The Priceless Value of Knowing Christ: A Sermon on Philippians 3

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I believe I said one more time, help me.
[00:00:47] I thank you, Lord.
[00:00:50] I just want to thank you.
[00:00:52] You let me see.
[00:01:00] I could have been dead, sleeping in my grave But you told death, stand back and behave You let me see, you let me see, another year
[00:01:30] Let's praise the Lord.
[00:01:37] Help me say it.
[00:01:41] Ooh, yeah.
[00:01:45] Oh Lord, Jeff, I don't think you heard me.
[00:01:48] And Donna, help me say it one more time.
[00:01:52] Ooh, yeah.
[00:02:02] I thank you Lord I just want to thank you You let me see I could have been dead Sleeping down in my grave But you told death Stand back and behave
[00:02:29] You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see Another year I thank you Lord I just want to thank you You let me see
[00:03:00] Hey, I could have been dead, sleeping out in my grave But you told death, stand back and behave You let me see, you let me see You let me see, you let me see
[00:03:25] You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see Another year Hey, hey, hey, hey I thank You, Lord
[00:03:57] Thank you, Lord.
[00:04:00] Lord, I thank you.
[00:04:03] I thank you, Lord.
[00:04:06] I thank you, Lord.
[00:04:09] You didn't have to do it.
[00:04:12] But you did.
[00:04:15] You didn't have to do it.
[00:04:18] But you did.
[00:04:21] You didn't have to do it.
[00:04:24] But you did.
[00:04:27] You put clothes on my body You put shoes on my feet You gave me good health You gave me good strength You didn't have to do it I thank you, Lord I thank you, Lord
[00:04:57] Woke me up this morning Closing my right mind Had to use an activity Over my mind I, I thank you Lord I, I thank you Lord I look back over my life And I see how good you've been I look back over my life I see how good you've been
[00:05:28] You've been a mother for me, oh yes you have You've been a father for me, oh yes you have You've been a bridge over troubled water, a doctor and a lawyer When I was in trouble, you carried me I thank you, Lord, I thank you
[00:06:01] I thank you, you let me see another birthday Oh, I thank you, you let me see Hey, I could have been dead, sleeping down in my grave You, you told death
[00:06:24] Stand back and behave You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see You let me see Another year You let me see another year

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Let's give God some praise before the station.
[00:07:34] Lip-syncing this morning.
[00:07:36] Amen.
[00:07:37] I was back over in the corner singing.
[00:07:38] He lip-syncing.
[00:07:39] Amen.
[00:07:41] But let's give God some praise.
[00:07:43] Amen.
[00:07:43] This morning.
[00:07:45] Aren't you glad to see a new year?
[00:07:46] Say it like you really mean it.
[00:07:49] Are you glad to see a new year?
[00:07:52] My father used to say always that every year will carry its number.
[00:08:00] 2025 carried its number.
[00:08:04] But God allowed us to roll over into 2026.
[00:08:07] And can we be real about it?
[00:08:10] We got to be real in life.
[00:08:12] None of us know at this point who's going to be here January 1st next year.
[00:08:18] So you may well praise God while you're here.
[00:08:23] Amen.
[00:08:24] You may as well live holy and upright while you're in this year because we don't know what's going to happen next year.
[00:08:32] We don't know what's going to happen next minute or next hour.
[00:08:35] David said it like this, there's only a step between me and death.
[00:08:40] The next step I take may be the end for me on this side of Jordan.
[00:08:45] Amen.
[00:08:46] But God allowed us to see a new year and I'm glad about that.
[00:08:51] Amen.
[00:08:53] So that being said, let us stand for the call to worship.
[00:08:58] Amen.
[00:08:59] And that's the people that, you know, I'm not going to get into all that stuff.
[00:09:02] All of this stuff has symbolic Old Testament.
[00:09:05] But the Lord said, blow the trumpet that we're to call the people together.
[00:09:10] So we send out the call to worship.
[00:09:12] Amen.
[00:09:13] So all come, let us worship the Lord and let us bow down before God, our creator.
[00:09:19] For we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
[00:09:24] I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
[00:09:27] Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.
[00:09:31] I'm going to ask you to remain standing for the invocation.
[00:09:34] Gracious God, our Father, we come together this first Sunday in this new year, thanking you, God, for all that you've done.
[00:09:41] But now, Lord, as we gather to worship you, we know we cannot do anything apart from your divine and holy presence.
[00:09:49] And we don't mean in terms of your omnipresence.
[00:09:51] We already know you're everywhere.
[00:09:53] Even right now, but in terms of your Shekinah glory, that you would manifest yourself, O God, in our presence, so that there's no doubt that you are indeed in the house.
[00:10:04] Come, come, Holy Spirit, come, Heavenly God, and fall afresh on all of us, even right now, in the marvelous and magnificent and matchless name of Jesus, who is the Christ, we pray.
[00:10:15] Amen.
[00:10:16] Our hymn, our song of praise will be, Holy, Holy, Holy.
[00:10:21] Amen.
[00:10:22] You'll be number one in your book if you have a hymn book.

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Holy, Holy, Holy, All the saints come to Thee
[00:11:34] I love this!
[00:12:12] Holy I am sinful and thy glory lay my sin Holy thou art holy there is none beside thee Perfect in
[00:12:54] All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth as Thou is He.
[00:13:21] Glory, glory, glory, merciful and mighty, Thou in three Persons, blessed King.

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
You know that's the theme song in Scripture.
[00:13:39] The song we're really going to be singing is Holy, Holy, Holy.
[00:13:45] That's directly out of the Scriptures.
[00:13:47] Amen.
[00:13:48] And then when we all get to heaven, I don't know of any other song we're really going to be singing but Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy for the most part.
[00:13:56] Amen.
[00:13:56] And when people tell us that the word Trinity is not in the Bible, you can say Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or you can say Trinity.
[00:14:02] Trinity just simply means three.
[00:14:04] You know, that's a dumb argument.
[00:14:06] I don't like to use that word, but I really don't.
[00:14:09] It's a dumb argument to say the word Trinity is not in the Bible.
[00:14:13] Trinity just means three.
[00:14:15] Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[00:14:16] I can say that or I can say Trinity.
[00:14:18] If I say Trinity, you know I mean Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, am I right?
[00:14:21] Is that not in the Bible?
[00:14:23] See, the people that'll trick us, I'm going to get it, because this is where it talks about mutilators, people who will tell us junk that we don't pay attention to, and they'll say, well, see, the word Trinity is not in the Bible.
[00:14:36] And we fall for that mess.
[00:14:37] I'm going to say we, I'm generalized.
[00:14:38] I don't mean Seals Creek, I really don't.
[00:14:40] You know, amen?
[00:14:41] But we do know that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is in the Bible, am I right?
[00:14:45] Okay, that's the same thing.
[00:14:46] Amen?
[00:14:48] Amen.
[00:14:49] So don't let people trick us with words.
[00:14:52] You know, I got to say this.
[00:14:54] So I said to one person who was trying to convince me to be a Jehovah Witness.
[00:14:58] So I said to him this.
[00:14:59] I said, okay.
[00:15:01] Out of all the knowledge a whole organization pretend to know about God, does it equal to the tip of my fingernail worth of knowledge?
[00:15:10] The person had to think for a moment and say, no.
[00:15:12] So you're basing your whole argument.
[00:15:15] You got a teeny, teeny, teeny bit of knowledge about God.
[00:15:20] And you're going to tell me how wrong I am.
[00:15:24] And this all you know?
[00:15:27] And God represents the whole body?
[00:15:28] Help me somehow, huh?
[00:15:30] And you got a teensy, weensy bit of information.
[00:15:36] Think for a moment, church.

[00:15:38] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Huh?

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
I'm not trying, you can't prove God anyway.
[00:15:42] Let me leave that stuff alone.
[00:15:43] That way you won't get in an argument, you know, with people.
[00:15:46] Amen?
[00:15:47] And they skip all over the Bible and show you little passages and take stuff out of context all the time.
[00:15:53] I know what I'm talking about.
[00:15:55] And then make it so I can make the Bible justify anything I want to justify.
[00:15:59] If I take stuff out of context and flip all over the scriptures, that's why you have to know the context first.
[00:16:06] You have to know the writer or the speaker.
[00:16:08] Amen, somebody.
[00:16:10] What situation they're speaking into, when, what the time that they're speaking, what was going on at that time.
[00:16:15] All of this they teach us in homiletics.
[00:16:19] Amen.
[00:16:20] And then we just finished talking about the big picture.
[00:16:22] Now let's move away from that.
[00:16:23] Amen.
[00:16:24] Y'all didn't know not to get me stirred up choir.
[00:16:26] Why y'all do this?
[00:16:28] Blame this choir.
[00:16:28] Every Sunday they get me all fired up and then they blame me for, not you all do, but people blame me for talking, but the choir be doing that.
[00:16:37] Amen.
[00:16:37] Shame on them.
[00:16:39] They ought to take responsibility for what they do.
[00:16:44] Okay, let's look at the scriptures.
[00:16:46] From Philippians, the third chapter, and we're probably going to park here for a little while, and I do this, these series, church, because it's, it's
[00:16:58] you really it's hard to almost impossible I believe it is impossible to grasp all of what a scripture is saying just by doing a message so I'm not against those who do what they do I'm saying for me I left you to understand the whole text amen somebody all right good so let's read on so what happened whatever happens this is part you make me subtitle the priceless value of knowing Christ
[00:17:23] That's really what this text is about.
[00:17:25] I like the way they phrased it.
[00:17:27] If you look at your own Bible, you know, the scholars probably entitled it something like that.
[00:17:33] The Priceless Value of Knowing Christ.
[00:17:36] So here's what he said.
[00:17:39] Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord.
[00:17:43] I never get tired of telling you these things.
[00:17:48] And I do it to safeguard your faith.
[00:17:53] Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved, or some folks say you got to, what is it?
[00:18:11] What is it?
[00:18:11] They say you got to be saved.
[00:18:13] Once speaking in tongues, it's evident you're being saved.
[00:18:16] I'm not against speaking in tongues, but that's not what Scripture teaches at all.
[00:18:19] If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, God that raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
[00:18:24] Is that not the word?
[00:18:26] Okay, talk back fast now.
[00:18:27] It means I can move on fast.
[00:18:28] All right, let's move on.
[00:18:31] But I'll leave that alone.
[00:18:31] Oh, you got to say you believe in the name Jesus.
[00:18:35] You can't say Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because you ain't saved.
[00:18:38] See, we're not going to tell me what I'm not.
[00:18:41] They may not be.
[00:18:42] You can't tell me whether I'm saved or not.
[00:18:45] Amen.
[00:18:46] Let me get out of here.
[00:18:47] Let me stop.
[00:18:49] Let me stop.
[00:18:50] Okay, now, so for we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised.
[00:19:00] He means in the heart.
[00:19:01] We rely on, here's the point, what Christ has done for us.
[00:19:06] Right.
[00:19:07] We put no confidence in human effort.
[00:19:11] They mean my knowledge, my gifts, my talent.
[00:19:14] Though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could.
[00:19:19] I indeed
[00:19:21] Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more.
[00:19:30] I was circumcised when I was eight days old.
[00:19:34] I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a real Hebrew if there ever was one.
[00:19:45] I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law I was so jealous that I harshly persecuted the church and as for righteousness I obeyed the law without fault I once thought these things were valuable pausing for a moment
[00:20:14] But now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done.
[00:20:20] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
[00:20:33] For His sake I have discarded everything else.
[00:20:37] Counting it all as garbage so that I could gain Christ and become one with him I no longer count my own righteousness through obeying the law
[00:20:53] Rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ.
[00:20:59] God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
[00:21:04] I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that God has raised him from the dead
[00:21:15] I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I would experience the resurrection from the dead.
[00:21:26] so verses 12 and 14 what I'm going to focus on today I do not I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or if I have already reached perfection but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ first possessed me no dear brothers and sisters I have not achieved it but I focus on doing this one thing
[00:21:53] Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us.
[00:22:11] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:22:13] Thanks be unto God.
[00:22:16] Being the first Sunday in the year, I'm going to offer the prayer myself.
[00:22:22] And in this case, I'm just going to offer it from right here, so let us pray.
[00:22:26] Gracious God, our Father, we come to you this morning in the gracious and holy mighty name of Jesus, who is the Christ.
[00:22:34] As we said before, God, we thank you so much for allowing us to see this here.
[00:22:39] We realize you didn't have to do it, but we're so glad that you did.
[00:22:44] Father, help us to be more committed and devoted
[00:22:49] To live more upright this year than we did last year.
[00:22:54] Help us to be more generous and kinder and friendlier and just being a blessing to others as you have been a blessing to us.
[00:23:03] Father, we thank you again for just allowing us to be here this morning.
[00:23:08] Thank you God for clothing us in our right mind.
[00:23:11] Thank you for putting health in our bodies and be honest, in most cases, money in our pockets, oh God.
[00:23:17] Thank you, God, for just giving us houses to sleep in and beds to sleep in, oh God, and cars and vehicles to ride in.
[00:23:27] God, we thank you for clothes on our back and food to eat.
[00:23:30] We don't take anything for granted.
[00:23:32] We thank you, God, we can move the big toe, the little toe, and whatever other toes we have, God, we thank you.
[00:23:38] Thank you, God, for moving us.
[00:23:39] Movement and activity of our limbs.
[00:23:41] Thank you God for the hair on our head or whatever you've done, God we say thank you.
[00:23:46] We take absolutely nothing for granted but we praise your holy and righteous name because you are worthy to be praised.
[00:23:53] Help us oh God to praise you in a greater way oh Lord.
[00:23:57] Help us God to open our mouths and say thank you Jesus for all that you've done for us oh God.
[00:24:02] Thank you God for helping us to live right oh God.
[00:24:06] Thank you God for everything again that you do for us.
[00:24:10] Be with us at Seals Creek.
[00:24:13] Take us higher.
[00:24:14] Help us, God, to give us a passion to evangelize the lost, to grow more in you so we can be more like Christ.
[00:24:25] Help us not to be satisfied with the way we are, but to want to be a better person, oh God, so you get the glory out of our lives.
[00:24:34] Help us to know it's not about us, but about what you've done for us, in us and through us.
[00:24:41] And so this morning we come to bless your name.
[00:24:44] So be with this entire congregation.
[00:24:46] God, we pray for our nation, oh God, in this.
[00:24:50] A horrible path that we've gotten on, God.
[00:24:54] Thank you, God, we ask you to forgive our nation for its hand in stirring up violence all over the world, O God.
[00:25:02] Help us to know that you've not made us to be a moral compass, O Lord, for we've got enough mess in our own closet that we don't need to try to right other nations.
[00:25:11] We need to clean up our own act first, O God.
[00:25:14] Stir up in this mission, oh God, and give the church the prophetic voice, oh God, to speak out against evil.
[00:25:20] Oh, love of this world, oh God.
[00:25:24] We're counting on you to be with us as we address what's going on in this world.
[00:25:30] We bless your name now.
[00:25:31] We bless all who are assembled.
[00:25:33] Let there be anyone sick among us.
[00:25:36] God, we pray for healing and deliverance.
[00:25:39] Whatever the situation may be, there'll be a financial need.
[00:25:43] God, we pray that you will bless those who have financial needs.
[00:25:47] Whatever the situation is, oh God, we're looking for you to move.
[00:25:51] This we ask in the marvelous and majestic name of our Lord and wonderful Savior, Jesus, who is the Christ, we pray.
[00:25:58] Amen and Amen.
[00:26:00] Amen and we will give you another selection.
[00:26:03] Amen.
[00:26:04] Amen.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
So take everything.
[00:26:36] I don't want it.
[00:26:40] I don't need it, God.
[00:26:46] So take everything.
[00:26:49] I don't want it.
[00:26:52] I don't need it, God.
[00:27:25] I don't want it I don't need it God Take everything I don't want it I don't need it God I just want you I just want you I just want you
[00:27:54] I just want you.
[00:27:55] We just want you.
[00:27:57] We just want you.

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
We just want you.

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We just want you.
[00:28:03] We just want you.
[00:28:06] We just want you.
[00:28:08] Take everything home.

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Take everything.

[00:28:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I don't want it.
[00:28:19] I don't need it.
[00:28:22] Take everything you can take
[00:28:28] I don't want it, I don't need it God takes everything I don't want it, I don't need it God takes everything I don't want it
[00:28:56] I don't need it now I just want you We just want you We just want you We just want you Take everything
[00:29:26] I don't want it I don't want it I don't need it God take everything I don't want it I don't need it God
[00:29:47] I don't want it.
[00:29:59] I don't need it God.

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I don't want it God.
[00:30:06] I don't need it God.
[00:30:07] I don't want it.
[00:30:07] I don't want it.
[00:30:07] I don't need it God.

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Take me, I'm yours.
[00:30:18] Take me, I'm yours.
[00:30:19] Take me, I just want you.
[00:30:25] I just want you I just want you I just want you I just want you
[00:30:50] Take me, I'm yours Take me, I'm yours Take me, I just want you
[00:31:02] I just want you I just want you Nothing else will do I just want you I just want you I just want you I just want you If you have all the riches and gold I just want you If I can just have you I just want you I just want you I just want you I just want you Take me, I'm yours Take me, I'm yours Take me, yeah
[00:31:32] I just want you I just want you I just want you Take me I'm yours Take me I'm yours Take me I'm yours I just want you I just want you Take everything of me
[00:31:53] I don't want it.
[00:31:59] I don't need it God.
[00:32:03] You can have all the riches and gold.
[00:32:11] I don't want it.

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I don't need it.
[00:32:20] Take everything.

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Take everything.
[00:32:25] I don't want it.
[00:32:31] I don't need it.
[00:32:31] Take everything.
[00:32:31] I don't want it.

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I don't need it.

[00:32:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Amen.
[00:32:54] Let us pray.
[00:32:56] Gracious God, our Father, the man servant cometh now this most sacred moment to impart your word of life and truth.
[00:33:02] I acknowledge I have absolutely nothing on my own merit to share with these your great people, so I ask that thou would please, sir, dislodge and dismiss any and everything unlike you.
[00:33:12] Bring me the complete unction and utterance of your Spirit, so the words that come from my mouth will be those that are ordained by you.
[00:33:18] Thank God I ask you will consecrate our ears and our hearts,
[00:33:21] So we will receive the word and apply it to our daily lives so you will glorify Christ magnified, church edified, world evangelized, and Satan again is already horrified.
[00:33:31] This we ask in Jesus' name.
[00:33:33] Amen.
[00:33:35] Amen.
[00:33:35] You may hear me say that sometimes I ask people the question, if Jesus said, all authority has been given to me, where Satan get his from?
[00:33:49] Jesus can't have it all that Satan has, so that's why you don't hear me rebuking the devil.
[00:33:55] The devil did that.
[00:33:56] The devil can't do jack.
[00:33:58] The only thing the devil can do is influence me to use my authority or my power and energy to do what he wants.
[00:34:08] He has to have a body to operate in in the earth.
[00:34:12] He has no body.
[00:34:14] That's why he try to possess ours.
[00:34:18] Come on, think about it now.
[00:34:20] Jesus had all authority.
[00:34:22] Did he not say that?
[00:34:23] Matthew 18, or Matthew 28.
[00:34:26] All authority has been given unto me.
[00:34:28] Did Jesus not say that?
[00:34:30] So he got all of the authority.
[00:34:32] Where Satan get something from?
[00:34:34] So he had zero.
[00:34:38] See, we got to watch how people, we're going right into church and say, Satan behind that.
[00:34:45] Satan only, yeah, he can get into us.
[00:34:47] We got to know what Satan is trying to influence people.
[00:34:50] We got to get the stuff right.
[00:34:51] All right, let's move on.
[00:34:52] Amen.
[00:34:53] Oh, let's give God some praise for the choir.
[00:34:55] Amen.
[00:34:56] Our wonderful musicians, our deaconesses, our ushers, for our audio tech team, for all of God's children assembled this morning.
[00:35:04] Thank God for each and every one of you.
[00:35:07] Amen.
[00:35:08] Good to have all of you here this morning, begin this new year.
[00:35:11] So we're going to jump right into
[00:35:14] The word so the theme is going to be living a high impact life.
[00:35:18] I use this when we had the men's day regarding Abraham and while God intends for all of us to make a difference in the world.
[00:35:27] Now people that we may think making a difference may not be so you can't go by that.
[00:35:33] We have no way of measuring from God's perspective the difference we're actually making in the world.
[00:35:41] now people put a stamp on it and who is the greatest and all of that right but Jesus said he who is greatest among you shall be your come on somebody Jesus said he who is greatest among you shall be your servant
[00:36:16] So Dr. King, you say everybody can be great because everybody can serve.
[00:36:22] You don't have to be the best pastor or preacher or singer like me or anything.

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Why are they laughing?

[00:36:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
But really, it's not about that.
[00:36:42] We say that.
[00:36:44] But that's not what the word teaches.
[00:36:48] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:36:51] The greatest is those who serve others.
[00:36:56] Help me somebody.
[00:37:00] The world thinks that way.
[00:37:04] The greatest are served.
[00:37:06] Come on somebody, huh?
[00:37:08] Amen, somebody.
[00:37:10] But in the church, God reversed the order.
[00:37:14] If you're going to be great, you got to serve people.
[00:37:20] That's why the higher you go, the more you're required by God to serve.
[00:37:32] At a church once, I may have told you before, but I'll tell you again.
[00:37:35] You probably don't remember anyway.
[00:37:37] It was a joke.
[00:37:39] And so we was the whole church, and I go around asking people sometimes, what would they like, do they have, you know, are they okay, anything you need?
[00:37:46] So one of them said, I would like to have some decaffeinated coffee, but they didn't have any.
[00:37:51] And so I stole it right across, so I went over there and bought some coffee, decaffeinated it, took it to the kitchen, asked them would they make it, they made it, and I brought it to her.
[00:38:02] And she was like, oh, thank you so very much.
[00:38:05] I didn't expect you to do that.
[00:38:07] She don't know I'm the pastor yet.
[00:38:09] I didn't tell her on purpose so as time went on somebody called me pastor she goes oh I'm so sorry I apologize I said why because you're the pastor I said that's why I didn't tell you I'm not sitting there for you know any credit that's what I should have done
[00:38:34] So you can't get credit for what you ought to do.
[00:38:43] And in the church, there's no job too menial for the highest office in the local church.
[00:38:55] If nobody would clean the toilets, guess whose job it falls?
[00:39:01] The pastor's.
[00:39:02] If nobody would cut the grass, guess whose job it for?
[00:39:06] The pastor.
[00:39:07] I could never say no.
[00:39:13] I mean this thing.
[00:39:16] If everybody else said he quit, well the deaconess can't quit.
[00:39:20] Sorry ladies.
[00:39:22] Y'all know why they can't quit?
[00:39:24] Because part of their consecration vows is they're willing to do what no other willing hands can be found to do.
[00:39:32] So they cannot leave me.
[00:39:36] I'm sorry, y'all.
[00:39:38] See all those new lawn mowers out there?
[00:39:43] Okay, let's move away from that, all right?
[00:39:46] You can't say no.
[00:39:47] You got to help me out, amen?
[00:39:49] But this is serious stuff because sometimes people really want to be served and expect to be served, and in fact, Jesus warns us even by trying to take the highest seat.
[00:39:59] Stop wanting to be in the pulpit so much.
[00:40:03] Stop wanting to be seen.
[00:40:04] The Pharisees act like that.
[00:40:08] But it shall not be so among you.
[00:40:13] You take the lowest seat.
[00:40:17] And then when the leader comes in, they say, oh, we're coming up here.
[00:40:21] That's why it says it's better to be asked up than to be asked down.
[00:40:31] God means this stuff.
[00:40:33] And this is really what Paul is trying to say in the text regarding living a high-impact life.
[00:40:40] Paul said if anybody want to brag about the human accomplishments, I got more to brag about.
[00:40:50] Now, I'm going to tell you where the King changed in the other verse and said, Paul said, I count it as dumb, bodily waste.
[00:40:58] Whatever good I've been able to do on my own, he said, ain't worth a penny.
[00:41:07] I can't serve God in my flesh.
[00:41:10] That's meaningful unto God.
[00:41:12] I can only serve God through the eyes of Christ and the Spirit of Christ.
[00:41:18] And even at that, I'm still an unprofitable servant.
[00:41:25] I give 110%.
[00:41:26] I know what they're trying to say, but you can't do 110%.
[00:41:29] Because when I've done the best that I could do, I'm still not worthy.
[00:41:37] I still serve by the grace of God.
[00:41:42] And Paul is trying to make sure that the church understands that if you're going to live the high-impact life, they're going to make a difference in this world.
[00:41:51] You've got to put no confidence in yourself.
[00:41:57] Who you are and what you can do.
[00:42:02] You can't do anything except through Christ.
[00:42:07] Amen, somebody.
[00:42:09] And so, the key thing in this text that you will find Paul said over and over again, I want to know Christ.
[00:42:19] That's why one of the first series I did here was on getting to know Jesus as the Christ.
[00:42:25] Because honestly, in my opinion, in my evaluation and through my experience, I really believe this is where the Christian church misses the mark.
[00:42:35] Not understanding who he is.
[00:42:37] Now, let's not be so careful to think we got it because people during his time that walked with him did not know who he was.
[00:42:49] None of them knew who he was.
[00:42:52] The disciple did not know who Jesus was!
[00:43:00] Do you know him today?
[00:43:04] And I think sometimes that we're guilty of the people not understanding because sometimes that's all we say.
[00:43:13] We did talk about Jesus, but we don't talk about the Christ.
[00:43:19] Well, a lot of folk will name Jesus as I explained to you before.
[00:43:24] Joshua in Hebrew, Jesus is Greek, it's a Greek, but the same name.
[00:43:32] Only take Jesus' name and put it in Hebrew language, it's Joshua.
[00:43:37] If you take Joshua's name, that's a Hebrew name, and put it in the Greek, it's Jesus.
[00:43:44] Are y'all with me now?
[00:43:45] It's like my name, Eleazar, that's Hebrew.
[00:43:49] But in the Greek language, it's Lazarus.
[00:43:53] Matthew's name is Levi in the Hebrew, but if you bring it to the Greek language, it's Matthew.
[00:44:02] Are y'all with me, church?
[00:44:06] So I got to understand that it's not the fact that this Jesus, this one is the Christ.
[00:44:14] And Christ means the anointed one.
[00:44:17] The one that God had anointed to save the world from all of his sin.
[00:44:24] He is the one that will open our eyes that we may see the truth of God's word and show us how to live it.
[00:44:33] That's who he is.
[00:44:35] And remember we said that there were three people that were ordained in Old Testament Scripture.
[00:44:40] Three groups of people.
[00:44:41] The prophet, that's why he came to speak the exact word of God.
[00:44:46] Amen.
[00:44:48] I'm sort of taking the watch off again.
[00:44:51] But he came to speak the, to open our eyes and give us revelation at the word, the word it means.
[00:44:56] We don't know what the Bible means without Jesus.
[00:44:59] Without him being the Christ.
[00:45:02] How much we read it, there's no understanding.
[00:45:08] That's why he came saying that you've heard of old, but I say unto you.
[00:45:13] And he never abolished the Old Testament.
[00:45:16] He just fulfilled the Old Testament.
[00:45:18] He added the part that they couldn't understand because they didn't have the Holy Spirit.
[00:45:28] So the only thing you hear me say all the time that this imagine it was
[00:45:32] Midnight right now and you turn the lights on Old Testament and you flip the lights on New Testament the same thing is in here I just can't see it are you with me now so hear me God I promise all this Jesus preached from the Old Testament you know the New Testament he is the New Testament he preached he just gave us understanding
[00:45:58] Anybody making sense, you all?
[00:46:01] Now let's get into this right quickly because you all ready to go home and finish up your New Year's dinner.
[00:46:07] You should have ate that stuff by now, but... Amen, you can only hold it in the refrigerator for so many days.
[00:46:15] Amen.
[00:46:17] But listen, so we live where Paul is talking about all the things that he had accomplished, but yet he said, I consider that stuff as nothing.
[00:46:27] It's rubbish.
[00:46:28] It's garbage.
[00:46:30] Whatever my degrees, my status in life, whatever I have, it means absolutely nothing in comparison to knowing Christ.
[00:46:42] And church, that's what God is calling us to do, to know Christ.
[00:46:48] He's the prophet, priest, and king.
[00:46:52] Prophet.
[00:46:53] It turns out I look to him to understand God's holy word.
[00:46:59] I look at his teaching because he's going to explain it to us.
[00:47:03] Amen somebody.
[00:47:05] He's the king.
[00:47:06] He's our leader.
[00:47:07] We follow his example and he's our protection and our provision.
[00:47:12] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:47:13] And then as the priest, he's going to atone for the sins of the whole world.
[00:47:21] Not by the offering of goats and bulls, but he himself is the offering.
[00:47:27] He is the Lamb of God.
[00:47:32] Now do you understand that?
[00:47:35] So I understand the role that he plays.
[00:47:38] Amen somebody.
[00:47:39] I want to understand the Bible, see what Jesus got to say about it.
[00:47:46] Hear me again.
[00:47:47] If I want to understand the Bible, understand what Jesus said about it.
[00:47:52] Because he explained it to us.
[00:47:55] Amen.
[00:47:56] And then if I want to understand that the fact that I'm forgiven for my sin, in fact, I'm going to just go ahead and get to the point.
[00:48:05] Because that's one of the points about we've got to forget the past.
[00:48:10] Amen.
[00:48:10] Last year is last year.
[00:48:13] None of us can go back and change it.
[00:48:15] I don't care how well you did or how bad you did.
[00:48:19] The good, bad, and the ugly is last year.
[00:48:22] I can only learn from it.
[00:48:23] Amen, somebody?
[00:48:25] But aren't you glad that God gave us another chance?
[00:48:28] Aren't you glad God gave us another chance?
[00:48:31] Can we be real about it?
[00:48:32] I messed up last year, but I got a new year.
[00:48:35] Amen, somebody?
[00:48:36] I got a new year ahead of me, and so I want to ask God to help me look better this year than I did last year.
[00:48:45] Help me somebody.
[00:48:49] Last year's past and gone.
[00:48:52] None of us did everything right.
[00:48:55] None of us thought everything, every holy thought was holy.
[00:48:59] All of us fell short of the glory of God.
[00:49:02] But thank God he gave us 2026.
[00:49:09] Paul was a man that messed up in his life.
[00:49:11] He had even persecuted the church.
[00:49:14] He was right, but he was wrong.
[00:49:19] That's what he's explaining in this text.
[00:49:22] How he blew it.
[00:49:25] Aren't you glad that God put some time period to start anew?
[00:49:29] Are you glad that when you're in college, y'all be making all A's, but I didn't always make all A's, not because I couldn't sometimes, but I didn't always apply myself.
[00:49:37] Amen somebody.
[00:49:38] Are you glad for another semester to roll around?
[00:49:41] Amen.
[00:49:42] Because I blew it last time, but I can try to get it right this time.
[00:49:46] Amen.
[00:49:47] Some of y'all in a relationship, aren't you glad for a second chance to get it right?
[00:49:51] You blew it the first time, but you got another shot at it.
[00:49:54] Help me.
[00:49:54] Oh Lord, help me.
[00:49:55] Y'all don't want to talk to me anymore, huh?
[00:49:57] but they're Paul it but otherwise because he knows that now let me talk about this sometimes the Sunday school so let me explain so you're right on it if if i god forbid but if i had a cut it's gonna leave a scar i can't erase the scar but i gotta let it heal yeah but the scar gonna be there it means something about huh when people hurt you
[00:50:24] Let's be real.
[00:50:25] Can we be real in life, y'all?
[00:50:27] People will lie, and sometimes people make up blatant lies.
[00:50:31] I'm telling you to, you got to all listen.
[00:50:32] That's why John Wesley said, put the best construction on everything.
[00:50:37] Because you may not know when somebody lying to you.
[00:50:40] Oh, for you to see a dog that'll bring a bone, or carry a bone, will bring a bone, will carry a bone.
[00:50:47] and I've seen them do it they'll have a bone and take it one place and there's another one to pick up that another bone and take it somewhere else and I know I'm right about it so you got to be watch you got to be careful what people tell you because they'll tell you a lie on you they'll tell you a lie on somebody else but guess what they'll do they'll go back and tell a lie on you so be careful what they say to you amen somebody
[00:51:14] Let the past be the past where I learn from the past.
[00:51:19] Help me somehow.
[00:51:20] Where I made mistakes that last time, I need to learn where the pitfalls are in life so I don't make the same mistake but grow from that.
[00:51:30] Learn from it so I do a better job the next time around.
[00:51:36] I'm going to live the high impact life.
[00:51:38] I can't let the past hold me back.
[00:51:41] Do you know that's one of the greatest hindrance of people moving forward is the past?
[00:51:46] They can't get over the past.
[00:51:55] Does it hurt?
[00:51:56] Yep.
[00:51:56] That's the only Jesus can fix you.
[00:52:01] Come on somebody, huh?
[00:52:03] Talked about this sometime in Sunday School this morning.
[00:52:05] And I just may well teach it since I said it in Sunday School.
[00:52:08] Part of the text that people get wrong all the time.
[00:52:10] You got to pay attention to the Scriptures.
[00:52:12] Stop quoting what people say without researching for yourself what it says.
[00:52:17] You can Google it now and say what the context of this.
[00:52:19] Just don't rely on everything Google said, but at least it may give you a fresh position on something that you maybe not have heard before.
[00:52:27] Amen.
[00:52:29] but you know we get someone said there are two or three we mean worship so let's see a few people show up or let's have worship because the bible said when there are two or three gather my name there I am in the midst he's not dealing with worship at all he's talking about reconciliation
[00:52:43] He's talking about dealing with stuff that hurt and pain that somebody may have caused you.
[00:52:48] He's in the midst.
[00:52:49] He's that way.
[00:52:50] He said, go to the brother.
[00:52:51] Read the content.
[00:52:52] You go to that person and when there are two or three that come together, he said, I'm in the midst.
[00:52:57] He's going to negotiate, help me somehow, and he's going to mediate to bring about the healing that only Christ can bring about.
[00:53:05] I can never let stuff go by myself.
[00:53:07] And you can't either.
[00:53:12] See sometimes you just get over it not that easy.
[00:53:14] I acknowledge that it's not that easy when people dog you out and you giving them the best that you can and they dog you out.
[00:53:24] They take your kindness for weakness.
[00:53:30] See we don't want to talk about hurt and pain in the church.
[00:53:33] Can we tell y'all the real truth?
[00:53:37] There's so much hurt and pain in the church.
[00:53:41] I'm not among believers now I'm not talking about the world huh and we don't want to talk about it you know we put a happy face on it we just give God some praise yeah but you crying at home after church is over that's a quick fix that's like taking drugs you get a quick high but as soon as the high is over you still got the same problem help me somebody huh Christ want to fix us
[00:54:11] He want to make us whole.
[00:54:13] He want to help us get over the past.
[00:54:15] You know, they're like, I didn't stay right here, but I'm going to move on.
[00:54:20] Huh?
[00:54:20] I'm serious.
[00:54:21] The past is one of the greatest hindrance to the future.
[00:54:26] People can't get over it.
[00:54:28] And when I say I blame us a lot as leaders, because we, listen, my job is not to make you shout.
[00:54:34] You shout when you get the victory.
[00:54:37] You got to bring some shout with you.
[00:54:40] Well, put some in your pocket and in your purse.
[00:54:46] Bring your own shower.
[00:54:50] B-Y-O-S. Bring your own shower.
[00:54:55] Did y'all get it right?
[00:54:56] Okay, yeah, okay.
[00:54:58] Bring your own bottle.
[00:54:59] Y'all know about that one, I know, huh?
[00:55:01] Bring your own shout.
[00:55:03] Amen.
[00:55:04] You shout all day, all night.
[00:55:05] Amen.
[00:55:06] Nobody gonna bother you.
[00:55:08] But what I'm saying is, when you get victory over the life's problem, the shout comes in.
[00:55:15] When you know that God has delivered you from something, that's when the shout comes in.
[00:55:22] That's the time we preach out.
[00:55:25] I'll deal with that summary another day.
[00:55:30] That's in scripture too.
[00:55:31] I know the word.
[00:55:31] There are pre-shouts and there are post-shouts.
[00:55:38] Amen.
[00:55:38] Y'all want me to talk about the pre-shouts?
[00:55:43] You don't think I know you by now?
[00:55:45] They say, you don't know me by now, I'll never, never know you.
[00:55:50] Okay, so when Jehoshaphat was in war and God told the choir to lead the march to battleground and to sing and shout.
[00:56:04] There was a pre-shout.
[00:56:05] The fact that God spoke it.
[00:56:07] But see, if you see God saying something, either God had done it or God had spoken it.
[00:56:11] Help me somebody, huh?
[00:56:13] But they pre-shouted before the actual thing happened.
[00:56:17] Are you with me now?
[00:56:18] So there are times for some pre-shouts.
[00:56:21] But sometimes there are some post-shouts too.
[00:56:24] And folks that tell us sometimes just pre-shout all the time, but sometimes there are some post-shouts.
[00:56:29] Sometimes, listen, can we be real in the church?
[00:56:32] Sometimes, I don't always have confidence in everything.
[00:56:35] Because I'm not perfect, you're not either.
[00:56:37] Sometimes after God has done what he's done, amen, we shout.
[00:56:41] Come on somebody, I know enough about myself, huh?
[00:56:43] Sometimes it's a wait and see type stuff.
[00:56:45] I know where I'm supposed to be, but I'm not always there.
[00:56:49] And you're not always there either.
[00:56:51] We got to be real about where we are.
[00:56:53] Listen, we don't have to pretend to be super saints.
[00:56:56] We are where we are.
[00:56:57] Some days I'm up here.
[00:56:59] I acknowledge that.
[00:57:01] I am.
[00:57:02] Sometimes I'm right here, and sometimes I'm down there.
[00:57:06] I used to frown when people used to say sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes almost level to the ground.
[00:57:13] But guess what?
[00:57:14] Life has taught me through experiences that sometimes I am up here, sometimes I'm right here, but sometimes I feel level to the ground.
[00:57:25] There's a truth in that.
[00:57:29] See, life will teach you.
[00:57:31] See?
[00:57:32] Am I right, somebody?
[00:57:33] You know, God wanted to learn everything intellectually, but that's not always the case.
[00:57:38] But let me just read that.
[00:57:39] But we don't have to come back to not forgetting the past.
[00:57:42] Gotta put the past in the past.
[00:57:44] I know that's easier said than done.
[00:57:45] You don't have to explain it.
[00:57:46] I got it.
[00:57:47] I really mean that.
[00:57:48] I really got it.
[00:57:49] But that's a process.

[00:57:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
It's not like y'all know who I'm talking about.

[00:58:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
It's a process.
[00:58:04] Somebody said it this morning.
[00:58:07] Okay, I ain't gonna say no more.
[00:58:12] And it is a process.
[00:58:15] It does take time.
[00:58:17] Not that time by itself does it, but there's a time factor to it.
[00:58:24] And we gotta deal with stuff like that.
[00:58:25] I'm real, y'all.
[00:58:27] So I tell people this, whatever I do, so help me God, I do it for this reason.
[00:58:32] Text me, pick up the phone, come see me next year, next month, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the road.
[00:58:39] Or even if I'm gone and checked out and you come to the realization what I taught was right, come lay a flower on my grave.
[00:58:48] I don't do it to just make you shout now.
[00:58:52] I want you to get the victory in your life.
[00:58:55] That's what I want.
[00:58:57] And that may not mean shouting today.
[00:58:59] That may mean shouting down the road.
[00:59:01] As I say all the time, how many of us have more appreciation for our parents now than we did when we were growing up?
[00:59:12] The older we get, the more we appreciate mom and dad is.
[00:59:17] I thank my pastor, who's my father in the ministry.
[00:59:22] I did.
[00:59:22] I always gave him props.
[00:59:24] But guess what?
[00:59:26] Oh my God, if I had another chance to just say, Reverend L.C.
[00:59:32] Dillingham, thank you, sir.
[00:59:35] I thanked him, but I didn't, I had a greater thanks today.
[00:59:39] Are y'all with me, church?
[00:59:40] I have a greater thanks today.
[00:59:42] I have a greater appreciation today than I did many years ago.
[00:59:47] because I learned more and I see the value of this man in my life and so I'm thankful.
[00:59:53] Yes, I made many mistakes as a pastor but I didn't make as many as some of my friends did who did not have a L.C.
[01:00:01] Dillingham in their lives.
[01:00:03] So I'm thankful.
[01:00:05] But let me just close out.
[01:00:06] Because I got stuck on forgetting the past.
[01:00:09] But you got to also focus on the future.
[01:00:13] See you can't, I mean it's on the present, on the present, on the present.
[01:00:16] You can't live in yesterday.
[01:00:19] Yesterday is past and gone.
[01:00:22] Old folks used to say, don't cry over spilled milk.

[01:00:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Don't worry about water under the bridge.
[01:00:33] Yesterday is gone.
[01:00:35] If I fail, I fail.

[01:00:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
But I got a now moment.
[01:00:40] Help me somebody, huh?
[01:00:41] Y'all don't preach by yourself.
[01:00:43] I got a now moment.
[01:00:44] And God want me to take advantage of now.
[01:00:50] Do the best that I can now.
[01:00:53] What can I do now?
[01:00:56] Not what I could have, should have, would have.
[01:00:59] Y'all make notes about what I said in some of my potential sermons.
[01:01:03] Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
[01:01:05] Amen.
[01:01:07] What are you going to do now?
[01:01:11] I'm going to ask us as a church.
[01:01:13] What are we going to do now?
[01:01:15] Okay, we didn't pay the mortgage off last year.
[01:01:18] Does that mean we can't make a greater dent in it this year?
[01:01:22] Come on now, huh?
[01:01:24] That's something we didn't do.
[01:01:27] Everything goes with me too, but what can I do today?
[01:01:32] What can we start doing?
[01:01:34] What can we do this year that we didn't do last year?
[01:01:39] There's a story behind me becoming Preacher Stewart, y'all.
[01:01:43] The way I grew up, did you ever know?
[01:01:46] Grew up, we grew up on a farm and then we went to church every Sunday.
[01:01:51] So when I was in Oak Ridge, Tennessee working professionally,
[01:01:55] and I went to Sunday schools here, there, and yonder sporadically.
[01:01:58] Here, here, like that.
[01:02:01] So then something said to me, Holy Spirit, probably around August, annual conference was in October.
[01:02:07] You know you were raised better than that.
[01:02:10] See, that's why you're training the way it should go.
[01:02:14] You with me now?
[01:02:16] Nobody said a word to me, but God, you know you were raised better than that.
[01:02:22] So I made up in my mind.
[01:02:24] Come first of the conference year, I'm going to Sunday school like I was raised.
[01:02:30] Time went on, first Sunday in the conference year, we had a new pastor.
[01:02:35] I went to Sunday school, got there early, and guess what?
[01:02:39] The adult teacher didn't show up that Sunday.
[01:02:43] And somebody just grabbed me.
[01:02:46] and say, teach the Sunday school class.
[01:02:49] And I taught it.
[01:02:50] I'm just only saying, I don't got nothing to brag about.
[01:02:53] But the pastor liked the way I taught the class and our friendship started right there.
[01:02:59] Are y'all with me, church?
[01:03:00] And I'll fast forward.
[01:03:04] So at the members meeting,
[01:03:06] There's a lot of stuff happening that I can't mention, but at the members meeting, somebody said, Pastor, you've not appointed a preacher steward yet.
[01:03:13] Now I'm 28 years old, two weeks shy of being 29.
[01:03:16] And he said, oh yeah, that's right.
[01:03:19] He said, I'll appoint Brother Merriweather if he will accept.
[01:03:21] I still say the Lord spoke for me.
[01:03:24] Because I didn't know what to say.
[01:03:26] I really didn't.
[01:03:27] I was totally shocked.
[01:03:28] I had zero idea.
[01:03:31] But here's the point.
[01:03:32] He was legally blind, so I had to drive him most places that he went to.
[01:03:37] Now here's the point.
[01:03:38] God is preparing me for pastoral ministry, and I don't even know it.
[01:03:44] You missed it.
[01:03:45] You missed it.
[01:03:47] God is preparing me because I watched him a lot, not so much classroom instruction, but on-the-job training.
[01:03:57] So I learned a lot from him, and then a lot of times he would rent things by me to see how I felt about it.
[01:04:08] that when time came and I answered the call to preach, the presiding elder wanted to make sure I had a shot and I'll just go ahead and tell you, seven months after I did my trial sermon, I was pastor in the church.
[01:04:21] But he believed not so much in me as my father in the ministry and he saw me hanging out with him for four years that he assumed that I must have learned something from my father in the ministry.
[01:04:33] That's why we can't take credit for stuff.
[01:04:35] You don't know who God is using to bless your life.
[01:04:40] So a lot of L.C.
[01:04:41] Dillingham is stealing me to this day.
[01:04:49] So you don't know.
[01:04:50] I got to cut it off and close it.
[01:04:55] I keep wanting to go back to the past, but I'm going to say this.
[01:05:00] We're going to deal with it as we go.
[01:05:02] So ask God to help you.
[01:05:04] I'm going to teach you too.
[01:05:06] I can teach it.
[01:05:07] I really can teach you how to let it go.
[01:05:08] You know what that would really for forgiveness mean?
[01:05:10] Let it go.
[01:05:13] The Lord said, vengeance is mine.
[01:05:16] I will repay.
[01:05:17] Huh?
[01:05:18] See, if I get revenge at anybody, I'm stepping into God's role.
[01:05:24] Amen, somebody.
[01:05:25] And God is saying, no, that's my job.
[01:05:27] That's not your job, Meriwether.
[01:05:29] You focus on what I called you to do.
[01:05:32] Because see, if I focus on it, I'll get stuck back here.
[01:05:35] I can't lead you forward and I'm stuck back here.
[01:05:38] So we can't move forward in life if we're stuck back here about what happened in the past.
[01:05:43] So it means to let it go and let God handle that for me.
[01:05:47] That's why he said, vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
[01:05:50] The Lord said, I will repay.
[01:05:52] Nobody gets away with anything in this world.
[01:05:54] But see, God doesn't move when we want God to move.
[01:05:57] Come on, I wish I had a term.
[01:05:58] We want God to get them right now.
[01:06:00] Come on somebody, huh?
[01:06:02] God get them right now what they did to me?
[01:06:05] No, you got to understand something.
[01:06:07] Like a plant that grows up, I'm through now, that grows up and it got to grow and mature and produce a harvest, sow the evil and wicked deeds of other people.
[01:06:19] It's got to grow and produce a harvest.
[01:06:23] Then God release his wrath on those that sow the evil seeds.
[01:06:33] See, that's how it works.
[01:06:36] It may look like, man, you don't know, you don't know what kind of challenges they're having.
[01:06:41] They may look happy, but something about God, you can't be happy.
[01:06:46] Sometimes people are so torn and drawn and messed up with stuff that they're not at peace.
[01:06:56] People think like somebody in this nation is getting away with everything as you must have read the Bible.
[01:07:04] Get away with anything.
[01:07:05] This nation is not getting away with anything.
[01:07:09] And those of us who don't speak out against it on the platform that we have in it, see, complicit is agreement with something.
[01:07:18] Amen, somebody.
[01:07:20] But I promise you, I promise you that God is going to get this nation for all the mess we're doing.
[01:07:28] And this nation can't ever talk about human rights.
[01:07:31] What?
[01:07:32] How we treated us?
[01:07:35] Our ancestors?
[01:07:37] You're talking about some human rights?
[01:07:41] Don't get quiet when I start talking.
[01:07:45] I'll just say this.
[01:07:46] I'm through.
[01:07:47] I got to close it.
[01:07:49] The ultimate issue of Scripture is justice.
[01:07:55] In other words, here's what God is saying.
[01:07:57] Treat everybody right.
[01:07:59] Now that's the Bible.
[01:08:02] God said that's all I got to say here's the laws to make sure you understand what you're supposed to do how you're supposed to treat one another amen somebody I'm telling you I didn't write this stuff up
[01:08:21] Even when they talked about all the tithes and stuff they were giving, Jesus said, yeah, these you should have done without neglecting the weightier matters, which is justice, mercy, and love.
[01:08:34] You should have done that, but you neglected the weightier things.
[01:08:38] And I said, read Isaiah, the first chapter.
[01:08:43] God said seek justice take care that they say that day dealing with the widows who couldn't didn't have any other means because y'all you ignoring them and you're coming up in my house trying to giving me some praise get that mess out I don't want to hear your mouth
[01:09:01] because you're not taking care of responsibility.
[01:09:03] There are children who are orphans and they don't have a father and you're ignoring them.
[01:09:08] Please get out of my house.
[01:09:10] Read the Bible for yourself.
[01:09:11] I promise you what God is saying to them.
[01:09:13] Get out because you're not serious.
[01:09:17] Huh?
[01:09:18] And you know what them jugglers did?
[01:09:19] They, you know, they said, uh, said in the Bible, when the Bible said, honor your mother and your father, back then there was no retirement and no social security, nothing like that, no pension.
[01:09:29] So what God was saying to them, so when he said, honor your mother and your father, he mean really, as your mother and your father took care of you, when you didn't know you was in the world, when they get in the old age, you got a responsibility to take care of them.
[01:09:46] That's what honoring your mother and father means.
[01:09:49] Not just not cursing them out.
[01:09:51] But in your old age, I'm going to be there as best as I can for my mother and my father.
[01:09:57] But you know what them jugglers said?
[01:10:01] Well, there was a mom and dad, what I would have had to give you, I put it in the building fund.
[01:10:09] God said, what?
[01:10:11] You disobey the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
[01:10:19] You nullify the word of God.
[01:10:22] Because the word says take care of your parents.
[01:10:24] You say, but I pledge to give it to the building fund.
[01:10:29] He don't mean your regular tithes and offering.
[01:10:32] He said, I cannot put in the church what belonged to my parents.
[01:10:40] That's what he's saying.
[01:10:44] See how church gets stuff all mixed up?
[01:10:48] Huh?
[01:10:48] I know I read Matthew 15 chapter.
[01:10:53] He said, so these people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
[01:11:03] Because the word says do this, you alter it so you can look good.
[01:11:10] But your parents have a need.
[01:11:13] So what he's saying is, Meriwether, don't get so busy that you don't take care of your household or you don't take care of your parents.
[01:11:22] Now let me open the can of worms.
[01:11:25] Sometimes we can't handle things.
[01:11:27] We may have to put them in a home.
[01:11:29] That may be the case because we're the hardest people sometimes to come to that conclusion.
[01:11:33] I understand why.
[01:11:34] But sometimes you're doing them a greater disservice.
[01:11:37] But just to throw them in a home because they got a toenail broke is wrong.
[01:11:43] He said you be there for your parents because I'm judging everything you do by how well you look after them look after the widows and look after the children without a father everything you do I'm judging it in that light so you got no okay that's it so you got to know what the true word means all this other stuff folks saying God wants you to do God is saying no that's not what I asked you to do I asked you to do this and you honor me okay invitation is extended
[01:12:13] There's so much more to say to this text, but I hope you see what Paul is trying to get across in this text.
[01:12:21] The invitation is extended.
[01:12:22] You may stand to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.
[01:12:26] Christ wants to come into every heart and every mind.
[01:12:29] He really wants to bring about a change in us.
[01:12:32] Amen.
[01:12:33] So the world can see Him on the inside of us and that way
[01:12:38] They too can be changed and they will want the joy that God has put in us or they will want the way of life that God has put in us.
[01:12:48] So that's what Christ wants.
[01:12:49] So the first invitation is always is to receive Jesus Christ
[01:12:53] as your Lord and personal Savior.
[01:12:55] If you never accepted Him, but I promise you it's not hard.
[01:12:58] Remember what we teach is you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart.
[01:13:02] The word goes to your heart and God put it in your mouth.
[01:13:06] All you got to do is confess it.
[01:13:07] Amen.
[01:13:08] It's simple as that.
[01:13:09] Salvation is not what you can do.
[01:13:11] You cannot do anything to earn salvation.
[01:13:13] It's a gift.
[01:13:14] It's that I've got, I received the gift.
[01:13:16] I accept the work that Christ did on Calvary Cross.
[01:13:21] Amen.
[01:13:21] I accept his atonement and the payment for my sins.
[01:13:25] I realize I cannot be saved by myself.
[01:13:28] I'm not good enough.
[01:13:29] I cannot do good enough.
[01:13:30] It's what Christ has done.
[01:13:32] It's just that.
[01:13:33] So I accept what he has done on the cross by dying for the sins of the whole world.
[01:13:38] I promise you that salvation is as simple as that.
[01:13:41] If not, the next call is to unite with this church fellowship or rededicate your life.

[01:13:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Okay, you may be seated.
[01:14:16] I lift you up and I thank you
[01:14:27] I love you, I love you, I love you Lord
[01:14:56] I lift you up and I magnify your name That's why my heart is filled with praise
[01:15:24] That's why...

[01:16:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Understand all things come with thee, O Lord.
[01:16:52] Good morning church.

[01:17:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning.
[01:17:13] It is good to be back.
[01:17:16] As y'all know, we traveled to Maryland for
[01:17:19] Midwinter meeting on last Sunday and we definitely had a good time.
[01:17:25] Thank you church for supporting us.
[01:17:27] For the ones that don't know, y'all did support us as we traveled there.
[01:17:32] So, but thank you.
[01:17:34] We had a great time.
[01:17:35] Thank you, Dr. Meriwether for inviting us because that was my daughter's first time.
[01:17:39] So, but we had a really good time.
[01:17:42] We have quite a few announcements because there's a lot that's going on next Saturday.
[01:17:48] The 10th, the Men's Booster Club will have their fellowship breakfast at 9 a.m. at New Hope AME Zion Church.
[01:18:00] Also on the 10th, Salisbury District Usher Board would like to invite you to their first Gifts and Talents Tea held the 10th as well at Sandy Ridge.
[01:18:14] The time of the tea is 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
[01:18:18] It says we would love to see you all there for food, fun, and fellowship.
[01:18:23] Our third quarter is coming to an end.
[01:18:28] It will end on January the 24th.
[01:18:31] That is a Saturday.
[01:18:32] So that means all funds, all activities that have taken place before, which the third Sunday, which is that Sunday before the 24th, will need to be included in this report.
[01:18:46] Of course, as always, y'all do a great job of completing your reports, and I will make sure that all numbers are updated so that y'all can complete those in a timely manner.
[01:18:58] We have been invited to Friends and Family Day at Union Chapel and the Zion Church.
[01:19:03] That is on January the 25th.
[01:19:05] That's the fourth Sunday.
[01:19:07] It is a 3 p.m. service and lunch will be served.
[01:19:11] As we all know, our very own Reverend Donna Cubberson and the first man, Brother Ronnie, are from right here in the church.
[01:19:20] So if we could go and support them for that 3 p.m. service.
[01:19:24] Any donations that are made during that will be, make sure you label it to Brother Ronnie so it'll go towards their team.
[01:19:35] Church anniversary is coming up.
[01:19:37] As the year approaches to the end, we're giving y'all plenty of time this year, this time.
[01:19:43] It's the third Sunday in March.
[01:19:45] Our members are asked to give $100.
[01:19:49] We will discuss at a later date the details of if you want just a morning service or afternoon service, but just know that March will be here before you know it.
[01:20:01] And then the final announcement is that Dr. Mary Weather would like to meet
[01:20:06] Follow in service today.
[01:20:08] So immediately follow in service.
[01:20:09] It will be a very brief members meeting.
[01:20:11] So if y'all would just remain seated so we can move into the meeting and then we can proceed.
[01:20:16] Amen.

[01:20:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Thank you so much, Doctor.
[01:20:20] Appreciate that and appreciate y'all attending the Christian education meeting.
[01:20:24] Yes, sir.
[01:20:24] I have one quick announcement.
[01:20:26] I don't know if Anita mentioned the men's ministry.
[01:20:28] All right, I see that.
[01:20:41] Okay, so we go right into the communion service.
[01:20:46] Amen?
[01:20:48] So let us stand.
[01:20:49] If anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the perpetuation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
[01:21:00] Wherefore ye that do truly and earnestly repent of your sins,
[01:21:04] and are in love and charity with your neighbors and intend to lead a new life following the commandments of God and walking from henceforth in his holy way draw near with faith and take the holy sacrament to your comfort.
[01:21:18] Amen.
[01:21:18] Leaders come first.
[01:21:19] Amen.
[01:21:20] Ministers, leaders.
[01:21:22] Amen.
[01:21:23] And you hear me say all the time we're not coming, we don't come out of, how can I say it, that we're more than anybody else.
[01:21:32] It's out of leadership we're going to provide, we're going to set the example for the rest of the flock.
[01:21:37] It's not a privilege, if you will.
[01:21:41] Amen.
[01:21:48] Because the next part of this is the general confession.
[01:21:51] We confess together what we've done.
[01:21:53] Devoutly kneeling, make your humble confession to Almighty God.
[01:22:00] Let us pray together.
[01:22:01] Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men, we acknowledge and bequeath all our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from time to time more grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed, against thy divine majesty, provoking more justly thy wrath and indignation against us,
[01:22:20] We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings.
[01:22:24] The remembrance of them is grievous unto us.
[01:22:26] Have mercy upon us.
[01:22:27] Have mercy upon us.
[01:22:28] Most merciful Father, for thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ is sake, forgive us all that is past and grant that we may ever hereafter serve and please thee in the newness of life to the honor and glory of thy name through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[01:22:43] Amen.
[01:22:47] I'm going to do the
[01:22:50] The other prayer before I get to the prayer of consecration.
[01:22:55] We do not presume to come to this thy holy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.
[01:23:02] We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table, but thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.
[01:23:10] Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may live and grow thereby,
[01:23:19] and that being washed through his most precious blood we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.
[01:23:28] Now in the prayer of consecration Almighty God our Heavenly Father who of thy tender mercies didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption who made thereby his oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world
[01:23:48] and Dead Institute and in His Holy Gospel command us to continue a perpetual memory of His precious death until His coming again.
[01:23:56] Hear us, O merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee and grant that we receiving these Thy creatures of bread and wine according to Thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ's holy institution in remembrance of His death and passion may be partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood who in the same night that He was betrayed
[01:24:20] and when they're given things he gave it unto them saying take and eat for this is my body that was given for you do this in remembrance of me likewise after supper he took the cup and when they're given things he gave it to them saying drink you all of this for this is my blood of the New Testament covenant same thing
[01:24:50] which is shed for you for the remission of sin.
[01:24:52] Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
[01:24:57] Amen.
[01:24:59] This is the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, my brother.
[01:25:02] Take and eat it with thanksgiving in your heart.
[01:25:12] Then he took the cup and said, this is my blood of the New Testament.
[01:25:16] which was shed for you and for many for the remission of sin.
[01:25:19] Take and drink.
[01:25:27] It is very meek, right, and abounding duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Everlasting God.
[01:25:37] Therefore, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we lord and magnify thy glorious name
[01:25:43] Evermore praising thee and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
[01:25:51] Glory be to thee, O Lord, Most High.
[01:25:54] Amen.
[01:26:03] Jesus took bread.
[01:26:06] Let me just touch the rail.
[01:26:12] He took bread and broke it.
[01:26:15] He said, now this is my body.
[01:26:16] He gave his body as an object for God to pour out his wrath on.
[01:26:24] But it wasn't what he did.
[01:26:26] It's what I've done, what you have done, and everybody before.
[01:26:30] We believe he reached into the past, the present at that time, and into the future, and got all sins.
[01:26:38] And the Bible says, only quoting what it says,
[01:26:42] He who knew no sin, he had never done any sin, he was made sin because God cannot pour out his wrath on the righteous.
[01:26:51] So once he was made sin, God poured out his wrath on Christ.
[01:26:57] It was so bad that he cried out, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
[01:27:06] That's the spirit of death that he died
[01:27:09] that you and I will never experience.
[01:27:12] We'll never know what it feels like.
[01:27:15] That's the death he died.
[01:27:17] Not just the physical death, the spiritual death.
[01:27:20] So he took bread and broke it and said, this is my body.
[01:27:22] You may take and eat.
[01:27:24] May it preserve your soul.
[01:27:25] Not only that, this is he got to understand now.
[01:27:29] He established a new covenant that's greater than the old covenant.
[01:27:33] So we are saying the Jews are God's chosen people.
[01:27:38] We have a better covenant than the old covenant.
[01:27:44] So he said, take and drink.
[01:27:49] Because you have a new covenant with the Father.
[01:27:51] Covenant means agreement based on relationships.
[01:27:55] We're together.
[01:27:56] You may rise and go in peace.
[01:27:58] Don't understand no more.
[01:28:02] This is serious stuff now, church.
[01:28:03] This is the way I see it.
[01:28:05] I mean, I try to live it like this.
[01:28:07] You just as much as anybody else in the world.
[01:28:11] Amen.
[01:28:12] And nobody else is any more special than you are.
[01:28:16] I said no one else is any more special than you are.
[01:28:19] I'll say it again.
[01:28:20] No one else is more special than you are.
[01:28:23] Amen.
[01:28:24] You mean as much to God as anybody else ever has.
[01:28:28] Amen, somebody.
[01:28:29] And I believe that it's based on the context of Scripture.
[01:28:33] Had either one of us been the only person in the world to ever sin, Jesus still would have come.
[01:28:38] I still believe that.
[01:28:39] He would have came for the one soul.
[01:28:43] Amen.
[01:28:45] Aboutly kneeling, make your humble confession to Almighty God.
[01:28:50] He took bread.
[01:29:06] I took bread and broke it and said, this is my body given for you.
[01:29:19] Take and eat.
[01:29:26] Did you take Mother Kelly?
[01:29:30] You already done already?
[01:29:32] No, okay.
[01:29:38] Then he took the cup and said, This is my blood that was shed for you and for many.
[01:29:44] And they had, you may take and drink.
[01:29:46] And they had what we call a chalice.
[01:29:49] And we met everybody drink from the same cup that he would drink from.
[01:29:56] And we would experience some of the same thing that he experienced.
[01:30:00] It's just that he did it to a greater degree.
[01:30:02] You may rise and go in peace.
[01:30:04] Go and sin no more.
[01:30:08] Yes, thank you.
[01:30:13] You just take it with a hold.
[01:30:37] Devoutly kneel and make your humble confession to Almighty God.
[01:30:45] So this is my body that was given for you.
[01:30:51] Take and eat with thanksgiving in your heart.
[01:30:59] Here, try this one.
[01:31:00] Try this one, doctor.
[01:31:02] Try this one.
[01:31:05] This is my body, take and eat.
[01:31:16] Then he took the cup and said, this is my blood that was shed for you every minute.
[01:31:20] Take and drink with thanksgiving in your heart.
[01:31:29] You may rise.
[01:31:34] There'll be others, let them come.
[01:31:55] You took bread and broke it and said, this is my body that was given for you.
[01:31:59] Thank God for our ushers, amen.
[01:32:01] Oh, I'm going to come to bring it to you.
[01:32:03] Okay, y'all came down.
[01:32:06] Okay.
[01:32:07] Oh, I was going to come to you, but that's okay.
[01:32:09] Amen.
[01:32:11] So he took bread, said, this is mine.
[01:32:15] Yeah, make sure you have it the right size.
[01:32:19] He said, this is my body that was given for you to take and eat with Thanksgiving.
[01:32:23] Then after supper, he took the cup and said, this is my blood that was shed for you and for many for the remission of sin.
[01:32:31] Sin will go into remission.
[01:32:32] That's what he said.
[01:32:33] That's what that means.
[01:32:35] Amen.
[01:32:35] It's there, but it's not active.
[01:32:37] It doesn't have control over my life.
[01:32:40] Amen.
[01:32:41] You may rise and go in peace.
[01:32:44] That's why sometimes we have challenges with stuff.
[01:32:48] Amen.
[01:32:48] Sin goes into remission.
[01:32:51] Then again, sometimes it comes back on us.
[01:32:53] Amen.
[01:32:54] and you want to do the thing you know you shouldn't do the other moment you don't want to do it amen the same thing so it's very it's very simple these retire let others come they may have all have been served but the deaconesses yeah the deaconess y'all may come let's give god some praise again for our deaconesses for what they do thank you for taking the time out to prepare the holy meal
[01:33:22] Amen.
[01:33:22] This is a reminder to us and symbolic of Christ's purchasing salvation for the whole world.
[01:33:29] So devoutly in dealing, if you like, you have everybody got one, everybody good.
[01:33:33] Okay, devoutly in dealing.
[01:33:34] So then he took bread, broke it, and said, this is my body that was given for you.
[01:33:42] He said, take and eat.
[01:33:45] May it preserve your soul till Christ comes again.
[01:33:50] Then after supper he took the cup.
[01:33:57] So this is my blood of the New Testament which was shed for you and for many for the remission of sin.
[01:34:03] Take and drink.
[01:34:10] Those who serve shall be served.
[01:34:12] Amen.
[01:34:24] You may rise.
[01:34:38] We're just going to close the communion service with the Lord's prayers.
[01:34:41] That's okay.
[01:34:42] So let us pray.
[01:34:43] Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen amen the last part that we call it doxology that was added
[01:35:12] to the Lord's prayers so let me do the benediction now I promise you I don't need to keep you long so y'all keep me it's on you not on me all right so don't be blaming me now it was very short what I got to say and pass out to you
[01:35:28] Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power now and forever let all the saints of God say
[01:36:03] Amen.
[01:36:03] We're going to ask if everybody would come down please and someone pass these out.