Rev Dr Tellis Chapman, "I Just Can't Help It"

posture as preacher pastor and as president of our great convention doing a tremendous work and he knows that it is impossible to do it if he does not have this kind of congregation supporting him so keep your arms around uh your pastor and a lot of wind underneath his wings because leading preachers and pastors is a dangerous thing amen amen we can be something else so bless your heart my son is here our youngest son the other half of the families in california celebrating one of our son's birthdays so he and i are sharing on this journey stand up brandon wherever you are there he is show him some love will you i am telling you all right now i'm training him to be a blue tiger already conditioning him all right and i know we're in bulldog country so let's let's just get that out of the way and clear the air all right [Applause] amen one of our parishioners is here brother brian brunson uh i want him to stand he is the son of uh brother and sister bronson the parishioners of this church show him some love won't you this amen his brother is a successful high school basketball coach but he is one that loves the lord and that's not to say that other individuals who teach and play athletic field are not saved but this is a brother that knows and loves the lord amen i think there are some others here for the green family from mississippi are you here yet maybe they'll come to the next service we thank god for all of them now look at your neighbor and tell them how blessed they are because they sat next to you god bless you today give god some praise will you every head bowed god our father we thank you now for this day and for these blessings that we now enjoy for this privilege of prayer and praise and participation on your agenda we ask that you would receive us now and that that we do in your name in the words of our mouths and meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight grant us your word oh god the essentials to deliver it the capacity to receive it and the ability to make it practical we're already committed to give you the praise therefore this is our prayer we pray in the mighty and marvelous matchless and majestic name of master jesus all the people of god said amen if you have your bibles there's a word in the fourth chapter of the book of acts acts the 4th chapter beginning with the 13th through to the 20th verse we commend those of you who stand to give honor to the reading of god's word the fourth chapter of the book of acts beginning with the 13th verse reads as follows in the new king james version now when they saw the boldness of peter and john and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men they marveled and they realized that they had been with jesus and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them [Music] they could say nothing against it but when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council they conferred among themselves saying what shall we do to these men for indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in jerusalem and we cannot deny it but so that it spreads no further among the people let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name so they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of jesus but peter and john answered and said to them whether it is right in the sight of god to listen to you more than to god you judge for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard turn to a neighbor left to right before you are behind you shake a hand and tell them these words neighbor i've gotten to the point to where i can't help it now give him praise for what he's getting ready to tell you god is to be celebrated god is to be honored god is to be glorified god is to be praised by every entity object or individual that exists because of god's existence in fact the very reason as to why you're on this planet is to glorify god god is to be celebrated for his goodness but more so his godness and it is because of his godness that is good and his goodness bespeaks his godness god is to be praised god is to be celebrated for his unparalleled presence your pastor taught you if you frequented bible class enough that of all the attributes of god one of which is omnipresence god is everywhere and there is nowhere where there is a where where god is not in fact the greeks had what they call a chiratic expression in that god can be where he is on his way to where he's going but by the time he gets to where he's going he's already arrived and by the time he arrives he's still in the same place he was before he left going where he was going and he bumps into himself while he's in transition because there is nowhere where there is or where god is not and yet god can lower the voltage of his being and be somewhere when the zephyr breezes of eden blew upon the guilty anatomies of adam and eve god was there when the waters of wrath plug the pores of the earth for 40 days and nights while the family of god used an ark as a flotation device for preserved preservation of humanity god was there when a hard-headed prophet was on three-day lockdown in a fish's belly god was there when a praying preacher had to face the carnivorous canines and salivating mouths of hungry lions the lord was there when a few men of faith faced a fiery furnace and faith won over the furnace god was there anybody in the house with me this morning god can lower the voltage of his being and though he's everywhere he can be somewhere he's in your seat right now he was in your mirror this morning he protected you from hurt harm and danger it's because the lord was there and some of us have come through rollover accidents and it's not because you were such a great driver that's probably why the car rolled over in the first place you crawled out from underneath an accident without hurt harm or danger not because of your great driving it's because the lord was there some of you put your children through school you were scraping the bottom but you got them a diploma and a degree is because the lord was there they become dignified and decent human beings not because you are a parent with perfect pedagogical practice it's because the lord was there and you don't get to be 131 years old without the lord being there god is to be celebrated for his unparalleled presence and god is to be celebrated for his unmatchable makings the writer john tells us in john 1 in the beginning was the word the word was with god the word was god the same was in the beginning with god and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was me it is god who came from nowhere to nowhere and stood upon nothing and spoke and the very emanations of his vocabulary brother rice accounted for an entire universe leaping into existence it is god that made that that we can perceive and see it is god who took helium and hydrogen and master master together hung it in the heavens accounting for its releasing of good gamma rays and energy to keep warm and otherwise frigid earth and accounts for our being alive right now god did that it is he who put the lunar luster in a changing moon and gave it the propensity to borrow light from the sun and pay it back in a 30-day interval he did that it is god that took angel's sperm and made a seed took a seed and made a flower took a flower and told a man to make perfume from flowers it is god that took silicon and oxygen and made dirt took dirt made dust took dust made a man took a man made a woman took a man and a woman and made every man god did all of that and my god look at what the lord has made out of you you didn't feel me did you if the person next to you really understood your historical context they will start shouting for you because the lord not only makes things he makes great things out of you and beloved for all that we should be celebrating god for your celebration is never authentic until your celebration gets to the point to where you can't help it [Applause] until it becomes spontaneous and irrepressible until it becomes an unquenchable fire that burns within your bosom you are just a person that goes through a ritual without religion you're a person that has presence with no passion and i believe that there are some people in this room today they are here because they are at a level to where they just can't help it you've got to get to um a disposition like that of percy sledge don't sit here and try to play holy on me i'll call your name and tell everybody how we used to hang out [Applause] [Laughter] you do remember christmas sled said when a man loves a [Applause] he can't keep his mind on nothing else he'll give up a whole world for the good thing he's got talk to me somebody and in essence a man or a woman a husband or a wife don't really love each other until they get to the point to where they can't help it and may i add and theologize with the lyrical expression of a rhythm and blues singer and tell you that you really don't love your church until you get to the point to where you can't help it you you really don't love ministry you really don't love your pastor until you get to the point to where you just can't help it it's at a point to where you say i know i'll not go back [Applause] and you even say i ain't going back [Applause] and before you know anything you find your feet under the pew and rendering ministry anyhow [Applause] and that's the level that peter and john found themselves upon who after having by way of the holy spirit healed a man that was laid at one of the entrances of the temple in jerusalem and who therefore were called into question by the jewish council in jerusalem and inquired there from as of how they did what they did when they did what they did [Applause] and for the response they gave they were threatened to dispense with their devotion and forfeit their faithfulness and quit their commitment to christ and said don't you ever do it again and what did they say that fall [Applause] peter and john responded do what you got to do say what you got to say treat us however you will brother marty but we're at a point now to where we just can't help it i hope peter and john are sitting in the house today and if you're not peter and john you're their sister somebody in this house before you leave here i hope you leave here saying i've reached the level to where i just came [Applause] [Music] the text offers some helpful holy hints and specifics and as to why people like peter and john can't help it can i try to tell you you reach this level when you know that the lord has overlooked your vice come on i know i know you had everybody in the house fooled for a minute and i know that you know that they know by now that you have been saved you are sanctified you're filled with the holy ghost you've already been to the water you've already been baptized your soul has been converted and you're feeling all right you've been blood bought blood washed blood cleansed and you are heaven bound feet have been set on the glory roll you carry a big bible under your arms and a big cross around your neck you love the lord with all of your heart your mind your soul and your strength he has ordered your steps in his word but guess what even people like you and me have vice well let me make it personal uh maybe maybe you have never situated your hips on a dance floor while the blue lights were flashing and the dj was playing your favorite tune but i can't say that [Applause] maybe you've never modified your mood through your nasal passage or salt satisfaction in a syringe like the junkie on the corner but everybody else can't say that maybe you've never exercised some vulgar and vicious and venomous and vowel vocabulary while giving someone else a little piece of your mind and probably that's why you don't have much left maybe maybe everybody else hasn't done it but some people in the house can't say that [Applause] but we can celebrate [Applause] at a level of where we can't help it because we serve a god that look beyond talk to me somebody if you can't all of our faults and saw our need low down and dirty ditch digger finger pointer fault fine astray gay hippie harlem hoola would not matter whatever it was crack king of the corner do rag regime sagging bridgette boy loretta lady whatever you want to call it he looked beyond oh [Applause] you got to know who this is that's facing the council this is peter and john but this is post pentecost peter and john this is not pre-pentecost peter and john because pre-pentecost peter was a knife toten ear cutting going after your throat with a knife hot tempered quit talking cussing peter [Applause] this is this was not pre pentecost john this was not your timid tacit and touching falling from a distance john was post pentecost peter and john and all of us in the room if you say each of us has a pre-pentecostal experience you haven't been up in first baptist all of your life you haven't been in the church all of your life and if you have the church hasn't been in you all of your life [Applause] [Music] post-pentecostal experience presents one as being extremely vocal do i have a witness [Applause] in other words you're just you know when i grew up i didn't understand what they meant then and the old wood floor church warmed out carpet on the floor and cushioned on the pew and chandeliers from the ceiling and faceted and stained glass windows and powerful pa systems and pastors with um an elaborate and extensive education [Music] they they used to say something like i said i wasn't going help me preach tell nobody but i couldn't keep it [Applause] i'm gonna have to skip some of this i said i wasn't gonna tell nobody i said i wasn't gonna run for jesus i said i wasn't gonna wave my hand i said i wasn't gonna shout for joy but i couldn't keep it too hot i can't handle it too much i got to say something that's why psalm 107 verses one and two said let the redeemed of the lord say so if he's been good to your says so if he's made a way for yourself so if he's picked you up says so and he's dusted you off say so he built you god for you not to say so if i had time i'd tell you the pentecostal experience would make you visible [Applause] time will fail me to go there because really the text opens by saying when they saw the boldness this is going to bless you when they saw the boldness the word bleppo in the greek literally means to be a spectator and those who observe the wonderful workings of jesus christ upon the life and through the head hearts and hands of the faithful followers of jesus particularly peter and john had no choice but to stand [Applause] because they were doing things that untrained people weren't supposed to be able to do [Applause] are you listening to me see you know you've been favored by god dr lindsey when he has your haters talking people that bit that's been trying to stop you forever people that's been trying to cut your path off people that said first baptist never would amount to anything now has to stand on the sideline and say my god look at that church when god has your haters bragging on you [Applause] it's because you keep showing up when you aren't supposed to i've got to skip some of this i just know he looked beyond all of my faults you want to know why people like this can't help it it's because the lord altered our vision when they were called into question peter and john said here is why we're acting this way we have heard some stuff and then we saw some stuff [Applause] when we heard it brother stalwart it it intrigued our curiosity it aroused our curiosity but when we saw it we were shifted from curiosity to confirmation come on see see see when we were children we heard my mama sing about jesus [Applause] i heard my daddy preach about jesus but when i stepped out on my own what i heard i begin to see talk to me somebody if you can and i really wasn't paying too much attention to what mama was singing and what my father was preaching because at that time somebody else was paying my bills somebody else was keeping a roof over my head somebody else kept water and food in my belly somebody else kept clothes on my back but when i stepped out on the other side of my parents sidewalk and life had to bump me about and bruise me severely i found out that what mama was singing about she wasn't singing for nothing and what i saw the lord do in my own life it moved me from curiosity to confirmation i don't have to hear about what the lord can do anymore i've seen him do it for myself i don't have to hear about it being a healer i've seen it for myself i don't have to hear it about the lord make it away i've seen him do it for myself and i believe i'm talking to some people today you no longer have any curiosity you're not a skeptic you don't doubt it anymore you know what the lord can do because you've seen him work in a courtroom you've seen him work in a doctor's office you've seen him work on your job you've seen him work at your school can't you see what he does

Channel: First Missionary Baptist Church, Huntsville, AL

Views: 37,202

Rating: 4.7769232 out of 5

Keywords: FMBC, First Missionary Baptist Church Huntsville

Id: KoeUpb7e5og

Length: 30min 4sec (1804 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2020