into the message tonight. And once you get there, Job, go over to chapter, let me see where I'm at, go to chapter 19. And when you get to chapter 19, we'll stand, we'll read one verse, we'll pray. And I'm not going to keep you long. But look at Job chapter 19, verse 10. And the Bible says this, Job 19, verse 10, the Bible says, Job says, he hath destroyed me on every side. And I'm gone. And mine hope hath he removed like a tree. Let me read that again. Job says, he hath destroyed me on every side, and I'm gone. And mine hope hath he removed like a tree. We started a series this morning on rebellious or rebel Christians. And tonight, we're going to talk about being a rebel Christian, which means rebelling, rebelling against hopelessness. Father, I pray for your help tonight. I pray God to guide and direct my thoughts and my actions. I pray God to fill up your Holy Spirit. I pray God to breathe upon every soul that's here. Thank you so much, Father, for us being able to, you allowing us to be able to worship you over the songs that were sung and we glorified your holy name. We talked about, God, how you help us to get through our situation. We talked about how much you loved us and all these great things. I pray God that even now you remind us through your word that even when it seems hopeless, There's hope because of Jesus Christ. And God help each of us to rebel against hopelessness. To oppose hopelessness. Stand against hopelessness. And lean on hope. And for that, God will thank you. And thank God there's one among us who's not born again, blood-bought, then redeemed. Let this be that night. where they will have themselves placed into the precious family of God. Help somebody, because somebody needs your help. For it's in Christ's name we pray, not a weak Jesus, but mighty Jesus. Forgive me for any sin in my life, there will be a hindrance. For it's in Christ's name we pray, Jesus. Amen. Amen. May we see it. Rebelling against hopelessness. We've talked about how the word rebel means to resist or to rise against some authority or control or tradition. to oppose, disobey, even have mutiny. And when we talk about that, of course, the first thing we think about is rebelling against God, rebelling against parents, but that's what we're talking about. We're talking about rebelling against hopelessness, or when we talk about the bottom line, we're rebelling against our human nature. I'm not going to read over all the part I talked about this morning, but the flesh, the flesh says it's hopeless. But the spiritual part of us says, no, there's hope for the hopeless, amen? And that word of hopelessness means a state of being desperate or affording no hope beyond optimism. In other words, this is when you see no optimism whatsoever. All you see is pessimism. All you see is gloom, doom, and woe when you have hopelessness. when it seems hopeless. But also that word means this. It means, the synonyms means this. It means to have your hopes dashed. Even depression or heaviness of heart. When your heart is heavy, when you find yourself depressed, it's probably because you feel like your situation or your circumstance is hopeless. There's no hope. Why even try? Because there's no hope. Why even think about trying when there's no hope? But that's the human nature side. That flesh, we talked about that this morning, about the flesh, heart, and the spirit. The nature, the natural part of it says, well, I looked at my bank account, and I looked at my bank account, it said zero, and we got bills due in about 15 minutes. No need of even thinking about, let's just go back and get in the bed. Amen. May be different in a little while, but that ain't going to change nothing. No. And I'm not trying to embarrass nobody, but I tell you what, brother Bill Paisley has been driving, you've been driving, I didn't hear your name, but you've been driving, what's your name? Michelle, but car for how long? Six months. Amen. They were going to slash y'all to pay insurance on them, weren't they? No, I'm just kidding. Amen. But he had no vehicle for six months. Been praying that God would work it out. And I ain't got no money coming in. And God, you work it out. Put me in a vehicle. And then he had the audacity, the audacity to ask God for a van. What's wrong with you? The average person would say, Lord, if it's just something that could get me from point A to point B. But he had the nerve to even try to practice Philippians 4 verse 6. What's wrong with you? We don't practice the Bible. We just, we shout on it. We don't practice it. But the Bible says in Philippians 4 verse 6, Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, that your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God shall pass, and all understanding shall keep your heart and your mind true. Christ Jesus. They all dashing. They ain't gonna ask God for a van. Ain't even got the money to get a van. Let alone a bicycle. And then what did the Lord do? The Holy Spirit spoke to somebody's heart. See, I've got a van. Give that man a van. Now, I don't know if there was a struggle or battle there. I have no idea. But because I'm trying to embarrass somebody, but they're giving people. And they said, well, we're going to give them our van. So this morning, Brother Jim brings a van. They driving a van. Yo! But, I had to repent! Before service, I said, I said, I gave you a van. I said, praise the Lord. I said, what year is it? He said, 2005. I was like, mine's a 2002. Well, man, if you had told me that, we could have walked it out. I could have gave you my van. You gave me that van. And then I've been a whole different thing. We've been all right. Praise the Lord. Look at all them shouting. 2005 van, pretty van. I mean, that thing's pretty. Or as Bobby used to say, what did you used to say, Bobby? It's pretty. No? Pretty. Pretty. Bobby first came from the North Carolina, he said, that's pretty. That's a pretty van, amen. But God gave it to him, my friends. When it seemed like there was no hope, there is hope, my friends, for those who believe in a holy and a powerful God. But hopelessness says, wait a minute, why would pray? Hopelessness says, wait a minute, why would be optimistic? Hopelessness says, no, don't expect nothing. There's an old song. Some of y'all used to listen to it. Something from nothing leads what? Nothing. Y'all hear this? to it too. Something from nothing is nothing. Well, listen, why not pray? Because the Bible commands us to pray. It says to ask the chicken to knock. And in this situation here, my dear friends, Job makes a statement. He said, he has destroyed me on every side. I am gone. My hope Has He removed like a tree? That word removed means to pull up. In other words, He says, Oh my God just came by like a tree and just pulled it up. Do you know when you pull up a tree? It's up. You pull the roots up and all. And that's how Job felt. And of course, you read the whole script, don't we? We ain't got time for that for it, you're Japanese. But when you look at verse number one, the Bible says this, then Job Asher said, they've been talking about him as friends. He said, how long will you vex my soul and break me in pieces with words? What kind of friends are them? You ever had a friend like that? Break you to pieces with words? He said these ten times, have you reproached me? You are not ashamed that you make yourself strange to me? And be it indeed that I have erred, my error of man is with myself. If indeed you will magnify yourself against me, you've blown yourselves up, and plead against me my reproach, know now that God has overthrown me. This is how Job felt. I want you to know now that God overthrew me. He hath compassed me with his neck. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He, God, hath fizzed up my way that I cannot pass. He hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side. I am gone, and my hope I have removed like a tree. You ever felt that way? That God just like turns his back on you? And God turns his back on you, then you know you ain't got no hope. And Job felt hopeless. Job felt as if there's no way my hope has been removed. That word hope here means my expectancy. And that word hope means expectancy. It means expectation, the things that I long for, the confidence. When you've lost your confidence, man, you know, that's it. When I go to the gym and work out, I mean, man, when I get there, and if I put those weights on there, and if I feel like I ain't gonna be able to pick it up, guess what? I ain't, I ain't picking it up. I can set those up and say, okay, here we go. And I'm by myself, and it's not good to work out by yourself, but anyway, I'm by myself, and I put that extra weight up on there, and I'm like, okay. Then my mind starts talking. You crazy? You can't pick that up. If I listen to my mind, I say, you know, you're right. What was I thinking? Let me take some of that weight off, but There's another part, there's something I might be sitting there, and I'll be getting ready to push that wig up, and he says, come on, you can do it. Then sometimes I have to talk to myself. Then they think I'm crazy up in there. I'm like, come on, what's wrong with you? Come on, come on, you can do this. Come on, boy, think about your man. He's gonna be like, ooh, baby. Come on, now you can do it. Come on. Then all of a sudden, I say, you know what? I'm gonna do this a lifetime. And then I get there and I pull that junk off the rack, and they'll come down there, and all of a sudden, something said, oh, you ain't got this. I said, you're not doing it. I said, oh! Wham! They'll jump up. I'll go, whoo, whoo, whoo, yeah, whoo. Them guys got enough to break. You know I'm talking about it, man. You're like, yeah. He said, go take them weights off. I'll take them off. All right, I'm done. But if I ain't got no confidence, there ain't no way. There's been a time when I could have picked that weight up, but when I got down, I felt like I just thought, man, forget this, and I'll get up. And that's what the enemy wants to do. That's what that human nature side of us, that natural, that flesh part of us. So you can't do that. That ain't gonna work. Have you lost your mind? But God says we can make it. There is hope for the hopeless. Let me hurry up before we get done here. First of all, this, Why do people feel hopeless? Most because of circumstances. Sometimes because of job, finances, family, health, friends. That's all that's happened with Job's situation. And that'll cause you to lose hope. But not only that, my dear friends, what are some of the dangers of hopelessness? One is depression. We talked a little bit about that. And for some reason, depression's been hanging around here lately. The ladies had their meeting, and the video they was watching dealt with depression. I was reading that book by Brother Craig Edwards that dealt with depression. Look at what the Bible says here in Job 7, verse 1. Look at Job 7, verse number 1. The Bible says this. This is when you feel hopeless. The Bible says in Job chapter 7, verse 1, that Job says, Hey, hey! Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days like the days of a hireling? As a servant, watch it now, watch it, watch it guys, watch it. As a servant earnestly desiring the shadow, and as a hireling looking for the reward of his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity. Months! That word vanity means uselessness, ruin, and worrisome nights are appointed to me. That word worrisome means worry, miserable. He said, they've been appointed to me. That word appointed is interesting. It means enrolled. How many folks we got enrolled in college? OK, we got one. He's 99. But now, did you enroll yourself or somebody else enroll you? You did it yourself because you wanted to take that class. He says, I was enrolled. But Job did not enroll himself. Look what he says. Job says, wait a minute. Job says, hey, we're some knights have been appointed to me. I've been enrolled, in other words, in a class of we're some knights. And what knights means is varsity. But wait a minute, I did not select the class. He's not going to die to volunteer. Satan looking for somebody. He juggles. Who me? Who me? Who me? Who me? Who me? I'll enroll in that class. If God would come to each of us and say, hey, we got a class on adversity, and we need some folks to volunteer to go through it, how many would like to enroll? I guarantee you, everybody would go, pew, be gone. I'm like, where am I going? I don't want to enroll in that class. Don't sign me up. Sign me up for peace, love, joy, and happiness. That's the class I'm looking for, amen. I want to enroll in that one, amen. Use me as an example for that one. But here Job says, I was enrolled. I was appointed. Where are some nights? He said, verse four, when I lie down, I say, where shall I rise? And the night be gone. Where is this darkness going to leave? Tell it me, Zephrast. Because you talk to folks who have been depressed, they tell us it's like being in a dark place, a dark place in their life. He goes on to say this, when shall I arrive? I might be gone, and I am full of tossings, true and true, until the dawning of the day. Just tossing, turning, and seemingly things ain't getting no better. Folks, when you and I have hopelessness, it causes us to have depression. But also, we'll get to a place where we even desire death. when you feel like it's just hopelessness. The Bible says in verse number 13, same chapter, Job says this, when I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint, what? Then thou scares me with dreams and terrifies me through visions. put my soul choosing strangling and death rather than my life. There are folks who even when they go to sleep, they can't sleep because even in their dreams, there's misery. Even in their dreams, they're scared. I mean, there was times when I was a young person, like a teenager, and man, when they were going bad, I said, I'm going to go to sleep. And I'd go to sleep and I'd be dreaming. And I'd start my dream off, and I'm probably weird, but don't listen to me. I'd start my dream off, not now, then. I would start my dream off, and I'd be like, I'd be man, I'd be playing basketball, you know, and it'd be coming down to the last minute, and I had a ball, and I'd come down there, and I'd be, and I'd shoot that ball, and it wouldn't miss, I'd never miss in my dream. That took a goal in, woo, we win the game, I'd be like, yeah, time, time. I mean, I was starting, but can you imagine going to sleep in your dream, and even your, you're already scared of what's happening around you itself. But then it even enters into your dream. I meant to tell Rachel this. She's helping us with health and stuff here at the church. I meant to tell her this. Last night, I set my alarm. I was telling Jolene this. I'm just weird. Y'all don't have weird stuff happening to you. But I was in my bed. I was sleeping. And I knew I had to get up at a certain time. And I kept waking up. But it looked like the time and calories were working together. It was weird. It was almost like if I get up at this time, I'll lose so many calories. But if I lay to sleep, then I'll gain more calories. And all this stuff was in my dream. It was some weird stuff happening this morning. Weird stuff. I know y'all are different from me, but y'all are just pleasant and stuff. But by the weird stuff happening, I mean all that kind of stuff. And sometimes we have weird dreams. Sometimes we have scary dreams. I've been for a long time. Where are my toes? I've been for a long time. The Hulk used to chase me in my dreams. He did. And I'm telling you. Y'all see me have that dream too? I'm telling you. And I'm saying, y'all, I can't, I don't get to preach no more around here. Well, that preacher got some strange stuff happening in his life. But anyhow, bro, I mean, not like yesterday. This is a long time ago. You know, last week. But anyhow, I mean, I was sitting there, and in my dream, it was always like this. Like in my dream, the Hulk would be chasing me. And it wasn't Bruce Banner. I mean, you know, Bruce, whatever. No, no, no. What was his name? Bruce Banner. OK, I was right. OK. All right. But it wasn't a Bruce Banner. It was a Hulk. And he'd be chasing me. And I'd be way in front. And I'd be coming to the corner. And I'd be thinking, I'd get around that corner and be gone. But then for some reason, I'd be moving way back there. And I'd get to the corner, and he's like, I'm like, yeah, come on. And then he'd be catching up. I'm like, come on, come on, come on, come on. And I'd be sitting there. Then finally, I'm like, man, this is ridiculous. Then finally, I get around that corner, but he'd be right there on me. And praise God, I'd wake up. That's scary, the Hulk chasing your dream. Yeah. But some of y'all have them types of dreams, too. It ain't the Hulk. But it's that other stuff you're dealing with. That's scaring you in your dream. And Job says right here, then thou scares me with dreams and terrifies me, me through visions. Visions like what you see down the road. Sometimes when you look down the road, what do you see? And it seems hopeless. I don't see no way how this is going to work out. Hopelessness. Not only, look what he says next. He says, my soul is truly strangling. and death rather than my life. Strangling is one of the most horrible ways to die. If you strangle somebody, I mean you have to, there's a lot that goes on. I mean it's not like shooting somebody. To strangle them and they're fighting for life and he says you would rather strangle, that's a horrible way to die. But sometimes your situation seems so hopeless that you wish that you were even dead, not even alive. And then sometimes, hopelessness can actually lead to death. Look what the Bible says over in 1 Kings 16 and verse 18. 1 Kings 16 and verse number 18. The Bible says this, 1 Kings 16 verse 18. And the Bible says in verse 18, well, let's just read the kind of, I'm going to give you a little background. The man that we're talking about named Zimri. Zimri has killed the king that was before him, and now he's taken over. And verse 15 says this, in the 20th and 7th year of Asa, king of Judah, did Zimri reign seven days. Only seven days. move forward, verse 16, and the people that were in camp heard say, Zimri have conspired and have also slain the king. Wherefore, all Israel made Omri the captain of the host, king over Israel, that day in the camp. And Omri went up from, that's a good word, and all Israel with him. And they besieged Tarzah. And here's verse 18. And they came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, But he went into the palace of the king's house and burnt the king's house over him with fire and what? And died. Why? Because he saw his situation as hopeless. And what he did, my dear friends, was commit suicide. He took his own life. Because if you look at the situation, wait a minute, they're coming to get me, the city is lost. He goes inside the palace and he burns it down and dies on the inside. Because, my friends, he sees the situation, his circumstance as hopeless. Well, what are we going to do, preacher? We're talking about being rebel Christians. If we're going to be rebel Christians, we got to make a decision tonight that we are going to rebel against hopelessness. We are going to rise up, my dear friends, and we're going to say, wait a minute, I'm opposing this hopelessness that's in my situation, that's in my life. And we do it, we already talked about this this morning, we do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. When we yield to the Holy Spirit of God, when we let Him be the leader, The one that drives us, that guides us out of the area of hopelessness into the area of hopefulness. Let's watch this when we're done. What's the remedy for hopelessness? Rebellion against hopelessness with hope. And the Bible teaches us that the Scriptures give us hope. Look at Romans 15 and verse 4. Look at Romans 15 and verse 4. We come down to the home stretch. We're about to hit the home plate. Look at what the Bible says in Romans chapter 15 and look at verse number 4. The Bible says this. The Bible said in verse number four, for whatsoever things were written aforetime, previously, were written for our learning, that we through patience, I'm less accustomed to learning about this church, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. The Scriptures bring us hope. The Bible says here that we find patience and comfort of the Scriptures, that it might have hope. That's why that rascal fights us for reading the Word of God. If you start reading that book, you start getting hope. All of a sudden you're not hopeless, you're hopeful. And the word of God will give you hope. The word of God, my dear friends, will cause you to rebel against hopelessness. And no, no, no, no, no. I'm not going to accept that hopelessness. I'm going toward hope, because that's what my scripture says, from the precious word of God. Woo! Hallelujah. Wait a minute, Brother Bill. So in other words, he represents hopelessness. Sorry, your role has changed. And on this side, he represents hopefulness. I've got a choice. I can either accept hopelessness. Let's get over here. Because hopelessness will embrace you. Come on, you're hopeless. You're pitiful. You ain't going to make it. Nobody likes you. Nobody likes me. Hopelessness. Or I come over here and find hopefulness. You're going to make it. You're going to be alright. You're going to make it through this trial. You're going through this storm. You didn't come here to stay hallelujah. Rebellion. This wants to swallow me up my dear friends and take over my life! But at the same time there's something else my friends that wants me to say hey, break free! You can break, what lives on that side of me? The Holy Spirit. And you let that Holy Spirit start rising. And boom! And you come over here my friends and grab ahold of that hope and I'm gonna tell you what my friends, your whole situation has changed! Hallelujah! Yeah! Thank you, guys. Y'all sit in the Bible. Look what it says. And when you and I have hope in the Lord, hope in the Lord will strengthen our emotions. Look what the Bible says, real quick. In Psalm 31, verse 24. Look at Psalm 31, verse number 24. Psalm 31, verse 24. I mean, how many of y'all got emotions? Yeah, just by all of y'all. Some of y'all are emotionless, but most of y'all have emotion. Look at what Psalm 31 says. And look at verse number 21. Look at Psalm 31. If I can find it. Here we go. Psalm 31. And look at verse number 24. The Bible says this. The Bible says verse... Okay. I went to Psalm 24. Here it is. The Bible says this. Be of good courage. And he shall strengthen your heart, who? All ye that hope in the Lord. The Bible says here, and they got commas. In other words, if you bypass the comma at courage and the comma at heart, it will read like this. Be of good courage, all ye that hope in the Lord. But he tells us why to be of good courage. He says this, and he shall strengthen your heart. When you and I, my dear friends, have hope in the Lord, he will strengthen your heart. What's that word heart? We're not talking about this physical thing. The word heart is dealing here, my dear friends, with the mind, the inner person. In other words, when you and I have hope in the Lord, he strengthens that inner man. He strengthens your emotions, your feelings, your will. All of a sudden, my dear friends, where you didn't feel like getting up, now all of a sudden you feel like getting up. Because now you have hope in the Lord. Now watch this. Not only that does He strengthen your heart, your emotions, but then He also brings rest to your body. Now this is the physical part. Who the Bible says in Psalm 16 and verse 9. Psalm 16 and look at verse number 9. Psalm 16 verse 9 the Bible says this. The Bible says in verse number 9. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices on my soul. My flesh also shall rest. Where? IN HOPE! That's the fitness. Now we're talking about the body. We're not talking about, we're not talking about your human nature and all that. We're talking about, now we're talking about, that word they're asking me is the body. When you and I have hope, our flesh then also shall rest. Cause you got hope. Then, you can lay down You're not doing this anymore. Wham! Hit your spouse in the eye. All that kind of stuff. You're not tossing and turning. But now you have rest. And then when you wake up, you're refreshed. Then you get up there, and you don't even, man. One, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, eight, nine, and 10, and 11. But when you ain't got no hope, that's good. But when you have hope, expectation, confidence, then you have rest. And then lastly, you have this. Hope brings Happiness through the Bible says in Psalm 146 and verse number 5 Psalm 146 and verse number 5 and I want you to notice something That's anything about your circumstance changing What I talked about is the way you thinking Changing the way you feel Changing how do you say what happened around you changing? See, if that be the case, my dear friends, then when things start going south again, then there you go. Nobody knows the troubles I have seen. The troubles I have seen. What you doing? I'm just digging. The troubles I have, but then all of a sudden, I feel good. Sorry, wrong place. Look at what it says here. Look at what it says in Psalm 146. Look at Psalm 146 in verse 5. Psalm 146 verse 5. The Bible says, As happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. That person is happy. It's time to rebel against hopelessness and then begin to put our trust and our faith in a God that gives us hope. Hallelujah. Glory to God. And then when everything looks bad and you're smiling, what kind of medication are you on? Jesus, that's what I'm on. He makes me feel pretty good. No, pretty good. I feel pretty good. What are you saying, preacher? All of us from time to time will face hopelessness. Everybody. Some to a greater extent than others. But we all will face hopelessness. In other words, it seems like that situation, it just ain't gonna work out. You know, I can't see how. What'd you say? I can't see. What'd you say? I can't see. Stop right there. What'd you say? C. I and C. I see. You see with the I. Hmm. But the Bible says we walk by. Not by. Hmm. So what are we looking at? Are we looking at what we can physically see? Hmm? If I was to shake my bank account right now, y'all might appreciate it. Bless your heart. I'd be like, don't bless my heart. Bless my bank account. No, no shit. But guess what? That's today. Tomorrow is a different day. How you know preacher? Been there, done that, got the DVD and the t-shirt. Hallelujah. Many times. They seem like there's no way. And God makes a way. Folks, we got to learn how to rebel against hopelessness. And the way we rebel against hopelessness is to surrender to the Holy Spirit. So you lead, you guide, you show me what to do. When everybody else is talking about me, Brother Bill, my hope has got to be in Him. Billy, you lost it. What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you? You got one, two, three kids and you got one going away? Who knows what's going to happen the next year after that? That's pressure. When everybody's rioting, your in-laws, your laws, everybody's rioting. Church members like, what is going on? What'd he say? What'd he say? Tell me what he said. I told you what he said. It don't mean much to you because he ain't talked to you. I ain't talking about what I read in no book. I'm talking about what I've experienced personally. I mean, when we first had, I've been called everything from a leech to all kind of, not in front of my face, because that's crazy. I mean, I still got my friends, too. Like, hey, I know. Anyhow, that's another. Y'all try to get me in the flesh. Anyhow. What were we at? Anyhow. See, y'all messed me up. But hopelessness will drain you. But hopefulness will fill you. Here's my question. We're done. Are you ready to rebel against hopelessness? If you're ready, let's ask God to help us tonight. Father, thank you for your many wonderful blessings.