Experience an Extreme Spiritual Make-Over - Chaplain Barry C. Black

thank you uh oh [Music] is [Music] his eye i is he watches me [Music] he watches me [Music] he watches me i'm so happy yes i'm so happy yes i am i'm so happy yes yes [Music] i am [Music] yes and i know he watches [Music] me [Applause] okay is okay uh amazing grace like me i once was lost it was my fears [Music] my god my stay [Music] is amazing grace his word my hope [Applause] as long as life [Music] is [Music] is [Music] god [Music] my [Music] you are forever me [Music] you have been so so good to me before i took a breath you breathed [Music] i couldn't earn it i don't deserve it still you give yourself away oh the overwhelming never ending recklessly you have been so so good to me you have been so so kind [Music] reckless i don't deserve it still you give yourself away oh the overwhelming never ending reckless no shadow you won't [Music] coming after me [Music] [Applause] i [Music] oh it chases [Music] i don't deserve it still you give yourself away oh the overwhelming never mind oh good morning happy sabbath um the scripture reading today is not the one in your bulletin it's going to be taken from 2nd peter chapter 1 verses 1 to 11. and i'd like us to read alternatively please okay okay okay um simon peter a bond servant an apostle of jesus christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our god and savior jesus christ as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue but also for this very reason giving all diligent add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love for he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins together the sow and entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ may the lord add a blessing to his word amen it's time for the season of prayer [Music] it's time for our garden of prayer if you can i invite you to come forward if you have petitions or praises and join us here at the altar for our garden of pear there's a sweet sweet spirit in this place and i know that it's the spirit of the lord there's a sweet expression on each and i know they feel the presence of the lord sweet holy spirit sweet heavenly dark stay right here with us filling us with your love and for these blessings we lift our hearts in praise without a doubt we'll know that we have been [Music] let us kneel as far as possible and bower our heads in prayer dear father god in the name of jesus our lord and savior we come before you with praises thanksgiving sadness sickness and sorrow before i begin this prayer father i would like to give everyone an opportunity to send up their individual prayers to you [Music] [Music] do [Music] father we thank you for hearing our prayers for holding our hands steadying our feet and giving us strength to keep us going even when we stumble thank you for allowing your holy spirit to dwell within us and for jesus coming to this earth to die so that we can have an opportunity for a better home in heaven and on the new earth that he will create for us one day everything is coming to pass just as you have said jesus it would be such a joy to see you lord coming in the clouds or rising up from our graves to go with you to heaven as stated in 1 thessalonian 4 16-17 for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of an arch angel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ will rise we will see first then we who are alive will remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air thus we shall always be with the lord father we also thank you for our church school children pastors members visitors ministries in our country and our speaker father u.s senate chaplain dr barry black we thank you again for allowing him to be here with us today and everyone else that is here with us today please open our hearts and our minds to heal his wonderful message father we praise your holy name and give thanks for what you have done is and is doing for us in the name of jesus [Music] amen hmm morning nice to have everybody here today as you know we recently had a rough storm come through spartanburg in the middle of that storm was an f1 tornado and as you know many businesses and homes were badly damaged many people we know lost power of course a christian would like to lend a hand but how much of a hand it was cold weather so you could share blankets there were no lights in the houses that night so you could offer candles or a flashlight you could donate some money to a local shelter that's an easy thing to do maybe you could give someone a ride to a shelter and volunteer some time how about letting them shower your house where it's warmer and safer if you have the means you could actually put them up in a hotel for a day or so isn't that what the good samaritan did or possibly even open your home to them on a few occasions in the past my wife and i had those without a place to stay live with us and it was always a struggle i wish i was more like jesus he was so free so trusting in his father as i was contemplating opening my house to those in need and contemplating the risks i happen to be reading mark chapter 2. the story was about a man that had that was laid up due to some sort of palsy so his friends took him to see jesus but though they tried they couldn't get to see jesus because of the crowds that surrounded him so they went up on the roof they broke it up let the man down through it until he reached the feet of jesus anyway we all wonder if the faith of those men who believed that jesus could and would heal their friend we wonder at the unbelief of those who stood by and said why does this man speak blasphemies who can forgive sins but god and we wondered what did this palsied man do to be in the situation he was in but you know what i never wondered about i never wondered about the man whose house it was until i was contemplating having another guest at my house due to the storm in this world it's going to cost you something to have jesus in your house but what in exchange a broken up roof to have the king of kings stay with you so that you can be a witness to the awesome kindness and power of god and god said to me and that little small voice of his he said hey bill hey bill i doubt should you choose to open your house for a few days i doubt if your guests will break up your roof and i laughed loaning blankets or flashlights or candles it's all good the easiest thing to do in time of need is to give money as we begin building our trust in god he only asks the easy part the giving of some money don't hold back from the lord what is his now is the time to build a trusting loving relationship with jesus christ he won't let you down if you're waiting for better weather it's probably not going to happen it's all about making your calling and election sure for a greater storm is on the horizon and it's fast approaching have faith their church have faith our deacons please stand dear father thank you for this extra special sabbath day there's plenty of food both here in this service and in the fellowship hall across the way and we have a very special guest with us now there is a law in the storms and we have relative peace here in spartanburg may your peace be in our hearts and in our homes build our faith in you lord build our trust in you lord and grow our love for you as well i ask in the name of our very best friend your son jesus christ amen [Music] i want jesus to walk with me i want jesus to walk with me i want jesus lord walk with me in my trials lord walk with me when the shades of life are falling i want jesus to walk with [Music] my me lord walk with me i want jesus to walk with me i want jesus to walk with me i want jesus to walk with me [Music] i want jesus to walk with me [Music] is one day [Music] my god is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] if [Music] them well thank you edelman kids praise we appreciate you bringing the music today and i want to welcome all of you especially want to welcome our sister church shiloh church as they've closed down services today and yeah i want to send out an sos which means squeeze over some now i know some of you might be sitting in someone else's lap if you do that but we've got some space up here on the front pew i think some of the chil students will be coming up there uh those of you who it's a little bit you do can't deal real well with a lot of people around and you feel claustrophobic you can go over to colburn hall where we're live streaming the service over there you can watch on the screen but we're just glad that all of you have chosen to be with us today and we're just grateful that dr barry black could be with us you know he's a modern day i believe a modern-day daniel in where god has him and we need to pray for him in his ministry uh there in the united states senate and on capitol hill as well just to pray for that god will continue to use him in a mighty way we want to invite you after the service we're going to be having a meal i think most of you know what haystacks are and for those of you who don't it's taco salad on steroids so we'll have that as well as a potato bar but if you need a directions just go down the hill and across in the gymnasium we'll be meeting over there right after the service for good food and fellowship and we want to also remind you that if you haven't known yet but we have a youtube channel here that we've just started the first of the year and please get the word out it's a good way to i think many people have been enjoying being able to watch the services in their entirety and uh please let your friends and family know about that as well also uh some of you know that we've been looking for daycare some workers in our daycare we have need of a full-time teacher in our day care from hours of 7 a.m until 4 pm and so we we have information in the bulletin about that as well as also a part-time caregiver and so uh if you can please keep that in prayer we're i know we're going through a bit of a transition time right now but we still feel that god has his hand on our deek our early childhood center and so continue to keep that in your prayers as well and pastor ross i need you to come up and tell us what's going on with alive and some some folks don't even know what alive is so tell us what alive is all about thank you pastor don good morning church it's good to see each of you and i do want to take advantage of the fact that we have several lots and lots of guests this morning and i just want to let you know next week we have our annual youth rally at the alive youth rally and this morning i was we were going over the with i was going over with kevin through text message over uh how many people we have currently signed up and we have just under 350 people who are uh currently registered to join us for live now that is also something i wanted to make clear to everyone is that on this coming tuesday at noon will be the cut off for registering for live so if you have not already uh have not already registered for a live i want to encourage you to go to alive sc.com and register especially to our young people this is uh this youth rally is specifically for ages 13 to 18 but we have we have all sorts of people who will come and join us but i want to i want to thank you all for your prayers and uh again this is the last time until 2021 where i'm going to be making an announcement about alive uh so again we're very excited about what's going to be happening next week and thank you that leads me into my next point you know we have like i said just under 350 people that are registered to come but we have a very a lot smaller than that number of people who have officially registered to volunteer we are soliciting you all if if you have if you're going to be here next week and you're planning to if you are planning to uh to volunteer during that time i want to encourage you to see me at the front following today's service what i have here is a volunteer request form and you can do this online if you go to our church website right there in the middle is a link that you can click and you can do it all online but i want to encourage you if you don't like to do things online just come see me directly following the worship service and i'll give this to you and also i want to encourage you if you are planning to volunteer our what's written in the bulletin is not correct we have on monday what what day did i say monday uh at 6 30 p.m over in the settler center we're going to be having our volunteers volunteer meetings we're going to kind of go over expectations and the things that we're going to be doing next week again i just want to thank you all for your constant prayers and for your financial support i know that god is going to do great things for the youth of our conference next week so thank you very much maxine cassell has a special community recognition at this time so maxine if you'd come forward good morning everyone thank you pastor don now i'd like to welcome you again uh everybody has been welcoming you i'd like to welcome you to this special black history sabbath program on this occasion each year it has become customary for us to present an award to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the spartanburg community this year our committee has selected dr russell booker for this special award dr russell booker currently serves as the superintendent of spartanburg school district seven and has served in this position since two thousand and ten before serving in district seven he served as the superintendent of york school district one and their officials there describe him as a born leader and they give him credit for transforming their district through his innovative approach and community outreach efforts and these have led to improvement in student achievement across the district dr booker has continued to champion the causes of students in and young people in spartanburg district 7. he has an unwavering conviction in the power of education and believes our greatest hope for the future is to inspire and equip students for meaningful lives of leadership and service to this end he's been instrumental in a wide variety of progressive initiatives in the district most notably he led a total restructuring of the district a complete digital immersion and a comprehensive capital improvement plan dr booker is always willing to go the extra mile literally and otherwise for the cause of education so in 2018 along with a group of other state officials they traveled to finland a country whose public education system consistently ranks among the best in the world to observe and get ideas to enhance education in the upstate and in south carolina as a whole dr booker received his bachelor of science degree from wingate university and his doctorate from the university of south carolina he serves as vice chair of the liberty fellowship board and is a past chair of the united way of the piedmont he serves on the board of the spartanburg academic movement the northside advisory board and wingate university he's a south carolina liberty fellow and a graduate of the diversity leaders initiative and the spartanburg regional fellows program although he leads a busy life he still makes himself available to support families going through difficult circumstances when district 7 went through its recent spate of tragedies with more than one family grieving the loss of loved ones dr booker was always present to offer his support dr booker and his wife cheryl have been married 25 years and are the proud parents of two sons they are members of the mount baraya baptist church and although although dr booker has announced his retirement from district 7 for the end of this academic year we're certain that he will continue to greatly impact lives here in the upstate dr booker has received numerous awards to mention a few in 2013 he received the whitney m young jr humanitarian award from the urban league of the upstate in 2015 he was named the south carolina superintendent of the year by the south carolina association of school administrators and also by the south carolina athletic administrators association i would like to invite dr russell w booker to the podium [Applause] dr booker on behalf of the black history committee of the spartanburg 7th day adventist church i would like to present to you this award for outstanding leadership and service to the spartanburg community so pastor and maxine to all of you thank you and those of you who had anything to do with this recognition thank you i'm truly truly humbled and i'm truly honored a little lonely today i typically travel with my family my wife is away this weekend with a group of colleagues for wofford i know you'll be there later on today uh getting some much-deserved rest i had a meeting prior to this so my 16 year old son couldn't make it and then i have a freshman at the u.s naval academy and looking at a career in the navy and wants to be a chaplain so to see that you were speaking today uh i need to make sure i get a selfie with you to send it to him so so while that family is not here you know and my family is every thing to me i do see um some of my family here so i see miss annalee hill and grady uh i grew up in front of this family and ate up all of her food every single day so to to see you here has done my heart uh quite a bit of good as well so i am retiring at the end of this year um i've turned 50 and i've got 28 years in and i just feel god leading me to do some some deeper work in our community and through ministry so i would ask that you all keep me in your prayers as i prepare to climb this second mountain in my life and truly this is quite humbling and i thank you for this recognition thank you [Applause] at this time it's time for the children's story so we're going to ask all the little ones to come up front and it is our tradition to collect a lamb's offering so if you have some dollar bills for the kids you can wave them in the air they will come by and relieve you of those this money is used next door we have edelman adventist school as grades k through eight and this money helps assure that all kids who want a christian education can get one here in spartanburg [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] if you have dollar bills wave them way up in the air so the kids can see them they will come back around and pick those up for you [Music] [Music] so so we've got a few more dollars coming good morning boys and girls i've got a big word for you influential does anybody know what influ if i say that someone is influential what does that mean can you say that word influential all right let's try that again can you say the word influential influential okay so someone who is influential has an effect on other people it has they have an effect on like their character their behavior the things that they choose and i want to talk a little bit about influential people sometimes when you're young the most influential people you know are your mom or dad or your grandmas or grandpas or maybe your teachers but i want to show you some pictures and see if you know any of these people that i think are influential are you ready all right pastor don pastor don i'd say he's an influential person let's see if we can who's that donald trump donald trump yes who's that one martin luther king martin luther king jr yes there's a lady who's that ellen white ellen white yes she was an influential lady how about that person why did i yeah who else knows who who this is abraham lincoln yes abraham lincoln how about this i don't person you don't know let's see i need to get somebody who hasn't said anything yet miss bailey miss bailey yes she's an influential person how about this person that's from long time ago moses moses isabella who's this jojo siwa you didn't expect to see her on there but she influences a lot of people doesn't she who's this person pastor loss pastor ross okay barack obama barack obama we're almost done last one who's this who hasn't had evan those are some very influential people in our lives now during the month of february we have black history month and during this month we a lot of times talk about people who are african-american that you might not otherwise hear about at all and sometimes we get books books that tell about the life of these people and i have some books here now this guy we had a movie about him last saturday night who came for the movie okay that's thurgood marshall that now that's the real picture of him and here i have a book about jesse owens rosa parks langston hughes he was a poet wilma rudolph oh this book is about a friend of mine his name is jeff williamson this book is about oprah winfrey when she was a little girl this one is about sojourner truth this one is on frederick douglass those books tell about their lives now when i was little at my house we often got this magazine it's called ebony magazine and in here once a year they would have a list of 100 outstanding people in the community they've been doing this every year for over 70 years so even when i was little they were doing this now i would open the magazine and in here there would be people who had done very good things like scientists doctors ministers teachers some of the people were actors or singers some people did big things in their community sometimes there would be foster mothers me and my brothers we would look through this book and i would look at the pictures and underneath there'd be a little paragraph and it would tell about the person and we would go through and say well who do you want to be which one do you like the best and i would read most of them if they had a good picture and an interesting title i would read to see what they were all about and we would narrow it down to about three people that we like the best as i grew up i thought you know one day i want to be one of those people in ebony magazine because i thought that they were absolutely outstanding well you know i grew up and i kind of forgot about that and a few years ago i picked up a magazine and i saw that group of 100 people and i thought you know i never did get to be in that magazine and i probably never will be but that's okay because you know what there's another book that i know that i'm going to be a part of do you know that in heaven there's a big book and it's got lots of names in it it's called the book of life now i don't know if it's an e-book on a tablet or if it's just a really giant book with lots of pages that you can look at and i don't know if there are pictures of people's faces but the bible says that there's a book of life and in that book it tells a little bit about the people who will be in heaven and live with god forever and ever that's the book that i want to be in that's the book that i want to stay in that's the most important book how many of you kids want to be in god's book of life yes we all want to be in god's book of life let's pray father in heaven we thank you for your book of life we thank you that you gave us jesus so that we could be a part of your forever kingdom help us to be your best friend and love you so that we can be with you forever thank you jesus amen you can go back to your seats now good morning okay am i on i think i am i'm very excited today uh this is a culmination of several several years actually it started 2017. we're glad that we're able to get chaplain black today it's taken that long to get him here uh on june 27 2003 retired rear admiral uh berry c black was elected to the 60 to the 62nd chaplain of the senate now with this election uh he became a first in several respects uh first uh the first military person to hold this position and of importance of this church i think the first seventh-day adventist pastor to hold the position and since today's black history month uh i'd like to add it that he became the first black to hold this position no pun intended prior to capitol hill chaplain black served in the u.s navy for over 27 years ending his distinguished career as the chief of navy chaplains and many people ask what do you do as a chaplain of the senate we have some description of the bulletin i'd encourage you to read and i'd like to add that in addition to what we have in the in the bulletin his job entails coordinating events with other spiritual leaders uh from jewish rabbis to muslim imams because this is a non-sectarian position he officiates at weddings funerals christenings for lawmakers their families and their staff and he also leads several bible studies each week including one that is made of just senators from both parties religious leaders are he has been aptly described as religious leader and the shepherd of what is essentially a secular flock we thank god that he has his children who are daily seeking to know him and are even in very high seat of the government i agree with pastor don that he is the modern daniel like a modern daniel joseph he is a moral conscience for those in the front lines of decisions that shape this country and i believe a number of countries chaplain black is a native of baltimore maryland and an alumnus of six colleges and universities from where he has received a bachelor degree to master's degree and two doctoral degrees so much learning just for one person i need to find out from him why all of those were necessary but uh i believe that some of them have culminated in the several books that he has written beginning with his autobiography from the hood to the hill a story of overcoming of how god can take the improbable and make something out of it if we commit ourselves into his hands the second book are the blessings of adversity again how you can find your god-given purpose through the trials and the challenges that you go through in life these are the books uh nothing to fear published in 2017 and make your voice heard in heaven a very powerful book on prayer his latest book published in 2019 bible wisdom for better living celebrating the significance of scriptures in the life of christians chaplain black is uh married to former brenda pierce uh pierson of saint petersburg florida and they have three wonderful boys uh baby ii brandon and bradford now you know the rest of the black family uh the first and the last limb uh starts and ends with a b b b go figure that out if you have listened to the sermons and i've read the books and avoid the prayers of this man of god you'll come out i'm sure with the feeling that this is a sincere christian who loves his god and his daily seeking to walk faithfully with him and i pray that as pastor donald asked we lift this man of god in prayer as he influences the decisions through his ministry to these leaders of this country i believe that following the ministry through music from sister hill the next voice that we will hear is the voice of god through his servant dr barry black good morning church happy sabbath it is so good to see everyone this morning and know god has brought you kept you and i'm just so thankful for this invitation and just pray for me i pray for you [Music] the crowd have lined the narrow streams to see the man from galilee just a carpenter some say leading fools astray yet many knew and give him praise in his eyes they sensed the power that sees the hearts of all men for he knows his father's mind for he comes in the name of the lord strength in the name of the lord there is power in the name of the lord hope in the name of the lord yes i'll say blessed blessed is he who comes [Music] my faith has fallen through and when my strength is nearly gone when there's nothing left to do [Music] when we call your name jesus hold your strength through our weakness will show [Music] then we'll know the master's plan will extend the master's hand when we come in the name of the lord i know we will oh yes we will [Music] oh [Music] is comes in the name of the lord and yes lord your name shall be worshipped [Music] forever [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] won't you come in his [Music] when you get ready to come you just come on to jesus give him your life he's waiting for you [Music] of the lord [Applause] i think someone must have prayed for sister margie she said pray for me what a powerful powerful message in song i i started misbehaving i have to tell myself when the anointing falls you are the chaplain of the united states senate try to act dignified but lord have mercy i i apologize and no way you're going to sit through that without knowing that there is power in the strength of the lord i want to thank dr calvin for that wonderful introduction he is a sociologist and he wanted to know why i have so many degrees i have a masters in management a master of divinity i have a master's in counseling i have a doctorate in theology and i have a phd in psychology and i don't put it down but i also have an honorary doctorate from the university of south carolina where i matriculated and 14 other honorary doctorates and the reason why i have so many degrees is because of an inferiority complex that i've been dealing with and trying to wrestle with so i know you know i try to patch up the weak areas as best i can and there are a lot of weak areas now back in the study i asked the question how long do i have to preach and one of the gentlemen said as long as you are interesting okay so i said okay that's very very very good but i remembered when i first became chaplain of the senate i visited one of my wonderful senator uh one of my wonderful military friends and i i asked him how long do i have to preach and he said barry barry you hurt me by asking that question you are the chaplain of the united states senate you preach for as long as you want to but the people lead at 12 so so so i am learning uh slowly but surely how to manage this thing we have i was in florida a couple of weeks ago ah florida's a nice place to be this time of year and as you know most of the time i wear bow ties but i needed a a regular tie and i didn't have a regular tie and so i went to ross's department store and i purchased a a a a wonderful uh regular tie and as i was checking out the clerk charged me too little and i said this is a wonderful opportunity to witness for the lord and so i said to her ma'am you are fortunate that you you are checking out an ordained minister of the gospel and i want to inform you that you have charged me too little so that when you try to balance the books this evening you won't have to worry about where uh the missing money is and she looked at me and said no sir i did not charge you too little i gave you the senior citizen discount you see god has his way of keeping us humble doesn't he and and now i don't mind violent i don't mind asking for the senior citizen discount but you know you are getting older when people begin to volunteer the senior citizen discount praise the lord now you may notice that as we say in football terms the holy spirit has called an audible an audible is when the quarterback in the huddle calls another play actually calls it uh to change it because of the defenses now i've been grappling with your theme uh which is about calling an election and i grew up in the seventh-day adventist church and i heard about calling an election we we all know about that you know calling an election you're calling an election is it sure you know and we we talk about is your all on the altar i bet you could sing that sister marty it is you're all on the altar of sacrifice laid now i grew up i must confess and you you all me that some of you may be able to identify with me i grew up in the seventh-day adventist church and i was actually terrified of the second coming of christ i really was you know the way we preached it if you were livid any kind of life you were absolutely frightened you know that investigative judgment you know how you know how to preach his voice change that investigative judgment he that is unjust i knew there you go let him be unjustly you know so i grew up and don't act like you don't know what i'm talking about i grew up i grew up believing that god was out to get me okay now i'm confession is good for the soul at 16 years of age i sneaked into a movie theater okay never been to the movies all of my life i sneaked into a movie theater i was absolutely convinced that jesus was going to cobb while i was in that movie theater and i think it was something like the ten commandments something knock you it was actually a bible move i would not look at the screen i said oh lord please please don't kill me oh lord jesus somebody knows what i'm talking about you all got these sanctified sabbaths i have no idea what he's talking about i of course i've never thought of that way i long for the lord to come you know don't lie in church okay i would have nightmares i really would okay of the second coming and i was always in the group that was running to the rocks and the mountains and i already knew what to say fall on us hide us from the face of him who sits upon the throne and from the ra i knew that i was quoting the scriptures in my dream you know lost and from the wrath of god for who shall be able to say i knew you know we were i grant matriculated at christian schools seventh-day adventist schools grade one all the way through seminary okay many of us forget that jesus continued to speak after his resurrection that's why if you have the bible where the words of jesus are in red in the book of revelation you hear him speaking and the and the one that i memorized was not matthew 11 come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for i am meek and lowly and hot and you will find rest unto your soul for my yogin now i memorize if any man worships the beasts and his image lord have mercy lord help us jesus receives his mark in his forehead or in his hands this is jesus talking the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of god which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall you know it tormented with fire i tell you it was a rough childhood i had a rough childhood i had a i had a rough rough child i went to pine forge academy one of the great schools my three sons also went loved pine forge you know you come from the inner city the hood you're bilingual [Laughter] you know fluent in ebonics you know you know okay and there you are being you know blue blazers khaki slack and you're force-fed bach beethoven mozart mendelssohn when you were accustomed to the mighty clouds of joy robert and martin and the martin singers you know what is this stuff you know you know and then in those days the the guys had to sit on one side and the the girl sat on the other side it was cruel and unusual punishment okay when you when you're a teenager okay well we got through all of that but one day i was in my dormitory room and i don't know what they were doing construction work or something like that and a light flash through the window oh lord jesus and i thought it was the second cupboard of christ i had a hard life and and if you're honest many of you have and many of you are terrified of the investigative judgment and and and you don't know that your calling an election is sure and you know we read about it in that wonderful passage in second peter chapter one or that oh i gave you 11 verses because it talks about a way that you can know that your calling and election is sure now this is critical because jesus expects us to be certain about our calling and election and he says through the apostle paul in second corinthians 5 17 if anyone is in christ he or she is what a new creation old things are what behold what or what now this these are dramatic words ladies and gentlemen our lord expects us when we accept him to become new creations and i believe he expects the metamorphosis this dramatic change to be what i'm talking about my new title an extreme spiritual makeover now some of you remember the extreme makeover television program somebody comes in 500 pounds you know uh dental work needing a and then in six weeks they take this person through it's an extreme makeover and you wouldn't even recognize the person on the street okay i believe that our lord expects our makeover to be as dramatic as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly if anyone is in christ he or she is a new creation all things gone all things new i had to learn that that is why ii peter 3 18 says grow in grace and in what else a knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ we ought to be growing up now if you had a child and that child stayed the same never grew up you know how we love children oh cookie cookies oh well you know we we we we have gibberish language with our children you know we'd be embarrassed for people to see us the way we deal with our children and don't talk about grandchildren lord have mercy grandchildren and parents on steroids because most of my friends believe that grandchildren that's god's reward for you not killing your own children you know so so they just and they get away with stuff my goodness the way my mother treated my boys i said mom remember how you used to treat us i mean oh that was that lamp that he knocked over look how strong he is really i mean that would have worked for my coming up mama that would have been five days in solitary confinement with bread and water and she's like oh my little grandchild is so strong he knocked over the bars okay really okay and so it it's going to be this metamorphosis that we're looking at he wants us to grow in grace not just stay the same and i remember when barry my my oldest son the first time he started walking and this is you know luke 11 13 says if you who are evil that's god talking about us know how to give good good gifts to your children how much more is your heavenly father eager to give his holy spirit to those who have and i remember you know how excited we parents get over the progress of our children think of how how how our heavenly father rejoices at our progress and our growth in grace when we go from being a caterpillar to a butterfly when the things that used to knock us over okay my mother died in 1987 and i lost my faith i became an agnostic when my mother died because i had people from the general conference go and lay hands on her she had walked into a hospital she was given the wrong medication walked into the hospital given the wrong medication went into anaphylactic shock into a coma that she never came out of i was in australia i've i'd flown home i kept a vigil by her bed i was absolutely convinced that my mother would be restored to hell i claim the promise of james 5 16 if there be any sick among you call for the elders lay hands on them i had gc it doesn't get any higher than gc i had gc folk laying hands on my mama and when the doctor came and told me we've done all we can i said you talking about the wrong no no you're not talking about my mother my mother is going to be restored to health and when i knew that she was gone i didn't ask to be an agnostic it was like somebody flipping a switch and i cried out with robert ingersoll life is a narrow veil between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities we strive in vain to peer beyond its heights we cry aloud and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry and as uh you have to read from the hood well you have to read the blessing of adversity to find out how to see how you slip in that commercial you you notice that you see how smooth you didn't even know what that year under the radar you have to read the blessing of adversity to find out how god got me out of that but but but imagine when my sister died older sibling last year christian educator for over a half century so beloved that they they had a memorial service in dallas texas and in baltimore where she grew up she was so beloved standing room only and her final request was barry you've got to deliver the eulogies wherever they are and i was able to deliver two eulogies one in texas two different eulogies one in baltimore because i'm not as weak as i once was and this is not my first rodeo as my texas friends would say and i'm a timex christian now i can take a licking and keep on ticking you you you can hit me with your best shot if you have to because i'm no longer that caterpillar that i used to be and i know that those who wait on the lord oh my god my god shall renew their strength mount up oh i'm sorry mount up lord have mercy that's somebody somebody better stop me pastor i feel something pushing me in here mount up with wings like eagles run and not be weary can i preach it like i feel it it says i say walk and not faint because sometimes it's the wall it seems like it should say run and not faint because all of the adrenaline you know walk and not be weary but sometimes it's the pedestrian motions of life that are that'll make you faint as the philosopher marvin gaye put it make you want to holler throw up both your hands somebody knows that okay i see see we've got some philosophy majors here some we got some philosophy doctorates here as well praise the lord so god expects us to grow to be new creature creatures now again confession good for the soul i went away to pine forge in the 11th grade i won the columbia union oratorical contest someone saw something in me and so he did what god does for us he called me elder henry freeman called me and said this young man has something special he says i want you to come to columbus ohio i'm going to teach you call portal work or as he put it placing truth-filled literature in the homes in the neighborhood okay so so i'm going to teach you call portal work okay so i went to columbus ohio knocking on doors okay and elder freeman it's absolutely amazing he sold every house he went to every house okay so i said this is easy i was doing the math okay for this okay yep yep this summer i ought to get at least 55 000 you know i just i just thought i just thought yeah i was not the sharpest crayon in the box i thought i thought i would be able to do as he did i went knocking on the doors okay who is it and you know how when the people uh project their voices you get i'm trying to work my way through here i said and people were peeking they never did that with elder freeman but when i'm out there they're looking out the windows and stuff like that and so one one of the reasons why in fact i learned more dr calvin i learned more from corporate work as the lord lives i learned more from call portal work than i learned from all of the universities i attended i am serious what call portal work taught me was how to be comfortable with rejection i was down so long that up was not on my mind okay and all of a sudden i relaxed okay i relax knocking on the doors okay who is it me open up the door and come on out here and see it who who is this crazy man you can't invite a brother in and give him something to drink you see i'm out here i'm trying to get the christmas gift come on and they started calling their neighbors this crazy boy is here see i'm giving you black history here now look this crazy boy is here you know buy something from him now i did something this is in alabama i did something that no no student dare do okay i went alabama was not implementing brown v the board okay or if they were they were doing it with all deliberate speed and there were there were neighborhoods you did not go into and i got so comfortable rejection i said i am leaving folk who look like me and i'm going into the other the so i went and knocked on the this huge neighborhood i knocked on the door and guy it's about six three and he said really what in the world are you doing knocking on my door i said my name is ilhaji haruna i am from nigeria i tried to sell the books in order to get the lord forgive me you know it's in an emergency come on in and hide it you know and i started selling them there's a little african boy out here he's selling to buy some books from the boy i literally don't i don't do that young people that's not that's not good young people you got to grow in grace and in the knowledge that was before my damascus road experience okay what but god wants to use you for his glory and he is enabling you to grow in grace he expects it and he will use you in a mighty way and so in our scripture lesson and if we could put that put put second peter back up on the screen if we can he said let's let's look at this a little bit because it's so important simon is talking to gentile believers a servant and an apostle of jesus christ to them that have attained he's saying you are gentiles you are of a different race but you have obtained like precious faith with us hallelujah through the righteousness not by works lest anyone should boast through the righteousness of god and our savior jesus christ next verse grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord our calling an election is certain because we serve an amazing savior okay this savior is amazing for a couple of reasons one he is powerful jesus is powerful matthew 28 18 the preamble to the great commission our lord says all power this is the post-resurrection jesus our lord says all power my god my god is given unto me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore he's basically saying this is your backup all power is given unto me that is why i can say go into all the world okay so he's powerful secondly he is generous okay and you know how we do at potlucks compare what we do at potlucks to what jesus did when he fed the five thousand okay okay don't you had enough you've had enough okay don't take you know we still have others to do that okay so when he fed the 5000 with those five loaves and two veggie fish okay that's what it says in the greek oh no okay all right okay all right okay calm down chaplain of the senate calm down keep it straight there were 12 baskets my god they were taking doggy bags back home praise the lord he is a generous savior oh bless his holy name okay so this is the kind of savior he is powerful he is generous but he is also a savior who gives us precious promises okay a second peter next thing according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory this is butterfly talk glory caterpillar is becoming and virtue next verse whereby i love this whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises beloved is like going to an atm when you prayed the promises of god and and i challenge you to start praying the scriptures because when you pray the scriptures you are giving god the courtesy of starting the conversation when you read the scriptures slowly and when something warms your heart just start talking to god about it you are praying the scriptures if i don't pray i pray an hour a day okay first thing one of the few things our lord ever asked his disciples could you not watch with me one hour and remember they slept i need i need to be with people jesus said he took peter so i pray and i with an open bible listen without an open bible i have about a minute and a half worth of solid prayer material before i start repeating myself okay lord thank you for this day i'm glad you woke me up i have the activity of my limbs thank you for brendan barry and bradford and brendan and and lord help me with the senators and as i go i'm preparing the bible study and help me with the senators oh i said that already i'm out of material oh my god my god but when i start praying the promises lord you said in the 84th psalm verse 11 no good thing will you withhold from those who are living right so i'm excited lord about the good stuff you've got coming for me because i'm covered with the robe of the righteousness of jesus christ lord i i know that you are able for you promised in ephesians 3 20 to do immeasurably abundantly above all that i can ask or imagine don't just take my to-do list god i want your to-do list to be implemented i got i can talk for an hour and not run out of material because the promises are like some of you you rule folk may know priming the pump yeah you know how to prime a pump okay my family's from hartsville south carolina by the way you prime that pump to get the water to flow exceedingly great and precious promises our lord said let not your hearts be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house of many mansions john 14 1 if it were not so what i have told you that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also imagine that living in jesus's neighborhood right off of hallelujah boulevard praise god three times in my life before my 13th birthday i came home from church school to find my family evicted furniture out on the street i know what homelessness feels like but praise god my savior is preparing a place for me and i will never be homeless in eternity for my calling and my election is sure so he is he is a powerful jesus he is a generous jesus he is a jesus with promises but whereby given to you i love this be partakers of divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust he is a christ who can save us from the world's corruption proverbs 13 15 says the way of the transgressor is hard i don't know what i would do without jesus you are protected from all kinds of traps and all kinds of challenges when you trust this jesus to sign seal it and deliver it he said in john no one will be able to snatch you out of my hands hebrews 12 says he is the author oh my god my god he finishes beloved what he starts that is why i have confidence not in barry black no no no no no my confidence is in this powerful generous promise-keeping savior who can save me from the world's corruption love not the world neither the things that are in the world says first john 2 if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him or her for all that is in the world three trump cards the devil has lust of the flesh lust of what's card number two lust of the eyes pride of life you you analyze any temptation situation and that's all he has and we've got a savior who can save from the gutter most to the uttermost all those who come to him by faith and he's gotten my back so that i can see the enemy when he is coming i can even say to peter if necessary matthew 16 23 get thee behind me satan recognize him in whatever guys he comes to next verse and besides this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge next and a knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness next and the godliness brotherly love for leo adelphos philadelphia brotherly love kindness and to brotherly kindness agape charity now just briefly i told you if you're gonna well let's finish that that out now hey for if these things this is this is calling an election sure for if these things be in you my god my god and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren you're going to be productive a productive christian life nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ number nine but he that lacketh these things and i call it i told you you have to embrace our amazing savior i told you that why he is amazing okay powerful generous promise keeping saving us from corruption he enables us also to share in the divine nature and then these wonderful you've got to climb the ladder of spiritual virtue and if you have those virtues you will if you lack them you'll be blind if you lack them you cannot see a far off if you lack them you you've forgotten that you were purged of your old sin it's like trying to get a butterfly out of the cocoon prematurely you know some folk look at it struggling it will never have the beautiful colors it's that struggle that enables verse 10 wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure this is that extreme spiritual makeover for if ye do these things hallelujah ye shall never fall you'll never fall if you embrace our amazing savior you will never fall if you climb that ladder of spiritual virtue and let me just briefly talk about that ladder first rung is faith hebrews 11 6 says without it it is impossible to please god faith is the only attribute without it you cannot please god romans 1 17 says the just shall live by faith the second wrong is courage second timothy 1 7 says god has not given us a spirit of fear but power love and self-discipline we need to be like caleb in numbers 13 let us go up at once and possess the land for we are well able to take it we need to be like martin luther a mighty fortress is our god a bulwark never failing the next rung on that ladder is knowledge grow in grace and in a knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ and i would suggest to you that there are two things you need to ask god for every day two promises you need to claim every day james 1 5. i've been praying james 1 5 every day including today for over 50 years and i have been praying luke 11 13 every day for over 40 years james 1 5 says if anyone lacks wisdom let him or her ask of god who gives it liberally and won't resent the fact that you asked the same wisdom that god gave solomon in 1st kings chapter 3 is james 1 5 available to you and me listen god i call it stupid proofing your life listen god is not going to let you do something long-term stupid on the day you ask him for wisdom so why not ask him for wisdom every day luke 11 13 if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more is your heavenly father eager to give his holy spirit to those who have over 40 years i've been doing that i started doing it while i was praying the scriptures i was praying luke 11 reading it very slowly it's the opposite of evelyn woods okay reading it slowly and i came across verse 13 if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more is your heavenly father eager to give his holy spirit to those who ask and i said lord i thought i already had the holy spirit i thought that that when i was baptized i received the holy spirit but you say by you you said this is by request only to those who ask and so i said i don't know what this means but i started every day asking for the holy spirit listen to me beloved be careful what you ask for okay pastor dan i was a full manuscript preacher before i started praying luke 11 13. wouldn't leave home without the manuscript if i was 15 miles down the road and realized that i'd left the manuscript it make the first legal u-turn i would be turning around going back to get it winning and but but when i started praying luke 11 13 and asking for the daily impartation of the by request only anointing holy spirit said where i am there is liberty where i am there is freedom why would you tether a mind that is fearfully and wonderfully made to a piece of paper when i can give it to you faster than you can say it and then proof of the pudding okay a week into praying luke 11 13 the woman i've been married to for 46 years we were only two years old when we got married okay no just a little joke there a woman i've been married to for 46 years turned to me one morning in bed and she said barry what oh she's only said this once in our entire marriage whatever has happened to you i want it to happen to me listen to me listen to me somebody who knows you better than any human being on earth is praying that the lord will do something for your life okay and she turns to you and says whatever has happened to you want it to happen to i said well you know baby girl i just been praying luke 11 13 what that is god says he gives his holy spirit to those who ask we are free moral agent there's a level of anointing he can't give you unless you request it remember elisha requesting a double portion elijah i'm about to leave what it can what do you want from me son you want my pulpit bible you want my pulpit roberta and and elisha astounded elijah he says i want twice the power that you had elijah said you've asked for a hard thing son cause i'm a bad man okay oops see that when you're battling well it slips in every now and then okay all right i'm a bad man he said you i called down fire on mount karma you you want that's what i'm talking about when you climb the rung of these spiritual this spiritual ladder and so this is what i want to challenge you to do some of you know that uh on 3 abn i have program high ground i i want you to embrace this magnificent savior with all of his power with all of his generosity with all of his ability to save us from corruption with all of his ability to give us promises that we know we can pray and keep and then i want to challenge you to start climbing that that ladder of spiritual virtue just oh just go to second peter 1 5 and start working on those areas the faith is elemental just move on up to the courage part and then just keep on moving up that ladder and god promises you a life that will be productive not barren and he promises you that your calling an election will be sure and you will have this extreme spiritual makeover so that even in the storms of life your soul will still be anchored in the lord and this is what god has laid on my heart i want you to make three resolutions today and i don't know to whom i'm speaking resolution number one by the grace of god i am going to put there 150 psalms i'm going to pray through one psalm on a daily basis okay now i i pray through five psalms every day but i'm a professional but i'm just making that i'm giving you i'm i'm i'm giving you training wheels okay i'm giving you training wheels okay i'm going to pray and i'm going to just read it slowly and talk to god about whatever is impressing my heart that's number one the second thing god asked me to challenge you to do is every day and i did because this is not for everybody every day by his grace for the rest of your life i'm going to ask for the supernatural wisdom that he promises in james chapter 1 verse 5. i'm literally going to stupid proof my life okay and young people you want to you want to get ahead okay you know okay when i started doing that listen listen black history i am the only only african-american admiral in the history of the united states navy chaplain corps and the the only one and i was i was selected for flag for admiral in 1996 okay still hasn't been another one i am the only african-american chaplain of the united states senate okay and may it be a coincidence that for 50 years i have been stupid-proofing my life on a daily basis and they're saying lord he will keep you from career ending moves holy spirit will i've been praying that for 40 and my wife has now been praying for over 40 years because she started praying luke 11 13 every day and the same thing that happened to me happened to her she is my number one prayer partner now we we we we we're a tag team we we we can get it done with prayer warriors listen first corinthians 6 19 says know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy spirit who lives in you and you are not your own for you abort with pride closer than breathing romans 8 11 says the power that brought jesus from the dead romans 8 11 the power that brought jesus from the dead lives inside of you my god my god so three things praying one of the psalms training will that be keep it easy for you okay okay every day lord you know that wisdom that the chaplain was talking about i don't remember the birth but you know where the yellow hit me you know abracadabra whatever it is lord i want it every day every day every day and lord you know that holy spirit that he was talking about i'm talking about the one you got to ask for my god my god lord i want him remember the holy spirit is not in it you can grieve the holy him let him be in me this is serious enough i want to put the devil on notice so that he will know how many folk are now in gideon's new army you know doesn't take 32 000. you know 300 defeated 120 000 so if you are willing to make resolve those three things by the grace of god because it did only by the grace of god keeps me in my right mind for the rest of my life i'll be doing it and i'll be doing my five i actually write my prayers out okay all right psalm a day wisdom by request only james on five and the holy spirit i want you to stand where you are i want to pray for you if you are willing to make that three resolution like i said it may not be for everybody but if you're willing to make it praise god just just just i'm going to i'm going to stupid prove my life i'm going to be armed and dangerous because god is going to be living in me and listen beloved you want to strengthen your prayer life romans 8 26 says we don't know how to pray look at god talking about us we don't know how to pray or for what to pray but the holy spirit will pray for us with groanings that cannot be uttered listen to me on capitol hill you need the holy spirit to be praying for you you say lord i don't what i don't know what that holy spirit you got this one work with it our blessed lord prays for us hebrews 7 25 says he ever lives hallelujah to make intercession for us and now you've got the third person of the godhead living in you guiding and directing you he is so precious our blessed lord said in john 16 7 it is better for you that i go away because if i don't go away a little something something i want to give you a paraclete a comforter i can't send him i can't be everywhere at once but through my spirit i can oh what a beautiful sight devil check it out balcony and floor you are in trouble devil you got a problem because these beautiful people are now and dangerous and now to get you started i want you to stretch your hand toward my hand up front just stretch your hand toward me and we're going i'm going to give you i want you to leave here stupid proofed and i want you to leave here with the special request only anointing of the holy spirit so i want you to repeat after me eternal god thank you for the gift of your wisdom that you have promised in james 1 5. heavenly father i want the gift of the holy spirit that you promised in luke 11 13. thank you for my wisdom thank you for the power of your holy spirit who is in me i will serve you for the rest of my life now give god a hand praise for what he has done in this place today hallelujah hallelujah to the lamb of god all right you may be seated in the presence of the lord i believe okay now closing him is when the roll hallelujah is called up young today did i steal it from you brother you go we're going to sing a duet here to get all right because our calling and election is sure let's stand and sing all verses of when the role is called up yonder [Music] when the saints of earth shall gather over on the other shore and the roll is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] this morning when the dead in christ shall rise and the glory of his resurrection share when his chosen one shall gather over on the other side and the role is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] hallelujah thank you so much praise the lord you want me to offer the grace pastor as well as the benediction hallelujah thank you thank you [Music] heavenly father thank you thank you precious savior thank you thank you sweet holy spirit now unto him who is able to keep us without stumbling or slipping and to present us without fault or blemish before the presence of his glory with unspeakable aesthetic delight in triumphant joy and exaltation to the only wise god that great shepherd of the flock who brought forth from the dead our lord and savior jesus christ be glory majesty and might dominion and power now and always in that name that is above every name the precious name of jesus christ our lord amen and amen [Music] uh not be the same one that is [Music] oh [Music] you

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Length: 122min 13sec (7333 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 29 2020