Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Hear the Powerful Sermon Sutherland Springs Pastor Delivered Just Days Before Horrific Mass Killing at His Church

YouTube
YouTube
Share Tweet
By Billy Hallowell
Editor

November 6, 2017

Just one week before a horrific mass shooting devastated First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Pastor Frank Pomeroy had a stirring message for his congregation.

READ: Christian NFL Star’s Must-Read Response to ‘Evil’ in Wake of Church Shooting

Pomeroy, who was not at the church during the shooting on Sunday, certainly had no idea just how pertinent his message — titled, “You Don’t Need Training Wheels, You Need Christ!” and based on Proverbs 3 — would be when he delivered it on Oct. 29, just days before the mass shooting.

Citing Proverbs 3:5, which reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding,” Pomeroy encouraged his congregation to focus on God while navigating life’s storms.

“You’re going to have ups, you’re going to have downs, you’re going to have curves, you’re going to have speed you’re going to have slow,” he said, encouraging parishioners to trust God through it all.

Pomeroy, who used the analogy of how he trusts centrifugal forces when he makes turns on his motorcycle, attempted to encourage people to also trust the force of God even in the wake of storms.

“Equilibrium in life … is not the goal … when the bends and the turns come, remember: God said, ‘I have prepared a place for you made with hands not of this world, so that where I go you may be also,'” he said. “My goal is trusting in Jesus and getting to the heavenly home one day.”

The overarching focus of the sermon was on the need to rely on and trust in God, even when life isn’t making sense, with Pomeroy warning that leaning on one’s own understanding can spark a plethora of problems.

“This message that God laid on my heart this morning, I want to focus on the ‘do not’ aspect of it,” he continued. “Do not lean on your own understanding. Even if it doesn’t make sense to you.”

Pomeroy continued, “See, God’s understanding is far greater and there may be things that are taking place that you don’t understand, but you still need to do what God’s calling you to do.”

Watch the sermon at the 28:00-minute mark below:

In addition to the stirring fact that Pomeroy’s pertinent message came just days before the shooting, there’s another element of it that makes it notable: his focus on his daughter, Annabelle Renee Pomeroy.

Annabelle, 14, is among the 26 who were killed inside the church on Sunday. Throughout Pomeroy’s sermon, he spoke of his teenage daughter and how he enjoyed riding with her on his motorcycle.

“I’ve noticed … when she’s riding with me … she still tends at times to get a little nervous when we’re going around bends,” he said. “The message came to me when [Annabelle] and I went on one of our rides and I felt her back there … she kind of cringed up back there and I thought how incredibly normal that is.”

Pomeroy likened caution during motorcycle turns to the hesitation many humans have when it comes to difficult roads in life. But just as he trusts centrifugal forces on the road, he again encouraged people to trust in God.

“Life is a lot like that curve on that motorcycle. The way we live our life is just a lot like how you take a curve … if we look too close at the road that’s whizzing by us right now, if we pay too much attention on what the situation is around us right now, we tend to lose our bearings,” he said. “We tend to start making decisions based on our emotions. We tend to start making choices based on the momentary rather than the goal that’s laid our before us and we start getting a sense of vertigo and everything’s spinning around us.”

In the end, Pomeroy said it is essential to lean on God while keeping focus on the end goal ahead in life.

“When we trust Christ, there’s going to be things in your life that happen that you don’t understand,” he added. “We serve a God who’s in the miracle working business, guys. He can heal … trust him and not your own understanding.”

Read more about the tragic shooting at First Baptist Church here.

Latest

  • News

    ‘I Am Beyond Grateful’: Liberty University Names New President in Wake of Jerry Falwell Scandal

  • Faith

    EXCLUSIVE: Famous Activist Prays For Mass ‘Exodus’ of Clinic Workers With Launch of Powerful Good Friday Campaign

  • News

    Actor Mark Wahlberg Reveals Why He Moved Family Out of Hollywood: ‘It’s Really Giving the Kids a Chance to Thrive’

  • News

    Good Samaritan Spots Smoke Coming From Home, Immediately Jumps Into Action to Save Woman and Her Dog

  • News

    Formerly Gay Man Could Go to Jail After Sharing Testimony of Finding God, Embracing Bible: ‘I Don’t Have to Wear That Label Anymore’


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • ‘I Am Beyond Grateful’: Liberty University Names New President in Wake of Jerry Falwell Scandal
  • EXCLUSIVE: Famous Activist Prays For Mass ‘Exodus’ of Clinic Workers With Launch of Powerful Good Friday Campaign
  • Actor Mark Wahlberg Reveals Why He Moved Family Out of Hollywood: ‘It’s Really Giving the Kids a Chance to Thrive’
  • Good Samaritan Spots Smoke Coming From Home, Immediately Jumps Into Action to Save Woman and Her Dog
  • Formerly Gay Man Could Go to Jail After Sharing Testimony of Finding God, Embracing Bible: ‘I Don’t Have to Wear That Label Anymore’

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?