Don't Quit Your Life With and For God | A Sermon by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II

you know we're in a pandemic and an epidemic is when a disease has a sharp rise in cases but a pandemic is when the disease spreads over the whole country and the whole world and that's why the only way to beat it is for people to refuse to quit the only way you can beat a pandemic is you can't quit searching for a vaccine you can't quit taking precautions because a pandemic means it's everywhere there's no way you can get around it you got to go through it huh you got to endure some inconveniences to love your neighbor and you've got to embrace those inconveniences you can't quit that's why it's so backwards to see people especially people of faith who say they don't want to wear a mask to protect their neighbor or pay a little extra taxes so other people can have health care or take some of what we have have and give it to others it's problematic because to serve god means that we decide even if it cost us something we don't quit good morning good morning good morning greenleaf it's such a blessing to be gathered here this is our first outside service and we come to lift the name of the lord jesus christ amen amen how you lift it up and all the earth is who you are how you lift it up in all the earth is who you are how you lift it up and all the earth is who you are lord we exalt your name the lord we exhaust your name everybody say hi lifted up in all the earth is who you are i ain't lifted up in all the earth is who you are lord we exalt your name lord we yet talk your name one more time i lift it up in all the earth is who you how great is our god sing with me how great it all will is how great how great is our god is how great and you are worthy of all praise with my heart i sing how great is it how great is sing with me how great just wanna is you you've forever for me blessings and glory and honor they all belong to you thank you jesus for blessing me i just wanna praise you forever i never you've done everything the lord has done for me blessings and glory and honor they all belong to you thank you jesus say come on i just wanna pray let me see you clap your hands in your car forever everybody forever glory and honor blessings and glory and they all belong to you thank you jesus but it's good to me down in my soul just to be able to look out and even though you know i've got your vision i'm still able to recognize some faces that are sitting out in the parking lot and it's been a long time y'all since we've been even this close together in a worship experience and so we thank god just for being able to gather here in this parking lot and for god making the way possible we thank god for pc sound and them making it possible for us to have y'all can hear me real good can't you glory to god can you honk your horns if you can hear me good yes yes yes i know y'all don't show enough get the honking when the word starts coming forth praise our god praise our god this is the day that the lord hath made we are rejoicing and being glad in it and we welcome those of you who are joining us by various means maybe you're on your computer maybe you're on your phone maybe you're on your tablet ever how you're joining us this morning we want you to know that we welcome you here at greenlee christian church for we are the place that is determined to show each of you the love of god and it is such a blessing to be able to come sunday after sunday after sunday and gather in a space usually over in the sanctuary but to hear the word of god to sing praises into our lord even while we're yet practicing social distancing and you know it's amazing the things that um when you're in that little space that we're over there it's a large space but we're in that space with the limited amount of people so it's usually myself and elder bill on some occasions uh uh sister felicia has been there with us dr barber uh our pastor is there maybe whoever brings him is there and we usually have our two sound people brother corey and brother mel and so we've learned to kind of amen ourselves and lift up the name of jesus that way and so as we're standing up here i heard in my left ear amen and it was coming from brother martin you just you know just the things that we take for granted that we used to hear all the time it's so good to hear that yet again on this morning coming forth and so i i trust that you all have had a good thanksgiving and even though it's been a different thanksgiving we can say lord we're glad that you gave us one more chance together ourselves together whether you were able to be with your family like i wasn't able to be with my family but i learned some things about them while we were out on this thanksgiving i learned that them jokers could do well without me and they can cook and so if the lord blessed me to live to see next thanksgiving and we can all gather together i'm going to be sitting at their house with my legs crossed at the ankle waiting for them to finish cooking and i'm going to have my tupperware dishes to haul off what my friday meal will be and i won't be washing any dishes and i won't be cooking anything because i found out they can do it and that's a good thing to know so you know even in all things we give thanks because the lord shows us great and marvelous things and even in the midst of the different things that we face and are going through can we just have a a moment together ourselves to give god praise and to lift up his name in a word of invocational prayer almighty god gracious loving and kind god here we are this morning we're in this place in this space god and we welcome you here lord we acknowledge this morning that there is none like you none so holy none so mighty none so loving none so merciful none so wise there's none like you lord we can search the world all over and we find that there is none like you perfect in all of your ways lord we thank you this morning god for how you allowed us to make it this close to the end of another year god we are not going to act like this has been an easy nine or so months lord it's been a difficult nine months but we find that you have remained faithful you've kept us you've watched over over us and you have helped us to be clothed in our right minds to have a reasonable portion of our health and strength and activity of our limbs you kept our mind stayed on you and so we've had a semblance of peace even in the midst of all of this and when anxiety would come we just thought on the name of jesus found our spirits being a little more calm we thank you for this branch of zion called greenleaf in the means that you have provided for us to be able to go all over the world proclaiming your good news that you love all of humanity and that it is not your will that in it should perish we thank you on today god for your tender mercies and your grace we ask now god that even as we are assembled here in our cars and some of us on this platform those that are behind cameras and sound systems that you would allow your grace and mercy just to settle upon us lord that we might be able to magnify and glorify your name whatever we came here with this morning god we got some news that we were not expecting to hear on this morning and our hearts are yet heavy but lord we still committed unto you and we say god that you're still good and you're still worthy of the praise we pray god that you would wrap your arms around bereaved families lord that you would lift up bow down heads god that you would mend and send your healing bomb over broken hearts god have your way in our midst and god whatever we're going through lord even with tears streaming down our face enable us to even in the midst of that even to be able to say thank you and we say thank you thank you lord i just want to say thank you lord we thank you just want to thank you lord oh lord you've been so good oh you've been so i just want to thank you we're going to lift some a couple of songs and then we're going to turn it over to our he's worthy of the pastor amen i was thinking the other day about the joy that came my way you took away my frown and the things that had me bound i thought about all those times i was walking around in days today i come before you with nothing but praise i was thinking the other day about the joy that came my way how you took away my frown and the things that had me bound thought about all those times i was walking around in the days today i come before you with nothing but praise everybody say oh lord we praise you oh lord we praise you come on give him praise everybody clap those hands and give god praise he's worthy hallelujah if you love him just honk on your horn if you love the lord yes our god is a great god yes oh lord we pray yes i just love this little praise tune says like this there is none like you how many of y'all know that's right come on just lift your hands where you are cause no one else can touch my heart like you do yes god is god and i have searched for all there is none like you nobody like you jesus and no one else can touch hallelujah there is there is none hallelujah our bishop is coming clap your hands as our bishop comes but in the old church we used to sit like this nobody do you like jesus hate nobody do me like lord do you like jesus he's my friend oh okay nobody do you like jesus okay nobody do you like the lord nobody do you like amen green leaf amen those of you that are joining us to people from goldsboro and from over north carolina and all over the united states our church family is worshiping with us in south africa in japan in the netherlands in the uk in england and other parts of africa it's good to be here today amen and we thank god we thank god for all of you who gathered brother bill if you just play softly i does everybody have your fm on 95 what is it 95 0.9 great we want you to be able to hear in your cars and um after we share in the eating of god's word we wanted to have a special meal together fellowship meal and you'll be able to follow the directions of our good brothers and and trustees and men let's give a horn tap for them as well you know there's a there's a strategic way to park and uh we got our security let's thank for our sound team and media team and our praise team and amen and reverend arzel and elder bell and all who are gathered and when we finish today they're gonna tell you how to pull out so just pay attention to them and i think we are we doing on the honor system still we've got tickets where the tickets so you'll have tickets and you'll be able to get now we're going to do 40 meals for all of the people in um a senior citizen complex because we are giving church that's how god blesses us the bible says give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and so we we don't ever do stuff just for ourselves some of you asked about your tithe checks you've been so good you know we never brought up giving not one of our services have we begged we just trusted god entrusted his people so some of you asked so this morning they do you can see it's easier to do it online but if you just need an envelope and want to do it the brothers are handing them out and when you get your meal you can just hand that out as well but you can do it online don't worry about giving this morning we want to give to you we know you've been faithful people those of you online can give the same way online people from all over the world you've been so kind and so gracious this morning we're broadcasting from our uh rebuilding broken places the 501c3 community development corporation and it is here where we serve children and it is here at the restaurant right here we now have a um uh special food services training program i think i found out this week that two or three people that came through our program have now started their own catering businesses amen amen and we we do job training and home development because we believe in ministering giving to the whole person amen and i want to say this morning i'm going to ask the caterers to give me a count because um we've got about 60 cars and if you're in a car by yourself i want you to get a meal for someone else i think we'll have enough i want you to get a meal and just randomly go give it to somebody and tell them this is a blessing from the lord a blessing from you and a blessing from greenlee christian church so if you'd have one person in your car get an extra meal but give it to somebody somebody that wasn't here and bless them amen now we learned earlier this morning that our dear sister vicky kaufman went on to be with the lord you know she's been in a battle i was on my way here just spoke to tasha i haven't spoken to her the sister yet we won't don't have any arrangements but aren't we glad vicki already made her arrangements she made her arrangements long before today amen and to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord and if you loved her thank god for her keep serving and most of all keep trusting god because one day every day will be sunday and the sabbath will have no end tears will be no more neither shall crying anymore and so we thank god for our hope in jesus christ lord comfort and calm and strengthen us grant us your courage your power and your faith now lord whenever you call men and women to preach you take the risk of putting treasure in trash treasuring an earthen vessel and the excellency of the power might be of the united us hide us behind the cross cover us in the blood fill us with your spirit for we ask it now come holy spirit come with preaching hearing and teaching power in jesus name amen relief i've been sharing online that we were going to spend a little time in the gospel of matthew chapter 10 uh it's too much in that scripture to just do one pass through and so matthew chapter 10 verse 5 through 8 beginning and then on down to verse 21 or so 21 22 23 and it says jesus sent his disciples his apostles his twelve harvest hands in the message bible out with discharge don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers and don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy first go to the loss to confuse people right here in the neighborhood tell them that the kingdom is here bring health to the sick raise the dead touch the untouchable kick out demons you have been treated generously so live generously don't think you have to put on a fundraising campaign before you get started you don't need a lot of equipment to serve the lord you are the equipment and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day travel light when you enter a town or village don't insist on staying in the luxury inn get a modest place with some modest people and be content there until you leave knock on the door be courteous if they welcome you be gentle if they don't welcome you quietly withdraw don't make a scene verse 16 then says but stay alert because this is hazardous work that i'm assigning you to as my apostles you're gonna be like sheep running through a wolf pack so don't call attention to yourselves be as cunning as a snake inoffensive as a dove but don't be naive either some people will impugn your motives other folk will smear your reputation just because you believe in me and don't be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities without knowing it they've done you and me a favor because when they grab you they've actually given you a platform to preach the kingdom of the good news don't even worry about what you'll say and how to say it the right words will be there the spirit of the lord will supply the words when people realize that it is the living god you are presenting and not some idol that simply makes them feel good some of them are going to turn on you even people in your own family there is a great irony here when you preach so much love and you'll experience so much hate but don't quit don't cave in it's well worth it in the end it's not success you're after but survival be survivors before you run out of options the son of man will have arrived verse 21 in the new international version says brother will betray brother to death and father his child children will rebel against their parents and some will have them put to death you will be hated by everyone because of me but don't quit because the one who endureth till the end shall be saved and before you know it the son of man will arrive this morning greenleaf as we gather here i want to lift don't quit living in god and for god don't quit living in god and for god oftentimes a passage of scripture is designed or it is not designed for us to have the exact literal experience that is mentioned in the scripture what the scripture is trying to teach us is a principle or principles that we must apply in our walk with god such is the case with matthew chapter 10 we may not experience exactly what the apostles experience and then we may but either way it really is about a principle that we must have as we walk by faith matthew 10 is a story about how jesus acquired and assigned his apostles and i want you to know that matthew's gospel is kind of methodical jesus is born jesus is baptized jesus spends time in the wild beat is burdened in the wilderness jesus begins his ministry with the beatitudes jesus faces backlash and now we see jesus choosing his men and blessing them with power to go to work and sisters you're included in this too the truth is if a leader is about to embark upon any great undertaking the first thing that leader must do is choose his staff because you're not a leader if nobody's following you and so jesus is pressing on them the effect and the success of his work and what it depends on jesus is choosing his staff his helpers in the days of his flesh but he's also choosing those that will stay close enough to him so that when he's gone they can continue the work here on earth now i want you to know in this text you need to understand these were not superheroes these were not x-men or x-women these were ordinary brothers they had no wealth they had no academic they had no grand and great social position they were chosen from the common people they were men who did ordinary thing brothers y'all can stop passing things out while we're preaching men who had no special education men who had no social advantages and one writer said that jesus is looking not so much for extraordinary people but instead what god is really looking for is ordinary people through whom he can do extraordinary things because jesus sees in every person not only what a person is but also what the person can become in the hand of god jesus chooses these men not only for what they were but for what they were capable of becoming under the influence of the holy ghost and the influence of their power and just a just a side note here but it's a good note if jesus wanted them then jesus wants us that's a good word if if jesus could work with judas and matthew and bartholomew and thaddeus and james and john and peter then jesus surely can work with us because our little becomes much in the master's hand then i want you to note that jesus called them listen at me brothers listen at the word jesus called them they were not looking for god god was looking for them that's an important thing for us to add to our testimony it'll help you be real with people don't ever go around folk and say you know i was looking for god and i found god and i i no no no no no truth of matter is before you ever started looking for god god was looking for you and god offers them a chance and here's the thing about god's chances you don't have to take them because god has fixed it so we are free to be faithful and we are free to be faithless but to every person to every person there comes a time which you got to either accept or refuse the call of god now they were called to be ambassadors or apostles that's what that word really means ambassadors an ambassador is someone that goes in another person's name the christian is jesus christ ambassador to the world jesus didn't tell the 12 not to he didn't tell them to set out to raise money get gold or silver he did he even told him don't even worry about that stuff in your pur in your purses he says accept my power and be my ambassadors and share my good news and i will take care of you i wonder is there anybody here online and in your cars that know if you serve the law the lord will take care of you the lord will take care of you then jesus tells them something that most of us wouldn't tell people if we were recruiting them to do something and greenleaf i need to even apologize i think every preacher needs to apologize every pastor needs to apologize to the members because there are times that we say look come over here and i want you to serve this chair person or i want you to be the minister of music i want you to help me with ministry i want you to do such and such a thing and and we present it so sweet yeah we act like there's going to be no challenges but jesus was a little different he would invite you to serve him and to serve god but then give you every reason not to accept the call you hear me brother martin he says look if you serve me now i'm going to take care of you but you need to know there's going to be controversy there's going to be challenge because when you call accept the call to serve the lord it does not mean the going will be easy in fact he actually says tony people will get mad at you he actually says if you follow me caesars and kings and mean presidents won't like you that's what the word said he said if you follow me society is going to talk about you he says if you really really shall not follow me some of your family members are gonna turn on you and not like you he says if you follow me you're gonna get locked up sometimes if you follow me you'll be despised because faith in god will bring a fight with this world i'll hear you there let me make this live the gospel says love the lord your god with all your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself that sounds so cute doesn't it that sounds so non-controversial but the strange thing about it is that's the way of the kingdom not the way of the world in fact in the ancient world when jesus first preached this the roman way the caesar way was to love only the caesar and worship the caesar and here jesus comes saying the gospel says that you're only supposed to worship and love god that creates controversy in roman society rome taught some people were high and others were low some people were high class and other people were low class but then the gospel says love your neighbor as yourself the gospel says preach good news to the poor and release to the captive and deliverance to the oppressed that's what the gospel said which puts it in contrast and contrary to the ways of the world and i want you to know rome still lives rome still lives even in america even in this reality you really decide to love everybody some people call you a fool right in the church what's wrong with you you know we got to hate some people in the church we can't love everybody we can't bring everybody up in here lord have mercy god god god can't love everybody i gotta have somebody to dislike to feel good about myself that's not the gospel um in fact in roman romans decided to build there were 60 million slaves and one of the terrors of rome is this you don't act right we're going to make you a slave and nobody can stop us and so rome did not like anybody that taught liberation rome did not like anybody that taught love rome did not talk like anybody that talked about freedom and here comes jesus telling his followers you don't worship caesar you love all people and by that by necessity if you love all people you can't love slavery you can't love injustice you got to love everybody you got to love all of god's creation therefore the gospel is the spirit of the lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor released to the captive and set the oppressed free and this means conflict don't ever think that the christians were persecuted just because they taught jesus forgives you and you go to heaven that's that's a part of the gospel but it's not the totality of the gospel the totality of the gospel is god leaves us here to occupy and to declare god's word and to and to show people to be ambassadors of christ and that my friends brings conflict to be born again to be saved is to be changed and this world doesn't often like to be changed when you believe jesus is lord and god is sovereign then kings and puny presidents and puny leaders of this world they don't have the final say i don't care how many bombs they have i don't care how much lying they say i don't care if their name is caesar or trump i don't care when you believe in jesus god is lord jesus is lord and god is sovereign when you believe love is contrary to hate when you believe grace is contrary to greed when you believe good news to the poor that's contrary to the bad news of oppression when you believe in mercy that's contrary to meanness so to follow jesus is to place us in a quarrel with the politics and the lies and the destruction that are too often in this world i have a friend right now that's being attacked something terrible a preacher friend of mine he's being attacked by trump he's been attacked by doug collins he's been attacked by senator lofla he's even being attacked by some black folk and he's black and why is my friend being attacked did he kill somebody no did he hurt somebody no did he abuse or rape some women no did he steal from the church no he's being attacked because he's a gospel preacher decided who decided to run for the senate and he decided to run from their sent the senate and say i'm going to run on an agenda that i believe everybody ought to have health care everybody ought to have living wages and everybody ought to challenge racism and we ought to be a country that welcomes immigrants and we ought to love the palestinians and the jewish people we ought to love muslims and jews and hindus we ought to lift the poor we ought to love all people that sounds like a good thing right well for believing that for going public with that he's being attacked 24 7. he pastors ebenezer baptist church the spiritual home of martin luther king he's a saved boy johnny was raised in a place like alpha arms he was raised pentecostal he's got a phd in christian theology went to morehouse been arrested for challenging the governor who refused to expand health care and what is he getting for that controversy he's being attacked because he answered the call of god he's being attacked because he believes that you shouldn't use power for anything but to help people up he preached a sermon y'all where he said that jesus said you can't serve god and mammon that's the word you can't serve god and money and he made a point that no matter what we do in life he said we may even be in the military but you can't serve the military you can be in the military but you can't serve the military and serve god too and what he means by that if the military's wrong you might have to challenge the military if you trust god that's what the the fighters that flew those planes called red tails did they challenge even the military when the military said they weren't good enough to fly because they were black they said but we were made black by god you can't serve god in money and he's being attacked viciously he's even being attacked by some black supporters of trump and even some people that called himself called themselves christians and pastors are attacking my friend the reverend rafael warnack it's a strange thing y'all he's being attacked for supporting health care he's being attacked for being a christian that supported health care seems like i remember jesus supported healthcare jesus everywhere he went he healed people and instead you know what they're saying about my friend he's a socialist he's unamerican all the sick people in georgia all the poor people in georgia over 40 percent of the people poor and my friend who is a christian is being attacked for taking positions rooted in love rooted in justice rooted in faith in jesus that says we ought to lift the poor and we ought to lift the least of these every policy he has taken is is in the heart of the gospel they come from the values of jesus and i wrote him last week and i didn't write him and say quit i didn't write him and say get out of the race i didn't write him and say that's why a pastor shouldn't be running i didn't write him and say prayed at everything they stop attacking you i wrote him and said don't quit stand on what you believe because there comes a time you've got to say i'm not going to quit living in and living for god and because of this reality you and i we can find ourselves in challenging troubling trying situations when we serve the word serve the lord and it teaches us the bible teaches us the word of god teaches us over and over and over and over again that to be a person of faith is not about believing and everything getting better all of a sudden many times what it means to follow the lord it is simply about believing anyhow going to trust the lord anyhow and refusing to quit i'm not going to quit living in and for god i i didn't always understand it but i've got a little age on me now and i've had a few knives in my back for serving the lord and i understand let's look better now what the old folk used to say for god i live and for god i die there comes a place that you have to have a spirit that says i'm not quitting and and that's where i want to leave you this morning because this is the one principle that this text matthew 10 is trying to teach us this morning we may not face exactly the same things the early apostles faced but here's the principle no matter what's going on no matter how crazy things are no matter what the challenges are in society in the church in the environment in the sick room in the family even at the graveyard don't quit living in and for god you know we're in a pandemic and an epidemic is when a disease has a sharp rise in cases but a pandemic is when the disease spreads over the whole country and the whole world and that's why the only way to beat it is for people to refuse to quit the only way you can beat a pandemic is you can't quit searching for a vaccine you can't quit taking precautions because a pandemic means it's everywhere there's no way you can get around it you got to go through it huh you got to endure some inconveniences to love your neighbor and you've got to embrace those inconveniences you can't quit huh that's why it's so backwards to see people especially people of faith who say they don't want to wear a mask to protect their neighbor or pay a little extra taxes so other people can have health care or take some of what we have have and give it to others it's problematic because to serve god means that we decide even if it cost us something we don't quit and i want you to notice sometimes there are political pandemics sometimes there are spiritual pandemics sometimes you can have physical pain and see like everything going wrong in your body but whatever they are we have to have an attitude that says don't quit living in and for god no matter what endure don't quit because i'm looking for the christians that understand that our faith was born for difficult times christianity wasn't born for babies christianity wasn't born for folk who can't take anything being able to be faithful in hard times that's who we are that's who we're supposed to be we don't quit being loving just cause folk being hateful we don't quit caring just because other folk are being callous we don't quit being kind just because other folk don't care we don't quit being concerned because other folk just don't give a whatever we don't quit speaking the truth just cause other folk are lying we don't quit standing for justice just because things get hard we endure and we don't quit and over and over in the word of god faith i tell you is more about not quitting than having a easy life i wish we could get that that faith ultimately is about enduring and not quitting than having an easy way of life much jesus bear the cross alone in all the world go free no there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for me life is full of challenges and the life of faith is surely challenging some of them gonna be big some of them small at times you get disheartened i do at times they make us feel overwhelmed and discouraged but that's why in the old testament and in the new testament over and over the word says god expects his people to endure and god helps his people to be differently they're going to be times sure when we lose heart they're going to be times when we fail but despite our shortcomings we are commanded time and time again don't quit and if you fall still don't quit asking god to help us and pick us up again this is why we have to put god's word in our heart let me let me give you some word from the word joshua 1 9 have i not commanded you be strong and courageous don't be afraid don't be discouraged for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go in other words don't quit isaiah 41 and 10 so do not fear for i'm with you do not be dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you and help you i will uphold you by my right righteous right hand in other words don't quit jeremiah 29 and 11 for i know the plans oh god i feel something now that i have for you i plans to prosper you and not to harm you i've got plans of hope and for a future so don't quit first corinthians 9 24 do you not know do not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize run in such a way that you get the prize i tell you don't quit galatians 6 9 let us not become weary in well-doing for at the proper time in due season we'll reap a harvest if we do not give up don't quit philippians 4 13 i can do all things through christ that strengthens me don't quit philippians 1 6 being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of jesus christ don't quit second timothy 1 7 for the spirit of god does not does not make us timid did not give us a spirit of fear but gives us power and of love and a sound mind don't quit first corinthians 16 and 13 be on guard stand firm in the faith be courageous and strong don't quit that's what the word says over and over and over and over again the word keeps telling us don't quit ephesians 6 and 10 finally be strong in the lord and in the power of his might james 1 12 god blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation hebrews 10 35-39 don't do not throw away this confidence trust in the lord remember the great reward it brings you patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do god's will then you will receive what the lord has promised for we are not of those who shrink back unto destruction but we are those who persevere unto the salvation of the soul now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen ephesians 6 13 therefore put on the full armor of god so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand don't quit living in god and for god our faith says don't quit don't quit sharing the gospel no matter what no matter who's talking no matter who's lying don't let no lie in president lying news show lying people keep you from sharing the gospel our faith says don't quit standing in the gospel no matter what angry haters say no matter what adversaries say no matter what adverse situations say stand in the love of god stand in the grace of god our faith says don't quit serving the gospel don't quit doing right don't quit living right don't quit being right don't quit helping other people right don't quit blessing folk don't quit and then it says don't quit seeing the gospel see he said endure because if you endure the son of man will show up soon do you know that every blessing we enjoy politically society socially and spiritually is because someone didn't quit they didn't quit believing that they would see the goodness of god in the land of the living and because they kept looking and believing no matter what was going on do you realize that god is at work somewhere in every situation i wish i had two or three witnesses out there god is at work god is at work turn his mic up so god is at work in every situation somewhere when god gives us an assignment we have to believe that god is not through with us yet no matter what comes up against us god is at work somewhere in if god is at work in the mr covet god is at work in the midst of this crazy election god is at work even when my body is hurting even in the cross god is at work even when your fried is getting mighty dog god is at work at the cross at the cross where i first saw the light and the burdens of my soul wrote you got to keep looking you got to keep seeing god and seeing what god is doing even if the problem doesn't move when we don't quit we will see the strength that god is providing us so we can make it the fact is and i'm closing the fact is that we don't quit that when we don't quit when things want to make us quit that's our praise some some of us haven't really learned how to praise god you see sometimes your praise is not that what's bothering you leaves what your praise is you don't leave yeah god you don't leave serving god no matter how you get hit no matter how you get hurt you keep right on trusting god and there's some folk out here on video and in your cars that you ought to be thankful for endurance oh yeah you ought to be thankful for endurance you ought to be thankful that we can endure no matter what troubles come you ought to be thankful that you haven't given up yet you ought to be thankful that you've had some depressed days over the last few months but you're still praising god you're still thanking god huh you ought to be thankful that in the midst of it you still wake up every morning with your mind stayed on the lord and sometimes you've just got to be thankful for a made-up mind i i didn't understand that when i was a young christian but now that i got some some wear and tear on me there's some more than i just get thankful not because things are better but because i got a made-up man i wish i had a witness here i got a made-up man i've got a made-up mind every night then i'm just thankful not because i got everything i want not because everything is easy but i'm thankful that i've got a made up mind i'm thankful that i'm blood bought i'm holy ghost filled i'm water baptized i'm love lifted i'm grace covered i'm mercy made and i'm word filled i'm truth delivered i'm miracle-believing i'm just a servant and i can't quit no matter what's wrong i've got the can't help it do i have a witness here is there anybody that's got a conviction a conviction in your heart and that's your thanksgiving i know we can't slap each other five but whoever you in the car with just slap them a high five and if ain't nobody in the car just slap that angel beside you with a high five and say that's my thanksgiving that i've got a made-up mind and i want you to know that when we endure it's not just enduring to endure it's not just refusing to quit just to refuse to quit because if you endure and if you know god you'll know jesus will show up might not come when you want it but the lord will show up the lord will make a way out of no way and we don't quit because we serve a god that won't quit that's the real praise that we sometimes fault brother archie but sometimes the right we are thankful for is we don't quit because the god that we serve won't quit on us that's where i'm closing right there that's where i'm closing right there green leaf all i got to tell you is exceedingly abundantly above all you could ask or think according to the power that worketh in you god is able to do just what he said he would do he's going to fulfill every promise to you so don't give up on god because god won't give up on you he's able god is able to do just what he said he would do he's going to fulfill every promise that he made you so don't give up on god because god won't give up on you i see your hand raised all the way in the back i hear your horns i see your lights flashing i'm so glad that i'm preaching to some folk that got a made-up man and we're going through no matter what happens no matter what comes our way we're going through because we're not going to give up on god brother grady because god won't give up on you do i have a witness is there a witness is there a witness is there a witness hallelujah hallelujah god won't give up on us so don't don't ever don't ever give up on god lord we thank you today we thank you today god for the spirit of resistance a spirit of commitment a spirit of strength a spirit of courage we thank you god even in the midst of the longevity of trouble sometimes that we still have a thanksgiving and that thanksgiving is when despite all despite it all you keep us in such a way you've put your spirit in us in such a way you've filled us in such a way that we don't quit we don't falter we don't turn back we make a decision to trust in the lord until we die and we've got a made-up mind and in god we're thinking that even when we have falter even when we fail something told us don't quit asking for your forgiveness don't quit asking for your help and your love and we thank you god that you are right there that you've never given up on us that you've never quit on us when you had every reason to quit for all of our failures and shortcomings you made your way down through 42 generations born in bethlehem walked the roads of capernaum suffered the pain of struggle and crucifixion died and was buried but on the third day morning got up with all power in your hand declaring that you would never quit loving us lifting us helping us restoring us making a way for us thank you for reminding us this morning god that when we can't be thankful for the situations around us we can be thankful for what's in us the courage that's in us the hope that's in us the trust that's in us that comes by your spirit and through your gospel thank you for telling us this morning that ultimately is not even being in a safe environment it's really being secure in you and choosing to endure there's nothing too hard no matter what lord in these days sometimes they can make you want to turn in with and be selfish and only care about yourself but thank you god for saving us from that help us god to keep speaking the gospel standing in the gospel of love keep serving the gospel of love and help us to keep seeing the gospel through all the ways that you strengthen us and lord when we are strengthened help us to strengthen our brothers and our sisters we thank you this morning god not that the way is easy but we thank you this morning for a determined mind and a made-up mind and we vow once again in your name not to quit ever living in you god and living for you now god if there's someone under the sound of my voice that needs to accept your ever-reaching love let them know this morning god they didn't find you you found them you found them and you received them right now all they have to do is say lord i need you lord i come just as i am i accept you i'm no longer going to quit i'm i'm tired of quitting i'm tired of quitting when i'm almost ready to accept you i'm tired of quitting i'm tired of turning back right at the point of confession this morning god i give my life to you my whole life my mind my body my soul yeah my spirit i want to be one of your ambassadors ah god i want to be one of your servants of love i want to be one of your enduring people receive me god like you receive the apostles receive me now receive me in jesus name come on cheryl promise to you don't give up on god cause the lord won't give up on you he's able to come on and worship right in your car come on and worship right in your car just wave your hand right there he's going to perfect if you're sitting with somebody grab him by the hand and say don't quit because god's not going to ever give up on you don't give up don't you give up on god i know your hearts are hurting you i know it's not been easy but we were born for this you all we were born again for this come on green leaf let's try to sing it he's together to fulfill every promise to you don't give up on god cause he won't give up on you he's able to right there in south africa he's able right there in england he's able right there in tanzania in japan in canada in texas all over north carolina whatever it is don't you quit now don't you quit whatever you're going there's ever been a time for love but there's ever been a time for justice there been a time for truth telling us right now one more time god god we were born for this to do jamie just show just what he said we were born for this everybody if you can just flick your lights i want folks to see them all over the world as a sign that we're not gonna quit if you're not gonna quit just flick your life you're gonna trust god cause he won't give up amen amen praise the lord praise the lord hallelujah this morning that she's not facing it now and that's our hope we got to run on all the way the old folk used to say until i'm going to see what the end's going to be and then somebody fixed it up and said no we're going to run on because we know what the end's going to be we know what the end's going to be amen and now i want to the brothers are going to help us again um you got brother martin over there and if somebody will be with him i need somebody over there that people have a envelope they want to hand in they can hand it in we need an extra person over there and then where's sister barbara is she here bro dad are you here brother can you come over this way can somebody take brett dad's place he's our trusty chair that way he can help out with receiving any offering in envelopes and then make sure to get them to ms barbara but i understand you don't have to even do that today we we're not worried so much about that um you can give online as i know that if you love the gospel you'll bless god's place and god's people and then the brothers who's got the instructions brother mail i want y'all to listen real real careful and we're going to do this real orderly and he's going to tell you i think it's that car but i'm like we're going to go out one at a time so if you all will endure and allow us to do this don't anybody pull off and try to go enough because it'll create other confusion we need everybody to go out this way and come on brother mayor okay starting from the very back on my right your left the the people instruct you to come around this way proceed down here to the truck with your tickets and get your meal but the very last we wrote we start on the very last row first so you see the uh the trustee or the whoever's back there they're gonna guard you right now around this way right here you will give your tithe right where um brother washington's right here and you drop it right to him when you go through now brothers do we have any gloves we want to do everything if not just drop it in the basket we're trying not to handle uh please don't get out of your cars please don't try to talk to one another don't ask the brothers to lean down we want to be very safe and careful as he said the last shall be first and the first gonna be last coming from the back who's taking meals over to the senior citizen complex okay y'all gonna do that afterwards okay great beautiful beautiful beautiful all right green leaf well we love you tell somebody tell somebody minister to somebody and tell them don't quit don't quit if you need to cut your car on to be warm that's fine don't that's fine we'll probably play a little we're going to try to step out of the ass so that we don't get sick uh brother bill and those of us but just follow the instructions and thank these brothers thank y'all you all we had to do is make a late night call and they all showed up even some of them got the haircut that's good hallelujah all right let's do this from the back the first sound where the yeah this sound thing i thought i forgot did i mention all right look those guys are something aren't they the sound team came we got a sound team on sunday and then with these special brothers they came left their own churches and came down here to be with us amen amen and i want y'all to know they ain't charging us what it would normally cost they're being mighty kind mighty kind y'all so we thank god because it it cost a little bit to do this right but we thank god for them come on around i see the first van coming uh also they're gonna hand the meals so that you don't have to um get out for that either and it's good it's good lord have mercy it's good hallelujah is good amen if you only have one person in the car remember you can ask for one other meal but take that meal to somebody and tell them you're you're bringing it to them in the name of jesus on behalf of the church the pastor and the members of green league bless somebody i declare god i'll take care of you amen good to see y'all good to see you yes sir look at y'all y'all um is hallelujah hallelujah granny christian church under the presidential leadership of reverend dr william j barbara ii and his membership led by the holy spirit wanted to do ministry outside the four walls of the church rebuilding broken places community development corporation was formed and years later the church invested over 1 million dollars to purchase property and renovate a 23 000 square foot facility known today as greenlee vision of faith community center because of that investment we are in the position to feed some 400 children per week during this covert 19 outbreak okay rebuilding berkeley we've been serving the summer food program for the past 10 12 12 years every summer starts in june and normally go through uh august 15 most time a week before school starts but but because of covert 19 they ask us to start early we started because we saw there was a need during during the summer that the kids are not eating most of the kids that we serve uh call free reduced lunch so when schools are closed these kids do not have anything to eat so we applied to be a sponsor through the north korean department health human services child nutrition office normally this human food program is eat in you can't take care but because of kobe 19 you have to we deal with 15 on the train deliver food to the kids in the community we got about 15 20 volunteers that comes in and take the food and we take it to the various areas in the city and in the county where the kids are provide a meal so how do you get the places where it's going i mean are these neighborhoods i mean how many how do you know well what we try and do is find out from developments the kids in the neighborhood that need needs too that's right so but we have to get volunteers who are willing to come in and take it to them so there's one there's a hot meal ready to go for a child and we do probably about 320 meals a day here wow and then we also got k w okay they prepare 105 meals a day right and we have like fences some of our bread will buy some of it and sometimes in the bakery they'll donate right yeah no fresh bread oh wow no no no they will they all have to do is call them oh wow and let us know how many how much has been yeah like the college seeds the grocery they have helped out they have donated stuff wow we had uh one of the uh local vendors a great harvest bread they uh donated some bread but made sandwiches with all the meals has to meet these some people call it the plate no you have to have a fruit a vegetable a grain a bread traditionally with the summer food program you had to eat in you couldn't you couldn't take me never you could not take meals out as much as we ate on okay but because of this cobra thing they said okay they don't want the usda gave us a non a waiver where you can do non-congregate feeding that means we can take this meal outside take it directly to the keys and the schools closed the 13th the school closed the 13th of march right and we started serving that tuesday the 17th and we've been serving ever since then five days a week and it's been with the volunteers from greenleaf we've got volunteers from bethel church we've got some volunteers from sydney johnson and some community volunteers and they're the ones who was able to take the food out directly to the children in the in the city and sometimes they go to the door and sometimes they don't sometimes and once i know it with the green van when the kids see the green van coming they know that the meals are coming and they meet the van sometimes when you see the joy on the children's faces and they're in the street saying it's the food truck it's the food truck but they want them placed and they'll sit down on the sidewalk and have little picnics and that's what the blessing is about you see the necessity during the month of march we served 3614 millions and that was just half the month all of april was april we did 6 500 two meals from right here right here wow so you know people have supported us and have done well so it continues we're just hoping that you know things will get better and right all this working can't kind of slow down especially during the summer that's going to be the biggest thing right there is really getting volunteers for the summer to keep going and keep keep going yeah but for 10 years we've been doing it and it's been successful and we will continue to do it all right you have a great afternoon you

Channel: Repairers of the Breach

Views: 3,221

Rating: 4.9384613 out of 5

Keywords: 1-6-20

Id: sr1nWkTI67s

Length: 86min 2sec (5162 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020