In The Midst

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Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 0:04

We had such a wonderful time on uh Friday night going into Saturday morning. The watch night service. I really enjoyed it. From communion to the feet washing. We had some blessed all and the word of God came through. And I just enjoyed the praises that the people of God were singing on Friday night. But and I and I touched on something that I wanted to talk about this morning. Yeah, I don't know what you all's experiences are in the area of faith. Faith is a real big thing when it comes to the Lord, when it comes to our spiritual, our spiritual life, spiritual living. Faith is a very big thing. And I don't proclaim to know everything about faith. Lord knows one still learning and want to keep learning. But what I've learned, because I'm the reason I'm getting to that going this way, because I'm discovering something new about it that I may have noticed before, but not in the light that I'm that it's being revealed to me. Now, we've all learned that God has given to every man the measure of faith. We also know that faith has different stages. You can be weak in the faith. Jesus said you can have little faith. Jesus also lets us know you can have strong faith. The Bible also teaches you can have unfame faith. That means faith that not pretending. But the bottom line is what not what moves God is that whatever your situation is, or whatever your case is, that you find yourself believing what he done said in his word. That's very important, y'all, because that's gonna be, along with the other things in our lives that we've done that's written in the books, unbelief is gonna be the nail in our eternal coffin. If the Lord comes back here and and he don't find faith on the earth, or in other words, faith in his people because of unbelief, that's gonna be very detrimental to our spiritual eternal life with him. You're gonna get eternal life, but it ain't gonna be with him. So this morning, I want to, it's gonna be by faith, but I want us to come into a more revealed knowledge of faith. What I'm talking about is, this is what I'm learning. Out of all the things I done learned about faith, I'm learning this here. I'm seeing it clearer, clearer than I used to. That when it comes to faith or believing in God, it's not necessarily gonna be that when you put your faith in God for a situation, you'll put your faith in God for a sickness, and you put your faith in God for a tragedy or some situation that may be going on in your life, or bad marriage. What I am in, and you don't have to agree with this, but this is what I'm also learning and seeing that God doesn't necessarily have to bring you out of that thing in order for him to be glorified. And the reason I'm saying that, I want you to hear me clearly, is because I see in the book that he didn't take them three Hebrew boys out to find. Then also, I'm reading in the Bible where the word of God said, he did not even stop them from stoning Stephen. The word of God teaches, if you read your Bible correctly, he did not remove, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. He did not remove that messenger of Satan that came to buffet Paul like a thorn in his flesh. But what he told him was, My grace is sufficient, hallelujah. My grace is sufficient for you. If I never bring you out of it, I'm finding also in the word of God that some of the saints, our brothers and sisters that came along before us, some of the the book don't say this, and I and that really caught my eye. He said the book says Saul's asunder. Now that's some them two Greek words. And I looked at that thing, Saul is spelled S-A-W-N. We just say Saul today. They said Saul Osunder. That song means Saul and had. I said, good gracious alive. In order to denounce, before they would denounce who Jesus was, before they would denounce the faith that they believed in, they lied themselves to suffer to be saw in half, heads cut off, afflicted. I was reading also earlier this morning that I was reading by David, and he was talking about how the Lord delivered him out of the miraculous. I said, Lord, what is that? That my reclay means that that thick mood. When life done the situation got so thick on you. That thick mood. Almost like quicksand when you can't get yourself out. But he said, the Lord does deliver him. So I'm not about this faith thing. I said, wait a minute now. We should have always prayed, Lord, move it. Take it away, Lord. Bring it out of it, Lord. And that's fine. But it may be that God may not bring you out the way you think he's gonna bring you out. He might not fix it the way you think he's gonna fix it. Because one thing I'm also learning about this faith thing in God is God has an agenda. God has an agenda when it comes to our development faith-wise. And one of the things on his agenda is to use your situation that you go through to bring glory to his name. And he knows how to get glory out of us as individuals, because what it's gonna take for him to get glory out of your life by faith might be something totally different the way he got to go about getting glory out of my life by faith. He may have to let me put me on my sick bed for a while. He just got through doing that. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for bringing me out of that. But when you go through something, let me tell you something about your sight. Your sight when you go through something. When you go through a tragedy or sickness or a situation, a bad marriage, go through a divorce, cheering hard-headed. One thing you cannot rely on, what your eyes see. Because if you're going on what the situation looks like, you're not gonna see God and what he's doing, and how he's doing it. But here's the thing, I'm gonna help you. Whenever you go through anything and your faith is about to be tried, that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning. Anytime you're going through something and your faith is about to be tried or tested, look to Jesus. Yeah, it's gonna be getting rough, it's gonna get tight, but put your energy, put your efforts into looking to Jesus. Don't take your eyes off the situation, don't you know, don't do like Peter now. I tell people a lot, and y'all probably heard me say before, Jesus wasn't the only one out there walking on the water. Take your time and read slow sometimes, and stop trying to read too the Bible too fast. The Bible lets us know Peter actually did start and began to walk on the water just like Jesus. But it was a reason why Peter could do it at first, them first three steps, is because he kept his eyes on Jesus. Go back and read that when y'all get time. Get out the comic books. But if when he took his eyes off of Jesus, that he began to sing. All right now, it's a message in then. Because he's gonna show you why a lot of us ain't coming out of things the way we should come out of them, or why we still think it. It's because somewhere along that situation, somewhere along the thing we was going through, we unplugged our faith and stopped looking to Jesus, and we've been sinking ever since. Let me give you a little hope before I get into my message. When Peter realized he was sinking, and that he was sinking in a situation he didn't want to be in, because if I keep sinking in this ocean, I'm gonna drown. All right, now listen to the word now. It's a message in that. If we keep sinking and not using our faith and putting our faith in Jesus, we will drown. In our spiritual living, in our spiritual life, and it will affect, and when you drown, your faith is gonna drown with you. Okay, but let me give you a little hope. Like I told you, I got a little hope for you. But when Jesus, I mean, when Peter cried out, Lord, save me, that is, when you're in a situation and realize you have been looking at the thing wrong and you have not been using your faith, the best thing you could ever do is call out to the Lord, Lord, help me. Lord, save me. I realized I wasn't looking at this thing right. Help me, Lord. Don't let me drown. Don't let me say. And when the Lord heard him, he reached out and saved him. Just as he would do you and I. Because I don't care who you is. I don't care who you are. You ain't gonna always do the right thing when it comes to your faith development. You're gonna make some mistakes. There are gonna be periods of doubting. There may be periods of wavering. Listen to how I'm saying that now. I said periods of. That means you can't stay there. You might have periods of doubt and wavering, double-minded, but you can't stay there. You have to shake it off and rebuke it and repent and keep going and continue to increase your faith. But God don't, He has a way to increase our faith, and that is through suffering, being tried and tested. This morning, my message is for all of us, it's gonna be by faith, but the subject is morning is in the midst. When you're in the midst of whatever it is that's trying to test your faith, when you're in the midst of trouble, see, some of us don't know what trouble is because we run from every time we see it coming. When you're in the midst of being surrounded, and trouble is on every side. When you're in the midst of, seem like something, it's always something. Lord, it's always something. Seem like I'm always going through something. Tell the Lord, thank you. Because if your faith is being tried, if your faith is being tested, that means it's worth something. The word of God is gonna tell you, as gold, it's your faith is more valuable than precious gold that's been tried in the fire. The word of God tells us that. I'm gonna read it to you. That's how God sees your faith. That is more valuable and precious than gold. Why? I'll tell you why. Because faith is something you put your belief in the one true living Almighty God. And when you got a faith that believes in him who is the Almighty God, the one true living God, you have something that's more valuable than life itself. I said it. Because Jesus said it. He said, If a man be dead, believing in me, though he be dead, he said, yes, and if I go to my grave in faith, believing in God, that's gonna be what caused my body to rise in the resurrection. Because I believed and my faith was in God. Let me give you some word here. I'm on the foundation. In the midst. Have you ever been in the midst of anything? Because some of us don't ain't gone through nothing and I don't know in years. Some of us ain't gone through nothing in years. Our faith ain't been tried in years. It could be your faith is gone. Wait a minute now, Pastor Dick. Now you just said that God has given to every man the measure of faith. Yes, he has. But you can lose it. You you never done nothing with that measure you have, and if you don't use faith, you will lose faith. I'm gonna let Jesus tell you, because he's gonna let you know. Faith, your faith can fail because it ain't no good. Ain't no one there. See, so many of us still trying to use on these situations, because see here we are going into a new year. This 2022. I hope you don't think, I really hope you don't think that the faith you had in 2018, 2019, that you're gonna be able to use that in 2022. I hope you don't think that. If you had to let it done in your life, what it was trying to do, prepare you ahead of time before 2022 got him. But you ran from it, you hid out from it, you didn't want to take the test. You shot hook it on the day that they supposed to have tested. And that's what faith is like. That's why it's got to be tested and tried. Because that's like in school, when you went to them classes you didn't like. Ooh, I don't want to go to math class. I don't want to go to Adam. Because no care what kind of class you go into, at the end of it, it was always a test at the end of the semester. The teacher teach and taught certain things. Mathematics, division. For a couple of weeks. And then, all right now, when we get through this chapter here, it's gonna be a test at the end of this chapter on division. And see what that means here. I've been teaching you for a couple of weeks. Now it's time to see, and you can put it on paper, what you done learned.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

You better remember what a carry the one and to bring this down.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 18:04

And how many times four gonna go into 48 and carry the two and bring it down to where it's supposed to bring it down to? Because if you don't do it right, when she thinks, when it one thing we can understand when it comes to taking tests is when you done took the test, one thing is the study for the test. That's the first thing. The third, the second thing is, after you done learnt about the different subjects, what you're going through, the second thing is that you got to be tested on what you done learned, if you learned anything at all. And you got to bring that back up out of you to answer the certain questions or to deal with certain situations. The third thing is that we fail to realize is we don't even think about this, the test got to be graded. Uh-oh. Oh Lord. You mean the test got to be grade? You mean God grade us? Didn't your teacher grade you? The next day after test, she passed back the test and back to you. Oh, everybody get the test back with a grade on. And I don't know how many efforts we done got indeed when it comes to our faith. Because when your faith is tried and tested, you that means you done been graded. And so many of us know where we done failed and where we done flumped. And that's why Jesus always read to you what he's gonna tell Peter. I done pray for you that your faith failed not. Because I don't want you to fail. It's time out, y'all, for us to stop failing in faith. Stop flunking in faith. Because we don't like to taste tested. Well, you're gonna take them. If you don't want to be tested, you're in the wrong living lifestyle. Because faith got to be tried and faith got to be tested. But it's for your good because God's trying to use it to take us higher. He knows the higher we go in faith, it's because our situations get greater. Come on now, y'all. The stuff we went through 10 years ago, we'll laugh at it now. But then it ain't nothing. Oh, somebody told you, man, they're not not lying to you. Oh, man, that ain't nothing. I've been through that before. I've been used to folks lying on me. See, that kind of that that's too easy now. You laugh at that stuff. But see, when you were going through it, that was one of the hardest things you thought of. Oh, why they talk about me? Why they do me wrong? Why they, but now you got a few scarves now. You don't got hit in the eye a couple times and busted in the mouth. Now you can take it. But now, let me tell you like this now. Now that you at a different level, the test gonna be greater. The test now got to match the level of faith you're on, or the level of faith that you at. And the stuff you finna deal with in 2022, Lord have mercy. I hope that you allow your faith to get where it needs to be. Another thing I learned by faith, I'm gonna lay my foundation. See, in in school, if if you if you fail the test, the teacher just went on to the next chapter. You just that's just gonna be in the book under your under your name for that particular semester. You gotta fail in grade, and they're gonna move on. You might let you take a makeup test or whatever, do some makeup work to bring your grade up, but they move it on. But not so when it comes to faith. You're gonna keep on going over that. Thing until you get it right. You can't move on and go to your next level of faith in God until you first pass where the level you at. That's why so many of us seem like we've been in the same spiritual place for the last 20 years. Because we have not allowed ourselves to be developed spiritually to move on. We have allowed our faith to be tried and tested in order to move on to the next level that the Lord got waiting on us. And for certain levels that the Lord want to take some of us, it's going to take some hard licks. I'm not ashamed to say that when I was laying there in that hospital bed for four months, that was I know I talked to the Lord. And I know there were times I'm laying on my back, can't walk, can't get up. Lord, how long I gotta stay in this hospital? It's been a month already. Seems like it all be done up and got out of him. It's been a month already. Next thing I know, two months don't went by. Still in the land on my house, battle flat on my back. But what the Spirit revealed to me, you're gonna lay here until God get you up from him, until he lets you up. You know what the Holy Ghost was saying? You're gonna stand until the Lord says time for you to come out. Because you can be laying on your sick bed, hollow, going through whatever, and you still ain't got what he's trying to teach you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So you're gonna lay here until you learn until you pass the test. Hallelujah. Well I'm trying to teach you. Three months done passed by, still laying there. Lord have mercy. Until you get, hallelujah, to that place where you can say, Lord, your will be done. If it's your will, hallelujah. Hallelujah. For me to lay him. I'll lay him and hallelujah. And praise you. I'll lay him and talk to you. I'll lay here and serve you. Because in my spirit, mate. Hallelujah. Doctors walking in and out. Nurses walking in and out. Nothing ain't walking in and out. My faith goes still in you.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Hallelujah. And until you say it's time to come out. See, I'm telling you something. I'm saying the labor foundation. In the midst.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 25:15

When they throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Read the Bible. And Jesus was in the flame with them. Read your Bible. It's gonna, you're gonna read well. The Bible says they tied them up and bound them before they throw them. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In the fire. I said I got a m is the Holy Ghost showed me a message in there. Not only they got to go through the fire, they gotta be bound and tied up. Then throwed in there. But here's what I saw in the midst of that.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

You're gonna read in your Bible the fire burnt off the rocks and things that had them bound. And freedom while they was in the fire.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 26:10

But you also gonna read that they just stood there in the fire. In the midst of the fire, they just stood in the fire with Jesus. They didn't soon make ropes got burnt down, took off running out that fire, out of that furnace. Like so many of us, we didn't, ooh, let me get out of this fire hot. But read the Bible. They still stood there in the midst of that fire. They didn't try to run out of it, they didn't try to be able to stood there in the midst of it. Until Nebuchadnezzar and them told them, asked them to come out. You ain't got to run from your situation, you ain't got to worry about how hot it is. Because I'm gonna show you something. It can look like your situation that you're in the center of the fire, in the midst of the fire. But I'm here to tell you, like the three Hebrew boys, you'll find out the Bible says the fire didn't even touch them. See, a lot of people see you going through this and see you going through that, but what they don't realize, if your faith is intact, if your faith in God is where it ought to be, you're not even being touched by the situation. Hallelujah. The Bible said their hair wasn't singed. Read your Bible. He said that it even smell like smoke. Let people come with a baby. You don't even look like you've been through no divorce. You don't look like you're sad or nothing. You don't look like you're glad he's gone. Look like you thanking God. I thought you said you went through a divorce. I did, but it didn't touch me. Look, you don't have the smell of the both on you. They find you on your job, but you don't look like you unemployed. You don't look right there, you're still dressing now and looking good and looking like you're eating good. I thought you said they let you go three months ago. They did.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

But it didn't affect me. How is that?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 28:35

Because my faith, hallelujah. Even though it was tried as though by fire, my faith was still in God. Him who has resources that's inexhaustible. But the main thing I'm learning about faith, y'all, at this point in my life where I'm at right now, that I have to accept, hallelujah. Hallelujah. That we all have to accept that our faith must be, must be tried, it must be tested. That's part of having faith, to have a faith that's constantly growing, that's constantly increasing, that's constantly developing, preparing you for the next wave of trials and tribulations that you're gonna have to go through. I don't know why my faith was tested in the way it was this past year to be in a hospital that long. But I do know this and I do believe this: that it was preparing me for whatever coming that I didn't see, but my father saw. He saw what's coming. And it has allowed my faith to grow. Hallelujah. To another level. Listen at the word of God. I guess what? I got the foundation one verse in 1 Peter, the first chapter of 1 Peter, verse 7. He said, That's the trial of your faith. Here it is. The Bible teaches us all we need to know, y'all. We just need to read. That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. See, gold can perish, but your faith in God cannot. Though it be tried with fire. Talking about the gold, because fire purifies the gold, you more make it more precious. And faith being tried in the fire makes your faith much more precious, much more valuable. Though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor, and glory at the peering of Jesus. Now, why in the world he said that my faith may be found unto praise and honor? Because one thing I'm learning about our Father, our Lord God, when He sees faith in your life, and that faith is developing, He praises that and honors that.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Wait a minute now, Pastor. What you mean?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 31:54

God praised something that's in us. Yeah, there is something that can be in you that God will praise. Let me give you a little book. Notice how the word of God said, but without faith, it is impossible to, listen to that word, is impossible to please God. Do you know what it's like when something pleases you?

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Anybody ever had something that pleased them and they enjoyed it a lot?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 32:33

One thing that pleases God when he sees faith in him or about him and about his word when he sees that faith in his people. Not only seeing in his people, but he sees them living what they believe. Hallelujah. That pleases him, which caused him us to be in his eyes at a place of praise and honor. In his eyes. See, some of us, God's people don't got to a place where in the midst of trouble and going through, they like Paul and Silas. They singing and praising God instead of crying and boo-hooing.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

They're thanking God for the privilege to have had suffered and gone through for the Lord. Let me show you a person.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 34:03

A person who has gone through for the Lord. Let me tell you about a person. There's a place that you and I can get to. There's a place that a person can get through in the Lord. There is a place for a person who has gone through and faith has been tested time and time and time again over the years and over the years. There is a place that that person will get that nothing, hear me, hear me good, that nothing will cause you to ever falter in your face toward God again. Even if they have to saw you asunder, even if they have to cast you down and knock you down on the ground, you're gonna get up and your faith is still gonna be intact.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

If you lose your house, if your husband calls you and he ain't never coming back, if your wife leaves you for another man, there's a place for a person with faith is that no matter what happens in this life, I'm gonna stay with the Lord.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 35:43

But here comes Peter and say, where we gon' go? We ain't going nowhere.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

You hold the keys to light. Everything we need in you, we're not leaving you.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 35:59

No matter who we who else we see leaving, you have to make it up in your mind, you ain't leaving.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

That's a trial of your faith.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 36:12

In the midst, your faith don't be tried. And faith being as valuable as it is, it cannot be tried with them little old light tests that we don't, we don't mind them little old light ones. Light test. Faith has to be tried in a tremendous suffering way. Suffering is what causes faith to be sharpened. Suffering is what caused faith to become more precious than it was when he God first gave it to you.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Suffering going through.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 37:22

And how they face were tested. Now, if you you see, now you think if everybody will come before we'll face what tested, don't you know our got to be tested to? We don't get off scot-free. This is the life, y'all. This is what it's all about until Jesus comes back here and get us. Paul said, and what shall our more say? What else can you say to y'all to tell y'all about this faith? What more can I say? He said, for the time will fail me. In other words, I don't have the time to tell you about all these people that come before us that you read about, we read about, that had faith. He said, and what more say I? What shall I more say? What more can I say? For the time will fail me to tell you about Gideon, hallelujah, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jeptah, and of David, also, and Samuel, and the prophet. I don't have time to go into and tell you all about faith that they had. What are you going to get rid of tell them? But he's going to give them a little bit so they have something to go on. He said, who through faith, be the only people I can tell you about, who through faith, listen at that now, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, they live righteous lives. God allowed some of them to overtake even kingdoms. He said they obtained promises. They stopped the mouth of lions. You're talking about Daniel right there. He said they quenched the violence of fire. Talking about three Hebrew boys out there. He said they escaped the edge of the sword. So many of them escaped the edge of the sword. This one here got me right here. He said, for some of them, these people he's talking about faith. He said, out of weakness, some of them out of weakness were made strong. Come on, y'all. Stop letting folks talk to you, call you all kinds of names. You ain't got no faith. You weak. Yeah, I may be. But I'm here to tell you, God, out of our weakness, can make us strong. Come on, then. I said, God, when we think we're weak, and some of us have been weak, but that's fine. Keep the faith. Because out of weakness, after a while, out of your weakness don't come strength. I know y'all tired and hitting it, but that's all right. I ain't tired of saying it. I love it when the Lord had to tell Paul, my strength is made perfect in weakness. I love it when he said that, because that encourages my spirit. Because I know along the way I've had some weak moments. But there is hope and encouragement when I read that right there. When he didn't, God can't, he don't tell Paul about his strength. He tells him, but my strength is made perfect in weakness. Who else can cause us to be strong and bring and make us weak when we used to make us strong when we used to be weak? Nobody but God. And it's the same Paul telling these folks about that. Our weakness were made strong. In other words, God made them strong. How you do that, God? Because I took you through. I took you through trials and tribulation in the midst of. I put you in the midst of a situation where you were going to either have to use your faith or you were going to have to faith.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

Now, which one you gonna do? You gonna keep the faith or you gonna stay weak?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 41:27

In the midst of weakness was made strong. They waxed valiant in fight. When they had the fight, they stood on God. He said they turned to fly the armies of Aden. In other words, a lot of stories in the Bible with Joshua and there, they had they turned old armies around when they came. They heard about them Israelite. I mean, when Israel was at their strongest and they trusted God. Pagan armies were wrong from them before they even got in the battle. Oh no, we heard about them. Turned whole armies around. Paul says, he said, women received their dead raised to life again. That's talking about Elijah. You know, when he was in that wood how the son died. Elizabeth went out, laid over, and the boy came back to life. I don't have time to go through all that. Y'all got to read your Bible. And others were tortured. Lord, have mercy. We ain't been tortured. We don't know what torture is. Not physical torture. Some of us, I I need to need not say a whole lot about it, but some of us know what it's like for our hearts to be tortured. For our minds to be tortured. Because you got some evil people out there. Some of them be connected with some evil folks. And then I messed up our minds. And then I'll mess up our heart because of the fifth the mental torture, the verbal torture of saying things, but you still got to keep the faith.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Keep looking to Jesus. I know what I'm talking about. Because I said I used to be married to a food. I don't mean no harm. I don't mean no harm.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 43:22

I'm on an argu, driving down the road, and I'm driving.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I ain't got time to argue, fuck you. Pussing. Hollering and yelling at me.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 43:40

And put my mind on the Lord. Because I know that was the devil.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

But that mental torture. And Lord. Well, let me leave that on. Let me move on.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 43:58

Others were tortured. Not accepting deliverance. You got some people in the Bible they said not to serve deliverance because a lot of times in the Bible, people would torture them by saying, Well, all you gotta do is stop saying Jesus. All you gotta do is bow down, and when you hear that music play, bow down and start worshiping the eye of God. And we'll let you go. But they refuse to take the deal and refuse to be delivered. Why? Look what the Bible said. Not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Now I'm not gonna accept your deal, your trickery. If you tell me I gotta stop saying Jesus, you're talking to the wrong woman. I'll gonna take the torture. Don't torture me, because I'm not finna denounce my Lord and Savior. Hallelujah. Because if I lose my life for this thing, I'm gonna find again. Otherwise, I'm not finna sell out my faith. I'm not finna sell out my righteous living, my holy living. No, but you already got to do when you hear music by the album, like everybody else. What's the idols that the world got today? Where's the celebrities on TV y'all can't stop talking about? Stay on social media and Facebook and everything folks talking about and doing. I heard somebody say all of that. I don't know what it is about a TikTok. I don't know what is a tick tocking. I don't know what that is. I know it's foolishness. It ain't about God. I don't want to be delivered by man standard. Let the Lord deliver me. When he gets ready to deliver me, because when my faith is tested, I don't need to come out of this sooner than I need supposed to. See, you get the you develop a frame of mind, Lord, I'm willing to stand this. Hallelujah. Until you say it's time to come. Let me stand until I learn what I need to learn. And if it means being tortured, let me be tortured. Because my mind gonna steal you anyway. And others had trials of cruel marking. Some people, some of the saints of God, brothers and sisters came forward, some of them were treated very cruelly. See, y'all, some of us don't know what it means to have somebody treat us, be to be cruel to us. Cruel, hateful, mean. For no reason, you ain't done that to them. I ain't done that to you. But being cruel, because you because you live for the Lord, because you're trying to live a peaceful life, because you're trying to serve the Lord, because you don't like to argue and fuss and cuss and fight. They want you to do that with them. Because you don't want to talk, because you don't like talking to devils. I ain't got nothing to say. Because you ain't gonna hear me, and I'm not gonna hear you. And I don't like just running my mouth to a devil. Go talk to another devil. Find you a devil to talk to. Because I serve the Lord. And be cruel to me if you want to. Cruel markings are scourges. Yay, Paul said. Yay. Moreover, bonds and imprisonment. Some of them took, went to prison. They weren't finna stop serving the Lord. You know that old chief priest said, Nah, we let you go, but don't you talk about that Jesus and Paul and went right on back in the marketplace and kept on preaching the word of God, proclaiming Jesus. He said they were stoned. That's Stephen L. Paul was all of them were stoned. They were so this is what got me at verse 37. They were so asunder, cut in half. I mean, you felt that they ain't with no anesthesia. They cut you in half. But go cut me in half, because I'm finna stay with Jesus. Do what you want with the body. I don't fear him that can destroy the body. I fear him who can draw the body and send my soul to hell. That's what the book said. They were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. See, a lot of people don't like to. A lot of saved folks I'm seeing, they don't like to talk about, admit that they've been afflicted. Well, you've been afflicted, just being afflicted. Ain't no shame in that. Ain't no shame in being afflicted. Just thank God that he with you into affliction. This is what he said. He said, people that went through this with Paul said, of whom, all these people, of whom the world was not worthy. It's a lot of godly people that come to the world. The Bible said that the world was not worthy to have them here. Because they didn't appreciate them. Just like when Jesus came, they didn't appreciate him. And those of us who come along and have Jesus in us, they ain't gonna appreciate us either. The world is not worthy to have true people of God. That's what the book's saying here. They wandered in the desert and in mountains and dens and caves on the earth. And listen at this. And these all had me obtained a good report. Listen at this and listen at me good when I read this again. All that stuff these people went through, it was tragedy, chaos. It caused that some of them, some of them demise. But here Paul comes along in that 39th verse and says, and these all having obtained a good report. A good report. And they went through all that, and they got a good report. I mean, they were talking about God gave them a good report of their life. Let me finish reading it so you can understand. And these all having obtained good report, hit the rest of it, through faith. It wasn't about the good report of how they what they went through and how they went through it and how ugly it was. But when it all came down to when God graded their tests, they obtained a good report, a good grade. The Bible said, through faith. Why? Because they kept the faith.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

In the midst of it, they kept the faith. When it was all around them, they kept the faith.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 50:58

In the midst, looking trouble out of eye. Looking at some of these devils out of eye. I told people, I saw death. Look death in the eye. Death wanted me them four months I laid in the hospital. And I know this, but I I'm not afraid.

SPEAKER_01 51:20

Was not afraid. But I saw him and I knew he wanted it. But see what the devil failed to realize is I was true to my God.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 51:40

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_01 52:01

See in the midst of God seeing in you what he needs to see in you.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 52:13

Something in yourself.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

When you can look at death, when you can look at trouble, when you can see the situation, when you know the bottom in the fall, and you remain true to your God. And these all haven't obtained a good report through faith.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 53:18

Now this gonna sound hard, but it's but you got to understand it. They obtain a good report through faith, but the Bible said, but they receive not the promise. Hallelujah. Look at it from a spiritual perspective. You would think, see, the promise is the reward. You will think, after I done got a good grade and I done been obtained a good report through faith, I deserve the reward. Yeah, you do, but here's the thing about it, we need to understand. The reward is waiting on you. You're just not finna get it right now. You're not finna get the promise right now because God has a plan. All of us who done got good grades through faith. Here's the thing about it with those that done come along before us, those that's with us right now, and those that's coming alter us, what God has prepared, he's keeping all the grades together. Because when he disks out the reward, he wants us all to receive the reward of a promise at the same time. Let me show you in the word of God. Because verse 4 is gonna say it did not God. They said God. God having provided, it's provided for you, but God having provided some better thing for us. That they, all those that are coming on for us, that they without us, they can't receive it without us, and we can't receive it without them. That they without us should not be made perfect. In other words, all of us gonna come into perfection at the same time. All of us gonna come into the promise at the same time, all of us gonna receive the reward at the same time. Stop letting folks tell you, and I know I'm gonna make somebody mad, but get mad and love me right on. That's why people need to stop saying everybody in heaven that done died already. That ain't what the Bible teaches, y'all. A lot of people think right now when folks done died, they done went straight to heaven. That ain't what the Bible teaches, y'all. You ain't gonna find it in the Bible. We all gonna have to go together. Uh, Pastor, this is now waiting. That I know big mom and them in heaven. How do you know it don't show me in the book where it says they don't say that? Don't get me wrong, they're in a place, but we in a heaven, because we all going to hell, we're all going to heaven going at the same time. But they're in the place where they're enjoying themselves, they're being comforted, and the Bible gives us good for that place, but it's a gut thing. They can't cross over to them, and we can't cross over, they can't cross over to us. I ain't got time to go into it though. But we all have not been perfected. We're gonna all be perfected together. I just don't have time to go into it to explain it, but stop saying we all in heaven. Because we gotta go through the judgment. People gotta go on to hell, gotta go through the judgment. Though they're in a place of torment now. Just like the same people in a place of peace and happiness.

SPEAKER_01 56:49

Oh, I don't have time to go into it, but anyway. Let me get back to faith in the midst.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 57:01

What God don't want us to let happen is for our faith to fail. That's why Jesus told Peter, he said, that's why Jesus told him, I done prayed for you. That your faith fail not. Well, why are you praying for me, Jesus? Because Satan desired to have you. Satan desires to have you and I. Just like he desired to have Peter. Because the devil, one thing he doesn't want is for a holy nation of people to rise up that's full of faith. He doesn't want you to have faith, especially not no faith in God, his enemy, his nemesis. He wants as many people in his world to doubt God, to waver in faith, to be devil-minded as possible. But for them to come along and be strong in the faith, that's a threat not only to him, but to his kingdom. That is why God must push the issue of our faith being tried and becoming stronger, because we're gonna have to deal with some things, y'all after while the devil's not playing. He's mad, he's angry against God, but he can't do nothing to God. But he says he can mess with God's people, his children, because we down here in the realm where he ruled on the earth, the prince of the air, the prince of this world. But if we hear and our faith is strong in our God, no matter what we are, ain't nothing that the devil can do to us when you're face in God. That's why your faith is valuable. You got to use it against the kingdom of the devil. And while God is making you, learn how to wait. Learn how to let Him do what he got to do. I had to shut my mouth. Laying down on the hospital bed, keep asking God how long I won't lay him. Till you shut your mouth and accept it? Till you start asking me about it. Well, Lord, it's been a month. I don't care, it'd be two months. You keep on running your mouth, I'll let it be three. Keep talking.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

I learned to shut my mouth.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 59:28

And went day to day, just kept trusting in God. But shut my mouth until one day the doctor came and said, Mr. Jess, we brother, we're gonna let you go home. I couldn't walk. But I could have jumped out of that bed and danced and shouted, but I couldn't even walk. Because I laid that so long, my legs and my mother had atrophied. That's why I had to go to rehab after after that, after I left the hospital. I couldn't roll down. Well, I'm I met this wheelchair roll. Put me in this wheelchair. I rolled little out of here. But I had to, let me read. Let me read, give me some book. David said, Hallelujah, I waited patiently for the Lord. I waited. And faith, a lot of times, ain't gonna be what you're going through. It's gonna be a lot of times it's how you're waiting on the Lord. I waited patiently. Without running my mouth, without rubbing and complaining, waited patiently for the Lord. Well, what happened, David, when you waited patiently on it? And he inclined unto me. He saw me waiting, he saw me being patient, and the book said, he inclined unto me. That word inclined me, he turned and gave me his attention. He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Thank you, Lord, for him. He know you what you're going through. He know how bad a big problem is causing you. But if you're gonna say something to him, let it be talks of faith. Talk faith to God. Don't talk war as me. Don't talk how long I gotta lay here. Don't talk. I'm tired of them sticking me. Because I got tired of them sticking me with them needles. Shut your mouth. I waited patiently. Because if the Lord got you in this tent, you're gonna have to wait on it. You gotta let you gotta let it be when he says it's over. Not when you get tired. Because I don't feel like fighting today. I don't feel like having faith today. You can't have no feel like when it comes to living for the Lord. You can't have no fear like what you ain't wanting to do. Ain't about what you don't feel like. Same thing about feeling. This is what David said. He brought me. See, if God takes you do something, he won't gonna bring you. He brought me up. Not down. God don't bring you down, he brings you up. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. Someone's done been into a horrible place. A horrible pit. Some of the stuff we done been doing was horrible. That's all right. He said the Lord brought me up, brought me up, and brought me up. There it is. We came out a horrible pit out of the miraculous, that thick mud. And set me, he brought me up and out, and then he set me. Look where he said yet. The book said, he set me on a rock. He brought you closer to Jesus. Jesus is the rock. He set me on a rock. He set me on Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:07

And established my going.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 1:03:12

He made a way for me to go. He said that he has put a new song in my mouth. I'm gonna tell y'all this right quick. For my time right now. When the Lord takes you through something and bring you out, you ain't got to believe me.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:31

Just keep living.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 1:03:36

When you come out of something and you can relate a lot better to a lot of things, when it especially you you can you'll start, you'll hear a song. And you can relate to that song and have something in it that you can relate to what you done been through, that song becomes a new song in your heart.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:00

See, we a lot of people you sing. Take me through the Lord, take me through.

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 1:04:11

But see, when you actually done went through something, and when you hear that song, it just comes, it comes like a new song to you. You can hear Jesus, I'll never forget. Hallelujah. What you've done for me. When you lived it, what he done done for you. When you was at your your lowest, your darkest. Now when you hear the song, Jesus I never forget. You can't hardly get through the whole song without breaking down. Because God means more to you. He put a new song. They say he put a new song in my mouth. Even praise unto the God, unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear shall trust in the Lord. Bless. Ooh, this one, this part here got me too. He said, Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust. I wonder, well, how do you say, well, blessed man that trusts in the Lord? He said, now, blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust. God has become your trust. In other words, for you, the definition of trust is God. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. God is my trust now. I ain't just trusting in him. He is my trust. Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust. And respect is not the proud, nor such as turn aside the lie. Ain't got time to be turning aside aside to listen to folks lie. So when you learn how to trust in the Lord, that means you only trust and not is the only thing you trust in now is the truth. Ain't got time for no lie. I turn from that. Anybody that wants to talk like that. Because the Lord is my trust, and the trust is the truth. He says, many in my clothes. He says, Many, oh God. Many, oh Lord, my God, of thy wonderful work. You've done so many wonderful works in my life. Lord done some wonderful works, y'all, in our life. He said, Many, oh Lord, my God, of thy wonderful works, which thou hast done. You did it.

unknown 1:06:38

Whoop!

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 1:06:38

Whoop! You did it. I didn't do it. I put my faith in you, but you did it. When I was in the midst of trouble, it was you that performed a wonderful work in my life. And thy thoughts which are to us were, you were thinking about me. You were thinking about us. Your thoughts were to us. They cannot be reckoned with. I can't even add them all up in order unto thee. I can't add all the wonderful works you've done did for me. Listen to what David said. He said, if I would declare and speak, if I just started talking about all the stuff you done done for me, if I just began to speak on it, he said, they are more than can be numbered. I can't number all the times you done blessed me. I can't number all the times you've done wonderful works. I can't number all the time you've brought me out of trouble. I can't number all the time that I have made you my trust.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

Because it was when I was in the midst, when I was surrounded, they that was with me was more than they that was with them. Because in the midst, if you be for me, who can be against me?

Pastor Rickey D. Dixon 1:08:17

So I declare from the mountaintop that my faith, if I'm to be tried, if I'm to be tested, if I'm to go through, my faith shall remain in you. My faith shall remain in my Lord, who shall forever be my God, and who I put my faith and trust my faith in his hands to be tested, so that I can become more precious than the gold that's tried in front.