Rise Up + Wake Up + Pray Up Morning Worship Service

read temple's marriage enrichment ministry presents preparing for marriage god's way on september 11th through december 11th from 10 a.m to 12 noon on zoom register at readtemple.org forward slash events be a part of the virtual 12-week pre-marital counseling course designed for all couples seeking to be married at reed temple or by a minister on staff here at rue temple the class is free but you must purchase the workbook for the class you do not have to be a member to attend this class register today at readtemple.org forward slash events join the movie matinee and discussions via zoom the american lows the american legacy of white supremacy a documentary created by darnley r hodge jr join us on saturday september 25th from 3 p.m to 7 p.m screen the film and be a part of the discussion with director damnly r hodge jr register at readtemple.org forward slash events read temple ame soul care ministry presents griefshare each saturday from 10 am to 12 noon eastern standard time from september 11th to december 4th of 2021 are you mourning the loss of a loved one let griefshare help you heal for more information visit readtemple.org for slash events or email mengriefshare at readtemple.org or call 301-352-0320 extension 489. read temple family save the date join us for official board on september 20th at 7 pm eastern standard time via zoom visit retemple.org forward slash events for more information calling all ministry leaders on saturday september 25th at 10 a.m via zoom join us for this quarter's ministry leaders town hall zoom detail will be emailed to ministry leaders visit readtemple.org forward slash events or email info read temple dot org for more information hey i'm pastor mark whitlock you may have heard about it but the 1500 project is for you in hebrew 1500 means the moment you decide to take a spiritual journey is when you begin to realize your greatness the bible says in second timothy chapter 2 verse 15 study to find yourself approved god gave me a vision that we're going to have 1500 people in worship we want you to be a part of that we want you to grow spiritually we want you to be able to divide the word of god join us on wednesday how do you do it you simply email bible study at readtemple.org let me repeat it bible study at reedtemple.org let's grow in god and grace together the 1500 project let's go [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yes [Music] god we come to you first acknowledging you and you alone are god and we thank you for mother's past present and future we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we thank you for that making us in your image to co-create with you make us worthy lord of your divine gift come now holy spirit reduce me increase you send your power take charge of this sacred moment speak and we will listen in the name of jesus we pray amen what a wonderful opening that was from a mother's day service and the first lady gives us a prayer that's outstanding and she's going to give us a man a word that's outstanding today good morning good morning good morning whereas up wake up and pray up uh this is our morning devotion service we have a morning devotion service at retail we're at 6 00 a.m every monday morning and we want you monday through friday to have an opportunity to draw closer to god we ask that you know if you know someone share it if you know uh family members who needed share it so that we may have unity in the community somebody asked me what's free folk friday about unity in the community how do we achieve unity in the community how do we achieve unity in the church unity in the family i'm excited today because the first lady the first lady is getting ready to preach good morning good morning good night oh we ready to do this pastor mark absolutely we are asking everyone to share your page we're asking everyone to pick up your phone share your page amen go to youtube and share it amen go to twitter and share it good morning sandra good morning michael good morning valerie good morning bernita uh good morning boy we got so many people that we just love seeing everyone gotta say hello to hey lois lois love lois good morning aretha good morning emily good morning patricia good morning to everyone on the telephone i just excited fact get about 100 of our seniors joining us by phone good morning dave clark good morning mother jefferson good morning to so many of you good morning good morning good morning and we want you now to do what i'm doing and that's just sharing your page amen share your page that's what i do i i get excited because we have an opportunity to do what jesus tells us to do and jesus tells us to go make disciples and how do we do that we share our page on facebook we share our page on instagram we share our page on twitter and youtube and thank you all for telling people about it by way of funk we got just a few more seconds before we go and we want you to know how important you are thank you early birds i love the early birds they always get here early and yes that's right lois wednesday with our woman of god reverend hermes and pat good morning good morning cheryl with an s not a c good morning janelle uh good morning and did i say pat i want to make sure pat mcdormand mcdermott uh good morning to you uh good morning to so many we like doing that and that's the interactive part well we're here we have our magical number but we know that more people are coming and so let's uh let's let's give the first lady who's been working hard on this amen an opportunity to share in jesus name yes sir yes ma'am all right y'all let's go to god in prayer let's pray on this word first lord come quickly quickly now and stand up in your chosen vessel for today pour out your spirit on us on your people so that we can hear your voice clearly we seek unity for a divided world we pray for harmony for this nation we ask for agreement where there is discord this morning and when it is all said and done and we have this assurance that you are edified we will be glorified and the devil will be horrified and this we pray in the mighty in the majestic name of jesus the christ the risen savior we pray amen our scripture this morning comes from ephesians chapter four and i'm going to focus on the first six verses of ephesians chapter four verses one through six so let's turn quickly to the new testament letter in which paul writes to the believers in ephesus we want to start reading from verse one because those are the words that are critical to the understanding of paul's recipe for unity i therefore the prisoner in the lord beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you are called to one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is over all through all and in all well that's a beautiful passage and paul alludes to his own prison cell because that's where he was when he wrote to the church in ephesus there appears to be kind of a double purpose here because it makes the following admonitions specifically about how we're supposed to be that they're personal they're urgent and it reminds us of the price paid for discipleship because it wasn't paul who called us but it was god himself who extended the call and sent his son jesus christ and so he gives a specific conduct for which the suffering for christ's sake bearable so let's put a tag on this lesson this morning recipe for unity in god's community so what are you talking about rhythmia because everywhere we look we witness confusion disobey dismay disorder panic hysteria and chaos globally we know that covet 19 pandemic has impacted all people and now even our children are getting sick and yet we have discord should we wear mass should we mandate mass can we make people get vaccinated i don't want to be vaccinated we can't make up our mind we are in discord over this global pandemic the united states the democrats versus the republicans every night when i go to bed i listen to cuomo or don lemon and progressives versus the conservatives in the democratic party and and the big public lie about the 2020 election that led to a january 6 insurrection at the u.s capitol and ultimate discord demonstration of ultimate disorder in our families at home church we councils mothers and fathers in chaos with their own children husbands and wives can't seem to get along marriages ending in divorce arguments personally we have physical fatigue from working too hard and not taking care of ourselves leading to mental confusion and lord confusion and discord in our church in our beloved community the church where we witness doctrinal disagreements and discord over how you worship and how i worship and how we all should be so let's return to the word of god written to the church at ephesus not to address some particular error or heresy among the believers but to broaden their and our understanding in the first three chapters of ephesus of ephesians paul lays out some doctrinal uh statements we are saved not only for our personal benefit but also to bring praise and glory to god yes pastor mark often says our salvation is personal but it's never private and so we have these three propositions god reconciled us to god's self through jesus christ as an act of grace then christ reconciled those he saved to each other but beyond that christ reconciled us into one body the church and so here in in ephesus in in in to the church in ephesus in chapter four paul moves now from the theoretical thoughts to practical application that's what we need we need to make the word real so we can apply it to our lives so i asked the relevant question i asked paul how can we walk worthy how can we live a life that's worthy of god's calling worthy of the horrifying death that christ suffered on the cross for us in a disjointed distracted and discordant world well i'm so glad you asked because ephesians chapter 4 we have a recipe for unity in god's community now y'all know i'm not much of a cook so if i see a recipe that has too many ingredients i'm out if the instructions are too complex i've made dinner reservations instead when i was a young bride and i didn't make thanksgiving meal i managed it by gathering my girlfriends who could i plan the menu i arranged the table setting and i brought some women who knew how to cook but let's look at chapter four of ephesians verses 1 through 6. if the greek philosopher plato said to do is to be and if his student aristotle said to be is to do then ephesians chapter 4 paul says followers of jesus are motivated by god's work in our lives to be and to do so first we gotta look at what we must be look again at chapter four verse two paul gives us four characteristics that will bring unity within god's church yeah we're supposed to be the example for the world verse 2 reads with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing one another in love first humility it does not mean to regard ourselves as a pitiful excuse for humanity some low low life a low existence some piece of refuge at the bottom of the human uh pile no no no no humility means to see ourselves as god sees us yes we have infinite and inherent value by the holy spirit that's been downloaded into us but no more value than anyone else it means being willing to accept god as the authority over our life rather than insisting on being our own supreme authority it means humility means we are willing to order our steps in such a way as to serve god by serving others when all christians do that everyone's needs are met in the context of harmony and love our society we've become focused on doing things doing too little and too little on being we work at getting good grades then we work to get a promotion at work and then we acquire those symbols of our success our vehicles our homes our possessions our shoes our prestige we nurture behaviors that lead to these acquisitions and unfortunately in that process we neglect the qualities of character that supersedes those acquisitions rather than humility and gentleness and patience and love we pursue and we reward boldness and strength and competition and hardness it seems to me i'm just saying the bible teaches a different understanding of what defines our strength by jesus definition a person who is hardened to others who's unable to be touched by the infirmities of somebody else's plight a person who stores up for himself or herself treasures on earth where moth and rust do destroy and corrupt where thieves come in and steal is a fool a person who sacrifices relationships with others to promote themselves that's evil the bible's perspective of character seems to contradict what too many of us are teaching today and unfortunately teaching our children so first the first ingredient humility number two gentleness or meekness literally means power under control in that great power under control just trying to be meat for a week and you'll realize it takes strength to be meek in ancient time war horses i've read something that said war horses in the ancient world uh were trained to protect their master they were under total and instantaneous control of their writer yet the war horses were described as being meek their strength was under total control moses was described as the meekest man who ever lived and yet he was a great and dynamic and charismatic leader who challenged the power of the throne of egypt his strength stood under god's control and that's what meekness is all about to have strength standing under god's control all right so we got humility we got meekness ingredient number three patience consider god's patience with us with humanity it was that same quality that we as christians should show towards each other but hey patience is believing god's timetable is good no matter what it is our prayer cannot be oh lord give me patience and hurry up about it patience does not always come quickly patience my brothers and my sisters is a characteristic of mature people i used to wonder how my mother could always be so quiet and so patient with us because she had the maturity of the proper expectation it actually helps us to be patient abraham receives god's promises that he would have a land descendants and too numerous for the stars and a blessing but look what he had to wait many many many years to see those promises fulfilled after waiting patiently abraham received what god has promised him god told noah build an ark far from a body of water and for a hundred years come on y'all we can't wait a hundred minutes but a hundred years noah worked on that ark in faithfulness and finally when it rained noah received the promise and the fruit of his obedience moses waited 40 years between the time god put the burden on his heart to deliver the children of israel and the time that his his burden was fulfilled that's patience throughout the scripture patience means just that it doesn't mean that if we are patient now god will have see that we are being patient and we've learned our lesson and give us what we want sooner patience is waiting for god to act when and where and how god chooses all right so we got humility we got meekness we got patience number four forbearance in love come on that's what makes it all that's what brings it all together it involves bearing with one another's weaknesses not ceasing to love one's neighbor or friends because of those faults in them and perhaps they may offend us or displease us but it is that mutual forbearance tolerance without without which no group of humans can ever live together forbearing each other in love these four qualities are the meekness the humility the patience are all possible only in love for love is that basic attitude of seeking the highest good of others and so we talked about what we have to be yeah good character is difficult y'all the ancient virtues of humility and gentleness and patience and love are the expressions of great great great strength and it takes maturity to get there so after we talked about being those four things now we gotta do it look at verse three make every effort to maintain the unity in this context paul defines what the church ought to be we are one just as god is one but paul refuses focuses on this practical exhortation we can only make every effort after we put those four ingredients in place these characteristics the meekness the patience the humility and the love yield unity stir it up and you've got the recipe for unity in god's community the unity of spirit through the bond of peace you put that together and you make it y'all and we do have spiritual unity the unity that exists in christ jesus rather we manifest spiritual unity in relation to one another therefore we might say the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patient kindness faith and self-control but the work the work of the spirit is unity and peaceful relations with one another for this reason matthew says peacemakers shall be called the children of god the church is one body believers as we meet in many places we may speak different tongues we may be on different wavelengths different platforms none of this separates us we remain christ's one body the church obeys one spirit the church received salvation through marching orders from one lord jesus christ died and rose again he alone has the right to be to all of our allegiance all other lords are false false gods so we have one lord who we follow and then the church proclaims one faith we are crucified resurrected resurrected in the lord that's the object of our faith to confess jesus as our lord is to express our one faith and the church must be unified in that oneness and one baptism all that belonging in the unified mark of believers through baptism and the final element is unity in one god and this ties it all together y'all the major elements of the church's theology comes together the church is called into practical unity but first we have to be then we can do so god teach us to seek humility instead of pride teach us to long after gentleness instead of roughness teach us to be patient instead of in a hurry all the time teach us to love instead of dwell in unforgiveness for where there is division let me work for unity where there is strife let us be the voice of reason make us peacemakers in the name of jesus we pray and the only song i could think of is one that we all love every praise is to our god every word of worship in one accord every praise every praise is to our god so we sing hallelujah to our god every word of worship in one accord it's due to our god every praise every praise and show my brothers and my sisters that recipe for unity and god's community humility meekness patience and of course love that's what makes unity in the community in the name of jesus amen what a word what a word what a word it's always good to hear a good solid word on wednesday morning wednesday word amen have a word of prayer dear god this morning we seek unity in your community god we cannot separate the fingers from the hand we can't separate the hand from the arm yes from the shoulder and the shoulder is not more powerful than the legs or the feet so we know that all things work together for the good for those who love the lord and have been called according to god's purpose god help us to become patient in our well-doing help us to exercise uh constraints help us to have humility humility not not what we say but how we do how we act how we perform what we what we accept god help us to have power under control yeah yeah now god we would ask let us not shrink because god has made us so much stronger than we can ever imagine yet god we see ourselves as small but the world sees us as big but we treat ourselves as if we're small so we make everybody else bigger and sometimes we come down to hard on people because we don't realize how big we are god we we worship and we serve and we live we love one god one salvation one baptism because we we worship one god in three persons the father the son and the holy ghost so now god give us unity in the community to become peacemakers to be lovers of justice lovers of righteousness lovers of justification oh god this is your glory this is your praise this is why we come today to give you glory to give you honor to give you praise why because we believe that unity in the community produces the fruits of the spirit yes and we thank you we thank you for our preacher we thank you for those who are listening we thank you god for the opportunity of coming every morning at 6 a.m to share a word from the lord in jesus name amen amen amen now if you heard that word not my words you heard the word of god pray with me this prayer if you don't know what it means to be saved if you don't understand salvation pray this with me dear lord i know i'm a sinner i believe you died for my sins right now and i turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and my life and i confess that you are my personal lord and savior if you said that with me amen and you believe it in your heart then what we need you to do is to go to readtemple.org forward slash cares or just type in salvation just type in prayer or join and we will connect with you and walk with you and take you by the hand and read temple members you will join with a group of members who are working on the very same thing being meek and humble and patient and loving being the beloved community amen and that's what it means to be saved amen and so god let's pray for those who are who i can don't don't don't wait don't wait if this freaked your heart if you thought about this touch touch a screen now and just type it in read temple.org forward slash cares and we pray for those and we rejoice because the angels in heaven are rejoicing when any one sinner comes to know jesus christ as their lord and savior in the name of jesus we pray amen amen and now once god has given to us through the word of god it is up to us to respond by our offering and it's easy to sow a seed just text the word read temple altogether to eight three three seven one five three three one eight eight three three seven one five three one we thank you for those who give faithfully some people give a little bit every day whatever it is we ask you to give your tithe and then then give an offering a thank you i thank you not to me not to pastor mark but to the lord for what he's doing through your beloved community and that's re temple amen amen pastor what are our amounts and that's what this has been a wonderful wonderful wonderful hallelujah moment in god i have to say it i have to say it remember thank you for a deep word thank you for a teaching word particularly when you deal with patience in humility oh my goodness thank you for a word that set our souls on fire i know everybody felt because i was reading the chats as you were preaching and everybody was everybody benefited and were encouraged and enriched by your word uh so please know that the first lady works really hard on that uh as well as what she does is executive minister and director of human resources so she's up uh both night and day to make sure that word comes at you uh normally we would be working out on wednesday uh but together but uh we both need a little rest after she has put so much time into that world so thank you uh first lady for that word here's an announcement one the 1500 project is picking up a lot of steam and you haven't been if you haven't signed up you need to do it right away i'm telling you over the weekend we had 100 people sign up for that 1500 project god gave a vision uh to have 1500 people in bible study do you remember the vision god gave us for spiritual gifts and how we just had an overwhelming amount of people who signed up for that the same thing's happening with the second vision that god gives and that is the 1500 project 1500 project is directly from god god said teach my people uh hallelujah and he said you remind me without a vision do people perish so the vision that god has given is for you to sign up now sign up today for the 1500 project and that is an interactive bible study where we really get an opportunity to have an opportunity to learn the word at our own pace yeah and the way we want to uh so please i want you to send an email to bible study read temple.org that's the email bible study at read temple.org or if you see on the screen you can go right online yes you can you can go right online and you will find that you will find information that's right visit read temple.org events to sign up you will find that you will study to find yourself approved i'm excited about the 1500 project i've already sent out to the participants of the 1500 project you've already received your bible study yeah amen you've already received it yesterday and you also received a daily devotion from me let me let you know the 1500 project people are receiving the benefits of what we talked about and then today you would be participating in the meeting at 6 86 pm to talk about how we can make bible study better and make it more rich and make it more interactive so please we want you to get involved in the recreation of bible study number two official board meeting is happening on september the 20th sign up now official board meeting we want everybody to do it it's going to be via zoom everybody's going to have an opportunity to participate uh john moody's going to produce it for us so that everybody will have the benefit of participating in the official board meeting no one will feel left out in this virtual community and so we want you to sign up for the official board number three uh grief share boy when i lost mom as you know um a year ago a year ago i needed griefshare and i went to griefshare i and i and i'mma tell you it helped me because mom lived with us for almost 30 years and it helped me it helped me tremendously and so please please please don't miss out on the opportunity to participate in grief share every saturday from 10 o'clock to 12. if you lost a loved one if someone is sick um if you're going through some challenges please sign up for grief here listen thank you for joining us remember give us any closing comments and then we'll let you go have a good day i need to go to bed amen come on everybody god bless you god bless you god bless you we will see you on friday the subject for friday is unity in the community how can we do it yeah we will see you friday at 6 a.m tomorrow reverend dubai and reverend day god bless [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] will you help me [Music] you're [Applause] everybody is [Applause] [Applause] give him the prize [Music]

Channel: Reid Temple AME

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Length: 42min 40sec (2560 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021