April 15, 2018 "Grow Up", Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

I'd be somebody who knows that having some gray hair ain't a bad thing to just wave a hand and give glory to God that there's nothing wrong with growing older [Applause] what's your bow and be in prayer with me holy is your name Oh God [Music] this means that you are utterly better and different than we are and we're running after you what I prayed now through the preaching of your holy word the not only may we catch a glimpse of you but youthful get full control of us open our hearts and our mind so we might receive what your Holy Spirit is prepared to serve on this day the name of our Christ and our King we do pray amen I solicit your prayers this morning as some of you have heard I've been wrestling with some voice issues and the advice I got from pathologist's was I've got to change my rhythm and my method of preaching and delivering the Word of God and specifically she told me to stop yelling so you all pray for me as I try to passionately proclaim what I believe about Jesus and keep my voice calm it's seasoned Saint Sunday and on this season Saint Sunday when we honor and recognize the presence of God the presence of those who have lived through many a season of life there's a word from the Lord that I want you to hear it's one that my mother caused me and made me memorize as a child and now it speaks volumes as an adult if you get located in your Bibles the book of first Corinthians if you didn't bring a Bible we brought one to the screen for you first Corinthians chapter 13 I'm gonna invite all those who are physically able to stand with us as we reverence the reading of the word of God from first Corinthians chapter 13 on this seasoned Saints Sunday another's day when we honor and celebrate our seasoned Saints hear the words of the Apostle Paul in the eleventh verse first Corinthians chapter 13 when I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child I even thought like a child but when I became a man I put away childish things before you sit down on what you play preacher for a little bit if you don't mind looking at somebody until them neighbor Oh neighbor I wish you would just grow up Amy you may be seated in the presence of the Lord I wish you would just grow up with and thanks be to God a birthday pending this upcoming week I stand to share an inescapable reality that the Lord has not only spoken to my spirit but revealed in my flesh almost every day and that is I'm getting older putting another candle on the cake and this year there will be almost 50 of them I'm getting older it's funny because there and they used to be a time I thought 50 was old but oh how my perspective has changed I'm getting older went to the doctor and he told me I need to put my glasses back on cuz my eyes ain't working like they used to and I realized I was getting older I know I'm getting older because some of the food I really love broke up with me thinking Johnny we're not allowed to go out together anymore unless it be a bad night I know I'm getting old my friends came into town this past week called me on Thursday night and asked me if I want to go out I said yes they told me where I said what time are we meeting they said 10 o'clock I said no thank you you know what I'm doing at 10 o'clock on Thursday night I'm sleep I realize I'm getting older but but I've learned to embrace it because God has blessed me as some of you with the gift of being in the midst of a congregation filled with those who exemplified and modeled what it means to grow old with grace I am so glad to be in a congregation where there are some seasoned senior citizens Saints who have grown older and are still doing the daggone thing there are some folk in this place that are still committed to Christ community and church that are still here every week that are part of every ministry they get up every day they go out they do their thing they live in life at its fullest and I'm grateful to be in their midst as a matter of fact if you're here today and you know that 50 ain't bad if you here today and you know that you're 60 you can still do what you want to do if you're 70 and you still get up every day and hit the streets like it's hot I need somebody who knows that have a gray hair ain't a bad thing to just wave a hand and give glory to God that there's nothing wrong with growing older now I know this the Millennials in here you're under 40 you ain't shouting yet you think the sermon ain't for you hold on and you're gonna find out that Steve Miller was right when he wrote that song fly like an eagle the chorus is real simple time keeps on slippin y'all they saved it into the future time is gonna happen to all of us and season Saints is not a ministry you have to join if you live long enough you'll find out that time happens to you keep on living young brother young sister one day you gonna wake up you won't even need to turn on the TV to know if it's gonna rain you keep on living one day you're gonna hear yourself talking and you gonna sound exactly like your mama and your daddy keep on living little brother one day you're gonna wake up and stuff is gonna hurt for no good reason at all keep on living and sooner or later you gonna be eligible for discounted rates everywhere you go keep on living one day you gonna find yourself checking out of the grocery store you're gonna look to the left and you won't recognize any of the faces on them tabloid magazines and you won't care to even know who they are keep living in one day your music is gonna be on the oldies station keep on living and one day you'll find out that time happens to all of us my dad says something that passed on to you he said son an old man is coming to your mirror one day and I just want you to know you can't hide it you can't run from it you can't cover it up with makeup you can't disguise it under that wig you wear you can't deny it by dyeing your hair everybody knows your hair ain't that black everybody is gonna grow older growing older is inevitable growing up is not and I think you would agree with me that there are a few things sadder in life than someone who grew older but never grew up somebody just popped in your mouth and cuz you know someone who grew in age but not maturity you know the ones I'm talking about 30 years old and still engaged in high school gossip 40 years old and still Oh momma's couch not paying the bill 50 years old and still out at the club looking for love in all the wrong places you can't drop it like it's hot but you can lay it down like it's warm you you know who I'm talking about 60 years old and wearing stuff you know you ain't got no business putting on have you ever just wanted to walk up to somebody and say I wish you would just grow up that's not only in the world sometimes that's at play in the kingdom cuz they're few things sadder than witnessing an old babe in Christ the writer of Hebrews in chapter 5 presses that upon them when he says to them here's the problem I have with y'all you should be eating meat but you're still drinking milk cuz you haven't grown up it is the expectation that the longer you've walked with God the more you gonna grow up the more you've trusted in God the more mature you ought to be as many times as God has answered a prayer and snatched you out of some stuff something inside of you should have changed by now your walk should be different by now your life should be different by now as many times as you needed God to show up and the Lord showed up something in you ought to have matured it is that a expectation of maturation that Paul writes about here in 1st Corinthians 13 you know first Corinthians 13 you hear it at just about every wedding you've ever gone to trust Ruth is 13 that is that poetic passage of love love is kind love is not rude love is not boastful love is patient love does not exalt itself love keeps no record of wrongs and in the midst of painting a portrait of love Paul presses growing up listen at what he says in verse 11 when I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child and I thought as a child but at some moment I grew up and when I grew up I decided to put away childish things coz grow folk have no business acting childish so Paul says listen this is part of my maturation that that I grew in my walk with God and notice the three ways Paul talks about growing in Christ they are exemplary for you and me he says I put away childish things what were those childish things we'll go back to the beginning I spoke as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child Paul says here's the first thing the shows your growing up when you change your speech he said I had to put away childish talk now now at the surface level Kevin it's easy to assume that Paul is talking about changing what comes out of your mouth that the more you grow you ought to talk differently but but that's not at the core of what he's speaking to understand it I need to dig into some Greek that you don't see in your English Bible but you would only see in the original language of the New Testament you don't read Greek but that's why you sing your pastor to school in Greek there are several verbs used to describe talk the most prominent one is the verb leggo le geo where we also get the term logos and leggo talk simply means to utter but the verb Paul used is here in verse 11 is not legal it's a much more rare verb it's the verb la ley oh let the church say la la oh la la oh and lale o does not mean to speak what's this lale o means to disclose it means to take what is unknown and make it known to somebody lolei o literally means to take what is hidden inside of you and reveal it in the presence of somebody else when you'll Alejo speak you are opening yourself up for people to see what's inside of you so that kind of speak is not just about what you're saying it's about to whom you're saying it when Paul says I spoke as a child he's saying that when I was young I made the mistake of revealing my inner stuff to the wrong people that that childish talk talks too much to too many people about too many things they got no business knowing nothing about let me tell you how you know in maturity immaturity reveals itself in the wrong place you know immaturity post everything treat everything fighting folk on Facebook running your mouth about everything you know immaturity it it doesn't realize that there's some things you don't broadcast to the world you know telephone about military airstrikes on Twitter [Applause] you know get in fights with folk on social media you don't discuss your heart in public forums there's some stuff that you are too grown to share in public so Paul said I gotta grow up I have to stop disclosing my stuff to the wrong people so here's how you know grown child of God a grown child of God has made a decision that rather than talking to people I've learned to talk to God that there's some things I'll never tell you but there's nothing I'll never tell him that I've learned the power of telling the Lord everything that's happening in my life I came to preach right here you will live long enough to find out life will present you with some things you can't handle you keep on living you become eyeball-to-eyeball with a situation that is above your pay grade you keep on living the doctors gonna say something you never thought a doctor would say you keep on living friends are gonna do some things this should never thought a good friend would do to you you keep on living and life is gonna put your back against the wall your feet to the fire no money no friends and nothing else to do but pray and baby girl brother man when you get in that place you are in a good position to see the glory of God work in your life when you find out that what you can't do God is able to do yeah yeah I'm looking for some grown folk who know two things to be true that when you can't handle it God can and to grow up means to realize that when life happens when the stuff hits the fan when the bottom drops out when the medicine ain't working when the friends ain't answering when family ain't helping when the job can't pay enough and when you don't know what else to do all you do is kneel down by your bed and say I must tell Jesus all of my struggles I cannot bear these burdens alone but in my distress he kindly will help me he ever loves and cares for his own is there anybody here that's ever given something to God and prayer and you know that you know that's another to know that you know that God showed up God want that thing out and God answered you you ain't cruel - you know what prayer can do you ain't grown till you know how to call on God you're not grown - you just bow down and say it's me it's me would you look at somebody and ask him are you grown because if you're still talking to them more than you talk to him you ain't grown plus there's no no I got to change my speech cuz when I was a child I spoke as a child he ain't done no they say hey when I was a child I understood as a child Nandu I need to change who I'm talking to Paul says I need to change my understanding that that word understanding if that's your Bible I want you to write down the translation it it's the Greek verb fro nail ph r o n EO we come to church to learn something so you can use big words in your office tomorrow the shut people down right away fro nail phroneo from naio fernell literally means self-understanding from Mayo is how you see yourself for nail is what you think about that sister you see in the mirror Paul says what I have to change is how I see myself the part of growing up means is you begin to change your own perception of yourself let me just pause because you know immaturity immaturity sees itself as others say they should the mature child of God is detached from other people's perception and learns to work on themselves can I help you real quick you are never as good as people say you are can I help you you're never as bad as people say you are Paul says I gotta work on how I see me now the word for a nail to understand Paul's use it's a little deep you have to understand how the word was used in Paul's culture right right we have to look at some extra biblical extra canonical sources which you don't read but that's why you sing your pastor to school so to understand Paul's use you need to know how it was used in the world and in the greco-roman world from naio self understanding was directly attached to wealth how you esteem yourself was connected to how much you had because greco-roman culture valued the accumulation of wealth and wealth became satis and status became esteem and in greco-roman world something is wrong with someone who thought highly of themselves but was broke so greco-roman society said listen this what you do take who you are and attach it to what you have and allow your esteem to be connected to your possession so this way it worked in greco-roman world the more you had the more you thought of yourself and the more you get the more you thought of yourself and the more you earn the more you thought of yourself and Paul says y'all get to change that that is childish for you to think the more you have the bigger you are oh it gets quiet right around here cuz I know y'all [Music] they say discharge this it and the tendency is to attach your understanding of yourself to what you have so the more you have the more exalted you are but Paul says that ain't the Christian way the Christian way is like this the more you have the less you think of yourself the more you get the more humble you ought to be the more you've received the Lord to the ground you ought to walk you ought to change your understanding I'm coming to get you I'm coming because when you look at your things there are two ways to see them either you see possession or you see blessing can I tell you the difference possession is what you think you old that you get that now exists I can pat myself on the back blessing is to look out at what you have and detach yourself from it and know that if God had not been good to me if the Lord hadn't answered my prayers if God hadn't blessed my life I wouldn't have anything at all you know what bothers me what bothers me most in the body of Christ are arrogant Christians hey there's nothing wrong with being successful there's nothing wrong with having a little something-something the problem is when you take your something-something and you think that you can walk in church and you are better than anybody else because of what the Lord blessed you with I don't want you I'm looking for the folk that when God does this the only thing you know how to do is bow your head humble yourself and thank the Lord for how good god has been to you are there any humble Saints who can declare god bless my life God open that door God answered my prayers God got me in that position [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when you're even Romans Paul would say let no man a woman think more highly of themselves than they ought to yeah you you pretty smart you you you work pretty hard you got the right connections but everything you have grace is in the equation and if you took grace out of the equation watch how quickly you'd lose everything it's pasta listen I gotta change who I'm talking to I gotta change my opinion of myself I'm not exalted I'm humbled but he ain't done seconds when I was a child I spoke as a child I understood as a child and I thought as a child he says I need to change my speaking my understanding and my thinking now if you're not lost yet so tell them right here a good question ought to be asked what is the difference between understanding and thinking because in the English they're almost synonymous they're both mental capacities not in Greek in the original language of the New Testament in which Paul writes there's a difference Paul says I have to change my understanding my throw nail because if within the house have to change my thinking thinking is this Greek term logan's oh my l EG i z o ma I like eat so my and like eat so my thinking hey Elijah it literally means to look at something and put weight on it w e IG HT the way Paul uses thinking he uses a verb that literally means to to look at something and assign value to it Kevin it means to see something and tell yourself that's priceless but that's worthless it's the ability to look at the scope of your life and assign what has real value and what doesn't most of it I gotta change what I value and put weight on as I grow up okay you ain't got it um the best way to understand Logan so my is to imagine going to Nordstrom and just where I go Kumasi go to Nordstrom and you're in your favorite department and none of the items have price tags and they give you a price tag gun and they tell you you can walk through the store and you can put the price on whatever you see based upon how you value it that's what thinking is it's to look at the scope of everything that's in the store of your life and assign value to what you think is valuable and to assign worthlessness to what you think has no worth so here's the poll says when I was a child I assigned weight to certain things but as I've grown older there are some things that not I put weight in that I did not value when I was a child ah there are some things at 45 that I value that I didn't think twice about when I was 20 there's some things in your fifties that you ought to cherish more than you did in your 30s there's some things in your 70s that you ought to shout about more than you did when you were 25 ah so so the seasoned Saints um y'all ought to be the first shouters in church because you've learned to value some things the Millennials don't know nothing about they shout when the Mercedes comes they say Amen when they get the promotion they'll take a lap when when all the bills are paid that that's millennial praise but seasoned Saints have learned to value some other stuff and as I make my way to your ministry I've learned to thank God for some other stuff I thank God for waking up in my right mind with all the hell I go through I thank God for letting me lay down at night I thank God for putting my own clothes on I thank God for a reasonable portion of health and strength are they any seasoned Saints who can thank God for some other stuff and the older you get not only do you put weight on other things but watch this watch this your list of a man's gets longer you you know what I can't understand not only am i bothered by arrogant Christians I am deeply perturbed by gray hair on closed lips does just seem to me that the older you are the more you have to thank God for that there's some things you can thank God for that Millennials and even found out about God yet they don't know he's the healer cuz they ain't been sick yet they don't know he's a provider because they ain't been broke yet they don't know he's a mind regulator cuz they'd almost felt crazy yet but when you try God uh let me see if I can help y'all I'm done you know I I'm not supposed to yell my suppose yeah I'm just raising my voice we're just raising my voice um I'm blessed today to have in sanctuary friend of Mines Daphne LOI definitely raise your hand Daphne wait Daphne and I go back so we we both over 45 so yeah I've known 35 years about 35 yeah we definitely I grew up together you gotta remember that old-school Baptist Church I keep telling you about a definite reason that we went to the same church one over 706 South Michigan on the Southside Chicago that's where we raised and an old-school Baptist Church there are certain things that just happened regularly there's certain things and you really ain't old school Baptist if you don't know certain traditions about old-school Baptist Church let me also go back to church old school Baptist Church you ain't no school if you don't know what we did every second Sunday of June err every second Sunday June said oh oh screw Saints know it old school says no second Sunday in June and old scriptures if you stay across the board your church were no school if you knew you think you things sex that means June sex Sunday in June the youth ran the service we did everything everything the grown folk did uh we led the devotions cuz you know back then there was no praise and worship team no no no no you had deacons and and they lined out hymns big loss we ain't got no oohs whoo there ain't a deacon on the can sing here right now these are new-school deacons these new school new school neither one of them get them in line of him and and and and these the new school that they they right created prayers all who didn't sprayed the same prayer every Sunday so when we land worship as children oh we led to devotion we sang hymns and we prayed the same prayer because we memorized it we heard it every Sunday after devotions we did what grown folk did the choir marched in we've been rehearsing youth a choir for a long time and you know we didn't just rehearse the song we practice the choreography of the procession because the old school Baptist Church the choreography is important as the person as the song you gonna say so we lined up in the back here we come down out and we sang with the adult choir saying every time they came in how I got over how I got over my soul looks back and wonders how I got over my Lord and just to show we were young when when we get to that part they said my soul looks back and wonder we took a step back and it came back around it was a beautiful thing to see we march down that aisle singing how I got over how I got over enough forgive my dad was up that day and he gave some comments he said list I want to thank you for lead worship but I want to know who taught them and saying how I got over that is an inappropriate song for the children's choir cuz they ain't got over nothing and there's some stuff you shouldn't sing if you ain't got over it oh but the old Saints could march in and they could sing that song with integrity and authenticity coz the older you get the longer you'll list oughta be of the things you did get over of the ways God did make of the doors God has opened of the prayers God has answered and you can look back over your life and then he grown folk here that know the ways God is made that knows how God has brought you through some stuff you don't only grown when you know that I ought to praise for the things God has done so let me go on and find my seat get up out of here I'm tired Tojo I'm getting old so the next time you come down from street with your grown self you've been talking to God you've been humbled by the things God has done you come in putting value and some things that you neglected when you were younger when you come in like that there's gonna be the temptation for you to make a joyful noise you might be prompted to shout a little something it may cross your mind to wave a hand it may jump up in your spirit to stand on your feet and if I know Church the way I know Church when you get that feeling and you start rocking and it looks like it's about to come on there's going to be somebody on your Pew that tries to keep you from getting up they're gonna look at you out the corner of their eyes the young phone call is side-eye [Music] and they gonna start scooting over giving you that she better not do that and if you begin to open up your voice and tell God thank you for the things God has done there might be somebody behind you who says you ought to keep quiet I can't hear what the preachers saying and if you stand up there's gonna be somebody in your section and said I wish he would sit down cuz they really don't take all of that to give God glory and if you get the side-eye and if you get to sit down look and if you get the shut up talk do me a favor nudge your neighbor next time and tell him neighbor I'm too grown to be quiet I'm too grown to shut up I'm too grown not to bless his name because when I think all the goodness of God and when I think the ways God is made not to bless His name are there any grown folk who are not ashamed to Jesus not ashamed of the Lord he heard my cry [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I need some rope okay - just open your mouth like you know that God's been good to you anything good ain't even good [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] every Oh for me every day Oh [Music] Oh Oh Oh Oh when I was born ugly was later if no hair no joy it's one thing you can do if you'll have a praise it's one thing you can do you only [Music] [Music]

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 97,167

Rating: 4.740171 out of 5

Keywords: Alfred Street Baptist Church, 2018, Grow Up, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

Id: X5hmsFlmAjU

Length: 48min 37sec (2917 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 16 2018