FBCLG Sunday Worship 7/19/20

[Music] [Music] is [Music] whatever it is [Music] here tonight he's here to meet the broken heart he's healed to heal your [Music] around heart box letting us know that you're always with me the scripture says lord i'm with you always even until the end of the earth god is right where you are [Music] deliverance today [Music] we [Music] which was also in christ oh we want to hear your voice jesus speak to us [Music] it's [Music] out of the way [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] wherever you have us to go [Music] oh is [Music] [Music] how wonderful and how awesome he is along with you away away to hear your voice and meet with you nothing else matters my one desire here is to worship [Music] with you [Music] you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] jesus [Music] away away away away from the noise alone with you yes [Music] and meet with you and meet with you it's been a while but here my heart cry [Music] again to worship you i live [Music] oh [Music] again [Music] nothing else [Music] welcome to first baptist church of lincoln gardens i was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the lord though our building is closed the church is open wherever you are let's worship together thanksgiving right now right where you [Music] are [Music] i feel like somebody got a lot to give god thanks for i feel like god has raised somebody up i feel like god has made a way for somebody [Music] [Applause] yes sir it's always a good time to give god praise and this sunday this third sunday in july is a good time to give god praise we're going to sing this song and it simply says i'm chasing after you and i don't care what i need to do to get to you because i need you more and more do you need them this morning i'm chasing after you no matter what i have to do cause i need you more and chasing more you no matter what i have to do cause i need you more come on everybody no matter what i have [Music] i more [Music] more [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] no matter what i have to do [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] i need you one more time [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] just [Music] my way through [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i need you more and [Music] [Music] you more [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the [Music] bless me me now my savior [Music] and more and more and [Music] [Music] you more [Music] [Music] more we need you lord we need you lord we need you lord our country [Music] [Music] i lifted up lord come and quench this thirsting of my soul [Music] [Music] here's my cup fill it up and make me i lift it up lord come and quench this [Music] [Music] here's my cup [Music] here's our cup [Music] [Music] us let us rejoice and be glad in it good morning first baptist my name is camille jean and i am a rising sophomore at bridgewater raritan high school it's youth sunday and another opportunity to win over hearts for christ let us pray dear lord we come before you trusting that you will bless us cover this service as we worship you in spirit and in truth bless the youth dear lord and fill us with your goodness in jesus name we pray amen now let's hear from the reflections of the class of 2020. good morning passion stories in the fbcog family my name is bryce williams and i am a graduate of the class of 2020 from north brunswick township high school i intend to attend a post-graduate school in the fall majoring in fashion design the church's theme right now is god is with you fear not be strong be courageous and the scripture is have i not commanded you be strong and courageous do not be afraid do not be discouraged for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go joshua chapter 1 verse 9. to me the theme scripture embodies what god has planned for each and every one of our lives to be carried out like to not let any obstacle in our path get in the way of our imminent success not only as individuals but for the black community as a whole it resonates with me as a black man being the second most difficult person to live in america but right after the black woman a favorite scripture of mine that i have rooted into my everyday life is psalms chapter 46 verse 1. god is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble this along with the theme scripture ties into the advice i have for younger students always stay strong and true to what you believe in and fight for racism and prejudice will be everywhere you go so do not let that discourage you and stir you up to the path of success in which god has planned for all of you there is absolutely nothing to fear when you put god before anything and allow him to lead you in life amen good morning pastor stories and first church my name is jaren douglas and i'm a graduating senior from northwest township high school and this fall i'll be attending tcnj while majoring in computer science ever since i was young my parents have taken the role of teaching me honesty integrity and respect i grew up on the principles that no one should be treated differently no matter what race color height or weight they are and to love and welcome everybody but also throughout my 18 years i've had many opportunities to learn all sorts of different lessons for my own surroundings through my coaches i've learned hard work and determination through my friends i've learned trust and acceptance but through my family i've learned to love and to be driven both of my parents were born and raised in saint vincent and the grenadines and both of them working their whole lives and doing the hard parts of life so that i can live a little easier they wanted to give me more than what they had grown up and sometimes i failed to realize that but i'm forever grateful of the hardships they went through so that i can enjoy these opportunities in front of me i'm so happy to have beautiful people like this in my life i'm also lucky to have first baptist church of lincoln gardens by my side through the church i've learned about god's plan for me and that anything i put my mind to is possible through god through my years since sunday school i've had an amazing experience learning about the word of god and having the most perfect teachers to help me along my journey the church in reverend stories has helped shape me to the young man i am today and has taught me that having god in my heart can take me a long way and to never let go of my faith because then i'd be lost but the knowledge my friends family and church has given me i feel as if there's nothing to hold me back from facing the world philippians 4 13 i can do all through christ who strengthens me thank you first baptist for everything on this youth sunday we want to thank god and celebrate all of our graduates this year and we also want to celebrate this great anointed woman of god sister bam and sister aaron shelley who lead our anointed praise dancers because they decided to join with us for our music and arts tribute this week as we celebrate the life the works and the music of mr kirk franklin come on welcome them as they come brothers and sisters i want to welcome you back to life back to the one that can make your next chapter your best chapter hallelujah how [Music] everything's working for me [Music] hallelujah [Music] is [Music] i appreciate it [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] that's right saying come on let me tell you what it means i really mean at this time [Music] [Music] of the day [Music] for the rest of my life i don't wanna love nobody but you i don't wanna love nobody but you i don't wanna love nobody love nobody but you good morning first baptist church family and friends my name is candace jean and i just finished seventh grade at the bridgewater raritan middle school thank you for supporting our church ministries even though we're in quarantine we can still be connected just log onto the fbcsummerset.com and you'll see all these different activities that you can do oh and also join us at the lobby by clicking lobby at the fbcsomerset.com tab and you're there thank you again for joining us praise god praise god we are so thankful for our young people they are doing a fabulous fabulous job and we praise god for our parents who are teaching and leading by example and our youth ministry leaders we thank you and we praise god for you amen well it's prayer time psalm 40 says i waited patiently for the lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry he brought me up also out of a horrible pit out of the mirey clay and he set my feet upon a rock and he established my goings and he have put a new song in my mouth and he have put a new song in my mouth when you're at the worst in your life and you cry out to god and he hears your cry he will give you a new song to sing he will give you praises to put on your lips this is why we sing to the lord he is worthy to be praised someone asked the question why do we sing when we lift our hands to jesus what do we really mean someone may be wondering [Music] when we sing [Music] [Music] because [Music] is [Music] gracious god we come this morning because you are the reason that we sing we sing your praises god because you are worthy to be praised we come before you this morning god letting you know that we love you lord oh god there is none like you in all the earth father we come this morning to lift up your name and sing your praises god because you are so worthy you are good god and greatly to be praised father we come this morning asking you god to bless our children this morning lord we thank you for our children god we thank you for youth god we thank you for the miracle of birth oh god we know it is you who allows children to be born we thank you this morning for the miracle of life god father we pray now that you would speak to our children god let them know that you are near that you love them and you are here for them god as they cry out to you god when they're at their deepest wit god when they don't know what to do god we pray that they would cry out to you and god we pray that we would surround them with your love god so they would know that you are near god we ask that you would surround them with good people god that would teach the good news god we prayed this morning that our children would have a good friends god to lead and guide them and help them as they make good decisions god father surround them with that people who love you and know you and know your word god and we pray that our children would hunger and thirst after you god they would hunger and thirst after righteousness god they would seek your face lord we prayed this morning that they would want to know more about jesus lord we thank you this morning for youth god and we pray that you will continue to protect them god as only you can we thank you for parents this morning god parents who are teaching their children god more about you we thank you for parents who are leading by example god and we thank you this morning for our youth ministry leaders god those who are sacrificing their time god to be with youth god we thank you for this youth ministry here at this church god you are doing a mighty work god so we lift your name this morning god we give you praise for the good things that you have been doing god in spite of us god you still show us that you love us we thank you for the sacrifice of jesus christ this morning god you have redeemed us god because you love us father we thank you for the word that is going going to go forth this morning through our pastor god use him in a special way god that what is said today and done today will give you glory if someone may say yes to the invitation god to receive you as their lord and savior god we thank you and we praise you for all things god in the name of jesus amen and amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] to you is [Music] you're the reason why [Music] why [Music] good morning family it's brianna and this is the bulletin your weekly fbclg announcements fbclg would like to thank everyone for your continued support week after week during these virtual times and a special thank you to everyone who attended our virtual vbs this past week now here's a look into this week's announcements it's summer and we want to provide resources and activities for our youth for students in grades 6 through 12 join the stem computer coding club discover how computers work learn how to build web pages apps and video games meet us virtually on mondays and wednesdays starting tomorrow july 20th from 6 p.m to 7 30 p.m now for our children ages four to nine we will be hosting a five-week series the book worm adventures where college students are taking time out to read a variety of books to our youth via zoom the adventures are every thursday starting this week july 23rd at 8pm visit the church website to register for both events we now have a new dial-in number for our wednesday prayer calls and our tuesday senior fellowship bible study the great part about it is no access code is needed here's a new number 518-425-1048 fpclg is hosting our mid-year virtual church business meeting on thursday july 30th at 7 30 pm you must be an active fbc lg member to attend if you are active and did not receive a link to register please email church business meeting at fbcsummerset.com fbclg along with abundant life family worship church community baptist of somerset and rwj barnabas health are teaming up to bring you the second round of covet 19 and antibody testing taking place on saturday august 1st and sunday august 2nd from 12 pm to 6 pm right here at fbclg the testing is open to all social distancing and mass wearing is required register today on the church website if you happen to take your test on saturday august 1st we will be giving away communion packets for you to take home and use for sunday august 2nd first baptist is proud to have launched the d free movement which has become a national movement join us for our 15th anniversary virtual celebration and conference next friday and saturday july 24th and 25th you will hear great speakers and all of the news about d3 from around the country registration is free at mydfree.org now listen to me they will tear down their statues they will paint their streets they will even use your slogans but what they don't want is for you to find the money d3 is helping our people find the money we've been doing this for 15 years and we've got testimonies we've got evidence we've got proof that despite all of the crises and despite all of the barriers we can still make it if we know how to do it join us july 24th and 25th and we will show you the secret of financial freedom [Applause] bye [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] be sure to follow us on facebook instagram and twitter so you can learn the latest and interact with us and don't forget to sign up for our weekly bless newsletter have a blessed week everyone see you next time on the bulletin now here's our operatory prayer and a list of all the ways you can give heavenly father we give willingly and generously to support the ministry of this church bless these tithes and offerings [Music] amen [Music] let's see let foreign [Music] thank you [Music] we thank god for his love he's never ending all sustaining wonderful love love a [Music] but word people really know what it means to really love somebody [Music] the tears may fade away i'm so glad your love will stay [Music] because oh lord i love you and you have shown me oh you've shown me what what it really means what it really means to love [Music] hmm [Music] know what it means [Music] oh i love you and you show me jesus what it really means when i should have died you love me i'll never know why [Music] [Applause] [Music] you gave me a song that you love me now i can go on cause you love me it's a mystery to me now i'm glad to see when you hope was gone you loved me you gave me a song that you love me now i can go on but you love me it's a mystery to me now i'm glad to see [Music] jesus [Music] something about it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey i never had cheese [Music] oh [Music] go [Music] [Applause] [Music] god god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] yes [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] now [Music] [Applause] god [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] oh yeah i'd rather have jesus than silver and gold [Music] and nobody do me like jesus healed my body and told me to run on thank god for jesus amen thank you ministers of music and praise thank god for jesus amen wherever you are let the church say amen thank you young people for leading us in worship [Music] and thank you almost young people for leading us in praise amen amen this is the day that the lord has made we pause to rejoice and be glad the psalmist said make a joyful noise unto the lord all ye people serve the lord with gladness and come before his presence with singing you may not be able to sing but you are responsible for singing so i pray that you were blessed by this tribute to the music contributions made by brother kirk franklin and we are grateful for the inspiration that we have received the lord knows in times like these we need inspiration times like these we need good news times like these we need people that trust god to inspire other people to trust god and so i'm inspired and i hope i hope you are too today we conclude this what i'll call a mini series three weeks in a row we've been talking about how to win with a bad hand and today we will do part three if you missed parts one and two you can go to youtube you can go to facebook you can go to fpc summerset.com i think we're having some technical difficulties with facebook today it might actually be the music you know we've used a lot of uh pre-recorded music that doesn't really belong to us and i don't i think brother brother facebook might have shut us down today i can't think of what else would have happened but that's all right you know many roads lead to the kingdom we've got a website that we stream through live stream we have youtube channel fbc somerset so we thank god for our media team for helping us with a plan b and a plan c amen let us pray lord you have orchestrated the events of our time such that we are required to transform our bedrooms and our living rooms and our kitchens the front and back seats of our cars and our special places in the park into holy ground you've helped us create sanctuaries on our sofas given us praise over breakfast and in so doing god you simply remind us that you're everywhere at the same time and so for that we say thank you we thank you god for extending the hand of grace and the reality of mercy we thank you for preserving us during this covert 19 season we thank you for your presence in our lives wherever our lives take us and of course we thank you for your word which functions as a lamp when things get dark as a light when we are surrounded by night so god we go now to your word asking that you might lift us above ourselves and that you might prove once again that in response to a prophetic word and a visitation of your spirit that dry bones can live in the name of jesus we pray amen i have argued that the game of poker offers some insight for christian living all the time being careful not to promote gambling and certainly not to promote poker playing and since most of us don't play poker i've taken this opportunity to teach you a little bit about poker and for these now three weeks we wanted to bring a word of encouragement and empowerment to god's people and so our theme is how to win with a bad hand our scriptural reference comes from paul's second letter to the church at corinth let me read verses 7 b through verse 10 and prayerfully when you take the collection together you'll have an appreciation for this word while it is an ancient word it is a relevant and timely word for today therefore says paul in order to keep me from becoming conceited i was given a thorn in my flesh a messenger of satan to torment me three times i pleaded with the lord to take it away from me but god said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that christ's power may rest on me that is why for christ's sake i delight in weaknesses for christ's sake i delight in weaknesses in insults in hardships in persecutions in difficulties for when i am weak then i am strong when i am weak then i am strong we describe poker as a game which in most instances begins with getting five cards and by way of review want to remind you that the goal of poker is to have the best hand the best hand is a hand that has matching suits or chronological numbers and beyond going into any further detail let me simply hasten to say that the person who has the best hand is the one most likely to win but i learned as a young teenager taught by my father's youngest brother that although the game is structured to to allow the person with the best hand to win he taught me that there is a way to win even if you have a bad hand and by analogy we have likened the distribution of cards that would cause someone to give up cards that would cause someone to fold as it were we describe folding as what we do when we get a bad hand and don't want to play any further don't want to go any further we we take the cards and put them upside down slam them on the table and we say i fold and the purpose of this series is to help us understand that as the children of god as the people of god as the church of jesus christ as a disciple of jesus himself that we are instructed by paul that even when our hand is bad even when we are surrounded by weakness even when we are saturated with what looks like failure we shouldn't fall too soon because even when our hand is bad even when we are weak paul said we can be strong so i want to argue that today there is another reason besides those that i've given already reason number one that we should not fold too soon was that folding too soon ignores the reality that in poker if our hand is bad we can get some more cards and so let me remind you that if you have a bad hand today god because god has extended your life god has given you breath god has blessed me with blood running warm in my veins the fact that i can see with my eyes here with my ears feel with my hands think with my mind it's an indication that god is not through with me yet james cleveland said it like this please be patient with me god is not through with me yet and we turn that on his head to say please be patient with god because god is not through with you yet god's got some more blessings coming god's got more grace coming god has more mercy coming god has more experiences coming as as long as god wakes you up in the morning god as it were is our divine dealer and he's got some more cards in his deck amen and then we want to remind you that we also learned in learning about poker we discovered that when we look at our hands when we look at our situations when we look at our lives when we look at our jobs when we look at our families when we assess whether or not we should just give up we we learn through poker that while you may have a bad hand i may have a terrible hand i may not have the worst hand so let's not come to conclusions and let's not be silly about this thing we may be exposed to injustices we we may have been dealt a bad hand as african people on the north american continent we may have experienced bad hands in relationships and bad hands even in church but what the poker teacher taught me was that as bad as my hand is there's somebody who has over his hand i recall going to haiti watching children bathe in sewers i recall being in egypt watching children walk four miles to get a bucket of water i recall going to that indian reservation in montana watching the original occupants of this land upon which we stand living as if they are living in third world countries and i said my god being black in america has been challenging but compared to other dark skinned people across the world we are living like royalty and when you travel to africa and to the caribbean and meet people in the african diaspora and describe the status of black people in america albeit with injustice despite the fact that we've been dealt a bad hand there are black people all over the world who would love to live where we live and who would love to have what we have a bad hand may not be the worst hand but i stopped by today to simply say that there was a third discovery that my uncle taught me and that was this that even after you get your new cards and after you assess whether or not there is a hand worse than yours i'll never forget my uncle look at me in my eyes and said he said buster don't fold because it doesn't matter how bad your hand is you can win even if you have the worst hand that's what i've come to talk about today really is winning with the worst hand if after all of the blessings that god has for you seemingly have been received if after all of the strategies have been executed if after all of the cards that that are lined up with your name on them are right there before you you in fact may have the worst hand in this recent season of protest i think many of our young people have experienced some discovery that with all of their benefits and all of their blessings i think many young people today in america of every ethnic background has discovered that america is yet to fulfill its promise to everybody those of us that are up in age we realized early in our lives by the way we were raised that black people in this country since 1619 up to and including now have embraced as an ultimate reality that we have been dealt a bad hand and it doesn't always come through in philosophy it's not always articulated explicitly but you know if you're an african-american or if you're not talk to some of your black friends we we knew from the beginning that america was a bad hand in many ways for black people now my parents didn't say it that way in fact they really didn't say it in racial terms as much as they talked about it in cultural terms they would say things like this you know what if if you want to do well on your job you've got to get to work early before i went to school even in kindergarten my parents taught me whenever you go to school whatever course you take whatever classroom you're in sit in the front of the class act like you're excited about being there all of these values all of these mores if you stop by the police put your hands on the steering wheel and be polite we were taught that we had to study harder we were taught that because america was not a perfectly fair environment and because the color of our skin had caused us to be dealt all of these bad hands all of us were raised those of us who are over 35 and 40 we were raised in families that taught us how to behave how to speak how to dress how to deport ourselves we were taught that not to because we were fearful but we were taught that as strategy excellence was not an effort in trying to act white no excellence was a commitment that helped us win [Music] despite the bad hand we would dealt we were taught that we had to stick together we were taught that we had to respect ourselves even if no one else respected us and when you think about black culture and just think about the way we lived think about what we taught our children think about the things we learned and took for granted our parents taught us to wear clean underwear amen and the rationale for wearing clean underwear had more to do with the reputation of the family than it had to do with hygiene if you're over 40 years old you you were told by your mother your father your aunt your grandmother that you had to wear clean underwear because if you were in an accident and you had dirty underwear you had holes in your underwear you would be an embarrassment to the family an embarrassment to the family would contribute to the stereotypes that caused us to have bad hands you know i'm right and so we didn't have a lot of slogans we had no hashtags but the way we were raised the way our culture was structured was based on an assumption that america it might be nice america might offer benefits that other black people across the planet don't have but america is yet tilted away from black people and towards the privilege of others and we define that now as a bad hand and we grew up with this reality but my brothers and sisters somehow despite this unequal landscape despite all of this democratic duplicity somehow despite all of this national hypocrisy somehow despite slavery and discrimination and jim crow somehow despite all of what we were exposed to somehow despite being the last hired in the first fire somehow we were able to not only survive but look at us now presidents of universities managers in corporations ceos of great organizations adapters and campers and zetas and baptists and methodists look at us now despite all of the unfairness god had has made a way for us despite the fact that we knew that if we kept all of the rules we might still lose and despite the fact that our parents taught us that even if we keep the rules we still might lose we had this strategy that was based on a core assumption that though we were weak politically had no right to vote though we were weak financially in many areas we were disallowed the right to own property though we were weak intellectually while it was against the law to teach black boys and black girls to read and write and though we were weak physically we had some rebellions in the 19th century where slaves literally rose up some supported john brown and and others but there weren't enough guns to be distributed and people to use those guns for us to win our battle for freedom in this country physically despite the fact that we didn't have the traditional resources that people use the french revolution the the the english uh revolution and all of these movements around the world that use armed struggle to win all we had was divine power we would sing songs like he's my rock my sword and my shield he's my wheel in the middle of the wheel he's my god and i know he will fight my battles if i just stand still and so our people had as our core strategy and value that that that god is going to fight our battles our struggle was and our strategy was spiritual and didn't god do it long before we had the white house long before we had thurgood marshall on the supreme court long before we had a congressional black caucus long before we had universities to teach our young people long before we had churches and mega churches long before we had black banks and black insurance companies long before we had any of these institutional resources there was a god somewhere that used little young people for instance some former slaves that came out of slavery after 1865 were students at shaw at fisk university and they decided that they would drop out of fisk university to raise money to keep fisk university open and they used the gift of singing that god gave them to travel around the country and around the world and the fisk jubilee singers saved that school one of their concerts was in louisville kentucky and they sang before an integrated audience they wouldn't sing to only black audiences and they wouldn't sing only white audiences they sang to audiences that were willing to have blacks and whites sit and listen together this was the 19th century these people were born in slavery they were young college students and in one concert in louisville they sang this song about the gospel train and in the gospel train song they said that everybody can get on board and nobody would be uh left out and everybody could afford a ticket and don't you know that mr pullman the owner of the pullman trains was in the audience he was so moved and inspired he sent his pullman coach car to take those young people from louisville back to nashville and in so doing he made a commitment that day after being moved by the spirit of god because of the singing of those young people that the pullman trains would never be segregated again no law no politics no money just young anointed singers used by god to impact the heart of a rich white businessman paul says that he discovered that while he was physically challenged incapable because of those thorns in his flesh there were some things he just could not do and it might be a physical challenge for you you might be listening to me and worshiping was with with a positive outcome from covet 19 testing you might be on a respirator you you might be in rehab you you might be physically incapacitated maybe it's not physical perhaps it's mental perhaps it's emotional perhaps you've seen so much death and you've heard so much bad news about people dying you have seen so much conflict and confusion among people that should be providing answers perhaps you become depressed and discouraged emotionally perhaps your body has needed attention from a dentist or doctor but because of social distancing and quarantine rules you've not been able to receive the kind of health care that you need perhaps your job is drying up i read just yesterday about a 90 year old kosher deli in south jersey that has been serving their community for three generations but because of covert 19 they're now closing their doors perhaps your thorn in your flesh is a financial thorn and what paul was saying is because of this thorn in his flesh he prayed to god for healing he prayed to god for relief because when there's a thorn in your physical flesh your emotional flesh your financial flesh your intellectual flesh when there's a thorn in your spiritual flesh you become weaker than you ought to be but paul said when i am that weak because of god's strength i can be strong so how does this work when you in fact do have the worst hand my uncle my uncle gave me some methodology because i couldn't figure out how in a game or a world where only the best hand wins only the rich survive only the strong are able to win i couldn't figure out it was what we might call an oxymoron if i have to be strong to win how do i win when i'm weak if i have to be rich to prosper then how do i prosper when i'm poor if i've got to be educated to advance how can i advance if i'm uneducated paul how does that happen my uncle my poker player teacher taught me the answer he said well when you look at this text and you align it to the game of poker the first thing you have to do is when you when you have now a hand that is unlikely to win when you have a condition that is more likely to hold you back than to push you forward you have to hear paul saying therefore i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses i will boast i will both paul said i prayed three times to get rid of my weakness but now god said my grace is all you need and then paul then in response to god's word says therefore i will boast in other words paul made up his mind that's that's that's point number one point number one is that you've got to make a firm decision when we're facing challenges when we are presented with obstacles when when we are dealing with real barriers the first thing we do is to make up our minds make a firm decision that that that's the sermonic way to say it let me say it in on the street level forget about folding forget about it forget about the option of folding forget about giving up we've got to make up our i remember when i was studying greek on an undergraduate level i couldn't memorize the alphabet i mean we were into week two and week three and other students were translating from greek to english i'm still trying to learn the alphabet if i've ever been humbled intellectually by any task or challenge it was the requirement that i had to study and pass greek and i'm not talking about biblical greek where i could get help from preachers i'm talking about classical greek and cicero and anthropos and and plato and socrates i'm i'm reading the greek before the greek of jesus time and i felt like an absolute fool i was in my early 30s i said to god i'm too old for this my mind is not wide enough pliable enough and and i i was prepared to fold i was prepared to give up put my cards down go back to my professor and say listen these young people that they're quicker than i am they're more agile than i am i'm almost an old man i'm trying to prepare for marriage i can't do this but the first thing i had to do before i could successfully get a's in greek i had to change my mind and when you're playing poker and looking at a bad hand or when you are living life looking at a bad hand when our ancestors looked at the fact that they were being lynched with impunity they were being beaten and worked like animals they were being disrespected by children they had to first make up their minds they they had to make a firm decision like david did in the psalms when david said i will not die you've got to decide not to let domestic violence take you out we've got to decide not to let discrimination and racism stop us in our tracks we've got to focus our minds and make firm decisions we will not fold when you fold you give your enemies victory before you even try to fight when you fold you give in to the unknown rather than taking advantage of the known when we fold we have allowed our minds to be convinced that there's no way out and my brothers and sisters you know david said in psalm 26 to god test me try me examine my heart and my mind your religion does not only reside in your heart it resides in your mind and some of us some of us allow our minds to give up we fold not realizing that even if we have the worst hand in town if we decide to win there's a way to win that's why we have to feed our minds our minds are really the battlefield of our lives it is the mind that social media tries to infiltrate to convince us that somebody else is liked more than you are it's the mind that causes us to see pictures of other people who look like they're rich when in fact they're taking pictures in front of somebody else's car it's the mind that gets us all upset when someone calls us out of our names it is the mind therefore that has to be resurrected and sanctified and anointed which means that we've got to feed our minds with more than housewives from atlanta we've got to feed our minds with more than bravo and bet we've got to feed our minds because if our mind is weak if our mind is wobbly if our mind is open to garbage we will end up living garbage lives so paul says i've made up my mind i'm going to rejoice even in my weakness and i'm going to boast about these thorns in my flesh you see brothers and sisters the most powerful gift god has given us is the gift of choice we choose what we celebrate we choose how we respond we choose we have the power of choice and the power of choice then cause paul to say don't be like everybody else don't be conformed don't don't be controlled don't be influenced by everybody around you but he said to the romans but be transformed be changed by the renewing of your mind you've got to feed our minds so that we can make firm decisions and i'm challenging us today to decide in our minds we won't fold the other thing paul says here he he says i will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses gladly don't miss that word gladly he goes on to say that's why for christ's sake i will delight in weaknesses i will delight in the hardships i will delight in persecutions i will delight in difficulties i will delight paul here is actually saying that i i will delight how do you know when somebody has delighted how do you know when someone is delighted you they have they have what i'll call they have a facial design some of the old folk used to look at us and say fix your face boy and when we delight despite our bad hands paul didn't say that i delight because i'm weak paul didn't say i delight because i'm insulted he didn't say i delight because of my hardships he didn't say i denied because of my persecutions and he didn't say i will delight because of my difficulties in other words paul was too intelligent to convince us that he was happy because he had trouble what paul was saying was i will delight in spite of my trouble so what do i mean by fixing your face in poker we have something called a poker face there there are people on my staff who who's whose attitude and whose circumstances and whose condition can be read by looking at their faces i mean have you ever met somebody who you can tell what they're thinking you can tell how they're feeling just by looking at their face my suggestion to them those that have that that personality is this you should never play poker because there's some people who when they look at their hand and the hand is really such a bad hand you can tell from their facial expression that the hand is bad and if you're playing against them you know to go ahead and bet a whole lot of money because from their face you can tell they've got a bad hand but now here paul says you'll never be able to tell that i'm weak and you'll never be able to tell that i'm persecuted and they'll never be able to tell that i've got hardship hardship and insult in difficulty paul said because when they talk bad about me and when the pain gets worse i am going to smile that that's the sign of delight you smile and can i tell you something not now don't don't don't go down to atlantic city with this but i'm telling you now the best way to hold on to a bad hand if you're playing poker and not let the opponents know how bad your hand is you put the cards in your hand and you smile now conventional wisdom says that you use what we call a poker face a poker face is when you are expressionless a poker face is when you're neither negative or positive you're neither happy nor sad but the truth is a really skillful poker player can tell that your lack of expression is really an act what you got to do is go from neutral to drive and smile and what i discovered about smiling is that smiling in many instances is the best medicine that we can take smart smiling literally boosts the immune system while your whole body relaxes some some have argued that smiling actually improves your mood you know it's hard to think mean bad thoughts while you're smiling you know it's hard to use ugly words about other people while you're smiling and what i love about smiling is that the people that are trying to get on your nerves and the people that are trying to pull you down and the devil who's trying to steal your joy the more they see you smile the more they just give up and say we we can't mess them up so the hip writer said come ye that love the lord and let your joy be known let your joy be known smile when your boss comes and says that the person you train is going to become your supervisor smile when the college or university says we're going to charge you the same tuition but you're going to work from home smile when your children look at you and say when can i go back to school and you have no answer smile when the doctor tells you that you've got a disease that requires surgery you see not smiling doesn't change anything but when you smile like paul said you you show your delight in your problems then what happens is something supernatural begins to kick in and you are positioning yourself to win in the game of life to win in the circumstance of life to win against depression against disease against the devil pulling you down all the way down having a bad day smile and the muscles in your face will transmit a message throughout your body dr seuss you all remember dr seuss some of us grew up on dr seuss he said don't cry because it's over smile because it happened shakespeare says the robbed the one who is robbed if he smiles steal something from the thief that when we smile in spite of our difficulties when we smile instead of cursing at the police and cursing at people that we deem enemies when we when we smile it gives us the upper hand we are spiritually superior to our problems so paul said here i've got a bad hand but i'm going to delight despite my weaknesses and insults and then then he says for when i am weak then i am strong i said to my uncle you know i'm hearing what you're saying about this poker game but i still can't figure out when all is said and done and my cards are the worst cards and your cards are better than mine how is it that the worst hand can beat the better hand once the game is about to conclude because we all we all put our cards on the table the rules are clear and somebody looks at your straight someone looks at his flush and someone looks at my miscellaneous cards and an objective observer would conclude that my worst hand is the losing hand he said no no that's not the end here's here's what you do you you got to make up your mind you are not going to lose you got to make up your mind they're not going to steal your joy we've got to make up my mind our minds that we're going to be free even before they change the laws we've got to make up our minds we're going to succeed in school and succeed in family and succeed at work you've got to make up your mind that is not what happens on the outside but what happens on the inside that gives you the advantage and then you put on you start with your poker face but then you just smile you look around and you just smile and when you smile your opponents start getting a little nervous when you smile they start looking at your face saying to themselves he must have a good reason to smile i haven't seen him smile before i haven't seen him smile all night and the more you smile the more they're going to back up a little bit and say i wonder what he's got in his hand and he said then while you're smiling you take all the money you have left all the chips that you use to bet and you put them in your hand and instead of folding with the cards what what my uncle taught me was you take all of your money and you plop it down in the middle of the table and you use these two words all in all in and so after you have made a firm decision and after you've had a facial design you make what my uncle called the full deposit in the street we'd call that a firm finish he said you bet everything you have left if you have ten dollars left bet all ten dollars you've got a thousand dollars left but all thousand dollars and use these words all in oh my brothers and sisters i was on a webinar last week and one of the panelists described the young people that she leads as having described themselves as being tired and i didn't think i didn't want to insult anybody but all of you who know me know that sometimes i'm quick with the tongue and i said they're not tired i said that not knowing that before the week was over brother john lewis would take his flight from time to eternity john lewis when going across that edmund pettus bridge was beaten until he had a concussion and almost died and i say to these young activists today if john lewis never got tired don't you get tired i said those words not knowing that c.t vivian one of martin luther king's top lieutenants would take his flight from time to eternity ct vivian confronted sheriff john clark over the right to vote and when the lights went out sheriff clark punched c.t vivian blood came from his face and he went to jail time after time and my brothers and sisters i want the young people to know you're not tired don't tell me you're tired you're marching without fear of being harassed by the police you're marching during the electric slide with the police you're marching under the glare of television and facebook and twitter you're not tired that this struggle today is a real struggle but this struggle does not cost us what struggle used to cost us ah nobody's being lynched we have two or three young people that have mysteriously been lich and we will find the perpetrators brianna taylor was killed in our own house but compared to yesterday the struggle is not as intense even though it is as important but a time may come in each individual's life when in fact you might be called upon to die you might be called upon to give up your job you might be called upon to give up your great contract you might be called upon to do what was normal back in the day and the question is if i am a real activist and i'm willing to put everything on the line paul said when i am weak and that describes an experience of being at a point where he could do nothing for himself god forbid that any of us would ever arrive at a point where we've done all we can do we have said all we can say we have strived all we can strive and we prayed all we can pray and our backs are against the wall we are stuck in the basement of our circumstances but paul wants you to know that while your hand may be the worst hand and your life may be tragic you can still win if you're willing to do what my uncle taught me to do and that is to take everything you have and cry out i'm all in can i get some witnesses from those who had done all they could do it was illogical to conclude that they could win but because they were all in they've got a testimony that when they were weak god made them strong come here joseph testify for us this morning i hear jerusalem saying my brothers sold me into slavery my boss's wife lied and they put me in jail when the butler got out of jail he forgot to reach back and help me but as god would have it from the jail cell pharaoh called my name and joseph said i went from prisoner to being the prime minister because i was all in and i won with the worst hand come here get in tell your story god reduced my army to 300 men i was up against thousands it made no sense at all but god took my little feeble army and gave me victory over the enemy i had the worst hand but god brought me through come here david tell your story i was down in the valley and all i had was a slingshot and five smooth stones and there stood a nine-foot giant named goliath he had a bodyguard and a sword but as god would have it i had the worst hand but i used my slingshot to hit big goliath i cut his head off his body god proved that you could have the worst hand and win justify daniel tell me your story i wouldn't bow down and pray the way the others bowed down and pray and so they put me in a den with lions but god brought me out i had no weapons i had no strength but god showed up and tamed the lions and turned them into pussycats i won with the worst hand come here hannah they were criticizing you had to testify i didn't get pregnant my husband's concupon had a baby but i kept on praying and in my weakness god gave me samuel hannah testifies you can win with the worst hand come here deborah tell your story no man would join the army so i left the battle on my own and as a woman the mother of israel i led the army to victory i had the worst hand but god gave me victory come here esther tell your story haman was trying to wipe out my people and i didn't have an appointment but i went in to see the king and my brothers and my sisters god gave us victory although we had the worst hand come here mandela i was in jail 27 years and they didn't plan to let me out but there's a god somewhere and even though i had the worst hand god took me from being prisoner to being president come here jesus tell your story i was born in a borrowed manger i fed 5 000 with a bomb at lunch i rode in jerusalem under barbie donkey when i died they put me in the bar and tomb but early sunday morning even though i was dead he brought me up he resurrected my body and jesus said i had the worst hand but now i've got power of my brothers and sisters i'm putting all in all to jesus i surrender all to him i freely give i will ever love and trust him in his presence daily live the old folks used to say all my help comes from the lord all my needs that i'm possessing all my help [Music] all my help all my help comes from the land you may have the worst hands you don't need political power you don't need medical power you don't need economic power the reason i'm putting all my trust and i'm all in with jesus it's because i need all power i need the power that makes water wet i need the power to make fire hot i need the power that makes grass green i need the power to make the sunshine i need the power that god on the cross shake blood bury the grave got up on sunday all have the power of jesus name that angels from straightforward bring forth the royal diadem [Music] there's power in the blood there's power in the name and if you have the worst hand you put on your poker face add a little smile to it and then say i'm all in with jesus i'm all in with the one that has all power and i promise you you'll have victory even with the worst hand there's no racism there's no classism there is no discrimination there is no elitism there is no political power that can defeat you because god has all power and when we are weak that's when god will prove that god has all power and god's power plus our faith makes us strong i wonder today if you've been able to celebrate with me every now and then every now and then the gospel gets so good all you can do is celebrate you might say well what is there to celebrate i still can't go to work i still can't open my business i'm not done with rehab yet i'm having trouble smiling what is there to celebrate sometimes we celebrate what has already happened but what i've learned is that a real celebration is when we celebrate what's about to happen we don't have to wait we can celebrate right now walter hawkins said don't wait till the battle's over you can shout right now and even while you have the worst hand your relationships have gone sour your money is still funny your school is uncertain your job is talking about termination there's a god that has all power the same god that has sustained us [Music] through dangerous toils and snares the same god that has given us the power to lift every voice and sing the same god that inspired our people to sing we shall overcome the same god that woke you up this morning still has a purpose for your life god who woke me up this morning still has a purpose for my life and like paul i've learned to smile at my troubled smile that my stresses smile because the bible says if if you look the devil in the devil's eye you rebuke the devil he'll run from you and when your enemies see that you smile through your trouble through your sickness through your pain through your unemployment when when you can smile in spite of whatever it is you're going through depression and discouragement and despondency will flee from you no spirit will try to incarcerate you you can be free in jail you can be free in a group home you can be free in a homeless shelter you can be free wherever you are doesn't matter how bad your hand is what matters is how strong god's hand is if today you want to go all in you've been talking about jesus singing about jesus you love gospel music you love praise and worship but you've never you've never said all to jesus i surrender you've never taken all of what you have left all the joy you have left all the peace you have left all the talent you have left all the thoughts you have left you take all of what you have left just like a poker game and you look at the devil you look at your ex you you look at your family you look at your bars you you look at life and say life i'm taking everything i have i'm all in but i'm all in for jesus i'm back everything i have on jesus not the church not the preacher not the library not the university not the game but on jesus yeah for the first time in your life you want to give what's left of your life your time your talent your treasure you're ready to tell the devil he's a liar you're on the lord's side now just pray this prayer quickly with me dear god [Music] i've thought about folding i've thought about giving up because i keep getting worse and worse hands but god the one thing i've never tried is to go all in with jesus [Music] and so i confess god i've been trying to work things out for myself by myself and now i realize that i can put a smile on my face take everything i have left put it in the hands of jesus god i want jesus to be my personal savior god i want forgiveness [Music] for all of my sins i want today to be my spiritual birthday save me god and make me yours i want to live for jesus for the rest of my life and i want to live with jesus when this life comes to an end i want to be born a second time right now and i thank you god for loving me enough to give me this chance i've made up my mind that i'm going to win and i'm going to follow your instructions i'm going to receive your love and i'm going to depend on your power to make me the me that you made me to be thank you god i'm gonna praise you with my mouth right now [Music] all by myself by saying thank you in the name of jesus we pray amen amen [Music] listen if you if you prayed that prayer with me and today you believe that god can will and has accepted you into the family of god just push the yes button on our website if you click yes we're not going to ask you for money we're not going to ask you about church membership unless you bring it up what we're simply going to do is congratulate you pray with you and find out if there's anything we can do from first baptist to support you spiritually if you need information we can get you information if you need a relationship we can get you relationship and you need a prayer partner we'll get your prayer partner but we want you and god to stay as close as you are now and it's our job to do whatever it takes to help make that happen so push the yes button and all it says is yes i prayed that prayer yes i prayed that prayer with the pastor and then we will call you we will email you we will contact you where you'd like to be contacted just to say congratulations we're here for you you're not communicating with a machine you're communicating with a ministry now if you are a christian already but you're not connected to a local church or your church is not available during this season you click the join button and all that means is that for this season you want to be a part of our family what does that mean it means that you have all the rights and privileges of membership under watch care it means that you can study with us pray with us it means that when you're sick we come see about you when you have death in your family we minister to you you are in this part of god's family and so you can push the join button you can push the yes button if you prayed the prayer i'm going to give you a minute to make a decision ask god god should i push this button should i talk to somebody from first baptist and if god says yes you click yes or click join come up [Music] no one more time one more time i know i know [Music] amen amen amen come on wherever you are you know i felt a little silly at first i was watching a friend of mine preach on my phone the other day and i found myself saying amen and hollering at him as if he could hear me it felt a little weird but it got so good and stopped feeling weird go ahead and holler say thank you jesus hallelujah praise the lord wave your hand do something that you might do if you were here go ahead and praise him and thank him and bless his name and celebrate the fact that god is good come on come on come on [Music] no matter what [Music] oh lord kirk franklin is so gifted and these songs have carried us for a long time my sons were very little guys [Music] and uh i went up to pennsylvania to speak at a large christian music festival there were 70 000 people there and most of them were caucasian and i was the speaker kirk franklin was the singer john gray was one of his background singers back in those days and i watched brother kirk move that ocean of white people which proved to me that his gifting and anointing went far beyond the boundaries of what we call the black church you see the spirit of god does not distinguish between black church white church beggar church storefront church because the holy ghost is moving on individuals that make up whatever size crowd they have and so thank you ministry of music for that marvelous tribute to kirk franklin and reminding us of some of the kind of new old school gospels he did for for you young people this is old school but no old school is you know i don't feel no ways tied that's old school james cleveland and [Music] clay evans you know this room at the cross that's old school caravans go on youtube and look up the caravans albertina walker clara ward that's old school but you are 20 years is not old school 20 years is new old school you want to hear some real music that's the music i listen to while i'm studying i listen to legitimate the o'neill twins y'all remember the o'neill twins that's right o'neill twins man you know them mark you're young you know you know oh yeah oh yeah i tried not to get two baptists up in here all right all right listen uh somebody said that we're getting real baptist now because the service is lasting so long but folk folk don't have any place to go so just just hang in there with us listen thank you for your financial support you've kept us viable and you've kept us vibrant without having to come to church you know in some churches they can't they can't collect a dime unless they're in the building and people you know the ushers take every role and people come walking around in fact some of y'all know in some churches the musicians have to play giving music and they march around and they roll up the dollar bill so tight you need a wrench to get it open uh but thank god thank god we stopped being that kind of church so long ago that during this quarantine season we um we are absolutely we are absolutely blessed we're able to maintain our ministries and do a couple of extra things so thank you so much i want to say also that we are losing some key people deacon and deaconess anderson have moved to florida uh deacon and deaconess patterson have moved to atlanta and reverend and reverend gibson will be relocating to florida but guess what because we are virtual anyway and we're operating by email and zoom and facebook and youtube i've told all all of them they can go where they want but they're still on duty they're still members here and and so don't you know i'm not sending any letter to anybody introducing them to anybody if they ask me about a good church i'm gonna say i don't know but let's pray for them i do want to congratulate them for shifting but while their zip code may change their membership will remain right here somebody say amen um next friday and saturday now i'm going to send you this in an email but don't wait for the email next friday and saturday we're going to give the world an update on our d free ministry now why is that important to you because the d3 movement while it is now global it's in churches around the world it's in the zeta phi beta sorority it's in the delta sigma theta sorority omega sci-fi alpha by alpha fraternity it's in the national association of real estate brokers it's in a home free usa in all of these organizations it started right here in the basement of our old church we had a little bible study it grew into a larger bible study cnn came along put us on full blast zelda been published our textbook and now 15 years later the d free ministry and movement is doing tremendous you can't even imagine and so what i want you to do tonight go to mydfree.org and sign up it's free now i do want you to give a 15th anniversary donation individuals should give 15 churches should give 150 and big corporations should give 1500 but go to them id3.org and you'll hear speakers the there's a young man that runs there's one young man in the country who has worked for two black billionaires now you know we only have about six or seven this young man has run the business empire for two african-american billionaires he'll be speaking at our conference in fact i'll be interviewing him angela yee from the breakfast club all of you uh gen z and millennials y'all like the breakfast club we're bringing the one that doesn't do much cussing to the d3 conference and we've got so many other people but first baptist if nobody else benefits from this you should benefit take pride you might not be able to tune in for the whole thing but i want you to register tonight i have a number in my mind of how many first baptist members should register but i'm not going to say it out loud because i don't want you all to hurt my feelings so that's next friday and saturday and then the saturday and sunday after that august 1st and 2nd we're having covert 19 and antibody testing again here at the church the difference this time is on saturday in addition to testing you'll be able to come by the church to pick up your communion set so that we can take communion the old-fashioned way on sunday because you'll have your little uh warm juices and your little stale wafers so we're going to give them to you on saturday and then on that sunday have y'all been told on that sunday we need a little music outside with a little drive-by fellowship uh after church after service so august 1st we're bringing in august with a whole new strategy for virtual worship and we we want you to participate but make sure make sure you sign up it's free so i know i got a couple a couple of people who don't mind signing up for free things reverend gibson thank you so much for uh thank you so much for your years of service and just be prepared to continue being our online pastor reverend david gibson put together our uh pastoral care technology infrastructure we'll always thank god for him reverend sheila gibson his wife uh was on the committee that selected me to be pastor so we i've got a little gift for both of you so make sure you see me before the moving van shows up all right now uh i've got one more am i done do i oh yes when is it thursday july 30th we're having a virtual mid-year church business meeting you don't want to miss this because you're going to find out about church finances anything you support financially you should want to know about and we're also going to give you an update on the pastoral search process amen we're going to let you know about my retirement and my replacement at the church business meeting all right now i needed to finish this series this week next week we have a guest preacher i'll be here but our guest preacher will be reverend shalita fambi you all should remember her especially the women's retreat crowd reverend fonby is from maryland one of america's top preachers that she'll be here because it's women's day and so we have a little extra music for women's day we have sister daniels our women's day leader for the last 300 years she'll be doing a special presentation on video and uh we just are celebrating women's day listen deacon chester smith went home to be with the lord yesterday our elder deacon emeritus pray for his family please as we prepare to help them celebrate his life god is good somebody say all the time all the time and all the time god is good every praise is to our god every word of worship [Music] is [Music] is [Music] may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you may the lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace now henceforth and forevermore let the church say amen amen and amen [Music] one is every place [Music] we're so glad you chose to worship online with fpclg remember that even in these uncertain times god is still on the throne for more information on our ministry please visit fbcsomerset.com we hope you join us for worship again next week you

Channel: fbcsomerset

Views: 1,840

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: C6zXwcY9On4

Length: 134min 18sec (8058 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 19 2020