The Open Word (Audio)

Are you feeling lost? Maybe stuck or alone… forgotten? It’s easy to feel this way when life gets stressful and we find ourselves turning away from God. Work can be demanding, money might be tight, or maybe you’re having trouble within your family. Whatever struggles are causing you to feel this way, remember that God’s there for you. He hasn’t left you to struggle on your own. Turn back to Him… reach out for His love – so that you may feel peace once again. Listen today as Solomon faces these same feelings.

Sometimes, it can be easy to feel like God has abandoned us, or that those we see making sinful choices, have gotten off easy… or even had better luck than us. Pastor David tells us not to despair. Perhaps you are in a hard moment in your life, and you wonder why others have got it so easy. But remember, God is always with you, and He never forgets your struggles. Don’t lose sight of why you’re fighting through this difficult journey we call life. Your life will not end in death, for God has promised his believers the gift of everlasting life… with Him.

Today, Pastor David takes a hard look into Proverbs, and what exactly God is trying to tell us through its message. Have you ever lied, or…perhaps found yourself following in the footsteps of the wrong crowd? It’s easy to get caught up in the struggles of life and forget that things such as little white lies, or who we hang around, can have an impact on our faith. You’re called to be truthful and vigilant. You’re called to turn away from evil ways. You’re called to righteousness. Today, we will discover what that means.

Have you ever found yourself to be too busy for God? As Pastor David continues his teaching through Song of Solomon, he'll be challenging you to cultivate a deeper love relationship with the Lord. God desires to have intimate fellowship with you, and the sad thing is that there are times when the entanglements of the world may draw you away from Him. Though sin is pleasurable, it's only for a season. Don't allow the world, the flesh, and the devil to get in between your relationship with Jesus.

As Pastor David begins his teaching through the Song of Solomon, he'll be explaining how the love between this man and the Shulamite woman is allegorical to the relationship between Jesus and the Church. The woman in this Book is explaining how she doesn't feel worthy to be married to this man, yet he explains to her how deep his love truly is for her. You as a Christian though you are a sinner, you've been forgiven and Jesus considers you His bride. You have great worth in His eyes!

As Pastor David continues his teaching through the Book of Psalms, he'll be exhorting you to keep an eternal perspective rather than always focusing on the temporal. When you abide in Jesus, and you wash yourself with the Word of God and renew your mind, it's much easier to focus on Heaven and eternal matters. When you live in sin, and neglect the fundamental pillars of your walk such as prayer, reading the Word, and going to Church, that's when your mind gets stuck on worldly matters.

As a Christian you have to realize that the world is always watching you, and waiting to see how you behave when trials come your way. Today, Pastor David will be encouraging you to not only seek the Lord fervently during hardships, but to also seek Him just as fervently when everything seems calm. If you're abiding in the Lord when you're not going through trials, you'll be better prepared for when they do come. You're testimony is even more bright when you praise God during the storm.

Suffering doesn’t generally occur in a vacuum. You may feel like you’re alone, but it’s not usually for a lack of company. As we see in Job’s story, his friends were there, but they failed to offer him the support he needed. Instead of pushing him closer to God and offering encouragement, they focused on criticism. As Pastor David explains in today’s message, Job’s response was one of justified frustration, because he knew that they were misrepresenting God in their poor counsel.

How do you react when you face hardship? Is your first response to blame God and grow bitter, or is it to worship? Worship will not come naturally, but as Pastor David points out in the example of Job, it’s your holy calling as a faithful child of God. To be His child is to acknowledge that He is wise and powerful; to surrender yourself to His will, knowing that it may not always be easy, but He will work good out of it. You may not even see that good in your lifetime, but the eternal rewards will be worth it.

We should all aspire to be like Job. He was a great man. Scripture tells us he was the greatest in all the East in his time. His faith was strong. He was devoted to God and God blessed him greatly. Yet, as Pastor David reminds us in today’s message, despite all of this, his road would not remain so smooth and pleasant. We know that God allowed incredible calamity at the hand of Satan in order to demonstrate Job’s faithfulness in the face of even the harshest circumstances.