Hello everyone. My name is pastor roderick Caesar of the third on the lead Pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Jamaica queens new york and my prayer is that you would be blessed, You would be encouraged and strengthened by this word, hope you enjoy God bless. I’m so excited for this word that I have to share with you today. It comes from the book of psalms chapter 34 psalms 34 Verse one and it says I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Let’s pray Dear God, I just thank you so much for this time. I thank you for your word, thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you father that you’re with us, even in the midst of this storm and even in the midst of what we are going through uh, be our strength, be with me as I speak, we thank you and praise you in jesus name, Amen, Amen. And amen. The title of this message today is can’t stop. Won’t stop, right. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. We know that God is good, right? So you hear people say this all the time in church circles, you say God is good. And then somebody else says all the time. And then you say all the time, right. God is good. It’s fine to believe that when you know your bank account is looking decent or you know, life is looking on the up and up. But can you still say that In difficult circumstances? Can you still say that when life doesn’t necessarily look like it? And I think that that’s why there’s such a power in this song. So I’m 34. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. David, When he’s writing this, he realizes, look, it’s a 24 7 blessing. It’s a 3 65 blessing. This is all the time thing. I’m always gonna be blessing the Lord no matter what life throws at me, I will bless the Lord. And it’s his praise that my mouth is going to speak of at all times. Why? Because God does everything well, God does absolutely everything well, everything God does is good in the garden after he created everything that exists. Everything he says What? That’s good. That’s good. That’s good. That’s good. Because he cannot help but do good. He cannot help but be light in the midst of darkness. He cannot help but do good because he is good. Everything he creates is good and God is good. Even when we don’t understand what’s going on, even when we don’t understand what’s taking place, Even when we don’t understand what’s happening. God is good. We have to have that mindset psalms 1 13 verse three says from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same the name of the Lord is to be praised. That means from Sunup to sundown, God’s gonna get praise from sunup to sundown God’s supposed to get glory from sunup to sundown God? The name of the Lord is supposed to be praised. This is what we should be doing. And and there was a situation where, you know, Jesus said, look, you guys better cry out because if you don’t, the rocks will, so if God doesn’t get glory from you, if God doesn’t get praise from you, he’s gonna get it from someone else. So we might as well be the ones to say, you know what, No matter what our situation, no matter what our circumstance, we will praise the Lord. And it’s amazing because we have to have an inner resolve, right? We have to have an inner time where our mind is made up, where we’re looking to God in spite of how things look, in spite of how things look, we look to God, in spite of how things feel. We look to God and inner resolve to trust in the goodness of God. In the midst of your turmoil, in the midst of your situation? In the midst of your pain to trust in the goodness of God. I will lift up mine eyes to the Hills Psalm 121. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, The one who made heaven and earth. I will lift up mine eyes to the hills. That’s a that’s an inner resolve psalms? 42 David writes again, why are you downcast o my soul, And why are you in such turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation. And my God, he says, look, my soul is downcast. That’s why we have to have a level of self awareness. We have to know uh, what’s going on. We have to know uh, what’s going on within ourselves, have a level of understanding, a level of self awareness. What David says when he writes, he says, why are you downcast on my soul? Why are you feeling the way you’re feeling? It’s okay to talk to yourself, right? Uh, just don’t have full long conversations. But you’ve got to be able to talk to yourself and pull yourself up out of the loneliness that urine out of the state that you’re in. Why are you downcast? You have a reason to have hope. You have a reason to have authority. You have a reason to have praised. You have a reason to stand up on your feet. You have a reason to clap your hands. You have a reason to open up your mouth and and thank the true and living God and lift up the name of jesus. You have a reason. Why are you downcast? I will hope in the Lord, I will praise the Lord. I will lift mine eyes. You have to have an inner resolve that says, look no matter what life throws my way. No matter what comes at me, I will resolve to trust in the goodness of God, no matter what my eyes may see, no matter what my ears may hear, all is. Well, that’s what the hymn, the hymn says. It is well, it is well with my soul, it is well with my soul, whatever my lot. We sing it, we sing it, we sing it. But do we mean it when the storms come? Whatever my lot, Whatever my situation, whatever season I’m in though, hast taught me to say, it’s not something that comes without struggle. That’s not something that comes without perseverance. It’s not something that comes easy, thou hast taught me to say in the midst of my pain. I can say it as well. Why? Because I’ve been through a course. Why? Because I’ve been through some difficulty. Why? Because I’ve been through some pain before. Why? Because I’ve been through some agony before. And I know that God is my anchor in whom I trust and he can keep me in the midst of what I’m going through. So it is well, that has taught me to say, How does God teach you through suffering? How does God teach you through taking you through the valleys before? And you realize, okay, that has taught me to say it as well. I realize that the heartache that job suffered when we look at the life of Job, the heartache that he went through the pain, the trials that he went through. This was not his first time going through pain. This was not his first time going through difficulty. He had, he was taught to say it is well at the very first instance of of of difficulty when uh things didn’t go his way and tragedy struck his home. What was his response? Naked? I came from my mother’s womb and naked, I shall return The Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord. It says Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. His first response at the sign of tragedy was to worship the Lord. And realize in perspective naked, I came from my mother’s womb and naked, I shall return to the dust. Put it in perspective, God is sovereign and I am not God is in control and I am not. And even though it’s difficult, I can still bless him because he’s still good even in the midst of my difficult circumstances. And then later on and Job we see that he’s going through so much more difficulty. His wife comes up to him and says, look, you should just curse God and die. Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God and die. He says, you speak as one of the foolish women would speak, but shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil. So it says in all this job did not sin with his lips when good was coming were like, oh yeah, everything’s great, Everything’s great. Good, Good, good, good, good. But when God holds back his hand from the head with the hedge and has the enemy come through like a flood? What are we gonna do? Curse God at the sign of difficulty. No, no, no, not so we must have psalms 1 36 says give thanks to the Lord for he is good, no matter what we’re going through, he is good. His steadfast love, His consistent love is is never failing. It endures forever. It endures from one day to the next, from one month to the next, from one year to the next, from one decade to the next, from one score to the next. It goes on and on and on and on. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. What does that mean to endure to, to push through difficulty forever. It goes on forever. And what I want us to understand it and come away from this with is just because your situation is not good. It does not mean that God is not good. Just because your situation is not good. It does not mean that God is not good. Your situation doesn’t define your God. God should define your perspective in the midst of your situation. Your situation does not define God, but God should define. Your perspective in the midst of your situation, let’s look at joseph, joseph had so much pain in his life, pain in the pit. His brothers rejected him. His brother’s mistreated him. His brothers abused him, they threw him in a pit, he had pain in a pit, and then he had pain in the prison. He was done wrong, was done to him again and again and again and again. But yet, what was his? His his posture was one that was submitted to God, One that was running to God. One that was able to even bless others with the gifts that God gave him in the middle of his pain. Why? Because he knew that God changed his perspective in the midst of his pain in the midst of his situation, his situation didn’t define his God. His God defined his situation. We look at Daniel who was thrown in the lion’s then unjustly unjustly, but we realized that he didn’t curse God on his way to the lion’s den, he said, look like God, Whatever God wants to do is it’s gonna happen. However, God wants to move in, it’s gonna happen. But we see that he didn’t let his situation define God. He realized that God altered his perspective. In the midst of the situation, Esther Esther had an immense amount of responsibility on her and it was thrust in uh to a time when her people’s lives were at stake. So she had so much to do, but she didn’t say, oh God, this is so much and and and gripe against God. She said no, no, perhaps this is for such a time as this. Her cousin said that you’ve come into the kingdom and so he realizes and she realizes that look, I have a role to play and God’s called me to this for this season, paul and Silas, they are thrown in prison unjustly. They freed a woman that was demon possessed, a girl that was demon possessed. They freed her. Spiritually liberated her from this demon possession, casting the demons out and when the individuals saw their their their their platform for gaining money was gone, they threw paul and Silas in prison, they were beaten with rods, they were thrown in stocks. And what did they do? What do they do when they were in prison? They didn’t curse God, they said, you know what, this is our situation, it’s not ideal, but we’re gonna bless the Lord, They begin to sing praises to the Lord and the Lord intervened and freed everyone that was in the prison. Your situation does not define your God. God should define your perspective. In the midst of your situation. Look at what, what the box says her back in chapter three Verse 17 though the fig tree should not blossom nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there’d be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God. The Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer’s. He makes me tread on my high places. The beautiful thing about this texas, the scene that’s painted is one that is a barren one, that is empty, one that is miserable though the fig tree should not blossom. Your income is gone, no fruit beyond the vines. The harvest is gone, the produce of the olive fail. Everything you’re counting on is gone. The fields yield no food, there’s famine in the land, the flock be cut off from the fold and there’s no herd in the stalls. Life is barren. Life is empty. Life is miserable. It seems as though your circumstance and situation is throwing all it has at you, he says. Yet in verse 18, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation of my salvation. That’s why it’s important to have a personal relationship with jesus christ, a personal relationship with this God. There’s a difference between religion and relationship and it’s time like these that you realize it. Many of us were perhaps just focusing on the religion just coming to church on Sundays, doing what we felt we had to do and and that was it or just reading our bible occasionally, if any, if anything at all. But now we realize because the difficulty comes are ways that we were lacking the foundation that’s required to make it through. So we need relationship move from religion to relationship my God, the God of my salvation, and then he understands who God is. So he says, the Lord is my strength in the midst of this situation, in the midst of this season, In the midst of this difficulty, I have strength, he makes my feet like the deers and make me tread on my high places. So even though my situation is trying to bring me down, I know I’m not stuck here. God is lifting me up and making me walk on high places. I can run to a good God, even though my situation is bad, I can run to a good God, even though my situation hurts, I can run to a good God, even though my situation is something that is causing me pain. I can run to a good God, even though my situation is not ideal, I can run to a good God. My situation feels like it has me backed into a corner, but I know that I can run to a good God. God is good God is good God is good and your situation may try to steal your praise, but you can’t stop, you won’t stop continuing to praise the true and living God. Why do we run to God, because God is good, Why do we run to God? Because God is good. And in the midst of a terrible circumstance, in the midst of something that you’re praying to get out of. God is going to do one of two things. God is going to either deliver you and to us. That’s that’s good. That’s immediate goodness. Immediate God, deliver me, deliver me Lord. That’s good. That’s great When we, when we realize that God is taking us out of the situation or God is stopping the situation. The disciples in the storm, jesus, master, don’t you care that we’re perishing, Jesus gets up peace. Be still delivers them out of the situation. That’s good. God comes the storm. He speaks to the wind in your life, speaks to the waves in your life says peace. Be still over the situation in your life and your prayer is answered in that way, the healing that you’re praying for comes the money that you’re waiting on comes the job that you’re waiting on comes all of these situations are resolved and God delivers you. That’s good. That’s the first thing. But that’s not always what God does. He does one of two things. The first thing is he either delivers you or the second thing is he gives you the strength to endure. Yeah, and that’s that’s that’s that’s something that we don’t necessarily automatically see as good The strength to endure. Look at what Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 Paul Prairie that says three times. I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me the thorn and paul’s flesh that disturbed him. That troubled him. But what does what does the Lord say to him? Paul prayed three times again and again and again for this thorn to be removed from his flesh. This difficult situation, this difficult thing. But God says to pull my grace is sufficient for you. My power or my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul got it right there, he said. Therefore, because of this, because I realized that God’s strength is perfect When I’m weak, I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of christ may rest upon me for the sake of christ. Then I am content with weakness, with insults, with hardships, with persecution, with calamities. For when I am weak then I am strong. Many of us. We’ve we don’t like feeling weak. We don’t like knowing that we’re out of control. We don’t know like knowing that we don’t have it all under control. But we have to understand that when we’re weak we’re strong through christ when we’re weak when we say God, I don’t know how I can handle this. God. I don’t know how I can make it through this. God. This is so difficult. Lord help me through God help me. That’s when we’re strong when we realize that we’re at the end of our rope so we can finally grasp onto God’s hand. That’s when we’re strong and we find our strength. So we see that God will do one of two things. He’ll he’ll either deliver you out or give you the strength to endure. Paul, prayed to be delivered. But God said no, no, you must endure, Jesus prayed to be delivered in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, God, if there’s if there’s any other way, let this cup you see this cup, let let it pass. Let it pass. I don’t I don’t want this cup. Not not I don’t want this cup. Let it pass from me if you’re willing Luke. Chapter 22 verse 42, father. The same father. He spoke to his whole life. Father, If you are willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but yours be done. He says, look, it’s gonna be your will. That’s got to get this thing done. Not uh not me, but your will. and but what happens in verse 43 then there appeared to him, an angel from heaven, strengthening him. My grace is sufficient. My grace is sufficient. The strength that I’m giving you is sufficient. The angel ministering to you is sufficient to get you through the cross to get you through the agony. To get you through the spiritual the discomfort to get you through. My grace is sufficient. There’s something about suffering that that that God uses to bring us closer to him? There’s something about a pain that is used to bring us closer to him. What what what I what’s interesting about scripture Romans, Chapter eight says, what shall we say to these things and we know this and we say this all the time. If God before us, who can stand against us, right? We say yeah, Hallelujah, how? That’s great. Then we say who he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously? Give us all things. Yeah, I want all things. That’s great. That’s wonderful. So we celebrate the first verse. We celebrate the end of the second verse. But then what we’re having trouble with is When we skip over at the top of the verse 32, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. If God is for us, who can be against us. Yes, that’s true. That’s wonderful. We rejoice in that. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. Jesus had to go through it. Jesus had to go through a God didn’t say yeah, there’s another way I got another cup. You know, it’s lighter. It doesn’t it doesn’t involve this much pain. I have another sacrifice over there. I have another way to bring a fellowship with God and man I don’t know God said, look, I’m not going to spare you this. This is what you have to go through. And some of us were praying for things to be removed or praying for things to be relieved. But God says my grace is sufficient. You’ve got to suffer through, you’ve got to go through. It’s gonna bring you closer to me in the long run. I want to teach you some things through this process. It’s difficult. I know it’s painful, I know you wish you didn’t have to, I know believe me, I know what this is like But I’m giving you the grace to go through it. What does Jesus say in Matthew 10, a disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above the master, jesus says, look, if I have to go through, you gotta go through. If I gotta be persecuted, You gotta be persecuted. If I’m going through and being ridiculed then you have to go through and be ridiculed. If I’m facing difficulty in opposition, you have to face difficulty in opposition. The disciple is not above the teacher nor the servant above the master Second timothy chapter two verse 12 for saying is trustworthy and true. If we have died with him, we will also live with him if we endure, we will also reign if we deny him. He also will deny us. If we are faithless. He remains faithful for he cannot deny himself, we have to endure. We have to be willing to endure, have a have a resolve to endure. Why? Because we know that in the midst of our endurance, God is still good. You have to trust it in the midst of what you’re going through. It doesn’t mean that God is suddenly this evil and maniacal being uh like a child with a magnifying glass and you’re the end. No, no, no. That’s that’s not the picture we should have. God is still loving. God is still good. God is still kind. God is still holy And your situation and your pain doesn’t change. That. That actually gives you a place to run to in the midst of your situation, in the midst of your pain. In the midst of what you’re going through. God gives us strength. He gives us strength, Isaiah chapter 40 verse 28. Have you not known? Have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the heavens and earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is in searchable. He gives power to the faint to him. Has no who has no might. He increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary. Young men shall fall and exhaust and be exhausted. But those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Wait on the Lord Saints of God. Wait on the Lord people of God. Wait on the Lord you who are watching wait on the Lord Many of us. We tried to do things in our own timing. We’ve tried to relieve things in our own timing. But God says if you wait on me, I can give you the strength to make it through. If you wait on me, perhaps I’ll even take you out of it if you wait on me, perhaps I’ll give you the grace that’s needed to make it through your situation. God gives us strength. He’s with us in each and every season. But I realized that sometimes God takes you out, he says peace be still. But sometimes God does not say peace be still. Sometimes God does not calm the storm, but he’s with you in the midst of the storm, He’s with you in the boat. So continue to hold on to God because he’s still good in the midst of our season. God gives us the grace to go through. We must not forget to bless the Lord at all times. We must not forget to give him glory at all times. We must not forget to praise his name at all times because he’s always good. He does not stop being good because our situation shifts God is still good. So what a couple of points here, what does blessing God do when we bless God when we give him glory? When we give him praise? What does that do? It takes our focus off of our problem and puts it on our solution, it takes our focus off of our problem and puts it on our God, jesus seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Many times when we uh encounter difficulty, we seek other things, seek other things, run to other things instead of blessing the Lord instead of running to the Lord, but seek ye first. The kingdom of God proverbs says, trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him and he’ll make your path straight. So blessing God does it straightens out your path? It says, look, I trust in God, I turn to God, I look to God in the midst of all that I’m going through trusting and and blessing God in the midst of our pain, in the midst of what we’re going through. What else does it do? It strengthens our faith. That’s the second point, blessing God puts our focus on God and blessing God strengthens our faith So in the midst of our pain we can speak the truth about the goodness of God that I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. It strengthens our faith when we speak of life about the goodness of God, even though we’re surrounded by death. When we speak light about the goodness of God, even though we’re surrounded by darkness, it strengthens our faith and anchors us and says yes we have this, this God that is for us, this God that is with us in the midst of all that we are going through. It frustrates the enemy. So it puts putting putting our focus on God. Uh blessing yeah, blessing God puts our focus on God strengthens our faith and frustrates the enemy frustrates the enemy. The enemy just wants to see you quit. He wants to see you throw in the towel. What does it say, John 1010. The thief comes to steal. To kill, to destroy. He wants to see those things happen in your life. He wants to see those things happen in your life and the situation you’re up against. The thing that you’re up against. He wants to use that to take your joy. He wants to use that to take your relationship with christ. He wants to use that to to to take uh your connection with others. He wants to use that. But what you have to do is frustrate the enemy by putting your focus on God and blessing him in the storm, blessing him in what you’re going through, blessing him through your pain, blessing him through your agony, blessing him through your discomfort, frustrate him, frustrate the enemy by blessing the true and living God 4th. And finally, blessing God shifts our perspective. The Lord says, my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts just as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways. There’s a perspective that we cannot naturally have. We have to tap into uh more intimacy with God to see things from his perspective. And so blessing God allows us to begin to see things from his perspective because we know that he’s good, we know that he’s great and magnifying him with our mouths. Magnifying him with our lips helps us to know that God’s ways are different. But it also helps us to know that there is someone that is greater than our situation, greater than our pain, greater than our discomfort greater than our agony. There is a God who is for us, who is with us in the midst of it and he is greater than the situation that we’re up against, he is greater than the situation that we’re up against is greater than the pain that we may be feeling. He is greater than the agony that we may be going through. God is greater than all of that and can give us comfort in the midst of that. So as I close real quick because of this, because we know that God is good because we know that God is for us because we say we can’t stop, won’t stop. We need to bless the Lord right? We can tell our situation in the midst of our situation in the midst of what we’re going through. We can tell ourselves, look, I know it’s a lot, but don’t stop praising you. I know it’s difficult and there’s a lot on our shoulders. But don’t stop giving him glory. I know this hurts. I know this is uncomfortable, but don’t stop worshiping the true and living God. I know this is difficult. I know you just want to run and hide but don’t stop giving him glory. Don’t let your situation take away your praise. Don’t let your situation rob you of your voice, rob you of the very thing that the Lord has given you to give him glory, no matter what the situation I’m facing, no matter what I’m up against. No matter my circumstance, you have to have that resolve. Like the writers of the songs. I will bless the Lord, I will bless the Lord. Stay with me. Say I will bless The Lord one More time. Say I will bless the Lord. That’s what we have to do. That’s what we have to do. We have to have a resolve at all times. I will bless The Lord at all times. It’s not a one time thing. It’s not a one circumstance thing. This is all the time at all times. I’m gonna bless him at all times. I’m gonna give him glory because he’s good and my my situation doesn’t stop him from being good. He’s good and he’s shifting my perspective in the midst of it. So be encouraged today. Saints of God know that God has for us and he’s a good God and he’s for us and because he’s for us we are good trust believe obey lean in and know that uh he’s called you to great and wonderful things. He’s called you to endure in the midst of difficulty but trust him because he’s a good God, a great God, so resolving your heart and in your mind and with your mouth today that I will bless the Lord. Amen. Hey man, let’s give God praise. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Hello again. Pastor roderick caesar third here. Thank you so much for watching my prayer. Is that you were blessed. You are encouraged and strengthened by that message. If you would like to be a blessing to the ministry, you can text B G T. F. I 277977. Again, you can text B G T. F. I 277977 to sow a seed into the ministry and we thank you. Thank you so much for your generosity. Or you can visit our website at B G T. F. I dot us for more information. Thank you so much. Once again, I hope you are blessed. I’m praying for you. We love you here at Bethel God bless.