Rev. Terry K. Anderson - They Called It Waste, Jesus Called It Worship (2019)

open your bibles with me to the gospel of matthew again at chapter number 26 the gospel record of matthew in chapter 26. commencing in verse number six from the new living translation the scripture reads meanwhile jesus was in bethany at the home of simon a man who had previously had leprosy while he was eating a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head disciples were indignant when they saw this what a waste they said it could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor but jesus aware of this replied why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me you will always have the poor among you but you will not always have me she has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial i tell you the truth wherever the good news is preached throughout the world this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed thank you you may be seated the grass with us and the flower fades but the word of our god shall stand forever tonight i want to talk to us from this subject they called it waste jesus called it worship they called it waste jesus called it worship whenever the word extravagant is read or heard we often attach to that word some negative connotation extravagance is too much over the top lavish beyond cost beyond price the word extravagance has fallen on some hard times and it has come to mean too much going overboard going over the top beyond price beyond cost i'm sure that some of you will agree with me that there are some things in this culture in this world that are over the top extravagant outlandish beyond cost beyond price i think it's extravagant for floyd mayweather to make that much money boxing i think it's over the top for oprah to have all those houses i think it is absolutely unreasonable for andrew luck to walk away from the nfl with all of that money i think it's extravagant and over the top because i don't have it everybody thinks it's too much for somebody else you think i'd be fooling around with y'all if i had oprah's money [Applause] the lord knows who to keep poor extravagance is over the top it's outlandish it's beyond price beyond cost there are some things in the world that are extravagantly overpriced but i don't think anything you do for jesus is too much choir just got through so beautifully telling us i can't thank him enough i can't praise him enough i can't honor i can't glorify him enough i can't come to church enough i can't thank god enough for all that he's done for me i often hear people say that it's too many churches there's a church on every corner it's it's too many treacherous i don't remember him saying there's too many crack houses i don't ever hear them says too many nightclubs it's too many beer joints no we we don't have enough churches for all god has done for his people god has been good to us god has shown us grace and mercy favor and forgiveness and no act of worship is too much no no no act of worship is extravagant when it comes to giving god praise walk with me around the text matthew's gospel mentions this woman who comes into the home of simon the leper simon is obviously cured of his leprosy or else they would not be in his house because he would be ceremonially unclean so simon is probably a leper that was cured by jesus but they're in the home of simon the leper uh in the cotton practice translation of the bible uh he's called simon the church member they're in the home of simon the church member simon the leper and and they are reclining at a meal john's gospel in john chapter 12 john gives this woman a name john says it's mary the sister of martha and lazarus but matthew does not give this woman a name she just comes into the room with an alabaster box and she breaks it open and pours it on jesus i want you to look with me tonight at how expensive her praise was this this alabaster box uh this this this expensive nard this perfume this ointment uh was 300 penny worth 300 pence a family would work a lifetime to amass the cost of this bottle of perfume it was that expensive the perfume the nard the ointment the perfume could only be found in the himalayan mountains in india that's how expensive and rare the perfume was and then the alabaster box that it's in the alabaster stone could only be found in egypt an egyptian box with indian perfume for a poor family was a family heirloom they had to work a lifetime to amass the wealth that it cost to buy this expensive perfume it it costs in today's money between 15 and 20 thousand dollars it's a rare perfume extremely costly and she breaks it out and she does not dab it on jesus she pours it on i want you to get that she breaks open this this egyptian alabaster this indian perfume she doesn't dab it on the right spots she doesn't dab it on jesus she pours it on jesus and the reason why some of y'all can't shout tonight is because you dab jesus with your prayers [Applause] you give him a little dab of your time i wish i had a witness right here you give him a little dab of money talk back to me if you can you give you give him a little dab of your interest and your attention on sunday morning maybe you go to sunday school maybe you come to midweek prayer service maybe you read the bible from time to time that's dabbing jesus with your praise but thank god for those of us here tonight who can't give god no little dab of praise god's been so good to you god has opened so many doors for you god has made so many ways for you that you don't dab god with your praise you break open your alabaster box and pour out your praise because god deserves all of it i do not apologize for giving god my best hallelujah i'm not embarrassed i'm not ashamed of the gospel it is the power of god under salvation if you didn't come here to worship him you're not going to bother me if if you don't if you didn't come here to give god the glory you can go right back to sleep you can take a nap you can you can lay down on the pew if you feel like it but i came here tonight to tell god thank you for your mercy thank you for your grace thank you for looking beyond my faults i wish i had one or two more witnesses thank you that when my enemies thought i was finished you made a way out of nowhere thank you that when my back was almost against the wall you provided enough space between my back and the wall that i'm here tonight to testify can't nobody nobody do me like jesus you want to know why i praise god so much i'm glad you asked i'm supposed to be dead i mentioned to you before i had a tumor that lodged at the base of my brain i was taken to the hospital my sister brought me to the hospital i thought i was having a stroke my head was was hurting so i couldn't lift my head off the pillow and my sister brought me to the hospital and i thought the doctors would said i i had a stroke but i had a tumor the size of a golf ball in my brain a pituitary macroadenoma whatever that means that's the kind of tumor i had in my brain and they gave me medicine to dissolve the the tumor and that was doing the job but the medicine made me gravely ill i was in md anderson hospital in houston and uh i was the sickest man they told me in that hospital they brought me to the hospital and uh they they gave me some anesthesia uh propofol that stuff that killed michael jackson he was trying to kill me i believe and they gave me some proper fall and i i i i went into a coma and uh i wound up on the ventilator and my family was there doctors there uh anesthesiologists members of our church were there and they told my family uh go in and sit with him because he's not going to last two hours he's the sickest man in this hospital md anderson university of texas cancer medical center has done everything humanly possible he will not live two hours go in the room hold his hand talk to him tell him what you want him to know because he will not be here two hours that was seven years ago here i am tonight in the morning star baptist church to testify there can't nobody do me like jesus then the doctor said if he lives if he survives you're gonna have to put him in the nursing home because he will be a vegetable for the rest of his life here i am in the morning star baptist church clothed and in my right mind with a reasonable portion of my health and strength to testify that ain't nobody do me like jesus and you think i'ma give him a little dab of my praise i wish i had a witness here i come to lift my hands i come to open my mouth to tell god thank you hallelujah now you ought to tell somebody sitting next to you if you don't feel like praising him go sit somewhere else if you don't want to give him the glory you find you another pew if you don't want to tell god thank you you go but i come tonight to holla as loud as i can to lift my get give me some space give me some room i've got to tell god thank you i had somewhere to sleep last [Applause] night thank you for food on the table thank you for making a wave out of nowhere here it is i praise god so much because my praise has cost me my praise is expensive i don't give god no cheek praise i praise god because it almost cost me my life somebody to help me talk here and anybody here who's been through the valley of the shadow of death nobody has a right to tell you to give god a dab of praise praise it with your whole heart i will bless the lord i wish i had a bible reader at all times his praise shall continue with it be in my mouth my soul shall make her boast in the lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad oh [Applause] oh that's what the church ought to say oh magnify the lord with me but listen if you don't do it with me i'ma do it by myself let us exalt his name to get all tastes and see that the lord is is good somebody ought to help me preach it i said the lord is good his mercy is everlasting his truth endures to all generations i will lift up my eyes unto the heels where does my help come from my help comes from the lord the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall i be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh just before they got to me they stumbled and they fell though a host should encamp against me and this will i be confident one thing have i desired of the lord and that will i seek after that i may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life here it is for in the time of trouble hey in the time of trouble he shall hide me wait on the lord be of good courage he will strengthen your heart wait i say upon the lord by the rivers of babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembered zion we hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof for baby that carried us away captive required it was from earth and they that wasted us required of us a song saying sing us one of the songs of zion but how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land then the psalmist starts remembering how good god had been to him he said may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth i wish i had a bible reader if i don't give god the praise he deserves may i not get out of this seat tonight god's been so good to me that i'm gonna praise him if i got to do it by myself i should have been dead i'm trying to leave it alone but there's some of us in here tonight there are some of us in here tonight who paid for this shout out you've been through so much that your shout is expensive you don't give god no cheap little golf clap and uh just dab your eyes and you don't want your makeup to run when you get through praising god you look toe up from the floor [Applause] and then somebody around here who's sophisticated and been to college and got some money they said don't take all of that speak for yourself [Applause] it don't take all that for you but you don't know the price of the oil in my alabaster box [Applause] praise when it is real is expensive she broke open an alabaster box stone that came from egypt perfume that could only be found in the himalayan mountains you had to work a lifetime to afford it and she did not cheaply dab jesus she broke it open and poured it on it i like john's account john says when she came in she started washing his feet with tears and drying them with the hairs of a head now you got to get that because women in that day did not come in the presence of men first of all with their head uncovered and then they certainly would not let their hair down because then you would be considered a loose woman but this woman didn't care what convention said she didn't care what cultures or societal norms said she came to worship jesus and somebody here tonight ought to help me testify that when you really worship god it's a letting your hair down situation if you can let your hair down in the club let your hair down at the church if you can turn up at the club turn up at the house of god give god your best holler your best hallelujah thank you i'm trying to leave it alone but but two near eastern uh customs are represented in the breaking of that alabaster box two near eastern customs uh uh uh are presented appear in the breaking of that box when an important person came to your house or to an event that you sponsored in the near east in jesus time if a dignitary drank from a glass you broke the glass so that a lesser person would never drink from it when this woman broke open that alabaster a lesser person would never get this same perfume i don't know anybody in here tonight who's worth more than jesus christ [Applause] i don't care who you think you are the only superstar in here tonight is jesus christ he's the fountain from which all else flows he's the root out of which all else grows he's the event in eternity who made his advent in the context of time his divinity tabernacling in a tournament of clay he's holy spirit with dust painted on it he's god in the flesh and anybody that important we pale in comparison the second custom is when a person was buried in the near east they would embalm them with expensive myrrh and frankincense that came in jars and bottles and they would break the jars anoint the dead body and then put the broken glass in the sarcophagus with the dead body meaning that no one would ever be embalmed with these spices it's like a a rembrandt or a picasso painting a picture after they paint the picture they break uh the paintbrush never to be used again because they have painted a masterpiece i have on my desk a broken paintbrush from an artist in houston who painted a mural to go in our church for our 50th church anniversary he liked the masters he broke that paintbrush put it in a little tomb and put it on my desk no one will ever use that brush again because that picture is just that valuable to our church when she broke open that alabaster box she said nobody will ever get the praise that belongs to jesus i don't care how pretty your little grandbaby is he's not jesus i don't care how fine your wife or husband they are not jesus he's in a class all by himself and whenever you come to church if you're going to worship god like you ought to you got to leave your ego outside you got to leave your supposed importance outside you got to check your self-esteem at the door because we didn't come here to worship you we came here to worship with you but if you don't want to worship we can worship by ourselves i i need somebody i'm really trying to move on but i need somebody here you don't have to be at morningstar to worship god i need two or three people here it don't even have to be sunday morning you just start thinking about where god brought you from and what god has done for you and there's nothing in your background that says you ought to be as blessed as you are right now and so when you look in the rearview mirror of your life and see how far god has brought you it can be a monday afternoon it could be a friday night you just start giving god the glory worship when it is real is expensive but not only is it expensive it's expressive you have to do something you have to do something evans crawford who was the dean of the chapel on the campus of howard university rankin chapel at howard university evans crawford had what he would call homiletical musicality homiletical musicality it's the harm that happens in the black church it's the call and response that goes on in the african-american church tradition a homiletical musicality is when i say something you say something that's the that's the call and the response while i'm preaching you preaching with me because we have the same experience god brought all of us from a mighty long way if anybody ought to praise god it ought to be black people if anybody ought to tell god thank you it ought to be people of the african-american diaspora i wish you could have known my elders down in units where i was born i wish you could have known those old people in my growing up years i can still see them in my mind's eye right now many of them their wallpaper was newspaper i ate in their homes and they had nothing hartley to put before me their wallpaper was newspaper there was paint on their windows because they couldn't afford curtains but they sang over my head i hear music in the air there must be a god somewhere there were chauffeurs and cooks they were domestics and gardeners they were [ __ ] and gale uncle and boy every back door every police authority every piece of legislation every judge on the bench every colored drinking fountain said to them you do not matter there was nobody monday through saturday but on sunday morning something got a hold of him i wish i had a witness here on sunday morning a strange dignity caught them they were brothers so and so and sister so and so and they dressed up in their best clothes and made their way to the house of god because they knew the trouble don't last all week and here we are tonight with two cars in the garage opportunity that you've never had before televisions in every room everybody got a tablet and a smartphone and you're too smart to give god the glory you too sophisticated to give god the praise god needs to be worshiped and to worship god you got to do something look at what she did she comes in a room full of people a room crowded with men reclining at the table and she doesn't mention a word to anybody because she is focused like a laser on jesus and if you really come to worship you got to put blinders on and focus on jesus because everybody who came to church didn't come to worship if you really came to praise god take care who you sit by because somebody want to give you a peppermint and somebody want to ask you uh you want some gum or somebody writing you a note or somebody look at that hat that don't even match your shoes you ain't come here for that i don't care nothing about nobody's shoes and nobody's had i got so much hell going on in my life i got so much drama in my own family that i ain't got time for your drama i come here to ask god to have my essay i'm master have mercy according to your loving kindness according to the multitude of your tender mercy blot out all my transgression create in me a clean heart and renew within me the right spirit you got to do something in worship look at what she does she goes through the crowd takes out that expensive alabaster and indian perfume and she does not dab it on jesus because he's worth more than a dab she breaks it open and pours it on him in an expression of extravagant lavish over-the-top praise she breaks it open somebody here tonight need to break open your alabaster box you might be the only one hollering on your road but holler anyhow you may be the only one waving your hand on sunday morning but wave your hand anyhow because when praises go up i wish i had a witness somebody needs a miracle tonight somebody needs god to sin a breakthrough tonight i dare you to stop giving god glory i dare you to start shouting like you already got the answer choir saying it again you don't have to wait till the battle is over shout now i wish i had a witness here shout like you got the promotion shout like you got the new house shout like you got the new car shout like you're already healed shout like your child is already delivered shout like god has already answered your prayers because god inhabits the praises of his people i i want to move on but you can worship quietly but you can't praise quietly i said you can worship quietly with your head bowed your eyes closed meditating that's worship that's that's good that's good you ought to do that but when you praise god you ought to make some noise [Applause] make a joyful noise unto the lord i'm i'm getting sick of going to these churches where where the song serves has been europeanized jesus name let angels prostrate for bring forth negro plea [Applause] i need some real worshipers in here tonight who like me like to hear the deacon say ah i love love he heard my cry yeah that's the kind of worship i'm talking about give god all the praise all the glory all the honor he's worthy all right all right all right all right all right come on let's get back to the sermon long as i live and trouble right hey ah he sent to us okay okay all right okay you got it you got it i i just want you to know that when you come in the law's house the more people ain't had no education they had no money they had no protection but they knew that if they called on the name of the lord he would show up and make a way out of nowhere and then i'm in my seat now i'm through you got it you you got it i'm through [Applause] praise ought to be expensive you ought to spare no cost when it comes to giving god praise there's no price you ought not be willing to pay for this sanctuary to the glory of god i don't i don't care that that some naysayers and some negative members saying we ain't had to do all of that we didn't have to spend all that money we could have used that on the poor jesus said the poor you have with you always no no no no spend all the money you need to spend on the church because the nicest building in the community ought to be the house of god your house ought not be better than the lord's house praise ought to be expensive and then when you praise god you ought to be expressive but let me show you and i'm in my seat how praise when it is expensive and expressive will expand you john in his gospel chapter 12 calls this woman mary the sister of martha and lazarus here is what her praise did for her the first time we meet her she's where she is the last time we meet her every time we meet her she's in the same place doing the same thing to help me close it the first time we meet her she's at the feet of jesus she's at the feet of jesus learning because jesus is in the home of mary martha and lazarus in the town of bethany and he's in the living room teaching and martha is in the kitchen serving but mary is at the feet of jesus and martha is getting mad martha's mother is cooking and she's looking in the room and there's mary got her lazy tail over there at the feet of jesus and after a while martha's getting so mad she throwing pots around and she's slinging her apron off and she goes out there and say jesus tell that you're coming here and help me with this dishes and fixing and jesus said martha did you take your medicine calm yourself down she has chosen the good part and i will not take it from her martha is obviously the oldest of the three because the oldest in the family think they can tell everybody what to do let me see the hands of the older people here in the family you're the oldest one in your family let me see your hand i can tell right now your brothers and sisters can't stand you [Applause] because you're so bossy you always want to be in charge they got to do what you want to do for christmas they got to do what you want to do for thanksgiving they got to eat what you want to eat you make all the decisions they just wish you'd go sit down somewhere martha was just like that nervous and anxious but mary was at the feet of jesus learning the second time we meet mary she's at the feet of jesus but this time she's leaning because when you read chapter 11 of john's gospel lazarus is sick and they send word to jesus that the one that you love is sick and jesus delays going to bethany and while he's delaying lazarus dies and when jesus gets the word that lazarus is dead four days later he goes to bethany because his delaying is not his denying just because he doesn't come in a hurry doesn't mean he's not coming at all he may not come when you want him somebody ought to help me preach it but whenever he shows up he's right on time jesus gets near bethany and somebody runs in the house and tells mary and martha that jesus is outside mary stays in the house martha runs out there and i can just see her now with her hands on her hips saying lord if you had been here when we called you my brother wouldn't die i'm glad you came but too little too late thank you for coming why didn't you come and we called you huh jesus said martha didn't i tell you to take your medicine [Applause] you're going to see your brother again i know i'ma see him again in the resurrection at the last day said you're looking at what you're looking for [Applause] you talking to what you talking about i am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he be dead yet shall he live and he that lives and believes in me shall never die do you believe this and then yonder comes mary she doesn't put her hands on her hips she doesn't twist her neck she falls at the feet of jesus and say lord if you had been here i know all you had to do was just show up and lazarus would still be alive and she said i believe even now that all you got to do is say the word and lazarus will come back to life when we meet her the first time she's at the feet of jesus learning when we meet her the second time she's at the speed of jesus leaning but this last time we see her she's at the feet of jesus loving because she breaks open this alabaster box not to show off because if jesus had been in there by himself she would have done the same thing but she broke open that alabaster box to demonstrate how much she loved him and then the disciples said why all this waste isn't it strange that people at church who grumble over grace and complain about money being spent they have no problem with the money going to them or if you're giving their son a scholarship oh if you're paying their rent somebody ought to help me talk here you you got some people at this church like i got people at my church because my folks are your folks cousins after we put them on their feet they were broke their rent was due their mortgage was due and we paid it and then a month later they want to go to another level they leave the church to go to another level i said what do you mean you want to go to another level reverend i need more i said well i wish you had gone to another level before we paid your rent somebody ought to help me preach here tonight i i wish you had gone to another level before we got your son out of college i said what what what well i know i understand you go to church wherever you want to go to church where you going to church just for my personal information and they tell me i say oh yeah you're going to the church where the pastor records my sermon yeah you're going you're going to another level where you're going to hear my sermons preach i think if there was a graduation of sins if there was such a thing as a sin that could be put on a graduated scale i think the highest sin the most grievous sin would be the sin of ingratitude when god has blessed you or blessed you through somebody else i think it is ungrateful for you not to turn around and say thank you i'm through now but when i was a boy growing up in my little town the units where i'm from somebody would come to our house my cousin would come from houston we'd pick her up at the continental trailways bus station down there in eunice and then she started coming on the greyhound bus and we would pick up and bring her to the house and julia would stay in the house and give us quarters and back then back in the late 60s early 70s a quarter could buy a whole lot you you could get two moon cookies [Applause] a red soda water some now and laters and some mary jane you got to be over 50 to help me shout right here and and whenever julia would put the money in our hand my mama would stand right there and say what you're gonna say and we knew to say thank you every time somebody did something that they didn't have to do my mama said what you gonna say we had sense enough to say thank you the lord woke you up this morning what you gonna say the lord put food on your table what you gonna say the lord made your enemies leave you alone what you gonna say the lord provided a job for you that other people were more qualified for what you gonna say god got that house for you god got you riding better than you ever wrote in your life come on here what you gonna say you ought to tell god thank you you might be in a section tonight that act like they don't want to give god any praise but you got my permission right now to get out of that dead section and find you a spot in this church of somebody who look like they want to tell god thank you is there anybody here no god's been good to you is there anybody here no god made a way for you if the lord opened doors for you tell god thank you if the lord made a way for you tell god thank you if the lord answered your prayers tell god thank you if the lord dried your tears tell god thank you why don't you hug somebody why don't you grab somebody tell them you don't know like i know you can't tell it like i can tell what the lord what the lord he walks with me he talks with me he tells me i am his own and the joy joy joy do we have joy [Applause] i know you

Channel: Inspiration Station

Views: 35,892

Rating: 4.8084292 out of 5

Keywords: alabaster box, 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, biblical preaching

Id: gNUW7_GM3qI

Length: 54min 14sec (3254 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021