Bootstrap
Donnie Bell

But God

Ephesians 2:1-10
Donnie Bell April, 16 2023 Video & Audio
0 Comments

In the sermon "But God," Don Bell expounds on the profound theological theme of God’s grace as seen in Ephesians 2:1-10, which emphasizes the transition from spiritual death to life through Christ’s work. Bell articulates how humanity, described as dead in trespasses and sins, is utterly incapable of saving itself and is in need of divine intervention. He highlights the pivotal phrase "But God," illustrating that it is through God's rich mercy and great love for humans that salvation is bestowed, which is undeniably a supernatural act. Scripture references, particularly Ephesians 2:4-5 and Romans 3, underpin his argument, showcasing the stark contrast between humanity’s condition and the hope offered through Christ. The practical significance lies in the reassurance it provides to believers, encouraging them to maintain faith and perseverance for loved ones who are spiritually lost, while also celebrating the miraculous nature of salvation.

Key Quotes

“The gospel always starts describing man's disease before it ever tells him the remedy. You won't need a doctor unless you're sick. You won't go to Christ unless you're a sinner.”

“When God saved me, he had to overcome our wills, our understanding, our hearts, our emotions, our affections. He had to overcome everything that's about us. And oh, that's a miracle.”

“But God, a word of miracles. But God, a word of hope. But God, here’s a word of surprise.”

“Can you imagine how Moose Parks and Sandy feel right now? [...] But God. Your hearts are broken over a loved one. [...] But God.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
clean up after him, don't you? I'll take care of that. I've
been here enough to know that. All right, let's look at Ephesians
chapter 2 together. Ephesians chapter 2. I'll read these first 10 verses
and then go back and get my text out of chapter 4. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins where in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the children the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation. That conversation means manner
of life in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love were with he loved us, even when
we were dead in trespass and sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace are you saved, and hath raised us up
together, made us set together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace and his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ,
For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them. We read this particular verses
and Paul was a man that God used mightily. I mean, he really,
really used him. And God uses men's personality. You know, all of us got different
personalities, different deliveries. And Paul, you could distinguish
him. He was a very educated man, but
yet God taught him some things and he used him so mightily to
preach the gospel of God's redeeming love and grace in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And one of the methods that he
used in his writings was, and how the Holy Spirit used him
was, he would paint this real, real dark picture, real dark
picture. And then he'd go around and he'd
say, but, but, and he'd make a transition from the darkness
to the light. That would happen tonight, when
you was reading, I noticed that in Genesis 6, you said how God,
the wickedness of man God saw, and he went down through there,
and he described how wicked man was, God gonna destroy him, but
he said, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So you
have these dark pictures. Paul did it in Romans 6. He says
there, he says, you know, he says, we were the servants of
sin. We were servants of sin. We were
children of disobedience, but now being made free, we had all
this flesh and all this to deal with, but then being made free,
free, you're now the servants of righteousness. In Romans 3,
he's talked about there's none righteous, no, not one, none
that doeth good, none that understandeth, none that seeks God. And he went
down through there and went all through these dark, dark things.
and all these things. But then he comes down there
and he said, but, but, now, I can tell you where there is a righteousness.
I can tell you where you can see God, you can understand God,
and you can seek God. And he said, it's witnessed by
the law, and it's witnessed by the prophets. And that's through
the Lord Jesus Christ to being justified freely by his grace. So you see, he paints this dark
picture and he says, but, And he goes into this wonderful but,
and that's what happens here. He paints this awful, awful dark
picture of how we are and what we were and what we are and people
are. But then he goes and considers,
but God, but God. And how many times we was talking
today about what a mess the world's in. I mean, you know, you don't
have to be very bright to know that This world's in a mess. I mean, it's a mess in the middle
of a mess. But we said, you know, but no matter what's gonna happen,
we know God. We can say no matter what condition
the world's in, what government's in control, what's going on,
but God. Oh, kings come, kings go. People's in, people's out. People's
up, people's down, but God, but God. And you know, when we see
this little word, but, and I tell you what, you're talking about
a word of hope. When you talk of put God in the
equation, you're talking about a word of hope. Oh my, he just
reminds us of what they were and all men are by nature. dead
in trespasses and sins, without God, without Christ, and without
hope in this world. We walked according to the course
of this world. And that word course means the
path of this world. And what's the course of this
world? Well, first of all, it loves sin. It walks in darkness. It loves ambition. It's money
hungry, power hungry. flesh, flesh, flesh, and more
flesh, then that's the course of this world. And we one time
walked according to that course. There's a path in this world,
and men walk that path. And I made a statement the other
day, this, I said, if all a man has got is money, he's the poorest
person on the earth. He's extremely poor. But I'll
tell you what, we were by nature. And we walked in that course.
We lived in that course. We were the prince of the power
of the air. Who in the world is that? Paul told Timothy we're taken
captive by Satan by his will. So you have this nature that
we have, children of disobedience. We had our manner of life in
times past. What was we walking? Fulfilling
the lust of the flesh. You know, when I was a young
man back in the world, I mean, boy, I tell you, I couldn't wait
to get my paycheck on Friday. And the first thing I did, I
want to go get it cashed. And the next thing I wanted to
go, I want to go start spending it. And I wouldn't get through
spinning it until I was broke. That's the course of the world.
That's the course of the world. And that's what I did, lust of
the flesh. Fulfilling, fulfilling, just making what you wanted,
whatever it took to make you happy, make you feel good, make
your flesh feel comfortable, make you enjoy sin. That's what
you did. And we were by nature the children
of wrath, just like everybody else. But he says, but God. And you see the gospel, and that's
why Paul told Timothy, I mean, excuse me, over in 2 Corinthians
4, he says, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are
lost, whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them
that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
should shine under them. The gospel always, now listen
to me, I know this is so, the gospel always starts describing
man's disease before it ever tells him the remedy. You won't
need a doctor unless you're sick. You won't go to Christ unless
you're a sinner. You won't need food unless you're
hungry. You won't need water unless you're
thirsty. And I tell you, this gospel is not for good men. It's not for righteous men. Not
for moral men. It's for sinners. It's for people
that walked according to the course of this world. For children
of disobedience. People who live to the lust of
this flesh. He called them spiritually dead.
You who were dead in trespasses and sins. Every one of us has
been to funerals And have you ever been to a funeral and somebody
laid over the casket or reached down in the casket and hugged
the person that was there? Dead. You ever been in one of
those? Somebody's dead. Well, a man
that's dead physically is the same thing a man being dead spiritually. It really is. You know, you find
a man dead and said, they don't hear. You can stand and say,
oh, I love you. I love you. I love you. You can
look at them. They can feel the tears falling
down on their bodies, but they don't feel them. They don't hear
the dying groans when you preach the Lord Jesus Christ died on
a cross in the place of sinners. They're not moved. You preach
hell and all the fire, Anguish of it, the fear of it, the eternity
of it, that don't frighten them. You talk about spending eternity
with the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoying his presence forever
and ever, seeing him face to face. And oh my, that don't entice
them. Oh, my. They totally missed the
meaning of spiritual words, spiritual knowledge, just like Nicodemus
said. Our Lord said, you must be born again. You know what
the first thing he said? How can I, being an old man,
be born again? What do I gotta do? Crawl in
my mother's womb again, come out another way? That's what
dead men do. They take everything naturally.
They don't see anything spiritually. And like that woman of Samaria,
he told the Lord, Lord Jesus Christ said, if you would have
asked him, he'd give you living water. You know what she said?
Sir, you ain't got nothing here. You ain't got a bucket. How you
gonna get some water? Hey, we ain't got a bucket. That's
the first thing she thought of. They think naturally. How you
gonna give me water? You ain't even got nothing to
draw with. I got something here. At least I can get the water
out of the well. And that's what I'm telling you. Dead people
do not understand spiritual things. They don't do it. Spiritually
unconscious, spiritual truth, and they're dead to it. Take
a dead man. Hit him. Hit him again, he won't feel
it. He won't cry out for pain. Shut him up in a dark room. Do
you think he knows? The unconverted man is laden
with sin, he's loaded down with sin, but he's not weary of it. He's shut up in prison of God's
justice and he doesn't desire liberty. He's under God's curse,
and yet he's not scared of it. No commotion in his soul about
it, because he's dead, he's dead. A totally deaf man isn't startled
by a thunderclap, and I jump sometimes when it happens. A
totally blind man isn't frightened by the flashing of lightning,
and that's cause a man is spiritually dead. He's in sins, he's totally
unaware of his danger. You can cry over him, weep over
him, shed tears for him, and preach the cross in the most best way, in a way that just
described Christ, and it don't move him. It don't move him.
But what in the world can you do for a dead man like that?
He says, we were like that. That's what we were. That's what
we were. I know what it was to work for
salvation. I know what it was to pray. I know what it was to attend
church. I know what it was to give. But
I had no understanding of what God said. I'd read the Sermon
on the Mount and said, boy, one of these days I'm gonna live
that. I'm gonna amount to that. That's the way I'm gonna end
up. I'm gonna be like that guy in the Sermon on the Mount. I'm
gonna be blessed, blessed, and more blessed. Because I didn't
understand. But what hope is there for a
man who's dead and trespasses and sins like this? But God. That's the only hope. The only
hope that we got for men in that state, in that state, in that
condition, about children, your children, grandchildren, the
only hope I've got for them, I can tell them they're dead,
they don't hear me. I tell them, come hear the gospel,
they don't come. Shed tears over them, come to
eat meal and I'll shed and cry over them. but you think it bothers
them? Oh my, not only is this but God,
but it's also, when you look at this word but, it's a word
of miracles, of the supernatural acts of God. It said he has quickened
you together. He has raised us up together.
He made us set together. He gave us life. Now I'll tell
you, a lot of folks are skeptical about the supernatural and about
miracles when it comes to the things of the gospel. And now
I'll tell you, you know, a lot of folks get in these prayer
lines and these fellas lay hands on me, lay out on the floor and
all that stuff. Everything God does for a man
in this world, if he ever saves him, it's a supernatural act
and it's a miracle. Has to be supernatural. Huh? Oh, it has to be supernatural.
I mean, it's a miracle when it comes to the things of the gospel.
And I mean, it's an absolute miracle. It's like Mary, when
the angel Gabriel came to her and said, Mary, you're going
to have a child. You're going to have a boy. You're going to
have a child. Told him all about it. You know
what she said? How in the world can this be?
I don't know a man. You know how it was? It's supernatural. It's born of God. That's the
son of God, the son of the highest. Oh, Lazarus. You know, did you
ever wonder, Todd, why Martha said, Lord, don't take that stone
away from Mary. He stinks. He stinks. You know,
I'm gonna tell you what I think about that. Now, I may be all
wrong about that. But when our Lord was standing
there and he told him to take away the stone, Martha said,
oh no, no, no. Because they had already told
him, said, Lord, if you'd have been here, he hadn't have died. He would
not have died if you'd have been here. He wouldn't have died. But I think that she worries
more about her own dignity and the dignity of her sister and
didn't want everybody in town to know what bad shape her brother
was in. So Lord, he stinks. We don't
want people to remember that's all they remember about him.
But oh, our Lord said, Martha, Martha. And I tell you what,
they rolled that stone away. He said, Lazarus, Come forth. And I love this next
thing. He that was dead came forth. He that was dead came forth. Now, this is another mystery
to me. is that he was in grave clothes. They had him wound up
in linen clothes and that scarf over his head and all that. But
yet he got up and came out of that and he still had the grave
clothes on him. And our Lord said, take the grave
clothes off of him. Loose him, set him free. Now
you tell me how a man can, if Christ can raise a dead man,
he can raise him with his grave clothes on. Because that's what
he does with us. When he raises us, we all still
got lots of grave clothes. Like you said, the first message
you preached, I remember you said we need to, he was a very
young moral man. And I, the minute you said he
was a good young moral man, I know right then, I said. Oh, listen. I've done worse,
I've listened. Nobody done worse preaching than
I have in my lifetime. Made some of the awfulest outs
of it you could ever believe. And it's like Nicodemus. That's
why we're talking about miracles, supernatural acts of God. Nicodemus,
he was a ruler of the Jews. He was somebody. And though he
come to the Lord Jesus and he was bragging on the Lord Jesus,
and beware of him that flat earth Flat as he spreads a net for
your feet and he was flattering the Lord Jesus said oh master
Didn't call him Lord didn't call it. He said master. We know that
you're a teacher Come from God. We know that nobody can do the
things that you do except God's in him and I Lord interrupted
him. He said Nicodemus Except you
be born again. You can't see nothing and except
you're born by the water and the spirit, you can't see nothing,
you can't feel nothing, and you don't even know where the kingdom
of God's at. And the first thing he said was, how can I do that? How in the
world can I do that? He said, I'm in my mother's womb,
and nobody said anything about that. Our Lord was talking about
the difference between flesh and spirit. And oh my. And our Lord told him, said,
and then when he got through with him, when he got through
with Nicodemus and told him that he had to have the new birth,
he had to be born from above, had to be born of the Spirit,
he had to be born by the Spirit of God, had to be quickened,
like it says here, quickened, quickened, given life. And I'll
tell you what, Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he got through with
him, said, you mean to tell me you're a master of Israel and
you don't know nothing? You don't understand those things?
And I'll tell you this without a shadow of a doubt. If it isn't
supernatural, if it doesn't produce miracles, it isn't the gospel.
It makes dead men to live. It makes sinners to be righteous. It makes rebels to be obedient
sons. It takes men and got stony hearts
and gives them hearts of flesh. It takes men who are blind and
gives them eyes to see. I tell you, you know the greatest
miracle God ever done for anybody in this building was to save
him. That's to save him. And I tell
you what, to save a man, you know what? God created the world
with his word, but the creation never resisted him. But we are
human beings and we're sinners and we're rebels by nature, God
haters by nature. And so God has to overcome our
wills, our understanding, our heart, our emotions, our affections. He has to overcome everything
that's about us. And oh, that's a miracle. And
I do know this, not only is it a miracle that he saves us, but
the way we still are, it's a miracle that he keeps us saved. It's a miracle that he keeps
us saved. And then, oh my, here's this another one. But God, a
word of miracles. But God, a word of hope. But
God, here's a word of surprise. When you think about it, oh God,
but God, what a word, what a surprise. Here we were in this awful condition,
dead in trespasses and sins, walking across the course of
this world. Prince of the power of the air just led us around.
Oh my, spiritual darkness, spiritual weakness, but God, and you know
what God does? He breaks in on us. He comes
charging. He comes with power. He comes
in on us. He has to break down a man's
will. He has to break down a man's
prejudice. He has to break down a man's
bigotry. He has to break down a man's
pride. He has to break down a man's
self-righteousness. He has to break all that down.
And God broke in on us. And you look through the scriptures.
and everything God, everybody God ever done for something,
he was the initiator of it, and he had to do the work. Saul and
Tarsus, look over here in Acts chapter nine with me. Look at
Acts chapter nine. Here's your perfect illustration
of what I'm talking about. Acts chapter nine. In Saul, Saul. yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter. I mean, he was breathing fire
and slaughter. He wants slaughter. You know
what it is to slaughter? I've slaughtered cattle. I've
slaughtered cows. Deer's been slaughtered. I mean,
largely when you slaughter something, you shed a lot of blood and you
got to and cut up all that meat. And he said, I want you to be,
and you know here people in war and stuff, they go in and slaughter
people. Slaughter, cut them up. And he said he was, he had such
hatred, threatenings and slaughters. And who was it against? The disciples
of the Lord. Well, he went to get him some
letters, went to get some warrants. And he went to Damascus to the
synagogues. And if he found any of this way,
whether they were men or women or whatever, he might bring them
bound in jail, in chains, back to Jerusalem. Well, he was on
his way to Damascus, and watch what happens now. Suddenly, suddenly,
there shined a light around about him, a light from heaven. The light's gotta come on. Can
you imagine what he felt like? Here he is, he's hatin' Christ,
he's hatin' God, Christ is an imposter, I gotta kill him, I
gotta destroy him, and then watch what happens. And the light made
him fall to the earth, it blinded him. And then he heard a voice. And that voice said unto him,
Saul, Saul, why are you persecutin' me? Lord, who are you? Who are you?
He said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And oh, in verse
six, he trembling and astonished. And Lord, what will thou have
me to do? The Lord said, arise, go into the city, and he shall
be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with
him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but no man. Now you
think of, you're talking about a salvation that was a surprise.
Here was the last person in the world you would ever thought
would become a Christian, would become a believer. If you'd have
known Saul of Tarsus, in fact, the first time he went out, they
said, Lord, we've heard of this man, that he'd done much evil
against you. When the Lord told Ananias to
go over and give him sight, you know what Ananias said? I've
heard this man, all the evil he's done. I said, you know,
he's done awful evil against you. He said, I'll take going
over there anyway. He's praying. You're talking
about a surprise. Oh my. Men never, never slaughters
Christians, never wanted Christians to live. And they had on the
Damascus road. What happened? The most unlikely
man to ever be saved was confronted. God broke in on him. God subdued
him. God surprised him. And you know,
he never got over that. He never got over that. Oh my. I'll tell you what, and he said,
I believe, I believe he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Lord,
who are you? And Christ revealed himself to
him as one born out of due time. And he saw the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when you see Christ, our
Lord Jesus, you see grace, you see the love of Christ, you see
the mercy of Christ, you see the compassion, the pity, and
the longsuffering. And there he was, this man left
in such, and then God done him. Let me show you something else
over in Galatians 2. We was over in Ephesians, look in Galatians
2. Look in Galatians 2 in verse 20. You know, this is what we're
talking about, a surprise, a surprise. Now here's this Saul of Tarsus,
he's been converted, he's Paul the Apostle now. But he says
here in Galatians 2.20, look what he says, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I. Now I live, yet it's
not I that live. Is he talking about two different
people here? He said I. Yet not I. Which I's he talking about? I,
yet not I. Is there two of me? I live, yet
not I. I'm living, but it's not me living. It's not me living. What a surprise! He said, you know how I'm living?
Christ lives in me. And not only did Christ look
what he says, not only do I, Christ liveth in me, but oh now,
I live by the faith of the Son of God. And this is the greatest
surprise of all, who loved me, loved me, and gave himself for
me. Love me. Love me. When he was breathing out those
slaughters, when he was persecuting the Lord's people, he gave himself for me. He loved
me, and he gave himself for me. You reckon, I ain't got over
that yet. Gave him, love me. Love me. How can it be? How can it be?
Oh, was it for crimes that I had done, He groaned upon that tree? Amazing love, amazing, how would
He do that for me, the mighty God do that for me? Are you surprised
that you're a believer now? Are you really surprised that
you're a saved person now? Now, not yesterday, now. What goes on in our minds? What
goes on in our hearts? What goes on in our thoughts? What goes on in our emotions?
What goes on in our affections? And yet, yet he loved us and
gave himself for us. Oh, bless his name. Oh, aren't
you surprised that you're now a believer? Oh, now that you
love, now you love God's word. You love to hear preaching. How
can that be? You love to come and hear somebody
preach? Oh. Folks say, don't preach to
me. You come and want to be preached
to. And you come say, Lord, bless
the preacher and let him speak to me. Oh God, have a word for
me. Send a word to my heart, send
a word to my soul, send a word to my mind. Oh Lord, please give
me some direction and oh, he'll do it in the word. Oh my, I love
to hear preaching, love to pray, love to pray. Love to have fellowship
with God's people more than anyone else on the face of this earth?
Oh my. And we are a surprise to ourselves
because we are absolute contradiction to ourselves. Absolute contradictions
to ourselves. The two most enjoyable, I don't
know if I've told you this or not, the two most enjoyable things
in this world for me is first of all, that I believe the gospel,
God taught me the gospel, God revealed Christ to me. Christ
liveth in me. That's the most joyful thing. When I'm sitting here and some
Todd preacher or anybody else preach, I've done something for
me and my heart and soul that nothing else will do in this
world. And the second most enjoyable thing is fellowshiping with the
Lord's people. We had fellowship last night,
had some hamburgers and things out and sat outside and ate and
talked and visited the way up in the night. That's the most
enjoyable thing. The world don't know that. We used to walk course of course
of the world, now we're walking by faith. Oh my, there was a time it was
just the opposite of that. How did it happen? But God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness and has shined into our hearts.
Oh my, that he loved you, gave himself for you, saved you, quickened
you. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his
pain? For me who him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? And we find this word, but, but
God. These words right here tells
us the whole gospel, the salvations of the Lord from beginning to
end. Now back over here in Ephesians, let me look over there again,
let me, got away from it. But let me show you this, the
gospel, the salvation that the word tells us, the salvation
is of God from beginning to end. It says there in verse four, but God, but God, we were by
nature children of wrath, but God who is rich in mercy. Oh my, John Bunyan said he had
a bags of mercies not yet broke on him. For his great love were
with, he loved us. And this is what happened. We
were dead in sins. You know what he did? He gave
us life together with Christ. When Christ was raised from the
dead, we was raised with him. You see that says together. And
then he said, just so you understand how this happened, it was by
grace. How we were quickened together is by grace. And then
he goes on to say, and he hath raised us up together, made us
sit together. Together, together, together
in heavenly places in Christ. And listen to this now. Now that's,
we went from the past from being dead and trespassing sin. Now
we're sitting down in heaven, sitting in heavenly places in
Christ. And then he takes us all the way to the future. And
look what he says. That in the ages to come, he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. What do you reckon that means?
You know, there's a, In heaven, you know, in Revelation said
there's 30 minutes of silence in heaven. I think, this again is gonna
be my opinion, I'm gonna quit preaching and tell you what I
think. I think that 30 minutes of silence is when God takes
all of his people, and they're all gathered around, and we arrive
there at the same time, When He changes us all in a moment
and in a twinkle of an eye, brings us out of the grave, and the
way we go. And because we're walking down that avenue and
everything's so quiet, you know why? Christ said, this is my
bride. This is my beauty. This is what
I died for. Ain't she beautiful? She got
the best wedding garment on that anybody's ever looked at. And
I tell you what, they're just quiet. And he's, and all through eternity,
all that they're ever gonna know is the exceeding rich of his,
of his grace towards everybody that's there. Huh? Now, that's my opinion. You know,
it sounds good whether it's right or not. One fellow said it makes
good preaching anyway. But look what he goes on to say,
for by grace are you saved. Salvation's by grace. And that
grace and faith, neither one of them's of yourselves. You
wasn't born with it. And it has to be, grace is a
gift, faith is a gift, and God gives it to you. And then he
says, not of works, because if it was not of grace and God didn't
give it to you, if it was works, you know, a man go around bragging
on himself, glorying himself. And then God said, and this is
a creation, see? For we are created. God's workmanship,
created. It's a creation, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. And them good works is only as
we're related to Christ, which God hath before prepared, ordained,
that we should walk in them. So salvations of the Lord from
quickness until we get to glory. And then also it's a word of
encouragement. And I'll close with this. Look
what he says there. In verse four, but God, but God,
who is rich in mercy. Oh my. He loved us. Oh yeah, he loved us. He loved
us. You're talking about a word of
encouragement. Oh, what a word of, but God,
what a word of encouragement for you. whose hearts are broken
over somebody you love, over a son, over a daughter. Can you imagine how Moose Parks
and Sandy feel right now? Bob and Jeanette Morrell and
Christy and that congregation. To watch somebody you love just
fade away and fade away and they're not there anymore. But God, but God. Your hearts are broken over a
loved one, a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife. It absolutely
appears hopeless to you. But God, but God. And oh, great love. Oh, how great
is God's love. And so what are you gonna do
if you're praying for a lost child, a lost wife, a lost husband,
a lost grandchildren, somebody you love and you keep on praying,
don't never stop. You know, my mother-in-law died
and she'd been dead for years and years before God saved her
husband and didn't save him till he was 75 years old. I tell you,
but God, And keep on, if you're seeking for somebody you love
and somebody's heart's broken, keep on seeking. Don't never
stop seeking. Don't never stop seeking. And then for us who
are left, you're talking about encouraging, but we're left in
this old world. We're left in this old world.
We have to carry on. The churches have to carry on.
The preachers got to carry on. And we got to be faithful. We
want to be faithful. And we live in a world that's
against God. It's against God. They don't
like God. Don't want God. Don't want nothing
to do with God. God's not in their thoughts.
And they're against Christ. This world's against Christ.
Antichrist is in this world in full force. He's not coming. He's here. He's here. Did you ever think this world
would be so dark? And such depravity brought out
in the light for people to glory in their shame? And antichrist
is here in full force. Well, what's our hope? What's
our encouragement in this world we're living in right now? But God. And guess what? He's rich. He's
rich. And he's rich in mercy. Anybody
here need mercy? Oh. You say, boy, I don't see how,
but boy, I find it hard to love myself. In fact, I love me less
than anybody I know. I got less confidence in me than
anybody I know. And I'm sure thankful, but God,
who is rich in mercy. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus
our Lord. What a wonderful Savior to me.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. Hideth my life in the depths
of His love. Hide me, oh my God, hide me. Cover my defenseless head. Oh,
we need God. Thank you all, Lord bless you.
Donnie Bell
About Donnie Bell
Donnie Bell is the current pastor of Lantana Grace Church in Crossville, TN.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.