9th Pastoral Anniversary 2017 "Oh To Be Kept", Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby

search would be a whole lot better if we had Church on our way to church and if you had searched on the way to church then you wouldn't have to have anybody pump you up when you got to church then you wouldn't come in here looking for somebody to excite you in church but you had Church on the way to church and so that when you get to church you can enter his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise how we give God praise this morning for this wonderful privilege to gather together in worship [Applause] this is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it what a delight what an honor it is for me to come a game to the Alfred Street Church and share in this time of worship and this time of celebration as we thank God for sending to this place his son and servant my friend and brother dr. Howard John Wesley will you help me thank God for your pastor on this Sunday morning amen amen amen god bless you say we thank God for you and for all that you do to fulfill the call that has been placed on your life to all of the Reverend clergy who occupy space in this place and to leadership and membership of the Alfred Street Church the music ministry masters who serve on the door the leadership who sits before us today thank God for each one of you whom the pastor has already thanked but you have made this church to be a phenomenal Church and for that we give God praise I'm delighted to share from the wheeler Avenue Church a gift for you pastor I forgot it in the previous two services my apologies but here I mean of that [Applause] we do thank God for the way he has been a blessing to our church and he has come I've been sharing at the wheeler Avenue Church now for 19 years and every year he has been there and he has blessed our church and I'm so grateful to him for the partnership and the fellowship and the friendship that we have enjoyed over the many years that God has blessed us to know one another and I do honor you as friends sir and I thank God for you and I celebrate your nine years of pastoral leadership in this place there's a word from the Lord today and if you have your Bible I invite your attention to my favorite book of the Bible I'm The Book of Psalms I mentioned last night that our church has been in a study in the Book of Psalms and so it is overflowed for me even as I've sought to take the ministry that God has given to me in other places and so I invite your attention to Psalm 121 some 121 very familiar passage of Scripture to most Bible readers Psalm 121 there are some members of the wheeler Avenue Church who are here just saw one stand I thank God for one of our deacons who's at the back of the church he can hail him just wave at me sir it's good to see you any other members of our congregation here some came for the CBC and I'm grateful if you're here and I can't see you I apologize but I thank God for your presence today Psalm 121 passage of Scripture blesses me I want to look at verse first five of some 121 at fifth verse of Psalm 121 says the Lord is thy keeper as enough amen praise God for His Holy Word you may be seated in the presence of God the Lord is thy keeper the time that is ours a share together in worship today I want to talk from the subject o to be kept o to be kept many of us who have been in church for a while know that great hymn of the church it says old to be kept by Jesus and I want to talk about being kept today I I'm a lover of the church to be sure of course those who give their lives to the church must have a love for the church one of the things I love most about the african-american Protestant religious experience is the way that we talk to each other all while church is going on the whole time people in church there's a conversation between congregants and clergy there's a conversation between pew partners all while church is going on folk aren't talking as a matter of fact church family it is the expectation that when you come to the african-american religious experience in a Protestant church that you're gonna talk all while church is going on ever since I've been standing up here they've been people who've been talking back to me since I've been standing here while the choir was singing you were talking to the choir while the preacher it´ll the Deacon was praying you were talking at that point there's a conversation that happens we well actually and more properly call it call and response literally suggesting that when something is true that it's spoken from up here so I spoke it up here then somebody out there says something that the expectation I submit even the obligation of every worshiper is that while worship is going on something is being said that we talk to one another we talk back to one another all while church is going on that is the expectation literally just even if you've been sitting in the sanctuary or in the overflow for the past 30 or 40 minutes and you haven't said anything all day long you're missing your expected expected obligation every one of us you're supposed to say something that's call and response if you can hear somebody say god is good then somebody ought to say all the time and all the time that's because we talk to one another all while church is going on we go back and forth with one another you are not out of order when you talk in a Baptist Church in a black church like this that's the expectation nobody's gonna look at you funny when you start talking back to the preacher because it is the expect that you hear that it's expected that you were talking back to the preacher while the preacher is talking that's what we do in church it's called call and response and I'll be honest dr. Wesley I've heard some unique things coming back at me while I've been trying to preach God's gospel I've heard some people say some strange things and you bowling down my alley you on my Street die put your weight on it Reverend I'm like come on I've heard some things I've heard some things while I've been trying to preach God's gospel that have been very unique you never know what church folk ago say while you're having a worship experience but I enjoy it I appreciate the call and response that we literally talk back to each other all wild churches going on would you believe that Psalm 121 is one of those call-and-response kind of Psalms that Psalm 121 is the affirmation of God that is spoken by one person in the confirmation of God's ability and capability that is given by another speaker that in Psalm 121 there's this back-and-forth of individuals who are speaking to one another and confirming and affirming the goodness of God in their lives and I don't know how you feel about it but I appreciate the fact that every now and then when I come to church somebody will confirm what I affirm if I say the Lord has made a way in my life there's somebody who would confirm it's and he's made a way in my life as well God has opened doors for me oh yes he's made ways for me as well that way we talk to one another those Saints say it goes from heart to heart and from breast to breast that we have this fellowship one with another that enables us to experience the presence of God in powerful ways that's why the derivatives and second cousins of this call-and-response thing it goes a little like this turn to your neighborhood touch your neighbor to tell your neighbor and I know there's some of us who get real offended all while preachers are telling us to turn to our neighbor know somebody says I didn't come in here to talk to your neighbor has somebody hit that man we're waiting to hear from you why you telling us to talk back and there's this expectation that your turn to your neighbor talk to your neighbor touch your neighbor hey have you ever gotten tired of touching your neighbor and talking to your neighbor that's the expectation that we would call and responds one to another here in Psalm 121 has the original speaker in verses 1 and 2 begins to talk about who God he is and what the expectation is that he will continue to do as he looks to God for God's continued guidance in his life he says I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help my help comes from the Lord which made heaven and earth it's a beautiful picture of one who affirms the helping power of God throughout the psalm you'll see that the psalmist wants to lift up the reality that in every scene setting saga and situation of his life God has helped him and there are people in this church right now who can testify that you didn't get to the places in your life where you are by yourself but God hasn't helped you you said it earlier today sir that God has helped you to get to the places in life where you are thanks be to God and that God is our helper but when you read the psalm and in a deeper way you'll find out that God is not simply depicted as helper but in verses 4 5 7 and 8 God is depicted as keeper that God is not simply the one who helps us but God is the one who keeps us Shama is the Hebrew word literally suggesting that God safeguards us that God secures us that God makes it possible for us to stay situated in him the places where we are that God keeps us and today somebody ought to thank God for his keeping power because if the truth be told you could have lost your mind a long time ago but God has kept you here if the truth be told you could have thrown in the towel after that first or second or third incident that kept you messed up in the mind or even in body but God kept you I love the fact that God is our keeper and today church family I want to investigate this keeping power of God for just a little while because it seems that the second speaker in verses three through and through the through the end of the psalm is helping us to understand that God does not just help but God also keeps he is a keeper let me jump back to verse one because it seems to me that the psalmist is speaking in a return a term that helps us to understand what happens as the Israelite people go up Mount Zion to the holy city of Jerusalem to worship this Psalm is called a song and as sent a song of degrees it literally is one of those songs that was sung by the people of God as they were making their way to worship and literally suggesting that while they were walking up that mountainous terrain headed up to the holy city of Jerusalem they would begin to sing they've not yet made it into the temple that just singing on their weighted simple you know what I just got a funny feeling and that church would be a whole lot better if we had Church on our way to church if you had searched on the way to church then you wouldn't have to have anybody pump you up when you got to church you wouldn't come in here looking for somebody to excite you in church hands but you had Church on the way to church and so that when you get to church you can enter his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise and anybody in this place this morning who didn't wait to get to church to start talking to God anybody who didn't wait to get to church to start singing the songs of praise and because you understood that he woke you up this morning as the elders say with a reasonable portion of health and straight and he deserved the glory on your way to church here they are they're singing they're on their way to church and while this speaker is on the way to church he lifts up his eyes he says here's my testimony I'll lift up mine eyes unto the hills and from whence cometh my help my help comes from the Lord now you must understand in the original Hebrew these are not three declarative statements know there's an interrogative in the midst of these declarative statements that the first statement is I will lift up my eyes to the hills and the second is an interrogative where does my help come from and then the third is the statement that responds to the question that he made of himself my help comes from the Lord which made heaven and earth oh man you missed it let me rewire press play and I said in the original Hebrew that the first statement says I will lift up my eyes to the hills the second statement is an interrogative it's a question who where does my help come from he does not wait for anybody to answer his question he answers his own question hey hey my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth is there a witness in church this morning who can testify all of your help has come from a gracious beneficent benevolent God who keeps on making a way for you and somebody ought to thank God that he's your help like my help come from the Lord which made heaven and earth watch this brother as he's making his way up the tricky terrain the mountainous terrain headed toward mountain zion up to jerusalem and he begins to speak about god it's a word of affirmation but in true call-and-response fashion here's a word of confirmation and this secondary speaker begins to speak in the next verse and when he does he begins to help the first speaker to understand even more about God he said that God you're talking about I know that God watch this he will not suffer thy foot to be moved and he that keepeth thee does not summer the whole he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleeeeep watch the text child of God because now the word of confirmation comes some suggest from a brother or elder who is in the congregation walking up to the holy city of Jerusalem others suggest is somebody who's already at the temple but begins to speak back to these who are coming toward the temple who whatever the case may be somebody with experience with God and starts talking back and saying I know that God you're talking about him and he will not permit he will not allow he will not suffer your foot to be moved look at the imagery you're walking up at the Mount Zion slopes and while you're walking up and the psalmist slippery suggests this second speaker says that he's gonna keep your foot from slipping I like this here's the text my brothers and sisters when you understand that you've been kept by God you understand that God keeps us secure with his constant care and that God keeps our steps from slipping do you see that he says that God keeps us stable he keeps us secure and I love this because the truth of the matter is the psalmist is helping the brother to understand and that there are some places of instability and on which we walk at times and that this world we live in is unstable at best but God knows how to stabilize us and in unstable situations oh you just missed your shout you I got one brother raising his hand there - okay that's 12 Jesus only had 12 I work with what I got watch this the Bible says that he will not allow he will not permit your foot just slip that he'll literally keep us stable somebody's a stable he keeps us stable in in unstable environments and if the truth be told everyone in here knows that this world we live in provides some major instability from one day to the next I mean there's some perplexities with which we deal there are some pitfalls that lay in our way every one of us has to deal with perplexities and pitfalls on any given day we never know what's going to happen from one moment to the next I reference that great hymn of the church last night hold the God's unchanging hand the first stanza says time is filled with swift transition you never know how things are going to pan out from one day to the next perplexities of the order of our days pitfalls are the order if and if it wasn't for perplexities and pitfalls we got to deal with a president who is unstable at best I hope you have you know something about instability if you can look at this man who will say anything at any point in time and make absolutely no sense you know we've got some instability at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is there anybody in this church today who is offended by the fact that we can have some very fine people in in Charlottesville but we've got some sob so take a knee and they're trying to defend justice for all I need two or three people in here who knows something bout some instability brothers and sisters all of us have to deal with some unstable circumstances we have to deal with some instability if it's not on the job it's in your health it's not in your health is in your finances and if that's not your reality your children start acting crazy your spouse your boo you may got an issue every time you turn around all of us have to deal with some instability but the Bible says that we've got a God who knows how to keep us stable with this constant care is there anybody in here who knows good and well you could have fallen in some of the cliffs and crags of the rocks of your life of the mountainous terrain in your life but God has kept your foot from slipping oh if the truth be told shout of God all of us could have gone asunder by now but thanks be unto God he kept us stable by his constant care what a synonym for stable says one writer he's not just the guy keeps us stable but God keeps us sane oh brother sister is there anybody in here who knows good and well that after all that you've been through in your life then you could have lost your mind a long time ago after all that you've been through it's just a blessing to know you still in your right mind I mean you ain't lost your whole mind you looking for a piece of it here now but you ain't lost your whole mind because God has kept you sane and in the midst of the insanity you have to deal with him but that ain't the only center near my fountain it's not only stable and sane but another synonym is God keeps you smiling oh I'm looking across this church called Alfred Street and ever since I've been standing up here dr. Weston I see the smiling faces of the Saints game at Alfred Street this morning hey and if the truth be told everybody in here doesn't have everything going the way you wanted to go but some kind of way God puts a smile on your face sometimes the way he puts joy down here you give me joy I head down deep in my soul and the old Saint said this joy that I have helped me preach God the world didn't give it and the world can't take it away is there anybody in here who still has joy and after all you've been through after all the drama you've had to deal with after all you caught Oh last week at work and after all you dealt with that your financial situation and somebody in here ought to thank God that just still got joy hallelujah hallelujah I need to testify today he keeps us stable with his constant care but can i push it a bit farther yeah the texts seem to suggest that not only does God keep us stable with his constant K he doesn't sleep nor slumbered got constant care but he also keeps us your brothers and sisters shielded with his sufficient surveillance myself I said he keeps us shielded with his sufficient surveillance the Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand the Sun shall not smite thee by day nor the by night the second speaker now speaks back to the first and when he does he says to him listen here the god you serve knows how to shield you from elements by day and the enemies by night that that God your God my God our God keeps us shielded that he he makes this sure that that the Sun doesn't get us by day in the moon right now he shields us from the elements by day and from enemies at night the shade on your right hand now for those who are contemporary you pop you're familiar with the pop culture you know very well that the vernacular of our contemporary society suggest that when you use the word shade that is not necessarily a positive term that when you use the word shade no one is saying anything very affirming to you if they call you shady that's not necessarily a popular term if you don't know what I'm talking about ask somebody who's in the Millennial Generation ask somebody who's little young looking younger than you and they'll tell you you don't want anybody to call you shady they don't want any shade I've see somebody asking right now I said ask later and after a benediction when I'm finished preaching listen to me now always talking during church switch [Applause] but in this biblical connotation shade is a very positive thing literally suggesting that God shields us from things that God covers us that God doesn't let some things get to us that God is our protector that God safeguards us that God covers us I like this because he covers us from the elements that day I told you they're walking up Mount Zion and the Sun is blazing down hot on them and he says that God covers you so heatstroke doesn't become your reality God shields you so you don't lose your mind and lose your physicality while you're walking up Mount Zion but he also says that there gonna be some enemies at night you must understand that in the cliffs of the rock there were robbers and Marauders that would hide and attempt to attack those who are making their way to and from the temple and the Bible helps us to understand that this secondary speaker was the first to understand that God has kept you shielded that God has blocked something just in in their mind the lunacy of the evening I was the moon with its lunar self it connotes lunacy that there's a tomfoolery that starts happening and at nighttime and that you never know what you gonna catch her while nighttime is going on if I had time I'd tell you about Houdini in 1984 he says something comes out at night [Applause] again ask after the benediction asked after the benediction some folk come out at night because there's a lunacy in the lunar hours but the secondary speaker says that God my fish steps between you and what's coming after you and God blocks it oh man you let me set all that up and some of y'all look at me the home okay let me go to him I said that there's things that could come after you elements by day and enemies by night but God loves you so much that the only reason you still standing is because God got between you and itch and God blocked it child of God I need to help somebody in this church today to understand that you and I don't know half for the stuff that tried to get after us but God said not so good we don't know half the stuff that tried to take us out but God got between us and it and said it ain't going down like this is there anybody who can thank God that he blocked some stuff Oh child of God I thank God and he knows how to get between us and the stuff coming after us and everybody in here ought to thank God he probably broke his shields us protects us and every enemy ate without some enemies are within oh I need three 400 people in here who will help me preach this Sunday morning and testify God protected you from your own silly self and that there was some stuff that you knew good and well you shouldn't have been caught up in here but God still blocked it from taking you out the only reason you still in church on a Sunday morning here is because God said even though yak and silly right now shield got too much invested in you got too much destiny for you got too much up the road for you and I'm going blocking I'm grateful today that the Bible says that no weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper is there anybody in here who is grateful for the shielding power of the Lord I've got to close this little message but pastor Wesley I think about it all the time you and I grew up on the south side of Chicago yeah God's gift to the planet South Side of Chicago I thank God for the south side out there this past weekend just reflecting on how my city has changed just a bit since we were there now our city is known not just for its beauty not just for its diversity but now is being known for its violence murder is on the rise you don't know whether or not you're gonna be safe walking up and down the streets of some of the parts of our city I thought about it not while I was there last week I said it's amazing to me that all the years of my young life walking up and down the streets heading to and from our little church all the time I was on the city public transportation the bus the CTA nothing came to me to harm me they're calling my city chiraq now because of the violence in my town but I thought about it all while I was growing up nobody hurt me nobody came after me no robbers no no mobs no no challenges that I have to face from gangs and gang violence and I had to ask the question how is it that we made it not because we're so so spiritual not because we did everything right I just believe that there was some stuff that tried to get at us but God said I'm gonna block and I'm gonna shield you how I make sure because I got an elf Street waiting on you and I got a wheeler Avenue waiting on you and people need to know of your testimony so even though enemies are all around you I'm gonna insulate you I'm gonna shield you I'm gonna block it and is there anybody in here who can testify here preacher that HIO Lee's testimony that's not just your testimony alone but everybody in here can testify her wherever you grew up and something could've got out to you could have taken you out but you and Alfred speak this morning good testify he shielded me the Lord keeps us stable with his constant care it keeps us shielded with insufficient surveillance like hold the message when I tell you he keeps our souls with his prevailing power I'm done with the message but he says that the Lord will preserve thee from all evil saying Hebrew word is keep he'll preserve thee from all evil he'll preserve your soul he'll preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forevermore is that in your Bible is in their lesson tore it out is right there in Psalm 121 he says that the Lord will preserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul he'll preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forward even forevermore I love this because now we find out that the psalmist is not just telling this original speaker that the Lord preserves you why are you trying to get to and from church no that's not it no he literally suggests that God keeps you alive with every arrival and departure in which you are engaged that is not just God trying to get you to and from church but all through your life God is shielding you and stabilizing you and securing you know you're missing he says he gonna preserve your soul you must understand what soul is child of God Ebru pain it's a beautiful word that literally speaks to the breathing part of the individual it is that part which gives activation and motivation and to every other part of the individual let me give it to you again the soul the fish it's the breathing part of the individual and that gives activation and motivation and to every other part of the individual that's why when you read Psalm 23 and Psalm 23 says he restoreth my yea he restores my soul it means he keeps me alive Psalm 103 says bless the Lord O my and all that is within me bless His Holy Name Simon Says if I can get my soul to start blessing God then it'll make my hands start blessing God it'll make my head start nodding and add in affirmation of who God is gonna make my feet start stomping he'll get me happy even if I got to get happy all by myself and every now and then you got to tell your soul start blessing the Lord so that the rest of you can start blessing the Lord and so that in this call-and-response experience you'll know that God is keeping you alive Oh sister brother I know you work out I know you eat well I know you take care of yourself but it's the Lord who's keeping you alive I know you walk around the block I know you do your treadmill I know you get on the steady incline but I I thank God today that it was the Lord while I was sleeping last night kept my lungs expanding and contracted it was the law kept my heart beating when I woke up this morning I had a mind stayed on Jesus is there anybody in here who can testify I'm so glad he keeps my soul and I need two or three people in here to testify the reason I get happy every time I come to church and it's cuz I realize that God has kept me alive one more day he's giving me one more opportunity and when you think about how good god has been to you here and how God keeps providing for you somebody ought to st. God that after all you've been through you're still alive can I find three people in this church this at this morning who help me close this message and thank God for the keeping power of the Lord and he kept me when I couldn't keep myself he secured me when all hell was breaking loose in my life when I thought I was going crazy he held me together so I wouldn't let go ha and somebody ought to thank God for the power of the Living God to keep you when you can't handle it yourself a hand I gotta close the message now but can I close it like this nah under him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before his presence with the exceeding great joy to the only wise God I'll Saviour be glory Majesty Dominion and power now amen is there anybody in church who shall faint you Jesus and anybody in church who knows he is power to the weak and to them who has no might he increases strength even the you shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up ah Oh wings as eagles they shall run and not kid weary he shall walk and not faint I gotta go to my seat now but won't he make a way for you won't he open doors for you [Applause] [Applause] hallelujah [Music] hey anyone give him he kept me he kept me the cab [Applause] thank God cause keeping power I know you look good you're smarter you got a whole lot going for you but your good looks your smarts and all going for you didn't cheap you don't you fool yourself just cuz you think you know the right people in the right places no no God has a way of protecting us so he would keep us in perfect peace as we keep our mind stayed on him Lord I lift my eyes to the hills I want us to sing this together church family I want us to bless the Lord it make sense the right to read this Psalm and not sing it the way we know how to sing I want all of us to say I'm gonna sit down in just a second but I didn't need us to sing together this great song of the church because every one of us understands now that God has kept us in ways we couldn't have kept ourselves lord I will lift my eyes to the hills let's sing together Lord everybody I got it man I will take your point [Music] no way my help is coming from you [Music] your piece you give me Center job neat [Applause] [Music] like in your testimony in time of snow [Applause] you are [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 49,654

Rating: 4.817822 out of 5

Keywords: Alfred Street Baptist church, 2017, Pastorial Anniversary, Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, Oh To Be Kept

Id: qDHoVH1n8jE

Length: 40min 2sec (2402 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 27 2017