Pastoral Installation - March 15, 2023 - Pastor Charlie Dates

thank you uh everlasting God and Lord Geraldton and Lord D doll and then uh then dog flesh for the Lord [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] Hallelujah let everything that hath breath praise the Lord for he is worthy of all the praise we serve a God who is good he is awesome he is mighty we serve an everlasting God how many of you believe that we serve an everlasting God we want you to join in with us this evening as we lift up the God of our salvation for he is worthy to be brave [Music] oh [Music] the Lord is my light and salvation Whom Shall I Fear Whom Shall I be afraid the Lord is my light and salvation shall I be afraid the Lord is [Music] Lord is [Music] [Music] I will trust in you oh yes the Lord is my light the Lord is my light and salvation Whom Shall I Fear shall I breathe shall I breathe even when it's not easy I will wait I will see I will repay s [Music] all right here Who Shall I Fear One More Time [Applause] I will wait on you yeah yeah [Applause] I will trust in you yeah I will remain s the goodness we want you to just concentrate on the words that we're speaking this evening We Believe In You by e foreign foreign [Music] [Music] shut up we set our hope for you I will remain confidence in this we will see the goodness of love yeah we will remain confident in this we will see the goodness of the lord we will remain we will remain confident in this [Music] I will wait for you [Applause] father will wait we'll put our trust in you one more time I will remain [Music] okay confident in it is and we'll keep waiting on you guys even when it's not easy guys Milky Way s and we'll try in you will trust [Music] in you [Music] [Applause] [Music] shall renew thus his strength good evening Broadview family and friends Welcome to our Wednesday Sunday night service yeah we are in the final four days I ain't talking about the NBA we're in the final four still excited praise the Lord those that are listening by live stream we welcome you to our midweek worship service where we are having a worship service or installation service of our new pastor [Applause] gospel Paul Taylor not only that we have a guest speaker tonight and a guest Choir in the house so let us give him a praise clap Charlie dance from Progressive and Salem two Heavy Hitters praise the Lord this evening scripture shall come from Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15. and I will give you pastors according to my heart will show feed you with knowledge and understanding let us pray [Music] Eternal God our Father Jehovah Jireh you have provided Otis Anderson Clarence Hobson Marvin G Parker Christopher Robinson and Now Jasper Paul Taylor [Applause] so we thank you for giving us these pastors according to your heart what shall Feed Us and provide us with understanding and knowledge of your word that we may know what to do in this community and be a Beacon Light we pray that someone be encouraged tonight and not only that that we continue to shine because of who you are and because we belong to you in Jesus Christ's name amen [Applause] [Music] good evening Broadview and Friends of Broadview my name is shelma Pearson and at this time I'd like to welcome our guests both here in the sanctuary and Via live stream so if you are worshiping with us as a guest this evening excuse me at this time please rise and remain standing until you've been properly acknowledged [Applause] praise the Lord amen praise the Lord it is always an honor and a privilege to welcome our guests and tonight is certainly no exception we hope when you entered our parking lot when you walk through the doors to where you're standing right now that you have truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and know that you are welcome if you are here this evening and you're in need of a new church Hall we hope by the end of this service you need not look any further but more importantly if you do not know Jesus as Lord and savior of your life we're praying that you will walk down these aisles and ask Jesus to come into your heart we also would like to recognize that we have special guests worshiping with us tonight I'd like to recognize Pastor Charlie dates [Applause] [Music] music Ministry of Greater Mount Pleasant and Saint Paul Missionary Baptist Church thank you [Music] Pastor Jimmy Daniels of Salem of Shiloh Baptist Church and if there are any other pastors that I'm not aware of we'd like to know that we are honored that you chose to come and be with us tonight you are all welcome so sit back relax and join in with us as we worship the god of our Salvation once again you are so welcome thank you for coming and you may be seated [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] come on and put your hands together are you Wonder if it wasn't for your love [Music] but you're awesome I don't know where I'd be without you it wasn't for your grace [Music] [Music] you are awesome [Music] for your grace I don't know where I'd be I'd be without you [Music] [Music] we're almost out [Music] amen [Music] foreign [Music] I don't know why Taylor at this spot seemed to have a familiar feeling [Music] to Pastor Taylor and his family and to all of you and especially to my Broadview family I come tonight with a word a two to encourage you I'll have to call you little brother [Music] but I come tonight to tell you what my pastor Pastor Hobson said to me about 53 years ago started on 15th Street to 17. and always say a park appears in all of the rest of them you guys came along later but let me tell you one thing that when I first went out the pastor the first thing that my pastor said to me he says first of all Jimmy you know nothing about pastoring and I said yes but I'm in school pop he says school don't teach you how to pass but stay in school and then I said then I suppose pop that you have some instruction about what I should preach about he says I'm glad to ask I says well share them with me he said there is a book called Timothy let's go to he said the second II Timothy and he said there is a place that says preach the word and he says let's not get it confused he said I want you to preach it in season and out of season he says and keep this in mind there will be some folks that want to hear it and there are some that don't want to hear it he said but you preached the word and I said pop I appreciate that and he says if you do that he says eyes have not seen ears have not heard what it should be like wherever you go so I bring those same words to you little brother and then he says I got one more thing Jimmy I want to tell you see I came along I was young 20 something years old and somebody had told me that I knew how to hum and I knew how to sing on something he says now you gotta stream this out for me Jim did God call you to sing or did he call you to preach and that was a loaded crisis so Dr Taylor daddy I left that alone and I says now what else you want to say you say you had one more thing he says I want to give you the Three B's be sincere be what reparka be sincere be quick and be seated [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening family friends of Broadview visiting guests visiting claridgey I'm Deacon Lee and I just want to thank you all for coming out tonight in our celebration thank you before I call your attention to our offertory scripture tonight first Timothy 5 17. tonight we want to give all the glory to God we are indeed a blessed church he had brought in since 1969 Broadview have been making a difference in the world not only here in the Broadview area or in the state of Illinois but on the national and international Arena we have been blessed family we have had pastors [Music] after God's Own Heart which I know this tradition will continue with our new Shepherd Pastor Jasper Paul Taylor the first God has answered our prayers you know in Hebrew 11 25 it says whoever brings blessings will be enriched and who Waters will himself be watered family we've been watered we have many blessings since Pastor Taylor started in January blessings blessings [Applause] do you know that we have had close to a hundred new members to join us since January do you know that in February we had our largest income month since pre-covered you know God has said whatever you bestow on the pastor I will take care of your church tonight's offering is a gift that will go directly to our pastor and his family [Applause] but now let me call your attention to our offertory scripture First Timothy 5 17 where it says let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor and let me just stop there double honor just not regular honor but double honor especially those who labor in preaching and teaching tonight family we have that opportunity [Music] pray with me dear heavenly father we come tonight to give you all the glory thank you for all the blessings that you continuously bestow on Broadview we dedicate this Moment For You O Heavenly Father I asked tonight that you fill our Sanctuary with your Holy Spirit but let us focus on you tonight o Heavenly Father we want to thank you for answering our prayers and sending us a shepherd and Pastor Taylor we will follow him as he follow you thank you for that opportunity to give and to follow your word and giving serving and being like you oh Heavenly Father [Music] thank you Broadview and and Pastor Taylor will not live or lack that we shall live in overflow to serve and expand for the kingdom of Our Lord [Music] this is my prayer and your name's sake amen as I call your attention to the screen and those who are here in the sanctuary in your Pew will you will see this envelope you can fill it out and you can give it to the ushers now before you leave and as I said this goes directly to our pastor just like in first Timothy 5 17 says we want to give double honor because we know we will get that back amen thank you family [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] yeah the place of strength of Houston Texas I'm honored to give congratulations to the pastor elect and the Broadview Baptist Church uh on your union I want to congratulate my nephew Pastor Jasper Taylor uh I wish you well I I regret I cannot be there but I say to both you and the Broadview Church The Best Is Yet To Come God bless you Pastor Jasper this is Pastor Nathan Carter at Emmanuel Baptist Church and I am so excited that the Lord has brought you uh to Historic Broadview for such a time as this I believe you're an answer to prayer and just want to let you know that um I'm here to support encourage and help you however I can on behalf of the local Association Chicagoland Baptist we just want to say we're very grateful and pray for a long tenure and that God would use you in that church to have a far reach in Chicago and beyond God bless [Applause] Pastor Taylor this is Brian Price I wanted to take this opportunity to say on behalf of myself the love Fellowship Baptist Church familywide Pastor and the Illinois Baptist State Association why I serve on staff congratulations brother to you to your wife and to the Broadview family on your pastoral installation we are so excited uh to see all that God is doing among you uh there and we stand ready to come alongside to partner with you in any way that we can to see you advance the kingdom in your neighborhood and Beyond know that we are certainly praying for you and again congratulations brother God bless you [Applause] [Music] congratulations nephew and niece Pastor Jasper lady Valerie and master Jasper we the doctors Moses wish you the best from Calvary Baptist Church in the mountains in Salt Lake City Utah Jasper and Valerie we are praying for you we're praying for your ministry we are praising God for the assignment he's placed on your life we have very special guests that dropped in to also wish you congratulations [Music] congratulations congratulations congratulations congratulations hello people brother brother Jasper Taylor first lady Taylor and the Taylor crew we thank God for you on this day I bring you greetings from Lexington Kentucky it's your homie it's your friend Rodney McFarland man I am so excited about what God is going to do in your life as you leave with the hand of God upon your life and the Heart of God working through your life man enjoy this day of installation and celebration as God unifies pastor and people see you soon my friend God bless [Applause] our God is great and he is greatly to be praised what a joy it is to greet you under the banner of the Resurrection and to take part in this great installation service of your new pastor and I'm thankful to God to have the privilege and it's a signal privilege to introduce our speaker of the hour I am thankful grateful and appreciative a brother Reverend Dr Charlie Edward dates the first [Music] [Applause] [Music] Pastor dates in the words of Dr Joel Gregory is the rock star preacher he's a great preacher an educated man [Music] and what I thank God for Dr dates is that to me as a great young prophet in the line of Frederick Douglass Du Bois and I always call him little Mark because I realize how great a man Dr Charlie dates is he leads to Progressive Church and Salem Church and I can say this he is my brother we became fraternity Brothers together we were on the same line he's a man of Distinction but what I like about Charlie and I don't say this to pump myself up because Charlie reminds me of a as a young pastor with my wife Cynthia and my two children and the way he stands and cares for his wife and his children it speaks a magnitude of who Charlie Gates is [Music] and so tonight following this choir Mighty peace off and West to Saint Paul and great amount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church Choir the next voice you hear will be that of Pastor dates thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] I will rise foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] I can know foreign [Applause] oh God come on man [Music] [Applause] out [Applause] of you [Music] [Applause] here thank you [Applause] [Music] that's my brothers [Music] be blessed wherever [Music] [Applause] encourage you lyrics [Applause] [Music] away pray for you [Music] [Applause] [Music] be blessed my brother and bless my sister tonight [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let me know [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] thank you very much [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] let me fingers [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all the time [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] let's go [Music] [Applause] I pray for you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] baby [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] great joy fills the temperament of your people because we are watching you do great things I don't mean to be selfish in my praying but I've lived long enough to bear witness to what the choir just got done singing prayer really does work I ask you now in this vein of prayer to bless this pastor thank you for pastor Jasper Taylor thank you for Valerie Taylor thank you for young Mr President and bless you for the Broadview church and for the bright light that you have made this church down through the decades and now we stand amazed at the dawning of a new era a time in American history where we need the strength and witness of the church and dare I say it Lord the black church in America I pray that you will make solid here on Earth what you've already determined in heaven and bring about the flourishing of this church again I may be of human stature but I believe that you use people to speak your word and I pray tonight that you'd let me be a mouthpiece for you in fact edit this sermon on my feet let me say what you want said and encourage this Your Man and his bride and this church we honor you and bless you it's in Jesus name we pray oh and God if I've asked you for too little would you please do something bigger than what I just asked you for in Jesus name we pray amen well this is the day that the Lord has made we ought to rejoice and be glad in it you guys are you grateful to be alive tonight thankful thankful as I am for this music Ministry both coral and instrumental Greater Mount Pleasant Saint Paul the mighty p combining the night and to one of our favorite first ladies Dr Cynthia Taylor [Applause] who led that last song some of you may know some of you may not know that's Pastor Jailer Jasper Taylor's mama [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh Dr Taylor I ain't jealous none of us are jealous that uh that y'all churches get to hear singing like that every week about how God must love you to bless you and we do honor Dr Taylor tonight because uh this is a witness amen this is a this is a witness of his faithfulness paying off and that God has let you live to see some of the fruit some more of the fruit of your faithfulness amen in Broadview I want to say I'm happy for y'all oh my goodness I'm happy I am happy I am happy I am happy for y'all I know it I know it I Know You Gotta Be You Gotta Be uh there are some Churches I just want to be honest with you that would give their right arm and left leg to have Pastor Jasper and sister Valerie Taylor uh and uh and I am as a fellow Pastor in this city I am so thankful uh to be partnered up with this brother and his bride to serve this city and now to watch the Chicago land and watch uh what God will do my wife is with me tonight too the first lady of um I got to get this right because it's my first time being out at a chocolate Church um since since we began pastoring two churches but the first lady of both the progressive Baptist Church and the Salem Baptist Church of Chicago Kirsty Elizabeth super grateful and uh and honored all right let me do my job and sit down Acts chapter 6. I want to read into your hearing one verse thank you I see two people saying why don't we all stand for this one verse it'll it'll be better than anything else you read today other than the word of God this I'm reading from The New American Standard Bible and this is how it reads Acts chapter 6 verse four the text says but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word that's enough tonight I want to tag this text and our Exchange the uneasy conscience of a new pastor you may be seated I want to talk from the thought the uneasy conscience of a new pastor the two rules for evangelism and church growth according to the book of Acts are these number one get the gospel right number two build a church worth joining the these are not easy propositions to Define these days it's hard to come by a clear accurate proclamation of the Gospel in the popular Public Square a lot of what passes for Christian preaching these days is really not Christian at all you see to get the gospel right is to be concerned both about the slavery of sin and the sin of slavery it is not to reduce the gospel to a political action committee to a self-help manual for empty moralism and cheap piety or simply the personal conversion into a Fraternal Order of theological arrogance it's not as if the Bible is to be reduced to Simply your personal and vertical preferences yet at the same time it is not to restrict the message of the Gospel from its proper application against structural unrighteousness public Injustice and private privilege there are many churches that preach a high view of scripture but do not change the low condition of man the scripture at least as we read it in what I call actually the gospel of acts kind of the holy spirit is a gospel that transforms both the individual and the culture within which the individual lives thank God for pastor who knows what the gospel is and is settled in firm conviction to preaching but the question that remains to be answered is the question that this text in a real sense speaks to that is what does it look like to build a church worth joining I don't know about you but sometimes I wish I could travel back in time an eavesdrop on this church at its birth some Scholars suggest I don't know that the church at its Birth has been the church at its best people doing remarkable things selling Whole pieces of property laying the proceeds at the apostles feet being sure that everyone's needs are met devoting themselves to the doctrine of the Apostles breaking bread with one another that kind of church is not on every corner in every city and every state of our land these days some churches are more occupied with their brand than they are the person and work of Jesus Christ they are about building platforms and some of us preachers too are about expanding our own names accumulating Twitter and Instagram and YouTube subscribers and these categories actually run against the mill of an emerging new pastor while the competing attention of varying facets in our culture run upon a new pastor the book of Acts reorients our uneasy consciences to erratically different image of what the local Pastor looks like it actually is a word that is to be Revisited by every generation so the essential duties of the work of the pastor to be investigated Anew by every Rising pastor these are words that you and I need to pay close attention to because it's not just that the pastor needs to understand what God expects of him but it is that the church needs to be fully aware of how God expects you to support your pastor that when the two come together a pastor who is clear on their assignment and a church who is aware of God's word and command upon them to support the pastor amazing things could happen dare I say it not only in the book of Acts but also in 2023 so rather than urging tonight your pastor to be the perfect pastor that's not our encouragement upon him we simply want him to be free to live into the biblical image of a pastor you know a lot of churches expect their pastors to be perfect don't you know yeah that might not be your church but let me tell you there are a lot of churches and you've heard of the perfect Pastor haven't you he works 90 hours a week but he never misses a moment with his family he makes a whopping forty thousand dollars a year and manages to give back to the church 32 000 of it annually he's generous in his contributions to the occasional panhandler people stand at the door and he just hands out money he buys all of the candy for every kid's fundraiser at their local school he has 45 years of experience but he's only 35 years old preaches effortlessly the truth of scripture and nobody ever gets offended he's never too serious but he also never frowns he never raises an offering but the church is always overflowing with money he understands hip-hop R B rap spoken word he knows all of the latest artists but he only listens to gospel music he said everybody's baseball game soccer match a basketball tournament never misses a visit from the sick and yet he spends 45 hours working on his sermon every week the destitute find refuge in his study the infirmed have come back to life after he visits the hospital he's the perfect pastor there's only one problem he collapsed and died at 36. burned out meeting the expectations of everybody but God this fictitious Parable begs the question how should the pastor really spend his time what should his job really be and I'm here tonight as a trained assassin come to put my target on some of you who got every expectation of this new pastor to meet your needs to come to your standards you're just waiting for a while to tell him what he ought to do for you I came tonight to tell you very simply he doesn't work for you his check may have brought you Baptists on it but the money comes from the Lord people may clap and cheer but the real admonition comes from heaven his job is to be faithful to God in serving you and what ought that look like well these are not strange questions but these are questions that have to be asked and answered because if purpose of the pastor is not known abuse of the pastor is inevitable if you and I are not clear what it is that God is calling him to do well will hurt him act six I think gives us one of the clearest descriptions of the pastor's job his duty and his Delight among all of those in the Holy scripture we learn of the primary twofold Ministry of the senior pastor and it speaks not only of these two prongs but of the Inseparable interrelated and mutual dependence of them both the pastor is essentially Broadview to be freed up from the important yet secondary aspects of ministry so that he can do two things really well and since he cannot get power by proxy since he cannot be effective by imitation the routine and necessary items of ministry must be handled by his delegates and not by he himself if not the church will suffer the people will go hungry the neighborhood will not know that there is a God and the world around you will not understand what the church is about and the preacher will forfeit His Highest calling this text suggests that prayer and preaching are the twin towers of pastoral Ministry and that the enemy of our soul will try to fly his weapons of mass distraction into both of them the primary responsibility of the senior pastor is to prayer and then to the ministry of the word ah it's all right I brought my Bible with me you ain't got to say Amen I'ma read this text one more time it starts off with the contrasting conjunction the text says but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word this text says to us really all we need to know it is that the pastor's job is to talk to God on behalf of the people and then turn around and talk to the people on behalf of God I like that I'ma say it one more time it's real simple but it's real clean it's it's our job to talk to God on behalf of the people and then turn around and talk to the people on behalf of God listen let me argue this thing tonight this text makes an argument right at the gate for the all-saturating power of Prayer it more than suggests that real power in Ministry is not found in the eloquence of the preacher's voice or the faithfulness of their gestures or the skill of their pragmatic leadership but Power real power is found in a guy who's got time to pray and spends his time praying when the curtain raises on Acts chapter 6. the Bible says that a major problem has come about in the early Church in Jerusalem to ethnic factions at the church are at war with each other now I know you ain't never heard of church fight in your life but let me tell you that some Churches do fight in fact I'm comforted by recognizing that the earliest Church had a fight two ethnic factions are fighting the Hellenistic Jews are complaining that their widows are being neglected by the the authentic Orthodox if you will Jews in the daily distribution of food now at least at least we can credit the early church that they had a daily distribution times are hard widows are plenteous and the church was under severe persecution and we learned that thousands of people are joining the church in a very small period of time everybody want Church growth but nobody wants it like this Peter stood up and in one sermon 3 000 people joined the church and then the preaching of the Gospel is starting to move on people the haves are sharing with the have-nots people are selling property they're bringing their proceeds from themselves and laying them at the apostles feet people with food are welcoming folk to their homes to be able to sit for dinner and the scripture says that they got all things in common it's a beautiful Church they have developed a system for taking care of people the resources are pulled together and are localized people know where to go to get help but the problem is that a fight broke out the Hellenistic Jews these are the Jews who didn't grow up in BTU they didn't have Sunday school they grew up on Jay-Z Beyonce and Lil Wayne they got saved and pulled back over at another point they were more Gentile in culture than there were Jew in ethnicity and so they are joining this church in record numbers but then the Orthodox Jews the this is Ava Church and we've been here we put the b in Broadview we we established this church and who are these newcomers coming in here taking up our seats and eating at our daily distribution of food don't nobody know they can't join the choir-up that's not what this is you got to go to new members class first and spend 37 weeks in class before we let you pour Kool-Aid in the kids ministry [Applause] and they say we know how we're gonna fix them we're gonna ostracize the Hellenistic Jews so the widows of the Hellenistic Jews are saying this ain't right I thought we were all part of the same church I thought that we were all equal I thought that who that the ground at the cross is level whoever comes in is just like everybody else and and so they go to the apostles and they say to them we got a problem somebody about to get put out the church and we need y'all to figure this thing out if you don't come up with this the crowd cannot be managed the church cannot grow and we cannot reach the populations that are on the outside now it's interesting to know it's interesting to note that the solution to the problem in the early church was not a consultation company they did not have to go to the denomination and bring in a conflict mitigator they didn't even do a capital stewardship campaign to build bigger soup lines they didn't go get a new building they they didn't go figure out what Bishop scooter Boot and Elder Peabody were doing down the road but the solution to their problem watch this was a clarification of biblical leadership they knew that they needed an Administration that served the leadership not the leadership serving the administration oh God give me Grace now now now this year this month I will have been pastoring the progressive Baptist Church of Chicago 104 year old church for 12 years that don't mean nothing to you until you recognize that I'm the third longest serving Pastor in a hundred and four years that means a lot of people didn't make it as long as I have made it thus far so I'm not talking about Broadview but give me a minute to tell my own story if I can to see if it will help you when a young pastor comes to an established church and challenges arrive it is imperative that that church recognizes that the administration of the church serves the leadership of the church but we got so many church leaders deacons and church representatives and Ministry leaders and trustees that want to tell the pastor what to do and how to get it done if you want to kill your church then keep telling your pastor what he ought to do but can't I give you all a word now I'm reaching deep in my theological bag I'm reaching deep in my back but if you want your pastor and your church to succeed go somewhere and sit down get out of his way let them develop the systems so that the church can function I know that I'm on good exegetical ground because the response of the Apostles is both striking and instructive they don't they don't deny the need they don't even deny the legitimacy of the complaint they say these are real issues and they do not deny the urgency with which it is to be addressed but they say our response is that we got to give our attention to the most consequential work of the church if our work don't get done then the plight of widows don't really matter if our work doesn't get done then a budget don't really matter if our work gets done it ain't gonna be no significant church and what was their work praying and preaching and they said if we don't have time to pray and if we don't have time to study to preach then a deacon in Acts chapter 7 ain't gonna get to testify at The Gallows of public opinion if we don't get to pray and preach then a magician in Acts 8 doesn't come to know that the Holy Ghost ain't for sale if we don't get to pray and to preach then a eunuch and a Pharisee terrorists don't come to know that he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and that the lamb kept silent for our Salvation if we don't get to pray and to preach then Peter doesn't get arrested and the gospel never goes to the Gentiles all I'm saying is if they had to have time to pray and preach to turn over the world then what do you think your pastor need time to do now if he doesn't have time to pray or to preach then when you show up on Sunday Ain't Nothing Gonna Be said that's gonna help nobody if he doesn't have time to pray or to preach then the little boys that can't read in the third grade in your neighborhood will never feel the power of the church reaching to their school and change their lives this text says that a priority has to be given and watch the priority is written in this order I think on purpose prayer is listed first I think the narrative is clear the instruction of Acts 6 4 is is to say that the preacher the preaching man is a praying man because if we have a weak hold on God we'll never be able to take a stronghold on the church or the world and this text argues for the interrelatedness of prayer and preaching that the sermon itself cannot rise in life-giving power it cannot be transformative if the preaching person ain't transform themselves dead men preached dead sermons dead sermons kill living churches and dead churches watch their neighborhoods rot all around them but if the Negro who stand up to preach his heart has been warmed by God then when he stands up to preach the lost people will hear the voice of God and come running saying what must I do to be saved and I know what it is I know what it is a lot of us have given up on prayer we think that our money our resources our buildings our reputation is Enough To Let the church have power that's not true in small town Mount Vernon Texas true story the Drummond Bar and Grill was being built in proximity to a local church this church did not want the tavern the bar of the grill to be open in proximity they didn't want the influence of alcohol being sold in their neighborhoods in their communities so they started to pray they were praying individually and then they started to call together corporate prayer Gatherings and they prayed boldly and they prayed fervently until as the building was midway through construction no small storm struck small town Mount Vernon Texas and in the middle of that storm curiously one particular lightning bolt struck the German Bar and Grill Midway in construction it tapped some of the electrical power and burned the thing to the ground oh the church was happy that that lightning struck that building and now liquor would not be sold in proximity to its building they were happy until they got a subpoena in the mail turns out that Mr Drummond the owner of the German Bar and Grill had heard about the church's prayer meeting and Sue the church the church had to show up in court and when they got to court as I read the story The Judge heard the opening arguments to which Mr Drummond's attorney said my client assuming the church saying that their prayers are responsible for lightning striking his facility and burning It to the Ground to which the church's attorney replied my clients say that their prayers have nothing to do with lightning striking this building and burning It to the Ground the the note I read said the judge Riley remarked in his preliminary comments saying I don't know how I'm going to rule in this case but one thing is clear to me The Tavern owner believes in the power of Prayer and the church does not listen to me our problem with powerlessness is our problem of prayerlessness because when you read the record of scripture and you listen to what the choir is saying just before I got up you recognize that scripture is a documented historical witness that prayer works Abraham prayed and he found out that God will give you faith when you ain't got none Jacob prayed and he came to discover that God doesn't just change things but prayer will change people too Moses prayed and the Waters of the Red Sea opened up and the children of Israel walked on dry ground he turned around and prayed again and those same Waters that stood up fell down and swallowed Pharaoh's Army Joshua prayed and the walls of Jericho fell down flat Gideon prayed for clarity and 300 men defeated the midianite Army David prayed for forgiveness and God not only wiped his slate clean but started a dynasty Solomon prayed and the Lord built a house for himself Hezekiah prayed turned his face to the walk and the lord gave him a new lease on life Joe prayed when for his friends when he should have been praying for himself Jeremiah prayed with tears in his eyes Hosea prayed with divorce papers in his hands Daniel Prayed three times a day Jabez prayed one big prayer Nehemiah prayed and artist Xerxes paid for the rebuilding of the laws Paul and Silas prayed in a prison John prayed on an island and Jesus prayed in a garden and if Jesus had to pray I said if Jesus had to pray what makes you think you gonna get through this life fighting that enemy without ever having fallen on your knees and begging God for power come on high prayer word [Applause] I said prayer works let me pause for station identification is there anybody here that's ever tried the Lord I mean is there anybody here that your back has been up against the wall your money couldn't get you out your doctor couldn't get you out but you started praying God a little prayer will turn it knew that a fire was burning didn't God answer I said didn't God answer because he hears and he answers prayer yes he does he does listen to me now prayer the reason many of us don't pray is because we think of Prayer as passive resignation to Life's problematic circumstances we we look at prayer it's just saying things are going to be the way things are going to be oh no but God invites you and I to pray so that God will change the world prayer is not passive resignation prayer is the most potent Revolution available to the church I like the way H.B Charles says it he says prayer is the Slender nerve that moves the omnipotent muscle of God that when you tap in the prayer God's muscle starts to work in the world all you got to do friends I said you got a problem that you don't know how to solve you got a bill that you ain't got enough money to pay you got a child or a grandchild that seems like they can't be one all you got to do is learn to fall on your knees help me God call upon the name of the Lord and God can do I hear my Bible saying now unto him who's able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we could ask or even think I hear my bible say that all power in heaven and on Earth is given into the hands of God he got power that you ain't got ah this text this text tells us that that we got to pray and it is the pastor's job to talk to God on behalf of the people but lastly I want to tell you it's his job to talk to the people to y'all on behalf of God the text says we will devote ourselves prayer and to the ministry of the word the Bible argues that preaching is a Ministry it's a service it is a rendering of one's life to the call of God that the preacher is both a student of the word and a servant of the word at the same time and I like the way the text is written it's a future active indicative verb which means that when they said we will devote they were not talking impossibilities and potential they were talking in the mood of reality they were safe that this is what is actually going to happen we're going to preach this word but it's written in a future aspect of tense which suggests that they got their minds made up before they even get to the time where they're gonna have to do what they saying they gonna do right now it is a person who has predetermined that come hell or high water I'm standing up on Sunday morning to preach that word can I tell you all that thing works I wish I could say it the way that I feel it that thing works sometimes I have come to the pulpit with my mind and my heart burdened down with problems that I could not figure out complex circumstances in my heart and in my mind sometimes I've come to church with enemies sitting in the pews waiting on my demise staring back at me some Sundays I've stood up after Saturday morning meetings where they tried to take my dignity my sense of conviction and my manhood if I let them but by the time I got done preaching the same people who had wind in their jaws had to catch the folks shouting in the aisle because God will do something when you make up your mind to preach preach Jasper preach that word don't let people trivialize your time don't let them make do make you do all of the things that will take away from the essential duties stand up to preach and I say this knowing that you know what I mean many of the people who Listen to You Preach have no idea how hard preaching really is I know some of y'all go no no I know unless you've done this Sunday comes like the light post on the streets as soon as you pass one the next one is coming you you don't really want this birth and people act like sermons fall out of the sky I taught a a master's class last week at Wheaton for a bunch of pastors from around the country on preaching we are working our way through preaching and and they are asking questions how long does it take you to preach how long does it take you to preach and we're working our way through our rhythm of preaching and I started to write down my process I started well you know I translate a text and I'm paying attention to verbs and I'm watching the action from the masoretic text and from the koine Greek I'm trying to diagram according to sentence structure to be sure that I am accurate on what the author originally intended and after I get done with that I'm outlining the passage itself getting ready to get an exegetical outline to turn into a homiletical outline I'm reading the newspaper and The Economist and and I am reading Psychology today I'm calling other pastors to say have you ever preached this can you figure it out I'm praying for the people I'm preaching to assessing where our church is and where we got to go I know that when I get done preaching we got to raise a certain amount of money to be sure that everybody on the church staff get paid and that the ministry keeps going I am sitting down for hours away from my family very often in the middle of the night and early in the morning and I'm polishing a siren then I'm up early on Sunday morning praying before anybody else I'm sure is up and I get up to preach after having done all of that and they got the nerve to sleep foreign but can I say something to y'all I Don't Preach for them no way I preached because when I was in my mama's womb the Lord set me aside and anointed me and called me to preach and one day I'm gonna stand in front of him and I'm gonna hear him say Well done Charlie I saw what you were doing I saw the late nights I saw you scratching your head thank you for being faithful and feeding my people enter into the joy [Applause] the joy of your lord cause I've come to discover I've come to discover that preaching is the engine of the church the church thrives moves Rises on Christian preaching I know what I'm talking about because the Bible says how can they hear without a preacher and how can they preach unless they are sent of God faith comes by hearing and hear it by the word of God the text also tells us not just to preach but what to preach we will devote ourselves here it is to the ministry of the word oh I just want to say now the good news of this sex is we ain't got to make it up yeah no no the kind of preaching that the Bible recommends is the kind of preaching Jesus did explain to them from the scriptures why things gotta go the way they're going all we got to do is stand up from beginning to end and proclaim the truth of God's word from beginning to end tell them that in Genesis he formed the World by the power of his own word tell them that in Exodus he parted the Red Sea and delivered his people without diplomacy Congress or Senate tell them that in Joshua he did he engineered a hostile takeover of the world's most secure City without the help of a pentagon with a bullhorn and a marching band tell them that in first Samuel he rejected the tall and proud King and faithful of the small Ruddy Shepherd boy all to get the stage ready for another young Shepherd who would be born in Bethlehem tell them that in Jeremiah he took a Flight Risk Prophet who was preaching with his resignation papers in his back pocket and warned the Nations to himself tell them that in Isaiah he took a dirty mouth cussing prophet and turned him into a roaring Prophet to the world tell them that in Jonah he saved the whole city with The Reluctant preacher who didn't even want to show up for the Revival tell them that at a crib in Bethlehem he brought a baby into the world without the help of an Earthly father and in eternity without the benefit of a heavenly mother tell them that this is the wisest move of God that Jesus came in through a door that said do not enter and he left from a door that said cannot exit that Jesus has all power in his hands and then tell them that he started a church in acts with the band of Misfits and rejects and that same church that he started in Acts got to Ephesus and to Corinth and to Thessaloniki and to the broader regions of the Empire until it took over Rome and jumped Beyond Rome but before all of that it was in Ethiopia and it worked its way down until it came to these yet to be United States and even right now we're preaching that same gospel that that same church understood because God can do more yes he can with preaching people then he can with money and power we are God's men Jasper called to stand in the gap called to be the living link as it were between the king's message and God's people young technician in New York City Harold Vivian is his name was working in a radio studio in New York when King George V of Great Britain was speaking delivering his message at the disarmament conference the problem happened Harold Vivian is a junior mechanic and and he sees that a cable breaks right when the U.S broadcast is about to start and that more than a million listeners are not going to be able to hear the king's message without thinking twice young Harold Vivian grabbed both ends of those chords and let 250 votes of electricity pass through his body so that the message could move from one cable to the next cable he was the living link that got the king's message to the world when you stand up here ah when you stand up here sometimes it'll feel like that power is moving through you that your own mouth has been taken over by the Holy Spirit and it's all to get the message from the King to his people and all you gotta determine I'm telling you I'm a witness is that you're going to keep on preaching because if you keep preaching the church will keep on going in Acts 7 the Deacon Stephen was preaching they got mad at him and killed him but the church kept on going in Acts 8 a young man who had papers to terrorize the church to persecute the church went to chase preachers out of town and became a preacher himself and the church kept on going in Acts chapter 8 an Ethiopian eunuch heard the gospel from the lips of a transported preacher and the gospel went to Africa before it went to Europe and the church kept on going in Acts chapter 9 the man who in Acts chapter 8 was trying to destroy the church actually starts to plant churches in Acts chapter 16 Schoolhouse Rock learned of Jailhouse Rock straight from Acts chapter 16. because at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and all of a sudden their chains came off and they were loose and the church kept on going if you and I give the best we got in helping the world to see that there is a risen savior in our preaching then the church will keep on going how do I know what I'm talking about I'm glad you asked because this word got power I said this word got power the text says that they gave themselves to the ministry of the word because that word that word got power I'm not just talking about any word I'm talking about that word uh that word which is the word that changed the world y'all ain't with me over here let me finish over on this side I said word got power June of 1940 Winston Churchill stood up and he turned Britain into a fighting Army to push back the Third Reich they were going to lose World War II but he stood up and said we gonna fight if we got to fight on the beaches if we have to fight in the skies if we have to fight in the streets until the rest of our allies from around the world hear God's call and Rally For The Liberation of humankind we gonna fight on and those words turn to struggling nation into a roaring Army that pushed back Hitler and the Third Reich cause words have power oh it was in November of 1863 where a slender president from the state of Illinois stood up in Gettysburg Pennsylvania and stood and said four scoring seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal he said now we are in Grace in a great civil war testing whether that Nation or any Nation so conceived so liberated can so long endure and and he went on to dedicate the ground at Gettysburg and he said the world will not long remember or even note what we have set here but it cannot forget what we have done here Charles Sumner got up to eulogize him two years later and he said Lincoln was wrong the world will long remember that speech because that speech changed the world I'm trying to tell y'all words got power Churchill didn't get you Abraham Lincoln didn't get you maybe that chocolate preacher from Georgia will get you he stood up in August of 1963. at the Lincoln Memorial and he got to talking about this dream that he had that one day little black boys and little white boys little black girls and little white girls would be able to sit together at the table of Brotherhood he started shouting out Let Freedom Ring from the heightening alleghenies of Pennsylvania Let Freedom Ring from the mighty mountains of New York Let Freedom Ring from every village and every Hamlet from every state and every city he said when we Let Freedom Ring we'll be able to speed up that day when all of God's children black men and white men Jews and Gentiles Protestants and Catholics will be able to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual then he put his hand out and said free at last free unless thank God Almighty we are free at last and the next year we got the right to vote because words got power that didn't move you so let me tell you there's one more word that got all the power I'm not talking about Churchill or Martin King I'm not talking about Abraham Lincoln but I'm saying in the beginning what's the word okay I know you're a Bible reading church so let me quote Bible if I can in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said you missed it you missed your shout let me give it to you one more time I said in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth and the Earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said I love it the way Gardner Taylor says it he said that when God said let all that was not started straining to become God said let there be light and one of the best verses in the Bible is right there it says and there was life because God can step out on nothing God can look at nothing but when God gets done talking to nothing something appears everywhere I thought y'all would help me finish my servant I said God can look at nothing [Applause] step out on nothing talk to nothing but when it gets done Something's Gonna appear Let Me Tell My Own Story since y'all want to be sadity on me this is how I made it through college God stepped out on he looked at nothing he spoke to nothing but by the time he got done I walked out of there with a degree because that word got power and then John says in verse 14 that that word became flesh and dwelt Among Us did y'all hear what I just said I said that word became flesh he came from way up there to lay down here he wrapped himself in human flesh and that word showed up one Saturday at a wedding of a poor couple in John chapter 2. they ran out of wine and his mama said you gotta do something about it and he went over and he said pour out the water from the purification pots and that water heard the words voice it blushed and it turned in a wine cause that word got power then one day that word was at the bottom of the boat sleeping when the storm was taking over the boat and the disciple says do you care that we perish and that word stood up he put his finger across his lips and he said shhh and the waves licked his hand and the wind stood Sentinel cause that word got power excuse me all but I'm trying to get it out of my mouth the way I feel it in my heart that word stood up at an outdoor picnic they had run out of food but he took two fish and five loaves of bread and the word blessed it and the word broke it and they fed five thousand men not counting women and children I'm trying to tell y'all in here that that word God power and then they marched the word up to Via De La Rosa they put the word on the cross they put nails in his hands excuse me now but I feel better they put a spear in his side they put a crown of thongs on the words head and he died that day did y'all hear me did you hear me I said he died and they put him in the grave but that's not how the story is because early early [Music] Sunday morning the word got up with all power hands yeah excuse me y'all I don't mean to yell at you but that word changed my life save my soul lifted me up so I tell you how to reach the masses men of every birth for an answer Jesus gave the key he said if I feel lifted up from there I'll try oh man unto me lift him up lift him up still he speaks from eternity saying goodbye be lifted up Ultra little boy little girls I'll try presidents and athletes out draw oh man unto me lift him [Music] [Applause] thank you Hallelujah [Music] understand that song an uneasy conscience for a new pastor I want to tell you something it's more uneasy for them that don't have Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins right now you get a opportunity to make it easy on yourself get to come to know Jesus so you'll understand what this is all about he'll change your life he'll give you a testimony on the inside so you'll understand what Charlie dates is talking about so you'll have a song to sing well right now you're being invited to come to Jesus so it won't be uneasy it'll be easy because Jesus took the burdens for us won't you stand while you're standing you can just think about it all the uneasy things in your life trying to do it all on your own and think about it Jesus Christ wants to Bear your burdens you don't want to try to Bear them on your own you want to have Jesus Christ that link and when you hear the preacher like the gospel being proclaimed that's the opportunity do you hear do you hear them calling you if you hear them calling you make your way down here somebody right now needs the Lord won't you come [Music] he's calling you tomorrow's not promised make it easy on yourself and come to Jesus [Music] amen you may be seated God bless you [Music] somebody praise the Lord tonight well you can do better than that [Applause] haven't we been blessed on tonight [Music] Hallelujah [Music] [Applause] Pastor Charlie dates there's only one [Music] how we thank God for this message and the messenger that has been shared on tonight I wanted to run around this church y'all [Applause] thank you Dr dates and we thank God for the gift that you are to the body of Christ amen I'm so grateful my heart is overjoyed and I contemplated tonight about whether or not I should get up and talk but it's appropriate for me to just say thank you tonight to a few individuals for their presence [Applause] I want to thank God for each of you who've come out tonight but there's a few I want to say a special thank you to hey y'all [Music] [Applause] the mighty p is in the house Mighty Pete let me see you I want you to stand Mighty p ank God for your presence tonight thank y'all so much um now Broadview this is my other family [Music] Mighty P I want you to meet my new family Broadview amen [Music] my earliest memories were at the two churches where I grew up in as my father was pastoring and my life has been made better because of their deposit and their investment in my life everything you see is because of these wonderful people who have encouraged me pushed me corrected me whooped me come on somebody [Music] amen amen I'm thank God for your presence I must say thank you to all of the clergy the pastors and the ministers who are here tonight all pastors would you please stand all pastors Pastor Jimmy Daniels Pastor Tian Hughes thank God for you there may be others tonight amen Pastor LeAndre Hill amen amen forgive me I can't see you but I see you thank you God bless you thank God for you I want to thank my family my family's here tonight my in-laws Edward and Shirley Callahan of Callahan funeral home I want them to stand I want them to see you my Aunt Peggy is here tonight amen thank God for you amen you heard my mother sing tonight I want my mom to stand amen and then my daddy is here tonight thank God for him [Music] amen I will say a little bit more a little bit later but what I do want to just say is thank you to my parents everything that I am it's because of them amen thank God for my wife I want my wife to stand [Music] lady Val [Applause] I am so grateful for my wife she holds me together y'all I'll have a lot more to say on Saturday but I want her to know that I love her and I appreciate her and little Jasper amen thank God for him that's my twin that's my twin I'm gonna let you go tonight we'll have much more to say Broadview we're looking for you on Saturday as we celebrate in a special way I'm gonna ask Pastor dates to come on back give us the blessing of the benediction amen [Music] let's stand up let's stand up everybody I see Deacon Baker over there thank you so much uh Deacon for being here look forward to seeing you all on Saturday look this way may the Lord bless you and keep you I'm sorry I didn't mean for y'all to repeat after me is that something y'all do all right no so just let me do it just put your hand up and let me do it let me bless you may the Lord bless you and keep you may cause his face to shine upon you and to give you peace may he bless you in your labor and in your leisure in your laughter and in your tears when the Sun rises early and when it settles down late may he bless you as you come and as you go until we get to that place where there is no Sunrise or sunset well we'll stand before the feet of him who is the light of the world to him and he alone be all the glory Majesty dominion and power both now and forever let the people of God say together amen [Music] before you move I must say one more thing I I don't normally do this but I want to recognize our third pastor Pastor Marvin Parker [Music] amen he blessed us in such a rich way on Sunday didn't he and Broadway I'm asking that you would pay pray for Pastor Parker and his brother they will be traveling this weekend to Texas to funeralize their nephew so they won't be with us this Saturday but we want to keep them in our prayers him and Sister Parker amen amen thank you we love you Pastor bless you go in peace with the blessings of the Lord

Channel: Broadview Missionary Baptist Church of IL

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Id: syxbMga_ykI

Length: 120min 25sec (7225 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023