From the Pastor's Desk...
As we navigate the challenges connected to COVID-19, our schedule and the way we worship have changed. Physically coming to the church for Sunday services and other church related meetings are cancelled until further notice. Updates will be posted on this website often for information regarding any changes to services and to stay connected with the ministry.
Sunday Sermons
12/12/21 - Exodus 14:21,27 "Was the Power in His Hand??"
11/28/21 - Matthew 28:18-20 "Christ's Victory Lap?"
10/25/21 - Psalms 54 "I have nothing left but God!?"
9/26/21 - Colossians 3:22-24 "I’m working for The Lord!"
9/12/21 - Mark 9:50 "Salt or no Salt?"
8/27/21 - 1 Timothy 6:3-5 "Some People are in it for their self!"
8/22/21 - Psalms 91:1-4 "Living Close to God!"
8/8/21 - Psalms 3 "Triumphing Over Trouble?"
7/25/21 - John 1: 15-18 "Yes, God is Real!"
7/11/21 - Isaiah 26:3 "A Fixed Disposition"
6/27/21 - Matthew 5:3-12 "The Life of a Believer"
6/13/21 - Proverbs 16:1-3 "Molded in His Image"
5/30/21 - Acts 4:12 "There is No Other Way!"
5/23/21 - Mark 5:1-20 "What Needs to come out of you?"
5/16/21 - Psalms 51:11 "Don’t Take Your Hands Off Me!"
5/2/21 - Genesis 31: 1-55 (49) "It’s not a Benediction; it’s a Blessing!"
4/25/21 - Psalms 57 "Can You Worship in a Cave?"
4/18/21 - John 21:1-6 "What Shall We do Now?"
4/11/21 - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 "It's Alright!"
3/28/21 - Romans 6:8-11 "Alive in Christ"
3/21/21 - Exodus 4:27 "Used by God "
3/14/21 - Joshua 1:9 "God is With Us"
2/28/21 - Matthew 18:11 "The Pain of Losing"
2/21/21 - John 10:1-6 "Who’s at the Door?"
1/31/21 - Deuteronomy 30:11-20 "Making the Right Decision"
1/24/21 - Romans 8:18-30 "What do we Know?"
1/17/21 - James 1:5-8 "Let’s go to God in the Right Way!"
1/10/21 - 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 "What a Wonderful Change"
12/26/20 - Psalms 51:10-19 "Reset My Life
12/20/20 - Luke 2: 15-20 "The Power of God's Gift"
12/13/20 - Luke 15: 1-2 "What are you Doing?"
12/6/20 - Psalms 43 "Hope in God"
11/29/20 - 1st Corinthians 3:1-9 "We all Have a Part” - “We all Have to Grow"
11/22/20 - Psalm 136 "Why Give Thanks?"
11/15/20 - Psalm 27:13-14 "Yet Holding On!"
11/8/20 - Proverbs 13:19-23 "How are you Walking?" Part I and Part II
11/1/20 - Philippians 1:27-30 "To be where Christ is, you have become what Christ is."
10/25/20 - Luke 9:23 "Measuring your Closeness to the Savior!"
10/18/20 - John 10: 7-10 "One Way!"
10/11/20 - Psalm 53 "Don’t be a Fool!"
10/4/20 - 2 Timothy 3 "For we will Understand it better By and By!"
9/27/20 - Romans 1:17 "How are you Living?"
9/20/20 - Psalms 19 "God Speaks to Me"
9/13/20 - Matthew 27:22-26 "Why, Did Jesus Have to Die?"
9/6/20 - 2 Kings 20:1-6 "Who am I to Turn to?"
8/30/20 - Proverbs 3:1-6"Trust God" - Rev. Theophilis Smith
8/23/20 - Psalms 46 "This is God's Fight"
8/16/20 - Mark 11:20-23 "Have Faith in God"
8/9/20 - Romans 5:6-9 "What’s love got to do with it?"
8/2/20 - Jeremiah 18:1-4 "I’m Broken but I’m in His Hands"
7/26/20 - 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 "When There's Nothing Left But Prayer"
7/19/20 - Psalms 35:1-3 "Surrounded By Enemies"
7/12/20 - Psalms 30 - "I Praise The because you Preserve Me" Part I and Part II
7/5/20 - Matthew 26:36-46 "Nightmare in Gethsemane"
6/21/20 - James 1:1-12 "Facing Trials"
6/14/20 - Hebrews 10:26-31 "Falling Into God's Hands?"
6/7/20 - Isaiah 6:5-5 "How Far Will We Go For God?"
**Click he above titles to view Pastor Diamond's sermon on YouTube.
Click here for the upcoming schedule
Monday-Friday at 7:00 am
Call-In Number: 1-848-777-1212
Code: 6973046#
Wednesday at 6:00pm
Call-In Number: 1-848-777-1212
Code: 6973046#
Sunday at 11:00am
Call-In Number: 1-848-777-1212
Code: 6973046#
Tithing and Offering
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are only accepting a check or money order. There are two options to pay, you can mail it in or contact one of the Deacons. Below is the contact information for either option.
- Mail to: P.O. Box 1432, Pine Bluff, AR 71611
- Deacons available to receive offerings:
- Deacon Anthony Davis: (870) 329-4515
- Deacon Rudoplh Morgan: (870) 550-7550
- Deacon LeRoy Dorn: (870) 592-0685
- Deacon Paul Johnson: (870) 267-5600
Sermon Notes
5/24/2020 - John 16:33 "Rope-a-Dope"
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
I greet you all in the joy of the Lord of our Salvation. I thank God for the opportunity to share with you all what God has placed in my spirit. Today's message takes place in a time when the Lord, Jesus himself is trying to explain some significant information to his disciples, while at the same time they have to deal with the ideal of living without him. Could you imagine how hard that could've been? Trying to listen to advice from someone you've left everything for and now they tell you that you'll have to fight the cause without them? What about trying to hear what they are trying to say and the only thing to focus on is that they are leaving you soon. What do you do when it seems as if life is kicking your butt but you have to keep fighting? What do you do when it seem as if the people who suppose to be in your corner seem as if they're running away? How do you stand and keep fighting?
In 1974, Muhammad Ali faced off against George Foreman in the most famed match Rumble in the Jungle. In this match Muhammad Ali allowed Foreman to have his way with for six rounds. Foreman had Ali on the ropes so to speak. What Ali was doing was allowing Foreman exert as much energy as he could trying to take him out until he could easily knock him out. That’s exactly what Ali did in the seventh round. A Rope-A-Dope technique that lured Foreman into thinking he had the victory, the battle was in his favor, but it wasn’t so at the end. With this in mind, you have to understand that the world will throw all they can at you, but you have to be reminded if God be for you He is more than the world against you. This too shall pass and it will get better.The Rope-A-Dope mentality is what you’re in right now and the enemy thinks that they have the upper hand. You have this round in the bag.
There are a few things that I want to point out from this scripture and it’s three major points. First, the directions for overcoming the world, Next, the difficulties of overcoming the world, and lastly, and the defense for overcoming the world.The Directions for overcoming the World... Every fighter has a unique stance or a special move that makes them different then any other fighter. The same truth presents itself with the Christian. We all have that unique closeness with the Lord our Savior that makes us different from each other. In this world you have to know how to fight and when and when not to fight. This battle of life isn’t easy and we must pay close attention to the directions to properly set our self up for victory even in the small battles of life. You have to first realize you can overcome the world with spiritual knowledge. The Lord reveals to the disciples in verse 25 that He speaks to them in parables. He lets them know that the instructions He gives to them are for their benefit and ensures to them soon He will plainly reveal to them what God has to say. We all are winners because of the instructions we receive. You have to understand just like in a boxing match, we have a coach in our corner that give us techniques and also gives us encouragement from they see and observe. There is no better coach then the lonely Jesus. We have to treasure what we have in this rope-a-dope moment. Yes, the enemy may be mysterious, they will fight back, they will make it seem like they’re winning, but we have the Lord on our side. Our spiritual knowledge of this will give us the upper hand in overcoming the world. That’s why we study to show ourselves approval. We are His workmanship. With His advice we can conquer anything if only we believe.
The spiritual knowledge that we have is not a secret but everybody that is not in the will or walk with the Lord can’t understand it. We have instructions that our opponent can’t understand. Have you ever been in the grocery store and foreign language was being spoken? You didn’t understand it, it may you wonder what they could be talking about, and even made you feel as if they were talking about you. Our message from the Lord is spiritual knowledge for overcoming this world. The enemy don’t know what God is saying to us, they don’t understand it, and it’s definitely design to give us the upper hand. We need this spiritual knowledge to overcome the world so don’t lean to your own understanding but in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. Another direction for overcoming the world is by supplicating prayer. Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that they will ask in His name. When we talk to God we pray and we pray in Jesus name. God hears our prayer because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and it is received because God knows that it’s in His Son name. Our direction is to honestly beg God in the name of Jesus. You have to understand how bless we are... We have the authority to approach God in the name of Jesus. The same directive He gave his disciples has been handed down to us. We have someone that will stand in the gap for us and his name is Jesus. We can continue to fight our battles knowing that Jesus has put his name on the line for us. It’s easier to fight when you know you have the best fighter in the world promoting you. Jesus promotes us because he allows us to approach our father in his name. This is great because God knows what his Son has already done. We can’t accomplish this fight on our own merits but we are standing on the name of Jesus. We fight because we believe, we win because He died, and the authority has been given to us to speak on his name. Another direction to overcome the world is by supernatural faith. Jesus was trying to build the faith of his disciples, because He knew he would be departing soon and he needed them to be strong and have faith. The disciples admitted they got what he was implying and they recognized him as the Son of God. You have to have faith to understand that God is with you even when you’re alone. You have to know that God stands and sits with you when you’re in despair. You have to acknowledge that God will not leave you or never forsake you. God is going to hold you down when nobody else will. Have faith that God is a good God and that He will carry you through all of your trials and tribulations. God will keep you when you don’t want to be kept. The direction for this fight is to have faith that even you can’t explain. You just know that you trust and love God so much that no matter where He leads you you will follow. Keep God ahead of your life and the battle will not be as hard as you thought it would be. Our faith should be so focused on God that we don’t see nothing else. We should have supernatural faith that keeps us in the midst of everything else falling down around us. You have to see this fight through the lenses of faith. Our faith is based in the unimaginable love. You have to understand our love for Jesus allows God to love us even more because He loves his Son. Verse 27 clearly tells us that God loves us because the love we have for his Son. Do you really love Jesus? This fight is fought with our faith. Unwavering faith.. We have faith because of God love for us. Our faith is also based on the unseeable Lord. We haven’t ever seen the Lord but we trust him. We have to understand that is faith. Trusting in a God that you can’t see or haven’t ever seen. We have to trust the Lord with all our heart. The unseeable Lord gives us the strength to acknowledge that He does exist. We have directions to overcome this battle with the Lord’s help. You have to understand that God gives us these directions through the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples. We have to overcome the world by spiritual knowledge, supplicating prayer, and supernatural faith.
The Difficulties of overcoming the world... It is difficult fighting when you feel like you’re doing it on your own. Can you fight with no crowd? Can you fight with no support? Can you fight with no help? Lately it’s been oblivious that a lot has changed in our world. Matter of fact, I was watching wrestling with my grandmother the other night and it surprised me that they was carrying on with no fans in the stadium. They still had the lights, still had the music, still had the referees, still had the announcers, but no fans. In life we will have to fight when it seem as if nobody is there. Even when we can’t feel the presence of God. We still have to stay faithful and stand fervent on His word. Jesus explains to his disciples in verse 32 that the time will come were the disciples will scatter and he will be on his own. He said that he will not be lonely because his father will be with him. In this fight while being on the ropes you will not always see or feel the support you think you should have from your friends and family but you must fight on. Like the songwriter I’ll go if I have to by myself. You have to fight and know without a doubt that God is with you. Jesus said I know you all are going to leave but I ain’t worried because my daddy will be with me. You have to understand that all people don’t have that same mind as God and some don’t love like him, or care like He cares. God will be with you when you’re not fully with yourself. When you feel like you’re all alone try the Lord. He has never lost a battle or left us when we needed him the most. You will face diversity in this world. You are not exempt. The picture that the movies paint isn’t true. Marriages will have problems, relationships will have problems, families will have problems, your job will have problems, your neighborhood will have problems, you’ll have problems in your household, you will have problems at the church. We all go through problems. The world isn’t easy this battle isn’t easy. It’s going to be hard. It will rain and thunder at times will all happen at the same time. You have to be strong in the Lord. Understand that you’re aren’t experiencing nothing that Jesus haven’t seen. The Devil even tempted Jesus according to Matthew 4:11. Afterwards the angels came and ministered unto Him. You are not alone but this journey will not be easy.
The Defenses for overcoming the world... We have a defense that our opponent doesn’t have. We have the peace to overcome problems and we have the power to overcome persecution. Jesus declares that He tells his disciples this so they may have peace. It is peaceful when you know what to expect. When you know what is to come. Peace is the only thing that is going to come forward. Understanding that peace comes from God. God has given us peace because we know what to expect in this battle and we know that we are not going to be left alone. Peace is knowing that everything will work out before it actually works out. God grants us this peace by assuring us that we will never be alone and that is glorious within itself. We will find peace in Jesus because all that he has ever done for us. This peace brings us peace. We will shall also have power to overcome persecution. He tells his disciples that we can overcome because He has overcome. It also presents the fact that the world will try us. This is not an easy battle but it is a fixed fight. We have to understand that we’ve been given the power to overcome everything that will be thrown at us. We have this power because of who Christ is.
5/17/2020 - 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Investigate Yourself"
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
My brothers and sisters it is by no surprise that society has a bad gesture of not looking on their own character. We allow others to examine us before we look on our own self. We allow others to scrutinize our actions and the life we live. We never look on our own actions to seek who we really are. God, through Paul, commands us to examine our faith and to test ourselves.
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- How can we know the strength of our faith—our belief in the words of God? One of the ways is to examine our fears and worries. By examining our fears and worries we allow ourselves to investigate how we really view God.
- So Paul asks of us to examine ourselves. By examining yourself he wants us to look deeply into our lives. To investigate whether we are truly in the faith.
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How do you determine if you are in the faith? It all depends on how you view God. Your outlook on God determines your in-look on yourself.
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Many people don’t have an accurate view of God, because they don’t really know who God is. God is the supreme being. He is our righteousness and it doesn’t come from ourselves. To really complete this full investigation, you have to first see God in yourself. When thinking about God, where does He fit in your life? Are you the one constantly trying to fit God In your life or are you the one that is the response to God in every situation in your life. You have to constantly seek your position with God every day. This walk of faith is not investigating others but investigating yourself.
Every day should be a question of what you can do to please God. Pleasing God should be our top priority.
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- Where do you really stand with God?
- Is He smiling on your life or frowning?
- In examining yourself, can you see God in your life?
- In every step, can you say without a doubt that you consult God?
- When you plan your daily schedule, do you consult God?
- Is God at the top of your list, the only thing on your list, or at the bottom of the list?
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To really know if you are in the faith, you have to think of whether you see God as a option or the only reason of your very existence. As we constantly push through societies way of thinking, we have to understand that the mentality of "faking it until we make it," is only a myth. We have to be true to God and ourselves. If we aren’t in the position we need to be with God, we need to seek to be in a deeper committed relationship with Him. Examining yourself is knowing who you are and where you really stand with God. Ask Him to show you and be fully aware of what He reveals. Make yourself accountable for what God reveals to you and make a vow before you and God to do better. You shouldn’t want to obtain a tainted ideal of your relationship with God, instead you should be fully committed to giving God your all, because that is exactly what he did on Calvary.
God loves you with no attentions on forcing you in this relationship with Him. You have to be drawn to His loving character and merciful attributes. He is willing to forgive you, but you must first forgive yourself. God is love and forgiveness, but what will you be known as? So is Christ really in you? Are you just fulfilling some ideal of being a Christian? Are you a reprobate? Examine yourself today to see where you actually stand with God. Don’t allow fear and worries to creep up on you to challenge your relationship with God. Fear and worries can test your position with God in many ways. When you believe more in your worries and fear, you push God out of your life. When you feed into the fears of life and worries of life, you allow God to know that you don’t fully trust Him for who He is and what He is capable of doing.
Christ didn’t die for you to have a life of worries. Christ didn’t die for you to have a life of fear. Christ died for your salvation to be secured through your belief in Him. Today repent of your sins, push all your fears and worries to the side and trust in God. God will do what you think is impossible. God will sustain you. God will be your present help in the time of trouble. You have to investigate your relationship with Him. Are you fully committed or are you just a part time lover. You have to separate yourself from just feeling God when the feeling is unique to you. I submit to you that you must examine yourself. Start this investigation today to determine where you stand with God. Know your position today and allow God to take control of your life right now. Give it all to Him because it belongs to Him anyway. God is what you need today and forever more.
3/29/2020 - Romans 5:1-2 "Faith Justified Us"
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Accepting the role we hold in people lives is not always easy. We long to be much more and sometimes less, but who are to people always determine what can and should be expected. My relationships with various of people always determine their respect they have or may not have for me. For example, it is easy telling my brother to do or not to do something because of the respect he has for me. It is also easy for me to do what's been asked of me by my mother or grandmother because of the level of respect I have for them. Our sin messes with our respect meter with God. Just like with any other relationship our actions set us a part from God. However God longs to have a relationship with us. He wants to be much more then we allow him to be. He wants to be our God, our Father, our Lord, our present help in the time of trouble, and so on. We have to allow Him to be though. It starts by separating from sin through the acts of repentance. Then we have to understand that we are given Grace through no other avenue but by being justified by our Faith in Jesus. This access that we have is exclusive. It's only given through our Faith in Jesus.
Faith has justified us through cleansing, contentment, communion, and confidence.
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Cleansing - 5:1a ”Therefore Being Justified through Faith” Paul allows us to know that we are justified through faith. To be justified means to be made righteous in the sight of God. We are justified through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. What He did on Calvary set in stone our relationship with God if only we believe. We have to have faith that the scriptures fully reveal what Christ did for us. This is our cleansing. We have to allow the Word of God to wash away our negative approached to His Word, wash away our filthy lives, wash away our doubt in His existence and so forth. Our faith has to be in Jesus. That's the only way to true Salvation. We are cleansed through our belief in Jesus. God doesn't see us, He sees his Son. We should be thankful that Jesus was used as a ransom to buy our freedom.
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Contentment - 5:1b ”We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To have peace with God is contentment. Knowing that our sleight has been washed clean is a blessing. I hear a lot of people express that they want true peace, but they don't do what it requires to have true peace. True peace comes from God by Jesus Christ. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has granted us the right to be in tone with God. This peace of God gives us the right to stand boldly for Christ because He constantly stands in the gap for us. Having this peace should put our minds at ease, and our spirit at rest. We should be in contempt because of our position with God through Jesus.
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Communion - 5:2a “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand” We have access to God’s Grace. We are in communion with God that’s our blessing. To be in communion with God is knowing that you have someone to go to in the times of trouble. Knowing you have someone that can hear and know your heart. We have a relationship with God and we are gifted the attributes of God. We share in this grace because of Jesus. Our faith has given us more then our sin can take away. We stand in this grace because of our faith. Having faith in Jesus open doors that we couldn’t even imagine could be open. We have a solid relationship with God and we are in communion with Him.
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Confidence - 5:2b “Rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This is the reason we rejoice. Our confidence is built on our everlasting faith in Jesus. We have confidence that there is no mountain too high or valley too low that God’s Grace won’t be able to reach us. We have to continue to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. That has brought us all of the way. We have to continue to hold on to our faith so we can stand in His Grace. We will not be defeated, we will not be shot down, because God’s Grace will rest with us because of our faith in Jesus.