July 16, 2016 "Excellence without Excuses" Rev. Terry K. Anderson

the God really does not need you God really does not need me because before you and I were ever born God was in charge but today it is with great joy that I reintroduce to this church family man who I'm excited to hear preach the Word of God the Reverend Terry Anderson for the last 25 years has served as the senior pastor of the Ludgrove Baptist Church down there in Houston Texas I'm excited to have him here with because without a shadow of a doubt he is one of my favorite preachers in the United States of America I've been traveling a lot Keck Calvin and every time I go somewhere I run into people and they used this term that I'm not familiar with they say you're my youtube pastor it took me a while to understand what that meant then I realized that their folk would just get on youtube and watch sermons they consider me to be their youtube pastor I am proud to present to you my youtube pastor this is the brother who feeds me with the word of God whenever I'm on the road preaching revival I have a routine and part of that routine is it before I preach I pull up my laptop my iPad my phone log on to YouTube and I pull up whatever the latest sermon by Terry Anderson is and I sit there and I watch it and then I go steal it when I get ready to preach he he encourages me you have you ever heard a sermon that just sticks with you no matter what a word that just you you if I put you up here right now you could preach it he's got one of those about four or five of them two Broke preachers one of my favorite sermons press I gotta let you know if I have to preach right now if you sat down I preached two Broke preachers in this place and tell you about about that Acts chapter 3 I I love this man of God he is a humble servant he is a powerful preacher and we are blessed to have in this men's Day weekend would you welcome the pastor the lily Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston Texas dr. Terry Anderson who is our preacher for this weekend come on let's give him a good output stream Alexandria welcome in this house tonight amen amen to my warm friend and beloved brother a pastor of an Alfred Street Church out to Wesley and to the Reverend clergy and to all of you my brothers and sisters in the Lord this is the day that the Lord has made and we ought to rejoice and be glad in it my late pastor and mentor and friend of Houston dr. Lewis Patterson use the same let everything that hath breath and good sense praise the Lord so tonight if you got breath and good sense you ought to praise the Lord I want to bless the name of our God for this magnificent men's choir who has blessed us with music tonight please don't I don't I don't think anything pleases God more than the voices of men giving him praise praise God for men who love the Lord and men who don't mind singing to the glory of God if we can shout in Hollow five favorite football team or our favorite basketball team we ought to be able to raise our voice and praise to the one who woke us up this morning and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and thank God for these men sisters when you go shopping for a man make sure you find a man who loves the Lord a man who knows how to cry and give God praise because if he doesn't know how to cry he'll make you cry so praise God for these brothers who are strong in their witness in their singing this day I need your prayers this weekend I too have just left my family reunion I was in Baton Rouge before I came here in my family reunion and I learned how to do the cupid shuffle I was away from my members so I had some adult refreshments so so so don't believe anything I say tonight because it might be true and it might not be true my nephew said hunk I want you to try this little drink and it looked you know like a nice little something for a preacher to drink and they after I imbibed two or three or five nine sips and told me it was a white Hennessy hallelu white Hennessy white Hennessy and we'll try to hurry on get back to my family reunion right after this sacred have I got a witness here as one or two witnesses in the building would know what white hen is here that's a word I want to lift in you're hearing faint from the prophecy of Isaiah and chapter number six are Zeya at chapter 6 verses 1 through verse number 8 in the modern English from the modern English translation is this word in the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple above it stood the Seraphim each one had six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one cried to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory the posts of the door moved at the voice of him who cried and the house was filled with smoke and I said woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the Seraphim flew to me with a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar in his hand and he laid it on my mouth and said this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin purged also I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here am I send me thank you you may have your seats grass withers and the flower fades with the word of our God shall stand forever I want to talk a moment from your theme excellence without excuses excellence without excuses significant events that have taken place in our lives all of us can remember where we were and what we were doing when those events transpired my earliest memory as a child I was three years old and that's my earliest memory I remember the assassination of President John F Kennedy and I don't remember it because I knew it was an assassination I remember it because I saw what was going on on television on Friday and on Saturday I was crying because Mighty Mouse didn't come home you have to be over fifty to remember Mighty Mouse and I remember President Kennedy's assassination because my mother gave me a good whipping because I was screaming and crying because Mighty Mouse wasn't coming on and I remember President Kennedy's assassination from that whipping that I remembered at three years old all of us who are of a certain age can remember where we were when we heard the news that dr. King had been assassinated in Memphis everybody here who was alive September 11th can remember the exact moment that we heard that those twin towers had been knocked down in New York City everything significant in our lives we market by something significant either something that happened and caused anxiety or something that happened that brought us great joy Isaiah said it was in the year that King Uzziah died that I saw also the Lord high lifted up his train filled the temple as ayah you will remember reigned for 52 years he was greatly influenced by the Prophet Hezekiah Isaiah was a good king he had led Israel through an extraordinary season of wealth and prosperity but as I Amade the mistake that many people make who believe that they are more than they really are he offered incense for the Lord and he got out of his place as a king and tried to be a priest and he was stricken with leprosy as a matter of fact he died in that leprous state but God blessed Israel for 52 years through Isaiah's reign but then King Uzziah died and when he dies Isaiah for the first time sees the Lord in this season of national mourning this time of great sorrow this time of great suffering Isaiah takes his eyes off as ayah and puts his eyes on who is the real king the Lord God himself so he marks his conversion experience by the death of King Isaiah it was in the year he says that King Uzziah died that I saw also the Lord High and lifted up his train filled the temple he saw this be a tif occasion of God in all of His Holiness God in all of his glory God in all of his might God in all of his splendor God and all of his God Ness he sees him in this vision and if we brothers would be men who are here today this weekend who give God excellence without excuses we must first of all see what Isaiah saw we have to see what Isaiah saw he said I saw the Lord not the pastor not the president of the men's ministry I saw the Lord brothers and sisters there's a difference that comes in your life when you really see the Lord when you see God in all of his presence the scripture says his train filled the temple his train smoke filled the house his train filled the temple the house was filled with smoke and here's what is shocking about that vision Isaiah says the doorposts moved I don't want you to miss that in animate wooden objects shouted in the presence of the Lord the doorposts shouted the doorposts moved the doorposts jumped up out of their moorings the doorposts shouted in the presence of the Living God now if wooden objects can shout in the presence of God what's wrong with some of y'all who ain't said amen God woke you up this morning put food on your table made your enemies leave you alone provided for you open doors for you made a way for you I don't need words shouting and I don't shout I made up my mind and if nobody wants to praise the Lord I will if nobody wants to give God glory in this house I will nobody wants to tell God thank you for all you've done I will if nobody wants to shout and give God praise for who and what he is I will I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth if um if you're ever in Houston if you're ever in Houston traveling on highway 288 around South law and Blodgett exit on highway 288 there's a there's a dead spot for cell phone use if you're on 288 and you come upon the South amaura Blodgett exit there's a there's a dead spot for cell phone use if you if you're trying to get a message or you're trying to send a message or trying to talk on the phone or not be texting and driving but if you just so happen to be doing that there's a dead spot on 288 at Blodgett and South Moore you can't get a signal in that little area right there because there's a dance spot on 288 at South Moore and Blodgett there might be a dance spot where you are sitting in this church tonight God is trying to get a signal over to you God is trying to get a message over to you and you might be seated in a day at section in Alfred Street Church the night you have my permission right in the middle of this sermon to get up from where you're seated and find somebody who look like they came to give God pray if you see that in the dead spot get up from there right now and find somebody who look like they glad to be in the service one more time if it had not been I wish I had a witness here if it had not been for the Lord who was on my side my enemies would have swallowed me up the dog pose shook at the presence of God how dare you sit in God's presence like you are some divine necessity I dare you come in Alfred Street acting like you just ought to be here you ought to check your ego at the door leave your degrees in the car because there ain't nobody in hit nothing but the Lord I wish I had a witness here the only one who deserves honor the only one who deserves praise the only one who desires hallelujah is the Lord the doorpost shook at the voice of him that cry he sees the Lord he sees the Lord's glory he sees his his uplifted position and then Isaiah helps us to see God's glorious personality the Seraphim the the burning ones that's what that word Seraphim mean the burning ones these these angelic messengers fly around in the temple shouting the song of the three times holy in the Hebrew Wister is the sacred treasure Gyan the song of the three times holy holy holy holy now I know marks of punctuation in in the Hebrew and in the Greek as we have marks of punctuation in the English language so in the Hebrew when when a word is lifted to the superlative degree it is repeated three times in succession in the Greek in the New Testament a word when a word is lifted to the superlative degree it is lifted twice in succession when Jesus wanted to say something really important in the New Testament he said verily verily I wish I had a Bible reader truly truly that lifts the word through the superlative degree in the English language we have an exclamation point at the end of the word all the sentence or the phrase to lift it to the superlative degree but there are no such marks of punctuation in Hebrew and Greek so in Old Testament when a word is lifted to the superlative degree it is repeated three times in succession holy holy holy means God is indefatigably holy God is indescribably holy God is holy beyond definition God is holy beyond explanation so when you come in his presence you ought to recognize who he is as compared to who you are the reason a whole lot of us can't shout and give God praise it's because we are measuring ourselves by the wrong yardstick if ever you want to talk about how great you are just stand up next to me and you will be taller than me every time you want to talk about how wonderful you are just stand up next to somebody else who does not measure up to you and money on clothes or an education on how on living condition you will always find somebody who is lesser in greatness in those areas than you are but that's measuring by the wrong yardstick if you really want to know how great you are stand up next to Jesus and you will find that he's in a class all by himself there's nobody here who measures up to him there is no body nowhere like him Paulie Paulie Paulie the whole earth is filled with his glory these Seraphim these burning ones they they flew around with with six wings with two they covered their face with two they cover their feet and with two they did fly and their entire mission was to shout about God's holiness my brothers and sisters that ought to terrify us that when we come into the presence of a holy God we come with our egos and with our attitudes and we come here in God's presence acting like God just got to have us I think I need to say to you before I go back to my family reunion and get missing more refreshment that God really does not need you God really does not need me because before you and I were ever born God was in charge and long after you and I are gone and dad off the scene God was still behold that Paula Paula the whole earth is filled with his glory if we would have excellence without excuses we've got to see what Isaiah saw and then secondly as I heard you got to hear what Isaiah heard he's right here in the text those those burning ones those Seraphim took some live cold from all the altar some burning coals from of the altar and singed as his lips burning coal live coals were taken with towns from off the altar and seared as his lips and throughout the temple was the smell of burning flesh seared as his lips and in this sanctuary tonight if you would be all that God wants you to be God's got to burn up your flesh because no flesh can glory in God's presence nobody here deserves to be here you here because God had mercy on you you're here because God's been good to you you're here because God just decided to let you live another day I wish I had one or two witnesses here because if you're like me you got some scars on your back some decisions you wish you had made some wrong roads you wish you hadn't traveled some skeletons in your closet that you hope don't fall out tonight but thank God for His grace thank God that he looked beyond my faults and so many and all over this sanctuary ought to be the smell of burning flesh because no flesh can glory in God's presence nobody here is worthy nobody he is right as the scripture says all your righteousness is as filthy rags you are you are none of us no one of us does any good nobody there's none righteous no even one god alone is holy God alone is righteous if there's any holiness if there's any righteousness in us it's a reflection of God's holiness it's like it's like the moon shining at night the moon doesn't really give off any light the moon is just reflecting the light from the Sun s UN and we here tonight who are righteous in some kind of way or holy in some kind of way we don't really reflect any holiness we are just reflecting the holiness of the Sun s all in somebody gonna get that on the way home not Sun s UN Sun s Oh in when I come to him he gives me righteousness in the sight of God see when I was a song and here what Isaiah heard but listen Isaiah couldn't hear until God burned his flesh Isaiah could not hear a word until God singed his lips until those life burning coal touched his lips it was all event that is he is open you ever wonder why we have two eyes or two ears and one mouth I'm glad you asked so we can see and hear twice as much as we speak and say because you ain't ready to say nothing till you heard something and too many of us are trying to say something and we ain't heard nothing live coal singed burned his lips and then his ears open he said I heard the voice of him that cried saying whom shall I send and who will go for us he had to he had to hear before he could go he had to see before he could hear but then he had to hear before he could go and a whole lot of us go without hearing nothing I've known people past Wesley I've known people whose gospel used to flash like fire but now they are empty echoes because they can't hear a word from God when I was a child growing up down in my little town where I'm from in Louisiana my grandmother used to read to us from a purple back book entitled great stories of the Bible Illustrated and thou certain passages she would read from that Bible that story book of great Bible stories Illustrated that every time she read them all even now at 57 years old when I hear them read I tremble all in my shoes a particular of that passage of Scripture when Samson got up to go and fight with the Philistines and the Spirit of God had left him and he didn't even know it that passage of Scripture makes me tremble even right now or when Paul says my greatest fear is that when I have preached to others i myself should become cast away I would be disqualified for the prize I help mr. game that makes me tremble all in my shoes I I want God to use me right down to my dying day I want God to burn off the flesh from me that does not please him anything that does not bring God glory in my life I want God to take it away from me because there's one final thing in this text I want you to see and I'm free if we would have excellence without excuses you've got to see what Isaiah saw here what Isaiah heard and then say what Isaiah said is right here in the text after he heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us Isaiah said then said I here am I send me I want you to get this and I'm in my seat there's a difference between here I am and here am I I mean that marinate a little that's the difference between here I am and here am i because here I am is spatial temporal relationship in the universe Here I am is a particular place turn space where I am in relationship to the world around me that spatio temporal relationship in the universe Here I am is saying get to where I am in Alexandria Virginia at alpha Street Baptist Church on the fifth pew sitting down next to somebody that's Here I am but here am I is surrender here mi is burned my flesh here and I is take away from me everything that does not give you glory here am i I'm at your disposal I am available to you not in my spatio-temporal relationship but in my volitional surrender limit let me see if I can help you with that I'm I'm I'm in my see God has had to do a job on me in ambling mean to use me for his glory God has taken me through a winding way to use me for his glory pastor knows about it about four years ago I was diagnosed with a brain tumor that lodged at the base of my skull that he wrote at the space in my brain where my pituitary gland rests and I suffer for the rest of my life with an adrenal deficiency my pituitary gland was eroded by the tumor and I take medication now for the rest of my life for for hormones and to regulate my adrenal system because my pituitary gland was eroded by the tumor at the base of my brain a pituitary and macro adenoma whatever that means and I had to take medication for the rest of my life for this brain tumor and one of the the side effects of the medication is hot flashes sisters I know I know and I know what you're going through I'm having one right now I have I have $1,000 for anybody who can give me a cue of a hot flashes right now I put ice cubes down my chest I put my head in the freezer I turn the fan on I stood with no clothes okay front you name it I've tried it but I suffer with with that and other kinds of after effects from the medication given me for the tumor and I was praying and asking God New Year's Eve of of 2000 and and and 12 New Year's Eve I was praying asking God to give him a strength building a new church and I'm leading our congregation into this new effort and I ask God to strengthen me and that very night I've got so sick that I had to be rushed to the hospital and I was put on life support because the medication they gave me to cure and shrink the tumor made me deathly ill my family came all the members of my church were there at the hospital and the doctor said to my family this man is the sickest man in this hospital he's in critical care here at MD Anderson hospital and critical care is where they put you at MD Anderson for you to decide which funeral home to Cole they had me in critical care and my family was there my church members was crowded all over the hospital and they said you need to spend as much time with him as you like because he will not live two hours he's the sickest man in this hospital spend all the time you need he's going to be gone in two hours that was four years ago and Here I am no here am I in Alfred Street Baptist Church to testify that if you trust and never doubt he will surely bring you out and then the doctor said if he lives you gonna have to put him in a nursing home because he's lost oxygen to his brain and he will be a vegetable for the rest of his life but here I am know here am I in hell for Street pulpit to testify can't nobody do me like Jesus the Lord sometimes got to bring you way down for him to raise you up is there anybody here know that if you put your trust in God if you say Lord here am I he'll use you right down to your dying day here am I sin you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

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Length: 36min 27sec (2187 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 21 2016