(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Walking with God is a lot like maybe climbing a mountain.

And I don't know if many of you have ever climbed a mountain, but climbing a mountain can be quite an experience.

It can be incredible as you journey and eventually get to the top.

But it seems like if you've ever done any sort of climbing, there seems to always be this gravitational tug on you trying to pull you back down the mountain.

Or as you're trying to go up that mountain, oftentimes there's obstacles in the way as you're trying to forge forward, there'll be obstacles in the way.

Or you may hit what we call a slippery slope and slide down a little bit.

Now, walking with God, your creator and my creator is a lot like that.

But what he wants us to do is secure ourself in who he is.

And as we secure ourself in who he is, as we begin to see those obstacles or hit those slippery slopes or feel that gravitational tug in our life, we can keep on climbing.

We can keep on going.

And so today, that's what I really wanna encourage you in, in your faith in Jesus Christ, to keep on going, to keep on climbing.

You know, as one of my friends says to me, we're gonna get there, come on.

We're gonna get there.

Slap your neighbor and go ahead and tell them we're gonna get there.

Don't give up.

Don't you give up, don't you quit.

Don't you pull over to the side.

We are going to get there.

Today, we're gonna look at a song in Psalms 125 that the Hebrew people would sing as they were making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate some of the festivals there back in the day.

They're known as the songs of ascent.

This is a six song in a sequel of 15 songs that the Hebrew people would sing as they made their way to the festivals, like the Passover festival.

And they would come from great distances to make their way into Jerusalem to celebrate their great God.

And as they were doing this journey together, everybody say together.

Together.

Because the people of God are on a journey together.

As they were doing this journey together, they would oftentimes sing these 15 songs to remind them of who God is, and then also to encourage each other in their faith or in their journey.

And so when we gather together weekly, we sing songs.

You know, it should do the same for us.

Should really encourage our faith as we journey together.

And it should begin to help us trust more in the security of what God offers us.

And they would sing these songs, and this is a Psalm today that they would sing.

And this one right here would begin to help them understand that no matter what stood in their way, there was always a God who was there for them.

Let's look at the Psalm.

Psalm 125, I wanna read the Psalm together with us today.

It says, those who trust in the Lord are secure as Mount Zion.

It was Mount Zion, it was a secure place.

They will not be defeated, but will endure forever.

The writer goes on to say, just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever.

Isn't that encouraging?

The wicked will not rule the land of the godly, for the godly might be tempted to do wrong.

Oh Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are in tune with you.

But banish those who turn to the crooked ways, oh Lord.

Take them away with those who do evil.

And they would end this Psalm, this song, may Israel have a peace.

You know, today, this is the message I wanna deliver to Valorous Church, because in reality, I would say the same thing today to us as we approach God, may Valorous, Valorous people, Valorous Church have peace.

Come on.

May we have a peace, because of the one we know in spite of what surrounds us.

May we have peace because of the one who we anchor ourself to, in spite of what's going on around us.

There seems to be a tendency for people to always be looking for a demon behind every bush.

But the reality of it is, they do exist and they're everywhere.

But we serve an all powerful, all knowing, everywhere at one time God, and we need to be focused on him more than we are the one who is against us.

It's very important for us to know the adversary.

It's very important for us to know our enemy.

It's very important for us to know his strategies.

However, if that becomes your focal point, you're gonna miss so much.

He's got your attention.

And God's trying to redirect our hearts to worship him and stop, you know what, always just kinda being on the lookout for the bad guy.

You know, if you're always looking in the rear view mirror, you can't move forward.

You're gonna run off the road.

You're not gonna make it.

And the reality of it is God says, I want you to make it.

And one of the reasons they would sing these incredible songs is to remind them of who God is.

He is a fortress.

He is one that offers security.

He's the one that offers strength.

He's the one that offers shelter.

And Psalm 125 is a Psalm where they are focusing on who they trust, the God of all gods, who they anchor themselves to in spite of what surrounds them.

I wanna encourage you today.

We have an anchor of hope that we need to latch on to and thread our life to because he will never, ever let go of us.

Come on.

He will never, never let go of us.

You may let go of him, but he ain't gonna let go of you.

And you know, I was thinking about almost as a mountain climber, sometimes at least this is how I saw it, would take a rope and throw it up at the top and it had these big hooks on it.

And the mountain climber would take that anchor at the top and yank those hooks into something very secure.

And then would begin to climb up the rope.

The anchor was in something solid up there and it held well.

And the climber was able to hold onto the rope and climb up.

And as I began to get this picture in my mind yesterday, and as I was working through this message today, I wanted to order one so bad, that Amazon would not deliver it before this morning so I didn't get the anchor.

But envision with me for just a minute.

It's like these hooks go up into something higher and that anchor holds and that rope is tied to it and the climber can be secure as they climb because of what they're anchored to.

See, Jesus is a lot like that heavenly hook.

The Bible says he's risen, he's ascended back into the heavens and he sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, right now, interceding for you and me.

He's a solid hope, he's a solid anchor.

Tether your life to him and never let go because he is who he says he is and he never lets go of you.

So today, I don't want us just to know who Jesus is.

I want us to learn from Jesus and the mind of Christ and how he walked through difficult moments because see, he modeled those things for us so that we can get through difficult moments.

In other words, he didn't just ascend to heaven and leave you here to do it all by yourself.

He modeled how to get through tough times and he sends the Holy Spirit to live in us to help us keep going when times get hard.

And so the Bible says this, as Paul was writing the church at Corinth and he was basically sharing that, he had shared who Christ was in a very plain way and you know what, it wasn't with incredible speeches and words, no, no, he just shared plainly who Christ was and as he's kind of finishing up that statement here in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 16, he asked a question and he quotes out of Isaiah.

For who can know the Lord's thoughts?

Who knows enough to teach him?

But we understand these things, he says, for we have the mind of Christ.

And what the writer here is basically encouraging the church at Corinth who had kind of gotten off track and who were acting very immature with their faith, he was trying to teach them this simple principle, grow up and go up.

Grow up and then go up.

Don't be immature with your faith, mature yourself in your faith.

Now, a lot of times people think maturing in our faith is remembering all 66 books of the Bible.

But let me tell you what matures your faith.

It's trials, it's temptations, it's difficulty, it strengthens your faith.

And so we got to have the maturity, the mind of Christ because the mind of Christ begins to help us think differently because our hope is in Jesus and we think like Jesus did and we have a person and a place to anchor our soul to.

So it's very important for us to have the same mind that Christ had as he journeyed through this earth.

If we're gonna get through tough and difficult moments.

My friend, the Bible tells us that we're gonna experience tough and difficult moments on this journey, on this journey called life.

And most of us who have done life for any extended period of time, we realize that they are valleys.

They are troublesome times, there's hurtful times, there's painful times.

But how do we hang on and not quit during those times?

It's simply like the Hebrew people did, it's reminding ourself who God is and it's having the mind of Christ and hanging on to the things of God just like Jesus did when he walked the face of this earth and he kept moving forward.

So I just wanna remind you of three things today of how Jesus thought whenever he was going through difficult times.

Because I do believe that these things will help you and I keep on keeping on, help us keep on going.

And the first one I wrote down is like this, is no weapon formed against me will prosper.

No weapon formed against me will prosper.

See, if we always remember that God's love is greater than anything that comes against us, then we can begin to hang on and keep going in difficult moments.

And so Jesus knew that he had, he knew that he and the Father were one and that the Father in heaven loved him.

He was the one and only son of God and he came to earth and he put on skin.

But Jesus had an intimate relationship with the Father and no matter what he was struggling with or going through, he called on the Father's love in all circumstances, in all situations.

He understood that having this love relationship with the Father is what could help get him through the difficult moments.

Listen to how the Bible puts their relationship in John chapter three, verses 31 through 36.

John the Baptist who baptized Jesus, he says about Jesus, he has come from above and is greater than anyone else.

We are of the earth and we speak earthly things but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.

He testifies about what he has seen and heard but how few believe what he tells them.

Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.

For he is sent by God, he speaks God's word for God gives him the spirit without limit.

The Father loves his son and puts everything into his hands and anyone who believes in God's son has eternal life.

You see, Jesus, the whole time he was human here on earth, he was 100% human and 100% God.

And again, that's a whole nother sermon to tear apart but understand he felt what humans feel.

He went through difficult moments just like you, your mama, your grandmama, your kids and everybody else go through.

He had feelings.

But you see, he didn't find security in his feelings.

He found his security in his father's love.

In other words, he felt like you feel.

He felt like I feel.

He went through very, very hard times.

But you see, because of his love relationship with God, the Bible says he keeps on enduring even to the point of death on a cross because he understood who God was.

He understood what his purpose here on earth was during that time as he walked this earth.

He understood that you know what?

Whatever come against him would not last because he had an eternal love that come from his father that would get him through all circumstances.

And that gave him security to walk during difficult moments.

You know, the Bible tells us that God loves us and let this security of his love anchor your soul.

And when I begin to understand that God loves me no matter what, not on my performance, not on how bad I messed up last night, no matter how ill I made you, no matter how ill you made me, God loves me anyway.

And I anchor my soul in his love.

Because you see, if I don't do that, then I'm all over the map.

I'm trying to prove myself on a continual basis, not to you, but to God.

And some of us don't have security.

We're so insecure that God's gonna fall out of love with us.

No, no, no, the Bible says he is love.

He loved you before you ever thought about him.

He doesn't love you based on who you are and how you perform.

He loves you because he created you and he is a God that loves his children no matter what comes in our path or else around us.

Let that sink in.

When you know that you are loved anyway, you can keep forging forward.

But the enemy, the enemy of our mind begins to take our focus off of that love and says, no, God doesn't love you.

Look at this obstacle.

Look at this thing that come in.

Look how bad you messed up.

Look how bad they screwed up.

Look what you did.

Look what you didn't do.

And so all of these things begin to get in our mind.

Understand your mind is a battlefield.

And if you're gonna have security to keep climbing by faith, anchor it in the love of Jesus Christ.

He gave his life on that cross, my friend, so you and I could know the great and mighty love of God.

He did it for you anyway.

He died for your sin from the front to the back of this room.

No matter what color your skin is, no matter if you're male or female, no matter if you're young or old, no matter what language you speak, God loves you anyway.

Come on.

And on behalf of my great God, I want you to know I don't care what political party you belong to.

I don't care who you cheer for or don't cheer for.

My security doesn't come from those things.

My security comes from knowing my great God and yours should too.

And the enemy loves divisiveness.

If he can begin to get his people to divide over such foolish things, as politics he wins.

We need to focus on the security that God offers through the love of Christ Jesus and Christ Jesus alone.

And my friends, we'll be able to forge through the obstacles, the challenges, and the difficulties.

And when we hit these slippery slopes, we're able to anchor our soul to the love of Jesus and keep on climbing and keep on going.

He will never let go.

Come on.

He's the hook of heaven.

He's the one that rose from the grave, sits anchored by the Father right now.

And I can tether my life to him all the days of my life.

He's my advocate.

He's there for me.

Man, that's a beautiful thing.

It's like he's looking down on earth right now and saying, there's my little sister.

There's my little brother.

And you know what, God?

You know what, in spite of their slip up and their mess up and all those kind of things, God, they are one with us.

They have my mind, my thought.

They're climbing, they're hanging on.

God, you know what?

Keep on forgiving, keep on loving, keep on seeing what I did for them on the cross because I love them.

They put their faith in me.

And Father, we're gonna just keep on loving them.

Anyway, we're gonna keep on loving them.

Man, there's security in that.

When did you become so prideful that you thought that God loved you based on what you do?

Wow.

So that's the spirit of pride.

I'm better than you.

I perform more than you.

I do, no, no, no.

See, the Bible says that pride puffs up.

But love builds up.

And let's get out of the comparison mode and just let's anchor ourself and secure ourself in the love of Christ and see what God can do.

He wants to do amazing things through you.

But you gotta anchor yourself to his amazing love.

The second thing I wrote down about the mind of Christ and keeping on climbing is I gotta remember the temptation is temporary.

Oh, I love this one.

See, Christ understood that the temptation in his life was temporary, wasn't eternal.

I like to say this, the temptation to sin is short-term satisfaction that destroys our long-term success.

The enemy always tempt you to short circuit the things that God wants to do through your life.

Give in.

And the amazing thing is, is he's very crafty.

Because usually the temptation comes from the word of God through the tempter, the great enemy.

But what's interesting is he twists the word in order to tempt you to get off course.

And so we have to find security in Christ.

But we begin to have strength decline through his word.

In other words, you gotta begin to meditate on the word and know what the word says because the enemy gonna use the word against you if you don't know what the word says in the context of the word.

I don't think you caught on to what I was saying.

The enemy takes words that God says, like Twitter and the media do, and uses part of them to convince you of a truth.

But when you know the full context and the full sentence and fully what God has said, the enemy can't take and twist up them words.

Come on.

To trip you up to do, to stop the climb.

Jesus understood that temptation was temporary.

And he understood that the enemy used the word of God, but he also used the word of God in context to defend, you know what, his climb and who he was.

I love this passage.

Matthew chapter four, verses one through 11, where Jesus was tempted in the wilderness as he was hungry.

And as he was fasting for 40 days, no food, and a couple of sips of water.

The Bible says Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil so he could be strengthened.

For 40 days and 40 nights, he fasted and he became very hungry.

Anybody hungry in this place today?

During that time, the devil came and said to him while he was hungry, if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.

But Jesus told him, no, the scriptures say, people do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

He understood the context of who God was and he understood the context of God's word.

And he didn't let the enemy take the word and twist it up and trip him up.

Temptation is temporary.

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem.

To the highest point of the temple, he said, if you are the son of God, jump off.

The scripture says he will order his angels to protect you and they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even get hurt, get your foot, or you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.

And Jesus responded, the scriptures also say, you must not test the Lord, your God.

Somebody needs to hear that today.

Somebody told you to stick your hand in the fire, God won't let your hand burn.

But the reality of it is, you know, fire burns.

And unless God told you to get in that fire and stay in that fire until it's time for him to come and rescue you and get you out of that fire, don't you get in the fire.

Come on, because the reality of it is, is God has a calling on his people and in times and in places.

And sometimes, you know what, people basically, they try to test God and Jesus responded to the scripture, also says, you must not test the Lord, your God.

God told us to test him in one area, in the scripture.

And he says, you know what?

And this was actually to the Hebrew people back in the day.

He says, test me in this area, stop robbing me and bring in the whole tithe into the storehouse of God and stop, you know, robbing me and test me, God says, and see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven on yourself.

But again, is that scripture, some principles from that scripture is applicable to our life, but understand who he wrote it to.

And so in reality, we don't need to take the word of God out of context and make God somebody who he isn't.

Jesus understood temptation is temporary, but the eternal word of God is forever and it's everlasting.

Let me finish this passage.

Next, the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain showed him the kingdoms of the world and all their glory.

He says, I will give it all to you, he said, if you will kneel down and you'll worship me.

Get out of here, Satan, Jesus told him for the scripture say, you must worship the Lord your God and serve him only.

And then the devil went away and the angels came and they took care of Jesus.

Every temptation is temporary, God is eternal and he is a continual.

Jesus was tempted just like you and I. He was tempted by, you know what, the lust of the flesh, he was tempted by the pride of life and the lust of the eye.

Right here in this passage, he was tempted in all three ways and the reality of it is God gave him strength to get through every bit of it because he understood in context, the whole word of God and he didn't let the devil twist things up in a temporary situation and trip him up to achieve his purpose.

Have the mind of Christ.

When the devil comes and whispers things in your ear that are not true in context of the word of God, you do just like that, you come back at him with the context of what God has said.

See, this will begin to give us strength on our journey.

This will begin to give us security on our journey and the last thing I wrote down about having the mind of Christ and keeping on the climbing and the security and all this that God leaves us or puts over us is as I wrote it down this way, the joy set before us is greater than the pain that surrounds us.

Life delivers painful moments.

But the Bible says there may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.

And what's so interesting is God's word never promises a pain free life.

When sin entered the world, pain came with it.

Great climbers realized that there may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.

And I want you to hang on to this truth today because this could become a shelter for your life in the midst of pain.

It's Hebrews 12 verses one through four.

The writer here, he writes the Hebrew people and he says, let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

In other words, don't you give up, don't you pull over to the side, you keep on keeping on.

Don't you let divisions come among you.

You know what, hang on to the greatness of who God is.

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

And the Bible goes on to say, because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross disregarding that shame.

Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.

Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, and then you won't become weary and you won't give up.

After all the writer says, you have not yet given your lives in the struggle against sin.

Psalm 125 is a song, the Hebrew people sung to motivate themselves to keep climbing and keep moving.

It was a song about the trust that they had in God.

But my friend, God has sent us so much more than a song.

God has sent us his son, Jesus Christ, that we can anchor our souls to, where we can find security, where we can find strength, where we can find a shelter.

And I'm asking you today, what are you anchored to?

Is it the anchor, Jesus Christ?

What are you tethered to by your faith?

Is it Jesus Christ, the hook of heaven?

Is it the one who defeated death and rose from the grave and ascended to heaven?

Do you have his mind?

Because if the enemy is discouraging you today and telling you to give up, I want you to know that is not God's plan for your life.

His plan for your life is you to live life on purpose, is to live life eternal, and it's to be everything he has created you to be.

But you see, you gotta keep singing the song of Jesus over and over and over again.

You know what, we're all aging people.

We all have crooks and crannies and nicks and knocks and pain and all that kind of good stuff.

But how do we keep climbing?

We keep climbing by having our faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, he is the anchor of hope for our souls.

He is the one.

And you know what?

If you can't get together with God's people and worship him over and over again, your faith is gonna diminish.

Your faith is going to weaken.

This is why it's so important to be a part of God's family.

This is why it's so important, not to come to church just to be entertained.

You know, again, we hope you are entertained to some degree, okay?

We don't wanna be boring with the word of God.

We want you to...

We want you to be energized and encouraged.

And so, but we're here for that purpose, to continue to encourage your faith, to trust God.

In all circumstances, in all situations.

He is who he says he is and he's gonna get her done.

You keep climbing, you keep believing, you keep trusting.

Don't you give up, don't you pull over to the side.

Jesus has risen, he is coming back.

He is sitting right now, waiting for you to stand by faith.

Father God, I thank you so much for Jesus.

I thank you God that you have put a great song in our heart to keep singing to encourage our faith.

God, I thank you for your word.

I thank you so much for the strength you offer us through your love, the security you offer us.

God, I thank you for your word that can keep on building us up as we go on the journey.

And God, I thank you so much for being a shelter for us in all the circumstances to guide us through the pain.

God, I pray today, if there's one here today that hasn't trusted what Jesus has done for them and who you are, God, I pray today they would put their faith in him.

He came to die on a cross for our sin.

He defeated death and he rose from the grave to give us eternal life.

And God, if there is one here today that's never said yes to that gift that come from heaven, God, may the day be the day that they put their faith in him forever.

My friend, if that is you, it's a simple attitude of your heart where you may ask God to move into your life and you would say something simply like this, right where you say, God, today I surrender.

I turn away from my sin and I trust Christ.

I trust he came to forgive me.

I trust that he came for me to connect with you.

And I trust that he came to give me eternal life forever and ever and ever.

God, I trust that he rose from a grave.

He defeated death, sin, so that I could live forever with you.

In Jesus name I pray, amen.