Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks Jr., - Morehouse Baccalaureate 1997

our speaker today is a man of many talents a scholar and author and entrepreneur a civic leader a family man a minister this native of Baton Rouge Louisiana graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and received a Rockefeller Protestant fellowship to Colgate Rochester Divinity School subsequently he was selected as one of the original Martin Luther King fellows and earned his Doctor of Ministry and theology degree from Colgate in 1975 in 1994 he received the coveted Merrill fellowship for postgraduate study at the Harvard Divinity School his doctoral dissertation images of the black preacher the man nobody knows was published by Judson press since then his work has appeared widely in religious publications his two most recent volumes are preaching through a storm and correspondence with a from Tarsus his president of curcumin Associates incorporated a church management consulting firm and also president of the Martin Luther King fellows and cooperated among his many civic involvement he serves as a member of the board of directors of the Washington DC orbán League and chairman of the religious Committee of the College Fund UNCF he has served as senior minister of congregations and mumford New York Pittsburgh and Houston since 1975 he has served as the fifth minister in the 132 year history of the Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington DC in 1993 everyday magazine designated him as one of America's 15 greatest african-american preachers he is married to the former it is about Harrison of Selma Alabama they are parents of HB chat the third the Revan Ivan Douglass and Kristin Elizabeth Hicks ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming the Reverend dr. H Beecher hips junior senior minister Metropolitan Baptist Church of Washington DC questioner Davis the most part the distinguished faculty honored parents guardians and friends to the incredible man of the class of 1997 we read you today in the name of the Lord Christ it is a name that is above every name and one day at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord I thank you dr. Massey for your very fine introduction your very generous introduction I'm delighted today that my father is here to hear that introduction my father is here and I want him to stand up a man that's my father I wish my mother were here and to hear that introduction my father heard it and he enjoyed it if my mother were here she would have believed it how do you take note of the fact that this communion table that it sits before us today is a communion table which some years ago we brought to this chapel in honor of my mother and I'm pleased for this privilege to stand and represent all of the members of our family were here today including my nephew Damien Cox was a member of this class as we come to acknowledge her gift of life to each of us this is a day when prayers have been answered that brings me to mind of a man who had a parakeet that he taught how to speak the only problem was the parakeet was unruly and ill-mannered in fact every time someone came to visit the man's house parakeet would always greet the guest by saying let's make love was embarrassing all kinds of people come to the house and here's the parakeet saying let's make love there was a preacher down the street who also had a parakeet whom he had taught to speak and of course the preacher's parakeet was well mannered always spoken as he should and whenever anyone came to the preachers house he would always say let's pray let's pray so finally the man with the ill-mannered parakeet decided that he knew exactly what to do he would wrap up his parakeet take him down to the preachers house and no doubt the bridge's parakeet with good manners would rub off on his parakeet he would learn something else to say and he could move forward he gathered up his parakeet wrapped him up took him down to the preachers house got him inside uncovered the cage sure enough he piped up and said let's make love at which point the preacher's parakeet said turn out the lights my prayers been answered I say again this is a day of answered prayer I call your attention for the next few moments that we shall share together to the first book of Samuel sixteenth chapter and the tenth of the thirteenth verses and this is what it says again Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel Samuel said unto Jesse the LORD hath not chosen these Samuel said unto Jesse our here all thy children and he said there remaineth yet the youngest and behold he keepeth the Sheep samuel said unto Jesse sand and fethiye for we will not sit down till he come hither and he said and brought him in now he was ready and with all of a beautiful countenance and good layer to look to and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he then Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward in the seventeenth chapter in the twentieth verse we will find these words and David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with Akiba what's up today on a strange path to power strange paths to power within the crucible of the sacred writings we know as the Old Testament there is no personality who dominates the landscape more forcefully than does a young man named David the marahau one Museum he is with a life marked by tragedy and by triumph by dignity and disgraced by pain as well as by passion so important was this david that israel's history and his history would be forever intertwined and intermixed scour the record books of history and in david you will find both warrior and womanizer eloquent poet and exquisite musician it's treacherous friend and a passionate love our spiritual dancer a leader of praise a tender of sheep a sinner for whom there was no peer whom the ages will affirm even still that he was a man after God's own heart still it is patently true that within the crucible of sacred writings we know as the Old Testament there is no personality who dominates the landscape more forcefully than does this young lad named David the book of Samuel years as you know the record of the prophetic work of Israel's last judge it is a book of great beginnings and tragic endings Samuels writing marks those days in Israel's life when the nation would move from theocracy where God ruled to monarchy where man ruled more importantly however the book of Samuel is the revealed record which shares much of the life of this sweet singer of Israel and yet it speaks not only to David's time but more important there it speaks of what I have come to call a strange path to power as if perhaps you do not understand the circumstances of this text I need only remind you that Saul was King in Israel Saul however because of jealousy superstition and an ego that was out of control they had fallen out of favor with God at the time of our text then God has determined to choose for Israel a king from among the eight sons of Jesse of Bethlehem acts from the moment that Samuel shows up on the doorstep of Jesse there ensues a long and tedious process of determining who among Jesse's sons will be invested with the royal power of office and will be the anointed king in Israel one Bob one of sons of Jesse stand before Samuel the first Eliab here in the been adapt in Shama and all the rest there they were strong young virile men there they were standing no doubt with the impressive recipes or curriculum vitae in their hands there they were groomed and dressed for success with degrees tightly clutched in their hands they cast an imposing shadow dressed in the gowns of their academic achievement and no doubt Samuel and his retinue were impressed with what they saw samuel was impressed with what he saw in Jesse's house but this book says that every time Samuel thought that he had the next king God said no Samuel what you're seeing is something that's external but what I'm looking for is something that's in turn I'm not worried about what he's got on him I'm worried about what has got in him no Samuel man looketh on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart it is it is from the field and from the sheaf all that the last of Jesse's sons is to come he's the youngest boy the runt of the litter he's the one that's still wet behind the ears he's the one that the scripture says has a ruddy complexion and a handsome appearance he's the one that nobody pays much attention to because he spends all of his time tending sheep and playing harps but when samuel season there's no doubt at his mind that this is the one this is the one upon who solders the mantle of leadership shall rest this is the one who shall lead his people in war and in peace this is the one in whose hand shall be given the scepter of human power and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he the scripture says the David was anointed blessed set aside set apart consecrated David was anointed to be the King in Israel make no mistake about in the sixteenth chapter of the first book of Samuel it says that David was anointed to be king in Israel that's what it says in the 16th chapter and and the 31st Samuel took the Horn of oil in the presence of his brethren and anointed David to be king however that's not the end of the story in the 17th chapter of the same book it says that David was back in the field tending sheep in the 17th chapter and the 20th verse David leaves his sheep early in the morning maybe you didn't understand in the sixteenth chapter God said David is supposed to be king in the sixteenth chapter David is anointed king but in the seventeenth chapter David is still tending sheep there's something wrong with this piece if I understand this moment in the life of David correctly he who was taken from the pasture was anointed to be king and was then sent back to the past one minute he's on his way to kingship but the next minute he's on his way back to Shepherd ship I don't understand it does not appear to be in the character of God to perform such cosmic sleight of hand looks like it's unfair I'll show you I don't mean to you interrogate God but I do have a question why why would God give David the idea that the kingdom was here why would god bless David's life with the anointment of oil why would God pick him up and hold him up as the one in whom he would place authority and power only to send him back to the pasture where he came from now I cannot be certain but it appears that this text suggests that in between where you are and where you want to be there is always some pasture time it looks like in between the time you get your degree and the time when you arrive at the position to which you are destined there is some pasture time you see whether you realize it or not there is a difference between the time when you get your anointment and the time you get your appointments I realize I realize I realize I'm about to miss up here I realized that I that somebody is supposed to tell you that you've got it me somebody's supposed to tell you that you have a ride at the place to which you know you are entitled and I really don't mean to speak a disappointing word here but after you walk across the platform and before you get the promotion you've been looking for you I might as well be honest with you you've got some pasture time may I take the time to tell you that it's in the past your time the God does God's best work God intended to make Noah the head of his reconstruction project God intended to give no a charge over the recreation of the universe but before he could do that Noah had to spend some time as they have superintendent cleaning out the bottom of a floating zoo that's past your time God intended for Joseph to be the Secretary of Agriculture he intended for him to be in charge of the economy in the administration of the Egyptian pharaoh God intended for Joseph to be in charge of food stamps when the famine broke out in Israel but before Joseph could get to his intended assignment God sent him to a pit God sent him to a prison just in order to get him ready to go to the palace and that's past your time God intended for Moses to be the Liberator of his people God intended for Moses to be the mouthpiece of the eternal God intended to use Pharaoh to tell him let my people go but before God could use him the way he intended to use him he had to send him to the backside of Mount Sinai he had to send him to the place where Bush's catch on fire but do not burn up God had to send him to a place where Moses could hide in the cleft of a rock only to see the back parts of God with his glory pass by God had to put him on sabbatical leave before he could find any use for him and that my brother's is past your time past your time is when God gets your attention past Shaitan is the time when God can talk to you and you can talk to God past your time is the time when God teaches lessons that only God can teach past your time is the time when God can build up your courage to face Giants past your time is the time when God gives instructions on how to walk through the valley and the shadow of death past your time is the time when God gives tutorials on self-defense and you can hear and say that no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper don't mishap on your pasture time past your time is the time when God can teach you your tears and tell you that weeping endures for the night but your we'll come in the morning I don't mean to be offensive I do know where I am that is the reason why David needed to go back to the pasture David needed to go back to the pasture because David needed time to deal with Davey now listen every Sunday school child knows that across the panoramic screen of David's life there were certain obstacles and challenges which he would face lions bears Giants Bathsheba Uriah Nathan and all the rest and the point of it all however was that David sternest test would not be external it would be internal David Stern his test would be David the African proverb suggests if I can successfully negotiate the enemy within me then the enemy without can do me no harm when David was anointed David was a boy that has some growing up to do David was a boy and boys don't do well as kings David was a boy who still needed a maturation process David was a boy who still had to overcome his puberty his adolescence his idealistic view of the world around him and who needed to learn some lessons in the school of hard knocks David wanted power dated David had every right to seize power the prophet of God had poured oil on his head symbolic of power David was anointed by God to have power and yet God would not send a boy to do a man's job God knew that David had some growing up to do God sent him on a long journey a circuitous route God set him on a strange path to power now I've been scouring this text and searching for the implications in it and maybe what is it work here is that sometimes in pursuit of power one is required to follow God when can't see him do not forget as you read this test that David never questioned his pastor time David never raised an objection to be placed again in the lowly status of sheet tender understand now that David had been anointed king turned around and went back to the pasture and the exhausted God to take him to the place it was intended to be at the time God intended for him to be there I realized that what I'm saying here today is strange because scientists above us would not understand him and philosophers would not accept it and even intellectual religionists among us would want to argue about it but I thought I ought to tell you that sometimes you have to follow God when you don't know where God is going and while I'm on my way while I'm on my way let me assume that whatever God has designed for your life nobody can take it from you whatever is intended for you in the perfect will of God cannot be stripped from you whatever blessing God has prepared for you from the foundation of the world is yours nobody can steal your blessing but you gotta trust God to bless you the way God wants you to be blessed if you don't know what lies ahead it's alright God knows if you don't know about your career path that's alright God knows if you don't know whether that doors gonna open that's alright god knows if you don't know about your scholarship or your fellowship or your job opportunity that's alright god knows if you don't know what tomorrow holds that's alright I know who holds tomorrow and you need to stop and think about all the things you didn't know and you still got here stop and think about all the questions that you didn't have answers for and they still had a cap and gown for you in this line just stop and say about the tuition you didn't have don't act like that shall make me appreciate here don't do that don't do that I don't know what else you learned at the house but by now you should have learned it you can't make it by yourself you cannot make it on your intelligence alone you cannot make it because of the fraternity to which you belong or the circle of friends in which you walk and you will not make it because of a piece of paper that hangs on your wall you will come to the time in your life when you gotta trust God there come a time in your life when you've got to stop looking for a reason and start looking for a relationship you got it's a scar when you don't even know if God can be trusted you've got to rely on God when you don't even know if God is reliable sometimes when you cannot see your way you've got to trust the one who is the way sometimes in your life it will come when you got to give up on your theories and forget your hypothesis and slash your philosophical constructs and hang up on the psychic friends hotline now this if you wonder what it is I'm saying today let me be clear David's strange path to power took him back to the pasture required that he trust God when he could not see where God was going but even more importantly it was required that he never forget his brothers David you will recall was given the responsibility about Jesse of taking food to his brothers during the time of their battle perhaps just perhaps the implication of this time in David's life is that no matter how high you rise never forgets your brother this is not easy to get high and mighty when good times come it'll be easy to think you can make it by yourself when you got a letter strung out behind your name it gets mighty easy to think the Sun can't shine without your permission but don't forget your brothers turn to your right and look at your brother turn to your left and look at your brother don't forget your brother there's somebody else that has your ethnic strength there's somebody else that's been climbing up the same side of the mountain that you've been climbing up there's somebody else they've been with you in all of these classes all of these years don't forget your brother there's somebody else on the same side of the tracks when you reach pinnacle of the success when you find yourself living large don't forget that you can't make it by yourself so don't forget your brother and while I'm at it don't forget the sisters either I know you're on your way to a position of power and authority I know you're on your way up the corporate ladder I know tomorrow you'll be an entrepreneur you'll be a surgeon you'll be an economist but don't forget the sisters don't forget the one who made the bridge that brought you across don't forget the women that worked when daddy could not be found don't forget the women that paid your tuition because they don't forget the sisters maybe maybe you missed the point I keep on five things that David was anointed king in chapter 16 but it was that tipping she said this is not just to be able trust God when we don't know where God is going even that we had an obligation never to forget their brother in order to get ready for the giant another shouldn't like David I I'm a little redundant but you get the point after a while like David I know you're going somewhere after all this time and all this effort you better be going somewhere but if you thought that these four years or five years whatever if you fall to these years in college but just designed so that you can have a sweet ride you misunderstood the purpose of your matriculation the only reason why it was necessary for you to be here in the first place is because the giant is real there is a whole nation your brothers and sisters your mothers and fathers who are counting on you to deal with the job the Giant is real Paul said we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against spiritual wickedness in high places against the rulers of the darkness of this world the child is real Paul said the rod scientist or real that you need to put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand but I'm gonna tell you that giant is real chemical addiction is real inadequate education is real economic repression is real mismanaged healthcare is real there are more black men in prison there they are in college and that's real government set-asides have been set aside and that's real affirmative action is dead and buried and that's real scholarships have been set back to the mental handouts have tried and that's real racism is real nobody is passing operation checks of guilt and repentance just because of the color of your skin that I brought this to your attention because I'm led to tell you that I do not believe that Goliath was an anomaly I believe that in the army of Philistia Goliath was just the first giant and David's job was not to take out all the Giants David's job was just to take out his job but if I leave one word of challenge to you strong black men today it is simply this find yourself a giant and I wish I could preach in wherever you sign a giant Bell presses our people take it out wherever you find the Shire that makes our children despise their history and fail for their future you find a giant that attacks the bloodline of our culture and makes us gasp the reminders of the people that God intended for us to take it out I believe I see it now I believe I see why why it is that David had to take this strange path to power in fact it's really quite clear if I read the text properly it it suggests that no matter where David Wong's David always understood that he was destined to be the king stand david up in the middle of a stinking sheep pasture but david knew that he was destined to be the king put David in an unflattering light put David in a place of compromise and low estate it did not matter because David knew he was destined to be kid Saul was still seated on the throne didn't bother baby he knew he was destined to be the king that's what I can tell you today in the midst of your pasture time when it appears that you are not where you are intended to be when it appear that you are at an unproductive dead Ian glass ceiling corporate cutback industrial downsizing company layoffs no money situation don't you ever forget that you are destined to be king just remember that you are destined to be came when others tell you that your concepts or rash and that your ideas are idiotic just remember you are destined to be the king when the world tells you what you can do and what you cannot do just remember you're destined to be the king who you are and where you are and what you are to become is no accident the very fact that you are on this soil and in this means that you were never intended to be average you were never intended to be ordinary you are never intended to the pedestrian or commonplace you test to be I don't care what you say one of these days you will realize that Donald Trump has just been countin your change Bill Gates has just been keeping your seat warm Bill Clinton is gonna have to move over further and Walter NASA can only be president until you get that because you are destined to be king well don't you try I am bound by the rules of reason that this discourse must reach a logical and defensible conclusion there is no question in my mind that the path to power comes as a consequence of pasture time the path to power requires that you follow God when you cannot see him the path to plow requires that you never forget your brothers or your sisters the path to power requires that you prepare yourself to meet and defeat the channel all of this however is not enough to gain the power that you need but this is what the text says then Samuel took the Horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward the spirit of the law that's the path the spirit of the law whatever you're going to do what you need is the spirit of the law whatever you're going to be you're going to find out that you'll need the spirit of the law whether you're in the pasture or in the palace you'll need the spirit of the law whether you're in Moor house or in the White House you'll need the spirit of the law can I have one minute to preach in here when the spirit comes upon you something strange will happen when the Spirit comes upon you like when the spirit comes I said when the spirit comes waits on the Lord and be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I see upon the Lord that's a strange path to power I'm done what you told me to do when I arrived that morning when I arrived come on now the brightest

Channel: Inspiration Station

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Keywords: h beecher hicks jr, metropolitan baptist church md, metropolitan h beecher hicks, morehouse, baccalaureate sermon

Id: IVjACsHb7Qs

Length: 51min 22sec (3082 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 24 2020