Call To Me | Don't Forget

Whenever you're called to speak. And I'm going to appreciate my pastors and my husband and I think I heard my daughter's voice somewhere. It's like pulling teeth. I spoke to somebody out in the concourse and I said, it feels like I've been called to jury, that I'm going to have to stand and be a witness or say something today. So it's a little nerve wracking.

I felt a moment of anxiety, a moment of fear. But also the Lord spoke to me and said, you have been bought with a price. You've been bought with a price. You can't do what you want to do. Denise, you yield yourself to me.

And so I'm here tonight to do what God has called me to do. And then also I am mad at Pastor Stephen because I only called her just to say Pastor Steph. I enjoyed Haley on Monday when she was speaking and she said, denise hall, she says, you're gonna speak for us on Wednesday night. And she said, is that a yes? Is that a yes?

And I agreed. I agreed. But anyway, I wanna thank God for an awesome church. This is an awesome church and I like participation. Can you clap with me?

Amen.

It's an awesome church. It's a safe place. And I love the refuge. Out of any place the Lord could have chose for me to be to put my membership at it is the refuge. And I'm so glad because there are so many choices.

But I thank God that he chose the refuge for me and my husband. I want to acknowledge my pastors. I thank God for Pastor J. Stewart and Melissa. Amen. I thank God.

They're great pastors. Amen. And not only are they great pastors, but they're pastors to pastors. You know, that takes a gifting to do that. So I just thank you for that, pastor, for loving Bishop and myself.

And then also Pastor Terry. I'm not going to say one of my favorite because I don't want to get in trouble with everybody, but she is one of. One of. And then Pastor Stephanie, so many, Pastor Nate, so, so many on staff here that I'm so thankful for. As far as the leadership of the refuge, we are truly blessed.

And then I want to acknowledge. Thank you. I want to acknowledge my husband. Saturday, October 15th of this year, I will be married. Have been married to him for 46 years.

46 years.

And he's a good man. He's my boyfriend. I always say amen. He's been committed, committed to me and been faithful to me. And I thank God for that.

And then all my. Did I hear my daughters here tonight? I think I heard April's voice. If I praise the Lord, the savage is back there. Amen.

Praise God. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Let's pray.

Father, I just thank you tonight, God. I thank you Lord Jesus for giving me this opportunity to stand before your people, God, to share the word. Oh God. I just pray God that you unctionize, illuminate, give me the ability to, to say what you want me to say. And I say before I start that I decrease.

And I ask God that you increase and say what you have for me to say to your precious people tonight. I love you and praise you for it. Now in Jesus name, amen. And I want to move on quickly because I'm going to try to say everything I need to say within the 15 or 20 minute range so we can pray. The topic of what I'm talking about tonight is call to me.

Call to me. And I put with that, don't forget. So the scripture is coming From Jeremiah, Jeremiah 33. 33. And it reads as follows.

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you and even show you great and mighty things. I just felt the Holy Spirit right there. Things which have been confined and hidden, which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish. And as I was preparing this lesson tonight, you know, I thought about all the stuff that we're hearing, all the things that we're facing in this world. We're facing walls and we're facing trials and we're facing tests.

International, we're facing tests and trials. National, we're facing a lot of destruction going on all around us. Local, when you turn on the news, there's so much disasters and all of those things going on. Just the other day I just happened to just turn on the TV just quickly. And there was two co workers who were working at Wendy's over here on W.T.

harris and fighting and ended up shooting one of them, one another and one died. You know, it's just so much that we're facing in this world, you know. And I want to say don't forget to call on God. Even though we're faced with all the disasters going on. And I don't want to take this message lightly in Jeremiah 33 because it is talking about Israel.

I woke up on Saturday morning and Israel is at war. Now we have to pray. We should have already been praying for Israel. Amen. Praise God.

Amen. And now we're having a really bombard heaven for Israel. Amen. That is our call, that is our responsibility, is to pray for Israel, pray for peace over there. But I heard something in this message that I'm going to share with you in a few minutes where we.

If we just trust in God, if we just depend on God, God got Israel's back. God has Jerusalem's back. Praise God. Amen. But don't forget to call to God.

There are troubles going on all around us, just like the Israelites. They were faced with troubles, they were faced with rebellion, they were faced with idolatry and the sinful nature of Jeroboam, which led them into that and introduced them to committing adultery and all of those things, and worshiping other gods, causing them to leave. The true and the living God. Can you say that with me? The true and the living God.

Amen. Choices. I put in my notes here. Choices, choices. All kinds of choices are ever before us.

And this is kind of like a teach preach. Listening to God's voice is vital in. In this hour. Can you say that with me? Listening to God's voice is vital in this hour.

I want to say it one more time. Listening to God's voice is vital in this hour. Amen. There's so much to cover in Jeremiah 33, 1:11. I'm not going to read it all because of my time, but I want to go to one point out of all of that, because let me do just a briefer.

It says, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time while he was still confined in the court of the yard, saying, telling the truth, standing up for the gospel. The guard took him and confined him. They didn't want to hear about God. You're going to be faced with situations where people are not going to hear about God. But don't you give up.

Don't you stop preaching the gospel. Don't you stop teaching the gospel. Don't you stop testifying, don't you stop loving on God. Because people don't want to hear about God. Amen.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Right there. Amen. It says, thus says the Lord, who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it.

The Lord is his name. And I'm going to jump on down. It says, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of the city and the houses of the kings of Judah, kings of Judah, which are torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword. And then the fifth verse, it says, while they besieged, the Jews are coming to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in my anger. And why is there destruction?

Why is there harm being done here? Not because God is an angry God. Not because God is a mean God. Because sometimes when we see these things in scripture, we think that God is a bad God. God is a mean God.

God is an unjust God. He is still a good God. He's still a good God. I'm reminded of John 10:10. It says, the thief cometh but to steal, to kill and to destroy.

But Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. But it's so much going on. One thing that God. God is a God. One thing about God is God is a God who will not change.

If he said it, he sticks. That settles it. If I could use those terms. If he said it, that settles it. God is a God of pure.

God is a God of holy. God is a God that loves good things. Amen. And he said, thou shall have no other God before me. And not just God, little G God, but God's.

Thou shall have no other gods before me. And so that leaves us having to check ourselves, having to make sure, where are we going? Who. Who are we hanging out with? What are we doing?

Those kind of things. Amen. So that we don't get caught up like Israel got caught up in those ungodly things. Oh, boy, this is hard. Praise the Lord.

I'm going on.

Point number one. I want to make it says, what are the benefits of the voice of God? Because God was calling Jeremiah and then Jeremiah. I don't know if he didn't hear him the first time, and I'm using my own paraphrase, but then he had to call him again a second time. And that's when Jeremiah began to listen and God began to speak to him about, I want you to talk to my people.

And then. So it's important, it's imperative that we listen to the voice of God. God is speaking. I believe God is speaking every day to us. But are we listening?

Are we tuned in? Do we have our tenors tuned up so that we can hear the voice of God? Because he's speaking all through the New Testament, it talks about, he that have an earth, let them hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying. So God is talking, but are we listening? What are the benefits of the voice of God?

By listening to God and hearing his voice, we can develop a deeper relationship with him, which is God's purpose for each of us. And never forget that the cross is your way home. I love that when I read that, I wept before God because I said it said, I don't care how far I get or how close I get to making a mistake. And I've done some, I've made some. I'm not here standing up here to be perfect.

I'm letting you know I've made some mistakes in my life. Praise the Lord. Amen. But I'm glad to know that the cross leads me back home. The cross leads me back to God.

Praise the Lord. The second thing is, what are the characteristics of the voice of God? God's voice will always echo his Word. God's voice will always echo his Word. The voice of the Lord is powerful.

God's voice changes everything. The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars. Look how great God is. God's voice can pierce the hardest hearts. The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.

God's voice will bring conviction. Well, my loved one is not saved. Well, when is my loved one going to get saved? I've been praying for years. God's voice.

You know, it's a good thing to pray. I, Lord, let them hear your voice and not my voice. Because I do that. I'm praying, but don't hear my voice. Hear the Lord's voice.

Amen. So the voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning. God's voice will bring conviction. The situation here is Jeremiah warned the people time after time again to listen to the voice of the Lord. But they refused to hear.

They loved and worshiped other gods and idols. More than then, they love the true and living God who created them. Do you know who created you? Amen. God created me.

Praise God. Amen. There's history on that. Amen. The third thing I want to say is refusing to listen to the voice of God can and will cause walls to develop in our lives.

I want to read that again. Refusing to listen to the voice of God can and will cause walls to develop. And in our lives they're walls of idolatry. And I'm gonna talk about those in a few minutes. It says when we don't listen to God's voice, it can lead us into fleshly walls like Romans, chapter one talks about.

We can't go into that tonight. And it speaks about the uncleanness of living. It says, I don't have time. I'm saying to you tonight, I don't have time to unpack this. But the point here is we can return to the life of Our old nature, if we're not careful, if we're not doing what we're supposed to do, spiritually, reading the Word and all of those things, what I'm going to talk about in a few minutes, we can fall back into our old nature.

Praise the Lord. And those walls I want to talk about are walls of sexual sins. I was there. I don't want to get ahead of myself. Walls of economic injustice, walls of anger, walls of bitterness, walls of revenge, walls of oppression, walls of anxiety, walls of shame.

The wall goes on. Walls of fear, walls of suicide, walls of insecurity. And the list goes on. Are you guys with me tonight? My personal testimony and all these walls I have experienced, I'm not saying that I have arrived, but I am saying that God has done too much for me in my lifetime to go back to where he brought me out.

I was angry, I was fearful, I was oppressed, I was depressed, I was filled with anxiety, I was ashamed. I was a teenager, pregnant before marriage, I was suicidal. I had insecurities knocking at my door. But now I am the redeemed of the Lord because Jesus Christ has set me free. Amen.

Amen. First John 4:4. King James Version. It says, you are of God, little children and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The Holy Spirit living in the Christian is far stronger than any attack of the devil.

Wow. This encouragement should empower believers not to fear Satan. And I said this statement earlier. And then I said, you need to go back and fix that. Because I said, I'm not afraid of the devil.

And I said, well, you might not need to say that. Maybe that's a little bit too strong. But you know what? I'm not afraid of the devil. I am not afraid of the devil because he said in his Word, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

Praise God. I won't take that back. Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen.

And then it says on, it says, by doing so, we can overcome the powers of darkness and walk with boldness in this life. And I put this down like Ms. Haley, who said to us on Monday at Pastor Steph's small group. She said, I am experiencing new freedoms in Christ. Her testimony blessed my soul every day. She said, I'm experiencing, experiencing new freedoms in Christ.

I thank God as being a born again Christian, we can experience new freedoms in Christ every day. God, it's not a thing. It's not about condemnation. It's not about feeling like you're nobody. It's seeing your eyes through the eyes of God.

God says that you're my chosen child. You're my chosen. You're my child. Amen. Praise God.

Your royal priesthood is so many things there. You're a holy nation, you know. And when we see ourselves as God, child, then we can do great exploits for God. It says God did not intend for his people to experience such walls, but God is a restorer. So if you are facing a wall tonight, or you have walls in your life, guess what?

God loves you enough to take care of those walls. Praise the Lord. I'm moving on. In verse 3, Jeremiah 33, it says, and when we call to God, he will answer and restore our soul back to himself. God will give you a song in your spirit.

Verse 9, Jerusalem will be a name of joy, praise of glory before all the nations of the earth, which will hear of all the good that I do for them. Jeremiah is saying what God is saying to him. And they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace which is prosperity and security and stability that I provide for. Isn't he a great God? Then it says, listen to God's voice.

Listen to God's voice. Not to any Chaldean. That's what they were faced with. Or Nebuchadnezzar. That's who they were faced with.

The King of Babylon. They were faced with. With baal. They were faced with other gods. Amen.

But we should not listen to them. I always say this. We should listen to Buddha, we shouldn't listen to Muhammad, we shouldn't listen to all these other gods. Listen to God. Amen.

And you know, I'm not saying that like I'm telling you what to do. I'm just saying that. That this is what I'm doing.

Amen. Listen to God's voice. Amen. Jeremiah 32:27, it says, God plainly tells us that nothing is too hard for him. So when you're in a deep distress, when you're in trouble, when you don't know what to do, call to me.

The Lord said, don't call to anything else. Don't call to other things. Call to me. Praise God. Verse 8, it says, I will cleanse them from all their wickedness, their guilt by which they have sinned against me, and I will pardon or forgive all of their sins which they have rebelled against me.

And again I say, listen to the voice of God, because God is talking. If you choose not to conform and not listen to God, our hearing becomes dull. But if we choose to hear God's voice, we will have life in the Spirit. And it's a remarkable thing. Hold on to your freedom.

I'm winding up number four. Hold on to your freedom. How many of us are free in here? How many of us have experienced freedom in Christ? Amen.

And the good thing about it, if you have not, the altars will be here. Amen. You can experience freedom in Christ. Amen. Cause he freely gave salvation.

Freely give, freely gave to us. Amen. So holding onto your freedom takes renewing your mind daily. Romans 12, 1:2. And it says, Behold.

Hold on one second. I'm sorry. I beseech you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And I didn't write that down here, so I had to say it out. And in the second verse it says, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

This is what renewing of your mind looks like. A daily dose of reading God's word. Personal solitude with God. Personal prayer time with the Lord. Making the time to pray.

Making the time to pray. We make time for everything else. I just threw that in there.

Spiritual self care is vital. Once you get filled, this is something important. Once you get filled and on fire for God, go get someone else and give it away. Amen. Making disciples just like Haley did.

I don't know where Haley is at, but just like Haley did when she shared the Word with us on Monday, Paul instructs us to do all things through Christ, who gives us the ability to win. Amen. Praise God. In conclusion, know that a believer has the ability to walk through the toughest of the toughest situations in their life because we choose to do it through Christ. Amen.

God wants us not only to come to him, but he wants us to. He wants us to face our trial through Him. And if I had somebody standing here, I would use. I would do the illustration like this. Somebody standing here.

And God says, okay, you're a believer. You're a child of God. You can get anything you want from me. Just like a father does. He loves his children or his daughter.

He gives her anything she wants. You have that access with me. So instead. And so I know that now, because I know I'm a believer. So I come to God.

Okay, Daddy. And I stop right there. I think coming to him will not give me what I really need. But going through him is what I get, is what I really get that I need. Amen.

Praise God. So a lot of times we just come to church. If I can use it and make it make more sense, I just come to church, sit down, sit in my seat, read, you know, wait on worship. Just come to God, you know, it's great tonight. We're here tonight.

But I didn't just come to him tonight. I came to get something from him tonight. Amen. I come to hear the word. I come to hear.

I come to hear worship. You know, why. Why did I. Why am I doing that? I'm doing that because I want to be filled up.

So when I walk out those doors, I represent the refuge. And if it's somebody who's an unbeliever, I can walk up to them and say, God loves you. Somebody did that for me. There was a song that said, somebody prayed for me. They had me on their mind.

They took the time and they prayed for me. I'm so glad they prayed. I'm saved today because somebody did that 47 years ago. Amen. Praise God.

God is an amazing God. I was sitting on the back seat in Detroit, Michigan. On the back seat. Came in with cigarettes in my pocket, cussing in my mouth. You know, I mean, sexual stuff going on in my life.

Amen. But I heard about this man named Jesus. I heard about this man named Jesus. And they said, it's happening over there at United Temple Church of God in Christ in Detroit, Michigan. I made my way to church, and I sat on the back row of that church.

And when I was sitting on the back row, the message was being preached about. Today is the day of salvation. If you don't have God in your life, you can come down here and receive him in your life. Right now, I'm telling you. Conviction came all over me because I heard the voice of the Lord and I got up from where I was.

It seemed like the longest of the longest walk as Haley was talking about that white hallway. And it seemed like it was the longest of the longest walk to get down to that altar. But I made my way to the altar with all of that cigarettes and all that stuff in my life. And they said, and I thank God for those that are on the altar that help us, that help us. I want to call them midwives.

That's what my thought was left. Midwives that were, you know, just some sisters in the Lord was down there, you know, and they were just standing there and they saw me coming, and they got me, and they put their arms around me and they loved on me and they said, denise, lift your hands and just repeat after me the sinner's prayer. And he did that. And the moment that happened, the Lord saved me. Amen.

Amen. He saved my soul. Amen. And again, I'm not bragging, but it's been 47 years. Hallelujah.

47 years I've been walking with the Lord. And old mothers used to say, I'm not tired yet. Praise the Lord. Okay, as I close, Paul shares. I have confidence in you, the Lord, that you will adopt no other view contrary to mine on the matter.

We are to listen to God, listen to his voice, follow what he's given to us in the word of God, and don't follow anything else. And if you get off track, come back to God. Amen. But the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to. Would have to bear the penalty.

God is concerned about his children. Prayer As I close, Jeremiah admonished us, call to me, which is God. Jeremiah 33. 33. I pray that we continue to walk in the confidence and the trust of our God, knowing that our God will come through for us.

Amen. And I have a little short prayer here before I take my seat. It says, what is the Philippian prayer in Philippians 4:13. And it reads like this. Lord, help me to cultivate a heart of contentment and trust in you, no matter my circumstances.

I pray that you will strengthen me and enable me to accomplish all that you have called me to do. Help me to rely on your strength and sufficiency rather than my own abilities or resources. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.