Nevertheless

During our most trying and fiery situations, is when many of us will come to a place of, nevertheless.  A place of realizing that it should never be our will, but only the will of God.  

There is a spiritual awareness for only the Lord's will to be done in your life when you have developed a heart of, nevertheless towards the Lord.  Not our will but, thine be done.  This message episode is for all those that simply obey at the word spoken unto them by God.  

Transcript

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 0:00

God, I just want to thank God for all of you this morning who have joined us another day for another Sunday podcast with the Holy City Ministry Spirit of Truth Ministry and our bearing witness to the truth podcast here this Sunday morning. I'm just so glad that for you to join me. And I pray that you will be blessed this day by the Word of God. So we're going to get into the Word of God this morning. And those that'll be joining us later will be joining us, but we're going home because I don't like to hold people's time. I like to get my whole army in if I can. Praise God. Let's deal with this this morning. If we, I mean let me let me just teach this morning a little bit. If we as God's people keep our hearts rooted and grounded in God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there is a word, hallelujah, that all of us will come to pray and find ourselves verbally repeating many times throughout our spiritual growth and development. Trust me on this. If you haven't got there, you're gonna get there. There's a word. And this word is the word nevertheless. Hallelujah. Nevertheless, you will speak it from your own lips. If you ain't got there yet, just keep just stay with the Lord because you're gonna go through some things, and in the midst of what you're dealing with, you're gonna find yourself that God's gonna get you to a place where you're gonna say, Lord, just nevertheless, let your will be done. You're gonna say, see, when you have come to a place within your walk with the Lord in times of great suffering, when your faith is tried in the fires of purification, the heat of this kind of fire will have you praying the words, nevertheless, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. This word used is when we arrive at a place of selflessness. You got to come out of self. When pride has been burnt out of us, there's a God got a way of getting all this pride out of too many of us are too prideful, got too much pride. We don't want to humble ourselves down, we don't want to bow down to the ways of God, but God got a way to burn all that pride out of you. When there's no more speck of ego in you. It will happen when we have relinquished and given up our own wills while in the midst of our human struggles. It is when we shift our spiritual focus to a greater, listen to me, a greater godly understanding of truth and acceptance, submitting ourselves unto the will of God. Too many of us got too strong of a will that our will, we let our wills override the will of God. See, we must stay reminded of our holy training. See, we're all in holy training. We got to be reminded that times that no matter how hard or how difficult the circumstances may be, and no matter how great the inward turmoil of our human feelings may be pushed to what we think is our limit. Can someone right now tell us how you at the limit, you say, Oh, I'm gonna push from a limit, Pastor? I'm pushed to a limit. We think there's a limit, but I'm here to tell you there is a place in you that all of us have failed to tap into, and it's spiritual. It ain't got nothing to do with natural, but God gonna get us there. If we just get to that place in Him and realize we just gotta throw up our hands and say, Lord, nevertheless. See, though we may be in a place of nevertheless, we are yet fully persuaded that God's plan, always be persuaded of this one thing, that God's plan, God's grace, and God's power is always and will always be greater than whatever you're going through. When we are in the place of nevertheless, the Lord may just require us to do certain things which may be unusual. People ain't gonna understand in no way, which may not make sense as we know sense to be. These things will totally go against what we have accepted as our will and what we will do and know as being us. See, God goes to do things that ain't gonna be your character. It's gonna be out of your character, what even you know yourself to be. But that's all right. That's what God gotta take us. We gotta come out of ourselves, let him take us to a place that's beyond what we ever imagined. Get ready this morning. This morning's message, nevertheless. I remember this incident. If you read your Bible, I remember this incident the Lord had when he was with Peter. This for this for he made Peter, he was about to make Peter disciple, but he hadn't quite made him a disciple yet. And one day when the Lord was teaching the people, he went down to the docks where all the fishermen were, because that was Peter and him, and his Andrew brothers, Andrew, and the other fishermen with him. He said, while while he was sitting in Peter's fishing boat, Peter and his fellow fishermen had been out all night trying to do some night fishing. But if you read that story, he said, but didn't catch not one fish. All night long, didn't catch nothing. Here come Jesus now. Watch this. Jesus, after he got in satellite in Peter's boat and went to teaching, but when he got through teaching, Jesus instructed them to do something that didn't make sense. God's gonna have you do something that don't make sense. When you're in that place of nevertheless, just be prepared. Stop kicking against it and let and trust God. Let me just say it like this. Just trust God, know what he's doing in your life. There will be times while the Lord is teaching us that he may instruct us to do something totally off and out of character of our normal selves, which will take us to a place of launching out in faith. Remember that when I say launching, because Jesus is gonna say that word in a minute. God's gonna take us to a place where we have to launch out in our faith. And when we get to that place, we're gonna say, nevertheless. He had instructed Simon Peter to launch out into the deep. See, some of us want to go deep in life. We don't want to take them deep steps, deep water. We stay around our ankles, around the knees. We don't want to get out there where it's over our head. No, that's too deep. But sometimes our faith needs gonna, God needs our faith to take us there. He told Peter, launch out to the deep and let down their nets to draw in some fish. Jesus, he saw two ships standing by the lake, and the fish was going out of there. He came in, here comes Jesus. He was gonna teach something. You want to read this, read this in Luke, that fifth chapter. Read Luke that fifth chapter. He he ended this in one of the ships, the Bible said, which was Simon. He got inside. He meant to get in Simon's boat because he was the one gonna make him a symbol and prayed. He told Simon, thrust out a little bit, just go out a little bit first. See, he tested him first. See when he moved the boat, just move a little bit first, just a little bit from the bank. Let me teach a little bit first. But he was gonna, but I got something else I'm gonna do a little later. Let me get to teaching this here first, he said. And he said, now when Jesus had stopped teaching, when he left off speaking, he said to Simon, launch out now. You done got a little off the bank. Now I want you to launch out in the deep. It's time to come out to go to the bank. It's time to come out now with use your faith. Launch out to the deep and let down your nets. He said, for the draw, meaning to y'all finna get ready to drop some fish. But see, then I just tell y'all, Jesus, the Lord will have us doing things that we think we know what we're talking about. And and watch, watch Peter in a minute. He's gonna, I'm gonna show you he's gonna go, we we we fit, you know, he's gonna have that attitude like we fish when we done been out our life. We ain't caught in, ain't need to lunch it out no more. This this is our this is our business, this is our game. See, once we finally realize, hallelujah, hallelujah, that the Lord's will is greater and wiser than ours, we will soon begin to see the blessings which are waiting on us from him. Just do what he said, you're gonna you've been somebody done got our blessing now, but we still stubborn. We still, we still trying to figure it out and see it our way. We still think we know what we're talking about. If you just went on and just stopped asking questions and just I'm on way to up, you'd have done got your blessing by now. See, if we would just simply, listen to me, if we would just simply obey and stop trying to make it make sense, trying to make the will of God make human sense is just wasting time when we could have already had the benefits of the blessing. The blessings of the fish were already in the sea. But we can't catch these kinds of blessings if we have not gotten to the place of launching out into the place of nevertheless. Though Peter didn't understand why Jesus was asking him to launch back out in the sea after they had been out fishing all night, he yet said, that's the one thing I like about Peter, even though he was in his feelings, he still said, Nevertheless, at thy word I will live down the next. Listen, I'm gonna read it to you. And Simon answered to him, said, Master, we haven't we done toiled all night. We've been out there working that water all night long. We ain't caught nothing and have taken nothing. You said, Long back, I we just got in, we just got to the house. Nevertheless, then what Peter said, he still had this much sense. He uses the word nevertheless. After trying to tell Jesus he knows about fishing, he said, but nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the because master, he said, master, because you telling me to do this, Jesus, because you asked me to do that, I'm gonna do it. Regardless of what I know or what we're doing all like long, because we ain't got man, we ain't got a miller in the boat. But no, he said, nevertheless, at thy words, see that's what we're gonna have to say, Lord. Because your words say, because you done said me to do this in your word, nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down my neck. I'm gonna step out on faith. Nevertheless, because at your word say, I can have this. Your words say I can do this through you. And because your word said, I'm gonna let down the net of my faith. And I'm gonna see what my faith catches. And when listen to that verse 6 said, and when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish. You know what the fish represent, symbolic to us? Blessings. A multitude of blessings came their way because they obeyed. And Simon said, Nevertheless, he gave up himself. See that word nevertheless means you gotta give up, you're giving up yourself. Yes, throwing up. I'm just giving it up, Lord. Let your will be done. Because my will ain't got me in trouble. I done went the wrong way. Now I'm beginning to see it's got to be your way. So I'm saying to you, nevertheless, at your word, I'm just gonna step out on faith because I got to know if you're the one telling me this, you ain't telling me nothing wrong. I know if you're the one telling me this, it's gonna be the right thing for me to do for my life. Regardless of what I think I should do in my life. Too many times we have thought we were doing right in our life, and it's been dead wrong. But I can tell you this every time Jesus tells you to do something, it's gonna always work out right for you. He said, and when they had done this, meaning they obeyed. When they had done this, they enclosed that net, drawing in such a good, the Bible said a great multitude, not a few, a great multitude of fish in their net. And I ain't got time to tell you the whole story, but you read the story, it's gonna tell you they was drawing so many fishing, so many blessings, that they had to call some of the other fishermen on the docks to bring their boats out into the water to help them get all these fish. It was too much just to load up on one boat. Read the story when you get a chance. Be prepared to experience a high level of spirituality and growth development in the Lord when you finally say, nevertheless, be ready for it, because you're gonna take your height. When a stronger faith, see, this is gonna produce a such a more stronger faith in the Lord, because he done took you to a place you ain't never been. Because you're stepping out into something that deep faith. Saying unto him, at thy word, just like Simon said, at thy word, I will let down myself in total obedience unto you. Who is better to teach us and guide us to the path of nevertheless than Jesus? Ain't nobody better than showing us that way than Jesus, because he's the one say it too. See, it was it was Jesus in his greatest test, in his human form. Talking about he was in his human form when he came down the whole earth and God gave him a body. In his human form, his greatest test in the flesh, in his human body, is saying, nevertheless, to the Father. When it came time for him to die on the cross in obedience, God the Father wanted him to do. See, the night that will be the beginning of his path to nevertheless, and saying, Not my will but thine be done, would begin in him kneeling down in prayer to his father that night. Our keeping our connection with the Father in our place of nevertheless is crucial to the relinquishing totally of our will, our entire will got to go when you're dealing with God. Because you can't have two wills in the same head. Can't be your will and God's will and not mix it up together. Now, one of them got to go. And I'm here to tell you, when you stubborn enough to want to keep your will and your mind thinking, God is too intelligent. He is too God to sit there and wrestle with you to make you choose him, and you still want to keep your what your way and your will in your mind. You got to relinquish totally of all your will and submitting ourselves to the will of God. Listen what Jesus said that night. He knew Judas had gone to victory. He knew that he'd be back with those gods and men to take him away, but he had time to pray. And the Bible said he was withdrawn. He just got off to himself from them, the other disciples that were with him. He was talking about. And the Bible said he went by the stone's throw. About as far as you could throw a stone, he distanced himself from some. See, let me tell you this too. Let me add this in sidebar. During these times of us being in a place of nevertheless, there are going to be many times, and I can testify to this because I have experienced this, that you're going to have to have time where you just have to be by yourself. You're going to have to get along or get off to steal away somewhere privately by yourself and just be you and God. I'm telling you, Jesus had to do this. We're going to have to do the same thing. He went off, he had them with him, but he left them a distance behind and went on ahead of them. Because there are times you just be you and God. And the Bible says he kneeled down and prayed. This is what he said to the Father in verse 42. I'm still in Luke, but I'm in Luke the 22nd chapter. He says this. He says, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. That's what that's that flesh. He was in the flesh for me. There's the flesh talking. And a lot of us gonna say the same thing. Oh, I don't want to go through this. Oh, Lord, I don't want to take nothing else. I don't mean I'm at my lip. I think I'm at my limit. I think I can't take no more. But I'm here to tell y'all, God will show you that you can take much more. Because he's gonna, in that place of nevertheless, I'm gonna tell you why you can take much more. Because you ain't gonna be trusting in your strength. You ain't gonna be relying on your strength. You know what, you know what God had when he dealt with Paul and he had to show Paul about his strength? But God took Paul to a place of nevertheless. And when Paul realized what God was doing, he said these words. He said, It's your strength that's made perfect in weakness. See, when I'm when I'm at my weakest, when I'm at my most vulnerable state, and when I put my faith and trust in God's strength, it's gonna be his strength that is made perfect in weakness. When we weak, God's strength will kick in if we just have faith. If we put our faith in him, his strength is a show kick in every time, and it'll take you further than you thought you could go. You thought you was at your end, you thought you was at your your limit. But ain't no limit to God's strength and to what he could do. He said, If it be, God, if thou be willing, move this cup for me. But then he called himself the spiritual side of Jesus kicked in. He said, Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Nevertheless. And then in other words, don't let it be what I want if what I want ain't what you want. Don't let it be what I want if what you want and what I want ain't the same thing. It's got to be what you want. Let that be what it is, not my will. Because see, our will ain't gonna never be what God wants us to do. Because we don't think like God. We don't think right. If God didn't put right enough, we wouldn't think right. That's why we got to trust in his will. So Jesus said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Let thy will be what's pleasing in my life for you. Nevertheless, we must with all sincerity desire God's will and purpose to be fulfilled in our lives and the lives even of our families and loved ones. We still want to see God's will and our children according to God's eternal plan for mankind. See now, we can determine what the will of God is when we seek Him through His revealed word, through the Bible, and through the Holy Ghost leading us in our hearts, so that when we be faced with obeying Him, when you are faced with a choice to obey God, not to obey God, you can find yourself obeying God because you will find yourself saying, Nevertheless, each and every time, when you know God is on your side, when you know God is your strength, when you know God is your everything, you don't have no problem saying, Nevertheless, Father, let your will be done. I don't care how I see it, because I don't seen wrong too long. David, I love Brent David, because he was the greatest. I was reading the other day, you know, the Bible calls David the sweet psalmist. We know he was the psalmist because he wrote a lot of the books and songs, but I've read the other thing, the Bible called him the sweet psalmist, because he could sure enough write them psalms. David prayed for the Lord to teach him to do his will. And I think that's what that's very fitting because we all, because we don't come here and want to do what's right. We don't come here and want to do the will of God. It could very well be that we all need to be taught this. And David, he he realized this in Psalms at 143. He said, Teach me to do thy will. Listen at that. Listen there. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Listen at that. When you know God is your God and you know all your trust is in him and your faith is in him, you I ain't gonna I ain't gonna go on what I think I know because I can be dead wrong, but if you teach it to me, if you teach it to me, it's gonna get in me. And if what you teach me get in me, it's gonna stay fixed in me for the rest of my life. See, when we are facing overwhelming, listen to me, y'all listen to me. When we're facing them overwhelming adversities and testings, and when we feel that we have reached the end of our rope of endurance and strength, when all that we are left with is the prayerful hope that God's will nevertheless revive us and deliver us out of this great trial in which we must endure with the mindset of nevertheless, his will be done. When trusting in God's will, we may find at times that his will may not be what we thought he would do. This ain't what I thought God was gonna do. It may not be how we wanted him to do it. I thought he was gonna do it's a whole nother way. Let me help you. Let me help somebody's moment. Because see, I done learned a whole lot of things. I done walked with God a long time. He said, I learned a long time ago. This meaning, don't even try and figure out how God is going to do anything. Because you're going to be wrong. God got so many ways to come at you with a blessing. You're going to think it's going to come one way, He'll come away you ain't never even can think of. And you're going to know it was God. So just trust Him and say, Lord, howsoever you do it, how soon ever you do it, I'm just going to wait on you. But don't try to figure him out, because you're going to be wrong every time. Because God don't follow a man's plan and he don't follow a man's thinking. See, be it known unto all of us, all of us need to know this. That if we deliberately sin in our lives, or if we are rebellious against the word of God, which is his will, then we must accept the reality that God will not answer nor hear our prayers. Because you're going against his will. We cannot expect God's will to be done in our lives unless we ourselves are attempting to do and live his will. Nevertheless, one thing I try to get over to people is to understand this God did not create you for you. God did not put you on this earth for you. If he allowed you to come into existence, if he allowed you to be born and come into his creation, it was for his purpose, it was for his pleasure, and it was for his will. We just so dumb that we have never realized that because we've been blinded by sin, blinded by the ways of the world, and blinded by our own way of thinking. Paul had to tell the church and Philippi then. He said, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God wants us to do, God got us here for him to be pleased with us. Not for us to be pleased with ourselves. But see, a lot of people don't want to accept that. That's too hard to swallow. See, many of us still have not yet accepted the fact that God has created us for his purpose, his pleasure, and his will. It is God's grace which works in us to produce in us both the desire and the power to do his will. He wants you to come to him only on your own and realize that you're here for him. This is why obedience is required of us. This is why, nevertheless, is necessary before him. You got to come before him saying, Lord, nevertheless. Because that's telling him you're giving up your will and your way. See, it pleased God. A lot of people don't want to swallow this, but I'm telling you it's the truth. Because the Bible teaches that. It pleased God to have Jesus go through what he desired for him to go through. As far as the cross, as far as suffering for us, as far as being beaten. It pleased God because that was his will. Because we look at what happened to Jesus, but what God looked at is what it produced. And it produced, he knew it was going to produce other people to be like his son Jesus. That's why it pleased him. Because not we through Christ can be sons and daughters of God. Okay? Now it pleased God for this to happen, but guess what? I'm going to tell you something. Guess what now? It pleases God for us to go through and become what he would have us to be as well. It pleases him to see us give up our wills for his will. And it pleases him to hear us say, nevertheless, nevertheless, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. It pleased him. I tell you what, read Isaiah, the 53rd chapter. You see what I'm talking about. Isaiah wrote about it long before Jesus got here. He wrote about how God was pleased for Jesus to be bruised and to suffer for us that we will be redeemed. Okay. Let me go take you a little deeper before I let you go. In the place of nevertheless, hallelujah. Hallelujah. The Lord is my shelf, and I shall not want. I will not lack anything spiritually necessary for God's will to be accomplished in my life. I will be content in God's provisions and care of my life, even and especially in times of personal hardships, the fires and trials, because I trust in his love and his commitment toward me. And I will have no problem ever saying, nevertheless. He maketh me to lie down and green pastor. He leads me beside the steel water. He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake. When in times of discouragement the Lord revives and he energizes my soul through his power and grace. He leadeth me by the Spirit of God in the path that he has chosen for me, which conforms to his way of holiness. Nevertheless, I will obey him. I will follow the Lord and hear his voice. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feel no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. In times of danger, if there be moments of difficulty or even death, I will feel no evil. And if I am asked why I have no fear, I will answer, for thou art with me. In every situation in my life, you with me. Thy staff is there to comfort me, not to abuse me, but to comfort me in times of need. It draws me closer to you. Hallelujah. Guiding me in the right way, in the right direction, to rescue me from trouble. This is why it has become easier for me now to say, in my life in Christ, nevertheless, your rod, your staff reassures me of your love. Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy. Thou anointest my head with all my cup run over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me. Everywhere I go, they follow me. Your goodness, your mercy is following me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David says in Psalms 40, I delight to do thy will. I love doing your will. I love giving up myself. I love saying, nevertheless, oh my God, as David just said in Psalm 49, I too will delight in doing the Lord's will. I will never again go back to the place of pride. Back to the letter, we'll go back to the place of self. I never will go back to the place of high-mindedness or having an ego that ain't worth a quote. But this is what I shall do. I shall continue to strive and reach unto the life in Christ which is before me and dwell in the place of nevertheless. Hallelujah. Which is pleasing unto the Lord, my God, where he shall hear me say at all times. Nevertheless, nevertheless, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. God bless you. God bless you.