← ArchiveFactsThe Power of RelationshipsDateAugust 9, 2020SpeakerBenny BowmanText—Passages in this sermonJames 1:1817:57Jeremiah 29:1119:03Romans 6:2320:05Genesis 120:15Genesis 220:15Genesis 320:17Romans 3:2320:57Romans 5:821:54Romans 10:922:00Romans 10:1322:09Acts 18:824:00Romans 1125:16Romans 12:4–526:54Acts 2:4428:282 Timothy 3:1629:13TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music* *music*0:28*music*0:40Well, good morning. Last week, Pastor Josh said that he had that video fixed so it would make him be the cool pastor. And so, being that he's 20 plus years younger than I am, I don't know where I fit in with that now. But I am excited about the opportunity. I am Brother Benny. I'm the student pastor and I appreciate the privilege to be able to come and to share with each of you today. Today, also, my daughter is here with me with three of my little grand girls sitting over here.1:05The precious, most beautiful little young ladies that are certainly in our lives. But I'm excited to be a pawpaw and that's an exciting time and I'd recommend it highly. It's a lot more fun to be a pawpaw than it was to be a parent, even though we spend a lot of time working with a lot of our parents. So, today, I'm excited for the opportunity to be here.1:31I was reminded of the verse that Jared quoted for us. It says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." If you were looking into King James and then, of course, the word he used was freedom. You know, I'm so glad today that I serve a Lord that my freedom is not found in the circumstances of this world that we live in. But our freedom is found in Jesus Christ. You know, the world may tell you totally opposite, but our freedom is found in Christ, folks.2:00And today, I would plead with you, I would almost beg you that if you've not made Jesus the Lord of your life, then today would be that day. Today would be that day that you accepted that offer of forgiveness that Christ gives us. So, I'm going to go to the Lord in prayer and invite you to join me for just a moment. So, let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the day that you blessed us with today. We thank you for the freedoms that we share in this great country.2:28We thank you for those that made sacrifices so that you and I could be here in person worshiping today together as a church body, as a church family, as well as online. And Father, for those that are maybe visiting today here, maybe for the very first time, God, thank you for allowing them to be a part of our church today. And I pray, Father, that they feel welcome and encouraged. And even those who are visiting us maybe online for the very first time, God, may they sense the love and concern and genuineness that we experience here as a church body and as a church family.2:55So, Father, today, help guide us through your word. And God, as the psalm says, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my God, my King, my Redeemer. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, and everybody said? Amen. Amen.3:24Amen. Well, God bless you again. I'm so glad to be here. I'm Brother Benny. I get the privilege to be the student pastor at this church. And that's an exciting opportunity for us. I've always questioned, why in the world, God, would you leave me? Because people come up to you, when you say you're the student pastor, they come up to you and you go, oh, you're the pastor? And you say, well, no, I actually work with students. I go, oh. And the reason they do that is because they're scared to death we're going to ask them to do something. It's kind of like being the children's minister. If you tell people you're a children's minister and you're over the nursery there, oh, gosh, he's going to ask us to help in there.3:51You better get out. So understand, I'm excited about the opportunity to work with students. I believe students are not the church of tomorrow. I believe students are a church of today. I don't believe you have to wait to an older age, build a testimony, tear your life apart for God to use you. I think the sweetest testimonies today are the ones of people and individuals who God has saved at a young age and he's kept them all the way through their lives.4:18And, folks, for that, I get the privilege to be able to do that. People ask me a lot of times, I say, why do you go stand out at a football game for a couple of hours with a group of football players or basketball players or baseball players? And because at some point in time, I get an opportunity to pray with those people and to encourage them in the Lord and to share Jesus with them. Because, listen, a lot of folks, listen, not everybody comes to church, okay? Understand that we're in a world that this is not a popular choice that you made to be here today.4:44Now, for some of us older people, this is what we're used to doing. And I get to say older people because I am one. But we're used to doing this. Listen, the church of today, unfortunately, the devil has created all kind of opportunities for them to not be in the church. And so today, if I could give a title to what I'm supposed to speak about today, it's called The Power of Relationships.5:09The Power of Relationships. And can I just tell you that relationships are powerful. I love seeing your faces. For instance, you know, when we came in here and we were teaching and preaching and it was all online, it's just not as fun. It's not as fun doing student ministry without being able to experience the smile on somebody's face.5:34You know, for instance, you know, for some of you, I want to challenge you, it's okay to smile. Matter of fact, I hear statistics say that it takes 64 muscles to frown, but only 13 to smile. So it means if you don't want your head hanging down here by the time you get my age, you better spend a whole lot of time picking it up here to smile with those 13. Instead of working out those 64 that's going to drag it down here. But relationships, relationships facts.6:03I want to use one scripture today. And I know this is kind of crazy, but I want to use one scripture, but we're going to travel all over the Bible. So that scripture is found in the book of John, chapter 15, verse 13. And it says, "No one has greater love than this to lay down his life for his friends." You know, today in here, God calls us, Jesus calls us friend.6:28Matter of fact, it says just a couple of verses down. It says if we continue in his commands, then we are his friend. And so what a joy today to know that we never walk through this life alone.6:52When the world standards say you don't measure up, guess what? Because of what God says, you measure up. I'd like to use the term, you matter. You count every person in this room. Matter of fact, I'm a believer of the whole gospel, which means for Jesus died for all. He didn't die for some. Matter of fact, my Bible says, "For whosoever shall call on the Lord shall be saved."7:18And I'm a whosoever, according to Romans, chapter 10, verse 13. But nothing is more powerful today than relationships. You know, in the Old Testament, there's only two people that were called God's friend. And that was Moses and Abraham. But God looks at each one of us today, and he calls us his friend. And so today, I want to travel back with you to kind of let you know how important you are. Let's go to Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27.7:47And you're going to have to listen fast, because I'm a fast talker, okay? So it says in Genesis, chapter 1, 26 and 27. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image." God didn't make no junk, okay? Matter of fact, he made you to look like him in his image. And so because of that, it says, "According to our likeness," okay? "Our" means there was more than one there, okay? So God was there, Jesus was there, and the Holy Spirit was there.8:15So in our likeness. And then it says, "They will rule over the fish of the sea." I didn't do a real good job of that the other day on my rod and reel. But the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and creatures that crawl on the earth. And in verse 27, it says these words, "So God created man in his own image. He created him in the image of God. He created them male and female." And then I want to skip over to Genesis, chapter 2, verse 18 through 23.8:44And it says these words, "Then the Lord said, 'It is not good for man to be alone.'" How many of y'all like to be alone? I mean, every now and then, it's okay. But typically, I like companionship. I like companionship. And it says here, it says, "I will make a helper corresponding to him." Even God realized it wasn't good for us to be alone. That's why in the church, we need community. We need each other.9:12Matter of fact, I want to be encouraged by your faith, and then hopefully you can be encouraged by my faith, our faith, as a body of believers. And we'll talk about that a little later on. But the Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky. And he brought each to the man to see what he would call it. What an awesome job getting to name all the animals. What an awesome job that is. Matter of fact, I just kind of think, have you ever kind of just pictured...9:40I'm a little abstract, okay? So have you ever pictured getting to name all the animals, what that must have looked like? Okay, so listen what Adam got to do. It says, it said, "The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal, every bird of the sky, and he brought each to the man to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name." You ever wonder where our animals got our name? What? Guess what? Alright, the man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, to every wild animal.10:09But for the man, what happened? There was no helper found corresponding to him. Now, I want you to think about this for just a second. I'm sure Adam was super excited. And I'm sure he was looking for that opportunity. He goes out there and he starts naming animals. And so can you imagine maybe the joy in his face as the morning sun comes up,10:35and then God begins to parade animals past him? He looks over there and here comes, you know, a mallard duck. That's what I'm going to call it. A rhinoceros. Yeah, that's what I'm going to call that one. A duckbill platypus. That's what I'm going to call that one. So you can see he's, I mean, he's got the day started off and he's fired up. Man, he's naming these animals and he's excited about the opportunity to name every animal.11:00But can you imagine about 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon? Man, he's getting, names are starting to get bad. Cow. Donkey. Monkey. And God even looks at him there and it says there, it is not good for man to be alone. But he still sent him out to the garden to name all the animals.11:28And by the end of the day, God looks at him and says, but for the man no hepper was found corresponding to him. Can you imagine? He's seeing all these animals paraded by him. But yet there's not one that matches up to him. And then look what it says here in verse 21. It says, so the Lord caused a deep sleep to come over the man and he slept. Now, some people, especially women right here would stop and say, that's what's wrong with my husband.11:52God never, it never says in here that God woke him up. But it says, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall over the man and he slept. And God took one of his ribs and he closed the flesh at that place. And the Lord, the Lord God made the rib and it taken from man into a woman. And he brought her. I really want you to hang on that word a second. And he brought her to the man.12:20And I don't know about you guys, but when you, have you ever tried to pick your date? You ever tried to pick your boyfriend or girlfriend? Listen, it's a whole lot better if God brings them to you. Because if you do the picking, I'm afraid that's why our divorce rates the way that it is. I'm afraid it's the country that we live in. But what a beautiful scene here of trusting God by faith to bring you that guy. Because, you know, we've all, before, you know, ladies know we're in the Bible.12:47So when we started liking somebody, ever like somebody and go, good gosh, I'm going to get rid of this guy? I always tell a lot of our young ladies is that it's a whole lot better if God brings that gentleman in your life than it is if you go out and pick that person. That's why scripture tells us that he brought her to the man. And listen to what the man said. I think this is pretty awesome too. And the man said, this one, can you imagine?13:14Now he's dejected. He's dejected. He hadn't found a helpmate. And then all of a sudden it says here, and the man said, this one at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called, whoa, man. I have a feeling that she was drop dead gorgeous. I have a feeling that she was a head turner. She was a looker. And so right at that point right there, it says he called her woman.13:42I believe there should have been a hyphen in there. Because the Bible says, for she was taken from flesh. Listen, I remember the day that the back doors of the church split open 39 plus years ago. And God, my father-in-law representing God, brings me my wife who's sitting right over here. Do you remember that day? If you're a husband in this room, I've seen pictures where some of you are having anniversaries.14:11And some of you looked so young when you were having those. And I can go back to that. You know, I did have Bon Jovi hair a long time ago. A long time ago. So understand what a beautiful picture of God bringing you your spouse. And folks, if we never get past that day. If you will live every day in that day with your spouse. It's kind of like the other day.14:40They built a couple new houses in the neighborhood I live in. And I noticed the other day that they planted sod out there. You know how sod just looks so good when they planted it? But what happens to that sod if you don't put any water on it? It starts to die, doesn't it? Well, that's exactly what's wrong with this. I'm riding by this grass every morning. I'm wanting to go water it. Because it's dying. It's not getting any water. Listen, if you will do that in your marriage, the grass ain't greener on the other side of the hill if you're watering your own lawn.15:08Okay? So you need to chase after her just like you chased after her when you got married. Okay? Because listen, y'all got all kind of different avenues. There was a time we didn't have phones. Y'all probably don't realize we had party lines, which means you pick a phone up and there'd be five other people on the line and you'd listen to what they said first. But understand, this was a different day. We weren't able to communicate like you guys do.15:36We didn't have all the social media. One of the greatest things about social media is during such thing as a pandemic, man, the word's still able to go out. You know what? The devil tried to destroy here the words going out because of social media. Well, listen, we didn't have that when we were dating. We didn't have that. I mean, you had to trust each other at some point. And you chased after that young lady or that spouse. And she chased after you.16:04And it was a mutual competition. I have a daughter. Also, I had the privilege of taking my daughter and opening the back doors of the church and walking my daughter down the aisle. I love my daughter. Matter of fact, when my son-in-law came to date my daughter, I put a shotgun shell and wrote his name on it and put it on the mantel because I wanted him to know that was my baby girl. I love my daughter. And you know what? My little son-in-law, he was in my youth group too.16:31How bad is it to date the youth pastor's daughter and be in his youth group at the same time? And every time you see him, even if you see him to this day, he's still just a grinning. And you know what? So am I. I didn't let him know a lot of that in a way. I kind of tried to be tough and, you know, act like I didn't hear things and didn't care. But every time I walked away, I said, man, God, you know, that was a prayer of ours. The greatest decision your kids will ever make is whether or not to accept Jesus.16:58The second greatest decision they'll ever make is who they line up with in marriage because it can either tear them away or it can pull them together. And so if you're a parent in here, I don't care if your baby's just born. My challenge for you would be, man, you need to be praying for that mate, for that child. You need to pray for that child's salvation, first thing.17:25Second thing is you need to pray for that mate that God sends in their life because that will determine so much of that relationship. Again, we're talking about relationships. So the first thing today is I want you to recognize... Y'all hang on with me. I ain't got but 12 minutes. The first thing I need you to recognize today is God's relational design. In other words, you matter. The world standards always say you're not going to measure up, but you matter.17:52Scripture says this. It says in James 1:18, it says, "By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we could be a kind of first fruit, the first agricultural produce of the season." That's not in the Scripture, but that's what first fruits is, of his creatures. In other words, God, you were born, you were born with a purpose. One of the translations I read, the Living Translation of the Living Bible said this.18:19It said, "And it was a happy day when he created you." Sometimes, you know, the world does tell us that we don't measure up. But according to Scripture, it says, "It was a happy day when God created you." So when the world tells you you don't matter, the world tells you you don't count, you're not tall enough, you're not big enough, you're not fast enough, you're not strong enough. And that's what I love to instill in our teenagers. Because if we can teach our teenagers who they are in Christ, they will march through this walk of life.18:47But also, too, as adults, the same thing. We've all been told before we didn't measure up. And a lot of times the devil says, "Well, why are you doing that? You don't matter." Listen, folks, it does matter. You were created and you were created with a purpose according to Jeremiah 29:11. And a couple of times I've had to have a conversation with myself. You know, I've had to sit myself down and say, because people will say, "Hey, how come you're not a pastor of a church?"19:14And, you know, it's like all of a sudden they look down on you because maybe you serve in another role of the church. You know, one of the things I'm so thankful for, our praise team is awesome. And Brother Eric does such a great job with what he does here with our media and our sound. But you know what? Those are specific callings that God has placed on their life. And some of you keep the nursery. Some of you teach Sunday school classes or life groups. And some of you visit people. Listen, there is a job, responsibility for every person.19:41And whatever God gives you is important. You matter because God has called you. The second thing is this. We need to respond to God's desire to move you from creation to child. We need to respond to God's desire to move you to creation to child. Now listen what it says here in Romans 6:23. It says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."20:08It wasn't just enough to be created, okay? God created us. But sin, something came along. And we're in Genesis 1, Genesis 2. What happens in Genesis 3? Sin comes along and then separates us from God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, you and I inherited that sin. And because we inherited, we're sinners. Every one of us. Every one of us. And sometimes, this is what scares me with church kids. It's because church kids never, we don't use the word sin a lot.20:32We don't use the word sin. And we don't like to use the word sin. Because, matter of fact, one of my little granddaughters says it like this. She says, "It's our yucky, yucky sins." That's why Jesus died on the cross, for our yucky, yucky sins. Sin is yucky. Listen, one sin separated us from God. So it says in Romans 3:23, it says, "All have sinned."20:57In other words, all of us are sinners in here. I'm going to give you a little test right quick. Matter of fact, anybody ever told a little white lie? Anybody in this room? There's a few people raising your hand. All right, I'm not going to point you out or make you get up here. But anybody ever stolen anything? Something maybe small, insignificant, ink pen, something along those lines? Well, a lot of you don't raise your hand and said you were liars, so I can't trust you on the last one. But understand, that's sin. That's what sin is. And that's what sin is.21:26Sin, according to Romans 6:23, says the wages of sin is death. That word death means separated. We're separated from God by sin. Listen, and it's time today that we don't glorify the sin. We should not glorify sin, but we've got to turn from sin. Scripture tells us there, it says the wages of sin is death. And I love it because the word but there is but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then Bible tells us in Romans 5:8 that God committed his love toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.21:54And then Romans 10:9 says if we'll confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, the Bible says thou shalt be saved. And then Romans 10:13 says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Listen, for every one of us in this room, we love you coming to church. We love you being a part of our fellowship. We love you coming and eating and hanging out. Would you know what we want to see more than anything?22:22We want to see you ask Christ in your heart. We want to see you one for Jesus because you know what? Other than that, you're bound for a devil's hell that was created for him and his angels. And that's not God's plan for you, okay? That is not God's plan for you. So right now, right here, if you're online, if you're at home, have you given your life to the Lord? Have you accepted his offer of forgiveness? I don't know about you, but every time I see someone baptized, and listen, that's going to happen here for us here soon.22:50Every time I see someone baptized or every time I hear someone giving their life to Jesus, I don't know about you, but I relive my salvation. So it's so encouraging to me when I see that and I hear that. And we enjoy being able to be a part of life change. And your faith is encouraging to us. I love what Dr. David Jeremiah says in a quote. He says, "There's two natures that beat within my breast. One is foul and one is blessed.23:19The one I love, the other I hate. The one I feed will dominate." Listen, for everyone else in this room, we are all sinners, okay? You're in good company if you are here. There's nobody in here better than anybody else. We are all sinners. But Jesus wants a relationship with you. That's why he gave his life on a cross. Boy, my plea would be with you today. Will you accept him as your savior? Will you accept Christ as your savior today?23:46Third thing today. The next thing, once you ask Christ in your heart, we want you to reveal your spiritual identity through baptism. In Acts 18:8 in the New King James Version it says, "Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and were baptized." Man, it's a joy to be able to baptize. I know our pastor gets excited about that. What a joy it is to be a part of your baptism.24:15I remember that day. I got saved September 21st, 1980. And I remember the day I got baptized. What a joy. But listen, baptism is only for people who accepted Jesus. Okay? Only for people who have asked Christ into their heart. And I hope today that you. But if you would like to be baptized, we're going to be baptizing. Man, go online. Fill that card out.24:44That Connect card. And say, "Man, I've given my life to Jesus. I want to join the church. Start covenant membership. I want to be saved. I want to be baptized." Let's go to the fourth thing real quick. And then the next thing is really where I want to get today. Is I want you to risk and connect with other family members. Once you give your life to Jesus and get saved. And then once you've given your life to Christ and been baptized. We want you to join with other family members.25:12We want you to join in with a church. And there's a scripture that says in Romans chapter 11. Or chapter 1 verse 11 and 12. It says, "For I want very much to see you." Paul's writing this. "So that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you." Isn't it unique that Paul, every time he wrote something in one of his letters. He always mentions the relationships he had with a handful of people. He starts naming those people. In other words, Paul cared about people.25:41You know, in the church, that's the message we want to say. We care about people. We're in the people business here in the church. But it says in verse 12. It says, "That is this. To be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both by yours and mine." Do you know what? It's such an encouragement to me when I see other people serving the Lord. Man, I get excited watching other people serving the Lord. So I want to give you four really quick ways to do that.26:08First thing is take a risk and be a part of God's church. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about accepting Christ as your Savior, then take a risk. Fill out that Connect card. Walk down that aisle. Tell somebody. Tell one of our pastors. Tell maybe your life group's leader that you would like to accept Christ as your Savior. Next thing is not only God's church, but then the local church. While I'm a little bit biased, I think everybody should be a part of Bethel Baptist Church.26:37Connie and I came to church. We fell in love with this church. We couldn't leave this church. We felt like God would kill us if we left this church. But we fell in love with Bethel Baptist Church. So I would challenge you. Come and be a part. In Romans 12:4-5 it says, "Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we are many but are one body in Christ, and individual members unto one another."27:02In other words, I hate to tell you all this, but we're kin. That's a good redneck term right there. We are part of the same family. You know when you've got that family member that when they come over you try to make sure you've got something else to do so you don't have to be. Guess what? Here we are. All right? So understand. But that's an important thing.27:31Man, we welcome you in the church. We would love for you in your church to be your church family here. The next thing is, you know, once you connect, we're good with you coming. We like you sitting in the pews. But here, let me tell you something else we'd like for you to do. We'd like for you to get involved in life groups. We'd like for you to get involved in life groups. We'd like to get involved in men's and women's ministry for Bible study. You know, and students, hey, we'd like to do camps at some point in time. But camps, retreats, and mission trips, we would love to be a part of those.27:57We've had some super opportunities where you've been able to purchase gift cards. And we've been able to bless people such as people that are in Publix and people that work at Dollar General and our first responders. And then today, we'll be even blessing teachers with gifts that you have made. But be a part of those things because it's so exciting to be a part. I see a lot of our people that work here that work in the food bank. And I think, what an awesome opportunity to share in people's lives.28:24And according to Acts 2:44, it says, "Now all believers were together, held all things in common." In other words, we are together. And the believers met together constantly. They shared everything with each other. And then the last thing is this, iron sharpens iron. You need to have a couple of close friends. I want you to give your life to Christ. I want you to join the church. We want you to follow the Lord in believers' baptism.28:52And then we want you to get real close. Because you matter to us here at Bethel Baptist Church and our church family. So the bottom line today is I want to give you two quick points of a bottom line. God's Word provides the truth. God's Word provides the truth. As a matter of fact, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scriptures given by inspiration of God is proffer for doctrine or teaching, for rebuking, for correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work."29:16And then the last thing is this, God's people provide the support. Man, we want to be your church family. Relationships matter. Relationships matter. As our praise team comes, the bottom line that I want to give you today is when we get together, I want to encourage you and your faith.29:43But I also want to be encouraged by yours. We encourage each other. So today, I don't know where you are spiritually. Y'all all look great to me from the outside. But the Bible tells me that man looks on the inward appearance and on the heart, not on the outside. And so today, maybe today you're here and you need to ask Christ in your heart.30:12Maybe today you need to pray that prayer and say, "Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I've broken your laws and your commands. Forgive me of my sin. Come into my heart. Thank you, Jesus, for hearing my prayer. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me." Maybe today that's you. Now listen, to pray that prayer is not magical, okay? If I can talk you into it from up here, as soon as you walk out the back door back there, the devil will talk you out. But if the Holy Spirit's dealing with you about that, then you're not going to be able to leave this place without telling somebody.30:41My challenge for you is that. Maybe today you want to connect with us and begin the process of becoming a covenant member. Maybe today that's you. And maybe we need to go online and fill that out. But tell somebody. Go online. Tell us through that. Or Brother Josh is going to be standing up here for our invitation time. And our prayer is that you would connect with the church. Let us minister to you.31:10Be a part of our family. Listen, we take it. They took me. So evidently they'll take us warts and all. We want to encourage you to do that. God's word provides the truth. God's people provide support. Let's pray. Let's pray.← Previous in FactsYou have heard it said give, but I say to you…Next in Facts →Sharing Hope in the Midst of Upheaval
