September 16, 2017 "A Taste of Assurance", Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown

david says o taste and see how good god is taste and see taste and see taste and see are you getting good to me now you'll just have to just don't wait for me just just let me go on do what I'm doing okay [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] I've lived on my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth but had not been for the Lord on our side where would we be they then waited on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount upon we they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not think I have been young and it now older but I have never seen the righteous with me [Applause] when I think of the goodness [Music] Oh [Music] Oh hallelujah I thank the Lord [Music] Oh [Music] I've been god for besides my life I thank God for allowing me to be present with you here at historic Alfred Street this evening to your marvelous pastor who's trusting me with his blood so if I do something wrong see him after service dr. Wesley I thank you to all clergy present to the officers members the visitors and friend I grew up Baptist so I know what I'm supposed to do the choir who has made preaching tests less daunting I thank you psalm 34 verses 1 through 8 I'll be reading from the common English version psalm 34 verses 1 through 8 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise will always be in my mouth I praise the Lord that the suffering listen and rejoice magnify the Lord with me together let us lift his name up high I sought the Lord and he answered me he delivered me from all my fears those who look to God will shine their faces will never be ashamed the suffering person cried out the Lord listened and saved him from every trouble on every side the Lord's messenger protects those who honor God and he delivers them taste and see that the Lord is the one who takes refuge in him is truly happy this is God's word for all of God's people you may take your seats the topic we will attend to is a taste of assurance a taste of assurance our contemporary world seems to be brimming with difference of opinion division of races destruction of property dissimilarity of cultures diversity of taste desperate income denial of beliefs disagreement of politics discrepancy of values detachment of generations dismemberment of families dissolution of marriages this service of life departmental izing of humanity disjuncture of faith and a distaste by everything going on in your city our ears our eyes our spirits are bombarded constantly by predictions of the demise of humanity and hatred of one group for another and and it might cause some people to want to just fold their tent and never come out of their houses again but believers are taught that God never fails to send a word of assurance to enable and empower us to rest and this stuff that we call life Fanny Crosby and Phoebe Palmer Knapp put it this way in 1873 blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory define I'm an heir of salvation purchase of God I'm born of his spirit and washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long that's the sentiment that we find in David's testimony in our focused text David had been there and done that yet my momma used to say David had done everything he thought he was big enough to do right or wrong or indifferent he accomplished things that people twice his age could imagine and as we approach this text David is having a my soul looks back and wonders kind of moment and in the text he begins to reflect on that time when he had to play to pretend to have lost his mind to avoid being killed have you ever been in a space where you thought you had to act like somebody else in order to survive made yourself small so that other people could stand talk act like you didn't understand the question so you wouldn't be abused diminish your intellectual capital to avoid attacks on your education you need your knowledge of the law to avoid being beaten denied you're here it is in order not to have your culture ripped apart silence your religious conviction to avoid integration in a class or in the church hid your talents to avoid jealous critique pretended to be something or someone that you were not just in order to fit in with people that didn't care about you anyway believed a negative assessment of your gifts by somebody that had absolutely no gifts [Music] [Applause] David composes a hymn a sermon of what he experienced in that moment it had simmered in his soul for a while and he remembered how it felt to be delivered to be snatched from the jaws of death and saved when he couldn't save himself and he loved loved when he couldn't even love himself he said he had no choice but to articulate to to write a poem to give a report to sing a song to say something that how good god was is and will always be he wanted to share his spiritual testimony not that tired when we say over and over again to impress other people he had a testimony about God he had a spiritual feast he had to go so you say beginning this way I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord at all times I will bless the Lord at all times his praise will always be in my mouth God's praise will always be in my mouth not humanity's praise but God's praise will always and forever be in my mouth that is an astounding promise an incredible pledge a momentous vow an overwhelming statement at all times every second every minute every hour every day every month every year every decade every sin I will not perhaps not maybe not when I feel like it I want to get my way now when somebody's looking out on Sunday not on Saturday night not during the conference that when I receive what I want but not sometimes what the writer says I will bless the Lord at all times then he says I will praise revere think acknowledge God at all times no matter what no matter where no matter where no matter who's around I will honor God's presence and power and purpose at all times regardless continually non-stop with every breath that I take with every move that I make with every word I will praise God forever and ever and ever and ever and ever think about David's pledge the average attention span of a human being is 8.25 seconds a goldfish has nine seconds I was waiting you out to see if you were still attending what is our Thanksgiving attention span just during worship service just when we post on Facebook a hundred and forty character praise a YouTube shout-out a periscope a Marco Polo when I have a solo when somebody else says a man to my sermon when my choir sings when my shipboard sings David says at all times and all times it seems like a lot doesn't it and all times david said because of all god has done for us to us through us and in spite of us we are invited to praise god in the sanctuary yes to praise God with drums and heart yes with every breath praise God with every step praising of every fiber of our beings bless God think of how wonderful life would be if we gave God the same thanks and energy as we give trying to kill and abuse and dehumanize agra tikka deny others with our words conspiracy against another sister because of what she's accomplished what he has worked for think about the first breath in the morning blessing God's not complaining because we have to get up and go to a job that some people wish to add David said let me tell you why I give this continuous praise listen listen to David's testimony I tried all kinds of things but God was the only one that would help my case I was on the run from King Saul I went to ashes gas King and one of the servants recognized when I was afraid so I had to change my behavior I acted insane I started scratching on the city gate post I was drooling all over my beer they ignored me because you know people leave crazy people alone we got crazy long enough people gonna leave you alone you see and they ignored me and I tried to escape to a fortress and rebuild my forces and unite my family when the enemies came after me tried to take me out scandalize my name they lied about me they talked about my people didn't think I was going to make it gathered a little army of minions cuz you know folks don't do stuff by themselves they always got some minions with them don't you see got some minions together started coming at me and just when they thought they really get me look at God they failed again and I'm still standing right here David says old magnify the Lord with me help me praise God God answered my prayers God gave me a protection God hid me in the secret place that only God and I know about God raised me up in the presence of my enemies I have to sing my soul rejoices I really love the Lord I really love the Lord you don't know what he's done for me I really love the Lord no matter what I've been through I got to praise God the Elliott says together let us lift his name on high see see worship of God is community nobody owns praise there's no one-size-fits-all praise you don't know what I've been through so you can't tell me how to praise God think about everything in every place in every issue in every situation God has already brought you through and you can praise God by yourself you have to wait to get in the sanctuary you can weep their own tears and sling your own snot and fall out all by yourself and fan your own self because you know what God has already done for you David says when I called on God God answered me didn't need my resume or my Vita on my reference letter God already knows what we need before we ask God already knows our stuff even when we try to add it God did not put David on hold didn't ignore his text didn't defend him because they didn't understand his predicament didn't refer him to other gods didn't request a credit check or direct deposit for a miracle didn't say yet or run up and throw some money at God's feet David said when I called on God God come on and answered me right then and there they said God delivered me from all my fears I tried God and I know God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all I would everything but look at his testimony remember that God is always able to deliver David says I can't make this face stuff up there to take my word to just believe it the crux of the prayer is here David says Oh taste and see how good god is taste and see taste and see taste and see are you getting good to me now you'll just have to just don't wait for me just just let me go on do what I'm doing okay I love to cook it relaxes me it stimulates my creativity and in the tradition of my grandmother's and my parents and my aunts I cook every opportunity I get not just Sundays and holidays and I try to provide a tangible and a tactile and a tasteful expression of love and as I begin to make mama Tessie jeath rolls and grandma floors a peach cobbler and daddys barbecued ribs and mamma's something out of nothing fee five thousand casserole my late husband's sour cream pound cake of that red wine chocolate cake there just curl your toes up you know what I'm saying and Veronica squash casserole it and recipes on Food Network and the two and a pioneer lady and all that other kind of stuff you know the stuff that's on it and I begin pouring my energy into creating this memorable dition and sometimes my friends and family come over not only to enjoy it but sometimes they request it again and I'll find myself waiting when they taste it saying how does it taste thank you help me preach this how does it taste I know how it tastes and I remember how it tastes I want to know what they think about that tissue you say taste is important to our memory you see there there are 10,000 taste buds with 50 to 150 receptors each sending information to our brains through different chemical reactions to what we put in our mouth that the taste stimulation you know the flavors and each receptor has a nerve ending and it's replaced every two weeks so we have a memory of the taste but not the exact taste of what we had before that's why y'all complain when y'all go back to a restaurant if they don't taste like it did last time of course you got new taste buds and oh this is alright it does your honor guitar and so there's these different kind of taste either there's a sweet taste that's pleasure like cotton candy and sugar there's a sour acrid taste that's kind of sour like lemons and lime is a salty taste like potato chips and peanuts and salt pork those of y'all that ever had it I don't know if you did it and bitter it's kind of sharp and unpleasant disagreeable like some medications and radishes and stuff like that it the taste buds are the experience that the temperature and the consistency and the volume of what we put in our mouth and and another component that tasted the smell about smelling something you can tell the difference between foods sometimes and what we drinking and without the smell sometimes it's difficult to distinguish even the taste there and sometimes we taste it we have to see it in order to taste it you know the power of image is a food art artist painstakingly arranged lighting and arranged and rearranged edible so they typically our mental images of what something's supposed to taste like we we Santa sighs watching commercials about the food before we order it new yet upset cause it doesn't taste like what we thought it was and we looked at the picture don't you see sometimes we we taste with just the tip of our tongue because we don't want to commit to anything [Applause] and sometimes we just take a spoonful cuz we almost persuaded don't just see and other times we eat the whole thing before we know this because we just bless we just pushed it down there and we don't do it and it's a matter you know regardless of how much I copy other people's recipes that it's not mine I can't live through somebody else I think that's why Davis said you got a taste and see for yourself you see cuz I can't taste what you taste the way you taste it I can only work with what God gave me to deal with don't you see you get you know you got give gotta try taste and see that the Lord is good our relationship with God is like preparing a meal sometimes our experience with God has don't be sweet when everything goes our way and sometimes it's gonna be sour cuz we upset on every hand because our plans didn't go well and sometimes it's salty because we just crying tears of sorrow and sadness and sometimes it's bitter because we disappointed as we grow older the more experience we have we tend to have some problems with our taste buds our our sense of taste is weakened and duller damage you know from extreme heat from indecision being in a love-hate relationship with God and God's children and God's church or poor gastronomic habits we get an indigestion about our life you know allowing the wrong things up in our bodies or misdiagnosed condition that we want about some kind of infection of our taste buds or addictive behaviors that infect our entire soul that lead us to weaken spiritual taste results like zero zeitgeist and yesterday's yields an extraordinary xenophobia and weak workers worship and venomous voices and unholy unions and timid testimonies and stolen sanctification and robotic ritual and questionable inquiries and practice praised practice praised practice praised and opportunistic openness and nauseating niceties and mendacious mercy and lacerating love and killing kindness and jaded joy and insensitive insight and hiked holiness and grafted grace and fabricated favor and envy a solicitation and disingenuous devotion a cosmetic charity and borrow blessing and airbrushed anointing you know what I'm saying airbrushing mole in a new reception of the flavor of what our faith is supposed to be but God has so designed that even damaged tastebuds can be healed particularly when we seek the right healing agent our sense of taste is never totally lost that's why David said old taste and see that the Lord is good and notice that David doesn't control anybody - thinking that just everyday praise is gonna do he didn't say you're not gonna have any difficulties no hard times or no dark as he simply just says I have experienced it for myself and I'm recommending that you taste God - sometimes you're gonna get it yes sometimes you're gonna get a no sometimes you go and get a wait and sometimes God makes you wait cuz God knows you're behind ain't ready for what God does for you in the first place [Applause] God does not promise us a life with all green lights and no speed limits and only mountaintops and first-place medals and abundant friends and overflowing happiness or fulfilled needs their other experiences we're going to face but God's got this and helps us live through disasters and survive character assassination flourish in the face of failure and blossom in spite of poverty and prosperity economic downturns as a seed barrier filled workplaces and thrive when we somebody else says we can't learn but the the text says then no matter what you're able to do God's gonna deliver if you call on God we're not the first ones to be going through nothing but sometimes Christians just poor mouth God so bad they think they don't only ones having trouble be slinging it's not falling out to alter every blessed Sunday they listen to God in 25 years but God has helped other people sheffrin poor were birth and babies and God delivered them desert in prison Moses was tearing his inefficiency boarding school Sammy was hearing sounds dope up in the night vast I was asking for dignity Esther was campaigning against the death penalty harp playing sheep watching David was dealing with us personal issues abigail was protecting her husband's interest Ruth was viewing life as a young widow Hannah was accepting life without children the widow's Arafat was looking for a food bank whining Elijah was promoting his solitary ministry agricultural special Elijah was plowing feels temple worshiping Isaiah was mourning the death of a king womb called Jeremiah was frightful of crowds privilege second wife Esther was avoiding responsibility Leah was seeking somebody else eleven respite of her appearance Hagar was striving with a death exile with a toddler wailed well and Jonah was a defiant races Rahab was prostituting herself to support her family Deborah was holding roadside Court by examining battle plans nature loving organic diet John without converting oxen and snakes husband nobody let him preach in the temple five-time divorced woman at the well was seeking a respectable long term relationship he thought smelling Peter was seeking to broaden his land fall fishing abilities wounded woman leading Mary was seeking freedom from social and sexual and psychological intellectual and spiritual discrimination Centurions daughter was enduring 12 years of a lost childhood Martha was trying out a new recipe sister Mary was was searching for a school that was going to admit women long time poolside beggar was waiting for somebody else to get him up off his behind and put him in the water bent over woman was iron shadows on the ground looking for a breath of fresh air long beautiful gate waiting no contributions inside him and was seeking a daily handout Rhoda was answering things that go bump in the night tablets it was sleeping eternally and even Kamalei old school of theology demon and killing people that don't agree with my beliefs Saul was blinded by the weight of long of wrong thinking but God gave him a foretaste of divine anyway too often we are tempted not to praise God - praise human beings to praise money and prestige and power and wearable wealth and and chemical and toxic and these are gonna fail us they're gonna wear out and wear off they would have value us and disappear David said you got to bless the Lord and seek the Lord the same God that worked with you last week is still here lifting us to a rock that's higher than ourselves God knows what we need before we open our mouth but you got to open your mouth and ass but before you ask God there you have to go a canosa's that means you got to enter all that dark dirty stuff out cuz God can't get in as long as you full of yourself you need we have to be endowed than what the Holy Spirit God is a company keeper but David also tells us about the fifth flavor it's called umami it's a culturally distinctive flavor it means you savor so you know the good flavor of something you savor it for its individual quality you let it move around your mouth for a little while you let it settle on your spiritual taste buds you swirl it around your brains like that good glass of wine you're gonna have after service tonight you infuse your senses so you can remember what it is you that you know you let it linger for a while so you know their fragrances but I grew up Baptist I know we drink wine don't be active shall play too much I'll play too much I'll play too me got to savor life's lessons the hills and the valleys the time to stop snacking fast food engagement with God time to spend some real time with God to savor what God has already done for us to spend some time alone to God top stop trying to be spiritual muppets following the crowd blindly saying Amen well you know you don't agree laughter one ain't nothing funny and scratching when you ain't in time for your personal experience God to rest in God for a while have some personal reflection about what God has done and continues to do time to look back over your life for a minute don't stay there cuz you'd be scared to death because God has already brought you out of more stuff than you face and right now you got to save a god for yourself got a taste God that way you got savor even a sour event sometimes things have been salty sometimes they've been accurate but you got to savor even a bit of problems because you can remember what God has already done for you my mothers and fathers should say he's sweet I know he's sweet I'd know storm clouds may rise and strong winds may go I will tell the world wherever I go but I have found our Savior and he's sweet I know o taste and see that the Lord is good the psalmist looks back and said I believe I have no doubt I'm certain that if it had not been for the Lord I wouldn't be here right now I recognize that nobody but God removed all the fear from my life when I savor what God is gonna take a second and look at my spiritual mirror and perceive the essence of my memory bank and walked down my own spiritual street and look at the rules of my own blessed house and retrace the footsteps of my own life journey and tell my own story I didn't have to borrow nobody else's I didn't have to covet what God has done for somebody else I didn't have to get in the head when somebody else talks about a blessing because God has blessed me abundantly more than I have room to tell if I had ten thousand terms I couldn't tell people enough about what God has already done for you you've got us than anything for you nobody should have to hype you to praise God nobody should have to tell us what time to come to church but I should tell us when the rehearsal starts we there before they open the doors of church for God has just been that good to us God has been that good to us o taste and see but God is good but let me listen to God turn off your phone put down the remote the game that replays on then I'll be pre playing all week tell your friends you can't talk right now even in church you know cuz some of us got the friend to sit next to us in church to talk all through we're service and if you don't want just put your head down right now I'm talking about stop saying I can't and start believing God will stop saying nobody likes me as long as God love you don't matter what the rest of the people think no way don't need a preacher don't need a special day don't need a choir an usher or a Pew rally with it we don't need a media screw you don't need order we don't need a particular body a picture time to worship you can worship God any time just you don't need a book you don't need to go to a conference and spend a whole bunch of money for stuff that you don't already know anyway you have to throw money at a profit or profit just affirms what God has already told you and open your mind you got a mind and a memory you don't need people always tell you what you know to know about God David said I bless God every chance I get my lungs expand with his praise I live and breathe God if things aren't going well I'm gonna be happy anyway join me in spreading the good news together let us get the word out God meets me more than halfway God frees me from all my anxieties look at God look at God God gives you the warmest smile don't hide your feelings from God when I was desperate and called out God got me out of a tight spot God's angels said a circle of protection all around me I have to open my mouth and taste over my ears and and listen I got to see how good god is Oh taste and see that God's mercy endures forever I don't know your testimony I don't know your struggle or your story it might be salty right now it might be bitter right now but this place and this hour we learn to savor what God has already done savor God's love savor God's promise savor God's goodness God wants heartfelt praise not when somebody tells you to do it taste and see that God is good remember that we have someone that understood this assurance this taste of assurance so you can say I don't know about tomorrow but I know who's in charge of tomorrow I know that my redeemer lives I I learned to look at the light in the darkness and see the light I'm strong enough to face any impending difficulty I find joy just waking up in the morning I know that doctor's diagnosis is not the end of my life I experience God in places that everybody else said God was dead I was sure to see the let god the goodness of the Lord in the land of a living I will not give up I believe I have a strong faith that your life experience tell you about God Jesus even the Christ who changed the taste of water into celebratory wine provided dinner for five hundred five thousand with two fish and five loaves of bread one day and catered a meal for four thousand the next day was seven fish and some seven loaves and some fish hosted a going-away dinner with lamb and bitter herbs and unleavened bread and eggs and four types of wine Jesus knew about taste Jesus tasted that the city hyssop the vinegar the dirt the blood the next day on the cross he tasted salty sweat of his Labor's on the cross he tasted bitter tears we've heard those who would not believe he tasted the sweetness of the testimony of those who stood by to the end he savor the glory to come ain't tasted like we can taste it at the Welcome Table but you have to taste it for yourself you have to tell your own story tonight won't you magnify the Lord with me exalt God's name together and then you'll be able to say this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my Savior all the day long taste and see that the Lord is good [Applause] you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 9,851

Rating: 4.9189191 out of 5

Keywords: Alfred Street Baptist Church, A Taste of Assurance, Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley, 2017

Id: yAKhoAnazRs

Length: 30min 57sec (1857 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2017