Rev. Terry K. Anderson - A Man Sent From God (Message For Pastoral Anniversary)

open your bibles with me to first kings chapter number 17. first kings that's chapter 17 verse number one and elijah the tishbite who was of the inhabitants of gilead said unto ahab as the lord god of israel liveth before whom i stand there shall not be do nor rain these years but according to my word thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our god shall stand forever i want to talk tonight about a man sent from god a man sent from god when you read the bible the bible is filled with accounts of men that seem larger than life men like moses men like david men like paul and and others who seem to be characters that are far above the realm of our ordinary existence so much so that when we read their lives or read their life story we feel woefully inadequate who can measure up to moses who is like king david there's nobody living who was as austere as the apostle paul no one could stand in isaiah's shoes when we read their lives we feel small and inadequate because our experiences do not measure up to the larger than life picture of them painted in the scriptures but all of these people that i just mentioned were just that people the man in our text tonight is no different from any other man but james chapter 5 and verse 17 says he was a man's subject to like passions as we are through the life of elijah we see that god can take a nobody and make them a somebody let's let's look in verse number one let's let's zoom the camera in and put verse one under the microscope and see like elijah we have tonight as the shepherd of the gethsemane church a man sent from god [Applause] elijah brothers and sisters was just a common man verse one tells us that he was a tishbite from the region of gilead and the word gilead or the name gilead means wrong or rugged this tells us that that elijah was from the backwoods of gilead his ministry his his his methods his his mannerisms his message saw all of them prove from the text that he was rough and rugged kind of like the pastor of gethsemane church rough and rugged from the backwoods of gilead the backwoods of shreveport rough and rooky [Applause] elijah was a man of fiery [Applause] fiery temple he was prone to bouts of depression and loneliness because when you are called of god to do a specific thing it's a lonely life you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone you're locked in a room with the doors wide open you are in a place where there are lots of people but because there's a calling on your life that's different from anybody else's life it leads to loneliness brothers and sisters don't don't don't think that because you're a christian you don't get depressed don't think that because you're god's child you don't have bouts of depression because when god calls you that calling way so heavily on your life that sometimes it causes you deep dark moments of depression am i really cold how dare i claim to have god's word on my lips who am i that god would call me out of nowhere and place me at lily grove church who is dennis jones of all the people in the world that god could have called to place as the pastor of this church who are you man who claims to have the word of god on your but lips and sisters the emphasis here is that the lord is not looking for spiritual giants he doesn't need the rich he doesn't need the educated he doesn't need the intelligent he doesn't need the beautiful he doesn't need the movers or the shakers of this world all god needs is somebody who wants to be you god chooses to work through the lives of men and women who will yield themselves to him in all their commonality [Applause] elijah was just a common man you would not pick him out of a crowd he did not stand head and shoulders above the crowd as did king saul he was not a sweet singer like king david he was not an academic like paul he was not a leader like moses you would not pick him out of a lineup he's just a common man as a matter of fact you don't even hear his name until chapter 17 and verse number one he just shows up on the scene elijah the tishbite from gilead a nobody a rugged rough country backwards preacher that just shows up on the scene to demonstrate that god can pick anybody god can use whomever he chooses to use all you have to do is put yourself in the way [Applause] don't don't look down your nose at that man begging on the street corner don't look down your nose at that girl dancing on the pole god can clean them up and stand them up and get similar church sunday morning or lily groves from church sunday morning and run rings around us praying and preaching and singing because if you don't do it god will find some common man i wish i had a witness here god will pull somebody off the streets sanctify and forgive them stand them up in your place because god never leaves himself without a witness i need to tell somebody here who think that if you don't do it it's not going to get done that you you're you ought to watch the astros play sometimes and uh when the pitcher is on the mound and he's not doing so well the manager comes out to the mound and has a word with it and he lets him stay in another inning or so and then he's back on the mound and and he's throwing balls instead of strikes and then he suddenly hears the sound of a ball hitting a glove because there is another pitcher in the bullpen warming up getting ready to do what he is now doing and if you think it's not gonna get done you think you don't show up in the choir they're not gonna sing or you don't show up in the mission and they're not gonna teach the lesson god never leaves himself without a witness because soon as you go god has somebody else to take your place when adam goes abel comes when abel goes abraham comes when abraham goes isaac comes as it goes jacob comes jacob goes moses comes moses goes joshua comes joshua goes elijah comes elijah goes david comes david goes solomon comes solomon goes isaiah comes isaiah goes jeremiah comes jeremiah goes ezekiel comes ezekiel goes daniel comes daniel goes hosea comes hosea goes zephaniah comes zephaniah goes zechariah comes zachariah goes malachi comes malachi goes john the baptist comes john the baptist goes jesus comes jesus goes paul comes paul goes haywood wiggins comes here with wiggins goals dennis jones comes and when dennis jones goes god will have somebody else standing up getting ready to do what dennis is now doing because god never needs himself [Applause] without a witness [Music] god uses ordinary people plain old ordinary people people who will do what he commands people who will obey his word people who may not look like much to you but god sees something in them that you don't see in them and god stands up just plain ordinary common backwoods people to do his will he was a common man but secondly he was a courageous man he was courageous because he defied a foolish ruler elijah comes from nowhere he's a nobody from nowhere and he has the temerity to go into the palace of king herod and say to him as the lord lives that will be neither do not reign until i give the word the nerve of him the goal of this common backwoods backwards preaching to stand up in the palace of king ahab and say to the king as the lord lives now king ahab if you read the bible you will know that king ahab was a wicked king he was a hen picked ruler because this woman jezebel [Applause] was the real power behind the throne jezebel was the daughter of the king of zydon and she brought to the lord's people the worship of the false god baal she brought with her 450 prophets of baal and baal worship is now instituted rather than the worship of god in direct contradistinction to god's command to israel but king ahab who could not stand up to jezebel brings baal worship to the people of god a weak man a weak man a weak man a weak man i can't stand a weak man [Applause] sister when you go shopping for a husband don't don't don't get a week man i wish i had somebody to help me preach i i don't i don't i don't want to i don't want to get too far into that because this is not my place and i don't want to i don't want to preach like i do at lilly grove but but but but there are brothers who come to church and want to run something and don't run nothing at their house well i take that back they they run the vacuum cleaner they run the washing machine they run the dishwasher then they want to come to church and run something but god has a strong man in this pulpit and listen strong men are not intimidated by a strong man only strong men can follow a strong man this man has so much courage that he stands before king ahab in his palace and says to him as the lord lives that will be neither do nor rain until i give the world he is defying this foolish ruler and he is also defying a false religion baal the god baal the the pagan god baal was the god of fertility and he was symbolized by thunder and rain baal worship had been instituted in israel and in the institution of this worship of baal there were temple prostitutes priestesses and priests uh in baal worship and uh they had sexual orgies in the temple of baal and if there was a drought in the land in order to appease baal they would sacrifice their own children sex origins with priests and priestesses and baal being the god of fertility to appease him symbolized by thunder and rain they would gyrate and dance and have sexual intercourse in the temple in order to get bale's attention because of the drought and then baal they thought made it rain but elijah comes in the king's palace and says to him in front of jezebel it's not going to rain not even do on the ground until i give the word it takes courage to do that i said it takes courage to do that and if you're going to be a man that god uses you're going to have to have courage the bible says be not afraid of their faces you have to have courage to tell the truth i was listening and i'm gonna have to deal with it because it's a it's a it's a it's an issue now and uh the country is making it an issue now um this this this mayor pete booty judge the mayor of south bend indiana is running for president of the united states and he is an avowed homosexual he is married to a man and he says his religion his god does not judge him and if anybody has a problem with that then they need to take it up with his creator because god made him who he is and and the tv commentators and the political people are have fallen in love with pete buddha judge because they're saying that uh don't never mind what his sexual orientation is he is a strong candidate for president as a matter of fact he's climbing in the polls he is second after joe biden and bernie sanders he has outlasted and outraged all of these other political candidates because they are in love with his intellect and and his background he went to harvard he went to uh he's a rhodes scholar and he went to the military and he's married to a man and they're going on and on about how smart he is and he's conversant on all of the issues and he's able to articulate his position better than anybody else but like naaman he's a leper [Applause] and people in the church i'm talking about christians see nothing wrong with that because we have lowered the standard talk back to me if you can anything goes doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is it doesn't matter who you love yes it does matter who you love it does matter what your sexual orientation is god made them male and female and it takes courage to speak out against that listen to me if christianity is true and i believe it is it is true whether nobody believes it and if christianity is false it's false if everybody believes it it does not rise or fall on whether or not i believe it it's the word of god settled in heaven and if the church does not have the courage to speak out against sin then we've lost our identity [Applause] these these people on the right these these evangelicals donald trump's election has has shown them for the hypocrites that they really are because they were talking about franklin graham the son of billy graham they were talking about him today and he was saying that pete booty judge needs to repent for being gay and that's true but franklin graham is not the messenger because franklin graham excused trump being married three times having three baby mamas and having sex with a porn star and when confronted with that franklin graham said well we didn't elect him to be the pastor we elected him to be the president well you can't see immorality on one hand and call it morality i wish i had somebody to help me you got to be consistent in your argument because the truth is the truth whether or not it's trump or pete buddha judge or terry anderson or dennis jones or anybody else in this audience and if you don't have the courage of your convictions you'll never be able to be used by god hey man god is calling for men and women of courage to stand up when you see wrong and call it just what it is [Applause] elijah was a common man he was a courageous man but as a hurry he was also a committed man the name elijah means god is jehovah he had a personal relationship with god so much so that his name means my god is jehovah brothers and sisters until you know him you can't say it [Applause] i don't care how pretty your voice is until you know him you can't sleep i don't care how deep your rhetoric is until you know him you can't say it i don't care how smart you are until you know him you can't say but how can you serve somebody you don't know and brothers and sisters i think lilly grove and gethsemane we have the same testimony we got enough members we need some disciples we need some people who know god in a personal relationship i wish i had a witness here tonight we need some people teaching sunday school who knows god people who sing in the choir who knows god it's not enough to be in usher you got to be a christian it's not enough to be a deacon you have to be a christian it's not enough to serve in church you have to be born again [Applause] this elijah was totally dependent on god because they even come in the king's presence without being announced with certain deaths to come in the king's presence without him raising his scepter to invite you to come near with certain deaths but elijah just comes out of nowhere walks in the king's palace and says to him as the lord lives that will be neither do nor rain until i give the word now his life could have been taken in that instant but he was so committed to god that he knew god had given him the word it was not elijah's word it was god's word and when you know you are preaching god's word you don't have to worry about what the people can do to you because if the people call you the people can stop you [Applause] but if god calls you they may not like you but they'll have to respect you they may not love you but they will have to respect you because if you are god called god will stand up in you [Applause] when you're committed you serve god when you don't feel like it [Applause] when you are committed you give god's word even if it costs you something [Applause] dietrich bonhoeffer in his book the cost of discipleship says that when christ calls a man he bids him to come and die paul says i die daily i die to my desires i die to myself i die to my wishes i die to what i want to do my life is totally committed to god i have spent my whole life as far as i can remember i've been in the church i started pastoring at 20 years old preaching at 18. i never had a young adult life i've been in church all my life serving god ever since i can remember before i was pastor before i was preaching i was playing the music at our church i was a musician when i was in school at bishop college uh ralph and freddie clark and then would wait for me on sunday evening because i played music at the new hope baptist church in innis texas and i would come back to the campus with 35 dollars a week and i was a baller with 35 a week i was the highest paid student on the campus 35 a week and and they would wait for me like i was their father because i was bringing home the bacon every week with 35 i played the music before i started preaching then i started preaching and then i started pastoring ever since i've known myself i've been serving god and i wouldn't take nothing for my journey now god's been good to me through good times and bad through rough seas and calm when i was down god was there when i was up god was there when i had friends god was there when i was by myself god was there when i was sick god was there now that i'm back on my feet god is still there i will never leave you nor forsake you if you trust god god will open doors that's been closed in your face god will make your enemy your footstool god will put food on your table clothes on your back god will provide if you are committed [Applause] wish i had one or two more bible readers here you can help me testify right here isaiah said it was in the year and king uzziah died and i saw also the lord high lifted up the train filled the temple seraphim with six wings they covered their face and they covered their feet and they did fly and at the voice of him the doorpost in the temple moved and he said i looked at that beatific vision and i said whoa it's me but i am undone i'm a man of unclean lips and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and then he said the seraphim took some live coal from off the altar and and touched my lips and said your sins have been forgiven and your iniquity is purged then isaiah said i heard the voice of god saying whom shall i sin who will go for us then said uh here am i send me it's not until you know god for yourself it's not until god has touched your lips that you can say it like isaiah said here am i send me [Applause] brothers and sisters you came you can't stop and stop you can't serve god when it's convenient you can't just come to church when the weather is good you can't just praise god when it's your sunday to usher i wish i had somebody to help me preach it you can't just give god the praise when it's your time to lead a song you ought to be in the number cheering for somebody else who's leading the song i don't have to be in front for god to get the glory i don't have to have my name on the program for me to come to church and give god the glory i can clap for somebody else i can cheer for somebody else i can be excited that god is using somebody else but now listen be careful because if you decide you want god to use you you got to take all that comes along with that [Applause] because it's not all glitz and glamour [Applause] i wish i had a witness here it's not tailor-made suits and french cuff shirts no no it's it's pain is suffering it's going through some stuff somebody ought to help me preach it enough pastor jones was sharing with me that he has a brain situation that he's waiting on a word from the doctor for when he's going to have surgery still preaching the gospel and i said to him reverend god will be with you because i went through the same situation and the doctor said he wouldn't live two hours here i am tonight in the gethsemane baptist church pulpit to declare that chain nobody drew me like jesus then the doctor said if he lives you're going to have to put him in the nursing home because he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life here i am tonight in the language of my beacons clothed and in my right mind with a reasonable portion of my health and strength to declare that jesus is the same yesterday today and forever reverend god will be with you god will get in the doctor's hands and bring you out of your situation cause if you suffer for jesus sake if you suffer for jesus sake god will see you through have i got a witness here if you put your life on the line for jesus sake god will bring you out [Applause] [Music] if you trust i wish i had a witness and never doubt he will yes it will he will surely surely [Applause] bring you [Applause] i've seen him do it i've seen him do it i've seen the lightning [Applause] from the road i felt since breakers dashing trying to conquer my soul but i heard the voice of jesus beating me still fight on he promised i wish i had somebody to help me he promised never to leave me never to leave me alone my mama's gone but god is still with me my daddy is gone but god is still with me five of my brothers are gone but god is still with me i've had some friends to walk out on me but god is still with me have courage i'm through now but in the same verse i haven't left verse one yet elijah was common he was courageous he was committed but lastly he's confident he's confident in the person of god you're gonna help me close this won't you he said this is not my word [Applause] this is not my truth but as the lord lives that would be neither dew nor rain now baal supposed to have the power because that's who they are worshiping and baal is the god of jezebel who has become the god of ahab who is now in the minds of the people substituted for the god of israel but elijah is not only confident in god's person he's confident in god's power you can help me preach this won't you because the scripture says after he gave his pronouncement he just walked out didn't caucus with anybody didn't have any committee meeting with anybody he just dropped the word of god dropped the mic and left the room but now there's no do no rain which means there will be no sustenance for elijah he thought but when you do what god says to do in a drought god will take care of it [Applause] david said i've been young i wish i had a bible reading now i'm old and i've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging break not only will god take care of you he'll take care of your children he'll take care of your grandchildren he'll take care of you until your hair turns gray he'll take care of you when your sight gets bad he'll take care of you when you get old and can't get around that well god will make a way out of nowhere he tells the elijah go by the brook by the brook cheers and morning and evening i will send a raven to bring you bread and meat in the morning and meet in the evening now raven is a bird of prey a raven is it's a scavenger who eats everything he gets his hands on but god tells him don't eat that because that belongs to elijah he brings elijah bread and meat in the morning and in the evening and he drinks water from the brook but then one day the brook dried up i wish i had somebody to help me preach god said i want you to go to a little widow's house [Applause] and when you get to that widow's house she uh here's what i want you to do she's going to be making a cake and she and her son are going to eat as she says and die elijah said make me one first i wish i had a bible reading and she made elijah a cake first somebody helped me preach it you see when you try to keep it all for yourself and don't remember the man of god you short circuit your own blessing when she did what was right and listen to elijah and bless the man of god the bible said her flower never ran out her oil never ran out because you don't lose anything when you treat the man of god right i wish i had somebody to help me preach it but elijah said now listen we've been fooling around with baal long enough i'll be in my seat in a minute he said how long are you going to play this game how long will you halt between two opinions if god be god then serve him and if they'll be god then serve him but in order to prove who the real god is let's have a little contest you're gonna help me close this won't you elijah said let's build an altar and the god that answers by fire will be our god he said to make it fair you bail profits go first you're gonna help me close this one they built an altar and they started calling on bail but baal would not answer so about noon time elijah said why don't you call him a little louder bale might be on vacation baal might be relieving himself why don't you try calling him a little louder and the bible says they started cutting themselves with stones bleeding all over the sacrifice but baal still did not answer so about three o'clock when it came time for the evening sacrifice elijah said i've given you your opportunity now i'm going to take my opportunity but to make it fair because i don't want to really overwhelm you with this god that i serve to make it fair here's what i want you to do to the sacrifice i want you to dig a ditch around it and then i want you to pour water on the sacrifice and then move out of the way and let me call on the god of abraham isaac and jacob you're going to help me close this won't you elijah started calling on god he said lord i'm down here i'm the only one left there are 450 prophets of baal and 400 grove prophets and they've called on the name of their god and now i'm calling on you to come and answer by fire you're gonna help me close this one the bible says fire came down from heaven and not only did it burn up the sacrifice but it licked up all the water that was around the sacrifice because our god is an able god our god is a prayer answering god our god is a powerful god if you call him he will show up if you need him he'll come to your rescue if you're sick you'll be your doctor if you are down he'll pick you up if you're lost you'll come and save you is there anybody here ever had to call on the lord is there anybody here know this god of whom i speak he's adam's redeemer he's abel's vindicator he's abraham's sacrifice he's noah's ark these moses bush on fire y'all know induction he's joshua's battle axe he's gideon's fleece he's samson's power he's david's music he's solomon's wisdom he's jeremiah's bomb in gilead y'all knowing don't you he's ezekiel's wheel in the middle of a wheel he's god's only sir he's mary's baby boy he's james and jude's older brother he's matthew's king he's a mark suffering servant he's luke's great physician he's john's word made flesh he's acts coming of the holy ghost he's the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth he's the blessed and the only potential he's the faithful and the true witness he's alpha and omega he's the beginning and the end he's the first and the last you all know him don't you he's a rock and a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm he's a friend when you're friendly red when you're hungry water when he's bursting you all know him don't you he's a lily of the valley he's a rose of shower he's a bright morning star he's a desire of all nations he's the ancient of days he's the stem of jesse he's the root of david he was born in bethlehem reared in nazareth baptized in the jordan he died didn't he die sunday morning he arose didn't he right if the lord opened doors for you help me praise his name if the lord made a way for you don't be embarrassed to testify if the lord saved your soul may you hold why don't you grab somebody why don't you hurt somebody tell them you don't know like i know you can't tell anything like i can tell you what the lord what the lord has done for me have i got a witness is there anybody here fighting for yourself telling thank you thank you thank you thank you tragedies are commonplace all kinds of diseases people are slipping away the economy is down people can't get enough pity but as for me all i can say is thank you lord you've done for me it could have been me outdoors with no food and no clothes left alone without a friend just another number with a tragic end but you didn't see fit to let none of these things be everyday by your power you keep on keeping me thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so [Applause] yeah he walks with me he talks with me he tells me i am his own and the child joy joy joy joy do you have joy do you have joy why don't you hug somebody why don't you grab somebody tell them this joy but i have the world and give it the way i can't take it away i know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh

Channel: Inspiration Station

Views: 68,006

Rating: 4.7469311 out of 5

Keywords: terry anderson, lily grove baptist church, fd sampson, ralph west, frank ray, jasper williams, td jakes, serita jakes, maranda curtis, tasha cobbs, steven furtick, michael todd, the potters house dallas, marcus cosby, tolan morgan, terry k anderson, lilly grove mbc, baptist preaching, national baptist convention, tellis chapman, whooping, ralph d west, jamal bryant, praise break, cogic praise break, cogic shout, at the cross, salvation, pastor anniversary

Id: -OIKgAE3Meo

Length: 49min 31sec (2971 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021