Homegoing Service for Elder Courtney Spurgeon

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] wow [Music] uh [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] i'm [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] my [Music] time [Music] [Applause] [Music] hi tell we [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Music] me [Music] online [Music] me [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] ah [Music] oh [Music] me my [Music] [Music] [Music] good [Music] so [Music] bye [Music] uh [Music] now [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] bye [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] so [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] when you're down and in despair remember god cares for you and when your family [Music] jump [Music] remember god [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] oh he will catch you every time you call his baby anybody [Music] [Applause] i'm a living witness he'll hear you whenever you come [Music] he will catch you every time you fall his name is chief jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus jesus and sorrow and hope but tomorrow i rock in a weary land jesus jesus who can stand before us with me god jesus jesus your body and the dancing jesus jesus jesus i have precious [Applause] somebody open up your mouth and call jesus that will come shall come jesus [Music] uh [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] one [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so so so [Music] let us stand to receive the family letting out your heart be troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself where i am there you may be also and whether i go you know and the way you know thomas said unto him lord we know not whether thou goings and how can we know the way jesus said unto him i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me who shall separate us from the love of christ the tribulation or the stress or persecution of famine or nakedness apparel or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for i am persuaded that neither death nor life but no angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creatures shall be able to separate us from the love of god and i heard a voice from heaven saying right blessed are the dead which die in the lord henceforth yes says the spirit for they shall rest from their labor and their work to follow them jesus said i am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die god is our refuge and our strength a very present help in the time of trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea though the waters thereof roar and be troubled there's a river the stream where of shall make glad the city of god the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high god is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved god shall help her and that right early the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refuge bless the lord all my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not all of his benefits the lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous and mercy he will not always child neither will he keep his anger forever for he have not dealt with us after our sins noah rewarded us according to our iniquities for as high as the heaven is above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him as far as the east is from the west so far he have removed our transgressions from us like as a father it is his children so the lord pities them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembers that we are dust [Music] as for man his days are his grass as a flower of the field so he flourish for the wind passes over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more but the mercy of the lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him his righteousness unto children's children to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the steel waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake yea though i walk through the valley and the shadow of death i will feel no evil for thou art with me thyroid and thy staff they comfort me that prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies thou known as my head with all my cup runeth over surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever [Music] lord that has been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth forever thou hast created the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art god now turn this man to destruction and says return the children of men for a thousand years in thy sight of it is yesterday when it has passed and there's a watch in the night thou carries them away as with a flood they are as asleep in the morning they're like grass which grows up in the morning it flourish and grow it up in the egg and it is cut down and with us for we are consumed by thy anger and by thy wrath are we troubled has thou not known hath thou not heard that the everlasting god the lord the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youth shall be faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait upon the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint blessed be god even the father of our lord jesus christ the father of mercies and the god of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort we ourselves are confident of god i am the first and the last i am he that liveth and was dead and behold am alive forevermore amen in the keys of all hell and death are in my hand but i will not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow or not even as those who have no hope for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so them also would sleep in jesus will god bring with him for this we say unto you by the word of the lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the lord himself shall descend with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of god and the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the lord wherefore comfort one another with these words for if we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of god a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens for in this we groan earnestly designed to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon their mortality might be swallowed up of life now he that had wrought us for the self-same thing is god who have given us the earnest of the spirit therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the lord if we walk by faith not by sight we are confident i say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the lord wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he have done whether it be good or bad but now christ is risen from the dead and became the first fruits of them that slept for since by one man came death by man also came the resurrection of the dead for as in adam we all die even so in christ shall all be made alive but every man in his own order christ the firstfruit afterward they that are christ at his coming then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to god even the father when he shall have put down all rule all authority and power for he must reign till he had put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed you may be seated is death behold i show you a mystery we should not all sleep but we shall be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sign and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality but this this corruptable have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be bought the past that is saying the written death is swallowed up in victory or death where is thy state oh grave where he is without victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of the sin is the law but thanks be to god thanks be to god which gives us the victory through our lord jesus therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the lord for as much as you know that your labor according to your labor is not in vain somebody ought to praise god for his labor right now somebody ought to praise god because it's not in vain 32 years not in vain well done i'm gonna move on i'm gonna be obedient i'm not we got a preacher [Music] but we give god [Music] we give god pray for this special young man and i want to say this all of us in here are in varying degrees of pain some are snapshot a few years 5 10 20 maybe but for this family they knew all 32 years my prayers with your family i could talk all day about this great family but we're praying with you and we're praying for ourselves and if you knew anything about courtney spurgeon he knew how to celebrate jesus and he knew how to do it in order so we're going to celebrate jesus and we're going to do it in order in vietnam [Music] i'm not going to read why we're here but this family has prepared an order service we already had our possession processional and i'll find a viewing on this side this combined community choir is coming with a selection scripture by bishop brandon whitehurst according his pastor faith tabernacle church new testament minister mona cunningham bethlehem baptist church prayer by pastor t renee glenn restoration church of prayer another selection by this awesome assembly of the community choir and we'll come back at that time as a resolution for all those that are not ministers the podium to my left is prepared for you all ministers you're welcome to the pulpit whether making remarks or ministering we'll come back after that second selection and all the people of god said amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm living this life good god almighty not stress hallelujah good god almighty i like a deep in the night shall return for me that's the day he'll come fly away you'll see jesus and with the lord i know that i shall reign i shall not stay hallelujah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] jesus for myself i shall meet him in the air after the dead in christ shall rise we are still alive will you hey for myself i got to meet jesus and the mystery half after the dead in christchurch we are still alive will you be ready when he come back for a church with the lord hath prepared me a mission or will you meet me [Applause] [Music] that's what i want to hear him say you've been faithful of a few things [Music] welcome not good faithful hey hey hey hey i'm gonna call my name before he turned on that's the day i'll take my block so many don't believe he's coming back you don't believe nothing you better be dead i wait no chance to shake my head i'm waiting on jesus with the master give me my room dress down in white give me my robe mike come and get me tonight jesus yes he'll welcome me guess who you are yes he will yes he will i'm gonna walk the streets of ghosts gonna tell the stories that never been told you welcome me i weigh no chance to shake my head i weigh no tears with give me my room give me my room give me my room and give me my room give me my robe give me my room give me my roof give me my arrow give me my room give me my arrow give me will you be ready [Music] wow [Music] i'm gonna practice disciplines a whole lot of warning but there's an overflow room in the fellowship hall with screens you don't have to stand with the two overflow rules right in the next part of the building pastor bishop whitehurst is coming and if mona pastor johnson gonna do it for so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] uh [Music] if i know spurgeon like i know him i can see him by now do he been on hopped off that organ over there and start taking him laps around the sanctuary but somebody shout praise is always in order i was created to do this i said i was created to do this i'm 46. [Music] god is our refuge and strength he's a very present help in the time of trouble and therefore we will not fear though the earth changed and though the mountains totter into the midst of the sea though its waters raw and foam and though mountains shake with this surging water there is a river there is a river whose streams gladden the city of god and the holiness of the dwellings of the most high this is the word of the lord [Music] romans 8 35 through 39 the king james version reads who shall separate us from the love of christ who shall separate from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or parameter or nakedness or peril of glory as it is for that we are killed all the day long we are counting as sheep for the slaughter in all things we are more i want to tell you he was more than a conqueror we are more than a conqueror through him that loved us for i am persuaded look at your neighbor one time and say i am persuaded hey i am persuaded i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels no principality no powers nor things present nor things to come nor heights nor death or any creature shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord the word of god for god's people and this beautiful family hallelujah we are more than conquerors hallelujah [Music] foreign praise the lord everybody to pastor baldwin to bishop whitehurst bishop hobbes to pastor williams to those who grace this sacred stance to every minister of the gospel favor to you the precious people of god it's prayer time his prayer time to his precious family to his mother god's strength and blessings be to you let us pray what a friend we have in jesus all our sins and grief to bear what a privilege it is to carry everything to god in prayer father i stretch my hands to thee no other help i know if thou withdraw thyself from thee lord whether shall we go our father and our god we approach you in that name that is above every name we come in the name of jesus declaring that you are holy that you are righteous that you are god alone and we adore you we lift you high we give you praise we honor your name for you are the ancient of days the beginning of time you're the first and the last and you are the one who makes no mistakes you only make decisions and so father we approach you homily lord god wanting to say thank you for the life of courtney rashad spurgeon god you gave him to us father for a short while and god we want to thank you for everything he poured and imparted to every single one of us in this room and others abroad oh god our father in the name of jesus we thank you uh-huh because you are the god of all comfort and lord you sent us the holy ghost to minister to us in times like these and god for this we say thank you we want to thank you oh god hallelujah because you are good to us father we want to thank you because your word says in everything we are to give thanks man oh god our father we pray now that you would move upon this family we pray god our father in days to come that you would make your presence known to them oh god we pray in the name of jesus that you would wrap your arms around them in days to come oh god our father hallelujah in the name of jesus we thank you because your word has made it clear that you are a very present helper and for this we are grateful god our hearts are heaven but you're still gone tears are rolling down our eyes but you're still gone we don't understand but you're still god and for this we give you praise so now god our father since we're here in the room today and we're gathered in your name we ask oh god in the name of jesus if it pleases you to pour out your spirit today god if you want to save somebody save today if you want to deliver somebody deliver today if you want to bring healing jesus because you were still wounded by our transgressions and proves for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon you and with your stripes we are healed god if you want to set free today loose your anointing in this place for the anointing still destroys every yoke of bondage in the name of jesus set the captive free if it be your will god in the name of jesus in this last time courtney has thrown us together oh god move by your spirit in the name of jesus strengthen jeffrey now put a word in him ever shy put a word in his mouth in the name of jesus give him courage to stand and declare that jesus is pure lord give him courage to declare that jesus is still on the throne have your way that's all we're asking that's all we're asking that's all we're asking in the name of jesus in the name of that great god hallelujah who's coming again to receive us unto himself we pray that the church say amen amen clap your hands and give god the praise [Music] thank you come on let's clap our hands one more time for courtney come on and let's celebrate come on you can do better than that let's celebrate this man of god come on clap your hands hallelujah hallelujah bless the name of the lord hallelujah we give god praise for what is happening in this place and we thank god for the life of courtney spurgeon if you were ever touched in your life by courtney will you shout hallelujah come on i want you to do it one more time if courtney has ever touched your life ever played in your church ever sang in your choir ever called you one morning just acting a fool somebody shout hallelujah come on come on he's the focus of our attention come on shout hallelujah come on let's lift up the name of the lord hallelujah like courtney would want us to come on let's bless his name hallelujah in due season you're gonna reap if you faint not how many of you believe that this is not the time for you to faint but this is the time to hold on hallelujah ain't got no saints in here i said how many of you know that this is the time to tie a knot and hold on to the lord's promise will you clap your hands with us come on and do sin [Music] if we fail we shall read oh lord we shall god has many blessings for you to enjoy if you trust and believe it shall be yours in new season oh come on somebody say we sharing if we play night new season we shall re yes lord we shall re yes god has many blessings for you to enjoy if you trust and believe it shall be us we shall read oh we shall reap oh we shall reap yes we will somebody say yeah we shall reap our harvest if you're gonna reap a harvest we shall sharing a harvest of blessings oh if we find that hallelujah somebody clap your hands hold on don't be discouraged hold on don't be dismayed don't be discouraged you gotta hold on lie don't be dismayed oh don't be discouraged somebody need to know you can hold on don't be dismayed grace and mercy if we fail not yes there's hope and joy if we pay not to stay right there if we say not oh if we say not somebody ought to hold on hold on to the lord's promise hold on to his word you can think today this is not the time for you to find in the lord but wow down hold on to his word the bible declares be in that foreign many of the afflictions afflictions of the righteous white my god he shall deliver he promised to deliver if you're playing not if you play that hold on to his word tag united hold on lift your head and hold on if you play nights we'll see you over there we'll see you over there we'll see you in the morning we'll see you in the morning but we'll house it down hold it on to his word we'll haul to his promise we'll all to his promise somebody's got a miracle coming somebody's got a blessing coming if you find that if you bear not hold on to jesus you gotta keep on praying you gotta keep on trusting you gotta keep on moving you gotta keep on walking you can't think right here said if somebody clap your hands and bless the lord come on put your hands together look at the neighbor and tell them i can't saint here come on touch somebody that you came here with and tell them it's okay to cry but you can't think right here clap your hands and bless the lord somebody open your mouth give god a shout give god a shout of praise come on clap your hands and bless him real good [Music] we shall reap if we don't give up i know you if you like me you you're hurt but you feel like pressing on and we're gonna press on we thank god can we just put your hand together and appreciate this choir they have done an awesome job coming together in the midst of their hurt to lift up the name of jesus and celebrate elder courtney spurgeon i thank god again for these uh pastors and bishops all the clergy preacher of the iowa pastor williams and bishop whitehurst and to every member of the ministry i'm going to ask all over this church all the clergy please stand the family can acknowledge your presence all over this church if you don't mind can you put your hand together and appreciate these men women of god who come today i know we ain't much but you can do better than that now amen [Applause] thank god for you thank god for all of you who've come today nothing wrong with saying thank you i got to say thank you to a few people real quick that is i want to thank god for the church staff and volunteers who worked so hard to pull these two buildings three buildings really together uh stafford brother jack bennett and sister nettle williams and brother earl harris volunteered moved chairs all week long so that we can receive you and we appreciate that labor of love they had a whole lot of help wasn't just them but those three were really here and i appreciate everybody if you picked up one i picked up a few myself so if we picked up one chair we appreciate you i thank god for this av ministry amen is serving allowing us to hear in different buildings and these ushers who are so patient amen i thank god for you ushers thank you so much and for every whatever part you are health care ministry amen i praise the lord for them i saved the team out in the parking lot i just appreciate people taking time some folks so busy till they need help but taking the time to serve and to bless this family in their area of ministry i'm going to also just very quickly um say now we'll pause for the resolution pastor gray is coming following that remarks again the clergy your your place is here all lay people your there's a podium right here for you uh the angels and amber bears ministry wiping the mics and get in the water everything that everybody has done just to say i love you courtney and we praying for you family so pastor grey is coming now followed by remarks i'm going to sit down this i'm not planning up again after the words of comfort closing prayers as minister pastor johnson you're here and i know courtney bless your ministry for a while so if you can come close us out in prayer and then we will continue uh at the graveside so thank god family thank you for sharing with us uh coming to bethlehem and bringing courtney home he was baptized here started here we're gonna there's no period just a comma we're gonna pause here the period is in glory here but we're gonna pause here come on up pastor [Music] and all the saints of god said amen amen again amen one more time to this aggregation of worshipers and to all of the clergy and most of all to this family our prayers are with you and we greet you in the joy of the lord amen there has been a colossal amount of love that has been shared and poured out this week in celebration and honor for elder courtney rashad spurgeon not only have there been words spoken but there have been words written and the family will have time to read through all of the resolutions once they have a moment to collect themselves and begin to respond to the amount of love that has been shown but we do want to make mention [Music] of those who have sent resolutions we will not for the sake of time read every word but we will make note of them so you can understand and know who they have come from from the restoration fellowship international incorporated world headquarters there in brooklyn new york certificate of apostolic appointment unto all whom present shall come greetings this testimonial is granted by the presiding bishop of the restoration fellowship international incorporated elder courtney spurgeon an elder of our lord's church who haven't been duly sanctified with the blood of christ called to preach duly licensed and ordained and appointed as national minister of music be it further known that we have made this appointment posthumously by the authority vested in us by the constitution of the canons of the church and we give god praise by the grace of god by the order of the seal waylon hobbs presiding bishop elder courtney spurgeon no matter what trials or how big your mountains sing the lord is there to be with you he'll go to the extreme so if you crawl if your cross seems hard to bear and you know not what to do the one who loves you most of all will be there to see you through we the members of the restoration fellowship international want you to know that our hearts are with you as we gather to build a christian goodbye to the musician and man of prayer again that's coming from bishop hobbes for the sake of movement and since we all are in here we're not going to ask everyone to stand but from the baptist ministers fellowship resolution of the reverend courtney richard spurgeon though your days among us were too brief and our grief at your loss is never ending we draw comfort from the knowledge that you have found safe refuge in the lord in our hearts where no darkness or pain can touch you now we bless you with love light and with our gratitude whereas elder courtney our spurgeon organist for the baptist menaces fellowship of greenville and vicinity lead leader of the prayer assembly and member of the faith tabernacle of spartanburg has passed this life july 31st 2021 be it resolved that we wish all who are now in the morning to take comfort from the immortal words of the great poet khalil gabriel if you would indeed behold the spirit of death open your heart wide unto the body of life for life and death are one even as the river and the sea are one for what it is to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun and what it is to cease breathing but to but to free of breath from his restless ties that it may rise and expand and seek god's uncomfort and when the earth shall claim your limbs then shall you truly dance that is submitted from the baptist ministers fellowship of greenville and by senator pastor robert simpson pastor james nesbitt first president reverend jacqueline fair second vice and maryland tony's secretary from the young people's institute to the family of elder courtney spurgeon behold i show you a mystery we shall all sleep but we shall be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed we the national ypi department and national music board of the fire baptized holiness church of god of the americas bow our heads in humble submission to the vi to the divine and perfect will of god therefore the national ypi department and national music board extend our deepest sympathy to the spurgeon family be comforted in knowing that the earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal humbly submitted the ypi institute and the national board of music concord baptist church to the family of elder courtney spurgeon therefore be it resolved that we embrace the family because of all have a common bond that will connect us for the rest of our lives we loved elder courtney spurgeon and we will never forget him we know your loss is deep and your sorrow is great but we want you to know that we share in your sorrow but more importantly we recognize that this loss is heaven's gain humbly submitted dr andre rogers pastor and finally the resurrect restoration church of prayer resolution of beloved son and brother in the lord jesus christ we are today comforted by the words of our lord and revel revelations 21 and 4 which says and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away therefore be it resolved that as we embrace this bereaved family through prayer and loving remembrance of our beloved son and brother elder courtney spurgeon respectfully submitted pastor t renee glenn pastor of the restoration church of prayer and again the family will have time to read these in their entirety once they have had a moment to collect themselves be blessed and please know that the lord is still with you thank you let the people of god say amen let's give the lord a big hand praise if you will to pass the baldwin to his pastor bishop brandon t whitehurst to our eulogists reverend william pastor williams and to pastor glenn to all of the clergy bishops and everyone that's here today i bring you greetings on behalf of the coney island cathedral brooklyn new york restoration fellowship and as mayor of hempstead new york i've come today because courtney has always been a blessing to the body of christ he's such a kind caring person and dependable person and it is impossible to make up now what we did not do for him when he was alive and so we thank god for the life that he has lived before god there is a saying that there was a fisherman one day and as he was on the dock fishing he noticed that a young boy came down and sat beside him the fisherman said i don't see you with any rod or any real what are you doing here little boy said i'm waiting for my father to come and as the fisherman sat there he said wait a minute what do you mean you're waiting for your father to come it's been 15 years and i've never seen a ship come to this pier but the boy patiently waited and after a while the fishermen saw a ship in the horizon and it got closer and closer and then it came up to the pier as a young boy began to go on the ship the fishermen asked him how did you know that that ship would come here i've never seen a ship come to shore the little boy smiled as he was going on the ship and he said my daddy is the captain and we stopped by the day because courtney understood when it came to the lord jesus christ the writer said living he loved me dying he saved me but i already carried my sins far away but how many no rising he justified us freed us forever and one day he's coming back and what a glorious day let's give the lord a hand praise for our minister elder courtney spurgeon [Music] wow yeah um first given unto god who is the head of my life um all the clergy apostles everybody in their respective places uh this is uh a sad day but also rejoices day as i sit here and think about my brother he we wasn't brothers by blood but we was brothers by spirit um i met him at um poplar springs it's been at the age of 14 we were playing for the impact county-wide revival me and a couple of others and uh courtney everybody being knowing courtney he was courtney he'd been courtney since he was as long as i can know him um he came up to me he said um you jakey i said uh i think so he said uh well i heard that you uh one of the baddest around here i said i don't believe what they say man don't don't believe what they say and he said uh well i want to get to know you he said cause i played the organ and uh he said i can sing and i can do all kinds of stuff i said well slow down man slow down and he said uh he said well i just want to get to know you he said and i know you uh play for chosen i said yeah i do he said well i've been wanting to sing with them for a long time i said dude you're only 14. and uh so ever since that day um i took him around chosen and he bugged me and bugged me and he kept calling my phone and then i took him around my family and from 14 to 32 me and courtney have been two peas in the pod um we've played here this is where it started uh me and courtney played here for five five years together um i think he played here by two more years after i left and this is how bethlehem was when we was here packed uh rejoicing and everything and courtney was truly my brother my brother my brother and i'm gonna miss him and i love him and i'ma do the best i can to remember what to to carry out what you told me and i love you brother i'm jacquie not really a talker but um as uh jacquie brought courtney to our family um he was very interested in the holy ghost which it was a trip to me and like the holy ghost court and he said how do it work how do it move what is it and he was a baptist young boy but he wanted to know about the holy ghost so he started going to the fph churches with jakey in our family and he said i'm gonna get this holy ghost thing right and i admired that about courtney because he sought out the holy ghost his relationships was through the holy ghost and i thank god because everywhere he would go we were holy ghost chasers he would say you want to go with me sister because we're going to probably be in the holy ghost and i would go with him and we would shout all over greenwood he would play all over greenville i thank god for his life we're here to celebrate it he is with the lord the lord is pleased with his life and he was young and i'm being he kept saying i'm an elder i said well courtney being an elder is not just a title and he said but i'm really an elder because i serve bishops and i thank god for bishop hobbes i thank god for bishop whitehurst i thank god for all the meaning of the gospel because i'm a living witness that he served if you knew courtney you was gonna be served and he would say now i'm a hair stylist and he would say katrine i'm over here have you ate today i said courtney i'm gonna be fine he said no i'm bringing you some food he served and i thank god because we're here to serve him today race courtney we love you so much the ben and family it's a lot for me y'all but um not a man of many words but i just want to let y'all know i appreciate the love and the support those those y'all may not know courtney was one of my fav i got a lot of favorite cousins but courtney was one of my favorites courtney was my prayer partner he was my motivator he was my encourager anything i've ever went through he knew about it didn't matter i could always keep it 100 when he never judged me he loved me like i remember from being kids at five six years old like coming here to bethlehem home church and come even going to the house you know we would just sit down put in tapes and and just learn music like he he we went through every journey of life together you know so but um all that to say um i'm gonna play a musical tribute to courtney um so if y'all give me a few minutes i'm gonna play a tribute and those of y'all that knew courtney he was a praiser so i'm gonna give my cousin the best two minutes the best two minutes of a bump i can give him because that's it so if y'all want to join in and go in let's do it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] oh [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] let's put our hand together and give god some praise amen amen i know you're full bro we got to bring it down i didn't introduce myself as i was standing but i am dr philip in baldwin pastor bethlehem baptist church didn't think i'd have to but i'll make that clear i do apologize i did not present bishop hobbs and brother benning we're trying to cover so much stuff and that's coming with remarks is miss kristen baker a friend and then mrs tamika brown the family and then the selection by the community choir amen beautiful on the feet of those that carry the gospel i want to give honor to every pastor every leader courtney would say i need to give ecumenical greetings if you know him you know he would say that i learned this week over the last week that my heart can be broken and full at the same time never in a million years did i think that i would be standing here celebrating 37 or 32 years and 17 days of courtney's life he was a man of he was a man of honor he gave respect and he was respected he gave honor and he was honorable my heart is filled with joy because of all the love that has been shown but mostly to this family who did not have to invite or entrust me this weekend and i just want to say thank you i want to say thank you you have no obligation to me miss jackie thank you so much even for the things that people don't know and i'll just say for you keeping things together keeping things together and i appreciate you courtney loved his family and one of the things that i loved about him is that he loved my family um my mom was mom to him my cousins uh his work his cousins my grandparents 88 and 91 adored courtney and they would take over our conversations my he and my grandfather and a funny story my like i said my family was his family and um we went somewhere we were at church somewhere and one of my aunts had on a shiny suit um with some you know just embellishments it was it was a shiny suit uh courtney says why auntie got on that bobby jones suit i said are you crazy but they just loved him they just loved him uh so much and he and he could get away with it he could get away um with all of that so um let me keep going here y'all bear with me i'm normally i can get this type of stuff out but um i learned a very uh important lesson and i wanted to share this because i'm normally a very private person but courtney and i had a little bit of a riff in our relationship don't don't get nervous i'm going somewhere okay a little bit of a riff in our relationship and um i had to sing at an event and i drove up and i saw a burgundy acura and my heart smiled that day nas we talked for hours we talked for hours and i said courtney you know life is too short for misunderstandings really just miscommunication y'all know how it is in uh relation any type of relationship i said life is too short he said to me um not only should we increase our communication but deepen the depth of our communication and i said in my mind harpo who this man he was different to me the last few weeks and i i didn't say anything and before i knew it when he didn't get a response when he thought he should he'd say call her are you on the line i said yes sir i'm still here i just you know you're just shocking me it's a whole lot so fast forward um from that day to friday we did just that we communicated over communicated depth uh to our conversations that made me love him all over again and in different ways and i saw him on friday he called me he was getting ready for church and i said well i'm at an early dinner with mom um send me the address and i may stop by if it's not too far and he sent it to me um i got to the house there was a spirit of slumber on me so i almost didn't make it i almost didn't make it and i i drove the 45 almost 50 minutes to see him i got in the church and i'm i'm going can can i have just a few more moments to finish this this this story miss jackie yes ma'am thank you i want to be in order so i drove to see him i got to the church i got in and uh i didn't see him um at first i just sat somewhere i happened to look to the left of me and i see this tall handsome uh you know bearded light-skinned man and he's just telling me off now he has on a mask i don't know what he's saying but i did know what he was saying so i wouldn't step by and we we cut up just a little bit it's not it wouldn't be us if we didn't cut up just a little bit but the preacher said hold the hand of the person that you are next to and i did as he was praying and in just a few moments i realized that the preacher was no longer praying but he was still holding my hand and i just wish i held on longer i was tired as i said so i said courtney we'll have to get an all-star and a texas cheesesteak from waffle house tomorrow if you know him brittany he's going to get that all-star so he walked me to my car hugged me said tell mom i said hello and text me when you get back and i did the last text he sent me says leaving now and um and he left but you know i changed my perspective the scripture says precious is the death of the saints hallelujah in the sight of the lord and i thought about the song that said he's going where the wicket shall cease from troubling [Music] and the weary shall be at rest i'm happy for courtney today because he can see miss odessa again he can see his daddy again and lastly i'll say this i've not resolved how uh courtney would say a theological paradigm so i don't know courtney i don't know shot if you can hear me but i want to echo these words of the great bishop bishop jason nelson he said forever is a long time and that's exactly how long i'll love you i'll see you in the morning [Applause] [Music] [Applause] can you guys hear me okay so i want to ask you guys to please pray this morning my husband asked my cousin to stand in his place because my husband got a phone call that his cousin died similar to what the phone call we got just a week ago so my heart is broken but i made a promise to courtney that i can do this so you guys know me i'm tamika i'm courtney's cousin and i dare not say i'm his favorite cousin because y'all know but um as you know he had a lot of cousins on both sides and he loved us dearly if you remove the relationship and the title between me and courtney underneath it i was his mentor and i was also his coworker at td courtney would tell everyone at work if and i'm gonna try to say it like courtney if tamika brown did not give me a yes it's a no and he meant that he knew if i did not say yes it was a no for him even though i felt i was courtney's mentor courtney was actually my spiritual advisor and that was our relationship he poured into me i poured into him if you say courtney's name courtney spurgeon it holds so much weight he was a man of integrity kindness humbleness and plain comical foolery so if you meet if you met courtney you added courtney on facebook you guys already know about chester jr you know about the lion that is courtney that was courtney every day his mission was to bring joy and laughter every day to us three words this week continue to come to mind while i thought through what i wanted to say and honestly i've shared with my family i feel like i'm on an assignment because before courtney lev he called out a gift in me and it was the gift of discernment and i kept fighting it the week before courtney died i was in my bible study reading every morning and three words came out gifts church and family if you follow me on facebook i shared a post um reading through first corinthians and ii corinthians that you know we will come across tough times and get through it and my spirit kept saying our family is about to go through something i didn't know what didn't know what it was so i posted on facebook just to declare a decree that we're gonna get through it five days later we got the phone call it was courtney if i look at gifts courtney's greatest gifts beside his music was the ability to make the person he was dealing with at that time of course laugh but most importantly feel as if they were the most special person in the room and in his life everyone in here feels like horton's favorite person because he made you feel like you was his favorite person as a mother to three girls i realized the biggest calling on my life is identifying and nurturing my children's gifts helping them realize that they are given something to do that shows you just who god is to my aunt jackie thank you thank you for nurturing courtney's gift when he was young you saw what he was capable of before the world even realized what he could do what he knew he he didn't even know he could do it due to that everyone in this room was able to learn more about who god really was through his music thank you courtney used to brag about his lessons and how he would one day fill in for our cousin tony griffin and mr dean redman i remember telling courtney that he was far stretched because his two left feet i just could not see him playing in the organ and so right now i owe him an apology he know i loved his music so we're good i'm gonna move on to church church has always been the foundation of our family lives but most importantly courtney's life courtney recently shared with me time and time again how grateful he was for our upbringing in the church he's seen a lot of churches and nothing could replace his experience at his home church here at bethlehem for the people who poured into him i can't say your name one by one but i know you're in this room i see you i feel you thank you thank you for pouring into odessa's grandkids thank you for pouring into him thank you for lifting us this family up during this week while we process this huge loss church was so part of our dna and i'm really trying to make y'all laugh but churches are not dna so much we would play church and it really depended on who was actually at grandma smith's house after church to determine if we could actually play church we had a full worship service experience in that back bedroom donald would preach shalonda monique nicole and jericho would be singing and ushering we may or may not use grammar saltines and grape juice a time or two for communion and then to my aunt lynn catherine and jackie on lois i'm just going to apologize in advance we can take this up after service but brittany and monique would mimic lynn and catherine while courtney would act like his mama and aunt lois in the spirit and therese you were guilty and tony with edges on by that tambourine as more kids joined our family roshana rashawn gerard jarrell our music selections got better there was cortex praise and worship all of it we did this so many times we could hear so many threats down the hallway y'all better stop playing and it was for mike catherine but we couldn't the spirit had us and sometimes till this day we catch ourselves doing it as old as we are just to cut up when we're together it was the church who taught us how to keep the church's covenant we used to laugh as teenagers how much we dread at first sundays at bethlehem sorry past the ball it meant we had to recite the church covenant word by word add an extra 15 minutes of service now that i am 36 years old i am forever grateful for those extra minutes in the church's leadership teaching us to hold the ethical standard of the covenant which keeps our family feet grounded in times like these this week god has been loud and clear to me keep my covenant there's a portion in here that i would like to highlight and i apologize we're going over three minutes but it has to be said we also engage to maintain family and secret devotion to study diligently the word of god to religiously educate our children then it reads we were further engaged to watch over to pray for to exhort and stare up each other until every good and work to guard each other's reputation to not needlessly exposing the infirmities of this person personally and each other's joy and with tender sympathy bear one another's murders and sorrows to be slow to give or take offense but always ready written reconciliation as one body of christ when one hurts we should all hurt when you operate as one body of christ there's unity these words of the covenant and not just within these four walls of this church but within our family pass the ball thank you thank you for instilling these principles in us and in accordance courtney was a leader due to his home training in fact this covenant has kept our family this week alone y'all don't know if he had an issue with you he guarded your reputation not needlessly exposing the infirmities of others last night all the cousins we were together laughing about courtney if you knew him you knew he didn't have an issue about going to the source to work it out whatever it was about when courtney was in elementary school and y'all know third grade was the pivotal moment around math i guess he and jackie were having some conflict around math homework because jackie may have called our house a time or two asking my mama if she could put me on the phone because courtney has a math test on friday and they need help y'all can imagine how it was trying to teach courtney math over the phone with jackie in the background reminding him her belt was close by for encouragement well the next day courtney must have been tired of getting tutored over the phone and jackie's reminders of encouragement he decided after school he was going to ride the bus home with my sister i don't remember if he passed that test but i do know he did get the help because jackie had to find courtney and of course before cell phones was the thing everybody in fountain inn was calling mauldin looking for courtney to my family to know our family is to love our family our family is love it wasn't until i was older i realized everyone is not blessed to experience a family that truly loves a family that loves unconditionally and let me repeat that we are a family that loves unconditionally because to know god is to know god is love god is centered around this family love passes through generation to generation and courtney had love all around him however our love was not enough to feel the void in his heart but he knew he was loved by each of us no doubt god was speaking to me loud and clear again the week before studying first corinthians through second and my notes called out about spiritual gifts love and getting through tough times i really had no clue i was walking ahead of our family preparing us that courtney was leaving this earth and that our family would go through tough times there's two key words while i read those scriptures going through meaning we will come out the god we serve is making a path for us right now to get through this family we're going to get through this we will continue to love and about courtney's transition he knew his time here on this earth was limited turning 30 was a pivotal moment for courtney so much so i was offended because i'm four years older than him and i was turning 35. and i kept telling courtney calm down it's all good like the best is coming and he's like tamika you just don't understand all my cousins they're married they have a house they have the kids you know my friends have churches they're pastors and i told courtney i said it doesn't matter i stopped them i said life is not about those things it's about impact what impact you have made on others i asked them i said you know i actually told him so when you leave this world your legacy is going to be impact not accolades not churches not careers not spouses because there's so many people who has all those things that are in the grave or even living and has no impact so i asked him what do you want your impact to be in your legacy and he told me verbatim i don't want anybody to forget my name courtney spurgeon i told him i said you my sir you have an impact already your ministry is your legacy your words of encouragement is your legacy i need you to own your ministry and the things in life will come because you are operating within your room he took that and he owned it and y'all can thank me because after that you saw his face on every facebook itinerary about his agenda where he was gone but he was owning his ministry last night it was evident courtney legacy lives even today i'm going to close and just say this we need to live like courtney his gift of laughter his anointing his community the impact he has made and the gift of music all those things will be missed i need you guys to laugh if you need a laughing partner on facebook go follow shauna barksdale or call my aunt lois but seriously laugh give the gift a connection stop and visit pick up the phone and stop living through social media and actually connect with people and then praise praise your way through whatever you were going through and stay connected to this church or your church keep the church's covenant it teaches you how to act when your character is tested and use all of your gifts how many you know he'll keep you in perfect peace if you keep your mind stayed on him [Music] i will keep you in [Music] oh keep your mind stayed on me i will keep you in stayed on me see the earth is [Applause] he so why should i be bound when god has set me [Music] when jesus died for you and me wow all the way he is don't you know make the way way out of it anybody save you in here can you just wave your head he watches me he is a keeper i keep her god god so glad that he's mine he's my savior he watches me i know it he's gonna see you through it yes he will make a way out i don't know oh yes [Music] [Applause] me late at the midnight hour [Music] i keep around is [Music] [Music] so [Music] god we thank you thank you for your peace thank you for your strength but thank you for your presence god truth is none of us want to be here but because of your will we're here and we submit to it so now god we pray that you give us what we need in this moment to not just get through this moment but get through the moments ahead speak to us now god i ask that you give me what i need to be able to stand before these your people to bring comfort and to bring direction to them or that's how we shall to go from here speak to us now and feed us god that what you would have us to have in jesus name in jesus name we ask it all amen somebody help me give god praise for the life of elder courtney rashad spurgeon y'all can do better than that we celebrate his life we're not here because he died but we're here because he lived i said we're here because he lived and he yet lives beyond this and for that we give god the praise and we give him the glory god is so worthy [Music] this is hard [Music] because courtney was more than a cousin to me he was a friend he was a brother and sometimes i felt like he he was my pastor because he had a way of getting me together and getting me straight [Music] this is hard because this is somebody i talk to all day every day first person in the morning first person in the evening last person in the evening and the reality is i'll never get the phone calls the laughs again the truth is i've been waiting i've been waiting on my phone ring so i can say hello and he say praise the lord and i'll say praise him i'm upset with you courtney because you just got through fussing at me a week or two ago about all these funerals and here i am [Music] so much i can say of so much i want to say but i'm gonna go ahead and get to this word and get out of the way but y'all pray for me because i don't know who i'mma call to bounce sermon ideas off of i don't know who'll call me at 10 o'clock on saturday evening and say williams what you're preaching i don't know who'll call me at 7am every morning let's say williams what you're doing i don't know i'll be the last person i talk to at night that laughs while my wife is sleeping and snoring on the other side i don't know but some way somehow we'll get through this courtney was the only one that could crash my date night and my wife and i have a problem don't know who'll do that now hallelujah we give honor to god it's pastor baldwin bishop whitehurst bishop hobbs pastor glenn pastor simmons pastor johnson into all this array of clergy we honor you where you are and to my family we thank god for you go with me to job chapter 1 job chapter 1. job chapter 1 verse 20 and verse 21. job chapter 1 verse 20 21 king james version says then job arose and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground in worship and said naked i came out of my mother's womb and naked shall i return thither the lord gave and the lord have taken the way but blessed be the name of the lord and he said naked i came out of my mother's womb and naked shall i return to the the lord gave and the lord have taken away blessed be the name of the lord god's word for god's people my job and my task today is to tell us how to get through this don't have a subject for this because god said just tell them how to get through it the truth of the matter is everybody in this room is dealing with a pain your pain goes beyond that of losing elder spurgeon because if truth be told a lot of us had issues in our life even before we got the phone call that he was gone and the fact that he's gone added to the struggle added to the trouble it added to the pain in our lives the pain and the trouble that you are already trying to figure out how do i maneuver through this how do i get through this we we all have trouble we all have pain in our lives and if you don't have pain keep living but the bible says that man is of a few days and they're full of trouble but the good news about trouble showing up is is that the bible makes us a promise that the lord would be a very present help in the time of trouble when you know who he is you're able to face trouble head on because you recognize who's in control and who's working behind the scenes when you look at this particular text we find that job a man who was upright before god a man who had great integrity a man who had a relationship with god who was minding his business he he was minding his business he was sitting at home minding his business doing his daily routine but there was a meeting going on in the heavens that he was unaware of a meeting that his name popped up in can i suggest to us my brothers and sisters every now and then our name will come up in a discussion that we didn't even know our name was supposed to be in uh job was minding his business there's a meeting going on the sons of god have come together satan shows up to the meeting he shows up late and the lord asks him he says where have you been he said i've been looking for somebody that i can mess with somebody that i can buffet somebody that i can take out and the bible says that god looks at him and asks the question have you considered my servant job and i need to suggest to us my brothers and sisters that some of the things that we go through in life everything is not that the devil did it just because he wanted to do it but because god gave him permission to do it and the thing that i love about god giving the enemy permission means that he's in control of it and he has the power to call it to come to an end i believe my brothers and sisters that when he recommended job he recommended job because he knew that job could handle the task that he could handle the trouble that he could handle and i need to suggest to us my brothers and sisters that before we throw in the tower before we get upset and begin to mumble and complain we got to consider the fact that the time that maybe god had us on his mind and maybe he sees something in us that is of worth trying to pull out of us and cannot suggest to us that even though courtney's not here courtney went through his share of trouble and he won the trouble well because god could trust him with the trouble the question you got to ask yourself today is can god trust you with the trouble the bible says that he tells satan you can mess up with him but only thing you can do is mess with everything around him but you can't kill him or destroy his soul and the bible says that out of nowhere satan goes and causes all of job's children they die he lose all of his count all of his cattle and all of his land joel is in a bad fix joel is in the storm and the question is how in the world is job going to make it through this he's got bad news at the bad news look at what job does joe does not wait to the middle of the storm he does not wait till he get to the end of the storm to get in the right posture but he gets in the right posture in the beginning of the storm and i came to tell us here greenville if we gonna make it we got to get in the right posture and that posture has to be before the lord i need to suggest to us us coming to church we can't just come just to come but we have to come with the posture and the mindset that i'm gonna get in the presence of the lord look at what job does the bible says that job gets out of his flesh he gets out of his feeling yes he was hurt yes he was disappointed but he falls to the ground and he bows himself and he gets in the posture of worship can i suggest to you my brothers and sisters when you know who god is for real when you got relationship for real worship ought to be easy ain't nobody saying nothing your praise life ought to be easy it ought not take you to go through hell in order to realize that you got to pray but in the good and in the bad you recognize the posture [Music] how we gonna get through this we got to get in the right posture why is it that we got to get in the right posture job understood just as elder courtney understood that our praise and our worship it moves god it causes him to come where we are if your bible reads like mine it says that he inhabits the praises of his people simply what that means is he comes and he settles and he occupies the territory where you are i need you to know that even though you got pain today even though you got hurt that when you worship god when you get in the right posture you can make it through whatever you need to go through i get it you crying i get it you're aggravated i get it you're hurt i get it you got pain but you got to find yourself in the right posture and when you get in the right posture you got to learn how to hide in god the bible says he did dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty can i give y'all a news flash courtney didn't live the way he lived just because he was out in the open but he learned how to hide in god he learned how to find a posture in the presence of the lord because when you get what god he has a way of making life and his problems go away joe recognizes he says if i'm going to make it through this storm he don't know what lies ahead but he says i got to get in the right posture he falls down and he he worships the lord the bible says he fell down upon the ground he took off his mantle and he shaved his head and he gave reverence to the almighty he declared naked i came and they could never go he said that the lord giveth in the lord taketh away in other words in that moment he recognized that if this is happening that this is god's will can i stop here and help us we all wrestle with god's will we all wrestle with it but i've come to the understanding there's nothing that we can do about god's will except accepted do we understand it no but we have to accept what god allows because god is in control he knows exactly what he's doing he's too wise to make a mistake and i believe my brothers and sisters that even in this god has used courtney to bring us together to help us to understand that in the season if we're going to make it our posture has to be that of in the presence of the lord i get it we've been out of church too long we've been in quarantine too long we've been watching it from the house we've been watching it from the car with god said it's time now to get in your secret closet and get back in my face you got to get back to the place where you remember the thing that got you over and the thing that carried you over because when you worship god it connects you to god you got to know that god is your power source and that he's able to get you through i need you to know your education ain't going to help you in the season but you got to be connected to the source he's the source of your strength he's the source of your life you've been worried about a paycheck but god says you need to tap in and plug into the source you've been worried about what church is going to look like when the pandemic is over how but god says you need to tap into the source the truth of the matter is you're not making it because you've been good you're not making it because you've been educated you're not making it because you've done everything right but you're making it because you're connected to the source he's the god that can and will and supply your everyday i need somebody to catch what i'm saying that if you gonna make it through this if you're gonna make it through the pain if you're gonna make it through the storm you better plug in to the source you better come in don't come in as church as usual don't come in and sit in the same spot doing what you was doing before corona came but you got to come in and posture yourself into his gates with thanksgiving and it's going i gotta quit [Applause] with praise whether y'all want to believe it or not courtney was preparing us he was showing us how to get through it he showed us how to worship he showed us how to praise he showed us how to find comfort and strengthen who the lord was joe was in a bad fix but he made a decision and some of us got to make a decision today and that decision is that we gonna bless the name of the lord job said it he says the lord giveth and the lord taketh away blessed be the name of the lord he didn't think about what everybody else was looking at him they he didn't think about what they thought but in that moment he knew that his praise was designed to get him through the storm he knew that in that moment that his praise and his worship would take him to a place that any and everybody can't get to how i need to suggest to us and some of y'all gonna get mad but it's okay that everybody dancing ain't in the right posture and everybody dancing ain't getting into the presence of the lord but when you got true relationship with god you ain't got to have an organ you ain't got to have a drum beat you ain't got to have a hand clap all you got to have is a good memory of what the lord has done all you got to do is have relationship when you think about what you used to be compared to where you are now when you think about the hell when you think about everything that the light nobody's saying nothing to me you had been cute because you don't arrived and made it but baby you wouldn't be where you are if it wasn't for the love of god i'm out of here but he understood he understood that if i bless him i can get to a place of freedom and liberty for the bible declares that what the spirit of the lord is there is liberty and i came to tell you my brothers and sisters that how we gonna get through this in the days to come when we show up in court and it's not there on the hammond we're gonna get through it because we're gonna learn how to bless the name of the lord i like what job does job does not bless other things that god has done for him but he says bless me the name of the lord because he recognized that the name of the lord was a strong tower he he recognized that the name of the lord could get him out of trouble and i need to suggest to somebody that the name of the lord can get you through what you can't get yourself through but you got to learn how to bless the name of the lord you praise him for the cause you praise him for the houses but sometimes you just got to learn how to bless him for being the one that sits high and looks slow you got to learn how to bless him for being the one that continues to carry you through danger seen and unseen you got to learn how to bless him for being the one that's the sustainer and the keeper of your soul and of your life i got to get out of here but job was not the only one that understood that worship and praise would change the atmosphere and change the outlook of what he was going through but abraham when he goes up to the mountain with isaac he had no idea what was going to happen when he got there but he went up to make a sacrifice and he worshipped the lord and when he worshiped the lord he sent a rav in the bush and i came to tell you that when you worship god he'll get you out of trouble not only does abraham testify but you remember david don't you how when david got back to ziglag it had been destroyed the women and children had been stolen but the bible says that he calls for the ephod he puts on the garment that he knows that works he goes and he shuts himself in the temple and he encourages himself in the lord and i came to tell you my brothers and sisters that when you encourage yourself through the way of worship that not only will the lord get you out but he'll give you the deliverance that you need because the bible says that throughout job's entire affliction that not one time did he curse god not one time did he sin against god but he maintained his integrity before the lord and i came to tell you my brothers and sisters that in the season don't compromise don't throw in the tower huh don't comfort that compromise a jeopardize your anointing don't compromise or jeopardize who the lord has called you to be but you got to be like david that in the good and in the bad that i will bless the lord at all times and i came to tell you that the bible says that even joe's wife she flipped out on joel but he kept his posture his friends told him to curse god and die but he kept his posture and i came to tell you that if you keep your posture that the sun is shining on the other side the bible says that joe made a decision he says though he slayed me yet will i trust him i don't know who needs to hear this but you better stay in the posture that says i believe god because surely he won't lie i believe god would do just what he said because the bible says that the lord he blessed the latter part of job's life and i'm out of here but i came to tell you how i wasn't in the car with him when the lord came and got him but i do know that he prays his way right to the end i do know how that fighting pneumonia he lifted up his hands and he gave god a praise i do know that when his body was not at his best that courtney made a decision that bless me the name of the lord his heart was broken after his daddy died but he made a decision that i'm going to stay in the pasture of worship and i just came to tell somebody how it hurts right now but bless me the name of the lord i'm confused right now but blessed be the name of the lord i don't understand but bless be the name of the lord it don't make sense but bless me the name of the lord is there anybody here that says i don't get it but bless me the name of the lord i got troubles but bless be the name of the lord i bet somebody has to take 30 seconds and get in the right posture lift your hands open up your mouth give him the glory bless his name you got mobiles then you got money but bless me bless me bless me [Music] musicians when you show up tomorrow don't go in with your head hung down but touch the keys on the organ and say bless me proud members when you show up walk in with the mindset that is fun of it all [Music] let's be the name of the lord the right posture the right posture is what's going to get us through you hear me not another prayer line not another prophecy but getting in the right posture i'm done but notice what job did he didn't call the pastor he didn't call his friends he got down in the posture he called on the one who he knew can i can i help us none of us have been able to get through this on our own but i'm finding out that when i posture myself in a position where i can hear god he'll give me what i need to get through it am i going to understand it tomorrow no but if i can just stay in his face he gives me strength for the journey he gives you strength for the journey hear me everybody that was close to him you want to know how you gonna make it without him you got to do what he did and it would stay in the right posture don't care what happened to courtney he always had a posture of worship and a posture of praise but watch this it takes more than just coming to church to get that posture the text said that job was an upright man which means that job had a relationship i'm gonna get in trouble and i need to help the body today is that it's time out for us serving and we don't know it for real [Music] and some of y'all may disagree with us but i believe that god allowed kobe to push us out the church to clean it out because of all of our foolishness and all of our mess we're trying to figure out why we can't get the church right because the folks that suffer for the people [Music] but the tech said joel had an upright relationship with the father and the bible say that worship him must worship in spirit and truth but here's this real shadow of the text that what caused all of his servants not to walk away is that they saw him leading by example they saw how he lived and so they patterned their mindset that if in the midst of all of this because watch this they watched him go through it we watched courtney grieve we watched him go through all that he went through and some of us still scratching our head trying to figure out how didn't he lose it all because he had the right posture he had relationship every day i've told god i told him he brought me and restored me back to life and i told courtney i told god that every time i get a mic i'm gonna take the opportunity to extend an invitation to somebody because watch this and i'm finding this out from the pulpit all the way through the church that we got folks serving that don't have relationship [Applause] huh we got folk that are up that are prophesied that are laying on their hands that don't know who christ is they woke up and somebody said you look like a prophet so they became a prophet and it's so deep it's so easy bishop now to go online we all can be bishops for five hundred dollars but where's the relationship if we go make it in the moments to come the first step to getting realigned in the right posture is knowing who he is and i'm not talking about coming and hearing somebody preach but i'm talking about taking a moment to say god it's me i'm a sinner can i can i be real i'm done pastor bye but i promise but i'm learning that confessing our sins is just like a a meeting where we walk in the room and say hey my name is jeffrey and i got a problem that's how we got to go to god and say god hey it's me not my title but it's jeffrey and i got some issues that i need you to make right because there's trouble all around me and i want to be able to endure to the end and when we confess our sins he's faithful [Applause] he's faithful and just to forgive us so listen every head bowed every i close every eye close every outlook just hear me the only thing we can do for spurge now is to make sure we got it right so that we can see him again he wants us to make it but we can't make it without knowing who he is life is too short people are dying every minute somebody just died in the last second but it behooves us to get our houses in order to get our lives right so that we can stop producing dysfunctional saints and produce things that can function [Music] so today if you're not saved i want you to lift your hand and if you're saved but you realize the day that you're out of the ark of safety and you want to get it right this is your moment too lift your hand you need to be safe rededication hear me get get out of your position at your church in this moment because your position ain't gonna get you into heaven your relationship will if you need to be saver rededicate your life this is your moment and slip your hand up no judgment here no judgment here we just want to pray for you nobody has a heaven or hell to put you in but i believe that god used courtney to draw us together to give somebody an opportunity that don't know him to get it right somebody that don't know him to come to know somebody that know him that slipped away this is your opportunity to come back home god don't care what you did why you did it he just wants you to come home so he can wash you and cleanse you he already know why you did it he don't need an explanation he just needs you to say daddy here i am i want to be made right i want to be made whole where there'll be one today but it'd be one today god bless you i see one but that be another there'll be another hallelujah glory to god [Music] hallelujah we got time for this there'll be another to just say that's me today [Music] that's me that's me hallelujah we don't want to embarrass anyone so everybody repeat this prayer after me say lord here i am today i recognize that i'm messed up i'm a sinner i've done wrong but today i've heard your word and i'm ready to come in the right standings so lord forgive me of everything that i've done wrong snatch god snatch it at the root where it begins free me from the habits and the hunger of sin and today i believe that you're the son of god and i believe that you died for me and i believe that you got up for me and that you're coming back for me and today i accept you as my savior i surrender my will for your will in jesus name amen listen this is gonna be the hard part for that for that young man that raised his hand listen if you're not already connected to a bible preaching teaching church get connected because you gotta grow from here you can't just let this be the beginning and the end but you gotta go connect with the church this array of pastors here find one that the lord leads you to get connected to church you ain't got to join the church but get connected so you can grow and that you can live amen god wants you to live and do me a favor if you don't want to stand now at least come up and let his mama know at the end that you're the one that gave your life so that she know that this wasn't in vain you hear me can you do that for me the one that raised the hand can you do that for me make sure that before you leave these grounds that you find jackie spurgeon and say i'm the one that raised my hand [Applause] with the exception of the family can we stand as we close can we thank god for the his presence in this place today and for him lifting and encouraging let us pray father we bow humbly in your presence now to just say thank you for confirming courtney's relationship with you by your presence in this place by the movement of your power as we leave this place let's never leave your presence continue to grace this family with your strength your comfort and your peace be with them through the dark days and the long nights grant grace to every person in this place that we leave here encouraged inspired laughing and operating in the spirit of elder courtney our spurgeon thank you once again bless your people this day we pray in jesus name amen ask if the morticians will come forward [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] whoopee when we all see jesus we will see and shout the [Music] a victory of rejoicing that would be when we all see jesus we will sing and shout victory i'll fly away [Music] shall never [Music] when i die now fly way shall never end i'll oh oh oh one more time say i fly fly away [Music] [Music] oh one more time [Music] come on clap your hands [Music] [Applause] so so there's a storm out on the ocean and it's moving this whole way if your soul's not anchored jesus you will surely drift away drift away lord drift away lord you will surely drift away if your soul not anchored in jesus you will surely drift away there's a storm out on the ocean and it's moving this away if your soul not anchored in jesus you will surely drink away drift away lord drink away lord you will surely drift away if your soul not anchored in jesus you will surely drift away or drift away lord drift away lord you will surely drift away if you're so nice ankle and jesus if your soul not anchored in jesus you will surely drift [Music] thank away [Music]

Channel: Bethlehem Simpsonville

Views: 31,642

Rating: 4.8700361 out of 5

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Id: Ssa9_xS1Kuw

Length: 172min 50sec (10370 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021