"Don't Count Me Out"- Pastor Elect Rev.Dr. Jonathan J.H. McReynolds (Sept.11)

let all of god's people say man how many of you want to be included in what god is about to do oh come on i said how many of you want to be included in what god is about to do if you're not too mean if you're not too busy just touch your neighbor and say i'm going to be included come on let's give the lord a handcuff of praise this morning amen for all that he is doing amen you may be seated in the presence of the lord recognizing god our father who is our creator jesus christ who is the author and the finisher of our faith and the holy spirit who is our comforter until the lord's return it's good to be in the house of the lord today come on let's just give god a handcuff of praise if you're glad to be in the house of the lord today oh come on i need about 20 folks that are really really really really really glad that you're in the house of the lord today with all of the tragedy in the world the tragedy city if you are glad to be here let the redeemed of the lord oh y'all catch it in a minute i said let the redeemed of the lord say so amen to reverend miller this esteemed body of clergy deacons trustees all of the leaders of the enoch missionary baptist church i salute you in the name of jesus christ amen us as you may retire this time if you so desire i must say that it is with great humility and all that i stand here this morning because i understand in my fundamental spiritual and devotional life that we serve a god who is a god of providence which means that god orchestrates and has a plan for each and every one of our lives so i understand that it is not by accident that the reverend dr jonathan jamel harvey mcreynolds and princess mcreynolds is here right now so i don't say i'm glad to be here but i say i'm glad to be home amen god knows if i can just give a 30-second testimony i said in 25 years ago when i started ministry of the lord ever moved me in ministry from paducah kentucky that i wanted him to take me either further south or further west god knows i never prayed to be in the snow belt amen but i am glad to be in the will of god because whenever you are in the will of god you know god is going to bless you and he's going to bless those whom you are connected with thus i am excited about our future together oh i said i'm excited about our future together i'm let me say one more time i am excited about our future together god has had a succession of great leaders here both in the pulpit and in the laity and i don't believe that god is finished yet amen can we celebrate this one more time the new first lady of the house princess maker reynolds in and you will learn that there's only one thing that will make me act ghetto and that's about my wife amen because god gave her to me and i'm grateful for her i'm grateful for her trusting my spiritual life to uproot herself our children and to follow the vision of god as for what he is doing for us the first thing i said i wanted to do as the pastor of this church and i pray that you support me in this i spoke with some of the deacons and asked him to help me in being a fourth generation baptist preacher i understand the life of the baptist church that sometimes we go through transitionary periods and there's ups and downs but god always sends someone to hold the church together during those seasons and enid has been blessed on not just this occasion but once before to have the reverend robert miller to hold the church together and to lead the church so i i need everyone that loves pastor miller and lady josephine miller just to stand on your feet and just show them some love this morning bless you amen when i met with he and deacon scott and dick and floyd earlier this week i said batman had robin lone ranger had tonto lebron had kyrie magic had mcadoo jordan at pippen and matt reynolds has miller amen amen first thing he did is he came in my office and he come handed me those keys i said well we're gonna get you another set cause you're not going anywhere amen so i want you to join with me on the first sunday in october i believe it will be fitting for us to show our love and our gratitude to pastor and first lady miller for all that they have done over the last 18 months amen are you going to help the new pastor amen so we want to have a special celebration we'll have some type of event after morning service a re-pass for them we'll take up a special love offering to show our love for them and then if any of the individuals want to give tokens of love or auxiliaries want to give tokens of love during the re-pass you may do that we're going to treat it just like a pastor's anniversary amen because we a servant is worthy of his higher amen so we want to be a blessing to him amen it was also announced that election day is coming up and pastor miller also said that one of our own uh system melissa barrett is on the ballot so we want to come out and support her on the ballot because enid will lead from the front and not from the behind amen amen we will be represented in the public circle amen i just want to thank everyone for the love and uh kindness that you have shown to us in this transition of being a 25-year preacher this has i think been the quickest transition in baptist history amen but we've pulled it off amen and we want to thank you for all of your kindness your prayers and those that have reached out to us amen can i preach now amen turn with me to the old testament book of judges judges chapter 11. judges chapter 11 and we want to look at verses 1 through 11 and verses 29 and 32. judges chapter 11 verses 1 through 11 and verses 29 and 32. and i just want to preach a word today to all of those that have been overlooked disenfranchised people limited your potential in life and doubted what god could do in your life amen judges chapter 11 verses 1 through 11 and i'll be reading to you from the new king james version now jephthah the gileadite was a man of valor but he was the son of a harlot and gilead begot jephthah gilead's wife bore sons and when his wife's sons grew up they drove jephthah out and said to him you shall have no inheritance in our father's house for you are the son of another woman then jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of taub and worthless men banded together with jephthah and went out raiding with him and it came to pass after a time that the people of amen made war against israel and so it was when the people of amen made war against israel that the elders of gilead went to get jephthah from the land of taub then they said to jephthah come and be our commander that we may fight against the people of amen so jephthah said to the elders of gilead did you not hate me and expel me from my father's house why have you come to me now when you are in distress and the elders of gilead said to jephthah that is why we have turned again to you now that you may go with us and fight against the people of amen and be our head over the all the inhabitants of gilead so jephthah said to the elders of gilead if you take me back home to fight against the people of amen and the lord delivers them to me shall i be your head and the elders of gilead said to jephthah the lord will be a witness between us if we do not according to your words then jephthah went with the elders of gilead and the people made him head and commander over them and jephthah spoke all his words before the lord in misbah verse 29 then the spirit of the lord came upon jephthah and he passed through gilead and manasseh and passed through mitzvah of gilead and from misfa of gilead he advanced toward the people of amen verse 32. so jephthah advanced toward the people of amen to fight against them and the lord delivered them into his hands i want to preach just for a few moments from this thought don't count me out don't count me out i pray that you'd help me and talk back to me this morning amen our heavenly father we thank you for this word we thank you for what you're doing in our midst lord we pray that this word would revive someone we pray that this word would lead someone to salvation lord we come here not for form nor for fashion but rather we come to lift the name of jesus higher and higher lord we pray that there's one here that's unchurched or unsaved that they will come giving their life to jesus and lord i pray that you to use me as your vessel to preach your word lord i'm not here for self-glory but i am here that your glory might be revealed lord i pray that you would just use me in your service that sinner men and women might see a lord that saves and loves lord we thank you in the mighty and matchless name of jesus and let all of god's people say together amen don't count me out the book of judges is an interesting narrative within the confines of the old testament the book of judges displays how soon the condition of humanity can change when we get out of order with god the book of joshua records how the nations of israel attained victory in the land of promise and defeated their enemies due to their trust in god and their collective obedience to the lord however as we turn to the book of judges we see how soon the condition of the nation changes due to the change of their national behavior and relationship with god the people god people god's chosen people have now within the time of judges have been catapulted into a state of national chaos and spiritual disarray the nation of israel who once has such a dependent relationship to our god have now become disobedient idolatrous and are experiencing repeated defeat and shame at the hands of their enemies due to their dysfunctional and rebellious relationship with god we do understand that when we try to take our lives into our own hands and step out of the will of god that god will sometimes remove himself and allow us to go through some trials and sufferings oh we must never get beside ourselves and think that we can do whatever we want to do and that god is just going to bless it just because we woke up in the morning but if we want the lord to be with us in all of our endeavors we must get to a position and practice in life of where we make sure that we are walking in the will of god that means i don't get ahead of him i don't get behind him i don't try to help god but i don't move in my life until god speaks to me the old folks down south used to say it like this i woke up this morning with my mind stayed on jesus it is a sad commentary that is recorded about their plight within this book the book of judges was written around 1126 bc and most scholars credit the writing to samuel while few minority scholars give credit to the prophet isaiah the book of judges records the failures of israel during nine apostasies seven servitudes fourteen crooked judges and five civil wars in other words the book of judges chronicles how israel is systematically dismantled as they get further away from god and i believe if some of us would take a walk down memory lane every time we took control of our lives ourselves and did what we wanted to do we find that our life became chaotic and dismantled but when we walk in the will of the lord that's when it seems like the lord blesses us however as we explore the text today we find the story of human redemption forgiveness and divine destiny in the midst of a season of national disgrace this shows us that regardless of what our corporate experiences may be in life that god has the capacity to do something glorious in the midst of tragic times that's why i am never defeated by how things look in my life or what people say about me because in the midst of my tragedy and my burdens that's when god might be up to something to picking me up and using me in my life i wish i had 20 folks in here that are going through it but just because you're going through you believe and understand that god is not finished with you yet touch your neighbor and say watch this because god is about to bless me real good if i may take a sermonic pause at this moment i believe that many of us can testify that god indeed has the ability to allow his glory to come forth in the midst of our tragedy because many of us have experienced the glory of the lord in some of our darkest situations can we have testimony service for just a moment when our enemies came upon us someone would say they stumbled and they fail in the midst of our greatest struggles we realize that we are more than conquerors when it seemed like our back was against the wall that's when it seemed like the lord made a way out of no way when it seemed like the weapons of the adversary were formed against us that's when we learned for ourselves that no weapon formed against us shall prosper y'all get this in just a minute when evildoers did all that they could do to hinder our progress we learned that we didn't have to fret over evil doers nor be envious of workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb somebody ought to say mac i just learned that even when it looks dark that god is still working in my life even when folks talk about me god can still be in the process of elevating me even when i'm down to my last dollar god is still my provider when the doctor shake their head he can still heal my body when my friends walk off and leave me god is still with me i wish y'all stopped playing with me this morning when it seems like i'm going through god has already determined my end look at somebody say don't count me out don't count me out give me a few weeks y'all y'all get my routine hey man this was a shared plight of the central figure in the text jefftha jephthah was an individual that was the recipient of rejection shame ridicule yet god uses him in kingdom deliverance and victory watch this he was a recipient of rejection shame and ridicule but yet god decided to use him he was rejected he was ridiculed he was shamed but god decided to use him he was rejected he was ridiculed and he was shamed but god decided to use him somebody put their mouth on you but god still decided to use you folks discounted your beginnings but god decided you still wanted to use you you went through a bad situation but god decided he was going to use you you wasn't always in church on sunday morning but god decided he was still going to use you you had a misstep somewhere in your life but god decided he was still going to use you do i have anyone here that's a recipient of a 2nd 3rd fourth fifth sixth chance from god and you just wanna give him a quick praise and a couple of back snaps and say lord i thank you for being a god that never counts us out yeah yeah yeah yeah that's why i learned never to put my mouth on anyone because i don't know what god is up to in their life that person that somebody else was talking about might be the very person that god is raising up to bless them or to bless me amen i wish i had somebody in here you see you can never despise someone's beginning because you don't know where god is taking them jeff the jeff essentially becomes a sign and a symbol that is reflective of our personal journeys in the kingdom he is a signing symbol that regardless of our human condition or experience our condition and our experience has no bearing upon what god may do in our lives because i am broken today that is no indication that i'm going to be broken next year next week or next month because you're in poverty today does not mean you're going to be in poverty next year because you come from a broken home doesn't mean that your house cannot be a home just because you are going through that is no indication that you are finished in your situation thus the relevant question arises from the theology of the text who is this person just in the text the historical record states that he is the son of gilead now had the record of jeff to stop there this narrative might have went in a different direction you see his father jephthah was a powerful individual he we may have looked at him in his resume of gilead and speculated that jephthah was destined for a life of privilege that would be void of despair however the bible goes on to mention that jephthah's mother was a harlot in the eyes of many this disqualified him of being of any significance or use in the kingdom because of who his mother may have been however watch what happens as the narrative plays out the historical record declares that the nation was in trouble because they were being threatened by the ammonites the ammonites had issues with israel because they felt that israel was dwelling on land that they did not deserve and it belonged to their ammonites in other words israel had something that the ammonites coveted and they said why would god give it to them and not give it to us isn't it funny in and how we often experience the blessings and favor of god and there are always folks that have issues with how god decides to bless us isn't it funny how when god decides he's going to open up the windows of heaven and pour us out of blessing that there are some folks that cannot celebrate our blessing with us isn't it funny that when god decides to give us a door of opportunity there's always someone that wants to close the door of opportunity but don't you know that what god has for you i wish i had someone in here what god has for you it is for you it doesn't matter how folks look at you what they say about you if they don't like your pedigree if god decides he is going to bless you he will bless you real good do i have anybody in here that say i was blessed in spite of my haters yeah these ammonites they they were messed up because god decided he was going to bless israel there's always someone that questions the blessings that we receive this was the case with israel in the land of promise judges 11 declares the ammonites felt as if israel was trespassing on their land and they were now going to battle with israel to deprive them of their promise however don't you know that if god has something for you not even your enemies can overthrow what god is about to do in your life someone ought to shout right there because you have experienced some people that hated your favor but they just had to be sick to their stomachs because they cannot overthrow or deprive what god was doing in your life they said you would never amount to anything but you got the job anyway they said you would never amount to anything but you kept your home together anyway they said you would never amount to anything but you got the promotion on the job they said you would never make it but you got that college degree they said you would never make it but you got off of drugs you came out of the streets you came out of the jail you got your life together is there anybody anybody anybody in here that can say in spite of folks god decided to bless me anyhow the ammonites had caused panic in the nation of israel they intimidated the nation essentially the ammonites told them we will not destroy you if you allow us to pluck out one of your eyes and disgrace you while you dwell in the land in other words they want to mess up and pollute their blessing the nation was in panic and the nation began to ask who will fight for us who shall defend us here in the midst of national turmoil the literary tone of the text shifts within judges and we are introduced to the son of a harlot by the name of jephthah his name kept coming up to the answer to their national problem israel knew that jephthah knew how to fight in battle they knew that he was a man of valor they knew that he had a band of men that would fight alongside of him however the only issue was jephthah was an individual whom they counted out can i break it down into rochester in terms he was a person they talked about but now they needed him to come and fight for them he was the one that they cast out but now they needed to give him an invitation to come back in he was the one that they said would never amount to anything because of who his mother was in life but now he was the one that they realized that god designed to defend them don't count anyone out because you don't know what's inside of them you want to touch your neighbor and say neighbor you don't know who you're sitting next to because god has something in me you don't know what's in my atmosphere because god is about to raise me up you don't know what's in my tomorrow so don't laugh at my today because god is taking me somewhere i wish i had about 50 to 100 folks in here that have exceeded the expectations for your life and you have watched the lord take you higher and higher in spite of what the world said against you let me hurry on because i see outback in my future he became discounted disenfranchised and counted out by his brothers and his kindred jester had a stigma placed over his life because those around him sized him up and they counted him out don't you know my friends that we have a bad habit within the kingdom of counting people out we will look at a person's history and determine that they are not worthy we will observe their personal struggles and limit their potential we will consider their personal failures and discount their possibilities with god we will listen to gossip in the chat of others and determine the worth of individuals however i have learned that with god nothing is impossible do i have a praying house today the individuals that we may overlook and turn our nose up today maybe those that god is in the process of raising up to be our blessing so don't look at the person on the street corner funny because that might be the person that god's going to send in here to lead a ministry or lead somebody to christ don't look at somebody's downfall and say i would never allow that to happen in my life because somebody's down for a mess might be a transformation into a ministry the church ought to be excited whenever we encounter broken individuals because broken individuals are nothing more than divine opportunities for god to do a miracle in their situations that's why every now and then in my meditation time i have to look back over my 45 years and thank god for my broken moments because in the midst of my broken moments that's when god stepped in my situation i wish i had somebody here when i got in a fight about something that's when god stepped in when i had sickness in my body that's when god stepped in when i was standing all by myself that's when god stepped in my broken moments were transformative in my life that's why we ought to have a great anticipation when we encounter the drunk of the abuse and the oppressed because there is a possibility that god is turning things around in their lives and maybe i'm just young and naive but i still believe that we serve a god of great turnarounds that god specializes in turning some lives around and if we are just real and keep it 100 today we haven't always been in church on sunday morning but we ought to thank to be god some thanks today because he is a god of turnaround and he turned our lives around because he turned us around now we have a capacity and a willingness to praise him because he turned our lives around now we are willing to live for him because he turned our lives around we are now willing to pray for him i guess y'all been saved all your lives but as for me i am glad that the lord did some turning around in my situation because if he had not turned me around from my broken places i would not have the praise and the worship that i have right now is there anybody in here that will not take nothing for your journey because you are grateful for what god did in your life some of us just don't look like what we've been through here we even make up or perform wonders a three-piece suit will cover up a whole lot of stuff but every now and then i have to give him a praise and i don't look like everything that i've been through every now and then i have to say lord i thank you that i don't look like my past struggle i don't look like my past relationships i don't look like my past hurts i don't look like my past rules is there anybody anybody anybody in here they can say lord i'm grateful and i don't look like what i've been through someone ought to give me a survivor right there you see you see i'm almost done i'm almost done because i see what i'm gonna get it out back now we must have a kingdom consciousness that recognizes the dangers of counting people out when we count people out we are limiting the possibility of god to manifest himself in their human experience i don't know about you but i'm but considering what i'm up against in my life my church my family i don't want to limit the move of god anywhere in anyone's life or in my atmosphere consider the visions that are eradicated in the church because we count people out consider the gifts that are underutilized because we count people out consider the dreams that we erase because we count people out consider the testimonies that never come to fruition because we count people out here is the interesting thing about jephthah that gives us a glimpse into the kingdom and human dysfunction there is no biblical record at this point of any great act of sin or disobedience in the life of jephthah that caused him to be counted out by his family and his community in other words he didn't do anything all they did was this street they looked at where he came from they looked at his mother and his father and they tried to predetermine what god was going to do in his life perhaps i'm the only person that has a shout and a praise that where i came from has no bearing on where i'm going with god but every now and then i just have to thank god that my past and my history is just our platform and our foundation for god to do something glorious in my life he didn't do anything they just counted him out because his father had a problem can i execute the text and not get out of here his daddy had a problem he had wealth he had charles thomas money he had prestige he had political clouts however gilead has one problem that the bible says every time he encountered someone with long hair weave stilettos juicy couture perfume don't y'all look at me like that he lost his mind don't don't look at me funny hey man cause some of y'all lost your minds too amen maybe your issue was not his but perhaps you lost your mind when somebody came in with a three-piece suit and some issy miaki the sins of his father and the lives of his mother caused people to discount the kingdom potential of jephthah but one thing that i have learned in life is that it is not about where you come from but it's about where you are going that determines your worth i wish i had five folks in here that grew up and understand that it doesn't matter where you came from you might have grew up with on government commodities but now you can go and eat some filet mignon i wish i had somebody here you used to you grew up down south with an outhouse but now you got two and a half baths and a picking fence around your house is there anybody in here that can say it does not matter where you start but it matters of where you end up and how you finish i'm so glad that i don't despise small beginnings because my beginning has no bearing on my end you see we must be careful in the context of the church that we don't drive people out or keep them away because we don't have they don't have a proper pedigree in life regardless of where we come from in life the bible declares that our eyes have not seen nor is heard what the lord has in store for us don't count me out because of my family history or missteps because you have no idea nor can you see or have you heard where the lord is taking me you ought not look at your neighbor funny because you don't know who you're sitting next to you don't know what god is about to do in their life you ought to touch your neighbor and say take a good look at me now this is the last time that you're going to see me in this position because the lord is taking me somewhere i wish i had a praying house here i got three more points but i feel my help coming the lord is taking me somewhere i've been wounded for a long time but don't count me out because god is taking me somewhere i've been talked about for a long time but don't count me out because god is taking me somewhere everyone laughed at my situation but they did not know what the lord was about to do in my life i've had some dark days in my life but i've learned if i call on the name of the lord in the midst of my dark situations that the lord has a capacity to turn my darkness into the daylight of the day is there anybody in here that can say i love the lord he heard my cry the lord put in my every growth that's why you hold not count me out because when i'm going through what i'm going through i can go in my closet and i can call the name of the lord do i have anybody in here come here just let the text come alive the bible says that jephthah was exiled to a land in a place called tub tower was a place of misfits uh time was a place that everyone went that was in waste time was a place of people that were in sin but here in this place of tub is where the lord began to work in the life of jephthah and i don't know about you but wherever the lord works on my life let's let it be because i'm glad the lord worked in my life in times when i was going through because when i was going through it was just a set up for what the lord was about to do because i've learned that in my exiled state that's when i learned how to call on the name of the lord in my exile state that's when i learned how to worship and praise the lord in my exile state that's when i learned how to call on his name is there anybody in here that can say mack reynolds i know what it is to be exiled because i've been rebuked and scored i was out on an island by myself everyone had walked away and left me but in my place called top that's where i found the lord that's when i my praise went higher that's when my worship went deeper that's when my intimacy became greater that's when i learned who the lord really is is there anybody in here that can say unlike jephthah i've been to a place called top but what the devil did not know is that my place of exile was not designed to kill me but my place of exile was meant to make me is there anybody here that can say i am a survivor of an exiled state and i'm here now with a praise in my mouth the devil thought it was over but what he did not know is that even when the world counts me out that the lord is still bringing me in come here texan come alive the bible says that the people of amen were making war against israel and the bible says that when they were under great threat they said who shall fight for us who shall defend us and the bible says that the only person they could think of was this man named jephthah who they said was no good this man named jephthah who they said was not one of them this man named jephthah who they said was a son of a harlot you see they had no idea when they counted him out that god had designs on his life to be the very one to be a blessing to them is there anybody here that can say i survived the hours i overcame my ridicule i overcame my valley i overcame my destruction and now the lord's hand is on me and i have a praise in my mouth is there anybody here that can say don't count me out if you're not too mean just touch two or three folks and say don't count me out oh come on i said don't count me out tell your neighbor that god is doing something in my life tell your neighbor that god is about to bless me real good tell your neighbor that eyes have not seen nor is heard what the lord has in store for me no weapon formed against me shall ever ever ever prosper and god is continually opening the windows of heaven and pouring me out of blessing touch your neighbor and say i'm blessed in the city and i'm blessed in the field grace and mercy shall fall in here all the days of my life don't count me out because you have no idea what the lord is going to do can i bring one more testimony there was a man named jesus whom they counted out i wish i was in a baptist church who they counted out they called him everything but the son of god and all of the gospels tell me that they carried him to a calvary's hill where they put nails in his hands they put nails in the street they put a crown of thorns on his head and they pierced him in his side and his blood and water ran down to the earth for the redemption of humanity and he said father o father into thine hands i command my spirit and he gave up the ghost and the historical narrative says that some folks went back about their business some people are counting him out but what they did not know is that god has something in store for him because the bible says that they placed him in joseph's borrower tomb where he stayed for three days and three nights but i'm so glad today i wish i had about a hundred baptist folk in here i'm so glad today that it was sunday morning monday night arise it was sunday morning my with all power all power all power in heaven and in earth in his hands did he get up i said did he get up talk to me and he didn't get up say yes if he got up you can't count me out if he got up there's no limits to my life if he got up there's no limits on the church can't the lord do it yes he will yes he will don't count me out i just wanted to preach this morning and put some possibility in the atmosphere because so many times people tell us individually and corporately how far we can make it but i believe that there's no limits with god do i have any witnesses in here there's no limits with god your life has been blessed but you're gonna be even more blessed enid has been great but you're gonna be even greater your family your children been blessed but they're walking into an overflow sometimes you just gotta praise him in advance brother odd hence was trying to sing that song put a praise on it god just put a praise on it i just need about 30 folk as i go in my seat just to put a praise on it and believe in advance that god has already made a way for you believe in advance that god has already opened the door for you believe in advance that god has already secured your future believe in advance that god has already fixed it so in your life do i have anybody in here that can just give him a praise look down your robe and say neighbor he's worthy to be praised god bless your doors of church open if there's one here today they'll like to give their life to jesus christ in the tradition of the baptist church you may come by baptism let a christian experience or watch care to give your life to jesus to unite with this church perhaps somewhere in your life either the adversary or people counted you out but god sent me here today to let you know that no one can dictate what god is going to do in your life don't limit yourself based upon the words of others or the expectations of others but god has greater in your life is there one here today that will accept jesus christ as lord

Channel: Aenon Missionary Baptist Church

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Length: 44min 59sec (2699 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 11 2016