself.

If you say, man, I've been doing good all by my own.

It's one of two things.

You're lying or you're fooling yourself because that is not true.

There's no way you can do it on your own, man.

You've got to have God and you got to have people around you.

Amen?

Number one, if we're going to prepare for a journey, what should we do?

Pray.

If we're about to go somewhere, I'm pretty sure Pastor, like, man, we're going to go out of town.

Everybody's been talking about sharks.

We're going to pray.

Right now, you got up this morning, said, man, Lord, I know I got to come and fix these things of the house before the storm hits.

I just pray you push that storm back.

Just a few hours I can come to church.

So, you know, before we go on any journey, small or big, you got to prepare and prayer.

We need to verify that we've counted the cost.

We know that if we're going to start this journey, we're going to be able to finish it.

Right?

That's what the Bible says in Matthew, I'm sorry, Luke 14, 28 through 30.

Count the cost before building.

That's what they're talking about building something.

But I want to bring it to the same thing as your walk.

If you're willing to start this walk and you're not fully committed and you're going to, and you're going to fell off somewhere or fall off somewhere because you're not fully committed and you don't understand what it is going to require from you, I'm here to tell you to count the cost before you start this walk.

Before you go on this journey, count the cost.

We need help with direction while traveling.

Some of us more than others.

Some of y'all got it.

But I'm here to tell you, if you're your guidance, if you're your true north, we got a problem there.

Psalm 32A says the Lord says I will guide you along the best pathway for your life I will advise you and watch over you here's the thing we think of that sounds great right but what's the key word there I will advise you what does that mean no one we got to be listening for direction and then we got to what obey because he can advise us to go left and we're like we're going to go right that it doesn't matter no matter how much good advice you're getting or being advised, it does not matter if you're going to do the opposite.

You can't hear them because the world's drowning out.

I mean, you know, the music's drowning out, whatever else you're trying to hear.

Amen.

Why do we as human beings think that we can come correct before God when it comes to starting his journey?

Say, you know what?

I hear all the time.

I say, bro, I said, man, come to church.

He said, man, I got to get right before I come to God.

See, yeah, that ain't going to happen.

Not because I'm making fun.

I'm telling you because it didn't happen with me neither.

Or they give you that line.

They say, man, I can't start doing it until I'm ready to fully commit.

Like, I want to give them 100% of me.

Like, bro, that's never going to come.

That's never going to come.

There are going to be times where you want to check out.

There are times that you're just, you're not feeling it.

So these are just lies that we tell ourselves over and over again just to help us feel better. the big thing is how can we take the glory from God to think that we can actually get right before coming to God.

Like we could do something in our own strength to be good in the eyes of God legalistic.

It never happens.

First Peter 1-2 says, God the Father knew you and chose you long ago.

And His spirit has made you holy as a result.

You have obeyed him and have been. been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

I didn't see my name in that scripture.

I didn't see y'all name either.

I saw the Holy Spirit.

So if you think you can get you right, I'm able to tell you, you left.

You're not right.

We were taking what God intended in these scriptures with the psalmist to focus on a journey, traveling back to Jerusalem, to a specific location. right but we're traveling towards eternity our location isn't specific it's not it's also not earthly it's heavenly spiritually right so we can take that take it and put in the same context and knowing that we are traveling and we are heading somewhere we're not just walking blindly hoping that just when the last day comes we go no no no we have we're on a mission we're headed somewhere amen we could also see that the psalmist needed help like i said Jerusalem is surrounded by hills.

I'm challenged when it comes to, you know, climbing, right?

Going up hills, that's a lot.

That's a lot of work.

Elevation is going up.

You get to breathing hard.

I think a lot of us are challenged, but I'm going to be honest, right?

But it's tough, so they needed help, right?

Excuse me.

We have the Holy Spirit who is our helper in this walk. we think of the helper when we take a thing about our spouse the helper i don't know why they get mad the holy spirit is one of his names is the helper not mad but you know that i don't call me the help maybe because it is what it is man we're thankful i'm thankful for help that's the reality i'm thankful for good help you ever had bad help hey i'm thankful for good help that wasn't even a joke that was real man i'm thankful for good help because bad help man, or no help, it's hard.

When my son's not home and I got to live something, I'm like, man, where's my son at, bro?

And whenever he's there, I'm like, man, get out of my face.

But man, when I need him, I'm like, man, so my daughter, poor, puresita, brother's.

I'm like, come on, missy, I'm not a boy.

I said, but just, just, you're strong.

Your brother could do it.

I'm not my brother.

Don't tell him, I said he's strong.

He'll never let it go.

But first, first Peter one, two, God. the, oh no, I'm jumping back.

Sorry.

See, that wasn't in my notes.

All right.

John 1526, but I will send you the advocate of the spirit of truth.

He will come.

Remember, and this is a good note, an attitude of self-sufficiency will disqualify you from receiving God's supernatural help as you face the difficulties to life's journeys.

If you think you got it, I'm sorry, he's going to say, okay, because we got to understand we deal with God.

God's like, hey, Hey, hey, go this way.

Nah, God, I'm going to go this way.

All right.

GPS, you don't miss the right exit.

Immediately tells you to go further and bustle your turn.

First thing you do is like, oh, come on, man, I know what I got to do.

But that's the same thing.

Guys are like, okay, if you want to take longer, if we can go think of the Israelites, 40 years, it took eight hours to get to the promised land, 11 hours, they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years, and none of them entered to the next generation.

So if you think, oh, I'm not wasting time.

Come on, we waste some time.

So we got to listen. as we also see from the verses he is our watcher.

He watches over us.

Amen.

Sometimes it feels like he ain't watching.

I'm going to be honest with you.

God is watching out for his people while they are traveling.

If you are on a journey, if you're traveling, he is watching out for you.

He is concerned of your whereabouts and what you're doing.

Whenever the Jews would travel, they traveled around, like I said, hills around Jerusalem.

What dangers could they be facing?

Well, they had robbers. because guess what?

If they did this three times a year, guess what?

People knew they were bringing animals, bringing sacrifices, bringing goods, bringing their best to the Lord, right?

They were going with the gift.

So Roberts are like, man, these guys always come through here.

We're going to just stage around here.

When they come, we're going to get them.

Animals, wild animals, whatever it is.

I don't know if it's lions, tigers, coyotes, wolves, whatever it was.

There's animals you have to deal with.

Not to mention we said they're hills, so that means terrain is not going to be the best. they got to go over or around to get to their destination.

1 Peter 5A says, stay alert.

Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

He's ready.

Guess what?

We talked about God worried about your journey and being with you through the journey.

Guess who's equally worried about your journey?

The enemy.

And I promise you'll see him at every turn.

But don't worry.

God's watching.

Amen.

There is a word in these three verses, or in these verses from three to eight that is repeated over and over again.

It's the word samar.

It's the Greek word.

And if you speak Greek, I butcher that.

I'm sorry.

But that's the word.

And this means to watch over, to protect, or to guard.

So when he says he's watching, that's what he's saying, I'm guarding you.

I'm watching over you.

I'm protecting you six times, five, six times. and five verses, he repeats it.

So what do we know as Christians when we start saying the word repeated?

Pay attention.

He's guarding you.

He's not just saying it, amen.

In this case, it's elaborating on the fact that God will always watch over us.

Don't get that confused that because he's watching the journey is going to get easier.

Don't get that confused with, oh, because he's watching me, I'm not going to have troubles. because I think we all know that's a lie.

We will go through trials and tribulations, and we should count it all joy.

Amen.

It don't sound that easy whenever we're in it, though, right?

But I also want to mention that he never slumbers.

God does not sleep.

God does not tire.

He is always ready.

He is always there, and he is always watching.

Matthew 26 through 40. this is Jesus in the Garden of Gassimony what happens he takes his inner circle Peter James and John he takes him to pray with him to watch he takes him number one to keep watch verse 38 he tells him keep watch with me or it says to keep watch with him verse 41 it says to keep watch and pray the last time says that he says the same things again, whether he says keep watching pray or just to pray or keep watch.

He says it.

You must understand something.

They kept falling asleep.

No matter how hard or crucial your situation, no matter who you need in this life and that dark moment, when you reach out and nobody answers, the pastor doesn't answer, your friend doesn't answer, you don't want to tell your spouse, you don't want to tell your friends, and you're like, man, where are you, God?

Your friends will also fail you in those moments in dire need, but God will never fail you.

He will never fail you.

You may not feel it, but I'm telling you, the scripture says that he will not fail you, he will be there and he will be watching over you.

You got to know, that's when you talk about faith.

Just because you don't see it, don't mean it ain't happening.

No one can watch over you like God, regardless, no matter the request, no matter the situation.

God was there in the beginning and he'll be there in the end.

Amen.

Jesus said in verse 41 to keep watch and pray so that you will not give into temptation for the spirit is willing but the body is weak.

As I said, Jesus told them to pray.

If you are not praying at the start of your journey, through your journey, and troubles and anything, bro, you got to start praying. you got to because then you're leaving yourself open for the enemy's lies for the enemies derailing for the enemy's tactics for them infiltrating where you're at your location you got to be in prayer it's not just by chance if you're just winging it on your journey i'm here to tell you you need to stop walking and stop moving you need to hit your knees and you need to start praying because if you're walking disobediently it's like you're not even walking you might be just walking backwards because you ain't going nowhere so man hit your knees and pray.

It is in your best interest to stay connected to the source.

John 15.5, I am the vine.

You are the branches.

If you remain in me and I remain in you, you will bear much fruit.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

So if we're not connected to the source, what do he say?

He ain't doing nothing.

It's good to have people in your group.

That's not what I'm saying.

He had three people. having people around you, having people praying for you, having people, you know, lifting you up.

You know, sometimes you're like, man, I got my little entourage.

I feel good around these people.

But here's the thing.

You can't let them silence or push out the voice of God in his direction.

Because look, people won't even do it on purpose, but they're lifting you up.

Hey, glory is not for none of us.

It's for God.

And again, your people ain't doing it on purpose, but you got to bring correction.

Hey, it's not me.

Don't lift me up.

Always lift up, God.

I'm telling you.

Point number three, he's our protector.

The Lord is our protection.

Man, he watches over us.

We said it.

To explain this, it's not very, it's not very difficult.

It's very fact forward.

You read it and it says it.

He concerns ourselves.

He concerns himself with our coming and not going.

When we're going out in the morning when it's dark, when we're coming home and it's dark, you know, when we're going to work, providing for our family, he's worried about it.

If you're going out doing this, you're going out doing this, whatever you're doing, he's worried about it.

There we go.

Psalms 91, the first two verses.

It says, those who live in the shelter of the most high will find rest in the shadow of the almighty.

This I declare about the Lord.

He alone is my refuge.

My place is safety.

He is my God and I trust him.

I don't sound like somebody that I just want to, that I just met that I'm ready to put my life in their hands.

That sounds like relational.

That sounds like I got to get to know him before I could just say those things.

Psalms 91 is a good read, man.

I was reading it.

I wanted to put the whole thing.

I said, nah, I just got a good.

John 1026.30 says, but you don't believe me because you are not my sheep.

My sheep listen to my voice.

I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

No one can snatch them away from me.

For my father who has given them to me and he is more powerful than anyone else.

I'm sorry than anyone else.

No one can snatch them from the father's hand.

The father and I are one.

It's not like I protected of me.

But I tell my wife I lay down my life for you.

And that's great.

I used to say that a lot.

But here's a kicker, men of God.

Why don't you stop laying down your life and giving it up and start living your life for your spouse?

Leading her.

Giving her something to follow.

It's hard for a woman to follow a man who has no guidance, who has no understanding.

She's a helper.

You got to give her something worth helping.

I can say this from everybody.

My wife helped me in my journey more than probably anybody else in this world.

My father taught me a lot of good things.

He was worldly.

But my wife brought truth.

And it wasn't that my wife taught me how to be a man because she knows.

It's because she took me to the word of God.

And she rebuilt to me.

So man of God, it's not, it's all right.

It's all right to say I'm sorry and I've learned it all wrong. and I got to learn it right.

There ain't nothing wrong with that.

That's true growth.

The other is pride.

So be willing.

Hear your wife's.

Sometimes they say it's a messed up stuff too.

I'm not saying everything they say is going to be good.

Come on.

Ooh, single life over there.

I'll just get it.

I'm just kidding.

No, but hey, again, the same as I said, don't let your friends influence.

Don't let your wife influence you over God either.

Amen?

It's tough.

All right.

So I have an illustration, but I got to be honest, man, because I would feel bad doing it.

So I've heard this illustration, and before I get into it, I actually fact-checked it, and it is not true.

I've heard it so many times, and it said that it is not true.

It could not happen that this animal would die.

It would not survive, and I'm like, man.

But it was like my really pivotal point that I really wanted to attach to.

So we're going to like, I'm going to tell you this first.

I'm going to preface it, and then we're going to get into what I'm talking about.

And don't be mad at me.

I'm not telling you there's no Santa Claus.

I'm just telling you that a lot of people who are saying that it is not true.

All right.

So I want to illustrate God as our protector.

There's this story about eagles.

Look at everybody.

There's a story about eagles, and I'm sorry, bro.

My bad, I'm sorry.

He's an eagles fan.

But it's about eagles and how they get to this point in their life.

Their beak starts growing over, that they're unable to open their beak, that their feathers get so heavy because of what they go through in life and situations.

And what I wanted to use that as, as new Christians, number one, if you're just starting your journey or hearing this message, you feel convicted to where you want to give your life to the Lord and you want to start your journey, this is what I resemble as the world.

The beak, it got to come off.

You can't survive if you cannot eat.

Right?

The feathers, they're heavy.

Been through 20, 30 years.

Whatever your life is, is carrying burdens, carrying things, opening doors to things that you don't know or doors are being open, spiritual burdens, something just really weighing you down.

You're 20, and you don't know why you're so sad and so depressing.

It's the end of me.

Or I want to use it as maybe you're a season person.

You're like, man, I'm on this journey.

I'm loving it, but man, I'm tired.

It's just ministry, life, the church, everything, home, whatever it is.

It just carrying so many things.

What happens is his ego goes through this process.

His beak, he hits it on rocks and it breaks off, or it breaks off to at least the points where it's covering over.

Painful.

Putting yourself through pain.

And then once his beak's ready to go, if I remember correctly, it actually grows back.

And once his beak grows out, he starts pulling out his feathers.

Because they're weighing him down, he can't fly as high as he used to.

So he starts pulling those feathers out.

But what happens is through that pain of moving those feathers, new ones grow back, fresh ones, lighter ones.

One's going to allow him to soar even higher than he was before.

This process was said to take about 150 days to go through this.

It's a long time.

A lot of pain you have to go through.

And that's why I wanted to use this illustration as you going on a journey.

You're going to be like that eagle.

You can understand it.

It's very difficult at times.

It's going to be hard. that's going to be too much.

You hear that saying that, you know, God brought you to it.

He's going to get you through it.

I believe that.

Well, man, you're going to feel like you can't get through it.

I made it tell you can't on your own.

People around you, helping you, supporting you, building you up.

More importantly, even God, knowing he's your helper, no one he's your watcher, knowing he's your protector.

You got to have faith and trust what he says, what his words says, because it's important.

It's about you.

They talk about the Israelites.

I'm here to tell you that Jesus coming, that took from what was theirs, now it came from just Jews and Gentiles.

So those same promises of things that we have, we fall under that same umbrella, that same cover.

So when you hear the Israelites, you better say your name because it's you and me too.

It's not just them.

He's watching over them.

He's watching over us.

He's watching over you.

Amen.

So let's bring it all together.

While you travel on your journey, there will be a lot of things that will. happen, not may happen.

It could happen.

They will happen.

But your constant is God, because he is our helper.

He is our protector and he is our watcher.

Whenever you doubt your direction or get off track, seek the Lord for his guidance and pray on why you lost that connection.

It's not enough just to pray to get back right.

It's enough that you have to say, why did I get off track in the first place?

Because one, you're dealing with just an issue, the other one you're dealing with the root of what caused it.

Amen.

Whenever the enemy is attacking, know that you cannot be plucked out of God's hand and that God is making a way for you to get to safety.

Whenever you feel like God is silent the most, remain in prayer and trust in His word that he is with you, and he's probably just allowing you to grow, seeing if you're going to wait, you're going to discern that he's silent.

Are you going to wait?

Are you going to seek them?

Are you going to do what you want?

silent sometimes is the most worrying thing.

Pastor Ryan says, I don't know how many times.

Man, when God was silent, I was like, man, God, you're silent.

As a Christian, God being silent is tough.

But we talked about you going on a journey.

You learn things through that journey.

So you got to know when you get there and he feel like he's silent.

Keep practicing what he's been telling you the whole way.

It ain't going to change it up, I promise.

We look at the people in the Bible and think, what awesome people they were.

Man, powerful men and woman of God.

We give that to them.

But the reality is there are normal people just like you and me.

Abraham was called by God to leave the place he was comfortable where he lived and he called him to go to an unloan land.

And he went and trusted God.

Moses was an abandoned Israelite who was murdered, who as he grew as an Egyptian, he murdered one of the Egyptian guards that were there.

He fled to a new place, comes back to Egypt after experienced God through a burning bush.

God uses him to free the Israelites out of slavery, and in the end, he is unable to enter the promised land because of disobedience.

David was a great king.

He also was an adulterer and a murderer who was punished by God, but was also called the man after God's own heart.

He did great things but also have many failures.

They were on their journey and we think they're powerful.

But I mean to say it was never the person.

It was always God through their obedience.

Oh, that's not the right page.

Sorry.

My wife says, don't do that.

It's a habit.

She helps me out.

All right.

Obedience is what allowed.

God to do the more in your life.

You may think it's the gift that he's given you.

You may be thinking it's the church that he had given you to work at.

Sorry.

He's able to do more through your obedience.

Jude 1 24 through 25 says, now all glory to God who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

All glory to him who alone is God.

Our Savior through Jesus Christ, our Lord. all glory, majesty, power, and authority are His before all the time and in the present and beyond all time.

Amen.

Can I get the keys, please?

I say this, give your best to God.

Be obedient.

And just watch.

Watch to see what he can do through your obedience on your journey.

I encourage you to want the same thing Paul wanted.

He writes to 1st Timothy.

I'm sorry, he writes to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 4, 6 through 8.

And he says this.

These are some of his final words.

Writing to one of his mentees, someone that he was mentoring, leading.

It says this, as for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. the time of my death is near I have fought the good fight I have finished the race and I have remained faithful and now the prize awaits me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on the day of his return and the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing may ask you to stand I don't know why we as human beings we think that people think because we're not where they are we're not doing what they're doing that we're not as good as they are and I'm here to tell you I'm not as good as you think I am It's God through us.

I don't care what it is that you do.

It does not matter.

It is God that gets the glory.

These men and women, they were there.

God used them for a reason.

It could have easily been another name.

It could have easily been another person.

But he chose who he chose because we serve a God that does not operate within time, space. matter.

He is omnipresent.

He can be everywhere and anywhere at the same time.

He has no restrictions.

That is a God that we serve.

So we come up to these altars and you're like, man, look at them.

They're crazy.

What are they doing?

We know we have been revealed to the truth.

We know the truth.

We trust.

And we are all on our own journeys.

It's not a race. it is not a race.

It is you against you every day.

Every day.

It is you against yourself.

It's not you against your spouse.

It's not you against the leader in your church.

It's not you after the pastor of that church.

We are one body, many parts.

I want to ask if hearing these words and you're Find yourself that, man, I really don't know what you're talking about on this journey.

I don't even know really much about God.

I want to extend the invitation to you that if you're willing, because the journey, if you're going on a journey, that means you've already done a few things.

One of the most important things, you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

If you haven't done that yet, and you say, you know what, that's something I would like to do.

I just ask that every head bowed and every eyes closed.

That is you.

If this word is spoken to you, and it's not me, it is God.

And you say, you know what, brother?

Man, I think I want to give that a shot.

I counter the cost.

I'm tired of where I've been.

Where I've been, ain't nothing good coming from it.

I want to step in.

If that's you. just raise your hand I want to share one more thing before we close out when I started this walk the enemy attacked me He attacked me heavily.

Spiritual warfare.

You don't know what that is, but they will come.

But for too long, I have allowed fear to oppress me.

For too long, I have been worried.

Past tense, I was worried.

Because he always came.

Always when I was more, vulnerable, he always came.

And I would always stop because any time I inch towards doing what God was wanting me to do, he always attacked even harder.

And I remember a pastor telling me I had the same problem until one time in one of those dreams, wherever it came from, I drew a sword.

And I struck down the one that was chasing me.

And those words are ever forever etched in my mind and in my heart.

And I'm not going to tell you that right after that I was like, yeah, where's my sword?

It wasn't like that.

It still took more.

I'm here to tell you that I will not, I will not back down from him.

I will not back down from his tactics.

I will not.

Because on this journey, I got somewhere to go. and if I let him stop me, I got to answer for that in the end.

So it's not a fear factor.

It's not something that's scary, you're a scare tactic.

But understand if you're not walking, if you're not on your journey, if you're not doing what God has called you to do, remember I told you you're here on purpose, for a purpose.

There is no accidents.

Be ready.

I want to do one of all. alter call and I'm a leaf.

If you're on this journey, you're tired.

Tired.

The weight of it.

It's weighing on it.

I just want you to come up.

I want to just pastors, leaders to just pray over you because we've all been there.

I want to encourage you to keep going.

Keep walking.

I'm telling you, it's good.

It's amazing when you get past it.

So if that's you and you want to come up, we're going to pray with you.

The prayer team, if you like to come up, if you have anything that you need prayer over, the prayer team's here for you guys, whatever you need, whatever you're battling, whatever you're struggling, we're here.

We're not here to fix it.

We're to help you.

We're helpers.

We don't have it.

It's not in our hands.

But if you need help praying, we're here to pray with you.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mynuma church.org.

If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us at My PNEUMA Church.

Thanks again and God bless.

Thanks.