Pulpit Points (2018)

My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less – Drricksempowers at Watchnight 2018
As unstable as 2018 was, rest assure that 2019 will present to some of us a similar level of uncertainty. But in tonight’s message, Dr. Rick’s reminds us that as believers, regardless of the circumstances, the situations or the surroundings we may find ourselves, “Our Hope is Built on Nothing Less”.
Through the account of the lame man (Luke 5:17-29) these three points:

– Jesus is Our Source of Hope
– Hope Connected to Jesus Will Cause Us to Out Perform Our Limitations
– Faith in Jesus Produces Works that Are Not Contingent on Others

Jonah – A Reluctant and Angry Witness – A witness is a person called to provide an accurate account of an event or circumstance or series of events.
In today’s Pulpit Points message DeWayne Cason, Youth Minister of New Berean Baptist Church, shared with the attending several points regarding the account of “Jonah, A Reluctant, Angry Witness”. In his message Cason shared how that in God’s will, He is not willing that anyone would perish (2 Pet. 3:9), and will use who He wills to testify or “witness” for Him. 
God is not slack in his promise to provide a way of salvation to the lost as well as send a witness to share that message. Jonah was the witness who despite his ungodly, reluctant attitude was used  by the Lord to be a witness for Him.

Hanging By A Thread – When we think about Christmas, we often think about the presents, the gifts and the giving of gifts, the time with family and friends which are all good. But there is a side of the Christmas season that doesn’t set well with a number of people who are to the point that they can not enjoy the things other are because of unfavorable circumstances, loved ones who have since passed on into eternity and other reasons. 

But in today’s Pulpit Points message, Dr. Lamont Ricks shares with us that hanging on by a thread is not as bad as we once thought if the thread is the word of God. Join with us as he shares several points that can help us process through the rough side of Christmas and minister to those who are having a rough time this Christmas so ultimately we can glorify our Heavenly Father.

The Purpose of Living – One of the more interesting elements of living in Christ is the reality that it has purpose. The meaning purpose is that life in Christ begins and end with glorifying the Living God. A number of people live their lives sort of uncontrolled with no seemingly known direction and its. God wants us to know we are divinely appointed to live life with purpose and direction. In today’s Pulpit Points message, Leroy Ricks shares with us the purpose with live and how meaningful live can be when we live according to God’s intended plan. (Jer. 29:11) .

The Cross Was in The Heart of God Before Calvary – Because of the foreknowledge of God (1 Pet. 1:2), the surrounding events of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was not an afterthought. It was the Lord knowing all things and how all things would take place that He considered his people’s best interest in his heart. He loved his human creation to point that he established and laid out a plan for them to be redeemed from the slave market of sin. In today’s message. Leroy E Ricks, Sr, reminds us of how deep God’s love for us is and how it can be used to help us as well as help others through times and season of struggles.

In the heart of God, we see the cross as:

  • The Power of God (1 Cor. 1:18)
  • The ONLY thing to Boast in Concerning Our Salvation (Gal. 6:14)
  • The Place of Our Crucifixion With Christ (Gal. 20)

Because of God’s plan for our lives we can be comforted in knowing that he loves us. We can also place the proper value of that love and lessen the concern of what others may think or say about us. We are He’s and we’ve been brought with a price, the life of his only begotten Son, Jesus. Rejoice and be glad in the Lord today.

An Unbreakable Bond – In today’s Pulpit Points message Dr. Lamont Ricks, he reminded us through the account of John 5, that a bond exists between the Lord God and God the Son, Jesus the Christ. This bond is rejected by most people because there is no human logic or rationale to explain this bond. But this is a spiritual concept that exists for the spiritual to trust the Lord by faith. Many people will accept the concept of “god” but have an with it’s direct association with the bond between the Son and the Father.- Jesus Is Equal to the Father in Power, vs 19-21
-Jesus Is Equal to the Father in Authority, vs 22-26
-Jesus Is Equal to the Father in His Love for Us, vs 27-30

Our Father dispatched his Son, his only son to demonstrate his love, power and authority before his human creation. God the Father’s order exists as a demonstration of his authority, his power and love for us to trust and obey. The truth of this until bond is to distinguish him as the great I AM.

 The Joy of Answered Prayer – The are many joys or times to rejoice in the Lord and having a prayer answered is one of them. In our walk as a Believer in Christ there will be many times in which we will be struggling with a situation. We may need some encouragement and hope for the next step and God is both aware and concerned. He cares for us (Pro. 12:25, 1 Pet. 5:7).

In today’s message. Leroy Ricks shared from Psalms 30 that in times like these, God wants to reminds us of his love, kindness towards us that we may have hope.

In this Psalm the writer shows us, there is where his joy rests…

  • His Personal Remembrance vss 1-3
  • His Public Reminders vss 4, 5
  • His Individual Reflections vss 6-9
  • His Pledge To Praise God vss 10-12

 We are offered joy from our eternal Father when we take time in the midst of our drought to simple praise Him for who he is.

In The Spirit In today’s message, Leroy Ricks, Sr shared points from varied biblical passages of the reality we have in Christ Jesus. We are blessed beyond measure because of the finished work of the Lord (1 Peter 1:3).

  • We Have Been Regenerated, Titus 3:5
  • We Have the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 6:19
  • We Have Received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit of God, 1 Cor. 12:13
  • We Are Sealed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, Eph. 1:13,14 & Eph. 4:30

Biblical accuracy is critical to our eternal destination and the testimony of the Lord God. It is of the utmost importance, that when both hear and share the scriptures, that is true and accurate to the Spirit of God. 2 Cor. 4:1-6.

A Good God In Bad Times – In today’s Pulpit Points message, Dr. Lamont shared with the attending group this morning how that even in bad times, God is good. We have been known to say, “God is good, all the time and all the time God is good”. But that normally is in response to a favorably answered prayer. 
God is a God who cannot change (Heb. 6:16, 17) is good all the time regardless of the circumstances, favorable or not. From the account of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20, Dr. Ricks reminds us of these three points:

  • Bad News Can Come from Good People (v1)
  • Bad News Expose Our True Relationship With A Good God (v2,3)
  • Bad News Does Not Mean A Bad Ending (v4-6)

We are in situations every day to demonstrate the goodness of God even in bad times and the Lord wants us to know He can be trusted in all .

Saved But Not Sanctified – Many of us go under the guise that being seals and insulates us from sin and the evils of our world. But on the contrary as pointed out in today’s message, Dr. Ricks reminds from the scriptures otherwise. Even though we are saved we are not exempted from the ills of the world or the influence of this world on our sinful nature.  Follow us today as we examine the scriptures to learn of the wonderful life we can now live in Christ Jesus.

Something About That Name J-E-S-U-S – There is an old chant that goes by the title, “There’s Something About That Name”. God has declared that in the the name of his Son, Jesus, there are are many benefits we have as a direct result of being in Jesus. In Today’s message, Pastor Ricks shares five of those benefits:

Strengthen By Encouragement – In this walk, this journey, this experience as Christians, we will sometime walk through valleys. Sometimes we will journey through some dark days and experience some dry seasons. We are not always strong. There are going to be times in which we need to be strengthen and God will use the encouragement of the scriptures and through others to supply that needed strength.
God’s desire is that through our valleys of shadow of death, we need to be strengthen by encouragement. In today’s message Pastor Ricks takes us through a series of passages to remind us of the encourage God uses to strengthen us along this way:

1 – Psalm 18:2, He is our Rock, our Fortress and Deliverer
2 – Psalm 34:6, When we cry out, He will save us from those troubles
3 – Psalm 121:1- 2, He is our Help, in whom we can run
4 – 1 Peter 1:6-7, Our faith in Him is our hope

We are not fitted or suited to be strong enough for the cares of this world. The bombardment of racial and social injustices, political and financial oppression and the more than frequent deaths in our circles – we are overwhelmed at times. But God wants to strengthen us by His encouragement until our time of deliverance. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matt 5:12)

Jesus: The One Above All – Today’s Pulpit Points message spoken by Dr. Lamont E. Ricks, reminded us the reason why  we serve, worship, honor, obey the Lord Jesus Christ. He by the Word God declared to be;

  1. The LIGHT of The World
  2. The LIVING Water and
  3. The BREAD of Life

Be encouraged and empowered as you live, move and have your being in a world that seems to acknowledge god with respecting His Son.

Feed On God’s Faithfulness – It has been said, “You are what you eat”. As Believers in the Lord Jesus, we live by  every word that proceeds out of mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Our lives are sustained by the truth of God’s word, but there are times due to circumstance and situations, we are distracted. But in today’s Pulpit Points message, Pastor Ricks reminded us of the truth learned by Paul & David, that we are safe and secure and possess an unparalleled level of hope because of God’s faithfulness.

The Danger of Missing “What Is” – More often than not we can find ourselves of getting caught up into things that are not as significant as they are made out to be. In today’s message, Ralph Richardson, Pastor of Little Grove Baptist Church, reminded us in”The Danger of Missing “What Is” we can and will cause ourselves to forfeit some significant blessings the Lord has prepared for us. Join on the night as we celebrate our 29th Pastor and Church Anniversary.

The Church That Jesus Founded – If you ask people in a random survey, if they are a members of the church that Jesus founded, you may a number to affirm they do. But if you ask them a follow-up question, do they know what is the church of Jesus you will get a number of various responses. In today’s message, guest speaker, Dr. Donald Holley of New Swamp Missionary Baptist Church of Emporia, NC shared from the text of Acts 2:41-47 what elements make up Jesus’ church. The three basic elements of the church of Jesus Christ is .It Has the Right Message – The message of the church of Jesus is that it is founded on Jesus himself (Matt. 16:13-19) The single most important aspect of Jesus’ church is it’s foundation. The foundation is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. If there is any other claim of who Jesus is, it challenges and compromises this truth. The message is the

  • It Has the Right Membership – The second most important element is in it’s membership. God and God alone calls and gives people, the right to become members of this church.
  • It Has the Right Methodology – Lastly, the methodology of Jesus’s church is in the follow-though or subsequent developing each and everyone of these Believers. After one receives this divine right of God (Jhn. 1:12), they are to be baptized and discipled in the things of Jesus.

Saved To The Uttermost – Every now and then we need to be re-adjusted in our faith. There are times during this walk, this journey, this experience that the cares of this world will overwhelm us and get out of tuned with the reality of

who we are in the Lord.  God’s word, the truth of his word and the benefits of his word have

never, nor will they ever changed but sometimes we lose focus. In today’s message “Saved To The Uttermost” Pastor Ricks reminded us that there is a distinct difference between the saturation of the word and an application. Most of us have the word in our hearts, can recall it and quote it at the drop of a hat. But the gap or disconnect comes in the practical application of the word. Be encouraged as Pastor Ricks reminds us of where God has saved us.

Time To Overcome – All of us as Believers have a past. We all have things that we have to continually ask God’s grace. In today’s message, Dr. Lamont shares with us how that even with all our past we all can be over comers. 

Through an examination of the account Numbers 13 and Habbakuk 2.

The Will of God – As the Sovereign God he is God has a divine plan for all of his creation. When he created all He created (Genesis 1-3) his plan was for all of it to operate as he intended. And when he saw it operating as it intended, he said it was good.

In today’s Pulpit Points message, Pastor Ricks shared his thoughts on both God’s will for us and our important response to the knowledge of that will. In accepting God’s Will for our lives:

– We Affirm That We Belong To Him

– We Affirm That He Has A Plan For Our Lives

– We Affirm That God’s Plan is Best For Us (Selected: Prov. 3:5-6, 1 Cor. 6:19-20, Prov. 19:21 & Psalm 33:11)

Speak, But Don’t Strike – Have you ever pushed to the point of saying or doing something out your Christian character? We all have experienced times as such and in today’s Pulpit Points message, Dr. Lamont Ricks shares with us the account of

Moses and the children of Israel. Every now and then, our faith will be tested and

challenged to extremes where if we don’t stop and consider God’s glory,  we will enter into actions that may be irreversible. God wants us to know he can be and should be trusted as the faith God he is. Join us as we take a look in the scriptures, Numbers 20

Gifted But Misguided – The Space Shuttle is designed, built and programmed with a purpose – to explore space and it’s galaxy. It is an experience to see the power demonstrated  when it is launched.

Changed For a New Mission – When the Lord God knocked Saul of Tarsus off his beast on his quest to terrorize christians in Damascus, He had a divine purpose planned. God called him, sent him to Ananias who was fearful of Saul because of his past, but used him to set up Saul’s path for the future. In today’s Pulpit Points message, Leroy Ricks shares with us several elements God used to call Paul and Changed Him for a “New Mission”.

Focused On His Faithfulness – In our life, we all will be accosted, entertained and accompanied by some unfavorable circumstances. There will some things happen to us due to our unfaithfulness. Some things will happen because of the sin of others and things will happen just because we are Christians. Things will happen because of the fallen or simple ungodliness of our world. 

In today’s Pulpit Points message, Dr. Lamont, shared with us the account of Jesus’ disciples who were with him in the boat (Matt. 1421:36), that just as they experienced a moment of desperation we too experience the same from time to time. The Lord led his followers out on the sea and were fearful.
Dr. Ricks wants us to be assured of the faithfulness of our God above our abilities that regardless of the situation. God has been, is and will be faithful (1 Cor. 1:9).

Have A Good Look A God – With all the chaos, busyness and activities going on around us at times, we sometimes lose focus of God. Too many times we’ve been caught up in the event or circumstance directly in front of us and forget all of who God is. 
But in today’s Pulpit Points message, Leroy E. Ricks, Sr. shares with us why it is important every now and then we need to take a step back and take a good look at God Psalm 121). For in doing so we will be able to see that God is Helper, our Protector, and our Preserver.

The Reason I Choose Jesus – Life is full of choices. One of the more intriguing questions of life is ” why would a loving God send anyone to hell?” But the reality is God does not “send” anyone into eternity forever separated from his divine hope but it’s a choice each individual makes.

In today’s Pulpit Points message Dr. Lamont’s Ricks explains from John 1, why he chooses Jesus. Above all the things and people he could have in his life, the evidence of John’s account of the Savior convinces him the choice of Jesus is the right choice for him everyday and would like to encourage you, you will too. Join us

When Life Goes Bad – Every now and then we will experience unfavorable seasons in which seem won’t go away. Challenging seasons of doubt, spiritual, mental, physical and emotional we’d pray would go away. But as sure as we’d live this life in Christ, we are not exempt from this moments but the really is God has assured us of some things we need to remember. In today’s Pulpit Points message Leroy Ricks shares how David, King David experienced a moment of his life that went bad and how he was able to transition through this moment.

When Depression Comes – As we sojourn through this Christian walk, we will experience all kinds things. We will go through the good time and bad. In today’s message, “When Depression Comes” Pastor Ricks share with us that as real as these times are God has some things to comfort and strengthen us.

Don’t Feed the B.E.A.R.S – For the Believer, everything in our life happens for the purpose of glorifying our Lord. All of our experiences are intended to elevate the sovereignty of a Holy God. In our Pulpit Points message today, Dr. Lamont E. Ricks shares with us that regardless of the circumstance or situation when find ourselves, we are encouraged to be reminded that our God is the overall authority and is our very present help.

Mothers, Tell Your Children – Today’s Pulpit Points message from Leroy E. Ricks Sr, encourages mothers to encourage our children in obedience to our Lord. Our children are an heritage of the Lord which requires us to listen and heed the instructions regarding his gift to us.

The Power of Humility  – In today’s “Pulpit Points” message, Dr. Ricks shared with the attending congregation how important the characteristic of humility needs to be a part of our lives in the execution of our testimony for biblical ministry. Humility is the deliberate demonstration of modesty and low esteem in the knowledge of ones position of authority. It is recognizing who we are and not being over asserting our biblical or god-given authority as a means of influencing others.
In his message, Dr. Ricks highlighted three points from the account of Elisha and Gehazi (2 Kings 5:15-27) what humility demonstrates to the world divorced it.

Don’t Be So Quick To Walk Away

Seeing Beyond This Life – Too many times the cares and the pains of this life have captivated our lives more so than they should. Some have have devastated by our sin, failures of other and the disappointments of others but in today’s message, Pastor Leroy, examined the the scriptures of Psalm 73. to remind us that just we were have been at times, Asaph was. Asaph too saw some things that troubled him as tings do trouble us.
Be encouraged that just as God encouraged Asaph’s heart when he cried out, he sees ours and wants, desires and pleads with us to see beyond the things of this life. From Psalm 73 we find that; 1) God Holds Us – v23, 2) God Guides Us – v24, 3) God Strengthens Us – v26 and 4) God Helps Us – v28

What is Your Aim For The Lord – When we set goals, we usually are motivated more so by external sources than internal. As we gain strength and build ups steam towards those ambitions, they become more internal and few external things can influence us negatively, we become driven and more focused on the goal, the target. In today’s Pulpit Points message, Leroy Ricks encourages us, as children of God, aim and focus more so on the things of God and less on the things of this world and of our own selfish desires. Let’s aim for the Lord’s desires.

You Can Only Pretend For So Long – Today’s Pulpit Points message “You Can Only Pretend For So Long”, delivered by Dr. Lamont Ricks​ reminds us of our responsibility to make sure we are walking with Lord as we ought and not focus on so much on others, the costs and consequences of unfaithful behavior as well as the blessings and rewards of faithful obedience.

When God is Silent – There are going to be times when it seems there is silence from God. In today’s Pulpit Points Leroy Ricks shared with the attending group that God’s silence seems  to be more real 1) When Our Heart is Broken, 2) When Our Eyes are Filled with Tears and 3) When We are Going To & Fro Looking For God. God’s silence is designed to strengthen our faith.

What is Life To You – From Psalm 146, God through the writer reminds us of what life is to us, or rather what ought to be to us. We are accosted by the ill effects of our sin, generational sin, or sin that has been passed on to us from the first man, Adam. All these things that we experience can take us away from our God-intended purpose of life but Pastor Leroy took a moment to share the Psalmist’s intent of our life and what is it really is.

Look Again – Tonight’s Watchnight message was a challenge to all of us to Look Again at the God of our salvation and the blessings we have in Him when we obey. But it was also a challenge to us that when we waver in our faith we run the risk of losing God divine favor and direction over our lives. Dr. Lamont expounds from 1Kings and Elijah

Pick A Side – On this last Sunday of the year 2018, Dr. Lamont reminded us of the warning and encouragement God gave to Solomon, to be careful and chose who he will serve and worship even in a world where the lines drawn are blurred. When God is blessing we are quick to praise Him, but when we are not as “blessed” we are not as equally responsive but God is still the same.