Mount Olive Baptist Church Live Stream

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] well good morning and god bless you we're so glad to be in worship one more time and we've come to praise the name of the lord amen we invite you right where you are to come on and bless the lord with us amen come on and bless the lord with me bless the lord in me we want you to bless the lord with me [Music] we give [Music] we've come to lift up the name of jesus hallelujah [Music] come on and slap your hands in clap here hands with me come on and clap your hands with me everybody in the room say clap your hands with me clap your hands say pass hallelujah [Music] we give you the highest [Music] hallelujah [Music] come on give him glory come on give a break celebrate him this morning you don't know like i know what the lord has done for me hey you can't tell [Music] what's the highest praise [Music] oh won't you bless the lord with me honey bless the lord o my soul and all that is with him bless his holy name bless the lord o my soul and forget not his benefits under me bless the lord this day and when you bless the lord the word in hebrew for blessed means to make bigger so when you praise god you're just making god bigger yeah in your circumstances make god bigger in your trouble make god bigger in your diagnosis oh bless the lord with me and let us exalt his name together [Music] welcome to this virtual service of the mount island baptist church we're so glad that you're with us today and we are so delighted that you joined us in worship won't you share and like that we are on and having service this day once again to the glory and to the honor of a living god so bless the lord with us as we exalt his name together let us pray eternal god we are grateful for another day's journey we thank you dear god for all of your blessings to us which give us calls to pause to praise you for every good and perfect gift which comes from above though our world is in turmoil we thank you that there is an inner peace that can never leave the saints of god for the peace that you have given us is not as the world gives and therefore the world can never take it away so we bless your name this day and ask that you would receive our gratitude our praise and our thanks offerings as an act of devotion commitment and worship to you it's in the name of jesus christ we ask you to receive our offering of worship and it's in his name we pray and praise and the people of god said together amen amen that's the name of the lord [Music] listen what a mighty god we serve what a mighty god we serve angels by before [Music] it one more time what a mighty god we served what a mighty god [Music] [Music] him listen jesus is the god jesus [Music] [Music] on stay with me [Music] me [Music] i'm so glad come on [Music] jesus me [Music] [Applause] glory hallelujah um [Music] oh we're in the name of jesus oh me e she come on oh come on come on [Music] [Music] there's no other name under the heavens whereby people might be saved there's no other name that brings joy in the midst of sorrow there's no other name that heals my wounds at the heart level no other name than the name of jesus christ we come now beloved to worship that name which is above every name in the giving of our gifts so won't you consider giving this day with a generous heart and a generous spirit as we have given ourselves unto the lord there are four ways of giving here at the mount olive church you can give through text through giblify through the portal on the website and also you can give through the mail we encourage you to give and give generously according to the measure in which you have received the blessings of the lord we also want you to consider a sacrificial gift today if you did not have the chance to respond on last week to help our brothers and sisters in haiti by now you've seen the pictures and the graphics of the devastation that has taken place on that small island nation as you are well aware for a number of years we have supported haiti as one of our international mission partners and so we encourage you to give above your tithe and offering again you can give through giblify through the portal on the website which has a special demarcation for the haiti relief effort and of course you can always send your contribution to haiti through the mail we only ask that you would designate your sacrificial love gift for our brothers and sisters in haiti as such that this is above and beyond your tithe and that this is a restricted gift and everything that you give we will make sure that it is that it goes toward the relief of our brothers and sisters in haiti as we continue to partner with our international missions convention the lot carry foreign missions convention so won't you give now generously not only with your tithe and your offering but also toward those who need your help desperately in this moment of existential crisis let us pray as we give that that the lord might touch our hearts to give to help another eternal god we thank you that you looked upon us with compassion and gave us your son and as you have given us a son a savior we give now dear god to show our gratitude and our tithe and offering but we also give sacrificially that we might help another as you have helped us so as we model the message and the ministry of jesus christ let us realize that we shall not in any way be shortchanged of your blessings for the more we give the more you give to us so we give abundantly we give generously we give cheerfully in this moment and we praise you for the ability and the capacity to give whether the gift is great or small it matters not but first that we have given our hearts unto you now receive our thanks as we glean into your storehouse the treasures of people for the work of ministry in this place and also with our partners and beloved brothers and sisters in haiti it's in the name of jesus christ our lord we pray amen [Music] good morning and here are your announcements for sunday august 29 2021 men of all ages are invited to attend mount olive's annual men's weekend we will begin with our virtual men's conference entitled the olympic year strengthening our spiritual muscles on saturday september 11 2021. meet us on zoom for interactive sessions as we learn how to become champions and overcome the myriad of challenges that men of color face every day the conference will begin at 10 o'clock a.m and our very own deacon nolan bivens will be the facilitator for this rich experience our men's weekend will culminate with men's day service on sunday september 12th at 9 30 a.m visit the church website to register for the conference and prepare to become the champion god has created you to be we are our sisters and brothers keeper thousands in haiti have died and many more are suffering due to the recent earthquake in tropical storm mount olive is mobilizing to assist with the relief and recovery efforts in haiti and your help is needed please give a sacrificial gift above your tithes and offerings to help you may mail in your offering and specify that is for the haiti relief fund you may also give through our website portal or through our mobile app givealify all funds will be sent to haiti through our mission partner lot kerry thank you for your willingness to share in this critical mission effort next sunday will be the first sunday in september and we will share in the lord's supper make sure you gather your bread and beverage and set your own communion table join us at 9 30 a.m next sunday on any of our social media platforms as we celebrate together as one body in christ these are your announcements for sunday august 29 2021 stay safe and stay blessed [Music] i trust in god wherever i may be [Music] one [Music] my heavenly father [Music] he makes an object of his career he guides thee [Music] for surely [Music] remembers me my heavenly father [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] keeps my soul [Music] i [Music] know [Music] for me [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my heavenly father [Music] oh [Music] me [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen we celebrate the gift of miss ayanna freeland who joins us in worship today and we thank her for her offering of worship we're so glad to have this houston native with us who comes to us from baltimore she serves an as an instructor at the baltimore school of arts and also is a singer for kappa and we're so delighted she blessed our souls today [Music] with all the music that is available to us every now and then you need a hymn you need a hymn to center yourself and to ground your feet into something it may not be upbeat but that is definitely meaningful and larger than ourselves so thank you today for a wonderful hymn of the church beloved we have just concluded a series entitled the battle plans for facing giants we hope that you had uh a good experience with that series today we start a new series and we want to forge ahead in the life of the apostle paul so we want to look at for the next few weeks laboring from the series title the evolution of a henchman the spiritual transformation of the apostle paul today i want to find out somonic moorings in the book of acts chapter 7 verses 54 through chapter 8 verse 3. again that's the book of acts chapter 7 verses 54 through chapter 8 verse 3. the text reads accordingly from the book of acts when they heard these things they became enraged and ground their teeth at stephen but filled with the holy spirit he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of god and jesus standing at the right hand of god look he said i see heavens opened and the son of man standing at the right hand of god but they covered their ears and with a loud shout all rushed together against him then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named saul while they were stoning stephen he prayed lord jesus received my spirit then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice lord do not hold this sin against them when he had said this he died and saul approved of their killing him that day a severe persecution began against the church in jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of judea and samaria devout men buried stephen and made loud lamentation over him but saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house dragging off both men and women he committed them to prison thus ends the reading of the word amen for this first installment in this new series dealing with the spiritual evolution of the apostle paul i want to talk just for a little while from the subject holding coats and casting stones holding coats and casting stones the bible is filled with memorable characters some of which are notable others are notorious the bible in general and the new testament in particular is filled with these kind of legendary figures which so often because of their faith faith feats seem inaccessible to the average church parishioner we say to ourselves i could never have the faith of an abraham i could never make the sacrifice that jesus made and in the new testament there are three prominent characters which often claim our attention of course there's jesus who we know as the savior of the world who gave his life as a ransom for many and then there is this complicated character of peter peter who becomes the foundation whose faith becomes the foundation of the church for jesus tells him upon this rock i shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it but then there is looming large in this cast of legendary figures the apostle paul paul is so essential to the dissemination of the christian faith that without paul there may not be a church today it is it is paul who becomes the writer of the first recorded writings of the new testament it is paul who becomes a devout apologist for the witness of jesus christ it's this legendary paul who becomes an innovator of the historic faith of judaism which takes it and reinterprets it reinterprets it so that the gentile world can receive another person and another people's faith it is paul who as a legend of letters gives us some of the bible's most memorable and recognizable words it's this paul that tells us that we know that all things work together for good for those who love god and for those who are called according to his purposes it's this paul that tells us that that if the earthly house of this body is destroyed we have another home a tabernacle not made by hands eternal in the heavens it's this paul that tells us that should we continue in sin god forbid for the glory of grace abounds it's this paul without whom we would probably not have the christian faith nor a new testament but that's not the paul that we see here today for in our text the first introduction of paul to the biblical witness is not as paul but as saul uh a a a devout and zealous pharisee it's not that paul the writer of the new testament that we see but our very first introduction of paul in scripture is at a crime scene he comes to us looming large in the text not as a saint but the chief of all sinners but the bible says that as they were stoning stephen and we witnessed the murder and the martyrdom of deacon stephen and the church's witness grew as a result of the shedding of his blood a young zealous saul there gives consent to the murder and he holds their coats as they cast their stones in a heinous act of of bigotry and ris and religious fanaticism it's this saul who would become the legend that we see today it's this saul who doesn't look too good to us right now but beloved i want you to know that that is the power of the gospel that it doesn't matter where you end up it doesn't matter how you start rather but it is a matter of where you end up and lord knows all of us may have some ragged beginnings some tattered uh beginnings some sin that we would rather forget that that that walks with us to the balance of our life praise be to god that that where i start is not where i have to finish this paul that we see in our text today is an accomplice to murder an accessory to a heinous crime as stephen is marched out the city and stoned to death and then the bible says that as he holds their coats and they cast their stones at an innocent deacon of the church a religious zeal takes place that causes the soon to become apostle to go from house to house dragging out men and women because of their confession of faith in jesus christ and casting them into dusky dark and dank prison cells paul here is gripped by a zeal that is really not according to knowledge but is shaped and framed by his own bigotry and hatred of the newly formed christian movement and religious zeal beloved is necessary don't get me wrong everybody ought to have some zeal to their faith a cold callous and tepid religion is not to be welcomed by any way lethargy is detestable even by the word of the lord in the book of revelation when he tells us i wish you were either hot or cold but because you are lukewarm i'll spit you out of my mouth no a passion-less religion is not to be desired at all every now and then somebody ought to catch on fire and say i love the lord because he heard my cry every now and then somebody ought to remark i need thee every hour somebody should say without god i can do nothing somebody needs to tell the lord i love you lord today but when that zeal that passion and fervor turns into fanaticism it leads to crimes against god and the human family when passion and fervor turns into fanaticism it then takes on a heinous permissiveness that allows us to do dastard deeds and do them in the name of god it's fanaticism that that allows you to blow up towers and do it in the name of god it's fanaticism that allows you to burn the scriptures and the sacred text of another's religion in the name of your god it's fanaticism that allows you to justify slavery all in the name of god it's fanaticism in religion that legitimates white supremacy as a god-given right to some and a curse to others it's fanaticism that allows you to form in a resurrect an insurrection in the name of god and take down governments yes it's fanaticism done in the name of god that wounds the human family but while we think those drastic iterations of fanaticism are beyond us we too can be religious zealots and fanatics when we fail to encounter those who are not like us and condemn them all in the name of god to a fiery hell and you need to know beloved that even though you may have high rank and even though you may be blood bought and twice born and though you may have a big bible to carry and though your ancestors names may be on the cornerstone of a given church that doesn't give you the right to put anybody into a heaven or a hell neither of which you own we cannot come to the point in life where we allow our religious zeal and our firm beliefs to harm others in the human family that's what paul is guilty of here that's our first portrait of this disciple in his evolving encounter with the christ it's a bad portrait one of an accessory to murder at a needless crime scene so we ask ourselves since a fervent fanaticism is a negative is there any way of balancing a functioning faith and fanaticism is there any way to avoid such passion and fervor framed in such horrible ignorance well beloved if we look at the text we find a way that comes not from the apostle paul but from the deacon stephen for i submit to you that if we want to be fervent without being fractious if we want to be committed without being criminal if we want to be devoted without being divisive then we must look at those who follow the model of jesus christ for it is stephen here who is one of the first deacons of the church who dies in a way that is similar to jesus it is he who models the comportment of the christ and the behavior of our savior it's stephen here who gives us an insight on how to be dedicated even to the point of death without being fanatical and beloved in a world that is so divisive such as ours particularly around religious ideas and ideals we if anybody in the church ought to be able to model jesus without harming others in the human family you can't you cannot claim to follow jesus and consign folks to hell you cannot claim to follow the lord jesus christ and treat others in his name in ways that are incompatible with the heart of christ you cannot say that you love people and do them wrong in the name of jesus and claim and profess to be a follower of the way steven here gets this right long before the apostle paul who is engaged in criminality how do we avoid an ignorant zealous fervent faith well the first thing that we see here in this model of stephen who follows jesus is the bible says that he saw the glory of god as the heavens are opened and he saw jesus standing he saw a triumphant christ who had overcome hell and the grave who had conquered the cross standing victoriously next to god and he sees the glory of god now beloved let me help you here because what what what stephen tells us in his vision is that there is indeed a particularity and concentration to his gaze he doesn't just see god but he sees god and jesus standing he he recognizes that the way to god is through christ he has a particularity but he does not allow that particularity to confine the glory of god let me help you this morning too many of us think that the only way god will ever be seen or experienced is through the church but let me tell you beloved that the god that we serve is too big to have his gun his glory confined to a particular convention to fight to can be confined to a particular denomination to be limited and relegated to a particular religion for the god i serve is so big that he can't fit in anybody's faith in anybody's religion in anybody's church in anybody's convention the god we serve is bigger then our doctrines and dogma the god i serve is bigger than my little constitution of my little church the god that i serve is much grander than any of our theological constructs that are built for understanding and not for restraint stephen sees the glory of god beloved if you want to avoid a fanatical kind of faith you got to realize that your stuff ain't that big that it can compromise the vast being of god here stephen sees the glory of god the second thing that that stephen demonstrates for us that paul has yet to learn but will learn is that there is a security in faith he says as he looks up and sees the glory of god lord jesus receive my spirit with death imminent and looming large stephen recognizes that as a child of god he's secure in his faith he's secure and that god will keep him in all of his ways now let me help you here because beloved security and faith does come for the point of death but there is a larger security at work for you see when you are secure in who you are in the lord you don't have to put somebody else's religion down in order to make your religion valuable i don't have to mock islam in order to be a good christian i don't have to be little buddha in order to be a good christian because if i know who i am and whose i am i'm all right with the lord and the lord is alright with me it's only folks that don't know who they are in their faith that have to belittle somebody else to make their religion legitimate [Applause] i i don't need to mess with somebody else's stuff because there's too much to the bible i don't know too much to the christian faith that i've yet to learn there's too much about the lord's vast being that i must encounter and learn i i embody that old hymn more more about jesus would i know more of his spirit show i need to learn more about him rather than putting somebody else down [Music] stephen is secure in his faith and when you know who you are you know that you're a king's kid when you know who you are you know that you have the assurance of the verities of heaven when you know who you are in god you know that you've got somebody looking out for you from cradle to grave when you know who you are you know that there's somebody that will step in at the moment that you need him most when you know who you are i don't need [Applause] to show you who i am all i got to do is just be who i am and that shows you who i am stephen is secure if you want to avoid a religious fanaticism grand or small you've got to see the glory of god and you also have to be secure in your faith and then lastly to avoid this kind of perpetuated bigotry in the name of the holy one has to learn to extend forgiveness here that can be a challenging task for people of god who are wounded in all kinds of ways but stephen replicates the model of jesus christ for at the moment of christ's death on the cross he looks up and says to his father in heaven forgive them for they know not what they do and stephen as the stones are beginning to pelt his being and tear his flesh he looks up and says to the lord do not hold this sin against them he learns that there is a callousness that runs through all of humanity and that all of us who have been forgiven must learn to forgive let me say that again all of us who have been forgiven must learn to forgive and when we can forgive those who wound us we exemplify the best of not only our religious composition and ideals but we also lift up the best of our own humanity i'm often amazed at people who can extend forgiveness and so quickly to those who have wounded them to the mother whose child was killed by a drunk driver on a benighted highway and whose life has been cut off before the blossom can really fully extend itself and protrude its fragrance to beautify the earth to those who were parishioners at the mother bethel church in columbia south carolina who could extend forgiveness to a murderous madman who had the audacity to come to prayer meeting and defame holy ground with murder i'm amazed at folks who who have learned how to forgive at the very depths of their beings but i've picked up on something that those that know how to forgive are those who recognize the depth of their own forgiveness when he's forgiven me of so much then i ought to be able to forgive any of any kind of crime they used to tell me when i served the ebenezer church in atlanta that daddy king would say after losing his beloved son ml known as dr king or martin to some i'll never let a man drag me to the level of hate so often times the reciprocal of woundedness is a return of hatred but here stephen shows us that the way of christ is to learn to forgive and when we understand that capacity of forgiveness that it is liberating because it does not allow us to be chained and confined by the burdens and the baggage of our wounds then we have tapped into the very heart and the spirit of our christ who offered forgiveness on his cross yes paul aka saul doesn't look too good here he's holding coats while people are casting stones but i see something here at work even in the moment of murder even in the causality of the crime the bible says that god gets into the muckiness of human affairs to bring about his will for as stephen is being stoned as saul is holding coats and giving a cent to the murder of the fur one of the first deacons of the church the bible says that that there was a great dispersion of the faith of the faith that people left running from jerusalem because there was a murderous maniacal madman on the loose but because of what saul did because of what paul did god used it to spread the faith because everywhere those that were on the run went they took their witness with them wherever they were on the run they they lifted up the name of jesus wherever they went to every crook and cranny of the jerusalem and judea hillside they had on their lips jesus lives wherever they moved about in the empire there was a witness that said i know the lord has laid his hands on me but wherever they moved about they had a witness for jesus christ and ended up the amazing thing about god that when you push me down he always lifts me up when you belittle me he enlarges me when you talk about me he prays for me when you make fun of me he praises me praise me to god i can look up into heaven and see the glory of the lord and jesus standing there triumphantly over every form of bigotry over every expression of hatred over every iteration of idiocy i see him standing victorious over everything that would lead to a religious fervor that harms the human family so beloved we must recognize that there have been times when we are guilty of holding coats and casting stones but praise be to god that doesn't have to be the end of your story so we start this day recognizing that in the life of the apostle paul the gospel of jesus christ that can transform a persecutor into a preacher is available to you today that life giving and life transforming word and witness of christ can be yours today so no matter what criminal portraits you may have of yourself there's another iteration that needs to be touched by the hand of god so if you are here today online with us listening to us viewing us on youtube or some other platform and your life needs a transforming touch there is a god who will touch you and make you whole we invite you to call the number that you see at the bottom of the screen there's someone waiting for your call right now that will help you begin this process of transformation because it is this paul who understood this not just theoretically not just philosophically but in his own life for he embodies his own writings if any man or woman is in christ they are a new creation if you need something new in your life if you need the old to be eclipsed by the novelty of god's movement in your life today call that number right now and someone will help you with your own evolution from whatever you have been to whatever it is that god has decreed and designed for your existence we invite you to come now and accept the lord jesus christ as your own lord and savior as our musicians and singers come to massage the message and tenderize our hearts won't you accept the word of god today and allow it to transform your life [Music] listen jesus at the center of it all jesus at the center of it all from beginning till the end it must always be always been you jesus jesus [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] until the end [Music] it's always been you jesus [Music] jesus [Music] everything revolves around you [Music] come on one more time jesus [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it was always you always [Music] she's [Music] [Music] beloved as you send in your prayer request today we guarantee that we will convey them to our gap ministry so that they might pray over each and every one of them as a holy act of christian responsibility let us pray [Music] oh lord our god we thank you for jesus who is the center of it all the center of our being the center of our joy the center of purpose the center of our ambitions god we claim now to be followers of the way because we have heard your voice and we have received your great and glorious gospel god because he is at the center we know that there is no problem no situation no predicament that is greater than he so god we praise you that even in the midst of all that we are going through through the throes of this pandemic through a world that is in chaos to the virus that is spiking once again you are still our center [Music] and we praise your name for the security that is ours so that we're not afraid of death we're not afraid of the virus though we're going to be cautious and sensible we're not afraid to live nor die because whether we live or whether we die we belong to you so we thank you for our blessed security and because we are secure [Music] we recognize the brotherhood and the sisterhood of all of your creation for we are related to one another whether we like it or not whether we believe it or not we are all a part of the human family because you are god the creator of all so help us to love one another help us oh god to be compassionate toward one another help us to have a little empathy and to help those who are in need with the resources that you have blessed us with and we too then will embody your model just like stephen now lord god we pray for those who are still struggling on the front lines of this pernicious and persistent pandemic doctors and nurses and hospital workers who are growing weary of well-doing give them another boost of courage to hold on and hold out as they help your children everywhere god we pray that you give those who are not vaccinated since enough to go get a shot in the arm not just because of their own fears but because they love their neighbors as themselves god to our teachers and students who are returning back to the classroom amid the controversies of masking or unmasking god let your wisdom pour down upon us and allow us to see your glory in the midst of a persecution god we ask that you would protect every child every household every teacher every teacher's household every custodian every police officer within the school every administrator every superintendent anyone associated with education dear god just be a hedge of protection all around them as they seek to facilitate learning and enlightenment and god we pray for a war-torn country and a nation that has reneged on its promises help us now god to regain a moral center that will allow us to honor the promises that we have made and to embody what we put on paper and then lord god we pray also for our brothers and sisters on that island nation of haiti who just can't seem to get a break one danger after another one heartbreak after another one tragedy after another and while people are saying that they're cursed we recognize that that in and of itself is a symbol of religious fanaticism for god you don't curse you heal you save you deliver god you don't despise you lift us up when we are weak and give us strength when we are broken so strengthen now our brothers and sisters in haiti and use our hands and our gifts as an extension of love toward those who are suffering right now and anyone else under the sound of my voice who may be hurting who may be distraught who may be on the verge of taking their life because they've lost hope for any child that's lost the mother for anyone that's grieving god be our support right now and comfort us in ways that are both tangible and intangible visible and invisible material and supernatural allow your healing power to and encompass us all and canvas us with your grace your mercy and your love and then dear god i pray your forgiveness for all of us at some point in time have held coats and thrown stones at those that we should have loved and been more tolerant of forgive us of our sins and father receive our thanks in the name of your son jesus christ who washes away every sin with the power of his own blood it's in his name that we pray and we say together amen [Music] let us receive the benediction the grace of our lord and savior jesus christ the love of god the sweet communion of his holy spirit rest rule and abide with each of you now and forevermore as we say the final amen from my heart from my heart [Applause] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus is from you

Channel: Mount Olive Baptist Church

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Length: 78min 5sec (4685 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021