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he endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say so whom we have redeemed from the hand of the enemy if you're excited about a sunday morning when we gather together for worship let's bless that wonderful name of jesus what an a the name that is above every name the name that has power to save an hour to heal the power to deliver and power to give you brand new experiences every morning of your life bless the wonderful name of jesus our god is great and greatly to be praised and on this third sunday of october in the year of our lord 2021 wheeler avenue baptist church leadership gathers in the cathedral made holy by the presence of god to worship the lord in the beauty of his holiness and i thank god for this beautiful sunday that god has given us for worship in this place let's pray together now as we begin our time of worship we have so many brothers and sisters in our church family who are bereaved and who are infirm some who are hospitalized some who are homebound and all of them need our prayers today but to be sure all of us stand in the need of prayer so whatever prayer needs you may have we invite you to lift it before god even as i pray for all of us invoking the presence of god in this place for the spirit of the lord is there is liberty we invoke the presence of god in this place for in his presence there is fullness of joy we invoke the presence of god in this place for we might so that we might worship god in spirit and in truth great god how we love you and praise you and thank you for who you are and for all that you mean to us we thank you for this awesome privilege that you have given to us to honor you to bless you to thank you for what you have done in each and every one of our lives we bless you this morning because you have given to us the privilege of life health and strength to the degree that we have it and we thank you that things are as well with us as they are thank you this sunday morning for the opportunity to gather in this space that you have provided for wheeler avenue baptist church we thank you for these clergy persons who join us and these deacons and deaconesses who join us we thank you for these trustees who join us we thank you for these hospitality servants who have gathered with us today to ensure excellence in worship to a god who is excellent oh lord our lord how excellent is your name in all the earth and we thank you so much for loving us with an everlasting love this morning we come to say thank you for last night's lying down and this morning's early rising we thank you that when we awakened we were able to know where we were and know who we are we were able to get ourselves ready for worship this lord's name thank you for that we do not take for granted what others may not be able to enjoy so thank you for the wonderful privilege that you've given to us thank you for these who gather in this sacred space today for our founding pastor for his 93 years of life we give you thanks we bless you oh god for the one who started this congregation with a vision nearly 60 years ago for that we give you thanks oh god we thank you for those who joined with him these charter members who sit before us and for all of their families and for those charter members who now rest in sainted memory beginning with mrs lawson and all of the others who came along with them we give you praise o god for every leader in this place who has gathered to show that we are the sons and daughters of god who seek to guide god's people in this god's church thank you for our gathering today thank you that despite how long it's been since we've gathered we're still grateful to be one with another to be in fellowship with each other and now god i pray that your holy spirit will have your own way in this house and our worship will be sweet that our worship will be pleasing unto you and we will honor you with everything that we say and do in this space over these next several minutes we thank you great god that you're still a prayer hearing and a prayer answering god so will you hear our prayer on with regard to our sisters and brothers who are grieving today dealing with the rough reality that they've loved ones to pass from labor to reward we pray today for those who are sick in their bodies we thank you that you're a healer that you're able to heal all manner of disease who you heal in the name of the lord jesus christ we thank you oh god that you're a company keeper somebody's lonely i pray oh god that you will comfort them and give them the presence of the feeling of your presence in that space that they occupy so they will know that there is still joy in your presence we thank you oh god that you're a mind regulator so while we worship you if our minds are out of sorts if our minds are not properly stayed on you will you regulate our minds keep us in perfect peace as we keep our mind stayed on you whatever we need we know you're able to supply there is absolutely nothing too hard for you so even if we leave it under you you're able to answer you're able to provide to supply and we pray that you'll do it in the name of jesus and we get such joy in knowing that you're not just a god who hears us but you're a god who answers us so in the name of the lord jesus we pray that you will answer us according to your will and we promise to give you all the glory that is due unto your name we promise to shout hallelujah for you're a prayer answering god in jesus name we pray amen let the church respond that the church responds let the church respond hallelujah [Applause] i pray in jesus name i pray in jesus name and by faith [Applause] he's a prayer he's a prayer answering [Applause] we know he god look at where we are look at where we are hallelujah he's a rare answering god thank you lord thank you lord [Music] [Applause] in jesus name the hallelujah came hallelujah [Music] yes will bless him all over this place [Music] [Applause] [Music] will you join us [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] come is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] come on give me praise hallelujah thank you jesus hallelujah jesus [Music] psalm 133 behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even aaron's beard that went down to the skirt of his garment as the dew of hermon and as the dew that descend upon the mountains of zion for there the lord commanded a blessing even life forevermore great is his faithfulness hallelujah and amen [Music] and we enter into his gates with thanksgiving and until this court with praise we are faithful unto him and we will bless this mighty name come on put those hands together let's give god glory this morning hallelujah come on saints let's cut and hallelujah be to the one above now let your glory ring from heaven above [Music] now let your glory ring from and we proclaim that there is [Music] hallelujah [Music] from heaven above [Music] now that your glory rain from heaven [Music] that there is [Music] and we proclaim that there is [Music] no you are mighty and we pray your name lord you are great [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are you are mighty and we pray your name lord you are great god [Music] lord you are powerful lord you are [Music] name lord you are lord you are powerful lord you are [Music] we pray your name and we praise your name as we praise your name and we pray lord you are [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the day that the lord has made and we've come to rejoice and be made glad in it come on why don't you give great praise to our great god who is worthy to be praised from the rising of the sun even until the going down of the very same our great god is greatly to be praised we honor this god who is great and mighty and powerful and what a joy it is to worship with you my brothers and sisters and all of you who worship with us virtually we thank god for the wheel of wherever family including those church leaders our clergy deacons deaconesses and trustees who are present with us in the cathedral and we thank god for each of you who tunes in to worship with us and we pray that you would be blessed having worshipped with us on this day if this is your very first time worshiping with us we want for you to let us know from whence you are tuning in we want to know that you are a first-time friend so that we might greet you and be kind to you as a consequence of your first time visiting with us even virtually and we want to let you know that we're excited about your virtual presence but we thank god for the entirety of the family of faith virtual and in the cathedral and we come to welcome our first-time friends as a matter of fact we're welcoming everyone this is all of our first time we welcome you my sisters we welcome you my brothers to the avenue even at the cathedral [Music] [Music] [Music] and we represent our [Music] [Music] [Applause] lord we welcome you to rain in this place in this this is the day that you [Music] make sure you come back [Music] we certainly do welcome you to wheeler avenue baptist church on this very significant sunday for the in the life and history of wheeler avenue baptist church our god has blessed us in ways that still blow our minds and we're so grateful that we have the opportunity to gather together in this sacred space this place in which we now worship for the very first time to god be the glory for this opportunity to be in this sacred space and we're grateful that we have the opportunity for this launching of worship experiences here and we're doing so with just the leaders of our congregation i'll see a minute i'll say something else in a minute just about them but i'm grateful for that welcome song we just sang many of us have been hearing it across the years singing it celebrating with it uh yesterday just to begin on a summer no fairly somber note our beloved brother sean mclemore who served on our music staff for quite some time and co-wrote that song we just sang he went home to be with the lord and was funeralized yesterday will you help me celebrate the memory of that great lyricist and vocalist sean mclemore and what he shared at wheeler avenue baptist church he along with our minister of music and brother clyde earl duncan blessed us with that song and we're so grateful for the way we are able to celebrate uh the welcome of brothers and sisters into and around wheeler avenue baptist church and to all of you around the world who share with us god bless you one and all thank you so much many of you have prayed for wheeler avenue baptist church many of you have contributed to the ministry of wheeler avenue baptist church and so first to our members here in the greater houston area and then to all the wheeler worldwide folk we thank god for your will and wherever we thank god for you and for the way that you have committed yourself to this congregation even in a pandemic it's been a long time since the third sunday of march 2020 uh but we are so grateful that we are able to be together uh these next three weeks as the leadership of wheeler avenue baptist church and then on the first sunday of november all of the sisters and brothers of our congregation who register will be able to come into this place and worship with us and i'm excited about that i'm looking forward to that looking forward to seeing the smiling faces of the saints who've been away for so long uh please know that registration will open up next monday a week from tomorrow registration will open up october 25th and you'll be able to register for those two services 8 a.m and 11 30 a.m i'm excited today to be in the sanctuary of the cathedral i've got to get used to that language as well can be in the cathedral with um the leadership of our church as i've mentioned before and it starts with our founding pastor emeritus the reverend dr william alexander lawson will you help me praise god for his presence in this place what a joy it is to see you sir what a joy it is to see you so grateful that you are here my goodness pastor lawson began the work of this church in 1962 and from that day until this he's still praying for us and still encouraging us at 93 years of life until god be the glory for him and he is surrounded by two daughters and a son-in-law melody wave your hand share a wave your hand and we're so grateful that shell's husband thomas is here as well thank god for you and for all of the lost and family those who give him care on a 24-hour seven-day basis thank you ladies for your commitment to our founding pastor that's why he still looks so good he's got his children and caregivers and all of us praying for him and i'm so grateful that we have the privilege to see him today amen amen i want to do something that's going to take just a few minutes because i want our worldwide viewership to know exactly what we're doing here at wheeler avalon we began praising god for our founding pastor but he did not start this church by himself he was com he was accompanied by his beloved wife she is now in sainted memory died in december of 2015 but will you help me even in memoriam thank god for mrs audrey and hoffman lawson and for the work that she did to make wheeler avenue baptist church what she is today amen amen amen amen amen amen we thank god for her and for the great work that she did to ensure the progress of wheeler avenue baptist church but the lawsons were not alone in this endeavor there were 13 then 22 charter members who started with them 13 on that first day 22 by the time the charter was started and i want to thank god for those who are still in houston and who are at wheeler avenue baptist church every sunday that the lord sends beyond the pandemic right and i'm so grateful for them digging this booker digging his cash show deaconess jackson deacon jackson dickiness uh you can ask oh my good ryan will you all please stand will you all please stand these are our charter members who are still at wheeler avenue baptist church to this day amen amen amen for nearly 60 years they've been right here and i'm so grateful for them they have offspring that are here all their children digging lying digging in this book or just they're taking a spontaneous i'm sorry please raise your hand and deep brother bryant all the all of the offspring of our of our charter members we are grateful for your presence in this place and sitting with your families as well listen our deacons deaconesses well starting with our clergy our clergy our deacons and deaconesses trustees are in this place these are the only ones who are here aside from our hospitality ministries of those who are helping to maintain order in the house of the lord and i want to thank god for each of them will you will you please stand deacon cher brian hicks will you please stand sister hicks will you stand deaconess hicks all deacons of our church will you please stand all the deacons of our church i want the world to see who gives leadership to this church you all are a phenomenal bunch of individuals and we thank god for you thank you deacons please i want you to have a seat have you seen because i want to acknowledge every group separately uh deaconess penny nobles will you please stand along with your spouse deacon ricky nobles he already stood but i want him to stand again all the deaconesses of our church will you please stand my sisters thank god for you [Applause] praise god for your presence so please remain standing deaconess mildred lord i see you back there it's so good to see you her husband deacon trustee earl lord started out this building project with us and we're so grateful uh for your presence she's been ill but the lord has raised her up to be in church today and we're so excited about that and so many others who have been infirmed but the lord brought them to church this morning god bless you thank you your women you may be seated in this place and then we have a board of 13 individuals uh who give leadership to the fiscal responsibility of wheeler avenue baptist church and if it were not for them for some very crucial votes that they took from very crucial decisions that they made we would not be able to worship in this place the way we do deacon trustee chairman omar reid will you please stand along with your spouse as the janus [Applause] and i'm going to ask all the other 12 trustees to please stand the other 12 trustees there are 13 of them and they're scattered throughout the house god bless you god bless you thank you so much i mean when i tell you they had call meetings they had unplanned meetings which is a call meeting they had so many meetings throughout these years to make sure that this vision would come to pass and we cannot thank them enough for all of the work that they did to ensure the progress of this experience i likewise want to thank god for the clergy of our church they have done so much to ensure a prayer support and presence in various spaces of ministry all the preachers sisters and brothers stand up please all the preachers at wheeler avenue please stand praise god for you we honor you for your your support along this way we are so grateful that god has blessed us with a cadre of clergy uh who loved the lord and loved the lord's church and are committed to it you may be seated in the presence of the lord now we had three individuals who were the building committee chairs and i need to do this i want the world to see this we'll have another opportunity to do this um in in a future time but i want to make sure that on this first day in the cathedral we honor those who have committed literally seven days a week to thinking about praying for and working toward the erection of this facility this cathedral for the glory of god i want deacon terrence fontaine to please stan along with his spouse as the deidre please stand thank god for you thank god for you he's been so diligent in his work deaconess angela jubeir will you please stand and your spouse deacon cedric please stand thank you so much for the work that you do and have done and then in memoriam and morium we thank god for brother milton scott he is with the lord now but he worked so diligently his wife yava ensured that he was able to do that and until he became entirely too ill to do so he was right here at work with the process of building this building well all the folks who shared on the building committee please stand all those who shared on the building committee there are others beyond the leadership of our church but i want all these in the sanctuary in the cathedral to stand thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you so much for making this a possibility i have so much to say about individual members of the committee at a later time but i'm grateful for their presence today i want to thank god for the executive pastor wheeler avenue baptist church who has done so much stan reverend kevin alexander e m johnson come on and thank god for him thank god for him [Applause] for those for those around the world who only hear him welcome us to worship you need to know that monday through saturday he is doing so much more he is working so diligently so hard to make sure that all the pieces fit together thank you sir his spouse is out of the of the cathedral right now tending to one of the babies but we're so grateful uh that the entirety of the johnson family is here i've asked the spouses to stand because none of us could do what we do without the spouses who assist us and encourage us and help us i got one of them mrs andre marie cosby will you please stand praise the lord for you god bless you man praise the lord thank god for all of you and of course our five children are present in the worship space and we thank god for adrian marie ashley marie marcus d ii matthew d and aaliyah marie have to make sure i can do that still it's a lot of work that's a lot of names amen but thank god for all of them listen since we've been away from one another since march of 2020 we have not missed one beat with qualitative excellent music ministry that's because of these things minister leon christopher lewis and your spouse will you please stand sister valencia so people can know who you are where you are their children are here and all of these instrumentalists and singers help me thank god they have kept us connected for 19 months praise the lord for them i'm so grateful for them and for what they do to ensure the progress of our worship experiences and this phenomenal pastoral staff of preachers they have been here every week please stand sisters and brothers i appreciate you i thank god for you i don't thank you enough but every week in long meetings and there are other senior staff members who are not clergy and i want to thank all of you for the work that you do to make sure uh that wheeler avenue baptist church functions in excellence listen i'm excited to tell the entirety of the world who may be listening that this room is entirely 100 completely and fully vaccinated because we take seriously the health and wellness of one another everyone in the room except the children under 12 are completely vaccinated and i'm excited about that i wanted you to know that today and i thank god for those who have taken it seriously and have gone to make sure that you not only protect yourself but protect your neighbor amen so thank you so much even though we're fully vaccinated of course we're still masked in the same in the cathedral and we're grateful for everyone who is taking these the protocols very seriously very quickly thank you for being in prayer with us this past wednesday morning we met and exceeded our goal of 2021 individuals and we're so grateful for the opportunity that you've given to us uh to pray together and to stay together as a congregation in prayer each wednesday morning at six wednesday evening at 6 pm we'll be in prayer again and we look forward to that experience uh as dr barnette and the prayer ministry shall lead us in the virtual space and then in virtual reality we will likewise be in revival as dr maurice watson comes to preach the word of god to us i want to celebrate one of the women of god who's a member of our church not a preacher not a deaconess not a deacon but she is a very treasured member of our congregation and on this past monday sister callie ratliff turned 98 years old i just want to thank god for her 98 years of life praise god for mother callie ratliff and she is not in the in the cathedral but she will be watching today and i'm so grateful that she is a part of this congregation such a sweet spirit and wonderful woman and we thank god for her may i have a moment of personal privilege please moment of personal privilege this coming friday our firstborn child is getting married adrian marie cosby is getting married stand up sweet girl stand up that's our firstborn and she's getting married and we thank you so much for praying for her and for her intended we want you to be in prison the plan had been to invite the entire congregation but of course kobe won't let us do that but thank you so much for being a part of her life she came to this church with us 23 years ago the only one who came with us 23 years ago and yeah a lot has happened in 23 years but thank god that adrian marie came with us and she has been a blessing to our family and so now she will be a part of as you expanding the family to include yet another individual reverend micah gaines and we thank god for that so pray for them as friday they come to be married will you help me thank god for my mother who's in the house uh mrs bobby cosby bobby gene todd cosby if you're able to stand just stand up so everybody can see you everybody doesn't know who you are thank god for you i'm grateful that she moved here to be with us several years ago only at the request of my big brother she i've been here for 20 years and she hadn't come uh then when my brother moved down here then she decided she was gonna move ain't that something but i'm grateful for my big brother deacon andre cosby who runs the facility stand up man and your dear spouse is the kim thank god for you and will you while you're clapping thank god for all of our team on facilities because they keep this place together i see you back there they keep this house together thank you they work nearly seven days a week if not seven six days a week to make sure that wheeler avenue baptist church looks good every time we gather together for worship it's offering time in the cathedral the first time we give in this house and we're excited about giving we're excited about giving to the lord we're going to continue to use our devices and for those of you who have not yet uh mastered the device there will be lock boxes available to you as you leave the cathedral today those of you who are around the world who contribute to the wheeler avenue church may continue to do so as you are led either by these electronic devices or by mailing your gifts to wheeler avenue or you may come and put them in the lock box on our ruth street loca on our street edifice in the christian life center lock box but let's continue to give this is actually commitment sunday it's the third sunday just makes sense that we'd be here on commitment sunday you can see what you've been committed to for these last several years and you can maintain that commitment and continue to give to the work uh we are not done yet we still have much more to accomplish especially financially and as you continue to give we'll continue to to stretch out for the glory of god our finance team led by deaconess paulette frederick does a great job of making sure that our gifts are well taken care of thank you deaconess for the work that you do and for the ministry that you provide to this church and so now as we give today we honor the lord with our with our tithes our offerings the first fruit of our increase and as we give we're going to honor the lord by ensuring the lord's house is well taken care of i'm going to pray and then just before the singers sing our founding pastor is going to share his pastoral remarks with us we cannot come into this place and not hear a word from the founder and so he's going to share word with us however he is led to speak to us and then immediately thereafter music ministry will bless us and then we shall hear from the word of god let's pray thank you lord that all we need your hand provides thank you that you are a good god a gracious god a generous god you're great and greatly to be praised so we praise you now with our lips we praise you with our lives we praise you with these gifts that we now leave at your altar even the virtual altar so that the work of building the kingdom of god through wheeler avenue baptist church might continue to expand thank you so much for honoring us with the privilege of giving back to you a portion of what you have given to us and may you forever be pleased with our stewardship will you ever be pleased with our presentations may you ever be pleased with our lives bless every gift and every giver i pray in the strong and precious name of the lord jesus christ and all of god's people together said amen just before our pastor emeritus speaks to us i looked down at my notes and recognized that there was a name that i did not call and i want to apologize profusely for not calling that name whenever you start calling names you're bound or prone to miss someone but the day-to-day leadership of building management and construction has been under the leadership of the reverend david moore reverend moore you over there please stand sir we need to see you thank you sir thank you so much his about sister k is sitting right here thank you so much i really want you to applaud him he's here every day of the week and he's working so diligently to make sure everything is taken care of construction manager is that the actual title construction manager yes construction manager and he has managed this place my goodness so thank you so much i was over here early yesterday morning and uh he was here right along with me early yesterday morning so thank you so much reverend for being such a blessing to wheeler avenue he and sister k likewise lead our marriage ministry they've been here for years decades and we thank god for their commitment to our congregation our founding pastor speaks to us now blood god bless you pastor lawson pastor cosby all of us sit in this place and experience this worship service thanking god that when he did he answered our prayers we we became pastoralists in 1962 and i prayed to god please send us somebody who understands what we are trying to do in your name in this inner city of houston and i tried any number of times to find somebody who could preach who can lead music who can raise funds i asked god send us a pastor and for some reason he didn't answer my prayer the way i wanted him to answer it and at the time i wanted him to answer it but he sent me a young preacher who was a great preacher of young people and when he sent me the reverend marcus d cosby i said lord now this is a boy but he had told me you listened to this boy preach one time and you have no questions after that we had boy scout sunday coming up and i said this is a good time to put to put a rookie behind the floor a wheeler having a baptist shirt so i asked the reverend dr marcus d cosby who was in atlanta georgia when you come and speak to our boy scouts and he came on that sunday and he preached and he tore up our church [Applause] after that i had no questions god had answered the person that he wanted at the time that he wanted him to come and he understood what it was we needed i didn't understand what he understood and i would have called a different kind of person but when marcos cosby came he made it obvious that what god wanted for this inner city church with this diversity of congregants that when god chose the person he wanted here he chose somebody for the young for the old for the vet for the for the veteran for the rookies he called somebody that he wanted to speak to all the people who might possibly become part of of the of the wheeler avenue baptist congregation and he sent to us in case you haven't heard this story before please believe me that i have told this story over and over again and i'm sure that people who have heard it before ask can't he find any other story to tell other than how god chose marcus cosby to be pastor of wheeler avenue baptist church you know that when god does something unusual for you you can't tell that story too many times so i praise god and if you heard if you hear it 20 more times you will understand why i tell it over and over again god blesses us in ways that we can neither spill too often or repeat too often so as we get ready to give on this sunday we will understand that what god has done has been has been told as many times as god wants it to i don't know how much longer he will let me tell him but i am convinced that i cannot tell it too often when god blesses you you will understand why you have to tell the story of how god works miracles in your life [Applause] one of my children is a television journalist and i hope that she's going to to do a story on our coming into this facility [Applause] the pastor calls me you have no way of knowing how i feel that god has brought you to houston to the corner of wheeler and scott to the congregation of wheeler avenue baptist church and how i believe that he has blessed this congregation this city this country and i believe this nation with god with what god has anointed you with i won't be here much much longer but i believe that what god has blessed wheeler avenue in houston and the united states and and wherever this this this nation has been able to spread this gospel virtually some of us were giving will give virtually today i have not yet learned how to do that but one thing i know is that we are blessed to come into this space because people have been faithful in sharing their tithe the offering beyond the tithe the missions and mercy that made it possible for us to give beyond the tithe and offering beyond the building fund he has made it possible to let the world know how great is god's faithfulness so i will in this rambling this rambling remarks but i just wanted you to know that god's blessings have not been lost on me i know who has blessed this church and i know who has made it possible for wheeler avenue baptist church to be god's servant and and to allow god to pass [Music] his blessings onto people beyond this corner beyond the boundaries of this community i think we need to thank god that he picked out this rookie that i thought [Applause] could not fit the needs of a congregation he knows what we need and he sends us what we need and he allows us to have what we need i suspect and i'm finished [Music] i learned that from somebody else from this pulpit [Laughter] but these 13 people who were willing to follow audrey and me in in the establishment of wheeler having the baptist church he knew what we needed he sent us what we needed and houston will be all the more the better because god sent us what we needed rather than what we rather than what we thought we needed people ask me every once in a while how do you feel about wheeler avenue baptist church having a high spiritual climate has over against what it had when you gathered these few people in the shadow of texas southern university and i said well i wouldn't have chosen this kind of a pastor but god chose the kind we needed and i thank god that he said to us marcus d cosby selected by god [Applause] how do you feel about being in the new job how do i feel about what being in this beautiful new building how do i feel this is a journalist she just asked me how do i feel about being in this new building you know daniel webster has plenty of words i'm not sure that he has words to tell you how i feel [Applause] but you can tell me now to turn this microphone over and i will lord [Applause] we thank you for what you have done for wheeler avenue baptist church and for all of us who have come to worship you here bless the gifts that we will bring and we thank you for what we have seen you do already through those gifts we ask that you will continue to bless this community with the gifts that you have given to it through the reverend marcus d calls me amen [Applause] [Music] when i look back over my life and i see all of the things god's done for me [Music] i've been through danger heartache and trouble but i thank the lord he rescued me [Music] [Applause] but the lord he spent my life oh yes it did now i can say that i am still here and it's by the grace the grace of god when i look back over my life and i see all of the things [Music] [Music] sickness and suffering but i thank the lord [Music] the [Music] faith and so many times i could have fell from his grace now i can say that i am still here and it's by the grace the grace of god [Music] [Music] there's no goodness up [Music] [Music] is [Music] the lord has brought me through [Music] i [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] thank you for watching [Music] [Music] [Music] is i am still here [Music] hallelujah [Music] god [Music] [Music] [Music] oh hallelujah jesus [Music] amazing grace how sweet the sound had saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm found was blind but now i see through many dangers toils and snares i have already come this grace has brought us safe thus far and grace will lead us home we're still here despite the pandemic that has kept us separated we're still here our hearts have been broken by those we've lost along the way but we're still here and it's by the grace of god will you help me thank god for his grace amen amen amen amen amen you've heard the passage of scripture for this morning's experience in in the word and i was going to reread all of it but i won't reread all of it i just want to read that first verse of psalm 133 as we continue our songs of essence the first verse of psalm 133 reads like this behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity if you jump down to the third verse the last of the third verse reads like this for there the lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore amen praise god for his holy word you may be seated in this house and in your house if you stood for the reading of the word of god for there the lord commanded the blessing even life forevermore for the time that his hours are shared together on this sunday morning i want to talk from the subject blessed and highly favored blessed and highly favored i need not conceal it that's how i feel this morning blessed and highly favored i have no qualms about admitting it i feel blessed and highly favored and to be sure that blessing and favor is not simply about a new edifice a new structure a cathedral for the glory of god i think we are blessed as a consequence of that pastor lawson i want to be real transparent that's the word we've been using a lot lately i want to be real transparent when i suggest that we're blessed and highly favored because through all that we've endured over these 14 years of planning and producing this structure the church family has stayed intact i want to thank god for that didn't have to be like that because of differing opinions because of one person thinking one way and another thinking a different way there could have been some monumental explosions at wheeler avenue baptist church there's been no church split no leadership defections no abundance of unnecessary drama because the lord has held us together i thank god for that to be sure there have been ups and downs highs and lows peaks and valleys twists and turns but the lord has held us together to be honest there have been some days where folk wondered how we were going to make it happen had to make some shifts in the process had to make some some more plans rearrange our thoughts but the lord has held us together and he has helped kept us unified despite all of the twists and turns the ups and downs the ins and outs that we've endured and experienced along this journey did i mention no church splits no leadership defections no abundance of unnecessary drama hear the words that i use i did not say there was no drama i said there was no abundance of unnecessary drama whenever you get saints together you're gonna have some drama if you ever been in a place where more than one person was found you know that there was some drama somewhere but no abundance of unnecessary drama the lord has held us together we've been a unified people focused on a goal focused on a mission focused on the vision that god gave to this church unified i i like the word that's why i'm drawn today this song of ascent in psalm 133 look behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity it's it's not it's not a common ordinary thing it's rare if you'll be honest about it it's it's a unique find when brothers and sisters can dwell together in unity as much dissension and division as we see in our world it's a wonderful thing to know that on the corner of wheeler and scott as pastor lawson has aptly said we found some people who know how to be unified around a common cause and a mission and a vision that god has given in a world where the nfl is in upheaval because of some misogynistic and racist and sexist and homophobic emails that gruden has sent out john gruden of the raiders we we ought to thank god that we we are a part of a unified church in a world where kyrie irving is turning up the nba because of his decision and now there's dissension and some dissatisfaction we ought to thank god for the unity that is found at wheeler avenue baptist church and when in a world where you expect the democrats and republicans to go at each other but when democrat is fighting democrat and we can find brothers and sisters in a church in the hood of third ward texas who are unified around a common mission we have much to give god thanks for i'm i'm i'm blessed and highly favored you're blessed and highly favored we're blessed and highly favored because god is doing great things in this place because i believe he's found a unified people no church splits no leadership defections no unnecessary abundance of drama god has kept us together and the psalmist says you ought to take a look at this this is something rare this is something unique you ought to take a gander at this listen to the first word of psalm 133 behold don't miss it do not miss this this is no common ordinary trite thing behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity it starts doesn't it with with with with an imagery that is worth our conversation this this imagery that is given to us is intriguing to me this intriguing imagery of sisters and brothers not just showing up every now and then in a unified place but this is dwelling together it is a constancy it is a consistency it is not this on and offism that sometimes happens but it is when all of god's children get together and make up in their minds we're not going to have factions or fractions but we're going to be drawn together because the god we love and serve has given us the opportunity to dwell together listen again my brothers and sisters at the beauty and the constancy of this reality behold how good and how pleasant it's a beautiful thing it's good and pleasant for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity yeah unity this my friends is a beautiful word it is a word that literally means harmony that's a good synonym for the word beauty it means harmony it is not uniformity no it is not unanimity no it is harmony uniformity with all of us doing the exact same thing looking the exact same way unanimity when all of us come to the exact same conclusion no that's not what this is he says his unity literally means harmony there have been some who have wondered why in the world what the pastor did the pastor ask every leader to wear red on this third sunday i i i've been asked twice why did we come to red as the color for this day i just wanted it to be a vibrant color a celebrative color i didn't want to wear all black today you know that's how i usually roll i wanted to celebrate i want to be vibrant because this is a day of celebration and excitement and enthusiasm so we've got all this red on and i'm so grateful that i did not get anybody saying you don't make no sense to wear red i don't belong to a sorority that wears red i don't belong to a fraternity that wears red that was not a part of the conversation at all i didn't even get anybody besides miss cosby to ask why in the world we wearing red today but all of us have on this red answer to holland and all of us have on this red and it is because i wanted us to not be in uniformity all the brothers don't have on the same red tie i didn't want it to be unanimity we're not all deciding exactly on what to wear it's harmony yeah your red yes with his red and her red guess with their red and all of us are in harmony one with another today and this my beautiful my brothers and sisters is the beautiful picture of brothers and sisters who dwell together in unity this is the picture of brothers and sisters who do not allow their differences of opinion to make them miss the mark make them miss the goal make them miss the place where god is calling us and i'm so grateful that i serve a church that is blessed and highly favored because brothers and sisters dwell together in unity since 1962 brothers and sisters have been blessed and highly favored in this place because of the unity that abides here and so the psalmist says look at this don't miss this look at this don't let this pass you by look at this this is no ordinary occurrence this is not a regular old thing we need to make sure that we take a look at this and keep it etched in our memories because you need to know there's some perks and benefits that go along with this kind of residence there are some perks and benefits that go along with this beauty and harmony and constancy there's perks and benefits that happen with regards to those who gather together and dwell to not not not a temporary thing dwell together in unity this is intriguing imagery for me and i hope for you as well because the psalmist helps us to remember the necessity of sharing together and staying together this word brothers brothers and sisters is the hebrew word for kindred it is not just it is it starts first of all with the family of flesh that's why those families of more than one person in the household are sitting together today because i wanted the family of flesh to be seated together but it goes beyond that to expand into the family of faith that the family of faith ought to be seen as brothers and sisters who can get along who can get together and stay together and enjoy the company of one another yeah there'll be some drama every now and then with your brothers and sisters in your household you know there's some drama every now and then but aren't you grateful you can get past the drama to keep the main thing the main thing and we rejoice today we rejoice today for this beautiful picture this intriguing imagery of brothers and sisters who dwell together in harmony in unity no discord yes lord no unnecessary disturbances and today my brothers and sisters i'm delighted to report that when this happens you not only get to see intriguing imagery but you are invited to experience some significant similes yeah some significant similes dr pat williams significant similes that's that figure of speech y'all remember back in the day when you learn similes and metaphors that figure of speech that helps you to compare two differing things so that you might see its vividness and a depiction you may not have noticed before it is as if so says verse two it's like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon aaron's beard even down to the skirts of his garment down to his flowing robes it is it is like the the dew of hermann it is as the dew of herman that descended and came down on design it is a beautiful picture these similes of dew and ointment ointment and dew oil and water it's interesting pastor lawson that when this psalmist uses similes he chooses to use the similes of two things that don't mix well oil and water but he says that unity when it is found in the community of brothers and sisters is a precious thing it is a precious ointment it is like the precious ointment you need to understand how significantly these folk took this responsibility of anointing that when folk got ready to be anointed it was a significant thing they would take precious ointment precious ointment meaning costly ointment and they would pour it all on the head of the one who was being anointed it was a symbol in ancient life of hospitality and consecration that when you took precious ointment it was a symbol of hospitality and consecration that you wanted to be hospitable to the one who came within your ranks to the one who came into your house you'll remember in matthew and john's gospel when that woman broke that alabaster box open and she poured all of the oil on the lord jesus christ you'll remember that was an act of hospitality but in the old testament book of exodus when that when when when the aaron the high priest was anointed they opened up that that vial of ointment that precious costly oil and poured it all over his head now in this contemporary christian community that we exist in we're real neat and tidy with anointing yeah we don't we don't do all that pouring all over somebody no we'll take a little finger and dab a little on your head we'll put a little sound of the cross on your head but that was not the way that they anointed in ancient israel no they would pour all of the oil all over you all that red was going to get oily everything was going to be poured over you it's going to flow it's going to make sure that you can see it because it's not just precious it is likewise pervasive it wants to get all over it does not want to miss a spot and this is how he is comparing oil to unity it gets all through you everybody experiences it it does not miss a spot everybody is connected to an old child of god i wish to god that more congregations would be able to experience this that is like the precious ointment that flows down from the head down to aaron's beard even to the skirts of his robes when pastor j aj walked into office this morning he had that red white and blue on i said you look mighty presidential this morning he said you look mighty priestly this morning and all of us together are experiencing the pervasiveness of this unity because god brings us together so that nothing is lost nothing is lacking and god does for us what we could never do for ourselves somebody on this sunday morning ought to thank god for the pervasive nature of unity that binds us together so that no one is lacking no one is missing from the elders to the youngest from the folk who got here in 62 to the folk who got here in 21 we thank god for every last one of us and for the opportunity that we have to dwell together in unity it's precious it's pervasive but it's also permeating yeah it's also permeating is just like the dew of hermann that came down from the highest slopes in that israelite community you must understand that mount hermon was 200 kilometers higher than jerusalem and it was known for its abundance of dew now by the time you got down the slopes and you were in those very arid desert-like places you could experience extended summers that were that would make everything around it parched and so it was necessary that all the way from the top of the israelite community you would get this wonderful dew that would come down every morning and permeate drench soak through every space on those mountains oh he says when unity shows up it's going to permeate it's going to soak through it's going to saturate every single space and nobody will be left out old child of god we wouldn't be the kind of church we're supposed to be if we left folk out of the equation we wouldn't be the kind of church we're supposed to be if we as the people of god didn't get together and ensure that we soak through every space and place of the wheeler avenue congregation to ensure that god's name is glorified and god's people are edified oh my brothers and sisters you ought to look now because it's good and pleasant for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity is just like the precious ointment it's just like the pervasive ointment it's just like the permeating dew that soaks up every space that is found among the people of god and these people watch this once they find themselves in unity y'all remember what's going on in the songs of ascent now they're able to worship oh church folk don't know any shout that's one two three you know i ain't preaching this many people in a long time come on and help me preach i said by the time they get in this kind of atmosphere now they're able to worship the whole point of the songs of that sense was to make sure that by the time we reached the temple we would all be together on one accord and we'd be able to celebrate the great things that god has done i wonder if there's anybody in this church today who is excited now that god has brought us together once more and again anybody excited that now that we see each other face to face anybody excited that when the saints get back with us on the first sunday of november we'll be able to worship in the beauty of god's holiness as the sisters and brothers who are dwelling together in unity yes lord dwelling together in unity i'm excited about it i hope you are as well i'm excited that god allows us now to now it's time to worship not just because of a building but god's people are dwelling together now it's time to worship not just because you got a new space in which that you can occupy but now it's time to worship because the saints of god have gathered together in his name we have come into this house gathered in his name to worship him oh yes oh yes let's lift up holy hands see magnify his name and worship him oh please forget about yourself right now concentrate on him and worship him he is jesus christ our lord and if you know he deserves your worship if you know he desires your worship if you know he delights in your worship i need everybody who calls themselves a part of this community of faith this band of believers this body of believers to help me worship a god who still deserves all the glory all the honor and all of the praise oh now we can worship yeah now we can worship yes lord now we can feel the power of the holy ghost because if you remember it was not until they were all on one accord and all in one place on pentecost sunday that's what it read all the saints of god are able to experience the power of the holy ghost old child of god makes no sense to have a building if you ain't gonna get a move of the holy ghost makes no sense to be a part of one another's company if we're not gonna feel the company of the precious holy ghost is there anybody who needs the holy spirit of god to reign in your space reign in this place reign in our family hallelujah [Applause] yes lord we need the power of the holy ghost in this house and so these saints of god are on their way to worship dwelling together in unity and the psalmist says it looks good on you the psalmist says this is a good look for the people of god the psalmist says this is the way god's people are supposed to operate so let me close this message because it seems to me that right here in psalm 133 after we get this intriguing imagery and after we see these significant similes then we get to hear the declarative statement from deity watch now declarative deity god starts moving once they all get on one accord god starts operating once they dwell together in unity thank you lord god starts moving in their midst once they operate in unity it's like uh the precious ointment and it is as the due of herman and once the due of hermann has fallen on zion the bible says there the lord commanded his blessing even life forevermore oh thank you great god um he says once i find my people dwelling in unity that's where i'm going to command my blessing yes lord oh church listen listen i love the whole psalm pastor lawson but when we get to the beat clause of psalm 133 and verse 3 that's when my sh my shouter really breaks in i get to shouting out my shoes because the psalmist says that if god can find god's people dwelling in unity god promises i'm gonna hook you up yay thank you lord if i can get my people to dwell reside maintain constancy harmony beauty i promise i'm going to command the blessing now not knowing the natural version which i usually read like you know the natural version it says there the lord will bestow a blessing that sounds too sweet for me i it was too sweet i couldn't read the new international version this morning that sounds too pleasant to me i like the word command god says when i command it is the hebrew word swastwa it literally means that god is going to establish it set it up firmly and make it sure and complete concretize it so that it is not just a quick fix kind of thing it is not a temporary thing it will abide forever he said if you got enough sense to dwell in unity i got enough strength to command the blessing in that space i need 10 or 12 people in the house called wheeler avenue to help me close this message and celebrate the fact that when god's people get enough sense to dwell together in unity we will experience the strength that god has to command a blessing in this place i said he'll command the blessing and when god says it nobody can revoke it you just missed a good opportunity look amen i said when god says it nobody can revoke it when god declares it it shall be so he says i'm going to command a blessing blessing i like that word i like that word blessing because that hebrew word for blessing is a word that helps us to understand the favor the shalom of god the hebrew word is barakah it literally stands for favor shalom completeness wholeness god says i'm gonna make sure i concretize your harmony i'm gonna concretize your dwelling together i'm gonna concretize your unity and i'm going to command that you have favor that you have shalom wholeness and completeness i don't know about you brothers and sisters but i don't want to be fractured all my life i don't want to be on again off again all my life i don't want folks to stop asking who are you today how are you today and start asking who are you today i want i want to be complete i want to be whole and so he says that the lord is going to command that kind of blessing that the blessing is to ensure that we have life forever more that we have a qualitative experience one with another that we get to celebrate every time we get a chance that god is going to command a blessing i've got to close the message my time is out but can i give you one last thing because [Music] because when you hear this declarative deity saying that i'm going to command a blessing in your life you ought to make sure that you get this kind of blessing at your house as well as at god's house you want to make sure that you're dwelling in unity in your space as well as in this place you want to make sure that you're dwelling in unity boss among your people at your job and among the people who bring you joy at your church this is the kind of blessing that you want the blessing is not just reserved for this house i told you it started with the family of faith flesh and then went to the family of faith and i want everybody in this building to understand that god is still in the blessing business i don't know if you heard about it or not but he still commands blessings he still commands that people are blessed he still commands that people are healed and delivered and when folk come to the cathedral at wheeler avenue baptist church i want them to know that they're walking into a place that is complete and filled with shalom i want them to come into a place where they can experience the blessings of the lord i want them to come into a place where they know that the presence of the lord is here and i'm so grateful that he's decided to meet us here this morning for those who are watching all around the world you need to know that all of these leaders and i joined together in our sanctuary at seven o'clock this morning and we begin to sing praises unto the lord we begin to pray to god thanking god for what he did in our sanctuary since 1985 what he did in pastor lawson's house in 1962 and what he's about to begin doing in this cathedral in 2021 and we can see the blessings of the lord already the bible says that the blessing of the lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow to it i don't know about you but i feel like lifting him up because he keeps on blessing us he keeps on doing great things for us he was blessed in 1962 when these few people gathered together and decided they were going dwell in unity he blessed in 1985 when we moved into that sanctuary and the saints of god dwelled together in unity and i got a funny feeling and a sneaky suspicion that if he did it before he's going to do it again not he'll save god right now same god back then he's going to bless us he's going to take care of us he's going to move in mighty ways souls will be saved lives will be changed children will be developed families will be reconciled the blessings of the lord will be all over this house as a matter of fact before i close this message that's my prayer for every single house that is represented in this church the blessing of the lord be upon you we bless you in the name of the lord i shared that with you last week that was a popular greeting in ancient israel and i share it with you on this sunday the blessing of the lord be upon you i bless you in the name of the lord the blessing of the lord be upon you i bless you in the name of the lord the blessing of the lord be upon you i bless you in the name of the lord now there's a saying in church that when the praises go up blessings come down but can i invert that this morning because we've already experienced the blessings so i want to know if there's anybody at the wheel i have a new church who understands when the blessings come down the praises ought to go up you're standing in a blessing you're residing in a blessing you're worshiping in a blessing you're at home experiencing a blessing you're around this world experiencing a blessing so wherever you are from whomever you are i need [Music] have everybody to praise the lord praise god in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power praise him on the stringed instruments and organs praise him on the high sounding symbols praise the lord do you know he's worthy i said do you know he's worthy from the rising of the sun to the going down i'm the same the [Music] help me lord him help me magnify her [Music] [Applause] glory why are you praising him church why are you praising god because the lord is blessing me right now he [Music] [Applause] [Music] right now i'm blessed and highly saved [Music] [Applause] [Music] glory to god glory to god glory to god glory to god i'm so happy this morning oh pastor pastor curry we put it like this my soul is happy because the blessings of the lord are all upon us all about us all around us and to that god be all of the glory come on let's sing it together as the body of believers the door of my father's house is open the invitation to discipleship is extended to you my sister my brother whosoever will let her let him come this moment is for you to give your life to the lord jesus christ if you're in the cathedral these saints stand ready to receive you if you're around the world and you want to be a part of the family of wheeler avenue baptist church please email us at new members ministry at wheelerbc.org if you're unsaved about a fellowship relationship with the lord our god just email us at new members ministry at wheelerbc.org and reverend pyles and her team will get in touch with you immediately to make sure that you can likewise experience these blessings that we now enjoy that have been commanded firmly fixed established at wheeler avenue baptist church and if you want to be a part of this great congregation i want you to come on and email us and come down this out right now the lord everybody's gone right now right now right now the lord is blessing me right now [Applause] right now right now he woke me up this morning [Music] [Music] [Music] let me see your hands i see the blessed folk in the room right now right now you look so good you look so good right now right now right now [Music] [Applause] he's is oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] i'm trying to leave it right now i'm trying it just sounds so good [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you the lord lift the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace and you're going out and you're coming in and you're laboring in your leisure in your joy as well as in your sorrow in your laughter and likewise in your tears until that day when we meet the lord face to face and cry holy holy holy to the lord of hosts until that day my sisters my brothers go in peace go in love go enjoy and may the very god of peace love and joy go with you now and forevermore with your highly favored self in jesus name amen god bless you church family we're going to dismiss orderly don't leave yet don't leave yet don't leave yet don't leave you right now [Music] right [Music] me right now

Channel: Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church

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Length: 110min 0sec (6600 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021