Keep Going Pt. 5

Hey, welcome to Zion Church. I'm Vicki Battle, and I'm so glad you're here. I hope that you will enjoy this sermon. It is Keep Going, Part Five, and Pastor Battle is doing an amazing job. He's just encouraging us with things that Jesus has done for us that will encourage us to keep going, to literally stay on this path. You know, life gets hard, but we can literally keep going, and we can live. So I hope that you enjoy it, and I'll see you later. Thank you for joining us. Bye-bye. We're in part five of a series called Keep Going. Well, I want us to prepare for this message by explaining this. When it comes to your faith journey, there's something very important. Whenever you hear the Word of God, that you keep in mind and understand. And I'm gonna use the Apostle Paul to set up this time. What he says in Romans chapter two, verse 13, he says these words. He says, merely listening to the law doesn't make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. He's talking to the believers in Rome, and he's teaching them the law, which is the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.

And he says, I'm glad y'all are listening because listening is important. Without listening, you won't know what to do. But listening only creates a gap between pleasing God and being right with God and not being right with God. And what bridges the gap is obedience. So listen, by all means, listen, pay attention, but you gotta listen with the intent, I'm gonna obey this. Are you with me? And may we obey the hardest stuff too, not just the easy stuff. Father, please prepare our hearts for your Word now. May you anoint our ears to hear, block out all distractions right now. We bind anything that might distract the service, sickness, whatever, no emergencies. It's all about you in this moment on every campus. And we thank you for this time. Speak, Lord, as your servants are listening in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. As we go to Colossians chapter two, everybody who can physically stand without difficulty, you don't have to stand up. If you can stand without difficulty, stand. If you're not standing, stand up in your heart. Amen, amen. You know, you don't have to bow on your knees to bow before God. You can bow in your heart, your attitude of reverence.

You understand what I'm saying? Colossians chapter two, verse six and seven. I don't know about this room. I got to check you all out. You're going to go in anyway. And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, pause. Fort Washington, y'all good? I promise you, I can hear them. How y'all doing at the bridge? I need you to send me some prayer over here. These people looking pretty mean over here. I appreciate it. I know y'all good as Zlo. And now verse six says, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Verse seven, let your roots grow down into him and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. You may be seated. Now, this series about continuing to keep going, it's obvious in verse six that accepting Jesus Christ is not the commencement or the graduation of your spiritual life is the start of it. Now you got to keep going. Now you got to follow him.

And if you look at the words in this verse, they're all words that show progression. For example, he says, you accept Christ, then you follow him, then you get rooted in him and then your life is built on him. You see that? That is a progression. If I were to use these words, so I'm going to add four words to it. So you're accepting Christ is a decision. You're following Christ is your direction. Might want to write this down. Your roots in Christ has to do with the depth of your relationship. And your life being built on him is what is on display. Should I say it again? Accepting Christ is a decision. I have decided to follow Jesus. Following him is your direction. He turned my life around, placed my feet on solid ground. Don't say he did it. I did a 360. That means you're going to. same way you back where you was going. So, so that's about direction. He changed the direction of my life. That's not just because I decided to make him my savior. It's because I chose to take up my cross and follow him. Now, my direction has changed. Are y'all with me? To grow in your relationship is depth. Root work. Root work is unseen. It's not for public consumption. This is what you do when nobody's around. When you're in your prayer

closet, when you're calling on God, when you're in his word, we stop blazing 18 jams in a row and you play worship music. You understand what I'm saying? Like you, you have to, you have to shift the atmosphere of your life to be a channel of spiritual intake. You start listening to sermons on YouTube. You start studying the word. You keep a journal. How many people understand what I'm saying? That's deep. Watch this. And that depth, watch this. Those roots will show up in your life that's built. Built is above ground. Roots is below ground. And watch this. Your roots will always tell on you. Because you can't fake stability. Life will come at you and see what you're built of. That's when you're on display. So what should be on display is, you can follow me as I follow Christ. What should be on display, you should be an example of the Word of God. The Bible says we are living epistles to be read amongst men. That's what the Bible says about us. So now this is growth. This is keep going. Now let me write the words like this. So I'll do it like this. So you got the word accept. Let's put them like this. And then you go to follow. And then you have being rooted and then build. That's the direction you want your life to flow. And all of us are somewhere on this continuum. Now what did I just do? Amen. We're somewhere on this continuum in our life. I don't messed up everything there. So, okay, praise the Lord. I don't want to touch nothing, no. Anyway, anyway, so, so somebody is saying, yeah, I've accepted Jesus, but following Him, I don't, ah, I ain't really, I got to explore that option. Because I'm on the throne. Somebody might say, I'm following Him and I'm doing my spiritual practices. I'm rooted. I just want this out the way. But anyway, that's cool. You can keep it there. Because you don't know how, you don't know how to do it either, do you? Ah, don't you look like Jesus? I ain't never saw that before. You like Jesus, man. Hey, amen. I ain't playing with you. Well, you might be, you might just showed up. Jesus will fix it. My God. Want it, want it. Let me stop playing with y'all. Somebody is building your life on Christ. You are somewhere on this continuum. Well, somebody might say, pastor, I ain't on, I ain't even, I ain't even accepted Jesus yet. That's okay. The good news is you can do that today. You can start today. Here's the problem. If you don't keep moving in this direction, you will always drift backwards. Your life will always take you backwards spiritually. You can't just chill. Yeah, I ain't been in my word. I ain't been coming to church. I ain't been going to small group. You can't stop spiritual practices and stay in spiritual shape. How many people ever got out of shape physically?

Not going to gym, not eating right. Do it and watch what happens. Even if you stay small, you can't breathe. You'd be on the phone huffing and puffing. Somebody, what you doing? I just walked up a step. That's what I did. Your life will drift, spiritual drifting. How many people understand what I mean when I say spiritual drifting? Let me illustrate it. Dad, my dad's here. Dad, you 88, 87. He'll be 89. Yeah, he's born in 37. He'll be 89 in July. Now, you may not remember this, dad, but when me and Kenny were young, you took us to the Econo Lodge on New York Avenue. I'm a snitch on you today. So, I don't know, you know, he did business over there. But anyway, we're in the Econo Lodge and this is years ago. I'm a kid. They had an indoor swimming pool in the Econo Lodge and and I was in the pool. I didn't know how to swim, so I was in a small part of the pool, like three or four feet, right? I got on this raft, this little rubber, whatever, plastic thing, and I was just sitting on it, um, or laying back on it, and it was, it was cool, because I was, but I was on it so long that I dozed off. Unbeknownst to me, that thing drifted, and when I woke up, it startled me, and I fell in the water, but I was in 12 feet, and I didn't know how to swim. Now, I didn't change my position, I just wasn't paying attention to it, and my life drifted into a place without me knowing it, until I fell into something that could almost kill me. Spiritual drifting happens like that. You just, you just napping. You know, yeah, I just, yeah, we just, we, yeah, I'm not going to do that this year. I'm not going to do that. Well, you're going backwards. You're going backwards, and so we have to continue to press on and follow Him. Do you understand what I'm saying? And that is our responsibility to keep going. Now, let me tell you one of the signs that shows that you are moving forward in your relationship with God. Now, we've been using this analogy of this cross in this chair. The cross represents submission, we're told to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus, and He is the King, He is our Lord, and this throne represents authority. Now, I ain't going to touch it. See, Jesus, I'm calling your name. The problem is, for too many of us, we're in His seat, that Jesus is Jesus on the main line. Tell Him what you want, y'all. Stretch your hands to Him, Mary's baby, Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley, write Him on a star. Stand by Jesus. Now, when your life is submitted, the person on the throne calls the shots, and I'm saying, too many of our lives, we are enthroned, and He has been dethroned, and we place Him back on

the cross. Now, let me tell you how you can know when it's right in your life. I'm going to give you a quick sign. This is a sign. When this is right in your life, when you are carrying the cross, and your life is submitted to His throne, and His purpose, and His agenda, one sign that you can always notice is that when you get that right in your life, you always want to serve God. There is something in you. People that don't want to serve God are on the throne of their life, because when you're on the throne, you want to be served. But when you bow before the throne, your desire is to serve God. I'll give you a biblical example. And for example, in Psalm 51, this is King David, who literally had a throne. He was the king of Israel. Now, watch his throne mentality after he got in trouble. Now, let me set the context. In Psalm 51, the prophet Nathan had just confronted David about some recklessness in his life that cost somebody their life, when he got on the throne of his life. He was on the throne of Israel, but he decided to take over the throne of his life, and in 2nd Samuel chapter 11, he wasn't where he was supposed to be. He said, I'm gonna do what I feel like doing, and I don't feel like going to do my job, so I'm gonna go walk on the roof and look at porn. That's what he was doing. That's bad. It wasn't nothing but Old Testament porn. I couldn't even get that out, Old Testament porn. That's all that was. What is wrong with me today? This is what he said. He said to God, after he got convicted, he says, give me again the joy that comes from your salvation. You know what that means to us? That's the cross. Let me... See, there's no joy in our salvation. He says, give me back my joy of how grateful I should be that you saved me. And then he says, and make me willing to obey you. That's the throne. Let me rethrone you. Let me put you back in your rightful place. And this is what he says, when the cross is on me, and the throne is what I bow before, this will always happen. Then I will teach sinners your commandments, and men and people will return back to you. What he's saying is, every time I get it right, and I take up the cross, and I submit to his throne, I will always want to serve God and people. People who want to serve are rightly aligned to God. When you say, what does that mean? That mean I'm going to be a pastor or a minister? For some of you, absolutely. That's what that means. But for most of you, it just means, I want to serve God. That's... One of the symptoms of being submitted to the Lord, service. The opposite of that is selfishness. That is a life where you are enthroned. Pay attention to that.

I went to a couple of home going services this week. And one of the services that I went to, the eulogist said that there are people in our world today that don't believe there are miracles happening. God's not doing miracles anymore. And my response to that is, you're looking at one. You're looking at a miracle. In fact, at Zillow right now, at Woodbridge High School right now, there are miracles all over that room. At Oxon Hill High School right now, there are miracles all over that room. And if you on Facebook Live, you on YouTube Live, if you see people in the chat, I'm talking about people that snuck in through Black Planet and MySpace. There might be a name in the chat. That's a miracle. There's a host of miracles. There are miracles all on this room. Do you not know that you are a miracle? Oh, y'all don't hear me today. You are a miracle. I told y'all in part three, if you are a Christian, you've already had three, you've already had two birth-oriented miracles in your life. The first one I know you had, because you're here. Do you not understand that it is a miracle to survive being born? To be an embryo that is developed

and fearfully and wonderfully made and develop in the darkness of your mother's womb, the fact that you made it out of there safely, don't take that lightly. Not everybody makes it out alive. You are a miracle. Oh, I'm gonna have to use my other mic on y'all. I said, y'all must not have heard me. You are a miracle. And sometimes it's so risky that they can't even wait for you to come out the regular way. They're gonna have to go in and cut you out. I don't mean to be graphic, but some of y'all had to, in order for that baby to come out, they had to do something called a C-section. Because we can't wait any longer. This child may not survive coming out the normal way. We're gonna have to go in there and cut this baby out and cut through some stuff to get this baby out. Now, why would I use a graphic example like that? Because for some of us, that's how our second birth was. Some of us were born again like that. What are you saying, pastor? Now, you may not understand that because you were born again the normal way. You were nice all your life. You grew up in a Christian family. Y'all went to vacation Bible school.

You went to Sunday school. I ain't even mad at you. You went to church on Sundays, and then you went to Baptist Training Union on Sunday evenings, and you were in the Girl Scouts, and you were a junior usher. You had to be saved. Ain't no way in the world you ain't gonna be saved. You went to prayer meeting, revival, Bible study, and you went to the nurses unit fellowship. That's how you came to Jesus. But some of us didn't come like that. Some of us didn't come to Jesus normal. He had to come get us. I must be talking about somebody's zeal right now. I said he had to come get us. Don't let this suit fool you. This is the blood washed, grace covered, mercy received version of me. But I promise you, I was C-sectioned out of darkness into the mighty light. Is there anybody in here that knows that he had to come through some deep, dark stuff to come get you? Give me 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter, give me 2 Samuel chapter 22. It says, he reached down from heaven and rescued me. He drew me out of deep water. Is there anybody that God drew out of deep waters?

I'm talking about some stuff that you can't even, people can't handle your whole testimony. You got to give them syndicated versions of it. You got to give them edited versions that are pilotable because if they ever heard what you really did and what you really went through and how toxic it really was and how crazy it really was and how violent it really was and what you really went through and how God had to climb through all of that and cut through all of that. There's no shadow he won't light up. Mountain he won't climb up. Coming after me. There's no wall he won't kick down. Lie he won't kick down. Coming out to me. That's a miracle right there But then some of us can say he pulled me out of deep waters since I've been sick Since I've been saying Come on for Washington some of y'all try to act like all y'all's dirt was within your BC days Yeah, I used to be cutting up before Christ. I used to run the streets before Christ I used to get high before Christ, but if someone come on don't leave me now I need somebody to be real at Woodbridge and say pastor I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there. I was wild after I met Jesus I've been pulled out of some deep places since I've known the Lord in fact I Ain't got a look on the calendar I can check my phone Somebody give him a praise for coming into Deep places Cuz I was sinking deep in sin

Far from the peaceful shore. I want to preach now very deeply staying within Sinking the rise no more, but the master of the sea Heard my despairing cry and from the waters From a deep place from a deep. I don't need everybody to give with this I'm talking about people that came out of a deep place. He lifted me Somebody give him a praise for what he brought you out of How fast am I say I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I'm out I can't tell you how can't tell you when can't tell you who They still got papers on me hope they don't find the fingerprints but good God I'm out So you got a birth miracle You got a spiritual birth miracle Then you got a post Jesus miracle, but there's another miracle one day He's gonna transition us from this life Into the next life one day We're gonna be absent from these bodies and present with the Lord Will you say how's that a miracle? How's that a blessing think about it like this? Just like a baby is in the custody of his mother's body and Then God births that baby out of the mother's body in the life and just like we were in the custody of Satan and God birthed us into the kingdom of his dear son One day God's gonna take you out of the custody of these bodies We're in and he's gonna translate us into glory and we have a building of God not made by hands Eternal in the heaven and you think that's sad, but that ain't sad some glad morning

When this life is over I'm at the wrong church I'll Fly away When I die Hallelujah, bye-bye How Fly away and maybe you miss somebody that's already gone, but here's one for you when we all Get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be When we all See Jesus We will sing I feel churchy today Act like you're grateful act like you're grateful What a miracle one miracle after another miracle after another miracle the devil is a liar There ain't nothing God can't do for you. They nothing God can't pull you out of they nothing God can't pull you through For me to live is Christ to die is gain Glory to God Let me finish my little my little dissertation I got one more thing We sang a song just for me Jesus came and did it Just for me what does the cross of Jesus mean it's more than words we sing it's more than the emblem on your chain, but it means I'm free from the chains of slavery. Listen, listen, I want to tell you before we leave, what does the cross, what did he do for us on the cross? Because I believe that the power of the cross has been hermeneutically diminished by theology that taught us that he only did one thing on the cross. But I want to show you what it was even prophesied about what he would do for us on the cross in Isaiah chapter 53. And I'm done. Here's what the Bible says. It says, yet it was our grief that he bore. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. We thought, Zion Woodbridge, his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins. But the thought he was wounded. This is the wrong church, man. I need to go to another church with this sermon. He was wounded for

our transgressions. He was bruised for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. And he was lashed and we got healed. I'm going to do the best I can, Pastor Blossom. Now most people, Pastor Blossom, focus only on the A clause of verse five when it comes to the cross. And all they think about is, is what Jesus did for us spiritually. And I want to tell you that I agree that this was certainly the most important thing that he did was pay for our sins because that has eternal consequences and benefits. But that's not all he did. The pastors prophesied what he did and he did it. He not only died for our sins. That's what he did spiritually. But he also did something medically. He was whipped with stripes for our healing. That's medical. And then he was beaten for our peace. That's mental. And then he carried our sorrows and bore our grief. That's emotional. I see four things that he did for us on the cross and not just one. Now you can limit it to just the one thing if you want and stay mentally ill and stay sad all the time and stay sick. But I want it all. Let me take my time with this. Can I finish this? If Jesus bore our grief and carried our sorrows, weighed him down, what you have to understand is that all of this work is finished. Jesus is not in heaven right now saying, Hey, I'm still trying to work that salvation stuff out, man. I'm gonna need to shed a little more blood to get you saved. No, it's all finished. So if our sins are paid for, our healing is paid for, our peace is paid for. Y'all ain't ready for this. Our grief is paid for. He paid it all already. And if he said, I bore your grief and I weighed, I was weighed down with your sorrows so that you wouldn't have to be. I cannot tell you how important this is to some of you who live in a grief hole. You can't even get up out of bed on Mother's Day and you have turned your loss into an idol. And I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the devil because he's robbing you of life and you lost somebody and I know you loved him, but you got to learn how to thank God for how long you had him and you got to learn how to live. I said, live. How do you keep going? You live. You live because there's other people around you who are waiting on you to come back alive again. And God says, I already bore your grief. Doesn't mean you ain't gonna cry. Doesn't mean you ain't gonna be sad, but every time the same year, you ain't got nothing to say to nobody because this the year that I lost so-and-so. The devil is a liar. Jesus said, I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. And if they knew the Lord, you gonna see him again. Wipe

your face, blow your nose, pick up your head. Lift up your head. O ye gates, cook God, and be ye lifted up. You everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. I didn't go through that so that you would be sad all the time. I bore your grief. So when that grief jumps on you, you say, God, I thank you that you bore my grief. If you thank him that he died for your sins, you gotta thank him that he died for your grief, too. Thank you, Lord, that you took my grief. I don't have to be sad no more. I don't have to put a sad face on. Some of y'all just walk around. Soon as somebody look at you happy, you try to go back down. I'm not happy. Stop worshiping sorrow. That's a demonic flow. It keeps you depressed, makes you want to not live. And God said live. That's my word for you. Live. I don't know who I'm talking to, but you online, you need to live. The second thing he does outside of dying for our sins, which was a blessing. He says, I was beaten so you can have peace. That's your mental stability. I didn't let them beat me so that you can live in chaos. I have not given you a spirit of fear. I've given you power, love and a sound mind. That's my. Throughout the Bible, he talks about peace, Jeff. He says he says peace. I leave with you my peace. Not like the world gives. The world didn't give you my peace and the world can't take it away. I bring you good tidings of great joy, peace towards all men and goodwill towards all men. That's what I came to do. I am the prince of peace, he says. I'll keep your mind in perfect peace. If you stayed on me, I'll give you a peace that surpasses all your understanding. I pay for it. I pay for it. Why do you keep walking in that house? I pay for it. Why are you driving a car? I pay for it. God, why do I deserve peace? I pay for it. I pay for your mind to be together. I'm not saying you ain't got to take medication, but take some Jesus with it, too. Jesus, you died for my peace. You died for my mind. You died for my mental health. I don't just want my sins paid for. I want my peace. The devil got your whole family thinking they crazy. That's a spirit, a spirit of craziness. And we just accept it. This is just who we are. We're the crazies. The devil is a liar. I am who Jesus said I am.

He said, I bore your grief. I pay for your sins. I was beaten so you had peace. And watch this. I was lashed so you could be healed. Now, all y'all deep people think this word healing is spiritual healing. The word is Rapha. It is not a spiritual word. It is a medical word. It means to be physically whole. Now, maybe you'll appreciate this. But you know what you do? You need to study the crucifixion of Jesus. Do a medical research on the crucifixion of Jesus. But even now, I want you to see him in your mind. See him hemorrhaging blood out of his head. All those pictures of Jesus dead on the cross, that ain't him. Jesus was beaten till he was unrecognizable. Isaiah 50 says they yanked the hairs out of his face, out of his beard. They beat him till he was, he looked like a crime scene. He had hypovolemic shock, myocardial infarction, pleural effusion. He literally asphyxiated on the cross, asphyxiated because in order to breathe, he had to push himself. The way he was hanging, his lungs collapsed. They beat him with a whip that had bone and metal in it, that ripped his back open. Till you could see his blood vessels and his skin pulsating. Amen. When you see that, you can see how much your healing meant to him. He said, I didn't do that so you could be sick. I was beaten. My stripes came to heal you. Now you don't have to believe it. All you can believe if you, all you believe is Jesus saved me. Cool. At least you ain't going to hell. But he did not suffer all that so that you would be sick all your life. And the next time you get a symptom, you throw it up to the cross and say, God, you died for this. I say you die. Now I ain't saying you get to eat fat back and fried chicken. There's some natural laws too. See, see, see what's this?

Your level of belief in the whole gospel determines what you receive in your life and what you reject. I'm going to say that again. This determines what you receive and what you reject.