Have you ever felt like you’re in a wilderness? Maybe you feel hidden away, and if someone would only see your potential, you could finally fulfill your purpose. Pastor Kent Christmas preached a life-changing message on Sunday and shared with us that sometimes God hides us to protect us, develop us, or hold us until He is ready to reveal us for His glory. In Romans 8:18-22, Paul tells us that our current sufferings will pale in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us!

God speaks about hiding us and protecting us throughout Scripture (Psalm 32:7, Psalm 27:5, Psalm 91). In the book of Exodus, the children of Israel were enslaved in bondage by Pharoah and desperately cried out to God for a deliverer. Because Satan knew God was preparing a man to bring freedom to God’s people, Pharoah issued orders to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. But Moses’s mother saw that God’s favor was upon Moses, and she hid him to protect him from the evil laws emplaced to kill him. In God’s divine providence, He had Pharoah raise up a deliverer in his own house, never knowing that his little grandson, Moses, would defeat Pharoah and the powers of darkness to bring freedom to an entire nation. God’s ways are not our ways, and although we can’t always understand what He is doing, He strategically places us within the enemy’s camp to bring victory to God’s people!

As a young man, Moses fled from Pharoah in fear after Moses killed another man, but God led Moses until the wilderness, not only for his protection but also for his development. In the wilderness, God showed Moses he would deliver the Israelites from Pharoah, yet Moses remained for forty years in the process. Sometimes when God hides you, it’s because He is adding to your arsenal. The Lord will create gifts in you that you’ve never had and increase your anointing. Moses ran from Pharoah in fear, but he returned with a new spirit of authority when God uncovered him. Our Pastor so beautifully reminded us that “God does His best work in you when He has you hidden.”
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Isaiah 49:2 says, “And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand, He has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft; in His quiver He has hidden me.” Although we may endure years of God shaping us and feel ready to be used for His purpose, we still find ourselves hidden in His quiver. Arrows are always made before the battle because there isn’t time for arrows to be produced when the target is revealed. God has carefully crafted each one of us for His purpose and hides until the target comes into view. Then suddenly, when the enemy appears, He has just the right arrow to destroy the powers of darkness. 

Often in hiding, discouragement will weigh us down and make us question God’s love and plan for us. Discouragement will keep us from prayer, from God’s Word, and from hearing the Voice of the Lord. Remember that praise is a weapon! When we begin to trade “the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3),” the atmosphere changes, and victory is loosed! Don’t let the enemy sidetrack you from the process and purpose of God! What God protects, He sustains!
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Be encouraged this week that, while God may have you hidden, He sees you and holds you in the palm of His hand. You are loved, you are called, you are chosen. God only hides us for a season, but oh believer, the glory that He will reveal! Join us next week, online or in-person, at Regeneration Nashville for another inspiring message from Pastor Kent and a powerful time in the presence of the Lord! Be Regenerated!

Your friend in Christ,
​Pastor Jasmine

What a powerful word Pastor Kent released to our church this past Sunday, March 13, 2022. I encourage you to go back and listen to this rich teaching again and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal new things to you as He has to me. You can find Pastor Kent’s message on our Facebook page and through Livestream on our website.

Pastor Kent began by sharing Hebrews 10:5, “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.’” At that time in history, God the Father honored the blood of animals as an atonement for the sins of Israel, but the Father desired a more perfect sacrifice. God came to Earth as flesh to atone for our sins once and for all in Jesus. But the moment Jesus was born, Hell tried to kill Him because He was the manifested presence of God in the Earth (Colossians 2:9). Satan did not want Jesus on the Earth because He has all power and authority over the Kingdom of darkness.

We remember that when God created the first Adam in the garden, He said it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (Genesis 2:18). God caused Adam to go to sleep, and in the position of rest, and out of Adam’s side, God created a companion for him. It was not God’s intention for Adam to accomplish the will of God without a wife. God also desired a wife for Jesus, or as 1 Corinthians 15:45 calls Him, the Last Adam. When God created a wife for Jesus at Calvary, the Father allowed Christ to “sleep” in the grave and birthed the church from Jesus’s pierced side. In victory, Jesus arose from the grave because He did not rise alone but rose with a companion called the church.

​When Jesus was on the Earth, there was no greater power on the Earth than Him. He has authority over demon spirits and gives us that same power. His Name is all-powerful, and when we speak the Name of Jesus, whether, in praise or cursing, we invoke His authority. Ephesians 2:10-11 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus resurrected at the Feast of First Fruits because He is the “first fruit of many brethren (Romans 8:29)” and then walked with his disciples for forty days. Ten days later, after Jesus’s ascension, on the Day of Pentecost, God loosed the Holy Spirit on the church, empowering her with the nature of her husband. A marriage took place in the Spirit, and Jesus became one with the church. Jesus gave the church everything that He operated in when He was on the Earth. We read in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to My Father.”

God honors the church because she was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ and not by bulls and goats. The church is under siege today because Satan knows that we carry the same anointing, power, and authority in us that Christ carried while on the Earth. The Devil should not intimidate us “because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).” Pastor Kent passionately reminds us, “The church is going to destroy the powers of darkness.” Remember that the enemy will always desire to silence you and make you feel hopeless, but God hears the cry of His people! He will not allow us to be overcome by the enemy, for He has overcome the world (John 16:33)! Pastor Kent encourages us by saying, “If you want to be strong in the Lord, find a church, sell out, get involved, pray, shake the nations!”
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If you do not have a church body, we invite you today to become an online or in-person member of Regeneration Nashville. We are the Body of Christ, and we are stronger together! We want to pray with you, believe with you, and see God accomplish His purpose in and through you! Be sure to subscribe below to our weekly sermon recap blog and join us next Sunday for another powerful message from Pastor Kent Christmas! Be Regenerated!

Your friend in Christ,
​Pastor Jasmine

We hope you could join us on Sunday for Pastor Kent’s powerful message on Foundations. Being built on a firm foundation is imperative to weathering the storms we face. Pastor reminded us that God loves foundations and that He, Himself, laid the foundation of the earth (Psalms 102:25, Hebrews 1:10, Isaiah 28:16). There are three aspects of a Biblical foundation laid out in Ephesians 2:19-20, which are apostles, prophets, and Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. “Everything about the church should point to one thing…Jesus”, says Pastor.

The main text of the message was 2 Timothy 2:19a, “Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.” Our Pastor boldly encouraged us that “When we see the failure of people that are supposed to be our protectors… educators, ministers, politicians… ‘Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. When all hell breaks loose, when elections are upside down, when politicians become traitors, when cancer and Covid are out of control… ‘Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.” When our lives are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, we can have confidence knowing that, while everything may fail around us, we are built on a foundation that will last!

We must remember that our nation, the United States of America, was founded on the Lord Jesus Christ. Pastor Kent powerfully stated, “Jesus Christ, the church, and the family have been the strength, the power, and the success of America. That’s why Jesus Christ, the church, and the family are under attack.” As Christians in this hour, it is time to stand boldly for Biblical principles and not bow to the tactics of the enemy. There is an answer to the world’s questions, and it is Jesus!

1 Corinthians 3:11 (NLT) says, “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.” When Jesus laid on a wooden cross, and they picked the cross up and dropped it down into the earth, He was laying a sure and costly foundation with His own life. When our foundation is Jesus, “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” With conviction and zeal, Pastor Kent preached, “You can pass every law you want in America, you can put believers in jail, but when the day is done, the very power of the Word is that we triumph, we prevail! Why? Because the foundation of God standeth sure”.

You and I must make up in our minds that there is no price too high to pay for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember that nobody loves you like Jesus. Nobody stands by you like Jesus saying, “hold on!”. Pastor Kent invites us all to renew our passion for Jesus and said, “Til the very last breath in your body you stand on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ and declare, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 
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Please join us next week in person or online as we continue to hear life-changing messages from the Word of God. Also, feel free to like and share our new message recap blog to stay fully engaged in what God is saying to Regeneration Nashville. God is moving! Be Regenerated!

Your friend in Christ,
​Pastor Jasmine